Upgrading WordPress Is A Pain In The Butt!

Upgrading to 3.4.1

Today I went to update the links or SirEvil’s blog here. Easy enough. When I login I see a message that WordPress needs to be upgraded. Ok, no problem. Pft…famous last words.

Explain to me why any software package upgrades and replaces the data it’s designed to display. Say what?! The posts aren’t changing, the meta data for the posts, such as the categories and tags weren’t changing. The links weren’t going away, and the images used on the site weren’t going to disappear. So explain to me why the hell any system software feels the need to remove the data as part of it’s upgrade!?

Thank the hosting gods at BlueHost who run weekly backups of the databases or we would have lost EVERY THING! But I got it upgraded, and we’re running a new theme. Which I had to recreate from scratch! How extraordinary annoying!

All Passengers Aboard!

Jun26

Rain Or Shine

Even on rainy days it’s fun to watch the trains. Even if we’re munching on lunch inside the car, we’re still right next to the tracks and able to get a good view of Amtrak as they pass by.

Amtrak

Of course watching them in the sunshine is much nicer. Especially on a sunny warm day.

Amtrak 91

And it’s especially nice when we get there as the local commuter train is pulling into the depot to drop off passengers from Richmond.

Amtrak 91

05/06/2012 – Tony Stewart’s Post Race Interview at Talladega

May7

Bizarre or Vintage Tony? I say: Welcome Back Smoke!

Tony Stewart - May 6th Talladega Interview

Tony’s comments immediately after his frustrating finish at Talladega on May 6th have been labeled as funny, sarcastic, bizarre, disrespectful, a mockery and degrading to the sport. Questions have been raised about potential fines by Nascar for violation of Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR rulebook, which covers everything “detrimental to the sport.” If Nascar fined him for this, fans would be all over the sanctioning body raising cain!

Thankfully Nascar announced today they will not be penalizing the People’s Champion for his comments, saying they are not detrimental to the sport.

For those of us who know Tony’s sarcasm, the interview was vintage Stewart and we LOVE it! His sarcasm is part of what we like most about him. And truth be told, his comments were making a point! NASCAR needs to make a few changes before they return to this 2.66-mile track. Continue reading →

How the Draft Deals with Scandal or Operation Shell Game

May1

When you are President, there is nothing worse than being wakened at 4 AM. Oh wait, yes there is. Being wakened at 4 AM by Spin Cycle, the code word for the White House Communications Director. You roll over in the bed and pick up the phone that’s making the annoying sound that woke you up. “Spin, if you have come to spread some cheer to me, I’m going to have Agent Smith shoot you.”

He bursts into your bedroom. “Oh there’s no cheer today, sir. And Agent Smith’s not here which oddly is the reason I came to talk to you.”

As you sit up and pull on your warmups, you recall groggily that Agent Smith and his team has been sent ahead to “secure” your hotel in Grindo Zero, codeword for Cartagena. Once again you’ve been tasked to attend a “summit” meeting, which is an apt description of all of these. They all are a lot like mountain climbing. It’s real hard, you have to be insane to do it even if you use all the safety equipment and it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

“About that, how’s the speech coming?”

“Oh,” he says all too chipperly, “it’s coming along nicely, I’ll have the first draft in a couple days.” Continue reading →

Scratch One Career Option

Apr25

The Prince will never be suited for a life of crime. Here’s why:

When I’m away on business, the last thing the Prince does in the evening is read a chapter of his reading book. Currently that would be the Hank the Cowdog series by John Erickson. So one night a few weeks ago, it’s reading time and I ask him what chapter we’re reading. He tells me that it’s chapter 5 and I tell him no, it’s got to be chapter 6 because we already read the part at the end of chapter 5.

To this he replies, “Are you sure? I thought I read that when I was sneaking in the closet last night.”

I said, “What?”

“Oh… um… nothing, never mind.”

E.W.

My son sneaks out of bed to read. Guess that explains the 12th grade reading level.

The Simple Things

Apr15

Do You Like Trains?

Many people plan for months for their spring break. Taking exotic vacations, or visiting family or running off to the beach for fun in the sun after the cold winter months. But in this financial recession many families can’t afford those big plans to get away from it all. For those folks there’s still things to do to enjoy the week and relax a little.

We’ve learned that sometimes the best memories come from the simple things that cost little to no money at all. As long as you’re spending the time with those you love. And doing something you truly enjoy doing.

Evil & Spring 04/2012 – Watching the Trains In Ashland

For us, that’s a little 20 minute trip into town. In particular into Ashland, Virginia. Touted as the “Center of the Universe“, it’s a simple little historic town where one of the countries oldest colleges calls home. That would be Randolf-Macon College.

One of the advantages of living in the middle of no where is that going into town is often a an adventure. And that’s true for us.

Because we’re so far away from civilization we plan our trips, whither we go north to Fredericksburg or south to Ashland.

But on occasion taking a spontaneous trip brings the most fun. And on our last Saturday of Spring Break that’s exactly what we decided to do. We made it a train day! Continue reading →

Coming And Going

Apr14

North & South Bound Passing

As we’ve mentioned in our little train tribute section, it’s not often we see north and south bound trains passing each other in the middle of town. Today was one of those special days.

CSX 751

Continue reading →

New Research About The Athletics of Nascar

Apr13

3-Time Champion Tony Stewart

Update:

In 2010 I wrote an article about the validation of Nascar as a sport and it’s Drivers as athletes. New research and more information has been published since then. So I took the opportunity to update my initial article to include the new data.

Check it out: Is Nascar A Sport? Are Nascar Drivers Athletes?

The White House Honors 2011 NASCAR Champion

Apr12

2011 Chase Drivers Honored

The White House Welcomes the NASCAR Champion, Tuesday April 17, 2012. The tributes to sports teams are a long-stranding presidential tradition. It’s an opportunity for the President to celebrate excellence and achievement by American sportsmen and women.

Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing

The 30th President of the United States is credited with starting the practice. In October of 1924, Calvin Coolidge welcomed the Washington Senators after winning the American League championship. “The Washington team won because it deserved to win,” said Pres. Coolidge. And the same could be said about our own 2011 Nascar Champion Tony Stewart and the entire #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team!

Say what you will about Pres. Obama, he’s still the sitting President of the United States and it’s an honor for any sports champions to be recognized by the White House.

Every Nascar fan agrees that last year was a unique and special Championship series. The level of intensity expressed by Stewart-Haas Racing and in particular the #14 team and our 3-Time Champion Tony Stewart especially, was a story for the ages. It was spectacular. It was heroic. It was an excellent achievement to raise the bar in the last 10 races of the season. And it deserves the same recognition that any NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB champions have received no matter who is in the Oval Office. It’s about the history of recognition and accomplishment by a country who is grateful to have heroes to cheer for on Sundays. Continue reading →

Mixology: Captn Jack White & Captn Jack Black

Apr11

Spiced Rum Recipes

Last night we went to dinner at one of our favorite places. During dinner we began talking about Sir Evil’s brother and his favored drink. We asked the bartender if they had ever heard of such a drink and did it have a name? She hadn’t heard of it, but thought it was interesting and called a friend who teaches Mixology. Yes he had heard of the drink, but as far as he knew it didn’t have a name. We began thinking up names and we finally came up with one that we think is perfect for a ‘rum’ drink.

Here are two drink recipes for you. Compliments of Sir Evil’s brother. And inspired by Captn Jack Sparrow’s love of rum!

Captn Jack White:

2 ozs spiced rum
1 cup milk
Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla

Captn Jack Black:

2 ozs spiced rum
1 cup milk
1 tbsp chocolate syrup
Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla