Happy Birthday, R Crumb

R Crumb is celebrating his 59th birthday today, August 30. Here's Mr Natural, just one of his creations I've enjoyed for many, many years.

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Beverly Hillbillies, Reality-Style

Variety reports that CBS plans to launch the Beverly Hillbillies, reality-style. The network is looking for a lower-middle-class family from a rural area to transport to Beverly Hills and live in the lap of luxury for one year -- with movie stars, swimming pools, the whole deal.


Hold on here just a moment...Some people pay all expenses for idiots to move into a nice mansion for a period of time. Then we sit back and watch the buffoons while hilarity ensues... If it weren't for the lower middle class aspect, it could be Doofus Dubya and his minions 'fish out of water' story.

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A Two-Fer Weblog

I decided I had so much crap on this site that I made another one. It's called, "Susan*Jayne", which happen to be my first and middle names. There's a link to the left, also. It's a little more spiritual, a little lighter. And I've moved several things from this site to that one. So that's how things stand for now. It's still in it's infancy, but ready for friends to peek at.

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When The Going Gets Tough, The Geek Squad Gets Going.

He wears, as they all do, the uniform: short-sleeve, button-down white shirt; black polyester pants; a black government-issue police belt; a black clip-on tie. [via: new times la]

Nice, interesting story about professional tech help. These people take it very seriously.

Funny Pic Of The Day
Kathryn, always good at finding interesting pictures, has a funny one on her nice site of an air-conditioning service van, whose company must have a good sense of humor. The logo on the side of the van surely evokes much staring and laughter. Go have a look.

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Cheney States Call For Action On Iraq

Dick Cheney responding to criticism that attacking Iraq would create trouble in the world and interfere with the war on terror, he said an attack could have a positive impact.



''Regime change in Iraq would bring about a number of benefits for the region,'' he said. [via: Boston Globe]
Regime Change in the United States would be a better place to start, Dick. [You saw it coming, didn't you?]

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JAGGER HIRES PUBLICIST TO POLISH IMAGE

In what may be Mission: Impossible, Mick Jagger has hired a top public-relations man to try to rehabilitate his image as a sex-crazed, skirt-chasing wildman.





Jagger hired top British spin doctor David Rigg to prove to the world he's a gentleman and loving dad, not a relentless bed-hopper. Jagger will begin to attend charity lunches, family events and retire earlier at night. Another reason for the new image is Mick, who be 60 next year, is worried he'll be remembered only as a sad old rocker who didn't know when to quit acting like an oversexed teen-ager.



Quite a stunt, if he can pull off the image of average citizen/super dad, after a life of hell-raising, drugs, and sleeping with young girls. No amount of spin will change my opinion of Mick Jagger. I've seen him perform twice and I like him fine the way he is. [via: pagesix.com]

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Earth Summit News

60,000 delegates, 100 world leaders, one aim: Saving The Planet
The World Summit on Sustainable Development(also known as the WSSD, Earth Summit III or Rio +10) will be taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa between August 26th, [tomorrow] and September 4th 2002... approximately, 10 years after the Rio Earth Summit and 30 years after the Stockholm Earth Summit. President Bush will not be attending. Secretary of State, Colin Powell is leading a delegation from Washington. It's reported that Bush is busy with security and the economy.

A handful of protesters were arrested last night; and more demonstrations are promised.

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All Slaw, No Ribs, says Maureen Dowd

According to the Runner's World interview, "It's interesting that my times have become faster right after the war began." "On Sundays, if I'm at Camp David, I'll go for a hard morning run — these days about 20:30 to 20:45 for three miles on a tough course. . . . I try to go for longer runs, but it's tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. . . . It's sad that I can't run longer. It's one of the saddest things about the presidency."



Another one of the saddest things about this presidency is that it has no voice.



The president won't speak clearly, and the vice president won't speak to anybody whose check to the Republican National Committee hasn't cleared.



This summer, while the administration has been scaring jittery Americans about Saddam's chemical, biological and nuclear wantonness, the president has given few interviews. He has granted one-on-ones only on topics like running and brush-clearing, designed to burnish his image as a Reaganesque frontiersman.



Usually, such lifestyle features are meant to humanize a tough leader. But with W., we hear more about the soft stuff than the hard stuff. He's all slaw, no ribs.
more>> [via: new york times]

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Shock Jocks Fired After St. Pat's Sex Stunt

Does anyone else find this stunt as disgusting as I do? Opie and Anthony, the radio jocks responsible for this outrageous behaviour, have been fired. And there's talk of the station losing it's license. The cancellation came one day after the Virginia couple suspected of the sex stunt appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on charges of public lewdness. Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, Va., and Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, Va., were due back in court Oct. 2. The couple's lawyer has said they were just simulating sex inside the landmark Manhattan cathedral. The shock jocks were also canned in 1998 by a Massachusetts station after announcing on April Fool's Day that Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was killed in a car crash.

Haven't these shock jocks around the country taken some things a little too far? When Howard Stern soared in popularity, everyone started imitating him and radio entertainment became shock for shock's sake. When you stop to think, "What outrageous thing can I do today for ratings?" Then you've gone way too far and totally lack originality. Only a handful of DJ's can pull it off. Not your local yuppified, Beatle haircutted, loafer-wearing, softball team-playing, whining DJ.----leave it to the pros.

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SHARKS BEMOAN LACK OF SUMMER MEDIA COVERAGE
--taken from www.Borowitzreport.com


What if they gave a shark attack and nobody came?




“They are chewing up more people this summer than they did last summer,
but the media couldn’t give a hoot,” says Sandy Hagan, a public relations
executive recently retained by the sharks to, in Mr. Hagan’s words, “get
the real story of shark attacks out there.”




But a source close to the sharks said that, privately, the many-toothed
aquatic beasts complain that the cable news outlets passed them over in
order to give airtime to their latest darling: conservative pundit Ann
Coulter.



Ms. Coulter, whose current New York Times bestseller “Slander” is
ironically about the lack of media coverage given to conservative pundits,
has been nearly ubiquitous on TV this summer, bumping the sharks off the
air.



“The feeling at CNN and Fox seems to be, if they’ve got Ann Coulter, they
don’t need sharks,” the source said.



I may have caused some to worry since I haven't posted an Anti-Ann Coulter post in at least 4 or 5 days. Why does this thing woman irritate me so?

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A new greatest hits collection from Fleetwood Mac is coming October 15 from Reprise Records. The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac is a two-CD set that features 36 songs from the band's latter-day lineup. Another point of interest for collectors is the inclusion of the rare studio version of "Silver Springs." Looks like all the good stuff will be combined in this package. Especially Silver Springs. [I'm off to find this tune on KaZaa]




The family feline, Jinx, when he was small. He routinely walks across my keyboard daily; then proceeds to hop onto the scanner, linger there a while, and meow loudly for me to get up and come pet him. This back-and-forth carries on about 3 times until he's ready to go outside. Jinx doesn't like girls all that much. He loves my husband, which is strange, because he is just not an animal person at all. And to see this 6' 3" burly, bearded wonder talk to that furry little cat is a sight to behold. The cat forced his love onto him and didn't stop until he won him over. I'll have to get a picture of the two of them together sometime. I swore to myself I'd never start posting cat pictures, but here it is...

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Elimination Of Discrimination Against Women

In an effort to help women around the world reach full equality with men, nearly 170 countries have ratified the United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a groundbreaking treaty that outlines a clear definition of discrimination against women and includes specific measures that nations must take to eliminate gender-based bias.



While the United States played an important role in drafting this U.N. treaty, it is in the shameful company of countries like Afghanistan and Iran that refuse to ratify it. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the treaty in 1998 and again a few weeks ago, but a floor vote has never taken place. Ratification of the U.N. treaty would send a clear message that our country is dedicated to women's rights and the elimination of discrimination against them.



Take action! You can learn more about this U.N. treaty and send a FREE FAX to your Senators from our action alert at:



http://www.aclu.org/action/cedaw107.html

Why can't we all just be equal in all regards? Black, white, old, young, women, men, straight, homosexual. Eliminate the class structures. Maybe in a perfect world...

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Robert Redford To Make Film In Asheville

Another major motion picture is headed to Asheville, this time a thriller starring screen legend Robert Redford as a wealthy kidnapped businessman who has to be ransomed by his wife. [via: citizen-times; one very fine newspaper]
Remember in the 1970's or so when Robert Redford and Paul Newman were at the height of their popularity? The girls thought they were very hot, and the guys thought they were so cool. I remember my husband watching the movie, "Jeremiah Johnson", with Redford, a million times. We even considered naming our son Jeremiah, but didn't.


Majette And Linder Win Big

Which means Republican Bob Barr and Democrat Cynthia Mckinney, two incumbents, were ousted from Congress on Tuesday as Georgia primary voters turned their backs on the fiery maverick who led President Clinton impeachment and the outspoken liberal who stunned nearly everyone with sharp criticism of the government's war on terror. [via: yahoo]
Georgia got a political cleansing last night when the voters let their cast ballots speak loud and clear for them.


Mom Charged With Letting Kids Get Sunburned

A woman was arrested on felony charges for allegedly letting her three children get so severely sunburned that they looked like they "were dipped in red paint." [via: cnn]
Wandering around the fair grounds with 10 month old twins and a two year old tells me she wasn't there for the kids anyway. Couldn't she tell that they were uncomfortable? I believe we need to make parenting classes mandatory in schools.


Negotiations Are Under Way for Clinton Talk Show on CBS

Some associates of Bill Clinton and executives from CBS are involved in negotiations to make the former president the host of a daily afternoon talk show. [via: new york times]
Clinton denied he was interested the first time we heard this. I can see him doing specials once a week or month, but can you see him appearing in the prime time lineup, like 'must see BC' He is a very charismatic and intelligent man and would probably do well in television.

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Let's Hear It For The Insurance Companies!!

Did I get your attention? My hands are shaking as I'm typing because I just got off the phone with my insurance company, State Farm. I have tried for 5 wks to drop one car from my automobile policy and add another car. And I'm changing some of the coverage which will lower my monthly payment. Which happens to automatically come out of my bank account. When I call them today to see how much they'll be deducting this month from my checking account so I can record it in my check register, the lady acts dumbfounded, as if this is the first she's heard of it. Well, it's the third time she's heard of it, because I always write their name and date and time on the invoice when I call to talk to someone like that. [great habit, btw] They could have had it correct last month, but I didn't raise a fuss, because I know they need time to do it. But, when it still wasn't done this month, I'm ready to explode. What was she doing each time I talked to her on the phone about the policy change? Un-fucking-believable.

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Hooray For The New York Times

From Susan's 'Live and Let Live Dept': The New York Times plans to begin publishing announcements of same-sex commitment ceremonies along with its wedding announcements. The announcements of formal gay and lesbian unions will begin next month in the paper's Sunday Styles section, Howell Raines, executive editor of the Times, said in Sunday's editions. Occasionally the Vows column, a longer feature on one couple, will focus on a same-sex couple, Raines said. [via: yahoo.com]

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Don't Drink No More....Or No Less

Recalling today when I was a bartender [my night job] and there was never a holiday that wasn't alcoholically celebrated. New Year's Eve? Drink through my shift while everyone else was dancing and partying. So I'll just dance behind the bar and drink my "ice water" [stoli w/splash of tonic]. That Susan sure drinks a lot of water. Champagne after work, mimosas for breakfast. Then St Paddy's Day? Free Beer. Free green beer, that is. And Long Ire-land Ice Teas. Then there were the birthdays, Halloween, and Christmas parties. And so that became my life. Life of the freaking party. I fell victim to the occupational hazard of being a bartender. It was hazardous to my health for eleven years. I'll fast forward to say that I no longer celebrate in an inebriated fashion and remember the first time I celebrated a sober November 1st. And a sober Christmas Day and New Year's Day. And after fourteen years, I can tell you it still feels good. But I don't wanna get preachy about it. I don't mind being around parties and people drinking. I'm a huge advocate of 'whatever gets you through the night'. It just didn't work for me.

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October Road - James Taylor

If you never liked James Taylor before, you'll hate this album. But if you ever liked James Taylor, you'll really enjoy this album, October Road. It's classic James Taylor writing and melody of the 1970's. Simple, upbeat, and timeless. [via: cdnow.com]

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A Question?

When I visit another site, and I see where it says, "Syndicate this Site" and "XML", what does that mean exactly? If you know, explain it to me like you're talking to a five-year old. No. Seriously.


By the way, it appears I've added so many little bells and whistles to this web site, that it's starting to look like Homer SImpson's. Anyone see that episode where Homer got a computer and built a web site to snitch on the town politicians? He called himself Mr X and his site had so much crap on it. Blinking icons all over the place, dancing hampsters, a dancing Jesus, and all different sounds. I can't do it justice; you need to see it to appreciate it.

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Get Over It Already

So says Lorraine over on the Mousetrap. She's referring to the onslaught of media attention paid to Elvis' 25th death anniversay. ... "was a pretty good singer, but he died a fat, drug-addicted hillbilly of his own excesses. Well, to each their own of what constitutes their ideal "hero". It's just beyond my comprehension."
I was talking about him to someone this week recalling how I never did "get" Elvis when I was young. Of course, I was small, but after 1962 and the Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", there was no turning back for me. And Elvis was just some big ol' redneck in my hippie girl frame of mind.

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Doom and Gloom

It sure looks gloomy outside my window today. It's all rainy and has been thundering and lightening earlier. And it looks like it's going to be this way through Monday. And so will a lot of the East Coast. But my husband just loves the rain. And my daughter has always insisted on playing outside in it since she's been small and couldn't be happier to see it. I've always hated the rain. Rain, rain, go the hell away. Please?

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Don't You Hate Bad [Slow] Service?

I had planned to meet my sister and a couple of friends for breakfast this morning, like we usually do each week. At the same place we've eaten for the past few years. And we go early to have enough time to enjoy each other's company before we have to be to work, etc. So, we meet, we order, and I wait. After 30 minutes and still no breakfast, I go to see if there's a problem. Because we're usually served in about 15 minutes. "No, sorry, we'll have it to you soon, ma'am." Okay, fine. After another 15 or 20 minutes, I check again. My waitress says, "We're almost ready with your orders." So I say, "Please just put mine in a to-go box." And another 10 minutes pass and still no breakfast. Damnit. I tell my friends I need to go and tell the waitress on the way out I'm leaving. Still hungry, I stop by Bruegger's Bagels on the way and grab me some fresh ones. Should have gone there in the first place.


Shirl Got A Massage

Shirl visited the toniest day spa in her area and had a full-body massage. And you can't swing a dead cat here in Asheville, NC, without hitting a massage therapist, so I wonder why I've never gotten myself one. One girl I used to work with talked about getting deep tissue massages. So it all sounds very technical now and the demand is higher than ever for them. Maybe I should treat myself someday soon.

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Just For Laughs

I found Skippy the Bush Kangaroo by surfing one night and it has become one of my favorite spots on the web. He lives in LA and is an actor/writer. This pundit also writes for other sites and has picked up quite a following from those who can't get enough of his witty humor. Stop by and visit him sometime.

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Drowning Pool Singer Dead At Age 30


As an old crone, I don't find many new bands that I enjoy like I used to. But this is one hell of a good band. One I felt should have staying power. Now, sadly, the singer, Dave Williams, who fronted Drowning Pool, has been found dead on the tour bus in Manassas, VA today. The cause of death is not yet determined. [There are tons of postings today on the message boards on drowningpool.com]



Osbournes's To Adopt Another Kid

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are taking in a child whose mother has died. The New York Post reported earlier that the Osbournes would take Robert Marcato, a close friend of the couple's daughters, under their wing and into their show after his mother died last week of colon cancer. Once Marcato settles into the family, he will become part of the show as "Baby Osbourne" even though he is 18, the newspaper reported.

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What is it with all these child abductions?
I just saw on CNN about the little one MONTH old baby that was nabbed and then caught with his abductor. The lunatics are running the asylumn now. Wouldn't the recent rash of snatchings deter someone who had a mind to do that? Or does the perpetual momentum get their disturbed minds twitching with ideas of newly aquired parenthood? Sociology has always fascinated me; probably because I'll never understand most of the human psyche.

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Around The Web

I recently visited surrealist painter, Mati Klarwein's site. He recently passed away at the age of 70, and his site features many of the album covers he's most noted for designing in the US. Like Santana's 'Abraxas' album, Miles Davis, Greg Allman, etc, and other beautiful paintings he's done through the years.


Fetish Photography

If fine art fetish photgraphy is your thing, or if you just appreciate beautiful photographs, Steve Diet Goedde has a nice collection on his site.
[via: salon.com]

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You've Come A Long Way, Baby!



Me at about 6 or 7 years old. I sure have a big head in the young photo.

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At the FAA's command center, managers can think of only one way to stop them. Minutes after another jet smashes into the Pentagon at 9:38 a.m., the managers issue an unprecedented order to the nation's air traffic controllers:



Empty the skies.



Land every flight.



Fast.




By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

On Sept. 11, 2001, United Airlines Captain Jim Hosking received a message during a flight from Japan to LAX. The message read, "There has been a terrorist attack against United Airlines and American Airlines aircraft. We are advised there may be additional hijackings in progress. Shut down all access to the flight deck. Unable to elaborate further."



Chilling first hand accounts of other pilots in the sky on September 11, 2001. We will never forget.

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Another Ann Coulter Sighting


"It is so very sad to watch a complete meltdown take place in public view. Such things are more properly taken care of within the confines of a properly licensed and fully regulated mental institution. It makes everything safer, and, well, so much more pleasant, for everyone concerned." [via: Rittenhouse Review]

Ms. Coulter responds with a joke about how often she checks her book's ranking at Amazon.com in a day. "I'm falling," she adds. "I'm worried." [via: NYTimes]
I don't think the right even claims her anymore, do they?

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Sock Monkeys


Remember sock monkeys? You may have had one while growing up. I thought they were the fugliest things I'd ever seen when I was young. But they take on a whole new spin now as a fun collectible in the pop culture market. They've been reproduced over the years and probably have a nostalgic touch rather than a midas touch. I was unable to find any original ones at Ebay and am curious about their market value.

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Quiet Mouse



I just came to the pc to have some more quiet time; time for reading and reflecting. A continuation of my just finished yoga rounds, as I sit in the dark with candles lit and everyone's neatly tucked in and kissed goodnight. Now it's me time.


I'm thinking that it would be very cool if I had my own little 'easy bake coven' link. That's a lot of text for one little 88 X 31 gif. I suppose we could use 'easy bake' in a pinch. I've made a few links before, but have never been satisfied with them. Anyone have the time, talent and inclination to try to make one for me? Or any good suggestions? I'm shameless, aren't I? But I'm thanking you.

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I don't know what's going on, but I haven't been able to see my site for over 8 hours now. I can post to it, I think. At least it's going thru the motions, but my page comes up blank! It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. Hopefully it will work itself out somehow. But for now, it's a ghost site........


UPDATE: It's back up, after half the day being blank--very strange indeed.

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We live in an fast-changing sometimes frantic-paced world where store clerks or fast food workers seldom have time to say, "Thank You" or a "Have A Nice Day". It's really stretching it to expect to get any sympathy from customer service workers on the other end of the phone. As if someone told them you could only find "sympathy" in the dictionary between "shit" and "syphillis". That it'd be dirty to consider saying it. But when drivers on the busy roads have lost the fine art of giving the finger, well, the country has gone to hell in a handbasket. Driving home yesterday on a curvy, two-lane mountainous road, I rounded a particularly long curve to find a car coming from the opposite direction, but. in. my. lane. He and I both swerved to the right, with only inches to spare, averting a major head-on accident. And as his sneering ass passes me on the road, he has the nerve to unfurl his middle finger and flip me off. And he was in my lane.



Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but where I come from, it's customary for the person who has been wronged, or the "flipper", to do the ceremonious flipping of the bird to the person who is in the wrong or the "flippee". I'm sure I saw it somewhere in the rulebook. Or at least I learned it at my father's knee as he surely learned it from his forefathers. We're going to have to go over this again, I'm afraid. To set straight who's the actual flipper and who's the flippee. There'll be a test on this tomorrow.

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Nevada Police Back Legalizing Pot


I saw this fine story on Skippy the Bush Kangaroo's site. Nevada's largest police organization has endorsed a state ballot initiative that would let adults legally possess small amounts of marijuana.



The board of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, a 3,000-member group that represents about 65 percent of the state's street patrol officers, voted 9-0 on Tuesday to support a change in the state constitution that would decriminalize possession of up to three ounces of marijuana.


Let's hope this ruling is contagious and that other states soon follow Nevada's lead. For medical reasons or for personal use, I say, why not? [via:guardian.co.uk]

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Well, Hell


It sux when your comment section isn't working and your tag board that you put it for just such occasions, also isn't working. I suppose you get what you pay for.

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Site Changes


I've been playing around and trying new things on my site here. I added the "Tag-Board" for convenience and for anyone who just wants to pop in and say a quick hello. The "SkyCam" is a wonderful live cam view of the Blue Ridge Mountains; pitchblack at night, though. Try to catch it at sunrise or sundown if you can. People come from miles around to visit our lovely mountains, especially in the autumn season when the leaves are in technicolor display. The "Guest Map" was an easy addition I thought I'd try out. Add a virtual push pin to the map to indicate your location when you get the chance. "Time Wasters" are just what it states. They're some of silly sites I've run across over the years that don't offend too much. And talking with a visitor the other day prodded me to scan my "Old Concert Tics"; well, those I've managed to hold onto over the years. Wish I had the old concert poster my sister and I ripped off at a Led Zeppelin concert around 1971. I believe she ended up with custody of that. So that's about it for the changes of late.

By the way, anyone with Blogchalking on their site, know why the little gif's not showing up? I clicked on it and their site shows me an empty page.


And for any of my tech savvy friends out there: Some friends just got their pc set up and they have an early version of AOL. Which means they probaly have IE 4. They cannot see any postings on my site here at all, just a few gifs on a plain background is all that shows up. Any clues as to what's preventing them from seeing everything on this site? I got this template from Blogskins, and I don't believe it has CSS. That may explain it if my site has CSS, but I don't think it does. I'm not very smart in the web site building department. If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know.

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Family Learns At Funeral That Car Accident Victim In Casket Is Not Their Son


BRANDENBURG, Kentucky - Family members mourning the death of a teenager were ready to say their goodbyes at a funeral home when they discovered that the body in the casket wasn't his. [via: yahoo] more>>

Both families just must be terribly distraught.

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Tag Board


Quick solution to the comment section that's down a little too often. I had this tag board on a private site I'm working on, so I snagged it from there and moved it to my side bar for a trial run. So, give it a try...Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows how to make my page refresh every so often. Surely there's a way to do that that's not too complicated.


Feeling Yucky

Feeling yucky, feeling shitty today. I'm just on the other side of a migraine headache and just feel worthless. Other than that, I'm fine, thank you.

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Thank You, Maggie


Maggie, from Quebec, made my little stick girl gif for me. I had admired the pink one on her lovely site. She's a talented lady with a very sweet spirit.

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Judge Says No To Abortion



A judge in Pennsylvania has issued an injunction to keep a woman from getting an abortion. Forget about the politics of abortion for just one moment. Whether you're pro or con. But what kind of karma is this child going to be surrounded in provided it goes to term?


Update: A Luzerne County Court judge lifted an order yesterday that had temporarily blocked an abortion, allowing a 22-year-old woman to end her pregnancy against her former boyfriend's wishes.
[via: yahoo]

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My Youngest Goes Off To High School


Orientation takes place in a few hours for my daughter as she gets ready to begin high school. Her first full day will be tomorrow. She has grown up more in the last year, from age 13 to 14 than any other year besides birth to a year old. I practically have to sit on my hands to keep from smoothing her hair or picking imaginary lint from her sweater. You know how us Moms like to preen our young. Going to high school is a monumental occasion. And I recall walking out of the school when I first dropped her off at first grade. I passed two other Moms that also had tears in their eyes. Now I'm at this crossroads, or rather, she is. Am I ready for her to be this independant yet? Isn't this what we prepare our children for? To stand on their own two feet? Can I rethink the whole situation and get back to you later? She's going to be just fine, but I may need a while to adjust. Underneath it all, I'm just afraid she really doesn't need me anymore for anything and that's the scariest part of it all.

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It's A Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog, World


The people closest to me seldom surf the internet, much less visit this site. My husband said he got "stuck" the last time he stopped in here. My sister, Robin, spends most all her online time gambling. I'm not talking out of school; she loves to gamble and anyone who knows her will tell you so. Two of my best friends since 9th grade have just gotten online. And are still getting everything set up. Being online and surfing in your free time just isn't as big a priority to the people I know and love as it evidently is to me. That's neither good nor bad. It just "is". And part of what I love about the blogging community. We understand trackback, surfing with carpal tunnel; who's on hiatus, and where the trolls are. And, of course, what's new in DayPop. We blog every spare minute we have in between articles we're working on, calls from customers, changing diapers, memos that need published and distributed, etc. In just over one year of blogging, I've met the neatest people in the world. And we speak the same language. "Blog".



Liquid Lunch


Our juicer is probably the most used item in the kitchen year round. Mostly carrot and parsley juice for lunch. My husband kept extolling the virtues of parsley, so I now add it to my carrot juice. He prefers cantelope juice. Everything that runs through the juicer is so good for you, but the best thing of all is that it's E A S Y.



Even with A/C, I still don't enjoy heating up the kitchen in the summer. Shirl is gathering recipes to try soon when she has some time off and I thought of how we cook in different seasons. Hearty soups and stews and breads in winter; fruit salads, grilled meats and veggies in summer. Mmmm. Some grilled pineapple sounds nice. And maybe some shrimp---coconut or scampi. Oh, wait. Couldn't I put those in the juicer, too?

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Journalist Bill Moyers Arrested For Drunk Driving


"I intend to contest the charges," Moyers said in a statement faxed Thursday to the Bennington [VT] Banner, which first reported the arrest.



"Not only was I observing the speed limit, but my companions -- my wife and two friends -- testified they had detected no signs of any problem with my driving, and that I appeared to be in full control of my faculties, as indeed I was."



Something about this smacks of arrogance to me. As in his friends not blatantly saying, "Give me the keys, Bill, you're too drunk to drive." After all, he was observing the speed limit and felt he was in full control.....Come on. You need to own it, Bill.
[via: CNN]

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Aquarium Cam


Sometimes I get so caught up reading on the internet, that I forget there are cool things to see, too. When visiting the flutterglubmeow weblog, I read about a link to an Ocean Tank Cam that is so fascinating to watch. Sharks, and turtles, and stingrays, Oh, My! It's at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Ma. I've visited these big aquariums before in Myrtle Beach, SC, and Daytona, FL, I believe it was, but it's still captivating to watch live on your computer.

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Dylan At Newport


It was a watershed event in popular music: Bob Dylan, folk music's young minstrel, taking the stage with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder. To the die-hard folkies at Newport on July 25, 1965, it was an outrage.
Thirty-seven years later, Dylan is coming back, headlining Saturday's program at the Apple & Eve Newport Folk Festival. [via: Yahoo]







Springsteen on Letterman



Bruce Springsteen appeared on Dave Letterman's 'The Late Show' Thursday night as part of a rare two-night stand which also has him and the E Street Band appearing on Friday, August 2. He's promoting his new cd/albumn, The Rising, his first since 1995.

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Aging Gracefully


I've been doing a lot of thinking about my Mother lately. She's almost 80 years old. And I'm afraid she may be showing signs of slipping into her last years. She's not well at all. She, of course, never complains.

For most of her life, she was a Nursing Supervisor and will usually diagnose herself before seeing a doctor. So when she does see a doctor outside of her regular check-up, it's serious. She's been having excruciating headaches. She's always so in control that she hates for anyone to see her vulnerable and scared.

When I think back to some of the best moments with my Mother, my favorite memories have her giving me a safe, warm hug with her hand stroking my hair. And me having that 'all's right with the world' feeling. I'm afraid it may soon be time for me to gently hold her and give her that safe, warm, 'all's right with the world' feeling.

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