The Last Tax Free Christmas?

Followed a link on Slashdot that led me to an article on Forbes (here is the article. (warning. there is an annoying video at the bottom of the page. you can turn down the volume, but each new video returns the volume to max.)

Seems that the Democrates want to start making sites like Amazon collect sales taxes in every state, instead of just certain states like they do now. I think the first comment to the Slashdot article says it best, when it quotes the Constitution.

Article I, Section 9: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census of Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State

I could be wrong here, but my intepetation is that Congress has no power when it comes to state sales taxes. That is up to the state governments, not the federal. So if they start making sites with out a warehouse (like Amazon) they would be doing something that is unconstitutional. (from the sound of things, only sites with warehouses, like Walmart have to charge sales tax.)

If this is the worse that happens with the Dems in charge, that's fine. But if they are willing ignore the Constitution like this, I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse.

This Is Pathetic

Saw this on Slashdot. Here is the exert from the main page.

"It looks like some users of popular networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have stooped so low as to actually pay real money for friends. These friends aren't even real believe it or not. You can apparently choose from a selection of 'models' to leave you customized comments to look like you have friends and are popular online. This is unbelievable!"

I think pathetic is a better discription. If someone wants friends so badly and has money to waste on something like this, they should give it to me. I'll put it in my "Take Over The World" fund and give them a small country when I take over (which country depends on how much you give.

BTW, if anyone from Coke or Pepsi are reading, my offer still stands :)

Saw this while goign through the archives for PVP and thought it was cool.

How To Be A Shirt Ninja

Jairus sent me this. If you ever wondered if it was possible to be a Shirt Ninja like Greg in Real Life Comics, now you can :)

The Joys Of Commuting

I just got home from work. I was going to drive, but my truck didn't want to start so I had to ride my bike. Which was tons of fun trying to push my self as hard as I could so I wouldn't be late, going into the wind with a nearly flat tire and bad knees. I got there with a couple of minutes to spare.

After work I picked up some milk, put air in the tire, and rode home. If you can ride bike to work, do it. even if it is the last day of November because there is so much you miss while driving. I saw Christmas lights that I wouldn't have seen in a car. I spelt smells I wouldn't have semlt. The truck sull of chickens wasn't too plesent, but it was soon replaced by the smell of wood stoves burning.

Possibly the best part of riding on a cold day like today is getting home, changing into some sweats or something, curling up on the couch with a good book or a good t.v. show/movie, and a cup of tea. You can drink cocoa or coffee if you want, but I prefere tea. Tonight, it's Earl Gray. Hot.

There may be better things in life, but right now, relaxing on the couch, tea on the table beside me, it doesn't get much better then this.

Farming

I grew up on a farm. I have fond memories of helping my dad work on the machinery and riding with him in the cab of the tractor or combine. I was too young to do much, but I could get tools for him and keep him company. I remember looking forward to it riding with him in the field or to the elevator, probably because it was time me and my dad got to spend together. My mom and my sister were usually doing something else, and when my brother lived with us, he was usually busy too, so in the field it was just me and my dad.

Maybe that is why I like playing games like Harvest Moon or watching shows about farming technology so much. That's why I am watching an episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel about the history of farm tech.

Before going to a commercial they give little bits of trivia, and one of them was about the fact that today only about 2% of the US population farms the nearly 2 billion acres of farm land. Every year the number of farmers drops, family farms are forced to shut down due to low prices.

I'm not a farmer, but it a lot of my relatives are. I live in a community surounded by farm land. Farming has been a big part of my life, even if it is just through the people I know. So it saddens me when I hear the number of family farms closing each year.

My uncles run one of the bigger family run farms in their area. Between their accomplishments (and now the accomplishments of their children) and the farm, theya re fairly well known, yet they were forced to take jobs outside of the farm due to low prices. They continue to farm, working in town when they arn't in the field.

My oldest cousin on that side, Brett, is in college but helps out when he can. He will most likely join his dad and uncle in the family business after graduation. another cousin, Travis, has also helped on the farm, but whether or not he will go into the family business after he graduates, I don't know. (he's only 13 right now, so he has plenty of time to decide.)

One thing I can't help but wonder is what lies in the future. What if Brett and Travis take over after their fathers retire, but their children don't want anything to do with the farm. same with their sisters. what if their future husbands and children want nothing to do with the farm. The family farm could die with my generation.

What is my point? I don't even know if I have one, but if I do it is this. Support your local farmers. Buy localy raised products when you can. There will always be farms run by companies like Green Giant and Del-Monte, but if the family farm dies, so will an important part of America

It's raining right now. Not as hard as it was when I got up this morning, but it is still coming down pretty good.

That's not that odd, but what is odd is that I was woken up by thunder.

That's right, thunder. From a thunderstorm.

On November 28.

At 6 in the morning.

It gets better though, because if I heard right it is suppose to snow latter today! It's possible that I was woken up by a thunderstorm, and I will go to sleep as snow gently drifts to the ground.

Got to love this Minnesota weather.




P.S. Sorry, I was half asleep when I heard the weather report last night. It's suppose to rain off and on for the rest of the day and then turn to snow some time tonight. sorry about that.

Still wierd to have a thunderstorm in the end of November.

Dragon's Fire

This story is part 2 of Dragon, a 7 part series that started in Dragon's Fury.

Dragon's Fire

Custer hit the wall hard as his hands grasped at his throat. The beast’s razor sharp tail barely hit him, but the damage was done. Blood started to ooze from between his fingers. He tried to say something, but all that came out was a sickening gurgling sound as he struggled to breath.

Kawalski went to help Custer, but the dragon’s tail lashed out again and knocked him down. Kawalski tried to get to his feet, but the dragon took to the air and landed on top of him, crushing him under its immense weight.

The dragon turned towards me before diving at me with its massive head. I rolled out of the way and her snout hit the ground where I stood. I reached for my sword to drive in it into her eye, just as I had against Draconte, but I had dropped it as I dove out of the way.

Shelano turned her head and fired. I was able to jump behind a pile of rocks, but Custer wasn’t as lucky. Still trying valiantly to slay the dragon, he was incinerated almost instantly by the searing hot flames. I managed to get behind a stalagmite that was large enough to barely protect me. I could feel the heat as fire shot past me on either side, singeing the hair on my arms. I began to charge my shield, knowing that she would have to stop soon, and then I would have my chance. I would kill her just as I had killed her mate.

Draconte had reigned as the king of the dragons for years, slaughtering all who attempted to slay him. But he had not anticipated the technology Jacob had used to create this shield. A beam of phased energy had torn through Draconte’s skull, ending his reign of terror.

When Shelano returned to their roost, her cry of sorrow over the death of her mate shook Energist City to its core. In the five months since I killed Draconte, she has terrorized Energist City and the surrounding countryside, searching for his killer. Now she wanted nothing more then to see me dead.

Searing pain once again shot through me as the shield finished charging. I gritted my teeth, waiting for the fire to stop. After what felt like hours, it finally did and I broke cover, unleashing a stream of fire of my own.

The beam hit Shelano in the side of her head, destroying it. She reared up and screamed in pain before falling to the ground. As she fell I saw the handle of a sword wedged between the scales on her neck.

I pulled the sword out and stood beside her head. Shelano continued to roar in pain, threshing her head from side to side. The smell of burn flesh arose from the wound. I drove my sword into the base of her skull, severing her brain steam just as I had with Draconte.

I collapsed to my knees, exhausted. As I looked at Shelano’s motionless body, something caught my eye; an emblem on the hilt of the sword I had used to kill her. I drew the sword, yellow blood flowing from the wound. This was my brother’s sword.
The magnitude of this discovery sent me to my knees. It hadn’t been Draconte that killed Jacob. It had been Shelano. All the damage that had been done, all the people who had died as she searched for Draconte’s killer. It had been my fault. I had killed the wrong dragon.

Guilt overwhelmed me and I wept bitter tears, as Shelano’s body smoked beside me.

First Day On The Job

Today was my first day at my new job :) After 3 weeks of not working, it felt good to be back.

It was kind of weird being in what was formerly enamy territory, but I was too busy learning how to do my job to really get use to the store. There was a lot to learn, and I doubt I will remember it all, but that is why it is called training :)

The only really bad thing I can think of is the fact that it sounds like we get paid weekly instead of every other week like we did at the old store. That means I will have to rework my bill schedule (before the first check of the month would go to bills (phone, net, cable) and the second would go towards rent. Shouldn't be too hard to do, but it will still be anoying.

Accually, now that I think about it, I think my old boss owes me some moneyt still, since I worked a couple hours last pay period. I might have to get that and use it for a video game or something :)

New Job!

YEAH! I have a new job!

It's good to have friends with connections. Dan picked up and dropped off an application for me, Both Parkers put in a good word for me. Even Jon, the GM of my old store, who jumped to the compatition about two years ago, went searching for the person who I was suppose to interview with today when she was running late.

Its nice to have a job again. I start on Monday, training in the deli. After I get trained in I will be a floater, going where ever I am needed. I am taking a bit of a pay cut, but it is worth it. Better hours, a possible raise in 60 days (reviews are during January, so hopefully I can make a good impression in the two months betweennow and then) Insurance after 90 days and a few other benefits that I can't think of off the top of my head make it worth making less per hour.

Dirty Car Art

Holy crap on a stick this is cool. Check it out.



This is from the Site Of The Day over at User Friendly He has also done some Rembrant, the Mona Lisa, and the Dogs Playing Poker!

Check it out, there are lots of other cool pics of his work at Dirty Car Art.

I just saw a commercial for Jitterbug, a new cell phone and phone service which offeres a more simplified phone, containing just the features you need (phone book, voice mail, stuff like that) It's accually kind of cool. There are buttons just for 911 service, the screan has big text, and there are big, easy to see buttons. It is great for people like the elderly who have trouble seeing, which is why they are targeting senior citizens.

The question I have is this. I bought my first phone for about $75 (it was top of the line at the time and on sale) I bought my current phone, which is probobly 10 times as advanced as my first one, for $50 (top of the line TracFone at the time, although they have released more advanced ones since.) So can someone tell my why a phone that is less advanced then my first phone costs $150?

TNA Gensis

Tonight some friends are coming over, the PPV servers are fixed, and we will be watching TNA's Genesis PPV. It should be a good show. There are some pretty decent Tag Matchs on the Undercard, Christpher Daniels VS Chris Sabin for the X-Division Title and A.J. Styles VS Christian Cage should be some amazing matchs. Any of those guys to geather are great matchs, and we get all of them in two matchs tonight :)

The main events should be good. Abyss VS Sting for the NWA Heavyweight Title should be good. I've never sceen a full PPV Sting match, just clips and some matchs on Impact. I've sceen the Tag Team matchs he was in from some of the past TNA PPVs, but that isn't the same, so I am kind of excited to see my first 1-on-1 Sting match.

Of course the match we are all waiting for is Kurt Angle VS Samoa Joe. I have a feeling the room is going to be divided into Joe fans and Angle fans. I personally am not taking sides. I like both of them equally. If you were to throw Chris Benoit in, then I wold have to choose sides, but in this match, I can't. all I know is that it should be a Match Of The Year.

Casino Royale

Casino Royale, the newest Bond film, opens tonight. I haven't seen it yet. I want to, but I haven't, so this won't be a review.

I did however read some reviews on MSN (available here) The critic review is pretty pathetic, but the part I thought was the best was the readers reviews. A few people had accually seen it, but many had not! How d you review a movie you haven't even seen? Even MSN Managment posted a "Review" saying if you hadn't seen the movie, don't post a review.

There was some stuff in the reviews that I wanted to coment on. Here's what one person said:

Q Why replace a guy who is doing well ? As the saying goes, dont fix it if it is not broke. Daniel Craigs looks alone, make him an after thought.

A. the producers thought it was time to move on and bring in a new Bond. Sad very Sad.

Yes my non exsistant readers, that is the whole review. Informative, isn't it? It's also inaccurate. The reason why Peirce Brosnan is no longer James Bond has nothing to do with producers. Brosnan didn't want to play the part anymore. It was his choice, not the producers.

Personally I think this is a great time to do Casino Royale. We finaly get to find out how Bond gained his Double-0 status. Some people complained about his personality (more on that in a minute) but maybe he didn't become the Bond we all know and love until after he became 007. Same with the hair. Some fans didn't like the fact that he has blond hair, but maye Bond had blond hair until he dayed it for a mission and decided to keep the darker hair color (that is just speculation, but it works.)

I think my favorite review is this one:

I read everyones review can tell none of you actually saw the movie.
The movie isnt bad if your not a Bond fan and just want to go see an action movie.
But if your a Bond fan youll hate it, Daniel Craig is no James Bond.
There trying to go a new route with Bond and it just doesnt work.
Bond is suppose to be cool not any average joe!!!!!

Like I said, maybe he isn't the same Bond we know and love, but this is supposed to be his first mission as 007. Time and events can change people. Maybe the events of this mission and any missions before Dr. NO (the next film is supposed to be a direct sequel to this one,) caused him to become the Bond we are used to.

I think my favorite line in that review is the one about Bond being an "average joe." Obviously this guy doesn't know his Bond history. Ian Flemming chose the name James Bond because it sounded "plain." It sounded like a name for an average joe.

ALl I know is I can't wait to see it. I don't rely on critics to tell me if a movie is good or not. I watch it and make my own decisions about whether or not I like it. I do rely on reviews for somethings (if a movie gets a good review I might see it, even if I didn't want to see it originaly) but in the end the viewer must make their own call about whether or not a movie (or T.V. show) is good. Anyone who relies completely on what critics and other people say are going to miss out on a lot of good movies and shows.

Politics and Superheros

Saw this on The Anarchangel and I think Chris has the right idea, although I think Captain America would be a better choice. Yeah he has sided against the government from time to time, most recently during the Civil War, but atleast he doesn't have the whole alcoholism thing. (bush already had to deal with that sort of thing. No need to have another boozer in a government position.

I also saw this while reading the comments for the above post. While I have often said that I choose not to side with any one party, I usually agree with the Republicans more then I agree with the Democrates. So I was glad to see that the best D.C. hero of them all is republican. Spidy was found to be a democrate, but as I have said, I vote for who I agree with the most, so there isn't anythign wrong with that. if Spidy ran for office, I would probobly vote for him.

Jairus just sent me this. He sent some other ones too, but this was the best.

Why do I get the feeling that I will have a conversation like this someday.

I was just at Go Clipless and I saw their newest Cool Bike Quotes, both from Missy Giove.

Mountain biking can't be square and clean-cut 'cause it's not a square sport. It's gotta stay tribal.

This is very true, not just about Mountain Biking, but biking in general. No matter how much I might not like my formor boss some times, we were both cyclists and we had that bit of common ground. No matter how bad things got at work, we could always talk about riding.

The whole tribal thing does seem to come out more in Mountain Biking, due to the fact that unless you are racing it is more of a group activity, where as road biking seems to be more of a competion, but it is there none the less.

I don't want cycling to become an elite sport like skiing. To me it's a soul sport, an art form. I see the world in a different light when I'm looking at it from a bicycle.

This is something I think most of my cycling friends have forgotten. The reason why we started riding was to take part in an activity as a group. Unfortunatly a couple of us, who use to be some of the bigger biking advocates in the area, have moved exclusively to road biking. Nothing wrong with that, but when we did the group rides, they were always going off on their own, leaving me and my dad to guide the group. One person even went so far as saying that he didn't want less experienced riders with us because they were slowing us down. After I confronted him about that, he chose not to ride with us again.

Any time you get a bunch of guys together, whether it is cycling, eating, or driving nails, you are going to have competition. But once some people stop focusing on the fun and start focusing on solely on beating others, then you get that kind of elitism that can be the demise of a cycling group. with the exception of myself trying to keep the group rides going, an failing miserably,the elitist views of a few killed the group rides. I just hope that next year, with me able to ride in the afternoon more, we can get back to the level we were at a few years ago.

300th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes ladies and Gentlemen, this is post numer 300! Took a little bit longer to reach 300 then it did to take 200, but I figured that it would. I think that the last 300 went pretty well. I posted a bunch of my stories, which is one of the things I wanted to do, and think I have the layout of the site where I wante it.

Not on to predictions. How long will it take me to get to 400. It took me a little less then 5 months to get here, so I will say it will take about the same about of time to get to 400. We'll have to see if I'm right :)

As I was reading the newest issue of Velo News (thanks alor mr. postal worker. It says on the cover to deliver it before October 30, and I just got it yesterday, on November 6. Great job guys) and I realized something.

Losing my job is one of the best things to happen to me in the last year and a half. Finally I am out of the dungeon that was the bakery. This means I can start to rebuild my psocial life. I never had much of one to begin with, but when I started in the bakery, I basicly had to put my life on hold. Now I can hang out at the Fiend, spend time with friends. I don't have to be in bed by 10 every night because I don't have to be at work by 3 the next morning. If I want to stay up till midnight, I can, which will make it alot easier to hang out with friends (before I would have to start getting ready for bed around the time they were ready to start hanging out.)

Who knows. I might even meet Mrs. Right :) Atleast now I have the ability to. before, the only way I could have met someone was at Church or while riding. Not a bad way to meet a girl, but in this town, the odds are slim.

Not only that, but now I have more motivation to find a new job, this time out of necessity. Before I was looking, but I wasn't trying to hard either because I was tired or lazy. Now I have no choice.

Also, since I will be on a limited budget until I get a new job and my first paycheck, it means that I will have to experiment with cooking. I will probobly get most of my food at Walmart since it is usually cheaper, but not always as tastey, so I will have to try new things to make it taste good. Darn :)

Possibly the best thing to come out of this is the fact that I am forced to ride bike more. My truck is almost out of gas, and by riding bike everywhere I will save a decent amount of money. Might not be much, but at the moment every little bit helps.

I just got back from the store meeting and it is official. The store is, for all intents and purposes and I am now unemployed.

I'm not to worried though. I already have a few applications out there. After all, we all knew that this would be coming. Plus I have a bunch of friends at the competition and I spent 8 years working with their GM, so I can always go there. My dad said that they may need some help where he works too.

If nothing else, there is always unemployment, which would be better then nothing.

So tomarrow I will be heading to the Fiend to check the want ands (I don't get the local paper, and their website is usually a couple of weeks out of date. maybe I should apply to be their web master) and after that see if the compation has hany openings. If they do it will be wierd having to wear a tie again, but you have to do what you have to do. At least I would be able to wear my rings at work again :)

I think the worse part is now I don't have any excuse for not working on my NaNoWriMo project. Before I could say I was tired and needed to take a nap, but I can't do that anymore :(

Oh well. Maybe now I will accually finish something and can make a living writing.

I just thought this was funny.

Work just called. Sounds like the owner has called a store meeting tonight. Maybe now we will find out what's going on without having to hear it on the radio and see it on a website.

Given his track record though, it will probobly jest be more lies.

Armstrong Completes New York City Marathon

Lance Armstrong succeded in finishing the New York Marathon in under 3 hours--by 24 seconds. He said that it was the hardest thing he had ever done, and that it was even harder then his worse days in the Tour.

I makes sense that it would be harder then the Tour. After all, Running is much harder on your legs, knees, and back then cycling. Not only that but in the Tour Lance had an entire team of people who were helping him and he could draft behind them, making it easier. In running you can kind of draft, but it isn't nearly as effective.

I like Lance's comments after the marathon.

"Before the race that was my goal, I wanted to break 3 hours. But if you told me with 3 miles to go, 'You're going to do 3:05,' I wouldn't have cared," he said. "Honestly, at the end I was so tired, I couldn't care. Now I'm glad I did."

Will he be back?

"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind," he said. "I don't know how these guys do it."

NaNoWriMo Begins

As soon as I finish posting this, I will be moving to the tower to begin my project for National Novel Writing Month. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to do some more stuff with Fantasy. I was against it when Casey suggested it, but after thinking about it I reallized that I could use my Fantasy stories for this.

Now all I have to do is stay focused. I sometimes get distracted easily. Damn Attention Deficiet...Oh look! A Squirel!

[after chasing after the squirrel I am distracted by a shiny object. after playing with it for a few minutes I return to the computer, read som blogs, and return to writing this post :)]

I think I will be ok. I haven't been turning on the T.V. as soon as I get home for a while now, due to the fact that I have been taking mroe naps recently, don't feel like watching much T.V. until later in the after noon, and most imprtantly, because I can't find the remote (found it yesterday while moving some furniture in the living room around. It was behind the couch. How it got there I don't know. I blame the man who lives im my couch. Haven't fed him any pocket change in a while, so he stole the remote.)

I think I can even reach the 50,000 word goal. I will have to rearrange some stories, and due to my self imposed copyright embargo I will have to completely replace some stories while heavely modifying other, but it should be ok. Casey even gave me permission to use his character, Flashjack, in a few, so that will help alot, and I might even be able to help him some, which is a good thing.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some writing to do.