Now if that ain’t a tag line to bring you in and having no idea where I’m going with it, I don’t know…

I don’t know if I mentioned it here but I’m a reader of stuff. Books, fan fiction, comic books, and the comics in the news paper. Yeah I read the news even though it’s easier to view it on-line. I like being able to read the news paper with my drink of choice or when I’m eating. Not so easy at the computer or tablet. Spills and crumbs are a no-no around electronics.

Anyways one of my favorite strips outside of Doonesbury and a few others was For Better Or For Worse. Lyn Johnston who lives in Canada wrote the strip and here’s a shocker, she allowed the characters to grow older. And she had some great story lines that didn’t get resolved in a week. She then ended it a few years back due to health reasons. She has a staff to help her. New ones anyways. She’s gone back and re-doing the earlier ones. I didn’t start reading strip until about 15 years ago and I’m in the process of buying the trades. I missed the characters and the stories. There aren’t a whole lot of strips that do that. Yeah there are a few but few that let characters grow older and get married. Yeah, I read that and the comic section before being totally depressed after reading about what kind of crappy world we live in.

Speaking of reading, I’m waiting for the new Andrew Vachss book to come out. His books aren’t for the faint of heart. Read his first book Flood and he just gets better and better. If you want to check him out go to www.vachss.com He’s a lawyer for children of abuse. He’s passionate and takes no prisoners. And he’s by far one of my favorite authors. A bit dark but hard to put down. He wrote one my favorite Batman stories The Ultimate Evil.

One more work day and still no working dryer. Maybe by the weekend. Not holding my breath. If any gamers out there having any info on the new Playstaion Vista would be nice. I’m thinking of buying it but haven’t heard any info good or bad on it.

My dad and mom have been divorced since 1977. It wasn’t pretty and there are some issues there from my dad. So my sister is taking care of my mom and her money issues. She’s in hospice. She has some type of cancer. I’m not sure because I’m not in contact with her because of issues (there’s that word again…) with her. I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving of 1988. Anyways, my sister is still having back problems. I guess she asked my dad to help her clear out my moms’ apartment and said he wouldn’t. Christ, he’s over 70 years old. Who would want to help some one out after that history? So my sister vented on Facebook of all places. I vent here because no one knows who I am and I won’t hurt anyone’s feelings. She hasn’t asked me yet and I’m on the fence if I should help. It’s not the forgiving I have a problem with it’s the forgetting. My whole family isn’t one for get togethers’.

It’s my sisters’ birthday is this week and she wants to go to Red Lobster of all places. So you know who is going to pay for the whole thing. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the dryer hadn’t broke down this weekend. I’m hoping the heating element doesn’t cost as much as a new dryer which knowing my luck it will. It happened on Friday night so three loads had to go to a laundry mat near by.

Don’t waste your time with “The Firm” the series. It wasn’t that great. I like the fact two actors from the “Battlestar Galactica” series are in the series but the pilot was weak. “White Collar” is back and I’m wondering where they’re going with the final episodes. “Fairly Legal” is coming back in March and I’m looking forward to that than I am with “The Firm”. “Justified” is freaking awesome so far. So is “The Finder”. I haven’t seen “Touch” yet. I’m going to download it from The Playstation Network and give it a shot. “Top Chef” is my guilty pleasure along with “Chopped” I’m waiting for “Green Lantern The Animated Series” to start up in March. I have it down loaded to my PSP. Which reminds me I need to buy some more memory sticks. I’m having to erase shows to watch new shows.

Short work week due to sis’ birthday. Just praying the dryer won’t kill what little savings I have left…

My left foot is just about healed. I had an open wound on the bottom of my left foot for almost four years. How it happened I’ll never know. But around June, my foot started to swell and me being me was treating the top of my toe with hydrogen peroxide forsome damned reason. Anyways, my boss said either get it taken care of or else. 4th of July rolls around and I was hoping to spend it with family. It took the better part of an hour to get dressed. I called a buddy of mine to drop me off at the emergency room. I come to find out that my foot was infected and I was close to losing it. I move out of my apartment and move stuff into storage and was off work for five months. Two of those being hooked up to an I.V. bottle full of antibiotics. After I get released, still have an open sore on said foot. Just last month, a bone fragment pops out of said wound and it’s now almost healed. The question I have is why did it take sooo freaking long when four doctors had a chance to see what was happening? I’m taking no chances. Until I can no longer feel where the wound was, I’m still wrapping it up. Now the next thing on my body to do list is to hopefully get my right ankle re-broken and healed seeing how that never healed right.

“The Finder” is a off beat show and after two episodes, I’m hoping Fox will renew it. It’s worth a shot. Hulu has the first two episodes on their website.

While I like Direct TV, I like my Netflix Streaming better. A ton of shows on Netflix and nothing worth a damn on Direct TV. And there’s no G4 TV. No “Attack Of The Show”. Am bummed now. With all the channels, I’m still heading back to my lap top to watch shows or downloading to my PSP. Go Figure.

Work has finally slowed down and the usual people are griping again at work. Like clock work. Ah, human behavior. Just wished I had an off button to tune these people out. Reason never works where I work at. And it never does in Politics. How strange. Thankfully all I have to do is pull out my roll of duck tape and everyone goes silent.

The snow was a joke but I did get a good hour work out and worked up a decent sweat.

Going to call it a night and listen to some Miles Davis and Bitches Brew to send me off to la la land…

Over the weekend without my knowing, Dad decides to drop cable and go back to Direct TV. That’s one thing. But when cable is also your source of phone and Internet, well some times having two bills is cheaper than one. Windstream now provides the Internet and phone. And I have a Direct TV box in my bed room. Which is odd seeing how I got an ear full because I didn’t come out of my room Sunday until 5pm. Hey, Sundays are a time of rest and I was finishing an Andrew Vachss book Saturday night and I didn’t crash until 6am. Reading doesn’t put me to sleep. Watching way too much TV via my laptop does. So between Windstream and Direct TV, I have access to more channels than I want to. And I like my PSP. I like downloading shows and watching them at work on my lunch break. I have stuff in storage. One being a half way decent TV. One of these days I’m going to buy a PS3 and put into storage my laptop. I like things that I can do multiple things with. (My sister bought a net book last year and when they were printing up something from her computer, I noticed it gathering dust. I wished I had a tenth of what she wastes. But that’s another story for another day.) These things were going through my mind when this all was happening yesterday. So I have a 15 inch digital TV sitting on top of my Direct TV box. Like I need to be laying prone to watch TV. I do need a longer cord for my head phones. Living in a house where there’s three TVs and something different on each set. It’s kinda like being with a group of people and each of them is messing with their phones. End times are near and I think we’re clueless.

Did anyone care about not being able to use sites that were blacked-out yesterday?

Going to head to bed and listen to Neal Schons’ Late Nite. Day three of only getting five hours of sleep. It’s is cold out there tonight. I guess there’s more snow on the way for North Eastern Ohio. Yeah, right. When I see what we had last year for snow, I may be impressed at some point.

Just was told that we’re dropping our cable service to go with Direct TV and Windstream for phone and Internet. Seeing how I do most my watching via the Internet either lap-top or PSP, I’m not affected. Dad is still trying to get me to buy a TV. The only way that’s happening is when I buy a PS3 and that’s a bit down the road.  So I’m not going to be getting much sleep tonight. That’s what the weekends are for anyways…

It’s snowing again after it rained for the past few days. Last weekend, there wasn’t much snow, just windy. Just wish the weather wouldn’t bounce around so much. Either be cold for winter of be warm. This bouncing around crap is a good way to be sick. Lake Effect weather is soooooo much fun…

Downloaded the spin-off of “Bones” called “The Finder”. It’s not bad. It has potential. But Fox has been known to mess things up. “Space: Above And Beyond” and “Firefly” are two that come to mind. Watched most of “The Firm The Series”. The only thing I can say I may come to watch it is because two actors from “Battlestar Galactica” are on it. And a possibility of a decent plot line may be enough to keep me watching. “Justified” is back and I’m going to download it tomorrow. So far the past two seasons have been awesome.

Right after we finished loading trucks Monday night, the power goes out. Nothing like running product to the back with only a Mini Mag Light stuck in my mouth to see where I’m going because some damned fool forgot to replace the light bulb in the head light.

Slow night tonight. This time of the year is slow for us. So instead of maybe getting some decent sleep in, I’m screwing around on the Internet. I may have to shovel tomorrow before I head into work. It was a waste of time last weekend. Spent a total of 45 minutes between two days shoveling the driveway out only to have it gone by Monday. Unless it’s more than six inches on the ground I may skip it all together.

I guess the “shutting down the Internet” is in full swing. Just tried to use wikipedia and for the next 24 hours they’re shutting their site down. I’ll wait and see who else decides to join this protest. I’m guessing Facebook isn’t joining in on this protest. All those people who play Farmville and assorted games would be a bit irritated if they could waste their time there.

Going to call it a night. A busy rest of the week awaits. Going to listen to some Candy Dulfner. A little bit of Jazz to go to sleep to…

The new series “The Firm” only had 6 million viewers for it’s two hour premiere. It’s on Hulu if you want to watch it or NBC.com. May flip a coin to decide if I want to waste my time and two hours…

Old Man Winter showed his face and he’s blowing wind pretty effing hard. It never amazes me how soon people forget how to drive in the snow…It got worse as I was driving west into it so in a few hours I maybe getting some use out of the new shovels I bought seeing how Sis’s back is still not at 100%. So much for sleeping in….

I buy a newspaper every day before I go into work and the first thing I read is the comic section. “Pearls Before Swine had a hilarious rant on “Sesame Street” For the first three days… It’s worth a look online if your news paper doesn’t carry it. I miss “For Better Or For Worse”. A comic strip that allowed the characters grow up. Funny and thought provoking at times. So what are you’re favorite comic strips?

I want to see the new Bat Man movie when it hit the silver screen later this year. What I don’t want to read about is the plot, costumes, or characters. So what does “Entertainment Weekly” decide to do? Run a big article about that and other “block Buster movies” that are due to hit the screens later this year. “Yawn” The new Batman movie has all ready sold out the mid night showing at IMAX theaters… I detest seeing a movie opening weekend. Too many people there and too many people talking during the movie.

Five more days until season three of “Justified” starts up…

Time for a shower and a decent nap… After I do my laundry, I’m having a shot of Crown Royal and calling it a day. Stay safe out there…

Sis still has back pains. I guess she’s going to see her doctor Monday. Dad seems to think it started when some teenager hit her car from behind and she never went to hospital to get it checked out. It’s going to be an interesting week if she has to spend time off from work if she has to spend time in the hospital.

Still debating on which phone I should replace my old one with as a Christmas gift to myself. I’m with T-mobile so I’m stuck between two Andriod type phones.

I’m on the fence as to whether or not I should watch “The Firm” series. I loved the book. Didn’t care for the movie. I’m not a big Tom Cruise fan either. The last good movie I saw him in was “The Last Samurai”. I like John Grisham books but his movies are hit and miss.

A independent book store closed on me and my Dad didn’t tell me before it went out of buisness. I would have dropped a few dollars getting some old out of print books. Grrrrrr… Instead went to Half-Price Books. Amazon is killing these indie book stores.

Work place should be back to what passes for normal now that the holidays are over with. This years is going to be not fun with the 4th of July falling in the middle of the week. Christmas will be no fun either. Hoping to hit a state lottery between now and then so I don’t have to deal with it.

Has anybody liked the changes YouTube has done of late? I’m still getting used to it. I’m finding “new” old  videos every time I go there.

The weather has been nice of late in north eastern Ohio of late. I’m waiting for winter to drop kick us back into snow. It figures after I buy some half way decent snow shovels that have that weird bent that’s supposed to be better for your back. Should have bought a snow blower.

Going to call it a night here. Going to finish a Andrew Vachss book before going to bed. Hope everyone’s week is great!

Yeah, yeah, yeah… The “Leave It To Beaver” family exists only on TV Land. But just for once, I’d like a weekend where I’m not listening to my dad and sister yell at each other. Okay, maybe if I didn’t mess up my left foot and maybe I kept my place in Cleveland and maybe I didn’t live at home and maybe if wishes were horses… Anyway my dad asked my sister for the rent. Unknown to me, she’s two months behind. She goes off. Her back is hurting her because she’s wayyyy over weight and she tweaked her back and she’s in pain. And fireworks started. All I try to do is stay out of the way. I haven’t raised my voice at either my mom or dad in ages. Well, I have’t talked with my mom going on twenty plus years because of that. No offense, but yelling at some one else doen’t solve a damned thing. Them yelling back at you doesn’t solve a damned thing. I piss more people off when I keep my mouth shut. When things calm down, then talk to me. I can’t count the times I get people more angry with me because of this. Hey, closed mouth gathers no foot and I have forgotten the amount of times I stuck my foot in my mouth when I was honked off at someone and said the wrong thing (Which is why I carry a small bottle of Tabasco sauce in my pocket. It kills the taste of my foot. ). And the rest of my cousins up here aren’t talking to one another because of the death of their mother almost ten years ago. Don’t get me started with my family in West Virgina. My dad and I are the ones who visit, not them. God forbid they should try and “see” one of their last living uncles while there is still a chance. Which I think when my Dad dies, our extended family will fall apart. Yeah, a dysfunctional family mine is, but then again who’s family ain’t? I’m going to try and see who can show up to a get together when Dad and I celebrate our birthday at a bowling alley. Sis immediately said she wouldn’t because she says she can’t bowl. Like I’m a professional bowler. Ah well. I may have to have another shot of Crown Royal this weekend. She’s giving me her snacks because she’s on her yearly Weight Watchers kick. I should have bought stock in that company the amount of times she has started and quit that group. Me, I’m lazy and that’s why I’m heavier than I should be. But the thing that keeps me from being huge is my job at the food warehouse. I’m walking from the time I start until I leave the place. But I’ve packed a few pounds on during the holiday season and will lose them by the time my birthday arrives. Just glad I quit smoking almost four years ago.

Well enough ranting for one week. Two more weeks until the new season of “Justifide” airs.

The warehouse where I work at did it’s twice yearly physical inventory today. Us night shifters, those of us who “have” to count product, some pigs are more equal than others but that’s another topic for another day, did our areas after we finished loading trucks. Normally, around 3:00am everyone is heading out the door and calling it a weekend. Not this time. People calling in saying they won’t be able to be at the “mandatory” inventory. So, those of us night shifters had to do another area. I finished around 6:00am after starting work at 3:30pm Thursday. Seeing how we worked during a holiday work week, no overtime. Barely getting my forty hours in. Ah, the joys of a non skilled job. If the place ever got a bar code scanning system in place, it would be soooo much easier. Then again they would be able to see how much inventory “walks out”. Me, unless there’s a briefcase full of cash in the seven figure range, I don’t touch what’s not mine. I turn down enough free stuff just to keep the pipe line running. It amazes me that when you can fake interest in some ones life how much free stuff I can get. Free samples of olive oil, pasta, food, etc. There’s a lot of people who bug our buyers for free stuff all the time. Granted, us laborers don’t make much but Lord dial it back a bit. It ain’t like you can sell the stuff. I do have people I’m friendly with but I have friends out side of work. I mean who wants to hang out with someone you see four or five days a week. It’s a “family” owned place. I’m one of the few people who isn’t either related to the family or knows someone who is.  Ah well…

Amazon shipped four of the five books I ordered. Two Andrew Vachss books, The Last Spenser novel Robert B. Parker finished before he died last year, and the new W. E. B. Griffin thriller. Still waiting on my sci-fi novel about a rescue on the Moon.

Next week I’ll be buying a new cell phone. My old one has cigarette burns on it. I don’t smoke anymore and this is my Christmas gift to me. Looking really hard at an Android phone. Or something like that.

Finishing up clothes and calling it a night. Up for 21 hours and slept for five. You would think I would know better than to stay up for that long. The only time I stay awake these days is if there is a new bookI want to read and that usually happens once in a blue moon. Reading doesn’t make me sleepy. Starting to nod off. Time for bed.

Happy New Years one and all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another year shot to Hades…

I survived another Christmas season at work without having someones’s head on a pike. It was touch and go for a while. Now I just have to deal with this last week. Throw in a odd work week with a twice a year physical inventory of the joint (dry goods, freezer and refrigerated etc) and by New Years I’m due for a shot or two of Crown Royal. Which I have a bottle that’s at least five years old. I’m not much of a drinker. I killed enough brain cells during my twenties. Yeah, being stationed in Germany during the Cold War made me enjoy good German Beer. At first the just to get drunk. Afterwards, just to enjoy some damned fine brew. Now a shot or two a year of the good stuff is all I want. Cheaper that way too but the Crown Royal was a gift from my supervisor a five years back.

As usual, I spent more than I should have. Or more than was agreed to after the fact. Which in of it’s self isn’t the point. I think my expectations were colored differently this year. Dunno why but this Christmas was odder than most. As usual for a Cleveland Christmas, no snow. Mother Nature will throw her full might and being her usual freaky self will throw anything odd at us. One of these days I will get used to”Lake Effect Snow”. But not this year. Just hoping the next year will be easier to deal with. As usual, I hope not to see another holiday ham for a few months. And back to losing the much liked holiday goodies weight gain. Man it suck to have as many people in my family being damned fine cooks. Just hoping there’s not a family reunion this year. My Aunts’ Chocolate Brownies will negate any cravings of any chocolate lover for a while.

Well, time for a shower and time to relax before calling it a night. And am gratefull that the holiday muszak is done with. I swear if I hear “Jingle Bell Rock” more fracking time…