No persons were electrocuted making this blog

This is the continuing saga of the electrical wiring in our abode.

See, some brilliant contractor many years ago decided to save money by using aluminum wiring throughout the house. That wouldn't be so bad if that same contractor used aluminum rated sockets and switches, but again, in order to save the money, he didn't.

So I'm faced with aluminum wiring and copper plugs and switches. Not so good.

Eh, gives me something to do on weekends.

Plug ready to go in

See, there are three schools of thought--

First--the most expensive and the most work--rewire and replace everything from the plugs and switches right back to the electrical panel with copper rated everything. Quite extensive and entails removing drywall and redoing everything.

Second--Not as expensive, and the least amount of work--buy aluminum rated plugs and switches and swap 'em with the existing 'bad' plugs and switches. Done except the light'll have to go as well...

Third--the cheapest, but requires a little more work--attach 4-6 inches of copper wire onto the ends of the aluminum wire using an anti-oxidation agent. This is the direction I'm pursuing.

This also has the added benefit of making me examine every single plug/switch/circuit in the house to verify electrical safety.

As if the rewiring was bad enough, the very lazy builders decided to add one more additional complication to the mix

Nails thru the electrical box

Yep, to attach these electrical boxes to the studs, the fracking idiots hammered nails thru 'em, thus making it extremely difficult to fit all this new wire and all the marettes back into the box.

But I prevail (as usual)

All done!

So that's one electrical socket down--about 20 to go.

See all wiring goodness pictures--Sparky trying not to electrocute himself

Whilst perusing the internets, I continuously stumbled across this thing known as Wiki.

So I decided to try and implement one of my own--

TikiWiki on Sparky's and Sandy's Space

But I didn't like the look of it much, so it'l probably just sit there for now.

Then I got to thinking--my friend Janey set up a message group--JLug, so maybe I could do that--

Sandy's and Sparky's MEssage Board

I dunno... maybe I'll just stay with blog entries.

Well, turns out that with the other issues with Sympatico, we also could not run a website and have Sandy's VPN connection working on the same link.

No matter what I tried--port forwarding, DMZ, and/or disabling all firewall properties of the router (as well as other things), we just couldn't do it.

As well, it really is slower than cable (at this time) and alot more tempermental--disconnects and the like.

So with a little further ado, we plugged in the cable modem and we're back up and running.

Now to place one more phone call to Sympatico.

Eh, whatrya gonna do?

Now I'll be the first to say that I take some licence with regard to some of the 'life happenings' I've posted here (and in other places). I sometimes add a little embellishment and colour to what actually happened, either to make it more humerous or to focus on the relevant point.

However, I do keep the story as accurate as I possibly can (at least as accurate as my memory'll work).

However, when supposed non-fiction authors 'make up' entire portions of whatever they're 'non-fictioning' about, the trust issue comes to the forefront.

Authors' embellishments mislead readers

Remember the 'Oprah Author' fiasco a few months back?

Of course, this example shows that the guilty may get rewarded even if they admitted to wrongdoing, which kinda defeats the purpose of restitution for wrongdoings (but again, no one said life was ever fair).

My thing, after reading the article, was to come out and explicitly state that what I write right here in this blog is true (unless stated otherwise).

Sandy really did sit on the bottom step and moan 'I ate too much cookie dough'

The kid really did utter "*Expletive!*" when he broke the door on our 'As Is' buffet.

I really did leave the stove on for about 20 hours

These happened. I can't prove to you, the reading audience, that they happened, but, eh, that's where the trust thing comes in. Of course, it really doesn't matter if you trust me or not trust me--no money or such is lost either way.

However, suppose you had to purchase a subscription to read this blog. Would you be miffed if I told 'a tall tale' and claimed it as true?

More importantly (because money isn't the end-all of everything), suppose I had a 'life lesson'--"This happened to me and I did 'x' about it."

"Wow!", you state, "I'm going through that as well! Maybe I should try 'x'! It worked for that Sparky guy--maybe it'll work for me!!"

So you try it and it works. Does the idea that I made the whole thing up (or even just parts of it) negate the fact that it works for you?

Of course not.

For me, what happens when someone abuses the trust that I had in them, the trust is gone. What happened didn't disappear with the trust. Along with that, I won't be trusting that person in the future, however.

It's kinda like that Seinfeld episode when Mrs. Castanza was getting all that advice from George's friend, Ms. Chang. When Mrs. Castanza found out that Mrs. Chang wasn't Chinese (supposedly the Chinese people have a better insight into wisdom than others), Mrs. Castanza got very angry and disregarded all the previous advice that Ms. Chang gave her *even though* the advice was working for her.

Eh, to each his or her own.

As I go through life, I find that wisdom sometimes comes from the most unlikely of places (like Seinfeld episodes). That said, in the end it's up to each one of us to either accept or reject the ideas that we come across, regardless of where the ideas came from.

Don't be angry with the messenger because you accepted the message and then found out that the messenger lied to you--It's the actual message that you should concern yourself with.

I'm not lying!

My good friend Janey "Red Brick" posted a link up on her site to a quiz--

So I took it.

The results?

I'm a 2x2 Lego Piece!



Small and sturdy, you're a 2x2 Lego piece!

What Lego piece are you?

Take Other Caffeine Nebula Quizzes

It's official sports fans--I'm a square.

Most of us believe that 'the perfect life' is not attainable, and those that try are definitely doomed to fail. Moreover, as chaos and entropy theory shows, there can be much beauty in 'non-perfection'.

So with these ideas in mind, think about the following--

You walk into a room that's pristine--white walls/carpet/furniture, and nothing is out of place. All the amenities are available to you. What's your gut feeling about the place?

For myself, I couldn't call it 'home' because I'd be afraid of upsetting the 'perfection' all the time--"What if I get it dirty???"

My idea of comfortable room is one that looks like you can 'put your feet up' on the coffee table or where you're not afraid to get crumbs on the carpet. Sometimes we forget that crumbs can be cleaned up, and that smudges on the coffee table can be wiped off. And if they can't? Who cares?

For here's the bottom line where material things are concerned--material goods are there for us to use, we shouldn't be there 'to serve' the material goods.

So if you're in our home and you accidentally spill milk on the floor (or on one of my RCXes), don't worry about it--that's why paper towels were invented. If you get a few crumbs on the furniture... again, brooms and dustpans, baby! If you accidentally knock a glass over and it smashes on the floor--eh, whatever. In a day/month/year will you care that a glass got broken? I know I won't, even if that glass was part of some ancient dynasty. Accidents happen. Life goes on.

Anyway, I've just noticed that sometimes some people get upset when accidents happen. Accidents (along with entropy) are part of life. Rallying your emotional state into upsetness or anger due to an accident is, in my mind, a waste of emotional effort. Getting the paper towels or a broom and dustpan on the other hand--probably a little healthier outlet.

More on this later...

Whilst reading LUGNET, I noticed that a good friend of mine posted a link to this quiz on the internets--

Battleground God

The quiz, as far as I can see, applies a rational framework to the questions it asks you and finds logical fallacies in your answers (if there are any).

An example of a 'logical fallacy' is thus--

If God can do and make anything, can she make a rock that even she can't move?

(almost like the wonderful little Star Trek episode--Mudd: "Kirk never tells the truth"--Kirk: "I'm lying")

Anyway, try the quiz and see if you get hit with any logical inconsistencies with your belief system.

I can't believe I just said 'belief system'...

Both Sandy and myself are endeavouring to lose a little around the center...

So, as stated in the previous blog, we started the South Beach Diet.

Now we have no idea if we're following all the rules of the South Beach, but we're trying.

First two weeks--no carbs!

Eh, we're managing thus far.

Anyway, I said I'd make supper on Sunday--missed using hte crock pot (best 20 bucks I ever spent), so I wanted to throw some things in there and see what happens (which is what I usually do when it comes to Crock Put Cooking!)

Anyway, I started thinking about it--no taters and carrotses!! (for both are denied in the first two weeks)--What's left for the pot??

Well this is what we did--

We really liked it.

Then again, we have as yet to be disappointed by the crock pot.

So I'm foraging for food last night.

We're on this diet, see--some South Beach thing or other.

When I went for my 'complete physical' the other day, the doc told me that I was 'slightly overweight'--coming in at 198 at 6 foot 1. Yeah, I was as shocked as the next person...

Anyway, the South Beach says that we can't have any carbs for the first two weeks so out goes pasta and other starchy things (NO!!!) and bread products (GASP!!!). Fruits? Nope--too much sugar.

So you can imagine that trying to find a snack at midnight isn't the easiest--considering that cookies, potato chips, chocolate and other usual snack food are all 'off the table'.

So I'm foraging around the kitchen, wondering what I can have beyond a celery stick and some high quality H2O.

Then I remember that eggs are still okay.

Mmmmmmm.... eggs--Ghhahhghghahghhaghhahghhahhhhhhh.... (Homer Simpson drool)

How to do the eggs? Well, looking at the eggs last night I recalled something a good friend taught me years ago--

I don't know where Tim originally got this idea, but I'm glad he shared it with me. When you're 'bach'-ing it, this is a quick and easy snack/meal. I mean I wouldn't invite Jessica Alba over for dinner and whip this one up as the main course or anything, but if you're looking for something quick and not wanting to put alotta work and/or dishes into it, there you are.

And it's pretty good!

So here's the 'riddle'--

I've heard this one before and know the answer, but the first time I heard it, I was stymied--it took a while before it clicked.

All the information you need is right there in the riddle--there's no 'step-dad' or 'adoptive thing' going on (or that'd also be stated in the riddle). Without adding the crazy semantics that these things are prone to generate, I believe there's only one 'really good' answer.

So I won't ruin it (yet) for those that don't know the answer, but the answer, and the difficulty that many of us have in attaining that answer, should make us think about how we perceive people in the world around us.

To start, I've been 'master of my domain' for 13ish years now.

And by 'domain' I mean 'Sparky's and Sandy's Space' and by 'Sparky's and Sandy's Space' I mean the evolution of 'Sparky's Space' to it's current and bestest form, and by 'bestest form' I mean bestest form to date 'cause the best is yet to come...

Anyway, running a website since '93 has had its up's 'n down's, but that's not what this is about.

What it is about is basically the 'where' and 'how'--this website has been hosted in various places and by various ISPs through the years.

From the original couple of meg that Redeemer University College gave me to develop a website back in '93 (I wish I still had a backup copy of that very poorly designed website) to hosting S's & S's S right on my home computer, we have gone thru many iterations.

And now the latest iteration--Nothing to do with the actual website or the location thereof, but the connection that lets you, the viewing masses, get to the website.

When I originally started to host the website on my personal server, I needed a dedicated connection, such as the 'newly offered' (at the time) high speed cable internet connection.

It worked surprisingly well, actually. So I kept with high speed cable and laughed at all those running to sign up for 'high speed' phone connections--chumps--all of 'em.

However, as time progressed and cable bills rose, I have had to re-evaluate that cable vs phone line internet arrogance.

And that's what I've done. Tuesday of this week I called up the very polite and professional representatives over at Bell Sympatico. Talking and discussing the various issues and concerns that I've had regarding internet via the phone lines, my mind was put at ease with the knowledge of the techies at Sympatico.

So I signed up.

Two days later I received all the parts 'n pieces via mail. Having done DSL setups in numerous branches for work as well as for friends, it took no time at all to convert our house to a DSL house

Then with a relatively quick configuration of my LinkSys router, not only did I have Sympatico high speed in the house, but shared across all systems in the house--old hat and no issues there.

The most important bit, and this is where my little learning curve came in--the biggest question of the day--could I get our website working through the shared routered connection?

Sure it's been done before, just never by me.

A setup through the LinkSys router with some port forwardings, and wow! It all works! I love it when a plan comes together...

So now you're getting here thru a phone line instead of cable connection.

Well I thought it was impressive

The bigger issue, at least for us, is that we are saving up for a wedding. And with that comes cost savings anywhere we can. Our cable intenet bill was 80 bucks a month (yeah, high I know but to run this website thru cable it had to be that high), but now our Sympatico bill will be, well, nothing the first month (I love promotions), 20 bucks for the 6 months after that, and 33 dollars every month after that--less than half of what cable was charging!

That was the seller right there.

So we'll let it run for a week or two and see what happens.

If you notice something not working as intended, let us know.

Citizen Kane (1941)

That says it all, really.

Why do we remember specific snippets of happenings through our lives? Memories, even uneventful ones, follow us though our lives like goslings following their mother.

There--a nice, short blog entry for yas!

This may be long, then again, it may be short.

To start, my sister (who just turned 6 squared the other day) and I often watched the telly together when we were younger.

K, this was after the 'television nights' (which I may get into at a future time) but before we were both out of the house--basically teenagers getting along...

But that's a digression.

So Terry and I appreciated many of the same shows. One episode of one show that really seems to have stuck in our minds for apparently no other reason than this very blog entry, was a Twilight Zone episode.

Truth be told, neither of us were big TZ fans. Sure, we would sometimes watch the original series if it was on when we came home from school and WKRP wasn't on at the same time...

But when the network execs started making new episodes in the '80's (after 'TZ-The Movie' was successful), we would sometimes catch a show or two when it was on during prime time.

And out of that viewing experience, there was only one episode that we both remember to this day. A quick search at IMDB.com netted me the episode name--"A Matter of Minutes" (with Alan Arkin--I didn't remember that bit! I love Alan Arkin! IMDB--you're the best!)

Anywho, A Matter of Minutes can be sumarized as thus--

Couple wakes up one morning and realize that something's gone terribly awry with the world. First, it appeared as if there was nothing working--no noise, no electricity, nobody anywhere. They started to look around and notice that things didn't look quite finished, either. Then they heard noises and went to investigate.

They found workers building things/painting things/moving things into place, and a 'contractor' directing the workers (all the workers had blue masks from what I remember--probably to make us think that they're robots or something).

Anyway, this 'contractor' was shocked to see this couple! "Hey! What are you doing here?"

K, the bottom line of the ep, before my vaguely recollected synopsis gets too long, was that the couple woke up 'out of natural time'.

See, as the contractor explained, time is like a series of box cars--each box car is one minute of time, and the next box car is the next minute. He and his workers 'build' each 'boxcar' from scratch. What we know as 'real life' is basically hopping from one box car to the next box car as the minutes go by.

Sometimes the workers screw up, and the contractor uses this example--'It's like when you're looking for your keys--you could have sworn you put them right there on teh dresser, but when you look for them they're not there, but the next minute, when you go back to your dresser, there they are!"

There was more to the episode than that bit--a neat idea about 'approaching time' being like an approaching train, getting louder until it arrives--really nifty, but that's not the point of this pontification.

So here I am, 20 years later, remembering that Twilight Zone ep. I've never quite forgotten it, actually--strange thing--memory (I may have to talk about the best quotation from 'Citizen Kane' sometime).

Anyway, on any normal day I come home from work (or wherever I happen to be) and I take my cell phone off and place it on the landing. Actually, many things seem to congregate on the landing--bills, keys, whatever--It's kinda the meeting place for things that have to go somewhere but haven't quite gotten there yet...

So my cell phone normally is on the landing when I'm at home. I recall that I put it there on Saturday, but on Sunday I didn't find it there.

Maybe I didn't put it on the landing--maybe I put it somewheres else.

So Sandy and I did a "hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area". Actually we just searched the house, looking at the probable places that I may have left the cell phone.

Of course, calling it could have been an option if the battery hadn't have died--note to self--make sure the cell phone battery is fully charged from now on...

And when the probable places had been searched, the impossible places were looked at.

And nothing.

Monday goes by, Tuesday goes by... and still no sign of the phone.

I might mention that our landing way is the most travelled section of our home--just though I'd throw that in here right now for no real reason.

So here comes Wednesday--ahh, the lovely Wednesday...

Since given up on finding the phone, Sandy and I decided to go for a walk after dinner (some physician recently told me that I'm 'slightly overweight' so the gut has to go!). We get our shoes on and I grab the camera bag from the landing...

Pause

Look

Boxcars and guys with blue faces seemed to be going thru my mind, looking for a coherent thought to attach themselves to.

For there, right under the camera bag--a camera bag that I might add that wasn't on the landing during the weekend or on Monday, but was put there on Tuesday night after our walk on that evening--was the cell phone.

The going premise was that the cell phone was conveniently hidden under an umbrella sleeve that also just happened to be on our landing (did I mention that many things seem to find themselves on our landing?) This umbrella sleeve could have potentially covered the phone and maybe, when I put down the camera bag on Tuesday night, it fell off the phone.

Could be, considering the umbrella sleeve was pretty close when I noticed the phone.

I'd rather think that the contractor made another 'oops'.

To sum this all up--happy birthday sis!

Bloomitjes!

I know that we're not updating this blog as much as we once did, but life has a tendancy to get busy every once in a while.

Take this Easter long weekend for example. The idea was for us to do the floor in the hallway on Saturday (Friday, reserved for Selah, saw not much work being done around the abode)

So with the plan in mind, we headed over to our favourite 'big box' store--Ikea--bright and early Saturday morning to pick up a few more boxes of their Tundra flooring. We used the Tundra flooring in our Television room, and wanted to continue it into the hallway and probably the other bedrooms on the second floor of our home. At least, that was the plan.

Oh we got the boxes of flooring all right. However, as we attested to numerous times in this little blog of ours, when we get to Ikea, we seem to find ourselves in the 'As Is' section every time for a quick boo.

Well, we shouldn't have on this particular day. For there was no less than 3 pieces of antiquee furniture that we wanted! So we 'hmmm'ed and 'hawww'ed for a bit. Eventually we picked the glass door shelving unit.

Our new Ikea purchase

Considering we have a wedding Pretty Soon, we decided to limit our 'As Is' purchase to one item.

Well, we get the shelving unit home and realized that we needed to rearrange our living room to accomodate it. The final analysis? Out goes our '70's style couch (the couch donated to the 'Dave Needs Furniture Foundation' by my uncle and aunt when I first bought this place many moons ago).

A quick rearranging and we now have a very spacious yet cozy living room.

Our rearranged living room

Realizing that we were going to Rick and Al's for dinner/wedding cake planning/Settlers of Catan playing in the evening, we didn't have much time to actually do the floor in the hallway. So that was crossed off the plan for the day.

Instead, we set out to work on the back yard. We took the patio furniture out of the garage and set it up. Then I worked in the garden.

Dave with his hoe (well, it isn't a hoe, but eh )

After turning over the garden and moving some cedars, we had a look at the remarkable event that happens every year--the rebirth of, well, everything.

Sprouting rhubarb

Every once in a while one should pause and reflect with regards to Spring. Seriously, after a harsh and frigid winter, the idea that plants actually grow again is astounding.

Peonies poking out from the ground

Anyway, that's as close to 'semonesque' on this Easter weekend as I'm going to get. There are those of us that love the 'blush of gold' of trees in the Spring and marvel at renewal and continuation of life, and life's just too short to convince those that don't that they really should.

As for us and our home, we'll look at the blooming buds for a while this weekend and remember the promises made to us and by us.

The garden ready to go

See all the Easter Weekend pics--Around the house--Easter 2006

Others have said it better, so I'll do 'a blog thing' and just post links with little interjection--

Wafa Sultan on cultural issues in the middle east, Islam, and terrorism

Watch the video and read the subtitles and tell me if it doesn't make you really think about the political and religious issues of the day.

Of course it does. Many bloggers have given their thoughts. Taylor Marsh states it well--

The Bravest Woman in the Whole World

And then one of my favourite blogs--FireDogLake--picked it up--

Moderation in the Face of Chaos

Of course, it would be great if the discussion that Wafa engaged in was leading to a more open dialogue and, dare we hope a good resolution, but alas...--

Dr. Wafa Sultan Seeks Radical Change From Radical Islam

(on that particular news item there's a link to an audio stream--have a listen)

For engaging in debate, her life and her family are at risk.

Why?

Because she dared speak truth to power.

Here's a transcript of the actual video of Dr. Sultan's debate--Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

Here's a part that particularly moved me--

You can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me.

Wow.

That right there is what needs to be trumpeted from the rooftops everywhere.

I also like the bit where Dr. Al-Khouli endeavours to write off Wafa's entire arguement because to him, she's a heretic. As if marginalizing the person makes the point null and void. Oh wait, I discussed that in my last blog.

I'm going to let Dr. Wafa Sultan have the last words here--

You want to know what really infuriates me? People who have this apparently inbred notion that their notion of what's right and wrong should apply to everyone--

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies

Her "Christian faith" compels her to speak out against homosexuality?

K, did she miss the part where Jesus said to those wanting to stone the prostitute--"He who is without sin may cast the first stone?"

Did Ruth forget that particular message of Jesus? K, how about the beattitudes? Apparently lost on her as well. "Do unto others..."--yep, missed that one as well.

By the looks of it, Ruth, along with other supposed Christians, such as "The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian.""

Taking a stand for the right to be Christian? When was the right to be Christian denied to anyone in North America? Oh wait! I understand now--the right to discriminate against "What we don't like!" was taken away from these 'Pseudo Christians'. I get it--people were actually standing up to these pseudo christians and letting them know that their intolerance towards anything 'not them' wasn't going to work anymore. Now these pseudo christians are fightin' back!

K, if this gets on the books, I want to be legally allowed to wear a t-shirt stating that "Real Christians follow Jesus--pseudo christians follow Jerry Falwell (or Pat Robertson, or james Dobson, or the aforementioned Rick Scarborough)" and on the back, the actual verse written out--"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

Steve, you think that you're being harassed because you're not allowed to pick on gays and lesbians? So you want to repeal the discrimination laws so you can start picking on them again? K, the irony is just a little thick right now.

And then when someone makes a pretty valid point--

Of course, you can't say that beause these 'christians' know that gay and lesbians chose to be that way--

A lifestyle choice? Says you. Back it up with documented proof. Gregory, you can respond angrily all you want, but you have no facts to support such a claim. None at all.

But in order to win your arguement, you assume your belief as fact. You even admit to same--

If people are born with varying degrees of hetero to homosexuality, then it's a racial thing. But Gregory can't have that because he wants to pick on the homosexuals. Since he can't legally discriminate along the lines of race or gender, homosexuality "must be" a lifestyle choice.

All because he doesn't want to lose the 'tax-exempt status of churches'?

This, my friends, is added to the fast-growing list of reasons as to why me and organized religion have parted ways. I hope the government does revoke the tax exempt status for churches. The laws of the land must apply equally to everyone, no matter who they are or who they were born as.

Look people, what you do with your own time and money is of no concern of mine--as long as whatever you do does not negatively impact on me and mine, then by all means, knock yourselves out.

However, the second you cross the line and start discriminating against anyone for *any* reason--it really doesn't matter if its a personal 'lifestyle choice' or not--you're still wrong. How would you feel if someone was picking on you due to your beliefs and lifestyle?

And if you need an example of not discriminating--remember Jesus and the prostitute--"He who is without sin..."

Busted roof vent

Well, I did go on about being kind to all the furry woodland creatures...

However, I also said that if the 4 legged critters are interfering with property, then all bets are off!

Well, not that bad.

It turns out that a racoon decided that our attic was a good place to have a home. The 'little' rodent tore open the roof vent and found himself a nice place to build a home.

Well, with all the scratching and moving around that the 'coon was making whilst we were trying to sleep, he had to go!

I went and had a boo one evening last week--I crawled up into the rafters and saw him.

"Git!!" I says, and the racoon scampered out of the attic.

Of course, he came back. When Sandy went into the garage to put out the garbage on Friday morning, the racoon hissed at her from the rafters.

That's not so good!

So on Saturday, with a few pieces of aluminum, I set about to displace our new tenant.

I went to scare him out but he wasn't there. That was the good news. The bad news was the damage the little critter had caused thus far.

Busted roof

I set about the task of removing the busted roof vent

Me actually working

Patching the hole

Aluminum patch

Gooping it up with tar

Lotta tar

And that was about it.

When the condo corp gets around to replacing the roof, they'll put a brand new roof vent in.

Done deal.

See all pics of the repair--Roof Repair '06

Obligatory shot of the Mighty Dodge

Stephen Harper has shelved the legislation pertaining to pot possession that the previous Liberal government was trying to pass.

It shouldn't have to be said that drugs are bad. But people still point that out as the defacto reason why 'recreational' drugs aren't legal. Well, smoking is bad. Sure we're working on banning smokes from all buildings and such, but they're still legal to buy. And let us not forget that sacred cow--alcohol. You want to talk about 'badness' for personal health, marital relationships, and most of all--killing of innocent people when the idiot drunk gets behind a wheel? Yet nothing about making booze illegal.

So get off the pot already!

And for me, I don't want to make booze illegal. Drink all you want. Just don't drive.

Smoke cigarettes all you want. Just don't smoke around me.

And this societal idea must apply to the 'recreational drugs'--if not, we're hypocrites.

What happens if we legalize drugs? Well, lets look at an historical example--

I'll keep bringing it up--Prohibition. When booze was outlawed in the US, a huge criminal enterprise was established to bring alcohol to those willing to pay top dollar for it. What happened? Gangsters, violence, murders. No lawful control because booze was not lawful.

And lets look at what happened when prohibition was lifted--All crime related to booze smuggling/ditribution stopped. No more murders related to booze because it wasn't needed--you could go to the corner store to get your fix. The distribution of alcohol was lawfully controlled.

So lets relate that to the drugs. Right now we have gangs, turf wars, and absolutely no control of the drugs. Houses are burning down or becoming uninhabitable due to illegal grow-ops. People are getting shot and killed for a dime-bag of pot.

I'm all for not legalizing something just to reduce crime. I believe that illegal activity should have some sort of just punishment associated with it. That said, I also beleive that there are naive or unworkable laws on the books that must be re-evaluated--why would I have the police force expend millions of my tax dollars and thousands of person-hours to chase down and incarcerate dime-bag dopers when there are rapists, child molesters, and other criminals taking the innocence and lives of my fellow citizens?

That's it for me, really--the guy who smokes weed is doing it to him or herself--that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. The driker and smoker--same deal--they partake of their alcohol or cigarettes does not impact on me. At all. And some will bring up the medical issues--my tax dollars paying when they eventually end up in the hospital. Well, people who eat junk food end up there as well. People who break arms and legs end up using my tax dollars at the clinic--does that mean we outlaw bicycles and mountain-climbing?

It's a ludicrous and hypocritical arguement--recreational drug use is bad because the users end up spending our tax dollars when they're in rehab. Well, a whole bunch of legal things use up our tax dollars as well, and the offset money saved by the police enforcing drug laws alone would more than cover that.

The only people who want recreational drugs to stay illegal are the pushers--they make a huge buck from the illegal traffiking; the lawyers--they make their money defending the users and pushers; and the uninformed or hypocritical 'moral authority'--who have nothing better to do with their lives than to interfere with what is ultimately a personal choice which has nothing to do with them.

If drugs are legalized tomorrow, I'll tell you something--I'm not going to start using them. Booze and smokes are legal now and I'm not partaking. The people who want to use the drugs will use them whether it's legal or not. If drugs are legal, the crime associated with drugs is gone and the drugs can be controlled.

Right now we have alotta crime and absolutely no control.

Finding dinner

Just a quick note to let all of you know that we're alive and well. It's been a little busy and we're enjoying our daily visitors to the house.

Eating dinner

They're showing up even during the day, which makes picture taking a little easier.

We noticed that one of the deer had a pretty vicious looking scar on his back. We hope that there are no two legged creatures taking pot-shots or throwing things at these defenseless creatures. I would have to say that anyone trying to inflict harm on any animal for the sake of "fun" is the lowest of the low.

Anyway, we're trying to figure out how to get a webcam or something going, but that'll maybe be later.

So there you are.