Pension Lawsuit Hearing Cancelled

I can't believe this. After waiting over 5 months for a ruling on the case and setting a hearing for this Friday to announce the ruling; the judge has agreed to a continuance because the Gov asked for it. They want to know what the ruling order of the court is, prior to the hearing so they can prepare proper documents seeking "relief" of whatever the order is. Rick Scott is an a$$. So is Pam Bondi.

The Potential of Lent

Today is the beginning of Lent. As a recovering Catholic, I was raised to conform to the various religious sacrifices and behavioral limitations of the religion. Anyway, the beginning of Lent has always been an opportunity to improve ones self by restraining from partaking in some activity that may be limiting our potential. It isn't necessarily an addiction, but it could be something that takes up way too much of your time, money, or is unhealthy. It may be you're obsessed with your smartphone, or facebook. Or perhaps you drink too much soda, coffee, beer or alcohol. Maybe you eat chocolate for breakfast everyday, or eat too much processed food, or you need to lose weight. Perhaps you watch too much TV and neglect your exercises, or skip walking the dog. It may be that you just love your new Kindle and spend too much money from your budget on Amazon.

 

My point of view concerning any of these activities, is that it's not a problem until it's a problem. And you'll know when its a problem. You could ask yourself, what is the one thing I could never give up for forty days? If you have one thing, it may be a problem. Is that one thing affecting your time, money, health or relationships in a negative manner? Then maybe you should give it a rest.

 

Thus the Opportunity of Lent, which is an article I read today among the hundreds of blogs I follow via RSS. Its about the benefits of giving something up for Lent. And the reasons have nothing to do with religion. It has to do with behaving intentially, developing empathy, confronting your excesses, gaining better self control and saving time and money. All of these are positive things and giving something up for Lent may help you.

 

When I ask myself what I could never give up for forty days, there are several things. If I think about giving one of them up, for instance, beer; it may create some disharmony in my relationship with my spouse. I personally think I could give up beer (after all I quit drinking soda at the beginning of the year and haven't missed it) but it will change our habit of going out weekly for wings and beer. If I give up beer, that means DH will have to drink the WHOLE pitcher of beer that comes with the wing special, instead of splitting it with me. But we could just quit getting the chicken wing special and he could just order a 1/2 pitcher or a bottle of beer. I don't drink soda now, so that leaves wine or water. And whats the point of giving up beer to just replace it with wine? So that leaves water. How dull. And cheap. I like to be frugal, but I don't like being cheap. So my choice would probably be to just skip going out to eat. It wouldn't hurt me to give up chicken wings too.

 

So, I'm seriously going to think about how I can improve myself by giving up something for Lent. How about you?

Pension Lawsuit Ruling due Friday 2/24

Coming up this FRIDAY, FEB. 24, 2012 in the Florida State Legislature concerning the PENSION LAWSUIT:

 

Judge Jackie Fulford conducts a hearing next to issue a ruling in the case challenging the changes to the pension laws. The judge is reserving one hour for the hearing. The Florida Education Association, is spearheading a class-action lawsuit filed last June arguing that the state's new law requiring state employees to contribute 3 percent of their pension to their retirement violates contractual and collective-bargaining rights of employees. The FEA largely pins the case on a 1974 law that says the rights of retirement system members are "contractual in nature" and "shall not be abridged in any way." (Friday, 3 p.m., Leon County Courthouse, Courtroom 3D, 301 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee.)

 

HERE are the lawsuit documents.

 

via

Happy Birthday Hottie!

Happy Birthday Grampa Scotty!

Another year has passed and this man is still a hottie. I'm posting the picture of this old hot bod far down below so you don't accidentally show the grandchildren that Grampa likes to play at the beach with his friend. Did I forget to mention that they're both wearing thongs? Men in Thongs. Yes. Because they are hotties. Can your DH wear a thong in public? When they are 53? Well, if not you better get them on some sort of workout program or diet or something.

So, happy birthday hotness. I love you and you will always be my sweethot.

(And Billy, you're next on the hot seat, enjoy your youth while you still have it.)

Don't Lose Your Groove

Last weekend was the coldest of the year, with temps below freezing at night and a blustery wind blowing during the day. It was not the kind of weather we are used to here in FL. So this week, I've been lazy and drove to work, until today. I haven't been on my bicycle for a week since last Thursday. And I felt it. Its amazing how quickly you lose your stamina, health and energy when you don't use it. Just a few days off your normal schedule of walks, rides and workouts can throw off your groove. Granted, we still took walks, and we got firewood three different days in the last week - but its not the same.

 

At first when I got on my bike I thought I had low tire pressure. Nope they are fine. Then I imagined the wind was against me. Nope, the flags are still. Then I thought it was the steep hill I was riding up, but I've ridden up it faster in the past. It really was just me. I'm getting old (like someone else who has a birthday tomorrow), and this bike riding requires more effort than when I was twenty or thirty.

 

But then when I was wheeling my bike into my office, I discovered a tack in my tire.

 

That's my excuse.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's my frugal valentine day flowers for all of you! I'm not really the type to get real excited about holidays, especially when they've become so commercialized. But everyone does seem to be happier on this cold winter day, so that's a good thing.

 

My dear husband is taking me to the Florida State Fair for our valentine's date. We'll see the circus and the extreme motorsports shows, and try to find some food that isn't going to totally ruin our diets, maybe a gyro or fajita. Oh, and we'll stop by to see Bobo the clown heckler, and the farm animals.

 

Frugal fun.

State of Florida Pension Lawsuit Update

I've been keeping my eye on the progress of this court case (Senate Bill 2100) and yesterday there was an update. If you recall, last July the Florida Legislature passed a law requiring all state employees to begin contributing 3% of their salary towards their pension. A lawsuit for breach of contract was filed, a court hearing held and we are awaiting the judges decision. Meanwhile, the state began taking the money and putting it in the general revenue (not the pension fund) even though the matter is not resolved.

 

Well, there's been an update relating to the case. The state of Arizona also had similar legislation last year where they imposed a higher % of contribution on the employees. This resulted in a lawsuit for breach of contract. This judge was a little quicker and decided in Dec 2011, that the law change was deemed an unconstitutional impairment of employees contractual rights.

 

This legal opinion was submitted as a plaintiffs notice of supplemental authority for the judge to consider in her decision which was are still waiting for. We can only hope that the long time (since Oct 11, 2011) it has taken the judge to make her decision means she didn't know what the hell to do. Perhaps this very recent legal decision will sway her mind and we'll see a positive outcome to this. Hopefully, before the legislators decide to keep taking more from the state employees while they're in session now.

TGIF Sunrise

Got this photo from my weatherbug app. I like to use the camera feature to see all the great places I'd rather be than at work.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is beautiful in the sunrise today.

A Crane In The Neck

These lovely two birds, Sandhill Cranes have taken up residence near my office. Almost every day we see them strutting around the parking lot between cars looking at themselves in the reflection and making that weird googling clucking noise. They like to walk around the building too and stare in the reflective windows and peck at their own shadows. Oh, by the way they too saw their shadows on this groundhog day, so we're in for another long six weeks of winter. Brr. Can't take these 60 degree nights much longer,

 

Anyway, these birds apparently are federally protected endangered species. But that pisses a few people off, because they are a nuisance. I like them though.They don't seem to be that smart though - choosing to peck in the dirt right by the road. They seem to have no fear of people or roads or cars and I wonder if I'll find one of the flattened on the road soon.

 

I was talking to the security guard who tries to shoo them away from cars today. It turns out some guy in the other office here has a really sparkly car, and the birds liked it a lot and were pecking at it so much, they caused $3000 worth of damage! Two birds, go figure.

2.1.12

Today is February 1st, 2012 - or 2.1.12 here in the United States; 2112 day!

 

From the RushCon newsletter:

SYNC UP. ROCK OUT. THE 2112 LISTENING PARTY. Tune into RushRadio.org on Wednesday February 1, 2012, at 9:12pm (in your time zone) for the world's largest streaming Rush listening party! The party will repeat 4 times, starting at 9:12pm EST, then at 9:12pm Central, Mountain, and Pacific timezones. So everyone will have a chance to join! Or heck, come for all 4 hours! The more Rush fans the better!

via Rush is a band