not so secret police
October 03, 2005, 6:14 P.M.

Agape. Agog. And, finally�Aghast.

Whenever I see a cop car on the toll-way, I like to check out what department it�s from. So this morning, when I noticed a marked squad in the left-hand lane, I glanced over at the car door to see whose it was.

Federal Protective Police? WTF? Then my eye traveled to the front fender.

Department of Homeland Security.

When did Bush�s Gestapo* get their own marked squads? Nice to know that all the browbeating I get from the IRS on a regular basis serves such a noble purpose.

I couldn�t see the driver, unfortunately. I was madly curious to see whether or not he was uniformed, and if so, how.

*The role of the Gestapo was to investigate and combat "all tendencies dangerous to the State." It had the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases, and cases of criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and on Germany. It had the power to apprehend and detain people without due process. Yeah. Downright eerie, ain�t it?

Sunday was a little better�Spouse and I went to McHenry in the morning. We had breakfast in McHenry at a place called the Wind Hill Pancake House. The d�cor was overdone ye-olde antique shop, but the food was good and the service was excellent. Blueberry pancakes, with blueberry syrup! Blueberry syrup is crucial to edible blueberry pancakes, in my opinion.

The we went to Meijer to do the grocery shopping. With him back on third, I�m stuck cooking every night. Damn. But that means a thorough food shop. They had milk on sale, 3 gallons for $5.00, and a huge store-brand sale going on, so we got quite a bit of stuff.

After we got home, I put away groceries and did a tiny amount of houseworky stuff while Spouse did the yard work, and then we went to the hardware store to make a little purchase for me.

I got my new storage cupboard yesterday. And jussst got it home and into the house before the big and thunderous hail/rain storm hit. So now, we had a project! As the rains came down and the thunder boomed, I cleaned out the back hallway, rearranged some stuff, and generally made way, and then went to help Spouse finish the assembly of the thing. As it is 73 inches tall and weighs over a hundred pounds, moving it into place presented its own set of challenges. But once we got it there, I had great fun running around, putting stuff into it, figuring out how I wanted the shelves adjusted, and trying to decide how to organize the contents.

And although Spouse agreed to get it mostly to make me happy (or shut me up about it, maybe), he came pretty quickly round to my way of thinking once he realized how convenient it was to be able to see what we have on hand. Without getting on your knees with a flashlight in your teeth, digging through the canned goods, small appliances, and casserole dishes that have to share a cupboard in my tiny kitchen.

BUT. Now, I have the task of going around the kitchen, cupboard by cupboard, and cleaning, arranging, discarding, etc. I�m not looking forward to it, but I�m sure I can manage the task as long as I do it stick to my one-at-a-time approach.

I despair of me, sometimes.

One thing I did on Saturday, and again today, is help to deflate a certain swelled head. Our resident wunderkind found out that she�d missed a number of major problems when testing a certain piece of software. Problems that took me less than 5 minutes apiece to discover. So she got that hard lesson that comes to all of us sooner or later�Ya ain�t perfect, kid.

And frankly? She�s been kinda been riding for that fall. Oh, well. She�s young. And she is very good. And it is so very easy to get careless�

In other work news, she
is doing it again! Here is the text of the highly offensive drivel she dropped into my inbox this morning:

St. Theresa's Prayer:
May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly
where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite
possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you
have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you
be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the
freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every
one of you.

Now, send this to 7 people within the next 5 minutes and your wish will
come true. And remember to send this back...I count as 1...you will see
why.

This odd conglomeration of Catholicism, new-agey feelgood gibberish, superstitious magical thinking, and the good old-fashioned scam of the chain letter is absolutely inappropriate for an interoffice chain letter, and the utter boneheaded stupidity of the sender makes me ashamed that I work for any company who would hire her.