1. I know, I really need to post more often and with more substance than these weekly Tuesday Tens, which really aren’t even tens, but that’s not the point.  I’m honestly working on some ideas to get my groove back, please just try to bear with me.

2. I had to kill a rattlesnake before our vicious little dog decided to throw down and get herself bitten. That’s one of the downsides to living in the country.

3.  One of the upsides?  Raleigh (the dog)  tried making friends with a fawn the other day, and one of Rhonda‘s cousins found one that got stuck in a marsh and was apparently abandoned by his mom. The boys got a big thrill from both. So being this close to nature has its good and bad points.

4.  Which somehow brings me to my next point.  Anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter has seen me occasionally post culture shock moments tagged #welcometomsyankee, or “Welcome to Mississippi, yankee! ” Rhonda thinks they should be expanded, or at least collected, into blog posts.   Would any of my three readers be interested in that?

5. The images from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were horrible, but here’s the thing: N.O. only caught the outer edge of the hurricane. The main reason for the damage there was because corners were cut when the levees were built and they failed.

The worst natural disaster in the history of the United States hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast and people are still rebuilding their lives. Not to diminish the pain and suffering of the people of New Orleans, but it’s a slap in the face to people around here when they’re made a footnote at best and the President blows them off on the anniversary to sit in the Big Easy. But hey, we’re not a major media marketing and thus of no interest.  Mass media doesn’t care about poor people.

6. Who says complaining never got you anywhere? Last night, six days after I whined my butt off about all of the overtime we’ve been working, my supervisor told me that this will probably be the last week.  Sure, they claim that it’s because we’re almost caught up, but we all know that they fear my displeasure.

7. This is pretty good timing, too, because my birthday is next week and Rhonda is taking me out of town that weekend to celebrate my aging and our six month anniversary, because we’re still cheesy like that. Also, because it’s an excuse to get away and relax and we both need that desperately.

8. I… have opinions. Some of those opinions are very strong, but my strongest opinion is that everyone has a right to their own.  So when I disagree with you, and I guarantee we disagree on something, I will usually make my opinion clear, but I can still usually understand and respect your point of view.

My father… has equally strong opinions, often in opposition to my own, also freely expressed. And he doesn’t really respect other points of view. At least that’s how it seems to me, but I think we’re all somewhat critical of our families, especially our parents, so I may not be a fair judge on this one.

Anyway, I’ve been pressuring the old man to join Facebook so that he can see the pictures of the boys that we always post.  It slipped my mind that I’m also frequently expressing my strong opinions on Facebook. You can imagine the fun this has caused.

This may have been a tactical error on my part.

9.  I love my kids.

10.  I also love my wife and I would like to spend some time with both before I have to leave for work, so…

Stay geeky!