Don't shake hands with a Bulldog...

Ivy League has always been considered "upper crust". It's been an academic haven for the the smartish rich and famous. Who would have suspected a cleanliness problem?

Finally after much student lobbying and much resistance, Yale is providing soap - but only on a limited trial basis. Yale has apparently always taken the stand that providing soap was "against tradition" and "too expensive". I guess it would be tough coming up with Softsoap seeing as students pay a paltry $31,450 a year for tuition.

The argument that it is "tradition"..."we've always done it this way"..."it was good enough before": How very Who Moved My Cheese of them. They have a freaking medical school. Maybe they should check with that department on their position of handwashing following using the bathroom. I'm betting if they did a study on the number of sick students in their Student Health Services before and after providing soap in the bathrooms, they would find their costs were more than balanced out.

They not only took a stand against soap, they argued against it in the news media with two of the lamest arguments I have ever heard. It just shows you can't be too careful about who you shake hands with...

What's your extraordinary ability?

Former 'Playboy' playmate deported - The Situation with Tucker Carlson - MSNBC.com If you haven't read this transcript, you must. Tucker Carlson is interviewing the lawyer representing Argentinean model, Dorismar.

I'm sure this man studied hard at law school. They don't just hand those degrees out, ya know. Then there's the whole "passing the bar" business. I wonder while he was slaving away at the law library he ever imagined using a cute butt (as a legal defense - get your mind out of the gutter).

My favorite is the discussion of the porn shortage crisis. That is just precious.

What is your extraoridinary ability that would keep you from getting deported? Me? Well, I'm having a fabulous hair day - does that count?

The dredges...

TV has hit rock bottom. There can be no lower low (well, maybe a Lorena and John Bobbit reunion). I do love my reality TV, but this is way off the charts.

That's right, folks. You've been waiting 15 years and the day is finally here. It's the Amy Fisher/Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco reunion.

One can only hope that no network will pick it up. Doubtful though since it's getting press already. Can't buy that kind of publicity. Some network will toss taste aside (once again) and start pimping this damned thing.

Why would the three of them sign on for this? Are they THAT desperate for another 15 minutes of fame? Crawl back in your holes.

What's the limit?

A group called Improv Everywhere held its annual No Pants Subway Ride yesterday. Or, at least they attempted to hold it. It was semi-thwarted by police who arrested some of the participants for dropping to their underwear once on the subway and charged them with disorderly conduct.

My question is what is the limit? How much of the underwear must be showing for it to be disorderly? Do the pants have to be completely removed or just lowered? At first blush it appears that it must be complete removal otherwise they would be busy arresting every gang bang wannabe who wears his/her jeans around his/her knees exposing his/her boxers. If that is the case, is the limit complete removal or could the GBW be charged if the pants fall below the knees?

Have you noticed the way these GBWs hitch up their grossly oversized jeans every few seconds because they are in danger of dropping around the ankles? I can only think this is will become an automatic reflex. Often times when I am wearing my contacts, I catch myself trying to push my phantom spectacles up. Of course, I blithely try to cover it as an itch on the bridge of my nose. What is going to happen to these poor GBWs who grow up and realize they look completely ridiculous? They will go back to properly fitting clothes yet have the overwhelming urge to hitch them up every few seconds. Should be amusing.

I would be tempted to fight the disorderly conduct charge if I were one of the arrestees with just such observations. I would question the law as it applies to boxers showing. What is the legal limit on Fruit of the Loom exposure?

Whew!

Received my test grade back. I'm a great guesser. It wasn't great, but it was workable. At least now I know what kind of thing to expect on the final.

Well, between Hillary and Nagen I'm not sure who is the bigger idiot this week. Comparing the Democratic representatives to slaves and the Republicans to plantation owners. Wow. That's a low even for a Clinton. Now get right back in your limo and out into the cotton fields! She claims that Bush's administration will go down as one of the worst in history. I would imagine he would be competing with Bill since he is only the second president ever to be impeached. They all said the same thing about Reagan. Talk to me in twenty years Hillary.

Nagen - yikes. Did you hear this moron? At one point I felt sorry for him. He was clearly in over his head trying to organize the evacuation and the clean up. He had 500 buses at his disposal for evacuation and didn't use them. He tried to repopulate the city with displaced citizens while toxic water stood all around. He was clearly over matched. Then his comments this week. First off, the whole tone of his speech was hilarious. He sounded like a holy roller preacher. He was trying to sound like Martin Luther King, I get it. He just ended up sounding like a cartoon. Then the comments he made really put it over the top. Vowing to make sure that New Orleans remains a "chocolate" city, claiming that it was imperative to maintain the black majority. I'm so tired of the double standard. No white mayor of a white majority city could get away with such racist statements. OMG! Can you even imagine the uproar that would cause. What if the mayor of Biloxi referred to rebuilding a "vanilla" city and how it has always been a "vanilla" city and that he was going to work to maintain that. I find both equally as offensive and racist.

It was a banner week for race baiting and the perpetuation of racism. Way to go, you two.

Okay, I admit it. I'm old.

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a new pair of fabric shears. My old ones were SO bad. It was more effective to tear the cloth with my teeth.

This pair is a beautiful thing. They have padding inside the handles and are ergonically designed to prevent your hand and wrist from getting sore.

Christmas came and I hadn't even had a chance to use them yet. Imagine how I freaked when I saw one of my twins using them to cut open one of those clear hard plastic, impossible to get into, designed by some sadist bastard, box things that his mp3 player was packaged in. My virgin shears!

I snatched them away and took them back to my craft room where I promptly hid them from rummaging children.

Now if I could only find them again...

Letting go...

I'm the first to admit it. I'm a recovering perfectionist. Those of you who know me in real life who didn't know me when I was younger will laugh. "Recovering?" you'll ask. Yes. Compared to what I once was, I am recovering.

I have learned to live with the phrase 'good enough for who it's for'. Occasionally I find myself falling back into the old trap. I don't want to go there. I had ulcers as a teen. I dropped an advanced math class because it screwed up my GPA in high school. There are times I still regret taking the damned class because without that A- I would have been valedictorian. Does it matter? Not really...well, only to me.

I left college about half way through. I was tired. Mostly I had worn myself out with perfectionism in high school. My college grades were appalling because I just couldn't care anymore. I left partially because I was so disgusted with myself.

Now years later (okay, okay - decades later) I went back. I'm enrolled at Iowa (go Hawks) and am working on finishing my bachelor's. I don't need this for my career. I'm established now and most people don't know that I don't have a degree. This is something I want to do just because my true self - the perfectionist - can't stand not having it completed.

My grades since resuming have been back to an acceptable level. I have one A- and hate that. It ruined a 4.0. Of course, when combined with the grades from my previous life, the GPA isn't a 4.0, but still... Tonight I took an exam that I blew. It was not at all what I expected and I had not studied what I should have. Part of me wants to throw up.

Breathe, breathe...D's get degrees...D's get degrees...

Insanity...

Did you realize that you are now protected under the law from nasty blog comments? That's right! According to the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act you can receive 2 years in jail for being annoying by crank blogging.
What about me being annoyed by reading some stupidity on someone else's blog? What about those bloggers who are intentionally controversial (you know who you are)? Does it only address people who flame a post or does it include the posting owner? Who defines annoying?
For any of you that feel you need legal protection from a simple-minded twit that might crank comment your blog, get off my Internet.
For those who feel like flaming - I'm feeling easily annoyed today.

Back to normal (or what most closely resembles it)...

Josh & Jayme got back to Minnesota (in one piece) and driving a new used car. They found a 2002 Impala for a great price and headed back for classes and work. I'm sure they are relieved to be home after what turned out to be a trip from hell.

My vacation is officially over. I go back to work tomorrow (can you feel the pout?) I SO need to win the lottery. I am WAY too good at loafing and they always say you should do what you're good at.

The Christmas decorations are down. Late to go up - late to come down.

Jake and I went geocaching yesterday. I am willing to admit how much I hurt last night and today. My surgical hip (the one I like to think of as bionic) is doing great. The other one - yeah, that's another story. The surgeon warned me that I would need that one done eventually, but I had been pain free for quite a while, so thought maybe he was mistaken. I guess this is just my little reminder that I have another worthless joint that will need repairing sometime in the hopefully distant future.

Thank God...

My oldest and my daughter-in-law headed back to Minnesota yesterday. They were planning to stop to say good-bye to her mom and stepfather and then continue on to her dad's for the night before starting the trek north this morning.

Shortly after they left here I got a frantic call from my son. They had been stopped on the highway, turn signal on, waiting to turn onto the road that her mom lives on when they got rear-ended by a high school kid. The nose of his car went under their back bumper, lifted up the back end and spun them around and into the other lane. The car is totaled (as is everything that was in their trunk), but they are fine, Zoe my grandpuppy is fine. The stupid kid is fine.

He admitted that he was going to fast and couldn't stop. There were other drivers who stopped and reported to the police on the scene that the turn signal was on. All that aside, it doesn't take away from the hassle.

They will be here in Iowa for a few more days making car arrangements, insurance arrangements, etc. Hopefully there won't be any whiplash or the like to deal with.

Narnia...

I really needed to get out and take my mind off the Outback Bowl yesterday, so took my twins to see The Chronicles of Narnia.

We all thought the movie was very good even though some of the special effects were very lame. The shot where the kids are on the rock bridge thing...come on. Movies have been putting in fake backgrounds for years. I could have done better in Photoshop, for crying out loud. All in all, those type of moments were minor annoyances and the story still stands up as one of the great ones.

They got the entire series of books for Christmas and can't wait to delve into them.

Highway robbery in Florida!

OMG! The Iowa Hawkeyes were just MUGGED by seven men in stiped shirts. According to eyewitnesses all wore hats (one white), most wore whistles around their necks and carried yellow flags protruding from their pockets (likely a gang symbol of some type).

Although the entire ordeal was caught on tape, it is unlikely the perpetrators will be punished in any way.

Geocaching...

Jake and I went geocaching for the first time on Dec 31. What a blast!! We are totally hooked.

I set up a new blog devoted to our new hobby. I took some pictures from our first day and have some of them posted on Flickr. There is a link to them on the new blog.

Check it out!