Like my frill?

Triceratops display at the museum

I read that the frill on the back of the neck quite possibly changed color when facing a potential mate and when facing a potential foe. I guess like a peacock this creature strutted his stuff when mating was a possibility.

First remains were found in Denver, CO. and was thought to be those of an extinct buffalo.

We've had a couple of days off from school because of inclement weather. Did not get much done because inclement weather equals headaches. We did catch a movie The Kingdom. About Saudi Arabia, terrorism, oil and the Bureau.

Lucy didn't fall

Dinkenesh

She only moved around the corner. Well, she may have fallen - but it would have been 3.2 million years ago. And it could have been from out of a tree where she spent most of her time.

It had been a few years since I had been to Cleveland to visit my friend Lucy. The last time I was there I told her that we were kind of growing tired of the trip and we had pretty much exhausted our interest in the area. She said she understood and that she would be there if and when we decided to return. Somewhere along the years, she moved from the East Wall to the South Wall. I told her that change was inevitable. She laughed and said "Don't I know it!"

Lucy is full of stories. You can't imagine her experiences. She doesn't tell me in so many words what her life was like, I pretty much have to make it up as I go along. There was a gentlemen there that was telling everything he knew about Lucy to a man from Nigeria. I already knew how she got her name. What I didn't know was that she was christened during a beer drinking party. Well, I guess they were celebrating, because Lucy was a very special female.

I thought it was Richard Leakey, but it was Johanson. He happened to be the curator of the Cleveland museum during the time that he and Gray discovered Lucy and this is how she ended up in Cleveland. Except she isn't in Cleveland. I was a bit dismayed when I discovered she really resides in Ethiopia, but came to realize that was her "real" home. I have heard that she may be visiting in Houston Texas this year. Just a replica of her resides in Cleveland. Oh.

It was a 93 mile trip one way for my daughter and I. But, we learn. We broaden our brains just a little bit more. For more museum photos, click on the link on the right side bar of the blog "See more of my photos."

Moving on, does this sound legitimate to you? Yesterday in the mail I received a notice from my cable/Internet provider. They stated that they realized they had made a mistake when I added turbo Internet to my service. They realized that I didn't have the correct modem for this service. Not only are they going to send me a new modem to set up, but they are going to credit me for all the months I have had turbo Internet but (by their words) have not had the speed I should have been having. Okay.

I haven't called them to complain in months. What gives? I am suspect. Have you ever heard of a cable company admitting a mistake and compensating you for it? And to top it off, admitting it before you even ask or question the bill and/or service? This is just too fishy for me. I may have a problem with trust, but I have my reasons.

Is there anything in my previous posts that could be incriminating to me? Did I go too far with my daughter and her school? Did I say something about work that I shouldn't have? Hmmm. Interesting. Is this modem going to monitor everywhere I go and each word I type on line? I just don't trust them. Here are their exact words:

(begin letter)

It has come to our attention that the cable modem we provided to you for use with your "Name of Internet Provider" Turbo service needs to be replaced. In the next few days, you will receive a replacement modem via UPS which will allow you to take advantage of the full speeds of Turbo. In the meantime, in order to minimize any inconvenience to you, we have credited your account the difference between the Turbo price you have been paying, and the price we charge to regular customers. Depending on your billing cycle, you should see this credit in your next statement, or the statement after that.

We value your business tremendously and apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause you. We look forward to providing you with blazing-fast Turbo services for many years to come.

(end letter)

We watched Jodie Foster in The Brave One. It was okay. I didn't like it as much as her recent movies. Too gruesome for me - the violence. Ugh.

Deluge

On my drive today

We've had some rain. It spit a bit of snow, but for the most part - it is warm enough for rain. A little flooding east of me. I captured this image while driving to a school today. The wind was biting cold when I stepped out of my car to take the photo. I didn't tarry.

I am watching Dragonfly with Kevin Costner and it is freaking me out.

What is it?

It's a freshly opened container of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"

My daughter was amazed at the swirl and had to take a picture. I am thinking this is about four years old - the photo. I think it kind of looks like a diaphragm. Sort of.

As for her hair incident. It seems to have blown over. Monday the supervisor was much nicer to her and let her go to class. The next day in the newspaper I read that the school had to deal with a kid who came to school drunk. Wow. He got something a little bit more interesting to take up his time than my daughter's hair. It only cost me a 12 pack of beer, but hey - it was worth it. The hard part was getting the kid to drink it on a Monday morning. He wanted to wait until Friday. JOKE people, JOKE! I would never buy an underage kid alcohol.

Well, okay. There was this one time. No, no, no I didn't. Just kidding. Again.

Dipping oil

The first time I was at a restaurant that served dipping oil with their bread I almost became physically ill. The other night I found that I couldn't resist it. The spices were perfect.

This may be the recipe for the one served at Carrabbas.

We tried

We had the hair stylist re-color my daughter's hair. It didn't make much of a difference. The photo is a little blurry because it was snapped at 6:30 a.m. with my daughter's camera and I am not familiar with her camera. The school supervisor said to her, "I can see that you are working on it" and he let her go to her classes. He mentioned that he had spoken with the Cosmetology teacher and she had told him how difficult it is for the color of red to hold onto blond hair. Whatever. We'll see what he does tomorrow. We have not done another thing to her hair tonight. She is tired of this and so am I.

She asked me "NOT" to go into the school with her today. I didn't go because she asked me not to. I wanted to confront him again. Probably a good thing that I did not.

Thanks to all who commented that they are as baffled by this as I am. Again, the two reasons are "Unnatural hair color disrupts education and they (as a Career Center) must teach the students to have employability." Somebody said this guy has too much time on his hands and he needs to get a life. My daughter said another teacher told her this.

I know for certain that I have a headache. My daughter is tired of people dying her hair. I don't have much money to spare to hire a lawyer (if I wanted to go that far) and the ACLU makes the comment on their web page for our district that they don't have enough man power to answer the phones, they recommend that I write a letter. Ugh. If push comes to shove, I will ask to meet with the entire Administration staff and the board that supervises this entity. Why does the song by Jeannie C. Rylie keep running through my head? No, on second thought I'll just pull her out for the rest of the year and sign her up for home schooling. Screw it.

On a lighter note, my nephew chose "Carrabbas" for dinner Saturday night. It was packed. We had a party of 8 and had to sit in two different booths, but we were next to one another. The food was great. Better than great. It was a wonderful time. I ordered the zucchini fritte with a roasted garlic aioli dip for an appetizer and my entree was the whitefish wulf in a delicious creamy artichoke sauce. I wonder if they flew it in from Wulf's in Boston? My daughter had the grilled salmon. Exquisite.

Here's the hair

she cannot wear...
in school.

No time

I closed my eyes and picked a photo

This is what you get. I didn't have much time to look for a photo that kind of describes my life right now. This is a picture of a rarely used water fountain in my office building. We have the water coolers planted in three places in the building that serve up delicious cold fresh water. Only rare visitors passing by the men's restroom use this fountain.

My daughter had to sit in "In school suspension" on Thursday because of her hair color. I went a couple of rounds with the school supervisor. I did not win and I did not expect to win. I wanted to argue my point on my daughter's behalf. She had me convinced that it was the amount of the unusual color in her hair the last time instead of the unusual shade. Au contraire. Because of conceding at the beginning of the year to her choice of hair color, I knew that he was going to keep throwing that up in my face. He did. Here is the beginning of a letter I wrote to my newspaper editor (which they did not print, probably a good thing for me, because I signed my name).

At a school near you students are pulled out of the hall in Hitler fashion and being placed in the gas chamber (In-school suspension). Why? Because they are not blond hair and blue eyed. Well, close. Because they have unacceptable hair color or eye make-up. Shades of red, pink, blue green and purple. Anything deemed unacceptable by the Administrator. The reason they cannot wear the unnatural color? It is an educational distraction or it may affect how they are judged in the future when they go off into the world to make a living.

My daughter does not want to change her hair color, but I am taking her tomorrow.

Her junior year in this school and her time with this school administrator is a blip on the radar in her beautiful and creative life. Screw him.

For the record, my daughter is NOT being discriminated against. They are pulling kids out left and right because of hair color and eye shadow and hair style (such as mohawks). I am not certain about piercings and tattoos. I had to wear a dress (or skirt) to school until I was in the 8th grade and I am bristling. Hair color harms nobody nor does it threaten other students. She is not using a lighter and catching paper on fire. She is not dropping banana peels in the hallway in an attempt to get someone to slip and hurt themselves. She is not squirting soap onto the bathroom floor. She is not sassing the teacher. She is not flinging rubber bands at staff or other students. She is not misusing school property. She is not throwing food in the cafeteria. She does her work, she does well. She is not a straight A student, she gets an occasional C.

I understand that limits have to be set. If they let her get away with a magenta/red hair color (even just a patch in her bangs) then they have to let another student get away with lime green, plum purple and Easter egg blue, and so on and so forth. He refused when I offered to have her cover it with a headband or to hide it behind the blond hair with a paper clip. Not acceptable, he said. I understand rules have to be followed. But the handbook was too vague for his argument. The rulebook reads:

"Hair color is to be of a natural shade as deemed acceptable by the Administrators."

There are 10 administrators and only 2 have seen her hair. I asked. He said that all Administrators are on the same page and in agreement with him. Hmmm. I asked him if he had a chart to determine what shades of red are acceptable and what shades are not. He said "No." I said then it is a matter of opinion. He agreed. He kept repeating "A color they can be born with or close to it." I scoffed. Another opinion. Oh, bother again. I am getting fired up. Again.

For the most part we are getting her hair changed because it did fade into a lot of pink. That is not what she wanted. She told me she wasn't going to do it. She wants me to pull her and home school her. It is something I have been against for years. I would consider it if it is just for the remainder of the year. Another point is the fact that we are very unhappy with the school's graphic arts program. I figure if she can do her math, English, government and science at home, then I can take her to the University for Graphics arts classes. Directly across from her current school.

Walking in the mall yesterday, I saw girls with green hair, red striped hair, and other various darker colors. I asked them where they went to school. "Home schooled" was the answer from each and every one of them.

I swore I wouldn't do it. The homeschooling. Arrgghh! Then where would she go for her Senior year? There is open enrollment. Worry about that when it comes. I have another reason in favor of homeschooling that I won't go into at this time. Big decisions. The pro's column of homeschooling is getting longer. I work at the place that actually offers the orientation and arranges the schooling. How convenient is that? I talk to the staff daily.

I cannot get in touch with my nephew who is supposed to be coming into town for a birthday dinner and a lot of family are waiting for me to let them know where the dinner is. He has not picked the restaurant or let me know what time he will be arriving. He didn't even answer his cell phone or return my call. This has me beyond worried.

One of my cats vomited and my daughter found a worm in it. The vet is diagnosing the worm as I type. I told them I want to treat all my cats and my dog if necessary for whatever it is. Yuck. I am about ready to hurl my coffee. Moving on.

What else? Oh, I have had a migraine on and off all week. Silent scream. I really didn't want to take any more medicine today, but guess what? It won't stop. It begins in the eyes and then I get really sick to my stomach. Sleeping makes me feel much worse. The medicine works wonders, but how many times a week am I supposed to take it? The weather in this Ohio Valley has been nuts, that is for sure.

I have a cake to bake and a house to clean. I have no time for migraines.

Well, the vet's office just called. I am off to get my babies their worm medicine. I chose the drops on the back of the neck instead of 2 pills for each cat. Could you imagine? I wouldn't have any skin left on my arms or hands if I had to force 2 pills down each cat's gullet.

My head is really pounding, now. My 3 Advil didn't last long. Ugh.

Just another gray day

Photo taken last year

A tire swing sits idle in the snowy quiet of Coshocton county. Pulled from my archives taken in February 2007. Not much different today. Had some snowy, slick roads I found myself driving in last night. I stayed indoors today.

Even when a lot of my friends have quit smoking, just two or three who still smoke can fill up a room and poison the atmosphere. My eyes stung like somebody had shoved hot pokers in them and then to drive home on snow covered roads where I couldn't see the lane lines made for a miserable journey. Ugh. My eyes still sting.

The snow days have spoiled me as far as driving goes. As the years (dare I say decades) go by, I find my night vision dimming a great deal. I always did have trouble driving in the rain at night. My eyes seem to be sensitive to headlights on cars and the glare they give off on the wet highway. I suppose I need to pay attention to the weather a bit more and not catch myself out driving after dark in precipitation. I hate limitations of this sort.

Peek - a - boo

Left to right. Titten and Mr. Tibbs

I call Titten "Marmalade". Sometimes I call her a name not printable here because every once in a while she still does not use the litter box.

Internet is slower than molasses today.

Uncertain

My Grand Nephew

It is Ohio. It is January. Let's go sliding in the snow. It is always a bit scary at first. I remember pulling the little ones and they were never ready. One good jerk on the sled and they always fell off backwards. LOL! Good times.

I cannot let the evening go by without mentioning how much my daughter and I enjoyed watching Heath in A Knight's Tale. Too tragic. Nuff said.

My day today. I have to really hand it to some folks. But, first. I can tell you honestly that when I was in my 20's I was a bit full of myself. I was cold and aloof at times. Not all the time. There were some folks that would remember me as uppity and bitchy. I am not sure where along the way I discovered that I had control over my attitude, but I found it. I can only figure that I must have been one unhappy person. And so, goes my conversation with somebody who reminded me of myself.

I called my Insurance provider to see if my daughter's upcoming surgery would be covered at the new hospital we were going to go to. At first you get an automated voice asking you questions. It wasn't long before I was transferred to a live cold-hearted human being.

Here is how that conversation went:

I dialed the toll free number.

MM automated voice : Does your membership ID have a letter in it?

Me: yes

MM automated voice: Okay. Please give me your membership ID number.

Me: 123-45-6789A

MM automated voice: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?

Me: Speaking very distinctly. 123-45-6789A.

MM automated voice: I'm sorry I am having so much trouble. Please hold for the next available operator.

Pause (cheesy music)

MM Next Available operator: What is your membership ID number?

Me: 123-45-6789A.

MM Next Available Operator: And, your Social Security number?

Me: That is my Social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: Pardon?

Me: The membership ID is my social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: (sarcastic tone) I've never known a social security number to have a letter in it!

Me: Laughing. Without the "A" (is she an idiot?) (Am I an idiot for laughing?)

MM Next Available Operator: (annoyed tone) I didn't know that.

Me: (Still laughing. Certainly, I am an idiot.) Sorry.

MM Next Available Operator: (very annoyed tone)How may I help you?

Me: I'd like to check and see if a hospital is covered in my network.

MM Next Available Operator: What hospital would that be?

Me: Akron Children's Hospital.

pause

MM Next Available Operator: I don't see that hospital listed, ma'am.

Me: Hmmm. (a bit confused because it is very large). How about we check the surgeon's medical group?

MM Next Available Operator: Are we done checking on the hospital, because you are jumping around!

Me: (A bit taken aback). It's Akron Plas...

MM Next Available Operator: (clearly interrupting me) What is the name of your surgeon?

Me: (Really taken aback). I said the name of the surgeon, Layman.

MM Next Available Operator: First name?

Me: James.

MM Next Available Operator: Your surgeon is in your network and she named the surgeons' Practice.

Me: (Incredulously thinking to myself: Akron Plastic Surgeons to Akron Children's hospital. Big jump, there!). Okay. How about the hospital - Akron Children's Hospital?

MM Next Available Operator: What county is it in?

Me: Summit county.

MM Next Available Operator: Hold on.

Cheesy music.

MM Next Available Operator: The hospital name is Children's Medical Center of Akron. Please make sure you have the name right, or we cannot accurately look it up in the network.

Me: (Thinking to myself: JESUS H. CHRIST!) It is listed all over the Internet as Akron Children's Hospital, the website is www.akronchildrens.org (I had located it on Google while on hold).

MM Next Available Operator: (silence)

Me: So, it is covered under my network?

MM Next Available Operator: It is listed in the network.

Me: Okay. Thank-you (and I hang up.)

I mean really. Am I supposed to guess how they have the hospital listed? The surgeon told me Akron Children's. The receptionist told me Akron Children's. The Internet lists it as Akron Children's and that is what it is called all over the web page until you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where in tiny little letters it reads: Children's Medical Center of Akron. Good God! Maybe Medical Mutual could reference Akron Children's to Children's Medical Center of Akron. What a database!

Yes, I am ashamed to say that my uppity secretary attitude from twenty-seven years ago has come back to bite me in the ass. A taste of my own medicine.

Mr. Tibbs

He is a pain, he is a joy

He is extremely lovable. He curls up beside me whenever he gets the chance. He has to be touching me or laying over me or part of me. My daughter asks "Why does he like you so much?" I have this relationship with Casper, but Casper is content to sit next to me. Not on me.

I felt that for Martin Luther King Day I would mention "Mr. Tibbs." The older I get the more I have to come to the terms of folks who have no idea what "Mr. Tibbs" is or where I came up with that name. What do they call you up there?

Even after watching The Lion King, where Pumbaa shouts: "They call me, Mr. Pig!" Here is a little bit of trivia for you. The guy who voiced Pumbaa on The Lion King is the same guy who stripped down to nothing on the Seinfeld episode "The Subway".

I have always liked Sidney Poitier since I first saw him on screen. I have never seen "In the Heat of the Night." I think I must remedy that.

We are headed north to Akron today. Park West Center for Plastic Surgeons. The physician we are meeting with will be the one to remove the next set of moles from my daughter. They are not located on her back. They are in a more sensitive area where she will need more than just a few shots to numb the pain. We are so thrilled about this. Today is just a consultation.

She nor I had to miss work or school for this appointment. I am going to try and schedule it during her spring break so that she doesn't have to miss school. Her school is very strict about absenteeism. It is almost to the point of where she goes even if she is sick. If you miss more than 18 days in the school year it is as if you didn't go at all. No credit. My feathers are ruffled a bit. They started with me and the red in her hair at the beginning of the year and we sidestepped that issue. Now, they are on me about her attendance. Between migraines and the mole removal I am about ready to sink my teeth into some superintendent's jugular vein.

I did speak to the attendance officer about my daughter. At that time she had only missed 5 days. I think we are up to 7, now. She said that she only knew of exceptions when there was a serious car accident. I have called the director of the school twice leaving a message. I told him I was aware of the policy and there have been medical issues. He has never returned my calls, so I imagine he is not all that interested in any excuses. Huh.

The sentry

Checking me out

As I slowly drove my car along the back road, this guard dog paused and turned as if to give me a stern warning. I moved along.

It is getting cold in my neck of the woods this week-end. Extra blankets and throws are all washed and ready for use. Because of pet hair, they need washed more often than usual.

Cupboard is stocked with plenty of hot chocolate. Crock pot is full of shredded roast beef for tasty, hot sandwiches.

Tomorrow I travel. Computer work for family. That's okay. Her house is toasty warm and the last time I checked, my car's heater was working pretty good.

Check it, folks. We are in the middle of January in Ohio.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Three pictures layered together

For a sample of what my daughter does, go here.

The good:

All my sisters and brothers are on-line, now. One brother does not actually get on-line himself, his wife does. The last one - the sister closest to me in age lives out on a country ridge. It is beautiful and private, but little in the way of new technology. She went with her dish satellite. A little bumpy at first, but improving.

The bad:

Removed by the author.

The ugly:

I watched A Mighty Heart over the week-end. I can't believe that was four days ago. My time does go fast. Oh. That's right. I lost almost a complete day due to a migraine Monday. Figures. Anyway, I did want to see the movie because it is based on fact. I doubt that I will read the book. I do believe that Miss Jolie did very well in the role. I like about 2 of her movies. Three, now.

At the end when she was narrating, I did catch a very interesting point. She said that she had learned something because when somebody e-mailed her they had included an e-mail that had been sent to them. Reading that other person's email told her something, I can't quite recall what it was. I think it may have been that her husband's body had been cut up into 10 pieces. So, remember when you are forwarding email, that most of the time the one you just read will be seen by the person you are forwarding to. It is quite common for folks to read unsavory stuff this way.

I cannot even imagine the life that her son, Adam will have to lead. That video of her husband's beheading is out there somewhere for viewing. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even bring myself to search for it, to see for sure. I don't want to see any part of the damn thing. You can read more about Daniel Pearl at www.en.wikipedia.com and search for his name. Of course she has not viewed the video. Can you believe that a reporter asked her that question? "Did you see the video?" She replied with "Have you no decency? How can you ask me that?" Crass.

Fractured

Pretty much how my head feels recovering with a migraine headache

The background is fuzzy, but there are these spots that appear or make themselves known in blaring and obvious ways. This is how my brain feels when I have a migraine. Fuzzy, yet acute spots that hurt. Painful and piercing through the murk. Prickly blobs of abstract thoughts.

I took the medicine and after 90 minutes I was feeling great. So good in fact, I ate. I had skipped lunch and I felt hungry. Big mistake. Now I am back to sunspots. I always described eyesight during a migraine as this. When you come into the dim house after staring at sun-blinding snow. You see spots. That is what a migraine does to me. When I was 12 I stared at the chalkboard in science class. The teacher wrote a bunch of stuff across it. Letters were missing as I stared. If I looked at another area, those letters appeared and other ones disappeared. The vision speckles made me sick to my stomach. Still do.

So when I started to work on the above photo, I was feeling great. Now, not so good. I wanted to write about something, but now I don't much feel like it. Maybe later.

Paloosa

Never was one of my favorite coats on a horse.

Not so bad

This was my world today. It wasn't gray. It wasn't cold. It is unseasonably warm for January in Ohio. The sun was shining bright. The wind had whipped clouds into a frothy mix in the sky and then the wind left. The puffy clouds remained. It brought in a bit cooler weather. I think we are still above normal, though.

My drive was brief. I swapped some network equipment out. The work was brief. The school went down 3 hours after I left. I knew it. It wasn't my equipment. It was the telephone company. Usually is. They don't care. They don't have to face the angry customer. They arrange it so that they do all their work remotely. A pole in a field somewhere. Rarely do they come inside the building.

And they know they are the only game in town. But, for how long?

Iron my shirt!

Women. Keep on keepin' on! We have come a long way. Our daughters will have it better than we. Their daughters even better. Keep on keepin' on. Iron my shirt, hell. We are iron. (Giving the raspberry) Change my tire, so I can run over your ass!

Calgon bubbles... take me away!

I do not have a stressful life. Really, I don't. I play things pretty low key. I don't jump to conclusions (very often) and I don't get excited easily. I do get angry, but I did not learn how to properly address anger. That is another story.

I have had a mini vacation of sorts. Not from work, but from my co-worker. I have worked in a lot of offices. She is back one day and I am ready for the bubbles. You could say she had a melt down. I don't mind listening to how her time off helped her. It didn't. She came back pretty much the same as shortly before she left.

She is completely self absorbed.

I read something so disturbing in the paper this evening. It makes me sick to my stomach. A dog was discovered frozen to death. The guy said one of his kids gave it a bath last week and the next day he found it frozen to death. I am trying very hard to swallow the lump in my throat. Not tears but vomit. I think I'll go give my galoot a big hug and a treat.

A Christmas couple

My niece and her beau

Since my niece moved to Toledo, I don't see her very often. Here is a snapshot of her and her beau on Christmas day at my sister's house. They both go to school in Toledo and she is too far away for my liking. My nephew takes good care of her though, he is mid-way between us, near Columbus.

One of my credit card companies called today. I canceled a "rewards" program. I guess last year I agreed to a free year of a rewards program. I did not cash in my rewards. I am not exactly sure why I would have signed up for it. I don't believe in that type of business. The cost was $25.00 for one year. I had accumulated exactly $25.00 worth of points towards a Starbucks or iTunes gift card. Hmmm. I pay the credit card company $25, they turn around and give me a $25 gift card. I thought that was silly, so I called to cancel.

They didn't want me to cancel. They offered me a $50 Sears card. I have to admit, I did pause. Then I said "Nope." They canceled my rewards and removed the $25 fee from my bill. Today was the "survey" call. They wanted to know how pleased I was with the credit card service. I gave them excellent reviews. It isn't the card or the company. It's the rewards program that I have a problem with. I don't like that way of business. I shouldn't have to "pay" to be rewarded, should I?

On second thought, if you bought everything with this credit card I can see where you would rack up a huge amount of rewards points. Then just cash them in on stuff. It would have to be enough purchasing though, to compensate your lost $25. I am still not certain that using a credit card for all of your purchases is a good idea for the average American. I think the credit card company is going by the old stand by that if a buyer uses a credit card, they often purchase more than they originally intended.

My niece has a cousin that purchases all her Toys "R" Us gift cards at a certain grocery store. You get gas dollars for the gift cards. She then uses the gift cards to purchase her boys their toys and she gets a lot of free gas. I suppose that makes sense. You can only use a certain gas station, though. She happens to live very close to one. I don't. I also imagine that she just doesn't walk into this grocery store and buy the gift card. I am sure she does her grocery shopping there, too. This is what the grocery store is aiming for. Anything to get them in the door.

Another problem I have is the lottery. I just don't like the idea of it. It isn't because of a religious belief, although I think I can see where that could be considered an immoral way of life. It is a form of gambling. It is just that "get rich quick" way of thinking. Everybody wants more money, even me. Far be it from me to turn down a pay raise. But the lottery just seems evil to me.