Mishmash

Some additions or other thoughts on recent blog entries:

Happy Valentine's Day:  I also made my wife a salad for dinner consisting of red peppers, green peppers, celery, spinach, brown rice, onion, dill pickle half, dried cranberries, and cheese (mild cheddar I think).

Glass Half Full: For the next 5 days we had frost on the windshield and I tweaked my back taking off the dog's collar.

National Debt: (CNSNews.com) - Under President Barack Obama, the federal debt has been increasing at a rate of $1,148 per month per American household.
Overall, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal debt increased by $3,646,116,554,704.36 between Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, and April 13, 2011, when he gave a major speech announcing a plan to deal with the debt.
Given that the Census Bureau estimated in March that there are 117,538,000 households in the United States, the $3.6461 trillion increase in the debt under Obama works out to $31,020 per household.


New Car II:  I smashed my head on the door top, I was either getting in or trying to lock the doors with the button inside the door.  Our old car was much higher!

1 reason I hate IL: University of Illinois’ political science professor Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman, says that his in-depth study has found Chicago to be the most corrupt city in the country. 
While many may say they knew this all along, there is now data to back up this statement.  Simpson has gathered data from the United States Department of Justice which not only proves that Chicago is the most corrupt city, but also gives facts to back up the contention that Illinois is the third most corrupt state in the nation.  With ex-Governor George Ryan still behind bars and ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich soon to begin his 14-year sentence in prison for corruption in office which includes the attempted sale or benefit of President Barack Obama's senate seat, this contention would not be easily contested. 
According to Simpson, who is also labeled a corruption-fighter in Chicago, says corruption is costing $500,000,000.  According to the analysis, the enormous amount of money is paid for or lost by the tax-payers of Chicago who end up losing the money when certain high-level crimes are committed.  The crimes include ghost payrolls, bogus contracts, city official thefts, bribes, and the likely most publicized of bad behaviors in recent times – police brutality.  The extreme costs, naturally, involve the high costs of prosecuting these cases committed by city personnel and city officials.

Valentine's Gifts

I love my Lovely Wife!  But various Valentine's Gifts seem a little out of my orbit.

OK, $30 for some roses (plus $15 handling shipping fees) seems reasonable, but I don't like to buy things that last less than a week.

Full Half Dozen Hand-Dipped Milk & Dark Berries $29.99 : that is just one handful of strawberries for $30 plus shipping and handling!

Five-star terry robe $89.95 : I want my wife to be warm but this seems a bit much (does the cheap husband label come to mind?).

Tiffany Heart Pendant in 18k white gold with round brilliant diamonds. Size mini, on a 16" chain. Carat total weight .05. $875: be still my beating heart, remember I love my wife but $875 for a made up holiday!

Fujifilm X-Pro 1 16MP Digital Camera with APS-C X-Trans CMOS Sensor (Body Only) $1,699.95: how can she take pictures without a lens?

HP ProBook 4530s LJ475UT Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-263OQM 2.0GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 15.6" Display, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit  $779.99 (A Great Gift for Valentines Day with a little heart) : this is the ad that got me started!

All of the above were advertised as Valentine Gifts for her on various websites.

Think she will be satisfied with my love?  Actually I think she will (aren't I LUCKY)!