120 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-13-12”

  2. In sharing the “random acts of kindness” I have witnessed or heard about recently I have one that is a little closer to home.
    Yesterday I had some training that was closer to home so I worked from home. I called my ex-sister-in-law and asked her if she had a few minutes to trim my hair. She did so I went.
    A, the woman who rented space from her for about 6 or 7 years is getting married. She has watched my niece and nephew grow up and has become a good friend. She is getting married on October 6. She went through a bridal magazine and picked out three dresses that she liked, then had my niece go through and pick out three dresses that she liked. They picked the same three dresses!!!! Together they decided which one they liked best and that will be A’s wedding dress, BUT, she got it with niece in mind and has paid the “insurance” or fee to have the dress altered again when Niece gets married. She is GIVING my niece her wedding gown!

    How sweet is that? How thoughtful? Would you have thought of doing that for someone else?

    I am Niece’s godmother, so I told ex-SIL if A is giving her a wedding dress I will buy her veil. (Niece isn’t engaged yet, but we have identified a likely candidate 😉 )

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  3. Einstein had that mad genius to understand that things like dark matter and neutrinos are the fabric of the universe. People like him, like Hawking and other physicsts amaze me.

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  4. I think I exist. I have a street address. My wife and I live between two small towns, one incorporated, the other not on an island on Puget Sound, off the coast of Washington state. We are a little tricky to find, but with directions, not that hard. I would prefer that you call first before coming to make sure I am home if you did visit, and also so I could alert my wife that a person she doesn’t know is coming.

    If you knocked on our door or rang our bell, my wife or I would answer and greet you. I am about 5’11”. My weight fluctuates between 183 and 190 pounds. I have my hair, still brown. My beard is white. My wife is about 100 pounds. Her hair is white. I am 68; she is 65. Although we have various aches and pains, at the moment we are both in pretty good health for our age, and fairly fit.

    I believe you exist. If I knew your address and your real name and (with your permission) visited you, I would meet a real person. As far as I know from each of you is a pleasant and safe individual to meet in person. I would not feel apprehensive about meeting you in person. As my wife does not know you, and as she is a very cautious person (and as we have had some disturbing interactions with people in the past) she would be a little concerned. Also, she does not read this web site. We are both not religious believers, but we have friends who are. I hope you would not be afraid of me if we met in person.

    You and I only know each other through this Internet discussion site. None of us have ever met in person.

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  5. Good Morning everyone. Well, we may have to “go dark” for awhile. I close on the house on the 21st and I may have to change ISP for the new home. This may take awhile. So if I am absent for a while, do not worry, we are just waiting on installation of service.

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  7. Yesterday, I asked people to define the word “troll.” One person, Linda, referred to me as a “troll.” I am sorry she feels that way. Otherwise, I feel no animosity toward her and think of her as a fine person. My “Alternative Question of the Day” continues to ask “what is a ‘troll’”? I appreciate the answers from last night and will reread them and any from today before responding in any more detail. I will continue my series on an imaginary country where children are raised without religious belief. I am thinking about a very interesting question/response from Ree, but I want to hold off responding to it until the troll business is sorted out.

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  8. 5 of 7 of a continuing series

    Would the children invent God?

    You probably see where I am going with this. My name is not George, and I am not a monkey (though I am a primate), but I am very curious. If children were raised in a society without any mention of “God,” with modern science and technology, with reasonable ethical rules and guidelines, with careful respect for empirical knowledge (as best as we understand it), would they eventually invent the concept of “God?” if no adult presented this idea to them?

    I suspect they would. I am interested in your opinion. I am interested in what their concept of a divine being would be like.

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  14. Linda, congratulations! It looks very nice. You have a lot of lawn to mow, however.

    I remember when we bought the first house we actually owned, a duplex which we shared for a while with the “mommies” and where our grandaughter lived right after she was born. Then the mommies bought their own house. We sold the duplex at the height of the market and my wife designed her dream house and we had it built for us. We have tried to destroy what little lawn we have. I dig it up and tthe chickens happily scratch and peck at the turf. Yesterday, a couple of deer wandered across the chopped up turf, nibbling a bit of the grass

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  15. Random

    Yes. My beliefs have changed over the years. I do believe in a higher power. But if you ask e to explain much more than that it will be a muddle of ideas. I’ve accepted that there are some things I do not now and may not ever fully grasp.

    Linda,

    Congrats!

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  16. Interesting article rickyweaver. The other day a cynic asked me if I still believed that Mitt Romney was pro-life. I didn’t have an answer for him, but his response was that Mitt was just as pro-life as he was conservative. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen America forced to make a decision between two more unworthy opponents.

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  18. CB, if you are ever on Whidbey Island, you would be welcome to one of our secular “unchurch” meetings. While most of us are fairly hard-core atheists (like me) we have some vaguely deist people probably more like you. Aren’t you part or all American Indian, or am I hallucinating again? If you are native American, I would introduce you to our wonderful neighbor who is 1/2 Sioux Indian, all Christian, and wonderfully tolerant toward atheist me, toward my daughter, her partner, and their 8-year-old daughter. It’s a wonderful and mysterious world and universe, with or without God.

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  19. photoguy13, If Romney loses as he probably will, it will be interesting to read the analysis of how he got the nomination. His opponents were all horribly flawed. Yet, if conservatives could have united behind one of them, Romney would have been defeated. I believe Romney’s money advantage kept better candidates (Jindal, Ryan and others) out of the race. Conservatives have always been at a money disadvantage against “moderates” in Republican primaries. Only Reagan was able to overcome that disadvantage. He was a great candidate, and as we saw in 1992, Big Bush was a pretty awful candidate.

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  20. I was surprised when “liberal” became a dirty word. I was even more surprised when “moderate” became a dirty word. Of course, I was astonished when Barry Goldwater was elected President. You would think the Republican Party would have learned the only way to win is to elect an extremist. Of course, I was amazed to learn that Mormons are Christians. I learn something new every day, although not much is new.

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  22. Puget Sound is a beautiful area of Washington State, Random. My ship did several mini overhauls at Bremerton Naval Ship Yard. I always thought that Whidbey Island was a beautiful area of the State.

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  24. Drive’s Guy it is beautiful. Everyone who move here then says, “I am the last one who gets to move here. Bar the gate.” Then they complain because there are no jobs. As Joni Mitchell sang,

    They paved paradise
    And put up a parking lot

    When I was 14 or so, I lived in Woodstock NY. About five years before it became hippy drugs and sex heaven. Langley is a lot like Woodstock. I am proposing that they become sister stoned cities full of old hippies. I am not a hippy. I am just naturally stoned.

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  25. Good Morning all…the rain hung around here all day and the forest is “moisturized” once again! The furnace kicked on this morning….oh yay for Autumn!!
    Linda your home is beautiful…I love PA!!
    Joe….your home reminds me of my parents home…the home I lived in as a child….Mom still lives there and I will be visiting next week….the house was built in 1954….cozy and inviting….walking into that house is like being wrapped in a warm wooly blanket on a crisp fall day….love it….

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  26. I don’t believe the children would invent a “god” if they were not told about God, however they would treat some things as idols. We know about our God because we have been told. God arranged for us to be told. We are commanded to tell. He gave us the inspired word to tell us because He loves us. He lives in and works through us when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. He is the only living God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of life. He is for life and the potential it has to glorify Him. Jesus came so that we can know that life has conquered death (the spiritual death that results from unforgiven sin, and eventually physical death through the resurrection of the dead in Christ). I don’t think a person could make up this God. No one would have God dying a physical death on a cross. But it was His plan, in His way to redeem the people He created and loves. I would never choose for Jesus to die on a cross on my own. It was hard to accept. But I recognize God’s sovereignty and who am I to dispute the way He decided to reconcile sinful humans to Himself.

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  28. Good Morning, Y’all!

    Congratulations Linda…it’s a beautiful house.

    Thanks for the daily uplifting story, Kim.

    The quote today and Randoms post made me think of the Moody Blues…

    First Man:] I think, I think I am, therefore I am, I think.

    [Establishment:] Of course you are my bright little star,
    I’ve miles
    And miles
    Of files
    Pretty files of your forefather’s fruit
    And now to suit our
    Great computer,
    You’re magnetic ink.

    [First Man:] I’m more than that, I know I am, at least, I think I must be.

    [Inner Man:] There you go man, keep as cool as you can.
    Face piles
    And piles
    Of trials
    With smiles.
    It riles them to believe
    That you perceive
    The web they weave
    And keep on thinking free.

    Don’t really think it relates I was just thinking about them…

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  29. Actually Random… I’ve met Chas and Elvera in person.

    And other’s have met each other in person too. And if we lived a litte closer, I’d come visit you on your little island. I like the ocean.

    We’re not just a figment of your imagination. So there. 😀

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  30. RE: the house
    We’re doing a two-fer, going in with our son and his family, who will have the actual house and the lawn to mow. The pics don’t show that there’s a full unfinished basement (with 12′ ceilings!) in which we’ll craft our own living quarters. On Sunday when we were looking at it, a herd of deer pranced up the hill that you can see in the distance from the back yard.

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  31. At last, I am fifty years older than my younger child again. Thanks for all the kind birthday wishes and for eating the delicious cake with me. The six year old in glasses is in charge of packing for this trip so we are waiting for that to get done. He is doing a great job of course.

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  33. Nice houses, both of you. Ours does not look like either one. It is a bit bigger than Joe’s and a lot smaller than Linda’s but has seven bedrooms and four bathrooms. And the grounds, what used to be grounds, has joined with the paved paradise folk only we have put up out buildings. It is our “keep young people very busy so they can develop a good work ethic, learn some useful skills, and keep out of trouble” plan. The four and a half acres I used to have to mow is now filled with a hunting lodge, feed storage/boys’ room upstairs, turkey houses, chicken houses, goat houses, sheep houses, and pig houses. These boys know how to build a house.

    Now one of them is assisting an electrician so he may learn a bit about electricity.

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  35. Random said,

    “Of course, I was amazed to learn that Mormons are Christians.”

    There’s no unified undisputed definition of the word Christian. If you up and decided to call yourself an atheist Christian, who would stop you? But according to any standard of Christian orthodoxy, Mormonism is not Christian.

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  37. Random,

    Don’t be surprised if I take you up on that. My brother lives on Bainbridge not too far away.

    Mumsee

    Happy bday!

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  38. Thanks Nancy Jill. The kitchen has been remodeled. With three bedrooms and two baths, we have the room for visitors, plus the main bath has a jacuzzi tub so Cindi can relax. She has Gout really bad and her arthritis is really hurting her these days. I may have to do some other safety upgrades for her in the bath but the cost should not be too expensive.

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  39. Apparently, modestypress is “Random” (?)

    Random wrote, “Of course, I was astonished when Barry Goldwater was elected President. ”

    I think many historians would be astonished to learn that, as well.

    A bit more of an interesting statement in Random’s hypothetical scenario is this:

    “If children were raised in a society without any mention of “God,” with modern science and technology, with reasonable ethical rules and guidelines, with careful respect for empirical knowledge (as best as we understand it), would they eventually invent the concept of “God?” ”

    I may be reading too much in, but is the implication that empiricism would lead to *dis*-belief in God? If so, why should that be the case? [Also, who gets to define “reasonable” and “careful”?! 🙂 ]

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  40. Happy Birthday Mumsee!! Cake???? I didn’t see cake!? Did 6Arrows make the cake?
    Joe, your Cindi is a blessed wife…a tub with jets to relax the muscle is amazing indeed! Your house has one more bath than ours did…my poor Daddy….3 teenage girls, a wife and one bath…he was so thankful to have a boy dog….they were life long buddies….our dog lived to be 22 years old !! 🙂

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  43. As I’ve said before, I consider Mormons (metaphorically speaking) as “cuckoo birds.” Real cuckoo birds lay eggs in other birds’ nests. The hatched cuckoo kills the the other hatchlings and takes over the nest and gets fed by the unwitting original mother bird.

    Any analogy or extrapolation to Romney taking over the white house and then Mormons taking over the United States is preposterous and irresponsible. For that matter, perhaps the orthodox standard Christians may have taken over Mormons and turned them into “real” Christians.

    If you consider that optional explanation, Christianity was the real cuckoo bird religion, taking over early “pagan” and “mystery cult” religions, as discussed in jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/supp13A.htm and perhaps a thousand other eccentric books and web pages.

    Sometimes Occam’s razor is the best approach. Jesus did live, but as not born of a virgin. Jesus was a charismatic human without supernatural powers who was killed by the Romans and did not rise from the dead. Paul created the first “social network” and called it Christianity. None of want to die, but eternal life would eventually be a drag.

    Or I am wrong. My parents, not very religious, sometimes took me to a Unitarian church, who might be described as “atheistic Christian(s)” as Ree puts it. My wife’s mother, not very religious herself, wanted us to be married in a church. I said, “Unitarian churces are the least church-like I know; let’s get married there.”

    With two daddies and two mommies, my granddaughter has many grandparents. One of them is a retired Methodist pastor. Her birth mommy was raised as a Methodist. I don’t know if either belongs to UMC, whatever that is or how it might be different from other Methodists.

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  44. Solarpancake,

    Modesty Press used to be Random Name on WMB. That was such a clever moniker that I just keep using it even though we know his name is Steve and he has a new moniker on this site.

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  45. UMC=United Methodist Church
    It is the mainline Methodist church with which most are familiar.
    So far its leadership goes with the traditional ideas about sex and marriage although some of the individual members and perhaps some of the churches may differ from what is in the church rules. The UMC I previously belonged to had both liberals and conservatives in the congregation.

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  48. Nice houses, Linda and Drivesguy. Our house is 1200 square feet. We get the smallest house award! Once a guest went into one of our bathrooms and said he was trying to decide if he could make one of his closets into a bathroom and considering the size of ours he thought he could!

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  51. I think “moderate” tends to be equated with wishy washiness–with having no real convictions. I think of a moderate as insincere and unwilling to take a stand for any principle. Maybe that’s not what moderate should mean, but I think it’s what it’s come to mean.

    Of course, if I disagree with the platform of a given politician, I’d rather he be a moderate than an “extremist”.

    Come to think of it, I think moderate as a dirty word is a reaction against labeling people of firm principle as “extremists.” If that’s how we’ve chosen to redefine extremist, then it’s an extremist I’d rather be known as, and not a wishy-washy moderate.

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  52. Ree, your definition sent me to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. I think the definition that they use that’s most appropriate is

    “Professing or characterized by political or social beliefs that are not extreme.”

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  53. Sounds like a good enough denotative definition but in such a divided political/worldview climate as the one in which we live, “extreme” means very different things to different people. When you consider that marriage defined as the spiritual union of one man and one woman is now considered an “extremist” idea, you have to recognize how such words are used as socio-political tools.

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  54. I thought I just posted this. Apologies if I did. “Moderate” depends a lot on context. Between Hitler and Stalin, just about everybody else was “moderate” and worthy of some approval. Between USSR and China in old days, Poland and Czechoslovakia were “moderate” but so what? Maybe Chavez is moderate compared to Castro, but so what?

    A guy who gets into fist fights once in a while in a bar is moderate compared to a Mexican drug cartel that dumps bodies by the truckload. I once had a friend who had been a Navy Seal in Vietnam. When I rode in his car, he sometimes shook his fist and yelled at other drivers who irritated him, but he generally did not get out and beat them to a pulp (which he was clearly capable of). I regarded him as a sensible moderate.

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  56. The weather is beautiful in the Atlanta area. I mowed the grass yesterday and again bothered with the Passionflower vines growing in the grass. I have been careful not to mow them down for the whole summer season. My decision has blessed us with Gulf Fritillary butterflies. The vines are beginning to turn yellow and a few leaves are dropping off. Even so when I checked out the vines there are some more fat caterpillars still on them. More butterflies! They are like flying flowers. Beautiful! God is great in the lovliness of His creation.

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  57. True, Random, but you’re using cases of extreme evil as the reference point. But what if you’re comparing to extreme good. Then moderate is something that detracts from the goodness.

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  58. I don’t consider it an extremist idea, Ree. I just disagree with it. When my daughter and her partner decided to become a couple and have a baby, they decided not to get sperm at a sperm bank. They picked a gay friend to donate. They grilled him severely about his sexual habits, trying to avoid STDs because though they are lesbians they are 1) faithful to each other and 2) know that many homosexual males are careless and promiscuous. That’s not universal, not exactly an unfair stereotype, but cool rational realism.

    As a high school teacher, I met many young women who lacked a father figure because of divorce, death, etc. They were often miserable and obsessed (though not always) about having a daddy. As my granddaughter has two “daddies” in her life (who are responsible and well behaved and affectionate) I think they are wise lesbians.

    Is this extreme or moderate? I am sure you disagree, and I don’t consider your disagreement as extremist.

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  59. To your last comment, yes. However, I would agree more with what I consider a real person (such as Roger Williams) than a mythical person, such as a supernatural Jesus. He may have been extremely good. about as close as we can get. I have to go to the gym and be extremely mediocre.

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  60. For those wondering about the cake, since Mumsee was leaving on a trip today 6 Arrows made the cake early and posted it last night on yesterday’s Daily Thread. There might be a few crumbs left…

    Mumsee, if you’re still here, Happy Birthday! And if you’re not still here, Happy Birthday anyway!

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  63. Nancy Jill, I made the cake a day early and put it on Our Daily Thread 9-12-12. I had promised Mumsee a cake for her birthday, but we started having trouble with our internet last night (a not uncommon occurrence), so I decided to quickly make the cake before my internet totally crashed! If you hurry over there, maybe you might still find a sliver! 🙂

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  65. Happy Birthday, Mumsee. (I think I’m actually the first person here to have wished you a happy birthday on your actual birthday (as opposed to the pre-birthday wishes you were getting yesterday) but it was on yesterday’s thread at the very end of the day, so you might’ve missed it.)

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  67. AJ, Ree just said she is on first with the first birthday wish for Mumsee which was around last yesterday. I guess that goes along with the first shall be last?
    🙂

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  69. This is a test; I switched to Google Chrome mid-morning and am wondering if that’s why I went rogue (became Anonymous, above). If so, it’s me, LSHAFFER.
    Anyone else use Chrome? Thoughts?

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  74. Well, yeah Janice, I guess you’re right. My first birthday wish for Mumsee on her actual birthday was the last post on yesterday’s thread. I think. Unless someone else posted after me in which case it wasn’t. Maybe the first is second to last. Or something like that.

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  76. For those wondering why my only comment on this thread so far said basically what Kevin B. said…well, blame my internet. It’s been out almost all day. I started typing it before Kevin’s had appeared, but couldn’t post it until much later (and couldn’t read the comments that had come in between). Grrr. (I’m at the library using their computers right now.)

    If it ever in the future seems I have “disappeared”, you can assume it’s probably because of internet trouble at home. 😦

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  78. The name of the guy on first is “Who”.
    Actually, I haven’t read all the comments here.
    I just came to say I got home in time to say:
    🙂 Happy Birthday Mumsee!

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  81. Welcome back, Chas. The computer I’m on at the library says I have 21 minutes until I’m logged off, so if I seem to be ignoring you, it’s because I’m not here anymore. 😉

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  82. When I was young and dumb, I once drove the road across Glacier Nat’l Park. Now that I’m older and supposedly wiser. I wouldn’t try it now.
    Don’t know why, I just wouldn’t. It’s a long way down. These NC mountains are bad enough. I do not like driving I-40 eastbound.

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  84. We came home a day early. This was fine with me.

    We left Va. Beach at 7am, and got home at 5pm. Not all of that time was driving. We stopped over an hour in Asheville for dinner before coming home.

    Before going over to Va. Beach, I checked my “Route Planner” program. It directed me up I-85 to Petersburg and down US 460 to Norfolk. I looked at the map and it seemed counter intuitive to me because there was a direct line on US 58 across from South Hill, Va. to Norfolk and Va. Beach. Elvera says it took four hours, but I doubt that long, but a long time anyhow. So, I decided that I would take the program’s advice on the return trip and went up US 460 to Petersburg and down I-85. This is much longer because it’s like going up to the tip of a triangle and back down.
    But we went to Petersburg, stopped half-hour for breakfast and still passed South Hill fifteen minutes ahead of the time it took to cross on US 58. The main difference was a 70mph speed limit on I-85, and better driving all the way. Max limit on ’58 was 55.
    Sometimes I’m too smart for my own good. But those programs, like the Garmin girl, can be wrong.

    Va. Beach was nice, but we probably won’t go there anymore. Myrtle Beach is better for us, closer and driving is better. Va Beach does have a three mile long boardwalk about 30 ft wide. They also have lots of jets departing Oceana Naval Air Stn. I didn’t mind the noise. If Obama is reelected, that will likely disappear. I don’t know if the people in the Hampton Roads area realize that.

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  85. 🙂 Both Linda and JoeB have their houses.

    (I originally spelled that “thier” houses, but remembered the old saying, I befor E, except after C and other times when it doesn’t apply.)

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  86. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mumsee La Joven (the Young One)! I guess you are off camping now. The cake crumbs looked good. I suppose it must have been a great part last night.

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  87. LShaffer- I use Chrome. Love it! Faster and more stable than IE, and comes with a (much needed) spell checker. Right now your name has a squiggly red line under it. One of the suggested spellings is “Gaffer”.

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  88. Re: Moderates,
    Rush once said that someone should write a book on all the great moderates in history and their contributions to mankind.

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  89. I hope Cheryl posts before I get this typed. She likes 88 because of the way it looks, I think.

    Anyway, since I never can get here early on Friday for Friday funnies, I am posting them Thursday evening. Now to think of a catchy line, like “Thursday Thrills”. Or I could do like last week, and say: “It’s Friday in Australia, and you know what that means!

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  90. I just returned from a job, so I haven’t been able to follow this discussion as it reached the net. I believe that words have meaning, so I’ll stick with the “conservative” dictionary definition for moderate, “Professing or characterized by political or social beliefs that are not extreme.”

    Under some of the “liberal” examples of word usage that I’ve seen here it would be totally permissible to use the term Nazism when referring to conservatives because Nazism means different things to different people. I hope that you are following my sarcasm and understand what I’m saying. When we begin recreating words to redefine the political beliefs of ourselves or others we are on shaky ground.

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  91. Chaz: In response to Rush’s comment on moderates; moderate people rarely receive credit for keeping their countries out of wars. How many successful negotiations come about from extremists pushing extreme policies. Given the current political climate, Ronald Reagan would probably be labeled a moderate.

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  92. Photoguy, Reagan would be a conservative now, just as he was from 1968-1988. I started supporting him in 1968. He was a polarizing figure in his time. Both Bush and Carter tried to portray him as a right wing extremist. He got his start by making a nationally televised speech for Goldwater, but on social issues he was more conservative than Goldwater.

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  93. Where is Cheryl anyway? And how’s it coming along with NJL breaking into this place?
    No cake left…I checked…not even a crumb….Who’s birthday is next? I’ll be ready to pounce on the first offerings of cake! 🙂
    Our TV died…..not that I will miss it…but, I do enjoy Netflix when I need to wind down!

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  94. Monday, I tried to get online with my laptop, but couldn’t connect to the internet. On Tuesday, A nice young lady in the rec area of the place we were staying (probably someone’s granddaughter because they’re the only ones who know about these things), called someplace and found that my problem was a (f12) button on my laptop was off. So I turned it on. I never knew that existed. So, I tried to get on, and did. I checked my mail, then tried to get onto the blog. I typed in http://worldsviews.wordpress.com and clicked. It said that no such website existed. So, I was stymied. Then, Tuesday afternoon, it occurred to me that I had sent Sawgunner the link, and he evidently used it once. So, I went into my “sent” mail and retrieved the link. And it worked.
    You learn all sorts of things.
    I wish I had a key to what all those buttons at the tip of my keyboard mean, but I got no instruction book with my laptop.
    I don’t like using a laptop because I’m never sure I have the home keys right. It doesn’t feel the same.
    I bought it to take on trips in order to
    Check e-mail. (I average about 20 mail and 30 spam a day)
    Use the trip planner.
    Find out what the weather is back home in the winter.
    Check on the blog.

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  96. photoguy,

    The traditional definition of moderate is just fine. But what happens when the views you hold that have traditionally been held as mainstream are now defined by the mainstream as extreme?

    The point is that moderate, extreme, etc., are relative terms. If you live on a street where all the houses are painted white and yours is painted gray, then you live in the dark colored house. But when you live on a street where all the houses are painted black, then your gray house is the light colored one. And so it is with moderate and extreme.

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  102. Now you’re typing Wanders Views. Actually I was wrong too. It’s Wandering Views, not Wanderers Views. Anyway, when I type it that way, it works. You probably just had a typo in there.

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  108. Mumsee, I sent you a happy birthday message on Facebook. But of course you’ll never see it. 😉

    Linda, what a wonderful house, I’m jealous too! — I haven’t looked at Joe’s yet, will do that next.

    I think I’d like living in the Pacific Northwest. Cool, rainy, green. A friend & former colleague lived on Bainbridge Island but he died very young (47) and I never did get a chance to see the island in person.

    I’m trying to catch up with my routine medical checks as it’s been a couple years; got the fasting blood work done this morning plus a quick once-over by my primary care physician.

    I have good insurance but it’s a bit pricey (out-of-pocket) for me. But no choice, I’m overdue for some of this stuff.

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  109. Chas, I love my laptop for home, it’s all I use. But our new computers at work are also laptops and they’re tricker to use set up in a desk space (as opposed to on your lap where they belong!).

    Right now I’m on the sofa, legs crossed, laptop on my legs, TV on house fans going (since we’re finally getting our summer on the west coast).

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  110. Donna, it is indeed cool, rainy, and green out here. However, there are quite a few atheists, including one sarcastic one who posts on wandering views. However, if you look carefully, the churches still outnumber the atheists by about a 100 to 1.

    Seriously, I hope your health check goes well. Take care of yourself.

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  112. Donna, as a young adult in Southern California I visited friends on Bainbridge several times. I loved it there and thought I would like to live there someday. Now I’m not so sure.

    The hardest part for me in adjusting to life in southeast Michigan has not been cold, snow, or ice, as I expected, but the sunshine deficit. Winters here are very cloudy and seem to last forever, and get me down a bit.

    My recollection of Bainbridge was that it was cloudy a lot. So I think now that it is a beautiful place to visit, but I might not want to live there.

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  114. My wife was a “Valley Girl” who grew up in San Fernando Valley part of LA. She absolutely hates having much sun. Perhaps the reason she stays married to me (as you can well imagine, I am a very irritating and flawed spouse) is that I moved her to a place where it’s mostly cloudy.

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  115. Tomorrow I will come out of the closet as a troll. Our darling daughter will visit tomorrow, so I will be outnumbered, and may have to behave myself a little better. She’s never really been in the closet, and we are not going to make her sleep in one this weekend. We will celebrate and admire her for her academic achievements and triumph in being offered an excellent job.

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  116. I am sure I bragged about this (silly name dropping) before, but when my wife was in high school, she took a drama class with Sally Field. (My wife is a very shy and introverted person. I suspect she took a flyer on a drama class in the hope of becoming an extrovert, and then said, “In your dreams.” Actually she has a lot of seldom exhibited dramatic talent, though it’s more in the vein of Carol Burnett than Sally Field. She does a terrific “Can I have a glass of water” routine if you ever saw Carol do that one.

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  117. Random, I so wanted to BE Sally Field (aka Gidget) when I was a teen. 🙂 I spent lots of time at the beach back then — but now? I’m rather tired of sunshine. I like the gloom.

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  119. Drivesguy, I just got around to watching the “Who’s on First” link now. Thank you! It’s hilarious every time! It’s a good thing I didn’t watch it at the library…I laughed so loudly, I probably would have been kicked out. 😀

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  120. Kevin, My wife, when young, lived in Tarzana and Encino. After I flunked out of UC Berkeley, missing the “free speech” movement days by a year or two, I went to Pierce Jr. College to grow up a little (obviously a project that never succeeded), lived with my parents in Reseda. Then my dad died, I got married, transferred to Valley State (now grown up to be a U), we had a baby, and my wife and I got an apartment in Northridge. Later I think they had an exciting earthquake just where we lived, but we missed it.

    I miss all the exciting stuff. Lived in Woodstock, NY before big party, Berkeley before Hell broke loose, Northridge before big quake. Probably the Second Coming will arrive one day before I die.

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