Well I finally finished that #%$@#^&%$%& deck and here is the proof. The dog is not my idea.

I’m getting to old for this shit, but Mrs Sage approves so I guess its all worth it. It certainly is comfortable to relax in our little oasis.

Anyway I know all you avid readers have wondered just where the hell I’ve been so this it the reason.

But I’ve got another project on the front burner as it looks like I’m going to try and go mainstream with a commercial web site. I’ll be working on that for a long time but will try to write more often now as much of what the web development involves is writing.

I haven’t started to bash McSame yet either and will wait till he really does some ridiculous crap before I blast him. I’m glad the dumbocrats got their minds made up. I have to admit I’m a little worried about Barack. Some stupid redneck or nazi might take a pot shot at him. Lord I hope not. Who knows what shitstorm that would start.

Anyway, I plan on standing behind our guy as much as possible. Go Barack!!

PEACE!!
The Sage

As the ghostly apparition of Obi Wan tried to explain to young Luke Skywalker, truth is relevant. It all depends on your point of view. We have all heard the old saying “perception is reality” and unfortunately too many people treat that as a truism. While we all tend to treat our experiences and conscience as our guides for believing what is true and what is not, let us all agree that there has to be some objective point where we can say that one thing is true and another is false.

Not so simple you say, and of course you would be correct. So many truths are not so black and white. All too often decisions and beliefs run into the gray area, that dark, nebulous region we know as emotions. We can’t bring ourselves to move outside that area of comfort that makes us so sure of our convictions and perceptions of truth. If there is anything I’ve learned in my time on this earth, people do not want to admit they are ignorant of anything much less that they could possibly be wrong about something. Especially something they think they know something about or something that represents what they perceive to be incorruptible. Like our government for example.

Have you ever heard of NSPD /51 HSPD 20? Take a look at this link and then consider how W and the neocons could use this to to their advantage. What would happen if another 9/11 type event occurred and say W and his boyz blamed it on Iran? My guess, that place would look like Iraq in a short period of time and any of us truthhounds would swiftly be put away in the detention camps for non-patriots and enemy sympathizers.

What NSPD/51 HSPD 20 means is that anytime the President feels like the country has suffered a catastrophic emergency. They didn’t have it place on 9/11 but he is going to make sure that little detail is not overlooked the next time. I call again on you to take action and write to your representatives asking them to explain why they have allowed such a blatant path for W and his neoconvicts to effectively suspend the constitution and take over.

We the People will never believe this because their reality would never allow for a corrupt government. They would rather sit idly by thinking this will never happen to me that reach outside that sphere of their reality to consider that some people are not guided by the same moral fabrics most of us live by.

Now we are told by our fearless speaker Ms Pelosi that impeaching Bush “isn’t worth it”. Excuse me but the welfare of our country is damn well worth it regardless of what she thinks. Another perception problem is that we thought we threw the bums out last November only to find out that the dumbocrats are just as incompetent. We are not going to clear this up until we vote all the bums out or change our system. This great country was formed by revolution and I perceive that its time for another. Take back our country, support the national initiative.

Peace!

The Sage

I’ve been reminded lately that the human body needs rest and relaxation in order to cope with the stresses and pressures of modern living. Back in the old days when Man (gender neutral ladies) had to work every day to survive they still had down times after dark, during rain or bad weather to take a load off, sleep late or have some time with family and friends. Me and the missus have found ourselves more married to the JOB than each other. Working together has its own separate stresses involved, but the main downside is that we get so wrapped up in work, we forget about taking it easy and relieving those stresses. Even our “vacations” turn out to be stressing -  going through airports, driving in strange cities, strange hotel rooms with uncomfortable beds and the whatever that comes with all that.

Even on weekends we always seem to have some project, housekeeping or gardening that keeps us going until suddenly its Monday morning again. Well the missus finally had enough and went out and bought us a tent camper. I have never lost my love of the outdoors, but it always seemed such a hassle to drag out the tent and other camping supplies and then work like a dog to setup all the tent, tarps and kitchen. Now we have this handy tent on wheels that most people refer to as a Pop-up.  Not the same as one of those huge, expensive motor homes or 50 foot campers, but a small trailer that you’re  able to move around by hand (if you’re not on a big hill mind you) and put a bunch of your camping stuff in all the little compartments.

My wife was so excited to go through all the drawers and cabinets since the couple we bought it from left much of their camping stuff inside. Ah the smores maker, a fondue set, popcorn popper, toaster oven and, wait a minute. Fondue set?  That ain’t campin’.  I been campin’ 40 some years and not once did any of the old timers bring out a fondue set. As a matter of fact we didn’t even have s’mores. Back in the day, a big old iron pot, a huge blue coffee pot, 3 or 4 iron skillets, a tarp, some rope and groceries was all we used to take.

Then we got us one a them white gas, pump-up coleman stoves AND a lantern! Next was the canvas tent and later nylon varieties. Then when propane became widely available, a propane stove and lantern tree and heater and fish cooker and on and on was what you needed. Let’s face it, even campin’ ain’t campin’ no more. The modern world has invaded a once sacred practice of the old school, ain’t nuthin’ should be easy school.

But wait a minute I came up here to relax. I actually had the camper setup in 15 minutes and that was after a major correction born from unfamiliarity with our newly obtained piece of modern technology. In 15 minutes it was open, beds in place, power and water connected, air conditioner going, awning setup and I was barely sweating. That was easy.

We actually played Scrabble last night, I haven’t played Scrabble in 30 years or more. As I write we sit in the comfort of a reclining lawn chair with my laptop on, connected to the wireless Internet offered by the boat dock across the cove (for a fee of course), hoping my blackberry doesn’t go off , oh wait did I forget that thing? Drat, oh well I guess they can’t call me

Back to the point of relaxation, I actually slept a total of 18 of the last 24 hours. I’m still drinking coffee at 10:20am and don’t have to worry about mowing the yard.  I have only in a few weak moments even thought about work. I feel like a new person after one of these little getaways. So take it from someone that just recently re-discovered how to relax, buy yourself a popup and hit the road. Remember Monday will come anyway so do yourself a favor and take a break. Go AWAY, do not stay home or those pressures will never fully disappear. Camping is a reasonably inexpensive distraction that even with a tent can be easy and relaxing at a nearby State park or private campgrounds. Nice clear campspots, clean bath houses, electricity and water at the campsite affords almost all the comforts of home at a nominal fee. Even if you like the primitive, work-at-it style camping, most parks have that available as well.
One word of caution, make sure your chosen campground isn’t full by calling ahead or making reservations where able. It can be frustrating to get there only to find there is no availability. You can meet new friends or take along some old ones. The food always tastes better on a camping trip and really thats the only thing you even need to worry about.  What and when for the next meal?  And oh yeah, don’t forget to forget the blackberry.
Peace!
The Sage

Today I want to let you know about my favorite words. You will see them repeatedly in my posts and manuscripts so I just want you to get a feel for there contextual usage. All these definitions are in no particular order except the first and are my definitions except the bullet points which are pure unadulterated plagiarism and blatant paraphrasing of a Google define:xxxxx search.

1)WHY?!? – a rather difficult word to define but basically the term is a question that requires a response as to the rational or reason behind the stated concept or situation that sparked the question in the first place. The people I work with often make fun of me when we get into meetings and someone proposes some off the wall plan or idea. Its more the way its said than anything but imagine is a very sarcastic and emphatic whyyyyy? In other words, ‘what kind of a lame brained idea/topic/argument is that?’

2)Dangerous -
involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; “a dangerous criminal”; “a dangerous bridge”; “unemployment reached dangerous proportions”
causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; “a dangerous operation”; “a grave situation”; “a grave illness”; “grievous bodily harm”; “a serious wound”; “a serious turn of events”; “a severe case of pneumonia”; “a life-threatening disease”
adj. . Involving or filled with danger; perilous.
. Being able or likely to do harm.
I often attribute dangerous to people that have power and the ability to inflict their will on us. These can range from street punks up to the President. A problem that exists today in a great deal of unexpected areas. Any child able to lift, point and pull the trigger can take your life in a heartbeat for no good reason. I am more worried about this happening than some “terrorist” event. However the loss of our freedom through the unscrupulous abuse of power that exists in Washington DC today is also a very real and apparent danger.

3)Intelligence or Smart – the opposite of Stupid. Having a brain that does something besides keep your ears apart. The ability to apply cognitive reasoning with mental acuity, accuracy and speed. Someone that can disagree in an articulate manner worthy of consideration. I don’t necessarily have to agree with someone that disagrees with me it is just difficult for me not to think that they lack information or have flawed logic

4)Stupid – Lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity. I would like to take some time on this one since stupid or a variation such as moron (pronounced moe-ron), imbecile (pronounced em-bi-sile), dickweed, idiot, jerkoff, egghead, clod, dumkof (ok I know its not spelled right but my ancestry is German not my vocabulary), dink, spud, or punk. I’m not to sympathetic to politically correctness, but I will try to refrain from using terms that could be associated with ethnic or racial groups. But that’s not a promise

Stupid can also be transitory or temporary since I will be the last to claim that I have not had my stupid moments. Everyone freezes or goofs in a given moment or circumstance that could portray a lack of mental acuity. However it is those individuals that consistently exhibit a total lack of intelligence, compassion, kindness or grace become by my definition, STUPID!! Other definitions:
dazed: in a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock; “he had a dazed expression on his face”; “lay semiconscious, stunned (or stupefied) by the blow”; “was stupid from fatigue”
a person who is not very bright; just your plain old can’t fix stupid, stupid; unintelligent: lacking intelligence
Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence. The determination of who is stupid is difficult, despite attempts to measure intelligence (and thus stupidity) such as IQ tests. Mostly its just anyone I think is stupid since my intelligence is not in question

5)Ignorance – Lacking knowledge; without factual information; the condition of being uninformed or uneducated. Not to be confused with Stupid. Ignorance does not reflect ones intellectual faculties but simply states you don’t know. This is especially irritating when the person in question usually doesn’t know that they don’t know. Herein is where the overlap with stupid is conceived since I tend to get frustrated with someone who simply can’t admit that they don’t know. I also refer to this as the Engineers syndrome since engineers are notorious for not admitting they don’t have knowledge about EVERYTHING.

6)Knowledge – “ Having factual information; being cognizant of relevant happenings either through personally witnessing an event or assuming certain things to be true based on another’s account. This is a very Dangerous word as information assumed to be factual is not always true. This dilemma is at the crux of our problems today. Many of us assume that certain sources of news and information such as our National media and rely on them to present facts. However as we see all too often these days they are not all that trustworthy. Knowledge should not to be confused with Wisdom.

7)Wisdom – the skillful use of appropriate knowledge; knowing the difference between fact and fiction; a subjective mind set that is always debatable. Another nebulous term that I use to suggest a good idea; the ability to separate fact from fiction; and what my Dad always called ‘common sense’. Wisdom has a very relative scale. A homeless person is wise regarding how to make do on the street but has little wisdom towards maintaining employment or finances. So wisdom is very relevant to the subject of discussion.

8)Expert – The old joke goes that an ex is a has been and spurt is a drip under pressure. Most “experts” are con artists and oblivious to the facts that there are seldom any clean cut ideals or answers that are 100% correct. Most everything is relevant to an individual perspective. Not to say there aren’t people that know what they are talking about (like me for instance , I just think that anyone with advanced college degrees that have never done anything except teach aren’t always an expert. Don’t believe everyone’s claim to be or all those presented as Experts.

Well that wraps up Part One of my favorite words. There are several others that no doubt appear from time to time and I will make sure to define them as they occur
PEACE!
The Sage