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HIGHLIGHTS - 1998 January - May |
Beginning this year I shall be adding to my Year End Summery = YES on a DAILY basis in order to keep things cyber-fresh and current.
January to May 1998
or skip to the latest
JANUARY
WOW, I predicted 7 out of the 9 Beanie Babies that retired just before midnight on New Years Eve!! And one of the new ones, a cute dog named SPUNKY (looks like they even named him after me!), shares my birthday -- 14 January!
Cleaned out the pond filters for the last time before the spring. The water is somewhat unclear because the untraviolet lamp in the filter system needs replacement. Loads of algae due too the overly high temperatures.
Speaking of birthdays, this was the first one that I EVER had without a birthday cake or someone at least throwing a "party" of some kind! What's this world coming to? At least I received 3 birthday cards from my brother's family, and from George and Thom, as well as 4 email greetings!
The computer has occupied much of my "waking" hours, which have really been too many! Added an ASK REX section to the Beanie Baby pages-- a contest of sorts where "kids" send in their questions about Beanie Babies or science, and the best question at the end of the month wins a free Beanie. REX , the dinosaur has been working his paws to the bone to answer the more than 350 emails he received thus far! It is almost like teaching freely, only without all the hastle!
Went to see Dr. Williamson for the usual after radiation checkup. She wants me to have another catscan-- did not make the first appointment, but I guess I shall get to the second, the first week in February. She said my white blood cell count was low! I really don't feel that well, at all!
Added a new Plush Toy section to the site. Somehow I have always liked plush bears and such! Guess it might be because they are cuddly, do not talk too much, and are always there when you need them! I now keep my favorite Beanie sitting on my desk staring at me with his cute red eyes-- which probably match mine! He is one of the new ones, Rainbow, the tie-dyed chamelion. All of the 10 new ones are much nicer than all of their predecessors.
Nothing new about that stupid pension yet! My "finances" are next to collapsing!
Well, it looks like my comment about Bill C. in number 20 of my predictions for this year may really come true-- he seems as if he will certainly enjoy a VERY LONG life!
I don't really see what all the fuss is about?? I also do not think that it is anyone's business who gives him head! GAWD, do they have an FBI camera under the toilet seat when he shits!
The Europeans think it is being blown (sic!) way out of proportion and that it is a sad reflection on the great American ultra-Victorian mores (= "values") of these pretentious UN-UNITED STATES OF AVERICE. Instead of the alleged "free" society the spin doctors advertise it to be, sometimes it seems that it is a constantly evolving totalitarian "1994" scenario, with "Big Brother", that sterile sexless emotionless bureaucratic lifeless creature, always looking over our shoulders (and into our underwear!)!! Not to mention the ruthless gangster-type reporters who can not wait to break the latest rumor a.k.a. a tidbit from an "unidentified source"! I wonder what juicy information the public would be fed with if someone would do a check of what all the reporters "private" lives are like? Then they would all cry, "fowl"!!
Hey, jeopardizing the political stabilty of this overly-inflated-in-self-interest country and of the entire free world simply because the Pres is a free-spirited stud??!! More power to him!
I vaguely remember some famous personage saying something to the effect that, "He who is without studliness, let him cast the first stone"!
So there I was at the supermarket and this lucious looking birthday cake stared me in the face saying, "go ahead treat yourself"! So I did! There is nothing as great as a birthday cake 2 weeks after the event!
Well, the talleys are in and six rather than only one "kid" won one of the newly released Beanies in the Ask REX contest. It was a lot of fun, BUT a great amount of work and all.
The van does not seem to want to start. Guess it needs a new battery or something. Recharged it twice but it still conks out after leaving it for a couple minutes. It will have to wait until I get some $$ to spare.
As of the end of January, the visitor count has reached an astonishing 25,844 , an increase of 7,931 since 31 December 1998!! Mainly due to Beanie Babies, I think. Nobody ever reads the other stuff!
Hope to see you here again next month.
FEBRUARY
Dr. Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, M.D., husband of Generalissimo Franco's daughter, died in Madrid, Spain [born : in Mancha Real on 26 July 1922 // died : on 4 February 1998 at age 75 ] He was Franco's personal physician.
Bernar got a new computer setup, and he "sort of" surprised me when it was NOT an Apple!!
Finally went to see Dr. Williamson for the delayed checkup. Had another Catscan and got copies as usual. She said that everything looks "stable", whatever that means, and that my next scheduled appointment is for June.
Added Guidelines for Online Beanie Trading to my Beanie pages to help beginners with their first-time buying / selling / trading deals, and made a separate Good and Bad Traders page.
Has anyone noticed how "swishy" that Special Prosecutor seems when the media is able to record a one-liner from him?? Or am I imagining things? With a name like Kenny it would not be a big surprise! I wonder what Closet Club his star shines in? At least his agenda is long!
Also added a WEB DESIGN page in case anyone needs experienced help in designing their WEB presence.
Bernar is off to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans again this year. Guess he enjoyed the "pearls" thing when he went last year! His cats love to have me snuggle up to them more than usual and all! Evelio used to love the Carnivales in Tenerife, which are really a lot of fun! Much less raucous and drunken that the one in Köln which I simply happened to stumble into years ago when Adenaur was still among the living and I was in my early 20's. I was appalled, but then again I am still just as "sheepy" as I used to be and I would probably still find it disgusting today!
Has anyone noticed that there are increasing irregularities in email sending? I have gotten many emails this month stating that my MESSAGE section was blank! As more hoards of people sign up to various newer internet providers it appears as if they are not particulatly in synch with all of the established ones, PLUS the sheer added VOLUME seems to slow things down considerably! There must be some known or unknown theoretical LIMIT to what this cyber medium can handle.
On one particular plush toy trading post, when they have a "swap" day and get loads of emails, their main server seems to get overloaded and their entire site goes down! And even aol can not keep up with their increase in membership and there are times when WEB access is down, OR email sending and receiving are down, OR you get a note saying to try again in 15 minutes! They are raising their monthly fees, BUT is seems as if their "infrastructure" is simply inadequate for their added volume! Business as usual!!
Seems as if Indonesia is having political / social unrest which will probably become much more acute and influence world financial markets. That old coot Suharto and his "extended" family have their tentacles around absolutely every niche of the country's economy and have been lining their oversized pockets for decades! They probably have a "market share" in every loaf of bread that is sold and even in the "courtesy charge" to use the upscale national public restrooms (usually referred to as "pee under a tree"). I wonder in which "safe haven" they keep their $$ stashed?
NOTHING about the disability retirement pension yet! My property is listed in the local newspaper among hundreds of others in Trenton which are scheduled to be auctioned off in March for non-payment of taxes!! My financial situation has reached a VERY CRITICAL POINT! HELP, I feel like I am drowning!!
So they are just finally getting some confirmation that the Communist Chinese have an "underground" (which in China means run and approved by the high ranking Party leeches!) commercial interest in "fresh" meat (I wonder if it is U.S.D.A. approved?), preferrably the human kind! And they even told the perspective "buyer" that the lungs, today's Shoppers' Special, came from non-smokers-- yeah! That is a real selling point!! They already poach various organs of "endangered species" to theoretically boost their sagging libidos (among other things!) , but I personally think that their lackluster "performance" is genetically determined. Why else would they have been using these potions for hundreds of years already?
Can you imagine your local supermarket having a sale on beef lungs from non-smoking studs? Or calf liver from non-drinkers (probably because the calves were "under age" and would have been "carded" if they went to buy some booze!) GAWD that is gross! I wonder which chapter of the Communist Manifesto approves of such blatent capitalistic ventures?
It would be a very lucrative "moonlighting" sideline for a Chinese judge who just might have an added incentive to find healthy people guilty of any ole thing just to execute them and get their "fresh" corneas, livers, lungs and whatever else might be "prime cuts" on the international butcher market as soon as possible !
Can you imagine going into a 5-Star gourmet restaurant in Chinatown and ordering their special this week : "Mamm Dumplings" (fried or steamed) in delicious WongLact Sauce and Choice Selected Braised "Dong Tips" in Sweet and Sour Hunan Sauce with a side of "Pinky Fingers" in a special "House" Adrenal Sauce -- the tips cuming from succulent tender adolescent uncircumcised males. Hey, the Frugal Gourmet might even do an entire TV program on the history and preparation of this unique delicasy which I am sure he has savoured in many countries over the years!! I will not even bother to tell you where the first dish originated! I just saw one of his programs dedicated to Greek, Roman and Chinese lamb dishes meant to be grilled or broiled over open coals. He seemed to especially enjoy preparing some classical Greek ground meat specialties that were gracefully made into long tapering cylindrical masses of an appropriate ample size and carefully placed them on flattened steel "skewers" which were then laid over an open coal burning brazier made of about 20 fire bricks so they would get hot! He called them "hamburgers on a stick"! Yeah! "Don't ask, don't tell" where he sticks them!
Has it ever occurred to anyone that the millions of modems used to connect onto the WWW can possibly be used as "spying" devices? As one connects online we hear the dial tone and that typical automated connection cacophony of electronic squeeks and squawks. It is sort of logical that a person could listen to everything we say while online by "bugging" the line somehow and by using the speaker system possibly incorporated into the modem (or even into the computer itself) as a microphone! I theoretically reached this conclusion after hearing voices several times in the past few months coming, possibly, ONLY from the modem ! Am I being paranoid or what?
As I am writing this it dawned on me that I have absolutely NO idea what is inside a modem, so I opened up an old one and do not see what I would have imagined to be any kind of speaker, based on those which I have seen thus far. There IS this encapsulated black cylindrical thingy about 15mm in diameter that has a round hole in the top though. Using a magnifying loop I noted a shiny metallic "diaphragm" inside of which , when touched with a pin, produces a tinny sound, sort of suggesting that it is capable of vibrating. Could this be a "speaker a.k.a. microphone"?? GAWD, imagine the potential uses of such a thing!! Not that anyone listening while I am online would hear anything but me telling my cats to get off the keyboard or anything, BUT it is conceptually scarey!
I will puke if I hear the latest "buzzword" another thousand times : El Niño!! Holy Hell, the only thing the media has not connected to this normal cyclical event are the various and sundry Clinton "affaires", but from the info that has already hit the scandal rags, the possibility of an El Niño event in a Clinton tryst is highly unlikely due to an incorrect positioning of the members involved! I guess it also reflects in his administration's foreign policy "positions" which too frequently appear a bit "off the mark"!
And all those people who lost those very expensive homes built directly over unconsolidated sedimentary cliffs on the West coast through "mudslides"? What a waste of taxpayer $$ in "disaster" aid, which I am sure will be forthcoming! The stupid rich asses wanted to build and / or buy in the absolutely least appropriate or logical place, so they got exactly what they deserved!! And the engineers who planned and built the roads that were washed out, leaving huge gaping holes in their place, should be sued for professional gross incompetance and totally "voluntary" manslaughter in the cases where occupied cars got swept off the roads and the occupants killed. A VERY thorough knowledge of potential natural events should have been foreseen BEFORE manmade constructions of any kind are initiated at enormous cost-- which simply translates into an extremely profitable balance sheet for the constructor!
I can remember the period of unusual precipitation which I predicted in advance for the Canary Islands a few years ago. In a small coastal town on Tenerife, the rains were so torrential that actual mountains of rocks and massive boulders were washed down the "barrancos" (dry river beds). The sediment piled up over a meter high at the coastal end of the canyons, burying the lower levels of apartments and my favorite German "tasca" in rubble! The only real reason that the places were built in the first place was the "developers" get-rich-quick fantasies, which unfortunately were realized-- at the expense of the unsuspecting buyers!! If only all of our fantasies could be as "profitable"!
I was sort of amazed to discover that this website contains 354 individual items, including simple and animated graphics as well as text!! That is more than 13,378,887 bytes of html cyber code!! GAWD, did I do all this by my lonesome? It is almost mind boggling! And I still change things several times a day because I notice some usually small detail that I do not like or I add some totally new things! And I still have several more NEW sections I want to include!! You would probably not believe it, BUT some of the letters on my keyboard are barely visible from all the typing I have done! E, T, & A-- GAWD, they are the letters of that terrorist Basque separatist group in Spain!
The weather has been generally somewhat warmer than "normal", and the precipitation has been seemingly above average. If it would have fallen as snow rather than rain, the entire house would probably have been covered!
WOW, more startling economic news! It seems as if the "going rate" for human "eggs" has gotten to the point where "average" females wanting an implant are priced out of the market, which was quoted on public radio at around $10,000!!
Hey, clones might eventually be less expensive and in a lot of cases, more desirable for certain reasons! HEIL, CLONES!!
I personally think that the "average" female has more than enough of her own funcional egg producing capacity with which to more than amply overpopulate the planet within a couple generations! We do not need to maintain legalized abortions, which are nothing more than twisted veiled genocide, rather governments should adopt a new professional ethic and train thousands of out-of-work seamstresses in the fine art of completely sewing up the millions of meow-meows in constant heat that abound throughout the world!! Or they could all do the Clinton thing! GAWD, I can see the new usage creaping into dictionaries in the near future! "Come on honey, Clinton me, faster!"
It is now 6 am and I am still sitting in front of this stupid machine! My sleep / wake pattern has been very erratic for the past few months. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is turn on the computer, and it remains active until I "retire", often completely dressed because I have to get up again in like 3 hours!! After dinner, which has been a sandwich lately, I am back in the high-backed swivel chair in front of the monitor and my eyes begin to close-- I even dozed off several times for over an hour-- sitting in the chair!! It is almost as if I want to transfer my "soul" to this site for all to see, naked and way too organized, as some have told me (too "honey bunny" as a young female online Beanie friend from Florida calls it! I did her site for her, which was not the easiest thing to accomplish without direct site access because I had to send her each piece of it as a single email attachment, and dozens of changes / resends had to be made! It was fun, though! Kelly's Vision She has some really kewl music LINKS in there).
WOW, that megalomaniac Sadam actually signed the scrap of paper on UN inspections. Why anybody thinks he will honor it is beyond me!
"REX" has been working his paws off trying to keep up with the kids' email questions for this months contest. More of what I consider pure creativity and imagination at work (YES, I still am able to see figures in the clouds when I look up at the heavens ! That is the meaning of the title of my autobiography-- of course, the preliminary drafts are included herein!). At least it probably keeps my mind from dwelling on "more pressing" things!
Leonardo Nole, immortalized as PROMETHEUS, that imposing gilt sculpture by Paul Manship which is the highlight of Rockefeller Center Plaza in New York, died at a nursing home in Sacramento, California [born : in New Rochelle, New York // died : on Sunday, 22 February 1997 at the age of 91 ]
I was interested in finding out how many emails I receive as an average on a daily basis, so I logged those for the week of 21-26 February and came to an astonishing total of 1,771, averaging 253 per day! Unfortunately 99.5% of those relative to Beanies do not adopt any! And I did not count the scores of SPAMMY SEX invitations which I delete before reading!
Can you imagine? I actually fell asleep through the part of the Grammys when Bob Dylan performed! As a matter of fact I dozed off through most of it, and it is always one of my favorite award shows!
I am totally delighted to see the first Crocus and Stars of Jerusalem blooming, and loads of sprouts for Tulips, Hydrangias, Iris and Lilies peeking out of the mulch! I guess I have made it to another Spring after all! ALLELUYAH, the rebirth is arriving!
WOW, the DOW closed at above 8,500, another new record! I can see a BIG CRASH, which absolutely has to happen. Things are way overpriced. The Pacific rim / South-East Asian nations are certainly not all that solvent and the situation does not seen to be getting any better! Wait until all their enormous bailouts and loans come due!! I have never had stocks or things of that sort because I simply do not understand them. Good luck to those of you who do!
GAWD! Another six winners this month in REX's Contest! Come see the WINNING ENTRIES.
WOW, just a bit before getting ready to post this months news I accidently stumbled across an interesting new WEBSITE on which this flag is displayed
And guess what else, the Beanie that symbolises non other than PEACE !!
What a fun discovery! In spite of the fact that the poor bear seems to have been programmed with that ole fashioned militaristic salute!!
NAME THAT PEACE LOVING COUNTRY!!
VISITOR COUNT for February = 37,212, an increase of 11,368 since the end of January! Thank you all for visiting, and I hope your stay was informative as well as entertaining-- to the extent that this "serious" Capricorn can be!
M A R C H
Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, wife of the late leader of Taiwan, celebrated her 100 th birthday at her Upper East Side (New York) apartment.
The Grateful Dead are being reincarnated this year as the Other Ones, including some of the originals : Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bruce Hornsby. The GD have not appeared together on a tour since the legendary Jerry Garcia died in August 1995.
I have never been to one of their concerts and look forward to possibly finally seeing and hearing this group which ranks among the hottest worldwide.
The GD symbols include skulls, roses, colorful dancing bears and VERY artistic posters and concert related items which bring big $$ at auction.
"Deadheads", as their followers are called, are sort of known for their use of drugs. Thus the term, "Head Shop", for the stores which used to abound in New York and other cities dedicated to drug paraphernalia and GD momentos. Curiously enough I did a net search of "Head Shop" and got loads of international and American sites where all kinds of drug stuff may be ordered.
Eleanor Shuman, was 18 months old when the ship she was sailing on with her parents and brother, the R.M.S. (RoyalMailSteamer) T I T A N I C , sank on 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic. More than 1500 lost their lives in the accident and 705 survived. Only about 5 of those rescued are still living. [ born : in St. Charles, Illinois // died : on 7 March 1998 in Elgin, Illinois at the age of 87 ]
I had a pleasant and most unexpected surprise from Joanne in Ontario, Canada. She read last months urgent plea for help and sent me a parcel which was very nicely decorated with Easter stickers and really great stamps. Inside was a Canadian Magic (a retired Beanie Baby) and between the magic dragon's irredescent wings were 2 Canadian $50 bills!! WOW!! Thanks Joanne. Every little bit helps!
So what happened? After a couple of days of freezing weather the Festiva would not start in the mornings, so I used the battery charger to get it going. The next day I had to do it again. After 4 days of trying to recharge the stupid battery I went to have it checked-- needed a new one! GAWD, I just got a new one for the van last month! Some flying saucer must have been in the area draining car batteries or something!! They were "original" batteries and were over 3 years old already, so I guess that explains it.
So those 2 nice Canadian bills were used to get a new power source for my main means of transport! Thank GOD for Magic miracles.
I added a new chapter to my Beanie section dedicated to keeping inventory records of your collection, whether it be books, fossils or Beanie Babies.
Doña América Martín Martín, la vecina de Tenerife (Canary Islands, SPAIN), quien me hacia unas buenas comidas de pollo y otras sabrosas especialidades de la región, me llavaba la ropa y, con la ayuda de su esposo, José Manuel Mejias, sus hijas, Mónica, María Isabel y Nuria Esther, e hijo, José Manuel, y 6 nietos, mantuvo una propia casa siempre acogedora. Era una persona que yo admiraba mucho por sus gratas atenciones personales y constante actividad de todo tipo. [nacio : en Tenerife // murio : el miércoles, día 18 de Marzo de 1998 en Tenerife a la edad de 62 años]
Doña América Martín Martín, my neighbor in Tenerife who made me some great chicken and other delicious regional specialties, washed my clothes and, with the help of her husband, daughters and son, maintained her home always welcoming. She was a person whom I admired greatly for her personal attentions and constant activity in many things.
GAWD, now the scientists are predicting that an asteroid, Asteroid 1997 XF11, is expected to come rather close to the Earth in the year 2028! I will not be around to see it, but I assume the "show" will be interesting.
After the initial announcement of a potential "close encounter", the "experts" somehow made further calculations and found that the celestial visitor would NOT be approaching our planet's orbit anywhere nearly as close as first announced!
Is that a public substantiating indication of the poor showing that American schools have relative to some of their European and Asian counterparts in their achievement scores in the subject areas of math and science?! Come on guys, take some refresher courses in spacial geometry, including the orbital paths of extraterrestrial objects!
Not to brag or anything, but I was one of two "Ausländer" (= foreigners) to take a course in DER BAHN KUNSTLISCHER ERD SATELLITEN at the Universität von Bonn -- all the way back in 1963, just a couple years after the first "artificial" satellites were placed into orbit. The other non-German was a tall kid from South Africa who spoke English and Afrikans, that strange version of Dutch.
Why is it that the children of Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean immigrants usually score better on tests and have a lower "drop-out" rate than the already "established" Americans?? They also seem to win more Science Fairs on the State and National levels. Is it because the smug already "established" Americanos only want to achieve social and financial status (as quickly as possible!) while the "newcomers" are more than satisfied with that warm inner satisfaction of knowing that they did something well over time?
Many years ago I noticed that my cats, in particular the males, would like to sniff my underarms. While savouring the delicate aromas, they would roll up their lips and open their mouths in the same way they (or even lions or any other of the cat family) do when sniffing a female cat's pussy (sic!). This suggested to me that the scent might be a human "pheromone", usually a sexually attracting smell in a lot of other animal species which can influence the behaviour and / or biology of another animal , and that my human sniffable odor might be chemically similar or related to that of a feline. But nobody ever talked about human pheromones. I wonder if it is sinister plot funded by the deodorant industry lobbies?
Well, scientists have noted that females who live together often somehow synchronize their menstrual cycles. Now they have found that this phenomenon appears to be connected with some, as yet unidentified, pheromone produced by the underarms of their female roommates! It was suggested that further research might provide new methods of birth control and possible treatments for infertility.
Come on, Horacio, isolate this chemical substance and get a Nobel Prize!
After a few really nice days in the 60's, we had some nights when the temperature dipped below freezing into the teens and the days did not go above 32 degrees F (= 0 degrees C)! Then came the rains-- and even SNOW after Spring officially arrived! It was sort of fun to see the sprouting tulip and Iris stems reaching above the snow level!
GAWD, those poor male and female sophomores at the nearby Princeton University could not even do their midnight NUDE OLYMPICS run around Palatine Hill in the staid Gothic style Holder courtyard this year due to the lack of measuremable snowfall! And, as an aside, Mike McCurry, Bill Clinton's Press Secretary, was a writer for the local Trenton Times in 1976 and participated in this traditional yearly event as a senior attending that prestigeous school of higher learning!! I wonder if Hillary picked him for his "Olympic" qualities?
Well, the Germans added their carnivalesque humour to the current Clinton HEADlines.
Thank you Sharon for sending me this titular pic from a "Faschingsfest" parade somewhere in Deutschland!
I plan, finally, to move back to the place I used to live near the train station in Trenton. A very colorful area! The roof leaks, the small yard is overgrown by monstrous bamboo that I planted there years ago, no light in the kitchen, several rooms including the bathroom and kitchen need paint due to peeling, and a third floor ceiling to repair because of water damage. Everything else looks basicially as I left it following Evelio's death almost 6 years ago.
I already moved piles of paintings, and some other stuff there, but have TOO much left to transfer. Little by little I hope to do the things necessary for life there asap. GAWD, what a Herculean task!!
Tracey, the doberman, accompanied me once and found the narrow stairs a hastle. Two of the cats should remember the place, I hope. The others will spend weeks discovering all of the nooks and crannys.
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
Many sincere thanks go to Horacio, a former student, biochemist and my bestest friend in Tenerife (as is his wife, Imma), for wiring me 1K to help me pay off that tax lien on the old house that I hope to move back to. It only took 5 days for the telex transfer to get through ( I guess that both banks' TELEX machines are wind-up, thus the delay!), the same day as the lean auction! Although the lien WAS sold, there was a 10-day period to clear up the matter before it was effective. I did that in time. Curiously, the Afro-American male head of the local tax office wore an enormous diamond cluster ring with at least 12 .8ct diamonds prominantly inset in a conspicious circle. I wonder........
I tried to make an appointment with my orthopedist (for my recurrent hip problems) and was told that I have been on the inactive HMO rolls since October of last year! More bungling by the School Board and the pension thingy!! GAWD, right now if I get sick or run over by a stray dinosaur or something, I can not even go to the doctors!!
Jonathan, a Beanie friend from Canada, introduced me to that "lovely" off-beat cartoon, South Park. I saw my first episode and now understand why some schools recommend that their students not watch it! It is even on the cover of the latest TV Guide!
It deals with a group of lower school kids and their families, teachers, pets and friends. I discovered that one of the main character's dog was gay and how the canine and humans reacted to the news. Each show has poor Kenny getting killed somehow-- GAWD, what a hit!
It is spunky and off-the-wall, but a great adventure in impolite awareness. This week, apparently, we are to learn who the father of the kid with that dog is! WOW, I can hardly wait until Wednesday night (Comedy Channel)!! There are even a couple web sites dedicated to the show.
I always revel in stumbling onto a real gem such as this!
OK, so I watched the Oscars (I usually do). I think the highlight was that "priceless" ficticious Le Coeur de la Mer by Asprey Jewelers, the 170 ct Sapphire and 107 diamond (TW 36 cts) necklace that Celine Dion wore over a dark blue shroud when she sang the Titanic theme song. The baubles sold at a California charity auction for 2.2 million $$, somewhat BELOW its 3.5 million "value"! Now all we need is for the Franklin Mint to add it to their faux jewelry kitsch, along with Jackie K's pearls!
I was thankful that they only showed some of the still living past Oscar winners and NOT the over 1500 who lost their lives on that ship!
Does Woopie have a tattoo on her left breast or is that a birth mark (maybe it was the shadow of the lighting??)?
Cher looked like some weird crested dinosaur with whatever that thing was that landed on her head! And, GAWD, some of the other dresses were so tight fitting that Venus' Triangle looked about as extensive as the Fertile Crescent in flood stage!
Jim Cameron, who came over as an egotistical maniac with a proclivity for minute detail and producing overbudget films on historical events, might be planning another blockbuster entitled How Red Was My Valley, centered around Herod's slaughter of the innocents. The king's favorite would be wearing a nose ring inset with a 200ct Bloodstone, which is about twenty times smaller than the nose of its Semitic wearer. And with the blessing of the apparently largely Jewish movie industry moguls / puppeteers (as mentioned by Robin Williams) I can see another exagerated number of cinema awards going to this new 5-hour epic next year! They would offer bagels and lox in the foyer during the intermission. Upon winning another dozen Oscars he would bow his head for 3 days and nights in attonement while beating her breasts (it doesn't matter whose!) and renting his (probably already rented) vestments, thus making the ceremonies slightly more tedious than they have been.
Ferdinand Porsche, whose father was pals with Adolf and designed der Führer's "Peoples' Car" (the Volkswagen Beetle), was the creator of the somewhat famous German sports car of the same name. [born in : Wiener-Neustadt, Austria on 19 September 1909 // died on : 27 March 1998 in Zell am See, Austria at the age of 88]
Some of the koi (they are pond fish of the carp family, for the uninitiated) are actually jumping rather high out of the water, meaning that they are "in heat" (meaning they are horny, for the uninitiated) -- now that the weather has been so unexpectedly warm. A couple days in the mid to upper 80s! So I gave Tracey an outside shower / bath -- she was beginning to smell like a dead Hippo! (NO, she is not the neighbor, it's my Doberman, for the uninitiated).
Would you believe !! // I just received my FIRST pension check! It is not for the full amount because I had to borrow from the pension fund while not getting any other income during my many months of crisis! So my $$ problems are far from over!
Still no word about the medical coverage that is supposed to be included in my disability pension, and my hip is killing me! Plus, for the last week or so my right ankle area seems to be painful and I guess it looks somewhat swollen. That is my "bad" leg. Well, one of them, at least!
Three new Ask REX winners this month (there were actually four BUT one did not email their address to REX!). SEE WINNING ENTRIES
Each will receive a Peace bear!
WOW, I can not believe it! I was just emailed that the site has received its second award (TWO STAR U.S. Business Bureau Award) in as many months! They are both linked on the MAIN page under awards (DUH!). AND I was accepted into the HTML Writers Guild the same night!
JUST IN : also received the Best of the Planet People's Choice Award!
None of them are attached to $$, unfortunately!!
Speaking of $$ -- I had one estimate of what it would cost to replace the shingle roof on the place I hope to move -- $2,100!! JESUS, that's SEVERAL 100 more than my pension check!
Oh, well, Ty did not retire any Beanies on the 31st, so I guess we have to wait until the end of April!
Hasta la vista, amigo. Until next month, I hope.
H A P P Y
E A S T E R
From the Easter Iguana !
[From a PIC taken unbeknownst to the critter by CESman ]
Felices Pascuas
A p r i l
Athelstan Spilhaus, geophysicist, meteorologist, former President of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (one of my favorite boyhood hangouts -- or as they say nowdays, my chillin' place!), and prolific inventor of all kinds of stuff including the bathythermograph [ born in : Cape Town, South Africa on 25 November 1911 // died on : Monday, 30 March 1998 at his home in Middleburg, Virginia at the age of 86 ]
Finally got around to adding an introductory section on Biorhythms to the site. It will be a while before that is completed!
Did a makeover of the Beanie part of the site. WOW, I can not believe it worked!! Had tried to do the same thing months ago and could not get it to function. I think it turned out really kewl! GO LOOK
Spent an entire morning at the Pension Board waiting to see someone about the snafu with my medical insurance. Finally was seen by a nice lady with plants on her sunny window sill that were so dried out they cried for mercy! She sent a FAX to somewhere and said I would be contacted-- yeah! Should I hold my breath? The form they were supposed to send me took 9 days to get from one end of the City to the other!! (I have sent Beanies to Alaska and they only took 3 days!) So I thought it might be better to take it right there rather than wait weeks for another reply!
I had not hobbled in downtown Trenton for about 6 years and was mildly surprised to see the inside of some new buildings and all the changes since my last visit. Stopped into a new Hallmark store (they had the new First Edition Beanie Club Membership kit, so I, of course, got one!) While there some lady stole the pocketbook of a customer who had 3 kids hanging onto her! GAWD!
So I moved most of my kitchen stuff and clothes to the other place-- all by my lonesome! Could hardly go up the stairs with the hip pain! Have to mop up a bit and all, set up the cat goodies, move my bedroom stuff, computer setup, a couple display cases, book shelves, the dining room set.... GAWD, and with no volunteers to help me it could take forever!!
Today is EASTER. I sent out a couple cute web greetings that I found to several friends. I hope that your Passover / Easter / Eid / or just plain Sunday was a pleasant one.
I had been keeping the numbers of site hits (= visitors) since 18 November 1997 (about 23 days after launching) and had FileMakerPro do my daily statistics. The lowest day was a Thursday with 72. Highest a Tuesday with 632.
The best day average was Friday with 317.772, and the lowest day average was Wednesday having 273.904.
The average of the daily averages was 297.93714. I still think that the hits depend on how many ads I put on the various Beanie trading/selling boards.
Cleaned out the pond filters for the first time since the winter. Had to replace the ultraviolet lamp-- the water was becoming so algae dark that the fish were invisible!
My new HMO card arrived!! Same doctors, same everything. One less worry!
Recieved the Da' Bears Across The Universe Award for an excellent Beanie site!
Cleaned out the pond filters AGAIN due to the pile of crud that accumulated obver the warmish winter-- after draining the center pond and scrubbing it!
Surprise visit by Gene, a fellow art collector whom I have know for years. He brought me some great turkey soup. He and his wife used to own a classy restaurant not far from New York City (in New Jersey).
Given the Silver Star Site Award by Team Creations.
Tonight I got absolutely "rammy" and made up three new Beanie ads (is it Full Moon?) in my usual darkside humourous mode :
1) Psssst...LISTEN UP...JUST GOT A LATE NIGHT SHIPMENT OF HOT RETIREDS AT MY PRIVATE AIRFIELD...PREMIUM QUALITY STUFF ...CURRENTS from $7k. ..ALSO SELL BY THE KILO...meet me on the corner in half an hour OR GO TO THE WEBHANGOUT for LISTS....CAN MAKE VERY SECURE DELIVERY TO the HELIPORT of your REMOTE WAREHOUSE ...Bonnie + Clyde Ltd., an Offshore Corporation...ON THE GOOD BEHAVIOR LISTS...
2) MOST of our RETIREDS are NOW PRICED UNDER ONE MILLION DOLLARS...even LEGS...As Franklin once said, A Million Saved is a Million Earned....COME TO OUR Brokerage Website for some BEANIE TREASURES...ALSO TRADE FOR YOUR 70' YACHT or ISLAND PROPERTY..LISTED with DUNN + BEANIESTREET...
3) HELLO LITTLE CHILD...SORRY I DO NOT HAVE ANY PRINCESS or ERIN or NEW RELEASES...I SELL THEM OUT THE BACK DOOR to my friends and on the ONLINE GOING.GOING.GONE PLACES BY THE UNOPENED ORIGINAL BAG OF 12...TY CAN NOT CATCH ME BECAUSE I USE A FALSE NAME...WAIT a sec...I just found this one ERIN that dropped behind the counter and he is only $350....OR you can "DONATE" $10 for a raffle I will have in 30 DAYS..I sell about 100 tickets a day...all proceeds go to my favorite CHARITY..we are redoing our Guest House in the Islands and dredging a deep water port for cruise ships....do not cry now...ask your Mommy to take in laundry and buy you a computer like the one I use...and I am on the GOOD Greedy Retailers LISTS....B.U.T...IF you check out THIS website you can Find MOST of what you are looking for AT REASONABLE SECONDARY MARKET PRICES..from $7...
Within 5 minutes after placing ad #3, about 2 a.m., I got a nasty email which just may appear on the guestbook! GAWD, that official Ty dealer works late!
It is raining, the pond water has cleared up and I can see the fish again.
Had to clean out the filters once more and used the vacuum thingy to remove some of the gook that was on the bottom.
Nice day so I got on the riding mower and cut the grass-- is always loads of fun! Everything is coming up nicely. What a difference in the height of the trees since they were planted a couple years ago!
At the other house I cleaned up the back patio a little-- a couple years of leaves and things had accumulated. Started cleaning the basement a bit so the cats do not get all scruffy when they begin their explorations. Literally hung a single lightbulb in the kitchen on the wires that were dangling!.
Mistenguette, B's Sphynx had 4 kittens. Thus far 3 survived. I even tried for hours to get the 4th to eat, using a nursing bottle and all, but to no avail. <sniff>
My Beanie pages are now set up for the grand RETIREMENT on 1 May. Can not wait to see which ones collect their pensions! You will not believe what my May special will be!!
Well, the Islamic New Year has begun. All over the world they celebrated the first day of Muharram, the first month of the year 1419. I wonder if they set their clocks back too??
VIAGRA has finally arrived and confirms what Mothers have always said about such things. One of the side effects is color BLINDNESS!! PLUS, now the male can also complain of a HEADACHE (the kind you take aspirin for-- get your mind out of the gutter!). It does work, incidently!!
Well, the last day of the month has arrived and NO word yet from the TY Corporation about their big Beanie retirement. The WEB has been acting strangely. I wonder if TY is to blame? Imagine what would occur IF some real emergency would arise!!
MAY
GAWD, I went to bed after 3am waiting for that stupid announcement about the retired Beanies!! Upon awakening I finally found them and updated my Beanie pages in about 4 minutes. It takes TY days to get his together, and in the meantime nobody can get to the site and all!! He must have hired his nephew as the WEBMASTER and pays him in a handfull of common Beanies!
AND, TY was overly creative in his retirement notice. It took so long to go through all his crap that people thought that a couple of those pictured had gone, not noticing that the pics disappear-- eventually-- and the names are listed on the left!!
I wonder where he learned German?? Can not even spell auf Wiedersehen correctly!! <Auf verdesen> GAWD!!
Anyway, I predicted 18 of the 28 new retirees, which is not all that bad!
And check how I sell them in May. Currents by the KILO!! No one ever thought of this before, for whatever it is worth!!
The new ones will probably be announced next month.
WOW, so after the practice the reporters had with the OJ escapade on the Freeway, it happened again!! Some nut who was upset at health care-- and who is not!!-- did the Freeway thing, followed by loads of news helicopters He laid a large protest thingy on the road, poured gas on the truck and himself, then set fire to the whole schmuzle and shot himself, while in flames, with a shotgun!! And a load of kids were watching because the assholes interrupted cartoons to bring this really great news event!! Typical American broadcasting at its finest!! Along with that smutty Jerry Springer Show, it is a great indicator of where the Intelligence Quotient of the "typical" American lies!! On the level of the asphalt with the ashes of the suicide "victim"!!
Added a new complete Beanie LIST to the site. Nobody else that I know of has one on a single page.
That TV show Ally McBeal really rocks!! She is about as "diplomatic" as I usually am!!
GAWD, I was BANNED from posting my Beanie ads on the TY Beanie website. DETAILS I emailed them asking why and, of course, never received a reply!
REX finally sent out the Beanie prizes to last months winners. They will probably be VERY surprised!! There were six winners again!! I can not wait for their emails-- which will be posted on the WINNERS page.
Went to see Dr.Thomas Bills, my orthopedist (bone & joint doctor). If you remember I had an appointment last month but found out that my HMO was not updated. Well he said my hip is in "terminal arthritis" and I am a prime candidate for a hip replacement. GAWD, I am so tired of doctors and hospitals after last year!! My cat would probably also be a prime candidate -- all any MD wants is to get paid for whatever his expensive specialty manipulations might be!!
Cleaned out the large pond filter again-- the water was coming out the top cover, which is sort of a sign that the foam pads are full!! The fish thanked me afterward!
It took months of wondering how to capture the nuances of color in the stem of the famous Princess bear which I had attempted to get with my digital camera. Must have taken 3 dozen shots since January when I first discovered it but the pics never showed the difference to my satisfaction. So one early morning it dawned on me to simply put the Beanie ON the scanner!! GAWD, am I slow sometimes!! And it worked!! I finished about 4 a.m., rushed the pics onto the site and posted it all over the place. So now I was the first to document a SECOND VERSION of this elusive critter!! PRINCESS FAQ
WOW, the Dodge van is finally paid off! Gracias a Dios por pequeños favores!!
Suharto is now in Egypt for a Summit-- if he is smart he will stay there and live off of his stashed billions!! In February I suggested that this was coming and it seems to get uglier by the moment!!
Rain and more rain-- and more is predicted! The plants and fish love it!!
Well, B & B moved some stuff to the old house-- ALL my poor Beanies and some boxes of junk. I asked for them to be put on the second floor and they wound up on the first!! Now I can not get to any of the boxes easily!!
While in the ole neighborhood I went to get a haircut. Was surprised to find that Isabel bought the barber shop that some old guy had-- he croaked a couple years ago. She had a salon 2 streets away. Now I look a bit more human. Had not gotten it cut since last year!!
Suharto was quoted in the land of the pharaohs as saying, ``If I am no longer trusted ... I will become a sage and endeavor to get closer to God.'' No kidding! IF he returns to Indonesia he just might join his ancestors sooner than he expects!!
ITEM SENT TO SEINFELD MESSAGE BOARD: <<GAWD, I rarely watch this show , but followed the herd and the hype and took time from more important things to be a leather armchair potato. I thought the show was the worst I had seen in many Moons. The producers and writers should all be in jail! Hope they don't have the connections to get some TV show award for this particular flop!! Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer is way kewler, as is Dawson's Creek and Ally McBeal-- and of course the X-Files!!-- much more imaginative and I am not a kid. Have 58 years of watching TV grow from an oscilloscope sized contraption to the 32" model I have now-- from some of the best "improv" comedy (Burns & Allen, Lucy, Jack Benny, et al.) to some of the worst most expensive crap ever produced today! And these people get truck loads of cash for their truckloads of manure?? Must be the greatly educated American audience who, with luck, just might be able to pass their public school minimum requirements, only to have to take loads of remedial work at the college level?? They prefer a Jerry Springer to Public Television, and wonder why their kids drop out of school, can not read, take drugs, or even find guns to kill innocent people with!! And the same parents are glued to every sordid detail of the Clinton mess, as with the OJ stuff, the greatest highway chases and such intellectually stimulating material. What will it take to wake up all those annonymous sleepwalkers.>> About 95% of the other commentaries said, textually, "it sucked"!!
WOW, the Grandmother of one of REX's Winners in April (the six each received a PRINCESS) surprised me with FOUR GIGANTIC LIVE LOBSTERS right from Maine!! I could not believe it!! My sincerest thanks go out to Nancy for her kindness.
HEY, check this out : <<WASHINGTON (AP) - Computer hackers told Congress today that computer security is so lax, they could disable the entire Internet in a half-hour. Members of the hacker think-tank called ``The Loft,'' who were praised by senators for calling attention to the problems of computer security, also warned that they could transfer Federal Reserve funds by computer and disrupt electrical power. One hacker, identified by his online handle ``Mudge,'' told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee ``if you're looking for computer security then the Internet is not the place to be.''>>
ADD to that the latest news that a communications satellite changed transmitting position and millions lost beeper contact, among other things!! Can you imagine the military implications?? TOO MUCH DEPENDENCE ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (and WEB "SECURITY"!!) IS VERY DANGEROUS!! What will happen when a major SOLAR STORM changes ALL the satellites orbits and orientations in the near future?? We are in a new Solar cycle and the Suns activity is increasing.
I added a 15 item file to finally create the KARDAS Genealogy section. That was fun, BUT there still remains much missing data. It has already grown to 22 files!! I keep finding new data and small mistakes, so it has been updated at least 6 times per day since it was launched!!
Well, it seems as if I was NOT banned from the TY posting board after all! Apparently some hacker got in and messed up their addresses and all. So now I can add my Beanie ads there again!! WOW!!
Well, after the stock market seemed to start losing, I found an aol message board about the drop and was "possesed" to post the following few words (!) :
So I received a couple comments by "knowledgable" individuals :
WOW!! I think the replies speak for themselves! Hurray for Big Business!!
REX went through the May entries and found 4 which were worthy of merit, so there are 4 winners again.
Thomas Thaddeus Bojanowski was one of my favorite Uncles. I can remember going to his large home in Roxborough as a kid and enjoying the garden and the company of my cousins. I last saw him and Aunt Marge at their former house in southern New Jersey in August 1993
Uncle Tom and Aunt Marge, August 1993
[Born : 29 May 1909 in Philadelphia // Died : Sunday, 31 May 1998 in Florida at age 89 ]
NO, I have not completed my move yet!
To spare all of my loyal viewers from the extreme hardship of constant scrolling to see the latest news, you now have a JUNE TO DECEMBER to go to for the rest of this year.
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