I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

I had an issue with my new phone, but all fixed now!

Yes, I can wait by the phone, waiting for calls that never come, but safe in the knowledge that my phone actually works, now.

I was eating a frozen pizza I cooked for dinner tonight, when I felt something hard rolling around in my mouth. I have a bad tooth, and the bulk of it broke off whilst I was eating.

It's a wee tender there, but surprisingly not too bad.

My cold is on the mend, tho' the cough will be with me for a while, I suppose. I got lots of rest this weekend, and was a regular slugabed for a couple of days. Which means of course, that I have to hustle tomorrow and clean the flat top to bottom. Not that I didn't do anything, but I confess I did keep things down to a minimum, and mostly either stayed in bed, or sat on the sofa watching tele. Tho', I did go for a couple of brief strolls, both days.

It was a gorgeous weekend here, despite the wet snow on Friday. It's warmer in my new town, than in my former location--but then, I was in the mountains there, and at a slightly higher elevation. Tonight it was more than 15 degrees fahrenheight warmer here, than from where I just moved from. Not too shabby, that.

It's supposed to be what we here in the states call an "Indian summer" for the next few days with spring-like and summer-like temperatures. November can be very much like that, in upstate New York: snow showers or frigid cold one day, summer-like temps a few days later.

As a stable hand, one week in November, I had to wear my insulated ski overalls, hat, gloves, and all the other winter accouterments on a Monday. On Monday, the horses were wearing their heavy canvas New Zealand rugs, and I was banging ice out of water buckets. By Friday, I was working in just jeans and a tee shirt, and got out of work early, cos' I didn't have to rug up the horses or deal with frozen stuff.

I went for a walk today, down the main street of my new town. There's not a lot of shops in comfortable walking distance for me, but a few more than I had availbable in my former city, certainly.

One of the shops is a gourmet burger joint. The burger joint is set up in, ironically, and old White Tower shop--a burger chain from my childhood, that made the best burgers in the US.
Unlike the old White Tower chain, whose burgers cost about 75 cents, back in the 60's and early 70's, this posh shop wants almost $7 per burger, and none of them are just ordinary burgers, oh no!

(Looks around, then whispers conspiritorialy) They're POSH, don'tcha know. (Snif.)

They've got to have all these fancy-shmancy toppings, and set atop some posh roll, no doubt. Yes, for the cost of a package of ground beef (mince), you can buy one gourmet burger.

White Tower was put out of business by McDonald's. They cooked their burgers to order, w/ fried onions. Nom-nom! Never had a better one.

You see, hamburgers are supposed to be greasy. When it comes to steaks & burgers, fat is where all the flavour is! Lean ground beef (mince) is tasteless, like cardboard. That's why posh restaurants have to jazz up their burgers all the time.

Ideally, hamburgers should be 80% lean, not 90 or 95%. Then, you don't need to add feta or asagio cheese, jalpenos, or whatever. Add just a little bit of ice water plus salt and pepper to your taste, to 80% lean ground beef (mince), gently blend it and form your patties, fry or grill it--preferably with minced or chopped onions, slap it on a toasted, grilled, steamed or plain bun, add your favourite condiments...and viola! You have the perfect hamburger.

That's another thing: Ground beef doesn't like being manhandled too much. Too much handling toughens the meat.

I prefer to cook my burgers much like the old White Tower lady used to do. I like to not only fry my burgers with onions, I like to grill the burger rolls--toast them in the pan, as well.

Sometimes I'll do a posh burger. I like BBQ sauce, sliced cheddar and breaded fried onion rings. Or, swiss cheese, lettuce, raw onion and my favourite salad dressing, such as Russian, poppyseed, bleu cheese or ranch.

Mostly, I add ketchup, mayo and fried or raw onions, to one of my homemade burgers.

Last week, at the posh supermarket, meat was really high, so I cut out the fresh beef hamburger patties. Too expesnive! Instead, I found an inexpensive replacement: Greek turkeyburgers (ground turkey patties), w/ spinanch and feta cheese added to them.

I got 2 Greek turkey patties for around $2.50, instead of 4 beef patties for approx. $6. Dunno' if I'll like Greek turkey burgers, but for the price, I'm willing to give it a go. Thought I'd try topping them with some sweet & sour poppyseed salad dressing.

As the ebony night disloves into stardust, and the stardust into transparent moonbeams, and as those moonbeams fade into the coming of the dawn....I will remember you most fondly.

America's gun culture is nothing short of diseased. It's a sickness that has spread across our culture for over 200 years. Owning a gun really isn't so much a right, as a privliedge...one that too many Americans abuse on a regular basis.

We needed guns in Colonial America for food and protection. There was little or no law enforcement, especially on the frontier and in the wilderness.

Today, everywhere, in all 50 states, we have federal, state, county, town and city law enforcement agencies. We even have, in times of dire emergency, a National Guard (militia).

Yet, gun control is a farce. The limited amount of gun johns who use their weapons as toys, ego-boosters and second penises, value their own rights, over the rights of millions of non-gun owners. They want law and order--but not laws that will impact THEM.

So, tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men die, in America every day, because small-brained, emotionally insecure white trash johhny redneck is terrified that he might have to have his metal penis cut off. And...innocent children die, needlessly, cos' the spoilt brats calling themselves American "men" think their guns are more important than a child's life.

In the state of California alone, in 2005, every 2 hours and 45 minutes, a child or teenager was killed by a gun. That's SIXTY-ONE kids under the age of 18, in one state alone, butchered by guns, EACH WEEK of 2005.

We don't need gun control. We need to neuter selfish, brain-dead, souless, cowardly American gun owners.

Think about that. Children dying before their time, of gunshot wounds, are a hundred times less important to American gun owners, than their precious weapons. And we're different from the terrorists whom value their roadside bombs that kill children more than they value human life.....how????

I want out of this sewer called America, because, and I swear this, every passing year I see less and less of a gap between those cowardly terrorists we're supposed to be fighting, and...ourselves. Whether it's guns or socialized health care, or simple parenting; we as a nation seem to care no more for our own children, than some roadside bomber in Iraq who blows up a family.

I watched a crime show tonight.

It was one of those anti-crime programmes, designed to help catch violent criminals. Yet, the American presenter, an anti-crime advocate, said of one cheap automatic weapon: "This isn't a sporting weapon, it's a killing weapon."

That is the mindset of America's gun owners. They try to justify their love of guns, by lowering the bar. A sporting weapon as opposed to a crime weapon? HORSE PUCKY.

No, jackass. ALL guns are killing weapons! That's a gun's SOLE purpose: to KILL.

A shotgun used on pheasants, can kill a man or woman or child, just as easily as a bird...or a cheaply made assault rifle.

Next time some mother's child is bleeding his or her life out on the pavement, try telling her the difference between a "sporting" gun, and a "killing" gun. Anyone who knows of a death of a child by a gun, and still is against gun control, is rubbish as a human being, and a total coward, and has no better thought-process than some roadside bomber.

I had three meme's waiting for me in my mailbox when I got back online. Here's number 2. I may have done this one in the past, I'm not sure.

1. What time is it where you are, right now?

4.51pm Eastern Standard Time USA

2. Has anyone ever told you that you have a massive ego problem?

No.

3. Do you have issues with spelling?

Lately in the last year or two, yes. Not sure why.

4. Do you think you're weird?

Yeah, sort of, I guess.

5. Do you like being weird, if you are?

Meh. I am what I am.

6. Paper or plastic?

Well, hardly anyone offers paper, any more. I prefer it though. It's sturdier than most plastic bags--I had a plastic bag break on me, before I barely left the till, at the shop the other day. And, paper is more biodegradable than plastic..and when I was a child, every autuun, mum, my sister and I, would sit at the kitchen table, and use paper supermarket bags, to make covers for our school textbooks with, to keep them nice.

7. Do secretely think that children's art is crap?

No, actually I'm rather suprised at how talented some of these children are. My artwork is crap, however.

8. Have you ever been in a bar fight?

No....well, when I was a child, playing cowboys and indians, I once beat up my friend in a pretend saloon fight, ha-ha.

9. Who would be a better president: Sarah Palin or a can of Pringles?

Oh, Pringles, hands-down. Especially if it's sweet mesquite BBQ or honey mustard flavour.

10. Meet George W. Bush or step in dog poo?

Dog poo...I can always take off my shoe and throw it at Bush.

I've spent 45% of the last three days in bed, trying to regenerate my health. Unfortunately, I have to walk to the shops and stuff, in the wet snow and raw wind, and that hasn't been helpful for my chest.

Still, I'm coping.

Unfortunately, I am a bit run-down, and the little grey cells are sort of stuck in neutral the last few days--and, i've bruised one finger somehow, and am typing with a sticking plaster on it...not easy to do.

so, don't be expecting a lot of posts from me for a while...oh, I'll get back to it soon, but I'm a bit overwhelmed and brain dysfuctional, at the moment.

There's a reason I went without television for about 4 years, and the last 24 hrs were a prime example. Yesterday, a cable channel showed the film, Thelma & Louise...twice in the same day. Today, it showed it again...at the exact same time that a different cable channel was showing Thelma & Louise. So, I'm paying $10 a month, to watch Thelma and Lousie four times in a 24 hour period. Which I suppose would be fine, if I loved the film. Unfortunately, I don't. It's OK once, but four times is a bit much.

Two other cable channels seem to air the same handful of programmes, over and over and over again. Why? Why bother in investing in a network when you have nothing but the same crap to spew out, day after day? This is why Americans are stupid. They put up with this crap. The only redeeming quality of television for me right now, is Public Broadcasting. And even some fo their programmes are crap...tho far less than the commercial channels.

I tried to watch Dancing With the Stars, but sorry, boring pap just isn't digestible to me. I'd rather read a book. Even that book I saw in the dollar shop a while back, on the history of air conditioning, would be less boring to me, than watching Dancing With the Stars! Outside of Donny Osmond, I didn't recognize a single celebrity on there, and all the banial back chatter of the hosts was making my brain start to ooze out.

Still, there was that Nova documentary Becoming Human, Antiques Roadshow, Eastenders, the film The Man in the Iron Mask (love The Three Musketeers..men and their swords, can't beat that), the running of The Breeder's Cup, and the news from the BBC, so not a total loss.

I went to the local branch of the city library, yesterday. Massive disappointment. I have never seen such a bland and uninteresting and quite frankly, bad, selection of tripe in all my born days. Is this what the locals read? God help me. I wanted an Agatha Christie mystery. There was...none. None! Tons of mystery books, and no Agatha Christie? I did find one paperback of hers, at the last....filed with the "P's." Good greif! What DO the four library people I saw in that one tiny little library branch DO with their time???

My mum had a one-room library when she retired...it was maybe a quarter of the size bigger than this branch. My mum would have a fit if books were shelved wrong! I casually mentioned that I found a Christie book among the "P" authors to the librarian...and he said...NOTHING. Not a word, not even a shrug. He had the personality of a limp dish rag.

I looked up historical fiction--the bulk of it was actually historical romances. OK. I am really getting fed up with these 'new' libraries and librarians. Romance novels are romance novels, historical or otherwise.

Historical fiction is not romance. It is drama, action, etc. Historical fiction does not generally have covers with scantilly clad well-endowed women swooning into the arms of a bare-chested male supermodel look-alike on the cover. WHEN are these STUPID librarians going to get their noses out of their asses, and figure out the difference between historical fiction and historical ROMANCE?

I'm sick of having to look through 15 or 20 romance novels, to find one actual true historical fiction book. I did manage to find a western that I'd not read in years, that I liked, the Christie book and a medevil mystery novel by an author I'd never tried before. I liked the Cadfiel books, so I'm hoping this book will be just as good as those. No Ellis Peters in the local branch library, alas. They had only one Steinbeck and one Conan Doyle, so I'm guessing they're not going to be big on popular literature. They seemed to lean more towards popular fiction and Oprah book club selections...bleh.

I'm not a snob or anything. I'll read comic books and stuff like that. But, I cannot bring myself to read something, just because it's popular, or because some celebrity or critic, or professor or whomever, says they like it. I want to read what I like, not what someone else does. I will read a lot of different stuff, but on my own terms. Basically, if the first few paragraphs of chapter one grab me, I'll read it. If not, I give it a pass. I have favourite genes, yes: historical mystery, westerns, historical fiction. Sometimes I read other stuff: sci-fi and fantasy, sometimes the classics or non-fiction, and sometimes humour and/or general novels.

Yet, there are some genres I avoid like the Biblical plague, such as Romance novels. Bleh! I'm an old maid, I don't do fluffy-wuffy puke-fest romance. In other words, I can't stand it...yet, I have to wade through fluffy novel after fluffy novel, to find an actual work of historical fiction--literature, treasure, not cheap easy-reader mindless trash.

How stupid have we gotten, when we can't even use our grey cells to differentiate between literature and a trashy romance novel? That is just too sad for words, and I despair of ever finding any real librarians left in America.

How bad is it, when one can't tell the rather significant difference between say, a Hortio Hornblower novel, and The Rescue of Princess Bambi?

Ironically, I checked out a non-fiction book while at the library, titled: Americans Are Idiots.

The local postman seems to back up this theory.

I posted my rent check on Wednesday, leaving it sticking out of the mailbox so the postman would see it. Today is Saturday, and as I got my mail, I spied a corner of white sticking out of the bottom of the box. It was my rent check--the postman did not only NOT take my outgoing post---he jammed all the incoming post for the last several days on top of it, so it was jammed down into the bottom of my mailbox--which sits high up on the wall, above my eye-level, and if I hadn't seen that corner of white, I never would have known it hadn't gone out with the post.

Angry doesn't begin to cover how I feel, and my language at this discovery was just a tad rude, I'm afraid.

That posh supermarket a friend took me to yesterday was nice, if a bit expensive. They did have a nice variety of food there...and, apprently, posh toliet paper, as well.

You see, I had to buy TP for the loo. They even had TP in pastel colours. Now, think about that. Who thinks of TP as a bathroom accessory?

Why does it need to be colour-coordinated to match the towels or the tile or walls?

What sort of woman or man looks at something meant to wipe your bottom with, and thinks, "Oh, that'll match my towels ever so nicely!"

Someone e-mailed me today that David Tennant has done--or will do--a pilot episode for an NBC televison dramedy (drama-comedy), about a Chicago lawyer (Tennant) whom advises people on how to defend themselves in court.

I don't know anything other than that, so if you want to know more, you'll have to do a Google search yourselves.

I just finished watching a programme about how the Navajo and Hopi tribes in the southwest, are trying to change their way of life on the reservation, by pursuing renewable resources.

You see, the tribes in the 1960's, signed away chunks of their land to coal and power companies. The result, after 35 years, is that the coal companies have polluted the air and desert water supplies, and, used up valuable life-giving water, draining the pure water of underground aquifers dry or nearly so.

The Navajo and Hopi's succeeded in shutting down one of the power plants and coal mining operation--which supplied much of the power to Los Angles. Unfortunately, this also meant the virtually irreplaceable loss of over 200 jobs. And, the loss of multi-million dollar royalty checks from the power company.

There are huge power lines running through the Navajo reservation, and yet many Navajo have no electrity or running water.

There are still two working power plants on the reservation. Many Indians have suffered from cancer clusters, as a direct result of power plant and coal mining pollution. Water for their crops, livestock and homes is also becoming more and more limited.

Now, the Navajo nation is divided; one faction wishes to build a new "clean" coal plant on the reservation--which the tribe will own a percentage of, the other faction wants to pursue renewable energy as a way of providing jobs and more earth and human friendly energy.

Renewable energy--such as solar and/or wind power--are very viable and very easy to do, on the reservation, which being largely open desert, sees a lot of sunshine and wind.

The Navajos are interested, California is showing interest...the money is there, the technology is there, it should be easy---except, that the politicians in Washington D. C., are the chattels and prostitutes of the energy companies.

The have sold, not only themselves, but the future health of the Hopi and Navajo and the limited resource of water in the southwestern states.

The politicians in Washington D. C. and elsewhere in the USA, have bared their deliberate stupidity, moral laziness and evil greed to the entire world, making a mockery of global warming concerns.

America could be the world's largest producer of renewable energy--but, the energy companies have fought against things like tax credits, and allowing renewable producers to come on to the energy grid.

We could be a world leader, but instead, we're slaves, peons, arse lickers. Washington politicians are nothing more than whores and johns to the powerful energy lobby.

We aren't the most powerful nation in the world, while we are pimping ourselves to big business. We are most certinly not a true democracy, when corporate lawyers, CEO's and lobbyists, are allowed to dictate the future---the very lives, of millions of Americans...and the rest of the world.

The name of the film is "Power Paths," and it appeared on Independent Lens on PBS (Public Broadcasting Corporation).

My e-mail's inbox was a bit full, and no, I don't want to enlarge my manhood or my boobs, thanks.

I had a couple of meme's waiting for me, so I'm back with a typically boring meme:

1. As a teen, did you get along with your parents?

Do any teenagers ever really get along with their parents? It was over 30 years ago, now, so my recollections aren't exactly fresh, but I think I got on pretty well, with my mum and dad, tho' of course, we did have our spats. It was your average teen-parent relationship, probably.

2. What did you do after high school?

Went to college to study western horsemanship/stable management, that didn't work out so well, so then I went to a national park 2000+ miles away in the Rocky Mountains, to learn the cooking trade.

3. What are your politics?

Definately liberal...democrat..I suppose the UK equivilent would be labour.

4. What matters to you most, materialistically? What's your favourite possession? What's your most coveted possession?

Oh, I don't know. I have this rubbish oil on board western painting, what's known today as "outsider art," by a black man named George Hoose, that my aunt gifted me for my 7th birthday, which I treasure. I had a decorative Victorian-era Saxony wall plate, of a gentleman and lady fox-hunting. It disppeared somewhere between Glens Falls and where I'm living now, but that was my second-favourite possession. And, my computer and my books, they mean a lot to me. My Dr Who DVD's mean the world to me, as well, of course, a couple of my model horses and my Tiffany stained glass museum poster, as well as some framed family photos. Those are my favourite possessions, I suppose. Oh, and my "new" used sofa, love the sofa.

I'm not sure what my "most coveted" possession would be, to be perfectly honest. I'd love to own my own saddle again--(saddles are no more all alike in style, size and comfort than autos are), or a older model Ford Ranger, maybe a camera or a tape recorder...I really guess right now, I'd love a tiny kitchen table, so I wouldn't have to eat off the trunk/coffee table, or at my computer desk. But, I don't care if I never get any of these things. I have what I have, and that's good enough for me.

5. Non-materialistically, what's important to you?

That's a bit of a transcendental question. I suppose I should say: friends, my pets, poverty-health care, social justice, environmental conservation, compassion, empathy, good manners, education, respect for others, the arts, preserving and studying our history.

6. What do you think about texting and deliberate mis-spelling of words (such as 'kewl')?

Well, if people think it's "kewl" to look like you're too iltterate (stupid) and/or lazy to make the effort to communicate properly, fine.

7. What do you think of boys who wear their trousers around their ass?

I think they look just as ridiculous as those guys who sport a soul patch on their chins, or middle age gents who wear comic book tee shirts, or elderly men with pony tails.

But again, if boys want to look silly or not dress their age, hey, that's their perrogitive, and I won't hold it against them...tho' I won't promise not to giggle behind their backs. I still wear a cowboy hat sometimes, and backwoods togs, so I've gotten giggles behind my back. You learn to live with it.

8. Do you like to shop at Walmart? (Asda in the UK)

I shop there when I can't afford to shop elsewhere, but it's not my favourite place to shop, no.

9. Do you ever shop at TJ Maxx? (TK Maxx in the UK)

When I can afford it, yes, I do like to shop there. I only go there about once or twice a year, tho', if at all.

10. List 10 of your current favorite musical acts:

The Gaslight Anthem
The Kaiser Chiefs
Michael Mazzarella and the Rooks
The New Pornographers
The Proclaimers
The Fratellis
The Takeover U.K.
The Rifles
Enter the Haggis
Strawberry Fair

11. Any new acts you've listened to, lately?

Well, new to me--what's new to me, may be old to most of you, I don't know. I've been pretty much out of the musical loop for a while.

I'm always sniffing around the 'net, looking for new artists to listen to. Lately in the past few months, I've heard these acts for the first time:

Soul Asylum
Divine Comedy
The Light Wires
Dodgy
The Submarines
Bat for Lashes
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Duke Special
The Verve
The Redwalls
Lakes
Dave Porter
Hale
Lifehouse
Aerogramme
The Style Council
Swan Lake
Seven Mary Three
Spoon
Stairwell
Strawberry Fair
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Ordinary Boys
Sash!
The Magnolia Electric Company

12. How much television do you watch per day? How many channels do you get?

I've only just got TV for the first time in years, yesterday. I guess I watched about 2 1/2 hours last night, and about 30 minutes, today. I think I get about 10 to 14 channels.

13. What did you watch on television last night?

BBC Worldwide news, Antiques Roadshow from Louisville Kentucky, and a show called Super Nanny.

14. What will you watch tonight?

Well, there's that Nova documentary on PBS, Becoming Human, which looks fantastic. I studied some of that stuff in my archaelogy course, so I think I'll enjoy that. I have no clue what else is on. I will probably watch BBC Worldwide news again, I suppose....I'll have to think about buying a TV guide when I go shopping tomorrow, maybe.

15. Last three songs you heard?

Canadian Rose by Blues Traveler
To Die a Virgin by Divine Comedy
Shimmy Low by The Clarks

Well, I'm in my new digs. The cable guy just left, so I've got phone-internet-televsion, now.

Flame spent part of the afternoon checking out the cable guy's bum...beat me to it. He wasn't half bad from the front, either.

Be blogging again in no time, now.

Big Day is Tuesday, but I'm still getting ready for it.

I have to shut down this blog for a week, but I'll be back in no time at all. I've closed commenting temporarily, so my lovely friends, advert spammers and internet troll assholes alike, are all simply going to be plumb outta' luck.

Still sick--very sick. I was better, but no I've developed bronchitis, and am quite tired and feverish this am. Oh, I'll be fine. I'd rather a cold than a bad back, or something more serious.

Flame has been making a nusience of herself lately,. She's got this new thing, where she sits in front of my monitor, to get attention. Normally, she sits on the back of my chair, reaching around and poking at me me in the arm or shoulder with her paw. Nag, nag, nag. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do--and Flamey has elected herslf.

It's overcast today, but not so cold as it's been.

That stoner girl downstairs last night, made me so glad I'm leaving this armpit in the southern Adirondack mountains.

Some class at the local community college up the road did a study of local women, recently. They went out for two weeks, and randomly surveyed women on the street who reside in this city, asking if they are or ever have been, in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship with a man. 87% said yes, they had. 4% said no, the rest wouldn't answer the question.

And people wonder why I stopped dating, in 1997.

Hello, bad idea in this part of the world.

American men largely are irresponsible, prideless, adolescent morons, I've had the misfortunte to discover. Not all,tho'. I found that there's some really cool guys out there, a few whom are a real pleasure to know...but they are the exception, not the rule...and about half those men whom I've met and enjoyed their company, are gay, ha-ha.

I think the thing I'm going to miss most about being offline, isn't blogging, but music. I only get one station here--the old fart's easy listening station, which is really bad--and I like easy listening, normally.

Don't own many CD's, maybe six or eight, I guess. But they'll just have to do, I suppose. If I still owned a tape recorder, I could have made some mix tapes...but I don't, so I'll just have to tough it out, I guess.

Jeez, it's a gloomy day, today. I feel rubbish, so I'm going back to bed for an hour or so. I have to go out later, and I want to be rested.

Cheers all, see you next Friday, I hope!

In the news is the story where a Northwest Airbus jet overshot its destination by around 150 miles, and had to turn around and go back.

No, really.

Seems the pilots dropped out of communications with the tower at 37,000 feet, and just sort of forgot to get back in touch with them.

The two male pilots were completely unaware that they had flown over--and past, the airport, until a female flight attendtant told them they'd missed their "exit" on their heavenly highway.

The pilots immediately contacted the tower and turned around and headed back to the airport. They'd gone only 150 miles, which isn't far by plane, so the passengers never noticed they were in the air a bit longer than they were meant to be.

Men.

The plane was traveling from San Diego, CA, to Minneapolois, Minnesota. No passengers were ever in danger over the incident. The passengers never learned about the pilot's error, until the local police converged on the plane. The pilots claim they were engaged in a heated discussion, but authorities are looking into whether the pilots may actually have fallen asleep at the wheel, so to speak. Some passengers claimed to be appalled by the pilot's unprofessional behaviour, while other passengers seemed to find the situation rather humourous.