AZDana's Wonderful and Wacky Weblog

Has it really been almost two months since I posted something?

AzDana — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:33:32 +0000

My gosh, time sure flies when you have a kitty that likes to go for piggy back rides up and down the hall. Karen technically is an adult cat, but she is definitely on the small side. She still acts like a kitten, I don’t know how long she’ll keep that up. I have enough “dignified” cats that are on the stuffy side, I just hope Karen doesn’t pick up on their attitudes any time soon. She still loves beans of all kinds, but also has developed a passion for Ranch salad dressing. So can anyone blame me for choosing to “share” a salad with my kitty instead of updating my blog?

(Please note: Karen is never allowed to use any human dining implements of any kind. I have my own salad bowl, and she has her own kitty salad bowl.)

Want to help me with a problem?

AzDana — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:17:21 +0000

Whether you’re an adoptee, or gave someone up for adoption, or just have a ton of common sense, I would appreciate some advice.

I was talking to my younger sister and she brought up the names of some of the people we used to know in high school, and I did a google search on one I’ll call “Brenda Yarverver”. (The name is made up for reasons that will become obvious. This is going to sound like a Dear Abby letter or something, just giving you fair warning.)

I found an adoption site that mentioned Brenda Yarverver. The girl that posted it said she was looking for her birth mother, Brenda Yarverver. She said she was given up for adoption and wanted any information about Brenda. All the details posted matched everything I knew about Brenda Yarverer, including her unique name and other information.

Here’s the sticky part: The last time I saw/heard from Brenda she was unwed, pregnant, doing drugs and involved in criminal fraud. As a matter of fact, that’s why I stopped associating with her because she seemed to be heading in a totally different direction than I.

So, do I email the girl and tell her, “Sorry, I don’t know much about your mom, the last time I saw her, she was asking me for money while high as a kite, pregnant with you and dating a man that had her using stolen credit cards?”

Is it better to leave her in the dark about her mother, or do you think she would rather know the truth? Personally, I can’t decide if I would rather know or not. What do you think?

Will Disney lose young Mickey?

AzDana — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:26:47 +0000

I was going to write a humongous post about intellectual rights, but it’s Friday night and I try not to think hard on weekends. Watch this video and I may just get back to this subject on Monday, if I am still of the same mind:

Here kitty, kitty Part 2

AzDana — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:06:49 +0000

Okay, maybe that poor skunk petting woman in Pennsylvania isn’t the only one that has problems identifying felines. I just wonder if the kind soul that made this poster ever managed to house break the “lost cat”? (Click on thumbnail, then click it again for large image)

Here kitty, kitty Part 1

AzDana — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:57:34 +0000

A woman in Pennsylvania received a smelly surprise when the neighbor’s cat she thought she was petting turned out to be a skunk! Not only did she get sprayed, but the skunk ran into her home and police officer were there for hours, trying to remove it. There’s no word on the condition of either the woman or the skunk, but I imagine both of them were quite surprised. Between you and me, I thought that things like this only happened in Warner Brothers cartoons. I mean, even if she overlooked the facial differences, didn’t she notice other dissimilarities? If the fluffiness of the tail wasn’t a good clue, how about the big white stripe? How could someone not know the difference between a cat and a polecat? Sacrebleu!

Hello Dilbert!

AzDana — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:49:02 +0000

I just added a Daily Dilbert widget in my left column, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with it on a daily basis. I love Dilbert, but I tend to forget about Dilbert.com . Come to think of it, I also forgot about the DilBeriTO and was pleased to find out they may start marketing it again.

This is why we should all use Askimet

AzDana — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:30:10 +0000

Recently, I was helping someone set up a blog, and they asked if they could skip using Askimet because they didn’t want their readers to have to wait for their comments to be approved. I told them that spammers could drown a blog with their spam attacks, but I thought I would also provide visual proof. Here’s a screen shot I just took:

Hooray for Hydrox!

AzDana — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:56:47 +0000

Hydrox cookies are back for their 100th anniversary celebration and available for a limited time at your local grocery store. Personally, I would like to buy every pack in the metro Phoenix area and store them away for the future, but that probably wouldn’t be feasible right now, and besides, if I did that, then no one else in my area could discover their great taste and why they are far superior to Oreos. Don’t get me wrong, an Oreo isn’t horrible, and if you’ve never tasted a Hydrox, then you have no basis for comparison. However, many cookie purists maintain that Hydrox was the first of its kind on the market and Oreos are nothing but a cheap knockoff. Personally, I think that Hydrox do taste a lot better than Oreos, they seem to have a lot more chocolate flavor, while Oreos just seem to be sugar that’s colored to look like chocolate. Also, the Oreo filling seems like white sugary goo when compared to the Hydrox. Imo, the Oreo became more popular not because its a superior product, but because of superior marketing.

And yes, I know that Hydrox contains gluten, so I won’t be able to partake of them for now. I think that’s why I plan on stocking up on them so that I can indulge myself once I go off the gluten free diet. Then again, depending on their shelf life, maybe I’ll get a case of them for each person on my Christmas list this year.

September 11, 2001

AzDana — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:58:59 +0000

May God bless and comfort those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.

OOOooh, Historic American Newspapers!

AzDana — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:41:43 +0000

History fascinates me. Not only am I interested in the famous people of the past, but I also like to read about every day life in bygone days. How much did people pay for beef in 1902? What were the hottest styles of 1909? What kind of financial pressures did everyone face in 1899?

The Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities are joint sponsors of Chronicling America, a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. I got goosebumps when I first stumbled upon this site because it allows visitors to view selected newspaper pages from 1890 to 1910. Right now, there’s only a limited amount of states, but they are working on creating a “national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922.”

They also have some information about newspapers published in the U.S from 1690 to present, but that is also an ongoing project. The best part about this is that the site is totally free for everyone! I know we all complain about income taxes, but I have to say that I think this is a pretty good use of taxpayer dollars.