Monday, December 8, 2008

The Scourge of Cell Phones

I can't tell you how many times a day I begin a conversation with someone and their cell phone rings and I cease to exist. I become invisible and the person's finger goes in one ear (phone in the other ear) to drown out my voice so they can hear the oh-so-important words of someone on the other end asking "what's going on?"

I wonder why people think that whoever is calling on their cell phone is more important than the person they are talking to in person. How many times have you heard "I gotta take this call" and without waiting for an acknowledgement, they proceed to turn away, walk away and never come back. I have had so many conversations left hanging in the middle and it makes me feel like I am the least important thing in the world to that person. I'm pretty sure the auto company whose robot voice telling them that their vehicle warranty is about to expire is a lot more important that I am.

My kids turn their attention to their text messages constantly. I'm sure that if they find a way to implant the phone in the kids hands, they will definitely have it done.

I'm not so attached to it myself. It's in my purse but if I'm not near my purse, I don't care. If I'm at home, I figure if the person wants to talk to me they can call me on the home phone line. I'm also not digging to the bottom of my purse (if you saw my purse you'd understand why) to find that phone. Oh, and I do NOT chat on the cell when I'm in a store. Why do people do that? I am shopping, dammit! I don't have time to talk!

I have a cell phone too and it's very hard not to answer it at times. I do check to see if it's my mom and maybe an emergency. Aside from that, I'm going to try to ignore the cell phone when I'm talking to someone else.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Yakety Yak

Do you know people who talk so continuously that they don't seem to breathe and never break long enough to allow somebody else to express a thought or ask a question? They seem to fill every break with "and, um, and, um". I feel like I have to raise my hand to indicate that I have something to say or comment on.
I think that's why I prefer e-mail and instant messaging with some people. There is a natural back and forth with it and you don't end up talking over each other.
Another thing is that after a full minute or more of someone talking, my mind tends to wander and I'm not listening anymore. Especially if the subject matter is boring as hell and I'm not interested in the first place. The look of utter boredom and disinterest on my face doesn't seem to register because the speaker is too wrapped up in their monologue to notice.
I find that most telephone conversations go on way too long anyway. I do enjoy talking to people one on one in person, but for some reason I don't like to "chat" on the phone very often. I use the phone as a tool to get a quick answer to a question. If I feel like talking a lot, I usually e-mail, visit in person, or I blog.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who can't get a thought out verbally to save their lives. They "uh, ummmm, hmmmm and uhhhhhh" forever and you sit there waiting for the precious gem of their thoughts to make it into speech and by the time it does, it's usually not worth hearing. Of these people, I just have to say "SPIT IT OUT AND GET TO THE POINT!"

I think the reason I like certain TV shows and not others is a reflection of this. I can't handle watching a news show that has more than 2 people other than the monitor. The View drives me nuts because they all talk at once. Some of the news shows are like that too. I like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow because they speak clearly and they get to the point and they don't belabor a point too long.

Chop, chop, get to the point and move on.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Family Cookbook

I found this web site called www.tastebook.com. It's really cool. You can make your own cookbook, spiral bound with laminated pages and you can add pictures. I starting putting one together for our family and I have 45 recipes so far. I'm waiting for the rest of the family to give me some of their recipes. What's nice about it is that everything will be in one book, not those little sheets of paper stuck here and there that you can never find when you need them.
This is going to be a no-frills cookbook. No oddball spices or cooking methods. Nothing exotic or complicated.
It will contain a lot of butter, sugar and cool whip. I've been having a lot of fun with it and can't wait till it's finished. I'm having a hard time finding pictures of the dishes online so I'll probably have to take my own photos of them. I like cookbooks with PICTURES. If it works out well, there might be a Volume II.
I want to add some personal notes from the family too. I'm hoping this will be a book that will be handed down to our grandchildren. :)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thanksgiving's Coming!

I love Thanksgiving. It comes around every year in November which is one of the best months of the year in Austin. Nice and cool after the long hot summer. We've been having Thanksgiving Dinner at our house for the past 10 years. We host between 16 and 25 family members because we have the big dining room and big table that almost everyone can sit around. It starts the night before with the preparation of the turkey and dressing. Jack and I do the turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and a vegetable with the help of the kids. Everyone else brings something. Mama always makes the gravy. her pineapple cake and the cranberry salad and Aunt LaVerne brings her famous sweet rice. Amy brings pies and Debby brings a salad. It's such a wonderful day because the house takes on that fantastic smell of good food cooking, the sound of laughter and talking and general good will. They family usually arrives around 10:00am and we visit, eat and watch football and then have all of the wonderful desserts and coffee until around 3:00 when everyone is tired and wants to go home. Then we still have time for a nice nap followed by the mandatory turkey sandwich on white bread with Miracle Whip and Ruffles. The next day we get to eat leftovers. By Saturday, we're all ready for some spicy Mexican Food. The great thing is that it's just a day to be together, unlike Christmas which is filled with stress and gifts and lasts for freakin' EVER. The build-up is way too much for the actual event. One of these years we're just going to skip Christmas if the kids will let us.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to next Thursday, the best day of the year.

Monday, November 17, 2008

No Fear

If you've ever watched Fox News for even a short time (which I rarely do, but I sometimes need to know what the neo-cons are saying), you should watch for the number of times they say the word "Fear".
I refuse to live my life in fear. Fear of terrorism, economic ruin, liberals, gays, etc.
I think the Repubican Party has moved from being a fiscally and governmentally conservative party to the party of FEAR. They try to scare the crap out of us at every turn.
I have a hard time understanding how anyone would want to live that way. If we face another attack we will have to deal with it as we have always done. But fear of things like gay marriage while asserting their "right" to buy guns is just ridiculous. I sure feel a lot less threatened by having a homosexual pointed at me than I do with having a gun pointed at me.
I think the only thing I really fear is the super-conservative evangelical types who would have us all drink the kool-ade while they do all kinds of horrible things behind closed doors. If there is evil in this world, and there is, it is more often perpetrated in the name of religion than in any other thing.
So NO FEAR is what I will go with.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Confession: My children were raised on Drive-Thru

I've been watching the news lately about schools banning snack and soft drink machines and even checking kid's lunches to make sure they don't have any snack foods in them. I feel like such a bad mother when I see that stuff.
I confess, I did raise my daughters on fast food. We drove through so many times that the clerks knew who we were and what we wanted. "A #2 plain and dry, meat and cheese only and a upsize the Dr. Pepper to a medium", "A kids fish meal, extra hushpuppy and upsize the drink", "A kids chicken, mashed potatoes with NO gravy and an extra bisquit instead of cole slaw".
A lot of this was because they hated leftovers and the two of them never wanted the same thing. Megan only ate "white" food. Mashed potatoes, chicken, noodles, bread.
And school lunches were a nightmare. Jackie would NOT buy her lunch because the first time she did, she dropped her tray. But she would eat a sandwich and chips. Megan hated sandwiches, vegetables and anything half way nutritious. She wanted something like chips and a Little Debbie cake and a juice box. If I put a sandwich in her lunch she would not eat it.
It was pure torture coupled with the guilt that I felt with not providing a nutritous meal for them. I did, however, make sure they took a multi-vitamin every day.
So they managed to grow up and they're both healthy and happy. What more can I ask for?
I still go to the drive-thru every now and then, but now I ask for a "Senior Meal" for mom.
Wouldn't it be nice to say that I always fed my family fruits, vegetables and protein and watched their sweets intake? Yeah, sure. But if they gag and leave it on their plates, what good does it do?
So I think that checking children's lunchboxes at school is a horrible invasion. You stay out of my freakin' lunch box and I'll stay out of yours. Deal?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Customer Service

I think customer service at a lot of places is really bad. Some places have really good CS though. I've been a little surprised lately to find people who actually talk to me on the phone and try to help solve the problem. I'd like to see businesses get away from the automated menu, at least the extensive ones. I don't mind pushing a button or two but pushing 50 buttons only to be connected to someone who can't help me is pretty frustrating. Why do they ask you to enter your account number and then when you finally get a person, they ask you the same thing again?
I've gotten to the point that I ask for a Supervisor fairly quickly if I don't get what I need. I've also gotten to the point of not being able to keep my mouth shut if someone in a store treats me rudely.
As a rule of thumb, I've found these things to be mostly true:

If you are not getting anywhere on the phone with Customer Service, ask for Steve or Rick. Most every business has a Steve and a Rick, the gay guys who will take care of your issue with no problem. I swear this is true. Try it!

If you're making a doctor's appointment and you get Dolores or Roxanne, DO NOT give them any crap. They can give you an appointment tomorrow or three months from now. Believe me, if you are rude to Dolores or Roxanne, you will never get in to see the doctor.

If you are calling a service person and have to leave a message for Tom, don't expect a call back...ever. If for some reason you really do get to talk to Tom, he will tell you that he'll get back to you but he won't.

Don't bother staying on the phone if you get Misti, Malinda or Tamra, They don't know who they work for nor do they care. They're busy watching the clock waiting for their next break.

Last of all, if you happen to get Ahmed on the phone don't assume that because he sounds Indian and may well be at a call center in India that he doesn't know anything. Listen to him and follow directions. He can help you if you are patient and follow instructions and explain your problem logically. Do not under any circumstances say "I want to talk to an American", because you will end up with Misti, Malinda or Tamra.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

My Pet Peeves

There are so many things that aggravate me. I should work on being a nicer, more easy-going person. Or not. Anyway, here goes:

People who are completely unaware that there are other shoppers in the grocery store and block the aisles with their baskets.

People who bring 7 people with them to shop. I mean, how many people does it take to go grocery shopping?

Cell phone addicts who can't get that phone off their ear for anything. Especially those who talk loudly.

The certain irritating people that you can't seem to get away from in a store. You try to get away and they always end up in your aisle. It's like they're following you.

Drivers that you can't get away from. You change lanes to try to pass them and they slowly meander across the lanes to stay in front of you going well below the speed limit. They always seem to be going exactly where you're going for the next 10 miles too.

Drivers who decide they need to change lanes while you're stopped at a light. They seem to like blocking both lanes.

People who work in stores who don't know crap about where anything is and are just waiting for their next break. And the cashiers who don't make eye contact with you and are yakking with their buddies about what parties they are going to.

People in parking lots who are oblivous to drivers. They walk down the middle of the parking lanes and pay no attention to where their kids are. It really aggravates me when someone has a baby in a cart and pushes that cart out into the lane of traffic without looking either way.

I have a million of these. I'll add more as I go. :)

Friday, November 7, 2008

I Am Filled With Hope

I feel so happy that we have elected Barack Obama as our next President. I am filled with hope. It's such a good feeling to know that people are so excited about this change. For the first time in a long time it seems that the rest of the world is in awe and willing to work together. There is so much work and repair to be done. I want him to take office immediately and I hate that we have to wait a few months to clean house and get on with the business of being a nation again. It seems so strange that while the whole world is rejoicing, we have people within this country who are plotting and planning and hating. And I don't mean the people who voted for McCain, but the true haters who would rather see this nation destroyed than have a black man as our President. I wish Barack and his family good will and protection. The weight of the world is now upon his shoulders.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Commercials We Hate

My friend Sue sent me this email today:

Mar, please make them go away!

Billy Mays
selling ANYTHING;

Larry the ShamWow guy who can't make his
great
offer all day, but seems to anyway;

PediPaws, please make them STOP; and speaking of making them stop, The commercial
with the old couple where the woman says, "He sang outside my window until I
made him stop!" It's so irritating, I can't even recall what they are
selling.

I thought I'd expound a bit and add a few of my (ack!) favorites. Here in Austin BILL DICKASON needs to stop selling KIA's and get a regular job where he doesn't yap at us day and night. Those cartoon boogers or snot things (the mucous guys), they just gag me. The Dial-a-slut commercials that come on late at night. OH, and THIS. Have you ever fallen asleep with the tv on in the bedroom and woke up late at night and they're selling sexual devices on some QVC kind of show? OMG that is frightening to wake up to! And that chicken sandwich with barbeque sauce on it that Wendy's has is digusting! If you think of more
, please comment!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Lane Ends - Merge!!!



THE LANE ENDS, DAMMIT! That means move your car over into the lane that continues and don't wait until there's no lane left and you have to squeeze yourself in front of me because chances are very good that I'm not going to let you in! There is a perfectly good, yellow sign that says it and even shows at PICTURE. What is it that completely baffles you about that?




This Week's Palin Descriptions

"Rogue", "Diva" and my favorite, "Whack Job". Three descriptions by members of the McCain campaign to describe Sarah. I can't wait to hear what they all have to say after the election is over. I think the blame will start flying all over the place by late next week. If she's positioning herself for a run in 2012, she's not doing a very good job of it. I think she's doomed to obscurity, popping up as a bad joke every now and then.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I Need News!

Okay, I'm a news junkie. I hate weekends because all the news people go home and there's not a damned thing on TV and I end up watching the History Channel, Food Network or WE TV. I love watching Tru TV most of the time but Jack and I have seen every episode of Forensic Files they've ever made. Usually MSNBC is our favorite channel but on weekends they have this never-ending marathon of "Lock-Up". I have no interest in what people in jail are doing. I'd rather watch reruns of Friends or Raymond.

Sarah's Wardrobe

Here's what I think happened. I think that Palin's "handlers" felt that she needed some nice clothes and asked if they could go buy her some. They were told "sure". So they went and bought up Neiman's and Saks with no regard for price. I'm sure they thought her regular wardrobe was atrocious. I guess the problem was that nobody was in control of how much they spent. I think the same thing happened with her make-up people.
I really don't blame her for this. There is a lot of blame to go around for nobody putting a limit on it. What it shows is that nobody is overseeing the McCain campaign and nobody is in charge or setting limits. It's pretty hard for them to complain about earmarks and unnecessary spending when they allow this to happen.
To say that they're going to "give it to charity" is ridiculous. It's obvious that nobody's watching the budget on that campaign.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

We Voted!

Jack, Colin and I went to vote today. It was good to see so many people there. I think this election will be a record breaker in turn-out.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Term Limits

How nice for Mayor Bloomberg that he can just decide he wants more than 2 terms as Mayor of New York and is able to get the City Council to approve it. New Yorkers should be outraged! I don't know if they like Bloomberg or not but that just seems like way too much power to me.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A Friends's Letter to McCain

Senator McCain,
Oh,can I call you John? It is with great displeasure that I write to you, knowing you probably will never read this, and that soon after your cronies get this letter, I will be wiretapped, the FBI and CIA will be monitoring my every move thinking I am a 'terrorist,' and I may even lose my job, get ill or even worse because of some unseen accident, because this may come across as a supposed threat.
It all came to a head when I heard this from you - 'My friends, I have the experience, I have a plan, I have a big stick, and I walk softly with Ronald Reagan. And Roosevelt and Lincoln are here, too, and a lot of other qualified Americans, who are good Americans, and who know how to fix the problems in America that America has.' And might I just mention that I know how to reach across the aisle and say, with full confidence: Fuck you John McCain.
Let me say that again. Fuck you John McCain.
I know, I know, all the big pundits are piling on now, talking about how you've changed and you aren't the guy they remember from back before you sold your soul to run for President. Here's the problem: you, Senator McCain have been a complete dickhead your entire career. Starting the very first night you were elected to the Senate, when you screamed at one of your volunteers because the podium you were supposed to speak at was too tall. Pure class, right there. And if that's how you treat people who give up their weekends to work for you without pay, I can imagine how you are gonna treat the rest of us.
You know what we need for our next President? An unstable asshole. That is a brilliant fucking idea. How about we pick some slob whose idea of etiquette is shoving a ninety-two-year-old on the Senate floor. What could go wrong with a guy like that? I can see the commercials now: John W. McCain, an Unstable Man for Unstable Times. Or how about we get a guy who's so unable to control his temper that on diplomatic missions he tries to wrestle the foreigners he's supposed to be meeting with. I'm starting to think that the only reason he doesn't want to meet with Ahmadinejad is that he's not sure if he can take him in a fair fight.
[We'll pause here in case you really are reading along. Gotta give you time to trip – repeatedly – over the name of a foreign leader who comes up, oh, every ten minutes in your own fucking speeches. Tell you what, if we're going to spend an hour and a half watching you pace back and forth like Gary Busey on a meth bender, do you think you could spend five minutes of your debate prep memorizing the name of your nemesis? We've got things to do over here, motherfucker. We can't spend all night watching you tamp down your Tourette's.]
Ok, all caught up Senator? Good, now where were we? Oh yeah, a fair fight. Like you would ever fight fair. Can you say "Obama pals around with terrorists"? Fine, you wanna be that way? How about we start spreading a rumor that you're "proud" of your friend who broadcast instructions on how to kill cops? Or we could imply that your website has an endorsement from a guy who sold fifty million dollars worth of missiles to the evildoers in Iran (again with Iran, have you figured out how to pronounce that guy's name yet? No? Good show, Mr. Foreign-Policy-is-My-Strength) and then turned around and gave that money to a group that raped and killed hundreds of men, women and children. What's that? They were freedom fighters? Uh, no. If your friends are going to go around murdering nuns, we're going to go ahead and call them terrorists. They can be Freedom Terrorists if you want. And what the hell, let's go ahead and say that you made a personal donation to those motherfucking terrorists while they were on their killing spree.
Pretty mean, right? Also, pretty fucking specific, because that shit is what we call facts out here on Main Street or Average Avenue or fucking Salt of the Earth Speedway or whatever neighborhood you're pretending you've been anywhere near since you married into more money than God had before Fannie and Freddie foreclosed on paradise. Money, by the way, made on illegal liquor sales, and not during prohibition, when it was cool like that. How do you get out of that kind of trouble? If you're Cindy's daddy, you lawyer-up with future Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and he gets you off. Does it worry anyone else that every right-wing debacle in the last fifty years involves the same twelve assholes? Need another example? Remember the fuckwads who put out a push-poll claiming you had an illegitimate black child back in 2000? The same guys YOU said had a "special place in hell"? Hell, apparently, is the McCain campaign, cause YOU fucking hired them.
Which I guess isn't that surprising, since you has changed positions more times than Jenna Jameson in a double feature. But not on important issues. Just stuff like privatizing Social Security, the Bush tax cuts, coastal drilling, ethanol, gay adoption, affirmative action, the estate tax, torture and negotiating with Cuba, Hamas, and Syria. But at least you stood firm in opposing the lobbying reform, campaign finance and immigration legislation written by oh yeah... Senator John McCain (R-Hanoi), that's YOU!
You aren't a maverick, you're a fucking weathervane.
Oh, but there are "advantages to experience and knowledge and judgement"? I know you don't know how to use a Google, but those of us who do have a pretty easy time finding some major judgement fuck-ups in your past, Mr. Experience Man. Let's just put it this way: if I was a gotcha journalist, I think by now I'd have stuck a mic in your face and asked what you were thinking when you said, just a few weeks after Al Qaeda held their coming out party by bombing two US Embassies in 1998, "You could say, look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?". Yes, Bin Fucking Laden. Post terrorist attack: 'Is he really that bad? '
Go ahead, you know you want to go back and read that again. Take your time, I'll wait. All done? Now, tell me, where the fuck were the questions about that, Brokaw? Way to hold your feet to the warm, toasty fire.
But at least you was right about that surge thing. I mean, you and Bush got almost everything else wrong, but you both backed the right horse this one time. Except (and if you've been getting your war news from any channel that spends more on graphics than foreign correspondents, you might want to hang on to something here) the surge isn't the thing that's turned down the American death toll in Iraq to "only mildly horrific." I know! I was surprised too, until I took ten seconds to look it up for myself. Bush misleads the media and they totally fucking fall for it, and then they feed it to the public who buys it hook, line and sinker. Who'da thunk that'd work? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me twenty seven times and apparently we're plum out of shame and we've moved on to... hey, was that a Friends re-run you just clicked past, dude? Go back! This is the one where a group of mid-twenties New Yorkers live in apartments the size of small aircraft carriers and nobody says a word about it through the entire show. It's fucking hilarious.
Hmmm? Oh yeah, Iraq. Nothing else has been going on there that could have made those insurgents stop shooting at our soldiers, right? Well, nothing besides the fact that we started paying them not to shoot at us. From where I'm sitting this is a major breakthrough in military strategy. Instead of getting shot at now, we've got ourselves on a ceasefire payment plan. And then, if we ever cancel our subscription, they'll have twice as many guns. There's no way that fucking plan could backfire. Unless we run out of money, I guess.
Oh.
Fuck.
Well, anyway, at least things are getting better, right? I mean, you said you walked around Baghdad "with no body armor on," so those Iraqis must be as safe as a tofu burger at a Palin rally. Yeah, except unlike the average Iraqi, you had a hundred soldiers and five helicopters guarding your ass. Oh yeah, and fucking body armor. Exactly how out of touch do you have to be not to notice that you're wearing Kevlar? But at least we don't hear much about that ugly ethnic cleansing stuff anymore. We must have had something to do with putting a stop to that. Right — we let them fucking finish. All cleansed! Nothing succeeds like success, huh?And since the surge is working so well, let's export it over to Afghanistan. That country's all Arab-y, it'll probably work there too, right? Exactly which class at Annapolis was it where they taught you that a tactic that works in urban warfare is a good one to try out in the fucking mountains? It's practically the same terrain, just flipped forty five degrees and with goats instead of... well, instead of everything.
Wait, you don't think that's why the commander of US forces in Afghanistan himself says this isn't the right plan, do you? I know all you Republicans like to say that soldiers make good Presidents, but do you think maybe we could amend that to soldiers that don't completely suck at being soldiers? Seriously, after crashing three airplanes and finishing near the bottom of the whole graduating class, I know, Fucking 5th from the bottom, let's have a party on that great accomplishment, who the fuck gave this asshole his wings back so he could fly off on real combat missions? Oh right, dear old dad. What's it like having a father who's so powerful you can fuck up over and over and never pay the price?
Wait a minute, that sounds so familiar,hmmmm...
Anyway, I heard you were a war hero, too? Yes indeedy, you sure are shy, but if anyone is willing to ask you a question about any other topic, you'll be happy to tell them all about it. I guess that's why you get more donations from soldiers than That One, right? No? Don't worry dude, the troops in the field always send more money to the guy they don't want to be their next Commander in Chief. It's strategic. I think they call it a "Surge," or something.
But you'd be winning right now if Obama would have just done eighty seven or a hundred, or whatever insane amount of town hall debates with you? Yeah, cause you really connected during the one you got. You know what you should do? You should get your wife's company to sponsor some more debates! They could put up the cash, and give out free beer and auction off prizes and stuff, and maybe you could get other rich people to pitch in if you, like, promise to make their dad King of the Economy and mention his name over and over during the debate.
Damn! You already did that, didn't you? How'd that work out for ya?
(Jesus Christ with jimmies, how fucking sad is it that everyone learned, just now, from me, that the money funding your housing habit comes from the same place as the money that got the press sloshed at the debates. It's fucking sad, dude. It's as sad as it would be if the only guy asking you tough questions in this election was a late night talk show host. Fuck. fuck. fuck.) You'd think with Budweiser sponsoring the real debates you wouldn't need to set up your own homestyle versions where your – how do we put this – touched supporters can embarrass the fuck out of you by saying out loud what your ads only imply. (And maybe all the white folks could be a little less shocked! shocked! that there's still fucking racism in America? It's embarrassing. Pretend like you were paying attention for the last two hundred years, could ya, or that even YOU have a past where your great grandfather and great grandfather were slave owners, and that YOU have African American relatives in YOUR own family that you will not talk about!?!?)
Oh, and while we're talking about your rebel rallies, you might want to get your supporters to ease back on questioning your opponent's religious beliefs. Otherwise we're going to have to bring up that thing where you say you're a Baptist, but you've never been... wait for it... BAPTIZED!?! For shizzle. And despite the fact that they never ask you about any of this shit, you still feel the need to complain that the media elite aren't treating your campaign with enough fucking deference? What kind of pussy runs away from a sit down with Larry King? What are you, afraid he might ask you one of those probing questions, like "We're back with the maverick John McCain. What do you make of this new Britney video, Senator?"
Awww, did the mean media people hurt your feewings, Johnny-wonny? Did they make fun of your stwaight tok expwess? Do you need mommy to kiss it and make it all better? Maybe she can buy you a wittle hospital to go with your eight houses, you fucking crybaby. And now, after the last two "elections," we have to listen to you cry about fucking voter fraud. Ok, first off, it's not voter fraud, it's some guys trying to make a buck by copying a few names out of the phone book. Well, ok, to be fair there is some organized voter registration fraud going on. I'll give you that. Wait, remind me who got arrested for that, again? Oh yeah, Republicans. It takes some serious balls to point fingers while you're in handcuffs, asshole. And don't think I forgot that YOU were involved with ACORN too, you fuckingnutjob.
Look, I don't really have the time to listen to you bitch anymore, ok? I and maybe some others maybe a little slow, but after two shady elections many have figured out that in order to win this thing we have to get more votes than you fuckers can steal. What's that? You want to introduce us to McCain version 9.0? Later, dude, we have to go vote for our country first, and it isn't YOU.
Best regards motherfucker,

(Name withheld as he doesn't want to get arrested)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Robo Calls

I got a call the other day at work from T. Boone Pickens. Really! I and everyone else I know hates unsolicited calls, even recordings, so shame on McCain for using that. Especially for using a robo call that tries to scare people into thinking that Obama is a terrorist or anti-American. What a desperate, fear based tactic.
I am sick of fear-based government.
And that Bachman woman! Lordy, is she a long lost McCarthy relative? They are all over this socialist, terrorist, anti-american, communist, boogey-man thing. I would have thought we would learn from the past, but evidently not.

Why Hasn't Somebody Invented....

Packaging for crackers and chips that is RECLOSABLE!??? I mean, how long have they been using the same damned packaging? 100 years? Either a zip lock or one of those wire things at the top that you fold over or a sticky strip! Those stupid wax paper sleeves or thin plastic ones tear and there you are with EXPOSED CRACKERS! And you have to have clippies for chip bags! Good grief, what is wrong with the manufacturers?

Best and Worst

My favorite personalities are:
Keith Olbermann
Rachel Maddow
Jon Stewart
Barack Obama
Joe Biden

My least favorite are:
Rush Limbaugh
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Sean Hannity
John McCain
Sarah Palin

My Blog is About.....

This blog is about anything and everything. Politics, religion, sex, food, pet peeves, television, movies, books, music, dreams, etc.

The Basics

I'm 52 years old (soon to be 53), married, mother of 3 children, retired but working part-time. Here is the cast of characters in my life:

Jack - husband of nearly 4 years. Jack lives in Chicago and I live in Round Rock. We met online and neither of us ever got around to moving. Nonetheless, he's here about twice a month and I go there every few months. I'm a liberal, yes one of those from the Feminist Left.

Jackie - daughter who is 21, single, owns her own home and has a great job as a Telecommunications Officer.

Megan - daughter who is 18, single, student at UNT in Denton, studying for a career in RTVF.

Colin - step-son who is 18, lives with his dad in Chicago, is in his Senior year in HS plus takes college courses at College of DuPage.

Mom - mom is 86, lives 2 blocks from me and is fighting her 3rd round of breast cancer. She's a survior and will tell you exactly what she thinks.

Betty - sister who lives in California, married, is a professional life coach for people in the medical profession,

Gary - brother-in-law, also in California, works in HR, loves jazz and the blues.

Bud - Jack's dad who lives with his daughter in Chicago. What a guy!

Suzie - 18 year old mutt who can't hear a thing but is the sweetest dog on earth.

Scooter - a fish, an Oscar, who has quite the personality and lives with Jack & Colin.

Megan's group of motley friends: Johnny, Sophie, Ethan, Jerrin, Bobbi, Tre, Stephanie, Maddy, White Michael, Brown Michael, and the cast from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Jackie's group of buddies: Ashley (my 4th child), Kyle, Trey, Janet, and the group that hangs out at Starbucks.
Suzanne - my very good friend for about 17 years, lives in Round Rock with her husband Jeff. I try very hard to help her see the light as far as politics and social equality.

Sue - my best friend of 32 years, lives in Houston with her husband Ron. We don't discuss politics.

Our wonderful group of online liberal Democrat friends who are the smartest and funniest people on earth: My dear Windy, Darby, All5, Gata, Strmy, Predly, Southie, Fish, Doc, Val, Lys and of course TwoBagger.

Sorry if I forgot anyone. I will probably mention these people in my blog so I thought it best that you know who they are.