Glad that’s over!
Indiana can now sink back into its normal state of political obscurity.
One of the things that’s been hard to get used to about living in Ohio is all the attention from the political candidates. Indiana usually and reliably goes Republican and, at most, will see a Republican candidate or two through the course of the general election. The Democrats usually don’t waste their time or money campaigning there.
This election season, they descended like locusts. My sister says that one of the Dem candidates gave a speech at the small town she lives in and shut the whole town down for most of the day. Streets were blocked off and the Secret Service was everywhere.
Quite inconsiderate.
Fortunately, she was already at work when they arrived. Others were not so lucky and the doctor’s office where she works had an unusual number of late and cancelled appointments.
Headline: Democrats Prevent Citizens From Obtaining Necessary Health Care.
Film at eleven! ;-)
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Dangerous Barbie Dolls!
This is really funny:
I raised two daughters in the “decadent” Western culture of Indiana. They received Barbie dolls for birthdays and Christmas. Never did I consider Barbie to be undermining their morality!
They also received Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I didn’t expect those to be corrupting, either.
I carefully raised my daughters to think for themselves instead of following the herd. Neither is fashionable or trendy. They don’t waste time worrying about their appearance beyond what they like and boundaries of good taste.
Neither are they overly violent or overly cutsie. One is an aspiring musician/music producer and the other designs web pages and does custom sewing. Both are independent thinkers. Neither was damaged by any images of Barbie and her extensive wardrobe.
With all the poverty and other real social problems available that need solving in their culture, the Iranians instead choose to inveigh against poor, ole, much-maligned Barbie?!?
Oh, well. As long as they’re wasting their time on such nonsense, they won’t have time to think any new ways of killing each other and us!
A top Iranian judiciary official warned Monday against the "destructive"Swiped from Right Wing News
cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western
toys.
Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official
letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger"
that needed to be stopped.
"The irregular importation of such toys, which
unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive
culturally and a social danger," Najafabadi said in his letter, a copy of which
was made available to The Associated Press.
... Najafabadi said Iran was the
world's third biggest importer of toys, and these smuggled imports posed a
threat to the "identity" of the new generation.
"Undoubtedly, the
personality and identity of the new generation and our children, as a result of
unrestricted importation of toys, has been put at risk and caused irreparable
damages," he said.
Authorities launched a temporary campaign of confiscating
Barbie from toy stores in 2002, denouncing the un-Islamic sensibilities of the
iconic American doll. The campaign was eventually discontinued.
That same
year, though, Iran introduced a competing doll—the twins Dara and Sara, who
promoted traditional values with their modest clothing and pro-family stories
but they proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.
In 1996, the head of a
government-backed children's agency called Barbie a "Trojan horse" sneaking in
Western influences such as makeup and revealing clothes.
Barbie is sold
wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves
in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.
I raised two daughters in the “decadent” Western culture of Indiana. They received Barbie dolls for birthdays and Christmas. Never did I consider Barbie to be undermining their morality!
They also received Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I didn’t expect those to be corrupting, either.
I carefully raised my daughters to think for themselves instead of following the herd. Neither is fashionable or trendy. They don’t waste time worrying about their appearance beyond what they like and boundaries of good taste.
Neither are they overly violent or overly cutsie. One is an aspiring musician/music producer and the other designs web pages and does custom sewing. Both are independent thinkers. Neither was damaged by any images of Barbie and her extensive wardrobe.
With all the poverty and other real social problems available that need solving in their culture, the Iranians instead choose to inveigh against poor, ole, much-maligned Barbie?!?
Oh, well. As long as they’re wasting their time on such nonsense, they won’t have time to think any new ways of killing each other and us!
Monday, April 21, 2008
More Computer Follies:
At a previous job, I was the programmer of the Access front end that we did all our work in. It was a huge program that gathered immense amounts of data into a SQL Server database.
The bosses had decided that I was to make certain fields off limits for a few lower-end users. I had this musical co-worker who, upon hearing of my newest project, started going around the office humming “Can’t Touch This”
When I was done with the newest revisions, I put into it code that would run only for her that would open Internet Explorer and go to You Tube and start playing MC Hammer’s Video of “Can’t Touch This”. The office manager was in on this gag with me so I figured I wouldn’t get into too much trouble.
I didn’t count on the stupidity of one of our senior managers. The office manager was late that day and the senior manager happened to be walking past my co-worker’s computer just at MC launched into his song and dance.
The senior manager freaked, assumed we had some horrible virus in the system and made the whole office sit there, doing nothing, until I got there at 9:00.
She was furious when I explained the gag.
I was quite offended that she would think that I would have damaged the company’s greatest asset on purpose.
I didn’t tell her that the office manager wanted me to pull the gag on the whole office! I figured I didn’t need both of us in trouble with this no-sense-of-humor idiot!!
I still smile when I hear that song!
The bosses had decided that I was to make certain fields off limits for a few lower-end users. I had this musical co-worker who, upon hearing of my newest project, started going around the office humming “Can’t Touch This”
When I was done with the newest revisions, I put into it code that would run only for her that would open Internet Explorer and go to You Tube and start playing MC Hammer’s Video of “Can’t Touch This”. The office manager was in on this gag with me so I figured I wouldn’t get into too much trouble.
I didn’t count on the stupidity of one of our senior managers. The office manager was late that day and the senior manager happened to be walking past my co-worker’s computer just at MC launched into his song and dance.
The senior manager freaked, assumed we had some horrible virus in the system and made the whole office sit there, doing nothing, until I got there at 9:00.
She was furious when I explained the gag.
I was quite offended that she would think that I would have damaged the company’s greatest asset on purpose.
I didn’t tell her that the office manager wanted me to pull the gag on the whole office! I figured I didn’t need both of us in trouble with this no-sense-of-humor idiot!!
I still smile when I hear that song!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Old News
The very definition of “schadenfreude”:
The guy who laid me off a few years ago dropped dead, at the office no less, last year!!
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
He was nasty to me when I worked there and saved the job of one of his friends when he should have laid one of them off instead of me. They were redundant, I was not.
Hope he likes the neighborhood, now!
(Hey, I never said I was nice!)
The guy who laid me off a few years ago dropped dead, at the office no less, last year!!
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
He was nasty to me when I worked there and saved the job of one of his friends when he should have laid one of them off instead of me. They were redundant, I was not.
Hope he likes the neighborhood, now!
(Hey, I never said I was nice!)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hillary *updated*
Apparently, the MSM is shocked, shocked! to find out that Hillary Clinton lied to them.
LOL
Gee, where have they been all these years? Not paying attention, obviously.
Hillary loves the Big Lie. Like: claiming to be named after Sir Edmund Hillary when he didn’t climb Mount Everest until she was a small child. No one had ever heard of him before that. And: turning a $1,000 investment into $100,000 by reading the Wall Street Journal. Not to malign that great publication but, if it was that easy, this country would have many more millionaires than it does!
She and her husband, both, have been lying to the world since 1990. They’ve been lying to the people of Arkansas longer than that! For the MSM to only now notice is such hypocrisy!
I guess the Left-Wind Media has decided that Obama is the one they want (like they did with McCain) so anything anyone does, even a Clinton, to hurt his candidacy is going to get slammed.
She didn’t really think that she could get away with this forever, did she? Of course, why wouldn’t she? Her husband didn’t come under fire until he criticized Obama, either. And they LOVED him!
“First Black President.” Not with those pasty, white thighs! Remember those shots and video of him jogging? How ridiculous was that? The Leader of the Free World out running in the street in short shorts.
Of course, she’s absolutely correct about Obama and the Rev. Wright. You choose your pastor. Obama chose this guy and stayed with him for over 20 years. Therefore, he must at least tacitly approve of his opinions as expressed in his sermons.
Just as she’s stayed with Bill. She has approved of his behavior as well. You can’t have one without the other. She chose him; she can un-chose him at any time.
I’ve been cheated on. I found out about it only after we had broken up, in a rather artless way, from the woman he cheated on me with. I treat him as a non-person. He simply doesn’t exist.
I’m not sure that would work with Bill but she could at least have the dignity to tell him to get lost!
I could almost respect her for that!
She’s still not qualified to be President, though. Nothing will change that!
Update:
A score card from Dick Morris, who probably knows Hillary best:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/hillarys_list_of_lies.html
His book on her was scathing! Quite a good read. I recommend it!
LOL
Gee, where have they been all these years? Not paying attention, obviously.
Hillary loves the Big Lie. Like: claiming to be named after Sir Edmund Hillary when he didn’t climb Mount Everest until she was a small child. No one had ever heard of him before that. And: turning a $1,000 investment into $100,000 by reading the Wall Street Journal. Not to malign that great publication but, if it was that easy, this country would have many more millionaires than it does!
She and her husband, both, have been lying to the world since 1990. They’ve been lying to the people of Arkansas longer than that! For the MSM to only now notice is such hypocrisy!
I guess the Left-Wind Media has decided that Obama is the one they want (like they did with McCain) so anything anyone does, even a Clinton, to hurt his candidacy is going to get slammed.
She didn’t really think that she could get away with this forever, did she? Of course, why wouldn’t she? Her husband didn’t come under fire until he criticized Obama, either. And they LOVED him!
“First Black President.” Not with those pasty, white thighs! Remember those shots and video of him jogging? How ridiculous was that? The Leader of the Free World out running in the street in short shorts.
Of course, she’s absolutely correct about Obama and the Rev. Wright. You choose your pastor. Obama chose this guy and stayed with him for over 20 years. Therefore, he must at least tacitly approve of his opinions as expressed in his sermons.
Just as she’s stayed with Bill. She has approved of his behavior as well. You can’t have one without the other. She chose him; she can un-chose him at any time.
I’ve been cheated on. I found out about it only after we had broken up, in a rather artless way, from the woman he cheated on me with. I treat him as a non-person. He simply doesn’t exist.
I’m not sure that would work with Bill but she could at least have the dignity to tell him to get lost!
I could almost respect her for that!
She’s still not qualified to be President, though. Nothing will change that!
Update:
A score card from Dick Morris, who probably knows Hillary best:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/hillarys_list_of_lies.html
His book on her was scathing! Quite a good read. I recommend it!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Enough!!
Ok, time for a bitch session!
For the past week, it’s been All Eliot, all-the-time.
Now it’s All Hate-Monger Jeremiah, all-the-time.
Gee, anything else happen in America in the past few days???
And, I don’t care who had a three-way with whom! It’s none of our business! Quit reporting this stuff!
This is as bad as during the Lewinsky scandal. I had to explain to my 8-year-old what a “blow-job” was. She kept hearing the term on the news and wanted to know what it meant. (Her response: “Gross!!”)
I feel sorry for people with younger kids. The media is making such a big deal about all this that the kids can’t help but notice.
Kinda like hearing Haldeman and Erlichman every night on the news when I was 13 and very preoccupied with being a newly-minted teenager. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time but I was aware that it was bad.
I finally realized when I was in college that I had lived through a huge scandal and knew, essentially, nothing about it. I happed to catch “All the President’s Men” on cable. That got me curious about what had actually happened. I knew anything Hollywood put out was most probably not the truth.
About that time, most of the players in Watergate had started publishing their books. I went to the library and skimmed several, choosing the one by the judge in the case, John Sirica, to read in depth. I figured he had heard all the evidence and didn’t have a horse in the race, so to speak. He didn’t have any personal agendas to protect.
What are today’s children absorbing from these scandals? “God Damn America” and “Client #9”?!?
I’m glad my kids are grown and my grandson is too young to watch TV!!
And I’m also glad I don’t have to explain any of this to an innocent!
For the past week, it’s been All Eliot, all-the-time.
Now it’s All Hate-Monger Jeremiah, all-the-time.
Gee, anything else happen in America in the past few days???
And, I don’t care who had a three-way with whom! It’s none of our business! Quit reporting this stuff!
This is as bad as during the Lewinsky scandal. I had to explain to my 8-year-old what a “blow-job” was. She kept hearing the term on the news and wanted to know what it meant. (Her response: “Gross!!”)
I feel sorry for people with younger kids. The media is making such a big deal about all this that the kids can’t help but notice.
Kinda like hearing Haldeman and Erlichman every night on the news when I was 13 and very preoccupied with being a newly-minted teenager. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time but I was aware that it was bad.
I finally realized when I was in college that I had lived through a huge scandal and knew, essentially, nothing about it. I happed to catch “All the President’s Men” on cable. That got me curious about what had actually happened. I knew anything Hollywood put out was most probably not the truth.
About that time, most of the players in Watergate had started publishing their books. I went to the library and skimmed several, choosing the one by the judge in the case, John Sirica, to read in depth. I figured he had heard all the evidence and didn’t have a horse in the race, so to speak. He didn’t have any personal agendas to protect.
What are today’s children absorbing from these scandals? “God Damn America” and “Client #9”?!?
I’m glad my kids are grown and my grandson is too young to watch TV!!
And I’m also glad I don’t have to explain any of this to an innocent!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Where are the Grown-ups?? *Updated*
Back in the 1980s, when I was in my 20s, I didn’t really feel like an adult. Even though I was a married woman with 2 kids by the end of the decade, I still didn’t really feel like a grown-up.
In the 25 years since, I’ve grown-up quite a bit, shouldering my responsibilities as a single mom and sole support of those 2 kids, who are now grown.
I have a good driving record, a clean credit report and I pay my bills on time.
Back then, there seemed to be a few people who were the grown-ups: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John-Paul. All but Dame Thatcher have gone to their reward.
Unfortunately for us, no one seems to have stepped up to replace them. No one seems capable of making the difficult decisions that can end the War on Islamic Fascism like Ron, Maggie and John-Paul did with communism and the USSR. Where are the leaders?
Hell, one of our 2 political parties won’t even admit there IS a War on Islamic Fascism! They have their collective heads buried so far up their asses they haven’t seen daylight in years!
And yet, 47.5% of Americans poll that they will vote for a Democrat in November!
What’s wrong with these people? These Islamic nutjobs are AT WAR WITH US?
They seek our death and the total destruction of our country and our culture.
To those who say we need to talk and “negotiate” with these people, I want to know what you think there is to negotiate about? If your opponents’ starting position is your death, what’s there to negotiate, the where and how?
They don’t want to live with us! There’s nothing we can do that can change that. We didn’t cause it. We can’t fix it.
But we can stop it.
This country desperately needs some grown-ups who recognize the danger we are in and have the balls to do something about it.
Since it looks like I’ll have no other choice, I’m hoping that McCain turns out to be an adult!!
I hope he makes a good, conservative choice for VP. There’s been rumors on the ‘net that he’s thinking of asking a Democrat to run with him.
If he wants to guarantee that the conservative base stays home in November, he should do just that. I’ll definitely sit that one out. I don’t vote for Democrats in the general election.
*Update*
I forgot one of the adults from this time period: Lech Walesa. Now, there's a man with BALLS! He stood up to the Soviet Union! He and his Solidarity labor union helped Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul bring down the USSR.
Sorry, Lech, I'll try and do better next time!
In the 25 years since, I’ve grown-up quite a bit, shouldering my responsibilities as a single mom and sole support of those 2 kids, who are now grown.
I have a good driving record, a clean credit report and I pay my bills on time.
Back then, there seemed to be a few people who were the grown-ups: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John-Paul. All but Dame Thatcher have gone to their reward.
Unfortunately for us, no one seems to have stepped up to replace them. No one seems capable of making the difficult decisions that can end the War on Islamic Fascism like Ron, Maggie and John-Paul did with communism and the USSR. Where are the leaders?
Hell, one of our 2 political parties won’t even admit there IS a War on Islamic Fascism! They have their collective heads buried so far up their asses they haven’t seen daylight in years!
And yet, 47.5% of Americans poll that they will vote for a Democrat in November!
What’s wrong with these people? These Islamic nutjobs are AT WAR WITH US?
They seek our death and the total destruction of our country and our culture.
To those who say we need to talk and “negotiate” with these people, I want to know what you think there is to negotiate about? If your opponents’ starting position is your death, what’s there to negotiate, the where and how?
They don’t want to live with us! There’s nothing we can do that can change that. We didn’t cause it. We can’t fix it.
But we can stop it.
This country desperately needs some grown-ups who recognize the danger we are in and have the balls to do something about it.
Since it looks like I’ll have no other choice, I’m hoping that McCain turns out to be an adult!!
I hope he makes a good, conservative choice for VP. There’s been rumors on the ‘net that he’s thinking of asking a Democrat to run with him.
If he wants to guarantee that the conservative base stays home in November, he should do just that. I’ll definitely sit that one out. I don’t vote for Democrats in the general election.
*Update*
I forgot one of the adults from this time period: Lech Walesa. Now, there's a man with BALLS! He stood up to the Soviet Union! He and his Solidarity labor union helped Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul bring down the USSR.
Sorry, Lech, I'll try and do better next time!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Computer Stupidities
I’ve been reading this great website of Computer Stupidities and realized that I have a few tales of my own I could tell.
For instance:
At a former job, I had an older use who really didn’t understand anything about the computer he worked on every day.
One afternoon, he came to me, all upset.
“My computer is making this ‘bip-bip-bip’ sound!” He was very indignant. He took every problem with his computer personally; sure that his computer was out to get him, and all the problems were my fault, somehow, because I was the computer support person and I should just make sure nothing ever went wrong.
So, I got up, crossed the open office and sat down at his desk. I moved the file folder off his space bar and the sound went away!
“There ya go!”
He didn’t even say thanks!
I went back to my desk on the other side of the room and nearly strangled trying not to laugh out loud.
For instance:
At a former job, I had an older use who really didn’t understand anything about the computer he worked on every day.
One afternoon, he came to me, all upset.
“My computer is making this ‘bip-bip-bip’ sound!” He was very indignant. He took every problem with his computer personally; sure that his computer was out to get him, and all the problems were my fault, somehow, because I was the computer support person and I should just make sure nothing ever went wrong.
So, I got up, crossed the open office and sat down at his desk. I moved the file folder off his space bar and the sound went away!
“There ya go!”
He didn’t even say thanks!
I went back to my desk on the other side of the room and nearly strangled trying not to laugh out loud.
Earth Hour
Remember Jump Day?
People all over the world were all supposed to jump at the same time in a vain attempt to change the orbit of the earth around the Sun.
Yeah, right!
Well, they’re at it again!
More silliness:
Earth Hour
We’re supposed to turn out all our lights for an hour, to help eliminate CO2 from the environment. And change to those horribly poisonous CFL light bulbs.
Well, personally, I'm going to turn on every light in my house for that hour. And remove the 1 CFL bulb my SO brought home and installed against my wishes. (Carefully disposing of it, of course.) He's not allowed to bring any more home.
If they’re so worried about energy use and CO2 emissions, where’s the huge push for more nuclear power plants?
Those produce no CO2 at all. And you get lots of energy for your buck.
But, no, we’re all just supposed to sit in the dark. That’ll fix the problem!
Like burning our food supply for fuel. I’ve never heard of anything more stupid!
Spending more at the grocery store? Blame ethanol. Producing and burning ethanol causes more CO2 emissions than the same amount of energy in gasoline.
But ethanol is going to save us all!
Enviro-nazis are idiots.
People all over the world were all supposed to jump at the same time in a vain attempt to change the orbit of the earth around the Sun.
Yeah, right!
Well, they’re at it again!
More silliness:
Earth Hour
We’re supposed to turn out all our lights for an hour, to help eliminate CO2 from the environment. And change to those horribly poisonous CFL light bulbs.
Well, personally, I'm going to turn on every light in my house for that hour. And remove the 1 CFL bulb my SO brought home and installed against my wishes. (Carefully disposing of it, of course.) He's not allowed to bring any more home.
If they’re so worried about energy use and CO2 emissions, where’s the huge push for more nuclear power plants?
Those produce no CO2 at all. And you get lots of energy for your buck.
But, no, we’re all just supposed to sit in the dark. That’ll fix the problem!
Like burning our food supply for fuel. I’ve never heard of anything more stupid!
Spending more at the grocery store? Blame ethanol. Producing and burning ethanol causes more CO2 emissions than the same amount of energy in gasoline.
But ethanol is going to save us all!
Enviro-nazis are idiots.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Eliot Spitzer
I don’t get it.
Who cares who had sex with a prostitute?
Sure, I feel sorry for his wife but I still gotta get up tomorrow morning and go to work and I still gotta pay my mortgage.
Until somebody’s sex life impacts that, just keep it to yourselves.
No body cares!
Let private business be private, for once.
Unless, of course, he commits perjury about it. That’s different. Then, it’s not about the sex, it’s about the perjury!
If, in his position at Attorney General, he ever spiked an investigation into this particular prostitution ring or its controlling interests, then he should go to jail for abusing his position of public trust.
Who cares who had sex with a prostitute?
Sure, I feel sorry for his wife but I still gotta get up tomorrow morning and go to work and I still gotta pay my mortgage.
Until somebody’s sex life impacts that, just keep it to yourselves.
No body cares!
Let private business be private, for once.
Unless, of course, he commits perjury about it. That’s different. Then, it’s not about the sex, it’s about the perjury!
If, in his position at Attorney General, he ever spiked an investigation into this particular prostitution ring or its controlling interests, then he should go to jail for abusing his position of public trust.
Computers
A few years ago, I stupidly clicked a link in an email and gave myself a virus.
The machine in question was 2 years old and clone to the machine I used at work, both Dells. My machine had shipped with Windows ME, probably the worst OS they ever came up with. The identical machine I used at work had Windows NT 4.0 installed and worked fine.
I have my own copy of Win NT 4.0 and had a tech friend of mine come over and change the OS for me on the new machine, replacing ME with NT 4.0. She copied the audio and video drivers onto a CD for me. Or thought she did, anyway.
After a heart-stopping half hour when I couldn’t get the computer to boot, it finally started up. I copied all my files onto CD and formatted my hard drive. When I reinstalled Windows, I discovered that the CD she had made me didn’t include my video driver like I thought.
So, since I knew this computer worked well with Win NT 4.0, I called Dell support, asking for a URL where I could download the driver I needed.
After wasting an hour of my time asking dumb questions, the tech finally put me on hold and went to ask his supervisor. When he came back, his manner was frosty:
“You changed the operating system on this computer. You are not entitled to any further support.”
Then he hung up on me.
I spent the next 2 hours searching the internet using my daughter’s computer, finally finding the needed driver on my own. I had changed employers and couldn’t go there for help. My tech friend didn’t have the driver, either, and was upset that she hadn’t put in on the CD for me.
About 2 weeks later, I got a call from Dell. They wanted me to rate my support call!!
Needless to say, I fried the ladies’ ears off with my ringing condemnation of their tech’s behavior. I hadn’t asked him for anything, just a web address.
I haven’t purchased another Dell computer nor do I intend to ever. I currently own an HP and a Gateway. I buy new computers every 3 years, desktops and laptops. That tech’s rudeness has cost them at least 4 purchases by now. Had he sent me to the website I needed, I would probably have been a customer for life. As it is, I counsel all my friends and family to stay away from Dell.
Since I’m the resident family computer expert, I’ve probably cost them a few sales.
At least, I hope so!!
The machine in question was 2 years old and clone to the machine I used at work, both Dells. My machine had shipped with Windows ME, probably the worst OS they ever came up with. The identical machine I used at work had Windows NT 4.0 installed and worked fine.
I have my own copy of Win NT 4.0 and had a tech friend of mine come over and change the OS for me on the new machine, replacing ME with NT 4.0. She copied the audio and video drivers onto a CD for me. Or thought she did, anyway.
After a heart-stopping half hour when I couldn’t get the computer to boot, it finally started up. I copied all my files onto CD and formatted my hard drive. When I reinstalled Windows, I discovered that the CD she had made me didn’t include my video driver like I thought.
So, since I knew this computer worked well with Win NT 4.0, I called Dell support, asking for a URL where I could download the driver I needed.
After wasting an hour of my time asking dumb questions, the tech finally put me on hold and went to ask his supervisor. When he came back, his manner was frosty:
“You changed the operating system on this computer. You are not entitled to any further support.”
Then he hung up on me.
I spent the next 2 hours searching the internet using my daughter’s computer, finally finding the needed driver on my own. I had changed employers and couldn’t go there for help. My tech friend didn’t have the driver, either, and was upset that she hadn’t put in on the CD for me.
About 2 weeks later, I got a call from Dell. They wanted me to rate my support call!!
Needless to say, I fried the ladies’ ears off with my ringing condemnation of their tech’s behavior. I hadn’t asked him for anything, just a web address.
I haven’t purchased another Dell computer nor do I intend to ever. I currently own an HP and a Gateway. I buy new computers every 3 years, desktops and laptops. That tech’s rudeness has cost them at least 4 purchases by now. Had he sent me to the website I needed, I would probably have been a customer for life. As it is, I counsel all my friends and family to stay away from Dell.
Since I’m the resident family computer expert, I’ve probably cost them a few sales.
At least, I hope so!!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Meet Garfield
Meet Garfield, my newest kitty.
When losing Cissy stopped hurting quite so much, I realized that I wanted to get another cat. I looked into the local shelter and their costs but something told me to wait. I guess I thought that if I was meant to have another cat, one would come to me, a stray would show up at work or at home, looking for a home or something.
Well, ‘something’ happened.
A co-worker of mine had moved and her new apartment didn’t allow pets. She was going to try and sneak in her cat but they were too observant for that and demanded that she get rid of him.
Someone here at work told her I was a “cat-person” so she came to me to see if I wanted him. He seemed perfect.
He’s 8 years old, neutered and declawed and has all his shots. And also the first orange cat I’ve had.
And he is BRIGHT orange. He practically glows! He has such a sweet face, too. He’s very affectionate and likes to sleep next to the fridge or next to my pillow at night. I weighed him last Saturday. He’s 14lbs. Cookie is 13lbs and Klein is 16lbs, the fatty.
He is younger and more muscular than my 2 very fat kitties and is able to get into much more mischief than they. I used my tuna squeezer one Saturday and it has mysteriously disappeared! I’ll probably find it under the couch or the dining room hutch when I do my spring cleaning.
He’s also able to get on the kitchen counter! My other 2 are way too fat to jump so high. Cookie could probably manage it but she’s too lazy. I could claim she knows better but I know better! :-) Klein can barely manage to jump onto the bed. The counter might as well be on the moon, as far as he’s concerned.
My daughter has a house-full of young cats that like to get into places they're not supposed to. To combat this, they’ve found a product that I plan to acquire myself: Ssscat: www.ssscat.com/
What a cool concept!!
He's a real sweetie, for all his mischievous ways. He loves to give "kisses", something my other two won't do. He'll let me hold him but hasn't figured out that a baby-cradle is a good way to get some intensive mommy-attention.
He helps me get ready for work every morning, following me through my routine, mostly because the last thing I do before heading out is to feed them. Hey, dogs have masters, cats have staff. My primary reason for existence is to feed them. Just ask 'em!
That and scritches. Gotta have lots of scritches, too! :-)
Of course, if all this bothered me, I'd have a dog. But you don't have to walk cats, bath cats, police your yard or go through the dominance games dogs play. Litter boxes are nasty but at least all the nasty stuff is in one place. Plus, I have a wonderful product called a Litter Robot that takes most of the nasty out of it. I just change the bag in the bottom once a week, add more litter and I'm done! If you don't like scooping your litter box, check out that website! I'm on my second robot. I killed the first one by washing the base. Yeah, I'm an idiot. They were nice enough to give me a nice discount, though. Took some of the sting out.
And I don't have to walk around my neighborhood carrying a bag of poop!!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Michigan and Florida
Ok, so Michigan and Florida moved their primaries to earlier in the year in search of relevancy. In stead, the DNC stripped them of their delegates. So, now, the party of “Count every Vote” is trying to reinstate those states’ delegates and hold new primaries.
Who’s going to pay for that? The tax-payers, probably. It should be the DNC! They created this whole mess. Or maybe the state Democratic parties who voted to move their primaries. Now, their voters have to vote again, at further expense, and it’s still later in the year.
And no one is arguing that these states are irrelevant! Now that the race has actually been close, for once, every delegate counts.
According to Politics1.com, Florida is considering holding another primary but only if the Democrats pick up the $10 million ticket. Michigan is considering holding caucuses in June. Caucuses are cheaper to do than primaries and are run by the parties, not the states, both considerations making caucuses more attractive.
Hillary won both states the first time around. However, Obama wasn’t on the Michigan ticket and did not campaign in Florida. What would happen in a more fair contest is the subject of much speculation.
She maintains, of course, that she already won these states and should be able to do so again easily. He says that, if he were to actually campaign, he could take them away from her easily.
What would be really funny is if “None of the above” won again in Michigan! Probably won’t happen but it would be amusing!!
Having the race for the opposition candidate be so close is great! Let them continue to tear each other apart. Give McCain a breather. He’s old, he needs it. Let him build his war chest and prepare his troops.
I hope Obama has the balls for the give and take the Clinton Machine is going to inflict upon him! It’s really going to get savage now.
I hope so anyway. Personally, I’m rooting for Obama. Not because I want him for president but because I think he is the more beatable candidate.
I don’t trust the American electorate to see through the Clinton Fog Machine! They’ve bought into the BS twice. That’s not a good track record. I have no faith that they won’t be stupid again!
Who’s going to pay for that? The tax-payers, probably. It should be the DNC! They created this whole mess. Or maybe the state Democratic parties who voted to move their primaries. Now, their voters have to vote again, at further expense, and it’s still later in the year.
And no one is arguing that these states are irrelevant! Now that the race has actually been close, for once, every delegate counts.
According to Politics1.com, Florida is considering holding another primary but only if the Democrats pick up the $10 million ticket. Michigan is considering holding caucuses in June. Caucuses are cheaper to do than primaries and are run by the parties, not the states, both considerations making caucuses more attractive.
Hillary won both states the first time around. However, Obama wasn’t on the Michigan ticket and did not campaign in Florida. What would happen in a more fair contest is the subject of much speculation.
She maintains, of course, that she already won these states and should be able to do so again easily. He says that, if he were to actually campaign, he could take them away from her easily.
What would be really funny is if “None of the above” won again in Michigan! Probably won’t happen but it would be amusing!!
Having the race for the opposition candidate be so close is great! Let them continue to tear each other apart. Give McCain a breather. He’s old, he needs it. Let him build his war chest and prepare his troops.
I hope Obama has the balls for the give and take the Clinton Machine is going to inflict upon him! It’s really going to get savage now.
I hope so anyway. Personally, I’m rooting for Obama. Not because I want him for president but because I think he is the more beatable candidate.
I don’t trust the American electorate to see through the Clinton Fog Machine! They’ve bought into the BS twice. That’s not a good track record. I have no faith that they won’t be stupid again!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Gay-Marriage
Found via Conservative Grapevine:
http://americanprincessblog.com/wp-trackback.php?p=2923
All I gotta say is "Amen!"
During the Presidential election of 2004, there was noise in the Catholic church about refusing communion to pro-choice Democrat politicians. They protested, of course, as they see nothing oxymoronic in being both Catholic and pro-choice.
Personally, I was glad to see the Church finally publicly acknowledge the problem!
If you're going to profess to follow a religion, you should FOLLOW THAT Religion!!
The Pope says abortion is wrong. If you're Catholic, you shouldn't need to know anything else!
If you do, you're NOT Catholic!!
By definition!
Me, I ain't even Christian, but hypocrisy does bother me. I'm not interested in following a bunch of silly rules so I haven't joined any of the clubs that require me to follow them.
Does God, in His infinite everything, really get that bent out of shape if you do or don't wear a hat? Or eat that bacon cheeseburger? Somehow, I think He's got better things to do with His time!
I'd also like to think he's more tolerant of human failures, especially as He made us that way. You'd think He'd know what to expect!
http://americanprincessblog.com/wp-trackback.php?p=2923
All I gotta say is "Amen!"
During the Presidential election of 2004, there was noise in the Catholic church about refusing communion to pro-choice Democrat politicians. They protested, of course, as they see nothing oxymoronic in being both Catholic and pro-choice.
Personally, I was glad to see the Church finally publicly acknowledge the problem!
If you're going to profess to follow a religion, you should FOLLOW THAT Religion!!
The Pope says abortion is wrong. If you're Catholic, you shouldn't need to know anything else!
If you do, you're NOT Catholic!!
By definition!
Me, I ain't even Christian, but hypocrisy does bother me. I'm not interested in following a bunch of silly rules so I haven't joined any of the clubs that require me to follow them.
Does God, in His infinite everything, really get that bent out of shape if you do or don't wear a hat? Or eat that bacon cheeseburger? Somehow, I think He's got better things to do with His time!
I'd also like to think he's more tolerant of human failures, especially as He made us that way. You'd think He'd know what to expect!
Ohio Primary
Lotsa bitchin’ and moanin’ today by Democrats about the Republicans who crossed over and voted in the Democrat primary yesterday.
All I gotta say to them is “You’re welcome!”
Yup, I’m an Ohio conservative who held her nose and voted Democrat yesterday.
Why?
I wanted to take the opportunity to vote against the Hildebeast and against Peace Moonbeam (Dennis Kucinich), both of whom I despise.
Dennis is an idiot! Too bad 4 guys split the vote against him and he won his primary. My community is full of idiots.
Hillary has the same qualifications for president that Mrs. Brett Farve does to be an NFL quarterback. Probably more, since she actually lives with her husband. Think the Packers will be calling on her now that Brett has retired? Somehow, I doubt it!
My primary objection to Clinton is that she’s a socialist. She wants to take more and ever more of my hard-earned money and give it to lazy asses who don’t work. Or to build Bridges to Nowhere. Or to give to tyrants overseas.
I voted for Barak on the theory that he’s more defeatable in November than she is. I think that there are still a sizable number of people in this country who can’t bring themselves to vote for a black man for president. I don't agree with them but they're still there. And I don’t trust my fellow voters to see through the Clinton Machine’s machinations! The idiots haven’t, yet!
Quite frankly, I lost all my faith in the American electorate when they elected and then reelected Bill Clinton. Why am I the only person who seems to be able to see through his BS??
The first time I saw him on TV, my BS alarm went off so loud it was deafening! He is so obviously a liar to me. I’ve never believed a single word the guy has ever said.
His wife is worse! She’s cold and conniving, willing to do anything to get herself what she wants, whether it’s money or power. I fear for my country if this woman is ever elected President!
It’s too bad, really that the Republicans couldn’t produce a candidate that I could gladly vote for. I don’t trust McCain on border security or on appointing judges. About the only thing I think he’s right on is his stand against earmarks. That, at least, he gets right!
And the war against Islamic Fascism, of course. He does seem to understand the importance of that!
Ah, well. There’s always Baseball!!
All I gotta say to them is “You’re welcome!”
Yup, I’m an Ohio conservative who held her nose and voted Democrat yesterday.
Why?
I wanted to take the opportunity to vote against the Hildebeast and against Peace Moonbeam (Dennis Kucinich), both of whom I despise.
Dennis is an idiot! Too bad 4 guys split the vote against him and he won his primary. My community is full of idiots.
Hillary has the same qualifications for president that Mrs. Brett Farve does to be an NFL quarterback. Probably more, since she actually lives with her husband. Think the Packers will be calling on her now that Brett has retired? Somehow, I doubt it!
My primary objection to Clinton is that she’s a socialist. She wants to take more and ever more of my hard-earned money and give it to lazy asses who don’t work. Or to build Bridges to Nowhere. Or to give to tyrants overseas.
I voted for Barak on the theory that he’s more defeatable in November than she is. I think that there are still a sizable number of people in this country who can’t bring themselves to vote for a black man for president. I don't agree with them but they're still there. And I don’t trust my fellow voters to see through the Clinton Machine’s machinations! The idiots haven’t, yet!
Quite frankly, I lost all my faith in the American electorate when they elected and then reelected Bill Clinton. Why am I the only person who seems to be able to see through his BS??
The first time I saw him on TV, my BS alarm went off so loud it was deafening! He is so obviously a liar to me. I’ve never believed a single word the guy has ever said.
His wife is worse! She’s cold and conniving, willing to do anything to get herself what she wants, whether it’s money or power. I fear for my country if this woman is ever elected President!
It’s too bad, really that the Republicans couldn’t produce a candidate that I could gladly vote for. I don’t trust McCain on border security or on appointing judges. About the only thing I think he’s right on is his stand against earmarks. That, at least, he gets right!
And the war against Islamic Fascism, of course. He does seem to understand the importance of that!
Ah, well. There’s always Baseball!!
CFLs
Somebody finally noticed:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331689,00.html
This may come as a surprise to many of you, but Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, CFLs, those spiral light bulbs we’re all going to be forced to use, are extremely poisonous! They contain measurable amounts of mercury, a toxic substance.
Remember a few years ago how we were all getting poisoned from the mercury in fish? There’s more mercury in every single bulb, much more mercury, then in a can of tuna. Break one of those and you poison your house unless you can afford to have a haz-mat team come and clean it. And breaking the bulb releases the mercury into the air so whoever broke the bulb gets a nice lung-full of poison in addition to having to clean up the poison-laced glass. Careful! Don’t cut yourself! They even recommend cutting out that section of carpet and disposing of it. How? They don't say. Into the landfills, I guess
Another thing you never hear about is what we’re going with all these highly poisonous light bulbs after they burn out. Where are they going? Landfills? That will poison our ground water. These things are hazardous waste!
Personally, I’m stocking up on regular, non-poisonous incandescent bulbs. Yeah, they may use a little more energy to light my home but they won’t make if unlivable if I should happen to break one. And they don’t poison the environment with their remains!
And I like the color of the light better, too!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331689,00.html
This may come as a surprise to many of you, but Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, CFLs, those spiral light bulbs we’re all going to be forced to use, are extremely poisonous! They contain measurable amounts of mercury, a toxic substance.
Remember a few years ago how we were all getting poisoned from the mercury in fish? There’s more mercury in every single bulb, much more mercury, then in a can of tuna. Break one of those and you poison your house unless you can afford to have a haz-mat team come and clean it. And breaking the bulb releases the mercury into the air so whoever broke the bulb gets a nice lung-full of poison in addition to having to clean up the poison-laced glass. Careful! Don’t cut yourself! They even recommend cutting out that section of carpet and disposing of it. How? They don't say. Into the landfills, I guess
Another thing you never hear about is what we’re going with all these highly poisonous light bulbs after they burn out. Where are they going? Landfills? That will poison our ground water. These things are hazardous waste!
Personally, I’m stocking up on regular, non-poisonous incandescent bulbs. Yeah, they may use a little more energy to light my home but they won’t make if unlivable if I should happen to break one. And they don’t poison the environment with their remains!
And I like the color of the light better, too!
Monday, February 25, 2008
The American Way
I just got my state tax refund. I took 4 days, unpaid, off from work to attend the birth of my first grandchild and took a hit in my paycheck. I don’t regret doing this and am thrilled that my employer allowed me to do this.
My plans had been to buy a big-screen, LCD TV for my kitchen with my federal refund and the bracket to hang it on the wall with the state refund. Now, I’m going to have to use the money for bills and to keep my household going.
Maybe I’ll get my economy “stimulated”this summer and I can do it then.
Get money from the government, even your own, and you buy a big-screen TV, right?
It’s the American Way!!
:-)
My plans had been to buy a big-screen, LCD TV for my kitchen with my federal refund and the bracket to hang it on the wall with the state refund. Now, I’m going to have to use the money for bills and to keep my household going.
Maybe I’ll get my economy “stimulated”
Get money from the government, even your own, and you buy a big-screen TV, right?
It’s the American Way!!
:-)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Welcome to the world!
Cole Vincent ThrasherHe arrived at 7:18am on February 5th.
I got the call from my sister at midnight that my daughter was in the hospital in labor, hit the road by 12:30am and was there in time to help her push him out by holding her leg.
How special that was! The whole “miracle of birth” thing was just that! Wonderful!
I made it to the hospital by 6:00am. She was just starting to push. Since she didn’t push for very long, his head wasn’t very deformed and rounded out quickly. He is so pretty!
He’s keeping his mother up at night, of course. I stayed for a few days. The old mommy skilz still work; I could get burps out of him when no one else could. And rock him to sleep, too. He’s very sweet.
We call him Squeaker because of the little squeaky noise me makes when he cries. When he really gets going, he does the stereotypical baby-cry: Wah Nuh-Wah! It was so funny the first time he did it! We just laughed and laughed. Of course, now it’s not so funny, especially in the middle of the night!
Now I’m back home and I miss him terribly. I may not see him til May. He will be almost 4 months old by then; he will be an entirely different person by then and won’t remember me.
I have a 3-day weekend coming up for Good Friday. I might just go to see him. It’s only 5.5 hours, right? Nothing! :-)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Victimhood
In 1995, I was struck by an illness that kills 90% of those diagnosed with it within 5 years.
I’m happy to say that, 13 + years later, I’m still here.
I had two choices: claim my victimhood and let the illness have its way with me or fight. I chose to fight.
It would have been much easier to claim victimhood status, file for disability and give in. After all, it’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t a “life-style” disease, like so much cancer is. (You can quite smoking, if you want to.) My heart just got damaged, no one knows exactly how. So, I had the option of giving up and letting life pass me by, ending all too quickly, not with a bang, but a whimper.
I have watched my mother use her (mostly imagined) various illnesses to escape having to live her life. She passed her responsibilities as a mother and housewife on to me when I was only 9 years old. I had adult responsibilities when my greatest worries should have been pop music, school and getting to the mall to be with my friends. She has never recognized what she stole from me nor apologized. I haven’t forgiven her and don’t intend to. Stealing someone’s childhood is an unforgivable crime.
I was diagnosed then my girls were 12 and 8. I could have done the same thing she did and dump my responsibilities onto my eldest daughter. After all, I was far sicker than my mother ever hoped to be. I had the ‘right’ to some rest, right?
Wrong! My kids had a right to a parent who cared about and for them. Not some whiney victim of no use to anybody.
I’m still plugging along. My kids are both grown women now and, hopefully, don’t think too badly of me. I know there were lots of things I didn’t do due to poor health but I tried to keep that to a minimum. No, we never played with that Easy-Bake oven but in later years we baked real cookies together.
I have my regrets, to be sure. I regret ever complaining about having to tuck my younger daughter in for the night upstairs when I was tired. I regret we never got around to making applesauce again before she moved away.
I should have listened to my older daughter sing more before she left home. I gave her lots of space as a teenager. Now, maybe, I think I got too far away.
But, you can’t live your life looking backward, especially when you’re fighting a life-threatening illness. You need to keep that focus forward, to getting better day-by-day, getting stronger.
On that note, I carried in 4 bags of groceries last night, including 5 lbs of potatoes and 3 lbs of onions! Progress!! :-D
Now, if I could only get some of my stamina back, I’d really have something!
And you have to keep remembering that you have no alternative. Victimhood, while it may seem easier in the short term, only causes more problems in the long term. If I don’t get up every morning and go to work, who’s going to make my house and car payments? The government? Hah! Not likely. There’s me and only me to look after me. There’s no giving up and giving in. Hard but true.
I’m happy to say that, 13 + years later, I’m still here.
I had two choices: claim my victimhood and let the illness have its way with me or fight. I chose to fight.
It would have been much easier to claim victimhood status, file for disability and give in. After all, it’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t a “life-style” disease, like so much cancer is. (You can quite smoking, if you want to.) My heart just got damaged, no one knows exactly how. So, I had the option of giving up and letting life pass me by, ending all too quickly, not with a bang, but a whimper.
I have watched my mother use her (mostly imagined) various illnesses to escape having to live her life. She passed her responsibilities as a mother and housewife on to me when I was only 9 years old. I had adult responsibilities when my greatest worries should have been pop music, school and getting to the mall to be with my friends. She has never recognized what she stole from me nor apologized. I haven’t forgiven her and don’t intend to. Stealing someone’s childhood is an unforgivable crime.
I was diagnosed then my girls were 12 and 8. I could have done the same thing she did and dump my responsibilities onto my eldest daughter. After all, I was far sicker than my mother ever hoped to be. I had the ‘right’ to some rest, right?
Wrong! My kids had a right to a parent who cared about and for them. Not some whiney victim of no use to anybody.
I’m still plugging along. My kids are both grown women now and, hopefully, don’t think too badly of me. I know there were lots of things I didn’t do due to poor health but I tried to keep that to a minimum. No, we never played with that Easy-Bake oven but in later years we baked real cookies together.
I have my regrets, to be sure. I regret ever complaining about having to tuck my younger daughter in for the night upstairs when I was tired. I regret we never got around to making applesauce again before she moved away.
I should have listened to my older daughter sing more before she left home. I gave her lots of space as a teenager. Now, maybe, I think I got too far away.
But, you can’t live your life looking backward, especially when you’re fighting a life-threatening illness. You need to keep that focus forward, to getting better day-by-day, getting stronger.
On that note, I carried in 4 bags of groceries last night, including 5 lbs of potatoes and 3 lbs of onions! Progress!! :-D
Now, if I could only get some of my stamina back, I’d really have something!
And you have to keep remembering that you have no alternative. Victimhood, while it may seem easier in the short term, only causes more problems in the long term. If I don’t get up every morning and go to work, who’s going to make my house and car payments? The government? Hah! Not likely. There’s me and only me to look after me. There’s no giving up and giving in. Hard but true.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Blacks and Muslims
Well, for once, the young, black guys in a scene in TV aren’t the villains; they’re helping the victim of a stabbing, chasing off the bad guys and calling the cops. All too often, young, black men on television in cop shows are portrayed as the bad guys: murder, drugs, beating people up.
I get so tired of that. Not all black men are criminals. All too many of them are but maybe if they could be represented against type more often, other young men might see they have more of a choice about their lives.
I also get tired of the “big, bad Christian” meme in the whodunit shows. These villains are always particularly creepy. Why is that? How many Christians do you know that have committed murder? Most of them are fairly nice people, although some can be insufferable if you get trapped talking about religion, but that can be avoided.
When TV accurately portrays the adherents of Islam in all their barbarity, them they might have something!
But they’re too chicken for that!
Nah, peaceful Christians are the ones who get their symbols dipped in urine and smeared with dung. They won’t riot or issue death threats.
Cowards!
If these “arteests” really wanted to push the envelope, they’d do the same to Islamic symbols. That would be brave.
I get so tired of that. Not all black men are criminals. All too many of them are but maybe if they could be represented against type more often, other young men might see they have more of a choice about their lives.
I also get tired of the “big, bad Christian” meme in the whodunit shows. These villains are always particularly creepy. Why is that? How many Christians do you know that have committed murder? Most of them are fairly nice people, although some can be insufferable if you get trapped talking about religion, but that can be avoided.
When TV accurately portrays the adherents of Islam in all their barbarity, them they might have something!
But they’re too chicken for that!
Nah, peaceful Christians are the ones who get their symbols dipped in urine and smeared with dung. They won’t riot or issue death threats.
Cowards!
If these “arteests” really wanted to push the envelope, they’d do the same to Islamic symbols. That would be brave.
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