The Donegal Express

The calling of the Rosary
Spanish wine from far away
I’m a free born man of the USA

Name:
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States

I am the most wanted man on my island; but I'm not on my island. More's the pity.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Gentlemen, I wouldn't trust this overgrown pile of microchips any further than I can throw it.

--General Beringer



Gah! The stupid Sun Ultra 2 is flaking out, and now I've got to replace the ten thousand external drives with a nice, new D1000. That's a JBOD, so I'll have to still whack disks around if they break or need replacing. With any luck, we'll see less SCSI drive freakouts, and it will be a bit cleaner in the closet. Next time, I want an A1000. I want some hardware RAID action! At least we'll have some better mirroring, and should be able to keep the DB up while we do nightly backups. Long story short, if I promised anyone to help out with anything this weekend, well..there goes my weekend.

Speaking of JBOD's, I saw the usual JOBW's (Just a Bunch Of Weenies) yesterday at the corner of St. Francis and Cerrillos. I guess it was time for the next "Five people holding up signs for 'Peace' Day." Yo, Hippy! I bet if you wave that "Bush Lied, Kids Died" sign a little higher, he'll pull our troops out of Iraq. Yeah, that'll do it.

Note to Crayola: in your next box of crayons, you need to add the color "Aging Hippy Gray".

It's true, there is an exact shade of gray that denotes "aging hippy". Ronald Reagan never had that shade of gray. Frank Rizzo never had that shade of gray. I can spot that precise shade and say to someone, "So, you were at Woodstock, right? When you went to San Francisco, you put a flower in your hair, didn't you?" They usually answer, "Mpohmfr ttrjfiow hr" Which is "brain fried on acid" for, "Fight the power, man."

Friday, January 14, 2005

But there is good news yet to hear/ and fine things to be seen/ before we go to Paradise/ by way of Kensal Green.



--Gilbert Keith Chesterton

As I was getting ready to go to bed, a thought popped into my mind. I'd remembered a story I had read years ago by a gentleman named Patrick Lally. The story dealt with a memorable Christmas Vigil Mass when he was a young boy. As the story came back to me, I decided I had to share it with whomever would stop on by, so I did a Google search.

And that's how I learned Patrick Lally died in 2002.

I never met Patrick Lally, but from what I had read of his writings, and through friends of friends, I'd come to admire and respect him. Patrick Lally was a brilliant writer, a loving husband and father, and a devoted son of Holy Mother Church. He was also an Irish storyteller of the first rank. There are few of his calibre today.

Oddly enough, the stories of his childhood did not turn up, although some other writings did. I'm going to try and contact the widow Lally, to see if she would be kind enough to share those stories again, and will post them here.

To a man I had never met, but in his own way had made a deep impression upon me:

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

He's on his final hole. He's about 455 yards away, he's gonna hit about a 2 iron I think.

-- Carl Spackler



The political teen likes the "Facists" sign. I like the "No Mulligans" sign.

No Mulligans?

Wait a sec, I thought the Republicans were the ones who wore checkered pants at the golf course. No Mulligans? What was this election for, President of Bushwood Country Club? I never thought I'd say it, but someone get Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, stat! At least then we'd get some phat phunky rhymes bustin' out, yo!

I wonder how much business Starbucks lost that day.

And We Liked It, Too!



This came from Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates.

We were born in the 40's,50's,60's,70's. We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.

After that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, butt pads etc.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Cheerleaders and little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!

If YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You had the good luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers, and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?

That's so good, except for two little things.

Shouldn't Little League be where kids learn how to play baseball? Once you get to high school or Babe Ruth ball, then you start cutting kids.

I had a Nintendo. That's why I'm IT Guy, and not Peyton Manning.


Wednesday, January 12, 2005

We are going to lose the war because our glorious Führer has taken a sleeping pill and is not to be awakened.

-- Major General Gunther Blumentritt


Thought for the day:

Does the phrase "European Union" translate into German as:

Third time's the charm.

OR

This time, without guns.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Once again, Freshman Psych rears its ugly head.

--Cher Horowitz




Ok, if one psychotherapist has the names of three other psychotherapists for his blog, does that count as multiple personality disorder?

Reading Sigmund, Carl and Alfred fills me with a morbid fascination. Is he for real? If he actually a psychotherapist? Is he really serious when he critiques other bloggers' psychological deficiencies while exhibiting psychoses out the wazoo?

I don't know. All I do know is that it's entertaining as hell, and I read early and often. So should you. Everyone in the blogosphere needs a niche, and now that Frasier's off the air SC&A has one. It's like that other great scholar, Thornton Melon, once said:

"He really cares.....about what I have no idea."

And I like the three name bit, actually. It makes me jealous. I think I'll check on the availability of larrymoeandcurly.blogspot.com . Or maybe I'll try FatherSonAndHolyGhost.blogspot.com . Or, to be obscure, eddiefrankandraoul.blogspot.com (bonus points if anyone can figure out that last one). I got it, tinkerseversandchance.blogspot.com .

Anyway, SC&A takes a few minutes to carefully smack around the stereotypical liberal and conservative. Someone once told me, the reason stereotypes exist, is that they do contain some useful information about a group, sometimes. I just substitute "leftist" or "Bircher" in place of liberal and conservative. The post flows better that way. I'll poke some holes at the conservative side of the equation. I'm sure liberals are strong enough to defend themselves, after all.

First off, *gasp* non-Christians? Hey, the Republican symbol is an elephant, not the Lamb of God. Evangelicals (of which I am not one) are unshakeable in their support for Israel. Please note they don't call it, "The Methodist State". Jewish World Review gets quite a bit of its funding from Christians. I know, I talked with Binyamin Jolkovsky about this very subject some years ago. Ask any far-right conservative to name ten Democrats they admire, and I can almost guarantee the name "Joe Lieberman" will come up. It might be the /only/ name to come up. And Bobby Jindal is a new Congressman from...Louisiana. And he's gonna be there for a long...long time.

(Ok, I don't know if Jindal is a Hindu, but still....)

And as for the flushing babies down the toilet rant. That's cool, you think people should just accept the way things are. Hey, you're free to your opinion. However, the one thing that drives me nuts is the conceit that "modern man" has reached some sort of pinnacle of uberness. The way things are are the way things are going to be. Chesterton responded to those who said, "You can't turn back the clock."

"The man who claims that it is impossible to turn back the clock, clearly knows nothing about clocks."

Yeah. Unless you live in Arizona or something, you turn back the clock once a year.

We can create our world however we wish it, only limited by the realities of human nature. We could make this planet into a giant Bedford Falls, or into the Thunderdome. Obviously, some changes would require more effort than others, and might take hold in some areas before others. A society is only the framework in which people live. That framework can and has been changed numerous times throughout history. Why couldn't it happen again?

Changing the reality of the ability to flush babies down the toilet would have a cascade effect across a wide number of variables in society. Outlawing flushing babies down the toilet would dry up the number of doctors willing to flush babies down the toilet. If not "safe" and legal, it would sure as hell be rare. Confronted with a paucity of doctors, women (and men) will be forced to rethink things like sex, marriage, and relationships. Would we start hearing about "coat hangers" again? Probably for a while, but I wouldn't go buying stock in coat hanger companies.

Children being flushed down the toilet affects all of us as a society. Case in point, Dave Thomas. Thomas was born out of wedlock in 1932 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and a couple from Michigan adopted him when he was six months old. His biological parents did not flush him down the toilet. He was adopted. Because of that one small act, I now enjoy a Frosty from Wendy's. If his parents had made a different choice, I would never have experienced the joy that is the Frosty. What am I now missing out on from the /millions/ who did not think like Dave Thomas' biological parents? I'm lessened by it.

I think we've hit a critical desalinization rate.

--Jack Hall


It's nice to remember, that no matter what happens, we're all Americans. No matter how bitter and divisive our political struggles become, we all still have a common level of decency. We're all on the same team. We can put down our bitterness and rancor and work together.

Or not.

(Tip of the hat to Michael the Archangel blog)

Man oh man. I haven't seen a deeper, scarier fever swamp since Wesley and Buttercup fought the Rodent of Unusual Size.

I haven't blogged once on the Tsunami that hit after Christmas. Honestly, what could I possibly say? What hasn't been said by every talking head, keyboard jockey and his mother on it?

But this one post, this really hit the truth. Finally, I have to come out from my deep cover.

I did it.

/I/ caused the tsunami.

My bad.

See, I had this bet with the Trilateral Commission. The bet was that Clay Aikens couldn't go all "Cool Hand Luke" and eat fifty eggs in an hour. Imagine my surprise. So, after they carried Clay out, fifty eggs and one distended stomach later, I had to make good and cause an unprecedented natural disaster. Sorry, I thought that was going to be the easiest bag of Cheetos I ever made.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

There isn't a real you.


--Lynne Margulies





Another one from imdb.

Troubled rocker Courtney Love is selling her New York apartment so she can start a new life in California. The former Hole frontwoman faced a string of lawsuits last year and was publicly carried out of her Crosby Street, Manhattan, home in July wearing a camisole and handcuffs, before spending time in hospital for an "unspecified gynecological condition". Love is now desperate to regain custody of her and late husband Kurt Cobain's daughter Frances Bean - who she lost custody of in late 2003 following her arrest for drug and assault charges - and is hoping a fresh start in LA will mean she can put the past few years behind her. Love has listed the 4,100 square foot loft, featuring a wood-burning fireplace, high ceilings and stunning views, with the Corcoran Group real estate company. Corcoran's Wilbur Gonzalez tells American website The Scoop, "It's one of the best buildings downtown and perfect for a movie or rock star."


That'll work. Good plan, C-Love. I mean, isn't that what anyone would do who wants to leave behind a past filled with drugs and excessive partying? Move to LA? Nothing but good can come from moving to Los Angeles to get away from wild parties with tons of drugs and alcohol. That's just the obvious move, go to LA to get away from the drug scene. Things will go well after that. What a big help that will be, getting away from that New York drug scene, leaving all that behind to live in sleepy little Los Angeles. Why didn't I think of that?

I can see that conversation with her neighbors.

"I just have to get away from all this. The temptation is constantly there. I could make a score at any time in New York, that's why I'm moving as far away as I can."

"So where are you headed? The country? The mountains?"

"Los Angeles."

"Ok. That'll be much better for you."

Of course, if that doesn't work out, she can always move to Amsterdam. Or Bangkok. Or Miami beach.

It's less trouble to feel sorry for her than it is to teach her anything better.

--Anne Sullivan



I'm driving through town, and I pass the local Unitarian Church. You know those sign things churches have facing the street. The ones that have Bible verses or tell you when bingo is? Well, the Unitarian church's sign had this quote:

"It is better to walk with a friend in the darkness, than to walk alone in the light."

--Helen Keller
How would she know?