green

Hey, that idea of getting spare batteries is a great idea. Thanks, Kyethra. What kind of HP did you have?

Yep, so, so true.........:help:

Up here in Canada we have been in one horrible beaurocratic mess ever since a bunch of paranoid Republicans decided that the "world's longest undefended border" was no longer reliable and that all Canucks travelling south of the border and, for that matter, all those Americans visiting Canada needed to have valid passports in order to return to the United States. This has resulted in horrible delays for passports up here and at many government offices there are line-ups which begin at 3 or 4 in the morning, which is long before business hours, eh. And for those of us who are travelling to those parts of the globe where one always requires a passport these new delays are an irritant or worse. Canadian passports are issued with a five year expiry date but you can't really use them after 4.5 years. This is why everyone figures that four and a half years from now there is going to be something in the way of another wave of passport renewal demand. Green and her mate have been kinda lucky. We do a lot of travelling and so we tend to keep our passports current. And in the case of Green, because she doesn't drive her passport is the only ID she has. This is how we have managed to miss the current passport hysteria. I personally think that profiling makes more sense when it comes to issues such as dealing with the "world's longest undefended border" or when choosing whom to pay close attention to when loading individuals on an aircraft. Of course the deal is this: all profiling has to be sensitively done.

We live next to the neighbour from Hell, too. There is a website called, I think, Neighbour from Hell, where one can read and even contribute one's own story. It is horrible living next to the neighbour from Hell and all the more offensive when the guy is illegally there! You have my sympathy.

It does sound like a splendid life and I am going to suggest that BJean and I invite ourselves down for a visit. You might know that I have never, ever tasted true Bar-B-Que, eh. (By the way, do you have any of those real nifty post lapband surgery drugs kicking around?:nervous )

Evillah, I suspect that you are in the same quandary as most folk. You have some values which are considered as leftist and others which are considered as being right-wing. Up here in Canada you would be considered a centrist. The problem with voting for a worthy candidate is that he or she is often pressured to vote along party lines and so what you are getting is not that individual's particular set of ethics but the party programme. This means that when you are voting you must examine the platforms of the dueling parties and take this into account. Given your set of values I would be inclined, if I were you, to vote Democrat. And now I will tell you why. Up here in Canada we have 3 major parties, a conservative one, a middle of the road party and a party which is left-wing. Though our left-wing party has never been successful at gaining power at the federal level it has won power at the provincial (state) level from time to time in various Canadian provinces. Once this idealist, left-wing party manages to achieve power it inevitably slides towards the political centre. It has to, for it must deal with the needs of both big and small business - the wheels of economy, in brief - as well as the constraints of the operating budget, the concerns of the taxpayer, etc. In short, a left-wing government becomes aware that compromises do have to be made. Your Democrat party will never be able to push through universal health care; there is simply too much opposition from big business and too much fear of this type of programme from people like yourself. They will never be able to push through same sex marriage for exactly the same reasons. Similarly, your Republican party will probably be unsuccessful at outlawing abortion altogether. But the Democrat party is a greener and more environmentally friendly party. They are also considerably less friendly to big business and to big oil, preferring, instead, to support small businesses and small business initiatives, preferring to loosen American dependency on fossil fuels, and choosing to recognise the value of the worker and the importance of trickle up economics. I do believe that the Democratic party is prepared to be a little more creative and responsive with respect to the serious problems which harrass both America and the international community today. Of course I am writing from the viewpoint of a Canadian and you must understand that we are viewing your situation as outsiders. This can be useful but at the same time we foreigners do miss a lot of the subtleties, eh.

Omigawd! I love this! Too bad our kitten survived those days o masturbation. I guess there were just not enough teenage boys in our neighbourhood to have taken her out! She's the cat from Hell and a lousy pet. She eats our food and flips us the paw. :tired We never get any respect from her. LOL

I heard that Samsung is very good.

Although I am pro choice I personally find the concept of a post-viability abortion to be utterly repulsive unless there is something medically very wrong with either the foetus or the mother. I would be comfortable with legislation that would block abortion as an option at this stage of the pregnancy. My only concern would be that such a law might slow down the performance of the procedure if in fact it was required for urgent medical reasons; for with laws and exemptions there come protocols which must be followed and it always takes time to do the paperwork. I believe that any woman who has allowed her pregnancy to continue to the stage where the foetus may be considered a viable baby has already made her choice. At this point she has a different set of choices to make: will she choose to keep the child or give it to a couple who are unable to have a child and dearly desire one.

These past few weeks are the first time I have ever watched Idol. I usually don't watch reality shows other than Judge Judy whom I adore and Trading Spouses. I thought I would find Idol boring and irritating but have found it quite interesting. This was a real surprise to me. I wonder if there is much betting action going over Idol results. I also now regret that I never got to see Sanjay in action. Damn!!

Well, we have just come back from buying the laptop and we have taken everyone's advice except that I forgot Carlene's advice about buying the extended warranty! Damn!! We bought an HP Pavillion series model with a 14" screen. It has got the stuff which Betsyjane said it should have and so it will be fast and it can perform a bunch of clever tricks because it has a microphone and videocam/eye? built into it along with a CD/DVD burner. The little thing cost $950 in Can-bucks which are cheaper than Ameri-bucks. Of course we have hugely expensive sales taxes - 14% - and then we bought an external mouse (a red one), a Norton's complete protection programme, a WiFi router to hook up to our D-link, a travelling case for the thing, etc.... (It seems the only downside to this smaller model compared to the larger model of the same make is that the battery doesn't last as long but on the other hand it will fit on an airplane table.) And so we had ourselves quite a little spend-fest. Then we continued on to have either a late lunch, a very late breakfast or an early supper! Argon: We were afraid to get an Apple because we had heard that Bell Sympatico which is our internet provider gets strange with Mac.

Oh! Yah! I was awake for both of my colonoscopies. Ugh! This seems to be the way they do 'em in my city. I have heard they take a kinder, gentler approach elsewhere. Colon TV was kinda cool, though....but only if you have enough drugs!

I personally prefer Jazz and Soul to Pop. I hate those bluddy Whitless Huston-type sentimental ballads. I think that they all sound alike. I figure Blake, a guy with a weaker voice but with more musical intelligence than Jordin, to be a natural as a Jazz singer. The thing which I have noticed with US Idol is that no matter what the material is, the orchestra/back-up band handles it in a homogenized manner. The back up music all sounds the same and this makes it difficult for the singer to create a truly indivual sound. The Idol definitely is a Kaoraoke contest and nothing more and this is thanks to the artistic insensitivity of orchestra.

I believe that this should be an open site and if it takes ads to underwrite this then so be it. This site has a huge membership but very few of us actually post. Those individuals who like to visit and read will be driven off if they have to pony up with $$.

There does seem to be a curious split in the American psyche. On one hand there is still a powerfully guilt-ridden and puritanical streak. I suggest that the modern expression of this is most powerfully voiced by such groups as the Moral Majority and by the religious right. On the other hand, there is also a strong streak of prurience - and perhaps it may be argued that this is the flip side of puritanism - in the American public. This is expressed through shock TV, an overwhelming interest in serial and mass murders, and the sexual misbehaviour of public figures. Stateside the news of Anna Nichole's death and the fate of her baby certainly eclipsed anything more serious in the way of current affairs. You Americans are probably the single most fascinating people in the world at this time. You produce some of the finest television shows I have ever, ever watched. Such series as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Dead Like Me, and I can cite more, are brilliant TV. This is sophisticated, creative, and adult television. But along with this we have the spectacle of the moral majority working its collective self into a lather over Janice Jackson's tit! And you have provided us with the truly awful sound bite style of reportage, something that is beginning to seep north of the border. By selectively choosing to report only a few spoken words anyone with an agenda can make the speaker look like a fool or a wise man. By watching American news reports on mainstream TV any foreigner would think that Americans collectively suffer from ADD. Of course this ain't true.

This is a most interesting post. I think what you and your family are doing is wonderful, Betsyjane. There are so many creative and often low-tech, low-energy ways of dealing with the challenges of the environment - the heat of the summer, the cold of the winter, storms, etc - available to us. Often an examination of how other less advanced cultures handled or handle these problems can give us insights into new ways of approaching these issues.

Once I get my Benny Hinn costume and dead squirrel hair piece I plan to make my money by setting myself up as a Mistress of Discipline. Those who want to pay to be smacked around will be my disciples.:rolleyes It will be a great way to spend my retirement/golden years.:mad:

Thanks to everyone for the advice. The immediate reason we need the laptop is that my husband will be away in Mexico for a month or more and we would like to be able to keep in touch. He wants to take pictures and send them to me. In the long term, however, the computer will end up being used by me and I will use it for blogging, internet, and for photography. I do want a fast one and I will need enough memory for Photoshop and for photographs. Saving money is not be as important as getting a reliable machine that will be able to perform. We are also figuring that although we are not set up for Wifi with our machines at home, maybe the laptop should have this? We don't really know any computer geeks and this is why I am asking all of you to give me your input. Actually, I used to know some geeks when I was working but kinda lost touch with them when I retired. And I myself have no inner geek, alas. :cry

I had a colonoscopy. Actually I had two. :tired The first one was awful - lots of pain and she never did get around all the corners and finish the route. The same doc did it again 3 years later and she did a much better job the second time around. I guess practice does make perfect. Make sure they give you lots of drugs. It is less unpleasant that way. With enough drugs you might actually enjoy the experience and you will get to watch yourself on the colon TV network. That can be kind of a trip....:rolleyes

I am old and I am blonde and I am going to buy a laptop next week. Does anyone have any advice for me?:help:

A local judge up here in Toronto, Canada was complaining that there is a trend for defendants to represent themselves in court and he figures that this is due to watching too much Judge Judy. He complains that the problem is that most of them don't know what they are doing, come unprepared, and end up wasting the court's time. He says that the fools often attempt to do this in serious cases, such as those dealing with divorce issues, and their actions generally result in real ugly legal messes.:clap2:

That wasn't a smilie. That was a pukie.:faint:

Well, it does come down to this business of differing belief systems, I guess. With respect to this debate there are a variety views as to when the fertilized egg actually becomes a human being. Some of us believe that life must not be tampered with once the foetus can survive outside the womb, others believe that this begins at the moment the fertilized egg implants itself in the wall of the uterus, others charge that life becomes life at the moment of conception. Depending on your beliefs you will hold differing attitudes towards this question of the legitimacy of abortion. We all firmly believe that we are correct and are the most compassionate in our own chosen viewpoint. Right to lifers are focussed on the rights of the pre-born. And those pro-choice abortionists are primarily concerned with the situation of those women who are already here and find themselves stuck. The present laws are reasonable, I think. No one who doesn't want to have an abortion will be forced to have one.

Sure, go for it. You never did have a church wedding! Have your day.

Woodys makes a good point. Folks were voting for the personality, not so much the voice. Melinda was the least interesting to listen to when she was not singing. And maybe, too, she lost out because she was nasty Simon's fave.