So long, Jason

This morning I got a message from my friend, Kelly from work. She told me that Jason from work passed away. He had a hip replacement a few weeks ago and initially was doing very well. I talked to him the day after the surgery and he sounded like nothing happened. He was in good spirits and anxious to get home.

Somewhere along the way things went wrong. He got an infection that made its way to his heart last week. This morning he had a heart attack and we lost him. I was looking forward to seeing him back at work and thought it would happen sooner than scheduled. But now my friend is gone and I am going to miss him.

Oh, Deer!

I was driving home from work Sunday night when Bambi decided to play chicken with my car and lost. Now I need a new hood for my 11-year-old car. Bummer.

I missed a whole year!

I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I posted here. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say but that I have been saying it directly in facebook. I’ll have to set up my facebook account to grab my musings from here. I already have it set up to grab posts from the family site but I haven’t posted there much of late, either.

Star Trek

We saw this yesterday and I must say it is, by far, the best of all of the Star Trek movies. While I must take exception with one tiny little part of the movie (it has to do with McCoy), it really brings forward most of the back story of all of the main characters. It is both light-hearted and serious, which is what made the original series so great. The story line also leaves a LOT of room for more movies (and, can I dream, a new series?) in the way it ends. It’s definitely not all cut and dry.

Now, while I was hoping for a great movie, I went into this show with strong memories of Voyager, Enterprise, and, to a degree, DS9. Those shows were a lot less about what made TOS exceptional and a lot more about the dark side of Trek. This movie has brought back the excitement of Gene Roddenberry’s vision.

I give this movie 5 ears (Vulcan Ears!)

Vote for Carrie!

Facebook is kewl….

A few months ago I somehow got myself signed up on MySpace. I really don’t remember why I did it but I very quickly found one of my many cousins there. We got “friended” and that led to a few more connections, both family and friends. While it has kept some of my free-time attention (I play a couple of games there) it is what led me to Facebook.

Facebook seems to be where the action is. I not only found my cousins there, too, but several of my old friends that I hadn’t heard from in over a decade. Talk about a great tool! Folks who seemed to drop off the face of the earth are now in communication with us again and it has really cheered me up of late. Plus cousins who I haven’t seen in over 30 years are now back in the circle. It’s almost like having a reunion, just not in person.

Spooky?

I was using my air gun to glow away foam dust and debris on a machine this morning and hit a patch of grease. This is the unintentional result!

Thanksgiving is Coming!

I am very much looking forward to a long weekend without having to go in to work. This will be a 4-day weekend with food, rest, food, movies, food, and family.

We are so boned

Yesterday Republicans stayed home in record numbers, allowing Barry Obama to be elected President of the USA. Obama is nothing more than a socialist who, since the end of the Democrat primaries, has been pretending to be a centrist. His voting record shows that he is nothing close to a centrist. He is a Marxist socialist who will do everything he can to punish those who succeed. His voters think that they no longer have to worry about filling their gas tanks or paying their mortgages. They think that some kind of utopia has developed and that their messiah has been lofted to the highest office in the land.

These people think that the “rich” are evil and don’t deserve what they earn. They are faceless, mostly nameless “people” who don’t give a damn about those who don’t have everything. They never give anything to those less fortunate than themselves.

Obama voters seem to have forgotten that they would not have jobs if it weren’t for these phantom rich folks. I, for one, have never worked for a poor person. I have never worked for a lower-middle-class person. I have only worked for people who have money. Some of those people had small businesses that Obama claims he won’t increase taxes on.

In the mean time, Obama has promised to bankrupt the coal industry. This would devastate the US economy since 50% of our electricity is produced from coal. He wants to eliminate oil use in this country within 10 years. That, too, would destroy our economy since nearly everything the USA produces has a petroleum aspect to it: The chicken you buy in the grocery store is usually on a polystyrene tray made from oil. The cars that 99% of Americans drive are powered by oil, lubed with oil, filled with plastics made from oil. You cannot replace even a small percentage of fuel with “biofuels” without causing drastic food price increases. People in Africa are now starving because corn costs too much. All thanks go to ethanol.

Was John McCain a great alternative to Obama? No, not really, but he was far better than Obama will prove to be.

Meeghan’s Wedding

So Mom and Janet came to NJ for the weekend of the 13th/14th for Meeghan’s wedding. They got here on Thursday and left for home on Monday. It was a tiring weekend but we had a great time!

While Mom went with Jay to dinner on Friday, Janet stayed with Alyssa and me and we went to a new BBQ joint here in town. We hadn’t been there before and were anxious to try out the ribs. We had no idea that a full portion (they had half- and full-portions listed on the menu) would feed the Chicago Bears starting lineup! the ribs were fantastic and the chicken was superb! The ladies were thrilled with the french fries!! I think I got 3.

Saturday was the wedding and I threw a couple of shrimp on the floor at the beginning of the cocktail hour. The plates were tiny and my hands are large, which made for a juggling act when combined with a Bacardi and Diet Coke in one hand with a mini-plate of shrimp o top and trying to pick up a napkin with the other hand. Oops.

The reception was a 5-fall match with the bride falling 2 or three 3 and a bride’s made falling 2 or 3 times, too. Each time I was looking in the opposite direction and missed all the fun. Damn it! At least I got the satisfaction of a food fight…..

Sunday was “go to the beach” day. We went to Sea Bright to the shore house for the afternoon. Mom, Janet, Alyssa, and I walked over to the beach and collected stones and shells while trying not to step on squishy jelly fish. There was also a dead and partially eaten sting ray! It looked rather unappetizing. I don’t know what the seagulls had in mind eating it…..

For pictures, go over to www.amsbaugh.com and, if you haven’t already done so, register so that you can view them! After you register, you will have to send me a note to let me know so that I can give you permission.