I read today that Senator Fred Thompson (better known to many of you as the District Attorney on Law and Order- No not him, the fatter one, yeah) is all set to officially announce his candidacy for President.  Well it’s about time.  I was beginning to think it wasn’t worth going to the polls next year but perhaps, just perhaps, there will be someone there I can feel good about voting for.  Gulianni is about as good as voting for Clinton but might run things better.  Mitt Romney… yeah right.  McCain’s campaign is imploding as we speak (better now than to have him actually get the nomination and have it happen then) and some of the “also rans” may be decent folks but they are just that, “also rans”.  I was abhoring the prospect of having an election where everyone on the ballot was someone I could not fathom as being at the helm of the nation (while Guilianni may be a decent administrator and even do well with foriegn policy his social values are such that I could not possibly vote for him).  We shall see friends, we shall see.

   I know that you have heard me talk about this in the past, so why do I keep talking about the same thing?  Well because This happens to be something that I like, and something that I use and because of that I want you to know about it and get to take advantage of it as well so please keep reading.
   The other day I pointed out to Kathy that it had been a long time since she and I went out for a romantic evening to a nice resturant and Stayed at a nice hotel, just the two of us.  The last time was almost three years ago.  She said that she would rather just eat at home and stay in our bed.  Why?  one reason.  Money.  She knows how expensive it can be to do what I just talked about and she doesn’t want to waste money.  I don’t want to waste money either which is why when I make the plans for us to go out for our romantic night I am going to do it using hotelreservations.com. 
    Now, they do a lot more than just Hotel Reservations, they do flights, cars, vacation rentals and entire vacation packages both here in the US or nearly anywhere world wide as well so whatever you happen to be looking for you can choose from their list of services.  You want to go on a cruise?  They have cruises.  Don’t be fooled by the name hotelreservations either, if you are more interested in a Bed & Breakfast they have those as well and if you are really in a budget crunch and this all sounds too pricey then you can book a motel room as well. 
   I used them in the past to plan our vacation to Niagara Falls and they helped me save a whole lot of money.  I KNOW that they do what they claim to do so you can take it from me, they will get you what you already want to have but for less money.  For Kathy and my little outing I am kind of looking at the historic Oliver Bed & Breakfast which is in an absolutely beautiful old Victorian Mansion.  Save money and have a good time.  This post was sponsored.

    So yesterday I went to the beach on Lake Michigan with Kathy and our friends the Holts, (four of them plus Brian’s Fiance).  The five of us “younger” folks (Kathy, me, Angela, Brian and Monica) took my sailboat out.  We had a great time although it was a little tough getting off the shore as the waves had started to get a little rough by the time we launched.  We sailed out at least a mile or maybe two and back three times before going in.  I sailed the boat right up onto the beach, dropping the sails and raising the center board before we got in.  We then dragged the boat up on the sand as much as possible and I went to get the trailer.  Unfortunately the waves had picked up quite a bit and the boat was completely swamped when I can back. 
    We got it most of the way on to the trailer but the weight of the water made it impossible to get fully on.  We couldn’t bail it out because the waves kept crashing back in on it.  I ended up taking it back off the trailer and putting it back on the beach.  After several different tries with different things we got it pointed nose out so the waves would crash on the front and not go in (for the most part) while people bailed it out.  As it got lighter we pushed it further on to the shore to get out of the waves.  our plan was to get it completely bailed out and then bring the trailer back, and quickly get it onto the trailer before it swamped again.  Then I noticed that the fiberglass hull all the way around the center board had cracked and if we put it int he water at all it would just fill up again.
    As I was contemplating that my boat was ruined (possibly beyond repair) things were quickly brought into focus.  A 30 year old man and his family were down at the beach (red flags flying) and he drowned.  They hauled him off the beach in an emergency vehicle still doing CPR.  He didn’t make it.  made my day seem pretty darned good in comparison.  A wrecker came and hauled the boat off the sand onto the drive of the boat ramp where (with all the water out of it) it was fairly simple to load on the trailer.  Everyone home safe and sound with just an $85 towing fee and a few sore muscles and a couple minor scrapes.  But nobody on the boat died.  I am astounded that while I was struggling with a stupid fiberglass boat worth a few hundred dollars, 150 yards away a man lost a struggle to live.

   The other day I was home sick so I watched the DVD of “Ghost Rider”, a marvel comic I had occasionally thumbed through in my teens that, like so many other comics lately, has been turned into a movie.  I was not overly impressed.  Not only does Nicolas Cage look completely silly in his wig (I sure hope those aren’t plugs) but the diologue is, well, as you might expect from a comic book, cheesy.
   This is just the start though.  Even though I enjoyed certain aspects of the movie, the plot was about as thin as Cage’s hair and the thing that annoyed me the most (being in my line of work) was the absolutely insane theology it was touting.  The Ghost Rider, a flaming skull guy on a motorcycle, is the devil’s bounty hunter going after spirits who have escaped Hell. 
   How do you become the Ghost Rider?  Well you sell your sould to the devil of course.  In the story a former ghost rider refused to turn over a contract for 1000 souls to the devil because (I guess) they had been so evil that they would make the devil too powerful (huh? yeah, that’s what I was thinking)  and he runs off with the contract and “outruns” the devil.  At the end of the movie after Cage completes his mission which free’s him from his contract with the devil he refuses to give back the powers and says he is “going to use this curse against you.” and that he will use his evil powers to punish those who do evil.  Like this is going to harm Satan or something.  None of it made any sense to anyone who has even walked by the front of a store that sells bibles (or Korans for that matter) much less to anyone who might have actually read anything from them.
   Anyway it was a stupid little movie with some mildly entertaining scenes but I wouldn’t waste my money on it if I were you.  If I ruined the plot for you you need to set higher expectations for yourself.

Last fall, Kathy and I were sitting in our hammock at the back of our yard in a bunch of trees when a skunk walked right past us.  We were too frightened that it would spray us to move.  We just froze and hoped for the best.  watch this video to see what other people do in a similar situation. skunk1.wmv

Two Texas farmers, Jim and Bob, are sitting at their favorite bar, drinking beer.
Jim turns to Bob and says, “You know, I’m tired of going through life without an
education. Tomorrow I think I’ll go to the community college, and sign up for some classes.”
Bob thinks it’s a good idea, and the two leave.
The next day, Jim goes down to the college and meets the Dean of Admissions, who signs him up for the four basic classes: Math, English, history, and Logic.
“Logic?” Jim says. “What’s that?”
The Dean says, “I’ll give you an example. Do you own a weed eater?”
“Yeah.”
“Then logically speaking, because you own a weed eater, I think that you would have a yard.” 
“That’s true, I do have a yard.”
“I’m not done,” the dean says. “Because you have a yard, I think logically that you would have a house.”
“Yes, I do have a house.”
“And because you have a house, I think that you might logically have a family.”
“Yes, I have a family.”
“I’m not done yet. Because you have a family, then logically you must have a wife.
And because you have a wife, then logic tells me you must be a heterosexual.”
“I am a heterosexual That’s amazing, you were able to find out all of that because
 I have a weed eater.”Excited to take the class now,
Jim shakes the Dean’s hand and leaves to go meet Bob at the bar. 
He tells Bob about his classes, how he is signed up for Math, English, History, and Logic. 
“Logic?” Bob says, “What’s that?” 
Jim says, “I’ll give you an example. Do you have a weed eater?”
“No.”
“Then you’re a queer”