Now apparently my sleeping problems are negatively affecting my teeth. Me and an apnea mask have a date to meet this year and I hate the idea! Feeling like I have no choice anymore :( -Lisa

200 Years Ago Today

Today is the bicentennial of The Battle of New Orleans, when Andrew Jackson led a motley assortment of regulars, militia, and pirates to an unlikely victory over the British.

Rod Taylor

RIP Rod Taylor, star of "The Birds" and, far more importantly, "Dark of the Sun", an epic movie memory from my youth. :(

An Epic Week

Your schedule this week is set!

Good on Ike

Early in WWII Australia feared invasion by the Japanese and asked for American help. Eisenhower ordered some all black divisions there (under FDR the Army was still segregated) but they were rejected despite the urgency of the situation: Australian law forbid bringing blacks into the country. 

Ike acknowledged the concerns of the Australians by withdrawing the black divisions - and by refusing to send any other American troops in their place. "Stand [your] ground and make no differential between blood," he told his chief of staff.

 Australia quickly withdrew their objection and allowed in the troops.

Happy Wedding Anniversary!

Happy 70th wedding anniversary George and Barbara Bush!

Bubble Mania

Earlier tonight I beat the last level (#114) of Bubble Mania, a great free app that I've been playing for a bit. I'm sad that I won't have new levels to play when I'm bored. :(

Research

I spent several hours today at Marquette, doing research at the law library on behalf of a relative. I was pleasantly surprised to have two faculty members stop and say hello when they saw me. Apparently I'm just as memorable in person as on Facebook.

Smiley's Work Ethic

Smiley has taken on the shoveling duties here at Villa Slap, earning a buck towards his room and board each time. He does it on his own initiative, and we're proud of him. He's now also taken on shoveling for Alys H, with his first gig wrapping up just an hour ago. As it is bitterly cold I offered to help him scrape the compacted snow off the sidewalk, but he refused my meddling, saying "I'm the one getting paid, I'm the one who should do the work." Good on him and his American work ethic :) Love ya kid!

SlapFail

To my shame, Smiley and Junie  just pointed out that they have never been to the circus. #slapFail

A Fine End to Christmas Break

Yesterday, to cap off Christmas break, I took Team Slap out for dinner at the Copper Kitchen. Well, most of Team Slap; despite spending ten days at grandma's YaYa couldn't be troubled to dine with us. And when we got there everyone just watched The Simpson's and Family Guy on the TV. But wth, it was still family time and we didn't have to cook. :)

Gas Prices

Me like.

Thank You's

1. Thanks for shoveling Smiley!

2. Good to have you home YaYa

3. Nice job on the bathroom Junie

4. The Cowboys are self-destructing

5. Thanks for thinking of my sister Lisa

You do have some awesome kids, love them lots - Grandma Jeanne

A Time to Heal by Gerald Ford

In December, as a break from reading law texts,  I read “A Time to Heal”, the Presidential memoir of Gerald Ford that was published in 1979.

A good man, Ford.  Some items of interest, to me if no one else:

·  Having just finished a biography of Nelson Rockerfeller, it was nice to hear some of the stories of N.A.R. from a second source, and I’m pleased that Ford held him in genuine esteem. 

· Ford criticizes himself, in print, for his “political cowardice” in bowing to the Right and taking Rockerfeller off the ticket in ’76.  A brave admission by a politician.

· Ford’s dislike for Reagan, which I’ve read about before, shines through. I can’t blame him. Reagan f’d the GOP in 1976 by seeking the nomination against a sitting Republican President.

· Many of the power players from the last few decades came on the scene in the Ford era, and it was neat to hear about the “young” up-and-comers:  GHW Bush, Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld,  etc.

· Joe Biden pops up too, when as a Senator he refuses to allow any funds to be used to evacuate South Vietnamese civilians as Saigon fell. “I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out,” he said, “I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out.”  As this quite literally meant condemning 120,000 civilians  to possible death or internment,  Ford was less than happy with the young Senator  (Ford secured private funding to bring them into the US)

· At one point, Ford writes that he wishes he’d been able to pick GHW Bush as his Vice Presidential candidate (Bush had been forced by Congressional Democrats to swear off any such opportunity when he became CIA Director)

· Ford also strongly considered Anne Armstrong as his VP, predating the  Geraldine Ferraro nomination by eight years. If given the opportunity to do it again, Ford writes “I might well have said, ‘Damn the torpedoes,’ and gambled on Anne.”

· From a distance, it’s easy to see when something is doomed to fail or succeed. Ford spend some time applauding his own emphasis on truth-in-sentencing and mandatory sentences, both of which would  lead to an overcrowded penal system that is now a blight on our culture.  He also causally pokes fun at “outrageous” regulations that now seem routine; case in point, the ‘beep’ of a commercial vehicle going in reverse. 

#Truth

Donna Douglas

RIP Donna Douglas, aka Elly May Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies, aged 81.

Wayne Rogers

RIP Wayne Rogers, aka Trapper John from M*A*S*H, age 82. IMO, a superior character to BJ (although not one as explored as deeply, I'll admit)