What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Tomorrow, the party is over and I'm back to work.
The lifestyle I've adopted of staying up until the wee hours of the morning and sleeping until 11 am will come to an end.
It is definitely going to be an uphill battle climbing out of bed at 6:45.
The cat demands to continue his sleep all day, eat all day lifestyle, so back to the grind I go.
It was nice while it lasted.
On my first day of vacation I went with the gals to The L.A. County Fair where we met this guy:

Of course he just cardboard, but more life-like that John McCain, I'd say. ;)

The first week, I went on a Mexican (but rather be in Greece) Cruise.

The following week I spent going to lunches and dinner with friends, tried to finish a book I started reading, enjoyed the debate and the season premieres of The Amazing Race and Brothers and Sisters, snuggled with Godfrey on the couch and wasted entirely too much time on Facebook.

One of the highlights of my time off was when Lisa took me to see Rickie Lee Jones in concert.


And, of course, I met Superman.

Princess In A Tutu

Is She Informed Enough?

I am tired of hearing how Obama is an "elitist".
I don't know when a Harvard education became a liability in this country.
Call me crazy, but I'd like to have a president who is, well...intelligent.
And, I'd like the one next in line to be too.

Happy Birthday

Hope you got to relax this much today too!

Happy Birthday.

Row 9, Center

Last night, Lisa took me for an early birthday present, to see Rickie Lee Jones. She was playing at the Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts.
Lisa and I having going to see RLJ for years. I can't even begin to say how many times we have seen her. But,we have seen her twice this year.

My first time was at the Raymond Theatre here in Pasadena circa 1980. I was in college at the time. My sister and bro-in-law came up from B-field for the show. That's when Rickie Lee ( I say "Rickie Lee" like we're friends or something) was drinking onstage a lot.
We couldn't understand a word she sang and I LOVED it.
Now, she's sipping water during the performances and she seems to be getting better with age.

Did I say age?
That reminds me.
I'm not sure what the median age was at that show last night, but I think it might have been about 64.
Lisa and I were standing in the lobby gazing at the crowd.
Gray hair. Everywhere.



We began to wonder where they were storing all the walkers.
Who were these old folks? And, why were they at a RLJ concert?
"Season Ticket holders", we reasoned.
No, these old people loved her.

Just like we will when we're 64.

Not All Women Are The Same

Would rather have this woman in charge of things...

rather than this woman.
Just my opinion.

Managed Care

This is an interesting OpEd piece on McCain's healthcare plan.

De-regulation of the healthcare system.

Because is worked so well in the banking industry.

Flower Power

Hmmmmmmm. Let me see.





I think I'm pretty safe in saying this...

I think her Mommy LIKES this outfit.
What do you think??

Vision of the Seas

Instead of going to Santorini, Athens, Istanbul, Alexandria etc., we ended up on a cruise to Mexico.

















Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Four of the 7 days of the cruise were spent at sea. I don't care if I ever get back on a cruise ship.

Cruising, I have decided, is just not for me.
I like dry land.

Lipstick On A Pig

Ah, yes.
John McCain is going to do something about earmarks. He and Sarah Palin are going to reform Washington and put an end to all that pork barrel spending.

Perhaps they should start with ALASKA.

To The Undecided

Found a link on a blog I read for another blogger. Yes, I do spend a lot of time reading blogs.

I wish I had the talent to write this.

The CNN link is particularly helpful.

In Oregon

They may be in Oregon, but I still get my picture updates.

Goodshop.com

I have been hearing some radio spots on KFI about a website called, Goodshop.com.

It's a website that donates a portion of internet shopping sales to charity.

It has dozens of online stores including Amazon, Ebay, BestBuy etc.

You type in a charity, then go shop at one of the stores online.

If you don't have a charity, consider The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Or The Wildlife Waystation here in So. Cal.

You're gonna shop anyway, why not help out a needy charity?

6.1%

The news is out that the unemployment rate increased by 6.1% in August.

That's the highest level in 5 years.

Today, McCain stated, "Washington has failed to act" to improve the poor state of the economy.

Washington has failed to act.

George W. Bush has failed to act.

John McCain has voted with George W Bush a whopping 90% of the time.

No matter how hard he tries to distance himself from the president. It's just more of the same.

Wednesday Night Live Starring Tina Fey

I thought the Governor's speech tonight was well delivered. I have to give her credit. This was her first major, national speech and she came out swinging.

She went out there to stir up support for the Republican ticket like she was supposed to.

She had some good lies...ummm, I mean lines.

And by the end of that speech, those convention goers were whipped into a frenzy.
I have to say I have mixed emotions about this whole thing.

I have wanted to see a woman on a ticket for a long time.

Although I support Obama wholeheartedly, I would have gladly voted for Hillary Clinton had she been the nominee.
No question I would like to see a woman in one the highest positions in this country.

Just not this woman. Gov. Palin.
Here are my reasons:

1. She is misleading when she states she said "Thanks, but no thanks" to money earmarked for the "Bridge to Nowhere". Initially, she was actually for the bill. She only rejected the money when controversy erupted in the national media about the project.

2. She denies man-made global warming. Whether you agree or disagree as to the cause of global warming, clearly something needs to be done.

3. She wants to sue the government to lift the protected status of polar bears.

4, She wants to drill, drill, drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. I've been over this before. More drilling in Alaska and off shore will not solve our energy crisis. Just a nice way for politicians to hoodwink the people into thinking they are solving the problem, while they pad their pocketbooks. They think we're stupid.

5. Palin slashed funding 20% for a state program providing housing for teen aged mothers.

6. Palin fired a librarian when she became mayor, because she wouldn't ban some books. The community gave the librarian a strong show of support and she was re-instated.

7. When State Trooper Mike Wooten was in a bitter divorce from Palin's sister, Palin pressured Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire him. When Monegan refused, she fired HIM instead. Seems like an abuse of power to me.


8. Palin has stated the Iraq War is a task from God. While at the same time declaring "I haven't focused much on the war in Iraq." If you think it's a God given task, why aren't you concerned about it?

9. She left a $ 20 million deficit in the town of Wasilla when she left office.
For town with less than 7000 people!
Not exactly a fiscal conservative. Not that I believe any republican politician is. They TALK about reducing the deficit, but they end up creating more debt.
They TALK about cutting taxes. But, they end up borrowing money from places like China to pay for running the country.
And, still people believe this party will save them money.
It's like what a Doctor I know once said: "It's like robbing Peter to pay Pan."

10. Who could vote from someone who names their children Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. I mean, really.

A Day Late

Lee Ann, Donna and I drove down to Laguna Beach yesterday for the Arts Festival.


As you can see from this sign, we were a day late!



No problem though, because the Sawdust Festival was going on about a block down the street.
So, we went to that instead. I picked up this nice print there.



We walked around Laguna, stopped for lunch and just enjoyed the beautiful view.
It was great to get out of the valley heat and into some cooler temps. Though I did manage to get a sunburn anyway. :)