Feel Like Complaining

My brothers and I have been trying to talk our 79 year-old mom into getting a laptop for several years now. You could almost hear her sticking her fingers in her ears and saying "Lalalalalalalala, I can't hearrrrr youuuuuu." In essence, she wasn't interested. She said her palms start sweating just at the thought of it. But then the IPad came out. Ever since then she has been dropping little hints or even teasing about when she gets her IPad. Then I didn't hear anything about it for a long time. But recently she brought it up again. She doesn't get out at all, except for doctor's appointments so it's not like she could just hop in her car, air tank a draggin' and go to the newly opened Apple store and buy one. So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I was on Facebook, I see her name in the right hand margin. Holy Shit, she did it. My brother bought it for her and then split the cost with her and then we are splitting the cost with him for he...

I've grown very weary of hearing about the new TSA security airport measures. I'd say that the ones opposed were just loud obnoxious people looking for attention at the 'injustice' of it all. One bonkers group even staged a National Opt-Out Day for Wednesday just at the heighth of Thanksgiving travel. They had plans to opt out of the body scan and instead do the Pat Down. Their idea was to slow the whole process of boarding down because Pat Down's take 4 minutes as opposed to the one minute scan. The whole thing was deemed a flop because nobody really went through with it. TSA officials said that very few passengers opted out even after tough talk on the internet and warnings of delays. Out of the thousands traveling out of our local airport, only three opted out of the scan. One of the travelers said "It would have taken longer to protest than just do it, we probably would have missed our flight." It sounds like all the bonkers people just want to get...

From the archives, 100 years ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This was Thanksgiving Day, and a Spokane housewife was hopping mad when she discovered she had been swindled--by a turkey. She had purchased a nice, fat 9-pound turkey at a local market and "went home with a light heart." Her heart wasn't the only thing that was light. When she started preparing the turkey, she found it to be stuffed with 20 large pebbles, "crudely inserted through the vent." She notified police, who talked to the market proprietor. He refunded part of the price and blamed a local wholesale house. The investigation continued. Meanwhile, the newspaper editorialized about the value of Thanksgiving and the holidays. "They lift us for a time above the treadmill of our affairs and the low level of living that it tends to form. Our daily business drives us toward narrowness and hardness of character. We become liable to lose sweetness and the fine humanities. But festivals socialize u...

I was listening to the news this morning and they were talking about a couple of women who are camping out at a Best Buy in St. Petersburg, Florida a full nine days ahead of Black Friday? They trade shifts with other family members to keep their 'first in line' status. They're really not even sure what they're going to buy, except maybe some new speakers for their wide screen TV they bought last year. They're laying around in shorts, well because it's Florida. I guarantee that if they lived here they wouldn't even try it. We're expecting 12 below as a low tomorrow night. I just don't get it. I've never understood the insanity of Black Friday shopping. Why would one purposely subject themselves to crushing crowds and being stampeded by crazy people looking for that great bargain which probably isn't that much of a bargain anyway? The closest I ever came to one was last year when I bought my computer. It was a pre-Black Friday sale and not v...

serves them right for eating something so gross in the first place These two idiots in California are suing the Seafood Peddler restaurant in San Rafael over an alleged incident of "exploding" escargot. Chadwick St.-OHarra and Steve Righetti were celebrating Righetti's birthday at the restaurant and they both ordered the escargot. As they dove into the little devils with their cocktail forks the snails squirt out hot garlic butter on both of their faces and polo shirts. St-OHarra cried that butter got into one of his tear ducts causing 'temporary vision impairment' and said he was genuinely outraged about the incident. Maybe he should have sued his mother for naming him Chadwick, a name like that is just asking for trouble. And have you ever been outside when a tiny little bug flies into your eye. It hurts like Hell, but you don't see me suing God do you? Like God should have warned me that little bugs can be hazardous to my eyes, causing 'tempora...

I'm pretty much an open book here but there are just some things that I'm not comfortable talking about. One of those things is my weight. It has been a burden, emotionally and physically for years. I was a skinny little kid until I hit about 11, then I started gaining weight. I've often wondered if I have suffered an emotional block to a traumatic event because over one summer I gained about 30 pounds. I've had losses and gains over the years but nothing really lasted. Just recently I decided to seriously do something about it and hopefully it will be the last time. I initially thought about Weight Watchers so I looked online for a near meeting place. I found one fairly close but still I know how I am and felt I would slack off in inclement weather. I also found many complaints regarding their billing/cancellation tactics so I decided to look elsewhere. I ran across another program online and studied it quite a bit before taking the big step to join. Personal Diets  ...

 the eyes of kden  I got new glasses last Friday. That got me to thinking about all the glasses I have had in the past. I got my first pair in the 7th Grade after I told my teacher that she needed to 'sharpen her chalk', because her writing was all fuzzy. I found myself in the nurses office faster than you can say 'math test next Tuesday'. She tested my vision and then it was a trip to a neighboring town to get tested and then fitted. Since we lived in such a small town we had to travel about 45 minutes away to an eye doctor. At that time, around 1970, wire frames were just beginning to get popular, so my first pair was a very cool pair of silver wire frames. Probably not the best choice because I was called Granny. I wore contacts for several years after that until it got too expensive or the shape of my eyeball changed too much or something. I had some colored ones too over the years, blue and aqua. I loved wearing those; they really got the attention of guy...

Our newspaper runs a daily feature titled This Day In History, where they dig into the archives to go back in history either 75 or 100 years. I always get a kick out of the stories and how much things have changed and at the same time, stay the same. These 3 parts were featured about Halloween and the curfew that was mandated and the mayhem that ensued. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spokane police Chief Ira A. Martin laid down the law to Spokane's kids in 1935: A 9 p.m. curfew for kids would be strictly enforced for Halloween and the night before. "For these two nights, any children found on the streets after that hour, if unaccompanied by parents or other adult persons, will be liable to police detention," said the chief. "The juvenile ward at the county courthouse will be used to house those children who run afoul of the police on those two nights." A Spokane County deputy said his department was also taking a tough stance on Halloween vandalism. "We will tole...