This weekend was very... interesting. We went camping Friday evening with J's parents in Graham Cave State Park, and that was fun. We got there around 7:30 (would've been a half hour sooner except for horrible traffic). We played with his baby sister, talked, had a good dinner, and just generally had a good time. Heh, we were the last group to put out the camp fire & go to bed, that was funny. (J & I turned in around 11:30pm, and J's mom, dad, brother, & sister went to bed I guess a half hour after that at most.)

The next day we went on an "interpretive walk" up a trail to the cave, and that was really neat. The roof of the cave mouth is sandstone, which sloughs off over time, naturally, but there were lots of signatures on the roof of it still. (Before the cave was excavated there was a lot of dirt built up underneath the roof so you could reach it then. It's 16' high off the level ground.) There were names and dates back to the late 1800's!! That was awesome.

We drove back (it was in a different part of the park than the campgrounds), and when we pulled J's car into the spot next to their truck & RV, it scraped up against this wooden 4x4 that had been used as a parking marker (like the concrete ones). A groove had been made in the concrete and the wood had been set in it (not attached) at a 45º angle so it stuck up higher. Well, we hit it just right and it scraped a hole in the radiator hose at the bottom of J's car. It shouldn't even have happened, because the hose was supposed to be up above, and protected by, some rubber flashing underneath the car, but whoever'd attached it (either at the plant, or since then) hadn't attached it right so it hung slightly below.

After the car cooled, they took some silicone J had in his car already, and plugged the hole, then they wrapped some duct tape really tight around the whole thing. Then, they filled it with water. When we were all ready to leave, after putting away the tent, tarps, etc., they followed us back to Danville (the nearest town). We couldn't find an open service station or auto shop, so we headed east for Warrenton. We'd made it that far without the hose giving out, but when we stopped at an auto place J's grandma always took her car, they said it was a dealer part (the hose is a formed hose with a U bend in it, and a right angle in it, not just a plain bendable rubber hose) and they didn't have one. So we headed for St. Louis and hoped for the best, while J's parents, who'd followed us that far, went on their own way.

We called my dad on the cell to let him know we might get stuck and call them, and he said just to drive directly to their place. The hose made it all the way there, and when we got there the diagnosis was that basically we're going to have to take it to a dealer to fix, because of all the crap that has to come out of the car, just to replace the hose (the alternator, the water pump, etc.). In the meantime, they went to an auto parts store and a hardware store, bought some copper pipe and some clamps, and my dad forced the pipe inside the hose (it was a perfect fit) so it would serve as a conduit in place of the section of hose, and put the clamps at the ends of the pipe so they were guaranteed an airtight fit for a short while. It's not pretty, but it's functional until Monday when J can take it somewhere to get it fixed.

So, the camping & cave trip was a lot of fun, but the rest of the day could've been better. Then again, it could've been a whole lot worse. We could've gotten stuck in the middle of nowhere with no help, no nearby exits, etc. We could've had an oil leak instead of an antifreeze leak, not known about it, and locked up the engine. Lots of other things worse than this. So it was an interesting weekend. Bad thing is, we wanted to go to Jeff City with his family and spend the rest of the weekend there, but there was no way we could've pulled that off. So instead we did a lot of nothing the rest of the weekend. We wrapped it up with a really good dinner at Olive Garden though, a nice finish on things if you ask me.

It's already Sunday evening, and I haven't had the chance to look at the Friday Five or the Saturday Scruples. And I really don't feel like bothering to do them, so I think I'll wait until the next ones (and try and do them on time).

I haven't posted in a couple days, but I've been kinda busy working on other stuff. The first major thing I've finished on this site is my Pet Peeves section (linked to the right). It's more or less the same content as the old section, for those of you who've seen it already, but it's now done in the blue style of this section. Also, I've got it set up in MovableType (the same as this main page) so it'll be easier to update. Heh, I might go through my rants in this section and see if there's anything that qualifies as a pet peeve of mine. Because it's done this way, it's also set up so any pet peeve I have can be commented on, so if you read one and feel like totally sounding off about it (good or bad) that's the way to do it.

Next up for MovableType migration is my Funny Forwards section. I figure it'll also be easier to manage this way. I have a lot more custom alignment for it than I did with my peeves, but it'll work out.

Also, I've changed my links to the right. The "In-House Links" section is now an included php file. It can be passed an argument that tells it what the current location is, and if the current location is the same as one of the links, it'll not link it & put "»" in front of it instead of a dot. I don't have this implemented everywhere yet (like the archives) but this way it'll work with any site I use it in. So, when I redo my pages to this design, all the pages within this design will have the exact same "In-House" link section, with your current location dynamically noted. (There will be a couple places on this site, most notably Squeeker's Tribute that will not be changing, and will not be using this.)

Finally, I haven't yet changed my archives to all display in 100% of the window yet, but I expect to get that done soon. This includes the main archive page that shows all the calendar months this page has something posted, with links to each month & day. Also, I'm hoping to make all the archives use the main CSS file for colors, fonts, etc. so I only have to update once. That means merging its rules with the ones for the main site, but that shouldn't be too hard.

1. You dream that friends die in a plane crash. The next day they announce a trip to Greece. Do you mention your dream?
   Not until after they're back from their trip. I've never, ever had any "foreshadowing" dreams, and I doubt I'm ever likely to start. So while it would freak me out a little, in an irrational sort of way, I know my dream was coincidence and not predictive of the future.
2. Your spouse ofers to let you have an affair if s/he can. Do you accept the offer?
   Hell no! And I'd definitely start a discussion as to why he'd want me to, especially asking if he'd already had an affair, or was hoping I'd take him up on it and let him do the same thing. I'd really wonder if he already had his eye on someone.
3. You're a college teacher. One of your students plagiarized an essay and should fail the course. She's from a disadvantaged minority. Do you make an exception?
   Nope. The whole point of anti-discrimination is not to treat anyone different for any reason other than whatever merits (or lack thereof) pertain to the situation. The student cheated, that's that. Of course, cheating once on one essay, IMHO, should never be a reason for automatic class failure. In my class, I would always make it clear that any assignments with plagiarized work would be automatically failed, and a student with a second offense would fail the class. This would be true regardless of the sex, race, eye color, shoe preference, etc., of the student. So in this case, if it was the student's first offense, she would receive a failing grade (aka a zero) for the essay, and be told exactly why she failed. If it was her second offense, yes she would fail the class.

1. Would you say that you're good at keeping touch with people?
   Sadly, not really. I tend to get caught up in day-to-day stuff, and take forever getting around to calling or writing various people. It's definitely something I ought to fix though.
2. Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why?
   I prefer email or the phone usually. I'm terrible about writing actual letters (I type faster than I write, though my printing is perfectly legible). And I guess I like talking on the phone well enough. A lot of people I should be keeping in touch with, it's impractical to keep in touch in person. Some, though, it's impractical to keep in touch with any electronic way, which leaves phone or snail mail. And phone is usually long distance. All of which explains (not excuses) why I'm terrible about keeping in touch with people.
3. Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it?
   I have 2 ICQ accounts, one home one which I never use anymore, and one at work. I also have an AIM account. At work I have Trillian over ICQ, and I use it for both ICQ & AIM. I only have the AIM account because my mom and sister use it, though I rarely see them on it, and ICQ is nice because I do talk to one or two friends on it, plus the occasional non-annoying "new acquaintance". It breaks up the day, and some of the people I talk to are also in the computer field so I can ask them technical questions if I'm stuck on something.
4. Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away?
   I'd have to say it's roughly 50/50, though I only have one who lives more than 300 miles away.
5. Are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makse the heart grow fonder"?
   That really depends on who I'm distant from. Obviously, I miss my hubby when we're apart, and I certainly don't forget about him. But with friends... as I say, I'm terrible about keeping in touch, so I don't think every night, "who am I going to call tonight?" Maybe I should, at least on the weekends, but again... that's something I know needs fixing.

I've started the process of converting all my pages to have the same style as this one. In that spirit, as you may have noticed, I decided to change from a fixed page size to a flexible one the full browser screen size.

I also noticed one of my pages, which I haven't had available in a while, is a good candidate to be updated using MovableType. (This page hasn't even been available at Crosswinds -- way back when their servers crashed & lost all their info, I never got it reuploaded. And I never got a page ready for here either.) This would be my Pet Peeves section. I have all the old ones organized, but I haven't finished the viewing interface yet, so I'm not going to link it yet. Also, I have my comics page ready, and if I don't have it linked yet I will soon.

I'm also thinking about what sections I want to change (some will need a major overhaul), what sections I want to toss altogether, and what sections I may want to add. So what's linked in the "In House Links" is "subject to change without notice", as they say.

But bit by bit I'm working on it, and it will get done this time. (Yeah yeah, I say that every time, but this time I think this is the design I'm going to stick with for a while, at least the major elements. I might tweak colors here & there, but the main stuff is here to stay. At least until those broken version 4 browsers are still around anyway. When I can move to just standard stuff, especially in the CSS department, it could be a very different ballgame.)

I had a counter at this URL from Bravenet right up until I switched over to this new layout (basically using my weblog as the front page). For it, I'd recently picked a counter from Jelly Counter because they allow use of custom numbers (you just create & upload the numbers, then give a path to each number). But, I decided I like Bravenet's statistics way better (they're far more comprehensive and go back a lot farther).

So, I added a little over a quarter the number of stats from the custom counter to the original counter (20 to be exact), and then changed the code to use Bravenet's counter instead. A quarter, because some of those came from when this wasn't the main page, and because a lot of those hits were mine anyway. It's a guess, because like I said they don't show enough history of the statistics to know exactly (Jelly Counter only shows the last 5 referrers, rather than the last 50 Bravenet shows) but I figure it's close enough.

Bravenet does need to provide a few more small counters, because I had very few to pick from that would fit in the space I want to give it, but this one's okay. (Better still is if Bravenet started allowing custom counters, but with all the stuff they offer and handle, I can understand if they don't wish to.)

A friend of mine was in an accident Friday night. Thankfully he'll be okay (broken shoulder bone, but otherwise unhurt). Things like this really make you think, especially because, as he noticed, it could have been a whole lot worse if it'd happened 2 seconds earlier or 2 seconds later. As in, dead.

In case you see this Chris, hope you feel better soon, and that everything works out okay.

1. Legal attempts to stop clear-cutting of a forest of giant red woods have failed. Local activists plan to sabotage the logging company's machinery. Do you support this action?
   That is definitely a grey area. I suppose if absolutely every possible legal path has been explored and has failed, I would. Only if this sabotage would not result in anyone getting hurt, because the workers are just there to do their jobs, and don't deserve to be hurt or killed.
2. The construction company where you work is doing a shoddy, dangerous job. If you tell the client, the company may go bankrupt. Do you tell?
   No question about it, I would. I can find another job, and couldn't take the chance that someone (or several someones) could get hurt because my company is doing a crappy job. And they're probably that close to bankruptcy in the first place, because of past shoddy workmanship, so they shouldn't be in business.
3. Men: you're single. You sleep with someone you hardly know and two months later, she's having your baby. Do you accept this lifelong responsibility?
   Um... heh, this question isn't directed towards me, so I really can't answer. I would just hope men answering this would accept the responsibility, at least for the child's sake, regardless of whether the woman tricked him. (It is possible to take an active role in a child's life even if you don't want to have anything further to do with the woman, and who would if she "tricked" him into bearing a child?)

1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why?
   My favorite subject throughout most of my school career up to high school was math. Except for trig, which I never could fully wrap my mind around, and geometry, which was exceedingly boring, I liked math. Most of the time I was really good at it. I wasn't a big fan of calculus though, so that's why I quit liking it in college (I had to take 3 semesters of the stuff).
2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
   I have a few favorite teachers. I liked most of my grade school teachers, so I couldn't pick a favorite there. My favorite teacher by far in middle school was Mr. Glenn, hands down. He was my 8th grade science teacher, and that class was a blast (and not because he didn't teach us stuff -- we learned stuff there). I had a few teachers I liked in high school too, and a few in college. I liked them all because they had a good sense of humor, knew how to teach (i.e. how to not be boring & not throw stuff flying over everyone's heads), and were fair.
3. What is your favorite memory of school?
   I'm not sure I have one single favorite memory. There isn't any one thing wrt school that stands out above the rest.
4. What was your favorite recess game?
   Um... I can't really remember that far back. Most of the time our recess in grade school wasn't that structured, and I didn't bother playing in any games, just played on the playground or walked around with friends.
5. What did you hate most about school?
   Ooh, that's tough. Probably having to ride the bus for middle school. My grade school and high school were both too close to ride the bus, so in grade school my mom took me, and in high school I walked. The bus was definitely something I would've been happy to miss.

It's Friday the 13th... I'm scared... Anyone else worried? </light sarcasm>

I think we might have to start perusing this site's archives. They have some easy looking recipes, that sound really good.

I think this person's journal entry is very apropos to how I feel about all the media sensationalism going on today. Regardless of the reasons for what happened last year (which are discussed in the entry's comments), all the cashing in that's been going on since September 12, 2001, is repulsive.

Welcome to my new site. It's not really new, just in a different location (as in, here, not in a subdirectory). After much deliberation (see a couple entries in this past week or so) I've decided to make this my main page, since it's what I update most frequently. Also, it incorporates all the posts I've made in my "News" section here in the past.

There are things you can't get to from here just at th emoment, but I expect to put "in house" links in the "Links" section to the right, that link to all that stuff. So if you like going to "Funny Forwards" (which is in a sad state of non-updated-ness) or whatever, there will be a link to it again shortly.

Tell me what you think in the comments section (which isn't finished to my satisfaction yet, so what it looks like now will change), or in my forum.

I have my new glasses. Yea! I had my eye appointment a week ago last Monday (August 26), and picked a few frames for them to order, so I could try them on. They came in a week ago for me to try (actually, they came in the Saturday right before that, but we weren't home. ), so I went in and picked a pair I liked. They told me the "standard" 3-5 days, but it turns out that the lenses that are usually in stock at their local supplier, weren't. I got a call early this afternoon from them saying they were ready, so I picked 'em up.

I can really tell the difference in prescription from my old ones (which are 8-9 years old!). I was almost getting vertigo turning my head this way and that to look at things, though not when I just moved my eyes to look. My depth perception is all outta whack, especially when looking at the ground around my feet! The sense of vertigo is already almost gone now that I've had about a half hour to get used to them, but it'll be a while before I stop having a hard time looking where I'm going on steps.

The nice thing about these, is they're lighter than my old ones because the frames are lighter and they're flat out smaller. Also, they have magnetic sunglasses so I can wear sunglasses again. (The clip-on ones you get at Walgreens don't fit smaller frame glasses at all, so with my old pair it was either wear glasses or wear sunglasses, not both.) That's especially good because I'm required on my driver's license to wear them (I pass w/ my old ones still -- there isn't a giant leap of difference) so I just had to squint when it was really bright outside.

But things are very sharp once again (almost... too sharp ). Possible next step in a year or two: contacts!

I got asked a very interesting question a few days ago, "Why don't you just make this your main website page, since you don't update the current ones anymore?" That's a very good question. And, I've gone so far as to take all the news entries I made over the past several months, and import them here, in preparation for the possible move.

There's one thing holding me back. My main site here is where I've wanted to redo the layout of my other (a.k.a. "primary") site. Thing is, I redid the layout, graphics, colors, etc., and then I redid it again. With both designs, I've never finished converting all my pages to the new one, in final preparation for copying them to my "primary" address.

Also, if I want all this stuff to appear there, it would either mean (a) setting up MovableType there, importing all my entries from here (which wouldn't be hard -- I could hypothetically do an export from here, then import that file to the new system there), or (b) copying all the files generated here by MT over there. There are several problems with (a). First and foremost, there's no CGI or MySQL allowed for users at Crosswinds, even Premium (though I've heard some of that is "in the works"). So I can't run MT over there, and it would need to run over there in order to create the files over there. (There is no FTP involved in MT -- it all runs locally.) Second, any time I made a post in one place, I'd also have to make it in the other place, and then of course editing the timestamp on the second entry to match the first.

There are also a few problems with option (b). I use SSI a fair amount in here, so I can have some things only be in a file one time, and that file included here & there, rather than have the same repeated stuff in every stinkin file. However, SSI is also not available at Crosswinds. So, I couldn't just FTP all the files to my local drive and then FTP them back up to CW. I'd have to go through all the files that include stuff, and paste in the code of whatever was actually being included, and then upload them. Also, my main archive page that shows all the months that have posts in calendar format, uses php to put them in 3-column format (i.e. there are 3 months in a row). And yep, you guessed it, php isn't available at Crosswinds. So, I'd have to view->source on that, copy it, save it as a file, then upload it to CW.

So basically, while it's easy to have what you see here open as my main site at wired-wolf (even with the JellyCounter instead of Bravenet's counter, because JellyCounter allows custom numerals), no matter how you shake it I'm going to have my work cut out for me hauling it all over to my Crosswinds site.

This begs the question, "So why not just unload/ignore/whatever your Crosswinds site and just use this one?" Well... besides the fact I'm kinda partial to it, I have a free domain name waiting for me there, I just have to pick one that's open. (playfulkitten.com is already taken, and playfulkitten.net would be almost identical to what it is already. playful-kitten.com is available though, as are some others I'm considering). So that'd be kinda dern nice. And yeah, registering a domain name myself and having it point here wouldn't be that expensive, but we're in "cost cutting" mode right now, and that's an expense I can't justify at all right now. So I'd kinda like to have my own domain name (ooh, shiny!) and the only way I'll have one right now is to have one for my CW account.

Ugh. I guess I'd better get to work on my comments layout (they're the "default" that came loaded with MT right now) to get it the way I want. (Since NetComments is down right now, I want to start using MT's comments, which you can technically already use right now. BUT, I don't have a copy of my layout. I'm waiting for it to be emailed to me by NC's creator/owner/operator/guru, but I don't have it yet. And it's going to be a PITA to recreate it just off the stylesheets I have for it.)

All in all, I have a TON of work to do for all this, and as usual not enough hours to do it in. Oh, and yes I plan on keeping all (or most) of the content I have for my site ("Squeeker's Tribute", "Funny Forwards", etc.) available, it'd just be linked in here as links "within the site" or whatever.

I decided I wanted to finally play 11th Hour after having purchased it who knows how many years ago (but at a good price IIRC, it was a few years after it came out & I happened across it for cheap). At first I couldn't get it to run, but now I'm zipping right along. Okay, I had a little help from various & sundry walkthroughs for a couple of the puzzles (I've done at least 2/3 myself though).

One of the walkthroughs mentioned, in its overview before getting down to details, that you can't save once you get to the title spot, i.e. the 11th hour. There are sections in the game, one hour each, and when you get to the mansion you start at 7pm. At the end of each one, to get to the next, is a puzzle you play against Stauf (the bad guy) himself. I'm at the one at the end of the 3rd section (right before the 11th hour). It's basically "Connect Four" (with a twist, of course -- no red and blue pieces to drop into a yellow plastic grid). I've saved up to that point, about as late as possible. I remember being good at the game as a kid, but I can't beat him. Dammit. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night or something.

Anyway... if I sound incoherent (no clue if I do or not) J and I split a bottle of wine (7 glasses, he had 4 & I had 3). After 1 glass each we already recognized "man, this is some good stuff!" He read the bottle & it's 12% alcohol. Strong, for wine. So... I'm a little tipsy and it's also quite late (past my bedtime, especially since I have to get up at 5:45am to go to work early tomorrow). So... I'm a bit "out there" if ya know what I mean...

1. You've agreed to sublet your apartment to someone. Someone else offers you an extra 50% a month to give it to her. Do you?
   Nope. If you've already made an agreement with "Person A" to sublet, even if it's verbal and not on paper, it's still a commitment, and I would never go back on my word for money, even half again as much.
2. Your boss congratulates you for a brilliant suggestion and hints at a promition. A subordinate gave you the idea. Do you mention this to the boss?
   Sure. Although I probably would've mentioned it before I even gave it, so the boss would've already known it was another person's idea, and that I'm just presenting it. Credit where credit is due.
3. You're a college basketball star with high grades. An infertile couple offers you $4000 to donate semen/an egg. Do you agree to do it?
   I think I would. It wouldn't matter about the basketball or grades either. If the woman in the couple can bear children, but her eggs aren't viable (I'm female, so it'd be eggs), and she wants to give birth rather than adopt a child already born (donating my eggs would, in my eyes, be sort of a form of adoption), then that'd be fine. I'd be honored if someone, for whatever reason, wanted me to be the donor, and happy if I could help someone else have a child. Obviously, I wouldn't donate enough that I couldn't have kids, but assuming there's nothing wrong with my eggs, that shouldn't be an issue.

1. What is your biggest Pet Peeve? Why?
   I'd have to say my biggest pet peeve is lousy drivers. Why? Because their ignorance, stupidity, and disregard for others behind the wheel ranges from being irritating to being dangerous. Everything from people who won't signal and won't stop for stop signs, to people who run VERY red lights (i.e. red before they got to the intersection) and tailgate people a foot away on the highway, who're technically already speeding anyway, because THEY'RE more important and want to go lots faster. Some of it is just sheer laziness, and most of the time that's more likely to be annoying than anything else. Other of it is selfish beligerence, people who think every road has their name on it and that the traffic laws apply to others.
2. What irritating habits do you have?
   What? Me? None, of course! Seriously, I have the habit of tapping my fingernails on things (desks, tables, whatever) especially when I have a song with a good beat in my head. I've known that to get on some people's nerves quite badly. I try not to do it if someone is obviously annoyed by it, but sometimes I catch myself doing it anyway (it's something I don't always realize I'm doing).
3. Have you tried to change the habits or just let them be?
   Well, if I'm in the mood to do it, and there's no one bothered by it, I just keep on tapping. If someone has expressed annoyance, especially if they've been polite, I do my best to quit doing it in their presence.
4. What grosses you out more than anything else? Why?
   Well, nothing really makes me honestly say "Ew! Ga-RO-osss!" except in jest. But I do have a real problem with needles. And it's not really that I'm grossed out per se, I just don't like them. Every time I've had to be stuck my a needle, or given any blood, I absolutely cannot watch. Even so, they make me very anxious. I also can't watch surgery, unless all they're showing is the view from a scope in someone's intestines/arties/etc. I can't stand to watch a needle or scalpel pierce someone's skin. Ick!!
5. What one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do?
   Hmm... that's a tough one. Of course, there are things that people do like rape, murder, theft, etc., that I would never, EVER do. There are lots of sexual things I can't see myself doing (menage a trois, dominatrix stuff, anal, etc.). But one thing a lot of people have done every day, that I could never see myself doing, is elective (i.e. not covered by insurance) plastic surgery. Sure, if I had bad burns in a fire that scarred me, I'd have skin grafts, or if I had to have a breast removed entirely due to cancer I'd consider breast reconstruction. But, I can't ever imagine having breast augmentation, face lifts, liposuction (I don't weigh in heavy enough, nor am I likely to because of genetics, that I'd need it for health reasons), collagen injections, laser treatment to remove wrinkles, etc. I just don't see the point in it.
   
   Sure it's great to look younger than you are, but it's not worth thousands of bucks to me, nor is it worth the pain, recovery, and possible screwups, to have this. Not to mention, you see plenty of people (especially women) who're 60+ years old desperately trying to look 20-something again, who just look like 60+ year old women with lots of plastic surgery, and who'd probably look better if they hadn't gone under the knife. That is NEVER going to be me.

J's sister got married this past weekend, and so we stayed Friday night thru Monday day out there. It was a great time (except even the best sofabed isn't as comfy as a real bed, hehe). I got to know J's aunts & cousin on his stepdad's side, and that was cool. I'm sufficiently weird enough to fit right in! And I love their sense of humor.

The wedding was beautiful. It was outside, and though it was a little warm, it wasn't too bad (well... the men in their tuxes and suits probably thought differently). It was at a local winery, and in spite of all the ways the owner tried to screw everything up, the wedding and reception (also at the winery, inside in their upstairs room) came off well. It looked like everyone had a great time, including the bride and groom. I know I did.

1. The couple in the next apartment is brawling. Later, you speak to the woman who has minor bruises. She asks you not to call the police. Do you call them?
   Hmm, that is a helluva tough one. I probably wouldn't, but I'd make sure she understood that (a) NO ONE should have to put up with that kind of crap, so she shouldn't either, and (b) I'd probably call the police if I heard them fighting again, and NOT wait to see what she came out looking like -- just call the police upon hearing the fight.
2. A member of the school board is convicted of shoplifting. She is a competent official. As a parent, do you support demands for her resignation?
   Hmm. The problem with this, is that if she shoplifts then that would indicate dishonesty, and that's not good for a schoolboard. Competency or not, if she could end up ripping off the school and/or school district, then she should NOT be on the board. I suppose if a shrink declared her a klepto, and she sought help for it, I would support keeping her. Otherwise, she'd have to go.
3. You're shaken up in an auto accident. Your lawyer can get a large settlement if you exaggerate your aches and pains. Do you?
   Nope. I don't rip people off. I would want a settlement appropriate to the damage actually done to me and my car (i.e. completely cover my car repair and medical costs). And of course, even that assumes the accident was the other person's fault. (I wouldn't be going for any settlement if it were my fault.)