This weekend I watched...

The Lakehouse, starring Sandra Bullock & Keanu Reeves. We'll give this movie **** (out of 10*). It loses 5 stars automatically, cuz it's a chick-flick. But beyond that, one has to admit, it is rather entertaining. Bullock & Reeves make a good, romantic pair. Guys, the movie will suck you in at the beginning, due to the time anomaly of Keanu living in 2004, and Bullock living in 2006. Alas, just as you settle onto the couch, it becomes clear this is going to be long on the romance, and short on action and scientific curiosity. Of course, since I'm a time-traveler myself, I can tell you that the movie's depiction of this is not the way time/space-folding actually works. The cosmic builders do NOT put wormholes in mailboxes. My advice - watch this movie with your wife or GF (but not both at the same time) to score brownie points. It'll certainly hold your attention better than Under A Tuscan Sun or Love Story.

This Week I Converted...

Another Classical Piano LP that I haven't seen available anywhere as a CD. Sergei Rachmaninov's "The Ampico Recordings - Volume 2". The tracks were originally recorded between 1919 and 1929 as "piano roll recordings". Decca then re-issued them on vinyl in 1979 and again in 1985. This is the 4th classical piano LP I've converted, and the best of the bunch so far. I don't know if I'm developing an ear for this genre, or if I'm just getting luckier each time. FWIW, the four artists I've converted & listened to thus far are : 01. Ignace Paderewski o2. Vladimir Horowitz 03. Russell Sherman 04. Sergei Rachmaninov I've been asked to convert another dozen or so classical piano albums, so stay tuned.

Happy Holidaze!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you turkeys out there! This decoration was given to us by the new lady on the cul-de-sac. Ostensibly, it was just a friendly, neighborly introduction. But between the lines, there was a bit of "I want you to have your own planet when you get to heaven" tripe. Sorry lady, I'm not into holy underwear. Still, it's a cute use of a pineapple, doncha think?

Catalina Island Blog !!

At long last, the pics of the Catalina Island Surprise Birthday Bash are up on a blog. You can see them at www.ter-catalina.blogspot.com Or you can click on the "See my complete profile" link at the top of this blog, scroll down to the bottom, and click on the link there. A couple comments to those new to blogs. If you want to see a bigger version of any pic, just put your cursor on it (it should change into a white hand), and left-click. Also, please feel free to leave comments. Bloggers love them. The comment box is formatted to where anyone can write one. But if you choose the "anonymous" setting, please sign your name at the end of your comment so I know who visited the site. There is a "letter verification" box for all comments. This is to confound the computerized spam machines, not to make life difficult for you. Just type them in the box when you're done writing your comment. That's about it. For the record, I wasn't along for the bash, so some of my comments just might be made-up. Also, I may have gotten some of the names wrong; I apologize to any and all if I did.

Ode to Ted Haggard

My my, another right-wing, gay-bashing, holier-than-thou televangelist gets exposed as a hypocrite and a liar. How do people fall for this malarkey? Oh well, we'll do him honor with a poem. Ted, this one's for you, sweet-cakes.

A fine tele-preacher named Haggard

Did meth with a gay till he staggered

He denied it at first

Then confessed with a burst

"I just wanna be Jimmy Swaggart!"

Another Terlist! Jobs for RumDumb!!

Dear Donnie. I heard you resigned today. Which is a nice way of saying they canned your butt. I'm sure you will have a lot more free time on your hands, and given your limited IQ, you probably won't know what to do. Here's a couple things I've come up with. 01. Enlist. I'm sure you're aching to know what the troops in Iraq really think of you. What better way to find out than to enlist and volunteer for duty there? You'll get to see parts of Iraq you've never seen before - like places outside the Green Zone. Try not to get hit by friendly fire. 02. Become a guest commentator of Faux News. They'll love you there. They think (and I use that term loosely) just like you. 03. Become a contestant on Fear Factor. Oh, I have a great idea for this. Rummy gets water-boarded! After all, you don't think its torture - just a bit of discomfort. Let's see how you do. Try not to giggle when they're doing it to you. 04. Take some Night Classes. Maybe Criminal Justice 101. But something like Public Speaking 102 is a good choice too. See next suggestion. 05. Become a recluse. Because there's a lot of people that are going to want to question you. Under oath. Like the Senate. And the House. And the World Court. If you disappear, maybe they'll forget about you. But I doubt it. They'd all like for you to explain the above photo. In American Law, someone who aids a murderer carry out his killings is equally guilty. All for now, Rummy. No need to thank me. It was my pleasure.

27th Anniversary (a)

We celebrated our 27th Wedding Anniversary this past weekend. It was technically last Friday, but we knew we'd be too tired to go out then, so we went out Saturday night instead.

27th Anniversary (b)

Liz found this swanky (for Arizona) place in Tempe. On 7th Street, one block east of Mill Avenue.

27th Anniversary (c)

Almost all the tables were outside, which makes for a pleasant ambiance in early November. But I don't think I'd want to be there in the summer.

27th Anniversary (d)

Most of the entrées were $22-$26. For the two of us, plus an appetizer (fresh fruits, cheeses, and crackers), one bottle of wine, and 20% tip; the tab came to $130. Definitely a special-occasion only place, but we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Electronic Voting

It is estimated that 1/3 of the voting next Tuesday will be done electronically. This is dangerous, since the Repugnicans in power are fearing the worst, and this regime has shown that they're perfectly comfortable with doing unethical and illegal things like vote-fixing. Liz and I have opted for early voting by mail for years, so it doesn't really affect us. Various companies and individuals have demonstrated that skewing the electronic results is remarkably easy. Diebold, the maker of the electronic voting machines, claims that's just hogwash, without any evidence to disprove the hackers. And of course, the unasked question is : What if someone within Diebold wants to skew the results? Without a paper trail, about the only way to know if Diebold is compromising the votes is when Exit Polls don't match up with the "count". Curiously, this happened two years ago in some very critical Ohio precincts, when the fate of the Presidency came down to that state. Even more curious, there are several initiatives out there right now, demanding that those taking Exit Polls not be allowed within 100 feet of the polling places. Essentially, this destroys the integrity of the Exit Poll. One has to wonder why anyone would want to work so hard to do this. Go vote next Tuesday! It's time for a regime change, and it starts by removing the lackeys in Congress who have allowed Dubnutz to take away our constitutional rights. And pay close attention to how the Exit Polls and the "Count" correlate. Especially late in the night in some of the "up for grabs" districts.