Monday, December 26, 2011

The Daily ACK 12/26/2011 Febreze Experiment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlw-ypNat7Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=s1bOm4KfLlU 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrSsKtVjt8&feature=related

ACK! Febreze has a bunch of  TV ads that show blindfolded people going to a nasty smelly place that has been sprayed by Febreze. The people in the blindfold talk about how good it smells or the smells they are smelling. They take their blindfolds off and are surprised by how nasty the area really is because they couldn't smell the true smells because Febreze is SOOOO good!   I CALL BULL$#!+

I was born on a day but I wasn't born YESTERDAY! Forgive my strong language but I just don't believe Febreze is that good of a product. I don't believe those ads at all true. Even Randi, who is quiet as a mouse, doesn't believe those ads are true.

If I took my blindfold off and saw such a nasty place, I would gag!  Bad smells bother me to no end. Walking into a dirty bathroom just turns my gut over. ACK!

Speaking of truth in advertising....I'm also opposed to the use of blue fluid in diaper ads. Why not yellow or brown fluid? I didn't say it would be any less gross, but it would be more truthful. If you found blue fluid in your child's diaper you would flip! I'm also not crazy about ads for female needs. Not that there is anything wrong with having an ad for such needs but the whole "Have a happy period" is just going a little too far.

I would guess being named after a female hygiene product has warped me a good bit...*twitch*

Ok, I'm off my soapbox!
Happy Day after Christmas! 

J.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Daily ACK 12/14/2011 The other woman in my life

Sophie at the Dr. Aug, 2009

Sophie, we got her 22 Oct, 2008

I'm being good, HONEST!
ACK! 22 October, 2008, My life changed. I had another woman come into my life. Our relationship started kind of rocky but we made it work. 

We got Sophie due to a phone call I got at work in October 2008 from my friend Karen James. She told me about a female doxie that a friend of hers wanted to give away or the dog would go to the Sumter A.S.P.C.A. I called Randi and we decided to take a look and see what we thought. We had thought about another Doxie but we wanted a black and tan male Doxie. At the time I didn't get off from work until 5:30pm and then something had happened to keep me there even later.  I got to a point that I could leave my work and I met Randi at a very nice house near downtown Sumter. I walked into the house and Sophie's owner was holding her and we all talked about the dogs and why she was wanting to give away Sophie. Seems Sophie hadn't gotten the hang of potty training.  While we were talking, Sophie started squirming in her owner's arms and she ask Randi "What do you think this dog wants?" and Randi said "I think she needs to go outside"....so outside we all went, Randi, myself and Sophie's owner. Upon getting down, Sophie shot outside and was chasing squirrels from tree to tree. We never saw her "do" anything while outside, if you know what I mean.....

When we got back in the house, I got Sophie up in my arms for the first time. It was love at first paw, for me at least. Sophie wasn't real strong on anyone holding her and she still is kind of a "touch me not" sometimes. The deed was done and we decided to bring Sophie to the nut house with the rest of us cracked nuts!

The first few days at the nut house were different for Sophie. She met Dylan and Dylan went a little doggie NUTS over her....it was very much like "HEY!!! that's a girl! WHOO HOO!"  Poor Dylan tried every way in the world to mount Sophie....men are SUCH pigs sometimes. Sophie was a nervous girl. You could look at her wrong and WHAM..she would tinkle on the floor. It took about a month for her to get the message about going outside. We always take our dogs out on a leash and the first few times outside were interesting. Sophie wanted to chase squirrels and we had leash in our hand to redirect her "efforts".

Sophie's arrival caused a change with Dylan too. Sophie slept in a crate and was used to sleeping in a crate. Dylan had always slept with us. Seven years of sleeping on the bed. It had come to the point that Dylan and I had begun to fight for who took up most of the bed! If one dog could sleep in the crate, Dylan could sleep in the crate! His first few nights in the crate were unhappy for Dylan but he now goes to bed without a problem.

Sophie is a lot of things. Sassy, hard headed, to name a few. She is driven by food. after a second round of back trouble in Dec 2010, we put our dogs on the "Doggie Diet" A half a cup of food in the morning and another half cup at 5:00pm.  The second diet day, at 5:30am, Sophie ate her half cup of food and then she pushed her bowl toward me with her noise so as to say "HEY, how about some FOOD in this bowl!" She still isn't crazy about the whole diet thing.

When I walk in at night, there Sophie stands at the door....then to her doggie bed to get a tummy rub from dad! (I make her go to her doggie bed for a tummy rub because she sometimes gets excited and she will tinkle just a tiny bit...I would rather wash a dog bed than make the carpet nasty)

She is good to the core and I love the stuffing out of her. We wouldn't trade her for the world!

J.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Daily ACK 12/13/2011 Rhythm

ACK! My life is in a bit of a twist right now. For one, I'm up at midnight writing this, which means I'm not sleeping when I should be....

My lovely wife, Randi, is in Minnesota with her sister, Robbie. Seems Robbie's husband, Eddie, fell on the front walk of their house and broke his right arm and gave himself a good whack to the head. The day I looked at Randi and told her to go help her sister, Eddie wasn't doing so good.  He had been operated on for a perforated bowl. The Doctors said he would be lucky to make it to 7:00am the next morning.. Talk about ACK!  Seems Eddie did make it to the next day and seems to be turning toward getting well.  All of this is good news. Randi still went to Minnesota with my blessing.

The day I dropped Randi off at the airport, I drove to a remote site to install some network equipment. When I got to the site and connected everything, I found a fiber connection between two buildings didn't work. Repairing fiber is a special thing that I can't do. I had to tell the people I was working for that I couldn't do what I came to do because of a broken piece of fiber....ACK! I had to get back in the car and go back to the main office. At the office we changed out our firewalls. The guys that stayed at work till the firewalls were replaced were at it until 3:00am! I left at 10:30pm because I had two dogs, Dylan and Sophie, at home with no one there to let them out!

I fell in bed about 11:00pm but they called me from work until about 2:30am. My Saturday was SHOT! It took until 1:00pm before I got moving good. Then Sunday morning, I realized that I forgot my Saturday night meds....Randi being gone threw off the rhythm of my day. I don't blame my goof on my wife being gone BUT you must realize her being gone is like losing my right arm.  You sometimes don't realize how your life and her life fits together in a million small ways until they are missing.

Here lately I've told Randi in every way I know how that she means the world to me.  That wonderful woman feels just right in my hands, close to me.  I like her more than just a little bit. Is our marriage perfect? No...but it is very good most days.  I think I finally calmed down and got it in my thick skull that she isn't going anyplace.

We are a bunch of "yours, mine and ours" we each bring something different to this relationship but it all melts together into a team. I'm pretty happy with US, even with her being so far away.

Sunday, the day she comes back home, can't come fast enough. I miss her.

J.


Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Daily ACK 12/3/2011 Things I just don't get...

ACK!  In my life I've seen things I just don't understand. These are a few of those thing.
1.When you sign into a website and they have that check box that says.....










Why, in the WORLD do they (i.e. website) want to keep you signed in ALL THE TIME. Checking that box is a very insecure act. If anyone else gets to your computer and goes to that website, they will be able to get into your information with no problem at all. They wouldn't even need to have your password at that point. I just don't get it.

2. Why does the PLANET GREEN channel show almost anything but GREEN (recycling and sustainable energy usage) related programs. Every Saturday  is Egypt day and they also show lots of paranormal programing In the channel description on DirecTV it says "Planet Green is the first-ever 24/7 eco-lifestyle television network!! Add substance to your style with a mainstream look at a world going green...." OH REALLY! not from what I've see showing on that channel.

3. I don't get why U.S. policy toward Israel seems to be changing.  Genesis 12:3 God tells Abraham "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."  Mark my words. If the USA turns our back on the Nation of  Israel, we will be in bad shape.

4. When did politics become a blood sport? I've said it before and I'll say it again and I say it to both parties. DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY, NOT WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOUR REELECTION TO OFFICE! Have the guts enough to step off the gravy train and see how your actions as an elected official effects the average everyday Americans. The inaction of our elected officials is driving this country into the ground. 

5. In the media, when talking about the economy, they always talk about "not taxing the job creators in the country". I have never heard ANYONE refer or talk about "I'm going to start a business to create 45 jobs" they talk about "With my going into business, I can make a PROFIT..."  They make business men sound like such nice people for all this "creation" of jobs when, in fact they are interested in making a profit.. If they create a few jobs along the way, GREAT, but job creation isn't their first thought!

6. What is with all the women who kill their children? I can think of  a few high profile cases. Susan Smith and her two kids in SC and Andrea Yates, who drowned her five kids in Texas. Considering the number of people who can't have kids and would LOVE to have a child I find it shocking that a parent would think that killing their offspring would make anything better or improve their situation. Not to let men off the hook, think of  John Emil List who killed his family in 1971 because he had lost his job and was drowning in debt and though that going on welfare would bring the family ridicule.

I'm sure if I sit here and think long enough I could think of other things I don't "get"....but at this time I'm all ACKed out!

J.




Friday, December 2, 2011

The Daily ACK 12/2/2011 More Thoughts on Alaska

Alaska, The Great Land. The largest state in the USA.
You don't realize how large Alaska is until  you live there.  I lived in "The Great Land" from 12 Dec 1984 until 12 July 1987. There is an old joke about a Texan going to Alaskan bar. He ask "Since Alaska is the largest state in the union now, how do I become a TRUE Alaskan". The Bartender says "Well, it will take 3 things to become a TRUE Alaskan. 1) Drink a pint of Yukon Jack whiskey, 2) Make love to an Eskimo girl and 3) Kill a Polar Bear with your bare hands.  The Texan picks up the pint of Yukon Jack whiskey and drinks it down and then runs out of the bar to look for the other two things he needs to become an Alaskan.  About an hour later, the Texan walks back in to the bar with scratches all over him and says "Now where is that Eskimo girl I have to kill....."....

The first time I heard Johnny Horton's North To Alaska was in Fairbanks. The group of people I ran around with in Alaska had a 45 RPM vinyl record of "North To Alaska" and we passed it around to new people who came to Eielson AFB. 

It is said as a joke that the mosquito is the Alaskan State bird...(The state bird is really the Willow Ptarmigan). The more snow there is during the winter, the more mosquito's there will be during the summer. you will swear the mosquito's could almost carry you away.  As far as the real state bird, the Willow Ptarmigan, they are ground nesting birds and they can fly but they don't fly very often. Don't get caught hunting a Willow Ptarmigan in Alaska, its against the law.

As I have said before, I don't hunt or fish, however, I did go fishing twice in two and a half years in Alaska. A good eating fish in Alaska was an Arctic grayling. As long as you dressed them and put them right on the fire after catching them, grayling were good eating. You can't freeze an Arctic grayling. They turn to mush if you freeze them. As far as ocean fish, Pacific halibut was the finest eating fish I ever ate.  Halibut have one large backbone that dissects 4 large pieces of meat. Other than their backbone, Halibut are almost boneless.

My memories are of a great bunch of friends that have been scattered by military service.  I remember meeting a guy named Frank who hung around the pizza restaurant I used to frequent in North Pole AK.  Seems Frank had two granddaughters in Catholic School in Fairbanks. His granddaughters ask him "How do they (the church) appoint a new Pope." Frank told those girls that the new Pope was the previous Pope's oldest son. It seems his granddaughters went to school and told the teacher (a nun) what their grandfather had told them.  Frank's daughter got called to the school because of what her dad had told her daughters and as I remember Frank telling us that his daughter "wasn't very happy" with him.

I spoke to Christopher and Lindsey yesterday and I ask them, "What is the temperature right now?" They told me is was 3 degrees above zero Fahrenheit. I said "Oh, you are having a heat wave!" They told me the locals thought so but they were COLD! Oh well...the first winter in Alaska is the worst winter.

I'm all ACKed out!
J.