So it seems that the huge sea creature The Manatee has been very misunderstood. For years it was thought to be fairly dumb but now new information says they are actually quite sensitive and bright and could give the Porpoise a run for its money! Maybe a manatee should run for president!

I didn’t feel good this morning so I called in sick at work. I think there’s bug going around, as I know 2 other people who suddenly came down ill. It was a miserable day anyway and we are dead at work. Only bad thing is I was suppose to meet some friends for dinner tonight…oh well…

I’m very pissed that Pluto was downgraded from a planet to something else. Geez, they could do this with anything. Everyone is revisionism crazy! There’s one other thing that’s always bothered me. How come all the other planets (including Pluto) have moons with cool names like Triton or Charon. Yet we’ve always called our moon “the moon”. I never understood that. How come our moon never got a name?

Ha! I just read The President of Iran is challenging George Bush to a debate! That sounds like a skit for Saturday Night Live!

This is my very long and boring entry on what happened at my parents’ house this past Saturday. It’s nothing Earth shattering but I just want to write about it. Feel free to skip over it!

Well, I’ve heard about people being in the dark but last night was ridiculous! Yesterday morning I went over to my parents’ house to do a little “troubleshooting”. There was a light socket in a closet that was broken. Somehow the bottom of the light bulb had broken off and was still in the socket. Now I’m not handiest guy in the world and I’m also the first to admit it. I don’t really think electricity and me are a good match. Earlier in the week when my Dad mentioned the problem and I told me to call an electrician. Apparently, the guy he called never returned the message he left. I then told him to wait till Monday and I would get a friend of mine to do it. But of course Mr. Decker Sr. couldn’t wait. “We can do it”, he proclaimed.
So when I got there my Dad turned off the power. He didn’t turn off the individual circuit though. He turned off the main power breaker because he couldn’t read which was the right individual one. I understand why he couldn’t read it. He has macular degeneration but why didn’t he just wait for me to get there? Parents! No matter how old they are, they still think they can do it all and be right all the time!

So we fooled around with the socket for a while and couldn’t get the broken sucker out. Finally we gave up. My Dad went downstairs to turn the power on. He flipped the switch. Nothing happened. He re-set it and tried again. No power! Agh!

A call to Con-Ed followed. We were told a truck would be there as soon as possible but they couldn’t give us a time. Not a good sign.
So anyway I changed what little plans I had made and hung around all day with them. And I mean all day! At 3 PM I called Con-Ed again. I told them there are two senior citizens here and stuff like that and couldn’t they give me even a “hint” of how long it might take. The operator was nice but she couldn’t say.

Around 5 I went out and got some Chinese Take Out. We ate and then around 6 I called again but no matter how strong I laid my story on about these two extremely old seniors with no electricity they still couldn’t give me a time…

When it started getting dark around 7:45 I called again. Once more I told my tale and included the fact that my old folks can’t stay up all night waiting for a truck to come so could they at least tell us if they were going to come before, say 1 AM?

Well, I must have finally gotten an operator who cared. She said she would call the emergency unit. After a brief pause she came back and said some one would be there within 2 hours!

And lo and behold around 9:30PM a Con Ed guy showed up! After a few a few minutes he discovered that the main circuit breaker was shot. As long as it was in one position it was ok but once it was moved it could not be moved back! The Con-Ed guy said we needed a new main breaker and we would have to get an electrician to fix it. My Dad said we couldn’t get an electrician until Monday. The guy asked if there was a Home Depot near by. There was, like 2 blocks from their house! The Con Ed guy said he would install it if someone went to get the part…

So off I went to Home Depot, a place that for me ranks only second place to hell in places to visit! BUT they did have the breaker and in like 5 minutes after I brought it back the electricity was up and running again!

I should also mention that the Con-Ed worker who came said there was no charge and when I offered him 10 dollars as a tip he refused to take it!!

So I guess even though it seems these corporations never care about the little guy if you get the right person you can get satisfaction!

Now I just have to get their cable TV fixed!

Q: How can you tell a female tuna from a male tuna?
A: Wait till they go to the can.

What a city! Two out of town college students who apparently have way too much free time on their hands were attempting for the last two days to break a “record” by riding a subway car through every station in the city! The record is 25 hrs-11 mins. This is not the actual Guinness Book World record however. That mark was set at 26 hrs. & 21 mins. by some guy who stopped at every station. These two dorks are just going to “pass through” some of the stations without stopping (guess they heard too many stories about The South Bronx!). It’s nice to know the future of our great country is in the hands of dweebs like this!

“Well, why not? It ain’t worth nothing anyway.”-Bob Dylan when asks what he thinks of downloading new music for free.

Whoa! A lady here has been arrested for embezzling 2.5 million dollars from a medical firm she worked for. She used the ill-gotten swag to buy lottery tickets. To the tune of $6000 a day! What a waste! I would have spent it on something worth while like hotdogs and beer!

I’ve been thinking of running for President in the next election too. Hey! Why not? I’m as honest as the day is long. (Of course the days are getting shorter!) I even wrote a little campaign poem. Here it is:

“I’m older than Kennedy but younger than Reagan.
I’m patriotic, fun loving and not a pagan.
Big Business, PACS and religious nuts have yet to infect me
So when you go to vote please elect me.”

OK, so I’m no Nipsey Russell (anyone remember him?). I guess I need another hobby. I might take up subway riding…

I wasn’t watching but on an ESPN broadcast of a championship Little League game one of the 12-year-old players used the word “fucking” in earshot of the microphone his coach was wearing. The coach swatted his hand at the kid because “the word” was picked up on national TV. Little League officials reprimanded the coach for his actions. I guess in this day and age it’s acceptable for 12 year olds to swear on TV. It’s disciple and punishment that’s looked down on!

Anyway, ESPN was stupid to have a mic in the dugout (they do it for the pros too). They are just asking for trouble. Now ESPN will institute a 5 second delay just in case. Doesn’t this mean that all their live broadcasts aren’t really live?

This is kind of freaky. But at least they caught something this time. It’s better than some burry photo taken a thousand feet way!

Hybrid Mutant' Found Dead in Maine
By Associated Press August 16, 2006, 4:55 PM EDT

TURNER, Maine -- Residents are wondering if an animal found dead over the weekend may be the mysterious creature that has mauled dogs, frightened residents and been the subject of local legend for half a generation.

The animal was found near power lines along Route 4 on Saturday, apparently struck by a car while chasing a cat. The carcass was photographed and inspected by several people who live in the area, but nobody is sure exactly what it was.

Michelle O'Donnell of Turner spotted the animal near her yard about a week before it was killed. She called it a "hybrid mutant of something."

"It was evil, evil looking. And it had a horrible stench I will never forget," she told the Sun Journal of Lewiston. "We locked eyes for a few seconds and then it took off. I've lived in Maine my whole life and I've never seen anything like it."

For the past 15 years, residents across Androscoggin County have reported seeing and hearing a mysterious animal with chilling monstrous cries and eyes that glow in the night. The animal has been blamed for attacking and killing a Doberman pinscher and a Rottweiler the past couple of years.

People from Litchfield, Sabattus, Greene, Turner, Lewiston and Auburn have come forward to speak of a mystery monster that roams the woods. Nobody knows for sure what it is, and theories have ranged from a hyena or dingo to a fisher or coy dog, an offspring of a coyote and a wild dog.

Now, people are asking if the mystery beast and the animal killed over the weekend are one and the same. Wildlife officials and animal control officers declined to go to Turner to examine the remains. By Tuesday, the carcass had been picked clean by vultures and there was not much left of the dead animal.

Loren Coleman, a Portland author and crypto-zoologist, said it's unlikely that the animal was anybody's pet. After reviewing photos of the carcass, Coleman said he was bothered by the animal's ears and snout. It reminded him of a case years ago in northern Maine in which an animal shot by a hunter could not be identified. In the end, wildlife officials got a DNA analysis that show the animal was a rare wolf-dog hybrid, he said.

Mike O'Donnell, who is married to Michelle O'Donnell, said the animal looked "half-rodent, half-dog" to him. It was charcoal gray, weighed between 40 and 50 pounds and had a bushy tail, a short snout, short ears and curled fangs hanging over its lips, he said. It looked like "something out of a Stephen King story."

"This is something I've never seen before. It's an evil-looking thing," he said.

Not much going on here....

GANGSTER STORY-1960-This very cheap crime drama is about an escaped bank robber and cop killer named Frank Martin (Walter Matthau who also directed). After he stages a strange bank hold up (partially involving making 3 policemen think he’s shooting a movie!) he meets a librarian (Carol Logan, the future Mrs. Matthau) and goes to work at her home. Meanwhile a mob boss wants Martin to work for him and sends some of “his boys” to get him. One of the mob thugs is played by Gerrett Wallberg who later changed his name to Gary Walberg and became a familiar TV actor. Another familiar TV actor Vic Tayback has an un-billed role as a cop in a funny scene involving a fat guy and the stealing of a safe.

Everything in this movie is fairly improbable and moves pretty fast. Matthau would win two Tony awards the following year and an Oscar in 1966 (for THE FORTUNE COOKIE) and become a star but he would never direct again. Radley Metzger was the editor.