And not in a creepy way.

I was going to post a picture of the dead things my cat killed and left on the deck, because I can’t identify them and thought you might be able to, but then I got this email and that bumped the dead things post.

I had a dream with you in it last night.

GPop, Son, and I were asked to go on a bus trip to the Twin Cities.  The admin assistant of our area was driving.  There was someone standing at the front of the bus, a la the movie Speed.  Later that evening, we finally got to the bus stop, which was right outside the small restaurant you owned in downtown Minneapolis.

You came out to greet us, looking just like your arms-out-head-back picture.  You told us that you thought our admin was a bad driver, so you were going to bring us a better chauffeur.  You snapped your fingers, and the old Batmobile from the Adam West Batman series zipped around the corner and approached the curb.  Just as it was about to pull up, a black Corvette zoomed up and parked right in front of us.  The door opened, and Tom Cruise looked out from inside.  He started to talk to us as though we should care what he had to say.  He just kept talking from the passenger seat.  I think his wife was driving him around.

The guy in the Batmobile kept checking his watch, but nobody was paying attention to him.  I think you were getting irritated at Tom Cruise.

Then I woke up.

GDad, from Cranial Hyperossification, is one of my best blog friends. We have never met in real life, though we have talked about it. I’m rather impressed with this dream. I love that I could snap my fingers and conjure up the original Batmobile. I’m not really sure why GDad thought I had this kind of power but it has really made my day, and saved you all from the dead things post.  I don’t usually remember my dreams, though occasionally I have written about them.

Have you ever had a dream about someone from the blogosphere?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Batmobile Spotted On The Set Of The Arthur Remake (cinemablend.com)
• A Batmobile Retrospective: 1966-2010 (ridelust.com)

I’m not a huge fan of the Gores, even though Al gave us the internet, but I am sad to hear that they have decided to get a divorce after 40 years of marriage.

I try to stay away from politics on my blog, even though the first year I talked about nothing but politics.  Blame it on the two year long presidential election which was just filled with things to talk about and the fact that I was a campaign manager right before I started blogging. I have since realized I know nothing about politics and it is better if I keep my opinions to myself. If I don’t Jayne will come over and kick my ass. I love her blog but feel as if my welcome there is tenuous at best, even though I am her token republican. I need my Sunday Recap so I keep my mouth shut even though I am not convinced she says some things just to get my goat.

As such I’m not going to talk about the Gores’ politics except to say that my dislike for them started back in the 80′s when Tipper decided that record albums needed warning labels. I’m sure her plan to protect children from questionable lyrics backfired and she probably created millionaires out of some musicians who wouldn’t have otherwise made a splash, but that was not her intent. I also have a hard time with hypocrisy. Al Gore is Mr. Environmentalist and all things green and yet he consumes more energy and pollutes more than I could ever hope to in my lifetime. Of course he buys his carbon offsets so it makes up for everything.

So, no, I don’t care that much for the Gores. But, I am sad to hear that their marriage is ending after 40 years. According to their ‘people’ there was no affair, though I find that hard to believe, they simply grew apart.

I’m no expert on marriage, though I do know quite a bit about divorce, but it seems to me that after 40 years you might just want to stick it out. Apparently these two were high school sweethearts. They have no idea what they are about to face. The dating world is brutal. Okay, it might be a little easier for both of them because they are celebrities but still, dating is no fun.

The whole world is talking about  Al and Tipper, maybe not the whole world, maybe just those of us in countries where we have so much extra time on our hands, because we don’t have jobs, that we can concern ourselves with this kind of thing. Or maybe everyone is talking about their divorce because it really is scary.

I’ve never made it past the three year mark in a marriage but I always assumed that once you got past the seven year itch (which seems to happen around the three year mark) and got the kids out of the house, that marriage was a little easier. That after a certain amount of time together, ups and downs, and all out fights, that if you could survive those things you could coast for a little while. That you could maybe relax a bit and know, really know, that you were going to hit that rocking chair on a porch next to your spouse. You both might have dementia and gravity has taken over but still, you had your person who made you not alone.  If you were lucky and no one had dementia or Alzheimer’s, you might be able to remember the past with fondness, look back at what the two of you had created and smile.

Now both of the Gores will have to find someone else to sit with them on that porch. They won’t be able to talk fondly about their past because they won’t have much of a past with the new person. If Al finds some hippie chick to spend his golden years with there will be certain subjects that are not allowed. Subjects like his life as a VP, his invention of the internet and all the other things he did while he was married to Tipper. I don’t know what Al Gore does these days but his glory days are probably over. He probably isn’t going to run for president again, he might create something just as awesome as the internet, say, the iPad or the Hubble Telescope, but my guess is his inventing days are over too.

Tipper probably fares a little better than Al in finding a lasting mate. She looks pretty good, she seems to have mellowed over the years and men are dogs who will bang anything. They don’t really care who she was married to before. Since they don’t often listen anyway they probably won’t care if she talks about Al’s campaign or that kiss they shared on election night.

I’m sure both Al and Tipper will be just fine. They have gobs of money and can do what they want. They don’t have to stick it out for the kids or because of the crappy economy. Which is really a sad thought.

Who do you think will get the Clintons in the divorce settlement?

1. Why does Proctor & Gamble make their Tide measuring cap the same color as their detergent?

2. Why does my cat hate me?

3. What is so irresistible about a just cleaned window that it must be kissed over and over again?

4. Does anyone know how to fold fitted sheets?

5. What is on Stanley’s head?

For the last six or so months my truck has not moved. It would only start if I gave it a jump. This was not a huge problem, I have a car that works just fine but the boy uses the truck.

I bought the truck, a ’96 Tahoe, in ’98. It had 90,000 miles on it when I bought it but it’s big ass Chevy and those engines can go for a long, long time. I crashed it twice, major accidents, causing the whole body to be replaced except for the roof. There is one little spot of rust on the back cargo door, other than that it looks pristine. And, more importantly, it is paid for and the tabs cost next to nothing to renew.

However, because it is a big ass Chevy, it sucks gas like a cheap hooker. I think it gets 7 miles to the gallon on city streets and maybe up to 11 on the freeway. Ten years ago this wasn’t as painful as it is now.

I drove the truck as my main vehicle until 2007 when my dad passed away and I started taking care of my mom full time. I couldn’t get her into the truck, it was too high off the ground. So, I bought a car that I could get her into easily. I would have traded the truck in on the car but they wouldn’t take it. Even then it was too old, had too many miles on it (over 200,000 at that point) and it was a gas guzzler. The blue book value of it is under $1200.

By 2007 the A/C had stopped working. Fixing it was a major investment, and it needed a lot of other work. Shocks, cams (I don’t know what those are but they keep telling me I need them) and parts of the interior are slowly going missing. Someone stole the ashtray filled with change in it and the dog jumped on the cup holder pulling it out. I can’t put it back in without taking the whole dashboard off so it sits in the back seat unable to hold cups.

I kept the truck because, no on wanted it, but also because it is great to haul stuff with. I have a trailer hitch on it and can tow the boat with it and we can fill it will leaves in the fall to take to the compost site. It has a practical purpose.

And then it just stopped working. Unless I jumped it or charged it with a charger it wouldn’t go. I replaced the battery last year but that didn’t last for more than a couple of days. I was back to jump starting it. Something was wrong. I talked to my brother and some guy friends who all thought it was the alternator. I had replaced that last spring so I didn’t think that was the problem.

I brought it to a shop several months ago. They said it was the cables to the battery. They charged me $20 and said it was good to go. The next day it wouldn’t start.

I gave up on it. I knew whatever the problem was it was a big one and it just wasn’t something I could afford at the time. I took it off my insurance because I knew I wouldn’t get to it until the spring or summer.

For the last six months I have been sharing a car with my son. This means only one of us can go anywhere at one time. It also means my car smells like a sweat sock.

Yesterday I gave up or gave in and jumped the car. I took it to my mechanic. Not the battery cable one but the mechanic who had cared for my baby since I got it. They are more expensive and not as close since I moved but they knew the vehicle and the owner had rescued me on a couple of occasions. I felt guilty having taken it somewhere else just to save a few bucks.

I told him what was happening and then I told him I had a budget. He had to figure out the problem and fix it for under $200. Not much to work with. I was pretty sure that with that budget we probably were not going to get it fixed. But we might be able to rule out a lot of possible causes.

He called me yesterday afternoon and told me to come pick it up. He also said I owed him $120. I declared my love for my mechanic over the phone and told me son we had to go pick up the truck.

Can you guess what the problem was?

I bet some of you can.

Apparently, the vanity mirror on the visor was not closing all the way. The little doo hicky switch was not being depressed when the mirror was closed because the hinge had snapped off. With the visor closed you couldn’t see that the light on the mirror was still on.

I feel like a complete doofus for not being able to figure this out.  It reminds me of when I called the electrician because the light he had just installed wasn’t working. I paid $85 for someone to come out and change a light bulb.

In my defense of doofusness, they had to remove the wires to the vanity mirror to turn it off. Even if I had located the trouble I wouldn’t have known how to do that. I would have tried Super Glue or something to keep the button depressed but I wouldn’t have been able to remove the wires.

Have you ever called in a professional to fix something that was obvious?

Today is National Cupcake Day which is ironic considering all the press Lisa Ellis is getting for having her naked body turn up on Wyclef Jean’s cell phone. If it were National Titty Cupcake Day it would be perfect for Miss Ellis. Of course she is busy looking for a new job right now so it probably doesn’t matter to her.

As you all know I can’t have cupcakes today or for the rest of the week because I am still off carbs! Don’t forget to enter the contest to win three bars of Happy Goats Soap. I’ll be picking the winner on Friday.

As a single mom I let my kids go online for way too long and I let them watch way too much TV.  I don’t monitor much for my son anymore but I do for my daughter. She is allowed to watch kid shows and go to online sites specifically for her age group.  Because I am an often broke single mom I don’t give my kids a credit card to use online. We do a lot of trial offers but I don’t buy games for my kids. My son has a job and can buy his own and my daughter can just keep whining.

Not allowing them to use my credit cards or my Paypal account makes me think I have a little control over what they do or don’t do.

Not anymore.

Two sites are out there that want to really mess with parents. I am sure this was the goal when they were created.

The first one is Kwedit. The tagline is Play now, Pay later. The site is for kids, who don’t have credit to be able to buy games online with only their word. They must promise to pay the debt in 7 to 14 days by going to a 7-11 and paying the bill. If they keep their promise and pay their kwedit limit gets increased. If you have kids go to this site now and block it on your computer. I’d rather give them my credit card than have to drive them to a 7-11 once a week. Thankfully we don’t have any 7-11s anymore.

The other site to keep you kids away from is Chatroulette! Chatroulette is a bunch of people on a site with their webcam and sitting in front of their computer waiting for someone to talk to them. Kinda like speed dating or something. The site was created by a 17 year old Russian kid who had no idea what the hell he was doing. He had no agenda, he just thought it would be neat. Right now it might be filled with normal people who are just curious to see who is out there but eventually it will morph into a site for pedophiles. There is no logging in, no profiles to create, no information stored. Just a place for perverts to sit and wait for their next victim.

Don’t you just love the internet? There is something for everyone.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Buy Anything (Virtually) With Kwedit (wired.com)
• Digital Domain: Buy Now, Pay Later (Maybe With Your Allowance) (nytimes.com)

What could Susan Dey, hot teenager from The Partridge Family and only actor who didn’t appear in the reunion this morning on NBC, and Texas Independence Day have to do with each other?

These are the subjects that Americans are searching for right now. We aren’t wondering about the state of the nation, we aren’t too concerned with the Earthquake in Chile or the continued efforts to help the Haitians. No, we want to know why Susan Dey dissed her make believe family and skipped the reunion.

We could be worried about the unemployment that ran out for millions of Americans this past week but no, we NEED to know why Susan Dey wasn’t a partridge.

I don’t have the answer. I don’t care why she wasn’t there. I don’t care all that much about Texas Independence Day either. If they still want to leave, let them.