So, the van headed off to the repair shop yesterday, and not under its own power. Not that it doesn’t run (it’s a Chevy, and every Chevy I’ve ever had was great at starting, with the possible exception of my ’76 Chevette, which had so many problems, I can’t remember if starting was one of them). No, last weekend while we were out and about, doing some happy homeowner shopping that required something with a bit more space than the Hyundai has, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. I couldn’t pump them back up, but managed to drive home brakeless (fortunately we weren’t far away). The brake fluid reservoir was full, so I have a feeling I pooped a seal in the master cylinder or power booster or something. There was a time when I’d have tried to fix it myself, but not any more (besides, have you ever tried to bleed the brakes with just one person? It’s kind of like playing ping-pong with yourself). So, we’ll see how much this costs me.
Another item to add to the long list of shit I don’t get comes via a new survey from Public Policy Polling. A majority of those surveyed say that Sarah Palin is unfit to be President. That part I get, of course, but the margin is 55%-37%. How can 37% of people say she’s fit to be President. I mean, on what are they basing this?
In addition, respondents were asked whether Palin’s announcement that she will resign as Governor of Alaska makes them more or less likely to support her for president. Only 30% say more likely, with 57% saying less likely, and 14% not sure.
OK, so how would somebody quitting in the middle of their first term as Governor make you more likely to vote for them?
Looks like I get to go to Adobe Max 2009 in LA this October. Should be fun (other than having to deal with flying, of course). I’ve never been to LA (never had a desire to go to LA, to be honest), and I don’t know how much I’ll get to see of it. I’ve only been to California once, and that was to San Francisco, which was nice, I guess. It happened to be Fleet Week while I was there, which was quite a spectacle, and there were tons of great little outdoor places where you could have a drink and hear a band (watched a Navy band that really rocked, which was kind of surreal, as they were all wearing their sailor suits), and that was cool.
Camping in Muir Woods was really nice. My rental car got broken into and my shit was ripped off while I was camping and hiking at Point Reyes National Seashore (I used to do a lot of hiking and camping back in the day, and that’s the only place something like that has ever happened), and got ripped off buying a bogus hit of acid down at the pier somewhere (which I half expected; I think I was just happy it didn’t kill me), and saw more homeless people than I’d ever seen before being a hick from the sticks and all), so I don’t have especially warm and fuzzy feelings for the area. It probably would have been a lot more fun if I hadn’t been alone, but that’s how I rolled back in those days.
Oh well, time to get this party started.
The question is not whether the CIA lied to congress, of course they did. The question is what did they lie about. Could it have been the Cheney assassination ring? (My guess is that they lied about everything, but then again I’m the suspicious sort.)
Sy Hersh describes the Chaney ring:
“It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently,” Hersh said. “They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. …
“Congress has no oversight of it,” he added. “It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths. Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/was-the-cia-hiding-cheney_n_228864.html
The sky is blue! No clouds! It is not supposed to rain for several days. I may have to water the plants.
http://heronhelpers.org/HeronWatching.html
They say this is the Soggiest Summer Since Seventy-Six.
pj, do you know the venue for the LA event? I could not find it anywhere.
Think Again: Conflicts of Interest by the Wealthy and for the Wealthy
Was ’76 a soggy summer here? I was in Europe and it was bone dry. It was so dry the month we were hitchhiking in England and Scotland that we slept behind the stops on the motorways. Whenever I mention that summer to English friends of a certain age they remember it affectionately.
You mean Adobe Max, Vernon? Most of it’s at the LA Convention Center (with some other venues for evening events).
An interesting note is that AdultCon is there from 10/2 – 10/4, so maybe I’ll get to meet some “celebrities.” :hubba:
I don’t remember a goshdarn thing about 1976, except Jimmy Carter beat Gerry Ford, and I think Bob Marley got shot.
Thanks, pj. I couldn’t find that anywhere but I did not have a lot of patience with that website. You’ll be at MJ Memorial ground zero. Let me know where you stay. I might have a dining/entertainment tip or two. Maybe Maron will be in town.
One thing I will say about both of those cons, there should be a lot of flashers :boobs: and hard discs :jerk: :spank: .
It has come to my attention that bloggers are getting free swag, and I want in on the action.
Granted, I’m not in Canada, we don’t get 400 “hits” a day (assuming they use the term “hit” incorrectly as most people do, when what they really mean is “visit”), am no longer young, am pretty certain I was never “hip,” and I don’t useRogers Wireless, but I still feel entitled to something.
Perhaps, given our demographics, I could get free Meatmucil or Ginkgo Biloba or something.
I’ll be staying at the Holiday Inn City Center, which is about a block from the Convention Center and Staples Center and all that (picked it because it’s close and has free Internet).
Don’t reckon I’d go to see Maron even if he was in LA, though, since he would no doubt find me quite disgusting and lacking in self-respect, and I wouldn’t want to burden him with the sight of me.
I’ll stick with the geeks, who will one day inherit the earth (once all the cool people are finished fucking it up).
My guess is your per diem, if you have one, is not extravagant.
One would hope there might be some pretty good swag. I made out nicely at a Real conference 10 years ago.
I don’t know what the per diem is. Should be good enough for me (I’m not exactly a fancy-schmancy kind of guy, hard as that might be to believe). Probably not as good as our NY State Senators, who get $160 per day just for attending their $80,000 a year jobs in Albany (they also get mileage – whether they drive or not; if I got that deal, I could buy my own plane ticket to LA for $375 and charge 52 cents per mile for 6,000 miles round trip).
There’s probably some decent swag, but from what I hear it’s a pretty useful conference (especially for us, since we’re heavily invested in the whole Adobe tool set at this point), so I’m hoping to add some skills.
“Now pardon me while I go back to the power-lunch I’m having with my NYT intern and slobber all over her thigh” David Brooks :barf:
I’m not so sure it would be “her” thigh. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I guess it’s too late now, but after changing the master cylinder you’d use this and an empty coffee can.
Oh and take a day trip to Catalina island, there’s hiking and of course lot’s of diving.
Is Brooks gay? (not there’s anything wrong with that)
Nah, he was married to Anne Bancroft for years.