This makes me sick

It's not bad enough that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have just been destroyed. Thousands of people are homeless or dead and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the audacity to politicze the situation on his blog. I have read many articles over the years that have really upset me, but this one takes the cake. Essentially, Mr. Kennedy is blaming the Republicans (including Bush and the Mississippi governor) for all the problems in the environment, even throwing in a reference to Katrina at the end.

Now, there is a time and a place for discussions on the environment. There is also a time and a place for politics. This is not one of those times. This is a time to mobilize, organize, save lives, and help people...period. Do you think the people stranded on their rooftops for 3 days want to have a discussion about the effects of global warming? I doubt it. What they need is food, water, and shelter. I would suggest Bobby getting off his high horse and actually doing something to help. If he can't help out, at least send a check. Politics will wait, asshole.

Tomorrow may be worse

As bad as some of the pictures were today from Katrina's landfall, I have a bad feeling that tomorrow's will be much worse. With the first damage assessments starting tomorrow morning, I heard one reporter say that some damage in Southwestern Mississippi is "Andrew-esque". I really hope that he was exagerating. Houses can be rebuilt and cars can be replaced, but life is a precious thing. Similar to my friend Mark over at the Stufftbox, I encourage you to give to the American Red Cross if you can. www.redcross.org

Feelin' Real Lucky

I woke up this morning to something I never expected. Katrina is now a category 5 storm with 175 mph winds. As some of you know, I am a hurricane nut. Living in the potential path of destruction for a few months a year, I keep updated on the paths and statistics of hurricanes as they form and develop. I went to bed last night and Katrina had 115 mph winds. Yes, a category 3 storm, but something that I see at least a few times during the year. Jeanne was a category 3 at impact and that hit about 50 miles north of here last year.

Katrina is completely different. Right now it is much more powerful than Andrew was at landfall and if it hit land today would have the second lowest pressure ever recorded. This is really a terrifying storm. I drove through Homested a few months after Andrew went through in 1992 and it was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life. If anyone out there has friends/family in the path of this storm you need to call them now to make sure they have evacuated.

Normally I am a light hearted person, but this hurricane makes my skin crawl. I just know that there is some "cowboy" out there in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama who figures he is tough enough to ride it out. Trust me...the pictures from CNN that everyone is going to see on Tuesday morning will not be pretty, no matter where it hits. I feel very lucky that we only got brushed by Katrina when she was a much weaker storm.

All Clear

We got brushed by Katrina but ended up being OK. The Margarita Lounge lost power around 7:30pm and it came back on at 11. The wind is still howling outside, but things should calm down over the next 6-12 hours. Looks like we dodged another bullet. I feel bad for the people southwest of Miami. One area got about 16 inches of rain this afternoon/evening and the weather guy said it was still coming down. Since the storm took a turn to the southwest after landfall, it looks like the gulf coast might get hit with a major hurricane in a few days. It's been a long day around here so I'm heading to bed...

Hurricane Prep

Above is a picture of the current plan of attack if Katrina comes a-knockin. I think the chances are pretty good that we will get some good winds and lose power for a while. As our experiences from last year taught us, always keep plenty of booze on hand for a Tropical Storm or Hurricane. When the lights go out there isn't much else to do but get drunk. Giddie up.

TD 12

Looks like Tropical Depression #12 just formed this afternoon over the Southern Bahamas. With the warm water in the Bahamas, it looks like this baby will strengthen into at least a tropical storm in the next day or so. While it shouldn't be as bad as Frances or Jeanne, we are definitely going to get some heavy rain and wind by the end of the week.

Wireless Surfin'

I have been a lazy ass all day. The extent of my journeys outside the Margarita Lounge has been one trip to Target a few hours ago with Cheryl. The Reese's wrappers, boxes of Hot Tamales and bags of junk food are piling up. Here I sit on the couch, watching golf on the big screen, and typing out a blog entry during the commercials on Cheryls laptop. Cheryl hooked up a wireless network in the house a week or two ago, so I can now surf the web while on the couch. The applications are endless, especially with football season starting soon.

Pinched

What an odd Saturday it's been. I awoke (surprisingly) without a hangover and got outside by 8:30 to cut the grass before the real heat of the day kicked in. Sometime around 9:15, I pinched a nerve in my uper back/shoulder. This is something I have never experienced before today and it's something I hope never to repeat. This shit HURTS! I was completely useless and immobile for about an hour and a half...I just layed on the floor and complained to Cheryl. I finally got to the point where I could halfway function around 11:30. By this afternoon I feel a little better, but I'm still uncomfortable when I move certain directions.

Staying in on Friday Nights...Pinching Nerves in my back...man am I feeling old. Soon I will be driving a Lincoln Towncar, going to early bird dinner at 4:00 and buying Depends. The good news is that we are getting some Sals Pizza for dinner... probably followed by a few glasses of wine. My guess is that by 9pm I will be feeling better one way or another.

Another week done....

Another long work week has ended at the Lounge. I am getting old because I seem to relish staying home and relaxing most Friday Nights. I guess that is supposed to happen once you reach the big 30...right?

It was good to hear from both Gunther and the Senator on the blog. I actually got a chance to have a beer with Mr. Hickman (and the catfisherman) last night after work. It was good to get together and we should do it more often boys.

Many of you may notice that I have not been posting as many political comments recently. Don't worry...I haven't crawled into a hole or anything. I just don't see much out there that fires me up. The one thing that gets a little fire going is this Cindy Sheehan woman. Yeah..that lady in Texas being supported by the "people" over at Air America, Move On and Michael Moore. I can understand (and respect) the grieving mother, but how many grieving mothers have PR directors? Please. The good news is that the wine tastes real good tonight and not much is rocking my boat right about now.

Where art thou??

Where have you been hiding at Gunther? Both you and the Senator seemed to have dropped off the radar screen recently. No comments? No snide remarks? No emails? Nothing. I'm beginning to think I stink or something. In the immortal words of Roger Waters...Is there anybody out there?

Another One for Lefty

I had to come home from work around 10am today to check out the finishing few holes of the PGA. I was glad to see Phil come through for major victory #2. In a world full of golfers who look and act like robots, it's nice to see someone smile when they actually win a tournament. Two years ago, everyone was talking about Phil never living up to his potential. Now he is half way to the career grand-slam and has just as many majors in the last two years as Eldrick. Sure, he is five years older than Tiger, but golfers are competitive well into their 40s these days, so his best days could be ahead.

Monday Finish

It looks like the winner of the PGA won't be crowned until at least 11am tomorrow. Another weather delay ended play today about an hour ago. Phil choked it as usual and was just starting to warm up when things got called. Coverage starts at 10am tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be taking the morning off work. I really hope that Phil gets his head out of his ass and wins.

There's not a whole lot new around the Margarita Lounge. We had some problems with our internet service last week which seems to be fixed. We also hooked up a wireless network in the house a few days ago, but there seems to be some glitches there also...hopefully things will improve this week. I got a chance to see Mom and Dad last night after Cheryl and I went out to dinner. We decided to stop by and have a drink with them. We both had a little too much King Estate last night and have been feeling tired and lazy all day. Not hungover, just kind of run down.

Iran

What is wrong with these knuckleheads over in Iran? These guys make corporate lawyers and used car salesmen look like honest guys. One minute they are going to give up their nuclear ambitions and want to negotiate, and the next they are stomping around beating their chests and gloating in front of the world media and taking seals off their uranium. You know what I think...just drop some bombs on them. There is time for talk and then there is time to just kick someone's ass. This situation falls into category number two.

The Europeans have done their diplomatic thing and they now look really stupid for wasting all this time, money and effort on a lost cause. The good news about all of this is that WE won't have to drop the bombs in Iran...I'm sure that the Israelis will be more than happy to do our dirty work in the name of their National Security. After the upcoming controversial Gaza pullout, they will need something to distract the citizens from the situation. What better opportunity than destroying some Iranian buildings and reactors?

Major #4 on Deck

With much less fanfare than the other three majors, the PGA starts tomorrow morning. Tiger and Vijay appear to be the favorites right now. I have been getting my ass KICKED by Mr. Golden in the ESPN Fantasy Golf tournament and need to pull out a win this week so I don't owe him $40. Wish me luck.

The Breeze sells!!!

Today could be one of the happiest days of our lives...the Breeze has offically departed the Margarita Lounge. There was a car sale at the Boynton Beach Mall this weekend and Cheryl decided that it would be good to park the Breeze right in that area of the parking lot today. Well, about 2pm she got a call that someone wanted to buy it. An hour later the deal was done. The best part was that he paid cash for it. There is no feeling quite like walking around with a stack of $100 bills. In some way it was almost a sad nostalgic moment watching someone else drive the Breeze away and out of our lives, but her time had come.

On a different note, the move to my new office is now complete and I wanted to thank Tracy and Cheryl again for helping me out yesterday. It was a couple hours of manual labor, but the results are impressive and thing look great. I just got home from cleaning things up and think I'll chill tonight. Everyone have a good week.

Not so Dynamite

Cheryl and I rented Napoleon Dynamite last night. I feel as though my IQ went down about 10 points after watching it. It was so bad that I could only watch about half the movie and had to turn it off. It didn't really have much of a plot to it...just a bunch of pathetic people living their lives somewhere in Idaho. I have heard that lots of people thought it was hilarious, but I just didn't get it.

My week of frustration ended yesterday when our new Nokia phones arrived in the mail. My old phone was only two or three years old, but it's amazing what happens with technology in a few short years. We both got new camera phones with T-Mobile for free. They have all kinds of cool features and a color screen..a new thing for me.

I decided to celebrate with my first bottle of French Bourdeaux. It was a 2001 Pemius Bordeaux made up of 60% Merlot, 35% Cab and 5% Cabernet Franc. While it wasn't the best wine I have had, it was pretty good. It was only $10 in the store so I figured I would give it a try. Hey Senator...I haven't heard from you in a while...give me a holla.

Movin' on up.

No, I'm not movin' on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky like George and Weezie. After much consideration I am moving down to hallway at work to the office once possessed by my buddy Gunther over at Frotuss.com. While the office is slightly smaller than my current one, the window to the outside world sealed the deal. Staring at the walls all the time has a way of getting to you. Lots of stuff has been going on around here since my last post, with lots of it being frustrating:

1) Cingular blows. I tried to upgrade my plan yesterday and get some new phones that were advertised as free on the Cingular website. Well, turns out that I couldn't actually get these prices. Plus, the customer service was pathetic. I never thought it would be such a problem to give someone MORE money every month, but I guess it's a real hassle for them. Needless to say, T-Mobile now has some new customers.

2) Best Buy also blows. The on/off button on our monitor broke last night and I figured I would take it to the "Geek Squad" over at Best Buy to fix it. Big mistake. They wanted to send it out for like 12 days, charge me $25 and not promise anything and then charge parts and labor after they figure out what was wrong. The 12 year old I talked to said that it would be "pretty expensive" to fix so we decided to jimmy-rig it with some krazy glue. So far it seems OK. Thanks for the garbage monitor K-Delish!

3) Good to see you posting again Senator. I was wondering what happened to you. While you are misguided, you have the same right I do to post your thoughts.

4) Looks like the peak of hurricane season is finally here. Unfortunately it has been kinda boring recently. Where's the convection??