Ramble Ramble

So first things first. That sale that I have linked on the top of this page. Yeah the one in my shop. Anyway, today is the last day. So if you want something I suggest you get it now. Also if you spend more than $50, cafepress has their own sale going on and the coupon link can be found in my sidebar either here or in my store. So buy something before my prices go back up.
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I am expecting to be in an article in the student newspaper, which comes out either today or tomorrow. And hopefully that will give a boost to book sales, or at least interest. It's funny, knowing that it's out there, and not having any clue about how it's doing. Being slightly pessimisstic (especially considering the cafepress sales :P) I don't think it's doing wonderful, but I really don't know.

School is going ok. (Yeah that all I have to say about that. It's school, what else can really be said?)

Umm, yeah. I can't think of anything else to say, and I should probably head out if I want to walk to class.

Later.

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News Junkie

So many of you have heard me refer to myself this way in the past. But today I'll give you my breakdown. Just so you can see how bad it is.

myway.com- I browse the ap sections of top and national, and then I browse all sections of tech, science and health.

LANL- The most recent press releases are on the front page.

Sandia- I click on the news releases link to be taken to the most recent.

NMT- It's where I go to school, and sometimes interesting stuff comes out of there.

KOBtv- The news station I tend to watch, and they update their website fairly well.

New Mexican- Usually focuses on Santa Fe Area news, but it has a nice dabbling of national and world.

Newsreal- I can't listen live right now, but I still check in on Sean's LJ to see what he's reporting on. And then I download archives over the weekend.

Finally, when I'm up and interested, Nightline.

I also tend to find news in forums and of course in the Rudicus Report. And I watch local and national news on the tv if I'm around at the right times.

Anyway. There you go, my daily news routine (at least on weekdays).

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while I'm ranting...

ok, read the next post first and then come back to this one.




Read it? Good.

So while we're talking about needless prescriptions. Check out this article.

Geez is all I have to say.

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Whatever happened to chicken soup?

So in my quest for news I came across this article.

It discusses how patients are demanding drugs and how doctors are unable (sometimes unwilling) to dissuade them of those wants.

While it mostly focuses on antibiotics, and how the body can be more susceptible for longer periods of time after using them, I was surprised by the things people are demanding antibiotics for.

One thing that was mentioned was urinary tract infections (UTI). Now I'll admit that I've had a few. But I've never gone to the doctor because of it. I went online and looked at symptoms and OTC cures. And what did I find as an OTC cure and preventative? Cranberry juice. Yeah, simple ain't it? And cheap too, especially compared to prescription medicines. Drink a little for a few days if you even think you're getting a UTI and you'll never get it. At least that has been my experience.

Another thing was the common cold. Who needs antibiotics for a cold? Seriously, I don't get it. You get a cold, you get some cough drops, lots of kleenex and you make a big pot of chicken soup. Research indicates that grandma's cure is still one of the best. And it's easy to make when you're sick too. Boil some chicken, remove from bones and then add whatever veggies you want to the broth. Cook until done. You can be half dead on cold medicine and still make a good chicken soup, it's that easy. If you're like me you chase that soup with chili for the next meal, and you're over that cold in a hurry. Vitamin C and capsiacin, what a combo for knocking out anything.

And patients don't listen when doctors tell them that there aren't any medicines that will do the job. Like for a virus. Not much can be done for those, yet people still demand drugs. Try water, and chicken soup, instead. At least then you won't be making things worse for when you really do need antibiotics, and you'll save money again.

Anyhow... this is just another case of the sheeple following the orders of mass media again. But it does irritate me that these people won't even listen to people who went to school for a long time to know what they are talking about.

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Anti-hate

So after pondering the latest stunt from our favorite psycho-christain (Phelps) I put a new design up in the store. It's in the current events section, and Says "Hate is not a virtue"

Anyway, for more information on the latest Phelps insanity check out the Rudicus Report, so that I don't have to post something that I am already discussing elsewhere.

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busy day

So mondays have become my busy days. Actually I should change that to busy evenings. I have a class in the morning and then from 3:30 to 8, I am in class.

Of course that is fine, it's nice to have one full day and then a bunch of easy days. But I will have to figure out a place to put in something to eat. Oh well, I'll get it figured out.

Ok, enough about Mondays.

So I had to turn on word verification last night. I ended up on that next blog button, and I had a number of comment spams in just a few minutes. Sorry, but I don't need to be advertised to on my blog and neither do you.

So I went shopping with my mother this weekend. She was looking for a dress for my brother's wedding. We started out in downtown Santa Fe, and were disappionted. It is so touristy it is disgusting. There are no nice clothes shops that we saw, it was all bright and imported.

So after we left downtown we went to the old mall, and mom found a nice outfit at ross, but not mother of the groom material. So her hunt continues. And me, who didn't need clothes, managed to spend $50 yesterday.

Anyway, enough for today.

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word verification

sorry, had to delete five spams in less than a half hour. I got tired of deleting those things, so I turned it on.

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new blog

so in order to have a convient place for my digital photography, and because I need a place to store it for class I have started another blog.

It won't be posted to as often as this or the rant because it really is for my photography class right now.

But if you have the strange urge to check it out. Phoenixwaller Photos

Later

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More problems

I can't believe this semester. I swear, it's like one problem after another.

Luckily it isn't so bad right now, but it is still an annoyance.

Here's the scoop.

I signed my last financial aid paperwork a week ago, not having any indication that there had been more to be signed until the last minute. But it still hasn't show up as having cleared my student account. And on top of that only half my stafford loan has hit.

Now with the stafford I think there was some policy change that forced it to go to two disbursements, but I'm not sure.

Either way, I now have a check out on my mother's credit card that needs to be repaid as soon as I get this money. I also have at least one set of payments on my old student loans before I'll know if my request for deferrment was granted. And that's around $200.

In other, me, news. I was interviewed and had my picture taken for Paydirt (the student newspaper). Maybe that will help sales of Torn a little bit.

Speaking of which, if any of you have read it please drop some feedback. Either here or amazon/BN. I'd really like some feedback other than Sarah's just so I can get a general idea of acceptance. Believe me, it's hard being in the dark.

Anyhow, I was just invited to lunch with some friends. So I gotta go. Catch ya'll later.

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did she SAY that she was pro-choice?

So clicking through the news today I came across this article.

It talks about how one of the editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) started recieveing hate mail right after the article about fetus pain came out. Now don't get me wrong, I am a fence sitter, but I sit on the pro-life side of the fence.

Anyway, back to article discussion.

This article about fetus pain comes out and all of a sudden this gal is getting hate mail from strong pro-lifers. One even says that they will pray for her soul.

Come on, is this necessary? To me it is no different than expelling members of churches who voted democrat or expelling judges from churches because the ruling didn't coincide with the bible.

People do what needs to be done, and they should not be harrassed for doing something that needed to be done. In this case it appears that this needed to be investigated because of laws that are being written in several states and this information was asked for.

But to all of those hard-line CC's out there. Get a clue. Seriously. Sometimes duty and faith don't go together. And faith don't exactly bring in a paycheck.

Sometimes people can't do what the bible says. And I hate to say it, but your morality doesn't necessarily equal my morality. So don't badger me or anyone else about it, because who gave you the right to try and control the feelings and emotions of anyone else?

Grr. Sorry, but it really upsets me when people get all high and mighty and then take it out on someone who really had no other choice.

To end this I'd like to say to the editors of JAMA. I can support your decision to investigate the matter and publish your findings. They will hopefully be to the greater good of all people and will vastly enhace issues dealing with fetal health. These finding, I feel, will help to determine the level of accidental trauma if a fetus is injured and will help to save lives. Thank you for your devotion to your work and to the medical community.

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Feed the addiction.

Yep, you guessed it. More designs in my store. I even added a whole new section entitled 'Geek seeking Geek.' Now all I need is for you, my loyal blog readers, to go and visit my store and give me feedback. Even if you don't buy anything I could use some sort of feedback on how it looks and whether my designs are even worth bothering with. Now there are links splattered all over this page, but here it is again: Phoenixwaller Designs

I also wanted to discuss an item in the news that got me opinionated enough to make a current events category for the store.

This article talks about the war in Iraq. And one thing really struck me.

"We will win"

Hmmm whatever happened to "mission accomplished"? Didn't we hear "mission accomplished" 2 years ago? So why have we now gone to "we will win"?

In the same article the guy who runs this place also said that we will not leave as long as he is president. Now I don't know about you, and I didn't live through it, but doesn't this sound like Vietnam era talk? We all know that war is good for big business, and it sure does seem that big business is all that Bush really cares about.

YES! I still am a republican. But I'm tired of the lip service this guy is giving us. He won't even listen to some of the things coming from his own party (stem cells anyone?). And while he keeps the media focused on his war we have had such wonderful things such a the New Comission for Mental Health fly under the radar and reccommend mental screening for ALL children. And IT PASSED! Yet we never heard about it. And it gets worse. If you refuse to screen your kids, or medicate them if it is recommended then you, as parents, could face jail.

And don't even get me started on 'No Child left Behind' because that is the biggest joke the school systems have seen in a long while. And it's damaging to the kids. But hey, if your kid doesn't learn fast enough now they may prescribe something for them and then you'd have to force feed your kids drugs. Maybe that will help.

Back to article discussion.

Have we accomplished anything over there since the elections? Besides more bodies I mean.

I distinctly hear the sound of crickets.

Ok, how about terrorists. Have we diminished their numbers?

Whisteling noises.

Right then, so what are we doing over there? I can understand a small security force to help while the Iraqi army gets up to snuff. But MORE TROOPS? All we are doing is making it cheaper for the terrorists to kill Americans, they don't even have to by plane tickets across the ocean any more.

Mr. President, if you want to fight terrorism then you'd better start in your own office. Because it's our foreign policy that's causing the problems in the first place.

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Television

So even though my computer is also my television, I don't have TV right now. My co-ax cable is too short. I mean it's only about 10 feet short, and I'm not in the mood to buy another really long cable.

So that means that I am waiting for Wal-mart to get some shorter cables. I think I'm gonna get a 12 footer and either a splitter or a thru. That way I'll be able to use what I have.

Over the past few days I have discovered what I really miss about TV. I miss Nightline. The rest of it is kinda fluff, but somehow that dose of news right before bed seems to impact me in ways that I never expected. Of course that's probably because it's different than the rest of the news, but I miss it.

I still am having streaming audio problems. I really don't get it. If it was on their end there would be people screaming in the forums about it, yet not a whisper. So that means it is somewhere on my end.

To remedy the audio problems I went through some basic troubleshooting stuff last night. I updated the drivers on my network card, ran a virus scan, I even defragmented my hard drive (even though I knew that it wouldn't be that, and it didn't need it).

I'm even trying to listen right now, when most people would be in class. So I know that it is not major bandwidth usage either.

Grrr. How am I supposed to listen to internet radio when it buffers every few seconds?

If anybody has any ideas why it might be doing this to me leave a comment. I would really like to get my radio station working.

Anyway, I got to finish getting ready for class. Bye All.

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Internet

So web pages seem to be loading fine to me today, but streaming audio is horrible. I buffer ever few seconds and it skips and ... ugh it is horrible.

So I don't know if it is on my end, or if it's their end. Right now it's worse than if I were listening to it on dial up. And I know world of warcraft is a huge game right now, but how many players does it take to bog down a T1 line enough where I can't even listen to a 24k stream? And why would web pages be loading fine if the connection was that overloaded?

So I'm in republican country now. Which means pretty much nothing here, but it does mean that we will probably see a change over at the rant. (Please, please visit the rant. I had some good page loads earlier this month, but now I'm seeing traffic of one or two people day) Even though I don't know how much the perspective will shift over there quite yet.

Anyway, I got to go and see if my professor is in. So check out the rant, check out my store. and I'll talk to you all later.

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School

Hey all,

So I have internet. Yay! I'm still working on catching up on what I missed the past few days, and since some of you can blog like mad people I may have to give up and just start fresh with the current posts.

SO my financial aid was still messed up. I found out on Saturday that I still had something else to sign, and even though I was able to do it on the internet that night... well it still hadn't posted as of this morning.

So I ended up puttin almost $2500 on my mother's credit card. Oh boy... Luckily I should get that before too long as the aid kicks in and other stuff takes effect, and then I can pay her back.

Tomorrow... I need to go see the prof for the one real class I have. The prerequisites changed and now I will have to get a waiver to get into the class. I hope he doesn't try and give me shit about it. He knows that this is the only class I need for that second degree and I have taken it before so hopefully he won't want me to go back and take a basic class.

Other then that I have all day tomorrow to do whatever needs to be done, including sitting here and seeing what's available campus-job-wise via monsterjobs.

SO I had my picture taken for the student newspaper today. But I still have not heard from the reporter who is supposed to interview me. A little strange, I think. They have a picture, and yet nothing to go with it. Hopefully this will be remedied tomorrow or the next day.

I also found out that my roomate is in the same circuits class as I am. I hope that that will help. Maybe something as simple as somebody else right there will give me the kick in the pants that I need.

Anyhow, I don't have much else to say right now. But I will again ask for people to check out my book, and Phoenixwaller Designs. I do have a sale right now on phoenixwaller designs, and cafepress has another sale. So buy before the end of August to double up. And I opened with new designs, so along with my older stuff you can now browse my do not disturb section, and my misc. section includes 'n07 1337' and 'yeah I'm looking.../ But I ain't desperate.' So I will post the banner to the cafepress sale in the sidebar here, and in the sidebar on the store page.

Bye.

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another picture of Tigger. Why? so that I can use the link from the posted pic for my avatar. 

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Support a poor college student

Sorry I didn't get around to posting again yesterday. Frustration and exhaustion kinda got in the way.

So I went to Socorro yesterday to try and get everything settled so I would not have to fuss with it on monday.

Yeah right.

I managed to get into my room ok, but that was about the only thing I accomplished. I had meant to get my schedule up to par and get validated so I could avoid the gym on monday. Nope, not happening. Thay changed the rules. And while I could probably validate, I couldn't change my schedule. I can only do that on monday. well, screw that then.

So I ended up driving 2 hours each way to hang out with friends for a few hours and get my microwave into my room. I would have been better off waiting until tomorrow.

It also looks like I will have to pay some money when I get down there... I swear I have never had this many problems before. While most of my loans have gone through, it looks like one is still pending. So I may have to borrow mom's credit card and then pay her back when the loan goes through. And I will have NO spending cash, unlike all previous semesters.

Suddenly I'm feeling very poor.

I did buy a lotto ticket, but what are the chances of that happening? (1 in 80 mil if I remember right)

So Please everyone help me out... Check out the book, and if you're interested pick up a copy.

Also, I opened up another cafepress shop. This is a premium, and if it works I can get rid of the million basics. But it will cost money to keep, so please check out what I got and pick up something. (X-mas is just a few months away...hint hint)

Phoenixwaller Designs

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Checking in

Hey all...

I didn't forget you out there. Just been driving and doing other stuff most of today.

I'm in Socorro as I write this, having not accomplished much except 2 hours of driving and a little sweat from carrying a microwave upstairs.

Anyway I'll make a longer post later tonight or tomorrow.

Bye.

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accidents, traffic and bad drivers

so I-25 was closed not too far from my house yesterday. A fuel tanker had crashed and exploded, and fuel was all over the ground and road.

So this created a mess for everyone. Northbound lanes were closed all day, and I think the articles I've read said that there was only one southbound lane and then only after rush hour.

Now the reason I mentioned my proximity is because the highway was so bad that it mildly affected my own commute, which doesn't touch the highway.

Yes, there is a backroad. For those who know about it, or follow others. Or maybe traffic was actually being diverted that way. But when I got into my main road into Santa Fe I could see that people coming from the highway shortcut were lined up probably half a mile back. Eeks.

And then of course some were running late, and riding my ass. While others weren't comfortable with the road and taking it slow. FUUUUN.

Anyway, then there was another accident on highway 14 (the road I use). Whether it was due to the increased traffic or would have happened anyway I don't know. But it only seemed to aggrivate the traffic coming from I-25.

So according to the news state police started reopening I-25 about 9 last night.

And that brings us to this. The thing that made me write this today.

Idiot drivers. Seriously. The highway was closed for something like 16 hours. So why does some old guy think that he has the right to try and cut in line, and then hit a cop who tries to stop him? What mindset says that it's cool to hit cops with cars and then run?

Now the guy obviously didn't accomplish much by hitting the cop, because the cop was able to hop in a squad car and chase the guy down. But seriously... What would cause that level of stupidity?

Ok, I'll end this before I get into the drivers cutting in line rant.

Have a good day everyone. :-)

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Last day...

This is my last weekday of work before going back to school. I will still be working on some saturdays here, but school is just too far to try and work up here. 2 hours far, and one gas station this morning jumped to $2.79/gal. Ouch.

So don't worry, I will still be posting. It just may get a little more sporadic, especially over the next few days. I hope that once I get settled down there I will be able to resume some sort of regular posting and reading schedule.

Back to the gas... Ouch. At that price it costs more than thirty dollars to fill up my little car. And I hate to say it, but at some point something will have to give. I hope that I can make it back home for the weekends all semester, otherwise my mom will go crazy with my birds. But I can't afford for gas to cost more than food for the week. I managed for five years to feed three people on $50/week, but that was before we were getting slaughtered by gas prices, which is starting to affect food prices as well.

And a question about gas. I missed the whole oil embargo thing. But I hear tale that people learned to conserve gas during that period, and that the government imposed fuel efficiency standards so that less fuel was consumed. Now granted, we aren't suffering from an enforced shortage, but we are seeing higher prices due to higher demand. So why aren't people working on conserving, and why are we still seeing SUV's that get crap mileage? Why are these money pits still so popular?

I just have a hard time accepting the silence that is surrounding this. We all complain in the shadows, but the only thing we hear about gas in the news is the new price of oil in the markets. And this has to be hurting the economy. I can't afford some things that I'd like because I have to put that money into my gas tank. I'm sure that there are more like me.

Gas--->money--->Jobs.

Onto jobs... and minimum wage. Why have we not seen a national minimum wage increase in several years? If I went somewhere without a living wage law I would probably have a hard time getting paid what I do here. And I still have to budget just right to make my bills. At the current minimum wage anybody working full time would be considered poverty level, even with 2 household members working full time min wage. I'm sorry, but if you've got two full time people working a household should be able to get above poverty.

My father would say that this is part of a republican conspiracy to keep the poor, poor. But I have a hard time trying to keep my mouth shut, because it's been since before the current administration that this has gone on. But in his eyes clinton did no wrong.

Ok enough ranting for today.

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Now what am I again?

I took this quiz after seeing it causing laughs in a forum. Anybody else see a paradox in my results??

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth. Buddhism 79% Satanism 71% Hinduism 63% Islam 58% Judaism 50% Christianity 46% agnosticism 42% Paganism 42% atheism 38% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

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Bored

I'm bored, very bored.... So bored I have nothing to talk about.

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Monday Mish Mash

So it's been raining the past few days. Of course we've all been happy about that. We need rain.

School. I'm going back. Later this week I move into the room, and classes start next Tues. I'm kinda worried. Right now I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a job and not have to defer my loan payments. But they are around $200/ mo and I have other bills that need to be paid.

The flip side is my schedule... It is great. I may not have as hard a time getting a job because my schedule is so nice.

Circuits... I hope that I'll be able to get around my emotional block on this subject so that I can get this degree.

Dark System. Coming along, but I don't know if I'll reach my goal. But it may still be possible. I can feel the end coming, I just don't know how quickly. Now remember that this is only the first book, and the other two are still developing in my head. So I probably won't write the trilogy all in one shot, I'll probably take a break and move onto something else for a little while.

Money. Troublesome little concern. Unfortunately money is kind of important, and I don't have any. Now I know that this came up earlier when I talked about loan repayment, but it needs to be stated again. I know that eventually everything will work out, but with the gas prices I'll be spending $30/ week if not more in gas and couple that with bills, food, and other expenses and I really am concerned.

I guess I should stop for now.

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License plates and Gimp

So I've been thinking about licesne plates lately, and specifically front plates.

Now I live in a state that doesn't require front plates, but there are several nearby states that do. Now I know the official reason for requiring front plates is probably something like for the cops to be able to identify the status of a car coming toward them. But I think the real reason is so that when these people leave their state those front plates act as a warning to the unfortunate people who are in front of them.

I'll admit that the people in my state drive like loons, but geez... the visitors can drive even worse. Maybe these people can't get used to driving in relatively light traffic, maybe they think that we like them riding our asses, maybe they think that our cops won't ticket them because they are out of state. For whatever reason out of state drivers can be worse than the locals.

What's even worse is that you can tell how they will try to intimidate you by the front plate that is racing up behind you. Someone from California will ride your ass so close that you can't see their headlights, while someone from Colorado will swerve like a drunkard trying to find which side to pass you on. Texans are probably the easiest to deal with, they ride your ass until they see an opening and then kick up dust at your car as they race around.

The upside to all of those... somehow those people at least know how to use turn signals, unlike those from here.

So how can you tell drivers from other states where you live?

And onto the other topic in the title... Gimp.

I've been playing with Gimp again the past few days, and I created a few designs that I like. So I did what any addict would do, I uploaded them to cafe press in a new shop called space dreams. I'll probably add more over the next few days as I make more designs. But it's neat to be able to make design that I like so easily, especially since I can't draw.

So enough for today. Have a nice weekend everybody.

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Immigration

So the topic of illegal immigration has been rollercoastering through the news lately. Since we are in a down slope I feel that now is a good time to express my opinion on the issue. Now keep in mind that I mostly refer to those from the south of us... ie: Mexicans.

Probably the biggest lame excuse I hear about why we should stop illegal immigration is that they 'steal jobs.' Hmmm, they aren't taking my job, and I don't want the jobs that illegal immigrants do take. So for those of you complaining about all the lost jobs... go get in line for these: standing in septic tanks to troubleshoot problems, washing dishes in restaurants, and the big winner... migrant farm worker moving around depending on the season and spending all day bent over picking vegetables.

Yeah, I thought so.

So on to the next lame excuse. Terrorism! Illegal immigrants are terrorists. Hmmm, we didn't call them that before 9-11, so how come the sudden switch. Last I checked the reason they were coming here was so that they could make money. So if they went to the middle east and took the terrorism training course wouldn't that have cost money that they didn't have in the first place?

Hmm another myth debunked.

So lame excuse #3. They take away resources. Now this one can have some truth to it. There are a number of immigrants who are ghosts in the system, and they are therefore not subject to the taxes that the rest of us are. This means that we pay for their children to go to school and we pay their medical expenses. So to that I say let's get these people legalized. Then they will be subject to the same rules as the rest of us, and then won't be a drain on the system.

Solution??

So you all don't think I am totally brainwashed. I do realize that there are a number of true problems.

Language: Yes there is a language barrier, and I do believe that they need to learn at least some basics of English. If they're going to live here, and try to actually fit into society, they need to make that effort.

Problem people: Like all people there are the good, and then there are the bad. I have met a number of illegl people in my life who are hard workers and have come here to make a better life for themselves and their families. But I have also heard of those others. You know, the ones who work only as much as they need in order to get shitfaced or high, the ones who cause problems and then run back over the border in order to escape our laws.

Now I'm not saying in any way that illegal immigration is a good thing. I think that these people should have to go through the system like everybody else. But it's not the downfall of society that some claim it is.

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was the carpet thirsty?

So I walk into work this morning, to find that a huge section of carpet is soaked. Joy. so I'm sitting here right now with a big fan blowing on the carpet. I have a wet/dry vac available, but only a 1.5 inch hose and no bigger head for it, so it's not very helpful. And for the size it would take me all day with just the hose to vaccuum up all of this water.

So off the topic of work... Last night I had one of those horrible nagging feelings. Like I had said or done something incredibly stupid, but I couldn't figure out what. Well by the time I woke up this morning the feeling had passed, but how strange.

Continuing on. My internet connection problems seem to be easing. Yesterday, at the end of the day I was having no problems at all. So hopefully that will continue.

Can't think of much more to say right now, so I guess I'll stop.

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Still slightly slow, but muuuuch better

SO eventually my internet problems got so bad that I wasn't able to recieve any data at all. But we did pin it down to a hardware/driver problem.

Yes... we. When it got it's worst I was just heading out to lunch, and I asked one of the people sitting outside of the coffee shop if he was having the same problems. He wasn't and offered to help. So after lunch and a virus scan and yet another reboot, I took him up on the offer.

After trying different browsers to make sure that it wasn't a browser problem (which I had already done, but no harm in checking) he set up his laptop so that I could connect through his ad-hoc. When that didn't solve the problem he uninstalled the drivers on the wireless card and on reboot forced windows to refresh the drivers. And that helped.

So this morning I went in and got driver updates for the wireless, and it is doing even better. But it is still slow, but not nearly as bad.

Anyway... I'm hoping that whatever happened is fixed, or almost and that it doesn't happen again.

So, on to other news. Only a week and a half until I head back to school. I'm both ready and not. I would like to go ahead and get it over with, and get that engineering degree. But at the same time... I've had the taste of no homework and I like having free time again.

I do need to remember that this will probably not be bad in the homework dept. I only have one real class. The one I need to finish the degree. The rest of my classes are fun and easy so that I can get to full time status. If i remember right I've got glass (3x), dance(2x), digital photography, jazz band, and basic circuit analysis. Guess which is the real class. Yeah, the circuits. Ugh. I just hope that I can get over my problems with that subject.

OK, enough for today.

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Internet molasses

Ugh. Can't get anything done when the internet is slow. I started off thinking that it was the other end, I know that the servers for some sites I frequent have been funny lately. But now I've had to change my thoughts on that. The whole thing is slow today, which means it's somewhere on my end. And I mean really slow, it can take more than a minute to load pages that are already cached and I'm (supposedly) on high speed wireless Now just to figure out where the problems are.

I'm on wireless, but I'm getting a decent signal, so that's not it. So we can start from the connection leading into the coffee shop, then out to phone company and DNS servers and then I don't know where.

But to throw another wrench into the equation... the store computer has DSL and my streaming radio keeps breaking up. NOw that could be upload problems on their end, but coupled with my own problems today...

And I've been trying to get the bumpersticker of today up since about 10 this morning, and it is just after noon right now. I've been leaving the latest attempt uploading for probably 45 minutes now, and since the image button in the create post section has never worked for me I can only rely on hello to do it.

Speaking of bugs in the system... I had funny disappearing text problems on this blog last week. Once the entire post was gone except for the title, the rest of the time the last paragraph or two would disappear. I even went as far as putting a test line in at the end of friday's post, but it never appeared. And I will put in a test line today as well, so if it's not there then I still have the same problems.

So we heard that Peter Jennings died last night. Sad to hear. Personally I was always a fan of Tom Brokaw, but Jennings was a great journalist and I'm sure he will be sorely missed in the news reporting community.

We also heard this morning that the shuttle landing was delayed because of bad weather over florida. Next chance is California, and if it's still bad.... White Sands!

We also have a presidential visit in Albuquerque today. Oh boy, big news. He's expected to sign the energy legislation out here. But last I checked a lot of people out here weren't happy with that bill, so I wonder how THAT will go over. Of course that's just what we'd expect this guy to do, go to the blue section of a purple state, to sign a red bill... Joy.

So on to the test...

ramble...

ramble...

***test line***

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Bumper Sticker rant

So I'm not getting the traffic I would like to see for Bumper Sticker Rant. The first few months I was showing a nice trend in visitors, but last month I had a drop in visitor counts. And so far, this month isn't shaping up to look any better.

Now I was greeted last night with a little boost. Someone had dropped the rant url into the chat over at KoL. I think I know who it was, and thanks, but even still I only have about a third of the traffic over there as compared to here already this month.

SO to give you some numbers... Last month Daily Ramblings had 497 Unique Visitors. Now I know that included repeat visitors who didn't return in the specified returning time, but it's a respectable number. It shows a marked increase over June, and that is the trend that one would expect, and want, to see.

On the other hand... Bumper Sticker Rant had only 144 unique visitors, compared with 222 in June. Ouch! Decreasing numbers are never good.

So I need to figure out ways to bring up those numbers. I have considered contests. But I don't have any money for prizes right now.

Things that I'm already doing include... Putting business cards on the cars that I get pics from, having banners on this blog, my web site, and posts in forums. I also notified my local newspaper some months back when they were asking for reader blogs, and they have a link to the Rant on their website. I have also submitted to search engines.

Coming up, I'm going to revamp the signatures in my email and it'll get included in that. And eventually I'll get enough money to buy something from my own stores with the url so that I'll advertise more.

So do any of you have any good ideas for increasing traffic?

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...

So I was busy this morning, and hadn't had a chance to update this thing. And I decided to just quick throw a post on and then come back later and do some real thinking.

Well something must have gone wrong and my quickly jotted post didn't do anything at all. So since I'm in the middle of my lunch I'll re-do this post, and hopefully I'll be able to get something with real content on later.

Anyway... to mark my still not having sold a thing with those stores, I'm announcing a sale. I have marked down items in all five of my Cafepress shops in an attempt to sell something. So here is the rundown. Please visit, and remember that the sale ends Aug. 31.

So here is the breakdown.

The Torn Gift Shop and the Bumper Sticker Rant Store both have been marked down to cost.

Desert Photography, Miss-Takes, and Stuck in the Political Middle have all been marked down to the lowest pricing tier, which usually means not more than a dollar over cost.

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Global warming anyone??

So on the way to work this morning my overactive mind wandered over to the topic of global warming and climate change. Now this has been in the news, with most people claiming that it exists and our president claiming that it's all in our heads.

So if there is anybody out there who agrees with the guy with monetary blinders on... here are the signs that I am seeing that global warming and climate change are actually problems.

temperature- UGH... has it ever been hot. I am in a comfortable position to discuss this. I was born and raised in the city in which I currently reside, so I can compare the heat of now to the heat of then. And since my parents are news junkies we can't even factor in the magnification of age because I remember, not individual but general, newscasts.

When I was younger the temperature out here would usually top out when still in the low 80's sometimes high 70's, I mean if it got over ninety we called heat wave. And even then the temperatures only reached those levels in late July and August. This year we have been in the 90's since the end of may. And even farther north, Denver had it's highest temperature ever just over a week ago.

And the past few winters have been relatively mild as well. Fewer days with snow, and where I used to have to wear a heavy jacket all winter long these past few winters I have been able to get away with only a light fleece jacket on all but the coldest days.

animals- I have seen change in some animals about. Now some of these changes can be attributed to population spread, but not all. Probably the most noticable is a new bird species to me this year. I remember in years past seeing a few of these birds, but not in the numbers of this year. They are about the size of a sparrow, but a gorgeous blue. Out here a blue bird stands out, so I generally notice when I see one. And before this year I probably wouldn't have even used up fingers and toes counting how many I'd seen. But this year they were abundant.

I also have to say something about horny toads, as we call them. Now some say that this species is disappearing because of kids like me. I guess they are allergic to human skin oils. But I haven't seen one of these animals since I was ten or twelve. Not even where my parents live now. And there aren't enough people out there to decimate an animal population like there is in town. So where did they go?

weeds- We have some of the strangest weeds this year. Tall stalky things, and they are overtaking our normal weeds, which stay low to the ground and spread out to capture moisture. Now I know that these are most likely the result of heavy spring rains, but we have never seen these weeds before even in wet years. So there must be more than one factor in their appearance.

global- And finally we come to the recent warnings to coastal areas to prepare for an even worse hurricane season. Last year was bad, and it seems like this year will meet it.

famine in Niger and surrounding areas. locusts and not enough rain, why?

permafrost and glaciers melting.

heat wave deaths in Arizona.

and those are just off the top of my head.

So what have you all noticed that shows change in our environment?

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On giving instrucions...

So my father is building a covered porch for my grandmother. Which would be fine, except he does what should take five men to build safely with only between 1-3 people. Of course you can add one to the person number if you can count the tractor as a person...

So at this point you should all realize that me and my mother are the other two people in that number. Which makes for intersting work. I mean he expects us to be as strong as he is, and read his mind, or know without him telling us what he expects us to do.

Which brings us to the topic of the title. Yesterday we were having to raise a large L-shaped piece and attach it to the house (Keep in mind that this is after both me and my mother had worked all day already). It was hers and my job to raise an at least a hundred pound beam over our heads and keep it from falling as he tried to drop the other beam into a hole. Obviously, frustrations on his side mounted as he realized that two short women just can't grow to get the beam as high as he needed it.

In comes the extension ladder... It became my job to get on one end and use said ladder to raise the end of the beam.

At this point let's make it clear that I have a healthy dislike for ladders. And I have NEVER used an extension ladder before.

SO of course I didn't use the ladder right. All I was told was to keep the top of the ladder holding the beam steady as it moved up the wall. No instructions as to how to do it. So I did what seemed logical to me, I scooted the ladder a little and used the extension together to prop up this beam. I guess I did it wrong, because my father had to come "fix" my mistake. Which seemed to consist of telling me that I had done it wrong, and move the legs back while keeping the beam up with the extension only.

SO then, with my mistake "fixed", he goes over to the pole that is dropped into the ground. And decides that it needs to be raised up some. SO he picks up on this heavy pole and tells my mother to throw some dirt into the hole. But the shovels are fifteen feet away, at least, around on my other side. So he's yelling at my mother to hurry while she is having to run and grab a shovel while he's holding up this pole. Why didn't put it down? It had been down before, so I'm still trying to figure out why he had to hold it up while she ran for the shovel.

To make a long story short, we eventually got this thing where he wanted it, and he got it atached to the wall. But geez, instructions would help... especially when there aren't enough people to do this safely. I grew up having to help with projects with minimal instruction, but you'd think he'd learn that things go better when he explains what he wants rather than say "do it".

Oh well... can't teach an old man new tricks.

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Recess Appointment

So I read this morning that our esteemed leader went ahead with the recess appointment of John Bolton. Oh Boy! Just what we need! A guy who is on record of saying theat the UN is a worthless organization is now going to represent us there.

Now I'll admit to being a republican, but did it ever occur to our side that the democrats may have a reason for blocking the nomination? I mean these guys were risking quite a bit to try and block this guy, including possible loss of the fillibuster. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't take that big a risk unless there was a good reason.

So right now the Word from the UN is that they welcome the appointment of Mr. Bolton. But that is the PR front, I wonder what people really think. I mean would you be welcoming a guy with outstretched arms if he called your place of employment worthless?And how willing would you be to work with that guy?

And then there is the stigma of a recess appointment itself. The guy could not be confirmed by the traditional means, so the president had to wait and buck the system. What kind of message is that sending? I have the feeling that he will not be taken seriously, he was handed a job that he should have had to earn.

So recess appointment... good? bad? ugly? debate it in the comments.

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