A great day! My Dell laptop is back and even though Dell said they had to fix four problems, they retained my files and a cd-rom stuck in the drive. Also, the Dow is headed back up to 9,000!

Today I go to get a Shingles shot. Quite expensive, but those of us who had Chicken Pox as kids are susceptible to Shingles as we get older. This is an extremely painful disease. I can still remember my Grandfather suffering with the pain for almost a year. Sometimes the pain can last for the rest of one's life. (One of my friends is suffering from Shingles right now and as an empath I can feel her excrutiating pain whenever I talk to her.) I am the Shingles Shot Guinea Pig.. if I don't have side-effects from the shot, maybe Elaine will get it.

For years I have toyed with the idea of writing a book about some of my experiences. (yes.. I have had some experiences, you disbelievers) At the moment, the plan is to just write about my experiences in the Baltimore area.. from arrival in the city, to entry into Carroll Lutheran Village.. with emphasis on my time at the Social Security Administration. Also, lots of family stuff to help future Vaughan genealogists. It will probably be the most boring book ever written, but what the hell!

In the "Genealogy Gang" that meets in the Village, each of us has made a presentation about their life. We had about 45 minutes to an hour to do so. My time ran to over an hour, and I never did get past the years before I entered the Air Force. So you see, I have a lot to talk about.. now, whether it is interesting or not.. that is another story. If I get another chance to talk to the group, I will cover my time in the service, then my time in Boston, at the University and in the 38 jobs that I held while in school, and then the Baltimore part. (I may have to supply pillows for nodding heads.)

With my laptop back, I once again have access to a Dell home page, which I like because I can set up views of the titles of email from 8 of my email addresses and also have instant access to my MSN account. Now I have a universe of about 900 messages to look at. I do notice that the old "bugaboo" is back... that is, some of my dear and trusted friends and relatives are starting to forward to me erroneous and vicious "garbage" messages. (I thought that this all ended when 2009 started.) I wish that the people who forward this stuff would analyse what the messages say. Is it showing an underlying prejudice against some group or race or type of person? I now do not open forwarded messages unless the title clearly states that it is not "dumb" stuff. I just ask that those who want to forward such dribble, THINK first.

I have a subscription to what is now XM/SERIUS (sp?) and I listen to it when I am driving. Usually I just listen to XM 151 (Laugh USA) which is a "clean joke" station, and as I have said many times before, if you have to stick some scatalogical thought or phrase into your joke to try to get a laugh from a person with an 11 year old mentality, you are not a real comedian. Yesterday, I switched to some of the talk shows and was completely grossed out by some of the lies being spewed by a couple of these guys. Come on! Do you really think that Americans are so dumb as to believe any of this crap? .... But... sadly, as evidenced by the comments of some of the people who called in to CSPAN this morning... some Americans do believe these lies, when just a small amount of checking, even on the Internet, would show them the truth.

Good news for readers. Barnes and Noble has announced that they have 700,000 books that can now be downloaded to iPHONES or iPOD Touch, and next year they will be coming out with an e-reader. Amazon's Kindle has access to only 300,000. Now, if only we could download some of those books directly to our brains so that it will not be necessary to take all that time to read them. ;0)

I have always thought that I would much rather have a nice paper book to hold and read rather than a computer screen to look at. But recently I went out to the site where you can read Moby Dick online. In my library, because I am a cetology cukoo, I have five different editions of Moby Dick, probably one of my favorite reads. I was able to read all of Chapter One again, but on my PC screen and it was wonderful. The print was large and easy on the eyes and I enjoyed traveling back to New Bedford again with my "brother" Ishmael.

Speaking of Ishmael.. my brother Joe and I are email pals again and I am enjoying his stories of youthful activity. He's an interesting guy, if I do say so myself.

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Thoughts

I just listened to another edition of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I love that radio show. I learn so much from it. For instance, today I learned that Fema has been advertising "911 Coloring Books for Kids" on their website. Pictures of large planes crashing into skyscrapers!

I also learned that Rock music is being used to scare away crickets in Utah.

In addition, I learned that the same parts of men's brains fire up when they see scantily-clad women as when they look at tools in catalogs.

Tinker Bell (a chiuahaua) blew away in a 70 mph wind gust and was found in a tree after the owners consulted a psychic.

Another source of education is of course, The Week magazine, where I learned that Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg was misspelled on some road signs in Massachusetts.

I hear that a Florida man is trying to open a "nude dude" ranch. (Wouldn't that be a bit painful?)

BTW: At a nudist wedding, who is considered the "best man"?

Also, at a nudist wedding, where does the best man keep the ring?

It is sad to hear that CEO's are currently feeling the pinch of the recession ... (and are opting for pay raises.)

Pirate impersonators are having a bad image problem these days because of the Somali guys. They would like to see those guys called something other than "pirates".

In the "Who can you trust?" category: It has been determined that the Four Corners State marker is in the wrong place and that people who stood at one location and thought that they were at the corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, were misinformed.

Segue to cetology:

Whale's brains are larger and more convoluted than human's brains.

The tongue of a grown blue whale weighs as much as an African elephant.

Scientists just learned that dolphins can rest one half of their brains at a time. (Wouldn't that be great for some of us? Of course, we all know many folks who rest all of their brains all of the time.)

BTW again: Pete Seeger just turned 90 years old. Does anyone remember the 60's and 70's?

Some thieves stole an ice cream truck but abandoned it when the music drove them crazy. The police found the truck easily because of the music.

The Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 that it is ok to fine TV stations for allowing cussing.

A woman called in to CSPAN yesterday when the discussion was on who should replace the retiring Justice. She suggested that a black woman would be the best pick for "the Supremes."
I think that would be a good idea too.

Did you ever realize that Beetle Bailey has lived through several wars and "police actions" and has never been shot at.

"Think on these things and be enlightened."