Congratulations to Mr. Manchester and his lovely bride of 19 years!
Everyone join me in wishing them a delightful and joyous wedding anniversary. May you have many more to come, and may each new year together bring you peace and contentment.
Oh, and failing that....year 19 brings you an anniversary gift of bronze.
I suppose that is better than year one, which is....paper, or year seven, which is wool.
20080930
I don't like China, but they have this nifty concept called "The Execution Bus" and when you've been a very naughty boy indeed, the bus rolls up to your corporation's front door, and you are expected to step inside, and you leave in a body bag. China uses it to get rid of corporations who do things like, oh, kill babies by selling tainted milk, or dog food, or toys with lead, or other immoral and irresponsible acts brought about by greed and profit chasing.
I can see The Execution Bus rolling down Wall Street now.....
I can see The Execution Bus rolling down Wall Street now.....
Reverse Jumping the Shark?
Sarah Palin has managed to achieve what many people have claimed was impossible:
She's made "Saturday Night Live" relevant again.
She's made "Saturday Night Live" relevant again.
20080929
Here's the thing, see....
It's not like the Depression. Household savings and checking accounts aren't the things at stake. No, the Depression and the Great Crash netted us the FDIC - which means your money at the bank is insured against runs and catastrophic losses. Insured. Yeah, you read that right.
So what the government is saying is that this Wall Street Bailout, this one that failed, is basically a reward for investors who gambled with other people's money (to reduce the risk of loss to themselves) and when they lost money and walked off, someone was left holding the bag, and it was about to be you and me. We were about to be asked to "insure" an industry that had no right to be in the first place, an industry that was created and allowed fortunes to be made by trading on risk like a commodity.
Ah yes...what are those famous words?
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
I can't wait to get out of debt.
It's not like the Depression. Household savings and checking accounts aren't the things at stake. No, the Depression and the Great Crash netted us the FDIC - which means your money at the bank is insured against runs and catastrophic losses. Insured. Yeah, you read that right.
So what the government is saying is that this Wall Street Bailout, this one that failed, is basically a reward for investors who gambled with other people's money (to reduce the risk of loss to themselves) and when they lost money and walked off, someone was left holding the bag, and it was about to be you and me. We were about to be asked to "insure" an industry that had no right to be in the first place, an industry that was created and allowed fortunes to be made by trading on risk like a commodity.
Ah yes...what are those famous words?
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
I can't wait to get out of debt.
20080926
The weekend is upon us yet again. As those of you who know me well know, Friday's find me grumpy and tired. This week it seems especially so - I'd gotten my hopes up that the repairman would be able to fix the washer (we broke down and scheduled an appointment) with a wave of his repairman ratchettype wand on the spot.
Of course, it was not to be. It would be another $247 and another week. I decided it wasn't worth it.
And adding further to the crankiness further is the ache in my back. I don't know what I've done, but I've an ache in my back that won't stop. Unless I'm asleep. And since I can't seem to sleep more than six hours a night, and certainly none uninterrupted, I've given up on that as well.
I can't think any further about the economy (although the conspiracy theorist in me notes that some of the players in the news this week were previously rumored to be potential suitors for my employer, and the accidental nature of our sale yanking release to the press was timed a bit oddly in light of what occurred otherwise, yesterday). My head just might explode.
Lol - now do you believe me? I am always grumpy and tired on Friday.
Of course, it was not to be. It would be another $247 and another week. I decided it wasn't worth it.
And adding further to the crankiness further is the ache in my back. I don't know what I've done, but I've an ache in my back that won't stop. Unless I'm asleep. And since I can't seem to sleep more than six hours a night, and certainly none uninterrupted, I've given up on that as well.
I can't think any further about the economy (although the conspiracy theorist in me notes that some of the players in the news this week were previously rumored to be potential suitors for my employer, and the accidental nature of our sale yanking release to the press was timed a bit oddly in light of what occurred otherwise, yesterday). My head just might explode.
Lol - now do you believe me? I am always grumpy and tired on Friday.
20080925
Let me get this straight:
Federal Regulators tonight, while you and I were eating dinner, seized control of Washington Mutual and sold it at bargain basement prices to JP Morgan Chase.
Are you people not aghast at this? The government just swooped in and seized a bank.
Is that even lawful? I am appalled.
Doesn't anyone see what unprecedented power the treasury has just granted itself????
Federal Regulators tonight, while you and I were eating dinner, seized control of Washington Mutual and sold it at bargain basement prices to JP Morgan Chase.
Are you people not aghast at this? The government just swooped in and seized a bank.
Is that even lawful? I am appalled.
Doesn't anyone see what unprecedented power the treasury has just granted itself????
20080924
20080923
"[Some] seem to think that [civilization's] advance has brought on too complicated a state of society, and that we should gain in happiness by treading back our steps a little way. I think, myself, that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. I believe it might be much simplified to the relief of those who maintain it." --Thomas Jefferson to William Ludlow, 1824. ME 16:75
Yes...too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Too many CEO's with multi million dollar salaries sitting pretty while you and I and Bob and Sue and Leroy and Lelanie and Miguel and Chen, and Chen's granddaughter, and her daughter's daughter will all be paying for the mistakes and gross incompetence of the parasites (living off the labor of Chen, and you, and me).
For what little it's worth, I think Jefferson would be appalled at the...incest that happens regularly between the captains of industry (perhaps better re-monikered the captains of investment or rats of the sinking ship) and the government. I've been reading extensively on this subject, and it seems that everyone and god thinks that the bailouts are "the right thing to do".
WRONG
The right thing to do is: jail, baby, for all those CEO's, and restitution to the company and to the people they essentially defrauded. The right thing to do is to stop letting the BANKS set their own policies. The BANKS got themselves into this mess in the first place, so it's only right that they take a hit as well. Do I really care that the bank holds a note that says your house is work $200K when it is really only worth $150K? No, I don't, but the bank does. The bank isn't going to, even if you are facing foreclosure, or bankruptcy, adjust the amount of your loan to reflect market value. The bank is going to hold your feet to the fire as long as possible, and hope they can nickle and dime you to death before you walk into their local branch and fling your house keys at the brand manager's head. If Congress were honorable, they would have insisted that the banks downwardly adjust the principal in true hardship cases. But we know they aren't, and they like their little kick backs and "after I retire from Congress" board positions, and vacations, and all those little PAC monies that they aren't allowed to have.
So Wall Street, and our continued lack of common sense regulation in existing and emerging markets, has led us down the garden path into a recession/depression. Retailers are already moaning about the poor holiday season. Boofreakinghoo. Cry me a river. Produce something someone wants, or lower your prices, or STFU. Imaginary hype isn't going to get it.
I'll be glad when reality re-intrudes and we all come down off this high we've been on. Perpetual growth...ya know...
Yes...too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Too many CEO's with multi million dollar salaries sitting pretty while you and I and Bob and Sue and Leroy and Lelanie and Miguel and Chen, and Chen's granddaughter, and her daughter's daughter will all be paying for the mistakes and gross incompetence of the parasites (living off the labor of Chen, and you, and me).
For what little it's worth, I think Jefferson would be appalled at the...incest that happens regularly between the captains of industry (perhaps better re-monikered the captains of investment or rats of the sinking ship) and the government. I've been reading extensively on this subject, and it seems that everyone and god thinks that the bailouts are "the right thing to do".
WRONG
The right thing to do is: jail, baby, for all those CEO's, and restitution to the company and to the people they essentially defrauded. The right thing to do is to stop letting the BANKS set their own policies. The BANKS got themselves into this mess in the first place, so it's only right that they take a hit as well. Do I really care that the bank holds a note that says your house is work $200K when it is really only worth $150K? No, I don't, but the bank does. The bank isn't going to, even if you are facing foreclosure, or bankruptcy, adjust the amount of your loan to reflect market value. The bank is going to hold your feet to the fire as long as possible, and hope they can nickle and dime you to death before you walk into their local branch and fling your house keys at the brand manager's head. If Congress were honorable, they would have insisted that the banks downwardly adjust the principal in true hardship cases. But we know they aren't, and they like their little kick backs and "after I retire from Congress" board positions, and vacations, and all those little PAC monies that they aren't allowed to have.
So Wall Street, and our continued lack of common sense regulation in existing and emerging markets, has led us down the garden path into a recession/depression. Retailers are already moaning about the poor holiday season. Boofreakinghoo. Cry me a river. Produce something someone wants, or lower your prices, or STFU. Imaginary hype isn't going to get it.
I'll be glad when reality re-intrudes and we all come down off this high we've been on. Perpetual growth...ya know...
This is Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, dated March 4, 1801 when the land was leaving it's colonial days behind and becoming a country. His words remind me of how we have failed (I have restrained myself from highlighting the important bits; you can find those yourself):
"Friends and Fellow Citizens:
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. "
"Friends and Fellow Citizens:
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. "
You Must Buy This Now (The Culture of Want)
Once upon a time, you were content to listen to music on the radio. When you went for a walk, you were content to listen to the birds and enjoy nature. When you got in your car, if you had a radio, you were happy to have whatever was on. A Saturday night might find the family listening to a radio program while eating dinner and cleaning up.
Wouldn't it be cool, though, if you could listen to just the music YOU like and not the music everyone else likes? Dig it, daddy 0. No one would talk to you either, and if you like you can play it over and over again until you are quite sick of it. Ah, the popularity of the record player just grew and grew until everyone had one. And then everyone had the stereo - you know, a record player, a tape deck (or 8track), and a radio in one unit. So you could...tape things and play them back later. Impossible! Astounding! Amazing!
Suddenly that silence on your walk doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Wouldn't you walk faster if you had your own tunes to walk to? Maybe something with a good beat, or a catchy chorus, something thumpy for your evening run. Oh! You can make a mix tape for that little Walkman you got for Christmas! Just the thing!
Now technology has made your records obsolete. Their replacement, the compact disc, also obsolete in favor of digital music (the music industry might protest, but the death knell for their existing business model tolled way back when the real Napster first made it's debut). Now we have phones, and satellite music, and ipods, and burners, and can make our own music if you like.
And all along, we got sweet talked into buying all this stuff that we never really needed. You didn't need a record player; someone made you think that you wanted one. You didn't need a walkman; someone made you think that you wanted one.
Isn't that a summary of our contemporary culture? We spend ourselves into debt buying things we do not need and yet oddly feel that we want. It is the same phenomenom that leaves you disappointed when you hit that big sale at Macy's only to leave empty handed.
Sometimes there are just times when you realize there is nothing worth spending your hard earned money on.
Wouldn't it be cool, though, if you could listen to just the music YOU like and not the music everyone else likes? Dig it, daddy 0. No one would talk to you either, and if you like you can play it over and over again until you are quite sick of it. Ah, the popularity of the record player just grew and grew until everyone had one. And then everyone had the stereo - you know, a record player, a tape deck (or 8track), and a radio in one unit. So you could...tape things and play them back later. Impossible! Astounding! Amazing!
Suddenly that silence on your walk doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Wouldn't you walk faster if you had your own tunes to walk to? Maybe something with a good beat, or a catchy chorus, something thumpy for your evening run. Oh! You can make a mix tape for that little Walkman you got for Christmas! Just the thing!
Now technology has made your records obsolete. Their replacement, the compact disc, also obsolete in favor of digital music (the music industry might protest, but the death knell for their existing business model tolled way back when the real Napster first made it's debut). Now we have phones, and satellite music, and ipods, and burners, and can make our own music if you like.
And all along, we got sweet talked into buying all this stuff that we never really needed. You didn't need a record player; someone made you think that you wanted one. You didn't need a walkman; someone made you think that you wanted one.
Isn't that a summary of our contemporary culture? We spend ourselves into debt buying things we do not need and yet oddly feel that we want. It is the same phenomenom that leaves you disappointed when you hit that big sale at Macy's only to leave empty handed.
Sometimes there are just times when you realize there is nothing worth spending your hard earned money on.
Those of us who reside here accept that the South is a peculiar place. After all, we live on southern soil, and breathe southern air, and grow up steeped in all parts (good and bad) of southern culture (skids or otherwise!)
It must be said, however, that we do like to come up with odd nicknames for our husbands, our wives, our partners, our children, our pets.
For instance: Madeline Anne is frequently called MaddyGail, hairball, fishbreath, Maddylena, Maddycakes, etc. Zoe is Harriett Houdini, or tater, or cutie pie or just plain momma's baby :-)
Back to people, where else in the world is referring to someone as “butterball” an endearment?
And we do have a WIDE variety of food related nicknames: muffin, sugar (and it’s kissing cousin, sugar-pie), dumpling, pumpkin, butternut squash, peapod, peanut, honey, apple of my eye, etc. followed by your classics: sweetheart, baby, sweetie, darling, babygirl, etc. You also one remaining category of slang that influences our nickname vocabulary, with one honorable mention: boo.
My personal favorite? Grandmother’s “sugarfoot” . That’s the ultimate expression of grandmotherly love…being called sugarfoot.
I guess that’s just a southern thing.
It must be said, however, that we do like to come up with odd nicknames for our husbands, our wives, our partners, our children, our pets.
For instance: Madeline Anne is frequently called MaddyGail, hairball, fishbreath, Maddylena, Maddycakes, etc. Zoe is Harriett Houdini, or tater, or cutie pie or just plain momma's baby :-)
Back to people, where else in the world is referring to someone as “butterball” an endearment?
And we do have a WIDE variety of food related nicknames: muffin, sugar (and it’s kissing cousin, sugar-pie), dumpling, pumpkin, butternut squash, peapod, peanut, honey, apple of my eye, etc. followed by your classics: sweetheart, baby, sweetie, darling, babygirl, etc. You also one remaining category of slang that influences our nickname vocabulary, with one honorable mention: boo.
My personal favorite? Grandmother’s “sugarfoot” . That’s the ultimate expression of grandmotherly love…being called sugarfoot.
I guess that’s just a southern thing.
What did mankind do without the invention of dental services? Did our naked ancestors stroll around the plains looking for handy herbs with which to scrub their teeth? Did someone chomp on a piece of mint and voila mouthwash was born?
Yesterday I had two fillings replaced. Part of me thinks this is a racket, like every dentist's desire to removal all wisdom teeth, and straighten every tooth in your mouth. Even as an adult, every time I go to a new dentist, they all try to upsell me on braces. Braces are a form of extreme discipline and reduce any likelihood of having a normal teenage-hood to somewhere between nil and zero. Coupled with pink glasses, long stringy hair, and clothes acquired from wherever...
You get the point: I'm never getting braces again. I'd like veneers, though. The BallChicks at the Braves game all had them, and I thought they looked nice. Those and the fake racks.
As usual, the office is running late. It's a weird office - a de-converted Macaroni Grill (or something italian-ish like that) - run by weird people but almost entirely female, which is a change.
First, the impressions for the mouthguard. I am a jaw clencher and a teeth grinder of a the first order, so this is a necessity, although an expensive one. The first mould was too big to even fit in my mouth, and my little dental hygenist (from Bulgaria, I asked, and not so little) had to go get the children's plate for little ole moi! That shit is gross, let me tell ya, and you have to have three impressions made to make sure it's right.
As they are gassing me up, and giving me the numbing gel, the dentist strolls in, pops the mask off my face and says "Girl, are you high yet?" and starts laughing like a madwoman. So does the hygenist from Bulgaria, who starts in on crazy patients on gas stories, like the woman who hallucinated a bear, or the patient who passed out in the chair, and then we went into office gossip, and patient gossip, and I was rather entertained as I had two fillings drilled out and replaced (the smell, oh my god, the smell of your teeth being drilled out of your head is really rather revolting. When did my nose get so sensitive?)
Leaving the office is not such a good experience. I look like Billy Idol - I'm afraid I'm going to drool, so I have this perpetual sneer. Driving back to the office to pick up Mr. Manners, the whole world has gone plumb crazy and tilted the wrong way on it's axis because people are LINING UP TO GET GAS like complete idiots. And it's messing up my driving pattern, people, so get the hell out of the way. And yes, there is only one gas station on the whole of Mansell Road with gas, and it's the Racetrac, the one that you can't get into from the main road...yeah, the one with shitty frontage.
The whole no gas thing still entertains me. Why is there no gas? Because people are idiots. Do folks really think that the oil you put in your car comes only from Texas?
Oh yeah, right....I forget I live in a country where some of the top selling publications are USA Today and Time Magazine (NewsForThirdGraders, and NewsForDummies, respectively).
Yesterday I had two fillings replaced. Part of me thinks this is a racket, like every dentist's desire to removal all wisdom teeth, and straighten every tooth in your mouth. Even as an adult, every time I go to a new dentist, they all try to upsell me on braces. Braces are a form of extreme discipline and reduce any likelihood of having a normal teenage-hood to somewhere between nil and zero. Coupled with pink glasses, long stringy hair, and clothes acquired from wherever...
You get the point: I'm never getting braces again. I'd like veneers, though. The BallChicks at the Braves game all had them, and I thought they looked nice. Those and the fake racks.
As usual, the office is running late. It's a weird office - a de-converted Macaroni Grill (or something italian-ish like that) - run by weird people but almost entirely female, which is a change.
First, the impressions for the mouthguard. I am a jaw clencher and a teeth grinder of a the first order, so this is a necessity, although an expensive one. The first mould was too big to even fit in my mouth, and my little dental hygenist (from Bulgaria, I asked, and not so little) had to go get the children's plate for little ole moi! That shit is gross, let me tell ya, and you have to have three impressions made to make sure it's right.
As they are gassing me up, and giving me the numbing gel, the dentist strolls in, pops the mask off my face and says "Girl, are you high yet?" and starts laughing like a madwoman. So does the hygenist from Bulgaria, who starts in on crazy patients on gas stories, like the woman who hallucinated a bear, or the patient who passed out in the chair, and then we went into office gossip, and patient gossip, and I was rather entertained as I had two fillings drilled out and replaced (the smell, oh my god, the smell of your teeth being drilled out of your head is really rather revolting. When did my nose get so sensitive?)
Leaving the office is not such a good experience. I look like Billy Idol - I'm afraid I'm going to drool, so I have this perpetual sneer. Driving back to the office to pick up Mr. Manners, the whole world has gone plumb crazy and tilted the wrong way on it's axis because people are LINING UP TO GET GAS like complete idiots. And it's messing up my driving pattern, people, so get the hell out of the way. And yes, there is only one gas station on the whole of Mansell Road with gas, and it's the Racetrac, the one that you can't get into from the main road...yeah, the one with shitty frontage.
The whole no gas thing still entertains me. Why is there no gas? Because people are idiots. Do folks really think that the oil you put in your car comes only from Texas?
Oh yeah, right....I forget I live in a country where some of the top selling publications are USA Today and Time Magazine (NewsForThirdGraders, and NewsForDummies, respectively).
20080922
I know this might be astounding, but I've nothing amazing or englightening or ranting or bitchy to say.
Oh, at no attempting lyrical or literary greatness. The brain has checked out.
It is entirely possible that I work harder, and wear myself out, on the weekends than I do during the week.
*yawn* is it Monday already? wake me when it's Friday...
Happy First Day of Fall! (and not a moment too soon)
Oh, at no attempting lyrical or literary greatness. The brain has checked out.
It is entirely possible that I work harder, and wear myself out, on the weekends than I do during the week.
*yawn* is it Monday already? wake me when it's Friday...
Happy First Day of Fall! (and not a moment too soon)
20080919
20080918
Please visit http://clusterfook.com/products-page/.
This lady has cancer for the third time and is making jewelry to supplement her family's income as she has been denied all benefits by our LOVELY GOVERNMENT. Visit her page, buy a bracelet (if you can), make a donation, or just leave a note.
This lady has cancer for the third time and is making jewelry to supplement her family's income as she has been denied all benefits by our LOVELY GOVERNMENT. Visit her page, buy a bracelet (if you can), make a donation, or just leave a note.
On Good Morning America, BigMouthBiden said "It's time to be patriotic....time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help America get out of the rut".
He's referring to raising taxes, folks.
It is not patriotic to pay taxes.
No taxation without representation, remember? founding principle, and everything, for the revolution? Did someone fail United States history as well as economics and civics?
I am SO ANGRY about these bailouts I can't stand it. Fannie and Freddie had to be bailed out. Ok, great, so now the government is really in the mortgage industry. Insurance? And now Detroit has come begging?
(here is my aside on Detroit: screw the Big Three. They have faced increased competition from foreign automakers for years. Rather than, oh, build quality vehicles, work on new technology that wasn't oil dependent, improve effeciency in their production lines, etc they spent time and money lobbying for increases in tariffs and taxes on import vehicles. Ever wonder why Honda and Toyota have domestic plants these days? Cheaper to make them here than abroad and pay that tax. For years, those asshats have sat their butts (rested on their laurels is waaaay too polite an expression) and let the money rake in, and now that they look obsolete and can't compete, they want to ask Congress for a bailout. Darlings, fuck you. Fuck all of you. You mismanaged yourself into a hole. I feel sorry for your employees, but...this is a free market. Remain competitive or die. You just died. Time to drop off the vine).
I am very disappointed in the leadership of our country. Whatever happened to accountability? What has happened in our country has happened because of lack of legal oversight (in the mortgage industry) and the complete greed of the people running the corporations of America (the same people who fire you, outsource your jobs, and then whine when their sales go down, and their stocks go down).
Every single American should be asking themselves this question: if YOU lost your company millions of dollars, would you still have a job? If you LIED about how something was funded, or the risk involved in a new project or job, would you have a job that paid you a gagillion dollars (or would you be looking at jail time)?
I see no reason to bail out Detroit. I saw no reason to bail out AIG (still don't). The only thing I see is that the Administration just bought us some expensive debt, that will either be paid for through tax increases or budget cuts. Now, the biggest bang in budget cuts traditionally comes out of military spending...so...somehow I don't think the $160 billion needed to cover the two existing bailouts is going to come out of the Pentagon's operating budget.
I see no reason to bail out any company who pays a CEO a salary in excess of a million dollars (not including stocks, etc). That is just greedy. I think the CEO of AIG, and the leaders of Fannie Mae, ought to be tried for gross negligence and incompentence and sent to jail. What? If I acted like you (or the rest of us in consumer land) the very second we got into trouble we'd all go running and asking for handouts. Wait, I forgot..we used to have the protection of the bankruptcy courts until companies like AIG and BOA and Chase and Citi all got together and lobbied Congress to change the laws so that they could recover more of their penalites and interest under the bankruptcy laws! That's right!! I remember now, the little guy has no recourse! There is no single person on this earth who is worth that much money. Period. End of Story. Ever. You guys get no sympathy from me - you did it to yourself, and you deserve to face the music.
And if that doesn't work -
Bring back the public stocks. I'll be first in line with a bushel of tomatoes. I can't wait.
He's referring to raising taxes, folks.
It is not patriotic to pay taxes.
No taxation without representation, remember? founding principle, and everything, for the revolution? Did someone fail United States history as well as economics and civics?
I am SO ANGRY about these bailouts I can't stand it. Fannie and Freddie had to be bailed out. Ok, great, so now the government is really in the mortgage industry. Insurance? And now Detroit has come begging?
(here is my aside on Detroit: screw the Big Three. They have faced increased competition from foreign automakers for years. Rather than, oh, build quality vehicles, work on new technology that wasn't oil dependent, improve effeciency in their production lines, etc they spent time and money lobbying for increases in tariffs and taxes on import vehicles. Ever wonder why Honda and Toyota have domestic plants these days? Cheaper to make them here than abroad and pay that tax. For years, those asshats have sat their butts (rested on their laurels is waaaay too polite an expression) and let the money rake in, and now that they look obsolete and can't compete, they want to ask Congress for a bailout. Darlings, fuck you. Fuck all of you. You mismanaged yourself into a hole. I feel sorry for your employees, but...this is a free market. Remain competitive or die. You just died. Time to drop off the vine).
I am very disappointed in the leadership of our country. Whatever happened to accountability? What has happened in our country has happened because of lack of legal oversight (in the mortgage industry) and the complete greed of the people running the corporations of America (the same people who fire you, outsource your jobs, and then whine when their sales go down, and their stocks go down).
Every single American should be asking themselves this question: if YOU lost your company millions of dollars, would you still have a job? If you LIED about how something was funded, or the risk involved in a new project or job, would you have a job that paid you a gagillion dollars (or would you be looking at jail time)?
I see no reason to bail out Detroit. I saw no reason to bail out AIG (still don't). The only thing I see is that the Administration just bought us some expensive debt, that will either be paid for through tax increases or budget cuts. Now, the biggest bang in budget cuts traditionally comes out of military spending...so...somehow I don't think the $160 billion needed to cover the two existing bailouts is going to come out of the Pentagon's operating budget.
I see no reason to bail out any company who pays a CEO a salary in excess of a million dollars (not including stocks, etc). That is just greedy. I think the CEO of AIG, and the leaders of Fannie Mae, ought to be tried for gross negligence and incompentence and sent to jail. What? If I acted like you (or the rest of us in consumer land) the very second we got into trouble we'd all go running and asking for handouts. Wait, I forgot..we used to have the protection of the bankruptcy courts until companies like AIG and BOA and Chase and Citi all got together and lobbied Congress to change the laws so that they could recover more of their penalites and interest under the bankruptcy laws! That's right!! I remember now, the little guy has no recourse! There is no single person on this earth who is worth that much money. Period. End of Story. Ever. You guys get no sympathy from me - you did it to yourself, and you deserve to face the music.
And if that doesn't work -
Bring back the public stocks. I'll be first in line with a bushel of tomatoes. I can't wait.
20080917
Why We Protest (or Scientology is A Cult)
We had, one could say, an interesting aside on our D.C. trip.
Earlier, I’d blogged about the anti Scientology group Anonymous’ plans to protest at Katie Holmes Broadway debut. You all know I think Katie and Suri are darlings (even if Suri does sometimes remind me, in the odd way some small children have, of Marvin the Martian, but she’s cute, so it works), and Tom Cruise is just odd.
We’re strolling around in front of the White House, and Mr. Manners is snapping photos like mad. I’m admiring the great job the secret service and Homeland Security have done putting in cameras that give them a view of every inch of the square in front of the White House and every angle coming and going. At one point, Mr. Manners and I both look up at a lamp post and wave. I mouthed “Hi, President Bush!”.
Just like us, everywhere there are tourists, and only a small amount of protestors. Some protestors are carrying signs and walking around silently, while others are dressed in long robes, or are wearing wigs and carnival masks and handing out…anti Scientology literature! We’re approached by a woman in a wig and carnival mask (yes, I have the brochure, and no, I won’t put it up). I’ve had my first real life introduction to Anonymous!
In reading my site tracker, I noted that my blog article had gotten picked up on a message board that seemed to sympathize with the group. That tickled me, and the periodic subsequent hits made me want to leave little messages that said HOWDY!
Later, we’re driving through D.C. and yet again I am lost (and swearing because there is no such thing as traffic flow in that city), we stumble upon a Scientology center with a cross on the building. I’m rather offended by this, because I really think they are a cult, and I’m not sure a cult should….well….demean the cross by using it. Mr. Manners was offended as well, and as we were stuck at the light, and a bit overheated and badly tempered already, well….
Let us just say the words, with the windows down, were uttered at high volume and not necessarily in this order “CULT…..ALIENS……MOUNTAINS!!!!”
Earlier, I’d blogged about the anti Scientology group Anonymous’ plans to protest at Katie Holmes Broadway debut. You all know I think Katie and Suri are darlings (even if Suri does sometimes remind me, in the odd way some small children have, of Marvin the Martian, but she’s cute, so it works), and Tom Cruise is just odd.
We’re strolling around in front of the White House, and Mr. Manners is snapping photos like mad. I’m admiring the great job the secret service and Homeland Security have done putting in cameras that give them a view of every inch of the square in front of the White House and every angle coming and going. At one point, Mr. Manners and I both look up at a lamp post and wave. I mouthed “Hi, President Bush!”.
Just like us, everywhere there are tourists, and only a small amount of protestors. Some protestors are carrying signs and walking around silently, while others are dressed in long robes, or are wearing wigs and carnival masks and handing out…anti Scientology literature! We’re approached by a woman in a wig and carnival mask (yes, I have the brochure, and no, I won’t put it up). I’ve had my first real life introduction to Anonymous!
In reading my site tracker, I noted that my blog article had gotten picked up on a message board that seemed to sympathize with the group. That tickled me, and the periodic subsequent hits made me want to leave little messages that said HOWDY!
Later, we’re driving through D.C. and yet again I am lost (and swearing because there is no such thing as traffic flow in that city), we stumble upon a Scientology center with a cross on the building. I’m rather offended by this, because I really think they are a cult, and I’m not sure a cult should….well….demean the cross by using it. Mr. Manners was offended as well, and as we were stuck at the light, and a bit overheated and badly tempered already, well….
Let us just say the words, with the windows down, were uttered at high volume and not necessarily in this order “CULT…..ALIENS……MOUNTAINS!!!!”
I have a novel idea: since the government essentially just bought an insurance company...why can't you require AIG, as part of taking taxpayer dollars to bail them out of their little fiscal and operational drama, to start insuring American's who are uninsurable, in terms of health coverage?
I mean, after all, you and I just bought ourselves and our grandkids an insurance firm! Why not make it work for us?
I mean, after all, you and I just bought ourselves and our grandkids an insurance firm! Why not make it work for us?
Ah, I see the beginnings of a bright new future ahead of us...in twenty years, I can see the opening of some new buildings in our nation's fair capital:
The Insurance Regulation Commission
The Mortgage Regulation Commission
The Healthcare Regulation Commission
Oh, wait...that doesn't scare you? Let me change the wording a bit:
The Insurance Ministry
The Mortgage Ministry
The Healthcare Ministry
Commission sounds so...innocuous, doesn't it? So American, so patriotic! And yet what we've done today with the bailout of AIG is create another taxpayer funded risk pool, so you might as well stick a fucking sign on it and call it the American Insurance Commission and be done with it.
Damnit, so much for market correction and free trade.
The Insurance Regulation Commission
The Mortgage Regulation Commission
The Healthcare Regulation Commission
Oh, wait...that doesn't scare you? Let me change the wording a bit:
The Insurance Ministry
The Mortgage Ministry
The Healthcare Ministry
Commission sounds so...innocuous, doesn't it? So American, so patriotic! And yet what we've done today with the bailout of AIG is create another taxpayer funded risk pool, so you might as well stick a fucking sign on it and call it the American Insurance Commission and be done with it.
Damnit, so much for market correction and free trade.
20080916
Oh, and one more thing (yes, I'll do the Washington write up soon, I promise).
Supply: the amount of something there is to consume.
Demand: the need of people to consume something.
Idiocy: people stocking up on gas because of a hurricane that is thousands of miles away.
Results: gas price gouging, gas shortages, gas outages, and REALLY DUMB PEOPLE jacking the cost of gasoline up $1 or $2 a gallon because they fail to understand the laws of supply and demand.
What, you think we're gonna run out of oil because a hurricane makes landfall in Texas?
Supply: the amount of something there is to consume.
Demand: the need of people to consume something.
Idiocy: people stocking up on gas because of a hurricane that is thousands of miles away.
Results: gas price gouging, gas shortages, gas outages, and REALLY DUMB PEOPLE jacking the cost of gasoline up $1 or $2 a gallon because they fail to understand the laws of supply and demand.
What, you think we're gonna run out of oil because a hurricane makes landfall in Texas?
It's official.
The economy is in the shitter.
My anemic stock portfolio (401K, thanks) dropped $1000 between Friday and today.
Paulson and Bernake were both to refuse to bail out Lehman with Federal funds. I have news for you big boys - if you run your company so poorly, you deserve for your company to go belly up, and maybe you should do some jail time for corporate malfeasance. Or maybe you should just go to jail for being a big fat leech that's become bloated by sucking the lifeblood out of the American consumer.
Bernake is also right to refuse a rate cut. Banks don't want to "earn money the old fashioned way" (my, remember that line? isn't that a joke these days?), they expect the government to bail them out constantly by lowering the rate of borrowing or providing a free handout when times are tough. Well, piss on you. You don't extend the favor to the consumer (who wouldn't love a 2% interest loan on their mortgage), and we are the ones who ultimately pay for your bail out, so....no, no, and no. You don't get another rate cut. Suck it up, and ride it out. I've always said that nothing in nature has perpetual growth, so it's time for you big boys up there in investor la la land to wake up and figure that out. Profit maximization is a short term suckers game, and you just got caught.
The economy is in the shitter.
My anemic stock portfolio (401K, thanks) dropped $1000 between Friday and today.
Paulson and Bernake were both to refuse to bail out Lehman with Federal funds. I have news for you big boys - if you run your company so poorly, you deserve for your company to go belly up, and maybe you should do some jail time for corporate malfeasance. Or maybe you should just go to jail for being a big fat leech that's become bloated by sucking the lifeblood out of the American consumer.
Bernake is also right to refuse a rate cut. Banks don't want to "earn money the old fashioned way" (my, remember that line? isn't that a joke these days?), they expect the government to bail them out constantly by lowering the rate of borrowing or providing a free handout when times are tough. Well, piss on you. You don't extend the favor to the consumer (who wouldn't love a 2% interest loan on their mortgage), and we are the ones who ultimately pay for your bail out, so....no, no, and no. You don't get another rate cut. Suck it up, and ride it out. I've always said that nothing in nature has perpetual growth, so it's time for you big boys up there in investor la la land to wake up and figure that out. Profit maximization is a short term suckers game, and you just got caught.
20080912
Days One and Two
Well, no one is dead!
We decided to drop in on mom and dad last night and spent the night in Charlotte. After a late start this morning, and a heart attack inducing breakfast at CrackWhore Barrel, we were off tromping through the beautiful undeveloped wilds of North Carolina.
Okay, okay, really we were barrelling up I-85 at really high speeds, with me swearing at other drivers and singing at the top of my lungs with whatever popped onto the Sirius, much to Mr. Manners dismay. Also to his dismay, the quality of the roads between our lovely home and our final destination left much to be desired. Oh, and the vast amount of troopers working the highway in Virgina was quite impressive? Why is it for lovers, again? Virigina seems to be a most oppressive state, after all. Not the place for pda, and that sort of thing. You keep all that happiness at home, you here?
We've arrived safe in our mystery destination. We're in our hotel (after much swearing, and an hour of driving around lost because I, yes, perfect, wonderful, darling, Saint Eliza who really, really loves to drive around in a city she hasn't been to in forever in the twilight on a Friday in traffic with no sense of where she really is trying to navigate off a map that's about 3 x 5 after obtaining sets of directions from one nice gas station attendant of possible Pakistani origin and the nice concierge at hotel).
For once, I'm actually thanking William Shatner. We scored a lovely hotel in Downtown D.C. (AHA! Revealed, At Last! The Game is Afoot!), a half mile from the White House (here's hoping no one decides this is the time for a biological attack). The room is....well....dope. The bed is huge, and it looks comforting after such a long-ass drive. The pillows look fluffy and awfully inviting (you know, like sweatpants and the possibility of just ordering a pizza at the end of a long day). The all marble bathroom is deadly (oh, the shower was marvelous). Nice big tv, the room is bigger than my bedroom, the lights are just fabu, the location can't be beat, it's quiet, you can't hear the neighbors, and all in all it's wonderful....
Except...
For one...
Tiny...
Teeny....
Thing....
There is no free internet.
Bastards!!!!
We decided to drop in on mom and dad last night and spent the night in Charlotte. After a late start this morning, and a heart attack inducing breakfast at CrackWhore Barrel, we were off tromping through the beautiful undeveloped wilds of North Carolina.
Okay, okay, really we were barrelling up I-85 at really high speeds, with me swearing at other drivers and singing at the top of my lungs with whatever popped onto the Sirius, much to Mr. Manners dismay. Also to his dismay, the quality of the roads between our lovely home and our final destination left much to be desired. Oh, and the vast amount of troopers working the highway in Virgina was quite impressive? Why is it for lovers, again? Virigina seems to be a most oppressive state, after all. Not the place for pda, and that sort of thing. You keep all that happiness at home, you here?
We've arrived safe in our mystery destination. We're in our hotel (after much swearing, and an hour of driving around lost because I, yes, perfect, wonderful, darling, Saint Eliza who really, really loves to drive around in a city she hasn't been to in forever in the twilight on a Friday in traffic with no sense of where she really is trying to navigate off a map that's about 3 x 5 after obtaining sets of directions from one nice gas station attendant of possible Pakistani origin and the nice concierge at hotel).
For once, I'm actually thanking William Shatner. We scored a lovely hotel in Downtown D.C. (AHA! Revealed, At Last! The Game is Afoot!), a half mile from the White House (here's hoping no one decides this is the time for a biological attack). The room is....well....dope. The bed is huge, and it looks comforting after such a long-ass drive. The pillows look fluffy and awfully inviting (you know, like sweatpants and the possibility of just ordering a pizza at the end of a long day). The all marble bathroom is deadly (oh, the shower was marvelous). Nice big tv, the room is bigger than my bedroom, the lights are just fabu, the location can't be beat, it's quiet, you can't hear the neighbors, and all in all it's wonderful....
Except...
For one...
Tiny...
Teeny....
Thing....
There is no free internet.
Bastards!!!!
20080910
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad
Every year, on September 11, I take however old I am, add two years, and start subtracting, and that's how long my parents have been married. I have an inability to remember the date of their marriage, because it happened before I was born. :-)At least, I think my math is right.
Maybe.
Happy Anniversary, mom and dad. Even if that does make this your....holy crap....thirty six year anniversary?
You can judge my age by my sartorial choice, I've discovered.
When I was a young lass, my fashion choice lent itself to KMart, the thrift store, and whatever I could scrounge from both my aunt's attics. Anything that could be assembled into what I thought could pass muster as an eclectic outfit, perhaps one seen in one of those women's magazine's that hung on the check out rack at the Ingles. I knew I couldn't pull off trendy (that I couldn't afford until high school, when we got a Chess King at the mall)...so I had to settle for some kind of weird boho look. Also, someone had given me one of those eyeshadow pallettes as a Christmas gift, and I thought it a massive idea to wear several different colors in a vertical stripe. Yeah.
A personal Cyndi Lauper moment.
So now, rather than moan to Mr. Manners the familiar refrain "I'm SOOOOO old" each time I reach into the mailbox only to toss into the recyling bin yet another magazine filled with clothing for the Paris Hilton wannabe set, I've discovered that the very set of catalogs I've poo pooed (my, doesn't that look odd in print, and spelled that way) are wonderous indeed!
Things like....Pendleton...yes, I've fallen in love with Pendleton. Those lovely plaids! Whereas Boston Proper has been evicted. I'm afraid the half naked, yachting in San Tropez lifestyle isn't in the plans this year (read: ever).
Vicky's Secret has been marginal for quite some time. All this buzz about revamping their product line hasn't led to much change. And I've always, on the practical side of things, been an lllBean girl.
Who doesn't like to sneak a peak at the ridiculous world of high fashion now and then? I read the paper, I look at the magazines. I shop on BlueFly. Chloe, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Sophie Theallet, Oscar, Betsey Johnson, Halston, Sarafpour....and you wonder what ends up being diluted into our stores, months later. Does that ridiculous feathered monstrosity of a hat, for example, end up anywhere?
Ah, but it's fun to watch, and to think that some fool somewhere and some money are being parted.
Still, if a nice Chanel or a fanciful Lacroix magically appeared, I wouldn't turn them down.
When I was a young lass, my fashion choice lent itself to KMart, the thrift store, and whatever I could scrounge from both my aunt's attics. Anything that could be assembled into what I thought could pass muster as an eclectic outfit, perhaps one seen in one of those women's magazine's that hung on the check out rack at the Ingles. I knew I couldn't pull off trendy (that I couldn't afford until high school, when we got a Chess King at the mall)...so I had to settle for some kind of weird boho look. Also, someone had given me one of those eyeshadow pallettes as a Christmas gift, and I thought it a massive idea to wear several different colors in a vertical stripe. Yeah.
A personal Cyndi Lauper moment.
So now, rather than moan to Mr. Manners the familiar refrain "I'm SOOOOO old" each time I reach into the mailbox only to toss into the recyling bin yet another magazine filled with clothing for the Paris Hilton wannabe set, I've discovered that the very set of catalogs I've poo pooed (my, doesn't that look odd in print, and spelled that way) are wonderous indeed!
Things like....Pendleton...yes, I've fallen in love with Pendleton. Those lovely plaids! Whereas Boston Proper has been evicted. I'm afraid the half naked, yachting in San Tropez lifestyle isn't in the plans this year (read: ever).
Vicky's Secret has been marginal for quite some time. All this buzz about revamping their product line hasn't led to much change. And I've always, on the practical side of things, been an lllBean girl.
Who doesn't like to sneak a peak at the ridiculous world of high fashion now and then? I read the paper, I look at the magazines. I shop on BlueFly. Chloe, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Sophie Theallet, Oscar, Betsey Johnson, Halston, Sarafpour....and you wonder what ends up being diluted into our stores, months later. Does that ridiculous feathered monstrosity of a hat, for example, end up anywhere?
Ah, but it's fun to watch, and to think that some fool somewhere and some money are being parted.
Still, if a nice Chanel or a fanciful Lacroix magically appeared, I wouldn't turn them down.
20080909
Circa 1974, 1975, sometime back before I blogged!
If the timestamp on the photos that TheRedBaron (the other family names are a dead give away, and The Pilot sounds like a book that should be written about the wife of a missing sea captain and set in the 1800's....wait, maybe that's ALREADY a book) sent to me is correct, I would have been two.
I think, though, that I'm just a twinkle at this stage.
Aren't my parents cute?
And dig my dad's pants! Superfly!
As children, we used to sit on the back patio at my grandparent's house (contained in the photo's) and have oyster shucking parties. I won't bore you and tell you why I detest oysters, but it has to do with being made to swallow one nasty snot tasting oyster when very small after begging (momspeak: whining) for one (momspeak: repeatedly and loudly while out to eat, I'm sure). But as a small children, we loved to crack open those shells and run them to the adults to eat. With a beer, and saltines, and tobasco...of course. The shells would go in the big back yard, somewhere out near the bench swing, to eventually become overgrown with ivy.
That was the best house anyone in this family has ever owned. It was just flat out cool. It had a laundry chute that went to the basement (that we small children contemplated sliding down...I mean, it was three stories, and had the unmeasureable allure of the forbidden). The chute itself was near a Monet print of three horses; once, I thought I heard the horses speak and became convinced the hallway was haunted (although in retrospect someone was yelling in the basement and it carried up the chute). The basement itself was dark and spooky. The light, if I remember correctly, was only on the landing, so there was always a spot in your journey that was quite frightening as a child. Grandmom always had windchimes hanging from the light hanging in the open foyer, and the front formal living room always contained the leather chairs and granddaddy's bookcases and birds. The best room was the den off the garage, with it's wall of windows covered with tiny wooden shutters. That room ROCKED.
Nothing to report, really. It's raining again here in Roswell, rather nice, actually. I'm so aware of how much work we'll be missing by taking this trip, and how behind we'll be by taking this trip, that the pressure to enjoy ourselves will be immense, and I feel like we shouldn't be going at all! Silly, yes? Ah, the joys of the classic overthink.
The handwashing thing is getting a bit tiresome. After receiving a $200 water bill, I've come to the conclusion we use way too much water. I've tried to make my showers (yes, plural, I take two a day) shorter, and don't just let the water run all the time. I NEVER let the water run while I'm brushing my teeth anyway, but I don't just let it run while I'm doing dishes either. I make a nice rinse pile and then do it all at once. MUUUUCCCCHHHHHH neater. Still, we have four leaks right now, in various ways. The upstairs tub leaks from the faucet, the downstairs tub leaks from the faucet, the kitchen sink has a ghost leak, and the pool pump has a leak as well.
Aren't I just the responsible little water conservationist?
And I also want to put in a rain barrel.
And I'm waiting for the last appliance that I haven't replaced (please note that this will be the second time I have replaced a dishwasher in my house that eats appliances) to die (waterheater - have now jinxed self), I'd also LOVE to put in one of those tankless jobs, but those cost real money (opposed to...say...Monopoly Money?). Not on the list for this house.
I could buy a new dishwasher. I could run to Lowe's tonight, and have a new dishwasher installed when we get back from the trip. I refuse to do it. Flat out. I will wash dishes until my god damn hands fall off. I am not buying another appliance this year for that house. Not doing it. Read my lips. No more new taxes. I do not care that it adds another hour to my evening chore list, or means that dinner is an hour later, or that I go to bed that much later each night. I am not spending one more damn dime of my hard earned money on another thing for the house to eat.
Also, as I was putting my bags in the car this morning, our neighbor (whom I didn't see in his driveway) decided the surprise ambush attack was best.
"I sure do wish y'all had been more careful dropping that tree and not mangled my bushes".
"I sure am sorry about that, Jack. I'm pretty sure we didn't deliberately drop that one big branch on your azaleas on purpose, we thought it would go one way, and it thought it would go another. I'm awfully sorry about your bushes".
"Ok".
As Mr. Manners pointed out, said azaleas haven't been raked out or trimmed in several years. We did clean up the mess we made, and quietly. We trimmed the branches off the good things we clobbered, and cleaned up ALL the debris we left. I think Jack is just sore because he probably liked that tree's one big branch going over his driveway, and didn't want us to take it out.
He will probably like it less when we remove all those trees in the island where the mailbox is, and there's nothing there but bushes. I don't need a ratty island separating the two houses that is full of sixty pine trees that are fifty feet tall and twelve or fourteen hardwoods. Cut down all those pines, and let the hardwoods grow. You know, we have all this land between us, and he doesn't even keep the stuff that's visible from the street clean?
The handwashing thing is getting a bit tiresome. After receiving a $200 water bill, I've come to the conclusion we use way too much water. I've tried to make my showers (yes, plural, I take two a day) shorter, and don't just let the water run all the time. I NEVER let the water run while I'm brushing my teeth anyway, but I don't just let it run while I'm doing dishes either. I make a nice rinse pile and then do it all at once. MUUUUCCCCHHHHHH neater. Still, we have four leaks right now, in various ways. The upstairs tub leaks from the faucet, the downstairs tub leaks from the faucet, the kitchen sink has a ghost leak, and the pool pump has a leak as well.
Aren't I just the responsible little water conservationist?
And I also want to put in a rain barrel.
And I'm waiting for the last appliance that I haven't replaced (please note that this will be the second time I have replaced a dishwasher in my house that eats appliances) to die (waterheater - have now jinxed self), I'd also LOVE to put in one of those tankless jobs, but those cost real money (opposed to...say...Monopoly Money?). Not on the list for this house.
I could buy a new dishwasher. I could run to Lowe's tonight, and have a new dishwasher installed when we get back from the trip. I refuse to do it. Flat out. I will wash dishes until my god damn hands fall off. I am not buying another appliance this year for that house. Not doing it. Read my lips. No more new taxes. I do not care that it adds another hour to my evening chore list, or means that dinner is an hour later, or that I go to bed that much later each night. I am not spending one more damn dime of my hard earned money on another thing for the house to eat.
Also, as I was putting my bags in the car this morning, our neighbor (whom I didn't see in his driveway) decided the surprise ambush attack was best.
"I sure do wish y'all had been more careful dropping that tree and not mangled my bushes".
"I sure am sorry about that, Jack. I'm pretty sure we didn't deliberately drop that one big branch on your azaleas on purpose, we thought it would go one way, and it thought it would go another. I'm awfully sorry about your bushes".
"Ok".
As Mr. Manners pointed out, said azaleas haven't been raked out or trimmed in several years. We did clean up the mess we made, and quietly. We trimmed the branches off the good things we clobbered, and cleaned up ALL the debris we left. I think Jack is just sore because he probably liked that tree's one big branch going over his driveway, and didn't want us to take it out.
He will probably like it less when we remove all those trees in the island where the mailbox is, and there's nothing there but bushes. I don't need a ratty island separating the two houses that is full of sixty pine trees that are fifty feet tall and twelve or fourteen hardwoods. Cut down all those pines, and let the hardwoods grow. You know, we have all this land between us, and he doesn't even keep the stuff that's visible from the street clean?
20080908
I almost just had the worst explosion of temper at work that I've had in forever. It almost resulted in the throwing of a shoe, or my blackberry, and nearly everything on my desk in a fit of anger directed at someone thousands of miles away who just managed to make light (in two little words, no less) of a difficult situation with an employee that has been causing me agita for several months.
And rather than provide me guidance, or offer advice, or do what bosses are supposed to do and boss, that little MF is flippant, and pissed me off so much that yet again I am floored that I was bypassed in favor of him.
Because:
"Eliza requires too much hand holding to be one of your direct reports".
And rather than provide me guidance, or offer advice, or do what bosses are supposed to do and boss, that little MF is flippant, and pissed me off so much that yet again I am floored that I was bypassed in favor of him.
Because:
"Eliza requires too much hand holding to be one of your direct reports".
20080906
You've no idea how I appreciate spending Saturday nights outside, working in the twilight.
Tonight, we discovered we've a hoot owl (and a rather large one at that) using our woods as a hunting grounds.
We watched a beautiful storm cloud blow through as we took down two more pines.
I've never been one to want to be indoors on the weekend. I can't stand to sit around and visit; but let me go outside and give me something to do and I'm as content as can be.
Tonight, we discovered we've a hoot owl (and a rather large one at that) using our woods as a hunting grounds.
We watched a beautiful storm cloud blow through as we took down two more pines.
I've never been one to want to be indoors on the weekend. I can't stand to sit around and visit; but let me go outside and give me something to do and I'm as content as can be.
20080905
Today, I feel like a fairy godmother.
I'm going to get to promote someone to a salaried position; this poor girl has been working to be promoted from an hourly to a salaried position for three years. I've been in this job for two, and every chance I've had I've pushed her up the pike.
Now I have a position for her, and everyone has finally signed off.
I can't wait to put the offer letter in her hand on Monday!!!!!
I'm so excited!
I'm going to get to promote someone to a salaried position; this poor girl has been working to be promoted from an hourly to a salaried position for three years. I've been in this job for two, and every chance I've had I've pushed her up the pike.
Now I have a position for her, and everyone has finally signed off.
I can't wait to put the offer letter in her hand on Monday!!!!!
I'm so excited!
20080904
These days are far and few between, but sometimes moments happen that make me realize that I do indeed love my job:
On an earlier conference call our VP sneezed, and my boss, evidently sitting next to him in the room, said "bless you".
Followed two seconds later by "dude, NO WAY!"
My VP just snotted on my boss.
Hah!
On an earlier conference call our VP sneezed, and my boss, evidently sitting next to him in the room, said "bless you".
Followed two seconds later by "dude, NO WAY!"
My VP just snotted on my boss.
Hah!
20080903
Squeeze is Up The Junction!
Yet again, another brilliant reminder of why Squeeze is a great and yet underrated band (get outside "Coffee in Bed" and "Tempted", would ya?):
"I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from clapham
Out on a windy common
That night I ain't forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said you are a lady
Perhaps she said I may be
We moved into a basement
With thoughts of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
Although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissing
The railway arms were missing
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up
I got a job with Stanley
He said I'd come in handy
And started me on monday
So I had a bath on sunday
I worked eleven hours
And bought the girl some flowers
She said she'd seen a doctor
And nothing now could stop her
I worked all through the winter
The weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
Each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
We had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
With little kicks inside her
This morning at 4:50
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where thirty minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
If there could be another
And now she's two years older
Her mother's with a soldier
She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelling
Alone here in the kitchen
I feel there's something missing
I'd beg for some forgiveness
But begging's not my business
And she won't write a letter
Although I always tell her
And so it's my assumption
I'm really up the junction"
You know, everytime I listen to this song, even though it's fictional, I really feel sorry for the guy when he sings "I'd beg for some forgiveness/but begging's not my business". And I am fond of the turn of phrase "the devil came and took me/from bar to street to bookie".
Also see "Take Me I'm Yours" and "Cool for Cats".
"I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from clapham
Out on a windy common
That night I ain't forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said you are a lady
Perhaps she said I may be
We moved into a basement
With thoughts of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
Although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissing
The railway arms were missing
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up
I got a job with Stanley
He said I'd come in handy
And started me on monday
So I had a bath on sunday
I worked eleven hours
And bought the girl some flowers
She said she'd seen a doctor
And nothing now could stop her
I worked all through the winter
The weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
Each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
We had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
With little kicks inside her
This morning at 4:50
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where thirty minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
If there could be another
And now she's two years older
Her mother's with a soldier
She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelling
Alone here in the kitchen
I feel there's something missing
I'd beg for some forgiveness
But begging's not my business
And she won't write a letter
Although I always tell her
And so it's my assumption
I'm really up the junction"
You know, everytime I listen to this song, even though it's fictional, I really feel sorry for the guy when he sings "I'd beg for some forgiveness/but begging's not my business". And I am fond of the turn of phrase "the devil came and took me/from bar to street to bookie".
Also see "Take Me I'm Yours" and "Cool for Cats".
20080902
No, I'm not blogging about Sarah Palin's daughter. Of course I have an opinion on the subject, and the opinion is this:
Her daughter isn't running for office.
I won't say anything snide about the effectiveness of promoting abstinence only education programs in schools in Alaska either, I promise.
(but I am giggling a little)
It's a hard life Ms. Palin has chosen for herself.
Her daughter isn't running for office.
I won't say anything snide about the effectiveness of promoting abstinence only education programs in schools in Alaska either, I promise.
(but I am giggling a little)
It's a hard life Ms. Palin has chosen for herself.
20080901
The "Save Katie Holmes" Campaign is planning to appear at her Broadway debut of "All My Sons" in October.
They claim they want to draw attention to the evils of Scientology, oh, and if they can rescue Katie, how awesome for them, right?
I confess, I'm torn here. I still think Tom Cruise is only famous for one thing: playing Tom Cruise. One can't even argue that the man is talented or sane, because I don't think he's either. And I'll never forgive him, in the way all Hollywood marriages spill out across the lanes of the Publix and over the gossip columns on the internet like so much overheard talk in the mall, for being so damn mean to Nicole. Sunday Rose. What an elegant little rebuttal indeed.
Katie, Katie, Katie. What on earth is this child doing? She alternately looks miserable or out of her mind doped up on some kind of Scientology gruel. Is it really true that if she opt for divorce, she loses custody of her daughter? Who would agree to that?
Scientology really is a cult. An alien in a mountain indeed.
They claim they want to draw attention to the evils of Scientology, oh, and if they can rescue Katie, how awesome for them, right?
I confess, I'm torn here. I still think Tom Cruise is only famous for one thing: playing Tom Cruise. One can't even argue that the man is talented or sane, because I don't think he's either. And I'll never forgive him, in the way all Hollywood marriages spill out across the lanes of the Publix and over the gossip columns on the internet like so much overheard talk in the mall, for being so damn mean to Nicole. Sunday Rose. What an elegant little rebuttal indeed.
Katie, Katie, Katie. What on earth is this child doing? She alternately looks miserable or out of her mind doped up on some kind of Scientology gruel. Is it really true that if she opt for divorce, she loses custody of her daughter? Who would agree to that?
Scientology really is a cult. An alien in a mountain indeed.
Much earlier today I had a Bloody Mary.
I know, I know. It was one of those rare occurences, lunar in nature, that must have prompted me to actually have a drink but Mr. Manners made it for me, and it was rather tasty, and not too spicy, and not too tomato-y, and just right, so down it went.
Suddenly, I was tipsy. It wasn't even noon. I'm rather shocked at myself. I do somewhat too fondly recall, I think, the anesthesizing nature of alcohol. It would have been right pleasant to slide back into a nap.
I've long since learned, though, that stopping at one means that life remains pleasant. Stopping at two is borderline, and stopping at three is asking for God to come and punch you really hard in the left temple, while kicking you in the stomach simultaneously...just...better not do that.
Still, it was mighty tasty.
I know, I know. It was one of those rare occurences, lunar in nature, that must have prompted me to actually have a drink but Mr. Manners made it for me, and it was rather tasty, and not too spicy, and not too tomato-y, and just right, so down it went.
Suddenly, I was tipsy. It wasn't even noon. I'm rather shocked at myself. I do somewhat too fondly recall, I think, the anesthesizing nature of alcohol. It would have been right pleasant to slide back into a nap.
I've long since learned, though, that stopping at one means that life remains pleasant. Stopping at two is borderline, and stopping at three is asking for God to come and punch you really hard in the left temple, while kicking you in the stomach simultaneously...just...better not do that.
Still, it was mighty tasty.
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