Is Sarah Palin Really A Blithering Idiot?

Someone was pointing out that, in their opinion, Sarah Palin is "a blithering idiot."

But I'm really not sure. How much intelligence do you need to blither? Is she able to do it?

Bad Motel Policy

This isn't an actual motel policy. But I was thinking of the small print on the door of the motel. I was at a motel for a few days over the weekend. I was looking at the small print on the door.

One weird thing I noticed is they had the "room rate" at a figure over 3 times the actual room rate. Making me think there must be some kind of official reason they do that. Like they don't want to keep updating the door every time they might raise rates. And no one is going to complain if the rate on the door isn't the price they had to pay, since the stated price is outrageously high. Sounds like a good reason.

While I was there I felt very secure. Like I didn't think anyone was spying on us. But the thought occurred to me. I was thinking how they might state it in the small print: "The management of the motel reserves the right to monitor the activities of each room, whether by electronic means or otherwise." But I seriously didn't see any cameras.

It's a weird feeling being in a motel (to me). I'm thinking of all the foreign germs, i.e., ones that are foreign to my normal surroundings. I'm thinking of all the terrible things that might happen. It's a bad feeling.

Punch Drunk

Have you ever been punch drunk? I'm sure I haven't been.

We hear of people spiking the punch. Which would be to pour something from a flask into it on the sly. I guess I hang out with a better crowd usually.

Other punches. Punch your ticket. That's the way we did lunch tickets when I was a kid. Get it punched. Now they probably scan a card like a debit card. The puncher manufacturer must've taken that like a punch to the gut.

A punch to the gut is a punch that might be hard to take. How about a left punch? From out of nowhere. A haymaker.

Punch the clock. I used to punch the clock. I got a job at a place and they had a big wall of places to put your punch card. I had the very last, literally the last possible slot next to the door. There were hundreds. I was 1600.

It's been a while. So I forget. But after me, they either moved to another wall or they had to fire a few people with numbers ahead of mine.

Don't forget to punch out or you might be one of the ones fired.

A Punctuation Test

Here's an interesting punctuation test.

I missed two.

I guess I'm fairly good at commas, quotation marks, parentheses, and the other stuff. But not perfect, obviously.

I should've done better. Because I've always been very punctual.

Eating At The Chinese Place

It's a good place to eat, a Chinese restaurant. One, you get plenty of options, since they always have a buffet.

We were there a couple days ago, eating out with some friends who invited us. I like all the ways they make chicken. Some with sauce, some buffalo wings, some regular wings, some that's an entirely different color, etc.

I load up on a few things ... then most things I don't take any of.

The stuff at a Chinese restaurant that doesn't always look as appealing as it should are the deserts. They don't seem to have a good sense of what a decent desert should like like. Maybe having those clam shells sitting there (they didn't have when we were there) takes away the appeal of everything around them. But even the little cakes don't look all that appetizing.

Anyway, for the most part we enjoy our excursions out ... to the exotic confines of the Chinese restaurant.

Tea A Luxury

I saw a catalog for a tea merchant a couple days ago. But it was a catalog from 2007 so I didn't pick it up. I figured, look up their website, which I did.

It sounds great, the whole concept of tea. Drinking it. Savoring it. Which I do.

Yesterday I had this in mind. So when I got up I went and made a couple cups of tea ... one for now, one for a little later. Green tea. It's pretty good. Not a lot of taste to it, but you hear it has benefits.

After a while, I don't know why, I felt a little queasy. But I was OK for the most part.

Tea usually is one of those things that seems good for you. I hope it is. The catalog was from a place called teasource.com. I visited that site. I'm not promoting it. I don't have any financial or personal connection to it.

They had a slogan in the catalog that was something like "The most economical luxury." It had something to do with tea being a luxury, yet not being expensive like most luxuries. That's a great selling point.

But you can get plenty of decent tea just at the grocery store without ordering it. But I suppose if you want something wildly exotic, you need to check around.

The Tattoo Guy

When I get a free minute, which I haven't had yet today, I'm trying to read "The Lost Symbol," by Dan Brown.

I'm up a little ways, barely started really. But there's one character who really seems to have a bizarre description. In that he's tattooed, every inch of his body except for a little crown on the top of his head. I guess that's where the "Lost Symbol" goes. So that whenever the supernatural looks down it'll eventually see him coming. I don't know.

His name is "Mal'akh." What that means precisely, I also don't know. Mal usually means bad. Like Malfoy in Harry Potter. Or malfeasance.

Sometimes I get a "Mal'akh," a bad cough.

A Old Friend I Did Contact

Yesterday I wrote about "An Old Friend I'm Not Going To Contact."

Well, it turned out I changed my mind. I contacted her. Almost 20 years later. And she remembered me, etc., and seemed glad that I wrote to her on Facebook. Now we're friends there. More about that below.

I got to thinking, Why remain silent? Everyone's getting older. We were always on good terms, even though we only knew each other two years. It wouldn't hurt to say Hello. Just touch base, etc.

So I couldn't stand it and said Hello. She wrote me a nice note back and said she'd like to be "friends" on Facebook, so now we are.

Anyway. I changed my mind. And it worked out OK!

Tom Delay Dancing

I don't watch "Dancing With The Stars" and I'm not going to start now, with Tom Delay on it.

I see there's links to it all over the blogs today, but I'm not watching any of them. The last thing I want to see is Tom Delay.

It's bad enough just seeing the still photos, of this creep pointing at the audience, looking like the rat that he is.

Basically it comes down to this, if I want to see a turd spinning, I'll flush the toilet.

An Old Friend I'm Not Going To Contact

I just saw an old friend on Facebook. I decided to search for her name. There was one of her. And it was her. I worked with her from around 1988-1990, a couple years back then. In fact she was the supervisor of me, but we worked in a collegial way.

But I'm not going to contact her. Just because you knew someone doesn't mean there's any reason to make contact now. We don't have anything in common except that, and I quote her occasionally, some little phrase she used to say all the time.

It's interesting to see she got remarried, since she mentions the grandchildren they have between them. I suppose they don't have to be married precisely, but that's the way I take it.

Anyway, interesting to see her picture, that she's still alive, still in the same vicinity where I knew her, etc. But that's it.

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Fun

Who wouldn't like that?

Obama A Boor? No!

Peggy Noonan, who always seems like she's a bit uptight -- like she's half lost in her own thoughts about her brilliance -- reportedly called President Obama a "boor" or "boorish."

How did he get this terrible dis? Because he's making the circuit, talking up his health care plan, etc. That's all it takes? (Wow, I wonder what she said about President Bush when he was constantly in our face about "the terr'ists" and destroying Social Security. She probably thought that was the height of refinement.)

As I recall, though, President Obama campaigned on the idea that he was going to reform the health care system. And, whether snooty Peggy likes it or not, it seems like it'd be very irresponsible to not at least be making a credible effort to get it accomplished. The fact is, the Congress has been obstinate, to say the least, and the Republican opposition, in particular, has been, dare I say it?, boorish.

I know what boorish means. The Daily Kos diarist gave one official definition as "a rude, awkward, or ill-mannered person." Peggy thinks the president is that? He seems like one of the nicest guys on the planet! He's definitely nice to the Republicans, bending over backwards because of their many demands.

I think he probably should be a little more rude to the Republicans. But he's not rude now or ill-mannered, and he's certainly not awkward.

What a strange thing for Peggy to say. Or maybe not. We know her. The Democrats can do no right, the Republicans no wrong.

Charles Laughton Records

I got a copy of this record at a garage sale today, 50 big cents for a nice double LP, Capitol Records, 1962, Charles Laughton, "The Story-Teller...A Session With Charles Laughton."

It was in very nice condition, as spoken word records tend to be.

It's catalog number is TBO 1650.

What a nice album. I actually listened to the whole thing. You might not think a guy reading from books on stage would be that interesting, but it held my attention.

It seems significant that he reads from "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac. Even though I was alive in 1962, my tastes in literature at the time ran more toward Popeye and Olive Oyl. I hadn't heard of anything else. So I don't know precisely what they were saying about Kerouac in '62. But Laughton seems like he's breaking the folks in, mentioning that Kerouac has been called a beatnik, but he attributes to him the same Spirit that moved in the builders and patrons of the Chartres Cathedral and the writer of Psalm 104.

He tells a nice story about Chartres Cathedral, how he met a guy there who knew all about it, the ins and outs. And how they shared so many special moments looking at the stained glass at various times of the day. Then how they got together 25 years later, and the guy was like, "Where you been for 25 years?"

Side 2 is a reading from "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare. It's the scene where Brutus gives an address to the people, to be followed by Mark Antony. So we get to hear, with Laughton's superb reading, how Antony turns the people's opinion of Brutus and the other "honorable men."

Side 3 features a reading from "Major Barbara" by Shaw and a reading from Plato's "The Phaedrus." The latter piece touches on "sex," and it's cute to hear the audience tittering. Good thing Beavis and Butt-head weren't there.

Side 4 gives the story from the Bible's book of Daniel of "The Fiery Furnace." Laughton pronounces Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over and over, as the text speaks of them frequently by name. It's an excellent reading. I was looking along in the Bible, and also with "Julius Caesar," and Laughton leaves out some bits, probably to move it along.

The side continues with a letter from an artist about God and prayer to school children, the artist being Carl Milles. Then the last cut is a cute story called "Waculla Springs Story," of an old guy in Florida who tricks the tourists into thinking he can tell fish what to do. At first it seems like he has them trained to jump, to swim in formation, and an alligator to launch out from the shore on command. But Laughton, fascinated, keeps coming on the guy's boat excursion and finds out the tricks. He explains to the man that he, too, is "a story-teller."

Laughton seems like a very charming person. Very smart.

September 18, 1973

September 18 is always a day I think of when it rolls around.

One time, in 1973, I was going through some of the work of moving us into an apartment, student housing somewhere.

I had to walk/run part of the way, because the housing office was some distance from the actual apartment complex. But it was right at the edge of town.

So there I was on that day. And I checked this out on a moon calendar place a few years ago just to verify it. The moon was up in the western sky. Why I remember that particular day, I don't know.

Every year as far as I can recall I think of this. There was something significant about that day ... and the moon.

Our Daily Death Watch: Mary Travers

People, quit dying! It's getting ridiculous.

But it's happened again. Peter, Paul, and Mary.

I've got some of the tracks from their "Ten Years Together" CD playing.

Everyone's got to go. Me too. Just hate to see it.

A Good 5 Cent Cup Of Tea

What this country needs is something that costs 5 cents. I haven't priced cigars lately but I believe they're quite a bit higher. And I know a cup of coffee, except at some interstate gas stations trying to lure you in for a quarter a cup, is at least a dollar. Of course it's more at trendier places.

What there is that I can think of that could be offered at a nickel a cup is tea. Sometimes you can get 100 teabags at the grocery store for right at a dollar or just over. So if your overhead in your tea supply, at retail, is right around penny per teabag, that's very cheap. And think, a restaurant could probably get them cheaper wholesale.

So a place could very reasonably offer an actual 5 cent cup of tea and still make money. Especially if you paired it with bagels, which could be a dollar or more.

It irks me to go to a place and have iced tea at $1.50 or $2.00 or more. They're making a killing. It's like popcorn at the theater.

How Many Flu Shots Are Too Many?

Maybe WebMD would have information on this. I was wondering how many flu shots would be too many.

Like say you were some mentally disturbed person who got a flu shot, then you liked the friendly nurse so you went back and got another, then you liked her even more so you went back for another. And so forth. Or you decided to go to each drug store in town, then to each clinic, until you'd had about 20 flu shots.

Would it kill you? What would happen?

Since it's some kind of egg bacteria -- they ask you if you're allergic to chicken feathers -- maybe you'd turn into Chickenman ("He's everywhere, he's everywhere.")

I myself hate shots, even though this wasn't painful, my shot this morning. (My arm hurts a little bit this evening but nothing terrible.) But there's no way I would get more shots than were absolutely necessary. So I'm not going to know what would happen personally. It's just something I was wondering about.

It didn't seem like they were entering the info into a computer. And they didn't ask for ID. So a mentally disturbed guy could tell them 20 different names if he wanted.

Worked Up A Tabasco Sweat

I was scratching my head and noticed I've got a sweat going.

I just got done eating some meat with Tabasco sauce all over it. To me that's a taste delicacy. If I can't taste anything except the Tabasco sauce.

The other day I had it and my mouth was actually hot. I needed to drink some extra water. Usually it doesn't bother me but it did the other day.

Today it didn't bother me. I'm fine. But it makes my nose run and my face is perspiring. Including the top of my head.

The other day I looked in the mirror and my face was actually red. So that's some weird corpuscle action going on.

I have the theory that Tabasco sauce is good for you. That it kills something. You know, whatever. I'm not a doctor. Just a theorist.

Walmart's Free Eyeglasses Cleaner

I'm getting low on cleaner for my glasses. I got the little bottle of it at Walmart. They have an interesting policy on this. If you buy it once, you can keep bringing in the bottle and they'll refill it for free. I think we might be on about the fourth or fifth filling.

Why do they give it away for nothing? I have no idea. But I notice they haven't extended that policy to other things. Which would definitely help me save money if they did. Like cat food. You could bring in your old cat food cans and they'd refill them. Toothpaste tubes. Shampoo bottles. Floss dispensers. "I'm here for my free refill."

Ringo Starr For President

Remember when Ringo was our candidate for president in 1964? I remember seeing "Ringo For President" posters, at least in magazines.

Now, these days, for some reason I don't know precisely, Ringo is getting dissed.

Simon Cowell in the last few days said something against him. Well, here's what I think of you, Simon Cowell [making obscene Italian arm gestures in his general direction.] Just kidding. But, really, keep your mouth shut.

Ringo Starr was excellent in The Beatles. They could've had some other drummer. But it would've never been the same. He had personality, character, looks, humor, acting ability, interesting singing, the whole package. What a beautiful looking guy, really!

I used to look at my Beatles' records all the time and was always impressed by Ringo's cool looks. Like his very shaggy hair on "The Beatles' Second Album." That looked cool to me in 1964 and it looks cool to me now. I love the way you can see it sticking out in back.

Ringo was excellent in every way, in my opinion. He deserves all the respect in the world.

P.S. - That was very creative of Capitol Records, wasn't it? A title like "The Beatles' Second Album." It could've been "Meet The Beatles - Vol. 2." At least with "Something New" they didn't go for "The Beatles' Third Album." Chicago went that route, of course, but didn't they use Roman numerals?