Miscellaneous Missives

Yesterday morning I started getting ill while I worked out. All day at school yesterday I felt ill. When I got home from school, I went to bed. This morning I felt a little better, but I still was "under the weather." Even though I didn't work out this morning, I decided to skip the cold cereal and stop at Caribou for a hot chocolate. One of the usual workers greeted me with, "Good morning sunshine." "I'm not feeling the sunshine," I replied. "It doesn't go unnoticed. I'm not saying you're captain doom and gloom..." he continued. Wonderful! I left then realized the ramp to 35W was closed, and I needed an alternate route.

Admittedly I have too much time. Instead of doing anything productive I checked my Bloglines. The Magers and Quinn blog mentioned a site that would help one find a book title. Intrigued I looked at it. The site is whichbook.net . I'm not sure what I put in, but the book suggestion was My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales by Robert Antoni. The synopsis of the book starts: "I enjoyed this amusing tale of an alcohol-soaked salesman who seems to be going through a midlife crisis." Seriously... What is wrong with me? I didn't have the heart to try again. Could the next choice be more unusual or absurd?

For the last two days people have asked, "How was your break?" Of course my answer is positive. My break was fun and relaxing... full of sleep, food, and laughs. Sometimes "a picture is worth a thousand words." This picture of Nalo was taken over the break.

I feel duped by the recent news about oil prices and gas prices. Knowing that the Thanksgiving holiday would lead to higher gas prices, I filled up frequently at low prices before the holiday. It should come as no surprise to me that gas dropped nine cents since Thanksgiving. While the media predicts doom and gloom for oil prices, I sit back and wait feeling powerless against the oil companies and the media.

On Thanksgiving I did not give a list of things I'm thankful for although I did think of them often. I am blessed for the life I live. Today in church the guest speaker talked about how in a way thanks has become obligatory (my words for her message). We thank people, but we often don't really mean it. It's like when people ask, "How are you?" Most really don't care; it's like saying hello. The speaker went on to advise that we should be more aware of our "stuff" (again my words) and were it comes from. We should be thankful for the many people that help get food to our table and "stuff" to our households. I took this a bit further. Being thankful means protecting our Earth and being aware of our usage. Being thankful means helping people whom we may or may not know. Being thankful means realizing I have it better than most and should do my best to support others. Being thankful means living my life in a way that it positive....

Since I've been home my dad has had a siege of cluster headaches. They are excruciatingly painful for him and horrible for me to watch. He is basically incapacitated until he takes a shot. After a brief consultation with my brother and I, Dad went to get acupuncture yesterday. While he was there the doctor gave him some other "home remedies." She suggested he put ice on the back of his neck at the onset of a headache and take clothespins and pinch the pressure point between the thumb and index finger. This morning at the onset of one, he tried both the clothespins and ice. The headache didn't come to fruition. Last night after acupuncture he didn't need a shot either. If this combination of acupuncture, ice, and clothespins works, the pain of the headache and spending $75 each time on a shot will be alleviated.

In Bush’s Last Year, Modest Domestic Aims By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Published: November 24, 2007 WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 — As President Bush looks toward his final year in office, with Democrats controlling Congress and his major domestic initiatives dead on Capitol Hill, he is shifting his agenda to what aides call “kitchen table issues” — small ideas that affect ordinary people’s lives and do not take an act of Congress to put in place. My first reaction is that he's going to F--- with the middle class a little more before he leaves. I will admit that I didn't read the entire article and stopped at this point, but this is scary and hilarious all at the same time. The scary part is that Bush is going to "affect ordinary people's lives" without getting the OK from Congress. Afterall that's what that says, right? The hilarious part is that he's been doing this for a little over seven years. Oh, that's scary too... no humor. Should I talk about the term ...