DementedBlogger

Yesterday should have been like any other day. It started out the same, I got up!

I had coffee! then more coffee, and some more coffee. You’d think I’d be awake. I absolutely had to have something from the storage shed, a  large full storage shed mind you.

I ran a few errands on the way, the shed is several miles from home. We finally arrive, stop the truck and guess what, no keys. Truck keys yes, but no shed key. Fine deal!

My wife thought it hilarious, she greeted me at the door…

Back to the shed and several hours later, I finally find my prize. An arm load or two of other paraphernalia dragging along for good measure. Can you say Pack Rat?

A virtual treasure trove of life’s collectibles, things one cannot live with or without. Carefully nestled within the confines of a shed miles from home. Can you say junk?

Well some of it , maybe…

I drag my booty home and proceed to find accomodations for it all. completely forgetting why it was in the shed to start with…

Repacking boxes to take back to the shed, now that takes talent! Have you ever noticed that when you unpack a box and remove several items, the remaining items simply refuse to fit in their original box?

 Gremlins I tell ya!

 Stay tuned, tomorrow I’ll discuss the physics behind why they don’t fit, Ya right!

Maybe while I’m at it I can figure out why the politicians all think they have the answers to life and the economy…

2008-10-31

Thomas H. Forthe

I wrote a short story for a writing contest at accentuate services, finished it off today and realized after having my ‘editors’ review it, that I wasn’t as done with it as I thought.

I had some tough ‘discussion’ issues to resolve. I was writing in rather dangerous water; I can’t really reveal much here as it would give the plot and ending away…

Lets just say the discussion wasn’t your run of the mill variety, trying to tag dialogue for someone that can’t speak. Conversation between several characters with a similar problem, and resolving that problem took some “creative” license.

Oh well now all that’s left is trying to get it formatted properly and sent. The joys of writing! 2400+ words and all I can think of is the next one.

My editors started my day out with one yes and one I’m confused, leading to my dilemma. Somewhere the author was to blame and two opinions just were not going to work.

Accentuate services has a forum for writers, a great forum where it is possible to download your work behind a password, The password protects our copyrights and prevents search engines from finding and ruining the first published status.

Once in the critique section you can get help with problem child writing. I was able to fix my illiteracy issue and move forth. A wonderful concept.

Unfortunately on a personal note, Life is being unkind to me today and I have to make some phone calls I’ve been putting off. My father again.

2008-10-29

Thomas H. Forthe

Due to writer error this blog will pause for one day. This is not a test, please resume your regularly scheduled insanity.

I am going to start writing these at night so I can post earlier in the morning and get it back on track.

Thank you.

2008-10-28

Thomas Forthe

What a fantastic invention the DVR is, it should be nominated for a Nobel prize. How many senseless cases of domestic violence has it stopped? Fast forward… what a concept, and just in time for an election!

I can almost watch what I want, when I want, if only they could invent an AI fast forward that could tell when a truly funny commercial comes on. I have seen a few commercials worth watching, the Vault spot about the crows and hippies, a couple of Coke spots and Budweiser.

But  the vast majority are just plain worse than bad and need AI to sort them out. Political campaign adds, fast forward, fast food adds, hyper speed.

Maybe they could train it to look for the better movie trailers while they’re at it.

Auto stop! They did it for cassette tapes, don’t try to tell me they can’t add it to a DVR remote! That would cure rewinding from over zealous fast forwarding wouldn’t it?

Anybody out there follow Fringe, Smallville, Supernatural or Heros? DVR country there! great shows but come on, a DVR could save a life here. Well actually Fringe came to their senses, they say how long the add break will be, except the one really long break… stop watches anyone?

(Speaking of Fringe, the ratings aren’t doing it any favors it seems. The show really is worth the time to check out and see for yourself.)

2008-10-28

Thomas H. Forthe

Some days I just don’t know whether to laugh or to cry, I woke up this morning and poured my coffee just like any other morning. Then fired up the ol’ computer to see if I had a life.

The first article my eyes lock onto talks of a referee tackling a player in a college football game. Now the mind is still groggy and the caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet, but it peaked my interest.

Seems the ref didn’t like the way the game was going  and decided to take out the quarterback. There is even video posted on the “tube” of the errant ref, LSU vs South Carolina vs the referee. Things were looking up!

The New York Times had a hiring brain fart. (see yesterday’s rant.) Seems their Human Resources  department let one slip through.

This astute individual decided to go after Cindy McCain by the indirect route of her adopted daughter; seems trolling high schools in the area via the Internet on Facebook netted her the “big” scoop.

Not that I’m wide awake, but shouldn’t that be a criminal offense? Trolling Facebook to get some dirt on Cindy McCain by way of high school is reminiscent of pediphilia, are we reaching or what?

Seems the Democratic party is giving 120% to voter registration, literally. Attacking Sarah Palin and Cindy McCain of some very serious issues, dresses and children oh my!

But the news media doesn’t want to focus on Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s alleged flag burning or ties to a known terrorist that would be a horrible misuse of journalistic integrity.

My wife has just informed me a television station in Orlando Florida was asking Joe Biden questions in an interview; seems some questions shall not be considered for comment by the Democratic party, they took that station off the list to interview democratic candidates.

Seems asking if Mr. Obama is running a socialist campaign in a democratic society is a no no. Tisk tisk, we don’t want any questions that might be a subject the masses might want to know about. Lets stick to dresses and children.

The coffee has kicked in now, time to watch some “real” news, I hear the cartoon network is 24 hours…

2008-10-26

Thomas H. Forthe

Dejavu? I know I wrote this entire post once before!

Ah that would be because I did. In my self appointed genius i deleted it, so here is the post for several days ago, when my day was ruined by circumstances beyond my control.

It started innocently enough, out for a drive, I passed the Dodge dealership. The car became possessed, whipped through another businesses parking lot and returned to the Dodge lot all on it’s own.

There sat a beautiful beast, bright red and sporting a graphics package proclaiming it an R/T.  Black stripes flow over the hood and down the front fender, I find myself face to fender with a brand new Dodge Challenger.

Detroit held no wonders for this kid for a few decades. Ugly box after ugly box emerged, sporting four wheels with tires, gutless power-plants and crappy appeal.

I owned a 1970 Dodge Challenger, 383 Magnum, four speed, R/T it was triple black. I have always regretted selling it.

The 2009 Dodge Challenger is very close in appearance, not a duplicate by any means but close enough. It has presence, curb appeal and beastly charisma.

My conscience hates me, I fell in love on the spot, I hate to admit it but head over heels I went. Landing sorely on my derriere, my conscience reminded me I had purchased a new truck; A 2005 HEMI RAM short bed brand new when it clearenced in 06. OOPS!  

The economy and my luck have something in common today…

2008-10-25

Thomas H. Forthe

Unemployed or is it underemployed, seems to me America is seeing its share of hard times. I have had the distinct pleasure of ‘hunting’ a job a few times in my life.

But now it’s a whole new ballgame, resumes and cover letters, thank you cards and call backs. Gone are the days of a hand shake and off to break your back; now employers want you to spend money to impress them.

Who are they kidding? I’m supposed to send a thank you note for ignoring me for 20 minutes, no thanks! I visited one large local manufacturing facility the other day, there were several people filling out applications and two people in the office. I filled out the paper work and after 30 minutes finally had to ask “what’s next?”

I answered that one myself, several days of phone tag followed by several unreturned phone calls later.

Another nameless company indeed needed employees, seems not very badly, the person who is supposed to call me to fill out the application (I  hadn’t even made it that far) forgot to call.

Do they run their companies the same way? Maybe they wonder why profits are down and that client never called back…

I sat in a fast indigestion joint 45 minutes one night, trying to get a number one, yup a real tough one to remember. Instead I got a talk with the manager, seems I had been hiding in plain sight and they missed my order… since I saw many number ones go out the drive through with my own eyes I took my four bucks and went home hungry!

Actually I had to wait ten more minutes for the same manager to refund what I  had already paid, it seems you can only become invisible after you pay. Pretty sad, the ‘high paid counter help’ and their ‘high tech registers’, with pictures where the keys should be…

Truth be told, how can someone six foot five, head and shoulders above the crowd be invisible? I know what you’re thinkin, nope I was smilin’, I enjoy watching people do ignorant things. I didn’t even bat an eye when she told me how busy they were. ”they’ being one severly overworked young lady with five other employees watching to be sure she got it right.

Need a disgruntled employee?

2008-10-24

Thomas H. Forthe

My father came out of surgery, something I really didn’t expect. I am not complaining mind you, after talking to him I really didn’t think it would happen.

He has a long road ahead to recover at 83, here is hoping he stays between the lines…

Another positive note! My MS Word showed up last night, finally I can write again, carefully hiding my illiteracy behind the wall provided by a spell checker.

The spell checker is not a savior in all things written, one click on the associated content link to your right, then scroll down to the article on mis-spelling and you will see what I mean.

It seems there is a run on Microsoft Office Word 2003 at the moment, shortly after ordering it the price raised significantly. Ha, they missed me!

Microsoft has replaced 2003 with 2007, so only the copies left on shelves are available.

That’s it for today, tune in tomorrow when I return to normal and make fun ‘with’ something!

Thomas H. Forthe

Yesterday I wrote a post, finished it in fact. I included a picture and just before publishing noticed the picture was not post-able. Copyrights you see. I deleted it only to find all of it gone…

That was just the beginning, as the day progressed, I received news my 83 year old father was to have his leg amputated below the knee.

I called him, he can’t hear. That phone call will remain with me through out my life, one of the worst moments in it. He tried to tell me he was done, I tried not to listen. I tried to inspire him to live, he is beyond inspiration.

He has given up, not hard to imagine, he is losing his foot at the age of 83. His hands refuse to work, a side effect of medication I was told, and in his mind the worst of maladies. At 83 he is not in the best of shape, he has become frail. Once he was six foot two and about 240 lbs, now he is around 160 lbs.

I once quipped he looked like a Gorilla in a man suit, he was not fat. The life of a Diesel mechanic saw to that. Gone are his youth, his vitality and so he has decided to pass on.

It is overcast here in Florida, the sky is grey like my mood.  A sad tribute to a man’s life, words escape me for once in my life for I see no hope, no recourse or resolution.

To wait for the inevitable, time seems to have stopped for me. Nature is waiting, watching and preparing to carry on. Nature stops for no man, it will continue on its course, erasing any trace of our passing in time.

50 years from now will anyone remember him? 100? It is sad to think one life means so little to so many. Of our past how few are eulogized? Millions have lived yet so few were written about; what became of the history of so many people that made our world what it is? Each life a novel in itself, each individual good or bad could teach us a great deal. Yet they are unwritten and lost to time.

I have no answers, only more questions.

2008-10-23

Thomas H. Forthe

2008-10-21 

I like to sit outside in the mornings; watching the water, birds, fish and especially the squirrels. You can learn a lot from a squirrel; unless of course you happen to be  one of my cats.

Fred and Leo just can’t seem to figure the squirrels out, Not that they really want to, more than anything the would just like to catch one.

It’s not gonna happen! The closest they ever came was when Fred out ran one cunning little squirrel and wound up higher than the squirrel. Leo tried to pin the little guy between he and Fred and nope it didn’t work out.

Fred did learn one thing though, squirrels can hang upside down, cats can’t! The lessons aren’t always on the same days or at the same time although the squirrels do try.

The two not so great hunters have also learned about gravity but then , so did the squirrels. Every now and then you’ll hear a thump. Proof positive that squirrels do indeed misjudge distance. Yet even then the cats can’t catch one, I saw Fred jump straight up one fine morning because a squirrel nearly fell on him, leaping to get out of the way he realized too late the squirrel’s plight, letting it escape.

Gravity and mass, distance and timing, stalking and stealth, Just a few lessons professor squirrel has attempted to give our felonious felines.

The squirrels do have one advantage the cats don’t, they work together, signaling each other whenever a predator approaches.

The cats don’t do anything together; it’s a good thing squirrels don’t hunt cats…

 Thomas H. Forthe