2/15/08

The Slaughter Continues

At Northern Illinois University on Thursday afternoon, a tall skinny man dressed all in black stepped out from behind a curtain on the stage of the lecture hall, said nothing, and opened fire with a shotgun . So far the death toll stands at six. The best we get from our politicians is comments such as we got from George W. Bush. President Bush commented on the shooting Friday morning, saying it was “obviously a tragic situation on that campus.” He said he was asking citizens across the country to “offer their blessings — blessings of comfort and blessings of strength” to the families of the victims. Better he had asked for legislation to curb the slaughter of innocent citizens in this country! What will our presidential candidates have to say besides offering condolences.

2/14/08

Valentine's Day Followup

My tiramisu cake was a success! Everyone said it was good. I thought so too.
Breaking news - another Valentine's Day gift for the high primal thinker, an optical wireless mouse to improve her "mouseing".

Happy Valentine's Day, Margaret!



My high primal thinker spouse deserves diamonds on Valentine's Day and at the very least a romantic dinner at Giovanni's. So what did I get her? Dessert! Dessert handmade by someone who who never even warmed a muffin in the oven. After scanning some recipes this one caught my attention - tiramisu cake, enjoy the taste of Italy's creamy treat without FUSSING. I actually baked a cake. Next challenge , was it any good. Stay tuned.

2/13/08

Congressional Hearings On MLB & Steroids

Listening to Roger Clemens answer questions at today's hearing on steroids in baseball I could not help but think that he doth protest too much. Never liked Clemens as a ballplayer - like him less now. It must be nice to be able to afford lobbyists to make your case! He is obviously scared stiff that the Hall of Fame will close its doors to him but he need not worry. I saw a cartoon today that that indicated that MLB will in the near future have a Hall of Fame reserved for steroid users and another for HGH users. I'm sure that Bud Selig will endorse this idea. ( Is someone lying when he licks his lips after answering a question?)

2/9/08

Why The Silence?

Deadly Friday! An angry shooter kills five at a City Council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri. A 23 years old woman shot and killed two fellow students at a vocational college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Missouri shooter is shot by police, the student turns her gun on herself. Add to these highly publizied shootings the countless other killings by guns which occur hourly. One wonders what our politicians mean by security for Americans. I guess its security from terrorists not security from gun toting deranged, digruntled and just plain stupid Americans. Why the silence in the current presidential campaigns concerning gun control? The answer of course is that the candidates dare not raise the ire of the gun lobby lest they lose a few precious votes. Gun control will never be achieved until the majority of the population decides that security is needed from thugs and lunatics as well as terrorists. One of these days instead of candidates running adds picturing their hunting skills , someone instead will have the courage to tell the National Rifle Association that their lobbying goes too far and threatens the United States not unlike Al Queada. By the way, when will our wimpy Supreme Court rise to the occasion and clarify the Second Amendment?

2/7/08

High Primals And Computers

High primal thinkers pride themselves in being very literate and politically astute. They do however have one flaw . They are computer illiterate. My high primal thinker only recently admitted that typewriters are outmoded. More importantly , in the spirit of AA she came before the family and proclaimed “I am computer illiterate”. Admitting any form of illiteracy is very difficult for a high primal thinker and it takes time to address the problem, a lot of time.
There are the usual excuses. The best one being that I am always at the computer. The implication is that if she had a computer of her own she could become computer literate. Once she was convinced that being a computer owner was not the first step to being computer literate we were able to proceed to less costly excuses such as “I can’t practice on the computer and do the washing and cooking at the same time”. I pointed out that all these tasks were sequential and could be organized. I guess I could have volunteered to do the washing and cooking but then I wouldn’t have time to play with my computer. Where have I heard that before? The problem was finally solved when she learned that she could do all kinds of shopping on the computer. Washing and cooking were put on the back burner and the high primal thinker was ready to “mouse”.

Teaching a high primal thinker the fundamentals of computer usage is a daunting task. One has to listen to how ill suited her hand is to manipulate the mouse. Bifocals of course are a detriment. The mouse pad is too small, if it were larger she could get from one end of the screen to the other much easier. "The icons are too small!" "I click but nothing happens." “I need to practice “mouseing” more but I might be practicing until I am 100.” It was agonizing to see her whole body move with the mouse to the point where she could easily fall off the chair as she moved the pointer from left to right. Moving the pointer to the top of the screen resulted in almost a standing position. To her credit she has diligently devoted 3 hours in the past week to maneuvering around the internet. All was going well until she asked “ How do I get to the front of the internet”. Translation - how do I get back to the home page.

Accessing a book store web site proved to be a major disappointment. The high primal thinker thought she would be in a virtual book store complete with aisles and stacks of books. Having to click away with a mouse to browse the site was a bummer. Once again she decided that she needed to practice more “mouseing”. Fortunately I found a web site devoted to mouse aerobics which looks like an ideal way to practice “mouseing". As soon as my high primal thinker finishes the wash and cooking we’re going to give the mouse a whirl.