did you hear what I heard?

I heard a story on the radio the other day about an idea to change how we get taxed on gas usage. Here's the idea: instead of a specific percentage tax on gasoline, which is what happens now, s. ome folks want to install little thingamabobbies into cars. These thingies would measure the number of miles you drive, somehow send the info to a newly-created state agency, which would then bill you for the number of miles you actually drive. (Feel free to listen to the story, as I may have confused some of the info. You know, not enough sleep and such....) Basically, though, that's how it would work.

This story infuriates me.

Right now, we have a system that taxes the amount of gas you use. Maybe you use a gallon or two to run the lawnmower or snowblower, maybe you fill up the tank of your car to drive around town or across the country. This system is pretty efficient, in that it is already in place, it is straightforward, and it gets collected at the point of purchase. You buy your gas, you're done paying that tax.

But there are people who want every car to have a thingy installed (this is going to be expensive for someone, although I guess if you own a thingy-producing factory or if you're the person who invented and patented the thingy, you'll win big), and in fact, get all the new cars (what new cars?) to install them in the factory. And then they'll have to create a brand-new state agency in every state(where are all the folks who think we should have smaller government now?) in order to oversee all this and collect the taxes from individuals instead of from gas stations.

And on top of it, as I understand it, you'll be taxed the same per mile, regardless of whether you're driving a super-efficient car or a Hummer. As far as I'm concerned, this is a no-brainer. Who are the people who sit around and come up with such super-contrived utter nonsense? Do they actually get paid? Do they have any jobs available in their departments? Although, to be honest, I'm not sure I have such dumb ideas to share.

Ugh.

things I haven't gotten sucked into yet

In no particular order....

1. The Sopranos
2. Survivor
3. Twittering
4. macrobiotic diets
5. Pilates
6. HDTV
7. TiVo
8. football
9. rap music
10. clothes that bare my midriff

gotta love Apple

I've been trying out the new version of Safari for the past couple of weeks, and *I love it!*

They have a beta version out... for both Mac and PCs, so you PC-users can't get all grumpy about not being able to be in on the next cool thing. And best of all... you can download it for free!

So here are a couple of the things that I think are really cool (maybe flashy, but hey, they are cool!):

When you open up Safari, it opens all your "top sites" (the ones you visit most often?) in the background, and you can see them in this really cool gallery.

Then you can just click on the site you want to open.

Supposedly, you can also view your bookmarks this way. I haven't had time (surprised?) to try this out yet. (Or many of the 150 features.)

Anyway, I'm sold.

I think I've posted this before, but here it is again:

beauty

So I was fascinated by this video of a potter decorating a piece with slip. It says it's 8 minutes long, but I didn't see anything after 4 minutes.

It's not at all the kind of ceramic work I used to do, or even the kind of stuff I'm normally attracted to, but I saw something of hers on etsy that I thought was beautiful, and I found the video on her website. If you happen to look at the etsy site, my favorite photo is the one of the bowl upside-down. I love the fact that the pattern continues on the bottom, even though almost no one looking at it would see that.

The potter's name is Grace Sheese.

need a laugh?

Honestly, it took me a while to figure this one out, but here goes:

Here's a close-up, for those of you who can't quite make this out:

Let me know if this made you chuckle. (Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor?)

I must have been living in the Dark Ages

I finally figured out how to do these scheduled posts. I had heard about it, but I hadn't put any effort into trying to find the thing. (And it kind of feels like cheating, you know?) So anyway, now I can be all bloggy like the rest of you! Hah. So there.

I'm taking advantage of toddler napping time to create a (few) post(s) here instead of

• picking up all the toys
  
• starting a load of laundry
  
• thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner hubby is going to make for dinner
  
• reading a good book (what's a book?)

(Sound of sick baby stirring and then crying.) Right, that's why I'm not doing all those things.

an old favorite

I don't know why, but I never get tired of this book:



As a youngster, I loved this story, mainly the part with the dogs all heading for the tree. What is up on top of that tree, anyway? Oh, the anticipation!! I also loved the page with all the dogs asleep, except for one. (What I realize now is that maybe that little dog is asleep, too, just with eyes wide open.... A little scary, but whatever.)

I've been reading it again (a lot) the past 8-12 months, give or take. Mostly because I enjoy it, and it's long enough to be reading for a while. And my little one seems to be fascinated by (the idea of) dogs.

I've been noticing lately that the dogs with hats:

"Do you like my hat?"
"I do not."
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."

really provide some comic relief and break up the reading and tie it all together at the same time. Clever.

And I still love that dog party! What a cool dog party! And what's up with that dog that's sleeping up there in the tree in the middle of the party??