Mommy Told Me Something A Little Girl Should Know

We had these records when I was a kid (records, remember them?!). On one of them was a song:

Mommy told me something
A little girl should know
And it’s all about the devil
How I’ve learned to hate him so

(and, Aunt Mamy, if you read this, the song WILL be stuck in you head now. Hah!)

Always one to remember lyrics (I can’t remember people’s names, but I remember the lyrics to a song I heard when I was 5. Go figure.), I was thinking about this song the other day. How could a song for little children tell them to hate? Even the devil? If Stinky or the Moth ever say the word HATE at the Trunchbull Academy, they get Mondo time-out. Hate is right up there with racial slurs and spitting.

So, as it’s verboten, “hate” has become quite… phat with the 3-5 crowd. Whenever one of them is crossed, they mutter under their breath that they hate the one who has crossed them.

Last night, Timothy was told to do something. I don’t even remember what it was, except it was something he didn’t want to do. Now, Timothy has seen Sean get in some big-time trouble because he “hates” Mom or Dad. Tim is quite the learn-by-example kind of kid, and at the same time, he wants to be in the “in crowd.” So, what does he say when he is vexed?

“I hate somebody.”

Quite the politician, no? How am I supposed to deal with that? The little creep is pretty smart, I gotta say (with no small amount of pride).

I fear for the world with this boy in it.

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First Day Of School

Stinky starts school on Wednesday. I cannot believe he is in kindergarten already. I don’t know any of the folks one needs to know, so he’s in the afternoon class with all the other kids whose parents aren’t in the PTO/ teachers in the school district/ related to one of the above.

I started school on Monday. It’s going to be fun, though challenging to carry 6 graduate credits while working full time. Luckily, the classes don’t look too complicated. And, this blogity hobby of mine has kept my writing skills above non-existent.

The Moth is quite perplexed that he is being left behind with all this change. He, too, wants to go to a new school. Alas, it is not to be.

For those who are on the dist list… I have cloggers galore. The new camera works quite nicely. However, they come over as mongo files (a meg a piece), and I haven’t the ambition to edit and chop them down. Anyone have Dad’s old round-toit? I could use one.

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Gotta Get A Better Commute!

I am alive. I believe everyone else is, also, as the radio did not call it a fatal accident…

Rather accidents…

It rained yesterday afternoon. Everyone knows that when it rains, driving is more dangerous. So, of course, people around here modify their driving to accommodate this. Not.

I watched the end of a 7 car pileup – skirted around it on the shoulder to hear the cars a bit behind me not break in time – according to the radio there was a truck amongst them.

I totally HATE driving!

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Business Speak

Once again, the Inquirer is fodder for thought (usually it’s just fodder for chagrin… but I’ve managed to stay away from their political spin lately).

The front page of the business section today has a list of common business clichés. “At the end of the day” heads up the list, but there are others like “low hanging fruit” and “think outside the box” which also made the list and annoy me to no end (Spaceley’s former CIO used those ALL THE TIME.)

However, I notice that the most commonly used phrases around Spaceley’s these days are not in the list:
“efficiency committee”
“layoff package”
“wall of attrition”
“not my problem”
(after looking over shoulders for eaves-droppers) “will you give me a reference?”

Rumor has it that there’s a Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times. At Spaceley’s, these are definitely… interesting times. Put that together with the world at war (interesting times seem to be contagious?), and I’ve gone into full information retreat.

Blogging will continue to be light, as my mood is not, and Jane Austen is proving a better outlet for my creative juices than the Dusty Aviary. But I will be back, at random moments like this.


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Our Right to Cheat!

I read with interest an article in the Inquirer (reg req) yesterday.

It seems that the Parking Authority in Philly is in charge of the taxi drivers. (now, there’s probably a whole commentary that could be written about that…) The PA wants to put GPS in all of the taxis. Ostensibly, they say it’s to ensure that a driver cannot lie about their position when a dispatcher calls. I imagine they also want to use it to check for taxi drivers who lie about their destination, pocketing the difference in fairs. And maybe, just maybe, they could use it to make sure that drivers are taking the most direct route and not rooking the customer.

None of this is what interested me, though.

The taxi drivers are going on strike. They totally hate the idea of the owners of the cabs knowing where the cabs are at all points in time.

I’ve thought and thought and I cannot come up with a logical reason, besides defending their right to either sloth or avarice, why the taxi drivers would strike.

But I do find it interesting!

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Star Trek TNG with Wings!!

Stinky has a new fave show (thanks to Mom!). He’s totally addicted to Gargoyles. So, as I sit at the computer in the morning (our hours have changed, meaning I have much less time in the evening for things like blogging), he watches Gargoyles.

At first, I noticed that the voice of the “bad” guy was very familiar. John said, isn’t that “number two”? (if you watch TNG, you’ll know that Picard refers to Riker as “number one” and, in a literary allusion, the quality show Beavis and Butthead took that to the next level calling him “number two.” Male humor. Got to love it!). Indeed, Jonathan Frakes is a voice.

Then, a few days later, I noticed that the female baddy had a very familiar brogue, as Aunt Florence would say. It’s Troi!!

Today, a new voice showed up – I didn’t know Klingons were on Gargoyles… Michael Dorn also voiced for this show.

If I hear someone reversing the polarity of something tomorrow when I’m drinking coffee, I know the takeover is complete!

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