Silence

Please go visit Magazine Man. His parents died in a multi-car accident yesterday morning coming to visit his family to meet their new granddaughter not even 1 week old.

If you pray, pray, if you light candles, light 2, if you go into the woods and scream at the top of your lungs, scream in memory of MM's Dad and Mom.

nonesuch #298 sweet home chicago

Heading to Chicago tomorrow for work conference. I have been twice before but it will be held at a new place so sort of different. I am not a good flyer but the flight is short. Still need to pack, probably do that in the morning. Going to try to rest, may go to bed early but that may get my mind wandering and I really do not need that. Anyway, looking forward to being away, having a different schedule, meeting new people and perhaps seeing folks from earlier conferences I attended. Oh, and I plan to have a guinness every night I am there.

nonesuch #297 When you’re on a holiday, you can’t find the words to say

I was able to see an old friend today, PS. He's the one who has been in Jordan and will be in Coventry in the UK for next few years or so. The one I am planning to visit sometime this year if my passport will get hear. I got news from the passport people that it will be to me in 3-4 weeks so the countdown is on. Not really want to make plans like buying tickets or anything but I want to be ready when the time comes. If anyone has any suggestion on things to do off the beaten path let me know. We plan to see Stonehenge(long story for another post), Tower of London, do the Inklings Tour and see Oxford. PS has selected a bunch of pubs and bookshops etc that we must stop in and have a pint or 3. I want to make the most of my stay. Would love to go to Scotland and Ireland, but we shall see. I am excited but at the same time I am anxious about the flight. Have no idea how I will do on that long of a flight. I am antsy on a 1 hour flight, an 8 or so hour flight who knows. Perhaps a few beers will keep me settled but I will not want to get up to go to the bathroom but I know I will have to at some point on the flight. Ok, thinking too much on it. I guess with the reality of my passport on its way, it is hitting me that I will be traveling soon. Any suggestions? Will be in Coventry which I think is an hour or so out of London by train? Correct me if I am wrong.

Nonesuch #296 Knowing me, knowing you. Its the best I can do

Now get that song out of your head.

I have been tagged by Virgina Belle to do the following meme. I am to give a few goals that I have set for myself and then tag some others to do the same. I am not going to tag others, if you would like to do this as well, great. If not, thats cool. I am not the boss of you.


1) Own my own house - I am sure I have mentioned this before but this is as good a time as any to repeat it. A moderate sized house, perhaps 8 rooms tops, maybe smaller depending on what I find and like. Would like some land, like an acre or so I can have enough area for the animals I would like to keep. Nothing major, a few cats, a few dogs and a few miniature goats.

2) See the United States - lots of my friends want to see Europe, well I do too but I also want to see Mt Rushmore, Grand Canyon, the Sierra Nevadas, The largest ball of twine in the world, the Toilet Museum, etc etc. All of these places are in the US. I want to drive as much of Route 66 as is left I want to see the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. I want to go to Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

3) Become the best I can be in my chosen field

4) To be happy

I am not a large goal oriented person so that's it. I know it doesn't seem like much but I have accomplished most of my goals I set for myself back in the 80s and 90s when the family and guidance counselors were down my throat wanting to know what I was going to do. Even after college, I was at a loss. But, I went to grad school, found a great job which I enjoy and I have loved and been loved. And I have lost as well. As John Lennon said and I have quoted many times here and other places:

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

Nonesuch # 295

A few folks are asking me about my new blog title, why I chose it and that they do not like it. I made this comment to Anne and CSG yesterday or was it the day before:

I have never blogged about the name change. And no one has figured it out. I have for a long time called myself a loser more as a joke than anything because as you say I am McNot, hehe. Good job, good friends, all I am missing is a girlfriend to share my life but right now that is not in the cards. So that is sort of why the title but there is another reason but I am not telling for now.

So it is a joke that I have said about myself for years. I even had a t-shirt with LOSER on it way back in the day. I would tell folks that I was going to get a tatoo upside down and backward on my chest of LOSER so when I was laying in bed with a girl and they put their head on my chest all they would see is LOSER. Its funny but in some ways it isnt. I do feel like a loser in some parts of my life. Relationships have been pretty bad all in all. A few ended as friends but 99% of them ended awful and I have never seen them again.

So, I thought, why not ask you guys what I should name this blog. I have used Nonesuch and babyfishmouth in the past but neither really do it for me now. Suggest some in the comments section, I will post them all and we can go from there.

Nonesuch #294

I am in a really bad mood. It's that time of year where I just want to crawl into a hole somewhere and be left alone. Most people see Spring as time to be out and about, picnics, spring cleaning.

I just want to be left alone.

Reading a few blogs today has really set me off. A guy being a scumbag to a great girl and another guy just being snail shit and the only thing lower than that is snail shit on the bottom of pond scum which in reality he is. The second tried to justify his bad decisions into generalizations on men and women. His ideas seemed good at first but they all came back to drives for sex and why he strayed and I think he wanted us to feel sorry for his punishment for staying in his marriage. She "made" him sign a lease on a huge house. No, he signed that himself. Only if she had a gun would she have forced him to do anything. The thing is, he could have left her as easy as she stayed with him and been done with it and he could have had as much sex with whoever he wanted and not have to worry about consequences. And that I think is the bottom line with this guy, he is not taking responsibility for his actions; It's not his fault that women want to fuck him. It's not his fault that he cannot keep his dick in his pants, he is a human driven only by sex. It's not his fault that he signed a lease to a huge house, his wife made him in order for him to stay in the marriage. And Lady, if you are reading this, Kick his ass to the curb. We are all not like this. There are many men who have been in longterm loving relationships that have never cheated on their girlfriends or wives.

Scumbag the first emailed his ex, well not really sure if they totally broke up but they had been seeing each other on and off for years so lets just say they were together. He emailed to tell her that he was seeing someone. Then spent the rest of the email justifying to himself, not to her, that he will always love her and she is great and blah blah blah and it was not her it was him, he was lonely where he was now. Wow, what a coward, cannot even call or say it in person to her. AND then he asks her to be his power of attorney for the selling of his house. What bullshit. She is lucky to have him out of her life.

And why do these upset me so? It makes it that much harder for a nice guy, which I think I am, to meet a great woman. More and more of the girls that I see as potential dates and mates are so jaded, they want to be left alone and are convinced that all guys are players just trying to get a little something something and be on their way.

I am too old for the bullshit. Get off my damn lawn

Nonesuch #293

How they got here:

Google - spanish edition
mybloglines
"vinyl skyway" conan o'brien
statcounter how to page
annoncer.over-blog
nikos007 blog
peanut butter jelly casserole
basma
all the rest were searches for my profile, go figure and unknowns

Nonesuch #292 What's In MY wallet?

What's In MY wallet?
**Updated to give explanations for Vi! :) **

Stolen from Vi. So here goes:

Driver's License
work ID
credit card #1
Food Lion MVP card - local grocery store savings card, things on MVP sale

credit card #2

wfae 90.7 fm public radio member card - donated to my local national public radio station and they sent me a member card. I get discounts on tickets to movies, restuarnats etc.

credit card #3

Harris Teeter VIC card - another local grocery store savings card

CVS ExtraCare Card - local drugstore saving card

USAirways Dividend Miles card

old AAA auto club card

medical insurance card

long expired Best Buy credit card(now destroyed) - helped me buy a computer 10 years ago.

old business card from a friend, I doubt she works there anymore. Read she got married sometime last Fall.

old business card of Sally's. She just changed jobs starting this past Monday. Need to throw it out. Probably will show it to her before I do.

minister's business card
My dentist's business card
Sprint representative's business card(now destroyed)

nclive.org info card - "NC LIVE provides North Carolina residents and students with access to high quality information - searchable collections of magazine, newspaper, and journal articles, electronic books, historical materials, maps, and much more - covering a wide range of topics."

new AAA auto club card - if my car breaks down, these folks will come tow me to nearest auto shop or help me change tire or give me a jump on the battery.

2 of my business card with old phone number and email address on them. We just changed both of those at work.

blank bank receipt

2 red robin restaurant receipts

United States Postal Service receipt
4 bank deposit slips
Eckerd drug store receipt

Nonesuch #291 The sun ain't nearly on the rise and we still got the moon and stars above.

I was looking at my birth certificate today. I had to get a copy that had the raised seal of the county where I was born in order to apply for my passport. I realized that I am the same age my Father was when I was born. I have no idea why that makes me feel old but it does.

A commentfest over at Kiss and Blog got me thinking about an old friend/girlfriend. Girlfriend is not the right label, Summer Fling is better. I had known her for years, she was the little sister of one of my friends who I played D&D with way back in the day. In fact she had played D&D with us occasionally. It was one of the things where; yeah, she is attractive and plays D&D AND actually talks to me not down to me like other girls. So when we, on her birthday no less, started making out(snogging), needless to say, I was surprised and elated. We stayed out in the front yard and kissed and semi-danced to Eric Clapton's Slowhand album(Wonderful Tonight, Peaches and Diesel) until she had to go in. This was during band camp(don't say it) and we all had to get up early. I had graduated and was helping out with band camp at my old high school. We hung out the rest of the week, I was at her house or doing something with her until she went off to another band camp. We wrote letters for awhile and then they stopped. I wasn't sure what happened until a few years later. I got a letter from her saying that she was sorry for the way she had treated me, she was young(hell, we both were) and didn't know what to do when she had found a guy that was what she was looking for. Now, mind you, I was seeing someone when I get this letter. I don't get why people feel the need so many years later to write and say stuff like that when they know you are dating someone. Maybe its easier to do when you know the other person is attached so there is little that can come of such a revelation. We kept in touch for a few years and then lost touch again. I have no idea where she is now but I hope she is doing well. She had a lot of good things going for her so I have a feeling she is doing alright.

Nonesuch #290 Ponderings

Is it common practice for drug stores to have their condoms and mouthwash side by side?

By the way, I got my new phone today. It is activated and all that jazz. I like it, it has nice features.

Nonesuch #289

Realizations:

I have grown to dislike movies. They don't effect me like they used to and I see them as a waste of my time. Would rather read or play a video game. Even video games are getting to where movies are now. Must be getting old.

Ordered a new phone, new provider and of course new plan. New phone is very cool, lots of neat stuff, so I am geeking out in it. Sad day when I get all excited about some electronic. Must be getting old.

I'm going to be alone. I really do not like many people much anymore, have little patience with most and would rather be at home watching bad TV than doing most anything. (see next) Must be getting old.

I hate, so hate Malls or large shopping areas with bunches of people. Went in one this weekend with Sally. She had some gift certificates for makeup and I went looking for new work clothes. Didnt find anything since I do not wear clothes from Hot Topic, Old Navy or the like. Chick-Fil-A ran out of chicken. How you ask? I do not know. They were busy and I did go back 30 min later and they had more. But still. Maybe it was just me but the security guards were following me. Cannot a guy have as big a beard as he wants? Helps keep me warm. Sally did get her makeup and some other shopping done. Must be getting old.

A nail got into one of my tires and I had a flat. Ripped all the way through the inner side so I had to get a whole new tire. Sally took me to get it at Sears and we took along her dog Iki. He had a good time. The gate in the back of her SUV came down and he bounded up front between the two front seats for the ride back to my car. He kept sliding around and bumping into Sally.

Had a few peanut butter eggs(Reese's) for Easter. That's all.

Work again tomorrow, only a month left in the semester. I am going to Chicago in just over 2 weeks and then the next week finals start. Just crazy.

Yep, getting old.

Nonesuch #288

Thou Shalt Always Kill

Their myspace page has longer version and more tunes.

found on Bits on the Side. Thanks girls!

Nonesuch #287 peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat

Happy National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day.

I know what I will be having for lunch, maybe even for dinner. I really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like them best on plain white bread, Jiff Peanut butter and smucker's grape jelly. I also like them when the bread is toasted. About 10 years ago I came up with a casserole recipe, never tried it, that used my favorite foods at the time, peanut butter, pringles, chocolate and some other things. I wish I had wrote it down because now I cannot remember what all was in it.

So in replace of that, here is a recipe from Mr Food for Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars:

In a large bowl, we beat together for a couple of minutes just till it's blended and crumbly:
2-1/4 cups flour
1 melted stick of butter
1/2 cup each of creamy peanut butter and light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg.

Now, we reserve a cup of the mixture and spread the rest over the bottom of a sprayed 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Spread 1 cup strawberry (I prefer grape) jelly evenly over that, crumble the remaining peanut butter mixture over the top and into a preheated 350 degree F. oven it goes for 35 to 40 minutes just till the topping is golden done!

And sure, we can use any brands we'd like or any flavor of jam or preserves, and no-sugar fruit spreads work too.

And after they cool a bit, all we do is cut them into bars, serve them up with a cold glass of milk, and when the kids take a bite out of these ooey gooey favorites, these bars will disappear.


Recipe #2 My recipe for Peanut Butter Balls
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar

Melt butter in microwave so it can blend in easier
In large bowl, mix melted better and peanut butter together
Add the confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time until all 4 cups have been added
Mix well

Form into 1 inch or so balls and place on cookie sheet or plate.
chill till firm in refrigerator, over night is best.


Recipe #3 Peanut Butter topping
Take 1-2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and place into a microwave safe bowl
Heat for 15-20 seconds until peanut butter begins to melt. You can add or subtract time in the microwave to get the consistency you are looking for.
Take out and use on:
ice cream
cake
or any other dessert you would like to use it on
use as a dip for fruits and vegetables

For added crunch, use crunchy peanut butter.


Well, this turned into a recipe post. Now I am very hungry.