Conservative Corner (my brother, Dan)
Naked and Unashamed (my brother, Scott)
Crazy Aunt Purl
(my friend Laurie)
There's Pie In the Lunchroom
(my friend Chuck)
Too Fat For Ponies
(my friend Sam)
Nashville Junk
(a Tennessean insider)
Recent posts:
Dec 27-30, 2005
Dec 19-22, 2005
Dec 8-16, 2005
Dec 1-7, 2005
Jan. 11, 2006
Dollie got a call from Rozzy's daycare yesterday. She was running a fever. Responsible parent that she is, Dollie got a sub, left work and picked Rozzy up. Had the parent of whichever kid gave her the fever been as responsible, the world would be a better place.
Yesterday afternoon, Dollie gets a call at home. It's Max's school. He's complaining about his stomach. They're dropping like flies.
Dollie and I suspect (but cannot prove) that Max was faking it. He didn't have a fever and his stomach ache seemed to come and go. He's been back in school for two days and has gotten two bad notes from the teacher. On the other hand, his teacher hasn't implemented any of the strategies we discussed with the special ed teacher last month. So, I'm not going to be overly critical.
Max's teacher, incidentally, is pregnant -- a situation that does not bode well for Max.
"Max, your teacher is going to have a baby," I said.
"I know," he replied.
"Pregnant women are mean," I said.
"That's right," Dollie added. "And it's not their fault."
"That's right," I added quickly. "Not their fault at all, but it means that things aren't going to get any easier."
This morning, Max pledged to do his very best today. I hope it works out for him because I'm running out of threats. The latest was to make him go back to kindergarden and go through it with Rozzy.
"Scrubs" was back on last night. I really like that show. It's one of the few sitcoms where I like the main character as much as the supporting cast.
"The Shield" also premiered last night, but I haven't watched it yet. I need to prepare myself mentally for that show.
For the last couple of weeks, I've been enjoying "Fear Factor" because they've been having stunts inspired by the film "Psycho." They're making the contestants stay in the Bates Motel in filthy conditions. Last night, as the episode was ending, thousands of cockroaches were flooding into the motel rooms. Pretty people doing stupid things. Heh.
Joe Biden (D-idiot) spent 12 of his 30 minutes yesterday at the Alito hearings talking about how much he hated Princeton. Dumb move, Joe. For one thing, talking so long without asking a question makes you look like a jerk. For another, it gives Alito more time to figure out how he's going to weasle out of answering whatever question you eventually get around to asking.
But the real problem was that Biden gave a speech at Princeton two years ago in which he praised the school and said he'd encouraged his kids to go there. So, Joe, shut up.
As stupid and long-winded as Biden was, that was prefereable to the lovefest that some of the Republicans were sponsoring. One of the GOP senators had a sign placed behind him that read "Alito, a man of integrity." That seems a little over the top.
Here's the thing. Alito has already lied during these hearings. He said he didn't remember being a part of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton. But a memo, written during the Reagan administration in which Alito was trying to get a job, shows that Alito bragged about being a part of CAP 13 years earlier. So he remembered, then he forgot, then he remembered again? Look, CAP, during Alito's membership, was a bad organization dedicated to keeping women and minorities out of Princeton. I don't believe Alito has those feelings now, but why can't he explain why he felt that way then? Why lie about your involvement?
Alito should be fillibustered, but I'm not holding my breath.
Bush gave yet another speech on Iraq yesterday. Can you smell the desperation in the air? I know most of you didn't see it, so I'll sum it up for you:
"Hey, critics of my Iraqi policy, shut up!"
A new Intelligent Design suit has been filed in California. The school in question is offering a course in ID under the heading of "philosophy."
Now, on the surface, that seems fine to me. A philosophy course on ID or even creationism is perfectly acceptable, so long as it is an elective and not required of anyone. But if you look at the course description, you get a different picture:
"the class will take a close look at evolution as a theory and will discuss the scientific, biological and biblical aspects that suggest why Darwin's philosophy is not rock solid. The class will discuss intelligent design as an alternative response to evolution. Physical and chemical evidence will be presented suggesting the earth is thousands of years old, not billions."
So it's not a philosophy course. It's not even a comparative religion course (again, which would be fine). It is a course designed to undermine the science of evolution. You'll notice how the description refers to evolution as "Darwin's philosophy." Darwin wasn't a philosopher. He was a scientist.
The teacher, who happens to be the wife of a local minister at an Assembly of God church, has no certification to teach philosophy, religion or science. She's a social science and PE teacher.
This doesn't pass the smell test.
I spent several years working in a motel for a family from India. I learned quite a bit about their culture and saw first-hand the hard work and patronage that made this family and others successful in America. Indians send more students to American universities than any other country. As an immigrant population they are the wealthiest and fastest growing group.
I also saw them abused by ugly Americans who think nothing of calling them "sand niggers" or worse. We, as a country, can get so caught up in the whole "We're No. 1" vibe that we lose site of the fact that when immigrants come here and prosper, it is because they love America, too.
As many of you know, companies in the U.S. are outsourcing their technical support to call centers in India. So, you may have a question for your cell phone provider in the states, but you're going to have to ask someone in Bombay. Working a call center gig is no picnic to begin with, but it can be murder if you're halfway around the globe being verbally abused by ugly Americans.
About one million calls get routed to call centers in India daily. Of those, about 5 percent (or 200,000 calls) involve bigotry. Think about that 200,000 calls a day in which some frustrated American makes an ethnic slur or verally abuses someone in India. That's some bad juju and it's turning a generation of young Indians into America haters.
In India, a new sitcom called "The Call Center" is slated to air soon. In it, the evil manager is an Indian-hating blowhard who developed this attitude while attending an Ivy League university in the states. Westerners are depicted as arrogant, intolerant and "comically rude."
Here's the thing. In India, about a third of the population is in poverty. A call center job pays about $200 a month and will put the worker in the Indian middle class. So, they often see it as their duty to take our insults and suffer our abuse because there are so many others there who would take their slot in a second.
In an effort to cut down on the abuse, these workers are adopting American names, taking lessons to neutralize their accents and offering to transfer abusive callers to state-side call centers. They're making all the efforts and we're just being ugly Americans.
Think about that the next time you're talking to "Greg" in Bombay.
Late addition:
Pat Robertson's big mouth got him a little trouble. Because of his comments about Ariel Sharon's stroke being a physical manifestation of the wrath of God, Israel is now backing out of a $50 million deal to put in a Jesus theme park.
Jan. 10, 2006
Had to go in to work early this morning because my car is being worked on. There is an oil leak that the mechanic said is "in the right place to start an engine fire." So, no driving into Nashville for me.
That meant I had to find a ride. Despite the fact that the traffic between Murfreesboro and Nashville is horrendous, I don't know a lot of people who make that commute each morning. I found a ride though. The best part was my boss coming into work an hour early and I'm already at my desk. Heh.
The radio goofballs kept talking about this crazy news story about a woman who was discovered dead, sitting in a chair facing her TV. It seems she'd been there for two years. She lived on the upper floor of a house and her family lived downstairs.
Creepy.
I haven't seen any of the Alito hearings because the first day is always a snoozefest. But I did hear Bush's endorsement of him. It was embarrassing.
Not only was that a dumb thing to say, but it's insulting to the jurists already on the court. Who is Bush to judge anyone's intellect? And what correlation is there between intellect and "class?" How are those already on the court supposed to take that comment? Do they not have class? Is there some sort of class deficiency on the court?
I hold no illusions that Alito will be blocked. The Dems aren't disciplined enough to keep him off the court. But it should be a painful process for both him and Bush, because Alito's big appeal isn't his pro-life stance or his hard-right conservative leanings. It's his deference to the executive branch. In every case where he's had the opportunity to rule on the rights of individuals versus corporations, he's sided with the corporation. Every case dealing with executive power, he's sided with the executive branch. He doesn't believe in a right to privacy. He doesn't believe that the three branches of government are equal.
He doesn't deserve a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land. Meanwhile, three ministers say they let themselves into the hearing room a day early to annoint all the chairs with holy oil.
That's going to leave a stain on some Sans-a-belts.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) has signaled his disapproval of Bush's warrantless wire-tapping caper in an interview on "This Week."
STEPHANOPOULOS: You don’t think the 9/11 resolution gave the president the authority for this program?
BROWNBACK: It didn’t, in my vote. I voted for that resolution. That was a week after 9/11. There was nothing you were going to do to stop us from going to war in Afghanistan, but there was no discussion in anything that I was around that that gave the president a broad surveillance authority with that resolution.
Then let's have some hearings and get this hashed out before Alito is seated on the court.
Tom DeLay has given up his hope of returning to the GOP leadership in the House. I was half hoping they'd re-elect him just so the Dems could run against him in November. Oh well.
DeLay maintains that the criminal indictment against him is meritless. The Texas State Court of Appeals has refused to throw out this supposedly meritless indictment. The court is composed of nine elected Republican judges. Is it safe to assume they gave him the benefit of the doubt and still think he's guilty?
The Abramoff scandal is going to tighten around his neck soon. Bush is already distancing himself. It looks like The Hammer is going down.
"Battlestar Galactica" started season 3 this week. That's got to be one of the most intense shows on TV right now. The season 2 cliffhanger was terrific. I've been biting my nails in anticipation of the resolution.
It is, quite simply, a beautiful piece of television. It's a complex and nuanced character-driven drama that just happens to be set in space. I'm hooked.
I had a Heroclix tournament on Saturday, the first in about a month. It was the marqee tourney for the Armor Wars release. I made the top four and took home a prize, so I was happy.
I don't know that I'm getting any better at Heroclix, but I find that I enjoy myself no matter how well I do because the guys who play are at least as geeky as I am. They're willing to discuss the intricacies of the Injustic League versus the Secret Society of Super Villans.
They can offer an opinion about current story arcs in comic books, cartoons and movies. I don't stand out because I'm 38 and know the difference between the Supermen of Earths, 1, 2 and Prime. Grand Adventures is my "Cheers."
I know I said I'd already made my one sports-related comment of the year, but this bit of info just came in over the electronic transom. Vanderbilt University has decided to drop MTSU from their football season opener in favor of Michigan.
MTSU beat Vandy in their last outing in what was supposed to be a "gimme." Heh.
Jan. 6, 2006
We didn't get any snow last night. That was no big surprise. I did see some flurries as I drove in to work, but nothing will come of it. It didn't even drop below freezing in Nashville last night.
Meteorology is an odds game. See, a meteorologist will look at current weather conditions and compare them with a database of all the previous days on record that had similar conditions. Maybe 35 percent of them had snow. Maybe 40 percent had rain. So, they go with the odds.
But going with the odds doesn't always get you where you want to go. Just ask USC. Heh. That concludes my one sports-related joke for the year.
This morning, the local news reported on a man in Oklahoma who was arrested for allegedly propositioning an undercover male police officer for oral sex. Under normal circumstances, someone getting arrested in Oklahoma wouldn't warrant a blurb on the morning news in Nashville.
The reason there is a somewhat national interest is because the man is a minister and an executive board member of the Southern Baptist Convention. He's also very vocal about the sinful, destructive lifestyle of homosexuality.
Like all of us, he is human and subject the frailties of this mortal coil. Unlike the rest of us, he got caught attempting to engage in the very lifestyle he has preached against. He holds a leadership position in an organization that rejects homosexuality. So, I have no sympathy for him. I feel sorry for his family and his church, but not for him.
He maintains his innocence, saying "I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police."
The area to which he refers was under surveilance by undercover police because people were complaining about homosexual prostitutes flagging down cars. Not the sort of place you'd expect to run into police in need of the Word.
The Southern Baptist Convention and his church have both declared they will not fire him, though the SBC added that usually in such cases the member resigns.
In addition to being arrested and having his 2005 Mercedes impounded, he may be subject to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Pat Robertson says that God struck down Ariel Sharon because of his policy of "dividing God's land." So, Sharon's acceptance of a Palestinian state is an affront to God?
Well, what does God think about you using his holy land to construct a Jesus theme park?
Newt Gingrich has come out of his hidey hole to chastise the Republicans for their complacency in the Abramoff scandal. Of course, he couldn't do it without being a little insulting to the Democrats:
You can have a lot these kind of problems and it makes people disgusted with Congress, but by itself, it's not defining. But it's much more dangerous for the Republican Party because we're the natural party of reform. Our base is the working, tax-paying American who doesn't like big government, doesn't particularly like Washington, and doesn't like this kind of behavior. And so, I think, we run a much bigger risk in these kind of scandals than do the Democrats whose base is, frankly, much more tolerant of corruption.
Wow. That's a bold statement. Newt Gingrich can bite me.
What's funny is how little we know so far about what happened and much more we're going to learn as more information comes out.
Oh, and O'Reilly's an idiot.
A baker in a small town in Italy has forced the closure of McDonalds by offering wholesome traditional fare instead of fast food. I think that's fabulous. I'm not a fan of McDonalds, but am often reduced to eating there because of my kid's incessant need for whatever Happy Meal toy is currently available.
I don't mind restaurants giving out tiny plastic crap to kids. I just resent having to eat there myself sometimes.
Lately, Max has been begging for Burger King because they're giving out Furbies. Between the color and pattern combinations, there are about 100 different Furbies available.
"Can we go to Burger King?"
"No."
"But I've only got six Furbies."
"And you're not going to get them all, so just give up the dream."
Sometimes you have to be harsh to be a good papa.
The irony is that I'm a member of the first generation to have the Happy Meal. McDonalds didn't actually invent the kid's meal (I believe that honor goes to Burger Chef), but they were the first to really exploit it -- use it to market other products. One of the earliest Happy Meals was for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It included a burger, fries, drink, cookies and a crappy prize.
I don't know when they stopped putting cookies in the Happy Meal, but now my kids get chicken nuggets, apple slices with caramel dip and juice boxes. But the toys have improved no end. McDonald's has morphed into a store that sells toys with a snack.
Awwww man, Lou Rawls has died.
They're building a Starbucks down the street from my office. I could care less since I don't drink coffee, but I did notice a story about the world's most expensive coffee and I needed a segue.
It's called Kopi Luwak and it costs about $75 a quarter pound. The beans are filtered through the digestive track of an Indonesian marsupial. I'm not sure what that does to the flavor, but it certainly makes harvesting the coffee more time consuming.
Apparently, these tree-dwelling creatures will eat only the reddest, ripest coffee beans. The locals gather the beans after they've been . . . uh . . . excreted. The beans survive the journey intact. The digestive enzymes supposedly improve the flavor of the coffee, but I'm skeptical.
Here's an interesting little interactive site. It's like a big refrigerator magnet free-for-all.
Play around with it and have a good weekend.
Jan. 5, 2006
Dollie said to me yesterday "I can't believe you haven't written anything about Jack Abramoff since he pled guilty."
Well, me either. But I just haven't had the time. So, I'm going to get into it today. Heavy political discussion alert:
First, Abramoff. As with Ken Lay and the Enron scandal. Bush is "playing" dumb. In a recent interview with news gargoyle Brit Hume, Bush pretended he didn't really know "Jack Abramamoff."
Bush made a spurious claim"
"Ahhh-secondly, I'm umm-ahhh, you know the, the Abramamoff-I'm frankly, I'm not all that familiar what's going on up there in Capitol Hill, but it seems like to me he was an equal money dispenser. That he was giving money to people on both political parties."
That's the big spin coming from the right -- this is a bipartisan scandal. But that's just not true. FEC filings show that Abramoff and his family gave nearly a quarter million to Republicans over the last two election cycles and not a dime to Democrats.
What the righties are sqwaking about is that some of Abramoff's clients gave money to Democrats, but not Abramoff himself. Now, if they want to cast the net that wide, to say in essense that money from Abramoff clients is just as bad as money from Abramoff, then they better watch out. Abramoff clients gave money to a very large number of government officials including Bush's campaign.
But Bush's suggestion that he doesn't have a connection to Abramoff is laughable. Abramoff has been culling favors from Bush since he was governor of Texas. He was part of Bush's transition team when he was appointed president. He was an original Bush Pioneer (meaning he raised $100,000 for Bush's campaign). The AP has the goods.
Now that Abramoff has pled guilty to bribery and corruption charges, he's going to spend between 5 and 11 years in federal prison, pay restitution to his bilked clients to the tune of $25 million and an additional $1.5 million in evaded taxes. Imagine what the prosecution must have on him to make him think this is a good deal.
There are plenty of Republican lawmakers who are wearing brown pants these days. I keep hearing lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say that this could be the biggest scandal since the teapot dome.
I'm popping popcorn.
Under the advice of Samuel Alito, President Ronald Reagan began issuing what's called "signing statements." These statements, which were issued when Reagan signed bills into law, made clear how the executive branch construed the law.
See, when the courts interpret the law, they look back at the congressional record to see what the intent was of congress when debating the bill. Alito argued that, since the executive branch was just as important in the enacting of law, the courts should understand the intent of the president when he signed.
Fair enough, I guess. In any case, no one paid much attention to Reagan's signing statements and subsequent presidents didn't bother.
But Bush has brought them back, signing more than 90 signing statements so far. What's disturbing about Bush's statements is that he seems to be saying that, while the bill will now be the law of the land, the president doesn't have to follow it.
Take the recent torture legislation that Bush said he was "delighted to sign." It included the McCain ammendment which states that the U.S. does not engage in or condone the use of cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment of prisoners either here or abroad.
Bush said he supports the ammendment. He signed the bill. Then he signed a statement which said (in part) this:
"The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."
For those who don't speak wonkese, let me translate: The president, being commander in chief, reserves the right to ignore this law in the name of protecting the American people from terrorist attack.
The key phrase here is "unitary executive branch," which alludes to an obscure doctrine called "Unitary Executive Theory." In it's mildest form, the doctrine means that the president can appoint and fired people within the executive branch. In it's more radical form (the one embraced by this White House) it means that ultimate authority over what is and is not the law lies with the executive branch.
That's a dangerous area to be treading in as it flies in the face of more than 200 years of Constitutional checks and balances.
So the question needs to be asked: Is there any law that the president feels he is bound by? If not, then what we have is a dictator, not a president. It may be time to get the torches and pitchforks.
Here's an interesting little mystery from over at NBC.
Andrea Mitchell interviewed author James Risen about the NSA domestic spying program. The MSNBC transcript included the following exchange:
Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?
Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that
Mitchell: You don't have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, Christiane Amanpour, might have been eavesdropped upon?
Risen: No, no I hadn't heard that.
Later, the transcript was changed and the question about Christiane Amanpour was dropped. Now Mitchell knows her stuff and wouldn't have brought up Amanpour (who is a reporter at a rival network covering the war in Iraq) without some idea of what the answer was. But, for some reason, NBC pulled the question from the transcript. Why?
Now. If Amanpour's phone is being tapped by the NSA, then you have a whole new scandal, don't you? I mean Bush's contention all along was that these warrantless wiretaps were only on people with a connection to terrorists. Amanpour is a journalist and a good one, who is occasionally critical of the administration's war. If Bush is tapping the phone of political enemies, then we're back to the Nixon administration.
This is, of course, all speculation. But it does bring up some serious questions about who's pressuring whom.
Late Update: NBC has confirmed that they are investigating whether or not the NSA has been spying on Amanpour. The reason the question was pulled from the transcript (according to NBC) is because the investigation is not complete and they didn't want to scoop themselves. This is huge. The reason is that NBC didn't say that they pulled the question because it was conjecture, they said they're still investigating. That means there is something there. We just don't know what, yet.
The weatherperson said we're supposed to get flurries tonight. In the basin that is Murfreesboro, that means at most, we'll see a light dusting. Max is already making plans.
"I'm going to build a snowman, make snow angels and have a snowballfight!"
Ahh, youth.
Jan. 4, 2006
Dolllie started rehearsals for the spring musical last night. This year, it will be "The Pirates of Penzance." That's right, she's directing a light opera -- a fact that stuns even her. The rehearsal process at the high school level is long and tedious. It involves a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth. Tender young egos get bruised and proto-primadonas sometimes don't take direction well.
But Dollie has an advantage in that the program is well established and the kids who are there really want to be there.
But it also means that Dollie will be dragging the kids along to rehearsals until I can make it back to Murfreesboro from work. It's not a horrible commute all the time, but it sure seems like it.
One of the things that has made it much more tolerable is the Sirius satellite radio. In my car, the regular radio will not work. There is a disconnect somewhere between the unit and the antenna, so it won't pick up anything except a single AM station and then only sporadically.
But I patched in the Sirius tuner and it rocks. Dollie got one for her car, too.
Speaking of the commute, I had an early meeting with a client and left the house early to give me enough time to stop by the office and make sure the last-minute stuff was taken care of (i.e. making sure we had enough copies of everything, that we have our agendas in order and what-not).
But traffic was moving more slowly than usual. It seems a tractor-trailer spilled some cargo all over I-24 just before the I-440 split (my exit). So it took me two hours to get to work.
So. short entry today. Enjoy.
Jan. 3, 2006
Happy New Year, everyone except the Chinese who celebrate it on a completely different day.
My break was great. I got to recharge the batteries and get invigorated about my home and work life.
I picked up "Civilization IV" recently, but haven't had the opportunity to play it. I've been distracted by other video game issues. For one, my neighbor Badger has purchased an Xbox. This is a tremendous step forward for him. But an explanation is in order.
Badger got his nickname partially due to winning a bet and partially due to his badger-like nature of holing up in his house and not dealing with people outside of what is required for work, beer and cigarettes.
Since he moved to his new home, he's come out of his badger den a few times and ventured into the local Wal-Mart Supercenter. He told me that for the first few minutes, he came very close to freaking out and having an axiety attack. The wide-open spaces, the endless variety of products, the bright lights and the crowds are all thing to which he does not normally gravitate.
However, he managed to calm himself down and shop. Since that first experience, he's made trips to Wal-Mart at least weekly.
So, he's making an effort to be more social and it's great.
He came to our brunch on New Year's Day and asked that I show him my new Star Wars game: Star Wars: Battlefront II. So I played through a battle and then dropped him in the icy trenches of Hoth and said "have at." After playing around a bit, he announced that he was going to Wal-Mart to buy an Xbox that very day.
I told him where to get a used model (in the same shopping center as Wal-Mart), let him borrow Star Wars: Battlefront and sent him on his way.
Now, here's the deal. The young Badger had Pong -- he had the deluxe set with the shooting game, hockey and all that, but it was pong. He hasn't had a game platform since. No Nintendo, super or otherwise, no Atari, no Intellivision, no Gameboy, no nothing. He said the guys at the gaming store dropped their collective jaw at that.
I'm sure they did. So, welcome Badger, to the 21st century.
As I mentioned before, we had our annual New Years Day brunch. Turnout was a little lighter than we expected, but it's quality, not quantity as we all know. I made egg nog, which turned out very tasty, but what a pain! Never have I separated so many eggs.
Since I used heavy cream and whole milk, Dolls, even with a Lactain Ultra, couldn't take more than a sip or two without it causing her pain.
Max loved it. He downed a big glass quickly and then grabbed his stomach and fell over, complaining. Five minutes later, he wanted another glass. Heh.
Since yesterday was the last day off for either of us for a while, Dollie and I decided to take the kids to Shopryland for some family freaking fun. We tooled around the mall and let the kids pet the sting rays at the Sting Ray Cove (or whatever it's called). You can feed them fish, if you want, but it requires you to let the ray cover your hand and take the fish from between your closed fingers.
Neither Max nor Rozzy were brave enough for that. Some of the smaller rays really seemed to enjoy breaking the surface and flapping their bodies, splashing water all over the bystanders.
Opry Mills has three aquariums and two carousels, so Rozzy was very happy. Well, see for yourself:
There is little on this earth that Rozzy likes more than a good merry-go-round. If we'd let her, she'd ride those things all day while we go shopping.
Of course, whenever she's having fun, tragedy of some sort strikes. In this case, it was of a private nature. Things weren't going well downstairs and she was uncomfortable and needed to be taken to the bathroom several times.
It followed a pattern: I need to pee, rush to the bathroom, she deposits about a teaspoon in the potty, we go back and find the others. Repeat every 10-12 
minutes.
She didn't want to leave, of course, and kept yelling that she wanted to do something else (besides go home) but it got to the point where she was uncomfortable riding in the cart or walking. I can only carry her for so long before I develop a hump, so we left.
But not before hitting a few of my favorite stores. Opry Mills has a Fossil outlet store and Dollie found me a tin of collar stays. I've recently purchased several shirts that require collar stays and I regularly forget to take them out before putting them in the laundry. This has lead to some discussions on the matter, as well as some promises to do better.
Regardless, I have way more collars than stays as they get lost in the wash or I put them somewhere and forget where.
Fossil put out a tin of collar stays in three sizes. Very cool 50s retro graphics and a promise that these are the "finest collar stays in the world."
"I doubt they'll ever have to prove that claim," Dollie said. She cracks me up.
Busy today, so that'll have to do for now. I'll get back to a more regular schedule soon.
