I was a social worker, for a while. In my experience, a few are excellent (not me) and many are incompetent and lack compassion, or even brains. One social worker talked about how people usually die within 5 years of going into a nursing home, right in front of the woman who was soon going into one, and then asked me if she always trembled and shook like that. She even drew a little tombstone on the whiteboard to finish the "life timeline" she'd drawn! My boss used to say that one had to become hardened to peoples' hardships in order to be a good social worker. (!) She used to call me into her office for "talks" if she heard about me "not being stern enough" with my clients.

I had better than usual luck with Theraflu's instant strip whosiwhatsis, the one in the green-blue box rather than the blue box with diphenhydramine. That plus a hot toddy actually made sleep possible for a few hours before I got to the doc for the real cough medicine.

I have been a world-class cougher in my day, and I have found that only codeine, sugar and alcohol work. Hard candy seems to work just as well as cough drops. Sometimes little sips of straight alcohol will stop a coughing fit.

Okay, zenkitty's "little tombstone" story is worse than mine, although this woman has thrown around the "die in a nursing home" statistic. It was just to the patient's niece and sister, not to the patient herself.

Feb. 15 - Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are looking for a crook who needs some help with his spelling.

Someone cut a hole in the roof of a Linens and Things Store, then broke into a safe. Police say the thief took cash and left something behind -- a message.

Officers found a partly eaten birthday cake in the store's break room. A note on the bulletin board read: "Happy B-Day, From Ur Friendy Rooftop Boogler."

So far, no arrests have been made.

Happy Birthday, Beverly! May the coming year be as wonderful as you are. And may there be lots of zero-calorie pie, too.

Happy Birthday, Beverly!!!!

I'm finally putting away the Christmas decorations.

I never even put any up because of my laziness. I think I have you beat.

shrift & Fay in Chicago? That would be happy-making. Sit back and picture: shrift, Fay, brenda m, aurelia, Kalshane, tommyrot and Kathy A. all in one place. Add in SA and Sail (she's close enough to drive down). I'll take pictures and post them, I promise.

Has anyone mentioned this fence from a yard in NY on Friday? Cool.

[link]

I'm all for more Buffistas in the Chicago area! Not that I need more excuses to go down to visit, but every little bit helps.

Hey we made it up to Tahoe intact. It only took 9 hours. (usually its a 3.5 hour trip)

However, now that we're up here we're having fun with snowball fights and poker. Sledding begins at 3pm.

Hec, you could have had that here with only a 4 hour plane ride. IJS.