Sunday, February 10, 2008

Borders Home Educator Card

If you are a teacher or a homeschooler, you can get a card which gives you a 20% discount on items purchased for educational purposes. I brought the advertisement Borders had placed in The Old Schoolhouse magazine, but no one asked to see it or asked for any proof that I am a homeschooler.

Education Savings Days: April 2-8, Borders will be offering educators 25% off most items. personal or professional.

However, I must note that after I left Borders, I went to Costco where I found the same book I just bought for $11.99 (including discount) for $8.49. I snapped it up again at the lower price and will exchange the Borders' copy for something else.

Friday, February 08, 2008

My First Push Poll

Thanks to caller ID, I don't answer the phone very much, but finally, out of curiosity, I picked up for a call-bot that had left several messages indicating it was conducting a poll. And thus I was able to experience that venerable American political tradition: the push poll. Of course, I'd heard of them, but couldn't quite imagine how they worked.

First, the call-bot asks you several questions of a general nature, such as "Do you consider yourself a Democrat?" and "Are you voting in the Feburary 9th caucus?"

Then it begins to narrow it down: "Would an endorsement from the Machinists Union influence your vote?" No. "Is illegal immigration an important issue to you?" Yes.

Ah ha! Yes, well, then: "John McCain led the charge on amnesty and Mitt Romney signed sanctuary laws. Does this information make you more likely to support Mike Huckabee who's tough on immigration?"

"Do you consider yourself pro-life?" Yes. "Mitt Romney is a shifty SOB and John McCain eats live babies? Does this information make you more likely to support God's representitive on earth, Mike Huckabee?"

Well, there was something about McCain and live babies.

Update: Besides the push poll, Huckabee called, John and Cindy McCain have called and someone just called asking if I'm voting in the Kansas caucus tomorrow. But (true confessions) I'm not a registered Republican. I'm not eligible to vote in the caucus. Why are they calling me?

Here She Is

...the reason I have abandoned my blog for so long:


I really respect those ladies who blog through pregnancies and newborns. And this one is a good baby, already sleeping through the night at 2 months.