Once Upon A Time

Poetry of Bad Taste

A week ago I ranted about jokes that reeked of racism. It turns out the particular item I received that ticked me off that day was the same item that an Arkansas official resigned his position over. Apparently he passed the 'poem' onto members of his staff, some of whom found it offensive. The thing that gets me is the guy doesn't quite get why it was offensive. Sheesh.

Insanity

When we bought the house this year, I feared we were buying at the peak of the bubble. At the height of the housing insanity. Ha!

Another end unit townhouse on my street sold nearly two months later at over $10,000 more than mine. Now there's an interior unit on my street listed over $25,000 more than we paid. And a house equivalent to mine in a different section of town listed for $33,000 more than what we paid. That means this house is now worth up to $35,000 more than when we bought it. Great if we were planning to sell it soon. Not so great since we will be reassessed at the end of the year for taxes.

In Maryland, houses are reassessed every three years unlike Jersey that rarely reassesses. This house could be reassessed for over $120,000 more than it was assessed 3 years ago. Granted, the new reassessment will be phased in over the next three years. But that's still an increase in taxable value of $40,000 per year. That's going to nearly double my taxes in 3 years without any increases in the tax rate...which will likely increase as well. Can you say ouch?

Time for the bubble to burst...quickly. That big of an increase will sock us big time. Now's the time for the prices to get driven downward by the rising mortgage rates, so my tax assessment doesn't rise quite so high, LOL.

The insanity needs to end now. :)

Anonymity

Almost 2 years ago, I stumbled upon a blog (linked by another blog), or rather an online journal of someone I knew in high school. After reading the then current entry, I somehow felt I knew this person. The tone and language just seemed so familiar. So I read back further into the archives and realized in fact I did know this girl. She linked an entry to the high school we graduated from and posted pictures that allowed me to figure out she was in fact this particular girl that had been in many of my classes throughout high school, and at some point early on, had been a friend.

I wrote to her to say that I had found her blog, to ask how she was doing and to give a little blurb about my life. I guess I hoped for a response, but when I got none, I left it be. But from time to time I did check her journal out of natural curiosity. During this time she dealt with depression, finally finished college, planned a wedding, and eventually married. Today when I checked I found she shut her site down, citing her lack of interest after journalling for over 5 years, which is understandable. But she mentioned that knowing that too many folks knew where she journalled was making it harder for her to write, it made me wonder if I played a part in that.

Should I have never tried to contact her? I know we had drifted apart as friends as our interests diverged, but I never thought there was any animosity between us. I didn't feel right secretly reading what she was writing, but maybe having her know I was is worse (for her). I dunno. Clearly I was not the only person she knew that had discovered her...and she mentioned others that she had pointed to her journal page.

I don't write many terribly personal entries here, because the internet is a public place. You never know who might drop in unexpectedly. Also, I have invited friends to read this page. Only a few drop in with any frequency that I'm aware of. I invited them so they would know what's going on with me. But primarily I write this stuff for me. However, as I said, anything I would be embarassed/ashamed/etc. to have read by folks that know me, doesn't belong out there on the internet. And I do keep things less personal in case they do drop in. Especially about work stuff, since that's practically a policy there. Does that make it hard for me to write? Not really. Lately I tend to go on about politics and current events just fine. And gardening seems to be a topic of late.

I think that even in person I don't talk much about myself. I find myself boring and I'd much rather listen to someone else talk about themself, LOL. I find it interesting that some folks remember so many events in their life so vividly. I swear I've forgotten half of mine.

This girl talked so much about high school in her journal--that's what struck me. Over ten years later and she's still reliving shit from high school. Stuff that's completely off my radar. I remember more good times from college but much of that is over 10 years back now. I'm very much rooted in the present. And looking to the future...making goals for myself. My happiness is in the here and now. I find it inside myself. One thing I learned a long time ago is you can't rely on others to bring you happiness.

So in the end, I hope she finds happiness. I hope she finds out who she is now, and not worry about who she was then. She seems like she might be on the right track, finally.

Trainwreck

It's these stories that concern me the most. Bush & Co. are screwing things up so badly that people resign rather than stick around to watch the trainwreck.

And Iraq is surely one hell of a trainwreck. It's one of those cases where I'm not thrilled to have been right. As was Molly Ivins almost a year ago. It's scary just how many similarities there are to what he's doing now as to what he did in Texas as she points out.

The Linc

After being pulled over in Baltimore, I was behind schedule for getting to my parents house on schedule. But I still could have made it to the church on time if I hurried. However when I got to the Walt Whitman Bridge, all bets were off. I could see from the exit ramp off I-95 that it was packed with cars that were moving at a crawl. We had just passed the new Lincoln Financial Field, Home of the Eagles, and saw that Open House was that day. So I pulled off onto Packer Ave. instead of going onto to the ramp for the bridge, and headed toward the Linc. We weren't sure if the Open House was for the general public or not, but we decided to find out. At this point I figured I wasn't making the wedding ceremony and the reception wasn't until 5pm. So what the hell!

I tried to ask the guy at the parking lot, but he just flagged us in saying it was free. Walking up to the stadium, we were impressed with its look and size. Getting to the line, my bag was checked at security. Standard Procedure. Then at the gate I saw folks were handing over tickets to be scanned. I said to the girl that we didn't have tickets. She motioned for us to go through anyway.

So Brian was in heaven, getting to see the new stadium. I was snapping pictures with my Advantix camera since this was the *one* time Brian hadn't brought his digital along. We were most impressed with how close the field seemed when you walked in on the first level. Despite the heat, it felt not too bad inside because of the breezes that blew through the stadium, something that would not have been possible at the Vet. However, I'm not sure how welcoming the wind will feel in December, LOL.

All in all, we liked the new facility. It's a great improvement over the Vet. Maybe I'll actually go to a game now, LOL.

Busted

On my way to New Jersey Saturday, I got stopped for speeding on I-695 around Baltimore. I had a black Honda CRV on my ass as I was passing a line of slow moving cars. As I was getting past the line I was preparing to move over, but the CRV slid out from behind me first. I got off the gas, as I saw I was going into a curve that I knew the cops tend to frequent. But apparently I didn't slow down quick enough. I saw the cop walk out into the left lane and flag me in. Meanwhile the CRV drove past scot free.

And the cop I had to deal with was not the type to talk with. He fired off his spiel such that I'm not even sure what all he said. I caught the "Maryland State Trooper' and 'license and registration' parts--that was about it. My attitude was like, 'just give me the ticket' because this guy was clearly a hard ass and not going to be sympathetic to hearing that there was someone bearing down my ass at the time I was speeding. So I got a $75 ticket for going 73 in a 55. Less than my NYS ticket for 65 in in a 55 from 4 years ago. That one was $90.

I'm just pissed that this will likely put points on my license. My record WAS clean. Grrrrrrr....... I've driven that route so many times and this is the first time I've ever been pulled over. And only my second ticket ever. At least the guy in New York was nice about it. The Maryland guy had his hat drawn forward like a drill seargent and acted like one, too. *sigh*

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Who didn't see this coming? After all, the whole affair appeared so fake and quite the freakshow...and the groom so apparently gay. Hehehehehe..... The 15 minutes of fame is over.

Wedding Bells

This weekend is the first of the two weddings I have to attend. The next one is next week. That covers my quota of weddings for the year, LOL. I'm going to wear the black dress I bought at Nordstrom's on clearance last year. I hope my tan lines don't make me look stupid in it. (The dress ties around the neck) Otherwise I'm going to have to buy some fake tan stuff to put on.

I had no luck finding another dress...so its either this one or something else in my closet.

Why is it that they've been making summer dresses that make every woman look like a cow in? I weigh less than 130 lbs, I work out, and yet the dresses fit so snugly that they show every curve you have, especially the ones you don't want to show, LOL. I look like I have a beer gut.

I'm a woman, not a teenage stick. Kindly make stylish dresses that suit women. Ones that accentuate the good points of our bodies and don't look like moo-moos...or is that mu-mus? LOL.

Lame-O

Some days I just feel lame. Here it is Friday night and all I want to do is curl up and do nothing. I feel sapped of any energy. Is that what turning 30 does to you?

Anniversary

How did it get past me that yesterday was my 2 year anniversary of this blog? Doh! I had completely forgotten. I guess I was a bit preoccupied with assorted life issues such as cats, job, friends leaving the area, etc. Oy.

And it's been almost a month since I've moved the blog to the new domain and loaded MT. Sheesh, time flies when you're having fun! LOL.

On the Barbe

My brother is enjoying cooking on the barbeque. But the grille we bought on Saturday is already cracked on the side. It must have had a flaw and when heat was applied, it cracked through. So now I'm trying to find out if I need to disassemble it and bring it back to Sears in order to get a new one. Luckily we do still have the box. (Since it cracked the second day we had it, and trash day hadn't come yet, LOL.) It'll just be a pain to take it apart and get it to fit back into the box properly. I haven't managed to stop in or call when a manager is actually available to take my question. :(

Ripe Tomatoes

Update on my Tomatoes: I plucked off 4 small ripe tomatoes yesterday. No more rotten ones. :) Must be they needed some dry weather, and Mother Nature finally cooperated and gave us what the doctor ordered. ;)

Truth Stranger than Fiction?

Ran across this Op/Ed piece that brings up a lawsuit again Dubya for sexual assault and harrassment that no media outlet seems willing to cover. Good ole double standard at work here? You decide.

MI5

Knowing my interest in spies, thanks to years of watching La Femme Nikita, you may have guessed I would tune in for MI-5 on A&E. You would be correct. Where I've passed on shows like the Agency and Alias (blatant LFN ripoff IMHO), I had an interest in seeing that show the Brits call Spooks. That's because it premiered in London around the time I visited there May 2002. The promo looked great. Here in the States they renamed the series MI-5. And it premiered last night.

Judging by the first episode, the show has potential. The lead male character has great eyes. Very emotive eyes, like Michael in LFN to some degree. But he does talk a bit more, LOL. In the first episode he's dealing with a romantic relationship he made while undercover. He's having to deal with lying to her about what he does and who he really is.

The female lead has almost a clumsy uncertainty to her. Example, she gets all flustered when they lose the cat that they are supposed to bug, LOL. But so far I like her character, the imperfect spy.

I'll have to see where this series goes.

Meanwhile I did watch a portion of the premiere of Nip/Tuck last night, too. I think Julian McMahon is a hottie...I've thought that ever since he made his American TV debut on the soap Another World. All I came away with was, my God that family is dysfunctional...and Julian plays a wonderful slime. LOL. I'd have to watch the entire episode to get a more accurate feel for the show. I was too tired to stay up, so I went to bed instead.

Bun in the oven

Yesterday I received an email that a close friend of mine is pregnant and having a girl. The weird thing was I sensed something was up the last time I talked to her. My women's intuition had kicked in, and was right as usual. LOL. ;)

It's great news...it'll be their first child. :)

Hear Me Roar

Tabitha appeared to be having more cystitis woes in addition to having a yeast infection down in that same vicinity. Poor thing was frequenting the box and licking herself excessively. Additionally her fur has been matting a lot recently. So to the vet she went this morning. After talking with the vet, we decided to give her a lion cut since he wanted to shave her back end to help with the yeast problem (making it easier to apply medicine) and since I wanted the area of her back and sides that has been matting to be shaved. And since he was going to sedate her for the lion cut, he decided the exam could wait until that time, since Tabitha was not a happy camper from the get go. LOL.

Oh, how different she looks, hehehehe....

She had her claws trimmed as well. When I brought her home, Gee had to sniff her up, since I think he wasn't sure who she was. Lucky for him she was still kinda groggy or else she would have whacked him. The funniest thing about her is how much more obvious it is that she needs a tummy tuck. The poor girl has a hanging belly due to having kittens in her younger years before I owned her.

My little lion may never forgive for this, LOL. :)

The Other Bush Lie

Found at Alternet: The Other Bush Lie. This story details to what lengths the administration pushed the idea that Sadam Hussein was involved in backing 9/11, despite the lack of any credible evidence.

Forget impeachment, Bush et. al should be tried in the World Court for starting an illegal and unjustified war.

Happy Hour

Went to Happy hour last night at the Joe's Crab Shack with folks from work. M is leaving, and so we were celebrating her last day. Ironically some guy had started talking with MK at the bar and joined our group for the night as a result. He was from Roanoke, VA and had a twangy accent, but seemed to fit in otherwise. Later in the evening MK gave him a hug when he came back from the john traumatized. It seems two guys were going at it in the bathroom. Not sure what he saw but he certainly heard some action LOL. Gave him the heebie-jeebies, LOL. And the other guys as well. They were all threatening to use the lake instead. ;)

It was a nice relaxing time overall, with M having probably too much to drink by the end. She was having fun and being flirty with the guys.

I have been having pain in my shoulder and neck the last few days. I got C to start massaging it, but he was only doing a so-so job. M decided she would give it a try since I was still in pain. Figures, she did a better job of finding the knot and working on it. (I get deep knots that are tricky to find some times. ) She got interrupted, so C continued working on my knot since it'd been located. Later M decided she'd give me a hand massage (she'd been giving those to others as well--it relieves stress).

When she got interrupted again, C started talking again about how he found guy-guy disgusting but girl-girl was fine. He wanted to know what I thought about it. I could sense he was getting ideas of M and me along with him...and I wasn't about to go there. I said I was too tired to get into that topic of conversation or something like that. Knowing my luck he took it to mean something other than me avoiding the topic because I knew it could lead to no good. LOL. Girl-girl is not exactly my thing, though I have nothing against it.

For some reason guys love fantasizing about that stuff. Not sure what the root cause of that is. But the minute anyone sees any sort of close friendship between women they want to see something sexual there. Any worry of that sort of perception can create distance between friends where there shouldn't be any. Worry that someone sees something that isn't really there or intended. Does that make sense? Or am I just rambling again? LOL.

Skip-skip-skippp-ppping disc

My computer is getting up there. It's over 4 1/2 years old, bought with severence money from the job I lost 2 jobs ago, LOL. It's a 350 MHz Pentium II Dell Dimension. It actually does most of the things I want it to do. But recently it tends to make my CDs skip when I have browser windows connecting to webpages. :( Oh yeah, and my subwoofer died within the last year.

My plan is to replace the computer later in the year or perhaps early 2004. Hopefully it'll hang on that long. I need to save up some money first, LOL.

Simply Mah-velous

The weather today was perfect. The unfortunate part was I was at work all day. But we did go out to lunch today and ate outdoors.

It was low 80s with very low humidty. I'm talkin' 25% humidity. A rare commodity on the East Coast. The sky was a crisp blue with the occasional wispy cloud.

And since the bosses accompanied us to lunch, taking a long lunch was not a problem, lol. :)

But the down side of it is a friend/co-worker is leaving tomorrow. (It was her good-bye lunch) My partner in crime. The person I can bitch to about whatever is bothering me that day at work--especially about the two who act like they are my best friends in the world while jabbing me in the back. I feel like I'm losing a valuable ally. But I know she's leaving to be in a happier place, so I am thrilled for her. It's just bittersweet.

Snip

Tonight I finally went to get my hair cut. I had been wanting to make an appointment for over 3 weeks. Finally yesterday I made the call and tonight I got my hair chopped. It's actually a pretty short bob even for me. But I like it. Short is more manageble. And longer hair tends to pull down my face making me look drawn. By the end of the summer, I'll need to get my highlights done again. God this stuff gets expensive after awhile, LOL. :)

Racism

[rant]

I get lots of jokes in my inbox most days. And some of those disturb me with tones of racial bigotry. The one I received today was called the "Illegal's prayer." And it said to send to all your tax paying friends. It talks of Pakistani illegal immigrants coming to America to be on welfare. Calling them turban heads. Interestingly the woman that sends me the joke is Black.

I guess if you are 'the oppressed' you are allowed to oppress another group. Not!

I'm the type that will go and delete this email and not forward it on. But you know others with anti-Muslim sentiments from the war will pass it on like wildfire. The interesting thing is most are too ignorant to know that many of those so-called turban heads are Sikhs, a peaceful religious group that are not Muslim. They have nothing to do with the war or terrorism.

Muslim or Sikh, there's no point in hating these people. They are human just like anyone else. Perpetuating jokes like this only fuels the ignorant resentment. It just pisses me off.

[/rant]

I Don't Like Mondays

Currently I'm listening to Tori Amos' cover of the Boomtown Rats song 'I Don't Like Mondays.' It just seems to suit today, LOL.

The weekends just don't last long enough. Don't you think we should all switch to four 10 hour days and have three day weekends? I think the world would be a happier place. (It might be a simplistic view, but hey, why not?) We could all stop and smell the roses. Rather than dread going to work again. We spend over 8 hours out of the ~16 we are awake at a place we'd rather not be most days. Wouldn't it be nice having more time to do things that are more enjoyable and rewarding?

Interestingly enough when I did a search on the song because I couldn't remember the name of the band that originally performed it, I found the snopes.com page explaining that the song was in fact written about a girl who shot and killed two men and wounded several of her schoolmates and a police officer. Afterwards she told reporters 'I don't like Mondays.'

Ironically this song is followed by 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' (orig. the Beatles) which has excerpts from both presidents Bush. The first being the younger Bush, being his usual dumb self.

George W. Bush: “I believe that uh, people who are going to commit crimes shouldn’t have guns.”

And the second being his father who's not that much better.

George Bush: “I guess my reaction is the same as every other father’s and every other grandfather. My heart goes out the people, to the victims. Because I don’t understand how kids can be out in the garage making bombs and a, and a families be totally unaware of it, this culture going on. And I’m as troubled about it as anybody else and I don’t know any answers.”

This can be found on Tori Amos' Strange Little Girls album.

Perhaps with longer weekends, we could devote more time and energy to our families and to ourselves. Happiness is a far more rewarding than money. And goes a long way to making us healthy and whole.

[/ramble]

Next Target: Iran?

According to a story on Yahoo, "Iran has made a major new oil find containing estimated reserves of more than 38 billion barrels, making it one of the world's biggest undeveloped fields, a senior oil official was quoted as saying Monday."

Who wants to bet Bush & Co. are eyeing Iran even more closely now? I mean, why deal with a real nuclear threat like North Korea when you can go after oil bearing countries in the Middle East? Seems to be how these boys think. Smoke and Mirrors, those WMD, it's all about oil.

The Wizard of Oz comes to mind these days, especially since I saw a special about it on cable the other week. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Just listen to the all-powerful Wizard of Oz. Uh, yeah, sure.

Rotten Tomatoes

I had been getting excited because I have lots of tomatoes growing. A few had even begun to ripen. Then I find that the first 2 of those were rotten on the bottom, despite not being fully ripe yet. What's up with that? Has it been too wet? I don't get it. I hope they don't all end up that way. It would be a pretty bitter end to a crop that seemed so promising. :(

Depleted Uranium

A few weeks back I had read an article in Newsweek about depleted uranium being used as a munition in Iraq. Today I read an even more critical article online here. It enrages me that we even use this shit. It clearly played a part in the Gulf War Syndrome--there's no doubt in my mind. And in the dramatic rise in cancer and birth defect rates in the Iraqis and US troops that had been in Iraq for the Gulf War. And its still being used, this time more heavily in the civillian areas. Why would our government authorize the use of something that poses danger to both our troops and to the Iraqi people and their children? Because its cheap and it provides a use for all that nuclear reactor waste that is piling up.

Makes me want to just scream! How can these guys sleep at night? I'd like to know that. I really would.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one

I'm still LOLing over this article on Yahoo News. It tells the tale of 29,000 bath toys lost at sea, that floated from the Pacific over the artic cap to the Atlantic. Many of the toys appear to be completing their journey this week, landing on the shores of New England, bleached from 11 years of sun. How ducky is that?

Signs of the Apocaplypse

Stole that title from TVBarn. But it's so true! Jerry Springer files to run for the US Senate? It's gotta be a sign! The end is near.

Additionally, I got the email this morning that Dean is demanding resignation from "those in this administration who misled the nation and misled the world in making the case for pre-emptive war." I love that he's knocking things up a notch. Someone needs to. But Bush quitting? That would be a sign of the end, even if I would so love seeing him have to step down. LOL.

Too tired to blog

I was managing to post everyday so far this month until yesterday. Went out last night instead....had an interesting time. Would write about it, but I'm too tired and a T-storm is moving in. Double-whammy, LOL.

I guess I'm getting too old to be out until 3 am and then go to work in the morning. My body can't handle the lack of sleep. And a nap tonight only disoriented me more. Geez.

Hehehehe.....

Sex Ed Revised, eh?

According to a study out of Canada, it is possible that some women may ovulate multiple times a month and this could be a reason that the rhythm method has such a high failure rate. Also, this could explain why many fraternal twins have been shown via ultrasound to be weeks apart in gestation. They found that a portion of their test subjects who were scanned everyday showed follicular activity multiple times within a month. It is unclear whether a egg was released each of these times. But the findings surprised the researchers. --I'm not sure why they were studying woman's fallopian tubes and ovaries on a daily basis if they weren't looking for that, LOL!

This data suggests that the ovulation cycle and the menstrual cycle may be somewhat independent of the other. Source: Yahoo News

So it looks like there may need to be some revising of the sex education textbooks, lol. "Most of you will ovulate only once a month, but some of you will be fertile myrtles and ovulate all the time. Since you don't know which category fall into, don't have sex, unless you're married." [Well, this change would be during the Bush administration, LOL.]

Smoking Gun

It appears that researchers at NASA have found what they are calling the 'smoking gun.' A test on Monday showed that a piece of the shuttle foam, released during takeoff was capable of putting a gaping hole in the shuttle's wing at 500 mph. Knowing that doesn't bring the crew back, but it sure goes a long way toward rebuilding trust in the space agency. It also suggests that there had been no chance of making inflight repairs since the hole could have been too large to fix with the materials the astronauts had on hand. Perhaps this will close the latest tragic chapter at NASA.

Kitty Update

I don't think I've given a cat update in awhile. So here goes:

In terms of settling in the new house, I think they were settled in by the second day. They loved it from the start since it has lots of windows, two sets of stairs, and many rooms to choose from to sleep in. And of course their humans and their furnature accompanied them to their new home, so all is well in the land of Cat. Brian and I just pay the mortgage and utilities; they own the place.

[I'll insert some cat pics soon]

In terms of health issues:

Tabitha's yeast issues have not completely cleared up. She still has a stinky butt. Also she's started matting again, despite my attempts to keep her brushed. Otherwise, she's in good health, though pissy when I attempt to work on removing her matts (cutting them out using scissors, since brushing through them is out of the question)

Gee has been doing quite well since about a month before we moved. His cystitis seems to be in check. (See my archives for the saga that started in October. In short, I was dealing with bloody cat urine 3 weeks at a time over the course of 6 months. Typically it lasts 7-10 days in most cats...but not my Gee! LOL.) Threatening him with not being able to come to the new house appears to have helped motivate him to get better (they sure didn't hurt, LOL).

So it has been at least 3 months that he's been red pee free, LOL. As long as I keep giving him the CVS generic of Chlor-Trimetron, half a 4 mg pill twice a day, he stays peeing normal (color, frequency, volume, etc...I know...TMI about cat pee, LOL).

I find that as I try to wean him off, he starts to pee more frequently and starts peeing on the box instead of in it. I've tried it a couple different times. So now I'm convinced he'll just have to stay on it for the duration. Also, this medicine keeps his allergies in check. He has airborne allergies, ya know, tree and grass pollen, ragweed, mold, dust, etc...he's prolly even allergic to Tabitha, LOL.

He's not been tested for specifics, but whenever an allergen is high, the boy itches and itches, poor thing. Now that it has gotten hot and my windows are always shut with the AC on, he does much better and isn't balding by his tail anymore. Luckily, he's fairly easy to pill, though some days he runs down the basement, hoping I'll give up and won't follow. But I usually do, and then he gives in pretty easily, LOL. :)

Monday

Back to the grind again after a relaxing 3-day weekend. Didn't go anywhere, save Target, PetsMart and Safeway, LOL. Did get some cleaning and laundry done. Nothing outrageous. Oh yeah, and did go see Montgomery County's fireworks display. Whoever does their show does a fabulous job. Always throws in some new and different ones along with the typical fare. Sure to get some cheers from the crowd.

That was my 4th weekend in a nutshell. Now that it's Monday, it's back to work. I feel like such a sloth because I still feel tired. Someone hand me some energy, I'm severely low on it, LOL. :)

Comments

Not sure that I have written anything comment worthy, but I've been fighting with the coding trying to figure out why my comment pop-up window doesn't look right in IE but looks fine in Mozilla. No luck so far. Enough to make me wanna disable the thing, LOL.

Dig a little deeper, scream a little louder

Not sure if the news media is up for digging a little deeper, but the boys involved in collecting intel from the CIA sure are starting to scream a little louder as the administration has shown a tendency to pass the buck when it comes to Iraq. More evidence that Bush & Co. 'twisted the truth' appears in the Op-Ed section of the NY Times and on Yahoo News.

This gentleman claims he informed the Vice President that the information that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger was incorrect/unsubstantiated. He informed Cheney prior to the President's speech laying forth his 'proof' of the imminent danger Iraq posed. Sounds like the president lied to me. Twisted the truth is just a gentler way of saying it.

Keep screaming guys. Don't let Bush pass the buck on this one. He lied his way into Iraq. The blame should fall squarely on him. He should have to accept the consequences of his actions instead of trying to wiggle out of it. And he appears to be squirning a bit. Trying to figure out which country would be the easiest target to hit next. The list has now grown to include Liberia, it would seem. Unbelievable.

The Baghdad blogger

Salam Pax explains the concept of blood money in the July 2nd Guardian. I'm always learning something new from this guy. Might be part of why I enjoy reading his blog so much.

Atari

This will bring back memories of playing Atari 2600. Granted my brothers and I didn't have one, but our cousins did. We spent lots of time on the weekends up in their room playing games like Combat, Pitfall, and Space Invaders. LOL.

Later we did get an Atari 5200 and eventually a Nintendo. It wasn't about the graphics, it was about competing to see who could be the best. And about seeing how quickly my brother Joe would start cursing at the TV and throwing the controller, LOL.

Let's get ready to Rumble!

I walked out on my deck this morning to water my plants. It was about 8:45 am and suddenly I hear music playing. The music that accompanies "Let's get ready to rumble!" I just about burst out laughing because it seemed weird to hear this music.

Accompanying this blaring music was an announcer introducing the local swim team. The pool is down past the end of the lake, but I heard this guy loud and clear. He continued by getting each of the swim teams to cheer, then the parents. The parents were clearly still drinking their coffee, for there response was pitiful. And the announcer made sure to let them now that! LOL.

I had already learned that sound carries well across the lake. Two, maybe three weeks ago I was out on my deck reading a book. There was a party across the lake where I swear I could hear many of the conversations from. I'm just relieved I don't live in that neighborhood, because that party must have been very loud.

Additionally, there is this one guy that walks around the lake that bursts into tune singing anything from Ozzy to country. Strange boy! Really strange, I assure you.

I never imagined how entertaining it is just to be on my deck, LOL. :)

Garden

This morning I decided to beat the heat and work in my garden in the early morning hours. My back garden is on the side of a hill which makes upkeep challenging. But I guess it's better than having grass that we'd have to mow. Over the last few weeks its gotten overgrown with weeds and wild strawberry vines. I went in and thinned much of what was there. Now I can see my impatiens, LOL. More weeding will be necessary, but by 10:30 am it was already getting too hot.

Also I clipped a couple of small trees down, trimmed my forsythia and ripped out some grape vine. Not bad for a hour or so's worth of work.

Here's some garden pics from around the place:

And lastly for the 4th of July, my flag:

Why ask Y?

I can recall a humorous map of the Y chromosome published in the early 90s in Science or Nature that depicted genes such as 'hogs remote control', 'doesn't ask directions' etc. I think I still have a photocopy of it somewhere. Well now scientists really have sequenced the Y chromosome and made some interesting discoveries in regards to how Y edits itself to keep itself clear of mutations through a series of repeats/palindromes. And that these palindromes are found in chimpanzee Y chromosomes as well, LOL. The story is online at GNN.

The last roundup

This past weekend we went to my parents to pick up a blue 1996 Nissan Sentra that my brother is buying from a friend of my Dad. Brian drove the old 1987 Honda Accord up there to leave it with my Dad. We were hoping to sell the car. But Dad explained the plight of this woman our neighbor works with. Basically guilted us into giving the car to her for next to nothing. It seems the woman works in the school cafeteria, her husband is dying of cancer and her daughter is getting married and can only afford to serve weiners and beans at the reception.

My Dad has a big heart and he's good at laying on the guilt, LOL.

But it was a sad moment, leaving behind the car that has served my brother and I well for 8 years. It was my first car, and later his. We were kinda attached to the thing. And heck, the thing still runs!

I bought the car in Texas and drove it back to Jersey when I left grad school. My mom and I spent 3 days on the road, taking our time road tripping back. Lots of memories with that car. I hope it serves it's new owner well.

Hunt for WMD

Looks like Bob Harris has found the way to find those pesky missing WMD...Do a Google search!

1) Pay a visit to Google.

2) Type in (without using any quotes): weapons of mass destruction

3) Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" icon.

Tehehehehe.....

God's Will

Another story in which George Bush claims God is directing his actions, in this case in attacking Iraq. If this is true, the man is so dilusional AND dangerous. Yikes.

Dean Meetup Part 2

I drove in the rain down I-270 to get to the Dean Meetup in Rockville. Almost got myself killed. Some idiot was going 40 without any flashers. I tried to change lanes to get around this individual (a mini-van of course) and the idiot began to pull into the lane I signalled to move into. Fortunately I was able to switch over one more lane to avoid a collision. Otherwise there was no way I could stop that abruptly in the pouring rain. And I was going 60 at most.

Once in Rockville, I found my way to the California Tortilla. Paid $1 for parking. The Dean Meetup group was gathering on the patio which luckily did have an overhang that covered the outdoor tables. Quickly the patio became packed with Dean supporters. Maybe close to 100 people. I thought that was a pretty good showing with the rain and it being a couple days before the July 4th holiday.

Signed in quickly, got a Dean bumper sticker (which will likely hang inside my car on the back window) and headed inside for some food. Found a nice lady and her 14 year old son to sit with. They were waiting for her husband/his father to arrive. At that point I caught the tail end of the speech where it was explained that we'd be writing to Iowans in support of Dean. Three letters each, to three people listed on the sheet we were handed. Some wrote the letters there, while others opted to take them home to write. I started to write one, copying the example, but then I wasn't satisfied with it half way through. So I took the whole packet home, hoping to do a better job using my own words.

Eventually a second speech was made explaining the next project. They were looking for volunteers to hand out flyers at local July 4th celebrations. So I think I'll be handing flyers out at the fireworks display. We'll see how that goes, LOL.

Overall, the meetup was perhaps too loosely structured. I'm not sure what I expected. But I guess that proves that it really is grassroots as opposed to manufactured.

Dean Meetup

Thus far, the candidate for president I like the most is Howard Dean. I like his straight talking personality. I have agreed with his stance on Iraq all along. And the tax cuts do need to go, because America is not in the position to prosper in these recessed/depressed times when its tax base is shrinking.

I've said all along that I want to get involved in the next election. I think this particular election is that important. Bush has proven himself to be an even greater threat to American freedoms than I even imagined back in 2000. I know that I don't want to suffer through another 4 years with him a commander in chief. This four have been more than enough and we're not even through the term yet.

So in order to dip my toes into the water, so to speak, I'm planning to attend a Dean Meetup. I'm not sure if that will accomplish what I want it to, but then I'm not sure at all what happens at these Meetups. LOL. I figure at the very least I'll meet some new people, make new acquaintances. And perhaps more will come of it.

Thunderstorms

Don't ya hate it when you go to bed later than you wanted to and then when you finally do start to fall asleep a nasty thunderstorm rips through waking you up for the duration?

I'm gonna be zombie girl today since I'm already at a sleep deficit. Perhaps I'll bail on going to the gym today. Get some sleep instead.

But I gotta admit the second half of the thunderstorm last night was a humdinger. Lots of lightning strikes and booming thunder. Close ones that have you clinging to your pillow. Not like that's gonna do anything, LOL.

I'm just a chicken shit when it comes to bad thunderstorms.