• Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses

    Zimbabwe: “…the police at once jumped on her, beat her until she screamed”

    Why blog? Some people have fun and go to big conferences.  Many people simply enjoy putting their words up on the net.  Others get the word out about specific topics or interests. And for a few people, blogging is a moral imperative, a matter of life and death, because the truth must be told from within the borders of a country gone mad. This is Zimbabwe is such a life-and-death blog. Mostly it chronicles the difficulties of life in a poor country inflicted with government corruption, hyper-inflation, and the uncertainty of how to get through day-to-day life when you never…

  • SABRE2th Tigress: Book 'em, Dano.

    SABRE2th Tigress Feels Like Taking A Bite

    I confess that I’m not a nice, forgiving person. I grumble and swear under my breath at work all the time. The last hour of my day, I am even less forgiving and more grumbly, because I resent anything that slows me down and prevents me from getting done those things that cannot be left undone. There are certain people who are incapable of learning from their mistakes, after repeated ass-saving. I often end up staying late fixing other peoples’ mistakes, partly from a misguided belief on my part that it helps the travelers avoid a bad experience, and partly from…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Stunning Upset in Illinois: Oberweis Scooped by Scientist

    Democrat Foster wins Hastert’s seat — chicagotribune.com In a stunning upset Saturday that could be a harbinger of trouble for the GOP this fall, a little-known Democratic physicist won the special election for a seat drawn to re-elect former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. David and I were driving back from a visit with our convalescing relation when we heard this on the radio and actually cheered and clapped and high-fived (safely) in the car. We’re not political geeks, it’s just that we’re happy when annoying funnymentalist conservatives get righteously trounced, with an extra generous helping of humiliations galore. They…

  • Random Access Memories - SABRE2th Tigress: Book 'em, Dano.

    The Case of the Missing Pork Chops

    I don’t pay much attention to what goes on around me at work – I have enough to do trying to maintain focus and stay on task without getting into dishing the dirt much about colleagues. But sometimes, a topic just begs to be explored. Yesterday, a co-worker who’s now a kind of tech services/general upgrades and hardware dogsbody was walking around behind me saying “Porkchops, porkchops,” in a sing-songy, “where are you” tone of voice. I responded with “applesauce,” because that’s what immediately leaps to my tiny little mind on instinct. She came to my desk and related the…

  • Dear Mom - Episcopal - Only in Utah...

    Spiritual caregivers: Salt Lake Trib mentions a friend

    Spiritual caregivers: Beyond physical healing – Salt Lake Tribune For 22 years, Lincoln Ure, an Episcopal priest, has been the clinical pastoral education supervisor at St. Mark’s Hospital, the one site in Utah that offers the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) training. Succeeding as a chaplain, Ure explained, “takes some serious internal work.” Father Linc spent some time with Mom and with the rest of our spiritually divergent family while Mom was at St Mark’s. He was such a good sport when she was throwing us out one by one – offered to go in and be thrown out,…

  • Dear Mom - Second Life

    Waiting

    We’re in the family waiting room at the day surgery center, waiting for the surgery of our dear family member to finish so the surgeon can come in and give us an update. There will be at least a couple more hours waiting after that while the patient is in recovery, and we’re most of us pretty much here for the long haul today. Unlike last time, which was marred by the unseemly haste the patient was booted out after surgery, this time there’s more personal choice involved, and the option to stay for at least two or three days…