Look at the pretty tomatoes.

By the way, they were delicious!

The other morning I awoke to the sound of rumbling. Someone was driving up and down the street making rude noises in the pre-dawn hours. I tried to see who it was but couldn’t quite see, probably because of the sleep in my eyes.

Later that morning I heard the sound again and looked out the front door. It was my next door neighbor, and he was apparently having trouble with his car again. He bought the car around the first of the year, just before moving here from the west coast and he has had more trouble with that one car in seven months than I have had with any of my vehicles, combined. I told him he should look up the state lemon laws because I think his car more than qualifies as a lemon.

After looking into it, he found out that his car does meet all the qualifications of the California Lemon Law and is starting the process of getting a replacement vehicle.

Consumer Law Partners has a ton of information on their site, and you can look up lemon law information for each of the 50 states. His car is definitely a lemon and hopefully he’ll get something that makes far less noise as he drives up and down the street.

Then again, if he gets a replacement vehicle, he won’t have to drive up and down the street to figure out where the next new noise is coming from and I will get to sleep in more often.

I spent some time over the weekend checking out a new gambling forum online. You see, after spending most of my lifetime in or around the Las Vegas area, the games that come with gambling are in my blood.

The gambing forum has a great online casino guide for those of you who have never played any casino games online. Their guide covers everything from your basic introduction to online gaming to selecting the online casino that is right for you. While I don’t have the time or the resources to play much anymore, I really love video poker and blackjack.

The forum has a ton of online casino reviews, which give you a one page synopsis of everything that casino has to offer. They usually offer some sort of incentive too, like buy $50, and get $200 free or something like that. It’s a lot of fun, but you should watch out. Gambling online is far easier than getting off your butt and driving to a casino.

One feature I liked at the forum was their list of no download casinos. There’s nothing more annoying that having to download a particular piece of software that is only used while you are connected to the casino. I try not to clutter my system too much, so the no-download options are great for me!

So, I am sitting here tonight minding my own business, working on a new video, watching some TV, and syncing my iPod, when the wife asks me to run to the store.

She was in the middle of a project and needed something. It was nearly 1:30 in the morning, and here I was getting dressed, getting my shoes on, and running out the door, so my wife would be happy.

As I drive down the road, about a mile from our house, there is a police roadblock. They do this from time to time (especially on the last day of the month) to catch people driving under the influence and with expired licenses. I show them my ID, and they tell me to have a good evening.

When I arrive at the store, just another five miles down the road, I am greeted by three more policemen who are pulling into the same store I am. It’s funny, the feeling you get that you might have done something wrong. As I step out of the truck, I am engulfed in a spider web (how it got there so quickly after I got in the truck is anyone’s guess) and I start flailing around like a madman.

I’m sure they thought I was going through hydrocodone detox or something, because all three of them took a keen interest in what I was doing. Trust me, if I was going through hydrocodone detox, the last place I would be, would be a small convenience store at 1:30 in the morning. Although home-based detox programs encourage you to live your daily life and deal with the stresses your body is used too. I’m not sure my body will ever get used to the stress that occurs when I walk into a giant spider web.

Anyway, as I walk out of the store, the three officers tell me, almost in perfect harmony, to have a good evening. I told them I would be sure to do just that, and I drove toward home.

As I approached the roadblock from the other side, I can’t help but wonder if they will just wave me through, since I had just been there minutes before. No such luck. The officer stopping people heading one way is not communicating with the officer stopping people going the other way.

I pulled my identification out again, showed it to the nice trooper, and he waves me through, once again telling me to have a nice evening.

The trip to the store was quite an ordeal and I could hardly wait to get inside and put my feet up. As I climb out of the truck, I walk around the front, smack dab into another freakin’ spider web. But this time I could feel the spider on my back. OH. MY. GAWD. I am not afraid of the bugs or other creatures that live out here in the woods, but the spiders are a different story. The ones out here are huge, and I will never get used to them.

I quickly brushed it off my back and kept moving for the front door. As I approached the front steps I was buzzed by a small flock of night bugs of some kind, which really topped off my night.

Needless to say, I walked through the door, threw my keys and wallet onto the desk, handed the wife her stuff from the store, and collapsed into a big heaping pile of exhaustion.

Oh yeah, and now, finally, I am going to have a good evening.

Some people aren’t convinced that Section 3091 of the “American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008″ is as bad as I made it sound in my last podcast.

Join me this time as I clarify the real impact of transaction reporting and review why Section 3091 is really, really, bad for us as Americans.

Harriet Burns, the first woman hired to work as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, who helped create and build prototypes for such Disneyland attractions as Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Pirates of the Caribbean, has died. She was 79.

The Santa Barbara resident died of complications from a heart condition July 25 at USC University Hospital, said her daughter, Pam Burns-Clair.

…

In addition to her daughter, Burns is survived by two sisters, Wilma Draves and Suzie Mosteller; two granddaughters, Chelsea and Haley Clair; and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Her husband died in 1986.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Aug. 20 at All Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church, 83 Eucalyptus Lane, Santa Barbara.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Salvation Army, Southern California Division, 900 W. James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015. The website is www.salvationarmy-socal.org.

Rest In Peace, Harriet.

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Oh. My. Gawd. What would we do without Barack Obama looking out for our liberty?

Barack Obama told House Democrats on Tuesday that as president he would order his attorney general to scour White House executive orders and expunge any that “trample on liberty,” several lawmakers said.

The liberties granted to us by the Constitution should be protected at all costs. No matter what the price, one should always be willing to give their time and effort to guard against any encroachment of these rights. It takes quite a man to stand up and do everything necessary to protect the liberties of over 300 million people.

Too bad Barack Obama is not that man.

If he was truly interested in protecting the liberties of the American people he would have been in the Senate on Saturday making sure that Section 3091 of “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008” didn’t make it into the bill. If he truly wanted to expunge anything that “trampled on liberty” he would have done whatever was necessay to help expunge that section from the bill before it was passed by the Senate.

Actions speak louder than words Mr. Obama, and your actions indicate that you’re no better than the 72 Senators and 272 Representatives who voted to trample on our liberties this past weekend.