Saturday, October 29, 2011
China Manipulates it's Currency to Hurt Our Economy.
For years China has been hurting our economy by manipulating it's own currency. By doing so, it keeps it's labor costs lower and gives it an unfair advantage in the world market. The price for doing this is not only against the U.S. but the world too. Plus, it keeps a large amount of it's own people at poverty levels. But, to be fair, everyone else does it as well, or at least to some extent. China though, is doing it so much that it is costing American's billions of dollars and loss of jobs. It has gotten so bad that the U.S. government is trying to pass new trade laws against China. The problem with that is, that it might start a trade war, that ends up costing Americans even more in the terms of jobs and money lost. My hope is that our Senate can figure out a way to counter this bu,t it will most likely take more governments across the world to step up and put a united front up.
Nacho vs. the spider.
So, at the time, Nacho was my household's resident BA (badass). He could kick the crap out of any cat or dog unfortunate enough to cross his path. He is even a decorated war hero...he fought in the Great Vulcan Wars of the early 21st century (other story to be told). So it's late at night and I am coming home from a night out on the town and am approaching my front door. As I am fumbling around for my keys I noticed a rather large and hairy wolf spider sitting by my door. I am not a big fan of spiders and am wondering if I can open the door run in and then close it quick enough to avoid dealing with it inside. I am fast but not as fast as, Speedy Gonzales, and the wolf spider was. So, now I have one of the biggest wolf spiders I have ever seen, in the middle of my living room. In comes Nacho the resident BA. He takes one look at it and then enters ninja stalker attack mode. I am thinking this thing is gonna die and become a kitty snack. Nacho lunges at "wolfie", yes it now has been named, and then steps back...WTF? This wolf spider is not backing off and has reared back on it's hind legs and is swatting back. I am not sure what it thinks it can accomplish by doing this, I mean...this is the great and almighty Nacho it's up against. Never the less, it's fighting back and my cat doesn't know what to do...this has never happened before. Whats this? Nacho is backing away from it. I am in a bit of bewilderment as I watch this spider fight off Nacho and then the BA run away! WTF! Now I am faced with a spider that just beat my cat and is now staring me down with all 8 eyes. Hmmm....I begin looking for a large book or something to give me the upper hand in this battle when it makes a tactical retreat under some shelves. I moved a few things around looking for this beast of a spider and it's nowhere to be found! I did not sleep well knowing that I could have at any moment been ninja attacked by this huge spider...I never did find it and never did let Nacho forget that he lost to a spider.
Friday, October 21, 2011
The saga of Nacho part 2.
Last time we left Nacho jumping out of a 2nd story window. This post will be about, what a great alarm clock he made. At this time I had been working the same hours for a couple of years now and getting up at the same time each morning. Nacho my cat had a habit of curling up on top of me at night while I slept. One morning the power had gone off long enough to reset my alarm clock. Some how he noticed that not all was right in his world and he began to meow, loudly I might add, and in an almost question like way. Perhaps it was cat for, "Hey dummy, wake up! Oh and don't forget my fresh water." From that day on, he would wake me up each and every morning. Oh, and believe it or not, he learned that weekends were for sleeping in. This continued for several years, until one night something bad happened.
I had a slight tummy ache and in my great wisdom chosen to eat a pepperoni pizza and then wash it down with a large glass of OJ. Not the best combo I know, but in my defense it was the only thing I had in the fridge to drink. I retired early that night in hopes of being able to sleep it off. I awakened suddenly with a violent urge to empty my stomach contents. An urge I answered and had no control over, unfortunately for my cat, who had chosen to fall asleep on my chest that night. My sudden movement awakened Nacho just in time for him to open his eyes and get a face full of what once had been in my tummy. I can't imagine what he must have felt like at that moment, but from the look of horror and disgust on his face....I bet it was not good. Now, there I am, with a cat completely covered in puke and feeling like crap. To add insult to injury, I had to clean him off and the only thing I could think of at that moment was the shower. Now most cats hate water, Nacho really really hated to get wet. I had never seen him so pissed off before.
The following day I had gotten over the stomach issue and set my clock to go off in the morning like usual and went to bed. I awoke not to my cat nor my alarm clock going off, but to the sun shining in my window. Crap! I had over slept. Looking around trying to figure out what went wrong, my cat is nowhere to be seen and what do I find? My clock not only laying on the floor, but also unplugged! I swear that Nacho had to have knocked it off my headboard on purpose! Also, from that day on, he never slept on my chest and never again woke me up in the morning. Moral of the story....don't puke on your cat.
I had a slight tummy ache and in my great wisdom chosen to eat a pepperoni pizza and then wash it down with a large glass of OJ. Not the best combo I know, but in my defense it was the only thing I had in the fridge to drink. I retired early that night in hopes of being able to sleep it off. I awakened suddenly with a violent urge to empty my stomach contents. An urge I answered and had no control over, unfortunately for my cat, who had chosen to fall asleep on my chest that night. My sudden movement awakened Nacho just in time for him to open his eyes and get a face full of what once had been in my tummy. I can't imagine what he must have felt like at that moment, but from the look of horror and disgust on his face....I bet it was not good. Now, there I am, with a cat completely covered in puke and feeling like crap. To add insult to injury, I had to clean him off and the only thing I could think of at that moment was the shower. Now most cats hate water, Nacho really really hated to get wet. I had never seen him so pissed off before.
The following day I had gotten over the stomach issue and set my clock to go off in the morning like usual and went to bed. I awoke not to my cat nor my alarm clock going off, but to the sun shining in my window. Crap! I had over slept. Looking around trying to figure out what went wrong, my cat is nowhere to be seen and what do I find? My clock not only laying on the floor, but also unplugged! I swear that Nacho had to have knocked it off my headboard on purpose! Also, from that day on, he never slept on my chest and never again woke me up in the morning. Moral of the story....don't puke on your cat.
Friday, October 7, 2011
The amazing life of my cat Nacho...1993 to 2011
Now, I must first state that all the stories about my cat are true...just some are more "truer" than others...
My friend of 18 years passed away in my arms, at 5:22 P.M. on Tuesday the 4th day of October, 2011. It was a sad day in my life, but I am not here to talk so much about his death, as I am about his amazing life. So, I shall begin at none other than the beginning...
Nacho came to us when he was but a tiny kitten sometime in the spring of 1993. The odd thing about that is, who brought him. Sammy, our older and somewhat cranky tom cat. Now you must understand, Sammy hated other cats and dogs, hell he hated most people too, haha. Even though he had a few years on him, he was still a bad-ass and other animals around the neighborhood knew it. He was a one or two person cat at best. I was one of the gifted few he liked, and it showed by how he would let me hold him and pet him far longer than anyone else! Know imagine my surprise when it's feeding time and I call for Sammy, and along comes the kitty in all his greatness...and low and behold, and tiny little ball of fur comes waddle alongside him! What's this I say, did he bring his own snack? A desert perhaps? Maybe he didn't notice, and just overlooked this insignificant tiny little creature of orange and white fur. To even further my surprise, was that he brought him not only up to his feeding dish, but allowed him to eat first! This was one, of many times, Nacho was able to win over even the most stubborn of hearts. Nacho +1 World 0.
Next up was my father, he wanted nothing to do with yet another animal to feed when he had so many other mouths to worry about. There were 7 of us kids, plus mom and dad. Oh, and lets not forget the cat and a dog as well. Now my father forbade us to fed him, but being the child I was often didn't quiet listen, as well as, I should haha. My younger sisters were yelled at countless times as well, "stop feeding that cat!". Now I am not quiet sure what finally did it for my dad...was it Nacho's cute fuzzy little face, or the fact that every other cat wanted him dead. Not sure how many times we had to "save" Nacho from some evil tom cat hell bent on his destruction. But, in the end...Nacho won even his heart over. Nacho +2 World 0.
I almost forgot to mention why he is named "Nacho" to begin with. He was mostly white, but with what looked like nacho cheese sauce spilled over the top of him, thus the name "Nacho" was given. Though later in life some called him, "Master Cho" or "Cho" for short...alas, I am getting ahead of myself. So, now that he was offically part of the Winkfield household, we needed to make sure he was well cared for. First priority was to keep him safe, with all the other cats around trying to kill him we decided to make him an indoor kitty (a whole other battle ensued with father on that one). Nacho +3 World 0.
Nacho didn't remain so tiny for long, in fact he grew and grew and then grew some more. Not before too long he became a rather large kitty, in fact, one of the largest I have seen. Might I also add, that he never seemed to forget all the bullies in the neighborhood. Nacho was pushing close to twenty pounds and most of the was muscle mass. Kinda like an Arnold Schwarzenegger of cats...and he was ready for some major pay backs. He became somewhat obsessed about getting outside. Anytime he had a chance to do so he would, and to disastrous results, (for the receiving end). He kinda had a Jeckel and Hyde personality at that time...inside the house, he never met a lap he didn't know. You would have never met a more friendly cat. People would comment on this regularly. Outside, well...outside was an entirely different story. He was out for blood. It's like he went Bruce Lee on anything he could get his hands...errrr, paws on. It got to the point that we would have to throw a towel over him (to protect ourselves) and scoop him up, and bring him in. Then he was as calm as could be, waiting for the next lap to make itself available. I remember one time, he was sitting in the 2nd story window looking out like he often did, when he spotted a small cat my sister had taken in. His inner Jeckel came out and he launched himself through the window screen from 2 stories up mind you and hit the ground in a flat out run! Without pausing he threw himself on this poor unsuspecting kitty. It rolled on it's back as Nacho landed on it...literally scaring the ummmmm...crap out of it. The next thing I hear is my sister screaming, "it's on my shirt!" As she runs toward the house I also hear, "Ahhhhhh...it's on me mouth too!" Referring to the cat poo! I laughed so hard it hurt.
Well, this will have to conclude my first install of my cat dairies. I will try to blog a little each week about Nacho. Some tid bits about up and coming stories include: Nam, Jail, and yes even Vulcans! Stay tuned!
My friend of 18 years passed away in my arms, at 5:22 P.M. on Tuesday the 4th day of October, 2011. It was a sad day in my life, but I am not here to talk so much about his death, as I am about his amazing life. So, I shall begin at none other than the beginning...
Nacho came to us when he was but a tiny kitten sometime in the spring of 1993. The odd thing about that is, who brought him. Sammy, our older and somewhat cranky tom cat. Now you must understand, Sammy hated other cats and dogs, hell he hated most people too, haha. Even though he had a few years on him, he was still a bad-ass and other animals around the neighborhood knew it. He was a one or two person cat at best. I was one of the gifted few he liked, and it showed by how he would let me hold him and pet him far longer than anyone else! Know imagine my surprise when it's feeding time and I call for Sammy, and along comes the kitty in all his greatness...and low and behold, and tiny little ball of fur comes waddle alongside him! What's this I say, did he bring his own snack? A desert perhaps? Maybe he didn't notice, and just overlooked this insignificant tiny little creature of orange and white fur. To even further my surprise, was that he brought him not only up to his feeding dish, but allowed him to eat first! This was one, of many times, Nacho was able to win over even the most stubborn of hearts. Nacho +1 World 0.
Next up was my father, he wanted nothing to do with yet another animal to feed when he had so many other mouths to worry about. There were 7 of us kids, plus mom and dad. Oh, and lets not forget the cat and a dog as well. Now my father forbade us to fed him, but being the child I was often didn't quiet listen, as well as, I should haha. My younger sisters were yelled at countless times as well, "stop feeding that cat!". Now I am not quiet sure what finally did it for my dad...was it Nacho's cute fuzzy little face, or the fact that every other cat wanted him dead. Not sure how many times we had to "save" Nacho from some evil tom cat hell bent on his destruction. But, in the end...Nacho won even his heart over. Nacho +2 World 0.
I almost forgot to mention why he is named "Nacho" to begin with. He was mostly white, but with what looked like nacho cheese sauce spilled over the top of him, thus the name "Nacho" was given. Though later in life some called him, "Master Cho" or "Cho" for short...alas, I am getting ahead of myself. So, now that he was offically part of the Winkfield household, we needed to make sure he was well cared for. First priority was to keep him safe, with all the other cats around trying to kill him we decided to make him an indoor kitty (a whole other battle ensued with father on that one). Nacho +3 World 0.
Nacho didn't remain so tiny for long, in fact he grew and grew and then grew some more. Not before too long he became a rather large kitty, in fact, one of the largest I have seen. Might I also add, that he never seemed to forget all the bullies in the neighborhood. Nacho was pushing close to twenty pounds and most of the was muscle mass. Kinda like an Arnold Schwarzenegger of cats...and he was ready for some major pay backs. He became somewhat obsessed about getting outside. Anytime he had a chance to do so he would, and to disastrous results, (for the receiving end). He kinda had a Jeckel and Hyde personality at that time...inside the house, he never met a lap he didn't know. You would have never met a more friendly cat. People would comment on this regularly. Outside, well...outside was an entirely different story. He was out for blood. It's like he went Bruce Lee on anything he could get his hands...errrr, paws on. It got to the point that we would have to throw a towel over him (to protect ourselves) and scoop him up, and bring him in. Then he was as calm as could be, waiting for the next lap to make itself available. I remember one time, he was sitting in the 2nd story window looking out like he often did, when he spotted a small cat my sister had taken in. His inner Jeckel came out and he launched himself through the window screen from 2 stories up mind you and hit the ground in a flat out run! Without pausing he threw himself on this poor unsuspecting kitty. It rolled on it's back as Nacho landed on it...literally scaring the ummmmm...crap out of it. The next thing I hear is my sister screaming, "it's on my shirt!" As she runs toward the house I also hear, "Ahhhhhh...it's on me mouth too!" Referring to the cat poo! I laughed so hard it hurt.
Well, this will have to conclude my first install of my cat dairies. I will try to blog a little each week about Nacho. Some tid bits about up and coming stories include: Nam, Jail, and yes even Vulcans! Stay tuned!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Wanting to build a time machine...
I have been thinking (this can be dangerous) that I need to build a time machine. Now it's not for reasons most of you might think. I don't necessarily want to travel back in time per say. I am more interested in being able to create more time. So....when everyone else has 24 hours in the day, I could have 30. Something like that. Then maybe I could get things done. I'm at work for about 13 hours a day, then come home and have things needing my attention, and then need sleep... oops, almost forgot homework. Gotta have time for that as well. Grrrr....I bet I'll have a paper due in the middle of my 7 days in a row shift. If anyone has already invented a time device of some sorts, please feel free to give me any pointers! Thanks!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Fuel made from corn, not as great as it may seem.
For some, the thought of being able to produce our own renewable fuel is very appealing. I must admit that I like the sound of having a renewable energy source that helps keep our reliance of foreign oil down. Here recently corn has been seen as a great way to produce a renewable fuel source known as ethanol. Now the idea to use corn as a fuel source has been around for quiet sometime, but has recently seen more and more popularity. In large part, do to the rising costs of fuel. So, what's so bad about a fuel source that is renewable, gives off oxygen as it grows, and help out the American economy?
Well for starters, it requires fuel to plant and harvest it. Is the amount of energy required greater than or less than the amount that can be gathered from it? Then there is the concern about the increase in food costs. Have you ever looked on the label of what you are eating? Many products on our shelves have corn in some form or another in them. High fructose corn syrup, sound familiar? It is in pop and many other products we use. Let us not forget it is used in pet food and animal feed as well. Increased ethanol production equals increased demand in corn, which in turn raises the cost of corn, (enter supply and demand).
Well then, why not just produce more corn then? That certainly is an option but, what would producing more corn do to the environment? Corn growers use nitrates to help fertilize thier crops. Nitrates then in turn wash out of the soil and enter our water. Running into our streams and rivers destroying them. Eventually making it's way into our ocean leaving large areas of water almost lifeless. Nitrates in the water supply create lower oxygen levels, which in turn kill off fish and other animals that need that O2 in the water. So, think corn is a great way to get rid of our need for foreign oil and be "greener" too, think again.
Well for starters, it requires fuel to plant and harvest it. Is the amount of energy required greater than or less than the amount that can be gathered from it? Then there is the concern about the increase in food costs. Have you ever looked on the label of what you are eating? Many products on our shelves have corn in some form or another in them. High fructose corn syrup, sound familiar? It is in pop and many other products we use. Let us not forget it is used in pet food and animal feed as well. Increased ethanol production equals increased demand in corn, which in turn raises the cost of corn, (enter supply and demand).
Well then, why not just produce more corn then? That certainly is an option but, what would producing more corn do to the environment? Corn growers use nitrates to help fertilize thier crops. Nitrates then in turn wash out of the soil and enter our water. Running into our streams and rivers destroying them. Eventually making it's way into our ocean leaving large areas of water almost lifeless. Nitrates in the water supply create lower oxygen levels, which in turn kill off fish and other animals that need that O2 in the water. So, think corn is a great way to get rid of our need for foreign oil and be "greener" too, think again.
Trying to choose the right carpet.
Well, my wife and I have decided on replacing the family room and hallway carpet. In part because it is older and has a few stains and also, because our two "little ones" have taken an "interest" in it. Now, I need to clarify a few things first. When I say "little ones", I mean our two little chihuahuas (rats that bark), Einstein and Angel. Einstein (the cool one) is named so, because of his great mind, he is literally too smart for his own good. Angel (evil) on the other hand, is not named because of her sweet nature...quiet the opposite actually. I believe that she is part, if not all demon. Which brings me to... when I say an "interest", I mean that for some strange reason they like to pull on the berber carpet and watch it unravel. It's not like they don't have an over abundance of chew toys and what not. So, I am not sure what's so fascinating about the carpet. I know Einstein knows better than to destroy "daddy's" carpet but I have caught him more than once tugging away on a new strand. This I am sure of only happens after Angel talks him into it, remember Angel is the demon dog.
Now that we know the reasoning behind our need for new carpet, we need to look into what our requirements are. First and for most, we need as puppy proof of a carpet there is, one that is soft and pleasing to the touch (wife likes to run around barefoot), and of course in a color that we can agree on (after hours of "politely" discussing it). After searching around on the internet we came across Carpet One's website and found that a brand called Lee's that looked like it could meet our needs. So, we went to the local store and met a nice lady there who gave us a demonstration of how stain resistant it was and how soft it is. Also, it's not berber! Much more unlikely to unravel, so that's two outta three! Now it comes in many color choices so, I'm sure that I can persuade my wife to pick some reasonable color. Maybe if I tell her it's probably the color that the little doggies, "gremlins" don't like, I can get one I find pleasing.
Now that we know the reasoning behind our need for new carpet, we need to look into what our requirements are. First and for most, we need as puppy proof of a carpet there is, one that is soft and pleasing to the touch (wife likes to run around barefoot), and of course in a color that we can agree on (after hours of "politely" discussing it). After searching around on the internet we came across Carpet One's website and found that a brand called Lee's that looked like it could meet our needs. So, we went to the local store and met a nice lady there who gave us a demonstration of how stain resistant it was and how soft it is. Also, it's not berber! Much more unlikely to unravel, so that's two outta three! Now it comes in many color choices so, I'm sure that I can persuade my wife to pick some reasonable color. Maybe if I tell her it's probably the color that the little doggies, "gremlins" don't like, I can get one I find pleasing.
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