So much to talk about....

I was watching the local news on television, something I never, ever do, and they had a story of a little old lady near here that recently lost a lot of money. It seems after her husband died she took all her valuables out of the bank and stowed it away in a large safe in a spare bedroom of her home. Total: In excess of $100,000.00.

Picture this. Elder gray haired woman in house coat sitting in her wheelchair telling of her life savings disappearing right from under her nose. The nose, by the way, is fitted with a tube, presumedly supplying supplemental oxygen. Cut to close camera shots of a footpath leading away from the house to a nearby fence, as the woman's voice is dubbed in explaining a safe sized indent in the lawn, supposing the thief or thieves set the safe down in preparations of hauling it over the barrier. Cut back to the inside of the house, by way of the back screened in porch leading to a sliding door (you never get a shot of the house in full, but the glimpses you do get show what could be a manufactured home) through which the alleged appropriation took place.

I'm not kidding. She said she wanted the stuff, money, jewelry and other valuables close at hand in case she kicked the bucket, so her kids would have easy access to it. She divided everything up into envelopes and had it tucked away in the safe. Well, someone took the whole fucking safe!!!

Now, I know what you're thinking, "WTF, over?!?!" Who in their right mind would do such a thing, and who in their right mind would LET a relative do such a thing? There's a twist though, check this out.

It's a news feature the local station does called 'Most Wanted'. Original, right? Anyway, while discussing the crime, they had a camera follow the correspondent through the home, and made a point of mentioning that whoever the perpetrator was, walked right past a room filled with high end entertainment equipment. It belongs to a son I think it was... let me check, I can prolly find out on the Internet.... Nope, the story is probably too new. Anyway, it's either a son or grandson that owns all this equipment: big screen televisions (yep, looked like more'n one), DVD player... lots of black entertainment boxes filling this room. The room that housed the safe was down the hall past this room!! Get this, the old woman says only family knew about the safe!!

You thinking what I'm thinking? Ok, in case you're not thinking as I would, which is probably a good thing, I'm thinking there's a deadbeat guy livin with grandma because it's much cheaper to mooch than it is to get his own place. How else would someone be able to afford all this fancy entertainment stuff? Any normal person that would surround themselves with such luxuries would surround the luxuries with other luxuries... as in a normal house!!!

Was just interrupted by a call from a person taking a poll on political issues. Of course I slammed Bush....

I'm also thinking, as this stuff in this guy's room, ALL of it, looks brand new, that somehow this guy acquired this shit and ran himself into debt. ***lightbulb*** The means is right at hand to take care of everything, why not? Anyone with the character that allows himself to mooch off Grandma would not be able to help it. Could you imagine the temptation?

Ok, enough of that. I've been through a couple of books in the past few days. After This Just In, I took on some light reading and did Dean Koontz's new one called The Taking. Good stuff. It's another twist on the 'Rapture' theme that has what appears to be alien life forms collecting people, save for children and a few chosen adults left behind to care for them. The bulk of the story revolves around the atrocities witnessed by one of these chosen, a woman writer with a perfect husband (of course). The story is kind of a cross between the first book of the Left Behind series and Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. I would be willing to bet, and would even be surprised if the story wasn't inspired by these two books. It's a very good idea, classic Koontz concept, but seems to be rushed at times.

After that I went right into Bernard Goldberg's book called Bias. I wrote an Amazon review of this one...

"Mr. Goldberg worked for these people for a long time, and was allowed to take a pension after 28 years. It's amazing they gave him that, although I suspect they would have thought twice had they known what he would say in this book.

He goes on a tirade about how he was ostracized after writing an article in a 'conservative' paper. He expected there might be ramifications, but felt it was more important to get his views heard by someone other than the deaf ears of his colleagues at CBS. Reviews of this book, here at Amazon and other venues, have accused the author of putting forth unverifiable ideas as fact, and expecting the reader to believe them. It's safe to say that anyone that is going to take the time read this book is capable of separating fact from fiction to their own satisfaction. I found this book much more interesting and the author much more intelligent than other authors screaming about a 'liberal' media. A lot of his assertions sound a lot more plausible than some of the things put forth by Ann Coulter.

What I found most interesting were the things he says about the 'slant' news organizations put on stories about abortion, child care, and racism in order to be politically correct."

At the end of the recording the publisher, Recorded Books, kinda puts together an 'interview' with Mr. Goldberg. Of course there's gonna be one helluva spin on this interview, but it was still very interesting. He makes the point in the interview, in case there is anyone listening that doesn't get the point in the book, that he is not against 'liberal' ideals, just against liberal bias when it comes to mass media. He even says his ideas have a very liberal flavor to them. Very entertaining book. I would tend to think that one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much would be the fact that I just recently finished Bob Shieffer's book, another correspondent that still works at CBS.

Now I'm deep into Susannah. Wait, that doesn't sound right. I've been listening to Stephen King's latest addition to the Dark Tower yarn (I really hate that word) called A Song of Susannah.

Last night I decided to check my email at the college, I check it maybe once a week on average. Seems last Wednesday someone from the Physiology Dept sent an email about the waiting list I put myself on for Physiology 201. People are screaming to get into this class, so much so that they were very discouraging when I asked about enrolling way back when I was first registering for classes. The email informed me that they were going to sign me up for the class!! Only trouble was, the lab for the course goes from 9:00 to 11:50 Monday mornings. The schedule I had set up included lectures for 3 classes during those times. I had a good schedule too, or one that I considered good. There were 3 days, MWF, where I was outta there by 2:00, Tues done at 11:00, and Thurs done at 3:00. I had to rearrange those 3 classes to fit the lab in, it was the only available slot they could give me. Now my schedule is all over the place, there will be a lot more down time spent there on campus.

My stepdaughter has already sent me something for Father's Day. Two books, a survival handbook college edition, with lots of humorous tips for students, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. She wrote in the front flap that she doesn't agree with all his ideas, and wants me to let her know what I think. I've heard of the book, hadn't planned on reading it, but now I'm smack dab in the middle of it. Of course I already have lots to say about it.