No Toast For Poe This Year

"BALTIMORE – It is what Edgar Allan Poe might have called "a mystery all insoluble": Every year for the past six decades, a shadowy visitor would leave roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on Poe's grave on the anniversary of the writer's birth. This year, no one showed."

I remember hearing about this from time to time over the years. I thought this news was worth pointing out. Six decades, who's to say what really is happening? Just enjoy the mystery... unless it is over.

Musical Birds/Rock Chicks!

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New W.A.S.P. Video

Babylon's Burning

This is a wide one; click on it to watch at youtube.

My Wife's Birthday

My wife's birthday is coming up (Tuesday) so we have been celebrating it this weekend. Last night we met several friends after work for drinks and food at a nearby tavern. It was alot of fun. We don't really go out much, especially since it got cold out, but we really had a nice time. We didn't stay out terribly late, probably just late enough to get home safely. Besides, they were starting karoake so we had to get out of there or listen to bad singers sing bad songs.

Today, we met up with my in-laws at a restaurant for lunch. It turned out rather well since one of my sisters in law didn't show up with her 3 hellion kids. The other sister in law is getting married soon. They are planning on a St. Patricks Day wedding in Jamaica, where my wife and I got married (not the same resort, though). They tried to plan a wedding here and soon realized how much less a headache it is to just run away. I'm very happy for them. My wife and I still want to get back to Jamaica, maybe in a year and a half on our tenth anniversary. That would be nice.

It was supposed to get above freezing today, but I don't think it did. It sure didn't feel like it anyway. I didn't see much, if any, sun today either. Damn weatherman...

The Badgers play tonight, so I will put my feet up and enjoy that game. Tomorrow I will temporarily be a Cowboys fan. Well, not really. I just hope Favre fails miserably, but I'm not bitter (ha!). Eff Favre and the Vikes. I hate to say it, but I wish the worst for him now. On second thought, I don't hate to say it!

Have a nice Weekend!

Helpful Hints

I liked this helpful hint in a post from Bits & Pieces. Just because we now own a new dryer since we bought the house. I don't think we've used the dryer sheets in it ever, just fabric softener in the wash. Still, good to know. See the full post here with some other helpful hints.

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes.) He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material . I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like. Well …. the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh – that’s what burns out the heating unit.

You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box … well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush ?at least every six months.

He said that increases the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I’d share!

Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it … the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn’t any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

How long could you survive...

Created by Oatmeal

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Only 19 seconds. Hmm, I don't think I'll try it.
What did you get?

Kill Your Online Self Now!

"Tired of your Social Network?

Liberate your newbie friends with a Web2.0 suicide! This machine lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web2.0 alter ego. The machine is just a metaphor for the website which moddr_ is hosting; the belly of the beast where the web2.0 suicide scripts are maintained. Our service currently runs with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn! Commit NOW!"

Me speaking:
Facebook is retaliating! The web's Suicide Machine may be shut down by midnight Monday! If you want to kill your online self then act fast!!! (My first scoop! lol)

I don't really have anything against any of those sites. As long as I'm not expected to take part. I found my little online expression with this blog and that's good enough for me. But I do hear of how people are always connected- always updating their 'status.' I wonder to myself how much time they spend on it and what real part of life is missing because of it. Maybe I just don't understand...

Packers Season Graph

If you're into Packer stats, here's a good graphic of Green Bay's road to the playoffs. I found this in an article by Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel. Click to enlarge.

The first 8 games (4-4)


The last 8 games (7-1)


2 hours 'til game time! Go Pack!


7:27pm Edit: I'm disappointed. The Packers got off to a terrible start, came back and sent it into overtime, then lost ugly. I'm not terribly upset, though. This was a major improvement over last season and I expect them to continue making strides with this core group of players and coaches. We'll get 'em next year!
(Now I'm gonna go mourn this loss privately...@#$%^&*!)

Pic Dump 7

Here we go again, with a supersize dump this time! Some you may have seen, some you may not. These are just some pics that caught my fancy for one reason or another. As always, discretion may be advised after the break. Remember to click on the pic to see original size!


Pizza made with McDonald's food. I've had something similar before, actually. It had chicken strips, french fries, and mozzarella sticks on it. And it was GOOD!

24 more after the break, including some holiday ones that I will not save for a year.

Holiday, Health, and Packers

Every time I say here that I'll post tomorrow, inevitably it ends up being a day later. This has happened at least 5 or 6 times now. I must stop doing that. I know I haven't posted as much as normal recently. I'll get back in the groove soon I'm sure.

Anyway, I hope all had a well and safe holiday season. Seems a little far removed for a full holiday recap from me now. Suffice it to say that it was pretty much as expected and the same as it has been for the last few years. It's definitely not my favorite time of year. I did get to see my nieces and nephews, which is always the highlight.

As I mentioned I have had a pretty severe cold that kept me pretty lazy and miserable. It started almost 2 weeks ago and although I'm pretty much over it now I'm still going through alot of tissues.

I just watched the Badgers beat #4 Purdue. And of course it is Wildcard Weekend! All sorts of sports on TV! My wife hates it, so I do try to limit my watching or I would have it on probably all 48 hours this weekend. The Packers will demolish Arizona again tomorrow afternoon. Actually, I'm sure it will be much closer than the last game, but I have no doubt Green Bay will win! Go Pack Go!