Oh no! It's gonna be cold! Ack!
...a weathercaster's way of saying, "THE SKY IS FALLING!"

Everyone's saying how cold it's gonna get over the next few days. I'm here on the Oregon coast, and the weather-guessers are saying, "pipes could freeze! A hard freeze is on the way! Watch out! If you don't drive carefully, your life is in jeopardy! Protect your first-born and everyone else by staying off the roads!" Yadda yadda yadda. Well, it is the season for snow. We, here, are supposed to get maybe an inch or two (if any at all), even though my former locality of North Idaho is "in for it", I guess. I've developed a habit of watching "Northwest Cable News", and as the temperatures scroll by at the bottom of the screen, I compare what it is "here", to "there". And there's usually a substantial difference in temperature between "here" and "there". "Here", being warmer virtually all the time...I don't know, I'm just not up to facing Old Man Winter anymore. For the last few years, "snow" has truly been a 4-letter word as far as I was concerned. I suppose "Rain" is a 4-letter word, tho. And we do have plenty of that. But, as I've said before, I DON'T HAVE TO SHOVEL RAIN!!! YAAAAY!!!

If I was in her shoes, I'd get outta there dept.: Turns out the paparazzi are chasing the new girlfriend of Prince William (or Edward? I can't keep 'em straight), in England. Shades of Princess Diana there. Already, the poor girl is having to endure a crush of camera-wielding photogs, who can't leave her alone as she goes to do the laundry, or pick up a loaf of bread, or whatever it is that a Prince's girlfriend does. I think one of the most effective things she could do, is hold a press conference, say she's breaking it off with her prince, and BLAME THE MEDIA. You couldn't PAY me to be a member of royalty. I'd buy a desert island, and exile myself promptly. The poor girl is "in for it", for sure. I hope she can handle the pressure.

The latest from Baseball's hall of Shame: "Wait, don't you mean, hall of FAME?" Well, in a way, yeah, I do. It was publicized today that Mark McGwire only got about 23 votes today, in his quest to be elected to the Hall of Fame. He, who hit, what, 73 home runs and set a new record not so long ago? At this point, I'd say that McGwire has about as much a chance of being elected to the Hall of Fame as Rafael Palmeiro, who was basically run out of Baltimore when steroids were discovered in his system, after testifying earlier, in Congress, that, no, he hadn't taken steroids. I don't know why everyone was so shocked. We should all be used to LYING in Congress by now! I watched a McGwire interview a while back; he said, "steroids don't make you a better hitter; you have to be able to hit in the first place." Granted. But maybe the 'roids make a difference once the ball is HIT? Let's ask Barry Bonds. He's gonna be playing this year...

Row, Row, Row your boat: Back in 1999, the wood-chip freighter "New Carissa" ended up beached on an Oregon coast beach, not far from where I am now. The Navy or Coast Guard or whoever tried to tow the New Carissa back out to sea. The New Carissa broke in HALF; one half of it floated 40 miles up the Oregon Coast before sinking, but the other half has been beached ever since. It was going to be removed this year, but that ain't gonna happen. There's only a three month "window" in which that can be done, in the Summer months before the tides get too severe to perform the removal operation. The reason it won't be done this year? It's gonna take too long for all the agencies concerned to make final financial determinations. The intent is there, but all the legalese is throwing a wrench into the works. So, you'll have at least another year to watch the beached, rusting half-hulk of the "New Carissa" to continue disintegrating into nothing useful. Kinda sounds like, when the "New Carissa" gets around to getting towed away, it'll probably fragment into dust, and then dump trucks will have to haul it away. Truly, a tale for the times.
____________________

Whoopee! Got my post done early! Jam nite tonite! I get to go out and abuse my guitar! In Public, even! Twaaaaaang!!!