See Y'all Later

We're off to points south in a few hours so postings will be light or non-existant for a few weeks but I'll take pictures of the first place we're staying, Kerikeri (how cool a town name is that?), and the mountains and some Maori stuff and some geysers and hotsprings and bottles of plonk and then I'll take more pictures of sharks and wallabies and kangaroos and koalas and more bottles of plonk.

G'day mates.

A Bunch of Reasons Why It's Important to Vote Next Week

Lest any of us forget just why it's important to vote, here is a List of Things put together by Larry Gelbert that all of us should be thinking about on Election Day.

Iraq
Abu Ghraib
Guantanamo
Unwarranted Phone Taps
Unprecedented Powers
Unmatched Incompetence
Unparalleled Corruption
Governor Bob Taft
Representative Tom Delay
Representative Roy Blunt
Representative Ken Calvert
Representative John Dolittle
Representative Tom Feeney
Representative Katherine Harris
Representative Jerry Lewis
Representative Gary Miller
Representative Marilyn Musgrave
Representative Richard Pombo
Representative Rick Renzi
Representative John Sweeney
Representative Charles Taylor
Representative Curt Weldon
Representative J.D. Hayworth
Representative Don Sherwood
Representative Bob Ney
Representative Duke Cunningham
Representative Tom Reynolds
Representative Chris Cannon
Jeff Gannon
Representative Mark Foley
Representative Dennis Hastert
Senator George Allen
Senator Bill Frist
Senator Conrad Burns
Senator Rick Santorum
David Safavian
The Vice Presidential Energy Task Force
Three bucks a gallon
Record oil company profits
Anwar Pipeline
Anbar Province
Adelphia
Merck
Halliburton
Arthur Anderson
Qwest
Tyco
WorldCom
Global Crossing
Global Warming
Global Boiling
Exxon
Enron
Abramoff
Adam Kidan
Timothy Flanigan
Ralph Reed
Rita
Katrina
Fema
Terri
Condi
Harriet Miers
The Supreme Court
Diebold
John Bolton
Florida, 2000
Ohio, 2004
North Korea
Iran
Darfur
Stem Cell Research
Scooter Libby
Valerie Plame
Golden Parachutes
Shrunken Pensions
Bernie Kerik
Eminent Domain
Social Security
Habeas Corpus
Ahmad Chalabi
The Baghdad Museum
Tora Bora
Taliban Resurgence
Iraqi Insurgents
General Eric Shinseki
General Anthony Zinni
Mission Accomplished
Illegal Immigration
Intelligent Design
Kenneth Tomlinson
Claude Allen
Swift Boat Hit Squads
Ari Fleischer
Scott McClellan
Tony Snow
Ann Coulter
Expiration of Assault Weapons Ban
John Ashcroft
Alberto Gonzales
George Tenet
Paul Bremer
Paul Wolfowitz
Richard Perle
Kissinger Redux
Duck Cheney
Donald Henry Rumsfeld
Turd Blossom
> And finally, the Uniter-Decider-Reader of Camus,
> Shakespeare and
"My Pet Goat,"
who describes the party that successfully
> prosecuted two world wars
as people who cut and run.

With thanks to my dear friend, Betsy,
who forwarded this to me.

Thanks, Blogger, I was busy anyway

Or not...I was going to whack away at this fancy typewriter for at least the next 1/2 hour but just saw this nice message from Blogger..."Scheduled outage at 2PM PDT." So, be back later.

Stone Soup

Sometimes I’m all about “fuck the expense” and then at other times I’m all about “what’s wrong with that rutabaga, don’t throw it out, we can save it and eat it when we have no money left.” That’s sort of how I’m feeling just about now. While mon mari is busier than ever with work, ka-ching, I’m out there lunching with the ladies and making appointments for hair cuts and highlighting (is that the same as a weave cos that’s what the girl at Aveda called it and it didn’t sound quite right to me) and buying clothes for our trip. Our trip. I guess that’s what’s making me feel like I should be watching the leftover rutagbagas. And so tonight, because I’m in a waste not want not mood, tonight we’re having our very last meal out of the organic chicken I roasted last Sunday for Buzz, Susan, Himself et moi. I’m sure we’re well beyond the eat-by date, but listen to this: It fed four on Sunday, two on Monday (leftover roast chicken dinner and then I boiled the carcass for guess what), two on Tuesday (soup), Himself had soup for lunch today and tonight…well, tonight is leftover soup with more veggies added and because I can be such a cheap heifer, smoked turkey kielbasa.

And back to the trip. I guess if I hadn’t gone to England for three weeks (BY MYSELF which might I add is fun) when the exchange rate was as close to $2 to the £ as it’s been in forever and then up to Mammoth for a break (all of this in the last seven weeks), I wouldn’t be concerned about finishing the rutabagas before we head westwards next Saturday to NZ and Oz for three weeks.

But I do have some good news. Kellogg's is doing a photo shoot here on Tuesday AND we’ve got at least another couple of meals out of that pot of Stone Soup.

Deja Vu

Yesterday there were two. The day before one. Last week several. The week before that a couple more. Sometimes the envelopes are filled with Christmas cards. Sometimes pre-printed return address labels. Sometimes nothing. I hadn't heard from these folks for close to a decade. The first Gulf War was just a quick in and out, not like this one, and didn't generate a lot of requests for money for the newly crippled. But if Vietnam is anything to go by, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Disabled American Veterans and a host of other charities will be asking us for money for at least the next two decades.

Because one thing we know for sure. While they'll be well cared for in the short-term, The U.S. Government won't be giving them the continued care and support that they will need in the years to come.

Eighth Grade Science

***You Passed 8th Grade Science***


Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!


Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?


Apparently I passed eighth grade science. While some folks may feel that they actually remember stuff from 8th grade or are actually smart and know this stuff, I assure you that I am still as good a guesser now as I was then.