Saturday Morning Sunrise

Bounce & I made it to his puppy class successfully, on time and without him throwing up in the car! If I could only figure out how to get him there without all the drool!

Walt & I went up into the attic to do some flooring and rearranging of 'stuff'. It wasn't nearly as hot as it has been around here but the temperature in the attic had me retreating after a couple of hours. It really makes you appreciate those HVAC guys that work in that type of temperature on a regular basis.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing Walter's laundry, reading and taking a cat nap. I even made it out to Mom & Dad's later in the day to pick up some fresh from the garden tomatoes. YUM! I even managed to get away with another cantaloupe.

Storm Aftermath

As I was heading into the office this morning, I passed this house near Lucks Lane.

You can see from the photos that storm had knocked over this very large oak onto the house. It took out the what appears to be the living room and kitchen.

It looks like the main portion of the trunk went right through the front door!

I was browsing online and found this article with links to video about this storm. Turns out that a woman was actually trapped inside this house last night!

Rear of House

Campaign to Raise Funds to Pay Bounce's Vet Bills

Bounce's Story

The little fellow went out to potty, on a cool March night, and was attacked by our neighbor's 100 lb dog. At the time, the little guy didn't weigh more than about 10 lbs.

Now here he was, out there minding his own business, when the neighbor's dog came into our yard and slammed into him. The only way Bounce managed to get away, was when the neighbor came over and tackled his dog. He was able to make the break and seek refuge under our tool shed.

After the neighbor's restrained their dog and got him into their house, I spend a good deal of time trying to coax Bounce out. When he finally came out it didn't look good at all. His left side was bulging. Of course, this was at 5:30 p.m. and after the vet's office had closed.

Off to the emergency veterinary office to have him checked out. An overnight visit there followed by a visit to another vet's office for surgery and observation.

Turned out that when the neighbor's dog hit him, he hit him so hard that it ripped through three layers of muscle, which caused his intestines and part of his spleen to begin spilling into his abdominal cavity. He also suffered from a pencil end sized hole in his diaphragm. After it was all said and done, his vet bill ended up right at $5,300.00.

At the time, the neighbor took responsibility for what had happened, but that was until they received the bills. Walter has been a great go between, talking with them and trying to help them figure out a way to pay it. They had an old car and he even helped them get it up on Craigs List to sell.

After four months of waiting around they finally sold the car. Did they pay me?? NO! Now, they decided they want to make a claim on their homeowner's insurance. You would think that this would be simple, present the vet bills. Insurance company pays. Everything is fine and dandy. NOT!

According to the insurance companies (mine & theirs) - the dog is property and as such I am only entitled to the replacement cost. What I would have had to pay to purchase another dog. Since the cost of the 'repair' exceeds the value of the property then you only get the value of the property.

Their insurance company informed me that they had done some calling around to breeders and that the dog was only worth between $300 & $500, with that being the case they were going to offer me $350.00 to settle the claim.

I did hold my temper, but this is appalling. We did nothing wrong. Basically it seems...that the only one getting punished here is me, because I didn't put the dog down when it happened, so that no further expenses were incurred.

Something is terribly wrong here.  Do the humane thing and take care of the dog's injuries (that were treatable) instead of putting him sleep, and end up getting stuck with the bill, that we wouldn't have had if they had kept their dog in their own yard.

Donations to Bounce's Vet Bill Fund can be sent to the address listed below.  Anything donations over the amount of his vet bills will be donated to the Richmond SPCA.

GOAL $5,300.00

Bounce's Fund

P. O. Box 2148

Midlothian, VA 23113

Now here I thought that this was going to be a pretty good idea. I've had some suggest to me that I should consult with a lawyer before trying to do this. If you know whether or not this is legally a problem I'd love to hear from you. Or if you would just like to keep posted leave a comment.

NOTE:  This is not a non-profit group or organization.  Just my personal plea to help get the vet bill under control.

Crime in the News

Our air conditioning theft made the local news. I loved the comment about the "dentist gets a little hot under the collar".

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

A Change in the Weather

Thank God for the break in the temperature today!! It actually made to office tolerable. It was nice to have a 20-degree drop in temperature.

It was busy at the office, the HVAC company was in today working on taking out old equipment and putting in new. At times it sounded like we had huge mice, if not elephants, in the attic. I know that I did a lot today, but it surely felt like I was a cat chasing my own tail and not getting very far. Hopefully tomorrow will at least feel more productive.

As we were closing up shop we were surprised by rain!! YEAH!!! Everything here has been so in need of rain. Perhaps the plants will perk up just a wee bit. Although the trees have already begun turning yellow. We'll probably have a very early Fall and very little colorful foliage.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Crime Wave

The temperature was a bit warm in the lobby this morning at the office, so we cranked it down a few degrees, but that didn't work. After receiving a call from our neighbor we did a bit of investigating and found that 5 of the industrial sized AC units at the office had been stolen! This after the boss had just replaced one of the units within the last three weeks. The neighbor's units were all taken and luckily we were left with two that covered the treatment areas where the patients were. The rest of the office was definitely uncomfortable.

A 100-Degrees Again

100-degrees at 6:00 p.m.

The temperature was still at 100-degrees at 6:00 p.m. this evening. It didn't drop into the 90's until around 8:30 p.m.

The heat just zaps all the strength out of everything. The plants are wilting away and the animals are just plain lazy. The dogs have been resting on the couch all weekend. They've only gone out when necessary.

I've been just about worthless today myself. I've read and napped all day, and still think that I'll get a full nights sleep. I've got my fingers crossed for a cooler upcoming week.

Busy, Busy Day.

I headed out first thing this morning to PetSmart for Bounce's puppy class. He did fairly well, but he is one hard headed animal. You can actually watch him pretend that he doesn't see you. Frustrating!

On the way home the drool-bucket about flooded the front seat of the car. I thought there for a couple of minutes that I was going to have to put a bucket under his mouth so that I wouldn't float away.

Off almost as soon as I got home to Sam's Club. Not too sure what I'm doing, but I guess I'll find out as soon as Diane gets here.  Well, it took a while for her to get here.  It seems that she had a little trouble with a State Trooper who thought that she had a rocket launcher in her vehicle.  There's no way that would work in her car.  Now it would be funny if it had just happened once, but the fourth time must truly be tiring.

We did have fun - quick photo shoot and then we were off for sushi.  I have created a monster.  Sushi-O was closed, but we were able to get in at Kabuto in Midlothian.  Great sushi and plum wine.  The things that I will try.

Heard on the radio that the temperature could possibly reach near 106-degrees. YIKES!!!  Well not only did it reach 106 it made it to 109-degrees in the shade near the Hardees on Hull Street.  I have heard that we're suppose to be in triple digits for the next few days.  I am truly grateful for the AC unit and having plenty of water available.  How bad would this be if running water wasn't available.

The rest of the afternoon is shaping up to be as busy as well.  Sean is coming over to help Walt with a few things.  The two nuts are up in the attic laying flooring.  As if they couldn't have picked a better day to do this (shaking head).  On a positive note they do seem to be enjoying themselves.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

How sad but true....

High Life Promotion

Saw this poster at the Sheetz this morning. I do believe that this is the first time I've ever seen any type of promotion that actually is asking for the pull tabs.

Happy Anniversary Danielle!

Finally Friday

Another busy week. Yesterday morning, I had an interesting surprise in my office. It seems that a juvenile kaydid hitchhiked into the office on my shirt. He was only about an inch long and was hanging out on the wooden shutters at the window. I lost sight of him around lunchtime. I guess he could show up again at anytime.

Oh, found out about a really cool new tool: Jing It screen captures images and video! You can create tutorial using it. What a great way to show someone else how to do something quickly and easily. The account is free and you get 2 GB of storage space online. To top it off, you are even able to download and save the images and videos. So cool!

Last night Bounce had his make-up puppy class. We had missed the Saturday class due to the conference last weekend. By the time that we both got there we were beat. He had his Dramamine and I was tired and hungry. It didn't make for a fantastic class. He was falling asleep and I was about ready to join him.

This evening I've been busy downloading class video so that I can get a better handle on using Premiere Pro. There are a lot of functions that I already am vaguely familiar with, but it will be nice to know more formally what I'm doing.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Economic Stimulus Simplified

Sometime this year, we taxpayers will again receive another 'Economic Stimulus' payment.

This is indeed a very exciting program, and I'll explain it by using a Q & A format:


Q. What is an 'Economic Stimulus' payment ?

A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.


Q. Where will the government get this money ?

A. From taxpayers.


Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?

A. Only a smidgen of it.


Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?

A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.


Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?

A. Shut up.


Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka.

If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.

If you purchase a computer, it will go to India, Taiwan or China.

If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea.

If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan.

If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.

Instead, keep the money in America by:

1) Spending it at yard sales, or

2) Going to ball games, or

3) Spending it on prostitutes, ,or

4) Beer or

5) Tattoos.

(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S. )

Conclusion:

Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day !

No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.

High School Record

Back at my high school for the tenth reunion, I met my old coach, Mr. Carlier. Walking through the gym, we came upon a plaque on which I was still listed as the record holder for the longest softball throw.

Noticing my surprise, coach Carlier said, "That record will stand forever."

I was about to make some modest disclaimer that records exist to be broken, when he added, "We stopped holding that event years ago."

Creditors

My father died on Jan 02, 1995. He left no forwarding address.

Therefore, it fell to me to collect his mail. I didn't expect much really, since my sisters and I had been careful to notify his bank, insurance agent and a host of other businesses that one of their customers was no more.

You would think a death notice would cut down on the amount of correspondence from those firms. Quite the contrary. Instead -- for months, mind you -- my deceased father continued to receive mail from companies that had been told of his passing but pressed on, determined to contact him anyway.

The first to hope for a reply from beyond the grave was my father's bank.

Dear Mr. Hanson,

Our records indicate payment is due for overdraft protection on your checking account. Efforts to contact you have proven unsuccessful. Therefore, we are automatically withdrawing your monthly $28.00 service charge from you account. Please adjust your records accordingly.

Sincerely,
The Phoenix Branch

Dear Phoenix Branch,

This is to notify you once again that Mr. Hanson died Jan 02, 1995. It is therefore unlikely he will be overdrawing his account. Please close his account, and adjust your books accordingly.

Sincerely,

Scott Hansom

Later that same week, I receive this note from Dad's insurance company. Again, this is a firm that had been told in no uncertain terms of his death.

Dear Mr. Hanson,

It's time to renew your auto insurance policy! To continue your coverage, you must send $54.17 to this office immediately. Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of your policy, and interruption of your coverage.

Sincerely,

Your Insurance Agent

Dear Insurance Agent,

This is to remind you that Mr. Hanson has been dead since January. As such, the odds he'll be involved in a collision are quite minimal. Please cancel the policy, and adjust your books accordingly.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson.

The next day, I went to my mailbox to find this:

Dear Mr. Hanson,

Let me introduce myself. I am a psychic reader, and it is very important that you contact me immediately. I sense that you are about to enter a time of unprecedented financial prosperity. Please call the enclosed 900 number immediately, so I can tell you how best to take full advantage of the opportunities that are coming your way.

Sincerely,

Your Psychic Reader

Dear Psychic Reader,

My father regrets he will be unable to call your 900 number. As a psychic reader, I'm sure you already know my father is dead, and had been for more than three weeks when you mailed your letter to him. I sense my father would be more than happy to take you up on your offer of a psychic reading, should you care to meet with him personally.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson

P.S. Should you be in contact with my father in the future, please ask him if he'd like to renew his car insurance.

A few months of calm passed, and then these arrived:

Dear Mr. Hanson,

Our records indicate a balance of $112 has accrued for overdraft protection on your checking account. Efforts to contact you have proven unsuccessful. Please pay the minimum amount due, or contact this office to make other arrangements. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving all of your future borrowing needs.

Sincerely,

Your Bank's San Diego District Office

Dear San Diego District Office,

I am writing to you for the third time now to tell you my father died in January. Since then, the number of checks he's written has dropped dramatically. Being dead, he has no plans to use his overdraft protection or pay even the minimum amount due for a service he no longer needs. As for future borrowing needs, well, don't hold your breath.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson

Dear Mr. Hanson,

Records show you owe a balance of $54.17 to your insurance agent. Efforts to contact you have proven unsuccessful. Therefore, the matter has been turned over to us for collection. Please remit the amount of $54.17 to our office or we will be forced to take legal action to collect the debt.

Sincerely,

Your Insurance Agent's Collection Agency

Dear Collection Agency,

I told your client. Now I'm telling you. Dad's dead. He doesn't need insurance. He's dead. Dead, dead, dead. I doubt even your lawyers can change that. Please adjust your books accordingly.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson

A few more months, and:

Dear Mr. Hanson,

Our records show an unpaid balance of $224 has accrued for overdraft protection on your checking account. Our efforts to contact you have proven unsuccessful. Please remit the amount in full to this office, or the matter will be turned over to a collection agency. Such action will adversely affect your credit history.

Sincerely,

Your Bank's Los Angeles Regional Office

Dear Los Angeles Regional Office,

I am writing for the fourth time to the fourth person at the fourth address to tell your bank that my father passed away in January. Since that time, I've watched with a mixture of amazement and amusement as your bank continues to transact business with him. Now, you are even threatening his credit history. It should come as no surprise that you have received little response from my deceased father. It should also be small news that his credit history is of minor importance to him now. For the fourth and final time, please adjust your books accordingly.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson

Dear Mr. Hanson,

This is your final notice of payment due to your insurance agent. If our firm does not receive payment of $54.17, we will commence legal action on the matter. Please contact us at once.

Sincerely,

Your Insurance Agent's Collection Agency

Dear Insurance Agent's Collection Agency,

You may contact my father via the enclosed 900 number.

Sincerely,

Scott Hanson

It has now been a couple of months since I've heard from these firms. Either the people writing these letters finally believe my father is dead, or they themselves have died and are now receiving similar correspondence.

Actually, there has been a lesson in these letters. Any one of them would be cause for great worry, if sent to a living person. The dead are immune from corporate bullying. There's nothing like dying to put business correspondence in its proper perspective.

Perhaps that's the best reason not to fear death. There's no post office there.

~ By Scott Hanson, from the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper
(News reporter and anchor with WESH-Channel 2 in Orlando)

Around #RVA

Saw this while I was out this evening, but there was no bike anywhere nearby. I'm guessing that at one point there was a bike there, however it would appear that someone took the sign literally and made off with a FREE Bike.

Fun Stuff

I got the coolest samples in the mail today from 4imprint.com These are the neatest USB drives.  I think these would be fantastic for handing out at conferences with take home documentation on them.  I surely wouldn't want to lose one of these.  Too fun!!  Now just to sell the idea.  If not these, perhaps USB drive key chains.

Brought to You By the Letter "M"

I had to head out first thing this morning for the store. We had run out of dog food last night and there are two critters that wouldn't have been very happy with me if I had made the trip early. Anyway, while checking out the cashier comment to me that to make the day go by faster they were doing a word/s of the day game - the goal to use as many word that begin with the letter M. Sounded like a fun idea...

I was glad I got up early this morning. The mugginess wasn't miserable when I motored down to the market for some munchies. (This is tougher than you'd think - but a great way to improve your vocabulary.) I accomplished my mission fairly quickly and made a move toward home.

I stopped near the Sheetz on near home and notice marshmallow flowers in bloom. I moved the car off the road and managed to snap a few shots. That's when the fun really began. ASwallowtail butterfly landed lighted on the Mimosia bush. I managed more photos of the Swallowtail butterfly on the Mimosia before moving off to home. (I don't know how much more of this I can manage, too bad it wasn't a Monarch butterfly.)

When I got home, Bounce who was in the puppy yard outside, made much too much to do about my arrival.  Once the groceries were in the house, I let him out and into the house he shot.  I notice outside the side door a magnificent moth on the end of a blade of grass.  He stayed motionless while I made off to get the camera.  Many, many shots later, I did manage to get one of the both of his wings.

Late this morning, Sean came over to give us a hand with the woodpile and clearing up a few branches from around the yard.  I appreciated the help that he gave us.  Too bad he didn't stay the whole time. 

We did find a snail out in the woodpile and a kitten too! Walt may have a line on someone who would want a kitten.  Anyone but us.  I'm definitely not interested in having one here.  I'd be real happy if it wasn't even out there to give away.

Conference Day Two

Even after my rocky beginning this morning, the day went fantastic. Our speaker today, Allen Fahden, was very entertaining and informative. He kept us guessing as to what was coming next.

We had some great fun with $2 bills. Who'd have thought that $2 bills would be so entertaining and educational at the same time.

Conference Photos

Grrr....

the morning started off beautifully. I was running right on schedule. The dogs were in for the day, my purse and computer bag on the porch ready to be put into the car. I twisted the lock on the front door and pulled it shut.

Then the sinking feeling hit. I had just locked my keys in the house! So now here I sit, becoming late for work, while I await the delivery of a spare key. Thank goodness it isn't raining this morning.

Conference Day

We're back at the Omni today for our conference. We're in the James River room - great room, except...no internet. Usually I can hit the lobby internet service, but not here. I believe that we are just about as far away as you can get from the lobby in our meeting room. I'm able to access a number of wi-fi spots but there's no way we can get on the internet without being a registered guest, even though we've got this room for two days. Now if I take the computer down the hall about 100 feet I will be able to get online. Grr. Who wants to do that?

I waited long enough and my wireless finally found the lobby router. It's random, sometimes here sometimes not. It is a bit of a battle maintaining the connection, but definitely worth it to be able to look up things as necessary for the conference.

We had a fantastic lunch! Brian did a great job of selecting the menu. I overheard several people saying that the chocolate cake was sinfully delicious.

During the afternoon presentation, Dr. Martin mentioned that there was a YouTube video of the World's Largest Mouth. Beware! Don't watch this too soon after lunch.

Dr. Marquina was at the conference this afternoon demonstrating his cold laser. Wow! this thing is awesome. What a way to help patients heal faster.

I had some Cracker Jacks this afternoon. Boy was the toy disappointing. Back in the day there was a real prize in the package. I can remember, tattoos, whistles, and small games, but now it's more of an educational piece of paper. What a let down. I suppose that in this day of litigation that someone sued them for the toys being a 'choking' hazard. It's is too bad that the kids today can't enjoy such a simple treat.

Entertaining Signage Around #RVA

You can just let your mind wander on the meaning behind this one...

 And just across the street from this sign is....

I didn't know the MOB was working at this hospital, at least so openly.

Tuesday

Looked out the window this morning and could see the haze hanging in the air. Yuck! I had hoped that the rain last night would have worked to help cool things down just a bit, but no luck.

Computer issues plagued our bookkeeper this morning. Thank goodness for Google. I was able to find a solution to her problem and get her back up and running in about 15-20 minutes, and that included researching the problem.

In preparation for our conference at the end of the week, I was able to leave just a wee bit early to go get a haircut. Myrna at Godiva's was able to work me in, since it was a spur of the moment decision. She did such a great job.

Sunday I began a working on a photography project for the year, my 365 Project. I'll be posting one new photo that represents that day each day for a full year. You can follow my progress by using the link here or the 365 Project link on the navigation bar above. It promises to be a fun adventure. 

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

How to plug the oil leak in the Gulf

So Begins Another Week

Getting started with another week, this one is going to be a bit longer than normal.  We have a conference coming up the end of the week.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the group members there.

We are moving in to final preparation mode at the office, putting the finishing touches on everything and will be all set to go come Thursday afternoon.

This afternoon I was able to get in touch with Sessions.edu and they have all the records that show I have completed the my courses for the Certification in Graphic Design.  My next set of courses will begin opening either this evening or sometime tomorrow.  Eight more to go.  I'll be focusing on Print Production and Web Design.  Here's to moving forward.

Also found out this afternoon that the Blog is a good way to keep track of the kids.  Sean needed to know where he was on a day back in May and was able to back track using the blog and find out what he was doing.  Great memory aid.  Glad it was a help to him.  Who knows when we'll need it next?

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Checking your ID - A Different Perspective

This got my attention, it made me realize how many times I'm asked for ID, I never thought about it before.
Now that I have, I can't for the life of me see why anyone would get upset.
**********************************************
I'm a legal American citizen and I must show my ID when:
1. Pulled over by the police.
2. Making purchases on my credit card.
3. When I show up for a doctor's appointment .
4. When filling out a credit card or loan application .
5. When applying for or renewing a driver's license or passport .
6. When applying for any kind of insurance .
7. When filling out college applications .
8. When donating blood .
9. When obtaining certain prescription drugs .
10. When making some debit purchases, especially
if I'm out of state .
11. When collecting a boarding pass for airline or train travel .
12. When cashing a check at a bank or retail store.
I'm sure there are more instances, but the point is that we citizens of the USA are required to
prove who we are nearly every day!
Why should people in this country illegally , be exempt ???
Why shouldn't we guard our borders as closely as every other country in the world does ???
Go ARIZONA !!!

I believe it's time we stand up for what we believe!

Sunday Stuff

I had the most delicious tomatoes this weekend. Dad has grown some real winners this season. The are full of flavor and juicy. It makes me want to grab the salt shaker and head out to his garden. Yum.

The tomato plants that we have here are struggling to make a go of it. Next year they are going in the ground. I do believe that is the problem. Being in post requires so much constant watching to keep them from drying out and then the heat on top of that. It doesn't take them long to dry out.

This afternoon I went out to lunch with Mom & Dad. We had a great time together. It was fun getting out with them. We don't get to do this too often. Fun time. Thanks again Mom & Dad.

The dogs have been on guard duty all afternoon - the cats have been teasing them. I wouldn't want to be one of them if Bounce got out. I'm pretty sure that he'd chase them, but not too sure of what he would do with them if he caught one.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Credit Cards for ALL

Today at 9:09am

The Bank: Bank of America, can I help you?

Customer: Yes, I want to cancel my account. I don't want to do business with you any longer.

The Bank: Why?

Customer: You're giving credit to illegal immigrants and I don't think it's right. I'm taking my business elsewhere.

The Bank: Well, Mr. Customer, we don't want to see you do that, but we can't stop you. I'll help you close the account. What is your account number?

Customer: (gives account number)

The Bank: For security purposes and for your protection, can you please give me the last four digits of your social security number?

Customer: No?

The Bank: Mr. Customer, I need to verify your information, but in order to help you, I'll need verification of who you are.

Customer: Why should I give you my social security number? The reason I'm closing my account is that your bank is issuing credit cards to illegal immigrants who don't have social security numbers. You are targeting that audience and want their business. Let's say I'm an illegal immigrant and you've given me a credit card. I have a question about it and call for assistance. You wouldn't be asking me for a Social Security number, would you?

The Bank: No sir, I wouldn't.

Customer: Why not?

The Bank: Because you would have pressed '2' to speak in Spanish. We don't ask for that information when calling in on the Spanish line.

If it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then forward it to every human in the country including every representative in Washington, DC four times a week for a month.

Provided by "Snopes" http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

Weekend Fun

This morning the weather forecast looked ominous. I thought for sure that we were going to float away today with the possibility of loads of rain, not...so far we've only had a brief shower early this morning.

Walt & Kelly have gotten off safely for their mini vacation. I hope the weather cooperates where they are going and that they have a fantastic time.

Bounce and I headed off to his fourth puppy class. He did great today. His lessons were on the commands "Leave It", "Take It", and "Drop It". He caught on to the "Take It" command without any trouble. We're going to have to work on the "Drop It", but he was so sleepy when we got home. I'm not sure whether it was the dramamine or just all the activity.

I FINISHED!!!!! my graphic design certification program this afternoon. I turned in my last photograph and took my final exam. YEAH!! Now I only have 8 more classes to complete for my masters certification in graphic design.

I Spoke Too Soon

Here I was going on about the lack of humidity, well that was until this afternoon. We had a humdinger of a thunderstorm and then...YUCK! The nastiness was upon us. By late evening it had subsided somewhat, hopefully the next time it rains it will do so long enough to give us a little cooling.

I spent my afternoon at the office quite involved with video files. Two downloads and conversions, a full edit and conversion, audio download & made into an audio cd, a document download and put onto a cd, plus a couple of file transfers. Amazingly all within in about a 2 1/2 hour span of time. I was on a roll. Fun stuff. There is more to do tomorrow the largest time eater will be transcribing some audio.

Walter spent the majority of his birthday with Miss Kelly. Then slept the rest of the day. He's off to work this evening and then really putting in the time tomorrow before he heads off on his birthday/vacation trip.

Happy Birthday Walter!

100-degree Days

I was hoping that these temperatures would settle on back out to normal, but it looks like we're stuck for now. At least we're not suffering from the three "H's", Hot, Humid, and Hazy. Hot & Hazy I can handle it's the Humid that really gets us. I hope that everyone is staying cool.

Had and interesting day working at the front desk at the office. We were busy scheduling new patients and I've got a lot to learn beyond the very basics of working up there. Insurance, entering treatment information and a herd of other things. Some of the patients are just as sweet as can be, one gentleman brought us in freshly made brownies!! How thoughtful.

The mall was fairly busy at lunch time. I was out running an errand - to replace the new pair of flip flops that Walter bought yesterday. Bounce thought that the left shoe was tasty. Thank goodness they were on sale and on clearance.

Heard a term today used and I've searched for it on Google, but no luck. I even searched on the Urban Dictionary with no luck. Does anyone out there know what "Holly Hobbying" means?

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thoughts For the Day:

Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."

"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union

"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." – Tacitus

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown

"How fortunate for governments that the people they govern don't think." - Adolph Hitler



The following is an interesting article. You might ask how long Dr. Hunt can remain at NIH once the White House gets wind of this article.

Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes of Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker.

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An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt:

Anatomy of a Failing Presidency

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China .

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?

No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.

In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us -- financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job.

Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."

Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.

Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.

The Future

1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail
3. If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.
4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.
5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.
6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?
7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.
8. Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
9. Scratch a cat and you will have a permanent job.
10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.
11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.
12. There are worse things than getting a call for the wrong number at 4 am - it could be the right number.
13. No one ever says "It's only a game." when their team is winning.
14. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.
15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going to like it.
16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.
17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old men and old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap music will be the Golden Oldies ! ) No! Say it isn't so!
18. Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than in a Yaris.
19. After 60, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead!
20. This is my favorite one. Always be yourself, because the people that matter don't mind, and the ones that mind, don't matter.

Fun & Fireworks

Sean & I headed out this evening to Mom & Dad's for a family get together to celebrate the 4th and Elda & Tim's Anniversary. It was nice getting together with everyone. I took Walter a plate of food after the get together. It was even on a 'square' plate. He was able to over come the phobia with no problem.

I hung around downtown to watch the fireworks from the Lee Bridge. Very nice.

Happy 4th of July

Happy Anniversary

Tim & Elda
Wishing You Both A Very Happy Anniversary.
May your next year be better than the last.

Puppy Classes

Bounce had his third puppy class today and WOW!! He took to walking on a leash wonderfully. He was walking around the store behind me! None of that pulling me over when going through the store. I took him out later and he was just as well behaved.

I do believe that we are moving in the right direction. Yippee!!!

Thursday

Ahh...the weather has been wonderful! I'm so glad that the weather has turned for the better. Those record high temperature days and nights were beginning to make me think that we had jumped right over our usual June & July and hit August without blinking.

It was different leaving out this morning with one less tree at the end of the driveway. Dad came over yesterday evening with Sean and cut up the tree that had fallen; and cut down the remaining portion of the one that was struck by lightning and the one that had the top broken out during the previous storm. Trees everywhere again. Sean cleared up the wood from the tree out front and is scheduled to come on Saturday and work on the tree that is left.

I attended a great Lunch & Learn at TecHead today. Sean presented a great class on the new features of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Anyone that is looking for first class training can find it here.

It was a great day to be out of the office. I really did enjoy the drive into town. Normally it's not a fun trip between the traffic and the heat. It really would have been a nice day to go down to the river and take some photos of the wildlife. Perhaps this weekend.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Gonorrhea Lectim

This is good Information about Gonorrhea Lectim

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim. It's pronounced "Gonna re-elect 'em," and it is a terrible obamanation. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008...but now most people, after having been infected for the past 1-2 years, are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.

It's sad because Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout. You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dose in 2012 and simply don't engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it. Several states are already on top of this, like Virginia and New Jersey , and apparently now Massachusetts, with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

Military Inspection

The colonel who served as inspector general in our command paid particular attention to how personnel wore their uniforms. On one occasion he spotted a junior airman with a violation. "Airman," he bellowed, "what do you do when a shirt pocket is unbuttoned?"

The startled airman replied, "Button it, sir!"

The colonel looked him in the eye and said, "Well?"

At that, the airman nervously reached over and buttoned the colonel's shirt pocket.

A Sermon Walking
Author Unknown

Reporters and city officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station one afternoon in 1953. The person they were meeting was the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A few minutes after the train came to a stop, a giant of a man - six feet four inches - with bushy hair and a large mustache stepped from the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began telling him how honored they were to meet him.

The man politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two large suitcases. He picked up the bags and with a smile, escorted the woman to a bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary doctor who had spent his life helping the poor in Africa. In response to Schweitzer's action, one member of the reception committee said with great admiration to the reporter standing next to him, "That's the first time I ever saw a sermon walking."