Good News

Back where they belong

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- "The Scream" and another stolen masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch were recovered by police on Thursday, two years after gunmen seized the paintings from an Oslo museum.

Um. I guess my trip to the beach is going to be different than I had thought

The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for South Carolina and North Carolina as Tropical Storm Ernesto's winds strengthen to 60 mph.

Joy in Pilland

The national weather service has issued a severe storm warning for many adjacent counties around Wake County until 10 PM. Severe weather is now in the Conway SC area moving @ 15 MPH toward NC. Please use your weather radio, television if available, or internet to see if your home area may be affected. Heavy rainfall is expected around the US 1 corridor from the Sandhills area.

OMG Ya’ll it’s gonna rain! Everbody panic!!111!! I don’t even know where “the Sandhills” is and I’m pretty sure that Conway, SC isn’t even in North Carolina.

One of my Birthday gifts this week was that I finally was able to score a refill for Kitty’s pred. I have been trying for the past week and have had no luck. I called the vet I n Marquette, who was thrilled beyond belief that I called – you would think we were long lost family members - anyway. She said she would refill Kittys' scrip.


I said- fabulous!
She said – “come by the office anytime!”
I said – I’m calling from North Carolina…

This certainly complicated matters. She asked for the number to my pharmacy. I asked myself about the number to my pharmacy. I tried to look it up in the yellow pages but there wasn’t anything listed under “Diana’s’ Pharmacy”. I figured out which grocery was mine and I gave her the number. I also gave her my vet’s number in the hopes she would fax them Kitty’s records and we could all be on the same page. She promised to call about Kitty’s pred and we hung up.

I wasn’t too worried. I had three days of pred left and I felt confident that I would have my refill well before I ran out.

Right.

I called my pharmacy the next day and they didn’t have anything under Kitty’s name. They do now. I called my vet, and they said “no problem”. I said I’ll be in to pick it up! We were all happy. I called before I went.

They said had put the paperwork on the Docs desk and she hadn’t seen it yet.
I said I need the pred.
They said they would put it on the other Doctors desk.
I said I’m coming by at lunch.

It wasn’t ready yet. But they would give me Dogger new anti-worm pills sight unseen. Yay.

I gave the vet office the doc in Marquette’s’ name rank and cell number. They said they would call. I said call now . I went back to work.

I called the vet. I called the vet. I called the vet. Nothing, Nada, Not Yet.
I out of pred and The Kitty is not ready to “step down”. Not by a long shot.

Finally, I got the pills. I only had to email the vet in Marquette once, call her long distance, five calls to my vet here. Three trips to my pharmacy and three to my vet’s office.

For a month of 5mg a day prednisone for my cat.

buzzword: Fascism

The GOPs official word for the day is:Fascism They're just trying to "own" the word. Isn't it cute? It's kind of ironic really, fascists talking about fighting fascism? They are fascists and yet they "hate" fascism. They're just trying to make as many words unavailable to their foes as possible.

Radio Shaft

Shafted

FORT WORTH, Texas - Radio Shack Corp. followed through on its announced plans to cut about 400 jobs, but the electronics retailer has been forced on the defensive about its method of notifying laid-off employees by e-mail.

"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress," the notice stated. "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

I worked at one of their stores for a while and it was the worst job I’ve ever had. My boss was a low functioning alcoholic (granted not their fault directly, but he needed help and they could have done something about it); the products were cheaply made and grossly over priced. I stopped trying to sell Radio Shack merchandise to our customers after I realized that they could buy better quality versions of the same products for less next door at Target. The PTB also micro-managed the stores to the point it was maddening to work at one. I also hated the 7am Saturday morning employee meetings that were never at the store I worked at and I had to drive my alky boss to these because his license had been pulled for DWI.

Victory Over the Forces of Stupid.

I joined this little Yahoo group that is for and about memories of the city I grew up in. The group is home to lots of posts like “Remember Josey Skateland?” and “Remember the VW in the old pool?” It’s a nice, warm place to go sit back and get your Wonder Years on. It was a thoroughly enjoyable place.

“Was” being the operative word.

One of my old classmates got himself elected to the city council and now he has political ambition for higher office. He wants to go to The Show. To get there he needs the attention of the State GOP.

To get the attention of the State GOP he polished up little code enforcement turd and turned that innocuous little turd into a nice shiney piece of election year anti-immigration hype, because you know all the poor people living in those run down, ratty rental houses are wetbacks! And they don’t speak no English ya’ll! And they do all their shopping at THE DOLLAR STORE!!. The proliferation of absentee slum lords have nothing to do with it. Those (Proud To Be) 'Murican owners of those run down ratty rental properties have nothing at all to do with the condition of those properties.

Well, the city is up in arms and even the arch conservative RNC mouthpiece Dallas Morning News felt the need to issue a strongly worded editorial condemning the whole affair as base pandering twaddle.

So. What does this have to do with my little Yahoo group? Everything. The group had been waxing nostalgic about a long gone Brahms Ice Cream place. My classmates' RNC audition reel blew the roof off the place. These people, most if not all, life long residents noticed that there are "suddenly" lot of Hispanics around! and many do not speak English! (please note that thirty years ago I had classmates who did not speak English) One reported: “My neighbor doesn’t speak English!!” Gosh. my neighbor does speak English and I would be thrilled if the garbage I had to over hear was garbage I couldn’t understand! And ya know what? his property looks like hell and he does shite about it. He’s a citizen.

The discourse was getting ugly. And by “ugly” I mean the kind of language that civilized people pretend they don't know. The anonymous nature of the group let them get their racism on and they were joyful at the opportunity.

The Hispanics got mad too and they didn't hide behind user names. They took their anger to City Hall. Some biddy at the group went to counter protest was shocked at how "angry" the Hispanics were. Oddly, they don’t like being accused of being ignorant, dirty, pestilent, and generally bringing ruination upon the city. They also want my classmate who started the whole thing out of office. And ya know what? they have the numbers... all the immigrants in town aren't Hispanic and aren't all illegal but they are all being tarred with Tim's' racist brush.

I got real tired of reading the venom in my in box. Real tired. So I wrote something for them to read. I rewrote it about seventeen times. I had to keep removing things like “ugly racists” and “ low lives indulging in back door racism” and “ cowardly sheet wearing rednecks ” and “ ignert scum sucking hate mongers” or “the mentality of a mob of liquored up yokels” and other things less friendly . I wanted to get my point across with out lowering myself to their level. So. I posted this:

Could we change the topic please? The discourse has become dangerously close to hate speech and I would hate for Yahoo to shut this group down because of content. As the DMN said this is not something for Farmers Branch to decide. This is topic for national policy, not local city government and not Tim O'Hare.

True, they thought I was being a buzz killing, bleeding heart commie symp, terrest lovin' librul, politically correct shrew, but this was posted:

Fearing Big Brother (since we've got people in here using phrases like "hate speech"), I nuked all of the messages posted over the course of the past week. Again, I encourage y'all to discuss this off board (and to please keep me posted). However, since there's no telling what Yahoo does and does not like, it probably is a wise idea to not discuss that topic on the board anymore. Ah, the ever politically correct 21st Century....

It stopped because I asked for it to stop. Even though I was a total pussy about how I got it stopped. I'm still proud of me. Happy Birthday to ME.

I should have posted:

Can we please change the topic? You are bigots and the words and phrases you are using are racist in nature. I am offended and hurt by what I am seeing. The discourse is offensive and ugly and if it continues in this manner I will be forced to turn the group into Yahoo.

And then I should have done it.

Lets just hope this is a test

DHHS Disaster Coordinators:

Earlier this morning I was contacted by the Governor's office in regards to their preparation efforts for Hurricane Ernesto. DHHS has been asked to assist in finding volunteers who would be willing to work the Governor's Emergency Information Hotline (see attached document) if Ernesto makes landfall in North Carolina.

If you know anyone if your division/office who would like to assist, please let me know as soon as possible. I will need their contact information including office/home/cell #'s and also what shift time they would like to volunteer for.

Thanks for your assistance.

The King of Denial

Bush senses'renewal' during tour of Gulf region few others do

These Days in History, August 25, 2005 - September 17, 2005. Lest We Forget

-- The eye of Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near the Miami-Dade-Broward county line, the National Hurricane Center says. 6:51 PM August 25, 2005 CNN Breaking News

A Blast of Rain but Little Damage as Hurricane Hits South Florida
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
There were no reports of heavy damage as Hurricane Katrina made landfall between North Miami Beach and Hallandale Beach.

Hurricane Drenches Florida and Leaves Seven Dead
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
Hurricane Katrina churned through the Gulf of Mexico, increasing its strength and threatening the Florida
Panhandle.

Residents of Gulf Coast Flee Path of Hurricane
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coastal residents rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina as it threatened to gain even more strength and make a direct hit on the New Orleans area.

-- Mayor of New Orleans orders mandatory evacuation of residents as Category 5 Hurricane Katrina targets city.

Powerful Storm Threatens Havoc Along Gulf Coast
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and ABBY GOODNOUGH
Hurricane Katrina sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing and prompted a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.
QUOTATION OF THE DAY - New York Times August 29, 2005
"I'm afraid this is the one we've dreaded. I don't think the scenario could be any worse for us." - ROBERT R. LATHAM JR., director of Emergency Management Operations for Mississippi.

-- Report: Roof of Superdome in New Orleans, where thousands evacuated ahead of Hurricane Katrina, is leaking rain.

-- Katrina kills estimated 50 people in one Mississippi county, 30 of them in a single apartment complex, CNN confirms.


-- A levee holding back water sustains a two-block wide breach in New Orleans.



Hurricane Katrina Slams Into Gulf Coast; Dozens Are Dead
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and KATE ZERNIKE
The hurricane left more than a million people without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center.

-- Rising waters force evacuation of tens of thousands who sought refuge in New Orleans rescue centers, state governor says.

Much of Gulf Coast Is Crippled; Death Toll Rises After
Hurricane
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and N. R. KLEINFIELD
Floodwaters were still rising as much as three inches an hour in parts of New Orleans late Tuesday.
QUOTATION OF THE DAY - "Thank God - what is today? Tuesday? - thank God it's Tuesday, and my whole family is alive." - TONYA ROSE, of Biloxi, Miss., who narrowly escaped Hurricane Katrina.

No Quick Fix for Gulf Oil Operations
By JAD MOUAWAD
After Hurricane Katrina's passage, gasoline futures jumped on concerns it would take months to restore production levels.

-- AP: Bush administration to release oil from petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina, U.S. energy secretary says.

-- New Orleans mayor says Katrina killed hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of people in city, Associated Press reports.

-- 10,000 more National Guard troops are being called up for duties on the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, CNN confirms

September 1, 2005
Higher Death Toll Seen; Police Ordered to Stop Looters
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Officials said there was no choice but to abandon New Orleans, perhaps for months. President Bush pledged vast assistance, but said, "This recovery will take years."

Hard New Test for President
By DAVID E. SANGER
Not since Sept. 11, 2001, has President Bush faced a test quite like the one he confronts now.

At Stadium, a Haven Quickly Becomes an Ordeal
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
With 20,000 or more storm refugees inside, the Superdome became a sweltering and surreal vault of horrors.

-- FEMA suspends boat rescue operations in New Orleans because of dangers to rescuers, officials say.

-- New Orleans hospital halts patient evacuations after coming under sniper fire, a doctor who witnessed the incident says.

-- Officials at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, say the facility is full and cannot accept any more New Orleans hurricane refugees.-- "The results are not acceptable," President Bush says of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts

-- Convoy of military vehicles packed with supplies moves into flooded streets of New Orleans

-- President Bush announces more than 7,000 active duty troops to be sent to help relief efforts in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

-- AP: Army Corps of Engineers says police killed some of its workers as they crossed a bridge on the way to repair a canal.

-- AP: Army Corps of Engineers says its contractors were not killed by police, but gunmen who fired at them were killed.

-- A rescue helicopter crashes in New Orleans. No details on casualties yet.

-- New Orleans flood waters contaminated with e. coli, official in office of Mayor Ray Nagin tells CNN.

-- Louisiana Superdome, where thousands were stranded after Katrina, is likely to be torn down, state official tells CNN.

-- New Orleans mayor issues order authorizing the forced removal of people refusing to leave the city.

-- Local officials: Between 25 to 30 bodies have been found in a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans

-- Fourteen bodies found Thursday inside the flooded Memorial Hospital in New Orleans.

-- FEMA director Michael Brown being sent back to Washington; Homeland Security Director Chertoff to announce new leader for on-the-ground Katrina relief efforts, senior administration official tells CNN.

-- AP: Mike Brown says he has resigned as director ofthe Federal Emergency Management Agency.

-- President Bush says he takes responsibility for the federal government's failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina

-- Owners of flooded St. Rita's Nursing Home charged with 34 counts of homicide, Louisiana attorney general says.

Bush Pledges Federal Role in Rebuilding Gulf Coast
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
President Bush said the government would provide help on taxes, housing, education and job training for the hurricane victims. FEMA, Slow to the Rescue, Now Stumbles in Aid Effort

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ERIC LIPTON
FEMA is faltering in its effort to aid hundreds of thousands of storm victims, evacuees, local and federal
officials say. September 17, 2005.

From CNN Breaking News dispaches and The New York Times Daily Headlines.


It's not all bad though.

Why does the Boulder D.A hate Nancy Grace?

Boulder, Colorado, D.A. drops charges against John Mark Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, according to Karr's attorney.

Shock

DNA found on JonBenet Ramsey's body does not match sample DNA from suspect John Mark Karr, Denver, Colorado's KUSA television station reports.

And teh Emmy(tm) went to...

Full list of Emmy(tm) winners

Collar Her

Dogger needed a new collar. I went and looked at collars online. And then I went and checked my bank balance and I learned that I could either make my house payment or buy a new collar but not both. I was sad. Dogger was sad. We were all sad.

I decided to try a little experiment. I had this:

*celebrety impersonator. Not the actual collar

The collar was a spare that I ran across when I was going through a bag of Dogger stuff, I’m guessing that the collar was one I must have bought some time ago, before I decided that Dogger was a pink collar kind of girl and no other color collar would do.


and I had this:



I found the ribbon on sale and couldn’t leave it at the store. It was cheap, it was pink and it was festooned with daisies. Dogger needed this ribbon.

Dogger has a mini wardrobe of collars. She has the very nice one my parents found for her and the less nice one I got for her. The one I got for her is showing it’s age and the people at the park don’t seem to think it is as cute as her other one . That of course is besides the point. When I bath Dogger (once a week) I also launder all her bedding as well as her collar. I need two collars for her. One to wash and one to wear. One is always standing by. This system also keeps the collars from getting too worn out. How does a dog manage to wear out a collar? She wears it all the time and she spends a lot of time at the dog park. Stuff happens. And Dogger is a girl dog and sometimes she just wants a change.

Okay. I have an old collar that needs replacement and I have a new collar that is the wrong color and I have this super cool ribbon of the right color. A plane began to hatch.

I don’t sew. I don’t know anyone with a butch enough sewing machine to sew the ribbon onto the collar. I thought about calling the place I took my winter coat to for repair last year, but they are more clothing specific and most clothing is thinner than the collar and I have the feeling that they would ask me to go buy the heavy gauge needle they would need to do it and if I wanted to go buy a heavy gauge needle for it I would by my Mom a heavy gauge needle for her machine and I would cut out the middleman all together. I needed another choice.

I needed Shoe Repair. Shoes are thick! People take their shoes places to be repaired! I could take my collar and my ribbon to a shoe repair and they could do it. Great Idea. But. Where are the shoe repair places? I remember back when your neighborhood shoe store routinely repaired shoes( remember those? Back when we had neighborhood anything? Ah, Messina Shoes. I miss you. Andy Burks’ Dad would have sewn that ribbon to the collar...) Anyway. I looked up shoe repair places and found a handful nearish to me. The first place I tried was out of business, the second place would do it but it wasn’t as close to me as I would want. Place number three was the winner. Close by, and they didn’t laugh when I explained what I needed. I went in Friday after work and by Saturday afternoon I had the collar.



Pretty!

It did run me some dollars, a few more dollars then I had been expecting it to run, but still far fewer dollars than I saw quoted for the same thing online. Large pink collars don’t run cheap and you pay for pretty. Local Raleigh readers, if you need your shoes worked on or ribbon sewn to a dog collar, Man Mur Shoes on Hillsburgh across from the University, does a great job and they are nice folks. Only draw back would be that they are the Nordstrom of shoe repair (very high quality, excellent service) and the next time I do this, I'm going to try for maybe the Target of shoe repair.

Emmy Results 2006
(main categories)

Lead Actor, Comedy - Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Lead Actor, Drama - Kiefer Sutherland, 24
Supporting Actor, Comedy - Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Supporting Actor, Drama - Alan Alda, The West Wing

Lead Actress, Comedy - Julia Louise Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Lead Actress, Drama - Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU
Supporting Actress, Comedy - Megan Mullally, Will and Grace
Supporting Actress, Drama - Blythe Danner, Huff

Best Series, Comedy - The Office
Best Series, Drama - 24
Best Series, Reality - The Amazing Race

Feds Say New Orleans Is Storm-Ready

"I think we're in good shape," Don Powell, the Bush Administratrion's coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding, said Sunday. "There's no question in my mind, we're ready."

New Hurricane Worries La. After Katrina

NEW ORLEANS - What was to have been a weekend of remembrance of Hurricane Katrina's destruction became a weekend of worry as Ernesto strengthened to a hurricane in the Caribbean.

The National Hurricane Center said Ernesto could grow into a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday, menacing a broad swath of the Gulf Coast. Katrina was a Category 3 storm when it ravaged New Orleans a year ago Tuesday.

However, some of the most substantial work planned on the levee system won't be done for the next couple of years. "I will feel better when they are fully functional and complete, but it will take time," (Gov.) Blanco said. "We've gotten as far as we could get in one year." Blanco said that although she is not happy with the current strength of the levee system, she believes as much work as possible has been done in the year since Katrina.

Col. Richard Wagenaar, who oversees the New Orleans district of the Corps, said the flood control system, which was breached in three places after Katrina, was equal to or better than it was when Katrina struck, but he said he and his staff had already begun making preparations for Ernesto.

The "flood control system" was in shitty shape before Katrina. I don't want to hear a year later it is "equal" to it's original pre-Katrina level of shittiness. If it is now "better" than shitty does it mean it is now just merely crappy?

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

And if Gawd does not choose her?

"We have to have the faithful in government and over time," the Witness quotes Harris as saying, "that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."


Katherine Harris on the separation of Church and State.

Thank you for your years of service! have a pen?

This was in my box today:

To - DFS Employees
From - Personnel
Date - August 22, 2006
Subject - Service Award Catalog

Enclosed is you award packet for your service award. In order for your service award to be shipped in time for the award ceremony in September, you must complete the Order Form and return the form to Personnel Office no Later than September 1st . If necessary, you make fax the form to 919 555-1234.

Should you have any questions, please email me at or call me at.

Thank you!


Behind that. A letter from The Man. The best known state employee of them all:

Dear State Employee,

I want to congratulate you on this important anniversary

Yes, five years. Five long years. What is the Fifth Anniversary? what do you get your loved one for their fifth anniversery? According to How to .com it’s Clocks and Wood . Five years of you life and clocks and wood?, Love ya honey! Here have a clock for the mantel!



I’m not sure if you can read that, let me help. I want to share the joy.

In recognition of you dedication and accomplishments, a selection of service awards has been made available:

1. Six piece knife set, state logo engraved on brass plate.
(do they really want to arm us? is that really a good idea? work place violence the way it is? are they trying to tell us something?)
2.Polished silver frame
(pictured with a photo of Michael Dukakis,I swear to Gawd)
3. Covered crystal dish. Features a die struck emblem
(how pwretty, and also, weapon-like)
4. Chrome ball point pen, with a die struck emblem on the pen clip.
Five years of service for a pen? a ball point pen?)
5. Coaster set, with emblem.
(My favorite. Also? excellent weapon and something neither animal can eat or distroy)
6. Lock back knife with emblem
(again with the weaponry. What is it with wanting to arm us?)
7.Dura Hyde wallet, with silk screened emblem
(I belong to People for the Ethical treatment of Dura's and I must protest the killing of innocent Dura's!)
8. Polyester cooler with silk screened emblem
(If it came in a color, maybe)
9. ‘56 arc umbrella with silk screen emblem
( too leaveable)
10. Tie clip with emblem
(Too loseable)
11.Gold filled charm WITH EMBLEM
(too charming)

There is a theme.

I have to decided what I don’t want. I don’t need knives, steak or switch folding, I would lose a pen, I don’t need a picture of Michael Dukakis, Kitty would shatter the “crystal” two minutes after I brought it home. I don’t want any dura hyde anything, with or without a silk screened state emblem.

How about the coasters? Unbreakable, useful and with the state emblem. I all have a set a lot like these but WITHOUT THE STATE EMBLEM! How have I survived?! Kitty can’t eat them and Dogger wouldn’t be able to chew them up.

The Gov. Goes on:

I am hopeful that the award you choose will serve as a reminder of our States appreciation for your tireless commitment to making life better for all North Carolinians. I trust this award will bring you personal enjoyment and adequately symbolize our sincere appreciation for your dedication to excellence.

I encourage you to continue to strive to make the state the best it can be. Together we can build one North Carolina where every community matters....

Blah. Blah. At my last job all we got for our tireless commitment was "well paid."

Siiiiggghhhh




I wish I could take credit for this one, but credit goes to my Mom.

Out of sight out of mind.

Leading astronomers say Pluto is no longer defined as a planet,The Associated Press reports.

full story here

You know all the "real" planets are laughing at it now. Mankind totally gave it the hand! Saturns' moons are probably being really bitchy to Charon. Poor Pluto is going to get so razzed about this. It totally needs a better publicist.

Bypass your Pharmacist

CNN confirms: Federal health officials have approved the sale of the so-called "morning-after" pill without a prescription.

Full story here

Change of plans


I have been noticing over the past few days that gas prices seemed to be getting lower, but I guess that is about to change: BP Alaska production cut some more I was going to go fill up mini after work, but I guess now I'll go take care of it over lunch.

Holding On

I woke up this morning with an odd tune running through my head I was trying to figure what it was and whether I should be singing along with it. Time passed and I got to work it slipped my mind and I forgot about it.

It was hours later and I heard it again. We just got a new phone system and we don’t know how to use it properly yet. We’re getting better but we make mistakes. None of us for example can check our messages with out broadcasting it to the rest of the office. It can be done, I’ve done it, I’m sure that some one checks their messages without sharing it with the rest of us, but it must be few and far between. So periodically someone pushes button A before pushing button B and presto, silly music BadaBad Dumdum Dada Duh Duh.

The tune I had in my head this morning was our hold music.

It’s not a bad tune. I just wouldn’t want to spend too much time with it. It has made me leave people on hold for less long than I did in the past with the old no hold music phone system. The thing is, while I have mastered the putting on hold part, I have not yet totally figured out the taking off of hold part. I hit the button and pick up the receiver and nothing happens or I end up calling who ever called me last. The secretaries hate me. I can never remember if I’m supposed to pick up the receiver and then hit the button or hit the button and then pick up the receiver. Lately I’ve just been putting the phone down on the desk. It’s very low tech but it gets the job done. I think a little thunking noise is a better than being stuck on what could very well become terminal hold. It also has the added effect of letting the caller hear me actually working to answer their question. As I said, we just got this system. It’s hard. It has all these bells and whistles and it’s scary. It remembers stuff! It keeps track of what numbers you called and what numbers called you. It doesn’t tell you who those numbers belong to, but it’s still kind of cool.

Anyway.

I’ve been on my little beta blocker for a whole month now, well, almost a month. I dropped on of the pills early on and never found it. The pills are tiny and white and it disappeared in my sink.

Among the pulse lowering and blood pressure stabilizing qualities of the little white pill, is the delightful side effect of putting a kibosh on headaches. I get a lot of headaches or I did get a lot of headaches. I don’t now, haven't.I do have one now. Ow.

They ain't calling those Marines back for the fighting in Iraq

The Bush administration says Iran's proposal on nuclear weapons falls short of the conditions set by the U.N. Security Council and that the administration will consult with Security Council members on next steps.

CNN.com

Logging

Because keeping track of my activities has become close to second nature to me now I thought I would share how I spent my lunch hour.

-Went to the bank and ordered new checks (11:35)
-Went by a post box and mailed two more applications (Yay me!)
-Went to Burger Yucky for kiddie meal
-Went to a drug store to get drink large enough to make it through the afternoon
-Went back to office.(12:00)

I was going to stay out in the car and read my book but I decided to put my AT LUNCH sign on my door and surf in peace for a while.

Adding to the “Activity Log” theme or meme since I am blogging and isn’t blogging all about memes? Or was that last year? Was last year the "Year of the Meme”? I don’t know. I don’t keep track and I’ve let my subscription to Bloggers Quarter Hourly lapse.

Anyway. I came home from work (4:30) and decided to keep my appointment with the Red Cross. I knew there was no chance in hell of me actually giving blood today or this week or even most likely this month, I thought I would give it a chance. Also, the waiting room is very air conditioned and house is not.

I also was keeping in mind that sometimes you can draw a phlebotomist (pun!) Who has a life goal to draw blood from a stone and who would green light The Bride of Frankenstein to donate as long as she answered “no” to the HIV question and lied about spending more than five years Europe during the eighties Sadly, even Lindsey Lohan has standards, low as they might be and so did my Phlebotomist. I hate a health care worker who maintains professional standards.

It was a no go. I was not shocked. Since I’ve been back from vacation I’ve been on the High Stress/Low No protein diet. I had some idea that Popsicle's and soft drinks weren’t really iron rich choices but I had no idea they actually act as leaches! My blood sample didn’t even do the dog paddle in the solution, it just hung there like a dead gold fish. Imagine. The good news is that after ingesting many boxes of Popsicles I have developed a vitamin C level in my blood high enough to kill the Bird Flu. If I could, I would make my blood available in pill form for pirates to knock out scurvy Go Me.

What else.

Dogger and I went to the park again. I almost didn’t. Monday night was really slow there and I had to keep reminding myself that sitting in the park by myself getting eaten by mosquitoes was better then walking around the neighborhood by myself getting eaten by mosquitoes. Or at least it was cooler than walking around the neighborhood getting eaten by mosquitoes. Dogger was even kind of bored.

Tuesday night was better though. The regulars were back and Dogger got to play chase and run after the other dogs. I got to visit with other real live people! Dogger did an excellent admirable job of limiting her wrestling matches to force humping dogs of only half her weight and then she even stopped that when I asked her to (asked, ordered, pulled her off - tomato tomatoh) to my great relief she totally ignored the herd of pugs that must have fallen out of the sky as they appeared out of nowhere. One minute the park was full of mid sized red dogs and Dogger and the next minute it was like the park had walked into a cloud of pugs. Pretty much like walking into a cloud of gnats only yappier and more likely to get stuck in your hair and between your dogs teeth.

The Pugs could have been so much fun for big dogs to play with. To them a herd of pugs could be like a fleet of battery operated squeak toys, like mutton from heaven, a chew toys that could chew back.You could see the big dogs licking their lips in anticipation of thinning the herd. "From the pricking of their gums something yappy this way comes.

When headline writers go bad

Psycho killer raccoons terrorize Olympia

OLYMPIA, Washington - A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say.

Some have taken to carrying pepper spray to ward off the masked marauders and the woman who was bitten now carries an iron pipe when she goes outside at night.

"It's a new breed," said Tamara Keeton, who with Kari Hall started a raccoon watch after an emotional neighborhood meeting drew 40 people. "They're urban raccoons, and they're not afraid."

In one case five raccoons tried to carry off a small dog, which managed to survive.

Title

Ahhhh, Tuesday. So much better than Monday, so much closer to Friday, but sadly, so much closer to Wednesday.

Well. Monday was day five of the great activity log. There is nothing like logging your activity to make you hate your job. I know that isn’t supposed to be a side effect of logging your activity but it’s what I’m getting from it. My boss and supervisor are getting that I am busy every minute of everyday and I am the most productive person in the office. I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, going from office to office place to place that everyone else is making personal calls, shopping online, making personal calls in order to shop, recounting weekend adventures and generally NOT WORKING.

All this while I am working, hard .

I am getting better at the logging. You would be surprised how long it can take a person to punch holes in a stack of paper. It can take, ten, fifteen minutes - if you do it properly. And the more you more things you have to “prepare to file” the more time you spend sitting at your desk. Right in front of you computer. The more properly you do your job, the more time you invest in making sure the holes are punched clean through, the more time you are sitting in front of your computer.

Not to make you think I am abusing my hole punching time, no, I am sitting there like a good little file clerk, punching holes as efficiently and quickly as I can. In a very business like way. I mean, I am fairly sure that it may be possible to order forms that are all ready hole punched - but I wouldn’t want to cast aspersions or accuse the powers that be of being cheap bastards. I’m just saying that my hole punch is lame and it is causing some minor paper tearing issues to crop up and paper tears are a time waste. I hate time waste. It’s so wasteful.

What else.

I watched a good DVD this weekend, Born Into Brothels. It’s about little Indian children growing up in nasty low end brothel in Calcutta It won an Oscar (tm) a couple of years ago. It sounds very depressing. It is, but at the same time, it’s really good and if you have a Netflix queue, I suggest you add it to it. The children are amazing. Depressing, but amazing. They are so normal and kidlike and they run around and do stuff just like kids you might know; But that the same time, they’ve seen everything and know everything and even when they’re happy they have sad eyes. The kids in the worst shape have very un-childlike thousand yard stares. They show a couple of the Mothers of these children and those women are harpies!. They say nasty things, they do nasty things and they are of course, whores. And the worst thing is that the children know their Mothers are whores. One knows his Mother is a whore ( who eventually is burned to death by her pimp) and his Father is a hash addict. And he knows.

The woman made the movie is a photojournalist. She came to India to “help”. She goes to this brothel and teaches the children to take pictures. Ultimately, she sells the photos the children take to raise money to get them out of the brothels and into boarding schools and hopefully onto a better life - and some of them do go off to school. It wouldn’t be a documentary if it had a happy ending

Old News by now

Â?Bush: Leaving Iraq now would be a 'disaster' He says this despite some one else having told him that the "War(s) (are)'straining the psyche of our country". He thinks it means his critics are crazy.

He thinks we all just need is more of that psyche straining war stuff, and he's the psychotic to do it. Despite the fact that the country doesn't want to have their psyches strained any more than they are all ready, he's going to go blow up Iran:

"Iran is obviously part of the problem," Bush said. "They sponsor Hezbollah. They encourage a radical brand of Islam. Imagine how difficult this issue would be if Iran had a nuclear weapon. "So therefore it's up to the international community including the United States to work in concert for effective diplomacy. And that begins at the United Nations Security Council," Bush said.

The Bush administration reiterated Monday that Iran must adhere to a August 31 deadlines to halt uranium enrichment or face U.N. sanctions.

Earlier Monday, Iranian state television reported that the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran will continue to pursue nuclear technology and not give in to "arrogant powers and the U.S."

George Bush is the disaster.

The Bushcos Dawgs of War are scratching at the door

Diplomats say Iran has refused U.N. inspectors access to its underground nuclear site, The Associated Press reports.

I want that!

I was flipping through the channels the other night flip, flip, “Oh look! It’s hour six of a thirteen hour Bonanza -palooza..I tried HGTV, no joy. They were showing crap I didn’t want to watch. I hate that about them. They have a huge number of shows that I like to watch but when I have a lot of time to dedicate to watching them, they only show the two or three shows they have that I don’t care about. I mean, they could throw me a three year old Debbie Travis bone or something but no.

I went to bed in disgust before the really good stuff came on. At 1 am ,Pet Expo 2006!! AKA the most fun ever! was aired. An hour of all the crazy, over the top crap you didn’t know you needed for your pet. Two thirds of the show was dedicated to fancy bags to carry your stupid little dog in.

(RANT on Why doesn’t PETA ( those nut jobs) do anything about it? Treating an animal like it’s an animated Fendi bag is just wrong. It totally leads to the objectification the creature. I would think that PETA ( those nut jobs) would hate that whole It’s a dog! It’s an accessory! It’s a dog! It’s cool new bling! mind set. It just seems disrespectful to the animal as a living thing. But then PETA doesn’t care about animals or other living things. It cares about PETA. I wouldn’t hate them so much if I heard more about PETA spay and neuter programs or PETA raising finds for improving living conditions for animals at local human societies, or PETA sponsoring low cost or free vaccinations, but No. I only hear about PETA raising money for PETA. They are attention whores and do not help or particularly care about animals. I think that someday membership in PETA is going to be a recognized symptom or some form of acute narcissism. Assholes. RANT off.)

Okay.

Back to the fancy pet things I didn’t know I needed among the fancy silver plated dog bowls . I found one thing that I really, really do need and I am going to get, it would all ready be on the way to my house but it was out of stock. I hate that. I wish I wasn’t so cheap. I could have gotten it from Petsmart, but they wanted a lot of money for it. It’s not that I am too good for Petsmart, it is that Petsmart may be too good for me. I do not love my pet enough to spend $27 for a dog leash. Petsmart thinks I am a bad person. I physically can not spend $27 for a leash, even a really useful dog leash, not when it is available elsewhere for less.

I tried the maker Bamboo Pets, but they don’t let you buy from them. That sucks. So. I had to go further a feild. And fortunately, in that further field I found these folks Arcatapet who have the exact same thing for $12.95! Score! Happy Birthday To Me!! I was so excited. I pulled out my wallet and got ready for my first birthday gift of the year... Sadly, “Currently out of stock. Call or e-mail for availability info.”. Damn, why must other people have the same thoughts as me? I called for availability and got on a list. It’ll be like three weeks, but for the savings it’s worth it. With it, I can keep Dogger in one place in the car and do it safely, easily and cheaply. Yay!.

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

Stuff

You know what I am noticing? There are a lot more red popsicles out there then there are orange ones. The red popsicles really, really out number the orange ones. Everytime I reach into the box, there is another red one and I have to digg for an orange, again. And it is not because I have eaten more of the orange 'sicles, I can open a new box and still have to hunt for them. You reach into a box of popsicles, and you are going to pull out a red one. It's not fair.

Who decided that the popsicle eating public likes red popsicles more than they like orange popsicles? And that doesn't even take in to account the freaks that like the purple ones. I am a simple woman, I have simple needs, I need there to be more orange popsicles in the popsicles! They claim it's all even, but I know better. There is no way there are an even division of red/grape/orange popsicles in those boxes. They are weighted for the red ones.

It doesn't matter what brand of red/orange/purple popsicles you buy or even what off brand r/o/p popsicles you get and don't try to get around it with the sugar free popsicles either, it's the same with them too. There are a lot more of the red ones than the orange. I like the orange popsicles better than the red ones and I am annoyed. Red is so plebeian, so common so blah. Everything falls under the red umbrella: Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry, name a berry and it's gone into a red popsicle. They all taste like Kool Aid.

Now, orange. Orange tastes like Orange, there aren't any alternates, if it is orange, it isn't going to be a multiple choice question, it's not going to be maybe peach, maybe tangerine, maybe grapefruit - if it's an orange popsicle it's going to taste like an orange popsicle! it is going to taste orange!. I mean, sometimes you will find fancy popsicles and they call their orange popsicles tangerine but really, who are they kidding? an orange popsicle is an orange popsicle! I mean you can charge people $3.99 for a box of fancy red/purple/orange popsicles but even if it comes with van cherry, "cabernet franc" grape, and Sanguinello orange as the flavors... The orange popsicle is still going to taste "orange".

To change the subject.

The Kitty has lost weight. A lot of weight. I didn't really notice until I ran across a picture I took around Christmas. Kitty was chunky. Now, he's all thin and svelte and pretty. But damn, he lost a lot of weight. I only wish it was planned. I mean there's nothing like losing a truck load of excess chunk-age, its another to just lose a truck load of chunk-age.

Hot,Hot,Hot

There are days I really miss Dallas and then there are days that I really don't...

Dallas, TX 102° F
Mostly Cloudy - Hi: 105° / Lo: 83°

102 at 9:15pm. Gawd.

From abusing prisoners to being abused in prison

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal jury convicted former CIA contractor David Passaro Thursday morning on four assault charges in connection with the 2003 beating of and Afghan detainee who later died.

Passaro Found Guilty Of Prisoner Abuse

Seconded

-- A federal judge has ruled that the federal government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.


full story here

WWRGD?

Pro-war Buddhist monks

About six or seven monks from a right-wing Buddhist faction had stormed the stage during a peace rally attended by about 1,000 people in the capital, Colombo, shouting pro-war slogans, an AP reporter at the scene said.

The monks, which have their own political party and wield tremendous influence among Sri Lanka's predominantly Buddhist population, have campaigned against peace talks with the rebels.

The rally was organized by the National Anti War Front and backed by several dozen religious, political and other high-profile personalities in the arts and entertainment world. They called on the Tamil Tigers and the government to adhere to the cease-fire and return immediately to the negotiating table.


(What Would Richard Gere do?)

It must have caused them great pain

FOX News is reporting a federal district court in Detroit has ruled that the Bush administration's NSA warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. From Think Progress

It has something to do with our constitutional rights, did you know we still had those old things? I had no idea that courts still cared about those kinds of things. Must be some out of control activist judge. Brave judge to go against Bushco like that

Time

It’s interesting having to keep track of my every move, for eight hours a day I know exactly how and where I was and how I have spent every minute of the day. What was I doing at 9:36am? Well, let see. I was filing single page filing between 9:25 and 9:40, so at 9:36, I was most likely standing in the “B” section, most likely at the end of the “B”s, because I file from the back of the alphabet first. With out my new best friend the activity log, I wouldn’t be able to tell you that, now hours later. Normally, I would have no idea what I was doing at 9:36am other than “I was at work”. Thanks to the activity log I can say “I was at work and I was doing the single page filing”. Wow.

I am also trying to not be as smart ass with the times. I am going to not continue with the five minute increments. I think that it is the kind of thing that might be construed as being a bit snotty. I mean, I think I could argue that I was trying to be as specific as possible but I don’t think they would buy that. I think that if I was being a bitch and asked someone to do an activity log and they were doing five minute increments, I might think that I was being subtly made fun of. Or not at all subtly made fun of. I would hate to come off as insubordinate.

Today my sentence, I mean day just chugged by. It seemed like it was just 7:30am and I was mailing something and then the next thing I knew it was 7:50 and I was filing something. Wow. The time just flew.

The secretaries helped me keep my log moving a long by kindly giving me some back filing. Back as far as February! Normally, I pick up correspondence daily. It looks good, you know, to file that stuff everyday, it’s kind of something I strive for. Since I do file everyday it was not fun having to dig through seven months of correspondence to file those letters.

Last February, I picked up many, many letters to from and about the facilities - all things to from and about 35 facilities in February. A kind of correspondence photo of the facilities and how they were doing - like when were we there last and what did we find when we were there, and while we were there finding things, how did we decide to help them help themselves? Did we fine them? Direct them to hold in services? Threaten them with termination? IN February, March, April, May ... I really cared! In August, I hardly remember we were even in the building and while that paperwork wasn’t there, I looked as though I didn’t file it! I’m sure I have all ready looked bad because that shit wasn’t there. I don’t need those letters now, I needed them in February! Today is August and I have been picking up August paperwork for the last sixteen days. I imagine the secretaries will get me the rest of the August correspondence sometime in October. It killed a couple of hours though and I was able to log my activity and I looked very active.

How convenient...

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

The hell?

Shrubs second favorite lap dog get sent to back to pound by his electorate and things are looking bad for Bushco. And then out of no where, massive victory for the anti-terrorism forces. Hmmm. And now when the suspects could have been nabbed at anytime, they choose the day after a Bushco defeat to lower the boom...

I thought the suspect just died...

A suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey murder has been arrested in Thailand, Denver TV station KUSA reports. CNN working to confirm.

Dribbles


Okay. I thought that staying at my desk for lunch would be a good way to play with the computer guilt free and a chance to just stop moving for a moment. I was wrong, that sign on my door saying AT LUNCH did not work like I had hoped. So far I have dealth with three emails, two phone calls and request. This is not going to work. I need to not be working now.

An update on the ailing Nephdog. He’s better and he’s responding to antibiotics. His doctors believe he may have developed a liver infection. He’s back at home now and doing better. Thank you for your thoughts.

What else? The Kitty is loving his new vet food and gaining weight. He no longer is looking to the Olsen twins as thinspiration. He is now looking closer at Lindsey Lohan as his social director - which worries me and caused me to take away his car keys. I do not need him banned from any more high end Hollywood dives. It’s hard enough as it is.

Dogger is happy, kind of itchy but she always is in the summer time. I am giving her baths more frequently and limiting her time in the yard. I should be limiting her time at the park, as it is not protected by any magical anti-flea and tick spell, but she really loves it there and I think its improving her world view. It is at least showing her that she is not the only dog in the world and maybe she can just suck it up sometimes – not every dog has her own room or her choice of beds! Not every dog gets s a cookie just for going into the crate! Not all dogs get to spend the majority of their time in the A/C with a lovely over head fan… Some dogs don’t get fed gravy food either! She is also learning that most dogs know their names and come when called, other dogs also run and fetch toys when asked, some dogs even know how to shake paws or roll over and play dead. Some dogs don’t actually come to the park so they can sit next to Mommy and get pet just like at home but outside in the heat with the mosquitoes.

Gah.

My other pet, my window unit is doing strange things. Or maybe it’s just acting like a window unit; I’ve never had one before. It doesn’t matter how its been set, it will blow so cold the kitty wakes up with icicles in his whiskers or it blows like a wind off the Sahara and its hotter then hell. Same unit, same setting two days apart. I don’t get it.

I may need to nudge the central A/C down a bit. I had it set about 78 for the animals while it was so hot, then the weather changed and it was so nice, I turned it off. I had to go back to it when I noticed both animals looked a little wilted. Poor babies. They suffer because I’m too cheap/poor to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. I could also point out to the animals that some dogs and cats live outside year round and they don’t get A/C of any sort at anytime. They’re my little babies though and I should take better care of them. At least they have water. My office has been without water twice in the last week. No water means no A/C.

Still hating my job. Still need to pay for the house and feed the animals. I did figure out where the Hallmark Channel went. It was a glitch at my end. I turned the whole thing off and when I cut it back on Hawkeye was waiting for me.

Dayum

Wal-Mart Posts 1st Profit Fall in Decade . You know its bad when people are too poor to shop at Wal-Mart.

Another day another petty humiliation. The idle rich should be eaten.

Beginning Friday August 18th I will need a weekly log of what you've done everyday that week and how much time was spent on the task. No paper clips nor rubber bands should be on the floor at any time.
Thanks

Let us keep in mind that paper clips and rubber bands are my stock and trade. Paper clips fall from the ceiling! broken rubber bands haunt my dreams. Cut me and I bleed broken rubber bands and bent paperclips. I have paper clips and rubber bands in various stages of their life span in every pocket of ever blazer, slacks and coat I wear to work and the other day, I found them in the pockets of shorts I don't wear to work! When I wash my hair I end up with handfuls of rubber bands and paperclips.

"Expectations of the file room.
File room should be kept in a neat and orderly fashion.
No files should be on the floor, or on top of the file cabinets.
No extra paper should be kept on the floor or on top of the file cabinets.
No paper clips, rubber bands, or binder clips should be on the floor.
Make sure the files are purged regularly.
File room should be vacuumed at least twice a week, three times if hole punch paper is on the floor.

*Just a little advice* put small cups or small boxes on top of the file cabinets for the paper clips, rubber bands, and binder clips."

I file. Filing is rife with broken rubber bands and bent paperclips. My office is the file room, there will be bent paperclips and broken rubber bands on the floor. There will be paper clips and rubber bands on that floor six months after the office moves. I would understand if I was asked to not dribble broken rubber bands and bent paperclips in the hallway or other peoples' offices but mine? and while I understand picking them up periodically is something I should remember to do, but damn...

peri·odi·cal·ly adv.
Synonyms: periodic, sporadic, intermittent, occasional, fitful. Having or marked by repeated cycles. Happening or appearing at regular intervals. Recurring or reappearing from time to time; intermittent. Characterized by periodic sentences.

Being a motivated self starter and all about being a good little solider and doing as I am asked, when I am asked, no questions asked, I got started on my activity log, post toasty. Is filling it out in five minute intervals smart ass? or just being precise? I've done a lot of time studies before but usually I knew what outcome was wanted so I knew how to manage my time. When I worked at the other job and the PTB wanted me to be available for "other responsibilities as directed" and I wanted to do my data entry, I knew how to make it look as though I was a data entry machine and had no time for "other duties", directed or otherwise. I never liked doing them though. I hate Big Brother and helping Big Brother be Big Brother is galling. Helping Big Brother document reasons for firing me galls me even more.

So. My Time Study

1pm - Hated boss
1:15 - Loathed supervisor.
1:25 - Planned supervisors' untimely demise
1:40 - Hated job.
1:45 - Hated boss some more
2:00 - Felt humiliated .
3:30 - crawled around floor on knees picking up rubber bands and paperclips.
3:45 - threw away all paper clips and rubber bands found on floor. (if the powers that be value my time so little that they can feel comfortable about directing a college graduate to make sure that rubber bands and paper clips never hit the floor - but she does? then I have no problem valuing their office supplies in a like way.) I should also point out that the building itself does not get vacuumed three times a month. I do not understand why the floor of my office must be sterile.

peri·odi·cal·ly adv.
Synonyms: periodic, sporadic, intermittent, occasional, fitful
Having or marked by repeated cycles.
Happening or appearing at regular intervals.
Recurring or reappearing from time to time; intermittent.
Characterized by periodic sentences.

My time study went much like that but for four hours. I was very proud of me though. It wasn't until I kept track of every stupid thing I had to do that. I know that a lot of people have to do these time studies as a regular part of their jobs, I understand that. I still hate it. I am doing it though. I noticed how many stupid things I do. A lot! I do a lot of things Damn it. I have a lot to keep me busy and maybe it’s a good thing I am going to be logging all that I do for the PTB. I mean, I know I’m going to be working harder then I am paid to, and I don’t get paid enough to work hard but it would be nice if some one else knew how hard I do work.

If it's not one thing its' another

I have this nice green frame.




I like it, it's pretty. I bought it to spruce up the office room as well as display a picture I had taken that I exspesally liked. It was also very green. Green picture, green frame, green room. It looks nice all together.


Well, a year had passed I wasn't seeing the picture anymore. I mean, it was still there I just wasn't seeing it any longer, I needed a change. A new green picture for my green frame.

So.

I went through the greenish photos I had taken during this years vacation and I picked one out.




I was pleased. It was pretty, it was green and it was also one of my favorites from this year. I pulled it out of the album and went to go replace last years photo. Last years green photo was a 5x7, as was the green frame. I was going to have to go get the picture enlarged. Not a problem. I had other pictures I was thinking of framing and I could just go do them all together. I packed all of them off and set out for the Wallgreens. On the way I stopped by Poverty Barn and looked at their collection of frames. My plan had been to get the Shape photos enlarged to 5x7 and framed together in a quad frame. Well, they don't make quad frames for four 5x7s photos. They make them for four 4x6 pictures. So. I didn't need to get those enlarged. Good. Saves money saves time. Now I was down to the one photo that needed work. I did this last year, it was easy, fast and cheap. Go in go out go home and frame my picture. Immdiate gratification. I like that.

Well. Last year I liked that. This year I got screwed. First off there was a woman standing at the machine for three hours. I mean! She didn't know what she was doing and there was a clerk helping her and it was taking forever. The other clerk told me to leave the picture and come back in half an hour and it would be done. Fine. I can deal with a half hour wait. I went across the street to Wal-Mart and looked around at their collection of frames. I came back. The lady was still at the machine and the clerk was now asking if I could come back tomorrow. I said fine and I went home.

That was trip one of the Project Enlargment.

I went back to the store the next day. I picked up the picture and went home. Thinking that it would be fine, no reason to look at in the store. They do good work there and I don't remember any problems with their photo department.

I had a problem.

The picture I got back was yellow . I got pissed and cursed Wallgreens. I decided to get the picture worked on again at a different vender and then take the offending picture back to Wallgreens and get my money back. I went for the big guns. I went to Wolfe Camera. Over priced for what they offer and with a mildly rude staff - they still do good work, at least better work then a drug store. Well.

So far. Two trips to Wallgreens and one trip to Wolfe. Make that two trips to Wolfe. I didn't like their outcome either. Wolf is on the left, Wallgreens on the right.


Wolfes was better but it still wasn't as sharp as the orginal. The color was also off. So. Trip two back to Wolfes. We are now at four trips to get this picture enlarged. Wolfe agreed to do it again, but I would have to come back the next day.

Sigh.

It still isn't perfect but I'm not making another trip to get it right. I'm going to deal.


The finished product. Still not sharp enough, color still not right.

 

Totally. What the hell is this and what was it doing outside the dog park? It's creepy. 

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!

And while you are at it, think happy, healing thoughts for Nephdog. He is ill and needs all the thoughts and prayers he can get. He's a great dog as well as a friend to all who have met him.


Think Happy Thoughts For Me!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!!

Just chilling

Okay, I know it was hot and all, but why was there an ice cream truck outside my house at 10:38pm?

Friday Cat Blogging

Nothing changes

British and Pakistani authorities joined forces to block the plot to bomb the airliners, officials said. British police acted urgently overnight, arresting 24 people.

Where was Homeland Security? If the United States, according to Shrub “is at war” (DUH) than why are the British and Pakistanis the ones in the trenches and kicking down doors? Why are they doing the dirty work? Further down in the NYT story we are name checked as a participant in the run up to the take down but where were we when the doors were being kicked down? I've had my rights as an American stripped to the bone so that we can be CCed on emails? Big Brother is listening to my phone calls and monitoring my bank account, I want action. I want my sacrifices to be worth something. My question is, as it is always, if we knew they were out there doing these things, why didn't we arrest them earlier? It’s not as though we need arrest warrants or probable cause any longer, we don't have to wait to do these things, why is it that we hung on until now?

"At the same time, Republicans began a concerted effort to use Mr. Lieberman’s defeat to portray Democrats as weak on national defense, reprising a theme that they made central to the last two national campaigns. The attacks came in searing remarks from, among others, Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and Vice President Dick Cheney, who went so far as to suggest that the ouster of Mr. Lieberman might encourage “al Qaeda types. ”.From The New York Times


Aug 10, 2006 5:01 AM
A plot to blow up aircraft flying from the UK was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale, a police spokesman says.
Sadly, we can imagine it too well.

Aug 10, 2006 6:23 AM
The U.S. has raised its threat warning to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States in response to a terror plot disrupted in London. According to The Associated Press, the terrorists had targeted United, American and Continental airlines, two U.S. counterterrorism officials said.

Aug 10, 2006 7:29 AM
Some of the flights involved in the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic planes in mid-air would have been going from the United Kingdom to New York, Washington, D.C., and California, a U.S. government official said.

Aug 10, 2006 8:03 AM
A senior U.S. administration official (Dick Cheneys' office) tells CNN that intelligence on the foiled airline terror plot indicates "very strong links to al Qaeda."

August 10, 2006 7:47 PM
U.S. officials say British agent infiltrated alleged airline terror cell, and cell members met suspected Al Qaeda operative in Pakistan.

Al Qaeda is the only terrorist group operating out of Pakistan? Tell me another one. Every guy with a kalashnikov and a death-wish is Al Qaeda? Bushco has been good for enrollment but lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Every.One.Hates.Us.There. Swing a cat hit a guy who wants us dead. He doesn't have to be Al Qaeda, he was probably some other garden varity America Hater. It's not like there is a limited seating capacity on the bus to Death-To-Americaville or that they're having a hard time giving away tickets for a fast trip to Suicide Bomberboro.

Oddly, in a related story theNew York Times says that it might not be them.

In Washington, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, said that the plot “had all the earmarks of an Al Qaeda plot,” but he said there was no evidence linking the suspects to the terrorist organization, or of any plot within the United States. Other officials said it was possible that the plotters had worked in isolated cells and were not all acquainted with one another.

The ear marks being "organization" and the use of "airplanes". Everyone knows Al Qaeda copyrighted that method of destruction! damn it, keep up! The suspects are from Egypt, one of our friends despite their human rights record and mistreatment of women. It could be perhaps this group is not our favorite terrorists but maybe another group that hates us. There are so many. I'm sure that Hezbollah would also like to take us down now, too. The wars in the Middle East have made us all so much safer then we were before.

Have you noticed that no matter how many of our civil and constitutional rights Bushco takes away from us, the attacks on our privacy, the petty humilations we endure all in the name of HOMELAND SECURITY, that all the bad guys have to do is get on a plane?


Keep a happy thought for Alphagal today as she tries to get home from Boston.

Deep Breaths

What a difference a day makes. Wednesday was better. I was calmer, not at all homicidal and I left at 4:30.

I walked in the door told my boss what I did not find in my search of the records and she took the news better than I had imagined, she then said I didn’t have to stay until 6. Bullshit. Girlfriend was going to kill me Tuesday, and she would have, if I hadn’t stayed. She also left for a three day class, which also explains the frequency of my violent ideation went down. Go me. To help matters one of the women in the building brought her tiny little dog in and we all got to play with it. Pet therapy is wildly under utilized in the work place.

So. I got to file for the first time in days; I filled a request and got started on another. My office still looks like a bomb went off but I am not thinking about that. It makes me less anxious. Also, the boss isn’t in the building and I went out, guilt free, for lunch for the first time since I came back from vacation.

It was so calm that I was able to surf around a bit and find Zazzle.com . You can go there and put your own images on things. You can make stamps, tee-shirts. Coffee mugs… It looks really neat. Alpha Gal got as a gift a page of your-image-here postage stamps, I want to see how those turn out before I explore vanity postage. It sounds really fun though. Postage is all ready horrendously expensive, you might as well get some self expression out of it. You could do seasonal stamps! The whole world could see your vacation pictures! No more button holing co-workers or boring family members! The whole postage industry would be forced to see your picture of that pretty rock you found or that sunset. The possibilities are endless. I all ready like making cards out of my own photographs, I could make my own stamps too. I could control the postal universe.

Or not.

Anyway, Wednesday was a better day and significantly less frantic.

What else. I was further bummed on Tuesday to come home and find my buddy MASH not on. Or it was on, the station that carries it wasn’t (and still isn't, what did The Hallmark channel not pay it's electric bill? Come on! The world can live with out Kelly Martin and Mystery Woman but the viewing public needs it's MASH reruns.). It went to black and wouldn’t come back. I persevered though, I watched a Match Game ‘74 rerun that probably dated from about the same time as the MASH reruns I didn’t get to watch. Richard Dawson made me happy when he name checked John Sirica in one of his answers, which turned out to be the $500 answer for the round. The schlub contestant took another panelists’ answer of “Judge Dred” and he only got $150.

I thought it was timely as I was watching it on August 8th, 2006 and as we learned on Tuesday, on August 8th, 1974 Nixon stepped down.

Onto more current politics, do you think that Ned Lamount winning in Connecticut is a “sign” or some sort of bellwether for the Democrats in the coming election cycle or just dissatisfaction with a single unpopular candidate? Is this victory good for us and make us lazy and over confident or will it rally the GOP faithful to victory in the fall? Let us hope it rallies the right, er correct faithful in the fall - or is the media making a big deal over this so they won’t have to cover the Middle East?

Insert angry scream here

You know when you leave work for the day, oh, say eleven hours after you got there... And you are so angry that you can barely see straight and all you can think about is how you really, really, really, really want to quit your job RIGHT NOW because you have had it! totally and absolutely and you are through with it... Big time. You are done with this, they can take their job and shove it. You wonder if Blockbuster is hireing. You walk out to your car thinking up the speech you are going to give your boss when you go come in the next day, in a pair of shorts, some time in the middle of the afternoon, you know, whenever you get ready... but then you say to yourself, "No speech. two words I Quit". Short and to the point. Done, finished, over and out. This job is bullshit and I am finished with it...

But.

You can't quit. You can't leave. You can't tell your boss to go to hell and take your shitty job with her. You can't.

You have to go back tomorrow and do it all again. I hate my job. I hate my boss.


But.

I hate homelessness and starvation and having to get rid of my animals even more.

On this day...

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced he would resign following damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.

One of those daze

Any light at the end of the tunnel just went out

BP shut down the biggest oilfield in the United States today after finding "severe corrosion" in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay pipeline. The shutdown could send gas prices to a record high, said industry analyst Tom Kloza. "Prices are likely to rise 3 to 5 cents a gallon for the next few days," he said.

I was going to go by the post office at lunch today but a few stories like above made me decided that I needed to put gas into Mini closer to now instead of later. The chances of the post office isn't going to up the rates between noon and when I get off. I mean, it could happen but they usually at least make the request in writing and give a few weeks notice before they pick our pockets. I hadn't heard of any rate increase from them. They could wait until after work.

I felt like a real consumer stud. I paid "only" $2.89 a gallon. That is .02 less than I paid last week. I checked Raleigh Gas Prices.com and went on my merry way.

RGP wanted me to go to a station across the street from my Sams Club. I decided, being the loyal Sams Club member that I am, that I went by there first to check how they were priced. $2.92! Usually they are cheaper then the guys around them. I was really hurt, I should have known when they weren’t mentioned on RGP, but they aren’t always. They have no sign that can be seen from the street so the don’t always get mentioned. Those price gouging bastards! I took off out of there and went across the street. Actually, I took off out of there and drove a mile and a half down the street in the opposite direction before I could turn around. I was so intent on the One True Gas Station and getting there, that I totally missed the Shell station with the same $2.89 per gallon price! if I had been in the correct lane I could have hit that station and been on my way but no, I was in the far left lane and couldn't get over. I was pissed. I finally got to the turn off and went back a mile and a half to the "right" station. Sigh.

I didn’t have the heart to look at the bill. I just don’t want to know. I pay my plastic bill every month with my eyes closed.

Hours later I went to the post office. My post office is directly across from a federal court house. Today at the federal court house were many, many TV trucks. They weren’t there because my visit to the post office was such a newsworthy occurrence, even in Raleigh my visit to the post office is hardly worthy of TV trucks.

The trucks were there for a bad man. Why is this being done in Raleigh? Isn’t this the sort of thing that should be done in a more important place? This guy is a war criminal, isn’t there a special place to produce nice big show trials for these people? Like a Nuernberg? These folks need to be punished and we should all have to watch.

Workers Comp!!

Job stress elevates blood pressure

"We found that cumulative exposure to job strain resulted in significant increases in systolic blood pressure among male white-collar workers, especially those with low levels of social support at work," Dr. Chantal Guimont, of Laval University, in Quebec City, Quebec, and her colleagues write in this month's American Journal of Public Health.

Wuss

Gawd its hot. It’s still hot. Don’t let reports of some sort of mythic break in the weather fool you, no one opened November early, it’s still August. The people in New York have stopped carping about the heat, but that’s only because they all finally got their power back and now, cooled down a little, they have moved on to other things to carp about, like opposite side of the street parking or whatever it is that they bitch about when their A/C works.

I’m still hot. I am such a hot weather wuss now. I was such a stud before, my blood was like water before I got here and now all of a sudden my veins are full of jam. I’m from Texas damn it! I shouldn’t notice hot weather until the rubber on my flip flops started to adhere to the pavement and then I wouldn't care.

The news here has been bitching about the all important Heat Index and being such little old ladies about it. Yes, the heat index was to be 104, and the real temperature was like, 99, okay. Talk to me when the actual temperature is 104. I remember driving to work at 7am and the temp all ready being 91 - that being the low for the day and it wasn't a big deal and nobody cared. Raleigh would have a red bar across the bottom of every TV screen warning us it was going to be Hot and giving us tips to not die.

I'm so hot. I think it’s like what happens when you stop drinking. While you are regularly getting plastered you develop a tolerance. It’s something to be proud of ( in a really, sick, juvenile way, of course) , the more you get drunk the more you have to drink to get drunk. When you start a couple of wine coolers will have you clinging to the bed to escape the bed spins, a few months later you would have to drink your body weight to get the same effect. No one wants the bed spins but you want to enjoy yourself on the way to them. A couple of wine coolers is hardly enjoying yourself.

I used to have a monster heat tolerance. I could have walked on the sun, and I think I did one time taking my trash to the dumpster one day, and it was fine. It was hot, but I was, um, cool with it because after all, I was a champ, I was experienced in the ways of the heat. Heat was just one of those things you deal with, stay inside, don’t move around much, drink water, don’t go outside ever. It was a dry heat, which some how is supposed to be better. It’s not. It’s like walking into your oven and inhaling. The heat is always around you and in my memory the wind was always blowing that heat at you. There were no cool breezes. It was just very, very, very hot and it would stay that way until it was very, very, very cold - which when you are acclimatized to 104 degree weather “very cold” can be 40 degrees.

In really hot weather, every time you go outside all the fluid in your body feels as though it has evaporated. You just get used to it. No one talks about it, it's just the way it is. It would be like bitching about the cold in the antarctic .

Now, however. I’m hot. I’m hot all the time and I don’t like it. If I called my friends in Dallas and whined about the awful 92 degree weather we are enduring , I’m pretty sure they would hang up on me or not hang up but laugh so hard they would pass out. So. I won’t be calling them. It’s too hot to be laughed at for being a weather wuss. I’ll save my weather sympathy calls for we have snow on the ground, snow terrifies them.

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

May The Force be With Him

If you notice a disturbance in the force this afternoon, there will be a very good reason.

Catholics prepare for installation ceremony

The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge will be installed as the Fifth Bishop of Raleigh during a solemn liturgy Friday, August 4, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the Meymandi Concert Hall for the Center for Performing Arts, located on East Street in Raleigh. Taking part in the ceremony will be four cardinals, four archbishops and approximately 30 bishops. The ceremony is being held at the Meymandi Concert Hall to accommodate a larger gathering. Sacred Heart Cathedral, the smallest Catholic cathedral in the contiguous 48 states, can seat approximately 350 people. Meymandi can seat approximately 1,750 people. Attendance is by invitation only, with each parish receiving a ticket allotment. Only individuals with tickets will be admitted.

I was all set to wear a skirt to work and maybe duck out early to go to this shindig until I got to the “ Only individuals with tickets will be admitted” part. I’m a big fan of big ceremonies and as a Catholic, I know from big ceremonies after 30-something years in the Church I’m a connoisseur. We do “big” really, really well. Did ya’ll see The Popes’ funeral? We did that. Sadly, I don’t have a ticket and I have a feeling it may be too late to call the church office to see about getting one. I would go just for the atmosphere but the atmosphere is outside. What are the chances that there would be scalpers there so that I might enjoy the inside?

I didn’t like or dislike the last Bishop. I had no opinion one way or the other. I was glad to see that he as not one of the wingnuts who decided to refuse communion to pols that didn’t mouth along with the neocon talking points. The man kept his Church out of the State. I respected that.

But then The Pope died, the Bishop aged out - they can do that, I didn’t know. It turns out that at age 75 they get a gold rosary and shown the door.

Exit stage Left. Well, leftish, there is only so "left" the Church gets. Liberation theology non-withstanding.

Enter Stage Rightwing. If what little I have read is accurate. The new Bishop. I will absolutely go to hell for this but, He’s a child! He’s Doogie Howser gone to the seminary! My Priest is older! Bishop New Guy is twelve years old and will be the Bishop of Raleigh for the rest of my life time. Hell, the last Bishop lasted 35 years. The new guy doesn’t remember life prior to Vatican II!

From the Raleigh, News and Observer, Though the two men were nurtured in the same faith, they were shaped by vastly different historical forces. While Gossman was made bishop in the 1960s, during the era of the Second Vatican Council reforms, Burbidge's priestly life took shape in the early 1980s, an era characterized by a resurgence of traditional practices.

Super. Did you know I was an alter server. A girl alter server? Did you know The Vatican didn’t approve? Do you know how Catholic women fare under “traditional practices”? They don’t act as alter servers, that's for sure. You can tell a lot about a parish my checking out the gender of the alter servers. If they still have “alter boys”, you are back in Kansas. We are never going to go back to the Latin Mass ( Thank God) but...

The new bishop comes to the job from a bastion of American Catholicism. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has 1.4 million Catholics -- more than the total Triangle population. Across its five counties, the archdiocese includes 274 parishes, 194 elementary schools, and 11 colleges and universities. In recent years the archdiocese has struggled to respond to clergy sex-abuse scandals, but it remains a place rich in history, formal in liturgy and orthodox in theology.

“Formal in liturgy and orthodox in theology”. He’s saying the noon gospel Mass on Sunday, we’ll see how “formal and orthodox” he finds our gospel choir and our alter girls.

No Satisfaction

Triple-digit torture leaves millions in misery

Flooding, snow as severe cold grips South Africa

It was so hot ( How hot was it?) John went outside in his______

I found the reason to keep my cable. Match Game! I love Match Game.

I’ve been coming home from work and collapsing in front of the TV. I used to come home and quickly take the dog out, make my lunch, feed the cat, change clothes, clean the cat box and put clothes together for the next day and then grab Dogger and go for a walk. But its hot! Dogger has very sensitive feet and the pavement hurts when it gets this hot, also, all that running around being useful? It was a lot of work. I work at work. I don’t want to crawl away from the office so I can rush home to do more work. It’s summer, it’s hot and I deserve a break.

So. Instead of all that tiresome running around, I relax: Have remote will waste time. You would be surprised what you can come across when you have 150 channels to flip through.

Did you know there is a whole network dedicated to Game Shows? old game shows?! I mean, really, really, really old game shows and I’m not talking about three year old Weakest Link or even seven year old What Wants To Be A Millionaire, I’m talking about Match Game 74. The good stuff. Orange plaids, huge collars, ascots, gold medallions!, Bret Summers, Charles Nelson Reilly, random blond ingenues, Richard Dawson post Hogans’ Heros pre Family Feud - early seventies the man could rock fifteen pound gold medallion. P Diddy only thought he was rocking the bling .

It’s the most fun ever! The money is small, the questions are stupid, the contestants answers are stupid. The panalists answers rank from even more stuiped to the surreal; and the puns! the puns were bad... but damn it was a funny show. Pure D fun. No stress, no unsightly competitive vibes to ruin the flow, just endless fill in the blank fun. I don’t know what was happening in 1974 but neither did the show and that’s cool. Its ageless, timeless and totally without Regis.

I went looking and there are entire fan sites dedicated to it’s wonder, how about a new Wallpaper for your desk top? How about another another fan site?, even Wikipedia has an entry. For a real trip to banal land, go forth and find about the melodrama surrounding Dawson leaving. Yes, there was drama. Life was slower then. Life could be slower now Dawsons last show in screen captures.

What else? It’s still warm.