Saturday, April 30, 2011

day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio.


Kind of weird for the challenge, how about "A song I wish I heard MORE on the radio"?

I like the part where he says "Tattoo Too" I really like this song, but don't really like the video.



I'm not liking this song challenge much, I don't think anybody views the video, and I don't thing people like it either. I'll be glad when it's over.

Friday, April 29, 2011

day 15 - Abridged song challenge.

Supposed to be "a song that describes you". I don't know any song that describes me, but when this song first came out, before I even heard it, people were telling me it reminded them of me. I was surprised how many people..

Then I heard it and pretended not to know what they were talking about. Except when I was very young, starting to try to learn about relationships, I used to say I had "Shields" and nobody could hurt me because they couldn't get inside my "shields". Dumb I know. Those shields are probably why I never had anything that even remotely resembled a successful relationship till I was 30!

I would like to know what the words to this song mean to you.
I'M NOT IN LOVE - 10cc


Thursday, April 28, 2011

day 11 - Song Challenge Abridged

day 11 - a song from your favorite band.

The White Stripes - 'Icky Thump'

The White Stripes are a pretty good band I think. Very seldom do you find a two piece band. Although I don't really have a 'favorite band' I like almost all this bands songs.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere.

When I was in the Navy, on my first ship, there was a little room, called Aux Radio. It was kind of like a graveyard for old equipment. We found an 8-Track tape player, there and there was only one tape, Nazareth, Hair Of The Dog. Out at sea, we couldn't pick up any radio stations, and we listened to this album over, and over and over... So, this song reminds me of being in Aux Radio, out to sea, on board the USS Somers DDG 34.
Also, when this was new, my friend had a purple 1973 AMC Gremlin, and we used to listen to this song in that car. It also reminds me of being in that car.
This song, and this album, have a LOT of memories for me.
Nazareth, Hair Of The Dog, Whiskey Drinkin' Woman
Nazareth Whiskey Drinkin' Woman

USS Somers ~ 1982

AMC Gremlin, ~ 1970

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge Abridged - day 03

day 03 - a song that makes you happy

Oddly enough, this song always makes me smile and puts me in a good mood. The band, Garbage, is one of the greatest bands of all time.

The name of the song it "I'm Only Happy When It Rains"

This video has some weird stuff in it, so I hope you can handle it, and that you like it!

Monday, April 25, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge Abridged Version

On Facebook, there's this thing going around called 30 Day Song Challenge. I decided to do an abridged version. I eliminated days I didn't want to do, like "my least favorite song". Why would I post songs that I don't like? Plus, Thirty freekin' days.... Cheeze, that's a long time! So I needed to cut it down at any rate.

Here's the list of what I'll be doing for the next eleven or so days.

day 01 - your favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy.
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere.
day 11 - a song from your favorite band.
day 15 - a song that describes you.
day 16 - a song that you used to hate but now love (I switched it from ..........used to love but now hate).
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio.
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry.
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh.
day 29 - a song from your childhood.

Day ONE. My favorite song (this minute)
The Smashing Pumpkins, Tonight Tonight. I like the video, and I like the words, and I like the music. On the posts I like the video, I'll post the video, but if I like the song, and not the video, I'll just post the song.

I hope you enjoy this and will keep coming back (and commenting)

Sunday, April 24, 2011

UPS Whoops FedEx's Butt

FedEx is out! They suck. The delivery sucks, the customer service sucks. I ordered critical piece of equipment for my job. They sent it FedEx. I'm tracking it. It took off from Memphis to Miami at 4:49 AM April 22. Apparently it never arrived. It must still be on the plane, which must be still in the air, over two days later.
I called customer service and yes, it's still in transit. They don't have any information, and can't do anything. Their tracking is obviously inaccurate.
I paid for overnight service, and my invoice says overnight service, but UPSs' website has Apr 28 as a delivery date. So my guess is that my package is sitting in Miami, waiting for the 27th. I told that to the customer service agent, and apparently he couldn't grasp what I was telling him.

My experience with UPS has been, once your package is in the system, they get it to you as soon as they can. The fact that I have so little to say about UPS is a good thing. I like tracking my packages down here, and going to pick them up.

So from now on, if I have a choice, I'm going with UPS all the way.
My new logo for FedEx!

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Saturday, April 23, 2011

Yes: In The Round, Don't Kill The Whale, 1978

I was looking at some of my old posts and I saw one from June 2005 about music and I mentioned the song Don't Kill The Whale, by Yes. I saw this band twice on their Tormato tour, 17 days apart, in 1978. First at the Capital Center in Landover Maryland, and again at I-don't-know-where in Kansas City. It was a truly great show. (The song, Don't Kill The Whale, is on the Tormato album). The stage was in the center of the arena floor, and it rotated.
So, I was thinking to myself, I said "Self, That'd be a pretty nice n easy post for a Sunday morning" So here it is, the official music video of the song, Don't Kill The Whale. I love this song, and I hope you will take the time to listen. (I bet they had to let their instruments dry out for a long time after they made this video!)
Don't Kill The Whale, Yes by MarkD60

The Capital Center

Friday, April 22, 2011

Much Ado About Nothing

Here it is, Friday! My first day off in a long time, it seems like. I need to mow the yard, wondering if the mower will start. Since we've had no rain, I haven't had to mow for so long.... Here in Cayman, Friday (today) and Monday are holidays. This is a long weekend. All the campers are at the beach this weekend. The Wife is off today, but working tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day to mow. (Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow, I always say!)

I guess that's about it for this post I got nothing to report today.

Oh yeah, my old boss contacted me about going over to do a job where I used to work. I went over to do an assessment and give an estimate on repairing and pointing a satellite dish. So I went yesterday, and everyone pulled me aside and told me how much they missed me and how poorly things are going since I've been gone. Made me feel good.
I predict they will use my information to try to fix the dish and point to the satellite again.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Pissed at Canon Cameras

I really liked my Canon SX 1, but when I got it, it had a problem, it would give me a low battery warning and shut down with new batteries. I sent it in for warranty repair, and they fixed it. But when I got it back, it had white flecks in the pictures, probably from dirt on the CMOS photo chip.
I could live with the flecks, it wasn't bad for daytime photos.
Now, less than a year later, my camera has the same problem, low battery warning with new batteries.

This time, their service system seems all screwed up. I want to send it back for repair, and they keep saying they can't find my camera using the FedEx tracking number. WTF?!!?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

You Caint Always Get Wot You Want

When I was needing business, I hated time off, and wanted to work. Now I'm working, I want some time off.
I need to mow the yard and wax the car.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Cool Time Lapse Video

This is a pretty cool time lapse video that a friend sent me. It has pretty good music too. Watch it full screen! The credits are at the end.
I want to know how they make the stars show up in the daytime, or if it's just fake.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Happy Birthday!

It was a Sunday like today, I just stopped by for a minute to check things out.
6 years later, I'm still here!
Happy Birthday Blog!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

I like this one!

Loader Up!

Friday, April 15, 2011

There! I fixed it!

Here's a website for you to check out, There I Fixed It. It's got some pretty funny pictures. But the best part, is, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and there is a blue bar with links on it that I think you will enjoy.
Happy Friday!!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thursday


Here's a picture of a couple of birds I took yesterday. They were sitting there quite a long time, seeming to have a conversation.

Right now, it's 4:11 AM and I am awake. I wish I was a better sleeper. Most people seem to enjoy sleeping much more than I do. To me, sleeping and eating are a waste of life, and if I didn't have to do them, I wouldn't.

I have quite a busy day ahead of me. Two jobs will fill the whole day. Business seems on the verge of picking up, but I'm afraid to say anything for fear of jinxing myself.... I need the business, that's fer sure!
I'm typing this on my phone, still in bed. But I'm thinking about getting up for some COFFEE!!
Have a great day!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

More Phone Photos

Outside Joe Enas' Liquor store, I guess wine, vodka and gin is OK
The wifes baby elephant ears
A flower in the wifes AC vent
Our back porch thermometer in the afternoon sun. Click to enlarge and see the temperature!
A Palm Tree

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Cayman Islands Dept.of Environment: Endangered shark caught, butchered

No laws’ against shark capture, sale in Cayman
By: Brent Fuller | brent@cfp.ky
12 April, 2011


A hammerhead shark that is listed as endangered was caught and butchered at a local fish market recently.

Photos circulating in the Cayman Islands of a scalloped hammerhead shark that was captured and sold at the George Town fish market have prompted a response from the local Department of Environment.

“Despite the fact that globally shark populations are severely threatened with overfishing there are currently no laws prohibiting the capture or sale of any sharks in the Cayman Islands,” according to a statement released by the government on Tuesday afternoon.

“Although several species of sharks are occasionally caught in Cayman they are not considered to be a target species, and fishermen do often take great care to avoid hooking these animals,” read the Department of Environment statement. “Sharks that are accidentally caught are often sold for meat so as not to waste the animal; it is rare that a shark is killed just for the sake of it.”

The department advises that eating shark meat carries a potential health risk. DoE officials said shark meat can contain high levels of trace metals such as mercury which, if ingested frequently, can become toxic to humans. Sharks also build up a concentration of ammonia in their flesh.

Certain local laws prohibit the baiting or chumming of water with the intent of attracting sharks. Sharks are also protected within local marine parks and the environmental zones, but most shark species range over much larger areas than the boundaries of the marine parks.

According to the department, all shark populations have declined dramatically, including the scalloped hammerhead - which the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists as endangered. This means this type of shark is considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. Locally, these sharks were sighted with more regularity no more than a decade ago. However, in recent years, sightings have diminished and the current status of local populations of scalloped hammerheads remains largely undetermined.

In the Caribbean, the scalloped hammerhead is known to have declined drastically (by around 98%, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature) and DoE officials said this is largely due to increased commercial fishing pressure targeting tunas and billfish. Other shark species facing similar declines nclude the great hammerhead and oceanic whitetip, which have seen 99 per cent declines since the 1950’s in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Department of Environment is involved in a two-year collaborative study with Marine Conservation International, the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University and the Save Our Seas group to better understand the current status of sharks in our local waters.

The project is funded by the UK’s Overseas Territory Environment Programme (OTEP) and the Save Our Seas Foundation and will result in comprehensive management recommendations to ensure sharks receive the protection they require.

From the Cayman Compass, HERE

Monday, April 11, 2011

Cayman Hammerhead Killers

Saturday there was a swordfish fishing contest. Saturday night someone caught an approximately 9 foot long scalloped hammerhead shark. Sunday morning the shark was down at the local beach fish market, getting cut up for sale. My friend drove by and saw it, posted on Facebook that she saw it, and the rage spread like wildfire.

When confronted, the fishermen replied there was no regulation against them taking a hammerhead.

Hammerheads are not food for humans, and have no monetary value.

Why does it take a government regulation for someone to do the right thing? Like releasing a hammerhead. I am sure the fishermen would like a few more regulations, restricting them more. Just like we all love it when we get new laws that seem to stick government noses where they don't belong, in a seemingly continuous attempt to exert more and more control over their citizens. I've always resented it, but these fishermen seem to need a Government regulation to control their every waking moment.

Not a lot is known about a sharks life span, the page I found contains a lot of 'unknowns', but it looks to me like a shark like this can live 100- 150 years easily. What right does anyone have to kill a creature that was roaming the seas before they were even born, and probably would have continued to roam after they were gone? It really upsets me. The thought crossed my mind that the Hammerhead these morons killed could have been the same one that I saw while diving.
hammerhead pic taken by me in December 2009

Saturday, April 09, 2011

My Favorite Pic (From Today)

I took this pic today!

Friday, April 08, 2011

Visitors

My Mom, sister and her boyfriend are here visiting this week. They got here yesterday, and it was pretty good to see them.
I'm working this morning and will be swing by their condo around noon.
Something's wrong with my fingerprints. On my computer, I have this fingerprint swiper. My right finger always worked better than my left finger. Then it pretty much quit working all together. I thought it was something amuck with the fingerprint scanner. But then I got out my external hard drive (with another fingerprint scanner) to do my backups and it wouldn't read my fingerprint either.
I deleted and re-registered my fingerprints, and now the left one works much better than the right.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Cayman Squash

Last night the Wife and I went to the opening of a squash tournament. It was quite good. Squash is a good sport to play and for spectators it is very very entertaining to watch. We had gone to tennis before and tennis is quite annoying, and hard on the neck.
The court was very cool too. Everyone has heard of one-way mirrors, right? Well the court was made out of this special glass, that when you were inside, it was a solid color and outside it was clear! To the spectators, the players were playing in a clear glass cube while the players inside seemed to be alone in the squash court, letting them focus on the game without distraction.
There are are about 17 of the top 20 players in the world here for this event. It goes on all weekend, and I wouldn't mind going back, but my Mom and Sister arrive today for a visit.

Here is a QIK video of the squash last night. (About 6 minutes long.) I've told you about QIK before, I think you should get it. It is way cool.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Molly and the Fat Kid

I was downtown yesterday, at my cigar bar. We can't smoke inside any more, so I was sitting outside the store on a bench, having a coffee and a cigar.

Then this family walks up, a Mommy, and a Daddy and a Big Sister and a Little Brother. The Little Brother was obviously angry, scowl on his face, squinted eyes and furrowed brow. He shuffled his feet, dragging them across the floor instead of picking them up. He was short and fat, probably 11 or 12 years old with black thick hair and no neck. The sister was tall and thin, probably 13 or 14 with straight brownish blonde hair. I wouldn't have thought they were related if I didn't see the whole family.

Mom and Dad went into the cigar store, and bro and sis sat down on the bench near me. I was watching them out of the corner of my eye, and couldn't help but hear what they were saying.

The kid was practically yelling at his sister, "We haven't done anything I want to do this entire trip, except the Banana Boat ride" The sister, said something quietly back to him that I didn't hear. "What did you say Molly?" said the boy in a tone of voice that said "when I find out you said what I think you said, I'm gonna kill you!" She repeated whatever she said, and again I couldn't hear. The fat kid yelled, "I want to go back to the ship because we aren't doing anything that I want to do." He mentioned the Banana Boat ride again, and he was pounding his fist on the bench.

Molly got up to look in the window of a shop across the hall while the kid hammered the bench. Her face was quiet and relaxed, maybe looking a little like she wanted to cry. She had a defeated look and I took it to mean she had to put up with her brothers bullshit all the time.

Molly went back and sat down and said something to her brother, who responded with the same furious growling about how miserable he was and nobody would do anything he wanted to do.

About that time, the mother and father came out, and I saw the same defeated look on the mothers face. The father came out and cheerily said "lets go kids!" and Molly got up and started walking with her mother. The Fat Kid just sat there. The father turned around and barked MOVE YER ASS! The Fat Kid got up with a scowl, and shuffled by, dragging his feet, not picking them up, sliding his flip flops along the floor.

I wanted to communicate with Molly as she walked by, I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to tell her her brother was insane. I wanted to tell her she was OK, it was everybody else who was fucked up. I wanted to communicate several different messages, but sorting them through my mind, none seemed appropriate. The fat kid will probably make her miserable forever, till she grows up and moves out.

I don't want to be the fat kid. The first relationship I ever had (that lasted more than two months) my girlfriend told me she felt like she was walking on eggshells, worried about me loosing it if she put the salt shaker in the wrong place or something.

Last night I walked by a table and knocked a wicker basket full of stuff over. My wife said "Uh-Oh! Is that my cue?" I wasn't angry but apparently getting angry would not have been unlike me. Like if I spill something, I think it's my wifes fault for not cleaning up the mess beforehand?

I've been trying to control my temper and deal with anger all my life. I hated the fat kid yesterday. But maybe instead of wanting to comfort Molly, the sister, I should have wanted to communicate with the Fat Kid:

"Hey Kid, you're just like me."

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Big Fish Buddies

Stingray and Big Fish Buddy

I was snorkeling over the weekend and came across a stingray who had an apparent Big Fish Buddy. The fish was staying over the stingray and when another fish came near, he'd chase him away.
I went diving yesterday and went to see the Kittiwake again. Last time I dived it it was three days after she was sunk. Now it's been a couple months and the growth has started and the creatures have moved in. I didn't take pictures though.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Cool Tool Chest

Here is a video showing a very old piano makers toolbox. I like it, but I wouldn't really want one. I like my mine the way it is.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

What a week

I had a really busy week last week, I worked Monday thru Saturday, basically coming home, going to bed, waking up, and going back to work.
Now I just woke up and walked the dawgs, and took my first sippa coffee.
It was good to be busy and I sure can use the money. It would be nice if every week was as busy as last week was.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Flying Penguins and a Left-Handed Whopper

The BBC announced that camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had captured footage of Adélie penguins taking to the air. See the video below and read the rest of the story HERE.


ALSO:
Burger King is announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed customers. The new whopper includes the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments are rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers.