Sweet mother of god, this is nasty. A 44-year old woman’s skin grew over top of her wedding ring! The worst part is, it looks worse than it sounds! AAAARRRRGH!!!!

Also, I just ordered a new CD player and speakers for my car. If you didn’t know, my stereo is perhaps the worst in Cleveland. Currently I have the default Honda tape deck, and I believe all four speakers have blown at some point. The cassette deck doesn’t work. The right front speaker works about 7% of the time, so I’ve faded the entire mix to the rear where both speakers buzz at even the slightest touch of bass. Anyway, that sad situation is over. Here’s what I got:

Blaupunkt Montreal CD Player

Infiniti Reference 6002i 6 1/2″ Speakers

The CD player will have a little cord running from it that has female RCA adapters on it, which I can connect to my portable mp3 player. (Previously I was going to just buy a tape deck so I could use the cassette adapter.) Another cool thing is that when they change out the speakers, they can leave the existing grille and cloth intact, so that it doesn’t look like I have some blingy-ass übersystem. I’ve always wanted a Blaupunkt stereo for some reason. Maybe because I studied German in high school, but I also always knew they were supposed to be really good. Well, time to schedule an appointment to get ‘em put in.

Ahhhh sports bars. On Saturday night, in a pathetic attempt to “do something”, 3/4 of the band met up with our lady friends at a horrifically crowded and oversized sports bar, Harpo’s. The one upside was the tremendous beer selection, including a beer by Thirsty Dog called Hoppus Maximus, which I can’t add to my beer log because I can’t find its label online. The Browns were playing a preseason game, which ended with a 0 seconds left touchdown pass to win! It was a lot more exciting than being in my living room, I will say that.

Yesterday was the Smitty Tour, which took us to Big Met. Everyone expected that it would pour all day, but my umbrella never even needed to be taken out. I actually fared pretty well, scoring a 51 on the front and a 47 on the back, which put me in 2nd place overall. My handicap is coming down though, because although I didn’t play great, I still beat my stepbrother Andy who had shot one of the best rounds in his life. Later I got to see my aunt who was visiting, and then drank a few rounds at the Blarney Stone for Atheir’s birthday.

I was sincerely hoping that a million people would descend upon Manhattan to protest the Republican National Convention, but I suppose 200,000 will do. I wonder how many more people will show up as the convention continues. It makes me happy to know that as long as it’s kept peaceful, the lack of permits hasn’t incited the police into arresting anyone they can grab.

In case you haven’t heard about the Israeli spy that had infiltrated the Pentagon, here’s a link to the story. I guess this helps to explain our completely unfounded and unwavering support for Israel, at least to a small extent. Actually, I’m sure it goes way deeper than that, but I have a really hard time understanding our stance on the matter. (Or the fact that we feel the need to impose our stance.)

Bushie, you’re such a suckup! Not only are you commending Kerry’s military record, but now you admit that he’s “more heroic” than you? I must say, for once it seems that Bush has a shred of decency in his body. However, I can think of no better example of the boy who cried wolf than GW, and at this point I can’t rule out that he’s totally lying and is in fact funding and supporting those who are claiming Kerry’s military record is not what it seems.

I’m sure that many republicans and military officials wish this prison abuse scandal would go away, but it seems like every day someone new claims that the orders for torture reached all the way to the top. Today is no exception to that trend, as one of the former guards at Abu Ghraib has said that he was instructed to humiliate prisoners. The orders seemed to be coming from so many sources that the guards really didn’t know what to do. Personally, as much as I’d like to see Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest of the cartel fired immediately, I think the blame should be placed on everyone involved, from the guards all the way to Rummy.

How in the world could someone fuck up THIS BAD?! A California man who thought he had AIDS for a full 8 years just found out that he never did!! The only thing that would make it worse is if he found out in another 8 years that, yes, he really did have AIDS… again. On the other hand, people that think they’re going to die always seem to bring up the many ways they’ve improved their lives by living each day as if it were their last. So, perhaps the guy should be grateful? Maybe he’s just pissed because he was traveling the country giving AIDS awareness speeches, and now since he doesn’t have it, he no longer cares about people contracting it!!

I’ve always been a big fan of golf carts and the antics you can undertake with one, but I must say that there is a distinct lack of bling on nearly every one. Well, here’s one that doesn’t exactly have room for clubs, but has plenty of bling to go around! This reminds me of an In Living Color skit where they attempted to show what white people believe blacks would do to their precious country clubs. A group of black guys roll up in a totally decked out golf cart with mini monster truck tires that rip up the grass, and proceed to blast music and butcher the rules of golf. I wish that show was never taken off the air, dammit! The only other part of the skit that stands out in my mind is someone hitting the ball, somehow catching it on the tip of their putter and dropping it into the hole without touching the ball. Fantastic.

This has been the longest 3-day work week I can remember. Thankfully I’ve drank myself into oblivion two nights in a row, so as to forget the extended periods spent baking under flourescent lights. Speaking of the flourescent lights, I am thinking of lobbying the office management to allow us to switch to lamps instead. So far the people I’ve spoken to in my general area are all for it. These things really mess up people’s eyes.

Here’s something you’re not likely to hear Bush OR Fox News comment on: the Census reports that poverty is way up. To be exact, it’s up 1.3 million to 35.9 million, which is one in eight people. Persons without healthcare rose 1.4 million to a total of 45 million people, which is 15 percent of the population.

Is this the moment we’ve all been waiting for? Has Bush finally admitted that he’s actually made a mistake? Wellllllll…. sort of. The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made “a miscalculation of what the conditions would be” in post-war Iraq. Yeah, it falls short of admitting that a mistake was made, but it’s close. And considering that since the “mission was accomplished” some 800 soliders have been killed, I’d say a mistake was made, wouldn’t you?

If you haven’t heard about this already, there was a group of US citizens in Afghanistan accused of having prisons and kidnapping terrorist suspects to interrogate and imprison them. Well, all prior reports I’d heard on the subject made it clear that these actions were not condoned by the military, and the civilians are even facing serious jail time. Now it’s a matter of he says, she says - because the leader and ex-solider Johnathan Idema claims he was authorized by people in the Pentagon. At the moment, the only evidence of communication between the two are phone calls, but Idema says there’s a cover-up.

Could it be that marijuana can help treat mental illness? It seems to me that if testing were able to be conducted, they’d be finding out a lot about the benefits of ganja, but in this country it’s too hard to get permission to do so. Why? Because it would debunk all the bullshit information the DEA and Drug Czars have been feeding us since the beginning of the 20th century - that weed is “the devil’s smoke”, it makes you crazy, etc. An interesting article nevertheless.

Perhaps thrice as interesting is the story of a German man who, using implanted stem cells, has grown a jaw under his shoulder and had it successfully installed! Apparently he lost his jaw to mouth cancer, but is now able to eat solid foods again. Take a look at the picture in the article! I’m tellin’ you people, get out and drink and smoke all you want because by the time you start getting sick from it, you’ll be able to get a new set of lungs and a sparkly new liver.

Last year was the first time I attended the Air Show here in Cleveland, but it also might be the last. Due to post-Sep. 11th policies, the FAA may not issue a permit for the air show to be held after this year. The permit is already in place for this year. The restriction has something to do with having sporting events going on at the same time as the air show, but the reporter who wrote this story lacks the basic concepts of journalism, and therefore didn’t get any further details.

I’ve heard some bad country songs in my day, and some choruses that contained the most idiotic word combinations imaginable - so I’m sure you have as well. Still, this website proves that I didn’t have the slightest idea of just how bad these names really got! Here’s some good ones I spotted:
“If you want to keep the beer real cold, put it next to my ex-wife’s heart”
“She thinks my tractor’s sexy”
“Nobody wants to play rhythm guitar behind Jesus”

Wow.

Damn I’m tired! I’m not sure if it’s the jet lag, but this morning I woke up at 7 as usual, and laid in bed for what seemed like an additional 5 seconds but was actually 28 minutes. Usually if I fall back asleep it’s only for about a minute or so.

Last night I went down to pick up some beer from Vinny’s and I guess the guy has started recognizing me and the beers I get, so he asked me to “try out” some expensive bottle of Canadian belgian-style ale. I didn’t get to try it yet becaue the IPA I bought was so ass kicking I couldn’t even have another beer!

The whole Swift Boat Veterans for Truth movement to smear Kerry has been in the news a lot lately, and as you may have noticed I’ve totally ignored it. The solitary reason I did so was because it seemed completely nonsensical for them to be standing behind Bush’s military record while criticizing Kerry’s. Certainly Kerry is no god among men, and in my esteemed opinion the military is a waste of money, but supporting a man who clearly evaded military duty in favor of partying is just obtuse. Even Bush himself has just recently commended Kerry on his military service. Well, now that Bush’s lawyer’s ties to the SBVFT have been exposed, he’s going to step down. Eh, this isn’t even newsworthy.

The chain of command that controlled Abu Ghraib prison is starting to be shaken down after the release of a new Army report on the abuse scandal. Other sources are saying that Rumsfeld is in some way directly responsible. As much as I dislike ol’ Rummy, I find it hard to believe that someone who sits at the very top of things would literally command something like this. However, Rumsfeld is obviously mentally ill, and given the insatiable conservative appetite to effectively destroy the entire middle east… who the hell really knows?

It seems like only yesterday when North Korean officials were comparing Bush to Hitler. Yet now a Canadian Parliament member has said: “We are not joining the coalition of the idiots. We are joining the coalition of the wise.” This was regarding a newly proposed US missile defense system, which I’m sure IS idiotic, having been witness to over 3 years of the most dysfunctional military activity the world has ever known. See, I can personally take criticism about my country, especially when we’re actually screwing up. But for some reason, America has gotten ultra-defensive of our recent decisions, even though we need to be critical of the system that represents us. Even if we weren’t occupying a country, the economy was strong, education was great, etc… we should always be criticising and scrutinizing every action the government takes, because if we don’t… well… absolute power corrupts absolutely.

What better example to illustrate government corruption and bloating than for a Pentagon official to say “half of government secrets should not even be kept secret.” I’m paraphrasing, but nevertheless, it’s ridiculous. They even said that some documents that are classified by one agency are released by another, and vice versa!

Just how close-minded, prejudiced and archaic-thinking are Ohioans? Well, 56 percent would support a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Sorry, maybe I got carried away. Bigots.

I think the evidence is stacked in favor of those who were shat upon, regarding the Dave Matthews Band 800 lb. fecal dropoff. Now there’s video and other evidence, and the driver has admitted he drove over the bridge, but not that he dropped the waste. I wonder if there was one huge fan of DMB on the bus, and if they now hate him or if they were honored to be effectively be shit upon by him.

After I read this article, I disagreed with the term “super-earth”, but scientists have found a planet fairly similar in size to earth and near to a sun about the size of ours. I disagree with the term because, to me, a planet where the surface temperature is about 1160°F and a full orbit is only 10 days instead of 365 - should not be referred to as earth, earth-like or similar to earth. Not to mention it’s 14 times the size of earth. I suppose the reason for dubbing it a super-earth is that in space, sizes are of such awesome proportions that even something 14 times the size of earth is rather small. Still, given the temperature, can we call it a super-mercury or something?

It might just be a website with numbers that change, but if you really think about it, this is a pretty far out concept: up to the second data on births, deaths, money, etc. for the entire earth. Watching the ‘number of lightning strikes this year’ climb at such an amazing pace makes me imagine the earth from space with lightning flickering all over the place.

Click here to see pictures from my trip to Oakland / San Francisco.

There’s more, but these are a select few that I thought people would like.

This is our convoy moving down the interbelt last night, about 7:55pm, on the way to the radio show.

And here’s where the magic happens! This is studio A at WRUW, where Live From Cleveland takes place, and a lot of off-air work gets done. The place was pretty cool, but much smaller than we thought. Studio A is also home to their classical music collection.

That didn’t stop them from having the biggest vinyl collection I could ever imagine. They of course had CD’s, and probably cassettes too, but I didn’t see those.

The show went off just fine, except for a few fuckups. For one, someone requested Why don’t we do it in the road by (of course) The Beatles. That’s all fine and dandy, but I haven’t played that song in months, and afterward I forgot to tune back up to E on my low string! So the next song, Unicorn Blowjob, sounded like utter ass until I realized my dilemma and re-tuned. We got some interesting requests, such as Johnny Cash and I Am The Walrus, which unfortunately we couldn’t provide. I hope we get a chance to do something like that again sometime, because it was a lot of fun. Plus, even my mom got to hear us this time! It’s easier than going to a show, if you’re weak like that.

Apparently the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) has lost track of $8.8 billion dollars! A three-member panel led by Paul Volcker is also investigating the Oil-for-Food scandal. The panel says it has evidence that dozens of people, including top U.N. officials, took kickbacks from the $67 billion program. Wow, that’s a lot of bread, and that’s a lot of corruption. Way to go! I can scarcely imagine how much could be done with $8.8 billion if it hadn’t been tied up in this senseless war and occupation.

Certainly you’ve heard about the bear who drank 36 beers from a campsite… but the real headline from the start should have been: Even bear knows Busch tastes like shit. When presented with both Rainier and Busch, the bear had only sampled one can of beer, yet he drank 36 cans of Rainier. I don’t need no fancy degree in taste-testin’ to tell y’all who won this one. The bear was eventually trapped by using two open cans of Rainier along with some honey and whatnot.

After a three-year mission collecting solar wind particles, NASA’s Genesis spacecraft is returning to earth. Since its contents could be easily damaged, they’ve hired Hollywood stunt pilots to fly helicopters which will grab the parachute in mid-air, avoiding a nasty touchdown. I for one would like to see video footage of this.

Man, what a day. I really don’t even have time to be writing in here, but oh well. At work we had some 2-day training classes scheduled, and I was filming day one. During our lunch break, some people determined that the training wasn’t what we expected and that it would be cut to one day. The presenter I was filming stranded her partner, who I had to run back to her hotel later on! All in all it was pretty much chaos.

Tonight Miranda’s Moon will be playing our radio show on WRUW, and I have to pack everything for my trip to San Francisco this weekend. At least I have tomorrow at work to relax, now that I’m not taping anymore.

You might notice a difference at the top of the blog today, it’s called the Blogger Navbar, and I didn’t take the time to read what it does, BUT … I did take the time to make it silver, to better match my blog. How thoughtful.

Today was the Opening Day for my company, where all the teachers and staff that have the summer off finally return. We had a big presentation this morning, and I had to videotape a short speech. It was cool to see all the people I don’t regularly see, but I can’t believe the “summer” is over. For me, there really wasn’t a summer. NDR, I’m relying on YOU to provide me with a summer packed into 3 days. haha Okay, not really.

Keep making gay marriage a campaign issue, Georgie, because both of your daughters are rather excited about attending an upcoming same-sex marriage. Apparently, they know these guys from having gotten their eyebrows waxed regularly by one of them. I bet that’s not all they got waxed! Va va va voooom!!!!

To a local news anchor, this might seem like the perfect end-of-the-night heartwarming story to slip in, but to me it’s further evidence that our right to protest is eroding away. New York mayor Bloomberg announced that if protesters “played nice” they’d have access to all kinds of perks, including cheap tickets to a Broadway show. I think it’s insulting to suggest that any one of the protesters, who are all going to be there to stand up for their rights as Americans, could be bribed away from doing so with some cheap tickets. We have the right to peacefully assemble, and whether ol’ Bushie or the National Guard say otherwise, we have the right to gather wherever the fuck we want. I understand that safety is a concern, and that permits are generally given out, but when something so fundamentally wrong as the Bush cartel comes along, we have got to get the word out. I sincerely hope that no protesters give in and wuss out when faced with opposing points of view on this matter. None of these people want to hurt anyone, otherwise we wouldn’t have tried to stop the fucking occupation of Iraq! We knew back then it was going to be a train wreck, and when millions took to the streets, nobody covered it. We better get some god damn coverage this time around!

I’m still amazed and perplexed by the story of the 480-pound woman who was fixed to her couch, but this article I dug up can offer a little more information to help us all cope. I’m not alone in being highly disturbed by the whole situation, either, as the article points out: Her case was so disturbing that some members of the ER crew that night sought counseling, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Wow. When you’re a paramedic or ER worker, you see some crazy-ass shit. Our drummer’s only just beginning full-blown medical school, and he’s already had to inspect the ass of a 500-pound obese man. Imagine how bad it must’ve really been. *shudder*