Just classic.

Asian girl: I really like sleep sex.
White girl #1: What’s that?
Asian girl: You know, when you're sleeping and you wake up and you’re having sex. Sleep sex.
White girl #2: You mean getting raped?

—1st Avenue & 9th Street

You can’t make stuff like this up.

The strange and interesting story of Le Pétomane:

Joseph Pujol was born in Marseille. He was one of five children of François (a stonemason and sculptor) and Rose Pujol. Soon after he left school he had a strange experience while swimming in the sea. He would put his head under the water and hold his breath whereupon he felt an icy cold penetrating his rear. He ran ashore in fright and was amazed to see water pouring from his anus. A doctor assured him that there was nothing to worry about.

The rules.

Got an email from Carmine today attributing this to George Carlin, actually turns out to be from Bill Maher but it’s still very funny - just one of many new rules for ’06:

The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” ooh, you’re a huge asshole.

And you thought your job sucked...

“We have to wade through a lot of poop,” concedes Michael Doyle, the center’s director. “If you want to get the manure, you’ve got to grab it. Even when you wear gloves, the fecal smell tends to get embedded in your skin.” Hog poop smells the worst, Doyle says, but it’s chicken poop’s chokingly high ammonia content that brings tears to researchers’ eyes.

Popular Science’s Ten Worst Jobs in Science – Manure Inspector clocks in at number 2 (of course).

The folk wisdom of labor.

One day all the different body parts started arguing amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest/strongest/most important part of the body...

“I am” said the brain....

“No, I am” said the eyes....

“You’re both wrong, *I* am the most important,” said the ears...

“No, it’s me,” said the heart...

The stomach, lungs, and knees also joined the argument, each arguing why it was the most important body part...

The argument grew quite raucous, as not one body part was willing to concede its importance to another...

Finally the anus, who hadn’t joined the argument and growing weary of the racket, decided to stop working...

Soon the brain started aching, the eyes grew blurry, the ears started ringing, the heart started racing, the lungs grew weak, the stomach grew queasy, and the knees gave way...

So they finally all agreed — the asshole was the greatest/strongest/most important part of the body...

Point here being, as much of an afterthought transit workers may have been before the strike, they obviously have a great impact on the day to day operation of the city. Nobody thought much of transit workers before the strike but, when they weren’t there doing their job all the other parts of the city had a rough go of it.

Yes, I sided with labor during the last month’s transit strike, even after spending the better part of the day schlepping around Manhattan as evidenced by my travels:

GCT to 34 & 3rd
34th & 3rd to Herald Square
PATH to 9th Street
9th & 6th to Mercer & Spring
Mercer and Spring to Union Square
Union Square to 23rd & Madison
23rd & Madison to 29th & Park
29th & Park to GCT

Needless to say, the load got heavier as the day progressed but, even so I couldn’t find it in myself to curse the transit workers. You’ll remember most of the media outlets ran stories on the strike by pasting the word ILLEGAL in very large letters every time they showed a story on TV, mentioned it in the radio or ran it in the paper. Wow. I guess they want us to think these guys are crooks! They are stealing from us somehow. How dare they! What unmitigated gall they have!

Let us not forget the people they’re bargaining with:

Knew well in advance the contract would be ending in December.

Raised fares two years ago crying poverty when in fact they had a surplus.

There has been quite a bit of discussion about last month’s transit strike. I read a story about a potential contract near to being ratified and most of the discussion centered around whether or not the transit workers in fact helped or hurt their cause by going out on strike. A lot of the stories center around the bad publicity for the workers and the very little they did manage to gain from the proposed deal.

Then again, Metro North employees haven’t gone on strike and they’ve been without a contract now for three years, so what does that say about good faith negotiations and the MTA?

Are we watching the dismantling of every gain won by the labor movement over the last century?

Maybe.

I heard a lot of griping by people during the strike, griping about things like pensions, medical benefits and retirement at 55.

Damn those uppitty transit workers, damn them for expecting to get a pension! It wasn’t too long ago that a pension was something of the norm somehow this benefit has become a means to villify workers.

I’m trying to figure out the logic of a world where a company like Enron can use the deregulation of electric power supply to cause blackouts and drive up the price of energy artificially, a country where our government can say there is wisdom in pumping over 18 billion dollars into a foreign country in an effort to build a democracy but, can’t find the money to educate its own.

War on terror? I’ll tell you what, as many people who were physically hurt by the events of September 11th are so small in number as to not even compare to the number of people who will be harmed by the dismantling of the social safety net of benefits in this country.

Maybe instead of damning the transit workers for the benefits they get, we should be asking ourselves why we’re all of us not getting the very same benefits - it used to be the norm not the exception. It’s an issue we all should pay closer attention to especially in light of recent discussions about the privitization of Social Security.

¿Dónde ésta el gato?

Or what ever happened to Friday cat blogging?

Seems there’s no shortage of taking pictures of the glorious beast but, having done something stupid with the laptop last week - I am forced to put uploading all pictures on hold before I correct the problem (which involves aluminum foil of all things - don’t ask). So, all the pictures I’ve taken in the last few weeks are on hold.

I’m going to be uploading a bunch of shots from the bigger camera - including a series from MoSex from last year - just one more thing for the to do list.

Saturday morning sex.

I find myself a frequent reader of Audacia Ray’s Waking Vixen blog.

She often has some very interesting things to say and there’s the added bonus of visual stimuli accessible through the website.

She just updated her modeling portfolio and some of the shots are incredible. Definitely worth a gander if you like looking at naked ladies (nsfw).

There’s something about her in-your-face, no prisoners-no apologies approach towards life I find myself very envious of.

The museum in Nazareth.

Just an interesting story worth reading that’s a reminder no matter how pessimistic we can be about peace, there is always hope.

Many Arabs believe that Israel uses sympathy for Jewish suffering during the Holocaust to gain support from the West, Mr Mahameed says.

Arab leaders, he says, think that by giving credence to the Holocaust they are legitimising Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

“But when Palestinians learn about the Holocaust they will understand the Jewish people better and can begin to develop a shared history,” says Mr Mahameed enthusiastically.

The truth on the ground.

Ironically, today was the first international day commemorating the Holocaust. Yet, it came during a week which saw Hamas gain a majority in the recent Palestinian election.

The question of how to deal with organizations like Hamas is nothing new:

The first is that their stated aims are completely uncompromising. But there have been a number of times in the past when it is clear that there were deep, profound differences between different wings and different leaders and different trends within Hamas over whether to come to terms with the PA, indeed, even whether to comes to terms with Israel, at least in the short-term.

Now that Hamas has won a majority what does this victory portend for the future?

For years, there has been growing discontent among Palestinians with Fatah’s corrupt and ineffective governance. In going to the polls, many voters were expressing their frustration with the ruling party’s failure to deliver peace, implement reforms, improve living conditions or free the Palestinians from their shackles of poverty and unemployment. By casting votes for Hamas, many voters were hitting back at Fatah for its failures, rather than expressing their support for the Islamist party.

Surprisingly enough, comparisons are being drawn between Hamas and Israel’s Likud party:

Ladies and Gentlemen, may we introduce ... Hamas - the new Likud. It’s 1977 all over again, People of Israel. Once again, everything we knew, is wrong.

Hamas has long been an outsider in the peace process but, now with the election win the question becomes whether or not Hamas will soften it’s rhetoric. If it doesn’t, there will be a high price to pay:

Former President Carter said the United States, by law, would have to cut off direct funding to the Palestinian Authority as soon as Hamas takes control, but it should look for other ways to give money to the Palestinians, such as through the United Nations. Hamas has been branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and Europe.

“United States law would require that the money would be cut off if Hamas is in the government, so that’s a foregone conclusion,” Carter told The Associated Press.

Our world is daily becoming a smaller and smaller place. It is easy to recognize Hamas victory and the resultant events spawned by that victory will have repercussions throughout the region. Let’s hope for the best.

There is no doubt that the surprising Hamas victory in the Palestinian Authority elections has created a new reality in the region, which also has international implications. Everyone who has anything to do with the conflict, and every country that is concerned with matters of Islamization, will have to examine what has happened -especially Israel.

Israel will be the crucial factor in determining the international attitude, and even the attitude of the Arab world, with respect to this new development. Everyone will be waiting for Israel's reaction with bated breath. Any mistake it makes in the analysis of the situation and the response it necessitates will determine the nature of the others' reaction.

Another home run.

Erik Larsen manages to hit another one right out of the park in this week’s column:

How many times are you guys going to fall for the whole “Spider-Man’s getting a new costume that sucks and it’s going to replace the old one that rocks” trick? Marvel has been pulling this one off for decades now and every time you guys take the bait—every time.

This is not going to replace the old costume for the long haul. You will not see this costume on Spider-Man in 10, 20, 30 years—by then he’ll be wearing some other shitty costume and you’ll be moaning about that.

Let’s play RISK.

Let’s see now, I’ve got my armies on your western border and your eastern border. I have alliances with the other country on your eastern border. A short hop across the body of water on your west I have a strategic military base. You are surrounded, should you be afraid?

The first embassy bombing [in April 1983] I think they were involved in; the Marine [barracks] bombing in October 1983; September 1984, the second embassy bombing. And you know what? The Americans [then] leave. This is a successful policy for them [the bombers]. And what comes in place [after that]? Hezbollah is found in 1985. It’s an alternative to the Lebanese government; it’s an Islamic party. It mirrors the government in Tehran. ... And then you add on to this that Hezbollah drives Israel out of Lebanon, the first victory against the Israelis ever.

So what we have today, if you want to expand this analysis, [is] Hamas, the Islamic Jihad in Palestine and Gaza carrying out war successfully against Sharon. And the Iranians back in Tehran say, “We’re winning. This is the way you fight a war. This is how you defeat F-16s, this is how you defeat aircraft carriers. We beat the United States, we beat the Israelis in Lebanon, and we're going to beat ’em in Palestine.”

This is a strong message. I don’t care how secular Iran becomes. They still look at the United States, Britain, and France as colonizing powers, and this is the final war ending colonization in the Middle East, using Islam. So for the Iranians, it’s very, very logical. We as Americans say, “Well, it’s not. We were peacekeepers in Lebanon.” They don't look at it that way. Or as Americans, we say, “You can't kidnap innocent people, journalists, priests, people like that. It’s wrong.” They look at it differently. It’s a war of civilizations for them. And it was very successful, frankly, and cheap.

But, are things really that simple?

First of all, Iran was the only country in the region whose people came out in droves (over 40,000) to light candles in support of the U.S. after Sept. 11, and since then they have had many demonstrations in Tehran, Isfahan, and other cities, staged by students, workers, and teachers. The main slogans have consistently been: “Death to Taliban,” “Death to Terrorism,” “Free all political prisoners,” “Khatami, Khatami, Honesty.” There have been demands for freedom of expression and freedom of press, and even a demand for a referendum on the constitution and the Islamic rule. This is why it is of utmost importance to differentiate between the people and the government.

In the coming months, Iran will take center stage in a way North Korea has yet to. American troops are on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is implicit military cooperation between the US and the government of Pakistan and then there is the question of oil. Iran hiccups and the world gets nervous. Still, other noises coming from Iran recently have given many cause for concern:

“For over half a century, those who seek to prove the Holocaust have used every podium to defend their position. Now they should listen to others,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, was quoted as saying Tuesday by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Ahmadinejad already had called the Nazis’ World War II slaughter of 6 million European Jews a “myth” and said the Jewish state should be “wiped off the map.”

Well, should we even pay attention to statements like this?

Jane’s Defence Weekly, the Bible of intelligence and defense industry matters, reported last month that Iran had acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea with a range of at least 2,500 kilometers, or about 1,550 miles, which means they could easily reach Israel.

Its sister publication Jane’s Intelligence Digest said as the New Year began, “We predict that the likelihood of pre-emptive military action by either the U.S. or Israel — or both — will be far higher in 2006.”

The thing is, we are on the outside looking in. There are regional concerns beyond the dynamic between Israel and Iran.

The nuclear crisis is focused on Iran. But the truth is that is not how the conflict should necessarily be seen. Strategically, the crisis should be regarded from a regional perspective. It is not enough to ask if extremist Shi'ite Iran will go nuclear but whether the Middle East will be transformed in its wake into a region with a number of nuclear countries. Not a bipolar nuclear region, but multi-polar, including perhaps terror groups which raises doubts whether it would be possible to prevent the use of nuclear weapons in the region.

These are serious questions facing American foreign policymakers in the coming months. Issues which will undoubtedly be placed in the forefront as midterm elections grow ever closer. What we are going to have to ask ourselves and what the world community will also have to ponder is basically by standing by and allowing Iran to continue to make progress in their nuclear program are we in essence making the same mistake committed in the Munich Agreement?

How can we avoid making the same mistakes Neville Chamberlain made?

Iranian leaders are in no small measure responsible for the changing tide of opinion against them. Their handling of the nuclear issue has changed radically since only a little over a year ago. At the end of 2004, in Paris, they agreed to a voluntary halt in their uranium enrichment activities until an agreement over the issue could be struck with the Troika. Contrary to the claim of current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that move was not a “compromise,” but rather a very astute manoeuvre at the appropriate time. As long as Iran was involved in negotiations with Europe, regardless of how wildly they fluctuated between near success and near failure, Tehran enjoyed a form of international cover, which protected it from the escalating onslaught from Washington and beneath which it could strengthen its hand against the US by consolidating its regional influence and, more importantly, securing allies in positions of power in Iraq.

We are at a crossroads. We need to differentiate between the government of Iran and its people.

...some 4,000 Iranian student activists were arrested after protests in Tehran and other cities in June 2003 and at least 500 remain in prison for their democratic beliefs. Amir Fakhravar, a student movement leader and hero, is among the men and women Kokan will attempt to make contact with while in Iran. Punished for writing a book promoting democracy and free speech, Fakhravar is serving an eight-year prison sentence at Qasr Prison in Tehran.

It will be interesting to see how our current administration handles this conundrum. We cannot simply invade Iran.

Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, is ringed by mountains, is roughly four times the size of Iraq and has almost three times its population. Its military numbers almost 900,000 soldiers and reservists and has long-range missiles that can reach Israel or Europe.

Many in our government though, are increasingly speaking about military intervention as an option:

The Bush administration—and, increasingly, leading Democrats—have been speaking out with growing urgency about preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear threat. What is not stressed enough is that Iran is not just a potential menace -- it is a clear and present danger right now. The radical Islamists in Tehran bankroll the world's deadliest terrorists. They foment violence in Iraq. They lied for 18 years about their nuclear activities.

---

Those concerns were heightened in 2002, when a dissident Iranian group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, helped expose clandestine nuclear facilities at Natanz and Arak.

This exposure forced Iran to declare the facilities to the IAEA, as Tehran is a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It was not just the secrecy that set off alarms in the US, but the nature of the newly revealed sites - and Natanz, in particular.

Confusing Iran with Iraq would be a big mistake.

Islamic fundamentalists believe that the only guarantee to fulfill their so-called Islamic mandate—such as regressive, cruel and inhuman social relations and in particular their well-known misogyny—is the acquisition of unchallenged political power. In their drive for such power they misuse the Muslim masses’ religious sentiments quite skillfully as the Nazis misused the pent-up German desire to make-up for Germany’s defeat in the First World War.

We are also confronting other interests that don’t want to see the US expand their role in the region. I think the challenge we are now facing is simply put whether or not we can show restraint. Will our foreign policy be marked by hamhanded decisions ultimately making matters worse or will we allow the world community to recognize the threat for what it is and find ways to effect change in Iran. How deftly can we handle the coming crisis? This is a watershed moment for George Bush, stay tuned.

The trade.

Baseball season is closing in now, which makes me very happy. Sorry to see Kris Benson go - same goes for Bredon Looper, Mike Piazza, Jose Offerman, Roberto Hernandez, Jae Seo but, that’s baseball these days.

I hope Omar isn’t finished though. One thing I would like to see if he could pull off would be Victor Zambrano to Boston, David Wells to Oakland, John Maine to Oakland and Barry Zito to New York. Zambrano was known as something of a Yankee killer during his days with the Devil Rays - he’s younger than Wells and Well’s wants out of Boston (to play on the West coast). The A’s get Wells (his West Coast team) and Maine who I have heard they were hungry for and have something to show for Zito before he escapes due to free agency.

Funny.

Just a quick short (broadband required) which should garner a laugh or two.

Embracing my inner geek.

Would you believe someone has actually gone out and produced new episodes of Star Trek TOS? They’re available for download here - haven’t watched any of it yet so I can’t speak to the quality but apparently there are many membors of the original production involved. Bandwidth is required.

On the heels of the SPAM entry.

Mike forwarded along a link to me that anyone who hates SPAM will find useful. The next time you get some SPAM you might want to point the originator of said SPAM to the Break The Chain site.

Data mining and you.

If you’ve been asleep lately (and we all hibernate during the winter) maybe, you’ll have missed this jewel:

A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn’t know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military.

But wait, it gets better!

Below are excerpts from search engine's privacy policies regarding the disclosure of information for legal purposes:

Just where is the information about all this coming from?

“I specialized in what’s called special access programs,” Tice said of his job. “We called them ‘black world’ programs and operations.”

But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret “black world” operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the NSA in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists.

So, the question for today is: if we give up the civil liberties making this nation a becon for the world’s oppressed — if, in an attempt to make our lives ‘safe and secure’ we relinquish all those wonderful checks and balances put into place through the years to prevent the abuse of power by our own government — will the terrorists have won?

Today’s DUMBASS Award.

Drumroll please... Today’s winner is!

CHUCK ZUBAK [mailto:czubak@adelphia.net]

Chuck is our winner today for being enough of an idiot as to forward what we called in the days before the internet - a chain letter! Nowadays we have another name for it: SPAM!

Subject: FW:

??
???
Hope the Leprechaun dances his jig for you! I had to forward this, my mom swears it works. The day after she sent it, they got an offer on their land on the Swannee river, they have'nt even seen that land since 1987. It came out of the blue. So you know that I'm going to try it. Love Kim

Not sure if this had anything to do with it but it was shortly after I sent this out - I got a call to say our bond was approved - against all odds.

I don't know if it works but i won a new fridge full of various cool drinks from Beyer And Beyer last week.

I do not know if it works, but I won a microwave yesterday. Seems like it

Hey !! Good luck to everyone! And may all your dreams come true!!

This may sound nuts, but my husband got this the other day and sent it off. About 10 minutes later a really good financial windfall happened for his son Sean who he had sent it too as well. One of the people he sent it to was responsible for the windfall.

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH

Good Luck!! I hope it works...

May there always be work for your hands to do; May your purse always hold a coin or two; May the sun always shine on your windowpane; May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain; May the hand of a friend always be near you; May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

OK, this is what you have to do... Send this to all of your friends! But - you HAVE to send this within 1 hour from when you open it!

Now.................Make A wish!!!!!!

I hope you made your wish! Now then, if you send to:
1 person — your wish will be granted in 1 year / 3 people — 6 months / 5 people — 3 months / 6 people — 1 month / 7 people — 2 weeks / 8 people — 1 week / 9 people — 5 days / 10 people — 3 days / 12 people — 2 days / 15 people — 1 day / 20 people — 3 hours

If you delete this after you read it. you will have 1 year of bad luck! But... if you send it 2 of your friends you will automatically have 3 years of good luck!!!
:-)

Chuck was the originator of this email that managed to find it’s way to: HAROLD PETERS; ALAN & SUE VAN NESS; Andy Prettyman; Bob (Missy); Frank & Cindy Arico; GREG SCHULTZ; KAREN W.; Kevin & Sherry; Mary Clare Decker; Patrick Mulvoy; RUSS SULLIVAN; SID NIPER; Ted; QUALITY AUTO; John Meyer; JOHN DOTTERWEICH; Jodi C; JIM OWINGS; Jeff Nip; Chris Hull ; Braden Niper; michael; laura weingartner; ccvalentine; TYSMOM4; sid niper; jeanetteg3, parris weingartner; annereck; jaybirdcheryl; christinev; christykota; dpricern36; doug.davis; Lou4Bru; flirtygirty2u2005; mpriori; msptrpan77; mikelang; duets4one; tgalisewski; TDavis; beaverroof; Paul Barnes; Cathy Bomba; Mary & Tommy Damato; Elizabeth Langowsky; John & Eileen Langowsky; Mike Langowsky; Paul Langowsky; aryellowbeetle; yelnif; basketcase1177; tmadamato; jjl5; szymanskik; mckilo5; michelejb; ngarbarino; salena; Andrea Kennedy; Allison Civitella; Kate Plasson; Lisa Yediny; Lynette Capone; Maria Algarra; pudgey; Patsy Matusiak; Melissa Fragale; Vincent Burdelski Burdelski; Bobbe; Justine Brundage; Cathy Contey; Jennie Sama; Kathie Wilson; Anne Mackenzie; shirley Donan; Gerry Kuczynski; Linda Schaefer; Eleanor Hollister; Shari Matusiak; Sarah Redpath; Elizabeth Maykish; Jane Sullivan; Sylvia Watkins; Maureen Esposito; Jean Fryar; shhd; huffmara; rkoeleveld; l.kehn

Speaking for all the aforementioned people, I want to take the time out to thank Chuck who started this by forwarding an email which subsequently was forwarded and forwarded again - each time containing the valid email addresses of the recipients.

Without Chuck’s efforts, poor spammers from around the world would have no livelihood and what a world that would be! Where would we all be without the latest info on the Nigerian money waiting for us, the easy way to buy prescription drugs, the latest developments in the world of porn, or the need to update our security profile with our personal information. What a lonely day it would be to open our email box and find it devoid of all those interesting opportunities and reminders.

Let’s hear it for CHUCK! Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyy Chuck!

Now then, let’s help Chuck receive the second part of his award.

Remember Chuck’s email? Well, if you forgot it, it’s: czubak@adelphia.net

Next time you log onto that porn site, or have to create an account for biz rate or some other phishing site, don’t forget to use Chuck’s email address as the respondent email.

YES! CHUCK LOVES SPAM! and none of us want him to go hungry so be sure to use his email otherwise poor Chuck will be down from the lack of attention and response he got from his efforts!

One more time everyone! Yaaaaaaayyyyyyy CHUCK!

Phoning it in.

So, MC OBL has made a reappearance in the news with the release of his new tape:

The vague offer of a truce — coupled with a threat of another attack on the U.S. — was made in an audiotape released by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera. It brought new attention to the al-Qaida leader after a yearlong lull in his public statements.

It’s been awhile now since MC’s last recording and since he’s had any hits. Take the latest for what it’s worth – I discount anything he says.

Funny thing is, I was thinking about this latest tape today and it occured to me there might be some kind of answering machine set up in Egypt or Oman. You know, very low tech just something you plug into a phone jack. One of those answering machines where as long as you keep talking the tape keeps going until the tape runs out. I had this mental picture of OBL at a phone booth somewhere looking for quarters or using a phone card and calling this number somewhere in Egypt or Oman.

At the beginning of the call or a day before, there would be a message like, “Hey guys, it’s Osama here. Been laying low these days but I wanted to call in and make another tape so if you can have the machine set up tomorrow that would be terrific. I’ll call in with a new message and if you guys can send the tape over to Al-Jazerra that would be cool.”

And then, the next day he just calls in and reads this thing off into the answering machine and a day or two later it’s big news. The only other guy I can remember doing something like that recently was Pat O’Brien after he left those messages on a women’s voicemail with all the sex talk (NSFW - unless you have headphones).

It’s just a funny image of this guy, disguised as a woman somewhere, standing around and talking into a phone for an hour (that’s OBL not Pat O’Brien – although I can see why some might get confused if they heard O’Brien’s comments).

The gates of damnation await!

I find this incredibly funny, which probably means an eternity in a very warm place:

Mrs. McMillan, you have to admit your son Jody is pretty gullible. I’m pretty sure he still thinks Spider-Man is a real guy.

Life’s near misses.

So, I was in the city for various and sundry reasons yesterday. We had a spot of interesting weather, I don’t want to jinx it but, it’s almost the end of January and I am really happy at this point. Yesterday, some kind of freak warm front came sweeping through the area. Of course, it was a dramatic change in temperature and accompanying that were really strong winds and rain. I’ll take strong winds and rain in January over the alternative any day of the week thank you very much.

Maybe though, strong winds isn’t really putting it aptly because these things were gusting up to 70 miles per hour in some spots. Tractor trailers turned over on two bridges in the area causing all sorts of delays, branches were down all over, people lost power.

Me, I drove into the city for an appointment and was walking along 8th Street. It was late afternoon, the rain was gone and the only thing which remained was the occasional gust of wind. As I’m walking up 8th just up from 6th Avenue (and desperately fighting off the compelling aroma wafting from Gray’s Papaya) to my right about a foot or so behind me is a loud crash. Me, I was on the cell at that particular moment so, it was just another thing competing for my attention. I kind of turned around, stared momentarily dumbly not quite registering what had just happened and kept walking as another pedestrian passed me and said, “You’re pretty lucky.”

And, I guess I am.

It wasn’t a big piece of glass but it was a window pane measuring about 12" X 12" which had fallen out of one of the windows of the building I had been walking in front of. I don’t know if it would have done serious damage, it fell from the third or fourth story of the building but, it certainly would have hurt.

Of course, I had nowhere near the kind of day Elayne did because of the storm, she’s lucky too!