Virginia Landmark Contest XI

There was no correct answer identifying last weeks photo. I agree with Tugboat Phil, the quality of that photo generally sucked. However, I'll keep the location under my hat for now until I can get "on site" myself for some better photos. It will be featured again at some point in the future.







This week we go once again outside SWVA. But where outside SWVA? That is up to you to tell us. Identify this building and the city (or town) it graces and you will win the awe and admiration of all (both) of my readers.

UPDATE:
Al's close (see comments). It is an old bus station, early sixties I would guess by the archetecture. A Trailways station at that, (are they still in business?). But he's way off as to the location. Look some 4 hours east for the true location.

UPDATE II:
Conaway nails it. The photo is some years old, so I don't know if it accurately depicts the current location, but it is the Trailways Bus Station in Petersburg. And Tugboat, I promise you will get another shot at last week's location, I'll be taking better photos of it either this weekend or next.

Free Legal Services For Public Employees

Employees of Patrick County and the City of Martinsville have been offered free legal services in the form of no cost wills and living wills. This generous offer has been made and committed to by Eric Helms Monday, Stuart Attorney.

A standing ovation for Mr. Monday from all, please.

Weekly Bloggers Forum

I recently recieved an e-mail from David St Lawrence in Floyd. It seems Mr. St Lawrence has decided to host a local "Open Forum on Blogging" on Thursdays at Cafe Del Sol in beautiful downtown Floyd.

Floyd is thick with Bloggers, although most are non-political in tenor. Along with David there's Fred First, Doug Thompson, Leslie Shelor, and many others. Not to mention frequent commenter on this and many other Virginia blogs, Tugboat Phil.

St Lawrence has an interesting concept going here, and I intend to attend. Although it will likely be several weeks before I can get away on a Thursday mid-day, I hereby nominate Tugboat Phil to attend in the interim as my proxy.

I'm Not Emeril Gets A Life

Regular readers know how much I love my job, and the hours I happily devote to it. In fact, a couple of months ago Jerry Fuhrman even went so far as to state

Fellow Southwest Virginian Alton Foley at ImNotEmeril has ... nothing posted this weekend. I'm beginning to worry about the man. He's putting in too many hours at work and his health is at risk. Slow down, dude. That engineering stuff will be there tomorrow when you get to work.

In a tactful sort of way, Jerry told me to "get a life". That bit of advice was taken into consideration and can even be considered part of the reason for my lack of posts during this week.

That's right Jerry, I "got a life". No, I haven't slowed down much at work. I mean 12 hours is still just a half a day, right? Instead my time after work has become much more interesting. For the first time in a very long time, I had a date. Not just one, but two this week. And another tonight.

Carnival's Open Now

Kilo has the Carnival ready. Mash your mouse here and go check it out. And a very good one it is. You're sure to find something you like.

Virginia Landmark Contest X

If it's Sunday evening, it must be time for the Virginia Landmark Contest.

Week ten brings us to this location. No we're not in Europe, trust me, this is an honest to goodness Virginia landmark.

So, put those ideas of European royalty out of your mind and tell me where this palacial estate is located in Virginia.

NOTE: Once again, this photo is not mine. After the Contest ends proper attribution will be placed here.

UPDATE:
It's Saturday morning and not even Tugboat Phil's wife has recognized this place, and it's in the Tugboat family's backyard. I admit the quality of the photo is not great, but I'm surprised there has been no correct answer yet.

Anniversaries

Anniversaries can be a joyous occasion, or if forgotten, as us men sometimes do, really bad. But sometimes an anniversary is a bittersweet thing. Go visit The Red Queen, a Pennsylvania blogger who is dealing with the bittersweet kind today.

March 12 marked the 11^th anniversary of my mom's new birthday.

Virginia Blog Carnival XXVIII Is Coming...

Kilo is working on the Virginia Blog Carnival. Check out the guidelines, and instructions for submittals at http://kilosparksitup.blogspot.com/2006/03/virginia-blog-carnival_17.html

Other Than Electricity, I Like Photography Best

I love good photography.

Those of you who have visited here often enough already know I'm not a photographer, I take pictures. But I do have a thing for good photography. I often visit Bill Emory's photoblog just to dream that I could have his sense of balance and composition. I've included one of my favorites of his in this post, the one to your right. I hope he doesn't mind the reproduction of it here.

A few days ago I stumbled upon a Dutch (or possibly German, my proficiency in foreign languages is limited to "Dos mas cervezas, por favor") photographer's website that has simply blown me away. You see, photography is not my only obsession. Not even my greatest obsession. That would be my tendency to see a problem (defined as something I want to accomplish, but no clear path to that accomplishment readily at hand), devise a solution, and implement that solution. If something electrical can be brought to bear in order to solve that problem, so much the better! If, in the process, I can make a computer talk to another device, then I have reached nirvana.

Frans, the photographer I've just discovered, decided some time ago that he wanted to photograph bees. Not just bees on flowers. That's been done to death. No, Frans wanted to photograph bees flying. Bees flying close up. bees flying very close up. Bees flying very close up and fast enough to stop all motion. Like the amazing shot on the right.

Click on the photo to see it full size, you can only fully appreciate it that way. Below it I've included his photo of some other backyard bug. It's not a bee, but who cares what it is, it's a great shot. On the website I'm about to give you the link to, Frans outlines (in English translations) how he went about creating these amazing photos. He created not only the photos, but the apparatus required to take such shots. Yes, he uses electricity. And Lasers. And he makes his camera talk to a computer chip. All this makes his the ultimate project.

Be aware, in order to fully detail the effort required to produce such shots he takes ten pages. Believe me, if you enjoy technology and craftsmanship as much as I do, it's worth every click.

If you poke around long enough at his website, You'll find some more great shots of bullets stopped as they pierce ballons, wine glasses, and even a soap bubble.

Breaking News From Hampton Roads

Via Bearing Drift... Squeaky's got a new hobby!

It's March 15th

And no gratuitous Shakespearean reference from here...

Martinsville Scraps Decals

The City of Martinsville has decided to scrap the notorious window decal effective in 2007. I previously lived in Buchanan County which had done away with the thing some time before I moved there. At that time Buchanan was one of only a very small handfull of Counties that had no decal. Whenever I visited Henry County it would always be pointed out to me that I was lacking a decal. Sometimes by County Sherriff's Deputies. It took some explaining to convince the Deputies that Buchanan did not require that awful thing. Henry County's Board of Supervisors are now looking at the option of eliminating it.

I have always had a major problem with the decal. If you consider it for a moment, it amounts to making you pay a tax, in order to show the world that you have paid a tax. In other words, you are forced to buy your reciept. And then forced to publicly display that reciept. Now, in Martinsville and other locales that are doing away with the decal, you no longer have to display the reciept, but you still have to pay for it. Although they are doing away with the decal, the fee for it will still be applied, just added onto your Personal Property tax.

It still sucks, but at least you don't have to scrape the dang thing off each year and replace it. That's the optimist side of me speaking. The "glass is half empty" side still believes it is wrong to continue to apply a tax to a tax. Maybe even more so than before, at least then I did have the tangible decal to hold in my hands for having paid the tax on a tax.

Remind Me To Never...

call Rick Sincere a "mugwump". Tuesday evening someone did, and more. He proceeds to take the man apart in this post.

I respect his ability to maintain his composure when confronted by such a boor, but I don't think I want to go to the movies with him.

Virginia Blog Carnival XXVII

It's truly been 27 weeks since this Carnival thing began? It sure doesn't seem like it, but Doug would never lie to us. I started this site the week after the very first Carnival, that may be why it doesn't seem like so long ago to me.

This week's edition is up at Below The Beltway. Mash your mouse on the previous link and go check out the incredible diversity of Virginia's blog community. We have some great writers, some deep thinkers, and some just plain folk. There's much more where these three came from, go see.

We Interupt This Blog For An Important Announcement

Alton B. Foley and Leslie F. Houston are pleased to announce the impending marriage of their father, Arthur B. Foley of Collinsville to Betty Jo Clark of Henry VA.

The wedding ceremony, scheduled* for April 8, 2006, will be at Oak Level Baptist Church in the Oak Level community of Henry County.

* Originally scheduled for sometime in June, but Dad is 72, I guess they decided the wait was unecessary...

Weedin' Out The Weak Ones

In a wire, the speed of electrons is about 4 x 10 ^{- 5} m/s. In a word, fast. But an electrical circuit can be no faster than the response time of it's slowest component. In most cases that would be a relay. In nature this concept is carried over into herding animals. For example a herd of antelope can move no faster than it's slowest members. In nature this works to the advantage of the herd, as the slower and weaker members are regularly culled by predators or hunters.

The human brain is both electrical and organic, thus it operates on this same principle. It can be no faster than it's slowest brain cells. Brain cells, however, have no natural predators. But we do have alcohol. Excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells, but in obeyance of natural selection laws, only the slowest and weakest are the first to go. Consequently, the regular consumption of alcohol eliminates the weaker cells, thus continually making the brain a swifter and more efficient organism.

The result of this thesis verifies the link between frat parties and engineering student performance. It also could be used to explain why, after leaving school, getting married, and "settling down" most engineers can not keep up with the latest graduates. Only those of us that maintain a strict regimen of a short glass (or two) per day are able to maintain the intellectual level of our more recently graduated peers.

Anyway, that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.
Let's lift a short glass to "weedin' out the weak ones"!

Virginia Landmark Contest IX

This looks a lot like the view from my bathroom window. But it's not.

This week's Virginia Landmark photo does not include the landmark.

Instead, what you get this week is the view from the landmark. Tell me where I was when this photo was taken.

UPDATE:
An explanation for this week's format may be called for. Because the subject of the ninth Landmark Contest is so well known, and so immediately recognized, I decided to turn it around this week.

Behind these great Virginia Landmarks stands a mediocre photographer. Behind Floyd's Tugboat Phil stands an astute and observant wife. Last week's winner, Tugboat Phil, has been upstaged by Mrs. Tugboat. Check the comments and see Phil's first guess. I have to admit that there is one place in Collinsville, the area of Ridge rd and Murphy dr, looking toward Fieldale or Bassett, that has an almost identical view. But Mrs. Tugboat nails it. She has correctly identified the view from Monticello, looking down on Charlottesville VA.

I Love A Good Restaurant...And Atlanta's Just A Day Trip, Right?

Most of us in the Virginia Blogosphere (I hate that phrase, note to self, come up with something better) are familiar with Conaway Haskins, named "Virginia's Brainiest Blogger". (I don't think I was even considered) But how many of you have checked out his lovely wife's blog, Get Out There, Richmond! ?

She has this restaurant review thing going on, and I enjoy stopping by there. Even though I (very) seldom get to Richmond to sample the cuisine. I do enjoy food, though. The title of this blog is a reference to that fact, as well as my enjoyment of cooking.

As the plant moves slowly into production, and my time off becomes more likely, I will begin anew one of my favorite weekend pastimes, that of a short trip out of town to sample various restaurants. Her blog has (and will continue to) provide me with a list of places that deserve to be checked out during such trips.

My Favorite Radio Station

I used to think all radio stations in North America had call letters that started with a "W" or a "K" or a "C". I've found a great station though that doesn't. It's call sign begins with "S".

It's great! The content ranges from talk to sports to classical to bluegrass. It has news, it has music, it has extremely short commercials. Actually, all of it's content is short. No content lasts long enough to get boring.

I usually travel alone in my car, but whenever I have a passenger he or she will often complain about my favorite station. Whenever that is the case I concede and allow them to choose the audio entertainment.

Modern technology can be phenomenal, and often little understood. For example, this station has been available to me wherever I happened to be living at the time. In fact, I first discovered it when I was living in Florida in the mid '80s. I have since discovered that this station has apparently been so successful that all major auto makers have included a dedicated button on their standard installed radio that links you directly to this station.

Check it out for yourself. Look on your car radio for the button that will select radio station S C A N. You may just become a S C A N fan like myself.

Photoshop Expert Needed

Look down and to your left. (I've posted since this one, now you have to look up and to your left) Yes, that's it. The impromptu Virginia Carnival Banner I created Sunday night.

If you have more than a passing acquaintance with Photoshop, grab that image, clean it up and send it back to me . Or even better send it to Chad. I believe we need a Virginia Carnival Banner, we didn't have one, so I whipped one up on the fly the other night.

I know there are those among us who can do it better. Now get off your butt(s) and do it.

UPDATE:___________________________________
This effort was created by Shaun Kenny. Anyone else want to try?

Randy Hundley, Baseball's "Iron Man" Between Gehrig And Ripken

Subtitle:
The Catcher Who Didn't Have To Sell Suits...

As an aside question to Chad the other night I asked if he could identify the first Major League player from Henry County.

That question just came off the top of my head as a way to lead into his Carnival submission about UVA Wise baseball games he's been attending lately. The answer I had in mind was Randy Hundley, a product of one of the better deals the Chicago Cubs ever made.

Cecil Randolph Hundley Jr. began his baseball career with the Salem VA Appalachain League team in 1960 at the age of 18 after a very successful High School career at John D. Bassett High School in Bassett, VA, excelling not only baseball but in basketball as well. As a matter of fact, the only statewide basketball championship ever won by JDBHS was in 1959 with Randy as a member of the team. (Though not as a starter, I've been told.)

Randy left Salem for Fresno CA to play for the San Francisco Giants in the minor leagues in 1961, followed by stops at El Paso TX, Tacoma WA, and Atlanta IL, all within the Giants farm system. In 1964 he was called up to "the Show" in San Francisco, played 2 games and got a bus ticket back to Tacoma for part of the 1965 season, coming back to San Francisco for the end of the season where he played for 6 more games.

In December of 1965 Chicago traded Don Landrum, Lindy McDaniel, and Jim Rittwage (remember them?) to San Francisco for unknown and unproven players Bill Hands and Randy Hundley. Somebody was either very lucky or extremely precient.

From 1966 to 1969 Randy caught nearly every Cub game. He set a ML record with 160 games behind the plate (147 complete) in 1968, and became the first player in history to catch 150 or more games for three consecutive years (1967-69), winning the Gold Glove in 1967, and committing just four errors for a NL record.

His son Todd, also a catcher like his father, once held the single season home run record for catchers, again like his father. Todd was also born in Martinsville, (although obviously he had to grow up in Chicagoland) and has played for LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and entered the major league with the NY Mets.

Chad, If you've made it this far, I apologize for the suits thing, JB was my mom's favorite player.....I just couldn't resist.

J.R.'s Calendar Shows That...

The election cycle has started. Consistently "heads up" blogging from those two over at Bearing Drift.

Virginia Blogger's Carnival

Welcome, my friend. I'm glad to have you as my guest while we go over the Virginia Blogger's Carnival together. You'll find the hospitality here remarkable, and the conversation is guaranteed to be exhilarating. Pull up a chair, I'll pour you a short glass of an adult beverage, and we'll discuss this week's edition of The Virginia Blogger's Carnival. This week we have 22 contributions from all over the Old Dominion.

Speaking of "adult beverage", J.Sarge at New Dominion ponders the corruption the word adult has suffered in modern times. In this post "Christian Adults" he makes an intriguing comparison.

Tonight is "Oscar Night", and no, I'm not too terribly excited about that. Before you accuse me of being anti-Hollywood, let me say that I do love movies. But I hate to go alone to a crowded theatre. Therefore I have not seen any of this year's contenders. But Rick apparently has seen them all. Check out Rick Sincere's "My Oscar Picks for 2006".

As I said, I seldom go to movies (looking lovingly to my left at my DVD player). But I do keep the TV on, primarily to hear a human voice while I'm otherwise engaged. One of my favorite channels is TVLand. Martin, whose journey that brought him from Australia, to Virginia, via England I would love to hear about, has a blog called Conservative Blog Therapy. In this Carnival submission "TV, Role Models, Morality...Are we looking in the right place?" he laments the lack of quality programming available today. And he highlights an excellent essay by a young lady named Amber Cockrell in Louisville, MO.

The Oscar's doesn't have a real parade, but you could call the red carpet show one, if you stretched it a bit. Virginia Pundette, AKA Kinsey Featherston, one of Virginia's newest bloggers, recently attended a real parade. Her post,"St. Patrick's Day Parade in Alexandria", is an account of her and fellow NOVA bloggers Corey Hernandez, Josh Chernila, and Lowell Feld's day at the parade and the Democratic Party event afterwards. Ben Tribbett also showed up, she says, somewhat surprised.

Yes, it is smooth. It's Bushmills, an Irish Whiskey. And, I'll be glad to refill your glass. Neat, right? No, I didn't go to the St. Patrick's Day stuff in Alexandria, even though I am Irish. But another Irish American, James Webb, did. Part of the St.Patrick day festivities in Alexandria was the Democratic Party event attended by Ms. Featherston. One of two honorees at this event was James Webb, rumored to soon be a Senate Candidate. He has written a book about us Scots-Irish Americans, maybe you've heard of it. It's called "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America". J.C. Wilmore, at his blog The Richmond Democrat has an excellent revue of the book "Required Reading: James Webb's Born Fighting".

Jerry was in NOVA last Thursday, but he didn't stick around for the Parade. No, in this post, "Cigarettes and HOV Lanes", he relates his thoughts as he sat in the notorious I-66 traffic.

Not all conservatives agree on the efficacy of HOV lanes, though. Jay Hughes at Too Conservative has posted "Some Transportation Thoughts" in which he lauds such things.

But here in the Old Dominion there is no shortage of solutions to the traffic problem. Just a shortage of consensus. Adam has developed a transportation proposal completely apart from the world of Republicans and Democrats. (And Jerry and Jay as well.) On his blog Sophistpundit his essay titled "Towards a flexible transportation system" he explains it all.

Lowell Fulk has uncovered some statistics regarding that traffic, indeed, all traffic in Virginia. On his blog Commonwealth Iconoclast he shares it with us in his post "Looming Transportation Showdown..."

Waldo has traffic problems as well, and he lives on top of a mountain at the end of the pavement. There must be something to this transportation problem stuff after all. His essay "SUV vs. lawn. Lawn, SUV win" Waldo learns one of those "life's little lessons" and everyone comes out the hero, well, almost.

Another Virginia Blogger who lives away from the beaten path is David St Lawrence, who lives just up Rt. 8 from me, in Floyd. His blog, Ripples, is a collection of truths learned from life, sometimes the hard way. His Carnival entry, "Country life has a lot to recommend it" describes three of the pleasures of country living.

The problem with experience being the best teacher can be summed up quite simply. You get the test first and the lesson afterwards. Fortunately, most of our learning is somewhat more structured. Doug Mataconis who is the proprietor at Below The Beltway has some fond memories of that structured environment in his post "Here's To The Teachers"

A Virginia blogger who never seems to learn from some of his experiences is Al, from up near Pearisburg. His blog, Al's Rantings, is his release from some of those experiences. Read his story of a trip down to Christiansburg, titled "She Did It Again".

Also having a bad experience with shopping is a relatively new Virginian. His blog, High Desert Wanderer, seems to indicate an origin of Colorado, maybe. I don't know and I've not spent enough time reading his very good writing to discover, yet. I haven't even found his name, so I'll just refer to him as HDW. Welcome, HDW, to the home of the people who founded Texas. In this piece titled "Don't keep your day job" he offers career advice to a kid at the grocery store.

I see your glass is empty, well, so is mine. Let me refill us both before we move on.

Chad, Virginia's "blogfather", (that seems odd for me to write, I'm old enough to be his...older brother) loves baseball. I do too. As an aside Chad, who was the first Pro player from Henry County? Hint, he runs the premier fantasy camp for baseball fans 30 and older and attended Bassett High School with my Dad. Anyway, Chad has apparently been sneaking out of the office early to catch some UVA Wise baseball action. Read all about it in his post "College Baseball"

Chad's new "blog partner" is well known Virginia policy wonk and caption writer Will Vehrs. In his essay "McDonnell: Above the Fold in an Unlikely Place" he looks at Virginia's policy regarding minority contracts, and as usual, makes a lot of sense.

Also in Wise County is Kilo. "...A troubled man, in troubled times. A man with big dreams and high hopes, struggling to make it from day to day." In his story, "Appalachia Voter Fraud" he laments the ethics of some of the politicians in Wise County. Specifically, some in the small town of Appalachia. I know whereof he speaks, as I just recently moved from Buchanan County, where we had to deal with a similar scandal.

Well, old friend, we started this at 7:00pm. It's now almost 10:30. What do you say we finish it over coffee in the morning? Good, I typically get up around 4:15, that is not that far away right now, so I don't think I need another "short glass".

You're up already? I didn't expect that. Let me pour you a cup of coffee. Oh, you say it was the smell of the coffee that woke you. Yes, it is good, isn't it. In Stuart Virginia, of all places,they roast the best coffee in the world. But you don't have to go there to get it. You can order it online from Honduras Coffee Company. Ok, enjoy a cup and we'll continue where we left off last night. No, I'm sorry, but the Roanoke Times is the only paper I have available. I really should be a better host, I suppose.

Where were we...? Oh, I remember, we had just left Wise County. Where shall we go in the Commonwealth next? You're reading about the Ports thing, huh? OK, I've got two Carnival entries that deal with that.

First, Xyba, (just between you and me, I think that's a made-up name) at Once More into the Breach has this little article on that subject. Titled " Israel's Zim Endorses Dubai Port Deal" he tells us that even though Dubai Ports World is an Arab controlled, indeed owned by the Government of UAE (United Arab emirates), company, they get a whole hearted endorsement from the Israeli shipping giant ZIM. Put down that Roanoke Times and read Xyba's story, "Israel's Zim Endorses Dubai Port Deal"

Second, is Adam again. Heh... Trying to sneak in two Carnival submissions, has his thoughts on the deal in "Seeking the facts in the UAE port debacle" Does he really think I'll give him two entries? Silly kid.

Reading about the crime in Roanoke, were you? Well, put that paper away again and read this (or rather these) from Countertop. He has been covering rather well a police shooting. No, not the shooting of a policeman, but the other way around. Check out "Only Cops Should Have Guns part II" and "Only Cops Should Have Guns part II (update)" and "Aaron Brown's Murder". I know that's three posts for one Carnival, but you really need all three to get the gist of the story.

Let's get to the last few submissions to the Carnival. Let me refill your cup and show you to what may turn out to be a controversial entry by Max Power at the Haduken blog. The title "Nigga Please" instantly evokes a negative connotation. The post itself is not so remarkable, but read down to the comments. It turns out to be a quite interesting interaction between friends about words, names, and phrases.

One of the commenters on the previous post, Conaway Haskins, is a Virginia blogger I would like to call friend, but we've never met. I hope to rectify that situation someday. His South of The James blog has recently posted his thoughts on attending the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership Program and his thoughts regarding fellow Sorensen alumnus Norm Leahy. Read his story titled "Norm!!! University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute Kicks Off 2006 Class"

Let me pour you another cup of this great Stuart Virginia coffee before we get to the last two Carnival posts.

First, let's go to Spank That Donkey and his story about Hillary's new speech writer, "Hillary Hires a "Hawk"".

And finally, J.R. Hoeft, way out east in Hampton Roads is showing off again his and Squeaky's technical expertise and political connectedness (I just love making up words) with another podcast. This time it's an interview with Great Bridge Delegate Del. John Cosgrove (R-78). Tune in here, for the 20 minute interview. Or go here and use J.R.'s Bandwidth as it was originally intended.

Thanks for joining me while I compiled this list of great posts, I've enjoyed your company. Next week you can go visit with Doug at Below The Beltway while hosts the Carnival. If you would like to submit an article for a future Carnival, you can find all the details over at Commonwealth Conservative. That page will also provide you with information detailing how you can host your very own Virginia Blogger's Carnival as well.

You can find this and other Carnivals listed each week at The TTLB ÜberCarnival.

Chesterfield Native Conquers Mexico City

Denny Hamlin has captured his first Busch Series win on the 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City (not north Bassett, the other one).

Virginia Landmark Contest VIII

Once upon a time (between ex-wife II and ex-wife III) I lived just a few blocks west and south of this establishment. Many weekends were wasted here, most unrememberable.

What city did I live in, and what was the name of a favorite hang-out spot?

NOTE: The photo is not by me. I will post proper attribution after the contest ends. Photo "borrowed" from UnderSound.com

HINT: Stop looking at the legs (you know you were) and look for other clues.

UPDATE:
It's the Jewish Mother Deli in Virginia Beach, on Pacific Ave.
Once again Tugboat Phil gets it right. I guess he finally drew his attention away from the legs and caught sight of the neon sign in the window and other clues.

Deplorable

A few years ago it was found that a lucrative contract gets you a coon dog...

Now a few votes will get you a bag of pork rinds and a carton of beer...

Why don't these people just go somewhere else and leave SWVA alone?

Heads Up! Carnival bloggers...

The last Time I hosted the Virginia Blogger's Carnival I had a blast! It was fun, and tedious both at once. This time however,...

I'm busy.
I am big time busy.
That's busy with a capital B, Busy. Like the proverbial paperhanger, or ass kicker, I'm busy.

I eagerly look forward to Sunday evening when I can use the Carnival as an excuse to enjoy some "me time". But Sunday evening is all the time I have allocated to this endeavor.

I'll be hosting the Virginia Blogger's Carnival for next week. Posts not in my nicotine stained fingers by 7:00pm Sunday night will most likely not make it into the Carnival before sometime Wednesday.

There has been some discussion lately regarding partisan political posts on the Carnival. I will not exclude partisan posts, but I do discourage them. My thoughts on this subject run more toward condeming partisan editorializing by the host. You will find me to be a completely neutral host, although I remain a conservative.

I'm looking for posts this weekend from some of our "less active" Virginia Bloggers. Less active at least as it pertains to the Carnival. Waldo, Kenton, Kilo, Jerry, JR and Squeaky, and Chad, of all people! You guys are all guilty of neglecting the Carnival. Don't make me put this on your "permanent record"... (Waldo and Kenton may be too young to get the joke, but I doubt the other five are.) Kenton, you would know, do they still threaten you with your "permanent record" in high school? Conaway, it's time you got on board as well. I tolerate no slackers. Ms. Elena, don't make me pick one at random. Romeocat, get one together and submit.

As I've stated before, I believe there should be some discretion allowed the host to include posts not actually submitted for the Carnival. I will include such posts. But "Host's Choice" submittals, at least on Carnivals hosted by me, will be non-partisan.

Contributions may be made by e-mailing me at the link located on the left sidebar or by using the Carnival submission form located here.

Funniest Line From A Blog Post This Week

Ms. Elenaeous said..."We're the other Roanoke...we just act lost."

But Conaway comes in a close second with this...