Must Visit For My Wisconsin Relatives!

Kovac Planetarium
This CBS Sunday Morning video is worth the watch!

Musings from a Broncos Game.....

I became a season ticket holder to the Broncos this year after about eight years on the waiting list. Yesterday's game was the coldest I've been to yet, including light intermittent snow flurries in the 4th quarter. At halftime I had to go buy a hat and a second blanket. I'm a big man and I handle the cold pretty well but yesterday I couldn't take it anymore. The wind was blowing straight at us from the north as a cold front moved through during the 1st quarter.

If you're ever at the Broncos game steer clear of Tito's Taco Hut(or something like that). Spent $12(including guac and sour cream) on a burrito called the El Jefe which was square. Burritos are not square but this one was. I got the steak(carne asada) and what little steak there was included a large hunk of grizzle. I crave Chipolte burritos and they are three times the size of this burrito at half the price. I know it's the stadium and you're going to pay more but at least make the burrito into a cylinder and cut out the grizzle for crying out loud.

Cheerleaders were bundled up to the hilt and there was no cleavage shots even with the binoculars. Could not look through the binoculars after halftime as I was shaking too much even with the two blankets, a hat, gloves, jacket and a sweatshirt on.

Hot chocolate by the time it makes it up to my seat 1 row from the top in the southstands is merely luke warm chocolate.

Squirrels live in Mile High Stadium and one scored twice during the game, the squirrel(or maybe there was two) actually ran onto the field twice(once in each endzone) and ran across the goal line. We cheered as up to that point the Broncos gave us nothing to cheer about.

Stadium was as empty as I've ever seen it. They normally announce the attendance and we boo at the no shows, no attendance number yesterday.

I'm going to need to get warmer clothes for these winter games, maybe a snowmobile outfit including goggles.

Oh yeah the Broncos lost, again.....

What are you doing for Thanksgiving.....

I was asked this recently in a text message and so I responded:

"Watching football, crank calling Indian reservations & eating turkey pot pie while wearing nothing but a pilgrim hat, same thing I do every year."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Damn you space bastard...you killed my pine....

Ever since the Consigliere moved in, my trees just haven't been the same. Now initially I figured he was relieving himself on the trees. He denied it completely of course. Now at the same time he also setup his office in my basement(hence the blog name) and installed a wireless network in the home. After reading this article maybe I was too quick in judging his bathroom habits, but I none the less can still blame the Consigliere for my trees' condition.

Title of the post is from "Back to the Future" when Marty Mcfly runs over Old Man Peabody's pine tree with the Delorean.

(the photo kinda looks like my dad if he were to be screaming with a shotgun, I suppose only the raccoon on the deck would know for sure)

Speedo & Flip Flop protest...

Another individual has had it with the TSA security measures and stripped to his underwear to show he was hiding nothing and got arrested for it. Its time for all of us to wear nothing but speedos and flip flops to the airport. Who's with me?

I could never get any takers....

A "woman" has been arrested in Idaho for performing fake breast examinations in local bars. I say "woman" because I guess this lady use to be a dude. I've got nothing against breast exams in bars, I've tried to perform several myself but the women all refused.

If you touch my Junk........

I'm sure you've all seen or heard about this.

And Now......
Top Ten other things you could say at the airport instead of "I'll have you arrested"

If you touch my junk.....

10. you'll owe me at least dinner.
9. do I get double my airline miles?
8. can I at least keep my over sized shampoo & conditioner?
7. you'll owe me $20 for a feelsy.
6. we'll have to get married.(Valid in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.)
5. please tell me if you think it feels infected.
4. please tell the lady behind me that it will be worth her while.
3. should I cough to make it feel like I'm at the doctor's office.
2. do I have to march in the gay pride parade with you next year.

and the number one other thing you could say....

1. can I at least request that a female TSA employee touch my junk instead?

Better yet why not just have a dedicated area of female strippers to search the men and Chippendale's to search the women, lets make flying fun again. Bonus, this idea guarantees no Muslim terrorist would ever fly again.

God knows I Love'm.....

Click here to get your t-shirts and wrist bands.

Choices, Choices, Choices......

I've solved the Budget Deficit, How about you?

These are not the missiles you are looking for......

This is the "Official" government statement of the
supposed missile launch off the coast of California:

"Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a
thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus."

Nothing to see here, move along........

The story as it where. Typical government cover up,
can't even come up with a good cover story.

Jimmy McMillans Vote Count Wasn't Too Damn High

I love this guy, but sadly he did not win the New York Governor's seat.

Watch the video

He did beat the escort madam Kristen Davis though:

See the results

Happy Halloween

Godfather's Jack-O-Lantern made from produce out of the

Godfather's father's Wisconsin garden.

It's not a hat its a horn!

My neighbors said to me that that they live next to a disturbed

individual........I gotta find out who they're talking about.

McRib Mystery Explained (partially)

The Godfather and I are huge fans of this mystery McDs sandwich. He also has blogged about its pork goodness/elusiveness recently. Well, NPR has researched the subject and have documented their findings in this article and podcast (its a good listen): Fan Alert: The Wild McRib Has Been Sighted
There is also google maps mashup tool (user contributions) for locating their availability: McRib Locator

Would you vote for Rich Whitey?

Found this at another blog and thought it was too funny. The fact that it mostly occurred at predominantly minority polling places makes you wonder if it was intentional. Can you see a minority individual going into vote and having a choice between several candidates and one of them is Rich Whitey. I don't see him getting any votes in these wards.

Denver Hosting Nascar Race......sort of

Good news for the Godfather!
Watch the press conference here:

Poor and Stupid
Tags: SOUTH
PARKEric Cartman,Leopold "Butters" Stotch,more...

And watch the other related videos from the same episode! They are all greatness. And how about their corporate sponsor?!?!?
Best part about this South Park parody is Nascar drivers get it. They are not mad and actually appreciate the publicity. They know that nothing is sacred with South Park writers......

Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

This bridge engineering is greatness and an awesome tribute to one of my favorite American heros! The Godfather took me to see the construction a year ago.
Hoover Dam bypass bridge dedication planned next week

Going Postal..

The postal service union has determined that thousands of mailed out ballots for the unions own election have been lost in the mail. I'm sorry, buts thats funny.

I continue to use the mail for bill paying, hey I'm old school, because I like the act of sitting down and seeing where all my money goes to when I write out my checks. I think it helps reinforce that I need to spend less. If I just clicked on a button to pay a bill I don't think it would register as deeply as when I write out a check. I do have two bills that do get taken out directly out of my account and it just doesn't seem to be the same.

Congrats to Kim Jong Il's Offspring!

On their well deserved promotions to Senior (4 Star) Generals.
Kim Jong Il Promotes Youngest Son and Daughter
N Korea is very well run country and is destined for greatness based on Kim Jong's leadership and these recent promotions.
And I love the fact that his kids were educated outside that country.

Not Good Enough for the Homeless

LeBron's old Cleveland Cavs jerseys are not wanted by the homeless in Miami:
Miami Coalition rejects LeBron James's jerseys for homeless.

In Case of Emergency, Please Remove Your Bra

Gotta love Fox News: In Case of Emergency, Please Remove Your Bra

Anyone for a little Beastiality????

I won't be attending this show:

From the ad:

"A Magical Encounter Between Man and Horse"

"...contains the most horse love you've ever seen...."

Yeah.......not my cup of tea.

Discovery Channel Held Hostage

This guy can't be all bad look at his quote:

" Nothing is more important than saving ... the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans.”

Froggies? not just Frogs but Froggies. I myself am partial to froggies including having a stuffed animal shaped like a froggy as a child that was orange fabric on top and multicolored fabric on the bottom and probably weights a good two to three pounds with the beanie bag chair filling inside of it.

and, of course, the Squirrels, I like squirrels too, in fact I kept a squirrel alive through a winter after it had lost a hand in combat probably with the neighbors cat by feeding it almonds and pecans, I named it Stumpy.

By the way the title came from my receptionist who came into the lunch room while I eating and said that some guy was holding the Discovery Channel hostage.

Two Beers and Jump…..The Ballad of Steven Slater

This is the good time song of this summer.
Slater has become a pop culture icon for the way he handled airline customer service and the way he quit his job. Fallon sums up the story with this tune.
(new business idea mental note: inflatable slide rentals for disgruntled employees/spouses/tech support)

Tech Support - Top Secret Flowchart

If I have ever helped you with an IT issue, I would like to pull back the curtain and take you behind the scenes.
But sadly, the Consigliere uses no special sauce to assist with your computer problems.....just the following flow chart:

Armpit of America

I've always known Newark NJ as the armpit of America but now it seems its gotten a little shittier.

Random Craigslist Story

A funny thing happened the other day as Suzanne and I are grilling out in the driveway. A young couple pulls into the driveway and get out of their car. Suzanne is busy with yard work, so I introduced myself and made some small talk. I assumed they were friends of Suz or new to the neighborhood (and wanted to introduce themselves). Then after a brief moment of awkward silence, I asked "Whats up?" They said they were here for the Dressers. My initial assumption was incorrect and I made another assumption that Dresser was a last name and yelled to Suz, "Which of your neighbors are the Dressers?" At about this time one of the two was frantically looking for an address while the other explained they were here for some Craigslist items. Turns out they were a block off. I wished them well with their Craigslist adventures and off they went into the sunset......

Fake 'American' Rappers Pretended to be from Hemet, CA!

Hemet (my birth place) has a new 15 mins of fame in American pop culture via this NPR podcast:
The Fake 'American' Rappers Who Fooled Everyone
This podcast is worth listening to just for the story, but I am still puzzled by why they picked Hemet as their fake home town. I find that part of story very humorous.
From the transcript.....
Interviewer: "You'd never been to America, right?"
Rapper: "No, I'd never, ever been. Billy had cousins in Hemet, California. So the backstory basically was we were raised in Hemet, we were, you know, bad asses at school. We always got kicked out of school. Our dad worked in insurance.
Hemet was also the fictitious home town of Brad Pitt in one of my favorite movies, Spy Game.

Death of Pork Barrel

God be with Sen. Byrd's family as they morn the loss of my favorite career politician.
OK, the rest of this post may sound like I'm dancing on his grave. I am not, but i am going to vent on his style of politics.....namely (and solely) to get reelected.
This guy was the poster child for why we need single term limits for ALL elected officials. That will never happen, but here is a great video tribute to the king of legislative earmarks:

BP Spills Coffee

Forbidden Doughnut....

A Seattle Seahawk's player was given a warning for entering "Top Pot" doughnuts @ 3 AM in the morning and taking some doughnuts. The Seahawk's player lives in the same building as the doughnut shop and just wandered in. At 3 AM he was probably coming home from a bar and had the munchies. Not really news except for the blurb:

"Top Pot recently signed an agreement with the Seahawks' stadium, Qwest Field, to sell doughnuts and coffee during NFL and Major League Soccer games."

This stinks of a marketing campaign not a crime blotter report.

Similar Names....Similar Fortunes???

This oil spill in the Gulf happened on the "Deepwater Horizon", does anyone remember the movie "Event Horizon". I don't think this will end well. Man that was a freaky movie, just thinking about it puts goose bumps on my skin.

Home Repair Caption Contest

The Godfather never claimed to be an appliance repair expert and here's photographic proof (from recent refrigerator in-line filter replacement). Sometimes home repair projects require creative installation options and maybe you can help us pick a caption for the photos below.......

• Yet another creative use for Duct Tape.
• Good thing the Godfather has a day job.
• Consigliere: "I was just kidding about my Duct Tape suggestion"
• No, alcohol was not a contributing factor to this solution.
• Consiglere: "I need new relatives :-)"

Please comment with your favorite and/or add your own captions.

My Mug on ESPN.com

Picture taken at a community volunteer event for Denver - UF alumni group a couple weeks ago.
(I am seated on ground in orange shirt on left side)
A good read on ESPN Page2 about Tebow and local Gators:
Tim Tebow's arrival excites Gator

The Media and Insert Current Administration Here

Since when is the current presidential administration responsible for all natural or manmade disasters and the aftermath?
Repeat after me......
George Bush was not responsible for 911.
George Bush was not responsible our current depression and the banking/mortgage collapse.
George Bush was not responsible for Katrina.
And yes, Obama is not responsible for the BP mess in LA.
Just because all of those events occurred durring their administrations does not make them complicit or the villain of the crisis/response.
The media's (and insert opposition party here) coverage of these horrific tragedies has become an unwatchable bunch zoo animals flinging feces at the fence (with public standing behind it - noses pressed).

Financial Reforms....

A commenter from another blog had these words of wisdom if Congress can pass a real financial reforms package, the one being debated right now from what I've read will not change anything that caused the present problems:

"Wall Street will whine uncontrollably about not having the ability to sell flaming bags of shit to gullible ‘investors’ "

That's funny. Try the game.(sorry about the commerical first)

Its not the heat, its the stupidity....

As a former Floridian I can understand how the heat and humidity can really get to you, but after reading this story I think the residents of Florida are starting to go nuts. I mean who in their right mind would chase after a Wendy's employee with a stun gun while your friend cheers you on just because they got your order wrong. This I think could only happen when the heat and humidity have steamed the brain to perfect al dente consistency.

60 Mins - Deepwater Horizon Blowout Causes

These two 60 Mins videos are very enlightening and shed much light on the cause of the BP disaster. This tragedy will be the focus of project management and critical decision making (Sway) case studies for years to come......

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Place your bets....

Its been said many times that the current Wall Street environment looks suspiciously like a casino. It turns out that at least one Wall Street firm, and my guess is several others probably due too, requires applicants to play a few hands of poker during their interview and if an applicant has no interest in poker its a red flag. These same people have most of our retirement savings. Now I gamble a couple times a year in Vegas or at local Indian Casinos where I vacation and in Central City/Blackhawk here in Colorado. I only gamble with what I can afford to lose. These days the Wall Street players are gambling with our money and its not money we can afford to lose. I don't know if investing in the stock market was ever safe to begin with as all things have risks, but it now seems to be downright hazardous to your retirement health. Somethings gone wrong with this system and its the American public who will pay the price, if they haven't already. The solution? I don't really have an answer, because as long as greed is rewarded and looked upon with favor there will always be someone willing to push it to the next level or circumvent new regulations.

New Backyard Art

Checkout slide show of art installed in backyard this weekend.
Some items for Door Co, some from Luann and one from Sam's.
(click on any image in this blog post for full screen slide show.)

Homeless Appreciation Day

The consigliore on Saturday "volunteered" to do some community service, I told him if its court ordered it can't be considered "volunteer" work, just kidding. He participated with his local college alumni association in the clean up of a park near Cherry Creek. I hope the local inhabitants, i.e. the homeless who live along Cherry Creek, appreciate his hard work.

He must not be doing too bad.

This is ridiculous. A small business owner supposedly had to shut his business down because of the bad economic times, but he has $5,500 to waste on a billboard? Something's not right here if you ask me.


From the article:
"Baker told the Buffalo News that the banks had refused to work with him and his brother Scott, according to the Washington Examiner. The men rented the billboard space for $5,500 a month ago, before they knew that the president would be visiting their town."

Glass Plug anyone.....

Here's a radical idea to solve the oil spill in the Gulf, don't laugh, I think we have to look at all the ideas. If this could create a giant glass plug underneath the seabed and cap the well I think we should look at it. Only knowledgeable nuclear scientists could tell us the potential problems but we've detonated nukes under the seas and underground before so there should be some data as to the effects and possible radiation concerns.

Blog Domain Change

No big deal here, but this blog now has a direct domain URL: http://www.brothersbasement.com/ or http://brothersbasement.com/
I previously set up a redirect to the blogspot.com URL (from the above links), but that is no longer necessary.
This change should be almost transparent to you, the faithful reader.
Additionally, the old blogspot.com URL will be redirected to the direct domain.
Happy blog reading!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Maine?!?!?

Heard at Oxford Place earlier this week: "The news says the oil slick has already reached Maine!"
Me: Well, I'm no marine engineer (although I did stay at Holiday Inn Express), but I don't think that is possible. And I don't even claim to be a marine biologist like George from Seinfeld. To my knowledge, the slick has not even reached the Louisiana coast yet (and that is less than one hundred miles from the source). I am however, familiar with the Gulf Stream and think it flows between 5-10 mph. Most folks believe I drive that fast. Speaking of....I don't think I could drive a big ball of crude oil (another Seinfeld ref) from Gulf Coast to Maine (and smash it on the beach) in the time frame that you referenced. So, unless I know geography (aka maps) like the infamous Miss South Carolina contestant, I have to disagree with your assertion.
Cool blog entry on how to track actual slick with Google Earth.

Will blog for food.....

I would like to announce that this blog has received no freebies for positive reviews for any products whatsoever, however, we are open to the idea.

The Death of Cabbage

Today, I morn the loss of a good friend and fellow roommate.
After three (or four) good weeks with us and keeping me company in the kitchen, our good friend Wilson the Cabbage (Castaway Movie ref) bought the farm (get it? :-).....yes the great compost bin in the sky.
I am considering a proper burial (maybe near the Spritz memorial), but will have to be respectful of surviving roommate opinions. I am sure they are also sad (I think the Godfather may have claimed Wilson on the 2010 census form).
Cremation and scattering ashes over The Godfathers alpine tree collection is also a good option.
We all grieve in different ways. I chose to eat a garden salad in his honor.
I will miss him. Wilson had less personality (and a few less brain cells) than other roommate, Oreo, but I still appreciated (and will always remember) his friendship.

Open Letter to Bigoted Old Goat in the UK

Crawl back under your rock!
I cannot believe all the heat Gordon Brown is taking for calling a spade a shovel (no beating about the bush).
Your comment/question about Eastern Europeans was racist. If you are trashing others (that don't look like you) who are trying to make a better way for themselves, you deserve to be outed as a bigot.
I can't believe this story was making the headlines this morning. Main stream media needs to pull their head out! Too bad this story may cost Brown the election. I hope all the non-racists in the UK rally to his defense.
See ya at the next skinhead rally or Tea Party or where ever all you narrow minded people congregate!

25th Highschool Reunion

Wow, its been 25 years since I graduated from highschool, it only seems like 23, I won't be attending the reunion but I went to the 10th and the 20th so I figure I can miss the 25th. Low on vacation days anyways so its for the best. Got me thinking about the music of the 80's and the first concert I ever went too, The Flock of Seagulls (the Go-Go's might have been the main act but AFOS stole the show). Mostly I went for "I Ran" but "ManMade" really got me hooked on AFOS, take a listen. Gotta love the hair!

Some poor Mexican went without this evening...

Vandals defaced the Arizona Capital with refried beans smeared into swastikas to protest the new illegal immigration law. Now I think this is funny as hell but who actually did this? Lets look at this rationally, would the Latinos use refried beans as a form of protest? It plays to easily into the stereotype of Latinos so I really don't think they perpetrated this act. It might have been another group out to inflame passions even further which leads one to believe it might have been the skinheads/white supremacists. Of course the most logical answer is that it was just a couple of college kids playing a prank.

As far the law that Arizona just passed, I'm all for it, if you get pulled over for a broken tail light or speeding or are questioned by the police and you don't have a valid driver's license or photo ID then you should be considered an illegal until you can prove otherwise regardless of your skin color.

I also feel that if you are questioned and can't speak English then you are not from here and are thusly an illegal as well. I'm not singling out Spanish speakers here, if you can only speak Cantonese, Farsi or German then you are also here illegally as the legal immigrants have to show proficiency in English to be granted citizenship.

Drill Baby Drill

Where are all the Drill Baby Drill folks now? Could it be the developing oil slick off the coast of Louisiana is keeping their tongues muted? I'm all for domestic oil production but accidents happen and we need to have the technology developed to deal with any contingency. It seems that the oil companies did not foresee this kind of a disaster or they would have had procedures in place to cap a well accident of this magnitude. Don't they have risk managers whose sole job it is to figure out all the different scenarios for accidents and have a plan how to fix the problem? I wonder if this will be the Exxon Valdez of the Gulf of Mexico.

Angry Traveler at UK Airport

“I hate Iceland!”
Medicated traveler not happy about volcanic ash closing UK airports:

Rush's little memory problem....

Listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio as I drove back to the office after lunch today, I know, I know, what the hell am I doing listening to Rush but he's on the radio station I listen to for my morning and afternoon commutes because of the excellent traffic reports and I like a good laugh every Friday so I don't change the station. So anyway he gets a caller who's all enamored with Rush, like they all are, and the caller starts in about Rush's big contribution to leukemia and the caller recalls Rush saying that at one point several years ago during a similar pledge drive that Rush called out to his assistant to get his checkbook so that he could write a check, Rush said he couldn't remember ever letting his assistant hold his check book or ever asking his assistant for his checkbook. It all of a sudden dawned on me why he doesn't remember......he was all whacked out on Oxycontin and probably doesn't remember anything from that time period including "W"'s presidency which actually makes perfect sense on how he can rail against everything the democrats are doing but can't remember a thing about the past republican failures.




I keeellll you!!!

What are my co-workers eating....

.....that smells so bad coming out the other end that it overwhelms the industrial strength air purifier/sanitizer? I walked into the bathroom and I first get hit by the pine smell of the air purifier/sanitizer/freshener only for it to be over taken shortly there after by the noxious ass cloud, I think this is what death smells like. I had to stifle a laugh as I stood at the urinal though as I realized someone else was in one of the bathroom stalls, why is the smell of ass so funny?

LegoLand Text Messages

Visited LegoLand (kids amusement park) for the first time last week only to find out they do not serve adult bevs :-( Ouch! That's a lot of kid time with out medication.

Text messages exchanged between the Godfather and myself while I was there:
Mine - LegoLand today. GetLoadedLand tomorrow :-)
Godfather - Have you ridden any rides at GetLoadedLand like ‘Falling Down Stairs’, ‘Hugging the Porcelain God’, ‘Missing the Urinal’, ‘Falling Off the Bar Stool’?

It was actually a great day, despite lack of mind lubrication.

It was pratice I tell you, practice

If Tiger Woods had 18 different mistresses wouldn't that just qualify as a round a golf, you know he just played 18 different holes.

Recent Text Message from Vegas

" Eating dinner at Outback and the waitress asks if we want a loaf of bread, my response TRUE, yeah I'm taking advantage of the free drinks in Vegas"

Solar Airplane Takes Flight

A solar airplane took flight recently relying solely on solar energy for its propulsion. I was most impressed with the accomplishment until further down in the article it states they plan on conducting a night flight, WTF it's a solar, i.e. needs a light source, plane dumb asses!!

Street Cred

You have probably asked yourself.....why does this blog have so much Street Cred?
Well, let me answer that for you. The Godfather and myself grew up on the mean streets of Harlem. OK, maybe we only lived there for less than two years. OK, OK, maybe it was Harlem, MT instead of Harlem, NY. All the same, if ya spend some of your childhood in The Big Sky Country, you are gonna have a toughness groove carved in your brain :-)

Ernest Hemingway Doppelganger

The Godfather thinks our Old Man looks a bit like Ernest Hemingway.
Here's a few pics from dinner out at Jon's Pass (misspelled on purpose).
You decide:

Sea Towers Adventures

A few images from parents new place (and my first visit back to FLA in 12+ yrs.....to my old stomp'n grounds):


View Sea Towers - Run, Feb 2010 in a larger map

Johnnie Walker Commercial

This four minute commercial was filmed without editing!
Although I heard it took over 20 takes to get it right.

Mowed Down My Sunset Hill and Put Up a Convenient Store

Shortly after I moved in with my brother in Aurora CO, I found an open hill to watch the sunset over the Rockies. Beautiful views of downtown and the mountains!
Well....the hill literally disappeared on one of my trips to Austin. Land developers mowed it down to prep the site for mixed use development including a convenient store (almost complete).
The developers did throw me a token bone in the shape of a small 1/2 acre park with a couple benches. Not bad, but a little further walk.
The slide show below includes pictures of my token park on a recent dog walk with my brother:

Rib Killa

On a recent trip to visit my parents, my Mom inflicted much pain on me (by accident of course or was it)......
She needs a bit of assistance getting around. So when we go out, she grabs my arm and I hold her tight against me. Seems to work good.
Well, one night I was helping her out of a restaurant and she leaned into me (or I gripped too tight) and there was an audible crack noise from my rib area. I explained that it was a snow boarding injury from a few weeks ago (I slid ribs first into a tree). Two Advils later and I slept well that night.
Upon further consideration however, I guess it could have been a bit of payback for the labor pains that I inflicted on her 44 yrs ago. Oh, and the countless pains I caused growing up. Anyway, she probably forgot all that stuff by now or did she.......

Florida Politics

Another good article on Florida politics from the Old Man (who has now been invited to contribute to this blog):
Term limits put clueless newbies in charge in Tallahassee
Tease ya with this quote from article:
"Republicans in the House have opted to elevate an individual to one of the three most powerful political posts in the state who is facing foreclosure of his $1.2 million home, a $2.7 million legal judgment against him and even had his driver's license temporarily suspended and failed to pay highway tolls.
This is the party of financial restraint, fiduciary responsibility, balanced budgets?"

Twitter comes to the small screen....

I follow a twitter/blog called "Shit My Dad Says" and now it looks like it might be a TV program with Captain Kirk as the dad.

New add to the blog roll.....

With text like these I'm coming back....

"this morning i woke up under the kitchen table. i went to my room and there was an inflatable whale in my bead with a banana duct taped to where its penis should be. there were trails of cheez-its around my apartment and i found $67 in the crotch of my underwear, im guessing i had a very happy birthday"

Go see others at Texts from Last Night

Play by the Rules......

Had an interesting little conversation with one of the project managers at work yesterday. We were talking about an article that one of the other project managers had sent out. With that article and the Texas IRS plane guy we got into a discussion about taxes in the US. It turns out that he has had a run in the IRS a while back and is still bitter about the experience. After listening to his story I understood how the incident came to pass and I asked him a simple question "If you had filed your tax returns do you think this problem would have never happened?" His first response was "Yes", but then he started to back track. After several back and forths he still could not see his responsibility in what happened. It was the same as the Texas plane guy and the house bulldozer guy or for that matter my former roommate who also had a run in with the IRS. There is a connection in all these stories, THEY DID NOT FOLLOW THE RULES.

The Texas guy didn't file his returns and didn't pay his taxes so the IRS came after him. If you don't file after years of filing it throws up a red flag on your account and you will get audited.

The Bulldozer guy has IRS liens on his property and the state has liens on his property for not paying property taxes. He can't just pay off his mortgage as those liens have priority over the bank mortgage.

The project manager in my office didn't file his taxes which caused a red flag on his account and the IRS came after him.

My former roommate didn't report all of his income and the IRS came after him.

If you follow the rules and file your return and pay your taxes ON TIME the IRS might audit you but as long as you haven't played fast and loose with the rules you'll come out unscathed. But if you don't file your taxes when due, don't pay your taxes when due or pay less than what you should due to fudging the numbers you will have problems.

People take some responsibility for your actions!!! Quit blaming others for your actions or inactions, you got what was coming to you.

In my 25+ years of filing taxes and paying taxes I have not had any of problems with the IRS. I don't take deductions I'm not entitled to and the deductions I do take I've got the proper paperwork to back them up so if was to get audited all my ducks are in row.

People complain about taxes and I wish I didn't have to pay as much as I do, but its the price of living in a great country and its a price I'm willing to pay.

Now sit down and shut up we're running late.

Police Chase in Tampa, Fl

This new Florida news article courtesy of the Godfathers and Consigliere's old man, Terry:
Police Chase in Tampa, Fl
And why am I posting this article......For this awesome excerpt: "After officers cuffed him, Leonard banged his head on a curb and started eating grass."

Hey kid your worth $87.50 and 1/2 a Cockatoo

I forsee these children needing some help establishing their self worth after being sold for $175 and a Cockatoo.

Excavating the Internet

Sometimes I feel this blog is like the little yellow excavator, adding my bucket full of commentary on the world.

Other times I feel like the dirt.......

Flaming Puck of Death.....

The Winter Olympic Opening ceremonies were pretty cool especially the Orca's swimming across the floor of the stadium with their spray coming out of the floor, the ice breaking up and the performers trying to stay on the ice, and oh and the skiers and snowboarders doing tricks and spins while on wires in front of the mountain scape.

The lighting of the Olympic torch is always talked about quite a bit in the pre-ceremony and this year the talk was about whether "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky would have any part in it. When I heard that he might be a part of it, the idea that came through my mind was wouldn't it be cool to have the traveling Olympic torch light a hockey puck and have Wayne Gretzky shoot the flaming hockey puck over the cauldron to get it lit.

It was too bad they had a problem with one of the ice columns for the flame in the stadium not functioning. On the other hand its good the games are in Canada because if that problem had happened in Beijing, the people responsible for that item would probably have been executed.

Patchouli scented males mourn......

The inventor of the frisbee has passed, and here I thought it was Norville Barnes (@ 1:22)? If you haven't seen "The Hudsucker Proxy" go rent it. It's a Cohen Bros film, you know of "Raising Arizona", "O Brother Where Art Thou", "Burn After Reading", "The Big Lewbowski" ,etc fame. Now go out and play a little frisbee golf in honor of the creator.

I'd rather have someone that uses technology...

There's been a lot of talk about Obama's use of a teleprompter during speeches. Now compare that to Sarah Palin's use of notes on her hand to describe her priorities at the Tea Bagging Convention.....I'm gonna go with the guy that uses the latest technology.

She couldn't remember her priorities, so she pulls a elementary school move like that. These were scripted questions by the way which makes it even funnier.

RUN SARAH RUN

........................................... just like Forrest Gump

It has begun.....

We all thought this would be the end of mankind.....

Turns out it might be this.......

Most of the problems with the current recalls are problems with the on-board computers....

The computers have become self aware and they're trying to kill us!!!!

Happy Birthday to Our Favorite Sister!

Super Athletes of Sierra Madre

Great video about the Raramuri Indians and The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. The film is by Sterling Noren and narrated by Caballo Blanco.
Very good book on the same subject: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen Friends Kate and Ken gave me the book after I helped crew the Leadville 100 Trail Race. Caballo Blanco is a regular at that event.

Breckenridge Snow Sculpture Festival

At the recommendation of the Godfather, I dropped by Breckenridge Snow Sculpture Festival this past wknd. Took many pics of the big blocks of snow. Enjoy the slide show:

Portion of Recent Email to the Corporate IT guy

"What I’m hearing most though from the Project Managers is that today’s business is done almost exclusively through email and you must retain those emails until the warranty period expires(3 years after completion of project) to be able to take care of the all the problems that crop up. The Mothership needs to understand that this way of business is the future and they need to expect that email storage will need to be expanded to accommodate this new business model. (Wow don’t I sound all executive like(LOL).)"

IT guys response

"Executive.....Dude......You don’t stand a chance."

At least I know where I stand.

Actually me and the corporate IT guy get along quite well............as long as I refer to him as a Deity or some godlike entity.

Al-Kitty

Coming Soon....Literally

Well looks like 3-D Porn will be coming to your TV real soon. The adult film industry has latched onto 3-D and is even offering a package deal for $3,999 which includes a 3-D TV. I'm wondering if it will play like Avatar, which was very life like or more like those 3-D films that stuff comes popping out at you like the 3-D movie in the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom. I'm hoping for the former but it will probably be the latter.

Tales from the Bottom....

The receptionist at my workplace went to lunch today and told me there were two people filling out applications and she told them to ring the bell when they were done. Since my office is closest to the receptionist desk I answer the bell when she is at lunch and was awaiting the bell to ring to go collect the two applications. The bell rung and I went up to the desk and it was our janitorial guy looking to get his monthly evaluation. The two applicants had obviously left without ringing the bell. I looked around for the applications and found them on the receptionist desk and I looked them over to see if they had left phone numbers and signed the back as required. The first one was filled out but no signature on the back saying that the information was correct, not a big deal, if we hire him he'll have to sign it then. I then looked at the second application and it contained a phone number.......just a phone number......there was nothing else, no name, no prior work history, no education, not even what kind of job the applicant was looking for and no signature on the back.

WTF???? Does this guy think were going to call???

Of course we have to keep all applications and log them in, but we log them in by name, so how do we log this idiot in? by his phone number?

The bottom of the applicant pool has been reached.

Domain Forward

The following domain http://brothersbasement.com/ now forwards to this blog.
I owned it anyway. So, why not......
This has no affect on the blog, but it might be an easier to remember URL when ya share with potential blog fans.

State of Republican Posers...

Did you catch the State of the Union Republican Response last night. How posed was that backdrop? You got a white women, an Asian man, a black woman and a military guy framing the Virgina Governor on the screen. There is no way that wasn't massaged into place.

But my question is where is the Latino?

Hey all you climate change deniers....

Did you see the temperatures in Florida a couple of weeks ago? There were iguanas falling out of trees in Miami. What about this, can an Winter Olympics be canceled due to a lack of snow? Vancouver right now is dealing with this problem. Has there ever been a Winter Olympics that they've had to truck in snow for? Whistler Blackcomb averages 402 inches of snow per year but this year they ain't got squat. I live in Colorado and this year the mountains here are not doing well except for in the southwest corner of the state. Now what percentage of change humans have contributed to this climate change is unknown but you better believe that something isn't right with our climate and we should be having discussions and making plans for possible scenarios, like flooded coastal cities, if this keeps up. Hell, I might have beach front property in Aurora CO if this keeps up, can anyone say Waterworld?

Another Ted Kennedy funny as seen on the web

As seen on another blog:

"It’s like Massachusetts just abandoned Ted Kennedy in a car at the bottom of a river."

Now that's funny.

All The World's A Stage And We Are Merely Players

Maybe nothing we do or say in politics or the US in general matters according to this article. It makes sense that everything has led up to this and maybe there is no changing the course we're on. We're all doomed...................

Click...crakle...crackle...buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (as the Internet connection is terminated to the Godfather's computer)........


.........nothing to see here......... move along.

And I just thought it was lyrics in the Rush song "Limelight".

Ted Kennedy takes a shot to the groin...

You would think that Massachusetts who had elected Kennedy for so many years would have wanted to see one of his lifelong goals fulfilled after his death. By the election of Scott Brown they might have dealt health care reform a fatal blow.

Maybe they didn't care for Ted and his policies after all and were just happy to have a powerful voice in the Senate to get their state more federal dollars and now that he has passed they can vote for whatever is the popular flavor of the day.

I would like to see health care reform go through, but at the end of the day it probably won't affect me either way. I've worked all my life and every employer I've been with had some sort of health plan that I was on and I would think that would continue into the future. My guess is that without the health care reform the premiums will continue to rise and eat evermore into my dwindling paycheck, my portion of the health care insurance premium went up by 25% this year, but at least my deductible went down on the high deductible plan I'm on.

I'd like to see it pass so that everyone can be covered like I am so that they don't have to worry about a huge health care bill putting them in the poorhouse or into bankruptcy.

South Beach Rock Hauler

With my place of employment being right next to I-76 I get to view the comings and goings of traffic as I take cigarette breaks and today a tractor trailer drove by that had the cab painted bright orange including the rims and frame in the same bright orange and a light blue rock hauler trailer behind it. There were no marking of any kind on the cab or the trailer which was weird, just the solid orange and solid light blue.

I said to myself that big rig would look more in place in Miami's South Beach.