Blog Back-Up

Does any one but me think about backing up their Blog? It seems any post I write these days doesn’t show up on my blog for some time and I am reading that a bunch of you are experiencing the same trouble. Blogs disappearing, post hiding then coming back. WTF

The last couple posts had me flipping back through the page of my blog and re-reading so of that shit. Some post are good, some... well, it’s a wonder you understand what I’m typing sometimes.

All of that got me thinking, what if Bloger has a major melt down?? They don’t promise to keep anything and loosing it is not their fault, right? How can I back-up my blog??

A year or so ago I friend showed me an application called wget. It goes to a webpage and copies everything... kinda cool for looking into the bowels of a competitors web site. Anyway, I tried it on my blog and wha-la. It worked!! I now have a complete backup copy of every post and comment on my C drive.

Cool!!


The 'How to...’ thing on Bloger sounds way like too much work. Hope this works for you!!

He's Gonna Be OK!!!

The missus and I rode up to Elkhart, Indiana Saturday. I had to see Dirtbike. He looked good, good color, big smile, hugs all around. DB’s wife is putting him under house arrest for something around a week once he gets out (should have been out Saturday afternoon). I know he’s gonna go stir crazy but it will be good for him. He needs to rest. He says he had a ‘very’ accelerated (over 200) heart rate for a couple days (I so wanted to smack the shit outta him) before he called his daughter to drive him to the hospital.

I cannot tell you how much good it did my spirit to see him, to see him hop up out of the bed and greet us. Not knowing what to expect gave me an incredible lump in my throat as we approached his room. It was great to see him.

I offered to keep the oil warm in his bike... he said there was a half dozen other guys that were in front of me and several that had offered to take the custom flamed fairing and saddle bags off his hands if the Dr’s said he couldn’t ride anymore. LOL!! I think he is actually worried about his bike getting miles without him.

All in all it was a good ride. We stopped in Kokomo and had a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way up. Covered the 120+/- miles in a little over 2 hours. The ride home was a little more relaxed, took about 3 hours. All together we covered 300 miles.

I’m so glad he’s gonna be ok.

Zen Summary III

More from my Daily Zen Canander. See the first collection here and the second here. then if your realy feeling the Zen, biker Zen is here.

How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! - Emily Dickinson

The knife does not cut itself, the finger does not touch itself, the mind does not know itself the eye does not see itself. - Zen Saying

What is to give light must endure burning. - Viktor Frankl

We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men... trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make journeys, not very extensive one, it is true; but our own little comings and goings are only little more that tree-wavings - many of them not so much. - John Muir

The universe came into being with us together’ with us, all things are one. - Chuang-Tzu

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows even though we do not love it. - Dogen

Photo of the...

Some time ago I tried posting some pictures and thought I’d do a ‘pic of the week’ or something kinda regular. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

I did, however, start this. Add it to your RSS feed. I’d hate to have you check for weeks when I may not get out with the camera for weeks. I’ll post over there sporadically at best. Right now I’m catching up a lot of old pics I have sitting around on various computers.

All Right, Everybody, Just STOP!!!

I used to marvel at ‘older’ people when they would comment ‘I’ve been to the funeral of 4 friends this year’ and wonder naively, wow, four friends die in less than a year. What happened to them? I know what happened, they got old!!

With the PGR I’ve made many friends, most older than me. We go to these missions (PGR word for funeral) and see each other, we hug and cry (yes, damn it, bikers cry) seeing the sacrifice a family has made. Some people you get close to, others you know by site only.

A friend’s husband died a little over a year ago, another friend I’ve blogged about here and here is fighting cancer, one PGR member and friend got killed riding his bike in Tennessee, another died in his sleep the first of the year and my blodfather got me started doing this by having a heart attack.

Now I find out almost a week after the fact, Dirtbike, (a.k.a Dirtbag, or Douchebag) has had a ‘heart event’ (his words) and has been in the hospital for about a week. He lives near the Michigan line and not seeing him for weeks is not uncommon but to find out he has been in the hospital for a week was like getting hit by a truck.

I want to leave work NOW and go kick his motherfuckingass for not telling me. I swear to God if that little shit says anything like “I didn’t want to bother you’... as soon as he is better, I’m gonna fucking kill him!!!

DirtBag and Me

So what am I saying... Everybody (PGR friends, work frineds, and bloging friends) just stop!! No more getting older, no more ‘heart events’ no more cancer, no more making me feel like there’s a bike parked on my chest. My heart can’t take it.

My Turn To Beg

The Indiana Patriot Guard Riders are having their 2nd annual calendar sales fund raiser. Last year we sold about 1000 calendars. The neat part and the part we are doing right now is selling the ad spaces in the calendar.

Last year we sold 72 spaces, this year we are selling 144, 12 spaces per month. This link takes you to an order form and this link to a sample page from the 2007 calendar. Please take a look. If you have any questions post them here and I’ll answer them, that way everyone will know. Buying an ad gets you one free calendar, so wish that favorite person happy birthday, say ‘hi’ to a solder, remember a fallen hero or advertise you business.

On the sample page the first 4 ads are the $50 variety (basic B&W text), the 5th is $75 (text - 50, logo - 15, color - 10) and the 6th is $65 (text - 50, logo - 15)

Edit - I have a Word copy of the order form if you'd like to type your ad/thanks out and e-mail it to me.

You Need to See This

Trust me.

Click here.

Damn Me

Have I mentioned I don’t like heat... How about the red/blonde hair, fair skin and being easily sun burnt??

I went to today’s PGR mission fully knowing of my short comings. I ate twice my normal breakfast (two pop-tarts), before noon I had drunk 4 bottles of water and I ate a power bar around noon. As the service ended around 1300 hours, I got light headed... I had to sit down or I was going to fall down. Now trying to ride a bike with no real sence of balance isn’t a good thing. So, I rested for a few minutes and tried to get up and about fell down again... the procession to the cemetery left without me. I laid in the grass behind the church for about 30 minutes and made it north about 1 mile to a gas station where I got some Gatorade and some cheese crackers. Sat there for about 30 minutes. Took this pic of a thermometer under the canopy at the gas station.

I’m just glad no one from the family saw me about passed out.

I know it is hard to see, but the needle is pointing at 100... in the shade...

DoD Identifies..

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died July 31 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.

Killed were:

Spc. Zachariah J. Gonzalez, 23, of Indiana.

Pfc. Charles T. Heinlein Jr., 23, of Hemlock, Mich.

Pfc. Alfred H. Jairala, 29, of Hialeah, Fla.

For more information related to this release, the media may contact the Fort Lewis public affairs office at (253) 967-0152, (253) 967-0148, or after hours at (253) 967-0015 (ask for the public affairs officer on call


And the end begins... a family has closure. But does it ever end? I think not.

Tomorrow, the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders will honor the family of SPC. Zachariah J. Gonzalez. Please pray for the family, please pray for the friends.

SPC. Zachariah J. Gonzalez - Your service and sacrifice will not be forgotten. Thank you for my freedom. Rest in peace solder, rest in peace.

RE: Yesterday

Just in case you thought I was kidding, todays task bar...

Clicky for biggie.

Gawd Damned Microsoft

OK, I’m just a user, some say a power user. I have my software, I expect it to work. It worked last week, now this week it doesn’t... WTF!!??!!

I know enough bout networks, IP and Active Directory to be dangerous. But software, I can make it sing. My most joy comes from asking our crack IT staff a question about how to do something and they have to go research it for days.

Any of you computer hardware geeks out there, tell me if I’m expecting too much. I have a 3.3Mghz HP with 1Gb of RAM and I am typically running:

Word - 2-4 documents
Excel - 2-4 sheets
Outlook - calendar and as many as 10 messages open at once.
Adobe Pro PDF Editor - 3-6 documents
BaaN - our MRP software, usually 4 screens
IE - 3-4 sessions
AutoCAD 2006 - 2 - 4 small (100kb to 250kb) drawings
AGI32 - Light Rendering software usually just one

Is this too much? Should I cut back? Like I said, it was ok last week... probably auto loaded a ‘patch’ that fucked things up!!!

Fuck’n Microsoft!!

A Request...

I blatantly copied this post from Sparrow. She said it better than I could and said everything that needs saying.

LL from Chromed Curses is one of the most giving people I know. She spent hours, days and weeks putting my blog together, and she has more recently been giving a boatload of her precious free time to help a charity called America’s Wounded Heroes get their website up and running. This is a very special charity, and in case you are too lazy to click on a Sunday night, here is their mission statement:

America’s Wounded Heroes exists to:

• Provide financial assistance to military personnel, policemen, firefighters, and EMTs wounded in service who have put their lives at risk to protect and serve American citizens.


• Enable such persons to obtain relief in the area of special adaptive mobility equipment such as motorized wheelchairs, golf carts, segways, and other mobility devices not provided for by the government and private insurance.


• Give such persons monetary grants for the transition from hospitals or rehabilitation facilities back to active service or monetary grants needed for the transition from hospitals or rehabilitation facilities back to civilian life.

Since this is a brand new charity, they are desperately in need of funds. Here is something you can do to help them even if you can’t spare the quid to send them any actual real-life moolah. LL says:

I’m asking you to go to VA Joe’s and vote for us. You have to join (free) and all you do is provide a username, a password, and an email address. On the next page you can fill in name and stuff, but at the bottom, you can choose to not get any email notifications and NOT fill in the personal data.

THEN YOU CAN VOTE FOR US!!

VA Joe’s will give $2,000 to the charities that get the most votes. LL asks for so little, and it’s never for her. When she asks me to jump, I say how high, how many times and where do you want me to land, MA’AM?? Take three minutes and do it.

Because LL said so. And she can beat the crap out of you.

But also because it’s the right thing to do.

Anti Vick

Too bad he isn't wearing it.

WTF...?!

I’m by no stretch of the imagination a ‘texting expert’.

I’m listening to Yahoo Launch, the free streaming music thing, and there is the commercial about GM/Chevy translating text messages. You know the basic LOL etc. Then there is the weird string that is for their commercial. At the end the voice says ‘WTF - Wow, That’s Fantastic’... ROTFLMFAO!!!!!

Aaaarrrrgghhh!!!!

Hi...

I’ve bee through almost 200 e-mails and there are about a dozen fires that need my attention (I’m not drinking enough for this) So, enjoy a joke. Sorry, it's all I've got right now. I have posts in the works, promise. Ya know, coming back to this much ‘work’ could make one not want to go on vacation...

*************************

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables; and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, promised himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, Clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you." Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

“Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed, "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"

"The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus."

Hey, I'm Baaack!!!

I’ve been gone for 5 days and Google reader tells me I have 106 posts to read!!!

I have posts that I need to write, some OLD... be patient, I’ll get to your posts soon.

BTW – 1,797 miles. Made it all the way up to lake Superior. Got some pictures too. Again, be patient.

Trip Update

Dazd here...

DNR paged me to inform us that he's in Milwaukee. Apparently an uneventful trip given he paged. I was wondering...

I know they are touring the Harley-Davidson facility but are they taking any tours of breweries? If so, DNR needs to pack a straw and an inner tube. He needs to lose the tour group and inflate the inner tube and jump in a vat with that straw. I couldn't think of a more enjoyable vacation! It could be hours before they notice him missing.

Have a safe trip DNR!

Dazd out...

I Love Ted

God Bless Ted Nuget!!!

Another Trip and More Jokes

A fun one!!!

Heading north, on the bike. Going to the Harley Davidson HQ in Milwaukee!!!

Might be wet Wednesday morning... Oh well, at least I won't be at work.

Enjoy these jokes while I get caught up from being gone last week.

******************************************

The inventor of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Arthur Davidson, died and went to heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, "Since you've been such a good man and your motorcycles have changed the world, your reward will be to hang out with anyone you want in Heaven."

Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, "I want to hang out with God."

St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room and introduced him to God. God recognized Arthur and commented, "Okay, so you were the one who invented the Harley Davidson motorcycle?"

Arthur said, "Yeah, that's me."

God commented, "Well, what's the big deal in inventing something that's pretty unstable, makes noise and pollution and can't run without a road?"

Arthur was apparently embarrassed, but finally spoke, "Excuse me, but aren't you the inventor of woman?"

God said, "Umm, yes."

Well," said Arthur, "professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention:

1. There's too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusion;
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds;
3. Most of the rear ends are too soft and wobble too much;
4. The intake is placed way too close to the exhaust;
5. And the maintenance costs are outrageous!!"

Hmmm, you may have some good points there," replied God, "Hold on." God went to his Celestial super-computer, typed in a few words and waited for the results. The computer printed out a slip of paper and God read it.

Well, it may be true that my invention is flawed," God said to Arthur, but according to these numbers, more men are riding my invention than yours."

**********************************************************

A Horse, A Chicken & A Harley:

On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together.

One day the two were playing, when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink. Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help!

Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor. Running around like some of his headless cousins, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley. Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off with a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life.

Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's bike, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse!

Happy and proud, the chicken rode the Harley back to the farmhouse, and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned.

The friendship between the two animals was cemented: Best Buddies, Best Pals. Horse and chicken, chicken and horse.

A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon, he too, began to sink and cried out to the horse to save his life!

The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle. Looking underneath, he told the chicken to grab his hangy-downy thing and he would then lift him out of the pit. The chicken got a good grip, and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life.

The moral of the story?
(yep, you knew there was going to be moral!)

"When you're hung like a horse, you don't need a Harley to pick up chicks"

Words 'n Words 'n Words

A couple weeks ago I posted this... click this here linky.

My readers were kind enough to feed me all kinds of other words, that for some reason I am inclined to look up. I thought I’d share them with you.

BTW - nobody gave me any hints on how to get a stuck word out of my head. With a minor exception to Queenie, she at least had me laughing with a Beavis inflection.


Dazed said - myocardial infarction (I know why you picked this...)
… more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. The resulting ischemia or oxygen shortage causes damage and potential death of heart tissue. It is a medical emergency, and the leading cause of death for both men and women all over the world.

Mrs JG said - Splenic infarction
... also spleen infract; an infarction is the process resulting in a macroscopic area of necrotic tissue in some organ caused by loss of adequate blood supply. Supplying arteries may be blocked from within by some obstruction (e.g. a blood clot or fatty cholesterol deposit), or may be mechanically compressed or ruptured by trauma.

Kat said - embolism
... In medicine, an embolism occurs when an object (the embolus, plural emboli) migrates from one part of the body (through circulation) and cause(s) a blockage (occlusion) of a blood vessel in another part of the body.
This can be contrasted with a "thrombus" which is the formation of a clot within a blood vessel, rather than being carried from somewhere else

Nancy (scares me) said - Cranial Rectal Impaction
For some reason I can’t find this one... It does however paint a very interesting picture.

Cranial - your head
Rectal - your ass
Impaction - stuck; placed in position with force

Hummmm....


A PSA:
Ladies and Gentlemen, just in case you think I’m all OCD an stuff. I do not need to look up words I don’t know and will NOT be posting your funky words in future Words 'n Words 'n Words posts. M’k?