Marc Valdez Weblog

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Today, I Wax The Living Room Floor

Or at least most of it....

Lots of rabbit pellets behind the boxes.... And spiders....

Bill The Carpenter Bids 'Listen!'

Marc: This looks like a bag of Purina Special Feast cat food.
Bill: That is what I hoped. Its deceptive appearance throws people off. But if you look inside, you'll see it contains dozens of cassette tapes.
Marc: Gosh, you're right!
Bill: You can listen to cassette tapes, right?
Marc: Yeah, sure....I guess....

So, What Are My Peeps Up To?

No good, it appears.

(Sigh.....)

Derrick Barry At 'Badlands'

Fine show by Derrick Barry, Britney Spears impersonator. Even got an autograph! Barry seemed quite pleasant in person.

Strange evening. At one point, while I was standing near the bottom of the stairs, someone dropped a drink down the stairs, and the glass shattered. Some glass went into my hair, and an indeterminate amount slipped down the back of my collar.

Then, on the dance floor, a pretty, tattooed (but really drunk) young lady tried to stand on a riser and almost toppled over a railing into my arms. She tried a second time and fell off the riser and onto the dance floor. She tried a third time, but wobbled dangerously for many minutes, as she tried her level best to dance lasciviously. (Is she going to take her top off? No, she's not going to take her top off. Which way is she going to fall?) I felt pressed to spot her movements. Her girl friend tried to steady her, then decided to share the riser with her, which was a mistake, given the lack of space. Fortunately, the lascivious one finally gave up the exhibitionist dancing (unfortunately, lascivious appearances demand stone-cold soberness).

Here's a bit of video....

Friday, April 03, 2009

Deborah Says "Stay Warm"

1966 SR-71 Crash In Eastern NM

John poses a question:

Hey Marc,
Have you ever heard of this? I imagine it was kept pretty quiet at the time and since you were only 9 at the time you probably would not have heard about it even if it was in the news...

Wow! That’s real interesting! No, never heard a thing about it. With the Cold War and everything, this sort of event would have been actively buried with respect to media coverage. It’s only now, 40+ years after the fact, are we beginning to hear these things in more detail. With regards to the ‘War on Terror’ we might also have to wait 40+ years to hear the interesting stuff.

Here's a sample:

Looking down, I was startled to see a fairly large animal--perhaps an antelope--directly under me. Evidently, it was just as startled as I was because it literally took off in a cloud of dust.

My first-ever parachute landing was pretty smooth. I landed on fairly soft ground, managing to avoid rocks, cacti and antelopes. My chute was still billowing in the wind, though. I struggled to collapse it with one hand, holding the still-frozen face plate up with the other.

"Can I help you?" a voice said.

Was I hearing things? I must be hallucinating. Then I looked up and saw a guy walking toward me, wearing a cowboy hat. A helicopter was idling a short distance behind him. ....

8-Bit Waterslide

Nostalgia. When I last waterslid, it was an 8-bit world, in the 80's, when I lived in southern Arizona.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Brisbane Area Pounded by Rain

The Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, portions of coastal NSW - just swamped!

These semi-tropical coastal storms are a real mystery to me. They occur reasonably often along the eastern coast of Australia, and feature a big high pressure system to the SE, with a trough stalled near the coast.

These storms kick the coastal areas real hard (some places are reporting close to 400 mm rain in 24 hours, something that would be unheard of in the mid-latitudes outside of hurricanes) but the rains don't penetrate much farther inland than the crest of the Great Dividing Range. The resulting climate leads to people hugging the coast for water, leaving a yawning, almost people-free emptiness in the continent's dry interior.

A mystery wrapped within an enigma within a riddle! Beware warm waters and an onshore breeze!

Baffled By The Day Off

I was baffled by the day off too (but not this baffled):

"No, the courthouse was closed yesterday because of something called 'Senior Chavez Day' and I'm pissed. (Ten-second pause.) I don't know. I think it has something to do with old Mexicans."

April Fool

Touched a nerve:

In her April 1 column, Ann Coulter fell for a fake April Fools' Day article by Car and Driver magazine that claimed that President Obama has ordered General Motors and Chrysler to cease their participation in NASCAR because it is an "unnecessary expenditure." Coulter wrote, "If Obama can tell GM and Chrysler that their participation in NASCAR is an 'unnecessary expenditure,' isn't having public schools force students to follow Muslim rituals, recite Islamic prayers and plan 'jihads' also an 'unnecessary expenditure'?" Car and Driver originally posted an April 1 story online -- since removed -- with the headline, "Obama Orders Chevrolet and Dodge Out Of NASCAR," and the text, "With their racing budgets deemed 'unnecessary expenditures,' GM and Chrysler are ordered to cease racing operations at the end of the season." However, Car and Driver later clarified that the story was an April Fools' Day joke, then removed the story from its website.

Defending Ancient Liberties

The ones we casually toss aside:

Angry villagers formed a human chain to thwart the progress of a Google Street View car that was in the process of taking photographs of their homes.

Police were called to Broughton in Buckinghamshire yesterday, after furious villagers blocked one of the cars, complaining it was an invasion of their privacy and that the photographs would attract burglaries.

...In the past six weeks there have been three break-ins in Broughton, near Milton Keynes, and residents fears that the digital photographs of their roads would be used as a tool in further burglaries.

...Mr Jacobs said, “I was upstairs when I spotted the camera car driving down the lane.

“My immediate reaction was anger; how dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent? I ran outside to flag the car down and told the driver he was not only invading our privacy but also facilitating crime. This is an affluent area. We’ve already had three burglaries locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all over Google it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike. I was determined to make a stand, so I called the police.”

...A spokesman for Google said, "Embarking on new projects, we sometimes encounter unexpected challenges, and Street View has been no exception. We know that some people are uncomfortable with images of their houses or cars being included in the product, which is why we provide an easy way to request removal of imagery. Most imagery requests are processed within hours."

Lip Service

Left: Clovis West High School principal Ben Drati won first place, followed by Daniel Chacon of Sanger, Jason Noll of Tracy, and David Stubbs of Patterson.

This sounds like an interesting contest:

MODESTO -- Principal Ben Drati was all smiles Saturday night.

For the second year in a row, his school Clovis West High School won the championship title and $2,500 in scholarship funds during the 22nd annual High School Principal Spanish Lip Sync contest at the Modesto Centre Plaza.

"It feels great to have won first place. I had big shoes to fill because the last two principals did very well in this competition. So I'm glad we came through," Drati said.

This was Drati's first year participating as principal; he had previous exposure as a dancer.

"Yeah, dancing was OK with me but the lip-synching part was definitely a challenge," he said while holding his crystal-like trophy.

His student Judy Vera, a first-time participant, was ecstatic about the win.

"It is so exciting to have won. Oh my gosh!" said Vera, 15, who admitted her nerves defied her.

...Sanger High School came in second place and won $2,000; Tracy High School took third and $1,500; and, Patterson High School took fourth place.

..."The biggest challenge we faced was the short time we had to prepare," said Jesús Guviano, 22, choreographer for Sanger High School.

Guviano, who is a professional dancer and has worked with Sanger High for seven years, said that second place at the championship, was not bad at all.

"My biggest satisfaction and the best gift of all are seeing what those kids did on that stage, especially because they are all beginners," Guviano said. "All I can say is wow!"
...Julio Bustos, advisor for the Clovis West folkloric dance team, has many years of experience with the lip sync contest. He helped choreograph two or three competitions back in the early 90s and has been with Clovis West since 2000.

For him, the challenge is trying to outdo the previous performances, he said. "We try to keep up the legacy from the previous generations," said Bustos.

And even though the students and advisor meet in September to brainstorm for the competition, he said there is one thing that seems to be the winning ticket for the school.

"We always try to bring something traditional. That is our trademark. We can do other stuff but our strongest is the traditional," he said.

...The annual lip sync contest was founded in 1987 by Mike Sturtevant and is organized by El Concilio for the Spanish Speaking. More than $800,000 in scholarship funds has been awarded since its inception.

Each competing school gets $1,000 in scholarships, while the winning school receives $2,500; $2,000 for second place; $1,500 for third place.

The competition requires each school principal to lip sync to a Spanish-language song while it features a cast of student dancers, costumes and elaborate backdrops.

Karaoke At Callison's

Yanking Back The HELOC

I wondered if it would come to this. I had hoped the property values in my urban neighborhood would stay high enough to keep my home equity line of credit (HELOC) from being clipped, like so many HELOCs are now being clipped in the 'burbs.

No such luck though. The limit has been pulled back from some $150,000.00, or so, where it's been since 2002, back to a thrifty $45,000.00. I never went up to the limit, of course (some relict prudence at work), but I'm over this new limit.

They're not asking for all the money back right now, of course, just that if I want to borrow any more money for any purpose, the answer is "no" until I'm back under the limit. How nice!

Rice and beans. Rice and beans, from now on.

Rice and beans at restaurants (I got my tax refund today).

Tales Of Lohan

Hollywood upbringing:

Oh, Dina Lohan. She is every bit the mother I’m so thankful I don’t have.

Last night Dina, Lindsay and Ali were on the town. They arrived at Hollywood nightclub Villa and were turned away at the door. Why? Because Ali Lohan is fifteen years old, that’s why! The door dude said, “No,” and Dina replied with the so overused and tired inquiry, “Do you know who I am?” Big sister Linds, who should not be pointing out anyone’s mistakes to anyone, chimed in, “You’re making a big mistake! Huge!” Yet still, Access. Denied.

Sad and disturbing - a random bouncer offers more guidance and parental judgment to Ali than her own mother and sister.

Fred

Where you at? We're wondering.

Your cousins,
Marc & Michelle

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Guard Donkeys

Didn't realize the dog problem was so severe out in the Warwick area:

DARLING Downs grazier Bruce McLeish and his wife Angela turned to "guard donkeys" after losing 400 sheep worth $110,000 to wild dogs in 2007.

As well as shooting, trapping and baiting the dogs, the McLeishes – who run 4500 sheep on Warahgai, near Karara in the traprock country west of Warwick – got the donkey idea after hearing about a Toowoomba woman who ran free-range poultry with a donkey and found a fox which had been kicked to death.

"There seemed to be some link so I went to the internet and found Canadians were using donkeys to protect sheep and cattle from coyotes and wolves," he said.

It was a decision which paid off, with Mr McLeish estimating he may have lost only eight sheep in the past 12 months instead of the usual 200 or so.

"The donkeys lash out at anything that they see as a threat and most importantly they can handle a pack of dogs, not just one," Mr McLeish said.

...He admitted some people thought they were "crackers" but said their 13 Australian and Irish donkeys bonded easily with the sheep, ate the same food and one could protect about 400 head.

Kafkaesque

Like Orwell used to say, "imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever":

Is it an April Fool's joke that Fal Asrani will receive an Honorary Service Award for "extraordinary efforts for the children and youth of the CDM High School"? Stranger than fiction, she will, on April 1 at 9:30 AM in the Small Gym.