Much to my surprise, I have today off of work!  My friends who live in the suburbs have invited me to come out to their place for a noon time Memorial Day Barbeque, so I’ll be leaving in a short while to head out to the ‘burbs.  I asked them if I could bring anything and they said no, just to come.  They’ll be meeting me at the train station so all I have to do is call them and let them know when to meet me and we’ll be all set to go.  I do want to get back before dark because I really don’t like walking the streets alone after dark, so I’ll probably be leaving their place around 3 to come back home.

I’m looking forward to grilled steaks, potato salad, devilled eggs and corn on the cob!  Yummy!

I’ve found that even though employers warn their employees not to talk about politics or religion, a lot of people do that anyway.  In my job, dealing with the customers that I deal with all the time I try to steer away from both subjects, or simply smile and nod and agree with them.  I get much bigger tips that way!

But the big news in politics today really wasn’t about politics so much as about a famous politician - Ted Kennedy.  This evening everyone was talking about how Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a really bad brain tumor and that the type of cancer that he has is not usually survived for very long.  So that has been today’s scuttlebutt, everyone talking about Ted Kennedy, what a great politician he is, how sad it is that his family has gone through so much and how they all hope the best for him.  Some of my customers have even said that they’ve met Ted Kennedy in the past and how nice they thought he is.

I was reading on the Internet that five detainees at Guantanamo Bay are finally going to be sent to trial for their parts in the 9/11 attack on the New York World Trade Towers. From I understand, once they’ve been “referred” (the term used in the article) to trial, they must actually stand trial within four months.

The men who are going to be tried are claiming that they were tortured and that their admissions of guilt are a result of the torture, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I believe that they WERE tortured, and that really is a shame. Torture is really morally wrong, and I’m ashamed to learn that the American government has had anything to do with it.

All the talk around me the past few days has been about the Cyclone Nargis wreaking havoc on the country called Myanmar. I did not recognize the name of the country, but then someone told me that the country used to be called Burma. Well, I had heard of THAT country.
I cannot even imagine the death and destruction that I’m hearing about! So far they are saying 22,500 people killed! I’ve heard that many countries are sending aid as fast as they can; I sure hope that the aid reaches the people that need it! I’ve been hearing that Myanmar’s government is likely to mis-direct much of the aid; I sure hope that’s wrong!

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about the energy crisis, and the global warming crisis.  I just want to say that I’m doing my part!  I don’t even OWN a car (which is a good thing because I couldn’t afford to put gas in it!) because I live near the public transportation that I need to get back and forth to work and to shopping.  I have recently bought some of the CFL bulbs to replace my regular light bulbs when they burn out.  I turn down the heat/turn up the air conditioning as much as I can bear it, and my landlord put in a programmable thermostat so that the heat/cool will change to a lower energy consumption setting when I’m away at work.

So, I’m doing MY part; I hope you are doing YOUR!