CLEANING OUT THE BLOG-ATTIC...
...I never know what I'm gonna find in there...
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I realize that since I bought my digital camera a little over a year ago I perhaps have become more dependent on photos than is necessary. Or, I'll be surfing some obscure website and find a Really Weird Photo, and I'll 'save' it in case I can use it somewhere on down the line. I mean, face it, when you've put over 900 postings in a blog, it's difficult to stay fresh and exciting and original and trendsetting all the time. Or a little bit of the time, or at all, sometimes. But I try. Most of the time I fail miserably, but hey, give me at least a "B+" in effort. All I know is, many times my blogs are too wordy, and I know that when I read wordy blogs by other people, my eyes tend to glaze over. Heck, sometimes I bore myself when I'm writing my own blog! Hopefully that won't happen here, to either you or me. So it becomes necessary to weed out my pictures every now and then before my computer's memory becomes worse than my own. In the spirit of that sentiment, here are a few things You Probably Actually Could've Done Without...
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Here is my computer. This menacing little machine is how I transmit my drivel. I must admit I'm spoiled by this lil' miniature electronic slave. Sometimes I'm a slave to it. It keeps calling out, "come on over here, big boy, and type anything you want!" (How can I resist?) It's an HP Pavilion dv6000, and was probably out-of-date two weeks after I bought it three years ago. I run Windows XP, the 'media' version. Note if you will, how I've worn the paint off my touchpad and left-click areas...you'll see another white speck above and to the right...that's where I've ground away another wear-spot from playing too much computer pinball. (The 'flippers' are the "Z" and "/" keys.) Cool, huh? I always fantasized about having a pinball machine someday, so in a sense, I now do. Ever Since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball...and I musta played them all...
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Another one of my Little Electronic Slaves is my trusty old Transistor Radio which I bought at a Goodwill Store back in 2000 (or possibly before that). Now, is this "old school" or what? It takes one of those rectangular-shaped 9 volt batteries, and usually I can make it thru an entire baseball season (including spring training games) without having to ante up for a new battery. It doesn't get much use otherwise. I have a little cubbyhole just below my car radio, which is just big enough to slide my transistor radio into and there it stays until the Boys Of Summer come calling. Somehow Seattle Mariners Losses are easier to take when I'm out wandering in the sea breeze, radio in hand. Note that it's a "Gran Prix", one of the cheapee-cheapo brands that are knocked off by underfed but extremely industrious Chinese or Japanese workers toiling in sweatshops for something like 10-cents every two weeks. I imagine it cost maybe ten bucks new; I got it for a buck or two 9 years ago and it still works, so I'd say this little radio's been cost-effective. It has a little clip-thing on the back so I can hook it on my shirt pocket or T-shirt collar. I am not kidding when I say that I don't have to have all the latest gadgets and gizmos; who needs an Ipod or an mp3 player , anyway? This little device also receives FM stations; the antenna extends forth a little over a foot, and if you turn the radio in precisely the right direction, the signal is crystal clear. Yup, that's me, low-tech all the way. I remember how, for Christmases past, how I just HAD to have a transistor radio. Then, an AM-FM radio. Then, a Record Player. Then, a tape recorder. Although I have no technical background, I just love the Heck out of Electronic things. They're fascinating. (I know what you're thinking: "small minds are easily entertained". You might be right.)
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Okay, now to change pace, we'll move to the great out-of-doors. Sometimes I like to try and get "arty" with my photographs. I try to compose my photos as best as possible, and although I'm no pro, I'm at least as good as some of the photographers around these parts who like to market the photos they take at trade fairs or other assorted community events. The title? "Plastic Chair In The Middle Of The Back Yard", because, well, that's what it is...if you look closely, you'll find that I've got a Really-GREEN Thumb when it comes to growing Dandelions. Whenever the Neighbor Kid needs money, he'll bang on my front door and offer to mow my lawn, so what can I say but 'who am I to get in the way of free enterprise?' Off to the right, out of the picture, is my really-really-rundown garage; I don't dare park my car in it. Whoever built it, put a wooden floor in it. It also contains old stuff left by the previous owner left, such as light fixtures, old car batteries, a rusted electric typewriter and some bent-outta-shape light fixtures. I suppose someday the neighbor-kid will knock on my door, wanting to know if I need my Garage torn down...then he'll have more yard to mow.
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Sometimes I try to get topical out of some underlying need to prove to the human race that I can actually form some sort of cohesive, tangible opinion on matters which are Important To Us All. That said, although I was really absorbed in last fall's Presidential Election, I have no idea what President Obama has done since. I've read about gripes some have with his policies, but so far, no blantly offending sort of scandal has presented itself. anything brewing on any kind of scandal. Maybe this is the way people felt in the feel-good 1950's, perhaps? Or maybe I'm just ignorant, which is possible. Maybe I'm at the age where Everything Current is Rapidly Passing Me By, and that's entirely possible. So anyway, when I saw this intriguing little button on a website, it intrigued me and I'll bet my old college Journalism professor would've liked it. (Maybe this button was originally minted in the Nixon Administration? If not, then it might be from the Dick Cheney Collection...)
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In the search for Essential Ingredients Of Blog Memorability, I try to utilize many different tactics...hey, if advertisers and speechwriters can do it And Get Paid For It, why can't I, as One Who Blogs Only To Satisfy My Own Free Will, use tactics of shock and horror to hook my reading audience (all 2 of them) so that they'll think, as they stare wide-eyed at what they're seeing on the screen, "Wow, This Blog Is One Strange Place!" So I will blatantly pander to the lowest level possible by including this photo, which kinda shocked me...
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Here, Kitty Kitty...CHOMP!!! Most cats catch birds or mice; this one won't settle for anything less than a Human Torso, although it might settle for an entire tuna-fish or two. I found this picture whilst searching thru Craigslist. It's always amazing, the things people will post. But this reassures me in a way, because when someone else posts stuff like this, I realize that there's other imbalanced people out there besides me. Actually, I saved this photo just in case something relevant came up, but nothing has, so, well, it ended up here in the Blog Attic. Although, if you ever DO come upon a "Feline-o-saurus" (Felix Carnivorous) such as this next time you go swimming, perhaps it's because for breakfast, you had a big heaping bowl full of this stuff...

So there it is, folks, another edition of Dumb Stuff I've Posted In My Blogging Career. Now, at long last, I can delete all the photo-files posted here, which is good, 'cos I've got more photos of totally dumb and irrelevant stuff just waiting to be thrown up on this blog. Ah, ain't technology fun?