Thursday Afternoon, 9/10

Good afternoon!

We started at 47 degrees this morning, and haven't climbed very far. It's up to 56 now, and isn't supposed to go much higher. Cloudy, with yellowing leaves adding the only splashes of color to an otherwise grey day.

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The hopeful-romantic-never-say-die Dept.: Yet another Dimocrat has announced he plans to run against Rep. Don Young (R-AK) in 2010. The guy ran as an independent for governor, against Mayor Sarah Palin and former governor Tony Knowles. We know who won, but what you Outside folks won't know is how the independent candidate did. There's a reason they call him Mr. 9%. And he thinks he can knock off the guy who has been our only Representative since the early 1970s.

P.T. Barnum was an optimist.

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There-must-be-something-in-the-water Dept.: It's not uncommon, in any multi-story, multiple-tenant buildings for customers to get lost, or at least turned around. This morning's winner, however, is the gal who entered the coffee shop and asked, "But where do I get my tooth pulled?"

The dentist's office, with the same suite number, is across the road in another building.

To the barista's credit, she offered to pull the tooth, as long as the lady didn't mind "regular pliers followed by a triple shot of espresso." The offer was refused; it seems you can't please everyone.

I also had an unusually large number of people stopping by my office, looking for someone else (The story of my life!) and usually on a different floor. Maybe there really is something in the water.

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Try-try-again Dept.: We've been trying to have the grade of our parking lot changed, meaning we have to pour a new layer of asphalt 3.5" thick on the low side, and taper it down to nothing on the high side. This is to cause the water which forms a rather large and dangerous skating-rink in the winter, to flow in the direction in which it was originally designed to go.

Last weekend, we had three days of blue, sunny skies - and because it was a holiday weekend, the asphalt plant was closed. This week, it looks iffy, but there's no rain in the forecast for Friday evening/night, and Saturday looks mostly dry.

This is significant ("It is?", you ask) only because we're down to the last four weeks of operation for the asphalt plant, before it closes for the winter. And winter, of course, is the enemy in this case.

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What-goes-around-comes-around Dept.: The woman who filed a series of ethical complaints against Governor Sarah Palin was denied - again - on her latest attempt to appeal a previous denial. The review board told her they perceive that she has a "personal vendetta" against Mrs. Palin, and has cost the State quite enough money already. The woman took umbrage, and got mouthy (judging by the newspaper report for the whole story).

She accused a member of the board of being part of the "culture of corruption." Things went downhill from there, as you can imagine. The accused member is threatening now to file a complaint against the woman. It seems he got riled up, and also said he may sue her.

It seems only fair.