Attention racing fans, we are soon to be rid of the dreaded football season, the boring stooperbowl, and get down!  The cars are really ugly without paint but what chick isn't?

President Bush gave his final State of the Union speech tonight.  Reportedly the best speech he has made.  Did you see Ted Kennedy in his largeness and her highness making nice while Obama glared in the distance?  Did you see Nancy Polosi nodding off behind Mr Bush in between her reading a book?  Politics as usual.

It seems to me that this website really runs slowly.  We may not have the fastest setup, but we do have satelite web service and it is supposed to be quick.  I check with the guy in the office and he   said:well, nothing.

For data on this subject, read note following Twinkies Official government announcement!

Class over?  What grade did I get?  Who knows?

Well, the week is over.  What was supposed to be a two week intro class became one week of intense mega study comprised mostly of trying to sign in, find the assignment and then flip back and forth trying to be on the right page.  But it is over good or bad, and I have yet to decide about another.  At my age, commitment can come hard.  Maybe I should put in for a member of the grand jury.  That only lasts all year.

Good news and bad.  My friend Al, about whom I recently wrote and had pictures from Afghanistan, was home (Visalia) for health check-ups (not much in the way of health in Kabul), and we were able to meet up for lunch in Bako. when he and his wife Nana were on their way to LAX for flights back to mid-Asia.  He is doing OK, but his wife Nana who is a physician, is fighting the retirement blues.  She lives in the country Georgia, while Al works in Afghanistan.  I asked him about the fields of marijuana and he confirms that they indeed grow there in abundance, along with the opium.  It seems in about 1220 A.D. a guy named Ghengis Khan passed their way, and while hunkered in a town named Ghanj, decreed that they grow the weed for his pleasure, and the rest is history.  Hence the name Ganja.  (Please don't pick on me for my history.  It is close enough for this blog.)  Anyway, the average family over there has 1/2 acre to farm and on this they must support their family.  Dope and Ope(opium) are way the  easiest to grow and transport.  Al's contract in Afghanistan is up in May, but if he lives long enough, he may secure another assignment in Iran.  The people over there really need a way to conduct their lives on their own.  I only hope and pray Al and Nana survive.
By the way, I commented on the nice water in the streams and wondered if there was any fly-fishing.  He said there is but only by those who can hire armed guards to watch their backs.  Fun.

Remember those days?  I know some of you are too young, but I'll bet they didn't inhale.

This will be my last offering on boobies at least for a while.  I really do have other interests.  For instance, I must get on with the online class from Cerro-Coso College.

We took our new puppy (actually a four year old dog) to our favorite vet, Vicki, for a check up and rattlesnake immunity shots.  She was bitten twice when she was in North Carolina, by copperheads.  Either she is dumb or slow, but since it didn't kill her, Vicki said it might increase her resistance if she meets a rattler.  So we got the first shot.  But for a SNAKE look at the critter my cousin saw on his patio during coffeetime at their home in Australia.

I sometimes go back to the archives and see blogs of interest.  There is an interest in boobies, and I find this one frightening.  Not sure where it came from, but I am sure glad she doesn't live with me!

I have a friend of 40 years, about my age, who works in Afghanistan trying to teach them to grow something besides opium.  There are poor roads and opium can be carried on a mule on a trail.

    I recently signed up to take a class on-line from Cerro Coso College.  It took some doing and unwanted advice from a few bystanders before getting this partly done.   Then when I tried to access the program - no dice.  Rats.  Back to the office where I was told I forgot to use this @ sign in my log-in.  I did not forget.  No one ever told me.  The instruction book did not say that.  Trial and error got me nowhere.  After much travail I finally got it done.  What class am I taking for my first one?  "Becoming a Successful Online Student"!  Might be an early drop-out at this rate.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS YOU CAN KEEP

Are you sick of making the same resolutions year after year that you never keep? Why not promise to do something you can ACTUALLY accomplish?

Here are some resolutions that you can use as a starting point:

~ Gain weight. At least 30 pounds.
~ Stop exercising. Waste of time.
~ Read less. Makes you think.
~ Watch more TV. I've been missing some good stuff.
~ Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow.
~ Spend more time at work, surfing the web.
~ Take a vacation to someplace important, like to see the world's largest ball of twine.
~ Don't jump off a cliff just because everyone else did.
~ Stop bringing lunch from home--eat out more.
~ Don't have eight children at once.
~ Get in a whole NEW rut!
~ Start being superstitious.
~ Personal goal: Don't bring back disco.
~ Don't ride in a car driven by Britney Spears.
~ Speak in a monotone voice and only use monosyllabic words.
~ Only wear jeans that are 2 sizes too small and use a chain or rope for a belt.
~ Spend my summer vacation in cyberspace.
~ Create loose ends.
~ Get more toys.
~ Get further in debt.
~ Don't believe politicians.
~ Break at least one traffic law.
~ Don't drive a motorized vehicle across thin ice.
~ Don't swim with piranhas or sharks.
~ Spread out priorities beyond the ability to keep track of them.
~ Wait for opportunity to knock.
~ Focus on the faults of others.
~ Mope about faults.
~ Never make New Year's resolutions again.

today'sTHOT============================

Aim low. Reach your goals. Avoid disappointment.

We have a new dog-person in our house.  One of our daughters moved into a new apartment, and can't have two dogs, so we volunteered to adopt one.  She is a sweetie, a beagle or hound mix and has a mouse face.  You probably will hear more of her as the year progresses.  We love dogs.

Are we tired of the elections yet?  They all holler for change.  To me change is a quarter,  25cents or two-bits.  That makes politicians two-bit whores .  Shut up already.
Speaking of change, my wife liked my mistake haircut last summer, so we have it back.  Good?