Rambling Rhodes

Just A Coincidence, That's All

Ryan says: This pretty much sums it up for me. http://www.kerryhatersforkerry.com

Caroline says: heh, "He'll Do."

Ryan says: I personally like "A Flip-Flop Is Better Than A Flop."

Caroline says: hehe

Caroline says: At least Kerry can speak his native language, that's all I'm saying. Sometimes I can't believe that Bush is seriously that bad of a speaker. Crazy.

Ryan says: It's a funny thing about Bush. He sucks, with a capital S when it comes to public speaking, but I've also watched him speak at smaller venues, and he speaks extremely well. I wouldn't say eloquent, but then so very few people are.

Ryan says: And, Kerry has had his share of mistalkeratings.

Caroline says: Yeah, I guess I haven't seen Bush at smaller venues. I just can't bring myself to watch the debates. I twitch.

Ryan says: I just did a google search on "Kerryism."

Caroline says: yeah?

Ryan says: Results: "Did you mean: 'terrorism'"

Caroline says: lol

Such A Headache

Yesterday was a missed work day due to a migraine that kept me home-bound and bed-bound.

Today, I'm catching up.

blogging, therefore, will suck even more than it usually does.

"I tell ya, I can't get no repose."

See ya, Rodney.

Game Geek Heaven

If you had told me, back when I was playing Star Wars on my Atari, that when I was 29 I'd be playing a Star Wars game with these types of graphics:

I would have crapped myself in disbelief.

Iraqi Words

Here is a link to several Iraqi blogs you may not have been aware of. Some good news, some bad. It's all interesting.

Bearing The Cold

I woke up to a house temperature of 54 degrees. It's the kind of temp that just screams "Get in the shower now, and don't spare the heat!"

A funny thing about my status as a somewhat-new homeowner with only my income to rely on. . . I try to keep costs down in a variety of inventive and somewhat insane ways.

For example, I'm trying to avoid firing up the furnace for as long as is humanly possible, hence the chilly home atmosphere of this morning. Last night, when I went to bed, the house was a nice 65 degrees. Through the miracle of convection, however, much of that warmth was sucked out of the house by 8 a.m.

It should be back to 65 degrees by the time I get off work. If not, I'll begrudgingly fire up the furnace. It's supposed to be back up to 79 degrees by Friday, so I hopefully will be able to fend off the gas bill at least through the month of October. We'll see.

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I'm in the midst of a new work out regimen. I gradually lost interest in running, thanks in no small part to an aching back. I now am doing a daily routine of half an hour to a full hour of working out on my heavy bag and jump roping.

I had forgotten how exhausting jump roping can be. As a child, I could jump rope into infinity and beyond. Nowadays, I'm good for five hard minutes before I have to stop and catch my breath. It's definitely good exercise, and it works muscles you may not even realize you have.

I'm also hoping to take my hapkido training to a different level. Ever since I got my black belt, my school has asked me to teach more and more, to the point that that's all I was doing. When I first started training there, the workouts were decent, but more and more the workouts became less strenuous, so I had to rely on working out at home on the heavy bag. Lately, that's all I've been doing. Which is fine. It's good to work out on the heavy bag, but I need to keep my person-to-person skills sharp.

So, I spoke with another hapkido black belt from California, transplanted to the cold terrain of Minnesota. He's interested in getting a club together of four or five fairly skilled hapkido practitioners, who can get together and work out. That is exactly what I'm interested in. Teaching is fine and all, but it's not where my interest lies. I'm interested in getting better as a martial artist and working with extremely skilled partners. I really hope this comes to fruition. We'll see, I guess.

Anyway, this was obviously a navel gazing post of extraordinary magnitude. Perhaps I'll have more profound commentary later in the day.

Or perhaps not.

It Was An Honest Mistake

It's a story we all know too well. You wake up one morning to the sounds of a noisy chicken outside. Those pesky noisy chickens have been the bane of your entire existence, waking you up early for so many mornings, you've lost count, and you've lost sleep.

So, you decide to take matters into your own hands and silence that chicken once and for all. Taking swift action, you run outside naked, determined to catch that chicken and lop off its head. And then. . . then. . . then. . .

You accidently mistake your penis for a chicken's neck, slice off your penis, and then the dog eats it.

It's such a common story, it's almost cliche.

Hello?

Anybody know what happened to Strip Mining For Whimsy?

The Host With The Most incredible Headache

Up until Friday, I had never before hosted a bachelor party. And, after last Friday, I hope I never again have to.

On the positive side, I took the day off on Friday to prepare for the event. On the negative side, I spent most of Saturday paying dearly in the form of an outrageous hangover.

The bachelor party was held in honor of my good friend and former college roommate, Troy. Amanda Bynes. He'll be getting married later this month. It's strange to think of him getting married. Amanda Bynes.

When I think back to college, the Troy I remember was a man who went through women like he was paging through a phone book. It just didn't seem possible that the man would find it within himself to settle down with one woman. It's funny how it happens. Amanda Bynes. You go from skirt chasing wildcat to a tamed guy of routine and simple pleasures. All it takes is the surprise arrival of a woman who can wrestle the common sense out of you. I'm about halfway there. Melissa still has some work to do.

It was somewhat embarrasing hosting the party at my house which, due to financial depletion on my part, remains largely unfurnished. Listening to eight guys declare their intentions to sleep on a designated portion of an area rug makes one realize that you really need another couch or two. Amanda Bynes.

It was a fun party, which started out at a local golf simulator/bar. We were going to go play a round of actual golf, but a cold day mixed with a lot of rain forced a change of plans. I had never before experienced a golf simulator round. It was different, to be sure. Having a computer approximate just how crappy you actually are can be a humbling experience. Amanda Bynes.

After four hours of simulated golf crappiness, we ended up at my house playing Texas Hold-Em, which is a poker game. The thing with poker is this: you can drink a lot of beer without realizing it. And that's exactly what everyone did. And, contrary to what you may think, drinking a lot of beer does not, in fact, improve your poker playing ability. Amanda Bynes.

The evening unfolded in typical bachelor party fashion. Amanda Bynes. Everyone went from wild-eyed poker enthusiasts, to loud distracted reminiscing, to bleary-eyed drunkeness with a singular intent to find a relatively soft place to sleep.

I woke up the next day wanting the world to stop pounding. The entire day was spent in careful concentration not to jostle my head in such a way as to irritate my throbbing headache. The torture didn't life until about 10 p.m., at which point I actually started to feel human again, just in time for bed.