Xmas

Cool flash mob video.

Looks like I am going to be making a short trip home for Christmas.
Getting home at midnight on the 23rd and heading home on the 26th.
My grandmother is coming up from Florida.

Yesterday at lunch I went to the grocery store and got a sandwich at the deli and then picked up a couple things. I bought some toilet paper that according to the sign was on sale. $7.99 to $5.99. When it rang up it did so at $7.99. I told the cashier and they went and checked the price.
I was right, sort of. The sale had ended a couple days before. Instead of honoring the price, they gave it to me free. That is their policy. Now that is customer service.

Potential for a couple inches of rain today and bad/high winds. Mountains may get 2 - 4 inches of rain and winds up to 55 miles per hour.

Got to run. slept late today.

What is it good for?

Thanksgiving:  Boring

Friday: Boring. Did get some Xmas shopping done at a small local store.

Saturday: Boring. Did get a couple more things at a small local store.

Sunday: Boring. Cold this morning. Headache in the afternoon. Oh wait Wikileaks happened.

Wow Julian, you stirred up a shit storm this time. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Now the U.S. government may be really pissed at you. Please make sure you are hiding real well or you may end up going on a vacation in Cuba.
Wonder who is behind the denial of service?

Really I am quite glad to see these get posted. Not that I am surprised by anything I have seen, but I suspect many others will be. It really just confirms the sleazy nature of politics, politicians and governments around the world. Oh sure there will be embarrassing details and damaging news to come out of this and it will most likely drive many government decisions further into the recess of transparency.

If we acted more like a kind brother or sister instead of a bully we may find that thimgs would work much better for us the rest of the world.

Of course this will not happen as long as we continue to vote for the same fucking sleazebags time and time again.

FIGHT THE POWER.

Thanksgiving Prayer William S Burroughs

Steppenwolf Don't Step on the Grass Sam

Killer tune by a kick ass band. Enjoy.

They are full of s...

So the news story over the last week is about those stupid scans and pat downs at the airport. Yes I think they we have gone too far. Taking off your belt and shoes is also just plain dumb.

The thing is the same people who are raising their collective voices are not complaining that you have give a urine sample to get a job. That you have to take a test, an honesty test, to get a job. They are not complaining about the fact that we are putting cameras all over the country so everything we do is filmed in the name of security.They are not complaining that everything we do in our daily lives is monitored by somebody someplace and that information is stored for us against us in some way, harmful or not.

Doesn't it seem odd that most of the people making the most noise on this issue are the people who preach the politics of fear everyday and it is not the people on the left who are raising their concern..
Be careful about who is raising the issue because the hidden agenda behind may be worse than the product they are bitching about.

If they are concerned about the scanners and pat downs then they should be concerned about drug testing for a job, cameras everywhere you go, the use of your credit report to get a job and a whole host of other issues that invade our privacy on a daily basis. No issues with any of those items then shut the fuck and go get scanned and let them touch your junk.

We the sheeple of The United States of Paranoia must push back against all these intrusions as a whole, but we won't. We are being pushed down a path into the universe of George Orwell.

Over Again

It starts all over again. All least this will  be a short work week. Not sure how busy it will be.
The open house was moderately successful. Nowhere near what I had wanted it to be at all, but we did have departments from a decent distance come to the event. More from agencies away from Greensboro than close to here. Hard to figure.

Lovely weather weekend. Almost perfect in fact. Went to the gallery Saturday and she had a couple pictures on the main display right when you walk in. However she had not put the other pictures out yet. Ugghhhh.
Needless to say I did not leave anything for her to put out. A little disappointing. She is having an open house on Sunday December 12 from 1-4. You are all invited to attend.

Went grocery shopping Saturday night and bought a ham for Thanksgiving. They gave us a gift certificate at work to help with purchasing our holiday meal. Thank you.

Got my Mom some pottery for Christmas. Except for my niece and nephews I am going to try and get handmade items for everyone for Christmas. I think I am going to get my Dad a walking stick from the gallery. This guy carves these things and they a pretty darn nice. Since he likes to do some hiking I thought that might be a neat thing  to get him.

Really did nothing yesterday. Kind of just messed around all day.

Working on a budget so I will have some extra money when I start looking for a house to rent this coming spring.

Peace my friends.

Savannah College of Art and Design theater.

Working at home

Spent a little over two hours mounting pictures to frames last night. Have about 40 or 50 more I can bring to the gallery on Saturday. I really want to go down and see if I have sold anything. Figured I might as well bring some work with me and drop those off. Bulk up inventory for the holiday season.

Other than that it is all quiet at the home front. Going to start Christmas shopping this weekend. Want to get that done as soon as possible. Christmas is fine, standing in line at a store is not.

The leaves here are very good right now. Hopefully I can get some good pictures this weekend. They will not be so vibrant for much longer.

Turkey Day in a week............

Picture is of neon under an awning at an old theater in Savannah. Droid X shot.

Hump Day

Who knew Gwyneth could sing so well. Her first time singing live. Having Vince Gill as your backup is a nice little score.

Have to start getting the store ready for the open house on Friday. I expect it to be very busy. We are having free bbq so you had better stop by for free lunch.

Switched my main email from Road Runner to yankeepez@gmail last night. For some reason Road Runner has a block that does not allow all its emails to come through on the Droid X. Since the Droid is Google based that problem will go away.

Looke like a lovely weekend is on its way.

Humanoid Cartacus

While we were at Kellers Flea Market on Sunday morning I discovered a new flower that looks quite a lot like Mike. The Humanoid Cartacus is a very rare species of blooming flower that shows up in the flower gardens at flea markets throughout the southeast late in the fall.

One of the fun things we did was go to the Oyster Bar and have a bucket of steamed oysters and several Bloody Mary's. It was quite a good time and it is a good combination. We also got to see several zombies walking downtown along the river. Zombies, oysters, Bloody Mary's what more could a tourist want.

They say were supposed to be getting rain. Have not see any yet. It missed us yesterday. My plants would like some water from mother nature, today.

They are starting to have curfews at malls and other places around the area because they say the teens are not safe. They want to have a curfew in downtown Greensboro. The only problem is that all the trouble in downtown has been with adults over 21 with guns. Try and fix that problem first.

Have a Humanoid day.

Picture with the retro camera app on Droid X.

Peace Train

I had a great weekend. All too short as a weekend tends to be.

It was great seeing Mike and Tammy. Although it has been close to a year it seemed like yesterday. That is was is great about seeing friends that you have not seen in such a long time. The gap between visits closes up and things are like they always were. That is what it was like this weekend.

More to come. Pictures and things. Observations and views.

Have a great Monday.

Savannah

Off to Savannah after work today. Leaving work at noon so I should arrive in Savannah around 6 pm or so.
Autumn will be getting in this afternoon and Mike and Tammy will be arriving in the morning. Will be an excellent weekend of relaxation, exploring, getting caught up, and generally just having a good time.
Weather looks to be perfect. Not sure what we are going to do and that is the way I like it. No plans, just let things happen. Maybe we can get out to the beach for a stroll.

Outside of that been busy at work getting ready for the open house next Friday. Hopefully this goes as well as the grand re-opening. Could been a nice little pop for agency and retail business for the end of the year.

Have a great weekend my friends. Have to pack a few things, shave and get ready to head off to work.

Old tourist destination in the Florida Everglades.

Veterans Day

As much as we proclaim to be such a patriotic country one has to wonder why veterans day is not a national holiday to be celebrated like Memorial Day or the 4th of July. Why is it that the biggest way we pay tribute to the soldiers who helped the United States be the country it is today with such things as a sale on a refrigerator or some other mindless sale on a product we really do not need. These men and women have not sacrificed so much for corporations to have sales that are totally meaningless and in my opinion a shameful tribute to them.

Since the end of WWII the American people have become more disillusioned with war because the government has lied to us and the men and women of our armed force about the reason we are going to war and they still send thousands of to fight for things that quite often seem suspect at best.

Why do we not go to war in Africa where there has been genocide committed on its people by the corrupt and ruthless governments. Is it because the people are black, there is no oil or no American corporations have any real money invested in these struggling nations.

When we commit our boys and girls to war it needs to be for real threats to the nation, it needs to be for real humanitarian interests. We need to be told the truth. War is one of the most horrible things that we as a species does to our fellow man and the way it is used is completely disgusting. We send the poor, we send the uneducated, and we send the patriot. When they return the government turns it back with little to care after they come home. The government should be ashamed of itself.

We as a nation, who proclaims to be so great, should pay better tribute to its armed forces with a real holiday and not some hollow sale at your local retailer.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

Thirty Five years ago today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald

Time for a Change

The time change sucks. I do not like it being totally dark at 6 p.m. Why do we do this? I have never really understood the need for this. Have you?

This picture is one of the famous muffler man statues that dot the United States. There are many different variations of these roadside giants. They are a neat little find that many people look for and photograph as they travel across the country. I  have found a couple as I have traveled around. Need to find more.

When are there going to be more new American Pickers. I suspect the show has done much better in the ratings than was expected and they are shooting like crazy to get new shows in the can. With winter coming in Iowa I think anybody who lives in the south better keep an eye out for them. They may turn up in your hood.

Gotta run. Breakfast calls.

Shots

So the whirligig fest was not all that great Saturday. We had light rain a good portion of the way there so that prevented any shooting on the trip down. We did get to go to Vollis Simpson's field where he has his massive whirligigs and we got very lucky then as the sky broke and was quite blue and windy. Got a lot of great shots and got to see the them turning in the wind. Lots of pictures there and a few more stops on the way back. It was a good day though as I had not seen Jacob in a couple years so we had a good time all in all.

Yesterday I went out and got some shots of another roadside art seen called Shangri-La. Those also came out well as it was a clear blue sky. Some more decent shots after that and called it a great day.

Really did not do anything else yesterday.

Decent weekend, hope your was the same.

Savannah this coming weekend.

Vollis Simpson

Here is a little movie about Vollis Simpson and his Whirligigs.


Snow in the western mountains of NC. Some of the ski areas will be open this weekend. Below freezing the next two mornings.

Out for a day of shooting tomorrow with a buddy of mine from Waynesville.
Should get some nice shots. A day of Fading America shots.

Have a happy friday friends.

More of the same

Well now the elections are past. We can have more of the same gridlock that has been the Washington norm for years.

Time to get ready for the next few weekends. Roadtrips await. Whirligig fest this weekend and Savannah next weekend. Woo Hoo.

Very busy week at work. Crime pays me, every week.

Do it..........................

Please go out and vote for the Democrats today. We do not want any tea bags as our leaders. They are wet, soggy and end up in the garbage shortly after use.

It's Changing

Well the weather is going to be changing rapidly from this point on. They are saying there may be flurries in the mountains this week. Goodbye to wearing shorts for a few months.

Saturday I went to the gallery and got the prices all set and signed everything so hopefully the sales will start to roll in. This should be a good time to start as the holiday season approaches and money frees up just a little.

I went to the big farmers market yesterday and that season is just about at its end. There were only about a dozen farmers there and the pickings were slim. Mostly potato's, turnip and things of that nature. The only green I saw was peas and collards. Time to prep the fields for next year.

Not much else going on. Quiet weekend for the most part.

Have a happy Monday.