Click images for desktop size: "Dolph" by Richard Mohler Joe Paterno, head coach at Penn State, was once offered a coaching job in the NFL. He was offered something near 4 million dollars a year. He turned it down saying, "If you're not saving lives no job is worth a million bucks a year."
In 2008 Paterno made $512, 000. Pete Carroll makes about 4 million plus.
When you walk around State College's campus you get sort of numb to all the buildings and libraries with the name Paterno on them. This wasn't an honour bestowed on him. After living his life, sending his kids to school and buying whatever he thought he might need he had money left over so he'd donated his surplus cash to the University so that kids could enjoy the place, could come and get the
Click image: "Remembering When" by Unknown best education possible.
Back before Reagan, back when greed was considered a vice and not a virtue Joe Paterno was considered a pretty normal American. You made the money you needed to take care of your needs and your family and you used what was left to help other people get a leg up, get a chance to be what they want to be or at least enough to give them a helping hand.
Greed has always been with us. Its a pretty human trait. America perfected it. Europe and Asia followed. And now greed is destroying the world.
A world at war, a world in tatters and rags. The rich are begging and the poor are fighting to stay alive. Reaganomic trickle down theories were always hogwash, an excuse to be greedy. Rockefeller tossing shiny new roosevelt dimes out his limousine windows to the "darkies". He used to chuckle watching the kids and adults clamour for them.
Today. Obama gets inaugurated as President. Its a big deal that he black and is going to be
Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Cole Phillips President. It disheartens me that its a big deal.
When you read prophetic novels and non-fiction from the 40's and 50's the general hope was that by the 90's we'd have ended war, ended hunger and would stand with all men as being equal. Only Orwell's 1984 and ANimal Farm proved to be accurate.
Conservative governments world wide put a stop to peace and change. All the energy was directed at preserving their old vision of the world. These are the guys who would have thought to sit on the tribunal to find Gallieo guilty of heresy and seen him burned at the stake.
Obama is getting a world that's been made smaller and even more divided. A world where the rich are committed to destroying the poor. Where our way of life is in hock to the most populous nation on earth and several more of our greatest enemies.
Enemies we've worked diligently to make hate us.
I hope Obama has some greatness in him. It will take greatness to stand up to the attacks and to the rich who despise him, the bigots who despise him and the Republicans who have pledged to stop any changes he might need to make.
Its an arduous path in front of him. The only good thing for him is that he can't make it any worse.
Good luck to him. Good luck to us all.

The word on the car is that the engine is seized, bearings burned, etc. Can't even be overhauled has to be replaced. $3,750. About what I expected but you always hold out hope.
The facts are that the car has a top Blue Book of $4,000. We don't have $3,750. A new car would run about $350 to $500 on a four year, depending on what we get (of course). Can't afford it.
I feel a touch smug its not my decision to make. I can only advise. Its a 9 year old car.
The rental is a nice Nissan Versa. It would actually be the cheapest and it looks like it would fit 3 or 4 dogs but it rides awfully low.
Haven't bothered to check out used cars yet. Need to do more thinking and fact gathering.

The dogs are at least happy. My puppy pushing through chest high snow makes me smile. She's frustrated trying to flatten out a section of ground where she can go to the bathroom, but she's having fun doing it.
The giant dog is driving me crazy with his ball in the tiny office. This morning he was leaping around
Click images for desktop size: "Morning" by Maxfield Parrish like a wild thing. He'd got a leaf tangled in his fur on his face. I removed it and he was irked. It was the best toy he's had in 15 or 20 minutes! I tried to put it back. It fell off but he kept chasing it.
Gentle dog is over being angry about not going to work with my friend.
The cat hasn't gone to the bathroom in the house, or at least I haven't discovered it . . . yet, which is nearly the same thing as her not going . . .
I shoveled the entire driveway, including the final 10 yards of heavy slush. Had a pleasant chat with the Postie who thought I was crazy to do it with a shovel. The neighbor buried the mailbox . . . I wonder how much of this is him just being an inconsiderate idiot jerk and what is malicious just out of patent ingrained jerkiness. While I was shoveling he drove in. Blanked me of course and nearly hit me gunning up the hill. I avoided him and the spray of slush because I'm still cool and quick.
My friend is happy with how much she got done in her Hell Week quarter end. Did some work at home for a few hours thanks to a, finally, smooth running Citrex system.
So all is good in the world except for transportation.
My friend's assistant offered to pick her up and bring her home next week. Since I calculate its about 40 minutes out of her way a week should be all she could handle. But it just goes to show there's still plenty of good in the world.