Mark Carleton's Blog

I’m back

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:38:34 +0000

Oh yeah, since I noticed that it had been a year since I posted on this blog, I thought I’d try again. So far this year, what I have published has just been a spam magnet, but we’ll give it another go and see if I can draw some quality comments and not ads to enhance my anatomy.

Its almost here…

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:35:48 +0000

… a couple more weeks until the election. The last debate has concluded and while I didn’t watch it live, I caught a couple snippets to know, man I am so done with this. We vote by mail here in Oregon, so I’m hoping my ballot comes soon so I can mark that sucker and git ‘er done. Then I won’t have to listen to another politician for another 4 years. Or until the next election cycle that has something worth voting for.

Oh yeah, in case there’s any doubt, I’m voting for Barack Obama.

Getting in shape

admin — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:13:26 +0000

Well, we finally loaded our lard asses in the car and joined a gym. Even got a trainer. And on the second session, I have pulled a tricept so bad that I can barely bend my arm. Of course, I am pained even more at all the money we are paying to have someone make us workout, especially considering Paul just had Uncle Sam pay him to get in shape. Of course, we can quit. And our trainer can’t yell at us. But hopefully this will be a positive lifestyle change. I am enjoying getting sweaty on the olyptical. Had to dig out my dork glasses that won’t fall off my face from all the sweat. I’ll try to get a shot of that sometime so you can see me in all my workout beauty. Speaking of beauty, all the beautiful young people are at the gym. Thank goodness, there are some old fat people like me there too. Well, that’s it for today as we are heading back out to the gym. Hopefully, I don’t pull anything else today.

Who for president?

admin — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:03:49 +0000

Well those who know me, its no suprise that I am going to vote for a Democrat next year. The big challenge is who I’m going to vote for in the primary. Unless something really weird happens between now and next spring, it looks like that Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama. The first African-American president or the first woman. Okay first problem is Obama’s name. First of all, I had to go look it up and copy and paste it. Ms. Clinton I could type from memory. Also as someone pointed out on the web, a man named Obama has as much chance of getting elected president of the United States as a guy named Hisler getting elected in Germany. On the other hand, every time I hear either of them speak, debate or get interviewed, Mr. Obama seems more “genuine.” Ms. Clinton seems a little too prepared, and when asked questions, she has obviously have learned the art of evasive answering. She sometime reminds me of her husband’s embarassing deposition in the Monica-gate scandal. Well we’ve got a bit of time to sort it out but in my mind this is the race so far.

BTW: If could stomach a Republican it would be McCain, but that would be a biiiiiiig stretch.

Good weekend!

admin — Mon, 21 May 2007 04:24:56 +0000

As I get settled in and ready for bed on a Sunday night, I have to say this has been a good weekend. Lots of fun things to do: Friday night seeing my friends Robert and Jim’s band lay down some great live music, helping my daughter move into her new home with lots of strapping young lads to do the heavy lifting, lunching with Michelle’s brother and his fiance’, and today seeing the moon landing IMAX movie. The best event of all was that I got to speak to my son, Paul twice this weekend and it sounds like he is doing great. And I got to spend part of my Sunday with my daughter Rachel. Thank goodness, the rain that has plagued us all weekend is giving way to sunshine again. I am looking forward to a good week at work with lots of interesting projects and good things to accomplish. To top it off, we are off Friday for a 4 day weekend at Lake Tahoe for Ken and Nichole’s wedding.

Hope you have a wonderful week, too.

Heard from Paul

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:08:49 +0000

Well after a couple weeks of not hearing from my son, Paul, he called tonight. Sounded good. Is doing very well in his tank mechanic classes. Sounds like PT continues to be a challenge. Things are tougher at Ft. Knox than they were at Ft. Benning. They are stricter about the correct form for push-ups and the course for running is uphill.

But as expected he is excelling in his mechanical classes. He says he’s already qualified for the Expert Mechanic badge as soon as he gets his PT test squared away. Way to go, Bud!

Paris Hilton and the art of letter writing

admin — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:28:57 +0000

Today I think that Paris Hilton needs to be taken out of the gene pool. The whole “too wigged out” to defend herself on a civil court case is crazy. It bugs me that money and celebrity can bring some people an immunity in taking responsiblity for their actions. Okay, she is cute, but everything I know about her, makes her one of the ugliest people on the planet.

On other news, I was able to score some of those “forever” stamps yesterday. You know at first I thought that it was stupid to have the Liberty Bell on the default stamp, but now that I have seen them in person, I think they are very attractive. It did hurt that two books ate most of a $20 bill but hey, I guess small price to pay. Its been fun writing my son, Paul in the Army. The art of letter writing is something that has been fun re-discovering. In this age of instant messaging, cell phones, and email, its something very different to write someone and know that they won’t get the message for almost a week and you won’t get a reply for almost two. Anyway, all for today.

Happy Mother’s day

admin — Mon, 14 May 2007 01:13:28 +0000

Okay, I’m not a mother. I have one. My children have one. My wife has one. So I guess I still have lots of Happy Mother’s day to give.

I’m a little bummed as it has been over a week since I spoke with my son Paul. He used to call on Sunday but either he’s busy, not getting phone priveledges for some sort of disipline problem, but the more rational explaination is that he is getting more comfortable with his Army life and doesn’t need to call Dad as often. Another sign that he is growing up. Sigh.

I’m pretty frustrated with the postal service these days. They are raising the rates tomorrow but my local Albertson’s didn’t have the new stamps today. Hello. If you’re going to raise the rates, then supply the pipeline with the proper materials to keep things moving. I guess I should be more mad at Albertson’s but it frustrates me that such a basic service is screwed around with.

That’s all for today.

Hello world!

admin — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:00:13 +0000

Well, here goes my entry into the world of blogging. All the cool kids are doing it so I am too. After all, even in middle age, I feel the compulsion to sucumb to peer pressure. Feel free to add comments. No fair correcting spelling as I don’t see a spell checker on here.

Dunno how often I will be on here but, I’ll try to be interesting.

Mark