Paul's Down-Home Page

However, a little natural gas in the fireplace is a helluva lot more dangerous.
I decided to test our gas fireplace to make sure it worked properly. I opened the damper, checked it for instructions, cranked the gas valve halfway open, stuck the piezoelectric igniter under the andirons, and pulled the trigger. Whoomp! A big ol’ fireball came out, neatly depliating my right hand and scaring the fool out of me. There’s still a noticeable aura of burned hair around me. On the positive side, David (who was watching) is a lot more respectful of the fireplace now.

I can’t decide whether to be pleased or irritated when the Great Grey Lady reports on Cajun culture. This article (“Born on the Bayou With Little Urge to Roam”) is a great example. On the pleasing side, it paints a picture of a warm, self-sufficient, happy group of people with strong family bonds and an aversion to much of the cultural bad stuff in modern America.
On the irritating side, it perpetuates the stereotype of Cajuns as poorly educated (“Higher education, in fact, is threatening the stay-at-home stability of the entire state.”), insular (“Vacherie is a stupendously static exception to the American rule of wander. With an almost total absence of population mobility…”), and racist (“Blacks and whites agree that race relations in Vacherie are stuck in a kind of 1940’s time warp, with little overt racial animosity and little racial mixing.”)
Me, I think I’ll take the good stuff and leave the bad.

This is an awesome deal. Where else but in America can you buy bandwidth and get a killer console game system to boot?
Here’s the deal: Speakeasy is offering your choice of a brand-new, free Playstation2 or Xbox console to new subscribers. You have to buy one of their “gamer” DSL packages, which are basically indistinguishable from their SOHO and home-user packages, and you have to sign up by 9/30.
I’d already placed a DSL order with them last month. It was due to be installed on Friday. When I learned of this promotion yesterday, I called them and asked them to switch my order– and they did! They didn’t have to, but they decided to go out of their way to delight the customer– how often does that happen?
If you’re interested, go here or call 800-556-5829 and ask for Nathan at extension 336.
DISCLAIMER: if you sign up through the link above, I get $25. Do or don’t, it’s OK with me either way.
The only remaining problem: how is Arlene going to clean the front window after I spend the next week with my nose pressed against it, watching for the delivery truck?

I’m now a guest blogger at Sgt Stryker’s Daily Blog, a military-themed blog mostly created by current and former military members. Warning: the site is what my old gunny would call a ground-combat language area. Some of the folks are pretty salty.

Last night it got down to about 47 degrees. This morning, I can’t get more than a 19.2Kbps dialup connection. I don’t know whether these events are related or not. Thankfully, Speakeasy tells me that my DSL should be up by week’s end. I sure hope so.
Of course, the cool weather is welcome, because it’s the result of a cold front that blew through and left absolutely beautiful weather in its wake. Saturday morning, we had our weekly soccer game (a 3-3 tie), then we went to Harrison Rally Days. This is an annual Perrysburg street fair that commemorates a political rally for William Henry Harrison (I think in 1806); even though P’burg had a population of only about 1,000 people, more than 25,000 people showed up for the rally. We had a great time out in the sun.
In the afternoon, the boys & I went fishing on Lake Erie with Dad & Tim; Tom caught a piece of seaweed, but he and David were so excited about the live minnows we used for bait that our lack of results didn’t faze them. Last night Arlene cooked up a big pot of red beans and rice, and Dad & Tim came over for supper. The subfloor is laid in the upstairs bathroom. All is good with the world.