They're after me...

I think I'll go hide in my shell somewhere....

Turtle found slaughtered

A group dedicated to protecting the sea creatures identifies the mutilated carcass

Once again my control-freakishness bites me

After probably over a year of voyeuristic trolling my good friend Gina's blog, I got tired of leaving semi-anonymous responses and started up my own blogger account. Being the ultra customizer that I am, I couldn't just do a normal blog though. Nope, I jumped head-first into hosting the blog on my own website/server. So far the only major benefit has been that I can show you really huge pictures and the address bar shows my domain instead of rebturtle.blogspot.com. But little things like that please me. And shiny things. I like shiny things. What was I? Oh yeah...

So I configured my account to dump the archives into the /archives/ folder during my setup. Great. Idiot me neglected to create an /archive/ folder though. I'm not sure how exactly to properly replicate an archive page (in any easy fashion). All the old posts are still there, and I'll find a way to make them all available to you easily. I owe that to all 4 of my casual readers and those lost and bored on the internet which somehow landed here using the Google search string "ketchup," "mynah bird," and "wicker basket." Although I welcome you, I do suggest you seek professional help.

"Once again," you may have been wondering? Let's just say that my computer and my truck are both highly customized, and if you were to poll my family they would tell you that that is the sole reason they would be lower rated in the reliability category. Even though my custom watercooling system for my computer has never leaked in the last 4 or 5 years since I started using it, the tweaking of every hardware component, my registry, and select parts of Windows itself lead to common sightings of the BSOD (blue screen of death), random reboots, etc. I go into people's old Dell computers that are 5 years old and , although slow, are perfectly stable. I reformat and reinstall at least once a year. I am the pinnacle of male tinkering, the summit of which is reached when you can repeatedly break down and rebuild things and end up with extra parts (Where does this bolt go? Oh well, it runs...).

Speaking of unfinished projects, someday I'll get around to fixing the gallery on my website, rebuilding the alumni site for my High School and getting it back online, and maybe a few others that have been laying on the wayside.

I'm back, and I can read!!

I just flew my little 10-year-old chatterbox back home to Kentucky, and after an enormous sigh of relief, the house suddenly feels a little empty. Since the 1 year old goes "night-night" around 7:00, I now have the evenings back to goof off briefly before collapsing in my bed from work/life induced exhaustion. But first I have to finish my book.

Let me preface this. I used to read like a banshee when I was a kid, but since High School that has slowed to a trickle. The last book I read was "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert. It was great, but seriously the only reason I made time to read the whole thing was because we were at the cabin in Montana for the holidays, which has no computer or internet. -Its hard to turn pages when your hands are convulsing, but laughing hysterically at Stephen Colbert certainly helps.

So before that rarity, its seriously been several years since I sat down to actually read anything. I knew I was going to have plenty of time to read on the round-trip plane ride from Honolulu to Nashville with two layovers each way though (Yeah, it was as fun as it sounded). Usually I fill these hours by catching up on all the macho truck mags I no longer have subscriptions to, along with some Popular Science or Motor Trend. Honolulu airport had a very poor selection of these though (Surprise! No mud-truck specials flying of the shelves in touristland?) I suffered through the 5 hour flight to San Fran, and then saw it staring at me. "Dreams of My Father" by Barack Obama. I have made no secret of the fact that I really like Barack. More so than any politician I can remember. There has been a lot of mud and confusion about who he really is though. This book makes it crystal clear though. I almost finished the book before I made it back to Honolulu. His writing is impeccable, and his story is amazing. He wrote this book when he was only 33, before his foray into politics, and it gives you a clear window into his soul and the journey he had trying to find himself and how his father and other relatives fit into and shaped his life. Barack is very well balanced and despite his quest for equality and civil rights, he is not hampered by the reverse-racism normally encountered. I could rant on for another few paragraphs, but will suffice to say I loved it. I feel like I should read some of McCain's books just to be fair, but doubt they will change my mind...

Just when I thought I was happy being Agnostic....

I go and read a bunch of crap about Humanists

http://www.religioustolerance.org/humanism1.htm

As if I needed another label..... (You'd think 'turtle' would be all-encompassing enough!)

New found music love

I used to have "lifetime upgrades" and a yearly subscription to MusicMatch Jukebox and MusicMatch radio. I used it not only for the Jukebox, but for all of my online radio listening. It was a great product, but slowly became stagnant after being bought out by Yahoo! Music. I didn't care for that too much. I didn't like the deletion of some of their best features and having every aspect of my actions tightly woven into all of Yahoo's crapware.

So, for a couple of years I have suffered along using Winamp and (gasp!) Windows Media Player, but that really hasn't filled the custom-content internet radio gap left behind by MusicMatch's once glorious service. A few months ago, however, my boss tipped me onto Pandora Radio. I checked it out briefly and then forgot about it. Several weeks later one of my other lovely internet timekillers, Stumbleupon, dropped me there again. Now I'm in love again. I have customized a few stations for different moods, and you're welcome to check them out. Here's my profile: http://www.pandora.com/people/randy306

Not only is it a free service, but my favorite Firefox add-on, Adblock Plus (along with the Filterset. G updater), blocks out all of the annoying ads that fund the site beautifully. Yeah, I almost feel a little guilty, but I'm throwing them all some free advertising right here, so it balances out I guess.

Time Warner loves my dogs

Another remote, another $10....



















I believe this is number 4

She turned me into a newt! ....It got better...

For those who may have missed my subliminal message of comedy lurking within my political strife;