TAXI DRIVER

June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pullups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.

Oh man, I love this movie so much. I think this is what I'm going to watch tonight.

ONE HOUR PHOTO

You're right, Cookie. We are WAY overdue for a return visit to the local photo booth.

SHIT MY BARBER SAYS

Me: So what's been going on?

Dan: Oh, I got a friend going away to prison for a long time.

Me: Really, what did he do?

Dan: He burned a Muni bus.

MY OZ

Oh New York, you sexy bitch.

KATRINA AND THE WAVES

and don't it feel good - HEY!

DIG IF YOU WILL THE PICTURE

Before I headed over to the venerable Pinky's Pizza (for my nephew Zach's 14th birthday party), I wandered around the happening metropolis of Petaluma for about an hour, and this is some of what I saw.

HOW OLD ARE YOU NOW?

“I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says; I can tell you what the Bible says; but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians, and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that.”

-- Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee

Oh, Marco. You certainly put the Rube in Rubio, don't you?

Just so everyone knows, Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.

SHE AND HIM

Of course she has a cassette player, and leave it to him to still have these two classics in the collection.

House party over here, y'all.

SIGN LANGUAGE

Hmmm.

TWINKIE DEFENSE

So a lot has been written about the demise of Hostess, manufacturer of such beloved artery-clogging treats as Ho-Ho's, Ding-Dongs, and Twinkies, and how the unions are responsible for driving yet another company into the ground.

As reported, the union that represented striking workers was fighting against a 7% wage decrease, along with the usual pension and healthcare benefit cuts. Hostess was in the middle of it's second bankruptcy in less than eight years, and management had threatened to liquidate the company and layoff all workers if concessions were not accepted.

Two bankruptcy filings in less than eight years, huh (2004 and again in 2009)? Doesn't sound like management was doing such a great job running things, does it? During labor negotiations, as workers were being asked to take wage and benefits cuts, management was giving itself raises that have been reported to be as high as 80%, although Donna Brazile said on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulis yesterday that number was as high as 300%. Last but not least, Hostess asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $1.79 Million in incentive bonus pay for management.

Incentive pay for a management team that not only over saw two bankruptcy filings in less than eight years, but the eventual demise of an 82-year old company with 18,000 workers on the payroll? Wow, what a set of balls.

Still wanna blame the union?

DIG IF YOU WILL THE PICTURE

Bryant Street

10th Street, between Harrison and Bryant

St. Patricks Cathedral, Yerba Buena Gardens

a Mission District puddle

I spontaneously took a bit of a walk around town yesterday, and this is some of what I saw.

LUCKY STAR

This is the Madonna I choose to remember

So as I was listening to this classic on the iPod yesterday, I thought how contemporary the song still sounded after nearly thirty years.

I have to admit, it hurt a little bit when I realized it had been that long since I had first heard it.

Actually, it hurt quite a bit.

GRUMPY OLD MAN

I have no comment about my schedule and I’m not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media.

-- Cranky old man and Senator (AZ-R) John McCain, on why he skipped a briefing on the attacks on the embassy in Benghazi in September of this year.

It didn't surprise me to have read that McCain skipped this briefing, even though he's been such a harsh critic on the Obama Administration's handling of the event. When pressed on why he wouldn't comment, McCain grew agitated, and responded: Because I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?

He then dropped his rake, screamed at the reporter to get the hell off his damn lawn, farted, sat down on a lawn chair, and took a nap.

TRIBUTE

I guess it can be said that they don't last forever.

Making good on its threat to striking workers, snack food maker Hostess announced today that it was liquidating, and closing down for good.

I don't know if I can live in a world without Twinkies.

MY OZ

Oh New York, you sexy bitch.

HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN

My arthritic left hip tells me this is going to be one hell of a rain storm.

BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY

What the president, president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift. Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents' plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008. You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you're now going to get free health care, particularly if you don't have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity, I mean, this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus. But in addition with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called Dream Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group.

-- Mitt Romney, on why President Obama was re-elected

Wow, bitter much?

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

"They're coming to get you, Barbara."

Best zombie movie ever.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

I normally wouldn't comment here about this kind of stuff, but I just couldn't help myself after reading this on NBCNews.com.

Holly Solomon, of Phoenix, Arizona, was recently arrested after running over her husband. It seems she was so upset over the prospect of President Obama's re-election, that she lost control of all her senses when it became clear that her husband had no plans to cast a vote.

Wow. I'm all about increasing voter participation, but this is a little too passionate - even for me.

Don't worry, he's expected to make a full recovery.

ALL TIED UP

Yeah, I'd like to have these in the collection.

SURF ZOMBIES

My zombie makeover, courtesy of fellow gym rat Peter

So I checked my traffic stats recently, and they showed that I've had a few visits from a site called zombiestat.com.

Hmmm.

GAME OVER

We are in a war. We're in a war to save this nation . . . The conservative movement has grown stronger.

-- Michael Needham, CEO of Heritage Action on America

Actually, Mr. Needham, I'd have to say that your so-called Conservative Movement has gotten a bit weaker, based on how last week's election played out.

Three states voted in favor of same-sex marriage, while another voted against a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Two states voted in favor of allowing recreational use of Marijuana. Not medical, recreational.

Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

I'm not saying the Conservative Movement is dead, but seriously, you guys really need to update your playbook. Your usual scare tactics don't seem to be working, anymore.

DIG IF YOU WILL THE PICTURE

I managed to grab this great shot (at least I think it is) of the Golden Gate Bridge north tower blanketing the Marin Headlands during a bike ride this past Saturday morning.

MY OZ

Oh New York, you sexy bitch.

MATH CLASS IS TOUGH

Yeah, I know.

VEGGIE TALES

So I recently took advantage of a Google Offer, 50% off a first order from Farm Fresh To You, a local organic produce delivery service.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the Leeks and Fennel that came as part of my first order, but this is a pretty awesome and easy to use service.

SUPPRESSED

Obama suppressed the vote, and that's why he really won re-election?

Oh, Karl Rove, you are such a dick.

Here's some unsolicited advice direct from me to the higher-ups of the GOP: You've GOT to stop aligning yourself with assholes like Rove, Donald Trump, the Koch brothers, the so-called tea-baggers, etc, because hundreds of millions of dollars were spent by your team, and you lost.

In fact, you lost big.

If the democrats message was "don't vote for the other guy because he's a rich plutocrat who doesn't really care about you or your family, so vote for our guy instead," (which I guess it sort of was), well then yes, I suppose you could say that Obama and the Democrats suppressed the vote.

That's how it's done, Karl. Here, let me try to explain to you how the game is played.

Now each team has a different idea on a particular issue. The object of the game is for each team to make their idea more appealing than the other. The ultimate goal is for each team to woo voters to their side, and the team who gets the most votes, wins.

Now if some two-bit blogger with a small-town public education knows that, then why don't you?

SHOE WHORE

Size 8.5, please, thank you.

RIP GOP

We're a 'Mad Men' party in a 'Modern Family' world.

-- Republican strategist Chuck Warren

Yeah, no shit, Chuck, and your party has no one to blame but itself. You've got a lot of soul-searching to do as a party, and you better start that search pronto.

2016 is a lot closer than you think.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

It's good to know you're still going to be around for a while, Mr. President.

I DO

It's gonna happen, whether you like it or not.

FIRST TUESDAY AFTER THE FIRST MONDAY

My ballot, as I voted early yesterday.

Was there any doubt as to where I was going to go with this?

VOTE, BABY, VOTE

Even though this dandy little ditty is from 1991, Lady Miss Keir's message is one that is ALWAYS relevant.

DIG IF YOU WILL THE PICTURE

I made my way over to City Hall this afternoon, where I went ahead and voted early. Here are a few shots I captured while wandering around this architectural marvel.

TOASTMASTER GENERAL

Lucy and Ricky, forever awesome.

SHOE WHORE

These shoes and this satchel? Oh man, I'm in absolute love with both.