Don't die on us now, old man...

We wouldn't want to have got the electric chair all warmed up for nuthin'!

"Allen has gone blind and deaf and uses a wheelchair. His heart stopped in September, but doctors revived him and returned him to death row."

So, let me get this straight. The man was not allowed to die of natural causes, but rather artificially preserved so that the state could execute him a short time later.

The idea behind capital punishment is for him to be dead. The state had what they wanted. Why mess with it?

And what was the old man thinking? Imagine this - you're 76 year old murderer with a bad ticker, in a wheelchair, blind, deaf, confined to a cell, and scheduled to be killed in a few months. Do you really have a whole lot to live for at that point? I think the only thing you have left to do, is die on your own terms. I have 3 letters for you, Mr. Allen: DNR!

Gee, thanks

I was in bed the other night and invited my dog Zoey to jump in and hang out for a bit. She was being her usual affectionate self, but after a few minutes I noticed she was really into the pillow. Unusually so. Sniffing it loudly, with extreme interest, I'd say. Nothing could distract her from getting a very detailed scent of that pillow.

I didn't know what she was so interested in, except maybe the pillow smells like me. I flatter myself. I am lying next to my pillow, how can it smell more like me than I do?

It starts to dawn on me... Several times I have given Zoey a bone, and seen her carry it off upstairs, I assume to chew it. But that evening I find it untouched, under my pillow.

So I finally realize "oh, it's probably a bone she stashed there." So I reach under the pillow, and pull out... a piece of cornbread.

She had gotten into the trash, taken the cornbread, and stuffed it under my pillow. Who is she hiding it from? Other imaginary dogs?

Job Drama

It's nice to be appreciated in your profession. I'm being fought over.

In a way, it's flattering, but in another way it's very stressful because I feel like I'm being blamed for the fighting.

Let's face it, everyone has their price, and loyalty doesn't mean much in the business world. I'm sure that virtually any non-billionaire would pick up dog crap all day, if you paid them enough. And dog crap doesn't even begin to describe the depths that some people would sink to for a certain amount of money. But in my case, we're not talking about anything so extreme. We're talking about leaving a wage job at a corporate behemoth, for a nearly identical job in the same company at a desk 100 feet away, for 23% more pay. That's a no brainer, I'm sure all three of my readers will agree.

But I'm being made to feel like a jerk. I notified them immediately about the possible conflict of interest of an intra-company bidding war, they didn't care. Except for the money, I preferred to stay where I am, and agreed to do so in return for an official matching offer. I even gave them a month to get it. But large companies move slowly, despite the best efforts of some good people, they just couldn't get it in time. So I am a bit disappointed that I have to resign despite all their efforts. The other offer won't wait forever.

This is not my fault. I have done exactly what I said I would do, which is how I always try to live my life.

OK, OK, I know, it's just their salesman techniques. Guilt tripping me is one of their techniques of doing business. But why does a guilt trip only seem to be used against employees by employers, not the other way around? I suppose it's because corporations don't feel guilt, people do. Huh... corporations don't feel guilt... no individual reaches the threshhold of guilt because there are so many others involved to diffuse the responsibility. That certainly explains a lot doesn't it? Cigarettes... SUV's... "Police Academy 6".