FLOWER FLY

Taken in my mom's backyard.

The Matrix... or... Call # 1000 tongues

If you look back to the earliest months of The Rusty Nut, it was a photography oriented blog. Back then i Had the highest end Pentax SLR camera. 35 mm film of course. My hobby took a nose dive when I bought my first 1 mega pixel digital camera and appreciated the ability to take as many shots as I wanted with no developing expense. The quality of the pics was horrific... but it was free. I eventually moved up to a 10 mp point and shoot digital camera which was fine for family and casual shots but worthless in pursuing one of my true loves... the real art of exposure, composition and depth of field. A few weeks ago I finally bought a digital SLR Pentax camera. And today I honed in on my favorite old photography subject... Rust.

TEN THINGS NOT TO ASK AT AN INTERVIEW

As I have been searching for a new job I have had the benefit of doing a few 'practice' interviews. Well, they weren't technically supposed to be 'practice'. In fact they were pretty decent jobs that I would have loved to take a shot at and woulda been quite successful at. And I nailed a few of these interviews too, nevertheless I received the 'were pursuing other candidates' letters. This has offered me the opportunity to reflect at where I might have slipped up in the question/answer scenario and to change my approach to selling myself to my potential future employer. So far this list is all I could come up with in trying to uncover what I may have said that failed to convince the interviewer I was the ideal candidate for the job. I know it's not much, certainly not enough to get my resume tossed into the 'no thank you ' pile. 1-Does your company offer a complimentary 12 step program? 2-How do the babes rank in this joint? 3-Is there gonna be an issue if I wear the same underwear every day? I got this superstition about it. 4-What's your policy regarding On-the-job gambling? 5-How often do you conduct annual reviews? 6-So when do I start? 7-How much do you rake in asking me all these personal questions? 8-What's the record for the shortest amount of time someone's worked here? 9-Does the company health insurance cover domestic abuse? 10-How much longer is all this gonna take anyway? I mean, this is just a formality right?

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.

INDEFINITE HIATUS

The Rusty Nut is shutting down for an undetermined amount of time. We wish you all the very best with your lives, families and writings. We at The Nut are taking a hiatus from the net (aside from email and weather). Everything is peaceful. You've all been supportive and informative beyond compare. Take care. Brico

LIGHTS... CAMERA... ACTION!

Seems there's a plethera of potentially good movies on the immediate horizon. 1- Doubt (Phillip Seymore Hoffman rocks!) 2- Frost/Nixon (another addition to 6 degrees of Kevin bacon) 3- Valkyrie (Cruise is still a brainwashed deuge!) 4- Slumdog Millionaire (!) 5- The Reader (!) 6- Seven Pounds (Will Smith in a rare movie without monsters) 7- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (even though there is no naked Jennifer Aniston in it) 8- Rock n Rolla (has Guy Ritchie made a bad movie? other than his private bedroom collection I mean)

ODDS & SODS

Aspen leaves on Saturday for AZ to be with her mom older brother and younger sister for the holidays. That will allow me to do my x-mas shopping after the holiday when the real deals appear. Thanks for all the recommendations on the facial junk stuff. I still am petrified that without a significant female presence in her life as the teen years approach, she will be an awkward outcast who doesn't know a... uh... um... well, I dunno, some-kind-of-item-that-only-a-woman-would-know-what-it-is from some-other-item-that-only-a-woman-would-be-able-to-identify-which-is-completely-opposite-in-appearance-and-has-a-very-different-function-as-well. See?! See?! I'm going to end up raising the main character in 'Carrie' for Christ's sake!! I don't want to die of a heart attack beside a bathtub in an old run-down house while trying to put my child out of her misery!!* I can raise a child and teach him/her values and math and how to floss but I have no business trying to raise a pre-teen girl into womanhood. That would be criminal. Anyway, I was able to ignore all those red flags long enough to trek up to Denver last night with Sean (Colorado version of Miguel) at the last minute to go The Black Crowes show. It was my first concert since moving out west. It was somehow karma's reward for my having to sell my BC tix I had waited in line for back in Charlotte many months ago. Although, Karma had me drive home at 1am in a snowstorm for an hour. Speaking of snowstorms: Aspen absolutely loves the snow. She never got to see much of it in the south. She got her first snowboard for her birthday and looks forward to going out and getting good at it. That I can help her with. *in case my ex tries to use this 'confession' in a future court case citing my tendencies of homicidal thoughts in order to regain custody... that was a joke and was meant for entertainment purposes only!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETY!

Today Aspen turns a decade old. I am a better person thanks to your presence in my life. Thank you for all you have taught me. Kissees for my Snugums!! I love you, Daddy p.s. And stop growing already! Shoes and clothes aint free!

HEY BRICO, WHERE YOU BEEN?

At work!! But it's all good. I'm on the fast-track to a promotion... the optimistic side of me would think. My mentor had someone who has more time on the job than me shadow me on Friday to give him pointers. That would be a good sign, right? And what's more is I kinda like the job. I defininately like the people I work with and the company itself seems fairly dedicated to it's employees. I'm way ahead in all the marked areas of expectations for someone in my tenure. But I don't want to get too cocky or sound like I'm blowing my own horn... Heh heh, hey Kalani! I said 'blow'. Where else have I been? Aside from buying X-mas gifts at Sears at 5 in the a.m. on Black Friday, you mean? Then I have been preparing for Aspen's best-friend (Natalie)'s and step-dad's visit for her B-day. They flew in from SC on Friday and leave Monday. Today we had Aspen's party at a bowling alley... And might I take a moment to preach that 'RSVP' means 'Respond So Very Promptly'. And that's whether you plan on coming or not! Party planners need a head count, folks! If you get an invitation that says 'RSVP' then YOU FUCKING RESPOND, people! You pick up your god damned phone and call the number and say 'Thank you, yes we will be delighted to attend.' or 'No, regrettably we will be unable to attend this year." This is one of my pet-fucking-peaves! there is absolutely no excuse in the world to not be curteous enough to respond to an 'RSVP'. So Aspen was able to invite 3 friends (other than her best-friend visiting from SC). One was ethical enough to let us know she could make it. The others... never said a word and didn't bother showing up. So, we could have invited 2 others in their absence IF THEY HAD BOTHERED TO CALL!! There, I'm off my soapbox... until next year, I reckon. Tomorrow we take our guests on a tour of Garden of the Gods then head up to Denver to Casa Bonita (the restaurant that is cool enough to have a South Park episode based on it). Fortunately, it snowed 3 inches the day before our guests landed and over the weekend it is 55 degrees. Perfect.