So I have this weekend off. Fanfare please. Whenever I have a weekend off, I am so afraid of 'wasting' it that I feel like I need to have plans every second. But, last night I ended up with no plans, so I watched tv and fell asleep on the couch. Which I must admit, is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening. So since I did not stay out all night misbehaving, I woke up nice and early this morning, and figured maybe for the first time in my life I'd be productive on a saturday. I always have a bunch of little things to do on the weekend (clean my apt, do laundry, groceries, etc.) But I always leave them for sunday. Then sunday I waste the whole day, and then it gets late, and so I never do them. So I decided this week I'd be good and get them done before sunday.

So I went to clean my fish tank. By "clean" i mean change about 1/4 of the water. I try to do this every week, but I skipped last week. So I get my stuff together and I go to the tank... I can only see one of my pink fish. Granted, I don't do a fish tank roll call every morning, so I have no idea when the last time I saw him was. So I look all over... he's not floating on the top. He's not a skeleton on the bottom. And he's not hiding in the plants as far as I can tell. So I start looking for all the others. After a little hunting, I found the frog. He's a good hider, but I found him. And I have this big algae eater guy. Not the sucker kind, but one that reminds me of a little shark. he's pretty big, maybe 3.5" long. Biggest fish in the tank, for sure. Also a very good hider. I can NEVER find him, and then all of the sudden he'll swim out of nowhere. All the others were there. (your orange guys are doing well, Lib, btw.)

So I siphoned out some of the water. Took out the filter. Took out all the plants and decorations to rinse them off. And then looked again- the two fish are still missing!

Where did they go?? I think if they'd died I'd find their little bodies SOMEwhere. If not floating, then half-eaten on the bottom. But they're just totally gone. What happened? Did the other ones eat them? Very weird.


Oh- I lied. I did do one good thing last night. I answered my home phone, which I never do unless I recognize the caller ID. This one said anonymous, but I picked up anyway, prepared to say "take me off your call list." Well, good thing I answered, b/c it was actually an invitation to interview in detroit next week. Yay.

Now just to get ready for an interview... I guess I need to go buy a stupid suit.

But a question for the frequent-flyer peeps: any recs on how to get to Detroit? Southwest goes to Buffalo, and to Detroit, but somehow does not go from Buffalo TO Detroit. Orbitz brought up a few 3-connection >$500 flights. I can't believe it's really that difficult. Might have to bite the bullet and drive. Hate to spend 10hr of a 24hr trip in the car, but if I have to, I will.

Enjoy your weekend, peeps!

-J

So going out for "a drink" yesterday at 4 turned into staying out til midnight (and then up for a while after that wink wink). We went to Essex. That place is so cheap. And David even made an appearance- yay! Made friends with some random drunk guys at the bar, and the flower guy kept giving me so many flowers in the end I had a big bouquet. Which I forgot on the bar. Oops. And I burned myself on the radiator in the bathroom at least three times. It's like 1/2" from the toilet seat. You'd think I'd learn. But no.

But I was a little bit retarded all day today, and snippets of the stupid crap that was coming out of my mouth keep coming back to me. Oops. Note to self. Monday night is not the same as saturday night and can not be treated as such.

Ok. But now a serious dilemma.

Right now I have a two year old 20" G5 iMac. I like it. It still works just fine, though once in a while it feels a little sluggish. I also still have my old computer- a 5? year old G4 iBook that is really so slow now that it's practically unusable. And as much as I don't like windows, there are a couple programs I use that are windows-only, and for that reason it would be nice to have an intel mac.

The desktop is my 'main' computer, and I use it all the time. Love the nice big monitor. I rarely use the laptop, unless I take it on vacation or something.

So... I really don't 'need' a new computer. But, because of a stupid mistake on my part, I now have a (big) credit with Apple.

So here's my dilemma: do I upgrade the computer that is the oldest and slowest and most deserves to be replaced (but that I rarely use), or the computer that doesn't really need upgrading, but is the one I use all the time?

I've changed my mind about 50 times. I'll think I should upgrade the desktop, since it makes sense for my 'main' computer to be the most current. Then I'll change my mind and think that I should do the laptop, since the laptop is just SO old...

Basically I'm looking at the 20" intel imac (don't need 24") or the black macbook. Upgrading RAM, HD etc brings them both to about the same price. Though I could probably sell the iMac and get at least some money for it. I doubt the iBook is worth much...

I just can't decide.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Oh- and roswell peeps: I should be around for lunch tomorrow, so let's eat!

And happy Mardi Gras everyone!! This is the time of year that I miss New Orleans. But after last night, I really should stay in and be responsible/productive tonight. Not to mention I'm on call and thus can't drink. At least the crappy weather makes me feel a little less lame for staying in while I know people are out partying. Can't wait til this weekend. I hate that it's only tuesday. Boo!

(While (e:imk2) is galavanting around the globe, I am taking the liberty to deinspire myself.)

ALEX: Even though you think you have a good command of the English language, you must know that using 20 obtuse redundant words to say what can easily be said in 10 simple ones does not make you sound smart.

Long is one thing, but overly wordy for no reason but to try to impress, impresses no one but fools.

Remember ALEX, brevity is the soul of wit.

But first a mini-rant: Fox news is retarded. I saw a few minutes of it this morning, and they spent half the time talking to Geraldo about his blackberry, and then they did a segment on email addiction, and how there is a new 12-step program for it. So they asked the woman, jokingly, "so, is the first step to say "Hi I'm so-and-so; I'm an email addict?" And the woman had no sense of humor and got all defensive and went on and on about how it's society's fault and not hers for being an 'email addict'.

Seriously. Astronauts in diapers, Anna Nicole Smith ad nauseam, and email addiction- no wonder the rest of the world thinks we are fat idiots.

But the reason I'm writing- I just got this email. I don't know squat about economics. But I kind of like this. Am curious what you guys think.

"Beer and Taxes"

CLEAR EXPLANATION OF TAX CUTS.........................
Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!" and it is just accepted to be fact, without questioning it But what does that really mean?

Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, the following might help. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. What about the other six men, those paying the tab? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, PhD
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

So I went to Dr. S's wake this weekend, and then the funeral today.
I know it's supposed to be a celebration of life and all, and people told really nice, funny stories- but it's still just so sad. And I am SUCH a crybaby. The second the organ started and they started wheeling* the coffin down the aisle I was weeping. And I barely even KNEW the guy. Then amazing grace got me choked up. Then I was ok for a while, til the family gave eulogies... And I figured I'd be ok as long as no one speaking started crying. Fortunately his wife/kids didn't talk. It made me think that there is NO WAY I will be able to speak at either of my parents' funerals. In fact if I could have my way I wouldn't even go. I am not going to deal well with my dad dying.

• aren't you supposed to carry the coffin?

But anyway, so I was pretty good (relatively speaking), only cried a little, and was pretty much dried up til the end. Until the brought the casket back out, now covered with a flag, and the pall bearers were crying, and I saw his widow, with her sons holding her hands and supporting her... then I was crying all over again. Fortunately another girl from work was sitting behind me and crying too, so I wasn't the only big baby there.

Man I hate funerals.

But I must say, and I mean no disrespect, but- it was the most rockin' funeral I've ever been to. I kept expecting a gospel chorus to pop out out of the wings. It was crazy! I'm not very good at church, and I'm not catholic. So all the kneeling and crossing yourself is foreign to me. But I'm used to services with a big organ, and that's the only instrument. Well I think this church maybe didn't have an organ (or something) b/c it seemed like there were piping in synthesizer music. Seriously. Like when getting ready for a hymn, all of the sudden a BEAT came blasting through... I finally asked "I know I'm not catholic, but is this typical?" And I was assured it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it was still nice and touching and sad... but at times I almost found myself laughing b/c I felt like I was in a broadway musical. A little surreal.

Then afterwards M wanted to make it an "Irish Funeral" (even though we were all on call) so we went to her apt and she cooked us French toast, which was delish.

Now I'm home, and a little spent, and I think I could use a drink.

-J

P.s. Happy almost mardi gras peeps!