Kitty Pornography!

I caught our fat cat Flea expressing his love for Kitten. Look at the dude's belly! I just had to snap a photo of it.

Steve Eats Chick Food, Loses 15 lbs!!

I have never been a big person nor have I been overweight at any point of my life. But I am 32 and figure I should watch what I eat. I have one of those jobs where I am in a truck all day. And with that comes vast knowledge of fastfood restaurant menus.

I am also one of them picky eaters. I don't eat a whole lot of vegetables. But one thing I do like to eat a lot of: Cereal. Whole grain cereal even!

So, I started eating a load of Special K. Sometimes two meals a day. Sometimes even for a snack. I have been doing this for around six weeks. In October I went to the doctor for a concussion. I weighed 205 lbs. Today I went to the doctor and weighed 190 lbs. I didn't lift a finger for excercise either. Freaking amazing!

Special K however, can be very embarassing to buy at a grocery store if you are a dude. I do one better though. I'll order like a month's supply from Safeway.com when we order groceries. It's kinda awesome to have someone go get your food and bring it to you. Then you can order what you want.

Steve Vs. The Telemarketer

It appears that I have hurt myself yet once again. This time though I was not at work to which my company thanks me. Nope, yesterday I bent over to pick something up and well, I hurt my back pretty good. So good that I am laying flat on my back and typing this on a laptop. It really freaking hurts and I don't have any cool drugs to dull the pain. I left work for home at 12pm and all I want to do is lay back and find the position that doesn't hurt. (That didn't sound very G Rated)

So I am sitting here, laying back and look who calls: Blocked Caller. Now I am on that national do not call list but I recently switched carriers of my telephone service so I think the flood gates are back open. I am not sure at this point but I am gonna have to re-register I think. But anyhow, today, while watching videos on break.com, I got a call:

Steve: Hello
(dead silence)
Steve: Hello?
Telemarketer: (startled) uh... Hi can I please speak to, uh... Steve _____ and (wife's name)?
Steve: Um, no... I mean yeah, speaking.
Telemarketer: Hi, I am Jim from (unnamed) mortgage, do you own the property on (my address)
Steve: Well, not fully but I am making payments on it. ha ha ha...
Telemarketer: Ha, I see you have a mortgage with (original mortgagor I had like 3 years ago who sold it to someone else) with an estimated balance of $XXX,XXX. We can get you a lower rate and lower those---
Steve (interrupts): Did Bush put you up to this? Are you wiretapping me?
Telemarketer: Huh?
Steve: I knew it. You are tapping my lines. Dick? Dick Cheney? Is that you? He doesn't have his gun does he?
Telemarketer: (dead silent)
Steve: I mean seriously Jim, how could you possibly know what I owe on my house? Anything could have happened? I could have won the lottery and paid the sucker off. Who knows, maybe the last guy that called set me up with a good mortgage...
Telemarketer (still selling it): Well it's the mortgage we have on record. And we are proud to offer a new mortgage at 1.5%...
Steve (interrupts): Listen...
(I am quiet until Jim here is uncomfortable. I sigh a few times)
Telemarketer: Yeah?
Steve: What you are doing here is a crime?
Telemarketer: Goodbye, Mr...
Steve (interrupting again): 1.5% interest only? That is financial suicide. Sure you immediately drop my payment to some unheard of amount and then jack me when the interest rates go up in a year or so.
Telemarketer (still selling it): But yeah, you'll save...$15,000 over the next 18 months.
Steve: There is no savings if I have to refinance in a year when the market collapses and interest rates go up. (click)

30 seconds of fun for me. Thanks Jim, the telemarketer. Why the hell would someone be home at 12:30pm on a weekday and be in a position to have a mortgage unless they were retired?

The Meaner and Leaner: Steve's Blog

You likey the redesign? No?

Redesign done by Anna.

I said He-e-e-e-e-y-y--a-y-y..Yeah....Don't give yourself away

This is Crackersoul... it comes so easy!

Yesterday on iTunes, I noticed one of my favorite bands Cracker had released a greatest hits album. I was excited because there was some new stuff on it but I probably wouldn't buy it. Today I was reading the reviews on iTunes for it and they were all one stars. One Star? Cracker? WTF? I thought.

Turns out the greatest hits album is a bit of a farce. See, their old label, Virgin Records was releasing the hits because they owned the rights to the recordings. Cracker is no longer on Virgin and is doing just find on it's own. (I mean seriously, Cracker was a side project from Lowery's other successful band, Camper Van Beethoven). Virgin therefore is paying minimal royalties for the album since it is pretty much being released for Virgin to make a little bit of money cheap off of Cracker's prior success. Cracker hasn't released an album for Virgin in nearly a decade but Virgin stands to make a million bucks if Cracker's album only sells a mere 100,000 copies. Cracker gets pennies for this.

So what do smart asses like David Lowery and John Hickman do?

Release re-recorded live in studio versions with a similar track list on their own label titled "Cracker Redux", THE SAME DAY!!! Freaking awesome. Who re-records their junk for a greatest hits these days? Completely awesome and when I get done with this post, I am jumping over to the Apple and downloading it! Plus there is a new Cracker song called what else, Redux.

If you like country grunge rock, here's your album in Greatest hits form. Here is Cracker's real cover so you don't buy the fake:



and the Virgin money making machine version,



Buy the real one here unless you have iTunes.