tattoo empek empek

How about the new digs here at Blah Blah Blog – The Soap Box, huh? My readers complained, and I listened :)

It was high time to hire a professional to make it look like a “real place”. My hat’s off to Seven at Blogs Gone Wild, for doing such a great job! The slow loading problems are much better, and the blog finally reflects “me”. I hope folks enjoy there time here much more now. And, a big thank you to those occasional donations that made the cost much less :)

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General Petraeus is providing his "report" on the status of Iraq. I have no doubt that we hear very little TRUTH about what goes on in Iraq, much less any REAL TRUTH about what goes on in every day government in Washington.

Michael Yon is an amazing hands on journalist that has so far maintained the most truthful coverage of anyone I've seen coming out of that region. I am so pleased with his forthrightness, and his "no need" to be first, or politically correct. He just tells it like it is, and I think this is a great summary of how we should handle Petraeus' newest findings...let's wait and see a bit. More than that, could we just ask the right people? Let's just find the truth.

Let's let all the "be first" speculators report what they will, and do the conservative patient thing, and find the real folks to let us know. Let's find some people actually doing the hard stuff tell us the next move to make. Let's try to get our people out, while still trying to accomplish something with the folks in Iraq that will be a positive resolution to a war on forever. Terrorism will be forever, so we must be careful how it's handled.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

"But here is a hint to journalists who are seeking truth — good or bad. There is one group of officers whose input has invariably proved both relevant and revelatory for me in compiling my work: battalion commanders who are commanding infantry or special operations units. Special operations people are unlikely to go on record, but the special operations people that I’ve talked with tend to be very knowledgeable and frank, and their input on background is critical. As for the infantry battalion commanders, they are the proverbial sweet spot. Battalion command sergeant majors can be excellent, too, but they often will not go on record. Battalion commanders will tend to be willing to go on record, and will tend to talk to journalists...

...Discerning which officers to talk to is rather like the story of the three bears: Some beds are too big, some beds are too small, but one bed is just right. For this report, the fairy tale translates into something like this: company commander (captain; too small for purposes of the upcoming report); battalion command (lieutenant colonel; just right); brigade commander (colonel; getting too large, but usually is also a good interview); division commander (major general; too large)."

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Well, a big Texas hello to my fellow blogger Texas Fred. He's trying to help a fellow Texan in need, and I couldn't support his efforts more. The following I excerpted from THIS STORY. I encourage all who live in the Dallas / Fort Worth area to try and meet other bloggers for lunch on Monday, July 16th to support the Blue Star Deli.

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Big White Hat’s at it again :) Who were/are the most INFLUENTIAL musicians?

Well BWH…damn ya, darn ya…there you go making me think again :) (No wonder you won the "Thinking Blogger's Award"). So hard to pick five. AND, when you back off of favorite, and strictly think influential…there were so many! Your scenario of your work is funny…you see…back in the day…crap dealers too had a fair amount of time on their hands some days, and of course “we’re too above” trivial chatter, we would come up with games like these to pass the time intellectually in order to make ourselves seem quite educated and im-po-tent :)

Here’s my list…and some of them I don’t even like that much :o) My list doesn’t fall in any particular order, as I believe that depending on which generation you are in…your guy is the most influential…

1. The Beatles

2. BB King

3. Elton John

4. Elvis Presley

5. Hank Williams, Sr.

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I got tagged by Sunni Kay to list five reasons why I blog… I am to tag five others at the end :)

1. 1. As with a lot of really cool things I find out about, my little brother turned me on to blogging. I’d never heard about it, didn’t know what it was, but grew to love it after he originally showed me how.
2. 2. I do seem to have an opinion on just about everything. However, I don’t mind other opinions as long as they are tasteful and well explained. The ability to view several opinions and make a decision ourselves is what made this country great in the first place. Blogging allows me to speak my opinion, and reading others’ blogs allows me to see how the “rest of the neighborhood” thinks.
3. 3. I like to write. I’m not sure I’m particularly good at it, and don’t think I’d ever be able to pen an entire novel and make several hundred pages meld together, but a few paragraphs at a time I enjoy. And hey…at least a few people read my musings.
4. 4. Intellectual stimulation. I’m a bored and restless type, and need mental exercise to enjoy the day. My husband won’t sit and listen to me babble on and on about whatever, but my blog never argues. I love computers. Typing thoughts into written script, and blogging allows me to ramble incessantly about whatever pops into my head. The HTML code and changing design of the site itself allows me, the novice, to play web designer and pretend I have a major cool website :)
5. 5. The hope that somehow it all makes a difference. A blog allows for a global audience, and also a small community audience. If one thing I share that’s funny makes someone else laugh, it’s good. If I share a story, whether tragedy or triumph, and one person was touched, I’ve done a good thing. If what I write makes others think, even for a moment, about making changes that would better our nation…I’ve succeeded. Very few pop into my little corner of the blog world. I blog because I like to (if it were based on the number of comments I receive…I’d have given up long ago), but I hope with each post that someone out there will laugh, think, cry, or be happier that day just because they stopped by.
   

The following five are blogs I read regularly…of many dozen favorites I have bookmarked. If they happen to stop by and see this, and agree to be tagged... I’d love to read the answers…

364 Days

Big White Hat

Mayden’s Voyage

EDog’s Everything Page

Aunty Belle’s Front Porch (Her Back Porch is FUN too)

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Must be the meme time of spring. One of my favorite bloggers, BIG WHITE HAT, asked me to play along with his First Vinyl Meme. Of course I’m happy to oblige. First Vinyl Meme: Post a picture of the album cover of the first vinyl you ever owned – and tell a bit about it…

JONI MITCHELL - BLUE

Oh the memories. I didn’t actually purchase my first vinyl…my first album was a gift. I couldn’t have been but about 10-12 years old. My crazy hippie aunt from California (I LOVED her…God rest her soul)…came to Texas for one of her RARE visits. She and I favored each other in looks, and as strange as she could be…I thought she was one of the coolest people I’d ever met. She presented me with my first album like it was a right of passage to own one (I thought it was…I’d never had one before). I was so proud of that album. We were so dirt poor…I didn’t even have a record player, but my folks had one of those console black and white TV’s with the record player in one side that covered just about one whole wall. On the top always sat some family made crocheted doilies with some knick knack on them, and of course the huge leather bound family King James Bible.

I had to find quiet time away from the folks to ever use the record player, because Joni Mitchell was “Rock N Roll”…and Lord forbid I allow it to warp my mind. (If any of you are familiar with the album, it’s easy listening folk music style). I would sit on the floor and listen to the album for hours. Thanks BWH for the invite, this was a pleasurable memory to share…and THANK YOU AUNT JOANNE…May you be singing with the angels tonight!

PLEASE JOIN IN - Post your first vinyl and link back here!

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I got tagged by EDog’s Everything Page, and yes…because I offered…I thought it would be fun. Ian (EDog) is a soon to be famous author, and a designer of a crazy superhero web comic called Adventures of the S-Team created with Lego’s! He is, of course, a fellow blogger…along with being a husband, father, and a guy still with a day job too.

Welcome to the INTERVIEW MEME. It works like this… I’ll answer Ian’s questions here. If you like, I’ll interview you :) Directions follow my answers…

1. Tell us about your three companies. Which one is the money pit and which one is the tax shelter?

We are just “Mom & Pop” companies, so there is no DEEP money pit, but we’re proud of our little Mom & Pop empire. Our first was a big rig truck garage (Nov. 2002). Started with 4 guys and now we have 4 mobile service trucks, a dozen mechanics and several support personnel. (This would be the money pit I guess). We got sick and tired of poor service and high prices from some parts vendors, so we opened a parts store. The original idea to open a store front and have other people run it failed. Not quitters though, we leased our store to another business and moved the tiny operation under the same roof as the truck garage. Being so busy with the successful truck garage, and not ever being able to find a heavy duty truck and trailer parts genius to pay a big salary too…we just keep that one open for the ability to buy parts from ourselves and save our customers money. We sell parts to a few, but we just don’t have the time or the personnel to grow it. (I guess that one would be the tax shelter, although it makes a little money on its own). And almost a year ago, if we weren’t busy enough…a man had mismanaged a little shop around the corner and had to go out of business. We have turned away tons of pickups at our big rig garage…so when the other guy went out…we formed a new corporation and opened a diesel pickup garage. I run that one now, and I started with two guys, I now have five. We’re looking for a larger building, and this one will be fun too in it’s time.

2. What’s your favorite Blonde joke?

OMG…since I AM Blonde, I’ve probably just about heard them all.
How can you tell a Blonde has been making chocolate chip cookies? There’s M&M shells all over the floor.

3. What’s your best party trick?

That’s funny… OBVIOUSLY, dancing on a pole IS NOT IT! We have an annual customer/vendor appreciation – employee Christmas party in which about 250-300 people attend. In this BAD photo someone caught far too late in the night…my crazy friend Capri is attempting to give me pointers. Actually, I’m really quite tame at parties (other than I run my mouth too much sometimes), but I’d say my best party trick is actually quality conversation with folks I haven’t seen in a while, and an ear to listen for those wanting to talk…

4. Describe a brush with greatness in your life.

Well, this answer is easy, and without a doubt. I had a wonderful youth; I had a great career for 20 years as a casino dealer. I’ve met many many famous people, and have done some crazy things, and have been accomplished at several. However…without a doubt…my touch with greatness has come twice, and each time has been miraculous. That would be the birth of my two children. My boys are 23 and 17, and I will never again touch greatness more than I have by spending the years having had the privilege to be their Mother.

5. Finish this sentence: “The sickest I’ve ever been…”

Oh my… My girlfriends and I went to Rosarito Beach, Mexico for a girl’s weekend. I don’t know what I got a hold of, but the drive home was painful and torturous. FINALLY after hours of wishing I would die in the back seat of a small rental car, driving from Mexico to Las Vegas, I finally got sick. Pretty much my entire body exploded, and for the first and hopefully ONLY time in my life, I found out what projectile vomiting really is. Oddly enough…it was over quickly, and on life went on. Never before, and never since. Montezuma’s Revenge is real people.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME:

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I have spent the better part of the last week figuring out (or trying to figure out) how to “pimp my blog” (as my teenager would say). I have run into every brick wall in the world, and have had this thing looking every which way but good over and over.

AND THEN…I FOUND THIS WEBSITE…

Beta-Blogger 4 Dummies! This guy is freaking amazing. I have since spent hours and hours at this site, and have learned more here than I could find on many dozen sites. Not only are his articles incredibly informative and well organized, he explains things in layman’s terms so that a true “Blogger Dummy” like myself can easily manipulate template code and change the blog attributes to look just about any way you can imagine.

His Links to other blog resources are also wonderful. I found direct links to places that would do things for me automatically in a click or two that I’ve been doing manually and in way too many steps before. Best of all, this information and instruction is ALL FREE.

If you are intending to, or would like to change your blog…by all means go to this site. You will gain enough knowledge to change your blog as often as you change your clothes if you like in a few easy steps.

THANK YOU BETA BLOGGER 4 DUMMIES! WHAT A FIND YOU WERE :)

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I’m proud to add another blogroll to Blah Blah Blog – The Soap Box. Although I LOVE my state of residence, Nevada (It’s likeTexas, Jr.)…my Southern heritage is in my blood and the great state of Texas where I was raised is in my heart.

Texas to this day is still one of the great states that is home to real cowboys. Real men and women who were raised with solid values, natural manners, and a solid view on life. There is an unspoken cowboy code in the Southwest. Boys and girls just grow up in an environment that exudes honesty and a solid grasp of true heart.

I’m thankful to have been raised around that influence, and am honored to have been invited to include The Cowboy Code Marshals blogroll to this site.

The Cowboy Code

1. A cowboy always tells the truth and keeps his word.

2. A cowboy is a Patriot and stands for Truth, Justice and the American way.

3. A cowboy never betrays a trust or takes advantage.

4. A cowboy is brave, but never careless.

5. A cowboy defends the weak and helps them.

6. A cowboy is kind to children, old folks, and to animals.

7. A cowboy is free from racial and religious prejudice.

8. A cowboy is clean about his person and in thought, word, and deed.

9. A cowboy is loyal, hard working and maintains a high ethic.

10. A cowboy is thankful for what God has given him.

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Monday Mailgasms…

What are these you might ask? Well, a favorite blogger of mine, Jim at Life On Planet Jim, started publishing Monday Mailgasms a while back. I laugh at all of his, and told him we should all start doing these for extra humor… I warned him I was going to copy his idea, and I have. Jim…I still think you should start a Monday Mailgasm Blogroll :)

Mailgasms are the trash e-mails we toss from our boxes daily and never even bother to read the content, because the subject lines (and senders) are so ludicrous. We are all bombarded with the standard Viagra, Cialis, Ambian, semen increasing magic, and penis enlargement possibilities. Mailgasms are the other ridiculous things that might surprise you in your junk box. Jim always provides a humorous caption or comment, I’ve decided to try…I’m sure I cannot do him justice:).

From / Subject:

1. BNoe BRead: inconsistent agricola - Does this mean there’s a problem with the growing of Coca Cola products now???
2. Warren: hospice indistinctly – Oh no, is this like a blind date when you’re terminally ill with a random date of no distinction?
3. Patty Dudley – dignified getup – Patty, your name alone is a getup…not so sure how dignified…
4. No Name: overbearing noxious – If I smelt like you, I wouldn’t leave my name either…
5. Wilfred Avila: With an obscene blonde mullet – Joe Dirt – you’re back! We’ve missed you!
6. Julius Wells: so go voluntarism – So go you…right into the trash bin!
7. Kaufmann: unless you protest naked – What? If I don’t protest naked, no one will see my sign…geezzz…

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My funny friends over at Stupid Criminal Files just celebrated their 2nd Blog birthday recently. Their site is dedicated to sharing with all of us the antics and bad attempts at crime by some of the world’s most accomplished morons. I enjoy reading there, and never come away without a laugh.

As part of their birthday celebration, they had a give-away for their loyal readers, fans, and subscribers. THEY DREW MY NAME and I won a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com. I am proud to say I will use this certificate to pre-order the new Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Book 7) that will release July 21, 2007.

Thanks guys! It’s a pleasure to be a fan. Congratulations on your 2nd birthday, and kudos to you for having over 2 MILLION HITS to date. You have a great site and do a good job keeping us all entertained. Keep up the good work.

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