It's been busy!

Do you remember when you graduated from high school? I don't. It's all a blur. All the ceremony and the protocol have been erased from my memory (or maybe it's senility setting in?). I wonder how much Greg is going to remember? It was a beautiful ceremony, but probably the same as a million others.

I'm so proud of him. He has turned into a wonderful young man. I hope that he fulfills all of his goals and has a wonderful time at college. I'm going to miss him when he's gone next year. I know that he's not going to miss us nearly as much.

I do remember what it was like to be young, with your future ahead of you..... I have to look at the next phase of my life the same way, I suppose. In three years, Chris will graduate and my job will be obsolete. But what a wonderful job it has been. Not much pay, but you can't beat the benefits!

This one is for Morris

I think we need to enact an Anti-Social Behavior Order law in this country, too. It is much less demeaning than calling it blatant criminal behavior! We wouldn't want lunatics to have self-esteem issues now, would we?

LONDON - A retired businesswoman accused of vandalizing her neighbors' property and blocking local roads with dead animals and dog feces was served with an order Thursday banning her from engaging in anti-social behavior.

Jeanne Wilding, 57, is accused of clashing with at least 15 individuals and organizations in the idyllic rural hamlet of Bottomley in northeast England.

Prosecutors said Wilding repeatedly and loudly played a choral work "about rape, pillage and the trashing of villages," caused extensive damage to neighbors' vehicles, beamed floodlights into a neighbor's home and tipped oil over his driveway at night.

She also deposited dead animals, rubbish, dog feces, glass and nails on the road, obstructing other homes and communal spaces, they said.

In all, there were more than 250 alleged incidents involving Wilding in less than 16 months.

And all these years I have been under the impression that the English were models of understated decorum!

At Halifax Magistrates' Court, Deputy District Judge Sandra Keen granted Calderdale Council's application to give Wilding an anti-social behavior order, or ASBO.

"It's clear she has little or no appreciation of the effect her behavior has on other people," the judge said.

Ya think?

Under the ASBO, Wilding is banned from damaging property, from entering domestic properties without the owners' consent and from spreading trash anywhere outside her property.

She also is banned from playing loud music and from maintaining or installing lighting or closed-circuit TV equipment that covers anywhere outside the boundary of her property.

Wilding also was ordered to pay 75,000 pounds ($135,000) toward the council's costs.

Somehow I thought that all of the above would already be covered under basic laws like, oh I don't know, mayb vandalism, breaking&entering, littering...? But I guess there is a need to lump all of these offenses under one blanket offense and call it "anti-social behavior". Damn, that's just so efficient (not to mention obvious)! But I'm not familiar with English laws, so maybe all of that behavior was once legal there?

Introduced in 1999 to counter "loutish and unruly conduct," anti-social behavior orders have been used to ban thousands of people, some as young as 10, from associating with certain people or engaging in activities as varied as shouting, swearing, spray painting, playing loud music and walking down certain streets.

Breaching an order is a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Wow.... that's a pretty broad range of behavior, isn't it? So, Morris, when you head back to England for a visit, don't shout or swear at the ex-wife or your daughters' boyfriends, okay? Or you will be convicted of "anti-social behavior". And we know that would be an injustice because you would never in a million years be thought of as 'anti-social', would you? (It's a good thing he doesn't have my address. LOL)

Ah, where the hell is Morris anyway? And perhaps this explains why Ally has disappeared! He is always so happy when he has to go to England and would never think to engage in anti-social behavior..... just sayin'.

They're still looking for Jimmy Hoffa?

Why?

He disappeared when I was in high school (fuck, has it really been 30 years?) and it was a running joke for a long time. I remember they thought he was buried under the Meadowlands Stadium. And now they are in Michigan for two weeks, tearing up a horse farm?

I know that 30 years is long time, but the teamsters weren't driving horse-drawn carts back in the 70s....

And there goes the neighborhood....

More than one billion people in the world have access to the Internet, with a quarter of them with broadband, or high-speed connections, according to a survey.

Source: Breitbart.com

Remember when it was our little secret? Those were the days, weren't they?

Random Things in Texas

The one thing that I miss in Texas is good pizza! There are only two places to get good pizza here, and both are at least 20 minutes away through really bad traffic. But here in our little town of Round Rock, one of these great pizza places finally opened a restaurant! Saccone's Pizza is now a short hop away. They will be delivering as soon as they can hire some drivers, but it's close enough that I don't care. Pizza with a Jersey attitude. Oh yeah, that's me! Jersey-born, Philly-raised. That's attitude that the Sopranos would recognize!

Yeah, how boring can I be? Well, I have nothing else to write about tonight. Busy cleaning this week. Next week is Greg's graduation and we have company coming from Pennsylvania. So the house is getting cleaned. No, I don't wait for company before I clean. It's just that different kind of cleaning that you do when you are going to have houseguests for a whole week! You know, the real heavyduty move the furniture, clean out the refrigerator, shave the dog kind of cleaning.

Good night everyone! I assume someone is still out there.....

Gonna be stormy again

Spring storms in Texas can be really scary. We're fixin' to have another one tonight. (Am I gettin' good at the Texas lingo or what?)

Thinking I would share some links tonight, because my brain is fried. Graduation is two weeks from Thursday. My baby is going to be off to college in the fall. We went to our last band banquet on Friday night. It was bittersweet. He got all teary-eyed about it. It's starting to sink in. Oh, he did get a $500 scholarship from the band boosters. That will help buy some books. We'll take it!

Okay, you all have to go to Rudy's BBQ and get some sauce. Not the sissy sauce, the real sauce. This is the absolute BEST barbecue sauce you will ever taste. The people at the UPS store know me by name because I'm always sending it back East to my family. It's great in meatloafs, use it on your burgers and hot dogs, in your eggs, on your brisket, or just chug it from the bottle. Seriously, the best barbecue sauce you will ever taste. You will never use ketchup again.

I've been diddling with geneology for a couple of years. Trying to trace my family back to Poland, Czechoslovakia, England, Wales, etc. It's fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Have you ever been to Ellis Island? Great source of information on immigrant arrivals back in the 1800s. Just in case you might be interested.

I put out my hummingbird feeder a couple weeks ago, and they've come right back. The greedy little buggers. I love them - they are so cool. Here is a site that traces the Birth of a Hummingbird. Be sure to click through on each page. Cool stuff.

Good night.

Coal Miner's Granddaughter

Both of my grandfathers were coal miners. I spent many summer vacations in the coal region of Pennsylvania. The mines were all pretty much shut down as far as I could remember. But coal mining never leaves an area. It is prevalent in the very air you breathe, and the dust that lives on.

My grandfathers didn't talk too much about the mines. I know they both lost their fathers to mining accidents. In the past few years, I have been researching my dad's family. When my grandfather was four months old, his father was killed in the mines. I never even knew his name. Until my brother found an old newspaper clipping in my grandmother's house. That made me start to search..... Now that there is more information online, it is much easier than going to the LDS Library and squinting through a microfiche viewer.

I was able to find a site that listed mine fatalities in Northumberland County. 1909 Mine Fatalities has my great-grandfather's death listed.

13-Aug Millard, Lot- English, Miner, 25, M, Locust Gap. Killed by fall of slate at face of breast while trying to bar it down.

Just reading that document and the ways that miners died is very heartbreaking. It was a very hard life.

So you can understand why this story from CNN about the lone survivor of the Sago mine accident in West Virgina makes me so very sad.

McCloy said the air behind the curtain grew worse, and he lay as low as possible and tried to take shallow breaths, but became lightheaded.

"Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing I could do to help him," McCloy wrote. "The last person I remember speaking to was Jackie Weaver, who reassured me that if it was our time to go, then God's will would be fulfilled."

Still a very dangerous way of life for so many.

Out of Practice

I actually 'chatted' for about ten minutes. Well, I might actually have only said three things the whole time. I am soooooo out of practice. And these webchat clients are very slow. Reminds me of having a 14.4 modem on Compusuck! I was hanging out at the AI Conspiracy board after the show, and I was invited to come into chat. Strange... I think I've lost my touch. Plus, my harddrive is too slow. And I'm not talking about my computer! LOL

They're funny people, and I do like to hang on the forum. Just way out of practice chatting.

So what are you all up to? Am I still talking to myself here?

Amazin'

I think it was 1997, and I was learning html to create a webpage. Surprisingly enough, I picked it up really fast. Keep in mind that this is the girl who had to have a cheat sheet in front of her when on the IRCs because I could never remember all the commands!

Well, of course the web has grown. And grown. And my pathetic little html skills are so outdated that it's not even funny. Once again, technology has passed me by. I just find it amazing how the web has exploded in the last ten years. And so many really cool things that we only dreamed of back then! Remember when we thought using .wav files was cutting edge? How quaint.

At any rate, I thought I would share some stuff with you every now and then. Let's talk about youtube. People can make their own short films, or take existing films (as long as they don't get caught infringing on copyright) and upload them to the net. I cannot even imagine the bandwidth this must use.... but it's growing larger and more popular every day.

So here are a few youtube clips that are in my favorites folder. And yes, I am weird, why do you ask? If you are a silent surfer like me, turn your sound on and visit these:

Kicked in the Nuts

Cat vs. Dog

Aren't ya glad we have a tagboard?

Yes, Morris, I'm talking to you!! Am I the only person who keeps track of passwords and stuff?

Well, it's Sunday night. Last night was prom. Can I brag about how handsome my son looked? He rolled in at 7:30 this morning. I actually did manage to sleep all night without worrying. Does that make me a terrible mother? Okay, so I couldn't sleep until I came out on the couch at around 3 this morning. Then I finally fell asleep until he woke me when he came in. I guess I'm just not the cool mother I pretend to be.

Graduation is only a month away. Where did the last 18 years go? Next August I'm going to be writing a long sad post just like Deblin when he goes off to college.

And Chris has gotten through his freshman year with honors. I'm telling you, the boy is an evil genius. He doesn't seem to break a sweat and still comes home with all A's. It's bizarre. I'm sure that AP Chemistry and Algebra II will kick his ass next year. We'll see.

Jim is back in China. He left on Wednesday and won't be back until the 4th of May. I told him that they better understand that the month of May is completely off limits! We have senior banquets, and graduation... No way is going to be able to leave.

Tax Day!!

Got your taxes done? I always forget about this because ours are usually done in February. Already got the refund. And spent it. Go ahead, throw something at me. I deserve it.

It was a beautiful day today. I installed a fountain and got a flower bed ready. I love working in the dirt. I'd rather be out doing gardening than housework. It's taken a few years to learn what will grow in the hotter-than-hell Texas summers, but I think I've finally got a handle on it. I'll put up a picture of my new zen garden as soon as I can. Love the fountain. It definitely improves the feng shui of the garden. What? So, it's a gimmick. But I like it!

Well, Happy Easter everyone!

The Good Old Days

Take a trip down memory lane -

Rules for Blowjobs (written by women)

Miscellaneous Drivel

It's Friday night. Jim is on a plane right now headed for Beijing. He's going to be there for two weeks! He's never been out of the USA before. This is going to be an experience for him. He has to go straighten out their China division.

Greg got accepted to University of Texas - Austin after all! He got two letters last week. One from the University saying he'd been accepted, and one from the UT College of Fine Arts saying he'd been accepted. That is amazing! But the boy is going to turn them down. He still wants to go to Texas Tech. He really likes the professors in the music department there, he has lots of friends going there (including someone he already plans to room with) and he just doesn't want to go to UT! So instead of being 20 minutes away in Austin (which is a very cool city), he will be 7 hours away in Lubbock, (which is, well, it's Lubbock. A city in the middle of nowhere actually.) He definitely has to make his own choice. And I guess he is going to go to Lubbock. The fact that UT accepted him is really good because it is a difficult school to get into unless you are top 10% of your class. I guess he gets bragging rights now. Got accepted at UT and turned them down. Then again...... he hasn't done it yet. Maybe he'll change his mind before the deadline? Not bloody likely.

So what to write about tonight? I think I'll share some internet stuff with ya'll.

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Sidewalk Chalk Guy paints these incredible pictures on sidewalks. I can only imagine walking along and suddenly finding yourself in the middle of one of these masterpieces! The artist is Kurt Wenner and he has even been documented at Snopes. I wondered why someone would create something so beautiful, something that obviously takes up so much time, and yet it's so temporary. So I went to his website and browsed through the Q&A section. Here is what he says:

Q: How long does it take?

A: I paint somewhere between two and six square yards a day. The complexity of the design and the quality of the pavement determine how much I am able to accomplish.

Q: Are you disappointed when it washes away?

A: I am always aware of the impermanence of street painting. Wind, sun, dirt, and rain constantly remind me as I work of the very fleeting nature of this type of painting. All day long, as I'm creating a new part of the picture, I can see the finished parts already fading. It's a challenge to retouch the picture and keep it fresh for spectators. I'm not disappointed when the painting washes away because street painting is performance art, it's very much like attending a symphony. When the music ends everyone leaves with a memory of the music. My work is the same except one is left with a visual impression. And much like musical recording helps preserve a moment, I photograph my paintings when they're finished.

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Random Dumb Blog Quiz

What kind of candy are you?

discover what candy you are @ quiz me

Just remember, I already told you it was dumb!

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My Guilty Pleasure

Okay, I have a confession to make. I watch American Idol. I like American Idol. It's all my kids' fault! They always watched it, and I kind of half-paid attention to it. But last year, I really enjoyed it. This year, I can't miss it. It's the only thing on TV that: 1) I know when it's on, and 2) If I can't be here to watch it, I'll tape it. I'm pathetic. Especially since my kids don't watch it anymore because Greg is too busy, and Chris is too cool for it. So I don't even have an excuse for watching it anymore!

I don't vote though. I have to draw the line somewhere! But I want Chris, Taylor, and Katherine to make it to the end. Definitely my favorites. Videos of the performances this week available at this site.

Best place to talk about the show (and other stuff) is American Idol Conspiracy.

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Well, I guess that's enough for tonight.... see ya later.

Wednesday Night

*crickets*

Yup, it's that quiet in here!

A couple of glasses of wine and some introspection is never a good combination. I will tell you some good news though. Found an email from 2003. Hit "Reply". And guess what? I got a response! Do you all remember Eddie (aka Wildguy)?? Well, he's still out there. Has a gorgeous baby daughter.

Oh yeah, and found Ally's addy (again). Got a quick response from him saying he'll write more later. Yeah right. We'll see about that.

Did I mention that my son was in the school play, Beauty and the Beast last week? He was Gaston. At 6'5" and towering over everyone else, that's appropriate. He did really great. I was amazed (even though I always knew he was a ham) Here he is:



Good night all!

Can I get political for a moment?

Kanye West poses on the cover of Rolling Stone as Jesus Christ. Ohhhhh that's just sooooo controversial.....NOT! Maybe in 1965 it would have been, but now it's just a great big yawn.

If he wanted controversy, he should have posed as Mohammed. But he doesn't have the balls, nor does he want death squads after him. What is everyone so fucking afraid of?

Denmark is under the gun, because of political cartoons portraying Mohammed in a newspaper. Massive middle east boycotts of Danish products. Diplomats being called home. It's all bullshit. We need more freedom of the press, not more censorship. So go out and buy Danish products!

Click picture for more info

And a French newspaper has joined the fight, too! Go figure. The French. Good for them. An excerpt:

“Because no religious dogma can impose its view on a democratic and secular society, France Soir publishes the incriminated cartoons,” the paper said.

Yeah.... what he said. We need to stop being held hostage by these fascist freaks.

Okay.... I'm done. Have a nice day :)

Hey....... it's 2006!! What's up everyone?

Okay, I haven't completely given up on this place..... but to be honest, maybe we should all get myspace accounts or something? At any rate, what's up with me?

Did I tell you that Greg has been accepted to Texas Tech University for next year? GAH!! It's seven hours away! It's in Lubbock! There ain't nothing in Lubbock but dust storms and ..... well, not much else. Oh, Tech is there. Hooooge college. Good college. He loves it. I'm kind of meh about the whole thing.

He hasn't heard from UT-Austin yet. 20 minutes away! In Austin. Great city for an 18 year old. Sixth Street. Live Music Capital of the World. Home of Austin City Limits. And did I mention it's only 20 minutes away from home?

He tells me that he wants to go to Tech even if he gets accepted to UT. One of his best friends is going to Tech and they are already signed up to room together. He's got lots of friends already there. But UT is only 20 minutes from home. I would be happy to do his laundry if he came home on weekends. What more could he want?

And I really love the Roy Rogers look of the Longhorn Band better than the Santa Ana look of the Texas Tech Goin' Band. Plus, the Longhorn Band gets to go to better Bowl games!

Oh well, he's gotta do what's best for him. I'm proud of him and I know that no matter what, he's going to do great.

HOOK 'EM HORNS!!!

CONGRATULATIONS UT!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a beautiful man!!!!!!!!!! My neighborhood is going nuts tonight - fireworks and people in the streets....... What a fucking sweet game!!

And Congrats to my other home team, Penn State and ol' Joe Pa for winning the Cotton Bowl.

I've fallen hopelessly in love with college football. Who needs the NFL?

Merry Christmas!

Well, it is now 7:39 AM and I've been up since 6. Not for any particular reason except that I always get up this early.



There was a time when the boys would come running in before the sun even came up.... normally Christmas morning would start around 5 AM. Seems so strange that I am the first one up now. Teenagers aren't going to be getting up that early when they don't have to!!



So...... here I sit with my cup of tea. And I know that they probably won't get up until around 10 or 11. Sometimes I think I should be going in and rousting them at 6:00 the way they used to do it to me! But it's just too peaceful to bother.









This one is from Deblin because she still hasn't found her password!!

It's that time of year again....

I'm sitting here watching the Eagles lose to Seattle on Monday Night Football. Crap!! And it's snowing there! Every once in awhile I do miss snow. But then I remember what it was like to shovel it. No thanks. I grew up just outside of Philly. Haven't been back in 12 years! Damn. I don't even have the accent anymore! But I don't think I'd want to move back. Nope. It's cold here tonight, 40 I think. But just two days ago we were at 80. Strange place, Texas. The cold fronts move in wicked fast.... but it never stays too cold for too long.

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Eat enough turkey? I think turkey is over-rated. But I cook it all the same. Tradition and all that....

Damn, I miss you guys. It gets lonely in here talking to myself.

I hope you'll all visit before Christmas!

The Last Butterfly

I'm so sad. We've had an extremely warm fall. It's been in the 80s for a couple weeks. Today, the cold front finally moved in. A little rain and then the temp starting dropping. It's really strange how quickly that happens. This afternoon while the wind was bringing in the cold air, a beautiful butterfly was hanging around the backyard. For hours. There are still blooms on my esperanza, and he kept going from flower to flower.... poor thing should have migrated to Mexico weeks ago. The temperature right now is down to 50 and supposed to drop further during the night. He isn't going to survive the night. Makes me so sad. He is so pretty.....

"Press one for english......"

Last month I was trying to reach Southwestern Bell about my bill. They have one of those annoying voice recognition automated customer dissservice lines. I really HATE those things. And they have also disabled the "dial O" to speak to a real person option. GAH!! Way to make your customers miserable, SBC.

So Jim was home and he was laughing at me because I was soooooo frustrated. (this pisses me off, too, because I don't like to be laughed at when I'm frustrated LOL)

Computer: "Please state the last four digits of your social security number"
Me: xxxx
Computer: "Thank you. Please tell me how I can help you, your options are...."
Me:I want to talk to a real person.
Computer: "I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Please tell me how I can help you."
Me: I want to talk to a customer service agent.

Repeat the above for a couple more times. Then,


Computer:"I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Please tell me how I can help you."
Me: Will you put a real live person on the fucking phone!!!!!!!!!
Computer: "I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Let me connect you to a representative."
Me: (yelling at this point) ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!

I am positive that they have programmed the phones to respond to the word "Fuck" (the universal word for intense annoyance) and connect you to a real person asap. At any rate, Jim found this article in the paper tonight. Great find!! I went to this guy's website. He's got an IVR Cheat Sheet which has tips on beating the system and getting straight to a real live human being.