Is that pumpkin pie or sweet potato...ugh..sweet potato...bleck

Today is the national holiday in the US where we celebrate giving thanks. Now I really want to try to be more positive about my blog and push away griping, bitching, moaning and complaining. So while this entry may seem like something from one of the previous categories as a gripe, a bitch, a moan or even a complaint it isn’t no matter how much it actually seems like it might be. Trust me I’m the one writing this I should know what I mean. Is this really a day of giving thanks and is that really what the meaning of the holiday is supposed to be. Most likely it would depend on who you ask about the holiday Little kids will say it is a day that there is no school and the pilgrims did stuff. You know stuff like fleeing an island where the rule of the land disenfranchised many of them for being the believing in the wrong religion or in the wrong birth order, born in the wrong social standing or even being born the wrong gender. And other stuff like shunning the natives and treating them exactly like they were treated on their little island home. Shunning them for being the wrong religion, being uneducated, taking advantage of their willingness to share, and not even recognizing them as humans. Yet still these new people to the pilgrims supposed forgave and helped the idiots from the little island. Perhaps they regret that choice but it wasn’t likely something as big as the land mass that is the US would have gone unnoticed for much longer and really had been known about for a while anyway. Just getting here was a bit dicey. Assuming the pilgrims were just as bad as they were good, why are we celebrating them. On to the native peoples, while they were taken advantage of by the invading funny dressed people, were they really all that nice. Seems that they were just as bad. Wars along tribal lines just like all the invaders. Where as the Euro-trash coming over warred as England, France, Spain and others. The natives warred with one another under the names of Iroquois, Ottawa, Crow, Osage, Cherokee, and others. They had there own governmental problems but certainly for all the lack of European based education certainly was better for the community as a whole, you know until those pesky other groups decided to bash your head in for being born in the wrong group. It still baffles me that they just didn’t fall upon this funny dressed people and bang them on the head with rocks until they died. Guess they felt sorry them for being dressed so funny. Anyway if the first settlers and the native peoples were all not so pleasant to deal with on the whole surely the ideals of giving thanks should be something we can all gather to and agree is the reason for the holiday. What do we give thanks for though, the holiday propaganda would have us think that having family and food are the reasons to give thanks. Not to sound too much like some one who practices Buddhism shouldn’t this be something that humbles us every day and the Buddha isn’t the only one who attempts to corner the market on this thankfulness game. All the “major” and yes even the “minor” belief systems seem to talk a lot about the importance of family, thankfulness for blessings and life and such things. The quotes about major and minor are to denote that because your belief system doesn’t have the number of followers of some other billion ranked system doesn’t make it any less important. There is the argument that this is a non religious holiday and the belief system isn’t really a part of the whole thing, so take your “you should give thanks everyday argument and put it on the shelf”. You thought I was going to say something else didn’t you (wink) see I have a moral compass …sometimes it even works. That isn’t going to fly but taking the belief system out and from a purely not belief system shouldn’t thankfulness be an every day thing and not a once a year celebration. And if it is really all about being thankful and sharing. Why is it that we are gathering together to over indulge and argue with loved ones about politics, religion, sexual orientation, bad habits, and all the other reasons families across this land will say mean and hateful things. Or instead of saying them, just thinking them and drinking too much to drown out the demons, or better still push those feelings down deep inside until we take them out of coworkers or in our own smaller nuclear family. That says happiness and thanks right. In review we have a holiday in which we are supposed to be happy, thankful and celebrate community sharing and helping out our fellow humans. We celebrate it by, over eating, over drinking, saying bad things about the people we care most about, do horrible things to those we care about and preparing to spend every dollar we have save and some that credit cards will allow us to spend on things we really don’t need. Boozed up, over full shopping. Hmmm… perhaps we do celebrate it properly the pilgrims were a groups not so happy people who met some people who only liked themselves in small groups who got together that one time had a great meal then started screwing each other over everyday since. Well then sorry for all the critical review of things seems we are doing it right. Grab your pie, turkey thigh and your booze du jour and enjoy. In other news Seriously though be thankful everyday for all the things we all, including me, take for granted and over look all too often. We all have problems and may not have everything we want in our lives but if you have a place to sleep at night that is dry, clothing to wear and food to eat and even just one person who is happy to see you most every day. You have a lot more than millions in the US and billions around the world. Give thanks for everyday not just on holidays. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff on a tomorrow most likely Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

This is me doing that writing thing that I do

My son, stunt boy asked me recently, if I still wrote in my blog. Which I said yes but then quickly had to edit the answer to say I still have my blog but I haven’t written much lately. I didn’t really need to edit my answer but I felt like just leaving the answer as yes was not so much lying to him as lying to myself. I’ve been meaning to write but lately I’ve been conflicted and angry and emotionally charged that writing seemed to become clouded in all the things I’ve been plagued with lately in my life. The blog has been largely cathartic in helping deal with things in my life and to just chronicle things in my life not so much a hey come here and learn about these opinions I have on a particular topic which is most blogs. So it has lacked a focus. Said lack of focus allows me to write about what ever I damn well please and no one can say, that is not what you do here. But on the other side of that is lack of focus some time the forest is lost in the trees. There are things I want to write about but then I don’t because: pick a reason I might offend someone … I’m not so invisible as I once was. There was a time when only a select few people really knew who invisible don was or was not. Now the cat is out of the bag and I can’t write things that I once did. I said it was cathartic so if you go back and read something that offends you … sorry my emotional growth happens in words. When things were written that is how I felt I may or may not feel that way now. I don’t know enough about something to make a statement. While I think I’m fairly intelligent I also know that I don’t know a lot. Sure that doesn’t stop some people from talking endlessly about something they know nothing about. I sort of like to have some knowledge about something before firing off a rant or a diatribe. Although Lance Armstrong really fucked me over on that one, not that he reads my stuff but mmm humble pie with a scoop of in your face cream. That said I still believe that the US Anti-doping agency is a huge waste of money and not just them there are a lot more things that can be trimmed away and not hamper our government. Religion and Politics, sure they certainly fill the space up and the previous statement is what it is. It is my firm belief that only people paid to talk about religion and politics should talk about them. Most people don’t read religious or political things to firm up their beliefs they read about what the other side is doing wrong and to try and change someone’s mind about their political or religious belief you would be better off trying to teach birds to swim and fish to fly. My job. I can’t really talk about my job, because I would loose my job if I wrote about it in any way that someone could figure out who I was talking about. For those of you who may not know I’m a child abuse investigator where I live. So it isn’t really things that people want to read about. Everyone says I couldn’t do your job and they certainly don’t want to read about it. Plus I type a lot of the day to typing at night is sometimes too much. Leaving me in a place where I spend a lot of time doing one job or another and not a lot of time to write or more specifically not taking the time to write. It is a really a combination of things. Being a single parent, having two jobs, trying to entertain myself and read but then to do the writing thing too. I don’t think I have it worse than most people, in fact my life is pretty good for the most part. There are things I want to change and I’m working on that. Change can only happen so fast and only so many things can get done in a day. Editing is not one of things that is put on the to do list, though it should probably be on there. You can figure it out most of the time, and when you can’t, you can ask what I meant. Rule of thumb though before you ask, if you think it’s about you it probably isn’t so only ask if you think you want no for the answer. However if it is you and the answer is yes you should be prepared for that as well because I’m not going to apologize for feeling a certain way. I can be mad as hell at someone and feel all sorts of ways about it, writing about it helps me not do the things I think about doing. We all have those thoughts Writing though I haven’t been, but I’ve been meaning to do it or get back to it. I’m making my students write every week, which makes me read. The purpose of them writing is to practice at writing. Something I should be doing here. Here is me doing that writing thing about why I’m not doing that writing thing that I do. I promise to do more of the trying to do the writing thing. Good news for those of you who enjoy my rambling bad news for those of you who wish I would drop dead. You know which group you are in and mostly I do too. Relationships are fun, especially the dysfunctional ones. In other news. Stunt boy is currently in a play. He has been in two plays. Both of which he has had the smallest on stage part in the play. He has made this his quest to try out and to get the smallest part in any play his school is doing. He wants the drama club to develop an award for this so his legacy will live on, long after he has graduated. Person with the most small parts in drama. I really think it’s a clever way to acknowledge the supporting players who may have no desire to be in the spotlight but enjoy being there next to, or near to, or somewhere close to, on the same stage as someone doing more. The play is wonderful and for a high school production it was really rather good. I saw it twice. It was fun sitting in the audience hearing people say good things about stuntboy. Being invisible does have some advantages, still think flying is the better super power but hey you work with the tools you have, right. Well that’s all for now Thank you for reading, please subscribe, if today is your birthday, happy birthday and if today is not your birthday a very merry un birthday to you. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don

Go back to whatever Starbucks dumpster you climbed out from behind

Homogenized America Reading critical reviews of anything from food, to music, to a place, what ever seems to point to one thing we are all xenophobic. Afraid of things which are different, fearful of the unfamiliar, anything that goes against the grain is cause for our immediate disdain. The internet has given us all a place to tell others about our dislike of this or that thing and the ever resounding thing about every single statement of dislike is this or that is different than what I prefer. I’ve long believed if you took someone put them in the middle of any place in the US and kept them from actually reading anything that said where they were you would not have a clue where you were. You would also have to hide the skylines of most major cities as a give away but apart from two things we are the same from coast to coast and north to south. Really makes me wonder about the world or more specifically the people in it. Why do we want everything to be the same? We go on and on about how we are all individuals but we aren’t. We want a well polished, chrome plated, shiny, plastic coated, all weather, new and improved sameness to the entire world. Oh and it should also be well lit and temperature controlled. I read a review for a place written on the same day I was in a place. My experience was fine everything was good, from the service and the items purchased. The other person who may have even been there at the same time as myself says it was the very worst experienced they have ever had in their life. Makes me wonder, does this person writing the review like anything. I went on to read other reviews perhaps my standards are low or I just don’t know any better. More reviews were the same as my experience and in reading over thirty reviews only two were negative. Gives me hope that there are people who like things a little different in the world. But still I wonder though because more places seem to strive for the element of sameness rather than going out of a limb. So much of the things that people complain about are not even complaints they are just whining about why things aren’t they way I want them to be. A complaint is there is a hair in my food, not that the décor is passé or too retro. Don’t take my word for it go out and read reviews for things and places you like. Read the ones that disagree with how you feel about it and you’ll see the things that people bitch about are just a bunch of whining about how things aren’t the same as they are in the homogenized sameness of the superplex where they usually go for this or that thing or service. Think I’m wrong? Why are there 3 Hangover and 6 Fast and Furious movies? Why do well all live so close to a McDonalds, Starbucks and Wal-Marts? Why do we mock the people who are a little different from what we like? Because we are all afraid to be a little different, may be the world would be a bit better with more difference and less sameness or maybe not. Welcome to Stepford, America won’t you be one of us…one of us…one of us… Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

The adventures of invisibledon king of the bastards continue still...

The adventures of invisible don king of the bastards continue still… As has been my habit in recent months my writing has been tardy and this issue is weeks tardy rather than months. Again my absences from the writing table, is not the matter for discussion and is not likely to be one at least not presently. This issue pertains to the Happy Hour Crew and my adventures with them. Those of you not familiar with the way back days of invisible don king of the bastards won’t know who the Happy Hour Crew is or it’s function. The function is simple we drank during happy hour …the name really does tell you all you need to know and we started drinking when the drinks were less expensive as we didn’t have the money for full priced drinks and largely we still don’t …another matter. The second is who are the members of the Happy Hour Crew? Well of course there is yours truly and then several others. Former Smoking Buddy who still smokes but as I do not she is the former there was really no need to change her from Smoking buddy to something new that is just confusing. Then there is Brand A and Head Nod, they are a couple Brand A is more the free spirit of the two and Head Nod is willing to play but when it’s time to go …you’ve guessed it, the head nod comes out and then leave. Everyone knows what the head nod means but he still does it. HK which I’m not sure I’ve ever defined HK to anyone or in the blog, I’m not going to research it and if I have you know and if I haven’t well then you don’t know. HK has had a series of relationships during the Happy Hour Crew days and generally they don’t get written about not that we don’t care about who HK dates or that they aren’t around a long time they are… they just haven’t been part of the blog. The last two members of the original HHC were Jonzo and Braff. They are completely separate people no connection to each other, other than the HHC. Braff’s sister and I worked together years after the HHC formed and she is a friend of Brand A and Head Nod. Jonzo is a former co worker who I see now and again and we always threaten to have drinks again but life gets in the way of these things. There have been lots of add ons and people who show up here and there over the years but 50’s pin up girl has been the only one to really be a late joiner who fell into the crew and stayed with the crew for the long haul. 50’s pin up girl is looks like a girl from the 50’s and works …well a rather interesting job more on that later. We used to gather every other Thursday for Happy Hour at public places then that evolved to house parties largely at Former Smoking Buddies. The house parties phase has evolved to holidays and special occasions gatherings. The last bit of people in the HHC have really been there since the beginning but weren’t really part of the HHC because they were busy which was a guitar player from a band and his wife. They’ve never had nick names in the blog mainly because I will usually link the band the guitar player is in and that gives away his true identity. OK were up to speed I think, regardless we’re moving forward The reason for the recent calling to order of the HHC was a birthday and concert not exactly on the same day but close-ish. The Rev. Horton Heat was playing her in the Star City a few weeks ago and as our luck would have the guitar guy’s band The Woody Nelsons is playing as one of two opening bands for the Rev. How awesome is that? Well, the style of music guitar guy has always played is Rock a Billy in flavor, which if you are not aware is what the Rev. Horton plays too. Well in a style. We love it all of the HHC love this music we are groupies of a sort with guitar guy and 50’s Pin up girl and Former Smoking Buddy are real groupies of the Rev. Horton Heat. I mean that in the best possible way, hell guitar guy is as well for that matter. They will drive far and sometime wide to see this man play which if you know the music you know it is worth the drive. The other band playing that night is Continental , Rick Barton and his son’s band. Which if you don’t know Rick was a founding member of the Drop Kick Murphy’s. So the bill is set and the HHC decide to have a VIP day/night of it dinner then the show. Which in true HHC fashion was a party at someone’s house. Now they are generally at Brand A and Head Nod’s house, which is true again. Jonzo and Braff didn’t make it for this go around but they were both invited. Well the cook out part of it is grand guitar guy and his wife are there with there newly born child congrats on that by the way. Then he had to go for sound checks at the club. Everyone is getting rather excited now and we are swapping stories about the other shows we’ve been to and hope this one is as fun and having a good time. Thing is the HHC will go a while without being together and everyone falls right back into place like not a day has gone by …which of course it has and that only allows for stories of the in between times. Brand A and Head Nod have a child now too and the Little James Dean is tearing it up on his motorized bike in the back yard. Head Nod has juiced up the bike because he is a vehicle guy. Loves motors and things that are made to move by motors and Little James Dean is reaping the benefit of his dad’s love of make it go faster and better. Time to go to the concert the baby sitter for Little James Dean show up and she promises not to chloroform the kid. You know how it goes you show up as the baby sitter and you have the rag with chloroform on it and you say, Hey kid does this smell like Chloroform as you hold the rag to the kids face. They fall asleep and you get to relax until the parents come home. That is not really a good baby sitting practice … well at least no in polite society. Off to the show we go. We are early but not really early. As in we are there in advance of when the show starts but only by about 15 or 20 minutes. Which in bar scene band show that is not really early enough to get great seating so there are a few seats left up near the stage along the wall and there is a bar there but it is beside a wall and not really at the bar. Which means part of the time some of us will be standing, which is usually the case with Former Smoking Buddy and 50’s pin up girl because they get up front by the stage and listen from beside the speakers or at the feet of who ever we are there to see. My job usually revolves around watching drinks and things from a location not right by the stage. This is fine by me I’m a people watcher now and my mosh pit days are behind me. Which there was one there that evening and there were people in the pit that had no business being in the pit. When I see this forming I turn to Head Nod and say there was a day when I would be out there but that day isn’t today. Soon after that a person very close to my age is on the floor after being bashed about like a pin ball. That is just not smart. You don’t swim in a tank of sharks if you aren’t a shark or in armor and he was neither a shark or armored. At some point between the bands I have to go to the rest room. I know drinking and peeing you must be kidding those two things never happen together. Well I go in and do my business and no most places put adds up over urinals to sell you stuff while you pee or at least to expose you to things while you are exposed. I’m looking at the ads, and see the place 50’s pin up girl and Former smoking buddy work … which is a sex toys shop. I think huh Ill tell her them. So I do you know after I finish and wash my hands. So I say hey there is an ad for your place of business over the urinal. 50’s and Former say really go in and take a picture. I turn phone in hand walking toward the men’s room… then I think this probably seems a bit odd me. Standing at the door of the men’s room camera at the ready … to take a picture of an ad for a sex shop over a urinal Well as I walk in there is some one at said urinal so I leave because I don’t need to go and to wait there with my camera ready is going to seem even more odd if I walk up and take a photo of the ad over the urinal of where someone just peed while they are washing their hands. So I just waited outside until he left and then went in and did just that and showed it to 50’s and Pin up girl… perhaps you had to be there. Another pint please…On with the show …. The Woody Nelson’s played and gave a really great show. This was for us and for guitar guy too, to be on the same stage as the next two bands was a dream come true. Perhaps that dream will go a bit further and guitar guy will be the one that other bands want to open up for some day. Rick Barton was walking around before his show and if you don’t know a person is going to blow your socks off when you meet them well then you haven’t met Rick Barton. He walks and all you can think is this guy knows something you need to know. Well if a sound check is getting in your car, starting it up and driving for the freeway once Continental gets in the merge lane you are full speed from then on. During the show Barton delivers great music and good entertainment from the stage. At one point he is telling how there are good girls and bad girls who go to this type of show. Good girls isn’t the compliment in this scenario and he is making a tour around the women near the stage to which he is saying good girl about all of them and when he gets to Former Smoking Buddy and 50’s pin up girl he tags 50’s pin up girl as a good girl and then he sees Former Smoking Buddy and says without pause Bad Girl. Well Former Smoking Buddy could not have been happier. Just as the Woody Nelsons got the energy level up for Continental, Barton brought the energy level up to a level for the Rev. The Rev. took the stage and played all good songs, my favorite was not among them but hey what are you going to do. This band looks like they are right from the 1950’s but feel like they are from a time we haven’t lived in yet. All three bands made this one of the best concerts that I’ve been to ever and it was in a small little club and not as expensive. Unfortunately we all had to work the next day and were out way past reasonable bed times or there may have been more to the story Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Hey Mom, ...Guess where I am?

As you may have noticed I sort of stopped writing there for a bit…sort of as in grinding halt stopped writing for a bit. There are a lot of reasons for that …chief among them is a pretty enormous self loathing but that isn’t what we are here to talk about today perhaps I’ll get into that another time. With mother’s day coming up soonish I was talking about some things with some friends which happened to focus in on being parents and how we presented some challenges to our parents. While I didn’t live with my parents for a large part of my teen years I probably made up for it while I was there. Then once we leave the homestead we break out into the world with hardly a glance backward. Standing there is background are the ones who bled and toiled and stayed awake with worry over our every problem even the ones we have forgotten they have a gray hair or worry line to remind them. We didn’t ponder deeply the meaning of our relationships with our parents or how our relationships have evolved with our own children. One of the stories I recalled after having fled the homestead was being in Europe and calling home at various times to keep in touch with family and sometimes friends. As with most things we tend to settle in to trends or patterns when doing anything for the people in or attached to our lives, so they will expect it or be anticipating the interaction. One of the interactions I had with my mother mainly because she was the one who would answer the phone most often. This was when you left your phone on a desk or attached to a wall. And to call you had to find a phone attached to a wall or in a special house on the street. Well my habit with my mother and the phone was to wait until I had closed a bar and generally consumed a fair amount and it was generally very late or very early depending on how you look at those hours between midnight and 6 am. These calls would usually be associated with me traveling around to various places too. Many of the phone calls would go something like this. Hey Mom, guess where I am She of course had no idea exactly where I was I would be I’m In Paris and I’m drunk It’s 4 am which wasn’t really all that late for her in the US but I wasn’t in any condition then to figure out the time but knew I was ahead of them and If I was awake it generally mean that it was ok to call them unless it was daylight out but there were a few times the bar doors opened and the sun poured in… Oh that is a dreadful feeling and not the point So made several of these calls …from several different places in Europe and always a bit to the wind Those phone calls never lasted very long but they were happy ones and while I could have spent my money and time better while I was there but I didn’t. There for a moment I was on a street in some city not in the same place as my mother saying hey you are on my mind. While my mother and I haven’t always had the best relationship for a myriad of reason as is true with all children and parents it is was it is, again not the conversation. That went on for the entire time I was stationed out of the US. Once even convinced another person with whom I was stationed to call his Mom while he was all back of the bus and to the wind. Was this ill advised … perhaps it was but I had no point of reference as to how his mother would take to her son calling her from Europe with a bit too much to drink… My parents never seemed to care or never protested to me while I was on the phone. Well he calls his mother and says, Mom I’m in Munich and I’m drunk or wherever we were that time…we were drunk Well his mother did not take to the drunken shenanigans of two service men all that well. Her displeasure with me is assumed as I did not speak to his mother but imagine if I had the things she would have said would have been not happy words. My friend turned from happy to very stiff and yes ma’am and no ma’am, it will never happen again ma’am …blah, blah, blah. I’m like dude you are thousands of miles away from this person, you have been trained to be war machine… hang up the phone she can’t get you … Did he hang up the phone? No he did not … he took that howler phone call until the last ten phennig (German coinage before he Euro) clicked away on the pay phone. The party was over for him … we trudged back to where we were sleeping and all of my drunken phone calls were made solo from then on. Well years later my mother went on a trip to Greece with her BFF since middle school. While she was on this trip my phone rang at like 3 a.m. My mother is on the phone She says, “Guess where I am?” I say, “You’re in Greece” She says, “I’m Drunk” to continue the connection She wasn’t drunk because it was very early in morning so she had probably just gotten up and was waiting for the shower in the hotel before beginning the day of the tour. However the connection of my, oh hey I’m thinking of you calls drunken state and all were remember and she made a phone call to me Probably would have been funnier if she was hammered standing near the Acropolis Hey boy I’m at the Acropolis and I’m drunk on Ouzo. But drunk of not we share something that my brothers and my mother don’t. I’m sure they know about the calls and were probably there for a few of them but I only really talked to my mother on those Hey I’m in Prague and I’m drunk, I’m at the Muse d’Orsay and I’m drunk We all connect to the people in our lives in a way that no one else ever does which amazes me that everyone wants to have the same experiences as everyone else but it’s the things that aren’t the same as everyone else that make them stand out. Oddly things are where they started with a grinding halt but this time its playing on the speakers as I’m typing …everything is coming to a grinding halt… no sound … no me… no people…no you … In other news… Wow that is complicated … so complicated that I can’t even begin to explain it . Still in other news… I’m off for the next week and plan on making this return to writing at least a weekly thing perhaps twice a week …we’ll see baby step. Yet still in other news… I’m at my desk and I’m about 4 pints in no phone calls today That’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Message in a bottle adventures

A friend posted a photo of a USB memory stick in a bottle with the caption, “The modern day message in a bottle”

My thoughts were well that is interesting and I liked the image of a bottle on a sandy beach, ocean in the background with the modern device inside the bottle waiting for anyone to open up the secret messages inside.

Then I thought well water would destroy the memory stick. Then I thought sealing wax like on a wine and booze bottles would fix that problem and that would have made the photo look even cooler if the person taking the photo had thought of that little addition.

Alas they did not. Still it was a good photo.

It also reminded me of when I was kid. I grabbed a coke bottle back when they were made of glass and not the thin glass that they are today, it was thick ass glass that took a beating. For some reason there were corks lying around the house too various sizes and shapes and I found one that fit the bottle.

I then wrote a note in the bottle saying that I was this kid living in this particular town, going to this particular school, what I liked and if this message was found would you please, please, and probably threw in another please for good measure and as I was a kid I didn’t think it would be annoying to write please so many times in a row, write me back. I included my address as well.

Which in retrospect probably wasn’t really all that smart because and today everyone would be like WTH dude, do you want a stalker to come kill you.

Admittedly that isn’t very high on my list of things to get done in my lifetime.

So thinking ahead I put my letter in a plastic bag in case the bottle leaked and like the photographer didn’t think to seal the bottle in wax at the cap point. I was a kid though and while we had corks lying around we did not have sealing wax, so there is that in my favor.

Then once I had my message in the bottle I ran down to the town bridge which crosses the Cheat River. It was raining and the river was up and moving very fast. The water was brown with dirt and stirred up silt, and for what ever reason I tossed the bottle out as far as I could, because dropping it straight down seemed less dramatic I suppose.

It was dark and raining and I couldn’t see the bottle any longer a second or two after it left my hand. I don’t think I even saw it hit the water it was a very exciting moment. But from there the bottle was out in the world on its’ own waiting to be found where would it go, how far would it go. The excitement lasted for a few days and my daydreams of where the bottle might actually end up filled my head.

Well technically it could have possibly made it to the Gulf of Mexico
The progression would be from the Cheat, to the Monongahela to the Ohio River to the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico… to the whole wide world

Well to a kid probability means squat and that bottle had a great chance of making it to anyone in the world who might be near a body of water.

The reality is that the bottle survived and made it a pretty good distance and made it to the second river in that chain to the whole world and as luck would have it a kid found the bottle. An adventurous kid who liked to play on river banks like myself, except this adventurous kid was a girl.

I got her letter a few weeks after tossing my bottle into the river, closer to two months. So the bottle just sat there for a while I suppose. And largely I had forgotten about the bottle but the when the letter was there when I got home from school. It was one of those confetti moments when you just explode with happiness.

The girl and I wrote for a while and then we just stopped. I don’t remember why just that we don’t write anymore. This was before computers and easy photographs. So I never knew what she looked like and she did not know what I looked like. Hell we may have met later in life. I don’t remember her name and if the letters still exist then they would be in my mother’s house probably in the attic hard to say. Would be fun to find them if they are still there. I wondered about this person after seeing the bottle photo and thought what her life if like today and does she remember a childhood adventure of finding a message in a bottle on the banks of a river one autumn day.

Because I’ve had success with that little experiment I’ve done the same thing a few other times and tossed bottles into the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and a few rivers here and there. It has only worked that one time. But I have moved a lot so if it did work other times it was after I moved and the letter probably got sent back to the person.

I suppose GeoQuests replace the message in the bottle sort of adventures and my blog to letter box challenge is very much like the letter in the bottle thing. Except that the river this time was cyber space. That adventure continues and it is never too late to jump on board if you want to play as always the PO Box is below. I like to get cards and letters and it makes the spider happy.

I would encourage people to participate in this type of adventure but certainly use so precautions like a PO Box or just and email address that you set up specifically for the adventure. You will be surprised by the amount of excitement it actually creates in your life.

In other news…

Confirmation of the acronym in this last week from an unlikely source so that was fun


Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow most likely

Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday

Thank you for reading, please subscribe, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy.

Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood.

Ciao,






PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don


PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Can you say witch hunt boys and girls... I knew you could

So there is a lot of buzz going on about Lance Armstrong and the US Anti Doping Agencies allegations against Mr. Armstrong.

As far as I’ve heard related to facts that Lance Armstrong has never failed any tests from any agency including the US Anti Doping Agency or failed any test given to him by any officials from any race he has competed or for the IOC or for the USOC.

Yet for some reason the US Anti Doping Agency and I think more specifically Travis Tygart the Director of the USADA, continues to blare out “We don’t care what the test results say, we know Mr. Armstrong is guilty of some performance enhancement we just know it.” Not an exact quote but I think the sentiment it correct.

How do you know it? Please tell us how you know this? Show us some facts and not the word of some official or team mate who says I know because I saw this or that. Ok where is the proof of these people’s statements. If we convict people completely on the word of others now every one is going to be guilty of something they didn’t do just because someone doesn’t like them or is just pissed off at the moment.

Then there are the few former team mates who say they saw this or that but didn’t say anything at the time. And why not gather up the used needles if they existed that would have evidence of the substance and probably a small amount of Mr. Armstrong’s DNA. Then you could have just turned it over to a race official but none of that ever happened. No one ever came forward during races and said you know what I can’t support cheating.

Ok so why now after he is retired? If you want your sports to be fair and free of doping and performance enhanced abilities, why are you waiting to come forward when there is no proof in what you are claiming and it is so long after the fact that new evidence can not be drawn in the form of a blood test or urine screening.

Many writers and commentators and Mr. Tygart are saying that because Lance is quitting the fight against the allegations this is “an admission of guilt” on his part, because if he were truly innocent he would fight every minute of every day to clear his name.

Really, would he do that?

If Lance Armstrong is guilty of using performance enhancements he did so in a way that avoided hundreds if not thousands of doping tests? Well if he did use and was able to pass the tests well the secret dies with him or he admits it. You don’t have any proof that he did anything wrong.

However without proof how do you have a legitimate claim to continue to pour allegations out against this person?

The thing about this is that we’ve become so jaded as a society that we don’t want to believe that any one is able to achieve anything great anymore at least not with out cheating the system some how. And there is proof of it every day, not just in sport but in every part of out lives.

In the just recently concluded 2012 Olympics more than a few athletes tested positive for enhancement drugs and doping and there was still a fair amount of other cheating going on. From the badminton court, cycling, basket ball, martial arts and others. A side thought however is getting high on marijuana a performance enhancer? I would think it would be the opposite but hey it’s a banned substance so I get it he knew he shouldn’t have blazed up but did, and was banned

Some of it was the use of drugs, doping techniques, stretching the rules to your advantage, playing for position rather than wins and on and on. Our sports have become breeding grounds for lies and very un sportsmen like behavior. In all of these cases there is proof, there is immediate action taken. It isn’t month or even years later and without proof.

So when some one makes allegations against someone we are likely to believe them and given the number of times that someone has said oh no I didn’t do that and then later says ok yeah I did. We tend not to believe the person saying I didn’t do it. But in all of those other cases there has been some tangible proof of wrong doing.

There has yet to be any against Lance Armstrong that I’m aware of at this time. And this isn’t new for years this has been going on. It isn’t like oh now some years later people are saying Lance is a cheat. No they have been saying before he had cancer, they were saying it during his cancer treatment, they said it before, during and after every race he competed in after coming back and was tested, and tested and tested. Surely years of testing for by so many different agencies he would have slipped up some where along the line and there would be proof of the cheating.

Where is the evidence?

How many years of abuse would you take before saying you know what I’m done fighting with you I quit. Because it doesn’t matter what the truth is, it is what you (Mr. Tygart) want the truth to be that he is a cheater so you will continue to make allegations until when? Well until the person just quits fighting because it is such an expense in time, money, mental state and just an all consuming thing to the person who has been accused.

There comes a time when the fighting just doesn’t make any sense anymore because no matter what the out come there is always another fight about the same thing you just fought about.

He knew he was going to be tested. If I were an athlete in today’s world of drug testing it would be on my mind that if I do well someone is going to test me for something. So of course he knew he would be tested

And again if he is guilty and is able to beat all the tests well then that is something that agencies need to look into in testing athletes and if Lance got away with it, how many others have gotten away with it as well. Derek Jeter just had allegations made against him by an announcer who has chosen to make his money by being an ass hat but will Jeter be put through the same onslaught of accusations now. Hard to say but you don’t need evidence anymore to make someone’s life a living hell. You just need an audience and a few people to listen and pick up the torches and pitchforks.

Also what authority does the US Anti Doping Agency have over any competitions or to remove victories? The truth is they don’t have any authority over any sports but once the agency was empowered by the US Congress, who are all as we know very truthful people without any flaws in their characters, the USADA gave themselves unlimited authority to test anyone who does anything with any sport on the planet if they have competed in the US, plan to compete in the US or may think they might like to compete in the US or for the US.

Can you say witch hunters? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck I’m sure it’s a witch but if says it isn’t a witch it’s a witch and if it says it’s a duck it’ is probably still a witch.

All in all I don’t know what to think about Lance other than to say show the public some proof other than he just doesn’t want to fight with you any more because that isn’t proof that he did something wrong it’s proof of Mr. Tygart has started a witch hunt and that’s all and now that Mr. Armstrong doesn’t want to play any more he is guilty

And I will say this if there is proof turn it over to the Tour de France and the IOC and the USOC and then by all means strip every award the man has gotten but prove it first.

However sadly the USADA has chose not to do this and have taken his unwillingness to play their game using rules they made which really ultimately give them the accusers the most of the power and those accused none. This is fair Mr. Tygart? Well I’m sure you don’t care about fairness you only say you do and the more important thing for you to do is to validate the existence of a money wasting agency which is redundant in every way. All the sports you test athletes for have their own testing, they have there own oversights and they have their own rules and authority to ban competitors you and your agency are not needed and should be abolished. You are a waste of tax payer money, you are a blight on the existence of fairness, and you probably aren’t a very nice person but I’m not sure about that last one but I think your actions justify my allegation.


In other news,

Internet fights between two people are fun to watch… god I love twitter it is better than day time TV


Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow most likely

Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday

Thank you for reading, please subscribe, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy.

Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood.

Ciao,






PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don


PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015