Facie’s Ramblings

What a massacre those Steelers were involved in last night/early this morning. Players were dropping faster than the Dow has been lately. Sheesh! Watching a game like that reminds me what a dangerous sport football is and that some, maybe a lot, of the players deserve to make good money. Sure, there are far more noble professions, but, ah, football. In my third year of fantasy football (I won the Super Bowl last year, by the way), I once again drafted a Steelers player (well, more accurately, Yahoo drafted a Steelers player for me). I am always glad to have a member of the Black and Gold on my team as it makes their doing well doubly great. Thank you, Santonio, for finally scoring a TD this season. What tends to happen, however, is Steelers players tend to have a bad year when they are on my team. Hopefully, Santonio can break that bad habit. The downside of fantasy football is when the Steelers play someone who is on my fantasy team or when my fantasy opponent has someone on the Steel...

When I started writing this blog, I was not sure what I would write about. I was fairly certain, however, that I would ramble on and on, whatever the topic. About eight or nine months into this, I mostly ramble about politics and money. But right now, I am just sick of both of those things. I am tired of reading about the latest bank/business/whatever to go bankrupt or be bought out. I don't like worrying about money. And yet I am worried that I am not worried as much as I should be. The excitement I felt when McCain picked a refreshing woman as his running mate? That has almost evaporated. Should I be concerned by her lack of experience? I don't know. What I do know is that about all the candidates can do is throw jabs at each other. I am just sick of it. I had a dream about Sean Hannity last night. I think it is time to turn off Fox News. I will try to watch some of the debate tonight, but I am not sure how long I will make it; my heart is just not in it. I am not sure anythi...

I felt a sense of impending dread at approximately 5:01 each evening for the past two weeks as I had to call in to see if I was selected for jury duty. Not knowing from to day to day was a big part of my trepidation. I was unable to schedule calls or meetings with clients or promise I would get them something by a certain date. More worrisome was that I drop Jordan off at school four mornings a week, at a time that would be too late for me to make it on time for jury duty. Plus I am with Jordan most of the day Wednesday, save for the few hours she is in school. So Brian, too, was unable to schedule some site visits since he would need to pinch-hit for me. Two weeks seems like an awfully long time to have to put your life somewhat on hold. Fortunately, my company pays people who serve on jury duty. For others who are not so luckily , I cannot imagine what they would do if they missed several weeks of pay. I could not help but think of the single parent making little money to begin with ...

It seems as if every day you hear about another bankruptcy or government bailout. I want to think my money in the bank is safe because I have nowhere close to 100k, but then I read another article that tells me the amount of money in bank accounts is way over what the government has to back it. Or something like that. Eek! The question I keep hearing over and over is, "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?" For me, the answer is yes. Surprisingly enough, even with a kid (one kid!), I save more money than I did years ago. And if you are not talking about just money, I have a daughter I did not have before as well as five nieces and nephews. We are all relatively healthy. And, as John Steigerwald pointed out, the Steelers are doing better now than they were eight years ago, when Kent Graham was the QB. Remember him? Penn State is certainly starting off the year right, but I don't remember how they did in '00. But of course (obviously) I worry about t...

Some people would rather just forget the tragedy of 9/11 ever happened seven years ago. But I don't think we should. After it first happened, I was not sure I would ever be the same, even though I did not know anyone who had perished or had been injured. I did know several people who lived or worked in NYC as well as near the Pentagon, and Flight 93 crashed about a mile from a house on Indian Lake my family had back when I was in high school and college. In fact, I might have actually walked near or by the crash site (before it became the crash site). So in that respect, I felt connected. When I heard about the first plane crash, I was listening to B94 and getting ready for work, and I did not think much of it. But when I got in my car probably 10 or 15 minutes later and heard about the second crash, and then I heard Howard Stern talk about a terrorist attack, I was dumbfounded. At work, Luke, our IT kid, was holding a TV antenna so we could watch the events on TV in the admin co...

Some people feel very strongly about working mothers (for or against), and with Sarah Palin, mother of five, including a special needs child as well as a teenage daughter who is pregnant, on the ticket, the debate is really heating up. Some time ago, Sarah Palin said she was not even sure what the VP did (I am paraphrasing). And I have to say I am not entirely sure either, other than knowing that the VP is one heartbeat away from being president (I think I have heard that phrase no fewer than 20 times in the past five days). Sometimes I think Cheney's biggest claim to fame during his tenure will be that he shot his hunting buddy in the face. I have already forgotten most of the details about the Scooter Libby saga, as I am sure many have as well. I am a working mother; I don't think I am wired to stay at home full time. But when I was pregnant, I don't think I gave it much thought; due to our circumstances, we had no choice but for me to work. Some people seem born to be wi...