Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Cost of breathing

They are blaming Katrina for pushing the gas prices up over $3.00 a gallon. Gas was $2.75 in my area long before Katrina hit the US. The way I figure 50% of the price increases of the last year are not to be blamed on nature.

We ran last Governor out of California over the price of energy. Will Bush be next?

Time Ticks

When will we replace the Ombudsmen with the “Ministry of Truth”?

Bongo Beat


Bongo Beat
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

bongo


bongo
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that's what we are.
Mickey Hart

The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Rules and regulations filled out in triplicate.

Why does management keep pushing new ideas with no merit down the pipeline?
It should be oblivious that one only needs to ignore them for a few days before they dissipate into the ether.
Sometimes procrastination has its merits.

Puzzle


Puzzle
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start Kindergarten.
Robert. L. Ehrlich

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
Theodor Geisel

We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. But they've got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go.
Timothy Leary

Puzzle Palace


Puzzle Palace
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
The power of Thought, the magic of the Mind!
Lord Byron

A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows.
George Bernard Shaw

Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.
Friedrich Nietzsche

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Henry David Thoreau

Puzzle Palace


Puzzle Palace
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
Lao Tzu

Puzzle Palace


Puzzle Palace
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
What is a demanding pleasure that demands the use of ones mind! Not in the sense of problem solving, but in the sense of exercising discrimination, judgment, awareness.
Ayn Rand

The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.
Thomas A. Edison

A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.
Arthur Conan Doyle

Puzzle Palace


Puzzle Palace
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don't start measuring her limbs.
Pablo Picasso

My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery - always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?
Virginia Woolf

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.
Plato

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Mark Twain

Puzzle Palace


Puzzle Palace
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen.
Ambrose Bierce

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.
Lewis Carroll

I can't do it all myself. I'm not that kind of artist, I'm the kind of artist who works off other people best. It was like playing with Tinker toys or dominoes, trying to get all the pieces to fit like a jigsaw puzzle so I'd have a whole portrait but it would still have many facets.
Iggy Pop

Monday, August 29, 2005

With Time:

The Black Flag logo once stood proudly on his neck. With age and gravity it now looks likes a collapsed skyline.

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world leader #120

War can be profitable for friends, family and supporters.

FIL Update: Monday

They have not started doing the dialysis through the neck. It seems that they needed a family member to sign off on it and they waited for two days until no one was around to ask for a signature. The Cat Scan showed nothing wrong in his head, but they have now ordered a MRI. It looks as if they are concerned by his speech and arm/hand movement

Meditation


Meditation
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
The real meditation is... the meditation on one's identity. Ah, voila une chose!! You try it. You try finding out why you're you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow? Ah, voila une chose!
Ezra Pound

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
Voltaire

Relax


Relax
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled.
Ovid

Sunday, August 28, 2005

outlaw toddler


outlaw toddler
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's available... in America right now.
Merle Haggard

If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
Hunter S. Thompson

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
Bertrand Russell

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Henry David Thoreau

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.
Oscar Wilde

He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
Victor Hugo

Swords into plowshares


Swords into plowshares
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Saturday slid into Sunday

FIL update
A few months back they put a tap/plug thing into FIL's arm. It did not have time to properly heal before the dialysis started. (or it got torn out) They will now start doing the dialysis through FIL's neck. Things are looking brighter. He may be moved out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation type place on Monday.

Details are still sketchy.

The stress is starting to show throughout the family.

Fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements dead at 77

Pirate life


Pirate life
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Hipster PDA


Hipster PDA
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Gastric Gluttony


Gastric Gluttony
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Urban Gardening


Urban Gardening jpg
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

god complex


god complex
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
Mark Twain

I don't like to write like God. It is only because you never do it, though, that the critics think you can't do it.
Ernest Hemingway

God created man, but I could do better.
Erma Bombeck

magazine Gags


magazine Gags
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
e. e. cummings

We do have a zeal for laughter in most situations, give or take a dentist.
Joseph Heller

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.
Bob Newhart

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
William Shakespeare

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.
Kurt Vonnegut

The beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.
Virginia Woolf

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.
Woody Allen

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Train Tot


train Tot
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

William Carlos Williams


William Carlos Williams
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
The Red Wheelbarrow
By William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

Friday Slid Into Saturday

FIL update-
Dialysis has started.
As of last night the Cat Scan had been ordered but not done.
His voice is getting stronger.
Today I plan on playing with my camera and thinking happy thoughts.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Up and down.

FIL is still in the ICU and it is sounds as if they may do a Cat Scan of his head tomorrow. (MIL seems to be getting everything all jumbled up.)

Mquest Jr is grumpy. His grumpiness is a vast improvement over the lethargy he has shown over the last few days.

A prince and other pampered idiots:

Someone has trained this little prick to be a Machiavellian Prince.
Thankfully- I am unimpressed by monarchy

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world#119

Never describe your opposition using any human characteristics in the description.

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world#118

Only do body counts when it is in your best interest.

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world #117

Divide the opposition.

Modern Toddler


Modern Toddler
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

spy


spy
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Chalk Talk


Chalk Talk
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Wed Update

With Mquest Jr. we are fighting some type of asthma/bronchitis brought about by the cold. He is on antibiotics ( amoxiccilin ) and is taking doses of Ilbuterol from mask/tube (inhaler/spacer) device. His breathing is much better today.

My father-in-law is still in the ICU. Yesterday his organs started the process of shutting down. At the time we were told that their was nothing left to be done. It seems that today there is a bit more hope. It looks as if he will begin dialysis tomorrow.

Thanks for all the well wishes.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Tuesday

No time real time for a update. Mquest Jr is now on antibiotics and is coughing like a seal.
My wifes father is in rapid declining health.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Relapse-

Mquest Jr has taken a another turn toward sickness. It sounds as if the cold it has moved into his chest. He now has a deep cough and a appointment to see the doctor in the morning.

jungle life


jungle life
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Salty Dog


Salty Dog
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Tomato magazine


Tomato magazine
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

A Quick Personal Note:

It was my good friend MC's last day at work today. (Do we really have a tradition where we make the person we are having the party for cut the cake and serve it?)
I wish the best of luck to MC. I know you will be able to make a difference. Good luck on this new chapter in your life.

Jagged little rocks

The river of life polishes our harsh life lessons into more pleasant memories.
Time is a great equalizer

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Health Update:

Mquest Jr seems to be feeling better. He is rather cranky and gets tired quickly. I hope a good nights sleep will improve his cranky disposition.
Thanks You for all the well wishes.

Let them eat cake-

As I look through the catalog of rich peoples toys a thought occurs to me.
Does one really need a special refrigerator to keep your wine in? One would think the paper bag that the liquor store provides would keep it chilled long enough.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Simple Joe


Simple Joe
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Bubble


Bubble
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Tonka Toddler


Tonka Toddler
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Chalk Dust Digest


Chalk Dust Digest
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Fun With Flickr


Fun With Flickr
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

badgeButt


badgeButt
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Mquest Badge


Mquest Badge
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Liberal Arts and other useless crafts-

As I question my motives I realize that I am having a Kafkaesque moment.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Sick

Mquest Jr. is sick. All he has done all day is lay around and stare at the ceiling. Every hour or so he gets up and walks to a different location and collapses. It is the saddest thing.
UPDATE: The phrase “OFF OFF” is toddler talk for I am going to throw up.

Boys of Summer


Boys of Summer
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
Robert Frost

Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.
George Bernard Shaw

Throwing the ball


Throwing the ball
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Intelligent Design

I was all set to add my version of Intelligent Design to the text book debate. Then I found this link at Nina turns 40. Not as good my pizza god idea but a Flying Spaghetti Monster will do.

Words

What if the propaganda machine called them preachers of hate rather than religious extremists?

Fodder for the front line


Fodder for the front line
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
The guy that is too stupid to use the ATM machine is wearing a “Rage Against the Machine/Battle for Los Angeles” shirt.
When the battle starts lets put him on the front line and remove him from society first.

"I think you should defend to the death their right to march, and then go down and meet them with baseball bats."
Woody Allen

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

I'm Blogging This


I'm Blogging This
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Happy Birthday
The Mquest Blog turned one today. I would like to thank my handful of faithful readers.
Thank you.
Mquest

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Toddler toes and keys-


Toddler toes and keys-
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Guess who locked me out of the house?

Yard Work


Yard Work
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world leader: #117

Never underestimate the publics love of the flag. It may be a inanimate object, but one can get away with a lot when hidden behind it.

Platform, guides and rules for becoming world leader: #116

Hire young interns for. . . (never mind)

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Art


Art
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? no. Just as one can never learn how to paint.
Pablo Picasso

Mr Picasso I never learned how to paint.
I never had the artistic abilities to paint and draw. I hope Mquest Jr figures out the art of drawing.

Everything has its place


Everything has its place
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Hello Friends


Hello Friends
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Visualize This


Visualize This
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Play date with my son


Play date with my son
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

The work crew gets ready for the next monster truck race.


Thursday, August 11, 2005

inside your fridge

What is in your fridge? How much can we find out about someone by looking into their fridge? One of my Flickr contacts put me up to the challenge. Click on the pictures to see the notes and comments that were left on the flickr site. There is even a group for these types of photos that can be found HERE. The group is called inside your fridge.

Are you up to the challenge? What is in your fridge?

Fridge


Fridge
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.
“Harry! harry! where do you go when the lights go out (3x)
Harry! harry! where do you go?” Harry Hood--Phish

Fridge Door


Fridge Door
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.

Freezer


Freezer
Originally uploaded by mquest foto.