The sound of poverty

Most of us think of the sound of poverty, or of being poor, as the voice of the homeless guy who sings out his need for spare change near the subway station or the bark of the homeless dog seeking scraps for supper.  For many of us this noise fades into the background of every day life.

For American the fear of poverty inches closer every day with some of the impending financial decisions our government has to make in the next few days to stave off some serious cuts that will destroy the lives of many of the poorest and many of the middle class in the country.  But that’s an American problem.

Then there’s the rest of the world.

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Why backups are important…

and I am not just talking about backing up your data.  I am talking about having backup plans for emergencies.  And now that some time has passed I can talk about Hurricane Sandy and some of the terrible things that went wrong in New York and New Jersey.

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I’m not sure I have words for this

“Obsessed with guns much?”

That was about all Geoff and I had to say when this arrived in my inbox today.  Courtesy of Etsy, naturally, I had to click through to the seller and see if this was for real.

It is.

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Happy Halloween

From our family to yours.

Our wedding photo
We’ve almost been married a year and I don’t think we look one bit the worse for wear, do you?

Happy Halloween.  Remember, tonight when the veils between this world and the next are thinnest, there are a few things you need to know to keep safe.

Always Aim for the Head and The Double Tap.

~Kelly & Geoff

Zombified photo courtesy of the cool folks at picmonkey.com, discovered via TheBloggess.

Firearm safety and assumptions

In my life I have spent a fair amount of time around firearms of one type or another.  I have learned how to safely handle them from a fairly young age, and won my first shooting trophy when I was nine.  I still own several.  I have hunted deer and done various kinds of target shooting.  I am not a “gun nut” in that I have fetishized my firearms the way so many American men have.  I do not feel the need to carry everywhere, and I would never, ever call one of my firearms a “toy”.  I think I have a healthy amount of fear and respect for firearms in general.  And that is why when I see stories like this I am just astounded.  And angry.

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Adventures in Plumbing, or Raw Sewage is NOT Your Friend

Now that the nightmare is over, I can tell you about our escapades of the past week.  It all began with Kelly noticing that the toilet was taking too long to flush last Wednesday while I was at work.   Then suddenly the tub was taking longer to drain too, with the tub actually starting to fill during a shower.  So obviously something was wrong.  We just didn’t know right away how wrong.  So don’t read this if you are a little squeamish, although I will try to not get too graphic.

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