It's Always Sumthin

I'm accessing the innertubes from my laptop this morning because my desktop apparently couldn't stand (at least) three consecutive ungraceful shut-downs.  I didn't mention this but the ENTIRE town of Portales was without power for most of yesterday morning.  I know this because we had three... count 'em, THREE... short-duration power outages around 0600 yesterday, during which I dutifully reset what needed resetting and returned to my warm and cozy bed, arising for good around 1030 hrs.

At which time I booted up the peesee and discovered I had no internet.  A quick call to Yucca Telecom confirmed that yes, the entire town has no internet, as the entire town has been without power all morning.  Well, OK then.

Things got back to normal about a half hour later and I didn't give this much thought afterward, coz Stuff Happens.

Fast forward to this morning... approximately 0600 hrs.  The power goes off again.  And again.  And AGAIN...three more outages that last about a minute each, in quick succession.  After the third bump my peesee refused to boot, even in safe mode -- all I get is the dreaded Blue Screen o' Death.

So we pulled out the laptop, fired it up, downloaded 46 Very Important Windows Updates (150 Mb worth), installed same; and 60.78 Mb of Norton updates and installed same.  All while metaphorically holding our breath as the Windows update installation proceeded, due to the friendly "Installing updates -- Do NOT Turn Off Your Computer!" messages.  All this shit took at LEAST two hours.

So we have the day's activities mapped out for us, which will include trying to breathe life back into our desktop.  Thank The Deity At Hand that I run full back-ups three times a week, the most recent of which was Sunday night.  We won't lose much if it comes down to re-installing Windows.

Update, 1050 hrs:  The desktop is back up and it's the strangest thing.  The box wouldn't boot in "repair" mode (I got an immediate BSoD) but booted up fine in "normal" mode.  Who knows what evil lurks in the heart o' Redmond?  Not me... but I AM grateful to be back up and running.

In My BEST Late-Nite Syrupy Baritone Deejay Voice...

"And this one goes out to Morgan, who calls and calls and calls, begging me to spin this one special tune for the lovely, leggy Huntress Of His Heart.  Well, OK, Morgan, just light a big ol' fire, shake out the bearskin rug, uncap a Moosehead Ale, and pretend you're up there in Wasilla... just you and the love of your life... and perhaps the rest of the Republican party, if it all goes according to plan.  She WILL be yours, someday.  Don't give up hope.  This one's for YOU!"

Baby hair with a woman's eyes
I can feel you're watching in the night
All alone with me and we're waiting for the sunlight
When I feel cold, you warm me
And when I feel I can't go on, you come and hold me
It's you... And me forever

Sara(h) Smile
Won't you smile a while for me
Sara(h)

An Inside Joke

You won't get this if you're not a serious hockey fan...

"This" being the exchange over the chess board at the very end of the vid.  But it made ME laugh right out loud, literally.  I had to watch it again, just for the expression on Hudler's face.  Heh.

The Sailors Are Happy In Portales

Assuming there are sailors in P-Ville, of course.  It's that ol' "red skies at night" thingie:

I would have put this up earlier but we were distracted by a phone call.  Priorities, yanno?

That's a Whole HELLUVA Lot o' People!

And other "fun" facts...



But you know all this if you subscribe to the magazine, coz this is what's on this month's cover (which I've yet to read, but I'll get a round tuit).  (I actually own a round tuit.  I'd scan it for ya if I could find it.)  (Well, make that "if I looked for it, found it, and THEN scanned it for ya.")  (But we're fresh out o' the motivation required for such activity.)

Ya learn a lot by reading blogs, yanno?  Today I learned what "dactyl" means (Lex taught me that, by way o' dictionary-dot-com).  I also learned today is some old hippie's birthday.  You should wander over to Canada, eh? for a four-tune retrospective, assuming ya like ol' hippie music (and I DO) (but that should be obvious by now).  

We're tryin' for a new personal best on the parenthetical asides (we just may have made it, too) (but we're just guessin')  (Yeah, it's a slow day here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington.  Why do you ask?).

We Survived

I suppose the ol' C. Dickens cliché just about describes our New Years Day.  We got off to a rather rocky start but at least we had a clear, pain-free head and knew exactly where we were when we woke up.  It wasn't always so on New Years Day in the way-back and we're glad those days are well and truly behind us.  Sorta.

We did the Bowl thing yesterday... pretty much all day, actually... and we don't wanna talk about it.  Or rather, we don't wanna talk about two specific games involving teams from the state of my former residence and to which I retain misplaced loyalties.  Let's just say we've done pretty well as far as Bowls go this year, with Air Force and ND winning their games.  I'm authorized to root for three college teams according to The Rules, and like Meat Loaf once sang: "Two out o' three ain't bad."  

There IS one more football-related thing:  How 'bout them Horned Frogs?  That was the ONLY game that made going bowling worthwhile.  YMMV, of course, most especially if'n you're an SEC homer.

I did watch the Winter Classic, too, and the best part of that was watching the Flightless Birds lose.  Second best was thinking I'm glad I wasn't there, as sitting in a stadium for three hours while enduring a 48-degree drizzling rain ain't MY ideer of a good time.  I'm thinkin' the game was MUCH better viewed in a warm house with a cold beer or three.  And two ceegars.

―:☺:―

We searched the archives this morning looking for that post about college ball rules and came upon this lil divertissement from a couple o' years ago that merits a re-run.  It's fun if nothing else, and might give ya some interesting memories if'n ya chase the link and look up what was hot when YOU graduated from high school.  It's a meme and without further ado...

The rules:

A) Go to Music Outfitters
B) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline or italicize your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember or don’t care about (ed: that's me: I don't care about 'em. But I remember ALL of these, surprisingly).

OK… I did. I thought about cutting this down to only 50 songs, coz “The Top 100” takes up a lot of space. But I didn’t, mainly because a lot of my favorites from this pre-historic time (ahem) are in the lower ranks, popularity-wise. And the year? 1963, Gentle Reader. 1963. Gad!

You might note a trend in the list below, if you’re familiar with the music. OTOH, this stuff is SO old I don’t much expect many of you to recognize more than five or six of these songs… some of which are most definitely classics. But, to emphasize the obvious… I was a BIG rhythm and blues fan. Not so much on the white-bread stuff, like Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee, Lesley Gore, The Four Seasons (aiiieee! White Boys singing falsetto! aiiieee!), et al. What krep. And I have more than one favorite from this list, too, italicized and underlined.

1. Surfin' U.S.A., Beach Boys (OK, so I lied about White Boys)
2. Sugar Shack, Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs
3. The End Of The World, Skeeter Davis
4. Rhythm Of The Rain, Cascades
5. Hey Paula, Paul and Paula (This song had some small kitsch value to me much later in life, as TSMP's name is Paula. There were times when I'd break out in a "Hey...Hey.. PAULA... I wanna marry you!" Omigawd. Really. I'm embarrassed to reveal this, but...there ya go. Something I'm sure ya didn't know. I had to explain it to her the first time I did it, too, as she was only seven years old in 1963. Something else I'm sure ya didn't know, unless your name happens to be "Paula," aka TSMP.)

6. Blue Velvet, Bobby Vinton
7. He's So Fine, Chiffons
8. Fingertips II, Little Stevie Wonder
9. Washington Square, Village Stompers

10. So Much In Love, Tymes
11. Can't Get Used To Losing You, Andy Williams
12. My Boyfriend's Back, Angels
13. Sukiyaki, Kyu Sakamoto
14. She's A Fool, Lesley Gore
15. It's All Right, Impressions
16. Puff (The Magic Dragon), Peter, Paul and Mary
17. Blowin' In The Wind, Peter, Paul and Mary
18. Wipe Out, The Surfaris
19. Deep Purple, Nino Tempo and April Stevens
20. I'm Leaving It Up To You, Dale and Grace
21. I Love You Because, Al Martino
22. Wild Weekend, Rebels (GREAT guitar… trend setting, it was)
23. You're The Reason I'm Living, Bobby Darin
24. Walk Like A Man, Four Seasons
25. Mockingbird, Inez Foxx

26. I Will Follow Him, Little Peggy March
27. Pipeline, Chantays
28. Surf City, Jan and Dean
29. It's My Party, Lesley Gore
30. Blame It On The Bossa Nova, Eydie Gorme
31. You Can't Sit Down, Dlovells
32. Heat Wave, Martha and The Vandellas
33. Denise, Randy and The Rainbows
34. Walk Right In, Rooftop Singers
35. If You Wanna Be Happy, Jimmy Soul
36. Surfer Girl, Beach Boys
37. If I Had A Hammer, Trini Lopez
38. Everybody, Tommy Roe
39. Easier Said Than Done, Essex
40. Ruby Baby, Dion
41. Maria Elena, Los Indios Tabajaras
42. Our Day Will Come, Ruby and The Romantics
43. I Can't Stay Mad At You, Skeeter Davis
44. Hello, Stranger, Barbara Lewis
45. Be My Baby, Ronettes
46. Mean Woman Blues, Roy Orbison
47. South Street, Orlons
48. Days Of Wine And Roses, Henry Mancini
49. The Monkey Time, Major Lance
50. Candy Girl, Four Seasons
51. Still, Bill Anderson
52. Blue On Blue, Bobby Vinton
53. Cry Baby, Garnet Mimms and The Enchanters
54. Two Faces Have I, Lou Christie
55. Busted, Ray Charles

56. Da Doo Ron Ron, Crystals
57. Foolish Little Girl, Shirelles
58. Memphis, Lonnie Mack
59. In Dreams, Roy Orbison
60. More, Kal Winding
61. Fools Rush In, Rick Nelson
62. Losing You, Brenda Lee
63. Our Winter Love, Bill Pursell
64. I Wanna Be Around, Tony Bennett
65. You've Really Got A Hold On Me, Miracles (apropos of nothing: ANYTHING by Smokey Robinson.)
66. Sally Go 'Round The Roses, Jaynetts
67. Little Red Rooster, Sam Cooke
68. Then He Kissed Me, w Crystals
69. (You're The) Devil In Disguise, Elvis Presley
70. Those Lazy-hazy-crazy Days On Summer, Nat King Cole
71. Baby Workout, Jackie Wilson
72. Pride And Joy, Marvin Gaye
73. Walking The Dog, Rufus Thomas
74. From A Jack To A King, Ned Miller
75. Up On The Roof, Drifters
76. What Will My Mary Say, Johnny Mathis
77. Mama Didn't Lie, Jan Bradley
78. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Bobby Vee
79. Don't Say Nothin' Bad About My Baby, Little Eva
80. Ring Of Fire, Johnny Cash
81. (Down At) Papa Joe's, Dixiebelles With Cornbread and Jerry
82. Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter From Camp), Allan Sherman
83. Judy's Turn To Cry, Lesley Gore
84. Just One Look, Doris Troy
85. Mickey's Monkey, Miracles
86. Donna, The Prima Donna, Dion
87. That Sunday, That Summer, Nat King Cole
88. Another Saturday Night, Sam Cooke
89. Painted, Tainted Rose, Al Martino
90. Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, Roll Harris
91. Go Away Little Girl, Steve Lawrence
92. Take These Chains From My Heart, Ray Charles
93. Talk To Me, Sunny and The Sunglows
94. Come And Get These Memories, Martha and The Vandellas
95. Bossa Nova Baby, Elvis Presley
96. Do The Bird, Dee Dee Sharp
97. Shut Down, Beach Boys
98. One Fine Day, Chiffons
99. Little Town Flirt, Del Shannon
100. 500 Miles Away From Home, Bobby Bare

So… Do ya know any of those, Gentle Reader?

Dang, 1963 was long ago and far away!

Happy New Year, Part II

I am NOT a Happy Camper right now.  My smoke detector went off shortly before 0830 this morning, rousing me from the deepest parts of sleep.  The FIRST thing I noticed after kicking off the covers and just before resetting the beepage was it's cold in the house.  Very cold.  Well, OK... I know what causes that and I took measures to fix it... which involves shutting down the furnace and restarting it.  (Parenthetical aside: about one time in 20 the electronic ignition fails to ignite the furnace, ergo: no heat.  Reset required.)

So, the furnace is now blowing warm air and I return to bed.  Not four minutes later... BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!  (sigh)  I roll out, reset the beepage AGAIN (we are not on fire; I just have a sensitive smoke detector that knows when the furnace requires a reset... go figure) and decide the fates are against me in the sleep department.  I shuffle into the kitchen to begin the coffee making ritual and look at my faucet with a mixture of amazement and disgust: there's no thin stream of water emanating from therein.  I went to bed at 0430 this morning and the very last thing I did before retiring was to make SURE there was water flowing freely from the tap.  And there was.  But there isn't NOW.

So.  We are froze up and will likely stay that way until Monday coz this is what the forecast looks like:

Happy Fucking New Year.  The coffee is quite good this morning, though.  Then again, it always is.

Update, 1345 hrs:  Yays!

We shall have our shower today, after all.  Praise The Deity At Hand!  We only wish our Michigan football teams were having as good a day as we are but ya can't have everything, no?