This F#*%$@^ Economy

My co-worker & I were watching on CNN as the House voted for the bailout plan. We couldn't believe it when it failed & we were in even more disbelief when the GOP choked its failure to a partisan speech given by Speaker Pelosi prior to the voting. I mean. These old geezers must've not gotten the memo that they're not in kindergaten anymore. Nobody cares about your hurt feelings. Somebody also didn't get the memo that the market as it is right now cannot correct itself. Gone are those days. So the sooner these [insert creative noun] face this reality, the faster the world markets can recover - and my little 401K. What an embarassment.

Of course, this for sure will cause McPalin to suspend the V.P. debate on Thursday. They're both needed in Washington this time. Since one didn't fare so well after rushing to Washington last week, maybe tag-teaming will do the trick this time. This would be hysterically funny if there wasn't a distinct possibility that it might just happen.

My little 401K is almost non-existent at this point. I haven't had the kahunas to look & see how it's been fairing over the past few months since if I was getting out I should have done it 8 months ago. But figured today was as good a day as any to take a peak. Christ. When the Dow falls 700+ points, there's a reason why every trader on wallstreet looks so depressed.

Oh . . . speaking of my co-worker. Imagine a guy who's 6' 4", buff, articulate, well-dressed, nice, outgoing, etc. So I noticed a ring on his finger & asked him what his wife does for a living. This was his response: "You mean what does my husband do for a living?" I almost fell off my seat! My gaydar continues to let me down.

Nothingness

Today I took the bus to downtown for my judicial externship. I usually drive because the last express bus (uses the freeway instead of side streets) gets me to the courthouse too early - at about 8:10am but I'm not supposed to be in chambers before 8:45am. But aujourd'hui I had an errand to run before heading down to the courthouse so I took the bus. Now the first express bus for returning home comes around 4:50pm so I planned on leaving the courthouse about 4:40pm to give myself time to make the quick hike. But the judge's law clerk wasn't having it. At 4:37pm, as I was hurriedly packing up, the clerk decided to come up & start chatting about what was going on in the courthouse for the next week, what my weekend plans were, the weather outside, etc. This was really appreciated but the whole time we were talking I was thinking "please hurry up I have a bus to catch." So finally, about 10 minutes later, the chat concluded & I just about broke into a sprint trying to catch the 4:50pm bus. Wasn't my lucky day. The bus was pulling away from the stop as I was getting there. Nothing I could do except wait . . . for 1 whole freaking hour!!! . . . for the next bus.

Tomorrow we're supposed to be having a "watch-the-debate" party with my Obama supporting friends. Now that seems to be up in the air since McScared doesn't want to show up to the clinic that's fixin' to be put on him by Obama. Or perhaps he doesn't want lipstick Palin to debate next week because they're starting to realize seeing Russia from an island in Alaska doesn't really count as foreign policy experience. But perhaps we're just giving him too much credit. Maybe he has no rime or reason for wanting to postpone this debate. Just pure unadulterated senility. "Friends, if I don't want to debate then I'm not going to debate." Idiotic on every level.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm looking forward to the winter 2009 tv season lineup. Season 7 of '24' starts Jan 2009. However, there's going to be a pre-cursor to the new season on Nov 23 that seems like can't miss tv. 'Damages' season 2 also premiers winter 2009. My cable service will be reconnected sometime late December in anticipation. Can't wait.

Wishing Everyone . . .

A HAPPY FALL!

Does Racism in America Still Exist?

Would Barack Obama still be a presidential candidate if . . .

1. Barack had an affair while he was still married to the mother of his kids?
2. Barack divorced his wife to marry his mistress?
3. Barack had graduated fifth from the bottom of his class (894/898)?
4. Michelle was addicted to pain killers?
5. Michelle was having a physician write illegal prescriptions to support her drug habit?
6. Michelle had gone to 6 colleges in 6 years? or
7. Michelle's daughter was pregnant at 17?

So why is it that a candidate who . . .

1. was raised by an 18 year old single mom
2. graduated from Columbia University & Harvard Law School magna cum laude;
3. was the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review;
4. taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years; and
5. has been faithfully married to his wife for 16 years;

. . . is the one whose qualifications are being challenged? Hmm.

Over-Extended

In my infinite wisdom, I signed up for 6 classes this semester. Figured I could hack it since only 2 of them will be exams - rest will be paper finals. But as the semester trudges along, I'm not sure I'll be able to crank out four 35-page papers, complete my journal assignments, and keep my sanity. So I disconnected my cable a few days ago to deal with the sanity part. I feel more calm when I don't have to watch idiotic pundits salivating all over lipstick Palin. But then what did I do? Turned around & signed up for yet another job.

Let me back up. Job 1: I have one job already which I work one day a week. It's a laid back atmosphere & I can do my homework if it's slow - which is often the case. Job 2: I had huge gaps of time between my morning & evening classes so I would go home because I hate being in school. But once I got home, I would do nothing except surf the web, nap, watch, tv, etc. So I figured why not look for a job to fill this time instead of doing absolutely nothing. Didn't get any takers when I sent out an email to some employers. So I settled into my going-home-in-between-classes-and-doing-nothing routine. Then a few days ago one of the employers contacted me & asked if I was still interested in working. What did I say? Yes. I could've kicked myself as soon as I agreed to interview but hoped they would hate me on sight. No such luck. Yours truly now has 2 jobs, 6 classes, & no cable. Even I feel sorry for myself for getting myself into this situation.

Color me Worried

When McCain first announced that Sarah Palin would be his V.P., I thought it was a brilliant move. For the first 5 minutes. Then as her paltry record as governor began emerging, I still thought this was a brilliant move by McCain but for a different reason - his ticket would go downhill faster than you could say "barracuda." Figured in no time, Obama would regain his seat at the change throne & this little hiccup would be a thing of the past. That was until this week. When people in Lebanon, Ohio gathered in large crowds yesterday to hear the Palin/McCain [sic] ticket speak, this worried me. Alot. Prior to the Palin pick, McCain couldn't fill a town hall if his life depended on it. Now he has crowds coming in droves to hear her speak even though she has nothing to say except, "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

There's a huge percentage of uninformed voters out there who do not care that she's not said one thing of substantive value in the 2 weeks since she's been on the ticket. And guess what . . . they'll be racing to the polls to vote for Palin just because they like her glasses, upswept hairdo, and the color of her lipstick. So, for those of you who are quick to dismiss Sarah Palin because she adds nothing of value to the republican ticket, think about these uninformed voters who will heading out in droves to the polling stations come November 4. Obama/Biden '08.

Keeping Them Honest!

FEDEX

I had some extra tickets to the Lion King so I put them up for sale on StubHub. Once the sale was complete, stubhub sent me a link to download a fedex shipping label to use to ship the tickets with - for tracking purposes. The shipping label showed the person that bought the tickets to be located about ten miles from where I live. So imagine my surprise when I tracked the package today to find that it was sitting in a fedex distribution facility located in Memphis, TN. After a quick google search, turns out that that most all fedex packages shipped via air are routed through Memphis for distribution to their final destination. Even if that destination is a ten minute drive from the shipping location. Go figure.

Faux Coffee?

I love mcdonald's coffee & drink it on the regular. But I started noticing something. First, a little background. I used to have a sweet tooth growing up but as I aged, I lost it. The sweet tooth that is. Eating a box of cookies in a sitting wasn't unheard of but now I'll have one or two & I'm done. The only sweet thing I still enjoy is cake but even that is limited to an occassional slice. Chocolate's my favorite. Same thing with beverages - cold and hot. Used to love Sunkist orange soda but now can't stand the stuff because of it's too sweet. Used to put a ton of sugar in my tea and coffee but no more.

A few days ago, I noticed that everytime I drank mcdonald's coffee, I would put in a lot more sugar than I would if I bought the coffee elsewhere or made my own. So I decided to test my theory. Brewed my own coffee and put it in a mug. Noted how much sugar I used. Then poured mcdonald's coffee in the same mug & noted the amount of sugar used. Three times what I did when I made my own coffee! Hmm. Maybe the sugar disparity was from using different types of coffee and/or the strength of the brew. Maybe. I watched "Supersize Me" so I'm not exactly infused with confidence as to why I use so much more sugar in the mcdonald's coffee just to bring it to taste.

I know what you're thinking - that I should get a life. That's exactly what I was telling myself as I ran my little experiment.