A nice story for Sunday Afternoon...

I have been having an ongoing discourse between an artist of mine and his mother. There is nothing like getting stuck in the middle between a 70 year old woman and her 50 year old son.

This artist – I will call him Mark for a lack of a better name, and because I would not want for him to ever come across this blog and be offended that I spoke out of school.

Mark never actually has shown anything at the gallery as he has spent the past year in and out of mental institutions. However his likes to call me on a weekly basis to tell me about what is going on with his medications and just in general tell me any odd thought that happens to be currently wandering through his head.

I was very clear with Mark that I could not store any more of his Art in my very small gallery. I was also very clear that if he was not going to make an attempt to start getting his artwork framed for a show that instead of storing art at the gallery he was going to have to come and pick it up.

Last week his mother who is rather odd herself called and said that Mark told her to take all of his art work off the walls at her house and drop it off at the gallery. I’m like “no Mrs. Marks mom – I do not have room for it.” She is like” well Raspootin you do not understand he keeps calling me and threatening me that if I don’t give you the artwork he will – well I don’t know what he will do but my son is crazy ya know what I mean.” I said Mrs. Marks Mom – do not bring the artwork here. I will refuse it if you do.

So last night around 8:00pm Mark calls me from the psychiatric ward and says that I have to take the artwork because he has had a falling out with his mother. I again said no I do not have room for it. What did he not understand about our last conversation?

He ignored me and said let me tell you about the falling out with my mother. He said I have done a painting that is really cool about it. So I take the bait and say ok tell me about it Mark. What is the painting of? He is like well it is 84 x 60 inch oil on canvas depicting a woman with her breast exposed rocking and nursing her child. However the child has a large knife in its back and blood running out of its partially severed head which is leaning at a grotesque angle poised on the mother’s nipple. He then indicated that even though the chair is in motion, the mother is dead too.

Ok…

He then said that the piece was inspired by a child hood experience. When he was a child he would say: “ Mama rock me more” and she would say that she did not want to and he would say “please mama just five more minutes” and then she would rock him for five more minutes, but he knew that she really did not want to rock him. He the repeated, my mother and I have had a falling out and she will never rock me again.

I just felt the need to share this with everyone… I also went back and started looking at all of Mark’s Woman pieces today. The entire collection of woman pieces has oddly placed nipples and or breasts. The picture above is one that I find particularly disturbing. Evidently I did not really give it a good look when he dropped it off.

Have a nice weekend!

Just a few thoughts...

Salvador Dali: Person Am Fenster



Well the democrats have the congress and maybe when they count the votes in Virginia the Senate as well. So what does this really mean? It does mean that Nancy Pelosi will take over as speaker of the house which is a good thing. It does mean that Donald Rumsfeld after a “thoughtful” talk with GW decided to FINALLY resign, something that he should have done months ago. (As an aside if you spell check “rumsfeld” it changes it to “rusted” ya have to love the Microsoft humor?) It does not mean any discernable change in Iraq, but it does mean that the rest of the world is looking with more respect on as us a Nation for sending a message to Washington.

On a more personal level, I must say that the elections in Louisiana were very encouraging. All of our constitutional amendments were approved. My top 2 most important being Amendment 7 and Amendment 5; amendment 7 was for the long needed consolidation of our 7 Orleans Parish Assessors to 1 and Amendment 5 was to remove personal property tax on consigned art in galleries. #5 has stuck in my craw for years. Every time I was assessed at the gallery I would march down to the assessor’s office and complain. Our old Assessor Janice Degan started saying hello to me at the grocery store and asking if she could expect me for our annual meeting of the minds.

I can tell that a lot of people did not really understand amendment 5 as it was voted in on a tight margin. Just a quick explanation is in order. Personal Property tax is exempted on artwork in your home, whether you purchased the art or you are the artist. As soon as the same art is put in a gallery it is not exempt from property tax. So immediately this becomes a nightmare for the gallery owner, the artist or the consignor. At the end of the year, if you are honest you are supposed to break down all the consigned art that has traveled through the gallery in the past year and percentage break it out by the retail value and declare it as personal property to be taxed. I can assure you that no gallery was doing that, so typically what one would do it just say – all my art is consigned, but none of the consigned art for the past year is in the gallery, and typically the Assessor would leave you alone because the law sucked.

However, there were 3 occasions where I had revenue agents wander through my gallery and then call me on the consignment thing. When this happened they took names and addresses of Artists and people who were simply consigning previously purchased art – and then sent them the personal property tax bill. Of course this then makes the gallery owner extremely popular with them. The law was detrimental to art galleries and to our ability to establish good relations with consignors and artists who typically are not very business savvy. What I used to do to circumvent the problem was declare an actual inventory (even though the art was consigned) so that it would not flag the Assessors office. This was at a cost of $1000+ per year to the gallery. However, it was the only way to keep the artists and consignors safe. The bottom line being it was not really the gallery’s personal property tax, but their liability if I listed them on the personal property tax form for the gallery. I still do not know if the artists and owners of art consigned realize that this was not a tax benefit for the gallery, but a tax benefit for them.

One last thing on the issue that was not discussed in this Amendment; Say I purchase a piece of art inventory for $20,000.00 and it does not sell in the first year. I have to pay not only income tax via the inventory, but personal property tax. Then let’s say in year 2 I still have not sold the piece. I am taxed on it again via personal property tax. That is double taxation without a doubt. It is unfair and wrong. When I told Janice Degan’s office about the double taxation issue they said that art appreciates the same as your home… yeah right if that was true I would be a millionaire.


Once again I have run on with a long explanation, but so be it.

My last and final comment is in regard to the one UNFAVORABLE thing that occurred during our elections. William Jefferson the democratic congressman district 2 (my district) who has been thrown off the Ways and Means Committee for potentially taking a bribe of $90K and hiding it in his freezer, won over 30% of the vote. What are people thinking here? Whether the guy is indicted, whether he is found guilty, he is finished in D.C. He is powerless.

For anyone who reads this and actually voted for him, remember that Nancy Pelosi was the one who kicked Jefferson off the committee. She now wields the power, and I don’t think she is going to let our own slick willie slide – so just don’t waste your vote on him again.


My last, last final comment speaks to the topic of Oil Revenue Sharing. If you do not live in Louisiana we would greatly appreciate you emailing your representatives and asking them to vote for this before the session ends. The 2 most powerful Democrats come January 2007, Congress woman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Jeff Bingaman strongly oppose Louisiana getting any share of offshore oil royalties. The S—t is going to hit the fan here if we do not get our fair share. Please remember that the entire infrastructure for getting the oil out of The Gulf is here in Louisiana. If you would like more information please check out THIS .

Breaking News:

just added:

WASHINGTON - Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994, as NBC News reported that Democrat Jim Webb was the apparent winner.

Webb’s apparent squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen effectively gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday’s elections.

Let's say Thank You

Show your support for the troops. Click on the below link to send a Free card. You can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to so me member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them.

www.letssaythanks.com

Maybe he “aint “so bad!

I am certainly not a GW Bush fan, but as much as it distresses me to say it
THIS video has almost changed my mind.

A sign of intelligence is being able to not always take yourself seriously. I certainly think a person that uses humor and in this case humor to poke fun at them self is not all bad.

Reading Kerry's mind?

Did John Kerry make a Freudian slip? Or did he truly mean that all people who do not apply themselves in school are” losers” who will end up in the military.

My personal thought is that he said something even more damning than the thought that “dumb people join the military.” We all know that dumb people do not populate the military; in fact some of the best and brightest who do not have the means to further their education join the military.

Yes I voted for Kerry over Bush, but that was my choice for “the lesser of 2 evils.”

For those of you who know me and think that my “take” on Kerry’s remark has any party affiliation. It does not.

Look at the remark:

"(In his remarks, Kerry told a group of California students that individuals who don't study hard and do their homework would likely "get stuck in Iraq." He says he meant to say "get US stuck in Iraq" _ a botched joke intended to criticize President Bush, not troops.)"

Kerry is clearly lying to cover a bigger issue that no one wants to think about; and certainly not before an election. He was not insulting Bush, he should have gotten that out of his system in 2004. He was not trying to insult troops.

I really think that Senator Kerry was saying that if you do not stay in school, watch out, you will be drafted.

I understand that “no one” has mentioned the draft, but if you are not stuck with your head under a blanket, please explain where all of our troops are going to come from to maintain not only Iraq – there is Afghanistan, North Korea and even more to the point Iran. How is the US Government going to maintain its “war on terror” without soldiers?

The Bush administration has pulled thousands of reservists into active military. The reservists knew that this was a by product of their agreement with the US Government for funding of college educations.

I am certain that these people serve the Country well. However, you are now seeing reservists that were formally bankers, accountants, and policemen: any profession that you can name not called to duty once, but countless times with their tours in Iraq extended 2-3 years with no notice or care for their personal lives from the White House.

So back to Kerry and his supposed apology; yes what he said was crass. It did sound demeaning to our troops, but the message was not for our troops nor for Bush as that was not who he was addressing.

He was addressing college students. College Students who if they do not do well and do not stay in school will be the primary candidates for a draft process, I think he was giving them a timely warning.

I do think less of Kerry for not having the gumption to clarify his remark. Perhaps I am giving him too much credit and perhaps he was simply being elitist. I however, am buying into the Freudian slip that equates to: stay in college or you could get stuck in Iraq: drafted.

Please think about who you vote for very carefully on November 7, 2006. The writing is on the wall.

“Unless the next draft is different from those in the past, no one will be drafted to be in the Navy, Marines, Air Force or National Guard. Those more glamorous branches will have their populations increased by "volunteers" who don't want to be drafted into the Army. It is the Army that requires the most in numbers. And it is the Army that has experience training ordinary, reluctant young men to be soldiers. "Deborah White,

People who believe ?

Someone who I thought I knew sent me this email asking me if it was true.
No it is not true. It is a fabrication. It is ridiculous. Please do not send shit like this to me ever again. If you have to ask, then maybe you need to ask a psychiatrist.

However out of curiosity I did go look up Billy Graham just to see what happened during his Katrina visit to New Orleans.

I found the above posted picture. If Billy does not look exactly like what I thought the devil looked like when I was a child – well then the story below is true…


Billy Graham in New Orleans


In what might prove to be the crowning achievement of an illustrious career in ministry, the 87-year-old evangelist, Billy Graham shocked the 16,300 in attendance at the Celebration of Hope crusade in New Orleans Arena on Sunday Night. Touted in advance as possibly his last evangelistic crusade, Graham invited the packed house of evangelical Christians and the hundreds of new converts to join him on the one mile walk from the arena to New Orleans' infamous Bourbon Street."While we have seen God do tremendous things here the past couple of evenings. Yes, it is true that a great healing and a great many salvations have occurred within the confines of this auditorium. Still yet, there lies a great mountain in this city which needs to be conquered."Then taking from the Biblical Book of Joshua Chapter 14 he read, "I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this Day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day," his voice suddenly sounding more forceful than during his 22 minute sermon."I last preached in the City of New Orleans in 1954 and I felt then that there was some unfinished business. Tonight, in what very well might be my last evangelistic service, I aim to finish that business and lead as many of you that would follow me to the multitude of lost souls that fill Bourbon Street tonight. That is my mountain !
That is where we shall see the harvest!" said Graham as the stadium erupted in cheers that lasted the next several minutes. Utilizing a waiting mobility scooter, the elder Graham joined his son and heir to the ministry, Franklin across the Arena floor and through the opened doors leading towards the French Quarter. In a show of solidarity and determination reminiscent of civil rights marches of the 1960's, nearly the entire capacity crowd joined in the 20 minute trek while singing, "When the Saints Go Marching In".As the march crossed Canal Street and headed northward towards Bourbon Street, many onlookers stood in stunned silence as the massive crowd of people began singing in unison the Christian hymn, Amazing Grace. Upon entering the west end of Bourbon Street, Billy Graham was soon recognized by partiers.Soon those joining in the march began to approach those partying on Bourbon Street with the Gospel message that they had heard preached just a half hour before. Graham himself joined with a group of local street evangelist in ministering to a man who had survived Hurricane Katrina in the lower 9th Ward.Within 30 minutes the entirety of Bourbon Street was packed with Christians and the once blaring music of nightclubs and strip joints had been replaced by weeping and worship as people poured out their drinks and sought prayer from the Christians who were now reaching out to them."I have never seen anything like this in my life," said 20 years New Orleans Police Department veteran, Tom Phillips. "This is unbelievable! We thought a riot was going to break out, but this looks more like a revival than a riot!"Two hours later, a glowing Graham sat back down on his scooter and smiled. "Now I know how the Apostle Paul must have felt at the end of his ministry. Do the work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."Hours later hundreds of Christians remained on the street ministering to the many people eagerly waiting to receive prayer and ministry. New Orleans will never be the same. And the press remained mute on this "news item?" Did anyone see it on TV/heard on radio/read in the paper?

INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

Michael Hutchinson - Another: HOTTY!!

How could I have forgotten him? He is so much more profound than the Pilot guy or the one from Bay City Rollers...

No Mullet either... this is where my taste starts to improve.

:)

Hypocrisy Rules in the US

I have mentioned that I listen to Rush everyday. Typically I find him obnoxious but not really offensive. This week he transformed into the “Talent on Loan from God” to the “Tactless Fool on Loan from the Looney Bin.

His comments about Michael J Fox’s commercials for Democratic candidates supporting Steam Cell research were insufferable. In some ways it reminded me of Tom Cruise spouting his rhetoric with regards to Brooke Shields taking Paxil to overcome post partum depression.

How completely irresponsible and insensitive Rush Limbaugh’s comments were on the subject of Parkinson’s disease and Michael J Fox probably can never be truly measured. Rush is an entertainer not a doctor, yet his HUGE ego allowed him to assert to his minion of doting fans that Michael J Fox was faking the effects of his disease in order to make Republicans look like people that were callus and uncaring about those dying from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

After a backlash from the “drive by media” Rush changed his tact and gave an insipid apology. He then changed direction to try and back up his egregious faux pas by saying that not him, but Democrats were exploiting Michael’s disease by having him campaign for them under the guise of a terminally ill person who is seeking a cure.

My mother is dying from Parkinson’s. She is also diabetic. I can assure you as her body falls apart her mind remains as sharply intact. My point being, Michael J Fox is a very bright man who is on the fore front of advocacy for Steam Cell Research. The Republican Party led by Bush has taken a moral road leading toward the dark ages of research by claiming that Embryonic Steam Cell Research is akin to abortion and cloning.

Rush to cover his embarrassment is telling the 9,999,999 brainwashed listeners that this is exactly true. Supporting Embryonic Steam Cell Research is like supporting the murder of babies. The stats for Rush’s show are 10 million daily, I am obviously excluding myself from the census number of those who follow his every word with bated breath. Rush is also asserting, because he evidently feels that he is now an expert on the subject of steam cell research, that there is no evidence whatsoever that supports Embryonic Steam Cell research and its effects on possible cures for Parkinson’s , Diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

I guess that there is not as much factual evidence that supports Embryonic Steam Cell Research, because there has been no money put into the Federal Budget to support the research confirming the evidence.

Just like Michael J Fox should be allowed to support any candidate of his choice, I should be able to donate my eggs for embryonic research. Men go into sperm banks every day and make a “deposit” for money. Each month women flush eggs down the toilet. What a profound waste when eggs and sperm could be placed together on a little slide and provide science with a mechanism to prove the validity of Embryonic Steam Cell Research; hopefully leading to a cure for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

It is my contention that if an embryo is not placed in a woman’s womb – it is not a baby. It is never going to be a baby. Also – let me just throw this out as a last thought. Even if the majority of Embryonic Steam Cell research was done with aborted fetuses – so what? Abortion is legal.


George Bush legislates his religious beliefs to the detriment of scientific progress. Rush Limbaugh is jumping on the wagon by pretending to actually know something about Embryonic Steam Cell Research and Parkinson’s. He has the audacity to call Michael J Fox a Faker and the Democrats Users; when that is exactly what he does on everyday on his radio show.


Rush feels that he can say whatever he wants, yet the rest of us are too stupid to state an opinion without being taken advantage of. Not only is Rush Limbaugh a hypocrite, but a hate monger who definitely takes advantage of his listener's ignorance.

Inconsiderate bastard...

Maybe the point is not to park every f’n night in front of my house.

Tonight after the 5th time I have had to park a block away from my house, I came home and the little bastard and his insipid wife who live across the street were out on their porch. I have not been able to park because this couple likes to park their SUV in front of my house. I gently bumped their fat ass bumper as I attempted with practiced skill to Parallel Park between their car and the car of their friend and the big telephone pole.

These people live across the street from me and have a plethora of parking available but it seems that the most desirable place would naturally be in front of my house.

I skillfully put the SUV in place then moved into ½ inch of his bumper. They sat and stared at me like I had run over their cat.

I noted that if I did not move my car back, that they were going to have the audacity to call me on it. Let me point out there is a huge mini pod in front of their car, so unless I moved mine they would not be able to get out. I should have just gone in and gone to bed and let them stew about it overnight.

After taking my 5 loads of crap out of the SUV then waiting 10 minutes so the couple could get into a fight with each other about what to do with me; I moved my vehicle back 2’.

I must say I did a good thing by moving my truck back as these neighbors do fight – and I diffused their interacting by moving the vehicle. He was saying to her, “I am going over and telling Rapootin Bitch to move her car back”. The Wife was saying,” leave it alone, it is late and she leaves before you in the morning anyway.”

I am now considering going out and moving just a tad closer to make it just that much more difficult for the guy to get out tomorrow morning. Of Course he has been maintaining his position in front of my house for 3 days so who knows maybe he really does not care. As this is not our first run in with regard to him and his wife and all of their friends parking in front of my house I guess he really could give a –it.

Evidently I simply need to park at an awkward angle in front of their house and see how they like it. I guess they would probably not again care as they would still be happily parked in front of my house.

Please tell me that someone got the story wrong...

Perhaps someone would like to shed some light on a conversation I just had with one of my friend's mother. To clarify the players, we will call the friend’s mom Wilma, the friend Jenna and Jenna’s daughter Brandy. I will also preface that conversation actually did take place, and has left me confused.

Wilma calls me up this evening and was really distressed. She said that she had just found out that Brandy, her grand daughter was not going to school where her daughter, Jenna had indicated.

The background to this conversation is that Jenna tried to commit suicide 4 times last year. After the 4th attempt she was asked to leave the public school she attended and seek professional counseling. I might add that all of these suicide attempts were on the school grounds. Anyway, Jenna finds a counseling out patient facility for her daughter and sends her off to live with her father in Houston. This facility is geared towards helping kids that have been transplanted from New Orleans into Texas after Katrina.

So Brandy has had 4 suicide attempts, but has gone through all the mandated counseling. I saw her number of times this summer and she seemed like she was doing well. Brandy is 17 and in her senior year in high school. Jenna mentioned to her mother that she thought there might be a potential problem getting Brandy back into the one and only small public school in the even smaller Texas town that they relocated to after Katrina.

As Brandy is a very bright and artistically gifted girl Wilma and I say well lets try to get her in to NOCCA here in New Orleans. Jenna who has become very church oriented since her move, refused to even consider moving her daughter back to New Orleans.

So, here is the conversation Wilma just had with me:

“Raspootin, I have to go to see Jenna and Brandy immediately”

“Why Wilma – is something wrong?”

“You remember how we wanted Brandy to come back here for her senior year? Well, you will never guess where she is going to High school”

“Where”

“Every morning Brandy gets up and puts on an orange jump suit and is required by Texas law to take classes with the juveniles at the prison”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, because attempted suicide is illegal in Texas and as Brandy tried to kill herself 4 times on School property she is now required to go to the prison and attend classes for 80 days.”

Okay I looked all over the internet to see if there is such a law. I promise you I am not making up the conversation. I can not find any information on said law in Texas. If anyone can shed some light on the factuality of this I would be very interested to hear.

If seems inconceivable to me that Jenna would have let Brandy back in the Texas School System if she knew that this was going to happen. It also makes Brandy, who scored in the 1700 range on her SAT’s SOL for getting accepted into a good college.

Wilma can get things wrong. Wilma often gets things wrong. I hate to call Jenna and ask her what is going on as she has spoken to me every week since the school year began and never mentioned it.

I can not imagine that this is true. But if it is, Texas is a very scary place to raise a child.

Religion and School

My daughter came home with her report card last week. The only grades on there are E=excellent, S=satisfactory, N=Needs improvement, and some others that are basically equal to D's and F's. Well everything was great except for her religion grade. She receive an "N" on making the sign of the cross and saying the Angel of God. Now, I am a Christian and I am religious but I feel when I pay to send my child to school she is there for an education with a Christian background not the other way around. I find a huge issue with her receiving this not to mention the first thing listed on the report card is the religion section which makes me think this is before the educational part of learning. Before anyone says anything mean just know Yes, it was my choice to send her to a catholic school and no we are not catholic. Yes I do agree that she must participate with the religious part b/c it is a Catholic school but I do not think so much emphasis should be put on that part. Not to mention they are fully aware she is not catholic b/c they made me pay the non-catholic rate plus the out of parish fee since I don't attend church there. On top of all that I couldn't even get a family discount for my other daughter who goes there b/c we're not catholic. So what do you do now? I have to make her learn it so she doesn't get a bad grade on it. She makes the sign of the cross just fine from what I can tell and she says the Angel of God pretty good to me too. If you know me you know I had a huge inner struggle sending her here b/c I knew the religion was going to be a HUGE part but I guess I had hoped that more focus would be on education. The other issue I have with this school is every time I blink they are asking me to send buy or send something as a "donation". I paid my tuition plus a lot of extra stuff and now they are constantly asking me for stuff. If you want me to "donate" all of this just make up a name for some fee at registration and charge me then. Leave me alone during the year b/c all it does is piss me off that I have to keep putting money out. With that said I will end this post. My daughter seems fine with the school but was highly upset that she receive "N's" on her report card. Not to mention she couldn't get her star at karate b/c of these "N's". I'm patiently trying to think of a nice way to address this with the teacher without making an enemy. It's too early in the school year to piss off the school staff.

Bay City Rollers I Only want to be with you

Les McKeown yeah

This was my second Big "crush".

I must have liked him better than the guy from Pilot as I can remember his first and last name!

Magic - Pilot

This was my first "crush".
(Lead singer Paton)

I even had posters in my bedroom. Now I can not even remember his first name.

Is spastic politically incorrect?

Just a quick post as I am using it as avoidance for walking this evening.

I hate going to the grocery store for a number of reasons. The first reason is because no matter how hard I try I always get the cart suffering from spacsticity. Either the wheels clench up and go no where or they wobble all over the place with the exception of towing the straight line. This never happens when you are outside the store where it is convenient to pick a different cart. It is a cart disease that only comes on when you place items in it and are half way through your shopping experience.

I assume if you pick a cart that is out in the lot far, far from the crowd of carts placed in front of the store that it would mean that some other stupid bastard had taken it for a roll around the store then walked it out to their car. So there is a better chance that the cart does not have spastic problems. I am going to have re-think my selection process in the future.

The second thing that is always a challenge is picking out the correct check out lane. Not only do you then have to deal with the spacsticity of your cart but that of the check out person and most typically the person in front of you. It simply should not take an organized person 15 minutes to check out with 10 items. Ladies are the worst. This is not the time to chat. This is the time to take out you check book and start writing the pertinent information.

If you are standing in front of me, but behind the person that needs the checkout person to go fetch cigarettes or liquor this is the time to raise your hand and say, while you are there would you please get me X too. Not the time to read the National Enquirer and then ask the clerk to repeat the process when it is your turn to check out.

When exiting the store how come everyone that is simultaneously leaving is always parked on either side of my car. I was there first yet now they have squeezed me in between their hideous oversized SUVs. They know unless I was to have the elasticity of a rubber band that I can not squeeze into the space between the cars and open my door until they are finished and pull out.

Today the lady even had the audacity not only take 10 minutes to unload her cart as she had to do it one handed because it was very important for her to talk on her cell, she left her cart behind my car but then banged her door into mine. She sweetly said “oh sorry hon. I can be so spastic sometimes.”

I hate going grocery shopping.

Oops so dark now that I guess I shall have to save the walking for tomorrow.

Good things come to those...

The initial gut



Paranoia at its best


Finally a bit of progress


After 2.5 months I believe that my contractor is finally on track to finishing this weekend!

Picture one is the initial gutting.

Picture 2 has a bit more thought behind it. After the initial gutting the floor was removed. My house is raised, giving me a very introspective view of the ground underneath the house. The room stayed in this same state for over a month. One night while visiting the Kentwood water dispenser I heard a scuttle noise in the bathroom that made me retreat back to my bedroom. After deciding that I was being a pussy I armed myself with a tennis racket and proceeded back towards the bathroom. I stopped half way thinking there is no way I want to get as close as a tennis racket will take me to a rat – so I retreated and armed my self with a large broom.

Back on the scene I knew that there was no way that I was going to open the door to the bathroom, so I opted for the obvious choice by moving the box containing the pedestal sink bottom in front of the door. To make it even more secure I inserted placemats behind the box. You might wonder why the Kentwood water bottle is on top of the box. It was my thought at 3am that if the rat was big enough to get around the box and placemats that I needed a warning system to alert me to its entrance into the rest of the house. Luckily when I woke up in the morning to revisit, the water bottle (which was empty) was still standing erect, meaning the house had not been invaded.

My contractor, who actually, showed up the next morning, seemed really put out that I did not trust his assertion and hand over heart proclamation that he had put enough rat poison under my house to kill an elephant. I informed him that as he was not walking through my house barefoot at midnight that his feelings being hurt were not my problem.

He nicely replaced the box and placemats oh and I forgot just to fill out the space I stacked up his boxes of nails. I guess he did not want to find me dead of a stroke or heart attack should I actually see a rat. The beauty of respect by not paying the contractor until the job is done.

Picture 3 was taken about 2 weeks ago. Today when I got home, I was informed that they would have the bathroom completed by the weekend. I am not holding my breath… Next project is my second bathroom and my bedroom floor. I will post the final results for this bathroom hopefully this weekend and I did actually take “before” shots of the second bathroom to make the whole transformation process more interesting.

The progression on this project will likely be slow too. I love living in New Orleans post Katrina!!! Contractors were bastards before the storm and now they are have elevated from bastard to self proclaimed demy-gods. Oh well what can you do or say if you have absolutely no handy-skills to speak of. I am just happy that I got someone to do the job.

What's up with the Bookies?

I feel the need to interject a point with regard to odds and who wins the football game.

Last year all the bookie's favorites (ones not based on the point spread) meaning that you won each week if you were not giving up the points but definitely it you were picking straight up; gave a process about picking the correct, out right winner.

This year not only can you not trust the bookies, they must be pissed because not only is the point spread off, but the underdog wins which no matter how ya look at it makes them lose.

This week six favorites lost out right to underdogs, no point spread. If you look at the point spread, the figure goes up to 10. That would mean thus far 10/13 which is a 77% failure rate.

I am watching the Arizona/ Chicago game now and find it unbelievable that Arizona is beating Chicago 17 -0 . Arizona has won one game all season and that was against San Francisco. I do not get it. What is up with football this year? What I find even more curious, what is up with the Las Vegas bookies??? Chicago was an 11 point favorite…

If you have never bet on a game because you feel you don’t know enough, I guarantee now is the time to make money.

I would never recommend gambling out of a legal thought set… but a friendly placement of money by friends makes the whole experience even more exciting, especially knowing that the bookies are not predicting the winners; not even giving up points correctly.

I remember my biggest scare in “last man stands” where you pick one team a week, never repeating the team was Indianapolis vs. Tennessee. Indianapolis was an 18.5 favorite and the final score was Indi 14/ Tenn. 13.

Bon Chance in the betting arena, I am back to the last part of Chicago and Arizona.

And of course I must say : GO SAINTS!!!!

The Saints were a 3 point underdog to The Eagles winning 27/24/

I just looked before posting and now the score is 20 zip???? in the Chicago/Arizona game.

Let me do the math: 84.5% failure rate on the odds makers this week if Arizona wins.

I still think they are being way too literary...

”Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh formed Devo when they were students at Kent State University. Jerry explains how the song came together:


"Whip It, like many Devo songs, had a long gestation, a long process. The lyrics were written by me as an imitation of Thomas Pynchon's parodies in his book Gravity's Rainbow. He had parodied limericks and poems of kind of all-American, obsessive, cult of personality ideas like Horatio Alger and 'You're #1, there's nobody else like you' kind of poems that were very funny and very clever. I thought, 'I'd like to do one like Thomas Pynchon,' so I wrote down 'Whip It' one night. Mark had recorded some sketches for song ideas in his apartment, and when we'd get together every day to write, rehearse and practice, we would listen to everybody's snippets of ideas. He had this tape with about 8 things on it, and one of them had a drum beat that was very interesting, it became the 'Whip It' drum beat.

“In 1974, the three-member Pulitzer Prize jury on fiction unanimously supported Gravity's Rainbow for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. However, the other eleven members of the board overturned this decision, branding the book "unreadable", "turgid", "overwritten", and "obscene". The novel was nominated for the 1973 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and won the National Book Award in 1974. Since its publication, Gravity's Rainbow has spawned an enormous amount of literary criticism and commentary, including two reader's guides and several online concordances, and is widely regarded as Pynchon's magnum opus.”

“Devo's music and videos were based on the concept of "De-Evolution," meaning that mankind is regressing. They dressed alike in their videos to convey the lack of individuality in the world. Casale: "I think a lot of Devo is in 'Whip It.' There's Americana mixed with something menacing, there's irony and humor, there's a hook and a big dance beat, there are interesting synth parts, lyrics that aren't the typical lyrics about getting laid or losing your baby. Although we weren't trying, it was a pretty concentrated dose of Devo in Whip It."

“In The 80s - Top Five Songs About Masturbation From the 80s
I understand the term "wanker" has a slightly different meaning in the ... Another theory From John Stephens: Actually, Devo's video for "Whip It" was a ...

This is was always my personal opinion... however if it was of a higher brow, all good, as if nothing else it is a great video pioneer! (excuse the pun)


“Proctor & Gamble, who make the Swiffer, originally had them re-record this for the commercial as "You must swiff it," but their lawyers found out that copyrighting "Swiff It" and the product implications down the line could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars, so they changed the lyrics to "You must Swiffer" so they wouldn't have to copyright "Swiff It."”

I am familiar with Thomas Pynchon but I can not see how “Whip it” is a take off on any of his novels, even “Gravity's Rainbow”. I have not read said book, but hmmm I remember when DEVO came out as a band I thought it was about “wanking” – the press thought it was about whips, chains and women dressed in black. Evidently, I am so under educated that I am simply missing the Pynchon connection. Any literary thoughts on “Gravity’ Rainbow” with comparison to “Whip it” would be appreciated…

DEVO - Are We Not Men?

Month of the Comet.

these are the actual pictures of the comet

Tonight is all about the comet. Russian - astronomer Nikolai Fedorovskiy has predicted that a large comet will penetrate the earth’s atmosphere sometime around the end of October 2006. Yes, that would be this month.

Okay, I will admit that this is going to be my quintessential apoplectic week. What will happen if the comet hits, and where will it strike?

“The impact will cause devastating tsunamis, earthquakes and avalanches, says Fedorovsky. He saw the killer comet in a telescope two weeks ago. He managed to calculate the comet’s trajectory”

I do not want to add to the going to hell in a hand basket approach of my last post, but I can not help myself. Do I think unlike the movie Armageddon the other Big Fat comet movie that came out a couple of years ago that the American government would tell us if there was impending doom? Hell No. I do not think we would know the sucker was going to hit us until it was clearly visible in the sky. At that point the government still would not have told us anything, it would be a simple deduction of the eye.

Why would our government keep critical information from the populous? Because just like the Natural disaster that we recently went through here in New Orleans, there would be nothing they could do about it. In fact, there would be less they would have to do if everyone just died.

So who is Nikolai Fedorovskiy?

“Dr. Fedorovskiy is one of the founding directors of the mysterious Paradigm Hedge Funds that protects the assets of a large number of the World’s Organizatsiya, and whose predictive computer programme designed to protect their hedge funds massive assets, and developed with his fellow Scientist-Mathematician Dr. Tatyana Koryagina, gave a predictive warning of the September 11, 2001 attack upon the United States and which enabled many Russians to protect their investments”

Evidently he is a known figure amongst Russian Investors and is quite revered with his predictions via mathematical equation on many sites that corroborate the prophecies of Nostradamus.

So what does this all mean? Is the world as we know it going to end at the end of the month?

The world as I knew it as a child ended many years ago. Would it not be sublime to go back to a time where the only thing you worried about was how late you could stay up and how many cookies you could eat after school. To go back to a time where your parents were like mini gods, everything they said being absolute. Santa Claus was flying and The Easter Bunny hopping.

Back to the comet, Dr. Fedorovskiy, says it will hit our Southern Polar Region.

“Lending credence to Dr. Fedorovskiy’s reports are that the precursor events he predicted in August, 2006, of a number of smaller space meteors being pushed into our Earths atmosphere ahead of the arrival of the Great Comet do indeed seem to be occurring, and as we can read from these various reports: As reported by New Zealand’s Stuff News Service in their September 21st report titled "Yellow fireball seen in Waikato sky", and which says, "A bright yellow ball was seen streaking across the Hamilton sky about 6.15pm yesterday, leaving a whispy black line in its wake. Times reporter Aaron Leaman saw the object and thought it was a meteor. He saw the object from the Waikato University tennis courts and said it was heading west toward Raglan. It was visible for about 30 seconds before dropping out of sight."


“For in his past, Dr. Fedorovskiy was indeed correct about the events of September 11, 2001, and whether or not his current prediction of this Great Comet hitting our Earth is correct, or it is instead a subterfuge designed to cover a more serious warning of times to come, either way his words do bear, in our opinion, to be seriously considered, and whatever context they may be in.”


I do not have a telescope, I do not have visionary powers, but I none the less have to wonder if there is truth to this. You can get more information at THIS site. What I find particularly depressing is that even if there is no credence in the comet, there is great credence that we are in a very scary world. I do not think the end of times is now upon us as a result of scriptures from varying religions as much as from our ignorance about not doing anything to stop what some very wise men prophesied.


This is the English translation of the above site…