Repressed Memmeries

My Kaleidoscopic Life

Here's an interesting little webonality test I stumbled across. Pretty interesting. I took it a couple of times and came up with similar results each time.

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John Memmer, based on our experience with many different professionals, your color preferences indicate that the occupations below best suit your personality and interests. Note also that a listed profession, never before considered, may seem off. For example, if you love to type, data entry operator might be listed as well, even though you want to be a fiction writer. BEST OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY             You're a RESEARCHER Key Words: Independent, Self-Motivated, Reserved, Introspective, Analytical, and Curious e investigative types gather information, analyze and interpret data, and inquire to uncover new facts. They have a strong scientific orientation, enjoy academic or research environments and prefer self-reliant jobs. Dislikes are group projects, selling, and repetitive activities. RESEARCHER OCCUPATIONS Suggested careers are College Professor, Physician, Psychologist, Pharmacist, Chemist, Marketing Research, Inventor, Sales Forecasting, Project Engineer, Dentist, Identifying Consumer Demand, Chiropractor, Dentist, Medical Technician, Optometrist, Research & Development Manager, Respiratory Therapist, Real Estate Appraiser, Chiropractor, Veterinarian, Geologist, Physicist, Science Teacher, Medical Technologist, and Author of Technical Books. RESEARCHER WORKPLACES Task-oriented careers where you can become absorbed in the job, be original and creative, and not conform to rigid company rules will work best for you. Unstructured organizations, for example, that allow you to sail your own ship are vital. Suggested Researcher workplaces are universities and colleges, home office positions, medical facilities, computer-related industries, scientific foundations and think tanks, research firms, and design laboratories. 2nd BEST OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY             You're a CREATOR Key Words: Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or whether they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

It's a Memmer Explosion!

So, I just got a call from my brother Jake (I guess that would make me Elwood, huh?), who just informed me that he and his lovely wife Jill are expecting - again! Jeez, guys, I mean really - who gets pregnant 5-7 months after having their first baby? Are you guys insane?

Er... wait...

Anywho, adding this to the impending new bambino who's almost ready to pop out of my sister Andrea in about a month and a half, and we've got more Memmer bloodline babies than we can shake a duck at!

So, a hearty congratulations to Jake and Jill on their news! With Andrea's new chitlin and one the oven, Merpy Thanksbirthmas will really take on new meaning this year, won't it? :)

McBullpucky and the Big Steamin' Palin Pile o' Crap

I've not been commenting on the political goings-on recently. My reasons have been a combination of lack of time, a lazy attitude towards writing recently and the need to just sit back and observe in order to gain a nice, fresh, well-seasoned helping of perspective.

Today, I got just that.

I know that all 3 people that read this blog o'mine on a regular basis may not necessarily share my political views, so I usually try to maintain a civil tone. But there come times where the necessities of the ridiculous nature of reality becomes too much, and I feel the need. The need to hand out Intertubal Jack Slaps.

So, remember when John McCain said that the economy wasn't his "strong suit"?

Turns out, he was right. He doesn't know a damned thing about it.

Juxtaposition time!

• The Dow has single largest single-day drop since 9/11, and...

• John McCain thinks that the fundamentals of the economy are just hunky-dorey.

Issue # 2: I searched for a post I thought I had made but I can't seem to find it, but I had enough conversations with many of you folks that you probably remember me in one of my rants. Specifically, the one where I rave about how you absotively, posilutely cannot trust anything you see or hear on the MSM regarding the elections.

Even more specifically, I remember predicting several months ago that as the election drew closer, regardless of the actual reality of the situation, that you would find polls reporting the race as "neck and neck", a "horserace", and "too close to call". Why? Because the MSM are large, multi-national conglomerates beholden to profits. It is NOT in their interests to tell the truth if it costs them ratings. It is NOT in their interests to explain how it is possible that the party of the current Preznit with approval ratings just a smidge below Josef Stalin could possibly have their candidate running even with the opposition candidate.

So, do I believe the polls that show John McCain and Tina Fey running even or ahead of Obama? Not for a minute. These polls are generated to produce exactly the results that the networks want. A horserace = an interested viewership: what's gonna happen today? More viewers equals more advertising revenue. And so it goes. But, the far more cynical conspiracy theorist inside me would say that these polls serve another service: it provides a narrative that the race actually is that close, and as the last two elections have shown, close elections are easier to cage voters, manipulate, gerrymander and distort. In other words, steal.

If an election is perceived a being close enough, then it makes the job of switching electronic votes, misplacing absentee ballots or whatever other dirty tricks Karl Rove has locked away in a vault somewhere much easier to swallow.

"You're paranoid!" Yeah, I've heard it all before. But here's the thing that should stop you in your tracks: if your goal was keeping power and secrets away from unwanted eyes and you had the power to do the things I just mentioned above, why wouldn't you do it? Say what you want, but it's been demonstrated and documented over the past 8 years that it is possible to both do the things I mentioned AND get away with it.

These huge companies that run the media are totally vested in how elections are preceived and awarded, from Faux News to huge defense contractor GE's (who contributed $1.1M to Duh-bya's 2000 Presidential Award) NBC & MSNBC to Sumner Redstone's Viacom outlet CBS. Disney's ABC, perhaps less so, but make no mistake about it: Disney has its own interests in mind with every programming and news choice it makes.

To wrap up this admittedly disjointed collections of ramblings, here's part of an editorial by Ian Bell over at Common Dreams. (For the full article, go here.)

Mr Obama remains - you know this bit - the first African-American to have a serious hope of becoming president. Yet what do we find? Merely journalists adjusting every too-close-to-call poll in their heads to accommodate their certain knowledge of race in American life. We Europeans, some of us, do not therefore form judgments. This continent invented industrialised racism, and persists with the habit of mind. But seriously: a black man talking seriously or a moose-killer forbidden to attempt coherent speech? And your choice is?

Too close to call. America, that is almost beyond words. I have neither a personal nor a partisan interest. Ms Palin and Mr Obama alike are foreign to me. Yet if Mr Bush has been a dangerous absurdity, what is the latest Republican president-but-one? Since I'm asking the questions, I'll answer.

Ms Palin is a symbol of deep American introversion, of the fact that you have ceased to take yourselves seriously and, more important, don't much care who knows it. Arguments over the relationship between the wider world and your choices have become irrelevant. You have detached yourself, finally, from the global community. This is isolationism as never before conceived. "American" in my life has been lingua franca, for better or ill. Now you talk to yourself.

And you talk, my friends, in the sort of gibberish that once you spurned. It's not about Ms Palin, as such. It is about the process that creates a candidate-grin manipulated to serve darkness, ignorance, fear, a war economy, and the flaunting of stupidity.

How stupid are we?

I fear the answer to that question.

Barry and Joe

Okay, so I'm starting to warm up to these two a little more everyday.

I don't believe the polls that have McSame and Magic Cooter running neck and neck with The Boyz at all. In a world where Chimpy McNutsack has an approval rating just below Pol Pot, do you seriously expect me to swallow the notion that his replacement is running about even with Barack Obama? Seriously?

This all has the flavor of somebody methodically building a case for plausible deniability when the next election is stolen. Again. And Again.

Ketchup

Three tomatoes were walking down the street: Daddy Tomato, Mama Tomato and Baby Tomato. Baby Tomato started to lag behind, so Daddy Tomato went back, squished him, and said "Ketchup!"

Fox Force Five at its best!

I've been a bit remiss myself around here, although admittedly, we've been stupid busy for the past couple of weeks. Last weekend we took an impromptu jaunt back down to St. Louis. We still have free entrance passes left on the 6-Play tickets we bought when we were there a couple of months back, and since it was the last weekend the waterpark was going to be open, we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and hit 'em up.

We did it smarter this time, however. We packed a cooler for lunch to avoid the $3.25 bottles of water and the $40 pizzas. Plus, it was actually kind of nice to have a comfy seat in an air-conditioned van to relax for a bit, have some grub and regroup in the middle of the day. All in all, it was a successful and cheap day at Six Flags.

As you may remember, our "marquis" dining experience the last time we were there (the Schneidhorst) turned out abysmally bad. This time around, however, we lucked into a restaurant that was the polar opposite of that fiasco. We followed the same path (along Manchester Rd.) and stumbled upon this seemingly non-descript little tavern called "Two Nice Guys Trattoria". It was late, we were tired and hungry, so we pulled into the parking lot and walked inside.

It was a quaint and comfy old home that had been remade into a fine Italian restaurant. We were seated immediately, as it wasn't busy at all at that time of night. We placed our orders and were soon served one of the yummiest "house salads" we'd ever had. Fresh crumbled mozzerella, crisp greens and an absolutely fanTAStic house dressing. Even the kids were soon hoarking off our salad plates!

And then came the main event. Laura ordered beef ravioli, Jeannette - shockingly - ordered Shells & Cheese and Alex had the cheese pizza. As for yours truly, my taste buds were humming in anticipation of one of the house specialties: steak, mushroom and gorgonzola risotto! (Oh, how I wish I'd gotten a picture!) When they brought this bad boy out and set it in front of me, I instantly knew that I had a new favorite. The first succulent bite revealed just a hint of cabernet enveloped by a rich broth, the mild tangy sensation of the blue cheese dancing around the middle of my tongue. My goodness, it's one of the best dishes I've had in a long, long time... maybe ever. Somebody in the back must know what they're doing and very obviously has a great love of food to be able to make dishes like this, that's all I'm saying.

We retired Saturday night, full, happy and exhausted.

On Sunday, we sought out the St. Louis Science Center. That turned out to be quite a bit of fun, as most of the exhibits were geared towards kids, with lots of activities and interactive displays for them. We caught an Onmiax movie about dinosaurs in their Omnidome theatre, then just putzed around to the different exhibits for a couple of hours. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, but then again, they're little freaks who like sciency things. (And that warms the Ol' Repressed Dad's heart, it does!)

I'll probably get more pics up later, but here are a few from the Science Center:

 

Spooky Alex! And yes, folks, this is EXACTLY how the paranormal scam artists make ghost pictures!

   

Alex and Jeannette cleaning off real-live fossils:

 

After stopping at Fitz's All American Grill again for root beer floats and more food than we could eat, we ventured home. 

Thankfully, we had Monday to recover... and to finish digesting all the food from Fitz's! We hit up the company park's pool on its last day, bringing the unofficial end of summer to a close.

Bring on Fall, I say!