Dear CBS:

Stop cutting away from the Belmont-Duke game to show me the stupid boring "local interest" game where WSU is up by over 30 points.

Ginger said what I was going to say Bonny.

My perception is likely colored by my usual thinking that I'm the dumbest person, ever.

Just chant as your mantra: I have not yet been featured in the Darwin Awards. I have not yet been features in the Darwin Awards. On the one hand, not, i.e. any mistakes you might have made are recoverable and nonfatal; and yet, i.e. you've got to be eternally vigilant against the impulse to tie hundreds of helium balloons to a lawn chair and float into LAX airspace.*

* The only Darwin Award I could think of, and it wasn't even a winner, since it wasn't fatal. The guy did get arrested, though!

I think I'm already screwed with my NCAA bracket. Ah well.

We bought a house just before the peak. Mortgage people would have given us a bigger loan - we said no . Got an ARM - refinance at a fixed rate would leave me about the same dollars in payment - but if they pass the law that Changes the # for jumbo loans - we should be in a good place for a refi - and we would be low risk . Currently the house is worth about 100K more than when we bought it and maybe 20 - 30 K less than top of the market.

but , I bought a home, not a house. I expect to live here a long time and slowly do improvements over time. So the ups and downs of the market - not really a factor.

My dad says he has never lost on a house. But , you buy within your budget - and with the expectation that some years are going t be harder than others. and harder than today , rather than the more usual way of thinking it will get easier , because you'll have ore.

Sending out the ma~~ to Scrappy's niece.

"I don't think I'm in a position to help you with this suit, but I wish you well."

Brevity is my friend and this is a good response. Thanks Ginger.

I think I'm going to punk out and answer her phone call via email. Hers is a difficult personality type...rich with pathology. So the possibility of explaining in a way that will work for her is remote.

I guess that is the thing that bothers me the most. There is no way for me to do this 'right'...where all values or right = painless.

When I buy, it's a home, not a house. Which is part of why I waffle. My future is up to me which is confusing!

To further anti-cat ita: cat snot- paint adhesive better than epoxy or just snot? Devi seems to have allergies. Since I opened the windows, she's got the sneezes. And it is gross and ...adhesive. t gross At least most of it, like a toddler, she eats. It's just the crap that sprays.

Hee! Amarna has had the sneezes in the past with the aerosol snot that usually ended up landing on me. Ew.

Oh, and for Aimee--Brookfield Zoo had a photo session for its new camel baby. The Sun-Times has a photo gallery of baby animals with the camel in photo #2.

(The galleries are in the right margin of the front page.)

Woohoo, the Video Games concert is coming back through here. The Symphony hasn't announced it yet, but hopefully we'll get to sing again. Concerts are extra fun when they involve lighting effects, smoke, and people in costumes.

Someone wanted me to serve as a character witness in a wrongful terminations suite - while I thought she had a case - she wasn't completely blameless. And What I told her was that when my reputation was on the line I was going to be 100% truthful so perhaps I wasn't the best witness for her.

Not painless, but I put the blame on my inability to be anything other than 100% truthful.