A Strange Old Tool

To crazy -- Do you know what it is?

Are You Ready to Think Off?

Bloggers are a notorious bunch for thinking the world cannot possibly live without their well reasoned, insightful opinions that they put forth as if they are the most logical, reasoned, brilliant and insightful thinkers in the world. Now they have a chance to prove it.

The Great American Think-Off 2010 is just getting underway. All you have to do is write a 750 word (or less) by April 1st addressing the question, "Do the wealthy have an obligation to help the poor?" by April 1st. Four finalists will be flown (all expenses paid) to New York City for the final debate on June 12th for the title of America's Greatest Thinker.

Based on the overall quality of writing by bloggers (and especially by the insightful people who leave comments) I expect this to be a bang up, knock down, drag out contest.

Four for Fridays

Hello everybody! Four for Fridays is back! Hope you guys had a good holiday! This week's questions are about TV.

1) What shows do like to watch?

2) What is your favorite show of all time?

3) What is your worst show?

4) Do you watch the news?

Enjoy your weekend folks!

Tears of a clown

This wasn't the vid I was looking for when I started searching for Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson, but it's poignant and powerful.

People of WalMart Rap

As a follow up to my previous blog about PeopleOfWalMart.Com, I present the "People of WalMart Rap:"

CAUTION: Adult Language

http://peopleofwalmart.com/

I just went there a couple of days ago. Every visit is a novel, every encounter a short story. I've started talking loudly to myself while shopping there. It keeps away most of the whackos.

WOLF, IT'S THE WOLF!!!!

Oh god, please save me, it's the wolf! We're all agonna DIE!!! Where the hell is all the snow?

The Power of Hubble......

The Power of Hubble......

While looking at a post by Hale-Bopp I thought I would connect to the Hubble telescope using a little PFM (pure firkin magic) and my computer.

While looking around I thought I saw something moving inside the circle. So I zoomed in some more.

And to my amazement, there was a little spaceship!

I had to go for it, so I zoomed in even more.

And dang if it wasn’t Hale-Bopp cruise’in the stars!

All pictures posted without owners permission.

I got one stuck in my head and cannot sleep

These two song where done by Brenton Wood:

Brenton Wood (born Alfred Jesse Smith; July 26, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his two 1967 hit singles: "The Oogum Boogum Song" and "Gimme Little Sign".

Mottos

A friend of mine has a great saying posted:

NEVER TROUBLE TROUBLE TIL TROUBLE TROUBLES YOU.

Anyone have any favorites??

Pumpernickel bread

The other day, I bought some pumpernickel bread...got to thinking about the origin of the word 'pumpernickel.' Ran a search on the internet and found the direct translation to be: SATAN'S GAS

Pumper=flatulence
Nickel= Satan

Now isn't that curious??? Apparently, the original bread made folks incur flatulence.

What kind of useless information do you have stored in your brain???
Let's see what you can come up with.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my cherished Chiclets®! How are you? Ready for another plunge into Wisconsin’s winter wonderland? As of this writing, the National Weather Service is calling for a little snow tonight, but 5 to 11 inches tomorrow. Of course, then it’s supposed to get very windy, and then very cold. They say the lake will probably bless us with more snow than those to the west. Well, you don’t live here if you expect tropical breezes in January. I know that some people take frigid dips in lakes for various good causes on New Year’s Day, but I suspect that most of them will be warmly dressed and behind snow blowers or putting their backs to shovels over the next couple of days.

Of course, our tremendous and ecstatic Packers won the game against Arizona. Just like they will this Sunday. Same time, same channel. 1st string, 2nd string, whatever, it doesn’t matter; the Green and Gold will leave the Cardinals in tatters. Look for an exceptionally exciting second half this week, my friends. A little bird told me that special things will happen.

There were no epiphanies or profanities amongst this week’s communiqués.

I’ve been in a bit of a funk since the holidays ended. This always happens. All that hoopla and fuss and stress leading up to the holidays, and then afterwards, the bleak prospect of months more of winter. One of my favorite remedies for winter depression is old comedy movies. Most of you don’t know this, but I’m a Marx Brothers fan. Those silly men and their crazy antics keep me giggling and guffawing. I highly recommend a comedy to combat the blues. You can borrow films from the Racine Public Library for free. You can’t get a better deal than that.

In honor of my comic heroes, I’m going to spotlight a few of their films. First is the famous contract scene from A Night at the Opera:



Next is the renowned mirror sequence from Duck Soup:



Finally, the password scene from Horse Feathers:



Thank you my dear, dear friends for reading my blog. If you have the winter blues, I hope that the Marx Brothers, or someone else, can brighten your day for awhile. You know, that is what we literally need at this time of year: day brightening. We’re fortunate to be alive in an era when so many technological advances exist to protect and distract us from the elements. Or are we?

Please forward your last will and testament to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Don’t forget Downtown Racine Carves Its Niche this Saturday, January 9, 10 am to 3 pm, featuring ice carvers and their sculptures at various locations in beautiful downtown Racine. At 3 pm, the sculptures will be judged by the glamorous and sophisticated Teresa Dickert, wife of Racine's notorious Mayor John Dickert.

Bundle up for the days ahead, my Irregulars. Take time to take care of yourselves. Read a book. Catch a movie. Watch a play. Swordfish!

The Kepler Five

Or at least the first five. The Kepler Space Telescope today announced its first five extrasolar planet discoveries at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, DC. Kepler was launched March 6th, 2009 with the goal of finding Earth like planets orbiting other stars.

These first five planets, named 4b, 5b. 6b. 7b, and 8b (they skipped 1-3 since the first three detections were previously known planets that happened to be in Kepler's field of view) are not very Earth like. The smallest is about the size of Neptune and the largest are bigger than Jupiter. They all orbit very close to their stars with periods on the order of days. Their temperatures can be as high as a couple of thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

Since these planets pass in front of the stars, we can measure their diameters. Follow up measurements can give us their masses so we can find the densities of these planets. The most extreme world, Kepler 7b, has the density of styrofoam...for the entire planet!

It shouldn't surprise us that these are the types of planets Kepler finds first. It is easy to find big planets that orbit close to their stars. Finding planets that orbit farther from the star takes longer simply because they don't pass in front of the star nearly as often. As time goes on, Kepler will find more planets with lower masses, that orbit farther from their stars, and are more Earth like.

There are hundreds of signals Kepler has to follow up and see if they are planets or something else. The good news is that it is working well and that in a few years we will be one step closer to finding out how common planets like ours are.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

The History of the Universe According to Hubble

Here at the American Astronomical Society meeting in DC today, they unveiled a spectacular new Hubble image. Check this out.

Click to embiggen or go and download the really high res image. For even more fun, check out the zoomable version. This image was produced by a combination of two cameras on Hubble: The Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3 (which was just installed earlier this year). Combining the different abilities of the two cameras lets you see more objects that cover a wider range of wavelengths.

This image represents a LOT of Hubble time...over 100 orbits of staring at the same little speck of sky. The payoff is getting this image of over 7500 galaxies dating back to the dawn of the Universe. At this point, we don't even talk distance anymore since the farthest we can see is 13.some billion light years. We have to talk about how much the light was redshifted. Look for the tiniest bits of red...those are the most distant galaxies. In this case, they are literally redshifted.

So much great stuff is happening at this meeting...wish I had more time to see it all and write about it!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Tin Foil Hat time

Guy tried to blow up plane in Detroit on Christmas . Airport in Newwark shut down Sunday after someone bypasses secutity. Now today, plane down in Chicago, Airport evacuated in Minnesota. Airport in CA closed with two TSA agents taken away ion abmulances. Something wierd is going on. Feelings? Thoughts?

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

This stunt was created with just two secret rehearsals!
The video was made in Antwerp Central Station on the 23rd of March 2009 with no warning to the poor passengers passing through the station.
At 08:00 am a recording of Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system and as the bemused passengers watch in total amazement,
over 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and various station entrances.
Remember - they created this amazing stunt with just two secret rehearsals!

Dementia - short and sweet...

Woman Accused of Supplying Children Alcohol at Birthday Party

"West Bend - A 35-year-old Kewaskum mother is accused of serving champagne and Mike's Hard Lemonade to 10 children - ages 11 to 14 - attending a birthday party for her 12-year-old daughter at a West Bend hotel."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/80709842.html


Party on!

Cant get this one out of my head

Im having a ton of fun with my new ipod (Thanks Mrs Wacko!) and filling it up with tons of old (Zepplin) and new (Bon Iver). But mixed in between is this little gem from The Verve (Best known for Bittersweet Symphony) called Lucky Man. Thanks to 88.9Radio Milwaukee for reminding me how good this one is. Enjoy!

New Years +4

How many times this new year, have you written '09 verses '10?

Sitting here I just realized I did it at the hospital today...dang, that’s 1 for me!

Las Vegas Churches

THIS MAY COME AS A SURPRISE TO THOSE OF YOU NOT LIVING IN LAS VEGAS, BUT THERE ARE MORE CATHOLIC CHURCHES THAN CASINOS.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, SOME WORSHIPERS AT SUNDAY SERVICES WILL GIVE CASINO CHIPS RATHER THAN CASH WHEN THE BASKET IS PASSED. SINCE THEY GET CHIPS FROM MANY DIFFERENT CASINOS, THE CHURCHES HAVE DEVISED A METHOD TO COLLECT THE OFFERINGS..

THE CHURCHES SEND ALL THEIR COLLECTED CHIPS TO A NEARBY FRANCISCAN MONASTERY FOR SORTING AND THEN THE CHIPS ARE TAKEN TO THE CASINOS OF ORIGIN AND CASHED IN.

THIS IS DONE BY THE CHIP MONKS.

Note: this posting credit need to be applied to the girls. It was posted by SER for Beejay.

The hearing impaired

For a change, I'm going to do a serious post.

As you may or may not know, I wear two hearing aids and have for about three years now....I have tinnitus...a buzzing, hissing sound that causes you to not be able to hear conversation clearly. I am not shy about them, nor do I try to conceal the fact that I have a hearing loss. HOWEVER, I am a bit taken aback by the reaction from STUPID people. A hearing loss is a disability...a serious disability. My right ear has a 28% hearing loss, which is unheard of (excuse the pun) at my age.

When I was first diagnosed with this problem, I mentioned it to a fellow sitting to my right that I had a problem hearing him...he made fun of me...'huh---duh what...' Not funny...but what really hurt was when my nephew who has dyslexia, both audio and visually, made fun of me...and wouldn't stop...this is a 40 year old man.

Do people dismiss a hearing loss as a 'not real' disability??? I would never dream of making fun of the fact that it takes him six times as long to read something as it does me...nor will I remind him who helped him when he was a little guy with reading....

The guy in my life told me not to worry about it, he has great hearing and he will hear for both of us. And, yes, he is a gem...but a few weeks ago, I was trying to help out at his store and couldn't hear because someone had turned up the radio behind me. I don't think anyone did this intentionally, but I had a problem asking that it be lowered. It is embarrassing to me. When I say couldn't hear, I mean I couldn't make out what they were saying, just that I did know they were saying something!

People have no patience for someone with a hearing loss...like you think this is voluntary????

My line to folks has been, 'don't whisper sweet nothings in my right ear, cuz that's exactly what they will be 'SWEET NOTHINGS!'

I go for another hearing test on Wednesday to see why my hearing aids are not doing the job I want them to do....nothing will bring back the hearing I have lost, but if I could get rid the tinnitus, then the aids would improve my ability to hear immensely. A dream, I'm sure.....

A lot of you know me personally (well, okay, most of you do...duh) and know that I love music and love to dance and have fun...picture me in a bar with the music going...yeah, I can hear the music, but I can't hear you at all.....I want it all!!!!

Polar plunge for the Veterans

Unfortunately, I never made it down to the lake this year to see the Splash and Dash in Racine, I did heard they had another great turn out!

BUT a friend and I did make it out to Eagle Lake to Eagle Lake Inn on the Lake where they held their 3rd Annual Polar Plunge for the Veterans.

The event drew crowds of people and (guessing) there had to be around 15 to 20 brave soles to take the challenge of plunging in to the icy cold water. Guessing again, the hole in the ice had to be 10’ x 8’. Jumpers entered on one end, made their way through the slushy ice water and where helped out on the opposite end. Their team members were laughing, but standing by with towels and blankets in hand.

Although I took many pictures, I have posted a few for your viewing pleasure.

......SER

Monday Afternoon Grin

Italian Firemen

One dark night in the small town of Garfield, NJ, a fire started inside the local sausage factory. In a blink the building was engulfed in flames. The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around.

When the first volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the sausage company president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All of our secret sausage recipes are in the vault in the center of the plant. They have to be saved, so I will donate $50,000 to the fire company that brings them out and delivers them to me."

But the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments had to be called in because the situation became desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer to extricate the secret recipes was now $100,000 to the fire department that could save them.

Suddenly from up the road, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight. It was the fire engine of the nearby Lodi , NJ volunteer fire department composed mainly of Italian firefighters over the age of 65.

To everyone's amazement, the little run-down fire engine, operated by these Italian firefighters, passed the fire engines parked outside the plant and drove straight into the middle of the inferno.

Outside, the other firefighters watched in amazement as the Italian old timers jumped off and began to fight the fire as if they were fighting to save their own lives. Within a short time, the Lodi old timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret recipes.

The grateful sausage company president joyfully announced that for such a superhuman accomplishment he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave elderly Italian firefighters.

A TV news crew rushed in after capturing the event on film. The 'on camera' reporter asked the Italian fire chief, "What are you going to do with all that money?"

"Wella," said Chief Pasquale De Luccinellavanti, the70-year-old fire chief, "de fursta tinga we gonna do isza fixa de brakes on dat truck!!"

World's Shortest Holdup

Goodbye 2009, Welcome 2010

With the passing of 2009, we say goodbye to the International Year of Astronomy (although the closing ceremony is in Italy in a couple of weeks) and the Year of Science. Hope you observed the Year of the Gorilla and the International Year of Natural Fibers.

With 2010, we welcome the International Year of Biodiversity, the International Year of the Nurse, the International Year for the Reapproachment of Cultures, and the International Year of Communication (which, ironically, I have been unable to find a website for it but there are many references to it if you google it).

Sounds like a party year to me!

Irregular Christmas Party!!

It is officially on the calendar below.

Saturday, January 30th,
4:30 pm

Same location as last year.

POTLUCK style.
Soup will literally be served,
build from there.

Questions/RSVP/Etc.
send email to me at

lizardmom@wi.rr.com

Hope you can make it!!!

PS: details will be emailed to those that RSVP

... and the award goes to......

In an impressive show-down between
the guys and the gals,

THE BOYS take the trophy this month.

The girls did an amazing job of giving
them a good run for their money,

with a tally of 62 to 68,
it was a great month!!!

Back to an individual challenge for most posts,
get your typing fingers ready -

POST!!!

Unfriending 2010's Banished Words

Lake Superior State University has been publishing a list of words that should be banished for "Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness" every New Year's since 1975. As you can imagine, lots of these words are political, but many cover social and tech trends as well.

This years list includes the aforementioned unfriend (and friend...basically any use of friend as a verb), Czar, Tweet, Teachable Moment (I wanted that one gone a long time ago!), and any use of Obama as a prefix of root.

If there is a word you think that should be banished, don't go ballistic (1993), there is a definite possibility (1993) they may have beat you to the punch so don't feel disenfranchised (2002). Bipartisanship had a bit of a comeback early in the year when Obama wanted to work across the aisle, but that word was already banished in 2002. i-Anything made the list in 2007. The complete list is full of interesting factoids (2001).

For sure (1981) check out the list...for the children (2000). It's a great source of infotainment (1986, 1989). After all, it's that time of year again (2009).

Check out my calendar!!

DogAddicts Calendar

Hewlett Packard HP Lap Top Computer Digital Camera WebCam . . . is Racist Against Black People?

Oh my. I wonder if it recognizes Gypsies?

More Mail

Sorry, I'm a bit late on this one. We received the following email on December 21 from the people who gave the JTI (or, as they seem to prefer, a person named JT who calls his blogs Irregulars) a free case of iChill three months ago: http://www.jtirregulars.com/2009/09/interesting-email-that-we-received.html

Hey JT,

Happy Holidays from the folks over at bigMETHOD and iChill! We would love to send you some iChill to help you guys escape from those holiday stresses. Be sure to let me know if you are interested!

iChill is also going to be featured on Good Morning America in a trends of ’09 -’10 segment airing on New Year’s Day! Be sure to check it out and have a fabulous holiday!

Cheers,

Jena

--
Jena Brown

bigMETHOD
5519 S. Centinela Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90066
www.bigMETHOD.com

Both Lizardmom and kkdither tried the iChill and posted their reviews:

http://www.jtirregulars.com/2009/10/ichill-in-house.html
http://www.jtirregulars.com/2009/10/ichill-trial.html

We still have nine bottles of the beverage to give out at the next gathering, and no one at JTI Central is particularily interested in more. So we thought we'd ask if anyone else had ideas. Should we just accept another twelve and pass out twice as much at the next get-together? Is anyone out there interested in the entire case? Any thoughts? Advice?

Happy New Year!

Movin' On Up

The JTI has been recognized as a "local blogger" and included with the "media" invited to meet with a candidate for governor:

Hello,

Next week, Mark Neumann will be visiting areas in Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties to kick off his “Mark on Main Street” events.

As a local blogger, you are personally invited and encouraged to meet with and interview Mark. We reserved a block of time, from 12:30 -1:00 on both days, for Mark to meet with members of the local media. If you would like to reserve a part of this time to personally interview Mark, please contact Vince Trovato at vince@markforgov.com

You are also invited to talk with Mark during other times of the day as he meets with local residents, small business owners and local government officials in your area. Mark wants to hear your concerns and listen to your ideas for making a strong Wisconsin.

Here is Mark's schedule for your area. Click on the date for a detailed itinerary with the locations where Mark will be stopping and at what time.

• Monday, Jan. 4 – Racine, Union Grove and East Troy
• Tuesday, Jan. 5 – Kenosha and Waterford

I hope to see you there!

JP Mason
Online Communications Specialist
Mark Neumann for Governor

By the way, this blog is not meant as an endorsement of anyone for anything.

Also, in regard to this month's challenge, I'm blogging this evening in feminine mode.

Oron and Rahab=Uranus and Neptune

Language can be a funny thing. In English, we make up new words willy nilly whenver something new comes along. Other languages change more slowly.

The names of the five other planets visible to the naked eye are named after Roman gods. When we discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, they kept the whole mythology thing going. All of these names translated nicely to English so we kept them.

Hebrew on the other hand, is a different matter. The five bright planets have Hebrew names :Hama (Mercury), Noga (Venus), Maadim (Mars), Tsedek (Jupiter) and Shabtai (Saturn). But all the planets discovered telescopically are missing from the list.

I just heard a story on The World today about Uranus and Neptune finally getting Hebrew names. People made nominations for the names of the planets and the finalists were voted on by the public (I wish I knew about it...I might have put in my two cents). They did this as part of the International Year of Astronomy.

Oron won for Uranus and means "little light". It's dim so I guess that works.

Rahab, according to Haaretz, is a sea monster in the Bible (the Bible isn't my strong point...anyone who knows more of the story, feel free to post it). Since Neptune is named for the Roman god of the sea, this is a nice tip of the hat to the traditional name.

So welcome to the club, Oron and Rahab.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

So whatcha doing for New Years Eve??

I have heard people ask...
What are you doing New Years Eve?

Well, I personally will be opening at work,
and going to bed early,
Boy, do I know how to celebrate or what??

What are you guys doing?

Going out?
Having a party?
Staying home and hibernating?

[This blog has been bumped up by request -- The Sheriff.]

Battery Chargers.....(Important!!!)

Attached are pictures of what remains of a 2007 Suburban.

This fire resulted from leaving an Iphone charger/docking station plugged into the car outlet. It overheated and started a fire, while parked in our garage. PLEASE unplug anything you have in your car outlets once you turn off your car!

Happy Blue Moon New Year

Yep, just a quick post (which I have been negligent in doing recently) wishing everyone a great New Year and reminding you that there is a Blue Moon tonight. The first full Moon in December was on December 2nd so this is the second full Moon, commonly referred to as a blue Moon (even though the Moon will not appear any more blue than normal).

So what's special about the New Year astronomically? Pretty much nothing. It does not coincide with any special point in space, it is not a solstice or equinox, it does not mark Earth's closest or farthest from the Sun (although the closest approach does occur in early Janaury) and there is not big sign in space saying "GO" that we all collect $200 when we pass (although that would be nice).

In fact, there is not a single point in Earth's obrit that marks a New Year. Remember, it takes us about 365.25 days to go around the Sun, so each year we end up making it not quite all the way around. Every four years we add an extra day to get us back on track. But its not exactly 365.25 days either, so if you look at longer time scales, there are other rules..for example, if the year is evenly divisible by 100 there is NOT a leap day added unless it is also divisible by 400. We had a leap day in 2000, but did not in 1900 and will not in 2100.

So have fun tonight as Earth passes through no particularly significant point in space!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Countdown With The Stooges

Starting at 6 AM today, AMC TV is counting down New Year's Eve with the Threee Stooges: http://www.amctv.com/movienights/countdown-with-the-stooges/

I know that my Irregular Stooge fans won't want to miss one minute of this.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve at D.A.

This is what happens at DA's house during the holidays...it just plain goes to the dogs....

OLD FART PRIDE

Actually, it's not a bad thing to be called, as you will see. Old Farts are easy to spot at sporting events; during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, Old Farts remove their caps and stand at attention and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them.

Old Farts remember World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing. They remember the 50 plus Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005, not to mention Vietnam.

If you bump into an Old Fart on the sidewalk he will apologize. If you pass an Old Fart on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a lady. Old Farts trust strangers and are courtly to women.

Old Farts hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain the lady is on the inside for protection.

Old Farts get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like any filth or dirty language on TV or in movies.

Old Farts have moral courage and personal integrity. They seldom brag unless it's about their children or grandchildren.

It's the Old Farts who know our great country is protected, not by politician's, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country.

This country needs Old Farts with their work ethic, sense of responsibility, pride in their country and decent values.

We need them now more than ever.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my farm fresh frijoles! How are you? How was your Christmas? I had an absolute ball at the home of my cousin, Drina. Most of the family gathered there to eat and drink and sing and dance. We know how to party. In fact, we celebrate the old-fashioned twelve days of Christmas and keep going until January 6. Party on, my Irregulars, party on! Do you have any special plans for New Year’s Eve? I hope that each and every one of you is in the arms of your special someone at midnight for the holiday.

What did I tell you about our spectacular and heuristic Packers? Did I not advise you last week that some improvement would become apparent? Now that was a game! But what about the upcoming Cardinals? Should we hold back our best to give them a rest before putting them to the playoffs test? Madame Zoltar, the rapper! Oh my! I don’t think I’ll help the Packers this week so much as work against the Cardinals. That should make it interesting.

There were no messages or summons received this week. The holidays must be happy.

I’m going to get back to celebrating the holidays myself. Here are a few festive videos I found for your enjoyment. First is “Happy New Year! (2009) in HD:”



Next is the curious “HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 with 24 candles,” complete with kitty in the background:



Finally, here is the simple and beautiful “Happy New Year 2010:”



Bundle up for the weather ahead, my friends. If you are going out on New Year’s Eve and plan on drinking, please make sure that you have a designated driver, or sleep it off wherever you’re going. Friends let friends sleep it off.

Please send your winning thoughts and losing lottery tickets to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Thank you for reading my blog this week. I love all of my readers and my Irregulars. I wish you the Happiest of New Years! Be careful out there. Auspicious!

Happy New Year!

Wishing all the JTIers a very happy 2010!

"After 152 years, Porters of Racine to close"

From the Journal Times:

"RACINE - A store with 152 years of history in Racine will soon be just that - a part of the city's history.

"Porters of Racine, the city's high-end furniture store at 301 Sixth St., will be closing.

"'The decision has been made,' Micah Waters, the vice president of Porters, said Tuesday.

"'Under this economy the high-end luxury market has been hit like we have never seen before.'"

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_095f2a90-f4e9-11de-9ef9-001cc4c002e0.html


I gasped, literally. I don't know why. Given the economy . . . , but still it surprised me. Reminds me of when Zahn's shut down. It's not good, not good for downtown, and not good for Racine.

I was sitting at the stoplight on 6th and Wisconsin the other evening when I noticed that the O and R in their sign are burnt out. Neon. Expensive to replace, I thought, especially trying to match the color of the others. Now they'll be dark permanently.

My condolences to the employees and the owners.

I need help (duh, like that's a surprise!)

Tell me a joke...oh boy, here come SER and LizardMom....tell me a really good, CLEAN joke...

kk, how much pie is left now??? And can I have the recipe??? I love amaretto!

Holiday Movie Time

So what have people seen lately? I have seen two over the long weekend.

First up was Avatar. We saw the standard version as one of my friends has an eye condition which makes the 3D version a confusing experience. The effects were spectacular and the world was visually extremely rich (although, in one of those things that annoys only me, I could not envision any geometry of stars, planets and moons that would create the variety of things you saw in the night sky). The political allegories could get a little tiring and should have been more subtle...don't need to be beat over the head with them quite so much. Still, I probably will go back and see the 3D version.

The other was Up in the Air. I saw this on Christmas Day and was surprised the theater wasn't totally packed. Excellent movie with compelling characters, well written and fine performances all around. It's really a movie for our times as the lead character is a hired gun who goes around the country firing people.

I travel quite a bit for my job (not as much as Ryan Bingham, George Clooney's character) and was amused at how similar some of our travel routines are and how many of the airports I recognized. It inspired me to look at my frequent flyer accounts. Now Southwest doens't do miles and I had to think about past travel before I flew enough to get accounts and, to the best I can estimate, my lifetime miles are...well, as Ryan says, that is a personal question!

So what other movies should I see? Other potential movies on my list are Nine, Sherlock Holmes, and the Princess and the Frog. Am I missing any good ones?

2010 here we come!!

Okay, in an attempt to try and get our numbers up, girls....what are your plans for 2010?? I plan to just plain enjoy life and you?

Will we still be dragging behind that darn SER??? Will he keep posting and posting and posting????

Will Mdme Zoltar fall off her astral plane?

Will kk not eat that pie????

Will Fungi show up again?? Where is he by the way???

Will Logjam become unjammed? (Hope I am nowhere in the vicinity if that happens!)

And what about Orbs??? Will I find him hanging from a spider web around here somewhere??

And Drew...will his music take off??? Or will he take it off for his music...I get so confused by it all!

Happy New Year, guys!

2009 in Review

From the Folks at Jib Jab. Something to offend everybody of all political stripes.

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Its not over til its over!

This has been a great month in our
guys verses the gals challenge for blogging

Here is where we are at...

(of course, the girls ARE outnumbered)

GUYS - 64 blogs
GALS - 50 blogs

Not bad at all. Girls, we can still catch up,
somebody distract SER for a little while ok??
(hehehehe!)
I think we still have a chance. We've done quite well
especially seeing as its one of the busiest months of the year.

Keep it up!!

What should January's challenge be??

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