So tomorrow’s the big day. We’re going to Comcast for Television and phone in addition to the broadband we already have. We decided to consolidate some bills. We also ordered a TiVo instead of cable DVR. The TiVo we ordered has three times the capacity of the DVR.

Of course we’ve had to clear out our old DirecTV TiVo because we can’t transfer from one to the other. I wrote down everything we had in season passes so I could put them all in the new TiVo as they become available. I also spent a lot of time this weekend figuring out the fall schedule so I could make my plans for TiVoing.

I was unhappy to learn that a few of my favorites from last year won’t be coming back; Moonlight, Shark, Women’s Murder Club, and Journeyman.

There are few new ones that look interesting however; My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater looks very good. It’s scheduled for Mondays at 10(9 central) on NBC right after Heroes. Henry and Edward are two very different men. But they’re sharing the same body. And neither one knows it.

On Fridays at 8(7 central) on NBC Crusoe airs. It’s about Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. IMDb says

Based on the novel written in 1719, this is said to be an action-packed period drama set in the 17th century, but with a contemporary take on race relations — and a hero who will bear a resemblance to Angus MacGyver. NBC has committed to 13 episodes.

And Scrubs is continuing on ABC! Season 8. Will we ever learn the Janitor’s real name?

There’s that Angie’s List commercial about Joe the Plumber. The woman says that Joe was doing some work at her house when she wasn’t home and her little papillon had to go out. Poor “Joe patiently paraded her up and down the street sacrificing his time and dignity until her business was done”. I have dogs. It isn’t necessary to “parade” them up and down the street. They’ll go in the yard. – And did he really sacrifice his time? or did he include the time in his labor charges?

The cancer won. Our condolences and prayers are with his family and friends.

He will be missed.

May The Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

The other day Barack Obama said:

Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they will learn English. You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.

Why Spanish Mr. Obama? Granted that my area has quite a few Hispanic people. When I took my Little Guy to the bus stop for kindergarten, I couldn’t communicate with most of the other mothers because I don’t speak Spanish and they didn’t speak English.

We also have large populations of immigrants from other countries as well. There are more than 3,000 Indian families in the area, enough that a large Hindu temple was built a year ago. We also have good sized populations of Ukrainian, Russian, and Romanian immigrants.

I once worked with a man who had immigrated from Germany. He proudly became a citizen two years ago. He once said, “What is this press 2 for Spanish? Where is press 3 for German?”

When the Little Guy was being tested prior to entering Kindergarten, we were waiting in line in check in. The woman in front of me spoke with an accent, so the woman from the school district asked if she needed a bilingual aide. I’ll never forget the woman’s response.

We are Romanian. We speak English.

All the bilingual aides provided by the school district speak Spanish. No Romanian.

Our country is vast in size. When I was in Europe, one day I was in five different countries. I started in the Netherlands, and drove into Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, before ending up in Germany.  It can be difficult to be in five different states in one day here.

English is the language of business. I have seen people from different countries speaking English to each other as a common language.

If I were to immigrate to another country, I would be expected to learn the language of that country. So do many immigrants here (such as my German friend and the Romanian mother and others I have worked with from Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Japan, India, and Romania).

I was married the first time in Germany. I had to hire, at my own expense, a state approved translator for the wedding ceremony. The clerk who performed the ceremony spoke English, but the ceremony is in German and we were required to have a translator as we were not fluent in German, although we were able to get along “on the economy” as necessary.

English should be the official language of this country.

The Anchoress has a bit more on what Barack Obama had to say the other day.

That’s one of Barack Obama’s taglines. He’s been showing lately that his Judgment isn’t “all that”.

Luke Boggs at the Atlanta Journal Constitution has compiled a list of Barack Obama’s “regrets”: Buying a 10 foot strip of property alongside his own from Tony Rezko; telling some well-heeled San Fransicans that people in middle America were bitter and cling to their guns and religion; and that he did the interview with Access Hollywood, putting his beautiful little girls in the spotlight.

Barack Obama has said “(insert name) is not the person I knew” about quite a few people. Off the top of my head we have Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger. We have his former VP candidate vetter Jim Johnson who, while he was CEO of Fannie Mae, received a sweetheart loan from Countrywide. Obama is blaming Countrywide in particular for many of this country’s mortgage woes. He’s friends with William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn of the Weather Underground.

Today Time Magazine tells us that Barack Obama is seeking information on Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D).

Back to the Jim Johnson brouhaha. Does Barack Obama think we’ve forgotten that Senator Dodd was tied to a sweetheart deal with Countrywide? That Dodd was listed as a “friend of Mozilo”?

Judgment. Yeah. Poor.

Drilling won’t produce anything for years, we need to increase mileage standards, develop alternative fuels (wind! solar!) reduce our dependence on oil! The oil companies already have eleventy million acres of land to drill on! We can’t give them any more! And no, they can’t trade this lease for that lease… They leased what they leased! We are addicted to oil!

Given that drilling won’t produce any oil for some years, the alternatives suggested won’t produce any differences in that period of time either. This isn’t an either/or situation. It’s a both situation. Drill offshore and develop alternative fuels. We know fairly accurately when new, proven fields will produce. We have no idea when the alternatives will be viable or affordable.

Changing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards is all well and good but only affects future new cars, it doesn’t affect the ~250 million cars that are already on the road in America. There is no magic wand that will suddenly make all the vehicles on the road comply with the new standards. Some of the ideas for developing alternative fuels are years away and are cost prohibitive as well. A hydrogen fuel cell car that costs more than a house is not going to go very far with your Average Joe.

Distances in America guarantee that the personal/family vehicle will be the main mode of transportation for years and years to come. I live in the exurbs of Chicago. The train downtown takes an hour and a half. For working downtown, that is the best option. But that’s downtown. Pretty much everywhere else, automobiles are best. There are some busses, but they don’t necessarily go from where you are to where you need to be. A trip that would take 20 minutes in a car going from point A to point B (45 minutes in “rush” hour) might take the hour and a half it takes to get to Chicago on the train or even longer. Especially since to get from point A to point B you may have to travel through points C, D, E, F, and G first. Kind of like having to travel through Davenport, IA to get from Chicago to Milwaukee…

We are addicted to oil and even if we can find another way to power our vehicles, we’ll still be addicted to oil. Oil is so much more than just gas and oil for vehicles, power, and home heating…

Petroleum is used in items as diverse as crayons, tires, golf bags, Vaseline, deodorant, Scotch tape, pantyhose, putty, life jackets, TV cabinets, ice cube trays, yarn, toilet seats, candles, hand lotions, shampoo, speakers, eyeglasses, tooth brushes, CDs, aspirin, detergents, shaving cream, toothpaste and thousands of others…

Little basil flowers

It’s Hubby’s 50th birthday today.

Little Guy gave him a card that says on the front: A long, long time ago….

and inside: You were born.

And it plays the Star Wars theme…

We also had two tons of sand delivered this morning so we can finish the pad for our pool and finally get it set up.

Below are a few of the items we got at partypro.com for the party:

I’ve noticed that they’ve changed the Move Free Advanced commercial. The woman used to say something like, “I feel so good, I think I’ll adopt a puppy!” To Hubby and me, that felt like, “I feel so good, I think I’ll get an ice cream!” Adopting a puppy really isn’t a spur of the moment thing to do. Now she says, “I feel so good, now I can finally get that puppy I’ve always planned for.” They must have gotten complaints about the way it was worded at first. I’m glad they’ve changed it.

I’ve been thinking about the ice cream trucks recently. They make their rounds and sell their ice cream, but they really can’t be making that much with the price of gas the way it is currently. I haven’t seen the prices go up… On the other hand, there was a new one the other day playing La Cucuracha. I’m sorry. I won’t buy ice cream from a truck that plays the cockroach song…

Today is President Bush’s last birthday as POTUS.

Happy Birthday and Best Wishes for your future!