ITS A RED LETTER DAY---EEEEEEEHAWWW

Today sports fans the old dude successfully performed a great performance of "Fluff N Fold", if it had been formally judged, I like to think I would have scored a 8.5 (out of a perfect 10 possible), ---it wasn't my fault the first washer coin intake jammed on me necessitating taking the clothes out of the washer and going to another machine, and if anything I should have been scored higher in that it was a more difficult maneuver than a basic straight in and out machine load, but I digress. (it should be noted the owner of the machine refunded the coins I had started to put in before the jam)

In any case I finished the necessary fluffing and folding and returned to the palace, put the laundry away, and grabbing a fresh cup of coffee from the dependable coffee dispenser I operate in the kitchen, have sat down to my computer to peruse my friends blogs, do some commenting and then to review how my own modest inputs were received, and "YOWZER"!!! FIRST THING I NOTICED, was that I had a new follower to my blog-------(and YES Virgina there IS a Santa Clause)----which kinda just makes my day. MY humblest thank you to the new person following my blog. Makes this a Red Letter day in MY book.

One small step for the bloggersphere, one giant leap for the Old dude----(life is good).

"LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION"---(cue the sunrise)

I'm sitting here working on my first cup of coffee, going through my list of blogs that I follow, and dropping this or that comment on the new postings, and of course checking to see if anybody had bothered to drop any comments on my "stuff".

I did receive a a few comments, and one from a "new" reader, and of course I linked back to his blog and dropped a thank you comment ( kinda the bloggers equivalent of truck drivers blinking their light to tell ya its okay to swing back in the right lane after ya passed them), and then decided , after reading his latest inputs, to add his blog to my blog role. I have this penchant of collecting blogs that come up with off the wall postings, and this particular blog promises to be a good one in that regard---it made THIS old dude chuckle, and so its good enough for me. If ya wanna give it a shot, check my "Blog Role---hold he mayo" list on my side bar, and click on "irregularly periodic ruminations".

Completing my review of my friends and family blogs, making comments as required, then going though my blog role of other blogs I follow, again making comments as the mood strikes. I have now rewarded myself with a second cup of coffee, and got out of my "jammies" and put on the costume of the day. (your basic levis, t-shirt, wht socks and sneakers kinda guy here).


OKAY!!!, LETS GET THIS DAY ROLLING, ---"LIGHTS, CAMERA---ACTION"!! (OH CRAP----FORGOT MY LINES----"CUT"!! (sorry boss, I'll get it right next time---ahh maybe you can tell me what my motivation is for this scene----and any chance I can get another cup of java?)

"SOMETIMES YA FEEL LIKE A NUT"

Hi guys---its me , "old dude", woke up this morning and decided I had to break out of my rut. It was time I kinda rearranged the furniture of my life---get new perspectives on things. Then it occurred to be I need be somewhat careful, and not burn any bridges behind me---that thinking kinda made me nervous----so I slipped back into my regular morning drill---went to the weekday meeting of the SOCADS group.---downed acouple de-caffe's, exchanged views on a number of world topics, the sharp turn to the left by the USA, and how high will taxes go up?, Will and Obama presidency result in a cutback in the social security benifits we are getting now? and other such issues.

I remembered we were out of dish soap and picked up a new bottle of same, along with a 12 pack of O'Douls. and allowing for the standard $8 it will cost to do the fluff and fold thursday (tomorrow), that will leave me something in excess of $10 bucks of my allowance left over as the week ends. (thats PHEENOMENAL!!)

The LP awoke around 10am, and I got him settled in the Den with his morning cup of coffee----followed about an hour later with his Carnation Instant Breakfast (today it was strawberry flavored, which he likes and so he is in a decent mood). and I have dutifully read all my family and friends blogs and commented on their new posts as needed. I have checked my own blog page and made note of the comments I had received since yesterday---didn't take me long to read both of them.

Now I'm bored again and once again I remind myself that today I was gonna break out of my rut, do things different-----this time, with my stomach only partially nauseous, I changed my blog template----which of course YOU are aware, the question is? what do ya think? Is it me? is it to die for?---or is it kinda dumb, and maybe I should just go back to the old one, the tried and true original blog Template? Let me know guys and girls

Think About It---??!!

your sitting there scanning the comments people have put on your posts, and in the back of your mind maybe plotting out your next post. The sun is shining your morning coffee is sooooo good, but then ask yourself-------who was reading your blog last night???

We all know the kind of people we like, and admire. We publish our posts with a certain quality of audience in mind, and we go to all kind of lengths to present the image we want others to see us as being like. Its human nature to wanna be loved. We go to extreme lengths to hide what we consider to be our flaws or weak points, and its very uncomfortable to have friends or family remind us of them. Yet here we all our out blogging, presenting our self to the world, or at least that image we want the world to see-----but again, who is reading your blog?? What are they like, what might they think of you??

Like most Bloggers, you love getting comments on your postings, and wanting to see "more" of who they are, we quickly track down THEIR blog pages and profiles and try to categorize who they are and what they are all about. Guess what??----you find they are people who you might well not have wanted to meet---or worse some of them might be people you would find most difficult to explain to your real world family and friends----yet, you develop a online relationship, you visit their blogs and make comments and they do the same for you---but as you continue this unsolicited relationship, you begin to find yourself feeling guilty about the flaws and weak spots you have hidden from the world---while these others seem to not care and appear to have thrown themselves out there warts and all and are enjoying themselves. The question now is----why aren't you?

So tonight late, when your all snuggled down under your warm blankets and just about to fall asleep----think about it---I wonder who is reading my blog right now??----sweet dreams.

The Tuesday Raid on Ralph's

The campaigned was planned out carefully, with much give and take discussion to make sure that the Commadant (aka LP) and his Field General (moi) were in total agreement on the missions goal.

This mission was designed for the specific purpose of raiding the local Ralph's store and relieveing them of certain needed supplies, get in and out quick, with minimum casualties. On previous scouting patrols, (me disguised as a local beaten down, over taxed senior citizen, dressed in old levis, and a no name t-shirt, dirty sneakers)---had carefully mapped out the interior of our local, recently renovated Ralphs food emporium,----memorizing the location of the various needed supplies, where the exits were, the best lines for checkout---monitored the store traffic at various times of the day to best decide just when to make the real raid. I reported this back to the C.O.----and finally the night before, we completed the list of provisions that we hoped to successfully acquire---.

NEEDED SUPPLIES

Quiche (Loraine or Florintine, which ever was available)
Two (2) Tomatoes ( for frying)

Sm. container of Deli Herb Tuna Salad

One (1) box of Cherry Tomatoes
One (1) dozen eggs (brown free range)
One (1) 26oz jar of Classico "Cabernet Marinara" sauce
One (1) pre-cooked N veined Shrimp platter (approx 30 shrimps)
One (1) Box of frozen Waffles (10 waffles to the box)
Two (2) Marie Calendar frozen entree's, "Noodles Alfredo w/garlic bread"
One (1) Package of White Long Grain Rice
Cash ($10.00)

     It had been mutually agreed that the best, most advantagous time to maximize the success of the mission would be to launch the raid at 5 minutes to 8am.  At that hour of the day, their would be a minimum of civilian shoppers, that might get caught in the conflict, should our mission become known and I would have to fight my way out of the store.  Also, the enemy (Ralph's employees), would still only be half wake, and even more importantly, would be distracted by the large number of sub contractors in the store re-stocking their displays, as well as the normal morning floor sweeping, polishing maintenance chores.
     I arrived exactly on time, entering the store, this time disguised as an early shopper, wearing cargo pants, pullover sweater shirt, boots, looking like a moderately up-scale shopper, but not so flashy as to draw any unwantged extra observation, I moved with a combination of efficiency, yet casualness, the mission going exactly as planned, I even had the audacity to actually speak to one of the enemy, in a calm voice asking which Isle I might find the Quiche---the fool actually told me.  I went through the checkout, with a friendly smile on my face, but kept the cross talk with the clerk to a mere Good Morning, nice day today line of dialog, the checkout clerk grunted still only half awake, I was certain if questioned later, she would not even  be able to describe what I was wearing let alone my face.  I forced myself to maintain the casual pace, taking my supplies to the truck, loading it and casually driving off the lot----expecting any moment to see a wave of box boys race out of the store after me, but I made my get-a-way clean.  ---tis a great start for a Tuesday.

Heres a pic of some of the supplies that were successfully brought back to the castle:

we ain't gonna starve for a few more days anyway. (lol)

Vacationing in October

The majority of people take their vacations during the warm summer months, primarily as that's when the kids are out of school. However a large number of people are learning that one can have most enjoyable vacations year round. My own favorite time of year for breaking out of my normal everyday routines and getting away from it all---is the month of October.
One is less likely to board a train or bus and run into loud children for one thing. The weather is usually warm without becoming deadly hot and humid. It being after labor day, the hotel and motel rates are not so steep. One is much more likely to find a good price on a cruise up and down many of America's big rivers. New England in the fall, with the colored foliage, the Rockies with their first dusting of snow, the aspen a golden yellow, ----the vast ruggedness of the desert landscapes of New Mexico and Arizona., the lush bucolic atmosphere of wine country in norther California,-----Yellowstone national park, --the grand canyon, a boat ride down the Mississippi-----The great Lakes----and do ya find yourself humming the old commercial refrain---"See the USA in your Chevrolet----America is asking you to call---" Yep October is one great Month to enjoy one's hard earned vacation time. I bet you all have a few favorite places here in the Great USA to visit that I failed to mention---feel free to add to my list.

Judi Made Me Do It

     I received this cute little word association test/challenge from Judi----in that she allows me to toss memes at her, I figure the least I could do is respond to her word association challenge.  Those that read this might , if your so inclined share the answers YOU would have come up with by posting them on your blog pages.

WORD ASSOCIATION TEST

I SAY---                                     YOU ANSWER--?

1.  Memory                    Recollection 

2.  Original                     One of a kind

3.  Exclusively                 Limited to

4.  Listings                      Television programs

5.  Bucket                       Pail

6.  Knight                        Day

7.  Dusty                         Barns

8.  Choice                       Best of the picks

9.  Sunlight                      Warmth

10.  Change of plans       Plan B

     I think now maybe I should take my meds and lay down now right? (LOL)

PONDERABLES--(PART I)

PONDERABLES

1. If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times,does he become disoriented?

2. If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

3. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

4. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

5. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

6. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

7. When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

8. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racing car not called a racist?

9.. Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

10. Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

11. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

12. 'I am' is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language.Could it be that 'I do' is the longest sentence?

Will Success Spoil GOG?

I know its poor form to go around bragging about one's self, but gosh darn I have spent five month's working on my blog here and well dag nab it, I'm a proud old blogger. Today, I was awarded page rank of 3 by Google. I know that's not all that high, but it just goes to show ya that my Lil blog is growing, that my "build it they will come" attitude is paying off. It may not seem like a big deal to some , but for me ---well its a RED LETTER day for GOOD OLD GARY (gog)---and I want everyone of my readers to stand up and take a bow , cause I couldn't have got this award with out your help, your patience and loyalty. THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

"K IS FOR---"

"K" is for the wonderful old movie "Kiss Me Kate" .  A fun musical startting Howard Keel, Kathyrn Grayson, Marge and  Gower Champion, and a singing and dancing James Whitmore, who does the classic song and dance number "Brush Up Your Shakespear"---the movie is worth watching for that little number all by itself.

This post is in honor of A-B-C Wednesday's , which incourages people to participate in the weekly celebration of letters, this coming Wednesday (10/01/08) its the letter "K", and the following week will be the letter "L" etc, etc..  (one needs of course to submit one's entries prior to each wednesday's publication.  Its a fun way to develope one's blog experience, not to mention meet some great new friends. 

Lost In GoogleLand

Hi dear readers, this being Saturday, and most bloggers are off dealing with their real lives, I kinda got bored and opted to investigate the newest feature of blogger.com which allows one to see how many readers are "following" ones blog. Not only see how many but Identify who they are---PHEENOMENAL!!.
Further inspection of this new feature, identified who was following my blog, and Out of gratefulness I of course added their blogs to my "blogs that I am following list". My curiosity being what it is---I determined that every blog that I had listed automatically is linked in my Google reader---and voila, by clicking on their blog title in Google reader I could review their postings , even move to their blog page and make comments. This is a fabulous---no make that a PHEENOMENAL tool. Now I can manage all my favorite blogs, as well as my other favorite sites which I have added to my Google reader, all on the same page!!
I have spent the better part of the last hour and a half totally involved in my self created Google Universe----and I highly recommend it to all my readers.

"ITS A BIRD!!----ITS A PLANE!!---NO, NOOOO, ITS just me "

I read someplace that the SEO Spiders like catchy post titles---but hey what does this old dude know---I mean like---what the hell is an SEO, and spiders have never really been high up on my list of fun things. Okayyy yeah, so the title of this blog is a total lie, and has nothing to do with birds or planes---not even sure it has anything to do with me either---oooh my gawd!!! what we got here is an "orphan" post, looking for adoption. (you don't see to many of those around---and they sure don't get the kinda "press" they should get---considering how many bloggers are staring at their pages in quiet desperation on what to post next).
I was up at some predawn moment and before I was really awake, found myself back home, having already completed the weekly "Fluff n Fold" operation without any incident. Have read the local rag of a newspaper---same bat station, same bat channel as the radio and TV use---boring.---so here I am blinking hopefully at the screen waiting for the wild thrill of inspiration to run up my spine-----as the little engine said, ---"I think I can,----I think I can"----who am I kidding, what the boy really needs is a cold beer-----THEN we can get serious---(lol)

Monday Monday

Dear King of the Bloggers:
I am posting to you today to ask for advice. I have a good close friend and relative who is albeit a novice at blogging, and as such she has not posted very much and posts infrequently. I want to tell her she needs to post more often and on a regular schedule---even if their posts are short and frivolous. So your highness, do you have any advice on how to tell my close friend and relative this without offending them and hurting their feelings?

Signed , "old dude"

Do Not Pass Go-----Do Not collect $200 (sob)

I flew to high, and I melted-----well had a melt down. I will now have to start all over again (sigh)----but first I am gonna go pound my head against the wall, then I am going to allow myself a cold brewski---then gonna , or when I stop sobbing hysterically, I am gonna, start the rebuild of my page.  (who was that masked man Ma??---Don't know Pa---but he sure had a purty horse).

The Competition IS Fierce

There is estimated to be over a billion blogs in existence or soon will be---so whats a guy gotta do to get noticed-----doesn't matter because the next question is always, "And what have ya done lately?". To get some Idea of how wild and how profession some blogs are check out these pages . Bear Naked, everything ya wanna know about the Hallmark Care Bears, Imagine, who has gone to the trouble of collecting and posting some really wild world wide Statuary pics, and Sue's Stuff, her post for today so across the board something for everyone , making her one of the nice guys, and if your new to blogging you gotta read Wayne John. and read his blogger lessons for newbies, scroll back through his posts to Lesson one). I would be totally amiss if I didn't mention the wild and perky "Life Is Good" blog , authored by Dana Its all I can do to stay in the same game with these guys ---I like to think I am getting better, but boy!!?---I got a long way to go.

Ego Boost

I  of course am following Wayne Johns series on how to make full use of the blogger.com template lessons.  Today in Lesson 8, he discusses and explains the settings tab of our dashboards.  However also in his discourse in the current lesson he makes reference to googling ones blog title, which I of course did and oh wow was I blown away with the total number of references to my blog that came up.  You all might want to check out your own blogs this way.  (1) go to http://www.google.com/,  (2) type or past in the Url of your blog, and click search.  When the results screen comes up, go down to the bottom and click on getting the "complete" list---SHAZAM!! (You can drop in your friends Urls and see their results as well)---gives a person a better feel for the impact of their blog on the bloggosphere.

How Often To Post?

I have no real life, so I have lots of real time in which to expound my thoughts here in my blog. As such its been my pattern to post new "thoughts", several times a day, if one looks at my archive totals you can quickly see I am "posting" on average 2 or three times a day. I can also confess than many of my postings are pretty mundane, and probably of little interest to many readers---Ha! like I have many readers----(sigh).
That is exactly why I am asking the question, can a person post to often? My thinking is if a person comes to my blog and wants to read , he will, and if he doesn't he won't---so it doesn't matter if I post frequently----but I know if I go visit a blog and there is nothing new on it---then I have no real reason to go back to it-----whats a blogger to do?

Gary (aka Old dude)
http://threescoreplusten.blogspot.com/

SWEEP OR SWOOP

Is a hectic world we all live in these days. To many its a dawn to dark flat out rat race, leaving them no time to relax and smell the roses (hmm, who originated that expression anyway?). To many people get lost in trying to be or at least appear to be a person they aren't----the weight of the stress of maintaining that artificial persona can get very heavy.
Its not unusual that a person has a "on the job" persona, "a meet the neighbors persona", meet the in-laws Persona, and even different variations of persona's with our close friends. The problem is------there is a little bit of the real self in all the different persona's we put on---but at some point, you have to ask yourself----is it worth it, ?----wouldn't it be great to just be yourself all the time, and "damn the torpedoes---full speed ahead"---?? I suspect like most people your more or less agreeing with this concept and nodding your head---but in real life, its followed by , yeah, yeahh----NO WAIT!!!!!??. I fully understand that-----I don't have suicide tendencies either---was kinda just saying out loud----wouldn't it be great if we could?
So what has any of the above got to do with the Title of this post----"SWEEP OR SWOOP"? to be honest, not exactly sure, but---what I wanted to kinda find out, ask about is---you blog, and you read others blog----The question is, that is to say MY question is---when reading others blogs--do you just read the most recent post, and nothing prior, or do you really settle into their blog and read a number of their postings?? In short do you SWEEP DOWN suck up the most recent posting and move on to another blog---or do you SWOOP DOWN and savor a bunch of their postings at one time----you a SWEEPER or a SWOOPER??

GOTTA LAUGH

If your really need a good laugh , you gotta read the blog "Imagine----" specifically the post dated 7/25----I'm still laughing---read it and see why.   I have added Kenju's blog to my must read list---the Lady has a great sense of humor and a good outlook on just about everything.. 

If There Is A Will------

Our good buddy Wayne John, last week posted his on going series of lessons on how to make good use of the New Blogger. Com blogging platform. Specifically he made note of how in the blogger's personal profile section, one could input audio clips. Putting Audio on my page sounded kinda challenging to me and , like a dog with a new bone, spent a goodly number of hours searching the net looking for not just free music, but music I thought reflected my personality well (yeahhh we ALL have this image of ourselves we HOPE those looking at us see---and almost always we are wrong, but I digress)
I finally came to the conclusion that I have a very complex personality and as such there is no one genre of music that truly represents me, no not even the German Octoberfest beer hall songs cover it----but I finally found a small free sample of music which would could be used to complete the challenge and allow me to post some audio onto my blog profile.----and I ran into a wall.
Having invested some number of hours finding and sifting through midi music---I now found I didn't know how to download it to my computer-----well I approached this dilemma with my standard under my breath muttering------(there has got to be a way, there has got to be a way-----), and the old dude started clicking buttons on the music sites, buttons on the computer here and sure enough a couple hours later----I had discovered how to download a midi music file to my computer-----should now be easy to upload it to my blog profile page right?----wrong again!!
Editing my profile I dutifully follow Wayne's clear, concise instructions and sure enough I find myself looking at the empty audio clip file box----waiting for it to be filled with the URL address of the music I wish to put in.------I need to find the URL of the music I wish to put in. I go into my computer, and open the downloaded file of music, but---well damn I get no URL address to copy and use to paste in my blog profile box.-----very frustrating, I have the music file, can even play it, but no URL. Much frustration, I go back to my original source of the music, and I come up with an URL, I copy it direct from the site----bring up my blog profile, and paste it in the box---then preview my profile page and -----find that all I have done is put in a link to a website that then requires YOU to download the file and click on play to hear it-----this is not right. I delete all the stuff from my profile audio clip area----open a beer and contacted Wayne requesting assistance in figuring out where I was screwing up. Something I should have done hours earlier.
To make a long story shorter---suffice it to say, like Pictures, Audio Clips have to be stored on a server , and once there, THEN one can obtain a URL------I'm to cheap to put out a monthly fee for this service---but for a short time I am pleased to report I do have music in my profile Audio clip-----for those that wish to hear it, you have but to click on my complete profile link on the right ---scroll down to the Audio Clip and click on it------. The good thing about all of the above is the old dude here NOW knows how to search the net for music and how to download it to his files-----but I'm to cheap to host it on servers and share my taste in music with the rest of the world. I will be deleting my audio clip from my profile in a few days-------.