Sigh

Messing with the website. And by messing with it I do mean probably screwing it up.....

Day at the fair

Things in Hawaii are, a little different. You think you know this already and are prepared for most things, but sometimes you come across stuff and say, "What?!" For instance, most places have county fairs, which have a small carnival, competitions, animal auctions, etc, and it lasts for at least a week or two. Since the island of Oahu falls under the "city and county of Honolulu," it's not quite as practical (especially since we also host the state fair). So what do we get? the "Farm Fair!" As far as I can tell, it consisted of about 30 food booths, some plants, 4 cattle, 8 hogs, 10 sheep, 4 rabbits, 4 chickens, and the 2nd most pathetic assemblage of kiddie carnival rides I've ever seen. My daughter loved it. Guess where she got her dancing "skills." That's right, baby. I've got rhythm, and so do my daughters.



The identities of the animals have been cleverly disguised to protect them from certain embarrassment. As soon as they have been eaten, however, I'll try to post their names.

And the ubiquitous pony ride. Even the damn miniture pony wants to hide its identity.

Do I always wear jeans and boots in the summer in Hawaii? No, but I wasn't about to go to a veritable petting zoo in flip-flops, and I need new sneakers. Lame, I know. But since I have the freakish ability to be largely unbothered by a wide range of temperatures, I didn't give a rat's ass.

Filler

I think of all kinds of great stuff to write about during the day, but I'm human and most is either forgotten or I just can't find the time or effort to post about it by the evening. Those who know me are aware of my infatuation with Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan. There are certainly many other notables, as I really love music, but those two are my top pair. If they ever did a duet I might just, well, it could be a messy situation.

So, to supplement my usual ramblings, I intend to toss in an occasional video with or without thoughts. I'll try to be diverse, but this serves as your warning: Chicks and pianos ahead. The music holds much more meaning than the videos to me. I'm searching out the videos because YouTube is much more convenient than trying to embed songs here. So if the video is corny, just close your eyes and hopefully the music will carry you away.


I'm starting you out with an "oldie."

Vox


From Sarah's first album "Touch" before she became very popular (with her third album "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy").

They're after me...

I think I'll go hide in my shell somewhere....

Turtle found slaughtered

A group dedicated to protecting the sea creatures identifies the mutilated carcass

Once again my control-freakishness bites me

After probably over a year of voyeuristic trolling my good friend Gina's blog, I got tired of leaving semi-anonymous responses and started up my own blogger account. Being the ultra customizer that I am, I couldn't just do a normal blog though. Nope, I jumped head-first into hosting the blog on my own website/server. So far the only major benefit has been that I can show you really huge pictures and the address bar shows my domain instead of rebturtle.blogspot.com. But little things like that please me. And shiny things. I like shiny things. What was I? Oh yeah...

So I configured my account to dump the archives into the /archives/ folder during my setup. Great. Idiot me neglected to create an /archive/ folder though. I'm not sure how exactly to properly replicate an archive page (in any easy fashion). All the old posts are still there, and I'll find a way to make them all available to you easily. I owe that to all 4 of my casual readers and those lost and bored on the internet which somehow landed here using the Google search string "ketchup," "mynah bird," and "wicker basket." Although I welcome you, I do suggest you seek professional help.

"Once again," you may have been wondering? Let's just say that my computer and my truck are both highly customized, and if you were to poll my family they would tell you that that is the sole reason they would be lower rated in the reliability category. Even though my custom watercooling system for my computer has never leaked in the last 4 or 5 years since I started using it, the tweaking of every hardware component, my registry, and select parts of Windows itself lead to common sightings of the BSOD (blue screen of death), random reboots, etc. I go into people's old Dell computers that are 5 years old and , although slow, are perfectly stable. I reformat and reinstall at least once a year. I am the pinnacle of male tinkering, the summit of which is reached when you can repeatedly break down and rebuild things and end up with extra parts (Where does this bolt go? Oh well, it runs...).

Speaking of unfinished projects, someday I'll get around to fixing the gallery on my website, rebuilding the alumni site for my High School and getting it back online, and maybe a few others that have been laying on the wayside.

I'm back, and I can read!!

I just flew my little 10-year-old chatterbox back home to Kentucky, and after an enormous sigh of relief, the house suddenly feels a little empty. Since the 1 year old goes "night-night" around 7:00, I now have the evenings back to goof off briefly before collapsing in my bed from work/life induced exhaustion. But first I have to finish my book.

Let me preface this. I used to read like a banshee when I was a kid, but since High School that has slowed to a trickle. The last book I read was "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert. It was great, but seriously the only reason I made time to read the whole thing was because we were at the cabin in Montana for the holidays, which has no computer or internet. -Its hard to turn pages when your hands are convulsing, but laughing hysterically at Stephen Colbert certainly helps.

So before that rarity, its seriously been several years since I sat down to actually read anything. I knew I was going to have plenty of time to read on the round-trip plane ride from Honolulu to Nashville with two layovers each way though (Yeah, it was as fun as it sounded). Usually I fill these hours by catching up on all the macho truck mags I no longer have subscriptions to, along with some Popular Science or Motor Trend. Honolulu airport had a very poor selection of these though (Surprise! No mud-truck specials flying of the shelves in touristland?) I suffered through the 5 hour flight to San Fran, and then saw it staring at me. "Dreams of My Father" by Barack Obama. I have made no secret of the fact that I really like Barack. More so than any politician I can remember. There has been a lot of mud and confusion about who he really is though. This book makes it crystal clear though. I almost finished the book before I made it back to Honolulu. His writing is impeccable, and his story is amazing. He wrote this book when he was only 33, before his foray into politics, and it gives you a clear window into his soul and the journey he had trying to find himself and how his father and other relatives fit into and shaped his life. Barack is very well balanced and despite his quest for equality and civil rights, he is not hampered by the reverse-racism normally encountered. I could rant on for another few paragraphs, but will suffice to say I loved it. I feel like I should read some of McCain's books just to be fair, but doubt they will change my mind...