Friday, June 29, 2012

Bird Poop Facials & Divorce & Baby Skunks (this blog stinks)

How do they arrive at a $1,200 reward?
I just woke up and turned on the television while I am eating lunch/breakfast and there is a biography of Ma Barker and The Barker-Karpis Gang. The cosmos is trying to tell me something about gangsters lately with me "seeing" Bonnie and Clyde last week and now The Barkers. Being a gangster back in the late 1920's and early 1930's must have been the thing to do. I have to listen to the cosmos but first I have to figure out what the cosmos is trying to tell me. I had no idea, until now, that there was actually a Pa Barker who stayed at home. It sounds like Ma Barker wasn't even a gun-toting gangster like it is commonly portrayed; she may have just been a mom with a bunch of really bad kids and she just followed them around so they wouldn't get killed - but nobody is sure of whether she was part of the gang or just their mom. They were just a bunch of hooligan delinquents and J. Edgar Hoover was right in that Ma Barker was "a monument of parental indulgence." She let he boys get away with murder.

Last night I worked mostly outside and it was pretty warm until about 2:00AM. Because of that I was sweating a bit and now my guns are peeling. My upper arms got pretty red while in Texas and then the burn was starting to turn to tan until last night when I developed sweat bubbles under the burn - that seems to be how sunburn peels it appears to me during my field research.

Remember I told you that I run upon skunks every now and then? Last night I came across a baby skunk; I am not really sure if there is anything cuter in the world except my kids and your kids when they were young. It dawned on me that I don't know what a baby skunk is called. I could look it up and I will in a moment but, first, I want to try to guess. Skunkling? Skunklette? I am guessing those are both wrong because spell-check tells me, by their little red squiggly lines that those are not words but I usually ignore those red squiggles as you know when you read this blog. Skunk Cub? I just Googled it and B-O-R-I-N-G.... a baby skunk is called a cub so I guess my last guess, though supposed to be a lame guess and assuredly wrong, was actually correct. I prefer Skunkling and that's what they shall be called from this day forth! So has it been bloggen so shall it be done.

While I was sitting in the airport in Dallas (DFW) and looking for an outlet to plug in my phone and iPod I wondered why someone hasn't started a business to rent out electrical outlets to charge things at airports. While I was sitting on the floor of the airport and watching as people trolled around looking for an open hole to plug their junk into I scanned the terminal and could see immediately where all of the power sources were. There was either a group of girl athletes sitting on each other and using each other  aspillows or dudes in suits balancing their laptops on their luggage... Shouldn't someone be able to wheel a small cart up to you, kind of like a work station or desk, that produced power for our electric gods?  Go ahead and take the idea, because I know I will never do anything with this sure-thing but, remember me at profit-sharing or ground-floor buying-in time and such.

When I looked at my foot next to he footlong hotdog at the Texas Rangers' game it dawned on me that all shoes are a foot long. Even shoes in countries that use the metric system are a foot long.

I heard that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (TomKat) are getting divorced. I was set to write about a report I heard yesterday that Tom Cruise uses a mixture of, among other things, Nightingale (the bird) poop to stay looking young rather than using Botox or getting plastic surgery. It appears that maybe Katie heard the same report yesterday. I am kinda grossed-out when I accidentally get bird poop on my hand and this guy is getting a bird poop face mask? Wasn't there some kind of report not long ago talking about all of this illness people are getting due to pigeon feces? Maybe Nightingale poop has special powers. How does L. Ron Hubbard look on divorce and bird poop facials?
And now M.J.'s  tiger died!

There are a lot of divorces lately. Cha Cha and I know of three or four couples personally that are getting divorced. I wonder if divorces come in threes like things are supposed to? I have no inclination to get divorced but even if I were I believe I would be too lazy. From what I see getting divorced seems like a lot of work. Maybe we should have a Dirty Laundry Podcast load where we do a Dating Game kind of a thing - it could be a regular weekly part of the show if this trend continues. I have been trying to think of a "game show" we could do on the podcast and maybe this is it? We could be more progressive and do Same-Sex Dating Game sometimes too - they would never do that on network shows (not yet anyway).

I am all blogged-out for today. I will try to blog again tomorrow - wait tomorrow is Saturday; I don't think I will ever know what day of the week it is without doing the math again I fear. Knowing the days and the time are over-rated anyway I think unless you have a schedule to keep and who has schedules these days? Oh yeah, everybody. Have a great Frinight and maybe a nice weekend depending on whether I blog or not. Thank you for stopping in and humoring me while I make a sorry attempt at humoring you. TTT?...MITM (out for whatever day this is). TA!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Blogging Again From Planet Bloggywood

Clyde and Marvin Barrow's grave site
Today my vacation will be officially over when I go back to work. It's suppose to be almost as hot as Texas today and people are blaming me for bringing the heat back with me. All I did was bring people back a nice souvenir of my trip and I get grief for it - see if I bring you back something next time!

The best way to hear and see about my trip are to listen to this week's Dirty Laundry Podcast and go over to the Dirty Laundry Facebook page where I have posted several photos of the trip. I still have more photos to put up but most of the ones we talked about on the show this week are there. It will kind of be like a slideshow or a mini movie if you click through the photos as we talk about them... this may change the whole way podcasts are done.

While I am typing this I am watching Bonnie and Clyde on Netflix. I remembered Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway being in the movie but I forgot that Gene Hackman was in the movie too. I lied down on the graves of Bonnie and Clyde and Martin ("Buck") and here I am being haunted by them on Netflix. Buck was Clyde's older brother and was nicknamed Buck because when he was young he'd buck around like a horse. I have always been fascinated by gangsters. Not that killing and robbing is ever right but you can understand why people would turn to that lifestyle given the times of The Great Depression. I know in this instance "great" means big but I think they should have called it The Bad Depression or The Big-Ass Depression or something like that. The movie is insinuating that Clyde had problems in the sex department...Little Clyde couldn't report for duty? No wonder he was so angry. Hey, Jemome Silberman (Gene Wilder) is in this movie - pretty young. Four years before he became Willie Wonka. Did you know the Gene Wilder is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Right as I was typing that he said in the movie, as Eugene Grizzard, that he is from Wisconsin....weird. Maybe Milwaukee should have put a statue of Willie Wonka instead of that creepy one of The Fonz.

It sounds like Obama Care may go through. They are still trying to make-out what The Supreme Court ruling says but it sounds like all Americans will have healthcare. I don't know much about it, the political stuff is Cha Cha's role, but I think it's good. I am sure people are going to complain about the government forcing people to buy medical insurance but I think in the long-run it will save people lots of money in the end.
Is it just me or is this creepy? Must be near The Safe House?
I keep getting distracted from writing this blog. I am doing dishes and watching the movie and doing laundry (the dirty clothes kind)... Now there is a big shoot-out scene so I have to either pause the movie or stop typing. Buck just got shot in the head - that's how he died in real life - knowing history is such a spoiler!

I had better get some stuff around here and I have to pick up Fabio in about an hour so I had better quit blogging for now. I hope you fellow MIDDLEwesterners can handle the heat for the next few days. It's days like this that I am happy I work nights - especially since tonight I will be working outside all night. Thanks for stopping in. While you're over checking out the photos on the Dirty Laundry Podcast Facebook page why don't you do a blogger a solid and click that "like" button n there? Muchas Gracias Compadre! TTT (tomorrow depending on how I assimilate to nights again)...MITM (out of the heat for now). Hey, Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie) is in this movie with no beard too. TA!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

My Vacation with The Ghosts of Murderers

I am beginning this blog on Monday night at 19:22 (we use military time at work and since vacation is over soon and I will be back to work Thursday I had better get used to using military time again) from 30,000 feet or something like that from seat 9F...love me a window seat. We had a pretty good time but I look a bit like Mr. Crabs now with my red tint. Luckily, I have always looked good in red.

We ate lunch today at a place called Ojos Locos Sports Cantina. I had two Camarones (shrimp for you non-Mexican cuisine peeps) tacos and two Tilapia (Tilapia for you non-Mexican speaking peeps) tacos and we had chips and guacamole (I had all the guacamole because Randy doesn't like guacamole (he really liked the queso though) - "what's the matter brainless don't you know where guacamole comes from?" Never pass up an opportunity to quote It's a Wonderful Life whenever possible even if it only marginally fits. I wish I lived in Dallas because I would eat at this place twice-a-day every day for the rest of my life. Not only were the tacos and guacamole fantastic but all of the waitresses (about 12 to 14 of them) looked like Eva Longoria wearing black micro-mini shorts and low-cut tops with stripper boots. They were like short hispanic fembots. I didn't even need the sports bar part of the cantina. The tacos also had habenero onions which I have never heard of but they were good and hot like I like.

I started a tradition of lying on famous people's graves a couple of years ago when I started with Edgar Allan Poe and I added three new people to my list: Lee Harvey Oswald, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Clyde was quite an adventure. The cemetery was in a barrio (too bad we hadn't met the fembots yet because they may have been helpful here), the gate was locked and there was a "no trespassing" sign on the fence. Randy didn't want to go in but, while he was objecting, I was already squeezing between the gates. What would Clyde do? He would probably pull out his tommy gun and cut the lock like soft butter. Most likely afraid to remain in the barrio without Clyde me Bonnie Randy followed soon after. Clyde's tombstone was easy to find because there was a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey and several shotgun shells on top of the headstone. He is buried with his brother Marvin who was also part of Bonnie and Clyde's gang; he was killed about a year before Clyde - not part of the famous ambush that made Swiss Cheese outta Bonnie and Clyde. I have stories about Lee Harvey and Bonnie too but you'll have to tune into this week's Dirty Laundry Podcast to hear those because it is stupid to steal your own thunder (that's what Clyde tells me anyway). If the ghost of Clyde Barrow drank the Jameson whiskey that some one left him would he spray whiskey all over like a colander?
More than ten feet off of Beale
While I was taking pictures on the trip I thought to myself that taking photos to show other people is kinda stupid. Nobody else really cares about your trip. Maybe we just take them to remind us of our trips and to prove whose graves we have planked on. Maybe to remember what we did when we get old or maybe just so people like Ken Burns can make documentaries in years to come and have something to include.

As I was leaving Texas I thought of a great slogan for The Lone Gunman Lone Star State: "if you can't stand the heat get outta Texas." It was hotter than Beelzebub's butt crack all week long. They must have mini air conditioning units in their boots or 10-gallon hats; that finally explains the hats. On the plane on the way home I got to see why the 10-gallon hat was invented - to hide your Elvis-do! I have what I believe to be photographic evidence that Elvis lives and he was on my flight. Either that or the dude is ready for a part in The Rocky Horror Picture Show or he is auditioning for the live-action Johnny Bravo movie. Hot damn tamale baby!!! I guess Spirit Air makes sense when you see the ghost of Elvis. Maybe I died on the plane and I don't know I am dead yet ala The Sixth Sense. I was on a plane with restless souls...cool! Makes sense (sixth sense).


The best thing about the trip is the wake-up call. I am starting to pack the pounds on again due to my irregular sleeping and the inability inconvenience to work-out because of my schedule. It is time to stop with the excuses and get back to where I was. Matt is getting fat and I ain't down with that!

I am home now and finishing this up. I am washing all of my sweaty clothes from the trip. I don't think I will complain about the heat in Illinois ever again. When they say "everything is bigger in Texas" I knew they were talking about Cowboy Stadium but I had no idea they meant the sun too. As hot as it was I think the sun must be about 26.3% bigger in Texas by my calculations.
Might as well be walkin' on Helios

I gotta get some stuff done around the house. Ha, I just caught a fly and set him/her free outside. I have never seen a reason to kill anything for no reason which is why maybe I was given the ability to catch flies with my bare hands (the trick is to sweep your hand about eight inches above them and close your hand while sweeping - nine times out of ten you will catch them because they will fly right into your closing hand). Have a great day and thanks for stopping by y'all. I will let you know when the podcast is up (either tonight or tomorrow morning). Damn, I forgot to mention the giant President heads - remind me tomorrow. TTTT...MITM (home home on the range). TA!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Blog at Night is Still Not Bright....

Today is my last day in The Lone Star State. Yesterday was a big day. We went to The School Book Depository and took the tour and checked out The Grassy Knoll. In case you live on another planet this is the place in Dallas where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I expected it to be interesting and it was. I think I have mentioned it here before but I am a huge JFK fan. Part of it is that he was the President when I was born, I think, but a lot of it has to do with what he did for: minority Americans and helping the World by starting The Peace Corps and the way he stood up to Russia in the Cuban Missile Crisis. He really cared about the people of America and making it a better place for all of the country's citizens. I could not believe how small the area where he was killed, Dealey Plaza, was. I really think that Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy and I never really 100% thought that until visiting here. I am not even sure what makes me feel that way now but it just came in my mind being there - maybe it is the ghosts of JFK and Oswald?

Hey, why would The Rangers get a pitcher names Roy Oswalt. Now I know why he pronounces it OHs Walt. I bet his real name is Oswald and his family had to change it to live in America in the 1960s.

I got really choked-up watching one of the movies on The Sixth Floor about parents with their kids and fearing for their children lying over them to protect them from whatever was going on that day on The Grassy Knoll. I also did not realize that Jack Ruby shot Oswald in the building kinda right across the street from The School Depository. What a cursed plaza that is.

If you have been a regular reader of MITM you know that I have a fascination with death and cemeteries. For some reason I thought while we were driving that Bonnie and Clyde were from Texas so I Goggled it in the car (how did we survive without 4g?) and found out that Clyde Barrow was buried not far from Dealey Plaza so guess where we headed? We got there and the gate was locked and there was a "no trespassing" sign on the fence so I squeezed between the gates because we Northerners don't go for no fancy sign reading' and Ii looked for the grave marker. I went to it immediately because I saw a bottle of Seagrams sitting on a grave. I walked up and saw the bottle along with several shotgun shells strewn all over. So I laid down and had my photo taken as I do. I don't know why I am not freaked out by death but I don't understand why people do get freaked out by death. We all die and the sooner you come to grips with that realization the better off you are I think. I still may die in a plane crash on the flight home and if that is my destiny do be it. You cannot cheat fate. And now it will sound prophetic.

I sure did get tired of hearing the song Deep in the Heart of Texas down here The stars at night are big and bright (clap clap clap clap)... what about that big star during the day that turned my body red with star-burn? Every time I heard that song I could not help thinking about Peewee's Big Adventure. I think when Paul Reubens wrote that movie he was right on with Texans.

Last night, after spending the day with Kennedy, I spent the night with Bush (W. that is) at The Rangers' game. I never saw him clap one time during the game and neither he nor Nolan Ryan did the wave. I think I saw the wave at all three of the games I attended this weekend we Texas. Does the rest of the world still do the wave? I don't think so. Maybe because it averaged 102 degrees while we were at these games they were thinking that if they could catch a wave they would be cooled-down.

Tomorrow night Cha Cha and I will be recording yet another load of Dirty Laundry. I imagine we will talk a lot about my trip.

I write this blog on my iPod so I will simply post it without photos like I did when I started the blog a couple of years ago. I hope you have a nice start to your week as mine comes to a close. TTTT....MIT southern M. TA!

The Sun is Stalking Me

Everything is deliciouser in Texas
Happy Sunday. I woke up this morning in Dallas (the city you perv) and was instantly hungry for Neapolitan ice cream. I don't care for ice cream all that much but the power of suggestion when I saw my vanilla skin next to my strawberry skin from sitting in 100+ sunshine yesterday put the suggestion in my chocolate mind. While at the Rangers' game yesterday I met a new friend named Natalie Pickle. What's with southerners being named Pickle or Pickler and stuff? For her birthday yesterday her one wish was to go to a Texas Rangers game and meet me. Can you believe someone from Texas' only birthday wish is to meet Dirty Laundry Podcast's Agitator? People down here are very nice and I love the way they talk. Typing that makes me think of Sling Blade, "I like the way you talk."

Last night after the game Randy and I went out for dinner. We went to a place called The Keg Steak House. I have to say I like it better than Morton's (sorry Stacee). I had the Peppercorn New York steak, a baked potato, asparagus and a blue cheese wedge salad. I was really happy that I didn't have anything to eat at the ballgame. I also had a couple of Absolut Peppar bloody marys with blue cheese olives. The food was fabulous but maybe the reason I liked it more than Morton's is because of, instead of having their servers..., dress like like butchers they are dressed in very short black dresses. I think the food was the real reason but it's nice when all of my senses are tickled. It was also A LOT cheaper than Chicago-area steak joints.

I forgot to mention yesterday that when we were at The Astros' game I got my haircut at the ballpark. They have a promotion there where you can get a haircut and the money goes to charity. I waited until the game started and the line was down and went and they sat me down on a balcony in center field and cut my hair. It was Sports Clips and I guess they do it every Friday that  the Stro's are home. I am glad I got it the night before the Rangers' game because then I would have those weird white lines around my sunburn when I got a haircut. They must have recognized me because before long there was a camera in my newly framed face on the Jumbo Tron in center field. Can't I go anywhere without being recognized from our world-famous podcast? I don't mind - it the price of podcasting fame.
We passed through a town called Pearland, Texas. I need to know if it's pronounced "Pair Land" or "Pearl Land." I am guessing either way when a Texan pronounced it it would be the latter. I wish I had remembered about that and I would have asked Natalie Pickle (I can never mention her without saying both her first and last names).

Today we are taking a tour of Rangers' Ballpark and maybe Cowboy Stadium. Cowboy Stadium is so big that it makes the state of Illinois look like New Hampshire. When we drove up to it last night I felt like Randy and I were Will Smith and Harry Connick Jr. in Independence Day when they flew up on one of the mothership deals. After seeing it I don't know how we cannot take the tour of Cowboy Stadium - I didn't come all this way to lay-up. Hey Greg, I found the last white cap with a blue star in the state of Texas.
Yes, those are The Beatles' back there too...they really are huge!
I had better wrap-up because the laptop is running outta juice. Have a great day and watch me on the MLB game of the week tonight. I guess tonight's game is nationally televised and maybe some of the Bush family will be there to meet me; I imagine they are very excited I am in town. Thanks for stopping by to read some of my tales of circumnavigating the sun down here. I don't know if I will blog tomorrow because I apparently forgot to bring the cord for the computer and the juice is almost gone. It will give me more to write on Tuesday. TTT whenever I can....MITM (out y'all)
 
Speaking of Bush we saw some huge president heads in the middle of a industrial area and I am investigating this as we speak - more on this later

Saturday, June 23, 2012

The blogs at night are big and bright....

Good Saturday morning. It is only day two of my semi-annual baseball trip with my friend Randy. (that is if semi-annual means every two years - though that might be bi-annual but I think that means twice a year). Even though it is only day two it seems like day five because we tend to pack a lot into the days we have. That is one of my annoying habits on trips sometimes I think but I like to pack as much into the time I have in a different place so I can see as much as I can see. I think that is one of the reasons Randy and I like to come on these baseball trips together because I believe we are both do as much as you can to get as much out of a place your are visiting kind of guys. So, Thursday night we got to Dallas about midnight or so and by the time we got to the hotel it was about 1AM. We then got up in the morning yesterday and were on the road toward Houston by about 5AM. I drove and I like to live like the locals and, in this case, that meant drive like the natives. It only took us about 3 1/2 hours to get from Dallas to Houston because the locals, at least the one I decided to hook our wagon up to, likes to drive fast. For several of the miles we were flying down the highway at 104 miles an hour. I had to slow down to 98 at one point and another car passed me so I had to get back over to 100 to retake the pole position. I must say the the Chevy Cruise handles very well at high rates of speed.
This is the sign welcoming us to the Nolan Ryan Museum
We got to Dallas and checked into our new hotel (for last night) and we went off to Minute Maid Field for a tour of the ballpark. The Astros have a really cool ballpark. I like to do the baseball park tours. The group we toured with was only about twelve people or so and that is right about the right number I think.

What is the difference between a motel and a hotel? I m not really sure which one we are staying in.

After the tour, I am not gonna tell you every detail since these blogs can get boring enough on their own without my help, we decided to drive down to Alvin, Texas to see the Nolan Ryan Museum (he's from Alvin, Texas). If you do not know who Nolan Ryan is - he was one of the greatest pitchers of all time and now works for the Texas Rangers. He played for both the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers...he is definitely a good ole Texas boy. We made the hour or so trip down to Alvin and drive up to the museum about 2PM and immediately noticed that the parking lot was pretty empty. Cool - we'll have the place all to ourselves.

Please forgive any typos or misspellings today because I am trying to type in the dark so Randy can sleep a little longer - I am always up early because of my guilty conscience fro something I must have done in a past life.

We also had brisket yesterday at one of the million local barbecue places in Houston. I found out that I am not really a big fan of brisket but I am always willing to try all of the local customs at least once. That's actually one of the things I like best about going on trips is to try to experience local cultures and traditions.
Our car's console yesterday. 110? It's like Africa-hot here!
Last night we went to The Houston Astros game and watched them lose to The Celevland Indians. That baseball park is awesome. That was the first game I have ever been to where the roof was closed. I have been to many domed stadia but that was the first one with the lid on. I  am glad because it was hot outside. At the end of the game they opened the roof (only too about 15 minutes) and they had a fireworks show. It was a good time.

I had better wrap-up now because Randy is up and we are heading back to Dallas this morning and going to a Texas Rangers game among many other things. Maybe we will try to keep in under 100 mph back north. Though everything is bigger in Texas.

I hope you have a great day and I hope it's not over 100 degrees where you are. It's pretty hot here - that everything is bigger in Texas thing should have limitations (like the temperature). Thanks for stopping-in y'all. I will probably blog again tomorrow since I am always the early bird trying to catch the blogging worm. TTTT...MITM (where the stars at night are big and bright - clap clap clap clap - ...) I know you said it!!!! TA! I will try to get some photos up on my Facebook page.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Swedish Pissed

I am sitting at the FIAT dealership in Schaumburg and they have pissed me off yet again. This is our second of three "free" services (oil changes). I drove over an hour to use $25.00 worth of fuel to get a $19.00 oil change. There is an issue with the car which is why I came to the dealership . By the way, it is Zeigler Chrysler, Fiat, Dodge whatever else. The molding above the driver's door has become slightly separated separating. Of course, their Fiat guys are all in training today. I did not call ahead because the last time I called before coming they made me feel like an idiot for calling telling me that I do not need to call. I spoke to the head of service last time and he sent a check for $30.00 for our fuel. I will never buy another new car that isn't within 15 minutes of my house if there is any kind of warranty attached. I do enjoy driving the car and I am going to IKEA when I am done to look for a world map for the new Dirty Laundry Podcast studio (Kajunkles Studio). I am starting to think they should get a guy named Tony working at Zeigler - since FIAT, I am told, stands for Fix It Again Tony. I remember all of the sayings what Ford stood for too back in the day - Found On Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily, F'd Over Rebuild Dodge...

Tonight Cha Cha and I are meeting MADYM down at Swedish Days in Geneva to listen to some ABBA tribute band. Cha Cha likes ABBA but it does not break my heart that they don't make music anymore. I didn't hate them but I am doing fine without them.

I am just pissed at this place and the longer I sit here to get what should take 15 minutes (an oil change) the angrier I get. I am happy with the Swedes right now but angrier at the Italians. I hope that anger doesn't spill over to MADYM when I see her Italian face in a couple of hours.

I leave for Texas tomorrow night (tonight now). I am pretty excited but I looked at the weather forecast and for the days we will be there 98 is the lowest daytime temperature I will see. At least I will come back looking Italian with my tan and maybe that will help me bury my anger for Italy. I don't really blame all of Italy and descendant of Italy for this dealership I guess I should more just out it on car dealerships because that is more accurate. Maybe just Zeigler.

Hey, this Is a huge Swedish day for me - Swedish Days, ABBA and IKEA. I am going to buy something Swedish at IKEA so I look cool at Swedish Days. Maybe Swedish Fish or something. Maybe we should have bought a SAAB Instead?

Even though I am writing this in their waiting room there is something wrong with their wifi too so I will publish this when I get home later tonight after ABBA light. I figure the wifi is down so people won't blog about them. Little did they know that Roz will save the info for me until I get home. When I am upset I am relentless and tenacious.

So, now it is the next day and I was unable to upload this yesterday because they never regained  internet connectivity. Luckily I saved it on Roz so I didn't have to try to remember what I had written because my rants are some of my favorite blogs when they are written while in the heat of the moment.

So, while I was getting ready to leave I noticed that all the cars were driving out of the shop all washed. Then came the FIAT still with bugs all over the front end and the window still dirty. I had had enough so when the guy in the shop commented on the car's mustache saying something like, "it looks like we should have given your car a shave while it was in here" I said maybe just a wash would have taken the mustache off. He said, "your car didn't get washed?" I wanted to say. "no Captain Obvious...maybe while you were staring at the mustache you may have noticed all of the dead bugs all over it" but I just said "no" and gave him a pissed-off look. He immediately had someone come over and whisk the car off and "wash it." It was clearly just hosed-off but I was done with the fine Zeigler experience for one day. I know some of this makes me sound like a baby but I had been up since 2AM and I was Matt as hell and I wasn't going to take it anymore.

So, since the fun at a car dealer I went to IKEA and bought a map of the world for Kajunkles Studio. It is 200 X 140 cm which translates into 78 3/4" X 55". It is pretty darn big. A big part of the podcast is all of the places we are heard and with the new studio we need a new, bigger map of our listeners. Now I have to figure-out where to hang it. Once I get it up (TWHS) and get all of the countries marked I will post a photo on the DLP Facebook page. I should take some photos of the new studio and get them up there too.

I am gonna wrap this up because it is pretty long (nah) and I have to start packing for my trip and getting many other things done. We went and saw ABBA Tribute last night. They were pretty good and sounded like ABBA but they really need to work on that name - ABBA Tribute. I guess it says what they are and maybe that's the best kind of name. If if they called themselves Dancing Queen or Fernando or Waterloo or something people would not know what they were getting and ABBA Tribute leaves little doubt.

I plan to blog from the road like I did when I was in Baltimore a couple of years ago but we'll see how that goes. I got a new laptop for Father's Day so it has road trip blogging written all over it - if I get a moist cloth maybe I can get that off. Thank you for listening to me rant. That, coupled with the three margaritas and the one glass (plastic cup) of wine at Swedish Days helped me get over it. Have a great day and I cannot wait for the 101 degree weather....no tan no gain at this point! TTTT?...MITM (leavin' on a jet plane). If I don't die in a plane crash within the next day or so one of my next rants may be about Spirit Air and the fees to carry baggage on or their fees to select your seat... If I don't return it was probably Spirit Air trying to keep me quiet. Maybe I will wait and write that blog after I get back from my trip. TA!