February 2002 Week 2
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February 2002 Week 2
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Last updated
There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
Monday February, 4 2002 After I took Cindy to school the Westinghouse Serviceman came and told us there was nothing he could do about the water pressure in the new refrigerator, it isn't supposed to be connected to the reverse osmosis water purification system... too late now. At least we didn't pay for the visit. I took the other three kids to school and got back in time for Joe Weeder and his Honey Dipper truck to arrive, Joe is "Acton Sanitation"... He pumped out the septic and told me that the tank was shot, it wasn't working any more... the traps at both ends are rotted away and the drain to the leach line is not functioning... that will be $2,200.00 thank you. He said metal tanks are crap, had I spent another $60 or $70 I could have had a concrete tank and it would last a lifetime... well I guess I am incapable of learning anything the easy way. I paid him for the pumping and told him to bring up the contractor to talk about the new tank. As he was pulling away I jumped in the car and took off for the dentist office. I go in and get my teeth cleaned every three months now, plaque builds up so fast on my teeth that it is the only thing I can do... I bought a new electric toothbrush (SonicCare) and she says that that should help a lot... she really had to work hard to get my teeth clean this time around and my jaw aches. Mike fell asleep in class today... I wish I knew for sure that he was tired and not just copping out on school. Christy was home all day teaching the kids...
Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein. Joe Theisman, Former quarterback Well there is more to this story, just found out today (2/13/2002) This quote which is rightly attributed to Joe Theismann has an even more humorous explanation. It turns out that Theismann went to high school with Norman Einstein and he was the class valedictorian. This was verified by Sports Illustrated some years back which ran Einstein's yearbook picture with the story. So, when Theismann says, "He's no Norman Einstein", he means the same thing as we do when we say, "He's no Albert Einstein." How are we to know this? Well, apparently Joe Theismann is no Norman Einstein.
RANT: I am trying to understand all the patriotic hoopla leading up to, during and after the game, it really disturbed me. That people were getting caught up in it didn't concern me, what concerned me was that they were being manipulated into it by the sponsors. I think I am as patriotic as the next fella, I put out the flag on holidays, I am an ex-Navy guy, I get choked up when I hear the Navy Hymn or Taps. I get angry at the government when it attempts to use patriotism to manipulate us into attacking defenseless islands, and advertisers who use patriotic images and rhetoric to coerce us into looking favorably on their products... The way I see it, the Super Bowl is first and foremost the culmination of a season of Professional Football. Professional Football is a commercial enterprise pitting the wealthiest men in the country against one another using athletes who are paid millions to do what no one else on the planet can or will do. It is an amazing show, and I would hate to miss it... but it's not patriotic. Without the billionaires to sponsor the leagues and the TV contracts and the cities and their taxpayers there would be no show, we mustn't lose sight of the reality that even after all the money is spent there is still tons of money being made. Apparently that isn't enough, they need to put on bigger, more extravagant circuses every year, they put the Roman Spectacles in the Coliseum to shame decades ago. No one actually gets torn apart by lions, except metaphorically, and no one has been killed... yet. I would be happy to see it presented for what it is... a contest pitting the best athletes in the nation against one another, that should be enough. It's not Gettysburg, it's not heroic... hell it's not even patriotic!... it's a damn FOOTBALL GAME!!! Super Bowl Sunday is not the Fourth of July!... if anyt There's nothing that keeps its youth, / So far as I know, but a tree and truth. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., justice (1841-1935) Tuesday February, 5 2002
I was going to do another Rant on the state of the Economy and Enron in particular but a friend sent me a clipping from the Rush Limbaugh site... bashing Bush, I damn near fell out of my chair... Maybe Limbaugh has a ounce of integrity after all… EGAD… did I say that?!!!! pardon me why I wash my mouth out with soap. (Actually, this is from a Bush Bashing site... http://www.stopdubya.com/ sounded too good to be true so I looked it up. Like I said before, Jerry is a devious fella)
ENRON SCANDAL ROCKS THE WHITE HOUSE (1/20/02) In the aftermath of the biggest bankruptcy in the history of the world by Dubya's best friends in Corporate America, it is becoming increasingly clear that Enron's tentacles reach deep into the administration and right into the Oval Office. Enron, Dubya's biggest political supporter, donated $725,000 to Dubya directly and millions of dollars to the RNC. It is now well documented that Enron doctored its books, engaged in shady if not downright illegal business practices, and froze its employees out of their retirement funds while the top management cleaned out the accounts and pocketed the money themselves. A brief accounting of Dubya and his cronies connections to Enron follows: Poppy Bush - longtime pal of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, Poppy appointed Lay to head two host committee. Dick Cheney - met with Enron officials six times while forming national energy policy and has refused to reveal minutes of meetings to Congress. John Ashcroft - recused himself from the Justice Department's probe of the Enron case because he is the recipient of $57,000 in campaign donations from Enron. Paul O'Neill (Treasury Secretary) - discussed a possible government bailout with Ken Lay in October, the day before Enron's credit rating was downgraded. Marc Racicot (RNC Chairman Nominee) - Dubya's handpicked to lead the RNC is on the payroll of a firm that lobbies for Enron. Don Evans (Commerce Secretary) - Recipient of Enron campaign donations, spoke with Ken Lay in October. Pat Wood (Chair of FERC) - The powerful chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was handpicked by Ken Lay after he convinced Dubya to fire Curtis Hebert, Jr. Lawrence Lindsey (White House Economic Advisor) - Former Enron Consultant, they paid him $50,000 in 2000 before he moved to Dubya's staff. Karl Rove (White House Senior Advisor) - Waited 5 months after taking office to sell more than $100,000 worth of Enron stock. This is a developing story; watch for further updates as new information becomes available.
My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957) Wednesday February, 6 2002 Mike's teacher called at 0755 to tell me to come get Mike, ASAP. Mike was getting confrontational and threatening, he called the teacher a Racist MF'er. He said he didn't have any respect for anyone in the class. He just went postal for a while...Mike has been a real turd all day, I'm not sure what's going on with him. He came home like a gangster telling us what he was going to do, what he wanted us to do, like some sort of pampered Rap Star... damn... Then Cindy went banana's because she wanted to go with Christy to the church but Christy had decided not to go so she was screaming at the top of her lungs for an hour or so. at the moment Christian is cussing me out because I won't let him pay $3.99+tax for a movie on Direct TV that I can rent at Albertsons for $.99 tomorrow... it's just a bad night... The septic tank guy came out and said that it wouldn't cost $2,200,00 for the septic, it will cost closer to $4,000.00, because the leach lines are no good any more, because when the metal tank rotted out it allowed the sewage into the lines and they are clogged and of no use any more. Also... I have to tear down one shed and move the other so he can get to the tank, the top needs to be ripped off and the tank filled with dirt or it will collapse. ...It's just one damn complication after another. Thursday February, 7 2002 Mike made it through the day but he's been a major jerk. He didn't want to go see his psychiatrist either did Christian. He made crude remarks and threats about what he was going to do and not going to do all the way there, he was rude to the Dr... Dr. D. had two half hour sessions for us from 1800 till 1900, we got in to see him at 1820 and left at 2045, he talked to Mike for a long time and ended up changing or altering dosages on all his medications. This will be another circus... these sorts of big changes always seem to cause trouble... My webpage program, or the site that I am posting it on are not working, I had to load this page manually today. I have tried everything I can think of and followed all the recommendations on the website and it still bombs... the tech support consists of a FAQ and an auto-responder that pumps out an e-mail that tells you to go look at the FAQ... No address, no (functioning) e-mail, no phone number... If I can't get this damn thing to work I will be forced to move it again... not a happy thought Friday February, 8 2002 "There wanst was two cats of Kilkenny Each cat thought there was one cat too many So they fought and they fit And they scratched and they bit 'Til instead of two cats there weren't any."
This limerick seems to be the theme of Mike and what ever demon's are inside him. I just sent him off to school and new dose's of medicine... I am very nervous, I hope he can hold it together... Mike called at about 0745, he was having a hard time coping, hyper, He seemed to be able to communicate his problems so I told him to just go outside and look at the sky for a while... I think he will make it OK... I will take him to the gym tonight... Gym didn't work out, I dropped him off at his girlfriend's house (after verifying that her mom was home) I went to the gym but decided I didn't want to mess with it today and went to Best Buy instead... I bought a new receiver for DirectTV and a portable CD player for the Gym. Saturday February, 9 2002 I haven't been successful updating my page for a week now. I went bananas
trying to figure out what was wrong with MY PC... it's not me!...
What the hell is going on? There is a “Tripod Trouble Status” page but it hasn't
been updated since the 26th of January... I would sign up for Tripod Plus if I
could get ANY response from Lycos/Tripod but what would be the point if I pay an
extra $5 a month and I still can't update my page... this is BS...Tech Support
consists of a lame FAQ and an E-Mail auto-responder that tells you to go look at
the lame FAQ. Well, I gave up on Geocities... only 15 mb is free, my site is currently at 26+ Geocities wants $14.95 a month for 50 mb, too expensive... Soooo I "updated" my account from 50mb to 25 mb $14.95 (yes I typed that right.) apparently Tripod has dropped their free space from 50 to 20 mb and never sent out word (to me)... Now, after upgrading I was 1.6 mb short, so I bought another 50mb to bring me up to 75mb... that cost me $9.85 not $4.95 like the advertisement said...(bastards). I then tried to publish my site with FrontPage 2002... and it bombed again. "500 Internal Server Error"
I called my ISP and he offered me some memory for free... I published it but I haven't been able to figure out how to view it... he won't be back till Monday... but that's ok... I am thinking that I will spread my website out over three servers, Tripod - Geocities - and my own. Pretty cumbersome but the price is right... "All miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone." -Pascal Sunday February, 10 2002 I am still fighting the Tripod people... it makes me crazy when I an coerced into paying for something that doesn't work. Their site has tons of Help that is utterly useless, it is so exasperating. Christy went to the gym with Christian at about 0830... I am taking the other kids out to the park. it's 1300... Mike is at Kayla's apartment... I took the kids to the park and forgot my cameras... I hate when that happens!!! I just heard Bill Moyer's program exposing NAFTA's Chapter 11, no wonder GWB is pushing this, it's a money machine for Big Business, an absolute guarantee that they will make money off any deal they make, no matter how stupid... If the XYZ Company puts plutonium into baby formula and the State Legislature in Iowa bans the baby formula the XYZ company can sue the United States for the loss of revenue they would have made on the sale. And they are doing it, A US company has collected money from Mexico for the money they lost by not being able to dump toxic waste into an already polluted dump.
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