I think those are my favorite words in the English language! (Maybe “Tami wins huge lotto” is just a little better.) Final score was 77-62, securing our 17-2 record on the season. We were ahead by more than 20 for part of the second half. This was the only regular season game we will have against Michigan this year, so it's too bad we won’t have another opportunity to clobber them again. Well, maybe in the Big Ten tournament. Since Michigan’s record is now 5-14, can we be pretty sure at this point that U-M won’t make the NCAA? I hope not.
The best news is not only did we beat U-M in basketball this weekend; we also beat them in hockey. MSU beat number one ranked Michigan in hockey on Friday, playing at Michigan, and then tied them Saturday night at Munn. So we are 2-0-1 in major sports against Michigan this weekend. Great weekend to be a Spartan!
GO GREEN, GO WHITE!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Car Commercials
So do I have this right? Has anyone seen the commercials from Ford for their new technology, Sync? This is the best thing I could ever imagine! So as I am cruising down the street on a sunny day, I could say “Play artist Bay City Rollers,” and the next thing I hear would be “S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!” “Play artist Bob Seger” could cue up “Roll me Away” or “Betty Lou’s Getting Out Tonight.” Is this happening in my lifetime? Is this for real? This is not the Jetsons? I am just so excited about this. I had little doubt that my next car would be a Ford, (thanks to the awesome Mustang) but this really seals the deal. Here is the scoop on Sync:
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=24513
Has anyone seen the new commercial for the Jeep Liberty where the guy is cruising along a country road and critters from the forest jump into the car and start singing “Rock me Gently?” It is a hoot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8qVM6f9Ogs
Notice the large furry creature who is the last one in. It is a wolf, isn’t it?
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=24513
Has anyone seen the new commercial for the Jeep Liberty where the guy is cruising along a country road and critters from the forest jump into the car and start singing “Rock me Gently?” It is a hoot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8qVM6f9Ogs
Notice the large furry creature who is the last one in. It is a wolf, isn’t it?
Friday, January 11, 2008
Senior Citizens and Taxes
Illinois is in a crisis about funding public transportation. I’ll try to briefly explain this for those of you not in Illinois. The latest legislation awaiting the governor’s signature calls for a .25 percent increase in the sales tax in Cook County to fund transit. The increase is .5 percent in other counties. But the governor wants to add even more to the bill. He wants senior citizens to be able to ride transit free.
Another break for seniors? Ridiculous. I hear there truly are poor seniors out there somewhere who I’m sure could benefit from something like this. I don’t know any though. All the seniors I know have gobs of money. Why do they need anything free? This bothers me enough, but let’s move on to the more important part of this, the tax increase.
I just went shopping at Carsons in Mt. Prospect and paid sales tax of 8.75%. Tax on my lunch in Schaumburg is 10.5%. If this bill passes, both of those will increase another .25%. When does this stop? So I am forced to declare, Illinois, you lose. Wisconsin and Michigan, you win! Does it occur to these law makers that many of us can make our purchases in neighboring states with lower tax rates? I recently started doing this, and now I will continue even more diligently. At 6% in MI verses the 8.75% here, I saved $27.50 in tax on my recent shopping sprees in Birch Run. I did a quick search, and the highest sales tax rate I found in Wisconsin was 5.6%. I am in both those states often enough, so I will now do my non-urgent shopping there. I am really going to try to buy only food in Illinois from now on. Usually there is plenty of room in my car, so I can load up when I am visiting Michigan. I can’t save Michigan’s economy single-handedly, but I’ll do my best to give it a microscopic boost! Now who wants to go on my spring Birch Run trip with me?
Another break for seniors? Ridiculous. I hear there truly are poor seniors out there somewhere who I’m sure could benefit from something like this. I don’t know any though. All the seniors I know have gobs of money. Why do they need anything free? This bothers me enough, but let’s move on to the more important part of this, the tax increase.
I just went shopping at Carsons in Mt. Prospect and paid sales tax of 8.75%. Tax on my lunch in Schaumburg is 10.5%. If this bill passes, both of those will increase another .25%. When does this stop? So I am forced to declare, Illinois, you lose. Wisconsin and Michigan, you win! Does it occur to these law makers that many of us can make our purchases in neighboring states with lower tax rates? I recently started doing this, and now I will continue even more diligently. At 6% in MI verses the 8.75% here, I saved $27.50 in tax on my recent shopping sprees in Birch Run. I did a quick search, and the highest sales tax rate I found in Wisconsin was 5.6%. I am in both those states often enough, so I will now do my non-urgent shopping there. I am really going to try to buy only food in Illinois from now on. Usually there is plenty of room in my car, so I can load up when I am visiting Michigan. I can’t save Michigan’s economy single-handedly, but I’ll do my best to give it a microscopic boost! Now who wants to go on my spring Birch Run trip with me?
Monday, January 7, 2008
My First Weekend
To those of you who have expressed concern over my 2 drink minimum – RELAX! I was kidding. In fact, I failed miserably this weekend. I had no drinks whatsoever. The closest I came was that I had one regular Coke in the place of one Diet Coke. That will put me on the road to ruin!
I had dinner Saturday night at the other Tami’s house. As we were finishing, she pointed out to her daughter Hannah that the cup her applesauce came in can be recycled. That reminded of a decision I agonized over recently. I am no longer recycling. I don’t have curbside pick-up. I have to take the recyclables to separate dumpsters at the back of the complex. As the fall was growing colder, I began to think it would just be easier to stop doing it for the winter. I felt very guilty about it, but my plan was to start again in the spring. In fact, I felt so guilty about it that it took a month before I really went through with it. But once I got over all those pangs of guilt and threw newspapers directly into the regular dumpster, my feelings changed from guilt to liberation. No more separating, no more rinsing cans, no more special trips to the special dumpsters. Is recycling really worth it? I would save it up for 2 or 3 weeks, then load it into the car and drive to the bins. But I couldn’t park close to the bins because there are glass fragments all over the driveway. (I noticed this a couple years ago before it caused a problem for my tires.) So I parked 20 feet away, outside the gate, and made 3 or 4 trips from the car to the dumpsters. All this time, the car was running, spewing pollution into the atmosphere, and increasing my carbon footprint. (Is that how the environmentalists talk?) And what about the extra water I used to rinse the cans and bottles? So I have decided to stop recycling, and I don’t feel bad about it anymore. I dare you - Go ahead and throw a can right into the trash and see how you feel. You might be surprised!
I had dinner Saturday night at the other Tami’s house. As we were finishing, she pointed out to her daughter Hannah that the cup her applesauce came in can be recycled. That reminded of a decision I agonized over recently. I am no longer recycling. I don’t have curbside pick-up. I have to take the recyclables to separate dumpsters at the back of the complex. As the fall was growing colder, I began to think it would just be easier to stop doing it for the winter. I felt very guilty about it, but my plan was to start again in the spring. In fact, I felt so guilty about it that it took a month before I really went through with it. But once I got over all those pangs of guilt and threw newspapers directly into the regular dumpster, my feelings changed from guilt to liberation. No more separating, no more rinsing cans, no more special trips to the special dumpsters. Is recycling really worth it? I would save it up for 2 or 3 weeks, then load it into the car and drive to the bins. But I couldn’t park close to the bins because there are glass fragments all over the driveway. (I noticed this a couple years ago before it caused a problem for my tires.) So I parked 20 feet away, outside the gate, and made 3 or 4 trips from the car to the dumpsters. All this time, the car was running, spewing pollution into the atmosphere, and increasing my carbon footprint. (Is that how the environmentalists talk?) And what about the extra water I used to rinse the cans and bottles? So I have decided to stop recycling, and I don’t feel bad about it anymore. I dare you - Go ahead and throw a can right into the trash and see how you feel. You might be surprised!
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