Simple Pleasures

Sometimes in life it's those simple things that mean a lot, for me, today, this meant a BISSELL - Little Green Compact Multipurpose Handheld Deep Cleaner - Green that I picked up at Best Buy for around $75. Best Buy is great, order something online and you can pick it up at one of their stores in a few hours, and I have one near work and another near my house.

This is a little spot cleaner, a good thing to have when you have pets. It started with a big brown spot under my computer table. Looked just like a leaf, which Aki had been bringing in the house just about every day lately. It's like she thinks they are prey that she has hunted down, she's not the sharpest cat in the kitty box. So because I thought it was a leaf I just left it for several days.

Turns out is was kitty yak (the grass in it is the dead giveaway), but because I thought it was a leaf I let it sit long enough to harden and become hard to clean. Then they did another one upstairs in the hall. Now, my place is half tile, the living room, kitchen and dining room are all tile, which I like a lot. The bedrooms and the hall are the only places with carpet. So where to the cats decide to yak? The carpet of course.

So now I'm feeling really annoyed and in no mood to clean this stuff up, so I started researching carpet cleaners, finally I settled on this little green machine for a number of reasons, being cheap was the main one. And as a cat owner I figure I'm going to need this thing for years.

So I pick it up this morning at Best Buy, bring it home and what happens? Sucker worked perfectly. How often does that happen??!! Now these annoying spots are gone and it makes me feel better about life in general, and I'm armed with a great weapon for the next time we get some kitty yak.

Yemen

Rachel Maddow and Richard Engel give a clear view of Yemen:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Me and Darcy

This is from 1985 when we were first dating. We are walking up the stairs where we both worked at STS Graphics, I don't remember who took the photo. This has to be the earliest photo of us together.

A Hard Headed Woman

I'm sitting here listening to Cat Stevens and thinking about Darcy. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of her death. The songs make me cry.

I'm looking for a hard headed woman

One who will take me for myself,

And if I find my hard headed woman,

I will need nobody else, no, no.

I'm looking for a hard headed woman,

One who will make me do my best,

And if I find my hard headed woman

I know the rest of my life will be blessed -- yes, yes, yes.

Here are the lyrics to I Think I See The Light :

I used to trust nobody, trusting even less their words,

until I found somebody, there was no one I preferred,

my heart was made of stone, my eyes saw only misty grey,

Until you came into my life girl, I saw everyone that way.

Until I found the one I needed at my side,

I think I would have been a sad man all my life.

I used to walk alone, every step seemed the same.

This world was not my home, so there was nothing much to gain.

Look up and see the clouds, look down and see the cold floor.

Until you came into my life girl, I saw nothing, nothing more.

Until I found the one I needed at my side,

I think I would have been a sad man all my life.

What happens when you've already found your hard headed woman and she died?

The New Car

Ever notice that when you buy a new car you suddenly start seeing all other cars like yours? I really saw this happen when I bought my 1996 Camry, it was the top selling car in America at the time and when I bought mine suddenly they were everywhere!

But with this new Elantra I didn’t see another one for 3 weeks. Actually kind of worried me a little, but I figure that’s why I got such a good deal on it. But now after 5 weeks of ownership I’ve seen 5 Elantras! There is even one on the same street where I work so I pass it every day.

Haven’t seen one in my color, though. I really like the color, a medium metallic gray, darker than the silver color that is so popular on cars that I REALLY can’t stand because it’s so boring. But it’s lighter than most dark gray cars you would see, and has a little hint of blue in the gray. I find it the perfect color, it’s light enough that my car doesn’t get that hot - WAY better than my black Camry. And it’s very hard to see any dirt on my car too. I’ve only had it washed once in the past 5 weeks and I couldn’t tell the difference before or after. On my Camry it would look dirty by the next day - black cars look cool but I don’t ever want one again.

I enjoy my Elantra every day, fun to drive and very comfortable. the gas mileage isn’t as good as I would like, around 21.5 mpg with about 85% street and 15% freeway driving. Still a lot better than my Camry which got just a little over 16 mpg with the same driving. With the Camry I filled up it’s 18 gallon tank every 2 weeks, with the Elantra I’ve only filled up once so far but I’m getting close to a second fill-up. So we are talking 2.5 to 3 weeks to fill up what is only a 13 gallon tank, substantial savings.

And then there is is’t most important feature - a cup holder that takes a really big cup! Back when I bought the Camry the drinks hadn’t even gotten that large yet and it wasn’t a problem for a couple of years, but it’s drink cup was just the right size for an average 12 oz can, way too small. Even medium drinks would not fit in it, so I’d have to put the drink on the seat next to me and hold it with my right hand while driving, very annoying. Good thing I had an automatic, although it was a little tricky sometimes when I was smoking. Now I have a cup holder that can handle the largest drink with no problem at all.

Life is good, almost. We are approaching the first anniversary of Darcy’s death but we won’t talk about that now.

Copenhagen

Obama got totally dissed by the Chinese today in Copenhagen, to a degree that would never have happened in the pre-Bushian world. But good ole George lowered the bar so far world leaders think they can fuck with us now. It really makes my blood boil to see an American president treated that way, how far we have fallen. On the plus side Obama seemed to have rallied a bit and got a conversation going, but afterwards he looked visibly shaken. Rachel and Andrea Mitchell report:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And then there is Senator Inhofe. He wanted to go there and talk about global warming being a hoax. No one wanted to listen to him and one reporter called him ridiculous. Man, that's all we need, more embarrassing Americans abroad:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Better World

Just found the perfect cartoon that sums up global warming deniers perfectly, found it here:

Tis the Season

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

And let's all remember the reason for the season - The Winter's Solstice! This year the solstice happens at 9:47 a.m. on Monday, December 21, 2009. That will be the local time here in California. That means it's the shortest day of the year also called the Yule and the Saturnalia. So remember your pagan rituals, burn a Yule log and drink mead, set up a tree and decorate it, etc.

Christian Billboard

One blog I frequent is The Gaytheist Agenda. the most recent post has me laughing and laughing. Go look at it first them come back here:

“Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow”.

What a weird billboard to put up. It makes me start fantasizing about God's sex life. Hey, he ought to be able to do all kinds of amazing stuff, I wonder if he has an infinite penis?

Keith and Health care

Keith Olbermann did another Special Comment, really laying it on the line about the anemic health care bill as it currently stands.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Atheist Revolution

This is a blog I read regularly but haven't linked to it in a long time but I had to share this post. It's very short and very funny, the name kind of sets the mood:
Religion Should Be Like Your Genitals