Work, Books, and Scandal

There hasn't been much time for me to post in the past couple of weeks. Jason, our younger son, is the Quality Control Manager at his company. He ran into a bit of a problem and brought Mr. Fixit and me some parts that needed to inspected and sorted. It's not hard, just time consuming. I don't mind doing it, but I'm always a bit worried when the decision to discard a part is subjective. It would be easier for me if I had a gauge or some other implement to tell me that a part is defective instead having to rely on the "feel" the part and make the judgment. The extra money is nice. I think I'm going to buy an MP3 player and save the rest in my New Kitchen Floor Fund with my share.

I haven't had time to go to the library either so I have been re-reading some old books. I picked up one featuring a woman police detective written back in the 80's. I remembered nothing about it but I know that I liked the series. In this particular book, a retired movie star is the victim. She is described as 84 years old with a 10 year old grandson. Okay, no problem. She was married three times, the first time when she was 16. From that marriage came her only child, a daughter. They don't say how old she was when the daughter was born, but it was implied that the marriage lasted only a few years. The daughter followed in her mother's path and married while she was in college, had a child, and divorced the father of her only child after a short time. While there was no specific age of the daughter mentioned, I inferred that she was in her 30's. The whole age thing was so unclear to me that it diverted me from the plot. I kept going back to re-read anything to do with their ages. If the victim was 84 and her daughter was say 35 at the time of the crime, that made the mother 49 when the daughter was born. Possible, but I thought she was married to the daughter's father for only a few years. It drove me nuts.

There was another flaw in the plotting. At one point, a witness was found to a secondary crime and he reported what he had seen. However, at the end of the book when the perp (that's a technical term) confessed, his story was different from the witness's. That was never explained. The difference would have changed the steps to the solution of the crime.

I know, I know. I'm nitpicking, but stuff like makes me crazy. I keep thinking, “What happened to the editing?”

Once again, another South Carolina politician is embroiled in a sex scandal. This time the state's Comptroller General, separated from his wife for two years, is in the hot seat along with his lady friend, a candidate for Education Superintendent who is a divorced, single mother. Someone leaked some sexually explicit emails the two had exchanged. I didn't read them, and I won't read them if the local press publishes them because I don't give a rodent's behind about sexual escapades of others that have nothing to do with me. (That doesn't sound exactly right, but you know what I mean.) The emails were published in another media outlet. One commentor on the story in our local paper had read them and said there seemed to be an endeavor to circumvent state campaign finance laws mentioned. Hmm. That rather changes things. I don't care what other people do in their private lives, but please be honest while doing the job you were elected to do.

The Comptroller General's camp has accused a political opponent for the leaking. I was rather surprised when the woman involved said that she was not going to comment on her personal, private life. How refreshing! Neither one has, as yet, asked to the forgiveness of their families, the voters, or brought God into the controversy.

To all you politicians out there—ARE YOU ALL JUST PLAIN STUPID? Haven't you learned yet that your emails and cell phones can be hacked? For heaven's sake, if you have to act in a questionable manner, at least use some common sense and buy a few stamps and note paper. Better yet--Don't write anything down anywhere.