FACTS MATTER: The Ultimate Guide To Mitt Romney’s Convention Speech

Got this from the Feeney kid today....wonderful!  Thanks, Jim!  Click the link below to see it all....

FACTS MATTER: The Ultimate Guide To Mitt Romney’s Convention Speech: Politicians from both parties twist facts or spin policy, but Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has had a particularly strained relationship with the truth, repeating false claims with impunity — even after fact checkers, mainstream media organizations, and blogs have all debunked their assertions. From claiming that “Obama gutted the welfare work requirement” to insisting that [...]/p

Sunday Evening.....

Ouch!  It's been a learning day, that's for sure. The mouse trap taught me where to put my thumb when I release the trap part. (NOT where I had put it, for sure.)

Charles, the guy who takes care of the lawn and the AC/plumbing/etc., recommends sticky traps. I don't like them because they don't kill the mouse outright.  They just terrify it for however long it takes for you to discover you've caught it.  And THEN you have to kill it yourself--with your bare hands.  Drowning it in the toilet is horrible for all concerned.  Charles says "Just toss it in the dumpster."  That, at least would remove it from my sight while it dies. Ugh.

I hate this.  I hate that I can't have a cat any more to deal with mice.

I'm learning, too, that unpleasant household tasks like this have to be done with forethought.  You can't just march into the hardware store and buy supplies for ridding yourself of mice.

Outside of that, it was a very pleasant day...not too hot, not too rainy, not too fraught on the red line.  I did exit the system, however, when I saw the wait time for the next train was increasing by two minutes every 5 minutes or so. Nuts to that.

Almost immediately, I was very lucky to catch a bus going toward the BIG SUNDAY FARMERS MARKET at Dupont. And I read another 10 or so pages in my new library book, then transferred to the yellow line and hoofed it from U St./Cardozo to the market.

Two guys were handing out free soy yogurt.  It was no good, but the free coupon book they also provided had only one coupon devoted to soy yogurt, and the rest to the kind made from good old cow's milk.

Farmers Market Today!

We are so very lucky here to have a farmers market somewhere in the area every day of the week (except, I think, Monday....even truck farmers need a day off).

Today from 3-7 p.m., there will be a big one down in Penn Quarter on 8th St. NW between D and E Streets, just a block or two from either of two metro stops (Archive/Navy Memorial on the green/yellow line or Gallery Place/Chinatown on the red line).

As Grandma Carew might say, if she were still here, "My teeth are set for fresh beets!!"

This market also has fabulous bread, gelato, flowers, and other delectable vegetables & fruits, plus dairy (liquids and cheese) and meat (pork, beef, and buffalo). Cookies and herbs, too!  What's not to like?

Seniors Banking!

Thanks, M'reen.... Also, wish I'd thought of this myself first!!  TGIAF! 

Seniors Banking... PRICELESS!! Shown below, is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times. Dear Sir: I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an OFFENSE under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public figure, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows: IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALLING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH #1. To make an appointment to see me #2. To query a missing payment. #3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there. #4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping. #5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature. #6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home. #7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier. #8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 to 9 #9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call. Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year? Your Humble Client And remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.

Best Books!! with Addenda

I found and read two books this past weekend. Both are wonderful.

 The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.
Addendum 1: (from www.amazon.com)

Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can’t remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages. 

Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women’s brain function. 

In The Female Brain, Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior. 

The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.

Now I know why my older brothers have seemed like so many aliens.... and  

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Addendum 2 (from www.amazon.com)

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. 
 
Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

The Verghese book is 667 pages, and I read it overnight.

Fabulous books!

Welcome to Chez Larsson

Sally told me about a Swedish woman whose blog she visits often. The blogger is a wonderful combination of designer, inventor, do-it-yourselfer, and neat freak (her term). Not only that, she takes excellent photos of her projects and the results. I've had a lifelong affinity for things Scandinavian, having grown up in an area inhabited by so many Norwegians and Swedes. I love this blog, too, and I've just become acquainted with it. Hope XtremeEnglish's readers like it, too.