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Rants & Raves 8.8
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Here it is, Rants! & Raves!, your weekly chance to sound off about the week past. Remember the rules:
1. A Rave! is something that happened during the past week that you’re pleased about and is signified by the word “Rave!” and/or an appropriately peppy emoticon.
2 A Rant! is something that happened during the past week that you’re ticked about and is signified by the word “Rant!” and/or an appropriately grumpy emoticon.
3. You may Rant! about something a person said, did or wrote, but you may not Rant! about generally disliking a person.
Have fun!
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Messiah complex
However, Wed night a director for the Baptist Children’s Home in Western NC spoke to us. He told his story, how his mother was orphaned early in life and shuttled between relatives who didn’t want her. She got pregnant and gave him up to a Baptist orphanage. He was adopted by a fine family. But when his parents died, he sought his birth mother. Turns out, he once lived about a mile from her and he was pastor to two of his half-siblings.
It’s a strange world when some have two sets of grandparents, greatgrands, aunts & uncles and cousins, when some have no one. I wish every child had this benefit.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL768040420080808
He wished me well. And on his way out suggested when my 10-year-old $1000+ Neptune washer dies, I just throw it out. “They’re not worth anything.”
He wasn’t exactly smiling when he went down the driveway, but still!
God works all things for good…
The Glump continues to campaign against McCain. Ostensibly campaigns for Bob Barr, but in reality campaigns for Obama, due to the fact that a vote for Barr is a vote thrown away.
The Glump has said there’s no campaign going on:
“If you think I’m campaigning for anyone, you are as slow as you profess to be. Obamessiah and St. McSame are the SAME.”
Glump, I’m watching what you do, not what you say you do…
I’m sick and tired of the one note Glump. You’re becoming as bad as another blogger known as “Ed” in his first iteration (now known as Bobxxxx I b’lieve).
Please get a different subject now and then. And I don’t mean you should start talking about Obama instead of McCain.
We’re going to Indianapolis to GenCon, which is a big conference for people to play games. My husband and older son are mostly into role-playing games (what my husband calls “community story-telling”), as are probably most people there, but there’s a huge variety. This will be the first year I’ve bought tickets for my younger son and myself to get in (just a single-day pass). I’ve been scoping out the schedule to find stuff he and I can have fun with, and he’s very excited. Plus we always have to go to the Children’s Museum, which is fantastic. And that leaves us with one more day to find something to do on our own (while older brother and Dad are at GenCon). I’m sure I can find stuff to do, but I’m open to suggestions from anyone who’s familiar with the city (and with the interests of 9-year-old boys).
Agenda? What agenda?
Pauline,
Could you email me at makeitman2 at yahoo dot com about GenCom?
oop. Sorry - GenCon.
This old fart fixed a notebook computer that some young hotshot said would need a new motherboard. The previous owner said he dropped it on the powersupply socket. After that, the battery wouldn’t charge up, and the thing slowly died.
You can do wonderful things with some solder and a soldering iron.
I may have a new laptop…
#19,
Make it man,
I tried. The message bounced back, saying [[email protected]]: host g.mx.mail.yahoo.com[206.190.53.191] said: 554
delivery error: dd This user doesn’t have a yahoo.com account
(Actually in the error message it used the great than and less than symbols around your email address, but the software here thinks that’s an html tag and doesn’t display it)
My wife was running a display for the FWS at a corporate open house. They had a Chinese Auction to raise funds for a charity, and she won a car GPS, so I have a new toy!
Daughter is attending Zoo Camp this week, getting a break from the Boys & Girls club. Lotsa fun for the kids, they love the animals and are learning a lot.
Daughter felt funny in her tummy and was very tired last night, and very tired this morning. Worried she is coming down with something, but no fever.
She is a trooper, and insisted on going in for the last day of camp today. Just like she insisted on going back to school the day she fell from an older playmate’s shoulders, landing on her face on the playground and needing to visit the doctor. She’s tough!
The Olympics started today!! Have LOVED watching them ever since I was a kid.
None of the networks, ABC/CBS/NBC were carrying the opening ceremonies live. They probably won’t broadcast the events live either.
We’re on the border, so we can get Canadian networks. CBC carried the opening live, and will probably have a lot of the events, too! And I like their reporting better, has as a more international, less partisan, flavour to it, rather than being cheerleaders for “our team”. (Although they do some of that too!
And
:) 
Chamber music workshop starting tonight, and going through the weekend. I get to play some string quartets! WOO HOO!!!!
Addendum to above:
The behaviour of the Chinese government as the host country for the Olympics. UGH!
Although I do think that the games will help shine an intense spotlight on the lack of freedom in that country. I hope athletes from around the world will be unafraid to raise their voices in opposition.
And I like their reporting better, has as a more international, less partisan, flavour to it, rather than being cheerleaders for “our team”. (Although they do some of that too!
What?! It’s un-PC to root for the home team now? Unbelievable!
Michelle,
Congrats on your Neptune lasting so long. Mine fell apart after two years; the technician said to take it to the dump. The motor on the matching dryer burned up, too, because the washer hadn’t been spinning the clothes dry enough. There was a class-action settlement on them but I didn’t keep any records on it and the repair place I dealt with had lost everything in a “computer crash.”
BTW, my Maytag Gemini stove has been a total lemon, too. I think that the reason that the Maytag repairman is so lonely is because their junk can’t even be fixed; it has to be thrown out.
Pauline,
Whoops. That should be make_it_man2 at yahoo dot com
Soorrreeee!
Re appliances, when I bought this house, it had an old stove, probably original to the house (which would make it about 50). It had some issues, but I chose to fix it rather than replace it. Why? I figured if I fixed it, then in 10 years I’d still have a stove. If I replaced it, in 10 years I’d need to replace it again. So I had my electrician rewire the back, I replaced the bottom element, and voila, I have a working stove that will probably still be around in 50 years when my neighbors have replaced their stoves five or six times. Why don’t any of the environmental folks ever jump on that particular landfill issue?!
CherylD, is it a Chambers stove? Those are frequently “renovated.” Beautiful stoves.
More important — the Hostess cupcakes — are they the ones with the chocolate cake and white swiggle on top?
There are home protection plans — insurance — that you pay about $400/yr, plus a deductible, but if the appliance can’t be repaired, it is replaced with the same item or equivalent.
Mommy - Is your Gemini a gas or electric stove? I have Maytag Gemini gas stove and haven’t had a single problem with it. (It came with the house when we bought it. Lived here since Nov 04.) I pretty much only use the small top oven, but I love having both of them on Thanksgiving.
NJLawyer, no, it’s a General Electric. Push buttons on the back instead of knobs (each burner has five buttons ranging from high to off), and a great big beautiful wide space between the burners so that I can do food preparation right on the stove. It’s electric, but I grew up with electric and didn’t like it when I started living in houses with gas stoves–and after 20 years with gas I found I indeed do still prefer electric. (You get an exact temperature and not an estimate, and you can keep something warm by turning the burner off and leaving the pan on it, without risk of forgetting and letting it burn.)
Peter L, we would have been blessed to have the rain you and Pauline had. There would have been local flooding, but the excess would have run into the Tennessee/Ohio, - Savannah-Broad Rivers and into the several reservoirs which could have handled all of it. We’re praying for it here.
Klasko-
Many of the comments are not Rants or Raves and the thread is being abused. You need to get after the trolls around here
Rave
Klasko will save the day!
What IS a motherboard?
And I like their reporting better, has as a more international, less partisan, flavour to it, rather than being cheerleaders for “our team”. (Although they do some of that too!
What?! It’s un-PC to root for the home team now? Unbelievable!
Ree,
No one said anything about “PC”. Of course, everyone roots for the team from their school, or their city, or their country.
But when I watch sports contests, I’m impressed by the skills of all the participants, whatever side they may be on. And I think the job of good sports reporters is to talk about and celebrate athletic skill and accomplishment, whatever team the player may be on.
As I continually emphasize to my daughter, who is just starting soccer, the point of the game is to play, have fun and enjoy yourself, and through practice to make the most of one’s talents. She knows that she should be just as happy with a good effort, even if the other team wins (and not contented with a mediocre effort, even if her team wins). Respect the talents of the other team, as well, and happily acknowledge when they are better.
{My hope is no boastfulness when winning, no tears when losing, because it is just a game; and there will always be ice cream after!
)
Who wins and loses could just as easily be different tomorrow. Focusing on the number of medals for a particular country, just sort of misses the whole point.
So yeah, I hope Team USA does well. I hope all the athletes do their best, and may the best ones win (Fairly and squarely, I might add.)
The big difference in coverage I have noticed, (and this is a gross generalization) really is that US networks seem to show a handful of sports, those in which there is a US “star” athlete participating, and human interest stories almost exclusively on our athletes.
The CBC coverage in the past has seemed to cover both more different events, and done human interest stories on a wider variety of athletes from aroujnd the world.
Again, this is just my perception. But I do enjoy having choices of what to watch, and differing perspectives to view.
Llama,
According to Rush, and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga) who came on his program to discuss the article in WSJ, the Republicans have joined Democrats in a “gang of ten” to compromise for a bill that will appear to be doing something about drilling for oil.
RAVE
Bush AND Cheney are now saying they WILL speak at John McInsane’s GOP Convention put together by the brutal Myanmar Regime’s, Charlie Goodyear.
Exactly like Bush. Whatever John McSame says, it’s exactly the opposite.
Ree #30- the home team is China this year (but I know you mean our guys).
Yeah, I guess “home team” is the wrong phrase, isn’t it. Anyway, you know what I meant, and I’m not ashamed to root for the Americans, and I won’t criticize our media for rooting for them either.
I read on Yahoo the other day that there’s good evidence that two of the Chinese women’s gymnasts are under the required minimum age and that they’re falsifying their ages. How pathetic.
So yeah, I hope Team USA does well. I hope all the athletes do their best, and may the best ones win (Fairly and squarely, I might add.)
Well if the rumor is true about the Chinese women’s gymnastics team, then, by definition, China can’t win “fairly and squarely.”
According to former Olympian Dominique Dawes, now that the Hamm brothers are not competing, the US men’s gymnastic’s team doesn’t have a chance unless the stronger teams falter. It would be nice for our men’s team to win, but yeah, I guess it wouldn’t be quite as satisfying if it only happened because other teams faltered. I felt really bad about the Korean? (I think he was) gymnast in 2004 who lost the gold to Paul Hamm (I think it was) because of a mistake in the scoring.
I hated it, too, when the Romanian female gymnast in 2000 (I think it was) lost her gold medal for the All-around because she had taken Sudafed (on the advice of her Olympic physician) and, unbeknownst to her or her doctor), it was a banned substance. It’s since been “unbanned,” too. But I don’t think our media is so biased as not to express disappointment for the sake of the athletes in those kinds of instances.
The big difference in coverage I have noticed, (and this is a gross generalization) really is that US networks seem to show a handful of sports
You mean there are other sports in the Olympics besides gymnastics?
RANT: I’m fairly convinced that McCain is playing low-down and dirty. His “The One” ad is an attempt to energize lackluster evangelicals by suggesting that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ.
That is despicable beyond words.
That’s performers, not purformers! How did I miss that?!!
I prefer the Hostess Gold cupcakes, gold cake with chocolate frosting (& of course, the creamy filling!).
Nope, only the chocolate Hostess cupcakes for me. (But didn’t they have an orange version some time ago that was good? Or am I thinking of something else?) Notice, Karen, that I said I only buy them on sale, which I rarely see, so I don’t add much to the bottom line. (I used to have a Hostess clearance store within walking distance of me, but the cupcakes were usually past the date and thus too stale. And the store overall is so iffy I won’t use gas to get there–I might or might not buy anything on a given visit. I usually would buy two loaves of their rye bread, plus any of two or three other things that weren’t too outdated.)
Cheryl - They still do have the orange cupcakes, at least around here. Those are yummy, too. They were my late dad’s favorite.