The Harnation

It's pretty clear why this woman wasn't invited to her sister's wedding.

After showing up univited to her sister's wedding reception to "talk about [their] ongoing family problems", AnnMarie Bricker approached the bride. When the bride, Lori Kappes, tried to ignore her sister's attempts to talk, Bricker jumped on her back and pulled her to the ground. After the groom and two wedding guests pulled Bricker off of the bride, Lori Kappes was left with a broken necklace and missing clumps of hair.

Wow! I'm glad I'm not in that family!

Okay, so the title of this post sounds kind of dirty, but I was referring to the newly proposed >$825 billion economic stimulus package.

There is a searchable pdf of the proposal here.

Some things in this package include:

- $75 million for smoking cessation
- $4 billion for "neighborhood stabilization" (hello, ACORN)
- $246 in targeted tax breaks for Hollywood
- $600 million to universal health care promotion
- $24 billion to "green job" projects
- $335 million for STD education and prevention.
- $572 million to create 1,235 Coast Guard jobs (this = $460,000+ in spending per job) (pg. 41)
- $200 million for alternative energy vehicles for the Dept. of Defense (p. 23)
- $1.5 billion for a "carbon-capturing contest" (p. 32)
- $3.5 billion for higher education facilities - does this mean that those increased tuition rates due to "the economic times" will be reimbursed? (p. 64)
- $45 million for All Terrain Vehicles - $25mil for ATV restoration and $20mil for trail maintenance/restoration (p. 45)
- $60 million for HIV and chlamydia testing (p. 60)
- $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax
- $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts
- $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years (pg. 42, 83, 84)
- $2 billion for child-care subsidies
- There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons (pg. 13)
- the list just keeps going... see for yourself.

You can't make this stuff up!!

Stripped from the bill include Nancy Pelosi's proposed federal funding for birth control handouts, and $200 million to give the National Mall in Washington, D.C. a facelift (which included 21 million for sod!!). What the heck does this have to do with the economy?!

"The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government." (John Brodigan)

This is just the initial cost if it were to be paid out immediately. With interest over the proposed spending period, the bill will top $1.1 trillion!!!!

Michell Malkin writes, "...the vaunted infrastructure spending will take years and years and years to kick in. Just 7 percent of the total $800 billion-plus stimulus funding would enter the economy by the end of this year...President Obama asserted that there is no disagreement on the need to Do Something. He's wrong. Two hundred economists spoke up this week in an open letter disseminated by the libertarian Cato Institute: 'More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s,' they said. 'More government spending did not solve Japan's 'lost decade' in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today.' "

The Wall Street Journal notes, "This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years...by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus."

John Lott, Jr. notes that the economy isn't actually as bad as some in politics and the media would lead you to believe and that some politicians may actually be making things worse on purpose.

We've already heard how recipients of the last "economic stimulus bill" (TARP) have squandered millions of dollars. $50 million for a private jet, $1 million to remodel an executive's office, hundreds of thousands of dollars on spa days and golf outings.... the list goes on. We don't have to worry about the current proposed bill actually being spent on economic growth - we'll know beforehand that most of it is guaranteed to not be spent on growth.

This is a great example of how you can scare people during a crisis into action - even if that action will most likely make the crisis even bigger.

Note: The bill passed the House vote last night. Our local congressman (D) voted against it. It's going to the Senate soon.

Watch CBS Videos Online

I didn't know that you could weave glass, let alone weave it and create such beautiful objects. Too bad I can't afford any of this stuff!

I read this story and had to laugh. It's one of those stories that you want to laugh at, but you know it's probably not the PC thing to do.

This bus driver apparently slammed on the brakes to throw misbehaving kids from their seats. Now, I would probably be pretty ticked if that were one of my kids being thrown around the bus, especially if they got hurt. Really, this is a definite no-no, but I can sort of understand where she might have been coming from.

I rode the bus for about two years before my best friend was old enough to drive us to school. I loved it. We had a good group of kids on our bus and I also really loved the bus driver, Mrs. Hefner.

However, a few times I had to ride other buses - either because I was going home with a friend or because one of the buses broke down, and some of those routes were no peach. These were not the happy bus rout depicted in Napoleon Dynamite. Depending on who rode the bus, or how full it was, sometimes it was very rowdy. Besides monitoring the kids who liked to make-out in the back seat, the driver often had to break up fights, manage to concentrate on the road with 50 screaming kids behind her, keep kids from mooning the cars behind them, pull spit wads from her hair, and separate bullies from their helpless victims. I did not envy the kids (or drivers) on those routes. Some of those kids probably deserved to be thrown from their seats, or at least have their heads slammed into the seat back in front of them - not that I'm saying that the driver should of done it, of course.

We're about to pick up a new book for our small group study and are considering reading Pilgrim's Progress. The dilemma is... should we read the (old)original version, or a (newer) modern English version (or, let people decide which one they want to read)?

I haven't read Pilgrims Progress since I read the abridged kiddie version probably close to 20 years ago. My 4th grade teacher, Miss Hoogwerf, however did read it aloud to us, although I'm not sure what version she used (can't remember that far back, sorry).

So far, I've read about ten pages of the original version. It's not that hard to read, but it does take about half of a page to get back into it every time you stop. Plus, there were several words that I'd never heard of before and just had to go with the context to know what they meant.

Has anyone read either version in the past? Did you have a preference/recommendation?

Take the quiz at the right --->

Weird, but funny. I like the other passengers' reactions the best. :)

When we first bought our house several years ago, I had very limited gardening experience. I went a little nuts-o with our new flower bed installs and plant picks. Most of it worked out pretty well, but some of it was a steep learning curve.

My experience is only slightly less limited now, at least enough so that I have learned that the best way to garden is to find the right plant for the right spot. One of the things I won't do again (or at least, I'll try to control my plant envy enough to not do again) is to buy a rose, or other high-maintenance plant, that is not classified as extremely disease-resistant and fairly easy care.


Take my 'Climbing Iceberg' rose, for example. I picked this plant when we built our pergola and trellis. I researched climbing roses to find a very long-blooming and tall cultivar. 'Iceberg' is supposed to be moderately disease resistant, but mine is not. It loses all of its leaves at least once every year from black spot - even when I try to spray it every couple of weeks (but who has time for that, anyway?). Now I've decided to pull it up and plant it in the back corner of the yard where it can hang over the fence and look pretty from a distance - no one will know it's got black spot from back there.

Some smart rose purchases I made last year were 'Tamora', 'Sun Flare', 'Mardi Gras', and 'Dream Come True'. All are extremely disease-resistant and heavy bloomers. The latter two are AARS winners (All American Rose Selections - a title bestowed upon only the best performing and easy care roses). They all did really well and I didn't even have to do anything with them except to fertilize once or twice and snip some blooms whenever I wanted a fresh vase of roses from May - October.


But, for the most well-known low maintenance shrub roses, you should consider the Knock Out Rose series. They are prized for their performance, disease resistance, and low-maintenance attitude. They come in a lot of colors and forms. Matt and I bought a 'Blushing Knock Out' for my mother-in-law a year or two ago and it is simply gorgeous. She said she doesn't have to do anything with it. My mom bought a 'Rainbow Knock Out' last year at the plant sale, and I've got the original 'Knock Out' rose at home.


With our addition of several new flower beds last fall, I've got some more room for a few new plants - but I'm trying to take my time and choose wisely. This spring, I plan to move my gardenias from the front bed to the back (I hope they survive the move) and add a couple of new Knock Out roses next to them. I'm thinking that I might spring for two of the 'Sunny Knock Outs', which are a mix of white and yellow blooms for that spot.

Ahh... I can't wait for spring!

You know it's cold when....

The dogs won't go outside, not even when Matt has salmon on the grill.
You bend your key in the frozen keyhole of your car door.
Your scarf or face/neck warmer gets crunchy from your frozen breath.
You have to look at pictures of actual flowers, because the yard is desolate and barren.
You know the meaning of "poopsicle" after your pets take their potty break.
You can pull a Schwartz by sticking your tongue to a large metal immobile object.

Looking forward to the rest of this cold spell (and lows tonight in the single digits)!

PS> Matt said he was watching the news this morning when they were interviewing people about the cold spell. One older guy said, "Well, what we have here is a failure of global warming, but don't worry. It'll warm back up again." Haha!

I think "Amy Beth" is just the prettiest name I've ever heard. I kind of regret the years of "Amy Beth Stinky Breath" torments that Mrs. Pie and I threw her way - at least the last few, which pushed Amy Beth to insisting that we only call her "Amy" from then on.

Love you, lil' sis!

I could tell it was going to be "one of those days" this morning.

At first, everything was going pretty well. I decided the night before to get to work an extra hour early to make up for the time I have to miss due to class but when the alarm rang in the morning, I negotiated with myself to make up half of the time the next day - I already had to stay late anyway.

So, after getting dressed with a few extra minutes of sleep under my belt, I was packing my lunch and walked to the car to put my gym bag in the back seat. Five seconds later, I find the demon child - aka "Ace" - devouring my breakfast! I was SO ANGRY. (Plus, it was the last english muffin and we were zeroed out on breakfast foods until Matt could run to the grocery store after work).

On the drive into the office, I realized that I forgot to curl and lace my eyelashes with a coat of mascara - which, for these straight, short Asian lashes, is a big No No when entering any sort of public arena (unless I want to surprise my co-workers with the look of death). No problem, I'll run into Target and grab an eyelash curler and some fruit for breakfast while I'm at it - it's on the way.

Not. Target opens at 8am, and I'm trying to get to work early, remember? Boo! I was forced to turn around and go to the dreaded other place - where I haven't set foot in probably two years. After hiking in from my parking spot in Egypt and fighting with the stupid "self checkout" before getting it to work properly, I was 20 minutes behind when I'd planned to get to work.

Once I finally made it into the office, I spilled my coffee all over my desk - and my purse.

The funny thing is, once I actually started work, the day went really well. I got a lot done, went to class, and didn't even mind when class went long (sorry I missed your Jazzercise class, Manda).

A couple of the bands that I've been listening to lately are Spoon and Death Cab For Cutie. Both are relatively new (at least compared to Matt's fave, 311) and not quite mainstream yet, but seem to be getting more recognition lately.

Since most people don't know who these guys are, I thought I'd share.



"I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab for Cutie


"Don't You Evah" by Spoon

What do you think?

Ok, I guess it's time for an update. Most of you have probably heard by now, but in case you haven't... Road Atlanta didn't go quite so well this time around.

I guess the trouble started the Tuesday before I went to the track. A friend of mine has a trailer that I'd been planning for months to borrow to haul the car to the track. When I first asked him in approximately August and each time I reminded him that I needed it there were no problems. But, Tuesday came around and I called to let him know that I was coming to pick it up and surprise, something came up and he needed it that weekend. Not a big problem. I called U-Haul and everything was on track again.

The next issue was my planned departure time on Friday. I had put in plenty of hours and was hoping to get out of the office around 9. 8:45 rolled around and surprise, a meeting pops up for 10 that I HAVE to attend. Not a big problem. I finally got out of the office around 12:30, pick up the trailer, pack what feels like the entire garage and hit the road about 3:30. Back on track.

All's well until about 10 miles west of the Alabama/Georgia state line on I20. I'm cruising right along trying to make up a little bit of time. Then a black Maxima passed me while pointing backward and waving franticly. I took a quick look in the rear view mirror and surprise, flat tire on the trailer. I made a few calls to U-Haul and after about 2 and a half hours sitting on the side of the interstate, in which time it got very cold and very dark outside, a guy showed up and got everything straightened out. At this point I'd given up on arriving in Atlanta at any sort of decent hour. At least I was again headed toward the track.

It does get much better here... for a little bit.

Saturday morning was pretty chilly at the track before sunrise, but it actually warmed up nicely and ended up as a beautiful day. Michael and I had several alternating sessions on track and in the classroom. He had an instructor and my dad rode along with me since he made it to the event and is allowed to ride because he's a NASA instructor in the NorCal region. The track time on Saturday was GREAT. I learned a lot and really felt comfortable managing traffic. My speeds also came up a bit. The car ran fantastic, the brakes were amazing and the tires were doing really well for being DOT street tires. Michael said the first session was a bit nerve racking, but it all came together for him in the second and third session. We covered up the car, grabbed some mexican food and hit the sack early. GREAT DAY!




Sunday morning was also a bit on the cold side, but we had a little later start so it wasn't quite as bad. I uncovered the car and warmed it up while Michael had a classroom session. Then I hit the track for my first session of the day. Everything was running great, just as it had on Saturday. There wasn't much traffic, the track was great and I was really pushing the pace. The car also felt better being a couple hundred pounds lighter load since I was passenger free. I managed to get about 15 of my 20 minute session and surprise again, it all came apart. I'll spare you all the gritty details, but the big picture is the back end tried to lead the front and I ended up in the tire wall. This time I was done.

It was all driver error. I knew Road Atlanta wasn't the place to be driving that hard since there are a lot of walls, but it really was going well. Lesson learned.

I never had a tea set growing up and I don't remember having any imaginary tea parties as a kid - although my parents did drink real tea on a regular basis. When Matt and I went to Savannah recently, we decided to stop in at the Gryphon Tea room for high tea. We had so much fun that I decided it was time for me to get my first tea pot.

For Christmas, my lovely Aunt got me this beautiful tea pot and my sweet mother-in-law got me the matching cup and saucers, mugs, and sugar/cream. How cute! Matt took me to the local tea room to purchase some loose leaf tea and we enjoyed our first up out of our own tea set. Playing with real tea has to be more fun than the imaginary stuff. Tastes better, too.

note: I don't work on these systems or have anything to do with them. All of this information is widely available online. Links to the source(s) are included below.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've heard the term "SA-" before. Not a lot, but once or twice is enough to wonder what it is. It's not that it comes up in every day conversation, but living in proximity to a defense-oriented community brings with it certain vernacular, and some terms can come up every now and then - especially when there are models of such systems around town. All of the "SA-7", "SA-10", "SA-etc." got me wondering... what the heck is that?

Well, to find out I went to the source of all incredible knowledge... Wikipedia. Once I got on there, I found myself reading all about this. It's pretty interesting stuff. Wiki says that the NATO-appointed SA term refers to "Strela", a series of Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles. There are several former USSR-built versions, and even more versions created by their modification by countries all over the world. Because there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of versions, I'll just go over a few.


The SA-1 Guild (S-25 Berkut) was the first operational surface-to-air missile in the world, created by the USSR under the direction of Stalin. With the United States's increased capacity to carry nuclear weapons using the B-47 and B-52 bombers, the Soviets began developing several missile systems to replace the outdated WWII-era gun defenses. From the SA-1 came the SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina). "This program focused on producing a missile which could bring down a large, non-maneuvering, high-altitude aircraft. As such it did not need to be highly maneuverable, merely fast and able to resist aircraft counter-measures."

China first used the SA-2 to shoot down several Taiwanese aircraft in 1960, and then "during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 piloted by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson was shot down over Cuba by an S-75 in October 1962." The Soviets also gave the North Vietnamese some of the missiles, which were used to shoot down American planes during the Vietnam war.


The SA-7 (Strela-2) is a shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missle, or MANPAD (Man Portable Air Defense System). The SA-7 uses an infrared seeker to lock onto a low-flying aircraft and can be avoided with the use of flares or other heat or infrared decoys. A soldier can setup, launch, and hit a target within 13 seconds of carrying the missile on his back. Since its inception, the SA-7 has been modified and obtained by numerous countries. Al Qaeda is said to have created a training video on how to use the SA-7. Along with its variants, the SA-7 is especially dangerous because of its high portability. Enemies can easily carry one in on foot or in a pickup truck and can shoot it from just about anywhere.


The SA-10 (S-300P) was a vast improvement to the SA-2. Deployed in 1979, it implemented a missile-firing system onto the back of a semi, or TEL (Transporter-Erector Launcher). "This system broke substantial new ground, including the use of a phased array radar and multiple engagements on the same FCS. Nevertheless, it had some limitations. It took over 1 hour to set up this semi-mobile system for firing and the hot vertical launch method employed scorched the TEL."

"The S-300 system was developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. Subsequent variations were developed to intercept ballistic missiles... The S-300 is also capable of destroying ballistic missile targets, and is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded[2]. Its radars have the ability to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. S-300 deployment time is five minutes." One version of this system, the SA-10d/e, is thought to have been fitted with a nuclear warhead.


The SA-12 Gladiator/Giant (S-300V Antey) is a bigger, high-altitude version that has increased mobility over the SA-10. It carries a larger missile (only two at a time can fit on the launcher vehicle) with a 331 lb. warhead and has a better target detection and guidance radar.


Even larger is the SA-21 Growler (S-400 Triumf), which was developed by Russia in the late 1990's, and can detect and destroy targets from a distance of up to 250 miles. The Russians announced earlier this year that they would upgrade all S-300 systems in Northwestern Russia with the longer-range S-400 systems. They have already sold some of the systems to China, the UAE, and Greece. Iran has also shown an interest in obtaining the system, which posses a possible threat to the US and to Israel.

See also:

Ground based	SA-1 Guild · SA-2 Guideline · SA-3 Goa · SA-4 Ganef · SA-5 Gammon · SA-6 Gainful · SA-7 Grail · SA-8 Gecko · SA-9 Gaskin · SA-10 Grumble · SA-11 Gadfly · SA-12 Gladiator/Giant · SA-13 Gopher · SA-14 Gremlin · SA-15 Gauntlet · SA-16 Gimlet · SA-17 Grizzly · SA-18 Grouse · SA-19 Grison · SA-20 Gargoyle · SA-21 Growler · SA-22 Greyhound · SA-23 Gladiator\Giant · SA-24 Grinch
Naval based	SA-N-1 Goa · SA-N-2 Guideline · SA-N-3 Goblet · SA-N-4 Gecko · SA-N-5 Grail · SA-N-6 Grumble · SA-N-7 Gadfly · SA-N-8 Gremlin · SA-N-9 Gauntlet · SA-N-10 Grouse · SA-N-11 Grison · SA-N-12 Grizzly · SA-N-14 Grouse · SA-N-20 Gargoyle

note: all of this information is widely available and links to the source(s) are included above.

I thought this was a funny and heartwarming story.