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I hate the rare occation where RealLife™ issues somehow coordinate subversively and depleat my checking account to below my comfort level without my knowledge. Usually this happens when a woman has access to your money, but I have to admit that EL is fabulous when it comes to the value of the dollar. I think this was poor coordination and communication on my part. At any rate, it pisses me off. Remember FastWay? They did the soundtrack to Trick or Treat back in 1986. I hope by the end of the night everyone has happy hollow weenies. I hope you film it, start a home pr0n Internet site, and retire off the proceeds. Further, I hope you can manage to not let your smut-tastic nouveaux richeness lead you to a gutter lickin' heroin addiction that results in you selling your brownstar in the ally behind 7-Eleven after the money is played out just to get your next fix. You wouldn't be able to afford a mini-cam to film it and recoupe your wealth from proceeds in the fetish market and then where would you be? Fucked up. I'm telling you. You have to plan for the future. Suddenly everything's alright Everything is cool Hey dudes I like your style It's the way it should Maybe you'll see Someone's put a spell on me Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Steal your soul Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Take control Knock, knock, knockin' For a sweet surprise It's a trick or treat See my face true up in the skies If ever we should meet Maybe you'll see Someone's put a spell on me Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Steal your soul Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Take control So let's rock Rock, rock Rock, rock Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Steal your soul Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Take control Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Steal your soul Rock and roll Rockin' on a midnight Take control We're gonna rock it on DOWN!

Is this thing on?

"The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." It was cold this morning. It is cold today. I know "cold" is a relative thing, but when I say it here, I mean it is cold for Texas. I remember mornings leaving work in Saratoga Springs where you would get on-contact frostbite if you tried to walk the parking lot with any exposed flesh. Those days where the actual temperature without the wind chill factored in was still 33 below zero (Fahrenheit). It was 48 degrees when I started my truck this morning. My wife was sound asleep... snuggled up with 9 pounds of a 102 degree portable heater named Henry. I convinced myself to brave the new chill into the garage and pack mule some firewood into the house. I lit the first of the year in the fireplace so the den would be warm and inviting when EL woke. When I departed for work, the room was a few degrees warmer, but still filled with that chilly silence only occasionally interrupted by the low crackle of the burning logs. When I stepped onto the back porch, the crisp, cold air carried the smell of the fire from the chimney top through the neighborhood. Maybe it was a mixture of the neighbors fireplaces and ours, but the delightful scent is just one of many things I love about this time of year. I love the fall... when the temperature and leaves begin to change. The air fills my lungs with a different flavor for the soul. Refreshing and nostalgic. My strongest memories of times and places past are from the fall months. Perhaps it is because I favor this passage of the year more than other chapters? I think about what I'm doing now from day to day and can't help but feel that something is missing. Usually it passes with the thought as something else comes to the forefront to be addressed, but the fall makes the feeling linger. I miss the mountains. I dislike the city. I work in a high tech industry that provides a standard of living for my family. I love small towns that survived cultural sacrifice. I love those little places nestled in the country that still provide safe haven for the arts and live music. Live jazz and a well constructed martini is as important a staple of existence as sex or a delicious wine. If I could live as a working photographer in a small mountain town with cultural diversity sans the big city bullshit and still provide for my wife, I would be a happy man. Until then, it's taking the blue pill and trudging through the Matrix each day. Eat. Sleep. Go to work. Eat. Sleep. Go to work. Eat. Sleep. Go to work. Rinse and repeat. Die. Seeing as how it's about lunchtime, I must be on the eat cycle. Ciao. Move aside, and let the man go through. Let the man go through. If I stole Somebody else's wave To fly up. If I rose Up with the avenue Behind me. Some kind of verb. Some kind of moving thing. Something unseen. Some hand is motioning to rise, to rise, to rise. Too fat, fat you must cut lean. You got to take the elevator to the mezzanine, Chump, change, and it's on, super bon bon Super bon bon, Super bon bon. And by The phone I live In fear Sheer Chance Will draw You in To here.

everyone sees their life a different way saviors even come on different days bleeding his colors into several shades but i am a prisoner caught in the flesh, red-handed watching my life go by i'm watching my life go by watching my life nobody knows how close "together" means love is a race we run at different speeds pacing ourselves to deal with different needs but i am a spectator caught in a crowd of laughter watching my life go by i'm watching my life go by watching my life somebody help me find my way back down there's nobody left for me to lap around everyone's breaking past my speed of sound i am a dictator i keep my soul surrounded watching my life go by i'm watching my life go by i'm watching my life -Michael Hedges (1953-1997)

"Light travels faster than sound, That is why some people seem bright until you hear them speak." I had a jury summons to serve yesterday morning. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and I was playing the odds until the plaintiff's attorney mentioned the case was going to last three weeks. There was no passing of time from the breath carrying those words to the hands across the room shooting into the air... not any on a measurable scale anyway. Everyone had an excuse. Everyone had an invalid relative or small children they were the sole care giver for that they apparently didn't have when filling out the exemption form before being assigned to a panel and court. Everyone was ill... shingles, lupus, arthritis... you name it. Ebola. Everyone had surgery pre-op scheduled or plane tickets already purchased. Everyone pleaded the financial impact and it's debilitating reality if they were subjected to 3 weeks of trial. Everyone demonstrated the essence of their personality in that instant. It was sick poetry. I could have painted a masterpiece reflecting on that courtroom scene using only black, brown, and crimson oils. Everyone bubbled up to the level of mediocrity they apparently always dreamed and strived to achieve. It was at this point in the chapter chronicling my day that I decided I must speak. I did... and at length. I expressed my opinions surrounding the circumstance of the trial without regard to whom I offended or pleased. It goes without saying that I was stricken from the panel. I made a mental note however, that the majority of the people selected as jurors were those that tried to "fly under the radar". Be strong and stand by what you believe. Let it be known. Don't be a sheep.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2005 has been awarded Roy J. Glauber "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence". And John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique