a99kitten's Musings

I blog about a WHOLE LOT of stuff :)

[Obi-Wan’s spirit approaches Luke]
Luke: Why didn’t you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.

Obi-Wan: Your father… was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and *became* Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true… from a certain point of view.

Luke: A certain point of view?

Obi-Wan: Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view….”

Excellent life lesson. Never forget it.

Holy vampire!  I have had the Buffy Complete Series in my cart at Amazon for months. But I KNEW it would go on sale so I refused to pay the almost $200 for it. I got my Angel Complete Series through the Gold Box deal at Amazon a couple years ago!

So I just kept checking back at Amazon weekly and YAY! Today it went down to $70.99!!  That’s also no tax and free shipping! YAY!!!

Go people!! Get yours! Wheeeeee!!!

It’s true I do only LOVE the first few seasons, and feel the addition of Dawn and altering of Spike’s character were HORRID, but it’s Buffy…she kicks serious ass in cute outfits AND high heels. And Angel pops up for cross-overs :) So I have to own it…

On Friday I saw the email coupon in my inbox…and on Friday night I added a few things to my cart but didn’t buy. Then on Sunday I removed an item or 2 but then added another…and then my fantasy football team was losing so bad and I was grumpy and it was rainy and gloomy out and I was tired from staying up late the night before so I pressed buy. Oops?

30% off plus free shipping?? Come on – how long could I be expected to hold out??

Not too bad though..

Silk Allegra in black - can you really ever enough black dresses?

Silk Juliet in clover (I LOVE this color green and have NO dresses in it)

Then I moved onto sweaters…and while this won’t be THE chocolate brown cashmere cardigan I am searching for, it will be cute..

Cashmere Cody in brown (heatherstone)

and then…

Lumiere Ruffle in Sandstone

and then last..

Glitz Stud Cami - but I will look waaay cuter in it though ;)

With the 30% off on top of the sale prices AND free shipping, it was actually pretty darn cheap. I had put myself on a shopping ban last month since I decided that I will buy my pink Chanel bag when I find it (I WILL find it!)  But I kinda fail at self-imposed shopping bans….dammit…

Just got the email confirming my order just shipped – yay! If I can’t sleep I might as well be looking at my booty (think pirates people….not Kardashians.)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522434188603198.html

I heard this on CNBC last week and finally searched for and found the WSJ story tonight . While  it does not surprise me in the least, what surprises me a little is that the politicians/aides don’t even seem embarrassed by it (at least put on a show of “oopsie” when asked.)  It’s more of “Yeah, so what?” attitude.

“The aides identified by the Journal say they didn’t profit by making trades based on any information gathered in the halls of Congress. Even if they had done so, it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don’t apply to Congress.”

Of course not – why should laws for the simple folk apply to the government? That would be silly.

“A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information they obtain. The legislation has languished since 2006.

“Congressional staff are often privy to inside information, and an unscrupulous person could profit off that knowledge,” says Vincent Morris, a spokesman for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.), a leading backer of the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act,” or STOCK Act. “The public should be outraged there is no law specifically banning this.” “

So all the fist-pounding, angry rhetoric by politicians about how evil Wall Street is and how billionaire corporate insiders and hedge fund managers have all the advantages and the little guy investor has no hope since he can’t get access to same the information is just more BS grandstanding by politicians (shocking I know) since they take advantage of the same type of insider information BUT it’s not technically illegal for them to do it (because they have made sure not to pass the law) so it’s OK…since the current law seems to exclude them.  Oh…OK…got it. (wth?)

If you work for someone who is voting on a piece of legislation that can effect an entire industry (or certain companies) you have absolutely no business profiting from that information. You cannot possibly tell me you think you aren’t acting on inside information.

And if you feel you’ve done nothing wrong, then you and your bosses have absolutely NO business being talking heads about the evils of corporate and Wall Street greed. Spare me.

This is what annoys/angers me the most. Not the fact that they did it. Most people, if they are being honest with themselves, would if they could…or at least have to think about it hard. But having to listen to and read all the anti-business crap spewed forth by politicians ever since the banking/mortgage melt-down (a melt down facilitated in part by politicians but they like to forget that little detail) is beyond ridiculous. And this is simply more evidence of just how deep that BS is up on the Hill.

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Definition of HYPOCRITE

1
: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2
: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

This morning on our way home from the beach, the huskies and I were waiting to cross Highway 1. It stresses me out when it’s busy and I always make sure to keep the huskies on tight, short leashes while we are near the road, especially after hearing a story of someone who didn’t :(

We went to the harbor beach today, and not Surfer’s Beach.  We have a standard place to cross Highway 1 for each beach.  As we stood there waiting for traffic to stop/clear I heard a loud CRACKBOOM! I saw a car swerve out of the oncoming northbound lane and go sideways and then saw 2 other cars in the southbound lane swerve and heard BOOM, CRASH! Very, very loud. One of the cars actually jumped up on the sidewalk/trail and was basically now sitting exactly where I would have been with the huskies had we been coming back from Surfer’s beach. Creepy. Didn’t like thinking about that.

Anyway, there was a giant truck behind the 2 cars in the southbound lane and he just drove right around the wreck and kept going. As did ALL of the cars in both lanes. Now, this was not a little fender-bender. There was car carnage all over the road that you could hear being crunched as cars drove around the accident. Like, actual fenders and pieces of cars, not tiny bits of of headlights or something.

2 of the 3 cars were sideways on the 2-lane highway. And not 1 car stopped to see if everyone was alright.  I saw 2 bicyclists stop and talk to the passenger of one of the cars.   The fire station is right across the street so I ran there and told them and they zoomed over they very quickly (they also were pretty cute and liked the huskies! Bonus!)

I remember several years ago I was driving on Highway 1 through Pacifica during a heavy rainstorm and I saw a small truck skid off and overturn. I pulled over and the lady was crawling out of her truck (which was upside down) and she seemed physically OK but obviously very shaken up. I then realized that no one else stopped. A truck just flipped over and not one other car stopped to see if the person was OK. As she was using my cell to call her husband another car pulled over and the guy said he called 911 and he stayed with us as well. But just 2 people out of countless cars during AM commute stopped to see if another person in obvious need was alright.

What the hell people? I am not the most compassionate person in the world. If you aren’t fluffy, you are pretty much on your own.  But jeez…in situations where someone could be really hurt, of course I stop or do what I can to help.  As I hope someone would stop for me. But I am actually pretty disabused of this idea and don’t look for help from others. I mean you might be late to your stripper pole exercise class, or your meeting at Starbucks with the other dorks.

I swear every time I might start forgetting how horrid most people really are, I get reminded of it.

Feeling good, Louis….

CHICAGO (Commodity Online): CME Group announced today that it will begin listing and trading rainfall futures, options on futures and binary options beginning October 31 for trade date November 1. The monthly and seasonal contracts will be based on the CME Rainfall Index and will be available March through October. These contracts will be listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of CME.

“We see the impact of weather every day in our lives and we know how it can influence regional and local business decisions – whether to raise prices, divert inventory or result in temporarily closures,” said Tim Andriesen, CME Group’s Managing Director of Agricultural Commodities and Alternative Investments. “A significant number of industries, from agribusiness to recreation, are reliant on good weather, but also are at the mercy of bad weather. Rainfall contracts, in conjunction with our existing suite of weather products, will allow these businesses to manage the resulting risk.”

“CME Group’s commitment to expand their product offerings in the weather space has enabled our clients to gain access to financial risk mitigation tools previously only available to large, commercial end-users in the over-the-counter market,” said Jeff Hodgson, President of Chicago Weather Brokerage. “The rainfall contracts are a viable hedging tool for large agricultural market participants, as well as smaller industries that are equally affected by weather.”

The rainfall contract locations include Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Des Moines International Airport, Detroit Metro Airport, Jacksonville International Airport, Los Angeles Downtown USC Campus, New York LaGuardia Airport, Portland International Airport and Raleigh/Durham International Airport.

The futures and options on futures contracts enable market participants to manage exposure to rainfall. The binary options enable users to manage the ramifications on businesses or other operations if rainfall is more or less than anticipated. Binary options provide the options holder with a fixed dollar payout upon exercise. If the option expires without being exercised, the holder’s losses are limited to the amount paid for the binary option.

CME Group’s weather product suite offers trading opportunities related to rainfall, temperature, snowfall, frost and hurricanes. The products are based on a range of weather conditions in more than 47 cities in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia, with the hurricane products geared to nine U.S. regions., CME Group informed in a statement.

http://www.commodityonline.com/crops-weather/CME-group-will-launch-rainfall-futures-in-US-2010-10-15-32589-3-1.html

Wow. I *could* bet it all on black (or double zeros!) OR I could put it in futures contracts on rainfall…or frost. While I completely get how this effects other commodities and futures, betting on the weather sounds like a Vegas bet to me…

But then I think – at least the weather is the weather is the weather and you aren’t waiting around to hear corporate or analyst spin on earnings, or the Fed to make some decision that doesn’t really but does effect your stock, or politicians to say something stupid in a speech…it’s the weather.

Now if only I was my second favorite X-Man…

Storm

Every morning when we’d come into work, Storm would ah-rooo as if to say “Storm has arrived”. He would be so loud, that our Customer Service Manager commented how customers would ask about the noise every so often (who were on the phone with the reps who sit in the cubes closest to the back door.) Oops…so I would try to get him to not do it when we came in and asked people to not try and get him to sing (he would sing aka howl on command.)

Slowly, Storm stopped ah-rooing every morning when we came in. And then just stopped. He would still sing on command, especially if food was involved, but now on how happy own. That was actually one of the big signs to me that he wasn’t feeling well which led to his 50 doctor appointments and Cushings diagnosis (and then liver tumor discovery and surgery.)

This morning Storm ah-rooed when we walked into the office :) And then just a little while ago he ah-rooed some more and ran around for no reason (no small critters in sight!)

Storm is officially feeling much, much better. And this makes his Momma (and even the people here on the phone) very happy :)

Storm ahrooing in the snow - winter 2007

This is BS. If an employee is loaded at work, they should be fired. You are NOT a protected class because you feel the need to be high. You are a loser. And I don’t want you answering customer service calls, working on our servers or even making my cheeseburger at the local fast food place for that matter. Let alone handling blood work at a doctor’s office, driving a school bus or working on a construction site.

Drugs and alcohol impair your ability to think clearly and make rational decisions. Rattle off all of your BS excuses as to why it’ s not bad, why it should be legal, blah, blah, blah. Doesn’t matter. Keep your impaired self at home.

You want to blaze up and kill your brain cells one by one, up to you. But stay at home.  You aren’t allowed to be doing shots at your desk or snorting coke off your cubicle and you sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to get high on your smoke break.

California’s employee-centric, anti-business laws are already ridiculous. Let’s add another thing to make it harder for employers to get rid of non-performing employees and easier for them sue for violation of their “rights”.

California truly is the land of fruit and nuts.

“Commentary: Prop. 19 Jeopardizes Workplace Safety

(October 13, 2010) The marijuana initiative on the November ballot (Proposition 19) is more about making it illegal for employers to have a marijuana-free workplace than it is about removing criminal penalties for possession.
Allan Zaremberg

What is in the language of Proposition 19 that should cause concern for all employers? Proposition 19 creates a new protected class of workers and prohibits discrimination against marijuana users, just like age, gender and ethnicity.

Thus, even though pre-employment drug testing is not per se prohibited, an employer cannot use the results of a positive marijuana test as the reason not to hire an applicant.

Moreover, unless a local ordinance is subsequently passed in a community, it will be legal to smoke marijuana in the workplace. Employers will be prohibited from disciplining or terminating an employee who is “high” at work unless the employer can show that the use “actually impaired” the employee’s job performance.

‘Actual Impairment’ Undefined

Under current law, an employer does not need to prove actual impairment to discipline for alcohol or drug use in the workplace. If Proposition 19 passes, an employee could still be disciplined for alcohol use, but could not be disciplined for marijuana use unless the employer could prove “actual impairment.” This term is undefined and untested and an accident may have to happen first before an employer can prove actual impairment.

Other than public safety employees, Proposition 19 would apply to everyone, private or public sector jobs, such as fork lift drivers, nurses and school bus drivers.

In addition, any employer who relies on federal funds that require a drug-free workplace could have the receipt of those funds jeopardized by the passage of Proposition 19.

Most news stories discuss only whether marijuana should be decriminalized. It is important to get these workplace issues in front of the voters. I encourage California Chamber of Commerce members to spread the word about how Proposition 19 could jeopardize the safety of your workforce and lead to new employment law litigation, unless it is defeated in November.

Allan Zaremberg is president and chief executive officer of the California Chamber of Commerce.”

http://www.calchamber.com/Headlines/Pages/CommentaryProp19JeopardizesWorkplaceSafety.aspx?sp_rid=MzAyNTU2MzExOAS2&sp_mid=35878871

Have $41 in “eBay bucks” from prior purchases…

Have a Paypal balance due to Bing cashback rewards coming back to me…

Wanted this and found it on eBay for less than retail with free shipping:

Yay for shopping wisely in the past and having rewards in places to use them to buy a cool thing at $0 actual out of pocket cost to me :)

Saw this in real life at Comic Con – a very cool statue. I try to stick to only Star Wars (and some Indy) collectibles but every once in a while….

I finished watching my Stargate: Universe season 1.5 DVDs this weekend. And then watched the season 2 premiere that premiered on SyFy (still hate that change) this past week.  Loved it!

I discovered this show at San Diego Comic Con this summer. To be honest, I was sitting in this panel from the beginning so that I could see Bones and Big Bang Theory and had no interest in these panels.  But I sat through the Caprica and SGU panels as they were on first.

I started watching Caprica when it first started and well…I did got a little bored. But I think I only made it through the first couple episodes only. And from what i saw in the panel – it gets MUCH more exciting!

I saw the Stargate movie years ago mainly because I love James Spader (and liked it) but never watched any of the shows. But both of the panels at SDCC made me excited to watch the shows! The casts/panelists were very interactive with the audience and with each other and the clips they brought made me want to get into both shows. This is how I got sucked into BSG actually. I went into the panel since Bones was going to follow the BSG one. And the cast was SO great, that I had to start watching it!

I bought Season 1 of SGU and blew through it quickly – it was SO good! And then ordered season 1.5 and I think it took me 2 days to get through it.  I had to see what happened next!  Well acted, well written. I loved BSG and this goes down that same darker, not so happy go lucky path. But not *quite* as dark as BSG.

If you are looking for a really good show to be entertained by but that’s not too many seasons in – check this one one out for sure.

Now I need to get Caprica and try to catch up fast! They were going to start their Season 1.5 in January (at SDCC anyway) but moved it up to October – argh!