Babe the Blue Blazer is loaded up, over night bag shoved in the back seat.
The Twins are packed away in my lock box. My hat's on straight, my boots on the right feet and my glasses are crooked.
I got a spare can of Copenhagen, and some Fire Blend Beechnut, as well as 2 six packs of beer.
See ya'll at OgFest!

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run.

Keep your foot hard on the pedal. Son, never mind them brakes.
Let it all hang out 'cause we got a run to make.
The boys are thirsty in Atlanta and there's beer in Texarkana.
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run.

Ol' Smokey's got them ears on, he's hot on your trail.
He ain't gonna rest 'til you're in jail.
So you got to dodge 'im and you got to duck 'im,
You got to keep that diesel truckin'.
Just put that hammer down and give it hell.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run.

STAR SPANGELED BANNER

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

                                                                                                                On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
                                                                                                          Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
                                                                                                               What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
                                                                                                                        As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

                                                                                            Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O 'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!




And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.




No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

/sigh

Bad news.

The uber-self important source of my wife's income, employment and career has thusly spoken stating that although they will have off on July 4th.....they will now have to work on Saturday to make up the lost time due to the unforeseen work load.

Which means she has to work, and I get child sitting duty.

Which means I will not be able to attend OgFest as I had intended to do this weekend.

Insert pleasant vulgarities here.

If you frequent TorrentSpy a lot, you might want to rethink your visits there. Seems that the MPAA was tired of the RIAA getting all the press and went after TorrentSpy for it's webserver logs. The good thing was that the folks at TorrentSpy haven't had the loggers turned on in God only knows how long. So the Judge in case made them turn the loggers on.

Now this all went down about a month ago.  So, if you haven't been there in a while, you might want to stay away unless you are actually only downloading GPL'd data.  If you're looking for the latest rip of Shrek 3, Pirates 3 or Barney goes to Rehab, you might want to consider looking somewhere else.  If you want a few more details, check out the source I found over here at Ars.

I'll keep this short and not take up too much of anyone's time

Given the seriousness of the possibility of an upcoming cloture vote, I'd like to invite you to join Slobokan, and myself to the Techography Internet Chat each and every night of the week so that we may organize not only efficient live blog coverage (multiple people, multiple news casts and researchers) but to efficient blog "swarm" the system as it proceeds, not to mention flooding representatives with more E-mails, and calls....at the time of voting.

Last second floods have been known to make a difference, and this is no different

The link is here.

I am on every night from 10 pm until 8 am Central Time. However if cloture becomes an item I will arrive early.

Feel free to pass this to any other bloggers or concerned parties you know of. Lets not let this go without a fight!

I don't care if your Left, Right, Center, Independent, Liberal, Democrat, Republican or Marxist. If you believe we need to put a stop to this Bill, then we need to stand together.

Ass.

Yes. Ass.
Old Ass.
Very Old Ass.
Very Old Nasty Ass.
Very Old Nasty Unwashed Ass. With Flatulence. And Bowel issue's.
Or a McDonald's Cheeseburger. Either way take your pick.

Ok so I'm exaggerating slightly. A McDonald's Cheeseburger is good...when it's a real McDonald's Cheeseburger.

But as a Dorrito? It tastes like left over rubber dog shit thats been microwaved to a crisp.....chip.

And I happen to like Dorrito's.

But. Just. Eww.

I don't think even a six pack of Old Milwaukee could get this taste out of my mouth.

So if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go gargle with Clorox, and boil the tastebuds off my tongue now. And eat fried liver. With Asparagus.

Blarg.

Lets face it. We all know gas is going up. And my almost 20 year old Blazer isn't getting any younger, and with 195,500 miles on it, plus my tensity to drive like a bat out of hell, keeping it smooth running order is a pretty high priority.

I already get better gas mileage than my wife's 2003 Saturn Vue with a 4 cylinder and 5 speed manual transmission. She gets around 20 miles to the gallon. I get closer to 24. 26 on the Highway.

But even with this, I still spent the weekend tuning up Babe the Blue Blazer.

If I had the digital camera I would have taken pictures, however BetterHalfSpite has it while she and Critter are in New York, thusly you'll have to wait until her return for pics.

Short version?

I did some research and I wanted to use the new E3 Spark plug. I first read about them via Popular Mechanics. 
Basically the increased fire from the plug makes a smoother ignition in the piston chamber. I secured a set for my mothers 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  She's been using them for about 2 weeks and has seen a 4 miles per gallon increase in performance.

Unfortunately AutoZone doesn't sell the plugs at all (in fact they had never even heard of them) and Advance could not obtain a set for my 1989 S-10 Blazer 2wd 4.3 V/6 TBI  codenamed Babe the Blue Blazer. So if anyone from E3 reads this, a set of plugs for the previous listed vehicle would be a damn nice thing.

Read more for the chronically bored or the Motorhead savvy

I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you.  I've been given the opportunity to watch you grow form an incredibly cute small child into a beautiful young woman. You have achieved so much in such a short time that it’s hard for me to keep track of it all. Only yesterday you were just a short chubby-cheeked little girl and today you are graduating High School and running off to college.  

 

Though it may seem to you that it’s taken forever to reach this point, it had happened all too quickly for me. I’ll admit here that it saddens me to see you start the rest of your life, however it cannot compare to how happy and proud that I know that you are so well prepared and dedicated to your dreams. Never loose sight of those dreams and never compromise anything to reach them.

 

No matter what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future, always know that we love you and will always be here for you. You have made us so proud and I know that you will continue to do so during your time in Chicago.

 

Congratulations Kid-O, you’ve made it to the next level. Now quit reading this and start enjoying your party.

For a change a Print Media has a nice article regarding The Internet Media.

I find it somewhat humorous that the Blog Community loves it when we get our names and site's in Print media articles, but we bash the Mass Media for bias on a regular basis.

Maybe it's because Print Media isn't quite as bad as Broadcast Media

I'm sure theres room for analyzation in there somewhere....but not by me and not today.

The Weekly Standard has a nice article about the MilBlogs, what we do, who we represent and some other tidbit knowledge,
One of the better quotes?

there are really two sets of bloggers covering the military--the milbloggers, who include active duty servicemen, their family members, and veterans-turned-journalists, and the techbloggers, who are a bit more of a mixed bag of veterans and milgeeks (I, too, would be a milgeek in this taxonomy). The techbloggers tend to be a bit more liberal and mainstream than their milblog counterparts. For the most part though, the politics of the war were largely ignored in favor of a serious discussion about how best to inform the public about what the troops are doing, and how best to support those troops while they're doing it.

Beyond ourself and Theresa, SWWBO and Caltech Girl I don't really know of many TechBloggers in the MilBlog community. But I guess theres something for everyone heh!

If ya'll know of other Tech/MilBloggers let me know. I'd like to link'em.

And pass on some of the Tech Support E-mails and phone calls  I get from fellow bloggers at 2 in the morning ;)

For the Record however of the Techography Staff, KDwill and Myself are both Veterans. Calimus and P_G_S are MilGeeks. So you can get your entire mixed bad right here if ya want!

Aside from Kat's overwhelimg desire to repeatedly call me Jason, the meeting went great ;)

The Armorer, SWWBO, and Co. were delightful, funny and even put up with KDwill and I's silly work related jokes.

Much Blog shop talk insued, as well as Kdwill and i vainly attempting to describe just what in the hell it is we do for a living. Which, to be honest due to lack of sleep, cut up hands, and rapidly shortening tempers with our work-mate's we're not even sure anymore.

Kat took me out for a night on the town in Kansas City's Westport area, although after the 9th Police Car rolled by with lights and sirens rolling, in a 2 beer time frame,  I felt it was time to seek shelter elsewhere. But again lots of fun, and entertainment as she also showed me around a large portion of Kansas City.

Kat took some pictures which I'm hoping will not find their way on to the Internet, as I'm a short fat white guy, know it, admit it, don't need it advertised; while Kdwill is positively gargantuan compared to myself.

Honestly I think he stole the show, and as his "blog father" of sorts I'm rather proud. Numerous cracks ,of course, were made regarding our working relationship and sharing a room.

But I assured them whole heartedly that I was indeed a practicing lesbian trapped within a man's body and there was no danger of side items.

Bottom line? Lots of Fun and I hope to possibly BetterHalfSpite up here for a weekend somedayand maybe hook up on them again.