Right or Left

The voters don't know what they want or rather they have short-term memory loss. In the previous administration (Republican), we went to war for basically nothing. Weapons of mass destruction that turns out weren't there. Afghanistan was a response to 9/11. So the country gets pissed off that we went to war for nothing and elects the other side into power (Democrats). This administration has passed bulky health care reform that has once again pissed off the country. It looks like they'll lose their power in the coming elections and the country will swing back to Republican.

The problem is, the damage has already been done. Nothing is ever undone in government. And the swinging that the voters are doing has a wrecking ball on the end and it is smashing the country every time we put the "other" party into power. It's the two major parties that are to blame and no one thinks that the true change is going to have to come from outside of the establishment. Quit voting Republican. Quit voting Democrat. Find a candidate that represents your beliefs the most and if you can't find one, vote for yourself or we won't be able to break this cycle and government will continue to interfere in our lives.

Bummer

I have a couple of stoned women in my bathroom and there's nothing I can do with this.

War Cont.

A follow up to my Jan 09 post "War."

Mrs. Lock is done with chemo. It did it's job and very well. It took care of her big pain but now it's no longer effective, so as of this month, she's done with her cycles after being on it for over a year and a half. She received a week of radiation to the hip to take care of the nagging pain there.

Her NIH doctors are looking at drugs to put her on to deal with what's left. In the meantime, she has her own medicine she's taking that has shown successful with a couple of patients with her disease.

Senior Citizen Parents

My blog has seen a lot of inactivity lately. I'll blame World of Warcraft mostly. I'm on a break now and am posting again so that must be it. It's unfortunate since there is so much going on in my life now, it's perfect time to talk (write) about it.

Dad came up to visit last week. I took him and the kids to the Children's Museum. Since he's 60 now, he gets the senior discount. This made me laugh although I went through a couple of emotions other than humor, mostly humor though. I was happy to pay a discount rate but Dad getting old reminds me I'm getting old. I am fortunate to have young parents. When they were my age, I was half way through high school. My oldest child is only 5.

It does make me think about what kind of people they were. Very much like me no doubt. Just thinking of them knowing then what I know now and they did it was three kids, it kind of awes me. Life is not hard in this country, far from it. There are few things to worry about but you do have responsibility, especially to your family and at 38 my parents were just kids like I am now. All things are relative of course.

Glad to be back and writing again.

Haven't done a snapshot in over four years! Here it is for 2010.

--

Snapshot


Market: (GAWD down 4.5 years later)
DJI 10615, NASDAQ 2316, SP5 1128

#1 Movie at the box office:
Resident Evil: Afterlife

Last movie I saw at the theater:
Toy Story 3

Last movie(s) I saw not at the theater:
The Green Mile

Daywatch


Books I'm currently reading:
None

Broadcasts I'm listening to:
Howard Stern on Sat radio

Alternative, 80's.

Video games I'm playing:
Angry Birds (Droid Phone), Starcraft 2, Got Populous 3 out of the closet, blew the dust off (Win95 game).

Price I'm paying for gas:
$2.89/gallon (wow, did not change this from the value I had 4.5 years ago).

Last several Google searches:

syler actor

dell precision t7400
webcam roulette

condusive (checked spelling, it's a c)

zionsivlle friendly tavern

easy root

doctor who episode guide

Bipartisan

Republicans: There's always an enemy.

Democrats: There's always a poor person.

4 year old vocab

Lightning is "Thunder Lights"
Bathing Suit is "Babing Suit" (That's kinda true)

Sidewalk is a "Walk Side"

Trick or Treat pale is "Pumpkin Purse"

Humidifier is a Human Fire

Tess: "Daddy, can I have a magic hat so I can make my brother disappear?"

She's 5 now (over 5.5) but she calls TV static the "sparklers."

War

I hesitate to post this since I don't like to talk about my wife's affliction much. But as a matter of record so we remember what we did and when, here it is.

The challenging year continues of Mrs. Lock going through full body radiation, spot radiation, liver surgery in July, intense back pain and countless tests, scans and blood draws to combat the dozens of tumors that plague her body, she has started chemo therapy as of yesterday. The schedule is every three weeks for unknown number of years.

She's 35. That's all I have to say for now.

More toddler speak

More of my 3 year old daughter's vocabulary

hamburger = hangerburr
dinosaur = dinasorn
temperature = pentager

gloves = glubs

M&M's = M's M's

Bathing suit = Babing Suit

High five = Have a five

Public Property

The problem with public property is that you'd have to follow someone else's rules and people can come up with some pretty stupid rules.

Cell Phone Mixup

I've had my cell phone for a couple of years now. I've had the number even longer, about 10 years.

One afternoon, I was leaving work. I don't get a signal at my desk so I shut off the phone during the day to save the battery. When I get out to the parking lot, I turn it on and it plays catch up with any calls/voicemails/text messages I missed during the day. My phone chimes, I have a text message.

"Hey, what are you guys doing tonight?"

My phone doesn't recognize the phone number or it would've put someone's name on the header corresponding to an entry in the address book. I don't recognize the phone number either. So I reply.

"Who dis?"

"Mark," a few minutes later.

I know a Mark. He's very social, looking for things to do with friends so I text back.

"[Mrs. Lock] out of town. Home alone."

I get the reply.

"Who's [Mrs. Lock]?"

So I know there's a crossed wire somewhere. I text back,

"Don't know you. Sorry."

That's the end of it. No responding texts.

The next day, I get up, check my phone. There's a missed call. From the same mystery number that text me yesterday. There's no voicemail, so I blow it off.

That night, I'm sitting at my computer. It's about 11:30p. I've got my cell next to me and it rings. It's the same phone number from the strange text messages. I answer.

"Hello?" Long pause. "Hello? Who is this," I ask.

"Mark," the caller replies.

"How can I help you Mark?"

I hear the phone pull away from the speaker's mouth as he says "What the f-?" Disconnect.

I go back to the computer. Maybe 30 minutes later, it's after midnight now, I get a text. It's from you-DONT-know-who.

"Are you upstairs?" it reads.

At this point, my mental wheels start turning. I am indeed upstairs. But this guy has mistaken me for someone else. I look around and remembered I opened the curtains and windows fully to cool the room off. It's dark outside. I can't see anything but people could see in if there's anyone standing out there.

I text back. "I don't know you."

He texts back. "I'm downstairs."

Oh crap! I fly up out of my chair, I start turning on all the lights, in the hallway. I fly down the stairs, turn on the entry hall light, more hallway lights, living room, dining room, kitchen. I'm checking all the locks on the doors. They are still locked. There can't be anyone in my house. This guy must have the wrong number I think to myself despite being a little freaked out at the moment.

I hear some noises outside so I open the back door and step out onto the porch. There is a party going on a few doors down. It's very typical coming from that house though. If they weren't noisy late at night, I'd know something is wrong. I listen for any other noises, movements in the dark. There is nothing.

I come back inside, close the door. Lock it. Decide to go to bed. I take my cell phone with me but since this guy is a night owl, I don't want his calls waking me up. So I silence the ringer.

Finally I get to sleep after the adrenaline leaves my system. I get up the next morning and the first thing I do is look at my phone. No missed calls. No text messages.

I recounted the whole story to my wife over the phone. She mentioned she sold her old cell phone in a garage sale the day before and I could be getting messages from that. It's possible although the area code she sold the phone in does not match the one calling me. I decide to do nothing.

Later that day I get one more message from Mystery Mark. It says "Want to play vball at vic?" Sounds harmless. Not very stalker-like. I ignore that one and that's the last I've heard from them.