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Because I have nothing else to do...
Feb. 12th, 2009 12:25 pm... I adopted an abandoned egg:
If that doesn't make you wonder, I don't know what does! :D
If that doesn't make you wonder, I don't know what does! :D
One wonders
Feb. 6th, 2009 12:17 pmWhy is it that at home I'm perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt, jeans, and socks at 69 F (21 Celsius), but here at the office I freeze at 74 F (23 Celsius) although I'm fully dressed?
Christmas gift ideas
Dec. 16th, 2008 08:24 amI just bought two gift certificates from KIVA, a Web-based micro-lending organization that helps entrepreneurs in developing countries start small businesses. The gift recipient chooses which aspiring small business owner he/she wants to help. I think this is a great idea! A friend of mine has given them small loans in the past and always got her money back - plus a little interest.
Now who to give a gift membership for Red Feather Development (an organization that builds straw bale homes on Indian reservations throughout the United States)...?
Writer's Block: Infamous
Dec. 7th, 2008 04:04 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
ETA: Barack Obama becoming the first black president of the United States.
ETA: Barack Obama becoming the first black president of the United States.
Sad pictures
Nov. 30th, 2008 07:43 pm
I have been infected by the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sharpchick graveyard photography bug and spent an hour wandering around one of our local historic cemeteries this afternoon, taking pictures of headstones to add to entries on www.findagrave.com. My old digital camera gave up after only 50 photos, so I didn't get very far, but among the pictures I took were these two heartbreaking ones:
I wonder what happened to Mathew. How old was he when he died? Who put up the stone and why were they sorry?
And how sad is this one? No name, the marker misspelled - apparently nobody cared about this little girl.
ETA: And there are too many of the following...
Why am I not surprised?
Nov. 13th, 2008 09:24 am"Federal bank regulators have rejected a request by banks and consumer advocates for a program to let lenders forgive huge portions of credit card debt." (Source here)
In other words: Let's bend over backwards to give the big rich guys their million dollar salaries and bonuses, but heaven forbid we provide any kind of relief to the working and/or middle class families who are inundated by credit card debt - because we all know that it's those people's own fault if they owe more than they can ever repay.
They're not in credit card debt because they lost their jobs or had to pay medical bills or repair their homes after natural disasters or haven't had a pay raise in years while the price of gas and food and everything else rose and rose and rose.
No! They are in debt because they lived beyond their means and bought those SUVs and playstations and cell phones and all that other stuff (i.e., because they helped line the pockets of the wealthy).
That's why we have to make an example of them. We'll keep forcing them to make at least minimum payments, and when we're getting nervous about those balances on our books, we sell said balances to collection agencies and let them have a go at the downtrodden for the bargain price of a penny per dollar they owe.
Great Christian nation this is indeed.
The morning after
Nov. 5th, 2008 06:39 amThis morning finds me at the same time elated because Obama won and dismayed because at least two anti-gay constitution amendments passed. I rejoice at the sound defeat of abortion limitations in South Dakota and of the absolutely ridiculous attempt to declare a fertilized egg a person (was that in Colorado? I forgot).
I was saddened to hear the crowd booing again when McCain mentioned Obama's name during his concession speach, which almost made me cry. If we had heard more of that McCain during the campaign instead of smears and fears, the result might have been different yesterday.
Most of all I'm glad this election is over, though. In a good way!
ETA: I just realized that this was the second major historic event I had the privilege of witnessing in my lifetime: the first one was the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Something's wrong with this picture
Nov. 4th, 2008 12:47 pm12:47 p.m.
My husband just called me to ask where he needs to go to vote.
I cannot believe the man has lived in this area for the most part of his life and doesn't know where his polling place is. Or the Supervisor of Elections' office. That's just sad!
ETA: And then he came home and announced that he "just voted for two black guys" (the other one is running for public defender - he voted for him because his mother told him to [no comment]).
Smalltown hypocrisy
Oct. 30th, 2008 08:38 amA friend told me yesterday that a neighbor "confessed" to her that she voted for Obama. The neighbor swore my friend to secrecy because they live in a very rigidly conservative Baptist neighborhood and nobody can know that she voted for the big bad socialist. Ha haha haha!!! Bradley Effect in reverse?
That's the Bible Belt for you
Oct. 28th, 2008 07:45 amI just received the following message from one of our members:
"could you please update my contact info? Thanks. I pray THE LORD JESUS CHRIST saves you. Amen."
I wonder if this has something to do with my Obama campaign bumper sticker...
"could you please update my contact info? Thanks. I pray THE LORD JESUS CHRIST saves you. Amen."
I wonder if this has something to do with my Obama campaign bumper sticker...
Another strange weekend
Oct. 26th, 2008 03:55 pmI was supposed to volunteer at an event yesterday around 11 a.m., so I forced myself out of bed at 8 because I wanted to call my mom before I had to go to work. While I was talking to her, my boss called and told me I wasn't needed because a bunch of other volunteers had showed up unannounced (gee, thanks, folks!). Since I was up anyway, I walked to our local community center, which is only a block up the road, where they offered free blood screenings for the uninsured.
I hadn't had breakfast, just four cups of coffee with creamer, but my blood sugar was 100, which could indicate "impaired fasting glucose — commonly known as prediabetes". Since I had creamer in my coffee, the nurse recommended I have a "real" fasting test done. *sighs* That's just what I need... another chronic medical condition (not that chronic lower back pain and hypothyroidism are really bad, but they're annoying enough to deal with).
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, grocery shopping, and watching TV (I'll be so glad when this election is over!). Today was more of the same. There are a dozen things I should be doing, but I don't feel like doing any of it. I managed to force myself to clean the fishtank including the filter and take the laundry off the clothes line, that was all, and I feel totally exhausted. :(
Maybe I should go for a walk, drive that blood pressure up a little...
Trying to get into writing mood/mode
Oct. 19th, 2008 05:19 pmYAY! My husband's gone to Biloxi with his father to play poker and won't be back until Tuesday night. What a luxury to have the house to myself for a couple of days. I'm going to enjoy the heck out of my solitude.
It's been an absolutely gorgeous late fall day here in the Florida panhandle. Temperatures around 80F (27C), no humidity, sunshine, big blue sky - perfect for lazing around! The only productive thing I've done so far was to clean my 120g pond to make it safe for the two remaining goldfish to spend the winter in.
Oh, and I helped a tiny black snake this morning. It was in the driveway, in the shadow of my car, and our big fat cat Tom was sitting next to it. I put Tom inside and took a closer look at the snake. It didn't appear hurt, but it only moved its head when I gently nudged it with a piece of paper. The only thing I know about snakes is that they're cold-blooded creatures. Maybe this one needed some sunshine to get going. So I moved the car, withdrew into the den, and kept an eye on the snake from the window in the door. And what do you know? Just a few moments later the little thing started to move and slowly, slowly crept towards the flowerbed, where it disappeared into the grass. :) I'm not sure what kind of snake it was; possibly a juvenile black racer. Its head and throat looked exactly like this guy's.
After that, I spent most of the day in front of the TV, glued to C-SPAN, CNN, and MSNBC. It took an effort to switch the dead-blasted thing off and go outside to clean the pond. I want this election to be over!!!! LOL
And now I should go for a walk before it gets dark - and chilly. Night-time temperatures have dropped quite a bit lately into the mid- to high 50s (around 14C). Maybe the exercise followed by a nice hot shower will take my mind off the presidential campaign and help shift into writing mode. I have 13 pages written for our![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
nppe October prompt, but it will need some more serious tweaking before I'm satisfied.
So off I go...
Have a great evening, all!
It's been an absolutely gorgeous late fall day here in the Florida panhandle. Temperatures around 80F (27C), no humidity, sunshine, big blue sky - perfect for lazing around! The only productive thing I've done so far was to clean my 120g pond to make it safe for the two remaining goldfish to spend the winter in.
Oh, and I helped a tiny black snake this morning. It was in the driveway, in the shadow of my car, and our big fat cat Tom was sitting next to it. I put Tom inside and took a closer look at the snake. It didn't appear hurt, but it only moved its head when I gently nudged it with a piece of paper. The only thing I know about snakes is that they're cold-blooded creatures. Maybe this one needed some sunshine to get going. So I moved the car, withdrew into the den, and kept an eye on the snake from the window in the door. And what do you know? Just a few moments later the little thing started to move and slowly, slowly crept towards the flowerbed, where it disappeared into the grass. :) I'm not sure what kind of snake it was; possibly a juvenile black racer. Its head and throat looked exactly like this guy's.
After that, I spent most of the day in front of the TV, glued to C-SPAN, CNN, and MSNBC. It took an effort to switch the dead-blasted thing off and go outside to clean the pond. I want this election to be over!!!! LOL
And now I should go for a walk before it gets dark - and chilly. Night-time temperatures have dropped quite a bit lately into the mid- to high 50s (around 14C). Maybe the exercise followed by a nice hot shower will take my mind off the presidential campaign and help shift into writing mode. I have 13 pages written for our
nppe October prompt, but it will need some more serious tweaking before I'm satisfied.So off I go...
Have a great evening, all!
Doily Day Spa
Oct. 11th, 2008 11:02 amYou know what saddens me? To step into a nicely decorated, expensive home - and the first thing I see is a beautifully crocheted doily in a stage of neglect that just screams "safe me!".
A friend of mine who must be in her 70s (she won't tell anybody how old she is) has a collection of the most amazing hand-crocheted doilies and tabletoppers her grandmother (!) made. And how does she take care of them? She throws them in the washer, in the dryer, and then back on the table. - No! NO!! NO!!!! :-(
100% cotton thread is practically indestructible. The washer won't hurt it, neither will the dryer. But how can you bring yourself to use your doily without starching and pressing it??? If it could, the poor wrinkled thing would pick its sorry little limp self off the table and crawl off in search of the nearest ironing board.
Fortunately for my friend's doilies, Nico is there to take them home and give them a loving make-over. They get washed and gently coaxed back to their former glory (one of them is awaiting such treatment right now). My friend claims she doesn't notice the difference afterwards, but I do.
So the next time you're at granny's house and see a dusty, wrinkly, sorry-looking doily, please rescue it! It will reward granny with more long years of faithful service, and who knows - you might inherit it! And if you don't want it, send it to me! :)
"Maybe market meltdowns are what happen to a country when commentary on matters economic becomes the exclusive province of business thinkers. When labor unions are systematically crushed. When dissent is divorced from matters economic or social and becomes instead a quality of middle-class taste preferences, of 'extreme' cars and 'radical' packaged goods. When management theorists take it as their duty to dazzle us with a crescendo of free-market worship. When leaders of left parties cleanse their ranks of laborites, of New Dealers, of Keynesians, of socialists. When newspapers refuse to open their columns—on grounds of laughable, self-evident dinosaurdom—to doubters and second-wavers and old-school liberals.
Today we are paying for each of these, for all of the ways in which we expunged the common sense of our parents' America from our lives. With each month's nauseating returns, we are making good the intellectual folly of the last 10 years."
Sound familiar? - This is an excerpt from an article called "The Rah-Rah Boys" by Thomas Frank, published in the Los Angeles Times in 2002 (source here).
Jackies of the Week
Oct. 10th, 2008 03:06 pmReceived via e-mail (quoted verbatim): “Where would I information on the Wolfe funeral Home ghost Martha Beck?”
Caller: “Do you happen to have the phone number for the building Dr. Timms used to be in?”
E-mail: “I am trying to locate the person in charge of records for Strickland Cemetary 1963 time frame. Would you know where I might find someone who can help me?”
And off topic: I love sharks. They are such cool creatures! I find it cute that they have "litters" and their young are called "pups", though. :-)
Caller: “Do you happen to have the phone number for the building Dr. Timms used to be in?”
E-mail: “I am trying to locate the person in charge of records for Strickland Cemetary 1963 time frame. Would you know where I might find someone who can help me?”
And off topic: I love sharks. They are such cool creatures! I find it cute that they have "litters" and their young are called "pups", though. :-)
Dirty Old Man
Oct. 8th, 2008 12:22 pmNote to self: the next time this old married guy - one of our Chamber members who's in his 70s and insists on hugging and kissing you at every opportunity - compliments you on your dress and tells you that more than the dress he likes the body inside the dress, you tell him that you find such remarks inappropriate.
You do NOT declare that that body is slowly falling apart!
* smacks self *
Cross-posted to
admin_hell Weather and such
Oct. 8th, 2008 09:16 amIt's another icky, yucky, rainy day here in the Florida panhandle where people are just going on and on about Sarah Palin's visit.
One comment in the regional rag: "She's a strong, everyday person. That's what we need." - No, honey, what we need as leaders for this country is not Sally Sixpack and Joe Blow. We need educated people who don't live in denial of environmental problems and other woes. We need people who are capable of long-term thinking. And most of all we need people who are not too old to live through 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of the consequences of their political decisions.
One comment in the regional rag: "She's a strong, everyday person. That's what we need." - No, honey, what we need as leaders for this country is not Sally Sixpack and Joe Blow. We need educated people who don't live in denial of environmental problems and other woes. We need people who are capable of long-term thinking. And most of all we need people who are not too old to live through 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of the consequences of their political decisions.
Who teaches those people?
Oct. 6th, 2008 11:30 am"U.S. businesses also are feeling the fallout as the financial crisis compounds already weak economic conditions. Companies ranging from chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride to software giant Microsoft have fretted about the economic climate. If businesses see profits drop, that could lead to more job losses and further erode the overall economy, making it harder for everyday Americans to make ends meet this winter." (Source here)
Okay, you corporate dumdums, apparently you don't know what "profit" means (although you should, seeing as you must have a college education, hopefully an MBA - but maybe that doesn't include accounting). Profit is NOT the same as revenue. Profit is what is left over, after all expenses have been paid (including salaries and wages). In a well-run business, expenses include depreciations as well as reserves for times when the going gets rough. So don't give me the "oh woe me" if your profits are decreasing. You are still turning a profit, which means you still make more money than your business needs for survival.
If you had paid your workers/employees better in years past instead of amassing more and more profits, the economy would be in better shape now. Why? Because what goes around comes around. 1% of income earners may make 40% of the combined salaries/wages in this country, but they are NOT who keep the economy going. That would be the remaining 99%. This economy depends on mass consumption to keep running, not on millionaires who buy luxury items. The trickle-down effect has never worked.
All I can say to the ignoramuses at Microsoft & Co: If your workers are getting to a point where they can barely afford the necessities of life (shelter, clothing, food, transportation), who is going to buy your PCs?
So instead of laying off workers, how about being a true patriot for a change? Keep your workers! This may be news to you, but they are the ones who helped you make your fortune, now it's your turn to help them.
I'm going to start looking for a new job
Oct. 5th, 2008 10:44 amThe non-profit I work for has two large fundraisers every year; one of them is a golf tournament, which we held this past Thursday. We ended up netting more than $8k. My boss' enthusiastic comment: "Now I can get new flooring throughout the building and French doors for the boardroom!"
I was almost speechless, but managed to squeak out, "How about getting us a raise?" - I couldn't bring myself to say anything about wanting benefits because her son was in her office and even mentioning the raise didn't seem 100% appropriate, but I couldn't help myself.
"Oh, we'll definitely get a raise," was her reply.
Well, that's all fine and good, but I'm 46 and not one step closer to getting healh insurance or a 403k than I was five years ago, when I started working for them, and I've had enough.
