Facie’s Ramblings

Happy 2015, everyone! I wrote my first check of the year just two minutes ago, and I used the correct year. Already 2015 is off to a good start! :-) Regarding the check, I have to give a shout-out to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . For only $13, I can get 52 weeks of the Sunday paper. Yes, the Trib leans right. So do I, sometimes (I lean left about as often nowadays, much to the disappointment of my family and a few friends). Regardless, once the P-G raised its rates to something like $60 every quarter to get the Sunday and Thursday papers, I bailed. I do think the PG has a good product, but I could think of many other things I would rather spend that money on. With the great Trib price, I can tip my carrier, donate to the NIE, and save myself several hundred dollars a year. As is typical, I did nothing for New Year's Eve. Well, I did get a lot done during the day. I dropped the kid off at a friend's house. I got four new tires (my third replacement set since I bought the c...

Today's question is brought to you by some (of whom I consider) stupid parents. Maybe I am just being overprotective, but these things, in general, seem like a bad idea. Agree or disagree? Letting kids ride a bike without a helmet A couple of kids in my neighborhood regularly ride their bikes helmet-less. I know "when we were kids" we did not do this, but the law states if you are under 12, you must wear a helmet when riding a bike. I don't know if it is parents (or kids) being lazy, feeling goofy, or not wanting to spend the money,  but when you consider the statistics and how much more expensive it will be to pay for a hospital visit, why not just do it? What is worse is for a week I watched a dad let his two kids, a girl who looked about 10 and a boy who was probably between 12 and 15, ride a motorbike without a helmet. Not only is it extremely dangerous, especially considering the boy was popping wheelies(!), but it is also illegal for an unlicensed motorbike...

I hope all of you had a nice 4th of July. I took some time to look over the Declaration of Independence, to remind myself of what the holiday is about. But let's face it, fireworks, cooking out, and spending time with family and friends are a nice part of the day too. Here are a couple pics of some of the fireworks going off. We went to Monroeville this year to see them. I just can't bring myself to drive downtown with all the Regatta traffic. Turns out my tendency towards oldness was a good thing this year since everyone who went down early got drenched. On the other hand, we drove right into a store's parking lot about 20 minutes before the bombs were bursting in air, had a great view, spent some time together as a family, and were home about 15, maybe 20 minutes after the light display ended. I will not dwell on the jagoffs two streets over who were setting off fireworks until after 1 a.m. this morning. I won't think about the state of the union right now. I wi...