Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Almost time to ring out the old year

Happy New Year everyone. 
Yes, I know I'm early; so sue me.


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Hope everyone had a good Christmas.  I spent most of Christmas with a head cold, but had a good time anyway.  Two days later, on Sunday morning, I woke up with my right eye completely swollen shut, and throbbing, and my left eye barely able to open to a squint.  Turned out I had gotten conjunctivitis from the infection in my sinuses.   Couple days of antibiotics and they're back to normal, so it worked out ok.

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It's been cold and foggy around here, our warm spells mean it gets up between 25ºF and 30º F.  The past couple of days have been snow, which isn't all that much fun.

 













I took this picture this morning, it has been snowing all day and is about a half a foot deep by now.  I'll be glad when spring comes around.



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 So the Republicans are yelling that the Skivvy Bomber is the fault of lack of  security by the current administration; the Whitehouse  and the Democrats respond by blaming Bush (big surprise; how long is that line going to be used?)















May I make a suggestion?  How about everybody just STFU and worry about how to prevent future problems?  Airline security is a bad joke and everybody knows it.  The disaster was only averted by two things; the incompetence of the bomber, and everyday citizens who had the initiative to fight back.

So to Jasper Schuringa and the other passengers who took the bomber down, well done.




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Can't say I'm happy with sending more troops over to Afghanistan.  We've been told they are being sent over for a couple of years, then will be brought home.  That makes no sense; what if nothing has been accomplished by then?  Will they extend the time, or will they just pull out and leave?  All the enemy has to do is stall, then wait for the soldiers to leave.
If they aren't planning on winning, why bother sending anyone over to be killed?  They might as well leave now.
Just my opinion.

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This one is just for fun, since it's always been one of my favorite songs. It's been referred to as the unofficial national anthem of Australia. This version is one of the best, by the late Slim Dusty.




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Any favorites in this bunch?  Some of them are probably older than a few of my visitors.

          "Take on Me" by A-Ha
         "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring
         "Wolverton Mountain" by Claude King
         "Wild Summer Nights" by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band
         "Walk Like a Man" by The Four Seasons
         "Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project
         "Na Laetha Gael M'Óige" by Enya
         "Time of the Season" by The Zombies
         "The Ballad of Thunder Road" by Robert Mitchum
         "Over the Border" by Eric Burdon

The next to last song was from the movie "Thunder Road" starring Robert Mitchum, who not only sang the ballad, but helped write it. Most people don't know it, but he played saxophone, and enjoyed writing music.

The last song is one of the newer releases by Eric Burdon; it was written by David Munyon, who you may remember from a song of his in one of my previous posts.




11 comments:

MauserMedic said...

I think we may have gone wrong in A-stan by trying to nation-build. In certain areas of the world, it may be more effective to go in, stomp everything designated as enemy flat,then leave the the special ops folks to do what they do best; repeat as needed until the lesson is learned. The culture of the loser does matter, in that at a certain level, it takes way too much in lives, time, and treasure to lift it up to a state worthy of being recognized.

Bob G. said...

BOBG:
Another great list of songs to finish 2009...fantastic.

Very nice pictures, too.

LOVE your take on the skivvy bomber situation.

Here's to 2010...the good thing is that it all can't get much worse, but can ALWAYS get BETTER, eh?

Happy New Year.
(the other Bob G)

BobG said...

MauserMedic: I don't think we can really make any difference in the way they run things; their culture is still that of barbarian tribes not much different than those that lived there a thousand years ago. In order to change them appreciably, their current culture would have to be completely destroyed and rebuilt, which is something that I don't thing is either ethical or possible to do. The best thing is to let them stew in their own juices until they either collapse or pull themselves out of the mud.
Just my opinion.

Bob G: we can only hope it doesn't get worse, but I'm not holding my breath until things get better.

terri said...

Glad to hear your eyes have cleared up. Conjunctivitis sounds pretty miserable!

Lots of snow here too, and now the real cold has settled in. I'm ready for spring too!

"Take On Me" is one from my younger days. Brings back memories. I also loved "Twilight Zone."

Happy New Year!

gregor said...

Happy New Year, friend.
2010 can't be worse, I hope...

BobG said...

Terri: I'm glad I don't live where it's as cold as your area; I'm getting too old for this stuff.

Gregor: best wishes; we can only hope it gets better.

James Higham said...

I'll swap you your snow for our frost. Happy New Year.

Wyatt Earp said...

Happy New Year, BobG!

James Higham said...

Not "almsot time" to ring out the old year, Bob. It is time.

meleah rebeccah said...

Happy New Year, my friend.

Mike W. said...

Happy new year Bob!