Happiness is:

Nail polish the color of garnets & nails long enough to wear it. (Nope, no fake nails here. I’m severly allergic to the stuff they’re done with.)

I agree

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070602981.html?nav=hcmodule

He’s so on point, it isn’t even funny.

Technology sucks

After a year & a half of working just fine, my HP all-in-one printer has decided it isn’t going to let the scanner function work with Vista. To be totally accurate: the scanner button won’t work.

On the driver download page, it said use the second option for people who have the Vista Home software, that you can scan from the Paint program. Bull.

Now I have to put effort into finding a reasonably priced all-in-one that won’t argue with Vista.

I never had this problem with XP.

I hate computers/software/devices.

Loser

NEW YORK — A New York congressman says in a YouTube video that Michael Jackson was a “pervert.” 

Rep. Peter King said society is “glorifying” a “low-life” while ignoring the efforts of teachers, police officers, firefighters, veterans and volunteers. 

Jackson was acquitted of molesting a boy.

In the video, the congressman says the “day in and day out” coverage of Jackson’s death is “too politically correct.” 

He conceded that Jackson “may have been a good singer” and “did some dancing.”

King is among the possible Republican contenders for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (JILL’-uh-brand.)

King has said in the past that he represents the interests of “blue-collar conservatives.” In the video, the congressman says the “day in and day out” coverage of Jackson’s death is “too politically correct.”

 

He conceded that Jackson “may have been a good singer” and “did some dancing.”

 

King is among the possible Republican contenders for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (JILL’-uh-brand.)

 

King has said in the past that he represents the interests of “blue-collar conservatives.”

Maybe he needs to check with the people he represents. Jerk.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/entertainment/19963994/detail.html

I have a complaint

When I was a kid, I played with fireworks, like every other kid in this country. Now that I’m an adult, it’s a different story.

We live in an area that’s normally prone to being dry. This year, June was the 2nd wettest on record. Almost 5″ of rain. While it’s nice not having to water, I had a feeling the 4th of July was gonna be a bad one. I was right.

Fireworks that pop or leave the ground are illegal all through the state. To get them people travel to Wyoming, then bring them home. I think almost every person in our neighborhood did just that. Friday night they were going off. Saturday night, it went on until 11 PM. Sunday night it stopped earlier. The people just north of us used all theirs on Friday & Saturday nights. The people on the street to the west of us still had quite a few that sounded like Black Cats & M80’s. Normally, I could have ignored it. Not this weekend.

We have a now 13 year old German Shepherd that is TERRIFIED of fireworks. The older she’s gotten, the worse her fear is. To make it rougher on her, she can no longer climb the stairs to be with us. Nor would she let us carry her upstairs. I had talked to the girls vet, who advised with Katie’s advanced age & Loki showing signs of possible early kidney disease, I couldn’t use anything stronger than Benadryl on them. 4 times the adult dosage is the max they could have. Which they did. Plus the television in the living room on, very loud, to try to drown out the noise from outside. It helped so well that when I heard a crash downstairs at 10:20 PM & went to check it out, I found Katie on the landing of the stairs & crap all over the carpet runners, that she had stepped in & smeared. Yes, she was that scared. Just what I wanted to be doing at 10:30 on a Saturday night, scrubbing carpet runners.

Sunday, Joe saw our next door neighbor & asked if they had a remaining stockpile of fireworks they were planning on using. Thankfully they were out. At 8 Sunday evening, I went to put the girls out & Katie refused to go. Then I heard the pops that she had been hearing. She didn’t go out until this morning when it was “safe” for her.

I suppose I should be glad it’s over for this year. But I still have a hard time with so many people violating the laws on the books. If caught popping illegal fireworks, it’s a $900.00 fine, first offense. Next year, it won’t be so bad. Loki isn’t afraid of the pops, it’s the whistles that get to her & there didn’t seem to be as many of those. I probably won’t be so inclined to call the cops next year. And then have to fight with my husband about it. (He’s of the opinion we have to live in this neighborhood, so we can “forgive” a little noise.) Next year, he can get up & tend to the dog, instead of sleeping through it.

A damn shame

“Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, and the wall of the left ventricle of Mays’ heart and the wall of one of his arteries were enlarged.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/29/AR2009062901996.html?hpid=moreheadlines)

Lord knows Mays commercials got on my nerves, big time. Apparently I wasn’t alone. But to see a man 2 years younger than I am, with a wife & a 3 year old daughter, die of something that’s so treatable, is a shame. All it takes is a 15 minute visit to a person’s doctor for it to be diagnosed & get treatment started. The checks needed to make sure the treatments are working are even shorter.

High blood pressure, AKA hypertension, is a silent killer. You never know you have it. I didn’t, until I went in.I figured it needed to be checked, because of the headaches I was having every day. Headaches can be a symptom. Mine was 285/159 & had insurance been in place, my doctor would have sent me to the hospital. Instead, he made me take an emergency reducer, sent me home with 2 prescriptions & a threat to call Chris if I didn’t promise to do nothing around the house, until he saw me again. When we got mine down toward normal range, he told me that as long as the top number is below 140 & the bottom number is less than 80, we’re good. But it shouldn’t be below 90/60 because that’s dangerous too. He didn’t like those numbers either.

So it can be treated even if you don’t have insurance. Do the people you love a favor & have it checked. There are so many walk-in clinics that are capable of doing it, there’s no reason not to.

No, I never wished Billy Mays anything like what happened to him, even though he was aggravating in the ads. And to see something that didn’t have to be a death sentence take him makes even me sad.

Rest in peace, Billy.

No one left

The King of Rock ‘n Roll is dead

The King of Pop is dead

For years following, people will ask where you were when you heard Michael Jackson died. Same as they did when Elvis died. On the political side, it was “where were you when Kennedy died”? I was supposed to be taking a nap, since I was home sick from school. I had never heard my grandmother cry before that day.

Since I was born in ‘56, I don’t know much about Kennedy & his beliefs. What I do remember was a sense of hope that had invaded my family. That & a sincere desire by all the women to dress as closely as they could to Jackie. (They tried, I’ll give them that much. They, like millions of others, fell short.)

When I was asked where I was when I heard Elvis had died, the answer was easy. I was getting a car ready for paint, in the body shop I worked in.

Now there’s a pervading sense of loss again. The same loss that was felt when Elvis died. Jackson lived a strange life & truth to tell, at times, he was a strange individual. But he could move & he could sing. Another icon has left.

Chris & I were both up early enough to watch the coverage on “World News Now” & one of the anchors asked a really pertinent question:

“Who is left that can bring people together like Elvis & Michael Jackson did?”

I have the answer.

No one is left.

Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson. May God have welcomed you home.

Reality TV

Last night, I had gone upstairs after Chris did. He was lying in bed with a look on his face that I hadn’t seen before. Then I heard what was on the television. I understood the expression then.

The channel from the night before was A&E & a reality show about obsessions was on. It was changed fast.

I remember when the original (I believe) reality show came on. “Cops”. We still watch it sometimes, even though we can recite the lines by now. Then came a flood of others.

Now you can watch an intervention happening. Or a multiple child family self-destruct. Or people with OCD. And those aren’t all of them, just the ones I can think of right now.

What is it with society today, that a form of entertainment would be sitting in front of the teevee watching other people’s problems? Do the watchers feel better about themselves? Why watch a family tear themselves apart? If you want to see that, look around. It’s happening in real life, people. What’s the purpose of glamorizing familial dysfunction? Money? Figures.

It also breeds more of the same. Look at Suleman in CA. She’s tried to get a reality show here, but nobody would touch it. She had to go to England to get someone to do it. I don’t know how she’s done at it & I don’t care enough to research it. What I do know, is the State of California is going broke & she’s added 14 kids for them to take care of. If I were a tax paying citizen of California……. well, thankfully I’m not.

While I’m guilty of watching Cops, Crime 360 & The First 48, if it’s anything other, you won’t find it on my screen. We have a remote & we know how to use it.

Twits on Twitter?

I wouldn’t call him a twit in person, certainly. But this was unexpected.

Dana White, president of UFC, was twittering the results last night of this season’s competition between the U.S. & the U.K. At the end of each round & the announcement of each fight winner, you could hear Joe Rogan making comments about “Dana White twittering the results”.

Un-freakin-believable

This shouldn’t be allowed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061902526.html

Drug companies want to know which drugs your doctor is prescribing, so they can send in their sales people in the hopes of getting him/her to switch to their newest (read most expensive) drugs.

Forget the side effects of these new drugs. Forget the cost of these new drugs. And please don’t mention generics. They certainly don’t want doctors prescribing them!

The free market in action.

Chris made mention this morning about everyone needing decent health care that can be afforded. I told him to forget it, that because of the lobbyists who’ve bought the politicians & the Democrats who’ve caved in to the Republicans on everything (even though the Democrats are the majority now), there will be no change in the status quo of health care. People who actually need it won’t be able to afford it. And don’t think that waiting for Medicare will help. As broken as that system is, and as subject to greed & fraud as it is, it won’t be there when we’re old enough to be eligible.

If I had 1 wish, I think it would be for the lousy politicians who populate the House & Senate (state & national) to be in my shoes. Let them experience real life. To see what it’s like to be sick & need to go to the doctor, but know they can’t. Their cowardly, greedy ways would change then.