More Recipes and Stuff

Food is an essential life-giving element. The sense of taste is an extension of the sense of smell. Taste can evoke emotional responses - anger, love, nostalgia, and a plethora of other crap I wouldn't even begin to touch with a ten meter pole. On the other hand, some foods help make you feel comfy.

These two recipes will require the use of a food processor. If you don't have one handy, you can use a blender or chop by hand. However, you see a much more uniform texture that can also increase the amount of food you will have to work with. It's really personal preferent, but here's a few recipes I make occasionally to make me feel better.

Will's Guacamole Recipe
This recipe was developed back in 1997, while I waas working at the Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas. It is one of many recipes that I have since honed to perfection. This recipe has the single definition of being irrestible to women. That is to say, every woman I have introduced it to - including one who openly admitted hating avacado and another who was almost deathly allergic to avacado (no, I begged her not to eat it, but after she tried a taste, she couldn't help herself.)

For those of you who do not know what Guacamole is, please take the time to read this excellent definition from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guacamole

As I said, my recipe has been developed over most of my life and originated from my father's love of fresh avacodos. My father recipe is far more basic, consisting of mashed avacados, black pepper, salt, and occasionally, garlic. This simplistic recipe is actually quite good as it allows you to enjoy most of the flavor and texture of freshly mashed avacados.

Unfortunately, I found that working in a Kitchen, 25 pounds of fresh avacados is not only expensive, but is expected to be a little more refined. My recipe stemmed from my training chef, Ed, asking me to come up with a way to almost double the amount of Guacamole we could make from a single flat of avacados. This was done because his incompetent manager had overbooked five parties for 3 areas on the same day, and neglected to order sufficient amounts of avacados to serve with the Beef and Chicken Fajitas all five parties had ordered.

Now, I know Ed knew perfectly well how to accomplish this. But he liked to give me little challenges to see if my training was coming along. Incidentally, the fact that Toby had not ordered enough avacados and the resulting argument with Ed was one of two contributing factors to me losing my apprenticeship. Ed was temporarily suspended and I was moved to dishwashing, but not before I finished my Prep Cooking gig for that weekend.

Enough history, lets get to the recipe.

Will's Guacamole Recipe:
6 whole ripe Avacados
1 pint sour cream
1 can Rotel - diced tomatos and green chiles
2 small white onions
1/4 cup Nacho Slice (pickled) Jalapenos
1/4 cup Lime Juice (may be omitted)
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper

Preparation:
The firststep is to halve and scoop out all the avacado pulp. Be careful when cutting Avacados as there is a large seed to contend with. Personally, I have found cutting into them up to the seed and then sliding the blad all the way around works the best. Spoon all of the pulp into a Food Processor. Add all other ingredients, except for the sourcream. Mix well.

After the base has been combined, you should have a very smooth textured, light green guacamole that is quite thick. Add sourcream at 1/4 - 1/2 cup intervals until all of the sour cream has been used. This will double the amount of guacamole you have, while adding a tiny bit of zest to the flavor.

The drawback is that sourcream will occasionally separate liquid from its body. If you store this guacamole, you may find liquid. This is from the sourcream and will not affect flavor. Just stir before serving and it should be fine.

The Lime juice is added only if you intend to store the Guacamole for a few days. It is supposed to help prevent the avacados from turning gray. Sometimes it adds to the taste, sometimes it doesn't. It's your call.

Serving:
Guacamole may be served with just about any snack or dish you like. I especially enjoy serving it on nachos, taco salad, fajitas, and quesedillas. Keep in mind Avacados are rich in antioxidants, but are also high in fat content. Avacados are also somewhat expensive, so you might want to use it sparingly. My favorite serving is with fresh tostadas to be used as a dip.

Will's Chicken Salad Recipe
Most people who know me well, know I love chicken. Fried, baked, sauteed, barbecued, or grilled - I love chicken. It is no surprise that many of my recipes involve some use of chicken or variations of chicken-themed recipes. My chicken salad, however, is a slight variation of one of my favorites - Subway's Grilled Chicken Sub.

When I eat at SUbway, I usually order the same thing - Grilled Chicken Sub with lettuce, tomatos, jalapenos, pepperjack, and mayo. When I began my job at Discovernet, I decided I would not do as I had done at 1 Reason - skip my lunch break and snack on a poptart for lunch. No, I wanted a sandwich. I decided to start a diet of sorts, as well.

Every sandwich starts with bread. I hate white bread because it is bland, colorless, tasteless, and generally uninspiring. Secondly, wheat bread is better for you, has more color, better texture, and to me, just tastes better. In the last few years, we have seen many new grainy breads hit the market. I have always liked butterwheat, stonewheat, darkwheat, and honey wheat breads as they do make excellent sandwiches.

Last month, a brand I used to buy in Texas appeared at our local market. And they had a 12 grain wheat that I decided tog ive a try. What the hell - it was 2 loaves for $4, I needed a bread to make sandwiches, and I knew the kids wouldn't touch it. So I bought two loaves for my lunch.

The first couple of weeks, I made Tuna. The next week, I decided to use up some leftover grilled chicken. In this case, we were using plain white chicken breasts that were lightly peppered. That being said, you can easily substitute the chicken in this recipe for ham, tuna, or egg. So heres what went into the recipe:

Will's Chicken Salad Recipe:
2 cups of chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup of mayonaise
1/4 cup of sweet (homemade) pickle relish
1/4 cup of Nacho Slice Jalapenos
1 small white onion
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Parsley Flakes
Bread

Preparation:
This one really is easy - dump all ingredients into your food processor and mix until creamy. Add Garlic, Pepper, and Parsley to taste. Also, add Mayonaise according to how much or little chicken you want spread out. Please note - I don't use celery, walnuts, apples or any of that other crap you normally associate with chicken salad. Putting that crap in your chicken salad is not my cup of tea. If I wanted crunchy chicken salad, I would've left the bones in it!

Serving:
Spread a liberal amount on your bread, top off with second slice. Cut into halves and serve with the potato chip of your choice. You can wrap this sandwich to serve at a later time. Please make sure the food remains refrigerated as it contains mayonaise.

Which Came first - Chicken or Egg Salad?
For those of you who become anal over Chicken and Egg Salad, keep in mind that the main ingredients are genetically the same. Egg Salad is made with chicken that was never menat to be and Chicken Salad is made with ingredients which made it through egg-hood and was cut short in its prime. As far as I'm concerned, both the chicken and egg were taken care of, humanely treated, and packaged for our personal consumption. The only crime in this process is when people try to prevent others from enjoying the fruits of these animals through their idiotic propaganda.

These animals should not be wasted, they should be consumed, enjoyed, and shat back out to provide nutrients for future generations. PETA is completely full of shit. If you want to push your lifestyle of petting trees and eating soy, don't expect me not to poke fun at your stupid ass!

On the homefront:
This week, Kris and the kids were all sick witht he flu. I'm sure I will be next, but I'm trying my best not to. I made the mistake of telling Kris she looked like Steven Segall in her sickened state. I swear to god, she did, even down to his "i'm gonna kill you" look on his face.

Jacob is spending the weekend with his father, up north of here to get in some Ice Fishing. Andrea is spending the weekend with her grandparents, mostly to get out of having to clean up the mess she and her friend made last weekend. And I am enjoyng a nice quiet weekend with the wife and dogs.

Random Thoughts:
I have been trying to find out what happened to the Tactical Ops Forums. I don't know if the forums are down or if I was IP banned or what. I shouldn't have been banned from the forums - I have posted maybe three or four times there and usually just visit to find out about updates to Tactical Ops. Its strange the forums would just disappear and me being banned is just stupid - I didn't do anything wrong and should not have been. Perhaps the forums are simply down or had been hacked. Whatever.

I was visiting another Gaming Forums looking for information about the Tac Ops Forums, and realized all of the members were usng avatars of racy, scantily-clad women. SOme of it was pretty raunchy, and I almost started to wonder why that was. Then I realized I was reading posts on a Mod community where members were bragging about the hours upon hours they spent modding this and that. These guys have probably never seen or spoken to an actual woman, apart from the 900 hotlines and when they yell at their moms to leave them alone while they download GIllian Anderson pics to jerk off to.

These guys spend hours modifying a video game, with no idea about women apart from where to find naked pics of them. Most likely, they piss and moan about being lonely and wonder when they will ever find a woman, despite the fact they probably wouldn't be able to divert more than an hour to their gaming life.

I really pity the extreme gamers. They live in their world of fantasy talking to their fantasy friends. When they realize how lonely they are and how useless their "l337" skills and ubar AIM speak will not help them find a girl in real life and that they are far more likely to meet a 40-year old man posing as an 18 year old woman on AIM, I feel sorry for them.

Gamers are a whiny bunch. They spend all of their time devoted to playing their game and none to the real world. Gaming becomes an addiction. In the end, they look as pathetic as the Methheads rolling aorund in the gutter, knifing passers for a few dollars to buy their next fix.

I feel sorry for the people who put all of their lives into a video game they play. WHen their "community" of players dies, they are left alone or forced to find the next temporary community. Those who don't hold onto the tiny remains as if their life depended on it.

I guess I'm not much better as I met my wife through a Trivia Community. But we did both leave that community together and built our lives together.

Anyway. If anyone knows what happened to the Tac Ops Forum, let me know. I have been waiting to hear about this stupid update they have been working on. I just hope it fixes the ast crap one they shat out.

First Full Work Week

This week was my first full week of work at Discover-net. The job can be hectic trying to balance tech calls and other projects. I haven't taken on any of the Tech Bench stuff yet. I could probably handle most of it fine, but I want to leave it for the other guys who might need something to do in the evenings. Besides, it just makes it better in case the computer repair has a bigger problem than reported. Many of the machines come in with bad spyware or virus problems, not to mention several software or hardware-based problems.

Today was mostly spent jumping between customer setup and troubleshooting. A few people had Norton issues. Jeez, the entire staff there hates Norton with a passion. Norton causes problems with Dial-up, email, the accelerator, and some major performance issues. Each update causes several problems to arise. We get several calls witht he exact same problems. Its almost funny.

Airsoft Ohio Woes
It happened again on AO. Two members came on and began bitching on one of the threads I had created. And then the floodgates came open and out poured several more complainers. As usual, it got nasty rather fast as they came out with claims I had broken rules and was biased and all that other dumb shit. The two who started everything are about as worthless as you can get, anyway. When I tried to point out they had violated policy, they got even more angry. I'm almost relieved I'm not moderating anymore.

Onsite is a pathetic loser who had been accused of trying to cheat someone he had done business with. Later on, he tried to claim someone was out to hurt him because he had supposedly heard of some bullshit plot. He posted it on the forums, requesting the guy be banned from all AO events and from the forums. The thread was moved into the private moderator forums and left alone. Then the little prick start bitching at me (at the time, I was only in charge of the Retail and Links Section) because I wouldn't ban the guy and that I was chickenshit to do anything about it.

Gruntman has all of 25 posts in three years. Both he and Onsite decide to bitch about the thread I had created. I looked back through his threads, and they have little other than talking about playing at games. He never once offers any help to anyone. Just crap about fields. He doesn't even participate int he regular forums discussions.

Then they bitched about me breaking the rules of the Off-Topic Section. I wrote the Off-Topic Forum rules and know exactly what they allowed and disallowed. AS long as the topic contained an actual discussion, they were allowed. I posted my complaint against the two of them and then logged out. With my current workload and a deadline of April 1st to have all 875 pages completed, what little time I do have will likely be spent writing.

I don't really have time for airsoft. And spending money on any of it at this point just doesn't seem likely. Kris tried to beat around the bush about spending money on it. I think she really doesn't want me to waste anymore money on it. I guess she's right. I spent a crapload of money on it and never got to really enjoy it. I was toying with the idea of putting the last of the crap up for sale and moving on.

Weekend
We have a nasty blizzard sitting over us right now. Yesterday, I got about 1-2 inches between 3 and 5. I only know that becsue I had to take my lunch break late and between the break ande when I left, there was another 1 1/2 inches of snow onthe ground. I can't wait for SPring. Winter weather has been harsh, especially as fickle as it has been.

Andrea is having her friend, Heather over this weekend. ANdrea doesn't deserve it. She acted horrible in the last two months. SHe only shaped up to have her friend over. And most of that has been barely at all. We told her she had a list of chores to have completed before she would be allowed to have company over, but I doubt she has them completed.

Jacob is likely going to spend the weekend at his father's house. That's a good thing since he likes to pester Annie when she has friends over. In one way, its cute that he has such a crush on them. In another, its sad because Andrea is very mean to him and her guests. I suppose this will be one of the last times Heather is over. Andrea's getting to the age that most other kids don't tolerate being treatd the way she treats her friends.

Kris is probably going to work this weekend. WE have a harsh weekend because Kris gotdocked for the Hopsital bills. I guess its to be expected, she never paid them anything. And most of the time, she hid from the collectors' calls. I tried to encourage her to talk to them or get the phone number changed, but she didn't want to mess with it. We have caller ID and can screen the calls.

I'm going to spend the weekend working on the Windows 98 portion of the Tech Manual I'm writing for work. The Manual is huge! I'm gonna have to put it in a 3 inch binder. The one I have is too small - there's almost twice as much info as the original manual. Hopefully, I can get the Win98 section done. It shouldn't take too much effort.

Old Workplaces
I drove by Bill and Brent's the other day. The store looks good. They got the new sign up and all the displays are up. I stopped thinking about how angry I was over losing that job. I guess its for the best. If it weren't for losing that job, I never would have found the one at DIscoverNet. I do hope to god I can keep it. The people are really great to work with and it seems like a lot of fun.

I also drove by HTI a few weeks ago. I still think about John and the gang. I miss those guys, they were another great bunch to work with. Again, I am happy I don't have to work the shift. I kinda miss the food, though. I have almost forgotten about that prick HR guy. In many way, I'm kind of glad I don't work there. The pay was really good, but the hours sucked. If I could have just stuck in there a while longer, I'm sure I would have left to find something else. Next time, I'll try harder to keep from having to take leave for medical reasons.

I also passed by the Herald. I would really like to stop by and talk with Joe, but I can't think of what I'd say. I miss that crew and though about having a few pizzas sent over. I'm not even sure if any of the guys still work there. Eventually, I suppose I will have to go talk to them. I do miss visiting with them all.

Quiet and Solitude

This week was pretty great apart from a few problems with the kids. Kris has a nice weekend out with the girls to celebrate her birthday. And I finish off my first week on the new job.

DiscoverNet ISP Technical Support Technician
I finished my first week with DiscoverNet. My co-workers have been incredibly helpful and supportive. Many of them have offered help and advice on anything to help me move into this position. That has been great and I really get a feeling of how closely knit the team is. Working the 9-5 shift has been little rough after being out of work since the end of October, but once I get back from my lunch break, the day seems to fly by.

I have brought my Technical Support Manual home every night this week to keep myself updated. I also had to dust off my copy of Firefox as we use that exclusively for browsing. Our Tech Support Software is mostly browser-based, but we also have more specific componets such as a Unix Emulator to access the Server-side operations. I take phone calls and email from our almost 5000 area customers.

DiscoverNet hosts dial-up, DSL, and soon, Wireless Access. The company also offers web development, business internet services, and web based email. My job will be to trouble shoot connection issues for dial-up and DSL, provide support for email users, and help with hardware issues for modems and DSL services. This mostly means working with Windows 9x - XP and MacOS 8 - 10.x.

It sounds like alot once you get into how many variations of modems and systems are out there, but this is where the Browser-based software really comes in handy. Customers problems can range from simply needing to adjust settings in their email progam to entering init strign in their modem control panel to allow their hardware to adjust to give them a better connection. It also requires that I can configure modem setting in each individual Operating System.

I have a nice Technical Support Manual with step-by-step instructions on how to configure Windows and Mac systems and several dozen links to support documents to give additional angles to fix the problems. Finally, I have several documents with individual troubleshooting steps for specific modems, depending upon brand and model number.


There is even a long list of Error number I can refer to with a specific set of instructions on how to fix that problem or, at the very least, a way to troubleshoot the general area of the hardware that may be causing the problems. Much like the job with 1 Reason, support calls can range from extremely technical, demanding several steps of troubleshooting to completely mundane - requiring the customer to simply plug the phone cord into the right jack.

The first week has been a very good experience and I look forward to working with these people.

Kris' Weekend of Fun
Kris' week has been full of problems. She started the week worrying about my new job. Then she began having problems with Andrea (again), then Andrea got her butt chewed on by me for her behavior problems, then Jacob decided to give her some intense attitude, then she had to meet with Jacob's teachers on Thursday, had to deal with a bad headache, and then try to get some rest for her weekend out with her friends.

The Kids
Andrea came home Monday griping about her health class that Kris had put her in because the French class she was in, Andrea refused to do any studying, and was simply slobbing her way through with a D-. Andrea would bring home her homework and basically expect Kris to do all of it for her. Kris hadn't taken French since High School and was expected to know all of the stuff Andrea needed to know to do her homework.

This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that after the fact, Andrea would go run off and play. She wouldn't do any studying, she wouldn't even put her homework away once it was done. This would result in assignments not being turned in and her flunking tests all through out the trimester. At the end of the sessions, ANdrea would have to beg for extra credit assignments to bring her grades up or hpe to god that the 15 minutes of cramming she did (that was basically the only studying she woul ever do) would help her pass. It never did and she was barely above an F most of the time.

Now, I don't have a problem with Andrea asking for help. The problem is, she doesn't ask for help, she dumps all of her homework on Kris' lap and insist that she "help" her do it. THis "helping" involves Kris figuring out each problem and giving Andrea the answer. The second problem I have is that the kids are very disrespectful to their mom throughout the entire ordeal. They yell at her anytime they don't understand something and when she tries to walk them through, they hardly ever focus on their work, and almost always simply expect the bulk of the work to be done by her.

Jacob does the same thing. He usually only has a few things to do each week - read 30 muntes each day, practice his spelling words, and complete a few math problems. He fights us almost every step of the way to do any of this work. He always insists he can do or has done the work at school, and almost always refuses to do any kind of reading, whatsoever.

When Kris "helps" him, she is expected to give him the answer so that he can write it down. This goes for when he is required to look up his spelling words, any kind of art-type projects, math-work, or when he has to write 1 of about 6 book reports due every 3 months.

It should also be noted that both of the kids refuse to let me help them with their homework. When I help them, they are expected to do the majority of the work with me guiding them through to help them understand. The difference between me helping them and their mother is that I encourage them to figure it out on their own and once they understand it, they are expected to keep at it until they finish all of it. Kris, on the other hand, gets duped into doing all of the work, the kids usually don't remember any of it, and then when they fail their tests, they blame Kris for all of it.

In the unlikely event that Kris refuses to help them, for whatever reason, and I help them, after the first 20 minutes of incessant whining and bitching, they actually sit down and do their homework. Let's also remember that they also will occasionally wait until 8 pm to announce they have homework or to be reminded about having it before they will even do it. This is usually after we force them to show us their assignment notebook or check their backpack for missed work. When I help them, they are expected to do the work for themselves so that they will know how to do it.

Andrea got in trouble because she was yelling at her mom. She had been warned several times that yelling at her mom would get her mouth slapped. She had also been reminded that being openly disrepectful to her mom would no longer be tolerated. She camme into the living room barking orders at her mom and was told to stop yelling and stop being rude. I will just say, she told me to "shut up" three times and got the punishment she was told she would recieve.

Jacob in Special Ed.
Kris had a meeting with Jacob's tacher and several other "Specialists" who recommended that Jake be put in a Special Ed class as his teacher claimed she didn't know how else to deal with him anymore. Kris was horrified and terribly disappointed by this news. Personally, I can see why he would and wouldn't be put in Special Ed. Kris' main concern was that he would be treated differently by the other kids, but alot of it dealt with the fact that she felt it was her fault, somehow.

Jacob's biggest problem is his attitude. He doesn't want to do anything he doesn't like or that requires effort on his part. He wants to be handed everything with little or no effort on his part. This applies to reading, math, whatever. When he doesn't know how to do what he's supposed to, either because he can't pay attention or because he simply doesn't want to, he refuses to do anything. Then, he turns right around and blames all of it on his ADHD or anything else.

Jacob wants more one-on-one attention from his teach so that he can have questions answered and get the help he needs. The problem is that the teacher doesn't always have the ability to do that. If he doesn't get that help, he won't do the work.

So in one sense, going to Special Ed. may be good for him, if he can get the help he needs to do his work. On the other side, if his Special Ed. class is where the school simply sends their troublemakers, as was usually the case way back when, then Special Ed. will be a terrible place for him.

I don't know, but we have been talking to Jake about this and trying to get him to get his "shit" together. He has to try harder to focus and work more at getting this attitude of his to improve. Otherwise, there's a good chance he's gonna become a total dumbass.

Kris' Weekend
Kris' Birthday is coming up (the 13th), so one of her friends has treated her to a night out for another concert. On Sunday, she has a lunch date with several of her "girlfriends." These are girls she went to high school with and met at various other jobs. I actually highly encourage it as it gives her a chance to spend some time out. She also gets to go to a Toby Keith concert for her birthday present, so she's really excited about it. After this week, she really deserved a night out and I hope she can enjoy herself.

New Computer and OS coming!
I have decided to buy a Micro-ATX PC for my next machine. The form factor is about 2 taller than my inverted Zip250 and about twice as wide. I plan to install Win 2000 Pro on it. However, this machine is going to be somewhat limited. There will be no floppy or CD ROM, once the system is installed. All additional I/O will be done externall either from USB or firewire, and there will very likely be on PCI graphics. In short, this machine will be pretty bare and will share the CD ROM witht he "Gateway" Server.

The current Gateway is going to be moved into a black Antec Tower case, have its RAM doubled to 512 or more, and lose the CD-RW and floppy. I recently pulled the second network card as it was causing alot of problems. I don't know what it is about this install of Win98, but this is the third net card I have replaced in the last two years. I will also be installing Win 2000 Pro on this machine as it is a far more friendly OS. The Gateway will recieve two additional Harddrives (40GB or higher) and will essentially become the file server.

I had planned to buy an external USB harddrive to backup files and later keep it on to go with the MicroATX machine. I will be buying a KVM switch to move between the Gateway and Mini computer. That way, I can use one keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The two will be networked, as well, so I can share resources between the two machines, and have access to the USB, zip, and internet. I am also going to completely wipe the Gateway 20GB HD and install a new 40GB HD as soon as possible.

I also have plans to build/buy a new machine. Once I have these two other finished, I will be in the market for an additional desktop machine. I had consider simply buying a new motherboard, but I would really like to just buy a new computer off the shelf, and upgrade it for gaming and browsing. This will accompany the laptop I had planned to buy for wireless - possibly a 600Mhz Sony Vaio picturebook or one of the newer Toshiba Libretto L5s. THese are still a ways off, but we'll see how the next few months fair.

I have decided to move away from Internet Explorer as I work almost entirely in Firefox at work. Despite the time it takes to boot the browser, it seems to work better, and supports some fun additions and skins. I have to take back my hateful words towards it. Firefox works pretty well.

I hope to have the changes to the old computer and my new machine up and running by April 1st to coincide with the changes to WIllsroom.com.

Rumsfeld Likens Venezuela's President to Hitler

Rumsfeld likens Venezuela’s Chavez to Hitler
Defense chief expresses concern at ‘populist leadership’ in Latin America

Updated: 10:00 a.m. ET Feb. 3, 2006
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld likened Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler, reflecting continuing tension in relations between the United States and the Latin American government.

Rumsfeld, asked during a National Press Club appearance Thursday about indications of a deteriorating general relationship between Washington and parts of Latin America, said he believes such a characterization “misses the mark.”

“We saw dictatorships there. And then we saw most of those countries, with the exception of Cuba, for the most part move towards democracies,” he said. “We also saw corruption in that part of the world. And corruption is something that is corrosive of democracy.”

The secretary acknowledged that “we’ve seen some populist leadership appealing to masses of people in those countries. And elections like Evo Morales in Bolivia take place that clearly are worrisome.”

“I mean, we’ve got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money,” Rumsfeld added. “He’s a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally — and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others.”

Rising tensions
There have been increasing signs of hostility between Washington and Caracas, and on Monday Chavez said Venezuela’s intelligence agencies have “infiltrated” a group of military officials from the U.S. Embassy who were allegedly involved in espionage.

Venezuelan authorities, including the vice president, have accused officials at the U.S. Embassy of involvement in a spying case in which Venezuelan naval officers allegedly passed sensitive information to the Pentagon.

It was not the first such charge by Chavez.

He has accused President Bush of backing efforts to overthrow his leftist government, and specifically has charged that the United States supported a short-lived coup in 2002, fomented a devastating strike in 2004 and expelled some American missionaries from Venezuela for alleged links to the CIA.

Washington has repeatedly rejected the allegations.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

My Thoughts on the Matter
It seems to me, Rumsfeld is more than qualified to judge political leaders as being corrupt. Many of the Bush Administration's chronies have been subpoenaed left and right, their "friends" in many of the defense contracting companies have been accused of widespread corruption, mismanagement, and some very questionable "business" practices. Amid the scandal over illegal wiretapping among other injustices, it seems Rummie is more than qualified to compare other governments with the Nazi Regime.

I'm sure there were those who expressed concern over the Nazis invading Poland. Fortunately, the US hasn't begun torturing political dissidents or creating secret prisons to make people disappear... Yeah, I'm sure Venezuela is just like the Nazi Germany.

While we're comparing political leaders of the present to those of the past, I think Bush is alot like Grant. He's a terrible leader who had no business leading the military and even less leading the country.

On the Homefront
I was offered the job at DiscoverNet. I will begin work on Monday. The job sounds fairly promising, but I hope it all works out. Customer Servvice positions can be tricky, but luckily, I have the patience and determination to do it.

We got our TV off Layaway, yesterday. Unfortunately, the TV was too wide for our entertainment center. We had to take it back and get a smaller TV. We got a Phillip's 24" Flat Screen. Its a very nice TV and the picture quality is very nice.

Andrea won a Poetry.com Editor's choice for a submission for her 7th Grade English Entry. The teacher liked it and decided to enter it. Andrea recieved notice it would be entered and then got a second letter saying her submission was the Editor's Choice. Her submission will be included with this years Poetry book.