I'm watching Larry King Live right now and they are talking about the Michael Jackson arraignment that occurred today. Larry King had an interview with Jermaine Jackson, who was in Bahrain. It appears that Jermaine has compared Michael Jackson to Gandhi. I was surfing the net and dozing while Jermaine was talking, but Nancy Grace and some other woman said he had made the comparison, and I had heard him mention the name, but missed the context of his statement. I was curious about why Jermaine was so mysterious about what he was doing in Bahrain and when he was coming back to the States and what kind and how much contact he's had with his family. That was weird. What about this whole thing isn't weird though.

Scarlett, here's a gas protest story for you.............

A nice little article about my favorite wrestler, Barry Windham, complete with pictures.

Someone came to my blog by searching for Nashville Star contestant, Miranda Lambert. I'm sorry if whoever it was, was mislead into thinking that just because the name of the blog is Miranda's Window Dressing, that she was somehow connected to the blog. She isn't. I've never met her, but I do plan to buy her cd when it comes out. If she hadn't been competing against Buddy Jewell, I'd have voted for her every week on Nashville Star last year. Here's a link to Miranda Lambert's official website.

Donald Trump's getting married.

Neanderthal story....

I've been checking the stats for the blog and it seems that Brad Cotter, from Nashville Star, is the hottest thing out there. I'm getting more hits from people searching for him than anything else lately. Too bad I don't have any news or features on him. But it's great to know he has a lot of fans.

Right now I'm watching the Kid Rock/Hank Jr episode of Crossroads on CMT. Hank Jr. is singing some really sad song about a man who taught his dad about music when he was a kid. So, thanks Hank for depressing me. Let's do it right, sing "There's a Tear in My Beer."

A great video for a great song called, "Redneck Woman". Check it out on CMT.com.

Over at Copssister's Capers, there's a post about the 20/20 show. An upcoming show will have five couples "competing" for the adoption rights to a baby. Like the author of the post, I thought this was just too much for reality tv. Next thing we'll see is "Bobbing for Kidneys".

So many snide comments, so little time. Oh well, let's all wish the youngins well.......

But, Ryan whatshisname said that Jennifer Hudson had actually been the top vote getter in a previous episode. So, how can the voters be racist one week and not the next? Granted, I agree Jennifer shouldn't have gotten the boot, but I don't think it's a racist issue, I think it's a ratings issue. Drama like this makes for better ratings. How do we know how everyone is voting?

Will they find Noah's Ark??

Today was a sucky day. Greg once again thought he knew how to do my job. So much so that he stopped the adj. unit from disbursing money because that wasn't what he thought should happen. I am getting really, really sick of him. And to think I was almost over the cookie binge. *Sigh* I bought another pack of chunky chocolate chip cookies today. I complained to the Ram about Greg and her excuse was "oh, these audits are just so complicated." Well, what's he doing sticking his nose into something he doesn't understand? Either send his butt to training, or make him do HIS work for a change. I'll have to tell April to start looking at the case review dates on all of his cases. If one's out of date, we will send him an email to review the case. I know what I'm going to do for stress management though. I'm going to find one of those dart guns that have the darts with suction cups on them. Then I can shoot darts at some dart board that I can name for whoever is driving me nuts. Scarlett will never leave my cube if she gets ahold of it though.

I've added a new section to the green box for my favorite music. And, of course, Keith Urban's website holds the place of honor as being first on the list.

We're sorry too. Can they make us some handbags?

But there are no pictures

Another search for Atlantis

Fairy Circles in Desert Leave Scientists Baffled

Check out a very touching post on Wil Wheaton's website.....

Yeah, the government was a little late in catching on to that whole plane as a missile plot, but when they receive 'actionable intelligence' about some crappy doodle, they're right on top of it. It's interesting that the press can describe what the drawing looked like, but the boy can't draw it. What's wrong with this example of the Freedom of Speech???

This morning I got up, put a load of laundry in the washer, fed the animals, walked the dogs, and then, I put on my tennis shoes and went walking outside for about 40 minutes. I walked yesterday too. I guess I'm back in the working out mode for a while. It'll last a couple of weeks probably. I also did some pilates yesterday. I'm going to try to do some more of that today. We've moved my treadmill and stepper machine to their warm weather location out in the sunroom. That was a chore in itself. We had to move a lot of junk to make room for them. But it has inspired dad to throw some of that junk away. Neighborcat has been taking his medicine the last few days. I think there might be a couple more doses left. It looks like his toe is healing up too, but it's still bigger than the others and the claw is still sticking out. Dad thinks Neighborcat might lose the claw.

About a week ago, I planted 4 blueberry plants in the yard. I bought them at walmart and since I'd never had any success at all with this brand of plants I figured they would all die, but two of them are doing really well, and the other two are hanging in there. Maybe in a few years my parents will have some blueberries. They already have wild blackberry bushes. I bought Dad a couple of grape vines and he set those out, next to my garden of course. Dad doesn't always pick the best locations for his trees and plants. And Dad planted a couple of plum seeds in my miniature orange tree pot a few days ago. I just found out yesterday. I told him I wished he wouldn't do that because it disturbs the roots of my orange tree whenever I have to dig up the other plants, but he doesn't seem to care. I have a whole bag of potting soil out on the porch and he just couldn't be bothered to walk that far to plant the seeds the right way. It's that King of the Castle Syndrome again. Hopefully, one day I will have my own place and I can be Queen.

Well Brad Cotter, I tried for an hour to vote for you, but an hour's about my limit. Patience is not one of my strengths. So, I hope that all the people who must be voting over and over again (since every other Saturday in the last couple of months I've been able to vote by 11:20 pm) are voting for you. If you get a record deal, I'll definitely buy the cd.

I've been trying for the last 40 minutes to vote for Brad Cotter on Nashville Star. Unfortunately, I can't get the page to load. I'm convinced though that there are people who are abusing the spirit of the show and voting more than once. How else can anyone explain how Matt Lindahl keeps staying on the show? Sure he's entertaining, if you're into his kind of entertainment, but I don't think he's better than Lance Miller. Oh well, as we've seen from last year's show, it isn't just the top vote getter who gets a record deal. Last year they also signed Miranda Lambert and John Arthur Martinez also got a record deal with a different label. So, Lance Miller will probably be on the radio before too long.

I just visited the official Andromeda website. For those who don't know, Andromeda is the sci-fi show with Kevin Sorbo as Dylan Hunt and Nurse Chapel from Star Trek as an executive producer. On the website there is a poll that asks, "if you were donald trump who would you choose for an apprentice?" and the choices are the members of Hunt's crew as well as Captain Hunt. Well, I chose Telemachus Rhade because he looked very capable shirtless in last week's episode. And guess what, he was running second to Rommie, the walking, talking person-like extension of the space ship. So, if you know about the show, or just want to help me support the half naked handsome guy, then go to the Andromeda website and cast your vote.

Scarlett, I just thought of something this morning that could really help us out. We should take up kickboxing. Not only could we become size 2's in no time, but we could name the punching bag after everyone who's ever ticked us off and work off some of our hostility.

Neighborcat received two more doses of his medicine today! Hopefully he is on his way to getting better, but I don't think his running around is helping his poor foot. Today I was at our state office doing some work for the new programming. I found a problem so it was a good day. The help desk people didn't say anything about yesterday's little problem, so that was good too. This evening, I was driving through town and I ended up behind this shiney, big black Chevy truck. The license plate said, "sadl up". I thought, "I doubt this guy is a horse afficionado. He probably means something entirely different." But then I thought, "Too bad Scarlett couldn't get that license plate." I guess she could get one that says, "gddy up". If it's not already taken. I stopped at Walmart tonight and bought my niece a bubble making gun. I haven't tried it out yet, but I will before she comes down again. She was supposed to come down today for an overnight stay but she has some medicine to take so she's staying home with her parents.

"a daily act of collective worship". - In America, this is called the Pledge of Allegiance.

I think they need new blood for any new Star Trek endeavors.

You ever notice that there's never anything serious that happens on the space station?

I saw neighborcat this evening. His foot looked like it was going to get worse, but I did give him some of his medicine. I hope he gets better.

Keith Urban's video for You'll Think of Me is number 1 on CMT! Yay! Check out the Keith Urban page at cmt.com...

Topanga, I just read in the 5/4/04 issue of Womans World Magazine that planting Dill around tomato plants will get rid of tomato worms.

Happy Earth Day!!!!

A Dolly Parton/CMT awards show article. *sigh* A Keith Urban picture too....

Scarlett and I had a little run in with the Help Desk today about a case. Our field attorney instructed us to do something and the Help Desk doesn't want to do it that way. It's no big deal to me, but I have a feeling when I'm down there at the state office tomorrow working with the Help Desk, I'll be subjected to a lecture or two. Not that it was my doing, I didn't make the decision, the attorney did. But I don't have time for a long winded lecture from another attorney. I had two of them this week from mine. There's a show on BBC America about attorneys and the line from the show that's heard on the commercial is "The thing about lawyers is that because we are paid by the word, we feel compelled to speak." Our attorneys aren't paid by the word, but I swear they think they are. Well, the worst that can happen is that I'll get the lecture that was meant for our attorney and I'll have to completely reaudit the case. I just love doing the same work over and over again for no good reason when I have only three days to do five days worth of 2 people's work each week. So, once again the Help Desk is proving that their nickname of 'the helpless desk' is not a misnomer. They're not helping us a bit.

Scarlett, Here are a few websites for work at home opportunities:
www.callcentercareers.com

www.assistu.com

Last night Neighborcat escaped from the building I had been keeping him in. I knew he didn't want to be there, but I really didn't think he'd find a way out. Dad kept asking me how Neighborcat got out, like I would know. So, he's had four days of antibiotics, hopefully that will be enough for him. His toe is still pretty big, but maybe it's healed up enough. I told Scarlett about it this morning and said that Neighborcat had 'pulled a Houdini" by escaping. She suggested I rename Neighborcat Houdini, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it took Neighborcat a really long time to find a way out, so maybe naming him for a master escape artist just isn't a good idea. John brought some doughnuts to work this morning for Secretaries Day and then remembered that his secretary can't stand the smell of doughnuts. But April and I got one. Raspberry filled. Yum. I can't believe April even likes the same kind of doughnuts I do. We really did good when we hired her.

Monday night I watched the final episode of the Discovery Health National Body Challenge show. Finally, a woman won. I would like to say that she deserved it, and she did work hard, after all she owned a cookie and candy company, but I really think they picked a woman because everyone was beginning to think it was fixed.

Still doesn't look like the King.

Obscure Rock 'n Roll facts

New Russian Space Shuttle???

Comets Visible in the coming weeks.....

Hey, someone searched for "Miranda's Window Dressing" according to the counter stats. That is so cool that someone would search for the specific name of my blog. Now it makes me wonder if I know the searcher or if the person is a brand new visitor.

Tonight I watched American Idol. I watched it because it was Barry Manilow night. I love Barry Manilow. I don't get the show though. I spent the hour comparing these contestants with those on Nashville Star and I think that the Nashville Star contestants are probably more polished and have more talent, with all due respect for the American Idol contestants. It takes a lot of grit to get up in front of millions and sing. Simon had some really good comments, which surprised me since I was under the media inspired impression that all Simon did was trash the contestants. I wish someone would tell the women on the show that louder isn't always better. And that guy, John - he's 16 and his rendition of Mandy was just a little scary. I really think he's too young to be on the show. There should be a reality check on the ages of the contestants seeing as how this is a reality show. If you wonder what I mean by scary, imagine Conan O'Brien singing to a date at a junior high school dance. I don't imagine I'll be watching the show after the Barry Manilow stuff is over. I prefer Nashville Star. I'd like to know what the American Idol judges would have to say about Nashville Star.

No wonder they keep trying to get me to sign a contract and have included threats of huge fees if anyone tries to take their number to another carrier.

Chris! I know this is you and Daniel.

I just went to my blog a bit ago and noticed that the ads at the top were for Body Armor. The most recent post was about my new squabble with Little Miss Commissioner. I think the Google ads thing is part clairvoyant.

So, today at work, Little Miss Commissioner ticked me off again. It doesn't take much, but this time I sent the email to the Regional Manager. Then I asked LMC to provide me with the policy that supported what she was saying. That's only fair. Anyway, I suddenly developed a yearning for chocolate chip cookies after that and luckily my parents had some. But I'll have to buy some tomorrow on the way home. The cookies I ate were my niece's.

Right now I'm watching the Uncut, Uncensored and Untalented episode of American Idol. And the title is misleading. There are a few talented contestants on this episode who didn't make it onto the show. But I really feel bad for the contestants who aren't as talented as they thought. You'd think the judges could be a little nicer to them. Everyone picks on Simon as the bad guy but that Randy seemed a little mean too. But I guess after hearing thousands of not so talented contestants, you run out of nice things to say. And I just saw a commercial for the Swan, a reality show for cosmetic surgery and the surgeon said "it's a scalpel, not a magic wand." What's with all the meanness on tv? No wonder we're at war with all this meanness in the media. You can tell I don't watch much network tv.

The Marvel Comics folks have got to stop screwing up the books. I just found out that they are completely changing the X-Men books around and creating new books and moving characters from one book to another. I hate it when they do this. I have subscriptions for titles that I may not want once they start this. But nothing tops what they did with the Spider Girl comic book. They said they were cancelling it and then they changed their minds. So, I vowed I would never again subscribe to that one, even though I really liked it, and I haven't. And what these Marvel people need to realize is that not everyone has access to all of their beloved books. There's only one store in my town that has comic books for sale and it might sell only a couple of X-Men books. How am I supposed to find these other new books and see if I like them if they aren't sold in every store across the country? There's something ineffective about this kind of marketing strategy.

Another example of the Current Administration forgetting that it's AMERICAN and neglecting to support AMERICAN industry.

Poor Jasmine...... She wanted to go outside so I was going to take her out. Then she remembered there were bugs outside. So, she went back inside, looking like she'd lost her best friend, and buried her face into the dogs' bed to pout. It was the saddest thing. We've been telling her ever since that the bugs that fiy around her aren't trying to hurt her, they're trying to kiss her. But I don't think it's working. At least she didn't cry over it. But there is a home made recipe for bug repellant spray on the internet: 1 tablespoon of vanilla mixed into a cup of water. We might try that. And she ate Fritz's supper. That isn't as bad as it sounds, I feed Fritz turkey breast. I guess Fritz thought he should share since he ate her cookies.

First this, then on to the Lottery Numbers.......

I haven't posted any diary stuff the last few days, so let me try to catch you up on the oh so exciting life I lead. Last Saturday I noticed Neighborcat was limping around on his left hind paw. The first time I looked at it, it just looked swollen and the claw of his outermost toe was protruding. The second time I looked at it, it was bloody, so I poured some peroxide on it. Then later in the week it rained, which meant there wasn't much of a chance of whatever was wrong with his foot going away. So, today I was home, Neighborcat was home and the Vet was in, all at the same time. So, I scooped him up and whisked him off to the vet, who proceeded to tell me that Neighborcat had been bitten by something. We don't know what. So, Neighborcat got a shot and some medicine that he has to be given twice a day directly in the mouth, but I'm going to try the old sneak it in the food method. And Neighborcat has to stay locked up for probably a week to give the injury a chance to heal.

I talked to the bank today about mortgages. Bad news is that they are all adjustable rate mortgages and I really don't want one of those. But considering my bank is only three branches large and not some conglomerate, I can understand them needing to make some extra money. John, at work, said I could talk to him about house buying when I got ready for it since he just went through the experience a couple of years ago and knows everything about it, so I might corner him next week.

I bought a Kim Possible Beach Towel at Walmart a few days ago. There is some crazy cashier there who thinks she knows me and talks to me like she knows me. This time she asked me if I was going to the beach or the pool so I said beach. Truthfully, I just bought the towel because it was a Kim Possible thing, but I figured it would be easier to just make up an answer for her.

Yesterday, my sister pre-ordered the A-Team Season 1 DVD on Amazon for me. I can't wait to get it. I have all 98 A-Team episodes on VHS - it took me 10 years to get them all. But I really wanted them on DVD. Even thought about buying a dvd recorder to transfer them over to dvd. I hope the rest of the seasons come out on DVD too. It stinks that I have to wait until June, but I should get it in time for my June vacation, which means I will have a lot of time to watch the episodes over and over again.

I got the next Family Secrets book this week. And read it the same day I got it. In about 2 hours. Sacrificed my nightly junk food snacking to finish the book. I just couldn't wait to get this book. I kept looking for it at Walmart even though I knew it wouldn't be released until sometime this month. This book is about Gideon Faulkner (what a name!), the genetically altered supergenius who was raised by the evil villains and told that he would die of an immune deficiency thing if he ever left the sealed living quarters he was kept in. Then they told him the government had tried to kill him and did kill his family so he would have sufficient motivation to steal $350 Billion from the World Bank and send the whole world into a financial crisis. So, for the first 10 books of the series, Gideon was the bad guy. But with this book, he became the good guy and got the girl. I love the misunderstood villains. And Gideon reminded me of Jarod from The Pretender (check out the Ultimate Pretender Page in the Links section).

I got some sun today since today was such a beautiful, warm, sunny day. No tan. As usual.

And my niece, Jasmine, is here for an overnight and most of tomorrow stay. I bought her a couple more Elmo's World DVDs today at Walmart. She likes Elmo. I just wish they had Teletubbies at Walmart. Jasmine really, really likes the Teletubbies. But I think her favorite thing is to go outside. We're lucky the weather's supposed to be perfect tomorrow, just like today. We'll just chain her up out there with Fritz's chain and ...... ha, ha, ha...... Just kidding. If I could chain anyone up outside, it'd probably be Dad.

We've had a couple more calves born in the last couple of weeks. I have pictures on the computer, just haven't gotten around to resizing them and adding them to the photo album. I might do that this weekend. And I might get back to the Spymaster's Agenda. I've taken a bit of a break from updating that lately.

Nashville Star is really getting tough to watch, too many really good contestants . Alias is getting more exciting to watch now that Vaughn knows that wifey-poo is the enemy. The Apprentice ended last night with the Donald choosing whatshisname. I like that it came down to two guys who were taking the show seriously as a job interview. I know the network brass likes a good catfight, but they really need to stop promoting the women that way. That's why I never really got into watching the Apprentice. Or most of the other reality shows on tv.

Stripeless Zebra baffles experts...

Cool space pic!

Yay! I might actually go inside a McDonalds now...

Hey Scarlett, Here's a list of the main characters of Battlestar Galactica, just in case you plan to name any more animals. You know what I just noticed? Only one woman has a title, Flt. Corp. Rigel - I wonder if that was a social comment or something. Sheba outflew Apollo and Starbuck and she doesn't get to be Lt.? I think there are a few really good names for dogs in this list: Boomer, Boxey, Bojay.

Captain Apollo
Lt. Starbuck
Commander Adama
Lt. Boomer
Athena
Cassiopea
Flight Sgt. Jolly
Boxey
Col. Tigh
Baltar
Flt. Corp. Rigel
Flt. Officer Omega
Sheba
Dr. Salik
Dr. Wilk
Brie
Bojay
Greenbean
Imperious Leader
Lucifer
Muffit the Daggit

The actor credited with playing the Imperious Leader (I think I might steal that instead of the Supreme Commander title I currently hold in the CC Squad) is Dick Durock. I'm sure he's a perfectly fine man, but his name sounds like a Private Investigator on the Flintstones. I believe I'd go by Richard.

The National Debt Clock. Thanks Dubya for spending my social security on Iraq.

Rebecca won't be Stamos any longer - this is so sad. maybe he should have been using 10-10-987 or whatever that number is to call his woman.

I took this quiz and rightly so, I have Kim Possible's Crime Fighting Style!

Man wins $270,600 after betting life savings


Turin Shroud Back Side Shows Face

Fascinating facts sent to me by my friend, S.B. West:

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month
after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all
the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was
lunar based, this period was called the honey month...which we know today as
the honeymoon.


In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."


Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?

A. All invented by women.


Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you
would find the letter "A"?

A. One thousand


Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.


Many years ago, in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled to be "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"....and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

........ Speaking of golf, Congratulations to Phil Mickelson who finally won a Major this weekend when he won the Masters. I bet no one is happier than he is right now.

Someone got to my site by doing a google search for this: my-earmuffs-on. Weird.

Chris, over at Alfreds Cheese Emporium, posted a website of pictures of his hometown. They were really neat pictures, you should head over to his blog and check them out. Anyway, I thought I would find a website that had pictures of West Virginia for anyone interested in knowing what my state looks like. So, I found Webshots.

I just visited the message boards of American Idol to see what people were saying about Barry Manilow. He's going to be a guest judge I guess and they will be having Barry Manilow Week on American Idol on the 20th. I don't watch American Idol but I might tune in to see Barry. Anyway, someone posted a message on the boards that said if "If David Cassidy had been alive in the era of TRL {TRL is that show on MTV or VH1 or some crappy music channel} he would have been #1 too." Well, David Cassidy is alive. And was a big success on BROADWAY in the show Blood Brothers in 1993-94 and performed the show on the road from 1994-96. And has been pretty busy since doing all kinds of things. He's currently touring the UK. David Cassidy didn't need TRL to be a huge success. But apparently the American Idol people need a great deal more help. So, Check out David Cassidy's official website.

Scarlett, you like t-shirts with sayings on them. Here's a website.

Dig discovery is oldest 'pet cat'

MONSTER EMERGES FROM THE DEPTHS

Email Scam Warning!

We just got an email from scammers claiming to be from Citibank wanting us to update our financial information by clicking on the link and going to a website. This is a scam! I went to the Citibank website to contact them about this scam, but they already knew - there's a warning on their webpage. So, don't believe it if you get this email.

A Peeps History Lesson

Follow Up to Yesterday's Work Rant

Well, my supervisor said she would talk to Greg. She wanted me to record a narrative on the specific case involved to explain why what Greg said he was going to do wasn't getting done. So I did. I listed every error he made. It's a permanent record in that case for any employee to see. How will he ever learn if he isn't informed of his mistakes, right? Anyway I copied the narrative into an email and sent it to Greg and the supervisor. I told April, my new Tech, that I just bet Greg stole the reference manual that belonged to the woman April replaced since Greg is obsessed with my job. Well, anyway, it's now the weekend and I fully intend to forget Greg.
Moving on to new work stuff that isn't at all ranty. April did her first level 2 audit today. I was so happy. She really seems to be catching on fast. And we get along great. I was kind of worried about being in on the decision of who to hire, but it's seemed to have worked out well so far. In celebration of April's achievement, and just because we felt like it, Scarlett, April and I ordered pizza for lunch. We each had to pay $2.47 and Scarlett paid me in change. Bless her heart. But to be fair, I refused to let her write a check for that amount. April on gave me $1.50 in quarters and a dollar bill. Needless to say, I now have the song lyric "I got a little change in my pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling" in my head. Today we received the office supplies we ordered. April got a new adding machine too. The Ram had ordered herself a new one and told April that she could switch hers for the new one if she wanted too. The only supply we didn't get was the mechanical pencil I ordered. But hopefully, it will come Monday. I can't believe they paid $4.46 for a pencil. Walmart sells the exact same pencil for $2.97. I don't want to know how much our new adding machines cost. And I refuse to call them calculators like everyone else does at work. To me, calculators are the pocket sized things you take to math class in school. Adding machines are the things with the rolls of paper. Anyway, most of the day was good. And it only got better after work as the sun was out and I got to do a little shopping at Krogers and then come home and walk Fritz around the yard for a while. It's nice to get outside on these sunny days.

Oh, and Scarlett, I got you something at Krogers. You know those pictures I have hanging up in my cubicle? Well, Krogers was selling pictures like those and I found one of a horsey that I thought you would like. I'll try to remember to bring it Monday. I'll be stopping by the office for a bit before heading down to the state office.

Check out the eating utensils post from April 6th on this blog, Gotham Notes. It's pretty funny.

One of my favorite golfers is Fred Couples. Check out this website...

I LOVE KEITH URBAN!!!!!!

*Sigh* I went to see Keith Urban at a county fair about three years ago and it was incredible. Sure it was after midnight when I got home and I had to go to work the next day, but it was worth it. Spent quite a bit of money on souvenirs. And he is one of very few artists for whom I've broken my three song rule. I have a rule that I don't buy the cd unless there are three songs on the cd that I like. But with Keith Urban, I didn't even have to hear the first single released from his Golden Road cd before I bought it. So, visit his website.

George W. Bush Anagrams

He grew bogus
Bush ego grew
Where bugs go
Whose bugger?
"W": he bugs Gore
e.g. bug whores?
Ugh! Sewer bog!
Bugger, who's 'e?
Ogre hugs web

Other related anagrams

President George "Dubya" Bush:

Ego upset by greed and hubris

USA President George Bush:

Ass...one stupid bugger here!
Huge, depressing saboteur

The Republican Party:

Try neat, happier club
Buy that pearl, Prince!
Entire rat club happy!
Aren't public therapy

Republicans / Democrats:

Superb morals? Accident!
Cured satanic problems
Products enable racism

Work Rant

You wouldn't think I'd have a work rant, considering I spent the day at the state office testing new programming and enjoying the perks that come with the state office. But when I got back to the local office, I found that Greg had done something that he was told specifically not to. And he didn't even do it right. So, after I confirmed with Tony that Greg was in fact told not to do this one thing during last month's team meeting, I sent another email to my supervisor detailing what Greg had done and asking her to once again tell him to keep his grubby paws off my job. Well, not in those words, but I did ask that he refrain from doing things that he's been told not to do. I told Tony that Greg should keep his grubby paws off my job. So, since the Ram will be in my office tomorrow, I'm sure Tony will have a few words with her about the situation. He likes to brown-nose like that. Tony could see how very angry I was. I think I even scared John a bit. Oh, and some guy left a message on my voice mail today. I don't get calls from the general public, so this was very unusual. And unfortunately, since he only provided his first name and a phone number, I couldn't even look him up in our computer system to see who he might be. So, I just deleted the message. If it's important, he'll call back and talk to someone who's supposed to take his call. I would've said, someone who cared, but that doesn't define anyone at work - LOL. Just kidding. But then if this guy cared about talking to someone, he would have left more information than his first name. We do have quite a few Scott's in our system.

Know any pregnant women???

Archaeology article. Interesting stuff.

A couple of jokes from my friend, S.B. West:

There was once a sheep farmer who needed help with the difficult task of
castrating some of his inferior male sheep to keep them from breeding
with the females.
He hired a French guy who didn't speak much English, but was a very
good worker.
After the first day, they had successfully castrated 14 sheep and his French
worker was just about to throw away the "parts", but the sheep farmer yelled,
"No! Don't throw those away!
My wife fries them up and we eat them.
They're delicious and we call them 'sheep fries'."
Later that day, the French hired hand came in for supper, and indeed the
'sheep fries' were tasty.
The next day, they castrated 16 sheep, and the following evening they all settled
down to another supper of 'sheep fries'.
The third day, however, when the sheep farmer came home, he asked his wife
where the French hired hand was, and she said,
"You know, it's the weirdest thing!
I told him since there weren't very many 'sheep fries' this evening, we were also
going to have French fries, and he ran like hell!!"




Three blondes were all applying for the last available position on the local
California police force.
Sam, the detective conducting the interview, looked at the three of them and said, "So you all want to be a cop, eh?"

The blondes all nodded.

Sam got up, opened a file drawer and pulled out a file folder. Sitting back down, he opened it up and withdrew a photograph, and said, "To be a detective, you have to be able to DETECT! You must be able to notice things such as distinguishing features and oddities such as scars, etc."

So saying, he stuck the photo in the face of the first blonde and withdrew it after about 2 seconds. "Now, he said, "Did you notice any distinguishing features about this man?"

The blonde immediately said, "Yes, I did. He only has one eye!"

Sam shook his head and said, "Of COURSE he only has one eye in this picture! It's a PROFILE of his face! You're dismissed!" The first blonde hung her head and walked out of the office.

Sam then turned to the second blonde, stuck the photo in her face for two seconds, pulled it back and said, "What about you? Notice anything unusual or outstanding about this man?"

The blonde immediately shot back, "Yes! He only has one ear!" Sam put his head in his hand and exclaimed,"Didn't you hear what I just said to the other lady? This is a PROFILE of the man's face! Of COURSE you can see only one ear!! You're excused, too!

The second blonde sheepishly walked out of the office.

Sam turned his attention to the last blonde and said, "This is probably a waste of time, but.....He flashed the photo in her face for a couple of seconds and withdrew it, saying with a sigh, "All right. Did YOU notice anything distinguishing or unusual about this man?"

The blonde said, "I did. This man wears contact lenses."

Sam frowned, took another look at the picture and began looking at some of the papers in the folder. He looked up at the blonde with a puzzled expression and said, "You're absolutely right! His bio says he wears contacts! How in the world could you tell that by looking at this picture?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and said, "DUH! With only one eye and one ear, he certainly CAN'T WEAR GLASSES

Here's a link to instructions for the flower pot gumball machines that RumorNancy made for the training trip to the Big M. My gumball machine (aka candy dish) isn't this elaborate, but I am now wondering if I can make a pig out of flower pots.

They don't call him the Naked Chef for nothing! (Sorry, but that was the most obvious line.)

Maxwell Smart Testifies Before Congress (satire, obviously).

Tonight on the Discovery Health channel is the show National Body Challenge. It's the weightloss show that I've been watching for a couple of years now. I'm greatly disappointed in this show though because one of the contestants was carried off in an ambulance while attempting the very first physical fitness challenge. The very first challenge. Even though the narrator claimed the contestants were given medical exams, one of the contestants suffered chest pains. I think the show is getting too dangerous. There are safe ways to gauge your fitness level and safe ways to work out and lose weight and so far, the show has not promoted any of them. If you're wanting inspiration, you're better off watching infomercials for Sweatin' to the Oldies or Walk Away the Pounds or Winsor Pilates.

Today I got a nice letter from the folks at Fitness Magazine. I had sent them a letter a couple of weeks ago informing them that I hadn't received any issues of the magazine since I submitted payment for the subscription. Well, this weekend I finally received an issue of the magazine, and today I got the letter apologizing for the delay. Since they were so nice in the letter, I'm being nice to them. Check out their website. The magazine subscription is only $1.00 an issue, I'm sure you know someone who could use one. For you guys out there, there's always a half naked woman on the cover.

First of all, it is a precedent for Rice to testify - I'm almost positive she's the first African American Female National Security Advisor. Second of all - well, I'd rather not spend the next 40 years in exile down at Camp X-Ray, so I'll keep the second of all to myself.

Not even a link to the picture? Oh well, someone made a bunch of religious folks mad.

This week's study: Television may cause ADHD in youngsters.

GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! Mom screwed up the computer today. Now all the fonts and everything are way different and I can't get anything back to the way it was. This stinks!

Nashville Star, Season 2, is getting so difficult to watch these days. There are about 4 really great contestants still competing. I just voted for Brad Cotter again. I am disappointed that there's only one woman left in the competition though. Here are links to the official websites of the four contestants that I'm having a hard time choosing between:

Brad Cotter
George Canyon
Jennifer Hicks
Lance Miller

Someone found my blog by doing a google search on "guestbook of donors of clinton campaign directory".

Another post about the training conference

The rooms at the Radisson Hotel in the Big M were pretty good. Definitely better than I had stayed in since probably my 8th grade trip to Washington DC. I think ever since then, I've only stayed in hotels whose rooms opened up to the outside. This time, the rooms opened up to the hallway. Angie O had a room on the 11th floor and apparently all the rooms on that floor had the big bathrooms. By big, I mean two sinks and a separate tub and shower. The rest of us had a one sink, combined shower/bathtub bathroom. Brenda spent most of the first day trying to get a room on that floor. And Mel kept reminding Angie O that she was still on probation. The only thing I was disappointed in about the room was the view. Barb H and I had a street view and Mel, Brenda and Angie O had a river view. Of course we all thought it was pretty funny that our Deputy Commissioner had to sleep on a pull-out sofa in the sitting room area next to Angie O's room because the hotel had cancelled his reservation. Here Angie O had only been with us for about 6 weeks and she gets a primo room and the Deputy Commissioner is on the couch. LOL. Funny.

For dinner Wednesday night, we all went to this restaurant called Ruby Tuesday. Although Barb H wanted italian food, we all decided to go to a place that we didn't have back home and a place where we could spend a big chunk of the $23.80 that was reimbursable for dinner. I had the Chicken Parmesan with Pasta and it was pretty good. Angie O ordered some kind of chocolate cake for dessert and I got a piece of it, had to get some chocolate from somewhere since the people sponsoring the training didn't include any in the catered meals.

I also won a door prize on the third day. It's a candy container that resembles a gum ball machine. It's made from a terracotta flower pot and glass bowl. Rumor is RumorNancy made it, so I may have to repaint it to exorcise the bad vibes out of it. Anyway, she made it by painting the 4 inch flower pot a baby pink color and painted a flower on it and some swirly gold designs. Then she turned the pot upside down and glued the glass bowl on to the actual bottom of the pot. Then she painted the terracotta saucer base of the flower pot the same pink color and glued a round ball onto the saucer and painted it gold. When you place the saucer on top of the bowl, it really does look like a gum ball machine. I can take comfort in the fact that the bowl isn't lined up very well on the flower pot, so she isn't all that perfect. I have chocolate candy in it now.

My old boss, Sallie, was sent an email by accident this morning by the state office who had sent me an email to tell me that testing of the new programming could begin next week if I could also begin next week. So, that precipitated a compliment from Sallie that went something like this, "Miranda, you're so wonderful. I miss you. You don't know how much I'd love to have you down here in my region." When a boss is that happy with you, you should watch yourself. Because it probably doesn't take much for her to become that UNHAPPY with you. Sallie and I were born on the same day, just different years. I called her my zodiac twin and I think she got a kick out of it.

We're trying to get April, our new tech, into the April 12th training. If she gets to go, then not only will I be able to have lunch with her because that would be one of the testing days that I would be down at the state office for, but she would also be going to training with Angie O and I think that would be great for both of them to get to know each other. I'm hoping April gets to go to training. I don't want to have to train her everything and then send her to training in three months after she's already learned it.

How many American soldiers died in Iraq this week, and the Bush Administration is focused on this???

"Dive! Take Cover!!"

Also known as the Silly String seige. Brenda, a worker from Wood co. brought many cans of this silly string to the training in the Big M. She roomed with Mel so Mel got sprayed with the silly string a lot. One day Barb H., Angie O, and I were in Brenda and Mel's room when Brenda pulled out the silly string and started spraying. Barb H yelled, "Dive! Take Cover!" and she and I hit the floor and covered out heads. Brenda continued to spray and got Mel and Angie and got me and Barb H a little. I had a jacket over my head. Brenda said it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen, that she couldn't believe we could move that fast. Mel said she thought I had completely disappeared and she was nearly convinced at one point that I was never even in the room. They couldn't even see me, which I thought was strange since I really had no cover, I was crouching on the floor at the foot of the bed. Barb H told them that we had been practicing drills in our room the night before in case we needed to duck. Brenda also took the silly string to the hotel lounge and sprayed other people who attended our training. Brenda was the most entertainment we had at the training. I think she's succeeded in alienating all the trainers. So, she's a 100% success. I think that's good. Although, I must say that I had a good reputation up until I attended this training. After hanging out with Brenda and company, I'm not so sure of my rep. The pseudotrainers, my new nickname for the training unit, made up a name tag for me which said I was stationed in wood co, which is incorrect. I debated the pros and cons of being labeled Wood co. falsely and I think I finally decided that since the wood co techs had ticked off most of the training staff and the state office staff that it would be pretty cool to be remembered as one of them. After my boss insisted that I go to this training, I think a new reputation is the least I can do to make the bosses second guess their decision for sending me on this trip.

3 Days and None the Wiser...

Well, I'm back from the Big M. The title of the post pretty much says what I got out of the training. The only part of it that I needed to be there for was the 9:00 am to 10:30 am training on Tuesday. The rest of it could have been handled through emails and handouts. Except for the game that was played yesterday. They played a game based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, only the questions were geared toward our jobs. We had been separated into groups and Melanie's group (Melanie is the Resolution Unit Specialist from Wood Co. - and back up Supervisor up there) also contained the not well liked Nancy. Let's call her RumorNancy, because according to someone at the training, RumorNancy spread all kinds of lies about this worker while the worker was off for 6 weeks sick. Well, RumorNancy was the only one to win the Millionaire game from Melanie's group. So, at break, Melanie came up to me and said, "Miranda, RumorNancy won the millionare game. So you have to win the millionaire game. Don't let me down." Prior to this, I had every intention of not playing the millionaire game since I didn't want to be at the training anyway. But, when I heard that RumorNancy had won, I just had to play too. I couldn't let that go without doing my best to show her that she wasn't all that special. So, when it was my turn to play, I defeated, nay, I say crushed, the other contestants in the round that determines who would sit in the hot seat, then proceeded to win the million points and win the game. No one else from my group won. And there was only one winner per group for the whole day. I even had to stand up in front of everyone at the training (about 100 people) to get recognized for my victory. Melanie was very proud. You know it's pretty odd. I didn't like Melanie when I had to work with her every day. But she seemed a lot more compatible with my personality on this trip.

There's going to be a lot more posts about the training this weekend, but I have to do some other stuff right now. I bet I have a ton of email. And I have to read all of my friends' blogs to catch up with them.