Busy week...

A very busy week is underway for me. Our crack sales staff is cranking out more spec ads than I can keep up with. Plus, it seems that everyone on the staff has some computer problem they want me to fix. Combine that with my already heavy daily work load and you get an idea of how swamped I've been. So, tonight, I'm making a quick and easy meal - string pie.

Cheesy Italian baked noodle goodness! Yum!

For Relaxing Times...

For relaxing times...

Make it Santori time.

Great Weekend

Another great weekend has come and gone. On Sunday, Wifey and I took our wonderpups to the annual Chuckanut Dog Training Association agility show in Lynden, near the Canadian border.

Ranma (our 9-year-old cattledog) performed outstandingly well - a 1st place ribbon in the excellent standard competition - she was the fastest 20-inch-jumping dog to run cleanly, and only one dog (in another height class) was faster.

Baron did very well, too - he got one Qualifying Score ribbon, and obtained 6 points toward his MACH (a champion-like ranking that literally takes years to accomplish - a seemingly ungodly number of points and qualifying runs are needed). Baron is well on his way to obtaining his MACH.

I'm really proud of our wonderpups, and for the great work Wifey has done with them!

Do EVERYTHING with Gusto!

Make a statement - do everything with gusto!

For example, as the picture in this post will illustrate, I use a special tool to open my mail with gusto.

Washington State Legislature Curtails Critical Comments

This week, the clerk of the Washington State House of Representatives, on the advice of legal counsel, has begun censoring press releases. There's an article about it in the Olympian, and the House Republican Media Services Office. For those that do not want to spend time reading these stories, the gist of the brouhaha is that the clerk of the House has ruled that certain phrases are not allowed in press releases and related material issued by representatives (or their caucus press offices). The flap came about after a Republican representative issued a news release calling the Democrats' description of their budget proposal a "shell game".

Due to Democratic complaints, Republicans say, they've been told not to use several phrases in press releases this year. Among them: newspaper, and a press release on the subject via the

"lack of honesty with taxpayers";

"tax-and-spend liberals";

•"lack of truth in the majority's message";

•"It's not truthful to say this money is being put into reserve";

•And "disingenuous."

The House of Representatives' chief clerk, Rich Nafziger, has asserted that his decision to reign-in commentary statements in press releases and other state-funded communicae dates back to the mid-1990s, when Republicans and clerk Tim Martin controlled the House.

"“You cannot say Republicans are disingenuous or that Democrats are tax-and-spend liberals because we have rules governing the use of taxpayer resources that say you can'’t use those resources to sling mud, Nafziger said. "“We can'’t censor people. There'’s still free speech."”

The Republicans'’ humorous approach to the dispute barely masks their deep anger about the budget this year. Republicans have been especially edgy about that topic all year, accusing Democrats of wild spending sprees and fiscal irresponsibility at a time when the state surplus has grown to almost $1.6 billion. So while Democrats have claimed they are setting aside close to $1 billion for the next budget cycle in 2007, Republicans have pointed to an ending balance predicted for the state'’s general fund of $238 million; the GOP claims that is the real reserve amount and that $850 million put into other accounts is not really a reserve because it'’s meant to be spent eventually.

More recently, Republicans were resorting to humor to get out their message, including a news release with the domed Capitol exploding from the expansive spending by Democrats. Another warned of a spending tsunami.

Something to note at this point: comments and above-mentioned "forbidden phrases" have been used in press releases and other communicae by both sides of the aisle since the mid-1990s. The issue came to a head this year, when Republicans (the minority party in both bodies of the legislature) criticized the budget proposals by Democrats (the majority party).

Good grief! I don't care which party a lawmaker subscribes to, he or she has the right to give his or her opinion in press releases, as long as there is proper attribution. Attribution is the mainstay for my job in radio news. To say, for example, that the budget proposal by Democrats in the Washington State House of Representatives is "disingenuous" or has a "lack of honesty with taxpayers" is wrong. But for a Republican representative to say that he or she feels or believes the House Democrats budget proposal is "disingenuous" or has a "lack of honesty with taxpayers" relays proper attribution - it's the opinion of the elected official, not necessarily facceptablehat's aseparates. This seperates news pieces from opinion pieces.

Lawmakers are elected by the majority of the voters in their district, and as such, will appeal primarily with the voters that put them in office. For example, an elected Democrat from the heart of the Seattle area will be critical of Republican bills that take voting power away from his consituents, so he or she issues a press release that is critical of such a bill. Criticism of each party's policies is appropriate. Opinions are appropriate, as long as it's properly attributed. That's free speech, I think.

I step down from the soapbox for tonight.

Thanks for reading...

Don't forget to comment on this and any other post on this blog.

My entry into the pretty cat thingie

This is Smaug. He is about seven. He is mainly decorative and about as bright as Neo. He likes to lick plastic wrap. He doesn't like cheese.

This is Darth

He would feel left out if not included. He is twelve years old and shy. He likes cheese.

WA House proposes state budget

Over the past few days, Democrats (the majority party) in the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives have proposed their supplemental budget proposals. Each proposal is disappointing to me...

The House Democrat budget proposal (keep in mind this is a supplemental budget year*) hikes state spending by over 17% over the previous biennium. The Senate proposal spends even more. The increased spending is not "emergency" spending, as is called for in a supplemental budget - we're talking about new programs and new regulations. Each proposal would equate to the largest supplemental budget increase in state history.

* A supplemental budget is intended to "tweak" the state's existing budget, to deal with emergency spending for construction, roads and education.

After overtaxing the people of the state, the legislature finds itself in control of over $1.4 billion in "unexpected" revenue. To her credit, governor Christine Gregoire - a Democrat - has cautioned her colleagues on the left side of the aisle (on more than one occasion) from using the budget "surplus" as an excuse to increase state spending, as the state has been in the red for years, and many of the bills the state needs to pay haven't been paid yet. Read: the state is in debt, and needs to pay its bills before it can make money (in order to pay for new programs).
Democrats in both bodies of the legislature are touting their budget proposals as "investing in the future, while saving money". What sticks in my craw is that the state is over $1 billion debt right now, the "surplus" money is a one-time affair, and instead of paying the bills, the budget proposals increase state spending, which means the state will be in hock even farther, come the next budget cycle!

Imagine your family is in debt to credit card companies, or to the bank, or whatever. You owe someone money, and before you budgeted for this year, you had no idea how to pay those bills. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you win $10,000 via a lottery scratch ticket. You've got some extra money, so you want to get out of debt by paying the bills, right? The money could pay off the credit card debt, etc., and leave you in a better financial sate than before.

Now let's assume that your spouse has the majority say in how your family spends and saves. Your spouse tells you that "we've got an extra $10,000, so let's buy a new digital flat screen tv to replace our old tv, finance a new car through a 24-month lease, and put the remaining $250 into the checking account."

Now you have $250 in your checking account, and you have a new tv you couldn't afford in the first place, and you have to make payments on a new car that you don't make enough money to pay for. The $250 won't even pay your rent, and you are deeper in debt the next time the bills get mailed to you.

It feels great to have a new tv and a new car (who wouldn't love that), but it came at the expense of being further in debt. Why? Because your spouse couldn't budget your finances correctly.

And that's what's happening in the state legislature right now.

The way the Democratic-controlled legislature circumvents this family expenses analogy is that, unlike a family in debt, the state doesn't get referred to a collection agency, doesn't have their bank account activity frozen until the bills are paid, and doesn't have a credit rating altered by spending beyond means. Please take note.

Cute Kitten-off

Felyne has challenged me to a cute kitten off. Here's her first salvo of kitteny cuteness, via her cat, Oliver...

Pictures of my dogs in agility action

Had to post these, as I am very proud of these two wonderpups...

One more of Beelzebub, the Wonder Cat

Here's a shot of our cat from a year or so ago. Still cuter than any other cat I know of...

Great Wintertime Picture

As we are not getting any snow at this time year, I wanted to post a picture of me from 2004 at the Great Hope Landslide (just outside of Hope, British Columbia).

Beelzebub, the Wonder Cat

A picture of the senior animal in our family, Beelzebub. Cuter than any other cat I can think of...

Not bad for a cat that's older than most...

The Week Keeps Getting Better and Better...

What a great week this has been!

• I've made contact with a "long-lost" family in New Zealand, and the lines of communication have been growing by leaps and bounds every day.
• I was able to fix a horrific networking problem at the radio station by unplugging one piece of equipment, letting it cool for 30 seconds, and plugging it back in (it would have been very costly to have someone diagnose the problem, and do the same procedure). What was really rewarding about that is that I'm not a networking guy.
  
• Today, an old college friend/former bandmate/former radio co-worker/old drinking buddy, whom I haven't seen in a couple of years, stopped by the radio station while getting gasoline next door.
• I found out that a voice work gig I've been working on for a ball bearing company in Russia will pay me $50 more than I was told I would get.

The only stumbling block this week has been my inability to convince Wifey that lager is a food group. You know... meat, poultry, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and beer. She didn't buy it...

Speaking of Wifey, she is giving be a hard time for not posting some family pics on the blog, so as soon as I can get some transferred to this new computer, I'll make sure to post a few here and there.

A Family Found

Thanks to Droyne's web searches for our "brother", Simon, who had passed away a couple of years ago, I have been contacted by our friend's family in New Zealand. Words cannot adequately describe how elated I feel - it is like finding long lost relatives. Over the past 48 hours, I've received e-mails from Simon's widow and his sister, and they are both anxious to get our families catching up.

Simon's sister has a blog. Check it out: www.felyne.com.

I'm looking forward to communicating further with Simon's family. It's like Christmas all over again!

Thanks again to Droyne - without your efforts, this reconnection wouldn't have happened.

I think the picture says it all for me...

Unusual Foodstuffs

Going through the pantry today brought to mind how wonderful unusual foodstuffs can be not only delicious, but healthy and fun. I've got a couple fo unusual foodstuffs at home, and I fondly remember a couple more that I've had difficulty obtaining...

Goat Cheese - not the bland, goat cheese from Greece, France, and Italy, but Scandinavian goat cheese. It's called Gjetost (pronounced "YAY-toast"), and any family that eats the food of their Swedish or Norweigan anscestors has danced a slow dance with this delicacy. The variety of goat cheese that is popular with the majority of American consumers is white in color, crumbly in texture, and has a flavor akin to a bitter cottage cheese. That variety of goat cheese is particularly popular on pizzas and other dishes served at Greek restaurants and foo-foo establishments. The white goat cheese is to Gjetost in the same way light beer is to a shot of everclear with a lime Kool-Aid chaser. In short - for the uninitiated - it's not what you'd expect. It's a dark brown color, tastes much heavier than the white variety, and is fairly oily. It doesn't make for a decent cooking cheese, but it is great on rykrisp, on dry toast, or by itself.

Marmite - most folks outside of the United Kingdom have never heard of Marmite, or its Kraft Foods-made counterpart, Vegemite. Marmite is a concentrated yeast extract commonly used as a flavoring for meat sauces. Many folks in the UK (particularly those in Australia and New Zealand) have come to appreciate Marmite as a sandwich spread (with lots and lots of butter). Marmite has a peanut butter-like consistency, and is the color of heavy-grade motor oil. It tastes and smells like heavilly-buttered toast that has been left out in the sun for about a month. Why one would want to make a sandwich with something that tastes like that, adding lots of butter, sounds weird, but (trust me) it works.

Eel Patte' - Again, a product that has not found widespread acceptance outside of the UK, particularly Austrailia and New Zealand. Eel Patte' is awesome! It's akin to devilled ham, and tastes like it, too. Great for sandwiches, or as a dip for crackers.

Goat - I tried goat for the first time while working in the Caribbean, and I'd jump at the chance to cook with it. Goat meat is hard to come by in the United States (most states do not count goat as a commercial meat commodity). While working for a cruise ship line about 15 years ago, I was treated to goat during a celebration of Jamaican Independence Day - the meal consisted of curried goat, smuggled onto the ship, with red beans and rice. Wow! What a great meal! Goat cuts have lots of bones (so there's not as much meat per pound of cut as, say, a t-bone steak), but it's got a rich taste, and is a great compliment to the red beans and rice I enjoyed.

Ostrich - In the mid-late 1990's, the Ag industry in Washington State had a concerted effort to introduce ostrich meat as a marketable commodity. The effort pretty much failed, but it did give many consumers, like myself, an opportunity to try it out, and I was very pleased. Ostrich tastes like beef, looks like beef, and cooks like beef. It makes great hamburgers. Unfortunately, the scarce availability of ostrich meat makes for high prices for it (the Red Robin restaurant in Ellensburg, for example, offered an ostrich burger for a short time - the only real difference between that burger and their standard cheeseburger was the price - $8+ for the ostrich burger). If you can get it cheaply, do so, and use it often. It's like beef, but healthier. The same goes for buffalo.

There be pirates... arrr!

Once again, my new computer has allowed me to play a game I hadn't been able to do so previously. Most of the games I've enjoyed have been fisrt-person shooters (the Half-Life series, and Unreal Tournament), RPG's (Neverwinter Nights and Diablo II), or puzzle-solving games (the Myst series). Now, I've become hooked on something new for me... a pirate game! This one's called Sid Meier's Pirates!

This game is part strategy, part role playing, and part historical simulation. You play a young man in the mid-1600s whose family has been kidnapped. You travel to the Carribean in search for your lost family members and search for them while plying the most profitable trade of the era - piracy. Ports of call and the nations in power include the Dutch, the English, the French, and the Spanish. The ships of the era are accurately represented, the other pirates in the Spanish Main are historically correct, and the way ships move is accurately dependant upon wind and sea conditions.

Pirates! is so addictive, I spend more than 12 hours over the weekend playing a couple of the pirates I've created - Dirty Pierre and (my best one, so far) Stinky LeFeet. Each country will award you promotions in rank, based on what you do to benefit each country. I've been creating different characters to try out different strategies, and (so far) Stinky LeFeet has been promoted to marquis by the English, Admiral by the French, colonel by the Spanish (although there's now a 7,000 gold price on my head), and there's a 1,000 gold price on my head by the Dutch.

During the course of the game, you have the option of defeating other pirates (you start the game as the 10th most notorius pirate in the Spanish Main). Stinky LeFeet has defeated two of them (one of which was the notorius Blackbeard), and is now the 3rd most notorius pirate on the sea.

So, beware the dread pirate Stinky LeFeet... and get yourself a copy of Sid Meier's Pirates! as soon as you can. It's a lot of fun!

Western Washington's Big Winter Wind Storm

Over the weekend, Western Washington (where I live) experienced the biggest wind storm in seven years (according to the National Weather Service). Gusts of up to 78 miles per hour in some places inland, trees falling onto power lines, waves blowing over the top of houses in some places... you get the idea. It was no hurricane, but for part of a state that is not accustomed to the kind of storm we had, things were pretty bad. The wind blew in Friday night, and continued into saturday afternoon. As a result of the high winds, roughly 200,000 homes and businesses Washington lost electricity. As I write this, more than 40,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark, mostly in the central Puget Sound region.

At my home, the power went out early Saturday morning, came back on at about 7:30am, then went out again at 8:15am. Wifey and I, who are accustomed to high winds, storm-related power outages and such, dealt with the situation: we broke out the oil lamps and flashlights, and instead of cooking a hot breakfast, we made sandwiches. For lunch, clever Wifey made hamburgers and noodles on the Hibachi in the carport. About every two hours or so, we called the power company's automated hotline for updates on the power outage.

We went to my radio station early in the afternoon to help out any way we could, but the power companies were so swamped, they weren't relaying information to media outlets, so we didn't stay long. While we were there, though, we were inundated with calls from people who were frantic about why their neighbors had power and they didn't, when they can make a hot meal, and the real mental giants wanted to know why the power was out. I can only assume that those callers didn't make the effort to call their power company to find out what's up with the power outage, or figured we would have more information than the power company did.

Despite power being restored to much of the county, our lights were still dark when we got home. The wind had died down, the National Weather Service was saying "the worst is over", but we still had no electricity. So, again, we dealt with it: we put on sweaters, had "carport" tacos for dinner (again, with the Hibachi),
and wrapped up with blankets, listening to my station playing old-time radio shows. It actually made for a pretty romantic night. The power came back on at about 11:15pm.

Rhetorically, I ask, "what's the big deal is with temporary power outages like the one we had this past weekend"? Why all the mass panic from the folks in Western Washington? The power goes out, you grab sweaters and flashlights, and expect to either BBQ your food or eat sandwiches. No TV? No problem. You listen to the radio or read a book (I got through half a 500+page book on Saturday, and I enjoyed it). If you're cold, grab a blanket, for goodness sake. "Radioguy," you may ask, "what about folks living in nursing homes?" Dear blog reader, those folks are not the ones who are complaining about the power outage, nor are those running the nursing homes. Power outages are a common-enough occurance locally where senior communities have generators, and hence, hot meals, etc. From my experience, the most vocal complainants have been those who know a power outage can happen, but don't prepare for one, then complain because their house is dark and it's getting cold.

I'm not talking about families that had a tree fall through their home. I'm not talking about families who now have to deal with water in their livingroom as a result of coastal flooding. I'm talking about folks who felt that merely because their power was out, they were experiencing some sort of local disaster.

We knew beforehand that the storm that blasted through here wasn't going to last for days (like a hurricane does). We knew beforehand that if the power went out, it would be a temporary outage. And common sense dictates that bitching that the power company (which had brought workers in from other states to work around the clock to get electricity back on, and due to still being overwhelmed, was unable to give "instant" updates as to when the power would come back on) would not get the power back on any sooner. So why is it that people don't prepare for a forecasted inconvenience, and then comaplain about it? If it snows in Snoqualmie Pass, and you plan to use that roadway for travel, do you try to cross the pass, get stuck in the snow, then complain that the weather wasn't nicer? No! You prepare for adverse driving conditions before your journey. Common sense, eh?

Common sense worked well for us this past weekend, and I hope it worked for anyone else reading this blog who was hit by this weekend's storm.

What's with all the bills?

The 2006 legislative session in Washington State is approaching a crucial cut-off date - bills introduced this session must make it out of committee by February 7th in order to make it to the House or Senate floor. Bills that don't make it out of committee are considered "dead" - they may be re-introduced next session, though.

About legislative sessions

Legislative sessions alternate between long (budget sessions) and short (supplemental budget) sessions. This year is a supplemental session. That is, the job of the legislature is primarily to "tweak" the already established state budget, working within the established fiscal commitment the state set last year. Historically, more bills are introduced during the regular budget sessions (the regular sessions are 100 days long, the supplemental sessions are 60 days long, BTW).

I've been covering the legislature for 8 years now, and this year's supplemental session is just plain goofy.

Last session, the Democratically-controlled legislature increased state spending by over $400 million. Shortly before the 2006 session began, the state announced a $1.45+ billion budget surplus (read - the state overtaxed the citizenry and wasn't going to give the money back).

Governor Christine Gregoire - who won a very close election against fiscally conservative Republican Dino Rossi two years ago - cautioned her Democratic colleagues against going overboard with spending and new programs (a criticism that WA Democrats have gained, but do not publicly admit to). In short, she said, "keep the spending in check, folks." With state spending at an all-time high, Gov. Gregoire's call to her fellow Democrats to reign-in their budgetary tendencies was both politically prudent and admirable.

The 2006 session - spending for the sake of spending

During the 2006 session - a short session meant merely to tweak the established budget - Democrats in the legislature have not apparently heeded the governor's warning... The number of bills the D's have proposed to fund new programs or increase fees and taxes is staggering (the list is way too long to include in one blog posting, I'll give you an opportunity to see them for yourself here and here). But it doesn't stop there.

Before the 2006 session got underway, Republicans in the legislature unveiled an 11-point platform of issues they want to accomplish. However, champions at the budget surplus bit in the same way the Democrats have, Republicans have introduced just as many bills as their more fiscally liberal counterparts (check out their efforts here and here).

It appears that each party has taken the strategy of "find the best ways to spend the surplus money before the other party does".

Radioguy's take on the session so far

Members of each party have introduced some fine pieces of legislation - increased penalties for sex offenders, benefits for spouses of law enforcement/fire fighters killed in the line of duty, cracking-down on "diploma mills", funding of local public works projects, penalizing the movement of oversized loads on state roadways during peak traffic hours, etc., etc. All are good bills, and are authored by lawmakers, from each party, who truly want to help the people of the state as best as they can.

Over the past few years, the state has faced ever-increasing expenses, and deferred paying the bills by shifting the fiscal responsibility for basic services on counties and by increasing taxes. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have told me over the years that the state is in bad shape, budget-wise. The state wants champagne, but thanks to all the programs it has, it can afford only lite beer.

If the state is not going to give back the money it overtaxed the people of the state (and the state never would), it shouldn't be spent on new anything... period. It should be put into the state's general fund to pay for programs already in place. Pay the bills, ya know. The legislature, sadly, is not looking at how to take care of existing responsibilities - it's all about new things for the future, which the state will have to pay for, again, in new taxes and increased fees.

Thanks, guys, you were really responsible this year.