Dames and a princess

I have a hard time believing it when I’m sick. You know, that I’m really sick.
Oh, I never was one to show up for work with a 102 degree fever or a blinding headache, or during the worst days of a bad respiratory infection.
But even when the evidence of my senses is well into [...]

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Character

It’s what you do when you don’t have to do anything at all, that makes you what you are when it’s too late to do anything about it.
–R.J. Gary, Texas Utilities
Having things to do and places to go this morning, I’ll just post this and run.

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Remember. Again.

 
It’s hard to believe that Katrina’s landfall on the US Gulf Coast was two years ago today.

Flag image from Greg Peters
  The people of NOLA and the Gulf Coast haven’t given up.   I’m betting – and hoping – that national leaders in all walks of life will emerge from their ranks.  

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I lost 106 pounds

Today. For twenty-five bucks.
At Curbside Data Control.   I drove there with four full boxes of papers to shred, the result of my Big Scan (and sort) project.
The nice folks at Curbside dumped all the paper into a locked bin, weighed it (106 pounds), rolled it off to the shredder and issued me a certificate of destruction. 
Meanwhile, back [...]

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Excuses, excuses

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
—–John W. Gardner 
“I made a mistake.”   ”I was insane at the time.”
So, who said that?  Bone idle [...]

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Mercy

Abby, who blogs at Bad Dogs and Such, explains why we are so repulsed by Michael Vick’s acts of cruelty to animals.   It’s worth a read – or two.  HT to Law Dog for the link.

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Will I need a passport?

 The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
—– L. P. Hartley
No scanners, or shredders, not so many lawyers per capita, and identity theft not aided by computers. 
After three full days slogging away at The Big Scan, I’m down to the paydirt of old personal and family letters and pictures.  Including the one above [...]

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Several times in a row

I’ve just spent 12 hours on The Big Scan project (see below). I’m tired but happy. I’ve accomplished a lot today.
Just now I found this favorite Miss Peach cartoon strip, from the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.   I wonder if today’s editors would replace “dumb” with “stupid” . . .

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Hold the ice, the fire – and the paperwork

It isn’t necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.
——-Frank Zappa

I have too many pieces of paper in my house. They are corralled into boxes or file folders, pending The Big Scan – a project I thought would be finished [...]

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My heart isn’t breaking here

Lisa Nowak doesn’t seem to get that she’s no longer an Astronaut Princess, and that the judge may not give a rodent’s rear end what the lovely Lisa likes or doesn’t like.
HT to Babs for the news that ex-naut Nowak – arrested in Florida after driving from Texas to stalk a romantic rival – wants [...]

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You’ll have to eat that cupcake outside, sir

Let’s see. You work, play, pay taxes, and manage to live past your 65th birthday. You may be no genius, but you are smart enough to come in out of the rain and choose the food you eat.
Not so fast. If you live in Putnam County, N.Y., the County fathers [...]

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This week’s serving of insanity, international dept.

WordPress.com blogs have all been blocked in Turkey. By lawyers representing a nutcase activist (see this blog post for some information). Who seems to threaten slander against anyone who dares write about him in an unflattering light.
I hope WordPress gets un-blocked soon.
Update:  An article about it all here.

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Even if there was enough room in the condo

I don’t think I’d have a pet camel.  The BBC has the scoop.    And while we’re on the subject, I also learned that in addition to house cats, the introduction of camels to the land of Oz has resulted in huge herds of feral beasts.  Scary.  Stories below the fold if the links expire.

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Cranky Prof’s been reproducing again

It happened early and via emergency C-section, but mother and baby are recovering.  Mother at home, preemie baby (the Squeaker)  in the NICU making progress on the breathing and other issues.    If there’s anything to heredity, the Squeaker is going to have a wicked wit.  Best wishes to them both.

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More learning by doing

I learned about interarticular ankle fractures and avulsion fractures of the metatarsal, by doing them.  Both of them.  Ten months apart.  Now I’ve learned about bursitis.  Of the hip, yet.  Yee-ouch.  Serious pain, people.
Thanks to my primary care doc’s prompt diagnosis and treatment, the serious pain part is over.   If you’ve never had this [...]

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Saving Grace – Everlast

Saving Grace – Everlast

I’m loving the song as much as the series.
. . . Street wise from the boulevard.
Jesus only knows that she tries too hard.
She’s only tryin’ to keep the sky from fallin’. . . .

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Grace, Earl and the Company

I’m enjoying my first real summer off since I was a kid. No work. No school. The dog days of summer aren’t over yet. When it’s frizzling hot outside, I try to keep cool indoors. Where I can read and watch TV.
Summertime TV has come a long way since [...]

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Mad for Mad Men

I’m enjoying the new series on cable channel AMC: Mad Men. Nancy Franklin’s take on it in a recent New Yorker pretty much sums up why:
Have any states yet legalized marriage between human beings and TV shows? If so, I’m going to throw a few things in a bag and run off [...]

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