Dear John,
You’ve been pretty quiet since November 2004. Your occasional bursts of outrage have been few and far between. So now that the Dems have a real chance to take control of Congress, your voice really isn’t needed, especially when your terribly misguided sense of humor become fodder for the desperate right in the waning days of the campaign. So please, just go away. We don’t need you. We were doing fine without you.
Sincerely,
Dave
There’s a director coming back from a long maternity leave tomorrow, and there’s a big banner in her cube for people to sign and welcome her back. I wrote:
It’s awesome that Namibia let you bring the baby back here!
…because Baby Suri jokes are passe…
As W is hooked on “the Google”, I am hooked on the iTunes, at least this afternoon. 99 cents for Tori Amos doing Total Eclipse of the Heart. All I ask is that I get to see some beauty in the world each day. So I’ve had mine for today.
Now I remember why I like the music that I like, because of recordings like this. Just downloaded from iTunes, which, for 99 cents, is far less a pain in the ass than stealing.
(don’t judge it just because Celine Dion recorded it)
EDIT
New album comes out tomorrow. Amazon review:
The long-awaited third record in the Bat Out of Hell trilogy, The Monster Is Loose, wears bombast, pretension, and pyrotechnics proudly on its album sleeve and across the bulging disc’s 14 tracks. More a pop orchestral mishmash than a well-defined rock opus, Bat III is dark, seemingly hopeless at times, and über dramatic. Oddly enough, that’s also its saving grace. Meat Loaf and company create a great escape into the realm of grand theatricality, with a bunch of radio-friendly rock tunes that sound 20 years old, and several lyrically memorable AOR ballads to sustain it all the way to Broadway. With collaborator (and occasional defendant in Meat Loaf lawsuits) Jim Steinman, producers Desmond Child and Todd Rundgren, the Meat man consistently has the big sound booming and his despair and his rage on to the point that listeners may feel his pain a little too often. Bat III ain’t for sissies. Balanced by the powerful female voices of Marion Raven, Patti Russo, and Jennifer Hudson; along with guest musicians and songwriting help from Steve Vai, Marilyn Manson’s John 5, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, Queen’s Brian May, and others; Meat Loaf’s Monster has roared the unlikely rock star back to life like a bat out of Baghdad.
I received a pleasant surprise in my PayPal account this morning, a $50 donation to Toastie Radio. This follows a $100 donation I received a little over a month ago. I should’ve been motivated after the first big donation to devote some time to TR, but I didn’t really do anything. But I think I’m inspired now.
And Meat Loaf has a new album out, which I need to buy asap.
Voter data sites are loads of fun…find out or confirm your coworkers’ political leanings…and if you’re moving, find out the political make-up of your potential new neighborhood.
Gotcha…
(And I actually like the cheesy music)
[email to my trainer]
I have been walking Herman with the double leash and Halti ever since last Friday. He got the hang of it pretty quickly, even if it isn’t his ideal way of walking. There are walks when he has more energy stored up than others, and on those days, I have to stop a lot because he’ll tend to walk ahead of me, and I wind up bumping into him a lot to keep him on my left side. We don’t wind up encountering other dogs most of the time, and when we do, it’s usual from afar. When this happens, I try to just keep walking in the same general direction, rather than turning around and making Herman think that I’m concerned about the other dog. He still gets agitated, but I’m calmer and the Halti and leash help me control him better. He doesn’t pull and whimper as much, so the interruption to our walk is not as severe as it used to be.
I really need to figure out a way to get Herman to relax at home. The cats are becoming more and more comfortable around Herman, as far as getting closer to him without running away. And Herman, for his part, stays still more often when the cats are near. I think he knows that running towards them is something I highly disapprove of. But even when he’s still, he’s very intense, and he still whimpers quite a bit. I’ve tried some massaging. Treats can keep him occupied temporarily. But unless he’s tired out, he’s never relaxed. I find myself feeling guilty to the point that if I wake up in the middle of the night, I’ll go sleep on the couch out where Herman is for the rest of the night, because I know he’s at his most relaxed when he’s resting and I’m nearby.
Lending Tree sucks
Avoid Lending Tree
Don’t use Lending Tree
Lending Tree : bait and switch
Just posted for the benefit of Googlers. I feel no desire to elaborate at the present moment. I should have googled these phrases myself before I went to their site, not after. Live and learn.
(I’ll most likely be sticking with the credit union).
EDIT: One email from a lender summarizes the problem with Lending Tree:
Please disregard the information
on the offer listed through Lending Tree because more information is required
to determine your loan program, rate, and closing costs.
In other words, if you simply having no idea where to find a mortgage lender, because your realtor doesn’t know anyone and your friends don’t know anyone and you don’t trust your bank and you don’t know how to go on a financial or credit forum and do a search and you don’t know how to use a search engine…go to lendingtree.com because they’ll give you the names of five lenders for you. But the idea that the lenders give you offers right off the bat is complete bullshit.
