Thoughts From a Wandering Soul, Now in the Charm City

Monday, August 28, 2006

Ernesto!

My first hurricane!! Not excited and not really worried. I am not sure what to think. All I know is that I work in an area that will have to be evacuated if the shit really hits the fan! The plus is that my house is so far inland that friends may come and stay with me! Heck who knows what is going to happen, it may not even hit here. This is a new form of Russian roulette. I just hope that it passes before Sunday so that I can go on my cruise.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

NEW COUPE

First 3 series coupe just came in. Not sure what to think yet. The 335 will be hot! It will have 300 hp!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

More on Hashing!

I went to a hash last Thursday. This was with a different group here in Tampa. It is called the Jolly Rogers Hash House Harriers. It was a virgin lay for the hare so there were more rituals involved.



The virgin hare does chalk talk. He goes through and explains the different markings that are used. In addition since this hare was German, he also added some new markings. He also did a ton of counts backs which would later be lamented by the hashers that were attempting to follow the trail.

All of us circled up to start the hash. The Hare was blessed



After that the circle began, and an offence was found. Someone had come with new shoes. This is a grave offence for which the virgin and the hasher who had let him come with new shoes would pay dearly for.



Since this was my first time at this hash club I was called into the circle and made to sing.



I was Cock Block's (Corey's) virgin on this hash. After the announcements we set off to follow Farfromfuckin's virgin lay.



At the end the coucluding circle happened. The offend footware was christened. The hasher and his virgin had to drink beer out of the shoe. A good time was had by all and everyone went in peace. On to the on-after!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend.  I sold 2 cars.  Corey and I had a nice dinner on the bay and took a long walk on the beach.  I had breakfast in bed!  We went kayaking on the Hillsborough River.   For dinner on Sunday, we had sushi for dinner and got to sleep in on Monday!  Florida is such a wonderful place.   Now I am prepping for a cruise to the Western Caribbean!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Things are Looking Great!

Wonderful day! Sold 2 cars today.  In addition, I am having dinner with a wonderful man.   Life is looking better and better all the time!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Good News

Good news from Michigan! Everything went ok.

Thinking of GP

My GP (Grandpa) is heavy in my thoughts today. I hate it when you are the last one to find out news that was disconcerting. Please keep him in your thoughts.

Friday, August 18, 2006

HOT!

We just got go our first Z4 coupe. This is smoking hot! The back of the car has such sexy styling.

All the Ways I Want You

The hills are full of secrets
Owls watch by night
Down in town the bars are full
And the drunks are picking fights
These are things I know
But the facts are filtered through
All the ways I want you

2:19 freight train
Moaning somewhere near
I see you in the distance
But I can't get there from here
Hard to believe it's happening
But my whole world's shrunken to
All the ways I want you

Stars look down and laugh at me
I ought to take a bow
Don't have to tell them life's hard sometimes
There's one falling now
Nobody's here beside me
I can talk about it to
All the ways I want you

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Pills

I never knew how hard it is to pill a cat, but for the last week I have been finding out. Minerva is good about the cleaning of her eyes, but when it comes to taking pills or the anti-biotic that the vet prescribed, she does not want a part of it. I am glad to say that all of the pain of giving her medication has paid off, she is feeling better. Her eyes are better and she is no longer my sneeze kitty. She is just my Minerva Kitty!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Lazy Americans

We have truly become a lazy country! Now you don't even have to take the time to buy buns.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Kismet

This is the word to describe this week. Other words that would apply include the following:

  • Pleasurable
  • Mesmerizing

I have had a wonderful week. I sold my first car out of my new store. I went for my first full moon hash (that is a story that will be told later in detail). Lastly, I found something that has been missing in my life for the last 2 years! Life is wonderful!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

There Goes the Neighborhood

SCHWARZ LOSES

Rival Walberg takes District 7

 

By Andy Rathbun

The Enquirer

 

One of Battle Creek's favorite sons will be leaving Washington, D.C.

 

In a stunning ousting of an incumbent congressman, U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz fell to his rival Tim Walberg in a messy, expensive Republican primary and one of the summer's most watched races in Michigan.

 

Schwarz conceded the race shortly before 11:30 p.m., and Walberg eventually won with 53 percent of the vote.

"In this game you can't cry over spilled milk, and I'm not ...," Schwarz said. "I'm a gentleman who has lived a lot of years. You pick yourself up and tomorrow morning you hit the ground running and never look back."

Schwarz said he wished there had been a better turnout in key areas such as Calhoun and Jackson counties, but, ultimately, he was happy with the campaign he ran.

"We did it with as much dedication we possibly could," he said. "We never pandered to anyone. I stuck to my principles and in the end, you don't have enough votes. But I'm proud of my work in two years in Congress, which is what it will be when it's over."

Joe Wicks, campaign manager for Walberg, was quite pleased with the view from his camp.

"I'll just tell you we're very proud we got our message out in this race," Wicks said.

Walberg did not return calls for additional comment.

Meanwhile, in the crowded Democratic primary, Sharon Renier was leading over three candidates, seemingly headed to win the party's endorsement.

During the Republican campaign, the candidates saw different issues as priorities in the district.

Schwarz, when he wasn't rebutting Walberg's criticisms, talked about jobs. That resonated with Coldwater resident Mike Conant, 61.

"I think the key right now is the economy," Conant said. "For example, right now, I just lost my job on Friday for the fourth time in three years, four years. I'm tired of living in this economy."

Some, however, weren't as concerned about issues as they were about character.

Battle Creek resident Bertha Brown, 85, said she disagreed with Schwarz on abortion; the congressman has said the act should be rare but is ultimately the woman's choice. Nonetheless, she voted for him because she felt he was "a good man."

"He was my doctor at one time," she said.

Walberg, a Tipton resident, often trumpeted social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. For some voters that became a priority.

In Coldwater, Sue and Terry Andress said they felt Walberg represented their conservative views on abortion and gay marriage better than Schwarz. They felt the congressman was, in effect, a liberal.

"I would have to say so, according to his stands, or what I read about them," Sue Andress said, to her husband's agreement.

Indeed, many who voted for Walberg chose the 16-year state House veteran for one reason.

For others, it was simpler still. A vote for Walberg was just a vote for change.

Bellevue resident Susie Brown, 53, said she had not bought into either campaign's propaganda, but felt Schwarz's time in Washington was up. Schwarz, a freshman congressman, has been in office about 18 months.

"Let's get some other ideas in there, give somebody else an opportunity," Brown said. "That's what it's all about."

In 2004, Schwarz won a six-way primary largely because of big wins in Calhoun and Eaton counties, his home area, while other candidates split the rest of the county.

As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Schwarz had held his own in Calhoun, Eaton and Washtenaw counties, but his margins there weren't wide enough to make up for big losses in the other counties. Walberg, for example, carried Lenawee County by nearly 3,000 votes; Schwarz carried Calhoun by some 1,400, with a majority of precincts reporting.

"I'm elated so far," she said late Tuesday.

The Schwarz campaign poured $1.26 million into the race as of July 19, while Walberg spent $344,000 as of the same date. Both had upward of $200,000 going into the campaign's final weeks.

That cash was apart from the hundreds of thousands spent by rival political organizations in the district.

The Club for Growth, Walberg's chief benefactor, bought $393,000 worth of ads, painting their candidate as a stalwart conservative and Schwarz as a liberal. Another $477,000 from the group's members was forwarded to Walberg.

Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth, was watching the numbers come in Tuesday night.

"We've got a tremendous win," Toomey said.

Schwarz pointed to the Club for Growth dollars as factor in his loss.

"It's very difficult, almost impossible, to run against a single issue group that had unlimited funds funneled into the state," Schwarz said. "We did everything we could possibly do."

Outside support came to Schwarz from the Republican Main Street Partnership, who bolstered the incumbent with $470,000 in ad buys. The moderate organization portrayed Walberg as a do-nothing politico.

In the lead up to the Democratic, there rarely seemed to be a favorite, though as of 11 p.m. Tuesday, Sharon Renier held the lead, with 4,672 votes and more than half the district's precincts reporting. Her closest rival, Fred Strack, had 1,720 votes.

Most of the Democrats chose to attack the Bush administration, and were quick to critique Schwarz due to his support of the president. Renier was among that group, but also brought experience from the 2004 election. Then, she won the primary but lost the general election to Schwarz. She said that experience helped give voters confidence in her abilities.

"We have done this before," she said of her grassroots campaign. "And I think people are paying attention to the fact if you want a leader you need someone who can do a lot with a little."
 

Now many of you may wonder why I may be sad about this loss since I am a staunch Democrat.   Rep. Schwarz is a good man, he is also pro-choice which is important to me.  However, the overriding factor of my sadness at this loss is that he was a good person to work with.   When I worked at the House of Representatives in Lansing, I had an opportunity to see how he worked in a bi-partisan manner.  He looked out for his district and he was moderate (which is better then the pro-life republican that they have not managed to nominate in his place).   Having Schwarz would have been the next best thing to having a Democrat in his seat, and lets face it, a Democrat has not won the Michigan 7th Congressional for some time.  

An Undoing World

By the time we're done with dancing,
Elsewhere, darling, you'll be glancing,
And the night's a river-torrent tearing us apart.
Merely melody entwined us,
Easily the ties that bind us
Break in fibrillations of the heart.
Don't cry out or cling in terror;
Darling, that's a fatal error:
Clinging to somebody you thought you knew was yours.
Dispossession by attrition is a permanent condition
That the wretched modern world endures.

You drift away; you're carried by a stream.
Refugee, a wanderer you roam;
You lose your way, so it will come to seem:
No place in particular is home.
You glance away, your house has disappeared,
The sweater you've been knitting has unpurled.
You live adrift, and everything you feared
Comes to you in this undoing world.

Copper-plated, nailed together, buffeted by ocean weather,
Stands the Queen of Exiles, and our mother she may be.
Hollow-breasted, broken-hearted, watching for her dear departed,
For her children cast upon the sea.
At her back the great idyllic land of Justice
For exilic peoples ponders making justice private property.
Darling, never dream another woman might
Have been your mother:
Someday you may be a refugee.

A refugee, who's running from the wars,
Hiding from the fire-bombs they've hurled;
Eternally, a person out-of-doors,
Desperate in this undoing world.

Mother, for your derelicted
Children from your womb evicted,
Grant us shelter, harbor, solace, safety;
Let us in!
Let us tell you where we traveled,
How our hopes, our lives unraveled,
How unwelcome everywhere we've been.

-- by Tony Kushner

Trip To The Vet Continued

Andi came for moral support. He must just be happy that he is not the one being looked at!

Trip To The Vet.

The sneezing has not stopped so Minerva needed to see the vet. We took her along with Socrates. Mini does well in the carrier, but she is not a fan of the vet. She is such a sweet kitty, she even takes her meds well.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Two new arrivals

Exciting time! Two friends of mine had new arrivals in their lives this week. A friend of mine down here became an uncle yesterday. In addition my friend Emily welcomed her son in to the world this week! Congratulations to both families!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Tampa Night Life

Lets party!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Mini

I have not talked about it much here but I have been missed spending time with my special kitty, Minerva.












She is so special to me, that it was heartbreaking to find that I would not have that much time with her due to my work schedule. Thankfully she has plenty of friends to play with here at my home and her grandmother’s house (there are a few cats over there as well). She liked her old home, however one of it occupants was a heartless shmendrik (שמענדריק) and an evil human being that tossed her mother to the curb.












Mini loves her new home with me here in Florida! She is getting along with all of the other cats; I was surprised at this since the last cat that she had to get along with was Satan’s spawn (resembling its owner). In fact for the last few weeks as the house Satan’s spawn was missing, she ran off probably saying Goodbye you prick. Mini has had a bit of a cold lately and has been sneezing up a storm, so I have missed having her cuddle with me and sleeping next to my head as she had started to do. The vet remarked how sweet she was and how soft her fur was.

Even though I do not get to spend that much time with her, there is plenty for her to do here. She has found two window sills that she loves to lounge on. She also likes to sleep on the railings of the staircase. There is even a dog for her to play here. This is a new experience for her. I am not sure how much she likes him; the other cats seem to deal with him ok. The other cats were more excepting then her last roommate; she has even made fast friends with SOX, who is a tabby with white toes. They have the white footwear in common. I hope that she will be happy at her new home, I was a bit worried that she would not, but anything has to be better then Cleveland.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Camp

Sunday I had been given a VIP pass to go to the Training Camp for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Until the new training facility for the buccaneers is completed in tampa they will have training camp at Disney’s Wild World of Sports Complex. It was wonderful; we had a skybox and a balcony to watch the practice.
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Most of what I had the opportunity to see was special team drills. It was really warm in Orlando. Believe it or not the weather is different in Orlando compared to Tampa. It is more humid there (if that was humanly possible). The turnout was great. The Skybox was over capacity, so it was about as warm inside as it was outside.
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From left to right: Dana, Parker and Marquise
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Captin Fear showed up to entertain the group!

Castro Hands Over Power!!

The AP just ran a story about how an ailing Castro handed over power, temporality, to his brother Raul. Read the story as reported in the Orlando Sentinel.