droll exhaust . . .

Lily Punk

2012-01-22T14:18:00.001-08:00

Lily Punk
Originally uploaded by jugbo

She's such a bad dog

Flood

2012-01-20T18:25:00.001-08:00

Flood
Originally uploaded by jugbo
Salem Oregon got its share of water this week. It seems not as bad as the great '96 flood, but bad enough for some evacuations.

The 2012 flood

Resolution planning stage

2011-12-28T18:25:00.001-08:00

I’m working on formulating my resolutions for 2012. It’s like preparing to plan to prepare a plan of action.

Just do it already!

I hear you. I hear you loud and clear.

But first I must plan out my plan. See.

You don’t see do you? FINE.

I can tell you don’t believe me, I wouldn’t.

Here’s proof:

Ok. I’m not doing much. Am I?

Deep thoughts on this Christmas

2011-12-24T22:50:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a lot of deep thinking lately. Happy holidays!

Buoy The Dog is Strange

2011-12-18T13:15:00.001-08:00

He does this odd thing on the couch. I blame demons.

The trinity of supervisors

2011-12-13T22:39:00.001-08:00

These guys are encouraging but inanimate muses to my needs. They need to be barking orders at me and criticizing my effort, or lack there of.

No, they just stare at me with those unblinking painted eyes. Their plastic lips sealed shut, they exemplify dereliction of duty.

I can only count on myself from now on.

Last one picked

2011-12-09T07:53:00.001-08:00

I hated being picked last for team sports. I can only imagine how it feels for that blackening banana being left unconsumed, undesired, unwanted. "Eat me!" It proclaims from its perch on the microwave. The new geen bunch mocking the spotted, forgotten soul.
Alone in its neglect. Rotting.

Incentives matter

2011-12-06T21:14:00.001-08:00

I was offered additional training today that will help the unit in backing up other positions. It’s additional work and responsibility without any potential of a pay increase. Something I’m not used to, until I got into state government. Granted, government is on hard times, but still.

I was flattered of course. I apparently I look competent enough to be approached with this opportunity. However, the longer I thought about, it the worse it seemed. No pay increase? No pathway to promotion without someone else retiring, quitting or dying? What’s the point?

The way I see it there needs to be incentive and/or a clear pathway to promotion or career success to be willing to take on additional tasks. What about taking it on for the team? I’m probably the lowest paid person in my unit that does my job. I would be doing more work than other people and they will continue to be paid better just because they have been there longer. So I ask, why? It’s not going to make me more money or make me any happier. Again, I ask, why?

I need:

A pay increase or a promise of one as soon as I’m competent at the new task
A clear path to promotion in a reasonable time frame for which this new task would be beneficial
A reasonable belief that I can transfer some of these skills to another career path.

I couldn’t see any of these points fulfilled if I would take on this extra load so I turned down this “opportunity”. I don’t blame my boss or government, it’s beyond their control. Again, nice offer but I have no incentive.

Paint It Black Friday 2011

2011-11-25T19:28:00.001-08:00

Another year has passed and it was time for another black Friday.

You know what that means? Non-stop playing of my covers of the Rolling Stone’s “Paint It Black”

Instead of running out and spending money I don’t have I stayed home and listened to the same song over and over and over and over.

Check out my Last.fm site to see which versions I played. Currently I have 75 versions.

ps. I spent hours on the picture and still didn’t get what I really wanted. My Photoshop skills are stale.

Happy Birthday #47

2011-11-20T23:38:00.001-08:00

Today I turned 47. I’m getting older.

Ask me if I feel different than when I was 46.

An Aged Face (a poem)

2011-11-20T12:56:00.001-08:00

... wires
frayed at the end
... tires
worn to the thread
... landslide
falling to the sea
... gravity
pulling down on me

... leaves
dead on the street
... rubber
from the sole of my feet
... wrinkles
on an aged face
... time
at its steady pace

(one from the archives)

They Might Be Giants in the Crystal Ballroom

2011-11-12T17:39:00.001-08:00

For my birthday I bought four tickets to the Nov 10th concert of They Might Be Giants (tmbg) and Jonathon Coulton (joco). The show was awesome and the venue was fun. I only wish I was taller.

I am having a little problem attending concerts where I need to stand. You see, I’m not very tall and with my luck I’m always standing behind some eight-foot lumberjack that eclipses the entire show. Fortunately (kind of) the guy in front of me must not have been a fan because he did not move at all. I watched JoCo over his shoulder for 30 minutes.

Jonathon opened the show with a half hour set of roughly 50% new 50% songs. It was entirely too short. I’m a rabid fan and I’m always jonesing for more Coulton. He sounds great, electrified and loud. It was a fun change. I will miss his intimate concerts, especially with Paul & Storm (P&S).

They Might Be Giants took the stage after the break. I had squeezed myself into a nice pocket in the crowd where I can see much of the stage. I was however near a natural slip-stream in the crowd that connected the two bars in the room. I was bumped into by many a passer-by, but as long as it was along my back I didn’t care much. The one problem my wife and I had was a short curly headed lady standing right in front of us that LOVED to dance. Well, it was more of a bouncing up and down like a Fraggle Rock on a Red Bull than an actual dance. She only bumped into my junk a half a dozen times. I’m still not sure if it was such a bad thing and she never jumped high enough to get into my field of view.

TMBG rocked it with at least two encores. They played many oldies and newies (is that a word? Should be). We were even treated with a puppet show. I can die now that I had finally seen them in concert.

Crystal Ballroom was the venue for the evening. I had only been to Lola’s Room a flight below the room. Crystal has a neat bouncy floor that made for a fun feel when everyone did the Pogo in unison. It nearly launched the Fraggle into the chandeliers at one point.

I had a great time with my wife, step-daughter and step-son-in-law (it was his birthday gift too). But I’m thinking I need sit-down venues from now on.

Check these out:

Twitter for: They Might Be Giants – @tmbg * Jonathon Coulton - @jonathancoulton

Cool Joco videos:

"Nemeses" featuring John Roderick
"Still Alive" featuring Sara Quin
“Tonight You Belong To Me” with John Hodgman

Cool TMBG videos:

HeyWeener : A Halloween Playlist

2011-10-29T12:41:00.001-08:00

I searched my iTunes for Halloween sounding titles and came up with a playlist with 384 songs. I did a Wordle of the common words.

I see a lot of tunes obsessed with the evil afterlife.

's Songs

2011-10-25T18:54:00.001-08:00

I was wondering how many possessive songs there were sitting in my iTunes. Wow, I was surprised by the quantity, quality and diversity. All these songs belong to someone so hands off!

Name Artist Album

Annabella's Song Everclear Songs From An American Movie Vol. 1: Learning How To Smile

Annie's Song John Denver Back Home Again

Ben's Song Da Vinci's Notebook Brontosaurus

Danny's Song Loggins and Messina The Essential Kenny Loggins

Danny's Song Jeff Pianki Covers

Eli's Song John Denver Spirit

Evening On the Ground (Lilith's Song) Iron & Wine Woman King - EP

Gary's Song SpongeBob Squarepants Spongebob Squarepants - The Yellow Album

Hanging On (Tom's Song) Griffin House Flying Upside Down

I'll Be There / Warren's Song Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Ka 'Ano'i

Kathy's Song Paul Simon The Paul Simon Songbook

Maryetta's Song Townes Van Zandt In the Beginning

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) Billy Joel The Stranger

Painter's Song Norah Jones Come Away With Me

Penny's Song Felicia Day Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)

Porter's Love Song [Tin Pan Alley cover] Gumbo Never Tell Me To Quit

The Raftsman's Song Mike Seeger True Vine

The Rake's Song The Decemberists The Rake's Song - Single

Rebecca's Song Jenny Scheinman Jenny Scheinman

Red's Song The Jayhawks Tomorrow The Green Grass

Sarah's Song Cindy Kallet Dreaming Down a Quiet Line

Superman's Song Brad Roberts Crash Test Dude: Brad Roberts Live - Singing Your Favorite Hits

Superman's Song Crash Test Dummies Upfront! Canadians Live from Mountain Stage

Superman's Song Lucy Wainwright Roche 8 More

Yesterday's Songs Neil Diamond The Essential Neil Diamond

70's Song Blue Mountain Midnight in Mississippi

Salemia Rising

2011-10-07T06:33:00.001-08:00

Little clip of a new series about our hometown …

premiering soon at Salem Film Festival

A journalist's primer on a few military terms

2011-08-16T21:12:00.004-08:00

"Soldier" is not the correct title for everyone who wears a uniform in the U.S. Armed Forces. Many journalists however, may think it is. While listening to tender story about a corpsman that died in Afghanistan recently the reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting kept referring to him as a soldier. No, he's not a soldier, he's a sailor. It hasn't been the only time I've heard or read news where the journalist has miss-titled military personnel. How long have we been at war? Can't we get this straight by now? So here's a primer: (at least the way I understand it to be).

Soldier = Army

Sailor = Navy

Marine = Marine Corps

Airman = Air Force

Guardsman = National Guard (who also can be Soldier or Airman depending on being in the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard)

Guardians = Coast Guard (I just learned this today, or they can be referred to as sailors too I guess)

Seems pretty simple, right? But I can't tell you how many times I have heard or read something like "Soldiers from the 1st Marine Division entered Tora Bora today". No, there isn't any soldiers in the 1st Marine Division ... There's a whole lot of Marines in the 1st Marine Division however.

The story about the lost corpsman probably confused the reporter additionally because he was a sailor among Marines, what? Yes, Sailors serve as the medics for the Marines. Because, well as many people don't realize the Marines are part of the Navy. They also don't have their own medics; instead they use Navy Corpsmen (Hospital Corpsmen). The Army does have their own Medics, they are called ... medics. These Medics are actually soldiers, because ... They are in the Army. Remember, Army = Soldier? ANYway ...

Medic = Army

Medic = Air Force

Corpsman = Navy, Marines

Corpsman = Coastguard

Also the term "Troops" is thrown around a bit. i.e. "we support the troops" etc. Technically a Troop is unit of Cavalry on the same scale as an infantry company would be. But "Troops" seems to be common endearing nomenclature for all military personnel. I'll let that slide.
Thank you, At ease.

Two of many things I do on Twitter

2011-08-08T12:07:00.001-08:00

I constantly follow and unfollow tweeters, keeping my following around 300 or so. I manage a list of lists also (as many of us do). Everyone goes on a list or two, or more. Uniquely, I have created a fabulously nerdy spreadsheet programmed to classify tweeters into three Roman-like classes. I am a big fan of virtual castes and Romans, and if I follow you, you have been put through the number grinder and put into one of these semi-judgmental lists.

Plebeian Masses – New tweeters, low count followers and some twitter stats gamers.

Equestrian Order – Middle of the road – people like you and me, the commonly uncommon tweeps that are just having fun, and have been here awhile.

Patrician Elite – For those who were probably famous before twitter and will be famous after twitter fizzles out.

It’s all based on a formula that takes in consideration “following” “followers” and “listed”.

Examples for consideration:

people who follow many but are followed by few (plebian)
people who follow few but are followed by many (patrician)
people who are in the middle (equestrian)

The “listed” factor can help identify the twitter stat gamers and pull them up a level or push them down. In theory anyway.

pictures by – Ian W Scott

My Summer Vacation

2011-08-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

is almost over.

What I have I done?

I installed an air-conditioner.

Moved some wood.

Walked the dog.

… I can’t remember anything else.

lame.

oh, wait … I didn’t go to work!

Win!

Up at the lake

2011-07-16T18:03:00.001-08:00

Having a relaxing weekend up at the lake. Wish you all were here!

Budget Hero

2011-07-15T05:45:00.001-08:00

I have to sit down and try this soon.
Budget Hero 2.0
the embedded player doesn’t quite fit on my web page … so here’s a link?

and now a pretty picture.

Oh I Got This

2011-07-14T17:33:00.001-08:00

Fun times.
Vroom!

In a Closet all a musty: a poem

2011-07-04T14:01:00.001-08:00

In a closet all a musty
lived a spider couple lusty
Each grin and wink a flirt
a silly twinkle chest a pert

Sixteen hands adjoined as one
sixteen eyes engaged for fun
All little hairy private parts
pounding loudly as their hearts

And along with buggy little moans
and creepy crawly little groans
A million tiny egg-like critters
are created in an arachnid litter

As the happy couple tired rests
smoking many little cigarettes
The lady spider sneered across the bed
grabbed her lover and ate his head

find more poetry by me

Danger Poet or Dangerous Poetry Archive (which is moving Danger Poet, slowly … very very slowly)

Buoy And The Great Escape

2011-06-13T15:43:00.001-08:00

The new pup gave us quite the scare this weekend. He found a hole in the fence and disappeared. We eventually recovered him after three hours of frantic searching.

I hadn’t realized that there was a big enough breach in the fence for a dog to escape. I realize now a horse could have escaped from that corner. Me on foot, my wife by car and one son by bike headed out in a search pattern throughout the neighborhood. The other son manned the phones at the homestead.

It was an emotionally intense search because Buoy hadn’t gotten any identification tags yet, no microchip, nothing. Even if someone did find them they couldn’t call us and we’d probably have to wait to check with animal control if he didn’t return on his own.

Finally our daughter suggested to check on Craigslist and see if anyone found a pup. My wife checked the listings and someone had listed a Buoy-like descriptive post. A very nice lady rescued him from traffic and gave him some water while sending out a virtual bat signal via the internet. Oh modern times, how I love thee.

Today the hole in the fence line is patched. (I actually patched it with a cat on the other side, Sorry Sandy Cat. He found another path.) The pup had a trip to the vet this morning to get a check up and shots. I’ll have him scheduled for a micro-chip and a neutering this week. He has a nice new shiny dog tag engraved with has name and two phone numbers.

Hopefully this will be the last of any adventures of this scale. But he’s a rascal.

Atheist Song Steve Martin

2011-06-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

I love this little ditty

Plus One More

2011-05-31T10:13:00.003-08:00

"Buoy" First Day (1)
Originally uploaded by jugbo
Say Hello to Buoy. He's a new member of the family around here.
He's a hybrid of Pug and Jack Russell Terrier, or as I have found out, a "Jug".

He's going to fit in just fine.

Via Flickr:
New pup, Buoy's first full day.

Name	Artist	Album
Annabella's Song	Everclear	Songs From An American Movie Vol. 1: Learning How To Smile
Annie's Song	John Denver	Back Home Again
Ben's Song	Da Vinci's Notebook	Brontosaurus
Danny's Song	Loggins and Messina	The Essential Kenny Loggins
Danny's Song	Jeff Pianki	Covers
Eli's Song	John Denver	Spirit
Evening On the Ground (Lilith's Song)	Iron & Wine	Woman King - EP
Gary's Song	SpongeBob Squarepants	Spongebob Squarepants - The Yellow Album
Hanging On (Tom's Song)	Griffin House	Flying Upside Down
I'll Be There / Warren's Song	Israel Kamakawiwo'ole	Ka 'Ano'i
Kathy's Song	Paul Simon	The Paul Simon Songbook
Maryetta's Song	Townes Van Zandt	In the Beginning
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)	Billy Joel	The Stranger
Painter's Song	Norah Jones	Come Away With Me
Penny's Song	Felicia Day	Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Porter's Love Song [Tin Pan Alley cover]	Gumbo	Never Tell Me To Quit
The Raftsman's Song	Mike Seeger	True Vine
The Rake's Song	The Decemberists	The Rake's Song - Single
Rebecca's Song	Jenny Scheinman	Jenny Scheinman
Red's Song	The Jayhawks	Tomorrow The Green Grass
Sarah's Song	Cindy Kallet	Dreaming Down a Quiet Line
Superman's Song	Brad Roberts	Crash Test Dude: Brad Roberts Live - Singing Your Favorite Hits
Superman's Song	Crash Test Dummies	Upfront! Canadians Live from Mountain Stage
Superman's Song	Lucy Wainwright Roche	8 More
Yesterday's Songs	Neil Diamond	The Essential Neil Diamond
70's Song	Blue Mountain	Midnight in Mississippi