My wife knows everything.  Anyone who know her will validate my claim.  She read my post and said ”Why can’t you put the little squiggle over the ‘n’”?  And proceeded to show me.  Look.  ñ.  Cool, huh?  I truly dig her.

We are now on the brink of war.  We may have even started already.  There’s apparently fighting in Basra and some dozens of Iraqi soldiers are already looking for someone, anyone to surrender to.  But I don’t really want to talk about the war.  There’s plenty of places you can go to read about that (check out asmallvictory.net or oliverwillis.com for two of the best on that topic).  No, I’d rather talk about… whiskey.  Pat is sitting next to me laughing at one of the kids blogs and sipping on some Gentleman Jack and I’m nursing a wonderful snifter of Glenfiddich single malt scotch.  Mmmm, deeelish!  This is what we’re fighting for ladies and germs.  The ability, nay the RIGHT, to sit in our comfy houses drinking excellent scotch whiskey.  The drinks tonight seem to be hitting us just right.  Pat had a particularly rough day today and is truly enjoying her G-Jack.  My day was just normal, but I still think I can justify, nay DESERVE, my glass of scotch.  Oh, and while I’m on the topic of alcoholic beverages, let me tell you about the most wonderful tequila that we’ve discovered.  We’ve always been fond, nay VERY FOND, of Cabo Wabo (love ya, Sammy!), but we found a tequila that may be even better.  It’s called Don Eduardo anejo (I wish I could put the little squiggle over the ‘n’.  Damn!) and it is very very smooth.  Go ahead.  Sip it neat.  No ice.  Mmmmm.  Now don’t you feel better?  What?  You’re at work?  Ok, well maybe later then.  Oh, and don’t drink and drive!  See, I’m responsible.  Ok, I guess that’s it for now.  Take a minute and pray for the troops.  To them in harm’s way I say, Godspeed and please come back to us.  We are proud of you.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
P.J. O’Rourke

Last Friday night, we had a party over at Bob and Beanne’s house and, as usual, there were a whole lot of pictures taken.  This here’s the story of one of them there pictures.  We had taken quite a few pictures earlier in the evening and had run out of battery power.  Fortunately, Pat remembered to bring more batteries, so we were back in business in short order.  Soon, several of us had gone out on Bob’s Huge Deck to get some fresh air (this is way out in the woods) and Pat followed and started snapping off a few shots.  It was dark but not too cold and out there in the woods the stars and the moon really light things up.  After a bit, we decided to get back inside and maybe toss down a few more jell-o shots (waste not, want not, we always say).  While we were in there, we started checking out the pictures on the digital.  All of the pictures were pretty normal stuff.  Except one.  Now I don’t normally believe in ghosts and goblins, scary spectres and shadowy orbs - I really don’t go for that supernatural nonsense but this was one freaky deal.  We’re thinking that Beanne’s father, who died almost two years ago, may have been back for a little visit.  The man always loved a good party!  Then, to make things all the spookier, within a couple of minutes after looking at the picture on the camera, the brand new batteries died.  **queue Twilight Zone music - Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo.* Anyway, judge for yourself.  No matter the real reason, it’s a pretty cool picture.  Here’s to you George. Sláinte!

Pat and I came home for lunch today and were greeted with a wonderful surprise.  The crocuses are blooming!  After such a lousy winter they are a welcome sight indeed.  As far as I’m concerned, Spring has sprung!  Bye bye Winter.  Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!

a·plomb (a-plum, e-plum)
n.  Self-confident assurance; poise.

This is my new word.  I used it several times this morning and I didn’t even really know what it meant.  It’s a word with a great definition but is truly ugly to speak.  No one can really pronounce this word.  And if you do pronounce it correctly, everyone looks at you like you’re some kind of sophisticate-wannabe.  What a great word.  Aplomb.  Go ahead.  Use it.  You’ll feel swanky (adj: imposingly fashionable and elegant).  Hehehe.

In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Well, if you’re reading this then you must realize that the site has changed.  A lot.  I am now using Movable Type for content management and Blogomania for my Web Hosting needs.  Both of these companies seem pretty fab and their support model is excellent.  There is still a lot that I want to do with regard to this site and I want to do it NOW, but I understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day so it’s baby steps for now.  Thanks for checking in!

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving—we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 - 1935)

Random Ramblings on a quiet Sunday morning:

To all of my loyal reader (Hi Pat): stay tuned for a new and (hopefully) improved Buzzstuff.  The new site should be sharper and jam packed (eventually) with all kinds of new geeky features.  The content will still be the same crap you’ve been reading thus far, but it will at least look better (maybe).

Is there anything worse than driving around the airport for an hour and a half wondering where the hell your kid is?  Probably, but driving around the airport for an hour and a half wondering where the hell your kid is still sucks. 

I noticed that since the 4th, I have posted every other day.  Not every day, oh no. Not every third day.  Every other.  Fascinating stuff. 

It sure looks like we’re going to war.  I don’t want to.  I’m not trying to be a bad American here, I just really don’t want to go to war.  I’m not saying that Saddam shouldn’t be removed.  He may even be Hitler reincarnated for all I know.  But the fact remains, I really really don’t want to go to war.  Regardless, it sure looks like we’re going to war.  Damn.

Here’s a shout out to my Four Star peeps.  Thanks for the entertaining Friday!  As always, good food, great friends and enough laughing that my jaw still aches on Sunday morning.

The snow is almost all gone and there are hundreds of daffodil and crocus sprouts popping up in our garden.  Spring is so close I can almost taste it.  After the winter we just had, Spring will be a welcome friend indeed.

It’s a rare event, but right now all three boys are home.  I like it. 

I keep having the strangest feelings about the Elizabeth Smart story.  While I am happy, of course, to see her alive and (surprisingly) well, I keep feeling that there is another shoe yet to drop.  I feel like there is something dark and perhaps a little sinister that we have not yet heard.  I hope not.  I want this to be the happy ending that everyone keeps talking about.  The happy endings are all too rare.  We’ll see, I suppose.

Ok, I know that there are a few items on my wish list that I can actually make happen myself.  I’ve decide to start with the two easiest ones (cuz that’s the way I am).  They are:
6) I wish that I would read more
and
8) I wish I knew CSS, XML and all that other cool (and geeky) coding stuff.
These are two wishes that I can accomplish at the same time.  Groovy.

Q:  Hey, isn’t my wife cool? 
A:  Yes.  Yes she is.

Going to brunch now.  Have a happy day.  Try not to go to war.  Bye.

It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one’s thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.
Isabel Colegate

I got to thinking the other day about wishes.  If you had the opportunity to have wishes granted, what would they be, I asked myself.  The only caveat that I put on my wish list was that the wishes could not be your standard “World Peace”, “One hundred billion dollars”, “I Wish For More Wishes” kinds of wishes.  They had to be smaller.  Finer.  Here are some of my wishes.

1) I wish that I was ambidextrous.  How handy would that be (no pun intended)?
2) I wish that I could play the piano.  Or the guitar.  Or even the harmonica.
3) I wish that weight was easier to lose and harder to gain instead of the other way around.
4) I wish that I were three inches taller.
5) I wish that I had the time, money and energy to get a college degree.  And then another.
6) I wish that I would read more.  (I can probably grant that one to myself, eh?)
7) I wish that I could meet someone really famous and then become at least a peripheral friend of theirs.  That would be so cool.
8) I wish I knew CSS, XML and all that other cool (and geeky) coding stuff.
9) I wish I could get by with just a couple of hours of sleep per day.
10) I wish for World Peace.  Sorry, I know I said that was out of bounds but I really do wish for world peace!  I mean, can’t we all just get along?

By the way, here are the previously promised pictures of the going away party that we had for Matt over at Tom’s.  Enjoy.

We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

By popular demand, I am posting some pictures of our dear friend Cindy.  Now, to the outside world, she may appear as one of the “beautiful people”.  To those of us in the know, however, we see her as she truly exists - a less than graceful dorkus malorkus.  She tends to bump into things and fall down more than your average josephine and as all of her friends know, it really ain’t a party until Cindy’s shown us all the food in her mouth (she’s very sharing).  So, with no further ado, here she is in her full glory.  Please be kind.

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

I’ve seen several movies over the last few days and thought that I would share some quotes and trivia about them. I know, I know, it’s all very exciting. Please try to stay calm. This will all be over in a few minutes.