Chris Ashley's Blog

I posted a chair for sale on Craigslist last night and today at work I was going to put it up on Facebook's Marketplace. I went to go search for the post I made last night and could not find it. WTF. I went into my e-mail to find the confirmation link Craigslist sends you to post it and when I went in it said "This posting has been removed by the craigslist community."

WTF?!

It was a posting about a chair! A chair, I say! I was selling a $90 chair for $40 and looked just about the same as the day I bought it. Who would want to thwart my effort to get rid of a chair I don't use? What possible motivation would somebody have? I wonder if it was somebody else selling a similar chair and they didn't want the competition. Grr. I'm so ticked right now.

Things I love:

1. I got to see Alicia for eleven straight days ending yesterday
2. I still haven't lost the novelty of a two mile commute
3. Home-made hummus and tortillas from the flea market
4. Getting nine hours of sleep
5. Last Comic Standing
6. My band's final album going to print

Things I loathe:

1. Work today. Just so not in love with being micromanaged, but sadly sometimes I need it. Blech.
2. Not seeing Alicia for four days.

If Philadelphia is the 'City of Brotherly Love,' then where is the 'City of Sisterly love'? My sister is awesome. I just thought I should address the public on such matters. Good day.

Drill Here. Drill Now.
This is what we’re talking about.

By Michele Bachmann

This past weekend, I had the privilege of joining Republican Leader John Boehner and nine other members of the House on an “American Energy Tour.” This trip explored the available natural resources that our nation has in Colorado and Alaska to increase domestic energy supply and decrease America’s rising gas costs.

Like I knew it would, the American Energy Tour unveiled the truth about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) — what Democrats in Washington don’t want the American people to know: This is a treasure trove of energy that will yield a lot with only minimal intrusion.

For far too long, Americans have been told by the environmentalist left that drilling in Alaska would hurt the abundant wildlife and natural resources there. This is simply not true. ANWR is a small part of the Arctic Circle in northern Alaska. Energy exploration would be limited to a small 2,000-acre lot with in ANWR. That is comparable to a postage stamp sitting on a football field. Visiting ANWR also revealed that almost no wildlife exists in the 2,000-acre area. It was flat arctic tundra with absolutely no trees in view. And, caribou and wildlife were nowhere near the possible drilling sites. Furthermore, we know that nine months out of the year this area is hidden under snow and ice and three months out of the year the area is covered in complete darkness.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that there are 10.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil in ANWR. And these estimates are based on exploration done in the 1970s. Federal moratoria on these lands have restricted even modern technological investigation of what oil reserves may be available for tapping. Imagine what modern surveying techniques might show.

It gets better; the EIA has also stated that the production of this oil would create an estimated as many as 750,000 American jobs. At a time when our nation is hurting because of rising food and gas costs, more domestic energy and new jobs would give the economy a much needed boost.

The fact of the matter is that Congress is standing in the way of $2-a-gallon gas. It is Speaker Pelosi and the House Democrats who are refusing to let commonsense energy legislation come to the floor. The American people are hurting and gas prices are continuing to spiral out of control. But Congress continues to turn a deaf ear.

We have the resources available in areas like ANWR and Colorado to lower oil costs and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. I joined my congressional colleagues traveling 3,500 miles to investigate for ourselves and to prove that if we started drilling today, no harm would be done to the wildlife and natural beauty of our nation.

Congress must provide relief for American families and small businesses now. They must bring energy legislation to the floor and allow us to drill here, drill now, so that we can pay less at the pump.

— Michele Bachman is a Republican member of the U.S House of Representatives from Minnesota.

Do you ever hit that point where you're too tired to even care if you get caught nodding off at work? Yeah, I'm there.

Sleep

Here's a list I found of the best things to say if you're caught sleeping at work:

25. "Oh, Man! Come in at 6 in the morning and look what happens!"

24. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"

23. "This is in exchange for the six hours last night when I dreamed about work!"

22. "You don't discriminate against those with Latient Atrophy Zymosis Yeast syndrome, do you?!"

21. "Gee, I thought you (the boss) were gone for the day."

20. "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."

19. "Oh, hi, I was trying to pick up my contact lens without my hands."

18. "This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in the last time management course you sent me to."

17. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper."

16. "I was just meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm!"

15. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"

14. "I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance."

13. "I'm doing the "Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP) I learned at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend."

12. "It worked well for Reagan, didn't it?"

11. "This is a highly specific Yoga position to relieve work-related stress."

10. "Just pacing myself for the all-nighter tonight!"

9. "I was working smarter-not harder."

8. "Auggh! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."

7. "I'm in the management training program."

6. "The coffee machine is broken."

5. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"

4. "Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won't wear off!"

3. "Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the workaholic!"

2. "Its okay. I'm still billing the client."

And the #1 response if found asleep at your desk:

1. "... and I especially want to thank you for my excellent boss. Amen."

Last weekend was a looong weekend. Very long, but very good. On Friday, Alicia came to my place and we immediately hit the road for a two and a half hour drive to the North for a concert of Blues Traveler, Collective Soul, and Live:

Why do I have "Home on the Range" stuck in my head?

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

There seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Chorus

A home, a home

Where the deer and the antelope play,

There seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Yes, give me the gleam of the swift mountain stream

And the place where no hurricane blows;

Oh, give me the park where the prairie dogs bark

And the mountain all covered with snow.

Chorus

Oh, give me the hills and the ring of the drills

And the rich silver ore in the ground;

Yes, give me the gulch where the miner can sluice

And the bright, yellow gold can be found.

Chorus

Oh, give me the mine where the prospectors find

The gold in its own native land;

And the hot springs below where the sick people go

And camp on the banks of the Grande.

Chorus

Oh, give me the steed and the gun that I need

To shoot game for my own cabin home;

Then give me the camp where the fire is the lamp

And the wild Rocky Mountains to roam.

Chorus

Yes, give me the home where the prospectors roam

Their business is always alive

In these wild western hills midst the ring of the drills

Oh, there let me live till I die.

Chorus

I have it! I used to be terrible and hated cooking. Mac 'n Cheese was about as advanced as I've gotten. Now that I'm living alone I have completely reformed and now quite enjoy cooking. It isn't so much that I like standing in the kitchen boiling water, flipping pieces of chicken over and whatnot, but more that I really derive satisfaction from eating a meal that I cooked from natural ingredients. No more out of a box food at home.

Last night Alicia came over and I cooked as Spanish rice and chicken, as rice is one of her favorite foods. This was by far my best attempt at anything rice related. I went to the store to pick up all the raw ingredients; I actually enjoy grocery shopping now. Side note, why on Earth is saffron so expensive? Holy cow. I'm putting it on my Christmas wish list only because I can't afford a tiny jar of it.

All in all, I feel much better physically and mentally because of my new love for cooking. I intentionally don't buy snack foods to munch on at home. Instead it's all veggies. The harder part is keeping that philosophy at work where preparation is much more difficult. What do you all do for food at work when you're avoiding paying to go out every day?

GEORGETOWN, Guyana —  Guyanese authorities say a first-class airline passenger was so angry at seeing economy passengers leave a jetliner before him that he yanked open an emergency hatch and slid down the chute.

Police spokesman Sealall Persaud says the Guyanese man identified as Satyanand Christopher appeared to be intoxicated after the Delta Airlines flight from New York.

Persaud said Sunday that local police arrested Christoper, who was quickly released on bail after the Friday incident.

Delta spokesman Junior Horatio says the U.S. carrier plans to file charges against the man for interfering with flight crew members.

I hate this time of year when the NFL and the NBA are in their off-seasons. I enjoy baseball a little, but it's not enough to sustain. I can't stand Nascar (boring) or soccer (running around also is boring) and I don't even know if the hockey season is over because I don't like to watch skating around. I'm not into the WNBA at all for all the standard, obvious reasons. I do like watching pool on TV but the only thing showing right now is the Mosconi Cup and they have the most annoying Aussi announcer that I can't stand. I actually did watch a little Arena football the other day and found out why there was maybe 2,000 people in the stands. Sorry Bon Jovi, your sport is boring, too. I don't watch golf or tennis because I don't follow individual players so it's hard to get invested. What to do...