I love going random places for no real reason, and that’s just what I’m doing this Sunday at 5 o’clock in the morning (ugh). My friend, his dad, and me (and I think possibly one other person, maybe) are all going to Ohio to go to Cedar Point, which supposedly has the tallest/fastest roller coaster in the world there. Awesome!!! Although, it will be a 14 hour car ride.. I shudder at the thought, but I am so excited about this that I will deal with the suffering of fourteen hours of sitting in one spot! And I want to thank my dad (for probably the fifth time since he said yes) for letting me go. I appreciate it!
Archive for July, 2009
Ohio!!!
Friday, July 31st, 2009Principles Do Matter, Don’t They?
Friday, July 31st, 2009I have decided to change how I post the archives. Instead of inundating you with many at one time, I will roll them out once a week like they were published initially. This will allow you ample time to succor the words, to contemplate the meaning, and to reflect on the application to you and your personal quest for self-improvement.
This week’s post concerns some encounters I had on the campaign trail during my 1998 mayoral campaign, and one group in particular – ACORN. Thanks to President Obama, the world is familiar with who ACORN is, and with that knowledge is insight into their fear-mongering, race-baiting ways. ACORN was very strong in Little Rock, and I had run-ins with them not only as the traffic operations engineer for the city, but also as the Vice-President of my neighborhood association. I first wrote about them in a column in 1997 called, “Vindication for Gov. Fauvus?” [link below]
http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp21297.html
After a brush-up with ACORN during the 1998 campaign, I wrote a follow-up piece, “Principles Do Matter, Don’t They?”
http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp110498.html
Eleven years later, I still do not like ACORN and their hate-mongering ways. Then and now they are always quick to play the race card. (“Vote for Obama, or you are a racist and wear white sheets”) The fact that Obama was associated with ACORN was one of the strongest reasons I had to not vote for him. (Other than the fact that he is a neophyte who is getting manipulated by bad people from other countries or the fact that he is a socialist….)
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
They’re Baacckk!
Friday, July 31st, 2009Yes, the kids figured out the password. Since they knew that I would not despise my alma mater, that left them with 11 possibilities, and through trial and error, figured out that the Big 12 school I despise is indeed Colorado.
Why, you ask? Funny you would mention that, because I wrote about it in 1998. Check it out!
http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp052798.html
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
And The Darwin Award Goes To….
Friday, July 31st, 2009The Ft. Myer’s (FLA) News-Press did a story the other day about a family who are the only residents of a 32-story tower.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090730/NEWS0110/90729077/1076
Interesting thing about fame. If you have any skeletons in the closet, someone will find them. And someone did. It turns out that the wife is wanted in New Jersey for embezzlement from when she was a municipal clerk for Weehawken, NJ, and could face a 10-year jail sentence if convicted.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090730/BUSINESS/90730073/1076
A couple things stand out about this woman’s stupidity. First, if you are on the lam, why would you use your real name, and why would you want to get your name in the newspaper so that you can be found? Second, if you are going to embezzle and possibly spend 10 years behind bars, shouldn’t you make it worth your while? I don’t know about you, but $500 is not enough money for me to become a convicted felon, give up ten years of my freedom, and become someone’s b***h in prison. It’d have to be a ton of money for me to take that risk! $500? Geez. Shallow end of the gene pool all right….
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
Voices Quiet, At Least For A Spell
Thursday, July 30th, 2009For the near future, my kids may not be posting, but it will be a temporary thing. The reason? I had to change the password on the home computer. So I changed it to “the 46th state admitted to the union”. (Oklahoma). All four figured that one out, but I was going to let it stay, until…
Until I snoozed off on the sofa watching one of my DVR episodes of “House”. I awoke at 230, only to find Number 2 on the computer. It is completely and totally unacceptable to me to have one of my kids stay up that late. What was she doing up? Chatting with her friends on Facebook. I am ticked at my kid for staying up, but I am even more ticked at her so-called friends for staying up with her. I do not like enablers. So, since she cannot exercise self-control, I have to do it for her. By punishing all four of them by changing the password. And this one cannot be Googled. Why? Because it is personal.
The clue? “The Big 12 institution that I despise. (THINK: ’5th Down’) “ Given that I am a Mizzou alumnus, that should be a no-brainer!
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
The Brotherhood Of The Not-Traveling Shirt
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009When we went to St. Louis a couple weeks ago, I noticed that my octogenarian father was wearing my shirt. Or, at least I thought it was my shirt. I commented to the kids that I must have left the shirt that my Dad gave to me a while back at his house, as he was wearing it. I commented that it looked much better on me than on him, but if I left it behind and he was now wearing it, then it was his again.
This morning when I grabbed the first shirt in my closet, I was shocked at what I saw. It was the shirt!
What does this mean? It means that my father and I own the exact same shirt! I have the same fashions as an octogenarian. Kind of creepy, when you think about what would have happened if I had worn that shirt when I went to St. Louis. My Dad and I would have looked like twins!
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
Lucky
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009This is a nice IM I got from a coworker, and I thought I’d share it…
9:54 AM – :
do you like the song “lucky” by jason mraz and colbie caillat?
9:55 AM – :
Haven’t heard it….
9:55 AM – :
okay, are things good with V today?
9:56 AM – :
She is in extreme pain….
9:56 AM – :
I mean you and her
9:56 AM – :
because if so, I’ll send you the lyrics
9:56 AM – :
yes….
9:59 AM – :
The song is very “Jason Mraz-y”, so you may not care for it, but here are the lyrics:
Do you hear me? I’m talking to you
Across the water, across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I’m trying
Boy, I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard
I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
They don’t know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I’ll wait for you, I promise you I will
I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we’re in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
And so I’m sailing through the sea
To an island where we’ll meet
You’ll hear the music fill the air
I’ll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through the trees
Move so pretty, you’re all I see
As the world keeps spinning ’round
You hold me right here, right now
I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I’m lucky we’re in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
10:00 AM – :
Very nice…
10:01 AM – :
um … pain like she should go to the emerg. room? Has she called her doctor?
10:02 AM – :
She is trying to avoid taking pain meds…
10:09 AM – :
Someone Has Been Naughty
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009I tried to get on one of my online bank accounts this morning for the first time in ages, and my user ID had been blocked. After calling the bank, apparently someone had tried to access my account but incorrectly answered the challenge question, which locked my user ID. I know that the challenge questions are a royal pain in the neck, but I do not disable them on any computer I use; you just never know who is trying to steal your identity, and they are there to protect you. This is now the third time in the past three months that this has happened, that my bank blocked my user ID because of incorrect challenge answer. I am glad that that protection is there, and don’t mind the inconvenience.
That’s Oklahoma For You!
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009They have closed the westbound direction of I-244 through downtown Tulsa to repair the numerous dilapidated bridges. With a road closure comes the necessary detours. So far, the detour signage has been, well, less than adequate.
I-244 forms the north and west legs of what is known as the Inner Dispersal Loop, a loop of freeways around downtown Tulsa. Traffic is being diverted onto the south and east legs, formally known as I-444, but not signed as such. (There is not one single I-444 sign anywhere! It is one of the “hidden” Interstates….)
[See the link at really cool Interstate Guide. http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-444_ok.html]
Instead of just stating that I-244 is closed and to detour using I-444 (signed as U.S. 75), the D.O.T. decided to use a big map of the I.D.L. system, showing construction workers on the closed legs and nothing on the open legs. Yeah, like the typical person is supposed to know what that means!
Then there is the detour to nowhere. This is the view heading NORTH on U.S. 75. This monster says SOUTH U.S. 75. You can keep driving and driving, and there is no DETOUR route at all for I-244. Oops!
According to a local television station, ODOT will correct this problem. Just imagine all the people who have driven up U.S. 75 to Topeka still looking for the I-244 detour! Or, the poor shlubs wanting to go NORTH on U.S. 75 who turned around after realizing they were going in the wrong direction (according to the sign) who ended up in Dallas, thinking they were somewhere in Kansas! Oops!
What is sad is that this is so typical for Oklahoma. I’ve lived in the Tulsa area for seven years now, and there is a sign on one of the freeways that misidentifies one of the routes. Surely someone should have noticed by now!
Update On The “Detour To Nowhere”
Thursday, July 30th, 2009As of 5 PM yesterday, the error had indeed been corrected. The erroneous sign had been covered. Now, instead of the wrong directions, there’s no directions at all! Typical ODOT! What I don’t get is why it took NINE DAYS for the error to be discovered!
Remember this fine ODOT lulu? That’s right, the signal is indeed showing RED and GREEN at the exact same time! This is in Bartlesville on U.S. 60, and when I spotted this, it took several weeks and several e-mails to get it corrected. You’d think that somebody would have noticed it, but in Oklahoma, we don’t seem to notice much of anything. Too busy worrying about who will be the tenth-string quarterback for the Sooners….
(POSTED BY AAARRGH)
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