miscellaneous observations

I just found this article about DNA testing on dog poop that isn't picked up. I've wanted to do this for the neighbors that don't pick up after their dog in my yard.

The next thing I found was this article about the new Chevy Volt. Wow that sounds really cool. It would be perfect for me - except that it's a car instead of an SUV so I wouldn't be able to carry as much cargo as I'm carrying in my Escape. But otherwise it would be perfect because I don't hardly ever drive over 40 miles at a time. If they can get this thing going and then other manufacturers follow suit...

Around here things have been pretty typical. We're recovering from a LOT of rain. Personally here at our house we got about 9 inches of rain over the last week or so. It's unfortunately delayed the landscaper from coming out and finishing preparing the area where we're going to put the new playset for Grace. I'm hoping they come tomorrow as in my "expert" opinion the soil should be dry enough to dig now: we'll see. What I do know is my patience is growing thin with them. They have already been out and did all the work, it just wasn't the work we had agreed to. So now that have to come back and finish it but it just keeps raining.

We're struggling to decide what to do for Grace's 6th birthday party. We want to do something special considering this will be her last birthday without a sibling. We've been considering doing a party at a local horse riding place but for the cost it just doesn't give you a lot in return. So we're not sure right now what we're doing.

If this is true...

...then it should make the election a slam dunk for Senator John McCain.

Here is the article from the New York Post: Sen. Barack Obama...Wants a Delay In Negotiations For Removal

What the article basically states (if you don't want to read it) is that Senator Barack Obama's trip to Iraq in July was a secret meeting in which he demanded (not requested) that they break off negotiations with the Bush administration about troop withdrawal until after the election was over. Seems he doesn't want the Bush administration to look good in any way and wants the situation in Iraq to look as bad as possible so that his platform still has legs to stand on. The Iraqi's are worried that if Obama is elected president that he will purposefully try to ruin their country to try and prove that the "Bush Doctrine" of preemptively striking other countries before they strike at us is a bad idea.

This is definitely not "new" politics; sounds more like the same old type of politics that no one appreciates and this country does not need. Speaking of politics, don't expect to hear of this at all from the mainstream media since they're so much in the bag for Obama, they will do everything they can to hide this story.

Explain these gas prices again...

Explain why gas prices have shot up in the last week from $3.67 a gallon to $4.35 a gallon when this was released today:

Oil refiners in Texas and Louisiana prepared to restart plants. Ike caused minimal damage to facilities in an area that supplies about half of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the U.S. Crude oil fell to a seven-month low and gasoline futures fell.

We'd better see gas prices falling soon - this is ridiculous. I'm so tired of prices rising because of speculation and supposed short supply being forecast. These aren't actual conditions they are made-up "market" type conditions and don't reflect the current conditions the oil companies are facing it's only what they "might" face in the coming weeks. Since when does a supply and demand commodity like oil have prices rise on speculation that conditions may change? The current price should be what it cost the oil company to purchase the crude oil and the actual cost of refining it into gasoline plus their markup and of course the city and state tax added on top of that.

Crude prices are around $100 a gallon as opposed to over $200 a gallon only a month or two ago and yet gasoline prices have really not fallen.



While I'm on my rant I'll complain about the airline industry as well. Not only are ticket prices going up, but they're (some are) increasing the prices for bags you check. I don't care if gasoline prices remain around $4.50 a gallon it will still be cheaper to drive somewhere (assuming you can actually drive there) than to fly. I completely understand that the airline industry has seen a downturn in their profits and probably overall ridership as well, but increasing your overall ticket prices as well as adding these crazy extra fees is just going to push ridership down more.

Just my two cents. Thanks for listening...

What Makes a Great President

I read this article in Parade magazine that comes in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday's today and I thought everyone that votes should really read it.

The Secrets of America's Great Presidents

I found it very enlightening and it made the candidate that I'm planning to vote for stand out even more.

Super Busy

Wow was this a busy week! Monday I had my fantasy football draft and then Julie and Grace came home. Grace then had school all the rest of the week as well as her dance and gymnastics. Julie's Aunt came back here on Wednesday and left on Saturday. So she came with us to see her brother (Julie's Dad) on Friday night. We were enjoying talking so we got home late on Friday night. Then yesterday Aunt Pat went home and Grace had her first soccer game of the season for this fall.

Later last night my Sister came over with her two girls and we attempted to have our family movie night, but the DVD player didn't cooperate. It ended up being a Jon and Kate plus 8 marathon. So Grace was up late last night too and then we got up fairly early today to get to church and she has just been super crabby for most of the day. At church I wasn't sure we were even going to make it into the building. She was throwing such a fit. But we made it through and for most of the day she really wasn't so bad but then again tonight around dinner time she just lost it again. Now she's in bed though and I'm sure she'll be back to normal by the morning.

Looks like I'm going to win both of my fantasy football games today. I've already won the Fox Sports league I'm in and as long as Adam Vinatieri doesn't score another 13 points in the fourth quarter for the Colts I'll win my other league too. It's a better start than last year. I had probably the worst fantasy season ever last year so it feels good to have a strong start.