The ol' Blog rope-a-dope...
...if it works for boxing, it oughta work for blogging...

Muhammed Ali used a trick called "rope-a-dope" in which he would linger near the edge of the ring, lulling his opponent in close, and then, BAM!!! Followed by an unceremonious "thud" as the opponent went down. So I'm going to employ that tactic here. I'll just type a whole bunch of stuff that's drifting in and out of my mind, and while you are searching for something informative, you'll actually become lulled into reading this post 'til the very end. BAM!!!

Is he as Bushed as we are? Prezzident Bush entertained us all with his rousing State of the Union Speech recently. In fact, it was such an exciting and informative speech that immediately afterwards, his job approval rating plummeted to an all-time low of 30%. Actually, I didn't think he was doing THAT well, so go figure...isn't the idea of giving a speech, to ENHANCE the approval rating? BAM!!! (the sound of a backfire)

Something I saw while tailgating: Actually, I wasn't tailgating. I was second in line at a red light that's right at the top of a steep hill. I could tell the lady in front of me was driving a manual transmission auto; when she began to move after the light turned green, her car went backwards as she was engaging the clutch. I can imagine THAT intersection with an Idaho-type coating of ice. Her car drifted backwards toward mine, but her clutch engaged with a quarter-inch of room between her car and mine. And, she had an interesting bumper-sticker, which said, "never drive faster than your angel can fly". And I'm thinking MY angel prevented her car from hitting mine.

Shirtsleeve weather in January: It's been cold where I used to live; I saw a report on a regional TV news network that aired a story which happened up there, and there was still snow on the ground and ice on the roads. That ice caused a pickup truck to skid across a railroad crossing, and BAM!!! Crunch, grind...when your vehicle hits a train, you're not having a good day. January isn't quite over yet, but down here on the coast, I had to remove my light jacket, because it was getting HOT in the Post Office. Outside, the sun was blaring and the sky was a vivid light blue. I continue to marvel at the difference a few hundred miles southward makes. No snow? I think I can live with that. I can handle anything Oregon weather throws me, outside of a giant tsunami. If that happens, tho, I know where the high ground is.

Zal and Denny, workin' for a penny, tryin' to catch a fish on the line: Zal was Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful, and Denny was Denny Doherty of the Mamas & the Papas, and that lyric line comes from "Creeque Alley", a good-timey Mamas & Papas historical tale set to music. All of those bands knew and chummed with each other. "In a coffeehouse Sebastian sat"; Sebastian is John Sebastian, leader of the Lovin' Spoonful. "McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin fire"...McGuinn is Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, and I believe McGuire was Barry McGuire, who sang "Eve of Destruction". I could go on and on, but I won't, other than to say that Denny of the Mamas & Papas passed away recently. I will go on record here and say that I loved everything the Mamas & Papas recorded. Absolutely wondrous vocals. That's Denny you hear on "Monday, Monday". Still can't trust that day...

Turned-on TV blues: Right now, as I'm typing this, a TV commercial is featuring a character named Billy Mays, who is hawking another valuable household product that you absolutely can't live without. He shouts in a high-pitched voice, exhorting the numerous attributes of whatever product he's advertising, whether it be dust-bunny eradicators or an X-27 dusting mop sold in tandem with a sheet of cloth that absorbs tons and tons of liquid. I suppose if you laid enough of them on the ocean bottom, there'd be no more high seas. Normally, when I see his bearded face, I hit the "mute" button; in this case I didn't...I was busy blogging, after all. Suffice it to say that Billy Mays has a voice that could peel paint. His voice is so irritating, that I'd rather listen to OPERA than listen to him.
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BAM!!! I've just hit you with the realization that you've been rope-a-doped into reading my entire blogpost. Since I probably have attention deficit disorder, I've tried to keep the paragraphs short, otherwise I'll lose interest in what I'm typing. Think of this blog as a sort-of cyberworld salad bar, I guess...