The Maverick Scale

Supreme Maverick of the Universe (One can only dream)
Maverick of Pennsylvania Avenue (Maybe later)
Maverick of the Senate (McCain now)
A Good Maverick with me (Applies to Palin)
Fair to middlin' Maverick (Repub Senate candidates)
Simple Ordinary Maverick (Repub House candidates)
Hardly a Maverick at all (other party candidates)
Non Maverick (people not running for office)
Chipped beef on toast (chipped beef on toast)

Umm, McCain had numerous pronunciations for "nuclear"

noo koo LEER, noo koo LER, noo KOO ler, and the normal NOO klee er. Talk about appealing to a diverse electorate!

And thank you to my local maverick Seattle area stores and utilities for accepting my WaMu money and not refusing it as worthless Quatloos. They are TRUE mavericks.

I just saw a recast of the September 24th CBS Katie Couric interview

Dear Senator Obama,

Do not suspend your presidential campaign, Do not suspend it for one minute. Go to the Senate floor for negotiations and votes, and maintain contact with your constituency by electronic means. Have your family and campaign staff, and those of Senator Biden, continue to appear at rallies. Your opponent's slimy request that you abandon your quest for a Democratic Administration is motivated by his desires to increase his own pocketbook and those of his fellow super-rich. Another Republican Administration would accelerate America's divide into a country of haves and have-nots, where the have-nots are increasingly denied the right to vote. Work for change. Stay on the campaign trail.

Democratically yours,

Priss Prisstofferson


Dear Senator McCain,

Why what a clever idea. If the campaign is suspended, the other candidate will never get to meet the public and never get to answer their questions. Your greater name recognition might just edge you over the top. And clever too, to represent your call for him to pick up his marbles and go home as taking the high road. No, conceding to you would not be best for the public, it would be best for the arms dealers and insurance companies, and best for your retirement income someday when they would reward you for your role as a loyal vassal. Today we have telephones and video cameras. These can be combined into a powerful communication instrument that would allow you to stay in touch with the public and with the Press. You also have a running mate. You could request that the Vice-Presidential debate be held first, while you seclude yourself in a Senate committee room. It seems likely to me that Senator Biden would be willing to pop out of chambers, whip out a debate, and then dash back to the Capitol if there were really some effective stopgap plan to be hammered out. The Press has made much of your campaign's reluctance to take Sarah Palin out of the Saran Wrap, but debates are a traditional part of American Presidential races. If you back away from personally participating, you appear to have something to hide. So get out there and debate, or send your running mate in your stead. Wassamatter, are you yeller?

Republicanly yours,

Priss Prisstofferson

Accidental Cat Chaperone

I heard a plaintive sound. Something outside, or was it in the lobby? It was intermittent, so I didn't investigate right away. The sound began again with more constancy, so I peeked out to take a look. An orange tabby had been wandering the halls, it was cozying up to one of my neighbors. It wasn't her cat. She pointed out an address tag on its collar, and said that she had to leave for work now.

The furry beast is now ensconced on my deck. There are plants to investigate and a bowl of water. I placed a board at the base of the screen door in an attempt to to shield it from those fearsome claws. But the wily creature worried its body between the door and the board easily removing the barrier. Now it is sitting outside, a few feet from my computer table, making poor little me noises.

A pink post-it is in place on the door of the presumed owners alerting them to the cat's location should they ever return. This superintendence can not become permanent. I'm having slight allergic symptoms already.

Key per

McCain has a brother named McAbel

who hasn't been seen around lately.

Bliss Stick

You can use it to point
To gesture emphatically
It is made out of wood
But didn't grow on a tree

4 out of 5 non-dentists
Would be forced to agree
That the bamboo back scratcher
Delivers ecstasy

It's Zbig's Birthday!

I'm now the parent of an 18 year old.

Floats and Diggers

Latest pool annoyance: A nylon rope with plastic floats now bisects the rectangle, not lengthwise creating a lane, but across the width. In pursuit of a segregated shallow area for non-swimmers, I am expected to turn my 30 mini laps into 60 DEMI-MINI laps. This is unacceptable.

My solution: Swim at an early dinner hour when the water is undiluted by juveniles. Untying the floating barrier was a snap. I then replaced it within half an hour. Yes, there were a few witnesses, but they will keep mum.

Water in, In Water

The homeowner association rules state that while in the pool area one must "bring a nonalcoholic drink in a plastic container." Now usually I flaunt this, preferring to wait until later in my own dining room to attend to re-hydration needs, But the weather was warm today, so I brought an 8 ounce container of eau municipale along with my Liz Claiborne hat, and my goggles. There were a handful of kids in the pool throwing around beach balls, and they politely moved over a bit to accommodate my mini lap swimming. On one corner of the deck some non-aquatic types blabbed away in deck chairs. One of them found the need to chain smoke.

I didn't stick around much after swimming. It wasn't only the smoke, there was this alarming brightness everywhere. My hat and the Aveeno non-oily sunblock on my nose were no match for the ionizing radiation. When I got back, I mentioned the smoker to the PrissKids.

Zbigniew said, "You should have whipped out a one hundred page book and pointed to the rule."

I responded with more theoretics, "Here is my non-alcoholic drink in a plastic container. Where's yours? And put out that cigarette!"