First Door on the Left

There should be an intelligence test people are required to pass before they are allowed to breed.

Bakersfield police arrested a couple early Thursday morning on child endangerment charges after finding that a 2-year-old boy had been left alone in their apartment while they attended the midnight showing of the new “Star Wars” movie. (link)

These morons were not even aware the kid was missing when they got home.

I’ve started getting ready for “the big trip.” I’ve washed the car. Still need to wash clothes, pack clothes, pack car, pick up drugs at pharmacy (second doctor still has not called), and just generally psyche myself up. I have never driven this far alone before. I keep imagining myself running into Thelma and Louise.

Plans are still on track for a Wednesday morning departure.

Also got my hotel room. I called the hotel I really wanted to stay at, the nicest one in the city I’m going to. They quoted $72.50 a night. Then I went to priceline.com and offered $40.00. It came back accepted, at the same hotel! Thank you, priceline.com!

(May 18, Berlin) The German government has issued pardons to 50,000 gay men interned by the Nazis in concentration camps.

That’s mighty big of the German government, wouldn’t you say? I mean, really. Have they ‘pardoned’ the Jews yet?

Is it a bad thing when the clerk at your pharmacy knows you by sight?

I miss looking up into the night sky and seeing stars. Lots and lots of stars. You can’t do that here in the big city. Too many lights, I guess. Once in a while, just after sunset, you can catch a glimpse of a bright star or two.

I grew up in a little town in rural Idaho. There were always lots of stars in the night sky. Lots and lots of stars. You could always point out the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.

I remember the night my dad died. Nobody in the house got much sleep that night. I remember it was about 2:00 in the morning when I stepped outside just to be alone for a minute. I remember looking up into the sky and seeing all those stars, and wondering if my dad was now one of them. I remember I cried, a lot. Kind of like I’m doing right now. It was three months ago today.

This week, I’ll drive to Idaho. I’ll see the stars again.

Saturday Scruples

1. You’re becoming famous as a singer. Your manager advises you to improve your image by campaigning for a worthy cause. Do you do the right thing for the wrong reason?
I think I’ll answer this one with another question. Is there ever a wrong reason to do the right thing? As long as the right thing gets done, I think that’s what matters. And, hey, if my image gets improved along the way, that’s okay, too.

2. A friend asks you to write a letter of reference. He’s poorly qualified for the job. Do you refuse?
Probably. But I’d make sure he knew why. If he’s really poorly qualified for the job, he isn’t going to be happy in it and most likely will not last long in it, and the employer sure isn’t going to be happy (with either him or me).

3. You’re a hockey player. Your team plays dirty and starts a bench clearing brawl. The team needs your muscle in the fight. Do you help?
This is an easy one! My muscles ain’t what they used to be! I’d be more of a hindrance than a help. My teammates would probably thank me for staying out of the way!

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” —Robert Frost.

Yeah, I guess it does.

I need to do something to get out of this funk I seem to be in.

I remember somebody once saying “It is good that you feel sorry for yourself, because nobody else does.” Sometimes you just need to hear somebody tell you that things will get better. You know?

The nurse from my doctor’s office finally called around 3:00 p.m. She said I was being referred to another doctor, and his office would be calling me to make an appointment for a “neck epidural.” They never called. Since it is now Friday evening, I rather imagine I will not be hearing from them until Monday (at the earliest).

This sucks. This thing has been been going on for a month, the bill total is nearing $2000, and still no relief from the pain. I am still planning my drive up north next week. I do not imagine it will be a pleasant drive, but I’m going. Its Memorial Day, and it will be my first visit since my father’s funeral. I think it is important, if only for me, that I be there.

Has anybody had any experience booking hotels through priceline.com? If they say that the top rated hotels in the city I am going to average $63 per night, how much should I offer?

I called my doctor to see if he had received the results from the MRI I endured Tuesday, because heaven knows he wasn’t going to call me. Yep, he had the results. Says it looks like my little problem (you know, the one where my left shoulder and arm feel like they are on fire all the time?) can be fixed by injecting something into my spine. Says this can be done on an outpatient basis. Says he will have one of his nurses make the arrangements.

It won’t be done right now, though, because they are at lunch. Seems the entire medical industry comes to a screeching halt between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. while the nurses all go to lunch.

Everybody needs to download and install MailWasher. This nifty little program acts like an answering machine for your email. It lets you screen your mail before you download it from your server. You have the option of letting the message pass on through to your email program, deleting the message, or even bouncing it back to the sender informing that your email address is not valid. Seems a great way to maybe put a stop to some spam.

Just think… no more messages telling you how to enlarge your penis, or how to make thousands of dollars a day without ever leaving home, or how to eliminate your credit card debt, or how to get a great deal on a mortgage, and on and on and on.

I’ve been using MailWasher for a few days now and already I have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of spam I am receiving. I am for sure going to send this guy some money…. just as soon as I get a job!

There are some parts in the lives of its citizens that government just has no business sticking its nose into. This is one of them.

A bipartisan group of House members has proposed a Federal Marriage Amendment that would constitutionally limit the definition of matrimony to that of husband and wife.

The amendment, introduced Wednesday by three Republicans and three Democrats reads: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the Constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”

(The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ronnie Shows, D-Miss. and co-sponsored by Reps. Ralph Hall, D-Texas; David Phelps, D-Ill.; Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Sue Myrick, R-N.C.; Jo Ann Davis, R-Va. and Ronnie Shows, D-Miss.)

I’m actually surprised that the first sentence does not read “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a white man and a white woman.” I’m sure it would have, had they thought they could get away with it. Bigotry and ignorance exist in our government. That’s a given. But when they try to have it written into our Constitution, that is going just a bit too far.

Thankfully, this nonsense has little chance of ever becoming law, since it must first gain the approval of two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, then be ratified of 75% of the state legislatures.