Happy Blasphemy Day!

As much as I enjoy playing Bingo a lot of the fun depends on the hall and the callers. Donna and I are regulars at the Irvine Saturday night event, but decided to give the new one in Hawaiian Gardens a try.

Called The Bingo Club, the new building is an improvement over the previous hall, near the casino, according to everybody who used to go there. It's clean with a separate closed-in section for smokers, so you don't have to breath in second-hand as you do in some halls. They also have a decent food & beverage stand, with free coffee, tea, water & ice. Unlike most halls, the play is continuous for ten hours or more. Rather than having the typical buy-in you buy each game for a dollar, by leaving a bill on the side for the next as you play the current game.

Anybody familiar with what is sometimes called 'speed bingo' will have a general idea of how the callers operate and how quickly each game progresses. Donna and I, along with our friend Jean, were there for around two and a half hours, during which over fifty games (plus some special pull-tab games) were called. I gave up after #40 and the ladies played another ten. After that we were all wiped out and it was time to head home. I think we'll be sticking to a more normally paced games for a while.

Mirror: The Truth Behind Public Option

People have to know the truth! We can still hope and work for this. Contact your representatives. E-mail and call them. Tell them that should they fail to support a 'public option' plan you will not support THEM in the next election.

Progressives and people who desire a true alternative to the big insurance companies have to do something or we get shafted again.

Something Is Really Wrong w/ Our Educational System

The sad thing is that I am confronted almost daily by not only students, but adults who do not have a general understanding of basic things. I know that I have been accused of being an educational snob, but COME ON!!!

One of the amusing things, if you think about it, is that if Leno did a segment of his "Jay Walking" bit in his studio audience I don't know how many would still be laughing.

Been a productive week and it's not over yet!

We renewed our lease, so we'll be staying in Ladera Ranch for the foreseeable future. Donna also made the final payment on the cruise, so all we have to do now is start getting our clothes and sundries together over the next couple of months. Also, decide what we'll be doing with Babie while we're gone.

The forecasters are predicting another hot spell, or a continuation of Summer. Not a bad thing, but we continue to need rain and that isn't coming our way. As much as I hate driving in bad weather, I'd be willing to put up with it for a few days if it would ease the chances of more fires.

I know I promised not to discuss politics and the like, but the way things are going I think you can expect me to start ranting over the next couple of weeks. Not that I know what I'm talking about (When has that stopped me before?), but I do love bitching and moaning. :-)

The good news is that my eyes have not gotten worse and I still do not have to have surgery for my cataracts. The bad news, not a big deal except to me, is that I have to start using eye drops at night as my eyes are not producing enough moisture. If you know you know that I hate eye drops or even eye wash. The big reason I would never consider contacts is the mere thought of sticking something into my eye makes me squeamish. No way!

The 'walk-in' clinic was out of the flu shot, so I'm going to have to try later this week when a limited number will be available at City Hall for city workers. According to the workers at the clinic they company supplying the vaccine had to stop production for some reason. I probably don't even want to know!

Anybody else happen to watch the first Jay Leno Show last night? Nothing special, to be honest. Jay being Jay and pretty much doing the Tonight Show under another name. It does look odd to have Jay sitting in a chair minus a desk, at least for interviews. Nice seeing Jay and Jerry having a good time, but other than that I don't think the show is something I'd tune in to see every night.

It seems impossible that is has been eight years since 9-11 took place. They said at the time that everything had changed, but perhaps not as we had thought at the time. I'm sure everybody else will have comments about where they were when they heard the news and what they did for the next several days. I've already spoken about much of that here so there is no need to repeat myself.

I turned on the television this morning to see several events taking place around the country and heard of others on the radio during my commute. As I arrived at work the school directly across the street from the Library was holding a memorial ceremony with the students standing beneath and around the flagpole. I'm sure tonight there will be more televised coverage.

Me, I'm just going to take a few moments to remember. Wondering again, if some of the people I worked with at the WTC were among those killed or injured. Unlikely since I had worked there in '86, but not impossible. Family members did lose friends and co-workers that day, so we grieve for them as well.

Despite all the talk going on about who is American and who is not; who is a 'patriot' and who is not; let us remember that for one day we really were united. On 9/12 it did change and we can't go back.

Pixel Shrooms

It's all true!

So Van Jones has to resign because of past affiliations and his signature on petitions. Schools around the country are preventing their students from hearing the President of the United States speak on education. The health care reform debate has become one about 'death panels' and the government killing 'granny'. Wackos are carrying loaded weapons to city hall meetings and there are apparently millions of people who believe that Barack Obama is not an American citizen. I have had enough of this. I can no longer watch the news or read a newspaper without getting upset. The campaign last year should have been enough notice to me that should the Democrats win the right-wing in this country was going to go on a rampage.

I quit! I'm dropping all the political sites from this blog and plan to write only about personal things that affect me, Donna and Kristina. I'll talk about the weather, fires, earthquakes and our vacations, but no more about politics. I'm sick and tired of it.

Let somebody else care from this point on!.

Auto-Tune the News #8 WITH T-PAIN!

Just because!

With Hurricane Jimena moving up Baja it's probably a good thing we didn't make plans for another weekend cruise. It was pretty tempting with a four-day weekend, but with the 14-day Panama Canal trip coming up I think that will fulfill our cruise quota for the year.

The day-by-day changes in the filtering system have not only blocked Facebook & Twitter, but KINGDOM OF LOATHING (for 'violence', no less). LOL! Yeah, keep folks away from stick figures with swords fighting mutant goldfish, but I can get into REQUIEM where realistic & semi-naked Sims-like elves and wizards kill each other. Brilliant!! (Btw, I don't play REQUIEM, but was curious to see if I could go there when I found KOL blocked.)

We are talking about moving again, but it hasn't gone much further than a discussion. Our lease is up at the end of October, so we do have a month or so to decide. For those keeping track or planning a visit I'll let you know if we pack up and change locations.