Here's a couple bits of wisdom from Robert Ringer:

"It makes no sense to concentrate on things that are beyond one's control, given that those things that are within one's control are more than a full-time job."

And,

"I have learned that adversity is the one factor that should never be used as an excuse for not taking action. On the contrary, it is the single most important reason for taking action--purposeful, consistent, bold action. Ironically, then, adversity is life giving because it's a call to action--and action is life."

Both from page 247 of the hardcover Action! Nothing Happens Until Something Moves.

Finally finished the book (it got buried in all the holiday activities). Now I've got to take Action!

"God bless us! Everyone!"

We'll be going to Christmas Eve church service in a couple of hours. We just finished our traditional ham dinner.

We entertained my father-in-law by setting to work on some plumbing problems. No idea what the mother-in-law did all day. Laurie was cooking. And I wasn't in charge of the children, so I don't know what they were up to.

I gotta see where Santa Clause is.

Winter Solstice today, pagans!

Dance naked in your favorite Oak Grove!


Photo credit.

I don't recommend doing it in Minnesota, though. It's 12° F here.

And don't get naked too early; the cops on the Mason-Dixon line are on the look-out for naked drivers.

Blogslackin'

That's not the worst guess, Steve, but the fact is, I've never been afraid to blog while drunk. Nor have I ever had the presence of mind to use Blogger's service to stop any displays of stupidity.

No, I just let the girl play Sims or whatever on the PC until story time every night. Then, after I read to her for a while, I'm just feeling to content with life to want to go opinionate or otherwise explain things to the world.

I also read a while back that my blood pressure medicine is being tested for its ability to reduce the trauma experienced by...well, by victims of rape when they remember the, uh, episode.

Well, the thought occurred to me that would also have the effect of making it hard to learn from your mistakes. Hmmm...

So now I have to worry about that possibility, AND the placebo effect of having thought of it.

Come to think of it, I'm not really all that worried.

Rosie had her Christmas Program at Church yesterday.

It was a pretty good show - little kids being cute and all that. Rosie seems to have been bitten by the I-gotta-look-cool bug. She didn't smile once. She looked like she had a migraine, though she was perfectly cheerful afterwards.

When she really looked cute was she she and Aliina were sitting together on the low sill of the big picture window in the entryway eating cookies afterward. That would have been a great picture.

Too bad I won't be able to take pictures like that until I pay off the deductable of my car insurance. I had a little fender bender in the old F150. "T-boned" on the passenger side. Accustomed to driving beaters as I am, my nature would be not to even have it repaired. Just bang out the dents myself and rehang the running board so the wife can get in easier. And paint it, of course.

Unfortunately, we're still making payments on it, so the bank insists that we have the bleepin' thing restored to newish condition. You should see the list from the appraiser. Apparently the whole chassis and box have to be disassemble.

It's quite the bummer.

Anyway, that's going to be our Christmas gift to each other, so I don't think we'll be getting a new digital camera anytime soon. The digital video camera claims to be able to take stills, but I haven't figured out how to download them seperate from the video yet.

So The Prince of Darkness is leaving CNN.

Robert Novak hasn't been on the air since he stormed off the set of his show last August:
Novak said the switch to Fox had nothing to do with finding a more comfortable home for his views.

"I don't think that's a factor," he said. "In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me."

© 2005 Associated Press.
Meanwhile, The Atlasphere publishes an excerpt of another Prince of Darkness's assault on a Turkish Sultan's invading camp - from In Defense of Dracula, by Marianne Grossman.

Coincidence?

Whatever, dude.

My Daughter thought I needed a day off so she barfed at school

It took me an hour and a half to line up someone to cover for me, then I went and got her and we spent the rest of the midday reading the climax and denouement of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

It looks like my fears about how she would take it were unfounded. I think I took it harder. You want a spoiler? Lily, James, Cedric, Sirius and Dumbledore share the most important of fates. I get into my fiction, and I've discovered that it shows when I'm reading aloud to someone. My voice breaks when the writer speaks of bravery and loyalty (to an obviously honorable person).

Anyone looking for voice talent? I find that I sound a lot like Sean Connery after I've been reading aloud for little while.

Of course, upon finishing the book I immediately offered my thoughts on how the next book(s) would go, which may have mitigated the apparent tragedy somewhat.

Here's a message from The Rammer,

As Jesse Ventura used to call him (I miss Jesse on talk radio--the dude flat-out has a lot of great stories to tell):

December 16, 2005


Alan Erkkila
[Now, I wouldn't mind if my regulars sent me stuff, or stopped by the house, but the whole world doesn't need to know my street address.]

Dear Alan:

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns about the federal
budget deficit.

Over the past decade, federal spending has far outpaced the rate of
inflation, and it's past time for this disturbing trend to stop!

I am pleased that recent estimates by the Congressional Budget
Office show a decrease in this year's budget deficit of over $100
billion from previous estimates. And Congress must continue to
work to cut the pork from its annual spending bills.

Rest assured of my continued strong commitment to reining in
federal spending and curbing the growth of the federal
government.

Thanks again for contacting me, as I appreciate hearing from you.
Please let me know whenever I can be helpful to you or your
family.

Sincerely,



JIM RAMSTAD
Member of Congress

You stick to that philosophy like glue, dude and you've got my vote.

Here's a comely lass!

Well, it's Saturday night
And I ain't got nobody...
[Other than that gal in the easy chair
About six feet above my head and four feet ENE (who can't be considered chicken-feed, since she is my wife and has considerable skills you-know-where).]*

Oh! The pic!
See if you can guess who this is:

All right, she's earned a link.

I had trouble deciding between her and this gal:

That's a pretty hot pic if you think about it. Meditate on it for a while.

*Skills to reckon with, now that I think about it... I'll see ya later.

A brilliant summation, from the Mises Institute:

Mises taught that all societies in all times, and their governing structures, are the result of the ideas prevalent in the culture. He took it for granted that no government is classically liberal by nature. They all want maximum power and wealth, which they can only obtain at the direct expense of the people. How much will they agree to give? It is the public belief in liberty — originating with the intellectual class — that ultimately restrains the state's ambitions.

Totalitarianism is not an aberration, in this view, but the expected result of any state that is not so restrained. After all, the state can use any ideological excuse. In ancient times, it claimed to be a god, as with Pharoah. In more recent years, the excuses have included the need for community (communism), national greatness (fascism), central economic planning (the New Deal), or homeland security.

If the population is passive and uninformed by contrary voices, the state can succeed in its aims. Yet if cultural convictions are intolerant of power, and embrace the inviolable right to person and property, liberty prevails.

The Wife's late comin' home tonight.

I'm worried. It was snowin' pretty good today.

I went out and scraped off the driveway.

18 degrees. For you foreigners, that's 14 degrees below freezing. Or, let's see, that's 1.8 times... no, divided by 1.8... Oh, divide by two and subract a little! -6 degrees Centigrade! That's my story an I'm stickin' to it!

Anyway, I was expecting the wench at 6:00 and she's not home yet at 8:00.

[My daughter just handed me a bag of Nestle's Semi-Sweet chocolate chips for some unknown reason. But I'll take 'em. Damn good chocolate!]

OK, the wife and youngest child got home at 9:10 and kept me busy until now, but I can stop worrying at least. They stopped at the picture store to pick up the portraits of the girls that we bought. ...Portraits that we bought of the girls.

Oh, well. I still have the chocolate.