Techno upgrades

I’m frazzled. Pleased. Tired. And only a little sticker-shocked.
The old PowerSpec desktop and failing Daewoo LCD monitor have been replaced. By a spanking new Compaq Presario desktop PC, and a Viewsonic 19″ widescreen LCD monitor on a swivel base that also can be tilted and raised and lowered.
The good: The [...]

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I laughed even as I wondered why

A couple of decades ago I started watching the reruns of a 1970’s BBC comedy show on our local PBS station. It was broadcast at 10 pm on weeknights, and I strongly preferred it to watching the local news. That was back in the far away past before cable TV gave us all [...]

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Techno troubles

Uh-oh. My sort-of old Daewoo LCD monitor (Model F227B) has been misbehaving. I thought that the problem originated with with my old desktop PC, which has some shortcomings anyway, but it may turn out to be a failing of the monitor. The strange happenings have been intermittent so far. Garbled video display on startup of [...]

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Inner children

My inner child is a pretty happy camper this month. Having convinced me it was time to retire – I swear she wrote that notice of retirement letter to my boss – she’s sleeping late and eating lots of treats and reading lots of fun books. And going to movies. Way more [...]

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Lovable

You know what’s so funny and sad about us human beings? . . . We are constantly torn between the all-consuming desire to be loved and the terrifying fear of being known. Deep inside we don’t believe the two things can exist together, that if anyone really knew us, they would surely never love [...]

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Too true to be very funny

Mike Luckovich’s cartoon in the Atlanta Journal Constitution is titled “Out of work.”

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Good questions

Whether you went to Holy Trinity Grammar School, P.S. 159 or Yeshiva Elementary, you learned in first grade that when you don’t tell the truth, it is called a lie. And telling a lie is wrong.
We learned that at school. We learned that at home. We learned that through our faith. And if somehow we [...]

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Self-indulgence

Oh my goodness. I LOVE being retired. It’s nearly 10:30 on a Monday morning and I’m taking my time getting dressed. I am doing some errands this morning and again this afternoon for our condo building decorating project so it’s not All Me All The Time. But still. I [...]

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When flying first class is worse than economy

That would have been this time.  (The story is below the fold if the link doesn’t work.)
I’m surprised that the flight crew didn’t at least explain things to the nearby first class passengers before plopping the late lady into a seat, and bringing her relatives up there to wail and mourn loudly for the rest [...]

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This week’s title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Venerable Lady Suz the Educated of Buzzing St Helens
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

AKA an old JD perched on a volcano that’s making background noise.

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Sunday night’s fortune

My Fortune Cookie told me:
Never try to tapdance with parrots on a shrub.
Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

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Makin’ my movie list for the week

Thanks to Certifiable Princess, I’ll pass on the film 300. She gets right down to brass tacks in her review:
Are you psyched to see the epic wonder called “300″?
Let [me] save you some cash. Do the following…
Get the movie Gladiator for real cheap at like…WalMart, in their $2.99 DVD bin. Throw it on [...]

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Just remember, ladies: bring only paper and pen to class

Well, you might bring eye and ear protection too.
Yet another reason not to mess with a woman from Oklahoma. The Altus Public Library is presenting two courses FOR WOMEN ONLY.   Yeah, it’s sooo politically incorrect of me, but I’m totally in favor of this.  Details – and signup information - below the fold.
Southern Prairie Library System [...]

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Another reason I never really fit in there

From today’s Denver Post, the news (full story below the fold if that link has expired) that Oklahoma, besides being the buckle of the nation’s Bible Belt, is still a hot spot of activity on the beauty pageant circuit.   The story says that Altus (population 21,000) even has a traveling fan club for its contestants.
I [...]

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A cup of green, to go

A sweeping tip of the hat to author Annie Dawid for her generous act: she bought a case of stainless-steel travel mugs and handed it over to the operator of her local coffee shop in Westcliffe, Colorado. Which was the start of something good. Customers are happily passing up styrofoam [...]

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A real credit to his church and his school

Worth a look: Skelly’s piece over at Arbitrary and Capricious, Kyle Sampson: Sympathy for the Hit Man. Sampson is the “ruthless, recently resigned Chief of Staff to [US Attorney General] Alberto Gonzales.” Skelly’s post is well-furnished with links to news sources and some eyebrow-raising quotes from Sampson’s emails (“not even [...]

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Check out the picture of Chuck

Oh, I love it when Dooce posts some of the hatemail she gets. Scroll down that post to see her response to the guy who complained about how often she posts pictures of her dog. A classic.

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Together forever

I’d lived in this part of town for awhile before I realized that there’s a large cemetery nearby. It sits behind hedges along the main big street, and its signage is discreet.  Then a few months ago I heard that one of my uncles was buried there.
Today I stopped by the cemetery office and asked [...]

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Maxed Out, the movie

It’s a crazy old world. Here in the USA so many of us are frequent shoppers, filling our dwellings past the bursting point with our stuff – and then paying rent on offsite storage units for the excess. And all the while the average American household is carrying thousands of dollars in consumer debt. For all that [...]

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Nooz clips

From The Daily Nooz, these items:
~~~~~~
California’s Golden State Fence Co., which has a contract to build part of the wall on the Mexican border, agreed to pay nearly $5 million in fines because it had been employing illegal aliens.
~~~~~
At a Piggly Wiggly store in Sheboygan, Wis., a man waved a gun in a clerk’s face [...]

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Movies movies movies

Yes, I did retire. As of March 1. I’ve been busy for the past ten days even without a job: a homeowners’ association project, personal business, and [bless their hearts!] colleagues, friends and family have variously celebrated my retirement transition with parties and dinners and event tickets and lunch invitations. [...]

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When truth is as scary as fiction

The other day I saw the movie that won the Oscar for best foreign language film, and I’m glad I did. The Lives of Others is worth the price of admission and the effort of reading subtitles. This review in the Baltimore Sun explains why.
The film is set in 1984 East Germany. [...]

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Just a little problem among friends

Disgusting. From the front page of today’s Denver Post, this article headlined “Push is on for Libby pardon.”
Hmm, let’s see now. This high-ranking official in the Bush administration, while diligently pursuing his boss the Vice President’s campaign of leaks and smears against a (gasp!) knowledgeable critic of the administration’s war, committed a few [...]

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