Gasoline Price Temp Map

(Click on the map to enlarge)

Moving Right Along

From the back of the Cory and Danielle's property looking toward the house. They are cleaning-up brush piles and making trips to the dump today. Last night's bonfire didn't do the trick.

They were using a little vehicle to smooth-out the area around the house this morning.

The french doors from the dining room (to be used as an office for a while) into the living room. The tile man was installing while we were there.

Tile installation in the kitchen.

Second bath with tile. The first and third baths also have tile, but the pics didn't do them justice. I'll try again.

This is the living room as the tile was being installed.

Elementary School Oz

Brooke and Samson as Dorothy and Toto, right down to the ruby slippers. She took Sam with her to school. They were a big hit.

I became a Munchkin for the day, however, there are those who think I'm a Munchkin EVERY day. I sang and danced for the little kids who think I'm crazy anyway.

A Submission

It Was A Simpler Time?

Because It Won't Load In "Project Playlist"

From "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" Danny Elfman - Breakfast Machine

For Brookie

This is the actor James Cromwell singing "If I Had Words" from the movie "Babe". Brooke remembers the oddest things driving down the road. (grin)

More Taranto

From James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal today:

This Just Makes Us Cry

"Washington's WTOP-FM is doing a series on congressional perks. Here's one we didn't know about:

Many airlines allow [congressmen] to book multiple flights for the same trip and pay only for the one they use, without any fees or penalties.

The only other air travelers who get such treatment from the airlines are the uber-frequent fliers.

Congress was close to losing this perk last month when the Air Transport Association opined that it violated a ban on gifts.

The Senate ethics committee quickly ruled that Senators could keep booking multiple flights without paying any fees and without fear of violating new tough ethics standards.
We're so disillusioned.

We really thought the Democrats would be different!"

Go For It! I Don't Watch MSNBC Anyway

"Lest there be any doubt that MSNBC believes there is ratings gold in shows that criticize the (Bush) administration with the same vigor with which Fox News’s hosts often champion it, two NBC executives acknowledged yesterday that they were talking to Rosie O’Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC."

What?

Let's see---on Thursday Nov. 1, for example, Hardball had 436,000 viewers, Olbermann 835,000 and Abrams 454,000. O’Reilly had 2,754,000. Olbermann/MSNBC is really close to O’Reilly??? In what universe?

(Maybe Fox News will STOP talking about Rosie now, and I can go back to watching their morning Fox and Friends.)

Update: The gig is off. She spoke before the deal was done. Boo hoo. Somebody call me a waaam-bulance.

Poor Cow

It's raining cows. Danger: Beware of Falling Cows in Manson, Washington.

Remind Me

Who is ebony? Michael Jackson is black???

I Kinda Feel 'Dis Way 'Bout It, Pankey

November 05, 2007
Orlando, FL
Sunrise 6:39 AM (EST)
Sunset 5:37 PM (EST)
Hrs. of Daylight
10 Hrs., 58 Mins.

Remember Our "Word of the Day"?

myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\, noun:
1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy.
2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question, protest, or pity.

Noel, Noel, Go Away

Here's the deal. We're out of school the week of Thanksgiving, right? We have trip to Oklahoma planned for the Saturday to Saturday Thanksgiving week. However---IF we have a hurricane or tropical storm that results in days missed from school, Thanksgiving week will be used as make-up days. No exceptions. Noel stay far, far away from Florida. Frankly, I'm saying that for purely selfish reasons, but it's time to go home.

Bill and Patty Move To Florida

(I can say that because my dad sent the pic. LOL)

Random

In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.

Jean Paul Getty

The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best.
Will Rogers, Illiterate Digest (1924), US humorist

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
John Adams US diplomat & politician (1735 - 1826)

Things We Didn't Know Last Year, Part 2

Australians host barbecues at polling stations on general election days.

You’re 10 times more likely to be bitten by a human than a rat.

George Bernard Shaw named his shed after the UK capital so that when visitors called they could be told he was away in London.

Koalas have fingerprints exactly like humans (although obviously smaller).

Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognizable riff before they buy, thereby making a “public performance”.

Newborn dolphins and killer whales don’t sleep for a month, according to research carried out by University of California.

Great Dog, Great Photo

I don't know this little fellow, but his picture was so perfect, I just had to borrow it.

His name is Southwell and he's waiting for Santa.

They Might Be Giants

Birdhouse In Your Soul

"Pushing Daisies" has Olive hanging-out with Chuck's aunts. You KNEW this would lead to an Ellen Greene/Kristin Chenoweth duet. I guess just including snippets of songs keeps us tuning-in next week, hoping for theatrics. (As a sidebar, isn't it adorable that Digby gets to ride shotgun?)

Disney's New Logo

Here is the new logo for Disney's Hollywood Studios, which on Jan. 1 becomes the new name for the current Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World.

Things We Didn't Know Last Year

From AAA Home Insurance in Great Britain:

Mohammed is now one of the 20 most popular names for boys born in England and Wales.

Devout Orthodox Jews are three times as likely to jaywalk as other people, according to an Israeli survey reported in the New Scientist. The researchers say it’s possibly because religious people have less fear of death.

Until the 1940s rhubarb was considered a vegetable. It became a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.

It’s possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A 55-year-old factory worker from China reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.

One more for now--
The Queen has never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood.

Cory and Danielle's Construction Update

The front of the house

Inside the front room looking out toward the back yard

The front room looking toward the front yard

The kitchen before the cabinets

A portion of the garage

The view from the back yard toward the back porch

Thanks Kate and David

(I received this from two different people today. I've seen it before, but never blogged it.)

Rejected State Mottos

Alabama
At Least We're not Mississippi

Alaska
11,623 Eskimos Can't be Wrong!

Arizona
Dehyd-rific!

Arkansas
Litterasy Ain't Everthing

California
As Seen on TV

Colorado
If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother

Connecticut
Like Massachusetts, Only Dirtier and With Less Character

Florida
Ask Us About Our Grandkids

or Welcome To God's Waiting Room

Georgia
We Put the "Fun" in Fundamentalist Extremism

Hawaii
Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru

(Death to Mainland Scum, But Leave Your Money)

Idaho
More Than Just Potatoes...

Well Okay, We're Not, But The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good

Illinois
Gateway to Iowa

Indiana
2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free

Iowa
Land of James T. Kirk

Kansas
First Of The Rectangle States

Kentucky
Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names

Louisiana
We're Not All Drunk Cajun Wackos, But That's Our Tourism Campaign

Maine
Cheap Lobster

Maryland
A Thinking Man's Delaware

Massachusetts
Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's (For Most Tax Brackets)

Michigan
First Line of Defense From the Canadians

Minnesota
For Sale

Mississippi
Come Feel Better About Your Own State

Missouri
Your Federal Flood Relief Tax Dollars at Work

Montana
Land of the Big Sky,

the Unabomber, and Very Little Else

Nebraska
Ask About Our State Motto Contest

Nevada
Women of ill-repute and Poker!

New Hampshire
Go Away and Leave Us Alone

New Jersey
You Want a ##$%##! Motto?

I Got Yer ##$%##! Motto Right Here!

New Mexico
Lizards Make Excellent Pets

New York
You Have the Right to Remain Silent,

You Have the Right to an Attorney

North Carolina
Tobacco is a Vegetable

North Dakota
Um... We've got... Um... Dinosaur Bones?

Yeah, Dinosaur Bones!

Ohio
Don't Judge Us by Cleveland

Oklahoma
Like the Play, Only No Singing

Oregon
Spotted Owl, It's What's For Dinner

Pennsylvania
Cook With Coal

Rhode Island
We're Not REALLY An Island

South Carolina
Remember the Civil War? We Didn't Actually Surrender

South Dakota
Closer Than North Dakota

Tennessee
The Educashun State

Texas
Se Hablo Ingles

Utah
Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus

Vermont
Yep

Virginia
Who Says Government Stiffs and Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?

Washington
Help! We're Overrun By Nerds and Slackers!

Washington, D.C.
Wanna Be Mayor?

West Virginia
One Big Happy Family -- Really!

Wisconsin
Come Cut Our Cheese

Wyoming
Wynot? Be good!

A Great Panoramic View of Tampa

When the image loads you can click and drag vertically or horizontally to receive the full 180 degree view. Now I'm looking for one like this of Orlando.
Sky Pics Imaging

The Big Kids

Today is Danielle and Cory's First Wedding Anniversary.

This pic was taken last month.

Donnie and Brooke September 2007 (We were celebrating Brooke's birthday.)

Thanks, Chris

How ALL business phones SHOULD be answered!

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Press '1' for English.

Press '2' to disconnect until you learn to speak English.

And remember only two defining forces have ever
Offered to die for you:
Jesus Christ
And the American Soldier.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Halloween Beckons

Leavin' Texas - Jerry Jeff Walker

Al Gore: Hollywood Yesterday, Today The World

(From Lucianne.com about Al Gore's Nobel prize.)

The Wall Street Jounal runs an editorial today (don't see it openly online) about all those who did NOT get the "Peace Prize":

Burmese Monks.

Zimbabwe opposition.

Demands of women's rights in Saudi Arabia.

Garry Kasparov fighting for democracy in Russia.

People of Iraq.

Chinese bloggers.

Those helping North Korean refugees.

And more. Nope.

The Nobel Prize committee ran away from any *real* issues of war and peace.

It's no longer the Nobel Peace Prize but the Nobel PC prize.

(I guess Al Gore's film and carbon-offset business don't fit into the Science category, but PEACE?)

Broadway Tickets Not Required

Kristin Chenoweth (Olive Snook) singing “Hopelessly Devoted to You” during the episode “Dummy” of PUSHING DAISIES.

Just When You Think You've Seen It All

Don't miss the apple part. These gals have no bones.

What Did YOU Do On Saturday?

I wasn't watching a race, but I was hanging-out will the dogs.

My Desktop

(Click desktop to view full page)

Whether at Disney, FRSA, home or elsewhere, it's been noted that I have a "busy", maybe even "cluttered" desktop. Yes, I like icons. I dread using the favorites drop-down menu. Besides, mine is so full, yet organized, I go there as seldom as possible. How much easier is it to just be one click away from a website or file. The files on the desktop come and go, the websites are a little less transitory.

Oh Columbia

Jeff Koterba - 9/21/07

From "The List Universe"

English is a wonderful language with some of the strangest pronunciation rules and words that come from many other languages.
This is a list of 20 weird English words.

1. Erinaceous
Like a hedgehog

2. Lamprophony
Loudness and clarity of voice

3. Depone
To testify under oath

4. Finnimbrun
A trinket or knick-knack

5. floccinaucinihilipilification
Estimation that something is valueless. Proper pronunciation based on Latin roots: flockə-nowsə-nəkələ-pələ-fək-ation.

6. Inaniloquent
To babble

7. Limerance
To be in love

8. Mesonoxian
Pertaining to midnight

9. Mungo
A dumpster diver - one who extracts valuable things from trash

10. Nihilarian
A person who deals with things lacking importance (pronounce the ‘h’ like a ‘k’).

11. Nudiustertian
The day before yesterday

12. Phenakism
Deception or trickery

13. Pronk
A weak or foolish person

14. Pulveratricious
Covered with dust

15. Rastaquouere
A social climber

16. Scopperloit
Rude or rough play

17. Selcouth
Unfamiliar, rare, strange, marvelous, wonderful. For example: "You Don't Need To Know This, But..."is such a selcouth blog!

18. Tyrotoxism
To be poisoned by cheese

19. Widdiful
Someone who deserves to be hanged

20. Zabernism
The abuse of military power or authority.

I Didn't Know She Grew Up In Henryetta!

Actress Alice Ghostley Dies at 81

And went to OU for time. I loved her character "Bernice" on Designing Women.

Lakefront

Another on-the-way-home-from-work photo. I stopped at St Cloud lakefront park to snap this photo of an afternoon thunderstorm. We haven't shared the rest of Central Florida's deluges or severe storms this week. We had an occasional shower, but have missed the heavy stuff.

Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort

I've been a slacker lately and haven't gotten around to posting pics from Saratoga Springs Resort. This was the hast hurrah for now of the Disney stays. We were also celebrating our anniversary and getting out of the house BEFORE football season began in earnest.

Obviously, the resort is modeled after upstate New York resorts with the racetrack/horse theme. It's quite pretty actually and lots of walking trails. You can also take the water-taxi to Downtown Disney and the Port Orleans resorts. One thing you have to watch-out for though, is the occasional shut-down of the water-taxis due to inclement weather. A Florida thunderstorm can leave you stranded with a bus to look forward to. We were clued to the lightning issue in advance and took the car for late afternoon excursions.

Above and below is the Artist's Palette Restaurant on property at Saratoga. We ate breakfast there a couple of times. We had dinners out at Disney's Beach Club Resort at the Cape May Clambake and Saturday evening went to the Irish pub, Ragland Road.

Watch The Blogs Go By

From Blogspot:

"Today we’re pleased to launch Blogger Play, a neat little toy we’ve cooked up to show you photos and blog posts as you’ve never seen them before.

Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching.Over the years we’ve kept this photo scroller as part of the Blogger offices, on a monitor or projector, as an interesting (distracting?) slideshow, and a reminder of the diversity and vivaciousness of Blogger blogs. The fame of the scroller spread within Google, until one day we were asked, “so, when are you launching this?”“Um...,” we replied. But we knew a good idea when we heard one. We got our UI people to come up with buttons and fadey effects and we got our engineers to make the whole thing fast and robust. A bit of work later, and now we can share it with all of you:

http://play.blogger.com/Blogger Play

will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it. We also wrote a Blogger Play FAQ with more information.

A caveat: we use many techniques, including Google’s SafeSearch technology, to keep the images clean. Nevertheless, on rare occasions an image that you may find vulgar or obscene will slip through our algorithmic filters. Google does not pre-screen the images that appear in Blogger Play, nor is it responsible for their content. To report a terms of service violation, you may fill out this contact form."

The States of Oklahoma and Sequoyah

(Click on map to see larger version of the state of Sequoyah)

The US state of Oklahoma almost entered the Union as two states – Oklahoma and Sequoyah. The latter is the name of a failed attempt in the early 20th century by Native Americans, who formed (and still form) a large part of the population in eastern Oklahoma, to constitute a state of their own.

This map of the ‘State of Sequoyah’ - complete with a proposed State Seal - was compiled from the USGS Map of Indian Territory (1902), revised to include the county divisions made under direction of Sequoyah Statehood Convention (1905), by D.W. Bolich, a civil engineer at Muskogee. It was found at this page of the McCasland Digital Collection of Early Oklahoma & Indian Territory Maps at the Oklahoma State University Library, where it can be seen in greater detail.

A Postcard From Texas

Fred On The Issues

Maybe Fred T can be the conservative we thought President Bush would be. Don't let the "paid lobbyist" label put you off. If Newt G isn't going to run, then I'll take Fred T's plain-spoken opinions for now. (Of course, this doesn't mean I'm not still completely disappointed with conservatives in general.)

Here's the link to Mr T's positions.

Badges? We ain't got no badges!

Wikiquote's List of Misquotations
Just the facts, ma'am. That's what this page lists. Except, as Wikipedians are quick to point out, Sergeant Friday never uttered this beloved quote on the old radio and TV show "Dragnet." The detective actually said "All we want are the facts, ma'am." Likewise, Scotty beamed plenty of people up to the Enterprise on the original "Star Trek" series, but not a soul actually blurted "Beam me up, Scotty." The requests ran more to the likes of "beam me aboard" or "beam us up home." There's more.

Talk About CONSTRUCTION

Friday, September 7, 2007

New ConstructionAn aerial view of the man-made palm tree-shaped islands in Dubai.

You Know I Love Me Some Clouds

I was coming home from work on Monday, September 10th and had to stop to snap this pic of an impending thunderstorm off to our east. Thank goodness it held-off until after school dismissal. I've found out that the 3:15pm storms are not much of a treat when you're getting those kiddies on buses.

C & D Construction Update

From the back porch looking into the house

From the living/great room

The front porch

The decking and framing crew working viewed from the street

Larry King-Style Blogging

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you feel like blogging, sometimes you don't.

I've been reading rather than writing lately.

The job-change was definitely the thing to do. It's a challenge, different every single day and I so far I love it. I miss the "Disney culture", but I'll remedy that soon with something seasonal or part time. I'm very impressed with the teachers and staff. I've been mostly lucky that way, even at Disney. Good folks.

The walls are completely up on C & D's house. The trusses and roof goes on this week.

Brooke is getting her own Weight Watcher meeting in St Cloud as a leader, not a receptionist. She loves her move to the 2nd graders. I know firsthand now that kindergarten is HARD. As cute as they are and endearing, bless their hearts, they don't have a clue.

I remember now why I love weekends.

Lucy doesn't hate Dixie anymore. They've finally become best friends.

Dwain isn't working all the time now. Of course, it's college football season. That makes a difference and apparently things are better at work. He's more comfortable with the responsibilities.

Recipe Sites

101Cookbooks.com - A constantly updated archive of recipes. Look them up by food style, search, or discuss in the forums.

AllRecipes.com - Over 40,000 recipes all created and tested by home chefs.

BakeSpace.com - Social networking for trading recipes.

Build A Better Burger - Over 5,000 burger combinations, start with what type of meat you want and build from there.

CDKitchen.com - Recipes by and for home cooks. Recipes are submitted by chefs and home cooks.

Chef2Chef.net - Recipes, instructions for beginning cooks and more.

CookThink.com - Enter the ingredients you ar craving and receive a recipe in return.

DinnersInAFlash.com - Recipes as well as guides on how to organize a dinner, to do lists and grocery lists.

FoodieView.com - Over 1 million searchable recipes.

FoodNetowrk.com - The website of the big cable network has tons of recipes and instructional articles for you.

GroupRecipes.com - Recipes and social networking rolled into one. Also has a Firefox plugin.

iFoods.tv - Written out recipes accompanied by instructional videos.

MealsMatter.org - A site filled with quick and healthy meal recipes.

MyRecipe.com - Share and discover food recipes, cooking tips and everything about cooking.

Nibblous.com - Upload and share recipes with a growing community.

PimpThatSnack.com - Got an odd combination of leftover foods? Pimp That Snack may have a recipe for you, or make your own.

RecipeMatcher.com - Enter the ingredients in your pantry or bar, get shown results of what you can make.

RecipeThing.com - Store recipe’s, share them, helps auto-generate grocery lists.

Recipezaar.com - Find, share and create recipe’s and menu’s with people around the world.

Rouxbe.com - Not only does it have recipes, but it walks you through each one in a step-by-step manner to help you learn how to cook.

Snacksby.com - Enter the foods you have on hand, and not only see what you can make, but if it is low fat or vegetarian.

Tastefora.com - Share and search recipes, look them up also by meal or category.

TasteTV.com - Recipes and instructional videos by top chefs.

WeGottaEat.com - Upload your recipes, share them with friends, make grocery lists.

Rainy Season

We've gotten our share of thundershowers in the last few weeks or so. One afternoon I got the chance to snap a few pics of the impending storm. Can you believe it? This storm brought NO rain. It looked as if it was going to rain for a month.

Not A Great Pic

But you get the idea. Cory and Danielle's house now has partial walls. It's going nicely according to Danielle's dad, the builder.

Construction Begins

Cory and Danielle's house construction has begun.

They're working on the plumbing this week.

Maybe they'll get the slab poured next week. They just started the plumbing as you can see. I'll post pictures as work comes along.

Late Summer Blahs

I've taken a break from blogging for more than a month now. The blogging embargo wasn't intentional, I just didn't feel like writing. During the month away, I've been in limbo, confused, bored and worn-out keeping up with politics. (The political thing comes and goes and doesn't the presidential election process last WAAAAY too long???)

I'm leaving Disney (temporarily, probably) to work for the Osceola School District at an elementary school in Kissimmee as a paraprofessional. (We used to call those teacher's aides.) That last blow of assigning OT in August pretty much cinched my decision to leave DRC and look elsewhere. I think that also began my blogging absence. I've griped long enough about OT. I figure we give them 60 hours a week for January, February, March and April. August OT put me over the edge. Deciding to go to the County was the limbo part, as it's taken a while to get hired and placed. I think I start at the end of this week or the first of next week.

The "temporarily" part of leaving Disney is that I really don't want to LEAVE Disney entirely. I'm going to get hired as a Seasonal Cast Member so I can still work in one of the parks or resorts during Spring Break and Summer vacation. Besides, I always planned on being that fun grandma with those free passes to Disney when the grand babies finally come my way.

That's the latest. Florida is hot and humid, a typical late summer. Watching the tropics and crossing my fingers. Brooke and Danielle started back at school today. Summer is over for them. Cory is working tons of OT (which HE loves---hey, he's not 50 and lazy) at various hospitals. His primary hospital is in Kissimmee, but he has per Diem at various locations around Orlando. Cory and Dannielle's house has footers (if that's what you call the forms and such) and they are starting on the plumbing this week. They hope to pour the cement slab next week. Brooke continues to plan for the October '08 wedding. Brooke and Donnie are starting to look for a house now. Dwain is still working too much, but we're taking our anniversary trip to Saratoga Springs at Disney this weekend. I'm looking forward to that. We've never stayed at that resort and have reservations at three really nice restaurants on property.

When I talk to myself, I can't be sure I'm back blogging on a regular basis. However, I have missed it somewhat. I keep thinking I don't have anything important to say, but actually, this blog was never really about important things anyway. It's just a way to sit with my thoughts or rant or keep a record of the things I want to remember.