Pawprints From Space

Here we go again. A brave woman, who knew the kind of daily danger she was in and yet placed her life in God's hands, has been assassinated. I don't profess to know everything about her or her politics but Benazir Bhutto seemed (on the surface at least) to be committed to democracy in Pakistan. And so she was killed. They had tried before and failed, this time they were successful. What is odd is how convenient it is for the establishment. Gosh! Now Musharraf doesn't have to loosen his grip on the country. He can claim an emergency, tighten his hold, retain his position as military leader and so on. Hmmm .... sounds like a win-win for him. Reports are saying that the additional security Bhutto had been asking for from Musharraf was never supplied. That the investigation into the earlier suicide bomber attack was not what it should have been and that she couldn't get body armor because she'd have to get written permission from the Musharraf government in order to pu...

That's "Happy New Year" for the non-Japanese speaking among you. Okay a few days early but who knows when I'll have a chance to get back online. The computer needs to hit the shop (keyboard troubles) and goodness only knows how long that will take. Christmas may have been merry but it wasn't white. It was actually something like 40 degrees which for Ohio in late December is odd. I'm told it was 50 in St Louis so I suppose it could always be... more odd. Speaking of "odd", if you have not checked out Jeff Dunham and his crazy act on Comedy Central you owe it to yourself to go to JeffDunham .com and see the insanity for yourself, or at least rent "Arguing With Myself" or "Spark of Insanity" his two Comedy Central specials. The guy is funny. He also has a MySpace page with the hysterical "Dead Terrorist" rendition of Jingle Bombs on it. Start the new year with a giggle and check it out. If you are looking for new year re...

Okay, who stole November? When did it get to be December and why is that month now half over? Christmas?!!? I'm still mentally dealing with Thanksgiving!! Nevertheless, it 'tis the holiday season and people are being even more stupid than usual. Parking lots have turned into "bumper car" rides at the county fair only more expensive since you don't need insurance on the bumper cars and you are supposed to crash into each other on that ride. Stores are filled with screaming over-tired children, rude adults, snappy salesclerks (thanks to the aforementioned screaming children and rude adults), prices that were marked up before being marked down, teenagers who need to be slapped just on principle in most cases and for some strange reason now that there are more people in the stores the managers have decided it is a GOOD idea to cram extra racks and displays into the middle of the aisles. While I am in awe of the religious significance of the season the commercial that ...

Okay so I started Weight Watchers on November 1st. Doing the online points tracking because the meetings here do not fit with my schedule . Have a friend in Chicago who is doing it too so we're "diet buddies" long distance. The funny thing is I put in how much I wanted to lose and the site told me how many points per day to have (based on height and weight and being in an office job). So far the number of points have not changed what I eat. Seems I've been eating just about that all along. Only have to cut out the snacks. Doesn't seem right somehow. The thing that really irks me though is the cost. For only three months online it is $65 and you don't get thing like the eating out guide or the slide rule thingy to calculate points by hand. If people need help (and most Americans do) why do they have to charge so much? A full blown membership is over $400 a year. About the same as belonging to the YMCA so if you add the two together (which you should) you're...

I've been wondering. It is just me or are other people out there feeling that it is way too early to be dealing with the 2008 Presidential hoo-ha? You can not pick up a paper or turn on the TV without being beaten over the head with "news" about the candidates. How much money they've raised (who cares!), whose spouse said what (slow news day boys?) and so on. And for Pete's sake all these states trying to get their primary dates changed so they can be "first". Keep this up and we won't need the November elections. It is out of control. There are too many candidates for any pollster to get a handle on what the voters really think. I truly doubt that anyone really cares at this point unless they are personally acquainted with the candidates. Wake me when we get to November.

It is time once again to rave about my favorite editorial page guru: Leonard Pitts Jr of the Miami Herald. In case you haven't heard there are schools out there banning hugs. Yup, students can not give each other a hug. It blocks hallway traffic or offends people or might just be GASP! a PDA (public display of affection, not the keeper of your schedule) and God knows we can't have that. Well Mr Pitts wrote about that today. Check out what he had to say about hugs (and a bunch of other things we've turned our backs on that we shouldn't have) at the Miami Herald Web site. I don't know about you but a hug can make me feel better on a bad day, make me feel comforted, understood, appreciated, loved - all good things. A hug is human contact. Those of us lucky enough to have human contact will live longer than the sad souls who don't have it. Laughter and hugs have positive effects on your health (physical, emotional and mental). So the hell with the "system"...

I have been trying to get a font issue resolved with the Blogger"mother ship" for over a week. Still no answers on the discussion boards but somehow, something I did in resetting an enormous amount of stuff has worked because I am back in business (clearly). Whew! We'll see how long this lasts.

Been trying to paint the garage door. Not going well. Tiny little gnats with speckled wings apparently are attracted to the paint. They swarm. Bite me. Get into the paint. And are not bothered by bug spray. At all. It has already taken 3 weekends to do a job that should have only taken one afternoon. I hate bugs.

I discovered a blog the other day about Lima, posted by someone who doesn't live in Lima but lives close to Lima. Mostly it is a crime blog. I can see where folks might find that interesting but I can also see where it might be inflammatory and counterproductive. I do live in Lima. I wasn't born here or raised here. I have lived in much larger cities, I have lived in cities the same size and I have lived in smaller towns. I can honestly say that Lima is one of the better places I have ever lived. Yes it has its problems but every city and town does. Yes there is crime, hello! crime is everywhere in one form or another. That is a sad fact of life and the human condition. Desperate people are going to do desperate things. Stupid people are going to do stupid things. People who are ill are going to do things in an effort to get that next fix or whatever. People often do not appreciate what is in their own backyard. They just don't see it. They don't participate in or atten...

I am going to start screaming. I have worked hard for the opportunity, I've earned it and I deserve it. Why? Well I had a scheduled week of vacation. It was all planned. It got cut short because someone did not listen to me. Her cat is very ill. Her cat should not have been left at the vet for the week. I knew something was going to happen. After all, just look at the poor kitty she looks like the Velvetine Rabbit - well loved but pretty scraggly - and she's 15 years old. I said "no, you shouldn't go" told her that the cat needed her at home. But oh no! Despite already having had her vacation of two weeks in a previous month, she was determined to be part of this one week. Keep in mind I just started a new job in May it is a miracle I got this week at all. Most places would not have given it to me. Keep in mind too that I had spent the last year in a job-from-hell and was REALLY looking forward to this trip. I had things planned for Pete's sake! Suffice it to ...

Well I did it. Or at least I did as much as can be done before the bank finalizes everything. This morning I "bought" a new car. After the aforemention months of research and so forth I decided on the Honda Fit (which in Europe is the Jazz - better name). Had everything I wanted. Now it is up to the bank to finalize things on Monday and I will pick the car up ASAP. Downside? The Tracker after 11 years is my baby. I have very attached to it. It is so "me" - practical yet funky, screams environmentalist (it's even green!) and outdoorsy, has bumper stickers that are kinda hip hippie. All that character traded away for a white Honda. I do not like the color but it is the only one they had. And I liked the way it drove. So I guess for me the Fit.... fits.

Well after 11 years I am contemplating trading in the old beastie for some new wheels. Have done the research (took months actually) and picked out the "chosen" make and model. Great safety features and decent mileage (the true hybrids are too damned expensive for me) with a reasonable price. Now comes the fun part... financing. Well of course the folks at the non-American car dealership are all snotty because of my credit tragedy three years ago. So they tell me to talk to my bank first and see what they can do and of course this is not a bank that they work with. I guess the smaller banks (the ones with good customer service) don't count with Japanese car dealerships. So I have spent all day today running back and forth on the phone and off and we're are poised to strike with a used car loan at a scary 10.9% the thing is the bank is a little concerned because the car according to their Internet search is a $13,000 vehicle and this puppy is listed at $16,500 so witho...

I have found a new adhesive... lurking in my kitchen cabinets this "new" goo will stick like cement to any surface with more determination than any other substance known to man. This stuff will not let go of whatever it sticks to. I recommend a chisel or even a jack-hammer 'cuz it ain't moving. No amount of soaking will loosen this goo. I can see it now... patch the foundation, waterproof the basement, repair the ceiling ... who needs dry wall? Hell no! You've got Bisquick! It will hold better than Gorilla Glue, seal stuff better than Duct Tape... It's the next great thing... make breakfast and then patch the porch without missing a beat. Now if you'll excuse me I have to chisel the pancake remains off of the mixing bowl.

Well, well for the first time in over a week the electric company is not happy with me. Why you ask? Because today I did not have to have the air conditioner on all day. Running the silly thing tends to offset all the good that switching to compact flourescent bulbs was doing. Speaking of things "green" okay I did watch (or at least have on) the Live Earth concert (on Bravo) and it was pretty good. I must admit I have my doubts about how carbon neurtal they could possibly be with all the celebs having to travel to get to the various locations. Supposedly they were going to announce after the concert what the output ended up being but I haven't seen "boo" on that in the press so either the press no longer cares (gasp!) or they didn't do that well and they are still trying to figure out how to spin it. I did take Earthlab's little carbon test to see how I stacked up and as expected I am well below average for the normal American. The crappy part was for el...

Ah summer! It's hot, it hasn't rained in an amount worth mentioning in weeks and guess what? A chipmunk, ground squirrel or other small mammal has crawl under the walkway and died. Of course being dead the little body is now producing a huge stink. Being under the wooden walkway there is no way to get at the thing without tearing up said walkway so it must remain where it is.. smelling up the place... drawing fun insects and just being, well... smelly. And guess what? It is supposed to be over 90 degrees the next few days. On the one hand this could speed up the decomp process on the other the stink is gonna get worse. And we're only into day three of stink. According to online research it can take a week or two for the smell from a dead mouse to dissipate. I am assuming that we are dealing with a likewise small rodent because the under the walkway route is a common path for the chipmunks to get to and from their den. A week or two. More if we're talking squirrel. Which...

No I am not waiting in line (on line?) for an Apple iPhone. I can't see spending that much $$ on a device that makes me that much more "available" to people I'd really rather not be available. No I don't have the latest laptop, the coolest TV, my flatbed scanner doesn't even work any more with XP it's that old and I didn't run out and get a new one. Oh yeah, and I'm waiting for the printer I have to completely run out of ink before I trade it in on an all-in-one so that I have fax access again. And yet I am a geek at heart. I love technology. When it makes sense. But I'm sorry the iPhone just doesn't and that isn't because the thing isn't cool (it is) or that I hate all things Apple (I don't, I tend to hate Microsoft but that's another rant for another time) it is because the thing costs so damned much. I mean really, my Motorola Razor can receive email and browse the Web even though the screen it too damned small to read an...

Now that it is officially summer, I'm thinking about being outside as much as possible... tending the garden... just enjoying the season. I am NOT thinking about the 2008 Presidential election. And yet everywhere you look, every time you turn on the news or pick up a paper somebody is saying something about this candidate or that whether you care yet or not. And there are a slew of candidates. And they all have MySpace pages now too. Heck, states are even moving their primary dates so they can be the first in line to pick the new Prez. Oh please. For those of us who care about the issues more than the parties this might be a good thing, we have more time to get to know the candidates and where they stand. But the issues could change a lot between now and the primaries. Some terrorist group could do something stupid, North Korea could do something stupid, Iran could do something really stupid and WHAM! we have more to think about than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (assuming you r...

So the new job has two weeks under its belt. So far so good. Or is it? I admit to a certain level of paranoia. After all the last time I left a horrid situation I ended up in something worse for half the money! Consulting is consulting, it is problem solving which I seem to be wired to do. It doesn't matter if the bag of tricks is advertising, web sites or human resources services... it all boils down to being able to figure out the problem and helping the client fix it. That I can do. In the midst of all this though is the closing in of Relay For Life. I am still up to my eyebrows with that. Still putting out fires and trying to live in a house that looks as though Relay exploded all over it. I am not a happy woman. The upside is I don't have to put up with this crap. I am a volunteer now. After after this coming weekend the event will be over and they can kiss my butt if they want much more out of me. Of course I have to pack up the files but I am going to take my time with t...

Okay I confess... I have no idea how to relax, how to be "on vacation". This is only day two but I already have a full agenda for today and tomorrow. Some of it is fun (facial, massage and lunch with a friend) but then there is the committee meeting tomorrow night, yard work, the housework and other things staring back at me screaming to be taken care of. I don't know how to ignore these things. I used to. I used to be able to ignore everything and get lost in a book. I still read voraciously but I am multi -tasking when I do it: the news is on the TV or radio, I'm eating lunch, something... I think I lost the ability to be still after my husband died. I threw myself into work and now I can't seem to claw myself back out of it. I do enjoy yard work. I find it very therapeutic although it can be exhausting too. House work I hate but the laundry isn't going to do itself after all. Damn it. Wouldn't that be nice? Especially the ironing. Ick ! I'll proba...

As a kid I never liked Father's Day. Mostly because I didn't have a father around. All the other kids did but I was the only one with divorced parents and my father disappeared when I was about two years old. So that sucked growing up. As I've gotten older and it has become obvious that I'm never going to be a parent, I'm starting not to like Mother's Day. Yesterday several people wished me a happy Mother's Day. I'm sure they meant well and being older than say 12 I could very well have children so they probably figured they were being nice. I suppose it is similar to being wished a Merry Christmas when you're not Christian. The phrase simply does not apply to you. In the Mother's Day case it can actually be painful. I can't have kids. When I was in my early thirties and newly engaged I had surgery and was told if I wanted to get pregnant I'd better do it in the next year or two otherwise forget it. Well we didn't exactly jump on that...

It's the little things in life that either mean so much or annoy the heck outta you. Today we're going to talk about 10 of the annoying ones. 1. The gray area in the employee handbook that leads you to believe one thing about the departure procedures only to smack you upside the head with the reality. Trying to do things by the book and out of concern for the organization will only get you smacked by that same book, and shortchanged too. 2. There is a HUGE yellow arrow painted on the pavement indicating the direction of traffic flow. There are cars angled in the proper direction as they have parked in accordance to the traffic flow and yet somehow there is a woman in a huge SUV headed directly at you - going the wrong way despite all the evidence as to the proper direction of traffic flow - who has the audacity to look at you as if you were the one in error. And she's angry about it too! 3. People who have been told for months about the deadlines. Who have been reminded a...

Someone needs to tell the media that their job is to report the news and to do so with objectivity. Not keep hammering away at an incident, track anyone within 10 miles of said incident and then play video tape over and over again that is far from newsworthy. I am speaking of course of the incident at Virginia Tech. Yes it was horrible. Yes there are interesting questions about that two hour or so gap between the first shooting and the massacre that followed. Of course people want to know why. And oh yeah there will be lawsuits to follow I am certain. But as a family is frantic wanting to know if their child is all right. As the parents and family of the criminal are horrified that one of their own could do such a thing. As people begin to grieve... What they do not need is 24/7 in-your-face-twits of media people crawling all over the town and the campus, sticking a microphone in the face of whomever they meet. They do not need to see a madman ranting over and over on TV. As a person ...

They say one should not drink and drive but what about drinking blogging? I do not think that they are laws governing that. If so, I would be in trouble tonight. But despite the fact that my fingers can not find the keys I am compelled to write. I have a friend who has had to quit his job because the people he works for are beyond stupid, beyond compassionate, beyond having the ability to think of others besides themselves and the kicker is that they are the board of directors of a nonprofit organization who should know better because they are goaled with the mission of helping those most in need. They approved his vacation time when his was hired because he was honest and told them that he had tickets to an expensive, exclusive event. And yet after he took said time they docked his pay because (get this) another person in the office also took time during the same week. And well, she has worked there longer - despite the fact that his time was on the docket first or that he followed th...

Doing the right then, being conscientious gets you nowhere... it only brings more frustration, anxiety and grief. Case in point. Trying to do the right thing by my volunteers, tying up loose ends and such before departure. Had a thing all arranged (or so I thought) for a staff member to speak at an important event next week. Find out today she double-booked herself and won't be there after all. Now since I can't be two places at once, volunteers are counting on us and we have a shaky situation in that community to begin with I am livid. I express these concerns and get told "thanks for your concern, we'll handle it". Basically don't worry your little head about it, you don't need to be concerned any longer you resigned. Well yes I did but I set this thing up over a month and a half ago and I'm not leaving for another 24 days so guess what jerks? It is still my responsibility. You want to screw things up after I leave that's one thing but you do no...

Oh this ought to be fun. Met with the person who is going to babysit my events through the end of this fiscal year today. She'll do fine. Interesting thing though is that while we were meeting a co-worker called. All of a sudden there is a hiring freeze. So the boss can't replace me with a new person who actually lives in this part of the region. The one who is covering for the next few months was a "floater" and that's what she wanted to be, she didn't want the job I had but now she's stuck with it. They didn't give her the opportunity to refuse it, told her "no". Kinda like when they told me I had to take the event from hell. This person has a two hour drive to get to that particular event. The volunteers especially one particular major donor are going to flip out when they discover there is NO ONE local any longer. They were already annoyed that the office had closed but I was still here so they had a point of contact. So much for the mone...

A weight has lifted. In less than a month I will be out of an extremely stressful job and beginning a new one. I can hardly believe it. It's been four and a half years and three and a half of them have been sheer hell. From office politics that resembled the Spanish Inquisition, to narrowly avoiding being down-sized (first I was, then I wasn't, then I could have this job, no wait the budget can't support that), to being micromanaged from afar this organization pretty much shattered my desire to work for the public good. I might still volunteer but if I do I can always walk away without penalties (like loss of a paycheck) if they get too demanding. For all its flaws the private sector has been much better to me over the years than the nonprofit world. And I do not mean merely in compensation. I will be working with other MBA grads and lawyers. Imagine being able to have a conversation about current events, being able to use what my mother used to call $3 words and not get bl...

Ye Ha! I have been offered and have accepted another position! I will be leaving the insane nonprofit world and going back into the private sector. So yes, as previously posted: the end is not only in sight but has come into focus and all that is left are the departure details. A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It has been a good day: Mom's surgery went well, got this great job offer, will be graduating with a MBA in four short weeks (counting this week) and so far the 4.0 GPA remains intact. Now if it would just stop snowing.....

Okay so I bought some pansies and some violas (they have a stronger scent) today and we had record temps. Now it is raining, a cold front is en route and we may have snow tomorrow. No one said "boo" about snow. Rain yes, colder yes but snow? Nope. Nothing. Not one word. Nevertheless the little perky flowers are all in pots and yes I did have to move them all onto the sunporch but I don't give a damn. I feel so much better looking at their little faces you can not imagine. There is something extremely theraputic about planting colorful flowers with smiling faces. I feel better for hours afterwards. Never mind the dirt under the fingernails (even with gloves somehow), the cats you have to chase away from eating the flowers or the inevitable rain. I just feel so much better about life, the universe and everything. So my advice is: whenever life throws crap at you - what the hell, plant pansies!

Okay so just did the taxes, used software of course, and with all the calculations and deductions and depreciations I'm still getting less back this year than last. So... home office hoo-ha? Big whoop. It wasn't enough of a deduction to really impact the bottom line. So all this frustration. All this aggrivation. And really not much of anything to show for it all. Well then, if this other job comes through all the more reason to walk away from the telecommuting situation. It simply is not worth it and now I have tangible proof. Sigh!

Recently received a questionnaire from my first grad school and suddenly realized how long it had been since I graduated - 19 years. The school is celebrating its 150th this year and wants to put together an alumni newsletter around the fact so they are asking alumni who their favorite professor was, fondest memory that sort of thing. Had to dig through the textbooks to find the guy's last name. I thought I had it, wasn't 100% sure but voila! I was right. Now I am five weeks away from a second graduate degree. So what is this? Every 20 years or so I go back to school, spend scary amounts of money and make myself even more unemployable? Works for me. Happy 150th Birthday Illinois State University!

Hmmm.... Could it be true? Could this travail finally be coming to an end? Well it is possible. I am still in the running for a job I had a great interview for over a month ago. Talked to the guy yesterday (gee I only left a message a week for four weeks what kept ya?) and he has a research question (think mini-paper) that he wants me to answer for him. Kind of a test. Seems they got burned in the last couple of hires and want to make sure I can do research. Can fish swim? Duh! So... if this pans out and they make an offer in the next couple of weeks my summer could look a whole lot better. Heck, I might even be able to - oh I don't know - have a life! Save some money! Work in the garden! Fix the bathroom floor even! Of course he was supposed to call today with the question and to set up a time.... he didn't

Well the project for the Class From Hell is done and safely emailed away to the Professor From Hell. Thank God that's over! All that is left is the presentation in class tomorrow night. Nothing should be this hard, cause this much stress or otherwise destroy every sinlge bit of free time you thought you had. The worrisome thing of the moment now is... what are we facing in the next class? This is the last class after all. Normally by now we have a syllabus and textbooks. We got nada. That in and of itself is unnerving. As is the fact that the cat just stole my seat on the couch, the big jerk.

It is Saturday. The sun is shining and it is a cold 30-ish degrees with a wind chill of something like 15. And yet it is probably the best day that this town has had for a St Patrick's Day parade in about 20 years. We were cold at 9:00 a.m. decorating the "float". We were cold at 10:30 a.m. lining up along the parade route. We were cold at 12:00 p.m. when the parade actually started. By 1:00 p.m. it was over we had no feeling in noses, toes and fingers but we had at least had fun. Cold fun to be sure. But fun. Now it is back to the homework - the final project for a class that has been nothing short of hell. No one can explain to me why on earth we need to know upper level calculus in order to understand economics from a managerial standpoint in business. Hello! There is software for this sort of thing thank you very flippin' much. But no we somehow have a physicist teaching managerial economics in the MBA program. A man who does not understand that a nonprofit is not...

Sheesh! I've been away from this longer than I thought. Of course I'm going to blame work - saw that one coming did you? - and it would be an accurate statement. Suffice it to say that I am fed up, burned out, had enough, want out. As in "I want outta here yesterday". Only 7 more weeks of classes and then the MBA will be in hand. Okay it will be once the school mails the diploma to me. Apparently even if you have paid all your bills (thank you student loans) you don't get the piece of paper until they are good and ready. Back to the work thing. I did not sign up for a job that involved sales - cold calling sales. I wanted out of a bad micro-managing situation and now thanks to all the nervous nellies at division since the reorganization I am right back in a micro-managing situation. This has got to stop. I have no nerves left. Huge project due on Monday. Haven't started yet. Had meetings almost every night this week. Have started sending out the resumes but it...

One needs to set limits. On the time one spends doing stuff (who needs to clean every seam in the floor with a toothbrush after all?), on the effort put into things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things (if there is a grand scheme but that's a whole other topic), and on the way work intrudes into what passes for a life. You know, I've said it before I don't really have a life thanks to work and well, work. But it has gotten out of hand. Working from home does not mean that folks can call me 24/7 or drop by outside of office hours to discuss well, work. And yet they do. Most will tell you that I am high-strung, intense, even fierce in my emotions. Everything is right there, what you see is what you get. So as you might imagine I am all tied up in knots since I spent a full 8 hour day yesterday at a training session and then have spent a huge chunk of today dealing with the fallout because somebody didn't like something they heard at the thing. This i...

While the rest of the county had "snow days" yesterday and today we who work from home are not so lucky. The phones still need to be answered, email replied to and whatever else you can manage to get accomplished when you can't get out of the driveway. Oh yeah, and shoveling said driveway. Can't snuggle up with a good book and ignore the phone and emails. When your office is in your home you can never get away from it. I don't know about you but I had had enough of the media hoopla surrounding Ms. Smith following the birth of the baby and the death of her son. The poor thing led her life in the tabloid press. Leave the woman alone. No one gave her any peace to grieve her son or rejoyce in her daughter. Now she's gone. Sure it was a weird life, she was someone who was famous for being famous and not for any real talent or achievement - unless you can call knowing where the cameras are at all times a talent. But enough already. The vultures are circling, the bab...

When you workfor a service organization that depends on volunteers for its daily ability to function you are going to have a lot of headaches, experience a high level of burnout and come to understand why some species really do kill their young. When you're in graduate school you are also going to have headaches, come in contact with people who could not evenly remotely function in the real world and come to understand why there is such a thing as justifiable homicide. I am trying to survive both. At the moment... I am losing the battle, considering quitting the job and buying a gun. To quote one of my favorite songs: Send lawyers guns and money the s**t has hit the fan

This is funny. In a town in Texas it is illegal to rent an apartment to an undocumented immigrant. I suppose that is an attempt to discourage illegal immigration. But get this: they can outwit those landlords and buy a house. Yup you read that right. There are lenders out there who will grant a mortgage without you having to cough up a social security number. Heck, in deference to Hispanic culture they'll even put as many as four people on the mortgage (you see it is an insult to your parents in Hispanic culture if you move out of their home before you get married so why not buy that house with mom and dad?). Interesting huh?... you may not be able to rent that two bedroom apartment but you can buy that two bedroom house down the street. And do so legally. Go figure. I just heard this on NPR's Marketplace program but of course when I went to the web site I couldn't locate the story so I have no link to give you. It's just oddball enough though to spark ranting by vario...

Saw in the paper today in the "Random Kinds of Factness" section (I know, goofy name) that Union General John Sedgwick's last words before being felled by a Confederate sharpshooter were: " What! Men dodging for single bullets? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" And then there is the master of understatement Alexander Hamilton who after being shot by Burr in that famous duel said: "This is a mortal wound, doctor" There is some really good stuff on GeoCities Famous Last Words page: http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/6537/index.htm But Sedgwick definitely takes the cake.