Deployed

Nick shipped out early yesterday morning.

He had a one or two stops to make in country, so by now he's probably on a plane with the rest of his platoon on their way to Kuwait for a couple of weeks of training.

From there, it's into the shit.

Nick will be stationed in Mosul. He's part of an MP battalion that will make regular driving patrols around the region.

What's amazing to me is that Nick is only 25 years old. 25, and he's commanding a group of men who, in all likelihood, will have to kill someone at some point. Not to mention the high probability that some of them probably won't come home. That's some heavy shite.

I try to think back to when I was 25. At the time, I was editor for a small daily newspaper in Kansas. As such, the biggest danger I faced was a tongue-lashing (heh) from a pissed-off reader.

Certainly, I never stared down the barrel of an IED (it's a figure of speech. I know IEDs don't have barrels).

So yes, we're all nervous about Nick's safety. He understandably doesn't like to dwell on it.

We bought him and his Supermodel Wife of a year (my Supermodel Wife's sister), lunch last weekend when they came to town. He reluctantly talked about his mission, and was frank about where he was going and what he was getting into. He noted that most of the support staff will never leave the military base, and as such will be pretty safe.

The MPs units however will face daily danger as they make their patrols. But Nick would rather focus on the task at hand, whatever it may be, than worry about the danger and risk. A result of his military training, no doubt.

So, let me just take this chance to ask you to keep Nick and all of our soldiers on your mind.

And to wish Nick godspeed and safe returns.

tagged: Iraq, Mosul, war, military, soldier

Call me, irresponsible

I've been soundly chided by Dan at Gone Mild. It seems we disagree (not the first time) on his stance regarding "citizen journalism."

According to Dan's post:

Bloggers who take themselves seriously and consider themselves “citizen journalists” need a reality check. Unless you’re doing the ground level development of sources and documentation, you are playing at journalism.

It's a good point, and I don't disagree with that statement. What I disagreed upon was that a blogger (or anyone else for that matter) is relieved of all responsibility simply by virtue of not being a "journalist."

The debate stems from a previous post where Dan roasted Kris Kobach for landing a gig at UMKC teaching immigration law. Except, the whole thing might be made up.

It seemed Dan thought it okay to make up this kind of claim and then have an opinion on it. Certainly he has the right to do so. However, I commented that it's irresponsible to post something like this without noting the source or at least suggesting that it might not be true.

I was called out for posting links to news articles and then giving an opinion on them. But in my view, there is a substantial difference between providing a link and then commenting on it and making up a "fact" and then commenting on it.

Again, we all have the right to post pretty much anything on our blogs. But it really doesn't take much effort to be responsible in the low-standards world of blogging. Why not provide a link? It's pretty standard practice. What's the harm in a little attribution?

To be fair to Dan, I trust him and I don't think his post was a complete fabrication. I just wish he would have provided some kind of attribution.

Then again, to Dan's point, this is a blog we're talking about, not The Wall Street Journal.

I'm just surprised that a call for responsibility is such a radical viewpoint.

tagged: blog, blogging, journalism, Wall Street Journal, responsibility

Not that there's anything wrong with that

I slept with a man for the first time in a long time Friday night.

Actually I can't remember the last time I shared a bed with a dude. I'm sure it's happened before (hell, college was a crazy time for all of us, right?) I just can't remember when it was.

But you know what, maybe it was all the alcohol from Rusty's Last Chance or the extremely late hour (or should I say early hour), but it really was not all that awkward.

And really when you think abut it, why should it be awkward. We were just sharing a bed. We were in a circumstance where there were four regular heterosexual guys sharing two queen-size beds in a hotel room.

It was part of our annual guys getaway weekend in Manhattan. Every year, we get the gang together, leave the wives at home, drive to Manhattan and get sloppy drunk in Aggieville then get up a few hours later and tailgate at a K-State football game (the Cats lost to Louisville in case you missed the sports page).

Still, its rare when you sleep with two different guys in a weekend, so the situation was good fodder for good natured ribbing among the eight of us. The common theme of jokes followed the line from The 40 Year Old Virgin: "Hey Jeff, know how I know you're gay? Because you slept with two guys this weekend."

Ah, good times. Luckily we've all pretty much come to grips (heh) with our latent homosexuality.

Actually, the worst part of the weekend was the loud-freakin' snoring by the guys I slept with. They tried to blame it on me, but I have irrefutable video proof that I was not the snorer:



tagged: guys, Manhattan, football, latent homosexuality, sleep, snore, video

YouTube Tuesday: Gin and Juice and Cheese

My friend Mike Unger first introduced me to Richard Cheese (or, as I call him, Dick) a couple of years ago. Dick's rendition of Baby Got Back would make both Dean Martin and Sir Mix-A-Lot swing in their graves (yeah, I know Sir Mix-A-Lot isn't dead yet, but his career is, right?).

And what a great brand Dick Cheese has. He's like a hip, swinging version of Wierd Al Whathisname, but with musical talent. It's a great niche for him and his band, Lounge Against the Machine.

Cheese has his own channel now on YouTube. Here's his 2004 cover of Snoop Dogg's Gin And Juice.



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, music, Richard Cheese, Dick, Snoop Dogg, Gin And Juice, Lounge Against the Machine, culture

Friday signoff

Not much to say today
no time to say it anyway.

So I thought I post this pic I took
and let you all take a look.


Let me know what you think.
Leave a comment, and maybe a link.

tagged: personal, blog, family, picture

It's Official

Last night's premier of The Office was the funniest show ever on TV.

I only hope the rest of the season stacks up.

If you missed it, you'd better hope you DVR'd it. If you don't have a DVR (you poor bastard) here's a clip from the Leno show.

Also, don't miss the "webisodes" and deleted scenes on the official website. Good comedy. I'm still laughing.

tagged: The Office, humor, comedy, Steve Carell, pop culture

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

Okay, it's been about a two week hiatus for us, our dreams were our ticket out. But now we're back to the same old place that we laughed about.

First, a word of explanation: It was just a hellabusy time for old emaw this month. For one thing, I was bustin' my hump at work for 10 hours a day trying to get a bunch of projects completed and launched. Not complaining. You gotta do what you gotta do. But it didn't leave much time for blogging.

Add to that that my Super Model Wife and I sold our cute little ranch house in Hip and Trendy Roeland Park and sold out for a larger, not-so-cute split-level in Square and Lame Overland Park. So we sold, bought, packed, moved and unpacked in less than a week, which again left no time for blogging.

So here are a few random thoughts on moving south:

• We've moved down to around 95th street. Not our preference. We were seriously considering a house closer to 75th but decided to go with the newer house with more room. Not that the 95th and Mission area is that bad. It has some cute shops and at least it's not Olathe. But still, we're a little farther south than we wanted to be. Life is one big compromise I guess.
• The people we bought our house from turned out to be ultrapricks. One example: We had requested to move in two days before our closing so that we could allow the people buying our old house to move in on time. Kind of a chain reaction thing. We were led to believe that this was no problem. Until about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night before our closing on Tuesday, when those jackass sellers demanded that we sign papers saying that if we didn't close we had to pay them $500 day. Bastards. We were trapped of course since we had already hired movers etc. Anyway here's the lesson we learned: Never do business with a FSBO or anyone with the last name of Shue. (If your reading this, I'm sorry but we really feel you negotiated in bad faith).
• We did end up getting a new roof, courtesy of the seller's insurance agency, so that's good. But there are numerous interior projects that need to be done to bring the house up to our standard of finish detail (what is with that crazy tile in the bathroom!?!?).

All in all, we're pretty happy. We've started the process of making the house a home and our soon-to-be four-year-old daughter is stoked about the new place. All the neighbors seem to be really nice as well.

So while I'm sad to leave the old neighborhood, I'm embracing the potential of the area we're in now. And if everything works out right, we could be moving back north in six or seven years.

I just hope it's not that long before I blog again.

tagged: Kansas, Overland Park, Roeland Park, Mission, move, real estate, FSBO

YouTube Special: They Call Me Trinity

If you've spent much time on this blog, you'll know that I've been a YouTube junkie since my first hit last January.

One of my favorite things to do is look for entertaining videos that are somehow Kansas City related. It was on one of these YouTube surfing safaris that I came across this video from your friendly neighborhood cell phone company.

I always appreciate when advertisers go the extra mile to make a funny damn commercial -- especially when it references an arcane spaghetti western -- so I don't mind embedding it here.



tagged: video, YouTube, Sprint, Nextel, humor, spaghetti western, commercial, Kansas City

Good call

I previously posted about a killjoy in Vermont who was tired of seeing beautiful naked people walking around her hometown.

The bitter shrew even went so far as to put forth an ordinance banning public nudity. The town council of Brattleboro discussed the ordinance earlier this week for about five minutes before politely declining to take action.

The level-headed town council saw it the way I saw it:

"Winter is coming. If spring comes and we still have a problem, we'll take another look at it," said Select Board Chairman Steve Steidle.

According to the Associated Press, the burg has a history of freedom with the human form, being very open to public nudity, clothing-optional swimming and other events.

In fact, there is even an event known as "Breast Fest," with women parading topless.

In related news, I've decided to buy a summer home in Brattleboro, Vermont.

tagged: Brattleboro, Vermont, nudity, naked, nude, Breast Fest, clothing optional

YouTube Tuesday: Video Exclusive

This week, we bring you a 3AM Video exclusive:
Joel Mathis' First Date!!!

We all know area blogger Joel Mathis for his excellent blogificating at Cup O' Joel. And many in the Lawrence area view the work of our intrepid newspaper editor every day in the Lawrence Journal World.

But only Three O'Clock in the Morning has captured this breaking video coverage. We can't be certain of the original author of this video. Our investigation is ongoing, but we suspect that it was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Mathis, who had installed a surveillance camera in Joel's bathroom to keep tabs on the teenage him.

But thanks to the ubiquity of video surveillance and the popularity of YouTube, we can bring you this unedited footage of Joel primping for his first date.

Note: The following video contains images that may be considered disturbing to some. Parental discretion is advised.



tagged: video, YouTube, music, Joel Mathis, humor, dating, Trekkie

Tenacious D

We were staring to get really worried.

Over the past couple of days, he had gone from his usual happy self, to acting tired and run down, to extremely lethargic, vomiting and shaking.

Dexter the Wonder Dog was under the weather to say the least. X-rays at the vet showed some inflamed vertebrae which could be causing pain and explain the lack of willingness to jump up on everything and chase anything.

For the first time in six years, our Jack Russell Terrorist Terrier wasn’t bouncing off the walls.

Friday morning when he refused to drink or eat (even the special extra soft and chewey sausage-flavored treats I bought him), we finally had to consider that it might be Dexter’s time.

This breed typically lives for 15 years or so, and Dexter has always been as tough as they come, surviving a broken leg as a pup and a scrap with a dog four times his size.

But as he lay on a blanket Friday morning, laboring to breathe, my Supermodel Wife and I were forced to consider the worst. Will we need to do what a broken leg and a big dog bully weren’t able to do? Will we have to “put him down?”

Major bummer. I thought about all the good times we’d had. I taught him all the tricks he knows: sit, stay, shake hands, roll over. He even does this cool thing: When I make my fingers into the shape of a gun and “shoot” him, he falls down dead.

How could we ever consider getting another dog after Dexter?

Luckily, we don’t have to. Dexter was up and around Saturday morning. He had his appetite back and by Sunday afternoon he was eager to go out to the back yard and play Frisbee.

We still don’t know what was wrong. The vet says he probably injured his back somehow – falling down, bumping it or twisting it. I tend to disagree. He’s like the Mikhail Baryshnikov of dogs. He has more agility in his stump tail than most dogs have in their entire bodies.

My theory is that he had some kind of canine version of the flu, hence the vomiting and lack of appetite.

Either way, it’s great to have him back to his old self. Here’s to Tenacious Dexter.


tagged: dogs, Jack Russell Terrier, vet, euthanize, Dexter, Tenacious D

Five favorites

Ganked from Joel Mathis who swiped it from J. Freedom do Lac (what?!?!), here's my list of favorite songs in five different musical genres.

Note: This is my current list. This is bound to change, especially since it's a three-day weekend.

• O Mio Babbino Caro – Puccini (Opera)
  
• I Shall Be Released – Nina Simone (Soul)
  
• Take Five – Charlie Parker Dave Brubeck (Jazz)
  
• People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield (R&B)
  
• Rapper’s Delight – Sugarhill Gang (Old School Rap)
  
  tagged: music, genre, culture, opera, soul, jazz, R&B, rap