i had a rather traumatic day yesterday

i am not afraid of many things.

i'm not afraid of motorcycle gangs
i'm not afraid of rats
i'm not afraid of snakes
i'm not afraid of being alone
i'm not afraid of the dark
i'm not afraid of public speaking

i am afraid of bugs (i mentioned it in an earlier posting) and i am afraid to drive on the highway (i never used to be but i am now. i wasn't in an accident. i don't know how when or why it happened, it just did). i know if there was an emergency i COULD do it. i also did it a while back when my dear friend 's' and his lovely wife 'j' asked me to drive them to the airport (they have done me SO many favors, there was NO WAY i could say no). of course it was at 4 am so the traffic was light. it was the middle of winter and still dark when i got home from driving them. i left my car at their house (we couldn't take my car cause we couldn't fit in it. i'm a pack rat and there is NO ROOM in my car anywhere BUT the drivers seat) and we took their car. 's' drove us to the airport and i would be driving myself home. so i get back to their house and pull the car into the driveway. I COULDN'T GET THE DAMN CAR KEY OUT OF THE IGNITION. i knew there had to be a release button somewhere, but it was winter, it was PITCH BLACK OUT. i had no flashlight and i was still shaking from the highway drive. i am NOT exaggerating when i say it took me well over 15 minutes to get that key out. couldn't find the dome light button either - i used my lighter to find the release. DAMN THEM. but i digress.................

i wanted to get a gift certificate for my niece at target yesterday. i had never been to target, but there is one just past westfarms mall at the other end of my town. i got in the left hand lane (there were two left turn lanes. i was in the right hand left turn lane) which i thought was going straight into the target driveway. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO as soon as i started to turn, i saw it was an entrance ramp to the HIGHWAY. there was nothing i could do. i couldn't stop, i couldn't turn around, i HAD to keep going. go i did until i saw the first exit which of course i took. do i turn right or do i turn left at the exit? well i of course chose the WRONG direction. i chose right (later, i find out from a friend if i chose LEFT, i WOULD have ended back up near the mall). i ended up in new britain. i went by the new britain museum of art (a GREAT one by the way! they have dusk by maxfield parish among many other things). i ended up by the hospital, i ended up by the polish restaurants (new britain has an inordinate amount of poles and a TON of polish businesses among which are (from what i hear) some exceptional restaurants. i SHOULD have stopped and gotten myself a pierogi but there are a lot of things i SHOULD have done. i saw a police officer by a construction site and asked him how to get back to my town. he told me to keep going straight and i'll see a sign for route 72 east which will take me to i-84 which will take me to west hartford. well that involved MORE highway driving but i was desperate and i WAS going to do it no matter what. well i kept driving straight and saw a sign for 72 WEST so of course i drove right by it (i think that 72 west had a link to 84 EAST but that is now in hindsight) and became MORE lost. i ended up in forestville and berlin and on the border of southington. oh, i kept stopping and asking for directions. i called everyone i knew and no one was answering the phone. i saw a soldier in full cammo regalia with jaunty beret and i stopped and asked HIM how to get back to west hartford. i saw another officer and asked HIM too. i was deeper and deeper in the twilight zone (at least i had my tunes. at least the day was warm and it wasn't raining out). i finally saw a bunch of people standing outside a mini mart/gas station. i pulled in and walked up to the closest person. that person was some chullo gang member with full colors and tear drop tattoos under his eyes (we all know what that means). i was shaking but NOT because of him, because of the full out panic attack i was in the middle of. he couldn't help me BUT the dude on the bike (cool looking older man with long grey hair and a pony tail) did. he told me to follow the street (arch) across main street and soon i'll come upon stanley street. my heart perked up. I KNEW STANLEY STREET. i knew if i FOUND STANLEY STREET i'd be able to wend my way home. well i was driving and driving and i didn't see any stanley street. i called another friend (that used to work at the new britain museum so i was SURE he could help me) and low and behold HE ANSWERED THE PHONE! just as i was crying out 'dimitri, HELP ME I'M LOST IN NEW BRITAIN' i saw a sign that said STANLEY STREET. i was in the wrong lane to turn so i had to go straight and turn around and all sorts of ugly stuff BUT i did it. meanwhile, dimitri asked me just how drunk i was (i wasn't drunk AT ALL, quite SOBER as a matter of fact, but right about then i KNEW that was going to change as soon as i found my way home). dimitri calmed me down and i got on STANLEY STREET. ok ok ok. i don't know HOW this happened and it should NOT have happened, BUT i ended up on the highway again. this time i knew i was going in the RIGHT direction though. i saw a sign for the mall and i JUMPED off the highway. i quickly ran into target, got my gift certificate and CAME HOME. went to the pub, got drunk, end of story.

oh, i was lost 1 hour and 45 minutes. NOW end of story

dusk maxfield parrish

roryshock: Takin' It to The Streets

roryshock: Takin' It to The Streets

april 29th

of COURSE he should have recused himself

it's not looked upon favorably (contrary to what justice scalia says) to sit and hear a case YOUR FRIEND is involved with. i personally think it reprehensible and i sure don't know much about the law but i sure don't get why this was allowed.

Scalia Gives Lectures At UConn Law School
POSTED: 1:51 pm EDT April 12, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday called his 2004 decision not to recuse himself from a case involving his friend Vice President Dick Cheney the "proudest thing" he's done on the court.
Scalia's remarks came as he took questions from students during a lecture at the University of Connecticut's law school.
The case in question involved Cheney's request to keep private the details of closed-door White House strategy sessions that produced the administration's energy policy. The administration fought a lawsuit brought by watchdog and environmental groups that contended that industry executives, including former Enron chairman Ken Lay, helped shape that policy. The Supreme Court upheld the administration position on a 7-2 vote.
Scalia refused to recuse himself from the case, rejecting arguments by critics who said his impartiality was brought into question because of a hunting vacation that he took with Cheney while the court was considering the vice president's appeal...........

ok, what the HELL is it with connecticut and myspace.com?

damn, this has to be at LEAST the fifth incident.....

College student charged with molesting two girls
April 11, 2006
NEWINGTON, Conn. --A 22-year-old college student was charged Tuesday with molesting two 12-year-old girls after arranging a rendezvous with one of them on the popular Web site MySpace.com, police said.
David F. Leonard, of New Britain, who attends Central Connecticut State University, was charged with third-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, impairing the morals of children, interfering with police and submitting a false statement.
Police said he kissed and fondled the two girls, who are friends, last summer near a school in Newington.
Leonard was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in New Britain Superior Court. He was held on $150,000 bond.
Leonard was arrested by state police on Jan. 30 on similar charges in a case allegedly involving a 15-year-old victim in Vernon, according to state police records.
MySpace's parent company, News Corp., began an advertising campaign on Monday warning teens and their parents about online predators.
The Web site enables computer users to meet any of more than 60 million members. Users post searchable profiles that can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like..........

another good animal pound story!

Regional pound provides time for dogs to find new homes
By John Dignam TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF jdignam@telegram.com
KILLINGLY— The fact that Baron, Tonto, Little Chuck and other dogs were staying in the building next to the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments’ headquarters on Route 12 last week is testament to the success of the regional dog pound experiment. “It works,” said NECCOG Executive Director John J. Filchak. “And it would work better if more towns got involved. That would drive the cost down.” In August 2004, NECCOG opened a regional dog pound to allow member towns to provide better animal control services at lower cost.
Last week, Baron, a bull mastiff; Tonto, an Alaskan malamute mix, and Little Chuck, a purebred pug, were among eight dogs at the kennel, at least one of which was heading for a new home. From February 2005 to this January, the program received 2,857 calls, 103 animals were returned to owners, 152 were sold, six were dead when picked up and 23 were euthanized, Mr. Filchak said in an interview last week. He said dogs were euthanized because of illness, injuries or viciousness, but that none has been euthanized for lack of space. Four of the council’s 11 member towns — Killingly, Brooklyn, Pomfret and Sterling — joined the cooperative dog pound when it opened. Animal Control Officer Diane Gaudreau, who has a part-time assistant, said the program works in large part because of the dedication of a dozen active volunteers and Wal-Mart’s donation of food for the animals. An answering service responds during off hours, contacting the animal control officer for calls that require immediate assistance and taking messages for more routine calls. “Neither the public nor the dogs wait,” he said.........

we don't know what howard dean is doing but we DO know his brother is backing NED

April 11, 2006
Dean Is Mum, but Brother Backs a Lieberman Rival
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
HARTFORD, April 10 — At the Connecticut Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson Bailey fund-raising dinner last month, James H. Dean was among the guests invited to sit at the table of Ned Lamont, a Greenwich cable television executive who is planning a primary challenge to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over the senator's support for the war in Iraq.
"The reason I went and sat at his table is I personally think Ned is a terrific candidate and I want to support him," said Mr. Dean, one of 1,700 guests at the political event. "I think not only is it a good race for the voters because he's bringing the war back, I think his campaign will benefit candidates up and down the Democratic ticket."
Mr. Dean lives in Fairfield, near Greenwich, and he has known Mr. Lamont for years. But what makes his support for Mr. Lamont notable are his deeper, familial ties: He is the brother of Howard Dean, now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
While Howard Dean campaigns to win control of Congress for the Democrats this fall, his younger brother is now chairman of Democracy for America, the liberal grass-roots political action committee that Howard Dean created out of his 2004 presidential campaign.........

(as martha would say) it's a GOOD thing.

this is what a sanctuary truely IS

Group To Open Sanctuary For Adoptable Pets
By SARAH MOROCCO Courant Staff Writer April 10 2006

Some of the state's most mistreated pets will soon be living among quaint cottages, plush fields and winding trails.The Newington-based Connecticut Humane Society is celebrating its 125th anniversary year with plans to open the first stage of a 62-acre sanctuary for adoptable pets this spring on Old Colchester Road in Waterford.The sanctuary will include long-term group living for dogs and cats in cottages that simulate a real-life home atmosphere, as well as an animal veterinary clinic, a fenced dog park, wooded trails and a Humane Society adoption center."The sanctuary will be like a retirement home for animals," said Jody Angell, public relations director for the CT Humane Society.The sanctuary will provide the animals with a setting that eliminates the stress of a kennel, as well as offer premier medical care to injured or ill animals.Sanctuaries are growing in popularity across the country as pet owners look for alternatives to traditional shelters."Animals give so much and ask for so little," said Elaine Bosler, owner and creator of Bosler Humane Society Inc. in Baldwinville, Mass., the largest sanctuary for adoptable pets in New England. Bosler said the sanctuary atmosphere is especially beneficial to abused animals, and it emphasizes the importance of spaying and neutering the animals before adoption.The CT Humane Society plans to open a clinic at the Waterford site that will offer low-cost veterinary care, vaccinations and spaying and neutering services. .........

ctblogger has some lieberman scoop - go check it out

rawstory.com has linked to a story in connecticutblog by ctblogger!

Joe Lieberman refuses to rule out independent run

Joe Lieberman met with DTC members in Windsor today and was asked a pointed question from Joe Lalli, a good friend of our favorite 17-year old who grilled a Lieberman staff member earlier this week.The question was whether or not Joe Lieberman would support whoever wins the Democratic primary and if Lieberman would rule out running as an independent.Here's the audioclip of Joe's stunning answer that shocked all who attended the meeting. Below is the transcript......

(click on the connecticutblog link above for the print version)