Rocky

Hey Dot, You certainly are entitled to your feelings... and it's understandable to consider change of venue when other things in your life are also changing... I wish you quick, relatively peaceful resolution to all of the uncertainties and variables you're facing these days. Canada sounds like a great place to live... but I'm not sure I'd be at all comfortable with so much more cold weather (than I get here in central AZ). I don't know the population profile for Canada, but it seems like they have more open (far less densely populated) space than in most of the US.

Hey niKa, Long time no see... glad to hear you've been having a good time with your family in the great outdoors! So, that leg must be doing quite well, from the sound of your enthusiasm... which is great news. Oh and I hope we hear from Tom Strange soon, I understand it's been even wetter in Texas than in OK.

And then there's the Dbacks. No team in the NL has more wins than the Dbacks. Yet, sometimes this team, with a decent pitching staff, a couple of seasoned veterans and a whole bunch of youngsters (rookies or not much more experience than that), plays some really awful baseball. Several times, the Dbacks have committed several errors in a game, giving the opponent what ends up being a fairly easy win... including the two games I (we) have attended. Frustrating....

Good luck, brother... and best wishes. You're going to need both. I hope you two get comfortable living with each other before you start reproducing humans. ;)

Soooooooooooo.............. COME ON DOWN! The Price is Right!

THIS brings up an interesting point. In the USA, exercising one's freedom of speech is NOT without consequences. That's correct. People who make outrageous statements -- whether it's a teenager just trying to get attention or challenge authority, or someone who seriously believes some generally accepted belief, idea or notion needs to be challenged (for example, by organized protest, or letters to editors, etc.) -- SUFFER CONSEQUENCES for doing so. In most cases, however, those consequences revolve around social pressures rather than state sanctioned legal problems. Personally, I think the expression "political correctness" is OVERused as an excuse to ridicule things people say that we see are absurd or otherwise outrageous.

I smoked weed a sum total of ONE time in my life. Got stoned pretty easily. I actually drove my car while stoned. For the life of me, I can't see any (physical) reason I didn't get in a horrific collision while driving under the influence. I laughed an awful lot. But I detested the awareness that I was not as in control of my actions as I usually am... and that was plenty of motivation for me to not do it again. I also REALLY detest the idea of putting any kind of smoke in my lungs... I have enough trouble with allergies as it is... So, that puts me sorta into one or more of the categories Groucho and/or Excie listed. But I would have (and therefore did) phrase it differently. I probably would not be happy with it if I knew my daughter was a marijuana user. Perhaps for those who enjoy it... as long as they are able to properly function in jobs/vocations/social relationships (i.e. be successfully handling all relevant responsibilities), I likely wouldn't care whether a person used it regularly or from time to time. My daughter is not at a place in her life (given her age, 17) where she could either financially afford it or reasonably sacrifice time she should be focused on school and other productive pursuits.

OR... to put this very point in different words... WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER.

When I took Sociology 101 back in college, one of the things that made a lasting impression on me was on the topic of what it takes for people at various ages/stages of development to make genuine changes in their deeply held values/convictions. For young children, parents make a huge difference, to different degrees at different ages. But for adults (I know, whether PH is one of those is still an open question), it takes a "significant emotional event." Which is why it's so difficult to rehabilitate criminals sometimes. As bizarre as we all probably realize this whole media frenzy has been (over PH going to jail), it seems pretty clear that for her, this actually WAS a significant emotional event. Which is why it has also appeared that she has indeed undergone a genuine change of heart. Notice I said "appeared." The possibility still exists that this whole thing has been a put on by her... but I suspect the judge actually got through to her. Which, if it did occur, would be a very good thing.

And more than likely, so will I! :)

Somebody caught some of the stRangers STREAKING!!?? I'm shocked!

Last I knew, he was working for the San Jose Mercury News. Don't know if that's still the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

Yeah, Gracies okay. Just as laid back and conversational doing games as he would be in person, or in interviews. Can't even come close to comparing him with Mr. Scully, of course. Gracie and Daren Sutton banter back and forth, quite playfully... they do well together. Sutton replaced Thom Brenneman, who left to work with his father in Cincinatti. Brenneman was good and I thought I'd miss him but I don't. Sutton is a mellow guy... as one might expect, he played some baseball (pitcher of course) but never made it past the minor leagues. Both Grace and Sutton are guys you would feel comfortable sitting down and having a beer with. And yes, I did notice that Vin was alone in the booth. I just can't imagine what LA area baseball fans will go through when he's actually done, one way or the other. No doubt there will be plenty of grieving. btw, I LOVE your avatar! Who do you think you are, George BUSH?! ;)

Hey Hiway29... You got the Dodgers/Dbacks game on? It's on tv here in HD, but last inning, Mark Grace and Daren Sutton (Don's son, now doing TV work for the Dbacks) showed Vin in the booth at Chase Field... so, apparently he made the trip to Phoenix... and we got to listen to him for a couple of (way too brief) moments. I still envy you! Of course Grace and Sutton made at least as big a deal about, as Sutton said, Mr. Scully, as about anything else in the game... and so far Penny's throwing a pretty good game (DRAT!).

You SHOULD have it. It is a GSC feature. It's just to the left of the "undo" and "re-do" buttons, which are just above the buttons for justifying paragraphs (i.e. right justify, and one for left AND right justify at the same time). It's NOT a feature of the "fast reply" box.

He DID.

Dooj, It's a button on the upper right side of the "replying to..." box. It looks like a checkmark with "ABC" inscribed over it.

An ode to Shooter: Rod Beck (1968 - 2007) R.I.P. Rod Beck

And apparently the two-year-old was a witness to the violence. Given the child's age, I would expect him (the child) to not remember it when he is grown... which will probably be a good thing. But the tragedy is already unfathomable. Let's hope they lose the key to the guy's jail cell (but make sure he's in the cell first).

Good for you, and hopefully good for them too. Congrats. I hope it all plays out simply (as in not complicated) enough to allow everyone to be at ease, comfortable, pretty much happy AND nicely, or elegantly enough to make for wonderful, lifelong memories for them and for you.

but George... someone once told me that "life's a BEACH, then you die." So, at least we'll have a good suntan... Actually, most of us, by choice or by default, don't think about it much. Having lost two siblings (I'm the oldest of three), and my dad passing away 10 years ago now, I think about it a little bit, from time to time. Me thinks this question presents one of the great existential dilemmas. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good. Actually, like my mother, who just celebrated her 74th birthday (she's too fiesty to die)... I'll probably just keep on truckin, unless some unforeseen tragedy occurs that I don't find a way to either avoid or get through (safely?). For a long time, I've confessed (out loud) that I intend to live to be at least 93 years old... I chose that age because the Vitamin C doctor, Linus Pauling lived to be 93, finally succumbing to prostate cancer at that age. And I'm working on health issues to do my best to stay healthy enough to last at least that long. I work out at least 4 times/week (80+ minutes of cardio exercise, in addition to 15-30 minutes of weightlifting each time)... my cholesterol is way down, blood sugar and blood pressure are good... I'm still heavier than I'd like to be, but I'm moving that in the right direction... AND... giving back to the community with some volunteering... What's this got to do with being ready or prepared for death? I'm not sure, but I want to be able to go having felt that I've done some good and left things better than I found them, in at least a couple of areas.

Rumor has it... that tomorrow, June 23, is the (HAPPY) birthday of our own EXCATHEDRA! We love you Excie! Mwah! (source of rumor... shellon, posted in the open forum)

Yeah, Mstar, but it messed up the YANKEES... which team just finished getting swept in three games in Denver, with the lucky loser of today's game -- ROGER CLEMENS!

So, Cowgirl, does the winning name contributor get a cut of the proceeds?

Dude.... you sound like you need a My treat!