A World Gone Mad

Just a quick quote on my way toward productive work... this one about reflects my feelings about the US war on Iraq...

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, The Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war."

An Irish Blessing

I meant to do this on Monday, St. Patrick's day... ah, well. So it goes.
An Irish Blessing for you
May those as loves us, may the good Lord bless 'em
And those as don't love us, may the good Lord turn their hearts, that he may bless 'em
And if he can't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles
So we may know 'em by their limping

Confusing Attachment With Love

I've been looking into Buddhism, and get a "thought of the day" -- this one is good enough to keep! In particular, I think it answers the question raised in (of all things) Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, regarding love and the Jedi. If only Anakin had learned this, think how different the Star Wars Universe might be! (Why, yes, I am a Star Wars geek - why do you ask?)

"We confuse attachment with love. Attachment is concerned with my needs, my happiness, while love is an unselfish attitude, concerned with the needs and happiness of others.... A relationship free of unrealistic grasping is free of disappointment, conflict, jealousy, and other problems, and is fertile ground for the growth of love and wisdom." -Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate" Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org.

Money, money, money

:: happy dance :: Though I'm still a temp, my boss just let me know that she's given me a raise, effective immediately. Nothing like a compliment backed up by money (even a little) to brighten the ol' day!

Move Over Bob Vila

Now I know a little more about my ancient (20 yr old) furnace than I did. The pilot mechanism was dirty -- $100 and the repairman (my hero) cleaning it later, I have heat. Wahoo! I tend to keep the place on the cold side in the winter (mid-sixties... one year, all of my friends gave me lap blankets -- a hint, I think) but when it got down into the fifties even I noticed. That was, alas, the grocery money for this paycheck. Good thing I have some food in the freezer, 'cause it's gonna be a tight couple of weeks. I just can't seem to catch a break these days. But at least I'll be warm!

Weather Words

This just in: All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Not So Handy

*sigh* Okay, not so handy. After about 24 hours of operation, it's gone bye-bye again, and I fear how much it might cost me to get it fixed. Furnace repairman on his way, to the tune of $75 minimum. Poverty sucks... Life, however, goes on.

Baby It's Cold Outside

If there's one thing we do well in Michigan, it's weather. Cold weather, lots of snow this week, even though it's March and ought to be considering spring as an option. Maybe next month. Or Friday... it got below zero last night, and they're predicting rain & 40's for Friday. There are only two fields where you can be wrong 60% of the time and be considered a success -- economics and weather prediction.


In any event, I'm feeling quite the handy homeowner. All week the temperature in the house has been slowly sinking -- set at 80, the temperature has been hovering around 60. While it makes the cats much more friendly (body heat is a great attractor), it's not good for us or the pipes. So... thinking that it was probably that I've never cleaned the filter in the electrostatic air filter I went down and banged around in the utility room for a while. I moved some stuff, tried to get the back off the furnace where the traditional filter used to be, turned the electrostatic filter off and back on... and lo and behold, I have heat! Woohoo!


Of course, since I have no idea how I did it (or what I did), I'd probably better call the heating people...

Cute Kittens Rated

Okay, just a quick note and then back to work... I'm a sucker for cute kittens (and cats) and this site has me going "awwwww". Ratemykitten.com is just too cute for words. Makes me want to run home and take pictures of Piper and Hobbes (my spoiled cats).

Bookin'

In the eternal quest to make ends meet while earning about poverty level, I've taken a part-time job at Phonebank Systems answering calls for various public TV stations around the country. In between pledge breaks I've been catching up on a lot of reading.


I just finished the "March to the Stars", the latest in the David Weber/John Ringo "March Upcountry" series, and found it to be riveting enough that I found myself reading till late into the night. The characters are engaging and I'm kept anxiously waiting for the next disaster to strike Prince Roger and his rapidly shrinking battalion of marine bodyguards. Baen Books, the publisher, has a nifty program going on -- they put select volumes, unabridged, on the web for free download. In this case, you can download "The March Upcountry" (the first in the series) as an Ebook. (I read it on my Handpring Treo.) I think the idea is you try the series, and if you like it they figure you'll buy the books. And if I weren't so flat broke, I would. Meantime, I rely on the good offices of the East Lansing Public library and my good friend Craig Norman (evil, evil boy -- he's gotten me hooked on several Baen series now!).