Mark,
Hey, thanks for the beer (or should I say "adult beverage" for those more enlightened folks). Next time the beer is on me-frosted Hose Dude mugs. Ahhh. As soon as I get the new wheels, I'll join you for a bike about or two. Not sure the Trek 1200 would be able to handle the roads drowntown.

Had the opportunity to finally drive on Coal Street. Message to folks-make sure you stay on the newly paved part. I guess paving in Wilkes-Barre means that you don't have to go all the way to the curb. There are some serious storm drain holes there. Does anyone know why the paving stopped about 30' short of the 309 intersection, or why there is a 5" drop-off once you hit the boulevard? My guess would be that hizonner wants you to be able knock your car out of alignment entering Coal Street so that you could really feel how bad the shimmy is once you actually get onto the new pavement so you can call him up and complain so he can send you down to get a new alignment and claim he is saving the day to make a useless press release so he can get more votes. Just a guess. (o: What a sped.

Been so dang busy that I haven't had much of a chance to write, but have still been following the site. It's great to see that hizonner is staying the course with his absurdity. Speaking of writing Mark, remember our conversation about how you said that as a kid you hated to have to write in school. The point I was trying to get to was that many times what we believe to be a weakness, actually becomes our strength-you are living proof, punctuationally challenged and all (had to get this one in there for the Hose Chicks). By the way thanks for the tip about that music place-I will check it out.

Ah, spring is in the air, the song of the birds, the brisk mornings, the gentle rain (or snow as the case may be), and the beautiful, colorful yard signs popping up all over and over and over and over and over and....This years winner, got to be the Skrep signs. The Michigan gold and blue coming through. Although Rick Gazenski comes in close second. Man, I am so excited about the elections this year. It is wide open and there are lots of great candidates. Hey folks, don't be afraid to elect someone new, someone that has no political ties. Business experience, great. Everyday Joe or Jane, great. Football, you bet. Young, great, old great. My entire 15 year working career has been about making change-saving my company a million a year. That's my core job description. Every time I look at a business process, I always include someone in the team that has no experience with the process in question. And I am constantly amazed at the ideas these folks generate. They are not afraid to question every step in the process. Sometimes, when folks are used to doing the same thing for 20 years, it is all they know. And they know what they know because they learned it from someone else-this is the way it's always been done. But throw in a fresh set of eyes, and watch the ideas flow. It never fails.

Next on the Communist News Network-CNN, more President bashing. The agenda now calls for questioning Bush's intellect. He should have known museums would be looted. He should have known people would want to go back to work. He should have know those loyal to Saddam would destroy infrastructure. He should have planned this better and used more troops or went faster or went slower or yadda, yadda, yadda.

I find it both hypocritical and funny how the same people that are so concerned over the intelligence of George (dubbya) Bush, C student, are the same people telling us that grades don't matter in our failing school system. The same people that tell us the SATs are racist and, in fact, when it comes to college admissions, more points can be earned by the color of your skin then by your grades (just ask the University of Michigan-sorry Skrep). But in the mainstream-ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and the NY Times-media, call it the "ultra-leftwing" media, grades only matter for Republicans.

Let's look at the alternative, that enlightened one, basking in the glow of our first "black president", with cigars for everyone, that hater of the internal combustion engine-Algore. Yes, the man about whom the NY Times questioned "Is Gore too smart to be President?" and "(Gore's) challenge is to show that he is a regular guy." Or the LA Times "(Gore is) too smart for his own good" and "sadly the best and brightest student doesn't always get to be class president." Remember how Bradley and Gore were repeatedly called intelligent and cerebral, while Bush was called outright dumb and stupid. Verbal SAT scores: Bradley 485, Bush 566, Gore 625. Bush goofs up a word in a speech-dumb, Bradley 485-cerebral and too smart. Suddenly the NY Times called the SAT testing dumb-time to CYA. Well if they are dumb for Bradley, they should be dumb for Gore too, right?

Gore, the man who was the basis for Love Story, invented the internet, claimed the story of Cain and Abel was about pollution-according to Gore, God was mad about Cain defiling the soil with Abel's blood (forget murder, he was polluting), recited our national motto backward, found and cleaned up a dirty canal, called the best basketball player ever Michael Jackson (which was attributed to Bush and was a big story that was promptly forgotten about once it was correctly attributed to Gore), thought the internal combustion engine should be banned, didn't recognize Washington and Franklin busts at Monticello, quoted in a debate "where your heart is, there is your treasure also" according to the Book of Matthew and that our treasure should be the environment-the actual quote was Jesus' and it is "where your treasure is, there will be your heart also" and He didn't mean your treasure is the environment, who said his Buddhist temple fund-raiser wasn't a "fund-raiser" it was an "event to raise funds" and that his breaking the law should show that "we need campaign finance reform", said his mother sang him the "look for the union label" song as a lullaby when he was a baby even though the song was created when he was 27, and got lost in a city park was "a few IQ points short of genius."

He got Cs and Bs in English, Cs in French, but As in art in high school. Got admitted to Harvard due to his daddy being a prominent US Senator. When "dubbya" got admitted to Yale, his father was on the losing end of his first senate race and was a little known congressman. Gore at Harvard got Ds, C-s, Cs, and one B- and quote "was in the bottom fifth of his class two years in a row" and his grades were "lower than any semester recorded on Bush's Yale transcript." Bush goes on to get his MBA. Gore goes on to fail 5 of 8 classes in divinity school and dropped out only to then drop out of law school at Vandy.

Well, all I have to say is that I am glad I support such a stupid President rather than such an enlightened, genius as Gore. Otherwise we might well be on our way to UN resolution 55, while trying to understand why the 9/11 terrorists hate us. Perhaps he would have hired a woman to help the terrorists get in touch with their feminine side like he did during his campaign. Perhaps a hose chick would have volunteered. Naw, the hose chicks would be too busy kicking the terrorists @sses !!

Keep the faith for at least 27 more days.

Private Sector Dude.