Hi guys,
Peety here, again. Today I want to tell you about a weird time issue. On
most days, it always seems like I'm in a race against time to get
everything done that I need/want to get done. Yesterday was an oddity. I
had to take off work at 1:30 yesterday afternoon because we had an AC
repair man coming out. By the time he finished working on our AC, if was
around 5pm. I went to day-care and picked up my little sweetie. By the time
I got her home, fed, played with, and ready for bed, it was a little after
6pm. She did go to bed a little early. She usually goes to sleep around
7:00. Yesterday she went down around 45 minutes ahead of schedule. That was
the only thing that was off schedule. If you're wondering where I'm going
with this, here it is. Time seemed to stop moving after that. It was the
slowest night of my life. Usually, between TV, chores, reading, dealing
with the wife, etc, there's never time to fit it all in. Last night, there
was nothing consuming the long minutes. First off, there was nothing on TV
that was really holding my interest. I finished my book on Sunday, and
didn't feel like starting anything new. Jess is sick with a cold, so
there's not much we can do together. I could think of nothing satisfying to
fill the time. I'm not really complaining about this, considering there's
usually so little free time, but it was a little frustrating. Has this ever
happened to anyone else?

"They say time is the fire in which we burn."--Soren from Star Trek:
Generations

Hi all,
Peety here. Brian is still computerless while training for his job, working
for "The Man."
Today, I want to talk about how Hollywood is drying up. I've read several
reports about upcoming movies. They are all based on old TV shows such as
Dallas, Miami Vice, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The A-Team. Can noboby think
of new ideas? Let's take "Dallas" for example. "Dallas" ran on TV for 13
seasons, including 356 episodes. How can Hollywood do any justice to this
in a 2 hour movie? Who do they think they can cast as J.R. Ewing that will
capture the magic as well as Larry Hagman? I don't think it can be done.
The Dukes of Hazzard is another example. They've already announced that
Jessica Simpson will play Daisy Duke, and the guy who played Stifler in
"American Pie" will play Bo Duke. Will anyone actually go for this? I'm
sure the storyline will be what every episode was like.....the corrupt
Hazzard County Sherriff will chase the Duke boys around. Speaking of the
sherrif, who is the world can replace James Best as Sherrif Roscoe P
Coltrane? Again, I don't think this can be pulled off effectively. For the
A-Team, they've already said that Mister T will not be reprizing his role
as B.A. Barrackuss, in favor of a newcomer. I seriously doubt the fans will
buy this. The filmmakers need to realize who they should be marketing
towards. They should market towards the generation that watched these
shows...not kids who are 16 now. They don't care. They're off watching
reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'll bet they'll attempt to get
original stars of these shows to make cameo appearances as minor
characters....Oh, what joy. Oh well, I've ranted long enough. Back to work.

Hi all,
Peety here. I am, again, filling in for the hard training Brian. Today, I'd
like to take a look at how myself, and most of the readers of this blog
have grown down. What is growing down you ask? It is the opposite of
growing up. For example, for most of my high school and college Christmas
seasons, the gifts were that of one who was growing up. Most of the gifts
received were of the practical sort.....clothes ,tools, car items, and the
lot. I noticed that once we got to the "real world", we've turned back into
kids. Now most gifts I request are from the era of my childhood....Star
Wars, The Hulk, video games, etc. Brian now has a rainbow assortment of
lightsabers. Mr. Turkentine has a whole room dedicated to Civil War figures
and electric race tracks. I have a room dedicated to Star Wars, The
Beatles, The Hulk, Dallas, and various other interests. My question is, is
everyone like this? Do we all work so hard to get to adulthood, just to
regress back to childhood? I have no complaints with this. I enjoy it very
much. I just hope we're not the only ones doing this.

Mr. Bach: "Arthur, I've been waiting for you to grow up. I can't
wait any longer."
Arthur Bach: "Congratulations, father. You win"
Mr. Bach: "I had every intention of winning."
From the movie-- Arthur

Hi everyone,
Peety here. I'll be guest hosting while Brian gets settled into his new job
with the I.R.S. Today, I'm going to tell you about the history under
Brian's bed....his bed in Wichita Falls. As we all know, Brian had a bunk
bed in his bedroom while growing up. He always slept on the top bunk, so
when visiting/hanging out, I would crawl into the bottom bunk. One day in
1990 (I think), I decided to leave my mark. I grabbed a pencil and starting
writing on the boards above me that supported the top mattress. It simply
said something to the effect of "Hi Brian, Jason" and whatever the date
was. This soon became a regular happening with the old gang including
myself, my first love, Jeff, Brian, and Melinda, and even a few others like
Josh that showed up from time to time. After a while, it became more than
just a "Jason was here" type thing. Jeff would advertise highschool
football carwashes and other people would carry on ongoing conversations.
After time, all the boards were filled up with writing so, we flipped them
over and wrote on the other sides. When those were full, we wrote on the
soft material that held the box springs together. Keep in mind that in
normal view, none of this could be seen. You actually had to crawl in the
bottom bunk to see anything. I was always afraid that Linda or Robbie would
find out about it and raise hell, but they never caught on to my knowledge.
If any of us ever become famous, I can see this bunk bed being sold on
Ebay, like one of the Beatles toothbrushes or something like that. If
you're ever in Wichita Falls, and in the area of the Bass/Robertson house,
crawl into the bottom bunk and see some history.

"If translates roughly into Pharoh gobbles donkey goobers and Cleopatra
does the nasty."--JFK to Elvis Presley in Bubba Ho-Tep

Well, it's been a while since I posted. Basically I am computerless at
my new job and have been too busy at night to post. It'll take em
probably 2 more weeks to get the background check done before I can
even get a computer. I might get peetey to post some stuff. Let's see,
what have I been up to? Well, my band has had numerous shows since
last time. We've had some good and bad ones. I have been practicing
and playing. Also I am setting up a recording studio in my home to get
more songs out. This Sunday I ran a concession stand at the Dallas
Cowboys game with my Sunday School(benefiting the local pregnancy
center). I was allowed to take breaks and watched the Cowboys almost
blow it at the end. Luckily they always seem to win. I think I must've
wrapped and handed out about 500 cheeseburgers, hamburgers, chicken
burgers and sausage on a stick. And all that time I was thinking,
"just one bite, no one would know". I was hungry, but I didn't give
in. My new job is right next to one of the best burger joints in
Dallas "Snuffers". Unfortunately that might be my downfall. I better
order a bigger chair.

Thought of Last Week
"Addis Abbaba? I wonder what they're wearing in Addis Abbaba?"
"Oh! Are we going to Addis Abbaba Mr.Luthor?"
- Superman (In memory of the guy who inspired me to make a cape out of
a towel and jump off our couch)

Well, My first day of work was a federal holiday. Talk about a good
start(I start Tuesday). This weekend was good. We had a good show at
the Dallas Scaregrounds. We got a bunch of new fans. Our music is more
suited for high schoolers than people my age. People my age listen to
the stuff they listened to in high school. It's like most people
become old when the music of today is considered "noise". I think
music has actually become better in the past couple of years compared
to the 90s. Then you have the girls that tell you they listen to
everything. They say that when what they mean is "I like country, but
I don't want you to know" or "Isn't there only two genres, country and
pop 40?" It's almost as bad as those girls who say they don't like
computers. Then there are the girls who just don't say anything when
you tell them you're in a band. Those are the cool ones. I think I'll
get some of those.

Thought of the Day
"You green blooded, inhuman."
"Jim." "Bones."
"Spawwwk."
-- Star Trek, handshake

So there I was, your humble narrator, jumping across a ravine(stream).
Sometimes when I am on vacation I end up doing more physical activity
than I ever do at home. Especially when I come up here to my friends
cabin in New Mexico. I end up hiking all over the place. One year I
came up here and learned to ski for the first time. Talk about near
death experiences. He had me going down the whole mountain on my
second day. I fell down on the edge of a cliff. Had it been a foot
farther I wouldn't be here today. Today I ended up jumping across many
streams, grabbing branches so that I didn't fall in. I didn't fall in,
but it sure was close. Now top it off with the altitude being 6000 ft
above sea level my breathing is as bad as Darth Vader. On the whole
the scenery is breathtaking. The hard part is my breath has already
been taken.

Thought of the Day
"Mr Wally, I usually get sick on all your rides, this time I didn't get sick."
-- John Candy, Vacation

Ok, I know the weather is bad in Florida, what with all those
hurricanes, and the weather could be bad in Seattle, what with the
imminent eruption of Mt.St. Helens. But nothing can beat what I saw
today. I saw all weather related to the mailmen. I saw rain, shine,
sleet, snow and hail. All I need is a tornado and a hurricane and I
got it all. I feel bad for the mailmen in these parts. What with hail
hitting their heads, they slip on the sleet and then get covered in
snow. But when the sun comes out boy is it sure purrty - their mangled
corpses glowing with snow and such. I've also thought about naming
this storm system. Since hurricanes are named we might as well name
all weather systems. Whenever it rains we can then remember it. Like
today's storm will be called Cliff Claven (I'll give it a last name as
well). Next year I can say, man I remember Cliff Claven - he couldn't
make up his mind what he wanted to be. Yup, the great Cliff Claven
storm of 2004.

Thought of the Day
"The Pyramids themselves were ancient post offices. The sphinx itself
was an overnight dropoff." - Cliff Claven , Cheers

I am writing this from Red River in New Mexico. I can tell you about
the beautiful scenery, the mountains, the rivers or my friends dog who
has a serious gas problem. I remember when I was on spring break as a
kid "peetey" was allowed to go with us. I believe it was near Las
Vegas when we determined that "peetey" had let what we now call "The
Queen Mother of Farts". We were all in the van and all of the windows
had to be rolled down. Mom and Robbie were screaming "Peeyeew" all the
way from the front of the van. On this trip I have found the "King
Father of Farts" and I have to tell you, it is inhuman; it is beastly.
This dog has no mercy. He's just little beagle, but 8 hours in the car
can drive a man's nose crazy. And it's not like a one time deal. I'm
talking continuous gas that would drive a man crazy. We all had to
roll the windows down. Apparently animals have a smell all their own.
I heard about this product called Beano that makes it smell like
roses. I'm thinking of sneaking in the middle of night and spiking the
dog food with Beano. It's the only way...

Thought of the Day
"You don't understand what I'm up against. This is a force more
powerful than anything you can imagine. Even Superman would be
helpless against this kind of stench."
- Jerry, describing the B.O. smell in his car, in "The Smelly Car"

Well, as you know I quit my job today. It is always a nerve-racking
experience. In the morning I was talking with co-workers like I would
be helping them on Monday and in the afternoon I was like - um, I'm
not going to do that, I think you can do it. Luckily I am good at
quitting. Not that I am your standard "quitter", I'd prefer to be more
of a "traitor" than a quitter - at least your going somewhere. It is
all business though, not like quitting a soccer team, more like having
an agent get you a better deal at a better team. I explained this to
my recruiter at my last job, who I will now refer to as "My Pimp". See
technical recruiters are an odd sort - all they have to do is to place
you and negotiate your contract and they get a percentage of your
salary. So when I gave my 3-hour notice today he was obviously
distressed. Not at me quitting but at the new pimp who out-pimped him
and the money he was losing. Apparently, my old recruiter is well
known and gets the best "talent". I predict an all out gang war. Both
my new pimp and the old pimp are now going to try to fill the spot I
just left. One of the rules of hostile quitting is to never tell them
where you are going. So this afternoon I was like - I just got a
better offer, that's all I can tell you now. If you tell where you are
going they'll say things like "The IRS, you don't want to work for
them, they'll fire you" and such to try to get you to stay. Even
though I gave a bad three hours notice and PO'd my pimp the vice
president of the company arrived at my cube as I was leaving. I was
thinking - Man I don't want to hear it from him either. He ended up
giving me his card and offered me my job back any time I wanted it.
Said I did a great job and could use him as a reference. I tell ya, in
the end is really is about how good you are. Maybe I don't need a pimp
after all.

Thought of the Day
Randal Graves: I don't appreciate your ruse, ma'am.
Indecisive Customer: I beg your pardon?
Randal Graves: Your ruse. Your cunning attempt to trick me.
-- Clerks