Checking out the Spider
The handsome arachnid dude showed up on our back deck almost as soon as a bevy of indoor plants were moved out there for the remaining summer days. Husband and I noted this interesting looking fellow and pondered how it ate, what it ate, if it maybe ate dogs and such.
As the summer waned the spider, OUR version of the spider shown below along with the same spider on a spider-oriented web site, grew larger each day.
“I think it’s time we find out if this thing is poisonous,” I told husband as we regarded this insect that seemed quite happy nestled amidst the leaves of Chinese evergreen and Autumn Joy.
“Yeah,” husband replied solemnly, “it was cute at first but I’d for us to get bit by some sort of venomous South American creature we thought was cute.”
As it would turn out, our summer plant guest is…..tada, a GARDEN SPIDER.
Well it doesn’t get any more innocuous than that. Although I’ve never seen such a creature before, my Internet research reveals that garden spiders are friends of the gardener and indeed eat many insects harmful to the flowers.
What a beauty of a bug, huh? Those yellow stripes are vivid, even beautiful. The creature has a handsome web that it nestles in comfortably. Some mornings we might find a moth, sometimes a bee, caught and tangled in the web.
Which is as it was meant to be.
We’ll keep encouraging this spider to live here in Serendipity Shore. Besides, we think it might be pregnant.
By clicking on the picture below yon readers can find out more about this pretty bug, just one of God’s creatures living its life.
Another Democrat Run City Lets Down Its Citizens
Received the following in a Maryland GOP email. The story is true, no matter the partisan source.
Baltimore city, another New Orleans without the flood waters.
| Baltimore city school leadership continues to play politics with the education of their students. Following a federal judge’s order this summer for the state to take over special education services in Baltimore schools-due to the city’s failure to provide what was required of them, and what they promised the students-the city changed the administrative requirements of special education providers without having a plan for the paperwork to be done. In 2000, the city ordered psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers to do mountains of paperwork that took their time away from their students. Many of the professions got fed up and left the system. Now, and surely in light of the judge’s order, the city made the decision to take away that burden even though the responsibility for special education was stripped from the city because of their utter failures in the past. It’s little wonder why the city was deemed irresponsible and inept by the judge, as time and again they choose politics over the hopes and dreams of the students who have been denied an education. |
As Promised…
More “You Named It What?” pics for snorts and smirks
First Montage of “You Named It What?” HERE
More Miscellany posts HERE
The Apprentice 4-Let the Games Begin
For the first time, week 4 of this Apprentice series-Thursday, 10/13/05- I finally tuned in. There had been three eliminations by then although there were still plenty of contenders with hopes of hearing The Donald say “You’re HIRED.”
Just as soon as the show began there seemed to be an air of despair and disdain of one contestant, Toral. Since I hadn’t seen the earlier shows I paid close attention to ascertain just what about this woman so offended her team mates so.
The teams were divided into males and females. The male team was named Excel, the female team-Capital Edge.
In the whispered asides of contestant-to-contestant there was much mention of this Toral woman. My sense was that Toral would figure prominently in this episode.
The challenge this past week was for each team to come up with a living character that would represent Dairy Queen’s vaunted product, “The Blizzard”. A “Ronald McDonald” if you will, for Dairy Queen.
The Excel team came up with a character they called the “Genie Blizzard”. A very clever concept I thought. Especially that bit with the soft-serve ice cream hair. Add a handsome sparkling belt buckle with the letters “DQ’ sequined upon and this character seemed happening, hip and representative of the famous ice cream chain’s product and name.
One of the Excel team readily volunteered to don the outfit. Interesting more because the team was all men, thus the volunteer was a man. He had to wear fake boobs and all involved with transformation from male to female.
Meanwhile, the Toral-hating team came up with a Micky Mouse type of affair that they called “Zip”. Duh. Nowhere on their character were either the words “Dairy Queen” or the letters “DQ” plainly evident. Also, the Dairy Queen execs lamented, upon this team’s presentation, that their target consumers were mostly young males. This Micky Mouse rip-off hardly appealed to that demographic.
Couple of things. While it wasn’t clear that the demographic was provided in advance, it would seem a happening and smart team of liberated females would have asked before beginning their design. Also, logos, logos, logos, name recognition. As The Donald explained later in the infamous Boardroom, companies spend millions for name recognition. To not have some representation of the character’s company is a bit dumb.
Also notable with the Capital Edge team was this rather unusual fixation on having the despised Toral be the team member to wear the character’s outfit. Toral absolutely refused. She also timidly agreed to be the team manager, but with no exuberance or zeal.
By me, the casual viewer and not yet in a Toral-hating mode, it seemed that the Capital Edge team was strangely adamant that Toral don the outfit. Sure the woman should have, in line with the team spirit, been a sport and agreed to wear the costume upon first request. But after she balked so mightily, the team’s continued insistence that Toral represent their Zip character seemed wrong-headed, even a bit mean. There were plenty of other Capital Edge team members so why fixate on just one? One who was so very opposed to wearing the costume?
The Dairy Queen people chose Excel’s character of the Blizzard Genie. Dairy Queen did not like Capital Edge’s Zip as it did not appeal to their demographic and there was the poor representation of the company’s name on their design.
The Boardroom showdown began and soon it was all fingers pointing at Toral. I’ve included Toral’s background as well as her picture, below. As for those vignettes when Toral talked for herself, she did have a rather high opinion of herself. Higher than justified as I saw it. She said that wearing the outfit would have put her into a position of mockery. Besides, Toral explained to the camera, there were “religious” issues.
The Donald told Toral that he himself dressed up as a chicken on Saturday Night Live. In the end there was no need to empty the boardroom and bring back three people. The Donald fired Toral on the spot.
So it looks like another series of The Apprentice is handily underway. The contenders fit the mold as carved in all prior Apprentice episodes.
It’ll be fun. Check in again for future brickbats, reviews and commentary on the series. Coming towards the end I’ll be reviewing every episode until a final contender is HIRED.
| Current Application Status: [ ] Active [ ] Hired [ X ] Fired  Toral, 29, currently a Vice President in the Capital Markets group of a major investment bank in New York City, is among the handful of officer level women in her group responsible for originating, structuring, negotiating and closing multi-million dollar business deals. Fluent in French, Hindi and English, Toral has traveled to more than 15 foreign countries over the course of her career, working with top business leaders in both the public and private sectors. A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Toral has worked for some of the country's leading financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and American Express. In addition, Toral is a skilled day trader and self-made multi-millionaire. Her recent investments include luxury real estate and upscale restaurant projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Toral now resides in New York City, and likes to spend her free time at her homes in Miami Beach and London. |
NBC Apprentice 4 Web Page
More TV Reviews HERE
True Doctor Stories
A man comes into the ER and yells, "My wife's going to have her baby in the cab!" I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's --Dress, and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs, and I was in the wrong one.
--Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio, TX
At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. Big breaths," I instructed. Yes, they used to be," remorsefully replied the patient.
--Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA
One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a "massive internal fart."
--Dr. Susan Steinberg, Manitoba, Canada
I was performing a complete physical, including the visual acuity test. I placed the patient twenty feet from the chart and began, "Cover your right eye with your hand." He read the 20/20 line perfectly. Now your left." Again, a flawless read Now both," I requested. There was silence. He couldn't even read the large E on the top line. I turned and discovered that he had done exactly what I had asked; he was standing there with both his eyes covered. I was laughing too hard to finish the exam.
--Dr. Matthew Theodropolous, Worcester, MA
During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he
informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications. Which one?" I asked. The patch. The nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I'm running out of places to put it!" I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body! Now the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.
--Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk, VA
While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, "How long have you been bed-ridden?" After a look of complete confusion she answered . Why, not for about twenty years -- when my husband was alive."
--Dr. Steven Swanson, Corvallis, OR
I was caring for a woman from Kentucky and asked, So, how's your breakfast this morning?" It's very good, except for the Kentucky Jelly. I can't seem to get used to the taste," the patient replied. I then asked to see the jelly and the woman produced a foil packet labeled "KY Jelly."
--Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit, MI
And Finally . . . .
A new, young MD doing his residency in OB was quite embarrassed performing female pelvic exams. To cover his embarrassment he had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly.
The middle aged lady upon whom he was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassed him. He looked up from his work and sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. Was I tickling you?"
She replied, "No doctor, but the song you were whistling was 'I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener."
--won't admit his name
~~~~~~~~~~
More Fish Giggles HERE
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