Another thought

Odysseus-
Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries?  Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?
If they ever tell my story let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.

Today-Let them say I lived in the time of SloppyBJ_DJ

A Week Later

For those of you who don't know, 1 week ago I had another seizure. I spent
1 or 2 nights in the hospital. (I honestly can't remember which.) A week
later I find I have developed a tendency to go into a "1000 meter stare".
I'm hoping this passes because it's really annoying.
Sensory: It's like someone turned up the color intensity on the TV. No
distortions or actual color changes, just stronger. I really noticed that
my sense of smell has improved. While going thru the produce section with
mom I was able to smell each vegetable or fruit separately as I passed it.
Emotional: Since it's been only a week, it's hard to say what's going on.
As is usual I'm in a mild state of depression. It doesn't take much to make
me cry. (I just cried for Jason Bourne.) Usually, this mostly passes after
a week or two. I sincerely believe Atavan sticks to my brain cells like
cheap glue and it takes that long to wash out of my system.
Summary: When I put it all together, although I didn't suffer much
physical damage from the physical aspect, I am somewhat concerned about
what happened inside my head. (My description is it's like a stroke in slow motion.)
That's about it from the farside. Good Night.

Here we are again!

Political correctness has claimed another victim. Juan Williams was fired from NPR for giving an opinion. Right or wrong it was his opinion. He has the right to give it. His sin was giving it on FOX News Network, the only true news organization to give both sides of an argument. FOX consistently provides a contrasting voices to every issue. Actually, the fact that liberal Williams was  speaking on FOX is an indictment against NPR. And he's not alone. When was the last time you heard Hannity, Beck or O'Reilly live on NPR?  A monolithic news organization is not news, it's propaganda, more reminiscent of Soviet Pravda.

Have Mercy

I'm not sure but I think I'm largely back. Doctors accidentally tried to kill me and I've spent 2 years in a state of funk. I cried at movies that weren't comedies. I about lost it last night when on a brit detective show the father of the hero was laying in the hospital dieing. He looked at the ceiling and said "This is no way for a man to die." The son took him home and he died in his studio looking out at the world. I think I've found my mission in life. I don't want anyone to die staring at the hospital ceiling. If anyone out there knows how to set up a fund to get someone in the hospital to take some poor slob to the hospital solarium and pass there, let me know. The staff knows when it's very close to over. For Christs sake pull the tubes and wires and wheel him to a window. God will love you for it.

What I need to write about.

  In case you haven't guessed I'm closing in on my final destination. As I draw nearer I find myself spending more time wandering in my past. Luckily it seems to be restricted to the things I look back on fondly. I remember the times I met my friends throughout life. Mike, my next door friend when I was 4. Stan and Bill in the third grade, Larry in the Ninth grade (sitting on the steps, having just arrived in a new school from New York). It continues down the years with many, many people. I think of the night I met my beautiful wife at a table in East Africa and the wedding in Elko Nevada and driving back to post through a blizzard. I remember the birth of each of my 3 daughters in detail, along with their first day of school and so on.
  I remember the night I was trapped in a car by hyenas that were really hungry and being chased out of the desert by baboons when I got too close. To me, the day I caught a NATO ally in violation of the treaty during an investigation was closer than yesterday.
  If this is just my depression speaking, I'm sorry for boring you. If not, you've seen a few of my footprints.
Maybe all I or anyone wants is to leave footprints.

Mornin' Cousin Andy!

A Short One Today. After several generations of intensive inbreeding we have developed congress.

Good night citizen.

Todays subject is Political Correctness (from this point on called PC).

PC is simply another way of saying "I have no balls." It destroys debate or discussion of almost any subject because of the fear of offending. Newscasters constantly refer to the "N" word rather than giving a precise quote, but if I watch BET or Comedy Central "Nigger" comes out constantly.
My wife and I have a lot in common. I was born a white baby, to Catholic parents, in a small town in Minnesota. She was born a black baby, to Catholic parents, in a small town in Africa. Did you notice that only 2 (white/black and Minnesota/Africa, pronouns don't count) words were different in the sentences? The other 12 were the same. She is truly African-American. She hates the label, she is American, ask her. PC depends on labels. Labels divide us. We are Americans.
One last thought: Jingoist politicians (those that constantly repeat short easy to remember sayings) are using a technique akin to brainwashing.
Remember, the words "Liberte Egalite Fraternite" were pinned to every guillotine during the French Reign of Terror.

Your hole or mine

On July 4th I had another seizure. I was taken to the emergency room and then admitted to the hospital to recover. They put me in a room on the cancer ward in a room by myself (as is usual). When I was able to get up and around I left my room and headed down the hall in search of a cup of coffee. As I left my room I looked at the guy across the hall and he was just laying there staring at the ceiling. When I asked the nurse what was wrong with him I was told he was in the final stage of pancreatic cancer and would probably die in a few days. A few days later, at work, it hit me that that poor guy was going to die with the vision of holes in a ceiling as his last sight. I don't want to go that way. You can throw me of the side of the Grand Canyon or leave me in the middle of Death Valley at sunset. Whatever. Just not holes in the ceiling.

On Religion

I am a theist. (Space intended. If you don't know what a theist is move on.)
I believe that churches are worthless inventions of man. They are created to trap God and shave him into a creature of their own purpose. Usually that purpose is to gain control of  a certain number of people. Sometimes it's totally fraudulent to grab money.
I give this attribute to all religious leaders since. The only biblical person I would consider following would be Abraham.I believe Jesus died for his own sins. Primarily that of having too high of an opinion of  his fellow humans. Having low expectations would have allowed him to grow old. He spoke of the evils of his church. He tried to teach us that peace is found within. He said he was the son of God, but then, aren't we children of God? The bottom line? Don't fully trust anyone. Judas is still looking for silver.

My First Political Rant

Plato: "Those who seek power are not worthy of that power."

I once read an Isaac Asimov book in which an excellent concept was provided. Rather than having elections, political offices were filled by random drawing. A person was exempted only if he had some emotional or physical defect that prohibited him from fulfilling his appointed office.
Imagine a president and congress that operated independent of political affiliation.
Imagine a politician who would operate knowing that in 4 years he would forcibly be dumped back into the system he made.
The congress habitually exempts itself from the rules it makes for the rest of the people. Ending career politicians would greatly reduce the stupid that comes from D.C.
At this moment bureaucrats are more dangerous than the stupid and lazy politicians. Bureaucrats should be promoted from within their agencies, therefore providing some expertise to managing that agency. (The CIA, for example, headed by a intelligence professional who understood how it works, instead of some political hack who does whatever his party dictates.)  No 'crat should be allowed to keep his post for more than 5 years. (5 years because continuity is necessary while at the same time disassociating them from the election cycle.) Those politicians selected for positions that require access to classified information would need commensurate security background investigations, conducted by the military and using the exact same criteria that is used for soldiers. The punishment for violating ethical or criminal rules would be banishment to Kodiak Island with a sleeping bag and 10 pounds of hamburger. Works for me!

I decided to crank this thing off with computer advice. While your computer is still running:

1. Make sure your system boots from the CD first (in CMOS or Setup)
2. Go to http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm and download the program.
3. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
4. Burn the CD from the ISO file.
5. Boot from the CD. (It takes a while 'cause it's a CD)
6. After the system has completed loading, go to the command prompt.
7. Run "chkdsk C: /f".
8. Remove the CD and attempt to restart the system.

If it still doesn't start, seek professional help if you value your data. If you don't care about your data, reinstall your operating system.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a bulletproof System. Normally it's not the O/S that's bad. It's the crappy software that gets installed on the system.