Rainy Saturday

It's not particularly nice outside today. A wet, gray kind of day. Which is fine. We're not going to the crafter's convention. Upon further review, the hundred bucks we'd spend today could be put to better uses. What exactly, we're not sure, but we do know that it'll be more fun than listening to someone talk about insurance for craft show vendors, and proper table display. Blech.

I'm up early this morning, as usual, and can take the time to surf and read all the blogs that I used to read daily. It's fun catching up with people's lives, and even though some have quit blogging and shut down their sites, most have kept up. I had many blogs in my favorites because of my HNT participation, people who did HNT and others who commented when I did. I don't play anymore (there are only just so many body parts I'd care to reveal here, thanks) but I do observe once in awhile. I'm always amazed. In my opinion, though, it seems to have evolved into kind of a whole different kind of thing now. It's still as clique-ish as ever, but it's just different. I guess thats evolution.

I'm also surfing ebay listings that I have no reason looking at. Do I really need a lot of four copper fish and one lobster jello molds? Do I? Most likely not, but they're kind of cool. And I do have a copper fish mold thing going on in my kitchen as wall art. That all goes back to being easily amused, I suppose. I most likely won't win them, but it's fun to bid. eBay has built the whole empire on that. (Another thing thats evolved just a little too much for me, but I still play, their fees are atrocious, and they've got their fingers in too many pies (like goooogle) but hey, it's what the people want, I guess.

On the way in to work this week, I noticed another old farmstead being bulldozed. Oh goody! Another two or three (or four, five, six) faceless, bland, boring, ugly, expensive McMansions coming up! Yay! Progress is good! Let's make sure we cover anything green with concrete, blacktop or houses! Of course, everyone in central PA can afford a half million dollar house in the 'country'. Bastards. They're STILL putting in houses down the road here. Mind you out of the eight they've built so far, only three are occupied, but they started three more this week. I suspect my water pressure will be going to hell in the next six months, and the township will start howling to put in a sewer system out here soon. I can't stand it. These houses are just horrific, and empty, and HUGE. Who is buying them? Judging by the number of real estate signs down there, nobody. But they keep building them. It makes me ill. I was at the auction when they sold that parcel. 33 acres for 300k. Each new house is averaging about a half million bucks. Insanity. This sprawl/overdevelopment shit is getting so out of hand. And the developers don't seem to care. They just keep coming in and buying up all this land, raping it and putting these chintzy houses on them (built in about 3 months, thank you) Awful. Just awful. I wish I'd come into a big sum of money so I could buy up all this land and let it sit. Plant flowers on it or something. Let them build around it, so there would be some kind of natural green (instead of the spray on grass they put on the dirt after they're done building) Gee. I guess sprawl irriates me just a little. After these assholes drive the farmers all out of business, we'll get all our food imported from God knows where, and the powers that be will wring their hands and bemoan the fact everything is so expensive. No shit. Middle class schmucks like myself will be a dying breed. Either dirt poor, sucking up welfare, or living in a million dollar house, financing their lives with credit cards. (oh, side note, I read a story on MSN this week about this couple who can't make ends meet on their annual income of 150,000....awww...give me GIANT freaking break here. Try combined income of 30,000 and tell me your sad story then, assholes.)

So now I've gone and gotten all ranted up. I'm ready for more coffee. Have yourselves just a fine day!