Vader Lovin

This from Gizmodo, who is having a caption contest on this most disturbing image.

My fav? McCain/Palin '08!

Brilliant.

(p.s. This is my 666 post)

Grandpa

I got the call this morning. He died in the night. (previous post) Off to Cleveland for a few days. Wake on Saturday, funeral Monday. Just about the only thing Catholics don't do on Sunday is bury their own. We'll have to get drunk instead.

I guess the weirdest part for me (and for everyone who goes through the death of someone close) is the sense of isolationism, like the temporal bubble in the sixth world in Braid for Xbox 360 Live Arcade. For those living outside of Kingdom Dork, it's slipping into another world, returning to family, sharing a time, sharing a space completely unique to you and your loved ones; dramas will erupt, sadness will prevail, flippantly change sex mid-stream to joy, and quickly revert, and no one else knows about it. No one else is privy to that chunk of reality. And you might catch a glimpse of that outside world, some snippet of television news, and say "meh, that doesn't concern me" because you're in that subjective bubble and you're not wrong for pausing, the world's wrong for going on and you just want to fucking shake it and scream "Goddamnit, STOP! Look! Here! Take a fucking second and recognize that a wonderful man has died, forever dedicated to his family, a war hero that killed not one living person, saved lives as a firefighter, then prevented deaths as a fire inspector, someone who has inspired two generations going on three. Grandpa. Stop. Look...."

But I guess there is solace in the fact that when I get back, John McCain will still be a douchebag. Some constants will weather the temporal bubble.

And I'm going to need some solid, positive energy come Monday morning. I'm apparently the only grandchild giving a eulogy. And if you've been reading a while, I can be an emotional disaster.

Thanks in advance.

I'll post when I can.

Today's Special - A Whole New World

My friend Brent sent me a lovely link to Today's Special that talks lovely smack about Palin's Pad in Alaska. It's a wonderful blog that I will soon Linktastica! for posterity, something it could have garnered simply because of being called Today's Special and having a picture of Muffy (Nickelodeon fans of yore unite!).

But this is good. I actually read back to April of this year because it was so wonderful and caught this gem. Watch it all the way through.

Electric Slide - Cincinnati Style - YAY!

Well, it's been done: our little part of Cincinnati got back on the juice and not only that, but Time Warner wasn't a total wanker, and I'm writing this to you on my computer! On the internets! Yay!



I, of course, mean that apprehensively. Yay means over 200 emails to slush through, an angry company out-of-state that doesn't have understanding or empathy outside a 20 mile radius, and lots of catch-up.

It also means that I have and others do not: still, hundreds of thousands are without power, and trying to find lunch - let alone a place that takes a credit card machine - can take you ten miles out during a gas shortage in the area.

Pictures tomorrow. Must reconnect.

Mobile - Cincinnati Darkness Again

500K still out.

I was driving around, hunting for lunch today and snagged this pic. May have to click on the biggie, but there's a street sign attached to that mound.

Fridges and freezers out everywhere, spotty power, but Duke's pulling NC resources to join the TX callback and hoping I can join the living sometime soon.

More tomorrow on the Cincinnati Ike 2008 mess.

Tons of pics when I get the internets.

Mobile - Still Darkness in Cincinnati

Yesterday, we pulled out the camping stuff and grilled some eggs and ham and toast before it all went bad. Everything else in the fridge found the bottom of a garbage bag.

We spent about three hours clearing debris from the yard, took a couple walks, found a sole mom n pop place with a very limited menu.

And then the novelty wore off. I know - spoiled, whiny. I think if I had to hunker down and truly get into survival mode (like when the zombies come), I'll be good. But we keep hearing on Little Miss Shambles' battery operated, lime green radio of an unnamed ten thousand that has power and I keep thinking 'we're next.'

Last numbers sometime yesterdsy were 2 million homes out in Ohio, still over 500,000 out in Cinci area, with Hamilton Co. In an official State of Emergency.

And yes, I'm only posting because I pulled a charge from the car.

More later. After we find some food.

Mobile - The Darkness in Cincinnati

While the damage in Texas is still being assessed, Sunday saw much of Ohio - Cinci in particular - bitch-slapped by the back hand of Ike. No rain; all wind.

This image is a car across the street with a tree on top. Dozens of streets were closed due to power lines and trees. Our power went out around 3pm to add to the grand total of an estimated 680,000 in the Cinci area without power. And it could be 3-4 days before everyone's back.

As of 4am, jockey on the oldies station (only one I can get in, of course) said Duke Energy said it was down to 603,000, but was quoted as saying this is like nothing -evar- that they'd seen.

Mobile updates if I can, but have to preserve the charge on the phone. Thank goodness I just got a car charger. Gas = blogging; how green is that?

One last bit. The car in the image is a Saab with temp tags, purchased on the 7th. We met the owners yesterday evening. Turns out it was only parked there because the clutch on their new car had gone out.

It could be worse; I could be that guy.