the tonedef blog

I have always had my doubts about “man made” global warming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who thing man can do no wrong and has no impact on our planet. I think that we need to tackle issues like pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels, but I don’t think that these things contribute more than a tiny fraction to global climate changes. I’m one of those that feel that natural cycles of our planet, and our solar system, can cause global climate changes with out the help of little old me.

This led me to read an article on NationlPost.com entitled Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age. I remember growing up in the 70s and 80s and there was always talk of a new ice age and then suddenly in the past decade or less we are entering this global warming-the world is turning into a greenhouse-we’re gonna end up like Venus stage. No the article’s title is sort of tongue in cheek pointing out the alarmist nature of the global warming crowd.

Here’s a couple of excerpts from the article. I recommend you go read it and do some research on your own to learn more about what all the global warming hype is about.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January “was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average.”

…the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.

According to the research in cited in this article, we are exiting a warming phase and entering a cooling phase. Why not? Everything is cyclacle. We haven’t been keeping records of things long enough to know possibly eons long cycles that our planet and solar system go through to panic now about global warming.

My personal feelings are that the global warming excitement is a way to create hysteria and the acceptance of a global tax and global authority to help “save the planet” from imminent disaster. Just Google ‘global carbon tax’ and see if it sounds as crazy as it did when you first read my previous sentence. There are people who want to tax a basic molecule of our atmosphere, something that every human being produces every time they exhale. Does that even sound logical to you? If you think that is funny wait till you come across the articles that talk about taxing cow farts to help combat global warming caused by the methane expelled in cow flatulence.

Here are some more links for you to start your own research:
Cooling Trend Puts Global Warming Theory in Doubt @ InfoWars.com
Global Warming’s Simple Remedy @ washingtonpost.com
UN considering global carbon tax @ globalwarming.org
Certainty of Catastrophic Global Warming is a Hoax @ Capitalism Magazine
The Man-Made Global Warming Hoax @ Prison Planet.com

That should be enough for you to get started. Make up your own mind though. Check out both sides of the story and know what you are arguing about.

Sunday morning we got up and I didn’t go out to get breakfast. Band Mom took Pooh to church and then the rest of us picked around the house for breakfast. After Band Mom got back we finished a little clean up from yesterday. Then Band Mom pulled out the new guitar.

She practiced some songs and I worked on my vocals with her. My dad came over and picked up Things 1 & 2 to take them for the afternoon. Band Mom and I practiced some more and then got ready and headed out. We went to Michelle’s to work on some vocals with Michelle and Trav. I think Band Mom surprised everyone since she actually does know how to play guitar and we were able to work on harmonies for a couple of songs. Then we worked on putting together a set list for our show on March 21st at Bradford’s. After a couple of hours everyone was kinda hungry so we all decided to go get a bite to eat.

We ended up going to Sam’s which is near Michelle’s. I haven’t been there in years and Band Mom has never been there. The food was great. Band Mom had a seafood chimichanga and I had a shredded beef burrito. Both were huge. After we ate we headed to my folks to get the kids. Then it was back home. Band Mom and I ended up practicing some more during the evening while sitting around.

Not a bad purchase Band Mom.

This Saturday was not nearly as bad as last Saturday. Band Mom was up at literally the crack of dawn since she went to sleep Friday at around 8. She was kind enough to let others sleep though. When I finally did get up I headed to McDonald’s and got everyone some breakfast.

After breakfast everyone started getting ready for the day. At some point the stupid dog (Daisy) shit in the office. While cleaning up the shit this set Band Mom on a tear. For a while now she has wanted to reorganize the office. Well it was going to happen today. So Band Mom and I started tearing the office apart and putting everything in the living room. All the while sweeping and mopping the floor. This wasn’t some put the mess over there behind that until the next time we clean. This was a serious reorg. Where my desk has been located for years drives Band Mom crazy as my chair is in front of the door where we let the dogs out so its constantly getting in the way. She wanted my computer in the living room. That wasn’t happenin’. I like to get away and hole up when I need to do work, I don’t want to be in the living room. We finally decided that Things 1 & 2 would go to the living room and my desk would go the the other side of the office and be head to head with Band Moms desk. So we started organizing with this plan in mind.

We were about half way through when we needed to all finish getting ready and get going. We had to drop Pooh off for driving lessons and also drop Thing 1 off at the theater where her Brownie troop was going to see “Peter Pan.” So we did those things then headed to Guitar Gallery. We were heading there for a couple of reasons. First Tim had called and talked to Band Mom earlier in the week and said they had the whammy bar that we had been trying to get for our electric guitar for a while. Also Band Mom wanted to trade her classical acoustic guitar in towards a steel string acoustic. Turns out they didn’t have the part, but there gonna hold onto the guitar for a while and get in touch with Ibanez and try to get the right part. And Band Mom did end up getting the new acoustic. They gave her a good deal on the trade and a fair price on the new guitar so we walked out with a new guitar and headed back to Washington.

We still had some time to kill before Thing 1 would be done, so we headed to Big Lots to look for cheap desk chairs for Things 1 & 2 and for some CD cabinets for me since we were fixing the office anyway we might as well go all the way. We did find two black office chairs for the girls to put in the living room, but no CD cabinets. By the time we finished up we headed to get Thing 1. Then it was back home to finish the office.

That sounds easy enough, but there is a lot of stuff in our tiny little office. We did get our two desks set up before I headed to McDonald’s for the second time today to get some dinner for the four of us. After we ate we got the girls set up and finished up the office. I put the new chairs together for the girls and they are thrilled to have a desk in the living room for them to be on the computer and watch tv at the same time. Finally, some time after 1 Band Mom and I got the office/living room in an acceptable condition and headed to bed.

Friday after work I had to head out to BFE to pick up Pooh and her boyfriend from the school. I then took them to the mall so they could go to the movies. Band Mom had made stuffed shells for dinner. Mmm. Band Mom had made plans to go out with some friends after Pooh got home, but the weather looked like it might not cooperate. After dinner she took a shower and then went to the neighbors to help fix their Internet connection. On the way back she almost fell down our front steps because of the ice so decided we probably weren’t going out later. She then decided she was going to take a nap and headed upstairs to lay down for a bit. It was 8PM.

I spent the evening watching some DVR and playing on the PS3. I finally headed to bed around 1 and Band Mom still hadn’t awakened from her “nap”,

After yesterday’s debacle, I was looking forward to a stress free day, and got it. Sunday was very pleasant. It started with Band Mom, Pooh and I all getting up and getting ready. We then headed out and picked up Things 1 & 2 from my parents. We visited briefly with my folks and aunt and uncle. They were getting ready and heading out to a hockey game. Then we had some time to kill before picking up Band Mom’s Mom.

Our first stop was at the AT & T store to get Pooh’s new phone looked at. It just stopped working the other day. They couldn’t do much, but at least we got answers. Then we hit PetSmart to pick up some bones for the dogs. Then we hit JC Penney for the President’s Day sales. Things 1 & 2 are growing like weeds and it always seems like they have no clothes. I think Band Mom got more than the kids, but still at the sale prices I don’t care.

Then we went and picked up Band Mom’s Mom and headed to Wal Mart. Band Mom’s Mom got a pedicure, while we got groceries for her and ourselves. After we were all done we stopped at Ponderosa for a late lunch/early dinner. After eating we took Band Mom’s Mom home and headed home ourselves.

Band Mom was beat and went up stairs to take a nap. I got caught up on my DVR watching. There wasn’t much left to clean since we did the upstairs and because of all the other stuff, the downstairs as well yesterday. So it was some guilt free relaxing. I did do a couple of loads of laundry though. Pooh left eventually, and then I bathed Things 1 & 2 and got them in bed. Some more DVR in the evening and then bed.

Oh…Is that title an understatement.

So, if you recall from my last post the kids were at my parents. Band Mom was up early anyway and started cleaning. That was the plan for the day spend the morning cleaning the house. Spend the afternoon shopping with Band Mom’s Mom and in the evening going to my parents’ for dinner since my uncle was in town… That was the plan.

Well, Band Mom’s cleaning roused me about 9 so I started getting moving as well. Shortly thereafter, I went to my folks and picked up Pooh, so she could help us clean and also since she had to go to work later in the afternoon. We got back and just jumped into cleaning. While Band Mom was working on our bedroom, I was working on Things 1 & 2′s bedroom and Pooh on hers.

Here’s where the fun starts…or not!

While cleaning I decided it was time to, how to delicately put this…take a shit. (well not delicate, but to the point, eh?) Now for the past day or two the downstairs toilet wasn’t flushing properly. We thought it was the wax seal going so in our shopping today the plan was to pick up a new one and install it later today or tomorrow. So as a result everyone has been using the upstairs toilet. So I go in to do my business. Band Mom and Pooh were both taking a short break as well and were downstairs at the time. As I’m finishing up I hear some screaming and yelling from downstairs. I’m not sure what’s going on, but it sounds like its coming from the downstairs bathroom, so kinda on instinct I decide not to flush (GOOD CHOICE). Turns out the downstairs toilet was working in reverse and sending sewerage out into our bathroom. YEAH!

(Side note: This is how they found out and the ensuing yelling and screaming I heard. Band Mom was sitting in the kitchen having a cigarette. Pooh went into the downstairs bathroom to do something. Pooh then yells. HOLY SHIT! and Band Mom says what. Pooh then says “No mom really…HOLY SHIT!” Band Mom looks in and sees what Pooh saw…Not something anyone wants to see, particularly in their house.)

So we figure there is a clog somewhere. We (and as usual by we I mean Band Mom) cleaned up what as best we could and tried to plunge the downstairs toilet. To no avail. So I ran to the store real quick got more paper towels (we had used the case we had at home) and some Liquid Plumber to send down the sinks to see if we could get the clog. No luck so to our great dismay we need to call a plumber.

So Band Mom opens the Yellow Pages and starts looking for a plumber, she called a couple and Mr. Rooter can have someone here the quickest. So they win, because with poop floating in our bathroom, time not price is the issue. A little after 3, I have to take Pooh to work and as we’re leaving the plumbers are pulling in. These guys were great by the way, I would recommend them to anyone needing a plumber.

Any way I get back and they are getting to work. Band Mom is showing them where all of the pipes run and where our sewer line taps into the city sewers. So now they are armed with info on the problem and the lay of the land and get to work. They shop vac the bathroom and the toilet and remove the toilet. Then shop vac out some of the drain pipe under the toilet. Then they bring in the monster snake and start feeding it into the line. The snake some 50+ feet and hit nothing. Now we are about 20-30 MAX to the tap in to the city line. As they are snaking they notice that the water level in the drain pipe is rising again…In case you don’t know that shouldn’t happen since nothing in this house is draining and the water main is shut off just in case. So the problem isn’t actually with our plumbing its a clog in the line. Luckily we are the lowest house on the street so we got the benefit of learning of the clog before anyone else.

Okay now what its 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. So Band Mom opens the phone book and starts looking. We put in a call to our former mayor, who we are friends with, to find out who the best person to call is for such an occasion. While we are waiting for him to call back Band Mom finds an emergency number for the sewer authority. She gives them a call and they say they need to call the on-call tech. Okay, so now we’re waiting (4:45 PM). Band Mom left all of the critical info like name, address, phone number and a description of what’s going on, i.e. THERE IS RAW SEWERAGE FLOWING INTO OUR HOUSE! Okay, patience is wearing thin now. Band Mom calls the authority back at 4:55 to maybe find out the status. Well, they haven’t gotten a hold of the on-call person yet, but they assure her they are trying and inform her that its only been 10 minutes.

Okay, so Band Mom and I and the plumbers are just sitting around waiting…While we’re waiting Band Mom decides to call the current mayor…at home to try and get something going on this. (Since we found out from the ex-mayor that the current mayor also sits on the board for the sewer authority.) He’s not home, but Band Mom talks to his wife about the problem. She thanks Mrs. Mayor and tells her not to bother the mayor as its not a major ordeal and we’re waiting for word from the sewer authority and it should all work itself out…

Now its 5:30. No word from the sewer authority yet. Patience lapsing. Band Mom calls the authority again to get a status update. Well they still haven’t gotten a hold of any on-call techs yet, but they are following procedure and besides its only been 45 minutes and when they do get a hold of a tech he will get there, but the authority won’t call to let us know we’ll just have to wait til they get there. WRONG ANSWER TO GIVE TO CUSTOMER WITH RAW SEWERAGE FLOWING INTO THEIR HOME! But what can we do right?

5:45 now. No word…Band Mom is pissed now. She calls the mayor’s house again. The mayor is still not home, but Mrs. Mayor is really understanding and polite to Band Mom. Let her see what she can do since she knows the owner of the authority. Thanks are given and we’re waiting again. Not five minutes later someone from the authority calls our house. Not sounding very happy. I answered since Band Mom was next door using the neighbor’s bathroom. I hand the phone to one of the plumbers since he has a better understanding of the situation to explain it to the sewer folks. The sewer folks instantly start to place blame on the plumbers saying things like if the plumbers broke something the company will get a bill from the authority, blah blah blah. Before the plumber explodes on this guy he hands the phone to Band Mom. The sewer guy finally says okay he’ll come out, but its gonna take a while for him to get a truck and a crew. FINE JUST GET HERE.

Its now a little after 6. Finally around 7 freakin’ 30 we hear a truck pull up the street. The plumbers and Band Mom head out to talk with the sewer people. The first thing the sewer folks do is pull a man hole cover at the corner of our block (above our house) and look in and see that the sewer line seems to be flowing so there’s no problem. NO! The plumbers explain that the clog is obviously below our house in the line and may not be backed up to this point yet to be visible. Then the sewer guys start to bitch that our house doesn’t even go into this sewer line, that our sewer line MUST go out the back of the house and run down hill. IMPOSSIBLE. Between our house and the line we would tap into behind our house is a creek. Band Mom and the plumbers are pretty sure you cant take a sewage line across a creek.

So the plumbers show the sewer authority folks that there is another man hole BELOW our house, that the SEWER AUTHORITY wasn’t aware of!?! You can’t see the line down this man hole since it is a cleaning access. There are 2 pipes that go down this hole. Both with 90 degree bends at the bottom, one pointing up the line and one down for pumping or flushing the line. The sewer people were convinced they could see flowing water down the hole while all else involved couldn’t see anything.

The plumbers finally convinced the authority to jet the line. So they did reluctantly. Then the plumbers ran back to our house. Things seemed to be going down in the downstairs toilet. They had me go upstairs and flush the upstairs toilet and turn on the tub, while they turned on the bathroom and kitchen sinks, to make sure it really was going down. And it was. Before they could even get back out and tell the authority it worked they had gone. Good thing it worked or I think Band Mom would have jumped in the car, found that truck and drug those idiots back to our street by their short hairs.

The plumbers then reset our downstairs toilet. They were also kind enough to give us an estimate on some other work we would like to get done in the future. The guys from Mr. Rooter were great. They diagnosed the problem and were willing to sit here for hours waiting for the sewer authority so they could convey the problem. Because if they weren’t there, the sewer guys would have tried anything not to actually fix the issue and without the technical arguments, they would have left us with a pile of shit…literally.

We paid our bill to the plumbers (which we will be fighting the sewer authority for) and they finally left after 8:30. Band Mom was beat and laid down for a little bit. I stayed up and waited for Pooh to call to get picked up from work. I picked her up around 10 and then went to Wal Mart to pick up a bucket, disinfectant, some scrub brushes, and more paper towels so we could clean up the mess. I also stopped at McDonald’s to get some dinner since Band Mom and I hadn’t eaten all day.

I got home. We ate and then started cleaning. Band Mom wanted to clean on her own, since she is anal, and figured we would just mess it up and she would have to kill us. So I stayed up with her, but she did most of the work. She finally gave up around 3:30AM and headed to bed, and I wasn’t far behind her.

Friday after work I got home and Band Mom and the kids were getting ready. Pooh was at WPIALs for rifle (which her team won and is going on to state) and was on her way home. After she got home and everyone was ready we headed out. I dropped Band Mom at the hotel for a City Chamber board meeting. I then took the 3 girls to my folks to spend the night. After that I headed back to the hotel and hung out in the bar until the meeting was over.

After the meeting was over about 12 of us sat down in the restaurant for dinner. After dinner it was back over to the bar to hang out for the night to listen to Tom Terling. Trav and Scooter both came out for the evening so we all had a good time.

After Tom was done Band Mom and I headed home for a good nights sleep with no kids.

Sunday, Pooh had to go to the Hilton Garden Inn to participate in Sweet Sunday thrown by the Washington City Mission. Her school National Honor Society was one of the vendors for the event. Since we weren’t able to take my mom out for dinner on her birthday, we thought this would be a nice substitute. So we all got up early and got ready to go. We had to have Pooh there by noon and my folks were going to be there between 12:30 and 1 and the event started at 1.

The event itself is an awesome fund raiser. What they do is have a ton of vendors come in with deserts of every kind and then people buy tickets to try all of these deserts. (My personal favorite was a Ho Ho Cake made by The Spring House). What a way to spend a Sunday. Just completely making everyone sick with junk food. MMMmmm. After a couple of hours (yes that’s right a couple of HOURS) we called it a day and headed home.

Everyone took a nap when we got home. Probably the result of coming down off of our sugar highs. When I woke, I didn’t want to go back out in the cold windy weather, but I needed to make a quick run to Shop N’ Save to get some stuff and then to Walgreen’s to get some Claritan.

Band Mom made a quick dinner of steamed pork buns and dumplings. After dinner we all kinda lazed around until bed time.

Saturday was pretty slow for most of the day. Band Mom and I slept in. Then Pooh went with her Dad to go to her sister’s birthday party. The rest of us hung around the house for the day. I did some client work and went through a ton of emails. Then we all got ready to go. Pooh got back around 7 and we headed out to pick up Band Mom’s Mom. Then we headed to Evergreen for some Chinese buffet. After dinner we then headed to Giant Eagle so Band Mom’s Mom could do her grocery shopping. We also picked up some stuff, but Band Mom had just done a big run so we didn’t need too much. Then we took Band Mom’s Mom home. We stayed for a little and then headed home around 11.

Everyone was pretty beat, but Band Mom did some cleaning while the rest of us tried to avoid cleaning. Finally everyone got to bed.

Friday night after work I came home as Band Mom was leaving for a meeting. Pooh was at work, so it was just Things 1 & 2 and I for dinner. I ended up ordering some pizza and we ate and watched some TV. I also played a little Rock Band. While sitting around I got a call from an old friend who happened to run into Rocky and they wanted to know if I wanted to come out. I couldn’t yet, but maybe after Pooh got off work…

When Band Mom dropped Pooh off after work, she picked me up and we headed out for the night. We headed to Old Trails to see if Rock and the others were still there. Rock was, but no one else. So we wrangled Rocky and then headed to the hotel. A cat I know who used to be in a band called Parallel Road was playing so we hung out there for a while.

Rock and I decided to take a walk down to May’rz to see if Jason was there. He was, but he was on his way home already. So we stayed there for a beer then went back up to the hotel. We ended up hanging until Rob was done playing. Then we took Rock back to his car and headed home.