praying on the immigrants

The churches in this area have long been known to prey on society's weakest. There are occasional stories in the local newspaper about how the homeless (growing in Dallas at 15% last year) are subjected to religious ceremonies while they're getting a meal. Most of the homeless feel they have no alternative but to tolerate it, as the hidden cost to be paid.

Job seekers will find many gatherings during the week - almost always in churches - where they can discuss job leads, at the cost of not-so-subtle Bible stories (to illustrate a point, of course) or more blatant public prayers. Job seekers who wish to avoid the religious angle will be forced to fend for themselves, mostly.

Likewise, I found it interesting to see that the non-Catholic churches are reaching out to the Latino community to offer free ESL [English as a Second Language] classes, in addition to the more common "Church in Spanish". While on the first take, you make think it's because they're trying to serve the community, it's probably more self-preservation than anything else.

TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

The churches which promote these events want the immigrant's money, pure and simple. Each week, they'll make pleas (subtle at first) that the newcomer should join their church and then - like protection money extorted by gangsters - coax them into turning over 10% of what they earn to The Church, thus ensuring the church's continued domination over the membership, not to mention its very existence.

If the immigrants can't (or won't) make their voluntary contribution ("tithe"), what are the odds that a phone call to ICE [La Migra] will have them on a bus back to Guatemala by morning?

It's also amusing to see that some churches are more savvy than others, translating their signs into Spanish:

to placate the locals, they printed the top line en Inglés	the wrong way - although the 3 stars are a cute touch

It's also interesting to note that they get away with not asking about the immigration status - since that's far secondary to the money.

I recently read an article that money being shipped back home has mostly stayed flat, even though there are more illegals here now than ever. The inference is that each immigrant is sending less money back than before. It's only logical to assume that part of that money is going to The Gringo Churches, sí?

Mexican Fusion

The local Pollo Feliz ("The Happy Chicken") has closed -- too bad. Now I don't know where I'll go for an iguana platter (they offered it on the weekend). In its place has risen Burger Bueno ("Good Burger").

I think this is the second attempt at Mexican Fusion here, following Pizza Patrón which is like most other pizza places, except they offer La Mexicana Pizza with chorizo and jalepeños (among other standard ingredients).

A pleasant experience at the DMV? Really?

<-- Can you spot the DMV in this shopping center?

A few days before my driver's license expired (and this was an "odd" renewal so I couldn't do it online) I called the local(*) Texas Department of Public Safety office and asked, simply "which days are the least busy?" and was told "Wednesday and Thursday". Armed with that information, I proceeded to the DMV at 10am this morning - a Thursday - and saw a line snaking out the door. Not a good sign, I thought. They opened at 7am - I should've come then, I thought - but that would've conflicted with my 8am dentist appointment (another joy in life).

(*)Perhaps doing my homework helped - I determined that the nearest office was [Dallas East] so I Google-Earth'd it and reckoned that I knew the intersection: Northwest/Jupiter. My plan involved not driving downtown to face The Main DMV Office (queue scary music).

So, I whipped out my iPod and proceeded to listen to Yet Another Podcast. However, the line was moving. Quickly. Once inside the door, I could see the signs - in both Spanish and English - advising me not to mean against the walls. As if! It was also entertaining to see the ethnic mix: I was one of only two whiteys in a 15-person line. I soon found myself in front of the Triage Clerk (my term) and I explained that I was there for a renewal. She handed me a number and a 12-question (?) form, and waved me toward a counter. No pens were anywhere to be found, but a Latino gent sensed my plight and let me borrow his. I finished in about 60 seconds and returned his pen - he seemed surprised for two reasons: (1) I returned his pen and (2) I completed the task in less than 10 minutes.

The questions were simple - basically asking if I had any condition that would keep me from getting a renewal - it was very transparent. Once done, I sat down and waited for my number to be called. The paper slip said "WAITING TIME 5min." and it was right, more or less. So much for listening to my podcast - there wouldn't be time! My number soon flashed on The Big Board and I proceeded to the designated clerk, who asked me to (a) read 3 lines of numbers-in-a-box; (b) submit my left+right thumbprint; (c) pay the $24 renewal in cash; (d) sign my name; (e) smile for the photo; and (f) don't let the door hit you on the way out. My license will arrive in 4-6 weeks from Austin TX and meanwhile-hang-onto-this-document-it-shows-you've-renewed.

Fast and easy? Surprisingly (shockingly) YES. The hardest part was just finding the place - it was listed on the DMV's website, but I wasn't expecting a hole-in-the-wall in a strip shopping center. I guess at my next renewal - in 2012, I think - they'll have valet parking.

Texas Liars Independence Day

I nearly forgot that today is a state holiday:

"On this day in 1836, the Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico."

Given the fact that 29.3%(*) of all people living in Texas were born in Mexico, I find this .. uh .. Curious.

I was reading the Bold Types Blog (columnists from the Dallas Managed News) where one of the guys (Josh Benton) is taking flak for inferring that we dispense with having schoolchildren recite the Texas pledge of allegiance:

"Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."

Hey, I'm with Josh, but 91%(*) of the Texas population would rather send him back to Louisiana for even thinking that The Texas Pledge should be sent to the dung heap of history. Me, I find it a meaningless rote gesture that will have lost its meaning after about three recitations, but you can't tell that to a Texas native, who has it so drilled into her/his brain that it cannot be dislodged by logic.

Later, Josh tried to correct a blog commenter who wrote

"Texas is the only state in the Union that was previously a nation all its own. Texans are particularly proud of that fact."

.. which is an oft-repeated lie (think Hawaii and Vermont). The same commenter babbled on with

"And proud of the fact that ours is the only state flag that can be flown side by side with the US flag."

.. which is ANOTHER lie (see snopes.com)

All this reminds me of the need to Get It Wright Right The First Time. So many times, I've received an email from someone who has forwarded a maltruth .. and cc'ed everyone in his/her Address Book. While I used to be forgiving and only reply to the sender, pointing out the error, I have learned that she/he never sends a retraction .. so I'm now happy to do it for him/her. Let this serve as a warning to any of you who emails me with a pack-o-lies: I WILL respond to Everyone On Your List with the corrected information. This will make you look like a fool to all your friends. This is not my problem: you should have investigated it yourself and decided Not To Forward It.

Jill Wazzabob used to say: "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part" which I have morfed into "A lack of fact-checking on your part does not constrict my ability to make you look like the moron you am."[sic]

---

(*) I concocted this statistic. To native Texans: that means I "made it up".

¡ Viva Fármers Brañch !

This morning, when I moseyed outside to fetch my weekend edition of the Dallas Managed News (inexplicably, it arrives Friday, Saturday, Sunday and most-but-not-all Mondays), I found this on my sidewalk:

The 2006 Farmers Branch (Texas) phone directory .. in Mexican*!

* why some people refer to the language as "Spanish" is Beyond Me. The language spoken South Of The Border bears only passing resemblance to that spoken in Spain. Here, Español==Mexican. Okay, maybe Honduran, too. And Nicaraguan, and Costa Rican, and Salvadoran, and ...

I live about 7 miles from Farmers Branch, so why this landed on MY sidewalk is also Beyond Me. It's also very interesting, given the recent news about Farmers Branch and their Wii (War against illegal immigration). Was this an honest mistake, or is Someone Out There sending a message?

And for those of you who are curious, this Páginas Amarillas ("Yellow Pages", for you gringos) is not a bilingual directory; it is ONLY in Español.

can you spell "brrrrrr" ?

It's a three-dog night here, temperatures dropping to the low 20s(F). Gotta git me 2 more dogs, I reckon. I recently installed new weatherstripping around two of my outside doors, where the old stuff had worn thin. Good timing, huh?

Speaking of timing, I have to wonder about Dubya's hair color. Now, 6+ years into His Debacle, He's starting to realize that 93.6% of the world's population Knows. We're onto the fact that He finally figured out that This Presidency Thing isn't just another big joke from His college fraternity days, something to add to His resume. Still, His incessant condescendence and smirking send me over the edge every time I see His face on the telly. His I-Am-Still-The-Decider mantra remains apalling, yet not surprising, given His reaction to the recent Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach. I secretly get a thrill by seeing the pain on His face each time He tries to avoid reality. Fascinating.

I just have to wonder if He has yet realized that the democratization of Iraq can never work*. Democracies (appear to - correct me if I'm wrong) require the "cooperation" of your neighbors. Here in the USA, we're bordered by Canada and Mexico. Iraq, OTOH, is bordered by countries that are not democracies and have no desire to go down that road. What on earth would persuade Iran, Syria and (Saudi) Arabia to endorse a style of government that would mean the demise of their own? I don't get it.

* unless He listens to Belacqua Jones (example: Send the Iraq Study Group home; victory in Iraq is within our grasp.

Entertaining read: Diane McWhorter's Unmentionable lessons of the midterm aftermath.

PS to Raul: yes, I updated Sundry on Thursday. You can now rest easier.

domestic certification

It's too bad there's no standardization/certification in the home-cleaning profession.

Ever since I had my wood floors resurfaced (which included a thorough post-work cleaning) I've had 4 different maids. Before that, I had none.

Wanda* - spoke English, and minimal Spanish. Brought a helper most days. Easily the most competent of the lot. Showed her helper all sorts of tricks of the trade, including little stuff like folding a triangle on the toilet paper, so the user would know she'd been there.

Amazonia* - was Wanda's English-speaking assistant. She took over when Wanda decided to go all-commercial. She was tall enough to reach the tops of the doors, unlike the others. Things worked well for awhile, then she started showing up very late, or not at all. Lots of excuses about working multiple jobs, working the 3rd shift, etc. She became undependable, so I eventually had to show her the door. Too bad, as she really needed the money.

Juanita* - spoke little English, but her daughter was fluent (they worked as a team). Sadly, she simply would not set the alarm when she left (I heard she thought Immigration would be there in a few seconds after arming it). I gave her two chances, then fired her. Since then, I heard that her work's been slipping at her other customers.

Estella* - speaks little English, so I've resorted to online translation tools, and a bit of pointing/gesturing. Peculiar #1: after she finishes a room, she closes the door. Last week, this trapped my cats in one bedroom, and one of them had to go #2 (on the carpet) since it couldn't get to The Litter Box. It could've been worse: #1 (cat urine) is much harder to clean up. Peculiar #2: the first time she was here, she decided the heavy paper cleaning cloths were machine washable (they weren't -- I raked the pulp from the inside of the washing machine). I've tried to position the Real Cleaning Rags where she'll find them, but so far .. no such luck. Eventually I'll be working from home one of the days she's here, and will try to communicate that to her. Peculiar #3: she appeared baffled when my vacuum cleaner suddenly stopped working .. so, I demonstrated how to change a bag .. problem solved?

*the names are changed, to protect their identities

Most all of them (except Wanda) also have an annoying habit of putting things in (sometimes) nearby drawers, and never returning them to the top-of-the-table from whence they came. Often it takes several days (!) to locate them again, as "nearby" may be loosely defined as "within 10 yards".

Republicans can't read?

Today, the local Republican incumbent (Texas state Congress) rang my doorbell and placed a doorhanger advertising his campaign. The problem is that I have a NO SOLICITORS sign and (as far as I'm concerned) that applies DOUBLE to politicians.

Texas state legislators earn $7,200 a year, but mine lives in a house (on a lake) appraised at $1.4 million, and drives a Rolls-Royce. And those are just the obvious signs of flaunting his wealth. What's wrong with this picture? Time to vote this Career Politician out of office, far as I'm concerned.

Okay, to be fair ... maybe he inherited this from a relative who was a thieving politician in the past. That could explain a lot.

Update: I got an anonymous phone call on Sunday wanting me to vote for this scumbag. It says (quote) "Tony is a former teacher and principal who will improve our schools, crack down on illegal immigration, and keep our taxes as low as possible. His opponent is a liberal attorney from New Jersey who is waging a negative and dirty campaign."

26^2 = ??

hardly a day goes by when I don't hear of a new word. Oftentimes it's something Truly Amusing like "meanderthal" .. but I think we should exhaust all the remaining SHORT words first. There are just way too many 2-letter words that need a loving home. (Scrabble players be damned), starting with [A] I can think of:

aa; ac; ae; af; ai; aj; ak (postal, and other abbreviations don't count); ao; ap; aq (the Arabs have taught us that we don't need a U after Q anymore); ar; au; av and az (taken: ab; ad; ag; ah; Al (proper name); am; an; as; at; aw; ax; ay)

[B] is more difficult, since all good English words must include A,E,I,O,U and sometimes Y:

ba; bo; bu (taken: be, bi)
ca, ce; ci; cu (taken: co)
da; de; di; du (taken: do)

and then we're back to a vowel [E], so more words become available:

ea; ec; ee; ef; eg; ei; ej; ek; el (Mexican pronoun); en; eo; ep; eq; es; et; eu; ev; ey; ez(taken: eb; Ed; eh (Wisconsonians); em; er; ew; ex

Once we're done with the remaining 2-letter words, we can progress to 3, then 4. After all, etymology is just way overrated.

so long, Disney/ABC ?

I wonder how hard it will be to erase all references to the Disney/ABC network from my TiVo?

Given that they plan to air Karl Rove's [The Path to 9/11] (an obvious CFRP hack designed to help them retain power in the upcoming midterm elections), I plan to return the favor by:

1. removing Disney/ABC from my list of channels (the only other ones I've removed are the Mexican-language stations, and the religious channels - those with a bottom-of-the-screen number to call with donations, 24x7);

2. remove all Disney/ABC shows from my Season Pass™.

3. delete any Disney/ABC shows already recorded, but not yet viewed.

I'm sure their advertisers will be thrilled. The only one concerned seems to be FOX "News", which has had a monopoly on right-wing propaganda for the last several years. Now that Disney/ABC is turning into a right wing puppet, Fox's monopoly on lies has come to a screeching halt.

13 Sep update: just to close the loop .. ABC did broadcast this GOP-orchestrated hack, so I dutifully removed them from TiVo. Hence, they no longer exist. Biggest downside for me: no more ABC Nightline. Pity.

where the west begins

Yesterday, I went to Cedar Hill (Texas) to look around. Who knew there would be so many cedar trees there?

Today, I had breakfast with HayJax and Christine; we were the first ones in the restaurant for the first 30 minutes. I wonder why so many people sleep in on Sunday?

I've been working on a Mexican-English translation table for a few weeks. Today I added Goofajew ("Good for you!"). Two of my other favorites are Hobbanidae ("Have a nice day") and Fybo-Yay ($5.08). Eventually I'll write a book. Assuming one hasn't been done already.

Tonight, the area streets will be deserted after 7:45pm due to something called "The Mavs Game 2". Last night (to demonstrate our Texas Hospitality) 11 people were shot while waiting to get their (valet) cars. Two guys from Missouri (basketball fans in town for The Big Games?) apparently took exception to a husband not wanting them to flirt with his wife. Maybe she wasn't "marked" appropriately? I like the Hindu way of putting a big dot (bindi) in the middle of a woman's forehead: red for married and black for single .. much less confusion. Anyway, the local headline read: "Gunfire wounds 11 near downtown bar". Well, at least they were neighborly enough to allow witnesses to get their license plate number.

It'll be interesting to see if the TV People interview whoever's sitting in Section 121 Row E seats 4-5-6-7. Some entrepreneur sold and resold the same seats (counterfeit tickets) at least three times, before getting busted by Dallas Police. Oops. (See "Counterfeiters cash in on Mavs mania")

musical minorities

If you paid attention, you could see the impact of yesterday's "Day of Action". I noticed a dearth of "gardener carts" (pulled by ubiquitous F250s). Fiesta Mart's parking lot was only 75% full.

Of the five (5) people who were working at the car wash, three were Hispanic (and hence obviously illegal); a fourth was African and the greeter appeared Irish. I stopped by another grocery and noticed that today's checkers were African instead of Mexican, while the guys stocking the shelves and tending the produce were Guatemalan.

The worst experience was when I used the drive-thru at a QSR (fast food) and noticed the (Pakistani? Indian?) owners (probably) were manning the cash register. They were more incompetent than the usual Salvadorans-behind-the-register. The owners operated serially: take the order, prepare the order, take cash, make change, deliver product. Then (and only then) take an order from the next vehicle. There has to be a better way.

Yesterday, the order of the day was substitutions: one minority for another. Today, it'll be Business As Usual.

Memo to the INS (or whatever they're called, post 9/11): I was able to spot several dozen illegals within a few minutes yesterday. Can't you just put them all on boxcars and ship them back, south of the Rio Grande? I look forward to more Pakistani managers at the drive-thru.

Unrelated (?): whatever happened to The Frito Bandito?

Día del Trabajo

Looking at my calendar, I see that today is "Día del Trabajo", which is Mexican Labor Day. That's somewhat funny, since about 11.5 million of their citizens, now permanently evicted AWOL from Mexico, want to go on strike today in the US. Maybe I'll try to get a car wash, or order a Happy Meal(tm) at McDonald's, just to see whether they have any impact at all.

Maybe this symbolic "boycott" will have an effect in some of the low-rent districts where the illegals live, but I'm guessing it'll be hard to tell the difference in my part of town. I'm expecting about zero economic impact, since stores catering to that community stayed opened late yesterday and did a brisk business in anticipation of today's holiday.

The way I see it, many of these illegals want it both ways; they want money here by doing unskilled labor (nannies, car washers, restaurant help, cleaning crews, fast food workers) but don't want to renounce their Mexican citizenship, don't want to Learn The Language, and certainly don't want taxes withheld from their (mostly cash) wages.

The result -- they send $US billions back to their families in the (even more) politically corrupt*, poverty-stricken nation to our south, so that even more of them can Escape. Eventually, the old immigrants will retaliate against the new immigrants, whose increasing numbers will drive the oldsters' wages down.

*Corruption is widespread in Mexico, where they make Karl Rove's manipulation of US laws look like a stroll in the park.

By Friday ("Cinco de Mayo"), most Americans will have forgotten about today's Event. May 5th is a bigger celebration here than in Mexico. Many stoopid Americans think Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, which it ain't (that's September 16th). The official holiday is "Aniversario de la Batalla de Puebla" which has become an equivalent to the Irish' St. Patrick's Day, where the goal is for Americans to get drunk. Big woop.

setting the dust bunnies free

I think the FedEx package from HP arrived Wednesday morning; I've lost track of time this week. The package contains the 7 CDs that comprise the HP PC System Recovery set for their Pavilion PC running Windows XP. Why they didn't just burn a single DVD is beyond me, but I suspect someone at HP thinks that swapping CDs every 3 minutes during a system restore is someone's idea of Great Fun.

Anyway, I tried and tried, and finally threw up my hands and took that PC into the repair shop, figuring they have better diagnostic toys than I. Indeed, the nice CSR [Customer Service Rep] -- who wasn't from Bangalore! -- said they use a piece of diagnostic software called "Lysol" to do a disc format .. I should know more in 24 hours. To me, it just smells like an NT filesystem that went south. Less likely #1: a hard disc that suddenly decided to go to Mexico for Spring Break. Less likely #2: a disc controller failure.

The symptoms were that I could load all 7 CDs onto the D: partition without any errors, but when it then tried to install that code onto the C: partition, I'd get lots of extraction errors. Sometimes it would fail with "The following file is missing/corrupt". Othertimes it would Blue Screen on me, and I'd get something more sinister: "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer".

I stuffed one of the error messages (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) into Google and it said it was a sure sign of a CPU going bad, and that a shiny new heatsink would Fix Me Right Up. Um .. I've learned not to trust Everything I Read On The Internet. So, I entered the BIOS and ran the temperature diag and it said 61C, which is well within normal range for an Athlon XP 3200+ (start worrying when it's beyond 85C apparently). Also, both fans (CPU and system) were running - 2812 RPM for one; 1188 for another.

Hmm .. maybe the memory? I have two identical 1GB DIMMs, so I removed one, then swapped in the other .. no difference. Each time required a 24-minute ordeal of loading those 7 CDs onto D: and then watching the extraction fail on a different file.

Aside #-3: I find it amusing/sad that the Windows Recovery Process makes no-zero-nada attempt at a thorough disc diagnosis. It performs what appears to be a cursory reformat of the D: partition and not much more. There's no BIOS-level reformat, nothing which would've allowed me to cure this in the sanctity of my own home. Perhaps there's a piece of diag code on the disc controller itself, but that's one of the various ASICs on the motherboard, and not a discrete PCI board which is easily swapped.

Aside #0: the CSR laughed when she saw my neatly labeled Ziploc(tm) bag with 7 CDs inside. XP itself only really needs 2 of those, apparently, since other PC OEMs make do with that. The remaining 5 CDs are all the application software (AOL, MS-Money, etc.) that HP loads onto a new PC. There's no provision for
"(x) load the Windows XP code without all the crap I don't want"

Aside #3: when I first started work on this PC, I found a small colony of dust bunnies living inside the box. Actually, it wasn't bad, but my can of Compressed Air made it look all bright and shiny inside. Even so, I missed the slots for the removable media that I never use (SmartMedia, Sony MemoryStick, etc) and scraped a bit when I got the PC into the sunlight, for the first time since it came to live with me.

Aside #6: I started running SpeedFan on another PC, which is a freeware program to monitor CPU temperature, fan speed etc. from a running Windows box. Every one of my systems runs at a different temperature, so I'll have to learn their personalities so I can spot future problems in that area.

Aside #9: Indeed, the most recent backup (after I started noticing system problems) is corrupt. The last full backup before that is about 5 weeks old, so I'll restore from that when my PC's back up-and-running. I'll lose a few emails and a few weeks worth of Quicken entries (unless Checkfree's smart enough to understand that when I sync the data). It'll be easier to load the application software from CD, in most cases, then restore only the datafiles. It'll be a Royal PITA and take a day or more. Still, it could've been a lot worse.

bad day to get your car washed

I'm guessing the fast food places had long lines today, due to the all the illegals calling in sick. There are plans to repeat this "protest" on Monday, May 1st.

data point #1: The NCTCOG* says the Metroplex population is over 6.2 million.

data point #2: Dallas Police say 350,000 to 500,000 people marched downtown today.

Personally, I seriously doubt the DPD can count correctly. Regardless, I presume the majority were Mexicans, who crossed the border without bothering to complete the paperwork. No word on how many of the 350,000+ boarded trains at Union Station, for a free ride back to Mexico.

* North Central Texas Council of Governments

It's a pity nobody every bothered enforcing the Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986, which has been on the books since the Dark Days of the Reagan Amnesty Program. It makes it illegal to hire an illegal .. maybe the double negative was interpreted as a positive?

Immigration 101

There weren't many cars in the movie theatre parking lot when I arrived today; I wonder if it's because a lot of people hadn't yet Sprung Forward?

The film I saw (at the Angelika) was The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada; it's a great independent film that won't get a lot of screens because it personalizes the immigration issue, and it's so much easier just treating the illegals as faceless/nameless pack animals.

Warning: this movie is not recommended for disciples of Rush Limbaugh, or any of the various Fristian sects (including Coulterites), since it requires that your minds be open to alternate viewpoints.

The Nuevo Berlin Wall

Today (after my dim sum breakfast) I moseyed over to a nearby mall to buy some shirts. Later, I noticed that all of them bear "Made In China" labels. Hoy, en el centro de compras, la única lengua que oí era Español. ¡Esto estaba en Sears - no el Fiesta Mart! And They say immigration isn't a problem. I feel sorry for the children, when it's obvious their parents make no effort to transition them to English.

I was mildly amused at the student protests that spontaneously erupted earlier this week; most of the students are Americans, born to illegals who crossed the Rio Grande a few years ago. The ones who stormed Dallas City Hall got the most local media attention, reminding me just a little of the Los Angeles Riots (before I moved here in 1993). At least they didn't set fire to anything - yet.

If Senator (and soon-to-be President) Bill Frist gets His way, the parents will be put in railcars back to Mexico, on the other side of the Nuevo Berlin Wall we're building to keep them from coming back. I just hope he misses a few, so there will be enough of them to be our cooks, gardeners, maids and carwash attendants for the foreseeable future.

one door closes, another door opens

Wing & Donuts has closed (I guess this combo just didn't take off), yet Grand Buffet - Chinese food catering to Mexican palates - is about to open. Also, Hedary's (Lebanese cuisine) closed - that building began life as a Taco Bueno, I suspect. I wouldn't want to be in the restaurant business; patrons are too fickle.

Si Chuan Guacamole, anyone?
How about a Moo Shoo Burrito?
Maybe a Lo Mein Tamale?

Unrelated: does anyone want to play a game of Neocon Bingo?

drip, drip, drip ...

Today's the day of The Big Melt. Temperatures are expected to soar to 43F or so. After Beta the Wonder Dog went out this morning (when it was 19F*), that'll seem like Indian Summer (whatever the heck that is). I noticed a bit of remaining ice in a shady parking lot, and some patches on the streets, but it's mostly dry pavement out there.

* It's good that I don't live at DFW International Airport; they set a new low for this date: 15F. Brrrrr.

Speaking of drips, I got an email from Carter Bloodcare at 9:46am, saying that my 60 days have elapsed and I can donate another unit of blood. So, I accessed their website and booked a noon appointment. When I arrived, the parking lot was full! I briefly envisioned standing in line for a donation, but then I realized (duh!) that the cars pickups and SUVs were there for Graciela's Mexican Cafe.

The blood donation was uneventful; all my numbers were in range (hemoglobin 16.6; pulse 72; BP 110/80; temp 98.8F) so now I just kick back 3 days and wait for the total cholesterol numbers to return.

Sunday night update: they posted my cholesterol: it's 191 (under 200 is good)

What's that? Did I update the Sundry on Thursday blog (week #79)? Why, yes, I think I did ...

the pinnacles of success

Maybe it's because the servers are overloaded, but I couldn't get a decent download of any podcast Wednesday. I've been playing with iTunes & Podcasts for a few days, but honestly ... pig vomit in North Dakota in February runs faster than this. Several days ago, the podcast downloads were nicely quick .. not so anymore.

If there was a rational way to blame SBC's DSL speed on the sub-32 temperatures (Fahrenheit : a quaint scale), I'd do that.

Aside #sqrt(-e): the SBC Self Support Tool is about as worthless a piece of software as I've ever encountered (unless of course, your Internet connection consists of exactly one Windows PC directly connected to the Internet, which is another quaint remnant of the past).

Now, Dallas is virtually shut down due to the 0.03 inches of sleet that fell Wednesday. Grown men are shaking in their ostrich-skin boots, fearful of driving their F350s out of their driveway. Instead of road noise, I can hear crickets chirping (for the first time since gasoline hit $3/gallon).

Honestly, what a bunch of wimps. Texas is dead last in education in this country, so driver's education couldn't have been much of a priority. Certainly nothing like high school football, or being a cheerleader (the pinnacles of success in Texas). Then again, somewhere between 25-60% of the Dallas population was born in Mexico, and I suspect Driving On Ice wasn't even the subject of Science Fiction class.