Uno de Mayo —– The Great American Boycott of 2006

May Day!  May Day!  May Day!

Of course it's no coincidence that the timing of this largely union-backed "boycott" coincides with the great communist and socialist bastion of the "worker comrade", May Day, May First.  Which, coincidentally began as a union thing in America…  We have apparently come full circle.  Let's just hope that this latest iteration of May Day doesn't include the riots of the original May Days.  (I am from L.A.  Sadly riots are something that we all always hope don't happen again.)

Wow.  I wish I could say this was some sort of a joke.  Organizers of the "Great American Boycott of 2006" plan to "shut down" the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tuscon, Phoenix, and Fresno.  (Fresno?  How often does Fresno get to be in a group of cities like THAT?!)  By encouraging supporters, Mexican or otherwise, legal or illegal, to not go to their jobs and to not spend any money, and by encouraging their children to walk out of school, the organizers hope to bring America to its knees and have their demands met.  These people are marching in the streets of America, waving the flag of another nation, trying to take the economy hostage, and making demands.  Does that sound just slightly terrorist to anyone else??  I'm just curious on that.  Be strong America.  We don't negotiate with terrorists.

This is a link to the "Coalition Statement" for the organizers: 
http://www.arab-american.net/pdffiles/March_25_Coalition_Statement_as_of_4_4_06%5B1%5D.pdf
 .  Why it is from "arab-american.net" I'm sure will come out in the aftermath of this event.  The "boycott America" group is also very pro-Palestinian.  Anyhow, this is apparently a washed out version of the demands.  Go to the main website www.arab-american.net and see the REAL agenda delineated there.  Many of the people who are being naively sucked into this boycott with the hope of obtaining citizenship the easy way have NO IDEA with whom they are aligning themselves.  And they are being preyed upon by people with political agendas which are in complete antipathy with the American way of life.

This boycott is being perpetrated (yes, I mean like a crime) on the American public and economy at large to make a point about how pivotal the illegal alien is in the running of this nation and its economy and having proven this to solidify their demands (amnesty, etc.).  So then, this plan is flawed from the beginning!  The only people participating in order so that we can REALLY SEE how the illegal alien affects the economy should be the illegal aliens.  So, I have a truly scientific, and yet FUN method in which we can truly answer the debate over whether the "undocumented worker" brings more to, or takes more from, the American economy.  Here is my proposal:  All undocumented workers (and their familes, "worker" or not) in the United States are to go on vacation for a month.  Make it two months, that will give us a really clear picture.  There are lots of nice places in Mexico one can vacay for not too much money.  Here's a link:

http://www.visitmexico.com/wb2/Visitmexico/Visi_Home

Cancun, Ensenada, Yucatan, you name it.  There are lots of destinations to choose from.  And Mexico is close!  Let's see what happens to commerce.  Let's see what happens to healthcare.  Let's see what happens to overcrowding in schools.  Let's see what happens to unemployment in the teen population.  Let's see what happens to Medi-Cal, Medicaid, and other entitlement programs and their budgets.  Then really stick it to America and refuse to come back!!

Oh, I can hear it now.  "You're a racist."  That is always the response of these groups when someone disagrees with them and their political or economic agendas…the disagreement MUST BE born out of racially motivated hatred.  Debate and discourse in this nation have given way to name-calling and conclusion-jumping.  Let's just say that it's not me who disagrees with this group, but this group who disagrees with ME.  Applying this very same logic, then they would be the racists.  To call someone racist because they disagree with the politics of another because they look a little different, or speak a different language, or come from a different country is patently irresponsible and inflammatory.  Unless that person's motivation is truly because of hatred born out of difference, then we need to be very cautious to whom we ascribe the name "RACIST".  Because I believe that you should come to America through legal channels doesn't even come close to making me racist.

I feel badly that life in Mexico is so bad for the average Mexican that they feel they have to put their lives in jeopardy to sneak into America.  I DO.  But where my complete disconnect is, once you are here, if you find that life is NOT what you thought it was going to be, why not return to home, where things must be better, or else you wouldn't be complaining about how awful things are in the country you risked your life to get to.  In all honesty, I really need somebody to explain that to me.  If my house burned down and my neighbors were kind enough to take me in, feed me, clothe me, and help care for my children, I wouldn't be telling them I thought that the food they were giving me was gross, that the clothes were out of style, and that my children didn't have cable TV.  And should these neighbors speak a different language, I wouldn't be compelling them to learn MINE so that they could communicate with me.  I wouldn't be.  I just wouldn't.  I'd be thankful that my neighbors didn't leave me to live in a pile of soot and ashes.  And, should my neighbors tell me that they could NOT take me in, I would not sneak into their house at night and take up residence there.  And if I DID do that out of desperation and they let me stay ANYWAY, I certainly would not make a bunch of demands on them once I was there.

I have many friends.  They are from all kinds of different socio-economic-linguisto-gendero-etc. backgrounds.  We agree on some things, we disagree on some things, but in our disagreements we do not sink to hatred because he or she is of a different gender, language group, or skin color!

But I digress.  It makes me sad that I even feel like I need to defend myself against what is sure to be the attitude that I am racist.

And just try to call me a xenophobe, too.  That's a good one!

How many of you out their find this war on America as disgusting and preposterous as I do????

LUPE MORENO IS A TRUE AMERICAN!!  This from the latimes.com dated April 29, 2006

Lupe Moreno, 48, a Santa Ana social worker, American citizen and advocate for immigration control, will not join in the national boycott of work, school and consumer spending. After she finishes work, she said, she will engage in her own form of activism: purchasing a $1,000 big-screen TV to "support the U.S. economy as a proud Latino American."

(
https://blahblahblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=398
  This link is for the whole story, Lupe's portion being about 1/1000th.)

The article doesn't come out and say it, but I am imagining that Lupe is of hispanic/Mexican origin.  (Tongue planted firmly in cheek on that!)

Lupe, YOU are a patriot!  May the owner of whatever store you visit give you a huge discount on that big screen TV.

I'm not done yet.  I'd like to know why illegal Mexican aliens who come here for the opportunities they can't have in their country, INSTEAD OF MARCHING IN THE STREETS IN MEXICO, and instead of SHOUTING AT VICENTE FOX TO FIX THE PROBLEMS IN MEXICO, decide it is more appropriate to do those things here, only the shouting is at our president.  Update on Vicente Fox from the New York times, August 28, 2006:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/29/world/americas/29mexico.html

This article discusses the new law in Mexico which legalizes the possession of many illicit street drugs.  This could actually be good for the United States.  Perhaps all our addicts will sneak across the border at night so that they can legally obtain and use their drug of choice.  Perhaps Mexico will be generous to let them stay in their country because the United States doesn't afford them the opportunity to enjoy recreational drugs.  Maybe.  But I doubt it. 

My little sister Whitney works in an office staffed primarily by young hispanic ladies, first and second generation.  All of them legal.  My sister asked them if they would be at work on Monday.  "Yes", they all answered.  "We have mortgages to pay."

(And to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson I have this to say….you don't even have a real job, so your involvement in the boycott is meaningless to me.  You two need to sit down and zip it once in awhile.)

Mark my words, a big part of this movement is about the unions being able to collect 25-80 bucks a month in dues from 12 million more people (that's 3 and a half billion dollars a year on the low side).  It's about money.  Follow the trail and it leads you to unions.  This trail leads to some other pretty unsavory places, too. 

http://www.socialistworker.org/2006-1/585/585_03_MayDay.shtml

But "the money" is always a good place to start.  The way I see it, the people who are behind this boycott are targeting poor, and largely uninformed illegal Mexican immigrants, who are simply looking for a better life, for their future union dues so that "they" can further their true agendas of socialism and pro-palestinianism among other things.  Shame on you.  Shame on you. 

One last thing.  Good on Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa!  He'll be working on Monday.  Trying to get something that Los Angeles has needed for decades now…

a football team….

May God continue to bless America, though we deserve it less each day.

 

Like Avalon

My 14 year old nephew Richard has had long hair now for a year or so.  He reminds me of all the boys I went to junior high school with.  I wish he'd cut it.  He's got the most beautiful face and it's obscured by the stringy strands.  And just saying those words makes me feel like a grandma.  And it makes me understand why my grandmother was always putting barrettes in my hair, which I hated.  Anyhow, I don't say anything to him about cutting his hair.  Some day, when he decides to cut it, he will.  In the grand scheme of things(**), what does it matter if he has icky long hair?  I'm just glad he's the awesome kid he is. 

In the meantime my four year old nephew Mitchell has apparently decided to grow his hair out, too.

"So you can be like Richard?" my sister Diane asked him just a few days ago?

"Nope.  So I can be like Avalon".

He apparently still wants to grow up to be a girl.

**I watched Hotel Rwanda last night.  I have been putting together a post on that, and genocide, and mass murder in the 20th/21st centuries.  I stopped.  It is hard to find the words that adequately convey my disgust and my frustration.  So I decided to do a quick post on a subject that brings me joy instead.  But "Hotel Rwanda" is coming.   

Alexander’s Dark Band

I came across some beautiful rainbow pictures on a blog the other day.  I forwarded the website to some friends.  One of them pointed out that the space between a double rainbow is always a chocolate brown color.  I had never noticed that, so I did a quick Google search (because I love "knowing things") on double rainbows and found that the dark phenomenon has a name.  It's called Alexander's Dark Band.  And there's an excellent scientific explanation involving light refraction and absorbption for it, which I won't give to you.  I passed the explanation on to my friend who replied, "Loved the information about the rainbows, but I think I'll just stick to the chocolate brown story.  It's. easier."  

I agree with her. 

Science sometimes take the chocolate out of things.

Countdown

I have two events coming up for which I am counting down.  Well, three.  But one of the events is part of another, so that doesn't really count. 

One event is leaving for Teen Missions.  I don't have my plane ticket yet, but I'll probably be flying out on June 15th to Orlando.  In fifty days. 

The other event is that I get to go and visit my family in Los Angeles next month.  In sixteen days.  My sister Diane is there for work this week and she gets to see them.  I'm jealous.  She says that the kids just keep growing and getting bigger.  I don't like staying away for too long.  I don't want to be the auntie they only get to see once a year.  I like it when I drive up and they run out and scream "Auntie Lou is here!"  I want to be important to them, not a holiday obligation. 

While I am in Los Angeles I have an orthodontist appointment (the event within an event).  I am hoping beyond hope that the braces get to come off.  If they do, I'll put a big smiling picture up for you to see the end result!

I'll also be doing my mom's job (helping my brother and sister with five of my nieces and nephews) while I'm there, and my mom is going to come here to spend Mother's Day weekend with my sister.  My mother's sister, Leslie, will also be coming to town to be with her daughter, Julie.  So the four of them will be celebrating Mother's Day together. 

This will be Richard's, Alaska's, Jonathan's, and Avalon's first Mother's Day without their mother.  I'm glad I'll get to be with them.

The Other TMI

Too Much Information

This past Friday I sedated a patient at work for an MRI, but the medicine did not work on her!  Most likely because she was a regular user of other medications that were in the same family as the stuff I was giving her.  I gave her the maximum our policy allowed, and yet she remained nearly wide awake.  Most people would have been rendered completely unconscious  with the dose she got.  It probably would have even killed some people.  She decided she'd try to get through the study even though she still felt pretty nervous, but wanted me to stay in the room with her and hold her hand.  Which I gladly did.  It was a brain MRI so her hand WAS very near the edge of the magnet.  I didn't have to reach far.  But you do what you have to do!

In order to do this, I had to be pretty close to the "magnet".  The keys in my pocket strained towards the magnet.  The snaps on my jacket quivered and danced towards the magnet.

And the weirdest thing of all?  And here's where I'm going to give you too much information, the UNDERWIRE and the strap adjustment loops in my bra kept twitching!  A rather unusual sensation!!

She was able to complete the exam, and I will shop for a bra without metal in the underwire.  Maybe an underplastic bra???

Addendum:

Yesterday found me in a strikingly similar situation as last Friday.  Today's patient was a young man.  He was having a lumbar spine study and a hip study, and he just couldn't hold still.  So I ended up nearly inside the magnet with him, reaching in up to my neck to hold his hand, and laying across his legs!  The things we nurses do.  In the end, we were only able to complete half the studies ordered on him, but at least we got one study done, AND I found out which of my bras don't have metal in the underwire!!!!

Amazing Race

About a year ago I was plotting with my best friend.  We wanted to  apply as a team to the TV show, The Amazing Race.  Mother of four, husband of one, she didn't think she'd be able to pull it off. 

We thought we had a great twist.  No other best friends/sister-in-laws had ever been contestants before. 

Of course, I told her, you'll have to do all the heights stunts (I am more than a little acrophobic).  She agreed.  We'd split all the other stuff.  I can eat gross foods with the best of them, and being "game" wasn't a problem for either of us.  Dare either of us to ride an elephant, herd llamas, drive racecars, eat chicken heads.  We'd do it.

She wasn't sure how she'd get my brother to agree to her being gone for that long.  I told her we might not be gone all that long, as we might be eliminated early.  "Of course we'll be gone the longest time" was her mindset.  In her mind we were already splitting the million. 

A year ago it would have been a feat to get my brother to agree to the proposal.

Today he'd probably agree to it in a heartbeat.

Anything to have her back. 

I love the show.  But every time I watch it, it makes me miss her.  Which means I missed her again tonight.

But she ran the amazing race and won already. 

Hebrews 12:1-3 

Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls.

 

Two Addresses

I believe I have found where I wouldn't mind living next. 

http://residentialcruiseline.com/

Oh, yeah, baby, this is real estate on the WATER.  A cruise ship of condos!  She's called The Magellean.  And while I think it's a pretty cool name, I bet that Magellan would probably not think so.  I don't imagine one has to worry about the dangers of scurvey on this boat!

 

Here's a layout for you!  This little baby is The Portofino.  It is 3,147 square feet, including the deck and the "sun pit"!  Four bedrooms, four and a half baths!  I think it's one of the penthouses.

I couldn't find the pricing on this particular unit.  It's probably too expensive to list!  The prices they have listed are a few mill through eight mill.  And that doesn't include a hefty (up to a quarter of a mill) "annual assessment". The ship has all those amenities you come to expect from a place you like to call home.  A portable marina.  A heliport with two helicopters.  Pools.  Theaters.  Restaurants.  And three hundred ports of call.  Oh, you can also consider partial ownership, where, for mere hundreds of thousands of dollars you can share this residence with 11 others and live in it for a month out of a year.  Sort of like a time share on steroids, doncha think?

I cannot even imagine having that sort of disposable income.

Look…there's a circular staircase from the main level up to the sundeck, where there's a jacuzzi…

I don't have a problem with wealth, wealth is good.  But I do think that those who are blessed financially should give generously.  And many do.  It is said that 95% of the people own 5% of the stuff, and 5% of the people own 95% of the stuff.  I imagine I fall into the 5% category.  This summer I will be sharing my life with 95%ers.  I can't make explanations or excuses why some have more than others.  The reasons are probably different depending on about whom you are speaking.  But I think I have been blessed by the hand of God directly.

The first time I went on Teen Missions I was, if you might remember, 16 years old.  And while I had seen plenty of America by then (as we drove across the land on a regular basis as a family in one VW bus or another), it was my first time out of the country.  I didn't know anything about Haiti before I went, except that it was in the Caribbean, so I had visions of sugary white beaches and turquoise waters in my head.  The vision was shattered by what was before my eyes when we got there. 

We entered Haiti through the capital city, Port-au-Prince.  In the hills above the city you can see huge white mansions.  The city itself is comprised of crumbling buildings, lean-to's, and shanties made of tin and cardboard.   I remember asking our missionary what the houses looked like that weren't in the slums.  Except for the mansions, most of the city was a slum.

https://www.paecivpol.com/PhotoAlbum.html

My pictures from Haiti are 35mm prints.  I tried to take digital pictures of them to upload, but they didn't turn out.  The above picture was obtained from the link shown.  This house is not atypical.  There is no running water, no indoor plumbing.  All along the streets there are cripples begging.  I call them cripples instead of the americo-centric politically correct terms of "disabled, other-abled, or handicapped" as in Haiti, if you are infirm, there's nothing for you to do except beg.  It's a tragedy, (and it probably is a practice that still continues), but crippled children can make more begging from westerners than healthy adults can make, and mothers sometimes purposely cripple their children in infancy so that they can be sent out to beg. 

We stayed about 15 or 20 kilometers outside of P-a-P on a missionary compound.  We slept in school rooms (school was out for the summer).  We were out of the city, and though diluted by space, the poverty was still in your face.  The village children would come to watch us work each day.  We got to know some of them.  There was one young boy named Franc, who was 12.  Franc was fluent in creole (the local patois version) as well as in french and in english.  I spoke some french back then, and Franc and I became friends.  He acted as interpreter between us americans and the local haitian kids.  He was bright, and funny, and handsome.  I told him "you're going to be very successful someday".  Though he almost always wore the same clothes, his clothes were always clean, and looked as though he had pressed them with his hands.  He didn't look like the face of poverty.  He looked like the face of hope.  I think he wanted to believe that he'd be be successful in this country of his that held little in the way of opportunity.  I often wondered what happened to the boy with the shining face.

In the evenings we'd sometimes climb the ladder to the top of the missionary's house where we were building a second story.  We could see the harbor in the distance.  And in the harbor we could see the lights of cruise ships.  And, as we looked out over a land where children were lucky if they had one outfit to wear everyday, and out over a land where farmers scraped out a liviing with a single hoe, and out over a land where children had bloated bellies and rust tinged hair from malnutrition, and out over a land where just outside the president's palace was a city whose sewers were open, we couldn't help but think of those people on the cruise ship.  And we could only hope that they weren't only experiencing the big white mansions in the hillsides, but the shanties down in the city. 

It would be sad if they were.

 

Find Your Wings

Find Your Wings

It’s only for a moment

that you are mine to hold

The plans that heaven has for you

will all too soon unfold

So many different prayers I’ll pray

for all that you might do

But most of all I’ll want to know

you’re walking in the truth

And if I’ve never told you

I want you to know that

as I watch you grow

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

and that faith gives you the courage

to dare to do great things

I’m here for you whatever this life brings

so let my love give you roots

and help you find your wings

May passion be the wind that leads

you through your days

and may convictions keep you strong

guide you on your way

May there be many moments

that make your life so sweet

Oh, but more than memories

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

and that faith gives you the courage

to dare to do great things

I’m here for you whatever this life brings

so let my love give you roots

and help you find your wings

It’s not living if you don’t reach for the sky

I’ll have tears as you take off

But I’ll cheer you as you fly

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

and that faith gives you the courage

to dare to do great things

I’m here for you whatever this life brings

so let my love give you roots

and help you find your wings

 

These are the lyrics to a song written by Mark Harris for his children.  I am not a mother, you are not a child.  But today my heart sings this song for you, sweet angel.

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams.  And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things.  I pray you find your wings. 

(Go to
http://www.buzzplant.com/markharris/findyourwings/
 for a downloadable audio version of the song.)

 

Passport, Part II

I had my appointment at the miraculously close passport agency in Aurora, Colorado, this afternoon.  I made my appointment through the national automated system for noon.  I was instructed by a recorded voice on what all I needed to bring.  I was also informed not to arrive more than fifteen minutes early, that I would NOT be let in early.  It also informed not to arrive more than fifteen minutes late, or I would not be let in AT ALL. 

It snowed last night (I was getting sunburned in an 80 degree day just a few days ago!), so I gave myself plenty of time to get to the agency in case the roads or weather were bad to the north.  Besides, I wanted to find the place and then go to grab something to eat for a very late breakfast.  But there was nothing near the building where the agency was located, and by now I had to go to the bathroom.  So, while it was still 40 minutes until my appointment time, I decided to go in and use the restroom.  There were no public restrooms in the building's entryway, so I had to go upstairs.  I stepped off the elevator, again no bathrooms.  I walked up to the passport agency doors and peeked through.  A security agent opened the door for me.  I told him I was early for my appointment, and he said "that's okay, we can take care of you early", and he ushered me into the security area where he and two other security agents were posted.  I glanced behind them into a large room filled with rows upon rows of chairs across from a bank of about fifteen "windows". 

Counting the three security agents, the passport agent, and myself, there was a total of five people in the room.  After my security screening (just like the airport only I got to keep my shoes on), I was directed to window three, where Craig had me squared away in about five minutes flat.  Including going to the bathroom on my way out and including the walk to the car and including the drive to the freeway, I was done five minutes before my scheduled appointment time.

Craig told me that the agency was new.  It opened in September.  The first new passport agency in ten years.  And apparently America's best kept secret.  I couldn't believe I was in a government service office!  Don't tell the government this place exists…I'm sure they'll ruin it!

Document Fear

Welllllll, it's more like a fear of document disposal, not fear of the documents themselves.  I am doing my part to keep America's landfills in business!! 

 

I have been given the go-ahead from my tax man to destroy many many documents that I have been holding on to, and storing, and dragging halfway across the country! 

It would be just my luck to have disposed of all these useless documents and then the very next day to have the IRS knock on my door wanting to see all the documents I had that related to my refinance back in 1998.

I am operating on the assumption that my tax guy won't steer me wrong and am throwing away REAMS of paperwork.  I have seven years of pay stubs, too, that he said I can shred. 

Thrilling.  I love getting rid of this stuff.

And 95% of my photographs are now neatly lined up in chronological order! 

Making progress, making progress.

Go Live

Gack.  We had our first full work day with our new computer systems.  While the "go live" itself seems to have been mostly uneventful, the software for one of the systems (the one I use) is not particularly user friendly.  And in the process of implementation a number of the computers (mine included) needed to be updated to support the software.  Somehow in getting the "new to me, but not new" CPU, I lost all my "settings", but managed to retrieve some important documents. 

Of course, not having e-mail (my Outlook disappeared) isn't all that important when you're trying to get patients admitted, scanned, and their films routed to the correct place.  Understandably.

We nurses are at the usually at the bottom of the totem pole to start with in this 'radiology tech driven and focused' company, but our needs were so low on the totem pole today we were the part that's in the ground!  Fortunately one of the techs took pity on me and got my Outlook up and running.  Who knows what else I'll find that needs attending/fixing.  I WAS able to find the printer I normally use out on the printer network and get set up to print.  (Patting self on back).

Computers make me nuts.  Here's a nutty computer story for you.  Diane was able to convince me that I really should get my finances onto Quicken.  I had a lesson the other night and my current project has been to get my check register for my new banking account here in Colorado into a file.  I was about half way through when all of the sudden I could no longer access the file!  Click on the desktop shortcut and a simple "Quicken cannot open file" alert came up.  With a little box to click that said "OK".  No matter what I did, I couldn't get a single Quicken file to open.  So I took my problem to Diane, who also could not figure out what was happening.  She did virus scans and all kinds of other mumbledy jumbo stuff but no dice.  She was able to transfer the files to a memory stick and open the very same files on HER computer, however!  No explanation for THAT. 

Diane thought maybe reinstalling the software might help.  It was a couple of days before I decided to give that a whirl.  But before I did, I double clicked one last time, and by gosh, that darn thing worked, and has worked ever since.  Is there a good explanation for this at all?  I doubt it.  Just another case of "Linda related I've never seen THAT before". 

That's what tech support always ends up telling me.

Divine Lorraine

It's always fun to see your name show up on signs in unexpected places.  In Lomita where my sister used to live there was a beauty salon called "Linda's".  (It was sold a renamed about a year ago).  Across the street is "Louis'", a flower shop.  (Louis is my nephew's name).  Drving through the front range foothills are fire signs which give the current fire danger.  I like it when the sign says "Low".  That's my brother Lawrence's nickname.  But I think one of the best name signs I've ever come across is this one:

Lorraine is my sister-in-law's mother's name.  I chuckled to myself when I saw this sign.  I was in Philadelphia on North Broad, alone, driving a rental car when I saw it.  The neighborhood was, let's say, not exactly the one where you want to hop out of a rental car with your camera taking pictures!  I didn't see any parking places anyway, so I shot this from the driver's seat through the windshield while in motion. 

The building was abandoned and looked to have been that way for a very long time.  Garbage littered the sidewalk, and windows were shattered.  There were bums who had taken up temporary residence in the sheltered areas beside the front steps/stoop.  The old girl looked very much like her future was with a wrecking ball.

I thought Lorraine would like the picture, so I sent it to her.  And she did.  She wondered to me in an e-mail about the history of the building stating "I hope it wasn't a brothel!".  So, I decided to see what, if anything, I could find out about this old building with the lofty name.

Built in 1894 during Philly's Gilded Age, the Lorraine was originally designed as a luxury apartment house for nouveau-riche industrialists. She was built in grandeur: 10 stories of Pompeian brick and ornate marble; oversized, lavish suites with tile-lined fireplaces; rooms even had electric lighting and telephone service. In 1948, it became home to the Universal Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine, the controversial religious leader who claimed to be Christ incarnate. Under the Peace Mission's watch, the Lorraine was re-christened the Divine Lorraine and became Philadelphia's first major integrated (meaning they allowed blacks) hotel. Rates were cheap and the hotel was often full with clientele ranging from businessmen and holy rollers to traveling students and reformed bums. Today, it sits uninhabited. 

From what I find on the internet, the hotel and the surrounding few acres of land were bought five or six years ago by developers with plans to renovate it into a luxury living and retail space.  That never happened.  Not sure why.  

While this particular area of town is somewhat unsavory now, it looks to be one of those areas that is poised to be overtaken by developers and turned swanky.  Wish I had the money to buy the Lorraine.  The pictures I've seen of the inside sing to me! 

Bring a Bottle of Red

The other night my sister Diane had me over for dinner.  "Can I bring anything" I asked?  "Bring a bottle of red wine" was her reply.

Years ago when I worked in orthopaedics, I used to get a truckload of presents each Christmas from my patients.  One of the most common gifts was alcohol, much of it in the form of wine.  I gave most of the bottles away as I would be an alcoholic had I drank it myself, but I did keep some, for just these sorts of events. 

I grabbed the bottle nearest to me (a bottle of Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon) and headed over to her house.

She had made manicotti (which was FABULOUS), and the red wine went well with it.  It went very well.  It was really good.  After it had a chance to breathe, the flavor really came out.  It was REALLY good.  So good in fact, I thought I should Google it to see what exactly it was we were drinking.  It just didn't seem like your average cab.

Turns out it tasted really good for a really good reason.

The only website I found that had a bottle of it for sale had it listed at $280.

Remind me to Google the rest of the wine I've had for all these years!  Who knows WHAT I have in my cupboard!

Seventy Bucks

Today we (that would be Julie, Diane, and I) had a garage sale at Julie’s.  People buy crazy things.  I actually sold a set of hotel toiletries that I picked up at the hotel I stayed in when last in Philadelphia, a bunch of half used stationery, and a particle board shelf.  All things that I would have thrown away, but thought I’d see if I could pick up a few bucks for them.  Which I did!

Garage sales are quite different from the ones in LA.  In LA you have to advertise.  Here you hang up a few signs and run back to the house to try to beat people there!  And HELLO!  It’s FRIDAY!  We had loads of traffic until about 10:00, then a lull for an hour, then loads of traffic for an hour or so, and then things tapered off to the occasional couple of people here or there.  And this flow pattern was predicted perfectly by my cousin.  She says that’s how it always is. 

Very few of the things I sold did I think had any worth.  But I still made 70 bucks for sitting in the sun gettin’ my tan on in a lawn chair yakking with my cousin and meeting a bunch of her friends!

You can bet I’ll think twice about what gets thrown away and what gets held onto for the next garage sale!

And when I got back from the garage sale, 847-281-3020 called looking for Robert Walden.  I saw the number pop up on my caller ID and morbid curiosity got the best of me.  This operator has called me before.  The LAST time he called he was looking for Robert Walden.  I told him “Robert Walden still doesn’t live here, and hasn’t moved here since the last time you called here looking for him.”

Passport

I have dedicated most of this day up to this point (it's just about 12:30 as I write) to doing "stuff" I need to do to get ready for this summer.  On the top of the pile is the paperwork for my visa application for entry into Zambia.  The embassy wants my passport, as embassies always do.  BUT they want six months of validity left on it from my scheduled date of DEPARTURE.  I thought I had plenty of validity left on it, but I was doing my little six months calculation from the date of ENTRY (a rookie mistake!).  But my passport expires the 10th of December, two months too early.  So, I have now added "renew passport" to my endless list of things to do!  (Has it already been almost ten years since I got this passport?  This will be my fourth passport.  I'm not old enough to be on my fourth passport!)

And I have a time constraint I am dealing with as the Zambian embassy wants my application/passport by May 15th.  Additionally, I have to mail it to Teen Missions before it goes to the embassy!  It SHOULD only take two weeks to get a passport renewed by mail, but that's cutting it a bit close, doncha think?

Option:  since I need to get my paperwork to the Zambian embassy in about two weeks, I can make an appointment to get my renewal in person at one of only 14 regional passport offices!  It appears I would be taking another road trip somewhere.  What are the chances that one of these regional offices are any where near me???

100%!!  There are offices in places you would expect, like Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Honolulu, New Orleans, Houston, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Washington D.C.  But there's also one in Norwalk, CT, and in Aurora, Colorado!  (Who's even heard of Norwalk or Aurora?)  An easy hour's drive up I-25.  I have an appointment on Tuesday, so I should be right on track.

Anyhow, I took a quick look through the few stamps I have in this passport.  2 May, 2003 – Dublin, Ireland.  14 Jun, 2001 – Aguascalientes, Mexico.  And 18 Mayo, 1997 – Cancun.  This last stamp being the only evidence that I ever went to Cuba.  I have been three places that wouldn't stamp my passport.  China, Russia, and Cuba.  Why do you suppose communist countries don't want to stamp your passport??

Now I must find someone who takes passport pictures.  The embassy ONLY wants official passport pictures, not ones taken in my living room and sized appropriately!

I Want a Teardrop Camper!

(That needs to be read with a hint of a whine in your voice.)

I have too many blog drafts in my queue, so you’re getting two right off the bat today!

I have been letting my magazines stack up.  Be horrified.  My magaizine subscriptions are as follows:

1. Time
2. Cottage Living
3. Conde Naste’s Travel
4. Reader’s Digest

I get Time because I need something that gets my ire up every once in awhile!  I get Cottage Living because I love all the design ideas for small spaces.  I get Travel.  Do I need to explain myself on this subscription?  I get Reader’s Digest because it’s one of the best magazines around and I have subscribed to it for as long as I can remember.  And my family competes to see who gets the most right in “It Pays To Enrich Your Word Power” (which they now just call “Word Power”).

While reading my May copy of RD yesterday I came across a tiny little article which talked about hitting the road in a “teardrop camper”.  OH MY GOSH.  These things are CUTE!  Even I might camp if I had one of these little babies!

http://www.tinycamper.com/

One of the things on my “List of Fifty” is to drive the original Route 66.  Now tell me, how much fun would it be to do THAT with one of THESE!!  I do believe even my Honda could tow this!

 

(
http://www.cozycruiser.com/images/super-deluxe-teardrop-trailer.gif
)

That’s a kitchen in the back, and in the front is a sleeping/living/storage space.  I’ve done some shopping, and, as with most things, they pretty much run the gamut as far as cost and amenities are concerned!  I like how the aluminum ones look.  They have a retro Route 66 sort of feel to them.  These seem to be very popular in Australia and New Zealand, and they’ve got some really sharp ones for sale down there!

Anybody want to go with me???

Gas War

While I appreciate the fervor with which people fight the gas war, do "they" REALLY think that these boycott tactics will work?  Read on with trepidation.  I am feeling extremely opinionated today.  (I've been reading Ann Coulter, so sue me!)

I recently received an e-mail with a new and improved plan to get the gas companies to drop their prices.  The old one that went around for years was "don't buy gas on these days".  That didn't work.  So it was honed to "don't buy gas from these particular companies on these particular days".  That didn't work either.  So it appears in yet another iteration.  The e-mail I recently received has exhorted me to not buy gas from Exxon or Mobil (same company) any more until they bring their prices down to "the $1.30 range".  How the writer/creator of this scheme decided on a dollar thirty is a mystery.  Does the writer even know if the gas companies will make a profit at all at that price?  Probably not.  ('Probably not' refers to the writer/creator knowing if gas companies will make a profit, not to whether or not the companies actually will make a profit.)

Anyhow, here's my dilemma (and please, recognize that I am being sarcastic here).  I buy my gas from King Soopers and Albertson's.  Last time I checked, there weren't any King Soopers or Albertson's refineries in operation anywhere in the world.  I have NO IDEA where KS and A get their gas!  (I don't even know how King Soopers can call itself that with a straight face!) It could be Arco, could be Shell, could be Exxon/Mobil, who really knows?  They probably buy from whomever they get the best deal.  Just like we all do.  My point?  Do we really even know whose gasoline we are buying??

Does Exxon/Mobil OWN the actual gas stations?  Most stations I've ever visited that carry the name of an actual petroleum company are franchises, like most McDonald's.

So, if we all just stop buying gas from Exxon/Mobil STATIONS, which is what the e-mail exhorts us to do, what we will be doing is hurting small American business people. 

How does THAT help America??

I ask you, should the cost of coffee skyrocket like it did years ago, and should Starbuck's adjust their pricing to reflect this huge upsurge in coffee prices, would people boycott Starbucks until a "vente halfcaffhalfdecaffmochachocolatte-soynotmilk-witharondeleofcaramalemacciatotogowithtwoprotectivewrappersplease" costs less than "a dollar thirty"???

I so totally doubt it.

And, although water is nearly free out of the tap, people still spend gobs of money on bottled water and sports drinks.  Hmmmmm.  You need water to survive, but I don't hear anybody complaining that bottled water is a two dollars for a 16 oz. bottle (works out to costing well more than gas costs per gallon, BTW, and how hard is to to turn a gallon of water into, well, a gallon of water?  Not much expense involved there)!  Why aren't we waging a water war???  No more Evian/Dannon/Arrowhead/Aquafina until it's around 25 cents a bottle!!!

I say, "Get on the gasoline bandwagon!!!".  Take advantage of the "gasoline price gouging" and buy stock in oil companies! 

Not that I have an opinion on the subject! 

It's not that I don't feel very badly for those people who are seriously affected by the increase in living expenses that the higher gasoline prices have caused.  I just don't believe in doing something that is not well thought out just so that we can feel better about ourselves!  If you REALLY want to affect change, then reduce your consumption.  Go a little bit greener in general.  One of these days (but probably not in any of our lifetimes) we'll run out of oil all together.  At that point we can fuss about how expensive whatever fossil fuel alternative we are using then is. 

And if you were wondering why the price of gas at the pump goes up immediately when the cost of crude goes up even though the gas that is being sold is clearly gasoline that was purchased at a lower price, I figure it's because in order to be able to refill the big tanks underground at the higher prices, the local businessman has to up the price on the gas he/she is currently selling.  They probably operate at a pretty narrow profit margin at the gas station level.  As to why the prices don't drop at the pump as fast when the price of crude goes down, I have no postulation on that.  Except maybe the independent franchisee wants to try to make a couple of extra bucks while he/she can.  I really don't fault them for that.  I'd do the same thing. 

Have a blessed day!  And walk!  Or take the bus!  Drink tap water.  Brew your own coffe and tea.  That'll teach 'em…

To a T

T-shirt, that is. 

Almost as much as I love a good quote, I love a good t-shirt.  And sometimes the twain shall meet.  Cases in point…some quotable t-shirts!

• Everyone has the right to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege.
• I wear irregular underwear.  What's your excuse?
• I've stopped listening, why haven't you stopped talking?
• Here I am, now what are your other two wishes?
• Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
• I'm high maintenance.  But hey, you get what you pay for.
• If you can't be nice, at least be amusing.
• I'm not speeding, I'm qualifying.
• Careful, or you'll end up in my novel.
• Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?
• I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
• I'm confused.  Wait.  Maybe I'm not.
• National Sarcasm Society (Like we need your support.)
• No need to yell.  I still won't listen.
• Sarcasm.  Just one more free service I offer.
• Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

And of course, my current favorite, yes it's true, available through the "What on Earth" catalogue (www.whatonearthcatalog.com) for only $14.95 each, in 100% cotton, white print on a black background, get one to show your support, is…..

• BLAH BLAH BLOG

Ha! 

847-281-3020

I recently got caller ID on my home phone.  I have been reticent to get this feature since I block my ID when I call out.  It didn't seem, well, FAIR, to ID incomers myself since I don't allow people to see that's it's me calling.  Instead I "screened".  And my family and friends were getting sort of tired of it.  ("Are you there?  Hey, are you there?  Pick up if you're there, it's so and so", etc.)  But I get sooooo many nutty, crazy, insane phone calls that have nothing to do with me, I had to do something (for example, my phone number is only one digit different from a local McDonald's number, so I sometimes get irate complaint calls), so caller ID seemed to be the solution.

And over the course of the past week since I got caller ID, I have discovered the source of a recurring and irritating bunch of calls and messages I've been getting.  And that source is 847-281-3020.  This number calls me often, sometimes a few times a day.

Sometimes this number leaves an automated message.  It cuts in partway through the message as I don't think their automatic dialer waits until the outgoing message is done.  The automated voice leaves a number telling me how important it is I call.  Sometimes, when I actually answer the phone, there's an automated message telling me to hold and that the next available operator will be with me.  The latter is my particular favorite.  AS IF I am going to hold when they CALLED ME and I have no idea who THEY even ARE!  Sometimes when I answer they ask for Chris.  Sometimes they ask for Steven/Stephan.  Sometimes it's other people.  "Nope.  Nobody here by that name" I reply.  They verify the dialed number.  "Yup, that's my number, nobody here by that name.  Been my number for a long time.  Take my number out of your database".  One operator actually argued with me.  "This IS the number we have for Chris", she told me sternly.  I'm not sure, but I think I might have hung up on her for that.

A few mornings ago, because they called so early I was still asleep, and was just a wee bit irritated at being roused from slumber, and because my computer was right at hand and still on from the night before, when that number showed up on my ID AGAIN, I googled it.  And much to my surprise, there's a whole lot a people out there being "harassed" by this number.  Try calling it.  It's always busy. 

I wonder if there's any way to lodge a complaint against a phone number like that.

Why Did VP Cheney Get a Refund???

Or, "Happy Actual Taxation Day".  If you owe, don't forget to get your check in the mail TODAY! 

Okay, America, now you're making me crazy. 

Here's how it works…

1. You make money.
2. The government steals your money.
3. At the end of the year you figure out how much more the government stole than the law allows them to keep.
4. Whatever the government stole that is OVER the amount that they are allowed by law to keep, you get back!
5. You are allowed to try to get back a little bit more of the money, even though they are allowed by law to keep it, by a dizzying array of magical things called "deductions".  Make sure you try to figure out and "claim" all these "deductions".
6. The government then writes you a check for the amount of money that they stole that was over the amount that by law they are allowed to keep. 
7. THAT is called a refund.
8. Refunds are NOT gifts from the government.  A refund is when you get back some of what was rightly yours to begin with.

Keep this in mind for NEXT year…

1. Your goal should be to NOT get a refund from the government.  If you break even with the IRS at the end of the year, that means they didn't get to have your money tax free for however long you allowed them to keep it.
2. It is better to pay a little at the end of the year than it is to get money back.  Open a savings account and put the money in there that you've been overpaying out of each paycheck.  Adjust your withholdings so that you give the government less!

Stop it with the Cheney nonsense.  If he got a refund, he deserved it.  It means he overpaid his taxes up front.

By the way, the Cheneys donated 6.87 million to charity in 2005.

How'd YOU do?