Facebook???

So, I'm on Facebook now. I don't know exactly how it happened, since I said 3 years ago that I would never join. If I'd gotten in on the ground floor many years ago it would be different, but I figured it would be really lame for someone my age to get in on it so late. Who joins when they're 30? Well, I do, apparently. What's surprising is how much I'm enjoying it. As of today, I have 22 friends, including a couple of people who I've been trying to find for years! Now, many people would say, "ONLY 22 friends?! How sad!" And I say, holy cow, 22 people claim they know me?!?! That's frickin' fantastic! I may just have a heart attack if I reach 25!

Irksome!

For those of you out of state and/or who don't give a crap about Tiger's baseball, I'll tell you that this was a disappointing season, well a disappointing END of season. The Tigers (stupidly) traded away veteran, All Star catcher Pudge Rodriguez on the trade deadline in July to the Yankees and acquired a (crappy) relief pitcher, Kyle Farnsworth. This trade was bad (idiotic) enough, but after their season has ended I read this:


C[atcher] Dusty Ryan has shown enough that Detroit feels he could at least open the 2009 season on the major league roster, but the Tigers prefer to have a veteran to at least split time with the rookie. “Do I think we could get by (with Ryan)?” Leyland said. “Probably. Would it be the best thing? Probably not.”


They need a veteran catcher? Damn straight they need a veteran catcher, after they (moronically) traded away the best catcher in the league. But, hey, Pudge is with the Yankees now, so we couldn't get him back anyway, right?

Wrong. The Yankees won't be renewing Pudge's contract, which means he's up for grabs. But will the Tigers bring back our beloved Pudge? Heck no. Dave Dombrowski has done some fantastic things for the Tigers (including bringing Pudge here in the first place to anchor the struggling team in 2004) and some pretty dumb ones (most notably trading Pudge, but also the acquiring of Gary Sheffield, 2006, and Edgar Renteria, 2007). But even though we need a catcher, and one of the best catchers in the league (I don't care if he's 36) is available, this match up seems unlikely to occur. I suppose it would be a little embarrassing to bring back a player who was so recently traded away, but heck, the fans don't care. We just want our Pudge back!!!

Sarah Palin/Tina Fay?

I know virtually nothing about Sarah Palin, except that she and Tina Fay share a striking reseblance to one another. Here's an enlightening view courtesy of SNL.

America

I really hate to get political, partly because I'm not the most qualified individual and partly because I don't like the arguments that inevitably ensue, but I just can't keep my take on this presidential campaign to myself anymore.



I saw an Obama ad a couple of nights ago, the longest ad I've seen, in which he is talking about how he wants people to check out his website where he details his "plan." Yes, his "plan;" now you know the direction I lean. He wants to impose a tax surcharge on oil profits and give some of that money back to Americans. Though I like the idea of free money (which, by the way, Bush already did this year, which, by the way, Obama opposed), the source of the funds troubles me. Taking away profits from companies is decidedly in contention with the greatest of American ideals: capitalism. The United States is not a socialist or communist country. This leads to my second "plan" problem: reforming Wall Street to protect investments. Investments have been protected about as much as a capitalist society can. There are even safeguards in place so that the market cannot crash like it did in 1929. If one wants investment security, use a savings account or a CD. If one wants to make money in an investment, one must take a certain amount of risk. Limiting that risk limits one's potential earnings. Warren Buffett did not get rich by purchasing CDs. He made some money; he lost a little; he made some more; he lost a little; he made a crap load; he lost a little. Just because everyone happens to be losing a little right now does not mean that the system is flawed. Barack Obama cannot fix this system without changing the foundations of American capitalism, which cannot be done by anyone. By proposing such changes he is either showing that he lacks knowledge of the foundations of the American economic system (which I find unlikely) or that he thinks that the American public will actually believe that he can and will make these impossible changes. Stop believing politicians' promises!!! Think first: is this even possible?

Ginny

Okay, we got another cat. Jon fell in love with this little Humane Society tabby at the pet store last weekend. He/we filled out an adoption form so that we could get her out of the cage (that's about the only way they'll let you play with them), and we were told that there were already two applications in for "Lucy." I breathed a secret sigh of relief--we already have two hard to manage cats, why get a third. Plus, we just tried introducing a new cat here just a few weeks ago, and it didn't go well.

So, when we/Jon got the screening call from the Humane Society Friday night, I was a little concerned. Apparently, the other two applications for her adoption were denied--they failed the screening process. "Lucy" was offered to us if we were still interested. We went to visit her on Saturday and brought her home. She's about 7 pounds, less than half Bailey's size. I was a little worried about her, considering how poorly things went with Zoey, but we followed similar procedures (keeping her isolated, giving her extra attention, etc). The newly dubbed "Ginny" had other ideas, though. Within 3 hours she had escaped from the guest room and had begun exploring the house. She sniffed Bailey and got as close as Remy would allow, and that was her adjustment period.

She came to the Humane Society a few months ago as a pregnant stray. We were warned that "mama cats" don't always do well in their new homes, but we weren't sure why that was. I'm guessing it's because they're pretty ballsy (for lack of a better term). She's holding her own quite well!

Since there are no other pictures of Remy and Bailey, I'll start with them.

Remy

Bailey

The cats in the box Jon's mandolin came in.

I call this one "Bad Cats at Christmas." Yes, they're eating the tree.

Here's Ginny! This was snapped this morning before I left for work. At first glance she looks a lot like Bailey--only she's half his size!

This was taken within 8 hours of bringing her home. Clearly, she's having a rough period of adjustment. Poor thing.

SNAKE

I just killed another snake. So, we're up to 5 total snakes, removed dead or alive, from the property, and up to 3 that I've killed with my snake-killing shovel. Phew!

moving day--last year

I was thinking, a year ago today, we were moving to our second townhouse after living in the first one for three years. Three years! We were very sad to be leaving and probably would have stayed for much longer than we should have, but we had a lot of space, a good view, and a great location. But, bad neighbors have a way of ruining things, just when one least expects it. I found some of the pics from what townhouse #2 looked like at move-in.


Entrance: stairs right in front, kitchen and dining on left, living room on right. The kitchen was very small: Jon complained about its size at least once per day.


The master bedroom had a half bath attached to it on the left of where the picture is being taken.



Bedroom 2 was tiny, at least by Townhouse #1 standards where all of the rooms were huge (much larger than we appreciated at the time).


We traded "up" to a slightly worse location, more neighbors (we had neighbors attached behind us as well as to the left and right of us), more money, a shared parking lot, and at least 400 sq ft less space. However, with some finagling, and a payment, we were able to get out of the lease three months early, which was a real blessing. We wouldn't have been able to buy our house if we'd had to make two payments each month.


Jon and Jeremy will be working on expanding our driveway today (what a way to spend Labor Day!). We should be able to fit both cars side by side when the day is done!