Wednesday, October 31, 2007

NaBloPoMo, here I come!







Click the kitty to see my NaBloPoMo page!
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I'm going to participate in NaBloPoMo this year. NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month. It starts tomorrow.

Basically NaBloPoMo is a spin-off of NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. Now for various reasons, I know I could never do the NaNoWriMo. It's way too time consuming. (Did I mention I have a toddler in the house?)
The goal of NaBloPoMo is to post at least once for the 30 consecutive days of November. I think that's a more reachable goal for me rather than writing at least two pages a day for NaNoWriMo. I may have to try for that goal when my little one gets a little older and not so clingy.

I hope you'll join me in this endeavor and read and comment on what I will have posted over the next month. I have a real struggle with posting every day or every other day. I am hoping this will motivate me and encourage me to post more.
So I have a deal to make with you all........if you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

Happy Halloween, yawl!
See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Email From Uncle Doug

AT THE CAR WASH - A TRUE STORY

Bill owns a company that manufactures and installs car wash systems (Magic Wand Car Wash Systems, just in case you want to buy one). These are complete systems, including the money changer and money taking machines. Bill's company installed a car wash system in Frederick, Md.

The problem started when the new owner complained to Bill that he was losing significant amounts of money from his coin machines each week. He went as far as to accuse Bill's employees of having a key to the boxes and ripping him off. Bill just couldn't believe that his people would do that, so they set up a camera to catch the thief in action. Well, they did catch him on film!


Here's the bird sitting on the change slot of the machine:


The bird had to go down into the machine, and back up inside to get to the money:

Here's one with three quarters in his beak:

Also, they found that it wasn't just one bird - there were several working together. Once they identified and tracked the thieves, they found over $4000 in quarters on the roof of the car wash and more under a nearby tree.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Interesting Email From My Sister, Krissy

Read the scenario and then read what the outcome would have been in 1977 and then what the outcome would be today.
SCHOOL 1977 vs. 2007


Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for A.D.D. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school .
1977 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. A.C.L.U. files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1977 - Ants die.
2007 - B.A.T.F., Homeland Security, F.B.I. called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, F.B.I. investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1977 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator. She faces 3 years in State Prison, will be labeled a pedophile and will never be allowed to teach again . Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy and ends up on Jerry Springer.
This next one is compliments of Kristina XXXX and has nothing to do with the schools. I'm adding this one myself.
Scenario: Billy and his friends gather for a neighborhood game of baseball in an empty lot across the road. Billy's team loses but he challenges them to a rematch the following day.
1977 OR 1987 - The kids gather and play a tight second game. Billy's team wins and they rematch every other day.
1997 - The owner of the empty lot calls the law on the kids for trespassing. They can't go back. They play the next game in a broken glass sprinkled parking lot. Billy gets a laceration to his right forearm sliding into home plate. 28 stitches.
2007 - Billy's team gets so angry that they lost the first game that later that night, his team performs a drive-by shooting on each member of the opposing team. Billy's team goes home feeling victorious.