Saturday, February 03, 2007
It's definitely way past time to clean up around here. Last Monday night when I couldn't sleep I was off and on reading a novel in bed. I got interested in it, and at some point on Wednesday I carried it out of the bedroom to somewhere else in the house. Now I can't find it. I've looked everywhere.
I got absolutely no sleep Thursday night, either. This time my mind wasn't spinning, it was just too much iced coffee and a fear that I wouldn't wake up early enough on Friday morning to both wash my hair and ensure that the Aerio would start. So I was reading a book about urban legends in bed, and got interested in it. On Friday I took it with me to the service garage, in a canvas tote bag. I distinctly remember taking it out of the bag this morning, when I was on my way to meet Piper for lunch and needed my gloves. They were in the bag, too. Now I can't find the book.
The mess has reached a critical point, what the scientists call a tipping point.
-----------------------------------------------
So anyway, the book has all kinds of urban legends, with the author's analysis, and his research to track down the origins. Most of them, of course, either never happened, or are updated versions of ancient tales. One thing that bothers me about his method, however, is that if he can find the same or a very similar story turning up here and there all over the country or in other countries, then he concludes that it's just the same story circulating over and over and therefore not true, never happened, no matter how reasonable or possible it sounds.
Sorry, fella, but that doesn't make it not true. It still could have happened.
He says that there are stories about, say, a woman whose purse is stolen, and then a few days later the woman gets a call from the manager of the store where the purse was lifted, saying that the purse has been found, minus the money but with everything else still in it. (It IS true that purse snatchers will often quickly remove all cash and then throw the purse and contents into the nearest wastebasket.) The manager asks her if it would be convenient
for her to come and get it at such-and-such a time, and in the course of the conversation (will you need a sitter?) discovers whether or not children and husbands will be home at that time. The woman goes to the store, the store manager knows nothing about it, and she comes home to find her house has been burglarized. Of course, it was the purse snatcher, with her address and house key, who had called her.
The author of the book concludes that this has never actually happened, because the stories almost always have a town mentioned, and police in those towns always deny the story.
Well, that doesn't mean it never happened! In fact, thieves hearing the story are likely to try it.
I know they will, because it happened to me.
We were living in Germantown, Maryland, north of Washington, DC. One morning, my purse was stolen in the local grocery store. What's really weird is that I had a very bad feeling, a premonition, and I purposely put my purse in the shopping cart to prove to myself how silly I was being (I never do that!), but then I got nervous, so I buried it under frozen foods, but I was still nervous, and felt even sillier, so I turned my back on the cart for a full three seconds. When I turned around the purse was gone. I totally freaked - not because the purse was gone so much as because I had known it was going to happen. That's freaky. Anyway, police were called, all wastebaskets were checked, and all along the sides of the road up to the next intersections, and that was that.
Within an hour of returning home, I got a call from a guy at the department of energy, which was around the corner from the grocery store. He said he had been jogging at lunch and found the purse along the road. There was no money in it, but there were credit cards, a gold pocket watch, driver's license, checkbook. If I would come to the DOE and ask for him the next day, he'd bring it out for me.
Sociopaths, by the way, are very charming. He did charm me out of the information that my daughter was in school (so going to the DOE was not a problem) and that my husband worked days (in the context of where he worked, no, not DOE or near DOE). He kept emphasizing that "everything" was still in the purse, so it would not be necessary for me to cancel credit cards or anything like that. I told him I had already canceled them and had
notified my bank, and I wondered how he knew "everything" was there, if he didn't know what had started out there.
I went. Of course, the receptionist at DOE had never heard of the name I had been given. When I got home, my neighbor said we'd had a visitor come to the door.
Even though he had a key, he didn't get into the house, because when he was discovering whether there'd be anyone home, he never asked about dogs. We had a nice big Austrailian Kelpie with long teeth and a protective attitude. I had put her in the house when I went to the DOE, because the phone call had left me suspicious, and I hadn't yet been able to change the locks. Her furious barking had brought the neighbor to her door. She was able to describe him and his car, which matched the description of a stolen car.
A lot more happened with this guy, some really strange stuff, but I'll write that up sometime later. The main point right now is that just because police deny it, or somebody got the town wrong, doesn't mean a story didn't happen.
When the author of the urban legends book finds a true story that turns into an expanded UL, he admits that at least one version is true. I was amused to find that one of the most unbelievable happened right around here, in Poughkeepsie. There's even a transcript of the actual call to the police.
A man hit a deer on the road. He put it in the back seat of his car (why waste all that venison?), but the deer was only stunned and came to, rather upset. The guy pulled over near an enclosed telephone booth (this was obviously a very long time ago), where he made a very strange and profanity-filled call to the police.
When the deer had regained consciousness, it had thrashed around, and it bit him on the back of the neck. He pulled over, intending to let the deer out, but before he could get the back door open, a big dog came out of nowhere and bit him on the leg. The dog was very excited by the deer, and the guy kept saying "The f***ing deer bit me on the f***ing neck, and now the f***ing dog wants the f***ing deer! He won't let me near the f***ing car!" He was unable to tell the police where he was. The dog had him trapped in the phone booth, and at one point there's a disruption in the call, somehow the booth door got opened and the dog had bit the guy again, this time "on the f***ing a*s!!!" In the meantime the deer is tearing up the interior of the guy's car.
And that's the truth.
.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
1104 Got the Sheets!
Saturday February 03, 2007
The Aerio started just fine on Friday morning, and more importantly, on the drive to the dealer's the horrible grating sound in the wheel well, the cause of her having been parked for the past three months, was gone. She ran just fine. They looked her all over anyway, and found nothing wrong. The tech suggested that maybe a stone or something had gotten up in there, and finally got worn down enough to fall out. So I had a regular 5,000/20,000 mile service done. Three hours. No charge for diagnosis. Oil change free. $160 of other stuff done.
Then I went looking for sheets - two king flats and two queen flats, at least 360 thread count, to make envelope covers (duvets) for the featherbed and the comforter.
Every store had sets, but no packages of single sheets in 300 or higher thread count at a reasonable price. Three stores later I ended up in Marshalls, where they had no queens, but they did have king flats. I bought four 400 count king flats for a total (including tax) of $66. That's $33 plus a little time on the sewing machine per custom-fitted duvet. I think that was pretty durn good.
.
The Aerio started just fine on Friday morning, and more importantly, on the drive to the dealer's the horrible grating sound in the wheel well, the cause of her having been parked for the past three months, was gone. She ran just fine. They looked her all over anyway, and found nothing wrong. The tech suggested that maybe a stone or something had gotten up in there, and finally got worn down enough to fall out. So I had a regular 5,000/20,000 mile service done. Three hours. No charge for diagnosis. Oil change free. $160 of other stuff done.
Then I went looking for sheets - two king flats and two queen flats, at least 360 thread count, to make envelope covers (duvets) for the featherbed and the comforter.
Every store had sets, but no packages of single sheets in 300 or higher thread count at a reasonable price. Three stores later I ended up in Marshalls, where they had no queens, but they did have king flats. I bought four 400 count king flats for a total (including tax) of $66. That's $33 plus a little time on the sewing machine per custom-fitted duvet. I think that was pretty durn good.
.
Friday, February 02, 2007
1103 Tornado? Where?!
Friday, February 02, 2007
It's an even (non-blogging) day, so this will be quick.
I hadn't heard about the tornadoes in Florida until the evening news. I HATE it when they say stuff like "central Florida", or "several communities north of Orlando", as they did tonight in referring to where the tornado hit. My sister lives in "central Florida", in a "community north of Orlando". Why on earth can't they show us a map of the tornado's path? I had this same complaint last year with the hurricanes.
I spent an hour trying to find out online exactly where the damage was, but the only site that might have had a map took the browser down. I tried to call Sister, but "all circuits are busy" etc.
You know, if the evening news were more specific about where things happen, you wouldn't have a few million people all worrying needlessly and all calling at once to find out if their people are ok!
I finally found some more specific information - the tornado was 50 miles north-west of Orlando. Ok, now I know my sister is not in the damage area, and I don't have to contribute to jamming up phone lines that could be better used for emergencies.
Why the heck couldn't the evening news have been at LEAST that specific? Where my worrying about Sister is concerned, there's a big difference between "north of Orlando" (Ack!) and "50 miles north-west of Orlando" (Whew.)
-------------- Slightly later update ------------
Redcross.org has a page where if you are in a disaster area, you can put in your name and a short message like "I'm ok". So if you're worried, you can look your people up there.
Sure.
If they're dead, they won't be listed there for a long time, if ever.
If they're camping in the toolshed with no electricity, they can't list themselves.
If the disaster is 50 miles from where they are, it wouldn't occur to them to bother listing themselves.
The list seems pretty useless to me.
.
It's an even (non-blogging) day, so this will be quick.
I hadn't heard about the tornadoes in Florida until the evening news. I HATE it when they say stuff like "central Florida", or "several communities north of Orlando", as they did tonight in referring to where the tornado hit. My sister lives in "central Florida", in a "community north of Orlando". Why on earth can't they show us a map of the tornado's path? I had this same complaint last year with the hurricanes.
I spent an hour trying to find out online exactly where the damage was, but the only site that might have had a map took the browser down. I tried to call Sister, but "all circuits are busy" etc.
You know, if the evening news were more specific about where things happen, you wouldn't have a few million people all worrying needlessly and all calling at once to find out if their people are ok!
I finally found some more specific information - the tornado was 50 miles north-west of Orlando. Ok, now I know my sister is not in the damage area, and I don't have to contribute to jamming up phone lines that could be better used for emergencies.
Why the heck couldn't the evening news have been at LEAST that specific? Where my worrying about Sister is concerned, there's a big difference between "north of Orlando" (Ack!) and "50 miles north-west of Orlando" (Whew.)
-------------- Slightly later update ------------
Redcross.org has a page where if you are in a disaster area, you can put in your name and a short message like "I'm ok". So if you're worried, you can look your people up there.
Sure.
If they're dead, they won't be listed there for a long time, if ever.
If they're camping in the toolshed with no electricity, they can't list themselves.
If the disaster is 50 miles from where they are, it wouldn't occur to them to bother listing themselves.
The list seems pretty useless to me.
.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
1102 Salty People, River, Roads, Etc.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Scott Adams wrote in The Dilbert Blog about people who react passionately in blog comments to things he writes, his "favorite" being a particular person who "made it a personal mission to misunderstand me and then get very angry about his misunderstandings." (Oooo, I like that....)
Oh, my, yes. I've known a few of them. They are incapable of the "grain of salt", or of asking "what did you mean by...." They interpret everything literally, misunderstand statement or purpose, take everything personally, react in anger, pick things apart, and make personal attacks. They see insult and attack where there is none meant. Then they won't let it go, and return to snipe again and again, until they really are getting insults.
I've never understood why they get so angry. Really, who cares? Ask for clarification, or let it go. Walk away, you'll live longer.
I still remember one coworker who was like that. There was an email argument going on over some technical point, and it got way past the initial issue that still needed resolution. So I sent an email to all the parties, asking that we please drop the side issues and get back to the question. In my usual "Dear Folks" way, I started out with (and I remember this exactly), "Hey, c'mon guys, let's bring this back to ..." blah blah. "C'mon" as in "Hey, come on". Isn't that how you took it?
One guy forwarded my note to the entire world, up and down the management line, demanding a public apology from me for calling him and others in the discussion "common", as opposed to what I must see as my "self-defined exalted position". He went on for three screens about how by looking down on him as "common", I had insulted his intelligence, his job title, and those of everyone else on the distribution list. (By the way, none of those coworkers knew I was in Mensa.)
Some people laughed at him. Others snubbed and sneered at me. It still burns. It's the reason I mostly don't blog about topics that might generate controversy. There are still people out there like him, and I don't want to attract their attention, because there's no way to respond to them.
-------------------------------------------------
A quick trip to the store to buy two queen and two flat sheets ended up costing six hours, four 22-mile round trips, one of which was a $90 taxi ride, and produced no sheets. But it was an opportunity to examine the roads.
Environmental groups are all het up because the salt line is moving north up the Hudson River. The river is tidal. A certain amount of sea water comes upriver at high tide. At one time, I guess, salt reached only as far up as West Point. Now, the river is showing definite salt at Poughkeepsie and higher (I may have these levels wrong, but that doesn't really matter for this post) and the salt line is moving steadily north.
Some watchdogs are blaming the moving salt line on sea-going tankers and cargo ships. They claim that as the ships move up the river, they dump their seawater ballast, and take on the river's fresh water, which they then later sell to freshwater-starved sea islands. They are very indignant that the shipping companies are "stealing" and carelessly salting our water, and changing the character of the river.
There have been laws passed making it illegal for ships to dump seawater in the river. (There are several good reasons for this, like various beasties that could "escape" and upset the balance, but the main reason given was the salt.)
Baloney. I don't believe, even if every ship that came up the river was dumping, I don't believe they could dump enough to cause the jump in the salt line. There IS a current, you know.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the salt on the roads. Salt dumped on the roads will be washed away by melt and rains, and almost all surface water ends up eventually in the river. That's how it works.
So far this winter, in the vicinity of my home, we've had one ice storm, but it didn't affect the roads. There have been maybe two or three overnight snow showers which deposited a slight dusting (not enough to hide the grass) which remains in heavily shaded spots, but which was blown off the roads as it fell, by passing traffic.
And yet, the roads around here are so heavily salt covered that it actually, literally, looks like snow on the roads.
Howcum nobody sees a connection? How long before our wells go salty? The highway department would love to chop down every tree within 100 feet of every road, but they can't get away with that. Is this a conspiracy to slowly kill every tree bordering the roads? Is that why they've dumped a normal three-month quota of salt even though there's been no reason to do so?
Every year I get more paranoid about it.
.
Scott Adams wrote in The Dilbert Blog about people who react passionately in blog comments to things he writes, his "favorite" being a particular person who "made it a personal mission to misunderstand me and then get very angry about his misunderstandings." (Oooo, I like that....)
Oh, my, yes. I've known a few of them. They are incapable of the "grain of salt", or of asking "what did you mean by...." They interpret everything literally, misunderstand statement or purpose, take everything personally, react in anger, pick things apart, and make personal attacks. They see insult and attack where there is none meant. Then they won't let it go, and return to snipe again and again, until they really are getting insults.
I've never understood why they get so angry. Really, who cares? Ask for clarification, or let it go. Walk away, you'll live longer.
I still remember one coworker who was like that. There was an email argument going on over some technical point, and it got way past the initial issue that still needed resolution. So I sent an email to all the parties, asking that we please drop the side issues and get back to the question. In my usual "Dear Folks" way, I started out with (and I remember this exactly), "Hey, c'mon guys, let's bring this back to ..." blah blah. "C'mon" as in "Hey, come on". Isn't that how you took it?
One guy forwarded my note to the entire world, up and down the management line, demanding a public apology from me for calling him and others in the discussion "common", as opposed to what I must see as my "self-defined exalted position". He went on for three screens about how by looking down on him as "common", I had insulted his intelligence, his job title, and those of everyone else on the distribution list. (By the way, none of those coworkers knew I was in Mensa.)
Some people laughed at him. Others snubbed and sneered at me. It still burns. It's the reason I mostly don't blog about topics that might generate controversy. There are still people out there like him, and I don't want to attract their attention, because there's no way to respond to them.
-------------------------------------------------
A quick trip to the store to buy two queen and two flat sheets ended up costing six hours, four 22-mile round trips, one of which was a $90 taxi ride, and produced no sheets. But it was an opportunity to examine the roads.
Environmental groups are all het up because the salt line is moving north up the Hudson River. The river is tidal. A certain amount of sea water comes upriver at high tide. At one time, I guess, salt reached only as far up as West Point. Now, the river is showing definite salt at Poughkeepsie and higher (I may have these levels wrong, but that doesn't really matter for this post) and the salt line is moving steadily north.
Some watchdogs are blaming the moving salt line on sea-going tankers and cargo ships. They claim that as the ships move up the river, they dump their seawater ballast, and take on the river's fresh water, which they then later sell to freshwater-starved sea islands. They are very indignant that the shipping companies are "stealing" and carelessly salting our water, and changing the character of the river.
There have been laws passed making it illegal for ships to dump seawater in the river. (There are several good reasons for this, like various beasties that could "escape" and upset the balance, but the main reason given was the salt.)
Baloney. I don't believe, even if every ship that came up the river was dumping, I don't believe they could dump enough to cause the jump in the salt line. There IS a current, you know.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the salt on the roads. Salt dumped on the roads will be washed away by melt and rains, and almost all surface water ends up eventually in the river. That's how it works.
So far this winter, in the vicinity of my home, we've had one ice storm, but it didn't affect the roads. There have been maybe two or three overnight snow showers which deposited a slight dusting (not enough to hide the grass) which remains in heavily shaded spots, but which was blown off the roads as it fell, by passing traffic.
And yet, the roads around here are so heavily salt covered that it actually, literally, looks like snow on the roads.
Howcum nobody sees a connection? How long before our wells go salty? The highway department would love to chop down every tree within 100 feet of every road, but they can't get away with that. Is this a conspiracy to slowly kill every tree bordering the roads? Is that why they've dumped a normal three-month quota of salt even though there's been no reason to do so?
Every year I get more paranoid about it.
.
1101 Aerio Battery
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Today's task was to get the Aerio battery charged so I can take the car in for service tomorrow.
Last Saturday, when the Hairless Hunk was here to help me get the lug nuts off the van's flat, he asked me to start the Aerio and move it out a bit, so he could look in the wheel well, where the strange noise was coming from. It wouldn't start. R-er-er-er.
I couldn't simply jump start the Aerio, because I can't drive it to recharge it until on the way to service, and it would be too late to find out that a jump won't work on Friday morning. So today I went looking for Jay's old charger. I finally found it in the packed-solid totally disorganized garage. Of course, there were no instructions, and it looked pretty primitive. Mother was not happy.
I decided to go to the store where I'd forgotten the sweaters last night, and I'd stop at an automotive store and see if I could find a charger I could be more comfortable with. I ended up buying one that figures everything out itself. It will even determine if the battery has become "sulfated", such that it can't take a normal charge, and will "desulfate" it. Whatever that is.
So with the new charger, all I have to worry about is battery acid, exploding gases, and electrocution. It worries me that the booklet says to remove all metal from your body, including earrings, before hooking things up.
I located and dragged out several heavy-duty extension cords. The Aerio is parked on the lawn, quite a distance from any outlets. I got a nightlight and checked the porch outlet. It works.
I wished there were someone within screaming distance while I'm doing this.
I screwed up my courage and ... decided to try starting the Aerio first. After all, it's above freezing today, almost 20 degrees warmer than Saturday.
It started on the second try.
I moved it closer to the porch, and decided to try letting it run for a while, maybe it'll charge itself. (Durn those daytime running lights! I don't know how to turn them off, and they're drawing power.) I stuck my head out the door every so often to make sure it didn't rev too high, and every fifteen minutes I went out to check the temp and gas gauges. It sat there and purred quietly to itself for 90 minutes, with occasional louder fan purrs, when I figured that HAD to be enough. (The new charger has a tester, and can tell me the % charge, but I'm not going to mess with it if I don't have to.)
Now the van and the Aerio are snuggling nose to nose, so if the van has to do CPR before the Aerio's trip to the doctor tomorrow morning, it'll be easy.
.
Today's task was to get the Aerio battery charged so I can take the car in for service tomorrow.
Last Saturday, when the Hairless Hunk was here to help me get the lug nuts off the van's flat, he asked me to start the Aerio and move it out a bit, so he could look in the wheel well, where the strange noise was coming from. It wouldn't start. R-er-er-er.
I couldn't simply jump start the Aerio, because I can't drive it to recharge it until on the way to service, and it would be too late to find out that a jump won't work on Friday morning. So today I went looking for Jay's old charger. I finally found it in the packed-solid totally disorganized garage. Of course, there were no instructions, and it looked pretty primitive. Mother was not happy.
I decided to go to the store where I'd forgotten the sweaters last night, and I'd stop at an automotive store and see if I could find a charger I could be more comfortable with. I ended up buying one that figures everything out itself. It will even determine if the battery has become "sulfated", such that it can't take a normal charge, and will "desulfate" it. Whatever that is.
So with the new charger, all I have to worry about is battery acid, exploding gases, and electrocution. It worries me that the booklet says to remove all metal from your body, including earrings, before hooking things up.
I located and dragged out several heavy-duty extension cords. The Aerio is parked on the lawn, quite a distance from any outlets. I got a nightlight and checked the porch outlet. It works.
I wished there were someone within screaming distance while I'm doing this.
I screwed up my courage and ... decided to try starting the Aerio first. After all, it's above freezing today, almost 20 degrees warmer than Saturday.
It started on the second try.
I moved it closer to the porch, and decided to try letting it run for a while, maybe it'll charge itself. (Durn those daytime running lights! I don't know how to turn them off, and they're drawing power.) I stuck my head out the door every so often to make sure it didn't rev too high, and every fifteen minutes I went out to check the temp and gas gauges. It sat there and purred quietly to itself for 90 minutes, with occasional louder fan purrs, when I figured that HAD to be enough. (The new charger has a tester, and can tell me the % charge, but I'm not going to mess with it if I don't have to.)
Now the van and the Aerio are snuggling nose to nose, so if the van has to do CPR before the Aerio's trip to the doctor tomorrow morning, it'll be easy.
.
1100 Why Tell?
Thursday, February 1, 2007
A constant theme on the Maury show is paternity tests. Some of the stories I understand, some I don't. (No, I don't sit there avidly soaking up Maury stories. It's just noise in the background, what happens to come on when I'm too busy or too disinterested to change the channel.)
A common story is that a couple are in love and living together, maybe even married. They have an x-month/year-old child. The man is madly in love with the baby, absolute adoration. The baby loves its daddy. Everything was wonderful until three weeks ago, when the woman confessed to the man that back when they were temporarily separated for a few months, just before they had gotten back together, she had slept with another man, and the baby might or might not be his. The man usually declares that it doesn't matter to him, that this is his child no matter what.
Sometimes the paternity test goes one way, sometimes another, sometimes the relationship survives, sometimes it dies, whatever.
What I don't understand is why the woman said anything at all! Why didn't she just leave it alone? Telling this secret has the potential to disrupt a minimum of four lives. Not telling preserves a happy family. Ok, it's a secret, and keeping secrets can be hard, but some secrets are meant to be kept.
The show never asks why she told. For me, that's the most interesting part.
P.S. - Back in the 80s, before DNA paternity tests were common, I read somewhere that something like one in five babies is not fathered by the man whose name is on the birth certificate. I wonder if that number has been updated.
.
A constant theme on the Maury show is paternity tests. Some of the stories I understand, some I don't. (No, I don't sit there avidly soaking up Maury stories. It's just noise in the background, what happens to come on when I'm too busy or too disinterested to change the channel.)
A common story is that a couple are in love and living together, maybe even married. They have an x-month/year-old child. The man is madly in love with the baby, absolute adoration. The baby loves its daddy. Everything was wonderful until three weeks ago, when the woman confessed to the man that back when they were temporarily separated for a few months, just before they had gotten back together, she had slept with another man, and the baby might or might not be his. The man usually declares that it doesn't matter to him, that this is his child no matter what.
Sometimes the paternity test goes one way, sometimes another, sometimes the relationship survives, sometimes it dies, whatever.
What I don't understand is why the woman said anything at all! Why didn't she just leave it alone? Telling this secret has the potential to disrupt a minimum of four lives. Not telling preserves a happy family. Ok, it's a secret, and keeping secrets can be hard, but some secrets are meant to be kept.
The show never asks why she told. For me, that's the most interesting part.
P.S. - Back in the 80s, before DNA paternity tests were common, I read somewhere that something like one in five babies is not fathered by the man whose name is on the birth certificate. I wonder if that number has been updated.
.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
1099 Another Blown Day
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
"There's no sense beating a dead horse -- but if you've reached the point where you even seriously consider that abusing a dead animal might improve your lot in life, I say go ahead and give it a shot." --- (Anthony Myers)
----------------------------------------------
My "to do" list is so long that I get overwhelmed just looking at it, and end up doing nothing. On the theory that any single step forward, no matter how small a step, is still a step forward, I've decided to use a trick I used when I worked. At night, you make a small list for the next day, being careful to put only as many tasks on the list as can reasonably be accomplished. Many of the tasks might be things you have to do again and again (like laundry), but you have to be sure to include at least ONE "do it once and it's done forever" task every day.
I put five things on my list for today:
- Make appointment for Suzuki service
- Shop for mats and sheets
- Pay bills
- Take at least two boxes down to basement
- Mothproof and store red pepper rug.
That sounds manageable, doesn't it?
I started out at 1 pm, and I went to the Suzuki dealership to check on some things and to make an appointment for service on Friday. Item #1 accomplished.
Then I went to a shopping cluster to buy some mats to put around the cat's litter box so she won't track the litter so badly, then to a huge big-box store to buy the sheets to make the feather bed and comforter covers. I didn't get the sheets (they had single flats only in 200 count, bleck), but I impulsively bought a rather awkwardly large piece of office equipment. Item #2 not yet accomplished - no sheets.
When I went out to my minivan, I was missing my keys. Gone. I am absolutely certain I had them when I walked into the store. I lost them somewhere IN the store. I had recently switched purses, and the spares didn't get switched. They're home. Of course.
Back into the store, watching the ground the whole way. I went first to Customer Service (CS). No keys. Parked my purchase, still in the cart, and retraced my earlier wandering pattern through the store. No keys. Back to CS. No keys. Called a taxi.
Took the taxi home, used the secret key to get in the house, located the spare van key, and took the taxi back to the store to retrieve the van. It's exactly 22.0 miles round trip, store to home to store, and it cost me $90 (cash only) including tip. The only lucky part is that since I won't have an ATM card for 10 days, I had taken out a lot of cash on Monday.
Back into the store, to CS, nope, no keys yet. I figured that as long as I'm in the store, I'd buy a couple of those magnetic spare key boxes that you tuck under the chassis. On the way to the auto section, I saw some 3/4 sleeve sweaters on clearance. Picked up one. Went home.
I was home ten minutes when the store called and said my keys had been turned in. In the meantime, I had tried the sweater on, and I love it! I am hard to fit. I'm now into the smaller sizes, popular with teens, my bust is big and my arms are short. When I find something that looks good, I'll go back and buy more of the same, and especially when it's on closeout.
So, back to the van, back to the store to pick up my keys and see if they had more of the sweaters in my size. There was exactly ONE in my size in each of five colors. So I bought the five. Checkout. Pick up bag and go home. Open bag. Two sweaters in the bag. Five sweaters on the receipt. I must have missed a second bag.
Called the store. CS again. They recognised my voice. Snickers. If the sweaters were left, "they'd have been put in the returns cart to go back on the rack". "Oh, no! They were the only ones in my size! Please, can you rescue them and hold them for me?"
The lady found them, and they're holding them for me to pick up tomorrow.
Not only did I get only one of the five "to do"s done, but now I have to add a trip across the river to tomorrow's list.
A necessary item on tomorrow's list is to locate the battery charger, and charge up the dead Aerio, so I can get it in for service Friday. That's an absolute requirement. I don't know when I'll get to the other four things on today's list....
.
"There's no sense beating a dead horse -- but if you've reached the point where you even seriously consider that abusing a dead animal might improve your lot in life, I say go ahead and give it a shot." --- (Anthony Myers)
----------------------------------------------
My "to do" list is so long that I get overwhelmed just looking at it, and end up doing nothing. On the theory that any single step forward, no matter how small a step, is still a step forward, I've decided to use a trick I used when I worked. At night, you make a small list for the next day, being careful to put only as many tasks on the list as can reasonably be accomplished. Many of the tasks might be things you have to do again and again (like laundry), but you have to be sure to include at least ONE "do it once and it's done forever" task every day.
I put five things on my list for today:
- Make appointment for Suzuki service
- Shop for mats and sheets
- Pay bills
- Take at least two boxes down to basement
- Mothproof and store red pepper rug.
That sounds manageable, doesn't it?
I started out at 1 pm, and I went to the Suzuki dealership to check on some things and to make an appointment for service on Friday. Item #1 accomplished.
Then I went to a shopping cluster to buy some mats to put around the cat's litter box so she won't track the litter so badly, then to a huge big-box store to buy the sheets to make the feather bed and comforter covers. I didn't get the sheets (they had single flats only in 200 count, bleck), but I impulsively bought a rather awkwardly large piece of office equipment. Item #2 not yet accomplished - no sheets.
When I went out to my minivan, I was missing my keys. Gone. I am absolutely certain I had them when I walked into the store. I lost them somewhere IN the store. I had recently switched purses, and the spares didn't get switched. They're home. Of course.
Back into the store, watching the ground the whole way. I went first to Customer Service (CS). No keys. Parked my purchase, still in the cart, and retraced my earlier wandering pattern through the store. No keys. Back to CS. No keys. Called a taxi.
Took the taxi home, used the secret key to get in the house, located the spare van key, and took the taxi back to the store to retrieve the van. It's exactly 22.0 miles round trip, store to home to store, and it cost me $90 (cash only) including tip. The only lucky part is that since I won't have an ATM card for 10 days, I had taken out a lot of cash on Monday.
Back into the store, to CS, nope, no keys yet. I figured that as long as I'm in the store, I'd buy a couple of those magnetic spare key boxes that you tuck under the chassis. On the way to the auto section, I saw some 3/4 sleeve sweaters on clearance. Picked up one. Went home.
I was home ten minutes when the store called and said my keys had been turned in. In the meantime, I had tried the sweater on, and I love it! I am hard to fit. I'm now into the smaller sizes, popular with teens, my bust is big and my arms are short. When I find something that looks good, I'll go back and buy more of the same, and especially when it's on closeout.
So, back to the van, back to the store to pick up my keys and see if they had more of the sweaters in my size. There was exactly ONE in my size in each of five colors. So I bought the five. Checkout. Pick up bag and go home. Open bag. Two sweaters in the bag. Five sweaters on the receipt. I must have missed a second bag.
Called the store. CS again. They recognised my voice. Snickers. If the sweaters were left, "they'd have been put in the returns cart to go back on the rack". "Oh, no! They were the only ones in my size! Please, can you rescue them and hold them for me?"
The lady found them, and they're holding them for me to pick up tomorrow.
Not only did I get only one of the five "to do"s done, but now I have to add a trip across the river to tomorrow's list.
A necessary item on tomorrow's list is to locate the battery charger, and charge up the dead Aerio, so I can get it in for service Friday. That's an absolute requirement. I don't know when I'll get to the other four things on today's list....
.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
1098 No Sleep
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Laura Bush bought her husband a parrot for his birthday.
She told Dick Cheney, "The bird is so smart! George has already taught him to mis-pronounce over 200 words!"
"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Cheney said. "But you realize that he just says the words. He doesn't understand what they mean."
"That's okay," Laura replied "Neither does the parrot."
--------------------------------------
I broke a few rules today.
I called Daughter on my cell phone before the "free" period. She sounds a lot better, and we had a very good mother-daughter talk, venturing into areas we don't normally go into. She's planning to go to work tomorrow. I wish she'd take another day off. She says Hercules is coming down with something, now, too, so I extended the same offer that I'd made to her - if she needs me, I can come down for a few days to take care of the invalid. Appreciated, but refused.
I'm also blogging (horrors!) on an even numbered day.
I got no sleep last night. I slept well Sunday night, but after writing yesterday about my surprise and confusion, those thoughts consumed me last night. I worked some crossword puzzles, turned the light off, and then tossed and turned and thought. I turned the light back on, and read my book. That usually serves to narrow and slow down spinning thoughts so I can fall asleep. It didn't work. As soon as I turned the light out, I started thinking again. I think I slept only between 8 and 10 am, and even that was broken.
I think I figured it out.
I expected The Duchess to look a certain way. She didn't, but her appearance doesn't much matter. It's her personality that matters.
I expected her to be sweet and gentle and retiring, and I couldn't have been more wrong. From the very small taste I had, I think she's likely to be strong, demanding, critical, and exacting. In fact, I think she probably has a lot of characteristics in common with Roman's mother.
Roman, since childhood, desperately wanted his mother's approval, and found it very difficult to obtain. I think perhaps that in acting as escort, handyman (she has a limiting handicap), and housemaid to The Duchess, he is able to finally get the approval of a mother-substitute. For him, that's a deep need.
He knows she doesn't love him completely. He knows that there are aspects of him she doesn't like, can't accept. I heard some of that from her on Sunday. One of the times we broke up, he said that I was forcing him to look at things he didn't want to see, didn't want to think about.
When we first became intimate, he told me not to mother him, not to nag him. His divorce was just final, and I thought he was reacting to his ex-wife. But he and The Duchess had hit a major snag at that time, that's why he started up with me, and now I wonder if it was a reaction to her. When his mother was in the hospital, and he was caring for his father and having difficulty getting him dressed and out to appointments, I asked him how his mother got the man moving, and he said "She nags."
I asked him Sunday if he felt like an orphan, and he said no.
Probably because he has a mother-substitute, from whom he can obtain approval, even if she doesn't love him.
Who knows where it will go from here. Now that his real mother is gone, will he need the approval of the substitute even more? Or will he no longer need maternal approval at all?
It helps to feel like I understand, even if I don't really. Now I wish she appreciated him MORE for WHAT he is, WHO and HOW he is, instead of what he does for her. But if he continues to need approval from his mother, and he gets that from The Duchess, and it satisfies him (although I know he knows there's someting important missing in their relationship - he's said that several times), I think maybe I can accept, and maybe, eventually, even be happy for him.
.
Laura Bush bought her husband a parrot for his birthday.
She told Dick Cheney, "The bird is so smart! George has already taught him to mis-pronounce over 200 words!"
"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Cheney said. "But you realize that he just says the words. He doesn't understand what they mean."
"That's okay," Laura replied "Neither does the parrot."
--------------------------------------
I broke a few rules today.
I called Daughter on my cell phone before the "free" period. She sounds a lot better, and we had a very good mother-daughter talk, venturing into areas we don't normally go into. She's planning to go to work tomorrow. I wish she'd take another day off. She says Hercules is coming down with something, now, too, so I extended the same offer that I'd made to her - if she needs me, I can come down for a few days to take care of the invalid. Appreciated, but refused.
I'm also blogging (horrors!) on an even numbered day.
I got no sleep last night. I slept well Sunday night, but after writing yesterday about my surprise and confusion, those thoughts consumed me last night. I worked some crossword puzzles, turned the light off, and then tossed and turned and thought. I turned the light back on, and read my book. That usually serves to narrow and slow down spinning thoughts so I can fall asleep. It didn't work. As soon as I turned the light out, I started thinking again. I think I slept only between 8 and 10 am, and even that was broken.
I think I figured it out.
I expected The Duchess to look a certain way. She didn't, but her appearance doesn't much matter. It's her personality that matters.
I expected her to be sweet and gentle and retiring, and I couldn't have been more wrong. From the very small taste I had, I think she's likely to be strong, demanding, critical, and exacting. In fact, I think she probably has a lot of characteristics in common with Roman's mother.
Roman, since childhood, desperately wanted his mother's approval, and found it very difficult to obtain. I think perhaps that in acting as escort, handyman (she has a limiting handicap), and housemaid to The Duchess, he is able to finally get the approval of a mother-substitute. For him, that's a deep need.
He knows she doesn't love him completely. He knows that there are aspects of him she doesn't like, can't accept. I heard some of that from her on Sunday. One of the times we broke up, he said that I was forcing him to look at things he didn't want to see, didn't want to think about.
When we first became intimate, he told me not to mother him, not to nag him. His divorce was just final, and I thought he was reacting to his ex-wife. But he and The Duchess had hit a major snag at that time, that's why he started up with me, and now I wonder if it was a reaction to her. When his mother was in the hospital, and he was caring for his father and having difficulty getting him dressed and out to appointments, I asked him how his mother got the man moving, and he said "She nags."
I asked him Sunday if he felt like an orphan, and he said no.
Probably because he has a mother-substitute, from whom he can obtain approval, even if she doesn't love him.
Who knows where it will go from here. Now that his real mother is gone, will he need the approval of the substitute even more? Or will he no longer need maternal approval at all?
It helps to feel like I understand, even if I don't really. Now I wish she appreciated him MORE for WHAT he is, WHO and HOW he is, instead of what he does for her. But if he continues to need approval from his mother, and he gets that from The Duchess, and it satisfies him (although I know he knows there's someting important missing in their relationship - he's said that several times), I think maybe I can accept, and maybe, eventually, even be happy for him.
.
Monday, January 29, 2007
1097 Daughter Is Sick
Monday, January 29, 2007
Daughter has finally admitted she's sick. She stayed home from work today, and plans to stay home tomorrow. She saw the doctor and got another antibiotic (different from the one she got last week). Doctor thinks it's a sinus infection.
She said, "Mom, I'm so sick I didn't even take a shower today."
I have been very worried about her, because she seems to be constantly sick, not just now, but all the time - either coughing, or sore throat, or stuffed up. We're not talking just a few months here - it's more like the whole past year, and off and on for the previous several years. She coughs a lot, has been coughing forever it seems. She's physically active, and healthy in all her habits. I'm worried that there's something else wrong.
She was born with a hole in her heart, between the ventricles, which "closed on its own" within her first year. Coughing can sometimes be a sign of heart trouble - but, when she coughs, she has upper respiratory and/or throat symptoms too. So I don't know. Sometimes the coughing can roughen the tissues enough to allow an infection, so we don't really know which is the chicken and which the egg at this point.
I'm not allowed to push, so I can't do anything but wait and see.
.
Daughter has finally admitted she's sick. She stayed home from work today, and plans to stay home tomorrow. She saw the doctor and got another antibiotic (different from the one she got last week). Doctor thinks it's a sinus infection.
She said, "Mom, I'm so sick I didn't even take a shower today."
I have been very worried about her, because she seems to be constantly sick, not just now, but all the time - either coughing, or sore throat, or stuffed up. We're not talking just a few months here - it's more like the whole past year, and off and on for the previous several years. She coughs a lot, has been coughing forever it seems. She's physically active, and healthy in all her habits. I'm worried that there's something else wrong.
She was born with a hole in her heart, between the ventricles, which "closed on its own" within her first year. Coughing can sometimes be a sign of heart trouble - but, when she coughs, she has upper respiratory and/or throat symptoms too. So I don't know. Sometimes the coughing can roughen the tissues enough to allow an infection, so we don't really know which is the chicken and which the egg at this point.
I'm not allowed to push, so I can't do anything but wait and see.
.
1096 Surprised and Confused
Monday, January 29, 2007
Entry 1093 Sunday's Memorial talks about the nice and simple things from Sunday. I am vaguely dissatisfied because I left out the strange and confusing things. Roman confuses me. I never know what to think, how to take him.
I like to think of myself as a nice person, but I am having very nasty very negative thoughts now. I am not thinking nice things.
"She" was there. The other woman. Roman's "girlfriend". Hereinafter dubbed "The Duchess". I absolutely like her less now than before I met her, and that's bad. Very bad. Very distressing to me.
She is exactly what I was referring to when I had asked him if it would be at all awkward for me to be there, and I know he had to know that's what I meant, and he said no, no awkwardness, and he never warned me in subsequent conversations that she'd be there. I didn't specifically ask because I don't bring up the subject of her directly because it makes him defensive. The good part is that he apparently trusted me not to blow it. (Is there any chance he was hoping I'd blow it? I already know she's not sensitive or smart enough to figure out who I am.)
I had expected to like her. I was prepared to like her. I WANTED to like her. I NEED to understand what it is about her that so fascinates Roman. I still thought she was taking advantage of Roman, being unfair to him, which angers me, but I expected her to be a sweet, pretty, and charming person. She's not. I am confused by my own head.
I expected her to be tiny, with delicate features and a pixy haircut. Roman notices and has opinions on women's clothing, so I expected her to be nicely dressed. Boy, was I wrong. She's rather broad and coarse featured, with that late-50's housewife bubble hairdo and mis-matched clothing.
I have dubbed her "The Duchess" because it was obvious that she likes to be the center of attention. She holds court. If attention turns from her, she wrests it back. She even brought her own "courtiers".
One example, when Roman and his sister introduced the people around the room, he introduced me as a friend, a coworker from 15 years ago, and a fellow Mensan. Then he introduced her as a friend whom he had met in Literacy Volunteers a few years ago. That's as far as he went in defining their relationship front of this group. When people were offering glimpses, she spoke up and said that although she hadn't known Roman's parents long, only the past few years, "since I've been a part of [Roman]'s life...". Gasp! It was Roman's place to define their relationship to the group, not hers.
I purposely didn't listen in on any of her conversations, but she said several things that I couldn't help but hear, and those things served only to reinforce my opinion of why she hangs on to Roman. A woman with a male escort has quite different social opportunities from those of a woman alone. A woman living alone in a house finds a dependable handyman very convenient. One of the many things I overheard her say was "I love to see a man working around the house. To me, that's a man being a man." No, that's a man being a handyman. And I strongly suspect that he's also her housemaid.
I don't think she fully appreciates him. She complained about his driving, "I just close my eyes", when Roman is one of the best drivers I've ever had the pleasure of riding with. She also doesn't appreciate his sense of humor. I think she hangs on to him because he's a man, and she figures he's the best she can get, and better than nothing.
She left about 4:30, with her cohort of four or five friends (and it was made clear that they were her friends, which she had graciously shared with Roman, how nice of her). After that, Roman turned his exclusive attention to me. I don't know if he wanted to be with me then, or if he knew I knew no one else in the room and was just being a good host, but I also know that he rarely sees some of the cousins and so on who were there, and should have wanted to talk with them, so I don't know. We talked for another hour. One of the things he said was that his inheritance would be significant, and he intends to quit his day job, which he doesn't enjoy because it's stressful and frustrating. He'll finally partially retire, keeping only the computer classes he teaches in the evenings.
I know he has wanted to retire for a long time. If The Duchess would allow him to move in with her, he could have retired long ago. But he says she wants to "preserve her independence". That's why she allows him there only over weekends. Well, part of my definition of love is that you want to help the other person to achieve their desires. Sometimes you have to give up something of yours to to so. That's where compromise comes in. I don't see why they couldn't live together, and still set some ground rules that would allow her a large measure of independence. I thought love longs for union.
I am very concerned that although she won't give up her independence for him, for his needs, now that he's inheriting a chunk, she'll be more than happy to give it up for financial security. That scares me, for him.
I hope he's not such a fool. But ... sigh.
He dropped his daughter at the airport for a Sunday midnight flight, and called me from the road on his way home (I had asked him to). One of the things he said then was that when the estate is settled, he wants to buy a co-op or a small house. So I assume he's not thinking she'll let him in any time soon.
I like him, and I wanted to like her, so that I could be happy for his being with her. I wanted to be happy for him. Now I'm even more angry with her. I am even more convinced that she doesn't love or even fully appreciate him, that she's just using him for her own convenience.
Daughter says I have to look at it philosophically. My belief is that we are here in this pass through life to learn lessons, and many of our most important connections exist as connections to teach us those lessons, and perhaps The Duchess exists to teach Roman something important to the development of his soul, and that I should love her for that.
I'm trying. So far it isn't working.
.
Entry 1093 Sunday's Memorial talks about the nice and simple things from Sunday. I am vaguely dissatisfied because I left out the strange and confusing things. Roman confuses me. I never know what to think, how to take him.
I like to think of myself as a nice person, but I am having very nasty very negative thoughts now. I am not thinking nice things.
"She" was there. The other woman. Roman's "girlfriend". Hereinafter dubbed "The Duchess". I absolutely like her less now than before I met her, and that's bad. Very bad. Very distressing to me.
She is exactly what I was referring to when I had asked him if it would be at all awkward for me to be there, and I know he had to know that's what I meant, and he said no, no awkwardness, and he never warned me in subsequent conversations that she'd be there. I didn't specifically ask because I don't bring up the subject of her directly because it makes him defensive. The good part is that he apparently trusted me not to blow it. (Is there any chance he was hoping I'd blow it? I already know she's not sensitive or smart enough to figure out who I am.)
I had expected to like her. I was prepared to like her. I WANTED to like her. I NEED to understand what it is about her that so fascinates Roman. I still thought she was taking advantage of Roman, being unfair to him, which angers me, but I expected her to be a sweet, pretty, and charming person. She's not. I am confused by my own head.
I expected her to be tiny, with delicate features and a pixy haircut. Roman notices and has opinions on women's clothing, so I expected her to be nicely dressed. Boy, was I wrong. She's rather broad and coarse featured, with that late-50's housewife bubble hairdo and mis-matched clothing.
I have dubbed her "The Duchess" because it was obvious that she likes to be the center of attention. She holds court. If attention turns from her, she wrests it back. She even brought her own "courtiers".
One example, when Roman and his sister introduced the people around the room, he introduced me as a friend, a coworker from 15 years ago, and a fellow Mensan. Then he introduced her as a friend whom he had met in Literacy Volunteers a few years ago. That's as far as he went in defining their relationship front of this group. When people were offering glimpses, she spoke up and said that although she hadn't known Roman's parents long, only the past few years, "since I've been a part of [Roman]'s life...". Gasp! It was Roman's place to define their relationship to the group, not hers.
I purposely didn't listen in on any of her conversations, but she said several things that I couldn't help but hear, and those things served only to reinforce my opinion of why she hangs on to Roman. A woman with a male escort has quite different social opportunities from those of a woman alone. A woman living alone in a house finds a dependable handyman very convenient. One of the many things I overheard her say was "I love to see a man working around the house. To me, that's a man being a man." No, that's a man being a handyman. And I strongly suspect that he's also her housemaid.
I don't think she fully appreciates him. She complained about his driving, "I just close my eyes", when Roman is one of the best drivers I've ever had the pleasure of riding with. She also doesn't appreciate his sense of humor. I think she hangs on to him because he's a man, and she figures he's the best she can get, and better than nothing.
She left about 4:30, with her cohort of four or five friends (and it was made clear that they were her friends, which she had graciously shared with Roman, how nice of her). After that, Roman turned his exclusive attention to me. I don't know if he wanted to be with me then, or if he knew I knew no one else in the room and was just being a good host, but I also know that he rarely sees some of the cousins and so on who were there, and should have wanted to talk with them, so I don't know. We talked for another hour. One of the things he said was that his inheritance would be significant, and he intends to quit his day job, which he doesn't enjoy because it's stressful and frustrating. He'll finally partially retire, keeping only the computer classes he teaches in the evenings.
I know he has wanted to retire for a long time. If The Duchess would allow him to move in with her, he could have retired long ago. But he says she wants to "preserve her independence". That's why she allows him there only over weekends. Well, part of my definition of love is that you want to help the other person to achieve their desires. Sometimes you have to give up something of yours to to so. That's where compromise comes in. I don't see why they couldn't live together, and still set some ground rules that would allow her a large measure of independence. I thought love longs for union.
I am very concerned that although she won't give up her independence for him, for his needs, now that he's inheriting a chunk, she'll be more than happy to give it up for financial security. That scares me, for him.
I hope he's not such a fool. But ... sigh.
He dropped his daughter at the airport for a Sunday midnight flight, and called me from the road on his way home (I had asked him to). One of the things he said then was that when the estate is settled, he wants to buy a co-op or a small house. So I assume he's not thinking she'll let him in any time soon.
I like him, and I wanted to like her, so that I could be happy for his being with her. I wanted to be happy for him. Now I'm even more angry with her. I am even more convinced that she doesn't love or even fully appreciate him, that she's just using him for her own convenience.
Daughter says I have to look at it philosophically. My belief is that we are here in this pass through life to learn lessons, and many of our most important connections exist as connections to teach us those lessons, and perhaps The Duchess exists to teach Roman something important to the development of his soul, and that I should love her for that.
I'm trying. So far it isn't working.
.
1095 Strange Search
Monday, January 29, 2007
With SiteMeter I can see when people find this journal through searches, and the search argument. It's very odd, but several times a week (it runs in bursts), someone gets here by searching on men sex and horses (yeah, they usually include the "and", the idiots).
Why? What are they looking for? No, never mind. I really don't want to think about why.
That search gets them to entry 890 Of Horses and Men, wherein I talk about my love of equestrian events, and separately about internet dating observations.
I doubt that's what they're looking for.
.
With SiteMeter I can see when people find this journal through searches, and the search argument. It's very odd, but several times a week (it runs in bursts), someone gets here by searching on men sex and horses (yeah, they usually include the "and", the idiots).
Why? What are they looking for? No, never mind. I really don't want to think about why.
That search gets them to entry 890 Of Horses and Men, wherein I talk about my love of equestrian events, and separately about internet dating observations.
I doubt that's what they're looking for.
.
1094 Concoction Catastrophes
Monday, January 29, 2007
I mentioned in the previous entry that I can ruin any recipe. Some time ago I talked about using Daughter's delicious recipe for basil tomato salad, and my version gave everybody at a hafla horrible gas. Jay's sister makes a wonderful fruit desert, with sliced bananas, cubed apple (and optional other things like raisins), with a dressing made of 1/3 cool whip, 1/3 mayonnaise, and 1/3 peanut butter. When she makes it, it's creamy. Two out of three times I attempt it, the oils separate and it's awful. And yes, I did check, she does not use oil-free stuff. Mine will separate even if I use oil-free mayo and homogenized peanut butter.
Seriously, I can mess anything up, especially if I try really hard to follow directions precisely. If I ever get a recipe from you, you really don't want me giving you credit.
.
I mentioned in the previous entry that I can ruin any recipe. Some time ago I talked about using Daughter's delicious recipe for basil tomato salad, and my version gave everybody at a hafla horrible gas. Jay's sister makes a wonderful fruit desert, with sliced bananas, cubed apple (and optional other things like raisins), with a dressing made of 1/3 cool whip, 1/3 mayonnaise, and 1/3 peanut butter. When she makes it, it's creamy. Two out of three times I attempt it, the oils separate and it's awful. And yes, I did check, she does not use oil-free stuff. Mine will separate even if I use oil-free mayo and homogenized peanut butter.
Seriously, I can mess anything up, especially if I try really hard to follow directions precisely. If I ever get a recipe from you, you really don't want me giving you credit.
.
1093 Sunday's Memorial
Monday, January 29, 2007
I had a terrible time getting on the road to Long Island yesterday, more about that later, but I'm glad I went. Roman's directions were clear and easy, and it took about 2 hours and 15 minutes, in heavy but fast-moving traffic. (Too fast, in fact. I don't normally exceed the speed limit, but in dense traffic I'll move to the right and travel at the same speed as everyone around me. Yesterday that meant 65 to 70 in 55 mph areas. I really don't like that, but "they" tell me it's actually safer than obstinately holding to 55.)
There were quite a few people there, including Roman's cousins, his sister and his daughter, nieces and nephews, and family friends. They seemed like a nice bunch. After some socializing and munchies, Roman's nephew led a prayer and group reading. Then Roman and his sister introduced everyone, and then people talked about Roman's parents, their memories of them. It was very nice. I'd never met them, but I got a good sense of them, putting together what Roman has told me and what was said yesterday. There was more socializing and desserts - one of them the most delicious chocolate mocha cakes I'd ever tasted.
I had taken the fruit salad, and got several compliments on it - it disappeared faster than anything else on the table. Which I mention only because I am a disaster in the kitchen, especially when I make anything to share. I can ruin the simplest concoction.
I left about 5:30, and except for one easily rectified missed turn, made it home without incident.
------------------------------------------
The trouble getting on the road:
We already know about the flat tire that consumed Saturday. When I went to the grocery store to buy the fruit (and a bunch of other stuff) Saturday evening, I found that they no longer took checks with a driver's license. They now require their own id card, and they wouldn't take a credit card either, without their id card. So I was forced to use cash, which left me with only $14 in my purse. No problem, I can go to the ATM in the morning, right?
So Sunday morning I head out, and notice that I need gas. No problem. Get money, get gas, right?
I knew I was in trouble when the ATM couldn't read my card. Multiple tries.
I tried the VISA from the same bank, hoping that it had the same PIN as the ATM card and I could get cash, but no go. I then went to a different bank in the village, hoping that the problem was with the reader at the first ATM, but the second machine wouldn't read it either. Went to the gas station, paid for gas with the VISA, and unsuccessfully attempted their ATM, too, with no luck.
Now, this is the gas station with Tall Dark and Handsome #1 and 2, with whom I have been mildly flirting for years. They see me several times a week, they're my main iced tea source. On several occasions I'd stupidly been caught short, and they have cheerfully allowed me to leave with my purchases and pay later. TD&H #2 was on duty, and I asked if he'd cash a check for me, and I got a curt "No, we don't cash checks." So I asked if I could get cash on the VISA, and got "No, we don't do that." To put it mildly, I was stunned.
I headed down the river with $14 in my purse, and a fervent hope that my EZ-Pass would continue to work on the bridges. I was beginning to get the feeling something didn't want me to go, or, more likely, was testing my resolve to go.
Today, Monday, I went to the bank to have the ATM card checked out. Over the years it has occasionally needed to be rewritten. This time, the cashier said that the strip is badly worn (it's many years old), and I'd need a new card. Seven to ten days. Ouch!
.
I had a terrible time getting on the road to Long Island yesterday, more about that later, but I'm glad I went. Roman's directions were clear and easy, and it took about 2 hours and 15 minutes, in heavy but fast-moving traffic. (Too fast, in fact. I don't normally exceed the speed limit, but in dense traffic I'll move to the right and travel at the same speed as everyone around me. Yesterday that meant 65 to 70 in 55 mph areas. I really don't like that, but "they" tell me it's actually safer than obstinately holding to 55.)
There were quite a few people there, including Roman's cousins, his sister and his daughter, nieces and nephews, and family friends. They seemed like a nice bunch. After some socializing and munchies, Roman's nephew led a prayer and group reading. Then Roman and his sister introduced everyone, and then people talked about Roman's parents, their memories of them. It was very nice. I'd never met them, but I got a good sense of them, putting together what Roman has told me and what was said yesterday. There was more socializing and desserts - one of them the most delicious chocolate mocha cakes I'd ever tasted.
I had taken the fruit salad, and got several compliments on it - it disappeared faster than anything else on the table. Which I mention only because I am a disaster in the kitchen, especially when I make anything to share. I can ruin the simplest concoction.
I left about 5:30, and except for one easily rectified missed turn, made it home without incident.
------------------------------------------
The trouble getting on the road:
We already know about the flat tire that consumed Saturday. When I went to the grocery store to buy the fruit (and a bunch of other stuff) Saturday evening, I found that they no longer took checks with a driver's license. They now require their own id card, and they wouldn't take a credit card either, without their id card. So I was forced to use cash, which left me with only $14 in my purse. No problem, I can go to the ATM in the morning, right?
So Sunday morning I head out, and notice that I need gas. No problem. Get money, get gas, right?
I knew I was in trouble when the ATM couldn't read my card. Multiple tries.
I tried the VISA from the same bank, hoping that it had the same PIN as the ATM card and I could get cash, but no go. I then went to a different bank in the village, hoping that the problem was with the reader at the first ATM, but the second machine wouldn't read it either. Went to the gas station, paid for gas with the VISA, and unsuccessfully attempted their ATM, too, with no luck.
Now, this is the gas station with Tall Dark and Handsome #1 and 2, with whom I have been mildly flirting for years. They see me several times a week, they're my main iced tea source. On several occasions I'd stupidly been caught short, and they have cheerfully allowed me to leave with my purchases and pay later. TD&H #2 was on duty, and I asked if he'd cash a check for me, and I got a curt "No, we don't cash checks." So I asked if I could get cash on the VISA, and got "No, we don't do that." To put it mildly, I was stunned.
I headed down the river with $14 in my purse, and a fervent hope that my EZ-Pass would continue to work on the bridges. I was beginning to get the feeling something didn't want me to go, or, more likely, was testing my resolve to go.
Today, Monday, I went to the bank to have the ATM card checked out. Over the years it has occasionally needed to be rewritten. This time, the cashier said that the strip is badly worn (it's many years old), and I'd need a new card. Seven to ten days. Ouch!
.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
1092 Demonstration
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The anit-war demonstrations were on the 11 o'clock news tonight. FirstWoman is at the one in Washington. She left on a group bus from Beacon at some indecently early hour this morning. She's dead serious, but I have no doubt that she's having a good time, too.
.
The anit-war demonstrations were on the 11 o'clock news tonight. FirstWoman is at the one in Washington. She left on a group bus from Beacon at some indecently early hour this morning. She's dead serious, but I have no doubt that she's having a good time, too.
.
1091 Foods and Stuff
Saturday, January 27, 2007
I'm going to take a fruit salad to LI tomorrow. I bought bananas, apples, dates, blueberries, strawberries, kiwis, grapes, and fresh apricots, and I'll cut them up tonight. I'm on a fruit kick lately, don't know why. I've also got oranges and figs in the refrigerator from Thursday's fruit run, and I've been nibbling constantly.
Shopping today for the fruit, I also bought freeze dried vegetable chips, and the container has freeze dried string beans in there, too. I love them! I wish the whole lot was green beans and peas. I don't like cooked peas, but I love freeze dried peas (plain, not the hot Japanese type). I looked around a little online, and I can buy peas and beans, but the people selling them seem to think you should soak and cook them, so I'm afraid they're actually the hard leathery air dried type. And they're too expensive to buy an experimental batch.
----------------------------------
A question. I am under the impression that if you can pass the state bar exam, you can practice law, without having gone to law school. Law school is not a requirement. True or false?
----------------------------------
My favorite belly dance instructor has started teaching again. I need the scheduled controlled exercise and the stretching (for back problems, belly dance with an instructor who knows the rules is the absolute best back strengthening exercise), but I have a feeling that she's going to be working the class a lot harder, and expecting more of them, and I'm just not willing to work that hard any more. (Squats??!! Are you kidding me?) It's long been a just sort of playing at it thing for me.
Sigh.
-----------------------------------
I had to paint my keyboard with a permanent marker again. I keep saying this PC is ancient. It's so old that the letters have rubbed off many of the keys, and I have to draw them on again every few months. The wear pattern is sort of odd. It started with the E, R, and T keys. This morning I had to renew the W, E, R, T, Y, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, and X! The span from E to H were totally blank, the others were faint. Seems to be the left side that wears faster.
I don't touch type. I hunt and peck with two index fingers (right thumb for spaces). I realized last night that it was time to paint the keys again when I had to enter a password, and I wasn't sure where the E, R, F, T and G keys were, and I couldn't tell by looking at the screen if I'd got it right because everything was ********.
.
I'm going to take a fruit salad to LI tomorrow. I bought bananas, apples, dates, blueberries, strawberries, kiwis, grapes, and fresh apricots, and I'll cut them up tonight. I'm on a fruit kick lately, don't know why. I've also got oranges and figs in the refrigerator from Thursday's fruit run, and I've been nibbling constantly.
Shopping today for the fruit, I also bought freeze dried vegetable chips, and the container has freeze dried string beans in there, too. I love them! I wish the whole lot was green beans and peas. I don't like cooked peas, but I love freeze dried peas (plain, not the hot Japanese type). I looked around a little online, and I can buy peas and beans, but the people selling them seem to think you should soak and cook them, so I'm afraid they're actually the hard leathery air dried type. And they're too expensive to buy an experimental batch.
----------------------------------
A question. I am under the impression that if you can pass the state bar exam, you can practice law, without having gone to law school. Law school is not a requirement. True or false?
----------------------------------
My favorite belly dance instructor has started teaching again. I need the scheduled controlled exercise and the stretching (for back problems, belly dance with an instructor who knows the rules is the absolute best back strengthening exercise), but I have a feeling that she's going to be working the class a lot harder, and expecting more of them, and I'm just not willing to work that hard any more. (Squats??!! Are you kidding me?) It's long been a just sort of playing at it thing for me.
Sigh.
-----------------------------------
I had to paint my keyboard with a permanent marker again. I keep saying this PC is ancient. It's so old that the letters have rubbed off many of the keys, and I have to draw them on again every few months. The wear pattern is sort of odd. It started with the E, R, and T keys. This morning I had to renew the W, E, R, T, Y, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, and X! The span from E to H were totally blank, the others were faint. Seems to be the left side that wears faster.
I don't touch type. I hunt and peck with two index fingers (right thumb for spaces). I realized last night that it was time to paint the keys again when I had to enter a password, and I wasn't sure where the E, R, F, T and G keys were, and I couldn't tell by looking at the screen if I'd got it right because everything was ********.
.
1090 Tire Frustration
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Hairless Hunk was going to be here between noon and 1:30. It's now 1:34 and I haven't heard from him. I have absolutely no right to complain, of course, it's a favor, but that doesn't lessen the frustration.
I went out at 11 am hoping I could change the tire myself. I chocked the tires, set the brake, got out the spare and the jack, located the little pin under the frame that the jack is supposed to lock on, set the jack, removed the wheel cover, put the wrench thingy ****Oops - he just arrived! To be continued later.****
Later. It's now 5:30 pm. To continue:
... put the wrench thingy (tire iron?) on a nut, and that's where I was stymied. I can change a tire just fine. What I can't do is loosen the stupid nuts! At one point I was standing with both feet on the iron, holding on to the side mirror and the antenna base, and jumping up and down. Nothing. I got a piece of wood and a hammer and pounded on the end of the iron. Nothing. If I'd been able to find the sledgehammer, we'd have had some fun! I gave up and waited for Hunk.
He came and loosened the nuts, and the rest was quick.
I took the wounded tire to Mavis, and they patched it under the warranty, and just for fun I had them rotate the tires - it's about time anyway.
So now I'm all set, all tires with air in them, the patched tire moved to the rear, and a good spare.
I asked the guy at Mavis to please not tighten the nuts so much, but he says they have to tighten them to specs. I said but that means I can't change a tire myself, and one of the other customers told me to get a big 4-prong iron, and a long piece of pipe that will fit over the end. That'll give me more leverage. Yeah! I'd heard that before, but forgot. Fer shur, will buy one set for each car, next trip across the river!
Hunk said he would have come over to help last night, when I called, but he thought I had the Aerio backup, so there was no rush. He didn't know the Aerio is sidelined with a mysterious wheel well ailment. That will get fixed soon now, I think. I got a service reminder from the Suzuki dealership, and it says they do have pick up and drop off service if you don't have a ride. I hope 14 miles and across the river isn't beyond their range.
.
Hairless Hunk was going to be here between noon and 1:30. It's now 1:34 and I haven't heard from him. I have absolutely no right to complain, of course, it's a favor, but that doesn't lessen the frustration.
I went out at 11 am hoping I could change the tire myself. I chocked the tires, set the brake, got out the spare and the jack, located the little pin under the frame that the jack is supposed to lock on, set the jack, removed the wheel cover, put the wrench thingy ****Oops - he just arrived! To be continued later.****
Later. It's now 5:30 pm. To continue:
... put the wrench thingy (tire iron?) on a nut, and that's where I was stymied. I can change a tire just fine. What I can't do is loosen the stupid nuts! At one point I was standing with both feet on the iron, holding on to the side mirror and the antenna base, and jumping up and down. Nothing. I got a piece of wood and a hammer and pounded on the end of the iron. Nothing. If I'd been able to find the sledgehammer, we'd have had some fun! I gave up and waited for Hunk.
He came and loosened the nuts, and the rest was quick.
I took the wounded tire to Mavis, and they patched it under the warranty, and just for fun I had them rotate the tires - it's about time anyway.
So now I'm all set, all tires with air in them, the patched tire moved to the rear, and a good spare.
I asked the guy at Mavis to please not tighten the nuts so much, but he says they have to tighten them to specs. I said but that means I can't change a tire myself, and one of the other customers told me to get a big 4-prong iron, and a long piece of pipe that will fit over the end. That'll give me more leverage. Yeah! I'd heard that before, but forgot. Fer shur, will buy one set for each car, next trip across the river!
Hunk said he would have come over to help last night, when I called, but he thought I had the Aerio backup, so there was no rush. He didn't know the Aerio is sidelined with a mysterious wheel well ailment. That will get fixed soon now, I think. I got a service reminder from the Suzuki dealership, and it says they do have pick up and drop off service if you don't have a ride. I hope 14 miles and across the river isn't beyond their range.
.
1089 May You Live in Interesting Times
Saturday, January 27, 2007 (just after midnight)
I'm really trying to stay off the computer on even-numbered days except for checking email and doing research. So I've been sitting here waiting for midnight so I can blog. I wonder if they have a patch for this....
I heard from Piper this morning. He's back from Las Vegas, and has good news about his mother. Tuesday's procedure showed no blockages, so they moved up the pacemaker surgery scheduled for next week and did that on Tuesday. She's home now and doing well.
After that phone call, Friday went to hell.
It's a good thing I cancelled the Florida trip. Otherwise I'd have been running out of the house at 10 am Friday with just enough time to get to the airport, and THEN I'd have found the flat tire. As it was, I discovered it at 5 pm, just late enough to make it too cold to attempt changing it myself, and too late to call a garage (I don't know who I'd have called, anyway).
I replaced all four tires on the minivan last January. Last April, I had an unrepairable puncture in one of the new ones, and had to buy a fifth new tire. Today is my third flat in a year. Something's wrong. Reminds me of the first six months Jay and I were married. I had something like five flats, Jay had three. I was convinced that his ex-wife was drive-by throwing screws at the end of the driveway.
So, I called the Hairless Hunk, and he's going to come by tomorrow (Saturday. Later today? It doesn't feel like tomorrow until I sleep) between noon and 1 pm, and help me with it. I'm going to try to get out there and see if I can do it myself before he arrives. I can change the tire if I can get it off. It's getting it off that's the hard part. If I can't get it repaired or replaced sometime tomorrow, I'm going to end up driving to Long Island on Sunday without a spare. What fun.
Then I did some laundry, and the shutoff valve on the washer is still iffy, and I wasn't paying attention, didn't get out there to turn off the water, and didn't notice that it was overflowing until the water rounded the corner from the laundry room and a soapy wave crossed the kitchen floor.
Sigh.
-------------------------------------------
Heard in passing on the TV: Little kid wants to be "a vegetarian" when she grows up. "A vegetarian?" "Yeah. Vegetarians take care of sick dogs."
-------------------------------------------
South Park is on right now. Locally, we have a Hyde Park, an East Park, a North Park, and a West Park. I wonder why there's no South Park?
.
I'm really trying to stay off the computer on even-numbered days except for checking email and doing research. So I've been sitting here waiting for midnight so I can blog. I wonder if they have a patch for this....
I heard from Piper this morning. He's back from Las Vegas, and has good news about his mother. Tuesday's procedure showed no blockages, so they moved up the pacemaker surgery scheduled for next week and did that on Tuesday. She's home now and doing well.
After that phone call, Friday went to hell.
It's a good thing I cancelled the Florida trip. Otherwise I'd have been running out of the house at 10 am Friday with just enough time to get to the airport, and THEN I'd have found the flat tire. As it was, I discovered it at 5 pm, just late enough to make it too cold to attempt changing it myself, and too late to call a garage (I don't know who I'd have called, anyway).
I replaced all four tires on the minivan last January. Last April, I had an unrepairable puncture in one of the new ones, and had to buy a fifth new tire. Today is my third flat in a year. Something's wrong. Reminds me of the first six months Jay and I were married. I had something like five flats, Jay had three. I was convinced that his ex-wife was drive-by throwing screws at the end of the driveway.
So, I called the Hairless Hunk, and he's going to come by tomorrow (Saturday. Later today? It doesn't feel like tomorrow until I sleep) between noon and 1 pm, and help me with it. I'm going to try to get out there and see if I can do it myself before he arrives. I can change the tire if I can get it off. It's getting it off that's the hard part. If I can't get it repaired or replaced sometime tomorrow, I'm going to end up driving to Long Island on Sunday without a spare. What fun.
Then I did some laundry, and the shutoff valve on the washer is still iffy, and I wasn't paying attention, didn't get out there to turn off the water, and didn't notice that it was overflowing until the water rounded the corner from the laundry room and a soapy wave crossed the kitchen floor.
Sigh.
-------------------------------------------
Heard in passing on the TV: Little kid wants to be "a vegetarian" when she grows up. "A vegetarian?" "Yeah. Vegetarians take care of sick dogs."
-------------------------------------------
South Park is on right now. Locally, we have a Hyde Park, an East Park, a North Park, and a West Park. I wonder why there's no South Park?
.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
1087 Mouse & Stuff
Thursday, January 25, 2007
I've got another dead mouse. They're usually in the wall near the refrigerator. You can smell them for a few days, then they finish drying up, I guess, and the smell goes away. This one seems to be in the heat duct near the master bath. When the furnace blows, it blows the smell right into my bedroom. I don't know if I can outlast this one. Even after the smell's gone, I'm not sure I like the idea of powdered dead mouse blowing across my bed. I guess I'm going to have to rig some kind of flexible extender for the vacuum cleaner.
-----------------------------------
Between the garage and the kitchen there's a laundry room. The garage door is half glass, and the dog-flap is on a side wall. I've hung a curtain in the doorway so it would block the ugly view of the garage and pantry shelves, but still let the animals through.
The lower corner of that curtain is standing out about three inches, blown out by a strong very cold breeze.
I immediately suspected the garage door. I ran a lighter all around it, and the flame stayed upright. Then I ran the lighter around the dog-flap (which has been sealed off with plastic and tape), and again, no draft. Around the window. Nothing.
Just to be sure, I replaced the plastic over the dog-flap with bubble wrap, taped all around.
There's still a lot of cold air blowing under the curtain. A lot. More air, and colder, than just rolling off the window glass and door surface.
I don't understand. Where's all that cold air coming from? The clothes dryer vent duct goes into the basement, then outside through the wall. I guess I should check the outside flap on the vent, anyway, to make sure it's not stuck open, but I didn't feel any cold air around the dryer. (Last time it got stuck open a chipmunk was storing seeds in there, and you could tell because the inside of the dryer got very cold.)
--------------------------------------
The new local Mensa governing board has taken office. I read on the website that there were still a few vacancies, Ombudsman for one. I immediately thought, "I can do that." I'd been a volunteer mediator in the county court system back before Jay got sick, and it's unlikely to take much time because there's rarely any serious crap in the local group anyway. This morning the new president (FirstWoman, as a matter of fact) called me and asked if I'd be willing to do it. She was surprised when I said yes without apparently thinking about it (I'm already on the dues hardship committee). She said it was unlikely to be much work, and then cracked up when I said that if things got boring, I'm sure I could stir something up.
---------------------------------------
The gathering for Roman's parents has been moved from his sister's apartment in Manhattan to his parents' apartment on Long Island, which is a relief for me. I had spent literally hours on Tuesday night trying to figure out the easiest simplest way to get to his sister's (a few blocks from Central Park). The Mapquest driving directions would require a passenger navigator reading them aloud to me to avoid missing a turn in the city.
Not that getting lost on the city streets is that bad - they're nicely numbered and I could feel my way around, but it's the parkways that scare me. I often find myself zooming across a bridge I know I shouldn't be on, and then I have to pot around streets in scary neighborhoods where people leap out and try to wash your windshield and bang on your doors, and I can't find a way back to recross the bridge. There are too many places where you can get off, but can't get back on in the same general area.
I decided the train would be best, and then had to decide whether Amtrak to Penn Station or MetroNorth to Grand Central would be best. Grand Central put me closer, so then I had to figure out what subway line I wanted, and how far I'd have to walk. I also asked for pointers from other Mensans on the Yahoo group.
But then the venue changed, yesterday. Roman sent very specific driving directions to his parents' apartment, and they look pretty simple. I'm not worried about that at all.
All that research was not a waste. I found so many good maps and got so many suggestions that I'm no longer afraid to go myself. I'm now thinking I might go into the city alone on warm weekends, just to play tourist.
-----------------------------------------------
Still haven't heard from Piper.
.
I've got another dead mouse. They're usually in the wall near the refrigerator. You can smell them for a few days, then they finish drying up, I guess, and the smell goes away. This one seems to be in the heat duct near the master bath. When the furnace blows, it blows the smell right into my bedroom. I don't know if I can outlast this one. Even after the smell's gone, I'm not sure I like the idea of powdered dead mouse blowing across my bed. I guess I'm going to have to rig some kind of flexible extender for the vacuum cleaner.
-----------------------------------
Between the garage and the kitchen there's a laundry room. The garage door is half glass, and the dog-flap is on a side wall. I've hung a curtain in the doorway so it would block the ugly view of the garage and pantry shelves, but still let the animals through.
The lower corner of that curtain is standing out about three inches, blown out by a strong very cold breeze.
I immediately suspected the garage door. I ran a lighter all around it, and the flame stayed upright. Then I ran the lighter around the dog-flap (which has been sealed off with plastic and tape), and again, no draft. Around the window. Nothing.
Just to be sure, I replaced the plastic over the dog-flap with bubble wrap, taped all around.
There's still a lot of cold air blowing under the curtain. A lot. More air, and colder, than just rolling off the window glass and door surface.
I don't understand. Where's all that cold air coming from? The clothes dryer vent duct goes into the basement, then outside through the wall. I guess I should check the outside flap on the vent, anyway, to make sure it's not stuck open, but I didn't feel any cold air around the dryer. (Last time it got stuck open a chipmunk was storing seeds in there, and you could tell because the inside of the dryer got very cold.)
--------------------------------------
The new local Mensa governing board has taken office. I read on the website that there were still a few vacancies, Ombudsman for one. I immediately thought, "I can do that." I'd been a volunteer mediator in the county court system back before Jay got sick, and it's unlikely to take much time because there's rarely any serious crap in the local group anyway. This morning the new president (FirstWoman, as a matter of fact) called me and asked if I'd be willing to do it. She was surprised when I said yes without apparently thinking about it (I'm already on the dues hardship committee). She said it was unlikely to be much work, and then cracked up when I said that if things got boring, I'm sure I could stir something up.
---------------------------------------
The gathering for Roman's parents has been moved from his sister's apartment in Manhattan to his parents' apartment on Long Island, which is a relief for me. I had spent literally hours on Tuesday night trying to figure out the easiest simplest way to get to his sister's (a few blocks from Central Park). The Mapquest driving directions would require a passenger navigator reading them aloud to me to avoid missing a turn in the city.
Not that getting lost on the city streets is that bad - they're nicely numbered and I could feel my way around, but it's the parkways that scare me. I often find myself zooming across a bridge I know I shouldn't be on, and then I have to pot around streets in scary neighborhoods where people leap out and try to wash your windshield and bang on your doors, and I can't find a way back to recross the bridge. There are too many places where you can get off, but can't get back on in the same general area.
I decided the train would be best, and then had to decide whether Amtrak to Penn Station or MetroNorth to Grand Central would be best. Grand Central put me closer, so then I had to figure out what subway line I wanted, and how far I'd have to walk. I also asked for pointers from other Mensans on the Yahoo group.
But then the venue changed, yesterday. Roman sent very specific driving directions to his parents' apartment, and they look pretty simple. I'm not worried about that at all.
All that research was not a waste. I found so many good maps and got so many suggestions that I'm no longer afraid to go myself. I'm now thinking I might go into the city alone on warm weekends, just to play tourist.
-----------------------------------------------
Still haven't heard from Piper.
.
1086 Trouble with photos?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
I'm having difficulty putting photos in here. When I attempt to use "Add Image", I get an error message.
I went to "Help", and under known problems it said that you get an error if you've entered Blogger through beta.blogger.com, and sure enough, I did. So I changed the bookmark to go to www.blogger.com (which redirects you to www2.blogger.com), and that's supposed to fix it.
But it didn't.
Now when I click on the "Add Image" icon, nothing whatsoever happens. Nada. Nothing even blinks.
The only way I can add photos is to manually move the photo from my hard disk to Flickr, and then code the HTML link to the Flickr image myself.
Anyone else having the same problem? Better question - anyone else having NO problem using the "Add Image" facility?
.
I'm having difficulty putting photos in here. When I attempt to use "Add Image", I get an error message.
I went to "Help", and under known problems it said that you get an error if you've entered Blogger through beta.blogger.com, and sure enough, I did. So I changed the bookmark to go to www.blogger.com (which redirects you to www2.blogger.com), and that's supposed to fix it.
But it didn't.
Now when I click on the "Add Image" icon, nothing whatsoever happens. Nada. Nothing even blinks.
The only way I can add photos is to manually move the photo from my hard disk to Flickr, and then code the HTML link to the Flickr image myself.
Anyone else having the same problem? Better question - anyone else having NO problem using the "Add Image" facility?
.
1085 Book Quiz
Thursday, January 25, 2006
Yeah, ok, I do get that way every so often, up and down, back and forth, in and out.
.
You're Compassion Fatigue!
by Susan Moeller
You used to care, but now it's just getting too difficult. You cared
about the plight of people in lands near and far, but now the media has bombarded you
with images of suffering to the point that you just don't have the energy to go on.
You've become cold and heartless, as though you'd lived in New York City for a year or
so. But you stand as a serious example to all others that they should turn off their TV
sets and start caring again.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Yeah, ok, I do get that way every so often, up and down, back and forth, in and out.
.
1084 Surprise Scholar
Thursday, January 25, 2006
This is a surprise. The last question is "Do you read the Bible", and I checked "No". I occasionally look something up, but I've never actually sat down and read it. I guess I just listen well, I remember crossword puzzle clues, and I'm good at eliminating the obviously bogus answers and picking the best possibility.
Or maybe I look up more stuff than I realized.
.
You know the Bible 85%!
Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!
Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes
This is a surprise. The last question is "Do you read the Bible", and I checked "No". I occasionally look something up, but I've never actually sat down and read it. I guess I just listen well, I remember crossword puzzle clues, and I'm good at eliminating the obviously bogus answers and picking the best possibility.
Or maybe I look up more stuff than I realized.
.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
1083 Change
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Roman and I had talked about whether or not there should be a funeral, or memorial, or whatever for his parents. He said they had said that they didn't want anything, and that all their old friends were already gone ahead so there was no point. He felt that it might be disrespectful to go against their wishes.
I suggested that a memorial isn't really for the departed, anyway. It's for the remaining. Jay and I both wanted nothing, no fuss, but there was a memorial service for Jay in his parents' church, because his sisters insisted that Jay's father needed it. So it happened, and it was attended by Jay's sisters and his father and his father's friends, who attended not so much for Jay as for his father.
I suggested that as he notifies family and friends, take their temperature and see how they feel about it. It doesn't have to be something formal in a funeral home or religious venue (his parents were not particularly observant anyway, and their choice was cremation), it could be a simple family reception in his parents' LI apartment or his sister's Manhattan apartment, or a banquet room in a favorite restaurant.
This afternoon I got an email from him. He asked me to post a notice on the Mensa group site, that there would be a memorial at his sister's apartment, this Sunday.
It surprised me for two reasons. First that he contacted me at all. He could have posted the information himself, or asked the president, secretary, or editor to do it. Second, he knows that I'm headed to Florida for a Mensa gathering this weekend. He couldn't help but know that by asking me to post the notice, I ... this makes no real logical sense ... but ... I feel like he's asking me to be there.
That makes no sense.
He's been pretty shy of my having any contact whatsoever with anyone on the "other side" of his life. He said once that he "didn't want to have to explain" me to his family, and I'm certain he doesn't want me anywhere near the other woman. I can't see him wanting me to be there. But I want very much to support him. I called him and asked him to think hard before answering, I won't be hurt whatever he says, but is he absolutely sure that it would not be awkward for him if I were to show up on Sunday. He said he'd already thought about that before he sent the note.
So I called Trav3locity and Sister, and cancelled the Florida trip. Trav3locity has assessed a penalty, but not too very large, and they're keeping some money as a credit that I have a year to use. Sister understands completely. Along about late February or mid-March I will be sick of cold weather, and I'll show up on Sister's doorstep.
On a different (I hope quite different) front, Piper's mid-80's mother was having the cardiac catheterization today (with possible stents) in Florida. She's scheduled for a pacemaker next week. Piper is in Nevada on business and depending on his sisters to keep him posted. I called his cell phone about 9:45 pm to ask him how his mother was, and was surprised when it went directly to voice mail. I hope he's not in the air zooming to Florida. I can't imagine that he's simply turned the phone off. I hope he's merely in a big signal-blocking building.
.
Roman and I had talked about whether or not there should be a funeral, or memorial, or whatever for his parents. He said they had said that they didn't want anything, and that all their old friends were already gone ahead so there was no point. He felt that it might be disrespectful to go against their wishes.
I suggested that a memorial isn't really for the departed, anyway. It's for the remaining. Jay and I both wanted nothing, no fuss, but there was a memorial service for Jay in his parents' church, because his sisters insisted that Jay's father needed it. So it happened, and it was attended by Jay's sisters and his father and his father's friends, who attended not so much for Jay as for his father.
I suggested that as he notifies family and friends, take their temperature and see how they feel about it. It doesn't have to be something formal in a funeral home or religious venue (his parents were not particularly observant anyway, and their choice was cremation), it could be a simple family reception in his parents' LI apartment or his sister's Manhattan apartment, or a banquet room in a favorite restaurant.
This afternoon I got an email from him. He asked me to post a notice on the Mensa group site, that there would be a memorial at his sister's apartment, this Sunday.
It surprised me for two reasons. First that he contacted me at all. He could have posted the information himself, or asked the president, secretary, or editor to do it. Second, he knows that I'm headed to Florida for a Mensa gathering this weekend. He couldn't help but know that by asking me to post the notice, I ... this makes no real logical sense ... but ... I feel like he's asking me to be there.
That makes no sense.
He's been pretty shy of my having any contact whatsoever with anyone on the "other side" of his life. He said once that he "didn't want to have to explain" me to his family, and I'm certain he doesn't want me anywhere near the other woman. I can't see him wanting me to be there. But I want very much to support him. I called him and asked him to think hard before answering, I won't be hurt whatever he says, but is he absolutely sure that it would not be awkward for him if I were to show up on Sunday. He said he'd already thought about that before he sent the note.
So I called Trav3locity and Sister, and cancelled the Florida trip. Trav3locity has assessed a penalty, but not too very large, and they're keeping some money as a credit that I have a year to use. Sister understands completely. Along about late February or mid-March I will be sick of cold weather, and I'll show up on Sister's doorstep.
On a different (I hope quite different) front, Piper's mid-80's mother was having the cardiac catheterization today (with possible stents) in Florida. She's scheduled for a pacemaker next week. Piper is in Nevada on business and depending on his sisters to keep him posted. I called his cell phone about 9:45 pm to ask him how his mother was, and was surprised when it went directly to voice mail. I hope he's not in the air zooming to Florida. I can't imagine that he's simply turned the phone off. I hope he's merely in a big signal-blocking building.
.
1082 Bad Bad Hair
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Hmmmm. I think maybe it's the Aerio sleeping on the front lawn. Or the mullet.
Yeah. The mullet.
Last fall I started heat-straightening my hair. I really liked it all smooth and slinky. But then I started seeing splits and breaks, even though I had the straightener on the absolute lowest effective setting, and then the top front got all ragged. I have a dark patch right smack in the front (like Jay Leno's), and I lighten that piece, and I guess it couldn't take the heat.
So I ran a part from the top of one ear to the other ear, and cut the whole front short. I kinda like it. The top and back is about mid-back length now and growing. I got a little over-enthusiastic about a week ago and cut the front and sides a tad too short, but it's a good shape, and will be right in about three weeks.
This test surprised me by not asking if I was even white. Shouldn't that have been the first question?
.
I am 29% White Trash.
The white trash in my blood will not keep me from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep me from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense.Hmmmm. I think maybe it's the Aerio sleeping on the front lawn. Or the mullet.
Yeah. The mullet.
Last fall I started heat-straightening my hair. I really liked it all smooth and slinky. But then I started seeing splits and breaks, even though I had the straightener on the absolute lowest effective setting, and then the top front got all ragged. I have a dark patch right smack in the front (like Jay Leno's), and I lighten that piece, and I guess it couldn't take the heat.
So I ran a part from the top of one ear to the other ear, and cut the whole front short. I kinda like it. The top and back is about mid-back length now and growing. I got a little over-enthusiastic about a week ago and cut the front and sides a tad too short, but it's a good shape, and will be right in about three weeks.
This test surprised me by not asking if I was even white. Shouldn't that have been the first question?
.
1081 Catching Up
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
I'm Ok, You're Appreciated
I haven't posted since Friday, and I've got some email asking if I'm ok. Gee. It's nice that I'm missed.
Yup, I'm ok. For one thing, I've decided that even-numbered days will be non-blog days. No reading, no writing, no visiting. So many people have interesting things to say, and there are so many interesting links to other interesting sites, that I can waste a whole day just wandering around reading. I'm not getting other things done. Like clearing up the clutter, which is much less interesting than reading. So, henceforth, no internet excuses for getting nothing done on even-numbered days.
That's why no entry on Saturday. Sunday I would have been allowed to blog, but I went to NJ to visit Daughter and Hercules. They took me out to look at some of the houses they had visited the weekend before with the realtor. You know, it would probably be cheaper to buy some farmland and build than to buy in a developed neighborhood in central New Jersey. People sure do have an inflated opinion of the value of their houses!
The Caveman
This blogger, http://jpv206.blogspot.com/2007/01/
discrimination-entertainment-or-caveman.html, has an amusing and perceptive take on the Geico commercials that I agree with 100%.
Roman's Family
Saturday evening I drove into the village to visit the ATM. I don't know what time it was, but it was that time that we used to call the gloaming - when the ground is very dark, but the sky is still relatively light, a medium blue. All the way into the village there was a sliver of moon in front of me, and right next to the moon, less than a finger-width away, was just about the brightest star I'd ever seen. It was so bright that at first I thought it was an airplane, but I watched it for fifteen minutes, and it didn't move. The sky was clear, and I looked all around, and those were the only two things visible in the sky. It made me think of Roman's mother and father.
Roman's mother died at about noon Monday. He lost both parents within four days.
.
I'm Ok, You're Appreciated
I haven't posted since Friday, and I've got some email asking if I'm ok. Gee. It's nice that I'm missed.
Yup, I'm ok. For one thing, I've decided that even-numbered days will be non-blog days. No reading, no writing, no visiting. So many people have interesting things to say, and there are so many interesting links to other interesting sites, that I can waste a whole day just wandering around reading. I'm not getting other things done. Like clearing up the clutter, which is much less interesting than reading. So, henceforth, no internet excuses for getting nothing done on even-numbered days.
That's why no entry on Saturday. Sunday I would have been allowed to blog, but I went to NJ to visit Daughter and Hercules. They took me out to look at some of the houses they had visited the weekend before with the realtor. You know, it would probably be cheaper to buy some farmland and build than to buy in a developed neighborhood in central New Jersey. People sure do have an inflated opinion of the value of their houses!
The Caveman
This blogger, http://jpv206.blogspot.com/2007/01/
discrimination-entertainment-or-caveman.html, has an amusing and perceptive take on the Geico commercials that I agree with 100%.
Roman's Family
Saturday evening I drove into the village to visit the ATM. I don't know what time it was, but it was that time that we used to call the gloaming - when the ground is very dark, but the sky is still relatively light, a medium blue. All the way into the village there was a sliver of moon in front of me, and right next to the moon, less than a finger-width away, was just about the brightest star I'd ever seen. It was so bright that at first I thought it was an airplane, but I watched it for fifteen minutes, and it didn't move. The sky was clear, and I looked all around, and those were the only two things visible in the sky. It made me think of Roman's mother and father.
Roman's mother died at about noon Monday. He lost both parents within four days.
.
Friday, January 19, 2007
1080 Bad Stuff Goin' 'Round
Friday, January 19, 2007
Third Thursday dinner was last night. There was FirstWoman, The Ditz, and me. It was very uncomfortable, because I had decided last month that if The Ditz annoyed me I wasn't going to hide it any more, and First Woman has actually gotten so upset by The Ditz in the past that she has walked out.
So FirstWoman and I tiptoed around, and were quick to stop subjects, change subjects, and generally keep it on the level of ... well, the longest lasting subject was whether the restaurant would accept an expired coupon, second longest was the series of name-changes the restaurant has endured.
That's harder work than real conversations.
Roman arrived late, after we'd finished eating. He had called me earlier in the evening to say that he'd be late, he was driving up from LI, having been there for a few days tending to his parents, so I should save his seat, and I told him that no matter how late he was, I'd wait.
I'm a bit hesitant to tell what actually happened, it's his story, not mine, but this is my diary, and there is exactly one person in the entire world who reads this and knows who he is, but she has met him only once, so for my own record, I'll continue.
His parents have been alternately in and out of the hospital a lot lately. Both have several serious problems. The past week, both have been hospitalized, both critical, in two different hospitals. Roman and his sister have been alternating visiting them, and meeting with financial planners, lawyers, insurance reps, etc, trying to get control of everything that has to be handled.
I think Roman returned last night just because of Third Thursday.
The dinner group meets at 6:30. I expected him to arrive by 7 at the latest. I'm not sure what time he arrived, but it was well after 7:30, I think. I was beginning to get really worried.
He had called me at 4:40 from the LI Expressway. (When I told the ladies that he'd be late, The Ditz brightened and asked, "Oh? Exactly where on the Expressway?" I stared at her for about three beats, and said, "I . Don't. Know. Was it important?" She actually flinched from the look on my face.) He said that his father had been very aware that afternoon, and seemed lots better. I found that ominous, given the way his father had been for so long. There is often a huge rally before a final crash. It's like they know.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he said that his sister had called him on the road, and told him that the hospital had called her, that their father had died.
Roman said he was late because he "had to make a detour" on the way. (I assume that he had stopped at "the girlfriend's" house, and then came to dinner.) He poked me and said "And you, as usual, your cell phone is off."
I felt very guilty. He knew I'd be sitting there waiting for him. If he'd been able to call, if my phone had been on, would he have skipped dinner? Would he have turned around and gone back to LI? By then I was getting worried enough to have called him, but if he had been at the girlfriend's house during that excess time, he wouldn't have answered anyway (he has me permanently on vibrate). So I feel guilty that I "dragged" him to the restaurant.
But then again, he was hungry (she didn't feed him?), and he did eat.
The Ditz left (by the way, she left her expired coupon, and only enough money to cover if the coupon was honored. I had to add a few dollars), and then after Roman finished eating, FirstWoman left. I had hoped we'd be able to talk, but he was very distracted, and we talked only a little. He'd have to tell his mother today. He doesn't expect her to live more than a few weeks, since he figures the only thing keeping her alive is the necessity of taking care of his father. She got a pacemaker last week, but her pulse is still very slow, and her kidneys are seriously failing. The doctors have recommended dialysis, but she has refused. So.
I can only hope he keeps me informed. I worry.
I talked on the phone with Piper today, first time I've heard from him since just after Christmas (well, except for a form letter from his office with "Call me" handwritten on the bottom.) He's had all kinds of family problems, and January is a very busy month. He's going to Las Vegas to speak at a convention next week, so we're going to have lunch on Monday. He told me today that he's been back and forth to Florida, his beloved mother is failing, and she's scheduled for some surgery plus a pacemaker next week. He's worried about being in Las Vegas during her surgery, but he's got several sisters in Florida who will hold down the fort.
So. Sigh.
.
Third Thursday dinner was last night. There was FirstWoman, The Ditz, and me. It was very uncomfortable, because I had decided last month that if The Ditz annoyed me I wasn't going to hide it any more, and First Woman has actually gotten so upset by The Ditz in the past that she has walked out.
So FirstWoman and I tiptoed around, and were quick to stop subjects, change subjects, and generally keep it on the level of ... well, the longest lasting subject was whether the restaurant would accept an expired coupon, second longest was the series of name-changes the restaurant has endured.
That's harder work than real conversations.
Roman arrived late, after we'd finished eating. He had called me earlier in the evening to say that he'd be late, he was driving up from LI, having been there for a few days tending to his parents, so I should save his seat, and I told him that no matter how late he was, I'd wait.
I'm a bit hesitant to tell what actually happened, it's his story, not mine, but this is my diary, and there is exactly one person in the entire world who reads this and knows who he is, but she has met him only once, so for my own record, I'll continue.
His parents have been alternately in and out of the hospital a lot lately. Both have several serious problems. The past week, both have been hospitalized, both critical, in two different hospitals. Roman and his sister have been alternating visiting them, and meeting with financial planners, lawyers, insurance reps, etc, trying to get control of everything that has to be handled.
I think Roman returned last night just because of Third Thursday.
The dinner group meets at 6:30. I expected him to arrive by 7 at the latest. I'm not sure what time he arrived, but it was well after 7:30, I think. I was beginning to get really worried.
He had called me at 4:40 from the LI Expressway. (When I told the ladies that he'd be late, The Ditz brightened and asked, "Oh? Exactly where on the Expressway?" I stared at her for about three beats, and said, "I . Don't. Know. Was it important?" She actually flinched from the look on my face.) He said that his father had been very aware that afternoon, and seemed lots better. I found that ominous, given the way his father had been for so long. There is often a huge rally before a final crash. It's like they know.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he said that his sister had called him on the road, and told him that the hospital had called her, that their father had died.
Roman said he was late because he "had to make a detour" on the way. (I assume that he had stopped at "the girlfriend's" house, and then came to dinner.) He poked me and said "And you, as usual, your cell phone is off."
I felt very guilty. He knew I'd be sitting there waiting for him. If he'd been able to call, if my phone had been on, would he have skipped dinner? Would he have turned around and gone back to LI? By then I was getting worried enough to have called him, but if he had been at the girlfriend's house during that excess time, he wouldn't have answered anyway (he has me permanently on vibrate). So I feel guilty that I "dragged" him to the restaurant.
But then again, he was hungry (she didn't feed him?), and he did eat.
The Ditz left (by the way, she left her expired coupon, and only enough money to cover if the coupon was honored. I had to add a few dollars), and then after Roman finished eating, FirstWoman left. I had hoped we'd be able to talk, but he was very distracted, and we talked only a little. He'd have to tell his mother today. He doesn't expect her to live more than a few weeks, since he figures the only thing keeping her alive is the necessity of taking care of his father. She got a pacemaker last week, but her pulse is still very slow, and her kidneys are seriously failing. The doctors have recommended dialysis, but she has refused. So.
I can only hope he keeps me informed. I worry.
I talked on the phone with Piper today, first time I've heard from him since just after Christmas (well, except for a form letter from his office with "Call me" handwritten on the bottom.) He's had all kinds of family problems, and January is a very busy month. He's going to Las Vegas to speak at a convention next week, so we're going to have lunch on Monday. He told me today that he's been back and forth to Florida, his beloved mother is failing, and she's scheduled for some surgery plus a pacemaker next week. He's worried about being in Las Vegas during her surgery, but he's got several sisters in Florida who will hold down the fort.
So. Sigh.
.
1079 Presidential IQs Revisited
Friday, January 19, 2007
I got an interesting comment on post 1076 Presidential IQs. (Love it when a post pulls lurkers out!) I'm posting the comment here so that anyone who read the original post will be sure to get the other half of the story.
As I had said, reading the article made my nose wrinkle - it just plain smelled bad. And the obvious bias of the web site for the institute made it even more suspect. But I'm embarrassed because I'm always telling people to please check Snopes before they send me sensational stuff, and, oops, I didn't check Snopes. I was fooled by the existence of the web site.
But even if it had looked like a legitimate attempt, I didn't buy any of it, as my comment about an ivy league MBA being in the low 90s showed. The last paragraph's "world-renowned sociologist" and "world-respected psychiatrist" were the final kickers. Oh, come on!
So, here are the references, courtesy of "Anonymous". By the way, I went to the "ACTUAL study" pointed to by Anonymous, and although it seems more rigorous (and makes a lot more sense), there are still some holes, which the author of the study admits, in that they are not comparing apples with apples. And as soon as you do that, you allow conscious or unconscious bias to creep in.
Anonymous said...
/* Start of Comment */
Lovenstein is a hoax.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/lovenstein.html
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.htm
Claim: According to a study by the Lovenstein Institute, President Bush has the lowest IQ of all presidents of past 50 years.
Status: False.
Origins: No, this isn't a real news report, nor does it describe a real study. There isn't a "Lovenstein Institute" in Scranton, Pennsylvania (or anywhere else in the USA), nor do any of the people quoted in the story exist, because this is just another spoof that was taken too seriously.
The article quoted above began circulating on the Internet during the summer of 2001. In furtherance of the hoax, later that year pranksters thought to register www.lovenstein.org and erect a web site around it in an attempt to fool people into thinking there really was such an institute.
-snip
Speaking of IQ's, an ACTUAL study shows that Bush's IQ is higher than John Kerry's:
http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/kerry_iq_lower.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/politics/campaign
/24points.html?ex=1256356800&en=50a1bcbb16e7cf21&ei=
5090&partner=rssuserland
/* End of Comment */
.
I got an interesting comment on post 1076 Presidential IQs. (Love it when a post pulls lurkers out!) I'm posting the comment here so that anyone who read the original post will be sure to get the other half of the story.
As I had said, reading the article made my nose wrinkle - it just plain smelled bad. And the obvious bias of the web site for the institute made it even more suspect. But I'm embarrassed because I'm always telling people to please check Snopes before they send me sensational stuff, and, oops, I didn't check Snopes. I was fooled by the existence of the web site.
But even if it had looked like a legitimate attempt, I didn't buy any of it, as my comment about an ivy league MBA being in the low 90s showed. The last paragraph's "world-renowned sociologist" and "world-respected psychiatrist" were the final kickers. Oh, come on!
So, here are the references, courtesy of "Anonymous". By the way, I went to the "ACTUAL study" pointed to by Anonymous, and although it seems more rigorous (and makes a lot more sense), there are still some holes, which the author of the study admits, in that they are not comparing apples with apples. And as soon as you do that, you allow conscious or unconscious bias to creep in.
Anonymous said...
/* Start of Comment */
Lovenstein is a hoax.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/lovenstein.html
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.htm
Claim: According to a study by the Lovenstein Institute, President Bush has the lowest IQ of all presidents of past 50 years.
Status: False.
Origins: No, this isn't a real news report, nor does it describe a real study. There isn't a "Lovenstein Institute" in Scranton, Pennsylvania (or anywhere else in the USA), nor do any of the people quoted in the story exist, because this is just another spoof that was taken too seriously.
The article quoted above began circulating on the Internet during the summer of 2001. In furtherance of the hoax, later that year pranksters thought to register www.lovenstein.org and erect a web site around it in an attempt to fool people into thinking there really was such an institute.
-snip
Speaking of IQ's, an ACTUAL study shows that Bush's IQ is higher than John Kerry's:
http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/kerry_iq_lower.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/politics/campaign
/24points.html?ex=1256356800&en=50a1bcbb16e7cf21&ei=
5090&partner=rssuserland
/* End of Comment */
.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
1078 Scary Idols
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Almost forgot this very strange moment. American Idol was on last night while I was doing something else. I caught only two of the contestants. One was the young man with the very intense, scary, disturbing eyes, and the other was the woman on the right in the photo below. If you saw the show at all, you know exactly who I mean.
Darwin R33dy and her Mom. Photo borrowed from Jackie, at "The (TV) Show Must Go On", who gets them from network sites.
A good positive self image is an admirable thing, but it should be at least somewhat realistic. Ms. R33dy's breasts hung to her waist, and swung and flopped under her loose but clingy blouse. She believes herself to be sexy.
What really got me, though, was that in physical appearance, degree of self delusion, mannerisms, hair, facial expressions, voice, accent, and things she said, her total unawareness of the impression she gives, she struck me as practically a twin of a woman I know in the local Mensa group. The one who often drives me crazy (not The Ditz, the other one. The one who drove me crazy in New Orleans in 2005).
I was fascinated. And then they brought her mother in, and she's exactly the same, except it looked like she was wearing a bra. Does the mid-west grow these people?
.
Almost forgot this very strange moment. American Idol was on last night while I was doing something else. I caught only two of the contestants. One was the young man with the very intense, scary, disturbing eyes, and the other was the woman on the right in the photo below. If you saw the show at all, you know exactly who I mean.
Darwin R33dy and her Mom. Photo borrowed from Jackie, at "The (TV) Show Must Go On", who gets them from network sites.A good positive self image is an admirable thing, but it should be at least somewhat realistic. Ms. R33dy's breasts hung to her waist, and swung and flopped under her loose but clingy blouse. She believes herself to be sexy.
What really got me, though, was that in physical appearance, degree of self delusion, mannerisms, hair, facial expressions, voice, accent, and things she said, her total unawareness of the impression she gives, she struck me as practically a twin of a woman I know in the local Mensa group. The one who often drives me crazy (not The Ditz, the other one. The one who drove me crazy in New Orleans in 2005).
I was fascinated. And then they brought her mother in, and she's exactly the same, except it looked like she was wearing a bra. Does the mid-west grow these people?
.
1077 Disturbing News
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Iran, in April? I hope Dotsson is wrong. I may be forced to move to Canada or Mexico. Read http://dotsson.blogspot.com/2007/01/attack-on-iran-in-april.html.
Let's impeach self-elected President Cheney (that isn't a typo) - he's nuts!
.
Iran, in April? I hope Dotsson is wrong. I may be forced to move to Canada or Mexico. Read http://dotsson.blogspot.com/2007/01/attack-on-iran-in-april.html.
Let's impeach self-elected President Cheney (that isn't a typo) - he's nuts!
.
1076 Presidential IQs
Thursday, January 18, 2007
This was sent to me. I thought it interesting at first glance, but the more I think about it, the more my nose wrinkles. The web site for the Lovenstein Institute is http://lovenstein.org/. They seem far from neutral, so I find their conclusions suspect.
The numbers, even if assumed to be accurate in some way, are meaningless except as compared to each other (because above about 135, the standard deviations for standard IQ tests diverge so wildly that a 145 on the California Test of Mental Maturity, for example, is actually a higher score than a 160 on the Stanford-Benet (unless they've recalibrated recently)), and they don't say what scale they're comparing to here. I've also heard that the average IQ for high school seniors is closer to 115 than to 100, so low 90s for an ivy league MBA doesn't feel right.
Of course, that's the perennial argument: how do you define higher than average intelligence? Do you look at pattern recognition and problem solving? Vocabulary and ability to communicate? Social awareness? Numerical or musical or physical talent? Scholastic drive and success? Everyone who wants to assign numbers and rankings picks their favorite characteristic and ignores the rest.
Does Jimmy Carter's high number make the conclusions in his latest book more valid?
Well, here it is. Enjoy.
This was sent to me. I thought it interesting at first glance, but the more I think about it, the more my nose wrinkles. The web site for the Lovenstein Institute is http://lovenstein.org/. They seem far from neutral, so I find their conclusions suspect.
The numbers, even if assumed to be accurate in some way, are meaningless except as compared to each other (because above about 135, the standard deviations for standard IQ tests diverge so wildly that a 145 on the California Test of Mental Maturity, for example, is actually a higher score than a 160 on the Stanford-Benet (unless they've recalibrated recently)), and they don't say what scale they're comparing to here. I've also heard that the average IQ for high school seniors is closer to 115 than to 100, so low 90s for an ivy league MBA doesn't feel right.
Of course, that's the perennial argument: how do you define higher than average intelligence? Do you look at pattern recognition and problem solving? Vocabulary and ability to communicate? Social awareness? Numerical or musical or physical talent? Scholastic drive and success? Everyone who wants to assign numbers and rankings picks their favorite characteristic and ignores the rest.
Does Jimmy Carter's high number make the conclusions in his latest book more valid?
Well, here it is. Enjoy.
The Presidential IQ Report
WASHINGTON --In a published report, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania has detailed findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush. Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others.
According to statements in the report, there have been twelve presidents over the past 60 years, from F. D. Roosevelt to G. W. Bush who were all rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors which were then scored in the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking. The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:
| 147 | Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) |
| 132 | Harry Truman (D) |
| 122 | Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) |
| 174 | John F. Kennedy (D) |
| 126 | Lyndon B. Johnson (D) |
| 155 | Richard M. Nixon (R) |
| 121 | Gerald R. Ford (R) |
| 176 | James E. Carter (D) |
| 105 | Ronald W. Reagan (R) |
| 98 | George H. W. Bush (R) |
| 182 | William J. Clinton (D) |
| 91 | George W. Bush (R) |
The six Republican presidents of the past 60 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest IQ, at 155. President G. W. Bush was rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91.
The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182. President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126.
No president other than Carter (D) has released his actual IQ, 176. Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President GW Bush, his low ratings were due to his apparent difficulty to command the English language in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis.
The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings, including depth of sentence structure and voice stress confidence analysis. "All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers during their education or early careers.
Not so with President Bush," Dr. Lovenstein said. "He has no published works or writings, so in many ways that made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We had to rely more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking."
The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton Pennsylvania think tank includes high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist. This study was commissioned on February 13, 2001, and released on July 9, 2001, to subscribing member universities and organizations within the education community.
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The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton Pennsylvania is a think tank employing high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist.
Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on various topics including the famous
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
1075 Catalog
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The new Spiegel catalog has arrived, and I am pleased that they seem to have turned a corner.
Once upon a very long time ago I used to buy my office wear from Spiegel. They used to have some really nice stuff. I bought my favorite suit of all time from them, a pale turquoise linen-look, and another suit in rose and navy that for some reason got me first class treatment on business trips. The items were beautifully and carefully packed, and they even (back in those days) included a prepaid label for returns.
But somewhere between ten and fifteen years ago, they changed. Everything in the catalog looked like it was aimed toward streetwalkers and amateur sluts, or for cowgirls. (I'm not saying cowgirls are anywhere near streetwalking sluts - that just seemed to be the two separate groups they were courting, in two separate sections of the catalog.)
There was no way I was going to wear transparent tops, tight lycra dresses, belly button level plunge necklines, underwear as outerwear, broad-shouldered blouses covered with appliqued lace, or suits with peplum jackets to the office. Too much skin. Too much flash. Too much fluff. Yuck.
I don't think I've bought anything from them in a least a decade, but they have continued to send me a huge catalog several times a year anyway.
I guess they've finally fired that buyer. This issue is chock full of reasonable choices. We've got boob and belly coverage! The lycra is drapey! We've got a lot less lace and sequins. It almost looks like they've decided to go for the more mature, sophisticated, customer.
The only complaint I have is that the models are obviously out of proportion. The head length and total height should be a 1 to 7 ratio, and most of these models are 1 to 10. Their heads look tiny, and their legs look impossible. Most of the photos look like they were shot with the photographer lying on the floor, and even then the photos look like they were stretched.
I, at 4'10", can't imagine myself in those clothes. Not from those photos.
So I didn't buy anything (I don't need anything, either, but that never stopped me...), except that I had just the other day decided I need a full-length bodysuit for under a semi-sheer caftan, and some black tights for under a tunic, and lo, they had them in my size, so I ordered them.
-------------- Time has passed --------------
I got a phone call from a friend, the one with the ill parents, and we talked for over an hour. At the same time, there was a program on TV, one segment of which was going to be on hoarders. I taped it, and I just watched the beginning of that segment.
I have a lot of "stuff", which has built up into clutter. But I'm not a truehoarder, not like Jay was. The program mentioned that to a hoarder, throwing out anything is like tearing out a piece of their life. One woman mentioned that she's terrified that she might throw out something important. The program also said that hoarders tend to think of their hoards in three dimensions, that they know exactly where everything is. They don't catagorise things for sorting or storage, because to them, every item is unique.
(Heh heh. I guess that proves I'm not a hoarder. I still haven't found my winter shoes.)
Jay was like that. He knew exactly where everything was, even though there was nothing remotely resembling sorting, which blew my mind. It was true that he was terrified of throwing out something important. When I first moved in, I tried to clear out the stacks of paper in the den, and he actually got panicky, hyperventilating and all. We ended up buying a pair of 42 inch wide 2-drawer file cabinets to corral the mess.
He had subscriptions to about eight magazines, and never threw an issue out. Ever. There are still boxes of Smithsonians and Scientific Americans and others in the attic. I had attempted to clean out the basement, where there were boxes wall-to-wall and stacked to the ceiling down there, many of which had moved with him from Texas in the early 80s, and had not been opened since the move. We managed to get through one box when I realized this wasn't going to happen. The box we opened together had some badly-framed, faded and stained prints of Paris that his parents had bought on one of their trips, and had hung in his boyhood bedroom. Parents (deceased mother). Paris (dear to him). Boyhood bedroom. Hoo boy. Throwing out those prints was, to him, throwing all that out.
Every item had a memory attached, and it was as if throwing out the item was to excise, or at least devalue, the memory.
After he died, I tackled the basement. I found all his old college textbooks, all his high school and college class notes, several huge boxes full of unopened junk mail, boxes full of old ratty towels, bath mats, ugly knickknacks, all the detritus of thirty years of never throwing anything out. I filled two construction dumpsters, and that's only about half the stuff yet to go.
The TV program (pardon me if I don't look up what it was, I don't have a TV guide, and it's gone now so who cares) put some hoarders through an MRI while they showed a hoarded object and asked whether it should be kept or pitched, and they found that "a war went on" in their brains. A large number of connections involved in the decision.
I have to rewatch that first bit, and then the rest.
But right now there's a piece about the lost boys of the Sudan on Nightline, so pardon me while I go watch that. They're in my will (if Daughter predeceases me), along with several other charities. I suppose I ought to check whether it's still an operating charity. The boys have a fascinating story. Anyway, gotta watch that now.
.
The new Spiegel catalog has arrived, and I am pleased that they seem to have turned a corner.
Once upon a very long time ago I used to buy my office wear from Spiegel. They used to have some really nice stuff. I bought my favorite suit of all time from them, a pale turquoise linen-look, and another suit in rose and navy that for some reason got me first class treatment on business trips. The items were beautifully and carefully packed, and they even (back in those days) included a prepaid label for returns.
But somewhere between ten and fifteen years ago, they changed. Everything in the catalog looked like it was aimed toward streetwalkers and amateur sluts, or for cowgirls. (I'm not saying cowgirls are anywhere near streetwalking sluts - that just seemed to be the two separate groups they were courting, in two separate sections of the catalog.)
There was no way I was going to wear transparent tops, tight lycra dresses, belly button level plunge necklines, underwear as outerwear, broad-shouldered blouses covered with appliqued lace, or suits with peplum jackets to the office. Too much skin. Too much flash. Too much fluff. Yuck.
I don't think I've bought anything from them in a least a decade, but they have continued to send me a huge catalog several times a year anyway.
I guess they've finally fired that buyer. This issue is chock full of reasonable choices. We've got boob and belly coverage! The lycra is drapey! We've got a lot less lace and sequins. It almost looks like they've decided to go for the more mature, sophisticated, customer.
The only complaint I have is that the models are obviously out of proportion. The head length and total height should be a 1 to 7 ratio, and most of these models are 1 to 10. Their heads look tiny, and their legs look impossible. Most of the photos look like they were shot with the photographer lying on the floor, and even then the photos look like they were stretched.
I, at 4'10", can't imagine myself in those clothes. Not from those photos.
So I didn't buy anything (I don't need anything, either, but that never stopped me...), except that I had just the other day decided I need a full-length bodysuit for under a semi-sheer caftan, and some black tights for under a tunic, and lo, they had them in my size, so I ordered them.
-------------- Time has passed --------------
I got a phone call from a friend, the one with the ill parents, and we talked for over an hour. At the same time, there was a program on TV, one segment of which was going to be on hoarders. I taped it, and I just watched the beginning of that segment.
I have a lot of "stuff", which has built up into clutter. But I'm not a truehoarder, not like Jay was. The program mentioned that to a hoarder, throwing out anything is like tearing out a piece of their life. One woman mentioned that she's terrified that she might throw out something important. The program also said that hoarders tend to think of their hoards in three dimensions, that they know exactly where everything is. They don't catagorise things for sorting or storage, because to them, every item is unique.
(Heh heh. I guess that proves I'm not a hoarder. I still haven't found my winter shoes.)
Jay was like that. He knew exactly where everything was, even though there was nothing remotely resembling sorting, which blew my mind. It was true that he was terrified of throwing out something important. When I first moved in, I tried to clear out the stacks of paper in the den, and he actually got panicky, hyperventilating and all. We ended up buying a pair of 42 inch wide 2-drawer file cabinets to corral the mess.
He had subscriptions to about eight magazines, and never threw an issue out. Ever. There are still boxes of Smithsonians and Scientific Americans and others in the attic. I had attempted to clean out the basement, where there were boxes wall-to-wall and stacked to the ceiling down there, many of which had moved with him from Texas in the early 80s, and had not been opened since the move. We managed to get through one box when I realized this wasn't going to happen. The box we opened together had some badly-framed, faded and stained prints of Paris that his parents had bought on one of their trips, and had hung in his boyhood bedroom. Parents (deceased mother). Paris (dear to him). Boyhood bedroom. Hoo boy. Throwing out those prints was, to him, throwing all that out.
Every item had a memory attached, and it was as if throwing out the item was to excise, or at least devalue, the memory.
After he died, I tackled the basement. I found all his old college textbooks, all his high school and college class notes, several huge boxes full of unopened junk mail, boxes full of old ratty towels, bath mats, ugly knickknacks, all the detritus of thirty years of never throwing anything out. I filled two construction dumpsters, and that's only about half the stuff yet to go.
The TV program (pardon me if I don't look up what it was, I don't have a TV guide, and it's gone now so who cares) put some hoarders through an MRI while they showed a hoarded object and asked whether it should be kept or pitched, and they found that "a war went on" in their brains. A large number of connections involved in the decision.
I have to rewatch that first bit, and then the rest.
But right now there's a piece about the lost boys of the Sudan on Nightline, so pardon me while I go watch that. They're in my will (if Daughter predeceases me), along with several other charities. I suppose I ought to check whether it's still an operating charity. The boys have a fascinating story. Anyway, gotta watch that now.
.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
1074 Beasty Armor
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Samurai mouse armor:
Samurai cat armor:
The above are from Calgary artist Jeff de Boer. You can see more of his suits of armor for cats and mice at http://www.jeffdeboer.com/Galleries/CatsMice/tabid/63/
Default.aspx.
The rod attached to the top of some of the armor is (obviously) for jousting.
.
Samurai mouse armor:
Samurai cat armor:
The above are from Calgary artist Jeff de Boer. You can see more of his suits of armor for cats and mice at http://www.jeffdeboer.com/Galleries/CatsMice/tabid/63/
Default.aspx.
The rod attached to the top of some of the armor is (obviously) for jousting.
.
Monday, January 15, 2007
1073 Ice
Monday, January 15, 2007
I didn't go to NJ this morning. Everything was covered with ice. The driveway was only wet, not icy, which would imply that the roads were ok, but the pine trees outside my kitchen window were bent double from the weight of ice, and the radio seemed to think that the greater danger was loss of power. I decided to stay home so I could throw logs in the fireplace if we lost electricity.
Talked with Daughter a few times on the phone. She had picked up some massage jobs anyway, so it wasn't a complete bust. But Hercules had made some more of his delicious peanut butter cookies for me, and I had just finished the last of the previous batch last night, so I was really looking forward to getting more cookies. I'll have to tough it out 'til next weekend.
Roman called in the morning from LI, his father is in the hospital again, said he'd call in the evening. He called from the road on his drive home (which is always awkward, because the signal drops several times - he usually doesn't call back after the third drop, and it leaves the conversation unfinished), and he said the roads were slippery, he saw (a) car(s) that had spun out, so it's just as well I didn't go anywhere.
.
I didn't go to NJ this morning. Everything was covered with ice. The driveway was only wet, not icy, which would imply that the roads were ok, but the pine trees outside my kitchen window were bent double from the weight of ice, and the radio seemed to think that the greater danger was loss of power. I decided to stay home so I could throw logs in the fireplace if we lost electricity.
Talked with Daughter a few times on the phone. She had picked up some massage jobs anyway, so it wasn't a complete bust. But Hercules had made some more of his delicious peanut butter cookies for me, and I had just finished the last of the previous batch last night, so I was really looking forward to getting more cookies. I'll have to tough it out 'til next weekend.
Roman called in the morning from LI, his father is in the hospital again, said he'd call in the evening. He called from the road on his drive home (which is always awkward, because the signal drops several times - he usually doesn't call back after the third drop, and it leaves the conversation unfinished), and he said the roads were slippery, he saw (a) car(s) that had spun out, so it's just as well I didn't go anywhere.
.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
1072 Superman
Sunday, January 14, 2007
It's my understanding that it's our yellow sun that causes Superman to have super strength and super powers.
It's my understanding that you build muscles by working them hard.
Now, if Superman has super strength, to him nothing is heavy, how did he manage to build big muscles?
Just something else I don't understand.
.
It's my understanding that it's our yellow sun that causes Superman to have super strength and super powers.
It's my understanding that you build muscles by working them hard.
Now, if Superman has super strength, to him nothing is heavy, how did he manage to build big muscles?
Just something else I don't understand.
.
1071 Chi1dren's Fund
Sunday, January 14, 2007
I was about to go to bed, and glanced up at the TV, and there was a commercial on for Chris1ian Chi1drens' Fund, and I had to, again, fight down the urge. They have a very good reputation. They have one of the smallest overheads. And come on, it's children!
But I had a very bad experience with them way back when.
When Daughter was small, we decided to "join up". We requested a girl, in Africa if possible, about Daughter's age if possible. They said that could be arranged, and they hooked us up with a girl of about the right age, in ... Baton Rouge, La. She was African only by heritage. Oh, well.
So we sent our set amount every month for about three years, and everything was fine.
Then we left Ex#2 and moved from Maryland to New York State, in the middle of the summer (early '80s). I had just enough money for a down payment on a small house, but no extra cash. The well pump died within a month of our moving in. The furnace went shortly after. I was starting over, way down on the pay scale. I had to pay for child care. I was really worried about money. It was paycheck to paycheck, and we were scrimping. But we still sent the same amount to C-C-F every month.
Daughter was starting second grade in a new school, and was dismayed that she didn't have the cool fad stuff the other kids had, to fit in, establish her bona fides, but there was no way I could afford stuff like those $150 XXX shoes she "needed", especially not when she'd outgrow them in six months.
Then came Christmas. Daughter got what few gifts I could afford.
And then the Christmas photos arrived from the child in Baton Rouge. The kid was sitting in the middle of a huge pile of toys, including the very doll Daughter wanted, but I couldn't afford, and wearing those exact same $150 XXX shoes that my daughter craved. The furniture in her home was better than ours.
I continued to send the check for the next few months, but it was bugging me. This kid was doing better than my own daughter. She had a stay-at-home mother, while my daughter was spending her time in daycare and I was racking up bills. She was taking all kinds of music and dance lessons. She went to summer camp. She and Daughter corresponded, and Daughter couldn't help but be jealous of all the "stuff" this kid had, the designer name dropping. Photos confirmed that it wasn't mere name dropping.
Then my washing machine died, and I decided that maybe I should back up and take care of my own home and my own child first.
I wrote to C-C-F and explained that I was newly divorced, and having a hard time, and I would be unable to continue, that this was the last check I could send. That perhaps in the future, when I was back on my feet, I would try again.
Uh uh. There was no way they were letting me go! They badgered me by phone and mail constantly for the next few weeks, and then a couple times a month for the next YEAR! They tried guilt, anger, guilt again, innocence ... they didn't let up even when I asked if I could maybe get my daughter on their beneficiary list, since I suspected that a lot of their kids were better off than we were! They didn't quit until I mentioned harassment, and even then it took a while to taper off.
So that's why I fight off the commercials. I don't want to get into that guilt trap again. I give a lot, to a lot of charities, but as soon as they start acting like they're entitled to a donation, they don't get another for a while.
-----------------------------------
Habitat is starting to annoy me. I got a call yesterday, asking for $200. "Well, you sent $200 last time, so perhaps you could send the same for this drive?"
Hey, folks, "last time" was just two months ago. BACK OFF! You won't get another dime from me until I haven't heard from you for six months.
Jay's father contributes a lot. He's probably on everybody's list. That bad part is that the more you send, the more often they ask, and when the donor is getting up in age, sometimes they forget that they already donated. Jay's sister, when she took over management of the old man's mail and money, was horrified to find that certain charities were sending request letters at the rate of one a week, and Dad was sending checks almost as often. He'd forget that he had already sent them a check. They sure didn't forget.
By the way, watch out for those cancer associations that pretend to be the American Cancer Society. If you read the small print, all the donation is used for is "informational materials". In other words, they print up little one-page "go get a mammogram" or whatever fliers that they put on the public info tables in a few libraries, and they keep the rest of the money.
.
I was about to go to bed, and glanced up at the TV, and there was a commercial on for Chris1ian Chi1drens' Fund, and I had to, again, fight down the urge. They have a very good reputation. They have one of the smallest overheads. And come on, it's children!
But I had a very bad experience with them way back when.
When Daughter was small, we decided to "join up". We requested a girl, in Africa if possible, about Daughter's age if possible. They said that could be arranged, and they hooked us up with a girl of about the right age, in ... Baton Rouge, La. She was African only by heritage. Oh, well.
So we sent our set amount every month for about three years, and everything was fine.
Then we left Ex#2 and moved from Maryland to New York State, in the middle of the summer (early '80s). I had just enough money for a down payment on a small house, but no extra cash. The well pump died within a month of our moving in. The furnace went shortly after. I was starting over, way down on the pay scale. I had to pay for child care. I was really worried about money. It was paycheck to paycheck, and we were scrimping. But we still sent the same amount to C-C-F every month.
Daughter was starting second grade in a new school, and was dismayed that she didn't have the cool fad stuff the other kids had, to fit in, establish her bona fides, but there was no way I could afford stuff like those $150 XXX shoes she "needed", especially not when she'd outgrow them in six months.
Then came Christmas. Daughter got what few gifts I could afford.
And then the Christmas photos arrived from the child in Baton Rouge. The kid was sitting in the middle of a huge pile of toys, including the very doll Daughter wanted, but I couldn't afford, and wearing those exact same $150 XXX shoes that my daughter craved. The furniture in her home was better than ours.
I continued to send the check for the next few months, but it was bugging me. This kid was doing better than my own daughter. She had a stay-at-home mother, while my daughter was spending her time in daycare and I was racking up bills. She was taking all kinds of music and dance lessons. She went to summer camp. She and Daughter corresponded, and Daughter couldn't help but be jealous of all the "stuff" this kid had, the designer name dropping. Photos confirmed that it wasn't mere name dropping.
Then my washing machine died, and I decided that maybe I should back up and take care of my own home and my own child first.
I wrote to C-C-F and explained that I was newly divorced, and having a hard time, and I would be unable to continue, that this was the last check I could send. That perhaps in the future, when I was back on my feet, I would try again.
Uh uh. There was no way they were letting me go! They badgered me by phone and mail constantly for the next few weeks, and then a couple times a month for the next YEAR! They tried guilt, anger, guilt again, innocence ... they didn't let up even when I asked if I could maybe get my daughter on their beneficiary list, since I suspected that a lot of their kids were better off than we were! They didn't quit until I mentioned harassment, and even then it took a while to taper off.
So that's why I fight off the commercials. I don't want to get into that guilt trap again. I give a lot, to a lot of charities, but as soon as they start acting like they're entitled to a donation, they don't get another for a while.
-----------------------------------
Habitat is starting to annoy me. I got a call yesterday, asking for $200. "Well, you sent $200 last time, so perhaps you could send the same for this drive?"
Hey, folks, "last time" was just two months ago. BACK OFF! You won't get another dime from me until I haven't heard from you for six months.
Jay's father contributes a lot. He's probably on everybody's list. That bad part is that the more you send, the more often they ask, and when the donor is getting up in age, sometimes they forget that they already donated. Jay's sister, when she took over management of the old man's mail and money, was horrified to find that certain charities were sending request letters at the rate of one a week, and Dad was sending checks almost as often. He'd forget that he had already sent them a check. They sure didn't forget.
By the way, watch out for those cancer associations that pretend to be the American Cancer Society. If you read the small print, all the donation is used for is "informational materials". In other words, they print up little one-page "go get a mammogram" or whatever fliers that they put on the public info tables in a few libraries, and they keep the rest of the money.
.
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