Hugs to everybody who needs them. Congratulations to everybody who deserves them :)

RAVE: a dinner with the younger generation of my family at the Equinox in San Francisco. I'll come back with a report

RANT: pressed the wrong button in the new camera, so it opened instead of rewinding. Lost all shots during the GTG in SF with Neopolitan, and all shots during the ride with Paula1470

Mini-rant: asked Walgreens to copy my pictures to a CD, and they did it upside down. Yeah, it's not a big deal to rotate, but shouldn't they've done it right the first time?

When in a restaurant, I order ready to eat food, not ready to bake! Isn't this similar?

RAVE: I don't have problems bigger then the above.

RANT: I do have bigger problems, just trying to block them out.

Rave: All those who are about to take wonderful trips!! Safe travels! :)

Rant: Tiff's rant. Such is the world of education. And sixth graders can be "wolves", no doubt.

Rant: Health difficulties. Some so tragic and heartbreaking. Prayers to all going through hard times.

Brandie, feel better. I hate the dentist. How many people say that, I wonder?

GoT, enjoy your carbs! I had the interesting pleasure of watching my son eat 1 NY pretzel and 8 slices of whole wheat bread at the ballgame last weekend (prior to his 15 miles run later that afternoon). Yikes! Where he puts it is beyond me, lol.

gomiki, :D Flapper, huh?

Kopp and PM, make sure you store those treats in a cool, dry place. My poor husband recently bit into one of those liquor canides and it was completely DRY. He was sad. :(

Ani, best wishes to you!

To all the moms and dads seeing their college kids off to school, hugs to you all!

Take care folks! :D

Rave: my kids started school on 8-16 (4th & 7th grade). Open house was last night for the 4th grader and he has such a Great Teacher! I am so excited for him because he'll have a great year with her. I met all the teachers for the 7th grader the night before school started and she will have a great year also.

Rant: we need rain here in south Texas. Very, very dry with water restrictions.

Come by for a ride!!

Kopp, our mall is not the typical "seasonal" mall so the next big thing is New Year's Eve. As long as I only take off for a few days that week, my boss is OK. hee hee

seetheworld, good luck to your son on Sunday.

And I'm working on my Charlston :D

I'm back after a long respite due to illness problems. Hello to all (hi Trish and Budman) and I am feelin quite good now. I hope to be catching up over the next month or so and am actualling going on a vacation/trip moving my eldest daughter to Seattle in a few weeks.

It's good to hear some familiar voices and hello to some new ones.

Have a great weekend and be well.

Ok, I have updates...

First, the reason for the need for R (my friend) to take either a fourth grade or sixth grade class is due to the fact that enrollment is down.

Why is enrollment down, you ask? Because the school board elected to raise the kindergarten's classroom size from 20 children to 30 children, so many people have now pulled their kids out of the new K enrollment for this public school and put them in private.
Hence, less kids, means less need for an am and pm K class, and now there is only one class, and one too many teachers.

Results: The two teachers (R and the other nice lady) have decided to not take a 4th or 6th grade class which they are ill prepared for as far as curriculum, etc. But rather, drop to part-tme and share the one kindergarten class. (Each would work one week on and one week off).

Sadly, they will not have insurance now, etc.

I think you are right, laurenzo, this kind of thing probably happens often.

And still with my heart in my hands, isn't it precious that these two teachers have decided to work part-time rather than take a class with your child in it that they are not well prepared for, because they don't want to wing it and have the kids suffer as a result.

p.s. R has been told about all your kind comments and it made her feel better. Thank you.

PM, I bought a hair dryer way back in high school. The darn thing has outlasted my hair and I have no use for it anymore! Better your hair dryer goes out than your hair lucky girl.

Ani, all that happened in the 1500's and the man (was it Gallalio?) got locked up by the Catholic church for saying it. Here's the funny part. The Catholic church didn't officialy accept him and his theory until the 1980's!!!

Anyway, I sold Pluto on ebay last year for $.99. That man is probably ticked now that it doesn't exist. I tried to sell a box of fresh air and also a bag of Minnesota snow once but no takers.

rave: nice trip up to buffalo and toronto last week! jet blue was great, soho met hotel was great. (we spotted dave chappel and queen latifah there!)
we even stopped at niagara falls on the way back.

rave: brothers wedding is next weekend! wow.

rave: my best friend at home.

rave: fall can not come fast enough. rant: 85% humidity outside equals 105% in the subway.

tpatricco...i'm intrigued by your volvo tee shirt. my very first car (and great love) was a '93 volvo 850. do you have pics of these tee shirts?

Tiff, thanks for the update. What wonderful teachers. Those students and parents are so lucky to have them. And kudos to all the other caring teachers who have started or are about to start this school year ((f))

Rave: Jersey's back!!! Hey Jersey, see you at the next GTG -- 21 October? We've got some new brew, and it's pretty good!!! Both Trish and Brendon are now winemakers. ((b))

A big rave for the Fodor's community and the help available here---especially Razzledazzle's excellent advice that routed me safely and without delay through southern Sonoma County on a Friday afternoon, when trafic on Hwy 101 was stopped dead. I made it to Sebastopol in time for dinner with friends. Thanks, Razzledazzle!

Another rave for our wonderful vacation (just got back Monday); a week in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and a week in the high country of Yosemite. We hiked up to Half Dome (and back!); spent one night at a High Sierra Camp (Glen Aulin), wandered the meadows and domes of Tuolumne and Lyell canyon, and generally had a great time. We're already planning to do it agin next year.

Rave--Kopp is home, and I'm looking forward to a trip report.

tpraticco--sign me up for one of your T-shirts (size small). I've driven nothing but Swedish cars all my life. Currently drive a Saab because I gave my last 2 Volvos to my sons when they learned to drive, and the seats in the V70 series don't fit me. But I still love Volvos.

((F))Happy Friday((F))

* I loathe my computer lately. It is behaving the same as my faltering ovaries and needs to die:-@

* I wish to personally apologize for the ridiculous amount of rain that Alaska had this summer. Probably except for the Forest Service, the ducks were the only ones who partied over it.

* I am grateful for a husband who knows how much I wanted to meet matnikstym and BayouGal, and despite being in the middle of building a business, said Go To Hawaii, you deserve it(and of course, keeping the kids schedules in mind).. now he'll be leaving the state on a project soon, and I will miss him very much. He is my Prince((L))..

((y))I am grateful that our school district, though not able to offer as many electives as past years, has a dedicated and caring school board who have worked beyond belief to get our kids as much as possible with the existing budget.

I understand all too well what teachers are up against. Both my parents taught, I have friends who currently have been though the wringer in many locations and remember the frustration of being hornswaggled by a Supt. when I was on a school board years ago..

* Kopp~ is it a universal thing to hide chocolate when you are female? I live in a house full of excess testosterone, so I guard my supply like Fort Knox, and with the failing memory, often discover it unexpectedly and possible prolong many lives, at home, and on the road=-O

* Politics-- I thoroughly am tired of being represented by professional dilrods.[-X At least our current Governor was given the message loud and clear- Out You Go!

** Finally, I was moved beyond words to read a first hand account of a new and dear friend's experience of living through Katrina..
I have experienced earthquakes and lived through a few of life's challenges, but what she had/has to cope with is not easy to forget. It is not just a magazine or television story, it is a friend coping the best that they can. God Bless everyone affected.

** Please let us all treasure life's better moments. We don't have to always agree, but finding camaraderie through humor and shared experience makes this a happy place for me to hang out these days:)

((*)) My dh likes to walk past our home office and say "tick tick tick" as I sit here typing, chuckling, cackling or begging for my evening wine service. ((L)), J.

Tiff - thanks for the update. Good for them, putting the kids first.

STW - uh-oh, I think the chocolates may be in trouble then! Perhaps I should just take a teeny sample to be sure :$ P_M probably won't mind if just a couple pieces are missing, doncha think?

Now I just have to remember where I put them, lol!

jetset - absolutely! Do not even come near me when I'm in one of "those" moods! Chocolate is the cure-all.

Kopp, you better try them! I bought 2 Koch's dark chocs filled with cognac, one was dry! You don't think Mr Again used a needle on those????

Jetset, we only say tick, tick, tick speeking of a ***certain*** poster here. Don't steal it :)

Yay! Jersey's back! So glad you're feeling better! As many here know, medical stuff can really drag you down.

Otto & enzian and others: You can check out my tees at http://home.comcast.net/~1volvogirl/

enzian, let me know what style you like and I can get you a small... :)

We love Volvos...we have two vintage and my daily driver is a V70 Turbo Wagon with 5 speed. Goes pretty fast!

Trish

You shouldn't fret about Plto as long as you still have Uranus.

My dd is a Subaru WRX Wagon (after 16 BMWs) would buy another despite no dealers in MX.
M

LOL LLinda!
Rant: Stupid trim carpenter won't return my phone calls so redo is backing up

Rave: My lab with cancer is still alive and kicking over a year after she was given one month to live.

Rant: My digital slr is missing.
Rave: Got to buy a NEW and improved digital slr!!

Rant: saw my amex bill online after our Vegas trip! Yikes!
Rave: glad amex & DH still allow me to use the amex card after Vegas!

Big Rave: got fabulous seats to Tom Petty's concert in Berkley!

Always leave on a good note.

And as Dr. Seuss said:
"Be who you are and say what you feel. Because those who mind don't matter
and
Those who matter don't mind."

:-dRave: Our 9 year old Aussie who we thought was having serious medical probs had his geriatric checkup and got a clean bill of health. He only had a bladder infection which made him feel crummy.

:-<Rant: The bill was $606

:-<Rant: My friend who recently had surgery for cancer removal has to go through chemo because they found cancer in some of the lymph nodes.

:-dRave: Thank God for Chemotherapy.

:-<Rant: I was the victim of road rage twice this week on the interstate because I don't go more than 5 MPH over the speed limit.

:-dRave: One of the inititators of the road rage incidents was pulled over by the Sheriff a few miles ahead.

:-<Rant: DH and I have been on a no sugar/no read meat cleansing diet for the past 7 days.

:-dRave: Lost 3 pounds