Polly Only Aims to Please

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Because... Bill Dennis says what he really enjoys is...

CHICKS WITH NICE, BIG KNOCKERS...


Whatever gets you through the day, Buddy. I try not to judge...

NO EXCUSES!!! GET OFF YOUR LARD ASS AND VOTE!!!

I know it is snowing. I know it is cold. I know you are busy. I just don't give a rat's ass. We have young kids fighting and dying in Iraq every day trying to secure another country's right to have a say in their government, the least you can do is leave the comfort of your barcolounger or cubicle and let your opinion be known. Even if your opinion is wrong. It's not like you have to dodge bullets or anything. I really don't care if you have to wait in the cold for a bus or walk three miles in the snow. Chances are you don't, but even if you do, you carry far less of a burden than voters in other countries who turn out en mass for the opportunity to be heard.

There is no bigger shame or embarrassment than our country's poor voter turn out. Nothing does more to confirm the belief in the world's eye that Americans don't deserve/earn the freedom and opportunities we have than our inability to get off our collective arrogant and obese asses and get to the polls.

Besides, fellow blogger Eyebrows McGee is stuck being an election judge for about fifteen hours today and she will get paid a little bit of nothing to serve the pathetic few who bother to cast ballots. There are few jobs more tedious than election judge. She actually volunteered for the post. God bless you Eyebrows.

I feel for the candidates today. All that work, all that door-to-door knocking, shaking of hands, kissing babies, making calls, and then snow on election day. Strongly favored candidates have been known to lose due to a few flakes of snow. Lazy voters tend to think "Ah, I don't wanna brush the snow off my car. Topinka and/or Blago has it hands down anyway. I don't need to bother." Meanwhile the little known underdogs have die hard supporters who would be willing to duck gun fire to cast a ballot...

Go Edwin Eisendrath!!!

Polly Apologizes

I have been remiss about checking my blog e-mail. Too bad because there are some really great letters/ideas/new blogs/etc awaiting response in my virtual in-box. Life has been demanding lately, and I will respond to all of you eventually. Polly prizes both her fans and her enemies.

I especially want to apologize to Dr. John Carroll who has a new blog and also wrote me a letter I should have posted a long time ago regarding Peoria's lack of adequate fire/rescue service. I will do right by the issue Doc... just as soon as I can.

SA: I have posted regarding District 150 on more than a few occasions. I whole heartedly believe good, successful Peoria Public Schools are the key ingredient necessary to attract new businesses and tax paying brainacs to the area. In all fairness, I am related to a District 150 third grader who discussed fulcrums at length over dinner last night. After her lecture on fulcrums, she followed with a discussion of the mode, the mean and the median. These concepts were not introduced to me until college in my required physics and statistics courses... and even then they made me cry. I know District 150 first graders studying fractions. There are underachievers and problem schools in District 150, to be sure. There also good Peoria schools (Hines, Kellar, Charter Oak, Whittier to name a few), with dedicated teachers, parents, and students who accomplish and excel. We don't hear about them very often. Remember, the best middle school in the state is right here in Peoria- Washington Gifted.

Home of the Braves!

Wow!

Call me arrogant and/or superstitious, but since it worked so well the last two games, Polly predicts...

Memphis is gonna crush Bradley. Memphis is going to make the Braves cry like a group of lost pioneers surrounded by hostile Indians.

(Before anyone fire bombs my house, please read my previous post on this subject.)

A Dish and A Dis, Two Restaurant Reviews

Ate at Seven on Prospect last night, again. Good stuff. Always. I had the "Magnificent Seven" which is essentially every seafood known to man gathered in a tasty roma tomato sauce and slathered over pasta. My mouth waters at the memory.

Last night's dinner almost, but not quite, made up for the rather sorry dining experience I had earlier in the week at the new Basta Pasta also located on Prospect, and owned by the same folks who never fail to please me at Seven.

Basta Pasta blew. It blew chunks. I ordered the Greggio Pasta dish, which was supposed to be tenderloin served over fresh pasta served with a unique zesty sauce. In reality it was a very dry, overcooked and overpriced piece of meat propped up on a mound of overcooked bow tie noodles covered in a luke warm sauce I swear came out of a French's salad dressing bottle.

Any restaurant can have an off night. Normally I wouldn't be so harsh. My Significant Other ordered the Basta Pasta, which was as spicy and tasty as it was at the former location. However, the serving size was approximately a third of what it used to be. When I pointed out the new serving size my S.O.-who fears cardiac arrest- muttered, "Thank God." S.O. saw things my way when I pointed out that we were paying just as much for the petite portion as we paid for the former vat 'o pasta portion.

All would be forgiven except for the snooty policy of Basta. Our nieces, ages 6 and 10 joined us for dinner. Both adore any type of noodle -have yet to meet a kid who doesn't- and were looking forward to trying out the "New Basta" as they both really liked the "Old Basta." New Basta is trying to pose a haute Manhattan boutique restaurant, complete with a curt "Well behaved children welcome" posted on the menu. There is no children's menu, which is fine, the girls were happy to split an entree of spaghetti and meatballs. We were fined an eight dollar "plate fee" to do so. SNOBS. We specifically asked our waitress if this policy applied when well behaved children were involved. Our experience has been that even snotty Manhattan restaurants don't charge plating fees when kids are involved. Our waitress rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yes." Hey! Basta! You are located in PEORIA HEIGHTS. This is the Mid West, NOT Manhattan. You are a pasta joint, NOT an uppity French Restaurant. BTW, French Toast doesn't charge plating fees. Corking fee, yes. Plating fee, no.

It's back to Paparrazzi for Italian. Bruce Brown knows how to make a killer eggplant parmesan and is always nice to kids - well behaved or not!

How About Those Braves?!

Let me be the first to admit it. I really didn't think Bradley had a snowball's chance in hell of beating Kansas last night. At the half, when they were ten or so points ahead, I thought, "Damn. It's going to be painful to see Kansas come back from this."

Polly could not be happier to be put in her place and plain WRONG.

However, since my negativity and cynicism served the team so well last night, let me just say, "Damn. It's going to be painful to see the Braves lose the next round."

Who me? Superstitious? Nah!



My deepest sympathy to all dumbfounded Jayhawks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green Beer is on Me... Literally!

Ahh.... The entertainment that is St. Patrick's Day! Gotta love it. A time when otherwise normal, hardworking, responsible adults ditch work, and start getting sloshed before 10:00 a.m. while freezing and watching an otherwise lame parade go by. Downtown Peoria tends to take on an adult entertainment type feel well before the lunch hour- despite the presence of numerous children diving in the middle of the street to collect cheap candy.

No doubt Kelleher's will be filled to capacity, and I don't particularly care for crowds -or green beer spilled down my suit- so no Friday cheeseburger for lunch today. Wah!!! I will try to stop by the Judge's Chamber, because watching Union types get drunk always provides a few good laughs. Plus, Union guys happily buy strangers (or maybe just strange women) drinks.

It is also good fun to watch wanna be politicians take part in the parade. They are busy trying to appear as upstanding citizens while the surrounding citizens are busy getting sloshed and making fun of their bad ties.

I hope the Police Department is out in force tonight as well as the State Patrol. Since St. Paddy's Day falls on a Friday this year, I predict driving tonight will be even more dangerous than coming home New Year's Eve.

I will be home watching "High Noon" while munching on green popcorn. Enjoy yourselves, but remember: Drinking green beer is fun. Puking green beer is not.

Go Richwoods!!!

Love,

Paulina

Oh, the tangled web we weave when we are not nearly smart enough to deceive...

Separated at Birth?


Gov Never Will Be Oberweis....... and........ Goober?!

Despite the "tee-hee-hee" tone, I tip my hat to Jennifer Davis and Molly Parker who provided a very informative and funny Word on the Street column today.

I very much enjoyed reading about Desperate Wanna Be Guv -or any elected official really- Oberweis' inability to be - shall we say - accurate. (Read: Remotely truthful.) A few postings back I declared Ron Gidwitz was a lying dorkwad for his misleading attack ads against front runner Topinka. Why not the same treatment for Oberweis?

There is a slight compliment when I declare one to be a "Dorkwad." Dork implies that the person has a decent intellect, and may actually be bright or even smart. Think "Nerd" or "Geek." However, by adding "wad" to "Dork" I am saying that said person has chosen to behave like an ass, despite knowing better.

Frankly, Oberweis isn't smart enough to be labeled a "Dork." He is bright enough to make a fantastic chocolate peanut butter ice cream, but Oberweis' intellectual capacity ends there. Thus, I can forgive his pathetic attacks on Topinka and his airing of blatantly untrue campaign ads (all the while claiming he is the most ethical candidate) because Oberweis is an Goober/Gomer Pyle type who can't grasp what being ethical entails. If by some miracle Oberweis does win an election, any election, look for his office to be the most corrupt in the State. I don't believe Oberweis would intentionally commit crimes or misdeeds, but people working under him would be free to pursue crime and corruption to their heart's content and Oberweis would be none the wiser.

In an odd way, Oberweis reminds me of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay. Kenny was consumed with the task of selecting new fabric for the company's Lear Jet seats at the very same time his right hand man, Jeff Skilling, was breaking the news that Enron was toast and prison time was inevitable for them both.

I kind of feel sorry for Oberweis. It must be tough to have all the desire to hold a political office and not an ounce of the required ability. One would think after two very expensive self funded failed Senate races, poor Oberweis would take a hint.

Anyone remember Al Salvi?

GOAL!!!

Yes! I got on scale this morning and was amazed and delighted to see that I had at last obtained my goal/dream/obsession of well over a decade. My weight now corresponds to what I stated it to be on my driver license.

Now I only need to grow another two inches, obtain the same height I stated on my drivers license, and I'll be the perfect woman.

I'm so proud that I'm posting another nudie bubble bath picture. (Forgive the appearance of my bathroom, it has just entered it's second year of "remodeling.")

Kelly Monaco eat your heart out.

I live to Make Bill Dennis Happy....

Bill wanted to see a picture of moi taking a bubble bath. Do you know how difficult it is to take a picture of one's self taking a bubble bath?! My Significant Other screamed at me, not because I wanted to post nudish pics of myself on the internet, but because I was using the digital camera while taking a bath.

I know, does S.O. have the wrong priorities or what?!