Hitler was a Catholic...

...but did we start banning Catholic churches from being  built, or shun Catholics from society?  Not that I'm aware of.  So why are we so mad about the mosque that is to be erected within a few blocks (?) of Ground Zero? 

We speak of religious tolerance, even have it in our constitution, yet we decide on WHAT religions to be tolerant of?  Can't have your cake and eat it too, if you're sincere!   And if you look at all of history, what religions HAVEN'T done some awful stuff to their fellow citizens?  Anyone want to review what happened during the Crusades? 

I'm personally affronted by people who proclaim they're Christian, and yet have such narrow views on life, death, and other matters, if you're not with 'em, you're agin 'em.  You either espouse to their view of God or you're all wet and doomed somehow, someway. 

I'm turning more agnostic as the day goes by, that is Day 39!

Smile!

It's very easy.  Sometimes you catch people off guard, and they smile back.  Sometimes they look at you as though you have ulterior motives.  But why NOT smile?  Like the saying goes, it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. And if you don't get frown lines, you don't have to worry about plastic surgery early in life to erase them!  A win-win situation!

One instance I particularly like to smile during, is when I see small children or handicapped people.  Some of the children I see with their parents, probably never see a smile.  Some of the handicapped people I see probably have more people staring at them than smiling at them.   A smile should make the other person feel good.  Like they're important.  I know I feel that way if someone smiles at me.

Smiles change from town to town and city to city.  While smiling at almost everyone in Ozark, MO, you get a smile back;  smiling at the sales clerk in Woodfield Mall, in Schaumburg, Illinois will illicit some stares of apprehension.  Smiling walking down the streets of New York City can have the same effect.  I've done both.  But I know I'm not a crazy, I'm just a happy person, and I hope it rubs off on those I smile at. 

So Andy,  keep smiling on Day 38!

It's what for dinner...

As I look at my wonderful dog this evening, I can't help but wonder if she's happy getting the same dry dog food every day.  She eats it readily, and it's good for her, but...we as humans have a varied diet.  We eat different foods nearly every day, and every meal.  The sights, smells, and textures are always different.  The dog's food is the same, day after day, after day.

Of course she hovers around us during diner, but she gets no table scraps, ever.  She will eventually go eat her dog food, but is she wondering why it doesn't smell like the rest of the room?  Is she jealous?  Does she resent us for not giving her some of what we're eating?  Sometimes when we do put food in her plate, that's not the standard dog food fare, she is slow to pick it up and eat it.  She used to take it outside and bury it.  Maybe because her previous home didn't let her eat whenever she wanted?

Hard to say, but she's a happy dog.  So Andy, what's your dog eating on Day 37?

It's a government conspiracy with cable TV!!!

Really, it has to be!   The fact that we HAVE to have digital TV, and if you don't have cable, then you get the little "box" and probably a newer, better, more expensive antenna, and maybe, just maybe, you'll get the channels you used to watch, and a couple more. 

I say maybe, because I've talked to several people who do not have cable, and even with the best antenna they could find, they still cannot get all channels in clearly, crisply, and regularly!  In my case I can get one particular channel upstairs in my house, but not downstairs in the same house.  If the wind is blowing, my reception stinks.  If it's raining or storming. same complaint.   I've bought two new antennas since I HAD to go digital, and actually the oldest one, that I had BEFORE digital, works the best, and it was a damn cheap aerial.

Why not just get cable?  Because it costs MONEY!!!  Why should I pay $30 or more a month, for something I used to have for free?  Let advertisers pay the programming costs.   Besides, even cable has lots of reruns, so where's the benefit?  If congress wants to supplement anything, they can supplement my cable bill this Day 36!

Prove you're a christian!

Dammit!  You do the talk, now walk the walk! 

This phrase could identify almost anyone and everyone in politics these days.  I'm so tired of everybody espousing values that seem to have nothing to do with the golden rule, which to me is an excellent definition of christianity.  You know the one that says "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

There are plenty of people who lead good, decent lives, and are only a benefit to themselves and their community, yet they might not espouse being a "christian" and therefore are vilified.   They must adhere to a "predetermined agenda", not necessarily of their own beliefs, to be considered eligible for admission into the realm of the annointed ones, the "christians."

I'm not going to go into specifics, but by today's definition, even though  I think I'm a good person, I'm not a good "christian" on Day 35! 

Day 34 and I'm frustrated!

I've been applying for jobs right and left, and they're all on line.  I wonder what it would be like to actually interview with someone in person.  I wonder if when reading my resume, the "hiring people" think "...ooh, she's too old",  or "...she's too educated/too much experience/not the right kind of experience/she'd leave soon; she's close to retirement..."  I wonder if they ever think that the reason I'm applying for a job is that I might need one? 

And at this stage in my life, it's not so much need one, as want one because otherwise I'd be bored to tears at home.  If I had millions in the bank I could travel all over.  But then again, if I had millions in the bank, I probably would already have travelled all over. 

There are no children or grandchildren involved so it's not like they could occupy my time.   I already volunteer, and that's nice, but it costs money.   I could go back to school but that cost money too, even at the reduced senior rate.   I just want to work!
So if anyone reads this and has a lead, send it to me, after this Day 34!

Harold Dow...we liked your style...

Unfortunately another great newsman has left us.  Harold Dow passed away this weekend, on Saturday, and only this Monday morning did I read about it in the paper.  And again, a small blurb.

Also a small segment on tonight's TV news.  I thought I watched Saturday and Sunday's newscasts, but this evening was the first I had heard on TV.  I think that's a sad note on how people view what is really "news."  I believe I saw a blurb on AOL about Kim Kardashian (who IS she anyway?) and NONE on Harold Dow.   A wannabe versus a real person!  

Rest assured we haven't forgotten you, Harold, on Day 33!

Volunteering...

...takes a lot of time and serious committment.   Oh sure,  "they" say that when you're retired and looking for something to do...volunteer! 

 Being out of a job, I've been doing my share of volunteering. The "pluses" are that I get some free clothing, occasionally a free meal, and some extra respectability from my peers.

The "minuses" are that I have to use my car to get to the place I'm volunteering, and there's no reimbursement for the cost of gas.  The hours can be erratic, sometimes nights, sometimes weekends.  I'm looked upon as someone who must have a lot of money and time on my hands, if I have the time to volunteer.

Truth of the matter is that I was aready volunteering when I was employed, just a bit less.   So my income is less and my volunteering is more.  Does any of this make sense, on this Day 32? 

Someone's stealing my stuff...

Seriously, all my ideas are showing up somewhere else on the web.  I think I have an idea and when I start to look around, someone else has already said it, written about it, done it! 

I believe I read someplace that there are no new ideas, only rehashed ones.  If you watch some old Star Trek episodes, you could indeed make that argument.  Many innovations we now have are already in place on the Enterprise. 

Maybe what was meant is that the ideas come to fruition through research and experimentation, but the ideas themselves are as old as mankind.  Don't know what the cavemen thought but I know what I'm thinking on, and it's obviously not new on Day 31!

Age is catching up...OUCH!

They say you're only as old as you feel.  The majority of me feels like I'm in my 20s, but once in a while I feel like I'm in my hundreds!  Case in point...I gained a couple pounds since I lost my job.  I thought about walking SINCE the experts say that walking is good for you.  After a little research I read that faster walking, i.e. 3-4 miles an hour, is preferable. 

I went to the local recreation center where there is an indoor track, and you can measure your mileage  by the number of laps you do.  I timed myself and found I could keep up a 3.5 to 4 mph pace.  But I got greedy!

I used to jog when I was younger, actually much younger when I add up the years that have gone by!  So I decided to see if I could jog part of the laps.  It hurt a little, but I just attributed this to being stiff.

Did I mention I had knee surgery about 3 years ago?

After two weeks of this (although I did ease off on the jogging, as I thought that possible I had "done something"), I was in excruciating pain!  I'm now on very serious anti-inflammatories with a possibility of an injection to combat the osteoarthritis that I've been ignoring, or rather putting out of my mind, thinking that if I keep being active, it will go away.  Not so.   

In my mind I was as physically able as I was 20 or 30 or 40 years ago.  There are many things I can still do, but there are a few that I cannot, regardless of how I view them mentally.  Jogging is obviously one of them.

I could get knee replacements and that may help me relive some of my youth, but that's not on my horizon, if I can help it, this Day 30! 

Your vote DOES count!

After the recent primary elections, there was a recount today for a local office, in our small town.  The winner unofficially won by 15 votes.   After the recount, the winner was officially declared by 14 votes. 

In this vein, think of the friends of either candidate. If only 15 for the winner stayed home, their candidate would not have won. The same rings true for the loser. If only 15 more people showed up at the polls, instead of staying home, that candidate would be the winner today.

You may look at this as just a local race in a small town, but multiply that by all the people who think their single vote won't count, especially in a presidential race.  Of course the totals are much bigger, and the margins are much bigger, but add it all up, and all of your votes might make the difference. Presidential races are lost by thousands, but when there are thousands of people out there who think their vote won't count...think again!

That's what I did on Day 29!

Gay Marriage...let's get on with it!

Oh for Pete's sake, it's on again, and then it's off again, in California.  I don't really care one way or the other, but the argument offered on today's radio show was over the top for me. The argument was that you need a heterosexual marriage for procreation to "happen."  Huh?  Since when?

Maybe that's the norm in California, but case in point-one of the most publicized pairings, with children, and not the "sanctity" of marriage is the Brangelina thing.   Many, many children are born outside marriage.   Or maybe the lawmakers aren't paying attention to the news.

I'm fairly certain that gay parents, do not raise gay children, unless the propensity is already there.  No more than straight parents can "straighten out" their gay child!  I'm a believer that it's predestined from birth.

The bottom line, with "married couples", in my opinion, is that they might offer a more cohesive upbringing.  There's likely to be two incomes, and an improved life; or one parent can stay at home, and take care of the children, while the other parent is working.  There's more intereaction.  There should be more LOVE, which is way up there on what kids need to grow and prosper. 

Let's worry more about getting rid of a welfare lifestyle, where kids are a meal ticket!  Those are my thoughts on Day 28!

Got it!

Writer's block!

Andy, you ever get this?  Guess that's why one must put down thoughts and ideas as they occur, and save them for days like this.

So that's it, for Day 27!

...things guys do that women don't...

There are SO many, but there's one that just sticks out in my mind, and I cannot let another day go by without mentioning it!

The belly rub!

How many times do you see guys gleefully rubbing their bellies, usually distended from too much beer, or other spirits, but occasionally from too many calories.   They're downright proud they can't see their feet or tie their shoelaces any more.  Thank heavens for slip-ons, and velcro fasteners.

Unless a woman is pregnant, and rubbing her belly to ease some pain from a kicking infant, we just do NOT rub our bellies.   We spend most of every waking moment trying to keep our looks in check.   The thought of celebrating a sure sign of being overweight, by a belly rub and a smirk, is not in our psyche.

Andy, I'm sure this is not a topic you'll want to cover, this Day 26.

Everybody wants a piece of Andy Rooney!

I googled Andy's name yesterday, and there were quite a few commentaries about his commentaries.  One Google reference even went so far as to say that this person wrote about him in her own blog, and would be thrilled if he read it and responded.  She even called him a curmudgeon!  I did read her blog, and she's very articulate.    A former teacher.   I guess my mission is not the first one, but we can hope it's the successful one.

Speaking of googling a name, when I did this to Andy, I stopped after looking at 89 references.  There were supposedly more but these had the highest relevance, according to Google.  If I were to google my own name, I'd probably come up with one, or perhaps two references.  Well actually, I did, and there are six legitimate references.   There are some other Maryann Harters, totally unrelated.

I guess this would all indicate that the more famous a person is, the more people want to know or talk about them.   Or it could indicate that everyone's life is becoming more of an open book, and privacy is becoming a thing of the past.

Back to the matter at hand...if Andy is going to find this blog and read it, I'm going to have to find a way to make it jump to the top of the Google priority list.  I'm not advertising this blog, as I wanted it to just be between Andy and me.   If I keep this up for a solid yer, perhaps he'll find me!  Or one of his "people" will.  I only have 340 days to go, as this is already Day 25!

I want it NOW!

Instant gratification!  That's what!

I started an excercise routine.  When one is unemployed, and used to being in an active position, and then is thrown into inactivity, one can tend to get a bit lazy.  That "one" being me.  I'm not lazy so much as uninspired, by everyday chores, enough to get my mojo working.

My excercise routine is now just walking.  At least two miles a day; yesterday I did three.  And quickly.  I just read that a person should do about 3-4 miles an hour to actually burn calories.  I figure I'm doing about 3 and a half. 

Today I read that if you do a mile at approximately 4 miles an hour, you will burn about 350 calories.  And you need to burn 3500 for every pound you want to lose.  TOO SLOW!  I want to lose a pound a day walking!  I want to be like those people on "The Biggest Loser" who lose dozens, nay hundreds of pounds every week!   Oh, that may be an exaggeration...

But at this rate, the 20 pounds (more or less, probably less) that I want to lose,  will take me well into 2011!  My heavens, Christmas will have passed.  What will my New year's resolution be: Finish losing the weight?  Will I even get it off by the next "bathing suit" season?

Can you see why I want it NOW on Day 24?

Crabgrass is always greener!

It's true!  In the heat of summer, the crab grass grows and stays green.  So why does everyone hate it so?  It has nice broad leaves and takes up a lot of space when covering the ground.  More so than Kentucky bluegrass which is a COOL SEASON grass and wants to turn brown and dormant during the hot summer months.  AND has thin little leaves.  Visually crab grass looks more coarse, like a shag rug, whereas bluegrass looks more like a pile rug.  If you want the putting green look, then you can put in Bermuda grass.

I mention cool season and warm season since you DON'T HAVE TO WATER warm season grasses (as much.)  They'll stay green, and grow in the heat!  Or if they go somewhat dormant, they're still green and you don't have to cut the lawn as often.  So you save on water, you save on labor, youd don't use noxious chemicals and your grass is green.  Doesn't that seem to make the most sense? 

If not, then just run up your water bill, run down your mower, and run out the wildlife that's affected by the chemicals you put on your lawn to kill the crab grass.  Me, I'll look at a green lawn ala natural and be just as happy on this Day 23!

It's 98 degrees out...feels like 195 degrees out...SO WHAT!!!

That is a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I'm talking about.  Sure it's hot.  It's summertime.  I question the need to inform us of the heat index.  There's not much we can do about it!  Well, we could turn up the air-conditioning.  We could bathe ourselves in ice water.  We really can't take off too much clothing, at least not in public.  Or, as those pundits say "think cool thoughts!"  But I think adding the heat index to the weather report adds insult to injury.

In the wintertime we get the opposite reports.  It's gonna be 32 out but it'll feel like a hundren below zero with the wind chill.  We have a little more leeway in making ourselves comfortable.  We can put on more and more clothing.  We can turn up the furnace.  We can drink hot drinks, eat hot meals.  Or, again, we can "think warm thoughts!"  But what's the point?  Cold is cold.  We expect it in winter.

Just tell us what the weather is today, and what we can expect tomorrow, and however far into the future you feel comfortable reporting, and let it go at that.  We're adults.  We can figure out how to dress, how to act, and we will survive.   we don't need to know the "feels like" coefficient.

Take it from me, it was just plain hot on Day 22!

Courtesy...it's what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks...

Why oh why aren't people more courteous?  How hard is it to use your turn signal, hold the door open for someone else coming through the door  right after you, not double parking in a fire lane, use the handicapped spaces when you're not handicapped?  Recognize yourself?  Recognize your family members?   Where'd you all learn these behaviors?  If you're on the receiving end, instead of the giving end, are you mad?  Damn right you are!

Recently, while going to the supermarket, I saw a car-load of kids pile out of what was probably grandma's car.  I say grandma's car because there was a handicapped tag hanging from the mirror.  Was grandma in there, or driving?  Nope!  But these able-bodied, healthy appearing teens parked in the handicapped spot, and sauntered into the store.  

Why couldn't they park further away?   Obviously they weren't taught the concept of courtesy.  What if a truly handicapped person came by and there were no spaces left to park.  I'm sure that has happened.  But to find out someone was skirting the legality and being solidly discourteous, what can they do?  Park further away so they can inconvenience someone who is NOT handicapped?

On a side note, a friend of mine, who really needed and had one of those tags, got it ripped off while he was in the store, and had inadvertently left his window open.   He said he forgot and knew better; that people will take those tags if given a chance.  Another friend who had a similar experience said he had to chase some woman away who was reaching into his car for his tag!  Is there a monetary value to these tags that I'm not aware of?

But getting back to today's theme, bottom line is: be more courteous.  Give someone a hand.  Hold that door open.  Use that turn signal so the person behind you knows exactly where you're going and when.   FIND a parking space, don't make one!  Start first thing in the morning and you'll feel better from this day forward.

So I bid you all a good night on Day 21!

Vacation? Staycation? Andy, where are you???

Turned on CBS this evening and Andy wasn't there.  Maybe he's on vacation?  Or staycation?

Obviously everyone needs some time off, and summertime is the preferred time for many.  This habit probably is a holdover from when we all had kids, and that was the only time the family could go, as a group, anywhere.   I personally prefer October.  No big holidays, leaves are turning interesting colors, warm days and cool evenings.  Fewer vacationers on the road.

As everyone probably knows by now, staycation is a newly coined word for people who can't afford to go anywhere for their vacation, except perhaps the corner store, for an extra movie rental.  That too has become a thing of the past, with movies being delivered  by mail or directly over the computer.  Maybe staycation would be better defined as just not getting out of bed in the morning.

Any time off from work is usually  a welcome respite.  And I don't suspect Andy is reading this blog on his vacation.  He'd probably rather not think about work; probably rather spend a few extra minutes in bed, or in his pjs, sitting on the sun porch, reading the newspaper for no other reason than just the simple pleasure of reading.

Being unemployed could be a vacation, except for the lack of income.  This is more of a forced staycation, except for the job search.  But even job searches can be done from the quiet of your home, and in your pjs.  I'd really rather have a job and a planned vacation/staycation/time off from work.

That's the view from the sun porch this quiet, lazy Sunday, Day 20!


   

Optimist or pessimist?

I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning about optimists and pessimists.  The host of the show said that it might be better to be a pessimist because if anything went wrong, you could say "I knew it,"  or "I told you so."  Anything good that may happen, would only make their day better.   No disappointments.

An optimist, on the other hand, is supposedly devastated when something negative happens, since they're always looking for the rosy picture, the silver lining

I tried to identify my own feelings.  I think I'd rather be an optimist.  I'd rather look at all the good things going on around me than the negatives, of which there can be many.  I'd rather wake up with a smile, than wonder what was going to "ruin" my day.   It might be hard to go to sleep it nothing negative happened.  Then  you'd have to wonder what might occur while you were sleeping.  Therefore giving you insonia.

So Andy, just good thoughts and a good night's sleep on Day 19!

Rules of the road...

I can't see your front bumper!  I think you're following too close!
There was a horrible accident yesterday.  It involved two school buses, a truck and a semi.  There were 2 deaths.  A decided cause of the accident has not yet been reported.  The local news showed a re-creation of what may have transpired.

I cannot address this particular incident, but it appeared to me that the drivers were not following something I learned early in Driver's Ed.  You should leave a car length for every 10 miles per hour you are driving.  If you're going 40, then four car lengths, 50 equal five car lengths, 60 is six lengths, etc, etc. 

The area where the accident happened had a speed limit of 70.  That would indicate at least 7 car lengths if you're doing the speed limit.  I believe this was also a construction zone.  In the state of Missouri you can be heavily fined by going faster than the posted speed, which is obviously lower in a construction zone.  But regardless, remember if the speed limit is 50, then five lengths; 70, then seven lengths.  Should be plenty of stopping time, if brakes are in good working order. 

If I'm going down the road and I can't see your bumper, you're definitely too close.   Give us both a brake, and back off!  I'll do the speed limit.  If you want to get around me, wait until I'm in the right lane.  If I'm already in the right lane, go around!  But stay off my butt!

Written safely from home, on this 18th day!

Darwin should be turning in his grave

Oh you people know who I'm talking about.  And I do NOT mean those who might actually know who Darwin is.  I mean the people who have probably never heard of Darwin and keep doing stupid stuff.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, sometimes they don't live to tell everyone about their stupidity.  In the latter case, they won't be reproducing any more of their stupidity, thank heavens!

Two recent cases in mind.  First being the guy who did something called base-jumping which I guess is jumping off something, like a cliff, with a parachute.  You don't use the airplane to get you to a height to jump.  You jump off something that's high enough to get your parachute opened...hopefully.

This latest goof jumped off a cliff, purportedly as an homage to a friend who had just died doing the same thing, when his chute got stuck on the mountain side.  He was hanging by his parachute lines, and called 911 to get him down.  He was saved, but to what expense?

The second story is about a girl who got lost in some remote area, on her bicycle (?), and was hurt.  So did she dial 911?  Nope, she TWITTERED!  Her many "followers" called in from Chicago to LA to get her help.  Now how do you tell the 911 operator in Chicago, how, where, and why this dummy in the middle of nowhere needs help?  Does the operator hook up with the LA operator and try to triangulate where this injured person is? 

Every day seems to have a head-shaking moment, and this is only Day 17!

Global warming

What do you believe?  Real or not?  Truth or fiction?  Scientifically sound or hogwash?  And just what is hogwash anyway?

I only mention global warming because its been in the 100s these past few days.  That coupled with the weatherman talking about the heat index, or how hot it FEELS, makes me feel fortunate to have air-conditioning.  While most people think it's a necessity,  it hasn't always been that way.  And there are many people out there who still do NOT have it, or do not use it due to cost concerns.

Growing up, in the 50s myself, we lived in the city, where houses were close together.  Air flow seemed restricted in the gangways between houses.  We didn't complain, and we lived through it.   I didn't live in an air-conditioned house until about 1979.  I can remember Ben Stein saying his family "finally" got air-conditioning sometime in the early to mid 50s.  Sorry to hear he had to "suffer" until then. 

Is it truly, appreciably hotter, or does it just SEEM hotter, than it was 50 years ago.   Andy, are you keeping cool, on  Day 16?

Election Day...let's talk s**t

Sorry Andy, this is one topic that will not make the broadcast on Sunday evening.  I just couldn't resist talking about it, though.  And no, I'm NOT talking about the election.  That may be a story in itself.  I'm talking about vaguely useful drugs on TV, aging, and the propensity that older people seem to have talking about their bowel movements.  Specifically they like to talk about whether they have them or not, and to what regularity this happens.  

There has been an ad on TV recently, that is for a "colon cleanser."  The announcer goes so far as to say that if you don't have a daily bowel movement, you could be carrying up to (almost) 5 lbs. of fecal waste.  After two days this jumps to 10 lbs (give or take) and after 3 days, well, you're carrying a load equal to a small watermelon.   Scary, huh?  Gotta be damned uncomfortable!

Now let's digest this information a bit (pun intended.)  If the amount of food you eat gets digested properly, let's assume 90% would be absorbed.  That would leave 10% fecal waste.   Think about this.  To have 5 lbs of fecal matter in one day, you'd have to eat approximately 50 pounds of food, presumeably, the day before.  If you equate that to something you can relate to, think of 200 quarter pounders, less the bun and condiments.   I don't know about anyone here, but one quarter-pounder a day would be plenty.  Of course I'm not ruling out the obligatory french fries, and soda that I'd have to eat and drink along with this.   Hungry?

Colon cleanse...it's the right thing to do!  It'll give you something to talk about at the retirement home!  Make you sound like an information portal!

Sorry Andy, couldn't let this one go by, on Day 15!

Election time, yet again

Tomorrow (Tuesday) are the primary elections for various offices around the country, including my state, and my county.  They cannot be over soon enough.  I cannot believe everybody, with the exception of the candidates and their families, is not sick of politics and the name-calling. 

But I'm not talking about state politics, I'm talking county.  Local.  Good old boy versus good old boy. 

One candidate who is running, in a county where the biggest town has only 12,000 people, said he planned on spending about $50,000 to get elected.  What?  Is that really necessary?   I suppose I should think that this will help the local economy with some jobs, however temporary, but couldn't we just focus on the issues , and have some cheap debates, or such?  How does one spend that much money?  Signs?  T-shirts? Radio and TV ads?  Those really, really annoying phone calls?  And why can't they be put on a no-call list like other telemarketers?

Another character flaw is that our county is basically a one-party county.  When these people win the primary, they've won the contest.  And many of them run unapposed within their own party.  Democracy at it's best.

It'll all be over tomorrow, but today is still Day 14!

I read newspapers too...

...but I too think it's getting to be a thing of the past.  With the advent of the Web, you could get your news quicker, but now with the advent of the new iPhone-type gadgets, you don't even have to carry your laptop with you. 

I read the local daily every day.  Some days have more in them than other days.  It's not a very thick daily.  And much of the news is from the southern half of the state, as opposed to just the "big city" I live near.  Sports reporting is geared towards high school, college and NASCAR.  

I started writing more since I became unemployed.  Thought perhaps I could then start calling myself an unemployed writer/author.  Sounds better than what I used to do.  That's not so important right now.  Right now I'm trying for THE job, as your replacement.  Hearing on tonight's broadcast that you write also, gave me renewed hope that my qualifications will match up!

Love your dialogue Andy, on Day 13!