Uncle Grayhawk's Front Porch

Got up this morning at the usual time. Left around 0520 hrs. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground, with more predicted for the day (1"-3").

And Montgomery County schools were already closed.

Let me say this again. The schools were already closed at 0520 hrs.

Back in the day, 1" wasn't enough to even consider closing schools. 3" might be.

::shakes head::

I think I may have just found my 10 year old daughter's big Christmas gift!

The Sarah-Cuda Bow! from Lakota Industries!

As far as I can tell, it ain't a joke item.



My purchasing it for B., however, is.

Well, something like that.

Y'all seem to be quiet today. What, y'all hung over from the weekend? If so, good on ya. My weekend wasn't nearly as cool as that. But it was good nonetheless.
( Friday night )
( Saturday )
( Sunday )
And now, it's Monday. 4 days, 4 hrs and 44 minutes until a weekend. WOO!

I remind you all to have a good day. The very fact that you woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning makes it a great start to a good day.

Peas. Out.

(As pointed out by keithdb)

Homeschoolers' setback sends shock waves through state
Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

Full text of article here.

Our kids are not homeschooled. I do, however, believe that so long as the children are meeting whatever State/Federal standards for education, that parents have the right to educate their children at home. There can be compelling arguments for it.

There is the overtone in the article that this may require an overhaul of California law or constitution. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Some of you may have seen this already. For those of you who have not, blame liadan_m by way of dr_zrfq: A review of a 1970's era catalog.

OMG. Did we really wear that?

It's a cool, gray, wet day here in the greater Baltimore - DC area.  And while we need the rain, the weather patterns are not doing anything for my mood.

Which is, as the title implies, "bleah".

Don't know why though.  Except for the fact that my uncle is in the hospital after having a heart attack, things are actually going pretty well for us. 

I just...don't wanna be here. 

In other news, back at home, I'm trying to take up a lot of the chores at the moment, since mousecat0 comes home pretty tired 3 days a week (from Starbucks).  I know it's gonna take her some time to get used to the routine.  After all, the jobs she's been working have been pretty much desk-type jobs.  Now she's up and going for 8+ hrs a day, and it gets tiring some days.

Meanwhile, California is burning.  I'm half expecting that asshat Fred Phelps and his hate group...I mean WBC to picket there, claiming that this is part of "God's Anger".  Here's hoping that everyone gets to safety, that no more lives are lost, and the weather cooperates to bring it under control.

My main page is now iGoogle.  My cubemate uses it, and hooked me.  This happened about the same time as Yahoo changed the format of My Yahoo and pissed me off. So, yeah, iGoogle. 

Bumper sticker seen on the way to work:  I never thought I'd miss Nixon.

Oh yeah.  From the "Piss me off" files:  Fearmongering.  Or, more to the point, alleged news sources asking if we're worried about and/or ready for a terrorist attack.

Personally, no, I'm not worried, and I'm not taking any "special precautions".  There is no such thing as a "safe life".  Hell, that new super-bacteria?  A direct result of trying to live that "safe life".  At any given moment, I could die.  A truck could go out of control, lightning can strike, comets can fall, asshole cow-irkers can mix up the ground and hot leads on electrical wiring. 

Every moment we have on this earth is a blessing, because every moment could be our last. 

If I was to worry about everything that might happen, I'd be paralyzed.  I'm not going to worry about terrorists because thats what they want you to do.  I'm not going to worry about supergerm, because I'll either get it or not, and my body will fight it or not, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that, either. 

So here's my message to all the sheeple:

Stop living in fear and start living. 

From Gizmodo.com

Gang Kidnaps Gamer To Get Password Using Fake Orkut Date

An armed gang of four kidnapped one of the world's top RPG gamers and psychologically tortured him for five hours to get his passwords.

I have a few thoughts here:

1: Sam Kinison keep running through my head "Torture? I was MARRIED for FIVE F**KING YEARS! Torture would be like CLUB MED! AUGH! AUGGGGHHHHH!"

2: Are these people that f**king desperate?

3: What kind of lame-assed gang can't make someone give up a password? This has got to be some of the dumbest and most ineffective people around!