Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2010.

(via Last Best Hope)

From the Great Northern website:

Established in 1998, the Great Northern, located in the heart of the Denver Tech Center, echos the journey of the Great Northern Railroad across the upper United States. Our menu reflects the traditional cuisine of these regions through interpretations of beloved trans-continental meals. An excellent wine list not only accompanies, but also accentuates, our menu.

Our knowledgeable and truly friendly staff, provide the classic service that is the hallmark of an exceptional dining experience. The mahogany trimmed overstuffed booths harkens back to the days of glamorous travel by rail. Enjoy the ambiance of a restaurant that recalls travels in both style and comfort.

The atmosphere was very pleasant, even with the restaurant as busy as it was. We were able to carry on conversations from one end of the 10 person table to the other. General manager Philip Cahil and his staff took good care of us.

We started with appetizers, calamari, chicken tortilla soup, spinach artichoke dip, and a sashimi dish made on the fly by the chef. All three were very good, but my favorite was the tortilla soup. The flavor was perfect and the spice kicked in on the back end, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

For an entree, I had the Bacon Bleu Cheese Burger: “Certified Angus burger basted with a tangy peppercorn sauce – topped with gorgonzola crumbles, GN’s famous three-pepper bacon, fried onion strings.” For a side, I had both the tavern chips and the steak fires. The burger was, of course, cooked to order and was delicious. The meat was juicy and the peppercorn sauce, combined with the three pepper bacon gave it a great zesty flavor. The bleu cheese added a rustic flair to the overall taste of the burger. I went without condiments on the burger…tasted great just as it was.

Bacon rating:

3 out of 5

This past weekend, the family unit took the truckster to St. Louis to visit Nana and Ba.  The kiddos got some quality time with my folks.  The wife and I got a little time to ourselves.

St. Louis food is choice.  There is no shortage of good stuff to eat in that town.  Imo’s Pizza, toasted ravioli, Ted Drewe’s frozen custard, Steak-n-Shake.  These are some of my “must eats” when I visit.  Mom’s cooking is good, and this go around we had some wonderful ribs…

It seems as though vacations are centered around food.  Think  back to a recent trip and consider the schedule.  Wake up, yummy breakfast… few hours later you’re out sight seeing or shopping, let’s have lunch!  By the time you get back to the hotel and take a nap, you’re geting ready to go out to dinner.  Oh, don’t forget the late night dessert before turning in…

I love to eat… and vacations provide a great excuse to make a pig of yourself.

Of course, when you return, you look at the newly expeanded belly and make a plan to work it off.  If you’re like me, you look at the treadmill and say, “meh, tomorrow…”

Annnywhooo…

Anyone Right of far Left wonders what kind of coconuts the President has.  I fully expected that this Somali pirate hostage situation would drag on for a few days with talks and “open dialogue without preconditions” only to end in the death of an American.  I feared that the French would have shown us up by taking out the thugs that took four French hostages while this administration tried the hugs and kisses approach.

The Big O gave the green light to take necessary force with the Somali pirates holding Capt. Phillips hostage.   Bravo Mr. Prez…  You reminded the world why an American had not been taken hostage in an act of piracy in 200 years.

Now… please, Mr. President, I beg you… do not apologize!

OK…now, I know a lot of Californians and Texans have moved to Colorado over the years and, judging by the driving skills, it’s clear they lack knowledge of all things frozen.  And, I do realize the public schools in this country are more worried about self esteem than cognitive reasoning ability…

…seriously, is a sign like this one truly necessary?

By the way… fire is hot, sharp things will cut you, driving with your eyes closed is dangerous and could lead to serious injury or death, and if you keep making that face, it will freeze that way.

Yes, Eminem is only looking for attention.  He’s all about creating controversy so people will look at him.  I do listen to Eminem, and I like the music.  At times, ol’ Marshal Mathers is a little over the edge.  There are many targets in Eminem’s music, including this song, and that’s not the issue here.

I like Sarah Palin.  Contrary to the beliefs of Tina Fey and various other media moonbats, she is an effective leader with experience.  She has been a target of the Liberal hate machine since her nomination.  The Left has some nasty names for her and the hate spills out of their eyeballs.

People, in general, lash out at what they fear or misunderstand…the guilty defend themselves the loudest.

Now that Eminem has a little diddy about the Guv, we have more attacks on the lady from the north….and no one is angry.  Why?

This is misogyny and objectivity…is it not?

The Liberal media just passes by without a whimper of worry…

Alternet.org has this to say about the story…which is nothing.  But, they have a pile of stories about the treatment of women in general.  So is Sarah not a woman?

NOW….says nothing.

Feminist Majority… says nothing.

Feminist.com…says nothing.

Women’s Media…says nothing.  Although, they’re happy to bash on Bill O’Reilly for a little snark about Helen Thomas and calling out a Leftist media group hell bent on censoring opposing views.

Here lies the hypocrisy… these groups are created in the name of women and rights.  They call out sexist pigs when it fits their agenda.  Sarah Palin does not fit their agenda…and, it may be due to my ignorance… but I really don’t understand why.  Umm…successful, hardworking mom, doing it all in a leadership position striving for the highest office in the land…

…and Republican (oh, maybe that’s it)

If this was Michelle Obama, how the coverage change?  What about Hillary Clinton?  (yes, I’ll send you the mental bleach to erase those images)

I don’t like what Eminem has done with this video, and he needs to be called out on his antics.  Or completely ignored.

But the point here…for anyone who thinks there is not a Liberal bias and agenda in the media, take a good look at this story and the lack of Obama-rage.

I must say, I’ve have some good ones in the past.  In fact, I was reminded today of my magnum opus of tomfoolery which took place in 2002.  Yup, seven years ago…still has an effect.

I sent out an email to friends and family which was filled with excitement and passion about an impending move from Denver to the UK.  I had been out of work for three months, actively seeking employment and I shouted from the mountaintop that I had been given an “opportunity of a lifetime” to work for a firm in London.  Time was short as they needed me immediately and I was hitting the road in two weeks.  My new employer would move me and my belongings and sell my loft as well.  I was gushing with happiness and excitement…”my ship had come in…”

Before the day was half over, I had friends and family contacting their friends and family in the UK to greet me and help me settle in to a new environment.  My niece was distraught and in tears.  I even had an offer to stay with someone in London until I settled in…

The following year, I announced to everyone that I was giving up on architecture…I had attended an open try out for a local minor league hockey team and was offered a contract.  This was my “shot at professional sports!”  Although a minor league contract didn’t pay well, my wife was going to get a second job to help support the family.

Now, my friends know that my hockey skills are limited at best…they called bullshit.  A few of the family called me out quickly.  There were many that bought it, including my mother-in-law, who promptly lectured me with her disapproval.

How does one follow this up?  Everyone’s on the look out…

Nothing.

You follow up with nothing.  I occupied their heads for weeks leading up to it.  Their expectations set that they were ready for me.  At the end of the day, they came after me…”well, what’s the joke?”  Of course, they we none too pleased to learn that they had been had again.

Now…credit is due to my sister for the following year.  Her family had won the lotto and made a little money.  They didn’t “announce” it for some time, springing the news on me in April.  Of course, my first though was…nope, BS.  I carried on for weeks not believing the story.  They got me…

These days the jokes are simple and limited in breadth.  It’s tough to follow that kind of success on such a grand scale.  Today, I found out my firm was not selected for a new project.  Rather, one of my former employees, a current friend, who has her own firm will be hired.  I called her to see if she had any leads for some staff I needed to lay off because we didn’t get the job.  She, of course, felt horrible thinking that she was putting her friends out of work.  Hook, line, sinker…

After letting her stammer and stutter for a few minutes with panic in her heart… she figured it out.

Its a good time… stay sharp, cuz’ ya never know.

Lovell Mixon fatally shot four Oakland police officers last week.  Mixon, a fugitive parolee, was pulled over for a traffic stop.  He was also implicated in rape cases.  Ultimately, he was killed in a stand off.   This is shocking and sobering.  However…

Roughly 60 people marched in protest of these events.  The shouted their support, not for the slain officers, but for MIXON!  I’m not going to claim to understand what life is like in their community.  I’m not going to claim that all cops are clean and honest.  But, these people need a dose of reality.

The march was sponsored by the Uhuru Movement who stated that:

[Lovelle Mixon] faced a hopeless dead end of joblessness, poverty and criminalization by a society that would rather lock up young African men than make college or jobs available to them.

Brant Ward / The Chronical

Really?  So, because someone didn’t give him a job or send him to college, he gets to shoot four cops?  And, people are proud of him for doing so?

…it’s just wrong…

I am in a leadership position where all of my employees are older than I am.  So what, right?  But there’s something about the 40 milestone that says, “sure, you’re seasoned and experienced, you are the leader.”  But, in your thirties…meh, not so much.

Speaking of leadership and my current employment, my lovely mother reminded me yesterday of my dad’s visions of my vocational aptitude when I was 16.  Of course, at 16 I was completely oblivious of the future and completely focused on girls and…ahem…extra-curricular chemical experiments.  Dear ol’ dad repeatedly said, “you’ll be working for a car wash the rest of your life.”  I know, odd way to motivate…but, in a sense it worked.  There is irony in this because I have actually worked for a car wash.   But, it was in an architectural capacity…designing the car wash for the owner.  Nonetheless, I was working for a car wash.  I had no idea dad was so prophetic.

Being reminded of 16…boy, whodda thunk I would have made it to 25 let alone 40?  That is another story for another time.  Maybe.

Here’s the obligatory list (albeit abbreviated) of what’s happened on this day in history…

• 1519 – Cortez lands in Mexico… an early form of illegal immigration (or emigration depending on your perspective)
• 1639 – Cambridge University changes its name to Harvard….thus providing Bostonians a proper yard in which to park their car.
• 1781 – Sir William Hershel discovers Uranus…umm, wow…I mean, it must have been really special for it to be written in history.
• 1852 – Uncle Sam’s caricature first appeared in the New York Lattern…sadly, women all over New York were left in wont over what they thought was a single, authoritative, statesman.
  
• 1887 – Ear muffs are patented…and rarely worn again.
• 1906 – Susan B. Anthony died…oddly enough, her coffin was the was fabricated to the exact dimensions of George Washington’s.
• 1933 – FDR gives his first radio “fireside chat”…little did the public know that he used the U.S. Constitution for kindling.
• 1934 – Donald Duck is born…unfortunately, later therapy was unsuccessful in curing his speech impediment that, to this day, keeps Daisy out of his league.
• 1950 – General Motors announces a world record corporate profit of $656,434,232…somebody should have put this in their piggy bank.
• 1955 – Maharajadhiraja Tribhuvana Bir Bikram Yung Bahadur Shum Shere dies…after finally getting the spelling of his name correct.
  
• 1969 – Apollo 9 returns to Earth…and thus I was delivered, not by stork, but by astronauts!
• 1973 – Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon…beginning the Wizard of Oz conspiracy that lives on to this day.
• 1993 – A wick’d bliz’ahhd hits the Northeast…and I was in Tulsa, OK in a foosball tournament.
• 2002 – My future wife and I discover we like the same kind of cake…OMG!

…and now in the year 2009, I reach 40 years old…