Walking stats: 11-24-08 through 11-30-08-rest, 3.511, 3.279, 2.011, none-Thanksgiving, 3.002, 3.613, none.
Horrible mess in India having to deal with such a tragic attack. The body count is no where near as high but seems we're in danger of being trampled to death by discount shoppers who put saving a few dollars for cheap gifts over the life of a human being. Nice people. I did write to WalMart telling them they should have closed the doors and shut down the store for a time out of respect to their dead employee but so far I have not received any answer from them.
Took some nice photos with my camera of the lovely trees that have been changing colors this year. Don't know why they are especially beautiful this year but they are. All the photos were taken down by the Hike and Bike Trail.

Thanksgiving aftermath

Here are some pictures from today. Oddly enough even though it's Thanksgiving these photos are not of food or people eating which is what I usually take on this day. 1. and 2 are Olivia and Lauren chilling out in Kry's room. Krys is hiding from the camera. 3. Frankie and Rick catching a breath of fresh air. 4. Mom wondering why we're all so noisy. ;-) 5. Sandy thinking she might not want whatever it is she's looking at. ;-) 6. Pam telling a story about the time she and Cyndi ran away with rocks in thier Barbie doll case. They were going to use the rocks for money to buy gowns...they were kids so it's kind of a sweet tale. 7. Craig (Sandy's son) taking it all in.

Good wishes

Here's wishing everyone a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. Also our thoughts are with all of those in Mumbai and around the world who are suffering at the hands of thugs who kill and maim for causes only known to them. It's with hope that I look forward to the new administration bring peace to a hurting world.

This and that on Saturday

Walking stats: It's been cooler for most of the week even getting into the high 30's during the wee hours of the morning. I find it much nicer to walk in weather like this and calmer too since you don't see many people out and about. Austinites are spoiled by having warm and sunny weather most of the year and wimp out at the slightest dip in temperatures. 11-16-08 to 11-22-08 None, 3.136, 3.501, 3.456, 3.581, 3.014, none. On Tuesday my left hip was really sore and I had to take some Naproxen to calm it down. Don't know why because I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I have been using my walking stick to do waist twists and bends and have been doing some knee lifts as well. I've also been jogging in fits and starts to hopefully speed up my metabolism.
We've been following the gathering of Pres-Elect Obama's cabinet and it looks like he'll have a variety indeed. All smart people so far have been put forth. Seems some left leaning Dems are angry over the Lieberman thing but watching the news conference I think Lieberman has sold what's left of his soul to hang on to his posts. I don't think for a minute that Obama kept him in the fold out of kindness in his heart. As for the Stevens tribute- bah humbug. Let the old loser go home and kill turkeys with SP.
No Longhorns or Bama playing today but Frank is interested in a couple of the games like Texas Tech and Oklahoma and the Penn State and Michigan game.
Still haven't got the complete hang of posting photos on here but at least I'm getting them posted. :-)
1. White cranes and ducks gathered for a pow-wow on Town Lake 2. Roses blooming in late November in Austin, these are at the entrance of the State School for the Deaf 3. Elvis display at the Eldorado in Shreveport. They had another similar one that I took a photo of last year.

Saturday and I'm catching up again

Walking stats since the last post are poor but at least I kept some level of exercise in my sch1.654 on schedule.
November 11, 2008 through November 15, 2008: None, none-left for Shreveport for a couple of days of R&R. Used a little pedometer and measured 1.044 on Mon., 1.654 on Tuesday that we were supposed to leave. Bad storms rolled in and dumped over 2 inches of rain in 24 hours. The storms covered most of our western route home so we stayed in Shreveport for an extra day. As luck would have it we had enough offers for a free room and meals for the extra day. Our fortunes changed and we managed to break even for the whole trip. Turns out we're glad we stayed an extra day for another reason, safety. There were so many accidents in the town and surrounding area that the EMT people were overtaxed and had to go from accident to accident. A city bus even lost traction and plowed into a building! Now while I don't want that sort of thing to happen here in Austin, we sure could use the 2 inches or so of rain. On with the walking stats now. 1.001 on Wednesday, and then back home on Thursday I did 2.163 and 3.218 on Friday.
Don't know how I feel about HRC for Secretary of State. She'd make a great one no doubt but I sort of wanted her to be head of the Senate. Hopefully whatever decision is made will be the right one.
I'm really not a fan of all these bailouts. If you run a business into the ground you should pay the price. The taxpayers can't bail everyone out. Greed got the country, indeed the whole world, into this mess and those that profited by deceptive practices should buck up and bear the loses. I'm not naive enough to think that the super rich will suffer but to see Ted Turner lose 7 billion is mind boggling but to know that he still has billions left is mind blowing. Let the companies fall and then regroup and start again. They'll wind up hiring the people they let go for the 'new' venture and things will go on as before. We'll survive.

Saturday blogging

You never know what you're going to see when you go for a walk in South Austin. I came across the very cute but large chicken sculpture resting comfortably on the lawn one day and thought a picture was in order.

Walking stats: 11-208 through 11-08-08, none, 3.864, 4.586 (This was on election day and I was nervous and walked further than usual. I also paid for it with screaming sore hips the next day.)2.810, 3.173, 3.581 (very cool and low humidity, great for walking), none.

Don't know what to make of all the Sarah Palin stuff that's been 'leaking' from 'unknown' sources about her enormous lack of knowledge and diva behavior. Either they are really dissing her out of spite, or it's all true, or they are dumping on her so people will feel sorry for her and thus give her the sympathy vote for a run in 2012. Personally I think she made too many enemies within the power of the GOP and just having her whacko conservative right support is not going to give her any kind of win for the White House. But that's just me.

On President-elect Obama's first news conference: I found it a refreshing pleasure to her a man elected to the highest office in the land speak in full sentences and use big words that he both understood the meaning of and could also pronounce them correctly. Wow.

Austinite John Kelso strikes again

John Kelso is an outspoken columnist who writes for the Austin American Statesman. One thing you can count on him for is a chuckle.
COMMENTARY: John Kelso

You say Obama is a Muslim? I'll call you a 3-watt bulb
In fact, in my Arab suit, some Texans might think I'm Barack Obama.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Do me a big swingin' favor. If you're one of the 23 percent of Texans who said Barack Obama is a Muslim in that poll, move to, say, Pennsylvania.


You're making this state look stupid.


A statewide survey of Texans done by University of Texas political scientists found that 23 percent of those polled thought the Democratic presidential candidate is a Muslim. The sample was 600 folks. The more education the respondents had, the less likely they were to think Obama is a Muslim.


I wonder how that 23 percent figure compares with the number of Texans who believe in the-moon-is-made-of-green-cheese thing, or the myth about the hairy palms.


This is unfortunate. We're starting to make Mississippi look smart.


Now, I don't sit up nights worrying about people in other states thinking people in Texas are uneducated dolts. I have been around the world enough to know we don't have a monopoly on numskulls. But when the national polls show that 5 to 10 percent of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and we're at 23 percent in Texas, tell me this much: How does this boost tourism?


On Friday, for Halloween, I wore my Arab suit to work. I bought this outfit in the early '80s for $20 while drinking beer on the Colorado River with an oil field worker who had just gotten back from Kuwait. On the occasional Halloween, I drag it out to save a few bucks on a rental.


I wonder what percentage of Texans would believe, if they saw me in the suit, that I am Barack Obama? Check out the photo on Page B5. As you can clearly see from the picture, I am Barack Obama.


If you don't believe me, ask that woman John McCain had to grab the microphone away from at the rally, after she said she was worried that Obama is an Arab.


Obama's a Muslim, and I'm a Balinese supermodel. I can understand getting confused, though. As many doors as Obama's been banging on to get elected, I'm surprised 23 percent of Texans don't think Obama is a Jehovah's Witness.


To tell you the truth, I don't really trust this poll completely. Sure, 23 percent of the Texans polled probably said Barack Obama is a Muslim. I just don't think 23 percent of them really believe it. I figure maybe two-thirds of the Texans who are saying that are just saying it because they figure it's an insult. My theory: They don't like Obama, so they figure a way to goon him is to say he's a Muslim. Like there's something wrong with somebody automatically because of his religion.


On the other hand, I'm wondering now what percentage of Texans believe in the correlation between stepping on a sidewalk crack and breaking your mother's back. It's probably pretty high.


John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Event filled Election Day

Wow what an election. When the first returns came in I was very nervous about the outcome. It was not until now President-Elect Obama won Pennsylvania and then Ohio that I could bring myself to relax. I called my brother as soon as I saw the news stations gave the word that we had won and of course he was happy and elated that all his months of hard work had paid off. I also talked with Cyndi and Evie but didn't call Frankie and Pam because I thought they would be in bed since they are early to bed and early to rise.
I will say that Senator McCain gave a great speech, a gracious speech, and was once again the man that I thought would make a good president in 2000. Of course I wanted the Democrats to win then too but I wouldn't have been sick at my tummy to see him win. Sadly for him and his supporters too many mistakes were made in this campaign and they cost him the election. He has served his country well and I sincerely wish him and his family good health and peace.

Election Eve

The following link is my wish map for the election. http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard?mapid=51243 Some picks are a long shot, sad to say Texas is one of them, but I'm hopeful about the rest of them. It's been a long, long, election process and people have worked very hard on both sides. Wish I could extend best wishes to the 'other side' but I'm keeping everything crossed that we Democrats take as much as possible. It seems like that's the only way anything can be done. Needless to say I'm very nervous about the whole thing.

Sad news that on election eve Obama's grandmother passed away. I know he wishes she could have stayed one more day. Our hearts go out to him and his family for their loss.
Here in Austin things are going fine except that our grandson's car was broken into. They didn't get anything, mainly because he didn't have anything in it, but the side window was smashed. One other car was broken into as well. It's disgusting.

The photo is Cyndi and Fanita...very cute. :-)



http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard?mapid=51243

Walking stats for October 27-November 1, 2008. 3.661, 3.673, 3.508, 3.435, 3.657, none. Our brief stint of fall weather has gone but it's still cool enough for early morning activity. Mornings in the high 50's to 60's and afternoons in the high 80's.
Found a nice site that let's you match up your concerns with each candidate and check the poll percentages concerning, age, gender, etc. See How They Run
We had a quite Halloween, just about a dozen trick or treaters came by the house.
Saw the Obama 'infomercial' and didn't really see anything new, at least to me. The lasting image I have of it is that poor woman trying to straighten out her arthritic fingers. Ouch! Must say I'm cautiously optimistic about the Dems winning the election but I will not rest easy about it until November 5th...if we win. If something disastrous happens and we don't win, we are going to be very, very, sad. If you're into watching political videos you may chuckle at this 'Joe the plumber' one. Check it out about 12 seconds in...hehe
Some more photos...1. My UFO shot. Looks like a tiny UFO flying above the purple bushes. 2. Olivia on Halloween, she said she was a 'dead body'. 3. Our Mom dressed up for her Senior Citizens Halloween dance. (Ain't it a shame when your 81 year old Mom and 13 year old niece have more of a social life than you do?) 4. Krystal looking adorable as a Goth Doll 5. The jack-o- lantern is filled with doggy biscuits on the Hike and Bike trail. Click on photos to see larger size.