Here's another cool source for ordering eyeglasses online: Spex Club has all frames, readers and sunglasses for $58/pair, regular prescription glasses for $78/pair and progressives and bifocals for $108/pair. They have some really interesting styles and, when I can justifythe expense again, I'll be looking there, too.
(Yes, glasses are just another form of jewelry for me!) _____
Put this guy on the list for the 2010 Darwin Awards:
Police said Duskey was sitting on the stair rail and attempting to slide down when she lost her balance. She fell from the mezzanine level to the basement level, police said. She landed on her back, police said.
Oddly,
Alcohol did not appear to be a factor, police said.
Ghost stories tempt us into thinking that buried questions can be answered, that long-ago tragedies can somehow be put right. Look deeper, though, and our assurance vanishes in a wisp of fog. Nothing remains but the mystery, haunting us like a shadowy girl in the middle of the road.
So I fibbed. Big changes coming in January. In the meantime, here's my October reading list containing 11 books and bringing my total for the year to 138:
Operation Mincemeat:How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory, Ben Macintyre[3]*
The Lost Dogs:Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, Jim Gorant[4]*
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, Lauren Willig*
Whiskey Sour:A Jack Daniels Mystery, J.A. Konrath[5]*
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, Lauren Willig*
Homer’s Odyssey:A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Live with a Blind Wonder Cat[6]*
Cross Roads, Fern Michaels*
[1] Set mainly in Addis Ababa, the story of conjoined twins born to a Malaysian nun and an English doctor at a mission hospital and adopted by a pair of Indian doctors.History, culture and medicine are all bound together in the telling of this novel.A most excellent read!
[2] By the author of Water for Elephants, this novel combines working with primates (bonobos) in a language lab setting, animal rights activists and reality television in an intriguing morality tale.
[3] The true story of The Man Who Never Was, which is actually more fantastic than the Hollywood version.If you’re a fan of WWII intelligence stories, this is for you.
[4] If you are a dog lover this is a must.You will never, ever look at Michael Vick as a good human being again.
[5] Far superior to what the cutesy title and the conceit would indicate.I’ll be reading more of these.
[6] Very, very funny… and no person or animal dies.
This is beautiful news, given that Illinois is another state that's dead guilty of not getting ballots into the hands of military members serving overseas on time:
My dreams lately have been of the all night long variety, including one that involved not one, but two VPs from my place of work and large amounts of stress, but I'm blaming last night's lulu on the muy guapo and talented Jose, who added a drop of butterscotch schnapps to my usual nightcap Cherry Garcia (good vanilla vodka, Cuarenta y Tres, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, a dollop of creamer and some other super-secret magical goodness shaken with ice).
Anyhow, somehow Perez Hilton,* poncy pink hair and all, appeared in my dreams. He apologized for offending me in the past and begged for the privilege of a spot on my blogroll. Yes, he owes the world an apology for the load of bile he regularly unleashes on the glitterati. I don't care that he's recently realized just how hurtful his words are and that he's terribly sorry that he's been guilty, guilty, guilty of being two-faced in his judgment of others.
All I care about is that he was in my dreams and I don't want him there. Make it stop! (And, Og? Could you send Alton Brown my way? Dinner across the table from him in my dreams would be a fun thing!)
_____
My Conservative Identity:
You are an Anti-government Gunslinger, also known as a libertarian conservative. You believe in smaller government, states’ rights, gun rights, and that, as Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Mark your calendars accordingly... and don't say I never did anything for you. If you don't do it for yourselves, do it in honor of the Princess Mom, for whom this was a personal holiday.
The wind severely damaged three small planes parked and tied down at DuPage Airport. One plane became unsecured from the straps that held it down and flipped into a parking lot; another came loose from its ties and smashed into a third plane. No one was hurt.
Willis Tower decided to close its Skydeck observatory and pull in "The Ledge" attraction. The Ledge's four glass boxes, which jut out from the building's 103rd floor, were retracted as a precaution.
The Chicago Park District closed the Lincoln Park Conservatory on the North Side and the Garfield Park Conservatory on the West Side, which have glass roofs, because of safety concerns.
Semi-trailer trucks pulling double trailers or other oversized loads were temporarily banned from driving on the Indiana Toll Road.
Airlines canceled 500 flights at O'Hare Airport, causing ripple effects on travel nationwide.
The City of Chicago received 408 calls to 311 about tree damage, meaning either a branch or an entire tree came down.
The worst appears over, although some more strong winds are expected.
A wind warning is in effect today until 7 p.m. with southwest winds of 30 to 40 mph and gusts up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Lets just say it makes for some interesting hair styles... _____
My buddy and fellow voracious reader Mike has a Nook and I'm a Kindle kind of gal, which has made for some interesting and spirited discussions about which is superior (e-reader, that is). Mike sent me an email celebrating the news that the new Nook is slightly larger, comes in different colors and has a full color screen. I asked about whether it was back-lit or e-ink, and sure as shootin' it's back-lit.
Here's my take on it -- if you think the iPad is beautiful but all you really want it for is a reader and some basic apps, the new Nook fits the bill and for a hell of a lot cheaper.
I understand why the parents of a lot of students at NIU would really, really love to yank their kids out of there right now.
Again, my thoughts prayers go out to Toni's family, the Dekalb PD, the students and staff of NIU and the folks in the surrounding community. This is a terrible, terrible thing.
WGN Radio says we expect 30' to 35' waves on Lake Michigan today, and winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour. They also inform us that umbrellas are useless.
There has already been one ground stop order at O'Hare airport (oops! there goes another one!), and, if you're travelling here over the next couple of days, you should count on more.
If driving, motorists are urged to keep both hands on the wheel and slow down, the Naperville release said. Drivers are cautioned to keep a safe distance from cars in adjacent lanes, and to take extra care in vehicles with high profiles, such as trucks and SUVs.
Oh. And monsoon type rain just blew in.
I can't wait to go to work today.
_____
Update: Yes, I made it in to work. Tornadoes have touched down in a bunch of places here in the Midwest. In addition, the skydeck at the Willis (SEARS) Tower pulled in the ledges and shut down for at least the day AND this poor woman was impaled with the business end of a falling branch.
If you're the praying kind, please keep the family of Toni Keller, and the students, faculty and staff of NIU and their families in your prayers. (And pray they find the bastard who did this, too -- and fast.) My heart goes out to all of them. _____
I had no idea that Chicago allowed this, and I am adamantly against it. If you want a vote in this country, you should have to be a legal citizen.
Abdirizak Daud, 40, moved to Minneapolis 18 years ago before coming to Portland in 2006. He hasn't been able to find a job. Some of his nine children have attended Portland schools, and he'd like to have a say in who's looking over the school system and the city, he said.
But between his limited English and the financial demands, Daud hasn't been able to become a citizen.
You've had18 frigging years, pal. If you couldn't find a job or scrape up the money or learn the freaking language in all that time, what the hell have you been living on and what have you been up to?
To become a citizen, immigrants must be a lawful permanent resident for at least five years, pass tests on English and U.S. history and government, and swear allegiance to the United States.
Supporters of Portland's ballot measure say the process is cumbersome, time-consuming and costly. The filing fee and fingerprinting costs alone are $675, and many immigrants spend hundreds of dollars more on English and civics classes and for a lawyer to help them through the process.
Allowing noncitizens to vote fits with basic democratic principles, Hayduk said.
Sorry, but that offends my basic democratic principles. I've known too many people who've worked to hard to get that citizenship to think for even one second that unless you've worked for it, too, you should get a vote. After 18 years you should either man up and do what it takes to become one of us or go the hell home.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates tougher immigration enforcement, says voting is a privilege and should be limited to citizens.
"People who are legal immigrants to the United States after a five-year waiting period can become citizens and become enfranchised," spokesman Ira Mehlman said. "But until then, being here as a legal immigrant is a conditional agreement, sort of like a trial period. You have to demonstrate you are the type of person we would want to have as a citizen, then you can become a citizen and vote."
Too right. _____
My one big bitch with Amazon's Kindle is that you can't share books with other Kindle owners, unlike Barnes & Noble's Nook. Well, lookee here:
Seriously, my Kindle was second only to meeting my daughter for the first time on my list of all-time great Christmas gifts. I use it all the time. It weighs next to nothing, fits in most of my purses and I can get books in seconds any time I want. On top of that, I've used it for simple Google searches lately, and I can even check email or blog from the darned thing if I'm really stuck far away from my laptop.
One more thing -- I've been introduced to a lot of new authors through the Kindle store's best seller list, and I've gotten a lot of interesting stuff either free or at a discount that way. (And when I've liked the discounted/free stuff, I've gone back and purchased more of the authors' works at the regular Kindle price.)
They really are dandy little devices.
_____
Getting ready to put together your Christmas shopping list? This article is loaded with tips for saving money on all your holiday purchases. (You may even want to print and save it for future use!)
My score: 67 0 - 32 = low (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 20) 33 - 52 = average (most women score about 47 and most men score about 42) 53 - 63 is above average
So the Democrats sucked. But not just plain old, usual politician sucked, but epic levels of suck where it’s hard to find an analogue in human history that conveys the same level of suckitude. It was sheer incompetence plus arrogance — and those things do not complement each other well. We’re talking sucking that distorts time and space like a black hole.
It’s Godzilla-smashing-through-a-city level of suck — but a really patronizing Godzilla who says you’re just too stupid and hateful to see all the buildings he’s saved or created as he smashes everything apart. Or, to use Obama’s favorite analogy, you have a car stuck in ditch, so you call the mechanic, but the only tool he brings with him is a sledgehammer. And then he smashes your car to pieces and charges you $100,000 for his service. Finally, he calls you racist for complaining. Obama and the Democrats have been so awful, it’s hard for the human brain to even comprehend.
But at least a few more jobs will be created as a result of having to fix this mess, right? At least that'll be the spin from Washington... _____
Giggle of the Day:
(I shouldn't find that funny... but I do.) _____
Ear Worm of the Day:
_____
I have a new hero -- Moe Tucker, former drummer with the Velvet Underground:
I'm stunned that so many people who call themselves liberal yet are completely intolerant. I thought liberals loved everyone: the poor, the immigrant, the gays, the handicapped, the minorities, dogs, cats, all eye colors, all hair colors! Peace, love, bull! Curious they have no tolerance whatsoever for anyone who doesn't think exactly as they do. You disagree and you're immediately called a fool, a Nazi, a racist. That's pretty f'd up!! I would never judge someone based on their political views. Their honesty, integrity, kindness to others, generosity? Yes. Politics? No!
And she's always voted Democrat in the past, but not this time. Go read the whole interview here.
When parents not only show an interest in their kids, but a commitment to their education, the school system really should pay attention:
Chicago Public Schools agreed Monday to lease a field house next to Whittier Elementary School to a community group for $1 a year and build a library inside the school.
The action comes as a group of Pilsen parents continued a sit-in to gain control of the building and convert it into a library to prevent it from being razed.
The CPS turned off the heat and the water in the building during night time temperature drops down into the 30's and 40's. The parents hung in there anyway, and the school board was forced to turn them both back on.
I'm 100% in support of these parents. God bless 'em every one for not backing down. _____
Oom Keesie has hit the 150,000 visitor mark... and it was my cleavage that lifted him over the top. I can't tell you how proud that makes me. (Not to mention what it says about Keesie and his pals. I have had at least one hit a day since he linked to that post two years ago.) _____
TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry—the upright citizenry—throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore.
My friend Mike blew into town to clear out the cobwebs and stretch his legs a bit. This is a look backwards (literally) at our day yesterday:
Oh! And we had dinner at Ma & I. Pear sake, prosecco, wasabi shiu mai, tuna, cold smoked salmon, wasabi and pickled ginger in great quantity, Panang curry (with chicken), green tea ice cream. Faaaaaaaaabulous!
There are a few folks out there in the blogosphere who've been bonked on the head by the wand of Auntie Omnibus.
Auntie Omnibus, you see, has a special place in her heart for those in need, those who are hurting... and those who dare to dream big dreams. She's asking for your help to make a big dream come true:
Actually, you could probably say this about any of the women President Tin-Ear chose to take to Washington, D.C.:
"You kind of have to drop the standard for the [insert name here], right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing."
No, we don't have to drop that standard (unless of course, she's a New Black Panther, and that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish).
Is this the worst thing to afflict an election? Of course not. Armed New Black Panthers were obviously much worse. In the larger scheme of things, Michelle Obama’s lawbreaking is authentic “small potatoes.” But someone in her position has a higher obligation to the institutions our nation treasures, like the rule of law.
The stand-up response from the first lady, and the White House press shop, would be to admit a mistake, affirm they believe in respect of the rules that protect election integrity. But this isn’t a stand-up administration. Like the stonewall that followed the New Black Panther dismissal, we have learned that this is an administration incapable of admitting they screwed up.
But they're only allowed to find fault with others -- never with themselves. _____
I have my own theories about that, including that for a lot of men, sex is affection and he's showing you just how much he likes you. In fact, he's probably showing you who he thinks he is.
But since I'm not a guy, I'm throwing this out to my male readers. I'm not saying you would do this, but help a girl out and give me the hows and whys of some guys thinking this is a good idea. _____
Okay, it's not just me -- the number of suicides in this area has been much higher than normal:
Boy, I hope we can get our arms around recognition and prevention very soon.
If you know something, speak out. Don't think someone's kidding if they talk about ending it all.
A 2010 study by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that adults ages 18 to 25 were far more likely to have seriously considered suicide in the last year than those ages 26 to 49, and nearly three times more likely than those 50 or older.
If they're talking about it at all, find help fast. _____
Who knew the Reb Smuley was this smart and open minded?
