Monday, June 25, 2007

Just a quickie...

Due to my love of Star Trek, and my hatred of Windoze...

I only come across something so perfect every once or twice a decade:



Have a great one, folks...

-- Tuckmac

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

It's approaching!!!

On Wednesday... It's (as My Lady and are are calling it) GORDON BROWN DAY!

We're leading it off today (Sunday) as GORDON BROWN LABOUR DAY... In which we dance around the flat wearing red, and doing the 'Happy Dance'

On Wednesday, Bushie's attack poodle steps down, and Gordon Brown takes over as the Prime Minister of Britain.

We're pretty chuffed.

We're going to have tea and cake on Wednesday. And hope you'll all join us in the cyber world doing the same!

Smiles and Kittens.

-- Tuckmac

P.S. Only 575 days and 23 hours remaining till The Evil-doer is out of office!

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A great 'off the cuff' rant....

... Against Conservatives...

If you don't read it... You should. The Aristocrats is all about Liberal's having a good time... I found the site due to member: Blue Gal and, although I'm not an 'avid' reader... It's a place I check out once a week, and I suggest to all my readers, to do so as well...

I read this post, and chuckled. No, actually... I howled. This was SO much the same sort of conversation I have with my own family, that I was just tickled:

    here's a portion of an email exchange with a 'conservative' friend/family member:

    ...and I have to admit knowing how nuts you go over my conservative political position makes me snicker.

    I hate to deprive anyone of a snicker but your "conservative political position" does not make me nuts. other things that don't make me nuts: the shapes of clouds and the color of your shirt.
    ...'conservative' has evolved to be the most flexible word in any language, what's black today is tomorrow white. 'conservative' means smaller government that gets bigger every day, it means increased individual freedom under strict governmental control, it means firm respect for the Constitution while ignoring what it says, it means no foreign entanglements unless Republicans want to, and it means love for the rule of law, unless it gets in the way. it's a silly putty word whose definition is rightly, 'whatever gets us the power and money that we want right now'. for the last 6+ years the CPP has pretty much boiled down to whatever the Cheney/Bush corporate clan has wanted(with, just lately, the wonderfully delicious exception of immigration policy) and you will eventually discover that you have been used like a $3 whore. my job is to help lead you to that discovery sooner; to lessen your embarrassment. you're welcome.
I mean... Sandy Underpants... You're my hero!

It really explains the 'other half' as it were... Thank you! So go check out the The Aristocrats And while you're at it check out: Blue Gal, and... Um... Just READ stuff... Get in the know! For crying out loud!

-- Tuckmac

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Whoa... Tuckmac's an arsehole.

Okay... This is both an apology to parents everywhere, and hopefully a bit of a clarification of what I 'meant' to say, rather than the paranoid and delusional rantings that came across in my last post.

First... I have to stop generalising. I tend to do that a bit too much, and even the TITLE of my last post was, well... Really wrong.

Parents... In general... Are marvellous and self-sacrificing people. You take a little piece of you, and your loved ones and turn it into a miracle. You then do everything in your power to raise and nurture this little being into well-rounded and happy little humans. To the parents that do this... (my Mother, My mother-in-law, several co-workers, etc...) I humbly give you thanks. And also, here it is again... Ask for your forgiveness of my hasty words.

Now, I will be honest, and say that I don't understand how you can do that.

I think a big reason I am so freaky about children, is that I know that I was an 'oopsie' child. My whole life, and the life of many children I know are 'oopsies'. The parents didn't lovingly get together and make a baby on purpose... No... They had one heck of a fun night, and found out a month later that they were going to be parents.

This is different than many. I know a few parents that deliberately chose to have children, and quite often, say... 90% of the time, those children turn out to be great. But those parents are ALSO the type that limit television usage, watch what their children are doing on the internet, and frankly are 'involved' in their children's lives.

(I'm hoping those parents that fit that persuasion of child-rearing see themselves in this, and also that they know that I know that that's what they do. 'Cause I do.)

Now us 'oopsie' children aren't as lucky. About 20% of us turn out okay, 'cause the parents who weren't PLANNING on being parents do the same things that the 'planned parents' do. T.V. is curtailed, internet is controlled, spend time with their kids... Etc...

I say US 'cause my Mum was pretty intense about my upbringing, and thus I'm not running about shooting at people. Anyhoo...

The parents who are a 'very' small proportion of parents out there are a specific sub-group of both Yuppie parents who never see their kids because work comes before family, and very poor parents who can't watch their kids, 'cause they work too much to feed 'em.

(VERY small part of those groups, 'cause just 'cause you're poor in my Mum's case or Yuppie in some of my cousin's case, doesn't mean you can't be a tremendous parent. It's just harder.)

Like My Lady said in her comment (In the last post, please read the comments, or this groveling will make very little sense): My Nanny State point, was the particular rant that I began upon. I hate that society (and this isn't just parents) but society as a whole seems to be embarked on a state-sponsored crèche, where society and schools do the work which the parents USED to do. And it isn't just kids, either... It's society trying to curtail what their OWN CULTURE is creating in response to the culture. Why is there more violence on T.V.? Because there's so much violence in the real world, frankly. This gets played out in various genres, and places... Art, Theatre, Movies, Videogames, et al... The fact is, our culture is sick. A sick culture turns out more sickness. I DO believe that participating in culture is a personal choice. If one doesn't want to see violence, or let their children see violence... Turn off the telly. This is really what my previous rant was supposed to be about, but...

I didn't get that point across personally, 'cause other things got in my way. And frankly, the reason I don't piss people off TOO much, is 'cause I usually sit down to write a blog, whilst being in a good 'writing' sort of mood. I wasn't. And that was a bad idea. In the past week, I had had five different parents ask me 'what was taking so long, and why don't you have kids with your wife yet' and I let that get under my skin unconsciously, and frankly... I think a tonne of my wrong-headed rant was due to that societal pressure. I shouldn't have let that creep into my OTHER rant. This isn't an excuse, by the way... It's just what happened. I'm still wrong.

I ask for every parent that read my post, and became rightfully angry at me, to please forgive my hasty and unordered and just plain WRONG rant.

Thank you.

-- Tuckmac

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Parents: F-bloody OFF!

Okay... Rant time...

I just came across THIS freaking story in the Star Tribune, and I'm just...

AARRGH!

What IS it about society that seems to have so many issues taking responsibility for one's own choices/children/homes and networks? Hmm??? Why is it up to the government and industry to control what people see/hear/think and learn?

Why do parents feel that 'sex and violence' in the media is all the media's problem, instead of sitting back and just thinking for a bloody minute...

It's your kid. You CONTROL them. You have the ultimate and first-responder's charge for your child.

Stop using the bloody telly as a babysitter and start paying attention to the porn your kid is finding on-line.

DO use a V-chip in your telly. They are installed in MOST of the bloody boxes-o-braindeath lately.

DO use pop-up blockers and 'safe-search' in your browsers.

If you don't know what these bloody things are... THEN LEARN! You're KIDS know what it is, so should you!

Stop expecting the rest of our society to take care of your kids that you're obviously too USELESS to do yourself! If you can't take care of your own children maybe you shouldn't have had sex in the first bloody place!

You know, there's quite a few of us OTHER folk out here that do NOT have children, nor do we want any, because we know how much work they are. We're not willing to give up our careers or our happiness to raise a kid.

You DID. You decided to get bloody-preggers and you birthed a child upon this dirty war-infested rock. Now DEAL with it. Get with the program... Learn about technology, and take some bloody responsibility.

Jaysus!

-- Tuckmac

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Linky Day Wednesday and a Cheese Sandwich!

Greetings readers... Welcome to another fun day of links and cheese all for your amusement, or chagrin... Depending.

First the Cheese...

Well, after my excitement of finally becoming full-time at L.O.L.A.U., I've now settled into the rather horrific fact that I won't see my first 'full-time' paycheque until August 1st. Oh... The fun of only being paid once a month. But... After August, things will be quite nice at the Tuckmac household. We'll survive till then... Right?

My Lady had her first real shift at Her new job last night. She told me today that she had a wonderful time, and that the staff are actually NICE to her, which after her LAST pub job, is amazing! So, we're chuffed. I went out there last night. No, not to torment her on her first night... But to enjoy the great Music! I talked to a couple of Morris Dancers and I'm seriously considering 'going out for the team' as it were. Yeah, I know it may seem silly to you lot, but I think it'd be fun to dance around like a poof with hankies. (Just kidding Morris Dancers)

I got back to the flat around 11:30pm, and I was thinking I was all wonderful (as I must wake up at 6:00am to get to work on time) but then I went outside for a 'final smoke' and ran into a whole bunch of community members (a.k.a. C.A.L. Residents, and ended up being awake till around 2:00am.

Doh!

So I was a bit slow today at work, but nothing major.

Anyhoo... It's the 'Alumni Reunion Weekend' at work, starting on Friday, and I get to pretty much LIVE at L.O.L.A.U. for the weekend... Doing event set-ups and videotaping of sundry meetings/fun things. I'm sure the reunion weekend is really GREAT for an alum of L.O.L.A.U... But for us 'employees' it's rather nightmarish. Och weel... At least it turns out, I don't have to do Sunday. Thank the gods.

Our flat is ONCE AGAIN a shambles, this time, due to the construction company not 'caulking the joints' of our shared walls. That's right... The reason we can hear everything our neighbours are doing, is 'cause, well... There's basically HOLES all along the top and bottom of the 'shared walls.'

So... We had to move everything we own into the middle of the flat.

We have a LOT of stuff. Gah.

So... The flat is horrific, and we're vaguely cheesed off about the whole thing. Well... I suppose it'll be nice to not hear our neighbours' every word. But the horror... Ach.

Okay... That's enough Cheese... Time for the Linky Day to begin:
  • I'm not showing my wife this particular video (although she reads my blog, so I'm screwed... But...) It's a rather amusing take on it... And it really takes the piss out of blokes, so... I thought it was apropos. How to be a perfect girl friend.
  • This Sign is at OUR coffee shop, I swear! I think it's rather cute.
  • My Lady LOVES zombies, so... this is for her.
  • A GREAT flash comic that I came across... It's aimed 'mainly' at my Yank readers, although I'm sure my Brit readers will also chuckle: Immigration
  • I've seen a number of the 'Bush Speech' edits in my day, and I'm sure you, fine reader, have too. However, I thought... Ehh. What the heck, though ANOTHER one up here, go on Tuckmac, it's not like you haven't totally alienated everyone already... So... here
  • I'm not sure if folks outside the States know of the vague, um... 'slant' found in Fox News but... I thought this joke would pass cultural barriers.
  • Okay, I'm probably going to hell for posting this, but... I'm really only linking to it. Do NOT go HERE if you're a fundamentalist Christian.
  • Speaking of Fundamentalist Christians... And Bushie... Here's an actual graph of the U.S. economy since 1990. YOU decide.
  • Okay, last one... Vintage Ads. Ladies... I wouldn't use Lysol as a feminine hygiene product NOW-A-DAYS! Gah!
Well, I hope you enjoyed the rambling today... Thanks for all the great 'congrats' you folks have given me the past two weeks... I love ya!

Smiles,
Tuckmac

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Well, it's finally official - GOOD NEWS!

I've been unable to post about it ('cause it was rather un-official), till now, but I have wonderful news!

I've been working at the L.O.L.A.U. for about 10 months now, and the job THUS far has been wonderful and fun, and educational and well... Just fab. However, it's been only part-time.

I received yesterday, a letter extending my contract through June 2008. Full-time. For scads more money!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

I'm like, a real adult, with like... A real adult's job, with like a real adult's PAY-CHEQUE, for the first time in my 34 years of life. I'm just giddy.

My Lady is still very happy at her job as the Volunteer Coordinator at the The Soap Factory, and like I mentioned in an earlier post... She's FINISHED at the "icky" Irish 'theme" Pub, and is now working at a GREAT pub, mentioned in my earlier post as well.

So... We're both pretty happy, and joyful.

On top of ALL of that... I'm having a good time doing some video-editing for the The Soap, My Lady and I are both playing more music... And all seems to be going nicely.

I'm going to enjoy this week, as long as the Karma doesn't slap me in the face!

Hope you're all well, readers... I know I am.

Smiles and Kittens,
Tuckmac

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Saturday, June 02, 2007

Damnation!

So, I spent about an hour and a half wandering the web, as I do every week, in order to bring you, my readers, another 'Linky Day Wednesday' post.

I don't know what happened, as I bookmarked like normal, and put them all in the right place on my browser, and...

I just began to write this post, was going to grab the first link, and...

Nothin'.

I've been saving about 13 links in the past two hours, and they didn't stick!

Bloody-HELLLLLL!

Well...

Um.

Yeah.

Crap.

Since my laptop is about 15 minutes from running out of battery, and I don't have the time to go look for any of the links I had located, I guess I'll do a bit of plugging.

Tuckmac's life, and times lately:

  1. Best Art Gallery in the Twin Cities: The Soap Factory
  2. Best Pub in the Twin Cities: Merlin's Rest
  3. Best Coffee Shop in the Twin Cities: A Fine Grind
Yep... That's it. But... Those are also the places that I've spent the MOST time in the past week, yes, including my flat. Sad? Yes.

Have a good weekend.

-- Tuckmac

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