Countries, Territories, assorted rare states I have visited 8

Viva Mexico! It was 1989, I had just arrived to Abiline, Texas in my brand new used 1987 Hyundai. I had left Japan only a month earlier and now I was headed to Dyess Air Force Base. A new job, a new car, a free weekend. What to do? I didn't know anyone yet and my roommate was gone (but the room was piled full of his stuff). Gas was cheap and Mexico seemed kind of close (only a four hour drive away). So I decided to drive to the border.

The drive itself was very interesting. Winding deep into the West Texas countryside, stopping for a steak and iced tea, hearing people talk in that funny Texas way. Finally I arrived at the border, parked my car and walked across to Cuidad Acuna. Small but nice. I saw sobreros, a plaza and lots of nicknacks. I bought a painting of a saint and a Mexican comic book. The money felt weird and I didn't drink the water.

I spent the night on the American side. The next day I bought some Mexican car insurance and drove along the Rio Grande river. Then I headed back to Abilene. When Monday morning rolled around I found out that I had broken air force rules by going so far without being on leave. Oops. Nothing happened to me so it was okay. I have never been back there but someday I must go.

Liberace is Dead!

I just found out Liberace was dead. I really didn't know. The internet is an amazing place to find out information.
Did you know that Liberace loved his mother a whole lot? Did you? I didn't. Did you know that he might have been gay? It seemed pretty obvious. He did outlive Elvis but then might have died from either Aids or a watermelon diet. Elvis probably liked watermelon. I do. I am southern.
One thing Liberace never did though. He never made fun of Muslims, Arabs or the Prophet Muhammad. I don't know how I know this; I just know. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing.
So next time you are thinking of making fun of someone's religion, think of Liberace. He might have been in the closet, but at least he wasn't inside of the bigoted closet.
Cheerio.

Dead Man Teaching

Well based on an informal survey, we think Mr. Snowman will melt pretty soon and be sent to cooler climes on Luftansana Airlines.
50% gave him to the end of the year, 25% gave him until the end of the month, and 25% gave him until the end of the weekend.
Well the weekend is almost up and it looks like the majority might be it.
But with a new week comes the chances of a renewed shitstorm. But who knows what will happen next. In case you are a kid and are trying to look at the Snowman's site (jeffsnowman.net) , his code is "XXXX" and then the password is "XXXX." And the word for the day is "ironic". Look that one up for kicks. [Editor's note: due to Mr. Snowman, threating me with legal action if I didn't remove his codes, I have decided to take the cowardly route and remove them. I guess I didn't have an "open mind" to what hipness the Ice King was laying down.]
Cheerio. And Happy Easter.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

What is the old expression: it's better to sit quietly and have people think you are stupid, than to speak up and prove it. Well it takes some people a little longer than others to understand this. Case in point, my friend Homer here. He see camels and he thinks where are the riders? He should know that these are milking camels, not riding ones, but hey he "read" a book once about camels and he'll keep looking for their riders under every camel teat he can upturn. And that's a lot of teats. Well we'll see what he has to say about camels and their riders in the future. As for that future, it might be elsewhere. Hope not though, he's fun to have around at breakfast.

Godspeed Mr. Homer, Godspeed.

Things I wish I had have made up 5

World of Warcraft Attacked
This is kind of sad. A man dies. His friends go to his funeral. They are all killed by gate-crashers. Oh my. Well it has happened all on-line at the Wonderful World of Warcraft. They were all killed by a group called Serenity Now. Here is their website: http://serenity-now.org/

A description of what happened is found below. I stole it from someone else, but the link it too long to list. You can find it at fark.com if you really need it. Here is a google link to the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7667194685876573666&q=serenity+now

"World of Warcraft, otherwise known simply as WoW, is one of the most popular and successful computer games in history. It is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that 6 million people pay $10 -15 per month to play. This type of popularity creates a sample size that is large enough to reflect the forces that control it. In Layman's terms, with this many people playing this online game at any given time human nature tends to get a stronger representation. The first "reality" check was a bug that caused a plague to outbreak and affect people's characters in certain cases instantly killing any player below a certain level.The second "reality" check was when this group of Warcraft players otherwise known as a guild interrupted a memorial service. Apparently, some dude dies in real life who is a popular WoW player. The people in the game think it would be nice to have a memorial for the player so they log into his account, take the character to a lake, and set it up for everyone to come pay their respects.A bunch of dudes decide this would be a great time to ambush everyone so they run over a hill, kill the dead guy's character, and then wipe out everyone who was there to show their respects. They filmed the whole thing and put it on the net for everyone to see."

Thailand: The audio-file experience

Have you ever been in line at customs? It feels like all day.

Have you ever been on one of those really long flights? Boy, do my legs get tired.

Have you ever had a bargirl spill beer on your pants? Man, those stains never come out.

So why put up with it? Now you don't have to with the Thailand Audio-file experience. Just put on your headphones and you're there. You can download it on your ipod and away you go.

Your pants will be stain-free, your knees won't hurt and you won't be frustrated with all of that humidity and bureaucracy that Thailand offers those who are still travelling the old-fashioned way.

So download the Thailand audio-file today. Your life will never be the same again.