Wasting Time With Sandy

I have this habit of trying to find unique ways of looking at things. This week's foray found me following Sandy via the Wunderground.

If you look at the Wundermaps on Wunderground, it has a neat little configurable display. One of the options is to look at webcams. It puts a little webcam snippet close to the location where the camera is located.

There are lots of webcams so you have to zoom in pretty close to find exactly what you are looking for and even then it's a bit of a crap shoot.

Yesterday I found a webcam in Ocean City, New Jersey (on the beach) and I set it to update on my desktop. It was updating pretty regularly (about every 6 minutes) until 17 hours ago (about 6 PM EST) or when Sandy rolled onto shore.

I took some snapshots from the webcam for your pleasure. The first picture is from Friday when Sandy was just a sinister prophecy. The second picture is the final picture the webcam displayed 17 hours ago before some kind of horrific event took the webcam or perhaps its Internet connection out of commission.

Three in a Row!

And that's all I've got. I promise you I will not blog tomorrow.

Maybe not. I May be inclined to write something tomorrow.

However, on Saturday, I'm flying to Miami then taking a big boat to Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Cayman. I will not be blogging next week.

Thus, the three in a row. I'm trying to make everyone tired of too much of a good thing.

Today's meandering thoughts have been about my insulin pump and my hip surgery.

It's been 6 weeks and 6 days since my hip surgery. My hip is officially a little better than before the surgery. I have my 7 week follow up tomorrow with the doctor. He told me not to bowl for 10 weeks. I started bowling about 3 weeks ago. Doctors should really learn to tell me why. Don't just say "don't bowl for 10 weeks". Say, "Don't bowl for 10 weeks because if something breaks I don't want to get sued and see my malpractice insurance rates skyrocket."

I ordered a new insulin pump last August. I think I may have blogged about it. Okay, upon reading, I didn't really blog about ordering it, but I did. They've been negotiating with my insurance company ever since.

With my hip surgery and various other mind altering ailments I have become quite the expert at insurance. This year I have met my "maximum out of pocket" expenses. This means that any medical expenses I incur from here on out will be covered at 100%. I have from now until December 31 to get my new insulin pump. I'm thinking I'll also get a continuous blood glucose monitoring system. Those puppies usually run around $800.

I discovered today that because of that horrific thing we call Obamacare, I'll be able to keep my oldest daughter on my insurance plan until she turns 26 (even if she gets married before then). That's kind of awesome. I worry about my kids.

I found out on Monday I'm going to have a granddaughter in March. I wonder if my insurance will cover grand-kids  I'm sure I'll worry about them too.

Pneumatic Mind Snippet

You thought I was joking.

Today, my pneumatic office chair is at the forefront of my meandering thoughts.

The little pneumatic lift has quit working.

For normal folks, this would be instant catastrophe because the chair immediately goes to its lowest position. There is no control.

I put my chair in its lowest position anyway. It helps my circulation by keeping my knees off the seat. How people shorter than me survive, I have no idea.

Anyway, for me, the lift isn't all that important. Except, I've noticed, I miss the bounce. Even with the chair at it's lowest setting you normally get a little pneumatic bounce when you sit down. I miss that little bounce.

It's like a shock absorber for that weary plop into the chair that prepares you for the work day ahead. Now, I have no shock absorber. My weary plop is followed by an immediate tensing from my spine compressing and decompressing. I've had to learn to sit down softly. Once I'm seated, all is good.

Should I complain to my boss that I need a new chair?

The Momentous Informational Blogging!

I really should quit using exclamation marks in my blog titles. It feels a bit like lying. There is no politics in this blog.

Today, I decided instead of writing one great blog per week, I'd write one sad little daily snippet just to summarize my daily brain meanderings.

I also decided that I'd change my mind bright and early tomorrow morning.

Over the weekend I discovered I don't like blogging about personal things. I've tried to write things that are personal and it feels too personal so I refrain. Then, if feels fake. Therefore I've decided to blog about things I know almost nothing about in an attempt to give people an outlet for their nasty comments.

Football

My first attempt will be football. In particular, Tony Romo.

To me, Tony Romo is like Steve Perry. I like Journey. They write good music, but I never bought any of their albums because I can't stand Steve Perry. I think he's whiny. I like the Dallas Cowboys. They have hot cheerleaders, but I'll never go to another game as long as Tony Romo is quarterback. I think he's whiny.

I've heard from educated sources, that it's not Tony's fault. It's the offensive line. I assume this is the same offensive line that allowed their running back to run for over 200 yards on Sunday?

I've also heard it's the receiver's fault. They are running the wrong patterns or some such nonsense. I guess that's why I never was a quarterback. I didn't realize that when your receivers run the wrong patterns, you're supposed to throw the ball to the other team!

I've also heard it's Jason Garrett's fault. He's the head coach (for you NFL ignorant). I have a theory that if Jerry Jones weren't the owner and general manager, Jason Garrett would have fired Tony in 2010 after his winning record with the backup quarterback.

Have you watched A Bug's Life? I'm going to compare football to a cartoon movie about bugs. Ah hell, just watch the video. Princess Atta is Tony Romo. And, "it's always his fault".

Jumping Out of Planes

I've been tempted to skydive lately because of my gal pal and my gal pal's pal. Over the weekend, some Austrian fellow named Felix jumped from a capsule 23 miles high. I watched the video several times and now I've decided jumping out of a plane isn't good enough. I'm going to start training now and when I'm so old the doctor's are amazed I'm still alive I should be in good enough shape to kill myself (I mean jump out of a capsule 23 miles high).

Samsung Galaxy Phones

As my avid array of readers know, I am no fan of Apple. Yeah, they've done their part in advancing technology, but I don't like the way they do business. I've never, in my life, purchased an Apple product. 

Therefore, I love the new Samsung Galaxy S III commercials. These commercials are even more humorous when you consider Apple sued Samsung for some kind of crazy patent infringement. I swear one of these days (perhaps after I jump out of my capsule) I'm going to get a law degree so I can argue these cases. This is like Dodge suing Jaguar because they use an animal as their hood ornament.

My gal pal has one of the outlawed S II's. I don't like it. I prefer my Motorola, but I'm thinking of getting a Samsung just to piss Apple off. One of the reasons I don't like it is because it has no external LED for notifications. My Atrix 2 blinks purple for email and green for texts. I discovered a cool app called NoLED today which is supposed to make up for this shortcoming. Basically allowing you to get some notifications without having to turn the phone on. I wonder who has the patent on that.

I go back to Benjamin Franklin who invented the Franklin Stove without worrying with patents. He said, "That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously. "

I Side With

I discovered an interesting little website today called I Side With. There were a few questions that really didn't have a correct answer. I discovered when I clicked the "choose another stance" button that it would give me something a little closer to my thoughts.

It confirmed, for me, what I've been blogging all along (if you've followed my 2 or 3 political rants).

It's interesting that I'm equally Democrat and Libertarian, but I side with Gary Johnson much more than I do Barack Obama.

Here are my scores:

Weekly Update (8 of n)

Last Saturday an earthquake struck the Irving area (near Dallas). There have been many theories (including conspiracy theories) about what caused the earthquake.

After Monday Night's football game, I am fairly certain that my theory was correct.

That's right, the earthquake was caused by Texas Stadium turning over in its grave. The Cowboys have lost home-field advantage because of that monolithic monstrosity we lovingly call Jerry's World.

If you watched the game last night, you may have noticed that Jerry's World seemed louder than usual. That's because the Chicago Bears were in town and their fans apparently have vocal chords. The only times Jerry's World is louder is when the Pittsburgh Steelers are in town. That'll be happening on December 16th.

Jason Witten caught all his passes! My mom always said, "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all."

I had no intention of making this post all about football. Well, I did start off talking about earthquakes.

Because my blog has been deemed sexually explicit, I guess it's okay if I mention the new liquor coming out of G-Spirits in Germany.

They apparently have a new line of products where every drop is poured over a female model's naked body before being bottled and sent to you. Their website contains nudity so don't go there if you work for Google Adsense or are easily offended. Yes, I know that was redundant.

Expect to pay around $180 per bottle for this special privilege. If you didn't like reading about it on my blog, here's a link to a news site supposedly written by professionals and not hampered by Google Adsense.

I'm kind of wondering why they didn't also have male models. It seems discriminating against gay men and straight women everywhere.

Here's a sample description (pictures removed) from G-Spirit's Website. It made me thirsty:
G.Rum No.1

 
The G.Rum No.1 is an assemblage out of various very old sorts of tropical rum. It owes its incomparable, perfectly balanced, soft, but still heady finish to its double-aging. After storing it in ex-bourbon cask for 10 years and 1 year in barrels of French oak, it was poured over Amina's breasts, which lends it an unique erotic character. Flavours of ripe banana, vanilla, sugarcane and roasted coconut carry your senses into a Caribbean world and create vacation dreams, which continue because of its long-lasting and intense aftertaste.
   
We guarantee that every single drop was poured over the breasts of Amina. This is confirmed by the bottling certificate, including the original signature of the model and the bottle number.
 
Our product will be delivered in a stylish packaging.
 
An exclusive photo is enclosed to every bottle.
 
G.Rum No.1 is limited to 5000 bottles. 
 
Data G.Rum No.1:  Vol. 0,5l
                              alc. 40%
 
G-Spirits only sells to fullaged customer. By transaction you confirm your age of mayority, furthermore the recipient has to verify his age on delivery.

Price: 129,00 €