Unconnected

LOL - Left Atlanta IL yesterday with a little pamphlet of things to do.  One thing says "Take a once-in-a-lifetime photo of yourself with a 19-foot tall statue of a guy holding a hot dog".

I don't know, that just reads funny.   I'll have more on that in coming days.
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Have I mentioned that I will never buy a car from Jon Lancaster again?  Oh - we love the car totally but talk about a shady company trying to screw you every chance they get.  I'll talk about that soon also. 

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My buddy Elwood is a non-fiction snob.  He can not understand how people can waste their time reading fiction books.  What a waste of time.  He only reads non-fiction and can not understand how people can spend time not learning things.

My view is that when reading fiction you ARE learning things. It's the difference of learning facts and learning life experience.  When you read fiction you are always putting yourself in the protagonist shoes, what would YOU do in this situation (plus I tend to read historical fiction).

For instance, I've had people come up to me when I 'm taking photographs getting in my face asking me what I'm doing.  I'm sure that in my fiction books someone has had that same experience and I saw how they reacted and handled the situation.  Instead of standing there not having a clue how to react and what the best course of action was, somewhere in my readings something like that had happened to someone else. 

Reading non-fiction is like having a teacher tell you to memorize these facts for a test.  Reading fiction is when the teacher tells you a vague outline and you need to actually THINK.

Reading fiction you learn people skills.
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So DJ and I went to Springfield IL this weekend for a visit.  We knew Ralls and mom did not have WiFi but what astounded me was they didn't even have internet.  WHAT??   They should have a sign on the door, NOT CONNECTED!!  How was I going to find out exactly what the Fontina cheese was that I had purchased.  Inquiring minds wanted to know.  

The internet is like having the worlds largest encyclopedia at your finger tips and I'm always lookign things up!  

The odd thing was that there were no WiFi signals anywhere, even locked ones! (Did you know the FBI were in Columbus the other week?  I noticed that an FBI WiFi signal was in the area . . but it was locked).  

Otherwise it was an excellent weekend.  OH - we filled up our tank at $3.14 a gallon!  SWEET!!!

We turned my mom on to Downton Abby and she loved it. We watched three episodes but the odd thing was I think she was watching something different.   For those who have seen season 1 remember episode 3 where the Turkish Ambassador sort of forces himself on Mary who was not really trying to stop his advances too much.  Well, my mom hated that rape scene.  DJ and I explained that it was not a rape scene but I don't think she bought it.


Along with visiting mom and brother I needed to get some photographs in case I pass the jury for Springfield's much smaller version of Art Fair on the Square ( The Old Capitol Art Fair).  It's smaller but costs half the amount at $300.

ANYWAY -  we here in Wisconsin think our State Capitol is outstanding, and it is.  However it pales compared to the Flatlanders down south.  While our Cap is stunning and huge and very formal, the Illinois capitol is more homy and vibrant, more friendly.  Not the behemoth that Wisconsin's is but smaller and more colorful. 

I'll have more shots coming up but here are the two I have so far.    I did not get to the 2nd and 3rd floors yet as they were closed and of course there is always renovations going on which I believe ALL capitols must go through constantly.

Their Capitol is in a French Renaissance style and ground was broken in 1869 with the building completed 20 years later. 

sculpture of a woman with open arms represents "Illinois Welcoming the World". Singer and actress Lillian Russell was the model for this statue. However that is now being disputed.

Side note - I believe Illinois has had four governors go to prison.  

And this one is from the outside of their Capitol.

Speaking of the Hurricane (which Elwood knew nothing about, he was too busy reading non-fiction books LOL)   There have been some pretty cool shots from New York and a large number of fake shots.

a real photo

 

Odd- just like a movie I saw!!  too weird

OK - I have some programming to do.

Talk to ya later.

Rod

BUY YOUR OWN DAMN CANDY

I have a dentist appointment at 9:30 today. Been seeing this guy for 25+ years and we keep moving farther and farther away from each other.  He keeps moving west and I keep moving east but I don't want to switch.

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Network and I played Trappers Turn yesterday and Trapper had his way with me.  Actually I had my way with myself as I brought my "D" game. Network who never has a bad round was excellent.  Him and his damn conservative "oh straight down the middle again" game!   It's almost like I had not golfed for 2 months.

The thing was when I hit a ball off the fairway it was not like The Oaks where you automatically lose you ball.  I would hit it and say "Oh, it's 10 yards away from that large oak" and we would go and with seven layers of oak leaves were never find the ball.  Course knowledge would have been helpful at times. 

I was going to a meeting Tuesday night and realized I had tossed out my golf shoes out to make sure I would buy new ones.   OOPS!!!!  So I went to Dicks who have some pretty sweet sales of shoes.

So I golfed in pretty new shoes yesterday . . . didn't help but my feet were dry.   Trappers Turn is a very nice course.  Took a few photos but it was so hazy they are all rather dullish . . a little. 

Some of the holes have NINE tee boxes.  The tips are crazy far away.  I would need to drive to the NEXT tee box.
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Gotta make this a shot blog today - I have a 3 hour drive to the dentist  LOL

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A photo of Caydance I took last night. She likes to wear my caps. She picked it up and wore it around, then when she was me she took it off and handed it to me but I put on another one and she put it back on.   She is up and walking around and now getting in all sorts of fun trouble with her litter big sister.  And yes - she is always that happy.

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BTW - that is a freaking hurricane that is going to hit the east coast - don't kid yourself into thinking this is just a big storm.  It's going to wreak havoc. 
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I made some yummy cookies last night - DJ says they look a little dark.  I said she just did not appreciate roughage.

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And then there is Walker and his corrupt Government.  COME ON MAN!!!  He disbands the Department of Commerce and creates his own private company for business.  Then loans out 80 million dollars to his cronie buddies and then "forgets" that they need to pay the money back.   One loan DIDN'T even have to be paid back at all.

Wisconsinites who voted for him are like lemmings.  Fix Wisconsin's deficit by taking out a loan to pay for the loan and all of a sudden we are debt free.  HMMM  oddly we still owe a lot of money but are debt free??   What a freaking mess he has created.  Wisconsin is losing millions of federal dollars because we no longer have staff to complete projects because of "smaller government" AND he just turns down money because  . . .well, we don't need no federal dollars.

Walker - what a freaking corrupt idiot. The guy barely completed high school and cheated so much he was kicked out of collage.

OK OK - step away.
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AND THEN THERE IS HALLOWEEN.

Why in hell do we have Halloween on  Sunday afternoon. Are the people in Columbus that afraid of the dark?  Take one of the best days in the year away from kids because parents are afraid of the dark?  IN COLUMBUS??  geez.  What happened to that questionnaire we got in the mail.  Were there any results???  

I LOVED Halloween as a kid.  I was at the grocery store last night and everyone was talking about how absurd it was for a Sunday Halloween. Maybe we should have High School Football during the day so we can lock the doors and shut the drapes at night - way to dangerous out there.

And speaking of costumes - better not have any Romney costumes coming to my house asking for handouts - sort of hypocritical ain't it.

 BUY YOUR OWN DAMN CANDY KID - GET A JOB!!! 

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OK - I better spend the next 45 minutes brushing my teeth.  I don't want to get yelled at.

actually ever since I went to electric toothbrushes I've had really really good luck at dentists, seriously what a difference electricity makes.

and finally - I just love this photo - makes me smile every time I see it.

 
later gator

Rod

a little blog

WELL - I caught it for even thinking about dissing the Velvet Frog Mel Torme'. 

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OH - get this little piece of crap.  Remember Brad Frye?  The guy that stole 5 computers from his Columbus Computer store including first my hard drive and then the entire computer??  He was in jail but it seems he got out on probation a few months ago.

Well, he now has an extra 5 new misdemeanor theft charges, 1 burglary and 4 forgery charges. Thank you court system.  Yet another probation gift?
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Missed out on the bigger rain yesterday.  Only 0.22 in Columbus while Madison was closer to 0.70.
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Wasn't the light pretty cool yesterday about 5:00?  I tried to capture it but at the moment failed but I really have not had time to look at most of the shots I took.

HOWEVER - while I was wondering around the Columbus Country Club I got an idea for a project - The Trees of the Country Club.  There are a bunch of pretty sweet trees on that course.  All different shapes and sizes.

Here is one. 

Golfing Trappers Turn tomorrow. Never played there.  I'll have to look for my clubs.

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I was watching Lettermen the other night and they had their musical guests.  It's not often that I'll stop what I was doing and actually listen to the performer but this time it was so unusual and then BAM - I remember the commercial I had heard a riff from.   I can't get this out of my head.

The nice thing was that Lettermen had a rather . . . .contentious interview with a Tea Partier and it was a little stressed.  This seemed to bring a lighter mood to the show.  Cna you think where you have heard this song before?

She just puts it all out there!!

http://youtu.be/PjaYUcIpsps


Cheers
Rod