Smoke-Easies

Notice no one has introduced a Constitutional ban on Smoking. I wonder if that is coming. Maybe people realise now after the 18th and the 21st amendment that might have been the wrong way to curtail bad habits.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/272211_smokeeasy31.html

Lasik

My husband Bruce got lasik this week. I am so jelaous. He has 20/15 vision now. I on the otherhand am breastfeeding still which prevents me from being able to be assessed to see if it is even possible for me to get lasik.

I watched the whole procedure through a window, it was all projected and magnified on a screen above where the procedure was happening. They used a laser to cut the flap. This is apparently the most modern procedure, many places still use a knife for this portion of the surgery. Little bubbles of air bubbled under the flap, which they peeled back. Next they took us to an area where we waited until the air went out from under the flaps. It took all of 11 seconds per eye for the actual laser surgery. How cool is that!?! I can't wait to get my eyes done now. If you are wondering, they gave Bruce adavan and some eye drops that numbed his eyes two or three times before the surgery. He didn't feel a thing and was fine after a few hours.

Online Gambling a class C felony in WA

I don't gamble online. I rarely gamble at all. We used to occassionally play poker with some people we knew, since having kids this has all but stopped, but I think this is an overstep by the legislature. It is not illegal to gamble in the state of Washington - There are numerous poker rooms on the I-5 corridor and also on the reservations to the north and south here. Why make it a class C felony to gamble online? Is there a lobby that has courted this legislation? I am just awe struck by this.



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/271844_internetgambling27.html

Right v. Wrong

Alright even if you are the most morally depraved person in the world how could you do something like this?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/23/homeless.scam.ap/index.html

I had one criminal case while I did the whole government job thing, where a 70 year old woman had stolen 500k from a union benefit plan and then used the money to buy cruises, facelifts, chatchkees, etc. I couldn't believe then and can't believe now that someone of that age would do something like that. By the way she got 58 months in prison which was 36 with good behavior. I hope they throw the book at these grannies!

SC Ban on Confederate Clothes

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060522/ap_on_re_us/confederate_clothing

It is always interesting to ask what people think about bans on dress or political activities associated with schools and workplace environments. What do you think? Should schools be able to ban wearing emblems like the confederate flag or swastikas? Where is the line?

Personally, I think a school is a unique government environment in that its primary function is to educate and once items of clothing get in the way of that mission it is fine to ban them.

Reliving the 80s 90s etc

This is Hilarious. I don't normally post these types of things, but I swear it is worth 6 minutes of your time. Take a peak, let me know if you remember the shopping cart and the lawnmower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

Death by Molasses

An article in Wired this month talked about a molasses flood in Boston in 1919. Twenty-one people died. Can you imagine being killed by a giant wave of molasses? Here is a personal injury case if I have ever heard one.

Wow.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/molasses.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_molasses_disaster

Building a House or two or three or four

So here it is. In keeping with the crazy Seattle real estate boom - Bruce and I signed escrow yesterday to purchase and build a lot in Jackson Park by Jackson Hole Golf Course in Seattle. We will be building two houses for fun and profit. I didn't want to post about it until we signed the papers - everything can go wrong up to that point. This is the third deal I have tried to close this year the last two didn't work out for one reason or another.

We have purchased one lot and are under contract for the second. (Why build just one house when you can build two?) It turned out there is a sewer main on the second lot and the current owner has agreed to apply for the buildover and do the necessary work to make it buildable. I have been really interested in the real estate market here and have decided to do some speculation. I'll let you know about it as it progresses.

Most over-priced housing

To those of you unfamiliar with left coast housing costs, I offer my new favorite blog. Housing bubble? Pshaw...

http://overvalued.blogspot.com/

Pop Quiz who gets sued?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060518/ap_on_re_us/missing_cruise_passenger;_ylt=AmvG8wbdjKfgNYcj7rlOvK.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ

Sounds like the cruise line is preparing for a lawsuit uncovering all of the badness these passengers were up to...

Last Names as First Names

Have you noticed the trendiness of traditionally last names as first names? I am really agape at some of the names I have heard in the last week. Today I met a Landon, recently my daughter befriended a Taylor. Then of course there is Madison, Parker, Whitman, Mason, Riley, etc. There is something oddly yuppie and very pretentious about this phenomenon. I just don't get it I have to admit, let me know parents of Parkers and Landons, why????

Maybe its because I have young children

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_SCOW_Sex_Offender_Messages.html

But I wholeheartedly agree with any means that is used to catch and detain anyone who is a pedophile. I had a discussion with someone recently who was really upset that someone could be arrested for having indecent pictures of children on their computer and that the FBI sets up websites containing similar materials for the express purpose of catching these individuals. I have no problem with this whatsoever. a) as a former government employee I know how government resources are allocated which means to me that they don't go after people who are not beyond a shadow of a doubt guilty and b) if this is the only means to catch these individuals then so be it. I might have taken a different stance on this one before I had kids, who knows.

Poor Diddy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060509/ap_en_mu/people_diddy_support

Every once in awhile someone asks me the rationale behind child support and I try to explain that the child support is meant to ensure that the child lives at the same standard of living that the parent lives at and that the child has no economic disadvantage from living with the custodial parent.

I just don't think whoever paying the support generally "gets it." They don't want an ex to have the ability to spend any of the money. Anyway, they could always make a choice in the beginning. Don't get involved with someone if you can't handle the consequences.

Wouldn't you love to trade a paperclip for a house?

See how one industrious young man is doing just that. What a great idea!

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/2006/04/one-afternoon-with-alice-cooper.html

Reeks of classism

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060502/ap_on_go_ot/college_grants

I know, I haven't posted in awhile

We are on "vacation." It is a "vacation" and not a vacation because we are visiting family. As you all know, there is not the same sense of freedom when visiting as there is when truly vacating one's life!

As part of our trip we helped Bruce's mom celebrate her 60th birthday in great style. They rented a rustic typed inn (sleeping about 35) at a state park here and we and another 30 or so close friends all went out there for two nights. The kids all loved it and everyone seemed to have a good time. I am beat. I pitched in cooking dinner for about 40 one night and 25 the second. All in all it was very fun, but I am truly exhausted.

As for Bruce's mom she is doing as well as one can expect. She seems frail and is very thin now. She can't stand or even sit up for too long, it is extremely uncomfortable to sit because she has no natural padding anymore. Mentally she is still extremely sharp. She is in really good spirits and we are hoping she will get well/strong enough to start chemo again soon, but I am not really sure what is going to happen. She doesn't seem ready to give up on getting better, so I am sure she won't give up. Whatever happens I am sure we will appreciate our extended stay here and the time we are able to spend here with both Bruce's mom and dad.