Topix Chitown Regulars

[PEllen]

Jess in NJ wrote:

<quoted text>
It's not for all of NJ (the headlines have been misleading)- only residents who have been displaced by the storm or first responders. I think there are good intentions behind the plan, but I don't see how it is going to work.
Here is a response that I wrote to one of my cousins who commented on it earlier today (I am too lazy to modify my answer for this forum):
According to the article, email and fax votes are only being accepted for displaced persons and first responders. How do they prove/determine that? Also, you have to submit a request and wait for them to get back to you. Someone who is displaced is not going to have all day to sit next to a computer and wait for the county clerk's office to respond.
I coordinate the Republican poll clerks for my town, so I have to work with our county clerk's office quite often. They are doing all they can right now to make this election as normal as possible for the voters, but even at the best of times their lack of interoffice communication and willingness to give the public misinformation rather than taking a minute to find out the actual answer to a query is astounding.
I think there are good intentions behind this, but not enough training or preparation (on top of the stress and confusion that the residents of the affected areas are already feeling) for it to be effective.

That problem occurs in Cook County as well. I hope it does not lead to a law suit.Do you know if the electoral college is bound in any way in NJ? Do they have to go with their pledged candidate or the popular vote?

Your observation that Bloomberg is teh mayor of Manhattan and does not pay attention to teh outer boroughs was an eye opener. I read the NYTimes and I have been looking at the regional/local news in a different light.

Maybe it is North/South chauvinism, but I have been mentally comparing Sandy to Katrina in terms of response and the actions of the populace. I doubt we will see FEMA trailers on Staten Island. I expect bad press for the insurance companies who rise questions of whether a house fell down from wind or flood damage. Lots of people do not have flood coverage and the news was talking about the big waves that were causing the damage.

Hang in there kid. I will say a special prayer for you and NJ and NY on Tuesday

[PEllen]

Aisle Sitter wrote:

good luck, chel.
hope things are going ok, Jess. i've been keeping you in my thoughts.
i'm enjoying a weekend just for myself, this time around. i think we'll ahve to go out and rake some leaves today, but my jackass neighbor hasn't done a damn thing about his, yet, so i'll have to hope for winds from the ohter side this week.
gramma is settling in to her new place. she's starting to bitch about things, so we know she's over the initial shock of moving in. so, we're telling her over & over to tell the staff that she didn't get the breakfast she ordered or that lunch was cold. the staff can fix that, not us. but, that's par for the course for her - complain to everyone BUT those who can fix something.... in otherwords, she's fine! ;-)

Glad your gramma is settling in. My dad had his 5th back surgery Wednesday and they are going to send him to a rehab center aka nursing home. Hugely traumatic for my mom who associates it with a warehouse where one is sent to die.
The hospital social worker does a survey of local places to see who has a bed and a skill level needed. Then we clear it thru my sister who is with a hospital in Chicago and then we try and sell it to my mom. Her inability to function on her own has been spotlighted this week, separate and apart from her usual attention seeking behaviors. My dad will most likely heal; my mom will not get better. None ofus sibs are prepared for what that means on a practical basis I am afraid.She is enormously resistant to any change.

Enough about me- how is teh B&G? Your SIL settling down as a single person yet?

[Aisle Sitter]

PEllen wrote:

<quoted text>
Glad your gramma is settling in. My dad had his 5th back surgery Wednesday and they are going to send him to a rehab center aka nursing home. Hugely traumatic for my mom who associates it with a warehouse where one is sent to die.
The hospital social worker does a survey of local places to see who has a bed and a skill level needed. Then we clear it thru my sister who is with a hospital in Chicago and then we try and sell it to my mom. Her inability to function on her own has been spotlighted this week, separate and apart from her usual attention seeking behaviors. My dad will most likely heal; my mom will not get better. None ofus sibs are prepared for what that means on a practical basis I am afraid.She is enormously resistant to any change.
Enough about me- how is teh B&G? Your SIL settling down as a single person yet?

THey're doing ok... niece is apparently taking the role SIL used to have for her MIL. we've heard stories of other grandma showing up at the house, peering in the window, or even walking right in and whining for a cup of coffee or tea. SIL used ot be the one who went to the ends of the earth to do stuff for her MIL & FIL (at the expense of her personal time and was getting to be very co-dependant and feeding his alcoholism towards the end. SIL kept saying "ask YOUR SON to do this for you" and no one picked it up for her.). About a year ago (pre-breakdown) she started putting her foot down. other grandma is more co-dependent and useless on her own than we previously thought.

SIL is holding her own. she may have a roomie now, which will be a big help on the finances. her husband broke her smartphone, so she;s on an 'old fashioned' pre-paid flip phone now. she's not used to it, and hates texting on it, so we haven't heard from her as much recently. we take it as a good sign - no news is good news, so we take a deep breath when she calls...

good luck wiht your family... once we found a place for gramma, it was a relief. it started a new stressful chapter, but it was relief to get rolling.

[Chazz]

That is very good news

[Toj]

Thanks for posting Abby, Pellen. Here's Amy.

http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/THS1P4LI48...

Hope you take the title in stride.:)

[Mister Tonka]

Amy:
http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/TR0QP0BMOS...

Abby:
http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/TI6UVIG1UR...

[j_m_w]

Mister Tonka wrote:

Amy:
http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/TR0QP0BMOS...
Abby:
http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/TI6UVIG1UR...

Finally! Thank you.:)

[Matilda77]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/04/14...

Seriously, I cringe every time I see some small kid teetering on the edge of one of these enclosures. Do people just think they're invincible since it's a zoo?

[RedheadwGlasses]

Matilda77 wrote:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_new s/2012/11/04/14922258-boy-fall s-into-pittsburgh-zoo-exhibit- mauled-to-death-by-african-pai nted-dogs?lite
Seriously, I cringe every time I see some small kid teetering on the edge of one of these enclosures. Do people just think they're invincible since it's a zoo?

Heard about that. Idiot put her kid on top of a 4-foot-high concrete wall and didn't hang on well, he almost immediately "lost his balance" and fell in.

[Matilda77]

RedheadwGlasses wrote:

<quoted text>
Heard about that. Idiot put her kid on top of a 4-foot-high concrete wall and didn't hang on well, he almost immediately "lost his balance" and fell in.

There was a net that somehow failed as well. And nobody but the mom saw the kid fall. Kinda makes you wonder...

[Mister Tonka]

Matilda77 wrote:

<quoted text>
There was a net that somehow failed as well. And nobody but the mom saw the kid fall. Kinda makes you wonder...

Makes you wonder what? You think she threw the kid in?

[Matilda77]

The above post got flagged as possibly inappropriate. I don't get it.

[RedheadwGlasses]

I believe it was an accident, but it was a preventable accident by a woman who had no thought process, just "my little toddler would love to see these wild dogs."

[squishymama]

Matilda77 wrote:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_new s/2012/11/04/14922258-boy-fall s-into-pittsburgh-zoo-exhibit- mauled-to-death-by-african-pai nted-dogs?lite
Seriously, I cringe every time I see some small kid teetering on the edge of one of these enclosures. Do people just think they're invincible since it's a zoo?

I gotta just shake my head at this stuff. The walls and fences are there for a reason, people!

And yes, I think people assume that because the animals are in a zoo they're somehow less dangerous. They think the same thing at national parks, where idiots think it's ok to smear jelly on their kids' faces to take pictures while the bears lick it off or get upset when their car is damaged because they got too close to the rutting buffalo. <more head shaking>

[Mister Tonka]

Matilda77 wrote:

The above post got flagged as possibly inappropriate. I don't get it.

What did it say, cause its gone.

[Mister Tonka]

Matilda77 wrote:

The above post got flagged as possibly inappropriate. I don't get it.

feel free to PM me whatever disgusting filth you were trying to post.

[Mister Tonka]

squishymama wrote:

They think the same thing at national parks, where idiots think it's ok to smear jelly on their kids' faces to take pictures while the bears lick it off

WTF? Where in the hell have you read about this? I've never heard of such stupidity and would say you're making it up if I thought you had a motive to do so.

[RACE]

You have got to be kidding me... I have never heard of this type of asshattedness.

squishymama wrote:

<quoted text>
where idiots think it's ok to smear jelly on their kids' faces to take pictures while the bears lick it off

[Mister Tonka]

squishymama wrote:

<quoted text>
I gotta just shake my head at this stuff. The walls and fences are there for a reason, people!
And yes, I think people assume that because the animals are in a zoo they're somehow less dangerous. They think the same thing at national parks, where idiots think it's ok to smear jelly on their kids' faces to take pictures while the bears lick it off or get upset when their car is damaged because they got too close to the rutting buffalo. <more head shaking>

I had to do a web search on this, not to call you out, but to read about these idiots. However, the first thing I found was on snopes calling it an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/bearmau...

[Matilda77]

It's still there for me. All I said was:
"People in the comments on CNN's version of the story are saying "Why didn't bystanders jump in and k i c k the d o g s away?" Ah, yeah, if it was my kid, sure, I could see doing that. Bystander? I don't think so."