Is Sanford Really a Nut?

I'll tell you right now, so as to spare some of my readers the few minutes it will take to read the rest: I don't think so.

Now probably all the people who think I'm not entitled to my opinion have probably left this blog.

I read this story in The State newspaper this afternoon. (sorry, you may have to register to read it) I'm sorry to say I have to agree with Sanford's reasoning on his request to use PART of the stimulus money to pay down debt. I emphasize PART because some (ok, many) of my colleagues at work keep saying "Sanford wants to turn down the money," as if he saying NO to ALL of it. Read the story, people. That's all I'm sayin' about that.

Sanford would like to use $577 million to pay down school bonds and additional $125 million to repay unemployment loans (I admit, I don't know what unemployment loans are. But I know what a loan is: money you owe and pay interest on until it's repaid). That's out of the approximately $8 Billion South Carolina should be getting. The story says "Doing so, Sanford said, would free up $162 million in debt payments the next two years and an additional $125 million over the next 13 years that could be put to other uses."

The story quotes Sanford thus: “I’ve made clear my position to using debt to solve a problem created in the first place by too much debt — and I don’t believe this to be an unreasonable position,” Sanford wrote. “We believe this course of action will do more to ensure South Carolina’s long-term economic strength than would other contemplated uses of the funds.”

I just don't see the problem with his reasoning. I really really don't. Am I just that stupid? If I got a windfall? I'd pay off my mortgage and my home equity loan and THEN I'd think about something new. And I'd also figure out what I wanted to do with the $1,600+ a month in payments I currently pay to service those two loans.

Apparently I, a proponent, am not the only one using my home mortgage as an example to bolster my argument. "Kershaw County superintendent Frank Morgan compares Sanford’s spending plan to a parent paying off a house mortgage when their children are starving."

Well, we aren't STARVING, but we should would eat a lot better if we weren't paying this mortgage payment each month. Morgan says they are struggling to pay teacher salaries and all that. Well...yeah. Like a family that struggles to make their car payment because they have to pay their mortgage and car payment.

The story goes on: "State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said Sanford’s idea ignores more pressing short-term needs for schools over the next two years. Spending $700 million on debt would mean money could not go to classroom programs or teachers."

Maybe that's what I don't understand. The story (and Sanford) probably could have gone on to say where the money is that is not going to classroom programs or teachers. Well, actually? I'll step out here: Most Carolinians know that the money left when our legislature, despite examples of other states trying it and failing, restructured education funding to be from the sales tax instead of property tax. Now here we are with almost the highest unemployment in the country, nobody can buy anything, and yet the majority of us still have our houses upon which we are now paying less property taxes.

South Carolina reminds me of AIG. Without the bonuses to the executives. They've managed our finances terribly and now want bail-out money.

I wish the story gave us Sanford's proposal is to help out those situations of the crumbling schools and laid off teachers with with the debt service money he's freeing up.

Time to lob the tomatoes, my friends.

Rainy, Restful Weekend

It's drab and rainy here. In the 40s and dark. But my camellia is blooming all over the place, so I have this spot of color right outside my window. I really need to go out there and shoot it. But it's wet!

Mensa Boy and I watched "Lars and the Real Girl" last night. We'd watched it before and fell in love with it. It's sad and poignant at the same time. This lonely guy orders an anatomically correct doll from the internet and treats her like a real person. The entire town gets in on it, even electing her to the school board.

I finally finished reading "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike. Holy cow, what a book. This 26-year-old loser, who was a basketball star in high school, just up and walks away from his family. But he doesn't even do that well, ending up in a town just a bit away shacking up with a part-time prostitute. His minister befriends him, although I kind of felt like the minister was a bit of a loser too. I was glad to be done with the book. It's for our book group that meets this afternoon. But I will probably go back and read "Rabbit Redux" eventually. I bought the two in a volume together. Right now I'm on to Ken Follett's "World Without End."

So today will be church, reading and some serious yoga. I'm very sore from jazz and yoga yesterday. I used 8 lb weights at all three classes last week and now my arms are screaming. The screaming is competing with my abs' noise, as Sarah put in a real ab-buster in her set this week too. But? It's all good!

Balloon Man

Well, you could try it at home if you have an 80 inch balloon made in South America.
Don't forget the glasses!
I hope he had someone else there videotaping and wasn't doing this unsupervised.

Balloon Man

Breaking Bad

This show's second season premiers tomorrow night at 10 on AMC. If you have not seen it, you really should give it a try. It's imaginative, dark, humorous, serious, and heartbreaking. I stumbled upon a write-up about it last year and had to watch it. Here is a synopsis of the show from the AMC website:

"Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis such as White's releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade."

And here's a short video that recaps the first season's first episode:

Mrs. Hughes Live at the Ice House

She says what so many of us think and don't say out loud.

Proud to be a Republican. I THINK?

So I'm sitting at lunch today, minding my own business, when my lunch companion says to me "You have such a big heart. Such a caring personality. How is it that you are a Republican?"

" "

The statement came about because for the last two days I've been working with our district ESOL (English as a Second Language) person to get a couple of new students enrolled. The new students are from another country and have been sent here by their father to stay with their aunt.

Some might say we should not offer a free education to children such as these. Their parents live in another country, we have never and may never collect a dime of taxes from this family. These kids could drop out of our school or they could stay and graduate and go back to their homeland, taking the benefits of their education with them. Or? They could go on to college here, graduate, and stay here, gaining U.S. citizenship. Who knows? Only God knows.

While they are here, they will be well-cared for by our school and community. The aunt and uncle are not wealthy people, but they will provide them a good home. At least that's the feeling we get from the aunt. And the staff is rapidly falling in love with these two students. I'm confident our students will too. We have many children of immigrants here in our school. At least one church I know will turn itself inside-out to help the aunt and uncle provide for the family's basic needs. And the church will love every minute of it.

Yes. I am a Republican. But I have no problem with immigrants. I have very few problems with illegal aliens. I am an environmentalist too. I believe in social programs. I don't think we should give just any tom, dick or harry a free ride, but I do believe in business. And one of the first adages of business that I learned is "You gotta spend money to make money." And I happen to think that is true socially and spiritually as well. You need to invest in humanity to receive back. You need to put yourself and your values out there for consumption to truly reap rewards in heaven and on earth. Some investments don't work out. But others do.

Donkey Basketball

I have no idea what was going on there. I was probably trying to turn around to see what was going on with the basketball. I never actually got my hands on the ball the entire time I was in the game. I basically just sat on my donkey and rode around. Except at one point I leaned over and pushed a friend (on the opposing team) off her donkey.

There is a distinct advantage to riding in the last quarter. By then you have a good idea what donkeys are ride-able.

The game was fixed in favor of the elementary. That's seems fitting. They had the most participation and sold the most ticket. And since the proceeds benefited the booster club, and the elementary doesn't even have sports supported by them, it makes even more sense to let them win the game. And we had to LET them win. 'Cause I'm tellin' you...we got donkey bb skills, man!

So we are back to school after a snow day yesterday and 2-hour delay today. That's all folks!

Photo courtesy Tim Champion. http://champs.fototime.com.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Here he is at 11. Today he is 19. Maybe when Mensa Boy wakes up we can figure out how to scan one of his baby pictures. The new scanner is a bit beyond me!

Today we will go to Greenville to meet Nate for lunch for his birthday. We'll do that at 11 because the weather is pretty dicey today. We want to be on the road back as early as possible.

Some people are like slinkies; not really good for anything but they really bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.

KEEP WOMEN IN LINE WITH GERITOL 1960 IRON POOR BLOOD

Dedicated to Julie

MST3K - Keeping Clean and Neat

We used to enjoy Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

The Trial

We began our weekend with a movie. At home. That Mensa Boy had chosen. Don't worry, things did improve from there. Yes friends, against my better judgment I did allow him to choose a movie from Blockbuster.com. And that movie was:

THE TRIAL by Orson Welles.

YIKES.

For those of you who have heard me go on about MB's movie picking...Eraserhead being the most infamous...this movie is right in there. It's a Kafka-esque story about a man who wakes up to find the police in his room, there to tell him he is to go on trial. But no one will tell him what his crime is. Everyone else in the movie seems to know. Just not him. We kept telling each other that it was like a nightmare with all those bizarre scary nightmare qualities.

I hung in there until about 20 minutes before it ended. After I went to bed, MB watched it again with commentary. See?

Continuing with reliving my high school years, one literature book at time, I read "The Giver" yesterday. It actually was not out when I was in high school, so I guess I was living Nate's High School Lit class. It was a very enjoyable book. Quick read. Right now I'm working on a book I picked up at the bargain table at Borders: "Case Histories," by Kate Atkinson. Riveting!

Love is Still a Worthy Cause

Trainspotting

I don't think I'd agree that this movie is "massively entertaining," as the cover of the DVD says. I see the cover also says "Electrifying and Hilarious." I would say it's electrifying. And a little funny in a dark humor sort of way. But "Hilarity" is not what comes to mind.

I ordered this movie up from Blockbuster.com some time ago because I realized I'd never seen it before. Sometimes I'll watch a movie or give a TV show a try just because it seems like EVERYONE has seen it.


Was it a good way for me to spend 90 minutes of my Saturday afternoon? Well, it did keep me entertained while I cooked my chocolate torte for Valentine's Day. I'll give it that.

If you're going to watch this movie, be prepared to be horrified by the way these heroin addicts live. The movie, by director Danny Boyle, who nowadays is being much hailed for his current hit movie, "Slumdog Millionaire" (I haven't seen that one), is about a heroin addict (Ewan McGregor) who wants to get out from under his addiction.

The movie uses black humor to demonstrate how awful this situation is. The humor keeps it from seeming preachy and helps to make the message so clear. My favorite line is by the main character, Mark "Rent Boy" Renton: "We would have injected vitamin C if only they had made it illegal"

I'm glad I saw the movie.

Gorilla Arm

GorillaArm
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Another toy bites the dust, appendage by appendage. Today I threw away the last gorilla arm. I have to do this kind of thing when he's out having his walk. As it is, if he can sort out the scent of it in the kitchen garbage, amidst all the banana and onion peels, he'll sit there and cry for it. That's why I always choose the kitchen garbage. I'd never be left alone if I used a different, less odiferous waste receptacle.

Last week we finally also threw out "Octo-head." The stuffed Octopus was with a us a long time, as a septapus, sextapus, quintapus, quadripus, tripus, duopus and finally an unipus. The Octo-head, or cephalopus (we never could totally decide what to call it) stuck with us for about a month.

Bear is getting faster and faster at shredding toys. This gorilla was dismembered and disemboweled in about 30 minutes.

They Days They are A-Passin'

We are enjoying a week of 70-degree weather here and it is really energizing. We Carolinians are definitely spoiled when it comes to winter weather. It was cold (down to 20) for a few days, overcast, sometimes rainy and snowy, and it felt just awful! Even though I never had to wear a jacket heavier than my leather one, it really seemed just bitter and unfriendly outside. How easily we Yankees adapt to the Southern climate!

Yesterday started with Mensa Boy pointing out to me that my beloved Kashi granola bars were on the recall list. A note stating that fact was left on top of my almost-full box. At first I denied the necessity of throwing them out, but at the end of the day I did just that. It was very very sad. I went to the grocery store in the afternoon to do my weekly shopping (actually it seems like it's closer to every 10 days) and could not find any more of them. There were snack bars there by Kashi, but all of the granola bars, which I eat for breakfast several times a week, were gone. I have a full box in my office and I'm considering denying they are on the list and just eating them.

After I was flipped off by an impatient driver on the way to work, I began to have serious doubts about how the day would go. But it ended up being a pleasant day at work, punctuated by my favorite salad from Wendy's: The Mandarin Chicken. And 12 hours after the flipping-off incident I found myself in an EXCELLENT Jazzercise class, being physically challenged by my instructor bud Sarah. My entire torso is sore today as result. But it's a pleasant soreness.

It was a good day yesterday and, even though I began the day today by trying to pour coffee into the BOTTOM of my travel cup (I really need to turn some lights on in the morning when I do that), I have every reason to expect that today will be wonderful.

I hope yours is.

CollegeMoney

CollegeMoney
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Last year I was surprised by how easily the money came together for Nate's freshman year at Erskine.

Friday I was surprised by how easily I screwed up my calculations. Failing to notice that an invoice I received last fall was for just the FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR has cost me an additional $2,300. A costly error on my part. And one for which I had to transfer money from our home equity line of credit this morning.

Ouch.

But Nate is thriving. After a serious academic misstep this fall he seemed to rally over J-term (the period during January when students take just one class on a very intense basis) and raised his GPA significantly. He aced that class, which is really the least I can expect of a son of Mensa Boy's taking that particular subject: The History of Ancient Israel. So now he is hurdling headlong into spring semester and will try his level best to get his GPA to a level that will allow him to maintain part, if not all, of his scholarship money.

It was a quiet weekend here in Indian Land. My other two guys went to the beach with SCUMYs...South Carolina United Methodist Youth. They had a good time. I had wine with good friend Nannette and her beau Chuck on Friday night.

Saturday I hit the Jazz class in Fort Mill and then stayed to attend a Yoga class afterward. After that it was pretty much all downhill. The exercise was good, but quite a bit for this body, which proceeded to seize up and say "ouch" in as many was as possible. But it's a good ouch.

I read more of "To Kill a Mockingbird" which, I have to say, I'd forgotten was so. darn. funny! And I watched episodes of "Private Practice" on the internet. What can I say? I fell victim to the crossover episode of "Grey's Anatomy" and PP and had to find out what the heck she could have said to make him stop the proposal process?

And now my guys are home, it's beginning to darken outside, and it's time to start settling down for the work week ahead.

Sheesh. Another Snow Day.

birdfeeder
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

At the risk of dissing my employer on the internet...wouldn't a 2-hour delay have sufficed?

Yes. It is snowy. A bit. Less than you see in this photo. This one is from the last snow day. But really the issue today is ice. Which I suspect will be all gone as soon as the sun comes up.

Most people celebrate snow days. Particularly kids. But they aren't taking the long view when they do that. You see, we've already lost our Feb 16 off day from the last snow day. Now they will start whittling away at our spring break. Yup. Some really nice, 70 degree day will be taken away to make up for today.



This morning I ran into Taylor's room, jumped on him and started urgently saying "Taylor! Taylor! Wake up!"

He murmured a question.

"No school today!" I told him.

He murmured his happiness.

Yeah. I'm kind of mean that way.

Jack Johnson - Upside Down: Final Stereo Version

Enjoy! Listen to the words. Click Twice. It will take you to YouTube to watch.