But remember: Ron Paul supporters are the ones rigging elections. Yup. Definitely what I just saw.

I’d never heard this song before today, and now I’m obsessed with it. WTF.

I don’t whine a lot - really, I don’t. I rant and I bitch, but I very rarely whine. If I’m whining, it’s usually because I’m experiencing some form of physical torment.

Case in point: I’m sick. Whine, whine, whine. See the correlation?

Mike gave me a cold. I’ve stayed remarkably healthy this season, but his germs finally bested me. I’ve been eating a steady diet of vitamin c, echinacea, Airborne, multi-vitamins, and chicken soup. I slept terribly last night because I kept waking up unable to breathe. Vicks’ Vap-o-Rub is my friend!

Anyway, then I had to go to work at 6:15, and I muddled my way through about five hours of work before my boss called, figured out I was sick, and told me to take my germs and go work from home. Well, snap. I’d much rather work from home, but right now, more than anything, I’d like to sleep!

Oh, and here’s another little-known fact about me: I’m a dirty rotten hippie when it comes to healthcare. I very, very rarely take any sort of synthetic drugs, even Advil - my remedies usually consist of a vitamin and herb cocktail. If I get to the point where I’m taking a -fed or a -dryl, I’m really sick.

So now you’ve learned two things about me - if I’m whining, I’m probably in physical pain, and if I’m drugging myself, I’m in way worse physical pain.

I just finished my green tea with honey, so I’m going to go hit up another round of vitamins (Can you overdose on vitamin c? I might ought to check on that…) and some chicken soup. I think it’s also time to break out the peppermint schnapps.

What are your tried and true kill-it-before-you-get-sick or get-over-a-cold-quick or don’t-feel-like-death-while-it-lasts remedies?

1) Having to work at 6:15 a.m.
2) Trying to scrape ice off my truck so I could run to get breakfast, only to find my ice-scraper is dull or something.
3) Running out of gas while I’m warming up the truck because my gas gauge doesn’t really work right. (This one was tempered by the fact I had about 2 oz. of gas in my second tank, which was enough to get me to the gas station. Barely.)
4) Getting to the gas station to find it costs me $50.75 to put 15.5 gallons of gas in my vehicle.
5) My feet being very cold and NOT WARMING UP.

:grump grump grump:

Mitt Romney on Rudy Giuliani’s attempted attack regarding illegal immigrants working for a company Romney contracted:

[paraphrased] Are you seriously suggesting any time an American homeowner hires a company that provides workers, if that homeowner sees an worker that looks foreign or has a funny accent, he should walk out and demand to see the worker’s documentation?

Giuliani: Pwned.

Fred Thompson on the Second Amendment:

“The Second Amendment is not a choice thing - I mean it’s in the Constitution of the United States… I mean that’s a protection that people have against [applause] infringement of the government.”

On personal firearms ownership/use:

Fred Thompson: “I own a couple of guns, but I’m not gonna tell you what they are or where they are.”

Cliffs Notes on Everybody Else:
John McCain: I used guns in the military, LIKE THAT ONE TIME I WAS A POW, now I don’t have any. *cue everyone feeling guilty about John McCain being a POW*
Duncan Hunter: Blahdey blah blah my dad something blahdey blah 20 gauge.
Rudy Giuliani: Doesn’t own a gun. NO WAI!
Mitt Romney: Two guns in the household, both belong to his son Josh.

They didn’t ask Ron Paul that one, which is a damn shame, because I’d really like to know. He didn’t raise his hand as somebody who doesn’t own guns, so… I’m just left wondering how extensive the arsenal really is. Mike thinks he probably has an M14. :)

Just a heads-up - PGB will be down for a good 8+ hours starting at 10 pm (PST) on November 30th. Dreamhost is physically moving my server cluster. *sad face*

Cross your fingers it only lasts 8 hours!

…Where you’re struck by a thought: What in the hell am I doing right now?

I just had one of those, after adding “Don’t Stop Believing” as my MySpace song, then watching this, which led me to this, which led me to have this one-sided “conversation” with Mike, via IM, as he’s sitting in the other room:

Me: ……………wtf.
Me: And on that note… *downloads Peter Gabriel music*
Me: For the record:
Me: Peter Gabriel > Phil Collins
Me: YEAH I SAID IT

Allow me to add: I haven’t had a lick of alcohol this evening, I really am just this strange.

So I was just looking up turkey cooking tips, since it seemed like our bird last year took forever to cook. I want to make sure I time things right this year. Anyway, I came across a bit about thawing, and how you can do it in the fridge, or in cold water, or…

…in the microwave.

There is something inherently ridiculous and also gag-worthy about the idea of microwaving a turkey. (In the interest of full disclosure, I must note I don’t even own a microwave - they freak me out.)

I wish I was brave (and by brave I mean southern) enough to deep fry the turkey. That would be awesome.

EDIT: Oh Lord… Thanks to the suggestion by Implementor in the comments, I’ve now found this (and I think we have a winner!):

Bacon-Roasted Turkey With Sweet-Onion Gravy

1/2 lb bacon, chopped (not too lean)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons thyme leaves, plus 1 thyme sprig
salt & freshly ground black pepper
16-18 lbs turkey
6 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
4 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 large white onions, chopped
1 large sweet onion, such as Spanish Sweets, thinly sliced
1 large garlic clove, smashed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart rich turkey stock (Rich Turkey Stock) or chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth

Read the rest of this entry »

Supreme Court to consider D.C. handgun ban

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the District of Columbia can ban handguns, a case that could produce the most in-depth examination of the constitutional right to “keep and bear arms” in nearly 70 years.

This is either going to be a very, very good thing, or a very, very bad thing. I need to start reading up on my justices and try to figure out what our odds are.

Keep your powder dry, friends.

1. It snowed today! It didn’t stick. I know it’s strange to hear me lauding snow and cold weather, but if there’s one thing I hate worse than freezing through the winter, it’s wondering if Al Gore might is onto something. ;)

2. I got hotlinking protection fixed on here via my .htaccess file. I think. Anybody who tries to steal my bandwith should now be redirected to the Wikipedia article on hotlinking. Unfortunately, I can’t recall where I’ve hotlinked my own images, so… If anybody runs across something broken, do me a favor and let me know.

EDIT: Well, shit. The hotlinking fix broke my permalinks. Back to the drawing board…

EDIT #2: Okay, I tentatively think I fixed the permalinks and the hotlinking. Please, please, please tell me if you find anything out of whack.