Minor Ode to Benazir Bhutto

I am no Pakistan expert but I remember when Benazir Bhutto was first elected to be Prime Minister of Pakistan, I could not believe a Muslim nation elected a female leader before my good old USA did (and still has not). Not only that, she was pregnant. Now I do believe she had a few faults, but she was one damn courageous woman who stood up for what she believed. She knew she would be targeted for death if she came back to her homeland and went anyway. That is pure guts. I never have too many heroes or heroines but she is right up there. Darla

Adult Bullies and how to handle them when not avoidable

All my 42 years have been sprinkled with bullies, both as a child and an adult. I have been thinking about this since yesterday when my sob of a brother in law played a rude and demeaning joke with me and I did not catch it. I never do. In this case I reacted poorly, obviously he was successful in pushing my buttons. My problem is I really do not know what to call his behavior and I told him to quit f***ing with me, in front of everyone, including children. That was my fault in this. In my opinion what he does is and old fashioned form of control oriented humiliation type of "joking" in which he makes you thing one thing, you are prompted to apologize, and then some time later, reveals the "joke". I have always hated this type of behavior, and I never "get" it. I know the best way to deal with this is to ignore it, as I usually do. But this caught me off guard. I have always hated this type of "joking", in j0kes, or most types of joking as I just do not get it. I will be trying to learn more about this, and try to remove myself as a target. Any sincere advice will be appreciated! Darla

Goodbye Evel!

Goodbye Evel Knievel, I did not not pay attention to you lately but when younger I spent hours with my siblings and neighborhood kids reenacting your stunts on our bikes. Jumping ditches, flying over trashcans, flying down hills into traffic, jumping off the barn roof, oh the thrills we had emulating your fearlessness. Our parents however were not amused, when arms got broken, or property damage occurred. Thank you for living your life like you did and for inspiring all those crazy childhood stunts we carried out, pop a wheelie out there man! Darla

Family values indeed!

Oh this angers me so much. Another total hypocrite! Mr. Craig states "I am not gay, I have never been gay. I love my family, my wife, family values". Ok, first of all, who says gays cannot have family values? Why is that impossible? Second, why have there been "rumors" he was having sex with males since 1982? Thirdly, what is it that he was doing in the airport bathrooms? How come Mr. Family Values did not tell his wife about his arrest, I would think if he loved his family so much he would have told them, it is kind of important don't you think? Also, if he did have sex with strangers, is that not putting his wife at risk for STDs and Hiv, and other diseases? That is some real family values right there. If he was a real man, straight, gay, bisexual, or whatever, he would be truthful with those who care and not lie. I never heard of this fellow before this, and if I did, it did not stick to my brain. Frankly I do not care who he has had sex with, I really do not. I am just so tired of these pompous politicians blowing it out their pie holes about family values, and then do things that do not fall under that category. Darla, grr

Rain falls on sad situation

My neighbor, her life has continually gone down hill since we moved here 3 years ago. Now she is having another "moving" sale. I do not know if she is really moving or just raising cash by selling her stuff. She had a moving sale 2 years ago and sold her ballgowns and evening clothes. Then her bmw and Jeep vanished. Her second husband is mainly gone, maybe for good now. Her house has been in default a few times, though not recently. Her utilities are regularly disconnected.

Earlier this summer she closed her office and sold her office furniture. Now she is selling her furniture and professional clothes. The crowds looking for a bargain are getting wet now. Frankly I would not want anything of hers, all the angry words, the yelling, the obscenities soaked into the varnish. These objects are just silent witnesses to the chaos. Not to mention all the dog hair, saliva, and other dog fluids all over everything. Darla

Storm pictures from Tues July 10

             We went to the Magic Kitchen Restaurant in the old Romanesque building on N. Lewis St. Right after we arrived the storm came in. I took these cell pics from the window at our table. The direction is looking north. The dark cloud is the windy roll cloud preceding the gray horizontal streaky rain area. It was so dark the streetlights blinked on. The UFOs in the pictures are the table light over our table reflected in the window. Darla

Bad Credit-Good Credit and some good tips!

I spent a day off last Thursday thinking about this subject all day. I began this by checking my credit reports on www.annualcreditreport.com. Then today I picked up a copy of the June 2007 Capitol City Courier www.capitalcitycourier.org and read the article by Kim E. Gordon entitled "Why Do So Many Blacks Have Bad Credit?". I will not go in to all the historical stuff and racism and classicism things. This is just a brief tale of one once mired hopelessly in bad credit and how I got out.

For many years I toiled at very low paying jobs with no medical insurance, accumulating various types of bad debt including hospital bills, student loans, credit card debt, and other debt to utilities, stores, etc. During those times (age 20s through early 30s) I was in despair over the subject and mainly tried to ignore and avoid it. Much of my problem was ignorance about the whole credit thing.

Eventually I made it a goal to better my credit. Paying bills on time, not buying unnecessary items, educating myself, and taking concrete actions to improve my credit. I paid off medical bills by going in every payday and paying at the hospital. Phoned all my debtors and worked out payment plans. I secured a better paying job with benefits. I dragged my student loans out of default and got into a program that assisted me to that goal. I started checking my credit reports on a regular basis.

I purchased a new car in 2001 and had a hard time finding credit, I ended up taking the credit from the car company with a slightly elevated interest rate. My credit score at the time was 600 which was much better than it had been, though not very good. I remember being shocked they actually gave it to me! I made all my payments on time and paid off the car in May 2006. Also, I finally paid off my student loans 2 months ago at age 42. Yes it was a long hard road to get to this point but I am actually proud of myself and in disbelief that I actually did it! When I checked my credit report last Thursday it had no negatives on it and my credit score was 800, I nearly fell off my computer chair! Damn, success! It did require a decade of hard frustrating time, but it was sooooooo worth it!

Following are some handy tips:

Tip 1-Check your credit report on www.annualcreditreport.com, it is free. There are 3 credit reporting agencies, and you get a separate report for each one. If you want your credit score, you must pay a small price, 4-7 dollars. You can check them free once a year, I recommend checking one of the three every 4 months, then you have the ability to have year round information.


Tip 2-Savings account-I did not have a savings account for many years. A few years ago I shopped around Springfield banks, and was looking for the best interest bearing account with a low monetary requirement for opening. The local banks all had very low interest rates, in the order of 1-2% annual return, to get higher rates you had to deposit $10,000 Dollars (yeah right, as if someone just happens to have a spare 10 grand). Luckily, I found one better, the "Capitol One High Yield Money Market Account". www.capitalonedirect.com. I only needed $100.00 to open it, and get an annual rate of 4.75%. I checked online Thursday and it is still rated in the top 10 of money markets for interest rate, and one of only two with a low initial deposit. In fact, now you do not need to keep 100 dollars in it, and the interest rate is the same no matter whether you have $100 or $100,000,000 dollars. I use it as my savings account and can make 6 withdrawals a month, but try not too as it is a savings account.

Tip 3-I found some current information about credit scores etc. at CNNMoney.com and www.howstuffworks.com/credit-score.htm
Darla

Really now

Hello all, I am a very lonely person. Smart, good looking, lived in Springfield for 9 years. Yet I know no one. My job takes me away often, especially in summer. I have a good sense of humor, love, good ideas. However, for some reason unknown to me, I am very different than most women. I have never had a good relationship with a female friend, I like male friendships better. Could it be my interests? I have alienated many in my life, even though I never do them wrong. Opinions desired! I will take any opinions and think upon them. Thank you, Darla

Strom double take

Arrived home late this evening to find several political mailings waiting for me. I see two mailings from underdog Strom, one addressed to me, another addressed to a misspelled me.
In two different types of envelopes no less. The misspelled me addressed me as a Smoke Free Springfield Supporter, I nearly choked on my cigarette here. It contained a Dear Smoke Free Springfield Supporter greeting letter and a resume. The correctly spelled me envelope contained two identical copies of a different, more generic letter to Dear Friends, and talked first about his wife Lois. I feel he could be spending his money a little better. When is Davlin going to send me his resume? Darla

Davlin has rainbows over Springfield

I heard a political ad today from our mayor. Oh my god! It sounded like a new age lovey dovey goo ga Saturday Night Live fake ad! I am not saying that is a bad thing, I just never heard a political ad that sounded like a self help endorsement. What kind of Harley rider is he? I want to hear it again and get that warm fuzzy feeling I had this morning before the coffee kicked in. Darla

Jesse, you let me down! And public service announcement.

That would be the venerable Jesse White, our Secretary of State. We received our registration renewal puzzles yesterday. I call them puzzles as you have to carefully remove certain fragile pieces in a certain particular order to use them. Anyway, it looked like they always look. My husband wrote his check, sealed the puzzle back together and put a stamp on it. Later, I opened my puzzle, and fearing I would rip the wrong piece in the wrong order, I carefully scrutinized the subject matter. It said, now you have to provide your insurance information on the back. In a tiny little fragile piece of the puzzle, you had to write in tiny little letters and numbers your information. Gosh, my eyesight is not that bad, but it was very hard to see. It also said in about size 3 font, Mandatory Insurance Information here. My very smart husband did not even see this and failed to fill out the Mandatory Insurance Information. What is Jesse going to do with about 50 percent plus of the population who fail to notice this subtle order and fail to fill out their MANDATORY information? Darla

Broad Brushstrokes

Never assume anything. I know it is hard, stereotypes grow as our little minds try to organize everything. So Mr. Strom wants to heal race relations in Springfield. I do not know Mr. Strom at all, although he seems kinda old guard to me. Part of the problem? I wish him all the best on that issue.

Big testostorone fueled mega pickup truck passed me on the right on Jefferson Mon. Night. He honked, rolled down his window and gave me a thumbs up sign. Bubba, what you want ?, my little brain said. Then I noticed a little Obama sticker on his back windshield, maybe he approved of mine. Takes all kinds.

Jiffy Lube kid and I were conversing this am about stereotyping people and got me going on this.

By the way, last Sat night I went through the roadside safety checkpoint on West Jefferson. Too bad they were not set up when the 25 year old zoomed through and rolled himself out of life just down the road. Also too bad they did not catch the people still drinking beer in their suv at the light at Jeff and Walnut and luckily for them they turned before the checkpoint. Unlike some people, I am all for roadside safety checks! Darla

Giant Flag Post

Does anyone know anything about the giant flag post with American Flag that is newly behind Mid Town Tires on East Clear Lake. When going up over the rr overpass it looks like you are driving straight into it! Freaked me out this am when I saw it. It is very tall on a fat white pole. Info please! Darla

Bit the apple, have knowledge I should not know

Found some information on the Internet about my neighbor. I was just looking for some dates of an issue I knew. Also, I already suspected my neighbor had substance abuse issues and mental problems. Due to her job, and other unknown reasons, her personal information on her problems was there for all to see. While I found it elucidating, on the other hand I think it is wrong for that information to be accessible by anyone. I sympathize with her on her mental health issues, as I too have suffered from depression and anxiety nearly all my life. That said, I will have no contact with her. If she or her dogs get on our property I will have to call the authorities, the same if she harasses me in any manner. I feel bad about this but also feel I have a right not to be screamed at and called obscene names. Also, have a right to work on my property without stepping in or otherwise getting dog excrement on my person. Darla

Neighbor is crazy!

I knew it would come to this one day. I deferred it by cutting her some slack. However, she pushed me to the my limit and I went for it. I had the audacity to ring her doorbell and asked nicely for her to get her dog off my property. She responds by screaming at me, with obscenities and saying everyone in the neighborhood hates me and I should move. Also, saying that if I ever get on her property again she will call the police etc etc. (This was just seconds after her dog had peed and shat on our property.) I said nothing and walked to the sidewalk, and she came and yelled some more. I went into the garage and she was yelling obscenities some more. So I called the police. Meanwhile, she walks by our house and flips it off. Ooh! The cop shows up and we tell him what happened. He asked that did we mind if he talked to her, worried about starting a war. We said no! He goes over to her house and she responds as she did to me, of course. He yells, I've arrested you before! Ha! He gave me his card for future reference. Really, when you buy a house they are supposed to tell you about lead, mold, radon, but not the wacko neighbor? I would rather deal with lead and radon any day, they do not scream at you. Besides stress is a bigger killer than those two put together. Darla

Why Obama appeals to younger crowd

I agree with where there's a Will, there's a way about this. That is one of the reasons I hope Obama makes it all the way. None of the old BS, WWII, Vietnam, 60's garbage. Obama is a modern cosmopolitan intellectual.
Poor me, supposedly on the tail end of the boomer generation, but not that allied with them. More of an eco punk x er something. The year I came of age to vote was the first time Reagan won. Wow, for the next 8 years he was in. Talk about disheartening, although as bad as the Reagan presidency was, it doesn't hold a candle to the evil regime we have now. GO OBAMA! Darla

Goodbye Chief, Finally!!!!

Hallelujah! So long to such a racist baloney junk tradition. Yes, I am an alumnus of University of Illinois at Champaign and many members of my current and ancestral family have attended University of Illinois at Champaign including the time before the "tradition" arose. I have been so disgusted about this thing for decades. Each time I thought about it, I just could not believe it was an issue, as to me it was a non issue. Duh, just a symbol of the oppressors over the vanquished. Would a caricature of a rabbi have worked? A catholic priest? I would like to have seen the chief supporters defend that, not that they would have had a chance. Those symbols would have never been adopted. I am proud to say I never owned one piece of anything with the chief symbol on it and only once attended any over rated corrupt sports event. At half time at that game, I was repulsed by the so called chief tradition. Corrupt sports event? I knew some so called U of I athletes back in the day, football and basketball. Flunkies, druggies, sex crazed ding dongs. Also they got off with all their bad and illegal behavior. This is my true story and long term belief. Darla, thrilled silly.

Day after the BIG SNOW

Wow, have not seen drifts like this in a very long time. It also takes a pretty big snow to close down U of I in CU. The National Weather Service nailed this one. There was a front end loader out here clearing our street last night during the time the city crews were supposedly resting. Contractor?

There are two kinds of people, those who dig the snow, and those than don't. People today were either enjoying it or bitching about it. Also, either shoveling it or blowing it.

I saw one car stuck in an unplowed intersection blocking traffic, and the snowplow. Darla

Kuntzi beats Post Office UPDATE

Our mailman came through, when the storm was at its worst. So Kuntzi did not beat the Post Office today. Our mail was snow encrusted though. BTW, Brady Kuntzi was also in the Voice today, saying he was too busy to date seriously, with sports etc, but he failed to mention that he gets up before dawn every day! Darla

Kuntzi beats Post Office

Brady Kuntzi always comes through. Brady is our newspaper delivery person. Our paper came today, it is buried in the snow in this picture, near lower center and and below left corner of flag.

Day after the March tornadoes, we got our paper but no mail. November Ice Storm, we got our paper but no mail. We got our paper today, we will see if we get our mail. Also, our paper comes early, very early.

Congratulations to Brady and his driver. Darla

Doggone it!

Sally runs free, so fast, so happy, so beautiful. Bounding with joy, a blur whizzing around. I have never known a dog that could run so fast and jump so high. The problem is, she is not my dog. Yet she thinks that my yard and the entire neighborhood is her territory. Her freedom of course is not her fault. It is the fault of her irresponsible owner, my neighbor.

Today I spent nearly an hour trying to corral Sally and had to go over to her house twice as Sally was running loose, chasing all the wildlife, harassing the mailman, upsetting all the other neighborhood dogs stuck behind fences, causing them to bark. I should add that we and many neighbors have not received our mail on occasion as the mailman felt too threatened by Sally. She can be perceived as threatening; barking insanely, growling, baring her teeth, approaching aggressively.

In our immediate neighborhood, there are to my knowledge, some 15+ dogs. Most are little house dogs or are kept inside a fence. One can hear a dog barking usually at anytime when outside around here. Two of my other neighbors have been attacked by dogs while working in their yards, and the mailman has been attacked also by the dog that used to live in our house. Several people in the greater neighborhood carry bats or sticks to defend against roaming dogs when out taking a walk.

There are laws against dogs being unrestrained in the city, the entire county, and the whole state. But ignoring such laws is a problem everywhere apparently. I see loose dogs nearly everywhere I go. There have been several stories this last year in Springfield about people being attacked by dogs, including a barber and a child. Of course, if you see someone letting their dogs run loose and you say something to one of these law breakers, you usually get cursed, threatened, or accused of being a dog hater. I am hoping the dog fad of recent years fades away. Darla

Night Nurse

Night Nurse, just two words my sister breathed out with disgust over the phone. Night Nurse, in my mind I had never associated those two words together before. Sounds exotic, sexy, and dangerous even.
Apparently I am not original here as a simple Google search of Night Nurse gathered up several interesting items, including this Marvel( Night Nurse, from Doctor Strange: The Oath #1 (2006).
Marcos Martin, artwork) cartoon version to the right.

Now would you allow someone like this to take care of your first born infant at night?
According to my sister regarding the mother to be "She just cannot be bothered to get up in the night to bond with her baby?!" This mother to be is my sister in law. My sister in law of just 7 months. My brother married up. Not only up but way out. This arrangement provides endless fodder for gossip of course. My sister who told me this often expresses some disgust at various practices this social group practices. As in an I cannot believe this one manner.

My biggest complaint regarding my brothers marriage is that I never get to talk to him anymore. He never calls and is never home. This class of people he is with now always are on the move, going out, dinners, parties, social hours, brunches. They sure know how to have a good time. My brother and I used to talk on the phone for hours on occasion. I miss my brother. Darla

Just strippin'

Wallpaper that is. God awful pink rosebud wallpaper. With wood chisels. Leaving some gouges in the drywall too. This wallpaper also came with a top border of banal floral design and even more glue. We have been strippin' on and off for 2 weeks now, and are getting there. A big mess right now. Discovered the room had once been a medium dark powdery blue.
Powered up with a late dinner called Penne with Three Cheeses and Porcini Mushrooms, only we used spiral pasta and added garlic and cauliflower. First time we ever used Fontina cheese, good mild stuff with a stealthy ending flavor. Yum! I guess now I have to add Cooking and DIY home decor to my list of subjects. BTW, the coyotes out back are howling and yipping right now. Heard more snow geese and the local Barred Owls earlier on this evening. Darla

More on Sat 10th Obama Love Fest

The Springfield Police agree with estimate of 17,000 attendees at the Obama Presidential Announcement. State Journal Register estimates much lower at around 10,000. I have yet to see an overhead photograph. Maybe one does not exists, though at least one helicopter was buzzing overhead most of the time. From where we were, we could tell the crowd was very large but could not see too far in most directions, even though we could see the stage fairly well. I am not sure how to estimate big numbers of anything without a detailed photo. As an example, we saw a gigantic flock of snow geese today flying west to east over Chatham road. Our conservative estimate was 5-7, 000, but possibly was up to 25, 000. And that includes no hidden agendas in the estimate. I am not sure what agendas possible inflation of the numbers by the police or underestimation of the numbers by the SJR would accomplish. I hope there are no hidden agendas in the estimates.
I enjoyed the interviews of attendees on page 9 of the SJR today, especially that of Deleshia Kinney. Also kind of impressed that several of the people interviewed on page 9 today and also by other press yesterday were from very small to small towns in southern Illinois, such as Ridgeway, IL. Were these just random encounters? I believe one can not underestimate at least the interest in Obama by white people, in fact just about everyone, of any age, sex, race, religion, income,that I know cannot wait to vote for the guy. Granted, perhaps my small sphere of family and associates are somewhere off of standard issue. I have been seeing estimates of how many white people would not support a black presidential candidate. I really do not want to believe that those numbers are true. Those numbers most certainly are not from Illinois. Did they have to go somewhere special to get those numbers or what? I am going to try and find out more about this issue. Of course, I could not believe how many Americans voted for George W. the second time! I do not have my finger on the pulse of mainstream American society for sure. Darla

Obama Love Fest

We went downtown Springfield to see the spectacle of Barack Obama's official public declaration of presidential aspiration. 8 degrees F, smiles, friendliness in general. We arrived at the line to get in at 7:40am or so. Much talk about the very frigid wind. A single black woman with ipod in front of us. Middle age white couple behind us, very friendly. White guy behind them with anti abortion message sign. He was interviewed by some young women of the press. The line inched slowly in compression. Teenager in front continually whining. Tick Tock burr burr. Then at around 8:40am the gates are opened. Cheering, excitement. Line stops, Police car has to get through. Young people handing out some flyers. We go in. Confusion. Blue tickets, red tickets, yellow tickets, no tickets. The important people with red and yellow tickets got front row room, while the commoners were held back a distance. Some disgruntlement. We pile up like sardines, penguins, or lemmings. Many young people, lots of white people, lots of black people, some asian in our area. Small talk, funny talk. Jokes, panicky phone calls. Snipers looking over. Tick Tock burr burr. Some dude shows up periodically to throw out souvenirs. Two ladies leave to watch it on tv, too cold for them. Music blaring (I have sensitive hearing so blaring to me is probably not blaring to others). Pigeons fly around, some seeking sunshine. Medics come in to attend someone. Helicopter(s) fly over. Bumper stickers and signs handed out. We score one of each. Senator Durbin arrives for opening comments. Durbin welcomes the attending politicians, Gov. Blagojevich gets booed in our area. Well, just have to agree with that.

Then finally Obama arrives, crowd goes wild. He works the crowd a bit. Signs waving, yelling, screaming. Obama seems a little flustered by the sight of the bundled up crowd. He gets going with his speech. The crowd murmurs, agrees, jokes, screams, chants. Clapping with mittened hands, produces a muffled sound like bird wings in flight. Obama talks on, quite the lovely speech I may add. Lasts about 25 minutes. When he states he is running for president the crowd really reacts like crazy. When it is over people start streaming out in all directions from us and we are caught in an island like spot for awhile. It took some time to get out to the gate, people dancing to the music, someone lost a glove. Lots of handwarmer packages strewn around. I will probably have a sore throat tomorrow. Darla, Springfield, IL