Whiskey River, Don't Run Dry

Willie Nelson is 74 today.

Being a Texan, a marijuana connoisseur, and a Dennis Kucinich supporter, he gets a two-fer. Play 'em both.

What happened to peace on earth?

This was one of the comments on YouTube to this video. Sad. And ignorant. And apparently the asshole could use some overtime in spelling class. Just what is "American?"

Kucinich is a Anti American Socilaist....he isnt "American".

Love Willie's music but his brain is fried on dope and shrooms.... Go to one of his concerts and watch his drug induced kids and alcoholic band try to perform.

And before I forget, let's do a tribute to Muddy Waters who died on this day in 1984.

Brandi Carlile and the "Twin-digo Girls"

Brandi Carlile always has her finger on the pulse of where I'm at spiritually. I am rarely so moved by music. Well, not really. I should say by "new" music.

Photo credit: Hiroyuki for the NY Times.

A couple of weeks ago I received her new CD ("The Story") as a gift from a a blogger pal.

I had planned to write a review but haven't been able to get it done. The CD is exquisite and I was so sorry I'd been unable to attend her show here in Austin. Upon reading this review in today's NY Times I decided to just link to that, and to thank my friend for sending me this timely gift.

Starting at a whisper and building to a roar, she deployed strategies borrowed from Jeff Buckley, among others. But what came across wasn’t any calculation; it was simply the raw power of her voice, and the conviction to let it loose.

Gotta love a review like that. Brandi, you're a fine wine.

Steppenwolf and Grand Funk Railroad

Fuck yeah, this is what Sunday nights were made for.

God bless the lovely sound of white boys acting black.
See ya later, gator.

Taking Care of Business

This has been a nice weekend. I wish I'd done more yesterday instead of scrambling to get things done today. I have had some much needed personal time to do a few things around the house -- some dusting and organizing in the closet. I'm continuing to upload songs to the Zen player as we speak.

Call me stupid but I'm quite amazed that I can upload thousands of songs and the damn thing doesn't weigh an ounce more than it did when I took it out of the box. I won't be surprised if I don't get 80% of my entire CD collection loaded onto this device at some point. The other 20% I probably don't care about and I'll bet I could get those loaded on as well. The idea that I could have my entire music collection stored on a device that fits in the palm of my hand just blows my mind.

This Works

It's so David Lynchian.

Does The Drama Ever End?

I love my job. I really do. And it came along, as fate would have it, when I was most desperate for a good steady income. There's a lot of politics involved in upper management and it may have taken a rather ugly turn yesterday.

I am responsible for buying and managing a portion of a television advertising campaign for a client with one of the most well-known names in America. It's a lot of work but I am good at what I do, and at this stage in my life I can't think of much else I'd rather do, at least in terms of jobs with a steady source of income. Plus I have virtually no supervision (my boss works from the east coast).

So why did my boss have to stir up such a shitstorm yesterday? She went above the head of her boss to some of the higher ups and, accordng to my source, claimed that we were all frustrated with management and about ready to quit, among other things. Yeah, I have issues with some aspects of management -- we really don't have any to speak of. But I'm not about to walk out the door because of it. One of my co-workers is frustrated and may quit, but she lives on the east coast as well and the issue with her has been a lack of training and frustration with our boss.

So apparently, we're going to be keeping our boss, who will now be reporting to a new boss on the first floor, and rumor has it we may be reassigned to the first floor of our office, away from the head of our department and our other colleagues.

One of the issues I have had is with the poor level of communication. This isn't going to help if we're going to be separated from the rest of our department. It makes no sense.

I'm also rather baffled how management could make such a decision based on information without discussing it with the people affected, and to get the other side of the story. As I said, communication is an issue there.

Due to this, I'm not really in a blogging mood today.

Friday Random Ten

Friday Pussy Blog

Don't even try and tell me that Sissy doesn't have a bushy tail.

Not to mention a hairy butt.

"Extremely Urgent" My Ass

It's such fun to come home from a hectic day at work and have the phone ringing from creditors with an "extremely urgent" need to speak with me. Yes, and it's extremely urgent that I collect about $35,000 from clients who are in arrears. I'll get to it as soon as I have time. In the meantime, as Billie Holiday might sing, "Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me. And you never will."

Fire the person who is making these stupid calls, and you'll save about what I owe you.

Just Deaths Today

Lucille Ball died of a heart attack at 78 on this day in 1989.

And here's a classic example of why I detest the "Today-in-History" website I use to retrieve so much of my trivia:

1984 Count Basie jazz piano great, dies at 78

1984 William "Count" Basie jazz piano great, dies on 80th birthday

OK, which is it? Don't fucking confuse me when I'm drinking wine....

Wikipedia says:
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer.

So he died on this day, and he was nearly 80. I'll buy that.

Let's have some of the Count with Ella who had a birthday yesterday. Can't go wrong with that mix.

I am 10% Republican

Not bad since I considered myself 100% Republican when I put this sign up back in 1980 when I had the Republican Party headquarters in a county which barely had 10 Republicans! (By the way, I painted the sign myself. Not bad!)

I am: 10% Republican.

"You're a tax-and-spend liberal democrat. People like you are the reason everyone else votes for guys like Reagan or George W."

Are You A Republican?


Gee, thanks a LOT, Jami.

Ella!

I do love my fellow Taureans. Happy Birthday, girl! You are missed. She was born on this day in 1918.

We had tickets for a salute to Ella to benefit the Minority AIDS Project back in Los Angeles on January 10, 1995. We got to see a bunch of great musicians including Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and many more, but unfortunately Ella's health was already such that she was unable to attend. I was so disappointed. She died on June 15, 1996.

Scat for me baby!

Damn! I feel better now!

Also, a big shout out to Stu Cook of Creedence who turned 62 today.

If Willie Were a Black Man

I'm sure this would have turned out differently. (The old link expired. Found a new source.)

A Not So Bright Idea, But I'm Glad Somebody Had It

Whose idea was it to open this last night? AFTER we drank half a bottle of tequila?

But, DAMN it was good. Tell me it's hump day. Please.

FMR

Without seeming too crass, that stands for "fuck me running," as in "I've had the wildest day and I am forcing myself to post."

I'm glad everyone liked the garden post, and I promise I will try to adhere to a Monday Garden Blog, although with this being Texas, that might not work so well in July and August, but we'll see. I do like to take requests obviously.

My day at work started off great. I was relaxed and ahead of the game. By around 4:00 this afternoon things started to go to shit. I think a meeting is in order for tomorrow. When people start demanding the impossible, it's time to start explaining the situation to them in succinct terms.

Under a tequila influenced haze, I have composed an email to myself at work which I will edit tomorrow for general workplace consumption. Hell, this sure would be easier if there was actually a MANAGER present.

My job makes me feel like I'm trying to excel in calf-roping at the rodeo. Metaphorically speaking.

Anyhoo, I'm off to prep the pizza.

Roy Orbison's birthday was yesterday. I leave you with this gem.

One For The Roses

Specifically for Nicole. Ask, and ye shall receive.

After a particularly crappy birthday weekend, I am now in a much better mood after a productive Monday at work. Funny how a bad weekend can make a Monday at work seem great. So, I tend to get in a floral mood around my birthday so here we go.

I haven't walked around the Kona Ranch in a few months. It was a nice outing.

I love my cactus patch with the roses behind it, and the snapdragons were a nice surprise to find. I had no idea they were blooming. Our house is an odd layout and we hardly ever use the front entrance and patio where they are planted. I didn't realize until I'd posted this that the two cactus photos are almost identical. Sorry, it was a laborious process assembling these from 13 photographs I took and I'm rather worn out this evening.



The Jerusalem sage is looking quite nice this year as well. This is a hardy plant as it's growing in some very shallow poor soil and has been for several years.



In the garden, we have an odd onion which looks a bit like a snake which has swallowed a small rodent. And the pea blossoms are as lovely as an orchid.

In the picture below, txrad is showing off his bi-color roses which have come from the same plant.

The middle picture is a musk rose -- definitely a climber. It has grown high up into a dead tree and there are roses dangling from high branches which aren't easily seen in the photograph. It's quite spectacular. The bottom photograph is a shot of my collard greens again. Obviously I am obsessed with collards.

It was about 4 years ago when I decided to order several different roses from an online nursery. I ended up ordering about twelve and txrad thought I'd lost my mind. Our soil here is not great, and it's very difficult to dig a hole more than a few inches deep due to the limestone. I ended up putting several roses in pots but I did find places to put a few in the yard. Not all are pictured here because they aren't at their best currently. All in all, I'd say I have no regrets with my frivolous purchase.

It's My Birthday And I'll Cry If I Want To

Since there aren't any noteworthy birthdays today for me to blog about (aside from Charles Mingus, Eddie Albert, Aaron Spelling, Glen Campbell, Jack Nicholson, and Peter Frampton), I can devote this post to my own birthday. Besides, I would be very unhappy at the prospect of being upstaged by a bunch of lesser-knowns.

A couple of other interesting events occurred on this day:

In 1793 President George Washington attended the first circus in the US, and in 1864 the US minted a 2¢ coin which happened to be the first appearance of "In God We Trust" on coins. What a mistake that turned out to be. I'm a firm believer in the separation of God and money.

It's kind of a crappy day down here in Austin TX. Cloudy, drizzly, dismal. Very much reflective of the mood I've been in lately. txrad is about to go to the office to do some work so we won't even get to do anything fun this afternoon. He hasn't even wished me a happy birthday. He did issue a directive my way: "You can clean up that cat vomit." Nice. Happy Birthday to Me. That, my friends, is exactly what I wanted to do on my birthday.

I Am The Passenger

Well, lo and behold, aside from being one day away from my own birthday, there are several who have influenced me greatly, and they are having their celebrations today:

Iggy Pop is 60

Why do his pants keep falling down?

Robert Smith is 48.


Michael Timmons is 48.

Thankfully I'm not as old as any of those fellas.

The Gender Genie Thinks I'm Male

I selected a couple of paragraphs from my post on Friday evening and submitted it for evaluation after being tipped off by katecontinued in a comment thread about this "gender genie" thingey over at majikthise and I suppose it works pretty well.

Female Score: 114
Male Score: 170

Fort Wayne: Buddhist Hotspot

I love learning new facts about my diverse country. Who would have guessed that Ft. Wayne, Indiana has the largest concentration of Burmese refugees in the country? Interesting.

Fort Wayne, a city of 248,000 people and 606 Christian churches, is in the midst of a Buddhist temple boom. Southeast Asians have opened six temples here in the last seven years, including one for Laotians, two for Burmese and two for Mon, another Burmese ethnic group.

As you might expect, this being America and all, things are going to take a turn for the worse.

On religious holidays, hundreds of Buddhists park on two-lane Sylvia Street, blocking driveways and ripping up yards with their tires. A neighbor, Anna MacDougal, has complained to the police and zoning inspectors, to no avail, she said. At times she has paid tow truck drivers to take cars away.

Temple leaders, acutely aware of the parking problem but oblivious to Americans’ love for grass, converted the front lawn into a parking lot and covered it with gravel.

I wouldn't be real happy if one of my neighbors starting holding religious services in a home -- particularly if it involved dozens of cars blocking access to my garage, or leaving ruts in my yard.

However, this person takes it a bit too far:

“I was appalled,” said Donna Davis, 56, a medical assistant who lives next door. “If they want to live here, why can’t they start acting like Americans?”

Perhaps Ms. Davis would like to come see the American who lives behind me and has turned his yard into a junk collection facility, and plays his stereo so loud I can hear it in my house. I really wish he'd start acting more Buddhist. But whatever..

“I can’t stand them,” said another neighbor, Kelli Lawson, 33, who says she is uncomfortable with many aspects of Buddhist life. “It’s strange to us, so we don’t like it.”

[...]

Lay Buddhists say they generally feel comfortable in Fort Wayne. But Venerable Devananda says he gets nervous eating breakfast at the Golden Corral, his favorite restaurant. “I don’t feel comfortable going out in public in my robes because people point and laugh at me,” he said.

Why must Americans behave like 7-year-old children? (I'm trying really hard not to use the term "stupid" here.)

Jesus wore robes, didn't he?

Perhaps it's time for America to have a new national motto:

If it's strange, we hate it.