Thursday, July 08, 2010

Doug Racine was Howard Dean's Lt. Governor!

40 comments:

  1. Hmmmm....I have a choice of being the tail end Charlie on the previous thread, or getting firsties after Dr. Dean on this one..guess it'll be firsties.

    Been busy getting things together for Naomi's move--that's this weekend. Mom and Dad will spring for some furniture and a TV set, also provide labor. Two weekends later we will help clean her old apartment.

    We had a bit of a fright last night--Miyoko realized she had a lump the size of a small egg under her right arm. In retrospect she thought she might have felt it beginning a couple of days before. Of course we couldn't avoid thinking of the worst, especially since I had cancer last year and we have had so many acquaintances and relatives of acquaintances coming down with (and some dying of) same. Also Miyoko's sister and youngest aunt had breast cancer. (Both cured.) On further reflection she recalled a mosquito bite about a week ago. So, off to the doctor this morning--he said unlikely in the extreme to be cancer--soft, mobile, not painful. No fever or other malaise But I gather that exact diagnosis of the cause of swollen lymph nodes is not simple. She was due for a mammogram, so instead of a screening mammogram tomorrow she gets a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. Doctor figured it was like as not from the mosquito bite. (West Nile virus, maybe? It's around here.) So we can sleep better tonight; in all likelihood it is just something transient that will resolve itself without treatment. Whew!

    And now to watch an old movie--Bogart and Bacall in "To Have and Have Not."

    P.S.: Bill: I see that the New Yawk Times doesn't think highly of Illinois' budget situation. If it's any comfort, I don't think highly of the New Yawk Times...or even if it isn't any comfort [grin].

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  2. Wow, Alan! Those sorts of scares sure do give you gray hairs, don't they? Sending good vibes for the gram.

    It's awfully good of you two to spring for furnishings for Naomi, plus all the labour. We did that for our son's apartment when he went off to Americorps, and have helped all of them in various ways. Never been sorry.

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  3. Already have too many gray hairs for a few more to be noticeable, listener. As for setting up our young 'un, since we can, of course we will, and with pleasure. I mean to work like a demon for a few more years, then keep working after that. BTW, the LCD-LED Sony TV's have a great picture. Color is definitely better than our older Panasonic Plasma. TTFN

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  4. We had a hard time deciding between the Sony and the Samsung when we got our flat screen. But once we saw them side by side we went for the Samsung. They're both good and clear, but Samsung's colouring seemed truer. I guess it depends on personal preference. But, yeah, LCD is way better than plasma!

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  5. It was already 91 degrees here at 10:30am. EEK!

    The squirrels have been relentless, going after our bird feeder lately, and in our focus on them we forgot the reason we had begun to hang the feeder so high, and moved it. So a bear came and knocked it down again. Silly us! We’ll refocus and maybe just fill the little feeder out front now, skipping the larger feeder out back. It gets a lot easier come November once the bear is asleep!

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  6. Advice from Warren Buffett:

    "The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean, you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it — it’s not uncritical love; that’s a different animal — but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being."

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100708/bs_yblog_upshot/buffett-recounts-the-best-advice-hes-ever-received

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  7. 89ยบ ~~ Feel lucky here, actually. And rain promised for tomorrow, and Saturday in the 70s. . . . with night in the fifities. I can live wit' dat.

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  8. The earliest Britons lived in Norfolk as much as one million years ago!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10531419.stm

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  9. YIKES! All love and good vibes! Give Miyoko a special hug from me, Alan.

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  10. Ooh! Sounds heavenly! Today is very slightly but noticeably cooler, but I still bless the memory of whatever genius invented the air conditioner. It's been beastly hot here. Tuesday there was a little breeze in the morning, but then it stopped and the rest of the day and evening were unbearable. That continued only more so yesterday. A breeze today and like I said slightly less miserable, but "less" is definitely a relative term. The kitties are miserable, especially the extra furry ones. And I don't know how much more Mum can take. Yet, nobody seems interested in hiking upstairs to my lovely AC. I don't understand it. I feel guilty, but ya can't force a person (or a kitty) to go someplace cool.

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  11. Interesting, Cat. Thanks!! How's *your* heat today?

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  12. HOT! See above.

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  13. What really blew my mind was the pinecone. I mean, wrap your mind around it, a million-year-old pinecone!

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  14. I was thinking that, too. How much longer *they* have been here than we have. . . .

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  15. Bill Thomasson7/08/2010 06:11:00 PM

    A lump the size of a small egg that appears suddenly is indeed unlikely to be cancer. Although a swollen lymph node can be worrisome as well, depending on exactly what is causing the swelling.

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  16. Bill Thomasson7/08/2010 06:20:00 PM

    No comfort, because the NYT article is spot on. A link was posted on Prairie State Blue. On the back page, because nobody local had anything to add.

    The thing is that the Democrats actually have the votes to solve the problem. But Michael Madigan -- who is both Speaker of teh House and chairman of the state party -- insists that nothing can be done without Republican support. And the Republicans refuse to support any tax increase, which is an essential component of any possible solution. I get the impression they don't realize that if they actually win in November, it will be their job to clean up the mess they created. (I say, "they created," in part because -- as the NYT story noted -- the origins of the problem go back to thet mid-1990s. And the Republicans controlled state government at that time.

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  17. Bill Thomasson7/08/2010 06:24:00 PM

    A bit cooler today. Low 80s, with predictions of mid-80s through Sunday. But I'm still glad that yesterday I figured out where to move the air conditioner box so I can use the window fan.

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  18. My wallpaper for today:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JqaXA41pvNc/TDZkpWKyu9I/AAAAAAAAGXc/l7c-mk08QJg/s1600/PhilsWeatherZone.jpg

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  19. Ah! The teeniest tiniest of thunderstorms parked right on my head!! Hope it stays a bit, lol!

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  20. If no actual people, who are presumably being hurt by the state's economic problems existed, I'd say Madigan is right. Let the Republicans refuse to cooperate and then let them work out how to solve the state's fiscal problems with, "Read my lips: no new taxes." It would be fun to watch. In practice, of course, such a course is incredibly callus. If the votes are there, go for it and screw the Republicans. Democrats do have a tendency to be terminally contrary.

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  21. Them and the sharks.

    Sort of a mini Total Perspective Vortex... An invisible dot on an invisible dot. I once saw the Earth's timeline set up like the Empire State Building or some such. The time Homo Sapiens has been here corresponds to something like the bottommost eighth of an inch.

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  22. Alan, which day was "tomorrow" when you wrote about Miyoko's mammogram, Thursday or Friday? If Thursday, how did she feel it went? I hope it goes really smoothly with excellent results. ♥

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  23. There are 27,000 abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico with slowly deteriorating seals.
    Some date back to the 1940's. What could possibly go wrong?
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38113914/?from=TWC&par=msnbcnews

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  24. Still raining, a little. I can almost hear the plants sighing in relief. *I* certainly am. And more predicted in the next two days, yay!!

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  25. Join me in a little Rain Dance, puddle!
    There are some nice storm cells headed my way from the NY side of the Lake!
    Hoping!!
    .............................. o ............ o
    ..........*O* ..............\\ .. O .. //
    ......"==||==" ............\\ .||. //
    ........... || .......................||
    .........//..\\ ............... == \\
    .......//....// ...............\\ ... \\
    .......=.....= ...............= .......=

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  26. I imagine all the birds are partying in the trees!!
    Poor little critters! And all the furry folk in the fields and woods!

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  27. Night in the 50's sounds heavenly!

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  28. I understand that we're s'posed to get rain tonight. My hopes for relief from said rain are not high, but you never know.

    *joining the rain dance*

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  29. Bill, tell me again how long you and Penny are going to be in Australia? I don't suppose there's any chance of your blogging from there, or sending us photos or anything...

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  30. What you doin, stealin' our weather?

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  31. Thanks Cat! Rain Party ON!
    .............................. o ............ o .......................,,
    ..........*O* ..............\\ . *O*.. // .............*O*...+
    ......"==||==" ............\\ .||. // ........"+++||++
    ........... || ....................... || .................../...\
    .........//..\\ ............... == \\ .............../____\
    .......//....// ...............\\ ... \\ ..............||....\\
    .......=.....= ...............= .......=..............=.......=

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  32. I think the backlighting method makes a big difference. The latest and greatest is total LED backlighting (in color no less). Samsung also looks good, I agree. None of the current ones blur like the old ones did when things moved.

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  33. The mammogram and ultrasound were this morning, Thursday. Another attaboy for Kaiser, they gave her a verbal report--nothing wrong--about ten minutes after. Even though we (I?) knew intellectually that the chances of cancer or some other serious nasty were not high, it was certainly a relief. Especially for Miyoko.

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  34. Joining, lol! Feels *wonderful* out. Door's open and all.

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  35. Where do I mail it to send it back?!! Yu kin hev et!

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  36. = INTENSE GRATITUDE ENSUING!!! =

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