Americanablog

. . .is a great name to have sometimes. For instance, when you order Chinese takeout, you get a cool new name when you pick it up -- Otah Geelbot.

Al Hunt and Mark Shields seem to have lost their appreciation of "nuance" over the past week. Seems they can't differentiate between protecting the confidentiality of a source and covering up the actions of a hoaxer.

Can anyone imagine Al Hunt NOT rushing to print with the name of a Swift Boat Vet who gave him fraudulent information incriminating Kerry? Can anyone conceive of Mark Shields defending a person who gave him fake documents describing Kerry's Purple Heart circumstances in a less-than-favorable light?

Of course not. That's why they're part of the dinosaur media.

The Cincinnati Post has posted an editorial that simply defies all sense of proportionality. Somehow, the folks at the Post have managed to completely disregard everything that has been said and documented by the Swifties, yet focus laser-like on the undeniably phony memos concerning Bush's ANG service.

The mainstream media really are doing themselves in.

News: "Born Before 1986? Then You Are..."

I finally have my computer up and running again. It seems both my monitor and video card went out. Fortunately, I got a great deal on a G-Force II ($20.00!). Unfortunately, all that video processing power is relegated to a 13" monitor. But, hey...that's the same size as the first monitor I had, and I used it for a couple of years.

Now, assuming I'm not wracked with writer's block again, I'll be able to update a little more regularly.

When I got home this evening, after putting on a pot of coffee, checking on The Cheat's food and water, and eating a few slices of pizza, I sat down at my computer. After jogging the mouse a little, the monitor sprung to live, only to reveal that my computer was locked up due to a C++ Runtime error. So, I rebooted it. After a couple of subsequent reboots due to a failure of the machine to detect the mouse, I finally sat down for a night of slacking. Then, all sudden-like, the picture on the monitor started looking like something out of a Frank Zappa video, and I began to smell the distinct odor of a successful takeout by a bug zapper...then it went black.

I quickly turned off the monitor to see what would happen when I turned it back on. It did the same thing. So, I decided to unplug it and go visit my brother while it cooled off. A few hours later, I returned home, tried the monitor again, and it's now working. I don't know how long this will last. It could start the Zappatography again at any moment, for all I know. But, I've decided to go ahead and make a blog entry about it in order to announce another potential hiatus -- this one not quite as voluntary as my previous ones.

If this baby goes out, it could be a few days before I get back on to blog again, or longer. But, hopefully, I can find a great deal on one, or at least get a loaner fairly quickly.

So, this is a heads-up. I have no idea how many people are reading this, but thanks to those who do. If I should disappear, again, keep checking back every few days, and wish me luck!

Looks like one of my former all-time favorite bands is heading to court. What I've heard of their new stuff sounds like...well...Van Halen without David Lee Roth. I don't see how they managed to convince the folks at Camden Yard that they were worth the generous deal that had apparently been on the table -- $1.5 million, plus 80% of ticket sales, plus 80% of gross merchandise revenues.

I'm thinking the folks at Oriole Park should simply fail to show up in court, lose by default, and thank God that's all they're losing.

'Exorcist: The Beginning' is apparently a horrible piece of celluloid. Why has every attempt to follow along this particular storyline been such an utter failure?

I remember seeing the original on television as a child and having trouble sleeping for several nights thereafter. Even as an adult, the movie gave me the creeps. I also saw "Exorcist II: The Heretic" and "Exorcist III", and had trouble sleeping after those as well. Except, in those cases, I tossed, turned, and thrashed about the bed in agony, thinking of all the other things I could have spent those hours doing.

I won't be making that mistake this time.

Well, I'm back from my birthday hiatus. That's what I'll call it, anyway. I had a 35th birthday, and then I signed up for an "Office Technology" class at a local community technical school. Essentially, it's going over a lot of stuff I already know, plus getting familiar with a few applications I've never used before....particularly, Microsoft's Excel, Access, and Power Point.

I figure there's no way I'm wasting my time, or money. It helps to know that stuff.