In the Chicago Tribune this Sunday Morning the two biggest headlines are:
NURSING MISTAKES KILL, INJURE THOUSANDS
(per year)
secondary headline read:
IN MIDEAST, A TWIST ON PEACE
mastermind of cruise ship hijacking free to roam

Inside in the international section was an article on 4 Westerners freed by Muslim rebels in the Phillipines AND a full page spread on how Pro Lifers are really messing up the lives of people in South America.

What is life like in your part of the world? What are importaint things in your lives? What bugs you the most? How do you spend an average day? Use this post only for sharing and gaining insight. No debate please. No novels please, but write enough to give us a slice of your life. Something like this:

I live near Chicago IL USA and work in Chicago. I get up at 5AM, eat breakfast cereal alone almost in the dark and get to work by 6:30. I spend the workday in meetings, speaking to techs regarding work performance, inspect jobs completed, and become involved in damage complaints. We can't hire enough good people. I spend time with family in the evenings. We live in a 4 bedroom splitlevel house. Our favorite meal is grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and corn (off the cob). We (my wife mostly)homeschool our 5 children because we have no confidence in the public school system and this is the best way to pass our values to them. We claim the Christian faith but have sacrificed little. I am awed by how liberal we have become as a nation and it seems no big deal to others. For us life is good. I am proud of my children. For precaution we train our kids not to go out by themselves, always go in at least pairs...far different from when I was young. My biggest beefs are President Clinton, abortion on demand, and newly legalized research on frozen human embryos. I don't know what to do about them. Aside from schooling I have no serious local concerns. The neatest things are my wife and children and the fact that when our dogs get loose into the neighborhood (it has happened twice) they get picked up but we don't get fined, yet. If you tell me this is a novel, I will chop it down. Your turn.

Okay, I'll go.

The San Jose Mercury has no idea what a headline is. I haven't seen today's paper yet, but the formula usually places some local scandal first followed by "Oh yeah, mid-east peace, child welfare, yadda yadda..."

I set the alarm for 5:30, but don't crawl out of bed until 6. I always wait to hear the radio news (KEZR Mix 106.5), which wasn't very newsworthy this AM. After brushing my hair and generally straightening myself out, I surf the net while chowing down on breakfast, which varies but is usually fried eggs and toast. I get to work at about 7:30 or so and putz around until 8AM or when a project gets dropped on my lap, whichever comes first. After a cup of coffee or two, I finally get my butt moving and crank out the data entry or project. I spend the second half of the day backing up the dispatcher when the database doesn't need administering. I come home, feed the dog, the cats, and the fish. Then I horse around for the rest of the evening, sometimes heading into town to catch a cool band (there haven't been any lately), but usually practicing my HTML or reading a book. Every now and then I'll watch TV, but I'd rather play with my dog and scare the crap out of him with my guitar. Then I crash out and go to sleep.

Sprinkled throughout the day are minute activities like writing and playing video games.

I don't read the paper much these days. If I do pick it up, it's to look for deals on computer hardware. I feel that the news is an ugly way to start my day.

I start my day by dragging my son out of bed. He moans, "Just five more minutes, Dad." He won't get out of bed by his own motivation. Once he is up, I verbally prod him to get dressed while wrestling with my two-year-old daughter in an effort to get her ready. During this time, I am talking with my wife about the tasks which need to be accomplished during the day--she is also getting dressed and ready for her job. Once my kids have been dressed and fed, I load them into the car and I drive my son to school. From there I might go to the bank or to the store--depending on the need. Once back home, I might jump online and check on some sites of personal interest or I might try some programming or write a page. My daughter and I might watch a video or two or we might play outside or walk to the local park.

When my wife returns from work, I pack my dinner and drive to my job. I spend my first hour of work talking with various individuals, trying to determine which job has priority for the night. Once these people have gone, it is production work until the end of the shift. I drive a co-worker home after work. Then I go home. After my shower, I will go back online, again checking on sites of personal interest.



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It's all very large.

Headlines from the Seattle Times website http://seattletimes/nwsource.com include

* Article on random violence in the downtown area resulting in some civic officials calling for a full-scale curfew in the downtown area

* Article about slipshod planning of our voter-approved light-rail system ... a while back, someone pointed out that all of the nicely sheltered rail stops were in demographically white neighborhoods, while several critical neighborhoods coincidentally demographically minority were omitted, bypassed, or planned for lesser shelters at the rail stops. Nobody's figured out what to do about it.

* And the state is going to protest a $17.8 million verdict against it for falsely/wrongly prosecuting suspected child molesters.

Our Post-Intelligencer reports that a 23 year-old man was attacked and raped outside an English-style fish & chips bar (see downtown violence above).

And the News-Tribune, from Tacoma (one large city to the South) has nothing of any vital interest to report (the paper looks more like a tabloid these days).

The daily summary is fairly routine, if I have my way: awake @ 6:00 am, on a city bus to work by 8:00, where I do exactly this in between fits of acting like my job has any purpose other than getting me paid. Take off at 4:30, pop on home, hopefully catch the early showing of The Simpsons, smoke my daily protest (or two or three), feed the cat, avoid my housemates, play video baseball or something equally banal, and then bop around town or not, depending on who's where, in a buzzing fit of beer and social protests. If I'm feeling social, there's a couple of jazz bars in relatively reasonable distance (one is two doors east of my house), and just about every bar in town has Guinness, so I'm set for that.

In the meantime, our baseball team apparently prefers a pennant race to consistent ball, I have no real idea what our football team's actually worth this year, and when you're ever in Seattle, avoid our local television news as if it were a mortal plague to your sanity. Important headlines from TV Sunday? The Baha Men are in town! Should you be scared of _____? (Insert everyday annoyance.) We'll tell you why you should be, tomorrow night at ten!

Really, the beer is about the only thing worth coming to town for (Red Hook, Red Hook, Red Hook!) Oh! There's the EMP--it's not just a museum, it's kinda like Star Trek!

And the sunsets, I suppose, are nice.

gotta work,
Tiassa :cool:


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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.--Denis Diderot

You western Americans just piped right up!
Anyone out there willing to give a report from Australia? Austria? Africa? Europe? Madegasgar (sp)? Antartica? Germany?

Oka&y,...here are my headlines:

-Terrestrial Planet Finder analyses spectrum of hundreds of newly discovered planets and finds they ALL harbor life!

-Nasa's Lab for Advanced propulsion crank's out a new way of looking at hyperdrive,...turning the scienfiction concept into a reality!

-Newly mined astroïds and comets turn out to be the salvation of the people: there's not ONE person left on this world living UNDER the poverty standards set by the UN.

-First baby born on the moon!


How about your world captain impossible?

FAMILY EATS OWN HOUSE Madagascar Herald

A family has been left homeless after a night of binging on their latest marijuana crop. Reports suggest that after getting the serious munchies, the family members began eating their own house, which was made out of sugar canes. Now, they not only face homelessness, but also a huge dentist bill.