Got this poorly timed postcard in the mail today:

Poorly timed because my Blue Cross Blue Shield benefits don’t cover a whole year’s worth of brand name medication, which means I’m in the part of year when I’m paying $300+ per month for prescriptions, on top of the nearly $500/month that I pay for insurance premiums.
I [...]

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Headed down to Emerald Isle today for our annual winter beach vacation. The plan is to (a) go to the Gloucester Mardi Gras tomorrow, and (b) go out for a post-Valentine’s dinner at the Crab Claw on Sunday night. Already went for a sunset walk on the beach; I’m sure more of them will follow.
Idiot [...]

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Sad to hear this morning that Macavine Hayes has gone on to the juke joint in the sky. Hope he’s serenading the angels.
If you’re a fan of the blues, think about joining the Musicmaker Relief Foundation. For only $25 you get an awesome CD of great blues artists.
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I was surprised to read in the NY Times this morning that the county with the highest rate of foreclosure risk in NY State was none other than my home county, Suffolk.
Two of the three regions I’ve lived in the past—Long Island and the SF Bay Area—are among the most expensive in the country. So [...]

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OK. Politicians will reach for anything to demonize their opponents, but Our Gal in D.C., Liddy Dole, has decided to run a commercial portraying her opponent, Kay Hagan, as unfit for office because she—gasp! consorts with atheists.
Her claim to that is that Hagan went to a fundraiser at the house of somebody whose husband is [...]

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Yesterday was my mother’s 88th birthday. We took advantage of a lovely day to take a drive up to Person County, where we had a picnic and tasted some wine at the Rock of Ages winery. They have a couple of drinkable wines (and a few way-too-sweet wines), but mostly it’s a good excuse for [...]

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I couldn’t help imagining, while watching this…
…how I would react to it if this were not Sarah Palin and Katie Couric, but two comedians on Saturday Night Live. It’s damn funny! It is sad and also terrifying that her interview works as satire.
I’ve never watched much of Katie Couric, but I am impressed [...]

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“The water in our state is not sufficient to add more demand…and that now means that some large development can’t go forward. If we don’t make changes with water, we are going to have a major economic problem in this state.”
That’s a quote from the director of the California Department of Water Resources. With temps [...]

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Stopped into Target today, and when I came outside, the weather had gone from pleasantly warm to stiflyingly humid. Came home and joined the spousal unit in a gin and tonic. Just sitting here now listening to the thunder, a sound I very much missed in two decades in California. The fog is beautiful, but [...]

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Two days in my 7 years of North Carolina have really stood out: my wedding day, and a day about 4 years ago that I spent canoeing down the Haw River. Yesterday I got to combine the two: Barry and I paddled the Haw together. This was a different stretch: a little further north, class [...]

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