FMC 3.0

No, I don’t think I’m getting old. No, I don’t miss the salad days of teenager-hood - the people that say the teenager years are the best of your life must have really, really shitty lives after wards. I mean, school stinks, I’ve never gotten along with it. I like the payoff of working - the actual earning of something, not the potential that spending all the money on school will actually pay off later.

Anyway, that’s another rant.

Where aging sucks is in your pets. As most of you know, my family members are dog people. We’ve had 4 in my lifetime. Well, six, if you count the two my sister has. I realize that everything ages, but since the lifespan of a dog is normally 10-12 years, its a lot more tangible. The affects on humans take longer. You don’t see season by season changes in people like you do in dogs. Also, the effects of changes on physiology can happen more suddenly than it does in humans. I don’t mean heart attacks and strokes, I mean the long term stuff - cancer, congestive heart failure, kidney disease and the like. I guess its all a matter of scale.

Anyway, as I said, there have been 4 Raab-Long pups. 2 have passed on. We’ve had Sunny and Mousse for a while now. A long while. See, this is where aging comes in.

Sunny came to us with an ambiguous age. 6-9. That’s middle aged for a pup to begin with. 3 years isn’t a big span, but think of it in dog years - 21 years. Unless you use the new scale they’re touting, which leaves it as 12. Still a big gap. (The new scale goes something like the first year is the same as 21 years, each year after is 4 more years.) Because of this, we don’t have puppy pictures of her. The closest we have is:

That puts her current age 11-14. She also came to us half blind. However, age has its toll. Her hips are giving out, but she’s always at the top of the stairs in the morning. Her continence isn’t what it used to be. Also new to the list is a shadow on her good eye. She also has moody mornings where she doesn’t want to eat. She even has days where its pretty obvious she’s not herself. There have been a few scares, but she’s always bounced back. Yeah, the day she doesn’t bounce back might be soon. But thats why you enjoy the time you have.

Mousse is the only pure-bred 100% lab we’ve had. He was also the runt of the litter, apparently. (I wasn’t there for the selection, that was my sister’s persistence that made it happen.) Luckily, we have pictures of him as a pup:

I’m not sure what’s more interesting in that photo. That Mousse can be that small, or that my dad can have so much hair AND that it had a color.

At any rate, Mousse to is getting up there. It’s not always easy to think of him as old - he’s always been the baby. Though the signs are there. He’s grayer in the face. He’s bunny hopping the stairs. His first move each morning used to be to saunter into my room, and hop up on the bed. A few weeks ago he tried it, and missed. He feel flat on his butt. He didn’t make any sounds or motions that he was injured, but he didn’t try it again for a while. He eventually got tired of fighting Sunny for floorspace, so he whined at me until I put him up on the bed. It wasn’t until earlier this weekend he got himself back up there. Of course, he did it with no problem, and just like he never had a problem.

Their resiliency never ceases to amaze me. Of course, that’s probably mostly stubbornness. There will come a time, though, when he’ll need me to lift him every time. Just the same as there will come a time when Sunny won’t make it up the stairs. Yeah, its probably sooner than I’d hope. It’s just one of those things where you cross that bridge when you come to it.

Not much going on today. I’m on pup-sitting duty this weekend, and not much else. Prolly clean the dog hair out of the car tomorrow, and mow and stuff.

Just a few interesting things came up around the net. First off, Captain Sulu has come out of the closet. More power to him, but he’s 68 years old. Kinda late to pick up that young starlet now, considering he was famous then. Oh well, at least its good Star Trek news, not another cast member going where no one comes back from.

Also, Delaware made the news today. Unfortunately, like every time Delaware is in the news, it’s bad. This time it’s even close to home (HEY! No jokes about our size, saying its all close to home.) Frederica, this time. Apparently, a woman decided to end it all - and convinced her neighbors she was a Halloween decoration. Not fun, but still darkly funny.

Yay for Mythbusters being back. I like that they listen to their fans, and take on their detractors. It’s kind of interactive TV, if you’re willing to wait a while.

Also yay for Drawn Together’s return. It’s probably more fucked up than South Park, and still funnier. Not for the faint of heart, for sure. It’s nice to know that completely off color irreverent comedy still has a place. It may be the only thing left preventing Lenny Bruce from rising up to start a rebellion against the fascist thumpers.

Oh, I’m storing up a few rants for when I’m really coherent - there’s one about progress coming at some point (once I get photos) and possibly one on jokes becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. There might also be one about work “Holiday Parties”.

Two things left to cover. First, Congress has approved a measure to ease a restriction on NASA preventing them from buying more rides on the Soyuz systems. Somehow rides into space count under arms restrictions.

Second, big kudos to Heather. She snipped of 13 inches of hair to donate to Locks for Love, or whatever that group is called. Personally, I couldn’t really see a difference when I saw it this morning. The girls will just huff at that, but the guys will stand behind their Y chromosomes for defense. The way we see it, anything past the shoulders just leaves it getting in the way of more interesting bits.

If you’re on something other than broadband, today won’t be your day. At least not here at FMC. Pics galore are just below the fold. There’s stuff from hurricane ravaged FL, and a few plane images I bumped into in my travels. But first a little news, and a correction. Also, fair warning: linked images are hi res and huge.

Just came across the airwaves that Shrub’s SCOTUS nominee just withdrew. I’m glad someone had the sense to see she wasn’t qualified. It’s a shame our wise and fearless leader didn’t see this before submitting her name. Shame though, the confirmation hearings would have made for damn nifty TV.

Yay for the World Series being over. Can I have Family Guy, Bones, and House back please? American Dad and War at Home too? Need more laughing, and not just at lawyers.

It’s also a strangely quiet day around here. So far it’s sans pups. They’re off getting cleaned, bathed, groomed, snipped, and all purtied up. May be a good time to get pics of them, since they’re poorly represented in the random themes. (The two pups shown, Murphy and Maggie, have passed on.)

Oh, yes, a correction. In the first round of pics from Fort Lauderdale, I said that the relatively unscathed VW was Sara’s SO’s car, and the Acura Legend was random parking lot fodder. I had that backwards. Jason (the SO) drives the Legend. Before I show you what happened to his car, you should see a pic of Sara’s:

That’s right, saved by 180 degrees difference in wind.

Now on to the real Carnage:

That’s the front of the car.

And the side.

And the rear.

And the extreme closeup.

Yeah, that’s one bear hugged Acura.

There’s also a bunch of pics of trees down, and other collateral damage. A couple stuck out:

One of the trees that pinned the Acura, from the trunk.

Utilities Uprooted.

Don’t even need a gate.

Yikes. Nice to know that storm 24 was named this morning. Who knows where Beta will test.

Well, with natural destruction well covered, let’s switch to man made disasters.

First, just for fun, another reason to not drive a Ford:

(Disclaimer: I don’t know for a fact that its a Ford. But it sure looks like an F150.)

Now, reasons not to fly:

Oh, and an Internet staple:

OK, last picture, I promise, and one that really hurts:

Yup, that’s a Thunderbird going down. Its scary to think that the best pilots in the world can still goof up. I’ve heard the story on that, and if I remember correctly, that pilot didn’t reset his altimeter for the right sea level, and missed the top mark of his maneuver by a few hundred feet. That was mid nineties, I think. Now they have to call altitude before maneuvers so that everyone else can stop them if they goof.

Oh, I knew there was something else. The Element clicked over 6K miles as I was cruising down Rt. 273. Certainly flies by.

Heh, the Bloodhound Gang may be a bunch of 30 year olds going on 13, but that song is kind of catchy. And they mention Wawa on their new album too.

Also, it somehow slipped under my radar that Cartoon Network had starting airing the new season of Justice League. There’s more TV I gotta catch up on. Also, Sci-Fi green lighted another year for the two Stargates. They’ll pay for both of those, but not keep Farscape. Yes, I’m still bitter.

Also, apparently Dr. Who (2005) won all sorts of awards at the British version of the Emmys. Which is cool, cause that was a damn cool show. But then:

is never a bad to have as a female lead.

For the first time in a while I needed sunglasses on the way home. Of course, I needed the shade, and some help from trees as well. The sun’s a tad lower than it normally is. Also got held up at the bridge - where they had two lanes closed to replace a bit of concrete. That makes feel real good, considering the countless times I’ve driven over that section of the bridge they’re replacing.

Have I mentioned that I can’t wait for baseball to end? It’s screwing up all the shows on Fox I want. I want Peter Griffin, not some fluke team out of the Windy City. They’ve royally screwed over some of their best shows just because baseball was on. Who’s gonna remember Bones? Or Kitchen Confidential now? Punks. I bet their ratings this year have sucked too. There’s a good reason for that. Baseball == Boring. There’s no way around it. Waiting for something to happen is like watching NASCAR waiting for a wreck. Hours of boredom punctuated by a few seconds of entertainment. I mean, these sports don’t even have cheerleaders for the downtime. Sheesh.
Sports like that should be broadcast in 5 minutes. Cut out all the boring stuff, and just show the 5 minutes of highlights worth watching. You can cram an entire game of the World Series into a commercial break during Family Guy, and everyone will be happy.

Apparently there may be hope for us all yet. CNN’s got a poll that says only 1 in 10 Americans believe any wrong doing did no occur. Indictments may come down today from the Grand Jury. I think I’ll put on some popcorn.

Oh, and Wal-Mart is evil. But we already knew that. They’re just not feeling the need to hide it anymore.

That question was posed to me last night by mother as I was about to depart for the office. Yes, it is a bit odd seeing me in a jacket before December, as I rather like the cold. At the moment, it’s hovering around 50 degrees outside, and rainy, and my windows are open a crack. Just to let that great cold air in. They had to come a little more closed than wide open, since the wind caused some damage to Legos yesterday. Nothing that can’t be helped, it was just weird to wake up a decapitated AT-AT on my bed. It was a little Godfather-ish. Being rainy, I didn’t want to get work clothes wet. So I gave in. Almost left it at the office this morning too, which would have made tonight suck. I remembered it as I hopped into the car. Hopefully the rain will stop and I can enjoy the 50 degree temps without too many layers.

So I got a request to post a pic of the case in progress with something to give it some scale, since it’s not real clear in the picture. Not being one to disappoint my adoring fans (heh, right) I took another pic with something you all can scale in your head.

Yup, that’s just a simple CD stuck in the center. That give you all an idea of how big it is?

Also, while at Borders the other day (which had been totally rearranged on the inside, so it took a while to find stuff) I was thrilled to see that a new Jonathan Carroll book had been released. Gotta love the imagination and the originality of that guy’s mind. If you’ve never heard of this guy, go find a copy of “Land of Laughs”. Read it. If you get past page 187, you’re hooked. However, there’s not too much weirdness in that book, his more recent stuff is all over the board. I have pretty high expectations for this one. So far, so good.

Ooh, just in. World FerretMan.com Exclusive.
Wanna see what a category 3 ‘cane can do to Florida? Sara (The Existential Esoteric, who claims she’ll soon be the Apocalyptic Existential Esoteric) sent me some picture mail of the aftermath from her cell (she’s fine, just cold, and without power and water. That is, if you believe that 65 degrees is cold. Which most Floridians do.) The pics are from around her apartment complex. The VW is her SO’s wheels. It didn’t get too much damage, the tree is just hugging it. The bush looking thing is the rest of that tree. The other car is another in the parking lot, and then there is one of a lamp post near by.

Ya know, it’s stuff like this that makes Colorado look like a nice place to live.

Finally, this last pic I dedicate to Mr. Dick Cheney: