Colleen_b

115 posts
I love a fact-based brawl followed by the clanging of glasses. I don't take fools lightly and they don't usually take a liking to me anyhow. Yes, I have three wonderful children, but they aren't so wild anymore. Just waiting for/dreading the teen years when my name will be accurate once again.

An Interesting Take on Paterno’s Firing

An attorney who represents some of the alleged victims of Sandusky, Ben Andreozzi, is none too pleased with Penn State’s Board of Trustees.

“The board of trustees got it wrong. They should have consulted the victims before making a decision on Mr. Paterno… they should have considered these victims watch TV and are aware of the students’ reaction and may not want to be associated with the downfall of Mr. Paterno.  The school instead elected to do what it felt was in its own best interest at the time.  Isn’t that what put the school in this position in the first place?” I think the attorney has a point here. Continue reading →

EU or PU? News Round-Up

Some years ago, a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in Greece. The Mayor of the Greek town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor, he wondered how he could afford such a house. The Spaniard said: “You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us a grant to build a two-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge with traffic lights at either end this house could be built.”

The following year the Spaniard visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed at the Greek Mayor’s house – gold taps, marble floors – it was marvelous. When he asked how this could be afforded the Greek said; “You see that bridge over there?” The Spaniard replied: “No.” Enough said. Continue reading →

Move Your Moola

Despite my obvious conservative leanings, I support the idea of moving your money out of the big banks. My reasons for supporting this has more to do with the fact that Americans need to support their local businesses now more than ever. The ‘too big to fail’ idea has taken this country down a slippery slope.

A non-profit campaign called Move Your Money makes it extremely easy to find a local bank or credit union to put those hard-earned dollars.  Funny enough, by moving your money you will not only be sending a message to the big banks and those in government who support them, but you will actually incur less fees and get better customer service, according to JD Power and Associates.  Who knew that being a capitalist could stick it to the big companies? Continue reading →

New Method to Calculate Time

We’ve all heard of degrees Celsius, meters, yards and other units of measurement. Bryan Forbes has come up with an innovative way to measure time in a relationship.  A “Kardashian” represents a unit of measure representing 72 days of marriage.

For those married Crasstalkers, check out this calculator and report back your Kardashian duration. Please feel free to share your views on how this heterosexual marriage better preserves the sanctity of marriage versus same sex marriage.
Continue reading →

Help a Pre-teen

Remember when you were in the pre-teen/early teen years? Those can be particularly awful years, especially if you are a girl. Cattiness, cliques and awkward times were the hallmark of those years for me. Sadly, it seems to be a similar experience for my oldest daughter. This is where you Crassers come in.

A little background: my daughter attends a school that she enrolled in when she was in 5th grade. Most kids have been there since pre-school and it is a very small community. There is one girl in particular who appears to get great joy in pointing out every error, flaw or flub my 12-year-old does/has in order to garner laughs from the rest of the class. She is bossy and nasty and dances on the line of bullying. Now, I could go to the administration and have this stopped – and I still might – but I want to try to empower the eldest wildkid to do it herself first. Continue reading →

Thursday News Round Up: UPDATED!

I’m filling in for The Grand Inquisitor as she is not done fanning herself over Bots’ brother, Trash_Melon, in his I’m Muslim, Ask Me Anything. So, this morning, I’m taking a different look at the news. I’m reading the conservative new sources so you don’t have to. Fair and balanced. I report, you decide.

From our friends at Foxnews.com, we have these newsworthy items:

Continue reading →

Being Leaderless Will Hurt OWS

An article by DNAinfo today discusses the breakdown of negotiations between OWS and residents around Zuccotti Park.  This past Friday, Councilman Chin hosted a meeting between OWS and some residents to address some concerns about noise, garbage and safety in Zuccotti Park.

Chin commented that the OWS representatives seem very reasonable and agreed to certain restrictions but apparently do not have any real authority to negotiate or enforce any agreements.  “The residents in the area are overwhelmed, and rightfully so,” Chin continued. “At this point, I have to conclude that OWS is unable, or unwilling, to address the concerns expressed by the community. We have tried to work with the protesters and to support them, but that support is waning.” Continue reading →

Women’s Day Warm Up – No Man Would or Could Do This

Amber Miller, 27 years old,  completed the Chicago Marathon this Sunday at a relatively slow time of 6:25:50.  That isn’t a terribly remarkable feat, especially given that she ran the Wisconsin Marathon in May and logged in a time of 4:23:07. Was she disappointed? Not at all.

What is remarkable is that Miller was just shy of 39 weeks pregnant while running the Chicago Marathon and felt contractions begin several minutes after she crossed the finish line.   When contractions became regular she stopped to get a sandwich. Only a handful of hours later, she popped out baby June who was a hefty 7 lbs 13 oz. As a thrice pregnant lady, I can tell you that I also find it astounding that she ran a damn fine marathon in Wisconsin when she was 17 weeks pregnant. Continue reading →

Easily Embarrassed? That’s a Good Thing

“Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” – Mark Twain

“Blushing is the color of virtue.” Diogenes Laertius

According to Edward Gross,PhD, a University of Washington professor who has studied embarrassment for decades, embarrassment has four key elements:

– There must be a failure for which you feel responsible.
– Usually it happens suddenly, or in a way that doesn’t give you enough time to adjust.
– It must be in public or take place in a manner in which the public is aware of the situation
– One must value the opinion of others who witnessed the ‘goof’ Continue reading →