More year in pictures.

Late night thoughts: (Yeats and commentary). ***************************************************** When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. “When You are Old” by W. B. Yeats

Shannon is a local teacher with a new blog. She also got some props recently in the Buffalo News! Check it out.

Patti has the story of a local paper boy who saved a woman's life.

The year in pictures.

Go to this site and upload a photo of yourself. It runs your face through a data base and compares it with celebrities. Mine came up with Annette Benning (HA!) and an aged Indira Ghandi (more like it). Check it out.

This is so scary.... Channel 4 is reporting: Veterinarians all around Western New York are trying to nurse dogs back to health that may have eaten tainted diamond dog food. Dr. Jay Geasling of Sheridan Animal Hospital said, "If they are acting ill and not eating, they need to come into the hospital and get IV fluids and get supported." Last week, the company recalled the food after some tested positive for a fungus called aflatoxin, which can cause liver failure and in some cases, even death. The bags that may be contaminated are large bags with a capital 'G' in the 11th or 12th digit on the bar code. They have a best buy date between March 1, 2007 and June 10, 2007. The smaller bags have a 'G' in the 9th digit. In the meantime, local pet stores are taking all of the recalled Diamond pet food off the shelves and are sending it back to the distributors. They're also helping out nervous customers who may have fed their dogs the contaminated food. Laura Czosek, whose dogs ate the tainted food, said, "I was kind of nervous. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if the dogs would be OK. So, I told my mom to take the food back to the store." Her dog food was exchanged for another brand, and her dogs are doing just fine. But Dave Ehrenreich's 9-year-old Siberian husky named Lexus wasn't so lucky. He sustained liver damage after eating the tainted food. Ehrenreich said, "He seems to be doing better, but from what I understand, there's no guarantees on any of this, and I need to take him in on Wednesday for more blood tests." If you have questions about the recalled food, you can contact Diamond Pet Foods at 1-800-442-0402. If your dog ate the recalled food, and shows symptoms like a loss of appetite, jaundice, discolored urine, or diarrhea, you should call your vet immediately.

Well it's the bottom of the 27th and it's been a good holiday all in all. The little one got the main thing that she wished for from Santa (PS2- to be played sporadically) and I am grateful for another year of relative peace and prosperity, primarily in the form of growth *next year the yield will be more tanglible ;-) *and health. It's funny how you begin to measure occurences in terms of your reaction to them instead of the 'event' itself. I find I have a lot to be thankful for as this year wraps up. Alot to bitch about but overall much to be grateful for. Single mom dichotomy. Wouldn't have it any other way (at the moment). I guess it's back to work for a time tomorrow- downtime, time much needed.

My template got sabotaged somehow and I'm in the process of reconstruction so bear with me. UPDATE: MAN THIS IS DARK- I DON'T LIKE IT BUT I HAVE TO FIND AN ACCEPTABLE ALTERNATIVE, AGAIN BEAR WITH ME.

I just finished this book by Chris Lawford. His memories of his uncles Jack and Bobby and other members of his family I found the most readable. Lawford could have pursued the story of his drug use, arrests and attempts at recovery with a little more pitch but then it might have turned into another recovery slogan collection (it is to an extent anyway). I'm always up for the-newly-found-spiritual-path chronicles and he needs to clarify his perceptions a bit. The Hollywood-Washington recount is what's best here. Colorful story. Read an excerpt here. Which brings me to the next book on the subject that I want to check out: of which you can read the first chapter of here. This guy is onto something and it's about time the self-help industry was exposed in the light of contrast to the Oprah-fication and Dr. Philism we're bombarded with all the time.

Merry Christmas!

Starting to breathe again

The tree's up (not this one) and lit and decorated. I got it at Perry's this year and didn't get my usual *deal* at Boston Nursery but no time to make it out there last week, so I opted for the convenience. It's a cotton something-or-other that gives off a citrus scent and smells up the house nicely. My ornament collection is a pretty good one, I have a few Kugels I'm pretty proud of and stuff from over the years that I like. Each year I leave more and more in the box, a testimony to the ever growing collection, so I'm laying off acquiring any more ornaments for a while. After last week's madness, practicals, finals I'm just beginning to catch my breath, nowhere near done shopping, haven't even sent my cards out yet, except for a couple to overseas. Do I dare say that I don't care how much gets done this year? I would really just like to relax and take it easy for a few days- maybe I'll break the trend this year.

Craig is right on with a comparison of the fates of Buffalo and New Orleans. "We're just rotting away, face it. Ultimately, a city is not a club or an organization. It's not just "something" that plans and targets can cure. We're not frat-members, here. A city is an organism, it's a collection of hundreds of thousands of people whose success or failure translates into the city's fate. When we set rules that prevent most of the members from prospering, we fail."

Enhanced contemplation

Just in time for Christmas- and on sale now for $499 at the insidestore.com:Brondell Swash 600 High Tech Toilet Seat S600 A Swash is a high-tech toilet seat (also known as a seat bidet) that utilizes two retractable water wands to provide a fresh and hygienic cleansing of posterior and feminine areas. A Swash actually replaces your conventional toilet seat. Better than a conventional toilet seat, it has a heated seat and delivers a warm water wash with temperature, pressure, and pulsation adjustability. All functions are easily operated at the push of a button through through a remote control . * Posterior and feminine warm-water wash * Dual self-cleaning wash wands * Comfortable temperature-controlled heated seat * Sleek efficient design that fits 95% of residential toilets * Gentle-closing seat and lid * Germ-resistant seat * Available in White * Adjustable water pressure * Installs in under an hour * Easily replaces your current toilet seat * Remote control (wall mounted or hand operated) * Temperature-controlled warm-air dryer Remote control? Woo-hoo I'm sold!

Where do you fall?

Briefly:I have faith in something bigger, believe that energy outside of the realm of what we can see (spirits, angels, whatever) may influence our lives and I don't believe that when we die our soul just vanishes or travels to either a heaven or hell type existence. I believe in the soul. I think "ghosts" might fall under the 'outside the realm of everyday existence energy' category and though I've never given too much thought to the idea of UFOs, I don't see why life outside of this solar system would NOT exist ( I totally support such life not landing here especially if they claim to be looking for intelligent life). I am however, surprised at the low percentage of Americans that believe in reincarnation. If we on this planet are all interconnected in any way, it shouldn't be a stretch of faith or logic that remnants of lifetimes past exist (maybe even future) and that time is an entity which we don't at all understand. After all, the billions of cells each of us carry around have their own unique memory so why not the collective so to speak? God fearing Americans put faith in angels, miracles Wed Dec 14, 5:57 PM ET Rock solid majorities of Americans believe in God, angels, heaven and hell, and the survival of the soul after death, according to a new poll. Sizable minorities also think ghosts and UFO's exist, the Harris Interactive poll published Wednesday found. Eighty-two percent of Americans have faith in God, 73 percent believe in miracles, and 70 percent think there is a heaven and that Jesus is the son of God, the poll found. Sixty-eight percent believe in angels and 66 percent believe in Christ's resurrection, the poll found. Seventy percent of Americans believe that the soul lives on after death, and nearly two in three said hell existed. The United States has long been regarded as the most religious country in the western world: a separate poll by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago last week found one in two Americans had undergone a spiritual or religious revelation. One in three Americans, according to the Harris poll, also believed in UFOs while 25 percent put stock in astrology and 21 percent believed in reincarnation. The poll confirmed conventional wisdom that Republicans were more likely be Christians than Democrats, and that women were slightly more susceptible to religious belief than men. Harris conducted the poll online within the United States among a cross-section of 889 adults during November.

New Blog

JO's got a new blog and he's taking on the Ice Boom.

I remember this candle as a kid. Really neat old Gurley with a little candle in the back that lit up the scene in pretty blue. Long gone of course, but here's one on E-Bay in the original box no less, starting at 9.99 with 5 days to go. I'll keep my eyes on it but I'm not up for the a$tronomy at this time. Brings back memories though...

Bite me

Mom says I'm cheating, but when the sisters call a last minute cookie exchange and I am in the throes of finals week-- this is what it looks like- chocolate covered Oreos. It's really easy and it's festive and everything so why not? My 10 year old commandeered the chocolate bowls, doing the dipping and she's doing a better job than I've ever done (artsy type). The key is having 3 kinds of chocolate melted in seperate bowls at your disposal. Dark, milk and white. They all microwave-melt easily. Dip an Oreo in whichever bowl you wish, let it dry a bit on a plate or piece of waxed paper and then take a spoonful of another color and drizzle over the dipped Oreo. Easy, fun, yummy and anyone can do it. NEXT WEEK I'll be doing cut-outs, really I will. **Tops had Oreos on sale today 2 pkgs for $4 and chocolate disks 1.99/lb.

October 9, 1940- December 8,1980

"You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die." John Lennon

10 more days

til this semester is over. Then just one more in this program. It will be a relief to just have work, family and day-to-day stressors to deal with. I miss blogging and keeping up with what's happening in the world around me. Soon, soon.