Visible garbage in my neighbors' yards: count grows to 3
The yellow thing that I thought was a Linden's butter cookie wrapper
turns out to be a coffee can.
I also see a rusting bucket and close to another neighbor's lawn, a
plastic water jug. What slobs. And I have to look at
this all winter and spring, until the weeds and bushes grow back
again. I would venture back there to clean them up myself but I don't
want to trespass. I may post pictures at some point. (I'm sure the
count will grow too.)
I also worry that any of the wildlife I see will hurt themselves
stepping on this crap. I've found broken glass, barbed wire, all
kinds of manmade crap on the edge of my property. All you have to do
is dig a little under the leaf cover; you'll find all kinds of
garbage. It really is a minefield. Who knows what else is back there?
Hallelujah. The Republicans got their asses whipped! And what a
coincidence, Don Rumsfeld gets canned the day after. Whoo hooo!! I
look forward to congressional investigations on all kinds of subjects.
Do the happy dance!
(http://youtube.com/results?search_query=happy+dance&search=Search)
I've been doing the Soupy Shuffle but haven't found any video of it
on the net yet.
The suet feeder has been discovered! While it is around the corner
from my front door and side window so I can't see who's actually
eating there, I have seen a wren and a titmouse landing nearby then
heading for it. We're off and running then for the feeding season, to
have birds be seen so close to the house. The cat is pleased. Lots of
birdwatching to come on the widescreen tv otherwise known as the
front door or side windows.
And the woodpecker was pecking away at my house. See the sound file
in my Yahoo Briefcase for yesterday's pecking. (Link at the top on
the left of the first page of my blog.)
Got a DVR from DirecTV Friday. They say it is free. Good. Let's
hope it is. So far it seems kinda buggy. It's an R-15. At first the
guy set it up so the remote would turn the TV and the DVR on and off
at the same time. But he didn't set up the remote so that I could
change inputs on the TV, something I need to do when watching the
VCR. So I tried doing it. Now it's harder to turn on and off the TV.
- The software has frozen up once so far, when I was trying to move
around the menu while recording.
- The clock was a minute and half off when I first checked it. Now it
seems to be ok. It recorded at least one show after it started but I
am hoping the rest will be ok. The old set-top box was right on in
turning on EXACTLY when a show started and ended, the best
co-ordination I've seen with showtimes and the VCR. Let's hope the
DVR gets its act together.
Is it really free? That's what they said when they signed me up. I'd
only be charged if I break the 2 year contract. (Moving is ok.) I see
on their website that they charge $4.99/month for DVR service. Will I
charged for that? If so, I'm sending the DVR back...
- The forums say you can't record using the USB out. I will try. My
old setup, using the USB Vision $20 cable still works so I can still
do that. Wish it had a Firewire out.
- One show had some audio problems. Was that the DVR or did it
originate from the broadcaster? Could very well be from the
broadcaster.
- It has been handy to replay stuff. If you see something you want to
look at again, it is easy ot do so.
- How do you, when you are watching a program being replayed, go back
to the live version? The way I have figured out to do this is to
change channels. Seems kind of a stupid way to do things. There
doesn't seem to be any button to get you straight to the live
program. There should be. The Stop button doesn't do anything! (How
do you tell which version you are watching, the live or the replayed
version? You can go through lots of menus to tell but there might not
be a simple way. Maybe there is. I am still finding my way around the
menus and buttons.)
Somewhat related to DirecTV... WLIW Ch 21 on Long Island has been
broadcasting at a higher audio level than any other channel on
DirecTV for about a YEAR now. I've called DirecTV and written to both
DirecTV and WLIW about this and it's gotten nowhere. Will someone
please fix this? I'm watching Austin City Limits right now and as
usual, it is off balance as well, left lower than right by 2 db or
so. This too has gone on ever since 21 has been too hot, audio-wise.
Suet put out for the first time this season. I'll do that until it
warms up again.
Saw a bird, not a woodpecker like before, checking out the birdhouse.
Let's hope it moves in. Looked like a song sparrow but couldn't
really tell. See the pic.
And I've seen my first piece of trash in my neighbor's back yard.
With the leaves off the trees, eventually I will see a scattering of
junk in the woods behind my house. My neighbors, apparently, like to
dispose of their trash in the woods. I see rusty buckets, plastic
jugs, metal things, other odds and ends. Disgusting. Pics to come if
they show them well enough.
I feel like bitching about Yahoo.
- The website is slow to respond. I have to click again and again to
get it to refresh pages or go where I want. I am using a cable modem
and every time I check I see that I am getting GREAT connection
speeds so it isn't the ISP or me.
- The web-based mail is stupid. You have to readjust your viewing
preferences Every god-damned time. I want my mail sorted by sender. I
have to do that with EVERY PAGE VIEW. Why can't their server remember
that?
More bitching to come.
And while I'm at it, Blogger is having its problems too. You can't
post messages today. Will keep trying, see how long this lasts. (Fixed by ~3pm. started trying to send via e-mail around 11am.)
- Also, when uploading pictures, I can't upload more than one at a
time. My browser, Camino, won't allow that. Others might and I use
them sometimes. Firefox doesn't either. Also, Blogger's setup for
uploading pics says "use this layout every time". Trouble is it
doesn't remember what setup you are using so despite having chosen
that option, I have to choose the justification (none) every time.
Bad programing.
The League of Women Voters has published their voting guide. I've
read through it and have come to some conclusions about some of the
candidates. (Try it. Read each candidate's response. Slowly. Let each
sentence stand on its own. Do you agree with it or not? Is it
encouraging, flat-out wrong or indicative of leaning in the wrong
direction? Some say some good things. Others just beat around the
bush.)
The Greens have some good candidates. I was even impressed with some
Republican's statements but none impress me enough to actually vote
for any of them. (What, give them a signal that all the shenanigans
they've put us through for the past 6 years is ok? No way.)
Comptroller
Julia Willebrand - Green
Attorney General
Rachel Treichler - Green
State Supreme Court
Two democrats - Alan Scheinkman & Sam D Walker
State Senate
Nancy Low Hogan
tom Morahan has been acting nervous. His minions have bugged me twice
by calling and pretending to be an independent poll but as the poll
goes on, it becomes obvious that it is Morahan behind it. Morahan has
done some good things (mental health, possibly environmental) but he
is a a calculating, sleazy Republican so I hope he loses.
US House
17th District (my district) - Eliot Engel. He's been on the right
side of almost everything I have petitioned him about. One or two
votes were very wrong and inexplicable but overall he is very good.
19th District (not my district) - John Hall
Hall has a good chance to unseat Republican Sue (Bush rubberstamp)
Kelly. I hope he wins.
County Judge
Two Democrats - Victor Alfieri & Charles Apotheker
Rockland County Legislator
17th District (not my district)
Connie Coker - Democrat
6th District (not my district)
Bruce Levine - I like damn everything he said in the League's Voter Guide.
Alden Wolfe has also been responsive to an issue I wrote about but as
far as I know he isn't actually running yet remains on the ballot.
(And isn't in my district anyway.)
All gubernatorial candidates say they are against gerrymandering. So
why does it continue? Why aren't more people upset that the two
dominant parties rearrange the voting districts each time they get
the chance, so that they can remain in power. Wake up people. (And
while we're at it, let's open up the airwaves (cable too) to ALL
candidates for free. The price of TV ads are one major source of
corruption in the whole election/democratic process.)
A few more things to worry about:
- How may dead people will vote this election? The paper today said
that there are 75,000 in NY State? The election process is DEEPLY
flawed. Local Board of Elections (choose your locality) are nests of
incompetence and partisanship (whatever the reason why). Be
suspicious. Be protective of your right to vote accurately.
- Will election machines actually record our votes? Will any partisan
hanky-panky or volunteer poll-worker incompetence affect votes
near/in the election places?
Other endorsements will come before election day. My overall approach
- Republicans are de facto NOT worthy of a vote unless there are
extraordinary circumstances: What would make me vote for a
Republican? If they are actually good people. If they have
interesting ideas that will actually help society rather than
continue the status quo of their party. I haven't found anyone worthy
of breaking this rule this time around.
Oh, one last thing. Look this up on Spencer in the Journal News:
U.S. SENATE RACE A TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE
January 15, 2006 ** 2984 words ** ID: wst2006011610550993
He sounds like a perfect Republican candidate!
(Me, I'm a a proud Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking*, Sushi-Eating*, Volvo-Driving*, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing*, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak, I mean liberal. * PS I don't actually drink latte, eat sushi, drive a Volvo or have any body piercings but I agree with the sentiments.)Saw two deer today. Perhaps the mother and her fawn. Mom? licking the
younger one, then mom? heading over behind my house to eat my
geraniums by the birdbath. I didn't want to disturb her so I let her
eat them. I should have left some water in the birdbath. She licked
it anyway, getting the dew.
I took some short movies but both deer are so well camouflaged that
they are pretty hard to see, so not worth posting here or in my Yahoo
Briefcase.
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