musing minds

And Atlantis is on her way to the International Space Station.

These launches never cease to amaze me.

So I went and voted in Illinois’ primary. For the Republicans, we have the candidates themselves, and then 2-4 delegates in each Congressional District. Mine has three. Then there are also three alternate delegates and other offices that are up for the primaries too.

Voting for the candidate means nothing on the Republican side. Just the delegates that are pledged to the candidates count.

So, I voted for Fred Dalton Thompson as a candidate and voted for Mitt Romney’s three delegates and alternate delegates.

And it’s Paczki Day! (Poonch-key). A fried dough filled with fruit or custard and dusted with powdered sugar. Paczki are made to use up the last of the lard, fruit, and sugar before Lent.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Lent, the Lenten season encompassing both St. Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day this year.

I only watched two game minutes of the Superbowl last night and I picked the right two game minutes to watch, the last two. Wow. I was hoping the Giants would win. Congrats Giants and Eli Manning. Mr and Mrs Manning must be so proud of their boys, and with reason.

I was looking at an insert that had come with our Transformers DVD about a Bumblebee Camaro contest. You could win a Chevy Bumblebee 2009 Camaro if you had entered before 1/15/08. Too late.

What struck me though was the disclaimer:

WARNING: Cybertron Law forbids these vehicles to be equipped with Energon-powered alien technology of any sort. These Camaros will not transform into 18-ft.-tall Autobots. If they did, they would not do so in your presence. (It goes against the whole “robots in disguise” directive they live by.)

Ah. I love Bumblebee. When I was a kid, our first new car was a ’67 Camaro, maroon/burgundy with a black vinyl interior. I went on the test drive with my dad. 5 years old, in the front seat, legs sticking out because the seat hit about mid-calf on me, lap belt only. Crank windows, automatic transmission. I don’t remember if it had power steering, but I doubt it. Dad wanted to save money and didn’t even get the factory radio. For a few years we had this little brown cube AM battery powered radio that we used in the car. Dad did break down and have a stereo put in at some time.

Tomorrow is Paczki Day! (Poonch-key) Mardi Gras! The last day before lent begins. Ash Wednesday is, of course, Wednesday. Easter is March 23rd this year. Just a week after St. Patrick’s Day.

Via our friend Don Surber we find this interesting test from NPR. Who does the test indicate is the best fit for you?

My scores were:
McCain 30
Romney 26
Huckabee 23
Paul 20
Gavel 9
Obama 4
Clinton 1

I was a Thompson supporter. As he is no longer in the running, I have to make another choice on ÜberTuesday. It won’t be Mr. McCain however. I have issues with McCain. I will be marking my ballot for Mitt Romney on Tuesday.

We’re having a snow day here in the Chicago area. No school (except for me, I go to grad school online and work from home as a matter of course). Little Guy is home today and playing with his Transformers.

My neighbor has a Camaro and he got stuck in front of our driveway, then again a couple houses up, and one more time another house up. He turned around and came back. He was going to have to call in, but it’s difficult when you work retail. Luckily his boss lives nearby, has an SUV, and was on a four day weekend so he was available to drive my neighbor to work.

We have a Yukon XL. This kind of weather is one of the reasons why. The two mile trip to the train station was not too bad, but smaller cars with rear wheel drive and those with front wheel drive were having difficulty on even slight hills with the amount of snow on the ground.

Last night when driving to the train station to pick Hubby up, as opposed to dropping him off this morning, there was a car driving with only parking lights on. Please, why do dash lights come on with only the parking lights instead of with only the headlights. I have seen so many cars driving at night with parking lights because the driver isn’t aware that the headlights aren’t on because the driver can see his or her dash. With last night’s snow, the driver may have thought that his or her headlights were covered in snow or dirty and that’s why visibility was diminished…

Nikita the Siberian, however, is in his element!

what I know now, I wouldn’t have voted to authorize the use of force…

So said Clinton at last night’s debate.

But she didn’t know then what she knows now,  nobody knew then what they know now.

All she’s doing is giving excuses for voting according to the accepted knowledge and wisdom at the time.

She should have said that. She should have accepted responsibility for voting according to the best available information. Hindsight is 20/20. It’s  far easier to explain away a past decision based on present knowledge rather than accept that you made the best decision you could based on the knowledge available then.

How come so many contestants on Idol choose to sing a song by Whitney or Mariah? If I had one piece of advice for potential American Idols it would be DON’T SING A SONG BY WHITNEY OR MARIAH!

About those stimulus tax rebates… It seems that the government won’t be able to send out checks right away. It won’t be until late spring or even summer before checks could be in the mail. So why doesn’t the government include the rebates with 2007 taxes instead? Give me a $300, $600, $1200, whatever amount credit on my taxes now. If I get a refund, it will be larger by that amount. If I wouldn’t ordinarily get a refund, I might this time. This way the actual stimulus could happen now instead of this summer.

So, Duncan decided to use Raven’s rump as a pillow and Raven didn’t have a problem with it. I just thought this was hilarious. She’s next to the Little Guy’s Rainbow Blanket and wearing her latest knit sweater. It’s warmer today (we got above freezing!) but it’s been single digits and below zero for a while.

Via Ted Frank at Overlawyered we find the 13 page pdf of the new employee handbook at the Chicago Tribune (read Ted’s post regarding the controversy over its common sense simplicity).

Sample portions:

Part 1
POLICY MANUAL
Rule #1: Use your best judgment.
Rule #2: See Rule 1.
That’s it. That is the one hard and fast rule. Unless a serious mistake was made when you were hired, you have pretty good judgment.

You know what it takes to succeed.

You know that honesty, reliability, commitment, teamwork, and personal responsibility are essential to superior performance.

Nice, one main rule.

7.
DRUG POLICY
7.1.
If you use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated. See Rule 1. Coming to work drunk is bad judgment.
7.2.
If you do not use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated.
7.3.
If government rules and regulations say that drug testing is a condition of holding your job, Tribune is obliged to follow the law and your manager/supervisor will provide you with details.

I like 7.2 – even if you’re not abusing drugs or alcohol, you don’t do your job, you can be fired.

Part of the internet policy – works for just about any situation I’d say:

18.1.4.
It’s good judgment not to put in writing what you don’t want printed on the front page of a newspaper. Or posted on a web site. Or heard on the news.

The best one is the following – section 15.5 most especially

15.
MILITARY LEAVE
15.1.
Tribune recognizes and supports the right of any employee to serve in the US Armed Services, the organized reserve unit of any branch of the US Armed services, or the National Guard of any state, and complies with applicable federal or state laws.
15.2.
Please give as much notice to the company as possible if you are called to serve.
15.3.
Tribune will continue your current pay for 90 days. After that, if the military pay is less than your current Tribune paycheck, Tribune will pay the difference.
15.4.
When you come back from service, your employment will be restored in accordance with all state and federal laws.
15.5.
Please do everything you can to stay safe while you are away.