Stories

Monday, September 6, 2004 at 06:24:51 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Sorry for the lack of entries. Becky and I spent most of August camping in San Diego, and it was GREAT!
But for some reason, my guestbook won't add items now. Funny how things just mess up all by themselves.

Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 07:11:49 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
SKEWED STATISTICS: The following statistics are very easy to find.
I just read that 1 IN 2 PEOPLE DIE FROM SMOKING, PREMATURELY.
Um, now, I'm no math wizard, but isn't it true that 1 in 2 of all people die prematurely, depending on how you define prematurely? It seems like the scope of premature deaths varies depending on the statistic being presented.
The average life expectancy is 76 for men and women, black or white. If a premature death is considered to be anything prior to 76 years, half of all people die prematurely, if it's 10 years, all the premature statistics change. This simple technique is called skewing.
I also read that 1 in 4 people die from cancer (25%), 1 in 5 people (20%) of those people die from lung cancer (or 5% of all deaths are from lung cancer). 4 in 5 people(80%) who die from lung cancer smoke. Follow me so far?.
Now again, I'm no math wizard, but doesn't that mean that mean that 25% of 20% of 80% of the people die from smoking...or 4% of people all die from smoking. And if you're like the guru's that blame all deaths on smoking, 5% of the people die from passive smoke and smoking.
They also say radon gas causes 1% of all deaths in the form of lung cancer.
Have you ever even heard that statistic before. You won't, because its not fashionable. I got it from the American Cancer Society stats. The numbers don't add up right for passive smoke. Not at all.
These diversionary tactics are very usefully to those who seem to thrive off of hating smokers, but shouldn't the ordinary person be more concerned about what 95% of the people are dying from? I do know, I have the stats...and you should too?
Heart disease and diabetes are the 2 top killers, and obesity is associated with both of them the in same skewed manner as tobacco (um) abuse. So, now...what's the government going to do, put higher taxes on food...disallow eating in buildings, blame adolescent obesity on children watching adults over-indulge (passive eating). Are fat people going to be eating outside with the smokers in Florida? LOL.
I think societies bigots who 3 decades ago called black people niggers,and 4 decades ago segregated them in buses and schools...have passed on their hatred to the next generations using the same type of labeling techniques they used. That is to say, they hate anybody that's not like them, stupid and ignorant.
I've said my piece...so there...pltpltplt!

Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 06:24:51 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
I wonder now. My Sprint DSL works GREAT, then it's a dog. I always blamed my own wireless networking skills. However, I was debugging a neighbors setup and his network was buggy too. Anyone else have intermittent DSL problems out there? Please write me.

Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 20:38:23 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Washed and cleaned out the truck. We noticed someone had filled up our dumpster with tree limbs 15' long and 4' over the top. Of course, the garbage people wouldn't dump it. So, Becky and I bundled the mess up in the dark. Then we mentioned it to a neighbor. About a half an hour later, I went out to see if it was raining and the tree limbs were gone. Picked up, not dragged. I scanned the neighborhood and they weren't anywhere. So bizarre.

Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 13:39:24 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
After playing with Dream Weaver MX for a couple of days, I finally got a photo album template set up.
Check it out ->The Malibu Experience.
Becky's already planning our next trip in San Diego. We picked up a better tent last night (15'x12'), a 5 gallon solar shower and the required wrist rocket sling shot! I'm ready!

Sunday, August 08, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>

<= Click here NOW. lol. I slapped together an eJournal of our trip to California.
Check it out and let me know what you think!!! At this point, I've only got a few pictures uploaded from the our trip. We're still crispy around the edges from the California trip. I spent the day deciding what software to use to create an eJournal of our trip.

Robert came over with a PC his uncle gave him.
Apparently, his uncle took the PC apart trying to fix something on the CD player, and put it back together wrong. Electrical engineers...jeese. Ya gotta watch how they put electrical things back together! Three wires were strapped in the wrong place. I was scratching my head in confusion working on this PC. The lights to the PC were plugged into the hard drive where you'd normally put jumpers. The TV card I installed in it on Christmas Day last year was all boogered up too. It was just odd, the way it looked and all. Some things still aren't working. I honestly think it's easier to build a PC than to fix one.
Three things you should always get a warrantee on are: a PC , a laptop (especially), and a washing machine.
Get it with in store replacement You can't afford not to. Leave the thing on all of the time! If you're lucky, the monitor/motherboard/power supply will burn out before the warrantee expires in a couple of years and you'll get a new PC/laptop. The way PC's are advancing, most PC's are out-of-date in a year or so. Things stocked last year are mostly obsolete. Always buy a warrantee on laptops and washing machines and you won't be sorry. It's the best bet in town.

Saturday, August 07, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Got home around 3:30am this morning and my brain is fried. All achee from 12 hours of driving, spent the day unpacking, then sleeping, then staring at the wall. Becky and I discovered our tent was stolen and it had to be someone we know. bummer.

Friday, August 06, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Packed up everything at Malibu RV Park
We hung out with some neighborly campers (Cindy and Donna). Everyone thinks they're gay. lol.
Met Mike Ginsburg in Hawthorn, CA..
We ate mexican food at Paco's Taco's near LAX. I told Mike we'd eat anyplace he wanted as long as it wasn't a Peter's Hotdog Stand (they actually have these there). Mike was looking good, and in good spirits.
We went back to his apartment, and what I found was strange.
Orange and LA County State Beaches don't allow tent camping.
Oh, and you're not supposed to smoke on the beaches either. LA is such an odd smoggy place.
We were exhausted from another day driving through LA traffic, and our only choices were to go home, or try to find a camping spot in San Diego. We decided we'd just go home.
When we got past Baker, CA, we took a nap off of some exit for about 30 minutes. I popped a movie (Stargate) into the laptop for the rest of the drive. The surround sound from the new truck speakers was incredible. The movie ended about 2 miles from home which was perfect.
We got home around 3:30am. Our vacation was over and we'll remember it for the rest of our lives as a high point.
It's nice to take some time out to enjoy life.

Thursday, August 05, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
We took off for Universal Studios around 10amish this morning.
There, we did Waterworld (***), the Tram Tour (***), Mummy's Revenge (*****), Jurassic Park (****), Backdraft (**), Van Helsing's Castle (***), Blues Brothers (***), Spiderman (***), the escalators/view (****), and Back to the Future (****).
The park closed and, we walked around Universal City (*****).
Universal City is a great place to hang out at. They have excellent food, shops and dance joints. The music was mostly from the 80's and the town kind of reminded me of China Town in San Fransisco. The buildings were about 3 stories high, and the streets between them were about 100' wide. I ordered a shrimp plate from a Cuban fast food place. Now, for $8, I got a plate wih 6 of the largest grilled prawns I'd ever seen. The sauce was great and the portions were oversized. It sure beat tha skinny little hotdog I got with a bag of chips for $7 inside Universal Studios.
We ended up at the Rumba Room watching people dance. I don't drink anymore, so we just spectated. It was fun watching these coked up people dance. They had to be coked up to dance like that. Either that, or my mind was going in slow motion. These people were dancing like Jackie Chan on fast forward scan.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
When I woke up and I had Becky pinned against one side of the tent. The slope was that bad.
Got up and made coffee. The slope was SO BAD, I kept spilling my coffee everywhere and my socks started to smell like cheese whiz from it all. We relocated. The new site was PeRfEcT! The showers were no longer a tiny speck on the horizon. They were right there, and the view was awesome!
We ended up spending the day on the beaches and driving around sight seeing.
I found out I could float like a boat, and belly surf like a whale in the ocean waves. Becky, on the other hand, didn't quite make it passed knee deep. Those waves tossed her around like a sock in a dryer. It was quite a sight! The water seemed cold at first, but once I cleared my nuts and nipples, all was swell.
We ended up taking NR-9 (California's idea of a road name) 20 miles to Calabasas. The hills, canyons and rivers along the way were spectacular.
Around sunset time, we stopped at Venice Beach. I'd swear that Venice fell out of time warp from the 60's. The shops were retro. The art was pshycodelic if not just plain odd. Most of the people were freaks. It was quite a thrill! We watched the sunset over the ocean. Once again (*****).
We picked up some samon and sord fish for BBQing, but by the time we got back, we were dead tired.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Took off at 8:50am on our way to heaven on the beach.
Caught some rough traffic on I15. Finally got to Malibu RV Park around 3pm. The site we got was all they had available at that time and it was sloped.. I can honestly say my cup of coffee was both half empty AND half full.
We unpacked to find we had NO TENT!!! OUCH!
So, we searched the beach stores everywhere for a tent. Finally we found one at Malibu Hardware. It was no bargain, and it was puny compared to the tent we should have had. I guess I should say it was cozy. My queen airbed filled it up...but oh well, it was home.

Monday, August 01, 2004 at 00:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Spent the day packing for the trip. I looked everywhere for my new tent. Somewhere along the line, I figured Becky or I packed the thing. Anyway, we got semi-packed, maps printed, eTickets for Universal Studios printed, and GPS working on my laptop. Everything seemed great until Becky and I started to play games at this new website. The games had somekind of virus and I ended staying up until 3am. blah.

Sunday, August 01, 2004 at 22:24:32 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
I moved Chuck (a friend) to his new downtown apartment. Its pretty cool. $400 for a studio with it's own bathroom and fridge aint bad. Not bad Chucko! However, my hands are all sliced up with splinters, my back is killing me, and I must have at least 10 new bruises, All from two days of moving. Today was Chuck and yesterday was moving a truck load of carpet and a camper shell.
That camper shell must weigh 150lbs, and I put it on there myself. I have good techniques when it comes to moving heavy things, but I suppose there's a limit to what I can do. bwahaha-ouuuccchhh.

Sunday, August 01, 2004 at 11:06:46 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Thinking about programming and today's technology
What today's programming lacks is structure.
It used to be that you started coding every program with a paragraph of code that told the computer (and other programmers) what the program is going to do. For Example:
Program Main.
- Perform Buy-groceries.
Exit Program.
Buy-groceries .
- Perform Get-grocery-list.
- Perform Go-to-the-store.
- Perform Get-groceries varying grocery-list-item-number from 1 by 1 until all-groceries-items-are-found.
- Perform Pay-for-Groceries.
Go-to-the-store.
- If the-store-is-walking-distance then
-- Get-The-Keys, Goto-The-Vehicle, Drive-To-The-Store
- Else
-- Walk-To-The-Store
- End If
- ...and so on
In today's programming, you have to find where a program seemingly starts. It may be in the middle of the code (and it usually is). The real heart of the program, however, is not even in the code.
The heart of windows programming is a hidden loop that processes the keyboard, mouse and other incomming events. Everything is supposed to be simpler to the programmer because he just fills in how the program will react to various stimuli. I've written these loops before and they're simple if you can see the code. If you can't see the code for the loop, EG-it's in the compiler or in a library somewhere, you have to know what the code does by reading a book.
Honestly, about the only structured code I've seen in todays programming languages is HTML (what produces this web page), but it's all top-down coding. That means, instead of performing Buy-Groceries which performs each detail, you just do each detail which is tedious and lends itself to repetitive code.
I should write a book. Today's coding techniques, with its objects, properties, events, and properties seems scattered brained at best...consider these Visual Basic code events (Form-load, Form-Paint and Form-Initialize), which one comes first. There are several ways to figure this out: read a book, debug the program or learn from co-developers. And consider this, where a VB program starts isn't even confined to a particular name, it's defined by clicking deep into Visual Studios menus...it's not simple getting started in todays languages. You have to read a book or use a wizard.
Then to add to todays programming mania the ever changing terminology
Every new release of software development tools comes with its own new terminology. Everything is close to working like the old release, but it's called something different...EG: yesterdays Project Groups are now Solutions. Considering that this is what you double click on to start coding, its an unnecessary change. It looks the same to me, that is, once I've figured out that someone, for some reason, didn't like the old name.

Sunday, August 01, 2004 at 10:07:46 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Becky's kids are back with their GMa, now. We're free again!!!
We took Dustin and Jennifer home last night. I'm happier, Becky's happier, even the dog is happier. The birds are singing! How sweet it is to wake up at 9am! I doubt if I'm going to miss being woke up because someone can't find their socks.
I put a camper shell on the truck yesterday.
My neighbor (Rico) gave it to me. It's an aluminum shell thats not too big, but not too small. It's 25 years old. Honestly, it looks kind of odd on a late model Ford Truck, but it will do for now. We can finally go camping now.
We're going to camp off the ocean for several days.
I've got several spots picked out just north of LA, between Malibu and Topanga Canyon. When we get back home, we'll return to normal living.
I've got some books to go through (several thousand pages).
Visual Basic.Net: I'm pretty deep into it already. I acquired Visual Studio Architect awhile back, but haven't got to play with it much.
Dreamweaver MX: Dreamweaver seems to be pretty straight forward, but the books always have those little things you miss by just clicking around.
Web Development: It covers all aspects of web development.
EBay for Dummys: Actually, Becky's going to play with it. She's already gone through 80 pages.
I figure at the bare minimum, I'll get certified. Then, I can put a bunch of letters after my name that'll show I'm one of the good ol boys and that am back in business to stay. It's really to bad Rob didn't take a little time out to do the same thing.

Friday, July 30, 2004 at 00:54:31 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
So, from the below statistics it looks to me like:
In the US: 1 in 4 people actually produce something tangible, 1 in 3 people talk it, and all the others grease the wheels.
As far as the world goes: The US produces almost as much as the rest of the world combined.
Wow!!!

Friday, July 30, 2004 at 00:05:02 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
CIA stats: I just got these percentages of the labor force in the US
Managerial, professional, and technical 31%,
Sales and office 28.9%,
Manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts 24.1%,
Services 13.6%,
Farming, forestry, and fishing 2.4%
In short, America produces next to nothing
I also found out that Nevada's Gross National Product (GNP) ranks 6th in the nation per capita.
For The Gross Domestic Product of the world's territories
(GDP = consumption + investment + government expenditures + exports - imports)
(Expressed in trillions)
US-10, China-5, Japan-3.5, India-2.6, Germany-1.8, France-1.5, UK-1.5, Italy-1.4, Russia-1.3, Brazil-1.3, S Korea-.9, Canada-.9, Mexico-.9
Languages: English-82%, Spanish-11%, Chinese-.7%, French-.6%, German-.5%
There are 290,000,000 people in the US.
If my math is right, the average contribution per person was $50,000 last year
I just thought these stats were interesting.

Monday, July 26, 2004 <Jim Cutlar>
Becky slept in all day. I played with Dreamweaver MX.dull

Sunday, July 26, 2004 <Jim Cutlar>
Swapped beds with a neighbor.
The little ones messed up my 9 year old laptop, and I don't have 36 floppys to reload its windows with. Becky's laptop has a virus a record 3 days after loading it. A lot can be said for, if you don't know what something is, don't click it. EG-Hdformat does not mean Hot Dogs For Mat. LOL. dull day.
Becky reloaded her laptop herself!
I had her use my notes, and add to them with her notes. In particular, she can now read/create/follow her own shorthand for the clicks and text enteries necessary for the 6 hour process. She even got her network working!!!

Saturday, July 25, 2004 at 07:12:41 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Went to Chuck's Shephards 21st Birthday Party
You can't beat a party when it's 5 houses away.
WELL, there was food and drinkin and jokin and laughin and singin and I'd say the party was a success! Chuck knows some attractive people with hangovers today I'd bet.

Friday, July 23, 2004 at 22:28:38 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
MARTHA STEWART'S TIPS FOR REDNECK
1. Never take a beer to a job interview.
2. Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them.
3. It's considered tacky to take a cooler to church.
4. If you have to vacuum the bed, it is time to change the sheets.
5. Even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it is still considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home.
DINING OUT
1. When decanting wine, make sure that you tilt the paper cup, and pour
slowly so as not to "bruise" the fruit of the vine.
2. If drinking directly from the bottle, always hold it with your fingers covering the label.
ENTERTAINING IN YOUR HOME
1. A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.
2. Do not allow the dog to eat at the table...no matter how good his manners are.

Friday, July 23, 2004 at 09:56:35 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
JOKE DEFINITIONS
Adult: A person who has quit growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle
Committee: A meeting that takes minutes and wastes hours.
Dust: Mud with the juice squeezed out.
Egotist: People me-deep in conversations.
Hankercheif: Cold storage.
Inflation: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper
Mosquito: a. An insect that makes you like flies better. b. An insect that bites you and flies better.
Secret: Something you tell to everyone in private.
Skeleton: A bunch of bones with the person scraped off.
Tommorrow: An invention that saves time and effort.

Friday, July 23, 2004 at 07:28:05 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
On the good side of the week
1) We fried green tomatoes. My ex sent me her recipe for frying them. She said, you slice them...not too thick and not too thin. I love the way they talk southern people talk.
2) My wireless network running great. Adding a wireless 8.11b card to my server and making some tweaks improved the speed X 10.
3) David is moving out tommorrow. David's a great guy. I know he'll be happier someplace else.
4) The kids might moving out Sunday. Its be a long 4 days since last month.
5) I'm smoking 10lbs of pork. Yum!

Friday, July 23, 2004 at 07:01:33 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Beckys Mom wants to have a special talk with us this weekend
Background: Six years ago Becky's husband went to jail. Becky had 4 kids, no job and no savings. Her kids ended up in foster homes. Becky's mom gained legal guardianship over Becky's kids. She's taken care of them for 3 months by herself, and she stole $400 from Becky to do it.
1) Her mom and her brother kicked Becky out in February. Becky was paying rent, supplying food and insurance for the kids. I took Becky in. She and her brother openned, signed and cashed one of Becky's checks ($400) that came in the mail.
2) She took over Becky's kids. Becky's Mom and brother started to say Becky was a bad mom because she didn't walk her kids to school. I walked out when they said this..
3) She told Becky she could see the kids. But she had to be supervised and get permission.
4) She tried to get child support from Becky, which was stupid. Becky doesn't have a job. Becky's mom's standards have kept Becky from working. Becky's mom was always threatening her, and putting her down and using whatever leverage she had to hurt Becky.
5) She asked us to take the kids one Saturday. She called at at 10am, asked us if we wanted the kids. We said sure. Then she asked when, we said noonish. Then she asked us how about every Saturday.
5) She asked us to take care of them for four days. She had a total hysterectomy. Its been four weeks.
6) Now she wants to abandon them. I can practically see that knife behind her back when she hugs me.
This month has been totally ruined. Running those kids across town twice a day in a six hour period has destroyed the weekdays. This talk is going to end in an argument. She kicked Becky out of her hole, took it over and now she wants us to clean it up.

Friday, July 23, 2004 at 06:40:53 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Ever feel like a worm with electrodes stuck in your box of dirt? I suppose this life is one of natures experiments.
Dustin is my failed experiment. He wanted to read his Autobiography to us, he was proud of it. He wrote about the Cub Scouts. It got a D+, and he was happy about that. I guess that's how he wants his life to be. He's got no ambition at all. He just wants to watch cartoons and play games. The neighborhood kids avoid him. He's got intelligence, but he doesn't like to think. He wants to waste his precious life. I can see already how it's going to go with him. If he stayed here, I'd be cracking down on him all of the time, and he'd end up hating me. I could just laugh at most of the things he says, but he'd end up despising me. I give up. I let him in here and I can let him out too.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 at 23:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
- GIB·BER·ISH (jib er-ish) n. Unintelligible or nonsensical talk or writing. 2.a. Highly technical or esoteric language. b. Unnecessarily pretentious or vague language. c. Cube speak. d. What pompous asses talk about at lunch.
- BLOG (BLawG) n. 1.a. Binary Log. b. A diary kept on the internet so others can read about your puny life.
- BOB (BawB) n. 1.a. Beginning of BLOG. b. A word invented by Jim Cutlar (hey, Shakesphere added 1,600 words to the English language so why can't I. LOL)
- LOL (LawL) n. 1.a. Laughing out loud, done quietly over the internet, usually said to someone you who lives on the other side of the planet that you want to fondle.
It was a computer day.
I spent yesterday reloading the PC while Becky reloaded her laptop. Nothing was accomplished after all was said and done.
My Quick Restore (which took 3 hours after 2 attempts) was Ghosted.
I thought that ghost wipes the entire drive with it's ghosted image. hmmmmm.
Now, I don't understand, how, after loading my PC with just 4 factory CD's, it could get a virus. Norton (which was on my eMachines restore disk) detected viruses again, and once again, wiped out several needed files. The network wasn't connected. My only guess is a virus lives in my boot sector or in BIO's somehow.
Becky's Quick Restore (which took 3 hours and 3 attempts) never worked as documented.
Becky reloaded her laptop to fix several problems, with no success. Nothing was fixed.
I had to create a system floppy and load it with C:\windows\command\*.*, then FDISK the hard drive and remove all partitions, and Format/s it. It took a half hour to find and create a floppy (who uses floppies these days).
Her wheel mouse quit working, and her system never shut down unless you unplugged it. We had tried serveral different mouse types: USB, PS/2, nothing worked except for a serial mouse without a wheel. After all of that, her mouses still doesn't work.
All-in-all, Quick Restores generally suck.
They rarely work the first time. They almost always require some kind of technical expertise.
I remember one time, I had a tech on the phone, he said do this: Go to START, RUN, enter "Regedit", click HK-LOCAL-MACHINE, SOFTWARE, MICROSOFT, WINDOWS, CURRENTVERSION, RUNONCE, right click it SOMETHING, click delete, click FILE, EXIT and reboot. I said, hey, thanks, I never would have guessed that (which was a joke). I've become so ODD that I should have guess that. I wasn't born a nerd, I was made to be a one, and by dingier programmers like myself.
Learning computer secrets is like knowing what the other side of cloud looks like
It's not interesting. The knowledge is useless. The cloud's going to drift away and change anyway. Computer jargon just makes us nerds talk jibberish-see BOB(Beginning of BLOG (Binary Log)).
One thing was good about all of this, my wireless lan is lightning fast now.
I have a wireless bridge and a wireless PCI card hanging off of the PC. Somehow, they work together and increase the speed of anything else thats wireless.

Monday, July 19, 2004 at 21:41:19 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
It seemed the day ended before it began.
We took the kids to school, then watched the "BLUE MAN GROUP" (*****) and "Dead Like Me" (***) dvds. Next thing you know, we're off to pick up the kids. Dang!Oh, and the dog got out and did his thing to the neighborhood. ewwe.
Dustin started lying right away
I asked him if he had any homework, he said no, he got a homework pass. I turned the truck around and we talked to the teacher. She said he had a pass good for one assignment. Hmmm. Dustin changed his story about what he said...just like clockwork.
I read his history homework about the Civil War. He hacked the answers...things like, what was the Civil War about..he said "winning". Who's side would you be on...he said "ours". How would you feel if the war was over and you came home...he said I'd feel good, I'd eat, get some hugs then I'd take a nap. LOL.

Sunday, July 18, 2004 at 21:29:44 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
I suppose it was bad of me, but I got down on David for thrashing my Sunday paper first thing in the morning. I told him we are trying to teach these kids respect for other peoples property, and he's not helping us by doing that. hmmm.
Chatted with Allen in Missouri
He's held himself together for 7 days now. We came up with, YET ANOTHER INVENTION...the TP Parking Meter. It measures feet used per toilet paper roll. For a quarter, you get 5 minutes and up to 10' of paper!!! Another great idea from two of the worlds greatest minds.
Took the little kiddles to GMa's place
We chatted outside for awhile, but it's too nasty out there. Humidity/Heat are a killer right now. Paul was there. He's very happy with his Elections Apprenticeship. THAT'S GREAT!!! Paul, Rob and I went the International Brotherhood of Electronics Workers last summer and applied. I got called but turned them down. Paul finally got called. Rob probably would have been called, but, you might say he lost interest in everything.
Shopped at Fryes
I picked up a 802.11g wireless PC card (for laptops) and a PCI card (for PCs, huh?). They were on sale for far below their marked price. If you shop at Fryes, don't ever believe the sticker price. Also grabbed "The Golden Child" and "The Blue Man Group" Dvds.

Saturday, July 17, 2004 at 23:14:21 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Todays Highlights - Thunderstorms with Pouring Rains, Flooded streets followed by a Wide Rainbow
It rained outside for about 40 minutes. During that time it poured. Dusting, Jennifer, Becky and I went for a ride in it.
Desert storms are so confined. We were on our way to Vo Tech Hill to watch the lightning show and drove out of the storm on the way. Then I made a u-turn, and drove back INTO the storm. The truck glided through the flood waters like a boat. People were playing in the instant rivers. The lightning put on quite a show too. In a short period of time, we had floods, pouring rain, lightning, thunder and in an instant, it was all gone. The only reminders we had that it ever happened were a rainbow, and sand trails left on the streets. Pretty cool.
Dustin was a pain today. I laid into him
Everytime I noticed him, he's doing something disgusting.
- He was bored, and was laying belly down on the floor, kicking his feet, with his hands between his legs. I told him how it looked, but he kept doing it. (He did it in front of the school on the sidewalk, Monday). I raised my voice and he kept doing it.
- Skip and I were talking about 99c shrimp cocktails. If you've ever been to Vegas, you'd know that they are a specialty here. Dustin walks into me from behind. Then I apologized for hitting him with my butt when he walked into me. Skip and I resumed talking, and Dustin steps between us and says Jim, they say, um, gas is cheaper now than ever. I reprimanded him.
- I asked Becky to help me with Dustin. She should use her laptop's power to research ways to help him. She finds a quiz on manners. Dustin wanted to play, and he sat table with us, put his feet up on the seat and started picking his nose. I blew up! He picks his nose in my truck, at the dinner table, in the stores. This kid is just nasty.
- He's eleven years old and still holds his silverware like an ape. I showed him again, for the Nth time He just doesn't learn.
I told Dustin, either he listens, uses good manners, and tells the truth
or when we visit his grandmother tommorrow, we're leaving him with her. I meant it too.
I don't know about Dustin. Either he's just stupid, in which case, he belongs in a cage, or he's rebellious in which case, he needs a good spanking. This being nice crap...trying to talk to him doesn't sink in. He doesn't listen.

Friday, July 16, 2004 at 20:13:24 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
I told David he had to go
I told him too many odd things are happenning when we're gone: Bikes being moved, his window open to cool the world, hand prints on his window, his broken curtain on that side, my tools being scattered around, his friends knocking on the door then walking in, plus they call too much.
I said David, I want my phone back. I don't want to lock the doors all the time. I don't want to worry about the security of my home. Then there's that little matter about paying rent. He's two months behind, and I don't he's going to be able to pay me by hanging out in his room.
He asked for more time. I told him, he's got a week, which means, someone has to be here all of the time, the neighbors will be watching this place, and I'll be recording activity from my neighbors house (they're impressed by the technology)!
Friday, July 16, 2004 at 14:23:12 (PDT) < Jim Cutlar>
Jerry Newberry called!
Being one of my favorite people these days, we talked for about an hour. We actually told Hellen Keller jokes (who?).
Anyway, his brother (Jim) is coming down from Missouri next week, and I'm gonna sprint on over to Jerry's to say howdy. It should be interesting.
At one time I was thinking about buying Jim's liquor store in MO but changed my mind. Being near the Ozarks would be nice, but, being an ex-drinker myself, the temptation to drink the inventory might be too great.

Thursday, July 15, 2004 at 20:23:33 (PDT) <Jim>
Came home last night, two bikes were moved from the carport to the front yard
What's strange is, they were upside down, but nothing was stolen. Nobody here said they did it. Everyone that's come over said they didn't do it. Hmmm.
Becky and I came home a 11:30 today. Davids window was wide open.
I shut it. It seemed strange, cause, nobody was home.
I just pointed out to David, that there were hand prints on his window
It looked like someone opened the window from the outside using both their hands. The prints are 5' 6" off the ground. Both Becky and David suggested maybe someone just put their hand on it to lean on. I said WHAT!!!
I think someone thinks it's okay to come in here when we are gone.
Someone has got to go! This is looking like a replay of 4/21/2001.

Thursday, July 15, 2004 at 07:36:32 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
I read up on people lying last night
-Kids between 2 and 8 lie to test people
They are testing the 'All Knowing' parents, and adults around them.
They don't what things are and how to identify them.
-Kids between 8 and 12 lie to show people they are special
They are insecure and are developing their ego.
They still don't know fact from fiction or how to identify most things.
-Kids between 12 on up lie to protect themselves or others
We all do this, to what extreme though, will dictate how others will think about us. We lie to keep people happy with us, to avoid trouble, to cover embarrassment or inadequacy, or because we don't have a clear distinction between the facts and fiction.
The times to take action against lies is when they cause harm.

Wenesday, July 14, 2004 at 20:55:02 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>>
Went to pick up Dustin and Jennifer at school today. They weren't at the pick up spot. Becky went inside the school, I drove to their house. They were in the school waiting, and said their teacher walked from the school and said they couldn't wait across the street for us, it was too hot outside. We were 5 minutes late, which ain't bad for driving across town. They had 2 school guards within sight, lived 2 blocks away, and were 300 feet from the school. I doubted them, but Becky bought it. My guess is if their teacher didn't want them hanging outside, its because Dustin laid on the sidewalk kicking his feet yesterday and it looked nasty.
We went to their home to pick up extra clothes. Dustin said, I don't need any more clothes, I have 11 pairs of clothes.
I told Dustin that was a lie. He said he was just guessing...he really had 5 pairs. I had Becky to have him get some more clothes.
I noticed it was raining in Red Rock Canyon, so I decided to take everyone on the loop.
It was beautiful, however, the conversations seemed to come from planet Pluto.
We were in a canyon, with 800 foot walls, red rocks surrounding us, and I think I'm the only one that noticed how awsome it was. No, I didn't see dog faces on the walls. I didn't care about an ant (hole), or a spider web on a plant. We have that in our front yard. I did take some great pictures though. I think I'm the only one who enjoyed the trip.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 at 20:55:02 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Today started off nice. Up at 6am, doing some things on my laptop.
Then Dustin knocks on the door and says they don't have breakfast at school today, can he eat some cinamin twirl toast cereal.
I said to Becky...doesn't that sound like a lie. I verified it with Dustin. I talked to Becky about it obviously being a lie. Becky and I go in kitche, she checks the calendar, it said they have breakfast pizza. Dustin's munching on his cereal.
I told Dustin he lied to me! He kept munching. He said, no, I said they didn't have GOOD breakfast.
So, he lied again. I grabbed his spoon, threw it, and took his cereal.
I told him he was not going to profit from lying to me.
Dustin cried, ran away.
Jennifer lies saying, no, I think he said he didn't like the breakfast at school today. I'm saying WHAT!
Becky comes in, lies saying Dustin said he didn't like their breakfast. Later, said she didn't hear him say anything.
So, here I am, all alone.
Three people telling me the sky is green at noon, when I'm seeing blue. That ain't right.
I suppose, Becky is just defending her kids, and Jennifer's just talking to talk, and Dustin never comes down from this game he constantly plays (after spending over 5 hours with him today, I'm convinced he NEVER tells the truth).
I really didn't even care about him eating cereal. I didn't care about them serving breakfast at school either, but if they weren't, we could have taken off at 15 minutes later, and I could have finished what I was doing on the laptop.
I wanted an ounce of truth and got a pound of lies.
So...what to do...hmmmm. I started recording all of our conversations because I know the sky isn't green. GTFO time?

Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 14:17:26 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
DVDXcopy didn't work. :(, AwE mAn!
Well, yesterday was definetely an off the cuff kind of day:
- Becky and I picked up her kids at school.
Dustin looked like he was humping the sidewalk. He said he had to use the bathroom.
- We went to her old house to find the laptop I was letting the kids use. Couldn't find it my laptop .
- For the heck of it, we went to Tony's place (where Robert lives) it was supposed to have been broken into and robbed .
- Tony was there (he supposed to be moving in with his dad ), with no intention of moving.
- Nothing at all was stolen .
- I found my laptop in Roberts room.
- The apartment door had been jimmied, but Tony said told someone to do it, it was okay.
- Robert had not been kicked out , like I was told, but he will be if he does pay rent.
My feelings are hurt from all the lying.
- We got home, and Dustin said he forgot his homework. I hit the roof. His last report card he got an F in 1 out of 5 classes. Before that, 3 out of 5. Most of the bad marks were him not doing his homework.
I asked him repeatedly why he didn't have his homework. Dustin lied everytime he answered me. He's learned to lie, mixing truth with lies, but he's terrible at it. He stutters too much, and says UM, WELL, I UH, which is a sure fire sign of a lier.
All I know is, bad liers make me wanna ralph (sorry to all the Ralphs out there, its an expression).
The only good liers I know are intelligent, have good memories, coordinate their lies with the truth and plan their lies well. I avoid them like the plague.
I suppose I should be grateful that I only know a few liers, and they are terrible at it.
hmmmm.

Sunday, July 11, 2004 at 17:13:48 (PDT) <Jim>
Oh yea, I'm downloading DVDXCopy Platinum (no keygen needed).
I'll let everyone know how well it works. Honestly, I'm just looking for a simple program like DirectCD to create CDs and DVD's with. With the mix of operating systems I've got in this house, its difficult finding any format that simply works on all PC/Notebooks.

Sunday, July 11, 2004 at 17:05:33 (PDT) <Jim>
Thanks Mikey!!! LI Ice Teas are a delicious way to get inebriated. :)
Man, there goes the phone AGAIN.
Hey Mikey -> Hopefully Michelle from Resource 1 is going to call me about a job in S. Illinois. It sounds like another DDL/SQL conversion project. I need a 6 month vacation from the 3 year vacation.

Sunday, July 11, 2004 at 16:35:06 (PDT) <Mike>
I may hate computers, but they make interesting bed fellows..... Had a great time at GL4Fish Friday night.... Got a bit drunk, if you can believe that. LI Ice Tea, two bottles of wine for three people, and then a hard drink followed by two glasses of champagne. My regards to Ms. Rebecca, and give Dustin a kick in the pants over those grades of his. Those grades are shameful, even for a LV child. $$ in the mail early this week for you, my buddy.

Sunday, July 11, 2004 at 16:31:16 (PDT) <Mike>
Hay Jimmy... How do you make "Dirty rice"? I mean, what's your receipe? I just buy some flavor of rice I like and throw it on the floor, mash it up a bit and then scoop it up. You've got "Dirty rice". Interesting entries on your BLOG.....

Saturday, July 10, 2004 at 21:06:15 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
1) Robert just called, said his apartment was robbed and his truck has 2 flat tires.
He said he doesn't have the keys to his truck. They took the PC, playstation and 2 TV's.
Tony (his roommate) has been kicked out of his apartment, and is going to move in with his Dad (who lives in Tonopah).
Robert said he is in Blue Diamond, with Joy and their dog. He said Paul had called his auto insurance and they couldn't help him. He said his truck was towed to Blue Diamond and is on blocks.
Robert said, that Paul said, D.O.G. (Roberts snot slinging dog) could stay at his house, but but Robert and Joy (Robert's girlfriend 6 months pregnant) couldn't.
I Know I stuttered. I'm turninging into a blithering idiot.
2) We called Paul on the speaker phone.
Paul said he barely talked to Robert. Paul said, that Robert said, that he had 3 flat tires and that Robert had his own auto insurance. Paul said, he told Robert, whatever it is, I can't help, I have no money. Paul said they didn't even talk about the dog.
3) Dustin came in and told Becky his sweaty Pokemon cards were worth $135.
He told Becky this one card was worth $5. I told Dustin, he should sell it then, and buy 10 more cards. Then, later on, I made a copy of his $5 card. Then we cooked up a scheme to print 1,000 of them, plastic coat them, then sell them all for $5,000. Then we could use the money to help Robert and his pregnant girlfriend. LOL.
4) Jennifer asked for a Cola.
I said to Jennifer, that I'm glad she's thru bed-wetting, give me a big hug! She said, yea, I can hold it for 12 hours, and if I need to go while I'm asleep...I wake up and go.

Saturday, July 10, 2004 at 12:26:45 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Jennifer just showed us an angel with wings. I asked her why angels needed wings. She said because they can fly. I said, then they fly on air...do they breath air...she said they can breath anything. I said hmmm, if they have to breath, then, when they can't breath, they die, where do they go...She said HEAVEN!!! But they are in Heaven...Once again, 2+1=5. I love the logic of religious people. But, they're cool with me as long as they don't tell me that I am going to their idiologically custom built hells.

Friday, July 9, 2004 at 23:25:15 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
We saw Chuck and Patti at the Tailspin Bar/Grill for an hour tonight. Chuck helps the band. If I were still a drinking man, that is where I'd go to party. The Tailspin is only a couple of miles away, has the 80's feel to it and the band was excellent. I found it a little cramped for all that they offer, and they lacked a dance floor to get crazy on.

Friday, July 9, 2004 at 16:00:00 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Took some DVDs back, bought $140 on groceries for everyone, made Gazpacho and dirty rice. That took up 5 hours of my day.
My Gazpacho Recipe: 6 fresh tomato's (blanched, peeled), 1 cucumber (seeded), 1 onion, 2 stalks celery, 1 bunch of cilantro, 6 cloves garlic, 2 cans tomato sauce, 1 can minced clams, 3 lemons. Chop all veggies. Salt/tabasco/pepper to taste. Add 2 ounces of vegetable oil for preservative purposes. Thinly slice 1/2 lemon for decoration. It's a Gourmet's delight!
Makes 100 servings. LOL. Last 2 days around here. I'm hooked on it!
My Dirty Rice Recipe: 3 lbs hamburger (boiled, chopped, strained to remove water and grease). Fry the hamburger with chopped onions and garlic. Season to taste with soy sauce, accent, onion salt/powder, pepper and salt. Add 2 cups minute rice, 2 cups water and simmer. It is delicious.
Makes 100 servings. LOL. Last 1 week around here, I use it for dog food too.
Oh, I was eating some dirty rice and offered Dustin at taste of it. Dustin looks at it, and says "ewwwwe, what is this!". I hit the roof as he was digging around in it with my spoon (looking for what he wanted to pick out of it!). For a welfare kid, Dustin has bad manners and is spoiled.
Both Dustin and Jennifer had much better manners only 4 months ago. I get tired of having to put my foot down on every little thing they do that lacks basic manners and consideration. Guess undoing what someone has accomplished doesn't take long with kids. (someone put a dirty spoon in dish drainer with clean dishes again). A word comes to mind...airhead.

Thursday, July 08, 2004 at 21:42:21 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Woke up with an asthma attack. Becky handed me some Primatine Mist (with pseudophedrine) instead of Albuteral (which we ordered over the net without a prescription for less than prescription prices. The pseudophedrine kicked my butt, so I barely left the room all day. That stuff is nasty.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 21:42:21 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Visited GMa today at 5:30pm. She wanted us to be there at 5pm but I was busy rewiring Skips room for his new phone. (I mean switching Line 1 with Line 2, he has a 2 line phone). It's 9:30pm and I'm pooped. Its been another wasted day in Paradise. Becky and I are going to keep the kids for an extra week, so, next week, I'll be shuttling them across town at 9am and 3pm. And that, my friends, pretty much ruins the rest of July for producing $$$.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 16:30:31 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Skip got his new phone in.
Sonny came over, he bought a HP printer/copier just like mine. I think Sonny likes it! We copied money and our ID's in color. Then printed some print quality pix.
Sonny and I tried to teach Dustin and Jennifer how to hold a knife and fork like most people do. They kind of got it, they being 9 and 11 years old. He said his 15 year old daughter still holds a knife like an ape. Noone's teaching her anything. The lesson may stick this time with Dustin and Jennifer, but I doubt it. Deja vu.
Dustin spilled a tupperware bowl of freshly chopped onions on the floor, and was going to use paper towels for cleaning it up. I got a broom and had him sweep, but he doesn't know how to hold a broom, so I ended up sweeping the onions off of the floor myself. That boy ain't quite all there. Good thing he doesn't read my blog. I'd hate to depress him. But you'd think, Dustin, after getting 3 F's in 5 classes at his school, would be wanting to better himself. He's got no incentive to learn though. He's the product of PlayStations, stupid cartoons, and Yugio cards. He has fights over Yugio Cards. Those Power Rangers kill ugly creatures every episode, and they are dumber than rocks. The Japanese have won the war. Dustin has developed A.D.D.
As usual, Becky had problems playing games with her mouse, and we messed with her laptop forever, then my little laptop wouldn't work and I gave up on it. May as well, just throw them all into the closet if people don't quit inviting viruses in. I hate to do it, but I may end up reloading my entire home network and passwording everything, and securing everything. But then again, its theirs only 6 on this network, it seems like too small of a group for that.
Blaaaahhh.....another day, shot to hell!!!

Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 10:18:50 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
The phone rang twice this morning for no good purpose (solicitors), so I decided to get up. Then Dustin knocks on the Bedroom door. The second time...I just said what! We're not dressed, don't wanna get dressed...WHAT!!! He said, um, what time are we going to see Grandma today? I said WHAT, this afternoon, of course. She just got out of the hospital, and she's/we are just waking up. So, I suppose he went to the neighbors house to mooch some Playstation while telling DJ (their very intelligent son) that he's glad to have him as his friend. He knocks on their door at least 8 times a day.
Anyway, realizing Dustin was bored, I got up, made some expresso, sat down with Dustin and Jennifer at the table. Dustin goes on, Jennifer, remember that kid, who used to pick us up, well, sometimes he'd pick me up from school, after the bell rang, and I'd sometimes, well, most of the time, do my homework, do you remember him.
I SAID WHAT!!!!????
Exactly, how do kids think?

Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 10:11:48 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Skip paid ahead for July...what a guy!!!
Becky and I ate at Joe's Crab Shack. I wish they'd bring the Seafood Steam Pot back, but Shrimp Scampi, Fried Oysters, and their double Dip was great.
Got us 2 tiedyed T-Shirts to flirt.
Got Becky up some underwear for flair.
Got some Bourbon for Skip to sip.
Got to-go food for my morning mood. (tacky, I know).

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 11:34:14 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
People are funny!
1) I was helping a guy, who is moving to Missouri Wednesday, move his furniture into a storage unit. I said "I read Missouri had a nasty tornado yesterday. He said, yea, Amarillo Texas is having them too.". Anyone else think that's an odd response but me?.
2) July 4th, someone asked me to turn my truck lights on so they could see the fireworks better.
3) Dustin said a kid on the block said his Dad was going to beat up Dustin's family, and he believed the 9 year old he just met. He warned us. lol
4) Jennifer, who complained the fireworks hurt her ears cause she has great hearing, wanted my 100 watt surround system turned up from half way to full, cause she couldn't hear it. (the windows are rattling from the bass right now).
5) The people who I helped move yesterday, rode the elevator up to where they where they were storing their furniture, but took the stairs down. They said, 'cause it was easier'.
6) Someone just told me, they were told this is the worst time of year to get a job in Las Vegas. LOL!!!
7) I've helped move practically two houses of furniture in one week for absolutely no gain at all. And I gave, then installed a truck shell too. (I did get a Coke and some breakfast out of it all though).

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 09:53:14 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Ya know. I was on the freeway the other day, stopped in traffic, A/C sucking in fresh air to cool down the inside of my truck. I was smoking a cigarette. I thought about the smoking and nonsmoking sections at a buffet I ate at earlier.
See, someone complained about my smoking.
SO HERE IS MY CHALLENGE TO NON-SMOKING COMPLAINERS
- I go into a closed garage and smoke cigarettes with 20 people for one hour.
- They go into a closed garage with their running vehicle for one hour.
Then we'll all come out, and talk about how toxic passive tobacco smoke is.
Of course, they'd be dead from the carbon monoxide emissions from their vehicle, I'd think.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 09:12:53 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Thanks for the entry Becky.
I suppose I got my reward already for helping those people move. I got my Tit for Tat. :)
I've got a family of sorts, thanks to you and yours.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 09:08:31 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Last night, I dreamed that I was at a rave party, and Rob came up to me. He told me his funeral was just a scam, he made a lot of money out of it. He just wanted to let me know that he was doing great. He said he he had a new name, was living in Spokane, Washington with Missy.
Funny how the days turn into your dreams.
I got the rave party from part of "The Matrix" movie.
Rob is dead, but I think he did what he did for the money
Missy is vacationing in Spokane, Washington right now.
And someone asked me what happens after you die.
I'd told them, what's left of you breaks down, germs eat it, other things eat the germs, and maybe in a million years or so, you get to become an intelligent life form again.
That seems like a pretty true statement doesn't it?

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 09:03:32 (PDT) <becky>
Good Morning Babe (bf) How is your back this morning? I'm going to study on driving test online today. Thank you for getting the Black Cohosh for me. I think you should have gotten something for helping Joy's Parents move it just didn't seem right that when you help someone move that it should have been a Tit for a Tat. Love ya Becky :)

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at 08:02:37 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Cooked 3 lbs bacon, 26 eggs, washed the truck, the dog. Becky (my g/f) and I spent 6 hours on the road. We helped Robert (her son) move his preggers g/f's parent's stuff into a storage facility.
So, I've helped people move for two days in 1 weeks time, with absolutely nothing to gain. Some would call me a fool. I know I do at times.
I need to print up a bumper sticker saying "Yes this is my truck, and yes I will help you move". lol.
Seriously though, I'm been dancing around with 'TIME EATERS', as I call them, a little too much lately.

Sunday, July 04, 2004 at 23:17:13 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Well, spent the night partying (soberly) with the neighbors. My brother, Becky, Jennifer, and Dustin went to VoTech hill to watch Las Vegas's fireworks. Its the highest point in the valley and it's one mile away. Dustin didn't want to leave the trucks cause of scorpions, Jennifer wanted to turn the lights on to see the fireworks better...It was an interesting night. The neighbors red taped the road off for X thru traffic...but they only had $50 worth of fireworks. The main party favorite was booze and pot. lol. Those days are long past for me...but it was fun hanging out.

Sunday, July 04, 2004 at 09:41:29 (PDT) <becky>
Hi Babe Good Morning Thank you so much for taking Jennifer & Dustin & me to the fireworks last night. It was lots of fun. Skip gave Dustin a huge bowl of cearel this morning lol!!!. I really liked how your little camera took the fireworks they were great!. Love Ya Becky :)

Saturday, July 03, 2004 at 00:18:55 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Talked to Skip about his wonder drug that lets you live forever (supposedly another Gerovital, Laetrile, HGH) answer to a healthier/longer life. It's an MLM that sells a Mangoxxx juice. I was thrilled to point out those tiny letters at the end of every article, that say its all BS, not to take it's advice, use it as therapy, and to seek a physician for any ailment. I love franchises...they all look the same to me.
The real way to make money is to SELL franchises with your own DNAJavalium Juice from the jungles of Columbia with actors, statements from DR's, and Testimonials...and be sure to include the disclamer statements to forgo the lawsuits and libel laws. LOL

Saturday, July 03, 2004 at 00:11:48 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Took Becky, Dustin and Jennifer to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Bullring), and watched 3 hours of racing and a demolition derby. At the end, they had a decent fireworks display that lasted 5 minutes. It was pretty cool.

Thursday, July 01, 2004 at 21:28:06 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
BTW: What I call a good deed, is something you do nice for someone else, without anything to gain from your action.

Thursday, July 01, 2004 at 20:21:57 (PDT) <Jim Cutlar>
Another day of good deeds. I helped move a friend across town for about 7 hours today, and it was HOT! Everything from a queen bed to a refrigerator. Guess I've still got the physical stamina that kind of labor requires and that's nice to know!
Bought 6 cartons of smokes, laid back, watched tube. Made some smoked pork/gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner. (Just didn't feel like going out for KFC).