Kerfuffle

Pretty close to the truth: Racists not so hot for Obama

From The Borowitz Report...

In a potentially ominous sign for the presumptive Democratic nominee, a new poll shows Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) trailing far behind G.O.P. standard bearer Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) among voters who identify themselves as racists.

Pundits and pollsters alike have wondered about the role racists might play in the 2008 presidential contest, but the new survey released today was the first concrete attempt to take the pulse of this key voting bloc.

The poll, conducted by Duh Magazine, suggests that Mr. Obama faces an uphill battle in his effort to win the votes of dyed-in-the-wool bigots.

"We wanted to know, why isn't Barack Obama closing the deal among racists?" said Charles Plugh, editor-in-chief of Duh.  "The answer seems to be, because he's black."

As Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert demonstrate nightly, sometimes satire can communicate a point better than hard facts.  Borowitz is worth adding to your RSS list.

McCain campaign compalins that NBC News is "partisan" and repeats Obama's talking points

You mean like FOX News repeats McCain's talking points?  And the Bush administration's talking points? 

NBC's Andrea Mitchell suggested on last Sunday's Meet the Press that perhaps Senator McCain wasn't in the so-called cone of silence during Senator Obama's questioning by Saddleback mega-church emcee and pastor Rick Warren.  This is the same Andrea Mitchell often slagged for being a right wing cheerleader.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis fired off a rather accusatory hissy fit of a letter to NBC News president Steve Capus, which you can read in its entirety at the Politico.com here.  But you can pretty much get the idea from this opening salvo...

We are extremely disappointed to see that the level of objectivity at NBC News has fallen so low that reporters are now giving voice to unsubstantiated, partisan claims in order to undercut John McCain. ... Nowhere was this more evident than with NBC chief correspondent Andrea Mitchell's comments on "Meet the Press" this morning. In analyzing last night's presidential forum at Saddleback Church, Mitchell expressed the Obama campaign spin that John McCain could only have done so well last night because he "may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama."

[And for Davis' big finish...]

We are concerned that your News Division is following MSNBC's lead in abandoning non-partisan coverage of the Presidential race. We would like to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss our deep concerns about the news standards and level of objectivity at NBC.

I simply want to know if this sudden desire for completely unbiased and unblemished journalism -- on a Sunday morning punditfest no less -- is being asked of the folks over at FOX News.  Where is the letter from Davis asking:

We would like to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss our deep concerns about the news standards and level of objectivity at FOX News.

We'll not be seeing that anytime soon.

And all of this shinola aside, how is it that American political discourse is now borrowing phraseology from a 1960s sitcom about an inept government spying agency.  I think that's a comparison that McCain's people would want to avoid, given how much his campaign tries to convince people a McCain presidency will be nothing close to George W. Bush's third term.  Uh huh.  On the upside, it does give me reason to reference the cone of silence for the second time on Kerfuffle in the past three months.. in entirely different contexts.  So there's that.

"Dad, what's PFLAG mean?"

As Tom and I were choosing tomatoes at the Dane County Farmer's Market this morning, we heard a little voice pose that question.  Likely, the little boy who asked it was responding to the PFLAG booth set up nearby.  The dad and mom together answered with the most appropriate and matter-of-fact answer I could imagine. 

To paraphrase, they told their young son that most of the time, women marry men like mom and dad did.  But sometimes women want to marry women, and men want to marry men.  It's something that people should be able to decide for themselves but not everyone is nice about it and understands that.  PFLAG is a group of people who try to help everyone understand this so that people can marry whomever they choose.

I didn't happen to catch whether the meaning of each letter on the acronym was explained, and that doesn't matter one way or the other.  What was so encouraging was to hear these parents answer in a very non-judgmental way, free of any politically or religiously tainted rhetoric.  They even offered an example.  "Remember your soccer coach from last year? She was married to a woman."  By equating it to marriage, this enlightened couple put in simple terms a child could understand what equality and fairness mean, and linked it to what gay and lesbian people face in their daily lives.  And, near as we could tell, the little boy did understand the core lesson from his folks:  People should be able to love whom they wish to love without other people telling them who they can and cannot love.

As we walked away, both Tom and I immediately asked each other, "Did you hear that?"

If only more people were this enlightened.  Of course, this is Madison, Wisconsin, and the dad was sporting an Obama button.  We're ahead of the curve here. 

An Idaho journalist's trifecta

[Boise ID]  Our friend Todd Dvorak, host for our visit here, supervises the AP's Idaho operation.  One of the reporters he works with found a story opportunity that brought together the unlikely combination of a local Olympic gold medal winner, McDonald's french fries and local potato knife maker.  What are the chances?

And John Miller, the reporter, made sure he fit all that into the story's lead.  Via the Idaho Statesman...

Olympic cyclist gets help from Idaho potato knife maker
By JOHN MILLER

Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho - A Boise company that usually makes industrial knives to slice up Idaho potatoes into millions of McDonald's french fries added an unusual custom touch to the racing bicycle that Team USA's Kristin Armstrong will ride in Wednesday's Olympic time trial in Beijing.

Armstrong, who lives in Boise, asked AceCo Precision Manufacturing to use a $250,000 computerized mill to make a so-called "third eye" for her front derailleur, to keep the former world champion from throwing her chain during the nearly 15-mile individual race against the clock along China's Great Wall.

Armstrong's gear shifting woes are storied, most dramatically in the 2006 world championships in Salzburg, Austria, where she dropped her chain on the second of three climbs but still managed to win by 25 seconds. The 35-year-old American, who was 25th in Sunday's rain-soaked Olympic road race, now often pauses between pedal strokes to shift, a strategy that keeps her chain where it belongs but can cost precious time.

more...

Here's the AP's story on Armstrong's win...

BEIJING -- Kristin Armstrong made her way through the throng of well-wishers at the Great Wall, locked eyes with her husband, and the emotions began to flow.

She cried. He cried. That's what some do when overcome with joy.

"Awesome," she mumbled through the tears. "It's so awesome."

more...

Potato power.  Worthy of license plate fame...

 

More postcards from Idaho

[Hailey ID]  Most times, in my humble opinion, beautiful scenery isn't given its due in snapshots.  I hate the term snapshots, but when one points and shoots, that's what one gets.  To come back with photographs, one must take the time and care, and use all kinds of lenses and other equipment.  That's my unnecessary disclaimer regarding the pictures the little Nikon S210 captured.  For something a bit smaller than a deck of cards, it performed admirably.

It sure is beautiful here...

View from a campground south of Stanley ID.

I'm really glad we didn't have to walk or ride a bike up this hill.  2000 feet in a couple miles.

Another campground, north of Ketchum ID.

Thanks, Todd, for insisting we take a cooler with some local brew, "just in case."

Ketchum side street.

Like a lot of remote places, Ketchum ends pretty abruptly.  View from the south edge of town.

I thought all but a few Sinclair stations were long gone.  But this old brand is alive and well and living in Idaho... everywhere.

The parking lot at a breakfast place we stopped at along Idaho Route 21 east of Boise.

The weather here is, in a word, flawless.  Hot but dry and clear during the day; down to the high 40s at night.  Its truly perfect for sleeping in, but why would you do that with all the stuff to see and do?  OK, one extra hour.

Yeah, we'll be back.

P.S.  When in Hailey, please visit the Hailey Coffee Company on Main Street.  It's a very cool little place with great coffee and treats.  Thanks to them for the bandwisth to post today!

After 49 of them, birthdays start to kind of run together

[Ketchum ID]  Remember when you were little, and it seemed like it took forever for your birthday to come around?  I do.  Having an August birthday made mine more than half a year past Christmas, and well into the dogs days of summer.  But August 11 was -- and still is -- good for lining up a vacation with my birthday.  We did that a lot when I was a kid, and we're doing that today.

Indeed, though, after nearly 50 birthdays in my collection, I have kind of lost track of what many of them have brought me in terms of celebrations, gifts and destinations. There are a few that stick in my head, and not necessarily because they were fantastic.  Some were ordinary, or sort of pathetic, but for whatever reason still claimed a good seat in my memory.

One really special gift I was given was a diver's watch when I was heading into sixth grade.  I really wanted one of those big black-faced watches with the vinyl band, and I got one.  My folks gave me one that was a wind-up, and it was really cool.  While other gifts have come and gone, I still have this one, and I wear it a few times a year like I will when Tom and I go out to dinner tonight.

There was a stretch of several August 11ths when we went out to San Diego to visit my grandmother and vacation.  We almost always stayed at the Sea Lodge (recently renamed the La Jolla Shores Hotel).  One year I was given a great poolside item of the day:  a pocket-sized transistor radio... with AM and FM.  It was a Zenith with a leather case.  Cool then; museum piece now, if I still had it.

Tom and I spent many of my birthdays over in Michigan back when we owned a weekend place in Allegan.  My 30th and 40th birthdays were both celebrated ay my favorite Chicago tavern, Schuba's n Belmont and Southport The former was a surprise, albeit one spoiled by a bonehead from work.  The latter was well-planned by Tom in the open and was a blast.

My 21st birthday was one that didn't live up to the hype.  I was weeks away from the beginning of my senior year at Drake, and I was taking summer classes so I was in Des Moines.  Some of my fraternity brothers took me out drinking, and I remember bolting from the bar by myself, upset about something.  The guys wondered WTF was up, and I had no idea what to tell them the next day.  Mostly, I remember I just wanted to forget that birthday... and I seem to have mostly succeeded.

Here's an odd one.  For my seventh birthday, more than anything else I wanted an army uniform.  I remember seeing them in the Sears catalog, and insisted that was what I wanted.  I got it, and wore it to my birthday party.  I still cringe when I think about that.

All in all, birthdays aren't that big of a deal.  It's nice to hear from friends and family, and only a fool says "You don't have to get me anything."  More than the birthdays,  for me it's the other 364 that get me to the next August 11th that are important.  How's that for dime store philosophy?  (You have to be my age to remember what a dime store was.)

Big Wood River, south of Ketchum ID

Idaho's Big Wood River

[Taken and uploaded with an iPhone en route to Hailey ID]

Hotel WiFi and picture uploads don't mix

[Ketchum ID]  Tom and I drove from Boise to Ketchum today, and much of the drive was through the Sawtooth National Forest.  In a word, the scenery was breathtaking.  For the moment, you'll have to take my word for it, since the internet service at the Ketchum Lodge doesn't take kindly to big file uploads.  After I uploaded the fifth photo on the Typepad composer, I got thrown off my connection and had to cajole the provider to unblock me.  But, believe me, the pictures are really cool.  When I'm back in Boise, or can sop up some bandwidth somewhere in Ketchum tomorrow (my birthday!), I'll toss up a bunch of nice shots.

I'll take the chance of uploading one here, because it is my favortite photo of the day, and it isn't a scenic shot.  Just a happy dog shot.

Postcards from Boise: Who Knew?

[Boise ID]  Up until Friday, Idaho remained the only state of the lower 48 west of the Mississippi I had yet to visit.  Tom and I are in Boise to visit our good friends Todd and Meg, who moved out here last year.  All I knew of Idaho was that they grow potatoes and Republicans here, and that it is the state that gave us Senator Larry Craig.

So far, I have to say that Boise rocks.  This part of Idaho has offered up all kinds of pleasant surprises so far.  We've been to a great farmers market that, while totally different from the excellent on in Madison, is every bit as good. 

Yesterday afternoon we visited four area wineries. 

This morning we walked along the greenbelt that winds along the Boise River.

Finney likes Boise a lot.  I have to agree.

Today we're off to navigate the scenic drive to Ketchum and Sun Valley.  Way cool.

The TSA has identified the security threat at level orange in the mall

[Minneapolis MN]  I hate malls.  Everything about the enclosed, environmentally-controlled, cookie-cutter retail megaplexes turns me off to spending any money.  But, of course, our President wants us to spend money... probably above and beyond the "economic stimulus" checks he sent out to some people (but not me).  And Dear Leader wants us to travel too, so that we can further boost the economy by helping the cash-strapped airlines and buying tiny tubes of toothpaste and hand lotion at wildly inflated prices-per-ounce.  These two core elements of Mr. Bush's sound fiscal policy collide at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Northstar Crossing, as it is called, is a giant shopping mall plopped into the middle of the main terminal.  Honestly, some mid-sized cities don't have this kind of shopping variety.  Of course, here, the anchor store is Northwest Airlines (soon to be Delta, not unlike Marshall Field's becoming Macy's, which didn't sit well either).  Sure, some of the retailers are targeted directly at travelers and their immediate needs.  But others are pretty much playing against a different kind of mindset:  snagging people who will looks at a pricey item and think to themselves "WTF?  I'm on vacation."  And that's how they end up with a replica Fran Tarkington jersey or pre-loaded iPod.

Some retailers can't be bothered with actually staffing a retail outlet.  Sony, Best Buy and Elizabeth Arden, among others, offer merchandise through elaborate kiosks that take cash or plastic.  Judging from the price points, there is a bit of a convenience charge, if you will.

In one section, the whole mall thing takes a turn into the weird:  There is a Mall of America store in the airport mall.  To me, that's kind of like setting up a coffee bar inside a Starbucks.  But sure enough, there it is.  They sell Mall of America merchandise for those whose flight connection doesn't offer enough time to scoot down to the world's largest shopping mall.

All this, plus the Larry Craig restroom.  What more could you want out of a two hour lay-over?

We now return to our regularly scheduled terrorism alerts

It's time.  The conventions and the Presidential election are coming.  You know what that means:  a surge in Bush Administration-issued color coded terror alerts! 

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  And buy a lot of duct tape and plastic sheeting.  Do it now.

"The Sandcastle" defies architectural classification

[Honor MI]  Our friend PK has a rather unusual house here in Honor, Michigan.  He calls it The Sandcastle, and he designed and built it pretty much by himself.  Friends and others pitched in or were contracted to help with certain tasks that were beyond one person's capabilities, such as the foundation and the digging of the pond.  But most of the work came from this one guy. 

Tom, my dad and I were up for a visit, and I haven't been by for about two years.  Naturally, there are improvements and additions, but the basic house remains the same.  Ground was broken in 1983, and when my dad asked when it was finished, PK told him, "It isn't."

Indeed, it is a work in progress.

When PK (his name is Peter king, but nobody calls him that) first envisioned the place and bought the property in 1978, he began with maybe 15 acres.  By the time he brought in a cherry-picker so he could take in the potential views from a proposed 4th floor, he had already added to the land, and these days he has bought up about 80 surrounding acres in total. 

Built primarily of cinder block, and hopefully someday clad in a mirror-like material, the layout is rather functional.  The ground floor is only accessible from the outside from the west, where a garage door opens to where he keeps his  1964 Lincoln convertible.  The second floor holds the kitchen, an entry way, a half-bath, and a dining room with a massive 25-floor dining table... with a throne at the east end.  The thrid floor has three bedrooms and a full bath that doubles as a laundry room.  The fourth floor is a single open space, with incredible views to all four points of the compass.  On clear days, one can look out over Lake Michigan, which is within two miles of the house.

In addition to this one-of-a-kind home, the Sandcastle has beautiful grounds, mostly still the way they were before anyone even farmed in the area.  What was a cherry and apple orchard is now open fields and a man-made but quite well integrated pond.  The flower garden is of botanical center quality.

To be sure, when one first comes upon this place in rural northwestern lower Michigan, one is usually moved to ask "What the hell is that?"  But if yu are lucky enough to have a tour, you'' le saying, "I want to live here."

Buh-bye, Brett.

I loved this line from the Madison Capital Times web site earlier this evening:

After five hours of discussion Monday night and continued talks Tuesday morning between Favre and coach Mike McCarthy, the conclusion was reached that Favre wasn't emotionally ready to play for the Packers. (emphasis mine)

And whose fault is this, Mr. Favre?

McCarthy said the damage done between the team and perhaps its greatest player ever proved too much to overcome.

As little as I care about the Packers, I once had a measure of respect for Brett Favre and his accomplishments. Now I just laugh at the guy. He totally trashed his own reputation and squandered a hell of a lot of good will in the process. What a fucking idiot. Pathetic.

Yet another reason NOT to spend a dime at Wal⚠Mart

I have committed a grievous error.  I have sinned against all that is good for society.  I spent about $50 at a freakin' Wal☹art store yesterday.  In a moment of lazy weakness, I ducked into one to buy some pop and other supplies for the big family bash we're throwing this weekend.  I shouldn't have done it, but I did.  And I apologize to all of you who have the good sense not to give those assholes a dime.

I'm glad the Wall Street Journal reminded me why the people who run Wal☟Mart are, indeed, evil.  (Of course, I speak of the actual reporters, not the right wing op-ed bloholes at the WSJ.)  From today's edition:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.
...
"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Imagine that.  Wal⚉Mart is, essentially, instructing its employees how to cast their votes.  This thinly-veiled coercion to vote Republican seems to violate the spirit if not the letter of federal election laws.  Wal⌛Mart executives seemed to have, shall we say, overlooked the federal restriction on compulsory politicking with hourly employees.  (Wal♎Mart department supervisors are, in fact, hourly employees).  Whoops!

So if driving small, independent retailers out of business, killing the main streets of small town America, extorting unreasonable price reductions from suppliers, driving manufacturers to move production to China to further drop their costs and their pants, and selling cheap and poorly made crap are not good enough reasons to avoid shopping at this retail anti-Christ, perhaps their co-opting of their employees' votes will give you cause to rethink where you spend your shrinking dollars.

Just something to consider. 

And, again, I apologize for having the tremendous lapse in good judgment by dropping a Grant in there yesterday.  I promise:  it will NOT happen again.

Amatuer photographer redefines the word "loser."

Every so often you'll see a news report about something unsavory going on with security cameras.  Some jackass will hide a tiny digital camera in his neighbor's shower, or the locker room at a health club.  The "Peeping Tom" is hardly a new offense.  And technology has only made it easier.  There is that point where voyeurism crosses the line from inappropriate curiosity to compulsive affliction. 

And then there's that special blend of creepy, sick and fucking stupid.  Meet Ryan Przedwieki.

From Madison's Capital Times...

A 32-year-old Madison man arrested at the Shopko Store on Zeier Road after allegedly using his cell phone to take pictures under women's skirts was released on a signature bond Thursday, told to stay out of any Shopko stores, and told not to be in possession of any cameras.

Apparently, budding photographer Ryan had garnered a little attention, not from store customers being photographed, but from store employees.  I gather he was acting a little odd...

A security officer at the Zeier Road Shopko said staff in the store has become "spooked by him just being in the store," the criminal complaint says, and has taken to alerting the officer when they see Przedwiecki in the store. She said he frequently follows women around tries to speak with them.

Time for store security to fight fire with fire, so to speak...

Wednesday the security officer decided to film Przedwiecki and called police after she realized he was bending over and taking photos with his cell phone up women's skirts.

Busted! 

...Przedwiecki insisted he didn't know how to look at the pictures after he had taken them, he said he was sexually aroused by taking the pictures.  ...  Police found 28 such pictures on Przedwiecki's cell phone, taken with the camera pointed up women's skirts.  ...  When asked what other stores he had been in to get the pictures, Przedwiecki said he thought he started at Copps Food Center on Monona Drive and was possibly at Kohl's on the west side.

Let me see if I have this straight.  Stalks women in discount stores.  Does a "John Candy dropping a fist-full of coins in the movie Splash" maneuver to angle for up-skirt pictures he then takes on his cell phone.  Doesn't know how to get the pictures off the cell phone.  Gets a boner just taking the pictures.  Not a hundred percent sure when or where else he may or may not have executed other photo shoots.

Ryan Przedwieki:  You, sir, are either a sick and creepy liar or a complete and total idiot.  Or, more likely, both.  Regardless, this much is true:  You were permanently kicked out of Shopko.  And not just the one store.  The whole chain.  Shopko.  Shopko!  Not even Sears.  You are such a loser.  Really.

Was Bennigan's ever really anyone's favorite local tavern?

Doomed by lack of culinary creativity or absence of authenticity?

The parent company of Bennigan's filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy yesterday.  Let's have a moment of silence for the death of the five-pound platter of ultimate nachos and the menu that offered at least a dozen ways to cook chicken breasts. 

The Associated Press fills in the details, and I risk their ire by excerpting from them...

NEW YORK (AP) — Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors.

The companies owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas, less than two months after Metromedia said it was not preparing to do so. It wasn't clear whether franchisee-owned restaurants would be closing as well.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, a company seeks to liquidate its assets and shut down.

Employees at a Bennigan's in Plano, Texas, were greeted by a sign Tuesday on the front door reading "WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU." Next door, a Steak & Ale sat empty in a deserted parking lot but there was no sign posted.

Liquidation of assets.  That means management knows this baby is a goner.  At least when it comes to the company-owned units.  They don't even see an opportunity to unload the brand and the restaurants to another operator.  That's got to make the owners of the 120 or so franchisee-owned units just a little nervous.  Actually, it should make some of their competitors nervous too. 

The so-called casual dining food service category is experiencing tough times right now.  A few weeks ago, USA TODAY carried this story about how sales are off at chains like Outback Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday's and P. F. Chang's.  All play in the $10-20 per person category.  Industry folks cited in the article point to four key factors driving the slowing sales:  Rising gas prices, better choices in fast-food outlets, higher credit card costs, and the weak real estate market.  Roll those up and the average family is short on cash and on credit, perceives themselves to be less wealthy, and is trading down.

Wall Street can analyze the numbers all they want. But I have another angle I think matters, at least to a small degree:  authenticity.  Places like Bennigan's are simulated taverns.  They are phonies, trying to act like they are the real deal.  A look at the Bennigan's website, still up at the moment, tells the reader that... "Bennigan’s is an Irish American Grill & Tavern famous for great food, fun atmosphere and a wide selection of cocktails including beer, wine and specialty drinks like the Bennigan’s Blarney Blast. Bennigan’s menu is loaded with salads, burgers, steak and chicken entrees, sandwiches and desserts."

Oh, please.  The most accurate word in that ad copy is "Blarney."  And that's why I generally avoid those kind of places.  Applebee's is "eatin' good in the neighborhood."  OK, I guess, if your neighborhood is a strip mall or one of those chain-store boulevards where every franchise seems to be represented.  Chic Chi's is to Mexican food what Huffy is to the Tour de France.  Red Lobster can make any kind of seafood taste just like chicken.

For a real tavern experience, one must visit a real tavern.  And, having practically invented them here in Wisconsin, we have no shortage of them.  They even have their own association, the Tavern League of Wisconsin.  (Be prepared to be bombarded with an only slightly defensive yet upbeat radio commercial if you click on the link.)  The TLW represents all kinds of places, but their bread and butter membership is made up of the mom and pop, family owned and operated gems that dot the landscape throughout the state.  Often times, these little taverns are among the only businesses in town.  Such is the case in nearby Rockdale, home of Heather's Rockdale Bar and Grill.

Heather's is the kind of place that doesn't have to prove anything to anybody.  It is just as the sign says:  a tavern that has a grill behind the bar.  That's exactly how we like them here in Wisconsin.  Menu?  It's hanging over the grill, but you already know what's on it and that your best bet is the bacon cheeseburger.  (Heather's does a mean but messy Reuben if you're not in the burgering mood.)  It's actually owned and operated by a woman named Heather (left).  There is some kind of beer special every night, and you bet your ass there's a fish fry on Friday.  In the winter, snowmobiles are lined up along the side of the road.  In the summer, the Harleys and other bikes fill the parking lot.  (Be sure to grab a block of wood from the bucket so your kickstand doesn't sink into the asphalt.)  The building was once a house, as is so often the case. The deck out back looks over the horseshoe pits, and unless you play a really competitive game, don't bother trying to join in.  Peanuts are free, there's karaoke on Monday nights and bands on the weekends.  Never a cover.  There aren't silly branded drinks, goofy names for otherwise straightforward menu items, or fake antique decor.  If something is hanging on the wall and it looks old, that's because it is, and it is probably covering a hole in the paneling.

I guess it's telling to look at the facades of a Bennigan's in comparison to Heather's.

Which one would you say is the real deal?

If you're looking for Heather's, it's on Highway B in Rockdale (even though Google maps thinks it's in Cambridge) just east of the bridge over the Koshkenong Creek where Rockdale Road comes in.  If you were looking for a place to ride your motorcycle some sunny weekend day from, for example, the Chicago suburbs, this would make a nice destination.  Call me; I'll meet you there.  I might even buy. 

Just cut my arm off, why don't you?

Sweet Jesus on a graham cracker!  I've got my MacBook back!

Honestly, what an awful five days.  Isn't that fucking pathetic?  I worried about this thing until the very minute I had it back in my possession.  Never mind that it was fully backed-up and that it was in the very capable hands of an authorized Apple service place.  Set aside that it was more maintenance than repair, so there was little risk.  I still fidgeted about, and finally called yesterday to see how it was coming along.  Worse, when they called back to say it was ready to go, about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, I actually considered blowing off a dentist appointment -- an important one -- so I could drive in to Madison to retrieve my little white-cased pal.

That's warped.  But it's true.

For the little bit of Internet activity I did do, I used Tom's laptop.  It's a Toshiba and therefore a Windows PC.  And, sorry Tom, it is a piece of crap.  Well, I guess it functions, but I hated it.  I actually was more pacified using the iPhone as a substitute for my laptop.  At least it had my hundreds of bookmarks, handled all the email accounts, and had a lot of music in it.

Setting aside what is obviously some kind of psychosis on my part, I do find it interesting when I consider how much I rely on this machine.  It is my connection to all my preferred news sources, it pulls down the podcasts I actually do listen to, and it holds the software I use to manage everything from finances to travel to, of course, blogging.  During the time I was without the laptop, I kind fo tuned ot of world affairs.  I saw headlines on the iPhone, and heard stuff on the radio.  But I didn't turn to television or my first media love, newspapers.  I just went along oblivious.

One of the good things that came from being without the beloved MacBook:  I now have a much better understanding of what the iPhone an do.  Even though the one I have is not the new model, it does have the 2.0 OS, so I can download all these new applications.  I probably added 15 different apps over the weekend, with my far the best being Last.fm, Pandora and AOL Radio.  The fact that I can navigate through AOL Radio (probably the first nice thing I have ever said that included "AOL" in it) over to WXRT-FM, my favorite station from Chicago.  With the iPhone's built-in speakers, it actually sounds pretty good just playing while sitting on the kitchen counter.  Who knew?

I totally realize how nerdy/geeky this sounds.  And I don't care.  I love this stuff.

From out there in the ether to front-paged on Digg

There are literally thousands of politically-related posts going up on YouTube every week.  Here's one that in just a day went from being buried on Digg to being on its front page...

If you aren't Digging, you should be.

Fox using BushCo talking points?

Well slap my ass and call my Shirley.  Can you believe this?  Of course you can.

From Think Progress...

On MSNBC’s Hardball last night, host Chris Matthews asked former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan if he saw “FOX television as a tool” to get the White House’s “message out” while he was in the Bush administration. “Certainly there were commentators and other, pundits at FOX News, that were useful to the White House,” replied McClellan, adding that they were given “talking points.”

Making a distinction between journalists like Brit Hume and commentators like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, McClellan admitted that “certainly” the White House used Fox News talking heads as “spokespeople” with “a script.

You mean, like fed them things to say, as if they were mouthpieces of the administration?  Oh, Scott, say it ain't so.

Fair and balanced,  Right.

Separation Anxiety

I am reluctantly turning my MacBook over to the people at Madison Computer Works for a hard drive upgrade and wifi card replacement and/or repairs.  Waaaaaaaaa!  I've never been without it since I got it.  I may need medication.

Meanwhile, in the days while my little white-encases pal is at the spa, I'll be trying to put up a few posts on OPLs (other people's laptops).