...but you can’t pick your family.

Here is the latest incite-to-riot bullshit that my (must be Fascist) uncle sent me that I’m sure he’s passing around to as many of the fringe idiots as he can. The subject line of his e-mail was: “We are what we read.” Are you effing kidding me? How unbelievably stupid can people actually be? Geez, does that mean if I read about Hitler and Nazi Germany, then I’m a Nazi? The logic somehow completely escapes me. What continues to totally blow my mind is that someone with any brain function can actually hop on this irresponsible, unreasonable, ridiculous notion as having even a modicum of validity. Perhaps it’s just that we’ve spent the last 8 years with a president whose literacy is so questionable, that some people don’t know how to act when they see an intelligent man who actually reads running for president. I keep wondering if maybe my grandmother dropped my uncle on his head when he was little - cause I can find no other reasonable explanation. Sadly, perhaps my new pet name for my uncle should be “uncle cracker” - what a world!

Here's the stupid e-mail message:

WHAT IS OBAMA READING? This should tell us what we need to know about this man's plan for America!!



He is reading 'The Post-American World' -- A Muslim's View. Please send this to those who think he walks on water and should be the next President of this Great Nation.

I went and looked at a new (used) car this weekend. My car is close to the edge of non-stop trouble and I'm trying not to put any more money into what will likely become a money pit. My car is a 1999 Ford Taurus that has 130,000 miles on it. It was a FL car that had no rust and half that mileage when I bought it off e-bay for $3,000, 5 years ago. It has served me well but needs too much put into it at this point to keep it going.

Well, I test drove this little 2007 Ford Focus that I really kind of liked. It gets decent mileage at 26 mi. city and 32 hgwy - better than what I get now. My problem is I frequently shlep around a multitude of kids and/or junk and it's a pretty compact car. It is a hatchback with a fold down back seat, which could serve my purpose for junk shlepping (and would also be good for drive-in movies); but, my daughter and her friends would definitely be squishing in if there's a group. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Anyway, I really don't want to take on a car payment but it looks as if that's the direction in which I'm headed. My brother is going to check the car out for me when he goes to work on Tues. (he works for the dealership where I was looking) and let me know if he thinks it's a decent car. If so, he's going to talk to the used car sales manager to see what kind of a deal he can get me - Thank god. Good thing there's only 4 more payments to make on my daughter's braces - guess I'll likely be trading one insane monthly payment for a slightly more insane monthly payment. Oh, the joys!



It is kinda cute though - isn't it?

Today, the Buffalo Board of Ed. held a parent conference at the Convention Center that had a guest speaker (brought in from out-of-town), and various scheduled informative workshops. The outright cost (not including staffing costs for planning, or for today’s workers) was approximately $30,000. Over 600 parents filled out and returned forms indicating they would be attending and that, collectively, they would be bringing approx. 450 children, who would require supervision and/or entertainment. The turnout was a bust and all together there were only about 50 children. Of course, the district had to plan for the 450 so there was a magician, a clown, and some other stuff lined up. Also, catered breakfast was ordered for, I’m guessing, the 500 â€" 600 anticipated attendee parents; and, I would really be surprised if even 300 parents were in attendance.

I can’t understand why so many people would sign up and then not show. Perhaps it’s because it started at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. Or maybe it’s just that when you tell people something’s free they feel compelled to sign up. But 1/2 of them (and maybe more)? Yikes, that seems excessive. Additionally, when you consider the district student population, to get such a low number of registrants, let alone attendees, is pretty pathetic. It’s such a conundrum.

Well, I put in my 3.5 hrs. and will get my OT for the day, yet can’t help but feel just a little bit guilty about taking it. There were so few people I hardly even had to do any work.

A couple of nights ago at the Al Smith Memorial Charity Foundation Dinner, the two presidential candidates were pretty funny. Much funnier than I actually would have ever anticipated of either of them. You can check them out at the following links if you didn't see it. Kind of makes them each a little more human, and in some instances, almost likeable.

McCain the comedian

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/17/obama.mccain.dinner.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Obama the comedian

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/17/sot.obama.dinner.cnn?iref=videosearch


Also, did anyone notice at the debate the other night when McCain repeatedly talked about Autism and how Sara Palin knows about that? Has anyone explained to McCain and/or his note writers that there's a difference between Autism and Down Syndrome? It might have been ok if he'd only made the reference once, but he did it multiple times. Maybe most people didn't notice, and maybe I'm just more aware because I used to work at an agency that served people with disabilities. I don't know, but that whole thing was definitely very weird to me.

Someone at work recommended Marco’s restaurant on Niagara St. They said I could sign up on their website and they’d e-mail me coupons. Has anyone ever eaten there? I’m getting coupons from them and just want to know if it’s worth checking them out. Also, does anyone know where on Niagara they’re located?

...doesn't get any better than that.

Literacy Volunteers is holding their annual Coffee & Chocolate fundraiser on November 6th at 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. It's at the Shea's Smith Theatre & Intermission Lounge, and a $20 donation gets you an evening of goodies from Fowler's Chocolates, coffee from Starbucks and light appetizers from some local fine dining establishments. There's also entertainment, basket raffel & silent auction. I've never attended one before but hear it's a really great event. I think I'll try to make it this year.

Other stuff -

Boss is out of town today and tomorrow so office is a little more at ease than usual. Makes for an easier day - thank god. She's not a bad boss - just causes us all stress - as bosses often do.

Just watched the movie The Visitor. I thought it was depressing but I liked it anyway.

This site is doing weird stuff for me too - my row that's ususally at the top isn't appearing - have to log out though mobil. Also, I can't scroll through some stuff that I used to be able to scroll (i.e. comments list, category list). Computer's too old, beat-up, and has too many problems to load the new flash players - it just keeps freezing and crashing when I try to install upgraded software. It's old enough I think I'm still running windows '98 - yikes!

Think I'll be looking for a new car soon. The stupid belt is squeeling AGAIN - I've replaced it twice already in the last 2 months. Am thinking there might be a problem with the alternator and don't want to start replacing that kind of stuff. The car's not really worth investing in. Might be time - don't want to spend the winter in something unreliable.

Glad tomorrow's Friday - payday - the weekend...

Someone sent this to me at work - it really made me laugh. It was captioned:

"My assessment so far"



Well, you betcha!

Here is the rest of the junk I scored on my trip over the weekend. The fiesta gravy dish is actually really nice and in great shape - no chips. The other two items are for my shadow box - they're each about 2 inches tall. The red barn is the cottage we stayed in. It's not bad for a cottage - 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, large kitchen and living room, lakefront property, pots and pans and dishes, etc. You just bring your linnens, food, and clothes. It was pretty reasonably priced too.

I have to say, I couldn’t have asked for better get-away weekend weather than this past weekend. PA was beautiful, as was the ride along the 90 into PA. The colors were varied and vibrant - just glorious! The pix below don’t do justice to the actual beauty but they are a small indicator.

This trip was a little unusual in that the lake we stay at is dropped every year by about 2.5 feet around the 1st of November. This year they dropped the lake early so they could conduct some repairs on the dam. It was the first time we’ve been there after the lake was dropped - it was kind of cool. My brother, nonetheless, found a way to get his little sailboat into the lake for his maiden voyage. He was so excited. There wasn’t much wind but he did manage to catch just enough breeze to make it work.

My family members are all pretty avid thrifters so we had to take the obligatory trip into town to hit the thrift stores, and the rinky-dink flee market. I wasn’t too enthusiastic (more interested in hanging out relaxing) but it actually turned out ok for me. I found a shadow box, a 6 qt. pressure cooker, and a Fiesta gravy boat. The first two were very reasonable, the last, not quite as much.

It was hard going back to work today. Should have taken one extra day off to get myself re-settled. Trying to decide if I want to watch the last debate or not - inclined toward not at this point - just plain sick of all the rhetoric and talking heads. With things the way they are right now, it’s hard to imagine anyone actually even wanting the job. Kind of makes you have to wonder a little about anyone who wants it.

Work sucked, the house still needs to be cleaned, laundry to get done, kid bullshit to deal with, retirement account down 16 percent with the finance mess, blah, blah, blah...

I want to go on vacation again!


Our Campfire


The view right out our back door


Lots of geese


My mom and sister digging up rocks to take home for the garden - they're a little strange sometimes - but they got cool rocks


My brother's sail boat


Maiden voyage - he was so happy


My pressure cooker find - good deal


My shadow box - another good deal

OK - I don't want to jinx myself, but the weather for this weekend looks like it's going to be fabulous. I don't think I could wish for any better. My mom has decided she's going to come with me and my sister for the weekend getaway, which is really cool because the lake is near the little town where she grew up in PA. She's not so keen on my brother's lady friend but that's ok, they're in another cottage - we can always escape.

MrMike - I hope your dad has a happy birthday, and thanks for dragging my kid along, I appreciate it.

Enjoy your weekend everyone - I'll post pix of my trip when I get back.