2008 is almost gone!

It has been quite a year.....to say the least. 2008 will be one of THOSE years that mark a major shift in time; the topic of APUSH essay questions (To what extent did the social. political. and economic events of 2008 alter the social fabric of American society?) I hear some groans. Our lives have certainly changed and we have made the best of it. We are looking forward to 2009 not because the economy will turn around anytime soon, but because we are excited to see what the future has in store. All of you have a great New Year's Eve and be careful....do you hear me Emily and Brinkley? We may go to the beach to see the sunrise on 2009. I will let you know tomorrow.

To everyone...Happy New Year

Alonzo

No need to worry, Alonzo our Elf did find us in the "Pitt" and is safely in our tree. We were a bit worried but no fear, and he did have a note as always.

Mighty Putty Review

In the Christmas tradition of reviewing television infomercial products, here is the word on "Mighty Putty"...IT WORKS!! The leg of the chest is secure (antiques roadshow would have a fit) and the lamp is still together. I will let you know if things fall apart.

The Chest Incident

As most of you know we have a very elegant dining experience on Christmas Eve. The meat and lobster, the Christmas china, the champagne, the candles, the fine wine, the magic......Well, right in the middle of this year's dinner the leg on my Mother's antique chest slipped and the chest fell toward Kristy; lamp crashing on the floor, candles and wax flying everywhere, flames flying on Kristy's back, yelling, screaming, sheer pandemonium. But do not worry, Santa brought Kristy "mighty putty" in her stocking and Brinkley is using it to fix all the broken things. Now I know that those of you who have attended this event before are ever so sorry that you missed this one. If only you had taken us up on the invitation to come to the "Pitt" you too could have taken part in this Christmas happening.

The Tarheels

I was a little worried the other night when the Boys looked a little lackadaisical playing Evansville, but I think Valparaiso gave them a bit of a scare. They need to take every team seriously. By the way Evansville did not look bad for a team that is ranked close to the bottom of the Valley. I know I am late on my sweet 16 picks...I will have them tomorrow

Happy Birthday Bruz

Today was my brother's birthday and I think it is the first time I have been with him on his birthday since we were kids. It was great fun. Diana arranged a dinner at a restaurant on Franklin Street. We met some new people as well as seeing several of their oldest friends that we have known for years. It does seem different to live close to someone in my family since I have lived away for so long, but it is very comforting and I feel at home. Pat and I said the other day that we thought we would live here forever...there is somthing about this place; I can't put my finger on it. The Christmas decorations on Franklin Street are Carolina Blue, very subtle and in good taste. The southern side of heaven.

Notice that it is Sunday and I am not recommending Frank Rich.

FOG

The "Pitt" has been draped in fog for days. What could this mean? When Katrina goes out in the backyard she disappears and Pat almost ran into a herd of deer on Thompson near the wash & fold.

Size 9 wingtip?

I wasn't going to say anything about the shoe throwing event in Iraq but I just can't help myself. First of all I am embarrassed that someone would throw shoes at the President of the United States at a press conference in another country. Second it is really upsetting that there is not public outrage that this happened. Third, It is infuriating that George W Bush was President to begin with. I wish I could leap forward in time about 50 years to be sure that GWB is in fact the worst President ever...even worse than Buchanan.

Sweet Tea!? missing in the cabinet

I just heard on MSNBC that the AJC reported that Obama's cabinet has no southerners....could this be friends of John Edwards making a push to resurrect his image? I say stay in whatever hole you have been in John (which might be right here in Chapel Hill).

Sweet Caroline...

What's the deal with people opposing Caroline Kennedy filling Hillary's Senate seat? What has she done? She has lead a decent life and been a productive member of society. She had two of the most famous people in the world for parents and could have been a real Paris Hilton. I think if we were to examine all 100 members of the Senate and listed their qualifications when they first ran or were considered for the position, we would be surprised at how qualified Caroline Kennedy is to hold the seat representing New York. (she actually lives in New York) So hopefully Governor Paterson will see the light and give the New York delegation real class.

Rich Again

I know I keep doing this, but Frank Rich's editorial in the NY Times today is once again just down my alley, or up my street...whatever.

Read it!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/opinion/14rich.html?_r=1

The REAL Election

In the undemocratic wisdom of the Founding Fathers the Electoral College was created to insure that the canaille would not select the President of the United States. The idea was for the social elite and well educated who had been selected as electors on the first Tuesday of November, to assemble in their state capitals on the 2nd Monday in December and cast their votes for the President (the runner-up would vice president). Tomorrow is the day when the electors meet and cast their ballots and that is the official election of the President and Vice President (the 12th Amendment now allows the electors to cast 2 ballots one for pres and one for vp). Tomorrow will most likely pass with little notice as it does almost every election year except 2000 when Al Gore had to preside over the Senate as the electoral votes from each state were opened and read. It was quite strange and of course the "election" of GW Bush should have been challenged. There were House members who did challenge the votes from Florida, but at least one member of the Senate must join the challenge and we all know that did not happen.

So, all of you should take pause tomorrow as these esteemed electors meet at noon in their State Capitals and cast the real votes for President of the United States. Then you might ask yourself why in the world would we keep this ridiculous system.....your mind might respond with Florida, California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and all the other big states.

Dinner at the Women's Shelter

What an eye opening experience.....People from the office brought all kinds of great food that kids like; fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, all kinds of sweets. We all wore reindeer antlers (I have a pic of Pat in his set that I will post when he emails it to me from his phone) and helped decorate. The kids were so cute and the Moms all seemed very appreciative. I cannot imagine what it would be like to spend the holidays in a shelter with my children. We all have so much to be thankful for...we are safe and love each other.

Tacky Christmas

You must decorate the fridge

There is no way these pics give justice to the "beauty" of our decorations.

things...

It is pouring down rain (I read that it is really raining in Atlanta and perhaps snow tonight) and 75 degrees. Not what I call winter and it is ruining my Christmas spirit. Had to turn the air conditioner on today.

The stupid governor of Illinois is the kind of person that makes people hate politicians. What is this jerk thinking...get out of town. I am a bit confused why the press is so into "pay to Play" politics now. This is the way the Bush administration has "run" the country for 8 years. Secret meetings to determine energy policy would be a good example. We still do not know who was on the energy task force and what roll it played in the Iraq war. I do not recall the press making a big deal about it.

We will be serving dinner tomorrow night at the Women's Shelter with others from our office. I am so impressed with all the good works our new company does. The people are honestly caring and compassionate.

No need to worry, we have made our Pitt home Christmas tacky. I will post some pics tomorrow.

THE Move from HELL!

Brinkley has lived in Washington DC for three years and this past weekend moved into her 6th (yes, 6th) dwelling. (moving therapy may be in order) Being a candidate for "mother of the year" and because I love my Brink, I went to help. The new nest is the best, thanks to the wonderful Titlows, but the move was something out of a Stephen King novel. It all started when the "company" she selected called her to say they would be a couple of hours late. No worry, order Chinese and call the new place to say we would be later than expected...fine, the security guard would be there to open the loading gate. Two hours turned into three and being the sweet, calm person that Brinkley is, the leader of the movers was chastised to say the least. This did not solve the problem as the three hours turned to four. The new place continued to be informed of the problem and continued to assure us that the security guard would be there. The three so called movers did show up at 10:15 pm and I do believe they had been doing something with pot. New place was notified of the arrival and yes of course the security guard would be there. Needless to say by the time the truck was loaded it was after midnight. Yes, you are right the new place was informed that we were on our way...security guard would be standing by. Now you are not going to believe this but when we arrived with the truck there was no security guard and the gate was not open. We called and about 15 minutes later the security guard showed up and informed us that under NO circumstances would the loading dock be opened and under no circumstances would we be able to unload. Now picture this...three stoned and aggravated moving people in an idling truck in the middle of 25th street, Brinkley screaming at the security Nazi, me throwing up my arms questioning the sanity of the so called human that we had been talking to all night. It was only 20 degrees outside. After about 30 minutes of this insanity (and the head security person suggesting that the stoned moving individuals sleep in a guest suite and unload the truck the next day) it was decided that the stuff would be stored overnight and they would come back at noon on Saturday. I am sure you have guessed that they were not there at noon or 1:00 and there were many very harsh words spoken by the Brinkster to the head mover. Around 2:30 the truck arrived and the contents delivered. A good time was not had by anyone.

The weekend continued with the defeat of Bama by the mean gator people, snow and sleet, and the worst service at Old Ebbitt Grill.

We noticed that the flags were all at half mast and Brinkley kept checking her Blackberry to see who had died, but there was no news about anyone famous dying. Then we realized that it was December 7th....how appropriate to lower the flags and take pause.

There were good things like trips to Target, a quick visit to the newly opened American History Museum (I had to make sure that our history had not been altered by the Bushies), and a wonderful tour of the monuments by night. The DAR was especially well decorated, I guess Marian Anderson was happy. Perhaps you are wondering if we saw any of the million or so really famous people at the Kennedy Center for the awards (which is only a few blocks from Brinkley's new apt), oh no we didn't know that was happening...we were up on Capitol Hill where there was no one. But the Capitol was beautiful and they have started building the platform for the inaugural.

The Train

Last Friday I rode the train from Raleigh to Washington DC to help Brinkley move for the 100th time (that's an upcoming post). I was actually rather excited since I had not been on a train in the US since I was a kid. My brother had warned me about the possibility of sitting next to an alien but since I upgraded to "business class" I assumed I was safe. But oh no, I got a seat next to the strangest little man who was an Amtrak freak. He just rides the train from High Point to DC and back for the fun of it. For 6 hours I got to hear about train couplings, train brakes, train tracks and their joints, train stations, train everything. This little man (I was afraid to ask his name for fear it would open up another set of stories) had been a truck driver in another life and I got to hear about every trip he made including meals and motels. There was no way to move because the train was overbooked and there were people who did not have seats so I was stuck with the trainman.

I will ride the "rails" again...it is a great way to get around and we should all insist that train travel be improved. Toot, Toot!

check it out and take a ride www.amtrak.com