Sidewalk Closed

Just walking home from the train and I encountered an obstacle! What to do!?

Matt ism of the day

I have to share this! There are many times when this wonderful man makes me laugh. He would make a great living as a stand-up comedian, I think. :D


Matt- Did you recently buy pistachios?

Me- ? no...

Matt- Smith's automatic recordings called. We bought some pistachio tainted with salmonella, actually it's only possibly contaminated. I think it was a long time ago. But they said we used our Smith's customer ID.

Me- .... ok. Well, it's nice to see the ID serving a useful purpose.

Matt- Yes. They let us know that the food we ate months ago might have killed us.

Working at the Rio Grande

I didn't know either until a few years ago. I'm sure in some places it's just bullies or something. I looked into it and while there are some places in the world where dangling shoes marks an occasion (like the end of the school year, or those weird shoe trees that seem to exist just ...because....), the shoes hanging around here let you know there's a dealer in the area. The color of the shoe, or the type of shoe can indicate what drug is being sold. I think eventually the shoes are cut down, but I've never seen someone take them down. They just disappear eventually.

Dinner at grad school

The department is having a dinner he said. Be there at 6 he said. I wanna introduce everyone to my wife he said..... I'm so overdressed. For some reason I was expecting tables and .... you know.... utensils.

Apologies to my children

I was once a political junkie. The first presidential election I followed was Gore v. Bush. I was 17. I watch the debates, I read all I could... and the race after that... and after that... but now....

I can't take it. I. Can't. Take. It. It's so depressing. My computer even has the John Oliver add-on making all things "Trump" into "Drumpf" (except Twitter for some reason) which just magnifies my frustration when Drumpf wins a state. I polled my family to find out if anyone was drawn to the election as I was. Survey said:
Doing laundry.
Watching West Wing (Vote Bartlett!)
Youth activity
Watching NCIS
I made cookies and ate ice cream. Painted a little, cross stitched to X-Files.

It was agonizing. How is it someone who says such outrageous things, which would swiftly kill any other campaign, still gets votes? How is he leading? I don't even know anyone who is voting Drumpf. America seems to be learning how Hitler was elected. We often say things like 'How did Germany vote for this guy?' 'Didn't they look into his background?' "How were they so blind?" This is how, dear America. Angry voters don't look into things. Anger is no way to approach an election. It feeds on the rantings of anything fueling the fire of blame. Times are tough and we like to hear it's not our fault. I believe angry voters is exactly why Trump is leading in delegates.

President Hinckley said "Anger is not an expression of strength. It is an indication of one's inability to control his thoughts, words, his emotions. Of course it is easy to get angry. When the weakness of anger takes over, the strength of reason leaves. Cultivate within yourselves the mighty power of self-discipline."

On the plus side (I hope it's a plus), there is talk of a brokered convention (I think it'd kill the GOP, but at this point I don't care) which would be fascinating.