tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63160582011-11-27T19:44:47.621-05:00This blog continues at a new location: http://volunteer11.blogspot.com. See you there.Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.comBlogger2761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-52241631388490552472011-01-08T17:40:00.003-05:002011-08-20T09:01:52.465-04:00

I've started the transition to a different blog location, but am keeping this one up as an archive. Come read about what my cat did.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-62559968557219989622011-01-07T05:59:00.002-05:002011-01-07T06:06:27.767-05:00

Mashable.com, via Google Reader, informs me of a new service being launched by Pitney Bowes, the postage-meter pioneer. Described as "a free digital mailbox in 2011 that will allow customers to pay multiple bills online without remembering more than one password," it sounds like a winner. But the name they came up for it? Volly. WTF?  Pay bills online?  Password problems?  Have my recent

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-74203669133622393852011-01-05T22:22:00.000-05:002011-01-05T22:22:47.212-05:00

There's been stress from multiple directions throughout the last few months -- the usual challenges, as well as a sense of things unfinished, unaccomplished, and stalled. Overtime (more on that later) is basically what keeps me afloat financially.  Some afternoons I simply cannot stand to be in the office one minute beyond clockout, but other times it's refreshingly peaceful to have the place to

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-6046087727076677532010-12-31T20:02:00.002-05:002010-12-31T20:20:19.246-05:00

and word of appreciation to all my loyal Blogger friends who keep their Thinking Caps on Amid Life's Crises, even when Negativity is the Norm and you feel like a Bad-Tempered Zombie. Raise your glass of Alpen Wasser!  Have A Taste of Ipecac if you're Pleading For Sanity!  Never turn off those Deep Thoughts or cease your Internal Monologue.  Whether you're a Clergy Guy or just an Everyday

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-20825368181836997862010-12-28T21:24:00.005-05:002010-12-28T21:31:59.385-05:00

This morning (why is it always first thing in the morning, before my first infusion of French Roast courage?!), I had an email from PayPal, saying my account had been "limited," and that I needed to change my password and security questions. Well, okay.  I figured this had followed from the previous week's misadventures in electronic funds transfer.  During that crisis, I had changed my security

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-29453057103602111542010-12-27T17:41:00.003-05:002010-12-27T17:46:42.711-05:00

An update on the unpleasant but extremely well-timed sinus infection. It's mostly fine; I'll be back at work tomorrow (almost looking forward to it -- oh, what the hell, it's a 3-day week, what's not to look forward to!).  The weekend's been sublimely dull & boring; sleep caught up on, one good home-cooked meal successfully executed, assorted filing accomplished, cat spoiled extra-rotten, etc.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-65738684577101035322010-12-24T15:39:00.004-05:002010-12-27T17:15:47.689-05:00

Well, the money is back home safe.  PayPal said it might take until the 29th to get it back into the bank, but after all the hoopla, they were probably watching as closely as I, because the transfer has already been completed.  I'd still like to know where this thing originated, though, and certainly hope it wasn't just some silly little glitch on their part. It's the first day of a 4-day

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-51358206688284149082010-12-20T21:31:00.003-05:002010-12-27T17:15:09.121-05:00

I slept late Saturday -- after 8 a.m.  Got up, fired up the old PC and started reading my email. First thing that caught my eye was from PayPal.  "Your transaction is in process," it said. What transaction? I've been using PayPal for 7 or 8 years, ever since I first bought something on Ebay.  Lately my participation has been pretty scant, but PayPal is still handy for relatively hassle-free

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-8018531177349348612010-12-18T13:54:00.002-05:002010-12-18T14:51:50.531-05:00

Last week I encountered two interesting stories on education. The first, from the New York Times, talks about a middle school in Minnesota that makes what seems to be a radical leap in policy.  They will evaluate students' academic achievements on the objective results of their tests.  In the process, the whole spectrum of what we call "school" for students is parsed out -- what they've learned,

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-63390229108965111112010-12-11T18:29:00.007-05:002010-12-12T16:23:46.824-05:00

No braggin' rights for me this time around.  Only got 5 out of 10. :( ...but at least I know how to find an exit ramp... Here's the quiz.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-22941336134731998912010-12-10T23:27:00.006-05:002010-12-11T21:01:49.361-05:00

Steve Allen's book Dumbth devotes a lot of time to hours* he's wasted in conversation via telephone with people who just don't get it and never will. I had such a conversation today. Our office is participating in a program whereby employees are screened for common health conditions that can potentially raise insurance rates.  I am not here to go into the pros and cons of this plan -- I've

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-23680729924411506082010-12-04T18:41:00.000-05:002010-12-04T18:41:31.011-05:00

http://www.usatoday.com/news/news-quiz.htm I got 9 out of 10. This is a good one.  Some news quizzes are lame, emphasizing numbers and statistics, such as "So N. So got drafted by the Yankees this week -- how much was his contract for?" Who gives a flip? Give me good ol' history/geography type questions -- who/what/when/where. Maybe my addiction to NPR is starting to do me some good.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-41371952212279883152010-12-01T06:21:00.000-05:002010-12-01T06:21:03.109-05:00

It occurred to me a day or two ago that the last 20 years (soon to be 21) have been the toughest in my life!  First Mom died, right after the first of January 1990.  Then my marriage to Doug began to unravel (the unraveling took 5 years, but looking back, the signposts are very clear).  Then Dad died.  Then 2 years after that, we both gave up our jobs to start a business that fell flat on its ass

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-27227758073411926292010-11-26T15:58:00.003-05:002010-12-11T21:40:40.235-05:00

If you keep assiduous track of who's following you, your count has probably dropped and I am among the missing.  This does not mean I'm not interested in your blog.  Quite the contrary.  I have simply moved about 100 blogs previously being "followed" onto my blog list to the right, so that anyone checking out this site will be more easily aware of yours, too.  My categories are: Atheist, Feminist

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-50861571668958702472010-11-25T22:13:00.001-05:002010-11-26T16:43:33.108-05:00

I was hunting through an old journal (10 years) looking for something, and realized that some of the entries are hysterical.  Here are a few excerpts: December 31, 1999Evening           Obviously, a special night: the last night of the 1990s.  Also, according to most normal folks, it’s the last night of the decade, the century and the millennium.  Some extremely anal-retentive, technical people

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-39101737720682796402010-11-22T21:35:00.001-05:002010-11-22T21:37:58.471-05:00

I'm usually able to ignore the right-wing fundies who work for the same employer as me, but sometimes there's no dodging the whackadoodle emails that people insist on passing around. Here's the one I got today.  In the immortal words of Dave Barry, I am NOT making this up: Christmas cards VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!   Pass this on to your church, coworkers, family, and friends.  What do you have to

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-67341693665624015532010-11-07T21:37:00.000-05:002010-11-07T21:37:30.119-05:00

We need a little Christmas.  Right this very minute.  We need a little Christmas, now. Here it is, November 7th, and although the stores have all their decorations up, the music barrage hasn't started yet, and best of all, the usual debates about the "war on Christmas" or lack thereof have yet to begin. And it won't start here, either. I'm just here to say that I'm looking forward to the

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-62939917218750098942010-10-20T22:33:00.001-04:002010-10-23T17:56:47.987-04:00

Casting about for something worthwhile to write about, I discovered that I had not yet graced the world with a list of my ten favorite movies.  IMDB's Top 250 was a good memory-jogger, since the last few listed have been faves for a long time...I just forgot about 'em. They are not in any particular order or rank beyond the first two. Love, Actually   Why is it on this list?  My son turned me

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-71242334550685522222010-10-03T20:30:00.001-04:002010-10-09T18:19:01.774-04:00

Seriously,  Mitch Albom doesn't know doodly-squat about inspirational writing.  The late Mr. Buchwald did.  Afflicted with type 2 diabetes, he experienced loss of kidney function just after his 80th birthday.  This was followed by a medically necessary amputation of his lower leg.  But in order for the surgery to be performed, he had to go on dialysis, something he'd been resisting.  After 12

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-63221746225177170512010-09-26T21:37:00.001-04:002010-11-26T16:10:27.512-05:00

...or something... Still have that persistent feeling that nothing I write here is of significance or importance to annnnybody, but it's also interesting that my most mundane posts frequently attract the most comments, while the rare flashes of political and social insight are less likely to draw comments.  Who knows?  Just one of those mysteries. But because I get tired of seeing the old

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-13049901365235649292010-08-23T06:29:00.005-04:002010-09-26T18:27:50.463-04:00

I've been wanting to blog on this topic for awhile, so here goes.  And, I suppose, a warning for "graphic" language is in order, for those who don't care for violence. Lately, there's been a lot of talk about anonymous comments posting on news sites -- how, more often than not, the sentiments expressed are negative, ugly and far from civilized.  The types of things no one would dare say face to

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-35606364404032839352010-08-21T21:18:00.002-04:002010-08-21T22:52:31.845-04:00

That was supposed to be a question, actually.  The answer:  My transportation situation has improved.  I ditched the malfunctioning 1997 SUV.  It ditched me, if the truth is to be told.  This happened a couple of months ago -- right after I went to court and paid a fine for expired tag.  I poured a lot of money into the Ford, trying to get the Check Engine light to go out so I could pass

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-48724381258596176082010-07-24T01:06:00.001-04:002010-09-26T18:29:07.499-04:00

I absolutely love shows like Hoarders, Hoarding: Buried Alive and Clean House.  Not sure why, since I don't have bulging closets, narrow aisles of stuff throughout my house, or even a cluttered car.  I guess what intrigues me is the mindset that gets someone locked into that type of behavior.  My father had a bit of that tendency.  He got it into his head, in his early 60s, to start trying to

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-1363494144096178492010-07-11T16:32:00.002-04:002010-09-26T18:30:11.550-04:00

My latest conversations with my son Wally have reminded me of the changes that time will bring. Friday night he said that he is giving serious consideration to enlisting in the Navy.  His main motivation for this is the steady paycheck and the possibility of career enhancement.  I don't have strong feelings either way about the military.  Some of my in-laws are absolute fanatics on the subject

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-34138394454504240662010-06-24T21:29:00.002-04:002010-11-07T21:07:23.778-05:00

...I'm having to revert to moderated comments, due to some persistent character(s) who bestow spammy porn links on every post. Wondering if my reminiscence on Bob had something to do with this -- pinged some search engine or other. Well, at any rate, it's back to Captchaville for all you good folks and Bannedville for everybody else. Here are a few new photos to compensate: My crib and my

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-88413112987630714042010-06-18T22:19:00.003-04:002010-09-26T18:31:18.427-04:00

Having finally acquired a camera phone, I'm snapping and clicking at regular intervals throughout the day.  Taking photos, too, LOL.  Starting to think more in terms of the visual. So, here's some of that.  Old and new. Age 7, pre-first communion.  I vividly remember biting the insides of my cheeks as I walked up the church aisle, trying to keep from breaking out in a nervous grin.   This is

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-33375947988890680552010-05-31T18:08:00.003-04:002010-06-12T20:12:21.101-04:00

A nice short post, I promise ya. Some little-known facts: 1.  I enjoy reading Hannibal Lecter fanfiction, and have even been known to write some in my day. 2.  A current labor of love is resurrecting a Lecterfic archive from about a decade ago. 3.  Hannibal Lecter's amour, Clarice Starling, likes to drink Jack Daniel's. 4.  Jack Daniel's brand contains an apostrophe, because the guy who

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-52415817516762859802010-05-27T21:48:00.005-04:002010-06-19T22:03:01.509-04:00

It was the third of September. A day I’ll always remember, yes I will. ‘Cause that was the day that my daddy died. -Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, “Poppa Was a Rolling Stone” ~ My father could hardly have been described as a rolling stone, but he did happen to pass away on September 3rd.  He was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer the year before, but kept it a secret until he couldn’t

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-51431925023687400762010-05-15T18:34:00.005-04:002010-10-06T05:42:51.339-04:00

Stolen from Dana. 1. What was the last thing about which you procrastinated?  Currently, I'm procrastinating about switching over from satellite TV+DSL+local & LD service from the phone company to Fiberoptic TV+fiberoptic internet+fiberoptic VOIP.  There are a lot of reasons for this, mainly the work involved in doing price comparisons, but also just the basic hassle of changing anything

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-65638462632953765652010-05-14T06:36:00.001-04:002010-11-07T21:08:42.783-05:00

A short post, but one I’ve wanted to write for awhile. Anybody ancient enough to remember the old show from the 1970s, Barney Miller?  It starred Hal Linden as a police captain in Manhattan.  Steve Landesberg, Max Gail and Ron Glass were among the ensemble cast, and beyond the first season, the stage set was confined to the precinct room along with its barred holding cell.   Along with The Odd

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-5497997730651861272010-04-29T06:28:00.002-04:002010-04-30T05:50:07.851-04:00

One of the best things about this horrible macroeconomic episode our country is facing is that so many more people can identify with one another's dilemmas -- too much month at the end of the money, being hit with the late fee from Peter so you can pay Paul, etc.  I especially enjoy news stories that show how many other people are waking up to the outrages committed by our banks.  The "overdraft

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-58856428578896014232010-04-14T20:35:00.004-04:002010-04-14T20:44:29.718-04:00

Sorry for the looong absence -- just nothing worth writing about.  However, two worthy topics sprang to mind today:  Surveys and dreams. I take a lot of online surveys, purely out of greed.  Periodically, I'll get a surge of ambition and sign myself up for anything and everything that promises an incentive.  I've been doing this for somewhere between 5 and 8 years and have done reasonably well

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-90939465150147706062010-03-29T18:20:00.001-04:002010-04-14T20:45:06.434-04:00

Excuse the long absence.  Nothing to write about.  Until this morning. So...how do y'all feel when you hear of the death of a classmate or other contemporary? My first such experience was at age 18.  A young man that I'd dated in senior year of high school became a homicide victim shortly after the beginning of his freshman year of college.  That one shook me on so many levels. First, there was

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-7893631987146421072010-03-07T19:04:00.003-05:002010-04-14T20:46:53.696-04:00

These tunes come to you courtesy of blip.fm Sunshine of Your Love - Cream Semi Sweet Hawaii - Nirvana Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop Something in Your Mouth - Nickelback Time Warp - Alvin and the Chipmunks Long Time Running - The Tragically Hip Flesh for Fantasy - Billy Idol Citadel - The Rolling Stones Maria Maria - Carlos Santana The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen It's been a decent

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-87760643335780144032010-02-27T16:38:00.007-05:002010-04-14T20:47:37.354-04:00

First, here's my Saturday Random Ten: Billy - James Blunt I'd Die Without You - PM Dawn (is that a moldy oldie, or what??!) Teenage Confidential - The Flamin' Groovies Black Balloon (live) - The Goo Goo Dolls I Shall Believe - Sheryl Crow (I may leave Sheryl out of the mix next time) In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel We Are the Champions - Queen Losing My Religion (Live) - R.E.M. Waiting in Vain -

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-60054338157059294412010-02-12T22:13:00.002-05:002010-04-14T20:48:30.690-04:00

Barbara at Bad-Tempered Zombie has handed me a good writing prompt to save me from another week of nothing-much-going-on:  The Friday Random Ten. The MO is to list the first ten songs that come up on your iPod.  Lacking an iPod, I'm letting a Pandora Quick Mix fill the bill, and it gives me: Detours - Sheryl Crow Castles Made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix Free Fallin' (Live) - Tom Petty Every Day is a

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-11291860230175238552010-01-25T20:50:00.002-05:002010-04-14T20:49:08.213-04:00

Having lived in the South for nearly 24 years, I've long since become acclimated to some of the social differences between here and New York.  The first difference I encountered was in the area of communication. In New York (specifically, in the city), you can walk around all day spewing obscenities of varying degrees, and it will be taken like ordinary everyday speech.  My old classmate Pam

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-32969445734272344402010-01-22T22:46:00.001-05:002010-01-22T22:49:04.587-05:00

Warning:  Yes, I am about to blog in detail about THAT, so take your "TMI" complaints elsewhere. ~~~ Up until about four years ago, my cycles were so regular the Mayans could have constructed a calendar around them.  I went on low-dose estrogen birth control on my doctor's recommendation to deal with breast tenderness.  It did the job and also enabled me to schedule my cycles.  It didn't make

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-68625329794094652852010-01-10T21:16:00.005-05:002010-04-14T21:10:19.219-04:00

Although my parents encouraged me heartily as a reader, and their efforts bore abundant fruit, their personal choices in which literature to send my way was not, as I've discovered, typical of a child of my age and gender.  They leaned heavily toward more contemporary material, such as a Little Golden Book called Make Way for the Throughway.  My mom also couldn't resist anything having to do with

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-88911771827377299852010-01-07T13:31:00.003-05:002010-04-14T21:09:17.975-04:00

Snow day here, as in many other parts of the northern hemisphere.  An hour ago, it was coming down briskly and sticking eagerly to the grass and the sidewalks.  Now it's gone back to what I call "slow flurries."  They're predicting more, wetter, heavier snow tomorrow when I don't have the day off.  It will be interesting to see if my vehicle (which looks like an SUV but drives like a Schwinn

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-19510088461286595772010-01-02T19:44:00.002-05:002010-01-26T20:42:46.106-05:00

Starting today, my posts will contain lots of Amazon links to things (mostly books, CDs or DVDs, but sometimes other items) related to the subject matter. If you click on these and follow through by making a purchase, I will receive a commission.  The same is true for all the other ads that are sprinkled along the sidebars, etc. Yes, I can use the money.  No, I'm not quite ready to install a

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-21722833607326109702010-01-02T19:12:00.006-05:002010-04-14T21:11:33.795-04:00

Started off the New Year on a good foot with a visit to the local library.  Like many public libraries, ours is grappling with the problem of street people using it for temporary shelter.  People have been hanging out in libraries, spending the day dozing at the tables, probably as long as there have been public libraries.  But I'm not sure they've been urinating inside them, as is, sadly, the

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-80845541253548253642009-12-10T12:10:00.007-05:002010-04-14T21:15:28.944-04:00

Something occurs to me, reading headlines about teabag wingnuts and their consistently outrageous claims about President Obama. These allegations are obviously lies. Sure, some of these people are truly around the bend -- especially those who have access to little more than a keyboard, and dutifully forward the wacky reforwarded e-mails they get from equally confused, pathetic people such as

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-65559431850907422632009-11-14T22:56:00.007-05:002010-04-16T14:13:24.399-04:00

Bob was a friend-of-a-friend. The friend who introduced us was a co-worker of my ex-husband Doug. Let's call him PV. PV was a social engineer long before Facebook. He absolutely loved creating connections between people. "Oh, do you know so-and-so? Let me introduce you." I think PV envisioned his friends as a collection, all displayed together artfully on a shelf. The only problem was, many of

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-74223821901133938212009-10-29T11:14:00.010-04:002010-04-16T14:15:26.333-04:00

Continued from the previous post: Why did I write “He paints the sky with stars” on the Facebook page of a respected non-theist who died earlier this year? First off, the line comes from the title of a song by Enya. I listen to a lot of Enya, on Rhapsody and Pandora, as well as in the car. There are days when a good dose of “Only If” is the one thing that can ward off creeping depression. Enya

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-49633038487060949772009-10-29T11:05:00.004-04:002010-04-16T14:17:16.667-04:00

Note: The quotes contained in this post are not verbatim, but accurate enough to convey what the speaker was attempting to say. A very unscientific survey seems to confirm that 2009 has been a year of loss for a lot of people. We’ve had a rash of very high-profile celebrity deaths, and the pattern seems to be present for many closer to home, myself included. In addition to my brother-in-law,

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-91842851847746273082009-10-25T14:42:00.006-04:002010-04-16T14:18:36.080-04:00

Bad-Tempered Zombie, Professor B. Worm and Wandering Coyote have all stepped up to the plate on this meme, which comes highly recommended for People Who Can't Think of Anything to Blog About.This may also come in handy as an insomnia remedy. You never know: 50 Things I Have Never Had: 1. A broken bone2. A daughter3. A grandchild4. A basement5. Measles6. Mumps7.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-54113320616336237602009-10-24T16:44:00.006-04:002010-04-24T15:18:10.128-04:00

I spent about an hour today with this little red notebook I have. It's spiral-bound, lined, perforated and hole-punched, and I've had it for about 2 and a half years. My goal was to record daily events and also to house keepsakes such as movie tickets, programs, etc. to keep sort of a 3-dimensional record of my daily activities. Today I decided to ditch the scribbles and just use it as a

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-32352878985507022852009-10-05T05:32:00.004-04:002009-10-05T05:52:45.149-04:00

...I can still promote better, braver bloggers here.Better, Braver Blogger #1: P.Z. Myers tells us why he's not about to become a "nicer" atheist:"Show me a reason not to be smug about atheism, and reason, and science..."Better, Braver Blogger #2: LugosiActually, I got braver than usual on Facebook this weekend and managed not to back down from a controversy.Lugosi posted this great satire on

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-21563074284877817282009-09-25T05:59:00.007-04:002010-01-02T21:08:01.731-05:00

My sister-in-law Brenda was flooded out of her ground-floor apartment near Atlanta during the heavy rains earlier this week. In addition to the water, there was also runoff from a nearby sanitation facility, so everything the water touched is a total loss. We have photos of rooms where the waterline is halfway between the floor and the ceiling. A refrigerator was tipped over. Brenda was

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-71014354053737432022009-09-20T07:39:00.003-04:002009-09-20T07:41:56.641-04:00

Thanks to Too Many Tribbles.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-38485395232951987562009-09-09T18:59:00.014-04:002010-04-24T15:20:55.544-04:00

[Edited to add, months later:  Apparently I'm the only person on the planet who didn't know what "jumping the shark" means -- I could have trimmed this post considerably by simply using that phrase.  Live & learn, I guess.] My husband Carl watches reruns of Family Matters in the mornings. The sound effects are unmistakable -- the dulcet tones of Urkel and the audience members with their

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-30606343767793291782009-08-29T09:25:00.002-04:002009-08-29T09:29:54.208-04:00

Found at: http://stupidevilbastard.com

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-68416381568858632252009-08-28T17:45:00.008-04:002009-09-29T08:13:59.611-04:00

First, my "no-news" update:Nothing stopped me from posting during the last week, other than busyness and lack of subject matter. I did cut back substantially on consumption of news, but there was no way I could miss the death of Ted Kennedy (and of Dominick Dunne) or the resurfacing of Jaycee Dugard.I did keep NPR turned off for most of my daily 90-minute commute and enjoyed some oldies from the

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-68994238245736056422009-08-21T21:31:00.007-04:002010-04-24T15:32:53.540-04:00

Since earliest childhood, I've prided myself on keeping up with current events. My mom always had a transistor radio on the kitchen table, and our stations were WHLI in Hempstead and WINS Newsradio. In grades one through four, everyone had to bring in a daily clipping from the paper. We all got Weekly Reader or Young Citizen. Not knowing or caring about what was happening on the local, state,

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-74608289757506680012009-08-16T21:39:00.002-04:002009-08-16T21:43:02.866-04:00

Hope everyone has had a decent weekend. It seemed to go by quickly, didn't it? Relatively slow on the news, as well, and wasn't that a relief?Busy couple of church-days, but still got all the domestic stuff done.Messed up something in my back yesterday and shambled around like Igor both days. It feels better now, and I'm looking forward to using my massaging seat cushion in the car for the 40-

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-35580664160247511102009-08-13T05:19:00.012-04:002009-08-13T21:05:21.227-04:00

I caught this online yesterday while at work and e-mailed it to myself to avoid forgetting or losing it.It's a long article that covers a lot of ground. I'm glad the writer got paid for ruminating publicly about so many of the issues that we, who grew up in religious households, grapple with here and elsewhere. For the first half of the article, I found myself nodding:In other words, maybe it

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-74688811065713956212009-08-02T13:33:00.003-04:002009-08-02T13:54:44.392-04:00

I had an epiphany last night -- while doing some filing, I ran across a folder containing all my school records.Fifteen years ago or more, I took all the original report cards that my mother had saved and transcribed them onto a word processor. Then I printed it. Everything from kindergarten through 12th grade -- actual subjects, then such measures as "makes good effort," "plays well with

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-91272833588752799682009-07-25T16:20:00.005-04:002009-07-25T18:09:04.944-04:00

I'm cursed with a long memory that allows me to revisit unpleasant moments from long ago and get upset about them all over again.The encounters that are most likely to come back and haunt me are those in which I have allowed myself to be rendered mute. That would seem almost counter-intuitive. Certainly, there are plenty of episodes in which I shot my mouth off and caused problems for myself,

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-16090618398285026492009-07-23T22:59:00.004-04:002009-07-23T23:14:45.666-04:00

On another online venue, I posted a cryptic little two-liner about "certain people" who treat others badly. So happens (as it often does) that I was referring to my boss, The Scorpion Queen. There was no reason to be specific, and since it is a semi-private social networking site, I deliberately refrained from "naming names" or providing more detail. My reference was general enough that many

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-65308512132461446142009-07-19T08:25:00.004-04:002009-07-19T09:13:34.113-04:00

This report from the Southern Poverty Law Center was the last thing I read before going to bed late last night, and it popped out at me first thing this morning. One excerpt in particular struck me:April 4, 2009 Three Pittsburgh police officers — Paul Sciullo III, Stephen Mayhle and Eric Kelly — are fatally shot and a fourth, Timothy McManaway, is wounded after responding to a domestic dispute at

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-37950913900722524052009-07-12T20:10:00.004-04:002009-07-26T09:33:11.706-04:00

I watched plenty of TV when I was a kid, and beyond. Saturday morning cartoons (Space Ghost, Wacky Races, Justice League, Looney Tunes); Dark Shadows every afternoon from July of 1968 until the last stake was driven home in early 1971. Lassie, The Adventures of Superman; Batman, and all the way to All in the Family, M*A*S*H, 60 Minutes, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-24633601810836863792009-07-11T21:59:00.004-04:002009-07-12T07:39:42.637-04:00

In the bland little suburb where I grew up, the planners had seen fit to install Olympic-sized swimming pools every 20 blocks or so. As in many such places, they also saw fit to compose a broadsheet's worth of rules for proper conduct. None of them made any sense. One was "No suntan lotions or oils in the water." In today's sunscreen-obsessed culture, that one certainly wouldn't go over

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-47651348889697134432009-07-10T19:06:00.006-04:002009-07-26T07:51:23.353-04:00

I can't possibly be the only one who engages in light fantasizing while listening to the NPR interview show Fresh Air. Drew Barrymore was on today (a rerun from April) and I found myself silently responding to some of Terry Gross's questions as though they were directed at me.I think the best thing about Terry's interview style is the open-endedness of her questions. She invites the interviewee

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-13132471965743058502009-07-08T21:54:00.002-04:002009-07-08T22:01:00.336-04:00

I just received an e-mail from someone asking if I'm the same Volly who has a Christian book site.~Cringe~No -- I use this name only on this blog, and as a commenter on others. That's it. I do have a gallery of pseudonyms on LiveJournal, MySpace, Facebook (actually, I use my real name there), Twitter and a local message forum, not to mention Yahoo, Google, Hotmail and AT&T e-mail. All

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-9147575447423375302009-07-08T21:25:00.002-04:002009-07-08T21:31:31.037-04:00

Somewhere in my travels through the Googleverse, I discovered techrepublic.com.If you're not familiar, check it out. Developers and computer non-geeks alike can benefit from its wide range of articles. Everything from the most in-demand tech careers to the best way to format an Excel spreadsheet to new Firefox add-ons to tips for dealing with clueless IT department managers, and beyond. It has

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-91016493067247056982009-07-04T11:07:00.008-04:002009-07-04T12:06:34.703-04:00

Not long ago, I got all ranty about commonly misused words and phrases, and it felt good. So I've found another target.A bunch of people form a group with a common goal. Do they:a. Ban together,orb. Band together?The answer is b. This is pretty straightforward. They're like a "band" of brothers, or if you prefer graphic imagery, they are held together cohesively, as though with a rubber

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-30160049350946821382009-07-03T18:06:00.005-04:002009-07-04T00:10:32.218-04:00

It's been about 16 years since my last massage. I don't know why, just as I don't know why it took me so long to hit the gym and the riverwalk. But there it is. Time slips by, and you're left with a bad case of "WTF?"Evidently, my body was quite unused to being used; shortly after my first two workouts, things started knotting up badly. If it wasn't my lower back and right hip complaining, it

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-92221246878539286612009-06-27T18:32:00.002-04:002009-06-27T18:45:39.437-04:00

No, not moving as in boxes & bubble wrap - moving as in not allowing my body to sit in a chair in front of the computer all day.I'm SO sedentary, it's not funny. I need to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 lbs. My diet is reasonably good, and changing it has only yielded temporary improvement. What I need to do is exercise. But I don't. Probably my most active years (true for most

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-54132272392219424922009-06-23T19:25:00.002-04:002009-06-23T20:46:51.169-04:00

It's almost a cliche nowadays -- people use "this must be a sign of the apocalypse" to describe an event that was so unlikely, so improbable, it never would have been predicted. Something that upsets the balance and order of the world as we would like to imagine it.Something like a couple I've known since the beginning of my first marriage (hint: Reagan was enjoying his first term) who are about

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-33648029495269821712009-06-22T18:49:00.002-04:002009-06-22T19:36:22.106-04:00

When I think of two things to be annoyed about between the grocery store and home, it's time to get on the soapbox.Rant #1: Actually, this is a twofer, dealing with a couple of dumb usage mistakes that I frequently read and hear.When you are trying a different approach to something, you do not "take a different tact." The word is TACK -- from sailing, in which you adjust your sails to catch

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-70156228392446560172009-06-19T01:19:00.004-04:002009-06-19T01:21:34.644-04:00

June 19 is known as Juneteenth, a timely and forward-looking celebration that encourages education, knowledge and self-improvement. It hasn't been publicized as well as it should be, IMO. I'd like to see it catch on.http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-4093285944490142212009-06-15T07:02:00.005-04:002009-06-15T07:13:27.571-04:00

The last two days had nearly everything one such as myself might hope for in a weekend:A meal outLots of sleep (yeah, baby!!!)Money-making potential, via the webNo crisesSpiritual upliftNew furniture (it was a hand-me-down from Billy, but less than 30 years old. Some space dilemmas ensued, but it still looks gooood)Good weather. No rain, a little breeze, not too hot.A chance to get together

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-61959314061198790512009-06-12T19:04:00.004-04:002009-06-12T19:08:57.441-04:00

Ellen Friedrichs on AlterNet offers a mind-boggling sampler of sex-related laws throughout the US - everything from "sexting" to what NOT to say when your students (or, for that matter, your own kid) asks you questions about the birds & the bees. Scare - E.

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-73122978344671166472009-06-09T20:53:00.004-04:002009-06-09T22:28:38.572-04:00

One of my little fascinations is people who live lives of out-of-control clutter. Yes, I will gawk at Oprah's show (on the rare occasion I'm home to watch it), when her featured guest is someone whose home is subdivided into "rooms" made of stacked newspapers going back to the Kennedy Administration. I guess this interest has its roots in my own youth. My dad was one of those people who were

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-24886559654549107562009-06-06T15:08:00.003-04:002009-06-06T15:41:00.573-04:00

I suspect I'm not alone in keeping a running list of potential book titles in my head. One of those, which perhaps one day I'll actually write and publish, is called It's Always Personal. There's no such thing as "wholly objective" politics or ideology. The convictions that often turn into far-reaching public policy come from the personal experiences of one individual, who perchance connects

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-36910327267723315352009-06-05T18:00:00.003-04:002009-06-05T18:13:34.322-04:00

I haven't blogged about my son in awhile. He finished his freshman year but may not get to be a sophomore anytime soon. If I thought a "smack upside the head" would make a difference, he'd have gotten one long ago from either his father or me. But he's locked into a pattern of making dumb, impulsive decisions and then lying when the decision starts to go wrong. As a result, he will soon lose

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-87465979144354914462009-05-30T08:51:00.008-04:002009-05-30T22:25:52.282-04:00

Okay, guys, I have just gotten through, truly, the suckiest week at work in a long time. I will not belabor the details; that's not the purpose of this post. This is going to be a happy post, by gum. At 5:00-ish yesterday evening, I almost literally limped to my car. I mean, we're talking down, ragged and defeated, despite the author of my pain taking a vacation day. My circadian rhythms

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-36267678454402816932009-05-24T18:33:00.004-04:002009-05-24T18:45:54.885-04:00

A fellow blogger has been conspicuously absent the last week or so; today he resurfaced with an explanation that his neglect of an urgent project has made him decide to cut back on his Internet activity until he gets it all done. At least he's got a legitimate excuse. I check in here every day; see my most recent post growing cobwebs and still can't come up with a decent topic that's postworthy

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-42427077328708548772009-05-11T12:33:00.004-04:002009-05-11T20:02:00.955-04:00

A gentleman at the church I attend is close to 83, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of years ago. His declining state troubled me enough to e-mail the minister about it. I'm feeling half-embarrassed about the e-mail, because I picture him reading it, thinking "Tell me something I DON'T know." Sol has been at the center of church life for decades. I'm a newcomer. So the majority of

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-24300543586899072712009-05-02T22:40:00.003-04:002009-05-02T22:58:02.618-04:00

I don't pray to a deity. Stopped doing that nearly 7 years ago. Happy to put it behind me. Never looked back.I don't meditate. But I'd like to learn. I have a great deal of difficulty focusing on one thing, such as breathing, to the exclusion of other things. It's a work in progress.But without prayer or meditation, there remains the question of what to do when there's a situation that's

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-70219096049231115412009-04-26T21:43:00.005-04:002010-12-12T08:11:42.967-05:00

I've copied and pasted an entire letter and response that appeared in Salon.com's advice column, authored by the brilliant and compassionate Cary Tennis. Salon doesn't always provide access without a subscription; this came by way of Google Reader. This man's dilemma is one that I dealt with last weekend, surrounded everywhere by evangelicals. With all the non-stop drama, the last thing I

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-24142533596192907312009-04-23T20:23:00.004-04:002009-05-02T17:41:11.546-04:00

The atmosphere is heavy here at home today, because it marks one week since Billy died. My husband, in particular, feels some resentment at the "life must go on" philosophy. I agree, it seems a bit too soon to just "forget about it." The weekend with family brought back all the never-ending drama that surrounds so many of our relatives. And even 150 miles away, we keep stumbling over little

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-55764082955189293972009-04-16T23:11:00.003-04:002009-04-16T23:19:49.308-04:00

Carl's younger brother Billy was found dead early this evening, face-down in a shallow pond. Only the medical examiner knows for sure at this point, but I think he probably suffered a stroke or heart attack and fell forward. He was not in good health. Ironically, things were just barely beginning to turn around for him. He'd just turned 50, two months ago. In December he moved into a house

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-27214494258101829772009-04-15T18:22:00.004-04:002009-04-15T18:37:29.112-04:00

For the first time since at least the mid-1980s I feel sorry for Woody Allen. My personal opinion, just to get it out of the way, is that everything Mia Farrow accused him of is true. And that's all I have to say about that, because other than representing a generation's worth of cinema, the man has no personal connection to my life. Now, on to American Apparel. This company also has no

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-3337740612245437452009-04-14T22:15:00.005-04:002009-04-14T23:14:17.489-04:00

I should never randomly surf the web when I'm feeling curmudgeonly, as is the case this evening.I stumbled onto a blog that shall remain nameless, other than the self-description: "Just an amateur blogger."This individual wrote an article about making money on the internet.Here's the first sentence -- copied and pasted:Get money from the internet with the only writing on the site is very

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-5745478267262565512009-04-11T10:21:00.003-04:002009-04-11T10:35:28.066-04:00

Confession: I'm killing time to avoid having to confront the painful reality of tax preparation. And that's all I have to say about that.As for the lists, I have subdivided my blog list into categories, mainly because the list was getting unwieldy. Some of the categories are pretty easy, especially "Atheist Blogs," because a great many have the "A" word in the title or the "scarlet letter"

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-70732795668266598912009-04-09T18:55:00.006-04:002009-04-09T20:47:58.728-04:00

I read this story on CNN.com a couple of days ago and have been waiting for a less-busy day to sit and cogitate on it -- I knew it would end up as a blog post.I've watched our society become more and more punitive and unforgiving over the last 35 years or so. It's time we got down to what lies at the bottom of it.Here's one bottom dweller: Jennifer Jenkins, who co-founded the National

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-26529785419179058692009-03-30T21:57:00.006-04:002009-03-30T22:57:29.555-04:00

Back on October 31 of last year, I reflected on my evolving mindset concerning the "other" side of my religious heritage, i.e. Judaism. The first item on my short list was Israel, and how, for many years, I had been convinced that it represented a more advanced moral standard and a higher plane of existence, as it were. More recently, having rejected religion outright, I was finally willing to

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-19292909891056005352009-03-30T07:06:00.002-04:002009-03-30T07:09:51.694-04:00

This was from one of my favorite sites: Not Always Right: Funny & Stupid Customer Quotes.“When you’re 85 years old and you wake up with a pulse, and your next door neighbor isn’t hitting you over the head with a shovel, you’re having a good day.”

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-47339912164923994072009-03-27T19:17:00.003-04:002009-04-22T21:01:35.058-04:00

I'm LOLing over here. At the top of my Gmail list was this, erm, appetizing recipe title, and I just HAD to click. This could be the perfect way to discourage visits from people you'd just as soon never see again! Title: FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE Categories: Main dish Yield: 8 servings 1 pk Frozen french fry potatoes, -thawed (20 oz) 2 c Shredded Cheddar

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-54069826489258327642009-03-25T21:52:00.004-04:002009-03-25T22:31:37.475-04:00

Today, in an idle moment (at work, naturally), I pondered the question of exactly how many people in my life I could legitimately call "the bad guys." People who had a profoundly negative impact on me ... where if it were possible to go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would be sure never to get involved with them again.My list came out to just over two dozen, which was far less than I'd

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-43832387310819790722009-03-22T14:08:00.004-04:002009-03-22T15:31:17.938-04:00

A recent CNN piece describes the deluge of anguished and irate correspondence received by the prosecution before Bernard Madoff pled guilty. Among the sad and at times profane accounts from the convicted swindler's victims, one ironic e-mail stood out:Penned by an African scam artist whose name was withheld, the letter expressed an urgent need for an American intermediary willing to give up

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-21977057359783538822009-03-18T12:38:00.002-04:002009-03-18T12:44:34.157-04:00

I wish our internets would refrain from spontaneously inventing new games...Yahoo, where my home page is, has been up to some weirdness in the last 12 hours. First, it took several tries to access my e-mail. Then it decided that my life wouldn't be complete without "instant" access to and from everyone on my list via instant messaging. Just what I need -- people popping up to say hi. I get it

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-25350375815088333392009-03-14T19:55:00.005-04:002009-03-14T23:39:33.556-04:00

I add new blogs to my list all the time (yeah, I'm up to 80 of 'em), but this is the first time I'm making a formal announcement about it.This is because I'm hoping everyone will tune in to Vyckie and Laura, who were recently featured on salon.com as having escaped from the patriarchal fundie "Quiverfull" movement. Their story is fascinating. I hope they will get plenty of support from

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-41002640308628863092009-03-12T19:24:00.002-04:002009-03-12T20:04:19.046-04:00

Having depleted a lot of creative and emotional reserves with the previous post, it's taken me this long to come up with any sort of new topic. And so, I resort to a rather old one: The office.Several months ago I described my co-worker Fredi. I know that she and her teammate Louise have been very bogged down with a combination of a bug-ridden new software system, new policies and procedures,

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-13928252055689371532009-03-02T18:30:00.004-05:002009-03-02T18:49:09.375-05:00

An entertaining and insightful guide to recognizing a hidden religious agenda. I especially like the following, having heard far too many of these during my years of being religiously educated via radio:When you come across the terms "Darwinism" or "Darwinists", take heed. True scientists rarely use these terms, and instead opt for "evolution" and "biologists", respectively. When evolution is

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-19006314086389479462009-02-26T12:40:00.003-05:002009-02-26T12:48:49.579-05:00

Relax, nobody died. I'm just lamenting the departure of two online tools that are both on the brink of disappearing this month. One is Yahoo Briefcase and the other is Google Notebook.Briefcase became obsolete for me some time ago; I hadn't added anything to it in at least 3 years, but figured I'd better clear my stuff out before they pull the plug. I've long since discovered that simply

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-7176584576199796372009-02-23T18:47:00.004-05:002009-02-23T18:56:03.858-05:00

I figured it couldn't hurt to ask:My son Wally the college freshman is having a hell of a time with math. Specifically, advanced algebra / linear equations and such. When it comes to practical math, he's fine -- inherited that from his father. But his befuddlement at the more abstract concepts comes, alas, straight down the maternal line. He is taking the course for the second time, having

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316058.post-18922902338556880982009-02-21T21:39:00.006-05:002009-02-22T16:34:58.113-05:00

Warning: This post contains a plague of run-on sentences.As one of those "quiet types," I harbor a not-so-secret admiration for the biped bull in a china shop who WON'T put up and shut up until a lot of people are listening closely. While the rest of us little angels modestly hide our opinions or diffuse them with diplomacy, people like Christopher Hitchens are on the front lines, writing and

Vollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514280952695776270noreply@blogger.com2