my divorce party. jan 6, chicago

anybody interested in coming by to help me celebrate my freedom, please hit me w a pm, and i will give you the scoop.
live music, vintage whiskeys, and food, good food.
tours of the farm for the early birds.

please kick this up for visibility.

help me pick my next car. i need safety gizmos.

so, i am in a position to buy a new car. i am 61, and have never been the worlds greatest driver. i am not going to get any better. but i have another 30 years or so on this rock, and i dont want to be stuck without wheels.
i do a lot of city driving. occasional road trip, but not that often.

i would like a small, economical car, but something sporty would be nice. i like the little beemer 2 seater, and my all time fave car is the old benz 2 seaters from the 70's.

but above all, what i need is a good collision avoidance system.
solid warrantee service is also a must. i know that goes dealer to dealer, but want a good plan. intend to drive this car into the dust.
price matters, but long term value is more important than a low price.

whatcha think lounge?

5 more days

of being a smoker. i am really ready to quit. just turned a cold into a fairly major medical event. sick of that.
sick of the cough.
sick of the smell.

and of course, sick of waiting for the divorce to settle.

but thursday is the big day.

doctor doom has a new hip.

spent most of last week up in madison wi, getting my bubba a new hip. he has a congenital defect, where he has basically no sockets. so his femur is battered, his pelvis is deforming, and he is in constant pain.

when i first took him to an ortho-vet, i was told that in a young dog, there were only 2 places to take him, ohio state, and uw madison.
so, madtown it was, even tho we got off to a bit of a rocky start.

the surgery went very well, he is using his leg appropriately, and they think he should do well in the long run.
we have to keep him under control for THREE FREAKIN MONTHS, which will be a bit the nightmare, but compared to the nightmare of watching him slowly become old before his time, and crippled w pain, we will take it.

tho he has gone to live w my daughter, only 2 doors down from me, he needs to stay w me through most of the rehab. he has a half dozen stairs in and out here, but a flight and a half there. doc said after first month, he could make that trip once a day, so he will be able to go sleep at her place. if he is doing well he should be able to do the last month back w her.

have high praise for the care he received. they took great care to make sure i understood everything that they were doing, and everything i needed to know. pretty amazing what they do there. if we all survive the rehab, he will likely be back to get the other hip replaced. after a break to just be a dog again for a while.

happy to be back home.

Madigan Calls for U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to Investigate Chicago Police Dep

Source: nbc chicago

In this Aug. 21, 2014, file photo, Illinois Attorney Gen. Lisa Madigan speaks during a news conference in Chicago. The Illinois Attorney General's Office is asking the Chicago Police Department In a letter released Wednesday Nov. 18, 2015, to release the video that shows an officer fatally shooting a black teenager last year. A Cook County judge is expected to rule on a Freedom of Information request tomorrow. The video has been of intense interest after it was revealed that the officer shot McDonald 16 times.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Madigan-Calls-for-Federal-Investigation-of-Chicago-Police-Department-359718081.html#ixzz3t7TtMYVV
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Read more: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Madigan-Calls-for-Federal-Investigation-of-Chicago-Police-Department-359718081.html

hey, who's from wisconsin here?

mag mile black friday protest looks like a win from here-

i posted this as a response in another thread, disagreeing w someone about whether the protest would win any allies, or whether it was just about getting attention-

seeing video and pics from the scene.
block or so long march had michigan ave closed down.
later pics show very few shoppers and stores being shut down.
i'd call it a win. without "firing a shot"

the people that they piss off are exactly the ones who should be pissed off. they dont give 2 shits for the lives of these children. dont give them a seconds thought.
tho they will be fuming today, they will have at least heard the cries. and can ignore them no more.
have to say that we have got their (angry) attention.

win.

aahhh the holidays. whose holidays are gonna suck?

my turkey day will be better than last year, as i am going out for dim sum w some dear friends.
but the ex got the holidays in the divorce. so he is doing the turkey thing w the kids. out of the 5, 2 dont speak to me, one is far away, 1 is a pain in my ass right now.
so, my cooking a turkey wouldnt help at all.

last year ex took them all out xmas eve, had them over for dinner xmas day. by the time they straggled back after 8pm, i was curled up in a ball in bed, and they didnt bother to look for me.
this year i asked the youngest (22yo) to see if i could get a little more parity. i doubt they would exactly repeat all that anyway.

also told her that i would like to see her sister. not sure how true that even is, as i am pretty deeply wounded by the silence, and the bs that has caused it. the kid has some real issues, and imho, therapist help ingrain some delusions in her mind. her memories of her childhood are seriously screwed up. but since she barely excepts how sick she was/is, she cant seem to accept that her brain might have recorded things "wrong".
but i do miss her.

the oldest is just plain lost to me. i mostly have accepted that. the ex did her some real dirt, the true redheaded stepchild. no taking that back. i chose him over her, and the fact that i finally dumped him will not matter.
she was a hard child to raise from jump street. but in her mind she was a little angel.
c'est la vie.

wish the far away child was interested in coming home for a visit, but he is pretty content where he is. we have an itchy but loving relationship. everything i say strikes him as an attack of some sort. trying to figure that out and watch what i say. but.....
maybe next year.

anyway? anyone else care to share their tales of woe?

my mind is in the gutter today.

have a hot date tonight.
got lunch at bk.
yes, i had a whopper.

oh my.

anybody know how long nicotine stays in the system after quitting?

my quit date is dec 17, also should be my divorce date.
i need to get my own insurance after that. assuming i have 30 days. i want to be able to get non-smoker rate. i will quit. i have only been smoking for 2 years. but it is in my med records. my doc listed me as a former smoker, which she kinda had to do as i was having breathing issues related to smoking.
do i have to pass a pee test? i have an order on file for one, as i talked to a surgeon about getting my gall bladder removed, and he refuses to operate on smokers. i suppose that taking/passing that would help, as it would go on my record.

anyone have an experience w this?