This may be horribly unexciting, but I think it may be kind of important. A guy called the show last week to weigh in on the whole oil drilling debate, and he mentioned that we need the oil not just for automotive purposes, but for manufaturing plastic items as well. Well, it just happens that I took my family out for breakfast this weekend and found a product that appears to be the next step in getting off of oil for plastic manufacturing too. My daughter's chocolate milk came in a cup that looked just like the crystal clear plastic cups that Starbucks uses, with the fitted lid and everything...but here's the first kicker, it is made entirely out of a natural and renewable plant resin. It is also compostable in the right environment, and comes in a bunch of different sizes for different kinds of food or drink packaging...heres the second kicker, it's made in America.

Not that this is exciting at first glance, but it is a huge leap in the right direction...I like to see people in this country come up with great new ideas that are useful like this. If you have a restaurant and might be interested in using this product, do the research on it yourself here http://www.f-k.com/images/stories/literature/fabri-kalgreenwareproducts8-08.pdf       

After listening to the news stories about the cost of the "war" in Iraq today (both in lives and money), it seems pretty obvious that only question one would need to ask Bush, if given the chance, would be "Is it worth it?"  I don't want a typical answer riddled with shitty cliches, religious ideology and the latest White House PR department catch phases, but a real answer explaining how this is all worth it, with pie charts and real facts and figures. Most publicly held companies have some kind of accountability...isn't our country a publicly held company of sorts? When did it become privatized? Where is the accountability? Recently, the guys have mentioned that they would be willing to pay extra taxes to cover the outrageous deficit...I can't say that I really agree with this one. I'm not a big fan of paying for other peoples screw ups. None of us personally approved the spending of that money. We are so far removed from the political process now that I don't think we really have any say in what our government does anymore. I would love for someone to prove that wrong, and I'm still waiting for those pie charts...

It was hard enough for me to hear it on the phone, I could only imagine what my mom went through. I immediately hung up the phone and threw my phone across the room. Buddy was my first dog and I loved him a lot -- and he loved everyone no matter what. I'll never find another dog like him and I don't think I ever want to. Hopefully, he's happier now.

Just thought I would update everyone on my medical condition, as I have been getting a ton of questions about this. Here is my exact diagnosis:

Vocal Cord Lesions

Vocal cord polyp(s) or cyst(s) are other common vocal cord lesions caused by misuse, overuse, or trauma to the vocal cords and frequently require surgical removal after all nonsurgical treatment options (i.e., speech therapy, medications) have failed.

I should be able to make it the end of the year as long as I am careful and follow doctors orders. I really appreciate all the emails and well wishes from all of you. All of you political junkies please join me in the politics section of the site. Have a great weekend Bubba Army.

Packed up the family and drove to New Jersey to visit relatives and celebrate Kylee's fifth birthday last week. We managed to make pretty good time (18 hours) from Tampa. Driving for that long sucks, but the trip cost me a third of the price of plane tickets, and I didn't have to rent a car when I got there. I haven't lived in Jersey for about ten years, but it is exactly as I remember it. During my first fuel stop at one of the gas stations on the Jersey Turnpike, a woman pushed my car out of the way with her car, so she could get closer to the pump. "Oh! I need to get a little fuckin closer to the pump there buddy"....Then the bitch acted like she didn't even do anything odd. We drove up to Vermont to do some hiking while we up there too. Kylee has never seen a mountain before, so that was kind of fun. I will attempt to attach a picture from our hike. I'm sure I'm setting a bad example for my kid, but what else are you supposed to do after hiking to the top of a mountain? I'm still not sure why I held my nose in this picture, the lake below was at least 4000 feet down.