I just couldn’t pass up this story. It’s just too nutty.

According to the Rapid City Journal, Marguerite Engle, 45, from Sturgis, South Dakota, was found, passed out, behind the wheel of a stolen delivery truck just off the highway. She submitted to a blood alcohol test and was released on bond.

After she missed her court date, she was found, passed out, behind the wheel of yet another stolen car. Thankfully, she was jailed immediately.

Now here’s where the story get’s blog-worthy. Her initial blood alcohol test returned the highest (by 40%) blood alcohol ever recorded in South Dakota, possibly in the universe. She clocked in at .708! Yes, her blood was almost 1% alcohol. That’s almost ten times the legal limit, and nearly twice what is commonly considered as lethal (.4).

This woman’s blood had as much alcohol in it as a strong, brewed root beer. It begs the question: How much alcohol percentage is required before human blood becomes flammable? Hmmm.

The whole God-In-Christmas debate was conspicuously absent in 2009. I saw “Merry Christmas” prominently displayed on sales material from stores that, in the past, notoriously avoided the phrase. Every place I spent my money (and I spent a lot of money) my “Merry Christmas” greeting was responded to in turn. Maybe we reached a tipping point with all the hubbub in 2008. Maybe the “politically correct” minority in this country have finally returned to the back of the bus. I’d sure like to think so. Now, if we can just get our government to reach the same epiphany.

Merry Christmas to you, and a happy and prosperous 2010. (That’s “Twenty-Ten!”)

It’s been a while since I’ve had a real, honest, laugh-out-loud moment. But this post on icanhascheezburger.com triggered a full-on guffaw.

No, this is not about the importance of legal planning for end of life care. (Although that is important.)

This is the living will for my own blog.  More specifically, my blog videos (such as Work From Home Friday Videos).

I, Trint, being of sound mind and body, as sole proprietor of Surely You’re Not Serious, do make the following request: If my videos ever get as bad as the video below, someone please pull the plug and do not resuscitate!

Unfortunately, this does not get any funnier after about the first 30 seconds like the real “bad music” classics, but… Me oh my, it’s so bad I was crying!

P.S. This guy has a whole channel of similarly bad videos.

I just read an article about the angriest Americans.

I recent study interviewed 1800 American adults to track down their angriness. According to the study the most angry Americans are A) under 30 years old, B) raising children, and C) have less than average education.

So, let’s see. I’m 36. No kids. College graduate. Hmm. Yep.

Clicky clicky for the full article.

This week’s white board quip has me thinking about food and fat.

That’s the problem with sweatpants.

I don’t even know where I heard that one. (But isn’t it just a perfect fit for the white board?!) As soon as I saw it in my queue, though, I knew it was the right quip for this week because I feel very much like switching to sweat pants for my office attire.

Despite my insistence that holiday food “doesn’t count,” my weight has been steadily increasing. I’ve almost completely erased my Weight Watchers success from a couple of years ago. It looks like I’ll be punishing myself with another diet… after the holidays, of course.

Tindog posted a thought-provoking article about the motivation of the “Pilgrims” on his blog. And, yes, it provoked my thoughts. “Hey, you thoughts! You’re momma dresses you funny!” No… No, not like that. Sorry.

He asked (edited for brevity):

Would I have the courage and faith to put my family onto a ship … leave everything I have, everything I know to start over completely from scratch … and do it all, not for the chance to strike it rich, but because it was what God was instructing me to do. Honestly, … I don’t know if I could let go of my house, my car, my stuff, my safe and comfortable life and trade it for an uncertain and potentially disastrous future. And not just me, but choose that path for my wife and daughters, too.

I certainly understand his sentiment, but might I posit the following:

To really compare your faith and grit to that of the Puritan Pilgrims, you have to submerge yourself into their time and predicament. Tindog correctly recalls that the reason they left the comforts of home was that they “believed that the Church of England had become so tainted by politics and man-made doctrine that it was beyond reform.” In fact, the Church of England, and it’s chief (the King) didn’t take kindly to criticism and severely persecuted the Puritans. (ref: Wikipedia)

So the real question becomes: Would you be able to risk your comfort, health and safety (and that of your family) if the State (and by that I mean governing body with the power to take all of those things away from you anyway) insisted that your religion was not only false, but an affront to said State, and that same State had every intention of doing all in it’s power to stamp out your religion even if it meant jailing or killing you or your family?

I think the answer just got a lot more elementary.

And all this brings me to one (of the many) major news item I missed during my absence last week, the Manhattan Declaration (click the image for the official website).

Please, no matter what your religious belief or affiliation, read the declaration. It will only take a few minutes. If, after you’ve read it, you find that you agree, sign it, then live it.

In short, the Manhattan Declaration is a historical, unprecedented statement of unity among the various Christian faiths in the U.S. It establishes that, regardless of our differences, Christians must stand up against government and cultural pressure and stand for 1) the sanctity of all human life, 2) the sanctity of marriage, and 3) the right of religious expression. It also recognizes that, at times, non-violent civil disobedience may be required in order to maintain our religious beliefs. I don’t mean to sound like a doom-and-gloom conspiracy theorist, but there may yet come a day where we Christians must make that Puritanical decision to turn our back on comfort, health and safety in obedience to God. God help us if it comes to that. (But don’t worry. He will.)

Why does all the great blog-worthy new happen when I’m out of town. I’m typing this from my phone so I must be brief.

Please take some time to google The Manhattan Declaration.

Also the global qarming hoax exposed by leaked emails. If this gets the press it deserves, the GW scam is dead at last.

This is just too awesome to not post. (Sorry, I had to make it fit. Click the image for full size.)

What makes this a little bit sweeter is that I could totally see this happening in my neighborhood!

Well, it’s about time! I finally got a new Work From Home Friday video put together. Please excuse the truly awful quality. The video is grainy, the lighting is bad, the audio, the editing… I could go on. But, hey! At least it’s better than nothing!!