Barry’s Daily Web News

Untitled Post

One of the lantana plants I put in the ground yesterday already has a couple of nice purple flowers on it.

Untitled Post

It rained this morning. We haven’t had rain in several months. As was typical in Arizona, it was only enough rain to move the dust around on my car. There is a unique smell here when it rains. It’s not a particularly pleasant or unpleasant smell, but unique.

Untitled Post

This morning was devoted to yard work. I replaced the last of the periwinkle in the front yard with some purple lantana. Things didn’t go well to start with. In digging the hole for the first plant, I encountered some roots from the mesquite tree on that side of the yard. I started to go to town on the roots, only to discovered that I hacked into the main line for the drip irrigation system. Trying not to panic, I eventually realized that I could fix the cut with a single compression fitting, which I already had. At least I know where the line is now. After that, planting the three plants I had purchased was easy, and I followed up by trimming the front hedges, raking the front yard, and cleaning the pool and pool filter.

Sexy Beast

Last night’s movie was Sexy Beast. This was certainly an interesting movie, but hard to understand in parts due to the thick British accents. Another downside was the constant barrage of swearing. Overall, it was worth seeing, mainly due to the interesting plot twists. I rate this movie a B.

Buy it.

Untitled Post

We all went to the zoo today. It was chilly this morning. I was going to go in shorts, but ended up with jeans instead. At least most of the animals at the zoo where out and about. We were able to see the white bengal tiger pace back and forth just about 4 feet away from us. The highlight of the trip was the petting zoo. They had 6 and 7 day old goats, and they were really cute. It took Sean awhile to work up the courage to pet the goats. He seemed to prefer the medium size goats, avoiding the baby goats and the larger adult goats. The only disappointment was that the giraffes stayed in doors. This zoo has a really nice giraffe feeding area, so this is usually one of the more interesting exhibits. Other than the goats, Sean’s favorite animals at the zoo where the ducks and swans.

Zoolander

Tonight’s movie was Zoolander. This movie is a comedy about male models. The joke about male models being light in the head wasn’t funny after the first five minutes. The rest of the jokes were aimed at the intelligence of an eight year old. The only thing that made the movie interesting at all was Christine Taylor’s role about a reporter investigating a sinister plot. I rate this movie a D.

Buy it.

Untitled Post

Cortney’s mom, Leslie, flew into town last night, so we all went out to dinner this evening. We went to a mexican restaurant, which turned out to be a good choice. Sean was able to eat taco chips for the entire meal, so he was happy.

Untitled Post

According to this article, the governor of California wants his picture on all California government web sites. Now, I’m sure you have noticed my picture on every page of my website, so I can understand wanting his picture on the office of the governor’s website. But I think you will agree that it is preposterous to ask that anyone linking to my site use my picture. I think this just points out how silly the governor of California is. This couldn’t possibly be linked to his campaign for re-election, now could it?

Untitled Post

Cortney gets mad when I don’t write anything about Sean. Well, here goes. Sean was starting to get restless after dinner, so I decided on the spur of the moment to take him out for a walk. This is the first time I have taken him out for a walk without the stroller. We frequently walk Sean over to the park without the stroller, but I haven’t taken him out just to walk. The temperature was cool, but comfortable, and the sun had just set. Sean was very good, holding my hand the whole time so he wouldn’t run out into the street, and we had a good time together. He pointed out the birds, and noticed the noise of the dogs barking and the planes flying overhead.

Untitled Post

Our local paper reports that a family of four needs $50000 to live in our local area. Either this study has a hidden agenda (raising the minimum wage), or is fundamentally flawed. Assuming the study was honestly done, the authors more than likely looked at average consumer spending patterns. It’s my opinion that it is the poorer families that make the worst consumer spending choices. I believe a family of four could easily live for less than $30,000. This secret? For starters, buy a “fixer” home for $60,000 for about a $600 month mortgage. By a reliable used car for about $6,000. No cable TV, no cell phone, no dining out. I think most retirees are pretty good at this, as they have had an entire lifetime to learn the reckless spending doesn’t make you happy anyways.

Untitled Post

I think most of you have already heard this story about the writer to “Dear Abby” who was arrested for possession of child porn. I’m not as bothered by “Abby’s” poor judgment in having someone arrested when they just asked for help; what really bothers me is that the police arrested a man simply for stating he had sexual fantasies about children. Is that really enough to generate an arrest warrant? Child molestation is a terrible crime; but in my opinion, the more serious the crime, the more the evidence needed before issuing an arrest warrant.

Untitled Post

Web traffic on my site is definitely up. I had over 90 visitors on Tuesday. That is more than twice the average weekly totals for February, and 3 times the average weekly traffic totals for January. Of course that 90 is the number of sessions, and not all of those even resulted in page reads, so not anywhere near that many people are actually reading my journal.

Untitled Post

I see the Senate defeated the proposed corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. A major reason is that lighter, more fuel efficient cars are more dangerous, and so the proposed legislation would result in the death of more Americans. I’m just glad to see the reduction of intrusive government policies. If we really cared about burning less oil, the answer is surprising simple — raise the tax on gasoline. This allows the consumer to choose the best means of reducing oil usage.

Untitled Post

Here’s an odd fact: My web journal is the 5th ranked google search for leftover noodles. Someone actually visited this page after using that search term. Presumably someone was looking for a recipe. Intead, this is what they found.

Untitled Post

Sean ended the evening with a fit of throwing objects. It was hard to discipline him, since getting his attention just resulting in Sean smiling back at me.