So, there is one more update from WordPress. This time it is version 3.0.1 and when I installed it I found out that I have to upgrade all my plug-ins, too. I feel a little guilty complaining, since the WordPress is free. But I have lost count of how many times I have had to upgrade the program this year, and each time causes me a lot of anxiety and concern over whether it was done correctly and whether there will be any problems like my template perhaps not working any longer, etc. But that is all part of the package, I guess.

The new Robert Plant album is coming out in September. They released a single from the album, called “Angel Dance.” The video for the song is on the label’s web site and will probably hit Youtube shortly.

I watched it tonight and like the song. I don’t like the video, but I’m sure no one at the label cares much about my opinion. I think it was deliberately made to be controversial and I am frankly getting very tired of being manipulated by marketing and media people for the pure sake of them selling more stuff.

I don’t know if I’ll buy the album or not. If my suspicions are true about the deliberate staging of the video, then I doubt I will buy it. I’m going to let my wallet speak for me.

All the restaurants have been adding tilapia to their menus and I’ve tried a few. It’s a nice, firm white fleshed fish. The O’Charley’s menu item was lightly seasoned and grilled on a cedar plank. That was nice. I am going to look for a few recipes and try my hand with it at home one of these next few days.

The only news this week seems to be centered on the huge partisan fight in Congress about the health care bill that Obama wants them to accept. It is a huge change for Americans and I realize that is was a big part of his campaign promising change. But I don’t know exactly what is in the bill and it seems nobody else knows, either.

I’ve heard very condescending quotes from various public figures that say after the bill is tweaked and approved that the public will be informed of what they decided was best for us. Now, if they truly are saying and thinking that, we have a very BIG problem with our elected officials in Washington. They are there to serve us – they are not there to decide in various back room deals what should be shoved down our throats.

This whole thing is very upsetting to me. I’m not convinced that Government run health care is the right way to handle this and I am concerned that Washington no longer cares what their constituents what. It’s turned into a huge political battle based on party lines. That is not in America’s best interest.

One of the cool things about Facebook is that you re-connect with a lot of people with whom you might have otherwise completely lost touch. It is so much easier to search for former co-workers and associates on Facebook than it is to use the phone book based people search. Even using Google makes it hard to find up to date contact information on a lot of people.

Once I latched onto one of my former employees from the computer company, it was easier to start finding more of those friends. It turns out that a great majority of my former co-workers from the computer company have changed to the telecom industry now.

There are a lot of very cool things going on in the telecom industry, even though people appear to be abandoning their home phone lines. Cell phones continue to evolve and I believe that there will one day be a complete merger between telephone, cable and computer systems into one service that uses the best of all worlds.

It’s been two weeks since I was supposed to get a check from one of my clients. I’ve always trusted him to follow through and he’s never lied to me or been less than honest in all these years that we’ve worked together. But now I have to bring up the difficult subject of where’s my check?

Luckily, I checked my email before picking up the telephone to ask him. My inbox has a note from his bookkeeper asking me to verify my mailing address. It was on the invoice and also on the W-4 that I provided. So I responded to her email with my address again, and she replied back that my address is what is on the envelope but it was returned by the post office today saying the envelope was undeliverable as addressed. What on earth is wrong with my mail carrier?

She is going to mail it again today. It should be in my hands in a couple of days. But if it is returned again, what recourse does the American consumer have with the post office?

What a disappointment to see the winner of this Big Brother be the dumb blonde. Jordan won the very last competition, which pretty much gave her the win for the big cash prize.

Natalie was busted out for lying about her age and the “America Votes” part of the fix came in for Jordan.I don’t trust the America Votes results – where is the proof that the votes even happened? Sounds to cynical ole me like it just gives the show producers the excuse to monitor feedback and then discard the actual results in favor of the results the producers wanted all along.

At least Jeff got the extra money, winning the other big “America’s Vote.” This season was probably the worst one of the series. If they can’t get it together with a better cast next time, I’m probably going to have to stop the self flagellation watching and do something more productive with my viewing time.

There are some people who never drink alcohol at all. They either have religious beliefs against it or they have other direct pressure from immediate family and friends to not do so. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the people who drink all day and all night, every day.

If you have never dealt with someone with a severe problem with alcohol, it can be very shocking and totally impossible to understand addiction issues. Alcoholism has a has language of its own and all kinds of complications, from health issues to financial concerns to relationship problems.

I experienced a raised awareness of alcoholism when my immediate supervisor revealed his alcohol dependency to me. I became a co-dependent until I educated myself and removed myself from his alcoholic world.

So if you choose to drink alcohol, how do you know when drinking becomes a problem? My own answer to that is when your drinking and the after effects have a detrimental effect on your ability to meet your responsibilities. If you have a different definition, I’d like to hear your point of view.

The local coffee shop has some cute magnets for sale near the cash register. The one that I bought says, “Due to budget cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.” That one made me laugh out loud, so it was worth the $2.00 and it will go right onto my refrigerator door when I get home tonight.

My former landlord in California once chastised me for leaving a light on all night. I was surprised that he had driven by the house so late at night and noticed it. I was also surprised that he found the idea of leaving a light on at night to be wasteful or foolish. I have always left a light on, even if it was just a little $2.00 plastic night light from the five and dime store. When I drive through neighborhoods really late at night and see a house in total darkness, I always think that not having a light on is odd.