March 28th

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP...

Dog doo. I do have this nice rose blooming in my yard though.

WHY PEOPLE DON'T USE THE USPS MUCH ANYMORE

I ordered some stuff from dog.com. Mostly some slip leads (the kind that slip over the dogs head and are a collar too) for emergencies. Here is the tracking information on my package as of this morning:

Shipping Method: SmartPost
Carrier ID: 02113004068101917446 Manifest ID: 2585576

Status: Sortation Center Arrival

Est. in Home 03/24/2008
March 20, 2008
1:07 PM
Sortation Center Arrival
LOS ANGELES, CA
March 19, 2008
7:35 AM
Sortation Center Departure
DALLAS, TX
March 17, 2008
11:40 AM
Sortation Center Arrival
DALLAS, TX
March 15, 2008
8:32 AM
Sortation Center Departure
EDISON, NJ
March 15, 2008
12:14 AM
Sortation Center Arrival
EDISON, NJ
March 14, 2008
5:58 PM
Pickup
HAZELTON, PA
* indicates data from USPS

First of all the "estimated delivery date" is a bit off, since that was four days ago. And, "sortation" isn't even a real word. The package has been sitting in the "made-up-word" center in Los Angeles since LAST THURSDAY!!!! That's at most two hours away from here! The nice people at dog.com couldn't even get a reasonable answer from USPS as to why the package hasn't moved in over a week. Their reply was "it can take up to 15 days, and we haven't gone over that yet." What happened to the customer service maxim: "Under promise and over deliver"? What happened to plain old giving a shit about making people happy? Obviously USPS still thinks that it has no competition. I only took this type of shipping because it was free, which of course brings up that other saying. You get what you pay for. Next time I order anything I'll pay the extra and get UPS or FedEx delivery.

JUST A NORMAL DAY IN THE RESCUE BUSINESS

I pulled a new dog (Arlo) from the shelter today. Poor guy-he's shedding badly and has tufts of fur coming out all over. They had owner information on him, but his people never came so we're finding him a home. I picked him up and then ran him over to a new boarding kennel close to my house. I handed over the vaccination records. The kennel worker looked at all of it, I looked at all of it, and there was no rabies vac. (For those of you that know me, no-I don't believe in vaccinations for any living thing, but the shelter pokes dogs with everything before they let them out of the door so I can't help it.) Of course no one at the shelter was answering the phone, so Arlo and I drove all the way back. Actually, Arlo rode nicely in the back, I drove. I'm sure that makes you feel better. Turns out the the medical staff neglected to update the computer when they gave him the shot and his microchip. Got the corrected records, back to the kennel. I think the poor boy may be coming down with kennel cough-he was hacking a bit when he pulled on the leash. Which goes to show you that the KC vaccine is useless. I'm going to take my homeopathic remedy kit with me to the event tomorrow. Maybe I can keep the drug pushers from pumping him full of antibiotics and screwing up his stomach.

I have to fight the battle constantly with some of the other volunteers. One guy takes his job of feeding the dogs very seriously. Whenever I bring a foster dog to an event I have to fight him and his crap-in-a-bag off with a stick. All the dogs at my house are raw fed, and I don't clean up kibble poop. Some of them want to slather all the dogs in flea poison, shove antibiotics down their throats "just in case", and other things. I keep trying to educate them, but so many of them don't want to hear it. Oh well.

I have signed up for a very comprehensive homeopathy course-supposedly I'll know enough to be a real homeopath when I'm done. A few miracle cures might get some people to pay attention. Or not. Some people will never accept a new idea because that would mean that they would have to accept that their previous way of doing things was wrong, and some people just can't be wrong about anything, ever.

March 26th

I'M SURE THEY MEAN WELL

All the people who have offered suggestions regarding my employment woes. Apply for another type of job! Re-do your resume, highlight transferable skills! Apply at a temporary agency! I've done it all. I'm not being lazy, or even all that picky. I do want to be treated like I'm worth something and not like an ignorant peon, but otherwise I'll take almost any job. Some people act like I must not be really trying to find a job, because if I was I would have found one. So, here's some vindication:

News Article

No Mortgage Workers Need Apply

I don't want to be a whiny, poor poor pitiful me type, but I really do think that people need to know that I have tried to find a job and I will keep trying, but in the meantime I want to buy a few voodoo dolls and start sticking pins in them. If you are an HR person who has tossed out my resume simply because I have a mortgage background and you suddenly feel a sharp pain in your gut, don't bother to call the doctor. Call a voodoo priestess. Or better yet, hire me and I'll pull the pins out.

I HAVE BEEN NEGLECTING MY MORONS

Not that they need me coddling them to be their sweet, little moronic selves, but here's some contributions:

OUR FRIENDS AT CHANNEL 10:

JN: “...armed with weapons.” I thought that "having weapons" was the definition of armed. “...you do not need to be alarm at this time.” And, you apparently do not need to be proficient in the English language, have a pleasing voice, or even look nice to be employed at Channel 10. Lucky you!
“...except for a few belonging the residents are trying to savage.” Rape and pillage your dinnerware?

KH: “...would have faced much more stiffer charges.” Well, at least she LOOKS nice.

March 25th

YEAH, YEAH, I'M THE TAXMAN

I owe the federal government $417 more in taxes. It's because they are taxing my unemployment benefits. This kind of sucks. They oh, so generously give you a little bit of money that isn't anywhere near enough to live on, and then want a big chunk of it back at the end of the year. The good thing is that the state of CA doesn't tax it, so I'm getting more back from the state than I owe to the feds, so Arnold will send me money to pay Sam.

I'm already finding myself tempted to buy things with the "extra". I need to get it in my head that since I have NO income, NOTHING is extra. Frugality will be the mode of existence until I either win the lottery or find a job. Sadly, it's beginning to look like winning the lottery has better odds of happening. My resumes are still apparently being sucked into the same big black hole where all the resumes of the unemployed mortgage workers are going.

I did buy a plant today. The grocery store had marked down all the Easter plants, so I got a nice, healthy purple Calla Lily for $1.88. Now, I just have to plant it in the ground before I kill it.

March 22nd

Gimme some tongue!

March 21st

HAPPY EASTER!

I decorated those eggs myself. I used the Ukrainian method, but my own designs.

This is the earliest Easter since 1913. Did you know that the word "Easter" came from the name of a pagan goddess, Oestre? The eggs and the bunny are pagan themes too. I guess that early Christians decided that the best way to convert the pagans was to just appropriate the holidays, symbols, deities and places of worship so that the people weren't actually doing anything differently than before, but the people in charge could now call them Christians.

THUNDERSTORM

We don't get many thunderstorms here. Not too much of the cold air hitting the warm air action going on. We had one Saturday night. I woke up to Bentley looking at me like a scared little boy, and Chance barking at the Thunder Monster. Kiara didn't even wake up. The boy dogs spent the rest of the night in bed with me. With every clap of thunder Bentley got closer and closer until he was almost laying on my head, and Chance stood up in the middle of the bed barking. I think that Kiara was the only mammal in the house that got a decent night's sleep.

I HAVE A MORON MAKING SIGNS FOR ME!

It's better as a VISUAL .

THE MORONS KEEP POSTING, I KEEP MAKING FUN OF THEM

Until a remedial English class is a requisite for posting in the UT forums, the idiots with computers will continue to give me blog fodder. Here are some people commenting on the story about the school board scare tactics (threaten to lay off teachers to get the public riled up enough to agree to higher taxes), proving the public education in this country can't even teach people how to write correctly now. And they want MORE money to continue to do a bad job?:

"I feel for the educators. But, when it comes to teachers, no one describes their benefits as "Cadillac" like. Even though City employees supposedly has them. Fact is, teachers have way better benefits."

"another sad part of this is that since the teachers are part of a union many good teachers will be let go and many poor teachers will remain. simply because of tenure"

"contrary to popular myth the other options (yes we do have choice) are home-schooling and private school. and both (especially home-schooling) are very affordable and actually more effective than public.

"Remember, the stock market bubble--it crashed----so Uncle Sam(republicans/democrats/libertarians/ green party Etc.)---they decided to keep mortgage rates low(almost touching the ground)for a long long time----thus creating housing bubble(I new these home values were going to crash since early 2003....so did Uncle Sam and the Banks......in America you have 2 camps, capitalism with no regulation and capitalism with regulation......so don't blame the illegals for any sour times that everyone is about to experience----you idiot!....i hope to God, your one of those greedy little jerks that is losing their homes....that is what you deserve you idiot!!!!!"Not only is this guy an illiterate moron, his comments had nothing to do with the article or the ongoing discussion.

"Maybe,if we changed our attitude towards giving people welfare and to other parts of the world....at the same time teaching kids to protect themselves and giving them the resources to do just that.....kids might learn to be a bit more responsible...."

i left Chicago in 1995 and now live san diego-----(there wasn't any work)-.....every town has their ups and downs -----so stop claiming that Chicago or any other city is better or worse than any other.....I will say this thogh....when i moved to california ...i'm thinkin, if i am going to be rich or poor what better place than San diego"

"Solution: Pull the troops out of Iraq, send 1/4 to Afghanistan to fight the only place we should have been in the first place. Have a fraction of the left over Federal dollars being wasted on Iraq distrubuted on the state level for education. Too any body who says "it isn't the Federal Govs responsibility to fund education" I say I just paid the IRS and I would much rather have my hard earned money go to Education than Bush's ego War."

"Hey, pres reagon--gave amnesty to illegals because the jerk is a union buster-------you dont want illegals---stop hiring them to cleans your toilets and why don't you try cleaning your crap once in a while!"

“The board chose to slash teaching positions not because it was the most prudent and efficient decision, but for political reasons. Go down to the Eugene Brucker Education Center, walk around to every office on every floor and note how employees are there are how few have real work to do. The district could make cuts there, but the parents the community would never notice. Slash teachers at schools, and then you have angry taxpayers unleashing on the state legislature."

"Can't tell me a handful of guys from the maintenance department sitting in their trucks for a few hours reading the paper at a school couldn't be cut. Can't tell me every school needs 3 or more ladies doing clerical work.”

“RECALL AH-NULD!!!!
Go back to "acting" - oh wait... isn't that what he's doing now as governor....! What a JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

March 19th

SMART THING TO DO? TIME WILL TELL I SUPPOSE

The truth of the matter is, the only thing that is keeping me and the dogs fed and housed is the line of credit I took out on the house before I needed it, just for a situation like this. However, I have begun to worry that my lender will freeze the line like some others have done (meaning, not allow any further draws of money). The news reports are saying that if a lender hasn't done this yet they will, so this is not an irrational fear. This scares the crap out of me. Without the line of credit I would be really, really broke, and that would not be a good thing. So, I just wrote myself a check for a big old chunk of money from the HELOC. That means that I'm going to be paying interest on money that I don't need right now. In a different time this would not be a wise thing to do, but if my lender freezes the line of credit in the future at least I will have enough money to live on for a while. Actually, if I'm very, very careful (no more $40 dinners with the rescue group, no new clothes, nothing I don't truly need to survive) I should be able to last a year. I will still be job hunting, but in seven and a half months I've had exactly TWO job interviews, and no offers. I've even stooped to applying for work at Home Depot, but haven't had a nibble there either. Maybe I should make myself a sign and stand on a freeway off ramp: UNEMPLOYED MORTGAGE WORKER. WILL DO YOUR LOAN FOR FOOD.

DANCING WITH THE STARS

Yippee! It's back! My personal observations after week1:

The man I would most like to dance with: Christian (with an accent mark over the a). Yeah, baby!

The people I would most like to go out drinking with: Penn and Marissa.

The person that needs to shut up: Adam.

The person who needs to have her face thawed out: Priscilla. (She did well at the foxtrot, but I don't expect her to excel at the more athletic dances. And, if she smiles her face might crack.)

Who will be first to go? My picks are Adam and Monica. (I feel so sorry for adorable little Julianne getting stuck with Adam. He can't dance for shit, and he's obnoxious. I don't see how he can be Jimmy Kimmel's best friend, because Jimmy is funny. I think that he and Sarah would be fun to go out drinking with too.)

Who will win? My upfront favorites are Mario and Kristie. But other possibilities are Christian, the football player, and perhaps Marlee. She's likely to get a lot of votes because she's a nice person with a handicap, and she can dance.

WHY THIS MORON IS SCARIER THAN MOST:

'That is crazy. I am a teacher in san diego. I make about $31 an hour for a 35 hour work week. I work 5 hours on average per week. You do the math. Who makes $44 an hour. I want to go there."
"JohnnyVegas,poor uneducated fellow. I have been teaching 6 years. I make approx. $31 an hour for 35 hours a week. I work 50 hours a week. My benefits are roughly $12,00 per year. I believe I do fine and I am happy with how I do. I earned every penny. But you have really poor facts. Go exagorate on some other site"
"But Vegas,I'm not gonna lie, we do all right. I agree, we get other perks than just money. Vacation"

That's right-this illiterate drivel was written by a TEACHER! No wonder so many public school graduates can't write properly!

March 17th

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I'll be hanging out at home. I am drinking my wine spritzer from a green glass, that's as close to celebrating the day as I'm going to get.

DINO UPDATE

Dino has had his first chemo treatment, and is doing well. So far we've raised enough money to pay for the initial testing and two treatments. He needs five altogether, so we need to raise at least another $1200. Please, if you can help sweet Dino use the donation link to the right, or donate directly through the rescue's web page:
Dino's Story

THE BULLY STICK INCIDENT

I sometimes give my dogs Bully Sticks for chew treats, since I don't do artificial crap like raw hides (cured with chemicals) and Greenies. Bully sticks, are, well, dried bull parts. Yeah, the parts that resemble sticks. We had a Bully Stick day last weekend. After a few minutes I noticed that the boy dogs were no longer chewing. A brief check revealed that Kiara had stolen all the sticks and had them in the corner of the garage where she always takes her dinner.

Can I call her a bitch? Oh yeah, I can. That's the proper term for a female dog. I redistributed the dried bull parts, and carefully supervised the rest of the chew session to make sure that the thieving bitch didn't snatch all of them again.

THE INTERNET. ISN'T IT GRAND?

You get all types posting to email lists and forums. I pick on the language manglers all the time, so today I'd like to rant about a few other types:

ME! ME! ME!
People who only post things about themselves, good or bad. One list I was on had a woman who I'm convinced made up horrible stories about things that happened to her. As soon as the sympathy party quieted down something else bad would happen. Then there are the people who never, ever respond to anyone else's stories or photos, but only show up to talk about themselves. Then there are those who go missing from a forum for a year, come back and loudly announce their return, and after everyone has fawned all over them welcoming them back, they disappear again.

THE COMPLETE, UTTER BITCH
People who never seem to write anything that isn't condescending and rude just make me want to crawl through the monitor and slap them silly. There is one particularly bad actor on a list I'm on. Not only is she rude, she's stupid. Nothing she posts makes any sense, but she acts like she is some sort of wise woman. When the moderator cautioned the list that some of the posts were becoming too argumentative, I sent this email privately:

“Whaaaaa! I want someone to make "the complete, utter bitch" shut up! She's a moron! Please, can't I insult her just one more time?”

I got this reply:

“Sorry dearie, there's a line, you'll have to take a number and wait your turn.”

Guess I'm not the only one.

WHAT TYPE OF ACCENT DO I HAVE?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Yeah, that's pretty much true.

March 14th

HOW TO GET RICH

Many years ago when I lived in Los Angeles there was an advertisement for a book that was always in the LA Times. It was a How to Get Rich book, and I finally gave in and bought it. The first part of the book described how you should visualize what you want-big house, fancy car, whatever you desired that lots of money could buy. This actually makes sense. Not in the magical sense-if you desire it and pray for it the cosmic forces or some deity will give it to you-but in the motivational sense. If you plant those desires firmly in your mind when it comes time to make choices you are more likely to choose the path that will get you what you want. Even little choices, like whether or not to call in sick when you're not sick.

The second part told you to write a book about how to make money and sell it to people like yourself.

TODAY'S MORONS-POSTERS TO THE UT FORUMS

"Liberals tend to have taste, while Republicans tend to think it's ok to reward their kids with McDonalds." Really? My parents were Republicans, and my mother wouldn't even serve us TV dinners because she thought children should eat real food. I didn't have a fast food meal until high school and my friends and I would ditch school at lunch and spend our lunch money at Jack-in-the-Box. I think this dude has it backwards.


"All you folks talking about conserving electricity...as you sit there on your electrically powered computers blogging. Says a lot doesn't it. I say we just hope hope hope hope that they change change change there plans for yes we can power lines then we all just get along and keep hope alive yes we can."

"Also, I want to emphasize, (1) He is no person one month ago. And now he is the person. Within one month, he has no credentials adding to his part, except his campiagn keeps pumping: endorsement, polls and empty copied speeches. Doesn't that sound like "The Emperor's new clothes"? One endorsement, more endorsement? Obama supporters, wake up. (2). It's easy to critize Mccain and Hillary, because they have more experience, and it's easier to find a dark spot. But just becasue of no history, because he spent some childhood in Indonesia doesn't mean he is a better candidate. Do you really trust such a person as a president? Even with his short political carrer, he managerd associating with a corrupted agent. How are you sure he won't have more dark spots than HIllary and Mccain? (3) It's my general feeling a person who grows up in a middle-class childhood is more open, and more democratic prone. A person like him, growing up with splitting family, financaily insecure, may be driven, but definitely not fitable for a big country's president. Even his wife, who grows up in middle class, claims for her long adult life, she loved America for the first time. You can imagine these people are not physically healthy to run. He spends his private moment only with the black people, his wife, and his Kenya sister. He doens't trust the whites." Huh?

"Well, I bet if there is a substantial amount of Muslims living in the US, Hillary will say she is Muslim just to get the votes. Why would I say that? She fakely cried just to get women votes. She, all of asudden, like Hispanics. She played the victim game yesterday and many days before. One thing I like about Obama is that he gets votes based on his beliefs...that is why he didn't go to the black gathering a few days ago. Now that is bold and he has self-conviction!"

“good post but I disagree with some parts. EQUALITY OF OUTCOME I think is not right. I think JUSTICE is a better word. The goal is a level playing field, not a tie score.
Also AT CONSERVATISMS EXTREME you end up with CORPORATISM and even FASCISM. You cant use socialism to describe one extreme while not using fascism to describe the polar opposite.
Unless your on talk radio.”

"as for the hotel del, they always had a coachroach problem, I worked there in the 80;s and 90;s, just go to the torerooms below the main kitchens, as for the error with the bartender, it does happen sometimes, but that wasa isolated incident" Another keyboard without a shift key. Apparently this one is missing the period key as well.

March 11th

THANK YOU ROBIN!

My friend Robin made a very generous donation to help Dino, and I want to thank her. If you're into daylilies or irises, check out her business: Earlybird Daylilies

I've purchased daylilies and irises from Robin, and I've been really happy with her plants, selection and service. I have a bunch of irises that will be blooming soon, I'll take pictures. I killed all the daylilies. I have killed every daylily that has ever come into my yard. I don't know how, daylilies are said to be like cockroaches; they will be here after all the people and other plants are gone. Just not the ones in my yard I guess.

Disclaimer: Robin did not bribe me with a donation to say nice things about her business. However, I will accept donation bribes to promote your business, blog, whatever, as long as it's not distasteful or illegal. I'm not a public official, I can accept bribes. But, speaking of public officials in trouble.....

THE GOVERNOR OF NY

I don't care that he got caught doing prostitutes. I do somewhat care that he presented himself as a moral watch dog, and took others down while being a sex addicted scum bag. But he got caught, it's over, he's going down. However, I did take notice of one little bit of information about the prostitution ring involved. The top-of-the-line whores commanded up to $40,000 a day. $40,000 a day? $40,000? A day? My mind is boggled. What would a woman have to look like, and what would she have to do to have some rich sex crazed idiot pay $40,000 a day? Hell, Julia Roberts only got $4,000 for a week.

SAN JOSE

A renowned Vietnamese activist is refusing to eat unless San Jose leaders agree to name the city's Vietnamese business district “Little Saigon.” Okay, we should care if this moron starves himself to death because....?

JUST A MINOR RANT

I hate that commercial! The “poop medicine” one. “People with chronic constipation are on the move” is a ridiculous slogan for one thing. Add to that the fact that it doesn't really make people regular. The optimum is to have as many outputs as inputs-and this medicine says you can go “as many as six times a week.” Fine and good if you only eat six meals a week, otherwise it's just another toxic substance (the ad says it can damage a fetus among other bad effects on the human body) designed to manage symptoms rather than create health. What ever happened to good diets? Eat some fruits and vegetables, maybe some black beans! That would solve a ton of health problems, and help you poop. Besides, I hate the perfect couple in the ad, and their stupid perfect house and their stupid little yappy dogs.

March 8th

THE $806 PLUMBING WEEK

I had to get a new water heater. The old one was leaking so badly from a big corroded hole in the top (yes, the top!) that I could no longer even get enough hot water for a bath without flooding the garage. With installation, permit fee (WHY do I need a permit to replace something?), and a new 40 gallon heater it came to $741. As soon as the water got hot I washed my hair, and then I ran the dishwasher. In the meantime my main sewer line got clogged, probably because I wasn't running enough water down it; the clog was mostly toilet paper packed into a big sogging mess. The poor guy who came to clean it had a hard time, but he stuck to it-and it only cost me $65. (Anyone in the San Diego area, if you need a drain cleaned call Baird's Drain Service.) So, after he was gone I flushed my toilet. Many times, just to hear it flush. As long as I'm spending money I don't really have, I think that next week I'll have a real plumber come in and fix the kitchen sink. I'll have to come up with a new excuse for not cleaning my kitchen, but have faith-I'll come up with something.

THE COUNTY JOB

I mentioned a week or so ago about going to the County Administration building to get a job application. I knew that I could do the job (Tax Payment Enforcement Officer), but my past job title didn't fit what they had listed as being required. I made a nice bulleted list of the job duties I had as a Quality Control Officer, which actually fit very closely to the description of the duties of the TPEO job, and hoped that my application would fall into the hands of someone who could actually read and think, who would see that I was qualified.

When I got home today I found a message from the County HR department in the mailbox. It was one of those tear the end off and open up flimsy official things, so I was pretty sure that it was a notice telling me that I was completely insane for ever imagining that I was qualified for that job. I opened it anyway.

I passed the evaluation with a score of 88. Now I just have to hope that there weren't 3,000 people with a score of 89 or higher.

Sweet Dino Needs Help

I put a fundraising button up over there ------->

Dino is the sweetest dog I've met in a long time, and he has lymphoma. I've made a donation, but I can't help as much as I'd like because Congress sucks and won't extend unemployment for mortgage workers, I'm still not getting any response to my resumes and I'm pretty broke, so I made a donation page for him.

March 3rd

I WISH I HAD SCRATCH-N-SNIFF

The jasmine is in bloom, and the smell is awesome. Well, it is if you like the smell of jasmine.

PARKING LOT SCAMMERS

Here's a little rule of life: If someone approaches you in a parking lot or gas station with a sob story about being stranded and needing to borrow money to get home, it's probably a scam. Someone just wants money and finds it easier to lie than to beg honestly. I ran into a new one today-and it was quite elaborate. I walked out of Henry's and there was a woman on a cell phone. Talking loudly, so of course I overheard. She seemed to be talking to her mother-her car wouldn't start, the manager said she could leave it there overnight, but now she had no way to get “her father” home. (Red flag #1-people talking to their mother's usually say something like “Dad”, not “my father”.) But, being a nice person I slowed down to listen and see if I could help. But, I soon decided that this woman was bad news, and I walked to my car. She followed me, still talking. When I started my car she rapped on my window. I rolled it down, and she kept up with the sob story. “I'm about to cry, my car (pointing to the car parked right next to mine-what are the chances?) won't start, my father just had the tip of his finger sewed back on and I stopped her to buy some antibiotic cream (which they don't CARRY at Henry's)....” I interrupted her to ask if she had AAA. She said she did-so I wouldn't offer to call for her-but they couldn't help her because she had a short. Bullshit! They could have towed her car two blocks to the Auto Electric shop. And she said she lived in Temecula-which is an hour away-so that I wouldn't offer to drive her and her father home. So, she needed to “borrow” money to take the Coaster home. The Coaster goes to Oceanside, which isn't on the way or even near Temecula. When I got home I called Henry's to let them know they had a scammer working their parking lot.

MORE BOO BOOS FROM CHANNEL 10

Jackie Nguyen: “The family of XXX is at loss for words.” And of course, this was followed immediately by an interview with a family member, who had plenty of words. So, not only does Miss Nguyen not know how to SAY the phrase, she has no clue what it means.

Other person with a news reporter job for no apparent reason: “...16 cases of violations of professional misconduct.” If someone violates misconduct, doesn't that make it correct conduct?

March 2nd

A PHONE IN TOWN HALL MEETING

I got a phone invitation to join in a conference call type thing being put on by my Representative in Congress-Susan Davis. I opted in because I wanted to perhaps ask her if she planned on doing anything to help out the unemployed mortgage workers whose benefits have run out. I had to hang up after less than five minutes. That woman's voice is so shrill, and her comments are so moronic, that it was either hang up or murder my telephone. I like my telephone (now that I paid $25 to replace the chewed through power cord), so I hung up.

WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?

Another wacko-radical car, spotted in the Food4Less parking lot. The theme of this one was “Impeach Bush”, and “the war sucks”. One particularly weird sticker: “How many bullets has your magnet stopped today?” with an image of a yellow troop support ribbon. WTF does that mean? I would have taken a picture, but the radical wacko was sitting in the big honking SUV (I guess she's only a political extremest, not an environmental one) yakking on a cell phone. Perhaps she was planning her next wacko political uprising. I didn't want to risk being mistaken for the FBI or something by taking a photo.

One of these things is not like the others...

MEET THE MORONS

Thanks to Sandee for sending me these lovely bits from eBay, (and for reading my blog-I think that makes two loyal readers now):

Camera body shows sign of use as some light scratches on front of camera and some alluminated marks on LCD cover

Q: What do you mean by "alluminated marks on LCD cover"

A: It means some scuffs marks on surface of LCD cover.The LCD itself isbuild inside and nothing affectsa to LCD functions. THAT'S what it means? Wow, someone must be using a different dictionary than the rest of us.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Q: Do you combine shipping? If so, what would shipping costs be for two pair of earrings?

A: Yes I can combine shipping, for the total cost of the two pairs of earrings I have listed will be what ever the winning bid will be on each not one certain amount.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

PRODUCT INFORMATION

a.. This item was purchase in U.S and it will be ship from U.S

a.. Brighton Tin isn't included unless it stated otherwise.

a.. Guarantee Authentic & Brand New with price tag.

a.. Style #J46177.Silver-Swarovski. It's REVERSIBLE!!

a.. Details:So beautiful, it brings tiers...glowing Swarovski pearls are surrounded by rose colored stones and rhinestones.

a.. 16" adjustable with lobster claw closure

a.. We pack all our packages with care to ensure that you receive theperfect merchandises

Dude-YOU bring me to "tiers".

Just for fun-go search eBay for “rod iron”, (I got 32 hits on 2/29) which should be “wrought iron”. There actually is such a thing as rod iron, but it's cut from flat bar iron in a slitting mill to provide the raw material for nails, not used to make decorative items such as “candle operas” (only five hits, but one was made from “rod iron”, so that's a double!)

Headlines from the online Union-Tribune:
"San Mateo mother jailed for lying about sexually assault" Hey! There's an adverb! Unfortunately, it should have been an adjective instead.
“San Francisco girl home after she disappearing for more than day"