Money

Do they play this at bailout board meetings? Citigroup, one of the "family" that has access to all the information (see my post on the 200% interest) Macy's collects about me has agreed to take no bonuses for 2008--and yes, they promise to keep a tight leash on expenses, and "limit" their lobbying efforts. I am deeply comforted. As I've always said here, I don't care generally how much these CEOver-the-toppers pay themselves for their mansions, mistresses and private schools for the kids as long as the stockholders don't care, but now that they want us to share the risk for their negligence and bad investments, I think it only right we have a say. According to Bloomberg, "Overall, the federal government has committed $8.5 trillion in trying to jumpstart a shrinking economy." And Obama hasn't even started filling the pot holes and killing talk radio yet!



Bloomberg.com summary of 2008, a year the writer calls a "Darwinian" event--only the most fit species survived. It may be the only type of Darwinian event I can believe in!

HT No Runny Eggs

Moral clarity

It's not always possible to know right and wrong, especially not on the international scene. But on the current (and on going) Israel-Hamas conflict, Charles Krauthammer says we know:

"Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis - 6,464 launched from Gaza in the past three years - deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people. . . For Hamas the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians." Link

What a dilemma for Obama. He has something Bush never had--adoring, sycophant followers who are expecting the 2nd coming of American popularity throughout the world. That will only happen if he abandons Israel. Someone is in for a terrible fall--and I'm guessing it's the Jews and Catholics who supported him thinking that all his marxist leanings would disappear after November 4 and we'd all sing glory, glory, alleluia to the new king as we marched blindfolded into the sunrise to our reeducation camps.

Poets and Writers

It's been a lot of years since I picked up a writing magazine. I used to write some fiction back in the mid-1990s. It was lots of fun. The stories just came from no where and I was always surprised by the outcome. I'd write the first line, and the rest came. Then they stopped. First line and all.

Yesterday at the library sale I picked up for a quarter the Nov/Dec 2008 Poets and Writers. Do you think writing--fiction, non-fiction, biography, poetry, mystery, romance, sci-fi--is better today than the days before all the prizes and contests, degrees and workshops? Are the people on the best-seller list the best? Did they get there by entering contests? Or are contests just useful for paying off the organizers and their staff. Look at these

Fence Books awarded Elizabeth Marie Young of Berkeley the 2008 Motherwell Prize for her poety--$3,000 and publication of her book.

University of Evansville awarded David Stephenson of Detroit the 2007 Richard Wilbur Award for his poetry collection--$1,000 and publicantion of his book.

Frederick Reiken won the Fiction Open, $2,000, and his story will be published in the Winter 2009 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

And so it goes. But look how much money these organizations bring in with their contests:

University of Evansville Wilbur Award competitors need to submit $25 per manuscript--what if 1,000 people send something? Yes, it takes some staff and handling, and someone has to read the submissions, but usually you know after the first paragraph whether it's worth it, and you've got that $25 check in hand.

Glimmer Train which is sold on newstands and certainly isn't cheap, collects $20 per entry for the opportunity to win that $2,000 prize. That journal is very well known and marketed, and I'm assuming gets thousands of hopefuls.

That Fence Books Motherwell prize will cost each entrant $25, and since it is for a first or second book of poetry by a woman, it probably gets thousands writing about baby spit up or lost loves. Here's one of mine based on the Suze Orman TV show. It's timely, got name recognition, pathos, and a snappy ending.

Girlfriend, Suze said,
while you imagined love
there's a slight chance
you missed the bounced checks,
school loans, credit cards,
child support and gambling debts,
a mortgage about to reset,
a house that hasn't flipped,
and his mother who has.

If you want to write for money, you might be better off putting ads on your blog page.

Flipping through this issue, I do see a few that have no entry fee, like National Council of Teachers of English and Nebraska Arts Council, but they are outnumbered by the for-fee contests/prizes/awards.

There's a photo on p. 18 of a party in 1963 for the founding of Filmwrights International, sort of a union. Most noticeable, given today's casual culture, is that all the men are in suits, and none of the women are identified. But the famous authors in the photo, none of whom had probably won an award to launch their careers or attended a writing workshop in Iowa or Arizona, are George Plimpton, William Styron, Ralph Ellison, Peter Mathiessen, H.L. Humes, Truman Capote, and Mario Puzo.

Call me crazy, but I think if you're good, someone is going to find out without your sending $25 to 100 contests to win $500.

Personal information about me they can pass along

After reading that Macy's was legally allowed to charge over 200% on a 30 day charge account, I looked a little closer at the teeny-tiny print on the itsy-bitsy pieces of paper that came with the bill.

First they told me my personal information was protected. That information included
Information I gave them on my application--name, address, phone, dob, ss, dln. Information about my transactions with Macy's their affiliates and nonaffliates--account balances, payment history and account activity Information about me from a consumer reporting agency, such as the credit bureau reports and other information relating to my credit worthiness Information about me from other souces, such as my employer, democraphic firms, and other third parties [isn't that a little vague?]
Then armed with all that which includes just about everything except my blood type and the name of the horse I owned in 7th grade, Macy's tells me that they can share that with all other affiliates about me--and that includes
the family of companies controlled by Citigroup Inc. the family of companies controlled by Macy's, Inc. affiliates in several different businesses, including banking, credit cards, consumer finance, insurance, securities and retail sales of goods and services Macy affiliates dba CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, Smith Barney, Primerica, Macy's and Bloomingdale's
Nonaffiliated, "non-family" get to have my personal information too
financial services providers--banks, credit card companies, etc. non-financial companies, such as those in direct marketing and selling on consumer products and services and others, like non-profits (ACORN? Why not--they were able to bring down the banks.)

On a second tiny piece of paper there is an Opt Out Form (retain for your records). This replaces the wording on another piece of paper I don't have, or if I do, I don't know where it is. But upon reading it, I see it isn't the opt out form at all; no, no, it tells me the finance charge percentages, about which I just complained in the previous blog are going up to annual 22.9% instead of 21.6%, and if I miss a payment twice in any 6 mo. period it goes up to 24.9%; a $29 fee for returned check, and a late payment fee of $15 for balances under $50, $25 for balance of $50 and over, and so forth, until the late fee for over $1,000 is $35.

And get this. "You authorize us within each account type to apply your payments and credits in a way that is most favorable or convenient for us." Well, no wonder the print is so small and on itsy bitsy slips of paper. Then comes the "opt out option," which if I choose that, my account will be closed!

Usury

(yū'zhə-rē) I seldom use my Macy's credit card--must have pulled it out by mistake when I shopped there on December 19. Today I got a "red star rewards" statement for the period ending December 21. I charged about $60 (2 presents for my husband and 2 for me!) and the minimum payment is due on Jan. 15. So that's 25 days for a 30 day billing account. If I choose to pay less than the full balance, $1 will be added to my revolving account balance, which inexplicably is recorded as $22.41 even though I had zero balance on Dec. 19. It says in upper right corner of page one that the average daily balance is $5.98, the daily periodic rate 0.05918%, which corresponds to an annual percentage rate of 21.60%. On the second page is the note "A finance charge in the amount of $1.00 will be added to your Revolving account balance if you choose to pay less than the full balance by your due date. If that happens, the actual ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE charge on that account is 200.64%.

Anyone with better math and English skills want to explain this, without using the words usury, obfuscation, exorbitant or onerous?

Two ways to judge the economy of the 21st century

If you're retired, or were near retirement in 2000, as I was, just go back and look at your statements. My pension carrier, State Teachers Retirement of Ohio, in the mid to late 90s was busy throwing money at art and a newly remodeled building with all the latest of everything for its employees. They had so much money they didn't know what to do with it. Then came the tech bust and the party was over by 1999. At least that's what my 403-b statements from TIAA-CREF said. President Bush inherited a floundering economy in 2001--and I don't blame Clinton--there were too many dollars chasing too few opportunities and people were throwing money at any app, widget and dot com business that had a 23 year old in sweats and T running R&D. My funds had fully recovered by December 2003, I think it was, and then soared. Not bad considering 9/11 and all the bad media sob stories about "this economy." Team Kedwards in 2004 really moaned about the terrible economy--worst since the Great Depression Kerry and Edwards said. The day after the election on 2004, the Democrats shut up. But not for long. They drug out the same sad, sad stories from Appalachia and poverty moving to the suburbs for the 2006 elections, and took many seats in Congress. And Republicans let them do it. Here in Ohio our candidate, an African American, was smeared because of Governor Tafts golfing misdeed. Also, he didn't talk and walk white or spread guilt around or write autobiographies about non-accomplishments. Democrats also said we were losing the war, but that's another non-story that worked.

I have another way to judge the economy, both that of the mid-90s and the mid-2000s. My premiere issue magazine collection. Advertising out the wazoo during the days when the media was telling us how awful things were in mid-2000s. Id' seen the same thing in the late 1990s--Wired was so fat you almost couldn't find the stories. Industry Standard, before it went belly up, was just an amazing array of ads. So much advertising, and much of it inappropriate for the readership, that you almost can't imagine what the marketing departments must have been thinking. People in those positions must have thought they had the golden touch, that they couldn't do anything wrong.

I'm getting ready to review the premier issue of Cottage Living, September/October 2004. Here's the ads that appear before page 60.

Woodbridge wine--full page
kitchen appliances 2 full pages, 1/3 mostly white
women's fashion 1 full page each for J. Jill and Talbot
Andersen window 2 full pages
Pergo 2 full pages
Princess Cruises 2 full pages
VISA
ROC
Neiman Marchus
Ford Expedition
Chevy Equanox 2 full pages
Levi Strauss 2 full pages
Citi 2 full pages
Highlander
Jenn-Air 2 full pages
LL Bean
Lowes
Harchow
Bulova
Megerian rugs
Gevalia
WISP (Glade)
Emend (chemo therapy) 2 full pages
Show House (Moen faucets)
Norwegian Cruiseline

Yes, the run up was heady. So much money chasing so few products. Meanwhile, back in DC, every American had a right to a home, whether or not they could make the payments, whether or not their credit rating was awful, whether or not they when it balooned, they couldn't possibly make the payment. Money was being handed out by the fistful from a variety of government agencies to non-profits to make sure enough people got signed on--no down payment? no problema. No job--not to worry. The value of the house was supposed to go up. And so we had a really toxic mix; tainted investments, and the boys minding the store were just watching the boys.

Now we'll have to wait and see if we'll have the Bush-Obama version of Hoover-Roosevelt. Let's hope Obama doesn't give us a 10 year Depression the way FDR did.

How do you clean sticky Tupperware?

In my pretend move, I'm reaching to the back of the tall kitchen cupboards, standing on a chair. And what do I find? A large Tupperware canister, suitable for a one lb sack of potato chips or a few dozen cookies. It is so sticky, it almost wouldn't leave my hand once I took hold. The usual things I try don't work. Is it decomposing? Is it absorbing chemicals from the cupboard finish? Is this left over potato chip grease from the 1960s? So I go to the internet and google "how to clean sticky Tupperware" and someone suggests Bon Ami, which is the only ceramic cleaner I use. I dampen my piece of Bounty and go to work. Wow. This really works. And while I was at it, I buffed up a handmade ceramic bowl I found in there too that had some marks on it probably from metal. From the color scheme--gray, gold, taupe and cream, I'm guessing early to mid-1980s, and probably purchased at an artsy-fartsy shop here in Columbus, or at an art show. The name on the bottom is huge both upper and lower case, Wilks. So I google that and find a Kelly Wilks from Arkansas who works in clay, and I e-mail the supply house with which she is associated and teaches. Waiting to see if I've found the artist.

Let's pretend we're moving!

On my list of New Year's Resolutions is #11--clean out and rearrange the kitchen cabinets by pretending we're moving! We're not, of course, we absolutely love it here and haven't missed our home of 34 years even one day. So today, I'm standing on a chair cleaning a cabinet I can't reach unless I'm on a chair. Top shelf had only the waffle maker and my mother's decorative ceramic pie holder. But the next shelf down, the one I can reach, Oh My! Empty containers and a ton of supplements.

I found CVS Natural Fish Oil 120 mg, 100 softgels, probably about 90 left in the container. I looked it up here and here and here. So, I guess I'll keep them. We don't eat a lot of fish. Burp.

Floor lamp saga

Regular readers know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to stop sitting in the dark, straining my eyes. I'm on the prowl for a floor lamp, one my mother would love, and my husband will probably hate. When I find the lamp, different from all the rest, I'm going to christen it, "Olive the other floor lamps." Hey! After 48 years, I think our marriage is secure. So yesterday about 4 p.m., while husband is watching his 97th football game of the Christmas New Year season:

"Would you like to go shopping for a floor lamp now? I saw a new store about 2 miles from here."

"No, that's OK. You go."

Ten minutes later Norma walks into a contemporary furnishings store on Bethel Road.

"May I help you find something."

Gulping down her shock and surprise at the woman's slovenly, ready-for-the-trail-ride appearance, "Yes, I'm looking for a floor lamp. Do you know how much wattage this lamp uses?" The tag didn't say, and there was one tiny bulb in it, but it did work. The price was $115, which I thought was reasonable because it was a very nice design.

Slovenly saleslady earns points by admitting she knows nothing about the lamp, but would check the catalog. Meanwhile Norma browses. There are floor lamps that look like three giant mushrooms stacked atop each other; there are floor lamps that spiral; there are floor lamps that swing out 25 ft. or so like bending broken cherry pickers on a windy day; there are biblical floor lamps that hide their lights under a bushel.

Saleslady returns, and says as her chin stud sparkles in the wavering light of weird and bizarre lamps, "It will take a total of 125 watts, with 2 bulbs."

It would hurt too much to look at her pretty face which she has mangled with a variety of holes, so Norma mumbles to saleslady's combat boots, "Thank you, but I need something a bit brighter."

After a spin through Marshall's which only had table lamps, and K-Mart which had floor lamps in boxes, one a "natural light" with a goose neck for close sewing that might be a possibility if hidden in the corner, she returns home to husband who hasn't moved from his lounge chair and the football game.

Are you smarter than the people you elected?

It shouldn't be difficult. The most recent annual report on Civic Literacy, released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in November revealed an average score of F by both citizens and elected officials. I'm not surprised. Remember the election video where Obama's supporters said it was OK for him to be running with Sarah Palin and thought she'd do a good job?

"More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took the test on Civic Literacy, and more than 1,700 of them failed. The average score was a 49%. More shocking, the average score of elected officials was 44%, meaning that our public officials performed worse than citizens selected at random. Less than 1% of those surveyed (21 of 2,508) earned an A on the test (90% or higher)." I scored 78.79 %, which isn't all that great, but apparently better than the folks I elected. When I looked at the ones I missed, there were two I just didn't read carefully, and the others I guessed (wrong). But bad either way.

Take a stab.

Great 2009 Resolutions for Obama Administration

The Heritage Foundation is looking forward to some adjustments/changes, as we all are. I agree with most. Especially keep the Bush tax cuts in order to not further sink the economy. Right now his selection of helpers looks like either a Clinton third term, or a quasi-Bush third term, but Obama didn't get to the White House by revealing his hand too soon. So I'm not feeling as good as the leftists are bad. Here's what Heritage Foundation, via its blog, The Foundry, suggests:

TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT [got a poor start here]
END OF TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) and deny any requests to use the second $350 billion of taxpayer funds.
IRAN WITHOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS
NO NEW TAXES: Obama will make all of President Bush’s tax cuts permanent
CHEAP ENERGY: The U.S. will authorize oil production in ANWR and other promising areas in the lower 48 states
STATE DRIVEN EDUCATION [I'd like to send the new Secretary back home to Chicago, and close down that behemoth]
NO SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
FREEDOM TO WORSHIP: Obama will protect the ability of faith-based social service providers to honor their religious ideals; including debates about marriage
NON-ACTIVIST JUDGES
MISSILE DEFENSE
SUPPORT THE TROOPS

Read the full explanation of each issue here.

Preserving Special Media

If ever a government guide should be digitized and on the web so you could see it, I would think this one should be: "Records management handbook for United States senators and their archival repositories / Karen Dawley Paul ; prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate by the Senate Historical Office. [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Senate, 2006. Series: S. pub; 109-19. Then you'd know why information has disappeared through theft, deterioration, mishandling, or other oopsies as administrations come and go. Leafing through the copy at Ohio State University I see things that are also of interest to us average folk who increasingly are relying on non-paper to store our information. Say what you will about the way our grandparents did things, I can still read my grandparents' 1890s grocery lists, farm records and book notes, something I can't do for much of my own material from the 1990s. In the above photo (1988), I'm using one of the most advanced systems in the OSU Libraries--none of it works today--not even the curly perm.

But back to the senators. On p. 50 it says senators are supposed to have established guidelines for maintaining permanently valuable electronic records, including e-mail. Now, I don't see in this publication what those guidelines are, only that they are supposed to have them and the senator's staff is supposed to understand them (written in-house?) and archive the paper and e-documents. There are lots of questions on her check list, like are attachments systematically saved, are documents labeled, is scheduling information retained permanently, but I don't see the requirement to do so.

So how do they dredge this stuff up for the special prosecutors 5 years later, if the guidelines are not specific about who, what, when and where? The answer seems to be on p. 1:

"United States senators personally own and control the records created and maintained within their own offices. Because of the private status of these records, members must personally establish office policies and procedures that will preserve historically valuable documentation."

So it would seem that Senator Obama can withhold from our view anything he wants about discussions with Blago--he's not required to keep anything he doesn't deem historically valuable. He's still a senator until someone else is appointed, president-elect or not.

But back to the rest of us and our special media. According to Ms. Paul

More audio and videotapes are lost by accidental erasure than by misuse.

Fax paper lasts about 5 years.

Videotape must be re-recorded after 15 years.

Color photographs need cool, dark storage.

Audiocassettes need to be rewound every 2 years to prevent "printthrough."

Use of "fast forward" and reverse speeds can distort tape tension (I think anyone who has borrowed a tape has discovered that).

Computer tapes used for archival storage should be copied to new tapes every 10 years.

Computer software has a 3-5 year period of use before becoming obsolete.

Newsprint should be copied onto bond paper.

Permanently valuable mail should be copied onto bond paper, or it should be scanned and microfilmed.

Irradiation can erase magnetic media, expose film and fade color photographs

CD-ROM and DVD are not considered suitable for long-term storage of permanent records.

Digitization is not an alternative for preservation because of technology becoming obsolete.

Microfilm, remains for now, the preferred long-term preservation medium.

And to think when I was in library school we'd shake our heads over the brittle, "burning" paper in books of the 19th century. Now we've got stuff that won't even last a decade. We're going backwards. And we're throwing the paper stuff out!

Thursday Thirteen in Central Ohio

Winter blahs? All your friends going on cruises or to Florida during the cold weather? Here are 13 things to do right here in Columbus or central Ohio, and for one (13) you're already too late, and another, you'd better hurry.

1. Greenlawn Cemetery--I've lived here over 40 years and I've driven past, but never through. And yet it is very famous for its art and architecture. Bird watchers love this place. According to Amy's Genealogy blog which has many great photos: “Little Georgie,” as some refer to him, was the only child of Eli and Sarah Blount. Eli was the owner and proprietor of the American Hotel in downtown Columbus. On 7 February 1873, the family was getting ready to go out and little George, only 5 years old, decided that the fastest way to get downstairs was to slide down the banister. Sadly, the railing broke and George fell; he died eight days later. His tombstone features an almost lifesize likeness. People regularly leave toys at his grave.

2. Need a breath of spring? Try the Franklin Park Conservatory. A favorite place for art shows and weddings. Anyone remember Ameriflora? My husband's firm was very involved, and I think we went about once a week (free passes).

3. I've blogged before about the Objects of Wonder show at the Columbus Museum of Art. Absolutely stunning material from the nooks, crannies, closets and art galleries of Ohio State University. You haven't got much more time for this one--January 11, I think. Sunday is a free day. Go early and then enjoy lunch in the Palette Restaurant designed by my husband. Great food and ambiance.

4. Another place I've driven past but not visited. The Ohio Craft Museum is located at 1665 West Fifth Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Parking and admission are free. Hours: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1–4 p.m. Closed Saturday. Telephone (614) 486-4402. The museum is owned and operated by Ohio Designer Craftsmen and receives ongoing funding from the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Columbus Foundation.

5. There are a ton of things to see and do down town connected with the state government. The Ohio Statehouse is a wonderful example of a building designed to symbolize our democratic form of government--a Greek temple. Add a goddess with her hand held out, and you've got it! February, our short month, is also long and boring, so why not visit? The Ohio Statehouse is open Monday – Friday 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Free guided tours are offered from Mondays through Fridays on the hour from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 3 p.m. Tours depart from the 3rd Street Information Desk. Groups of 10 or more are requested to call 614/728-2695 in advance to assure a guide is available for your group. You could stop in after your free Sunday visit to the Museum of Art. Parking down below. Couldn't be easier.

6. Celebrate Lincoln’s 200th birthday on February 12, or sooner. "Because of the state's political stature, the Ohio Statehouse has been visited by a number of dignitaries, including Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln visited the Ohio Statehouse three times. In 1859, he spoke to a small crowd on the east terrace; in 1861, he spoke to a joint session of the Ohio Legislature in the House Chamber; and finally, on April 29, 1865, President Lincoln lay in state in the Rotunda for six and a half hours. As his casket was being transported from Washington, D.C., to its final resting place in Illinois, more than 50,000 people came to Columbus to pass by the fallen President’s body. This continues to be the highest attended event at the Capitol to date. It is important to note that the city of Columbus only had a population of 31,000 residents at the time of Lincoln’s assassination.

7. Then stroll a few blocks and visit the incredible Ohio Judicial Center on Front Street. "The building was constructed in an era when architectural sculpture – carved and sculpted decoration and inspiring slogans – was popular. In carving the exterior, sculptor Alvin Meyer used the highly ornamental Beaux Arts style, incorporating symbolism and history. The exterior features portrayals of Ohio industry, bas relief sculptures, inscriptions and sculptures devoted to Ohio’s history." We watched the murals being cleaned back in the 1990s--which upset some citizens who thought the "original" colors too bright--and for one of the early repairs of the building before this current one (when my husband was a partner in another firm), we actually had the original architectural drawings from the 1930s in our house! They were a piece of art in themselves. Even if you are not a librarian, go up to the 11th floor and visit the Law Library. SPECTACULAR!!

8. I knew Ohio used to be under a glacier (we've had global warming big time), but I didn't know about Glacier Ridge Park. This is the one I said you'd need to plan for NOW. Winter survival skills Learn techniques to survive the winter cold, with John Bieseker of Coyote Trails. Only Jan 4, 2009 2 p.m. Named for the end moraine that was left behind when the Wisconsin Glacier retreated some 12,000 to 17,000 years ago, much of this Metro Park was once covered with farm lands. With help from Honda of America, Metro Parks has restored a 250-acre wetland area. Eleven miles of trails wind through the park.

9. Yes, this is a bit heavy on art, isn't it? Can't sing or dance. And what better topic for these days of sub-prime meltdowns and no more house flipping than real estate?
Dublin Arts Center
7125 Riverside Drive
Dublin, Ohio 43016.
January 6
Charles Kanwischer: Real Estate Drawings
DAC gallery
Opening reception
6 to 8pm
Artist's talk, The Poetics of Real Estate, 6:30 pm
Exhibition continues through Feb. 20

10. Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North. There's all kinds of things to see in the Short North, but I chose this because we were in Florence this past summer. Open Thursday through Saturday from 12 until 5pm, and Sunday from 1 until 4pm. The gallery is located at 20 East Lincoln Street, just east of North High Street in the Short North. January 2009 is Rachel Stern, artist, featuring paintings from Florence, Italy.

11. Short North is the home of The Gallery Hop which is First Saturday of the month, so if you miss this month, try February or March. Our friend Jeff Hersey runs Terra Gallery, 8 E. Poplar Ave., in the Short North. He's a member of the UALC Visual Arts Ministry.

12. Anthony Thomas candy tours
1777 Arlingate Lane
Columbus, OH 43228
614-274-8405
Free Open House Factory Tours are every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 am. to 2:30. In about an hour, tour groups can experience candy making from start to finish in our 152,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art candy factory. Opened in May 1995, it is conveniently located off I-270 in west Columbus, Ohio. I'm thinking they get crowded around Valentine's Day, so beat the rush and go in January or March.

13. This one was listed in the paper, but must be a mistake--the museum website said it is only open April through mid-December. The Dispatch reported that Jackie Kennedy's dolls were there. Mid-Ohio Historical Museum, 700 Winchester Pike, Canal Winchester, Ohio -- "Memories," dolls from the Jackie Kennedy Onassis collection; antique dolls and toys, such as the Stallsmith collection of china dolls; dolls from the 1800s and early 1900s; playroom from the 1950s; docent-led tours by appointment; closed on holidays and holiday weekends; $3 (614-837-5573). Call to be sure, maybe the website hasn't been updated and the Dispatch is correct.

Happy New Year!

Originally, I had 13 New Year's Resolutions finished for Thursday Thirteen, which upon rereading them, sounded about as interesting as "I promise to clip my toe nails," and "I will brush the cat twice a year." So I deleted the entire post (after printing it and putting it in my desk drawer). But I will share #5, as it was just about the most interesting, plus I told the group at Bill and Joyce's party last night, so they'll probably all ask us about it.

5. Buy a floor lamp for the living room.

Back story: About 25 years ago, my sweet, non-critical mother said on one of her visits, "Don't you think it's a little dim in here?" For 48 years I've lived in poorly lit spaces as some sort of concession to living with an architect, and we have different tastes in decor. The result of this is, if we don't both fall in love with something, we don't buy it. Look through any decorating or architectural magazine and you might see table lamps, but rarely floor lamps. If you want to know why, try googling the term "floor lamps" and then click on "images." Ugly your name is floor lamp. I want one or two like the 1930s style my parents had--a center bulb in an open globe with three naked side light blubs, all gently enfolded in a nice silky shade--preferably with cellophane to protect from dust.

Floor lamps spread and diffuse light--they don't throw and bounce it. Designers love track lights, floods, and buried can lights, all of which I hate, hate, hate. We also are cheap--keep what comes with the house, which is why we had funny glass baubles ca. 1940 over the 1960's modern dining room table on Abington, and why we have its first cousin from Woolworth in our hall here at the condo. Jim Tuthill, the carpet cleaner, commented on the hall fixture when he was here on Tuesday. He had something similar in his house rescued from an old theater in downtown Columbus when he worked there as a janitor. The previous owner took her fixture with her, and I think this one was in the basement.

Anyway, I'm getting too old to sit in the dark and squint to read. The older you get, the better light you need, even if it shows your wrinkles. Which may be why my Mom waited until her 60s to say anything. With my new glasses and better lighting, I may be able to keep resolution #2 which is to read one chapter a day in my 10 volume Westminster Pulpit, a collection of the sermons from 1906-1916 of G. Cambell Morgan. I got a set for Christmas.

Thank you, thank you, Mr. President

As I read the year end article on science breakthroughs in the paper yesterday I could only whisper a Thank You to George W. Bush for holding the line on embryonic stem cell research. Perhaps you've forgotten, but that issue became a subplot in the 2004 election. Like the Iraq War, stem cell research was off the political agenda in 2008. GWB held out.

"In an effort to cause the country to abandon this conviction [ethical principles], some advocates of the research, including nearly every prominent Democrat in Congress, have made reckless and irresponsible promises, offered false hope to the suffering, depicted their opponents as heartless enemies of science, and exploited sick people for crass political gain." Link.

It's not illegal in the U.S., never has been, to experiment on human embryos, to wallow up to your knees and soul in a bioethical swamp that hasn't been drained. But it wasn't expanded with government money during the Bush years. And then. The break through that only PETA extremists could quibble about (originally done in mice).

"A crescendo of discoveries pushed stem cells from the lab dish to news headlines this year. Only two years ago, a Japanese research team led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University announced a method for turning mouse skin cells into unspecialized ones that resembled embryonic stem cells, prized by biomedical researchers for the potential to turn into any kind of tissue. This year, teams made use of the discovery in human cells to earn "Breakthrough of the Year" status from Science magazine. For the first time, two teams created families of induced pluripotent cells — unspecialized cells derived from specialized cells — from patients suffering 11 different diseases, including Parkinson's disease and juvenile diabetes. And a team led by Harvard's Doug Melton demonstrated "lineage switching" in a Nature journal study, switching ordinary kidney cells into specialized tissues that produce insulin in mice. The end goal of cell reprogrammers is to create immune-system-friendly transplant tissues for patients." USAToday

Now we won't have to have colonies of poor women farming their eggs, and Bush has saved the Democratic Party from yet one more accolade of being the party of death, already enthusiastic about abortion and euthanasia for the less than perfect, the poor, the elderly and the handicapped.

"In one fell swoop the politics of the issue shifted, says Ramesh Ponnuru, a harsh critique of the Democrats' stem cell policy and author of "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life." "I am not surprised to see that politicians running for office on the Democratic side are talking about this issue less because there is not as much profit to it anymore," Ponnuru said. Democrats had downplayed the possibility that adult stem cells could be used as an alternative. They argued instead that embryonic cells represented the cutting edge of science. "Now that same argument can be turned against them," Ponnuru said. "If they want to go based on clinical results, adult stem cells are better. If they want to go based on which has more promise, these (new) alternatives are better." Link

Thank you again, Mr. President. So your Treasury guy was a bust--you still saved a lot of lives.

The unfairness doctrine

If it were up to me, and it is because I change stations or channels, I'd eliminate these guys from the airways and TV screens of America

Anderson Cooper

Chris Matthews

Larry King

The View

Charlie Rose

Mostly it's just their liberal twaddle--global warming, health scares, what's wrong with our culture--that makes little sense because they spew sound bites we've been hearing for 30 years. But Larry and Charlie just look worn out and bored; Anderson takes himself way too seriously; Chris shouts; the View insults women's intelligence. I know some of you enjoy this, so it's OK by me if advertisers and consumers want to support them. I can change channels. And I expect you to do the same when my favorites come up and not legislate/regulate them off the air.

Great Orators of the Democratic Party

Via Best of the Web.

• "One man with courage makes a majority."--attributed to Andrew Jackson

• "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin D. Roosevelt

• "The buck stops here."--Harry S. Truman

• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John F. Kennedy

• "I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party. I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. And, you know, and that would be obviously true with my relationship with the mayor."--Caroline Kennedy

Off teleprompter, she's as good as Obama and most of us. She can hire a speech writer for the big events. I think she meets all the constitutional requirements for office even though she has rarely voted and hasn't contributed much except her name to local or national candidates who will fawn all over her. That gives her a cleaner record than most pols. She's no Sarah Palin, but maybe she's a fast learner.

One more week to see the Blue Shoes Art Show

If you'll be attending the New Year's Eve Jazz Service at The Upper Arlington Lutheran Mill Run campus on December 31, walk up to the second floor gallery area and enjoy the Fairfield Blue Shoes MRDD exhibit, hosted by the Visual Arts Ministry of UALC and promoted by Cheryl Fey, art director with Blue Shoe Arts, who said the self-taught artists receive all the money their art brings in, minus the cost of their supplies. Cheryl is such fun to talk to--a woman with a mission and a heart for God's special people.

These are some of the most delightful, colorful paintings we've ever exhibited. We fell in love with the first one, Noah's Ark--notice the animals are sea sick. I would have never thought of that! We bought it. One of the disadvantages of being in that ministry is we keep buying more art, and because we both also paint, we are getting a bit cluttered here at home.

The second photo shows some wonderful butterflies--want to guess what their bodies are made of? Salt shaker caps. The third one has almost perfect perspective and is an orchestra. There are so many things to see in this painting you could look at it for hours. Click to enlarge.





Reminder: The Mill Run Campus is now closed on Friday and Saturday to save energy costs. So if you want to see the show, check it out on Thursday, or on Sunday if you attend services there.

Your health savings account

If you've got some money left in your HSA you'll lose at the end of the year, you might take a look at your booster and vaccine record. Thursday when we were at our son's for Christmas, my husband went to pick up his cat Edy and move her over and she bit him--really chomped down hard. Edy was a feral kitten and although she seems quite loving and friendly, she occasionally returns to her wild behavior, and that hand apparently looked suspicious. Animal bites are very dangerous because you can't clean a puncture wound. Only a human's mouth is worse. This article in JAVMA about the danger of animal bites is a bit dated on dollars and stats, but accurate. All pets will bite, especially male dogs biting male children. Just never say never. My husband isn't threatening and likes cats, but the cat saw he was sitting on her territory (the couch) and she wasn't about to be moved. He had had his tetanus shots for Haiti, but that won't clear the bacteria from her mouth. The next day his hand and wrist started to swell and redden from fingers, heading for the elbow. Of course, it was a holiday week-end for the doctors. But we got a 10 day dose of an oral antibiotic called in and the cellulitis and inflammation are retreating. Get attention immediately if this happens to you or your children.

However, our daughter and son-in-law, during the discussion of options, apparently weren't up on their shots, so today they were both off to get boosters and vaccines to use up their HSA before they loose their 2008 balance. A good use of the money if you have any left in your account. You never know where an Edy might turn up.

Cat bite wounds

Are you making New Year's Resolutions?

In January 2006 I made a quasi-resolution to get back into my painting. We'd spent several weeks cleaning and decluttering and I had a new workspace with natural north light. I still haven't used the new area I set up described in this blog. But today I got an e-mail from Mindy Newman about the Tuesday watercolor workshop at the UA Senior Center. I'm there on Tuesdays anyway serving lunch, so that might be a good deal. $10 a class, walk-in, in case you're interested. Mindy's a fun teacher. She's especially outstanding with beginners, so even if you've never picked up a paint brush, she'll find you have talent. I'll add it to my "maybe-a-resolution list" I'm working on a Thursday Thirteen Reveal. This is just the advertisement.

This photo has appeared several times, but since I mentioned my premiere issue collection blog yesterday, that's what is on the bottom two shelves. That too should be one of my resolutions--if I were to make any, that is. When I was looking at the Stampington web site yesterday I see that it is coming out with a new magazine about aprons! So I'll have to watch for it to add to my collection. My sewing memories blog gets a lot of hits about aprons.

Since this photo was taken, I've bought several pretty storage boxes which help keep them in place. I can still see the titles, but it puts a little color on the shelves. Can't do that in libraries.

And all those books. Just look at them! Some belonged to my great grandfather. If I were to make any New Year's resolutions, I might make one about reading some of my books. I got new glasses yesterday. That should help. The new glasses (they should be called plastics since they aren't made of glass anymore), or my new eyewear was returned 4 times. I think these are keepers. I went back to the original frames I had during the Italy trip. Turns out it wasn't the frames afterall--the prescription was wrong.



And then there are all the oldies but goodies: eat right, exercise more, try new recipes, keep my desk clean, brush the cat, yada, yada.