WeEkenD UPdaTe

Well, I had a busy and rewarding weekend. I went into Billings Friday afternoon and had a delicious dinner with my dad at a dinner following a business meeting he attended. It was good food and good company, what else do you need? The next morning I had breakfast with aunt, uncle, cousins and two very friendly dogs. Then some shopping and a late lunch, more shopping and home again. Trips to Billngs tend to have a lot of family meals and shopping. I enjoy the family meals, but the shopping......not so much. It's just that living as far away from stores as we do, shopping in "big cities" is a neccessity, not a pleasure. I have gotten quite good at online shopping, but sometimes you just have to try something on, and as yet, they don't deliver cat food and toothpaste online. Maybe someday soon some one, somewhere will invent one of those replicator thingys like on Star Trek and I won't have to shop in Billings at all, just spend time with family!

Experiments in Telecomuting

This summer when gasoline prices starting spiraling upwards, those of us who commute to work started talking about ways to save gas$$$. One of the ideas was to continue working 4/10 hour days as we did in the summer. I liked the idea of 4/10 but the reality was that I was worn out on Friday and didn't get much done at all. The other idea was to stay home and to my work from there. After all one "data monkey cage" is much like another. It turns out that all I've done this week is data entry and fact checking for our state report called "fall count." All my programs are web-based so that's not an issue. Today was a perfect time to give it a try. It was actually not much difference for me. It was just as tiresome and boring as it was when I drive 25 miles to work. The difference was that I didn't have to shower if I didn't want to, (I didn't) and I could putz around a little before "going to work." When the quitting bell sounded. I could just log off my school program and start blogging. No 25 mile drive home with all the stops in town to get mail or milk. As far as I"m concerned I could stay home a couple of days a month and get as much done as I would at work and gain the above mentioned benefits. With winter approaching, another advantage would be to avoid the nasty, icy, slippery roads and the snow drifts that make my drive up the hill an "adventure in sliding." Of course I don't know if the people at work even noticed that I was gone. If not.....it may not be such a good thing.

Maverick

Did I hear right? A TEAM of Mavericks? What part of Maverick doesn't she understand? A Maverick is a LONE dissenter who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates. If you are in a group you can't, by definition, be a maverick. Who wants a Maverick in the White House anyway? I should think that we'd want a leader in the White House. Someone who is going to work with others to achieve a common destination, not someone who is going to go off on his own at cost of the rest of the us. Suppose the maverick values his "maverickness" so much that he appoints a lot of "mavericks" to his cabinet. He picked one as his "sidekick." What do we have then? A lot of people going their own way to prove that they are independent and refusing to work with any one, or a stampede to get to the head of the line to prove that he/she is a leader. No, I don't think we need a "maverick" in the Whitehouse. He is not going to convience me with that argument.

Banned Books Week.

It's Banned Books WeeK! Hurry, don't miss it! Read a book that was challenged or banned. Click on the title above for a list of books if you don't have a favorite banned book to read. Or just do a search for banned books, there are, unfortunately hundreds of banned books to choose from.