Where's MY dream act?

Apparently the Connecticut state senate just passed the Dream Act with a vote of 22-14. (I'm posting this from my phone, so I can't link to a supporting article from here...maybe after I post I'll go back and fix it on the computer.)

What the "Dream Act" does is give the children of illegals the benefit of paying in-state tuition at colleges here in Connecticut.

Maybe I'm bitter, pissy, biased, and jealous because I want a handout, but seriously...before we cater to people who are sponging off the government (yes, I know if the kid was born here, then they automatically have citizenship, ect...but their parents are illegals and not paying taxes...) we should help the people who live here and pay the ridiculous amount of taxes we have. I would love to go to school, right now...I can't afford it. You know why? Because the way aid is offered is completely FUCKED. I have not lived with or been supported by my parents in four years. Why the hell must I still supply their financial details and have their income factor into my aid package? (Which because of that...does not friggin exist?)

There really should be a "my parents do not speak to me and live 800 miles away so therefore I get no money from them and their income should have no bearing on my percieved ability to pay for college" box.

Then again, in a state where the governor thinks its a brilliant idea to shut down technical high schools which turn out carpenters, hair dressers, and healthcare professionals (moi), nothing surprises me anymore.

In fact, if Governor Malloy had the balls to crack down on state aid abuse, he would probably have a large budget surplus. Kick the illegals who somehow manage to get it off foodstamps, ect...and require drug tests and some form of "you have to look for work" requirement (akin to unemployment benefits) for welfare.

I'm a registered independent...who leans mostly democratic...except for this. Forget amnesty, forget the "dream" act...deport the illegals and help your fellow countrymen (in this case...statesmen) who need it.

Call me racist or whatever, but I honestly do not think we should be extending this benefit to these people.

(Disclaimer: this rant was composed entirely on my phone via the Blogger for Android app...when I get an idea, and I have time, I'll just GO...thus, I apologize for crap formating, ranty-ness and so on)

Cue feeling like the giant, scheming jerk.

Remember this?

I was offered said job...and accepted. So therefore I put in my two week's notice at my current job.
It sucked
It was awkward
It scared me shitless

But I did it!

On target for starting the first full week of June.

Connecticut, Seattle of the East.

This BS is getting super ridiculous. The only way I want to deal with this on a routine basis is if I get a job at Seattle Grace Hospital.

I think we're on about the fifth day without sunshine? Come on mother nature, you pounded the crap out of us this winter...GIVE US A BREAK!

Fingers crossed

That is all.

Mondays Suck.

Watch this and feel better.



If you don't laugh at this...well then, you just have no soul!

Can we not remix everything to death.

The other day, I was coming home from the store and heard some poppy, peppy version of "Just Haven't Met You Yet". It immediately annoyed me and I recorded a brief video rant about it. (If you missed it on Twitter or the Facebook fan page, it's below.) I intended to either make an extended video rant or post about it, so a post you will get. My allergies have me sounding like crap and my nose looking like Rudolph so a video blog is completely not happening.



I have always HATED hearing pop remixes of any song. The biggest offender in recent memory with respect to this is Taylor Swift. Now don't get me wrong...I freakin adore T-Swizz, I really, really do. However, when essentially every single off of her debut CD and Fearless had a pop radio-friendly remix...I wanted to scream.
Why should artists cater to the shallow minded drones who listen to nothing but over-programmed Clearchannel pop radio garbage? (To be honest, I think the two pop CC-owned stations here in Connecticut are the only ones who played these bastardizations of her songs.)

If you don't like country, that's your prerogative. If you're embarassed to like country...GROW A PAIR. People who judge others on the type of music they like ought to be shot.

When every potentially non-mainstream single is ruined by these crappy remixes I cringe. So what if there's fiddles in the song (T-Swizz)...or it has a slower jazzy old fashioned flow (Michael Bublé). These things can become crossover hits on their own. Remember Shania Twain? I don't remember all of her songs being pop-ified...or even Carrie Underwood. "Before He Cheats" is plenty country and I didn't hear twelve different "pop remixes" of that.

This idiocy really needs to stop. Let the original music shine through...and let me stop my tirade here before I go off on a tangent about autotune, unnecessary rapping, and incessant "sampling".

I swear, I'm not 400lbs, I just like food.

Foodspotting is my latest addiction - there are iPhone and Android apps, and for those who have Crackberrys or non-smartphones...you can upload things on the main site too. Around here, like Yelp, Foodspotting is criminally underutilized. It's a shame. Unless suffering from an eating disorder & thus having an unhealthy relationship with food, everyone LIKES food. So share what you like. Seems like a simple concept, right? Make an account, download the appropriate app if you have the means, and have fun :)

Here's my "most popular" posts.

My two cents-worth on Osama.

Am I happy the moron is dead? Absolutely
Am I glad Obama did it? Sure.
Are we safer for it? Maybe.
Can we stop being vigilant? No.

Yes, it might have been better if we brought him back alive...waterboarded him a bit, y'know...make him suffer, but the Islamic militant nutjob figurehead is gone. Yes, I'm sure Al-Qaida probably has someone waiting in the wings to take his place, but we got the fucker. He took credit for masterminding 9/11. I don't give a crap if he hasn't been orchestrating anything else in the mean time because he's been busy hiding in caves...or palaces. WE GOT HIM. One of the boyfriend's friends lost an uncle in the twin towers...for people like that, I hope justice has been served. It won't bring back the towers or the 3000+ people who died that day or as a result of it, but we can at least say we got him.

The primary thing that annoys me is all the people claiming Obama hid the corpse until it was a politically convenient time for him. Seriously? Get your head out of your ass. He was not sitting on this to have "the best week ever" wherein he trumped Donald Trump and then killed Osama, nor was he sitting on this to make people like him more for a re-election bid next year. Don't be so terminally stupid.

And as for clowns like those I see on Facebook claiming (and I'm paraphrasing) "Okay, it's done, let's get back to things that matter"...I have no words for their idiocy and ignorance. Seriously? I dare you to go stand by Ground Zero and say that.

Why I love my Nook.

I'm a nerd. I also love to read. The Barnes & Noble Nook Color is a perfect melding of this into one (relatively) cheap device. $250 buys you a beautiful e-reader AND one of the best nerd toys ever.
The beauty of the Nook Color is it runs on a bastardized version of Google's super popular mobile OS...and with 20 minutes of your time and fairly minimal effort, you can make it unbastardized...and a full fledged wifi Android tablet. There are more time & effort intensive methods where you can run 3.0 (Honeycomb - Android's tablet-exclusive OS) and other ROMs, but merely rooting mine provided enough entertainment until the appeal wore off. The appeal ended for me, because aside from home and the obvious random wifi spots...I don't have wifi at work, so using all the awesome features I had unlocked was out of the question. If I wanted to pay Sprint some over-large amount of money every month I could utilize the wifi hotspot software...or if I rooted my phone I could do that too...but my phone is a lot easier to screw up rooting, and I can't risk that because the off-contract price on my phone is $500, which I don't have. So, after about a week and some wonky behavior later, I unrooted my Nook and restored it to factory-boring settings.

Pulse on my Nook.

Fast-forward to last Monday. Barnes & Noble released a new software update bringing some of the tablet functionality I had unlocked (apps) and some I hadn't (flash support...woohoo) because the rooted ROM was sub Android 2.2. Now the new software update does not give you free reign in the Android Market... (*pout*) but it does have some pretty decent apps (Hello Angry Birds...which coincidentally I've not downloaded on my Nook yet, despite having regular, Seasons, and Rio on my phone)...and some of the original functionalities were improved upon, like lending (not that I really know how that worked to begin with because nobody I know has a Nook...because 75% of my friends are complete techophobes.) My new addiction is Pulse, which is available for Android and I believe the iPad if you're into the iOSofCrap devices. It allows you to organize news feeds in a very attractive UI and organize them by subject (or however else you want, really.) I am a gReader addict on my phone, but the larger screen on the Nook Color lends itself well to Pulse.

Oh yeah, you can read books too. Check out some more info about it here & pick one up here. You won't be disappointed.

How to feel like a shiesty jerk.

Have a former coworker message you about an opportunity at the new pharmacy they work at saying they've been talking you up to those in charge and that they're interested.

Find out that said pharmacy is the fledgeling pharmacy of a big chain your place of work services...until this place is up and running.

Know this and read into masked concern current boss has when dancing around subject of this chain of nursing homes leaving during staff meeting.

Go home and apply to this place.

Sit in on another meeting now that boss has more information about this place. People ask questions you know the answer to. Keep mouth shut (obviously). Boss' tone is more foreboding. Boss also discusses how she knows we'll see positions on CareerBuilder if we get their e-mails.

Feel glad you applied, and anxiously await call from place, having been told that they were uber busy Friday and will probably call today.

Voila, you're where my head is at now. If I do go for this if and when offered, I'm going to feel like a giant scheming jerk.

PS: its more pay and being that I used to work for said nursing home chain as a CNA...I'm betting health insurance eclipses the trash I have now.

And now I wait.

Strawberry Fields forever? What about Daffodil Hill?

Just after turning onto Wigwam Road

Motivated by a post found over at "In Touch With the Litchfield Hills", I decided to go visit what is locally known as Daffodil Hill in Northfield, CT. I had never been, despite last year having to drive by the road it is off of on a daily basis before and after work...and now living 15 minutes away. So, yesterday afternoon, after filling up on some Jake's, I headed on Route 8 for a couple of exits and headed up there to see what all the fuss is about.

About halfway (ish) between Litchfield and Thomaston on Route 254, you turn off onto Wigwam Road. The view there itself is pretty damn breathtaking...and I wasn't even there yet. I had to stop and take a picture. I actually kind of miss driving this way home from work...but the way gas prices are I'm glad I no longer have to drive 35 miles each way everyday. Wigwam road is a small, fairly beaten back road. There was even a pretty awesome looking windmill a bit down the road, but there was no good place to pull over and take a picture of that. As you continue down the road and you almost wonder if you passed it, you'll begin to see more cars parked along the side of the road. You'll know when you get there. Believe me. Also, prepare to constantly have to pull over into the muddy ditch to let people by...because all the parking on the side of the road effectively reduces the road to one lane. Once you find a spot to park (another reason why having a tiny car ROCKS) and walk down to a place safe to walk in (where I parked a lot of the adjacent grass was muddy and boggy) you'll be greeted with a view of sprawling fields with a pond off in the distance blanketed in thousands of daffodils dotted with people. Lots of people were taking pictures of their kids in the fields...and on my way out I even saw a couple being photographed for what looked like wedding pictures.

 I wandered around for quite a while taking TONS of pictures...which surprisingly came out good...considering I'm a pretty lousy photographer and all I had to work with was my phone (HTC Evo 4G...which actually has a pretty awesome camera for a cell phone - at 8 megapixels, it's almost as good as my actual digital camera) and my point & shoot Kodak digital camera the boy got me right after we started dating. (We went to a concert and he was sick of listening to me complain about my camera...). Of course, I felt a little amateurish with my stuff when everyone else had fancy Canon DSLR's and whatnot...but hey, I had fun. I just wish it wasn't quite so crowded because it was difficult to get some shots without getting random people in them.

As I made my way back up toward my car, I found a spot not innundated with rambunctious kids (There was one kid whose mother I wanted to slap. The kid was trampling through the middle of the daffodils and running around screaming and she was doing nothing to discourage such behavior) and just sat. It was so peaceful and beautiful...until one bee kept flying around me and would NOT leave me alone. Then my allergies decided to come bite me with a vengeance, so I took that as my cue to leave, as much as I didn't want to. I would have been content to sit there for another three hours and just gaze at the sea of daffodils. Seriously.

This place will definitely be on my spring to-do list from now on though. I can't believe I waited so long to go.

Here are all the pictures I took in video form: