Memorial Day

I'd like to start off today by extending my gratitude to the men and women of the armed forces. Past and present, they are a big part of why we are able to live as free as we do.

Now, I may be taking a different turn than you expect in this blog... I'd also like to silently thank the men and women of the CIA Clandestine Service. You will never hear their name, see their face, or know about any of their successful missions. You may hear about their failures. In the War of today, I think they are one of the most important keys this country has.

Some folks don't think they are important. They think their tactics are wrong or even evil. At that point I have to ask, "Do you enjoy sleeping well at night? Do you like that your children can play in the front yard and in most areas of this country, you don't have to worry about stray bullets passing by? In the weeks following 9/11, did you not think, Catch them with any means possible!"

I personally think fear and pain is a great motivator. When you see or hear about a video of a terrorist sawing off a reporters head to try to get us to leave their country, are you then worried if we catch that terrorist, does he have a Koran and a soft bed? The enemy isn't fighting fair. They don't care about the Geneva Convention, which by the way, only offers protection to "uniformed soldiers", not suicide bombers and their leaders.

So think about all those who are serving this country today. And maybe sometimes when you are worshiping from your pew of choice, going to see a comedy show, voting, writing a letter to your congressmen, or anything else that we take for granted in this country. I'm not saying everything in this country is right, and we have a long way to go to get there, but we do have a lot of freedoms still.

Now go eat your steak, drink your beer, play some golf and think of a soldier.

Good day America,

John Mackey

R.I.P

Rest in peace... Three simple words. Provides some comfort for those left behind. But, I was surprised to see this weekend that not all of our fellow citizens take these words serious.

I was out putting flowers on graves with my family yesterday in Savannah, MO. I couldn't help but notice the number of head stones that had been knocked over. In high school, I heard people talking about tipping head stones, and I thought that was pretty disrespectful.

Now, when it comes to what happens after you die and whether there is a Heaven or Hell, or even a Purgatory. I tend to believe that when you die, your dead and that's it. I believe there may be a higher power that created the universe in a sense. However, if that is true, I don't believe that he/she/it will need us after we die. If a God can create a universe in 7 days or even 1 million years, I will have nothing more to offer after death.

The point I'm trying to make is, regardless of my own beliefs, a bodies final resting place is somewhat sacred and shouldn't be defaced by any idiot with a truck. That's one of the most disrespectful things you can do. Now if you want to have a good time, take your 12 ga. shotgun and take turns shooting holes in the side of your truck door, or your foot, or your head, I really don't care.

Good day America,

John Mackey

Hatfield's & McCoy's

"Wow, I love living in this neighborhood again. Everybody is pretty laid back like me, and they just let me be..."
[KNOCK, KNOCK]
"Hello Mr. Mackey, I am with the City of Maryville. We have a complaint about the height of your grass."

"Oh?"

"Yes, it's not too tall for the city code, but your neighbor (nodding head to the right) has an issue with it. I'll be back in 1 week to check it out."
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Well, I guess my neighbor has the power to have codes changed with one phone call. Normally I wouldn't mess with that kind of evil. However, I am a direct descendant of the McCoy's, so it's feuding time.

This is not the first shot she fired either. Last summer she complained about a sign for my computer business that I had in my yard. She was worried about the increased traffic. Well, I don't have anybody come to me. I go to them. She of course didn't have the guts to come to me first about the sign. She also called our landlord about weeds growing in our fence. Well, half of them are on her side!!! So I sprayed LOTS of grass killer on BOTH sides of the fence. Maybe a little more on her side than mine... One can't be sure.

Anyway, so it has been raining almost all week. And my judgment day with the city inspector (my neighbors little bitch) was fast approaching. So I decided today was the day for me to mow. I went out and the sun was shinning through the clouds. Still a pretty nice day. By the time I got gas in the mower (2 minutes)... drip... drip... drip, increasing in intensity. Well, there is no chance of rain today, so I'm sure it will pass. Nope. I got about 2 strips done and it let loose and poured.

So I finished up and it was raining the entire time I was out there. When I finished, I saw her on her front porch watching the rain... I'm positive she was thinking "Yes, rain will make my grass green and I can mow again in 2 days!!! mwahahaha." Remember she's evil. So I hollared at her and asked if she was ready to come inspect it. She just waved and said "I'm on the phone." I told her I didn't give a shit, and she better come look at it now. Well, she just waved again and smiled. That tells me 2 things. 1. She's senile. 2. She's had at least 50 years of people calling her a bitch to her face and it doesn't phase her anymore. In other words, I'm right, she's evil.

So the feud continues... Updates to come.

What sucks about small towns...

Well, a little over a year ago, by wife's uncle was murdered in a rinky-dink town north of Maryville. And it only took a day or two for totally made up rumors, that had no solid facts or even anything close to it, to start flying. Her aunt was even getting death threats because of this type of behavior. This prompted me to write a letter to the editor. I know it was read because people who knew I wrote it, started telling me what people were saying about it. I basically called out everybody who thought they had to spread these rumors, and even add some of their own twist to it... how lame.

Anyway, now a year later, my wife goes to Shop & Hop, which I like to call "GOSSIP CENTRAL" to pick up a paper. The papers big news of the day was regarding the start of the trial for the accused murderer. While in line, the 2 clerks were talking about how they just new that the accused was an awful person and carrying on as though nobody was there.

Well, nice to see that my letter made a difference... Maybe I need to write one every day, or just go down to GOSSIP CENTRAL and call them out @ 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. Get a life people, You're 55 years old and the hightlight of your career days is 15 years as a gas station clerk! Remember when you passed the test to ask "Paper or Plastic?" We were all so proud of you.

I'm not trying to offend anybody, only the people who ain't so perfect and feel the NEED to point out everybody elses faults.

Thanks.

Computer Viruses vs. Using Linux

With the understanding that the general reader is not a tech savvy user, I will try to keep this as basic as possible.

I've been using Linux as my Operating System (OS) for a little over a year now. I still like Windows XP as an OS, but feel it is WAY overpriced, and does have many security flaws in its initial install. However with SP3 and a good Anti-Virus and 3rd Party Firewall, like Zone-Alarm (FREE), you can keep you XP system pretty clean.

However with NO Anti-Virus and NO Firewall, you will have a clean system with Linux. I download files from Limewire and Torrent sites all the time and never have to scan for viruses, if there is a virus it won't know how to execute in Linux.

Let's face it, most users will only use their $500 computer for internet and the occasional Office document. What you are paying for here is Microsoft's greed. because Windows XP Pro is $150 and a basic version of Microsoft Office will run around $200.

Now consider this, for about $250, you can get into a NEW computer (monitor not included), and load Ubuntu Linux and OpenOffice.org 3.0. Linux is FREE and so is OpenOffice.org. Both are very stable and have lots of support. For most users going from Windows to Linux as a biginner, I would recommend Ubuntu. It is very easy to install and fairly simple to manouver your way around. It will take a few days to get used to, but as far is internet use, well, Firefox is loaded by default and the internet is the same no matter what OS you use.

OpenOffice.org is a free Office suite that is made by SunMicrosystems. This company has been around forever. So you don't have to worry about them going under and being left with no updates or support. OpenOffice.org 3.0 is compatible with MS Office 2007. You can open, edit, save Microsoft documents. Your friends or coworkers can also open documents you create with OpenOffice.org, even if you don't save it as .doc. Another feature I really like is that it allows you to convert your document to PDF to be opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is nice.

Now the cons about Linux. Your Windows based programs will not work in Linux. Not by default. There is a program you can install to allow Linux to run in a Windows environment with those programs. That's about the most non-technical way I can explain it. Do a google search for Linux WINE if you want to read more technically inclined documentation.

That's about it. The choice is obviously yours in the end. I perfer Linux for most things, but Windows for my Music recording and games. Although Linux has some pretty cool games. They don't have Madden or NASCAR yet.

Please feel free to comment and thanks for reading.

Introduction to Mackey's Mind

Welcome to my mind. It's a lot like a yard sale in here. You know, a little of this, a lot of that, and a box of unused items that nobody wants. I'll try to stay away from the latter in this blog. However from time to time, those items my jump out and sneak into the bag. I'll try to post at least one blog per week, so try to check back when you get a chance. However, if you don't check for a while, blogger keeps them all here for you to read though. On the other hand, this is the infinate beyound of the internet and I won't miss you if you don't check back. Of course I would like all of you to read every post I make, but I'll never know unless you comment. So I can't miss you if I never knew you were here. Now I'm rambling, see what I mean... yard sale.