o winter, where are thou?
Originally uploaded by danmanning2001.

Oh winter, where art thou? I know I shouldn't be complaining about this weird, spring-like weather, but come on! It's late January, the birds are singing, the weather is warm, and I'm getting alergies I usually save to enjoy until spring.

Remind me to never take a job soldering the power plug on a laptop. ever. I spent all day yesteday failing to solder a socket back on a laptop. I eventually just gave up and gave the damn thing back with a refund. Uh. I fixed some email, but that's about it. It's snowing out. I'm at the firehouse working on postcards and generally f*cking off. This morning I took that laptop back. (4 round trips to Allendale for zip! Christ in a sidecar). After that I straightened-out a network in a real-estate office. That's a technical term, "straightened-out." Again, Norton Internet Security is the bane of all office networking. It makes the machines to paranoid to talk to one another. Technology. Can't live with it, can't live without it. Peace in the Middle East!

Yesterday we did many things. I went to the YMCA where I ran on a treadmill and did a step machine. I saw a 300lb one-legged man get into a swimming pool.

The girls both stayed over at friends' houses, so Deb and I stepped out. First we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, where Deb got the blazin' hot wings and proved that she is tougher than me. She didn't even flinch. I had one of hers and cried like a small baby. I had a couple of delicious Guinness beers. Then we went and saw Syriana which was okay, but confusing. I made a movie review page, which you can use as the definitive guide to all things cinematic. Then we went to BITE, where we had expensive steaks and listened to a man play a piano. Later, we went to the River City Saloon to see some friends of ours play in their band, "Trilogy". They were really good. There were several drunk rednecks in attendance, and hilarity ensued as they tried to dance. One gentleman told bawdy jokes to my wife and her friend. Later he played tambourine (not with the music) while the band played a Journey song. He had a fake ice-cube that had a light in it. It made his drink look like he got it at the bar on STNG. Then we came home. It snowed a few inches. This morning I fixed a wireless network in like, five minutes. The sun is out now. Needless to say, I have gas.

--later that evening . . . Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I have achieved the Yellow Star for feedback on Ebay. You may send congratulatory letters to my email address. I want to thank my parents, my wife and children for their support. I'd like to thank my teachers at McPherson High School and Tidewater Community College for the encouragement and training I needed to get to his point in my ebay buying career. sniff. i told myself I wouldn't cry. thank you! thank you!

Who's up for William Shatner's Kidney stone? Yes, Captain Kirk is selling it for charity. $25K. Wow.

A rainy Tuesday. I had two library books due today, so I went to the library to drop them off. I pulled into the closest parking spot I could find (with unemployment the way it is, the library is busy 11:30 on a Tuesday morning. Go figure). I grabbed the books, and got out. A moment later, a truck pulls up right in front of the entrance, to the curb marked yellow. He's not supposed to be parked there. Why this bothers me, I don't know. The guy goes inside. I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to kick a big dent in that guy's door? I got size twelve steel-toed boots on. I could really put a dent in that thing." But I figured the guy was just dropping something off. So I'm looking for a book, and lo, there's the guy, just browsing around for a book. I find my book, check out, and go outside. The truck is still there. Nobody's around. I think about it for a minute, and then I get in my car and drive off. What a petty, vindictive som-bitch I turned out to be. I didn't even leave a note that says, "LEARN TO PARK JACKASS" in red crayon or anything. But I thought about it. I suppose that's just as bad.

The United States Postal Service: another f*cked-up slacked-jawed festering scab of a waste of my tax money. They raised the price of postage. Fine. Doing less with more is just the way the government works, and there's nothing we taxpayers can do about it. I understand that and accept it. But Jesus-H-Christ-on-a-pogo-stick! If you raise the price of a postcard stamp from 23 to 24 cents, how about printing up some 24 cent stamps ahead of time you bureaucratic, knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing jackasses? I mean come on! I go to the post office to get a roll of postcard stamps, and the lady behind the counter can't even tell me when they're going to come in. I send out postcards to advertise, and I have to sit here and put TWO ^%$#ING STAMPS on a hundred postcards. I'm about to have a fucking aneurysm. @#$%^#$%^!!!@#$%%-ers!!

By the way, while I'm on a f*^#ing rant, I couldn't spell bureaucratic or aneurysm by myself, so I paste them into Micro$oft word to spell check them (because I am a monkey). M$ Word couldn't figure out my butchered spelling of bureaucratic, but when I pasted my spelling into google, it came back right away with "Did you mean bureaucratic?" without missing a beat. Note to Micro$oft: Watch your ass.

That's my rant for today. Peace motherf*&&&ers!

Savannah decides to put her head in a cardboard box. Boxhead! 

SF014 (Bush TP)
Originally uploaded by toybreaker.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

January 3, 2006
I'm not partisan or anything, but this Jack Abramoff thing is fantastic. He's going to name names. I want to see those rich Republican f*cks swing in the wind over this. And if a few Democrats go down with them, good. Crooked, Rich bastards.

January 2, 2006
I just stroked two checks, one for my Quarterly Federal Estimated Tax, and my State Sales Tax. Gee I hope the government uses my tax money wisely :) (Just kidding! You know they won't.)
We're having a thunderstorm. In January. Tell me the weather isn't screwed up by something.

January 1, 2006 Happy New Year! Dick Clark was looking a little rough this year. Deb was supposed to work, but they messed up the schedule, and she was able to come home and spend New Years at the house. We sat up, had a little bubbly, went outside and made noise, and came back in. It's a good thing 2005 is over, because it was one natural disaster after another. Things went good for us this year, we sold the house in VA and all that, business was good, I got a story published, but the rest of the world is falling apart at the seams. Hurricanes, Tsunamis, scandals, fires, floods, earthquakes, droughts, war bla bla bla. Either God is really pissed off, or it's global warming.
The thing that scares me is Dick Clark. I've always said that when Dick Clark begins to age, it is a sign of the Apocalypse. I only hope I'm wrong.
My New Year resolution:

1. Write
2. Read more

Some things never change. The Lions lost (yet again) and I'm glad their season is over.