The Countertop Chronicles

With apologies to my gay friends and readers

From the comments at Katie Granju’s blog

Andrew Sullivan can stick it up …. uh, what did you say?

Oh, he does?

Never mind.

And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime.

If you can hear this whispering you are dying.

I never said I was frightened of dying.

RIP, Richard Wright

Victor David Hanson

When Palin talks about her present life it sounds as authentic as Biden’s showy populism came off as false. Enraged feminists are apparently the gatekeepers for less well-educated American women, who are supposed to have 0-1.5 children not 5! Their husbands must be professors, lawyers, CEOs, editors—not snowmobile champions, union members, oil workers, and fishermen—or, worse, all in one! And unlike a Pelosi, Quinn, or Clinton, Palin, God forbid, did not rely on a powerful, wealthy husband or father to energize her career. Worse still, she took no women’s studies class, never attended the Ivy League, and shoots moose. The danger is not just that Sarah Palin could win McCain the election, but she could expose the entire flimsy structure of doctrinaire liberalism as the hypocrisy—and chauvinism—it has become.

Sebastian

I have one basic litmus test for determining whether a person or organization is the kind of person I want to work with or not: Are you looking for allies, or are you looking for heretics?

I have no idea what the Appleseed discussion is about - I’ve been too busy to pay any attention to it (heck, I don’t even know where it originated) but I think his quote is sage advice for anyone.

Anyone know how to disable it on a blackberry? It won’t let me leave comments on blogs if I try to link over from bloglines.

Is it a bloglines program???

From a post originally published August 11, 2005

This weekend, we mourn the loss of a great comedian, Bernie Mac and perhaps the smoothest singer ever, Isaac Hayes.

We also mourned, this weekend, the anniversary of the death of two truly fine guitar players. Saturday was the 13th Anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s passing.

Today, we mourn the sixth anniversary of Widespread Panic guitarist Michael Houser who died from pancreatic cancer August 10th, 2002.

For the geeks out there - this was his killer setup - complete with the “If Its Too Loud, Your Too Old” bumper sticker.

Over his last five or so years, he developed a problem with his leg that required him to sit down during performances. That is how most of Widespread Panic’s current crop of fans remember him.

I’ll keep the vision of his solitary figure standing on stage right, head hung down with his flop of hair covering his face - wailing away with a blistering Michael Bloomfield-esque riff behind whatever groove the band settled into.

Rest In Peace good buddy

Blogging will resume shortly. Finally made it back to DC and the office today, though instead of the opportunity to have a calm day to catch up on voice mails and bills, I was greeted by the specter of the tree huggers winning an injunction against a client.

Ruined my weekend, briefs are due Sunday and I have a hearing Thursday Damn hippies!

Anyway, I’ll try to get stuff posted this weekend (and maybe tomorrow afternoon). Have the long awaited 3 gun post to put up, a ton of gun porn, updates on DC gun ownership, and of course more details on what its like to fall off a fricken roof.

Ouch!! (Hint: the drugs are good).

RIP

Maybe not a Jacqueline Mackey Paisley Passey level of a catch, but at least someone thinks I’m pretty good.

82 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

You might notice there seems to be a big gap in the archives - they skip from November 2004 to March of 2006. Those posts are still up at countertop-chronicles.blogspot.com, but I’m in the process of importing them all over to Word Press. This might take some time, so please bear with me, and blogging will resume to normal shortly.

Crap, another damn meme

Things Done & Not Done

highlight those you’ve done…or just make them bold

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with wild dolphins - well, I’ve kayaked with them

03. Climbed a mountain A bunch

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid - had a chance, went skiing instead.

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath

08. Said I love you and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game Game 6 of the World Series - Mets v Red Sox counts??? Yeah, Billy Bruckner Baby.

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger -

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was too drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing -

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs.

57. Pretended to be a superhero -

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played a Computer game for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

RIP Ellas Otha Bates

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

One of my fondest memories, was catching him in the Spring of 1991 under the Tent at Knoxville’s World Fair Park. Opened up with Hey Bo Diddley.

Went with my roommate, we were smack dab in the center, second row. Mayor of Knoxville at the time (Victor Ashe???) sat in front of us, and he and his entourage got up after the press left. Bo let people video tape his first song, but then threatened to stop playing if he saw any other video cameras in the audience.

He put on a great show - and came back out with a killer Hey Bo Diddley after the recordings had stopped. Apparently, there was a dispute over money before the show started. I was surprised at all of this, but he was a rock pioneer, and probably learned the hard way that he needed cash up front or he was gonna get screwed.

”They copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there,” he said.

Despite his success, Diddley claimed he only received a small portion of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.

”Seventy ain’t nothing but a damn number,” he told The Associated Press in 1999. ”I’m writing and creating new stuff and putting together new different things. Trying to stay out there and roll with the punches. I ain’t quit yet.”

Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances.

”I am owed. I’ve never got paid,” he said. ”A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun.”

RIP Bo. I’ll drink one to you.

Ever

I just wish I had the balls to leave something like this

1. What is your occupation? I’m a lawyer and a lobbyist. More of a lobbyist than a lawyer these days, but I do have 4 cases currently pending. Does that make me the most evil person in America?? If you knew who I represented. . . .it might (here’s a hint - its no the tobbacco companies - but at one point or another, I’ve represented every other member of the extended axis of death in the movie Thank You For Smoking (which is fantastic by the way)

2. What color are your socks right now? what socks??

3. What are you listening to right now? My dog playing with a squeeky toy and my son making a fort out of clothing storage boxes.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Pancakes and bacon. Breakfast for dinner. Mmmm

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Of course

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My wife. She took our oldest to the beach today, while I took Rex the dog and the youngest down south to meet with a trainer and work him on some pigeons.

7. Do you like the person who tagged you? I wasn’t tagged, but everyone’s favorite dead head - zoombababoobapsilocimbeembadoom did it, and I thought why not I. besides, no one ever tags me on these kind of things.8. How old are you today? ageless

9. What is your favorite sport to watch? On tv or in person??? In person, baseball. On TV, football.

10. What is your favorite drink? water, grapefruit juice, bourbon, coffee, Dr. Pepper

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Nope

12. Last time you hugged your child? 5 minutes ago

13. Favorite food? Lobster, real pizza (NY) eggplant parmigiana, bacon, apple jacks

14. What was the last movie you watched? Clash of the Titans (last night with my oldest son)

15. Favorite day of the year? Any day during the weeks leading up to Christmas (though I don’t particularlly care for Christmas itself, probably because its the realizatino that I need to wait another year for the season to arrive (and the fact that these days stores drop the Christmas stuff on Christmas Eve and you walk into the mall on December 26th and its all lovey dovey valentines day. Yuch!

16. How do you vent anger? I masturbate

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? John, my stuffed dog. Or my GI Joes.

18. What is your favorite season? Fall

19. Ocean or pool? pool

20. Cherries or Blueberries? blueberries

21. Do you want your family & friends to participate? huh??

22. Who is the most likely to respond? huh??

24. Living arrangements? wife kids and dog

25. When was the last time you cried? When my dog died in February

26. What is on the floor of your closet? Carpet, shoes

27. Who is the family or friend you have known the longest that you are tagging? I’m not tagging anyone

28. What did you do last night? Put a scope of my rifle, loaded some ammo, tuned my son’s bike, made love to my wife,

29. Hawaii or Florida? Neither. Colorado

30. What inspires you? My kids

31. What are you most afraid of? Something horrible happening to my children.

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheddar bacon, thank you. Mmmmmmm…… baaaaaaaaaa-connnn [drooooooooooooool……]

33. Favorite dog breed? I like BLACK America Field Style labrador retrievers. Other than that, I’m a big fan of German Short haired Pointer

34. Favorite day of the week? Friday

35 How many states have you lived in?

1) New Jersey
2) Tennessee
3) Rhode Island
4) Vermont
5) D.C. (not a state)
6) Virginia

I also lived in London England for a year

36 Do you like these questionnaires? sometimes

37. What kind of car did your very first date drive? Well, my first date happened when I was in 6th grade, and neither of us had a car then and well, by the time we were 17 and able to drive - I had no idea where she was living. But at that point I had a Mercedes 240d and the first girl I dated who actually had a car had a Toyota sedan. Back seat was big enough.

38. What is the last book you read? Carbon Finance

I’m also reading a bunch of dog training books, but those are going step by step

39. What are your hobbies? Politics, guns, dogs,hiking, kayaking, biking, kids, going to baseball games, having sex.

40. Can you still make the Hula Hoop stay around your waist? I have no idea. Dont know when the last time I hula hooped was .