Ed Icionsub

I forget where I got this last week but I came across it again and thought it was so funny I wanted to post it. Truth hurts.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

Well, the new version as reported all over the internet and TV news outlets is that there is a woman in L. A. who lives in a tiny 3 bedroom house with her parents and her 6 children. Who the father is of any or all of these 6 is not known. Her source of income is not known. However, earlier this year she filed for bankruptcy with almost a million dollars in debt listed, yet she fails to show up for the creditors meeting and the bankruptcy case is dismissed. So her track record of responsible behavior is already pretty tainted.

So what’s a woman to do? Why go to a fertility clinic and give birth to 8 more babies, of course! And when you birth 8 babies at once, they are all going to be small and susceptible to serious health problems. The hospital has assigned two full time nurses, taking 12 hour shifts, to each baby. They are expected to be in the hospital for 2 -3 months requiring constant care. At least one of the babies is not breathing on his own. Who is going to pay for all this medical care? I mean, 8 babies for 3 months – 16 nurses full time plus all the other doctors and nurses and therapists and diagnostic tests!

Folks, there is something very wrong with this whole picture.

One really big drawback in trying to get to know someone on the internet is that you are limited to emails or perhaps some instant message exchanges and you don’t really get to hear someone’s voice. To me, looking at a photo and reading some short get-to-know-you messages doesn’t really give you a good perspective on a person. But hearing their voice and talking to them in a candid or spontaneous conversation can give you a much better idea of a person’s character, background, sophistication (or lack of), their education and even their sincerity.

So if I am interested in getting to know someone, I would rather call a local chat line and talk to some people. I have read about a new free chat line and voice personals called talk121.com and they are just starting out their service. This chat service has local numbers to call for people interested in talking to women or men in several geographic areas.

To participate in a Cleveland chat, you can easily find a local phone number on their web site to call in the Cleveland area.

The web site has listings of dozens of local phone numbers that you can fun by searching for a state or area code, or by clicking on the alphabetical link and scrolling down to the city you want, such as a Columbus chat line.

They have local numbers for most major metropolitan areas, including a Denver chat and according to their web site, there are usually 100’s of callers in the system for each line, with callers from dozens of cities across the states.

There’s a blog I read about once a week by a cop in Chicago. I find it interesting to read his perspective as a cop on current events and crime in the Windy City. He related a story a few days ago that I found really hard to believe and was starting to doubt some of his other posts. But then I found a related story in the Chicago Tribune, so evidently it was true.

To keep it short, a guy walks into the police substation dressed in full cop uniform and says that another district had sent him over for the day to help out as this district is shorthanded. So the cop in charge assigns him to ride in a patrol car with a female cop and sends them out on the street. He teels the female cop that he wants to drive and she tosses him the keys. They head out and end up pulling over someone. He tells her to write the ticket since he doesn’t have a ticket book with him. So she writes that ticket and they go back to the station to get a ticket book. The cop in charge asks for the guys ID to issue the ticket book and he says he left his ID out in the car, so a cop goes with him to the car. Of course, there is no ID in the car and it turns out that this imposter is a 14 year old kid. And he’s been caught doing this same thing in another Chicago district before this incident.

So this 14 year old was driving a squad car and could have been involved in a high speed chase, a shoot out, or God-knows-what. O M F G !

This year Mardi Gras will be celebrated in New Orleans every weekend in February, with the grand finale on February 24.

I found a ton of great information at the official Mardi Gras websites, www.mardigras.com and nola.com.

The first Carnival ball of the season is always the Twelfth Night Ball, held on Jan. 6. The first parade will be on Sunday, February 1, with the Krewe of Slidellians in Slidell, starting at 1:00 pm. The rest of the month will have various parades each weekend, and the final week before Fat Tuesday is the busiest.

This year Fat Tuesday will be February 24 and there are 10 parades scheduled, including:

New Orleans / Jefferson
• Zulu – Uptown, 8 a.m.
• Rex – Uptown, 10 a.m.
• Elks Orleans – after Rex
• Crescent City – after Elks
• Argus – Metairie, 10 a.m.
• Jefferson Trucks – after Argus
• Elks Jefferson – after Jefferson
• Grela – West Bank, 11 a.m.

St. Tammany
• Lions – Covington, 10 a.m.
• Covington – after Lions

The company has had two layoffs in the past year and we are down to a skeleton crew. Everyone is being told to work smarter, work harder, put in longer hours, but don’t expect to get any raises or bonuses. In fact, we are supposed to be grateful that we even have a job at all. With unemployment at almost 10 percent, there are lots of people looking for work and certainly someone else more than happy to take your job if you can’t handle it.

So this morning we had a rude surprise waiting for us all – an announcement that we are all expected to take a one week furlough between now and the first of April. We have to schedule the week off immediately. So I’m thinking this would be a great opportunity to go to Mardi Gras and just get crazy.

I wanted to see if there might be a discount airfare from Nashville to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, so I went to the dreamvacations.com web site and searched their lowfares.com link. They also feature specials from all the popular discounters, like Orbitz, Priceline and Hotwire. So it’s pretty easy to compare the deals and see how much money you can save.

Mardi Gras is such a popular event and destination that I’m concerned just booking discount airfare won’t be the best deal and I might be better off finding a vacation package so I can get the best prices on airfare plus a hotel room and possibly even rental car deals. I like the way this web site lets you easily change any of the criteria and still stay on task. And if I decide against the Mardi Gras trip, they have a whole section of vacation ideas and travel tips for anywhere in the world I decide to go.

There are very few asian people where I live, so the fact that today is the Chinese New Year had no impact on us and no mention in the local newspaper of any parades or public celebrations. I’m sure that in cities like San Francisco where there is a large asian population that this was a big deal. I wonder if any businesses in San Fancisco are closed in observance? I read on a web site that in China they do close for the day, or if the New Year falls on a weekend then they are closed on the weekday following the official day.

From additional surfing, I found that the color red has a lot of significance to the New Year and that it is a tradition for older and married couple to give younger people a red envelope containing money for good luck and prosperity in the coming year.

Another tradition involves thoroughly cleaning the house to get rid of everything bad from the old year and to start the New Year fresh.

This is one of the really cool things about the internet. If I had not surfed a few sites about the Chinese New Year, I probably would have never learned these traditions.

With everyone cutting back their discretionary spending, a lot more people are staying home at night and either playing video games or watching TV. There have been several news stories about the exploding sales of video games. In fact, that is one outstanding sector of retail sales that continues to do well even as the rest of the economy seems to be going down the toilet.

As much as I watch TV and DVDs these days, I think it is time I upgrade my equipment. The radio talk show guys were discussing the tremendous difference between watching a professional sports game on a regular TV versus watching the game on a large screen HD plasma screen. Asking around the office, I have heard the same report from several of the executives who have recently upgraded their home entertainment systems.

The best company to customize a home theater or entertainment system in North Texas is Precision Electronics Systems. I was reading their web site and was pleasantly surprised to see the price list had several high end packages at an affordable price. They carry all the major brands of electronics and sound systems, and can custom design a package based on your own personal preferences. They can do pre-wiring for new homes under construction, so that you have everything in place before you move in.

Everyone noticed the flub during yesterday’s inauguration as broadcast on TV to millions of viewers worldwide. The Chief Justice did not recite the oath of office correctly as he stated the oath for Obama to repeat. President Obama noticed the difference and hesitated to repeat the words. Upon closer analysis of the complete ceremony, officials decided to proceed with an abundance of caution and have President Obama re-do the oath in a small private ceremony today. This time they both got it right, and now we all feel better, don’t we?

Increased competition in computer chip manufacturing and decling sales of computers has lead to Intle’s decision to close three manufacturing facilities and lay off as many as 6,000 workers in the U. S., the Phillippines and Malaysia.

Intel ended the year 2008 with a decline in fourth quarter revenue and only 84,000 employees. This round of plants closings and layoffs will be about 7 per cent of their total work force. Intel says that some employees in the affected plants will be offered jobs in other company locations.

Technology companies have been reducing inventory and cutting back on their purchases of chips and other computer components. With lowered demand, Intel’s fourth quarter revenue was 23% less than last year’s. In addition to these troubles, Intel is facing competition from new, cheaper chips made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD).