Why I hate Skunks.

First of all, I live near some woods and out in the country area. Their are Horses, Cows, and the usual things you would see in a farming type area. Where my house is located I have a pasture field on one side, and some wooded areas on the other. So it is not unusual to see some animals and rodents from time to time.

Around my house there is several birds of course, several stray and wild cats, I have seen a couple mice, and an opossum. And well there are also skunks, and I hate them the most. Let me tell you why.

Of all the animals, the skunk or skunk family that live near my house, they are the only ones that annoy me the most. The cats hung out around the house get in fights and crap I can hear them under the house and outside. That does not bother me. The Horses you would not know they were there. And the cows are far enough away that you cannot hear them. And the possum that wanders around has only been seen a couple times so I am ok with that. And I have not seen any little rodents, but I am sure being near a field that there is some. The skunks I know are there, and I know are around the house at times.

It only happens a few times a year, but this morning at about 3:00am it happened again. The skunk(s) decide to take a tour of the neighborhood and as they pass my house, I am not sure if they are leaking their stink, or if they decided to wipe their butts on my house when they go by, but whatever they do, I know. The stink is so strong it wakes me up from sleeping, and with the heat on at night and early mornings it makes it that much worse. A warm potent skunk stink comes in through every vent and invades all the clean air in the house, and is so thick it will nearly choke you. And not to mention when you get woke up by the rotten aroma, it is so thick you can almost taste it. It is also so potent that it nearly burns your nose.

Once this happens you might as well forget about falling asleep. The stench is so bad that you cannot get back to sleep once it happens. Then if you do happen to fall back asleep you wake up and all you can spell is skunk butt, and almost to the point of tasting it.

Then the worst part of it all, once the skunk wipes is butt on the house, the smell hangs around for several days. No amount of Pinesol, Lysol and Bleach can get the smell to go away. You can scrub down the whole house, light candles, spray air freshener, and so on and it does not help. The house still smells like a skunk had wiped their butt on it. And every time you walk in the door, you get hit in the face with the odor of skunk butt, and cleaning supplies.

At times I wish I had a gun. I would hunt down the darn skunks near my house and shoot them. Or maybe tranquilize them and shove some potpourri up their rears or something. Or maybe I can install an electric fence around the lower part of my house so the next time they come up and try to get near it, they get a nice jolt of electricity that pulses through their little furry body, and they can go wipe their butts on someone other house for a change. I know neither option is do-able, but it would make me feel better if I could do it.

Darn Skunks!

Bail Me Out...

With all the "Bail Out's" happening, and being in the advertising business, I hear a lot from the small and meduim business's and I have to say, this is just silly.

These big business's like banks are being hurt cause of money problems. Yeah... Who isn't. The hot dog sales person on the corner of the street is also hurting. With the economy the way it is, people are just not spending what they did before.

So... Bailing out these big business's cause of dept is doing what exactly? The banks are getting money for the loans they have out, that the people cannot afford to pay cause they were laid off or fired from their job, or have decided that food and family is more important than a summer home. So, the bank in essence is getting the money from the government to help pay off their debts, that is from their clients, and yet the banks are still going to charge their clients.That is just one example of it. The Auto Makers are similar.

So, what part of this makes sence... You need to start at the root of the problem, and not the top. Just like the chain of command you need to start at the bottom and work your way up. Staring at the top will not do anything for the people at the bottom of the chain, and that being the general public. How is bailing out the banks helping me? It is not. I still have a loan through them, and luckily I am still paying on it. If my bank was to get a bail out cause of the stress on their debts.... You think my loan would decrease or drop in price? NO... I would still pay for it, and the bank will have just gotten some free money.The small business's where we get most everything we use in everyday activities are the ones hurting. Being with one of the largest phone book publishing /advertizing companies, I speak a lot with the small and medium business owners. It is nothing rare to get a call from someone to cancel all of their ads they have cause the business is closing or they have no money. And that is sad. The business's that I would say most US people purchase 90% of their goods from are closing shop cause they are not getting any business, or enough to maintain. So, they cancel their advertising. That is not very good either, cause should the economy have a turn around, they will be out of the competition and could hurt them even more. I can understad reducing ads, but not canceling all advertising.

What is happening to these business owners or business's? Nothing no money no assistance. We are too busy bailing out the large companies that can reduce headcount and survive, or cut bonus's (yea AIG made me mad).I say start at the bottom and pay off the debt that people cannot pay back to the banks. The consumer gets their debt removed, the banks get their payments, etc... It will all work out that way.

I feel really bad for all the small and medium business owners and employee's. They are getting hit the hardest, and of course makes it harder on everyone else. And I really hope things improve soon, or we may start seeing business's that we know, and have been around forever, close. I

want to know why it is just the huge business's that are getting the financial assistance from the government. I cannot get approved for any kind of assistance, cause my credit sucks, and there are things I need and do without, and yet all these huge a multi employee companies are getting assistance. And I do not think they are in as bad a shape as a lot of other people are.

Something New!

My comany just lauched a mobile version of a local search. Able to be accesed my any mobile device that connects to the net. And a special java program installer for iPhones and Blackberry's.

Check it out on your cell!

Go to your browser on your cell and type:

m.dexknows.com

It is the baby version of www.dexknows.com

Friday!

I have not prepared anything to really talk about or rant about today.

I am just very glad it is Friday, and I am looking forward to a nive relaxing weekend.

I will more than likley not post anything else until monday, so I have time to collect my thoughts and think of something to type out. And I am sure something funny will happen that I can write about and share with everyone. LOL

Checking out Twitter today, and I think it can be very addicting. It is a very simple database that you can type a short sentence on "How you are doing" or "What you are doing". Very similar to the Facebook and Myspace current mood. HOWEVER... here is the neat part. You can use twitter online with other people all over the US, just look up their name or their email address, and this includes the famouse actors, musicians, painters, etc... Anyone that has signed up for the service to use (It can either be via cell or on the PC). And you can see their current thoughts and even reply back to them. Seems very neat. Testing it out now, and looking up people on there. I have noticed there are some pages that it is obvious it is the person, and others you can tell it is maybe their assistant, or someone posing as the person. Still yet it is neat and interresting to see what your idol, favorite actor/actress, favorite songwriter, etc is doing/thinking. I would suggest it to anyone that likes talking about themselves and likes being in the know to check it out.

www.twitter.com

Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

Why did it change?

I use to be a huge wrestling fan. To the point where I drug my parents to an event to watch it live a few years ago. When I was a huge fan, was when Raw and Smackdown all had the same wrestlers and the story line followed each week. When Kane still wore his mask, and when the Undertaker had just made the switch from the evil dark guy to the Harley riding biker dude. DX was running wild, and Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were the tag team champs. Just when the Dudley Boys came into the WWE (former WWF). And The Rock was the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. I was such a huge fan I bought all the theme song CD's for the wrestlers, and got to where I could mimic The Rock and even sound like him. It was a blast at parties.

Once they split the wrestlers between Raw and Smackdown I started only watching it on Mondays and catching RAW. All the wrestlers I liked was on RAW and not Smackdown. Then the drama started....

More new people came in, trying to give the famous wrestlers more of the limelight and more opportunity to build a fan base, and then the story lines became really lame. I mean it was horrible to where it was almost like watching a soap opera. Like a Passions for men, or Guiding Light. I mean it was bad when they added into the plot where one of the wrestlers was gay and crap. And adding in personal stuff like wife's and personal homes and what not. It is really getting out of control. I think that the writers must be running out of material or something, however I never saw anything wrong with the old stuff. What is wrong with seeing huge guys beat the crap out of themselves with amazing moves.

They do some great things with the armed forces, having shows overseas for the soldiers, and I think that is awesome. And of course when ever there is a death in the wrestling community, they always have a special for them and all the wrestlers have a little moment to share their sorrow and grief. So, it is not that they are all in the crapper now.

So what has happened to the old school WWE (WWF)? It just seems like now it is more drama than actual wrestling. I can understand having a story line. But in an hour of TV time when 30+ min of it is the drama and storyline/plot and there is only 4 actual wrestling matches lasting a couple min each, it gets very boring at times. So boring in fact that I have not even watched but a few min of it from time to time, cause I would rather watch a documentary on the History Channel or something. And that is very sad, when I was a die hard fan. Now I watch some channels that show my former fav show, and see the previews of the upcoming show, and I have no desire to watch them at all. It is way too much drama.

Luckily The Rock is a famous actor now, and starring in many movies and shows. He has been on Disney several times now for different series there, and shows. Not to mention the newest movie coming out "Escape from Witch Mountain" or something like that. I plan to see it. So, at least the one wrestler that I still like is still doing stuff, and is being far more entertaining that he would be now in the WWE.

I do miss watching it, and getting the PPV and such. It was a lot of fun and excitement back in the day, but now it seems that they have lost touch with the fans and worried more about the plots and story line than they are the actual entertainment in the ring. I know they still have thousands of loyal fans, but I know when the original split happened and the drama became very thick that they lost several fans. Myself and my whole family being some.

R.I.P. Old School WWF

I just don't get it.

Here is what I do not understand, and since I am in Bristol it is only fitting that I talk about car racing (Nascar).

What is the point in car racing? yeah I am sure it is a fun rush for people to drive really fast in a car, you an do that on the interstate though. Why do you have to be on a track with too many more cars all trying to run you over.

There is several things I see being wrong with Car racing.

The first thing, they all drive around in circles not really getting anywhere, and they drive forever. Why in the world do they need to do 250 or 500 miles?? That is a lot of driving. It is only 700 some odd miles from here to Orlando Florida. And they are driving that many miles in a few hours, and yet still in the same city and state.

The second thing, with the way the gas prices are and the economy, I have never seen the drivers pay for their gas. I have yet to see Jeff Gordon pass a $50.00 out his window to the guy filling up the tank for him.

The third thing, How in the world can them pit crews change all 4 tires, clean the windows, clean the grill, fill up the gas and give the driver a nice cool drink. All of this happens in a matter of seconds. Yeah, and how long do we spend at a gas station filling up gas? On average I would bet it takes 10+ min to put gas in. Unless you are like a lot of people and putting 3.75 in gas, all in quarters.

The fourth thing, how long does it take to get your tires changed? Not mins, more like hours! You can spend time looking at tire catalogues from 5 years ago, in a waiting room hearing air tools go off for every bit 2 hours to get tires put on. Then you have to get the balancing and and check all the other crap under the car.

The fifth thing, is how can the people in the big cities make a living cleaning windshields when people see it being done for nothing on the race cars? There are some people in the bigger cities that are wanting to make money by cleaning your windshield at red lights, and they are being put out of a job cause people see it happening for free on TV. That is just not right.

The sixth and last thing I think is totally wrong is that none of the race cars have mufflers on them. Why do they not have to have them? It was be a lot easier to hear people and not go deaf at a race track if they did have mufflers. All the other cars on have to have them. I know cause if you do not have them in some states (Virginia) you get pulled over and given a ticket for improper equipment.

So, I do not understand the point in car racing. Most of the time people come to the race to watch a car wreck. Not that we do not see them enough on the news, and on the side of the road. And when you see those kinds, it always sends a sense of concern over you for the drivers of the cars, and you are generally worried. But when a wreck happens in Nascar, everyone is happy. It must be the most exciting part of the race. I can understand that too, since most of the race the cars are just driving around in circles and passing each other. Where is the fun in that???

And what also gets me is the environmental people not complaining about car racing polluting the air. Cause that is a lot of gas to burn in one area. And it is a good thing that the race tracks are not in a dome. That is a lot of exhaust fumes! And then the noise would echo off all the walls.

At any rate, I do not get the race's. There is no point to me about driving around in circles, using gas, and getting paid HUGE amounts of money to drive a car. Taxi car drivers do the same thing, and yeah some overcharge I am sure, but they make nowhere near the amount of a race car driver. And yet they have pretty much the same job, and the taxi car drivers drive about the same speed at times. And I think that would be more exciting, dodging other cars, people jaywalking, and weaving in and out of traffic.

Then to top it all off, people pay big bucks to go to a race and sit next to thousands of total strangers, that I am sure some may not take a bath. And to only see a portion of the track. When you can see the whole track and hear the announcer commentary and see all the wrecks as they happen on the TV. Get a surround sound speaker system, large screen TV, some heat lamps, and some beer and get all the same effects you would at a track. And you can go to the bathroom easier, get refreshments without having to pay more. Getting the same effect, and cost you less money, and be more comfortable sitting on a couch or recliner and not on a steel or concrete stadium seats, and not able to see everything that happens.

Disclaimer: This is my own personal views that are expressed, and in no way bashing race fans or attempting to belittle them, I am just expressing my opinion and thoughts about the "sport". If I have offended anyone it was not intentional.

How about that...

Last night Kim and I watched the movie Twilight. Kim was waiting for that all day long. Not wanting to watch the movie with the kids up, just incase there was some bad parts that could cause some nightmares or something.

So as soon as the kids were in bed, we started the movie.

Throughout the movie Kim was pointing out what did not follow the book exactly, or what was not in the book, or what the movie left out. It seems that the movie, like many others before it, was not like the book. It would take me forever to read that much of a book, so I will allow Kim to take that part and just fill me in about it.

It was a good movie, and after the movie I had to look up someone I saw in the movie to see where I had seen him before. And it is sad but there was several people in the movie that were in Disney movies and I recognized them from that. Sharkboy was one of them from the movie "Sharkboy and Lavagirl", and then the brother from "Wendy Wu - Homecoming warrior". And I saw that they are already filming the second movie in the series, and from what I saw should be released this year sometime. I would imagine in the fall.

Since there are 3 books in the series I would also assume several things.

1. Kim will own all 3 books
2. We will watch all the movies when they come out
3. We will own all 3 movies
4. Each time we get a new book, Kim will lock her self in a room for hours at a time. :P

I would certainly suggest this movie to any love story movie likers (Chick Flicks), and I would suggest it to all the vampire movie fans and action movies. As it has a little bit of both in it, and it is well worth watching. I cannot wait for the next movie to be released.

So, I watched the movie last night with Kim, and then I was ready to play my PC games and listen to music. Kim on the other hand was wanting to watch the movie again. So, after the 2nd time she watched the movie, she came into the bedroom to announced she will be watching it again. I can honestly say that we got the money's worth last night from the movie.

What's in a name???

Everyone wants to know why I go by Cootie.

Well... It is actually a long story, so I will attempt to shorten it a little for amusement purposes.

When I was little my dad (being from Saltville) decided to give me a nick name. It is the thing to do in Saltville I guess, since all my relatives all have nicknames. There is: Fireball, Pickle Legs, Dave-ott, Pepsi, Dee-Nee, Doodle, and the list goes on.

When I was little I was a little bit of a pest. Everything I liked.. I would say "Oooo I like it, can I have it?". This was a regular saying of mine. "Oooo I like it, can I have it", "Oooo I like it, can I have it" and I am sure there was a 3rd 4th and 5th time I would say it too. And the cool part was with certain people, I would usually... get it. Namely if it was a small annoying toy, that was likely to break within a couple hours of rough play (and yes that is usually what happened). So, then when I was about 6 or so my dad gave me the nick name of Cootie, after the game, and I guess cause I was a little annoying pest. LOL

So.... Several years passed and I was working at Sprint. We were doing some FedEx training, and there was a little exercise we did that we had to write a "secret" down on a piece of paper, something that no one else would know, and let people guess it. So after some long debating, I decided to put mine in that my nickname is "Cootie". No big deal, did not thing much about it. Well... a few days later my secret came out, and it was an explosion of laughter. From that day forward, everyone there called me Cootie. And it just kinda stuck. I did not mind too much, since it was my nickname and all. But then... it got worse...

So then I decided to get personalized tags, and had my tags on my car say COOTIE. It was awesome! Everyone knew it was me!

And then... I was a big WWE (Old WWF) fan. Watching The Rock, The Undertaker, and Kane were my favorites. The of course the Road Dogg and Billy Gunn (THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS). Road Dogg would always open up with "Ladies and gentlemen boys and girls... children of all ages. D-generationX proudly brings to you..... The Road D O Double G..... ... ...". So, at that time I decided that I needed a last name so I added Bugg. So I would announce my entrance at work as the C Double O, T I E B U Double G. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, and no I never did drugs. LOL

So, that name stuck with me for several years. In everything I done I was known as Cootie. Several people I worked with and talked to, and met did not even know my real name. And that was a real trip.

Eventually I was promoted to a supervisor at the company I was working for, so I decided at that time that I should be more professional and drop the nick name. Since I would be dealing with a lot of people, and needed to have some respect. So at that time I stopped using that as my name. And I was married and had some kids, and it was changed from Cootie to Daddy instead.

I still go by Cootie when I play games, and set up accounts and so on. Since it is my nick name and easy to remember. And several people still call me Cootie (not as many as before). And I still reply to that name, I just do not go by it all the time as I use to before. One day soon I have a feeling that people at my current employer will find out and it will catch on, and I will again be called Cootie. I hope not though, I had a bad reputation when I went by Cootie. LOL

So now you are in the know!

Darn Books

Well... I am not that big of a reader, at least not too much of one. I do like reading some things, and I really have nothing against reading, however...


My wife, Kim, recently got a book. The book name was "Twilight". Yes the same as the movie that is now out on DVD. The movie was made after the book. There are 2 more books in the series too. But to get back on topic, my wife wanted to get her a book, she is a big fan of reading, and good thing too, cause she helps the kids a lot. So... She went and got this new book, and began reading. Well.. It soon turned into an obsession with her to read this book. Sneaking off to the bathroom, where she could have some privacy and read. Sneaking around and disappearing for a while at a time to read chapters. This is a 500+ page book! So you can image the chapters are rather long.


So, anyway... After about 2 days, she completed the book. And she was sooooo excited. She pretty much ignored me to read this book. And me being sick and needy, just makes me whine that much more. Course I cannot complain too much, cause I am the same way with computer games. Being an avid WoW player, I get wrapped up in something and tune out everything else. It is just not like her to do that. I guess it was a good book.

Now Kim is kind of depressed. Not that she ignored me, and not that she has completed the book. She wants the next one and cannot get the next book in the series until Thursday. I am so glad she likes reading that much. I do not think I could stand to do that. In highschool I liked to read some books. I really liked the Christopher Pike Last Vampire series. It was a good set of books, and I bought them all. I am no sure where they all went to now. :-/

So... Tonight Kim has found the movie on our On Demand cable and is planning to bake a cake, and have some chips and stuff ready. So once the kids go to bed we can both sit down and munch and watch the movie together. So, I am a little excited, cause we usually only watch Disney Movies and late night series together like NCIS and House. I will not let her know I am excited though. LOL