Dragging Day, Lit-Up Night

I've been as about as productive today (Thursday) as Condoleezza Rice's Mideast peace talks. My boss isn't in, and neither is my motivation. The car is back in the shop, as it began to make the evil whine that preceded the $500 repair from two weeks ago. I am supposed to be ducking out of work early to meet Kim at the vet so we can find out if there is any hope of getting Chachie to stop using the corner of the dining room as his own personal latrine. Thankfully, I have a hoops game tonight at 10. That will help break the doldrums some. Then again I fully expect my belly to blast me in the face on my first attempt to run down the court.

I did read something that piqued my curiosity somewhat over the past few days, with the lack of coverage on the story somewhat surprising. Earlier this week, the Presidents of Venezuela and Belarus entered into an alliance - aimed at defending one another from "imperialist" forces. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been in the news as a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. has labeled Chavez as a "maverick" leader - and this is not being used in the flattering Top Gun heroic sense. I will say that this Chavez guy has gumption. He knows that his country sits on some fairly hefty oil reserves. He sees that the foreign policy of the world's lone superpower is at least somewhat dictated by oil. I don't know exactly how much of a deterrent a Venezuela-Belarus alliance is, but with further tour stops lined up in Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali, and a 3 billion dollar arms buy from Russia in the works - President Chavez may just have something going here. I may be willing to revisit my theory that only through the possession of nuclear weapons can a nation guarantee the sovereignty of its borders. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Had a hoops game last night during which I had all of 3 field goal attempts. Three. We scored 8 points in the first half. It was not our most shining moment as a team. My own personal silver lining is that the work I have put in on my free throws paid dividends - I was 5 for 5. Still, we lost by 15 and I was not much of a factor. Immediately cheering me up following the game was my main man Herr Maert settling up our World Cup shirt-for-shirt bet. He had my new Italy long-sleeve jersey waiting for me and I LOVE it. I didn't think it would fit, as the Italian soccer jerseys are form-fitting - but it rocks!

I arrived home from my game around 11:15 to see a nasty-looking thunderstorm coming in from the west. My neighbor told me we were on a severe thunderstorm watch until 12:15. Almost immediately after entering the house, the lightning got all sorts of intense. 15 minutes later, I saw the craziest thing. There was a bright flash and an immediate boom and rattling of the house. I looked towards the window (the shades were drawn) to see a bright red flash, and sparks flying in my front yard.

As many of you know, I often bemoan my standing as the only resident on my street whose designated parking spot is under a tree. Usually my biggest worry is bird poop. I may not have to worry about that for much longer, as the tree may have had it. The tree was spectacularly struck by lightning, blowing bark off of the entire base. A decent-sized limb ended up on my hood, and bark and other tree debris could be found all the way across the parking lot. After the main part of the storm rolled through, we went out to move our cars in case the tree was unstable. In what would be a comical after-effect of the storm (if I didn't just pay for three trips to the shop for the Blazer in two weeks), it would seem that the lightning bolt that took out the tree also took out some of my car's electrical system. The car started, but all of the dashboard warning lights are on, the dome light isn't working properly, nor are the power locks. It never ends...

Apparently I am not the only one that is noticing the nasty turns the weather has been taking in recent months. Check out Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback article from CNNSI.com. An excerpt:

Wherever you are, have you noticed the weird weather patterns in the last few months? Unending, intense rain. High winds. It was in the midst of a 12th day of measurable rain in a 14-day period that I saw An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore movie about global warming.This is the most apolitical piece of advice I could ever give you, because I realize Al Gore is not popular with all of you. And I really don't care very much about Gore weaving details of his personal life into the global-warming lecture. But you should see this movie and judge the facts for yourself. What's happening out here is no isolated occurrence. It's going to keep happening and it's going to get worse. Facts are facts. And we all need to do something about this phenomenon of the Earth heating up and the polar ice caps melting. This is not exactly the venue to warn the world about global warming, but all you football junkies readying for your fantasy drafts should do one real-world thing in the next couple of weeks: take two hours to see this movie. I'm not saying you'll be glad you did, because it's going to slap you around mentally a bit. But it's something you need to see. You don't want to wake up in 15 years with the Earth permanently damaged and huge portions of the Earth's surface under water

Kudos to Mr. King for writing about the most serious issue facing the human race right now. If football writers can see what is happening to the planet, why can't the Republicans? How long will the American people, or the people of the world in general, allow the elite to line their pockets at the expense of the future of the human race?

[Currently Listening: Fionna Apple - "Across the Universe"]