Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodbye, 2009

Goodbye, 2009. It was nice knowing ya.

2009 wasn’t a bad year, really. Not for me, anyway. It was much better than I anticipated. I even managed to fulfill a few of my resolutions. I’m hoping 2010 is even better. I approach the year with optimism even though I am not the most optimistic person in the world. Anyone who knows me well will verify this. Some of my readers may be aware of this already.

How was your 2009?

2009 was a pretty good year for politics, not as good as 2008, but good nonetheless. 2010 promises to be a better year for politics, and hopefully a better one for blogging as well. 2009 was also my first full year of blogging. I began blogging here in late July 2008. Prior to that I had a short lived blog at AOL Journals where I published maybe ten posts in all of two years. This blog, has been much more successful. Especially with the help of Entrecard. Though, I’m still not satisfied with the amount of page views/blog visits thus far and I suppose it will be something I have to work on in 2010. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I’ve compiled a list of my Top 10 favorite posts of 2009. Please, check them out and comment on them. If you have any favorite posts of mine, let me know in the comments. Here they are:

1) Former President Bush touts son Jeb for top job

2) Letterman takes on Blagojevich

3) Alex Rodriguez and steroid use

4) Daylight Savings Time Begins

5) A second stimulus package...

5) 30% Say Government Should Limit Pay for Athletes and Movie Stars

6) Earth Day

7) Rasmussen Reports April 16

8) Obama kills fly...PETA gets a hardon over it

9) Atheists sue to keep 'In God We Trust' off Capitol Visitor Center

10) Wingnuts?

It turns out I couldn’t stop at just 10 posts. So here’s a bunch more:

11) Health Care

12) Favorites

13) Tiger Woods?

14) Five 9/11 suspects to be charged in NY

15) SC Gov. Mark Sanford admits he's had an affair

16) People Choose News That Fits Their Views

17) NH becomes 6th state to legalize gay marriage

18) Voters Now Trust Republicans More than Democrats on Economic Issues

19) 79% Support U.S. Troops on the Border to Fight Drug Violence

20) Tired of hearing about Rush Limbaugh

21) One-Out-of-Seven Favor 90% Tax Rate for Millionaires

And there may be more. Maybe you can find them for me.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Dear Diary

This pretty much explains why I moved out of “snow country” in the north. Only I moved to Arizona, not Florida.  The author is unknown, but it is a brilliant piece of work.

Enjoy!

Aug. 12 - Moved to our new home in RI. It is so beautiful here. The mountains are so serene and picturesque. I can hardly wait to see snow covering them. God's Country: I love it here.

Oct. 14 - RI is the most beautiful place on Earth. The leaves are turning all different colors; I love the shades of red and orange. Went for a ride through some beautiful mountains and spotted some deer. They are so graceful; certainly they are the most peaceful animals on Earth. This must be a paradise. I love it here.

Nov. 11 - Dear Season will start soon. I can't imagine anyone wanting to kill such an elegant creature. The very symbol of peace and tranquility. Hope it will snow soon...I love it here.

Dec. 2  - Snowed last night. Woke up to find everything blanketed with white. It looks like a postcard, we went outside and cleaned the snow off the steps and shoveled the driveway. We had a snowball fight, (I Won), and when the snowplow came by, we had to shovel the driveway again. What a beautiful place, Mother Nature in perfect harmony; I love Rhode Island.

Dec. 12 - More snow last night. I love it. The snowplow did his trick again (that rascal). A winter wonderland.... I love it here in Rhode Island.

Dec. 19 - More snow last night.... I'm exhausted from shoveling snow. Fucking Snowplow!

Dec. 22 - More of the white shit fell last night.... Couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work this time. I've got blisters on my hands from shoveling. I think the snowplow man hides around the curve and waits until I'm done shoveling this driveway. Asshole!

Dec. 25 - "White Christmas"--My busted ass! More friggin' snow. If I ever get my hands on that son of a bitch who drives that fuckin' snowplow, I swear I'll castrate the fucking bastard! I don't know why they don't use more salt on the roads to melt this fucking ice!

Dec. 28 - Whiter shit last night. Been inside since Christmas day except for shoveling out the driveway after "Snow-Plow Harry" comes along every time. Can't go anywhere, car buried in a mountain of white shit. The weatherman expects another 10'' of the shit tonight. Do you have any idea how many shovel-fulls of snow 10" is?

Jan. 1  - Happy fucking New Year! The weatherman was wrong (again). We got 34" of the white shit this time. At this rate, the snow won't melt till the fucking 4th of July. The snowplow got stuck up the road, and the fuckin' motherfucker had the balls to come to the door and ask to borrow a shovel. After I told him I've broken six shovels already, shoveling all the shit he dumped into my driveway, I broke my last one over his fuckin' head.

Jan. 4 - Finally got out of the house today. Went to the store to get food. On the way back a goddamn deer ran right in front of the car and I hit the bastard. Did about $3,000 damage to the car. Those fucking beasts should be killed. Wish the hunters had killed them all last November.

May 4 - Took the car to the garage in town. Would you believe the thing is rotting out from all the fucking salt they keep dumping all over the roads. Car looks like a piece of shit!

May 10 - MOVED TO FLORIDA: I can't imagine why anyone in their right friggin' mind would want to live in a god forsaken place called Rhode Island.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Happy Birthday, Frank Sinatra!

Frank Sinatra would be 94 years old if he were alive today. Inarguably, Frank was the most important popular music figure in the twentieth century. A career that spanned six decades, He continues selling millions and millions of records each year, even a decade after his death. Frank’s biggest selling albums were recorded and released when he was eighty years old while performing to sold out concert halls all around the world attests to this fact. Love him, or hate him, you can’t deny his popularity, tremendous talent, and charisma. How many artists have recorded and released a hit tune that became one of his signature recordings when he was sixty five years old? Not many. Everybody knows New York, New York. They hear it every year on New Years Eve after the countdown in Time’s Square.

Of course, there’s so many other wonderful Sinatra recordings besides New York, New York and My Way. With nearly 2,000 studio recordings, there’s too many for me to list here. Note that Frank actually hated My Way because he thought the song was too arrogant, but only he could sing it without sounding that way. The song is also one of the most sung at Karaoke bars, millions of people butchering the tune because Frank inspired something in them through his singing. Frank’s voice is probably one of, if not the most heard in movie and television soundtracks. Producers trying to incorporate a little Frank into their work, improving its likeability. You’ll frequently hear Frank on TV commercials as well. Sinatra sells!

Speaking of movies and television, Frank’s acting career is shadowed by singing career. Acting, directing, and producing nearly sixty movies, he certainly left his mark on Hollywood. An Academy Award nomination for his stellar performance as a drug addict in the Man With the Golden Arm, winning an Oscar for his performance in 1954’s From Here To Eternity solidified his acting career and made him one of the biggest and highest paid actors in Hollywood. He worked with some of the very best in Hollywood, including Marlon Brando and Cary Grant along with many others.

I don’t think I need to tell you that Sinatra is very important to me. My online alias, Stunatra, explains that. No other singer comes close to Frank Sinatra. For me, no one excites me the way that he does. If I’m down, he’ll bring me up, if I’m up, he’ll bring me even higher. It saddens me that I was born too late to have seen him live in concert. I wish he were still alive today, though that probably goes without saying. Frank will live on through his music and will be up there with the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. Hundreds of years from now, people will still be listening to Sinatra, just as those listen to Beethoven and Mozart’s work today. May the last voice I ever hear, be Frank Sinatra's.

I will close this post with a video of Frank’s first commercial studio recording from 1939, From The Bottom Of My Heart:


Hope you enjoy. And thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Attention Entrecard Bloggers

You know what’s pissing me off lately? When I’m dropping on people who drop on me, and I can’t find their goddamn Entrecard. It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. They either hide it to make it difficult to find, or you can’t find it at all. How do they drop on my blog if they don’t have a widget on their site? And what is the point of dropping if you’re not gonna display the widget on your site so I can drop back? I’m tired of this shit.  If anyone can elaborate on why this shit happens, please, by all means tell me. I want to know. I am tired of having a tired hand after all the unnecessary clicking and scrolling. I’m contemplating leaving Entrecard altogether, and this bullshit is helping me come to that decision.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

“Go Home!”

I’m sure we’ve all told someone to “Go Home!” at one time or another, right? Do we realize what we’re saying when we tell someone to “go home”? Who are we to tell them to go home? If they are in our home and we want them out, then we should ask them to leave. A “Please leave,” would suffice, or if it’s a hostile situation, then a “get the fuck out of here” would probably be better. I don’t think we have the right to tell anyone to go home. I’d be pretty pissed off if someone told me to go home when that is not where I wanted to go. Wouldn’t you be pissed? Think about this the next time you’re tempted to tell someone to go home. Instead, tell them, “Go to hell!” Then you could wish them luck in finding hell. And if they do find it, pray that they don’t come back to let you know where it is.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Winter Songs vs. Christmas Songs

Why is it that we can’t wait to play Christmas songs a month and a half before the holiday? But once the holiday is gone, so are all the songs! Has anyone else noticed this? I hope some of you realize that there are Christmas songs and there are Winter songs. I’m afraid there are people out there who can’t tell the difference.

Silent Night, Joy To the World, O Holy Night. Obviously these are Christmas songs. Now look at Frosty the Snowman, it’s a winter song. So is Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Let It Snow! and I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm. Why is that once Christmas has come to pass you can’t find any of these songs being played anywhere? I don’t understand it. They are Winter songs! I think that Winter ends sometime around April, right? You could play the winter songs on the radio from November to April and it’d be accurate to do so (assuming there is still snow on the ground). Why do the Christmas and Winter songs get lumped together? Can’t you tell the difference? Doesn’t anyone pay attention to lyrics?

Am I wrong in my assumptions? What’s your take on this? Please leave your thoughts in the comments, and thanks for reading!

Top Droppers in November

 

Dropper # of drops
Just My Two Cents 23
Shalampax Speaks 22
Did I miss something 16
Shortinfosec 15
First Door on the Left 14
Tax Tips for DemocRats 14
my kids are my world 13
The Bubba Effect 13
I will have the... 12
Free Junk Easy Money 11

 

Thanks for dropping by!