Without further ado, here is the final part of the interview with Wally Mead. A lot of you have enjoyed this series, and I’ve been glad to be able to bring it to you. 

Be sure to check back soon for the next interview. I’m not sure which one will be next, but I’ve already lined up two guys in the SMS community that I know you won’t want to miss.

Yeah, that’s meant to be a teaser. It’s my blog…I can do that! :-)

So, enjoy Part 3 of the Wally interview and check back soon to find out who my next interview is going to be!

For those of you who are regular visitors to my blog, you will notice that it has a different look. I chose a different theme and modified the widgets in the sidebars. Also changed the Suicide Resources page from a separate page to a post. Generally did some visual housecleaning.

Let me know what you think about the changes. I’m interested to hear.

On my flight to Bristol yesterday, I’m checking in at the airport. My bag is slightly overweight…52.5 pounds. I looked at the guy and asked if I could have a little grace or if I needed to take something out. He told me, “with the price of fuel, our managers are really cracking down, so you need to take some things out.”

I didn’t mind so I took 2.5 pounds out, and put them in my laptop bag. About that time it struck me…if fuel cost is the reasoning, what difference does it make if that 2.5 pounds is in my checked bag or my carryon?

I know that guy is just doing his job, and I didn’t say anything. But the logic that his manager is using is simply a bit faulty.

Here is a pic I snapped of Julie standing next to the Christmas tree in her parents’ house. She is 4′ 11″. The tree is approximately 17 feet tall. The guys at the tree farm they got it said it was the biggest tree on the farm. BTW…I did no trick photography to make the tree look bigger. I held the camera level at standing height…what you see is an accurate representation.

I’m currently trying to sell our minivan on cars.com. On Saturday, I got a phone call from a potential buyer. It was a phone call through one of the services for the deaf…so I’m talking to an operator who is reading to me what the other person is typing and then typing what I say in response. The caller made an offer that sounded good, then e-mailed me with details for closing the sale. However through the entire call, I just had feeling that this was a scam. Why would a person in Wisconsin want to buy an eight year old van in Florida that is listed as “fair” condition? That just doesn’t make sense.

As soon as I got the email, I knew that I was right. It was a fake cashiers check scam. Basic gist was that he was “offering” to send me a cashiers check for more than the purchase amount and have me wire the balance to him. Sorry dude…I may have been born at night…but it wasn’t last night. What made it even funnier was the name that the scammer used. Shawn Combs. Dude! P Diddy wants to buy my eight year old minivan! Yeah…right.

So…my first inclination is to send back a nasty email. Then I thought for a second. Naw…I don’t want to send an e-mail that he will just delete. If possible, I want to screw his world. I called the Secret Service instead. Read the rest of this entry »

I was having a hunting conversation with a co-worker and was showing him the pictures below. My dad found these when I was about three years old. These two very mature bucks had been fighting and got their antlers locked together, and because they couldn’t get their antlers separated, they ended up dying or killing each other. They were found on private property in Mississippi back in November 1974. Somewhere out there is a picture of a very small verbal processor sitting in the center of the antlers.

Just a note: the antlers were locked together hard. Before they were mounted, my dad and someone else tried unsuccessfully to pull them apart. Another note is that both of these deer were large enough to make the Boone and Crockett record book. Clicking on either picture will take you to the higher res version on my Flickr site.

One of my hobbies is photography. It typically goes in spurts. I’ll go for a long time without taking any pictures…then will go a couple of months and take a ton. This summer was a spurt. In a six week period I took almost 850 pictures on my digital camera. No way that I could have ever afforded my photography with a film camera!

I’ve started a Flickr site and uploaded some of my favorites. Most are from that spurt this summer. Most have not been retouched from what came off of the camera other than cropping. A couple have been retouched a bit. I’m no expert…I just did what looked the best to me with what I had. I’ve posted a bunch of them on my photography page. The Flickr site has better quality images, although you won’t see the difference on your computer screen.

As for what I use for editing pictures. I really like the power of Paint.Net. It’s really powerful…and free! I also use Microsoft Office Picture Manager that is part of Office 2007. I also use Windows Photo Gallery that is part of Windows Vista. I typically use Photo Gallery more for managing photos than editing. I’m probably 50/50 on which of the first two I use…depends on what I’m trying to do. Basic cropping and retouching probably gets Picture Manager. It’s just really simple to use. More advanced stuff gets Paint.Net.

On Tuesday of this week an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy was struck by a hit and run driver. He died from those injuries last night. His name was Michael Callin. He was 26 years old. He was the brother-in-law of one of my friends.

The early indications are that this driver intentionally swerved to hit the officer. The driver, Allan Barahona, has a rap sheet a mile long. Other passengers in the car told authorities that he intentionally hit the officer…because he didn’t want to be arrested.

What does this have to do with immigration? According to the news this morning, Barahona is an illegal alien. He is in this country illegaly. Aside from violating the laws of this country by simply being here illegally, he has also continued to prove that he cares nothing for the laws of this country evidenced by his rap sheet.

WHY IS HE STILL IN THIS COUNTRY????????? This kind of junk infuriates me. We have laws for this. Why are they not being enforced? He is an illegal alien. DEPORT HIM!!! If he is deported…he doesn’t have the opportunity to violate the other laws…or kill our deputies.

My quick and dirty solution:

1. Harden the borders…ASAP. Make is so that as much as we are able…you don’t get into this country unless you are supposed to get in.

2. Deport all illegal aliens. No discussion, no second chances. If you are here illegally…you are gone. Period.

3. Streamline the process for legal immigration. Make it a desirable process.