Still Leeanring the New Stupid Format

I have figured out how to change the dates on when a entry is posted. So I think I will post all of the old entries to the time When I actually wrote them. It will give the blog some kind of continuity. Well not really. I would have to have a regular subject or something interesting to be talking about in order for that to happen. We all know that will probably not come together so many years into a blog.

Small Things

On less than exciting news I have figured out how to get pictures off my phone with out having to email them to myself. Frankly I am way to cheap to email something to myself. So figuring this out is a big thing for me.

Well that is it for now. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Profanity Laced Messages

I had a rather rude responce from someone who read my post on Mitt Romney's dancing horse. The basic gist of it was that I was not really an everyman.

I have reread that post and at no point did I claim to be an everyman. Everyman cannot juggle breath first or walk on stilts. So I have always thought of myself as special. Well that is what my mother would tell me before she would load me on the short bus to school every morning as  a child, but I digress.

I did erase the response because besides being rather rude it used the f bomb seven times. I think there were only five sentences so that is a bit excessive.

The reason I bring this up is that ther person posted another message gripping about the fact I did not publish their message. it's my bleeding blog I can publish what ever I want. More importantly kids read this things. There is no need for that kind of language.

So there you go. You are right I am not an everyman. Not because I special, mainly because noone else wants to be me.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Also I am a clown not a person should look to for political advice.

Support MST3K Archive Project

There are some fine Americans that are putting the Mystery Sciene Theater 3000 episodes on the internet. Many of these are on youtube and some are other places.

This is Gorgo one of my personal favorites.

Someone Loves Me

Today a random person walked up to me and hugged me at the bus stop.

So just to keep score I have be robbed or assaulted at the bus stop seven times. So hugs to punches punches are winning by six. Feel free to hug me if you see me.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice

Fictional Real Person

It is three in the morning and I am once again looking at a blank page. I have spent the last two months reading everything I can on a man named Samuel Logan Brengle who was Commissioner in The Salvation Army. He is also the only real person who is a regular character int he stories. For this reason I feel a great deal of pressure to get him right.

On the moral front he wrote several books. So I have little trouble guessing where his moralities lies. This issue that I am having is what kind of man was he. I can figure that he did not cuss and I can get a feeling for what his speech pattern were from his books.

I simply do not know that I am doing the man justice.

Still as I ponder him I wonder how many people out there know who he was. Is he famous enough that people would recognize if my character is a good representation of the real man?

Cleaning Up

As I look around the old blog it is apparent there needs to be some redding up around here. No that is not a way to say there is not enough communism on the blog. That is a Pittsburgh expression for cleaning up for all two of my international readers. It has not gone unnoticed that I have a bunch of stuff cluttering up the place. Several of the blogs I used to follow have gone fallow. And still their links live on here. Well I think I will take some time to see what is still working and get rid of what is not working.

I still like the over all format with the three columns. It gives me the space to put up all kinds of junk. Oh and by the way here is a random Ramstien Video. I am not sure what is going on here. Still there it is.



Well that is it for now. Yes I know that was mostly pointless. Still, that is where things are at the moment. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Random Stuff

It was another fun day of sewing and other random things for the Clown Brigade. Everyone needs apparatus bags for everyone. That is the one down side of everyone getting better. The better they get the more they can juggle. The more they can juggle the more stuff they need to carry around. The more they carry around the bigger the bag they need to carry everything in.

It is a viscous cycle. Well I suppose I cannot blame them for paying attention and getting better.

There is some interesting stuff on the COAI front. Two of the young people in my group will be joining the education committee for the COAI's local chapter. They have each taught or assisted with five or six lessons so they have already been helping with the committee.

The interesting thing is that these young people do not have a vote in how the Tri Rivers Ally of the COAI does things. A couple of them realize this is unfair that they pay the same dues and cannot vote.  Also three of them have taught lessons this year when half the members locally prefer not to help with teaching new clowns. They have faith that eventually they will be treated fairly.

The rub is that the bylaws committee has been suspended for the rest of the year. So there is no chance this issue can be fixed at this point. Well it can be but it would require bringing them up in a general meeting causing chaos. Yes, talking about bylaws in our meeting causes horrible fights. This is the reason the Bylaws committee was put together in the first place.

 Also the Ally has been in bad way the last couple years. Membership is shrinking and it has been hard to find people to do shows. Also when ever something new is tried it annoys half the existing people in the ally. So we do not want to change to accommodate new people.  It is tough road to navigate. Actually it is a road that cannot be navigated. Someone must be annoyed while things get better.

On the blogging front I am trying to make an effort here. I am not really sure if anyone cares about the random junk that I am throwing up on this thing. Still, it is something to do.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Radar Secret Service

Robot Repair at it's worst

High School Big Shot

More Mystery Science Theater Magic. Enjoy

Village of the Giants

Be safe out there and don't get stepped on

No Good Comments

I am debating if I want more people to read this blog or not. I am sure that when I started it I wanted everyone to give it a read. I am not sure that I have imparted any wisdom or anything useful. I do not think I have a following or regular readers. The comments are rubbish from people advertising something. So what is the point? I am not sure.

Danger Death Ray

Mike and the Bots take a run at this classic

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

There are just not Words

This was great. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

The Projected Man

Shows like this make me want to have shows like this.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

I am a church goer and I would be annoyed if someone tried to teach astrophysics during Sunday School. Actually if is was Dr. Tyson I would probably not be that bothered. Still, I do not think he is going to come to Pittsburgh and do this.

I also run a clown troupe and I would not let people teach astro physics during our meetings. OK Dr. Tyson might have some very interesting takes on what is happening during juggling practice. Ok so besides Dr. Tyson, Dr Hawking and a reanimated Albert Einstien it would annoy me. Any where here is a picture thing with a quote from him. Well at least the person who made it thinks it is his quote. Sadly Dr. Tyson does not have the time to waste reading this drivel to confirm or deny these things.

Ring of Terror

Giant Spider Invasion

Would it be an invasion if the spiders were normal size

Be Safe out There and Keep Your Stick on the Ice.

Random Cat Picture

This is a Random picture of my cat eating on the cat shelf in my office.

Well here I am once again on the old blog. With the help of an internet mobile stick thing I am blogging on the bus. As always it is a magical experience. There is a guy next to me with too much cologne. We are going to called what ever smells that bad cologne. Also he is annoy I have the audacity to sit next to him. Of course he is sitting arms Folded with his legs spread to take up as much room as possible. The sad thing is he probably feels justified being rude in a public place. Well what can you do. I suppose I will be snarky on my blog about the situation. It would probably be too over the top to take a picture of the guy. Well it doesn't matter and you folks out there are not that interested.

Not that it matters but I have started playing the sim city on the facebook. Sim City with the actualy city was the only video game I have installed on my computer. I will putter around with and see what it is like. Well I am not really sure why it was important to ass this entry. Still there it is.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Stuff

I do not know is Dr Tyson said the following. It sounds like something he could have said.

In the defense of the Mayan they were never claimed to know when the world would end. It is goodballs in our time who said this.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

This is playing card for something or other that feature Dr. Tyson

The Thing That Couldn't Die

More fun from the good people at Mystery Science Theater 3000

King Dinosaur

What can I say. This is just wonderful

Knitting in the Office

The front meeting room in our office is just about ready to be used again. I do need a couple more comfy chair for the knitting group and a couple ceiling tile. I have just finished running the wire to add speakers to the stereo. I do find that knitting groups go better with music.

Restarting the Clown Brigade's knitting group has been a bit rocky. Finding a place to meet was a bit of an issue. Still, using the office is as good a solution as any. It is just that we will not be able to have the public show up. Still, it may be a blessing just have the ability to knit among ourselves. The strange things that clowns have to knit are not always understood at regular knitting groups.

So we will see how it goes. Maybe we can post in Pittsburgh Knitting when we have a stable date and can invite the public.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Stay Family

I have a tiger stripe cat and her seven kittens in my house. The critters found there way into my living room. They have been at the house eating all my cat food for the last week. I have never had a cat wondering into myhouse with kittens before. They may be someone's else lost cat. I suppose I should put up posters or something. Well I should take some pictures of them and put them up here. I am terrible at the putting up pictures on this thing.

Writing in the voice of teen age girls is a pain in the neck. On the up side I have had some help from a couple of the young women in the clown troupe. According to them my dialog is unrealistic for teenagers and they have made some suggestions. In retrospect maybe I should have made Evangeline and Yamato boys. Still, I think there is something compelling about a girl trying to save her future husband.

Right now I am calling this book the Junior Time Lords. I hate this title more than any other title I have come up with. It fits the book but it is stupid. I have been thinking of calling it the Herald of the Last Fleet Lord. It is better title but it minimises the contribution of the other characters. Well it is something that I will have to play with. Maybe after I get it in good shape I will let the girls from the troupe read it and see what their suggestions are.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice

Horses Should not Dance

You are not an everyman if you have a horse that dances. That is the very definition of not being an everyman. You look up not an everyman it shows a picture of a guy with a dancing horse. I normally o not political on this blog. Mainly because not one cares what a clown thinks about the next President.

Well I think we need a President that has some grip on reality. The Dancing horse looks like Dukakis in a Tank. Well there it is. I just hope he does not strap his horse to the roof of his car.

Homestead Town Meeting

Tonight I attended a town meeting in Homestead. The goal was to find solutions to prevent future violence. Several people spoke. Only about one in five had an actionable item. Most were lamenting things were not like they were or who or what annoyed them. All and all it was fairly predictable.

There were a couple of good ideas that centered around community watch and putting more people on the streets. The bottom line is that if kids are acting up you have to do something to keep and eye on them and keep them busy. Drug Dealers do not want to hang out with a bunch of people They want to do their business in a quiet corner. If your town does not have that out of the way place for them they will go somewhere else. They are like electricity, they will take the path of least resistance. When the community has a bunch of people watching the bad guy and giving the kids in the middle something to do the drug dealers cannot thrive.

This is not rocket surgery. The rub is if your town can get along well enough to deal with the issues. We shall see.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Still puttering around in Homestead

Duck Hollow Fire Stuff

The fire juggling thing may be shaping up slowly. I recall there being a really great event once upon a time that had spinner and drummers. This even has not survived to this year.

Well to fix this we have started a new facebook group and have gone about inviting people from scratch. It is as you might exspect a pain in the neck. Still there have been a couple folks who have been very help in creating a new group. There are a handfull of people that have responded to this and said they are going to show up. I hope that we make a good showing so that they come back next time.

By the way this first event will be this Friday at 9:00PM at the Duck Hollow Fish Area under the Homestead High Level Bridge.

Still getting used to the new blogger. Usually I hate the changes for a while and then I start to accept them. Acceptance has not happened yet. In fact this is annoying me more then when it first happened. Blogger is lucky I am way too lazy to move all my stuff elsewhere. Granted I doubt they care even a little.

On the up side of things There is interest in the Duck Hollow Fire Arts thing. The first meeting of this group will be the 22nd. So that could be a very good thing. IF you are into poi or juggling fire we will be at the duck hollow fishing area at 9:00 PM so be there or be square. Yes I am old

Arby's is better

I am still not loving the new blogger that has been forced upon us. I spend part of today looking at other blogging sites. I think I need to learn what ever language these things are written in and buy a server to host my own site. This might be expensive and more than my attention span can handle.

Well clown stuff is still plugging along. The knitting group has met once and will meet again. We are going to meeting at the subway at station square. It is not the first place that you think of for knitting in Pittsburgh. Still it is a great deal more comfortable than you would think. They have nice plushie chairs and don't play terrible elevator music. I will take and post pictures of our never meeting.

Also on the fast food front. I continue to be amazed how bad the service is at the down town McDonalds. I went to the Wood St location and was standing in line. A staff person was scooping crud out of the french frier. They when took the strainer and smacked it around inside a garbage can. They then stuck it back into the frier and repeated the procedure. I asked the person is they were beating their scoop inside a trash can. They replied that they were. I turned around and left. I want to the Arby's next door. I wanted a cherry turn over. I asked them for the cherry turn over and they said they were out. The lady at the counter apologized and asked if I would like an apple one. I replied that I never had one and asked if they were any good. She gave me one for free as an apology for not having the cherry ones. I am certain the McDonalds would have just told me I have to have the Apple one or leave.

And yet for some reason the McDonald's is always packed and Arby's does not have the same crowd. Granted this one is physically smaller. Still the service is so much better and the staff is actually nice to you. If the Arby's had wifi I would never go back to the golden arches.

Well this is me checking in., Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Tooling around the burgh with my blind kitten

Bus Posting

I just finished the last Two and Half Men. It was not bad. I am not sure if this means they are getting rid of Jake or what. I suppose they could get some mileage out of him being in the military. Maybe he just wants out so that this show does not kill his acting career. I should probably look up to see if he is coming back next year.

On other fronts I continue to blog on the road. I happen to be on the 61D tooling through Oakland. I am very tired for some reason even though I do not feel as if I have done anything. I am on my way home from Bible study and it was very good. This is probably the largest Bible Study I have ever been apart of. If I did not see it working I would not have though it would do so well. Perhaps it has something to do with it’s novel structure. Everyone is given a verse or two to take home. You are then to come up with how you feel the verse impact what ever the given subject is. You get some very interesting insights from the other folks there. 

Well I will catch you all later. Keep you stick on the ice and be safe out there

Idiots with Fire

There is lots of interesting stuff to talk about in the performing world. First things first, the Brigade is doing well. We have had some great practices recently and have a new member who is fluent in ASL. This is great because it has been one of our goals to learn it. We took a couple classes at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. They were good for the folks that took them. They then told us that the kids could not take further classes. I even offer to take the classes with the kids. Something about that don’t have classes for kids unless they have family who are deaf. Well this has left us to our own devices. My mastery of ASL is lousy at best. I can get the idea across but I have no one to talk with. We have been having classes at Tuesday practice of our own. We have everyone up on the animals color and some basic greeting. It is not much. Still, if we have to do a Show in the Deaf Community we would be able to do balloon animals.

Pittsburgh Fire Arts continues to be an issue. Their leader, Doug, claims that he contacted the police and fire department. I have contacted the police and fire department and they never heard of him. In my conversation with Doug he claims to be a proud Pot Head and feels that blankets are the best way to be safe around fire. Can a blanket smother fire? Sure. Will someone high on pot or drunk have the same response time as a sober person with fire extinguished? Absolutely not.

Is it a pain in the neck to cart around a fire extinguisher? Of course it is. I do it on the bus all the time. Is that a reason to lie about taking proper precautions?  The sad part is that the actions of this person have limited my options. If they had not thrown me out of the facebook group I could have appealed to everyone else for better safety. Perhaps he is lying to them about the research he has done.

I would really like to see an event like this take place. I could not live with myself if the price of that event was that someone gets run over by a drunk or Squirrel Hill gets burned down.

Why can't I cut and paste stuff into blogger since the upgrade? Recently I have been typing my posts in a word processor so that I can use a decent spell check. I would then cut and past it into the blogger. I cannot do that. I have to open both windows and drag it over. It is pain and there is no good reason for me to have to do it. Blogger should stop messing with it's features.

Clown Polotics and Blogger Gets Even Worse

Blogging continues to be something that I want to do but do not do. It is not as if I am too busy. I have the notebook with me almost all the time now and still I cannot remember to knock of a page of text here and there. I am creating all kind of useless pages of fiction. Still I cannot find the effort to tell people about rather ordinary life. I would say that I have had nothing interesting to report. That is not the case though. There are strange happening with the COAI locally and Brigade continued to be a source of inspiration and consternation.

Well I might as well ramble on about the COAI. The COAI is the Clown of America International. It is a club for clowns basically. When everything is working correctly you go to the meetings and learn stuff about clowning. Our local chapter has fallen on hard times. It’s membership is down and for what ever reason they did not allow young people to join the alley. After bring my young folks to the meeting for a year this rule was change to reflect the national organization. Now young folks are allowed to join the alley.

At the last meeting the old President brought a copy of the bylaws that they typed themselves. In this copy they made a couple of changes including raising the membership age to it’s previous level. My young folks, as one might expect, felt annoyed by this. How do you explain to a kids that an adult does not want them around. It is even sillier when even the kids can see the group needs members because it is about to die. Now this is just one person of an other wise relatively stable group. Well stable for clowns anyway.

Blogger continues to get worse as time goes on. They have once again changed the format. AS far as I can tell they have not added any new features or made it any better. They simply moved around the stuff. If I did not have so many posts I would move them all over to wordpress or somewhere else. So if you are reading this and thinking of starting a blog. Don’t do it here.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

R e v T u r n e r ` s o n f i r e t o d a y

Knitting and other random stuff

The knitting group is moving along slowly. Walt and I met at the Subway at Station Square. None of the young ones were available for our first meeting. So it was just Walt and I knitting on the south side. There was knitting that was had. I stated a new long scarf with a figure 8 cast on. Thus someone else will be able to knit on it. Walt was working on an orange scarf with the Martha stitch. I think walt must know dozens of hunter that need orange scarves. I should ask him about this. I think I have personally seen him knit five or six of them. Maybe he has just been knitting the same one for the last three years. It is probably that I am thinking about this too much.

There will be pictures of the next meeting. I think we will be at the subway and with luck there will be some young folks with us. We might even mention it on the Ravelry and invite the general public.

On the writing front I have dramatically changed the first book in the series. The adding of the Yukawas makes it a different book. Several things were taken out and I get them all back to the Ganterian Empire a wee bit latter than I had in the first draft. One thing that always bothered me about the first draft was the the Ganterian were so helpful. I am adding some political problems within the Empire to make that situation more realistic.

It is odd because I we getting close to finished with it. Now I have two version of the same book that are very different. Well I am sure it will work out eventually. 

Oh and to the good people at blogger. The new layout annoys me. I should have the option to keep things the way they were.