A New Year Ahead - with some sorta TMI notes on the old

2008 has been a 'different' sort of adventure around here.

Some of you may know we took the MIL out of a nursing home in Ohio and brought her here. We converted my garage workshop into an apartment for her.



That's me on the backhoe.



Kitchen area.

So instead of finishing our house, we spent that money on the apartment.

Also I canceled a planned trip to DC for WSII.

Next was the challenge of finding care givers. I can't/won't take care of the MIL. She needs help in several areas I can't provide... like going to the bathroom.

Been pretty strange, actually, we pay more than any other non-skilled female can get in this area, but they come and go.

Tried to spent few days with my pals from Alpha Rubicon and had to head home when someone quit?

The Wife works three 12 hour shifts (Fri, Sat, Sun) and her pay just pays the caregivers, BTW.

Then she spends virtually the balance of the week with the MIL.

Point being... this past year hasn't been what I had in mind. I do suspect the 2009 will be similar... There's certain boring/deadening elements involved when one tries to plan ahead. Sure, death and taxes are certainty, but true humans adapt and overcome. Likely on a minute-by-minute basis.

Gotta Love That Che - The Butcher of La Cabana

Check out this.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the revolutionary who helped found communist Cuba, is the celebrity that celebrities adore. And be it Madonna, Rage Against the Machine, or Jay-Z, musicians really dig Che.

It’s something that baffles Cuban jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera. “Che hated artists, so how is it possible that artists still today support the image of Che Guevara?” Turns out the rebellious icon that emblazons countless T-shirts actually enforced aesthetic and political conformity. D’Rivera explains that Che and other Cuban authorities sought to ban rock and roll and jazz.

“Che was an inspiration for me,” D’Rivera tells reason.tv. “I thought I have to get out of this island as soon as I can, because I am in the wrong place at the wrong time!” D’Rivera did escape Cuba, and so far he’s won nine Grammy awards playing the kind of music Che tried to silence. But D’Rivera says Che’s crimes didn’t end with censorship. “He ordered the execution of many people with no trial.” Che served as Castro’s chief executioner, presiding over the infamous La Cabana prison. D’Rivera says Che’s policy of killing innocents earned him the nickname—the Butcher of La Cabana.