TEN THINGS BRICO IS PONDERING RIGHT NOW

1- How come my ears have hair growing on them but the palm of my hand has never had hair grow on it? 2- Is my getting severe calf cramps in the middle of the night something I have to put up with from here on out? 3- Now that my daughter suffers from 'that time of the month', is having 3 bags of supply under the cupboard sufficient or should it be more like 8? 4- Will congress extend the COBRA subsody bill in time and if not will they retroact it from the previous cutoff date when they eventually do? 5- Why do so many benders Google search 'Keith Urban Gay' and come to this post of mine? (of course it's photoshopped 'anon' you twit!! hes got titts for christ's sake!!) 6- When will Rush Limbaugh die? 7- When will Sean Hannity die? 8- Would they eventually name me a national hero if I killed, dismembered, buried then burned the bodies of Rush and Sean? 9- Is Michael Buble cool or just a hack? 10- Should I have just one more rum & coke before I turn in or two more and a Tylenol PM?

TURNING THE REIGNS OVER FOR A GOOD CAUSE

I had an idea that we absolutely must run with for the Haitian situation (see the prediction 2 posts ago). We want to make necklaces out of the rubble of the presidential palace. The only overhead costs would be the cost to power an electric drill to make the holes and the cost of the string itself. But we need assistance getting access to the rubble. We have tried contacting some news stations and the idea has not met with any interest amongst those who could potentially help. I have to believe that $10 for a necklace made of the rubble would meet with good success. If you know anyone who knows anyone who might be able to help us secure 75 pds or so of the rubble of the palace please let us know! Somebody out there has a neighbor who has a son who has been deployed there who has access to the grounds. This can work, but we need that missing connection to get us the product back here to Colorado. If you know anyone who can help, please let us know. Thanks! Aspen (and my dad 'Brico')

AGNOSTICS OF THE WORLD UNITE

Okay, I know I'm gonna offend some people here. Bug, it aint personal! You're a beautiful human being and represent all that is right with organized relgion... but you're in the minority. I have for years and years been dismayed and confounded by those who look at a child being pulled out of the rubble after 6 days of being buried in an earthquake as a sign of the 'grace of god'. I am a logical person and refuse to accept what I am told as 'fact' simply because I was told it. I have to... HAVE TO... analyze, critique, ponder, weigh and disect anything before 'accepting' it into my belief system. And as I have tried to teach Aspen, it is importnat to be able to defend your belief system to others rather than just saying "Because that's how I was raised." And I am bamboozled by otherwise logical, thoughtful and intelligent people who refuse to use reason in their thought processes when it comes to faith. All of a sudden the rules of reason do not apply and blind acceptance are the rule for many. So when a person sees that saved child rising from the concrete dust and they praise god and claim the event to be evidence of god, I need someone... ANYONE... to explain to me how that same logic and reason behind those same people neglect to blame god for all the suffering and death in the first place. "Hi, god here... I'm about to kill off thousands of my creations with the wave of my hand yet, there will be a little girl who will only be partially crushed. After 6 days she will be saved and even though she will lose her legs I will be praised as having been behind her survival and repsonsible for her prolonged life rather than blamed for her being forever constrained to a rusty wheelchair and a life of agonizong turmoil and pain in the first place. Everyone praise my name!" Why do we see 'miracles' as indisputable evidence of god yet refuse to see clear tragedies as the proof of a lack of god? Somebody explain that... ONE logical person please!

JESUS JUST THREW UP A LITTLE IN HIS MOUTH

There are reasons that I am agnositc. I have had teachers, like the man below, who have shown me that morality, compassion and love have nothing to do with a belief in a higher power. You can find ignorance, fear and hatered within the walls of a church or temple or synagogue and you can find the most selfless acts of courage and love at the hands of those who don't give god a second thought. Words like these below absolutely blow my mind. Not that someone might think or say or even believe such fables, but that such ignorance can be so widely accepted and appreciated that funds to keep this kind of rhetoric alive continue to pour in from otherwise intelligent and successful people. This is what I came back to the blog world for???

ASPEN QUOTE #41

We're in uncharted territory here. In the past I could always post Aspen's quotes with no consequences. They were almost always at my expense and the subjects werent embarrasing to her. I have to keep up this great segment but now the subjects are slightly more... sensitive. I have to find a balance between vagueness and detail so things make sense... Aspen is now on her 2nd prescription of BC to try to establish some regularity in her cycle. Things worked like a charm for the first round but now all of a sudden, a visitor appeared way off schedule. No days were missed. I did some checking and learned about 'breakout cycles'. I explained this to Aspen and told her that the Dr. may simply need to prescribe a higher dose. He may have misfigured her weight... "Are you saying I'm pudgy?!" she demands with arms crossed and a tear in her eye. "Oh yeah, he DEFINATELY underestimated the required dose! Can they combine that with a sedative?"

WHY OH WHY

I remember being glued to the devastation on T.V. of the tsunami footage. There was video footage of that disaster that awed even the great James Cameron. Footage of an earthquake is not so captivating. It's either of stuff falling off grocery store shelves or swinging ceiling lights in a news room. It's the after footage of earthquakes that's more... 'remarkable'? And usually that is best caught in stills rather than video. So now I'll be mesmerized for days to come of our earth's power and the futility of our efforts to harness/combat it. Aspen and I will sit together and watch the footage. She'll see the stray homeless wandering dog with a broken leg and be heartbroken. I'll see a father cradling his dead child and do my best to not look away as I hold onto her a little tighter. Then she'll come up with some idea as to how to help these people and animals 1/4th of the world away. And I will do my best to add my ideas to hers to make it more feasible while still trying to make it sound like it was really her idea. Then I'll post the summation of that idea on The Nut and look to you all as inspiration to ensure I see it through and not drop the ball. Then I'll be forced to pour myself another strong one as I accidentally hear snippets of Hannity, Beck and Rush blame the earthquake on Obama. "Come on guys! I thought he wasn't God! Make up your mind!"

TEN THINGS THAT HAPPENED OVER THE LAST YEAR

It's been one solid year since our last post here at The Nut. Many things have changed (our outlook on life) and many have stayed the same (our underwear). So what better way for us to start things back up here than by going to an old classic... A Ten Things List. So here we go: Ten Things That Happened Over The Last Year 1- Aspen started... that woman thing (if I ever end up missing, it's cause she found this post) 2- Got a new car (yup, the beloved Jeep is gone) 3- Increased the workout regiment 4- The dog got herself a pet cat 5- The cat got itself a pet fish 6- Aspen now scores in the 96th percentile for her age in national standardized testing 7- Aspen won a citizenship award at school 8- Miguel (you remember him?) got married 9- Friendships have steadily solidified ( :-P + ) 10- Aspen's brother, Ed, enlisted in the reserve, qualified for special forces and was promoted to E3 ranking faster than his superiors remember anyone having done before. It wasn't the most exciting year. Nobody really missed anything by us taking a break here for a year. This year already looks to be a bit more exciting. My company is closing it's Colorado Springs doors at the end of March so it would certainly look like I will have a new employer (sooner than later please). Aspen will start middle school in the fall whcih probably means a boyfriend isn't far around the corner. And she is set to get braces come winter (I've got some picture frame wire so I might try to do that myself and save some money, we'll see). Anyway, don't expect The Nut to be as regular or 'showboaty' as it was in it's heyday. This is a maturer and mellower Nut. Maybe even wiser, we'll see.