Ring 'er up!

Sometimes I like to think of the President as a father figure.  Some of the so-called "Founding Fathers" were presidents - John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, for example.  Fathers, to me, are men who at least try to look after their children.  Sometimes they go astray, but it is always with good intention.  I couldn't think of a single President who set out to completely tear down our country.  They may have succeeded, but they certainly didn't do it on purpose.

That being said, fathers often hold the finances of the family - deciding where certain funds are allocated.  Imagine, if you will, a trip to the grocery store.  What should we buy?  What is too expensive?  What should we get, but maybe just the store brand?  Recently, pops released his newest budget for the upcoming year.  I decided to take a peek at that grocery store receipt for dear old dad...

I see you.

You pour yourself a cup of coffee, haphazardly sloshing milk into the brew and spilling a few rouge grains of sugar on the counter top.  Out of the corner of your eye, a light flickers on, and the melodious greeting of your computer peaks your curiosity.  You take a sip, pulling back as the liquid scorches your lips.  Plopping into the arm chair, you open up a web browser on your computer.  You type in those beautiful, beautiful words....

Facebook.com

You begin to peruse your news feed to see if anything interesting has happened since you checked Facebook on your phone 20 minutes ago.  You "like" a few statuses and post your own update:

"I love the smell of coffee in the morning :)" - a nod at Apocolypse Now.  Five seconds later, a notification:  (Insert Name Here)   has liked your status.

Perhaps this is innocuous enough, but maybe it's something more.  Do we have enough information?  Should you be alarmed?  Maybe so...

Weary Wanderers Wary of Winter?

We've been lucky this year. It hasn't been quite so cold in Wisconsin. Sure, it dropped down to zero degrees one day this year, but it's mainly hovered around the teens and twenties.  Today, it got up to 40.  I gladly shed my parka and trotted down University in just a t-shirt and unbuttoned cardigan.

That being said, the mild winter has surely been a blessing to the over 3,000 people who stayed in homeless shelters (admittedly, the most recent numbers are from 2010).  Of those who stayed in shelters, 20% said they had slept outside or in a car the night before.

So is a warm winter something to be happy about if you're homeless?