Impossible?

I don't know what's going to make Americans snap -- what the breaking point will be when gasoline prices are finally too high for too long, that's finally and really going to get things going to the point where the oil companies can't cover up things like this.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Bachman-Turner Overdrive: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"

Phillip's (6)66

I had come to the decision a while ago not to ever shop at a Phillip's 66 station for political reasons. (The same company owns Conoco and 76, as well.) After our trip to Colorado I have other reasons, as well.

Needing a place to stop and check Sarah's diaper in Iowa, we pulled into a Phillip's 66 just off US-151 in Dubuque. Not only did the men's restroom not have a baby changing station, but the floor was too dirty to even think about using it instead.

So I took Sarah next door to the Dairy Queen. I kind of wish I had bought something, just a little something to show my appreciation for them actually having a baby changing station in their men's restroom.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: The Guess Who: "American Woman"

Secret Lives

Thanks to America's Puritanical background and prudish views on sexuality, a lot of people in this country in this country have the impression that the sexual revolution was something new, and that some of the open-minded views on sex and sexuality are new as well. Not so! Not only will works of fiction from the likes of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Bocaccio show otherwise, but even non-fiction period sources will show the truth.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Styx: "Snowblind"

Country

I don't know who created it, or how it was created, but this list of the top 100 country songs of all time is interesting.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Traffic: "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"

Skills

Popular Mechanics set forth this list of 25 skills every man should know. Looks like I've got some work to do.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Guess Who: "American Woman"

The Net

Here are 21 things you should know about the Internet.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Foreigner: "Juke Box Hero"

Lepidoptera

If you're squeamish about insects, you might not want to look at this.

On the other hand, it does feature some fascintating photographs of moths.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Vanilla Fudge: "Need Love"

Desert Bear

What happens when a teddy bear joins the 101st Airborne? It goes like this....

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Simple Man"

History

Do not join the History Book Club.

I got an offer in the mail from them a few weeks ago. Four books for $1 each, plus shipping, with no obligation to buy any more books. The flier they sent had some intriguing titles, so I figured I'd take advantage of it.

I changed the address, though, hoping the books would be shipped to me at work, which would be more convenient.

Today I received a letter dated October 3 stating that they won't ship to non-residential addresses unless the customer makes a $50 deposit to open the account.

While their literature does state they may require some customers to do this, it does not list any of the reasons why. Had I known, I wouldn't have changed the address.

I thought that maybe I could call them and change the address and still get my order shipped. They had no record of my enrollment order. I no longer had the flier I ordered from, so I didn't know what books I had chosen.

So I told them to take me off their mailing list, because I never want to do business with them again.

Mood: Disgusted
Music: Jefferson Airplane: "Somebody to Love"

Journeys

Carnegie Mellon University has a program for their professors called Journeys, a lecture series where the professors share their thoughts and reflections on the everyday things that make a life, on the premise that this lecture be what they would give if it were the last lecture they would give.

What happens, though, when it really is the last lecture? Professor Randy Pausch, dying of pancreatic cancer, packs an auditorium and gives a moving lecture.

Mood: Pensive
Music: Traffic: "Heaven Is In Your Mind"

Tackling Turnovers

While I couldn't have said I really expected the Badgers to lose on Saturday, it wouldn't have surprised me. After watching them play earlier in the season, I thought they were over-rated in the polls, only climbing up the rankings because the teams ahead of them were slipping. Saturday's loss to Illinois was likely inevitable given the way they've been playing. Their defense has been anemic this season, and it was only their offense that kept them in all the games they ultimately won this season. It was once again a suspect defense that led to their defeat, with poor tackling being one of the biggest problems. I'm hoping that they spend some time on it in practice.

Wisconsin sports fans were expecting some redemption Sunday night, though, when the Packers hosted the Bears. The Packers started out well -- really well -- but it's hard to win games when you lose the turnover battle. Green Bay turned over the ball five times by the end of the game, but most costly were the early turnovers the stalled and ended a pair of decent scoring drives early in the game. Still, they had some fire in the first half of the game, but I don't know if they just lost it in the second half, or the Bears got fire enough of their own to come from behind and win it. In the process Favre tied the all-time interception record, a record thankfully preceeded by his breaking the all-time touchdown pass record. There was no gutsy play-calling by McCarthy this time, and I'm hoping that after examining himself he works on protecting the ball.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: Mott the Hoople: "All the Young Dudes"

Animals

For several years now I've used this website to demonstrate just how out of touch animal rights activists like those at PETA are. I found this collection of quotations that should be extremely enlightening and should further demonstrate what I would describe as a tenuous grip on reality.

Mood: Disgusted
Music: Black Sabbath: "Paranoid"

Ping

From the "too much time on hand" files, here are eight creative ways to play Pong.

Mood: Amused
Music: The Moody Blues: "Ride My See-Saw"

Losing Time

I thought the battery on my watch was running low, because while the digital portion was working fine, the analog part was running slow or stopping altogether.

I took the watch to the Dakota Watch Co. kiosk at the East Town mall, and had the battery replaced. There I discovered my watch was no longer water proof, though I have no way of knowing if the battery replacement did this, since they didn't test it for water proofing before removing the back cover.

The watch ran well most of the day, but then started losing time again. I was very frustrated and disappointed. This was the third or fourth watch I've owned since my old reliable Casio bit the dust after I graduated college. What was it going to take to find a reliable watch with the features I want?

I checked the warranty on the watch and discovered it was still under warranty; the movement will likely be repaired or replaced at no charge. They might also be able to repair the water resistance, though there will be a charge for this.

I guess I'll have to give Dakota another shot to see if they can fix the problem. If not, it might be back to Casio.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Kashmir"

Intriguing

The other night I watched The Freshman on TCM. It's an old Harold Lloyd picture, silent and in black and white. It was entertaining, but also intriguing, seeing how slang has evolved in the last 80 years. I also came to the conclusion that people who can read lips get more out of silent movies than the rest of us, being able to see the dialog that's not included in the captioning.

Also intriguing was a new show on ABC, Big Shots. My curiosity was piqued by the advertising, featuring Dylan McDermott and Christopher Titus playing two of the four titular roles. It's a show that has great potential, and I'm kind of hoping it does well.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: The Rolling Stones: "Sympathy for the Devil"

Rights

Score one for individual freedom.

Mood: Pleased
Music: The Beatles: "Let It Be"

The Arts

In a time when many of our schools are facing budget shortfalls and are cutting the fine arts in order to make ends meet, one should examine things like this and read about things like this.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Misty Mountain Hop"

Digital Antiques

I never would have thought that personal computers were collectible, but apparently they are. This slideshow is fairly interesting, even if they're not all exactly personal computers.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: The Cars: "Just What I Needed"

Autumn

Saturday morning we intended to go into some Madison to find a few things for the house. We finally left the house about an hour after I wanted to get moving, and Sarah's hunger coupled with Maryanne's headache prompted us to return home with some of our errands unfinished. After we fed Sarah and got her down for a nap I left to do the grocery shopping. That night we had Maryanne's dad, Jim, over for supper; I made spareribs and sauerkraut, and it turned out quite well. We watched the Badgers win against (nearly lose to) Iowa, with Jim leaving and Maryanne going to bed at half time.

Sunday was the first day of autumn, and after going to church I mowed the lawn and worked in the basement for a while before the Packer game came on. It was an exciting game, but I wished that Brett could have thrown one more TD pass to break the record at Lambeau and not on the road. Still, it's exciting to see the Packers, as young and inexperienced as they are, start the season 3-0, with all three wins coming against decent teams.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Who: "Magic Bus"

Five Years

Maryanne and I both had off from work because it was our fifth wedding anniversary. While I wouldn't call it uneventful, it wasn't exactly romantic. Maryanne's parents were both out of town, and so we had no sitter for Sarah. We ran some errands in downtown Stoughton, including inquiring about estimates to redo the flooring in our kitchen, before going to the A&W in Stoughton for lunch. We then returned home so Sarah could get a nap.

After Sarah awoke we waited fruitlessly for a call back from one of the local flooring places about an estimate before Maryanne left for an appointment. When she returned we decided to try to go out for dinner at the Maple Tree in McFarland, but with a 30-minute wait we decided to go to Monona Garden instead. We were seated immediately there, and by the time we were done it was time to return home and put Sarah to bed.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Band: "The Weight"