The Tex Witch Project
Princess Daisy
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Not Just Kid Stuff anymore
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore. Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs.
Fuller story here
Vote these jackasses out. Remember any vote for any Republican at any level will allow these people into your bedroom. All Republicans are suspect and they are all bad guys. Every single one of them. There are no "good" Republicans - no matter a nice or normal they seem, there isn't any Republican running for any office at any level that is not a danger to you. Vote a straight Democratic ticket and contact your local Democrats to find out the score on races such as local School Board races, City Council races, Clerk of Court, Judges - any race where they do not run with party identification. It matters. The little guy running for City Council will effect you much more than the big guy running for Senate.
For my local Wake County Readers: The Democrats Running on November 7
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore. Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs.
Fuller story here
Vote these jackasses out. Remember any vote for any Republican at any level will allow these people into your bedroom. All Republicans are suspect and they are all bad guys. Every single one of them. There are no "good" Republicans - no matter a nice or normal they seem, there isn't any Republican running for any office at any level that is not a danger to you. Vote a straight Democratic ticket and contact your local Democrats to find out the score on races such as local School Board races, City Council races, Clerk of Court, Judges - any race where they do not run with party identification. It matters. The little guy running for City Council will effect you much more than the big guy running for Senate.
For my local Wake County Readers: The Democrats Running on November 7
Happy Halloween!!
Baby, its cold outside or how I learned that start time is a nebulous concept at best
The much overthought costume
(with thanks to Alphagal who gave the most useful bridesmaids' gift any bride ever gave to her attendants. Totally. Alphagal looked after her girls bigtime)
I wanted to make sure that I got to the event on time. When I left at a quarter to six I was afraid I might be late. I went to where I was pretty sure the venue was and discovered that it was not where I thought it was at all, it was a bar but it was the wrong bar! Damn it. Did you know downtown Raleigh has a lot of bars? I was shocked too.
Now, I was not going to get out of the car, I would have driven around all night before I got out and went in someplace to ask. There is nothing sadder than an orphaned, costume wearer in a sea of people not dressed in costume. I’m dumb I’m not daft. I finally got my shite together and found the street where the event was actually located but then turned the wrong way on it when I found it and ended up not where I wanted to be. I felt in my heart it was a right hand turn and that the venue could only be in that direction. It wasn’t. Not even kind of. I am not very bright and I was driving around in a little red riding hood costume. In broad daylight.
I smartened up fast though. I was thinking “Damn, this thing is going to be under way and there is going to be nowhere to park and I’m going to wind up parking a million miles away and probably going to end up mugged. . When I finally rolled up at ten after I was able to park at the gate. I was the first one there. I was so early the cops milling around the entry had the time to check my ID. I haven’t had my ID checked in years. I’m old and I look old. I’m not going to pass for under twenty-one again in this life time. I’m pretty sure I was older than the cop IDing me.
Okay. 6:10 pm. nobody doing nothing. The first of the three bands hadn’t started warming up and a quick look around turned up me, myself and I. Did they even bother to advertise this? I learned about it from a random guy at the dog park. I never saw any official notice of it out in the world until I searched for it online.
I was the first person to sign up for the costume contest. I then decided that instead of wandering around by my lonesome in broad daylight in a little red riding hood costume that I and my costume should eat something over priced. I went into one of the hosting establishments and after having to admit I was there by myself, was seated. I was waited on by The Littlest Angel. While I was waiting for my food I watched a muted, ancient Dracula movie. I idly wondered why the Whedonverse vamps never wore tuxedos.
I over tipped the Littlest Angel and went on my way. At least by now it was darker and I noticed a few more costumed people milling around outside.
Darth Vader and Leia
The Power Plant needs closer over sight!
Rome lives.
He's game!
I had repeated moments of panic because I would suddenly notice I could not see through the mask. I could but it was a matter of training myself to focus in the right place, actually through and X shape in the mask where the eye holes were supposed to be.
Suffering for my art
The Village People didn’t hit the stage until close to ten; I did not win the costume contest: I should have though. Some bimbo in an acid washed mini skirt stuffed a pillow up her top and called herself Brittany made the cut instead. This guy was the big winner:
I had a great time, my costume got a lot of compliments and the Village People still rawk. Go HERE for the rest of the pixs.
The Village People!
Baby, its cold outside or how I learned that start time is a nebulous concept at best
The much overthought costume
(with thanks to Alphagal who gave the most useful bridesmaids' gift any bride ever gave to her attendants. Totally. Alphagal looked after her girls bigtime)
I wanted to make sure that I got to the event on time. When I left at a quarter to six I was afraid I might be late. I went to where I was pretty sure the venue was and discovered that it was not where I thought it was at all, it was a bar but it was the wrong bar! Damn it. Did you know downtown Raleigh has a lot of bars? I was shocked too.
Now, I was not going to get out of the car, I would have driven around all night before I got out and went in someplace to ask. There is nothing sadder than an orphaned, costume wearer in a sea of people not dressed in costume. I’m dumb I’m not daft. I finally got my shite together and found the street where the event was actually located but then turned the wrong way on it when I found it and ended up not where I wanted to be. I felt in my heart it was a right hand turn and that the venue could only be in that direction. It wasn’t. Not even kind of. I am not very bright and I was driving around in a little red riding hood costume. In broad daylight.
I smartened up fast though. I was thinking “Damn, this thing is going to be under way and there is going to be nowhere to park and I’m going to wind up parking a million miles away and probably going to end up mugged. . When I finally rolled up at ten after I was able to park at the gate. I was the first one there. I was so early the cops milling around the entry had the time to check my ID. I haven’t had my ID checked in years. I’m old and I look old. I’m not going to pass for under twenty-one again in this life time. I’m pretty sure I was older than the cop IDing me.
Okay. 6:10 pm. nobody doing nothing. The first of the three bands hadn’t started warming up and a quick look around turned up me, myself and I. Did they even bother to advertise this? I learned about it from a random guy at the dog park. I never saw any official notice of it out in the world until I searched for it online.
I was the first person to sign up for the costume contest. I then decided that instead of wandering around by my lonesome in broad daylight in a little red riding hood costume that I and my costume should eat something over priced. I went into one of the hosting establishments and after having to admit I was there by myself, was seated. I was waited on by The Littlest Angel. While I was waiting for my food I watched a muted, ancient Dracula movie. I idly wondered why the Whedonverse vamps never wore tuxedos.
I over tipped the Littlest Angel and went on my way. At least by now it was darker and I noticed a few more costumed people milling around outside.
Darth Vader and Leia
The Power Plant needs closer over sight!
Rome lives.
He's game!
I had repeated moments of panic because I would suddenly notice I could not see through the mask. I could but it was a matter of training myself to focus in the right place, actually through and X shape in the mask where the eye holes were supposed to be.
Suffering for my art
The Village People didn’t hit the stage until close to ten; I did not win the costume contest: I should have though. Some bimbo in an acid washed mini skirt stuffed a pillow up her top and called herself Brittany made the cut instead. This guy was the big winner:
I had a great time, my costume got a lot of compliments and the Village People still rawk. Go HERE for the rest of the pixs.
The Village People!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Two views one story
FAUX News.com
The British Government is preparing to fire a new round of global warming alarmism at the U.S. next week.
CNN.com
What is not in doubt is that at the scienctific evidence of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is now overwhelming.
It's front page above the fold news at CNN.com, at the FAUX.com it's hidden the very bottom of their "science" page. Along with the story about big foot.
FAUX News.com
The British Government is preparing to fire a new round of global warming alarmism at the U.S. next week.
CNN.com
What is not in doubt is that at the scienctific evidence of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is now overwhelming.
It's front page above the fold news at CNN.com, at the FAUX.com it's hidden the very bottom of their "science" page. Along with the story about big foot.
Weekend
I’m going to talk about the whole Village People Halloweenpoloza, but I’ll do it tomorrow on ya know, Halloween.
When did weekends turn into forty-eight hours of errands and chores? I thought about that while I was running up and down the stairs to do the laundry and cleaning the bathroom and emptying the dishwasher. I spend the whole week looking forward to this?. I mean TGIF and all but damn, Yay its’ Friday!! Wooooo! I get to rake the yard! Woo-Hoooo!
My whole weekend was spent moving from one chore to the other. Do the laundry, clean the bathroom, do the grocery shopping, run errands, rake the leaves, mow the lawn, wash the dog and when you finished with that, carve the pumpkin, don’t forget to take the trash out and deal with the recycling and walk the dog.
I recognized that every single person over the age of about 19 does all of this and more every weekend and I should whine less but dayum.
You know I was actually kind of disappointed to wake up Sunday morning and find it sunny and warm and glorious. It mean because “Wow I can now do all those outdoor things!!” I have been able to avoid because it’s been raining and or cold for the last couple of weekends. I really didn’t want to mow or rake the yard. I thought I could get away with a just little light raking but some of the leaves where way up at the “top” of the yard and when I tried to rake them to the curb they just sort of spread out and made the yard look worse than before and it was taking a long time and seemed to be taking way more energy to complete the task then it really needed to ... so I decided that what I really should so is just mow it - another job I have been happy to not do while it was raining.
I have to say though, mowing the yard when its coolish and there is a nice cool breeze blowing is a much better experience than mowing that same yard when its 95 degrees and calm. I think that it is mostly due to the lack of sweat getting in my eyes. Dealing with discomfort bordering on pain does make you complete the job with a song in your heart. Even though the weather is nicer for mowing, I can’t wait for the neighborhood yard man to finally throw in the towel and give me a break. I might pay him though to scalp the yard for me, he has a really good lawn mower that doesn’t seem to take it personally when he lowers the setting. Mine hates it when I touch it like that. I suck at scalping the yard anayway, and it takes a while to make sure all the wheels are on the same height and the mower is level. I never do it without ending up with a few weird yard circles from the uneven, unbalanced blade - oddly no UK UFO seekers have come to check them out. It always appears to me from the street, at least that the circles are at least visible from the moon.
I’m going to talk about the whole Village People Halloweenpoloza, but I’ll do it tomorrow on ya know, Halloween.
When did weekends turn into forty-eight hours of errands and chores? I thought about that while I was running up and down the stairs to do the laundry and cleaning the bathroom and emptying the dishwasher. I spend the whole week looking forward to this?. I mean TGIF and all but damn, Yay its’ Friday!! Wooooo! I get to rake the yard! Woo-Hoooo!
My whole weekend was spent moving from one chore to the other. Do the laundry, clean the bathroom, do the grocery shopping, run errands, rake the leaves, mow the lawn, wash the dog and when you finished with that, carve the pumpkin, don’t forget to take the trash out and deal with the recycling and walk the dog.
I recognized that every single person over the age of about 19 does all of this and more every weekend and I should whine less but dayum.
You know I was actually kind of disappointed to wake up Sunday morning and find it sunny and warm and glorious. It mean because “Wow I can now do all those outdoor things!!” I have been able to avoid because it’s been raining and or cold for the last couple of weekends. I really didn’t want to mow or rake the yard. I thought I could get away with a just little light raking but some of the leaves where way up at the “top” of the yard and when I tried to rake them to the curb they just sort of spread out and made the yard look worse than before and it was taking a long time and seemed to be taking way more energy to complete the task then it really needed to ... so I decided that what I really should so is just mow it - another job I have been happy to not do while it was raining.
I have to say though, mowing the yard when its coolish and there is a nice cool breeze blowing is a much better experience than mowing that same yard when its 95 degrees and calm. I think that it is mostly due to the lack of sweat getting in my eyes. Dealing with discomfort bordering on pain does make you complete the job with a song in your heart. Even though the weather is nicer for mowing, I can’t wait for the neighborhood yard man to finally throw in the towel and give me a break. I might pay him though to scalp the yard for me, he has a really good lawn mower that doesn’t seem to take it personally when he lowers the setting. Mine hates it when I touch it like that. I suck at scalping the yard anayway, and it takes a while to make sure all the wheels are on the same height and the mower is level. I never do it without ending up with a few weird yard circles from the uneven, unbalanced blade - oddly no UK UFO seekers have come to check them out. It always appears to me from the street, at least that the circles are at least visible from the moon.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
He knew AKA Republicans are Evil
If you do not vote a straight democratic ticket this will happen again and it will happen on a smaller scale in your town. You must find out the party affiliation of every candidate up for election, it doesn't matter if it is a non-partisan race oh, right, there is no such thing as "non-partisan" race any longer. You must not vote for any Republican for any position for any reason. Dog catcher, Clerk of Court, City Manager. It doesn't matter. The Republican Party is the party of torture and lies and corruption. If the candidate is running as a Republican they have given tacit approval to these methods. Pray for Them, Do Not Vote For Them.
The VP of torture...
Cheney was asked in an interview with conservative radio host Scott Henning on Tuesday whether he agreed "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives."
"It's a no-brainer for me," the vice president replied.
definition of Waterboarding
The subject is strapped to a board and either tipped back or lowered into a body of water until he or she believed that drowning was imminent. The tortured person then is removed from the water and revived. If deemed necessary, the routine is repeated.
White House denies Cheney hailed 'water boarding'
President Bush said of Cheney's comments, said, "This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture." He spoke at an Oval Office meeting Friday>
Bush Signs Terrorism Measure
the new law imposes tight limits on defendants' traditional courtroom rights, including restrictions on their ability to examine the evidence against them, to challenge their incarceration and to exclude evidence gained through witness coercion.
If you do not vote a straight democratic ticket this will happen again and it will happen on a smaller scale in your town. You must find out the party affiliation of every candidate up for election, it doesn't matter if it is a non-partisan race oh, right, there is no such thing as "non-partisan" race any longer. You must not vote for any Republican for any position for any reason. Dog catcher, Clerk of Court, City Manager. It doesn't matter. The Republican Party is the party of torture and lies and corruption. If the candidate is running as a Republican they have given tacit approval to these methods. Pray for Them, Do Not Vote For Them.
The VP of torture...
Cheney was asked in an interview with conservative radio host Scott Henning on Tuesday whether he agreed "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives."
"It's a no-brainer for me," the vice president replied.
definition of Waterboarding
The subject is strapped to a board and either tipped back or lowered into a body of water until he or she believed that drowning was imminent. The tortured person then is removed from the water and revived. If deemed necessary, the routine is repeated.
White House denies Cheney hailed 'water boarding'
President Bush said of Cheney's comments, said, "This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture." He spoke at an Oval Office meeting Friday>
Bush Signs Terrorism Measure
the new law imposes tight limits on defendants' traditional courtroom rights, including restrictions on their ability to examine the evidence against them, to challenge their incarceration and to exclude evidence gained through witness coercion.
Doh!
After consulted my fashion adviser AKA Alphagal about LRRH accessories, I made tracks to Wallyworld to do a little shoe shopping. I was following up on her suggestion that maryjanes would be an advisable shoe choice for the costume - and she was right, in my "research" I saw many LRRH images and in almost all of them the character was portrayed as wearing maryjanes.
So I went shopping. I pulled into Wallworld and headed to the shoe department and lo and behold actually found maryjanes! Woo-Hoo, not in my size and as it turned out they were children's shoes, but still. maryjanes in the hizzahouse! I soldiered on and found actual adult sized maryjanes! Still not my size, Damn. So I wandered around some more thinking I could find something close in my size. No, that was not to be. I did get to over hear some woman whining loudly and repeatedly in a very annoying tone (she totally had the voice and inflection of a two year old who needed a nap) about wanting to find snow boots and a random guy addressing her from several isles over "It ain't even gonna snow for months if it does at all, you won't find them now anyways". She shut up.
Okay, so I looked around Wallyworld some more. I found some tights. I put the tights down somewhere and lost them. I found some more tights. I also went to the Halloween section to see if they might have a rubber wolf mask, because I could wear that and achieve actual scariness while not having to over think hair and make up. Sadly, no rubber wolf masks or much of anything at all.
I went back to the shoe department and found the wrong sized shoes again and decided I wasn't going to be wearing them for long anyway and I got ready to leave, I was now running late. I was almost up to the check out when I remembered - I all ready have a pair of maryjanes and they fit! And all my wandering around was for not and I was now really late. Damn it.
After consulted my fashion adviser AKA Alphagal about LRRH accessories, I made tracks to Wallyworld to do a little shoe shopping. I was following up on her suggestion that maryjanes would be an advisable shoe choice for the costume - and she was right, in my "research" I saw many LRRH images and in almost all of them the character was portrayed as wearing maryjanes.
So I went shopping. I pulled into Wallworld and headed to the shoe department and lo and behold actually found maryjanes! Woo-Hoo, not in my size and as it turned out they were children's shoes, but still. maryjanes in the hizzahouse! I soldiered on and found actual adult sized maryjanes! Still not my size, Damn. So I wandered around some more thinking I could find something close in my size. No, that was not to be. I did get to over hear some woman whining loudly and repeatedly in a very annoying tone (she totally had the voice and inflection of a two year old who needed a nap) about wanting to find snow boots and a random guy addressing her from several isles over "It ain't even gonna snow for months if it does at all, you won't find them now anyways". She shut up.
Okay, so I looked around Wallyworld some more. I found some tights. I put the tights down somewhere and lost them. I found some more tights. I also went to the Halloween section to see if they might have a rubber wolf mask, because I could wear that and achieve actual scariness while not having to over think hair and make up. Sadly, no rubber wolf masks or much of anything at all.
I went back to the shoe department and found the wrong sized shoes again and decided I wasn't going to be wearing them for long anyway and I got ready to leave, I was now running late. I was almost up to the check out when I remembered - I all ready have a pair of maryjanes and they fit! And all my wandering around was for not and I was now really late. Damn it.
The Dixie Chicks
Have a new movie, a documentory called Shut Up and Sing go here to watch the trailor.
Have a new movie, a documentory called Shut Up and Sing go here to watch the trailor.
Question
I will use the men's restroom if it is the only one open - if I have to go I have to go. I have no problem useing the room marks as Men's and I deride other woman who turn up their noses at the prospect. I decided that I will need to wear heavy tights or something under my costume, the question is, I know where I can get cheap long john pants that would be perfect, color, texture, the whole thing ,the problem being they are mens cheap long john pants.
The woman's long johns pants selection at the that store are in pink, blue, yellow or flowered. Also most come only in "Olsen Twin" or 3x. The men's long johns are closer to my size (neither "Olsen Twin" or 3x) but they are men's long johns! And all that that entails. Am I being too precious about a minor detail?
The alternate is buying heavy tights that may cost more and will not double as emergency long john pants. Yes, in the past I have had "long john pants" emergencies.
I will use the men's restroom if it is the only one open - if I have to go I have to go. I have no problem useing the room marks as Men's and I deride other woman who turn up their noses at the prospect. I decided that I will need to wear heavy tights or something under my costume, the question is, I know where I can get cheap long john pants that would be perfect, color, texture, the whole thing ,the problem being they are mens cheap long john pants.
The woman's long johns pants selection at the that store are in pink, blue, yellow or flowered. Also most come only in "Olsen Twin" or 3x. The men's long johns are closer to my size (neither "Olsen Twin" or 3x) but they are men's long johns! And all that that entails. Am I being too precious about a minor detail?
The alternate is buying heavy tights that may cost more and will not double as emergency long john pants. Yes, in the past I have had "long john pants" emergencies.
TGIF
Have you carved your pumpkin yet? Of course you have all ready brought yours home by now and are no doubt just trying to narrow down your design choices. I am here to help. Go HERE and experiment with your designs to your little hearts desire. It has two settings “free hand” and “straight edge”. Both will give you results that are startling close to what you would get free handing it on your own pumpkin. The site gives you the chance to experiment with your ideas before you have to take a knife in hand. I’m been practicing a lot. I think I’ll just print out the design that works the best and tape it to the front of my pumpkin. I suck as a pumpkin carver and my jack-o’-lanterns always turn out looking like I lent the knife to a toddler, pointed him in the right direction and then left the room.
But. Yay! Halloween! The gateway to the holiday season. Like it or not.
The office is all ready swimming in Halloween candy. I decided that I’m not going to hand out candy this year again. I have been handing out coupons for Wendy’s milkshakes, but I’m over that and I end up with a lot of coupons I can’t use because as it turns out that Wendy’s milkshakes kind of suck and the kiddy size that the coupons are for, are just a pain in the ass. So. What to give out? I don’t want to hand out candy because I never end up with that many trick or treaters and so I have candy to eat and that is a bad thing and if I buy candy I won’t eat, yes, it exists a candy I won’t eat, I end up having to throw the left overs away and that just seems wasteful. I came up with a better idea:
Not only not candy! But almost good for you, almost because it does come pre-buttered with some sort of likely petroleum based butter flavored popcorn topping. The box I picked up at Sam’s Club has 40 single serve bags and there is no way I’m going to get 40 kids at my door. In preparation, I have been sampling the popcorn prior to Halloween… I wouldn’t want to dump bad popcorn on the kids! That would be wrong.
I suggest the little bags though. They are exactly the right size for one person sitting down to eat popcorn and because there isn’t much of it, you finish it quickly and it stays hot till the end. It’s really good.
Speaking of Halloween. I have plans!, well, not for the day itself. It’s a school night, but this weekend, Attention Local Raleigh Readers!! - Saturday, The Village People are coming to Raleigh for a free* (provided it doesn’t rain, if it’s a rain out its going to be held inside and then there is a charge) concert!
The real live Village People! are playing! In person! I’m giddy and I’m not even an actual fan. But they are going to be here and I am going to see them! Anyway. I’m going to dress up and go, disounts for those in costume! I’m going to be Little Red Riding Hood.
A quick GIS educated me to more modern costuming for the prospective adult ‘Hood
Yeah. Not really me. I need something between Little Red child 'hood and Little Red Riding 'Ho. I’m going to be old fashioned. I’m going for a more theatrical version of Little Red… it’s all about achieving vermisilitude. I may dress Dogger up as The Wolf. For more info about The Village People and the whole to-do - Monsterbash
Have you carved your pumpkin yet? Of course you have all ready brought yours home by now and are no doubt just trying to narrow down your design choices. I am here to help. Go HERE and experiment with your designs to your little hearts desire. It has two settings “free hand” and “straight edge”. Both will give you results that are startling close to what you would get free handing it on your own pumpkin. The site gives you the chance to experiment with your ideas before you have to take a knife in hand. I’m been practicing a lot. I think I’ll just print out the design that works the best and tape it to the front of my pumpkin. I suck as a pumpkin carver and my jack-o’-lanterns always turn out looking like I lent the knife to a toddler, pointed him in the right direction and then left the room.
But. Yay! Halloween! The gateway to the holiday season. Like it or not.
The office is all ready swimming in Halloween candy. I decided that I’m not going to hand out candy this year again. I have been handing out coupons for Wendy’s milkshakes, but I’m over that and I end up with a lot of coupons I can’t use because as it turns out that Wendy’s milkshakes kind of suck and the kiddy size that the coupons are for, are just a pain in the ass. So. What to give out? I don’t want to hand out candy because I never end up with that many trick or treaters and so I have candy to eat and that is a bad thing and if I buy candy I won’t eat, yes, it exists a candy I won’t eat, I end up having to throw the left overs away and that just seems wasteful. I came up with a better idea:
Not only not candy! But almost good for you, almost because it does come pre-buttered with some sort of likely petroleum based butter flavored popcorn topping. The box I picked up at Sam’s Club has 40 single serve bags and there is no way I’m going to get 40 kids at my door. In preparation, I have been sampling the popcorn prior to Halloween… I wouldn’t want to dump bad popcorn on the kids! That would be wrong.
I suggest the little bags though. They are exactly the right size for one person sitting down to eat popcorn and because there isn’t much of it, you finish it quickly and it stays hot till the end. It’s really good.
Speaking of Halloween. I have plans!, well, not for the day itself. It’s a school night, but this weekend, Attention Local Raleigh Readers!! - Saturday, The Village People are coming to Raleigh for a free* (provided it doesn’t rain, if it’s a rain out its going to be held inside and then there is a charge) concert!
The real live Village People! are playing! In person! I’m giddy and I’m not even an actual fan. But they are going to be here and I am going to see them! Anyway. I’m going to dress up and go, disounts for those in costume! I’m going to be Little Red Riding Hood.
A quick GIS educated me to more modern costuming for the prospective adult ‘Hood
Yeah. Not really me. I need something between Little Red child 'hood and Little Red Riding 'Ho. I’m going to be old fashioned. I’m going for a more theatrical version of Little Red… it’s all about achieving vermisilitude. I may dress Dogger up as The Wolf. For more info about The Village People and the whole to-do - Monsterbash
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Where would Donald Rumsfeld spend his weekends?
At Mt. Misery
But there is some historical gravity to the name, too. By 1833, Mount Misery's owner was Edward Covey, a farmer notorious for breaking unruly slaves for other farmers. One who wouldn't be broken was Frederick Douglass, then 16 and later the abolitionist orator. Covey assaulted him, so Douglass beat him up and escaped. Today, where the drive begins, Mount Misery seems a congenial place, with a white mailbox with newspaper delivery sleeves attached, a big American flag fluttering from a post. (New York Times)
The history of Mt. Misery
At Mt. Misery
But there is some historical gravity to the name, too. By 1833, Mount Misery's owner was Edward Covey, a farmer notorious for breaking unruly slaves for other farmers. One who wouldn't be broken was Frederick Douglass, then 16 and later the abolitionist orator. Covey assaulted him, so Douglass beat him up and escaped. Today, where the drive begins, Mount Misery seems a congenial place, with a white mailbox with newspaper delivery sleeves attached, a big American flag fluttering from a post. (New York Times)
The history of Mt. Misery
Warm hands, Warm heart
I noticed something the other morning while I waiting for the car to heat up: I was waiting for the car to heat up.
I was cold! it was cold! all ready! I don’t want to be cold yet! It’s not supposed to be cold for a while yet not until the fall. Cold is a winter thing and I don’t want it to be winter. If I was cold it means winter which means the holidays which means New Years which means a new year! I’m not ready! This cold business is jumping the gun a bit I think. The leaves haven’t changed yet and there are a lot more green things than brown things so it can not possibly be winter yet. We get autumn here and it isn’t autumn yet. It’s still late summer. Kind of.
But I was cold... and by the time I got to work I had forgotten all about it. But then the next day dawned cold too. This time I said to myself "Damn. It was cold Yesterday too! I forgot. I should have remembered to dig out some gloves last night! Brr. I'm cold Wahhhh".
My hands were cold. I can take care of cold hands! I have a wardrobe of gloves, one year Santa brought me about a half a dozen pair and while at the time, it seemed like a lot of gloves, in time it turned out to be the exact right number because it was years before I needed any more and I always had the right glove for the right job. Did I need a nice black pair? Kind of slinky but still warm? Yes! I had those, did I need a pair of blue knit gloves in the right shade of blue? Yes! I had those too! How about a dressy pair? With kewl faux fur on the cuffs! I was a glove having woman. I never had to not have gloves. I had one coat I wore to work and it always had gloves in the pocket and one coat I wore for casual wear and it always had gloves in the pocket, It was a secure feeling.. I always had gloves in my pocket.
Then.
Then I moved here to winterland. I all of a sudden had as many coats as I had pairs of gloves. Black coat, black gloves, dress blue coat, dress blue gloves, other blue coat, other black gloves, tan coat, black gloves, brown coat, back up pair of blue gloves, other pair of back up blue gloves, black mittens. And I was still adding to the heard., I bought a red coat and it came with red mittens.
And then I met Dogger.
With Dogger came daily walks, with daily walks came daily run ins with the twin glove stressors of Doggers leash and Doggers sharp puppy teeth. Puppy sharp teeth and knit gloves with the addition of the rough leash, should not have “run ins”. The puppy sharp teeth are going to win and what they don’t tear up the leash wore down. I started to lose gloves.
And now its winter again ( sigh). I’m down to my dress gloves and two pairs of mittens. This was not going to be a good winter. So, today I went on eBay and for $4, made it a good winter:
I noticed something the other morning while I waiting for the car to heat up: I was waiting for the car to heat up.
I was cold! it was cold! all ready! I don’t want to be cold yet! It’s not supposed to be cold for a while yet not until the fall. Cold is a winter thing and I don’t want it to be winter. If I was cold it means winter which means the holidays which means New Years which means a new year! I’m not ready! This cold business is jumping the gun a bit I think. The leaves haven’t changed yet and there are a lot more green things than brown things so it can not possibly be winter yet. We get autumn here and it isn’t autumn yet. It’s still late summer. Kind of.
But I was cold... and by the time I got to work I had forgotten all about it. But then the next day dawned cold too. This time I said to myself "Damn. It was cold Yesterday too! I forgot. I should have remembered to dig out some gloves last night! Brr. I'm cold Wahhhh".
My hands were cold. I can take care of cold hands! I have a wardrobe of gloves, one year Santa brought me about a half a dozen pair and while at the time, it seemed like a lot of gloves, in time it turned out to be the exact right number because it was years before I needed any more and I always had the right glove for the right job. Did I need a nice black pair? Kind of slinky but still warm? Yes! I had those, did I need a pair of blue knit gloves in the right shade of blue? Yes! I had those too! How about a dressy pair? With kewl faux fur on the cuffs! I was a glove having woman. I never had to not have gloves. I had one coat I wore to work and it always had gloves in the pocket and one coat I wore for casual wear and it always had gloves in the pocket, It was a secure feeling.. I always had gloves in my pocket.
Then.
Then I moved here to winterland. I all of a sudden had as many coats as I had pairs of gloves. Black coat, black gloves, dress blue coat, dress blue gloves, other blue coat, other black gloves, tan coat, black gloves, brown coat, back up pair of blue gloves, other pair of back up blue gloves, black mittens. And I was still adding to the heard., I bought a red coat and it came with red mittens.
And then I met Dogger.
With Dogger came daily walks, with daily walks came daily run ins with the twin glove stressors of Doggers leash and Doggers sharp puppy teeth. Puppy sharp teeth and knit gloves with the addition of the rough leash, should not have “run ins”. The puppy sharp teeth are going to win and what they don’t tear up the leash wore down. I started to lose gloves.
And now its winter again ( sigh). I’m down to my dress gloves and two pairs of mittens. This was not going to be a good winter. So, today I went on eBay and for $4, made it a good winter:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Yay for the New Jersey Courts!
Just the rest of the country to go.
Gay couples have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the New Jersey state constitution, the state Supreme Court rules.
HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds that under the Constitution, committed samesex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.
Just the rest of the country to go.
Gay couples have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the New Jersey state constitution, the state Supreme Court rules.
HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds that under the Constitution, committed samesex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.
Pow! Right to the kisser!
Do you have a punching bag? Don’t ya want one? I mean, not all the time. I would bet they’re real dust catchers. I think that a punching bag rental company would do really well and be able to do so with out having to charge a lot for the service, it’s not like the renters would need to keep the punching bag for an extended time. I would think that a few hours, a couple at most would be necessary and then on to the next client. I don’t even think that everyone would need a heavy bag wither. Most people would do very well with one of the little bags, they make a very satisfying sound when they are pounded and they don’t fight back. The heavy bags would offer a little too much weight on their side, they could knock a smaller person over and that wouldn’t be at all satisfying.
But.
When you need a punching bag isn’t it a pretty intense need? Not in the “I need a soda” way but in the “I need to hit someone” way . If you’ve gotten to the point that you need to punch somebody, you really, really need to. Aggression is a very bad thing to keep locked up. It makes you snarky and rude it leads to passive Aggression and flame wars. It can make you really, really angry at posters on web sites that say nasty things about an episode of a TV show that you really liked. When posters bitching about a single episode are making you angry, it’s really time to punch something that can’t punch back. I know its time when I want to post these to a TV forum I lurk at:
1) “I don’t think it had anything to do with Columbus or people from Columbus, or people from the Midwest in general! I think it had everything to do with his Dad being an asshole to his son and making him uncomfortable. His dad the one guy, not the entire region, not white males in general, not WASPs. He would be an asshole if he was from Miami Beach or Las Vegas or Brooklyn. You can totally be an asshole in the 213 area code”. Jerkwad.
2) "When do we care about redstate losers anyway? We hate them for being bourgeois and having no taste! and not being "smart enough" to watch this show in the first place! Every week we bitch about “those people” and now all of a sudden we’re all pissed off and protective of "those people" and their little mid-western feelings because they may or may not have been insulted?" STFU.
3) “Yes, you didn’t laugh at the episode, it’s a DRAMA you FREAK! Last week you did laugh and you bitched that the humor was inappropriate in what is meant to be a heavy drama! I hate you”.
See? I could really use one. I think it would help my blood pressure to no end if I could take out some of my superfluous hostility. I’m getting really hostile. On a bad day all it takes it one stupid comment and it’s enough to make me want to punch innocent walls or really deserving people. That is why I need a punching bag.
And not one of those el cheaper blow up ones either. When I need to hit something, I need to hit something you know? Or I am forced to take my pique out on a handful of cookies or a milkshake. I also think it’s bad for my karma and my waistline to get really angry with people just because I choose to hear what they are saying as aggressively stupid and unthinking and borderline insulting when it fact what they are saying may only be the speaker showing a mild case of poor judgment or trying to be funny or maybe they just don’t know how seriously I take the subject in question and how I really have no sense of humor regarding it at all. That is not their fault and how are they supposed to know anyway? It is not fair for me to think unkind thoughts about them, and no one deserves to have a little throw away comment, no matter how stupid or unkind or insulting or passive aggressive it sounded to me - used as an excuse for me to think really nasty thoughts about them. It’s not nice.
Do you have a punching bag? Don’t ya want one? I mean, not all the time. I would bet they’re real dust catchers. I think that a punching bag rental company would do really well and be able to do so with out having to charge a lot for the service, it’s not like the renters would need to keep the punching bag for an extended time. I would think that a few hours, a couple at most would be necessary and then on to the next client. I don’t even think that everyone would need a heavy bag wither. Most people would do very well with one of the little bags, they make a very satisfying sound when they are pounded and they don’t fight back. The heavy bags would offer a little too much weight on their side, they could knock a smaller person over and that wouldn’t be at all satisfying.
But.
When you need a punching bag isn’t it a pretty intense need? Not in the “I need a soda” way but in the “I need to hit someone” way . If you’ve gotten to the point that you need to punch somebody, you really, really need to. Aggression is a very bad thing to keep locked up. It makes you snarky and rude it leads to passive Aggression and flame wars. It can make you really, really angry at posters on web sites that say nasty things about an episode of a TV show that you really liked. When posters bitching about a single episode are making you angry, it’s really time to punch something that can’t punch back. I know its time when I want to post these to a TV forum I lurk at:
1) “I don’t think it had anything to do with Columbus or people from Columbus, or people from the Midwest in general! I think it had everything to do with his Dad being an asshole to his son and making him uncomfortable. His dad the one guy, not the entire region, not white males in general, not WASPs. He would be an asshole if he was from Miami Beach or Las Vegas or Brooklyn. You can totally be an asshole in the 213 area code”. Jerkwad.
2) "When do we care about redstate losers anyway? We hate them for being bourgeois and having no taste! and not being "smart enough" to watch this show in the first place! Every week we bitch about “those people” and now all of a sudden we’re all pissed off and protective of "those people" and their little mid-western feelings because they may or may not have been insulted?" STFU.
3) “Yes, you didn’t laugh at the episode, it’s a DRAMA you FREAK! Last week you did laugh and you bitched that the humor was inappropriate in what is meant to be a heavy drama! I hate you”.
See? I could really use one. I think it would help my blood pressure to no end if I could take out some of my superfluous hostility. I’m getting really hostile. On a bad day all it takes it one stupid comment and it’s enough to make me want to punch innocent walls or really deserving people. That is why I need a punching bag.
And not one of those el cheaper blow up ones either. When I need to hit something, I need to hit something you know? Or I am forced to take my pique out on a handful of cookies or a milkshake. I also think it’s bad for my karma and my waistline to get really angry with people just because I choose to hear what they are saying as aggressively stupid and unthinking and borderline insulting when it fact what they are saying may only be the speaker showing a mild case of poor judgment or trying to be funny or maybe they just don’t know how seriously I take the subject in question and how I really have no sense of humor regarding it at all. That is not their fault and how are they supposed to know anyway? It is not fair for me to think unkind thoughts about them, and no one deserves to have a little throw away comment, no matter how stupid or unkind or insulting or passive aggressive it sounded to me - used as an excuse for me to think really nasty thoughts about them. It’s not nice.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Cheesy Does It
I’ve been casually playing the McDonalds annual Monopoly game. I looked through the little game pieces I’ve collected and I have not won yet! I was sure if I studiously didn’t keep track of my game pieces (while making sure to not losing any) that I would magically find that I had won $5000! Without even trying!
I did win a dollar off at Best Buy and that is very exciting but until Best Buy goes into the roofing business and Mcdonalds includes a $1000 off game piece for Best New Roofs, that dollar isn’t going to help me a great deal. I had been hoping since I wasn’t paying very close attention to my game tokens that I might have accidentally won $5000 or Lichtenstein. That would have been nice. Sadly, even by pretending I don’t care very much, I have not provoked the game into action. It doesn’t care very much about me either. Sigh.
The first day I played I did win a free breakfast item, but, I want more than that. I would like to win something I want to eat. I liked the game better in the old days when you got a handful of games pieces with every purchase, no matter how small; you still ended up with fourteen games pieces of the same rail road, but it made you feel like you had a shot.
I don’t think there were any more winners but it was at least better than having to buy a specific food item to get the same tokens and I think back then they had a “no purchase to win” policy too. I think you had to mail them something and they would send game pieces back to you. Humph, now they want you to buy their salads or upsize your fries in order to win. I do not think they will pay for your cardiologist, but that might be a nice instant winner prize too. I should suggest that, and I will, the next time I say “I want a number 2 meal plain and dry NO CHEESE and they put cheese on my burger anyway and it’s not very plain or very dry.
Speaking of food. I saw a commercial for one of the chain restaurants and they were trumpeting their newest appetizers and among their exciting new line up of deep fried gack was deep fried Macaroni and Cheese. Who comes up with these things? America could probably lose tons of weight every year if we just eliminated all the extra cheese we consume. And don’t come back to me with the “But its calcium! either, the added calories and fat content make any nominal benefit derived from the calcium void. McDonalds would help if they went back to charging extra to make the burgers “with cheese” .Fast Food places in general, habitually glop too much cheese on their food. It doesn’t make the food item healthier or better tasting; it makes the food item fatter and makes the consumer of the food, fatter as well. They wonder why they get sued; I think those litigious fatties should go take a long waddle off a short pier but the added cheese on the food does not help matters. The litigious fatties don’t have to eat the food, but the makers don’t need to add all the extra cheese either.
McDonalds and the chain restaurants aren’t the only culprits, there is entirely too much cheese on pizzas too, you can get the same happy feelings from the pizza if it is not covered with a goopy cheesetastic mattress and I am not even going to mention the please-make-me-fat cheese stuffed crusts either. Yuck.
I’ve been casually playing the McDonalds annual Monopoly game. I looked through the little game pieces I’ve collected and I have not won yet! I was sure if I studiously didn’t keep track of my game pieces (while making sure to not losing any) that I would magically find that I had won $5000! Without even trying!
I did win a dollar off at Best Buy and that is very exciting but until Best Buy goes into the roofing business and Mcdonalds includes a $1000 off game piece for Best New Roofs, that dollar isn’t going to help me a great deal. I had been hoping since I wasn’t paying very close attention to my game tokens that I might have accidentally won $5000 or Lichtenstein. That would have been nice. Sadly, even by pretending I don’t care very much, I have not provoked the game into action. It doesn’t care very much about me either. Sigh.
The first day I played I did win a free breakfast item, but, I want more than that. I would like to win something I want to eat. I liked the game better in the old days when you got a handful of games pieces with every purchase, no matter how small; you still ended up with fourteen games pieces of the same rail road, but it made you feel like you had a shot.
I don’t think there were any more winners but it was at least better than having to buy a specific food item to get the same tokens and I think back then they had a “no purchase to win” policy too. I think you had to mail them something and they would send game pieces back to you. Humph, now they want you to buy their salads or upsize your fries in order to win. I do not think they will pay for your cardiologist, but that might be a nice instant winner prize too. I should suggest that, and I will, the next time I say “I want a number 2 meal plain and dry NO CHEESE and they put cheese on my burger anyway and it’s not very plain or very dry.
Speaking of food. I saw a commercial for one of the chain restaurants and they were trumpeting their newest appetizers and among their exciting new line up of deep fried gack was deep fried Macaroni and Cheese. Who comes up with these things? America could probably lose tons of weight every year if we just eliminated all the extra cheese we consume. And don’t come back to me with the “But its calcium! either, the added calories and fat content make any nominal benefit derived from the calcium void. McDonalds would help if they went back to charging extra to make the burgers “with cheese” .Fast Food places in general, habitually glop too much cheese on their food. It doesn’t make the food item healthier or better tasting; it makes the food item fatter and makes the consumer of the food, fatter as well. They wonder why they get sued; I think those litigious fatties should go take a long waddle off a short pier but the added cheese on the food does not help matters. The litigious fatties don’t have to eat the food, but the makers don’t need to add all the extra cheese either.
McDonalds and the chain restaurants aren’t the only culprits, there is entirely too much cheese on pizzas too, you can get the same happy feelings from the pizza if it is not covered with a goopy cheesetastic mattress and I am not even going to mention the please-make-me-fat cheese stuffed crusts either. Yuck.
Monday, October 23, 2006
A Meaty story
Have you ever been at such a loss of something to do that going to the grocery store so you can make meat loaf sounds like fun? I want to point out that it was 1:30 on a rainy Sunday afternoon and I was all ready done with the laundry.
Anyway. Dogger was sad so I brought her with me, bringing her with me also cuts way down on how long I stay in the store and the less time I’m wandering around the store the fewer things I buy that I do not actually need to eat. The grocery store is full of things we do not need to eat and somehow bring back with us anyway and store in with the food we do need to eat. I think it lends a gravitas to twinkies if they are stored in the same place as your cans of soup and mac and cheese. Being that close to items normally defined as “food” also you to think that twinkies are food as well. They are not. The cabinets makers of the worked would so us all a huge favor if they would construct cabinets with well defined labeled sections and perhaps, locking drawers to put the twinkies in. I would suggest dead bolts and combination locks. If you really want the twinkie, you will work for that twinkie.
Okay. I decided that I want meat loaf. I have nothing in the house to make meat loaf with. My grocery list got longer so now in addition to a bag of sugar I also needed ground meats, bread crumbs, egg product, and some sort of flavor enhancer. A good meat loaf is not made with meat alone. A good meat loaf is more loaf than meat.
For extra excitement I chose a grocery store that is not on my regular route. It’s dark, its drizzling, its 1:30 on a Sunday and your laundry is done, what do you do for excitement?
After much over thinking the ground meat portion of the loaf - What kinds? How much of what kinds? How much of what kinds with how much added fat content? How much of what kind in what kind of packaging? Does it matter? Is it better to buy them separately or should I buy the all ready mixed choice? Is it better because it is more expensive? Or are they counting on me being too lazy to mix the meats myself and they are dunning me accordingly? Do they have more interesting ground meats in the back? And would I be able to tell the difference between the cooler ground meats they may have in the back and the less cool ground meats they have displayed? And if they have cooler ground meats in the back, why are they in the back and not out here? Would they do that? Are they saving the really cool food for someone else? And if so, why? Am I not cool enough? If I tell them I will make the meat loaf in fair trade mixing bowls while accompanied by world music, would they bring it out then?
I won’t even go into my extended Newman's Own peach and lime salsas v. cheaper traditionally flavored salsas angst and how I felt bad about not wanting a peach or lime tinged meat loaf and how I still had to go to a second grocery store just to get salsa that was not lime or peach flavored but still Newman's Own and how I let a woman butt in front of me in the line because she was wildly talking to herself and how she then wouldn’t let me unload my stuff onto the conveyor belt or move my cart up - because not only was she crazy, she was also a bitch . The grocery shopping ended up being such fun.
Have you ever been at such a loss of something to do that going to the grocery store so you can make meat loaf sounds like fun? I want to point out that it was 1:30 on a rainy Sunday afternoon and I was all ready done with the laundry.
Anyway. Dogger was sad so I brought her with me, bringing her with me also cuts way down on how long I stay in the store and the less time I’m wandering around the store the fewer things I buy that I do not actually need to eat. The grocery store is full of things we do not need to eat and somehow bring back with us anyway and store in with the food we do need to eat. I think it lends a gravitas to twinkies if they are stored in the same place as your cans of soup and mac and cheese. Being that close to items normally defined as “food” also you to think that twinkies are food as well. They are not. The cabinets makers of the worked would so us all a huge favor if they would construct cabinets with well defined labeled sections and perhaps, locking drawers to put the twinkies in. I would suggest dead bolts and combination locks. If you really want the twinkie, you will work for that twinkie.
Okay. I decided that I want meat loaf. I have nothing in the house to make meat loaf with. My grocery list got longer so now in addition to a bag of sugar I also needed ground meats, bread crumbs, egg product, and some sort of flavor enhancer. A good meat loaf is not made with meat alone. A good meat loaf is more loaf than meat.
For extra excitement I chose a grocery store that is not on my regular route. It’s dark, its drizzling, its 1:30 on a Sunday and your laundry is done, what do you do for excitement?
After much over thinking the ground meat portion of the loaf - What kinds? How much of what kinds? How much of what kinds with how much added fat content? How much of what kind in what kind of packaging? Does it matter? Is it better to buy them separately or should I buy the all ready mixed choice? Is it better because it is more expensive? Or are they counting on me being too lazy to mix the meats myself and they are dunning me accordingly? Do they have more interesting ground meats in the back? And would I be able to tell the difference between the cooler ground meats they may have in the back and the less cool ground meats they have displayed? And if they have cooler ground meats in the back, why are they in the back and not out here? Would they do that? Are they saving the really cool food for someone else? And if so, why? Am I not cool enough? If I tell them I will make the meat loaf in fair trade mixing bowls while accompanied by world music, would they bring it out then?
I won’t even go into my extended Newman's Own peach and lime salsas v. cheaper traditionally flavored salsas angst and how I felt bad about not wanting a peach or lime tinged meat loaf and how I still had to go to a second grocery store just to get salsa that was not lime or peach flavored but still Newman's Own and how I let a woman butt in front of me in the line because she was wildly talking to herself and how she then wouldn’t let me unload my stuff onto the conveyor belt or move my cart up - because not only was she crazy, she was also a bitch . The grocery shopping ended up being such fun.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Them v. Us v. We
I came home to a pleasant surprise yesterday. My New Yorker subscription finally arrived. I had started to think my $7 paid to a shadowy back Internet ally character on ebay may have been for not. I mean, for $7 you expect at least some sort of service.
I did hear from the guy several weeks ago but that was only because I had rudely not left feed back for him - I usually don’t do this until I have my order in hand. I all ready have to pay a head of time, I don’t like to give feedback for something I have yet to be fed.
The seller grudging admitted to finally having sent off my subscription – a good month after I put in my order. The yutz. I knew there was going to be a pause in my subscription starting but I had no idea it would run into the months, I had tried to run down the seller but the sale was so long ago it wasn’t turning up in my ebay page. The wanker.
But, happy days are here again, I have my magazine.
My Entertainment Weekly started back up a lot faster but it seems to arrive later and later each week. I’m pretty sure that it is supposed to show up on Friday, not Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. It bugs. The one thing that Entertainment Weekly has going for it is timeliness. I like my trashy showbiz gossip to be at least moderately fresh. I need to know what the status of Vince and Jen’s relationship is and I need to know now. Well, I don’t need to know and I wouldn’t even know they had a relationship except that I spend entirely too much time waiting in line at the grocery store and Us Magazine seems to cover little else. Who are they kidding with the “us” thing? It’s not us they are covering, its is Them that they cover. The better title for the magazine would be Everyone but Us. Jen and Vince and Jen and Ben and Angelina and Brad are most assuredly not “us”. But we don’t buy glossy magazine to find out about “us”, we aren’t that interesting. They are.
Okay. Back to Me.
Dogger finally got back to the dog park. She was really glad to back with her friends. She was thrilled to see the other dog people and found a willing partner dog to play chase with the whole time we were there. The other dogs owner came over and apologized to me because his dog “made” my dog bark at it. I told the guy, "look, as long as our dogs aren't tearing each others throats out I could care less if they're performing selections from Wagner, it's all good. I was sitting there after the guy and his dog left, thinking I should have said: "your dog "makes" my dog bark? Yeah. My dog just about never barks. She prefers to communicate through interpretive dance". Whatever.
Speaking of Dogs. Nephdog has officially entirely left the building. On Monday Dogger finished up the left over food he bequeathed to her when he died. Sigh.
I’m going to whine ahead of time about the time change happening. I have really gotten fond of leisurely coming home, changing clothes, putting Dogger out and being able to just sit and watch MASH and read my mail before I have to walk Dogger. I really don’t love having to run home and hurry to change clothes and rush to get Dogger out. It’s just not a great way to wind down from work. Damn seasonal changes.
I came home to a pleasant surprise yesterday. My New Yorker subscription finally arrived. I had started to think my $7 paid to a shadowy back Internet ally character on ebay may have been for not. I mean, for $7 you expect at least some sort of service.
I did hear from the guy several weeks ago but that was only because I had rudely not left feed back for him - I usually don’t do this until I have my order in hand. I all ready have to pay a head of time, I don’t like to give feedback for something I have yet to be fed.
The seller grudging admitted to finally having sent off my subscription – a good month after I put in my order. The yutz. I knew there was going to be a pause in my subscription starting but I had no idea it would run into the months, I had tried to run down the seller but the sale was so long ago it wasn’t turning up in my ebay page. The wanker.
But, happy days are here again, I have my magazine.
My Entertainment Weekly started back up a lot faster but it seems to arrive later and later each week. I’m pretty sure that it is supposed to show up on Friday, not Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. It bugs. The one thing that Entertainment Weekly has going for it is timeliness. I like my trashy showbiz gossip to be at least moderately fresh. I need to know what the status of Vince and Jen’s relationship is and I need to know now. Well, I don’t need to know and I wouldn’t even know they had a relationship except that I spend entirely too much time waiting in line at the grocery store and Us Magazine seems to cover little else. Who are they kidding with the “us” thing? It’s not us they are covering, its is Them that they cover. The better title for the magazine would be Everyone but Us. Jen and Vince and Jen and Ben and Angelina and Brad are most assuredly not “us”. But we don’t buy glossy magazine to find out about “us”, we aren’t that interesting. They are.
Okay. Back to Me.
Dogger finally got back to the dog park. She was really glad to back with her friends. She was thrilled to see the other dog people and found a willing partner dog to play chase with the whole time we were there. The other dogs owner came over and apologized to me because his dog “made” my dog bark at it. I told the guy, "look, as long as our dogs aren't tearing each others throats out I could care less if they're performing selections from Wagner, it's all good. I was sitting there after the guy and his dog left, thinking I should have said: "your dog "makes" my dog bark? Yeah. My dog just about never barks. She prefers to communicate through interpretive dance". Whatever.
Speaking of Dogs. Nephdog has officially entirely left the building. On Monday Dogger finished up the left over food he bequeathed to her when he died. Sigh.
I’m going to whine ahead of time about the time change happening. I have really gotten fond of leisurely coming home, changing clothes, putting Dogger out and being able to just sit and watch MASH and read my mail before I have to walk Dogger. I really don’t love having to run home and hurry to change clothes and rush to get Dogger out. It’s just not a great way to wind down from work. Damn seasonal changes.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Things that should make us go Hmmmmm
Wonkette (do read it) has an interesting story that they got from Think Big about a little real estate deal that Shrub has going on down in Paraguay. Near a big semi-secret U.S base, in a country that just decided to not prosecute U.S troops for war crimes. The land Shrub aquired is also right on top of a giant aquifer. Giant. Why does Shrub want almost a 100,000 acres in Paraguay? Has he run out of scrub in Crawford?
Asuncion, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) The land grab project of US President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally. The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries...
Full story:here
Wonkette (do read it) has an interesting story that they got from Think Big about a little real estate deal that Shrub has going on down in Paraguay. Near a big semi-secret U.S base, in a country that just decided to not prosecute U.S troops for war crimes. The land Shrub aquired is also right on top of a giant aquifer. Giant. Why does Shrub want almost a 100,000 acres in Paraguay? Has he run out of scrub in Crawford?
Asuncion, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) The land grab project of US President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally. The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries...
Full story:here
Go and Do and See
Do you remember the other day when I asked?
The More I Know...
Is it worth and extra $6.50 a month to pick up T-Faux through my Direct TV? Let me know.
I got some advice, note to world at large: comments validate my existence, thanks. Anyway. The advice I received was go and become one with the T-Faux that Direct TV offers.
I had called Direct TV the day before and whoever it was I spoke to said the service was like $5 a month and covered all the TVs that were hooked to Direct TV, which in my case is two. I thought: Groovy! Bring on the T-Faux, but wait, what if this is a bad idea? It’s not as though I am immune to bad ideas. This could be a bad idea. I decided to get some advice.
Advice was sought and received. I called Direct TV back and told them what I wanted.
They then told me what they wanted - Direct TV wanted $120 plus $5 a month.
Hmmmm.
I don’t have $120 to give to Direct TV. I had been thinking I would budget for the extra charge on the cable bill by cutting down on my Netflix. I mean who needs two titles a week if I a week of Match Game saved up? It was a good trade. I can’t budget for a $120 surcharge.
So. At least for the time being, Netflix is safe from perdition.
Speaking of Netflix.
My little friend introduced me to Brick, at IMDB or Brick, offical site. Good movie. Very noir. It’s a leetle bit stylized, in the the way Kabuki theatre is a leetle bit structured. It stars the kid from Third Rock, you remember Tommy? and Lucas Haas, the kid from Witness. They play high school (yeah, right) kids who exchange a lot of dialogue like:
Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)- Your muscle seemed plenty cool putting his fist in my head. I want him out.
The Pin (Lucus Haas) - Looky, soldier...
Brendan - The ape blows or I clam.
Exposition was given in turns by Exposition Boy AKA "The Brain" and Exposition Girl/Theatre Jock. EG kept me interested through her expos-dialogue by changing costumes. It was fun to figure out what character from what show she was and how she was actually wearing her subtext. The Exposition twins got a little Des Ex Machina after a while, but this is a 1940s noir movie set in 2005 in Southern California High School. Shit happens.
A conversation between “The Brain" AKA: Exposition Boy and our antihero:
The Brain- Pin. The Pin?
Brendan Frye- The Pin, yeah?
The Brain- The Pin is kinda a local spook story, yeah know the King Pin.
Brendan Frye- Yeah, I've heard it.
The Brain- Same thing, he's supposed to be old, like 26. Lives in town.
Brendan Frye- Dope runner, right?
The Brain- Big time. See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan Frye- You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain- Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan Frye- Show of hands.
I love this kind of stuff. The script totally worked for me, It’s so over the top and there wasn’t anything in the script or on the set that wasn’t dripping with meaning and subtext. I think it would have made for great readers theatre .The movie took it self maybe a bit too seriously, okay, way too seriously. I mean do you remember the full on gangster movie made with children? it was made years ago? It had Chachi and Jody Foster? They drove little cars with peddles and fired pie guns at each other?
The guns in Brick don't fire pies, the only shells they fire are .45s. but it is cool as all get out and I would say if you see it, rent it, if you have Netflix, add it to your Quay. I would buy this movie.
Do you remember the other day when I asked?
The More I Know...
Is it worth and extra $6.50 a month to pick up T-Faux through my Direct TV? Let me know.
I got some advice, note to world at large: comments validate my existence, thanks. Anyway. The advice I received was go and become one with the T-Faux that Direct TV offers.
I had called Direct TV the day before and whoever it was I spoke to said the service was like $5 a month and covered all the TVs that were hooked to Direct TV, which in my case is two. I thought: Groovy! Bring on the T-Faux, but wait, what if this is a bad idea? It’s not as though I am immune to bad ideas. This could be a bad idea. I decided to get some advice.
Advice was sought and received. I called Direct TV back and told them what I wanted.
They then told me what they wanted - Direct TV wanted $120 plus $5 a month.
Hmmmm.
I don’t have $120 to give to Direct TV. I had been thinking I would budget for the extra charge on the cable bill by cutting down on my Netflix. I mean who needs two titles a week if I a week of Match Game saved up? It was a good trade. I can’t budget for a $120 surcharge.
So. At least for the time being, Netflix is safe from perdition.
Speaking of Netflix.
My little friend introduced me to Brick, at IMDB or Brick, offical site. Good movie. Very noir. It’s a leetle bit stylized, in the the way Kabuki theatre is a leetle bit structured. It stars the kid from Third Rock, you remember Tommy? and Lucas Haas, the kid from Witness. They play high school (yeah, right) kids who exchange a lot of dialogue like:
Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)- Your muscle seemed plenty cool putting his fist in my head. I want him out.
The Pin (Lucus Haas) - Looky, soldier...
Brendan - The ape blows or I clam.
Exposition was given in turns by Exposition Boy AKA "The Brain" and Exposition Girl/Theatre Jock. EG kept me interested through her expos-dialogue by changing costumes. It was fun to figure out what character from what show she was and how she was actually wearing her subtext. The Exposition twins got a little Des Ex Machina after a while, but this is a 1940s noir movie set in 2005 in Southern California High School. Shit happens.
A conversation between “The Brain" AKA: Exposition Boy and our antihero:
The Brain- Pin. The Pin?
Brendan Frye- The Pin, yeah?
The Brain- The Pin is kinda a local spook story, yeah know the King Pin.
Brendan Frye- Yeah, I've heard it.
The Brain- Same thing, he's supposed to be old, like 26. Lives in town.
Brendan Frye- Dope runner, right?
The Brain- Big time. See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan Frye- You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain- Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan Frye- Show of hands.
I love this kind of stuff. The script totally worked for me, It’s so over the top and there wasn’t anything in the script or on the set that wasn’t dripping with meaning and subtext. I think it would have made for great readers theatre .The movie took it self maybe a bit too seriously, okay, way too seriously. I mean do you remember the full on gangster movie made with children? it was made years ago? It had Chachi and Jody Foster? They drove little cars with peddles and fired pie guns at each other?
The guns in Brick don't fire pies, the only shells they fire are .45s. but it is cool as all get out and I would say if you see it, rent it, if you have Netflix, add it to your Quay. I would buy this movie.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
The End Times
Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.
at least fat kids don't sue you for letting them get fat
Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.
at least fat kids don't sue you for letting them get fat
Raindrops keep falling…
So I’ve been sitting here all day listening to the rain plinking on the gigantic cooler thing outside my window, trying not to think what eight hours of rain plinking on my roof at home. My mums are happy, I am not.
I am now trying to decide if I would rather take Dogger on a walk in the plinking rain or stand around in the park in the plinking rain. Either way there is no avoiding the plinking rain. Dogger would enjoy either version. Dogger doesn’t mind being out in plinking rain, she does however not enjoy rain falling harder than plinking. I think its come down to rain she can feel verses rain she can see. If she knows she’s being rained on she is less excited about being out in it. If she just happens to get a little damp while she’s outside, she’s fine with that.
I tried to get creative with the one remaining pill she is still getting. It’s some sort of oil pill, it’s for her dry skin. Anyway. The pill bottle suggests that if I did not want to shove the pill down her throat, I could puncture the pill and add it to her food. I decided that shoving it down her throat was too old school. I decided to change things up and add it to her food. Have you ever tried to puncture on of those gel filled pills? You can’t cut them your finger nails, knives, finger nail clippers or a bent paperclip. Do you know what does rupture them? Squeezing ruptures them. Do you know where they rupture to when you squeeze them? Right up your sleeve! And is the gel sticky and nasty? Yes, yes it is. Does the sticky gel up your sleeve help your dog’s dry skin condition? No, no it does not. Is having sticky gel on your person almost better then what ends up on your hand after putting your hand down your dogs’ throat? It’s a toss up. The sticky gel is hard to get off once it’s on, but the sticky dog slobber is grosser but marginally easier to get off your hands once it’s on.
Tonight I’m going to just put the pill in her food and see if she eats it with out my assistance.
Plink, Plink.
Maybe Dogger doesn’t need a walk. Maybe I can just put her in the yard and hope she does whatever it is she needs to do.
Plink, Plink.
No. She won’t. She’ll go out there and eat grass and throw up and go hide under the shrubbery but she won’t do anything else. She really likes to have an audience for everything else. I think she needs to be on a leash to feel properly motivated to “do” anything else. I think she likes having an audience. I wish I knew someone who likes to watch. Do you think I could go on Craigslist or something and find some poor slub with a doggy fetish and have them walk her around the front yard in the rain?
Plink, Plink.
So I’ve been sitting here all day listening to the rain plinking on the gigantic cooler thing outside my window, trying not to think what eight hours of rain plinking on my roof at home. My mums are happy, I am not.
I am now trying to decide if I would rather take Dogger on a walk in the plinking rain or stand around in the park in the plinking rain. Either way there is no avoiding the plinking rain. Dogger would enjoy either version. Dogger doesn’t mind being out in plinking rain, she does however not enjoy rain falling harder than plinking. I think its come down to rain she can feel verses rain she can see. If she knows she’s being rained on she is less excited about being out in it. If she just happens to get a little damp while she’s outside, she’s fine with that.
I tried to get creative with the one remaining pill she is still getting. It’s some sort of oil pill, it’s for her dry skin. Anyway. The pill bottle suggests that if I did not want to shove the pill down her throat, I could puncture the pill and add it to her food. I decided that shoving it down her throat was too old school. I decided to change things up and add it to her food. Have you ever tried to puncture on of those gel filled pills? You can’t cut them your finger nails, knives, finger nail clippers or a bent paperclip. Do you know what does rupture them? Squeezing ruptures them. Do you know where they rupture to when you squeeze them? Right up your sleeve! And is the gel sticky and nasty? Yes, yes it is. Does the sticky gel up your sleeve help your dog’s dry skin condition? No, no it does not. Is having sticky gel on your person almost better then what ends up on your hand after putting your hand down your dogs’ throat? It’s a toss up. The sticky gel is hard to get off once it’s on, but the sticky dog slobber is grosser but marginally easier to get off your hands once it’s on.
Tonight I’m going to just put the pill in her food and see if she eats it with out my assistance.
Plink, Plink.
Maybe Dogger doesn’t need a walk. Maybe I can just put her in the yard and hope she does whatever it is she needs to do.
Plink, Plink.
No. She won’t. She’ll go out there and eat grass and throw up and go hide under the shrubbery but she won’t do anything else. She really likes to have an audience for everything else. I think she needs to be on a leash to feel properly motivated to “do” anything else. I think she likes having an audience. I wish I knew someone who likes to watch. Do you think I could go on Craigslist or something and find some poor slub with a doggy fetish and have them walk her around the front yard in the rain?
Plink, Plink.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Cold
I am sitting here at my desk and I am cold. I am going to drive home to my house where I will likely also be cold. The only time that I will spend warm will be the time driving in my heated up spent-the-day-in-the-sun car oddly, a few weeks ago I saw it as a bad thing.
“Turn on the heat”, I can hear you saying. I do not control the heat in my office, I could turn on the heat at my house but I would hate to add to global warming. It seems to be doing fine without my assistants. Maybe, I’ll just burn cash for warmth too. I’m pretty sure if I turned on the heat in the house and then went outside and crouched in front of any of the windows, I would be just as warm as if I stayed on the inside. I live in a giant sieve. Not quite as sieve-y as my apartment in Dallas where the wind blew my shades and still not as bad as the dorm room I had where the windows regularly iced on the inside, but still, fairly sieve-y. The house is in its fifties and I think the windows are marginally older than I am. Neither of us are aging well.
It’s too early in the season for me to angsting about room tempreture. I haven’t even formally broken out my coats yet. I have several coats now, variations on a theme - a whole little coat wardrobe. I have a coat for not-so-cold days, I have a coat for a-little-cold-but-it-will-burn-off-by-lunch days, one for those damn-its-cold!-when-did-this-happen-why-doesn’t-The Daily Show-have-a-weather-segment days, and of course the GAWD-it’s-cold-don’t-look-at-me-that-way-at-least-I’m-warmer-than-you-maybe-you-should-explore-wearing-a-hood-yourself! Days.
I never had a coat wardrobe before. I had a coat, well, I also had a dress coat and a rain coat, but it wasn’t a multiple choice question when I opened the closet. If it was wet I wore the rain coat, if it was cold I wore the winter coat if it was cold and I was supposed to look nice, I wore the dress coat. It was easy. To be honest, if it was too cold I didn’t out go at all. Coat issue solved, if you really want to stay warm, stay in your bed.
The thing about being cold at home is that at home I have about thirty thousand blankets, throws and afghans – at work I have whatever I wore and my lives-at-work-sweater. I haven’t gotten to the point, as one of my co-workers has, to have along with her lives-at-work-sweater, a lives-at-work-blanket. I don’t want to get there. I think stalking up and down the hallway wrapped in an afghan sends a bad message. It says “I’m very uncomfortable and yet I am not bitching about this effectively enough to force them to correct this matter”. Frankly, it’s a little passive aggressive. I have found that making sure other people see me sitting at my desk, hunched over my keyboard trying to type while wearing gloves – is more effective, I don’t have to parade around in an afghan or leave my office. This behavior is also passive aggressive but it is my passive aggressive behavior and therefore I find it less objectionable.
But.
We haven’t got there yet. It’s early and we are allegedly not long for this wretched building and its inefficient furnace. This year may be the year that I only have to dress to be warm because it’s cold outside and in the winter people normally wear blazers and sweaters and long sleeved shirts – regardless of the temperature inside. Inside we take off our coats and gloves, because its warmer inside, theoretically.
I am sitting here at my desk and I am cold. I am going to drive home to my house where I will likely also be cold. The only time that I will spend warm will be the time driving in my heated up spent-the-day-in-the-sun car oddly, a few weeks ago I saw it as a bad thing.
“Turn on the heat”, I can hear you saying. I do not control the heat in my office, I could turn on the heat at my house but I would hate to add to global warming. It seems to be doing fine without my assistants. Maybe, I’ll just burn cash for warmth too. I’m pretty sure if I turned on the heat in the house and then went outside and crouched in front of any of the windows, I would be just as warm as if I stayed on the inside. I live in a giant sieve. Not quite as sieve-y as my apartment in Dallas where the wind blew my shades and still not as bad as the dorm room I had where the windows regularly iced on the inside, but still, fairly sieve-y. The house is in its fifties and I think the windows are marginally older than I am. Neither of us are aging well.
It’s too early in the season for me to angsting about room tempreture. I haven’t even formally broken out my coats yet. I have several coats now, variations on a theme - a whole little coat wardrobe. I have a coat for not-so-cold days, I have a coat for a-little-cold-but-it-will-burn-off-by-lunch days, one for those damn-its-cold!-when-did-this-happen-why-doesn’t-The Daily Show-have-a-weather-segment days, and of course the GAWD-it’s-cold-don’t-look-at-me-that-way-at-least-I’m-warmer-than-you-maybe-you-should-explore-wearing-a-hood-yourself! Days.
I never had a coat wardrobe before. I had a coat, well, I also had a dress coat and a rain coat, but it wasn’t a multiple choice question when I opened the closet. If it was wet I wore the rain coat, if it was cold I wore the winter coat if it was cold and I was supposed to look nice, I wore the dress coat. It was easy. To be honest, if it was too cold I didn’t out go at all. Coat issue solved, if you really want to stay warm, stay in your bed.
The thing about being cold at home is that at home I have about thirty thousand blankets, throws and afghans – at work I have whatever I wore and my lives-at-work-sweater. I haven’t gotten to the point, as one of my co-workers has, to have along with her lives-at-work-sweater, a lives-at-work-blanket. I don’t want to get there. I think stalking up and down the hallway wrapped in an afghan sends a bad message. It says “I’m very uncomfortable and yet I am not bitching about this effectively enough to force them to correct this matter”. Frankly, it’s a little passive aggressive. I have found that making sure other people see me sitting at my desk, hunched over my keyboard trying to type while wearing gloves – is more effective, I don’t have to parade around in an afghan or leave my office. This behavior is also passive aggressive but it is my passive aggressive behavior and therefore I find it less objectionable.
But.
We haven’t got there yet. It’s early and we are allegedly not long for this wretched building and its inefficient furnace. This year may be the year that I only have to dress to be warm because it’s cold outside and in the winter people normally wear blazers and sweaters and long sleeved shirts – regardless of the temperature inside. Inside we take off our coats and gloves, because its warmer inside, theoretically.
Monday, October 16, 2006
The State Fair
The entry where I go to the fair so you don't have to. The 2006 NC State Fair . By the way? ya'll owe me $12. (Pics. Lots and lots of pics, now at Flickr.)
The entry where I go to the fair so you don't have to. The 2006 NC State Fair . By the way? ya'll owe me $12. (Pics. Lots and lots of pics, now at Flickr.)
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
Ha
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A jury in Philadelphia said Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, must pay $78.47 million in damages to current and former Pennsylvania employees for forcing them to work "off the clock" or during rest breaks.
full story here
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A jury in Philadelphia said Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, must pay $78.47 million in damages to current and former Pennsylvania employees for forcing them to work "off the clock" or during rest breaks.
full story here
Mark Your Calendars
Here we go again:
On March 17, 2007 the ANSWER Coalition and other anti-war organizations in the U.S. and all over the world will be taking to the streets to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq. The ANSWER Coalition is calling for mass demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and other cities and towns throughout the United States as anti-war actions take place throughout the world on this global day of action. The ANSWER Coalition urges that everyone in the antiwar movement come together in unity against the criminal actions of the U.S. government.
Here we go again:
On March 17, 2007 the ANSWER Coalition and other anti-war organizations in the U.S. and all over the world will be taking to the streets to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq. The ANSWER Coalition is calling for mass demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and other cities and towns throughout the United States as anti-war actions take place throughout the world on this global day of action. The ANSWER Coalition urges that everyone in the antiwar movement come together in unity against the criminal actions of the U.S. government.
Title
Today I am indulging myself in a little photoblogging. Yes, I know it makes the page load slower, it always loads slowly so this will not be a new thing. I’m willing to put up with Bloggers sorry ass image loading, you can put up with my sorry ass images.
I had the camera in the car the other night because I was going to take the camera to work the next day and I thought that maybe I might take Doggers picture at the park, you know playing with the other dogs and being all photogenic. It got dark before she worked her way up photogenically cavorting with the other dogs, so the camera was just sitting there.
After the park I went to Arby’s because I actually remembered to put the coupons in my purse when they arrived instead of letting them sit on the floor for weeks until I decided I wanted to go eat at Arbys. You can’t eat at Arbys without using a coupon, the help will laugh at you – really, I went in there one time without a coupon and the cashier giggled at me! And without coupons the food is really too expensive.
Anyway, as I was approaching the Arby’s I saw this guy parked in the neighboring gas station parking lot
I’ve seen this guy or another guy like him there before but I’ve never had my camera with me. I would have rathered run across him or the other guy like him during daylight when I could have gotten better pictures, but, if wishes were horses…I was there, he was there and my camera was riding shotgun.
He said he was from Virginia Beach and the toys were from Disneyland. Well, whatever, they didn’t look like really nice stuffed animals but I’ve never been to Disneyland so I don’t know the relative quality of the toys they sell there. Does Disneyland have a midway?? They looked like midway toys. We talked toys for a while, I told him I was looking for a replacement “baby” for my cat and he told me how he had a white tiger until the other day. He left it with a friend to watch and somebody stole it. He said he cried like a little baby when he found out. He did not look like either Siegfried or Roy.
I didn’t buy any toys from him but I told him he and his stuffed toy covered car looked really cool from the street. He didn’t know that, I told him to go across the street and look at his car with all the toys on it with the gas station in the background.
Okay. Next pictures. I still had the camera in the car when I went back to the Farmers Market at lunch to find a pumpkin. When I was mum shopping the other day I thought it was really pretty with all the mums and pumpkins all around, but I didn’t have my camera. I’m really going to have to think about just having it in the car all the time or something. You never know what you’re going to see when you are driving around. I saw
This for example:
How often do you see that kind of thing and then if you do see it, how often do you have your camera with you to record it for posterity?
Okay. Back to the Farmers Market.
I was there for pumpkins and they had pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins.
And I found one!
I had decided I wanted a tall, thin pumpkin this year and lo and behold I found one.
I could have gotten this guy
But I didn’t think I could get it home.
And away my pumpkin and I went.
Today I am indulging myself in a little photoblogging. Yes, I know it makes the page load slower, it always loads slowly so this will not be a new thing. I’m willing to put up with Bloggers sorry ass image loading, you can put up with my sorry ass images.
I had the camera in the car the other night because I was going to take the camera to work the next day and I thought that maybe I might take Doggers picture at the park, you know playing with the other dogs and being all photogenic. It got dark before she worked her way up photogenically cavorting with the other dogs, so the camera was just sitting there.
After the park I went to Arby’s because I actually remembered to put the coupons in my purse when they arrived instead of letting them sit on the floor for weeks until I decided I wanted to go eat at Arbys. You can’t eat at Arbys without using a coupon, the help will laugh at you – really, I went in there one time without a coupon and the cashier giggled at me! And without coupons the food is really too expensive.
Anyway, as I was approaching the Arby’s I saw this guy parked in the neighboring gas station parking lot
I’ve seen this guy or another guy like him there before but I’ve never had my camera with me. I would have rathered run across him or the other guy like him during daylight when I could have gotten better pictures, but, if wishes were horses…I was there, he was there and my camera was riding shotgun.
He said he was from Virginia Beach and the toys were from Disneyland. Well, whatever, they didn’t look like really nice stuffed animals but I’ve never been to Disneyland so I don’t know the relative quality of the toys they sell there. Does Disneyland have a midway?? They looked like midway toys. We talked toys for a while, I told him I was looking for a replacement “baby” for my cat and he told me how he had a white tiger until the other day. He left it with a friend to watch and somebody stole it. He said he cried like a little baby when he found out. He did not look like either Siegfried or Roy.
I didn’t buy any toys from him but I told him he and his stuffed toy covered car looked really cool from the street. He didn’t know that, I told him to go across the street and look at his car with all the toys on it with the gas station in the background.
Okay. Next pictures. I still had the camera in the car when I went back to the Farmers Market at lunch to find a pumpkin. When I was mum shopping the other day I thought it was really pretty with all the mums and pumpkins all around, but I didn’t have my camera. I’m really going to have to think about just having it in the car all the time or something. You never know what you’re going to see when you are driving around. I saw
This for example:
How often do you see that kind of thing and then if you do see it, how often do you have your camera with you to record it for posterity?
Okay. Back to the Farmers Market.
I was there for pumpkins and they had pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins.
And I found one!
I had decided I wanted a tall, thin pumpkin this year and lo and behold I found one.
I could have gotten this guy
But I didn’t think I could get it home.
And away my pumpkin and I went.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
All the cool kids are doing it
Dear Diana:
Quiet Revolution reveals the ongoing ultra-conservative campaign to tilt our laws and our federal courts to the right, so the Right Wing can carry out its political agenda. That agenda means less protection for consumers and our environment, and more government intrusion into our personal lives.
The film is provocative and aggressive. It connects the dots between the Right's think tanks, its funders, its advocacy groups, its politicians and its federal judicial nominees, peeling away the conspiracy of the ultra-conservative movement layer by layer.
Quiet Revolution premiered at a film and art festival in New York on September 27, and we're now in the process of distributing it throughout the nation. Our goal is for a half-million Americans to see it - but we need your help.
Please click here to order a free copy of Quiet Revolution. Watch it and host a screening for your friends and family. Or watch it online, and help us spread the word about this important documentary.
Thanks,
Bradley Whitford
I checked my email a moment ago and imagine my surprise when I saw among the assorted garbage, an email from Bradley Whitford (!!) or as I know him "that guy who is not Matthew Perry on Studio 60", why can't Matthew Perry send me email hawking a leftwing documentary? Brad, and I can call him Brad...Mr. Whitford, wants me and you to watch this film called Quite Revolution. It sounds like a deeply depressing bit of agitprop , so of course I am all over it. It's also a deeply depressing piece of agitprop that is free. My favorite kind of depressing agitprop.
If you do not want a depressing piece of agitprop cluttering up your space, you can go Here and watch it for even more free.
Dear Diana:
Quiet Revolution reveals the ongoing ultra-conservative campaign to tilt our laws and our federal courts to the right, so the Right Wing can carry out its political agenda. That agenda means less protection for consumers and our environment, and more government intrusion into our personal lives.
The film is provocative and aggressive. It connects the dots between the Right's think tanks, its funders, its advocacy groups, its politicians and its federal judicial nominees, peeling away the conspiracy of the ultra-conservative movement layer by layer.
Quiet Revolution premiered at a film and art festival in New York on September 27, and we're now in the process of distributing it throughout the nation. Our goal is for a half-million Americans to see it - but we need your help.
Please click here to order a free copy of Quiet Revolution. Watch it and host a screening for your friends and family. Or watch it online, and help us spread the word about this important documentary.
Thanks,
Bradley Whitford
I checked my email a moment ago and imagine my surprise when I saw among the assorted garbage, an email from Bradley Whitford (!!) or as I know him "that guy who is not Matthew Perry on Studio 60", why can't Matthew Perry send me email hawking a leftwing documentary? Brad, and I can call him Brad...Mr. Whitford, wants me and you to watch this film called Quite Revolution. It sounds like a deeply depressing bit of agitprop , so of course I am all over it. It's also a deeply depressing piece of agitprop that is free. My favorite kind of depressing agitprop.
If you do not want a depressing piece of agitprop cluttering up your space, you can go Here and watch it for even more free.
The Return of the...
Latin Mass!!! Oh noes!!111
Everything Old is New again
This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signaling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.
Conservatives and the very old and Mel Gibson. Now, I like Latin. I like belting out Adeste Fidelis more than the next guy even, If the Priest really wants to make me happy, he’ll through out a little Latin every once in a while; But I like Mass in English. I like understanding what is going on around me and I do know my lines thank you very much. I mean Latin is a pretty language but so is French and I don’t speak french either and I wouldn’t go to a French Mass if it was offered, well. I would go once because it would be kind of cool, but, it wouldn’t be my first choice - unless, it was like the 10:30 Mass and then ... but they wouldn’t do that, they stick the foreign language masses at odd times. The Spanish Mass is at 2pm and the once a month Nigerian Mass is at 1:30, I mean, who goes to Mass at 1:30? You really have to want to go to that Mass. Is anyone going to really want to go to the Latin Mass more than once?
Vatican II took place before my time, but a little look see around Wikipedia had this to say about the banishment of the Latin Mass:
Vatican II went much further in encouraging "active participation" than previous Popes had allowed or recommended. The council fathers established guidelines to govern the revision of the liturgy, which included allowing the very limited use of the vernacular (native language) instead of Latin. As bishops determined, local or national customs could be carefully incorporated into the liturgy.
It makes it so the rest of us can participate or at least give the impression that we are participating. It also keeps the Church from becoming some sort of collectors item. Big and shiny and pretty, and having nothing whatsoever to do with the world around it. You know like the Royal Family or Barbara Bush - big and shiny and useless. The worlds gold plated door stops. We all like the Royals, all cute and quaint, like your Grandmothers dining room set. It’s not really your taste, but it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving with out it. And then you back to your place and eat her food in your room and really enjoy it because it’s your place and your furniture and you don’t have to think about chintz or plaid curtains or weird carved table legs. Nice enough, but not yours.
The Latin Mass would be a great museum piece, something to take your protestant friends to, something to make your fallen away co-workers who haven’t been to Mass since 1964 so they can remember why they stopped going. Do you think they’ll let the Priests face the congregation? how about bringing back mantillas? The young chicks will really dig that but If you’re going to go back you might as well go all the way. The Church doesn’t need to be relevant or anything and Church attendance is just sky rocketing as it is.
I’ve been to a Latin Mass. It was kind of cool, kind of retro, like a not at all interactive museum piece. Now, if they want to bring it back , they are going to have to help those of us more Liberal and significantly younger with our lines, Latin Pronunciation
*******************************
I watched 30 Rock. If you only have room for one "SNL inspired" show in your life, 30 Rock is not the one. Watch Studio 60 instead.
Latin Mass!!! Oh noes!!111
Everything Old is New again
This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signaling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.
Conservatives and the very old and Mel Gibson. Now, I like Latin. I like belting out Adeste Fidelis more than the next guy even, If the Priest really wants to make me happy, he’ll through out a little Latin every once in a while; But I like Mass in English. I like understanding what is going on around me and I do know my lines thank you very much. I mean Latin is a pretty language but so is French and I don’t speak french either and I wouldn’t go to a French Mass if it was offered, well. I would go once because it would be kind of cool, but, it wouldn’t be my first choice - unless, it was like the 10:30 Mass and then ... but they wouldn’t do that, they stick the foreign language masses at odd times. The Spanish Mass is at 2pm and the once a month Nigerian Mass is at 1:30, I mean, who goes to Mass at 1:30? You really have to want to go to that Mass. Is anyone going to really want to go to the Latin Mass more than once?
Vatican II took place before my time, but a little look see around Wikipedia had this to say about the banishment of the Latin Mass:
Vatican II went much further in encouraging "active participation" than previous Popes had allowed or recommended. The council fathers established guidelines to govern the revision of the liturgy, which included allowing the very limited use of the vernacular (native language) instead of Latin. As bishops determined, local or national customs could be carefully incorporated into the liturgy.
It makes it so the rest of us can participate or at least give the impression that we are participating. It also keeps the Church from becoming some sort of collectors item. Big and shiny and pretty, and having nothing whatsoever to do with the world around it. You know like the Royal Family or Barbara Bush - big and shiny and useless. The worlds gold plated door stops. We all like the Royals, all cute and quaint, like your Grandmothers dining room set. It’s not really your taste, but it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving with out it. And then you back to your place and eat her food in your room and really enjoy it because it’s your place and your furniture and you don’t have to think about chintz or plaid curtains or weird carved table legs. Nice enough, but not yours.
The Latin Mass would be a great museum piece, something to take your protestant friends to, something to make your fallen away co-workers who haven’t been to Mass since 1964 so they can remember why they stopped going. Do you think they’ll let the Priests face the congregation? how about bringing back mantillas? The young chicks will really dig that but If you’re going to go back you might as well go all the way. The Church doesn’t need to be relevant or anything and Church attendance is just sky rocketing as it is.
I’ve been to a Latin Mass. It was kind of cool, kind of retro, like a not at all interactive museum piece. Now, if they want to bring it back , they are going to have to help those of us more Liberal and significantly younger with our lines, Latin Pronunciation
*******************************
I watched 30 Rock. If you only have room for one "SNL inspired" show in your life, 30 Rock is not the one. Watch Studio 60 instead.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
News
SMALL aircraft crashes into Manhatten high rise .
Edited to Add :
New York Yankees manager Joe Torre says the plane that crashed into a building in Manhattan is registered to team pitcher Cory Lidle.
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was the sole person aboard the plane that crashed into a high-rise apartment building in New York, FBI officials say.
It wasn't a terrorist attack, it wasn't on purpose, the pilot wasn't even a bad guy. Just a guy, a good guy even. A good guy who had a bad accident. RIP Mr. Lidle.
SMALL aircraft crashes into Manhatten high rise .
Edited to Add :
New York Yankees manager Joe Torre says the plane that crashed into a building in Manhattan is registered to team pitcher Cory Lidle.
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was the sole person aboard the plane that crashed into a high-rise apartment building in New York, FBI officials say.
It wasn't a terrorist attack, it wasn't on purpose, the pilot wasn't even a bad guy. Just a guy, a good guy even. A good guy who had a bad accident. RIP Mr. Lidle.
Mums the word
I broke ( in spirit if not in letter) again my I Ain't Buying Nothing I Can’t Eat spending diet. I went to the farmers market and picked up a couple of nice mums for the front steps. It wasn’t a total break from the diet because back in high school, we used to eat mums. Okay, I didn’t but I watched others do so and they never fell over dead in front of me or anything so I took from that that mums are a type of food and are therefore not a total cheat of the spending edict. I went with orange because it blends with my bricks and because U.T kicked O.U ass this weekend.
The mums are pretty no?
I didn’t have eat lunch over lunch because we had a Birthday Breakfast at 9:30 and it turns out that most people do not count a can of coke as breakfast food! I was shocked! It turns out that most people eat things like sausage biscuits and grits (ewwwwww) and eggs and pancakes and donuts and they drink, not Coke but orange juice and chocolate milk. Imagine my shock. I also discovered over the course of the day if they ever decided to bring back the scarlet lettering idea ( fail to vote out your local Rethuglicans on Election Day and the scarlet lettering will come back. Sin now while the sinning is good. A public flogging is never worth it, no matter how much fun you had the night before…) that they could totally use powdered donuts as a base material. That shite gets everywhere and you can’t get it off. Eat one powered donut and it will follow you all day.
I’m glad that ABC decided to bite the hand that feeds it with the whole Foley Boinking Underage Pages thing. If they were trying to make up with me they couldn’t have done it at a better time since CBS cancelled Smith and left me with a sad opening in my Tuesday night TV watching schedule. I have been boycotting ABC because they chose to air that right wing propaganda piece a couple of weeks ago ( the boycott was easy, I only watch one thing on ABC) and since then I have been taping Boston Legal . In my world tapping instead of watching is an adequate boycott. I watched it when I was ready to watch it, it’s different than watching it when they want me to watch it. It’s about control and I tape it on the same machine that I tape CSI- Miami on so it would get David Caruso cooties on it as well as not getting the honor of me watching it first run.
Anyway. ABC has somewhat redeemed themselves in the mean time and now since I can’t watch Smith anymore, I can go back to watching Boston Legal at its regularly scheduled time. Like ABC cares they're off my shit list, but it matters to me.
I broke ( in spirit if not in letter) again my I Ain't Buying Nothing I Can’t Eat spending diet. I went to the farmers market and picked up a couple of nice mums for the front steps. It wasn’t a total break from the diet because back in high school, we used to eat mums. Okay, I didn’t but I watched others do so and they never fell over dead in front of me or anything so I took from that that mums are a type of food and are therefore not a total cheat of the spending edict. I went with orange because it blends with my bricks and because U.T kicked O.U ass this weekend.
The mums are pretty no?
I didn’t have eat lunch over lunch because we had a Birthday Breakfast at 9:30 and it turns out that most people do not count a can of coke as breakfast food! I was shocked! It turns out that most people eat things like sausage biscuits and grits (ewwwwww) and eggs and pancakes and donuts and they drink, not Coke but orange juice and chocolate milk. Imagine my shock. I also discovered over the course of the day if they ever decided to bring back the scarlet lettering idea ( fail to vote out your local Rethuglicans on Election Day and the scarlet lettering will come back. Sin now while the sinning is good. A public flogging is never worth it, no matter how much fun you had the night before…) that they could totally use powdered donuts as a base material. That shite gets everywhere and you can’t get it off. Eat one powered donut and it will follow you all day.
I’m glad that ABC decided to bite the hand that feeds it with the whole Foley Boinking Underage Pages thing. If they were trying to make up with me they couldn’t have done it at a better time since CBS cancelled Smith and left me with a sad opening in my Tuesday night TV watching schedule. I have been boycotting ABC because they chose to air that right wing propaganda piece a couple of weeks ago ( the boycott was easy, I only watch one thing on ABC) and since then I have been taping Boston Legal . In my world tapping instead of watching is an adequate boycott. I watched it when I was ready to watch it, it’s different than watching it when they want me to watch it. It’s about control and I tape it on the same machine that I tape CSI- Miami on so it would get David Caruso cooties on it as well as not getting the honor of me watching it first run.
Anyway. ABC has somewhat redeemed themselves in the mean time and now since I can’t watch Smith anymore, I can go back to watching Boston Legal at its regularly scheduled time. Like ABC cares they're off my shit list, but it matters to me.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Bomb Making for Dummies
The Pied Piper of evol?, Where did North Korea get the supplies they needed to manufacture their bomb? You have three guess and two of them are wrong.
from Wonkette
The Pied Piper of evol?, Where did North Korea get the supplies they needed to manufacture their bomb? You have three guess and two of them are wrong.
from Wonkette
That Darn Cat! part 289
I decided that in The Dianaverse that October would be the first annual “I ain’t buying nothin’ I can’t eat” Month . So, I bought a new purse.
It’s very nice and I got a great deal on it and it is very trendy and its red - but a very “good” red. I even took Dogger with me when I went out to window shop so that I wouldn’t be tempted to spend too much time wandering around not buying things and being tempted to buy non-edibles The less time spent wandering around is directly proportional to the amount of time spent standing in line divided by the size of the check I would end up having to write for the things I did not go shopping to buy.
When I am really strong, or have just paid my plastic bill and feeling really, really poor, I leave my purse in the car. No purse means no wallet means no check book means no purchase! And if I really want the thing I do not need I’m going to have to work to get it. Even better, I am forced to leave the store entirely! By the time I get out to the car I may or may not remember why I am in the parking lot in the first place and figure if I’m out there, it must be because I am going home. This works in theory but I’m not quite demented yet, so usually it just stalls the inevitable.
I kind of want credit for not buying the shiny urn thing I saw at the store I got the purse at. The shiny urn thing was very pretty and it would look so cute in my downstairs bedroom, I even knew exactly where I would put it. But I was strong. I limited my buying to something I actually needed or failing that, I limited myself to a purely utilitarian object and went without the pretty, shiny, purely ornamental thing.
Other women buy shoes or start acquiring cats, I buy purses. It’s really a very good way to keep up with fleeting trends without having to replace your entire wardrobe every few months. It allows me to have some sort of outward display of trendiness without also having to wear leggings in public.
What else?
Oh. I over slept this morning. It was such fun and it was really an invigorating way to start the day. I highly don’t recommend it.
I am a light sleeper, so when I casually rolled over and looked at the clock I did so with confidence, secure in the knowledge that it was probably 4, maybe 4:30am. It usually is the first time. So neurotic am I, I haven’t woken up the trill of my alarm in weeks. Imagine my shock when I rolled over and it was 6:37am! on a MONDAY!!
I couldn’t spend much time having a tantrum, as much as I wanted to. I hurriedly got dressed, took the dog out, pilled the cat and went to work. Notice there is no “fed the dog” in there. There should have been a “Grilled the Kitty on his role in the Alarm Clock fiasco”. In the no time I had this morning, I did have a spare second to check the clock. The alarm had magically reset it self for 7:05am. It can’t do this on its own and I hadn’t messed with it. The only “person” who could have done something to it is The Kitty!
Until I wised up and velcrowed the clock down, Kitty was regularly sending it crashing to the floor (instead of asking me politely to feed him at 2:45am, he went straight to the big guns as a method of forcing my compliance) I think the clock didn’t like this or was even (shockingly) not made to withstand repeated slammings into the floor. In fact, now the clock has developed a very suspicious rattling sound to it that it would never have developed if it hadn’t spent so much time being thrown to the floor. Maybe when I get home I’ll make it up to Dogger by feeding her The Kitty…
I decided that in The Dianaverse that October would be the first annual “I ain’t buying nothin’ I can’t eat” Month . So, I bought a new purse.
It’s very nice and I got a great deal on it and it is very trendy and its red - but a very “good” red. I even took Dogger with me when I went out to window shop so that I wouldn’t be tempted to spend too much time wandering around not buying things and being tempted to buy non-edibles The less time spent wandering around is directly proportional to the amount of time spent standing in line divided by the size of the check I would end up having to write for the things I did not go shopping to buy.
When I am really strong, or have just paid my plastic bill and feeling really, really poor, I leave my purse in the car. No purse means no wallet means no check book means no purchase! And if I really want the thing I do not need I’m going to have to work to get it. Even better, I am forced to leave the store entirely! By the time I get out to the car I may or may not remember why I am in the parking lot in the first place and figure if I’m out there, it must be because I am going home. This works in theory but I’m not quite demented yet, so usually it just stalls the inevitable.
I kind of want credit for not buying the shiny urn thing I saw at the store I got the purse at. The shiny urn thing was very pretty and it would look so cute in my downstairs bedroom, I even knew exactly where I would put it. But I was strong. I limited my buying to something I actually needed or failing that, I limited myself to a purely utilitarian object and went without the pretty, shiny, purely ornamental thing.
Other women buy shoes or start acquiring cats, I buy purses. It’s really a very good way to keep up with fleeting trends without having to replace your entire wardrobe every few months. It allows me to have some sort of outward display of trendiness without also having to wear leggings in public.
What else?
Oh. I over slept this morning. It was such fun and it was really an invigorating way to start the day. I highly don’t recommend it.
I am a light sleeper, so when I casually rolled over and looked at the clock I did so with confidence, secure in the knowledge that it was probably 4, maybe 4:30am. It usually is the first time. So neurotic am I, I haven’t woken up the trill of my alarm in weeks. Imagine my shock when I rolled over and it was 6:37am! on a MONDAY!!
I couldn’t spend much time having a tantrum, as much as I wanted to. I hurriedly got dressed, took the dog out, pilled the cat and went to work. Notice there is no “fed the dog” in there. There should have been a “Grilled the Kitty on his role in the Alarm Clock fiasco”. In the no time I had this morning, I did have a spare second to check the clock. The alarm had magically reset it self for 7:05am. It can’t do this on its own and I hadn’t messed with it. The only “person” who could have done something to it is The Kitty!
Until I wised up and velcrowed the clock down, Kitty was regularly sending it crashing to the floor (instead of asking me politely to feed him at 2:45am, he went straight to the big guns as a method of forcing my compliance) I think the clock didn’t like this or was even (shockingly) not made to withstand repeated slammings into the floor. In fact, now the clock has developed a very suspicious rattling sound to it that it would never have developed if it hadn’t spent so much time being thrown to the floor. Maybe when I get home I’ll make it up to Dogger by feeding her The Kitty…
Monday, October 9, 2006
Attention North Carolina Voters
Have Your Say Before Election Day!
Here's a convenient way to have your say. North Carolina offers early voting -- so you can head to the polls before Election Day. It's a great option if you're planning to volunteer on Election Day, prefer to bypass long lines, or have a busy schedule and need the flexibility. The best part is, you don't need a special reason to vote early. You can just go vote.
In North Carolina, you can vote early, starting October 14. Early voting sites vary by county, so check with your local election officials to find out where you can vote
early by clicking here: Early Voting in NC
Remember if you don't vote, your bitching about the results after the fact is both annoying and wrong! and will piss me off! because I'm way too polite to say I TOLD YOU SO YOU SHOULD HAVE VOTED THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT FOR BEING LAZY AND EXPECTING OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU!! IF YOU DON'T VOTE YOU FORFET YOUR RIGHT TO BITCH ABOUT THE RESULTS!!
Have Your Say Before Election Day!
Here's a convenient way to have your say. North Carolina offers early voting -- so you can head to the polls before Election Day. It's a great option if you're planning to volunteer on Election Day, prefer to bypass long lines, or have a busy schedule and need the flexibility. The best part is, you don't need a special reason to vote early. You can just go vote.
In North Carolina, you can vote early, starting October 14. Early voting sites vary by county, so check with your local election officials to find out where you can vote
early by clicking here: Early Voting in NC
Remember if you don't vote, your bitching about the results after the fact is both annoying and wrong! and will piss me off! because I'm way too polite to say I TOLD YOU SO YOU SHOULD HAVE VOTED THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT FOR BEING LAZY AND EXPECTING OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU!! IF YOU DON'T VOTE YOU FORFET YOUR RIGHT TO BITCH ABOUT THE RESULTS!!
The Floral Curtain
You remember how I was saying last spring “My backyard is so ugly and I hate that my nice neighbors have to look at it I am so embarrassed by its grossness, whatever shall l do?” and then I had the idea that since my Rethuglican representatives in Washington were not going to earmark millions of dollars for the upkeep of my ugly yard - did you know they didn’t even ask if I needed them to put an earmarks in the budget? And they call themselves my representatives? And it’s not like I would even need millions, a couple of hounded thou would be totally sufficient. Mere pennies to those Washington people; and they wonder why there is such a widespread anti-incumbent sentiments going on. If they would just ask their constituents what they want...
You do realize that all of them are now going to include in all their speeches “I am not a pedophile”. My how the mighty have fallen, from only have to say “I support the troops and the war and the President” to get elected they are now going to have to say “I have never had an unappropriated relationships with a 15 year old boy or boys” are there girl pages? I would be interested to know if anyone has messed with them as well.
Okay, tangent over. I was worried about how the yard looked and I went out and got some morning glories. I planted them, did a little bit of fertilizing and then just kind of left them there. I know, I’m a bad plant Mom. I suck.
Anyway. Time passed. I saw a few blooms and I didn’t a little bit of vine training.
Well. Time certainly marched on. I forgot the vines were even there. I don’t go into the yard, the blinds were always down in the one room that overlooks the back yard and I spend most of my time upstairs.
Look at what being a negligent plant Mommy did.
Aren’t they pretty? Doesn’t it camouflage the ugly yard?! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know they weren’t all the same variety of morning glory. One is as I had thought, the first one to bloom. I had actually thought they were going to come in with blue blooms but I guess the soil was working against me on that and instead they came in white. I like white flowers, so that was okay. I’m just shocked there are so many of them.
Next spring I’m going to plant in different parts of the fence so I can have more complete coverage, maybe with different colors or types of blooms maybe I can go all out and plant them all along the fence line; can morning glories climb plain wooden fences or would I have to do something special? It would be nice to be able to see the blooms myself, the neighbors aren’t the only ones who need something to -camouflage the ugly back there.
You remember how I was saying last spring “My backyard is so ugly and I hate that my nice neighbors have to look at it I am so embarrassed by its grossness, whatever shall l do?” and then I had the idea that since my Rethuglican representatives in Washington were not going to earmark millions of dollars for the upkeep of my ugly yard - did you know they didn’t even ask if I needed them to put an earmarks in the budget? And they call themselves my representatives? And it’s not like I would even need millions, a couple of hounded thou would be totally sufficient. Mere pennies to those Washington people; and they wonder why there is such a widespread anti-incumbent sentiments going on. If they would just ask their constituents what they want...
You do realize that all of them are now going to include in all their speeches “I am not a pedophile”. My how the mighty have fallen, from only have to say “I support the troops and the war and the President” to get elected they are now going to have to say “I have never had an unappropriated relationships with a 15 year old boy or boys” are there girl pages? I would be interested to know if anyone has messed with them as well.
Okay, tangent over. I was worried about how the yard looked and I went out and got some morning glories. I planted them, did a little bit of fertilizing and then just kind of left them there. I know, I’m a bad plant Mom. I suck.
Anyway. Time passed. I saw a few blooms and I didn’t a little bit of vine training.
Well. Time certainly marched on. I forgot the vines were even there. I don’t go into the yard, the blinds were always down in the one room that overlooks the back yard and I spend most of my time upstairs.
Look at what being a negligent plant Mommy did.
Aren’t they pretty? Doesn’t it camouflage the ugly yard?! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know they weren’t all the same variety of morning glory. One is as I had thought, the first one to bloom. I had actually thought they were going to come in with blue blooms but I guess the soil was working against me on that and instead they came in white. I like white flowers, so that was okay. I’m just shocked there are so many of them.
Next spring I’m going to plant in different parts of the fence so I can have more complete coverage, maybe with different colors or types of blooms maybe I can go all out and plant them all along the fence line; can morning glories climb plain wooden fences or would I have to do something special? It would be nice to be able to see the blooms myself, the neighbors aren’t the only ones who need something to -camouflage the ugly back there.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Friday, October 6, 2006
Now v. Then
October 6, 2006
Budget deficit drops to $250 billion, CBO says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal budget deficit estimate for the fiscal year just completed has dropped to $250 billion, congressional estimators said Friday, as the economy continued to fuel impressive tax revenues.
The Congressional Budget Office's latest estimate is $10 billion below CBO predictions issued in August and well below a July White House prediction of $296 billion.
The improving deficit picture -- Bush predicted a $423 billion deficit in his February budget -- has been driven by better-than-expected tax receipts, especially from corporate profits, CBO said.
The 2005 deficit registered $318 billion; the record $413 billion deficit was posted in 2004.
At $250 billion, it would be the lowest since the $158 billion figure in 2002, the first deficit following four years of surpluses.
Woo-Hoo! Watch Bushco bounce into the high 30s on this news! "Woo-Hoo! It's not as bad as we thought it was gonna be! Woo-Hoo! We Rock!!".
September 27, 2000
President Clinton announces another record budget surplus
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7 billion.
"Eight years ago, our future was at risk," Clinton said Wednesday morning.
"Economic growth was low, unemployment was high, interest rates were high, the federal debt had quadrupled in the previous 12 years. When Vice President Gore and I took office, the budget deficit was $290 billion, and it was projected this year the budget deficit would be $455 billion."
Instead, the president explained, the $5.7 trillion national debt has been reduced by $360 billion in the last three years -- $223 billion this year alone.
SIGH
October 6, 2006
Budget deficit drops to $250 billion, CBO says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal budget deficit estimate for the fiscal year just completed has dropped to $250 billion, congressional estimators said Friday, as the economy continued to fuel impressive tax revenues.
The Congressional Budget Office's latest estimate is $10 billion below CBO predictions issued in August and well below a July White House prediction of $296 billion.
The improving deficit picture -- Bush predicted a $423 billion deficit in his February budget -- has been driven by better-than-expected tax receipts, especially from corporate profits, CBO said.
The 2005 deficit registered $318 billion; the record $413 billion deficit was posted in 2004.
At $250 billion, it would be the lowest since the $158 billion figure in 2002, the first deficit following four years of surpluses.
Woo-Hoo! Watch Bushco bounce into the high 30s on this news! "Woo-Hoo! It's not as bad as we thought it was gonna be! Woo-Hoo! We Rock!!".
September 27, 2000
President Clinton announces another record budget surplus
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7 billion.
"Eight years ago, our future was at risk," Clinton said Wednesday morning.
"Economic growth was low, unemployment was high, interest rates were high, the federal debt had quadrupled in the previous 12 years. When Vice President Gore and I took office, the budget deficit was $290 billion, and it was projected this year the budget deficit would be $455 billion."
Instead, the president explained, the $5.7 trillion national debt has been reduced by $360 billion in the last three years -- $223 billion this year alone.
SIGH
Well, you can't say Rupert Murdoch doesn't know his audience
New York, New York - In a conversation with Fox News celebrities, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, that was picked up by an open microphone, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., repeatedly referred to Fox News viewers as morons and white trash. The incident took place as the three men were sitting together at a benefit dinner for the Ann Coulter defense fund. Apparently, they had been drinking heavily which may account for their lack of restraint and obliviousness to the open microphone that was positioned directly in front of them.
full story here . There was no link to a source for this, so take with grain of salt.
New York, New York - In a conversation with Fox News celebrities, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, that was picked up by an open microphone, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., repeatedly referred to Fox News viewers as morons and white trash. The incident took place as the three men were sitting together at a benefit dinner for the Ann Coulter defense fund. Apparently, they had been drinking heavily which may account for their lack of restraint and obliviousness to the open microphone that was positioned directly in front of them.
full story here . There was no link to a source for this, so take with grain of salt.
Ew.
I had to go run an errand during work today – I am the only person in the building who can go get ice, it’s a fact. There isn’t a single person employed in this building that can grab the cooler and drive to the building where the ice machine lives and go to the ice machine and successfully transfer ice from the machine to the cooler. Gawds honest truth. Anyway. I put the cooler in the van and got into the van and was assaulted by the worst smell ever... Satan's breath, I swear to Gawd. George Bush should know this smell.
The public was expecting their diet Mountain Dew to be on the rocks and ice waits for no woman. So I opened the van windows and got on my way and tried to breath through my mouth. The odor was so bad it was leeching into my body through my ears and I was like “Where is it! What is it?” I’m pretty sure I know what it was, it smelled like crap. Animal crap. Maybe dog maybe cat but it wasn’t there when I left for work because even at that hour my sense of smell is turned on and it is not an odor you fail to notice, you could be born without a nose and the watering eyes and nausea would to give it away. It was however, cooler this morning than it was at lunch and that could have played a part.
So I’m thinking. Did Dogger do this? I left her in the car while I went into the store after we had been at the park last night, but we were at the park for a while and she usually does her thing outside and in addition I had taken her for a walk prior to our trip to the park and I really did not see how she could possible have anything left to deposit in the car. She peed in the car once, but I think that was an accident and it could be argued I could have prevented it had I not been running to the john myself. I was trying to remember if she looked particularly guilty when I came back to the car and I didn’t think she did.
And so I’m driving to the other building and my eyes are watering and I’m frantically trying to figure out where the smell is coming from. I don’t see anything out in the open – but the car is full of garbage and the source could easily be hidden from view. The back seat looks okay, I don’t see any suspicious mountains of turds festering back there but it is a minivan, there is lot of “back there” for things to fester away in relative privacy. The front seat seems okay from the drivers’ seat, but I could Oh My Gawd!! Be sitting in it!. For my own sanity, I decide that I am not.
I’m thinking the car smells, I am in the car! Am I going to smell too? . I had a sit down lunch to attend and I really didn’t want to sit there and stink up the place and the women I work with? Totally would have no problem saying they smelled something funky and that the funkiness was radiating from moi.
I get to the other building and launch myself out of the car. I of course have an audience was this, because if other people couldn’t witness my freak out, what fun would it be? I needed other people to see me frantically exiting my car and then searching the car for shit. It made it so much better. Of course they didn’t know about the odor or that what I was frantically looking for was shit. No, they assumed I couldn’t find the 30 gallon cooler in the seat next to me; very often you lose them in the seat cushions or under the dash board.
I successful got the ice and went back to the building for the birthday party – I did cut out a little early so I could go to the dollar store for some room deodorizer to nuke the interior of the car with. I splurged, I got the $3 can of Febreeze instead of the $1 can of no-name brand of air freshener because I mean business damn it.
Mini and I are going to throw down after work.
edited to add - I stripped the car when I came home from work, and I didn't find anything that could have been the source of that smell.
I had to go run an errand during work today – I am the only person in the building who can go get ice, it’s a fact. There isn’t a single person employed in this building that can grab the cooler and drive to the building where the ice machine lives and go to the ice machine and successfully transfer ice from the machine to the cooler. Gawds honest truth. Anyway. I put the cooler in the van and got into the van and was assaulted by the worst smell ever... Satan's breath, I swear to Gawd. George Bush should know this smell.
The public was expecting their diet Mountain Dew to be on the rocks and ice waits for no woman. So I opened the van windows and got on my way and tried to breath through my mouth. The odor was so bad it was leeching into my body through my ears and I was like “Where is it! What is it?” I’m pretty sure I know what it was, it smelled like crap. Animal crap. Maybe dog maybe cat but it wasn’t there when I left for work because even at that hour my sense of smell is turned on and it is not an odor you fail to notice, you could be born without a nose and the watering eyes and nausea would to give it away. It was however, cooler this morning than it was at lunch and that could have played a part.
So I’m thinking. Did Dogger do this? I left her in the car while I went into the store after we had been at the park last night, but we were at the park for a while and she usually does her thing outside and in addition I had taken her for a walk prior to our trip to the park and I really did not see how she could possible have anything left to deposit in the car. She peed in the car once, but I think that was an accident and it could be argued I could have prevented it had I not been running to the john myself. I was trying to remember if she looked particularly guilty when I came back to the car and I didn’t think she did.
And so I’m driving to the other building and my eyes are watering and I’m frantically trying to figure out where the smell is coming from. I don’t see anything out in the open – but the car is full of garbage and the source could easily be hidden from view. The back seat looks okay, I don’t see any suspicious mountains of turds festering back there but it is a minivan, there is lot of “back there” for things to fester away in relative privacy. The front seat seems okay from the drivers’ seat, but I could Oh My Gawd!! Be sitting in it!. For my own sanity, I decide that I am not.
I’m thinking the car smells, I am in the car! Am I going to smell too? . I had a sit down lunch to attend and I really didn’t want to sit there and stink up the place and the women I work with? Totally would have no problem saying they smelled something funky and that the funkiness was radiating from moi.
I get to the other building and launch myself out of the car. I of course have an audience was this, because if other people couldn’t witness my freak out, what fun would it be? I needed other people to see me frantically exiting my car and then searching the car for shit. It made it so much better. Of course they didn’t know about the odor or that what I was frantically looking for was shit. No, they assumed I couldn’t find the 30 gallon cooler in the seat next to me; very often you lose them in the seat cushions or under the dash board.
I successful got the ice and went back to the building for the birthday party – I did cut out a little early so I could go to the dollar store for some room deodorizer to nuke the interior of the car with. I splurged, I got the $3 can of Febreeze instead of the $1 can of no-name brand of air freshener because I mean business damn it.
Mini and I are going to throw down after work.
edited to add - I stripped the car when I came home from work, and I didn't find anything that could have been the source of that smell.
Thursday, October 5, 2006
TV
I hate baseball. I’m not interested in baseball players, statistics, uplifting stories about how baseball stats saved a toddler… none of it. I always hate FAUX and I especially hate FAUX when they air baseball instead of my shows. Both of them. I mean, is a post season game between two teams that no one cares about and that are in no way going to make it the series more important than airing an episode of House? I don’t think so. Prioritize FAUX! Gawd.
And why do they have to play, what is it, 497 games leading up to the 124 games they play for the series? Shouldn’t these games be relegated to daytime or weekends or late night? Times when I and my TV shows won’t be disturbed by them. And why does the World Series have to be 7 games? Why not just one, you know, two teams walk in, one team walks out. The six other games are irrelevant anyway, just cut to the chase all ready.
Oh, but you say “It’s all about statistics”. Like I care. It’s crap and its not even interesting crap either. Football doesn’t do this to us. Yeah, sure there are the play offs but they don’t go on for approximately three months and the Super Bowl it self is a one game deal. Football doesn’t do “best of”. “Best of” is for tee-ball. Grownups don’t do “best of” deals, grown ups win or lose on the strength of one game! There aren’t any “I had a bad night, I’ll do better tomorrow” ‘s in football.
They could air the games during daytime too. “Oh, but nobody watches daytime”. I bet the real fans would, they could watch the games and leave the rest of us alone with our regularly scheduled programming.
Or how about having the whole mess moved to On Demand or PPV? Then only the people who are really invested (read betting on) the games will have to watch them! if that isn’t workable, how about running a scroll under the picture? You know saying who won, that’s all people care about anyway. Who won. Not RBIs or other baseball centric made up words, no base hits or number of bunts. Who won and who lost. Done.
I also get tired of the long operatic essays that get written this time of year about the power and the glory of our “National Sport”, which by the way is bull shit. It’s not the national game; we don’t have a national game. We don’t do that. And if we did do that, it would be Football not Baseball. When was the last time you went out of your way to watch college baseball? Been awhile? In my neck of the woods it’s all about college basketball, but around here we think tobacco is a vegetable so we have issues. If I wasn’t a total snob, the real national sport is probably NASCAR. This is a sobering and depressing thought. A sport that requires no physical exertion of any kind, no real talent outside driving and turning the wheel to the left. It fits our real national pastime that is sitting on our asses balancing the chip dip on our beer gut and watching other people run around.
FAUX pissed me off last night. Speaking of FAUX did you see where FAUX News kept identifying Foley as a Democrat? Assholes. Anyway. FAUX pissed me off because Wednesday morning they got my hopes up. I was looking at the TV listings and it said that they would be running a House after Bones. I got all excited! If they would do this, I could totally limit my exposure to FAUX to one day a week! Yowsa! But instead those lowlifes were running a House rerun. Bastards. I don’t watch reruns! Next week I won’t even have Bones to watch. I am so glad there is Netflix in this world and thank gawd for other channels!
I hate baseball. I’m not interested in baseball players, statistics, uplifting stories about how baseball stats saved a toddler… none of it. I always hate FAUX and I especially hate FAUX when they air baseball instead of my shows. Both of them. I mean, is a post season game between two teams that no one cares about and that are in no way going to make it the series more important than airing an episode of House? I don’t think so. Prioritize FAUX! Gawd.
And why do they have to play, what is it, 497 games leading up to the 124 games they play for the series? Shouldn’t these games be relegated to daytime or weekends or late night? Times when I and my TV shows won’t be disturbed by them. And why does the World Series have to be 7 games? Why not just one, you know, two teams walk in, one team walks out. The six other games are irrelevant anyway, just cut to the chase all ready.
Oh, but you say “It’s all about statistics”. Like I care. It’s crap and its not even interesting crap either. Football doesn’t do this to us. Yeah, sure there are the play offs but they don’t go on for approximately three months and the Super Bowl it self is a one game deal. Football doesn’t do “best of”. “Best of” is for tee-ball. Grownups don’t do “best of” deals, grown ups win or lose on the strength of one game! There aren’t any “I had a bad night, I’ll do better tomorrow” ‘s in football.
They could air the games during daytime too. “Oh, but nobody watches daytime”. I bet the real fans would, they could watch the games and leave the rest of us alone with our regularly scheduled programming.
Or how about having the whole mess moved to On Demand or PPV? Then only the people who are really invested (read betting on) the games will have to watch them! if that isn’t workable, how about running a scroll under the picture? You know saying who won, that’s all people care about anyway. Who won. Not RBIs or other baseball centric made up words, no base hits or number of bunts. Who won and who lost. Done.
I also get tired of the long operatic essays that get written this time of year about the power and the glory of our “National Sport”, which by the way is bull shit. It’s not the national game; we don’t have a national game. We don’t do that. And if we did do that, it would be Football not Baseball. When was the last time you went out of your way to watch college baseball? Been awhile? In my neck of the woods it’s all about college basketball, but around here we think tobacco is a vegetable so we have issues. If I wasn’t a total snob, the real national sport is probably NASCAR. This is a sobering and depressing thought. A sport that requires no physical exertion of any kind, no real talent outside driving and turning the wheel to the left. It fits our real national pastime that is sitting on our asses balancing the chip dip on our beer gut and watching other people run around.
FAUX pissed me off last night. Speaking of FAUX did you see where FAUX News kept identifying Foley as a Democrat? Assholes. Anyway. FAUX pissed me off because Wednesday morning they got my hopes up. I was looking at the TV listings and it said that they would be running a House after Bones. I got all excited! If they would do this, I could totally limit my exposure to FAUX to one day a week! Yowsa! But instead those lowlifes were running a House rerun. Bastards. I don’t watch reruns! Next week I won’t even have Bones to watch. I am so glad there is Netflix in this world and thank gawd for other channels!
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Time Changes Everything
9:30 rolled around again yesterday morning and I had to make a decision about lunch. I decided I would go home.
Me - You want to go where?
Myself – Home.
Me – First to McDonald’s right?
Myself – No, there are leftovers to eat. We don’t have to go to McDonald's.
Me –In our house? Leftovers?
Myself – Remember? In the refrigerator?
Me – Does the refrigerator even work? I mean, I don’t think the cereal feels very refrigerated when I pull it out. I mean the cardboard is not chilled.
Myself – You know, most people don’t use their refrigerators as an extension of their pantries. It’s fine. The coke cans are cold enough? Yes?
Me – Yeah. Are you sure about the food?
Myself – Yes, there is actual food in the house. Real food too. Not just cereal or Ramen. Actual food that requires actual refrigeration and that does not come wrapped in a paper or with a toy.
Me – Wow. No toy, huh? I don’t know. I’m kind of used to getting a toy with lunch.
So I went home. It was nice. I visited with Dogger and Kitty and for the first time in weeks, I felt comfortable freeing Dogger from her crate and leaving her to wander around her room. I am really hoping when I get back that I didn’t make a huge mistake judging her unmedicated bladder. I mean, I just got the smell out from the last time I misjudged her bladder capacity.
Speaking of misjudgment and a very bad smell .
July 27 -At a White House Rose Garden ceremony on July 27, President Bush hailed Foley and some other House and Senate lawmakers as members of a "SWAT team for kids." Washington Post
October 3, STOCKTON, California (CNN) -- President Bush said on Tuesday he was "disgusted" by the revelations involving former Rep. Mark Foley.” I was dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior," he said, adding that he was "disappointed." CNN.com
Did you know that Foley was also the Co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus? The Republican culture of corruption was so overwhelming that they out a fox in charge of the hen house. Foley was the same guy who a few years ago tried to get a Florida Nudist camp shut down because some of the nude people were nude children, and Foley fretted that outsiders that outsiders might see a glimpse of a nude eight year old and lose their minds.
Mr. Foley is rumored to be homosexual. The Florida papers had the copies of the emails but chose not to run with them because they didn’t want to be seen as “gay bashing”. He's not gay, he's a pedophile! We hate pedophiles! Straight people hate pedophiles, Gay people hate pedophiles all gawds creatures hate pedophiles! Ruining the career of a pedophile is nothing to be ashamed of. Ruin away I say. FUAX news also used this as their excuse for not bringing the story to light. The Republican noise machine didn't run with the story because they didn't want to ruin the man’s career just because he was a pedophile. Would they have been less sensitive if he was IMing teenage girls instead?
Question, why is the sanctity of a teen girl more worthy of protection than that of a teen boy? Does a penis make you less deserving of protection? Is it less scaring to a boy when when he gets molested? should we be less repulsived?
And our old not friend The Drudge Report. Drudge Report circa Lewinsky. Drudge Report circa Foley.
What a difference a new decade makes. He felt all kinds of sorry for poor, sad, little, 23 year old Monica, but a decade later he thinks 16-18 year old boys are just egger oners and the poor yiddle adult was just really a helpless victim.
Matt Drudge is an ass wipe.
Edited to add: Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested as a teenager between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his lawyer says.
Spare me.
9:30 rolled around again yesterday morning and I had to make a decision about lunch. I decided I would go home.
Me - You want to go where?
Myself – Home.
Me – First to McDonald’s right?
Myself – No, there are leftovers to eat. We don’t have to go to McDonald's.
Me –In our house? Leftovers?
Myself – Remember? In the refrigerator?
Me – Does the refrigerator even work? I mean, I don’t think the cereal feels very refrigerated when I pull it out. I mean the cardboard is not chilled.
Myself – You know, most people don’t use their refrigerators as an extension of their pantries. It’s fine. The coke cans are cold enough? Yes?
Me – Yeah. Are you sure about the food?
Myself – Yes, there is actual food in the house. Real food too. Not just cereal or Ramen. Actual food that requires actual refrigeration and that does not come wrapped in a paper or with a toy.
Me – Wow. No toy, huh? I don’t know. I’m kind of used to getting a toy with lunch.
So I went home. It was nice. I visited with Dogger and Kitty and for the first time in weeks, I felt comfortable freeing Dogger from her crate and leaving her to wander around her room. I am really hoping when I get back that I didn’t make a huge mistake judging her unmedicated bladder. I mean, I just got the smell out from the last time I misjudged her bladder capacity.
Speaking of misjudgment and a very bad smell .
July 27 -At a White House Rose Garden ceremony on July 27, President Bush hailed Foley and some other House and Senate lawmakers as members of a "SWAT team for kids." Washington Post
October 3, STOCKTON, California (CNN) -- President Bush said on Tuesday he was "disgusted" by the revelations involving former Rep. Mark Foley.” I was dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior," he said, adding that he was "disappointed." CNN.com
Did you know that Foley was also the Co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus? The Republican culture of corruption was so overwhelming that they out a fox in charge of the hen house. Foley was the same guy who a few years ago tried to get a Florida Nudist camp shut down because some of the nude people were nude children, and Foley fretted that outsiders that outsiders might see a glimpse of a nude eight year old and lose their minds.
Mr. Foley is rumored to be homosexual. The Florida papers had the copies of the emails but chose not to run with them because they didn’t want to be seen as “gay bashing”. He's not gay, he's a pedophile! We hate pedophiles! Straight people hate pedophiles, Gay people hate pedophiles all gawds creatures hate pedophiles! Ruining the career of a pedophile is nothing to be ashamed of. Ruin away I say. FUAX news also used this as their excuse for not bringing the story to light. The Republican noise machine didn't run with the story because they didn't want to ruin the man’s career just because he was a pedophile. Would they have been less sensitive if he was IMing teenage girls instead?
Question, why is the sanctity of a teen girl more worthy of protection than that of a teen boy? Does a penis make you less deserving of protection? Is it less scaring to a boy when when he gets molested? should we be less repulsived?
And our old not friend The Drudge Report. Drudge Report circa Lewinsky. Drudge Report circa Foley.
What a difference a new decade makes. He felt all kinds of sorry for poor, sad, little, 23 year old Monica, but a decade later he thinks 16-18 year old boys are just egger oners and the poor yiddle adult was just really a helpless victim.
Matt Drudge is an ass wipe.
Edited to add: Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested as a teenager between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his lawyer says.
Spare me.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Old Time Religion
I decided it was about time that Dogger and Kitty got churched. I was afraid that they were going to fall victim to some door to door Gawd hustler and wind up in some back ally vanity Mega church somewhere pawing snakes and writing checks to charlatans named “Brother Bubba” or “Bishop Lonnie” . Being able to tell those “people” that they have at least been seen by a Priest can go a long way to taking the wind out of their double knit sails animal evangelicalism-wise.
Dogger is all ready the nicest dog in the world, so a little blessing and a little holy water would only improve her disposition. She’s so sweet now that coming on contact with too much of her slobber can bring on diabetes. She has been giving Sweetness and Light seminars for garden fairies and house elves. Tinker Bell pays to have her review her speeches and Santa? Santa wants her to replace Rudolph! Dogger is all about the goodness and the lightness.
And then there is The Kitty.
The Kitty is not a sweet kitty. Okay, there should be a * there, he is sweet to a limited number of people, sometimes. He plays favorites and is an expert at the "social cut". For him there is a thin line between love and hate and you are standing on the wrong side of it. He does however consistently remember that I feed him and he recognizes that if he kills me in my sleep his breakfast will be very late and that would be unacceptable. I owe my life to his hunger pangs. He’s not so much an animal companion as he is a stomach with feet.
Clearly, The Kitty needs all the help he can get.
So when there was a notice in the church bulletin that in honor of St. Francis day, the Church would be holding a pet blessing, I cleared my schedule.
I remembered that I took at least The Kitty to this once before and I was tardy. The bulletin should have said “Blessing of the animals blah, blah PROMPTLY AT 4PM!” . I almost missed out. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
On the road to find out 
We got there early. Real early. A half and hour early. It was too early. You try to fit in to a crowd walking a huge dog and carrying a cat carrier. You can’t. It’s hard to not look goofy and very possibly crazy when toting house pets around in public. I don’t understand how those starlets don’t feel stupid carrying their pretend dogs around in their purses out in public. I felt like a walking ad for stupid. A walking hissing ad for stupid.
Dogger was of course flawless. We walked around the block and went and hid in Minnie until another car pulled up with a dog.
There were more people now. 
By this time there were more people with dogs milling around. No one else brought there cats, there was nothing in the bulletin about a cat prohibition, so I don’t understand that. Other dogs barked and carried on and generally acted like less than model dog citizens. Dogger was perfect.
Dogger behaved. 
She kept her nose to herself and she didn’t bark with the other dogs either. Dogger was trying to be respectful. Kitty was not as respectful.
Hisssssssss 
The priest arrived at 3:59 and seemed eager to get the show on the road. I thought he was going off to check the fine print in his job description under “Other duties as assigned”
doing His thing... 
...but when he came back, it was not with a sharpie, but a with a Chihuahua.. In its defense it was shaking like a leaf but it resisted it’s deep seated need to yap. He quickly got on with it, and the ceremony, while brief, was lovely.
Blessing the animals 
When he saw the cat carrier the priest asked me if that was a cat in there, when I said yes, he all but poured holy water on the carrier. The priest is clearly not a cat person despite his catdog or it could be simply that The Kitties reputation preceded him. Daisy hardly needed any holy water.
I decided it was about time that Dogger and Kitty got churched. I was afraid that they were going to fall victim to some door to door Gawd hustler and wind up in some back ally vanity Mega church somewhere pawing snakes and writing checks to charlatans named “Brother Bubba” or “Bishop Lonnie” . Being able to tell those “people” that they have at least been seen by a Priest can go a long way to taking the wind out of their double knit sails animal evangelicalism-wise.
Dogger is all ready the nicest dog in the world, so a little blessing and a little holy water would only improve her disposition. She’s so sweet now that coming on contact with too much of her slobber can bring on diabetes. She has been giving Sweetness and Light seminars for garden fairies and house elves. Tinker Bell pays to have her review her speeches and Santa? Santa wants her to replace Rudolph! Dogger is all about the goodness and the lightness.
And then there is The Kitty.
The Kitty is not a sweet kitty. Okay, there should be a * there, he is sweet to a limited number of people, sometimes. He plays favorites and is an expert at the "social cut". For him there is a thin line between love and hate and you are standing on the wrong side of it. He does however consistently remember that I feed him and he recognizes that if he kills me in my sleep his breakfast will be very late and that would be unacceptable. I owe my life to his hunger pangs. He’s not so much an animal companion as he is a stomach with feet.
Clearly, The Kitty needs all the help he can get.
So when there was a notice in the church bulletin that in honor of St. Francis day, the Church would be holding a pet blessing, I cleared my schedule.
I remembered that I took at least The Kitty to this once before and I was tardy. The bulletin should have said “Blessing of the animals blah, blah PROMPTLY AT 4PM!” . I almost missed out. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
We got there early. Real early. A half and hour early. It was too early. You try to fit in to a crowd walking a huge dog and carrying a cat carrier. You can’t. It’s hard to not look goofy and very possibly crazy when toting house pets around in public. I don’t understand how those starlets don’t feel stupid carrying their pretend dogs around in their purses out in public. I felt like a walking ad for stupid. A walking hissing ad for stupid.
Dogger was of course flawless. We walked around the block and went and hid in Minnie until another car pulled up with a dog.
By this time there were more people with dogs milling around. No one else brought there cats, there was nothing in the bulletin about a cat prohibition, so I don’t understand that. Other dogs barked and carried on and generally acted like less than model dog citizens. Dogger was perfect.
She kept her nose to herself and she didn’t bark with the other dogs either. Dogger was trying to be respectful. Kitty was not as respectful.
The priest arrived at 3:59 and seemed eager to get the show on the road. I thought he was going off to check the fine print in his job description under “Other duties as assigned”
...but when he came back, it was not with a sharpie, but a with a Chihuahua.. In its defense it was shaking like a leaf but it resisted it’s deep seated need to yap. He quickly got on with it, and the ceremony, while brief, was lovely.
When he saw the cat carrier the priest asked me if that was a cat in there, when I said yes, he all but poured holy water on the carrier. The priest is clearly not a cat person despite his catdog or it could be simply that The Kitties reputation preceded him. Daisy hardly needed any holy water.
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