Tone Parsons

This is probably one of the most disturbing items on the web at the moment. Of course, this comes from the Westboro Baptist Church, the same “ministry” that attends soldier funerals and scream that God hates them and the dead are going to hell (a real class act, for sure).

The last few seconds are the most disturbing.

Thanks to miftah for finding the video.

We got a light dusting of snow yesterday (around an inch or so).  I had my younest kidlet shovel that away, but during the night, we got another 3 inches.

Of course, it was my eldest son’s turn to shovel, so I went to wake him a little early (insert teen-age drama here!!).  He finally did it, but he wasn’t happy.  About an hour later, Linkin Park called and said they wanted their angst back (I’ll let my son know when he comes home from school so he can return it).

It’s been an expensive season.

So far, Christmas^TM 2007 has cost far in excess of $2,000. That’s a lot of damn money! A huge chunk of that was spent yesterday.

My wife and I finally got around to doing some Christmas^TM shopping done (after I pushed her into it). She hates crowds and has a hell of a time dealing with the unwashed masses that swarm out of the woodwork this time of year.

Fortunately, we got 90% of it done rather quickly. I’m now just waiting for a few items I ordered online to show up. I do, however, need to go out again today for a few more gifts.

As my wife was with me yesterday, and I can’t drive because of the medications I’m on, I didn’t get anything for her yet. So… my eldest son will be driving me around later today. This will also give him the opportunity to pick something up for her as well.

We used to be able to fill the room with gifts for under $400, but that’s when the kids were young.  The older they get, the more expensive the presents get.  I’m sure they’ll love everything though… I’ve known them for all their lives and have a pretty good idea of what they’d like.

As you probably know, I’ve been rather bored since I was placed on disability. There are a few things I can do around the house, and I do them, but I have a lot of time to kill otherwise…. so, I picked up a few games to help pass the time.

One of these games was Valve’s “Orange Box” (which is actually 5 games in one package). Of course it contained Half-Life 2 and Episode One (both of which I already had), but it allows you to “gift” them to other people, so I gave my extra copies away.

One of the first things I found was this damn garden gnome, hidden under some shelves in a shed (it’s in the first few minutes of Episode 2). My son said “Keep that…. you’ll need it!”. “No problem, I replied” and began hauling this piece of ceramic crap around with me.

Of course, a large chunk of the game requires you to drive a car, and the damn gnome keeps falling out of thus said car every time you turn, hit a bump, or something starts shooting at you.

So, I’d grab the little bastard and throw him as far ahead as I could with the gravity gun, drive for a few seconds, stop, toss his ass again… repeat for a very long time.

I also learned to save the game and save it often, as I’d occasionally toss the damn thing into an area that I couldn’t get to! I did, however get my reward near the end. I stuffed his ceramic ass into a rocket that was later launched into orbit.

He became the first lawn gnome in space!