The crazy lady strikes again

Yesterday, I wrote about Federated's takeover of Marshall Field & Company, and ten other regional department stores chains. There was one thing I failed to mention in that entry. Yes, we Chicagoans will miss Marshall Field and its unique regional identity. However, the high-end upscale stores, Marshall Field being one of them, are losing business rapidly, for several reasons. First of all, these stores always realized that the upper middle class and upper crust were its traditional target... Sign in to see full entry.

This idea comes straight from Chris2303's blog Jill's Opinions - his thoughts about spreading rumors got me to thinking about fifth grade. (Chris' post on rumors appeared several years ago; this post was originally written in 2003.) A group of us in fifth grade got together and spread the rumor that the music teacher was dating our fifth grade teacher (both of them were single). Since there was no such thing as being an out-of-the-closet homosexual back in 1967-68, this was a straight couple -... Sign in to see full entry.

It's been all over the news here in Chicagoland: Macy's has taken over Marshall Field & Company, and this venerable Chicago institution will formally change its name tonight (at least at the State Street Store). We aren't the only city experiencing such a sea change. Boston's Filene is also changing its name to Macy's. That's because Federated Department Stores, the chain that bought Marshall Field and Filene (of Filene's Basement fame), has bought out a grand total of eleven department store... Sign in to see full entry.

Today - 9/8/2006 - is the 40th anniversary of the debut of that new science fiction show, Star Trek (known as Star Trek: The Original Series by fans, to distinguish it from all that other Star Trek product out there). Now, we consider this show a cult classic. However, I have to admit that I must be one of maybe five people that watched the program in its original run on NBC back in the late 1960s. In fact, NBC was about to cancel Star Trek at the end of its second season, but a letter-writing... Sign in to see full entry.

Readers of this entry might legitimately wonder just who George Ryan is. He is the former governor of the State of Illinois. Yesterday, he was sentenced to 6½ years in prison, having been convicted of fraud and other crimes committed under his watch when he served as Illinois' Secretary of State. The short course is that due to an accident which happened in Wisconsin a few years back, Ryan was linked to a license-for-bribes scandal at Secretary of State facilities across Illinois. It turns out... Sign in to see full entry.

how people really have a hard time listening to the truth? A few years ago, I was IMing someone whose child has the same type of kidney disease I do. I was telling her about an experience shared by one of my algebra teachers in high school. This teacher was relatively new at high school teaching when this incident happened. She had been taught that if a high school student asked for a pass to use the porcelain facilities, he or she was really interested in stepping into the bathroom for a... Sign in to see full entry.

Many people are going to be doing 9/11 memorials. I saw no need to reinvent the wheel. I wrote one that I'm loath to rewrite, and it's here on the Blogging Network - in my blog Thanks, Dad. It's a tribute to Fr. Mychal Judge, the official first casualty of the World Trade Center attack. I'd like you to join me in honoring his memory, and that of all those who lost lives nearly five years ago, by going to that original post, here. In the meantime, I leave you with a thought from the New... Sign in to see full entry.

The issue of same-sex marriage has become a "hot topic" over the past two years, with the recent Massachusets state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in that state. Other states have also issued rulings or passed laws stating whether or not same-sex marriage is legal in each particular state. I believe strongly that marriage is not something the state has any business in. Put another way, the state or county should not be issuing marriage licenses to anyone, straight or gay.... Sign in to see full entry.

When AOL offered direct access to Usenet - as opposed to forcing AOL users to use the Google newsgroup interface (which has been made more difficult to navigate over the years) - I used to enjoy reading the Usenet newsgroup known as alt.make.money.fast. It's one of my favorite newsgroups, because I enjoy reading some of the responses to the get-rich-quick schemes that inhabit this newsgroup. One of the most popular is the one promising to turn $6 into $6,000 just by mailing a small sum of money... Sign in to see full entry.

It's fairly common to be misunderstood. In fact, I had this experience just the other day - I said one thing in a series of letters and emails, and it was taken to mean something else. (This actually happened on the old Fascinating Womanhood email list. I don't know if that group is still in existence, but I was accused of being someone I'd never even heard of. This person had apparently caused some sort of problem on this FW email list - what kind of problem she caused is unclear to me because... Sign in to see full entry.