Politically Speaking

I don't really do politics.  I find most politics/politicians petty and childish and I avoid it/them like the plague.  While I make sure I vote, I usually don't even think about who or what I'm voting for until just before the November election.  Until then, I just want to be left alone--which definitely doesn't happen.

A couple of weeks ago, I was bombarded with the fact that we are having primary elections with a front page story in our newspaper.  And the story was revisited the other day.  And frankly, I find it quite unbelievable on some level.

If Jimmy Carter decided to make another run at being president, in the state of Michigan he wouldn't be allowed to put the term 're-elect' on his posters/signs--it is against the law.*  We have a guy that is seeking office--an office he has held twice before.  He does NOT hold the office presently, but his signs read "Re-elect John Doe."  This is against the law--and the signs were 'reported.'  So, he went around and put duct tape over the 'Re' on the signs so that he would be in compliance with the law.  All of this is just absolutely ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned.  (And I'm not even sure if I would/will vote for 'John Doe.'  I believe I may NOT be one of his supporters.)  Politics and the absurd--a match made in heaven.

*I don't know if this law is for federal elections or just state/local ones.  Also, I have no idea if this is a law in every state, or not.

More 'Not Always Right'

Yeah, I think some people are too dumb to be allowed to reproduce.  Case in point:

(A customer walks in with 5 magazines under her arm.)
Customer: “Hi, how much does it cost to laminate one A4 page?”
Me: “That’ll be $0.10.”
Customer: “Great and um, about how many pages are in a magazine?”
Me: “I’d say about 100.”
Customer: “Great, so 100 multiplied by five is 500 hundred right?”
Me: “Yes, it is.”
Customer: “So 500 multiplied by $0.10 would be $50.00 right?”
Me: “Yes, ma’am.”
Customer: “Yeah so can you like, laminate each page in the magazine?”
Me: “Why would you want to do that?”
Customer: “So I can read them in the bath.”

via Not Always Right.

Where's My Weather?

When my girls were young and were going to school, I would wake every morning and turn on the radio to a local station.  This was necessary, especially in the winter, in order to know how the girls were going to dress--and, whether it was too cold (in my opinion) to send them out in the -30* wind chills.  Also, the radio was where we would get school cancellation announcements, so we always had one in the kitchen.  I still hadn't gotten a TV for the kitchen, but it wouldn't have mattered if I had one:  the local TV station did not have early morning news, so I wouldn't have been any the wiser as to what the school or weather conditions were.  Then we got The Weather Channel.

My life got infinitely easier when The Weather Channel (TWC) made an appearance on our cable system.  I never had to worry that my kids were not going to be dressed properly for school and I always knew if it was going to be a good day to do any amount of driving.  My life quickly began to revolve around TWC and watching to see forecasts, etc.

Over the years, I have needed to rely on TWC less and less.  My girls graduated and moved away and I didn't have as many outside 'duties' and interests, so the weather conditions weren't as important to my every day life anymore.  As the interwebs got better and better, I have begun looking online more frequently for my weather news--which is all well and good while my computer is actually on.  But, I am one of those people who turns her computer off when she is done with it for the day, so it isn't always convenient to go online to see a forecast.  And then I must rely on TWC once again.  And that is where my problem lies.

WHAT THE F***ING HELL is wrong with The Weather Channel these days?  At one time they began a feature called Local On The 8s, which meant that the local weather conditions, radar, and forecast would be broadcast every ten minutes.  It was convenient and I never needed to wait more than ten minutes to know what was going on outside.  Okay, most people would just look outside to see what the weather conditions are, but where we live, looking outside is NOT representative of what is going on two blocks from our house.  So, I really need to see radar and forecasts, especially if I would be away from home for any length of time.  (Local On The 8s still is being broadcast, just not as consistently as it was at first.)  And then TWC decided that 24 hours of weather conditions and forecasts was boring and not necessary.  Before you knew it, we got to watch hour after hour of shows dealing with global warming, past devastating storms, 'what if' stories, and the Gulf crisis.  And in recent months, TWC has even been showing Hollywood movies.  Now, I guess some of the features could be considered interesting, but I really don't appreciate some of the preachiness and political leanings of some of them.  Also, if a channel is going to be named The Weather Channel, shouldn't it be doing what it is supposed to do:  forecast and report the weather news from around the world?  That is what I expect and wish the channel would get back to.  But until then, I watch it less and less every year--pretty soon, I will stop altogether.  And with the next smartphone I get, I probably won't need TWC at all.

Learning To Sleep With One Eye Open

My cat has very long hair.  I believe that she has Maine Coon bloodlines in her ancestry because of some of her fur characteristics.  She has a thick under coat, ear hair/tufts, and long fur between her toes.  The thickness of the fur on her haunches is incredible--I believe she could sit on an iceberg for hours and never feel the cold.  And this is where we have a bit of a problem.

There are times when the cat has litterbox 'issues.'  Her haunch fur will 'catch' her output and it will stick.  Of course, this means I have to clean this up as best I can--and that means cutting the fur to get rid of the mess.  And this is the situation I found myself in earlier today.  Cutting the cat's fur is NOT something that can be done by one person, so I have to have K around to perform this task.  K held the cat and I began to cut her fur.  After I took care of the problem, I decided to do a little more trimming in order to keep this same thing from happening any time soon.  I just TRIMMED a bit more of the fur around her butt.  I DIDN'T shave her or cause her any amount of discomfort or embarrassment.  But when I was done, the look she gave me said, "Learn to sleep with one eye open, cause I KNOW where the scissors are!"  Thank goodness she doesn't have opposable thumbs!  :D

Working On It...

I have been working on a 'review' of the NOOK and plan on posting it within a day or two.  If you are interested, stay tuned...

In other news...our town has been buzzing because we have had another celebrity in town.  The actor John Stamos has been here for a few days and testified in the trial against the people who allegedly tried to extort money from him today.  The trial should be done tomorrow and then the jury will find these people guilty--I see no other outcome.  Whether they are telling the truth or not, I think the jury probably was too star struck to disbelieve anything told to them that would put Stamos in a bad light.  Just my opinion.  So, if you want to find out more of what I'm talking about, here is where you can read more of the story.

Theatre of Death

Alice Cooper's newest tour is called the 'Theatre of Death.'  Despite the name, it is quite tame compared to what we get to see on TV all of the time.  As far as the music and a stage show goes, it WAS a great deal of fun.  It is amazing to think that 'Alice Cooper' is 62 years old--he certainly doesn't look like it onstage.

Here are some pictures that I took during the show.  I took many, many pics, but for one reason or another, most of them didn't come out.  Part of the no-good pics was the fact that I had many tall people standing in front of me and the other reason was the flashing stage lights.  But, I got enough for memories.

We were sitting in row 17--and it didn't seem quite as far from the stage as the picture shows.

And then, the lights went down, a bell rang, the curtain raised, and Alice came out singing 'School's Out.'  The crowd went wild!

Here we have the obligatory picture of Alice in the guillotine.

This is probably the best picture I got of Alice.

Alice singing with is head in a noose.

And after being 'hung.'

The band playing during one of the costume changes.

And one of the last songs before the encore.

For 90+ minutes, the band played/Alice sang, the crowd was on its feet and cheering, and I slowly lost all ability to hear clearly.  (It took me about a half hour afterwards before I could hear close to normal.  I know, I lost some of my hearing, but I don't do this very often--and it WAS worth it.  ;))  While I loved the Eagles concert we last went to, THIS one was much, much more fun.

And, for a little more...some info I learned while getting ready for the concert:

--'Alice Cooper' was the name of the original band...

...but, when Vincent Furnier--the lead singer--went onto a solo career, he took the name for himself.  As compensation for using the name, he pays the original band members a yearly royalty fee.  While no number has been disclosed, each member gets enough money to live quite comfortably.

--Alice Cooper's wife filed for divorce in 1983...

...but after reconciling, they have remained together.  They married in 1976 and have three children.

--Alice Cooper practically drank himself to death and was hospitalized twice for his alcoholism...

...but quit drinking for good in 1983.  He has since helped and counseled many musicians with drug and alcohol problems.  He has been recognized and awarded for the help he has given to others with addictions.

--To compensate for his not drinking, Alice took up the game of golf...

...and plays the game six days a week.  Some have said he is good enough to be a pro.

--This last tour was 'banned in Finland'...

...well, in one venue in one city, that is.  The owner of the building didn't like some of the images, violence, or words to some of the songs, so he wouldn't allow the concert to go on.  Cooper had no problem with the decision--he felt it was the owner's right to decide who should perform in his building.  While I'm not sure if the show was rescheduled elsewhere in Finland last year, he WILL be appearing in the country during this leg of the tour.

--His music is of the 'shock-rock,' 'hard-rock,' 'heavy-metal' genres...

...and has nothing to do with Satanism or any Satanic symbolism.  The themes to his shows/music are along the horror, murder, insanity, and moralistic lines.

--Alice stays far away from politics...

...and has spoken against musicians who give opinions on politics and publicly support politicians.  His philosophy is that politics should not mix with rock music.

--And, finally, Alice Cooper is a born-again Christian...

...REALLY!  While he has shied away from discussing his religious beliefs, in recent years he has become a bit more vocal about them.  He stays clear of what he calls 'celebrity Christianity' and says,   "It's really easy to focus on Alice Cooper and not on Christ. I'm a rock singer. I'm nothing more than that. I'm not a philosopher. I consider myself low on the totem pole of knowledgeable Christians".  "So, don't look for answers from me".  When asked how a shock-rocker could be a Christian, he said, "Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's real rebellion!"  He has a charity that is in the process of raising money for a Christian-based teen center to be built in Arizona, where he lives.


If nothing else, 'Alice Cooper' is quite a complex and interesting person.

And Here Is What Is Going On

Well, I have been back home now since Thursday morning--and we still haven't seen the bat.  We DO keep the basement door closed during the dark hours, so if it came from there (which we are pretty sure of) it probably can't find its way upstairs anymore.  I can only hope.  I really don't want to see that thing anywhere near me again.

**********

The nights in the hotel--alone--really were like a mini-vacation for me.  I would check-in around 4:30 and check-out about 8:30, so I had quite a few hours to do what ever I wanted.  It is amazing just how fast the time went by, though.  I would find myself realizing that it was midnight and I STILL hadn't finished everything I had planned on doing.  At least I know I can enjoy my own company when I need to.

**********

Today K is working and then he will be off until night shift on the 22nd.  By that time, I should be feeling a bit more comfortable about staying alone at night.  Of course, that is assuming that the bat doesn't make a return appearance.  Other than our usual road trip, I don't see us doing anything very special for his time off.  I think he will be doing some outside work and spending a lot of time relaxing.  Which is very fine with me.

**********

The Alice Cooper concert was on Friday night and we had a GREAT time!  I will be putting some pictures up and doing a longer post about it later.  Suffice it to say, even at his age, 'Alice' certainly can rock!  He puts on quite a show, for sure.

**********

 Really not much going on here right now.  The weather is, of course, not my friend.  If it isn't sunny and hot, then it is cloudy and humid.  Today, it isn't that warm, but I HAVE to have the a/c on because of the humidity.  I can't wait for fall when I can actually open the windows for a change.  I LOVE the smell of the air at that time.  I'm tired of the stale, air-conditioned air already.

'Challenged' Animals

The new post over at Hyperbole and a Half deals with the author's 'mentally challenged' dog.  Anyone who has ever had pets, has had a 'challenged' one at some point in time.  This is some funny, funny stuff.  Challenged or not, pets ARE great--when they aren't hacking up hairballs, destroying the furniture, having intestinal problems...   :D

The Saga Continues...

Here I am, for the second night, in a hotel room only a couple of miles from my house.  I will be here again tomorrow night.  Period.  There has been no sign of the bat for the past couple of days, but really, what signs are we looking for?  If the damn thing isn't flapping around the house, I don't know what would indicate that it is even there!  When K comes off of night shift, I will go home and we'll take things from there.  What more can I do?

This is the third or fourth bat we've had in the house.  I guess that isn't too bad in over 30 years!  The first one was in the breakfast nook and I spied it from the living room.  K managed to get it out quickly.  I don't remember if there was another one before the last one, though.  A couple of years ago, while K was on night shift, a bat flew through the house.  I went and sat out in the vehicle for the rest of the night.  We left the house for a short road trip later that day and when we got back, the bat was clinging to the breakfast nook wall--and K got a bowl and 'walked' the flying rat out of the house.  And now this one.

I have no idea how these things get in.  I was positive that the last one came in when I was bringing in groceries after dark, but now that we have another, we think they might have come in through the basement.  See, we live in a very old house and no matter how many cracks, crevices, and holes you fix, there are always more, and critters of all kinds will find them--and come into the house.  (This is why we are having such a problem with the yellow jackets.)  Right now, we THINK the bat may have found its way out of the house, but this brings up another problem:  Is it going to come and go as it pleases?  I shudder to think.

I realize that bats are very beneficial with their bug-eating ways, but that doesn't mean they should live with people--as in, living in people's homes.  I think one of the reasons we actually HAVE so many bats around our house is that the neighbors have bat houses hung between our yards.  yay!  There were/are so many bats flying around in our back yard that you couldn't/can't be outside after dusk for fear of being hit by one!  This does NOT make me very happy.  And, because this is nothing illegal, we can't DO anything about it--unless we want to start a war with said neighbors.  And believe me, I've seen them war with other neighbors and I want no part of that!  So, I have to live with bats.

My exile from the house hasn't really been all bad, however.  I have used my time quite nicely.  When I AM home, I get all of my work done in record time, because I know I'll be leaving in the afternoon.  Each evening I've gone to a store and wandered around, took my time, and looked at whatever changes have been made.  I usually run in, get what I need, and leave as soon as possible, so this has been nice.  This time has also been good for me because I've lost a lot of my 'I can do it by myself' attitude in the last few years.  K and I DON'T need to be attached at the hip and I am seeing that again.  Both nights now, I've gone to restaurants and sat alone--something that I never thought I would be able to do.  However, with the NOOK, and me spending the time reading, it doesn't seem as awkward to be alone during my meal.  When I finally have gotten back to my room, I then spend a bunch of 'me' time.  I've used this time to do some body maintenance--no, I WON'T go into details--that I have been neglecting lately.  For example, tonight I did a manicure so that I'm ready for the concert on Friday night.  (At least THAT wasn't TMI--like a lot of what I could have written.  ;))

I WAS feeling quite guilty about this whole thing, but a couple of things have made me feel better.  First, K has been an absolute saint about everything.  He actually is the one to encourage me to get a room.  He's one damn good guy--I am very lucky and blessed to have him.  Secondly, I was able to use up some 'points' that I have accumulated for this particular hotel chain, so I'm not spending NEARLY as much money on the room as I thought I would.  I'm actually getting the room for $50 less per night--which is great.

Many people, I'm sure, would find my attitude horrible--they would tell me to 'grow up' and act like an adult.  I really thought about 'sucking it up' and staying at home, but the anxiety I felt was too intense.  This was a way better solution to the problem, cause if I would have forced myself to stay in the house, I'm sure there would have been some medical complications to arise--whether it was a new medication for me or a complete breakdown, I don't know.  (And I'm NOT kidding about a possible breakdown!)  This, too, shall pass--and, when it finally does, I will be a bit less anxious for doing things this way.

This Is Fun

Saturday night, I was sitting in the kitchen watching TV.  All of a sudden, the cat went a little nutsy, looking in the dining room and crouching.  When I looked, there was a bat flying between the living room and dining room.  Of course, I screamed my bloody head off and K came running out of the bedroom to play Great White Hunter.  After watching him for a while, I went and sat  in the Envoy where it was safe.  Eventually, he came out and told me that the bat had 'disappeared.'  He has no idea WHERE the damn thing went.  By this time, it was getting to be light outside, so I figured the bat had gone to sleep for the day.  And I came back into the house.

Last night, K kept telling me to go to a hotel for the night, but I declined.  It probably would have been better for me if I had gone--my stomach was all in knots, I had trouble breathing, and I thought I was going to puke.  But I kept myself locked in the bedroom and managed to get some sleep.  When I got up this morning, K had not seen the bat all night.  Wonderful.

K is going on night shift tonight.  I am checking into a hotel.  Ain't NO WAY I'm staying here by myself.

Another Negative Quality

It is time for me to give myself a thorough 'talking to.'  My impatience is beginning to rear its ugly head again:  The BUNN isn't making my morning coffee fast enough these days...       :D

Learning New Things

The other day I complained about the humidity and 'the smell' that sets in my dish rags whenever it gets warm.  And last night I learned how to take care of 'the smell'--put it in the dishwasher.  I know I've read about putting your kitchen sponge or scrubbers in the dishwasher, but it just never occurred to me to do the same with the dish rag.  And yet, I did it last night and the results are GREAT!  The dish rag came out clean and smelling fresh.  Who would have thought?  Obviously, not me.  :D


(This is one of those posts that make people who hate blogs bang their heads on their desks.  I agree--this WAS a waste of brain cells to write AND read.  :D)

Yes, You Can Return That, But...

Some stores have very good return polices and people tend to take advantage of that fact.  (I know of people who went years without buying their kids new winter jackets--all they did was return the old ones at the end of the season and got new for the next year!)  But THIS lady really wanted to take advantage:

Customer: “Hi, I’d like to return this pot, please.”
(The pot in question is in a box with our store logo on it, but the box looks older than me.)
Me: “Okay. Do you have a receipt?”
Customer: “Yes.”
(The customer hands me a wrinkled, yellow receipt from the eighties.)
Me: “Ma’am, why do you want to return this pot?”
Customer: “The lid gets too hot.”
Me: “So, you have used it, then?”
Customer: “Of course! I use it all the time. But the lid gets too hot, so I want to return it.”
Me: “Well, our return policy is limited to sixty days. You bought this twenty-three years ago.”
Customer: “But I have a receipt!”

(via Not Always Right)