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Wednesday, November 08, 2006

SOMEONE WINS

SOMEONE LOSES

That how elections go. Since Dubya is now officially a "Lame Duck" and the opposition controls one House of Congress, the other still in limbo as of this posting, very little will be accomplished by either side over the next 2 years. Any changes that Congress wants to make to what the President has done during the last 6 years will be vetoed. And there is not the necessary 2/3s vote to override the veto. Any new legislation the President wants to finish out his last two years will very likely just die in some committee chamber.

Which means that it is the American People who are the true losers. As usual.

It has been an interesting political season and all the players are in place for the BIG one in 2008.

I wish that Harry S. Truman was still the boss.

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I must apologize for yesterdays Picture Gallery. My normal procedure is to preload, and save as a draft, all the images I am going to use during any week.. One of my processes is to resize all images to a 1024 pixel width. Yesterday, I forgot to double check and thus all enlargements were in their original size when you clicked them for a larger view.

Speaking of images. Seems that Blogger was having a problem yesterday. On the majority of sites that I visited, the images were being referenced in the text but were not on display. A later revisit shows that they have now, miraculously reappeared. Must have taken a sidetrip into the "Twilight Zone".

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I woke up this afternoon but my "get-up-and-go" rolled over and went back to sleep. Kept trying to get ready for another night but the body was drained. No energy. I don't feel bad, just extremely tired. So, I called off for the night.

I have to be a "day" person sometime this week to be able to renew my drivers license. Yup, I enter my last year of "middle age" on Monday. Next year I become an official "senior citizen". Big thrill. NOT!

Its a bitch growing old. If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

Called the daughter and wished her a Happy Birthday. Her youngest, Evan, was being a typical 2-1/2 year old while mom was on the phone. Her oldest was being a typical teenager, sequestered in his bedroom.

Not a heck of a lot more to say. I am going back to bed and I hope everyone has a spectacular day.


THE PICTURE GALLERY

The Only Relation This Pic Has With Mau'i
Is That The Artist Lives Here
Looks Like These Folks Found The
End Of The Rainbow
Waterfalls Abound On The East Side Of Mau'i
Another Beautiful Bay
Inside Haleakala
Barred Filefish
Green Sea Turtle
Turtle Rocks
Off The East End Of Moloka'i
Humpbacks
"We Have 'Lift-off'!"
Tropical Flower
"What A Loverly Bunch Of Coconuts"
West Mau'i
Time For Me To Get To Work




"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

ITS ELECTION DAY


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Another pleasant Monday night. Picked Judy up from her place of work and then went and bought the daughter's birthday gift. She turns 34 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AMBER

Obviously, since she lives in California, her gift is going to arrive late. Its a Optimus digital camera. I added the 2GB memory stick. Her internet connection is on the fritz, so she won't be reading this immediately. I'll ship it out via UPS today, so she should have it by the weekend. Then, as soon as the internet problem is resolved, I'll start getting pics of her two sons on a more timely basis.

After that Judy and I went grocery shopping and then on to her place where I cooked the promised dinner. It was delicious. I only know how to cook for a small army, so there were enough leftovers to meet our dietary needs for the next couple of days, each.

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I use the free version of AVG for my virus protection. I see that starting 15 January, 2007, they will discontinue service for version 7.1. You can go to their website and download the new version 7.5.4 of their FREE anti-virus protection. For those of you using a pay service anti-virus system, you might consider replacing it with AVG when your next renewal comes up..


THE PICTURE GALLERY

An Off-shore Rainbow
Science City
Atop Haleakala
Inside Haleakala Crater
Hana Highway
Hana Bay
A Beautiful Protea
Green Sea Turtle
An Aquanaut Going Sub-orbital
O'heo Gulch During A Dry Period
Kaupo Store
Interior Of Kaupo Store
Buddha Statue At The Jodo Mission In Lahaina
The Jodo Mission Temple In Lahaina
The End Of Another Day
(the beginning of mine)




"Let's all be careful out there!"

Monday, November 06, 2006

LETS STOP FOR A MOMENT

AND PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE

The American airways are going to be filled with nothing but campaign rhetoric today.

View this video, pause and contemplate just how insignificant it all really is.





"Let's all be careful out there!"

VOTE EARLY

VOTE OFTEN

Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 7th) is election day.

Please exercise the power given you by our Constitution.


Whether you are on the extreme reactionary right or the far radical left, your vote is important. Most important of all are the votes that come from those in the "middle of the road". The ignored and forgotten moderate voter finally has a chance to determine where America is headed.

And to all the politicians, remember:
50.1% is NOT a mandate.

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London Metro Police have some interesting patrol cars.



They also have very strict protocols about who is allowed to operate a police vehicle.

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To clear up some confusion. OGG is the FAA designator for the Kahului International Airport. Like LAX, JFK, SFO, etc.

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Rather than taking Judy to dinner tonight, I have offered to cook dinner for us at her house. Yeah, I know how to do more than barbeque. Nothing fancy. Just a meatloaf. You can't get a decent meatloaf in any restaurant and I have had a hankerin' for one for a long time.

Ground beef, of course. Rather than bread crumbs, I use crushed Cheez-It crackers.. Tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. A packet of dry onion soup mix. Sliced black olives. Mushroom bits. Some diced red bell pepper. Just before it is done baking, I cover the top in cheddar, mozzerella and jack cheeses, shredded, and let it melt over the top without burning.

The leftovers make great sandwiches.


THE PICTURE GALLERY

Mana Kai
Ka'anapali
Assorted Views









Its Almost Whale Watching Season
Sunset
Where My Day Begins




"Let's all be careful out there!"