LetÂ’s say that you were driving home. On a backstreet, you are stopped by a school bus dropping off 12-14 year old kids from school. Shortly after the bus leaves you, witness two kids get into a fight. One kid is about twice the size of the other kid. This might be a serious issue if either knew how to fight, but most of the kicks and punches are hitting air instead of the other person. When they do land a blow itÂ’s not a solid hit so no real impact. The bus is gone; would you step in and break it up and why?

This exact scenario happened to me last night. I was waiting at the bus stop for Boopie to give him a ride home. As soon as I went to drive off, I saw these two boys off Boopie’s bus throw down their books in the middle of the road and start fighting. I put my vehicle in park, jump out of the door and head toward the boys. In my “I’m a pissed off authority figure voice” (Left over from Law Enforcement days) I holler: “You two, knock it off! Over here, NOW!” While saying that I’m pointing at both of them and then point to the ground right in front of me as I am walking toward them. Not once through this whole ordeal did I lay a finger on either boy.

Both of the boys stop fighting and start heading my way. They give me the story they where just play fighting. Any male out there that was ever in a fight as a kid can tell the difference between play fighting and real fighting. Play fighting you donÂ’t swing so hard as to throw yourself off balance, because you donÂ’t know how to fight. IÂ’m trying to get both kids to come with me to talk to their parents.

The older kid points to a house just across the street. So I tell him, lets go talk to his parents. Then he changes which house he lives in. Apparently, he didnÂ’t think I was serious. The younger kid told me he lived a couple of blocks over.

I knew there was no way to get both kids to stay with me, even though I tried. Deciding that I was going to talk to the bigger kids parents for a couple of reasons, I follow him to his house. I believe that the smaller kidÂ’s mother works with me and I can talk to her at work. Also he seemed scared witless and I think I did enough damage that one close call may be all he needs to go straight. The bigger kid coped an attitude and was blatantly lying to me. He also appeared to be the instigator. His parents needed to be advised.

Sure enough as soon as I started walking off with the older boy, the younger one took off. Ktreva saw which way he ran, we tried looking for him later but couldnÂ’t find him.

On the way to the bigger kidÂ’s house, the story changed from play fighting to him defending his country. Apparently, the boyÂ’s parents are from Russia and the younger kid made some disparaging comments about it. Now I have confirmation that it was not play fighting. When we get to his house, he goes in while I stay outside. I figured heÂ’d lock the door and IÂ’d have to ring the bell to talk to his mother or father.

After a couple of minutes, his mother comes to the door. After speaking to her briefly, and she did have an accent, I got the distinct impression that she didnÂ’t care that her little boy was fighting with a kid half his size or that he was fighting at all. Maybe I wasted my time, maybe not. Maybe she was just pissed and didnÂ’t want to say anything in front of me, which I can understand. If my kid were fighting, I would want someone to break it up and tell me what was going on. Maybe IÂ’m the last parent that feels that way. Then again, maybe IÂ’m the last adult that gives a shit about the future of our country anymore.

Let me tell you this, if I catch that kid fighting again I will have one more talk with him and his mother. Then IÂ’m going to the police about it. This little punk had bully written all over him from his attitude to his stance. Maybe if someone nips it in the bud now he can straighten out before he gets himself into serious trouble later on.

What really gets me about this situation is that there where other adults that saw this happen and live right there and they did nothing. Most of them just turned their backs or watched. That really pisses me off people! We wonder why our kids are becoming degenerates and delinquents, maybe itÂ’s because no one cares anymore. People will bitch about violence and sex in the media being the cause. Maybe itÂ’s apathy toward how the kids behave. Well I care, and IÂ’m not going to sit by idly.

So tell me, do you think I over stepped my boundaries and why?

Posted by: Contagion at 01:03 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 889 words, total size 5 kb.

Video games are not a major part of my life. Where I do enjoy playing them, I donÂ’t generally spend hours every day doing so. There may be times when I spend a couple of hours here or there playing a game, and occasionally when I find one I like I do dedicate a couple weeks of my life to the completion of said game. When I finally beat a game, I tend to get bored with it and quit playing it. Sometimes I will reload it and replay it, but not with the fervor that I had originally played the game.

Right now, I am in a quandary, I need to find a new game to play and yet I am unable to find one. Most of the games I prefer to play are strategy style games such as WarCraft, StarCraft, Age of Empires/Mythology, and Command and Conquer. Occasionally I find a Role Playing Game that I like, such as BaldurÂ’s Gate, but those are few and far between, but IÂ’m willing to give them a chance with a strong recommendation. Yet I canÂ’t find a good game to play. None of them look interesting and the handful of ones that I might be willing to give a try all need to be played online.

I REFUSE to buy an online video game.

If IÂ’m purchasing a game to play, I should be able to play it with out having to subscribe to the service. What is the point of buying a game that you canÂ’t play with out purchasing time to play it? That seems like a waste. Plus what if you buy a game and it goes out of style or never takes off. Now you have the risk of a game that has no platform to be played on. Moreover, I donÂ’t want to have to deal with other people, be it online dorks or the casual gamer.

If you are going to play online, you pretty much need to be in from the beginning and be able to spend hours everyday playing in order to make your character formidable enough to withstand attacks from other players or get the limited items. Some people tell me that the new games arenÂ’t like that, so that might be one issue they have resolved.

There is the fun of trying to find a group of like-minded players to go around to gather experience and equipment or complete missions. And you all have to be on at the same time. EhÂ… thatÂ’s too much work. I want to play, when I feel like it. Following my own schedule and not having to rely on anyone else or have anyone waiting for me.

Personally, I would rather load a game on my home computer and not have to worry about renting time or dealing with other people. I want to play at my pace and have my own fun. Yet, I seem to be the only one that wants to be that way. Maybe itÂ’s time for me to give up on finding any game that is worth my time to play. Does anyone feel the same way I do?

Posted by: Contagion at 04:36 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 534 words, total size 3 kb.

I try to stay away from posting on my political position or beliefs. There are many others that post on their beliefs, similar to mine, better then I ever could. Sometimes I leave a comment on someone elseÂ’s political post either agreeing or disagree with them. My beliefs run the full gambit of liberal and conservative, depending on the issue. I do tend to lean a lot more toward the conservative side. Some people, especially those who like to label, call me a republican. That I am not. I am an independent. My beliefs are more along the lines of individual rights of American citizens. Since my position on various topics doesnÂ’t follow any party lines, I have no desire to delve into these controversial topics on my blog.

You canÂ’t imagine how surprised I was when I opened my e-mail this morning and saw this simple e-mail:

”I am glad you are having fun now, because if we have a war, us young people will probably be drafted to fight for your oily waste”

That was it; there was nothing else to it. I wasnÂ’t even sure what this was in reference. After some reflection, I figured that this person must have read a comment I had made on another blog regarding my love of driving my truck that averages about 12 mpg. Why this individual chose to single me out, I donÂ’t know. Maybe itÂ’s because I was specific with the exact gas mileage I receive. Then again, maybe itÂ’s because of my charming personality. Perhaps itÂ’s even because I honestly love and enjoy my truck, and possibly this individual has a crappy hybrid that canÂ’t haul crap or go on long highway trips. (To this day, IÂ’ve never seen a hybrid on a major highway) Either way, they choose to e-mail me to complain.

Let me respond:

We are at war. I donÂ’t know what hole you have lived in for the last 4 years, but weÂ’ve been at war. Some people scream it is for oil, some say itÂ’s for freedom. Personally, I like to believe that itÂ’s because there are a bunch of people that just need to be killed over there. ThatÂ’s right, I said it. I donÂ’t care. IÂ’ve believed for years that the Middle East should be turned into a giant sheet of glass. Those have been my exact words since I was in high school and old enough to have my opinions actually matter. Hell, we donÂ’t even have to drop the bombs, we can pull out of the Middle East and when the Arab nations overrun Israel, then the Israelis can drop their own nuclear weapons.

Draft? Draft? Get out of the 70Â’s you hippy! There is no draft and there wonÂ’t be a draft. IÂ’m sure you are referring to the mass e-mail that has been going around for months now regarding two bills being passed through congress. S.89 and H.R.163. First off, if you take the time to read these bills you will notice that it doesnÂ’t require military service, just national service and it specifically states it does not have to be military. These bills were introduced by Democrats, not Republicans as many people believe, as a kind of anti-war protest. Secondly, these are old bills and old news. H.R. 163 was defeated in the house last October by an overwhelming number. In addition to that, many in the military do NOT want a draft. We currently have a voluntary military force, thus these are people that want to be there. They are highly trained and a high quality of soldier. You wonÂ’t get that in a draft. There is no reason to worry about being drafted. If you are still concerned about it, contact your religious leader and fill out a conscientious objector letter. On the off chance that a draft is actually called, you will have that to fall back on.

I am not an environmentalist. I half jokingly say my stance on the environment is, “Ignore it, it’ll go away.” I’m not going to waste my time nor insult your intelligence by explaining that joke. I am a conservationist. When I go camping or do outdoor activities I will leave the spots I was at in as good of condition or better then before I arrived. However, I like eating animals and burning wood. Realistically I understand that sometimes in order for the world to handle the population there needs to be urban growth. It is nature that will suffer when that happens. My “Oily Waste” doesn’t bother me. Why? Because enviro-nuts that do drive their hybrids, ride bikes or just plain walk everywhere make up for what damage I do. Moreover, for what I use my truck for, there is NO other vehicle that would get the job done. At least now, I’m only driving one vehicle to many of my re-enactments instead of two. Since you don’t know why I bought my truck or how I use it, you may not realize that in all actuality I’m saving on gas. This last weekend I drove a round trip of about 300 miles, I burned 23 gallons of gas. If I had my old Ford Ranger that received about 20 mpg with a load and my Minivan that receives about 26 mpg with a load, I would have burned 27 gallons of gas; not counting wear and tear on an extra vehicle. Damn those annoying facts always come back to bite you on the ass!

Most of the time my truck is driven maybe once or twice a week. IÂ’ve owned it for 5 months and I have just over 2000 miles on it now. It was not purchased as an everyday vehicle; I even use synthetic oil in its large engine. It costs more, but I do that for the protection of the moving parts, not the environment.

For those of you that want to argue with me about my beliefs or stances on things. Waste your time. I’m pretty much set in my ways now. I’m a stubborn son of a bitch, I don’t see me reading something you write and saying, “Wait, you’re right… I’ve been wrong all these years.” Wings would sprout out of my ass and I’d fly around my office sprinkling the workplace with joy and love first.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:27 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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When I first started this blog, I did it for three reasons. One of them being an outlet for just general crap that I have going on. Over the last 8 months, IÂ’ve found this a good place to spout off on the occasional thing that bothers me. Unfortunately, I have a post I wrote that I really want to publish, yet I canÂ’t. There is an issue that I really need to get off my chest, yet I donÂ’t dare post it. Why? Because IÂ’m afraid of three things.

A) That someone will read it and think that I’m talking about them, and I’m not. A mistake like that can damage a relationship be it friend or family. This post is about a very specific set of people. I can’t get into too much detail because it’s just not necessary and I don’t want to list specific names. However depending on how an individual reads it, they could very easily slide themselves as one of the persons of my ire. Even you casual readers that accidentally stumbled on this page while looking for the phrase, “Squirt my wife.” (I’ve been getting a crap load of hits for that)

2) The persons that I write it about will read it and know it is about them. IÂ’m not about to say anything to these individuals, itÂ’s not my place; I just want to vent. As it stands right now, IÂ’m not sure if all of them read this blog on a regular basis let alone know of its existence. I believe that one of them does and reads it at least 3-4 times a week.

D) Even if I am wrong and they donÂ’t know of this blogs existence, someone who knows them and me will say something to the individuals about what I wrote. Thus, it gets back to them. The last thing I need at this point is anymore of a strain in the relationship IÂ’m having with them.

All I want to do is really vent at this point, yet I canÂ’t. That really pisses me off because it defeats the purpose of having a blog. Where I am not a person that lets anything bother him for long periods of time, this has been eating away at my soul like a cancer for the last three weeks. There hasnÂ’t been a loss of sleep over it, just a lot of daytime pondering.

I thought that if I wrote the post, and just saved it, that would do the trick. Nope, not at all. There is no satisfaction in that. ItÂ’s like buying the car of your dreams and leaving it in the garage, never taking it out and never going for a ride. You can look at it and know itÂ’s yours, but you donÂ’t actually enjoy it. My rant is written, linked, and saved in a safe place. The thought of saving it as a draft crossed my mind, however I was afraid IÂ’d accidentally post it. GAH! (Bangs head against the desk).

This must be one of those problems that I need to hold in to make it go away on its own. Just push it down deep into the recesses of my soul that I save for other issues I have no way to cope with. Not having had to do that in over 8 years, I donÂ’t know if I can do it again.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:30 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 578 words, total size 3 kb.

1 How about printing it out and tacking it up in your bathroom or something. Then it is "published" and you can get satisfaction out of that. Or break things, that helps me.

Posted by: Oddybobo at August 05, 2005 10:22 AM (6Gm0j)

2 I'd say publish it. Dealing with the aftermath might piss you off, but it's less likely to eat at your insides.

Unless it's about me, then your a dick

Posted by: Graumagus at August 05, 2005 10:49 AM (G1IXe)

3 Personally, I would say publish it if you can handle the consequences. Which vary from nothing to a lot. Or publish it on my blog. I doubt they would be reading mine.

Posted by: VW Bug at August 05, 2005 11:42 AM (ul3ax)

4 HEY, If you have a problem with me just say so. Stop talking about me behind my back.

;P

Posted by: Machelle at August 05, 2005 12:15 PM (ZAyoW)

5 Can you do private entries on your blog? I know that on my lj i can do that. Also on my lj, i don't know how this would work on yours, i can set it so that only specific people can read that entry, that way i get the advice i want and none of the aftermath.

Posted by: Sarah at August 05, 2005 12:41 PM (HcLSL)

6 Four words: hypothetical.

Posted by: That 1 Guy at August 05, 2005 08:08 PM (G0QOl)

7 Hell, if it has anything to do with what I think it may have anything to do with, let 'er rip. Chances are, folks are only getting one side of that particular story anyway. (And no, I don't think so highly of myself that it has to be about me!) ;-)
Really though, you know who your friends are, and if someone gets pissed because of the consequences of their petty bullshit, then maybe they should stop pulling their petty bullshit. (I've put all mine behind me).
We've all got to do what we've got to do, and if you need to get it out of your system, then do it dude! :-)

Posted by: Wes at August 06, 2005 04:35 PM (s+Qcl)

8 About my last post: sorry. If you need to talk, my sense of discretion is legendary. :-)

Posted by: Wes at August 06, 2005 07:06 PM (s+Qcl)

9 My Papa always said, never write anything you wouldn't want someone to read.....

Posted by: ArmyWifeToddlerMom at August 06, 2005 09:46 PM (91+9M)

10 Mass e-mail.

If I don't get one, then I know it's about me or someone I'd squeal to :-)

Posted by: Harvey at August 06, 2005 11:56 PM (ubhj8)

11 Post it with a back-date, like a month ago. It'll still be posted, but not be found easily unless someone is looking for it ;-)
(No - I have not done this on purpose, but did one in the future once, by accident!)

Posted by: Barb at August 07, 2005 05:37 PM (g9qHI)

12 Save it as a draft, then get really drunk -- you're sure to accidentally post it in your drunken stupor...

Posted by: Ogre at August 08, 2005 12:20 PM (/k+l4)

13 First of all - T1G "Four words: hypothetical"...hahahah...you are awesome!

Secondly...you can always blame it on alcohol!!

C. Block IP addresses...that's what I just did with my nosy little sister! (Sorry Harvey and Grau)

On the other hand....create another blog that only the family knows about. And if you are wanting to write about us....make plenty of room for comments! :-)

Posted by: Sissy at August 09, 2005 08:11 PM (uXS+O)

14 I say go w/ vw's guest post spot or w/ Harvey's. Mass email 2 BEfamily is my pref.

Posted by: michele at August 09, 2005 09:43 PM (iY0vk)

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The karmic wheel of justice came around and slapped me with a practical joke last night. Yesterday I had to cover the evening shift, meaning the earliest I was able to leave work was 6:10 pm. Usually I go home around 3:30 pm. I ended up not getting home until well after 7:00 pm due to an incident that happened at work. On my home, some girl who looked to be between the age of 12 and 19 driving a small mid-90Â’s Honda pulls out in front of me. Not going in the same direction, but perpendicular to me as if she was crossing the street. I had seen her pull up to the intersection and stop, for some reason I kept an eye on her. I was on a four lane main road, and she was coming off a side street. When I was about three car lengths in front of her, the stupid girl tried to commit suicide by Silverado. She pulled out, I slammed on my brakes, and my truck came to a bouncing stop. If you have ever driven a truck with no weight in the bed, you know what IÂ’m saying. The back end bounces when you stop hard. The stupid girl slammed on her brakes too, stopping right in front of me. The car that was in the lane next to me also stopped hard, poor lady looked like she was about to have a heart attack. When all vehicles where stopped, I could not see the girls face. She was so close to me that she could reach out her window and easily touch the grill on my truck. When someone in a little Honda is that close to the huge front end of my truck, I can barely see the roof of the car.

Two things crossed my mind the second this girl pulled out. First being, “She’s not going to survive this.” The mass, angle of impact and speed of my truck versus her car would have sent her rolling down the street like a freshly kicked soccer ball. The second was, “I don’t even have 2,000 miles on this truck yet!!!!!” I wasn’t worried about any physical injury to myself. I’ve investigated enough accidents between vehicles of comparable size differences. The bigger vehicle always wins, always. Fortunately, it was a near miss and I only lost some of the life span of my brakes and tires. Although, since my windows were down, the girl did learn some new colorful phrases and words. Then, to top things off, the stupid little git just drove off with out even an apologetic wave or mouthing, “I’m sorry.” On the off chance you find this post and are reading it, I hope you loaded your pants!

When I get home, IÂ’m now hungry, tired, irritated and annoyed. There was a minor snafu with dinner, which didnÂ’t help my mood any. Since we are leaving for Kansas on Friday, we have not done a lot of grocery shopping; we donÂ’t want food spoiling in the house. By the time I found something to make for myself and start cooking it, it was almost 8:00 pm. That is where the huge karmic practical joke kicked in.

IÂ’m at the stove cooking when all of a sudden the lights dim. Not a slight dim, but to the point that you can see a faint glow from the light bulbs. Our electric stove shows that it is on, but the burners arenÂ’t on. Laughingly I make a smart arse comment about how it figured weÂ’d have a brown out that night. Then we notice that all the power in the neighborhood is on and we really have partial power. In the kitchen the refrigerator, microwave work fine, the stove kind of works, the lights are dim and nothing else is working. In our office, I can turn on the computer, desk lamp and window fan, but the overhead light doesnÂ’t work. In the living room, the window fan and desk lamps work, but nothing else does. Upstairs the window AC unit and TV work, but the overhead doesnÂ’t. It was sporadic and didnÂ’t make any sense. Most of these items are on the same circuit with something that is working. My wife says she thinks itÂ’s the fuses. I tell her if a fuse goes out, then you have no power not a trickle of power. Moreover, we have circuit breakers.

To appease my wife I head down to check out the power box while I send her to make sure the neighbors aren’t having the same problem. I had contacted ComEd to report the brown out earlier. In the basement, I’m looking at the circuit breakers and they all look fine. Just to make sure I start flipping them one at a time. My wife is telling me which lights are going off and coming back on. After finishing that, any lights working before still worked, however anything that was “browned out” now was dead. WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?!? Roaming around the house, I’m trying to figure out what is going on. This makes no sense.

Back into the dark depths of my basement I go. Now I need to give you a little background on my house. It was built in 1912; originally, it did NOT have plumbing and electricity. Electricity was added sometime in the 1920Â’s. In the 70Â’s a new furnace was put in to replace the old gas converted coal furnace. When they did that, they updated the electrical box in the house. Instead of taking out the old one, they put a second one in at that time, which brought it up to code. Our electricity flows through two boxes. ItÂ’s goofy, itÂ’s illogical, but itÂ’s not unheard of and it does follow the electrical code. Electricity flows into my house first through the old box, then the new box, then to the various outlets. Opening the cover to the original box, I look at the old screw in fuses in there. They all are okay, nothing wrong. I flip the lever on the main line in, killing power to the entire house. When I flip it on, no difference then when I turned it off.

By now, my anger level is reaching a peak. None of this makes any sense. I call my father who is a plumbing and electrical engineer to come over and give me a hand. While he is on his way over, I go back to the old power box. Reopening the cover, I take a second harder look at it. Right above the fuses there are two black squares about 4 inches wide and 5 inches tall each. This time I notice on each of these ancient electrical artifacts it says On and Off, except the off is upside down. There is a metal handle on each one. It is a handle, NOT a lever. After a quick inspection, I realize that each square is actually some kind of cartridge that is meant to be pulled out and flipped over to turn on/off power to the house. IÂ’m not familiar with this electrical lay out, but at this point I figure there isnÂ’t a whole lot more damage I could do. Grabbing the handle of one of the cartridges, I notice it feels hot. ThatÂ’s not right. Bracing myself for a jolt of electricity and using more muscle then I thought I would need, I pulled the cartridge outÂ…

Sounds… Funny sounds… it sounded like… like… the scene in Ghostbusters when they shut down the containment field on the ghost storage unit. I was waiting for there to be a green glow and the dead guy from the wall (That is a story for another time) to come out and tell me it was about damn time I freed him from his prison. Then my wife yells down that there is no power in the house. My flippant comeback to her was, “No shit, really?!?!” I hear her smart something off, but I couldn’t quite make out what it was. Then it was silent, eerily silent. I’m in this old limestone basement of a house with no power, a dead guy in the wall and I’m by myself. Talk about being a happy man, I was in my element! However, I was hungry.

Looking behind the cartridge, I see there is two huge cylinders about 5 inches long and a little thicker then my thumb. IÂ’ve seen these beforeÂ… IN FRANKENSTEIN MOVIES FROM THE 50Â’S! There is no way to tell if these ancient fuses are blown by looking at them. My father finally arrives and we flip the fuses. When I plug the cartridge back in, the parts that had electricity was dead, the parts that didnÂ’t now do. ItÂ’s now 10 minutes to 9 pm. We quickly run to the hardware store and pick four of them up. I figured I should change the two in that cartridge at the same time and have two extras, just in case. We get home, change the fuses and plug in the cartridge. WE HAVE POWER!

My father looks at the electrical in my house and confirms what I had been thinking. My electrical is damn goofy. That fuse should never have blown. Sometime, probably in the 50Â’s or 60Â’s they reworked the interior of that fuse box. The power to my house actually goes in through these tube fuses, then through the screw fuses, and THEN through the circuit breakers. I have a triple redundant fuse system. They installed the screw fuse portion so they wouldnÂ’t have to deal with a blown tube fuse. Then we have the circuit breakers so we shouldnÂ’t have to worry about blowing a screw fuse. That means that I should trip a circuit before I blow a screw fuse, and I should blow a screw fuse before I blow a tube fuse. At least that is the theory of it. What is sad is that IÂ’ve tripped the circuit breakers before and never had this problem. I guess the fuse just got old. It was pretty late before I actually got to eat dinner last night.

Posted by: Contagion at 01:11 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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