A beer with Obama

Whether or not this will be the "3 a.m. phone call" of the next presidential election cycle remains to be seen:

Obama More Bartender Than Mediator At Beer Summit - NYTimes.com

Even so, I wonder what I would talk about if I had a chance to have a beer with Obama. I'd like to think that my agenda would shrink compared to the enormity of his.

Mr. President, is there anything I can share with you from my point of view that might sharpen your own?

Any idea what you might say?

Microhoo...clever!

10 Reasons Why Microhoo Is Good for Enterprise Search

I am still a Google addict...

New media model emerging

AOL Newsroom Now Has (Wow) 1,500 Writers: "AOL now has 1,500 people writing content across its scores of content sub-brands, we’ve confirmed. Around 1,000 of those people are working full time for AOL, the rest are freelancing. That’s more than double the number that they had creating content a year ago, and by this time next year, we’ve heard, the plan is to have 2-3x as many people as they do now.

Where is AOL hiring these journalists? From the failing print world. We’ve obtained a list of hundreds of these individuals, including former journalists at BusinessWeek, New York Times, USA Today, ESPN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Consumer Reports, Cond�Nast and scores of regional and national newspapers and magazines. A few of them are listed at the end of this report."

Help out Shell

We should all go out and buy a tank of gas...well, diesel for us...

Shell Profit Falls 67% in Quarter - NYTimes.com

I'd love to have a beer with Prez O

White House Pub Opens at 6 - The Daily Beast

Uh, Mr. President...do you have a straw?

Don't touch this...

...Woman in wheelchair to purse snatcher...

Thank you Guv Schwarzenegger

Kinda sad...we see these kind of glitches..check vs. credit card...in my goverment office with nother agencies.

We work in a "Rules is rules" environment. Sometimes it takes a guv to stop the madness:

Schwarzenegger: Overlook glitch, let paralyzed grad take bar exam - CNN.com: "'Government should work for the people, not against them, and I'm calling on the state bar to allow Sara Granda to take next week's test. Sara is a fighter, and I am with her all the way.'

The state bar's Web site never processed Granda's application for Tuesday's test because California's Department of Rehabilitation paid her $600 fee with a check, according to the Sacramento Bee. The Web site requires a credit card number, but Granda said she was assured by a state bar representative that she was properly registered with the check, the newspaper reported."

Continued prayers for Moo...

...and his post surgery pain managment.

The aftermath @ Terrible Palsy

Palin's numbers are down

Surprise! To complex for me to understand:

Sarah Palin's Poll Numbers Tumble -- Politics Daily: "There's an obvious disconnect here. Weren't you 'Miss Congeniality' in that Alaska pageant back in 1984? Isn't presidential politics just another beauty contest? So surely this latest survey is wrong -- another creation of the 'haters.'

Once you look closely, you can breathe a sigh of relief: 57 percent don't believe Sarah Palin 'understands complex issues.' Big deal. Only about 2 per cent of those who love you understand complex issues. Even so, a 40 percent overall rating beats the heck out of say, '30 Rock.' So take that Tina Fey. Gosh darn it."

What are "The Birthers?"

The party who loss the last presidential election can't seem to gain any traction attacking President Obama's politics, so they are aiming at his credibility. Where was he born? Is he a real US citizen?

Harry Shearer: Why The Birthers?: "Enter Barack Obama. One could be satisfied with opposing him on issues, as I do on the lunacy of the Afghanistan venture (al Qaeda has long since moved its leaders to Pakistan and its recruiting to Somalia) and the vacancy of his response to the continuing federal betrayal of New Orleans. But events show you can't turn out livid opponents to town hall meetings on those policy grounds. You can generate mouth-foamers, however, with the question of his nation of birth. Republicans, dependent on consultants to advise them on the exquisite variety of methods of nay-saying, gaze longingly at the emotional power of a charge of illegitimacy. The birthers are their wind turbines."

Ah...the Palenists....

Prayers for Moo

He's not rolling over the principal's foot this time...he's having surgery.

A new, junior, sports authority on the scene

Some of you might know Mr. E.

Yes, I will one day be able to retire...

Madea with a heart

We just watched "Madea goes to jail" over the weekend...TP is very funny...and has a big heart:

Tyler Perry Treats 65 Swimming Pool Excluded Kids To Disney World

Nice July weekend

Eric rode his bike, and Jodie and I rode our scooters, to downtown Gresham on Saturday. We wanted to see farmers market, but were pleasantly surprised to see the Art Walk. I saw a beautiful painting of Crater Lake.

I had wanted to go to the Troutdale parade, but Eric informed me he was too old for that...whatEVER!

We met our new interim pastor, Craig Jorgensen. He likes to ride horses and motorcycles. Very nice guy. Spoke on how radical Jesus was/is.

The top of my legs are beet red! I knew there was a reason I don't where shorts.

A nice response

Troy,

First, please accept my apology for the incident yesterday at Safeway. You were more than inconvenienced by our apricots not scanning and then a lack of urgency on our part to remedy the situation appropriately. You are obviously an extraordinary individual who makes it his business to find good in all people and all circumstances. I am not a computer savy guy and the only reason I read your kind words about your Safeway experiece was because one of our Safeway associates in California saw your posting and sent it to me. I was humbled by your kind words and thoroughly enjoyed reading more about you and your family. I feel blessed to have had a brief encounter with you.
Thanks for your Safeway patronage. Best wishes to you and your family.
Warmest regards,


Steve Frisby

"I can put the apricots back..."

I went to Safeway again today...a different one from yesterday. Eric did not want to come. Jodie made me a list. I walked it so I could take a cart, because I had a much bigger list today.

When I was in the fruit area, I saw plastic containers of apricots. I like apricots. I am trying to eat better. I could put a couple in my lunch cooler each day.

I went up to checkout. The guy behind me in line was really friendly. He grabbed the box of of pop for me that was on the lower shelf of my cart and hoisted it to the counter for me.

When I went to checkout everything went well until the checkout gal tried to scan the apricots. They would not scan. She typed the number in and it did not come up. She told the bagger girl, but she did not respond. A couple minutes later the checkout gal asked the bagger to go grab another thing of apricots.

She asked me if I had gotten them from the produce section. I confirmed that I did. The bagger went too get another one. Not that she had to run, but she seemed to take a long time.

Same thing...they would not scan and the number would not ring up.

The guy behind me spoke up. He said he was the president of this division of Safeway and he told the checkout gal that she should give me the apricots for free because of the delay they were causing me. He had a southern drawl. I thought, "I'm going to Google this guy when I get home and see who he is."

The bagger girl had not looked at the price of the apricots when she went back, so she walked back to get the price.

She took a long time. The guy behind my reiterated his position that I should get the apricots for free.

I was nervous. I hate being the guy holding up the line. The "president of the division" guy behind me was upset over how I was being made to wait.

I said "I can put the apricots back."

The checkout gal asked "Are you sure?" as she started to reach for them. The guy behind me did not like that.

The bagger returned after a very uncomfortable wait and said "Two fifty!"

When I got home I Googled to find out who the president of the local division of Safeway. His name is Steve Frisby. He started in Arkansas, went to Texas, and then came to Portland. He is president of the Portland division of Safeway. I found a couple older pictures of him.

I am positive that it was Steve Frisby behind me in the checkout line.

He saw me loading the van and offered to help. "I got it, but thank you," I said.

A very gracious man with customer service on the brain.

Angels all around

After a baseball doubleheader with nephew Vance's American Legion team, Eric went went with Vance and family back to their house to go swimming with a friend. Jodie and I went down to the river to see the sights.

On the way home, we stopped at Safeway. I parked on the outer edge of the parking lot. Our Sprinter van is so big, and our rear lift comes out so far...I like to operate it where there is less traffic.

I got my scooter out and went in the store. I keep forgetting to put my basket back in the van. It was filled with parade candy last week.

I piled what groceries I could on the floor of the scooter and on my lap. My helper, Eric, wasn't with me to help me. I was having trouble balancing everything.

I don't feel "disabled"...but when I am on my own around people who don't know...I feel really disabled.

I made it up to the checkout line. An older lady was in front of me. She had straight white hair. When she saw me on the scooter loaded down with groceries, she instantly started helping me get the groceries onto the conveyer belt. I did not find her as being intrusive at all, just hospitable, part of her nature.

The checkout lady was seasoned as well. She seemed well acquinted with the lady who had helped me. As she checked out, she gave her the maximum five dollars cash that her card would allow.

After I checked out, the checkout lady came around. She and the bag girl hung a plastic grocery bag on each arm of my scooter and helped me arrange stuff on the floor of the scooter.

I scooted out to the van and loaded up. I was thinking that the ladies in the store probably would not imagine me driving our monsterous rig.

I drove out onto Division and I stopped at the light at Burnside. I saw the same older lady who had helped me waiting at the corner to cross Division. She was talking to another lady who was with her. She did not see me

A tingle went down my spine as I realized...there truly are angels all around us.

Obama's partying ways...

...miffs the Russians:

The decision to brush off the Russians on one of his two nights here miffed some in the Moscow government who did not understand why he would not devote the scarce time to his hosts. Mr. Obama had dinner with President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Monday and lunch with him on Tuesday. But with the second dinner slot unavailable, he ended up having breakfast Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, a known night owl not given to American-style early morning business meals.

Wombat love? No, that's bad...

Man raped by wombat? From Harprer's:

A New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time… Wombats are native to Australia and are not found in New Zealand. –“Man said ‘wombat rape’ led to accent change,” Nick Squires, The Telegraph

Goliath vs, Goliath?

Google drops a bomb on Microsoft:

In the second half of 2010, Google plans to launch the Google Chrome OS, an operating system designed from the ground up to run the Chrome web browser on netbooks. “It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be,” Google writes tonight on its blog.

But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that?

I love the Google Chrome browser. It is very fast and lightweight. I know it's not a huge deal for people not as addicted to the internet as myself. I look forward to trying GCOS on my netbook.

Celebrating the 4th

For the last five or six years, we have started our Fourth of July festivities with a trip to Corbett for their annual parade.

Small town pride all over the place.

We were late this year and had to go in the back way. A sheriff told us where to park. I turned around our big rig, Jet White, and parked partly on blacktop and partly on the soft shoulder. Luckily our lift came down without any trouble. We scootered about a quarter mile, passing through the parade formation area, to get to the parade route.

We found a open spot at the beginning of the parade route and we decided not to look further down the route...it looked pretty full.

Someone told the color gaurd to get ready. It was only10:30. The formed and started to march. Seconds later, a more senior organizer told them to stop. The parade of cars had to go through first. He told the marines and the sailor to get in the shade that was behind us as the hundred or so cars went by.

Firetrucks, tractors, fancy cars, dirt bikes, horses, kids young and old showing American pride.

A great day to celebrate America's birth in a small town.

30 years

The Walkman turns 30.

I can't believe it has been that long. I remember the amazement of having your favorite music so portible. Did not know then about the 30 gig Zune that gets me through my day now!

Firefox 3.5...twist those fingers!

So, if I twist my fingers on my touchpad I can change tabs??

Right....

Four year old Oregon cold case

CNN cold case Oregon.

I am a "Cold case" fan...but I like it better when they are solved.