Well it looks like my blog Momma-sis canÂ’t keep her hands off of my blog Dad-pa. I guess she decided I needed another blog sibling besides my Nie-sters VW and Sissy. Instead of actually letting the family tree fork, she decided to jump in the blogging sack with Harvey the wonder blogger again.

Let me welcome the next Genetic freak to the family, Blue Tige of, well, ummmÂ… Blue Tige!.

HeÂ’s a military man, has a fetish for photos of military aircraft and blue tinted tigers. I think that has something to do with his handle and maybe even call sign.

Head over and say hello to the newest person to bump me down a notch my momma-sisÂ’ importance list. Like I needed someone else for her to like more!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:08 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Multiple bloggers I read are touting the fact that it is National De-Lurking Week. Maybe itÂ’s just me, but I find this annoying. I am probably one of the worst lurkers on the face of the earth. My standard operating procedure when I find a new blog is to read it for two to three months before I leave my first comment. Then I tend to lurk a while longer before I leave a second comment, and finally once I get comfortable, I will leave my comments all over your blog.

Since my sense of humor is a little off kilter, I like to get a feel for the author before I comment. All that lurking makes me more familiar with the blogger, thus I can better gage if they will appreciate my sense of humor or if it truly will be a comment bomb. (Comment Bomb: The blogging equivalent to having your dog leave a mess in your neighborÂ’s yard).

I read Harvey for 4 months before I left my first comment there. Tammi for five months, T1G for three months, Eric for 4 months, CalTechGirl for six months, Blackfive for just over a year now and counting. You get the idea; it can take me a long time to comment. Occasionally I violate that rule, IE if I meet someone or if IÂ’m leaving a reciprocal comment, but in general I am a lurker.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:18 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 yes, but I saw you. That kilt sticks out of the bushes

Posted by: caltechgirl at January 10, 2006 02:22 PM (uI/79)

2 Good thing no one can hear you breathing heavy when posting on their blog, ya voyeur.

Posted by: Dr. Phat Tony at January 10, 2006 02:27 PM (fk/lm)

3 But that's just because you're so damned shy...

Posted by: That 1 Guy at January 10, 2006 02:32 PM (lfQya)

4 Should I be honored since you commented on my blog when it had existed for a far shorter period of time than your norm?

Posted by: MathCog Idiocy at January 10, 2006 06:11 PM (2FI98)

5 I thought it was because you have an accent? ;-)

Posted by: Sissy at January 10, 2006 08:17 PM (gCk3+)

6 How long did you lurk at mine? I don't think you ever lurked!

Posted by: Bou at January 10, 2006 09:45 PM (iHxT3)

7 So you're a blurker that borders on cyber stalker?

Cool!

Ya know, after seeing those pictures of Fitzfest, I swear I swear you're pulling our leg by saying your shy. Anyone that wears a Kilt in mid January in No Illois has got a pair that are bigger than bowling balls!

Just sayin'

Posted by: michele at January 10, 2006 10:52 PM (beN4P)

8 Kilt? Did someone say kilt?

Or did someone get kil't?

Either way, I don't remember if I've de-lurked here before. I've had you on my blogroll for some time in any case.

Best Regards,

Posted by: Consul-At-Arms at January 11, 2006 04:50 AM (B+qrE)

9 Yes, I just lurk in cyberspace stalking all of my potential victims new regular reads.

Posted by: Contagion at January 11, 2006 07:13 AM (Q5WxB)

10 Yeah. We've heard that about you. Minions. Victims. Fan girls. Whoohoo!

Posted by: Omnibus Driver at January 11, 2006 09:06 AM (6VG2d)

11 If I had *my* way, I'd just lurk here, but the court ordered me to leave at least one comment a week.

This blogchild support is killin' me... :-P

Posted by: Harvey at January 11, 2006 07:16 PM (ubhj8)

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Tomorrow I have to go to court. These will not be pleasant proceedings, not pleasant at all. For tomorrow, I will have to go to court over a death. ItÂ’s not the death of a family member, but of a close personal friend. A friend that IÂ’ve known for years. Some of you know this friend and will be shocked to learn this. I guess its better coming from me then some stranger or by a surprise.

Tomorrow IÂ’m having Graumagus legally declared dead.

Sure technically he may have a beating heart in his chest and what passes for a functioning brain in his head, but heÂ’s no longer around. In addition, if I have him declared dead it will help another case of mine.

Under salvage laws, IÂ’m trying to claim Frizzen Sparks as my own. HeÂ’s abandoned it since December 18, which is over 3 weeks ago, 22 days at this time to be precise. That means it is abandoned and the previous owner doesnÂ’t want it anymore. Thus, I should be able to have it legally transferred to my name. Now, since Grau has been gone for over 3 weeks with nary a word or comment, which should be grounds to have him declared dead. IsnÂ’t it blogging death to not post for more then two weeks? I believe so.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:27 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Just a reminder to everyone that this weekend is Fritz Fest in good olÂ’ Stillman Valley, Illinois. T1G has been good enough to give directions on how to get there, even if you are coming from Galena, IL. It took some quick thinking on my behalf to get them, and one very unpleasant task that involved shards of glass and a certain orifice of T1G's. Hey, he asked for it! Harvey was even nice enough to provide the address for those of us that like to know exactly where we are going.

For those of you that donÂ’t already know, this is the list of people that are going to be there:

Some people are just way too sensitive. How sensitive, how about this? We have a guy that is offended at the Bucs/Saints game. What offended him? IÂ’ll give you a hint; it was part of the half time show. Still donÂ’t know? It involves cheerleaders? Are you guessing costuming?

RRRRNNNNNNTTTTT!!!!! WRONG!

ItÂ’s not the costuming; it was the song that offended this man.

Bob Corry, Offended By Song:
"The first song that I hear is 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' by The Scorpions and I thought to myself, 'Is it me, or is this just totally out of place and inappropriate?'"

During the halftime show, the Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s Cheerleaders (Yes gratuitous hotty link) did a routine to “Rock You Like a Hurricane” by The Scorpions. Why was this offensive? Duh, people, the Bucs were playing the New Orleans Saints. You know, New Orleans, they had that incident back in late August. You may have heard once or twice about it, Hurricane Katrina.

IÂ’ve only been to a couple of hundred profession, semi-pro and college sporting events in my lifetime. Yet, I seem to have the impression that this is a fairly common song to be played. IÂ’m not thinking any malice aforethought was meant. To me, this was just a common dance routine song. Hell, you may not like the song, but you have to admit that it does have a catchy beat for the cheerleaders to dance to.

Also, I know that Katrina didnÂ’t devastate Tampa, but unless IÂ’m mistaken and you Floridians can correct me, Tampa Bay has been affected by numerous hurricanes over the years. Okay, it wasnÂ’t almost scoured off the face of the earth like God was using water vaporous Brillo pad to remove some caked on filth, but still itÂ’s not like itÂ’s hurricane immune.

If the BucÂ’s cheerleaders had intentionally based their routine around that song just to rub in the fact that the Saints lost their home to Katrina, fine. If they didnÂ’t this guy has no basis to be offended. That would be like those of us being offended in the Midwest by some network showing Twister. That just doesnÂ’t make sense to me.

Ya know what? Screw it, IÂ’m going to be offended that this guy is offended.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:06 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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The New Year is here, and IÂ’ve seen everyone making resolutions. The only New Years resolution IÂ’ve ever lived up to was one I made 6 years ago. I resolved to never make any more New Years resolutions. Over the last six years, I havenÂ’t made a resolution.

However, I do occasionally decide I need to make changes in my life, and the New Year seems to be a good time to do it. With some of the troubles I’ve had over the last year, I decided that it’s time for me to do something about it. Starting today I’ve been weeding out the “friends” I no longer want to associate with. The ones that have been either causing me problems, the ones that irritate me, or the ones that I’ve just decided I don’t want anything to do with anymore.

Yes, it’s kind of assholish, okay it’s very assholish, but I’m doing it for my own selfish reasons. These are people that have done nothing but given me grief, pissed me off, or just plain make me want to re-shape a frying pan over their heads. Technically I started doing this back in December, but I’m putting it into overdrive today. Some might want explanations, which I’m not about to give. I’ll just spout off my standard, “I’m making changes, and getting rid of the people I don’t want in my life anymore” when asked.

You might remember I was lamenting over whether or not Ktreva and I had a New Years party. Well we decided we were going to, and just not invite those people we donÂ’t want to the party. Some people we did want to attend werenÂ’t invited just to not put them in the middle of a bad situation, like a couple of my re-enacting friends. I feel bad for those friends as, I personally felt like I did wrong by them. When I get a chance to talk to them, IÂ’ll explain.

When we sent out our invites, we included a slip of paper that stated not everyone who was invited in the past was going to be invited this time. We also included on there that if they decided not to attend because of this, we fully understood. We did have some guests that opted not to come so they werenÂ’t in the middle of the unpleasantness.

The party went off with out a hitch, which was great. We invited some new friends of ours to join us. Harvey and TEE-n-t. At one point I found out a guest of mine wasnÂ’t going to come because she had told me she wasnÂ’t going to make it and her plans changed at the last minute. Normally IÂ’m shy, but when IÂ’ve been drinking I had no problem calling (yes, dear readers I actually used a phone) and telling her she had to come or I would come and get her. When Tammi finally showed up it was nice to have her. She always brightens up a party.

Our party was much smaller this year then it was in years past, but that was kind of nice. We werenÂ’t as crowded and it was nice to be able to spend more time with each guest. Of course I did maintain my party tradition of being slightly inebriated before the guests started arriving. Harvey helped me drink down a bottle of Glenmorangie 12 year Port Wood Finish single malt Scotch. Not as good as their 18 year, but still a damn fine Scotch. TEE-n-t kept giving me crap because I couldnÂ’t pronounce her name properly. I had one crasher at the party, but since he I was about to legally declare him dead, I felt it was okay. It wasnÂ’t that he wasnÂ’t invited; it was just that he didnÂ’t RSVP.
IÂ’d like to think that everyone that was showed up had a good time. I know that Ktreva, Boopie, Clone and Myself did.

Posted by: Contagion at 11:37 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 It was a wonderful party and I had a great time. Thank you so much for making sure I made it. I wouldn't have changed a thing!!!

Posted by: Tammi at January 02, 2006 03:18 PM (lfQya)

2 Happy New Year... I'm glad you got Tammi's butt out

Posted by: talulazephyr at January 02, 2006 08:09 PM (/Vg0b)

3 Sounds like fun was had by all!

Posted by: Oddybobo at January 03, 2006 08:04 AM (6Gm0j)

4 Exquisite :-)

Posted by: Harvey at January 03, 2006 08:52 AM (ubhj8)

5 I had even more fun 'cause I didn't yakk all over your basement... again... and *finally* got to meet Harvey and (once you wrenched her arm out of it's socket via the phone) Tammi. ;^)

You throw an awesome party, dude. Thanks!

Posted by: Wes at January 03, 2006 03:30 PM (XKQLY)

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In my Christmas dinner post I made the statement, “For those of you reading this worried about the effects of alcohol on the children, remember alcohol cooks out during the baking process. There was a minimal alcohol content left when it was finished.” In the comments, Harvey of Bad Example linked to a Kitchen Myths site that had the following information (Also found on numerous other sites.):

Alcohol added to boiling liquid removed from heat retained 85% of alcohol
Alcohol Flamed retained 75% alcohol
Alcohol stored overnight, no heat, retained 70% of alcohol
Alcohol baked, 25 minutes, not stirred into mixture retained 45% alcohol.
Alcohol baked/simmered, stirred into mixture retains:
15 minutes cooking time: 40% alcohol
30 minutes cooking time: 35% alcohol
1 hour cooking time: 25% alcohol
1.5 hours cooking time: 20% alcohol
2 hours cooking time: 10% alcohol
2.5 hours cooking time: 5% alcohol

Most of the sites I found that have this information state it comes from the US Department of Agriculture Nutrient Data Laboratory. Spending way too much time searching through the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory website I was unable to locate any such study they have done nor documentation that coincides with this data. IÂ’ve gone so far as to send them an e-mail to verify if the data is accurate. According to them, I should get a response in 5 business days. With the holiday, that should make it January 10th at the latest I should get a response. Until then, IÂ’m going to just assume that the data given is accurate within acceptable levels of deviation.

Based on said data lets review how my statement stands up. Since the alcohol used in the whiskey sauce was stirred into a mixture (the Sauce, not the pudding itself), I’m going to use the data for “Alcohol baked/simmered, stirred into mixture” table. This is a completely unscientific study, so my results will be off.

First we used standard bourbon, at 80 proof or 40% alcohol by volume. When you are heating the original sauce it is simmered/boiled for 15 minutes. Now, this is not adding it to a boiling liquid then removing it from the heat, this is a mixture that is heated/simmered. It takes about 15 minutes simmering time. It is then poured over the bread pudding and baked for about it is baked for 45 minutes. Just for ease of this calculation IÂ’m going to use the 1-hour baking/simmering time of 25% alcohol retention.

25% of 40% alcohol leaves 10% alcohol per volume.

My wife used 4 tablespoons of bourbon. Four tablespoons equal two fluid ounces. There are 1.5 ounces in your standard shot of alcohol. Thus there is a one and a third shot of alcohol in the recipe. The recipe makes six servings. That means there is two-ninths of a shot per serving.

Since weÂ’ve already cooked down the alcohol to 10% alcohol per volume. That means that per serving there would be a trace amount of alcohol.

Thus I stick by my original statement: There was a minimal alcohol content left when it was finished.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:34 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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My grandmother is in the hospital again. The difference is that this time she is not going to be coming home. If she is released, my mother and aunt are taking my advice from the last time she was hospitalized and going to put her into a managed care facility, ie Nursing home.

My grandmother should have been put into one years ago. SheÂ’s been failing in health for a long time now. She has diabetes and other medical issues that cause her chronic pain. A year and a half ago she sold her home and moved in with my aunt because she couldnÂ’t live on her own anymore due to chronic health issues. She refused to take care of her self, follow doctorÂ’s orders and do her therapies. She continued to get worse. My mother and aunt felt it that if grandma were living with my aunt, she would have better supervision and take care of herself.

They where wrong. She would buy candy and hide it in the house, when my aunt was gone, she would eat it, thus not taking care of her diabetes. She still didnÂ’t follow doctorÂ’s orders and refused to do her therapies when my aunt asked her to. She just continued to get worse and worse. She can hardly walk, she can barely bend her knees and she has a form of ParkinsonÂ’s disease that is has almost completely taken over her ability to do anything on her own. The sad thing is that if she had just followed doctorÂ’s orders years ago they know she wouldnÂ’t be anywhere near as bad as she is now.

When she was brought into the hospital a couple of days ago, over an infection she has that if she had followed doctorÂ’s order she wouldnÂ’t have had, it was finally determined that she can not go back to my aunts. My aunt just cannot be there all day every day to take care of her, as she needs. My grandma is not happy with this decision. She keeps telling my mother and aunt that she feels she can go home. Fortunately, my mother and aunt disagree with her.

I called and talked to my grandma the other night, I canÂ’t visit because she is in the infectious disease ward and I donÂ’t dare expose my kids to nasty bugs floating around up there. When I spoke with my grandma, she sounded like she had a stroke. My mother, aunt and the hospital staff convinced me that she hadnÂ’t itÂ’s just the medication, pain, infection and ParkinsonÂ’s effecting her speech. This is not the woman I remember fondly from my childhood. I hate seeing her this way, and I donÂ’t like hearing about her this way.

We know she wonÂ’t get better. She may live for many more years, or she may be dead as I write this. IÂ’ve never had any illusions that IÂ’m a good person, but how bad does it make me that IÂ’m hoping and wishing for the later?

Posted by: Contagion at 12:39 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I WON, I WON, I WON! I know you all find that hard to believe after the insanity of this post, itÂ’s as if I hardly tried. Dr. Phat Tony will be sending my shirt to me. Since I hardly if ever win anything, IÂ’m stoked! I mean, the only thing better then blogger wear, is free blogger wear.

DPTÂ’s official announcement has a screen shot of the ecosystem showing my 279 links. ThatÂ’s right, two hundred, seventy-nine links. Yes, yes, yesÂ… I know I have issues. Sure, it took 2.5 hours of my life to make that post, but it was worth it. Oh yes it was worth it!

I would like to take this time to acknowledge my lead rival and competitor for the t-shirt. Pandy of What Panda. She put up a good fight, and was a worthy opponent. I honestly feel that if she had been distracted, she could have easily won this competition. My hat is off to you dear Pandy for the valiant effort, my utmost respect.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:47 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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See new posts below

Okay, I really want to win this T-shirt from Dr. Phat Tony. Pandy over at What Panda is really giving me a run for my money, thus IÂ’m going to have to do something really drastic. This is going to be time consuming, annoying and just a general pain in the arse, but I donÂ’t know what else to do at this point. From some of the e-mails IÂ’ve received I know that some of you are getting tired of seeing these posts, but IÂ’m doing what I feel I have to do in order to win. This contest only runs until Christmas day now. However, I thought it ran all the way to New Years. But since I donÂ’t make the rules, I only have to follow them, IÂ’m trying everything in my power to win. Yes, this post is probably really annoying, and if you want to skip it. I wouldnÂ’t blame you, but itÂ’s what I need to do. Loyal readers, please forgive me as I am in desperation mode and IÂ’m just trying to win something. Some of you may understand, some of you may not. But by the time IÂ’m done IÂ’m hoping that this post should push me over the edge and show just exactly what level of desperation I am at. Thus, causing others that are trying to play to give up. If I need I will make a post like this daily until the contest is over and I am declared a winner. . Sure it is a lot of work, but to me it's all worth the effort. If you really want something you need to work for it. Nothing is free, contrary to what some people would like to believe. Right now I am just willing to bet that Dr. Phat Tony is real happy he does not have auto trackbacks set up through haloscan. Other ways his e-mail would be over loaded with all the pings from this post. Yes, that is a link to every post he's made to date, no you really don't want to know how long it took me to do this.

Thank you for your consideration. This post will stay on top until the contest is over, see new below.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:16 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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One of my minions had a Christmas party last weekend. Since I was unable to attend, she was filling me in on the details. She had invited some friends of hers both from work and outside of work. From what she was telling me it sounded like everyone was having a good time.

Then she went on to tell me she ran into a problem later in the night. She had run out of food and beverages for everyone. When she sent out her invitations, she asked people to RSVP to let her know if the invitee was coming and if they were bringing a date. If no one got back to her, she marked them down as not coming. She wasnÂ’t expecting everyone she invited to show up, so when some people didnÂ’t respond she was not surprised.

What surprised her was when the party started people where showing up that did not RSVP. She also had people that showed up that brought a date and didnÂ’t indicate they where bringing anyone else. Five extra guests she had not planned on showed up for her party. Five doesnÂ’t sound like many people, but it is when you are planning a party to ensure there is enough food and drinks for everyone. You have to think five people are an entire family! In this case, four separate invites didnÂ’t RSVP or didnÂ’t put down the correct number of attendees.

It doesn’t surprise me. Any more people don’t have common courtesy to others, so why should they take 5 minutes to call and say yes or no I’m not coming. Personally, I know how frustrating this can be. I can’t remember the last time I held a party and had an accurate count of people that where going to attend. My favorite excuse is when someone says, “Well you should have known I was going to come.” If I had known you where going to come I wouldn’t ask you to RSVP! How do I know if you didn’t make other plans? Maybe you’re bringing a date, or maybe you just don’t want to come. That would be like my throwing a party and saying, “You should have known you were invited” instead of sending out invitations.

Some people are in the belief they should call and double check with each possible guest if they are coming. Personally, I’m not a babysitter. If I throw a party, the guests are all adults. My checking with them is the invite. If I’m going to call these people to see if they are going to come, why even bother sending an invite? Why not just call them and say, “Sup, homey! Yo, check it out. I’m throwing a banging bash at my crib. You in dog?” Well, maybe not exactly like that, but you get my drift.

When I was younger, I used to be inconsiderate like that. I wouldnÂ’t RSVP and just show up. That all changed when I was a junior in college and we threw a party for a bunch of our friends. Only a handful of people said they were going to be there so we only bought two kegs. Nothing is more annoying then making a beer run mid party when you have a good buzz going. Ever since then IÂ’ve been very good about it.

ItÂ’s just common courtesy people. Whenever I get an invite somewhere and there is an RSVP, IÂ’ll contact the host and let them know whether or not IÂ’m making it. That way there is no doubt in their mind. So if your are going to the blogmeet and havenÂ’t said anything yet, get off your butt and do it now!

Posted by: Contagion at 01:01 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I have in my possession an object of sentimental and artistic value to someone else. Since this person just carelessly discarded said item under the seat of my truck, I feel I should teach them a little lesson. Therefore, I am holding ransom this stained glass picture of a sail boat. See the picture below.

If this person wants to get this priceless piece of art back, then need to follow my directions carefully.

1) Find four pennies. One from 1971, one from 1973, one from 1993 and one from 2003. Place a picture of all pennies on the Internet.

2) Find a set of busy railroad tracks. Place all pennies exactly 1 foot 3.25 inches apart along one of the rails. Again place a picture including measurements on the Internet.

3) After a train has flattened all four pennies, take a picture of the pennies and place on the Internet.

4) Place the pennies in a safe location where they will not be lost.

5) Find a ball, any type of ball; I donÂ’t care if itÂ’s a football, a baseball or a ping-pong ball. Take the ball to a local public establishment. Bar, Store, mall, again I donÂ’t care.

6) Get three people to have their picture taken with the ball autographing/initialing it. I donÂ’t care if you know the people or if they are complete strangers.

7) Place pictures of the individuals autographing/initialing on the Internet. You can hide their faces for their protection.

Place the ball with the pennies.

9) Make a sign that says, “I have an unhealthy addiction to candles.” Have someone take your picture standing along a busy roadway holding the sign and place picture on the Internet.

10) Have someone take a picture of you holding the pennies, the ball and the sign and place the picture on the Internet.

11) When this is done we will set up a location where we will exchange your property for the pennies, ball and sign.

These are my demands; they are not negotiable. If you fail to follow any of my directions to my satisfaction, I will be forced to do something drastic. You donÂ’t want me to do something drastic do you?

IÂ’m a man on the edge; donÂ’t make me do something I donÂ’t want to do!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:34 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Okay I still want to win that T-shirt from Dr. Phat Tony. Apparently my underhanded attempt to pilfer links didnÂ’t work. Thus IÂ’m trying something a little different. We all know he is trying to get the number one Google hit for History of Thanksgiving, History of Discovery of America, How to Join the Canadian Army and Girls Gone Wild. Apparently heÂ’s already number one for Humpback Midget. On a side note, because of this IÂ’m turning up as number three for Humpback MidgetÂ… IÂ’m thinking he intended this to be a side effect.

What am I going to do? If I thought it would help, IÂ’d walk around here with my dick hanging out, not that IÂ’m making any campaign promises! ItÂ’s Phat TonyÂ’s contest and his rules IÂ’m trying to follow. IÂ’m not trying to make any new ones up, and even though heÂ’s a helpful guy and likes to answer questions. Sometimes those answers come with a price and require people to do thingsÂ… unusual.

HeÂ’s very passionate about various topics, especially home remodeling. Sure, sometimes a sense of humor is lost on him. But this time of year he can be very sentimental.

The poor guy has issues dealing with his family's past. However he always has an open post for a blogless friend. Also he is always readily available with advice and stories to learn from.

Hopefully this helps me out.

Posted by: Contagion at 01:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 This put you in the lead.

Posted by: Dr. Phat Tony at December 17, 2005 02:42 PM (SXElV)

2 I might just have to give up!

Posted by: Pandy at December 17, 2005 03:55 PM (zhhNQ)

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As many of you know IÂ’ve been trying to win a t-shirt from Dr. Phat Tony. IÂ’m going all out, and I thought I was doing pretty damn good until I saw this post over at What Panda.

"Good ol' Phatty is a wacky fellow, and he likes getting votes! Being a big campaign supporter of his, I've decided to try my hand at helping his most recent campaign. I think he's getting a bit lazy- he sure asks for help a lot. He still answers our questions, though. Okay. I'm sorry. Someone like Phat Tony needs all the help he can get, he gives so much to the blogging community.

He educates us, with famous postings like The Discovery of America and The History of Thanksgiving.

His unfailing patriotism is also an admirable trait. "Join the Canadian Army!", he tells us, but we know it's because he doesn't want any more touchy-feelyness in our Army. Plus he doesn't pass up any chance to slam the French.

When people ask me who Phat Tony is and why I am voting for him, I tell them-Phat Tony is a national treasure."

DAMMIT! There where more links in that then in my entire posts. What am I going to do? IÂ’m not that talented, maybe I should think of something underhanded and sneakyÂ… (Evil Grin)

Posted by: Contagion at 02:47 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Do you hate cats? Have you not found a sport you felt you could really enjoy? Then I have a surprise for you. Wisconsin Divorced MenÂ’s Club Organizes First Ever Cat-Olympics. From the state that originally legalized feral cat hunting, we have an organized event all men can enjoy.

Divorced dad Elvis Weems elaborates:

"Well, they wouldn't let us hunt cats like we wanted, so we did the next best thing. We have over a dozen events planned this August in Oshkosh, including the tabby-hammer toss, cat fishing, cat-put, cat-a-pult and kitty-discus, to name a few! Should be exciting. We can get our rocks off in spite of the fact we can't hunt cats, so this is the next best thing!"

This comes from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that isnÂ’t too far from my house; I may have to enter my wifeÂ’s cat, Gertrude! IÂ’m kidding, hun, IÂ’m kidding. WellÂ…

Posted by: Contagion at 10:13 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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It looks like we have some answers to my earlier memeÂ’s

See the responses for Dr. Phat Tony, Bouddica, Barb and Wes.

ChemicalNova hasnÂ’t had time to post them yet, I think heÂ’s trying to tell us all something.

Oh, and before I get, time to google bomb Dr. Phat Tony again... Can you tell I really want that t-shirt? So now I'll send another link his way for all this stuff: History of Thanksgiving, History of Discovery of America, How to Join the Canadian Army and Girls Gone Wild. Apparently heÂ’s already number one for Humpback Midget.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Okay, one of my regular reads, and occasional commenter, Dr. Phat Tony is having a contest. What heÂ’s a doctor of I donÂ’t know. IÂ’d say possibly history with his History of Thanksgiving, but I know others that have covered that topic that arenÂ’t doctors. But then he gets into the History of the Discovery of America. Now, being the re-enactor that I am, and the nitpicker of historical accuracy, I can pick out some problems here. Thus, IÂ’m sure he does not have a doctorate in History.

Taking a further look I decided that maybe he has a Doctorate in Public Relations, he tried to help people on How to Join the Canadian Army. He even tried to help American relations in the Middle East with his Girls Gone Wild take off, Muslims Gone Wild. However it seems both seemed to have backfired in the their respective countries.

Then I figured it out. HeÂ’s not a doctor; he just uses the title to pick up humpback midgets.

Well anyway, his contest is basically him link-whoring himself out and if a person does well enough you get one of his t-shirts. I was going to buy one, but now IÂ’m going to see if I can win it!

Oh, and he wants to be the number one hit for History of Thanksgiving, History of Discovery of America, How to Join the Canadian Army and Girls Gone Wild. Apparently heÂ’s already number one for Humpback Midget, but it helped with the story above.

I wonder where this puts me in the ranks.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Every year my wife and I have a New YearÂ’s Eve party. ItÂ’s been something weÂ’ve enjoyed hosting for years, and we have fun. We get to end the old year and start the new year with friends. For 6 years now, weÂ’ve invited pretty much the same friends every year. This year we are debating on even having the party.

I have “friends” I don’t want to hang around with anymore, so I don’t want to invite them. The problem is that we have mutual friends whom I’d like to invite to my house. I don’t want to put my friends in the middle of a situation that doesn’t involve them. In addition, I don’t want to stir up trouble with the people I no longer want to associate.

Then there are some new friends I’ve met/made that I would like to invite. I know I would enjoy their company more then my old “friends”. We just don’t have the room to have everyone over in our house. So obviously, someone would have to get cut from the list. Of course I’m leaning toward cutting the old “friends”. Again that brings up the problem of putting mutual friends in the middle of a situation that doesn’t directly involve them.

The mutual friend issue is causing the problem. ItÂ’s why I havenÂ’t told a couple of them that I no longer want them in my house or my life. So far, IÂ’ve done well in trying to avoid most of the undesirables since all this began. I still have one that contacts me or comes over at least once a month. I think they are beginning to get the hint however.

What to do? Have the party and actually drag mutual friends into the fray or just cancel the party in general. IÂ’ve already had a couple of inquiries regarding it as the invites are usually in the mail by the last week of November.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:37 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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SNOW!

Right now as I look out the window it is snowing. The lovely, cold white specks of crystallized frozen water is falling from the sky. It is slowly gathering in a fine dusting on the grass, pavement and vehicles. Ice is starting to form.

The flakes are twisting and turning as they fall to the ground.
more...

Posted by: Contagion at 12:34 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 *snicker, snicker*

Posted by: oddybobo at November 16, 2005 11:13 AM (6Gm0j)

2 Yay, you!

Unfortunately, where I live in NC, all the cold weather comes in from the west and northwest, so it has ZERO moisture in it. Hence, we hardly ever get snow, but we get the cold. I ask you, what fun is cold without snow?

The next couple days that weather you've got is headed our way. It's supposed to be in the 20s -- but there's 0% chance of anything even remotely resembling precipitation. I don't get the watch anyone slip on ice.

Posted by: Ogre at November 16, 2005 11:17 AM (/k+l4)

3 See...THIS is why we are friends. We balance each other out.

I'm sitting in my house, with one blanket over my legs another around my shoulders just trying to warm up from being outside.

I'll get used to it. It'll all be better in, oh about 6 months!! ;-)

Posted by: Tammi at November 16, 2005 08:29 PM (7Mb5L)

4 I don't know what I am going to do with this 78 degree weather we are having. Geeze. Guess I need to take the kids out to play some more. ;-)

Posted by: vw bug at November 17, 2005 10:33 AM (2+gaO)

5 Wow! Contagion waxes poetic!

i'm afraid. ;-)

Posted by: Wes at November 19, 2005 12:52 AM (XKQLY)

6 And then I read "the rest of the story" (flakes = minions = flakes).....

*playing at home* :-P

Posted by: Wes at November 19, 2005 01:00 AM (XKQLY)

7 *biffs VW with snowball*

Posted by: Harvey at November 19, 2005 11:31 AM (ubhj8)

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I abhor when people talk about others behind their backs. IÂ’m not completely innocent of this myself, and I generally donÂ’t like myself for a while after IÂ’ve done it. I try my hardest to say only things about a person that I would and do say to their face. Through various experiences in my life IÂ’ve learned that when ever you talk about someone behind their back, it always gets back to the person.

The only thing that makes it worse is when “friends” talk about other “friends” behind their backs. Is that person really your friend if you are talking about them behind their back? What if it was your friend talking about you? Those people really, truly are not your friend.

How about if you are sitting in a room and other people are talking about a mutual friend, do you join in or not? Do you tell the person what was said or do you try to forget about it? Usually, I sit there and try not to say anything or just try to ignore the conversation. (TV comes in handy at these points) After the conversation, the next time I see my friend I don’t tell them what was said. Why? Because it can be hurtful. At this point in time, I’m thinking of changing my policy. I’m thinking that as a friend I should tell that person that someone is gossiping about them. Currently I believe the person should know what kind of “friends” they have.

I’m sure most of you have figured out what the origin of this post is. You would be correct; I found out that some “friends” have been talking about me behind my back. Right now, I don’t have all the details, but enough to know that it isn’t pleasant. Now I’m torn. I’ve known these people for quite a few years and counted them as some very close friends. What they are talking about is just absolutely asinine, and in one case an incorrect interpretation of events. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do about it, but I have some ideas.

The one IÂ’m leaning toward is just to sever the friendships and go on with life. ItÂ’ll suck loosing some friends, but I can make more. Technically, I think IÂ’m over my quota of the amount of friends I can socialize with anywayÂ… IÂ’m shy and not much of a people person anyway. Part of me doesnÂ’t want to loose these friendships, but another part says this has been going on for a while and itÂ’s not going to stop. After everything, can it ever truly be repaired, will I ever trust these people again? Many of the people IÂ’m talking about read this blog both regularly and intermediately. If this post hits a little close to home, then it probably applies to you. The next time I see you after I decided what I'm going to do, IÂ’ll return the knife that is sticking in my back.

All I can think of right now is one of my favorite toasts: HereÂ’s to you, hereÂ’s to me. Friends forever we shall be. But if once we disagree, Fuck you and hereÂ’s to me.

But IÂ’m curious, if you where in my shoes, what would you do? IÂ’m not saying IÂ’ll follow your advice, but IÂ’m curious to see if maybe IÂ’m over reacting.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:53 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 I'm not one for giving advice in this kind of situation. I generally blow up, throw out some creative Fuck YOU!'s and push ALL the buttons before walking out, leaving a vast wasteland of devastation behind me.

But seriously, I think that if it's YOU being talked about (rather than hearing someone talk about a friend), you deserve some sort of confrontation. Even just asking "I heard that you said XYZ about me. Do you honestly believe that? If so why are you still friends with me, better yet, why didn't you ask me about it?" Or something like that, and let them try to talk their way out of the hole of their own making.

It sucks when your friends get drunk and talk shit about you just 'cause you couldn't make it to the party.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 03, 2005 11:43 AM (/vgMZ)

2 Well hell, I'm mostly upset now that I wasn't included in the gossip circle
I dono about this one. I mean, even really close friends have opinions about different aspects of people - hell, I know damned well there are aspects of my personality that my friends find awkward but I like to think that they don't care and overlook crap like that. Everybody has their quirks.
But I think my reaction might depend on if the rumors were based on actual *concern* from that friend (aka regardless of if they have it right or not, they think there are things I'm doing that definately aren't in my best interests - but they weren't comfortable in talking to me about it directly), or if it's just spiteful shit.

Posted by: S at November 03, 2005 12:09 PM (sSJ79)

3 I don't have this problem. You see, I hate people. I don't care if they talk behind my back. Of course, that might be why I don't have any friends, but that's ok because I wouldn't like them anyway.

Posted by: Ogre at November 03, 2005 01:00 PM (/k+l4)

4 Hmm let's see...
I call you a dick, asshole, and sociopathic bastard...

Nope, I say that shit to your face all the time, I'm, clear..

Seriously though, I have a pretty clear idea of what (and who) you're talking about. I don't know what to tell you. I have a bad habit of talking shit behind people's back myself, but if it's the people I think you're referencing they take it to an art form.

Posted by: Graumagus at November 03, 2005 02:22 PM (98II9)

5 First I was going to ask where you heard it from... but after Grau's comment - I'm going to take it that the gossipy crap really did happen. (Had a friend once who was told that someone said XYZ about her... came to find out that - it was untrue - the person who told her was trying to start trouble... this was at her church - which made me laugh)

Anyhow - if it is as Grau says and you believe then you can do one of two things. Either ignore it and withdraw from contact as much as possible with these people. (I know passive as hell - but no harsh words are exchanged) Or you can confront them and tell them you know what's being said and you prefer not to have any dealings with them in the future. (who knows what this will get you) It really depends on how much you need to interact with them on a regular basis... I mean - if it's a work thing and you need for them to do stuff for you... they can really screw with your job if you are starkly confrontational.

But I would NOT continue on with a regular friendship with any of them. You will always wonder what they are saying about you behind your back. That is no way to live... far too stressful. (in that you'll constantly feel like punching them when you see them *grin*)

Good Luck!

Posted by: Teresa at November 03, 2005 04:05 PM (FZwDL)

6 Hey Herkimer - the more I think about it, the more I opt for punching! That and instead of handing their knife back to them, throw it at sensitive body parts . . . and if that doesn't work, wait till they fall asleep and do this: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/5235856/detail.html
Only, leave out the lover part, cause that is just gay!

Posted by: oddybobo at November 03, 2005 04:19 PM (6Gm0j)

7 I don't know you well, but I would have to say give it a little time. Once you let the rage and hurt sit a little, you may have a different perspective on it. If not, well I just don't know. Good luck.

Posted by: Sarah at November 03, 2005 04:31 PM (EBiKs)

8 Fuck them and here's to you.
Carry on my good man.

Posted by: spurs at November 03, 2005 04:37 PM (tdOZ4)

9 ALWAYS a tough situation...and one I've found myself in a couple of times. I have to be honest. I'm a confronter. I call them on it - be it business or personal. THEN..if it's personal I sever the friendship. I can't trust 'em...there is no friendship.

But that's just me.

I'm just damn sorry it happened to you.

Posted by: Tammi at November 03, 2005 06:49 PM (LU5am)

10 ... two words.. confront them... trashing someone behind their backs is just cowardly and wrong...

Posted by: Eric at November 04, 2005 08:08 AM (uHA2j)

11 I'm seconding Caltechgirl's advice.

Ask the person if what you heard about what they said is true.

Gives them a change to explain, clarify, apologize, or defend. After all, it's possible the rumors you're upset about are false or out of context.

On the other hand, this takes time, and your time is valuable. Avoiding them takes less of it.

Your call.

Posted by: Harvey at November 05, 2005 02:59 PM (ubhj8)

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