I saw someone (sorry, forgot who) mentioned that new show "Hit Me Baby One More Time" or whatever it's called, and that you get to *vote* on which washed-up relic was the best during the episode. It's getting so that you can't have a program anymore without a viewer vote. Before you know it, on "The L Word" you'll be deciding who gets to eat who.

Posted by: Ted at 07:35 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 *Before you know it, on "The L Word" you'll be deciding who gets to eat who.*

Seriously, that's when you'll be seeing a rise in demand (ahem) of 3-D goggles.

Posted by: dawn at June 12, 2005 11:42 AM (Dh1V0)

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Yeah, right. Who am I kidding?

Posted by: Ted at 09:49 PM | category: Links
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1 Oh, my. What other fun html script have I been missing out on?!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at June 12, 2005 11:34 AM (nOyDe)

2 Ahh, so that's my problem. I must have a typo in my code. Once I debug, I'll be a C cup...

Posted by: nic at June 13, 2005 07:08 PM (gCsDB)

3 Not a bug, it's a feature.

Posted by: Ted at June 13, 2005 08:44 PM (+OVgL)

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Our next blogger get-together will be on June 25th at the Prince William County Stadium to watch the Washington Nationals farm club play the Baltimore Orioles farm club. This could be the start of a long and heated rivalry.

I'll be there for sure, and I believe the rest of the family is in this time too. Rob & Big Hair have confirmed as well.

Last time we got a block of seats and they were pretty darn good at only $9.00 each. We had a great time, so c'mon out!

Posted by: Ted at 09:44 PM | category: Square Pegs
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For Dawn, because she has more of this than anyone else I know, even when she doesn't quite believe it herself.

Faith in Me, Faith in You

A single mother with two children
Makes lunches in the morning
And on her way to work she drops them off at school
And tells them
Faith in me
Faith in you

A farmer kneels in his fields with dust
Running through his fingers
Says "I'm gonna lose you if it don't rain real soon"
He looks up and says
Faith in me
Faith in you

Oh, I have to have faith
That's where it all starts
I know I have to have faith in myself
It's free and it's found right here in my heart
When I think about things and all the dreams I wanna see come true
Let me tell you just what I do
I take a look in the mirror and I smile and say
Have faith in me
Faith in you

In the shadows of the city
By the banks of the river
From the doorway of his cardboard room
A man cries out
Faith in me
Faith in you

Before the poverty and prejudice
All the hunger and pain
And the social injustice, just watch the boss' reign*
Here 'em sing
Faith in me
Faith in you

Oh, I have to have faith
That's where it all starts
I know I have to have faith in myself
It's free and it's found right here in my heart
When I think about things and all the dreams I wanna see come true
Let me tell you just what I do
I take a look in the mirror and I smile and say
Have faith in me
Faith in you

I take a look in the mirror and I smile and say
Have faith in me
Faith in you

-- Doug Stone

Every last one of us is stronger than we realize. All too often people give up on themselves long before they break.

*that "boss' reign" line is probably incorrect, but it's the best I can figure out from listening to the song and I can't find the lyrics on Google.

Posted by: Ted at 08:35 AM | category: Waxing Lyrical
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1 Thank you.

I cried a bunch more, but happy tears this time.

Posted by: dawn at June 11, 2005 09:50 AM (Dh1V0)

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I started wearing glasses sometime around the 5th grade I think, and my wife started wearing hers in elementary school as well. My wife's eyes are constantly changing, and there have been times when she's gotten a brand new prescription twice in one year. Me, I tend to wear out glasses. Not from rough handling, but from age, because my prescription has changed very little over the years. I'll wear a pair of glasses until they're practically falling apart before getting a new pair, and most of the time the prescription stays the same or doesn't change enough to bother with.

I should mention here that my wife is a few years younger than I am. That matters because she's a practical woman, yet she has her little vanities like the rest of us. I wouldn't say she was devastated when she found out last year that she needed bifocals, but she certainly wasn't happy about it. Thank goodness for the "no-line" style that's available now. She took great solace in the fact that I'm older and therefore would be likely to need bifocals myself the next time I got my head eyes examined. You may recall that she used to manage an optometrist office, so she knows how to work most of the toys and equipment, and she knows of which she speaks.

On Thursday Robyn, Rachael and I went to the eye doctor for our checkup. The good news is that we all have fine healthy eyes. Glaucoma testing showed excellent pressure levels for each of us, and we got nutrition advice to help ward off Macular Degeneration, which runs in my side of the family (green leafy veggies and zinc). Rachael finally got glasses (she's been borderline for quite a while), while Robyn's eyes are perfect.

The bad news is that my eyes are indeed changing as I grow older. I'll order a new pair of glasses in the next month or so because mine are pretty rickety after three years. Same prescription, because that didn't change enough to matter.

Per doctor's orders, I'm supposed to take my glasses off from now on when I read. Yep, Liz is *really* annoyed with me right now.

Posted by: Ted at 08:07 AM | category: Boring Stories
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News from the Great Beyond is hosting this week. Bon Apetit!

Posted by: Ted at 06:42 PM | category: Links
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My love of music is broad, but my knowlege is spotty. To me, Steve Cropper will always be one of the members of the the original Blues Brothers band.

Mention that he was a member of the classic Booker T and the MG's and I'll say "yeah, I'd heard that before, I think". But basically, it was Jake and Elwood and Mr. Natural and Matt "Guitar" Murphy and Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper and the rest...

Which goes to show the genius displayed in putting together the Blues Brothers band. Those guys could play, which made for a solid foundation for the comedy. Instead of being a one-shot joke with a lame-ass garage band, these guys lifted it into brilliance. They turned it into a franchise and taught an entire generation about the blues and soul by featuring guest stars like Cab Calloway, James Brown, B.B. King, Wilson Pickett, Taj Mahal, Bo Diddley and the entire composite super-band Louisiana Gator Boys featured at the end of Blues Brothers 2000.

So Steve Cropper, already a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, will now be inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, alongside John Fogerty and Isaac Hayes (think he'll do "Chocolate Salty Balls"?). Even if you didn't know Steve Cropper's name, you know his music. Songs like "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", "Knock on Wood", "Soul Man" and "In the Midnight Hour".

Yes indeed, you know his music.

Posted by: Ted at 06:09 AM | category: Links
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Something that really irritates me is when listening to a song and coming across something like this:

"I can't stay on your life support, there's a shortage in the switch" -- Pink, Just Like A Pill

I love that song, really I do. But I cringe every time I hear "shortage in the switch". I realize that the tune flows better with that phrase, but c'mon, it's not slang or idiom, it's an intentional misuse of a word that makes it nonsense. You can have a short in a switch, but not a shortage.

Nitpicky? You bet.

Need another example? How about in Maria Muldaur's Midnight at the Oasis. A very sexy song with a wonderful melody, sung by a singer with a great voice for it, and the word play and imaging is excellent. Oasis, sultan, camel, sheik, belly dancer, nomad, and so on, right up until the line:

Come on, Cactus is our friend

Cactus?!?!?!?! Where the hell did the cactus come from? I thought we were in a thousand and one Arabian nights, not a Roadrunner cartoon. You say cactus and I'm picturing the American southwest or Mexico. Your romantic camel just became a burro refusing to budge for no damn reason while Gabby Hayes mutters "dagnabbit". Talk about a mood breaker.

What about you? Got some song lyric that just grates on your nerves?

Posted by: Ted at 05:57 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Yesterday at the Post Office, I found this set of stamps that display some striking examples of American architecture.

Very cool.

Posted by: Ted at 04:38 AM | category:
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Combine two trendy Japanese passtimes, and you'd have:

Inspired by Squipper's "caption this" post.

Posted by: Ted at 08:18 PM | category: Links
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A friend of mine is selling these on eBay.

I bought one for my wife's car (lifelong Orioles fan), Mookie wants a couple for school notebooks, and I'm gonna put one on a rocket.

The price is extremely reasonable, and includes free shipping. Why don't you have one already?

Tell him Rocket Jones sent you.

Posted by: Ted at 07:30 PM | category: Links
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I'm going to start you with a quote:

Across California, children are bringing home notes warning of dire consequences if Gov. Schwarzenegger’s scorched earth budget is approved – a budget that slashes Proposition 98 public school spending from $42.2 billion this year all the way down to $44.7 billion next year. That should be proof enough that our math programs are suffering.

That's the beginning of an article penned by Senator McClintock, who represents the 19th district in the California Legislature (his website here). In this article, he goes on to itemize funding for a hypothetical school of 180 students with a budget of $1.2 million to get through the year.

I have nitpicks with some of his numbers, but overall I think he's on target. Among his hypothetical suggestions:

• lease commercial office space for classrooms (which includes "washrooms, around-the-clock janitorial service, wall-to-wall carpeting, utilities and music in the elevators")


• hiring 5 teachers ("but not just any teachers. I propose hiring only associate professors from the California State University at their level of pay")


• replacing in-school PE classes with fully-funded annual memberships to a local gym ("This would provide our children with a trained and courteous staff of nutrition and fitness counselors, aerobics classes and the latest in cardiovascular training technology")

There's so much more worth reading. This guy isn't anti-education or anti-teacher, he's anti-teacher's union, and he makes his points with common sense.

He starts his conclusion with this:

The school I have just described is the school weÂ’re paying for. Maybe itÂ’s time to ask why itÂ’s not the school weÂ’re getting.

Mucho thanks to Jay at Sophont for pointing this one out. In fact, he's been very very good lately, and you should just start at the top and scroll on down to see everything.

Posted by: Ted at 11:41 AM | category: Links
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I'm *still* getting comments and email about my posts on stripper music. If you Google "Stripper Music", Rocket Jones comes up #1.

No idea what I'm talking about? Follow that link and read the comments, then let everyone know what your favorite music is to watch and/or dance to.

Posted by: Ted at 06:06 AM | category: Square Pegs
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I don't think I've mentioned my view of the whole spectacle.

When that much money is involved, I start with the assumption that everyone is lying. Since I can't see for myself the mannerisms and reactions of the parties involved, forming any opinion would just be shooting off my mouth.

I have to trust the system to do the right thing.

Posted by: Ted at 05:20 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Fellow Munuvian Ogre has a horizontal blog.

Posted by: Ted at 04:35 AM | category: Links
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Exciting news from Germany:

Experts have discovered a previously unknown work by Johann Sebastian Bach in a German library.

It's been authenticated, and his last unknown vocal work was discovered in 1935. That piece was only a fragment, this is a complete work, and it's dated!

The find is a well-rounded composition - not a major work, but a casual piece of superior quality.

Bach composed the work for a soprano, to be accompanied by strings or a harpsichord, to mark the 52nd birthday of the duke of Saxony-Weimar, for whom he worked as a court organist.

An award-winning conductor is preparing to record it, and the score will be published in the fall.

Thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for pointing this out.

Posted by: Ted at 08:19 PM | category: Links
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That probably should be Dad Bachelor instead, to put it into the right order.

My wife Liz needed a break, so she left from work on an overnighter out of town (tomorrow is her day off). She had enough travel points for a freebie at one of the hotel chains, and is now, even as we speak, pulling the handle on slot machines and maybe even placing a bet or two on the ponies.

I'll probably do something similar this fall, 'cept I'll head south to spend the weekend launching rockets down in North Carolina. She's got her ways of burning money. I've got mine.

Mookie has been agitating for a party. Her birthday parties always suck because in July everyone is out of town for the summer. This year she came up with the idea of a birthday/end-of-school party, to be held in the afternoon of the last day of school. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and two fake heart attacks on my part, she whittled the guest list down to 50.

The next battle was over the venue. Her idea (and not all that bad) was to have the party in our backyard and the common area behind our house. The stopper there was the certainty of neighborhood crashers, some who would probably be taking full advantage of the chance to case my home for a later, unsupervised, visit. Nope, our house was out for that many kids.

We suggested checking into pavilions at some of the local parks, and this afternoon Mookie and I drove to one close by and looked around. Even if it was too late to reserve a pavilion for next friday (as I suspected), there was still plenty of room to spread out blankets and toss frisbees and footballs and kick around the hacky sack. We found the number for the park office and she made the call.

Half an hour later we were in the park office and I was signing the contract to reserve the largest pavilion for the entire day. We got it for half price because it was a weekday ($20 bucks and some change - cheap!), and we were about 15 minutes ahead of a cub scout leader who also wanted it. Maximum of 50 kids, no alcohol, no live band or DJ, all the usual stuff you'd expect.

So that was the "dad" part. The "bachelor" part isn't that my wife is away until tomorrow night, it's because I had a bowl of corn flakes for dinner.

Posted by: Ted at 07:22 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Over at Left & Right, Rob has reworked the list of Top Guitar Players. Go check it out and review his revised methodology, or just rant in his comments about how misguided he is.

Posted by: Ted at 06:38 PM | category: Links
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What the hell happened?

I remember when you'd have a barbeque by throwing some hot dogs and burgers on the grill and lay out a bowl of baked beans, another of potato salad, and maybe some cole slaw and pickles. Then Atkins came along and the meat disappeared instantly while everything else went untouched. So you adapted and grilled a ton o' critter-du-jour and maybe a few veggies alongside. Now it's like the pendulum swung back the other way while I wasn't looking.

We've been eating a lot of salads lately, because that's what we do in the summer. I might cook up a burger or chicken breast each, but just as often we'll forage from the salad bar in the fridge.

We've also had quite a few visitors over for dinner recently, but apparently they're all on the anti-Atkins diet and nobody bothered to warn me. Going through the fridge this morning, I found Italian sausages, marinated chicken breasts, pork roast and a big bowl of leftover Chicken Mo Fo. I'm not a fanatic about wasting food, but throwing out that much would be ridiculous.

For lunch today, I'm having a bowl of meat. For dinner tonight, we're having leftovers.

Posted by: Ted at 06:09 AM | category: Square Pegs
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You've heard me use the term "sounding rocket" before, but you might not know what it means.

Sounding rockets take their name from the nautical term "to sound" which means to take measurements.

This NASA site explains what sounding rockets are, and why they're an important tool for science.

Posted by: Ted at 04:49 AM | category: Space Program
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