I am posting this on my NEW computer. Its a laptop with a super huge screen. It's also faster than the Flash-I think.

Plus, it has so many options for everything!

And I can do lots of things at the same time.

I even have sound again!

And the crowd goes wild!!!

p.s. My dad is the best! Not only did he give me the laptop, but he also sat down with me and went over some of the awesomer components and options. He also went over the safety and efficiency features too. It was great.

The interoffice memo hidden among random notices on the front desk at work today: "While we ANTICIPATE being able to make payroll on Friday, July 31st, we are not confident about meeting subsequent payrolls for the month of August...."

Umm-what? Until the state passes their budget, we can't bill them for childcare subsidy, and so the agency is broke or operating on an I owe you.

I'm posting this here to make sure I'll actually do it and hold myself accountable somehow.

My boss ran in the Broad St. Run. And now, I want to, too!

That was ten miles. (I don't think I can run one.) I always thought I was in okay shape. I walk everywhere, and very fast, but I tried a real run, and didn't last very long. (And like Popeye the Sailor Man, I eat spinach every day...)

But my goal is to add a quarter mile every day.

I don't know why I want to, but all the runners seemed invigorated and focused. (I'm sure that I will hate most minutes of grueling and sweating, but for now. I think I'd like to use my body as an incredible machine and see how far I get.)

I think it will be good for me. (I was always the kid who would rather read than go to gym class.) I think I'd like to develop some more self-discipline. Anyway, I hope to get strong enough to run in a small race or run over the summer, and build up to something more challenging. I hear that there's a 13 mile run in November. That sounds impossible right now. But that's the point, setting a long short term goal, or is it a short long term goal?

Anyway, my plan is get up at 5, stretch/warm up/run/cool down until 7, hop in the shower, and head to work.

Wish me luck.

Running Quotes (cause I'm geeky like that):

"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain - and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is? Don't overdo it' and? Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond."
- Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Fame.

"Out of the silver heat mirage he ran. The sky burned, and under him the paving was a black mirror reflecting sun-fire. Sweat sprayed his skin with each foot strike so that he ran in a hot mist of his own creation. With each slap on the softened asphalt, his soles absorbed heat that rose through his arches and ankles and the stems of his shins. It was a
carnival of pain, but he loved each stride because running distilled him to his essence and the heat hastened this distillation."
- James Tabor, from "The Runner," a short story

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

We were downtown for a conference at work today, and we went to the Reading Terminal for lunch. The lines were long, and I was expected to be taken so soon, so when the guy at Herschels asked me what I wanted, I panicked and said a Reubens because it was the first thing I saw on the menu. The sad part: I don't like Ruebans.

I just didn't know what to do, and there was this long line in front and behind me and......

I found a really cute Nancy Drew set on the bargain table at borders. I got it with the intention of giving it as a gift. (I know someone who collects them, and was going to tuck money inside as a birthday gift.) Anyway, I found myself re-reading them and does anyone else find the original Nancy Drew to be just like Elizabeth Wakefield?

Like, not just their physically perfect descriptions, but their "ultra good" personalities?

Stolen from Mike Huckabee, Putting the Economic Recovery Program in Perspective

January 31, 2009 11:07 AM
Jan. 31 - If You Had $1 Trillion...
Mike Huckabee
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If they divide $1 trillion among every American ... each person would get $3,271. ($1,000,000,000,000 / 305,702,054 (U.S. Population) = $3,271)
[source: Census Population Clocks - as of 17:53 GMT (EST+5) Jan 28, 2009]

=====================================================

One trillion is 1,000,000,000,000 - 10 to the 12th power, or a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand.

To put things in perspective, current estimates put the number of stars in the Milky Way at somewhere between 100 and 400 billion.

$1 trillion would be enough money to buy about a 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for every person in the United States.

A trillion barrels of oil would - at current consumption levels - fuel the world for about 33 years.

(Author David M. Schwartz, Science Friday; February 8, 2008;)

=====================================================
With $1 trillion, you could put 8.2 million students through a full four years of private college. That's just slightly more than the population of New York City in the latest U.S. Census data.

With $1 trillion, a somewhat different fleet of motorized vehicles could be sent to the Middle East. The average U.S. price of a 2008 Toyota Corolla S, before taxes and fees, was $14,627, according to Automotive Information Center data on Yahoo.com. At that price, you could buy a new '08 model for each of the almost 60 million people living in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A trillion dollar budget would cover the market values of Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Google, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Time Warner and Apple, according to February 2007 figures in Forbes magazine; and you would be left with more than $23 billion in change to pick up a few 'smaller' companies.

You could buy every major-league professional sports franchise (football, basketball, hockey and baseball) in North America for about $45 billion total, according to recent market values in Forbes magazine. Then, you could pay each of them for more than 100 years, if the players' combined salaries held at 2006-'07 levels of about $9 billion.

The median salary for a family doctor in the United States is $144,719, according to Salary.com. With $1 trillion, you could hire 6.9 million general practitioners, or one for every 43 Americans.

With $1 trillion, you could buy slightly more than 3,000 Airbus A380 jets and some money left over for fuel.

(Source: CBC News: If you had a trillion dollars... http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/ss-trillion/)

<http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/ss-trillion/])> =======================================================

If you had $1 trillion and you spent it at a rate of $1 per second, it would take you 31,709 years to go broke.

(source: US Census; accessed 11/26/08; http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html)

I need to post about my mom's heart surgery.

I also need to post about something that's been weighing quite on my mind this week.

But this post isn't about those things. My thoughts aren't organized enough for that yet.

I'm writing today (or copying and pasting) about the Economic Stimulus (Recovery Act). Disclaimer-I think we need relief. But I don't think that the economy is as bad it was during the Carter Administration and the gas shortage. I also want to say that as much as the people in the 30's felt that Roosevelt was helping and for them in the Great Depression, many economist agree that his programs hurt the economy.

My problems with the bill are:
1. If you believe that government spending can help (and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet), at what point does the government stop? Like once the mall is re-sod, or once roads and bridges are built or repaired, what president or congressmen is going to rescind it? Like when the road is re-sod, those people who do it, will still be out of work. And in the road example, or in like some of the getting kids early exposure college programs, didn't work and really made money at the expense of the children they were meant to help, but what congressmen will say "Stop, no more money for that early college program?"

2. Pres. Obama promised during his campaign, no more pork spending but the bill and plan-how it stands now-is a trillion dollars of pork spending.

3. I feel like there is a lack of transparency about this bill. I want all the congressmen to post the bill and an itemized list of the programs and cost that they recovery plan promises to be well publicized so that the public, the tax payers can decide what programs are worth their support and hole the congress accountable for their spending. Anything less seems to be "taxation without representation."

I understand the concept of jump starting the economy, and needing relief now, and some of the pork might be warranted, but not as a line item on a stimulus bill.

Here are some of the "pork" highlights:

"These figures have been confirmed:

(NewsMax "The Stimulus Shopping List: $1.17 Trillion in Pork Goodies" 1/30/09)


· $1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn't earned a profit in four decades.

· $2 billion to help subsidize child care.

· $400 million for research into global warming.

· $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.

· $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.

· $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.

· $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.

· $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.

· $2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc. The $2,25 billion is about equal to the National Park Service's entire annual budget. The Washington Times reports it is a threefold increase over what was originally proposed for parks in the stimulus bill. Obey is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

· $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

· $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.

$4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The bill allows nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN - meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., charges the money could appear to be a "payoff" for the partisan political activities community groups in the last election cycle.

· $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.

· $32 billion for a "smart electricity grid to minimize waste.

· $87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.

· $53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.

· $13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.

· $20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.

· $10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.

· $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program."

So-if you're so inclined, tell me what you think of the plan, and your suggestions for fixing the economy. (I'd actually like to debate this.)

The Cardinals won the championship game today in a nailbiter that made me remember just why I love watching football with my dad.

I stole the subject line from Daniel Radcliffe on Conan. You should watch it. I'm contemplating Making that the tagline on my journal and changing my entire layout to something more language related. Suggestions on what words I can use for the userinfo, calender, friendspage, and comments parts? I was going to use metaphor in there somewhere.

For some reason, I find myself listening to "Show Me Something Pretty" (by Patrick Park a lot). You can watch it on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BJWl5K0hBQ

"Here I am, where I’ve been
I’ve walked a hundred miles in tobacco skin,
And my clothes are worn & gritty.
And I know ugliness,
Now show me something pretty.
I was a dumb punk kid with nothing to lose
And too much weight for walking shoes.
I could have died from being boring.
As for loneliness,
She greets me every morning.

At the most I’m a glare,
I’m the hopeless son who’s hardly there.
I’m the open sign that’s always busted.
I’m the friend you need, but can’t be trusted."

There's something about the line "Could have died from being boring" that is so Eleanor Rigbyish. I've felt that way a time or two, how about you?

I meant to do the obligatory How I Rung in The New Year Post, but didn't yet. So here goes. The center was open all day New Years Eve (turns out I got the early shift and the late shift but that's another story...)

I made a large ball out of aluminum foil and filled it with Pez dispensers. I let the ball drop as the kids did their own countdown at 12:00pm. Immediately, after the ball dropped, they got to dance/stomp on bubble wrap (which sounded like small fireworks). Prior to that we made these cool masks with clocks on them and a huge art wall of fire works made out of color tinsel. Anyway, the kids had a great time dancing on the tin foil. (They're too young for Ald Lang Syne, so I had Rock Around the Clock playing for them.)

And when I got home, I kinda got to spend midnight with someone extra amazing online. And got a surprise game thing which is awesome.

p.s. The turtle lives! I was very nervous. We had been hiding the turtle in the art room, so that when the kids came in after Christmas, it would be there with a note from Santa, and they were so excited. (The older kids used it as a Santa test-leaving out the cookies and milk, and it was nice to see the too old for Santa Claus converts. To the younger ones, it was just magic. Anyway, I'm in need of name suggestions for the turtle. (The kids want to name it after their mothers, Lindsey Lohan, and Cinderella. I did get one boy saying Speed Racer, and another saying he wanted to name it after a Ninja Turtle, but we can't because it's a girl. I'm tempted to anyway; it's not like the turtle knows.) Anyway, I wanted something kind of ironic like Bullet (faster than a ......) or Mercury. I'm also leaning towards making the turtle "tortoise" and the plecko fish "hare." Like I said, suggestions for turtle names are needed. (The kids will vote on the best three.)

What happens when I'm bored. I'm proud of my history/literature score though.

So....as I was watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, I started to wonder, since Peppermint Patty likes (as in really, really likes) Charlie Brown, and in unaware that Chuck loves the Little Red Haired Girl, all three get along well. But if Peppermint Patty realized just how much Charlie Brown loved the Little Red Haired Girl and they were in an impassioned Celebrity Boxing Match, who would win? (A decidedly Un-Thanksgiving Thought)

A. There would be no fight, because the Red Haired Girl could care less about Charlie Brown.
B. Peppermint Patty because she''s definitely rough and tumble and the Little Red Head Girl is always just out of reach.
C. The Red Haired Girl because _____________________________.

Any thoughts on who the victor would be?

Any other Celebrity Boxing Match Ups you'd like to see (at least hypothetically)?

Just thought this looked like fun? (Completely off topic, but has anyone read Born on A Blue Day? I found it fascinating, the way his mind took numbers and changed them into colors and shapes and emotions for processing.)

Your result for What color crayon are you?...

Sky Blue

Take What color crayon are you? at HelloQuizzy

Alrighty. Here's my What Issues Matter to Me & Voting is Important Post. (Otherwise called, Why I'm Voting for McCain...)

The Two biggest issues to me:

Iran - I listened to McCain and Obama's interviews on the subject. I think that McCain understands the region a lot better. I'm a big believer in Ronald Reagan's "Peace through Strength." I think that we would be far better placing preconditions on both the local and national leaders. I do think that Iran completing a nuclear weapon is a real possibility and a diasterous threat. I think it is much more than a "game changer." Iran's president has continually stated that he would like to wipe Israel off the map. I think he would have no problem giving his finished weapon to Hezbollah or other terrorists groups to accomplish this. If Israel enters into another war, another Holocaust, I want our President to take action.

The Economy - At first, I was leaning towards Obama. On the surface, who wouldn't want more money back on their taxes? But I don't see how it will work. Obama first set people making more than $250,000-their taxes would go up. But then, he said it would probably be more like $200,000. And now, Biden is saying it's probably closer to $150,000. Granted, I make no where near a 6 figure income. But it seems like its a slippery slope. He hasn't been elected yet, and the the # has changed 3 times, and with 4 years and all the programs, he wants to implement, I think that # is going to change again and again, in some cases I think people who make less than $50,000 are going to be taxed higher. (I don't make anywhere close to that either.) But I don't think placing higher taxes on bigger businesses and wealthier people (the ones who hire everyone) is a smart idea in a bad economy. I also don't like Obama's policy of "Economic redistribution." I watched an interview (when I was undecided) and he said, "I make X, I can afford to be neighborly." The thing is, everyone can't. And, I don't think I should be taxed higher so that my money can be given to someone else. It's pretty close to "taxation without representation." (Not in the traditional sense of not having leaders to represent the people, but in the sense that no one is representing the hard workers who WON'T SEE the fruits of their labor, who won't see what they worked hard for.) My other issue is that they are already thousands of government programs from Head Start to TANF. People are already getting a hand up.

____

Health Care - This is from someone who didn't have health benefits until 2 days ago...On the surface Obama's plan to cover everyone who isn't insured is like a dream. Who would knowingly and willingly deny people medicine? But I don't think his plan is detailed enough. 1. My employer offers benefits. My employer is always looking for ways to cut costs. I think my employer would love to drop coverage from its employees, keep the money they've been spending, and let the government pick up the tab. I think the taxpayers are going to be footing a larger bill than anticipated. 2. If, all of the sudden, we start covering everyone, without increasing the number of doctors and nurses, there will be an even longer wait time for appointments-what if you can't wait? Who decides who's more wrothy of that MRI? 3. What about the insurance companies? If the government is covering everyone, and my employer decides to do scenario one (and lots of other people's do as well), doesn't the insurance company lose profits, and lay off their employees? (Again, not good in a struggling economy.) I don't think McCain's is perfect, but I think its better. There is something to be said for competition. The quality of US health care isn't at issue. It doesn't need to be regulated. What is at issue is the high costs. Providing people with a credit for it, will let them shop around and get the best deal. They know their health histories; they know their concerns. I don't want the government dciding whether my treatment is necessary. I want myself and my doctor to do that. I think as people shop around, health insurance companies will be forced to become competitive or lose members.

Also, I just look at the size and scope of what Obama wants to do. Taking the School District Of Philadelphia as a comparison, I think the administrative overhead on government sponsored insurance would be astronomical. I know two people who worked in the school districts offices. One literally carried around the same peice of paper for two months and was never at his desk; the other was paid to develop a curriculum over the summer that he never completed. In both cases, their supervisors were too busy to check up on them; they had too many employees and paper work to manage. (This is not against teachers and everyone at the school level.) Anytime, you have an organization that big, there is going to be a lot of waste. In the school district's case, wouldn't that be better spent on books, or supplies? In the government's, wouldn't that be better spent on real programs or paying down the deficit?

Energy - I think McCain wins this one. The US can't be weaned off its dependence on foreign oil overnight. SO it makes sense to have a two pronged plan. Increase off shore drilling here (taking every environmental precautions) while developing alternatives and pushing drivers to literally buy into them.

Social Security - I don't think anyone has a clear cut plan to fix it. I wish someone did. But McCain is open to exploring "every available option and reform." Obama wants to raise taxes (which, see economy, I don't think is a good idea).

Abortion - I understand that if a justice steps down, the person who chooses his replacement will have a huge effect on the Supreme Court, but I hinestly don't think the court itself will overturn Roe vs. Wade. (So to me, that's more of a scare tatic on both sides.)

Finally, the war in Iraq. Both candidates are willing to send troops home. But McCain has said he'd rather lose an election than lose a war. And I think there's a lot of integrity in that. Whether or not, people agree with going to war, we're there now. And the exit strategy can't put Iraqi citizens in danger. The Kurdish people did uprise at teh end of the first Iraq War, and we just left, and they were massacred. That's a real issue. The thing is. We acted on intelligence. (And people will come to their own conclusions about weapons of mass destuction. Did we find them? Some things that might have been mobile labs? But Sadam issued chemical weapons masks and suits to his soldiers, so....?) To me, the issue is this? If Ira or Iran or Syria violates 14 (or even 1) UN Security Council Resoultion (that has the force of law) what is Obama and what is McCain going to do?

(It's one thing is it's about paper; it's another when it's about people.) Sadam put Ricin in the water supply in Basra. I don't know if anyone read Tony Blair's speech to the British parliament. But there were rape rooms for 5 year old girls, there were meat grinders that men went into alive while their families watched. There were people who were people systimaticaly tortured. And the world did nothing. So, even if we never found a weapon, we did stop the killing and torture of everyone who wasn't a Sunni. (Sorry, that was a bit of a rant, but I have to bite my tongue at work quite a bit.)

Also, in terms of length of time, scale and spending. The United States, along with other countries in the United Nations and NATO are still in Bosnia and Kosovo. After 10 years, we're still there. And we have to be, soldiers who serve there, say that there is still hatred and anger and violence-the remants of ethic cleansing and genocide. Soliders serving there, from all sides report that the killing would start up again, as soon as the troops would pull out. No one is keeping tabs on the cost of our continued prescence or asking for a pullout. To me, I don't see much difference between the two.

I actually don't think the election should be a referendum on the war in Iraq. I don't think it should be a trial for George Bush. He's already leaving office. (Both candidates were in the Senate.) I think people want change, and we need it. But I think they need to (whoever the end up voting for) think about the real issues. I think both men need to be judged on their own merits.

If there is a post script to this. These items aren't effecting my decision. But I think they should be noted. I think Obama had to have heard Jeremiah Wright's views at least once or twice. (What bothers me is that he didn't denouce him and distance himself, until Wright accused him of being political.) I think his association with Ayers is troubling because Ayers has said that his only regret is that he didn't inflict more human causualties-he's always been radical. And there are more. I understand the 6 degrees of separation theory, but even with it. I don't know if associate with people like that. I think his policies might be more radical than he's letting on. I also think that he's kind of slippery. He challenged McCain to just use the government money, and then backtracked. He set him up to have less money in the end-and now television screens are flooded with Obama adds. To me, that was an ethical thing to do. It's denying people choices. It's ensuring that they only see one.

So...that's my opinion. If anyone wants to have a lively and spirited debate, feel free to comment.

Caught Palin's speech yesterday night. Wondered about everyone's reactions and thoughts?

I got into an interesting debate about it today.

I bought the best book ever today!

Really, I did. I need to post pictures and an explanation.

I spent the weekend with some old classics, Pride and Prejudice, and A Tale of Two Cities. (They were a lot more wordy than I remembered. Not to Self: I must do a bookshare post about the dialouge in Pride and Prejudice.)

I was in the book store today and completely stumbled upon a classic.

I don't know if it counts as classic yet. Are books like cars? How old does it have to be?

I wish I could buy everyone on my friends list one.

Yes, I'm building up the suspense. I can't reveal the title, til I have time to upload pics and jot down the story.

But it made me happy today.

Anyone know where I can find some help creating a new layout?

Thanks.

I got an e-mail from my ex that started out with, "You'd better sit down because there's no way to prepare for this." Willow died. He was the maintenance guy at the non-profit start up. His brother embezzled all the money from the place. But he stayed out of loyalty. He never really saw it like it was. He worked three jobs just to barely make ends meet. He had a 5 year old son. He was extremely kind. He could fix anything.

I remember when the heater broke in below degree temperatures. We were downstairs sharing the portable heater-attempting to work with our gloves on. Willow was upstairs in the old recording studio that we dubbed the attic. A fire started. He called down the hall, but Mike couldn't stop playing playstation-had no idea there was a fire. He called downstairs to tell us all to leave. But we weren't really sure what he said. We thought we heard, "Fire." But reasoned that we would have heard the alarm on something. He came downstairs and took us all to task for our "We thought it was a drill." But he got the heater fixed. W

He rescued all the after school kids and took care of the elder adults who came in for Bingo.

Willow. He was just one of those people you always expected to be around. And now...he's not.

The unreformed Scrooge might have had humanity pegged right.

Someone stole my good camera from my desk drawer. Lally and I get telling Branon we were finding the lab unlocked -- and he just said we were locking it wrong. (Because although we're competent enough to teach people's children, we somehow all of the sudden can't lock a door.)

So. I need to find a buy a new camera ASAP. (Because we need the kids pictures for the inspection by Wednesday).

Oh, yeah and replace the coat he left at the airport.

I'm very nervous. The logical part of me tells me that I have nothing to worry about. And, the emotional part does to, actually. But still there's this girly part that can't help feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing.

Don't mean to be so cryptic. But I'm late. To be continued and all that.