"We got a report of some liver use..."

Here's the story:

Absurd story from Chicago

To make a short story even shorter, Chicago has banned foie gras (??). Some guy eating in a restaurant sees that they are serving foie gras, and calls the police. They come and tell him to stop. He doesn't deny it; just trying to get rid of this ridiculously expensive stuff. (Next time they'll fine him $250.)

Ok. What's the point in banning foie gras? I'm sure they have some reason that at least sounds rational, right? Oh, it's not humane to treat ducks and geese that way. That's certainly a reason to busy up a legislature enacting a law against food. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the humane treatment of animals, but isn't that like saying "we don't like the way you catch squid" and banning calamari instead of regulating fishing?

Crazy point number two: who's got so little life as to call the police (on a special non-emergency line: 311) because some restaurant is serving foie gras. I mean, this isn't even someone smoking near me and polluting my air; not someone driving fast in a school zone; not even someone crossing against the light. Serving a food (that they already had on hand) to someone else. That's whole new levels of intrusive.

--Beav

Trip Report

I had a fun trip. On the flight down, I saw clouds so thick and fluffy that it felt like I could hop out and bounce on them. Beautiful. When I got to the base and found billeting, the woman working the counter noticed my knee brace and gave me a ground floor room 2 doors down from the desk. Thanks, Rewa! Then, of course, it was time to visit friends. On Tuesday, they managed to find a bar doing karaoke (they're so awesome!), and so we went and had some fun. Though the barmaid insisted that the two of them drink alcohol (I was DD and don't drink, besides), we had the mic almost to ourselves and were able to sing all sorts of things. They even had Hear Me In the Harmony, which I've wanted to sing since approximately 3 seconds after the first time I heard it start in my CD player. I didn't do too badly, I think.

The training wasn't too bad; fairly boring, actually. I got to show a new kid the beautiful beaches of the Gulf Coast. The flight back was interesting, too. On the first leg, the entire complement of flight attendants were attractive, which was novel. And the second leg had one attendant who poured drinks as if she were on speed, epileptic, had Parkinson's Disease, or all three; and another who wore what can only be described as the official Delta Airlines pajama and bathrobe set. Both crews were quite efficient and did their jobs well, my shallow observations notwithstanding.

Then came the best part of the trip: getting home. Ahhh...

--Beav

Have a nice trip? See you next fall!

Well, here it is. "Off I go, into the wild blue yonder. Lost again, son-of-a-..."

It's time to go to the airport for a week w/out internet. Well, maybe I'll be able to get to a library or something. But, my puzzles, my blogs, my...everything!

See you on the flip side.

--Beav

Tunage

I've brought the 'pod in to prepare for my trip on Monday; get a few songs I had bought from i-Tunes, rip a few CD's I have bought since my last rip session.

Somehow, there are a whole bunch of CD's that I don't have ripped. CD's I've had for years. We Are In Love, Cold Spring Harbor (the album that threatened our relationship while we were dating), Still Crazy After All These Years. How did that happen? I can't really give credence to the idea that I just hadn't gotten around to them. They are precious to me and the songs on them have such a wide range of memories and goodness.

Incidentally, I've decided to make a change to the discs I tote around. As some of you might know, I keep a Rocky and Bullwinkle CD book that holds about 10 discs in the car with me. I've had various albums in there, representing what I think I may want to listen to at some time during the day. But, as I sit here ripping music to my hard drive for later transfer to the 'pod, I realize that doesn't exactly make sense. Most of them I'll have with me anyway. So, I'll replace those discs with ones I wouldn't necessarily want to catch in the shuffle, like my classicals, or the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. That way I don't hear Toccata and Fugue while I'm running, but can still crank up the William Tell Overture if I feel like it.

--Beav ("Love me like music, and I'll be your song")

In the interest of full disclosure

To avoid any shooting daggers (emerald, sapphire, or otherwise), I would like to inform those of you who care to know that I will be at Eglin AFB (FWB) from the 14th to the 20th of this month.

--Beav