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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
All Your Waves and Breakers Have Swept Over Me. (Psalm 42:7)
Oh, man, today (Wednesday) is going to be a killer. It is a little after 7am at the moment... I went to bed about 1 am last night and slept exactly *not at all* the entire night. A perfect storm of issues conspired to keep me awake all night, including acid reflux, an achy head cold that seems impervious to medicine, and the fact that I got a latte at Starbucks on the way home from the Tuesday night writer's group meeting. That was about 7:30 pm or so.
Anyway, the caffeine, the acid reflux and the head cold means I am going to crash and burn soon, hopefully not while on the road. I'm going to surprise my mom and go into the rug shop early today.
Wish me luck.
After I regain my equilibrium, I'll be back to post more. Just killing time before Jimbo's opens at 8am. Gonna grab some healthy food this morning on the way into work.
Posted by David Wagner at 7:20 AM 5 comments:
Monday, March 29, 2010
He Who Shared My Bread Has Lifted Up His Heel Against Me. (Psalm 41:9)
Greetings! It is I, Dave the Lame, here to help transition you through the week by singing the Happy Monday Song!
OK, everyone, we need to work together to make this song awesome. Abbie and Krista, you join in with harmonies on the refrain. Logan, you play your mandolin Jimmy Henrix-style behind your head. Havah, I want you to make that tuba come alive! Mom, I'm going to need you to take up smoking again real quick, because when I signal you, you'll come in to sing the baritone section, especially during the bridge. Joseph, improvise something on that xylophone, but don't get carried away. I'm trusting you here. Paula, the bagpipes are important in the intro. It sets the mood for the whole song, so don't choke! Vye, get on the mike and pass wind as you see fit. And Rebecca, you can do an interpretive dance, if you keep it tasteful... remember, this is a family-friendly blog.
The rest of you, clap along on the off-beat. But no tambourines!
OK, The Happy Monday Song, by the My Little Corner of the World Blog Choir and Barber Shop Quartet, in A minor.
Wait, where's my top hat? Darn it, I can't sing without my top hat!
You know what, forget it. The moment has passed.... I better post a cute dog picture, and then get on with tonight's post...
So I decided I was going to try a new hobby: Binge Swearing! The idea is to just randomly cut loose with an unrelenting barrage of foul language so harsh and uncalled-for that everyone within earshot is left aghast and mildly nauseous. And then, while everyone is standing there, stunned, you rifle through their purses and wallets for any loose change and/or small bills. Oh, it's all the rage with Christian youth these days. It's sort of a post-modern thing.
OK, so I decided to practice here on the blog tonight, to see if it carries the same effect in text form. OK, ready? Ahem...
Wait, where's my top hat? Darn it, I can't use a tub-full of four-letter words if I'm not wearing my top hat!
You know what, forget it. The moment has passed.
Man, I'm 0-for-2 tonight so far! Better post another cute dog picture...
Hmm... that's the best I've got left. I better troll the funny pic sites again and replenish my archive...
So I was at Target tonight, and was walking around the place, looking for Wifey, holding a Smoothie from Jamba Juice in my hand, which I bought for her, so she would love me again. I was weaving through the human flotsam that was clogging up the aisles, and I maneuvered to the far right side of the aisle, making my move. A large wicker basket was sticking off of one of the shelves, and it clipped the drink out of my hand as I passed, and I dropped it on the floor, by way of my foot, by way of my pantleg. So just like that, I was wearing Wifey's smoothie. Needless to say, the ploy to get her to love me again failed. I shall regroup and try again tomorrow.
I've been working on my novel, for those of you that were wondering. What? You weren't wondering!? What kind of friends are you!? I mean, I've known you my whole life! The fun times we used to have, playing around the neighborhood, riding bikes and skateboards, selling drugs, running from the cops... all those good times, for nothing! You don't even care about my novel! I've poured my heart and soul into this book, and all I get from you is apathy and indifference!
That does it... where's my top hat?
Darn it!
I'm forced to use the very last funny dog picture on you. When you see it, you'll understand why it's the last one...
A pug with two butts. This is what I've been reduced to. It is a sad day, indeed. And to make matters worse, I didn't win the autographed copy of The Name of the Wind from Logan. Krista won it. I'm happy for her, and sad for me. So very sad.
By the way, Kris posted a review of Pixar's movie Up over on his blog, and it initiated a lively discussion in the comments section about which Pixar movie is the best. I voted for Monster's Inc. Everyone has a different answer. Which Pixar film do you all like the best?
Don't just think your answer, silly! Write it in a comment! Sheesh!
Dave the Odd, signing off....
Posted by David Wagner at 11:55 PM 11 comments:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
2 Reviews: Lone Survivor and Up In the Air
I got this book from my Step-dad for Christmas in 2009, and could tell from the blurb on the back cover that it was right up my alley, as far as books I enjoy reading - though admittedly, I can only take books like this once in a while. The emotions and tension, intensified by the fact that it's a true story, means I can only take so much.
Here's the text from the back cover:
On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission: to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader. Less than 24 hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.
This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of the men who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left. Luttrell recalls their valiant efforts in one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare -- a stirring tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
You may wonder if that back cover blurb is hype. In my estimation, to the contrary, it is understated. This tale, once it gets rolling, grabs you by the throat.
I say "once it gets rolling", because really, the first half (or so) of the book focuses primarily on first Luttrell's childhood, and then a detailed account of the incredible training that a Navy SEAL must undergo before earning his trident. They aren't just pushed to their limits, physically and mentally, but beyond. It is necessary to cover the training so thoroughly, since it helps put into context the mission and the men, the unity and camaraderie among SEALs that transcends anything we can grasp, really, unless we have successfully gone through it ourselves. Having read the detail about the training, a reader (like me) can come as close to grasping that unity and brotherhood as possible -- without this section of the book, I doubt the real survival part of the story would carry as much weight.
Once the doomed mission begins in earnest, the writing pulls no punches. Sent deep into the Afghani mountains, about as isolated as men can get - yet supremely confident and capable - the team was compromised in the most random manner. Perched on a ridge overlooking a village, perfectly camouflaged and still, they monitored the village, looking to identify an al Qaeda leader rumored to be among the residents below. Before they can make the ID, three goat herders out with their flock of goats just happen to come over their ridge and literally step right onto them. They didn't see them until they literally were right on them.
The SEAL team holds them at gunpoint out of view while they decide what to do. It truly is an impossible situation. If they kill the goat herders, there will be this big flock of goats milling around, and soon more villagers will come investigating, probably bringing arms with them. It is common knowledge that our "rules of engagement" do not allow for injury or death of unarmed civilians (like the goat herders), and they know they can immediately contact Al Jazeera and get word of the deaths on the news immediately, which would mean investigation and likely trials for murder back in the states. This may seem silly, but it is, in fact, a very real concern, and the cause of no end of bitterness and anger from the troops over there, who feel they can't fight the way they need to in order to ensure victory.
The other option is to let the goat herders go, which they ultimately do, and hope against hope that they don't run right down and notify the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces that overrun the mountains there. They release the goat herders, and fall back, knowing that they likely just wrote their own death warrants. And, as they fear, less than an hour later, it is on, as 200 armed enemy fighters initiate a desperate fight to kill the four SEALs, including Luttrell.
His story of survival must be read to be believed.
I haven't read a book like this since With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge. It really wrung me out, and raised my already-high respect level for SEALs and fighting men in general up even higher. It has profanity, as you can imagine, but it also is a showcase for Marcus Luttrell's faith in God, as he reaches the very limits of his strength, endurance, sanity, hope...
Summary: 5/5 Highly recommended. An incredible survival story, made more intense by the knowledge that it actually happened.
I watched the movie Up In the Air last night. Easily the best of the movie's I've seen that were nominated for Best Picture earlier this year. Terrific writing, great acting, well-filmed and edited. A little melodramatic in places, but it really worked well on many levels.
It's the story of a man (George Clooney) who travels the country, firing people for large companies that have to lay off lots of people, and don't want to do it themselves. Clooney isn't a freelancer - he is one of many agents that work for a company whose purpose is to come in and fire people, then leave again, to the next town, and next business in the throws of downsizing. He is good at his job and loves his life. He is also a motivational speaker (of sorts) who fits in speeches to groups about the advantages of living as simply as possible, without being burdened by things or other people.
His world is rocked by news that his company will be transitioning from in-person firing to a web-based remote system that will take him off the road and stick him in a cubicle at the home office from now on, firing people via webcam. The young woman (Anna Kendrick) who came up with this new system is (in Clooney's eyes) naive, unaware of the realities of actually having to fire people. She doesn't see why it has to be done face to face. Clooney's boss (Jason Bateman) wants to introduce the new system, but Clooney strenuously objects. Bateman proposes a compromise - Clooney must take the young, naive system designer out with him on the road for a few months, so she can get some real world experience.
The story is a good one, really, and the movie is peppered with tons of really effective, minor performances. I think my favorite was Amy Morton, who played one of Clooney's sisters in the film. But everyone, major and minor, turns in strong performances. Several sub-plots all wind themselves together, and there is a rather surprising turn of events at the end. By the time the end credits roll, it becomes evident that the name of the movie applies on several different levels, to several different characters. It really is well done.
There is a good amount of profanity, and a scene with a bare tush, if that bothers you. Otherwise, highly recommended.
Summary: 4/5 Great movie. Enjoyed it much more than Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker.
Posted by David Wagner at 9:08 PM 7 comments:
Friday, March 26, 2010
He Set My Feet on a Rock and Gave Me a Firm Place to Stand. (Psalm 40:2)
OK, here's the part where I whine about how tired I am, and then you ask me why I'm up so late... and then we'll be at the part where I say something brilliant like, "I'm so tired, I can't sleep." And you say, "I'm bored with this post already - I wonder what Logan posted today?"
Then we'll be at the part where I weep softly into my stein full of root beer...
Hey, if you really want to be bored, I can go into more detail on my time on jury duty... or I can bombard you with details of the video conversion problems I finally solved today, regarding Rug Care Central and Traffic Geyser... and the new, bizarre obstacle that dragged everything to a halt yet again...
But instead, here's a Funny Picture...
I followed a cool link to a page that has tons of great prank ideas for the upcoming April Fool's Day - yet another holiday I don't really celebrate. In my old age, I think I should give more of these minor holidays a shot... anyway, HERE is the link to the page, if you want to chuckle for a few minutes, scrolling through the pranks. Not all of them are good, clean, wholesome fun, but most of them are pretty clever.
I like the device you sneak into a friend's keyboard that randomly activates the All Caps key as they type... they also have a light-activated device that you hide, that plays audio of a dripping faucet when the lights are out. When someone finally gets up to see which faucet is dripping, turning on the light in the room, the noise stops... until the light goes off again. MUAHAHAHAH!!!
They even have a device that you attach to a phone cord, so that 25% of the time, a call will purposely be misdialed, resulting in wrong numbers, even if they are punched in correctly. Dang! One clever item is an alarm clock that is embedded inside a dumbbell. When the alarm sounds, to shut it off, you have to do 10 bicep curls, lol.
They have several other links, to pages about pranks to play on a person's computer, or certain mischievous add-ons you can add to your friend's Firefox browser, if he/she uses that, and lots of other stuff. Like the "Mento + soda" prank... which I may have to try on one of my daughters...
And now, the ultimate romantic gift... a bouquet of bacon roses!
OK, this is the part where I realize I have nothing left to say. I need sleep.
I've been hearing from a couple people that comments aren't getting posted here for some reason. I have no clue why that would be - you know how addicted to comments I am, I want as many as possible! They did make some changes lately to blogger, so maybe they gummed up the works. All I can say is, sorry for the inconvenience.
OK, I'm tipping over now, I'm off.
Posted by David Wagner at 12:44 AM 9 comments:
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Let Me Know How Fleeting Is My Life. (Psalm 39:4)
Having NO IDEA whether any of you have any interest whatsoever in hearing about the case I just served as a jury member on, I will preface tonight's post with a simple warning.
WARNING: If hearing summarized details of a random robbery case would be about as interesting to you as hearing the dictionary read backwards, scroll down to the Funny Picture of the cops examining the large manure deposit some anonymous bank customer dropped off at his/her bank, in an act of protest (an act, by the way, which I would like to replicate myself, on the doorstep of my local Wells Fargo, for past grievances).
So, the trial finished up today! We agreed unanimously to drop a pair of "Guilty" verdicts on a hapless tool that tried to rob a small candy store in El Cajon with a toy gun.
OK, stop me if you've heard this one before...
A guy goes into a Spanish candy store (aka "dulceria") and chats with the owner of the store (a Spanish lady) about some of the pinatas that she has on sale. He leaves, and her only other customer leaves shortly thereafter. 5 minutes later, the same man enters, produces a gun, points it at her, demanding money. She screams and darts down the side aisle to the back of the store, to warn her other employee (also female) about the situation. The robber follows her back.
Meanwhile, a man exits from the tailor shop next door, hears the scream, and comes in to investigate. The front of the store is empty, so he calls out. In the back of the store, the robber holds the fake gun at his side, tells the two ladies to get on the ground. They refuse, the owner saying that if he wants money, they have to go back up front. She leads him back up front, the robber quickly hiding his fake gun, seeing the man who just entered to check out the scream.
"Sorry, we're closed," the robber says to the man. The man doesn't believe him, and suspects something is up. The robber just smiles and says, "This lady is crazy, don't mind her. She just owes me money." Turning to the owner, who is now behind the counter, the robber says, "Come on, lady, give me my money." He reaches across the counter and starts pushing random buttons on the cash register. In the back, the other employee calls 911, but they don't answer.
Back up front, the owner opens a drawer below the register, grabs a tazer and tries to taze his hand as he's pushing the buttons on the register. It didn't work, since she forgot to turn it on first. So she grabs pepper spray from the same drawer and starts blasting the robber with it. He's wearing big sunglasses, so initially, it didn't seem to effect him. He comes around the counter to her side, still demanding "his" money. She is still pepper spraying him. He looks into the open drawer (where the tazer and spray came from) and sees a gun. It is a toy gun, but he doesn't know that. He grabs it.
Now the male customer knows for sure the guy is a robber - he's holding a gun! So the male customer backs out of the shop and looks for a passing cop (busy street, tons of traffic outside.) The robber finally decides to abandon the robbery and flees, taking the shop's toy gun as he fled. They all watch him disappear up the block and around the corner.
They flag down a patrol car, give the cops a quick description and the cops take off after the suspect, sending out a call to police in the area.
2 blocks away, the robber has removed everything he was wearing except his shoes and pants. He is on a bike, riding down an alley, toward a safehouse of some sort. In a stroke of luck, there happens to be an undercover officer right in that alley, accompanying two welfare officials on some unrelated business. The robber brakes to a stop around a short wall, and is face to face with the detective, who just heard the call over the radio about the robbery. After a brief verbal exchange, during which the sweating, crying perp slowly tries to back away, the detective figures something is fishy, so he detains and cuffs him.
The now-cuffed perp asks the detective if he would please take the shirt the perp had hanging on his bike and wipe his face with it. The detective obliges, and then immediately feels the effects of the pepper spray that is on the perp's face, which he just wiped, lol. He radios it in. Cops arrive, find the two fake guns in the pantlegs, and his clothing scattered between there and the candy store.
The owner, the employee and the man who watched the robbery a few minutes earlier are all brought one at a time to ID the suspect, which they easily do - mostly because of the very distinctive pants he had been wearing, which he hadn't had time to ditch yet. DNA match on the abandoned clothing cinched the deal.
That's the long and the short of it! A completely incompetent, unlucky tool.
Here's the problem that caused a slight delay in coming to a unanimous decision today.
While we all easily agreed that it was proven the defendant was the man who tried the rob the store, there were questions about the way the charges were presented.
One charge was Felony robbery of the owner lady, for taking the toy gun from the store (that's all he got away with). The other charge was Attempted Robbery of the other employee - the lady in the back of the store.
Now make sense out of that!
Turns out, if you take something from someone by force or fear, regardless of it's value, it is felony robbery. I thought it was more along the lines of shoplifting, if that. I felt it was ridiculous to consider that robbery a successful, completed robbery attempt, because he took the toy pistol with him. Going to send a guy to jail for several years for *that*?
And the charge of Attempted Robbery, attached specifically to the other employee, and not to the store itself, or even the owner? He never demanded money from the other lady, he wanted the cash in the till! He did tell her to lay down, but never even pointed the toy gun at her. She didn't comply in any case.
But it turns out, if you try to rob a store, you are also technically trying to rob the owner and/or the employees, since they have authority over the contents of the store. So if there had been 6 employees, there would have been 6 Attempted Robbery charges, whether he even knew they were in the building or not. Weird.
So, by the letter of the law, he was found guilty on both charges. But I still don't know why it wasn't just a simple case of Attempted Robbery against the store, which failed. The guy was a moron, really.
So that was bizarre. I know he was the guy that tried to rob the place - but did those two specific charges get proven beyond a reasonable doubt? Honestly, it took some pretty heavy twisting and turning to make them fit. He was obviously the robber, and he couldn't skate unpunished. But the charges themselves just seemed a little odd...
In any case, he's heading for jail, one less toolbag on the streets.
You're welcome!
The question now remains: Is it a crime to deposit a blanket-full of manure at the bank, in protest? Felony or misdemeanor? It looks easily removable - it isn't like it was smeared all over, or fed into the ATM deposit slot (which is what I would have done, lol). I despise Wells Fargo, and have long tried to think of a way to express my extreme displeasure to them in a way that is both effective and legal. I'll have to ponder this one...
I decided to give Hawkwood's Voyage by Paul Kearney another shot. It's a book I tried to get into early last year, and it ended up on my Unfinished Book Shelf. But I was done with Lone Survivor, and I needed to find another paperback that would fit into my coat pocket, to read today on the bus and while on break. I think I'm sufficiently hooked this time around to continue it.
But I need some new books to read. My shelves are pretty combed-through. Any suggestions?
OK, I'm going to end it here and go get some sleep. Got some catching up to do on some work I missed while I was doing my Civic Duty, for both Piranha and the Rug Shop. Gonna dig in and get some stuff done on Thursday.
Hope I didn't bore you too much with the trial stuff. I needed to dump it all out while it was fresh. I won't bring it up again.
Posted by David Wagner at 10:45 PM 7 comments:
Monday, March 22, 2010
My Guilt Has Overwhelmed Me, Like a Burden Too Heavy to Bear. (Psalm 38:4)
Isn't that a nice sky?
It's too bad, that old saying about nice skies finishing last....
BUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!1!!!! Oh, man, I'm so funny! [Dave dabs his eyes] Man, there's nothing like a great pun...
Too bad that was merely mediocre....
Sounds like a band name... "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage MERELY MEDIOCRE!"
OK, before I get started on tonight's post, I have to post a video. And yes, I need to post it nice and large...
Come on, you knew the video was going to be wind related... I mean, this is me we're talking about here....
A bizarre day of jury duty today. It started out really early - well, for me, anyway. I got up at 6:15 am... do you pity me? I went to the main bus depot in Escondido, never having ridden the bus form of mass transit before. I didn't know I needed to buy the ticket on the bus itself, from the driver! So I'm wandering around, looking for a ticket window, like a tool. Then I didn't know I needed exact change and that the driver couldn't give me any change back... until after I put my $20 into the money machine at the front of the bus. So my $5 ticket cost me $20. Oh, well... live and learn, eh?
Got downtown early, and read Lone Survivor (Marcus Luttrell) for about an hour before Jury Duty was supposed to begin (at 9am). And I kept reading until they actually called us, at 9:30. Then we heard one witness for about 10 minutes before being sent out on a 20 minute break while the lawyers dealt with something. Then back in for the very beginning of the next witness, before being stopped by a sidebar, and then sent out on another 30 minute break, so the defense lawyer could attend to something in another courtroom. We returned to hear approximately 15 more minutes of testimony, which took us to 11:30 am, at which time we were dismissed for a 2 hour lunch break. I kid you not, between 9am and 1:30, we were in the court for about 45 minutes, the rest was spent on "breaks."
After lunch, they let us in late, we heard about 10 minutes of testimony, and yep, we were sent on another 15 minute break which stretched into 90 minutes. We returned about 3:15 pm to hear a bit more testimony, and were released for the day at 4, which was a half-hour early. The majority of the day was spent on break.
The good news is, I'm almost finished reading my book. If you ever want your heart broken, while simultaneously developing unbelievable respect for what Navy SEALS do, read Lone Survivor. It will chew you up and spit you out, and leave you wanting more. AMAZING book.
The other good news is, we were told the Prosecution will wrap up their case Tuesday morning, after 2 more witnesses. The lawyer promised to have both final witnesses ready to roll at 9am, but we'll see. The judge said we should begin deliberating Tuesday afternoon. So much for a week-and-a-half trial! Took Friday, a bit of Monday, and (supposedly) a bit of Tuesday. I think the Prosecuting attorney was expecting a much more robust defense attempt by the defense lawyer. The defense attorney looks exactly like Joaquin Phoenix, by the way, which is weird. I keep expecting him to put on an ivy headpeace and give thumbs up or thumbs down to the witnesses...
By the way, does this count as violating the "don't talk about the trial" rule? I'm not mentioning specifics of the case... I hope by chattering about schedules and mild frustration at waiting, that's innocuous enough.
Funny Picture Time!
Yay! Twilight humor!
By the way, if you ever want to spend/waste a bunch of time on cool web browsing, go to TIME magazine's website, to the section on The Top 10 Everything of 2009. As the name implies, they break down the top 10 lists from all kinds of disparate topics, from News, to Science, to Entertainment, to Pop Culture and beyond. Very cool.
In fact, here's a screenie, and if you click it, it will take you to the page I'm talking about! How cool is that!
But don't click THIS LINK, or you will get Rick-Rolled...
I have to go to bed now. Another early day tomorrow!
Posted by David Wagner at 11:16 PM 6 comments:
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Dwell in the Land, and Enjoy Safe Pasture. (Psalm 37:3)
Yeah, yeah, I know... The weekend is over, and now a new week begins. No need to get all angry at me about it! I don't control time! I can't just hit the cosmic pause button and make your weekend last longer! I'm just a man! And a tubby one at that!
But while I can't control time, I can control my bladder. And for that, you should be rather grateful...
Yay! Jury duty! Yay!
Did it sound convincing? Meh, oh well.
I'm on a criminal case as a jury member, in case you didn't figure that out yet... I'm juror #8, which actually means I'm in the front row of the jury box, right near the witness stand. So I get to look right in their beady little eyes and try to blink secret messages at them in Morse code, in an effort to get at what *really* happened! Those shifty lawyers! I don't trust them to figure it all out by themselves! They need my help!
Of course, I'm kidding. I'm a good little juror, and I take seriously what is happening. It is pretty interesting, though I admit it is hard to keep an open mind and be conclusion-free before hearing all the testimony and evidence. Hard, but not impossible. Seems a pretty straight-forward case thus far, but we're still early on in the trial. Should be an interesting week. I keep fighting the urge to wait until a tense moment in testimony and release a really large, loud fart. Then I'd shoot to my feet and shout, "Your Honor, I object! And I move for a mistrial!" Then I'd run for the door. The Bailiff would tackle and cuff me, and I'd be hauled off weeping and calling out for my mom.
But I've resisted the urge thus far.
I did solve my little transportation problem, thankfully. I'm just going to park at the main bus station here in Escondido and ride the Express Bus right into downtown, slick as snot. Then ride it back on up at the end of the day! How do you like them apples?
OK, too much talk. Funny Picture time.
Na na na na na na na na Catman! I'll give you three guesses what happened to Robin...
I have a confession to make.
I stayed up really late on Saturday night, watching something I shouldn't have been watching online... yes... I'm talking about 9-11 Conspiracy videos! I watched a whole series of them on troublesome facts about the events surrounding that day. I know, I know... it shouldn't intrigue me, but it does. I can't help it. So much happened as a result of that day, and there seem to be so many things that don't sit right about it all with me. Maybe I'm just an easily-manipulated gump, who knows? I saw an author interviewed on Colbert last week, who has a book out on why sometimes seemingly intelligent, normal people feel the need to believe really wacky conspiracies about certain things, and I might buy it. Perhaps I can get insight into myself on this particular issue, because, really, the whole 9-11 thing just stinks to me, for a myriad of reasons.
But I better shift gears before I offend people here. Touchy subject.
I sat down with the family (at their request) to watch the movie 2012 over the weekend. Wow, it was every bit the turd I thought it would be. If I hadn't promised the family, I would have bolted the room after about 15 minutes. The only good thing I can say about the film is that a novel writer gets to be the hero! How cool is that! Small consolation being a hero that saves his ex-wife and kids, when 99% of the earth's population died...
OK, one more Funny Picture and I'm out for now...
Avian Nonconformity...
Adios for now.
Posted by David Wagner at 10:30 PM 5 comments:
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Your Justice is Like the Great Deep. (Psalm 36:6)
Greetings all y'all!
So, how was your St. Hat Trick's Day? Did you score your three goals? You know, St. Hat Trick was the patron saint of hockey, right?
Hmm? What? Oh! St. Patrick! Nevermind....
First things first! The Name of the Wind giveaway!
to be given away on his blog! W00t w00t! I'm torn about mentioning it here... I get an extra entry into the random giveaway if I mention it here on the blog... but if you all go enter it, it lowers my chances of winning! So hooray for the book giveaway! But I won't be heartbroken if you shrug your shoulders and wish me good luck on winning it...
Here's the inscription on the inside cover, in case you want to gaze longingly at it with me, while sighing.
Yes, I know it's ironic that a published author of Rothfuss' caliber would misspell "congratulations", but I don't mind much. I want it anyway!
Here's a blurry pic of Logan and Pat.
I'll let you figure out who is who. Or is it "whom?"
And here is a picture of Cookie Monster going rogue:
C is for Crime Spree... that's good enough for me...
And here is a picture of George Washington battling a tiger during a hurricane:
No wonder he got his face on the quarter! That's hardcore!
And finally, here is Batman fighting a Great White with a light saber:
Words fail...
So I went downtown for jury duty today, answering the call of civic duty. I had to be there at 7:45am, which is a few hours earlier than when I normally wake up... I went to bed early, and woke up just about every hour, because I kept dreaming I overslept and got to jury duty late. It was a long, fitful night. But I made it down ontime, parked at a nearby lot that charged me a staggering $22 to park for the day, and then proceeded to sit around until lunch, reading Marcus Luttrell's book Lone Survivor, in the jury lounge.
When I returned at 1:30, I got called in with the first group, and yes, it looks like I'm going to be selected to serve on a criminal case. I have to go back Friday morning to finish the selection process, but right now I'm in the #8 spot in the jury box. The lawyers still have their 10 "boot me" cards to pass out, so maybe I'll get booted and then be done for the year. Otherwise I'll be occupied at the courthouse at least through the end of March, probably into the first week of April too, counting deliberations.
I'm sure if I serve, and after the case is over, I'll feel ok discussing the case here (in brief), but at the moment, I'm not allowed to discuss it... I am nothing, if not a stickler for the rule of law!
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the last time I went in for jury duty, I was placed on a criminal case, and it was interesting, to say the least. I was responsible for almost hanging the jury... our deliberations took longer than it did to present the case! But ultimately I got hoisted on my petard and had to change my vote to be in line with the other 11. I felt the prosecution did a terrible job presenting the case, and did not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt... but I made a deal with the rest of the jury, and it backfired on me... if I had been able to pull it off the way I planned, it would have forced the rest of jury to change their votes to be in line with me, lol.
It almost worked. If you want details, I can elaborate. Otherwise, I'll spare you.
In any case, I hesitate to get involved in another scenario like that, since I really get uncomfortable when people don't like me for whatever reason... and I made 11 other people quite upset that time, lol. There's a chance that if either lawyer on Friday asks me for details of that other case, they'll dismiss me, since the charges are very similar. Who knows.
I'm short on time now - gotta go grab dinner for the family. But I wanted to post a cat video here that I found on TBT. If it has an ad before it, I apologize. When I return, I'll look for the clip on YouTube and replace the embed. In the mean while, enjoy this clip, eh!
EDIT: ok, I found it on YouTube, so it's all good...
I'll be back. Adios for now. I have more to share...
Posted by David Wagner at 5:44 PM 6 comments:
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Those Who Fear Him Lack Nothing. (Psalm 34:9)
"It's here to stay" or "it's here Tuesday", which one?
Greetings everyone! Especially those of you checking in from Athens, Greece!
I was checking my Google Analytics page today, and I made a rather fascinating discovery... while the vast majority of the visitors to this blog in the past 4 weeks are from the US (1,212 visits), the country with the next highest number of visitors is Greece! Isn't that wild? 80 visits from Greece in the past month. 63 of them from Athens! 15 more from Iraklion, and 1 each from Thessalonica and Kallithea.
The other countries in the top 10 (after the US and Greece) are Canada, Germany, Slovenia. UK, Australia, Spain, Belgium and India.
The US visits are predominantly from California, but visitors from 39 other states have popped in as well, the rest of the top 5 being North Carolina, Washington, Kentucky and New York.
Who would have thought there'd be so many people around the country/world that had nothing better to do! It's so cool!
Speaking of things that are cool, two of your fellow blog readers (that have blogs of their own) have recently interviewed published authors about their most recent books! Kris Denby has an interview with Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation (which some of you have read, I know), and Shellie (at Layers of Thought) has an interview with Blake Charlton, author of the buzzworthy fantasy release Spellwright, which I may add to my read list.
How cool is that? Getting to interview a published author about their stuff. These aren't self-published wannabe's, these are big names! I wonder what I'd have to do to score an interview with someone famous like that?
I've been recently compiling a series of "Favorite" lists, for different games, books, movies, albums, etc., that I love, and I've been revisiting the game Oblivion. It came out in 2006 and I've put hundreds of hours into exploring the game, and tinkering with dozens of mods. It really is a terrific game. So I got the itch today to look online for any news of the next Elder Scrolls game - it's been 4 years, I thought there'd be info on it. Nothing official from Bethesda, but I did find a quote supposedly from one of their developers talking about a new Elder Scrolls title possibly coming out in 2010, after Fallout: New Vegas is released.
I bring it up because I wondered if I just wrote an email to Bethesda and asked them, if they would sneak me some info on the new game, and some screen shots, so my blog could break the news of the game to the world - a world exclusive scoop! It would be even better than interviewing an author, wouldn't it! And with my global audience, it would be the perfect platform for them to make the first public announcement of the game!
No, of course, I'm not serious. Sheesh! They wouldn't give me the exclusive... especially since I was banned from their official forums, lol... let's just say their forum rules make no allowance for my type of humor...
The latest PCGamer has the first screen shots of Crysis 2, which looks amazing. Looks like it takes place (at least in part) in New York City, which is overrun with alien baddies. If you played the original Crysis, you know how incredibly photo-realistic the graphics were, on that tropical island. Imagine a new, better, more-optimized graphics engine, rendering NYC and Central Park... I can't find the screenies online anywhere! I may have to scan them from the magazine and post them here - you won't believe the clarity. HERE is a video of the game engine, for PS3. HERE is another.
I found a couple smaller screenies on Gamespot of Crysis 2...
Anyway, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game has a similar engine. Something like this would be nice...
Even though someone posted that pic on the Elder Scrolls V forum at Gamespot, I doubt it is really from the new game. But I think it shows what I hope the final graphics of the new game would look like. Yes, that's done with software, it ain't a photo. Man, if ESV comes out this year, I would be a happy boy...
Speaking of gaming tech advances, check this nonsense out...
I started a new book last night: Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman. It's sort of a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid. The prologue didn't do much for me, but I'll give it a few more nights to hook me.
I think I've covered enough disparate ground for the night. I'm going to pull the plug for now.
PS Oh, I forgot to mention it! I will end up owing far less in taxes this year than I thought I would! Yay me!
Greetings everyone! Especially those of you checking in from Athens, Greece!
I was checking my Google Analytics page today, and I made a rather fascinating discovery... while the vast majority of the visitors to this blog in the past 4 weeks are from the US (1,212 visits), the country with the next highest number of visitors is Greece! Isn't that wild? 80 visits from Greece in the past month. 63 of them from Athens! 15 more from Iraklion, and 1 each from Thessalonica and Kallithea.
The other countries in the top 10 (after the US and Greece) are Canada, Germany, Slovenia. UK, Australia, Spain, Belgium and India.
The US visits are predominantly from California, but visitors from 39 other states have popped in as well, the rest of the top 5 being North Carolina, Washington, Kentucky and New York.
Who would have thought there'd be so many people around the country/world that had nothing better to do! It's so cool!
Sunroof FAIL
Speaking of things that are cool, two of your fellow blog readers (that have blogs of their own) have recently interviewed published authors about their most recent books! Kris Denby has an interview with Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation (which some of you have read, I know), and Shellie (at Layers of Thought) has an interview with Blake Charlton, author of the buzzworthy fantasy release Spellwright, which I may add to my read list.
How cool is that? Getting to interview a published author about their stuff. These aren't self-published wannabe's, these are big names! I wonder what I'd have to do to score an interview with someone famous like that?
I've been recently compiling a series of "Favorite" lists, for different games, books, movies, albums, etc., that I love, and I've been revisiting the game Oblivion. It came out in 2006 and I've put hundreds of hours into exploring the game, and tinkering with dozens of mods. It really is a terrific game. So I got the itch today to look online for any news of the next Elder Scrolls game - it's been 4 years, I thought there'd be info on it. Nothing official from Bethesda, but I did find a quote supposedly from one of their developers talking about a new Elder Scrolls title possibly coming out in 2010, after Fallout: New Vegas is released.
I bring it up because I wondered if I just wrote an email to Bethesda and asked them, if they would sneak me some info on the new game, and some screen shots, so my blog could break the news of the game to the world - a world exclusive scoop! It would be even better than interviewing an author, wouldn't it! And with my global audience, it would be the perfect platform for them to make the first public announcement of the game!
No, of course, I'm not serious. Sheesh! They wouldn't give me the exclusive... especially since I was banned from their official forums, lol... let's just say their forum rules make no allowance for my type of humor...
The latest PCGamer has the first screen shots of Crysis 2, which looks amazing. Looks like it takes place (at least in part) in New York City, which is overrun with alien baddies. If you played the original Crysis, you know how incredibly photo-realistic the graphics were, on that tropical island. Imagine a new, better, more-optimized graphics engine, rendering NYC and Central Park... I can't find the screenies online anywhere! I may have to scan them from the magazine and post them here - you won't believe the clarity. HERE is a video of the game engine, for PS3. HERE is another.
I found a couple smaller screenies on Gamespot of Crysis 2...
Meh, not bad. The pics in the magazine are better, including some great foliage shots from inside Central Park. In fact, these two pics might even be concept art, instead of in-game screenies.
Anyway, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game has a similar engine. Something like this would be nice...
Even though someone posted that pic on the Elder Scrolls V forum at Gamespot, I doubt it is really from the new game. But I think it shows what I hope the final graphics of the new game would look like. Yes, that's done with software, it ain't a photo. Man, if ESV comes out this year, I would be a happy boy...
Speaking of gaming tech advances, check this nonsense out...
Yeah, I know, I'm torn as well... equal parts cool and ridiculous. No one is going to have one of those things in his/her house. A giant hamster ball... HERE is a link to an article on it, if you'd like more info...
And now, the Ka-Flump of the Day.
I started a new book last night: Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman. It's sort of a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid. The prologue didn't do much for me, but I'll give it a few more nights to hook me.
I think I've covered enough disparate ground for the night. I'm going to pull the plug for now.
PS Oh, I forgot to mention it! I will end up owing far less in taxes this year than I thought I would! Yay me!
Posted by David Wagner at 9:09 PM 4 comments:
Saturday, March 13, 2010
From His Dwelling Place He Watches All Who Live On Earth. (Psalm 33:14)
Yay! Saturday! My favorite day!
What? Saturday's over? Crap!
Oh, well, better move on then....
Ladies and gentlemen, book lovers of all ages, I give you, the Librería El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina...
A Theater (obviously) that was converted into just about the coolest bookstore ever. Come on, admit it... you get goosebumps looking at the pics, right?
Makes you want to browse your favorite section while wearing a tux and belting out Brindisi from La Traviata, doesn't it...
OK, just pretend that's me and Wifey in that video... come on, use your imagination... we sing together like that all the time! Just, you know, around the house and stuff! Or waiting in line at Starbucks! Yeah, It's true!
OK, I lied...
GAAHHHH!!!! I'm turning 40 this year! :O AAAAAA!!!
Dang, that harsh realization snuck up on me again, sorry...
It's been a while since we had a Gutbuster of the Day, from This Is Why You're Fat... so here's a little number called The Hickory Rancher...
The Hickory Rancher: 1/2 pound beef patty, meunster cheese, 7 pieces of maple bacon, sauteed onions and honey hickory BBQ sauce, on a kaiser roll.
Yes, I know it looks tasty! Still, I think that would bust my gut for sure.
Not over-the-top enough for you?
Fine, here's The Flatline Burger...
The Flatline Burger: A double bacon cheeseburger with peanut butter, deep fried and served with chipotle mayo.
There... sufficiently gutbusterish enough for ya? Don't make me have to bust out The Chubby Girl Scout... (which is: a bacon-wrapped Samoa Girl Scout cookie, deep fried and topped with maple syrup and powdered sugar) *shudder*...
I came across this cool video yesterday, of a Toyota Simulator...
Come on, that's funny... admit it...
I dropped my tax documents and receipts off at my tax guy today... hopefully I'll have a good idea of how much $$$ I'll owe the feds by Wednesday. It won't be good... oh, well... there's worse problems than being broke and owing a lot of money... at least I still have all of my legs! Man, if I was missing a few of my legs, I don't know what I'd do... probably just sit around in front of the computer all day...
[3 second pause to wait for the blatant irony to wear off]
Hey, what do you mean you haven't checked out the blog 100 Awesome Things lately!? Well, go check it out! Go ahead, I'll wait...
[15 second pause to wait for people to go check out 1000 Awesome Things]
Hey, cool, you came back!
If you hadn't returned, you would have missed this funny, geeky picture...
Makes me wish I had twins...
Remember that time I had an awesome, narcissistic website called Wagnervana, and I let it die on the vine? Remember? Yeah, I suck like that... in fact, this should be my license plate...
What? A Volvo is a safe, reliable car! Mock me not!
Good grief, I'm all over the place tonight.
Church Day tomorrow. That reminds me... I better go prepare a Sunday School lesson.... drat! We lose an hour tonight!
I've decided this time around, I don't particularly care for the end of The Name of the Wind, with that whole part where Kvothe goes to Trebon, happens to meet up with Denna, and then does the Draccus thing. Strikes me as fairly incongruous with the rest of the book. It bums me out a bit.
Uh oh... craving... black licorice....
[3 second pause to wait for sudden craving to pass]
I watched Gran Torino last night. Trite, cliched, contrived, poorly written, poorly cast, poorly acted. I'm rather boggled by the good press it received. A lot of people I know liked that film. Well, in cases like this, I realize the following: I am right, and all the rest of y'all are on some sort of controlled substance... that's the only logical conclusion.
Speaking of logical conclusions, I am done.
Posted by David Wagner at 10:39 PM 6 comments:
Thursday, March 11, 2010
When I Kept Silent, My Bones Wasted Away. (Psalm 32:3)
What is today? Thursday? Sheesh, I lose track of time so quickly...
Gathering my tax papers and docs and receipts to drop off at my tax guy on Friday. Wish he wasn't so expensive. Is $600 normal for tax preparation? Wish I knew how to do it myself. Just seems like a bit much...
I went to Starbucks today to try out their new Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucino. The Verdict: It is delightful! In fact, it was scrumptrillescent!
I don't know if you've ever seen that SNL skit, but unless you know The Actor's Studio and who Charles Nelson Reilly was, you have no idea how spot-on both of those impressions are. Who knew Alec Baldwin could do such an amazing impression, eh! Hilarious. That guy was really like that!
I made a joke a few weeks back about an Ultra-compact model of Smart Car that was kind of in poor taste (considering someone had died in that crash), but I saw this today, and I thought I'd share it here as well...
That's a two-person electric commuter car called a "Lumeneo Smera." It's actually going into production. I don't know if it will be street-legal in the US... probably just a Euro car. Still, I don't know that I'd ever feel comfortable tooling around in that "car"... unless it was an indoor car, and I just used it in my mansion to run down the hallway to the bathroom... Anyway, HERE is the article, if you want more info.
Though you'll probably find this one more interesting...
That is not a Photoshopped picture. It's a legitimate product, called a Uno Electric Motorcycle. Is that insane, or what? Yanni would get a kick out of that. A motorized unicycle. HERE is an article about it (one of many, if you want to Google it yourself). There are more pictures of it there.
And while I'm on the topic of taking things to the extreme, here's a pic of a waterslide some of you might enjoy dropping in on...
I don't know where it is, but if you're intrigued by it, nose around online, eh! As for me, just looking at it makes me want to find a nice bench to sit on...
I'm trying a new piece of writing software, called yWrite, to see if it can help me keep track of my novel, and the storylines and characters, etc. I could actually write the novel in the software itself, if I wanted, but I think I'll do what some people suggest, and write it in Word and copy/paste it in, as needed. I like the feature set in it... you can designate deadlines and daily goals, set placeholder chapter and scene points for parts not yet written, drag-and-drop chapters/scenes around to rearrange things. It tracks which characters are used in which scenes, whose point of view each scene is from, and it generates storyboards automatically, so I could see at-a-glance the way storylines overlap. There are other cool features as well.
Anyway, I'll let you all know how it goes. Still making good progress on the first draft, but the more I write, the more I want to add. I keep fighting the urge to expand minor characters into major ones...
One last Funny Picture, and then I'm out of here. This one is for the console/Street Fighter fans among us...
If I need to explain it, you won't think it's funny, sorry. You'll either get it or not.
Until tomorrow (or so), adios!
Posted by David Wagner at 10:17 PM 8 comments:
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
I Have Become Like Broken Pottery. (Psalm 31:12)
Hey, how goes it! Dave here, and at the moment, it's 1am, smack in the middle of that awkward transition period between Monday and Tuesday. Worked from home today - got several items checked off of my "To Do List", which always makes me feel good. Still sore from my wild-man weekend up in the snow. I could use an ibuprofen and a hot bath... but, hey, it's 1 am... can't rightly take a bath that late/early, can I? It's unseemly!
So I decided to whip out a quick post instead.
First: Quick Stories About my Youngest Daughter That No One But Me Will Find Interesting!
I know, all dads think their children are the smartest and most beautiful kids in the world, I get it. But if there actually was a way to measure such things and see which dad really does have the best kid(s), I think I might be up there, as far as Maggie (my 4 year old) is concerned. She can whistle now! She's been trying for weeks to teach herself, which has been a source of unending amusement for me. Then a couple days ago, she finally got it. It's wild to see a kid that little whistling.
But even cooler was this morning. She came downstairs when I was still in my half-zombie mode on the couch, trying to wake up. I'm sitting there, hunched over, eyes closed, half asleep, while Mags is sitting on the floor nearby. She's stacking a bunch of crayons in a pyramid, and doing the "look dad! A pyramid!' routine, and I nod and grunt and yawn. A minute or so later, she says, "dad, look at my crayon rainbow!" I look down, and she has arranged all the crayons (about 20 or so) in a line, by color. "I organized my crayons" she says, which is nice vocabulary for a 4 year old to begin with. Then I look a little closer. And I kid you not... the crayons are arranged in a row, from red to violet, just like in a rainbow. I mean, they go red, to orange to yellow to green,all the way through, exactly how a rainbow is supposed to be, with the blended shades in the right place.
I did that thing dogs do, when they tilt their heads and look at something funny, with that, "Huh?" look on their face. What. The. Heck.
What could I say? I told her, "That's right, sweetie. That's a rainbow all right."
"I organized them, dad."
See? It's the little things that make being a dad so great. I loved that story, and even as I was typing it out, I was thinking how insignificant y'all would likely think it was. Yet I bet you have little stories like that about your kids (or wee friends/relatives) you could trot out.
Anyway, speaking of dads, here's a music video I watched tonight, by none other than Eminem, that talks about the pressures he faced as a dad. It's a "clean" version, so fear not. The video is ridiculously powerful - I highly recommend you giving it a watch...
Dang. Takes my breath every time I watch it. Maybe it's because I'm also a dad that loves my kids more than anything. He has other videos that are just as powerful. He really is quite a talent. He's had a hard road to travel.
Like this guy!
"How was golf, honey?"
"Don't ask..."
"Don't ask..."
Well, I think I'm going to turn in. Mellow, meandering post tonight, sorry. Just the mood I'm in, I guess. If you'll pardon the cliche, we'll see what tomorrow holds...
Posted by David Wagner at 1:33 AM 5 comments:
Sunday, March 7, 2010
He Trains My Hands for Battle. (Psalm 18:34)
"Ground beef" or "bound grief", you decide...
I have returned from the snowy mountain-tops, and I *think* I'm ready to try and do a re-cap of sorts.
Let me start off by saying this: I'm glad I went.
I wanted to get that out of the way from the outset, so you know where I'm going with all this. And also for those of you with no time to wade through all of my elaboration, and just wanted to grab the summary and move on. Hey, I respect that! If that's you, thanks for dropping by! But you're going to miss a funny story...
You will laugh, I'm sure of it - especially if you know me in "real life", since what I did this weekend is so far out of the box for me, it's in a different zip code. If I had known what I was getting myself into, there is no way on earth I would have attended - and I would not have got the benefit that I did. I would have missed out.
That having been said, let me get the punchline out of the way first. This was basically one of those "he-man" Christian boot-camp type of retreats, where there's a "drill sergeant" type who is trying to whip a bunch of Christian dudes into outdoorsy warrior-types. When we all assembled out in a snow-covered field and the call went out to "drop into push-up position, now!" I knew I was in trouble...
Seriously. Here I was, with about 100 other men, out in a field, doing push-ups in the snow with a DI barking orders at us "Up! Down! Up! Down! On your feet!" etc. If someone messed up by pushing up too soon, we started over... I resisted the overwhelming urge to stand up and walk back to my cabin, grumbling under my breath. I tried to hang in. I did about 10 push-ups, failed, shifted to girl push-ups, failed. Then just laid there.
And that was just the beginning.
What followed was 3 more hours of "team building" exercises, which included sitting in the snow, passing big tires over my head to the guy sitting behind me, then running to the back of the line, and passing them over head again, etc. We then stood in a line, passing a big length of wood (like an 8x8 or something) overhead, again running to the end of the line and passing it over again. Then we formed ranks and marched in unison, arms locked, across the field, chanting stuff. Then they had some people grab these big shields and form an interlocking circle around the pastor, while the rest of us pushed in on all sides. Then they used the shields to form a "turtle" and the rest of us bombarded them with snowballs.
There was more!
The whole time - the whole weekend, in fact - I was saying "This is so retarded! I get it already! We're 'brothers' and a 'body' and we're supposed to work together and help each other and protect each other."
But you know what? Every time I said I was just going to stroll over to the sidelines and watch instead, I would say, "ok, fine, I'll participate, maybe God will show me something." Without fail, whenever I actually did the activity, I benefited from it. As lame as all of this "team-building/warrior" stuff was, I was glad I tried it. It kicked my butt, I was cold and wet, but I wasn't really miserable. I've been such a loner for sooo long, it was really weird to do these things with a bunch of whooping, hollering men, being Christian "hoo-ah!" marine wannabe types.
Like I said - so far out of my normal mode of operations, it's ridiculous. I kept thinking, "if anyone I knew actually saw me doing this, they would laugh their butts off." Me sitting in the snow, passing big tires over my head. What is that! lol....
Here's the "shield wall" thing they made...
And here's a quick clip of the crowd pressing in on the shield wall...
That bald guy at the end in black and red was the Drill Instructor guy.
Here's the "turtle" inching across the field, under a snowball barrage.
We ended the afternoon by forming ranks up on the road and jogging to the meeting hall, like you see in the movies, where the DI jogs along side chanting something, then everyone repeats it, lol. Then when we got to the meeting hall, the chanting continued for like 10 more minutes. "Brotherhood!" echo "Unity!" echo "Sacrifice!" echo, you get the idea. Yeah, I rolled my eyes too.
The main speaker was a guy named John Burns, who talked (of course) about being a man, and dealing with man-related issues (anger, porn, relationship stuff, figuring women out, etc), and was quite entertaining.
You'd think I would have slept like a log that night, but I was very uncomfortable all night, and slept very little. When I did finally sleep, I had a dream that my senior Pastor died. In the dream, me and our other pastor (Stan) were helping our senior pastor climb up a set of stairs, and once he got to the top, he shrank and fell over. We helped lay him down, and he was dead. Then a voice said, "Well, now what will you do? Now that there's a vacancy." Then I woke up. Not sure if the voice was asking me, or Stan, actually.
The next day, it began to snow, so I thought, "Awesome! No more outdoor nonsense - they'll keep us inside and someone will preach or something." No such luck. Back outside, into the snow we went. I told myself there was no way I was participating again - I was going to duck out and go to my cabin and relax and read The Name of the Wind all afternoon. The rest of the yahoos could go romp in the snow, but not me. But no such luck. We were formed into groups of 3 men - so my absence would have been noticed. I didn't want anyone to get in trouble because of me.
So out to the snow we went, to do more team-building exercises. We dragged tires up a hill, 2 people pulling, one person scouting ahead for the best route up...
The symbolism was supposed to be carrying our responsibilities in life, which is hard, but made easier by sharing the load with others, and seeking advice/guidance from those who have gone before, etc. OK, fine, I got it. But I participated anyway, in my slick-bottomed shoes, lol, falling frequently.
We played rugby in the snow, with the ball representing our dreams, which we pass to team-mates, so we help each other achieve our goals, etc. OK, fine, I got it. And I participated.
We made giants out of snow, to represent Goliath, and then we took turns grabbing a big machete, calling out the name of our "giant" (Anger! Apathy! Doubt!) and then "cutting the head off" of that giant with the machette. There were other activities as well...
Then we ended with the DI giving the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V, while we stood in the snowfall, shivering together...
There's a quick clip, to show you I'm not making this up.
Bottom line, it was equal parts ridiculous, and ultimately very cool. There's no way on earth I ever would have participated in such things if I'd known about it ahead of time. But every time I made myself participate, I was glad. Yes, the points they were making could easily have been conveyed in a sermon in a warm room somewhere, with hot cocoa. I understood the concepts, even though my MO has *always* been to do things myself, alone, as if a real man can handle his stuff alone, without help. The concept of looking out for one another, and helping each other, in a "brotherhood" kind of thing is foreign, but understandable to me. And though the concepts were clear to me, there was something about actually doing these things that took it to a different level.
There was more teaching that night from Jon Burns which was good, then we ate, got chains on Orion's vehicle, and headed for home, well after dark, with tons of snow falling. The guys I rode up with were all good guys, who have been through a LOT of hard road in their lives, including numerous stints in jail, etc., but they were geared up and ready to move forward doing right, and I hope they keep that momentum. As for me, I'm glad I went. It is absurd, I know, to picture me doing such things, but I'm really quite glad I did.
Lots of other detail, which I will spare you. If you've read this far, thanks. I know that must have been pretty tedious.
I'll be back to my silly, vacuous self next post. Just needed to unload all of this. Hope your weekend is a good one.
Posted by David Wagner at 4:43 PM 6 comments:
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text: In my most recent post on the Purim story, we left off at the point where King Xerxes had ordered the death of his wife, Queen Vashti, for refusing her husband's drunken demand to appear before the throne. With no queen by his side, Xerxes began his quest to replace Vashti with a beautiful new wife.The virgins of Shushan were rounded up, either by choice or force, and brought to the king's harem, where they would spend the rest of their days as Xerxes' concubines. Yet, from all the young women who were rounded up, only one was chosen to be queen of the Persian Empire.In the following chapter in the book of Esther, we are introduced to Mordecai and Esther. Esther, we are told, was Mordecai's niece, who he adopted and raised as his own after her parents had died. We're also informed of Mordecai's lineage going back three generations: "a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish" (Esther 2:5). From here we deduce that both Mordecai and Esther came from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which will have many ramifications later on in the story of Purim.But for now the story relates how Esther had gone from being an orphaned girl living with her uncle Mordecai to being the queen of Persia who would eventually, together with her uncle, save the Jewish people from complete annihilation.After rounding up the maidens of Shushan, it was Esther who the king found more favorable than the rest. And so the pious Esther, who was raised in the home of the righteous, brilliant scholar Mordecai, ended up sharing a bed with a decadent, miserable king whose drunken stupor and lust-filled rage had already cost the life of his first wife.It's important to note that God's name does not appear once in the entire book of Esther. In fact, "Esther" in Hebrew means "hidden," and the book of Esther and the holiday of Purim are celebrations of the hidden hand of God that controls and directs every event in human experience, whether on a global, geopolitical level, or on a personal level.In the story of the Exodus we witnessed the mighty hand of God at work, and the nation of Israel was redeemed through revelations and miracles. The holiday that commemorates that event, Passover, celebrates God's power over nature and His ability to defy the natural order whenever necessary to carry out His will in the world which He created.Purim, however, celebrates God's presence concealed in nature. That is why His name is not mentioned in the book of Esther – because it is incumbent upon us to recognize His hand in the world, whether He makes it overtly visible or not. Mankind has been given free will. We can choose to believe in the Creator and fulfill the laws and ethics He gave to us, or we can deny His very existence, with the belief that nature created itself, and that man alone governs the world.Esther stands as a testimony of God's eternal yet hidden presence. Not just at the splitting of the Red Sea, but here, now, and always! Esther's being chosen as Xerxes' wife might have seemed haphazard and unfortunate at the time. Yet viewed in hindsight, it was clearly the hand of God setting her on the path to become one of Israel's greatest rescuers.

subset: commoncrawl


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Oh yeah! That'll work.
Apparently, political mastermind and Kane County Coroner, Rob Russell, hatched a new scheme. I'd like to say Chairman candidate Ken Shepro came up with the nefarious plot, but he is somewhat smarter than that and his opponent's signs were left unmolested.
But there it was as I drove down Randall Road! Coroner candidate Bob Tiballi's signs defaced with cardboard banners or stickers completely obscuring his name. Those interloping devices shrieked "Illegally Placed" even though the signs weren't.
Oh my lord!
Rob is clearly panicking in these final pre-election days and, as we all know, he doesn't have the best judgement when the pressure's off.
He's terrified because Tiballi's already launched three mailers while he hasn't sent a single piece because he has no money. There was all of three grand in Russell's campaign account at the end of 2015 and his only reasonable 2016 contribution was a grand from State Senator Karen McConnaughay.
Not only that, and even though they're not nearly as important as mailers, Rob hasn't fared too well in forums either. Why, he even told one group that his most important concern was his staff. I would've said "my constituents," but that's just me.
The ironic part of all this is, in Rob's warped world, this plan couldn't possibly backfire by bringing more attention to Tiballi's signs, all of which were repaired in very short order.
What's next Rob? Putting a flaming bag of dog poop at Bob's front door and running away?
You can't ignore me Dan!
Remember, that's exactly what set off Alex Forrest in that infamous movie. Considering how well this tactic works with judges, police officers, prosecutors, and city councils, I'm always amazed whenever any entity thinks playing ostrich will somehow make things better.
Because it never does.
So I can't understand why Neal Pitcher and the Stickling Foundation, the Elgin Tower Building's current owners, completely ignored a City Council request to erect a canopy to capture the structure's falling façade.
The last we heard, the cash-poor Foundation was approaching impending buyers Capstone Development and Richard Souyoul to pay the freight, but that clearly hasn't happened. So now the City has to go to court to ensure they can recover the cash for installing that barrier themselves.
Hey Neal! Sell the damn building already! Every day you hang onto that fading structure means on more issue that reduces its value! You've been negotiating the sale since the end of 2014 and, had you struck immediately after the second Muscarello lawsuit was dismissed, the deteriorating façade would've been someone else' problem.
But no! Instead, you've completely aggravated the City Council, the Developer is losing patience, and business are complaining about the lack of work. If the Foundation's strategy is to be stuck with a structure that nobody wants, you're doing a bang-up job.
Kane County Republicans better be lookin' over their shoulder!
Party Chairman Tom Hartwell and I've had this conversation many times. Despite his best efforts – and they are excellent efforts – the Kane County GOP remains more fractured than the San Andreas Fault.
You've got the McConnaughay crew refusing to attend any Lauzen event or invite them to one of theirs and vice versa. Then, Sen Jim Oberweis seems to march to his own drummer. Even State Party Chairman Tim Schneider recently felt the need to issue that famous "Why can't Kane County Republicans all get along" plea to no avail.
And I keep warning the Republicans that, with Kane County becoming more Hispanic with every breath, if the Democrats ever manage to get their act together, they GOP's inability to put their differences aside and come together for the good of the Party means they're doomed.
But it may already be too late because I just attended the Democrats' Truman Dinner in North Aurora and they are getting their act together.
Don't get me wrong, they have their own factions who won't be sending each other Christmas cards anytime soon, but unlike the Republicans, they do manage to set aside their differences to come together for a great Party event.
Not only did Tammy Duckworth give a great keynote address, but former Governor Pat Quinn, Senator Dick Durbin, Treasurer Michael Frerichs, Congressman Bill Foster and a number of other big names took the time to stop by or say a few words.
I've been to a vast number of Kane County Republican events and none of 'em came close to this one folks.
Tom! You know I don't envy your position, but, in the immortal words of that great Republican Ben Franklin, if your party can't hang together, they will most certainly hang separately!
This is why I like Anna Moeller
Though I regularly take crap from my plethora of Republican friends (it's what they do best!), they seem to have a particular fixation on my friendship with 43rd District State Rep Anna Moeller.
But here's a perfect example of why I like her so much.
At that same Truman Dinner, I made a point of introducing friend of Left, Right and You, Treasurer Michael Frerichs, to Kane County Coroner candidate, Tom Martinez. With Martinez standing six-foot-two and the Treasurer peaking at six-foot-eight, my six-feet-even suddenly seemed so small.
Feeling a desperate need to set my world straight, I walked over to Anna and asked if she'd be willing to remedy my sudden onset shortness. Sure enough! She took off her shoes and stood next to me in all her five-foot glory. That did do the trick!
Far too few politicians – and especially Republican politicians – have the kind of self-assurance and sense of humor that allows them to have a little fun at their own expense. (Though, I will say Republicans are really good at making fun of other people.) If they did have that capacity, Springfield would not be locked in its current death spiral.
So the next time one of y'all starts a sentence with "I know you like Anna Moeller but…" I will defend her honor! Is dueling still illegal?


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Direct metabolic fingerprinting of commercial herbal tinctures by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry
Document Type
Publication details
Politi, M, Zloh, M, Pintado, ME, Castro, PML, Heinrich, M & Prieto, JM 2009, 'Direct metabolic fingerprinting of commercial herbal tinctures by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry', Phytochemical Analysis, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 328-334.
The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com
Peer Reviewed
Introduction - Tinctures are widely used liquid pharmaceutical preparations traditionally obtained by maceration of one or more medicinal plants in ethanol-water solutions. Such a process results in the extraction of virtually hundreds of structurally diverse compounds with different polarities. Owing to the large chemical diversity of the constituents present in the herbal tinctures, the analytical tools used for the quality control of tinctures are usually optimised only for the detection of single chemical entities or specific class of compounds.
Objective - In order to overcome the major limitations of the current methods used for analysis of tinctures, a new methodological approach based on NMR spectroscopy and MS spectrometry has been tested with different commercial tinctures.
Methodology - Diffusion-edited 1H-NMR (1D DOSY) and 1H-NMR with suppression of the ethanol and water signals have been applied here for the first time to the direct analysis of commercial herbal tinctures derived from Echinacea purpurea, Hypericum perforatum, Ginkgo biloba and Valeriana officinalis. The direct injection of the tinctures in the MS detector in order to obtain the corresponding metabolic profiles was also performed.
Results - Using both NMR and MS methods it was possible, without evaporation or separation steps, to obtain a metabolic fingerprint able to distinguish between tinctures prepared with different plants. Batch-to-batch homogeneity, as well as degradation after the expiry date of a batch, was also investigated.
Conclusion - The techniques proposed here represent fast and convenient direct analyses of medicinal herbal tinctures.


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My Mind's Eye
My Mind's Eye was launched in 1999 by designer Marcia Cornell, who created a hand-illustrated line of coordinating paper crafting products.
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Just another quick note from all them DCBID emails I've been dining out on for weeks now. It's inconsequential in one sense, but on the other hand, it illuminates how information spreads among the zillionaire flunkies who run this City's BIDs. Here is the original email chain, and I'm just going to lay it on you without commentary. Or without much, anyway.
On January 31, 2018, the incomparable Emily Alpert Reyes emailed Kerry Freaking Morrison thusly:
From: Alpert, Emily mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 9:23 AM
To: Kerry Morrison <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Subject: State bill on street vending
Hi Kerry — I hope all is well! I was curious for your thoughts on this state bill that would override local regulations on vending:
I'm at ■■■-■■■-■■■■. Thanks!
Did Kerry Morrison answer her? Well, I don't know, but I will say that Emily Alpert Reyes published a fine article on Lara's bill on February 2, and Kerry Morrison is not quoted in it. In any case, we do know that Kerry Morrison read the email because …. turn the page if you want to find out!
Continue reading How Kerry Freaking Morrison Found Out About Senator Ricardo Lara's Street Vending Bill In January 2018 And Told No-Epithet-Yet Suzanne Holley, Chardonnay-Swilling Scarf Monster Rena Leddy, And Batty Little Fusspot Blair Besten All About It And Suzanne Freaking Holley Went And Told Carol Freaking Schatz, The Zillion Dollar Woman, Who Subsequently Swore A Solemn Oath To Destroy SB 946


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Not all of our testimonials are about weight loss or dramatic physical changes. There are some pretty amazing people at CFED doing even more amazing things. Let's meet one of them:
You can't talk numbers and the whiteboard without mentioning Amy Krueger. It's a name that many members are familiar with but who's the lady behind the sometimes unbelievable numbers? A leisurely stroll to the whiteboard at CFED will immediately reveal one fact, she has A LOT of nicknames; and even those are subject to change. The combination of a rural upbringing and multiple team sports has created the monster that is often seen eating barbells for breakfast. With a heavier clean & jerk, overhead squat, and snatch than 98% of all CFEDers, Amy is undoubtedly one of the strongest people to come through East Decatur. It wouldn't be a stretch to label AK as a "barbell whore"; she lives and breathes barbell movements and often crushes WODs where one is involved. She is also one of the nicest, most outgoing, and supportive people you will ever come across. Matt G concurs: "What can I say. She is farm girl strong; always fun to workout with despite her out lifting me sometimes. She is an awesome person and an awesome athlete! We are lucky to have her here at CFED." With a closet full of LuLu and a (very) dirty mouth to boot, to know Amy is to undoubtedly and easily love her.
After busting up the morning WOD at 530, AK can be found at the CDC investigating, researching, and trying her damndest to eradicate the World's deadliest diseases. Amy returned to CFED last summer after spending 10 months in Finland working on her PhD (and her clean and jerk, apparently). I can remember thinking 'Who is this Amy everyone is talking about?'; full disclosure, I was even slightly intimidated. However that all vanished when she walked up to me following her first WOD back, held out her hand and said "Great job Erinn". That's Krueger; gracious, humble and most importantly kind.
As a member of one of the CFED competition teams, Krueger is the Swirl's resident brain. Those who know her know that she is an overly-analytical person; often thinking about things before most of us have even realized and accepted what's happening next. As teammate, friend, and Coach Duda says "Amy is always smiling and enjoying life but when that 3…2…1 goes she turns into a beast and that's what I like the most about her". She also serves as our head cheerleader, always finding the positive in what many times may seem like a disappointment. Throughout the past year she's become not only one of my closest friends but my biggest rabbit and supporter at CFED as well.
The reigning "Best Dressed" CFEDer is as serious about her professional aspirations as her WOD wardrobe. With the goal of eventually teaching at the University level (and stretching herself to the absolute limit), Amy has already began her ascent to scholarly greatness; she recently accepted a position to teach Epidemiology at Agnes Scott College. Let's learn a little more about the woman behind the Nanos:
1. Pretty sure everyone knows your first and last name(s); what is your middle name?
Product of the 80s – Leigh but not like the jeans.
2. You're a self-professed "farm girl"; where is this farm located?
The farm was about an hour west of Philadelphia. "In west Philadelphia born and raised"… just a little farther west
3. Can you drive a tractor? Can you LIFT a tractor??
Absolutely, I could even fork a hay bale. Absolutely, if it's a toy tractor.
4. Have you ever birthed an animal with your bare hands?
Damn right I have, it's messy business. It always seemed to be the middle of the night too; my dad would wake me up and ask if I could help him pull a calf. And it usually involved chains so maybe it isn't bare hands per se.
5. Siblings? How many, name(s)?
I have an older sister named Erin. If you have ever met her you'd know why I was "Most Coachable" at camps. [Author's Note/Awesome Fact: I know it's confusing but I'm totally not her older sister; although I do have a younger sister named Aimee 🙂]
6. What the hell is epidemiology?
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of diseases in a population.
7. How many nicknames do you have? What's your favorite?
Oh my, I have a lot. Let's see.
Family nicknames: Amos, Amilater, Yma.
Sports: Kruegs, K, Special K.
Work: Killer.
CrossFit: AK, AK47, Professor 47, Clydesdale, KruegerBomb. I have to say I think AK47 is my fave. I have Scott Bailey to thank for that one. I may have missed a few.
8. How long have you been CrossFitting?
My first trial WOD was in Dec 2009 so almost 4 years, my healthiest relationship ever.
9. How did you find CFED?
I actually thought I had contacted CFD since I live really close. Everything happens for a reason, I was meant to be at CFED.
10. The best part about CrossFit is:
The community. I always tell people that it's easier for me to get up to go to CrossFit than get up and go to work. I get to see some of my favorite people bright and early.
11. The hardest part about CrossFit is:
Knowing when to rest. I hate missing out on WODs and lifts. But I'm beginning to appreciate rest days and how much better I do with them. Also, metcons; my lungs and metcons don't get along.
12. Favorite movement; least favorite movement–
Favorite would probably be clean, power clean to be specific. I'd rather not squat if I don't have to.
Least would have to be push-ups. I can't do them to save my life…. ok maybe if it was just 1.
13. To paleo or not to paleo?
Well, I think it's a balance. I find that if I'm really strict I will binge at some point. I will usually allow myself to cheat on the weekends….after Saturday WODs.
14. Biggest vices:
ICE CREAM!!! And I love beer but I've cut way back on that. Tacos are pretty awesome too, especially from Taqueria Del Sol.
15. When I say "MetCon", you say ____
Rest Day 😉
Coach Lauren has known Amy since she first arrived at CFED and says, "Over the years she has earned her Crossfit nickname AK-47. With hard work and dedication she has become a solid Crossfitter, a lifter of very heavy things, and a role model at CFED. She is a Strong Smart (both with a capital S) woman and those are the best kind!"—


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Jael is just an average teenage girl with over-protective parents, an unrequited crush on the hottest guy at school, and a best friend she shares everything with. Until her parents let her in on the secret they've kept for nearly sixteen years…
Jael is the Chosen One. Born to be a vampire slayer, her destiny was written in the Book of the Shunned. She's been chosen by God to set the Minnesota Loon Lake Amish community free from the grip of the Bishop, an ancient and powerful bloodsucker who has been using the Amish people for his own personal Jamba Juice.
Will she leave her friends and all she knows and follow her destiny to Minnesota willingly, or will the Bishop bring her destiny to Sunburn, Nevada?
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Her eighth grade science class heads out into the wilderness on a field trip, eager for the coming summer and freshman year of high school beyond. Their lives, however, are about to be irrevocably changed in ways they could never imagine…
Jenni and her classmates become pitted against nefarious forces– and even each other– in their quests to find a way home and discover just who– and what– they really are.
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'Murder in Half Moon Bay,' Book 1 in The Jillian Bradley Mystery Series, introduces Jillian's little companion 'Teddy,' a Yorkie who falls prey to danger but rises to become a sleuth dog in the next book.
Pastor Martin laments over his secret, traumatic past mistakes. He's destined to lead his father's church, despite blatant rejection. He can't love Rhea – he's yet to forgive himself for his past. If Rhea knew how he used to be, she would have no interest in pursuing a relationship with him.
Rhea feels torn about her attraction to Martin – he's a pastor, and after her husband's death, she vowed to never get involved with another pastor. Both Martin and Rhea struggle with their faith in God. Can Martin and Rhea overcome their past so that they're free to love again?
A disillusioned heiress wants nothing more than a place to call home. With lovable-but-quirky town folks, quaint country charm, and loads of business potential, Miller's Creek seems like the perfect place to start over. But Dani's dreams of finding home are crushed when malicious rumors and a devastating secret propel her down a road she never expected to travel.
Though a Texas politician questions the arrival of this city gal in the hometown he's sworn to protect and defend, Steve can't help but admit he's falling for her. But when a mysterious billionaire funds a renovation to downtown Miller's Creek, Dani's suspicious behavior brings his built-in lie detector to alarm-clanging alert.
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James can't ignore the confident, stunning woman Cindy has become but can he overcome a past tragedy and let another woman into his heart?
Brought together by his music and a few feisty seniors, Cindy and James must put aside old fears and worries to take a chance on love.
Devilishly handsome and full of dark secrets, Archer's devil-may-care attitude came at a price and unfortunately for him, the devil may care after all.
When he meets Hannah, a runaway whose art is more than it seems, he's determined to keep her and her drama at arm's length. But their souls are tied together with bonds that won't be ignored and it's going to take all his skill to keep her safe from the demon horde that follows her every move.
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Marlene caught Dash eyeing Jaycee. Wiping the spot next to him, she slid a fresh paper placemat and napkin-wrapped silverware in front of the empty stool.
"Never gonna happen."
He smiled confidently, a plan forming in his head. Turning to face the counter, he gave her a winning smile, "It's only a matter of fried chicken."
Marlene smiled at his answer, then raised an eyebrow.
"What's only a matter of fried chicken?" Jaycee repeated. She came to stand near Dash with her hand on her hip.
He took a long pull on the pop and braced his two hands against the counter, turning and leaning over in his stool so his eyes were level with Jaycee's.
"You and me," he said slowly, letting his lips roll over the words as they carried to her on a breath and sank against the softness of her cheeks. Her beautiful light-green eyes narrowed and her full lashes fell in quick succession as she blinked rapidly.
"Y-you and me? And fried chicken?"
"That's right, darlin'."
"Don't you darlin' me, Dash. I know what comes after your 'darlin'. Sure enough, I'm in your sights, but I'm leaving this town, not stayin' and settin' up a Mom and Pop with you."
Marlene had wandered away once she saw Jaycee's temper flare. Jaycee was but three inches from his face. His gaze lazed on her lips and then swiftly found her eyes again.
"Don't let the future overwhelm the moment," he whispered quietly. He reached for her hand, just running his thumb across the top of it and then let it go.
"Jaws" meets "The Gift"
What You Don't Remember Can Hurt You.
Rian Field has it all. A thriving career as a marine biologist, a loving husband, and a loyal circle of friends. But after surviving a shark attack, she becomes strangely haunted by disturbing memories where two masked men held her hostage in her own home.
Before long, nightmares begin to plague her, her friends start acting suspiciously, and she's convinced that there are fragments from the past that she can't remember, important clues that could save her life.
Then someone breaks into her home. Again. Convinced that the shark attack is somehow connected to the masked men, she experiences a renewed sense of terror as the culprits appear to be among those she trusts. Because they are watching her every move. They aren't finished with the past. They know about her fear of sharks. And they will use that fear against her until she's dead.
Rian must overcome her fear of sharks and uncover the truth before the past buries her once and for all.
A psychological thriller that deals with the realities of trauma and PTSD.
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Three Days in Seattle, When LA photographer Kate McAllister flies to Seattle in search of her missing sister, she finds irresistible real estate agent Ryan instead. Soon the two are entwined in a vengeful murder plot — and a simmering love affair…. (A light Romantic Suspense in the Emerald City)
But her dogs are behaving oddly, a pesky pastor can't keep his hands off her soul, and God is backing her into a corner.
It's all more than a rich, beautiful young woman should have to bear. But when someone begins targeting Elise, she'll have to figure out why before she becomes the late Widow Amberson.


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Get affordable fares for Ajmer to Makrana taxi at Bookcab that starts from Rs 2575. Tariff per km ranges from INR 8.25 and 11.5. Absolutely no hidden charges. Total cost is clearly broken down including the driver allowance and cost per day. BookCab has premium, luxury and affordable A/c and non A/c cars. Bookcab Fleet consists of Mercedes Benz car hire, Toyota Innova car hire etc. Booking a cab from Ajmer to Makrana is now comfortable and cost-effective with Bookcab's seamless online cab booking services. Distance from Ajmer to Makrana is 95 km. Travel duration for Makrana from Ajmer is closely 1 hour 28 mins.
Bookcab provides the best travel options for Ajmer to Makrana cab. Be that a one way trip, round trip or a sight-seeing package from Ajmer to Makrana, every car rental option is available at Bookcab.
(0)92 4100 4100


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Check out AcDisplay – A beautiful and minimalistic notification lock screen
There are plenty of lock screen and notifications apps in the Play Store these days but one that caught our eye is AcDisplay. This notification app works as a lock screen as well and lets you see all your notifications at a glance. The app has a feature called Active Mode that uses the sensors on your phone to wake it up when you take your phone out of your pocket and shows if you have any alerts and then goes back to sleep after a few seconds, you can adjust the time duration in the settings as well. The animations are seamless and you can choose to see or ignore the notifications by simply swiping them.
The app also has other features including blacklist, dynamic background, low priority notifications and much more. You can easily go into the app straight from the lock screen without having to unlock the screen (if you do not have a screen lock on). When you are listening to music on your phone, you can control your playlist straight from lock screen as well. Thanks to its developer Artem Chepurnoy the application is quite stable and works very smoothly. I have been using this application since a few days now and have not experienced much battery drain.
The application currently only works on devices running Android 4.4+ (KitKat). Well enough reading about it, head over to the Play Store and download it now. Let us know if you like it as much we do, happy downloading!
Play Store Download Link: AcDisplay