My Sick Mind

NEW YORK - Sylvester Stallone says he used human growth hormone to get buff for the new "Rambo" movie, and defends its use. "HGH (human growth hormone) is nothing," the 61-year-old actor tells Time magazine in its Feb. 4 issue. "Anyone who calls it a steroid is grossly misinformed." As is anyone who calls Stallone an "actor". What's odd is that he took a growth hormone, but clearly hasn't grown much. His last two films were sequels to 30-year old concepts that were long ago worn out. Grow, will ya? --------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most taxpayers could expect a rebate of up to $600 starting in mid-May under the economic aid plan set to go through Congress within weeks. Couples could get twice as much, with even more for most families with children. All that, however, depends on smooth sailing at the Internal Revenue Service, and the agency already is up to its eyeballs in filings and refunds. ...

That should be good for the Google searchers. I see that my pals at the Whole Foods Market have shunned the whole plastic shopping bag deal in favor of the canvas ones. It's about time. Last night, I picked up three more at the local Shop Rite, and damned if the kid cashier didn't try to put my stuff in one of those plastic things. I suppose it's some sort of "learned" response, but I'm thinking that the higher-up's at our local supermarkets need to start training the cashiers in the beauty of the re-usable bag. It's a minor struggle to take them into the market. First, they want to know if they're mine or if I'm buying them. What's the point of selling them in the store if it's only going to make the employees think you're stealing them? Second, it's another minor struggle to get the groceries on the conveyor and throw the canvas bags at the bagger at the end of the line before they can start with the crinkly plastic. " N...

With the recent Dr. Martin Luther King holiday , I’m reminded that there aren’t any real activists left in the world. That era passed in the 60s, and I’m thinking that the fate of people like King, Lenny Bruce and Robert Kennedy convinced the more rational thinkers that being a loudmouth and challenging authority can lead to one’s demise. That pretty much puts an end to their activism. The “go along to get along” methodology works in modern culture to the extent that people can make a nice living off it. Conversely, people like Bono made their fortune and now roam the world with fistfuls of money, and have nothing to lose by being moralistic. If they fall, they fall on a pile of money big enough to cushion it. But they won’t, because they don’t take a risky enough stance on anything to put their lucrative career in jeopardy and, God forbid, be unpopular. I don't mean to pick on him , but he's generally front and center so he's an easy target. Choose your favorite celebrit...

I think we have some money coming to us. At least that's what the guys in the big domed building are saying. They wouldn't lie, would they? They're busy cooking up a rebate scheme to help our struggling American economy because money fixes everything. In the great tradition of the federal government, they think that the best way to solve a problem is to throw money at it, and who better to throw money at than the American people? We're supposed to spend it on junk that we wouldn't spend it on otherwise in order to -- anyone? -- stimulate -- anyone? -- stimulate the economy. Yes, the economy. The one that's in such horrible shape that economists are using the "R" word, recession and the one that's in such bad shape that the rest of the world followed in line and their stock markets dropped like stones in sympathy. Then, earlier this morning, the Federal Reserve (not a branch of the Federal government) cut interest rates by the biggest margin s...

Run , don't walk to see "Cloverfield". Forget all that crap you've heard about the so-called shaky camera work and the vagaries of the monster and its unexplained purpose. What you need to do is put yourself in the point of history in which the film places us and allow it to flow over you. You can make the mistake of demanding to know what the thing is and where it comes from or you can play along. I suggest you play along. That's what movies are for. If a real monster showed up, I doubt that it would pause to tell us why it was here. If you must know who or what the monster is, do the research (called Viral-marketing ) and read-up on the Japanese company that Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is being transferred from New York to work for. Watch what happens early in the film when the monster appears and think about it. It's not the focal point of the film, so don't allow it to spoil the fun. It is fun, trust me. I'm usually the first one to scream at bad...

A visit to the A & W web site revealed that they do indeed have burgers and all sorts of food other than the hot dog. Who'd a thunk? Maybe the next time I'm at the food court I might have to try a Papa Burger. While listening to the radio this morning, I heard an ad for priests. Yep, a radio ad for people to think about giving the priesthood a shot. Right after the ad for truck drivers and before the one for the strip club. The ad featured current priests telling us that they found their life's calling by becoming a priest. That's nice, but I'd like to think that a career as a priest would come as some sort of revelation divined by a spiritual force - not an ad on the radio. Doesn't the Army advertise the same way? For the record , the new mattress is an absolute dream. It was more money than I wanted to spend, but in the end, it was worth every penny. There's nothing like a good night's sleep, and I had been on that old lumpy thing for so long I ...

Overheard at the Deptford Mall food court on Saturday night. A father and his two sons, ages 7 and 9 (probably). The father had gone to fetch dinner for himself and the kids: KID: You got me a hot dog. I didn't ask for a hot dog. FATHER: You said you wanted A & W. KID: But I don't like hot dogs. FATHER: Too bad. That's what you got. KID: But that's my opinion! FATHER: My opinion is that you're going to eat it. I'm thinking, "Dude, you're losing an argument with a child." Meanwhile , the wife had gone off someplace in search of her own food. Obviously smarter than the husband. The husband starts wandering the food court aimlessly looking for her, cell phone in hand. FATHER: Didn't you get my message? WIFE: No. The guy had called her on her cell phone to try to figure out where she was. In a food court in a mall. I'm trying to figure out how these phone companies lose money. Life in modern America.

Once . Just once I'd like to be on a delivery schedule where they tell me "Between 8 and 12" and have a knock on the door at 8:15. Just once. As I sat flipping the channels between "Apollo 13" and "Witness" - I stopped once when the Kelly McGillis nude scene flashed on, stunned that Universal showed it so early in the day - I wondered who exactly were the lucky people who get to experience such events. (The delivery thing, not naked Kelly McGillis - although that's interesting, too). Somewhere in New Jersey a happy mattress owner was greeting their courteous delivery guys at 8:15 and gushing over the prompt attention to their schedule. It wasn't here. Just as Jack Swigert was powering-down the command module, a knock came at the door. I had anticipated it, because the cat sensed the strangers approaching, like a feline alarm system. 11:34. Technically , it's between 8 and 12, so can I complain? Nope. Plus the fact that it's a beauti...

I can't lie to you and tell you that there's a lot going on here at My Sick Headquarters. On Saturday morning, I'll be taking delivery of a new mattress - so that's kind of exciting. I'm spending more than I wanted, but something tells me that a good night's sleep is worth a few extra bucks. I'm spending that Ebola money I've been hoarding, so I figure I may as well spend it on "durable goods" like mattresses and cameras than something like fancy restaurants and trips to nowhere. I'm funny that way. The thought , when I started this selling frenzy was that the money would be used for something that I could use over the long term rather than something that is burned up quickly and possibly regret later. That's how my mind works, as if you needed to know. It's a nice mattress . A Sealy pillow top, as if I know what that means. At the store, I laid down on this fancy machine that is supposed to tell me exactly what type of mattress i...

As some of you know , photography has been a hobby of mine for a while - 30 years or so, I think. The passion comes and goes, and with the advent of an affordable digital SLR, the passion has come back a bit. I've been selling my old stuff on Ebola , and have saved enough money to take the leap into the digital thing and get a new mattress - but who cares about that?. On Tuesday , I took delivery of a new Nikon D40 and 18-55 zoom lens. Technically, it's probably a bit less than what I would ideally desire, but financially it was perfect. I've been slowly going through the manual, trying to find what all the buttons and switches do. Sadly, the weather around here has turned crappy, so I haven't had the opportunity to run around outside with it. I wasn't anxious to take a brand new camera out in the snow. Then, I remembered an article I read a while ago that encouraged photographers to look around their back yard and their neighborhoods, because sometimes the most ...

WASHINGTON — Higher costs for energy and food last year pushed inflation up by the largest amount in 17 years. Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990 . No kidding . Unless you're making your own consumer goods or buying stuff that doesn't have to be transported, you're screwed. Energy prices impact the price of everything if it has to be moved to the point of purchase. Does anybody want to go back to that Agrarian Society and use the barter system? Me too. We could still have the Internet, which would be a cool thing, but we'd need solar powered computers. This is hilarious ... WASHINGTON - Steel plates connecting beams in the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis were too thin by half and fractured, "the cri...

When you were a kid and you would make some kind of goofy face, your mother would tell you, “If you don’t stop, your face will stay that way!” While most of us never believed it, I think it’s true in a different way. Tonight, the seventh season of television’s version of the Goofy Face starts up again, and the slow erosion of what passes for entertainment continues. It’s called American Idol , and in case you don’t already know, I despise this program and everything it stands for. You started watching it because it looked kind of interesting, and because the first few shows featured people who sang so badly that dogs covered their ears, but not badly enough to be kept off of television. It’s beyond bad, but who doesn’t like a good train wreck? You are repulsed yet you cannot look away. Maybe one of your friends showed up at what they call “talent searches” in a city nearby because they figured that the producers were actually listening and that they might think they were good enoug...

The Bad Parking blog put up my photo . Run and see! Technically, it's not "car" parking, but only a "t" away, and who's to argue technicalities? And , as if we needed another reason to celebrate a bogus holiday, it turns out that good old Christopher Columbus is responsible for discovering a little more than just the New World - or so we're told... MONDAY, Jan. 14 ( HealthDay News ) - A new analysis of the genetics of syphilis provides support for the theory that the disease hitched a ride with Christopher Columbus from the New World back to the Old Worl d . The most familiar theory suggests that syphilis came to the Europe via frisky sailors on the Columbus expedition, and historical records suggest the disease did appear on the continent in 1495, three years after Columbus set sail for what proved to be the New Wor ld . Hey kids , take the day off and celebrate! In the meantime , here's a frog on a motorcycle:

It doesn't take much to make me happy. A few bucks in my pocket, some good games to watch and a tasty beverage. Lucky for me, I had all three of them this weekend. Saturday's NFL playoff games went according to Hoyle, with the Patriots and Packers advancing, but Sunday was another story - or two. I went out to what passes as the local Sports Bar to watch Saturday's action and hung out at the shack to watch Sunday's games. So, ask me about Sunday and I'll have a more conclusive argument. Mostly, I watched Sunday at home because I'm a fugazi Charger fan, and I need to concentrate on the game when they're playing. They won and advanced to the AFC championship game, where they will be dismantled by the Patriots. It's always fun to watch the Cowboys lose, and Sunday was no exception. I'm figuring that there a lot of Dallas residents scrambling to cancel Arizona vacation trips for the first week in February. After all, who wants to waste valuable vac...

For the uninitiated , this weekend is the best weekend of sports in the entire year. We've weeded out the crap from the NFL playoffs and we're left with the (supposedly) 8 best teams in the league, playing virtually non-stop from Saturday at 4:30 until late in the evening on Sunday. If you ain't a football fan, you'd better have a craft fair or a Bingo hall to run to because it's going to get ugly in front of the TV. The popular opinion says that the Jacksonville squad will knock off the mighty undefeated Patriots on Saturday night or at the very least, give them a run for their money. This unpopular opinion isn't so sure. Methinks that people generally like to root against perfection in all its forms - people, sports teams, politics - and if they can find an angle they'll use it. It's the reason that people generally don't like the popular crowd or the beautiful people and the reason we like seeing women like Britney Spears or (oops) Jessica Simp...

Earlier this week , Goose Gossage was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in his ninth year of eligibility. Mostly, he was elected because the class was weak. Partly, he was elected because the Hall of Fame schedules a big celebration at the end of July, and if they don't have anyone to induct into the Hall, the weekend is kind of pointless. In order to be inducted , a player needed 75% of the votes, and Gossage got 85.8% - suddenly - after missing out for almost a decade. Chances are, it's because this year's class was so pathetic, since he hasn't pitched a game in almost 15 years, and I'm sure his career numbers are the same as they were last year and the year before. Maybe Gossage should have been elected earlier or maybe not. Either way, one wonders why it took him so long, and if you have to debate it, perhaps he isn't worthy to begin with. I won't bore you with statistics and numbers. Suffice it to say that Hall of Famers are like great art - you k...

... or you will surely get it. I've been doing some thinking about the upcoming primary here in New Jersey. Some thinking, since it's still almost a month away and the John Edwards campaign seems to be running low on steam. It's typical of America that too many choices are a bad thing, so it stands to reason that the fewer the choices, the better we'll like it. That's why I'm thinking that John will probably not survive the process. It's looking like the Hillary and Barack Show, and my initial thoughts are that they might not be the two best choices. Mostly because I'm cynical of the political process and partly because I believe that the process is bigger than the will of the people. Specifically, I believe that the Republican machine is bigger than the will of the people. Ask yourself a question. Ask yourself why, in such a politically quick manner that Barack Obama has become the Flavor of the Month for America. How has he become so - supposedly -...

I had a dentist appointment on Monday. There was no drilling, only the scraping and scratching of the metal pointy thing and some low-level radiation from some X-rays. I decided to walk , since his office is only a quarter mile from my place and the weather was unseasonably warm. Thanks, Al Gore! On my way home, I noticed this silver shiny object on the street in front of me. Not being one to be embarrassed by picking up trash on the street, I bent over and grabbed it. Sure enough, it's a $50 debit card made out to ALL-ACCESS CUSTOMER . Since I don't know Mr. Customer, I decided to check the web site on the back of the card to see if the fifty bucks was still valid. The card was scratched and probably run over by a few cars and trucks, but hey, it's fifty bucks, right? Kinda. I checked the debit card's web site and punched in the number, and it showed a "pending transaction" for a sports gambling site , where our Mr. Customer placed a bet on Sunday, probabl...

I hate when this happens. I woke up at 3:15am and I couldn't get back to sleep. Once my brain starts working, it's a tough shut-down procedure. Like powering down a nuclear reactor. I had Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" running through my head. After that ran out, it was Tommy Edwards' "It's All in the Game." Where did that come from? Now , it's 4:21 and I'm sitting here sipping leftover Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, so I guess I'm here for the duration. Who suffers? You, because I turn to this nonsense. I watched the Roger Clemens news conference on Monday afternoon. It's something like two days now, and I'm already sick of it. There he was, in front of the ESPN cameras, denying all the accusations and getting angrier by the second. At one point, his lawyer passed him a note advising him to "lighten up". The day I have to have a lawyer speak to people for me is the day I check out of this nut house altoget...

Don't say I didn't warn you . Between the stoppages in the NFL playoff games on Saturday, I wandered over to ABC to watch the presidential debates. I paid little attention to the Republicans, since I'm both a registered Democrat and not the least bit interested. Our New Jersey primary is in a few weeks, and I'm starting to feel as though I should get caught up. It seems to be the popular sport to jump all over Mitt Romney's financial condition. I suppose it plays in the sticks, but let's face it folks, none of these people are hurting financially. It's most of the reason they decided to run in the first place. Genuinely middle class individuals don't stand a chance in politics above the local level, and even then it's a tough road. Picking on Romney for being wealthy is a cheap misdirection ploy designed to make you dismiss his message - whatever that is. Mostly , the Republican candidates look like a bunch of guys who would try to keep me out of th...