A new airline for TQE

With his fondness for flying, I wonder if TQE will take a trip on the new airline operating out of Erfurt?  I’m guessing he won’t since the tickets are a pricey €499 for a one-hour flight.

I was amused

I admit it! I’m easily amused. Just wave some shiny keys in front of my face and I’ll be entertained for hours.

I was at the beach this weekend with P, and we drove by this strip mall with a list of stores I found mildly amusing. I wonder if the second and third on the list are in the same storefront or not.

Gotta go! I just got a glimpse of something glittery.

Is this misfortune?

I received this inside of my fortune cookie tonight:

The gambler is like the fisherman. Both have beginners luck.

Lucky numbers 1, 12, 21, 23, 24, 36

Since I’ve never played the lottery (at least in Conservative Hell) does this mean I should start by using the numbers provided? Or should I just laugh this one off at the irony of saying gamblers have beginners luck being followed with lucky numbers to play in the lottery (gambling)?

What a juxtaposition!

Will I ever get this done?

Yesterday I found out the requirements for presenting my European Union Country X citizenship documentation have changed yet again.  I swear, it would be much simpler if that government would contact all of its consulates with a precise list as to how to perform this function, as no consulate is the same, with a process seemingly determined by whatever bureaucrat is in the position at the time.

I found out yesterday that the *very* favorable person I was to go see has moved on, less than six-months after being placed in the position.  The issue is I had prepared to see the person previous to her and was ready to go, then the process changed.  So I adapted, changed my document package to match her requirements and purchased airline tickets to fly to Philadelphia to present during normal consulate hours for the public, per her instructions. 

Now there is a new person in the position, and they insist on making an appointment to do this, and it’s not as if I have tons of money sitting around to react to the whims of the EU Country X bureaucrats!  So now I have probably got useless, non-refundable, airline tickets.  That is, unless the bureaucrat  makes an appointment with me on 17 March.

What is frustrating me is that now the requirements keep changing at the same consulate.  It’s one thing to have Consulate A want everything a certain way, and Consulate B to want it another, but when the requirements constantly change at a single consulate it’s impossible to adapt.  Especially since when new requirements come into effect, it takes months to prepare, then they change, requiring additional months to prepare.  Not a problem if the person stays in the position long enough, but when the document reviewer changes, you can’t get everything put together fast enough to meet their requirements before a new person is put in place, with different requirements.  It’s maddening!

I’m starting to feel like I’m playing basketball except in this case the hoop/goal is running around the court with the 10 players, instead of remaining stationary.  You never know where to make that 3-point shot.

Best. Bumper sticker. Ever.

17 two-by-fours and what do you get?

Another day closer to getting out of… this fuc**ng house that never seems to leave any time for me and P to do what we want to do, that’s what.

Sing the title and sentence above to the song Sixteen Tons and it will make more sense.

This weekend P and I put up the partition wall in my kitchen.    Now the space is nicely divided into a 12 foot by 13 foot kitchen, and a similar sized office/bedroom/den.  We are by no means close to finishing the project, but the core of the job is done, namely framing the wall.  P doesn’t think we got much done, but it’s projects like this one that let you see real changes to a house.

We also took the ceiling on the porch down so we could drywall it.  In hindsight (he’s gonna kill me for this) we probably should have left it alone and drywalled over it.  It’s slightly over eight feet, so we could have gotten away with that.  Regardless, that is another project done, and I think in the long run it’s going to make it much easier to re-wire the newly divided space and the kitchen. 

Let’s hope this is the beginning of getting a TON of projects done!

On another note…  The latest season of The Amazing Race has concluded.  Since I know TQE has not seen it yet, I’ll only say I’m a bit surprised they chose the final destination city that they did.  It just doesn’t seem like they quite made it *all* the way around the world.

Presenting Chef and Maid CQ

It’s been a busy week, at least at home.

I’ve been cooking and cleaning, and planning, and overall been experiencing a lack of rest.  I got an extra hour of sleep this morning thanks the ice storm that is freezing over Conservative Hell, but I’m still exhausted.

Tuesday night I made bread and soup from scratch, then cleaned my bathroom and kitchen.  Last night I measured out a few things so I can purchase materials to construct a 12-foot wall to partition the kitchen into a kitchen and den/office/3rd bedroom area.  When that was done, I swept and mopped my floors because the inside of the house was *so* dusty that I could plant crops.

Maybe I’ll get to rest tonight?  Let’s hope so.  I could definitely use it.

CQ’s mood today

Ambivalent.  That is all.

Angry and sad

Tonight I find myself in Capitol City visiting P for the weekend.  On my way over I took the alternate route so I didn’t have to get on the Interstate because I find it a much more tolerable drive.

On the west side of Capitol City I missed a turn that took me about a minute to correct and move in the right direction.  As I traveled up the main road, things were moving really well until I got about a half mile from where I needed to turn off the road and head towards P’s apartment.  Had I not missed my turn, I would have found myself sitting at the intersection where I needed to turn when something horrible and tragic happened.  Instead, I drove up on it after it happened.

There was a three car wreck and the folks in the middle car obviously didn’t get out of it.  Today the newspaper confirmed what I thought, the people in the car died in the crash.  For that I’m sad.

Initially I thought the accident was caused by a drunk driver, but after reading the news that was not the case.  No, the crash happened because the person that caused it did it ON PURPOSE.  He drove into the stopped traffic at full speed and killed two innocent people.  After the crash, the guy that did it fled the scene on foot and the cops looked for him all night.

This is why I’m angry.  Who in the hell 1. Does something like this ON PURPOSE, and to people he doesn’t know (not that knowing the people would make it right), and 2. Who gets invovled in a crash such as this and then flees the scene, leaving behind his wife and kids, injured in the truck?

They caught this shining example of humanity walking down the same highway a few miles east of the crash site this morning.  He’s since been arrested for the murder of the people in the sedan.  They only arrested him for second degree, but SHEESH, he did this on purpose.  Isn’t that pre-meditation?

I hope they string him up by his ball$, and let the family of the two people he killed cut him down from that situation, and not through the rope.  Jacka$$!

Suicide Bomber Destroys Conservative Hell Federal Courthouse

By CYNICAL QUEER, Cynical News Writer

CONSERVATIVE HELL – The federal courthouse in Conservative Hell was destroyed by Osama bin Laden today in an apparent suicide bomb attack. When asked about the ability of this well-known world figure to gain entry to the courthouse undetected, Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff said, “We had the best security the money available could buy, but since Osama bin Laden was born before December 1, 1964 he did not have a Real-ID and was able to slip past our security wearing tattered robes a backpack full of explosives. Since Mr. bin Laden is older than 50 years he is not required to have a Real-ID, so nobody saw him coming. “

Earlier in the day, Buzzy Malkowicz was denied entry to the courthouse for his court ordered appearance because he had not yet obtained a Real-ID. He presented his United States passport to the security screener but was told that the document is not secure enough to permit entry to federal property.

The judge in his case has since held him in contempt of court, levied a fine of $100,000, and ordered him jailed for failure to appear. Mr. Malkowicz was dressed in an Armani suit and highly polished shoes.

When secretary Chertoff was asked why Mr. Malkowicz was denied entry, though he posed no real threat to the premises, he said, “The citizen in question was born after December 1, 1964 and was required to have a Real-ID to obtain entry to the building. His United States passport has been determined by the department to not be secure enough to serve as a valid identification document to enter secured federal buildings.”

End of fake article.

I find this real-ID initiative to be completely ludicrous. Just take this line from the article the link above goes to:

The over-50 exemption was created to give states more time to get everyone new licenses, and officials say the risk of someone in that age group being a terrorist, illegal immigrant or con artist is much less.

First, let me state that I think the Real-ID is one more in a long line of examples of the Bush administration taking away our civil liberties. But to formally declare that all citizens under the age of 50 years are a terrorist threat? Sheesh!

I hate to point this out, but US public enemy #1 is Osama bin Laden, and he’s older than fifty years. This is another shining example of doing something that amounts to nothing. Oh, and if a jihadist is determined enough to carry out his mission, he’ll simply get an authentic ID, and carry out his deed. This ID thing isn’t going to make anyone, or anything, more secure.

Real-ID is a hoax, but if you’re going to do it, make EVERYONE do it simultaneously.

I give up!