Yo Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum

I'm thinking that this Somali pirate thinks he has died and gone to heaven.

I'm betting that life in an American prison is better than freedom in Somali.

He will receive 3 meals a day, a bed to sleep on, clean clothes, free health care, TV, probably a room all to himself and an education if he wants it.

Let's just hope he doesn't write home and tell his buddies about it.

Disclaimer: This is an opinion - to which I am entitled.

Hooray For Iowa

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled, in a unanimous decision, that a state law limiting marriage to a man and a women is unconstitutional. Iowa joins Massachusetts and Connecticut in allowing same-sex vows.

I always knew Iowa was a great state to call home. My roots run deep in Iowa soil. Even though I have lived in Florida for 36 years, when someone asks me where I'm from, I always say Iowa.

Iowa has always been a progressive state. It has one of the best educational systems in the country and right now it is the number two state in wind powered energy production. The windmills standing in all the corn fields produce 12% of the state's energy needs. Last year they were able to sell power to North Carolina and they are just getting started.

Hooray For The State of Georgia

There is an article in today's St Pete Times titled "Ga. wants drivers to speak English". It says that the Ga legislature is considering a bill that would require new drivers to take a written test in English without a translator or other aid.

Some employers and immigrant advocates worry that it would keep people unfamiliar with the language from being able to work.

I say, if you want to live and work in the United States - learn the language!

I could not go to Mexico or France or Italy and live and work without knowing their language so why shouldn't people coming here be required to learn English?

I applaud the state of Georgia. I hope the bill passes.

Dave at http://ratherthatworking.blogsopt.com wrote an interesting blog called "Saving the News Gathers" regarding the demise of newspapers. I agree with Dave and think it is really sad. The daily newspaper has been a part of my life since I was a little girl.

When my sister-in-law and brother-in-law moved to a small town in western NC, there was no newspaper. This was very hard on my bother-in-law so three times a week he would drive to a town 20 miles away to get a copy of USA Today. After a while he cut it down to twice a week and then down to once. Finally he stopped altogether. He hasn't read a print paper in two years and says he doesn't miss it at all.

I subscribe to the St Petersburg Times but will probable go to just the weekend only when my subscription is up. The paper really doesn't have much news in it now anyway - just advertisements.

I do worry about the cartoonist. Cartoons are really an important part of the paper for me. Reporters can get other writing jobs but I really hate to see the demise of good cartoons. Perhaps we should put then on the endangered species list.

Time marches on but sometimes it's hard to keep up.

All Done

The new windows are in and the new blinds are up. I couldn't be happier. Home Depot did a fantastic job on the windows.

Of course, when I told my husband that the blind man was coming to install the blinds he said "that should be very interesting to watch". He thinks he is so funny.

I have used this company before and they are a small, family owned, local company. I like to use small, local business whenever possible. These people need all the support we can give them now and they actually are the same price if not better than the big box stores.

I hope that's all the home improvement projects I will have to do for a while.

Although...... The pool still isn't finished. Lesson learned - Don't hire friends.

Boring

This has been a very boring weekend.

How boring was it, your asked?

It was so boring I actually got dressed, combed my hair, put on makeup and went to Nala's (my daughters dog) puppy obedience school graduation. Woo Hoo!

Check Sonja's blog. I'm sure there will be pictures.

Hurry, Hurry

They measured for the new windows yesterday. It will be 2 to 3 weeks before installation. It can't happen soon enough for me. The window above my computer lets in so much cold air, my hand is frozen to the mouse.