thinks goodbyes suck

Is starting to feel a little better, I think Scottish breakfast cured me, even if it was at 11:30 on a Monday morning.

“Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts. You have to remember this when you find yourself at the beginning.”

wants the two outfits the queen was wearing on tonight's episode of True Blood

drank myself sober

doesn't want the weekend to end

rockband and margaritas

Having Scottish breakfast with Sake and Amy, I will be so sad to see my little piece of Glasgow go . . . there will be farewell drinks tonight!

Having Scottish breakfast with Sake and Amy, I will be so sad to see my little piece of Glasgow go . . . the will be farewell drinks tonight!

Having Scottish breakfast with Sake and Amy, I will be so sad to see my little piece of Glasgow go . . . the will farewell drinks tonight!

jeffray is good at tennis now and Jon and i are about to poison his soup

playing Wii with my besties... may never want to Leave the house again

happy hour turned into happy 5 hours

needs a nap

love when Charlie is beating me in scrabble by 200 points

has a horrible headache, needs to pick up her car before it gets towed, has a damn conference on her day off, needs a place that provides delivery service for advil, and is definitely not prepared to look at the pictures from last night

has a horrible headache, needs to pick up

has a horrible headache, needs to pick up

It's been decided there will be tubing tomorrow!!!!!

hump day frump day is not so bad when you have Thurs off!

It's the end of an era, RIP Ted Kennedy

embarrassing was an hour ago

needs to be rescued from boredom, now I know why they decided to seal office windows! Especially government ones.....keeps pesky employees from deciding they have had enough and jumping

forgot how incredibly funny "Best on Show" is

MOMENT OF TRUTH: "Ninety percent of currency has traces of cocaine on it. That should boost our exchange rate."

the day has just gotten exponentially better, laughing so hard I'm crying

Monday puts me in a bad mood

RT @ Chad Raney I understand that Entourage is like Sex In The City for guys. So is Hung supposed to be the Pretty Woman for guys? Sorry, can't do it...

if you don't like what's being said, change the conversation

is looking for used wine barrels

Texas Monthly, you're opinion of burgers sucks, says Charlie . . . I concur

Legal Build Needs Help

Although we have really been hit by the economic downturn, and many of our prior sponsors have been unable to give, we have finally managed to raise just over half the funds needed to build the home!

All that stands between Tamika and her finished home is 55 $500 donations - and some elbow grease! If your firm can give $500 to Legal Build, Habitat will guarantee your firm three volunteer spots on the build - a completely uplifting, if hot, experience! Watching and helping Tamika's home be built, and meeting Tamika, is an extremely rewarding experience. Check out the Legal Build blog (http://changelivesblog.org/) on the Habitat Web site for more info and to see your fellow lawyers hard at work. Of course, we are grateful for *any* contribution that you can make.

Donations can be made online (https://secure.toolsfororgs.com/austinhabitat.org/forms/appeal3.php) or you can contact Mishell Kneeland for more information at mishell.kneeland@gmail.com or 965-5463.

Thanks for supporting Legal Build and helping Tamika's dream of home ownership come true!

Thank you for your consideration,

MOMENT OF TRUTH: "Dick Cheney is coming out with his memoirs and good news: just reading it violates the Geneva Convention."

taking Amy to the Domain this could be dangerous

had my wallet stolen, is it weird the thing I'm most bummed about is that I lost the first driver's license I ever had with a good pic?

is an idiot, I just spent 10 minutes trying to figure out why my beloved Last.fm was not working and then I remembered that I turned the speaker off when I got a phone call . . . I swear I don't have four degrees.

end rape in Congo

Did you know that more than 200,000 women and girls have been raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the past 12 years? I was shocked and saddened to learn that astonishing statistic.

The good news is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking a stand against this type of violence and making its prevention and assistance to survivors a priority in U.S. foreign policy.

But there is still much work to be done. That's why I joined with CARE to e-mail Secretary Clinton and asked her to demonstrate continued leadership in pushing for stronger protections to prevent women and girls around the world from becoming victims of sexual violence.

We need to urge Secretary Clinton to remain steadfast in ensuring U.S. diplomatic attention and foreign assistance resources are focused on putting an end to the suffering of women and girls in conflict-affected places like the DRC.

Please join me in sending a message Secretary Clinton today.

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
https://my.care.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=dcUUPFA6GgC6kPAXzCfRhg..&id=385
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

From Mayor Bill White

Texas' next U.S. Senator should be the voice of all Texans, not simply someone who works for the right wing of the right wing. I'm Bill White, Houston's Mayor and former Deputy Secretary of Energy of the United States under President Clinton.

If you are interested in a Democratic candidate with a winning track record who can defeat Gov. Perry's hand-picked appointment for the Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Hutchison, please read on and visit my website, www.billwhitefortexas.com.

As your next U.S. Senator, I will work hard to be your voice, to do what is right for Texas -- reviving the economy, protecting Social Security and Medicare, improving educational opportunities, and reducing both America's dependence on foreign oil and federal borrowing. As the son of veteran and a schoolteacher, and as a long-time Sunday school teacher, I share the values of ordinary Texas families.

Wouldn't it be great if our next Senator helped our national leadership succeed rather than hoping it fails simply to score a partisan point?

I know how to win elections from the grassroots up. After organizing voter registration drives in the west side of San Antonio the 1960s, I served in positions ranging from precinct chair to state party chair.

As Houston's Mayor, I have led the region to the highest job growth in the nation, successfully fought polluters, cut crime rates to the lowest in decades, dramatically increased the number of neighborhood health clinics, and led the city to a greener future with energy efficiency and renewable energy. The people of my community re-elected me twice with margins averaging 88%.

Help me earn your support. At www.billwhitefortexas.com, you can learn more about my track record, the solutions I champion, and how to join the team. Already our grassroots and online teams are strong. We have raised more contributions from more individual donors than all of the other campaigns, Democratic or Republican, combined!

Please join our team and forward this email to those who want a U.S. Senator for Texas' future.

Respectfully,

Bill White


P.S. Last week, as Senator Hutchison openly discussed her resignation plans on Dallas-Ft. Worth radio, observers across the nation realized that Texans can have a new, constructive, Democratic voice in the Senate.

Martin Frost of POLITICO, Texas Senate seat within Democrats' reach:

Basically, my partner wanted to know who White is and why he is running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in a reliably Republican state for a vacancy that did not yet exist. The answer is that White may be the next Fred Smith, the founder of the revolutionary package shipping company FedEx, who correctly saw opportunity when no one else did. White started running a year ago for a vacancy that would occur if Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison finally acted on her off-again, on-again desire to run for governor of Texas in 2010.

...

If White, who has wide support from the Democratic establishment in the state and who has already raised a significant amount of money, were the only Democrat on the ballot, he would be assured of a place in any runoff against whichever Republican survives. Should the Republican turn out to be a weak or extreme nominee, White would have a legitimate chance of winning a runoff.

...

White is methodically traveling the state, raising money and getting ready.

http://ping.fm/08Cn3

MOMENT OF TRUTH: "Twitter went down today. If only there was some short, shallow, self-indulgent way to express my horror. "

has a major case of "the mondays"

@ the pool with my besties

@ cheesecake factory .... trying to cure the hangover

loves the bump app in the iPhone everyone should get it and and our phones can have a bumpin orgy

wants a whataburger ketchup mousepad

gomez is drinking glasow's margarita

Free Body Waxing ... eye brows, bikini, under arms, legs....

European Wax Center is opening a new store in the Triangle on this Friday, August 7th, 2009. All waxing is FREE if you call and book an appointment. The # is 1-866-439-6200 or 512-452-4929. If you can't make it that day go any other day for free brow, bikini or underarm and it is free. This is for men too. Please give my name Katie Warner when you call...I get a credit even when you go for the free day.

Be Careful Out There!

Police: Rapist attacked two women downtown
Police asking for public's help in identifying man.
By Andrea Lorenz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Austin police are warning women to be on the lookout while downtown
after a man raped a woman at knifepoint in her downtown condo following
a thwarted attempt to attack another woman in a nearby parking garage
early Saturday.

Detective Steve Boline described the man as a "true bogeyman" because
he attacked random women who did not know him.

"Anytime you have a stranger-type incident similar to this, it's
extremely dangerous," Boline said. "We're asking for the community's
help to identify this person."

The man, who is wanted on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault and
attempted aggravated sexual assault, has not been caught or identified.


Police have put extra patrols on downtown streets and are asking women
to be cautious.

According to police, a man followed a woman to her car in a parking
garage at 301 Congress Ave. at 3:30 a.m. Saturday after the woman left
work at an unnamed business.

The woman was on the phone with her boyfriend, and Boline said that
having noticed the man following her, the woman turned to confront him
with her finger on the trigger of a bottle of Mace. The man knocked her
down, but after a brief struggle, she sprayed Mace in his face, and he
left, Boline said.

Surveillance video shows the man walking slowly out of the garage while
wiping his eyes.

Within 30 minutes, police say the man somehow entered a woman's
apartment in the Railyard Condominiums a few blocks away on East Fourth
Street, which Boline described as a gated complex.

There, the man raped the woman at knifepoint, Boline said. Neither
woman was injured by the knife.

The man is described as white, in his late 20s or early 30s, and
between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall with a husky build. He
had light red or blond hair, worn short in a buzz cut.

According to surveillance video footage and victim descriptions, the
man was wearing a dark shirt with the word "Volunteer" on the back.
Boline said people with organizations that help the homeless have been
handing these shirts out lately.

"There are lots of these T-shirts downtown," Boline said.

Anyone with information about the incident or the attacker should call
the Austin police sex crimes unit at 974-5095.

alorenz@statesman.com; 445-3972

From CafePharma

Lilly TO CUT WORKFORCE 120 PERCENT

Indianapoilis, IN. (AP.com) - Lilly will reduce its workforce by an
unprecedented 120 percent by the end of 2009, believed to be the first
time a major corporation has laid off more employees than it actually
has.
Lilly stock soared more than 12 points on the news.

The reduction decision, to be announced Tuesday, came after a year-long
six sigma review of cost-cutting procedures.The initial report concluded
the company would save $1.2 billion by eliminating 20 percent of its
97,500 employees.

From there, said a spokesperson, "it didn't take a genius to figure out
that if we cut 40 percent of our workforce, we'd save $2.4 billion, and
if we cut 100 percent of our workforce, we'd save $6 billion. But then
we thought, why stop there? Let's cut another 20 percent and save $7
billion.

"We believe in increasing shareholder value, and we believe that by
decreasing expenditures, we enhance our competitive cost position and
our bottom line," he added.

Lilly plans to achieve the 100 percent internal reduction through
layoffs, attrition and early retirement packages. To achieve the 20
percent in external reductions, the company plans to involuntarily
downsize 22,000 non-Lilly employees who presently work for other
companies.

"We pretty much picked them out of a hat,".

Among firms Lilly has picked as "External Reduction Targets," or ERTs,
are Quaker Oats, AMR Corporation, parent of American Airlines, Lockheed,
Boeing, and Charles Schwab & Co. LIlly's plan presents a "win-win" for
the company and ERTs, said Chris, as any savings by ERTs would be passed
on to Pfizer, while the ERTs themselves would benefit by the increase in
stock price that usually accompanies personnel cutback announcements.

"We're also hoping that since, over the years, we've been really helpful
to a lot of companies, they'll do this for us kind of as a favor,".

Legally, pink slips sent out by Lilly would have no standing at ERTs
unless those companies agreed. While executives at ERTs declined to
comment, employees at those companies said they were not inclined to
cooperate.

"This is ridiculous. I don't work for Lilly. They can't fire me," said
Justine Blackburn, a flight attendant with American Airlines.

Reactions like that, replied the Lilly spokesperson "are not very
sporting."

Inspiration for Pfizer's plan came from previous cutback initiatives,
said company officials. In January of 1998, for instance, the company
announced it would trim 18,000 jobs over two years. However, just a year
later, Lilly said it had already reached its quota. "We were quite
surprised at the number of employees willing to leave Lilly in such a
hurry, and we decided to build on that,".

Analysts credited the short-term vision, noting that the announcement
had the desired effect of immediately increasing Lilly share value.
However, the long-term ramifications could be detrimental, said Bear
Stearns analyst Beldon McInty.

"It's a little early to tell, but by eliminating all its employees,
Lilly may jeopardize its market position and could, at least
theoretically, cease to exist," said McInty.

The spokesperson, however, urged patience: "To my knowledge, this hasn't
been done before, so let's just wait and see what happens."

From Austin Lofty Dog August 2009

Loyal Lofty Doggers,

The August 2009 newsletter is here. Be sure to read about our upcoming pet care services offerings for downtown residents and check out the exciting, pet-oriented events in August.

The 3rd annual Emancipet Fur & Film Fete is just around the corner too - September 3rd at Mercury Hall. See the Lofty Dog website for ticket ordering information.

Stay cool in August (there's a story about that too in the newsletter!) and we look forward to seeing you at the store or at one of our upcoming events.

The Lofty Dog Crew

From Austin Dog Alliance August 2009

The Joys and Benefits of Fostering

by Michael Hylton, Adoption Support Team

Editor's Note: Michael and his wife Debby started their fostering career with another rescue organization. They joined ADA a few months ago and have now decided to lead our Adoption Support Team.

Until four years ago, I never thought about fostering. Then we adopted a rescue dog, named Radar (Ray). Ray was roaming the streets at six months and likely would not have survived if not for some dedicated volunteers. My wife wanted to give back to show our appreciation and gratefulness for their saving Ray's life. "OK," I thought, "sounds good to me. He has become a 'Ray of Sunshine' in our life!" So we began to volunteer for the rescue and before you knew it we became fosters.

"OK. What's that mean?," I asked Debby. She told me basically we would be a temporary home for a dog in need, until the rescue was able to locate a "Forever Home." I knew what that meant...Hi Fido! Welcome to your forever home!!! Not interested.

Debby promised not to be a FF-"Foster Failure," where we just keep the dog. She did quite a lot of research and learned just what it took to be a successful foster, not a "foster failure." She told me about the need and I read all about the foster-model and she quickly convinced me to give it a try.

Our first foster dog was named Triscuit. Triscuit turned out to be pretty darn awesome. I was reconsidering this whole FF thing! I mean after all "Foster Failure" is pretty harsh term, I thought. Why not FF-"Foster Found," as in foster found exactly what he was looking for! Certainly Triscuit would be happy here with us! Plus, how could providing a warm loving home to a dog-in-need be a failure?

Debby remained grounded for me and, although she loved Triscuit too, she gently explained to me that if we kept Triscuit we wouldn't be able to help any other doggies in need. I agreed and we found Triscuit a home. AND boy oh boy, did he hit the jackpot...an estate in the hills of Westlake with cooked premium-hamburger for breakfast and his own E-Z lounge chair! I almost wished I was the one being adopted...smiles.

So, personally, while I don't think there are any "foster failures," I do understand that the greatest benefit can be realized by helping as many pups as possible.

Fostering is a terrific option for volunteering, but you do need to be very, very careful to decide up front WHY you are fostering in the first place.

Do you want another dog? OK, great! Then you know going in you are looking for a Foster-to-Adopt situation.

Do you want to help as many orphan dogs find a warm, loving Forever Homes as is possible? OK, awesome! Then you need to know going in that your mission is to help multiple dogs find multiple homes. Now be ready for the really heroic part---parting. It's by making your decision before you begin fostering that you can head-off one of the most difficult challenges in fostering...letting the dog go, not an easy task.

It's impossible not to get emotionally attached to your foster. You wouldn't be reading this newsletter if you didn't care about dogs. So, it's only natural that such a caring person will become emotionally invested in saving a life. And that is precisely what you are doing when you take on the challenge of being a foster. You are saving a dog's life and you are nurturing, loving, and preparing that dog to be adoptable into a forever home.

That is the Joy, the Benefit, the Satisfaction you can get from being a foster to an orphan dog in need of some love and guidance until they become forever members of families with whom they can share their lives.

Are you ready to be a hero?

is making Tortilla Espanola & Salsa Brava, I'm so excited for the deliciousness!

Can't Wait for Miss Amy Spenser to get here from Glasgow!!!!!