Sunday, October 12, 1997 07:22

Went to bed late, got up earlier than I wanted to. Why? Because I have a cold, and uncontrollable coughing when I'm laying down. This is a bummer, I just fucking got over being sick.

Problems with the old ISP account. Can't get into KSPress at all, to either FTP or just look at it. I can, however, get into CJNetworks, the people who run the ISP now. But nobody gets there until noon on Sunday. KSPress went down shortly after 18:00 yesterday, right after all of the support people leave.

I don't know why they don't have someone there 24/7. Cheap bastards, I guess.

Last night didn't work out the way I wanted it to... Karen had a tearjerker she wanted to watch on the tube, so I spent the evening on the computer, catching up on journals. Rather boring, altogether. We really need to get out of the house if we want any of that "quality" time together. Otherwise, it is way too easy to slip into the old routines, even with the best intentions.

So, now I can't even connect and get/send mail. So my nasty email to the sysadmin is sitting in my outbox. Should I send him another one letting him know that I can't send mail?

The state of Kansas has come in way over budget on their revenue; so they have a lot more money than they had planned on. So what are they going to do with all of that extra money? Well, they're talking about using it for property tax relief, and they're talking about using it for economic development. What they are really going to do is have a big old party and give themselves raises. Do I know these guys, or what?

A good bit of this money was derived from shutting down state-run mental hospitals, putting the people out on the streets and hoping that "community care" programs (read:somebody else's money) would take care of them.

Another good chunk, of course, comes from having the highest property taxes in the nation. Yep, Kansas is number one! And we're way up there on the sales taxes, too. Many citizens have state, county and city sales tax to pay on everything that they buy.

No exemptions on the sales taxes, of course. And if there is one tax that is inequible, it is the sales tax. The poor person on a pension, or just the poor working stiffs who barely make minimum wage, pay just as much annually for taxes on their food as the richer people do (assuming, of course, that they eat as much).

Well, duh, it's the richer people who set up the tax structure, after all. "If the poor people want more money, why, they just have to work harder and longer, and they'll have more money." Then they can buy some votes, too!

I'm listening to Sunday Morning Coffee by Chip Wilson, of the Manneheim Steamroller. It's such a perfect CD for a rainy Sunday morning. I should be relaxing and reading the paper, maybe I'll go do that.

So much of our world is based on vanity and ego. Advertising. "Buy our product, and be beautiful and popular!" this sells everything from hair care to cars. And health care products, even. "Can't stay in your seat with your buddies at the stadium 'cause you gotta shit so often? Take our product and never have to leave your seat!" "Got a red spot on your skirt 'cause you can't keep track of your days? Use our product, never have a leak again!"

Which reminds me... an ad for Kotex or someone... they're proving how effective the product is in absorbing moisture. So they use green fluid. Green fluid! I've never known a girl to leak green fluid! Why don't they just use some red stuff, make it a little more realistic?

O'yeah, they're not selling realism, are they?

Rainy afternoon, but it's clearing up now. There is a beautiful sunset. The rain should be over for a few days, now, replaced by cold windy weather.

All of Karen's kids are over tonight for chili; it's been pretty nice, really. Karen told everyone to leave their booze at home, and everyone did. So nobody's drunk or loud and boisterous. This is a distinct change from most family gatherings, and hopefully a harbinger of future gatherings.

Karen, Kim and Packy went to Valentino's pizza for lunch, and I asked them to bring me back something. I used to love Valentino's, but they changed some ingredients or something about ten years ago, and I have gotten sick every time I've eaten there since then.

But it's been about five years, so what the hell, I really like their pizza.

So, Karen brought me home an individual pizza, deep dish with everything on it. It was wonderful, just as I remembered.

It also made me sick, again, just as I remembered.

So I'll wait another five years before I try that again, I guess.

I did take a small nap this afternoon, though, but I'm still going to go to bed early. Hardly anyone has updated their journals today, so I'm getting bored. Hell, I even watched football on TV this afternoon, and the Chiefs' weren't even playing! I watched St Louis and San Francisco, and I wasn't even interested in who won.

Like I said, I was bored. Too lazy to actually get up and do anything productive, though...

More tomorrow.