Scales are WAY OFF

4 visits so far for one tooth.

4 separate days off from work so far for one tooth.

$1535 cost so far for one tooth.

2 more visits scheduled, 2 more days off from work, and an additional estimated cost of $650-$1000, so far for one tooth.

To clarify. When I say for one tooth, it is the same tooth, over and over and over.

Worst case scenario. 6 days lost from work = approximately $2700. 6 dental visits and charges = approximately $2535. Total cost for one tooth = $5235, provided they are able to "save" the tooth. A tooth that cannot even be seen in my widest grin.

On the other side of that coin, the price of a new deluxe blender = $65.

My face still tingles and I have drool leaking from my mouth. I only know about the drool because my shirt is soaked in the front and it is not raining. I do not have a lot of warm fuzzies for the dentist or the health care system.

Enjoy your day.

Po Little Tics

I try to not get wrapped up in politics and contests weighing the worth of candidates. Having traveled with and spending some time with the president and governors and senators and congressmen and many of the other elected pretend servants of the people, it is clear to me that government is a business of self promotion, self agendas and prosperity of one's self.

All of the deception that is so freely wrangled and dispensed, expected and accepted, alarms me.

For at least one week prior to the announcement that Senator Joe Biden from Delaware was selected as Senator Obama's running mate for the office of Vice-President, interview after interview, question after question, night after night on the news, inquiries and requests for an honest answer regarding his selection were all responded to in the same manner by Mr. Biden, "I am not the guy."


Some might find that action harmless and minute. I find it blaring and inexcusable. If a lie is the preferred choice for a question so innocuous, what will be the choice of response for questions of real concern and importance?

I don't want someone that comfortable with lies to speak. Ever. I don't care to hear anything a liar has to say. If you are going to flap trash out of your yap and disguise yourself in order to further deceive, at least be clever about it. Expend some effort. Don't opt for the Trump "dupe dee do" and keep your gaping hole to the wall behind you to feign youth. If you make a smirk be prepared to take a smack. Think it's funny to make your "Thank you, come again" jokes about hard working tax paying Indian business owners? You are aware that "The Simpsons" is a cartoon comedy show and not a vehicle of diplomacy?



I guess I should apologize now because what I regarded as a lie, the well thought out and probably rehearsed comment that got me started on this rant, just may be the only truth we will hear in this whole campaign. Biden, you are correct. You are not the guy.

Hey Barack, think this thick piece of slime is going to help you? And what about you? Do you think your own tricks will bring success? No longer coloring or graying your hair intentionally to appear older? Rolling up the sleeves of your $200 blouse to emulate a regular working man? Smoking a butt in the secret closet Mr. Clean Cut No-Vice Mr. Clean? The air pressure in my tires is fine but the gas in my tank is still well over $3 a gallon. I can't wait to see the Barbara Walters interview with your wife doing her best Robin Givens on her man!

This is going to be one ridiculous week of senseless chants and claims, artificial solutions and back scratching side mouthed praises. If you have the opportunity to meet and greet any of these front runners, leave your wife or girlfriend home, make sure you count your fingers after a hand shake and sterilize your baby's face after a kiss.

Rant Number 487

I know when you put kitty litter out, turds will appear. In much the same manner, if you build a Wal-Mart, they will come.

I am aware and understand the attraction of low prices and large selection in a single location. I get it, really. What I have difficulty with is how a brand new store can get so raggedy so quickly. How does a new building acquire 20 years of disarray in 2 weeks? Why do I have to negotiate around the homesteading family in aisle 6, skids of Haier air conditioners priced at $49.91, crates of decaying flavorless pale colored grapes, trash filled carts and employees smelling of sauer kraut comparing skin rashes and bad hair with each other while on a seemingly endless cigarette break in order to find a price on the 3 DVD box set of Pavarotti Sings the Songs of Travis Twitt and Other Looney Tune Favorites?

Is it really worth the effort to visit a Wal-Mart in order to purchase low cost television converter boxes using $40 discount savings cards from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration - one of many masks worn by the U.S. Department of Commerce - along with the purchase of non-discounted HDTV antennas priced anywhere from $20 to $80 to translate digital signals to your antiquated TV set that you are encouraged to replace anyway in order to receive over the air free broadcast programming to fill your home with advertising and droll, mundane, dated, unoriginal rehashed sit-coms as yet another vehicle for product placement and the brainwashing control of the family, excuse me, consumer group? Yeah, that was a question!

I no longer sport a mullet, but if I decided to take that route on a journey back to those crazy 80's, Wal-Mart offers several versions at their in-house hair salon along with pedicures and vision exams located next to the Sub-Way Restaurant just in front of the 27 closed registers and the angry cashier by the self service check-outs.

I know. They actually call Sub-Way a restaurant.

I see that I have to wake up in a few minutes to get ready to go to work. This is going to be another pleasant day. Go to work and make that money so Wal-Mart can be a reality on pay day. Hmmmm. If I choose to no longer go to Wal-Mart, I really don't need to go to work which means I won't have to get up to get ready to go to work. I smell a day off coming.

So Good

It is great when something is so good you do not trust its legitimacy. So good you suspect something is wrong. So good you are waiting for the poison to contaminate your being.

I have found several things so good that I await the hammer on the back of the head.

Philippine Brand Dried Pineapple that is naturally tree ripened pineapple sold at Sam's Club in a stay fresh resealable zipper bag. I will probably be put on Jim Neighbor's hit list for not buying Hawaiian or attacked by a large hairy venomous spider with an extra set of jumping legs straight out of the product pouch.

The Speakman 6-Jet Anystream Showerhead. Take out the removable water saver and enjoy a powerful sting of water to wash the muck away. I carry one with me wherever I go. The drawback on this baby is that when I travel, TSA continues to pilfer it right out of my checked in baggage. I have purchased at least 8 of them in the past few years and they are not cheap. I suspect I'll get more of the same treatment from our blessed government when I upgrade to the 8-Jet (a beautiful dream). Speakman, TSA and Osama are probably all in cahoots and have a good laugh about it at Bennigan's behind closed doors and boarded windows.

Sliced bread, fire and the wheel. No. I say bubbles in the drink. Can't explain it, but bubbles make it good. So good. Mountain Dew, Birch Beer, Pepsi, Sprite, Black Cherry Wisniak, Welch's Grape. Can't be anything wrong with soda! Bubbles dissipate, liquids cool and hydrate, flavor excites and satisfies.

My Purple Lazy Boy Sleeper Couch with motorized air mattress and matching pillows. Comfort beyond belief. No rails of old splitting your spine, sporting cushions that bounce back after enormous sitting pressure and I must have mentioned that it was purple, the color of royalty derived from red and blue - hot and cold - passion and respite. All who sit upon it fall into fast unexpected sleep (unless you've been on it before-then you expect the sleep) and its simple classic styling exhibiting class to all that gaze upon it. The only negative would be the smells of sleeping slobbering dirty butts embedded in the cushions that require a regular unhealthy dose of Febreeze.

I am on sensory overload now just thinking of these few "so good"s. I'll have to get a shower, drink some Dew and ingest pineapple on the purple couch.

If there is something that moves you in the "so good" realm, feel free and encouraged to share. Enjoy.