Toyah

(say it like J-Rock would)

My esteemed Toyah colleagues might remember we spent most of one fall watching the Sharpe movies: Sharpe's Rifles, Sharpe's Battle, Sharpe's This, Sharpe's That. Sharpe was a plain soldier in the Napoleonic-era Peninsular War who had a knack for getting into trouble but also for getting out of it. He also had an amazing knack for getting women to rip off their clothes. Other than that, I remember it was a fun, well-written and well-acted story that didn't take itself too seriously, but was still pretty good as a historical account.

Anyway, here's the 14-set DVD series. The books are here: some of them were written before the movies, but others were written after, so apparently they follow each other relatively closely.

there are 5 of you. your purpose...to amuse me. why is there no amusement to be had?

this weekend i will be driving to south carolina again. i am picking up a car that my brother is buying through my uncle that lives there. for those of you who haven't heard about how unlucky my brother has been over the past two months...here's the story.
-visited his fiancee in detroit to see the oakland/tigers game (cool)
-got to meet barry zito, and got his autograph (cool)
-his car was stolen
-insurance provided a rental (cool)
-the rental car caused him aggravation on his job
-insurance paid well more than he owed on his car (cool)
-he bought another car
-his car broke down...transmission toast
-driving our parents' car...he hit a deer
-driving his fiancee's car for work...it broke down...alternator issues
so there was some cool stuff in there, but a lot of bad car luck.

that's my contribution to toyah for the week.

now stop being boring

If you're not already aware of it, there's a strong anti-pork movement in the Senate this year. Senator Coburn and Senator Obama have sponsored a bill that would make pork-barrel spending visible to the public eye. A few weeks ago, two anonymous senators placed a secret hold on the bill, which would stop the bill indefinitely. After pressure from hundreds or perhaps thousands of blogging citizens, Senators Byrd and Stevens admitted responsibility and lifted their holds.

But now there is apparently a new hold! I've just written my senators in an effort to hold their feet to the fire. If you haven't already, please contact your own senators. For posterity, because I'm sure my letter is destined for the history books, here's what I said:

Dear Senator Levin/Stabenow,

I am writing to express my strong support for S. 2590, which will make the practice of earmarks visible to public scrutiny. I know that another anonymous hold has been placed on the bill; if you are the senator responsible, please lift the hold. If it is not you, please accept my thanks and do all in your power to get this bill made into law as quickly as possible.

insert homer simspon head-back, open-mouth grunt of happiness here.

i am very happy to have an extra day of weekend this week. i had last friday off, too, but i drove all night thursday night last week, so the sleep schedule was all out of whack until mid-week this week. now i will be able to sleep in on the weekend (as is should be) and still have lots of time to play.

baseball fever is high, but my cincy red-legs are not making me super-happy. football is coming. fantasy sports for both are in high gear. playoffs...drafts....awesome.

work stresses have reduced for a minute. i just have a few more things to do to be caught up after a whirlwind couple of weeks. if i can get them done in an hour or so tonite, i'll have nothing hanging over me on tuesday when i get back.

have a great labor (free) day!