Saturday

Fortunately, I had a second recipe for Chocolate Pudding, as the first was just awful. It could well be that I didn't follow the steps correctly when doing it; however, when the first takes forty minutes and includes chopping, blending, transferring, mixing, boiling...and the second takes twenty minutes, uses one saucepan, and optionally a food processor -- that first one is history.

I see where the Decider is in a snit because the Democrats are 'playing politics'. Where to begin on that one? Perhaps a simple observation that thats the way the game is played, bucko! would do nicely. I have no problem with the people I like having to fight and compromise to get their measures passed, and I certainly have no problem with the same thing for The Bushwhacker. I saw a Zippy the Pinhead cartoon this morning wherein he observes that the Senate of the United States is a hallowed institution where laws are made, issues debated, and the power of the Presidency is kept in check ....how could Dick Cheney let this happen? Heh-heh-heh.

I will say one other thing, though. The White House holds that the Congress doesn't have oversight authority on them. I think thats true. The Congress doesn't have the right to manage, let alone micro-manage, what the White House does in the execution of its responsibilities. It can choose not to fund them, of course. And it can choose to impeach the resident of 1600 if they think he's doing a truly terrible job (I used to think that mean 'like getting caught handing over missile launch codes to the Russians', but lately my standards are lower on that.). But it can't say what the White House can do in the execution of its responsibilities, or how it does it. So, if the Texan Temper Tantrum wants, they can just back the hell off...and impeach him. Happy, W?

This afternoon I get to hang out with a whole bunch of nubile teen and pre-teen girls. Hot diggety! I'm the chaperone on the bus trip out to the next-to-last show they're putting on. It was almost a no-show (and not because I'm going); the girls on my daughters team were screwing around so badly that their moderator threatened to cancel the practice, this show, and the final one. I would not be surprised if she bailed on this entirely after this year. From what I gather, my daughter's team is pretty bad. They're young and all, but still.... pretty bad.

About three quarters of the way through The Number. Still interesting reading. Still making good points. I told a coworker about it, and he said that a friend had told him that it wasn't very good because it didn't tell you exactly what to do. I saw that you could get that anywhere, and it frequently was contradicted by other experts. What this told you was how to approach the topic, what affected what your personal Number was, and what to do when you weren't sure (as most of us are not). An authoritative and correct guide as to what to do is in there, as it happens, but its not the thrust of the book. I'll be reading it at the competition tonight. I (groan) get to hang around till the very end.

But at least I have good reading, and, to look forward to, good chocolate pudding.