Mir so knows

Mir so knows how evil she is. Don't believe me? Check out this post. Pay particular attention to her last comment... (I really missed my vocation as a drug dealer, you know?) .
Does this sound like someone who has no idea just how brilliantly evil she is? I think not.

Death and other icky stuff

A friend of mine stopped by my desk the other day with some news. His ex step-daughter was just found dead at 24. She leaves behind a mother, a brother, a boyfriend, and a daughter. It was a shock in some ways to everyone. But in others, I have to say, it should've been expected. I intended this to be a rant... and maybe I'll come back and rant about it later. But right now, all I can think is, why? why do people do things that they know hurt the people they love?

Here Jibii, just for you.

I don't usually do memes. I find some of them interesting, but most of them I find to be repeats of clones of others. But this one had Jibiibear and I giggling the other night.

If you could choose one vice in exclusion of all others what would it be? Swearing, just like Jibii's.

If you could change one specific thing about the world what would it be? I would make Australia a hell of a lot closer to where I live.

Name the cartoon character you identify with the most? I've always loved Gossamer the Monster. One of the "quiet classics".

If you could live one day in your life over again which would it be? this is a hard one... I'm not one to look back much. I guess if I had to pick, I'd pick a day when my grandfather was still alive, and well. I'd like to spend another day with him, the way I remember him.

If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person who would it be? In history? anywhere in history? GAH! Talk about tough decisions. I think I'd like to go spend a day with someone like William Wallace.

What is your one most important contribution to this world? That I haven't yet killed anyone.


What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about? I don't really have a hidden talent.

What is your most cherished possession? I have a ring that was special to my grandfather.

What one person influenced your life the most growing up? My grandfather.

What one word describes you better than any other? Crazy

What is one thing you lost or sold or threw away that you wish you could have back? I didn't throw it away, my grandfather did, but I wish I could have had it. A complete set of Limoges dinnerware.

Mir is EVIL.

Mir, over at wantnot is evil, evil, evil. (Mir if you're reading this, you should know that is the highest of compliments)

For anyone who's never gone over to her site, take a stroll on over to wantnot and check out some of the fabulous deals she's got posted on her site.

Today, she's got me watching this site for their half hourly deals. So far, I've been excercising some restraint. I've only bought a couple of items. But I see one coming up that I think I'll have to pick up.

Danger Will Robinson, WARNING! WARNING!

Just a warning to all of you. The wise, pretty and wonderful Mir at wantnot has posted another popcorn deal.

And yes, I ordered some more. The scavengers at work should be thrilled. They always end up with the bags I don't like.

The one that started it all

yes, I am obsessed with the California Cow ads. Thanks for asking.
Here's the one that started it all.

How many is too many?

Candles, you might have surmised by my internet persona that I like candles. That would be an understatement. I love candles. I have tons and tons of them. And now I have even more. How many more you ask? ummmmm...... 28 more.
What can I say? They were on clearance. 90% off. That means five dollar candles I bought before Christmas, are now fifty cents. Tins that I eyed before Christmas that were .99 each are now nine cents each. NINE CENTS!! How do you not stock up when they're nine cents each?

What exactly did I get/spend? mmmmm..... I don't have time to get into that right now. But I'll be posting all of what I acquired.

I love, love, love these

I absolutely adore these commercials.

North vs. South

I am a yankee. I have no problem saying that. And while I do have friends who are "rebels", this email struck a chord with me. So read on, and if you have a comment, feel free. I don't regulate the comments here.

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT.
Denver Post: This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part of Colorado after today's snowstorm.
WEATHER BULLETIN Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.
FYI: George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No one howled for the government.
No one blamed the government.
No one even uttered an expletive on TV .
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm.
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King,
No Bill O'Rielly,
No Oprah,
No Chris Mathews and
No Geraldo Rivera.
No Sean Penn,
No Barbara Striesand,
No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water.
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me. I hope this gets passed on. Maybe people will get the message. The world does not owe you a living. In addition, since this was written, Denver received another 2 feet of snow on 12-29-06

My Country

I was born and raised here in the United States. And unlike many, many people who were born and raised here, I try not to take the freedoms we have here for granted. My parents had a lot to do with this. As a child I frequently met people from other countries. Some of them were visiting here, others were immigrants. They all left an impression, which was that this country was in their eyes (and it was unanimously) far superior to the country they'd left. Even those people who just visiting.

I like to think (and hope) that having been exposed to so many different cultures as a child has made me fairly tolerant of others. But then I read an article like this, and I have to wonder if I really am tolerant. My first reaction whenever I read something like that is "if you don't like it, go the hell back where you came from!"

For the record, that's not my reaction to immigrants in general. My parents were sponsors for a family that successfully immigrated from Columbia.

I guess what really irks me, what makes my blood boil is how some (and please note I said SOME) immigrants, illegal aliens, etc. want our country to accomodate (hell kowtow) to their beliefs. At the expense of everyone else's belief.

I guess what I'd like to say to all of the people like the ones that article talks about is this. The United States has been built on a couple of really basic prinicples. Read the bill of rights... you have the right to practice your own religion. But guess what? So do I! And your religion does not take precedence over mine. You also have the right to pursue your happiness. But again, so do I.

My opinion on the Minnesota airport thing is, if your a taxi driver, your job is to take people where they want to go. If you refuse to take a fare, for any reason, then your employer should have the right to fire you. Now, any reasonable employer would not fire a valuable employee for refusing a fare that made them fear for their own safety. But refusing to take a fare because there's a seeing eye dog involved? or because someone brought home a bottle of wine from their trip overseas? To me, that's grounds for firing, and if you don't like it, go back to whatever war torn country you came from and see if you have the luxury of being so righteous, or if you end up being so caught up in survival, that your righteousness falls by the wayside.

Where in the world is Costa Rica?

To continue a theme of the earlier "How did these people graduate" post, I thought I would share a story about someone else at work.

J went on a trip. An all expenses paid trip to Costa Rica. All she saw of the country was the resort that she was booked into (but that's a different rant). When she returned, everyone was asking her questions about her trip and what the country was like. One of the guys asked about where Costa Rica is. J's response? It's near Singapore!!! Singapore!

Let's do a quick geography lesson.

This is where Costa Rica is. It's in Central America. It is possible to drive from the United States to Costa Rica. It'd be a long car ride, but you could do it.



This is where Singapore is. It's over in ASIA! You know, near China, Vietnam, Thailand... all those places.



and in between Costa Rica and Singapore??

That's right... the Pacific Ocean.

Rice Crispie Candle

I tried the lemon sage wood wick candle last night. I have to say, the wood wick does snap and crackle. But I wouldn't say it was like a campfire, more like a small bowl of Rice Crispies. Still, it burns surprising clean (or at least it does so far). And the flame reminds me of the oil lamps that we use at camp.
Would I have another wood wick candle? sure. But not at the price I paid for that one (about $17.00) I'm much more likely to make a few eand share them with friends. I have a few who would love the novelty of a wood wick candle, but would never spend the money on one.

New addition

There's a new addition over there on the side. I called it "new acquisitions". It's where, when I get around to it, I'll post new things that I've acquired. Now, seeing as how I'm a "professional shopper" to most of the people I work with, there's just no way for me to keep that up to date. But I will try and post some of the neater things I acquire. The first is a new candle. The scent I got was lemon sage. It's a nice, fresh smell without being overly citrusy. But what's really cool about this candle is the wick. Instead of the more common cotton wick, this has a slice of what looks to be balsa wood running down the middle of the candle.

Now, I haven't burnt it yet, but supposedly it will crackle like a camp fire. If it does, and still manages to burn fairly cleanly, I'm thinking this might be a new craft project for me.

How did these people graduate?

One of the things I've decided to do is write a little more about what goes on in my work life. Mostly because it's just that unbelievable. Please note, the names have been changed to protect ME. While most of them are not computer savvy, the last thing I need is for them to find this blog, figure out it's me and see what I plan to write about them.

For those of you who don't know, I work in a garage type setting. The exact nature of our business I am not going to mention (at least not yet). But suffice it to say, there's a shop, where a bunch of guys work, and an office where a bunch of women work. It's a mainly male dominated field. And our office is the exception to the industry rule.

It's a family business, where the owner has employed his daughters for all of their working lives. None of them have ever worked anywhere else.

So you can see where I'm going with this and the title of this post.

I honestly don't know how some of the people I work with graduated high school. Never mind that a couple of them have college degrees!

The conversation here in the office recently was about what offices would be open today (for those of you out of country, today is a national day of mourning for President Ford). A couple of us were discussing, would the banks be open, would the town hall be open... etc. D. pipes up with her bank is open. To which we all reply, that figures it's federal offices that will be closed.
Her reply? "so town hall is closed?"
We reply "no, it's FEDERAL offices that are closed".
Next question "so the offices in our state capital are closed?"
at this point I start shaking my head as others repeat "no it's FEDERAL offices that are closed"
D. then asks what that means. We attempt to give her the short answer "offices in Washington D.C. and the post office are closed, you know, the FEDERAL ones"
The kicker is her ending statement about this whole thing. "whatever that means"

Now I don't claim to be a Rhodes scholar. But as I recall, I had to study how my own government works in high school. Hell, what am I saying? I had to study that in junior high and grammar school.

I guess when your daddy doesn't buy your grades you learn things like what the federal government is.

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger... shame....

Yes, I admit it, I'm a bad blogger. And I should be ashamed. I'm terrible at doing anything on a regular basis. I think that's part of the reason I rarely go to a doctor. I suck at taking meds regularly, so I just don't take any.
New Year's resolutions are also on my list of "I don't do's" I used to try and be like everyone else. I'd make New Year's resolutions... go on a diet, get more excercise, cut back on the swearing, drive slower, be nicer. Then one year it hit me... this is me. If I change the way I behave it wouldn't be me.
So no resolutions from me. But I will attempt to make a few more regular posts here.