Parrothead Jeff

My roommate is right. It seems like it’s always One. More. Thing.

My tooth hurts. I have to find a new place to live and a way to afford it by mid February. And now my own brother is being a royal pain in the behind.

So here’s the deal. Over lunch I try to get ahold of Mom, the financial person in the family with over 20 years in banking. Nobody answers at home, so I call her cell. My brother picks up. After explaining how things suck and how I’m trying to figure out how to pay for it all, he tells me to get my tooth fixed before he shows up on December 5. After failing to sufficiently express the problem of preferring a roof over my head to a fixed tooth, he hung up on me - watching baseball is more important. I tried seven more times to get ahold of Mom. Nobody picked up.

Voicemails were left in both places explaining that a failure to communicate which does not end by noon tomorrow will cause me to fill the tank on my car and drive the five or six hours down to go see them. With my luck I’d get stuck someplace along the way.

One. More. Thing.

No, not the blog this time. This time it’s me.

My ex-girlfriend and current roommate has decided along with her family that it’s time to move on. They’re leaving Las Vegas for numerous reasons and I can’t say I blame them at all.

February looks to be the time for the move and I’m hoping I can find a way to afford a new place. The downpayment will be the biggest expense, but I’ve also had help the last four years paying the rent, too.

Wish me luck

…to keep my head from exploding

Hat tip to Lex

Yep, I’ve finally gone and done it. Created a new firearms specific blog, that is It’s called “Desert Gunsmoke” and should be interesting to say the least

Have fun!

Phoenix has never been and will never be a place I like. It’s too freaking hot in the summer for one thing (and I live in Las Vegas for crying out loud ) and it doesn’t seem to have much in the way of entertainment, either. It could be that I’m just spoiled after living in Las Vegas and San Diego my whole life.

This charming little news report just adds one more reason to the extensive list of Why Parrothead Jeff will never move to Phoenix. Go on, watch it. It’s only 2:36 long.

Some call people like me racists for wanting to wall off the border and shut the Mike Foxtrot down. Sorry, that don’t fly anymore. I know I won’t stand for it and I know others are waking up.

So here’s what I gather all wrapped up nice and neat. The same Federal Government that refuses to defend you wants to disarm you. It’s getting dangerous out there. Keep a weapon handy. I will.

I didn’t say it. Look to Obama’s guy Emannuel.

No, this won’t affect me. Guess what? I don’t give a flying F**K. It’s WRONG. It’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

But these days I guess that doesn’t matter anymore to elected officials.

We already have programs for those who want to do this. Boy Scouts. Coast Guard auxiliary. RACES. ARES. American Red Cross. Hell, look into your local law enforcement reserves.

Anyone else wonder how long it will take until these three months for 18 to 25 year old citizens become “re-education” that all will be required to attend?

As the Jawa Report says, “Who Knew It Was Prophetic?”

Pardon me while I go puke.

Hat tip to Stop The ACLU

Yup, I thought something must be wrong when all of a sudden I stopped getting any comments at all. Even the SPAM stopped

The more I thought about it the more I realized that I had to have screwed something up worse than usual. A bit of testing and I found that when I removed a plug-in that wasn’t working anyway I had taken away something that was being used by a line or two of code in the comments file which completely broke the functionality

After removing the offending code from the comments file, I’m happy to report that all is well again and posts are open for comment

Have fun!

Sorry this didn’t get published yesterday.

I was surprised to see the following in my work email, sent by a co-worker to the entire company. Surprised because this place is pretty business like. I’m also glad to see this hit our in-boxes.

In honor of all those who served (and currently serve), fought and/or lost their lives to protect U.S. interests overseas and protect our freedom,

Thank you.

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans.

Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day”.

Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holidiay 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all Wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans took part. Four hundred seven thousand of them died in service, more than 292,000 in battle.

Armistice Day Changed To Honor All Veterans

Realizing that peace was equally preserved by veterans of WW II and Korea, Congress was requested to make this day an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day.

On Memorial Day 1958, two more unidentified American war dead were brought from overseas and interred in the plaza beside the unknown soldier of World War I. One was killed in World War II, the other in the Korean War. In 1973, a law passed providing interment of an unknown American from the Vietnam War, but none was found for several years. In 1984, an unknown serviceman from that conflict was placed alongside the others. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, The 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil.

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

Yes, Aviation Nation 2008 has come and gone and I’m still recovering. I seriously need to quit driving a desk so much

The performers were great as were the static displays. Communications broke down now and again with the whole volunteer gig, but I had a wonderful time overall.

I promise to write more soon, but here’s some pictures in the mean time Clicking on a picture will open the full size picture in a new window. The full size pictures are not small, so it might take time to load them. I’ve only got the digital camera pics uploaded (need to get film developed) and all of them can be seen in my gallery where you can see the rest of this past weekend’s digital photos.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Parrothead Jeff

Gorgeous F-16C Block 52 from the Thunderbirds on static display

The Red Bull P-38 taxis down the flight line

Warbirds at the end of the rainbow

An F-104 at the end of the rainbow

Wetware is hardware that’s implanted in the body. It’s been a dream for many and I can think of quite a few things I’d like it for. Until recently it’s been a dream. No longer.

Gimme a neural interface with my online world! Yep, I can only imagine how homes and cars would be if this technology were mass produced. And airplanes!

What will really be exciting to me is the thought of photorealistic worlds in 3D with thought control

Hat tip to Defense Tech

I’m off to Nellis for to volunteer and help make the airshow happen

See y’all tonight!

Since when can someone, I don’t care if they’re a cop, tell me not to video tape them from my own property? It would be time for me to install hard-wired security cameras at this point.

Also, if everyone agreed that the best course of action was to go the route of a search warrant, why are the ASPCA and the cop still there? And if this agreement had been made before the police arrived, why did he stay? And on top of that, where does the ASPCA have any reason to call the cops if they offered a solution (search warrant) and it was accepted? I could go on and on here.

Here’s the videos:

Obama’s parents, that is. What if Mom was black, Dad was white, and Barack looked more caucasian? Would we be celebrating the first black president? After all, he’d still be the same percentage black and same percentage white as he is right now, right?

Something to think about as you watch the euphoria…

My fears have come true. Despite our best efforts, the election did not go my way. And I’m no sierra nauseous.

The people have spoken. Some have lied and cheated. In the end, the result is that Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as President on January 20, 2009.

I just hope the change isn’t as bad as I fear it will be.

Yeah, I’m worried. I don’t want Barack as President. I don’t want Pelosi or Reid in office either. I definitely don’t want all three at once.

I’ve asked for 30 round magazines for my AK for my birthday. I don’t think we’ll be able to buy them for much longer. I’m also looking at buying an AR-15 ASAP.

Here’s hoping McCain pulls one out tonight.

Just think if the tables were turned…

Not only should we see the FCC going after the host and the station for the profanity, but this should be seen as publicly calling for the death of another human being. If the tables were turned, the host conservative and the object of the declaration liberal, I doubt a second would be wasted in shouting it to the ends of the earth by the big media.

Hat tip to the Jawas

Too bad it can’t be the real thing anymore. I’ll never forgive Clinton for that unconstitutional line item veto

Still, here’s the next best thing

Honesty in politics - who’dve thunk it ?

The Ohio congressman said the last thing the country needs is to have a “chicken” in the White House. The comments, first reported in the Miami University of Ohio’s student newspaper, alluded to Obama’s record of voting “present” 129 times as a state lawmaker

A big thank you and round of applause for John Boehner for telling it like it is. We sure could use more of this!

After all, wasn’t he elected to vote on issues by his constituency?

Hat tip to The Jawa Report

Some people don’t like the fact that John McCain did this, but I think it’s about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen from a political figure Not only does he have experience in leadership, but he can also laugh at himself. That’s something I just can’t see happening with Obama.

Enjoy

I think a federal ban on concealed carry laws would fail before the Supreme Court, but it’s disgusting if not surprising to hear this from the horse’s mouth.

Try that, Mr. Obama, and you may well see a second Civil War which would make the first one look like a walk in the park. You see, more and more states are becoming disenchanted with the mighty Federal Government. Concealed carry laws are a state matter with no interstate implications. States may choose to honor concealed carry permits of other states or not to. This ain’t like driver’s licenses, a fact which continues to puzzle me. But getting back to the States’ displeasure with the Feds and the People’s discontentment with the same, look no further than Oklahoma for an indication of the current state of affairs. Oklahoma’s State House of Representatives recently passed a resolution (.rtf file) which reads: [Read more →]