Here’s the Thing
I was painting that room we hired those guys to finish, you know, the one where the guys ran off with the money and never finished the job? Yeah, that room.
So I’m in there and Blane Jr. comes around for a visit. He asks if I’m getting the place ready for Our Clan. We laugh a bit and talk about electronic bolts and some wild scenarios. Secret passwords and spy stuff.
I ask him if he understands I’m just kidding about all that. He just gives me this smile, like, maybe. He has the best poker face in the world and I just can’t know anything off his look.
Just skimming through the news channels watching the journalists hyperventilate makes me ill. They all bark out, “Never seen anything like this before.”
Really? Shit, you don’t have to be an economist to understand what’s been going on. Take a look down your street. All your neighbors spending money they ain’t got on crap they don’t need. Money they will never be able to pay back. Look around. Everybody has everything. Nobody does without. Not like they used to. But hey, it made the economy look badazz, huh?
Lenders are happy to put these people in debt. They make heaps off each loan they create, and it’s not really their money they’re lending.
Maybe I’m not talking about your neighbors so much as I’m talking about mine, I live in the wealthiest large city in America. On my drive to work I’ll run across at least five Hummers and two exotic cars with vanity plates. Could be their money. But it’s probably yours, the money you have in the bank that they borrowed on their good credit. (You want your Hummer back?)
I’m not talking about the poor or the needy. That’s not what’s causing the mess. It’s the middlemen. The regulators and the bankers.
I wish I could tell you all I know but I have this rule about not writing about the job on the blog.
So here’s a good tune for you tonight, “New Frontier” by Donald Fagen. Funny the A-bomb is based on an implosion. Song still works for me.
Guessing Game
Okay, time for some fun and games…
I saw this ready made sculpture in front of a boutique or gallery in Paris last year. Can you guess what/who it represents?
Someone will burn in hell for these things
Every once in a while a product comes along that is so good I think to myself that someone hocked their soul to develop it. Here’s just a few.
It’s this firm white sponge that is slightly heavier than air. I saw the commercials while my kids were little (and coloring on the walls) but didn’t believe their pitch. A few years ago, I got a free one in the mail and was never this thrilled with any cleaning product. Ever.
It will make tile grout look brand new with just a few swipes. No chemicals or additional cleanser necessary, just that sponge dampened with water.
It also cleans tubs and sinks without chemicals… Okay, that’s boring, fair enough. Let’s get creative with this thing. I once used it for a stain on my tooth as I was six months behind on my cleanings. Did it work? Yes.
Does it remove wrinkles? Now how would I know that? I did use it to remove some dry skin on my lower leg… Oh I wished I didn’t. It felt like I had been dragged over the carpet. I’ve had dermabrasion (once, will never do that again) and it sort of reminds me of how that felt. I could see someone using a sterile Magic Eraser for the same purpose as dermabrasion.
Does it levitate? Yes, if you drink enough. Oh, and you can get a free one by clicking on this link.
Folex carpet stain remover.
Makes stains disappear before your very eyes. It’s like a delete key in a bottle. I have not tried this on my freckles or teeth lest I end up cheekless and toothless. It’s that good.
iPhone and all its app friends
This is a product that keeps on giving. It’s a phone, an internet machine, a music player, a camera, an alarm clock, an appointment reminder, a navigator… And Apple keeps adding new features to existing phones. This is a product that gets better with age.
The fairly recent App Store is like an amusement park for iPhone users. Here’s just a couple of free apps I downloaded this week, both recommended by Blane Jr.:
—Shazam. This is a music identifier. If I hear a song on the radio and like it, I press a button on the phone and this thing gives me the name of the song and the artist. I can press another button and buy it right then and there or wait and get it later.
—Simplifymedia. My favorite app. Using wifi, it allows me to listen to all my music as well as my invited family/friends’ music on my iPhone. I have an 8G first gen phone, so this is a major breakthrough as I no longer have to load playlists and songs because of space limitations. As long as my computer is on, I can access it remotely from anywhere in the world.
You don’t have to have an iPhone to use Simplifymedia. You can just download the app for your mac or pc and create an account. Get a friend or family member to join up and you can listen to each others’ music on your computers. You can’t steal music from each other with this app, it is just borrowing, and it is legal.
I just love it when something is better than advertised. Now let me see if I can just get the dogs to chew on that Magic Eraser. They are so due for a cleaning.
Just My Luck
I have a couple of hummingbirds that come in my yard for the honeysuckle. Blane sees them almost every day. By the time he calls me over to see them, they are gone. I’m just dying to get a photograph of just one of them, so I go and get a hummingbird feeder at the store. This will get them to come by more often and up my odds of getting that shot.
Now I know hummingbird snaps are cliche, but I don’t care. I want to test my zoom lens and what better than this bird to push it to the limit?
I almost get him one day. But that’s not the sort of shot I had in mind.
So Monday I’m sitting by the window watching the remnants of Hurricane Ike whip around my backyard. That’s something we never get here, we’re too far from the coast.
Guess who decides to stop by and sip on the feeder? Yeah. Of all times.
So now I have the camera ready and on a tripod, along with the new polarizing filter so I can shoot through the window glass, but it is just too dark. Too much movement outside. That is a 13 second exposure of a hummingbird in a hurricane. Okay, technically a tropical storm, still odd. Nothing to brag about since it is so blurry.
I did take one photo at 1/6 second and corrected the exposure in Photoshop.
Finally, a hummingbird. Not cliche, no, this is a hummingbird with rain soaked wings. Have you ever seen one not moving his wings?
If you try hard enough, even if the goal is a little stupid or cliche, you might just get a lucky break.
These days I’m photoblogging at TheCuckoosNest , go check it out. If you click on the right side of the photo there you will see another. Just keep doing that and you will see more of them.
Our Fierce Clan
I was up yesterday morning watching the financial channels before the markets opened. Although I no longer trade stocks, economics fascinates me. Specifically market behavior.
So there are a bunch of talking heads on the tv looking afraid and using words like “meltdown,” “collapse,” “crisis”… Stuff like that does not make me panic. I might add I don’t have money in the market.
Later in the day I get to thinking the what ifs of a total financial collapse. What if everyone’s savings were wiped out suddenly? If the dollar went down to nothing. What would we do?
I look around this place and wonder what I could sell. Hmmm. I get Blane in on it and at first the topic makes him feel uncomfortable. Then we talk about how owning nothing has its advantages and could be liberating. He says we’d need guns. Hunting, you know. Food. We could live off the land. We’d have to stay together in packs. Roam the Earth like a fierce clan.
We talk about our other skills in a less harsh situation. Nursing. Hmmm. People always need that. Blane says there would be nothing to pay me with. He’s sticking with the apocolypse scenario. Okay, I tell him I’d keep our clan healthy. Engineering. Now that’s useful. Blane knows how to make energy from wind and make motors and stuff. He can make anything and it always works. His friends call him McGuyver.
Mostly we just sit around and make jokes about this meltdown scenario thing. But I think, really, there is no one I’d rather be stuck with if that stuff really happened. Him and our kids, of course. Our fierce clan.
Parade Finale
I saved two of my favorite photos of the parade for last. I don’t know why there wasn’t a photo of the Yambilee King and Queen, but they were usually on the last float.
I like this one because it tells a little story of how the Cajuns got to Louisiana. Also, the people on the float are dressed in traditional Acadian costumes.
Can you guess which one of these gowns is my favorite in the below photo? Extra candy if you guess the right one.
Can you also guess why the horsemen/women come at the very end?
Here is a shot of some of the floats lined up before the parade.
I hope you enjoyed the show and caught lots of candy. If you missed the other four parts, you can find them at these links:
Are You Ready for Some More Parade?
I’d like to thank my mom for allowing me to show these photos. Okay, I didn’t ask, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.
I have used all but two of the photos she had and am wondering how many there would be if my parents had had digital cameras back then…
I Interrupt the Parade
To show you this graphic of the biggest hurricane I’ve ever seen, Ike.
I stole that graphic from CNN.
We’re still going to finish the parade a little later, that post is all ready to go, as the title of my blog reads, you know… yeah.
You can’t really know anything about what’s happening by watching the news. They don’t really know much and by the time we get some daylight, few people there will have power, phone lines will be down, and real news will just sort of trickle in along with a shit load of rumors.
So far, I have not heard any bad news regarding any of my family or friends.
I feel really bad for all the people from New Orleans who moved to the Houston area after Katrina.
Are You Ready for Some More Parade?
Okay, let’s go. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have missed this, this, and that.
Again, since so much of our culture is music related, we have lots of floats with musical themes.
Even the elderly musicians get to ride and perform on a float. The sign the Boy Scout is holding reads “Acadian Music.” You always hear that at any festival you go to in Louisiana. You can’t see the accordian in the above band, but I promise you, it’s there. So is the fiddle. And maybe a washboard.
I like the way you can see the other floats that are coming if you looked down the road in this photo. I also like the pretty gowns these visiting queens are wearing. And the tiaras.
But this one… The ballerina outfit with the cape so fits into my dreamworld.
Tomorrow will be the grand finale as I am running out of photos.
Living Color
First some music from the Yamettes.
On a musical themed float. Music is a big part of our heritage. And look, it’s not just girls who get to ride in parades down here.
I am almost positive that is my dad in the lower right corner of the above photo.
This was taken during the Vietnam War days. Notice the soldier beside the float.
You might be wondering how these things move around. Let’s back up.
Check out the old tractor.
To give you an idea of how much restoration I did on the above photo, it was torn and very fragile. I puzzled and taped the photo together before scanning. Here is how it looked after scanning:
Not all the photos are in bad shape, just a few. I actually enjoy doing this, it’s relaxing.
More fun stuff tomorrow, and if you missed the the first and second parts of the parade, it’s not too late. Here are the links:
The beginning: I Love a Parade
Part Two: Then Come the Floats
Then Come The Floats
After the clowns with shopping carts selling balloons and cotton candy, the police on motorcycles, the scouts, a marching band come the cars carrying visiting royalty and other important people of the town, such as the mayor.
They always ride in convertibles, but if it is a sports car, so much the better.
What makes this part a hit with the crowd is they always throw candy. Free stuff, Yay! I’ve been in parades where I’ve had to sit in a car and trust me, if you do not have a sack of bubble gum or Sweetarts to throw, the only people who will give you any attention are the little old ladies who clap for everyone.
Floats. Love ‘em. The one above is a beach scene. The girl in the gown would most likely be a visiting queen from another festival such as the Crawfish Festival. Visiting royalty are spread out over the rest of the floats.
The above is so badly damaged (a Polaroid), I almost didn’t put it up here, but I like the queen waving with her gloved arm. And that clown riding the unicycle beside the float just rocks.
And wow, look at those seahorses.
If you missed the beginning of the parade, you have to go see it, that’s where the crazy cars are.
Come back tomorrow, I’ll have some floats in color.
I Love A Parade!
So let’s have one. Cajun style. Vintage.
During the 60s and 70s my parents took a lot of photos of the Yambilee parade in South Louisiana. (Our city was the yam capital of the world.) Festivals are a big deal in these parts, at least they used to be.
For the next week or two I’ll put some up on the blog. Parades are like stories. They have a theme, they build and climax, they have props, costumes, pretty girls and talent.
They usually start out slow, you can hear the sirens and funny cars coming.
That’s probably to make sure the spectators are out of the street so they don’t get run over by the tractors and floats.
And then the Scouts,
Followed by the local high school bands.
Okay, that is all I have for today. I’m actually scanning and restoring them as we go. Make sure you come back tomorrow. There’s some really cool stuff in the pipeline and I throw candy.
Paint the White House Pink
Now that the conventions are done, here’s another candidate for president, Paris Hilton. She’s going to paint the White house pink if she wins. That’s hot!
Politics Aside
No matter what your politics, you gotta admit this is damn cute!
Republican VP candidate’s Daughter spit shining her little brother during the convention last night:
This is Gonna Hurt
A couple of months ago a family of five was killed in a car accident near my house (I wrote about it in this post, Everyone’s a Bad Driver). Since then people have put teddy bears, flowers, and five white crosses in the median where they died.
More and more I’ve been avoiding that intersection. The shrine spooks me a little bit and makes me slightly paranoid, but this spot was already one of the most dangerous intersections in the country for about ten years now. There are no blind curves or anything like that, I don’t understand why so many people pass red lights there, but they do.
I also cringe now when going through a green light and take a look at the cross street to see if something’s coming, even though their light is red. I’m not sure if it helps all the time because I’m going so fast and they would be going so fast… I’d just know I’m about to die, maybe.
Yesterday but at a different intersection, this exact thing happened to Blane Jr. He was going through a green light, someone passed a red light and slammed right into him.
Those white things hanging from the car’s ceiling are the side curtain airbags. They saved his life. The police and firemen on the scene could not believe he was walking around and wasn’t hurt. He did get a bit of broken glass in one of his arms. It looks like he has buckshot in it. His side is a little sore, but he got xrays and he’s fine.
I asked him if he saw it coming, if he had looked as I have been doing lately since that bad accident by the house. He said he did.
I asked him if his life flashed before his eyes, if he thought he was going to die. He said, “No, I just said to myself, This is gonna hurt.”
It did, he said it felt like someone had kicked him in the side. His car didn’t flip, instead it spun around in about three circles. That too saved his life or from serious injuries.
From this angle maybe you can see how far that vehicle went into his side of the car. He said he did lean over to the right when he realized he was about to get slammed. He tightened up all his muscles as well, he had just seen something about how it was better to do that if you’re about to get into a wreck. I always heard it was better to be placid like a rag doll, but maybe that is if you are thrown from a car.
The SUV that hit him?
Didn’t do too well either and the guy wasn’t hurt. He kept telling Blane, “Dude, I’m sorry, Dude.”
I said a little prayer after this was all over, one for everyone being safe from the hurricane and another for sparing my son’s life today. Then I thought maybe this isn’t God’s department, that maybe the angels do this sort of work, so I thanked them. I sent good energy waves to the engineers who designed air bags.
Whatever it is, I am grateful today.
In other news, my mom is out of the hospital. Her city is still without electricity and the hospital is on emergency generator power, so they can’t do any more tests right now. I offered to drive down there and go get her but she refused. I don’t like the idea of her being sick like that and not having lights or air conditioning. Still, I can’t force her to leave home.
She did get some wind damage to her house, a small section of the roof blew off and it rained in one of the rooms. My brother and a cousin put a tarp or something on it for now. They’re still getting a lot of rain. No flooding near her house, though.
I’m having a hard time getting through to mobile phones there. I guess all the circuits are overloaded. Also, a lot of people are without power and can’t charge their phones. If they don’t have a land line with a corded phone, they’re out of luck.
Message in a (plastic) Bottle
I was talking to my mom on the phone earlier and told her to send me a message in a bottle. Looking at the hurricane tracking chart, the eye of Gustav goes over her house and pretty much ends not too far from mine.
We don’t get hurricanes this far from the coast, just some rain and winds, nothing to worry about. My mom lives far enough from the coast that if it does go there, it is a much weaker storm, not even a hurricane, but a tropical storm. The city is built on a hill, so they don’t even really have problems with flooding. The high winds do knock down trees and power lines. She was without power for at least a week after Hurricane Ivan a few years back.
All this hurricane watching makes me twitchy. I’ve never seen a hurricane path like this one; it appears to cover the entire state of Louisiana. Usually if one goes there, they catch a little piece of it, share the storm with other states. The angle of this one looks as if it will catch every bit of coastline in that state.
The place that is probably getting the shit kicked out of it right now is this place
Down Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana.
And this one
at Grand Isle, Louisiana.
Remember that bird video I posted last month?
Same thing, catching hell right now.
And there is not a damn thing I can do about it.
