reminds me of growing up in Colorado, back when dirt roads went on for miles thru dry fields, past decrepit, abandoned farms.

Get an instrument--a banjo, guitar, ukulele or whatever, learn 3 chords on it and you'll be able to play about 3 or 4 million songs. Play music at bedtime--I have an 8-yr old & a 4-yr old--and sing along. Kids are absolutely the best audience, take advantage!

~DJ

beautiful women, bikinis, wonderful!

the democrats haven't blown a damn thing yet, the race still has a year to go, and the republicans are set to cross the finish line with four flat tires.

nobody has to have it.

I was a barber's son too, and really identified strongly with Charlie Brown for many years, but like the author lost interest in the last several years of the strip. Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant.

I've had it almost 10 years, it's been "in the shop" twice, once for maintenance and once for an update. I don't even remember what I paid for it, and don't care.

I read 8 books last week. I didn't buy a single one, they were given to me by my neighbor. I don't read that much every week, but I get my books passed around from friends and relations, at the library (they have a Friends of the Library sale every spring, you can buy a grocery bag full of books for a dollar),or the Goodwill store, used book stores, etc. for 10¢ to $1.25 each. Week-old magazines are also free at the library and in the break room at work. I used to pull them out of the trash at the dump, but they re-engineered their trash bins to make it impossible. I like the idea of the Kindle, and if I can get one used someday I certainly will, but not if I have to pay for the content.

a week or two ago the New York Times published an article about him; out of 150 letters only about 3 were positive. Most New Yorkers seem to truly hate the man.

She made me a cake today--beautifully lopsided, icing-smeared, delicious creation that wouldn't have happened with a fluorescent bulb. I use them outside, too, and in a few places in my house for colored or mood lighting, though about 90% or so are fluorescents

I still love it, but own no other apple products. Every other computer I've ever used (at work mostly) has been a pain in the butt.

If, if, if--if humankind knew what was best, I would be King of the World, starting tomorrow at 9:30 am. Only people with clean underwear could hold office. Underwear would be worn on the outside, so we could check--

but that doesn't mean I can't stand salon. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I think McCain is basically a good man and I don't like Hillary, but that doesn't mean I won't be voting Democratic in the fall, even if that means voting for her. George Bush and the snotty kindergarteners he's surrounded himself with have so screwed up there's absolutely no chance I'll be voting for anyone or anything resembling a Republican for the foreseeable future.

a penis for every vagina!!

i loved "that letter" too. Obama has certain segments wrapped up, not all--but it doesn't hurt as much as some suggest that the nomination hasn't yet been decided. The rabid neocon snarl machine doesn't have anything to dig into until the process is over, which makes all their growling toothless and irrelevant for the next few months, by which time gas will be $10 a gallon and 14% of America will be sleeping in the street. The Dems will do just fine in November, whether the nomination is wrapped up in April or October.

She should be prosecuted for everything they can dream up, and then some, including jaywalking. The law is not the threat. She is.

by definition--

for a fourth of the price you can get a nice older house with a half acre lot in a mid-sized city in Virginia. It's what my brother did. He lived in one of those Manhattan shoeboxes for twenty years. If you can't imagine a different life, no wonder your marriage suffers for it. Sorry, but you're just not thinking clearly.

Don't break up just yet. A change of scenery can make all the difference.

exactly, Heather. Great piece. We boomers came from a world where we were hiding under the desks kissing our little 7-year-old asses goodbye while doomsday bomb sirens went off and the world really COULD be blown up tomorrow, no pessimistic cynicism about it. There was an urgency about it. At seven, I didn't think I'd ever live to be 21. It took a long time to figure out that probably wouldn't happen, and by then the next generation couldn't believe in all that earnest self-importance, the dire necessity of saving the world RIGHT NOW. There would always be television, and movies, and freeways, and we weren't destined to end our lives huddled in a backyard bomb shelter while the outside world slowly baked away in a red radioactive haze. We didn't have Joanie loves Chachi, we had the Twilight Zone and parents shell-shocked by the 2nd Great War who didn't have any emotions left.

so what if there's some kind of dust-up now? When Obama is prez, the WHOLE WORLD will be different. It's idiotic to look 2 weeks down the road. Two years from now, come back and read all this all over again......

that is the BEST lesson I've ever seen, on a subject usually presented as a moralistic, turgid, soporific snoozefest. Educators are those who can TEACH, not those who have completed a set number of hours in a chair listening to stultifying lectures. WORTH EVERY DIME of my tax dollars!

~DJ