March 2004 Archives
I don’t think there is much truth in this article but it’s kind of fun anyway. Found the site via Kim.
From the New Zealand Herald:
Former nurse Lesley Martin was found guilty today of attempting to murder her mother Joy Martin by injecting her with 60mg of morphine, but not guilty of attempting to suffocate her with a pillow.Rest of the story here.
Spring break has changed somewhat since the “Where the Boys Are” days.
My chances in the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool are lousy. I think the only prize I have a chance at is the "Just Because" prize. That prize is $10 so I lose even if I win that one. One of our entrants picked the entire Final Four correctly. That was not easy this year and I bet there are only a handful of the millions or people who played pools this year who did that. He did it with just one entry. Naturally, he's in first place.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “My little grandaughter just rolled from back to tummy for the first time. I laid her on her back and went to get her bottle. When I came back here was this little bit of lavendar fluff blinking at the world; tummy side down! She seemed as surprised as I was!"
Six Apart’s Mena Trott has started a weblog. Just a guess but I imagine it’s a Movable Type or Typepad product she’s using. Six Apart is the company that she and Ben Trott founded to develop MT and Typepad. I think a blog is a great idea. The newest version of MT (3.0) coming out soon has a few (Probably more than a few) current users concerned, mainly about their TypeKey feature/service. I will have to wait and see it in action before I commit to it. I will register at TypeKey to see what kind of obstacle it really is. Hers is today's BOTD.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Nine days ago was the one year anniversary of our incorporation of Six Apart (prior to that we were a LLC)."
Watched the tail end of a NASCAR race for the first time this season. For as much money as these teams are to assemble and maintain, I still cannot get over how much of NASCAR racing is pure luck. Kurt Busch is probably my favorite driver and I kind of like that he’s not everyone’s favorite. An awful lot of things went perfectly for him yesterday.
NASCAR fans are a funny lot. They can forgive or even cheer their guy’s aggressive and/or reckless driving but when their guy gets spun out or wrecked because of someone else’s aggressive and/or reckless driving, they want something done. They can also forgive and forget anything if the driver’s name isn’t Jeff Gordon. Busch has won three in a row at Bristol. They booed him last time he won because of some very aggressive/reckless driving but at least he had the fastest car last year. This year, he won mostly because of events happening elsewhere on the track. In other words, it was mostly good luck. Yet there were no boos this time. I don’t fully understand this sport still.
OK, so I downloaded a newsreader and I’ve syndicated a few of the blogs I read regularly. I did it mainly in an effort to maintain a current MT-Blacklist master file. I’m not sure I really have a use for this other than that and it is devouring resources on my computer. I’m also not sure if it will be useful for maintaining the list but we’ll have to keep working at that. Can anyone tell me any other advantage of using one of these over just clicking from one blog to the next from my browser? Is the time and energy you expend setting up and using one of these things worth what seems like the very little time and energy it will save you?
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “My original plan for today was to talk about weblogs and how they (don't) work, but I'm having trouble forming coherent thoughts, so I'm going to put that off for a couple of days. Besides, when I saw this picture of Simon Willison's desktop, my brain crashed and had to be rebooted—which makes it less stable than OS X, actually."
At the risk of upsetting my Windy City friend, I offer more CrabAppleLane Spring pictures. You sometimes hear of springtime in the Rockies or springtime in the Smokies but I submit to you that springtime is spectacular just about everywhere. The pictures below were taken a few minutes ago just down the road from me. The pictures here were taken earlier this morning here at our place.
Just below is the fence line at Bo Jingle’s Christmas Tree Farm. The farm hasn’t opened in a few years but this is the place Patsy and I cut down our first Christmas tree together. It was here on a crisp December day with the smell of pine trees filling our lungs that we decided we wanted to move to the NorthShore of Lake Ponchartrain. After a lot of searching, we ended up about a mile from here. These are tung nut trees in bloom.
Below is a corner about two miles down the road from us. The purple I hope you can see all the way up the utility pole is wisteria. The pinks and reds are azaleas. The white flowers with the yellow center (Closeup) are morning glories, I think. I am absolutely not sure. About gravel roads like the one you see below: When we first bought our property back in 1988, most of the roads, including the future Crabapple Lane, were gravel roads. We used to ride around and explore where each road goes just because it’s nice to know that and alternative routes are sometimes handy. One time, we went down a road called Homer Dutch Road (Not far from this corner) for about a mile and intruded quite rudely on some family function. It turns out Homer Dutch Road is Homer Dutch’s driveway and there was no turnaround. We had to back up the whole way out to the highway. It was quite embarrassing and we are quite a bit more careful about the roads we turn down now.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I used to call it spam, too, but now I call it spoot. I'd eat spam if I were hungry enough. Spoot, however? As my Robert E. Lee Civil War General software game cries at me when I attempt to mis-maneuver my cavalry, "NO, SUH!""
One gallon azaleas are cheap. You can get them for $1-$1.50 just about anywhere. I planted a lot of them two years ago because I have a lot of space and because I like them. They were not blooming at the time so I had no idea what color they were nor did I really care. The one below was a pleasant surprise. It has both pink and white blooms on it. As I understand it, this is not terribly unusual but it is the only one I have so it will receive a little more care than the rest. Azaleas only bloom for about four to six weeks and then go the rest of the year unnoticed but those four to six weeks are just glorious here.
Below is a few more.
The beautiful blossoms you see below are from a tung nut tree. The seeds from this tree are used to extract tung oil. Our property once was part of a large tung nut plantation and we have quite a few. When we first looked at this property, the realtor described the tung oil industry as “obsolete”. Tung oil was once widely used in varnishes and still is in some products but most varnishes use synthetic ingredients now. These trees get quite tall. I have some that are 25-30 feet tall. They are covered in these blossoms. Unfortunately, each one of these blossoms will become a green seed pod. The pods are about the size of a small apple. When the pods turn brown and fall off , it makes a huge mess. The seeds are toxic and quite unpleasant (They smell like varnish when you hold one to your nose). If not for the seeds, these trees would be at your local garden center. They are gorgeous.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “It was a warm afternoon, and I made Maggie sit on the sidelines, because I was worried that Mr. Snake might be hiding in the plant mosaic."
Very nice photos. -Rob
Construction crews have started on a project that will widen Hwy 190 in Covington. That will hopefully relieve some of the outrageous traffic congestion the area experiences. Of course, the traffic probably has nothing to do with all of the strip malls that have been allowed to spring up in very close proximity to each other. So far, not too much of it is unsightly but I am reminded of the tackiness of Gatlinburg and how easily planning guidelines and restrictions tend to get away from public officials. I admit I am a bit selfish on this part. Most of the worst congestion is on my homeward nightly commute and most of this growth has occurred since I moved here. I was part of the growth and, therefore, part of the problem. I hate it when that happens.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Did I mention this is a Spanish class? Shouldn't we be learning...SPANISH???"
A few links for your dining and dancing pleasure on this lovely Thursday morning. I stole that “dining and dancing” bit from an old BBS acquaintance whose name I have totally forgotten. I'll be in the back room pondering my chances in the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool if you need me. Go Wake Forest!
An unusual annual report at Simon World.
Spam fun from Da Goddess.
A big bang over at The Life Around Me. Great picture.
How a linkfest should be done over at dramaqueen.
SilverBlue tells us how to give medicine to our pets. There is a lot of truth in that humor.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I didn't really like the book, and I'm not going to mention the film, but I do quite like the description that the test produces."
Great name for a blog. -Rob
I’m very curious about shopping over the web now. The price seems to depend on where you link in from. I was looking last night for a very specific product to go with another very specific product I already owned. I knew exactly what I wanted so I was basically looking for the best deal. I went to Amazon.com and got a price. It was my first stop and I don’t know how much these things are so I looked around some more. I ended up at Yahoo Shopping where I got a different price from Amazon.com. It was slightly higher so I suspect Yahoo gets a piece of the action. That’s fair enough. After shopping at another place, I decided not to purchase it at this time (I’m not much of a shopper. I look for a few minutes and either pull the trigger or back off and try again later). I had entered the product’s stock number into my Google toolbar to find the various places that sell this product. When I clicked on my back button to go back to the Google search page, I noticed something. On the right, there were Google “Sponsored links”. Several of the links had prices listed but Amazon did not. It was “too low to advertise”. Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked on the link. Still no price. You actually have to add the item to your cart before you see the price. When I did, it was the lowest price I had seen yet and by a substantial amount. They also offer free shipping. Well, that’s a no brainer and I ordered it.
I’ve noticed this same phenomenon when ordering CD’s and DVD’s. I guess the trick is to know exactly what you want.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “This morning, I can sleep sitting up. Well, not sleep sleep, just be among the semi-functioning brain dead. Somebody cut off the oxygen to the major parts of my body. I think I have one eye open as I type this, but it may be two half-open insetad."
Watched HBO’s Deadwood Sunday night. Similar in style to Carnivale but not as weird (I like wierd). They’re both very gritty. Showing people with dirty hands and dirty faces seems to be a new phenomenon in film making. I like it but I suspect they don’t really depict the language of the day accurately. I think it’s a little too modern in that respect. Patsy didn’t watch but she noticed it while she was going about her business in the house. She’s heard all the words before and even has full command of them when she’s in the frame of mind for it but she thought it was a bit over the top. That said, I like it and Sunday night is an easy night for me to watch TV. I’m in.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I've seen people with much worse designs and far better content, so I don't know why I can't just be one of those people."
I aspire to be one of those people. Got the "worse designs" part down. -Rob
MT-Blacklist will no longer be necessary when Movable Type 3.0 comes out according to its creator, Jay Allen. I, personally, think comment registration (Even one-time registration) is going to severely reduce interaction. I don’t think I’ll upgrade to 3.0 until I see how it does elsewhere. The extended entry shows MT-Blacklist at work here in the 12 hours since I logged off. I may just continue the MT version I'm using and maintain my own blacklist.
The Frostbite Falls Gazette AKA The BestofMe Symphony #16 is up over at Practical Penumbra. Definitely worth a visit. I submitted one of my faves along with one of my entries. Go see.
One of my entries bit the dust with Kentucky yesterday in the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool. The other two are still in contention. Crazy weekend for college basketball. Go Wake Forest!!!
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Back in 1997 I got a mobile phone via Vodafone. Shortly after I had Ewan I bought a different phone and gave my old one to my mum. She rang Vodafone and had no problem at all in getting herself registered as the owner of that number."
Quite the case of bad service. Go read the rest. -Rob
I love Sundays after a good Saturday yard job. Last year, the mirliton project started on April 21 and was completed on April 27 (Dad’s birthday). This year, it is starting a little more than a full month earlier because last year’s plants (Picture taken this morning) are starting now. It looks like I won’t have to buy any more. They’re spreading on their own and they should do better this year. Last year, I think we picked about 17 mirlitons but I know they typically do better than that.
Some other pictures from this morning. Mouse over for a description.
And, finally, you can probably tell from the picture that Crispin yearns to go outside. We tried it for a time but he is absolutely fearless and way too curious and that just scared us to death. He would probably roam for miles if we let him. He’d also find very experienced fighter, Tom, right outside. Crispin is almost twice as big as Tom. We don’t ever want to know how that would turn out. That green chair in the picture is covered in yellow pollen. I had just rinsed it off about 15 hours ago.
I escaped most of the big upsets yesterday in the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool. One of my friend bloggers is doing pretty good, too.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Self harm and self medication are two completely different things"
The March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament will start getting interesting today. Some of the big name teams that got a big scare from their first round opponent will probably be better prepared for the second round. My entries are a little off of the pace in the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool but I think I still have a chance. I am not ever good in the first round. I don’t watch enough college basketball or even read about it enough to know about the teams that probably won’t get past the first and second rounds. I depend largely on luck.
Saw my first hummingbird today in one of our Bradford pear trees. Patsy saw two yesterday. She said they were squabbling. Hummingbirds, from my experience, spend about 80% of their time squabbling with each other and the other 20% of their time eating, sleeping, mating, and migrating. I love them.
Two weeks ago, I did my first yardwork while battling what I thought was a head cold. I suspect now that it may just be allergies. I never had allergies as a kid so this is a bit new to me. This is only suspicion because it is not nearly severe enough for me to visit a doctor to confirm it. We have yellow pollen in a big way here in Bush. My truck is covered with it every morning. My theory is that my allergies (If that’s what they are) only flare up under extreme exposure. I have found that I am also probably allergic to cat saliva, too, but again only under extreme exposure. When Casey licks my hands, no problem. If she licks further up my arm where it may get under that more sensitive skin, I’ll itch. If I just pet her with my hands, no problem. If she gets close to my face (One of her many methods of trying to wake me up), my eyes get irritated. These are allergies I’ll just have to live with because I’m not moving and I’m not getting rid of my cat.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I don't know about you, but I write a ton of blogs at work. And I read a ton of blogs at work. And I write a ton of blogs at work. A ton is 2000 pounds; and I write a veritable ton of blogs at work. Go ahead - weigh that shit. I dare you."
Happy Saint Joseph's Day! Be Italian today.
March Madness got underway yesterday as did the CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool. Sadly, I didn’t have either of the upsets yesterday on any of my entries. By the way, it says here that Kentucky will win the thing. I have Uconn and Wake Forest going all the way, too, but those are strictly for variety. My variety pick last year, Syracuse, won but was only enough for me to get second place. I am no good at this.
The BOTD fixed a trackback problem, has trouble with people saying expresso instead of espresso, and installed MT-Blacklist. Since Fi left the blogosphere, hers is my new favorite blog down under. Lots of charmers down there. Must be the latitude.
More Madrid debate at The Daily Irrelevant. I feel like the Lone Ranger over there. There seems to be a major difference in American and European attitudes towards terrorism.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “People! Does the word 'espresso' (as in the coffee) have an 'x' in it? No? So you agree with me, right? No 'x'."
About the Spanish Election: It’s all in the perception.
Spain and some of Europe sees the Spanish election as an act of cleansing, an act of “throwing the bums out”. Contrary to some beliefs, that is also a fine American tradition. We throw the bums out more often than most.
However, a substantial portion of the world sees it as an act of appeasement. Al-qaeda surely sees it that way. I think history will see it that way, too. “Leave the terrorists alone and they’ll leave you alone” is fantasy.
The fight against terrorism is one of ideas now but it will graduate into a war of survival. The notion that anyone can stay out of it or stay above it is ridiculous.
The US should lead the fight because, really, who else would you have do it?
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I bought some Fish Treats today, but my fish is afraid of them. He slowly swam to the surface to investigate a couple of times, but soon rushed away to hide behind his ceramic gnome in the bottom of the tank."
Of the current inductees into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, I have a greatest hits CD from Bob Seger. It is one of my favorites. I also have Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty on CD and album, also one of my favorites. I have some Beatles greatest hits albums but no CD’s. I have ZZ Top’s Fandango on album but not CD. I was at the concert where it was recorded. I have nothing at all by George Harrison solo, Prince, Traffic, or The Dells.
I don’t know if Traffic belongs here. Stevie Winwood’s body of work certainly qualifies but Traffic is only a footnote in that. I think the hall’s standards are a little too low.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Man, do I feel like an old fart, talking about the days when kids weren't allowed to watch TV after 8pm!"
I should start by saying that LOTR was spectacular in all technical aspects. Some of the battle scenes were fabulous. The spider was phenomenal. Every hero had his/her moment and every villain had his comeuppance. The landscapes were breathtaking. That said, the story did nothing for me. If you are a fan of the books (I’m not) and/or a fan of the journey (I’m not), then I can see how this film was great for you. Fair enough. However, I went there for the explicit reason to see the conclusion. As conclusions go, this one left me wanting. Still, it was 3 hours or so that I didn’t really mind.
I wonder what Cate Blanchett (One of the best actresses in the business right now) got for her 10 minutes of screen time in the three films.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “It seems that my little e-bay adventures havn't quite finished yet. The shitty thing about it is that Jess has jumped on the bad wagon and decided that if I get stuff so does she! $250 later she's gotten utter crap. I had to get up at 8am today to bid on a magazine, which she lost mind you, and then deal with the excessive whinging that she lost the auction to some french person. I've decided she's not allowed on e-bay anymore, at least not until she gets her own credit card."
I think Patsy is becoming an ebay junkie, too. -Rob
March Madness is almost upon us. I was the only one in a pool of 60 last year to correctly pick Syracuse on one of my entries. It was good enough only for second place. I was too far behind in the early rounds to catch up. I hope to rectify that this year. I have an idea of what I’m doing now. Look for me to finish near the bottom.
Going to see Lord of the Rings: Return of the King with my sister today. Patsy is not interested in seeing it. I know it has received 11 academy awards but I do not expect that this film is that good. In any event, I’m looking forward to it. This will be the first and only one of the three I’ve seen on the big screen. If and when The Hobbit is filmed, I will wait for it to hit Pay-Per-View.
March 14 and still no hummingbirds here. This is 4 days later than last year but 3 days earlier than the year before. I’ll have to get them a calender. Fresh nectar awaits their arrival.
Cleaned up the blogroll this morning. Reflects where I visit and/or land these days.
Some photos I took this magnificent spring morning in Bush, LA.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I was damned lucky in that I didn't know anybody who died or was even hurt that day, and the worst I experienced was horror and confusion, the mother of all traffic jams, and panic when I couldn't locate my parents. I know that compared to many others, on the larger scale of things mine was an infinitesimal tragedy—a tiny loss of optimism, a less happy-go-lucky attitude, a resignation to fate. I am so very thankful I didn't suffer worse. But as small and inconsequential as that is, it is mine, and I do live it every single day."
The excerpt below is from the Associated Press. The article was widely picked up by many outlets. You can read the rest of it here.
However, if Thursday's bombings are seen by voters as the work of al-Qaeda, that could draw their attention to Aznar's vastly unpopular decision to endorse the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and deploy Spanish troops there.
I don’t doubt that’s true but it is the wrong sentiment. If people get angry at their government because al-Qaeda has brought their brand of murder to their soil, they are implicitly stating, “If you leave them alone, they will leave us alone.” It is tantamount to appeasement. Not only is that wrong, it doesn't work. The message needs to be loud and clear and it needs to be universal. It needs to be, “They (al-Qaeda) will be hunted down and exterminated. They are not welcome anywhere.”
ScorpioGirl checks out. She was one of my first blog friends and I thoroughly enjoyed her delightful entries. My blog moves up a notch with hers retired. In an incredible oversight on my part, hers has never been BOTD. Better late than never, that will be remedied today. She is concentrating on her studies and her writing. AllTheBest, Fi.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “After being reminded by Adam's post about a particularly vivid dream I had the other night (in which I cornered a certain Lord of the Rings actor in a bar and was just leaning in for a much anticipated and highly immoral snog when the alarm went off, goddamn it!), I decided today that there was no need for tedious spiels about my fellow students, observations about the weather or recollections of my
crime-fighting fantasies."
March Madness is almost upon us. I am not an expert by any means and I don’t watch every college basketball game that comes across the TV. I have not watched a complete game this season. Certain of my place as a lousy prognosticator, I weigh in anyway. In the absence of any dominant team this year, I like one of the traditional toughies to win the championship. When tournament time rolls around, the great coaches and great talent makes the difference, regardless of how many games they may have lost during the season. I like Duke or Kentucky, especially if they end up in the same regional, which would almost assure that one of them will be in the Final Four.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Some days, I just have to say that I kick ass."
Cades Cove near Maryville, Tennessee. When we go back to the Smokey Mountains, this is where we will stay. Had a vacation planned here many years ago and even sent a deposit for a cabin but events changed our plans. I’ve forgotten what year that was or why we had to cancel those plans. We were going to take our dogs so it had to be more than 10 years ago. It was a cabin that accepted pets on an acre of land and the weekly rate was about $350. The rate has probably doubled since then. I cannot wait to get back but the Smokey Mountain Journal is the best I can do for now. Maybe next year.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I was talking to a friend the other night about blog names and the conversation turned to R80o. Given our conversation I thought it might be a good idea to fill you in on why I chose R80o."
I watched the premier of Bravo’s Significant Others last night. They showed back-to-back episodes. I enjoyed some of it but found it a little manic. Some of it was very funny but some of it wasn’t funny at all. I’ll give it another try next week. It is fast-paced and I tend to enjoy fast-paced comedy shows. Sports Night and Moonlighting were fabulous. I guess I’m just looking for a good comedy. There really aren’t too many out there. I miss Soap, Barney Miller, Cheers, etc, etc......
I don’t really have a lot of time for TV so I get a little persnickety about what I do watch. UltimateTV has been my savior. Now, if I could just find the 18 hours or so to watch the things I have recorded.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Whilst this may sounds a little sadistic, it actually works. When they look up and see you smiling like Ronald McDonald after a tab of Ecstasy, they will usually forget the fact that their knee hurts and a lot of the time they'll even think it's funny."
Both Presidential candidate’s wives were in town yesterday. The candidates and their wives spend a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there in three or maybe four cities a day and they’ll be doing that for the next eight months. It’s gotta be grueling. Polls have Kerry ahead right now but I just don’t believe them. I think this election is the President’s to lose. I also believe he is quite capable of doing that.
Short on time this morning. What was expected to be a 5-minute upgrade this morning turned into an hour-long ordeal. I’ve done this many, many times and this has happened more often than not. I should know better by now.
Oh, and dial-up internet sucks.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I am not a big fan of baby showers. The 30 hours of oooing and awwwing drive me insane."
I guess it’s official now. I have to add digital camera to the list of things I want to get. TV, stereo, and a chainsaw have been on that list for a while. The one we have now is one of the earliest Hewlett-Packard models , a C-200. It was a Christmas present for Patsy and it was a good model to start out on. It takes decent pictures but with not enough resolution to suit me. The picture below was originally 420K. When I reduced it to a more internet-friendly size, it lost substantial image quality.
Some of my azaleas are in bloom. I have about 75 azaleas of many varieties scattered throughout the yard with a variety of exposures. They’ll be blooming for about 6 weeks. My eastern redbud tree, my Bradford pear trees, and my sweet olive are also in bloom. I have still never figured out the sweet olive scent.
In this area, the dogwoods and wisteria are also in bloom. I have tried to grow dogwoods over the years with zero success. I had great success one time with wisteria. So great, in fact, that I will never have one again. They’re totally uncontrollable as a vine and I don’t like them shaped into a bush.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I don't know why I love this show with all of it's mobsterness, cussing, violence, nudity and then some."
They've added a few more characters and it also appears they heard some of the criticism about last season. I expect there will be more action this season. Also, I expected that Russian mobster that Paulie didn’t kill to come back and make a nuisance of himself last season but he didn’t. They mentioned him in last night’s episode. I expect we’ll see him this season pretty soon. -Rob
The Sopranos starts up again tonight. I suppose I’ll watch it. It picked up the pace towards the end of last season and there’s not much else on.
I don’t mind working too much when I feel miserable. Kind of strange that way. If I’m going to do nothing, I want to enjoy it. I’ve been busy all weekend in the yard and been fighting some kind of sinus thing at the same time. I usually don’t have sinus problems but I find them hard to shake if I do get one of them. I never let them keep me from doing anything. Just about everything in my yard is blooming right now. This is my favorite time of year.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Coordinate brain and mouth, and ask me what it's like to have myself so figured out. Wish I knew...."
OK, I admit it. Martha Stewart is the kind of person who could annoy me if I had to pay any attention to her. She’s rich, prim and proper, and she undoubtedly keeps an immaculate house. I’m not rich, certainly not prim and proper, and our house is mostly clean on its best days (Immaculate is beyond our reach). But about that prim and proper part: Apparently, she has nothing in common in real life with the person she portrays on TV. She’s rude and cheap and has full command of the language that I try never to use in mixed company. I’m not rude or cheap, either (Mostly, although some may disagree). I kind of enjoyed hearing about that Martha Stewart.
On Monday morning, she will probably have to sit idly by and watch her portfolio collapse. She’ll still be rich by any standard when all of this is over. I doubt she’s going to go down with the ship. She will never again be the cultural icon she was. It doesn’t bother me so much that she was found guilty yesterday. The jury had to find her guilty beyond reasonable doubt. What bothers me is that she is guilty. What to believe now? Is this the first time or did she cheat all the way up and this is merely the first time she got caught? Tis a quandary. I’ll have to give it another five seconds of thought. For people who have everything and yet it's still not enough, more than five seconds is really too much of my time.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Knowledge of others becomes a tricky game, and I find myself going back to Whitman. We will hardly know who others are or what they mean. However, we probably can decide how we will address that lack of real knowledge, and how we will attempt to relate to the other."
A little Friday linkfest for your consideration.
Scorpiogirl takes on some vandals. At least, she does so in her blog.
Simon takes on stupidity. That didn’t come out right but I think you know what I mean.
Dietz takes on Oscar and award shows in general.
Messygurl takes on the latest viruses.
Pitcherlady has a near religious experience with an elephant. That didn’t come out right, either. She has a great site and is on my daily reading list. Always delightful!
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Yesterday, the boy with the worst luck ever was in a car accident. The good news is that he is OK, he was in the Old Blue Volvo and it wasn't his fault...the bad news...well, he was in his first accident."
First accident? Luck is't so bad. -Rob
This from George Will’s column (I think registration is required) in the Washington Post today.
Most people start collecting Social Security at 62, so the year 2019 will be especially challenging, because more American babies were born in 1957 -- 4.3 million in a population of 172 million -- than in any other year in American history.
I didn’t know that. This American baby was born in 1957 as was my wife. At present, I don’t see me retiring in 2019. That’s another reality most politicians and pundits aren’t talking about. I don’t think Social Security can be fixed/saved until it totally crashes. Politically, it’s entirely too hot to handle.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Do you ever feel like you're bursting to say about forty-three things, and then when you have the opportunity, not only can you not remember the gorgeous way you worded it in your head, but you're too chicken anyway?"
Yes. -Rob
Kerry v Bush
Now that it’s official, this is all I can make of it. President Bush has a lot of money to spend but I don’t think money, alone, will be enough. Can he campaign on national security without looking like he’s exploiting September 11? That’s the only test here. That’s what this will boil down to. If he can pull it off, the election is his. The only other big issue in a Presidential campaign is the economy. The economy is not good enough for him to harp about but it’s not bad enough for people/voters to be angry at him about it. It says here the President will be re-elected.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I may have too close a relationship with antibiotics. I can tell one from another just by the smell. On my hands. After I've washed them a few hundred times. I just noticed this as I was sitting here with my head in my hands, musing about life and such. I notice these things (the little details) and feel an incredible need to share them with someone."
Yep. That's too close. -Rob
I think the Redskins made out like bandits in this deal. Great running backs make the offense go in Denver (And just about everywhere else for that matter). Clinton Portis will now make the offense go in Washington. Some think it’s Mike Shanahan’s blocking schemes, the Broncos’ offensive line, and great game-planning that is responsible for the success of the running game in Denver year after year. I don’t. I think they’ve had incredible luck in choosing running backs in later rounds. Having watched the Saints go through running back hell for many years in the mid-nineties, I can say with some certainty that great running backs make a difference. Then again, the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are winning Super Bowls without one. The game may be changing in front of our eyes. Probably not. Defense is still what wins championships. To that end, maybe the Broncos are doing OK. We shall see.
Clinton Portis is the star player on one of my fantasy football teams so where he goes and what he does holds keen interest for me. I think he’ll do fine with the Redskins under Joe Gibbs. I wonder if Gibbs still has the fire in the belly. There is no question he was a great coach the first time.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Lisa brings up an interesting point. I happen to know her IQ is 160+. So are the intelligence quotients of Jodi Foster, Sharon Stone, Laura Linney, and Geena Davis to name a few (I don't know about the guys because I don't look them up)."
Bits and pieces to start March. It’s a long month with 23 working days. I hope that’s a good thing.
Ate out last night at one of our usually reliable restaurants. Totally disappointed. The food was sub-par, the service was sub-par, and the price (How much we ended up spending to be disappointed) was unsettling. Could have eaten at a fast food joint for considerably less and have been done sooner.
Back to work today for a full week again. Work weeks interrupted by holidays (Mardi Gras last Tuesday) are nice but they throw you off of your routine.
Spring is in the air and I plan to get started on the yard this weekend. I’ve hardly done a thing since November. It shows. I have some plans for the yard this year. I had plans last year, too, but they never materialized.
No surprises whatsoever at the Academy Awards last night. I’m surely glad I didn’t sit through it.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Paul said that cooking is an art but baking is a science (he may have stolen that quote from someone else, actually). I never did well in science class (except biology) and most of my studies revolved around art. This is probably why I can make a kick ass risotto but my one attempt at breadmaking resulted in a beige anvil."
Love the title of the blog. -Rob
