always me - a diary

2010-05-19T11:37:00.002-04:00

Just so everybody knows, the last post was actually done by me (Tom). I was unknowingly logged in under Dawn's account when I did it, so it came up with the initials DN. That didn't work out too well.

2010-05-19T11:35:00.002-04:00

Work. In my copy of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, there are 53 definitions. But I'm sure we all agree we know what it is, and we probably think that everyone else means the same thing we do when we use the word. But do we? Let's save that question for later. Maybe much later. What interests me is that we have removed the concept of work from the context of life. As if there were living, and

2010-05-10T15:35:00.002-04:00

I guess I'm taking over this blog now. Aaargh! I've leapt aboard and raised the Jolly Roger! Well, some sort of flag, anyway. I'm not sure yet what this blog's going to be about. We'll find out as we go along. I will be talking about poetry, however, since I have a book coming out soon that mixes prose and poetry. I also have a website with my most recent poems. If anyone is interested, it's at

2010-05-03T20:31:00.003-04:00

Tom will be posting here very very soon. He has a new book of poetry online at Parallax-Poems. Please take a look! (Note to my reader(s?): I already changed the masthead to include his name. He promised to post regularly, so I put his name first.) Note to Tom: I'm putting your name 2nd if you don't keep your promise.

2009-09-03T09:49:00.005-04:00

About the Friends of America Rally on Labor Day.Q. If these are the friends of America, who are its enemies?A. Labor unions, earth scientists, and environmentalists. In other words, anyone who doesn't love coal!If I don't love coal, am I an enemy of America?Working class anti-unionists in this state need to review the history of the West Virginia mine wars. The climate change deniers don't

2009-06-25T15:36:00.001-04:00

So true.a comic from xkcd.com

2008-12-31T10:03:00.002-05:00

Pretty coal, clean coal, good coal.Images from the TVA fly ash retention pond failure in TennesseeHave you ever wondered why coal miners in photographs and cartoons always have black faces? Ever heard of black lung disease?

2008-12-01T14:09:00.003-05:00

NaNoWriMo Winner!No icon right now so you'll have to take my word for it.Here's my profile, though. Yes, dear reader, I know you're dying to see it.

2008-11-19T09:17:00.003-05:00

I love West Virginiabecause of this: Mountain Stageon Sunday night I heard:Jim Biancothe Lee BoysMalcolm HolcombJames McMurtyand (the reason I bought tickets)Shelby Lynne!!!I couldn't begin to list the bands and artists I've seen & heard perform there over the years.Their website is kind of cool - links to artists, broadcasts of old shows, and other stuff.

2008-11-12T09:18:00.002-05:00

Why I still love (and hate) my redneck, intolerant, xenophobic part of the country:It produces people like this: Joe BageantAlthough I sometimes feel like Red Green does about his manhood: "I'm a hillbilly, but I can change. I guess. If I have to."I'm not really a hillbilly, but it's in me. I have lived here in WV as long as I've lived anywhere. I’m one of those mutts, Joe, so I hear ya. We’ve

2008-09-26T15:41:00.003-04:00

Dirty Coal (Bowl) WeekendLet's hear it for what shall be known (by me) as the Dirty Coal Bowl. It sounds so much more like a street brawl! And it's way more accurate. I've never seen such a sheepish, 'unhappy to be here' shill in my life as "Friend of Coal" Coach Pruett last year at the DCB. I think Don Nehlen or somebody like that stood with him and awkwardly praised the industry. I dunno, maybe

2008-08-28T11:53:00.004-04:00

This blog is such a lonesome place. Here's some fresh airNew (to me):Site: Feministing I especially enjoy the Target: Women videos.Music: Rasputina Oh Perilous World It makes me smile when I listen to it.Author: Jared DiamondCollapseGuns, Germs and Steel (so many things are illuminated by these theories) I suppose it's Collapse that has a chapter on the corporate behavior of mining, coal & oil

2008-07-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

Things I Love About West Virginia2. My local park.Ritter Park

2008-07-15T12:49:00.004-04:00

Things I love about West Virginia1. Last Sunday morning I drove my husband to the airport to catch a flight to Austin via Cincinnati (one of 4 cities you can get to directly from the local airport). His flight was scheduled at 7:10 a.m. We left our house at 6:22 a.m. At the airport, I parked, walked with him into the terminal, said goodbye, went back to my car, paid a buck to get out of the lot,

2008-05-15T10:00:00.003-04:00

Coal exec proves stumbling block for W.Va. justiceIt is beginning: Blankenship's association with candidates in West Virginia political races is becoming poison to the candidates. Will it drive Blankenship out of politics or is he too arrogant?

2008-03-06T13:02:00.002-05:00

Claiming my Inner BitchI really want this shirt, but where would I wear it? I can't wear it to the 5th grade fundraiser, or to walk in the neighborhood, or to the office...OMG, I'm too wimpy for funny/raunchy tee shirts. If I were enough of a bitch, I'd wear it to all those places.And thanks, Tina Fey, for the not so subtle reminder that some of us are bitches in a good, powerful,

2008-03-01T08:04:00.004-05:00

Today I Weep for My CountryI looked up this speech this morning. Senator Byrd has been hospitalized recently and I was thinking of him and wanted to re-read it, to see how his predictions held up.As the presidential campaign moves into high gear, I have been watching history--specifically the history of our present war--revised as I hear people question those who supported the President,

2008-02-08T09:15:00.002-05:00

Yes, he's right. Prosperity & peace are at stake, and we want some of both. clipped from www.huffingtonpost.comWASHINGTON — President Bush, rallying conservatives for a battle against Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, says "prosperity and peace" are at stake in the upcoming

The Lowest of the High Courts in WV

2008-01-16T09:04:00.001-05:00

Don Blankenship is a very litigious dude; he's always got something in front of the courts. Now we see that we're getting - not what we paid for -- but what he's paid for. Benjamin and Maynard both have too many ties to Blankenship to rule on any Massey cases! clipped from hosted.ap.orgJan 15, 6:13 PM ESTW.Va.

2007-12-21T10:43:00.000-05:00

Mountain Party of WV is now part of the national Green Party.Here's our own Jesse Johnson on You Tube.

2007-12-13T12:04:00.001-05:00

I thought for a while that we might just let them all burn. /sarcasm clipped from www.herald-dispatch.comCity Council targets vacant buildings

2007-11-26T11:00:00.000-05:00

New StuffA big election year is coming up. To keep from obsessing uselessly about national elections, I'll begin posting about local issues again. This weblog is quite out of date. Changes will be made!

2006-11-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

2006-08-23T16:18:00.000-04:00

Charleston Daily Mail: "Plaintiffs fight to get Justice Benjamin off appeal"Massey chairman Blankenship has been trying to get the law changed so he can force Starcher off his case -- literally -- & finally, someone's trying to get Blankenship's personal justice Benjamin off another of his cases.This is so not funny. Blankenship(Massey)'s lawsuits would make him look like a crank if it weren't

2006-08-03T19:49:00.001-04:00

Friends of Coal (we got it--the most ironically named bowl game yet!) Bowlthe naming of the bowl game

2006-06-30T16:40:00.000-04:00

The Comics CurmudgeonMary Worth totally deconstructed.(10 years of averting my eyes all undone today)

2006-05-31T14:24:00.000-04:00

Great. Just freaking great.news @ nature.com - Greenhouse gas breeds venomous vines - Mounting carbon dioxide could fuel more poisonous ivy.

2006-05-24T12:53:00.000-04:00

The Duke Case's Cruel TruthFinally, someone in the media is really getting down to what this case is about. I have been bothered by insinuations in other news articles that the accuser isn't credible, because, among other things, she once reported a rape and no one was prosecuted!And here's another thing that pisses me off. For years, I have heard that strippers have great jobs. "You wouldn't

2006-05-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

WV Notes:Excellent Vanity Fair article on mountaintop removal mining, especially as it is practiced by Massey Energy & their lovable chief Don Blankenship. I noted yesterday our local paper commented on McGraw losing his judgeship last election because "West Virginians were tired of him and his anti-business positions" (I paraphrase). Not quite. As mentioned in passing in the Vanity Fair article,

2006-04-13T14:56:00.000-04:00

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is all over the news. I took the time today to read just what he's supposed to have done.I was briefly embarrassed for my state. I laugh when people criticize Byrd. If any state deserves some pork, it's West Virginia. But ouch, two congressmen? That looks like a pattern of corruption - wait, that's culture of corruption. (Surely not in West Virginia, you say!)However,

2006-04-10T15:38:00.000-04:00

2 more W.Va. miners killedIt's not getting much coverage; are we tragedy-weary already? Note to self: next time you're moping about the sorry state of your "career", think of the people digging the coal that fires the plants that make your electricity.

2006-04-07T13:21:00.000-04:00

Why, yesI do know where Matthew McConaughey is staying in Huntington. At least, my husband heard it from a salesman at the Barboursville Toyota dealer, so I'm sure it's very reliable information. If he was right, it's only a few short blocks from my house. But I really shouldn't say.

2006-03-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

We are Marshall - the movieThe 1970 plane crash that killed nearly the entire football team and dozens of staff and family traveling with the team will live in our memory for at least another generation. Although it happened on a rainy November night, the trauma it caused was Huntington's September 11.Plane crash wounded, but didn't destroy MU's spiritESPN.com: NCF - Tragedy litters the sports

2006-03-24T11:18:00.000-05:00

More dirty coal stories.I have read two lengthy articles in the past few days about the flattening of West Virginia - one is online.Orion magazine: Moving Mountains.And this one you'd have to get a copy of the magazine to see.Mining the Summits @ National Geographic MagazineIn case you're not from a coal mining area, here are a few of the lies:Coal is clean. As I understand it, it could be

2006-02-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

Slideshow: Mountaintop TroubleA great little slideshow of people - from my mother's hometown of Bob White - talking about the cost of surface mining, the one not measured in dollars.

2006-02-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

Another fatality in an underground mine: Eastern Kentucky miner dies in roof fallIf you've been following any mining related news, you'll find this interesting. This is what happens when the MSHA is in the habit of imposing piddly fines: the coal operators ignore real safety problems.The Charleston Gazette - News

2006-02-14T12:55:00.000-05:00

In case you've been going to bed early - like me.Dick Cheney Shooting Jokes - Cheney Late-Night Jokes: "'But all kidding aside, and in fairness to Dick Cheney, every five years he has to shed innocent blood or he violates his deal with the devil.' --Jimmy Kimmel'So in summary, the Vice President of the United States shot a 78-year-old man in the face. Congratulations Mister Vice President, you

2006-02-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

Two more WV coal mine fatalities yesterday have prompted this response - in a large front page headline in this morning's local newspaper. Not much more information has been released yet.Also in the Charleston Daily MailBoone County is where most of my family hails from, and where a number of villages (note to the H.S.: I wouldn't call them hardscrabble, though they are rough, worn-out, and poor,

2006-02-02T10:28:00.000-05:00

Two more WV coal mine fatalities yesterday have prompted this response - in a large front page headline in this morning's local newspaper. Not much more information has been released yet.Also in the Boone County is where most of my family hails from, and where a number of villages (note to the H.S.: I wouldn't call them hardscrabble, though they are rough, worn-out, and poor, and a far cry from

2006-02-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

The Naughty Mommytoday's laughs

New Pics on Flickr

2006-02-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

At the kingdom Originally uploaded by dnorman76.a few snaps of the trip to the theme parks.

2006-02-01T06:18:00.000-05:00

I wonder where the appreciation for the big bellied woman is?I mean, look at this! Ingres Study for the Turkish Baths from art.com

2006-01-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

Health Plan to Revive DebateI've seen how well the prescription drug plan seems to be working out; someone save us from the President's health care plan.

2006-01-27T10:01:00.000-05:00

belated Blog for ChoiceJust realized I forgot this. Ahem. I am:FeministLiberalPro-choicenon-ChristianI don't have any personal stories to share about abortion. I feel strongly that reproductive freedom is something worth protecting. I also feel that population control is GOOD. Humans are stripping the planet of its resources as fast as we ever can. Why don't we slow it down a little?I urge you to

2006-01-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

One big difference between the Sago and Alma mine accidents is the response by the coal companies' representatives. Ben Hatfield, the owner/operator of the Sago mine was out in front of the media, in front of the families, and now is in front of the public by sitting on a panel helping with Manchin's fast-track safety legislation. Don Blankenship, on the other hand, CEO of Massey Coal (owners of

2006-01-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

Gee I'd have cleaned up a bit--eloquence-wise--if I had known I'd get so many hits on the blog by linking to the Post article.Instead, I'll comment on another bit of WV news. I cannot be the only West Virginian to be disturbed by the FBI sting operation in Logan County in the recent vote-buying case. In a moment I'll go do my usual 5 minutes--I mean thorough research--on the net to see if anyone

2006-01-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

After 44 Hours, Hope Showed Its Cruel SideThis was truly a sorrowful event. I am sorry for the misinformed relatives and friends who celebrated before discovering that early reports of the 12 being alive were inaccurate. I didn't think yesterday that there was serious wrongdoing going on by the coal executives and Gov. Manchin. I still don't. What reason would they have for misinforming family

2005-11-30T00:19:00.000-05:00

(with the worst working title ever!)

2005-10-31T10:11:00.000-05:00

There's no pictures here, peopleIt seems, from looking at my blog stats, that the short entry I wrote called Badly Drawn Girl is quite popular. I came across the piece below on the same subject. However, I question the author's conclusion that The feminist revolution appears to have successfully helped foster an environment that makes it "cool" to be a girl.If it is so cool to be a girl, why are

2005-10-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited.NANOWRIMO is just ahead. I'm filled with ambition and good intentions. I'm doing preliminary work on my project.Yesterday I checked my email & found there's a local group (maybe only one or two of us, though, who knows?) scheduling meetings right here in Huntington during the month of November for Nano participants. I'll go, just to see who else is doing it....

2005-10-18T13:28:00.000-04:00

Reading List Middlesex*Archer at LargeFuture PerfectWomen's Diaries of the Westward JourneyThe Tipping Point****And Ladies of the Club*The Tao of Inner Peace (I wish)The October Horse (good background for HBO's Rome)Summer extra credit: I made a run through Katie's bookshelf & read Shadows on the Wall, Indian Captive, Rose in Bloom, The Princess School, and The Secret Garden.Step Across this

2005-10-17T13:26:00.000-04:00

Here's one for Rosanne; I know you'll enjoy it. Smart Bitches...

2005-10-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

For your browsing amusement a little collection of sites, some I go to regularly, some occasionally little. yellow. different. Halfhead dooce low culture I Blame The Patriarchy Improv Everywhere: We Cause Scenes

Toby, 2004

2005-09-19T15:43:00.000-04:00

Toby, 2004 Originally uploaded by dnorman76.Finally posting a pic of the cute dog.(Actually, just trying out Flickr for uploading pics faster)

2005-09-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

This Week in ReviewGood writing: one paragraphBad writing: hahSelf-condemnatory thoughts: about a thousandDeaths of people I know: noneNumber of ex-friends I thought about contacting but didn't: oneTime spent being amused: about 50 minutes(10 minutes per hour of TV + 10 minutes on the link below)Servings of potato chips consumed: 10Apples consumed: 6Alcohol units: lowCrying: 5 minutes (during

2005-09-15T13:54:00.000-04:00

LATELY. I'm feeling the urge to yell, in response to nearly every moment of this day/week/month/year, "I don't know what anything means, or why anyone does anything, or how they get up in the morning, or leave their house, or talk to another human being, or anything..."Probably not a good day to start posting again.But I had to break the silence here, or I might never do it. Here's two

2005-07-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Go ahead, peek inside some other minds. On a buying spree at the bookstore last Christmas, I bought a book called something like, "How to Nourish Your Inner Martyr." I thought we might give it as a gag gift but never did. Enjoyed it ourselves, though.Today I ran across this: Not Proud - online confessions. Completely true and so very sad. Glad I don't have thoughts like those.

2005-06-21T08:51:00.000-04:00

Governor has spine, CEO/Chief Tyrant of Massey miffedWhat I heard on NPR and the local TV news warmed me to the new guy in Charleston. He's about to have a regular WV-style feud with Mr Blankenship of Massey Energy over the pension-rescuing bond sale.For some reason Blankenship is opposed to such a sale. (He says it's a gamble, and WV politicians shouldn't be gambling with the citizens' money.

2005-04-27T13:01:00.000-04:00

A bit of paranoiaWe sold our home last month. We've lived in it for 13 years. Last night, as I was wading through Katie's room to begin helping her pack, she said, "Mom, you're talking about this yard sale like we're getting rid of everything." I wish.I'm not a packrat. I swear. In fact, I give things away pretty easily. Admire something of mine & I might give it to you. Ask for it & I probably

2005-03-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

Badly Drawn GirlLate one school night a few weeks ago, the children were upstairs giggling, calling down, “We’ve got a surprise. We’ll come down and show you in a minute.” “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Tom muttered.Parents know that when your children have a surprise for you it is a toss-up whether you will merely be surprised or full-on horrified.After a great deal of noise like horses being corraled or

2005-03-16T08:27:00.000-05:00

Link to my house listing (430 Fifth Ave)

2005-01-13T14:13:00.000-05:00

New Pictures I am trying to get some new pics up. Toby needs to be on the web! Here's a couple for starters. Upside down Katie. Here she is, rotated 180 degrees. . . . and here's the fat ones - minus Mark (the rest of us were only in the same place long enough for this shot) At the Capitol

2005-01-08T19:29:00.000-05:00

I guess all railroad webcams are dull dull dull dull dull WOW dull dull dull dull dull. But this one has a lovely sunset (at eightish Eastern time in January).

2005-01-06T13:31:00.000-05:00

Lean Times here on the diary page. I have been, you know, living and not writing about it. I deserve a break after 42,000 horrible words in November. Random, undeveloped thoughts: The gargantuan effort, and limited success, of fighting against biology is never more striking than after a visit with one's parents. . . . I hate to shop after the surfeit of Christmas. The catalogs never stop, though

2004-12-20T12:30:00.000-05:00

low culture: Support the ribbon industry Someone else noticed that these ribbons are saying something besides Support Our Troops! Something like, Proud Wal-Mart Shopper!

2004-12-08T13:53:00.000-05:00

December Update Still here. We're having the best quarter of sales in the past two years, so I've been busy, dammit. If I don't have time for solitaire games, I really am busy. NANOWRIMO: FAILED!!! 42,000 words, though. I'm eager to try again next year. Pictures of DC trip: to come

2004-11-08T13:42:00.000-05:00

We've only mentioned it a half dozen times at our house. Americans flock to Canada's immigration Web site

2004-11-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, it has been a long long time since I posted anything. I've done something that swallowed up all my time for a month, though it officially started just three days ago. National Novel Writing Month Anyway, I decided to practice (mainly to get the puppy used to me being downstairs at 5 a.m. every day)--so I've been writing for a few weeks. (probably good thing that I'm cheating, 'cause there's

2004-09-27T14:16:00.000-04:00

Meaning of life nearly revealed to woman in car Last Friday afternoon, I almost had it just for a moment. A secret. An understanding of humanity, or a glimpse of unified meaning in this teeming world, of how and why we run around living, grasping, fighting, killing each other, loving and hoping enough to keep on bringing children into it. Why we're joyful and sad, envious and spiteful and

2004-09-19T07:42:00.000-04:00

Local man makes news Phil Parlock of Huntington did do this before - stage or at least encourage sign-ripping behavior. This week's flap over the AP photo of Parlock and daughter with a torn Bush poster made Wonkette, too! Here's the link from the Charleston Daily Mail in 2000: SIGNS FOR BUSH TAKEN AT RALLY, FATHER, SON SAY . Note: you must pay for this article, so I merely quote the headline/

2004-09-17T10:44:00.000-04:00

WV Pols/Politics Two interesting state races. Manchin v. Warner: do we need anyone whose family members have already disgraced themselves in public office? Why did Joe disband the election fraud unit - or did he? (see below) [Another side note: I LOVE BugMeNot, a Mozilla accessory that lets you use existing login information for those 'Free but you must register' sites. Right click at their

2004-09-13T10:46:00.000-04:00

I'm Counting Number of book ideas this year: 2 1) my own - abandoned after 3 paragraphs 2) for Tom's project - a fabulous idea, if he'd only listen to me Number of fantasies about writing the day away in a picturesque upscale writing studio (free of all the dirt and most of the clutter of reality), a room calm yet visually invigorating, with good art on the walls--probably photographs; an

2004-09-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

Strange Site of the Day Lucky Mojo: Hoodoo, Magic, Mojo Hands, Occult Shop, Sacred Sex, Amulets, Books, Spells, Information on Magick Didn't know I needed some mojo till I got here.

2004-08-31T13:25:00.000-04:00

For R. Here's the link to some pretty funny political bumper stickers. Wish I had a couple of them. glassdog: "Bumper Stickers for the Bumper Stickerless"

2004-08-31T12:32:00.000-04:00

Neighborhood Activism, Redux Two recent home invasion-type crimes, the murder of a prostitute, and drug dealing on every corner have gotten the natives riled up again. My neighbor and I have revived the neighborhood assocation. The first meeting after the murder was well-attended. I knew that it would be entirely taken up with horror stories of panhandling, urinators, drug deals, prostitutes and

2004-08-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

So. Three weeks ago I tried to log in to my weblog but my ntelos service was hanging or the blogger servers were and I couldn't get in. In the frame of mind I've been in lately, I just lost interest & you know, did stuff outside of the computer for a few weeks. But today I found this: Hacking NetFlix The Crooked Timber Blog DiscussesNetflix Who knew there was psychology at work, and who knew

2004-07-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

Summing Up (July) Reading The Left Hand of Darkness The Thinking Reed Poems of Emily Dickinson The Midnight Disease Watching Dirty Pretty Things Whale Rider Raising Victor Vargas Listening Uh Huh Her Want One Wishing I could write a poem Online Alternative Dictionaries The Critique Circle Rummaging in the basement

2004-07-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

It's summer & almost vacation time. Here's what we saw & heard last weekend: Something in the Water, a musical about Eastern Kentucky's musical heritage. Here's where we're going to go in two weeks: "Tecumseh!"...The Ultimate Outdoor Drama Experience, and this is what I'm going to do next month. First here: Assateague Island National Seashore (National Park Service), then family visits here:

2004-07-14T16:42:00.000-04:00

Egregiously misinformed post went here

2004-07-14T09:18:00.000-04:00

Sloganator Memorial Bush bashing, courtesy of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Don't go there if you think Michael Moore is too extreme.

2004-07-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

Jesse Johnson for Governor I've just read an interview with Jesse Johnson, actor & filmmaker, and candidate for governor of West Virginia in the November election. He is with the Mountain Party, West Virginia's own third party, founded in 2000. Here is a bulleted list of their platform (taken from their website at WV Mountain Party): - Clean Air, Water and Land - Responsible mining and logging

2004-07-12T13:41:00.000-04:00

Parts of this weblog will be unavailable for the next several days, while I port my stuff to a new hosting service. New pictures on my other weblog.

2004-07-08T17:02:00.000-04:00

Here you go, Mom

2004-06-26T09:17:00.000-04:00

Finally went to Hillbilly Hotdogs, but skipped the pinto beans. Hillbilly Hotdogs, near Huntington, WV

2004-06-22T16:47:00.000-04:00

West Virginia - Abortion-hating, gun-toting, immigrant-trashing Kerry voters. By William Saletan Man I hate to admit it, but there are some of these ignorant rednecks here in WV. Unfortunately, there are also some pretty good people who will be voting for Bush because, well, they like that he's the right kind of Christian and also believes in saving marriage for heterosexuals and in outlawing

2004-06-22T14:13:00.000-04:00

I highly recommend this site if you need a laugh. This weblog was profiled in Time magazine last week. (She's the one fired from Knopf for reading on the job.) Wonkette

2004-06-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

Back from Vacation. A funeral, a wedding, and a new car in 3 days. 1) Don't want to talk about it. 2) Don't need to talk about it (happy couple, short ceremony, excellent reception). 3) Already explained this one with the car-crushing tree photos from last week. Catching up on work. Would you answer an email that looked like this: -Fa's't, Pr'of'es'sio'nal Se'rv'ice. -A'p/p'roval in as l'it'tle

2004-06-02T15:54:00.000-04:00

More Tree Pictures

2004-05-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

Saw this today on a email list. I have no idea if it's authentic "Back in 2000, a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true." -- James Carville

2004-05-25T14:08:00.000-04:00

Stray Thoughts Why do I always hear about porn stars and never just porn actors, anymore? and Can you use riddance in a sentence without the word good? Saw the term google-bomb this morning: some vast-right wing conspiracy is loading web sites with the words "kerry" and "waffles". However, when I went to independently verify it, this pair of words got 19,000 hits while "bush" and "lies" got

2004-05-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

And one final post. Ask me about spark plugs. Because I know a few more things about them today than I did yesterday.

2004-05-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

How grammatically sound are you? - Quizilla And a quiz that you might want to save for a Monday morning instead of Friday afternoon.

2004-05-21T16:28:00.000-04:00

It might be hell on the other end, too. A girl I know works for a local call center that takes incoming customer service calls. She was trained last week (for one week) to fill in in case of a strike at one of the Bell companies. Yesterday, the Bell people went on strike, and our local company took over the calls. She reported "chaos" (really?!!), and said that all of the extensions for different

2004-05-21T11:17:00.000-04:00

And here's the WV blogger's link - her name is Michelle, I believe. Random (but not really)

2004-05-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

A casual reference at a WV blogger's site piqued me to check out the Language Log (Start with the Ebonics tale), and from my reading at the Language Log, I stumbled on this: transcripts of Monty Python sketches. Meanwhile, Laura sent this ridiculous stuff: Brutally Honest Personals. Yep, getting lots of work done today.

2004-05-14T14:18:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2004 | How Democrats can talk of religion While browsing my regular sites today I found this article. I'm not religious myself, but I see how, in politics, the conservatives have become the "religious party." I'm not even sure why this would be so, but it is.

2004-05-10T16:29:00.000-04:00

News Blip - Natalie Tennant, candidate for WV Secretary of State, got the best line in about the Oliverio-Hechler flap. What's he going to say next, "Vote for Me: I'm Not a Woman"? HNN It's the most ludicrous of negative campaign tactics - and there's been quite a bit of negativity here in the Mountain State. I have to say that Jackson's attacks on Manchin's 1991( or '92?) comments about

2004-05-10T16:04:00.000-04:00

Reading Back When We Were Grownups Wild Child: Girlhoods from the counter culture Pink Think Reviving Ophelia Yellowdog: I am always blown away by Martin Amis. I am sure some critic used the words virtuoso or tour de force about this book. He has some harsh things to say about us all, in a sardonic, painfully funny kind of way. Xan, the head-injured, revenge-obsessed main character, really is

2004-04-22T09:59:00.000-04:00

I know these Barbies! Found art from the Hillbilly Sophsticate's weblog: barbie

2004-04-20T02:31:00.000-04:00

Reforming the street where you live It’s one-thirty. I read in A Box of Matches how, for writing at night, Nicholson Baker made his computer screen dark, with barely visible text, so the bright white screen/page didn’t distract him. I thought of the old WordPerfect blue screen, which is lower contrast, and familiar, besides. But I couldn’t set it up tonight, so I had to turn the brightness