Here’s where things stand.

Airline tickets? Check

Rental Car? Check**

Toughen guitar fingers? In progress

New guitar strings? Later (I prefer Martin light gauge)

German? Ich bin bereits.

Grits? Gearing up for the experience

Half-rubber? WTF??

I will be joined by one of the Usual Suspects, Ken, the anal-retentive Deckmaster, Air Force Vet, party guy, and great friend.

** Used Priceline.com and bid $20.00 per day for a “full sized” car, and the bid was accepted.

Teresa: “John, you’re just sitting there staring at your food. OK, I’m sorry I said you made an ass of yourself with your midnight speech. You have to eat something.”

John:

Teresa: “Come on, John. You’re going to need your strength.”

John:

Teresa: “Dammit, John. Look! It’s your favorite foie gras. I had Pierre order it special from Bizac in France. You always said that French foie gras is the best.”

John: “Are you questioning my patriotism?”

Today I was hit with a massive comment spam bomb. Hundreds of posts were affected. The attack somehow got around my e-mail system, and, worse yet, buried some legitimate URLs in with the spam URL.

While de-spamming, I noticed (unfortunately, too late) that I deleted genuine comments I had not yet read from Shamrocketship, Res Ipsa Loquitur, and Velociworld, each of whom likely received the e-mail indicating that their comments were blocked due to “questionable content”. I apologize for that, and I believe that I have fixed the problem.

If you are experiencing a problem leaving comments here, please send me an e-mail, and I will try to fix things.

I would like to see the sub-human scum behind the spam attack spend more than a few years in the Greybar Hotel.

Unfortunately, we have overcast skies today, but the Usual Suspects are proceeding as planned with the Labor Day Weekend Bash. The pool is heated, the deck is covered, the beer will be cold, the vodka will be plentiful, the food will be great, the music will play, and we will all be there to officially close out the summer season.

Good friends don’t mind bad weather.

How often have you had the same conversation that appears over at Power Line?

Well, here it is September 4th, and we awakened to find that Governor McGreevey did not do the right thing a pre-midnight exit, stage left. Of course that means we will have him around until November 15th, after which time our governor will be Richard Codey, who, while serving as governor, will retain his post as president of the state senate. Can anybody say, “separation of powers?” It’s required by the New Jersey Constitution, and frankly, I am surprised that this suit did not raise this issue.

Roberto of DynamoBuzz thinks that November 15th will come and Governor McGreevey will decide to take back his “resignation” and stay for the remainder of his term. Fausta of The Bad Hair Blog agrees. Would I be surprised if Governor McGreevey pulls a switcheroo?

Nothing oozing from the Jersey Political Swamp would surprise me.

Teresa: “John, dammit! Quit sitting around here moping about those nasty swift boat guys beating you up. When are you going to get off your ass and do something about it? Why don’t you sue that O’Neill guy? We’ve got a lots of lawyers.”

John:

Teresa: “Jesus Christ, John. You’re acting like a big baby. You can’t just sit there and hope they stop!”

John:

Teresa: “So?”

John:

Teresa: “Listen here, sonny boy, you’re making ME look bad now, and I am not going to put up with it.”

John:

Teresa: “Dammit, why don’t you just get all your military records and use them to prove, for once and for all, that those swift boat guys are nothing but big, fat liars?”

John:

Teresa: “What do I have to do? Cut your allowance?”

John: “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

2004.08.29 00:56:43 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:00:30 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:03:27 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:17:23 203.69.159.73 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: (diet|penis)[\w\-_.]*(pills|enlargement)[\w\-_.]*\.[a-z]{2,}
2004.08.29 01:19:23 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:20:18 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:20:57 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:32:30 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:35:30 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:42:58 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:49:38 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:52:15 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 01:58:19 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 02:04:40 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 02:09:54 61.30.47.22 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: glucophagepharmacy.com
2004.08.29 02:23:13 211.46.75.189 MT-Blacklist comment denial on Parkway Rest Stop: i-dish-network.org

What you see above is a snippet from my Activity Log showing that MT Blacklist is zapping comment spam before it ever appears on the site. MT Blacklist is the product of the mind of Jay Allen, who ought to be given the blogger equivalent of a Nobel Prize.

Thanks, Mr. Allen.

In a comment to this 2003 post about Fort Holabird (which most people won’t bump into), a reader makes the following request. Perhaps someone can help.

My dad attended the agent handlers course at Fort Holabird in the late 1950s, in fact during the 1958 NY Giants- Baltimore Colts world championship. He returned for refresher training prior to going to Viet Nam in 1966. Does anyone remember him, his name was Norman J. Melody? Does anyone have any photos of Fort Holabird?

In fact, there are two similar requests for information there. Please take a peek to see if you can provide some of the requested information.

Thanks much.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Winslow School Kindergarten orientation. As some of you know, Mrs. Brenda Green, who has been teaching Kindergarten here at Winslow for thirty-five years, has retired. I’d like to introduce you to her replacement.

Via Attu