Food for thought...

Here is an excerpt from a recent column by former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat:

"Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a proud American… It has become fashionable for Americans … to hold President George W. Bush up to derision. …I crossed party lines in 2004 to support the President’s reelection, saying at the time that … I did believe he was the only one running who appreciated the threat of Islamic terrorism to American values and Western civilization… I have no regrets for having made that decision...

"Today, according to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, ‘71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as President, an all-time high in polling.’ His position can be compared with that of Harry Truman who left Washington unpopular and alone in 1953. Today, with the passage of time, most historians and certainly the American people, see Truman in a different light, primarily for his willingness to stand firm against Soviet aggression… Like Truman, George W. Bush, in my view, will be seen as one of the few world leaders who recognized the danger of Islamic terrorism and was willing with Tony Blair to stand up to it and not capitulate. …

"Recently, President Bush went to Israel to celebrate its 60th birthday as a nation and addressed its parliament, the Knesset. He said, “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

"Bush’s remarks were heavily criticized by leading Democrats, particularly Barack Obama, who said, 'Now that’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country and that alienates us from the world.' Really? Is it wrong to call the philosophy supporting negotiating at the highest levels – President to President without pre-conditions -- with the terrorists and radicals by its rightful name - appeasement?

"The President was accurate in my opinion in recalling the specter of Neville Chamberlain’s pre-World War II efforts to satisfy Adolf Hitler. Those efforts responded to Hitler’s siren call that all he wanted was the Sudetenland, with Chamberlain responding, “yes,” and returning to Britain waving a paper and announcing, “peace in our time.” Must we really learn the terrible lesson of Munich all over again seventy years later? …

"The reason I believe history will redeem President George W. Bush is that he is one of the few leaders on the planet today who understands the larger picture. …He knows what calamities await the world if it engages in appeasement and deserts an ally in order to buy an illusory peace. We will recognize his worth long after he is gone.”

Check it out, Dawg!

"You're in the ZONE, baby! You're HOT tonight!!!"

See this post from Feb. 17th!

What's gonna happen?? Cook is definitely talented, and I LOVED his rendition of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." Love that song! But the hair has got to go. And what is it about him...ego? Simon called it "arrogance," I think. You can tell he's trying to hide it, but I don't think he's completely successful. Anyway, in vocal technique and quality, he doesn't hold a candle to either of the other two.

So what's gonna happen?

Happy conclusion to laptop saga...

I guess I take after my dad. He always wanted the very latest gadget with the most up-to-date technology. Okay, I admit it. Me, too. I'm a geek.

When my laptop died last week (see May 4th post), I perused the Internet trying to find a solution to my problem. In the process, I realized how wimpy and behind the times my laptop was. I also realized that I'd better stop looking at the new ones that come standard with 3G of memory, faster processors, better video cards and bigger hard drives. No chance of an upgrade anytime soon.

When I left my laptop with the Geek Squad a week ago, I also left the printout of a forum thread that Dave found that sounded like my exact issue. There was a defect in the motherboard. One poster said that some people were having trouble getting the issue resolved with HP, and that they were putting together a class-action suit.

Yesterday the Geek Squad called. They said approval had been granted for me to get a brand new laptop!!! I couldn't believe it!! I jumped online to see what models they had available at Best Buy, and found a beautiful special edition HP with a white finish, with much better technology than my old one, and a bigger screen. I didn't have much hope that I'd get that one since it wasn't really comparable.

When we got to Best Buy, the tech guy said they would find whichever model they had that had a minimum of what my machine had technologically. They first tried to show me a Compaq, but I said I wanted an HP brand machine, which is what I had before. Then they found one, but it didn't have a webcam, which mine had. Uh uh.

The guy disappeared and then came back and said they would give me $550 toward any model I wanted. I didn't like that, either. I showed him my original receipt that proved I paid $899, and that the other guy said I could have whatever machine they had in the store that was at LEAST as good as mine. So he disappeared again, and miraculously came back and said I could get anything up to $899!!!

Guess what the sale price was on that special edition white HP?? $899!!!! Yipeee! Unfortunately, they didn't have it at that store, but they are shuttling it from another store. I can't wait until Thursday!!!

I'm so glad I backed everything up because the old hard drive will be destroyed and returned to HP. I don't really get that, since there's nothing wrong with the drive. But I'm not complaining since that one is 120G and the new one is 320G!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I've always loved this picture of my mom with her mom. It's such a sweet depiction of motherhood.



One of my favorite memories of my mom as I was growing up was how she would get dressed up in her flapper costume and do the Charleston. She was really good at it!



Happy Mother's Day, Mom!


I love you!

My niece Loren

I dropped my mom off at the airport this afternoon. She's headed to Texas for a momentous occasion. She has 14 grandchildren, and the oldest of those is graduating from college on Saturday! My sister Patti was the first one to get married and the first one to have kids. She has paved the way for the rest of us, and now her daughter Loren, after an illustrious volleyball career at Texas Christian University, will have paved the way to a college degree for all of her cousins. Congratulations, Loren! The whole family is so proud of you!!

Weekend results...

So, to sum up an eventful weekend:

Cory placed 5th in the league finals for the JV 1600 meter run!! A great accomplishment for him, and I'm a proud ma! And he's very happy to be finished with the SAT.

Wes's water polo team placed 4th at the San Diego Cup!!! A very respectable finish, even though they hoped for that bronze medal at the end of the day.

The relaxing peace and quiet that I looked forward to didn't really materialize, since four or five of Cory's friends came over for a video gaming marathon. It was kind of fun watching them play "Rock Band," though.

I have actually spent most of the last two days dealing with a malfunctioning laptop. For some reason, the wireless adaptor device stopped working. I reinstalled the factory driver. Didn't work. I downloaded the driver from HP and installed that. Didn't work. Tried restoring to an earlier restore point. Didn't work. I ran updates, scans, defragged, checked disks. Nothing made it work! I ended up taking it to the Geek Squad. First they ran a scan and found an AdWare infection and a bunch of tracking cookies! What's up with that? Why does Norton not catch this stuff?

So Geek Squad said that the problem won't be covered by my warranty as long as there's any kind of infection on my machine. Can you believe they wanted $199 to remove the AdWare and cookies??? So I downloaded AdWatch and removed the bad stuff myself. So guess what? My wireless adaptor device still doesn't work. Sigh.

I guess it's back to the Geek Squad tomorrow. Of course they'll take away the computer for two to three weeks. Aughhhh!!! Torture!!

Bliss and Miss

BLISS!! No one is here! It's peaceful and quiet! No one is fighting, no one is wanting a ride, no one is leaving a mess in the sink or in the toilet!

I MISS them already!! Am I nuts?


Dave, Wes and Connor just left for San Diego for Wes's last big weekend water polo tournament as a member of his 14U team. I would have gone with them, but Cory is running in the Track & Field Sunset League finals tonight (seeded 5th in the league out of 24 in the event for the 1-mile). Then he is taking the SAT tomorrow morning. Boy, it will be nice when he gets his license--only three more months!

I may join them in San Diego after picking up Cory from his test, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy this solitude.