This is still my website, though obviously it's gotta go since Koka went as well.

Any suggestions for a new domain?

I posted a Facebook status chewing out people who ignore politics and say it doesn't matter and they don't care. I got accused of posting a liberal rant full of nonsense about how the GOP wants to gut all sorts of social programs and leave everyone on their own.

Quoting myself:

That means, you're in favor of discontinuing Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, the department of education, the FDA, the FCC, the USDA, the SEC, the CPSC, and FEMA.

Anyway, right down the line. Content from the sources is quoted, my commentary is not. So there's where I come to my conclusions that the GOP wants to gut things and leave eeryone on their own, straight from their own mouths.

Medicare:

"Nothing change for current seniors or those nearing retirement...Medicare is reformed as a premium support system, meaning that existing ... continue reading Ladies and Gentleman, your GOP

I joined Weight Watchers about eight years ago, and after a few months I had lost about 25 pounds. Then my weight plateaued, and after struggling for months without losing any more, I decided I'd rather save the money and I quit. A couple of years later, I had gained all of the weight back, had a baby, and gained a bunch more. After more struggling, I joined Weight Watchers again, and after a few more months I lost about 15 pounds. For the next two years, I gained and lost the same 5 pounds, then decided to quit Weight Watchers again. I'd rather keep the money and try to manage my weight on my own. Over the next few months, I gained about 15 pounds, and now I'm heavier than I've been since all of this started.

I think Weight Watchers is a good, solid program. It's built on solid weight-loss principles based on real data. Yet, it only works for a small number of participants. According to a 2008 study (continue reading Why I'll Never Lose Weight

On March 16, 2012, Aon held a Special Shareholder Meeting to vote on, among other things, moving the company's headquarters to London. As part of this vote, a relocation package was proposed for Greg Case, the CEO, and three other executive officers. (See p. 53 of the Proxy Statement.) The proposed relocation compensation for Greg Case was $1,202,000; the total relocation package for all four executives equaled $6,480,964.

You can access the Proxy Statement and other financial materials here: http://ir.aon.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105697&p=irol-intermediate

According to Forbes, at $17.54M Greg Case is only #77 on the list of the highest paid CEOs. #1 is John Hammergren of McKesson, at $131.19M. (See http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/12/ceo-compensation-12_rank.html.)

I can't even comprehend $17 million. I ... continue reading Greed, Greed, and More Greed

As much as I always tell people that they need to get their debt under control and knocked out, I'll also freely admit that I'm not flawless and I do have a bunch of debt sitting around. The mortgage on the house, obviously. But also credit card debt. A lot of it comes from a particularly rough summer a few years ago (Tucker needed surgery, the air conditioner needed to be replaced, some other expensive event that escapes me at the moment), but a lot of the rest is just general stupidity or impulse purchases or the usual "something came up". Life gets in the way of our perfect ideas, but the important thing is to keep soldiering on and get it under control.

A useful tool to help out with that is a balance transfer offer that your credit cards will frequently give you. They're pretty standard - your rate drops to some low number (usually between 0-7%) for several months or years (or if you're really lucky, until the balance is paid off), and then hops back up to whatever your normal ... continue reading Running the numbers

I wanted to write this up real quick before I forgot.

Babe and I went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner tonight. We ordered the KJ bucket to split - mussels, scallops, and crab. It was very good.

But, unfortunately, about 5 of the mussels were closed and hence inedible. So later when the waitress came over to ask how we were doing, we told her that several of the mussels were unopened. To her credit she immediately said that that wasn't good and she'd get it taken care of and they'd probably just re-make the entire bucket. Sounded fine to us.

She came back a few minutes later, apologized, and said that they could only re-make the mussels, since the rest of the food had been eaten. That was fine with us since, after all, all of the other food was fine. We just wanted some more mussels.

A few minutes later, the manager brought over a fresh pot of mussels and made a big production of opening up the top, telling us that they got it right, and if there were any problems they'd keep re-doing ... continue reading The dessert is alive!

Alex is going through a fearful stage. He periodically decides some of his stuffed animals and toys are scary, and he wants them out of his room.

To date, this is what has been banished:

All 3 monkeys

Curious George

His turtle pillow (a Pillow Pet)

2 dragons

A penguin (Opus)

A 3-foot tall Easter bunny