There is a Beast in the Rose Garden

DAMN THAT OBAMACARE

2012-01-09T09:35:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr Huckabee: Because of the healthcare overhaul, 2.5 million more people between the ages of 19 and 25 are now insured. I guess President Obama personally rammed this pretty far down your throat because even with a gazillion ads running every ten minutes for over a year, it still happened.

Homebuilding 101

2011-07-20T23:11:00.000-04:00

Back in 1999 my house burned down. Since I owned my house out right, I decided to rebuild on the
lot. I went to one of the oldest builders in the area. Right off the bat, I asked them if they
employed their own people or if they hired subcontractors. I was told they had their own crew so I signed
the contract. According to this builder, since I was having a "small" 3 bedroom, 2 bath house built, they estimated once the permit was pulled, it should only take them 4 or 5 months to complete. In the intrim period my home-owners insurance was putting me up in another house, fully furnished and would do this for up to one year so I felt safe that there was plenty of time.

Within two weeks, I was called back in to this company to sign a paper by the same salesman that had written up the contract in the first place. According to him, he wasn't suppose to say that it would be 4-5 months even though he was sure it would be and wanted me to sign a waiver that let him off the hook 'just in case.' Of course, being naive, I laughed and signed. After all, they had a year. Even if it took six months, I'd be good.

What they didn't tell me was that the waiver encompassed EVERYTHING the salesman had said to me which turned out to be that they DID subcontract. So, my little house wound up taking literally the entire year to build. Not only could they not get a crew together timely, they apparently couldn't, according to the notes from the city inspector, follow directions. So when you added all the delays and lack of workers, etc., it really did take an entire year.

Before you move in, you have to literally sign off on the house with a walk thru. So here I am with my insurance rental expiring in two days and having to sign off on the house just so my family wouldn't wind up on the street homeless. To say there were things that were not right, is an understatement and certainly material for a much longer blog. And of course I made them write it down with a promise to come back and fix, etc., but, I still had to sign off to get in the house.

However, the purpose of this particular post is to vent about what has over the years become a joke. When we moved into this new home, it came with a yard full of sod. That lasted all of one year before it literally died. I fertilized, I watered, I weeded, I did everything you are suppose to do to your yard but, nothing worked. I finally gave up and let it be whatever it was to become...a mix of grass and weed. Then we decided to put in a flower bed and as we started to dig, we hit something. Turned out to be a bucket full of beer cans. Yep, a giant paint bucket filled with empty crushed beer cans. And so the jokes began. You cannot dig anywhere on my property that you don't find something....left over cement, roofing tacks, a bucket of screws, etc., Not surprising when you look back at it to know why the grass died. Apparently they dumped dirt over the entire job site and thru the sod on top of that. But after 12 years, I would like to think I have found everything there is to find. T'was not to be. I went out today to plant a small shrub my mother gave me. I used my trusty spade and before I could scoop out the second scooper full, the dirt turned orange and I hit something. But this time, I went in and got a camera. This is what I dug out of one hole...

The point of this rant is this...if you hire this company that has been in business since 1955 to build a house for you, or if you buy one that they have built on one of their lots, have an inspector to go over everything including the yard with a metal detector. It will save you in the long run. I can only imagine what they will find someday when I put that inground pool in. Maybe the body of that salesman...I noticed he turned up missing not long after I signed that waiver......

Huckabee and the repealitnow.org scam.

2011-06-03T15:47:00.000-04:00

I am so sick of these commercials! Mike Huckabee has the balls to say that Obama passed his healthcare in an undemocratic way behind closed doors. I have to question where he was when George W Bush was president. Talk about things being done behind closed doors!!! We will never know ALL the damage done by Bush during our lifetime as it takes a long time for that much schit to roll downhill. This we do know Mike! Under Bush the debt went through the roof thanks to his illegal war. Where were you then? I am not going to retry all that Bush did in this rant. I just want to say one thing. MIKE HUCKABEE SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE HELL UP!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2010-09-15T18:33:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-08-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

Hello This is Cancer Calling

2010-08-20T19:46:00.000-04:00

I have a tendency to read random blogs. Once I find one that strikes a familiar cord, I stick with it. These people, even though some I have never met, wind up becoming more than just a blog to me. They become, dare I say, friends? That is how it feels to me anyway. I read the goings on in their life; follow their joys and their sorrows, friend them on Facebook and well, they become a very real part of my life. And so it was with one particular 'friend' whom I have followed her and her partner since 2005. Chef Tina, as I came to know her, has been diagnosed with cancer. It has only been a few short months since she lost her own mother to the Big C as well. You can read her story here:
http://cancersucksass.blogspot.com/
Her out of pocket expenses are insane and I know times are tough thanks to this economy but, if anyone out there is blog land has anything extra to spare, please click on this link below. It's so sad that in a country as rich as America, people are charged these insane amounts.
http://tinamarie.bbnow.org/

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-08-18T09:20:00.002-04:00

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-08-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

Twenty Stolen Questions for Wednesday

2010-08-04T18:19:00.000-04:00

20 questions

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? How in the world do I get my hair so messed up in my sleep! I hardly move.....I thought.

2. Do you miss anyone right now? I miss my sister. she hasn't been the same since our father passed away.

3. If you could move anywhere else, would you? I would if I could take my grown sons and my grandchildren. I would love to move out of this repressive state but, I don't think I could ever leave them since they are my world. Family is everything.

4. If you could choose, what would your last meal be? Protein bars and coffee.

5. What famous person, dead or alive, would you want to have lunch with? Famous person? Hmmm, I think I would want to have lunch with Amelia Earhart. Then I could find out what really happened to her.

6. What was the last book you read? The Michael Jackson Story.

7. What was the last movie you watched? I watched a pay per view movie....Repo Men

8. What was the last song you heard? Caribbean Queen by Billy Joel.

9. What's your dream vacation? I would love to take a month long Disney cruise overseas and take in an 'Adventures by Disney' vacation to the Cliffside gardens in Italy.

10. What is the next trip you'll take? Hoping to go to New Orleans Labor Day for Southern Decadence.

11. Did you ever go to camp? Nope. When it came to the forest/woods; while I enjoy the quietness of them now, terrified me as a child because I had such a fear of snakes.

12. Have you ever been in love? Yes, of course.

13. What do you want to know about the future? Not sure.

14. Where is your best friend? That is a good question.

15. How is your best friend? Your guess would be as good as mine.

16. Who is the biggest gossiper you know? My sister n law. When she meets a person, she asks them a million questions; nothing is off limits. Then she commits it all to memory and relays whatever it is in the most negative, unflattering light possible. It's disgusting.

17. What does your last text message say? "Call the office and ask them if you can have your bed delivered on Sunday the 7th. Tell them you don't have any other time you can have it delivered. Lori is working 16 hour days that week and can't help." ( My son is moving into a new apartment in the middle of the work week.)

18. What are 3 things you've always wanted to do, that you still plan to accomplish? 1. Travel 2. Stay young at heart 3. Remain grateful for what I have.

19. What is one thing you've learned from your parents? Not to live my life like they did. Have fun while you can or it could be to late like it was for them.

20. What is one thing you hope to teach your own children? That each generation is responsible for the generation that came before them and the one that is coming after them whether you like them or not. lol

Forgiveness Can Be Healing

2010-07-05T20:01:00.000-04:00

I was contacted a few months back on a public forum by my first husband. It had only been 33 years since I had seen him. WTF you say? Well, that is pretty much what I said as well.

This man, was only a boy when we were married. It was not a long marraige nor was it even remotely a good marriage. He was in the Marine Corp. Using a fake ID and with parental consent, we married at the young age of 17. Almost 18 if we had waited 4 months so, you can guess why the parents went ahead and consented. It was in our heads to do this so it was going to happen.

I can't say it was love. I guess in his mind it might have been but, in mine, it wasn't. Yes, I said I loved him. Said I'd be true, yada yada yada yada. But honestly, looking back, I just wanted to get out of my parents house and out from their control. So, you can imagine how angry I was when on our honeymoon night (a total disaster by the way) I was told (after the deed) that he was being shipped overseas for a 13 month non accompaning tour of duty and would be leaving in 10 days. Yea....basically I got married to get out of the house and now I would be stuck in that house for another year AND not be able to go out because I would be married. To say I was angry really doesn't do it justice. I felt betrayed, used, stuck and very angry at myself for being so manipulative and stupid.

Fast forward here a bit. I stayed with my parents. It was horrible. He left and seemed to get into one mishap after the other while overseas. Always in trouble, always being fined or court marshaled. It was a nightmare. He lied every chance he could and by the time he returned to the states, I was not sure how I felt other than I still wanted out of my parents house. So off I went with, what turned out to be, a total stranger.

As my luck back then would have it, he turned out to be much more than a liar. He was abusive. He was physically violent. He never had any money. We did without food. It was a lesson in life that I could have spared myself if I had known myself a little better. Known that I was gay. Known that even if I hadn't been gay that this marriage wouldn't have worked because I wasn't in love with him and because he was a pathological liar. The reunion lasted all of 3 months and a few days. He came home the first part of Feb and by June I was home and filing for a divorce. Nothing he had told me about his stint in the military had been truth. Not a word of it. So I got my stuff together, what was left after he went on a rampage and gave as much of it away as he could or outright destroyed it and left. At least it was over and I could go on. He left as well. Went AWOL and was eventually (30 days later) classed as a deserter.

As luck plays out, I returned to start fresh only to find out that I was pregnant. Yes, pregnant and about to miscarry. I was in shock. I didn't want to loose the baby but, I didn't trust him or want him around. And that is where my luck began to change. He never came around. He never tried to contact me after the divorce. He just went on doing whatever he was doing whatever that was. I never mentioned the baby to anyone that knew him. My attorney had advised me given his psychological profile that it would be better for me not to list him on the birthcertificate or ever list him as the father or ask for any type of support. By doing so would open up his right to visitation and that could put me in a situation where he could take the baby across state lines and I'd never see it again. This was a scenario that I felt certain could occur with him. Not out of love for the child but, to get back at me. He had, when he found out I was leaving him, put a loaded gun to my head and threatened to pull the trigger. Only the good Lord knows how I survived that terrifying morning. But I did. And so for16 years I followed that attorney's advice.

Then one day my son asked me if I would find his father. I did so reluctantly but, also with the new knowledge that he was old enough NOT to be kidnapped. The reunion was not a good one. Turns out the man had remarried. Not once but twice. This second wife he had a daughter by. And she was none to thrilled to hear about this long lost son. Lawyers got involved. DNA testing was requested and done. Child support awarded. It was horrible and drug on for two years. In the end my son was given all of $30 a week and received 3 letters from his father. The last one blamed my son for ending his current marriage. And the child support was never paid.

Finally a letter arrived telling us to contact the Social Security Administration. Seems my ex had given my son's name when he went on disability and my son was entitled to support from Social Security. Instead of $30 a week that was never paid, my son would receive $20 a week but, it would at least consistently come on a monthly basis until he turned 18 or graduated from High School. Lucky for my son, he would be 19 when he graduated so he actually got to collect this for more than just a few months. Not that it was much. Even in 1994 this was considered peanuts. A mere token more so than support. But it was something he could use for going to the movies or yearbooks, prom etc. I mean lets face it. Support as in a home, clothes, medical, dental (and believe me there was an abundance of both of those!) and extracurricular activities/expenses from such things as scouting was not covered by this poultry amount of money. But, I wasn't bitter about it. My son grew up without the grandious lies, thievery and violence and you certainly can't put a price on that.

Still there was guilt. Guilt that I made a decision to not promote a relationship with his father. I mean, who am I to play God? I grappled with this over the years. Always telling myself it was for the best. But, being adopted myself and having been one of the lucky ones that actually found and had a relationship with my biological family only made me feel worse that I had denied my son this basic right. After the letters came and my son decided that he didn't wantto ever meet his father, we turned to his Grandmother. This woman knew her son better than anyone and she was in agreement that it was better to leave him to his own devices.
I told her how I had felt all these years and that is when she dropped the bomb. The bomb was that he had in fact known about our son when I was pregnant. That some friend/person that knew the two of us and knew I was pregnant would have had to know the story of the breakup but yet, had come by her house and told him that I was pregnant was his child. This 'friend' never was named and to this day I have no idea who would have put my unborn child in such potential danger. One of many reasons over the years that I have basically ditched every person I knew from that era. Now the guilt for me was lifted and I could actually start to heal from all that happened. I had not stopped to think though, what that would mean to my son. I didn't think about how it would only reinforce his feeling of being rejected. Still it didn't seem to show and he grew into a terrifically stable young man.

Jump forward to the present. This is a big jump because so much happened during those 17 years that I would need to write a book to cover it all. And since this is a blog, I need to wrap it up. So fast forwrd now to the end of May when I received an email through a public forum from this man.

The email started with "Yes, this is the late blank blank. I am a MTF transexual..... Did I read that correctly? I had to reread it over and over and over. And then I began to laugh. Was this another one of those pathological lies? Did he speak to his mother after all these years and find out that I was gay and was trying to reach me on some kind of equal level? Of course I did a very childish thing and posted it on this public forum. A forum I didn't realize my son even read what I posted. It embarrased him. It made him angry. Not only because of the content of my words but because in a momentary lapse of judgement I had referred to my son as a homophobic. Something which I shouldn't, in hindsite have done. It sent ripples of anger my way that took me weeks to fully understand. But, it did something else. It started me thinking about the past.

After doing a bit of ameteur detective work, I was able to find out that it was indeed true and not a lie. After consulting my partner we both decided that I should answer this email. After all, in all fairness, who would want to be judged by things they said and did 10 years ago let alone 20 or 30. And so began a correspondence that has morphed into a psuedo type of friendship with HER calling me every Saturday to see how my week has gone. We talk about the past a lot. We talk about how angry she use to be. She has shared so much with me on her journey to accepting who she is and what she wants in life. I don't talk about my son with her other than to say he is doing well. I refuse to tell her about his life. My son wrote her and told her he wants nothing to do with her. I listened as she read me his letter and cried. She didn't understand what he was basing some of the comments on in the letter and where they came from so, I had to fill in the blanks. Turns out they were lies told by her then wife; they never occurred. I believe her on this. She gave compelling testimony to support it. But a lot of it WAS her fault. Things she said, things she wrote, years she didn't do anything to reach out. All of those things she is having to own and she is doing that. She admits she wasn't there for him. She admits she has no right to ask to be in his life but still she wants to be. Hopes to someday be. She wants to have a chance to explain. She wants a lot actually. But, she said she is willing to wait. Hoping that it isn't to long of one. As she put it, "I don't want him to wake up one day and want to ask me questions and I have passed away." As she points out, it isn't easy to be a transexual. There is danger every day and one never knows what the future holds. She's 53 now. Not a young one. I have no way to know for sure if this honesty is sincere. I have to go on faith. I feel I owe it to her to give her a chance to be real with me. I am not my son. I will not answer for him. I have made that abundantly clear and yet she still wants to talk to me. It is almost therapeutic in nature. We talk about her mother, her father, how she felt growing up, all the wrong choices and the things she wants desperately to correct. I am not a therapist. I try desperately not to offer advice. I listen and try to comfort. I also ask questions. Questions so that more can come out. I also shatter the memories of the past with each call. For me these are painful memoreies and I need to let them go. So in this regard, it is helpful for me to be able to answer some of her questions. One she asked this past Saturday was, "Do you think if I had come around when he was born, would you have let me be a part of my son's life?" "No," I said. "I would have fought you because you scared me and I didn't want to raise a son with someone who could lie and be so violent. I don't think he would have become the guy he is today if you had been in his life." There was a long silence followed by, "You're right. And I'm so sorry I did all that to you and made you feel that way........." and with that the healing begins. For both of us.

Goodbye Scientology

2010-04-10T19:47:00.000-04:00

Today L took all her Scientology paraphenalia, put it in totes and took it to a storage unit. Some she put straight into the trash. I never thought I would see this day come. The phone calls still come but, she blows them off with excuses of being busy. She is even getting quite creative. There is a God after all and his name isn't L Ron Hubbard.

Mother Strikes Again

2010-03-16T19:35:00.000-04:00

My Grandson turns 3 this month. His birthday party is going to be at a park. I mentioned this to my adopted mother. She said she wasn't going. Said it was to much sitting in one place for her and then there is the issue of needing a handicap restroom which she doesn't like to deal with.

Now some friend of my brother's calls and says to her that he and several others from the church want to thank my brother because he is directing their church camp this year and would she like to go. All my mother heard was her son's name and the word "DIRECTOR" and her answer was a resounding and deafening YES!!!! Never mind that she has no idea if she will be within 500 yards of a restroom, and that the camp is located over an hour and a half's drive from her house Suddenly the sitting and restroom issue isn't such an issue any more.

So far, she has mentioned this 4 times since yesterday. Once when she first told me about the call. Then the second time when she called to tell me she wants me to go to the store and buy him a pair of gold cufflinks, then the third time when she called back to tell me to add a gold tie clip to that, then when she called to tell me to go pick up a card.

What kind of card?

"Something with Son on it! :::Pauses::: Or something 'TO THE ONLY MAN IN MY LIFE' because that is what he is."

::Thinking I may throw up at any moment::: "I mean," I said, "What KIND of card. One that says Congratulations or what?"

She says "No, something that says To DIRECTOR."

I'm like, "Ma! They don't make a card like that!"

"Then get one that says THINKING OF YOU", she says and then adds; "Do you have any solid color wrapping paper like in a gold color?"

"No," I said. "I don't keep paper like that because nobody in my family is a Director."

Volunteer for a free day at Disney

2010-01-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

Opportunity: Foster Cats and Kittens- Brandon

Organization Served: Cat Call, Inc

Verifying Organization: Cat Call, Inc

Interest: Animals & Environment

Location: Brandon, FL 33508

Minimum age: 6

Date: Scheduling to be arranged

Opportunity: Organize a cat food and litter drive

Organization Served: Cat Call, Inc

Verifying Organization: Cat Call, Inc

Interest: Community, Animals & Environment

Location: Brandon, FL 33508

Minimum age: 6

Date: Scheduling to be arranged

Cat Call, the largest all-volunteer no-kill cat rescue in the Tampa Bay area is seeking volunteers to organize a food and litter drive. Cat Call, besides caring for the 200+ cats and kittens that are in foster care at any give time,(which swells to over 500 in kitten season) also maintains a sanctuary with over 75 non-adoptable cats that are special needs, usually due to medical issues.

In the spirit of what Disney is trying to do, we're asking people not to just buy some and donate it. We'd like the family or group to actually work on this, whether its getting permission from their school or teacher to hand out fliers they made to encourage others to donate, make posters, set up a donation box by a supermarket (with permission)- asking the neighbors to help, any clubs or activities that participate in would be great sources also, also where you work would be great- We can provide a ton of information about cats in Tampa and their needs. Most is available on line. This is an on your honor type of drive, but we'd love to see pictures of what your family did to make a difference. Treats, toys, cat towers are great also. Powdered KMR, wipes and bottles are needed every kitten season. Blankets, flannel sheets and bathroom rugs with the rubber backing on them are ALWAYS needed at the sanctuary. PetSmart and WalMart gift cards are always welcome. We're asking that each person participating in organizing a drive continues until they have reached at least 150 lbs clumping litter (like tidy cat) or 100 cans wet cat food (like friskies) per adult. Or any combination-

For more information e-mail jeaninecohen@gmail.com

To participate, look for the note below that says click here if you have talked to the group and confirmed your date- pick your date that will be the day you turn in what you've collected and register yourself and anyone over 6 who is going to help you or be on your team. Drop offs will be at various locations in the Tampa Bay area and will be set up for each group.

Express interest in this opportunity

To volunteer for this opportunity, you'll need to follow 3 steps before you can sign up for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" program:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day-Search

1.Fill out the form below to email Cat Call, Inc and arrange a date and time to volunteer. They will respond to your email within the next 5 days.

2.Confirm with the organization the date and time you will volunteer.

3.Open the email sent by HandsOn Network to you about this opportunity. By clicking on the enclosed link, you will return to this website and proceed to sign up for this volunteer opportunity where you will need to enter the date and time you agreed to volunteer.

Your name:

Your email address:

My Anniversary and A Homophobic Reminder That We Are Not Equal

2009-12-28T16:50:00.000-05:00

We live three doors down from my adopted mother. My partner helps me attend to many of my mother's needs.

SCENE: On my way out of town to take my adopted mother to my Aunt's funeral, we had the following conversation:

ME: (happy) You know Mom, today is my 15th anniversary.

MOM: (sounding shocked)To who?

ME: (deadpan) You know! 15 years drug free....What do you mean to who?! Who do you think???

MOM: (agitated) Well, I don't count and keep track of how many years it's been.

ME: (sarcastic) Well, that's obvious! Because apparently you can't keep track of who I'm with either!

:::LeSigh:::

This Week In Review At Our House

2009-12-13T20:06:00.000-05:00

We had a very scary week but it ended upbeat thank goodness.

Our daughter-n-law who is months pregnant was sent to the hopsital Wed night with pains in her side. After much texting back and forth, all night long, we found out that it was an acute appendicitis and that she was being taken into surgery....and that she could loose the baby....which they had just found out was a little boy. Needless to say, everyone was worried.

To make matters worse, we had reservations at Disney's Animal Kindom Resort's Boma for breakfast as well as tickets to the Christmas Candlelight Processional at Epcot starring Andy Garcia that night with friends from our church. Fortunately for everyone, the surgery went well and we were told to get the heck gone and have a good time. This was a bit hard to do so we waited and after we spoke with the doctor, we felt enough at ease to literally leave. Of course we kept in touch via cell phone the whole time. As it turned out, she and the baby did and are doing very well. And as for Andy Garcia; he is just as handsome in person as he is on screen! We actually sat in the front row....although it was a bit to close for comfort, he made it worth while and I'm not even attracted to men! So you go Andy Garcia!!! By the time we got home that night, we were beat not having much sleep the night before.

It was a first at the processional where he actually told the story of Christ's birth in Spanish and in English. Very beautiful and moving. At Christmas time I always miss my biological mother because it was a holiday she enjoyed so much. Her Buenos Noches Dinner was legend; the roast pork, gandule rice, pasteles, salad, etc. . She loved cooking for all her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, friends, and co-workers. It was her gift to them. She spoke fluent Spanish and had a very thick english accent so, I always associate the language with her and Christmas. During the season, Spanish is what I want to hear. People could be talking about doing the laundry for all I care as long is it spanish. It is just music to my ears and I so enjoyed hearing Mr. Garcia.

On Saturday, we moved the youngest son into a new place in the well to do section of New Tampa. I say that with tongue in cheek but, it is a very nice location. The condo sets up against a Cypress Preserve and he and his girlfriend have a beautiful tiled, screened in back porch that overlooks the preserve. They love nature so this is ideal for them. The place is pretty large for a two bedroom two bath condo. I don't know the square footage but, it is bigger than the two bedroom duplex apartment they just left. I'm happy for both he and his girlfriend. They had just been broken into in their old place and of course things that were stolen were things they couldn't replace. So this new place is much much more safer as it is not only in a nice section of town but, in a gated communtiy.

Saturday night we went out to dinner and then to the Christmas Concert at my church. We love the music and it was by no means a disappointment. There is so much talent in that church that I don't know why they don't try to make a record. Last night was no exception. We heard jazz, we heard gospel, we heard traditional Christmas songs and we saw ballet. Yep, they actually incorporated two of the most handsome talented young men ever dressed as angels who performed to the music. It was so inspiring and awesome I can't even describe it. I was angry that I didn't take my camcorder or camera. And we also got to see a lot of church members that we haven't seen in a while since we haven't been going because of L's new work schedule. It was really fun. The only down side was I made a small pig of myself at the desert table and ate a small muffin AND three cookies. Waaaaay to much sugar for me. I felt sick and was afraid I was going to start that dumping syndrome but, I didn't thank goodness. Never again. I think one cookie would have been more than enough....it wasn't like they were small. lol

We came home late and stayed up until four this morning watching Christmas videos while we put up the Christmas tree. It was worth it. It looks beautiful. I am going to have to take a picture and post it. Maybe for my Wordless Wednesdays.

Last weeks pictures were of my sons and my Grandson. My oldest son, the one in the suit in his office, is going to be on the radio this week for his job. I don't know the particulars about what he will be talking about but it is a new talk radio show.

I guess that's it for now. I still have a tiny bit of shopping left but for the most part I am through.

We are going to Disney's Pirate Pals Lagoon Cruise next Thursday. ( I'm hoping we can finish up the shopping in downtown Disney. I looooovvvveee to shop down there even though it is packed even during a week day.) This event is for children and adults but, really more for children. L needed to know about the event for work so, she was given two tickets to attend. I'm just looking forward to being out in the lake at night. I love being on the water any where. lol Except the Everglades. Nope, don't like it there. lol

On Saturday we are attending a party at a dear friends house. I have a little surprise cooked up for her! Can't say what it is here just in case. The only downer is that my daughter-n-law may not be well enough to attend. But, we are looking forward to the party.

Well, that is about it. Hope everyone is getting caught up and ready to enjoy their Christmas Parties, Christmas and New Year. It is such a busy time of the year and I barely blog when it isn't busy so, I may not be back for awhile.

Take care everyone!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-

2009-12-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

In Loving Memory Of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado 1990-2009

2009-11-22T18:28:00.001-05:00

So sad that this happened. When will the hatred and intolerance end?

SCIENTOLOGY MAIL ENDLESS SCI FI

2009-11-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

I received the following in the mail:

Dear Scientologist,

With the international Mecca of Scientology now under final construction, the imminent release of Super Power is more and more real with every coming day.

In fact, each floor of the new Flag building is under construction and moving rapidly to completion.

This forward progress marks the speed in which we will soon be clearing the planet-in fact, lightning speed with the fabulous 12 rundowns of Super Power.

The restoration of native state abilities for a thetan will guarantee that a team of beings of new levels, the Scientologists, will creat the new world here on Earth.

It is the suppporters of the Super Power Expansion Project that have made this advancement of our religion possible.

And it is for this reason that I ask you again to give a generous hand in forwarding the purpose of the release of Super Power.

With a contribution of $100, $250 or more you make a cleared planet a reality.

Thank you for your gifts and help to the betering of mankind.

Much love,

XXXXX XXXXXXX

P.S. Please take this step now as your donation speeds this group to its final victory- a planet that can be free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. If I could make this schit up, I'd be rich!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-

2009-11-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

What are friends for?

2009-11-05T20:40:00.001-05:00

I don't blog as often as I'd like. I generally think about things I want to blog about right before bed and then of course by the time I wake up the next morning, I've completely forgotten about them. But not this time.

I'm a little upset today. The reason involves the older sister of a dear friend of mine. I have known my friend for over forty years. My friend, I'll call 'T' can't stand her sister and for good reason. The older sister was the favorite child of the two. You know the kind. In her parents eyes she is perfect but in reality she is trouble with a capital T. A good example; she use to sell pot. She hid it between the mattress and box-spring of my friend's bed. Her parents find the drugs and literally beat the crap out of my friend. Meanwhile, her sister who's dope it was, did nothing and said nothing. When my mother saw my friend and heard the story, she tried to intervene and speak to the parents. Their response? "She would NEVER do anything like sell pot! Now T would but, no sirree, we don't believe that story!"

Eventually her father passed away and T continued to live with her mother. She has held jobs, helped her mother out and been a constant in her life. Although extremely naive to the point of being labeled a simpleton, she is a good person. Her sister on the other hand moved on and never looked back. Never called her mother or came to visit whether it was her mother's birthday, Christmas or Thanksgiving even though she lived right here in the city. Until she needed something. According to her mother, she has bled over $10,000 off of her in the last year alone. The mother fell in the back yard and fractured two vertebras and is now unable to work. T has worked and cared for her mother alone. Then the end of Sept of this year the sister shows up having no where to go. Claims she lived in her car and a homeless shelter; that she lost everything she owned; furniture clothes apartment. To the dismay of both T and her mother, she moved her butt in even though they told her they didn't have any place for her. It is still unclear whether she was fired or quit her job as an Orthodontist assistant. 'T's mother called and asked me if I would help get her daughter a job by letting her apply online so she could get her out of the house before 'T' killed her. I said sure even though I can't stand T's sister. She came over alright and it quickly became apparent that she has no computer knowledge, doesn't want any knowledge, and doesn't really want a job. It's also iffy whether or not she has her certification like she claimed as I can't find it online.

T called yesterday to vent about how sick she was of her sister being there and how they exchanged heated words and the sister had called her a dyke and a few other things. T had lost control and hit her in the nose. But that at least now the woman takes off before T gets home from work and stays out till T goes to bed. This pleased and tickled T to no end as she is not the kind of person to stand up for herself and she felt proud that she had for once. But, it still didn't have the desired response which was to get her to leave for good. T is also worried about her mother. The sister is working the mother's sympathies to the point that T's mother had given in and gave her $500 to help her pay her car insurance and get gas. That is $500 that her mother didn't have to spare. T pays the living expenses and her mother helps with the groceries. The sister signed up and is getting food stamps but uses it strictly for herself. Other than buying her own groceries, the sister contributes nothing to the household. T was speculating where she takes off to everyday.

Now comes the good part. I passed the heifer today on the way back from the grocery store. Even though I had fresh shrimp and ice cream in the car, my butt just had to turn around and follow her. I forgot to mention earlier that she actually called me and left a very hateful message on my voice mail a few weeks back because I didn't want to help her...said I was heartless. Coming from her, I had to hold it in to keep from peeing my pants with laughter when I heard it. So out of curiosity, I had to know where she was heading. As it turns out, you'd never guess. The liquor store. Where she went in and came out with a bag. I'm pretty sure it isn't coca cola she bought. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow her to her next destination due to the groceries but, I sure would like to know now myself, just where it is that she goes every day. I feel so sorry for T and her mother. For someone who has to beg money to pay for gas, I wonder how she could afford the booze? And more importantly, how do you get someone like that out of your house once they've planted roots? I'm certainly not going to tell T what I saw. But still, this just confirms what I've always thought about that woman. That she is a selfish self-centered lying using leach.

THURSDAY'S NIGHT JOB

2009-10-29T22:32:00.000-04:00

Who said When it Rains it Pours?

2009-10-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

The last few days have been fairly intense for us. So glad L took vacation days.

To begin with, my daughter-n-laws best friend, unbeknownst to anyone, as she kept it a secret, went into the hospital for surgery to have some growth on her neck removed. Turns out she has thyroid cancer and it had spread into her upper chest. They 'think' they got all the cells. Of course no one knows for sure. At first they said it was a stage two and she was given five to ten years. Now today they are not mentinoning time frames and talking more about her being young (32) and in good health otherwise and how she may, after chemo and radiation do well. Whatever that means. Her mother, who just lost her mother in July to lung cancer basically collapsed and had to be taken from the hospital after being told she may have to bury her daughter in her life time. I am in shock at the way they were all first told personally as they said M's husband, likewise fell apart. The doctor must have come out there with guns ablazing is all I can figure out. They, just like my son and his wife, were high school sweethearts. In fact all four went to the same school and they are Godparents to my Grandson. Tough stuff. I'm hoping the doctor's are wrong and she will be okay.

Today we found out that someone crawled along side of or went under the Camaro we parked at my mother's house and sawed off the catalytic converter. In addition to that, they carved the words 'kill you' on the driver's side. I feel like leaving a sign on the door that reads: ' I may kill you first you piece of sh!t'.

Obviously that later had to be the work of someone who knew the car wasn't driven and that there was no one who would see the deed being done. All fingers point to the punk living behind her. He has had numerous scrapes with the law....very anti gay (left a condom on our doorknob once and then was dumb enough to video our reaction and show it to my son.) Of course we had no reaction. Just opened the door, saw it, went and put a garden glove on and removed it. Eh...

Other than the above, I don't have any news. Which at this point is a blessing.
We carry on the basic of insurance on the car as no one drives it anywhere but, now it is over $500 to repair it because of the damage to the pipes as well. My hope is that it was taken to use on another car. My guess is it was a pos as the car ran jerky and most of the time stalled out. lol That is why we didn't sell it. That and the fact that it served a purpose of making it look like someone lived at my mother's house. Of course like I said, anyone who lives around in the area or passes the house knows the car never moves. I really doubt you could get all that much for the part itself.

My mother's dog is still having seizures. Had a super bad one on Monday while I was at the cardiologist's office with her. Came back to find the poor thing laying sprawled out in her own waste and unable to move. Also crying her eyes out. I got it all cleaned up. She apparently tried to get up so much she bloodied her back feet which totally failed her. Carried her to the living room and then to the car for the trip to the vet. They are now saying she has what is equal to Parkinson's and Althemizer's in dogs. She's a 13 years old German Shepard. She's been on steroids for months now for what they originally diagnosed as a brain tumor. But it looks like it may have been this all along. Same kind of seizures...so we've had to add pain meds and some kind of anti parkinson medicine. Poor Mother would be lost without that dog. Not sure how that is going to play out in the end. Will most likely take our Blue Dobie down to live there if something happens as she will be a great watch dog for Mom and it would help the dog out as she is 8 years old and has artheritis. Becoming an inside dog would be like she died and went to heaven for her. She was inside here all last winter because of her artheritis and chewing of her feet to a bloody pulp and she got use to it REAL quick. lol

SCIENTOLOGY: NO DOES NOT MEAN NO TO THEM

2009-10-21T20:17:00.005-04:00

At first I wasn't going to blog about this but, I can see that it is going to be another one of those funny little Scientology stories that should be told.

I received a standard letter a few weeks back from a woman I'll call Tweedle Dee. It read:

HELLO,
This is Tweedle Dee. I am a Service Consultant at the Church of Scientology of xxxxx.
I have been helping people with the technology of Scientology to find the right solution for them for the various difficulties they have in life. I thought you would be interested to know some of the things which can be handled using the technology of Scientology.

In looking at this list you might find a situation you are in yourself. If so, that's okay-It can be handled. (unfortunately non of the situations include being a) stalked by the Church of Scientology b) being bombed with phone calls from the Church of Scientology c) being sent butt loads of Scientology junk mail)

Each item on this list can be dealt with and handled. the way it gets handled is different for every person, but it starts with deciding to do something about it. None of these things get better on their own. It requires your decision to handle it and help yourself get rid of the unwanted conditions in your life. (Never mind that THEY are the only unwanted condition in my life.)

In Scientology, we have the knowledge and tools to handle these conditions. But it does start with your participation.

Call me at (XXX) XXX-XXXX or mail this form back to me as the first step.

Sincerely,
Tweedle Dee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To which I responded with the following form letter:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear _______________[insert name]

I received your letter dated____________

I signed up and completed the Communication course. Someone else signed me up for the Dianetics Original Thesis Course. I came in and did not care for the course nor the structure of the environment and have no plans to return to any Scientology courses now or in the foreseeable future.

Repeated requests to be taken off all mailing lists go ignored and I have become accustomed to the daily sorting and trashing of Scientology literature of which I am certain you will not understand.

If however, an explanation is needed, I'm quite sure you have gone to a store shopping for shoes and may have tried on several pars only to find you didn't prefer them for reason or another. Perhaps you even went toa different store where eventually you found what you wanted and what best fit you. This is what I have done; found a church I prefer to Scientology. This revelation will without a doubt, have absolutely no impact on the actions of you church and is why I will continue to use this standad from letter to reply.

Peace be with you,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personally, I think the above response is waaaaay nicer than any of them deserve but, whatever. I was stupid. I saw a personality test online and I was dumb enough to take it. I then got sold a bill of goods and took a course. My mistake. Why was it a mistake? Because I went to a place to learn about communication. Communication people. A place that when someone tells them NO about something you would think that they would GET that. But, they don't. What does that say to you about the way THEY communicate? Now here comes the stalking sic part about this that I have come to expect from the likes of them. I got the same form letter in the mail again today. Are you starting to see a pattern here folks? These people are robots. They do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and that is all they know to do. So, of course I just hit print and in their envelope the standard reply goes. It is their envelope and their postage so I don't care. I just want this to be a lesson to anyone out there who is even REMOTELY curious about this group. DON'T BE!!! They really are relentless. And unless you have the fortitude and the stamina to deal, they will eat you for breakfast and eventually suck every dime you have. Their courses are expensive and if you can't pay for them then you can work for them. It is a win win for them. Money or slaves.

Their new tactic is to sponsor ads on MySpace and other networking sites where teens who question their existence and the meaning of life on a minute to minute basis can be found. A veritable smorgasbord of prey. They also use these websites to track people. It is what they do. It is all a tremendous number of them do. It's their job. Don't make it yours.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-10-21T00:11:00.000-04:00

For Jess

2009-10-10T00:17:00.002-04:00

I am running late tonight and just read Jess‘s latest post, in which he challenged readers to use their camera phones to take photos of themselves just as they are, right in the moment. So, here I am in all my tired glory. lol

Don't Tell Me Who To Love by Ray Boltz

2009-10-01T11:33:00.001-04:00

MCC Tampa this Sunday 5:00 pm Free Spaghetti Dinner and concert by Ray Boltz

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-09-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-09-09T15:41:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-09-02T18:10:00.001-04:00

HONEST SCRAP MEME

2009-09-01T12:56:00.015-04:00

Sooooooooo you may have seen the Honest Scrap MEME floating around. Why I, who almost never blogs got it, is a testament to the desperateness (and kindness) of Tina at http://tina-cious2.blogspot.com.- Gee, Tina; "Batman legend", eh? I would have thought it was the anti Scientology rants that got the mose attention. lol

Anyway, here's how it works. There are three rules for this award:

First, link back to the person who gave you the award. Since I am computer challenged and unable to do this, I will just post their address and you can copy and paste it to your browser.

Next, give the award to 10 other bloggers: This will be a challenge for me and I may not be able to accomplish this. I do read some blogs but most of them I read.....annonoymously. lol I've never even commented on them or if I have, it has only been once or twice. But I will list what I can.

1) http://jenniferbick.com- I've never known anyone so into makeup in my life. Last post she had just bought a house and I was looking forward to hearing about that but there seemed to be technical problems.

2) http://evilylee.blogspot.com-Eva writes sporadically these days but it is wonderful to read about her pooch, her new home and her pool. Oh and ocassionally her better half.

3) http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com -Margaret and Helen...when I want to laugh, I go hear. This woman definetly knows the score and her use of words is eloquent, to the point and hysterical.

4) http://oddgrlout.blogspot.com- Rain keeps me up to date on the crime in Philly and around the country. After meeting this little stud, I have to say it would almost be fun to be tazed.

5) http://cheftinamarie.blogspot.com -I have gotten more than a few excellent recipies from Chef TinaMarie. My only problem is that she writes in colored fonts a lot and when you copy and paste them (especially yellow)it is hard to see. But she must be an awesome cook cause everyone I've had taste her creations loves them.

6) http://sticksoffire.com-of course I have to keep up with my town.

7)http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com-my little neck of the woods.

8) http://rurallesbian.blogspot.com- I loved her take on rural living as I have always wanted to live in the country. Her snake stories though have stopped me from running to the curb with a forsale sign on more than one occassion.

9) http://Joemygod.blogspot.com-I am convinced this guy must do this for a living. He seems to be up to date on everything gay and political. Even if I miss the news I don't miss reading him.

Finally, List 10 Honest Things About yourself.

1) I am a dreamer. I dream about a list of things; remodeling, about moving, about going to school, about traveling, about inventing something that makes me a wealthy person, about buying an RV and going cross country, just about everything you can think of. Obviously none of these dreams have come true but the list keeps getting bigger.

2) I've really gotten over the whole eating issue since the gastric bypass. I don't much care if I eat but I am stuck because I have to cook for Lori so I wind up eating. This sort of bothers me because I wonder how fast I'd loose weight if all I had to do was drink my protein and eat when I felt like it.

3) I had a major fall out with my oldest son and we haven't spoken to each other since July 30th. The only draw back to this is that I feel estranged from my Grandson. My daughternlaw is the one that brings my Grandson over. Still, my son has issues and if he were still small and in this house, I'd have left him sitting in the corner since July 30th. Bahahahahaha

4) I hate unsolicited advice. I'm generally passive about it but, I don't like it. Although I am terribly guilty of giving it. I try to understand why that is. I guess I tend to think if someone mentioned it they must WANT my help. I really am working on not giving any advice. Did you say something? lol

5) I haven't felt like blogging much. I really lead a boring life. Plus any thing I could think of to discuss can be found on a dozen other blogs and certainly better written. I'm not about to give birth, change my gender, run for office, get married, etc. Boring...see I told you.

6) I am a very punctual person. I like to be early if not on time for everything. Lori on the other hand will be late to her funeral. (I just hope I'm not early for my own.)

7) I watch an awful lot of Tru tv. I love the trials and wish I had become a lawyer. I really love the exchanges but more importantly I love listening to the opening and closing remarks to the jurors. Some of these prosecutors are so bad at it that it's obvious without the evidence they would never get a conviction. I like to think I could get a conviction on my presentation alone. (see dreamer mission statement above.)

8) My mother's dog has a brain tumor. My mother is senile. This does not make for a good combination. Just getting the dog her medicine has been a challenge. Now I get a daily blow by blow description of everything that the dog does. It is sad and I wish my mother was in her right mind to understand that the poor thing is going to decline and there is nothing that can be done other than to keep her comfortable. Mother on the other hand, has to be told this EVERY day. Sometimes a couple times a day.

9) I joined a gay church over a year ago. It may even be going on two years ago. I hardly ever go. Why? Because I so hate going alone. Everyone there is a couple. There may be singles there but I never saw any. I've tried going alone but I feel like the fifth wheel. Lori rarely wants to go because for one thing it means getting up early on a day she has to work. The other reason is our differences in beliefs. It blows because I really like the place and the people. I actually feel like I belong there. If I had my choice, I would rather spend the holidays with those people than my family.

10) I wish I had a close, supportative family but I don't. I come from not one but two (adopted and birth) very dysfunctional families. Very few people can say that. I like to dream that I was sitting up there on a cloud and actually chose to jump into this emotional cesspool for a reason. Apparently I hit my head on the bottom and can't remember what that reason is so, I just continue to swim in the waste.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-08-19T12:51:00.000-04:00

Tuesday's Tune

2009-07-28T21:28:00.001-04:00

Jullian's new favorite song. His father on the other hand, says this song makes him think of me...

Monday's Memory

2009-07-27T20:28:00.002-04:00

SCIENTOLOGY: DANGEROUS CULT, INTERNATIONAL SCAM

2009-07-15T20:06:00.003-04:00

SCIENTOLOGY: DANGEROUS CULT, INTERNATIONAL SCAM
By Andrew O'Connor
Daily Egyptian, serving Souther Illinois since 1916

Share this article Published: Monday, July 13, 2009

Today’s topic is Scientology, and the next 500 words will guarantee that I won’t get work in Hollywood.

The Church of Scientology is something many people have heard about, but few know much about it. Allow me to set the record straight: Scientology is a dangerous cult founded by a tax-cheat, B-list science-fiction writer that continues to use its vast wealth and land ownership to harass the critics who dare criticize it.

Scientology is structured in a hierarchal pyramid, where the more “auditing” $essions a person goes through, the more of the founder’s (L. Ron Hubbard) “truth” they are exposed to.

Of course, thanks to the Internet, the highest level “science” Hubbard ever dropped on humanity has been published for more than a decade. And here is the basic gist (familiar to those who have seen the South Park episode): Ahem, 75 million years ago evil space emperor Xenu captured a bunch of aliens, put them all in space planes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs in volcanoes on Earth. The souls of these dead space aliens then tried to float back out into space only to be trapped on Earth by Xenu’s ozone layer-esque alien soul stopper. The souls roamed the Earth for a millennium until they found something to which they could attach themselves in man. These parasitic alien souls, called Thetans, are the reason for our depression and bad television today.

Now let me be fair, I don’t want to defame blatantly individual scientologists. I’m sure that many Scientologists are good, decent people who have just found something of value. It is not my, nor anyone’s, place to disparage anyone’s right to believe anything he or she wants. I was raised Catholic so I am quite familiar with, ahem, more fanciful beliefs (Transubstantiation is just archaic Jesus Magick). My problem here (like my problem with Catholicism) is the institution and specifically the church leadership.

A few weeks ago, Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the two most senior officials ever to leave the Church of Scientology detailed the bizarre, violent and potentially criminal goings on of high-level church management, specifically the head of the church, David Miscavige. Now like all things Scientology, this takes some backstory.

Hubbard founded Scientology a little more than 50 years ago. Since then the empire has grown into a worldwide force, with millions of members, huge amounts of wealth and power and a whole bunch celebrity converts. How do you get all that in such a small amount of time? You lie, cheat and steal every chance you get.

From their tax fraud to their criminal break in of government buildings to extreme intimidation and harassment of family members, governments and journalists, they have cut themselves a huge slice of the pie, which they operate from a cartoonishly evil cruise ship command center (look it up) and the home base in Florida (where else?).

When Hubbard died, there was a power vacuum that was created in church leadership and Miscavige filled that vacuum. The head of the church reportedly beat, humiliated and abused other high-ranking members of the church in order to maintain a dictatorial control. Under his leadership, the church has conducted numerous “black” campaigns, which often use less-than-legal tactics to harass and intimidate anyone defined as an “Enemy of Scientology”(like yours truly).

There is a plethora of credible information available out there on the dangers and evils of the Church of Scientology worth reading, but the real point is this: Scientologists aren’t allowed to read this. Members are conditioned to ignore anything out there that is critical of the church. Any member of the church reading this should know, I love you and so does Jesus, especially when you question your leaders.

So please, if you have family members in the church (especially if they just started) read up on Scientology, and try and persuade them to as well. And if you are approached by Scientologists (or its cover, Dianetics and Business Management Technology) run, don’t walk, toward the nearest escape hatch. Then the 75-million year war for the Earth will be won.

Praise Xenu.

O’Connor is a junior studying
political science and philosophy.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-07-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

Lori's Beloved Brother

2009-07-12T11:27:00.001-04:00

May he rest in peace.......

LeRoy H. Pfaff, age 62, of Sacramento, CA died on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at his home surrounded by his family. He was born on September 20, 1946, the son of Henry Pfaff and Ruth(Cook) Bailey in Lancaster, WI. LeRoy graduated from Lancaster High School in 1964, received a B.S. in Computer Science from Chapman College in 1984, and a M.S. in Telecommunications Management at Golden Gate University in 1993.On August 23, 1969, LeRoy was united in marriage to Alberta Breuer at St. Charles Catholic Church in Cassville, WI. LeRoy served 21 years in the USAF and received the Meritorious Service Award. He retired at the rank of MSGT. He was stationed at Mather AFB, CA from 1980-87 and remained in Sacramento, CA after retiring. He was employed by Anteon from 1987-2001. From 2001 to the present he worked for Anteon Corporation of General Dynamics of Sacramento, CA as a consultant for the US Army Corps of Engineers as a Senior Analyst/Programmer, CAD Manager Supervisor.LeRoy was a Scout Master for 5 years and received the Order of the Arrow. He enjoyed computer technology and programming. He also loved camping, fishing, and gold panning. LeRoy dearly loved spending time with his family, especially his grandson Mark Joshua Vaughn. He hosted 38 exchange students from around the world since 1992.LeRoy is survived by his wife Alberta of 40 years, a daughter, Denise(Luke) Vaughn of Hillsboro, Oregon, a son, Craig(Aimee) Pfaff of Sacramento, CA, and one grandson, Mark Joshua Vaughn. Also survived by three sisters Charlene Ingebritsen, Marita Hale, and Lorissa(Darlene House) Pfaff; five brothers, Loren(Kathy) Pfaff, Warren(Viola) Pfaff, Darvin(Ginger) Pfaff, Galen Pfaff, Terry(Chris) Pfaff along with many nieces and nephews. Survived by father-in-law Albert Breuer and 13 brothers- and sisters-in-law and exchange students turned son, Jakub Magner(Poland), and daughter, Nataly Lessa(Brazil).He was preceded in death by his parents, mother-in-law Marilyn Breuer, brothers- in-law Jim Ingebritsen, Vernon Hale, and Markus Breuer.Funeral services will be held on Monday July 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, Rancho Cordova, CA with Father Martin Moroney officiating. LeRoy was buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Sacramento, CA. A viewing will be held on Sunday, July 12, 2009 from Noon until 5:00 p.m. at East Lawn Mortuary, 5757 Greenback Ln. Sacramento, CA. Memorial donations may be made to the Children's Cancer Center of your choice. Services July 13 2009 10:00 A.M.

Published in Sacramento Bee on 7/12/2009

TOGETHER AT REST

2009-06-21T11:58:00.007-04:00

RIP

2009-06-19T00:52:00.004-04:00

I got a call from my Aunt this afternoon. The first thing she said was that she was sorry. I asked her for what? And she said, 'You don't know?' To which I replied, know what? 'Your father passed away this morning.'

The person she is referring to is my biological father. The one that once he found out I was gay wrote me off. I didn't exist. My sister had tried to mend that fence a little over a year ago but, it didn't work. He wouldn't even look me in the eye. I was pretty done after that. I even told her so. It didn't take long before our relationship began to deteriorate as well. Fast forwarding a through a long story here, let me just say it is terribly hard on siblings when one is adopted and sees a parent in a different light than the one that got to stay sees that same parent.

I was 16 when I met my birth parents. I fell in love with my mother. My father I actually thought was cool. He was thin, tan, sporty dresser, drove a Camaro and had a thick spanish accent. Very sexy. But, getting close to him was a whole nother story. He mumbled alot, seemed moody, distant and always one step away from a fight. I never liked the way he spoke to my mother. But to his advantage, as an alcoholic he was just the opposite. When he was drunk he was the nicest person you ever wanted to meet. He would hand over the keys to his prized car in a nano second if he thought you wanted to take it for a joy ride. He would pull out wads of cash and hand you a couple of twenties. Always laughing. And dance? The man loved to dance. He also loved to play poker, dominoes and bet on the dogs. Which is why he lost a lot of money. It was so bad that my mother's house was in my brother's name up until she passed away so that my father couldn't gamble it away. Still we actually had a decent relationship for about 22 years. Then he found out I was gay. And from then on, I no longer existed.

So now here I sit. I have no idea what I should be feeling. And I can't say that I can describe what I am feeling. I like to think that if my Aunt hadn't called, I wouldn't know. Therefore I wouldn't have to deal. Put of curiosity, I decided to get in my car and drive over to his house to see who was there. I only made it about three houses down from my house before I was actually blocked in the street by a large red pickup which pulled caddy cornered across the street so I couldn't pass. As it inched by me, I saw it was my nephew in law. I rolled down my window and said, "I know why you've come. To tell me that my father passed away." Back at my house, my neice who had passed me in the vehicle ahead of his was waiting in the driveway. So here I had planned to observe his passing from the outside looking in and not communicate and now I was forced to do just the opposite. I faced them for an hour and a half listening to details that I really didn't want to hear. Details about what happened. Details about his last moments. I shouldn't be upset by any of this. I mean, I wrote him off. I'm surprised that it bothers me to the extent that it does. The wake is at 5pm today for the family. I really don't want to go but, I know I will. As my lesbian Aunt put it; "Go! Show them you have class. Pay the respect that you never got."

Justin Roberts - Willy Was A Whale

2009-06-09T17:58:00.001-04:00

My 2 year old Grandson LOVES this song. His parents play it in the car for him and the minute it finishes playing, he says, "Again!"

I HAD NO IDEA

2009-06-05T13:15:00.002-04:00

I just found out that today is National Donut Day. For this day, Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme outlets are giving out free donuts. To get your free donut at Dunkin' Donuts, you have to buy a drink. But at Krispy Kreme you get your donut today for free without the need to buy a drink. Hmmm, I think I'll go with Krispy Kreme. After all, they make the best glazed donut ever!!!!!

Wikipedia Vs Church of Scientology

2009-06-01T15:23:00.004-04:00

I read an article today that states Wikipedia has had enough of the Church of Scientology and some of its critics. Apparently there are "edit wars -agressively adding or removing complimentary or disparaging material from articles related to Scientology."

The article stated that Wikipedia has literally banned people using the Church of Scientology's computers from changing any articles about Scientology. The site's administrators imposed the ban after concluding that church members have been making a "COORDINATED EFFORT" to "REPEATEDLY EDIT" Wikipeida entries to "GIVE A FAVORABLE SLANT" on the controversial religion. The site also banned a "handful" of church critics including the blocking of IP addresses for certain congressional offices. The site even temporarily blocked the Department of Justice, when Wikipeida editors stated they found abuses coming from IP addresses affiliated with those offices. This might explain why they get by with tactics of harassment that anyone else would be persecuted for and I do hope someone looks into this. If nothing else, just fire the perps for using government computers for their own misguided agenda on company time.

Still, it always amazes me how Scientologists as a group have nothing better to do than mount a "coordinated effort" to bomb articles that say anything about them they don't want to hear, blow up people's phones because they have a number that may or may not belong to the person they are calling, mail out mass quantities of unwanted junk mail and still call themselves a religion. Shouldn't they be praying to somebody instead of harassing the rest of us with their rhetoric? Oh that's right. This is a religion that doesn't pray or turn the other cheek. My bad!

Sex With Ducks: the Music Video by Garfunkel and Oates

2009-05-31T19:47:00.001-04:00

PROPOSITION 8's FIGHTIN WORDS

2009-05-28T18:26:00.002-04:00

"Equal protection" is "by its nature, inherently countermajoritarian."

"It cannot depend on the will of the majority for its enforcement, for it is the will of the majority against which the equal protection clause is designed to protect...Proposition 8 represents an unprecedented instance of a majority of voters altering the meaning of the equal protection clause by modifying the California Constitution to require deprivation of a fundamental right on the basis of a suspect classification. The majority's holding is not just a defeat for same-sex couples, but for any minority group that seeks the protection of the equal protection clause."

Justice Carlos R. Moreno

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-05-27T12:17:00.000-04:00

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY

2009-04-30T17:57:00.000-04:00

This just in:

6Pak on Gay Marriage

2009-04-29T19:51:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-04-29T18:40:00.000-04:00

MEME

2009-04-20T16:52:00.000-04:00

Stolen from

Paste the sentences into an entry of your own, change to your answers, then tag me and ten other people. Or Tag any number of people you want.

1. My ex…is pathological and certifiable but hides it very well.

2. Maybe I should… eat even less.

3. I love… reminiscing with friends.

4. People would say that I’m … entertaining.

5. I don’t understand why … church parishioners continue to judge people when the Bible tells them to 'Judge not least ye be judged.'

6. When I wake up in the morning … I can't wait to get started.

7. I lost my … ambition a long time ago.

8. Life is full of … needless bull crap.

9. My past…was way to dramatic.

10. I get annoyed by … neighbors.

11. Parties are … often over rated.

12. I wish life was not …dictated by things that HAVE to be done.

13. Dogs are … a lot of work and destructive in a yard.

14. Cats are… the excuse people use not to visit. ;~D

15. Tomorrow is … promised to no one.

16. I have a low tolerance for … most of the people in my adopted family.

17. If I had a million dollars … I'd buy a large chunk of land and build three houses and a guest cottage.

18. I’m totally terrified … of snakes.

19. My partner … taught me generosity and trust.

20. My life is … comfortable for me.

Tag, YOU'RE it! ;)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-04-15T22:02:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS 2

2009-04-08T10:38:00.002-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-04-08T00:03:00.002-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-04-01T08:10:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-03-18T20:25:00.000-04:00

SILLY SATURDAY

2009-03-14T15:47:00.002-04:00

TXT MSG

2009-03-12T17:08:00.002-04:00

stolen from tina-cious.com because this was just to funny.

Here are the rules:

1. Take your cell phone.
2. Open your txt messege inbox.
3. Answer the questions with a first sentence of the txt messege that has arrived.
4. Question 1 - First sentence from the first messege.
5. Question 2 - First sentence from the second messege, etc...

1. What would you say if your significant other was unfaithful?
"I know it's coming lol."

2. What do you always say to your best friend?
"U did this before."

3. What is the first thing you say when your friend is hit by a bus?
"Your VZW bil is ready to view online.."

4 What is the worst thing you could say to your enemy?
"Ha ha....thanks."

5 What does your mother say before you go to sleep?
"Ok"

6 What would you scream if you won over a million in lottery?
"Might try stopping by tomorrow with insurance check."

7 What would you say to God if you met him/her?
"There are only three types of snakes on the island of Tasmania and all three are deadly poisonous."

8 What would you like to hear the most?
"In 20 min"

9 What will be your last words?
"Thanks again for directions even though it was frustrating lol"

--

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-03-11T12:58:00.003-04:00

L Word Finale

2009-03-09T01:08:00.002-04:00

Well, it is over...sort of. I can't help but wonder if it wasn't an accident since so many comments were made about the 'unfinished loose railing.' Hard to tell. Then the discovery of the tapes.....Did Niki steal them and put them there? If it was murder, do you think it was Bette? Or was it Niki? Or maybe even Kit.. Hmmmmm Guess I'll have to stay tuned online now. What do you think?

March 7th

2009-03-06T22:12:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Lori!!!! I hope you like my surprises for you....lol

Rachel Maddow's Take on The Republican Response- PRICELESS

2009-02-25T19:06:00.001-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-02-25T13:53:00.000-05:00

YBOR BATMAN AND ROBIN

2009-02-20T23:23:00.010-05:00

It looks like the saga of Batman and Robin verses the Tampa Police Department may be over, for now at least. Batman was in court on Monday to face charges of wearing a mask in public and guess what? He won! That's right. There is justice after all. The Judge agreed that wearing a mask to promote a club and eating sushi on the public streets is not a crime. Who knew? Apparently everyone but the police officer who made the arrest. (How I wish I had his name because I would certainly publish it.) The judge also ordered the police to return the mask to Batman. Not that he didn't have others but frankly that's not the point. They shouldn't have taken it in the first place.

To recap, Batman and Robin were not fleeing or commiting any crimes. "Law enforcement approached and detained Batman who was sitting on the curb eating sushi and wearing the "traditional" Batman apparel, complete with cape and partial mask. His attorney's motion to dismiss states. "It was a dark day for the Dark Knight, as he was subsequently placed under arrest for wearing a hood on a public street."

During an interview on Bay News 9, Batma said a sergeant in Ybor City had an issue with his costume and caused him to land _ Pow! Zap! _ in the slammer. The sergeant, Batman said, had previously advised him to unmask himself and told a fellow officer to arrest him.

"They actually didn't let me finish my sushi,'' Batman said.

Batman and Robin at the time of Batman's arrest, were being paid to promote a club called Level Three in Ybor. Fearing runins with the police who seem to frequent 7th Av more than most streets, now can be found promoting The Castle.

Yesterday, they were interviewed on 102.5 The Bone radio station. It doesn't take long to listen to know that these guys are there to have fun. But make no mistake. They're far from stupid. When asked if they would once again take to the streets Batman replied, " I wouldn't want a bag of cocaine to suddenly fall at my feet." POW! ZAP!!

All I can say is HOLY DEFENSE BATMAN!!!

LOVE AND MARRAIGE

2009-02-06T00:12:00.001-05:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

2009-02-04T22:17:00.002-05:00

Tampa Gets Ready for the Super Bowl

2009-01-30T22:57:00.009-05:00

I took these pictures a couple of nights ago. You won't be able to get any where near the stadium or downtown this weekend.

Art being projected on the side of a parking garage....

One Bucaneer Place next to Raymond James Stadium....

Over our house earlier today...

MEME Favorites

2009-01-30T22:47:00.002-05:00

Stolen from Tina at Tina-cious.com

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Entertainment

Movie: The Long Long Trailer, Send Me No Flowers, Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Comedy: The Folks

Romantic Comedy: Three Weddings and a Funeral

Children's Movie: The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Movie Musical: Bye Bye Birdie

Disney Animated Movie: Peter Pan

Disney-Pixar Movie: Finding Nemo

Actor: Nicolas Cage

Actress: Jodie Foster

Child Star: was Kristy McNichol but she grew up.

Book: No one favorite

Author: Varied. I prefer autobiographies

Television Show: of all time, I love Lucy; currently on the air, NOTHING

Video Game: Wii Fit Games

Computer Game: Majohnng Toy Chest

Musical: Mama Mia!

Play: Phantom of the Opera

Band: Weezer

Song: Rainy Night in Georgia

Concert Attended: Santana

Food

Food: Italian

Meal to Cook: Chicken Carbonera

Dessert: Key Lime Pie

Non-Alcoholic Beverage: Mandarin Orange Tea

Alcoholic Beverage: don't do

Restaurant: Boma's in Orlando (African cuisine)

Fast-Food Restaurant: Boston Market

Pizza Topping: any combination but leave out bacon, anchovies, and pork

Hamburger Topping: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayo and steak sauce,

Hot Dog Topping: ketchup, brown mustard, relish,chopped onions (sometimes sauerkraut)

Ice Cream Topping: chocolate sauce, marschino cherry

Shopping

Store: Hollister Co

Item of Clothing: shirts

Pair of Shoes: Nike

Brand of Toothpaste: Mentadent

Brand of Soap: Suave Ocean Breeze

Brand of Shampoo: Suave RefreshingTangerine (Use to be Vidal Sassoon but can't find it)

Brand of Laundry Detergent: Cheer Free and Gentle Liquid

Brand of Dish Soap: Dawn Orange Antibacterial

Dust Bunnies

2009-01-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

This is going to be a long blog, so if you don't have time to read it, you might want to check back later.
I was thinking about how this election and election before it really polarized this nation. A lot of gays and lesbians lost friends and family back in 2004 for sure when Bush was reelected. If the polls could be believed, it was like a slap in the face and put you on one side of the issues and them on another. It was a bitter pill but, we swallowed. Now it looks like there may be hope at the end of the tunnel. Someone who will rebuild that foundation of support we lost....or so it seems. Someone who will unite and not divide this country. Someone who will help end a lot of the prejudices and sterotypes we hear every day. Little did I realize that so many on that Bush wall would be so bitter. And bitter believe you me, they are.

I had a friend; eh, ex coworker rather, that constantly peppered me with email forwards that were chaulked full of; English is the language spoken in America, Live by our rules or get out, Marriage is between one man and one woman, Obama is a Muslim, Obama isn't really a US citizen, etc., The kind of ignorant rambling convoluted emails you would expect from a teenager or a person with a low IQ trying to show what they think is political savy. I asked her in a joking manner to not send them because they were well, stupid, inaccurate and a waste of time to track down, correct and send back to her in an attempt to point out the obvious to her. I did for a while just hit delete but, it seemed like if I didn't comment, even more came. I even tried being blunt and saying, listen please don't send me this stuff. Always the same whiny excuse that they were "for entertainment purposes" only and not to be taken literally and that I should get out more (whatever that meant) came back to me as if I were the one with the 'problem' not her. Well, who's entertainment? Certainly not mine. This finally came to a head last Friday and I want to share this with you. I along with several others in her address book received the following forwarded email:

Prime Minister John Howard Australia:
Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.
Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians'.

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'. 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriat e to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LA ND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom,

'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the
same truths.

If you agree, please SEND THIS ON.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I I responded with,

Xxxxxxxxx,
"It is a real shame that people who forward this rubbish, don't have the backbone or the God given deceny to hit delete instead of forwarding them to propagate intolarance and hate. I would suggest that given the tone of this last election, a great many people in this country are moving forward not backward in their desire to learn to live and work with people of all religions, cultures, creeds, and nationalities. Many of us have grown tired of self professed Christians who spew hatred from their lips as they wave American flags and have their wives press their white KKK robes for future wear.

In the future, should you receive similar hate spewed versions of the same message, please leave me off the list of forwards as I will hit delete for sure. "

With that, I hit reply to all. I figure one of them surely has to either feel as I do or they were like her. Either way, I wanted everyone on the list to know I didn't agree with this. Which I'm pretty sure looking back, I accomplished. Within a matter of minutes I received the following:

I have no Idea who Xxxxxxx Xxxxx is but she comes across as a very intolerant person. 47% of the people in America rejected Obama and we have a right to any opinion we want as guaranteed by the Constitution. 90% of American's profess a believe in God so where are you going with this anti-christian burst. Anyway I totally agree with the Australian Prime Minister and have the same opinion for any one wanting to live in America. Live by our rules or stay home.
XXXXXXXXX's Father Xxxxx X. Xxxxxxx
From the Boonies

Alright, that totally enraged me. I have never been called intolerant in my life plus here he is writing this like I've committed blasephemy. So, thinking I know who this guy is because I thought I knew who he wasn't. (as my ex coworker had not to long ago, cried to me about her father dying and how she had been torn for days and couldn't stop crying) and also wanting whomever this was to understand my position. I responded:

Mr Xxxxxxx,
I know who you are and last I heard, Xxxxxxxxx's father was dead. However, I assure you I am not the intolerant one here. You might want to check your facts. You certainly have a right to any opinion you so choose but, you don't have to email it to me and that is why I asked not to receive these emails. You also might want to try researching some of it before you send it as that whole speech by the Austrailian prime minister was written out of context. Bottom line is, I can't reconcile prejudice and hate with Christianity no matter how I try. Obviously you can and good luck to you and your 47% sir because the 53% of the people that voted for Obama don't think the same way.
Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxx

Apparently I hit a lot of nerves. Turns out that she was adopted and this was her adopted father. Ooopps, my bad. Still, the tone wasn't set by me and I really don't feel I said anything all that hideous to receive the following response from her. His response was brief and with none of the poision of his first msg so I can only surmise that he was saving it for her.

First his response
I adopted Xx a very long time ago
Then hers:
Xxxxxxx,
Xxxxx Xxxxxxx is my father in every sense of the word. The person that died in April of 2008 was my donor. I will never send you any emails. you are just full of hate. Emails that I forward to me are nothing but entertainment not for anyone to take out of context.
Thank you and it sure was nice knowing you.

Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx

Now, normally I would be upset and try to arrive at some understanding because I was out of line to say I knew who the man was when in fact I was mistaken. But, it was so obvious from even the way that was worded, that she was determined to try to inflict some type of gaping wound in my psyche and was confirming that she was not interested in what anyone thinks of her source of reading material as long as it is entertaining to her. It made me think back to all the insults and arrows that had been thrown my way when Bush was elected in 2000 and all the emails I was bombed with after the 2004 election. I began to see just how far wide and deep the gaping wounds in this country really are. Like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and others who called us unpatriotic, and not worthy enough to have the same rights as they have. People who said they were our friends but then supported people that caused us harm and wished us ill. People like that are not my friends. Granted they shouldn't be my enemies either. And so I pondered on that and finally I had an epiphany. What I should have said and done in the first place was to treat them like you would a dust bunny. And so I emailed:

Whatever Xxxxxxxxx. They won't be missed.

And then I deleted her email address, her myspace link and went out to dinner.

Jullian

2009-01-16T14:52:00.003-05:00

I have my Grandson for the day!! We went down to 'Grannie's (my mother) house and picked up all her grapefruit and oranges. Thank goodness he didn't get them confused with the German Shepard droppings. Before that, we danced and played and looked at books and for a little while and in between we watched some of his favorite programs. Now he is taking a nap. Sounds like a wondrful idea, doesn't it?

OMG! PB & J ?

2009-01-15T12:05:00.002-05:00

I stole the following from Jess I am who stole it from her pal Val and so it began; the Tale of the Peanut Butter. And remarkably accurate! I'll never look down my nose at a peanut butter sandwich again!

Your PB and J Says You're Adventurous and Accepting

Your eating style is gluttonous. If you like something, you're going back for seconds... no matter how full you are!

You have an average sweet tooth. While you enjoy desserts, they aren't exactly your downfall.

Your taste in food tends to be pretty flexible. You may crave sushi one night, and your favorite childhood recipe the next.

You're a self loathing middle class person. You act a lot classier than you are, and you secretly feel like a fraud.

You are a tough person who isn't afraid to live life fully. There isn't a lot that scares you.

Precise and controlled, you can be a bit anal retentive when it comes to how you like things. You're definitely a perfectionist.

What Does Your Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Say About You?

FROM GOTHAM CITY TO TAMPA-WHAT A MISTAKE

2009-01-13T11:44:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, the Tampa Tribune outlined 19 unsolved homicides in the Tampa Bay area.*
Yet the police seem more concerned with trying to arrest the Dynamic Dual who promote The Castle down in the Ybor nightclub district for violating a state law that forbids wearing a mask on the public right of way. {A statute written in the 1950's apparently aimed at the hooded Ku Klux Klan.) After they arrested Batman in Oct they went to great pains to slander both he and the Boy Wonder in the Tampa Tribune by prejudicially placing an article titled "Superpower Aliases" showing mugshots of crooks NOT dressed in costume but simply giving false names to law enforcement officers. The article quoted police spokeswoman Andrea Davis as saying, "You have to wonder why someone would choose to conceal his face."

If I had to respond to such an asinine statement, I'd go with; a) it's partof the costume for that character, b) it's entertaining for themselves and the crowds they are hoping to attract.

Bottom line, go catch some dangerous criminals and save the spokeswoman for when you solve a real crime.

I found Computer Hell and it is lonely

2009-01-10T21:49:00.004-05:00

Well, I made it back to square one here. I know it has been a while since I posted. I've been having computer issues. Anyone who knows me knows I know very little about computers. Lori who has her A+ certification, Net plus certification and Microsoft certified professional, etc.,and knows even less. My son on the other hand seems to know everything about everything and I always turn to him when the going gets out of control.

In a nut shell, my Antivirus program needed to be updated. To do that I needed to install service packs that I couldn't because I had a bootleg copy of Windows XP so, I had a new XP but never had put it on. Well, after much screaming and crying....by Lori....because I don't want her near my computer, I mentioned it to Daniel and he came over to do it. The reason being, Lori has a way of doing things at times that makes me want to cut my wrists and bleed all over the carpet. I don't know of any nice way of putting it. I love her dearly but, when it comes to my computer our relationship takes a dive straight to hell with lots of cursing and crying and gnaching of teeth. Let me give you give you a pretend scenario of a burned out light to illustrate what I go through with this Mensa member.

I ask: How do you change the bulb on this new kitchen fixture?
Lori: Well it is has a red and black wire running from the electrical box which allows it to utilize 110 watts of power. It comes in on x wire and retuns on y and is hooked here to this circuit breaker. When the switch is on, the power travels through the cord behind this block and past the phone line ......

Okay, at that point, I've moved on. I don't care if the light ever comes on because I've adapted to the dark.

Now there is Daniel....
I ask: How do you change the bulb on this new kitchen fixture?
Daniel: You unscrew it in the back, take off the lid and then screw in a bulb.

SWEET! You see the difference? So when I tell you we can't talk about computers you can kind of see why. Something simple......takes hours! Something a little more serious can take days and if it is really a mess, it could be WEEKS! Or in poor Dane's case with his laptop, she took two months and he wound up getting it back and heading to the GEEK squad at Best Buy. Nuff said.

So today, my son Daniel came and wiped out one of my harddrives. I had two; C and D. Loriinstalled a 2nd one and told me to use it for backup. Oh how these words haunt me. To make sure I didn't get confused as I have a tendency to do, it was even labeled D Drive [Backup]

He wiped out the one hard drive and put the disc in for the new XP. To shorten this nightmare, I will tell you that Lori got this disc from Dell for Dane's laptop. He had a virus and she called them and they sent him the disc so that he could reinstall the program once he got it back from the GEEK squad. Turns out,contrary to what she said they told her, you can't put an XP disc on more than one computer. You need the key and it is only good for ONE (say it with me) ONE computer. SOOOO, we had this worthless disc and had to spend $150. for another key so Daniel could continue this whole update situation. But before I go to far, let me start with a few weeks ago when I made the decision to do this. I started copying things I wanted to keep. I did everything but the photos and music...

All was well until I looked in my backup drive which is.............PHUCKING EMPTY!!!! He thinks it is because it contained shortcuts and when the original files were deleted, the shortcuts went bye bye. Now what is the point of a backup?? I thought to copy files you wanted to save...but, I'm an idiot.

Bottom line is I have lost so many pictures I could cry. Most I can never ever get back. No copies no nothing. My music files??? Gone. Can't find them. I finally found a program disc I use to have and installed that. It asked if I wanted it to search for my music and I said yes. A miracle happened in that it pulled up a huge library. However, none of th great CD's of Dane's that he copied for me are on there. None of his music or videos are on there. I am just heartsick. I don't dare mention this to Lori. Not that she would have been able to save anything but, she will blame Dan and it isn't his fault. I asked her how to copy my pictures onto a disc before Christmas. Finally today, she spent over 45 mins trying to show me. Not that I'm stupid but, she wasn't doing it right and kept stopping. Finally I said nevermind. I called Daniel. He told me what to do and I did maybe two discs and that is all I had time to do before he arrived. He said not to worry if it was on my backup. Famous last words.

Jump ahead. All my addresses are gone too but, I had printed out a copy so, I'm hoping everyone is on there. If not, I will have to wait till you email me to have it again. ::Sheesh:::

I am so upset about my photos. I feel like I've had a fire all over again. I mean, I had baby photos of Jullian that I downloaded from my digital camera before I wiped the memory card clean. Gone. Just plain gone. I will never store photos on here again. NEVER. I will never save anything to this computer that can't be put on a disc or a floppy at the time I do it. I'm so done.

Anyway, now I get to install a bucket load of drivers and pray everything works. SO far at least all my favorites and my blogs are all up. Of course I saved them on other servers. But then, I'm an idiot for not asking sooner how to use this program I have for writing CD's and getting it done. Still it makes me physically ill.

I hope to never have to do this again. Sheesh! Like I have any say so in it.

Mother Christmas

2008-12-17T15:02:00.002-05:00

On Thanksgiving, my church, MCC of Tampa had a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought a dish and there was so much food that at the end of the meal, they were begging people to take stuff home.

Now normally, I cook at Thanksgiving so, at first I thought I might skip that tradition and just eat there. Especially since Daniel and his wife live far enough away that they don't want to drive back and forth for the next several days just to help us eat the leftovers. Not to mention, I'm the second stop they make that day so, they don't eat much and I don't know how to cook just a little. But, as fate would have it, I wound up cooking anyway as Daniel bought a turkey. Also because I wanted to attend the church meal, I moved my dinner to six o'clock in the evening. I figured that would be sufficient time for the lunch to settle and everyone's appetite return. Plus, I could attend the church meal, and still have time to prepare the last of the side dishes afterwards. As a nice gesture, I invited my mother to attend the church dinner. At first she refused as if by saying no, I would change my plans and stay and cook. When it began to sink in that I wasn't going to be guilted into that, she relented and said she would go. The service was nontraditional as always. I mean, we are a predominately gay and lesbian church so, scripture is often used as a metaphor to our plight in this world. They spoke about people who have torn us down and told us we weren't loveable, etc., This was very riveting as it was as if my mother was being told off in a way, I could have never found the words to do. Needless to say, she sat there like a bloated up old toad. At the end of the service there is always communion. No one is ever turned away. You don't have to be a member of our church or any church to receive it. They go by rows and you just go up to the front or back of the church where the ministers are standing to participate. The reverend, being kind, came directly to my mother as she was in a wheel chair and asked if she would like to receive communion. "NO!" was what she said in a very cross tone. It was embarrassing to say the least but, comical too.

Let me give you a post script here: We never invite my brother to our dinner. After 10 years of asking him and hearing every excuse under the sun and then finally no answer what-so-ever to our invitation, we stopped. This year, my mother took it upon herself to invite my brother to my house and then told me that she had done it with the statement "I hope he will be welcome." I told her I had never shut the door in his face but, that I had said years ago I would not be extending another invitation. Behind her back we were all whispering how he would no show and we were correct. Now lets jump forward to Christmas, shall we?

I just went down to check her central air and heating as she said the air condition wasn't coming on. That is because she had it on heat and had cranked it up to 79 degrees. The poor dog didn't know whether to shed or sit in it's water dish.

While I'm there, she asked me when I was having Christmas dinner. I said I didn't know.

Insert info here: My youngest son Dane moved in with his girlfriend the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I explained that it seemed silly to cook a lot (kind of like at Thanksgiving) since Lori has to work, Daniel and his family will hit is wife's family first and I have no idea when Dane will come around but, I'm sure it won't be early. I said I hadn't even given any thought to what I was having or anything. The conversation went like this:

Mom: Well, I'll pay for the ham.
Me: Why? Is David coming?
Mom: He would have come Thanksgiving but you had it to late.
Me: Six o'clock is not late. Lots of people eat in the evening. Not everyone eats right at the stroke of twelve.
Mom: Well, it was to late for him. He has to drive back around that time. (He lives in New Port Richey)
Me: Hey, I'm not going to shift around my entire day to suit David's schedule when 99% of the time he never calls or shows up.
Mom: Is your church planning a meal?
Me: They are Christmas Eve and I'm going to that. [they are during the day too but, I didn't mention it because I could tell she was wanting to be mean.]
Mom: Well, I'm not going!!!
Me: I didn't ask you.
Mom: I know you didn't but I'm telling you anyway.
Me: That's fine.

Now can you believe that? That is what I grew up with. Hatefulness and the constant reinforcement that my brother's time and presence was much more valuable than that of my own. He on the other hand, has that air about him that he could, should he choose, walk on water. Amazing that you could adopt two children who are biologically related and divide them to the degree she has but, I digress.

I'm thinking of calling the local deli and ordering a complete meal. I'll deliver it to her house on my way to church and say, ' Merry Christmas. I couldn't decide what to get you and then I realized, dinner with your son was what you wanted. Enjoy!' And then leave. I'm betting he will show some time that day. It might be late but, his reasons are always fine with her. What do you think?

CELEBRATE

2008-12-12T20:06:00.000-05:00

A Special Email

2008-11-25T11:25:00.003-05:00

It's true. Sometimes kids grow up to be wiser than we were at their age. I don't think even as a young adult, I ever reflected on what my parents were going through. I received this email today from my oldest son and thought I would share. I'm sure it applies to many.

Mom,

I got this and thought of you and all the things that you’ve gone through.

Malachi 3:3 says:

'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled me and I wondered what this statement meant about the true character and nature of God.

I decided to find out the process of refining silver before my next Bible Study.

I called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. I didn't mention anything about the reason for my interest beyond that of curiosity regarding the process of refining Silver.

As I watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest in order to burn away all the impurities.

I thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' Feeling the heat from the flame, I then asked the silversmith if he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. “If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.”

I went silent for a moment. Then asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

His answer struck me when he replied: 'Oh, that's easy ...when I see my own image in it.'

What is Left to Be Said

2008-11-05T11:27:00.003-05:00

wow. That's all I can say. People are talking about California's Proposition 8 and not even mentioning the slaughter and carnage in Florida with Amendment 2 passing. Billed as the "Gay marriage ban" it passed. All that was needed was 60% plus one vote. Before the last precincts were even reported, the total was:
62% or 4,589,831 for the ban
37% or 2,800,945 against it

Either way you look at it, that's a lot of haters. Over four million, five hundred and eighty-nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty one. And like I said, that wasn't ALL the votes. This is what it was last night, the last time I looked at it.

I'm just in shock. I have always felt out of place growing up and living here. Why I stayed and made a home here was purely due to economics. As a single parent in the late 70's the closer I needed to be to my so called support system, i.e.., family no matter how homophobic. Yes there were battles with that. I even endured my parents threatening to take my son away because I wanted to live with a woman. But, I persevered.

Maybe Amendment 2 won because it is where all the haters come to die. It also has as many rednecks as Georgia and Alabama. After all, we do have the largest Confederate Flag in the Nation flying in this town at the I-4 and I-75 junction. Maybe the 'Vote No on Amendment 2'folks didn't have the celebrity clout or money that California has. After all, people by nature down here are like sheep. In the end who really knows. But honestly, the older I get the more I think about my 'golden years' and how they may not be so golden down here. I've watched my grandparents, my Uncles, and finally one parent, age, become ill and die. It isn't pretty. None of mine had any strength to fight in the end. I can't imagine being in a similar situation and dying alone in some room because my life partner will not be allowed by my side and no one to speak up for her, for me, for us. Nope, I can't see that as being golden. All I can do is hope that our new President leads us all out of the bleak cavern of despair that exists here in Florida.

NOVEMBER 4TH

2008-11-04T17:14:00.003-05:00

You know, I am so glad this election is coming to an end. Aside from hating the way the whole thing was run, I hate the way it turned a spotlight on some of my so called friends and family. I had friends that I thought really were friends. They always ask about Lori if they see me without her and vice versa if I'm not with her. Never seemed like there was any issues. Low and behold, this whole Amendment 2 issue has certainly awakened their true nature. I guess while they may like us as individuals or even as a couple, they don't feel we deserve equal rights. And I'm sure somewhere in the back of their minds, they feel it is okay to feel superior to us. Looking back, when they would ask, 'Are you and Lori still together?' I should have known. In their twisted bigoted minds, they probably think gays and lesbian couples only last a few years at best.

As for family members, I hope they don't look for a Christmas card this year cause it won't be in their box. Thank goodness this only happens every four years. It's been nerve racking and I wasn't running for office.

AMENDMENT 2 AND IT'S EFFECT ON FAMILIES

2008-11-03T16:21:00.002-05:00

The following is taken from a letter by some Florida attorneys who publicly shared their concerns about this amendment with their fellow Floridians.

The vague language and potentially damaging consequences of the proposed Constitutional Amendment 2 in Florida called the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. It is often referred to in the media as a "Gay marraige ban.' The proposed amendment is:

"In as much as marraige is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marraige or the substantial equivalent therof shall be valid or recognized."

FLORIDA LAW ALREADY PROHIBITS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

References to 'marriage protection' or 'gay marriage bans' are misleading as four existing Florida statues [FS 741.212 (1), 741.212 (2), 741.212 (3) and 741.04] already define marriage as the union of a man and a woman or oherwise prohibit the creationor recognition of 'same-sex marriages.' The legality or recognition of 'same-ses' unions in Florida will be no more or less illegal in Florida regardless of the outcome of the proposed amendment.

AMBIGUITY IN AMENDMENT LANGUAGE WILL LIKELY RESULT IN UNANTICIPATED AND SERIOUS ECONOMIC AND LEGAL REPERCUSSIONS

The chief concern is the section of the proposed amendment which states: "...no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

The 2006 report of the Florida LEgislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) concluded: "The amendment provides no definition for the phrase 'substantial equivalent thereof,' which lends to the ambiguity of the wording of the proposed amendment."

Adding such vague, untested and undefined language is likely to deliver unanticipated repercussions and could substantially alter our state both economically and legally. Quoting the EDR report on Amendment 2 again, it warns, "Depending on actions taken by the Legislature, the courts, and Florida businesses, financial obligations between individuals are expected to change in complex ways..."

POTENTIAL LOSS OF EXISTING LEGAL PROTECTIONS AND BENEFITS FOR ALL FLORIDIANS.

ALIMONY: In 2005, the State Legislature adopted a new law designed to prevent a loophole where a former spouse receiving permanent alimony opts to cohabitate with a new partner rather than remarrying and continues to receive permanent alimony. Under this relatively new divorce law, a former spouse's alimony obligation may terminate if the recipient spouse enters into a "supportive relationship" with another person. Florida case law defines a supportive relationship as one that provides "support equivalent to marriage". Clearly, "support equivalent to marriage" is dangerously similar to "substantial equivalent to marriage". The portion of Florida Statute 61.14 recognizing a relationship providing "support equivalent to marriage" could be held unconstitutional under Amendment 2. As a result, every former spouse who is either Court Ordered or who signed an agreement to pay permanent alimony could be required to continue paying alimony despite the fact that the receiving spouse had found a new partner. At the very least, these individuals will face a costly Court battle trying to uphold their agreements and to terminate their alimony obligations.

Domestic Violence Protection: Other potential impacts include using Amendment 2 as a defense to domestic violence on an unmarried partner ( a similar amendment was used as a domestic violence defense in Ohio). Quoting the EDR again, "By invalidating any union or 'substantial equivalent thereof,' this amendment could be raised raised as a defense in domestic violence cases, resulting in fewer domestic violence convictions.

PRIVATE PROPERTY ARRANGEMENTS AND ESTATE PLANNING: Without examining every potential consequence in great detail, it is possible that Amendment 2 could also have profound implications on the ability of citizens to share property or pass on assets, establish trusts or other legal arrangements or even remarry. Especially likely to be impacted by this outcome are Florida's senior citizens and retirees who remain unmarried by choice and share pension benefits or other government benefits they have earned.

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP REGISTRIES: this vague and broad language could also risk termination of the several established domestic partnership registries which are currently accessible to millions of Floridians. These registries allow unmarried Floridians to share benefits or other protections such as hospital visitation, burial rights and health care benefits. The non-partisan and independent EDR report again sites this concern in finding: "If domestic partnership registries are deemed substantially equivalent to marriage, their termination could place registrants at risk of losing specified rights and benefits, such as those related to health insurance."

While NO ONE CAN KNOW THE FULL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT, LITIGATION WILL RESULT as vested interest challenge shared health plans, defend domestic abusers or goverments seek clarity to the undefined language in the proposal. Even if every warning and potential outcome proves unfounded, the years of uncertainty and sheer legal expenses would be costly and unnecesary. Florida voters should be hesitant to support the vague and untested language in Amendment 2. Adding such a provision to our Constitution is unwise, especially when adoptiong the amendment will not alter our state's current laws banning 'same-sex marriage.'

VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 2

IF YOU'RE STILL UNDECIDED

2008-10-30T17:34:00.004-04:00

As this election starts to come to a close, there's one thing that sticks out more than anything. And that is you almost can't watch the news channels, listen to the ads, or even pay to much attention to the debates since they are controlled rigidly by the news media. What you have to do is get out to see a candidate when he comes to your area. History always repeats itself. Before television, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, had to campaign directly to the people for the most part. Yes there were newspapers but, sometimes the news was weeks old before the people actually received it. But, in my opinion, we really need to go back to those days if we want to hear what a candidate is really saying because it's not only the words he/she uses but his/her posture and demeanor.

This election has certainly been the poster child for how an election SHOULDN'T BE CONDUCTED. Outright lies, distortions and negatism by the Republicans has been beyond shameful. It certainly cannot bolster or entice democracy around the world. Watching rallies where masses are gathered and someone shouting 'kill him', why it's a dictator's worst nightmare.

Former President Clinton recently said, " We have to elect a President who will rebuild the American dream, repair a badly shattered financial system, and restore American's standing in the world. And that's the job. Every four years when the American people elect a President they not only vote for a person, they say what they believe the job is. That IS the job. And this country is in a mess. Almost no new jobs, incomes declining, health care cost is doubled, college cost up 75 %, credit card debt going through the roof, home mortgages cratering, home values cratering, the price of gasoline, food and utilities going up. And look at the mess that we have in our finacial system. Compare that to what happened before. It wasn't like this... This is not accidental folks. You know, where I grew up in Arkansas we had a saying that, if you find a turtle on a fence post, chances are it didn't get there by accident. It did not have to be this way. It matters who the President is, it matters what the decisions are, it matters what the policies are...."

And to my way of thinking, the choice should be clear. Barack Obama is the only candidate that can effect changes that will correct the wrong decisions made these past eight years.

Gee, What a Surprise!

2008-10-22T12:54:00.002-04:00

I took the Personality Defect Test from the link on Jess I Am's page. Thanks.

Your result for The Personality Defect Test...

Class Clown

You are 29% Rational, 57% Extroverted, 71% Brutal, and 86% Arrogant.

You are the Class Clown. This means you wear grease paint and have a big, red nose...

I really need to stop thinking so literally...

Anyway, I MEANT to say that you are the Class Clown, and this means that you are extroverted, mean, and arrogant. You are not very rational, so you gravitate towards things that produce feelings or emotions over thoughts (like fart jokes or spitballs, for instance). You are also an extrovert and rather full of yourself, so of course you want constant attention for yourself and think you are somehow better than others. (Upon hearing the expression "you are full of yourself", you probably also slyly feel the need to ask women if they would like to be "full of yourself" too. I am assuming you have a penis. I often make that assumption, being fond of the penis.) You can also be a bit mean-spirited, and like a class clown you wouldn't hesitate to make a joke at someone else's expense, no matter how terrible it would make them feel. A lot of people probably find your antics annoying, sophomoric, and desperately histrionic. Like some sort of crack-taking hyperactive monkey, you'd do anything, mock anyone, just to get someone to pay attention to you for five seconds. So your personality defects are that you have to be the center of attention, that you don't care about others, and that you are rather irrational and motivated by intuitions. Now stop walking around with those books on your head and sit down this instant! Or else I'll be forced to stand here, hands on my hips, doing nothing once again!

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted.

3. You are more BRUTAL than gentle.

4. You are more ARROGANT than humble.

Compatibility:

Your exact opposite is the Robot.

Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Schoolyard Bully, the Smartass, and the Brute.

If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits.

The other personality types:

The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Be sure to take my Sublime Philosophical Crap Test if you are interested in taking a slightly more intellectual test that has just as many insane ramblings as this one does!

About Saint_Gasoline

I am a self-proclaimed pseudo-intellectual who loves dashes. I enjoy science, philosophy, and fart jokes and water balloons, not necessarily in that order. I spend 95% of my time online, and the other 5% of my time in the bathroom, longing to get back on the computer. If, God forbid, you somehow find me amusing instead of crass and annoying, be sure to check out my blog and my webcomic at SaintGasoline.com.

Take The Personality Defect Test at HelloQuizzy

Diana Ross and Ru Paul - I Will Survive

2008-10-20T18:36:00.001-04:00

This is the sexiest Diva out there!! Diana Ross not Ru Paul. lol I love this woman!!

JOHN MCCAIN PLEASE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP

2008-10-15T21:47:00.004-04:00

Tonight's debate shows one thing. It shows that McCain shamelessly stands behind the hideous and disgusting slurs that he and his running mate Sara Palin have become known for at their rallies. What is more incredulous is that they would have the audacity to expect an apology from Senator Obama all the while standing by their actions and those that brought their rallies to the attention of the news media. If anything costs McCain the election, he need only read this to know why. The American people are tired of slur politics. A president should always take the high road of a gentleman and a leader. A road he apparently doesn't have the tact to walk.

And Senator Obama, I wish you would have been less of a gentleman. It's one thing for a bully to kick dirt in your face and ignore it. But when that same bully has the nerve to come back with the beach patrol and ask YOU to apologize for having your face in the way of his foot.....well I say, GET HIM!!!

What Obama should have said:

John, no one likes to raise taxes but, thanks to this war that your administration started, we don't have any choices. I am just not going to raise it on the working people and small businesses of this country. And John, for you to say you aren't going to raise taxes makes me wonder if you're going to pay for the entire war out of your wife's purse.

John, no one cares if your feelings are hurt. You sit here with that snarky smile and thug glint in your eyes when you know you deliberately allowed my middle name to be mocked in a deragatory way, my religion deliberately misstated, and my very life threatened without so much as a peep from you or your running mate. And now you want to ask me to apologize for responding to those slurs? It's true you do have the balls of a Maverick. Unfortunately you don't have the clear mind and eyesight cause it's not going to happen. The news channels have done nothing but show your running mate's silence as well as that of your own during those rallies. I'm sure there were many decent people at your rallies and I hope every one of them wised up and left when they saw the extent to how low the McCain/Palin team will sink.

John, I didn't have to run against the Bush administration four years ago. I'm doing it now thanks to you.

John, I don't have to take on my party. That was your job since you were busy supporting your own party.

John, if I wanted you to speak for me at this debate, I would have paid you to be my stand in. Since I didn't, let me be perfectly clear. I AM GOING TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

That is all.

Would Jesus Discriminate? The 21st Century Question

2008-10-11T18:19:00.001-04:00

On National Coming out Day and in honor of the recent victories in California and now Conneticut, it seems appropriate to reflect on the fact that Love is what is important. To be afraid that the human race will disappear if gays and lesbians are allowed to marry is just plain stupid. Obviously, there are more people now than ever before and we've always been here. So lighten up world and let us love.

TO MANY LIS PENDENS YOU THINK?

2008-10-10T17:45:00.005-04:00

Rattlesnake In New Tampa Mailbox Bites Letter Carrier
By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2008

Updated: 01:57 pm

TAMPA - A letter carrier reaching into a New Tampa mailbox was bitten by an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake about 11:40 this morning, according to Tampa Fire Rescue and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The 66-year-old carrier drove himself back to the New Tampa post office at 16350 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., where 911 was summoned. He was taken to University Community Hospital on Fletcher Avenue in good condition, Tampa Fire Rescue said.

His identity was not available.

Thank John McCain - support @ TruthandHope.org

2008-10-08T18:14:00.001-04:00

Question

2008-10-07T19:39:00.002-04:00

Today I received an email with a list of gift items wanted for someone's birthday. I hate it! I don't see how anyone has the balls to send out a list on someone's behalf with a note attached that reads: This is what so and so told me they want for their birthday. Well, bully for them! What ever happened to being thrilled that someone thought enough of you to buy you something in the first place and graciously accept whatever it is? I am always amazed at how self centered people have become. Is it me? Am I the only one out here that feels the same way? Everyone wants high ticket items but, get real. Times are tough. Besides, I don't want to buy 99% of the crap on the list.

LAWS OF ATTRACTION APPLIED TO POLITICS

2008-10-03T22:13:00.001-04:00

I don't know how much you know about the Law of Attraction or if you've ever heard of it. But surely you've heard of the phrase, "What you resist persists." The more we don't want something the more it finds us. For example- the more we fight drugs, the more they seem to be here. So I'm asking you to humor me. Stop fighting against McCain and Palin, and start working "for" Obama Biden. Stop driving yourselves crazy with all of the little details you can find about them and start remembering all of the wonderful reasons we want Obama. Volunteer if you can, but at least take my challenge.

My challenge to you: Take 30 seconds right now. Close your eyes and imagine exactly what our country will feel like with President Obama. Imagine how good it will feel. Imagine whatever it is about him that you desire. Imagine the pride. Imagine the diplomacy. Imagine the peace. Imagine the wind mills and the clean cars. Imagine the citizen groups. Imagine whatever it is that drew you to support Obama. Imagine what your life will look like. Just 30 seconds. Do it several times a day. We can shift and change the vibration of this country with positive visions just like this. It's only 30 seconds a few times a day. Surely you can find the time. It will feel good. Just try it and keep doing it.

Then pass this on to all of your Obama supporter friends. If we all take 30 seconds several times a day to shift into this positive vibration, it will work. You wait and see!

YES WE CAN

2008-10-03T22:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

From The Times, written by Gerald Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: "Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?"

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He traveled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taliban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered "Hosanna" and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: "Yes, We Can."

THEY GROW UP SO FAST

2008-09-23T16:03:00.006-04:00

My Grandson Jullian got another haircut Saturday. Thought I would post some pictures since it has been a while.

Goodbye Roy

2008-09-22T18:49:00.003-04:00

My neighbor across the street passed away this morning. He wasn't very old at all. He was like 64. He use to sit out on his porch, drink beer and holler over at me if I was outside. I use to hate it because I couldn't understand his mumbling after he had been drinking. That and he would repeat himself a lot. It's funny how now I am going to miss that.

He woke up this morning and said he wasn't feeling well. His wife after a while, went to check on him to see why he hadn't left for work. He had gone down in some room and his body was blocking the door and she couldn't get in. Don't know the details just that when someone did get to him, he was already cold. The Paramedics arrived and pronounced him dead. That was around ten this morning. Then the police came and finally the coroner about one o'clock and took him away. His family went through a lot today. I hope he rests in peace. I liked him.

A Letter from someone who knows Sarah Palin

2008-09-16T21:39:00.000-04:00

A note to all by {the Author}

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the
last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks.

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts
with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on
any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

[ This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area,
with a controllable hotmail account, and was obviously meant by the
author to be read. ]

Thanks,

Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT
•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

2008-09-13T18:37:00.001-04:00

DEL MARTIN RIP

2008-08-29T16:15:00.002-04:00

This obituary saddened me. What a tremendous loss for our side. My heart goes out to her partner Phyllis. I am so thankful that they were able to be married in June after 55 years of PMS'ing together. What a couple!!

Del Martin

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pioneering lesbian rights activist Del Martin, who married her longtime partner in June on the first day same-sex couples in California gained that right, died Wednesday, August 27, 2008. She was 87.

Martin died at a hospital two weeks after a broken arm exacerbated health problems, said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Her wife, Phyllis Lyon, was with her.

Along with six other women, they founded a San Francisco social club for lesbians in 1955. The group evolved into the nation's first lesbian advocacy organization.

Martin in 1970 wrote an influential article in the Advocate magazine that criticized what she saw as the gay rights movement's persistent chauvinism. She and Lyon together wrote "Lesbian/Woman," a 1972 book that argued lesbians should be seen for more than their sexuality and simultaneously offered a frank, no-nonsense account of lesbian relationships.

A year later, Martin became the first out lesbian to serve on the board of directors of the National Organization for Women.

What were they thinking?

2008-08-21T05:42:00.001-04:00

REGARDING: BIG FOOT

They claim their hoax was not for profit, but Atlanta residents Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer received $50,000 from a California Bigfoot tracker who now plans to sue to get the money back.

The two Georgia men’s tale of having found a Bigfoot carcass in the North Georgia woods really started to stink when California Bigfoot enthusiasts finally examined the body and found it was just a costume.

::sigh:: some of us are devasted by this news.

News of the day, week, month, I got it all.

2008-08-17T20:17:00.002-04:00

Haven't blogged in a while. Has anyone noticed? I've been busy doing a whole lot of nothing. Pool finally finished so I try to take a dip in between the thunder storms that seem to frequent EVERY SINGLE DAY!! You'd think with our water shortage, our elected officials would be out every day with buckets collecting some of it but, tis not the case.

Haven't seen our water bill yet. It should be ridiculous. Did I mention we had a leak in the bathroom? It is fixed now to the tune of a few hundred. I should have been a plumber. He wasn't even here an hour. ::grrrr::

Went to my dear friend Heather's Buccaneer Bridal Shower today. Boy was that fun!! And talk about the haul!! She made out like a real Buccaneer!! It almost makes getting married look appealing. (almost) She got the coolest set of glasses; they look like they are melting. Be great for Mojito's. lol

Went to the surgeon for my checkup last week. I'm down a total of 63lbs so far. Maybe by the time the next 63 comes off, it will be super noticable. People say it is now but, truthfully, other than my face, I don't see it. I sometimes wonder if I ever will. I mean, I had this weight for ten years. I didn't think it affected my psyche but, you can never tell. (I see fat every where.) lol

I notice we are awaiting a hurricane down here. Gee, this is just so thrilling. They can't tell us yet how STRONG it will be or where it will make LAND FALL but, we have to prepare. For us that means, thinking about bringing in the dog's crates to the kitchen and maybe boarding some windows. The thing that always struck me funny about the later is that most of the time people loose their roofs. So having a window boarded up really doesn't do much to keep the rain and wind out once the old roof is gone. Hopefully the hurricane straps they used on our house when it was built will hold. Although the cheap bastages probably used inferior screws so the roof could take flight with the straps. That would surely not make my day.

My neighbors to the south, invested in fairly expensive covers for their windows even though their house is at least 20 plus years old and in need of a roof. Go figure. Actually, my concern is a reservoir we have in this county. They've been talking on the back pages of the newspaper about the cracks in it and how all the rain we have had is only making the condition worsen. Can you imagine what a hurricane packing torrential rain and 110 plus mile an hour winds would do? Huge flood. I don't know where this thing is but, I'm pretty sure I'm not close to it. I worry about my son and his wife though.

So far the baby kittens we rescued are doing superbly. All are litter trained and eating dry chow now. Unfortunately we are all hooked on them. This is why I hate getting involved with animals. I am such a target. I need to live in the country with a barn. Then it wouldn't matter.

Okay, this concludes my monthly update. I didn't mention all the trips to take my mother for bloodwork, pace maker check, cardiologist appointments, eye appointments, etc., Yep, we live at the doctor's offices these days. The only saving grace is that some of them actually have up to date magazines. Oh, and I forgot to mention that once you turn 50 you get to look forward to having your first colonoscopy. Lovely. Makes turning half a century all the more memorable. I managed to put it off for a year but, my doctor called me on it so now, I get to 'meet' with that doctor the end of this month. Apparently I will have to drink something different rather than the usual upteen gallons they normally require since I had gastric bypass and in no way could I drink that much. Lucky me, huh? As if THAT were the part of the ordeal one would be concerned about. And they say blondes have more fun...

I KNEW IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME

2008-08-13T19:16:00.001-04:00

BIGFOOT BODY FOUND - EVIDENCE AND DNA DETAILS TO BE PRESENTED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th FROM 12 N00N TO 1:00PM AT THE CABANA HOTEL-PALO ALTO IN PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
A body that may very well be the body of the creature commonly known as "Bigfoot" has been found in the woods in northern Georgia.
DNA evidence and photo evidence of the creature will be
presented in a press conference on

Friday, August 15th from 12 Noon to 1:00pm at the Cabana Hotel-Palo Alto at 4290 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, California, 94306. The press conference will not be open to the public. It will only be open to credentialed members of the press.
Here are some of the vital statistics on the "Bigfoot" body:
*The creature is seven feet seven inches tall.

*It weighs over five hundred pounds.
*The creature looks like it is part human and part ape-like.

*It is male.
*It has reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes.
*It has two arms and two legs, and five fingers on each hand and
five toes on each foot.
*The feet are flat and similar to human feet.
*Its footprint is sixteen and three-quarters inches long and five
and three-quarters inches wide at
the heel.
*From the palm of the hand to the tip of the middle finger, its
hands are eleven and three-quarters inches
long and six and one-quarter inches wide.
*The creatures walk upright. (Several of them were sighted on the
same day that the body was found.)
*The teeth are more human-like than ape-like.
*DNA tests are currently being done and the current DNA and photo
evidence will be presented at the press
conference on Friday, August 15th.

The creature was found by Matthew Whitton (AKA Gary Parker) and Rick Dyer (residents of Georgia) in the woods in northern Georgia. (The exact location is being kept secret to protect the creatures.)

Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer will be flying in from Georgia to be at the press conference. Also present at the press conference will be Tom Biscardi, CEO of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.

Whitton is a local, Georgia, police officer, who is currently on administrative leave after being wounded in the course of duty pursuing an alleged felon. Dyer is a former correctional officer. Whitton and Dyer are co-owners of bigfoottracker.com and Bigfoot Global LLC., a company that offers Bigfoot expeditions. Whitton and Dyer are working with Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi, and Biscardi's Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., to present and conduct the scientific study of the evidence and information on this body.

A few weeks ago, Whitton and Dyer announced the finding of the body on the "Squatch Detective" radio show, an internet based radio show hosted by Steve Kulls. While on that show, the commentator asked Rick Dyer "Would you allow one of our people to come down and verify the body?" Dyer replied, "The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi." The next day, the producer of the Squatch Detective show contacted Biscardi with pertinent information on how to contact Dyer and Whitton.

Extensive scientific studies will be done on the body by a team of scientists including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, a paleontologist and other scientists over the next few months at an undisclosed location. The studies will be carefully documented and the findings will be released to the world, according to Biscardi.

Biscardi is known as "the real Bigfoot Hunter" because of his extensive investigations out in the field. He has been searching for Bigfoot since 1971 and over the past several years, he has been criss-crossing the United States and Canada tracking down the hottest leads on Bigfoot sightings.
Videography on the studies will be done under the supervision of Scott Davis, an independent producer and owner of TV Biz Productions in Phoenix, Arizona.

Currently, Tom Biscardi and his Searching for Bigfoot Team, in conjunction with Bigfoot Global LLC., are preparing to capture another of these creatures alive. That expedition will start very soon. The dates and the locations are being kept confidential.

The body that is currently being studied is being referred to as the "RICKMAT" creature, a name derived from the names of Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton.

Last year, a film that Biscardi produced about his investigations, called "Bigfoot Lives," won first place in the Documentary category at the Pocono Mountains Film Festival. Biscardi also hosts a Bigfoot oriented internet radio show that can be heard on Wednesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm PDT at www.bigfootliveradioshow.com. The show is heard in over thirty countries.

Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. has exclusive rights to all publishing rights, photo rights, television and film rights, production and distribution rights and other commercial opportunities related to the discovery and findings regarding this body and these creatures. Interested parties may contact Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., in writing, at their mailing address;

Searching for Bigfoot Inc.
1134 Crane St., Suite 216
Menlo Park, California 94025.

Additional information about Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. is available at http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com. For additional information, and to arrange an interview with Tom Biscardi, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton, contact the Searching for Bigfoot headquarters at; 650-566-4001.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE WORD

2008-07-30T12:32:00.002-04:00

Thanks Tina for the idea.

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? argumentative
3. Your hair? dry
4. Your mother? gone
5. Your father? deceased
6. Your favorite time of day? noon
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream goal? wealth
10. The room you're in? computer
11. Your ex? psycho
12. Your fear? lonliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happier
14. What you are not? working
15. Your Favorite meal? missing
16. One of your wish list items? flatscreen
17. The last thing you did? text
18. Where you grew up? TPA
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV is? off
21. Your pets? fat
22. Your computer? mine
23. Your life? complex
24. Your mood? resigned
25. Missing someone? always
26. Your car? Grey
27. Something you're not wearing? bra
28. Favorite store? Bed, Bath and Beyond
29. Your summer? Rainy
30. Your favorite color? Black
31. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
32. When is the last time you cried? forget
33. Your health? improved
34. Your children? happy
35. Your future? evolving
36. Your beliefs? grounded
37. Young or old? middle
38. Your image? young
39. Your appearance? improving
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Perhaps

On the Home Front

2008-07-21T21:16:00.005-04:00

Remember the refrigerator fiasco with Sears? Well, Lori decided while I was gone, to cut the plug off the old one and wire it to the new part and plug it in. It works. She swears she wrapped it with enough electric tape. I'm just sayin........Lord help me.

Moving on.....we decided to change out the pool liner. (The Dobermans tried to swim in it and ripped it. We have patched it so many times and it still has slow leaks. Plus it is aproximately 14 years old and very light blue.) Well, turns out the walls were rusted pretty bad and in one place almost a crack...need I say more? Yep, we are slowly building another pool here. Lori has worked on it for two days. Wish me luck. I'm not saying she isn't smart enough....I'm just saying, it takes a certain degree of skill. It remains to be seen if she possess this. I know one thing. I don't possess the patience to watch. My back yard looks like a missle testing site and we are arguing over the color of the frickin sand. She said it was black under the liner. Well, I watched the men pour the white sand in when it was built because it stops grass, etc from growing up through your liner. My guess was that the black dirt got washed under there because of the leaks in the liner. She's telling me the installers had to have used black dirt. Again, she wasn't here 16 plus years ago but, that doesn't seem to matter. I wonder if other people go through this? It so makes me look forward to family projects.Bahahahahahahaha

S Carolina is back-ass-wards ..

2008-07-14T19:05:00.003-04:00

...but so is most of the old South. Beleive it or not, I shortened the following article:

A state employee has resigned and officials have disavowed an international advertising campaign that led to calls for an investigation of tourism posters proclaiming “South Carolina is so gay.”

Similar ads were posted for Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., none of which reported any negative backlash. But in South Carolina, reaction to the posters — dubbed “the gayest ever mainstream media advertising campaign in London” by Out Now, the Australian advertising firm that designed the promotion — was swift.

The tourism department quickly said it was canceling payment of its $5,000 fee for the posters, which it said were approved by a low-level state worker who did not run the idea by senior officials. The employee, who was not identified, resigned last week, the agency said.

A spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said the governor agreed that the posters were “inappropriate.”

“From where we sit, and for all our many customers, being described as ‘so gay’ is not a negative thing at all. We think it is just great to be so gay,” said Andrew Roberts, (chief executive of Amro Worldwide, the travel agency that commissioned the ads) who called the campaign a success, having reached more than 2 million people in London.

Oran Smith, president of the Palmetto Family Council, a conservative activist group in Columbia, the state capital, said that at first he thought the ads were an Internet hoax.

“I think with today’s economy, we have to be really smart with our tourism dollars, and South Carolina’s market, very clearly, is the family-friendly market,” Smith said. “So if we want to spend our dollars in a way that’s wise, we need to go after our market, and our market is families.”

Said Ventphis Stafford of Charleston: “We’re so gay? Nah. Wrong state. Go to California.”

Eddie Walker, principal of Irmo High School, in suburban Columbia, announced that he was quitting rather than approve the creation of a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school, one of the state’s largest.

“Our sex education curriculum is abstinence based,” Walker wrote in a letter to the school. “I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High School implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes.”

Such attitudes remain prevalent in the state, said Warren Redman-Gress, executive director of the South Carolina Alliance for Full Acceptance, a gay and lesbian advocacy group.

He stated: I wish the folks at the tourism board had done a little more of their homework. I get calls regularly, people want to know before I come and spend my hard-earned money, my souvenir dollars in South Carolina, is it a place where it is OK for me to be gay? The answer is yes and no. You live on the edge with the simple fact that you can come to South Carolina, spend your money getting here, and someone can come in and say, ‘I’m sorry; you can’t stay here because you’re gay.’”

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Oobi DVR challenge

2008-07-14T17:10:00.001-04:00

My Grandson will stop whatever he is doing and stare at this show. He loves it. To the point that when he would start to get cranky or restless on vacation, we would start singing the song and he would stop, listen, smile and clap.

Oobi DVR challenge

2008-07-14T17:08:00.001-04:00

A few more pictures of St Pete Pride Festival

2008-07-14T14:08:00.007-04:00

We are about to have another one of those afternoon thunder storms that Florida is known for so, I am going to try and post as many pictures as I can before the lightening knocks me off of here.

Here come my peeps! MCC of Tampa and MCC King of Peace joined together to do the 'Would Jesus Discriminate' Float

Rev Dr. Kathy in the cap and white WJD shirt.

This is where I got my hard hat. LOL

Riding with the Dykes on Bikes was this. Now that's the way to travel!!