Archive for the ‘personal’ Category

This one goes to 11

Posted: September 22, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff, personal
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My city is a small city of 35,000, as you might know, we have a gang problem (we have become a drug hub over the last couple of decades just as we were a trade and manufacturing hub in the 19th century) and the violence that comes with it problem, our budget is in trouble, it’s so bad that to save money streetlights are turned off at night all over the place. And we pay I believe the 3rd highest electric rates in the entire country (Thanks Unitil!) It is a mess.

So naturally we should do whatever we can to avoid spending money when it isn’t necessary.

Which brings us to today’s primary election…..

In Fitchburg we have 6 ward counselors and 5 “at large” counselors. Under the rules of the town if more than 10 people run for the “at large” seats a primary has to be held to bring the total back down to 10 before the general election.

We have 11 people running.

On the plus side it’s nice to see so many people interested in getting involved to turn things around, and it will be the first vote ever that my son casts. That is a right of passage into the rights and responsibilities of American democracy and republican government (and by “republican I of course mean the system of government not the party). UPDATE Both he and I thought he registered at the DMV but he’s not on the list, so he will go to city hall and have to wait for the general election in November.

On the other hand we are going to the expense of a city wide primary election to shave ONE STUPID NAME off the ballot when we can’t even afford to keep our streetlights on.

Can’t anybody play this game? What would Rush Limbaugh Honorary Lizzardoid say? Now that the kid can vote I hope he votes for smarter people than we have.

One banning I’d support

Posted: September 21, 2009 by datechguy in personal
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About 6 years ago I used to work near the Hebert Candy factory. They had premium chocolate and make your own sundaes.

Once in a while we would take the kids there, everybody had a good time and the stuff was absolutely wonderful.

Hebert’s also made most of the bars that the kids would sell at fundraisers. They were pretty good and unfortunately helped me maintain the waistline I have today.

A few years ago they sold off the fund raising part of the business, but kept control of the main Chocolate operation.

Saturday the wife and the youngest had a Mom and son day. There were gone for hours and one of the stops included the Candy Mansion. When they came home late in the evening the were bearing candy corn for him (his favorite) and some Genuine Hebert Chocolate for me.

I hadn’t had it in a while and as sucker for any type of Chocolate I happily took one.

It was simply AWFUL!. It was inferior to the “store brand” chocolate offered in the local supermarket and not in the same planet let alone the same league as a Cadbury bar. If they were selling stuff like this a decade ago I would be twenty pounds lighter.

I may be proudly banned from Little green footballs but let me say this to Charles: If Hebert’s chocolate every declares themselves “proudly banned from lgf”, you should be the proud one.

A slightly odd rule 5 sunday entry

Posted: September 20, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews, fun, personal, war
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I generally don’t do rule 5 entries but I’m going to make an exception here for a purely Sicilian reason, family interest.

Martha Raye pinup

This is Martha Raye from the 40’s. You likely remember her from of all things polident commercials but to the soldiers she entertained in war zones she was a lady.

So Why am I bringing this up. Well in the book I’ve already plugged and urged you to buy. The Army Insider by retired 30 year Sgt Major David C. Carden who served from Vietnam to the First Iraq war and beyond both in combat and undercover has a Martha Raye story on page 55 which I will partially repeat here:

I was a 19 year old kid in December 1966 when I first met Martha Ray(e). She came to my Special Forces camp at Kontum, Viet Nam as part of a USO tour. It was just her and her entourage. Martha Ray(e) was a movie star and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Nurse Corps. This trip was a little entertaining an performing her Military duty. She was good people

It was early evening and I had just returned to camp after being out for about 10 days. We had a small one-room shack that served as a club and I headed over to get a Coke. I was unshaven, dirty and probably smelled a little ripe. Maggie was siting in the corner of the room at the poker take and a group of guys was standing around watching the game. I walked over and some of my friend were playing and there was an open seat. She looked at me and said, “Have a seat young Sergeant.” I told her I didn’t have any money with me and a voice behind me said, “Here kid”. Sergeant Major Johnson the Camp Sergeant Major handed me $200 in MPC’s So I sat down…

the army insider

I’ll tell the end of the story next Sunday, but if you can’t wait the self published book is available at Amazon and is a great way to say thanks to a man (part of my family by marriage) who gave thirty years to serving his country while enjoying a bunch of great yarns.

Update: Welcome Rule 5 readers. The promised end of the story is here.

The Army Insider: Amazon book review

Posted: September 19, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews, personal
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the army insiderMy review of The Army Insider Up Close and Personal Sergeant Major David Carden’s autobiography is available at Amazon.com here.

This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed a book where I had personal knowledge of the author and some of the events therein. A found a few minor errors but none that were earth shattering and none of them will affect your enjoyment of the book.

As my review makes plain this is a good book and you will enjoy it but even if it wasn’t on a personal note I’d like to say this:

This is a man who gave 3 decades in your service. He isn’t likely to make a fortune from this book he published it on his own via Authorhouse but if you ever wanted to say thank you to an individual who has served his country, here’s your chance.

Update: At my wife’s suggestion pulled part of a sentence that came off as condescending. As usual she’s right. My Bad.

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