Archive for February 14th, 2007
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
These guys have linked to my site a few times regarding some of my Flandis posts.
If you are interested in following the case of Floyd Landis I have not found a site that is doing a better job. Analysis of the case, roundups of news and blog sites and links to everything necessary to keep aware of everything Flandis.
The site is biased towards believing in his innocence, but they state as much on the home page of the site. They have never asked me to link to them but you should check out the site if you want to keep up with all the details.
Trust But Verify.
Posted by Smithers at 11:31 pm in Pro Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
Is this guy a gaper?
Posted by Smithers at 8:27 pm in Miscellaneous | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
The White House is trying to make the case for their new most favorite war of all time and the Joint Chiefs of Staff won’t play along. No fun!
Posted by Smithers at 4:33 pm in Politics | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
A few years ago Mrs. Smithers was commuting back and forth between Minneapolis and Perm Russia. Perm is so much in the middle of no place that it is not even on the map and it was a 24 hour one way trip by air to get there.
Mrs. Smithers made this trip every couple of weeks and would stay over there for two weeks before returning home. It was an exhausting trip and she would spend the first four days home sleeping. Just about the time she would start to readjust to the time zone change and life would get back to normal she would have to get on a plane and head back over to Perm. It totally sucked ass for me, but at least I was at home. It was much harder for her being away from home that much in a foreign country despite her ability to speak the language.
Getting back home on time and on schedule has alway been important to Mrs. Smithers. Once she gets the notion in her head that she will be back home soon she gets extremely annoyed when any problem interrupts her plan. But flying from Perm to Moscow to Frankfurt to Chicago and then to Minneapolis, any small delay can cause a major problem.
So it was, on one of her final trips back home, some kind of problem with the schedule forced her to fly from Frankfurt to New York instead of Chicago. The beauty of flying to Chicago is that there are so many more flight options to make the trip back to Minneapolis due to the close proximity. But New York? Not so many options. Sure enough, the flight from New York to Minneapolis was cancelled and she was forced to spend the evening in New York.
I remember the phone call. I was catching a movie with a friend of mine and the phone buzzed so I checked the caller ID, saw it was Mrs. Smithers and stepped out to the lobby to take the call. Mrs. Smithers was inconsolable. She desperately wanted to get back home and was furious that she was going to have to spend an evening in New York instead of getting home. I did my best to calm her down but she was still very upset when the call ended. Jet lagged, home sick and sad is no way to spend a night in New York but Mrs. Smithers had no choice.
It’s very easy, when you are frustrated and life has thrown you some inconvenient challenges, to withdraw into your shell and tell the world to eff-off. That’s sure what I would have done. But Mrs. Smithers is not like that. At some point she noticed that an older couple from some eastern European country were stuck in the same situation that she was in. Neither one of these two spoke any English of any kind and Mrs. Smithers’ Russian was only able to help her make very basic communication. Never-the-less and despite her state of exhaustion, she helped this couple get in contact with their family in the United States and then helped them get to the hotel, get checked in and helped them find their room. She also helped them get back to the airport and find their outgoing flight the next morning.
It may not sound like much to you, but it meant the world to that couple. I love that story because it perfectly encapsulates what I love about Mrs. Smithers. Even in challenging times she can be so caring and thoughtful. She easily puts aside her frustrations and problems to help someone who needs it. She is a wonderful mother to Baby Smithers and she is the best partner anyone could ever hope for.
Any co-pilot in the world would have been honored to fly with Charles Lindbergh, but he chose his wife Anne Morrow to fly with. Mrs. Smithers chose me to be her co-pilot and I am the luckiest guy in the world because of it.
Happy Valentines Day.
Posted by Smithers at 1:29 pm in Family | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
not manly
I went to Starbucks yesterday, like I do every single day, and ordered my warm drink and pumpkin loaf.
They were out of pumpkin loaf so Ms. Barista offered me one of their new cupcakes.
Cupcakes? Do I look like a 13 year old girl? Or British? Or Super-Rookie?
Screw your cupcakes lady, I want a manly treat and cupcakes are not going to cut it for me. Cupcakes? Jesus, that is totally ridiculous. Why don’t you offer to sell me a Hello Kitty hand bag while you are at it? You can take your cupcake and shove it. Cupcakes…god damn it.
I got a rice krispy treat instead. Manly.
Posted by Smithers at 12:13 pm in Miscellaneous | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
Rush Limbaugh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by his idiot pal Mark Levin on February 1.
The problem is that Levin’s group, the Landmark Legal Foundation, is not eligible to nominate anyone for a Nobel Prize. The nomination process is by invitation only. The Nobel Committee sends confidential forms to persons who are competent and qualified to nominate. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years after the nomination.
Never-the-less, Limbaugh is now referring to himself as Nobel Peace Prize nominee on his daily radio show.
So I think someone should nominate me for the Nobel Peace Prize for my attempts at mediating the ongoing war between Tuffy and Der Kruser. If someone wants to write up a nomination I will post it here and then hens forth refer to myself as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Posted by Smithers at 8:15 am in Politics | Permalink | No Comments »
