Sunday Lunch Excursion

My wonderful husband Norm and I tried a different place for lunch today after church.  The Pima Deli & Café is a New York style deli that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Located on Northsight Blvd. just north of Raintree Road in North Scottsdale, is right around the corner from where we attend church.  It was a pleasant experience for lunch.  As soon as we walked in the door we were immediately greeted by the man behind the deli counter.  The hostess soon arrived and let me choose the table that felt most comfortable to me.  She was a very friendly woman who it turned out was not the regular hostess, but she acted as if it was her life's mission to make sure that the patrons of the restaurant were comfortable.  Certainly something I don't see too often.

The menu was enormous with tons of options for breakfast, snacking, lunching, and dining.  Right away we could tell this was a Russian Jewish style deli with three kinds of herring and beet borscht soup on the menu.  Bagels abounded as well as potato pancakes and rye bread.  Norm loves herring so he ordered that as well as pastrami on rye.  I had an open face brisket sandwich on a potato latke with Russian dressing and red onion slices.  I had a side dish of coleslaw and Norm had a side dish of potato salad.  We both enjoyed our lunch and had plenty of food to take home.  I had a brisket sandwich for dinner from my left over brisket and I will probably have brisket sandwich tomorrow to since there was so much meat.  Norm's pastrami sandwich was so thick with thinly sliced pastrami that he had to pull half of the meat out of his sandwich in order to bite into it.  We definitely got our money's worth of food.  The only thing I did not enjoy was the iced tea.  It wasn't bad, but it was that China Mist tea that I'm not overly fond of.  It tends to have a slightly sour aftertaste even with sweetener added.  My favorite iced tea is Luzianne brand.

If you're in the mood for New York Jewish deli in Scottsdale give the Pima Deli & Café a try.  (I received no compensation for this post from the restaurant or any of its associates.)

McCain Pain Accelerating!

It's been awhile since I've mentioned it but I'm not fond of Arizona Senator John McCain.  Via Rhymes with Right, and a whole lot of others... McCain would rather take away freedom of speech, a First Amendment right, to ensure that we have "clean government."  He was on the Don Imus radio show and here's what he said in response to criticism from radio host Michael Graham:

"He (Michael Graham) also mentioned my abridgment of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform... I know that money corrupts... I would rather have a clean government then one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt.  If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

Shocking!  Just how do we know what is a clean government?  If Senator McCain became our president then we would have the perfect dictator for a fascist or communist government.  And then none of us would have the right to say anything against him.  I don't mean any disrespect to Senator McCain, who suffered bravely at the hands of our enemies during the Vietnam War, but this sounds like something out of the movie "The Manchurian Candidate."

Tons of bloggers are talking about this so I thought I would add my two cents worth.

Elect Dan Gransinger

Norm and I met Dan the other day when he came to our neighborhood asking us to sign a nominating petition so he can run for state representative in District 17.  Dan is running as a Republican candidate and he happens to live in our neighborhood.  District 17 is predominantly in the city of Tempe and only a small portion of South Scottsdale lies in the district.  It would be nice to have someone from my neighborhood serving in the state legislature.  You can read more about Dan at his web site www.DanGransinger.com.  So far I like what I've read about his stand on the issues so I'm going to give him my vote in the upcoming primary.

24 Day 5 1:00 a.m.

This was a fast paced episode. So much happened that I can hardly remember it all. I won't even try and give a recap of this episode because I'm sure I would leave out a lot of stuff. Every time a commercial break came I felt as though I had seen a two-hour movie in 15 minutes. It was mind boggling!

A couple of things from this episode do stand out in my mind. Could Secretary Heller still be alive? He did roll down the window to his car so it's possible he could swim out of the car once he hit the water, but it was a long drop. What really happened to Agent Pierce? Did he get reassigned or did they do something to him? Did he leave the cell phone on the ground for Mrs. Logan to find as a clue? And who is this new guy -- Grim? He certainly seems to be running things and telling President Logan what to do.

Chloe had some great lines in this episode. I liked the way she ordered her boss to do things and then kept apologizing for having to give him orders. It's a good thing he's the kind of guy that knows when to get out of the way of an expert.

Oh, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Audrey was grabbed from behind and then I saw that it's only Curtis to the rescue. What a show -- can't wait till next week.

An Explanation

My previous post refers to my testing of "blogging by e-mail" option.  It works very nicely.  That's all -- end of story.

blogging by e-mail

I've always wondered what would be like to blog via e-mail. This is a test to see how it will look on my blog.

This line should be a two lines below the one above it.  There should be nothing below this line.

A Blog Is Born...

My wonderful husband Norm has entered the world of blogging. Check out his blog and say hello. One thing I have learned about Norm during our courtship and marriage is that he is always full of surprises when you least expect it. There's no telling what will come of his blogging! I love you, Normie bear, and hope that you get as much out of blogging as I do. (I guess this means that I am now a blog mother to my husband. Definitely weird.)

Finally Some Great Chinese Takeout in Scottsdale

My wonderful husband Norm gave in to my yen for Chinese food tonight and went to pick up takeout from a new place we have used a couple of times. The first time I used them I thought they were OK and so I tried them again a second time but the dish I ordered was too spicy and it clearly said on the menu is not a spicy dish. I called to complain and they apologized and said they would give us a discount next time. When I ordered this time I asked again about the BBQ pork with vegetables and they assured me it would not be spicy. Norm ordered Mongolian beef and we both ordered soft noodles instead of rice. I forgot to remind the lady on the phone about the discount she promised, but she remembered when Norm got there. She kept asking Norm if it was OK to have the Mongolian beef because it's very spicy. Norm assured her that he was eating the Mongolian beef and he liked it spicy! I'm happy to say that this was the best Chinese takeout food I've had in a very, very long time. I even called back to tell them so. The name of the place is Dragon Gate and they are located on Hayden Rd. just south of McDowell Road in Scottsdale. Too bad they don't have a web site. Also, they don't use MSG.

Easter Treats

I haven't had any peeps this year so I've got to make a run to the grocery store soon while they're still available during the after Easter sale. Those marshmallow sugary treats are so much fun. My other favorite Easter candy is Reese's peanut butter eggs -- yummy! No one invited us over for Easter dinner so Norm and I decided to have our own little treat. I got this hankering for ice cream which is very unusual for me because I'm not a big fan of ice cream. While I watched Swiss Family Robinson (which I haven't seen in years and years) Norm went to the Dairy Queen and got us a Peanut Buster Parfait with hot fudge and caramel sauce. It was absolutely downright delicious! My dad called while we were eating it and Norm decided to eat as much as he could of the ice cream as fast as he could which turned out to be a big mistake because he got a brain/sinus freeze. Ouch! I still love him.

24: Day 5 12:00 a.m.

It's a good thing I was nibbling on some dark chocolate during this episode because it was all I could do to keep from screaming at the television! Just when we thought Jack Bauer was going dark for a while and get some rest it turns out that his girlfriend's father, Heller the Sec. Def., decides he knows better how to deal with the situation and sidelines Jack and his own daughter in what turns out to be the worst thing he could've done. Audrey is possibly fatally wounded by Henderson and Jack Bauer gives up the recording to Henderson in order to have a chance to save Audrey. (Based on the previews of next week's episode it appears she survives -- at least for a while.) Aaron Pierce, my favorite Secret Service Agent, plans to rendezvous with the First Lady to let her in on what he knows about the evil president Logan but only Aaron's cell phone shows up. (My theory about this is that Aaron fears for his life now that Logan's treachery has been revealed and he leaves his cell phone behind so they can't track him with the GPS locator.) Henderson calls just in time to let Logan know that he has the evidence in his possession, thus giving Logan an opportunity to squash the Sec. Def. who was just about to do his own squashing of Logan. (Rats -- foiled again!) Logan tells Gardner that Heller has accused him of conspiracy and Logan orders the Secret Service to remove him from the retreat. Chloe gets caught in the Miles-trap and when she realizes she can't charm her way out she uses her pick pocketing tricks, that she no doubt learned from Jack Bauer, to get herself out of confinement. Then she tells Sheri, who helped to set the trap, what she knows about Logan and threatens to expose her lies about Miles's sexual harassment unless she helps her escape. Sheri let's Chloe go out the door with a laptop. It seems that Bill Buchanan is back in the game again and he picks up Wayne Palmer and takes him to the secret CTU headquarters at Bill's house. Chloe shows up there ready to do battle on the Internet because she's worried that if Jack gets captured by the fake CTU people it will be all her fault. What's going to happen next week? Will Mike Novick believe Logan's story about wanting to arrest Jack so the Chinese won't know he is alive? What will Sheri do now that she knows about the evidence against president Logan? Where is Agent Pierce? Perhaps he is up to something? I'm going to need more dark chocolate for next Monday evening!

State of the Blog Address

It's been 12 months since I started blogging and these past months have been a very interesting experience for me. I started blogging for the fame and fortune, but then I realized very quickly that only a few people were reading my blog -- namely my husband, my parents and one or two friends. Thank goodness for the people who love us because they put up with what we do even though it might annoy them now and then. Blogging has become a great creative outlet where I can express myself by recalling memories of my childhood and sharing my opinion on politics and current events and a variety of other topics with anyone who cares to read it. My blog is called The View from My Chair and this post explains how that came to be. One of the nice things about blogging is that you begin to develop friendships with other bloggers. I have met so many wonderful people through blogging and many of them are listed in the "blogs I visit" section on the right hand side of the page. Other bloggers have inspired me to want to achieve their high status in the blogosphere. I have had my own little 15 minutes of fame in the blog world which you can read about here. During a period of about two days I received in excess of 2000 visitors to my blog from around the globe since what I had to say was linked by Michelle Malkin, La Shawn Barber, and various and sundry blogs including Slate. This experience turned out to be a negative one due to the nastiness of trolls who will use any excuse to attack you. Because of it I decided that I wanted to remain one of the "little people" of the blog world at least until I get a thicker skin. I don't receive a lot of visitors to my site but lately my traffic averages between 35 and 45 visitors per day. Some of this has to do with my blogger friends, but a lot of it has to do with search engine traffic. It amazes me sometimes the search phrases that bring visitors to my site. This traffic comes from all over the world. The Internet is definitely an unbelievable place when I think about how it makes the world so much smaller. How else could a woman who uses a motorized wheelchair, has no money to spend on travel, let alone have any recognition as someone important, have such a worldwide potential audience? Astounding! Here are some links to a few of my favorite posts throughout the last year. (I may update this more throughout the day.) Video Blogging Weenies A Blast from My Past What is the future of my blog? I plan on continuing to blog because I thoroughly enjoy it. It's something that kind of gets under your skin. Often throughout the day I will analyze the day's activities by asking myself, "Would this make good blog fodder?" LOL if you are a blogger you probably know what I mean. Unfortunately my brain works faster than the rest of me so most of what I think would be fun to blog about never makes it to the Internet. Some of that may also have to do with good common sense protecting me from embarrassing myself. Thank you for visiting my blog and sharing your comments with me. Please continue to visit because I think this place will only get better.

Happy Resurrection Day!

This day is a most special day because we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. If it were not for the Resurrection then the cross and all that Jesus said would be meaningless. The Resurrection shows us that we can believe what Jesus said. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 I rejoice because my sins are forgiven by the sacrifice of the true Lamb of God. I rejoice because there is hope in the Resurrection of the dead that I will live beyond this world. I rejoice because of the Holy Spirit who lives in me and empowers me to overcome the struggles of this world so that I can live with purpose in the kingdom of God. Do you rejoice today? This gift of salvation is available to anyone who asks. Ask today, God is present and seeks to give you this gift.

Hello Summer, Goodbye Spring

It reached 97° here in Scottsdale today and it's only April. Yes we are running our air conditioner these days. Winter and spring are the shortest seasons in the Phoenix metro area. (This is probably the shortest post I've ever written.)

24: Day 5 11:00 P.M.

So I'm eating a peanut butter and red plum jelly sandwich on white bread with potato chips on the side trying to decide what to write about this week's episode of 24. It was an interesting episode but for some reason nothing momentous standout in my mind. I keep thinking about that poor bank manager's wife and how they left her tied up at the house. Will they ever go back and rescue her? And now her husband is dead even though he was really helpful to Jack Bauer and Wayne Palmer after he found out they were trying to find out who was behind the assassination of President Palmer. Isn't it interesting that he was willing to help them once he knew why they were breaking into his bank vault? While we were watching the episode Norm asked me why the bank manager didn't recognize Wayne Palmer. And no sooner had Norm asked the question we saw the bank manager telling Wayne Palmer that he knew who he was. He must've been listening to Norm. So now that Jack Bauer has the audio recording of Henderson and President Logan discussing the assassination of President Palmer, Henderson is going to do everything he can to get rid of Bauer. I don't think he will actually be able to kill Bauer because Kiefer Sutherland just signed a deal with Fox for three more years of playing Jack Bauer. It occurs to me however that Henderson may end up killing President Logan instead. According to what we heard in the audio recording Logan said it was clearly Henderson's idea to assassinate Palmer and he did so without Logan's knowledge or permission. Henderson said he's trying to do everything to protect President Logan from the truth of what really happened becoming public, but Henderson has failed every time he has tried to get rid of Bauer. Maybe President Logan will have Henderson taken out? Now Audrey Raines is bringing her father, the Secretary of Defense, into the whole mess. Can Audrey be trusted? Can her father be trusted? Can anybody on the show be trusted? Chloe is certainly going to get into a lot of trouble when Miles finds out she was the one who disabled their satellite transmission. Also, it looks like Aaron the Secret Service guy has become very suspicious of President Logan. This could be a good thing. Can't wait to see what happens next! (By the way, my PB and J sandwich was delicious.) my previous posts 24: Day 5 10:00 p.m. 24: Day 5 9:00 p.m. 24: Day 5 8:00 p.m. Jack Bauer Cried Things I Learn While Watching 24 24 and Star Trek

Our New Pastor, Coffeehouse Tables and Apple Jelly

My wonderful husband Norm and I went to church yesterday as we usually do on Sundays. It was great to have our new pastor preach. He is definitely making some changes and they are very much needed. One change that I noticed right away was not so much to my liking. We serve coffee and bagels or doughnuts before and after service to facilitate a hospitable atmosphere for getting to know your church family all the better. The food table was moved to another area to allow more room and coffeehouse tables were added. That in itself is great, but what bothered me was that the tables were all too high for someone sitting down to use. There are no chairs with the tables because they are the kind that you stand around. After church I saw pastor Mark standing at one of the tables talking to a lady I know. I went up to the table which came up to my nose and I looked at Pastor Mark and smiled and said that it would be very hard to eat like this. We both laughed and then he suggested that we need to get a couple of shorter tables. Bingo! I didn't have to say it. This guy is smart and I think he will do well at our church. :-) After church we ate at a restaurant nearby that we've been to a few times before. They have started serving breakfast on Sundays so I decided I would be fun to have breakfast instead of lunch. My breakfast came with a choice of bread so I asked for a biscuit. It was an okay biscuit but what made it even better was the apple jelly I put on it. Yummy, yummy! It was one of those little containers of jelly put out by Smuckers that a lot of restaurants carry. Norm and I went to the grocery store this afternoon and I suggested we get peanut butter and jelly because ever since yesterday I've been wanting that apple jelly. Much to my dismay there was no apple jelly to be found anywhere! Ten different brands of jelly and not one of them have apple jelly. Why is that? Now I'm going to have to hunt for it all over town.

How should I celebrate?

My blogiversary is coming up on the 17th and I'm trying to figure out how I should celebrate. If you don't know what it means, a blogiversary is the anniversary of the date I began blogging. So it will be one year for me as a full-fledged blogger. What are your suggestions on how I should celebrate this momentous occasion?

Warm Fuzzy Creatures

There's nothing more fun than sitting next to my husband watching TV and having one of my cats curled up in my lap. Pure bliss! There's something very special about those warm fuzzy creatures. Tonight it was GG, who normally doesn't like to be held, but lately has been rather fond of curling up in my lap while letting me pet her while she purrs and goes to sleep. Is there a similar feeling when a mother holds her child while she sleeps in her lap? I wondered about this while I gently stroked GG's back. It must be frightening to hold your baby knowing that he or she depends on you for so very much and yet at the same time it must be such a joy. There's a part of you that will go on and live life all over again. While it is pleasurable to hold my cats they will never provide me with the fulfillment of motherhood.

24: Day 5 10:00 P.M.

Jack admits to Buchanan that he is scared because he is convinced that Henderson was only following orders from someone higher up. Why is Jack scared? (More on this in a minute.) Then as the episode progresses we learn that Henderson has kidnapped Evelyn's daughter to force her to give up evidence she has that proves who is behind "the conspiracy and the events" of the day. Wayne Palmer and Jack help her get her daughter back and try and capture Henderson, but Henderson gets away. Evelyn tells Jack it's not the vice president who is involved in the conspiracy. Then we see that Henderson is on the phone with President Logan and assures him that he will kill Jack and Wayne and suppress any evidence they might have. Now we are to think that it's President Logan who's been behind everything. But let's look at a few things. In previous episodes we find that it is Walt Cummings, Logan's chief of staff, who is involved with the conspiracy and Logan seems to know nothing about it. Cummings says that he is part of a group who are trying to cause a military presence in Central Asia to guarantee the flow of oil. Henderson is also part of this same group. Also, in looking back at last season, Day 4, we find that Cummings is the one who ordered the kill on Jack Bauer because they were afraid he would give away secret sensitive information while in the custody of the Chinese. I think this is why Jack is scared, because he realizes that whoever is the leader of this group certainly wants to see him dead and will stop at nothing to do it. CTU is now in the hands of Homeland security and Bill Buchanan is gone. Right now Jack's only allies are Audrey and Chloe. Of course Wayne Palmer is helping him but he doesn't have much power. Jack can't trust the president or the vice president or anyone in their cabinet. He certainly is in a bad situation! I'm not sure if this really answers many questions, but it certainly helps to remember some of these details in trying to figure out the story. I'm still convinced that the vice president is involved in this somehow. Logan can't be the one who is completely behind everything because he just doesn't have the guts for it. It will be interesting to see what happens next. That's why I like this show! my previous posts 24: Day 5 9:00 p.m. 24: Day 5 8:00 p.m. Jack Bauer Cried Things I Learn While Watching 24 24 and Star Trek

Update on Abdul Rahman

Because of pressure from the United States government and other nations around the world, Rahman was released by Afghan officials on March 28. He was given asylum in Italy the next day, however the law has not changed in Afghanistan. My friend George P. Wood has an excellent biblical analysis of the Raman situation.