I slept in half the morning (’til 6AM), so I don’t have much time. Fortunately, there isn’t much going on anyway. That I know of, at least. So please feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Keith Olbermann has issued a message to “Countdown Viewers.” Here it is:

Statement To The Viewers Of Countdown

I want to sincerely thank you for the honor of your extraordinary and ground-rattling support.

Your efforts have been integral to the remedying of these recent events, and the results should remind us of the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small.

I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety and unnecessary drama. You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule – which I previously knew nothing about — that pertains to the process by which such political contributions are approved by NBC.

Certainly this mistake merited a form of public acknowledgment and/or internal warning, and an on-air discussion about the merits of limitations on such campaign contributions by all employees of news organizations.

Instead, after my representative was assured that no suspension was contemplated, I was suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the media.

You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the public. I did not make them through a relative, friend, corporation, PAC, or any other intermediary, and I did not blame them on some kind of convenient ‘mistake’ by their recipients.

When a website contacted NBC about one of the donations, I immediately volunteered that there were in fact three of them; and contrary to much of the subsequent reporting, I immediately volunteered to explain all this, on-air and off, in the fashion MSNBC desired.

I genuinely look forward to rejoining you on Countdown on Tuesday, to begin the repayment of your latest display of support and loyalty – support and loyalty that is truly mutual.

So, that sounds about right to me. I would agree that it merited discussion, but certainly not suspension. Anyhow, I’m glad Olbermann will be back on the air (or, on the cable, I guess is more like it) tonight.

In other news, yesterday was a little like Christmas. I put in for an upgrade for my work Blackberry, and decided to try for something that wasn’t a free upgrade. Instead, I went for the Torch, which is a nifty little 3G touchscreen model that has WiFi and a slides open to reveal a hardware keyboard. While I would probably have preferred a Droid out of general principles, this thing is pretty nifty, fits in my old Curve holster, and is way better than my old one. Would have been great while I was waiting for my Internet to get installed, but, well, better late than never.

So now I better go and try to figure out how to use it.

Oh, golly, I suppose it doesn’t need to be said, but the weekends are just too damn short. Yesterday was chilly but clear, so it was good for getting the chainsaw out and trying to make my woods walkable (lots more work to do there), and this week is supposed to get progressively warmer (too bad sunset is now about ten minutes before I get out of work). Good news about Olbermann, I guess. I don’t know what the “rules” at MSNBC are if they get applied consistently or not. If he was a straight “news” guy, then I could understand his company insisting that he disclose his political contributions – just to monitor his reporting and prevent him from showing any bias (or at least having him disclose that he contributed to the campaign if he did any stories on those folks he contributed to. As an opinion guy, though, that makes things a bit murkier.

Olbermann certainly isn’t hiding his liberal bent, so anyone watching should be able to take that into account. But a lot of ‘Countdown’ certainly gets presented as news stories (with comment by Keith and his guests). Not that Konservatives would believe Olbermann if he reported that the sky is blue, so again I don’t know. But what if two candidates were vying for, say, the Democratic nomination somewhere? Should Keith’s audience be made aware that he’s a supporter of one candidate if he happens to do a story on the campaign? I don’t know. I’m just saying maybe it isn’t quite as simple as “Olbermann good – MSNBC baaaaad.”

Maybe that’s ‘cuz I’m just one of those wishy-washy liberal types that sees shades of gray in everything.

One thing is clear, however. And that is that I have to get ready for work.

See ya

In keeping with my news boycott, I won’t be looking at who the talking heads are today. And, as I feared yesterday, there is now a sports boycott in effect. I guess the only things left are the weather, and tractors. As for the weather, if was kind of cold yesterday. Not horrible, but a high not much more than 40, and kind of damp and snowy/sleety. It’s supposed to get up into the 60’s this coming week (which would be great if I didn’t have to work), but you can definitely feel winter in the air around here, and it’s nice to know that when the snow really starts to fly, I’ll be able to plow the driveway with my Kubota. Or so I thought.

Yesterday, however, was a bad day for all things orange, and the Kubota was no exception. When I went to put a load of fence posts in the shed for winter, the damn thing wouldn’t start (the Kubota, that is – not the shed; if I could start up the shed and drive it around, that would be really cool). It seemed like there was a safety that wasn’t made and, as I have been known to forget to put it in neutral or disengage the PTO or whatever (while mastering the “I did that on purpose” look, just in case anybody happens to be watching), I figured I was just doing something stupid (or, perhaps more accurately, stupidly not doing something). Fortunately, my friend John was around, and he took a look. Sadly, it wouldn’t start for him, either.

To make a long story short, we looked at all the switches we could find, but since I’m existing in two places (where, if I need shit at one place, it’s all but guaranteed to be at the other one), I didn’t have access to my meter (I actually have a couple of them, neither of which are over here), battery charger/jumper, and assortment of wire and cable – except Cat 5 and coax; I don’t leave home without that. Since it was getting neigh on dark, we stopped short of gutting the wiring completely, and opted to regroup again in the morning.

A bit later, I had a look at the owners manual (not a huge help; I guess I need to shell out the bucks for a service manual for this thing), and sat on the tractor, wiggling levers and looking at the pictures describing what position everything should be in when starting the thing up (mind you, while I’m not genius, I have started this goddamn thing once or twice before), and, whatever it was I did, it started for me.

Not wanting to shut it down just yet, and determining that succumbing to diesel fumes wouldn’t be a good idea (not on Saturday night; Monday morning maybe), I opened the garage door. And then I figured I might as well go dump the posts off by the shed (which, as it was quite dark by this point, gave me the opportunity to use the headlights for the first time. Very nice). So, I did that, and then, not knowing what else to do, decided I’d better go park it in the garage again before I shut it off.

So, that’s where things are at this point. Hopefully it was all just the culmination of a bad day, and all will be well from here on out. At least until I’m out in the middle of the woods one day and it won’t start for me.

Damn inscrutable Japanese tractor.

Oh well, lots-o-laundry to do, furniture to move, and shopping to, um, shop, so I’ll need to hitch up the wagon and and go all the way in to Pixley today (normally, I’d just go Drucker’s in Hooterville, but for the big stuff, I have to go to the Piggly-Wiggly).

Have a good Sunday, and don’t forget – unless you’re in Arizona or Hawaii or something – it may not be as late as you think out there.

Ah, finally, the weekend. I celebrated by getting out of bed a bit before 3:00 this morning. I think perhaps it might be time to put some more air in the air mattress. It’s starting to kill me. I may also need to go get the memory foam mattress topper from our real bed and put it on there. Might be a while before we get all our furniture over here, and if I don’t do something soon, I may be crippled for life. On the bright side, during my daily lunchtime pilgrimage to the old house to grab a few bags of pellets, I discovered two tool boxes filled with tools I’d long since forgotten, and a very nice looking plunge router that I only vaguely remember and have long since forgotten about. I think the damn thing was hardly ever used. So yesterday was kinda like Christmas in that respect.

With the move and lack of Internet access and all that, one of the things I’ve been neglecting to do is keep everyone up to speed on the progress of the Syracuse football team (plus, if I’m going to ignore the news, that pretty much only leaves sports, weather, and whether Michelle Obama changed her outfit during the flight to India – which, by the way, cost $20 million an hour because, instead of jet fuel, Obama insisted that the burn hundred dollar bills). Please let me take a moment to apologize for that. I know you’ve all been bummed out by the lack of updates.

After getting stomped on by Pittsburgh at home a few weeks back (which, I believe, was due to the fact that they somehow were under the impression that beating South Florida made them ‘good’), SU seems to have gotten their shit together (at least on defense), and beat first West Virgina (which looked impressive for about a week, until UCONN beat them too) and then Cincinnati (both on the road). With all due caveats as to the Big East being less than stellar, and that three of SU’s wins come against winless Akron (sorry, Kevin), the powerhouse that is the Main Black Bears, and the Colgate Raiders, Syracuse finds itself at 6-2 overall, and 3-1 in the league (good enough for 2nd place at this point in time).

And, while this is more a reflection of how terrible SU had become over the previous five years (under the coach whose name we dare not utter in these parts, lest he be summoned back from Michigan where he is busy destroying the Wolverines’ defense), in two seasons under head coach (and fellow SU alum) Doug Marrone, Syracuse…

…has already equaled the number of wins in the previous five seasons (with four games still to go).

…is 6-2 for the first time since 2001 (when they finished 10-3).

…3-1 in the Big East for the first time since 2004.

…beat Cincinnati for the first time since 2004.

…beat South Florida for the first time ever.

…beat West Virginia for the first tine since 2001.

All of which brings us to today’s game against Louisville (who is doing quite well under their new coach, Charlie Strong; preseason predictions – and past performance – had today’s game pegged as a battle for the league basement). If SU wins today, they’ll clinch a winning season and be bowl-eligible for the first time since, like 2004 (and with the plethora of bowl games these days combined with the dearth of quality teams in the Big East, they’re pretty much assured of going to one if they win). SU is favored, Louisville will be w/o their starting QB and running back, and the Cardinals haven’t won a league game on the road in the past 1 tries.

In other words, SU is ripe for playing like crap and losing. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen, or, in addition to ignoring the news, I’ll also be forced to ignore sports (for at least a week, anyway). Plus, I’ll be very, very angry.

And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

Have a good day.

Not a whole lot to say this morning. I’m just glad it’s finally Friday, and I’m hoping this day will go by quickly. We’re supposed to get some snow today and tomorrow, though nothing major – just enough to remind us that it’s November. And it’s even supposed to hit 60 next week (when I’m at work, of course). If I was paying attention to the news, I’d mention that Patty Murray won out in Washington, which is a good thing. But I’m ignoring the news, so I’ll just say Happy Birthday to Art Garfunkel, Ike Turner, Peter Noone, Tatum O’Neal, Sam Shepard, Bryan Adams, and Elke Sommer :hubba: . Roy Rogers and Vivian Leigh, too, but they’re dead (not that there’s anything wrong with that; I expect to be dead one of these days myself). Have a good Friday.

Well, we now have a full house (critter-wise; much – if not most – of our furniture is still at the old house, and even when it’s all here, I don’t think we’ll have this place filled up. It’s much bigger than we’re used to). One cat was eluding capture, but Granny managed to catch her and stuff her in a box, so now we have both dogs and both cats (and the cats have officially christened the place by puking on the floor; once they get comfortable, I’m sure they’ll commence clawing the furniture and continue being the destructive little bastards cute cuddly fuzzballs they are. Now it’s time to start thinking about getting another puppy.

Bad news on the local election front, as the teabagger candidate has surged ahead in the race for our congressional district. The Democrat had led by a couple thousand votes, but returns from redneck Wayne County came in (Wayne – which is really a Rochester county – really shouldn’t have anything to do with us, but the district was gerrymandered for the previous Republican candidate, and hasn’t been gerrymandered back), and the teabagger has surged to a 650’ish vote lead. With only absentee and military ballots left to count, things don’t look good. Not that the one-term incumbent was a prince (he didn’t support single payer or net neutrality, for instance), but he wasn’t the evil wretch that this teabagger is. Oh well.

It’s a shame it’s only Thursday, because I’d very much like for this week to be over with already, although it’s supposed to be a cold, crappy, rainy day (snow showers tonight and tomorrow, and pretty darn cold on Saturday). I’m really quite content to just stay right here at what I now quite clearly feel is “home,” and it’s quite annoying to have to leave. But it gives me a chance to pick up a few more bags of wood pellets at lunchtime, so I guess it isn’t all bad.

Oh well, I guess I should get ready to get ready. Have a good day.

If you’re reading this, it can only mean one thing: I have the Internet once again. It didn’t happen without a struggle, though. After a very smooth washer/dryer delivery, I waited (and waited, and waited) for the cable guy. I was kind of hoping it would get taken care of early so I could go and buy some of the High Efficiency laundry detergent (have you ever heard of such a thing?) that my new washing machine supposedly requires. My appointment “window” was between noon and 5:00. At about 4:20, they called and said the dude was running late, wouldn’t be there by 5, and could I hang out? Well, duh. So, they (supposedly) were crediting me $20 for my trouble (which doesn’t cover the wasted vacation day, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks). The poor kid (who I’m pretty sure was Lt. Dan Choi, but I figured I shouldn’t ask, and he didn’t tell) didn’t get to my place until almost 6:30. I then helped him trace out the cable and all that (no easy task with the rat’s nest of happy homeowner wiring here), and, as predicted, the work order didn’t include the Internet (nor did it include HD). Lt. Dan was cool, though, and got things straightened out. Then of course there was the hassle with my TV. As I learned about three years ago, my TV requires that the output resolution of a component be set specifically for one it supports. On my DirecTV box, this could be done with a hardware button, but on the cable box, it’s software. So I had to get an old TV, hook the box to that, set the resolution, and then we were good to go. By the time the guy left, it was almost 9:00, and, therefore, I was up too damn late (new remote to figure out, new channel numbers…. Oh, what a pain).

Otherwise, I didn’t follow much on the elections, but here in NYS Chuck, Kirsten, and Andy all won big (but Howie and the Greens got over 50,000 votes, and therefore secured their ballot spot). My Congresscritter is only a couple thousand votes ahead of his teabagger opponent (please, God, no!). Nationally, the Republicans took the House (oh boy, a minimum 2 years of John Boehner), but not the Senate. Russ Feingold lost, but so did Meg Whitman. Prop 19 lost, too (damn you, California! I thought I could count on you).

It occurs to me that it was on this same day back in 2004 that we suffered through the “day after” John Kerry “lost” to the monkey man (Kerry, as you no doubt painfully recall, conceding rather prematurely later on that day). As on that day, I shall now be entering several months of self-imposed news blackout. I’m just gonna hang out and watch my cable TV and surf mindless, innocuous websites.

And go to work, of course, to pay for it all. Which I suppose I ought to get ready to do.

Well, after a week and change off, I’m back at my desk at work this morning (after a visit to the dentist first thing – another $100+ down the drain). I’m not very happy to be here, but at least I have the Internet. It’s been pretty sucky to be without it. Hopefully that will all change tomorrow when they’re supposed to come and hook up cable and the Internet. Just when I found the best position for my OTA antenna, too. I’m actually pretty pleased with it (there are a lot of channels out there that I wasn’t getting before), and am wondering if paying for cable might not be kind of stupid. But, what the hell, it’s only money, and by tomorrow evening, I’ll be able to watch all those exciting cable “news” election returns as the GOP takes over the House and maybe even the Senate. Not that they don’t actually already have control of the Senate, of course (at least in terms of being able to prevent anything from passing), but this will give them power to set the agenda, run the committees, and have subpoena power (which I once was excited about the Democrats having, “ooh, just imagine Waxman and Conyers with subpoena power, now we’ll see some changes!”).

President Hopey Changey will of course bend over backwards to pass whatever the Republicans come up with (in the spirit of bipartisanship), and Republicans will cry about the Democrats do-nothing partisanship over any vote that isn’t unanimous, while looking like the party that “gets things done.”

Oh, it’s gonna be great.

The return of my Internet, however, I’m somewhat less than optimistic about. It’s supposed to happen, but for reasons I don’t feel like typing, I guess I’ll just take a wait and see. Don’t be surprised if I’m unable to post anything again tomorrow.

Snowed like crazy for a while last night. Didn’t totally cover the grass, but there was an appreciable amount on the ground. There was even still some on the roof when I left this morning (and snow on the way in, too). :cold: Not quite ready for winter, but, well, it’s November, and anything can happen now.

Oh well, just thought I’d check in while I had the chance, but I better get some work done.

Hope y’all are having a good Monday.

Oh well, just thought I’d check in while I had the chance.