CaliValleyGirl

Appreciation

2010-10-19T16:19:00.000+02:00

My husband has been deployed now for over 7 months. It’s definitely different this time around, having kids. I’m kept busier, and the time seems to be flying by faster. But it does make me sad, because he is missing so much. I have heard other military families express this same feeling, but I never understood it until I lived it myself.

I was sitting on the sofa last night, and my 2 year old son clambered up next to me, and scooted his butt against the back of the couch and imitated how I was sitting on the sofa. And then turned up to look at my face, beaming. And it filled me with such joy and happiness. And then I realized how lucky I was to be spending time like this with my son, and how sad it was that my husband was missing a whole year of those special moments. A year of those beaming smiles. And it made me incredibly sad.

My husband and I have also discussed the fact that we both tend to have morbid thoughts a lot more…like when he was home for R&R and I was making video of him with the kids, I couldn’t silence the thought in the back of my head that this might be footage I show the kids later of them with their dad…their dad that they can’t quite remember, because he never came home. He says, he also worries about me and the kids, something happening to us.

Yes, it’s sad. But I think because we have these thoughts more often, I think we also have a better appreciation of our family. We realize how precious our moments together are. So it’s not all bad.

Upcoming deployment

2009-11-16T16:52:00.002+01:00

I rarely blog anymore. Blogging was a great outlet while my then-boyfriend, now-husband was deployed. But my blogging really petered out since he returned...over 3 years ago.

And in a few months he will be deploying again. But this time it will be a whole different situation: then we had only known each other a few months before he deployed. This time we will have been married a couple of years, and have two kids.

It will be a very different deployment. We will face different challenges: this time he will be saying goodbye to two young children, and his beloved dog, Susie. When he leaves our daughter will just be learning how to sit up, and might have a tooth or two. When he comes back she will be walking and talking. And our son, who is just 17 months old now, will be almost 3 when he gets back. So my husband will be missing out on a lot of developmental stages.

And not to cry myself a river, because I certainly have it a lot easier than many other military spouses, but I won’t be a carefree university student this time around. No, this time around, I will be a working mother of two…I won’t be able to sleep-in much that year. But I think that is a good thing: I won’t have much time to mope, because I will be so busy. My husband has said as much himself: he will have a few more responsibilities this time around as well.

I was prompted to write this post, because I got a comment today on a post I wrote before he deployed last time, and it was fascinating to reread it, and see who I was then, and my fears and thoughts before his departure.

A lot of what is written in that post is still true. But I would say there was a lot of the fear of the unknown then: I didn’t know what to expect. This time around I will have better expectation management. The fear about his safety will still be ever-present, but I don’t think I will be living and breathing the deployment as much as I did back then. In some ways it will be more difficult, because of the added responsibilities of taking care of a family on my own. But in many it will be easier, because I feel a lot more secure in our relationship and I will be distracted from my pity party.

Time will tell, and perhaps in three years I will re-read this post with fascination as well.

Picture Post

2009-08-16T20:29:00.013+02:00

I have been a lazy blogger of late, but I wanted to post a few pics of life.

Daddy is restraining the boy, so Mommy can take a funny picture.

Daddy is restraining Susie, so that Mommy can take a funny picture.

Big shoes to fill.

Filled!

And introducing the newest member of the family: Trixiebell*! (Aunty Sarah's nickname for her)

Just minutes old.

5 Days old (taken this morning).

Just after the birth. I just had to compare this picture with a similar shot from last year...and they are almost identical (same gown, same gleeful smile, different baby).

Clarksville Photography

2009-07-19T20:13:00.001+02:00

Best Clarksville TN photographer.

Best Clarksville TN photography.

Props to Pelosi

2009-07-09T23:25:00.002+02:00

I usually can't stand the woman, but, thank you Pelosi for this:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shut the door Thursday to a resolution honoring Michael Jackson because debate on the symbolic measure could raise "contrary views" about the pop star's life.

But I object to this:
Lawmakers are free to use House speeches "to express their sympathy or their praise any time that they wish," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "I don't think it's necessary for us to have a resolution."

It just reminds me of when legislators in California wanted to ban the personal use of ultrasound machines after they found out that Tom Cruise had purchased one to use at home while Katie Holmes was pregnant. Or after the Octomom had her babies, how there is some representative who wants to limit the number of embryos that can be implanted.

It's like, seriously? You really think that these are the biggest issues facing our nation today? You are going to take away precious legislative time to talk about these (non)-issues just because that is what is getting the public's attention? You are looking to tabloids to see what to legislate on? You guys are supposed to be the smart ones (yeah, right...). Or let me rephrase that: tax payers are paying you to discuss those issues instead of, oh, I don't know, more pressing issues like the budget crisis?

*Sigh*

The US' Afghanistan Strategy

2009-06-22T14:22:00.003+02:00

This is something I have been wanting to post about myself, but never got around to it. And now I don't think I need to, because Sarah hit the nail on the head with my thoughts about the whole situation (actually she did it way better than I would have been able to.)

I am really worried about how things are going to develop there, and I think that Afghanistan could easily develop into the quagmire that many feared Iraq would become.

Unbelievable

2009-05-07T16:00:00.002+02:00

But then again…I don’t know why I am surprised at this:

So the government wants to make a memorial to Flight 93 on the land where it crashed. Many landowners are amenable to selling their property to the government, but a few aren’t…or perhaps they have set their prices so high as to make it basically prohibitive for the government to purchase. In my opinion: their prerogative.

So what’s the solution?:

"We always prefer to get that land from a willing seller. And sometimes you can just not come to an agreement on certain things," park service spokesman Phil Sheridan said.
"Basically, at this point, we have not been able to acquire all the land we need," he said.
[…]

The next step will be for the U.S. Justice Department to file a complaint in federal court. A court would have to decide the matter and would set a value on the land.

Two owners account for about 420 acres the park service plans to condemn, including Svonavec Inc. — which owns 275 acres, including the impact site where 40 passengers and crew died. About 150 acres are owned by a family that operates a scrap yard.

Most of rest of the land to be condemned are small parcels, two of which include cabins.

Tony Kordell said the park service visited him late Friday afternoon and made him an offer for his 150 acres. He declined to give the price, but said his attorney requested the appraisal used to determine the value on Monday.

He's not gotten that appraisal, he said Thursday. On Wednesday, he was told the park service would condemn the land.

[…]
Randall Musser owns about 62 acres that the park service wants to acquire.

"They apologized about the way it's come together, but what's sad is they had all these years to put this together and they haven't," he said.

Musser served on the committee that helped establish the park's boundaries and said landowners were promised in 2002 that eminent domain would not be used.

"It's absolutely a surprise. I'm shocked by it. I'm disappointed by it," said Tim Lambert, who owns nearly 164 acres that his grandfather bought in the 1930s. The park service plans to condemn two parcels totaling about five acres — land, he said, he had always intended to donate for the memorial.

"To the best of my knowledge and my lawyer, absolutely no negotiations have taken place with the park service where we've sat down and discussed this," Lambert said.

Obviously there are two sides to every story and this one seems to heavily quote the land owners, but I really don't like the idea of eminent domain being used in this situation.

I heart Craigslist

2009-04-28T03:41:00.002+02:00

Not just because I just recently bought enough boys clothes on there to outfit my baby until he is 4 1/2 (and spent the whole weekend washing, sorting and finally packing them away into 9 storage containers, but because of the Best of Craigslist. This one is truly a gem.

Very telling

2009-04-27T16:07:00.002+02:00

I just read this article where it was stated that since the media ban on coverage of fallen soldiers returning to the US has been lifted, that the majority of families have agreed (14 out of 19), which I find really surprising. I didn't expect there to be such willingness on the parts of families to share that moment with others...it shows a great generosity on the part of the families of the fallen soldiers.

But it was this paragraph that was most telling for me:

Media interest has fallen off sharply since almost 40 reporters, photographers and camera operators turned out to document the arrival of Myers' body. At a more recent casualty arrivals, the only media representative was a lone photographer from The Associated Press.

So much for showing the human cost of the war to the US...

I did think that this was a nice idea:

Even if no one from the media shows up, the Department of Defense films each casualty arrival for which consent is given and presents a recording to the family.

I would be thankful for something like that...although I would almost wish that you could choose that option without allowing other media.

My furry baby

2009-04-22T17:37:00.003+02:00

So yesterday was PetSmart's annual pet birthday party. So we went and took Susie along...so guess who won in her size group for Musical Sits (like musical chairs, minus the chairs...last dog to sit and stay seated loses) and the over all competition? If you guessed Miss Susie, you're right!

So she brought us home a PetSmart gift card (I think it was for $5) and $50 dollars worth of free dogfood coupons...what a star! I totally felt like a pageant mother...makes me want to get into agility training with her...lols...setting my sights high...she wins two games of musical sits and I am dreaming of agility trophies...;-)

Homemade baby food recipe

2009-04-20T17:00:00.003+02:00

Just thought I would share this recipe, since it was easy to make and I was stumped for ideas before I made it.

I have been making our baby homemade food since he started eating solids. Don’t get me wrong, he still eats Cheerios and other pre-made baby appropriate finger foods, however I will make up some pureed sweet potatoes, peas, beans, etc, and freeze them in ice cubes for him to accompany some meatloaf or whatever other table food he would be able to eat.

But I had gotten into a kind of slump, because he is now in the meat phase, and sometimes we just don’t have table food meat that is appropriate for him (too difficult to chew for a molar-less baby).

So I went to the supermarket and got a few jars of pre-made baby food for inspiration. And one was Turkey with rice and vegetables. So I got home, opened it, and figured out it would be pretty easy to make…and it came out so well, that I thought I would share this online, in case anyone else was looking for an easy baby food recipe.

Homemade Chicken, Rice and Vegetable Baby Food

3 pieces of chicken (I used drumsticks, but small chicken breasts would work well)
1/2 a bag of frozen peas and carrots (the small chopped carrots) (about 8oz)
½ cup of rice
1 large sweet potato, already baked and peeled

Put the chicken, frozen vegetables and rice in a crockpot with about 3 cups of water.
Cook on high for about 3 hours (or until the chicken is done). Turn off crock pot and let cool until chicken is cool enough to handle.
Remove the chicken from crock pot and puree in a food processor. Add the sweet potato to the chicken in the food processor and puree some more.
Return the pureed mixture to the crock pot and stir with pea and rice mixture until combined.
Voilà…done! Now all you have to do is package and freeze.

The measurements aren’t an exact science. You can probably add another baked sweet potato, change the amount of chicken and maybe have some more liquid…it’s up to you.
The peas are so soft after all those hours of cooking that they are close to mush, but will still retain their form. And the rice is very well cooked. The baked sweet potato is something I usually do when the oven is already on for something else…in this case I was making dinner in the over the night before, and threw a foil wrapped large sweet potato in as well. It can keep in the fridge a few days, so you could make that part in advance. Alternately, you could probably throw large uncooked slices into the crock pot and fish them out with the chicken to puree, but I thought this was the easier way.

I think I am going to use this same technique to make something with ham next time. Another ode to my crock pot!

My view on taxes

2009-04-16T17:37:00.002+02:00

I wanted to post a response to Indie Army Wife's post: In Honor of Tax Day, but am struggling with her comments section (but thankfully I am trained through dealing with Sarah's comments section always rejecting my comments too, so I have saved it...)...so I am posting it here:

I come here via Trying To Grok, and I just wanted to explain my point of view. I don’t intend to be combative, and I hope that my comment is received in the way it was meant: just trying to shed light on, well, I wouldn’t call it an “obsession with taxes”, but I think “healthy concern” would be more apt.

It’s not that I don’t want to pay taxes. I don’t want to live in a lawless society where I am responsible for making the road in front of my house, and getting a water supply to my house and dishing out law and order. I like deferring the responsibility for the upkeep of infrastructure to someone else in exchange for paying taxes. However, I do think that where we differ in opinion is the degree of services that taxpayers should be paying for. So you have listed:
Roads (Transportation), emergency services (I will bundle these under Protection which includes police, fire, court system, etc.), military (Defense), Social Security, tap water (Water Supply), electricity or gas (fuel and energy). So I would like to pay for all of those except Social Security (my logic with Social Security is that, we pay into that and that payment could go into private savings instead of the current public ponzi scheme..the caveat though, is how do we wean ourselves off this system without screwing those who faithfully paid into it over the years? I think I could agree to paying into it for another say 15-20 years with it tapering off for the last covered by it…I am just paying it to support those who would be left dry, because they trusted the government with this scheme…but I think everyone else from now on should take care of their own retirement savings.). So there’s one place we differ. I would also like to pay for public education, not because I feel it is a right, I just think it’s smart for a country to educate its population. I think the current system is a failure, but I do think that a publically funded system can work (probably best with vouchers). Then I think we have to pay for the general running of government. I personally support the recreation and sports spending, which I believe public and national parks falls under. I also think the government should take care of waste and water waste disposal.
But I don’t want to pay for Welfare (a certain very restricted safety net I might go for, but certainly not the current system in place). I also don’t support Public Healthcare for various reasons.
So if we go over the Federal Budget for 2010 I come out with this: (all numbers are in $billion)
Transportation: 249.5
Defense: 828.9
Protection: 340.9
Education: 918.5
General Gov.: 115.2
Water Supply: 63.9
Recreation + Sports: 50.8
Waste + Waste Water: 28.4 + 48.2
Fuel + Energy: 101.4

Now the things I don’t want to spend in the federal budget:
Welfare: 480.6 (let’s say I would be for 10% of this spending, so I will remove 48 billion) 432.6
Healthcare: 1,029.2
Social Security + other pensions, disability etc: 951.1 (Social Security only makes up 695 of that)

Total of budget I disagree with: $2,412.9B
Total I agree with: $2,793.7B
I just wanted to illustrate how the things I don’t agree with amount to almost as much spending as those things I do agree with.

I am sure there are a few other things in the budget that I have overlooked but would also agree to spending on. But this current ideal budget of mine comes in under $2,800B. I will throw in $200B for things I have overlooked (and it may be more than that). So I come to $3000B.

However, the total budget for 2010 is $6,143.70 billion, which is more than double what I agree with.

So it’s not so much that I don’t want to pay taxes, it’s just that there is a lot in there that I don’t agree with the spending on. But the majority of what you have listed, I definitely DO agree on (with the exception of Social Security). I would want to limit it the scope of public spending towards exactly those things that you have listed, which currently only seem to make up less than half our budget. It’s those things that you have termed the “myriad of other things,” that I am not interested in, and would rather cut from the budget.

And I know that this is a fundamental difference between Republican views towards public spending and Democrat views, so I am not trying to say that my view is better than yours. I am just explaining why I am unhappy with the amount of taxes paid, and what we get for it. And honestly, I can afford what I am paying now, so it’s not so much that which is the issue. But just because I can afford to pay more taxes, it doesn’t mean that I think it’s okay to do so. I mean, I probably could afford to go out to dinner every night of the week, travel more, buy my baby only new things instead of getting them on Craigslist, garage sales and thrift stores, etc. It’s not a case of what we can afford…it’s what I would rather do with the money. So the more money I have to pay into taxes, the less liberty I have to spend it on things of my own choosing.

So although I am not a protestor in general, I appreciate the fact that these guys go out there and say they don’t want to pay more and more taxes. Taxes keep on increasing…more and more things are being taxed.

It’s not just federal income taxes. Los Angeles Country sales tax will increase from 8.25% to 9.25% next month…doesn’t seem like much, but it represents a 12% increase in taxation. That’s pretty significant. And I feel at the same time that the quality of what we are getting for our money is getting worse and worse. Probably the best way to compare this is to imagine this country as one big apartment building where you pay monthly rent for the upkeep and general services. And your rent keeps increasing, but the paint is peeling in the hallways because instead of repainting it every 2 years, it now happens only every 6 years, the pipes are leaking, mold is growing, the playground in front of the building is a dirty mess…you feel unsafe sometimes. So the service provided is of a lesser quality than it once was…but the rent still increases. I currently live in Alabama, and I have to say they have a better grip on the upkeep of infrastructure…but every time I go home to LA, I am so saddened by what I see: litter everywhere along the sides of the highway (15 years ago this wasn’t the case…it was always dirty, but not to this extreme), the streets are in a deplorable condition (it’s a city issue, not federal), etc. But taxes have continually increased: so obviously an increase in taxes doesn’t equal an increase in the quality of services.

I am not sure if you wanted a response from a Republican point of view, I just wanted to say that there is some logic behind the apparent whackadoodleness and I hope that you won’t take it as an affront that I have left this comment.

My little bunny

2009-04-16T05:00:00.003+02:00

I'm on Facebook now, so I usually get my fix of photosharing there, but I couldn't resist putting up this recent picture of the little guy! He is just so squeezable, huggable, and such a joy...and he is already such a little boy: he doesn't like cuddling, pushes away my face when I try to kiss him...he's only 10 months old, but already growing up!

Apparently I'm a rightwing extremist now...

2009-04-15T17:00:00.001+02:00

I’m self-employed…which means, I am one of those lucky people who has to calculate their own taxes and then send 4 big old fat checks a year to the federal government and 4 smaller checks a year to the state government. When I sent out my state taxes and federal taxes estimated payments this week it occurred to me that my check to the federal government was almost 10x that of the check sent to the state…and this just didn’t seem right…I mean, why are we sending all this money to the federal government, so that it can decide where and whom to appropriate it to? For some reason, this discrepancy never really bothered me before. But now it does…it really makes clear how much power the federal government wields over deciding how money gets spent in the individual states.

Every state is waiting for federal funds to come in on some project, so doesn’t it make sense to just say that every state needs that money that is being sent to DC…so why doesn’t it just remain in the state…and then local voters can have more of an effect on how the money gets spent, instead of having to vote to send some senators to Washington to beg to get their money sent back to their own state?

But according to this article, that makes me a radical on the right.

The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in "rightwing extremist activity," saying the economic recession, the election of America's first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

Part of me also believes that local government might actually like the fact that the federal government controls the purse strings, because when the local voters complain about not getting the infrastructure and program improvements they think are necessary, local officials can just nod their head in sympathy and say: “yeah, but it’s the boys in Washington…we can’t do anything about it.” And then the boys in Washington can turn around and say: “yes, we understand your plight, but there are others in more need than yourself. Sorry.” And there is no way for anyone to really check up on this. You can’t “follow the money” in Washington.

I think it would make for a more responsible local government and an overall more efficiently running country if money that was to be disbursed to the individual states, didn’t have to flow through Washington first, just to make it back to the states it came from…

But hey, I guess I better watch what I say, such thoughts are apparently deemed radical nowadays.

Reset button "gift"

2009-03-06T20:42:00.002+01:00

Oh this story is so cringeworthy. So first Obama gives Gordon Brown a boxed set of 25 DVDs. And now Clinton gives Lavrov a craft project? I mean, I get the symbolism, but it is soooo cheesy. I mean, who came up with that idea, and I feel bad for Clinton having to go through with presenting it:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red "reset button" to symbolise improved ties, but the gift drew smiles as the word "reset" was mistranslated into the Russian for "overcharge"."I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: 'We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together," said Clinton, presenting Lavrov with a palm-sized yellow box with a red button.

So, I wonder exactly how Russio-American relations will improve? I mean, it's not like Obama is looking to be so strikingly different from Bush with regards to Russia.

Economy over environment

2009-03-02T15:47:00.002+01:00

Interesting article about how states are repealing environmental protections in the name of jobs...even California!

Born Again American

2009-02-09T18:01:00.002+01:00

Sarah linked to a Varifrank post about many Americans expressing their joy in Obama’s election, and how this translated into being proud to be American:

I was at the office after the inaugural when one of my liberal collegues came by to tell me how happy they were with the election and in a slip of the tongue he said "I’m so proud to be an American". He was expecting anger from me but I just said "feels good doesn't it? That sudden pulse of patriotism. Welcome to the side of the angels my friend!"

He stopped dead cold. He was genuinely feeling good and he was feeling genuinely patriotic and these were entirely new feelings for him.

I was reminded of this post today when I discovered this organization. The name is so apropos, it is almost ironic how it alludes to religious dogma: Born Again American.

The website explains: In the two weeks since the launch of the Born Again American initiative at the Inauguration kick-off event in DC, over 1.5 million Americans have committed to get involved in their communities and serve the country by visiting www.bornagainamerican.org. The Born Again American campaign includes a specially commissioned song and interactive website offering visitors the opportunity to reaffirm their belief in American values that hark back to the Declaration of Independence.

According to the website: In a matter of days, Americans from the left, right, and center have come forward and declared themselves Born Again and shared this message with their friends and loved ones via the Internet.

Hmmm…somehow I find it hard to believe that there are that many people on the right that have come forward. It’s sad to me that many Americans can only be proud of their country if their candidates get elected. I’m still proud of America whether or not my preferred candidate is in office. America is so much more than its elected officials (thank goodness!).

I just find it so sad that people can only pledge to make the country a better place when they like the current POTUS.

All this pledging (the recent celeb pledge video) and this pledge, make me a little nervous, too. What happens when their candidates aren't in office in anymore? Do they renege from their pledges?

A company's raison d'etre

2009-02-06T16:17:00.008+01:00

I was at my Yahoo main page and saw a short synopsis for an article that didn't exactly make my jaw drop, but did kind of annoy me: (I have underlined the offending words in red.)

So if a company doesn't lay anyone off, they are "staying loyal" to employees? It kind of redefines what a business is all about. A business is about providing a service or product, but this article almost seems to say that it's about providing a job.

When companies makes lay offs, they are not being disloyal to employees, they are being loyal to the company and doing what is best in the face of reduced demand.

I applaud the companies for their strategies, like cross-training employees for different positions, but if Ford or other companies are laying off employees, they are taking care of the company, which in turn is best for those who continue to stay in its employ.

Gah, this annoys me. My husband and I are watching Season 2 of The Wire. Love that show...anyway, the episode we watched last night had a pretty telling scene: the boss of the local dock laborers' union and another union representative are at a presentation of Rotterdam port, where according to the presentation everything is so highly automated and efficient, that it is the top port in the world, Singapore coming in a far second. The presenter is aiming to introduce such improvements to Baltimore's port. Rotterdam reduced injuries by 60%, and is able to move all that freight with a mere 4000 dock workers. And the list of improvements goes on and on. And you can see the union representatives’ faces getting angrier and angrier. At the end of the presentation one asks: what about the jobs? The presenter tried to impress upon him the lower injury rate and how less containers get lost due to human error, etc. But it is all lost on the union boss, because all he is interested in are the jobs.

Later in the show the same union boss is yelling at a lobbyist he had paid, and criticized the fact that the lobbyist's son was at Princeton, and when he would graduate he could become anything he wanted to, whereas the union boss’ children were going to be dockworkers, and there were less and less dock jobs to be had. The lobbyist got pretty annoyed and said that his great-grandfather was a knife sharpener, and made sure that his grandfather graduated from high school so he didn’t have to sharpen knives, and that his father went to college, and the lobbyist also went to college. And the union boss just looked at him and said he was talking in the present and there was no opportunity for his sons other than dock work. The message was totally lost: if you had encouraged your children to seek out other occupations and training, they would have had other opportunities. But no, for the union boss, he was being let down by the company.

Some people will always see themselves as powerless in their own destiny. It reminds me of what Sarah linked to yesterday:
This fact is incredible, and very revealing. 75% of Republicans believe you can get ahead by working hard, compared to 14% for Democrats. 86% of Democrats don’t believe that hard work allows you get ahead!

Dog/Baby Blogging

2009-02-04T17:54:00.002+01:00

Yesterday my husband was holding the baby, while the baby was standing. And the baby really delights in playing: "Give me 10!" He doesn't really understand, but I mini slap both his hands, and he squeals with delight. So I was doing this yesterday, while kneeling on the floor:

"Give me 10!" - slap baby's little hands. Baby squeals and laughs. And this was repeated about three times.

Susie the dog is pretty jealous of the baby, if I have him in my lap, she will often come over and lay on my lap between the baby and me...it's pretty obvious.

So yesterday, she walks over, sits, and scooches over so she is sitting right next to the baby, and when I said: "Give me 10!", she raises both her paws.

Needless to say, she got a "High 10!" and a treat... (we had previously taught her High 5! (single paw up in the air) and shake hands (single paw extended out)...but I guess, she figured out the the "Give me 10!" as jealously is an incentive. Funny dog...

Recession Trickle Affect

2009-01-30T20:13:00.002+01:00

I have found a new favorite guilty pleasure. When Wall Street was hit hard by the recession, so were all those poor bankers' girlfriends, and at this blog they are able to pour their hearts out about their financial woes...the girls are witty:

I couldn’t comprehend why people were so insistent that America’s automobile industry had to be saved. We import safer more fuel efficient cars from Asia. No big deal. Survival of the fittest, that’s my motto, or was, until my FBF broke up with me. He explained my termination as follows:

“Princess, we need to talk. How do I explain this? You are a costly investment. During better economic times, I was happy to spend a little extra to buy American, but now we are all being forced to make tough decisions and, well, bottom line: I can quite literally get more bang for my buck if I invest with a foreign model instead. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

And that my fellow DABA girls is more or less how my girlfriend services were outsourced to an underage Russian model who was willing to provide services substantially equivalent to my own but at well-below market value and without the regulatory hassle. F*cking mercenary.

I hope the government earmarked some bailout money for ex-DABA girls. Without my FBF subsidizing my lifestyle, I am seriously over leveraged with Saks and I’m not talking about Goldman.

The New Deal sucked

2009-01-28T23:46:00.002+01:00

Sarah just linked to THE.BEST.EVER. article explaining why the New Deal wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I mean, this article is so good, I just want to roll around in it, like a cat does catnip...I can't get enough...I want him to write more!

If you don't want to read it all (your loss), this conclusion from it, pretty much hits the nail on the head:

I will finish with a quotation from Roosevelt's secretary of treasury, Henry Morganthau. He admits, the whole thing failed. Again, the quote, you will never see in a textbook, but I have it right here. I went to the Roosevelt Library and dug this one out. Henry Morganthau, Secretary of Treasury, in May, 1939, years after the New Deal, said, "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and now if I am wrong somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosper. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started. And enormous debt to boot." That is the secretary of treasury in charge of the money disbursement and statistics collection during the 1930s, making that statement.

Yeah...got to admire his honesty, but for some reason it was ignored and we continue to throw money at problems, villify the wealthy, and turn everyone else into "victims" of the capitalist machine.

Obama and the ice

2009-01-28T23:26:00.002+01:00

I have been finding reason to blog again lately...namely Obama's election. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't entirely unhappy that he was elected. I was completely disappointed with McCain as a candidate, so I am not too sorry that he didn't get elected. I mean, I guess I might be feeling how some Democrats felt after Bush was re-elected over Kerry.

Additionally, Obama doesn't drive me nuts or anything. Sure, he panders, etc. But so does every politician. It's just that he isn't pandering to me. I think Obama is a shrewd politician. The people who drive me nuts are those who act as if on January 20th the clouds parted and the sun came out. And now everything is happy and wonderful. I like it that their attitudes have changed for the positive, but I don't like it that they can't seem to realize that they can do that on their own, and they don't need an outside agent to make this happen.

Anyhoo, seems like every day now, I find reason to post something new here. And today's gem:

"Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy very quickly?" the new president told reporters at a gathering with business leaders. "And it has to do with Washington. My children's school was canceled today. Because of, what? Some ice?"

The president said he wasn't the only one who was incredulous.

"As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled," Obama said to laughter. "In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out that you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors. So, I don't know. We're going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness."

Asked if he meant the people of the national's capital are wimps, Obama said: "I'm saying, when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."

I love this...I agree with him. He is calling the city out for not being able to handle some ice. Now, had Bush made a comment like this, you can be sure that the unions would pounce on him after the media had whipped up a frenzy.

I wonder how often he will say things like this and get away with it...and at what point he will get the cold shoulder...it will be interesting.

I pledge...

2009-01-26T23:17:00.003+01:00

In the spirit of that self-absorbed celebrity "I pledge" video (thanks, Sarah for the gag-worthy link), I am making a pledge today. I will never make statements about Obama's presidency being a nightmare. I mean, I am really quite tired with hearing: "the nightmare ended and the dream finally came true". To say the last 8 years were a nightmare seems truly self-absorbed, it totally lacks perspective. I understand that a lot of things happened that people were unhappy with, but for me such a statement would be worthy of something like, oh, I don't know, V-Day in Paris, and then later in Germany. To finally be over with WWII. Or perhaps the end of the Castro era. But to say that the years "under" Bush were a nightmare is insulting to people who have lived under truly oppressive leaders.

Whatever the next 4 to 8 years brings, be it nationalized healthcare (*gag*) or whatever other social program he wants to implement (the New New Deal), it won’t turn my life into a nightmare. Yes, my taxes will go up, but my life will go on pretty much the same way it is now.

I think it is great that Obama has garnered such support, what scares me though is the cult-like support he has. People chanting "O-ba-ma" and "Yes, We Can! Yes, we will!" Seriously, it's slightly reminiscent of a Tony Robbins convention or a church revival.

Bush never had that kind of support. If people starting chanting anything in his presence it was more likely to be "U-S-A!" It's so strange for me that there is this cult of personality. I hope he uses it wisely.

Animal Farm Re-dux

2009-01-26T16:42:00.005+01:00

I think I almost need to start a special reoccurring post called Animal Farm Moments.

Just read here that 600 private jets were expected for Obama's inauguration. The previous record was 300 for George W. Bush's 2004 inauguration:

Of course, flying private to a celebration of a populist, pro-environment President is a bit like the Detroit execs jetting to Washington for bailout money. How do you call for social responsibility after touching down in a $40 million, gas-guzzling Gulfstream? (Maybe travelers will buy carbon credits).[...]

The presence of so many wealthy and their jets also underscores a stark reality of Mr. Obama’s election and presidency. As much as some people wish that Mr. Obama–the face that launched millions of grass-roots Internet donors–will eliminate the influence and impact of the wealthy on politics, the wealthy will always have a center table in Washington. And, of course, a prime spot to park their Gulfstreams.

DailyKos' Obama criticism quandary

2009-01-23T18:01:00.002+01:00

Lately, I often visit DailyKos. Since Obama has been elected the blog has become slightly more bearable since there is less Bush-bashing to be made, and more looking to the future. I actually really enjoyed their reporting during the whole Blago saga. But today's post from the Kos himself gave me some reason for mirth. DailyKos was able to be relevant, because it was built in opposition to the Bush administration...but what happens when that demand is gone?. Kos writes:

It's been easy to survive the last seven years bashing Bush, and few complained when we took on Pelosi or Reid. But criticizing Obama is pretty darn controversial in our little world.

Yes...this will be interesting...I have also wondered what will happen to the Colbert Report. I think the Daily Show will survive, but I am not so sure about Colbert...we'll see...

Yay, more taxes!

2008-12-17T22:07:00.002+01:00

NY Gov. Paterson is still angry about SNL's skit mocking him...so he's decided to get back: NY gov proposes tax on drinks, downloaded music.

Nice.

How many taxes will be enough? Just because there are more things to tax, doesn't mean we should tax them.

Gah.

Heh

2008-11-26T21:38:00.002+01:00

So all those things that my mom did to me when I was growing up...well, I am doing them with my kid.

Case in point: I bought the boy a winter suit: it's one of those zip up down suits from Columbia sports...not cheap...$50...but perfect for the backpack or stroller...he's 5 months old...I got him size 12 to 18 months. Yeah, I figured, this way, he might even fit into it next winter as well!

Doesn't matter that he looks like a star-fish and his feet and hands are about 3 inches from the ends of the legs and arm holes...he'll be warm and he will be able to get a lot of use out of this, doesn't matter what he looks like!

Luckily he can't talk back yet...

Civil Discourse

2008-11-11T22:05:00.002+01:00

Going through the recent election season (phew, am I glad that is over!) I became aware of this disconnect and wanted to have a discussion of sorts on my blog.

This is how I see things: I see the government as a servant to the people: it is not there to tell us what to do, but to do our bidding. That is why we have an election: we choose who is going to do the work, according to what those candidates say they think is important to get done.

I see the President of the US as the leader of the government, and the person we have chosen to represent us. We have willingly given him a certain amount of power (of attorney) to act on our behalves (is that proper grammar?). Although he (or possibly one day she) has this power, I don’t feel that they have power OVER us, and neither should the rest of the government, unless we have violated some code. The government is of the people, by the people, for the people.

So for me, it is hard to understand how this now turns around in the government demanding that certain people pay more money. And yes, that is how I see this whole talk of the wealthier paying a higher percentage of taxes.

We all live in a society together, but it seems like this society is so huge and far removed from each other that people feel comfortable talking disparagingly about fellow citizens and making generalizations without ever having met them.

You have Palin’s comments about “real America” vs. I guess, fake America? Whereas I can understand what she meant (I think many people feel that the “heartland” of America is being forgotten in favor of more urban areas), rural Arkansas is no more real than Manhattan. I will digress here, but I was thinking that when they made the electoral college it was meant to balance out the power between larger states and smaller states, and now I sometimes wonder if the power needs to be balanced between rural areas and urban areas?

You have Joe Biden making disparaging comments about Joe the Plumber on Leno. I was reading the comment section here:

And found these comments:

That was a politically idiotic statement for Biden to make. He must not be aware of the leagues of unlicensed contractors and handymen who work out of their pickups all over the country, and vote. That's akin to telling them they aren't good enough. Smooth as always, Joe!

*************

How many plumbers live in Joe Biden's neighborhood? Does he socialize with any? Are there any in congress? I imagine it would be easy for the owner of a plumbing company to make $250,000 a year by contracting plumbing out and selling the products. However, that's not the point of the Joe the Plumber story. The point is the answer he was given by presidential candidate Barack Obama. Does Barack Obama want to spread the wealth around by taking it away from some and sharing it with others below them? Ask him that question outright. 4

**************

That's pretty sad that Biden/Obama are now poking fun at Joe the Plumber now but they were all for the Joe the Plumbers before he got upset at the Obama's Socialist Tax Plan, who wouldn't. And for Biden's information, I work for a builder, yes, some builders are still doing well, and the plumbers we use have crews of over 25 trucks and some have crews of 10 trucks. Either way, when we pay up to $20,000 to plumb 12 custom homes a year, these "small businesses" make more than $250,000 and we are not the only one's paying them. I do consider these small businesses, as well as the builder I work for. The builder builds up to 12 homes per year from $600K to $1 million. Although that sounds like a good deal and he's rolling in the dough, he's not. I see the bills and he pays 5 employees, not 30. Since they are in their own little bubble when it comes to what they think of small business, they need to educate themselves. Some small businesses dig themselves a hole before they are even hit with taxes. And Obama/Biden evidently do not know that Plumbing companies and their employees make good money. At least the ones that make a name for themselves and push for business. It's sad that they were pushing for the "little people" and now they are bashing them.

The this one:

It was obvious that when Obama said "spread the wealth around" he was talking about using tax dollars to improve education,healthcare,and the economy so that more people are able to make more money and "grow the middle class".This is not socialism,its good government. And Joe the Faux Plumber would have a very hard time competing with licensed plumbers and contractors in the area that he lives in.Some additional education ,in both building codes and plumbing techniques,along with some acounting education so he can understand the tax system ,would allow him to actually be able to make it to that $250,000 a year level that he is concerned about,at which time he would owe an additional 3% in taxes,while the benefits for him,his son,his employees,and his partner would more than offset that 3 %.

******************

Okay, so I am biased, but I have taken three comments that I feel represent how I feel (I have "bolded" the thoughts I especially agree with), and then one to show what I think is a gross misunderstanding of how government should operate (the last comment and I have "bolded" what I disagree with).

I was watching Dr. 90210 the other day (I am reality show addict…so sad) and Dr. Robert Rey is a workaholic, and his wife takes care of their 2 kids on her own (her mother helps, but they don’t have a nanny or anything, despite having a lot of money). Dr. Rey really dislikes his mother-in-law, so when she is around, he works even longer hours. Anyway, now his wife wants to buy a bigger more expensive house, move further away from Dr. Rey’s work, so his commute would be longer, because it would be a better area for the kids and nearer to her parents, whom she would like to spend more time with, because Dr. Rey is never home and she feels lonely. When she proposes this new house purchase to Robert, he balks, and then she says: “well, you don’t have any say in this matter!” I was bug-eyed watching that. What, she wants to move, wants to spend $9 million of their money, and he is the breadwinner, but he has no say in this, because she is the one taking care of the kids all day and he is never home any way? I just didn’t get it, but I think it kind of illustrated the tug of war between the breadwinners and the bread-spenders in the US.

Often when I see discussions about why the rich should pay higher taxes, it quite often paints the rich as not so nice people. People who suck the life-blood out of the poor. People who profit from others losses. Greedy. People who have no hearts. It makes me sad, because I know a lot of these “rich” people. I know how difficult it is to become wealthy, and stay wealthy. Also, I understand how important it is not to eat the seed potatoes…meaning, it is not in an employer’s best interest to mistreat or take advantage of his employees or do shoddy work. So when I hear generalizations to that effect it reminds me of how distant and divided we are a country. I wish that it weren’t so.

So my question is this (to proponents of higher taxes for those who earn more): What would you say if society were smaller (kibbutz-like almost) and you had to explain to others why you felt it was necessary for them to pay more taxes? Like in a one on one conversation?

Supporting a presidential candidate vs. supporting the president

2008-11-06T17:52:00.003+01:00

Grrr...this morning I watched a clip of some news show commenting on Elizabeth Hasselbeck's announcement on The View that she was going to " get in a long line of supporters for this president". And I have seen oodles of interpretations that this means that Hasselbeck is eating crow, or that finally she is seen the light, after realizing that most of America supports Obama, so she should too.

It makes me sad that people don't see it for what it is. Respect for the election process, respect for fellow citizens' rights to choose a common president, and respect for the winner of that election and the future leader of the US.

Hasselbeck certainly didn't support Obama the presidential candidate, but she WILL support Obama the POTUS.

It just makes it obvious, that had tables been turned, and the majority of the US had voted for McCain, many people "wouldn't see the light" and support the president. Well, I say that like it's hypothetical.

We have had the 2 past elections to prove that point.

First Halloween Pics

2008-11-02T01:29:00.002+01:00

I have discovered a wonderful land called Facebook...and have been neglecting my blog. So here are some piccies from yesterday!

He lasted about 3 minutes in each of them...enough time for pictures!

Oh, yeah baby!

2008-10-17T17:52:00.001+02:00

Sarah Palin will be on SNL tomorrow night! Whoo hoo!

Sniff

2008-09-30T23:30:00.002+02:00

For a millisecond I had the candidate I wanted in these elections...and now the McCain PC crew have descended upon her. It's reminding me a bit of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

As if we didn't have enough problems...

2008-09-30T15:46:00.003+02:00

So you know this current crisis we are going through, because some well-intentioned (and some not so well-intentioned), but ridiculously naive legislators decided it would be nice to make affordable housing, forcing banks to take on risky debts, driving up the housing market because so many new homeowners were entering it, making housing now less affordable and mortgages even higher?

You with me here?

Okay, so what does the current mayor of Los Angeles think would be a good idea right now?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a $5 billion plan to provide 20,000 affordable homes in the city over the next five years, but acknowledged he'll have to reach far and wide to raise the funds amid the financial meltdown.

Hmmm…$5 billion divided by 20,000….$250,000. Seriously? You are going to put people into quarter of a million dollar homes? Granted in Los Angeles that doesn’t mean much now, but still…that’s a big chunk of money.

This is the least affordable big city in America," the mayor said at a press conference Monday. "I'll go to Washington and New York. I'll go to the Middle East, to China. We'll knock on every door that we have to."

Oh, so because we can’t afford this at home in the US, and because no one is going to lend him the money, he’s going to, get this, China and the Middle East to get loans…genius.

It gets even better:
One of the plan's more controversial elements is likely to be a requirement that developers set aside 12.5 percent to 22.5 percent of projects with more than 20 units for low- or moderate-income residents.

So, the way they are going to make it work, is by forcing developers to make this housing, which is a tax of sorts on them. So, how will they make up for this? By charging more for the houses they build: thus taxing people who can afford housing. That’s what I call “trickle down taxes”.

I emailed my mother this story and she responded with: “The Daily News is currently exposing the financial hoopla going on in the school district. Administrators have increased about 20% over the last 5 years while enrollment has decreased 6%. Over 51% of the employees earn over $100,000.- a year. Now Villagaroisa has taken over the school I think it will get even worse. And scores keep on dropping….. He thinks that anything that keeps him in the spotlight is great, he’s a political climber, probably got his eyes on GOVERNOR then PRESIDENT.”

Things are starting to look a lot like Atlas Shrugged…

Southern Style

2008-09-29T17:11:00.002+02:00

I grew up in Hawaii, where surf wear was a fashion statement...even if you didn't surf, you wore surf related t-shirts, shorts, hoodies, etc...

I now live in an area where hunting camo is considered fashionable. I think there are even hunter-wannabe's who wear the print just for style....

I bought some used baby clothes on Craigslist and there was even a hunting camo onesie...yeah, hunter chic for the baby.

$700 billion

2008-09-29T01:03:00.004+02:00

That's so high of a number that it's kind of impossible to grasp.

To put it into perspective: there are give or take 300 million Americans.

That's $2+ billion for every person in America (we can even throw the illegal immigrants into that pool).

This bail-out is so scary. The government is mixing with the free market, so it ain't so free anymore.

Gah.

Update: Okay...major brainfart here: $2000 a person....not $2 billion....jeeesh...can I blame sleepless nights due to the baby?

And I am still not sure on the math...

The only thing that could save Obama now...

2008-09-04T23:19:00.002+02:00

...is if Biden were to step down for personal reasons (or any reason), and Obama were to name Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Then this might be a close race.

I am really wondering if that might "magically" happen.

Interesting Palin factoid

2008-09-04T20:40:00.006+02:00

I did not know this, though it might be old news to some:

Sarah defeated incumbent Republican governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election, garnering 48.3% of the vote to 40.9% for Knowles.

That's HUGE. Alaska had a Republican governor. Usually a party nominates their incumbant candidate for re-election. But Alaskan Republicans were so taken with Palin, that they chose her over their incumbant...and she went on to win the election. Fabulous!

A little side note: How freakin' adorable was that when Piper Palin was lovingly holding Trig during their mom's RNC speech, oblivious to the hoopla, staring at him and stroking his hair. And then she licks her palm and smooths his hair? Did anyone else catch that? Also, I loved it when Sarah Palin mentioned her daughters, and Piper gets up and urges her other sisters to stand up too...man, that kid is so real. Norman Rockwellian. Untouched yet by being worried about what others might think...

Update: Nicole has a You Tube link to the Piper hair care treatment.

I heart Sarah Palin

2008-09-04T18:15:00.004+02:00

Taking a break from baby blogging right now.

So I HAVE to blog about the Sarah Palin VP pick. To quote Jesse and Chester in “Dude, where’s my car?”: “Dude!” “Sweet”!

Okay, I’ll admit, when I first heard she was the pick, she was a complete unknown to me, and my first thought was that this was the Republican Party saying to the Democratic Party: “I raise you your blackness, with my femaleness.” I really thought Palin was a token woman candidate.

Those thoughts stopped dead in their tracks with her Dayton, OH intro speech.

As soon as it was over, I shot Sarah an email saying: “Can we get rid of McCain and just take her?”

My eldest brother, also still a British citizen, although he had many years to become an American as he is 38 years old, jokingly asked: is it too late to become an American citizen in time for the elections? I agree: never before have I wanted to vote in a US election more than now. I went from being completely apathetic about the race, to rooting for the McCain/Palin ticket.

I have heard a few complaints from people saying that Palin is a token woman, and how insulting that she has been chosen, and that had a male candidate with her same credentials been chosen, it wouldn’t be the same fanfare. And I agree. Not with the token woman, but that if Sarah Palin were male, we wouldn’t be as enthralled.

As a working woman, wife and now mother, I can tell you that any woman who holds a high level management job, runs a company, or in Palin’s case, a state while being pregnant and raising a young family, is someone who can juggle a lot. If it were Palin’s husband running, it wouldn’t be nearly as impressive. My husband is a wonderful and supportive man, but when it comes down to it, I do more in the household and more in the childcare department, but also equally support our family financially through my job. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. I am not trying to be sexist, or a feminist or toot my own horn. I am an “equalist” and a realist. In reality, unless the father stays home and takes care of the kids and the household, in the case of a working mother and father, the mother will usually end up doing more.

So for me, it is BECAUSE Sarah Palin is a mother of 5 young children that makes her seem so inspiring and such a leader…not the fact that DESPITE being a mother of 5 she has made it so far. She pulls it all off with a smile, and doesn’t seem stressed or overworked. She is a freight train and a force to be reckoned with.

I think it was a brilliant move by McCain to have chosen her. In doing so, he has regained support from many Republicans he previously alienated with his more socialistic stance.

Both Obama and McCain chose running mates to make up for what they lack: Obama chose an old white politician to make up for his lack of gray hair and experience and perhaps placate voters who were a little hesitant about voting for a black president. And McCain chose a conservative, charismatic female to make up for his socialist leanings and his seeming lack of sincerity (he always seems a little uncomfortable on the podium). But McCain seems to have gotten more bang for his buck. Whereas Dems are excited about their presidential candidate and couldn’t care less about their VP (I bet you that many Dems couldn’t name their VP candidate if asked), Republicans are excited about their VP candidate, while also holding a healthy respect for their presidential candidate.

What a rabbit in a hat Palin was and I thank McCain for choosing her, and making Alaska share her with the rest of America!

Okay...I can't resist. Here's a picture I have called: Man Boobs:

Let's call him fluffy, not fat

2008-08-19T16:28:00.007+02:00

It’s been ages since I last posted.

But I decided it was time to post some update pics on the progeny. So the kid is HUGE! I mean, ginormous! He almost doubled his birth weight by 2 months: from 7lbs 5oz to 14lbs 1 oz. Here is a good comparison shot: the babe at 8 weeks vs. 1 week in his life vest.

I have been trying to keep up with his Olympian eating efforts. I am jealous of all those mothers who over-produce…I am making the bare minimum…no milk bank for me…I bought a pack of freezer bags for the milk, and many bottles…but I have never had more than 2 bottles in the fridge, so I actually had to return the Medela bags to Babies ‘R Us. Sad…Reason for returning, please: *sniff* I don’t milk enough milk to actually store. The woman looked at me like that was TMI. Well, sheesh, don’t ask then…

I drink loads of water, the occasional beer, I eat a lot...but still, my cups doth not overfloweth!

And babies who eat a lot, poop a lot. Twice a day or more sometimes...although he has been known to go 2 days without pooping as well. Oh, gees, I can not believe I am actually blogging about my baby's poop...oh, Lord, I have become one of THOSE mothers...*sigh*

Okay, here is another embarrassing thing to blog about: fat babies have rolls...in fact, our baby has no discernable neck...so he has skin folds...which have to be cleaned often, otherwise they get really cheesy smelling...not nice...I was totally on top of the neck cheese...and when the child was about 4 weeks old, and my husband and I were joking about cleaning the skin flap, he innocently asked me: do you clean behind his ears? Um...hmmm...I don't pay special attention, no. So we pull his ears forward...*gasp*...total cream cheese...I was mortified. My husband said at first it looked gangrenous. I never read books about how to clean a baby, figuring that it should be a no-brainer: I just took the baby in the shower with me, because that was the easiest. I still do…but now, I know that I need to pay real special attention to the neck, ear and thigh roll areas…

Once again, babies are amazingly resilient. We are lucky he still has ears.

The best thing about him being so chubby, is that he is really huggable and squeezable. I am constantly kissing and hugging him to me, and he is already pulling away and scrunching up his eyes and twsiting his face away like any good little boy is supposed to do when his mother is trying to shower him with loving!

Things I have learned since becoming a mother

2008-07-19T21:38:00.007+02:00

This is just a sampling.

You've heard of projectile spit-up right? Well, I found out there is such a thing as projectile poop. Word to the wise: if you are changing a diaper and notice that your baby is still pooping, don't stare with fascination at the process, close the diaper and wait, or at least cover the area with a wet wipe...anything but just stare and having to yell for your partner to come and delicately peel off your poop covered t-shirt, so you don't get it all over yourself.
Babies are resilient: when my son was about 10 days old he started getting real fussy. So I assumed he was suffering from gas. So I gave him gas drops. Then I decided it must be colic, so I gave him gripe water. Then after 3 days and no let up of the occasional fits of fussiness, I hit upon the idea that the child might be hungry and I wasn't supplying enough breastmilk. Bingo! I added a bottle or two of formula a day and magically the "colic" went away. (I have since managed to catch up with his appetite).
All those cute outfits I was going to dress him up in? Yeah...well, now my favorite outfits on him are the full-body kind with feet and a zipper: no need for socks, no snaps, and he is warm. All his Ralph Lauren, Baby GAP and Gymboree outfits are side-lined in favor of Gerber Sleep 'N Plays.

Babies don't coo...well, at least mine doesn't. He makes the strangest noises, grunting, seal-like barking, wheezing, snorting and well, of course, passing gas...

Here are some recent piccies:

Rocking a Sarah Original Knitwear sweater.

Smiling for the camera. (I also called him Augustus Gloup for a few days...you might be able to understand why I was having some issues making enough milk for the guy.)

Hanging in the swing.

Looking cute on Auntie Wieb's quilt.

Daddy's Little Wingman

2008-06-18T04:42:00.001+02:00

When I was pregnant, I wondered what my baby would look like...and he came out nothing like I expected. I really didn't expect all the hair, nor that it would be so dark. Oh, I just find him so adorable! Had to share this picture from his first Fathers' Day (which he made just under the wire...my husband was certain that he would be able to celebrate Fathers' Day this year, while I was sure that Jr. would be late).

Drumroll, please....

2008-06-10T22:09:00.009+02:00

Our newborn prince:

Doesn't he look serious? Doesn't take much after mom or dad then...perhaps he will develop a sense of humor in the next couple of weeks or months...with parents like us, he better...

So this is a blog post nine months in the making literally.

There was one thing I didn’t want for my 30th birthday: I did not want to be a mother yet. I wanted to be able to enjoy the day on my terms. Turns out my son already has great manners: not only did he follow those wishes, he also comes early than expected to important events. Although he wasn’t expected until this Thursday, he decided to make his debut into the world last Friday, a belated 30th birthday present Mom was very happy to get!

For many of you, this post is kind of bewildering, because it sounds like I had a baby on Friday, and I never mentioned I was pregnant. Well, that is the case: just a few weeks after being married, my husband and I found out that we were going to be parents just 9 months after being married: we have one of those honeymoon babies. I just wanted to savor the moment and experience, and I never really got around to posting about it.

Being a parent is still very surreal. I can’t believe that the little squirming cutie is mine. Or that I am a mother and my husband is a father (an awesome one, by the way: I call him the human pacifier). And it’s great watching the dog adapt to this new family member. It’s an adventure for sure. So here are a few pics from the past few days:

Susie sensed that something was up and went to go lay in my suitcase that I was packing for the hospital...yes, ladies and gentlemen, I waited until going into labor to pack that suitcase...good thing we live close to the hospital, so my husband was able to bring me things I had forgotten.

She even placed one of her bones in the suitcase, thinking maybe if she packed something from her we would take her...and I believe this is her attempt at making it impossible for us to go without her...like I would have to zip the suitcase closed with her in it.

Less than 4 hours at the hospital and I was already a mother...this child is already making things easy on mom.

Snoozing with Dad, who is the best swaddler/diaper changer/cuddler evah!

So the newest family member is Susie approved. She is a little bewildered by it all, and wants to lick him, but is confused by his lack on interest or engagement with her...that will change in the future though.

So, now this blog is now officially the dog and baby blog...

Devil's Playground

2008-06-05T21:36:00.003+02:00

I had Devil's Playground on my Netflix list for months. I had always put other movies to the top of the queue, but lately I have gotten bored of movies and decided to give this documentary a chance. The synopsis from Wikipedia:

According to the film, at the age of 16, Amish youth are allowed to depart from many of the Amish rules, though the scholarship on the subject does not support this view of a normative rumspringa. The young people sample life outside of the Amish community. Many drive cars, get jobs, have romantic and sexual relationships, and most experiment with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.
One Amish youth whom the film follows, Faron – a preacher's son – even turns to drug dealing to satisfy his habit. Faron is eventually apprehended by the authorities and aids them in arresting another dealer. The movie continues as each subject faces a variety of challenges and pressures from both the "English World" and the "Amish World" of their families. Some return to their families, others do not. Some are baptized but later leave the Amish church, resulting in their families' shunning them.
According to the documentary, after the period of Rumspringa, 90% of the youth decide to rejoin the church.

I don't really quite know how to describe the film. It is a voyeuristic guilty pleasure on the one hand, but completely fascinating on another to see how this religious community condones the wild behavior of the teenagers during this period. It is completely accepted that the kids will drink, smoke, do drugs, have sex (girls boyfriends are allowed to sleep over after a date...at age 16! Something I did not expect from the Amish community), and be totally out of control during this time, all the time with their parents looking on with a sort of patient resignation. There is this one scene where there is a massive barn party with hundreds of drunk kids stumbling around and then the camera sweeps to a different part of the property where the Amish owner of the farm is preparing to milk his cows...seemingly oblivious to the total chaos just a few yards away.

I can wholeheartedly recommend it, even though I am somewhat skeptical of it representing the average rumspringa experience, and perhaps just the more sordid examples.

Pain Threshold

2008-06-05T17:25:00.003+02:00

I turned 30 yesterday.

I didn't really want any big fanfare, turning 30 just didn't seem like such a big deal when I actually came upon it. I can remember when I was in my mid-20s and some of my friends turned 30, and I thought it was a huge deal...but when it came my time, really it was just any other day. I just now have to remember to say that I am 30 when someone asks (not that it happens often).

I decided that I wanted to take a day off of work and go to the spa the whole day. It was bliss. I work from home and am a real homebody, so I don't really feel attached to this community. Not that I don't want to be, but I also don't feel left out. But being at a small town day spa I almost felt that I was on the set of some movie about a small town: the gossip and chit chat and stories you hear! It was like a session of cultural anthropology on the South. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

There was one story that cracked me up and I wanted to share it here. The owner of the spa told me about a soldier who wanted to get his chest waxed for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. So he called and made an appointment. She said she usually doesn't wax men, but he pleaded with her. She spoke to him over the phone and warned him how painful it was going to be (he had never been waxed before). He said that he was aware of this, and all of his friends had warned him too, and also said he wouldn't be able to handle it, but he was sure he was going to, because after all, he had been on 2 tours in Iraq AND he had been shot there...so he knew what pain was. So she said she would do it, and she would understand if he wanted to bring in a few beers to dull the pain, before she started the procedure. So he came in, and she started waxing him, and did one strip on his chest....and then a second one...she saw that he wasn't doing too well, so she left the room for a few minutes to help her assistant who was dealing with a whole line of customers wanting gift certificates for Valentine's Day presents. She said when she came back into the room, the soldier was sitting upright on the table and twisted his torso to show her a pretty gruesome looking scar. He said: "this is where I got shot...and it did NOT hurt as much as this. Ma'am, I will gladly pay you for your time, but I can not complete the procedure. I apologize for wasting your time." The story reminded me of the waxing scene in The 40-year Old Virgin.

Now, I have personally never been waxed other than my eyebrows. I think it is amusing to think that women go through a procedure that would probably be against the Geneva Conventions falling under torture, and that someone who has experienced a gunshot wound in combat says that getting waxed is more painful...

Facts vs. Anecdotes

2008-06-03T17:26:00.007+02:00

So, Sarah poses this question: “Do you think that all the studies they quoted in this article are inaccurate? I mean, these are people who are answering the questions about themselves. And if we assume that all human beings want to be seen in a good light, then all people are probably churching up their answers. But still the gulf between left and right exists.Is there a difference between our anecdotes and the data from the studies?”

I think there are two kinds of studies: studies where the researchers are trying to find out an answer….and studies where the researchers are trying to prove a point. And depending on their motive, the results of the study can come out skewed. For example, I know that there was a study many years ago that was funded by a dairy foods association that found out that milk was good against osteoporosis , however, I know of another study that tested the effects drinking milk had on women in menopause: they had a test group and then a group that drank no milk. At the end of the study, the group that drank more milk had a higher incidence of osteoporosis.
I think the first study might just refer to drinking milk as a child, whereas the second one warns against drinking milk during menopause. Nevertheless, we still have the Milk Does A Body Good campaign, whereas truly in this case, milk is not doing a body good. The dairy association funded studies that found out what they wanted to find out, and ignored the studies that don’t really support their product. And that is how I feel about studies.

It’s just like a newspaper article. A journalist writes an article about an incident. Unless I know where that journalist is coming from, it is difficult for me to believe everything happened as they claim, because whether they admit it or not, their personal opinions have influenced how they researched and wrote that article. It depends on which direction you are coming from. The journalist will ask the sources it wants to ask, and avoid sources that might present a differing tact from the one the journalist wants to take. If I know that the American Dairy Association has funded a study, I can judge it accordingly. If I know that someone from FOX, CNN or NBC is reporting on a story, I can perhaps weave the whole story together through those multiple viewpoints.

So, is there a difference between our anecdotes and the data from studies? I would say, sometimes. Because I know that quite often the data is just anecdotal, because the researchers have only asked the people they want to ask. I mean, how many times have you seen the media portray the typical Iraq War vet as a something completely different than what we know as being the typical Iraq War vet? Are we sheltered in our experiences of how returning veterans are? Or are the only vets who take part in media interviews about the Iraq war tending to fit the media’s “ideal” of a returning vet?

So to return to the conservatives vs. liberals discussion: I would like to comment on the last line in the blog post Sarah linked to: “Again, this is not to say that every conservative is honest or that every liberal is dishonest, but there is a very real difference between those ideologies and the effect that they have on people who ascribe to them.” I would like to build on that comment. I think the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals is that liberals believe in the good of people, and conservatives believe that if someone is given too much rope, they will hang themselves. The Prussians had a great saying: “Trust is good, control is better.”

Now, this is just my opinion, not fact what follows. My perception is that a lot of liberal policies are built on the belief that if people are given a chance, they will perform to the best of their ability, whereas conservatives think that only if given a carrot or threatened with a stick, will people do so. For example, it’s more of a liberal idea that grades and tests aren’t needed in school, whereas conservatives believe that you need that threat of a bad grade to make you study to learn what is expected. (And I am sure there are liberals who think the no-grade system is hogwash, too.)

I believe that many liberals think that a good welfare system is necessary to help those in need, whereas conservatives see a welfare system as too much of a carrot to not perform to your utmost. Same with nationalized healthcare. I grew up without medical insurance, my parents could afford it, but chose not to have it. Guess what? We were super healthy kids. Also, my parents, both in their 60s now: because they don’t go to a doctor, they aren’t on any kind of medicine. You could scoff at that, but I am sure that it is saving their health. My father also says one of the unhealthiest things you can do for yourself is get really good and comprehensive medical insurance. Because then you can “afford” all these interventions.

Case in point: When I was younger, I had really bad ear infections, which were exacerbated by the fact that we lived in Hawaii and I was constantly swimming and water was getting in my ears all the time. So at one of my doctor’s visits for yet another ear infection (which after a while, my mother started to self treat at home after buying all the proper paraphernalia) the doctor mentioned an operation that would reduce my ear infections: inserting tubes in the ear canal that would make drainage easier: the caveat being, it would also make me MORE susceptible to ear infections if water ever entered my ears. So my mother asked if the doctor thought it would be good for me, and he replied: “Do you have insurance?” And she replied that we didn’t. And so he said: “Well, I wouldn’t recommend it, because she will grow out of it anyway by the time she is about 10 years old.”

I believe that if there is health insurance it makes people less vigilant about their health. If there is a back-up plan, people are less determined about making it work properly the first time around. I think that the liberal point of view is more worried about those people who forgo treatment, because they can’t afford it, whereas I am more worried about how much unhealthier the average American now is, despite (or in my opinion, because of) increased healthcare coverage. I really would like to help people in need, it’s not that I don’t care about someone suffering from a disease, who can’t afford treatment. However, I am annoyed that with nationalized healthcare we would have to carry the burden of people who get into car accidents because of their own negligence, people who have treated their bodies so poorly over the years that they can only get by with medical intervention. I don’t want that.

My father says (does anyone see a trend here? My father has been a huge influence on the formation of my outlook on life) that if you aren’t a liberal when you are younger, you are heartless, but if that you don’t become more conservative later in life, you lack brains. (And, please, any liberals reading this, don’t get into a flap here…). I really agree with that sentiment. We should believe in the good of people, but without controls in place, I just don’t trust them to do what is best.

Just like my host father in France: he was enabling someone to take advantage of the system, and taking advantage of the system himself at the same time. His rationalization was probably along these lines: “I am paying exorbitant taxes for this, I might as well get some of my money back.”

So to come full circle, I believe that if we want to see liberals as having a tendency to lie more than conservatives, we could certainly prove that point if we asked the right people the right questions. But I think overall liberals and conservatives just see different solutions to problems, but both of them have the greater good in mind, what is best for society as a whole. And my personal opinion is that liberal policies, although full of good intentions, don't hold people accountable and lead to further problems (this is how I interpreted the last line of the quoted blog post: the effects that those policies have on people). And then there are fringe elements on both sides who would like to take advantage of the system: there is the conservative who doesn’t believe in charity of any kind, and the liberal who believes he is entitled to steal. But most of us, whether liberal or conservative, share the same morals.

So I have a question, that I have been pondering lately: I feel like many "conservative" politicians no longer embody the conservative stance of self-responsibility and accountability. My question is for liberals reading this post: do you feel that many "liberal" politicians nowadays aren't keeping true to socialistic core values? I mean, for example, I look at McCain and think: "no ways is that guy a conservative!" Do you look at Hillary or Obama and think that they have strayed too much to be considered liberal...or are even "too" liberal?

Liberals vs. Conservatives

2008-06-02T23:12:00.006+02:00

I just read a post at Sarah’s…and instead of bogging down her comments section, I decided to write a post of my own. Her post discussed a recent study where it pointed to feelings of entitlement for things that weren’t earned or deserved that were stronger among liberals than conservatives. It also said that liberals were more likely to lie (I think I understood that correctly.)

I disagree…I know there are people like that, but I also know there are conservatives that make me cringe with their sense of self-righteousness. Oh, and ug…there is someone running for Congress here in Alabama on the Republican ticket that makes me bugged eyed when I hear her radio campaigns: she claims that milk is $6 a gallon (she obviously doesn’t shop at Walmart where it is still just barely under $4) and that we should “demand” from the Kuwaitis and Saudis to give us cheaper gas. Huh? What? Why?

A few days ago I came home to find a flyer for her campaign attached to my front door knob and I was so bummed out that I wasn’t home to blast her campaigner with questions about Ms. Harri Anne Smith. I just read on her homepage that she was rated most conservative member of the senate…seriously, well if that is true, I am really scared, because if demanding cheaper oil is the most conservative stance (as opposed to, oh, I don't know, sucking it up and dealing with it, by perhaps looking into alternatives and letting the market direct us to less gas-guzzling cars and other fuels?) that really makes me worried.

I digress…I lived in Germany for a number of years, and many of my friends are liberals. (You can’t help it in Germany…it’s a national affliction). However, they shared the same morals as I did. It was basically a case of looking at something, and just seeing a different picture.

Just like in the optical illusion, both parties truly do see what they are seeing, and at the same time, it doesn’t negate what the other is seeing.

One of the most liberal people I know is my French host mother…and she has to be one of the most giving, morally upright people I know. She is all for nationalized healthcare, but is just extremely disappointed in people who abuse it. I can remember sitting at the dinner table one evening with her family. Her husband and her were both general practitioners doctors and he was on call that evening. The phone rang, and she went to answer it. When she came back her husband asked who it was: she replied that it was a patient complaining of an itch on their hand, a skin irritation, and that she had told him that was nothing he needed to be calling an on-call doctor about and he could wait to come into the office in the morning. Her husband almost about blew up and said: “oh, Anne, you have no sense of economics!” and immediately went to the phone, called the patient back and did a home visit. A doctor would get paid more by the government for going on a house visit, than waiting for the patient to come during normal hours…yet this was really a case where the patient could have waited until the next morning for treatment. So in this case it was the conservative doctor enabling the person to abuse the system, whereas the socialist doctor wanted to reprimand the patient.

Her husband Jean sadly passed away 2 years ago, but I was always amused by their relationship: he was the staunch conservative, and she was the socialist. I think one of the cutest things I can remember was when she was traveling on business for something, and couldn’t attend an important Amnesty International event: she was the leader of the local chapter. They were going to protest something by walking thru their city with poster signs. So Jean was volunteers by Anne to go protest in her place. And he DID! He came back and was telling us about how he and 6 others marched thru the city center chanting (he was really amused by the whole thing). And I just thought: wow, that is true love!

I digress.

Anne also volunteers for charity work in Africa, and spends 6 weeks there every year providing medical care for the needy. She is always very depressed when she comes back, because she says, that often she finds that these people lack any desire to lift themselves out of their situation. They just shrug and say it is God’s will.

Anne really truly believes in the good of people, and she is disappointed. When I look at her, I feel lazy. I sometimes think that it is easier to be a conservative, because it blames people for their situations and doesn’t give me the responsibility of having to change them. Anne even when faced with the disappointment of people who won’t, when given the chance, lift themselves by their own bootstraps, continues to fight the good fight and supports a more socialist agenda. She will not give up on believing in a more communal sense of living.

However, nevertheless, I still see a different picture than Anne. I do think that people need to take more responsibility for their situations, and not take pity on themselves. You can’t wait for others to change your life. I am a conservative through and through...but I don't think that liberals are necessarily liars...they are just way more optimistic than I am.

So, although I know there are quite a few liberals out there who fit the study, I know that it really isn’t the case.

Update: Okay, I want to repent right now too. I also always give back money when the cashiers hands me too much change, make sure that I get charged correctly for everything, etc...however 2 weeks ago, I think I "stole" from the commissary. And I kind of felt it was the better of two options: I was checking out and this was the first time I experienced "rush-hour" at the commissary. I had heard about it, but never before witnessed the cashier line that goes down the aisle.

I offloaded my purchases, which included a gallon of milk. When the cashier went to ring it up, there was no bar code on it. So she asked me how much it was. I said I didn’t know. She called someone to do a price check and continued checking out the rest of my items. She was completely done, and we waited for this person to do the price check. Finally someone calls her on her phone…I think, yes, okay…here is the price…nope, he was just asking what the price check was for. More waiting…now bear in mind, there is someone (in uniform) waiting behind me now, their things are on counter waiting to be rung up, it’s a Friday. *groan*…I am feeling majorly embarrassed to be causing this delay. Finally, this is like 2 minutes later (but it literally feels like 5)…a commissary employee comes jogging down the aisle and says: $1.78. And so she enters $1.78 into the registered and tallies up my total. And all I can think is: no freekin' way is a gallon of milk ONLY $1.78 (I am really sensitive to the price of milk…I drink a lot of it, and I know that it is around $4…I doubt that the commissary is much lower than Walmart). So I am thinking that the guy got the price for the half gallon of milk instead of the whole gallon. But at the moment, all I could think was: do I really want to say: um, I think you made a mistake, can we wait another 3 minutes for her to get someone else to go back and check the price of the gallon of milk and hold the line up longer? I also rationalized that the wait was costing the commissary something, and I was saving them money, by not insisting on a second price check. So, full-disclosure…I stole from the commissary.

Does anyone else have a story like this?

Boat dog

2008-05-27T18:40:00.008+02:00

Practicing her wake surfing skills

Leading the way

Showing her swim skills

Being portayed to shore and back like a little princess

Chilling with Mom in the water

Sitting pretty

Just like Sarah sometimes worries that her blog is becoming the knitting blog, I fear mine has become the puppy blog. We took Susie out on the lake this weekend, and she really enjoys it. We have been taking her since she was just over 3 months, so she is an old pro at this by now. She leaps from the boat onto the dock. And she is starting to get more secure in the water. We will be investing in a dog float vest now that she is approaching full size.

Winning the war on terror = banning porn downrange?

2008-05-08T17:32:00.001+02:00

Please tell me legislators have better things to do than this?

Oliver Stone does George W Bush.

2008-05-08T15:35:00.003+02:00

This was the first I had heard about Oliver Stone's biopic W, which will chonincal the life and presidency of Dubbya.

I just don't get it. According to Just Jared (don't you love who my sources are: salicious gossip sites...*sigh*):
Bush is reportedly portrayed in the film as a foul-mouthed, reformed drunk obsessed with baseball, Saddam Hussein and the conflicted relationship with his dad.

Why would Stone waste his time and (other people's) money producing a film like that? I don't see how this is going to be a big money maker or even an influential movie. Yes, there are loads of people who loathe Bush...but are they going to pay $10+ to watch a movie about someone they "put up with" for the last 8 years? Why? Also, unlike say Fahrenheit 911, this movie isn't going to really have any possible effect on the upcoming elections. Also, it's not like people are obsessed with Bush. They have other things on their minds right now: two possible Democratic nominees for President. They are working towards a brighter future, in their opinion. Why would they want to revisit something that is so recent in their memories? It would be such a waste of time. Preaching to the converted.

And the people who like Bush...well, they certainly won't be paying $10 to go see him trashed.

I just don't get how someone who is filled with such hate for a living person, could possibly produce a good film about them.

However, as a total compliment for Condi Rice: they cast hawtie ex-Bond girl Thandie Newton to play the National Security Advisor.

Blogging as Journalism...how far we have come

2008-05-02T15:57:00.003+02:00

I was watching an episode of Law and Order last night, it was from the Benjamin Bratt/Jerry Orbach era...i.e. back in the day, it was when Bratt had just started on the show, so in 1995.

Anyhoo...one of the witnesses to the murder they were investigating posted pieces on an electronic bulletin board. The witness was reluctant to testify so he claimed protection under the press shield law, saying he was a journalist and shouldn't have to reveal his sources (he claimed to have not seen the crime in person, but talked to people immediately after it happened).

The defense brought in a professor of journalism to ask if he considered the BBer a journalist. And he agreed he was. The prosecution was incredulous about this, and tried to argue that the BBer definitely wasn't a journalist.

And it just struck me, fast forward 13 years things are a lot different. Jury members wouldn't look so confused about this whole new "internet" medium, and bloggers could and can probably decently stand behind the press shield law.

Marriage vs. wedding

2008-04-10T00:02:00.002+02:00

Marriage rules.

Yesterday evening I was contemplating our almost 7 month union and commented to my husband: "You know, the wedding was nice and everything, but, whew, in retrospect that wasn't the most fun ever." And he agreed that being married has been a lot of fun, whereas we were both a bundle of nerves up until the wedding.

I mean, it was great to have friends and family there, but there was so much trepidation and worry and nervousness, that I really didn't enjoy it as much as you imagine you are going to enjoy your wedding day. It was truly beautiful and we have the photos to prove it...but marriage has proven to be a lot more fulfilling!

I definitely don't look back on my wedding day and wish we could do it all over again...it seems almost like it was a trial to be survived.

Am I the only one who feels like this, or does anyone else look back and feel kind of relieved that it was over and they don't have to relive it?

Gone, baby, gone

2008-04-07T15:27:00.002+02:00

We Netflix. However, it seems like we have overfished the Netflix waters, and rarely do we rent a movie that is really interesting now...but last night we watched: Gone, Baby, Gone.

First of all, I definitely think that Ben Affleck is a better director than actor...and his brother Casey is a pretty good actor.

The casting was marvelous. I mean, people were extremely ordinary and normal looking (read: occasionally even pretty ugly, but in a natural way, not in a Hollywood trying to make someone look ugly and dirty way) in this movie.

The dialogue was pretty realistic too, in fact, we actually had to turn on the closed captioning, because there was so much mumbling and Boston accent that we couldn't really catch everything at the beginning.

The ending is pretty controversial, and not the way most movies would end. And it's interesting how the main character accepts his fate. I don't want to give the ending away, but it really is the kind of movie that you want to discuss about with other people. Now, I am not going to flat-out say this movie is a great movie and reccomend it to everyone, but it isn't a complete waste of time and it does leave you thinking. So if you have overfished the DVD rental waters too, this might be a good one to try out.

Oh, for goodness sakes!

2008-03-26T22:33:00.003+01:00

I can not believe this story: Obama Barack is complaining about not fitting in at his private high-school on Hawaii. Puh-leeese. I grew up in Hawaii, and let me tell you something about that place: everyone is equally discriminated against there, there is no such thing as political correctness. For example, I was, and on occasion still am called, a dumb haole! I was beaten up as a kid for being white. I was the only "white" kid in a class of 33. Growing up in Hawaii is probably the best thing for a mixed-race kid. Nobody really cares there...and here Obama is trying to act like it was so difficult. Yes, the school he went to was a little more white-bread than other schools on the islands, but he was growing up in perhaps the most ethnically diverse place in America. But he still finds a way to paint himself as a victim with a struggle. Oh, boy...

Yes, certainly at Punahou there is a higher percentage of white kids attending, it isn't a purely rich kid school. And for him to paint it that way, is just so ridiculous.

And the journalist who wrote the story is equally non-sensical:
Obama came from a modest background; suddenly his peers were the island's richest and most accomplished students. Around that time, America Online founder Steve Case, actress Kelly Preston and former Dallas Cowboys lineman Mark Tuinei attended the school, which offers kindergarten through 12th grade on a lush hillside campus overlooking the Waikiki skyline and Pacific Ocean.

Um, hello, they were children at the time, not the mega-rich people they are today. Kelly Preston for example, according to Wikipedia: Her mother, Linda Carlson, was an administrator of a mental health center, and her father, who worked for an agricultural firm, drowned when Preston was three years old. Her adoptive father was Peter Palzis, a personnel director, and her stepfather was Lee Carlson. What part of that reeks of priviledge and riches?

Steve Case? His father was a lawyer and mother an elementary school teacher. It's not like he was already the billionaire he is today.

Mark Tuinei? According to this article: The son of a Samoan father and a mother of Yugoslavian descent. He tells stories of his father's frequent gory fights, his brother's time in prison and his own rough behavior. He was kicked out of UCLA after a drunken dorm brawl; be served three months in jail for assisting in the beating of a man in Hawaii. A decision to join the ROTC program at the University of Hawaii helped settle him down enough to finish his eligibility. Doesn't exactly sound like this guy came from an ultra priviledged family, does it?

So, let me see, according to those examples, someone could equally write an article stating: "Mr. X came from a modest background; suddenly his peers were the island's richest and most accomplished students. Around that time, presidential candidate Obama Barack attended the school."

Whatever...and they wonder why we are losing faith in traditional journalism...

Things that go bump in the middle of the night

2008-03-26T16:50:00.004+01:00

SisB wrote this wonderful rant on her husband's getting up routine that I could have written:

It does not work for me for the alarm to go off at 4:13, 4:17, 4:21, 4:25 and 4:29 before you finally get out of bed. It does not work for me for the alarm to go off for an entire minute with you stretching and looking at it to decide whether you're going to get up or not. It does not work for me that when you finally get up, you turn the bathroom light on to shine directly in my face because you forgot to shut the door before you turned on the light.

When we got married, my husband was on early mornings, which meant he had to get up at 4:30. And see, if this were me, I would do things like this: prepare my clothes the night before, perhaps lay them out in the livingroom or in the bathroom. I would only let the alarm clock go off once, jump up, and get into the bathroom, where I would turn on the light, only after closing the door. When I explained that way of doing things to him, he seemed perturbed, and asked what difference it would make: this is from the guy who can sleep through anything...of course he can't understand my perspective: even the slightest amount of light in the room bothers me, who jumps awake at the slightest sound or movement. It's one of those things that can just ruin a day and make you grumpy and hateful.

I feel like such a nag when I ask him to undress before coming into the bedroom if he is working nights. He once came home at about 1:30AM, and opened the bedroom door and proceeded to take off his uniform: I heard the boots unlacing, the velcro coming unattached, the belt unbuckle, the zipper un zip...honey if you are wearing elastic waisted pants, a t-shirt and flip flops, then it might not be as bothersome...but all that? Hello? It's like the equivalent of a chainsaw for me at that time in the night.

But 6 months into our marriage we definitely have an understanding, and he is a real dear about it, but I know that he still doesn't quite understand why he has to jump through so many hoops.

The twos fighting hares and the tortoise

2008-03-20T17:08:00.004+01:00

I was looking online this morning thinking there had to be some Aesop fable describing the current presidential race, but I came up empty handed...so I created my own. There are three serious candidates for president right now. And two of them are so busy fighting each other, that they don't even realize that the 3rd one is slowly creeping towards the finish line. And by the time one of the hares delivers the knock-out punch to the other, they will have a lot of catching up to do with the slowly plodding tortoise.

I had to smirk this morning when I saw that that McCain met with Gordon Brown, the British PM today as part of his tour through the Middle East and Europe. It's almost like he is behaving like him becoming the POTUS is in the bag, and he might as well start the leg work on future foreign policy. And others might start believing that too.

I wonder when the two hares might stop their squabbling long enough to realize that the tortoise is becoming just a spot on the horizon towards the finish line?

A Puppy is a lot of work

2008-03-05T16:08:00.005+01:00

So, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with our puppy housetraining and other discipline issues (mainly mouthiness). I think there are a few phases with getting a puppy:

The excitement of bringing a puppy home and all the initial bonding.

The stresses of training a puppy: waking up in the middle of the night to take them out to pee, following them around to make sure they don't pee or poop in the house, cleaning those messes when they do, making sure they don't chew on wires or anything they shouldn't be chewing on.

Asking yourself whether this will ever end: will she ever figure out that she isn't supposed to be biting my hands and feet, and hanging onto my pants' leg? Will she ever figure out that she needs to go out to pee?

The sheer joy the first time she walks to the door to be let out to pee! And when she heeds your reprimand of her misbehavior and moves onto something else.

This has definitely been a great experience. Firstly, I understand why there are so many misbehaved dogs out there: people just don't devote the time and effort to properly train the animal. You get easily exasperated with the lack of progress.

What this has also made immensely clear: why there are so many misbehaved children out there: we have only had her 2 weeks, and we were already becoming frustrated with her lack of progress, the lack of sleep and the cleaning up of messes...how much work is a child? I mean, after a year, you have barely scratched the surface. My mother has always said about parenthood: "there are many deposits, before you get any returns."

There are also loads of funny moments: this morning, I was folding laundry and Susie sauntered over and decided she was going to jump into the laundry basket and chew on clothes. I told her to get out, and removed her, but she jumped right back in and continued chewing, so she went into time-out in her pen. Usually when we put her into time-out she will mope and whine, and then settle down. Well, this time, she settled down, and then just sat there and barked at me. It was pretty clear that she was giving me the doggie version of: "oh, yeah? Well, I don't love you anymore. So there!" It is so hard to not laugh during moments like this.

Or the other night she was on what we call puppy crack: she got hyper and started running around the house at warp speed. We were in the livingroom, and she was tearing through from room to room, making circles...at one point when she was in the hallway that leads to my office, we hear a *thud* and realized that she ran full speed into the closed door of my office (which is usually open). It didn't seem to slow her down, because she came tearing out of the hallway, and made a dash under the coffee table, but in jumping over the bottom support of the coffee table, she managed to hit her head on the coffee table. She started yelping like crazy, but kept on running. My husband and I were both worried, but also laughing.

And your realize why small dogs are so often really neurotic and undisciplined: because everything they do is "so cute!" It's so cute when Mitzy jumps on you, or barks like a maniac at the mailman, or snaps at your ankles...but really, you have to picture Mitzy as a 100lb dog, and then that behavior isn't so cute anymore. But because Mitzy will never be 100lbs, Mitzy's owners just think it's cute. But it's really not.

We have to catch ourselves that we don't fall into that behavior with Susie. My husband thinks it's cute that she digs little holes in the backyard...but maybe he won't think it's so cute once our backyard looks like a 32 hole golf-course. I think it's cute when she sasses me with her barking...but really it's obnoxious.

Anyhoo...we have our first puppy training classes tonight, and not a moment too soon!

Cool!

2008-02-28T21:14:00.004+01:00

So apparently Prince Harry managed to fenagle a deployment anyway. I think that is pretty cool that he was allowed to deploy to Afghanistan, and has been deployed there since December, and the British media agreed not to report on it.

I love this picture of him on a patrol, because you have got to wonder what that kid would think if he knew the 3rd in line to the British throne was just walking around with a machine gun in Afghanistan.

I really like the fact that both William and Harry are serious about their military duty. I also felt a little sorry for them when I watched their interview with Matt Lauer last year, when he asked them what they would be doing if they weren't who they were: and Wiliam replied: be a helicopter pilot in the military (his uncle was a pilot, so I don't know why he is barred from this, perhaps 2nd in line is too close?)

Puppy comes home!

2008-02-20T16:11:00.004+01:00

We're smitten!

Puppy!

2008-02-17T05:11:00.004+01:00

So my husband and I finally got our puppy. We had been talking about getting one after the wedding, but never got around to it. There was always a reason not to get it. We went on our belated honeymoon in January (roadtrip to Florida) and I have been on a trip home since then. And this was the first weekend we were both home since then, so we went to the dog shelter...and look what we found:

I wanted a smaller dog (and by that, I was nixing the Lab my husband wanted). He has never had a dog, and I grew up with them, so I have a little more of an idea about the work that is involved with having a dog...so I had to put my foot down when it came to choosing the size. But we both fell in love with this little girl: she is a Boston Terrier/Beagle mix. And she is the runt of the litter...so I am hoping she won't get too big. And she has the sweetest demeanor, but is still quite playful.

We get to pick her up Monday from the vet's office after she has been fixed. So this evening was spent at Petsmart and Walmart buying supplies. Monday afternoon just can't come quick enough!

Tagged! 7 Random things about me

2008-02-17T05:01:00.003+01:00

The Good Eatah (whose boyfriend is currently deployed to Iraq and she has the cutest picture of them up for Valentine's Day) has tagged me out of my blogging silence.

I am supposed to tag 7 other people, but I don't think I am even allowed to do that considering I am so inactive online lately...so I will just share 7 random or weird things about myself.

1. Hmmm…well, some people might know this, but I am actually a British citizen, not American.

2. I was voted “most unique” in high school…everyone knows that is just a nice way to say “strange”. I guess dying my hair green on occasion, and wearing purple or green tights among other things, might have had something to do with it. The guy who was voted most unique along side me has since had a sex change and has a different name. I, on the other hand, have just not lived up to that expectation, I might as well be Little Susie Homemaker in comparison.

3. I was a science and math major in high school (I was in the French system, where you have to choose a “major” in 11th grade). I wasn’t particularly good at those subjects, but decided it would be good for me to try to get better at those. In college I flipped the switch and I majored in history and minored in English.

4. I love Asia: I have been to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and China (and Hong Kong). I don’t love Asia in a “I have Asian art and tattoos everywhere and quote Asian philosophy” way…but more “I just love the food, the people and the amazing landscape…plus traveling in those countries is cheap” way.

5. I’m a pretty decent baker. I always wanted to be a baker (while pursuing my science major in high school and my subsequent masters in history), but ended up working for my father and love it…but sometimes I daydream about the little bakery I was going to have.

6. I never thought I would marry a soldier (does any women ever think they will fall in love with someone in the military?) It was just never something I was exposed to while growing up, so I guess it never occurred to me that it was a possibility.

7. I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 25 years old. My father had pretty much discouraged me in my childhood, and when I was old enough to decide for myself, I didn't really find it interesting anymore. But then my grandmother gave me earrings for my 25th birthday. And I told her it was a nice gesture, but I didn't have pierced ears. She replied: "I know, but I thought it might be time you did." I considered it, and thought it was a good idea, and finally got it done. And I just love me some dangly earrings now!

Animal Farm goes Venuzuelan

2008-01-07T23:40:00.000+01:00

I loved the book Animal Farm. Although I knew at the time that the story referred to Soviet totalitarianism, the older I get the more I realize that it's pretty much allegorical of modern "do as I say, not as I do" politics that even the US must suffer.

This story of the capitalism-hating-but Gucci-and-Louis Vuitton-loving Venuzuelan Minster of Interior gave me a chuckle, because it was so blatantly hypocritical:

Pedro Carreño: The only way to justice is socialism, not capitalism. It's not that cannibalism that is in place in the United States . . .
Female Reporter (interrupting): And isn't it contradictory to speak of capitalism when you have a tie from Louis-Vuitton and shoes from [Gucci]?
Pedro Carreño (stumbling): I don't know, I . . . Of course, yes . . . It's not contradictory, because I would like for Venezuela to produce all of that.(...)

Love it! For those who can understand Spanish, there is a YouTube clip linked at that posting.

Christopher Hitchens and Mark Daily

2007-12-27T17:24:00.000+01:00

What if someone were to die, someone you never personally met, and then you found out that you had somehow influenced this person on their path, that eventually ended in their death?

In January of 2007, a young officer from Irvine, CA was killed in Iraq by and I.E.D. The day before he deployed, he wrote an essay on his MySpace page: "Why I joined." After his death this essay spread like wild fire on the internet, and was even eventually read on the Senate floor by Sen. John Cornyn mere weeks later.

An article about his life and death was published in the LA Times in February 2007. In it the journalist explains how Daily's views about the war in Iraq changed from someone who was sympathetic to the anti-war rhetorics, to someone who decided to join the Army to go "over there.":

Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him. A 2003 phone conversation with a UCLA ROTC officer on the ideals of commitment and service impressed him.

A friend of Christopher Hitchens forwarded him the article. Hitchens in turn wrote an article in in Vanity Fair about his guilt that he helped persuade a soldier to start on a path that eventually lead him to his death and Hitchens describes his subsequent relationship with that soldier's family. It's a beautifully written story about Hitchens' emotions, Mark Daily's life and legacy, and his family and their graciousness.

Without further ado...

2007-12-23T15:30:00.000+01:00

...I present the wedding pics:

My absolutely adorable nieces serving as flower girls.

My parents and me before the ceremony.

Echanging vows.

Our Harlequin romance novel cover.

The photographer took about 50 shots of me in various poses, which all looked really nice, but they didn't look like me. This one of me brushing the hair out of my face (it was unbelievably windy, my veil was like a helicopter blade, whirling around in circles) looked pretty natural.

Cupcakes instead of cake: when doing the wedding planning I was lamenting the price of cake cutting service from the caterers: it was going to be something like $2.50 a person. So my then fiance just said: "well, why don't we have cupcakes then?" See, those great ideas are why I married him...;-)

A friend from inside the computer and friends from "real life": Sarah and two of my "real life" friends.

I wanted the decorations to reflect a wedding in Hawaii, so the florist came up with this great idea: giant leaves as place settings. I loved it.

We had a tiny cake to cut on top of the cupcake pyramid (which I made and upholstered myself I will have you know...the pyramid, not the cake). My husband doesn't much like sweets, but he really liked this cake, which is a real tribute to the baker. She made it with a mango coconut filling. And it wasn't overly sweet.

This was one of the entrees. I wish I had more photos of the food. There were a few things that were really important for me while planning the wedding: good wedding cake, a great bar, and amazing food. And wow, the caterers really did well. Everything was amazing.

Our first dance.

So there we go, folks. That was the wedding. Great fun, but married life has been even better.

I didn't marry a girly-man

2007-12-17T02:02:00.000+01:00

Update: Apparently I am super clueless: my husband found this post and said: "you thought that was a bb-gun? That was a real gun." My bad...

I guess you could call our marriage a magenta (not enough blue to be purple, but a sprinkle of it) marriage; he is very red-state, while although conservative, I grew up in Los Angeles, so a lot of blue-ness rubbed off on me.

Guns are an interesting issue in our household. I grew up in a barrio, which is literally just a few levels above a ghetto safety-wise. We still hear gunshots regularly, and police helicopters with spotlights hover over our neighborhood often. We have had a getaway car abandoned in front of our house, and a suspect run through our backyard while being pursued by the police. I have seen drugs dealt, and prostitutes strutting their stuff on our block.

Now having said that, I feel really safe in my parents' neighborhood. My parents have lived there almost 40 years, and never once experienced a break-in. They don't even lock their back door. We also know our neighbors and wave to them as they walk by our kitchen window when they accompany their kids to school. The neighborhood is experiencing a revival of sorts: for years it was rented houses, and now they are owner occupied and you can see a lot of house-pride. One thing we never experience in our neighborhood are drive-bys. The violence isn't random. It seems very much tit for tat. So I have never felt the need for a gun. I have never felt unsafe.

My husband, on the other hand, grew up in suburbia in Kentucky, where kids could ride their bikes and roam free all day long without much fear of any harm. Despite this idyllic upbringing, he fully exercises his constitutional right to bear arms. And he thinks that I am nuts to have never felt the need for a gun while living in LA. (Now, I have to once again specify, we live in a lower-socioeconomic neighborhood, which I believe makes us less of a target for home invasion and robbery than living in a more prosperous neighborhood).

I view his gun ownership just like I view his predilection for Skyline Chili and chicken pot pie: it’s a cultural thing, and although I can eat Skyline Chili occasionally, it’s not something I crave, and I don’t think I ever will. However, after last night I have renewed respect for my husband and his guns.

We live in a pretty safe neighborhood in the South. We were suddenly awoken at about 2am by the sound of breaking glass. While I was still processing the noise, my husband was miles ahead of me. He jumped out of bed, turned on the light and before I knew it he was walking towards where the noise came with a gun in his hand. Now, I didn’t feel particularly threatened about the sound. But I thought this was all very exciting: my husband, walking towards the sound of danger, with his gun (albeit, it was just his bee-bee gun as the “real” gun was in another room, but man it looks menacing). I snuggled a little deeper into the covers of the bed and watched while he turned off the light in the bathroom and peered outside, checking to see if the window had been broken.

He quickly discovered that it was just the glass covering from a light fixture that must have been blown down by the wind (it was extremely windy and rainy that night…which was adding to the whole drama).

He walked back into the bedroom and put the gun back into its case, and put it back in its place, turned off the light and got back into bed. And promptly fell back asleep.

I, on the other hand, was pumped. I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “That was sooo hawt,” was all I could think. What a turn on! It took a lot of self-control not to start pawing my sleeping husband. And I realized: “this man is ready and willing to protect his family.” He was so calm and collected in his actions, so confident. I knew that if anyone would be trying to break-in, they would be meeting some serious resistance, and this was highly comforting.

It was a real eye opener to see what properly exercising your Second Amendment right looks like. And having seen it in action, I can honestly say, I like the fact that we have that right.

Military Spouse Rite of Passage

2007-11-20T18:23:00.000+01:00

Last year my then boyfriend (now husband) gave me a sewing machine for my birthday. Well, he actually gave me a picture of a sewing machine and explained he was still working on buying me one. He spent a lot of time researching the best machine to get and spent countless hours failing, but then finally succeeding on bidding for one on eBay. So then a few months later I got my beloved Pfaff.

I can barely operate the thing without my husband hovering behind me, telling me how to thread it, which foot to use for that stitch, questioning if the tension is correct, etc. He became a veritable sewing machine afficionado during his research. I have made a few things on it, mostly just decorative cushions and patching up clothes. I have great dreams of making huge projects on it, but I have just never gotten around to realizing any of that.

However, two days ago I realized that purchasing the sewing machine for me and all of his hand-holding while I was operating the machine wasn't just a sign of his support for all my craft projects...oh no, rather it was just grooming me for the most important task of all: he asked me if I could sew some patches onto his new uniform.

I was kind of giddy when I did it. It felt so "wifey." And I was pretty proud of my handiwork. And I realized that it made me feel more like a military spouse than anything else I had done in the last few weeks since getting married.

Dry humor

2007-11-16T18:08:00.000+01:00

We were sitting on the couch watching TV and a commercial for Chevy's Volt came up: the tag line is: "A 40 mile or less daily commute without a drop of gas."

So I turn to my husband and ask (eyes rolling): "so when they go home and recharge the car's battery, where does the power come from then?"

Without missing a beat he replies: "Oh, only from energy derived from windmills, of course."

*Sigh* I love him.

I promise...

2007-10-25T20:23:00.000+02:00

...to get up a post about the wedding soon!

Hope and Despair in Iraq

2007-08-19T18:59:00.000+02:00

When I came home from a business trip this week, a large brown envelope awaited me in the kitchen. I recognized NerdBoy's writing on the outside. I opened it up, and there were about 16 photocopied pages of an article from a German magazine. And accompanying it was a note:

"I could not get the digital version of this article, so I send you this copy. In my eyes one of the best pieces ever written on Iraq, and it is a well-balanced text...I do not know if Spiegel Online will publish the English version...

I think many people should read this, especially those who think and speak about Iraq and the US-troops only one-dimensionally."

So the next day, I sat down an read it...and it was a page turner. And I want to thank the German reporters for going over to Iraq, and researching this piece. I was telling my boyfriend how great the article was and how I lamented the fact that it wasn't in English, and this morning, he sent me an email...he had found the text in English.

Please, go read this article. It is long, but worth it. Here is a teaser to start:

The world has become deaf to the word "peace" -- at least when conversations turn to Iraq. It is as if the world were blind to the possibility that the situation in this country straddling the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers could be anything different from the constant stream of increasingly devastating films of the latest car bombings. For most people, Iraq has become nothing but a series of attacks, a collection of images of bombings and victims, a tale of failure, a book about historical guilt and a symbol of the moral decline of the United States of America.

But the real story in Iraq cannot be summed up in short news clips and quick, shaky television images. Body counts and names of the dead tell only part of the story of Iraq today. Research for this story took me on a three-week journey throughout the country, my fourth trip to Iraq in as many years. Under the protection of the US military, it led us to the northern city of Mosul and its suburbs, to Ramadi and to Baghdad. The military did not choose our destinations, SPIEGEL did. Apart from a few technical and strategic details, nothing was censored.

The trip included nighttime helicopter flights across villages and cities, journeys in Humvees through landscapes of burned-out buildings, rides in an armored personnel carrier through war zones and walks through both enemy territory and peaceful markets. This kind of travel is the only way for a Western journalist to work in Iraq. Without a military escort, reporting can only take place from afar, from the relative safety of well-guarded hotel rooms. Of course, hotel rooms aren't the best vantage point from which to grasp the true complexity of the situation. At no point during this journey, even in places where there was gunfire or bombs had recently exploded, were the images entirely consistent.

(Thanks, Nerdboy!)

Prank calls...Meow

2007-08-07T08:02:00.000+02:00

Okay, because somebody said I had to write something new, I am writing about a little event in my day that made me beam with pride. Prank callers, perverted prank callers, had been calling the office and harassing the girls answering the phones....all day long. I told the girls they weren't to get upset with these guys, because that is what they wanted...they loved the game, they like making their prey squirm, but if you don't squim, or even better, make them squirm: game over. You have to make THEM hang-up, not the other way around.

So, I took a call just after one of the girls had hung up on someone bothering them. He started off by saying: "one of your colleagues just hung up on me, I would like to complain." (I heard laughter in the background...I guessed their age at about 14 or so.) So then I said, I would help him with his query. So then he asked me: "do you ship to My-anus, Nebraska?" I responded: I don't see why not. Why, have you had any problems getting things up there before?

Tee hee...

He hung up.

But aha...I guess, his friends egged him on to call again. He couldn't lose face. So he called back and said: "Is this the pimp line?" I pretended not to recognize that he had just talked to me. "Nope, you have the wrong number." And then he launched into: "do you have big titties?" So I then did what I recommend everyone does, if you want to actually enjoy a prank call, or turn the tables: meow. Seriously. It is hilarious! Like in that movie Super Troopers, where they add meow to the end of their sentences, just to see if people notice, and call them on it. But different. Just react to everything they say by meowing.

So, I meowed: Meow. (Not all kinky or anything. Just a plain old meow.)

So he was stumped: He replied: "huh? Meow isn't a breast size."

So I replied: Meow. Meow.

*Silence.* His friends laughing in the background.

And then he hung up.

Yay!!!!!

And they never called back again.

I seriously can't wait for the next prank call.

Meow.

So there, Jen...was that worth a few months' wait?

Tagged in Threes

2007-06-05T21:26:00.000+02:00

I was tagged by MQ.

Three Things That Scare Me
1. Deployments
2. Apathy
3. My dad’s driving

Three People Who Make Me Laugh
1. My pre-husband (I picked up that alterna-word for fiancé from ValleyGirly and loved it) Anyhoo, my pre-husband makes me laugh a lot. To his chagrin, it is most often not intentional.
2. Will Ferrell
3. My nieces

Three Things I Love
1. Foot massages
2. Bike riding
3. A really good novel

Three Things I Hate
1. Shirking off work. I do it occasionally (like right now). But I try to make up, by staying at work late (last night I didn’t get home until after 8pm)
2. Littering. It is making me depressed here. I don’t remember LA being this dirty. People just don’t care. It makes me so sad.
3. Passive aggressive behavior. There is nothing that annoys me more than the person in line complaining about something, loudly, but they won’t address someone personally in a mature way. No, they think it’s way better to start musing out loud to no one in particular at the Post Office that you have been waiting in line for 15 minutes, and this is just ridiculous.

Three Things I Don't Understand
1. Why people do things they are apathetic about. They get that dead fish look in their eyes. I think it’s utopian to believe that people should enjoy what they do in life, but my grandfather had a little saying: “if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”
2. Playing the victim, the poor me card. Why people disempower themselves, I will never understand.
3. Why AirforceWife stopped her blog. Okay, I understand, but still...I want to guilt trip for the lack of sharing.

Three Things On My Desk
1. Peanuts from a random happy customer: imagine that, he sent us a check and put bags of peanuts in his UPS envelope to us.
2. A box of business cards. Yes, I HAVE business cards. Whooo-hoo!
3. Samples of washers, nuts, blots and screws that I have had to order over the last week.

Three Things I'm Doing Right Now
1. Shirking off work…arg.
2. Sitting cross legged…I tend to do that, there is a history of varicose veins in our family, and I try to keep my legs elevated when possible.
3. Thinking that it will be time to go home for lunch in about 30 mins.

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Have loads of babies. My pre-husband, one of seven, isn’t too enthusiastic about the plan. His priest is though…;-)
2. Become a really good sewer, and be able to make dress shirts for my pre-husband, and his ridiculously long monkey arms!
3. Look back and have no regrets.

Three Things I Can Do
1. Make a killer puff pastry.
2. Drive a forklift…oh, yeah, that’s rocking.
3. Okay…with a dictionary, and a little time, I can decipher Latin.

Three Things I Can't Do
1. Speak Chinese. Drove me nuts when we were in China.
2. Stay really calm when people start ramping up with me. I get really flustered and my cheeks flush…it’s embarrassing.
3. Say the right thing, when people need comfort.

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To
1. Your parents. Well, at least my parents. Lots of wisdom to share.
2. Your grandparents, lots of wisdom to share. Plus they are like historical sources. I can listen to hours of my grandmother talking about Germany during the war, etc.
3. Kids. They crack me up.

Three Things You Should Never Listen To
1. Anyone who says that if you don’t think how they think, you are stupid. (I obviously think this sometimes.)
2. Anyone who tells you, you can’t do something. (Got to ditto MQ on this).
3. Don’t know anything else.

Three Things I'd Like To Learn
1. To speak Chinese.
2. To become more knowledgeable in my field of work (which I why I am doing an online tag, right now).
3. To water ski

Three Favorite Foods
1. Oreo milkshake
2. Anything with peanuts. Ice cream, Sate, green papaya salad, reeses.
3. My pre-husband’s BBQ ribs

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid
1. Transformers (so excited about the movie).
2. He-Man and She-RA
3. Knight Rider

My father is adorable

2007-06-04T07:59:00.001+02:00

I was sitting on the couch with my dad this evening chit chatting and discussing the significance of my impending 29th birthday. And he said:

We've invested a lot in those 29 years. So unfair that I have to "give you away" when you get married. Maybe we can work out a lend-lease program or something.

*Sigh* My dad is so dorky and sweet sometimes.

Contagious

2007-05-31T23:01:00.000+02:00

The story about the guy who traveled despite having TB and exposing and possibly infecting fellow travelers reminds me of something that happened when I was 19 years old, when I had a part-time job in a café.

One Sunday evening I started feeling feverish, so I thought a flu or a cold was coming on. I took a hot bath, and went to bed. The next morning I woke up fine, so I assumed it was just a freak fever. That afternoon I decided to go jean shopping. So I tried on a pair of jeans, and then I looked at myself in the mirror and thought…weird: there are loads of little red spots on my belly. And then I noticed they were all over my chest. And instantly I knew what it was: chicken pox. I had never got the chicken pox as a child. Even thought I was exposed to them over and over. I mean, my brothers had them, kids in my class had them…everyone, but me. So finally I got them at age 19. Luckily, it was a very mild form, which is strange, because chicken pox in adulthood is usually pretty bad.

So I went to the doctor who confirmed my diagnosis. Now, bear in mind, I felt absolutely fine. Other than the weird dots all over me, I wasn’t feeling sicky or anything. But the doctor told me: okay, well right now, you are highly contagious. So you should just stay home until they crust over.

So I go home and called my manager at the sandwich shop and told her I wouldn’t be coming in that week, explaining that I had the chicken pox. And she seriously, said: well, are you sure you can’t come in, if you are feeling alright?

I remember saying, hello, I work in the food service industry. No way am I going to be serving customers a bagel with a side of chicken pox. I am highly contagious.

I mean, it's not just like I was doing data entry or something, I was making a product that people were going to ingest. That is definitely a job where you don't want a sick employee. I was so shocked. But some people really don’t care.

Blame everyone except your son

2007-05-25T03:36:00.000+02:00

So your son is drunk and has a fatal car accident:

Authorities said the 29-year pitcher had a blood content of nearly twice the legal limit for alcohol in his system when he crashed into the back of the tow truck. He was also speeding, using a cell phone and wasn't wearing a seat belt, Police Chief Joe Mokwa said after the accident. Marijuana also was found in the SUV.

And so you are now going to sue the bar he was drinking at before hand, the tow truck he crashed into, and the stalled vehicle on the highway who was being helped by the tow truck driver? Why don't you also sue the girlfriend of the stalled car's driver, because she made him go out for milk, and if not for her, he would have been on the road that night. (The last bit is my ficticious creation).

Let's take another scenario: if the son had killed some other people, but survived, would the dad still be suing the bar for giving his son too much to drink?

What is it with our country and people not wanting to take personal responsibility...everyone is a victim!

So sad...want to go start my own country now....more and more often...

The Bride versus the Wedding Registry

2007-05-22T03:11:00.000+02:00

My fiancé and I have both been living on our own for many years, and have thus accumulated enough dishes, plates, knives, forks, glasses, towels etc over the years. Now we have double everything, and granted it doesn't all match, but I can't stand to throw anything away. Not only for all the memories associated with everything, but just because "if it ain't broke, why fix it, or why throw it away?"

We will be getting married on Kauai, and many friends are going to make the trip to attend. I am so grateful, and am adamant about not wanting a gift registry. Firstly, we just don't need new stuff, and secondly, people are already spending so much money to make the trip and that brings us more joy than a material gift.

However, when I announced this to my fiancé back in January, he said: "that's a great idea, but I am going to tell you, people are going to be unhappy." And I replied: "perhaps, but they won't be my friends or family...it will be from your side." And sure enough, there are grumblers.

His sister is throwing us a "couple's shower". My father said: "that's sounds dirty...and everyone is invited? Interesting..." Dirty birdie. My fiancé said: "Hey, I am feeling really guilty about the no registry thing, people want to get us stuff."

And now I am feeling even more guilty, because people are giving us presents there, and then presents again at our wedding? Man...

Anyhoo....yesterday, I talked to my fiancé and he says: "I did a bad thing." Oh, really? What? "I registered." I asked where. "Home Depot." Oh...okay. Cool. "And Lowes."

And I checked out the registry and just laughed. It's all nuts and bolts, wrenches, saw horses (um...do you even have a saw?)

Today he announced that he had also registered at Sears. Oh, my. He had registered for a saw there.

And then I realized...wow, he is really into this. He is giddy. Not quite a groomzilla, but I think this is as excited as I have seen him about the whole wedding preparation. I mean, there is no talk about what thread count our sheets will be, but rather table clamps, a work cabinet for the garage, etc.

The list oozes testosterone. It's pretty funny.

Anyway, I have given in and everyone wins. The guests who want to get us things, can. My fiancé is happy, because he can create this huge manly wish-list. And I am happy, because watching him create this wish-list is like seeing a five-year old at Toys'R Us and giving them a shopping spree.

Update: I don't want this to seem like I am ungrateful for a shower...I love parties...and this one looks like it is going to be fun...and the food tasty!

Milblogging Convention Revelation

2007-05-08T21:22:00.000+02:00

I went to the MilBlogger Convention in Arlington, VA this last weekend. I had been looking forward to it forever. In fact, I had wanted to attend last year, but it just wasn’t possible.

So me and Sarah made plans to attend together: she as a panel speaker, and me as a milblogger/milblogger-groupie.

I was giddy with the excitement of meeting up in person with all these people I had met online. I was looking forward to a weekend of partying with like-minded people in our nation’s capital, punctuated with the occasional panel discussion. I joked to Sarah that it was like going to a Beanie Baby convention or something (for the record I don’t collect Beanie Babies), I thought there was just going to be gushing, and hugging and laughing. However, I was in for a surprise: I certainly didn’t expect to be as moved and inspired as I was.

It was a shot in the arm. Since my boyfriend/fiancé has returned, I have distanced myself from the Milblogging community. Not really on purpose, but just because once my soldier returned I wanted to celebrate his being home, act like we were a “normal” couple, doing normal couple things: like renting movies, eating popcorn, shopping for patio furniture, digging weeds in the backyard and drinking cold beers, all those things we had both yearned to do while he was away.

When he was deployed I knew everything that was going on, the names of operations, the areas of operations, how things were going in these areas. I would check the names of fallen soldiers and read about their lives. I read milblogs religiously. I sought out new connections, searching for degrees of separation. I lived and breathed the war on terror. And I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that other people didn’t share my fervor in following all things combat related.

I often complain that war is too distant from the general public. Because of the deployments, soldiers clock-in and then clock-out of the war. They aren’t in war mode the whole time. And consequently their families aren’t in war mode. I complain about the general public lacking the passion to fight this war, but I realize that I am just as much part of that problem. As soon as my boyfriend came back, I clocked-out.

My boyfriend’s unit is non-deployable. That doesn’t mean he won’t deploy, it just means that the unit as a whole won’t deploy. But it is also pretty unlikely that he will deploy. So for the next 2 and half years I can be pretty secure in the knowledge that he will be home. And that has led to some complacency on my part.

I had sort of resigned myself to this war being lost by America. That even if we won military battles, we could still lose the war, because in the eyes of the public this war is already lost. Since I was only reading the newspaper and watching TV, I hadn’t been getting “from the front” news, and I started to really think that no matter what we did, it didn’t really matter.

Over the weekend, I realized that if you aren’t a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem. I had subconsciously become one of those people who lives as if we aren’t at war. And part of me thought that in 2 ½ years things might be over in Iraq and Afghanistan, and my fiancé won’t be deploying again. That this war doesn’t really directly affect me anymore. Over the weekend I realized that I hope my fiancé deploys again in 2 ½ years. Because if he doesn’t deploy, it means that we have given up.

The Soldiers Angels and other groups who selflessly devote their time and efforts to supporting soldiers and getting good news out almost shamed me. I feel like I should be doing more, although I know there is a balance to be struck: Enjoying the eye of the storm, the time when ones soldier is home and not thinking about when they will be gone again, while at the same time also remaining supportive of the cause. Clocking out, but still being a company person. I will attempt to find that balance over the next few months: enjoying the precious time that we will have starting our journey together as a married couple, but also remaining cognizant that there is a war still going on, even if we aren’t directly in the middle of it.

Note to my wonderful lurker Jean: I only saw 2 (!) soldiers in Dallas Fort Worth, and they were high-tailing it to a flight. I even went to Terminal B and loitered around the USO lounge, waiting for some poor unsuspecting soldier to come out so I could pounce on them. No such luck…

Peace for our time?

2007-04-12T17:14:00.000+02:00

This morning my mother read a letter to the editor that was published in the Los Angeles Daily News:

Political statement

Re "Pro or con, feelings strong on flag display" (McCarthy, April 10):

Alex Reza gave himself the lie by his statement that our soldiers' deaths are unjustified and by his placard, "How many more?" So his display is political, after all, and a sordid attack on the sensibilities of the soldiers' families.

How many more? That depends partly on our resolve to finish the job. In the 1930s the Europeans tried appeasing the fascists, who were free to rearm and attack when they were ready. Chamberlain's "peace in our time" cost the world 50 million dead. We didn't fight until we, too, had been attacked, losing as many on the first day as in four years in Iraq - and 400,000 not 3,000, dead by the end.

- Louis Richter
Encino

My mother (who is British and grew up in England during WWII) sighed and then said: "I can remember how angry my father was with Chamberlain's: Peace for Our Time:

We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for our two countries and for Europe.

We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.

We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.

My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is "peace for our time." Go home and get a nice quiet sleep .

Well, last nice quiet sleep didn't last long, did it? And it is kind of creepy how he talks about himself in the third person, glorifying the honor of having returned from Germany and having secured "peace in our time."

Permanent Party

2007-03-16T02:53:00.000+01:00

I just remembered something funny that happened to me before Xmas, but I forgot about it after the excitement of Xmas and New Years and getting engaged.

I was flying to Alabama to meet up with my boyfriend and was sitting next to a guy on the plane and we were talking about my boyfriend being in the military.

And he asks: So does he live on post?
And I reply: No, he bought a house in a nearby town.
He replies: Oh, so permanent party, huh?
Me, somewhat perplexed: Um, no actually he is pretty relaxed. He is beyond that. I mean, he is 30 years old. He just likes staying home and hanging out.
The guy looks at me, just as perplexed: Uhh…permanent party. He’s had a permanent change of station as opposed to just temporarily being stationed there?
Me (totally having lost face with my normally genius level expertise with all things military): Ooooooh. Yeah, exactly.

One year ago today...

2007-02-27T20:59:00.000+01:00

One of the sweetest words in the English language: Homecoming...with pics.

Too Funny

2007-02-10T23:01:00.000+01:00

"The Hoohaa Monologues":

A theatre in Florida had to change the title of a charity production of The Vagina Monologues on its marquee, after a woman complained that it was offensive. [...]

Atlantic Theatres in Atlantic Beach, Florida, received a complaint from a woman who'd seen the advertised title as she drove past with her niece. She said that it had made her niece ask her what a vagina was.

Yeah, because with a name like Hoohaa kids won't ask any questions now...

I can understand that parents might be a little disturbed if suddenly "penis" and "vagina" and other words were being flashed at their kids.

But Hoohaa...for me it's almost like calling it Putang or Punani or I don't know what Monolgues...

Hoohaa and Tatas...

*sigh* I will stop being childish and get over this...

Seperation of Church and Football

2007-02-03T18:16:00.000+01:00

There’s something rotten in the state of America….

It was to have been a wholesome evening of fellowship and football.And it would have been illegal.Farmland Friends on Friday joined churches nationwide in abruptly canceling its Super Bowl party for fear of violating a federal copyright law that prohibits public venues from showing NFL games on big-screen TVs.[…]

“Under NFL guidelines — and federal law — churches, schools and other public venues can hold football-viewing parties only if they use a single, living-room-size TV, no bigger than 55 inches. When they project the game onto 12-foot screens or set up banks of TVs, they cross the line, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.”

And of course:
Sports bars are specifically exempted. Churches are not.

I am not a church-goer, but I have often taken part in church community gatherings: pot-lucks, Halloween parties, etc.

I think this is so sad. I understand protecting copyrights, however it’s not like all these churches will be selling tickets or earning money, it's not like the congregation would otherwise be going to a sports bar. Instead they will either: a) not watch the game, b) watch it alone at home.

I wonder which politician sold his soul to disallow the viewing of televised football in public venues other than sports bars.

Wedding Dresses

2007-02-01T22:12:00.000+01:00

So I have been to two bridal gown "trying ons". The first time I was just shocked. It wasn't a totally enjoyable experience, because it hit home that I would be walking down the aisle.

Don't get me wrong, I want to get married. I am just worried about the whole ceremony. I wish I could just blink at get it over, and then go to the reception. I have a fear of speaking in front of large audiences. And I don't like it when everyone is looking at me. I get extremely self-conscious. But on the other hand I am looking forward to the whole seriousness of the situation, and I am sort of torn. I want everyone to witness this moment, but I also feel like I want it to be personal and private.

The first trial I just looked at myself in the mirror and was speechless. Especially when they put a veil on me. I was almost in tears.

The second trial was a lot better. I was like those brides-to-be that you see in movies. All excited. Ooohing and aahing with each dress. It was fun.

But I have yet to find THE dress. And I don’t think I ever will. I found many dresses I liked, and would like to get married in.

The lady in the store helping me said sometimes that happens.

So I was wondering…does anyone have any bridal gown stories?

The Socialist Republic of California

2007-01-20T17:51:00.000+01:00

I like living in California, and I am always trying to find reasons to make it attractive to my boyfriend-whom-I-am-going-to-marry" (sorry, fiancé is just so French...in fact we were trying to make up an American word for fiancé, and decided on "bobble") to possibly move here one day. This morning I saw a headline on the front page of the Daily News that made me groan, because it would be one more strike against California: "Spanking might be outlawed".

If the proposed legislation is approved, California would become the first state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from swatting their toddlers.

Thankfully most people seem to agree that this is a case of the government overreaching. But still, the fact that they are even going to propose this irks me.

Don't get me wrong. I am not promoting child abuse here, I just think this is a law where they are in fact assuming that most people can't use proper judgment in how to discipline their kids.

CaliValleyGirl-friend is now CaliValleyFiancée

2007-01-11T07:56:00.000+01:00

How’s this for the perfect backdrop to a proposal?

I couldn't help but think when we taking this picture: "oh, I am sooo grimey, if only I had known." But on the other hand I was quite flattered that even at my grimiest I was apparently still wife-material. I love it how we are both beaming in this photo. I am so freaking excited, because I just got engaged, and I guess my *ahem* fiancé is so happy that he pulled it off without me getting any whiff of suspicion.

We got back home in time to clean up for the New Years Party. What a way to start a new year! Last year I was missing my boyfriend, and this year I was hanging with my fiancé. What a difference a year makes!

We're getting married...whoo hoo. The journey was amazing up to now, and I hope like good wine it will get better with age!

Bryan Anderson

2007-01-10T23:01:00.000+01:00

We advertise in quite a few magazines, and thus get free copies of all those magazines. I was just in our ad department and saw January's Esquire and had to pick it up to read the cover article: "Wisdom and Damn Good Advice from Bryan Anderson who lost two Legs and one arm in Iraq".

I rushed back to my office and felt guilty reading this article at my desk instead of waiting until after work...but it was just so good.

If you have the chance, pick it up at a the store and read it.

There might be hope yet for the UN

2007-01-03T04:50:00.000+01:00

Well at least the new secretary general seems to be a little more with it than Kofi. So much so, that he has already received criticism on his first day:

At the United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work when he failed to state the U.N.'s official stance opposing capital punishment and said it should be a decision of individual countries.

"Saddam Hussein was responsible for committing heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against Iraqi people and we should never forget victims of his crime," Ban said in response to a reporter's question about Saddam's execution Saturday for crimes against humanity. "The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide."

His ambiguous answer put a question mark over the U.N.'s stance on the death penalty, although Ban's spokeswoman said there was no change in policy.

Although I am against the death penalty, and feel that Saddam should have just sat in a cage in a public square in Bagdhad for the rest of his life, I am sick and tired of the UN just criticizing actions that countries take, while rarely taking any actions themselves.

Plus Kofi was so getting on my nerves...I think the final "respect losing" straw for me was the whole food for oil fiasco with his son...and how Kofi didn't do anything about it. You raise a crook, but don't take any responsibility to clean up his actions...nice.

Well, happy new year to all and let's hope that Ban Ki-moon receives more criticism from the media for not toeing the UN line!

Sminklemeyer's getting married!

2006-12-02T09:45:00.000+01:00

Woohoo...go over and congratulate him (can't believe he posted about this over 3 weeks ago, and I just decided now to dawdle over to his corner of the web).

"Justified Homocide"...huh?

2006-11-30T03:45:00.000+01:00

So, I had an interesting experience today.

Dropped off some work to be done at a sub-contractor's today, and popped into the office to drop off a purchase order with the secretary. On her desk was a copy of The Kite Runner, a wonderful book a friend of mine recommended I read while both of our boyfriend's were deployed to Afghanistan.

And I commented to that affect. To which she responded: "Is he back?"

"Yep!" (Me, elated.)

She, slightly coldly: "Thank goodness, he's lucky he made is back alive."

(Me, slightly puzzled, since well, Afghanistan is not as dangerous a mission as, say, Iraq. It's getting there, certainly, but it's not that bad. And secondly, it's kind of a weird comment. Like he had to escape from there.)

She continues: I don't support "all that."

I ask: Do you know anyone in the military?

She: No.

Me: Oh...(interested, but not quite wanting to bite the head off of one of our subcontractors.)

She: Yeah, I just don't support "justified homicide."

Me: (wanting to laugh spitefully, but I restrained myself.)

Things I could have said, but didn’t:

Yeah, I was appalled by 9-11 too.
Yep, Taliban and al-Qaida were/are a dirty bunch.
Oh, so you believe in “unjustified homicide?” Or just what kind of homicide do you believe in? Or would you never believe that anything is worth dying for/killing for?

But instead I just decided to grin and bear it. I felt bad for not saying anything.

I recounted the story to my boyfriend, and he just laughed at the absurdity of what she said. But I still feel like I should have stood up and said something.

How does one act in such a situation?

I forgot to mention...

2006-11-29T19:45:00.000+01:00

...in my last post, that my nieces were almost oblivious to the f-word and the real s-word. I was dropping those left and right when they were here, and they wouldn't even flinch. But shame on me if I said "heck" or "stupid."

I found this very strange. It was like they were living in some complete naivity, and then had some whacked sense of what was a "bad word."

When I sign my (hypothetical) kids up for school I am going to shy away from those having strict policies about "no playing war," no pretending to play with gun, and some warped "bad word" policy etc. That certainly won't prepare them for the realities of this world.

Kids say the darndest things...

2006-11-29T03:59:00.000+01:00

My nieces were here for Thanksgiving.

They always amuse me.

I was alone in the car with them coming back from the park, when I smelled a smell that is best described as, shall we say, "fart-like".

So I asked: "Did one of you guys fart?"

Niece #1 (7 years old): I didn't.
Niece #2 (5 years old): No, you did (to her sister). Because I never toot and lie.

Oh, from the mouths of babes. I about nearly died.

I recounted the story later to my boyfriend who was back at the house, and he told Niece #2 that she had a very good policy, and that he too never farted and lied, and it was good to be proud of one's farts. She was proud as punch. That made me laugh even more.

The next day we were in the car with Niece #2, who had fenagled it to go to the restaurant in our car, while her sister went with the grandparents and parents. So I was saying something to my boyfriend and used the word "stupid". Now over the course of the week I had learned that there are a lot of words that my nieces aren't allowed to use at school. You won't believe this, but "darn" is one of them. And "stupid" too. It's funny, because the nieces will go: ooooh, she said the "s" word...the one that rhymes with "ooopid". Anyhoo...by then I had about had enough of their school's stooopid policy of forbidding all these words.

So I said, "okay...well, next time you are really angry with someone at school, and you want to call them stupid, but can't. Call them a communist. No, even better, a fascist. Wait, no a Democrat."

Niece #2 was gleeful: new words....bad words...bad words she could use.

So she asked: "Can I call them a Democrat-face?"

"Uh, huh" I replied.

"What about a poopy Democrat?"

"Oooh, even better."

My boyfriend just shook his head and said I was being very naughty. I started to feel a tiny bit shameful about it, but still found myself to be very clever.

We got to the restaurant, and Niece #2 blurted out: "Auntie taught me some new words in the car."

Me: *deer in headlights look*

Luckily Niece #2 is very forgetful, and I pretended to be engrossed in convo with my bf, so the topic blew over...phew. Otherwise I might have been in some hotwater with my sis-in-law.

Soldier's Last Wishes: Go Party in Vegas

2006-11-17T22:59:00.000+01:00

The LA Times is really surprising me lately. They have a lot of stories about soldiers, and some even on the front page. This one, like many others, will make you cry, but also smile.

SHORTLY after Jeffrey "Toz" Toczylowski's last mission in Iraq a year ago this month, friends received a message.

"If you are getting this e-mail, it means that I have passed away," the missive said. "No, it's not a sick Toz joke, but a letter I wanted to write in case this happened."

The Army Special Forces captain, 30, said he would like family and friends to attend his burial at Arlington National Cemetery, "but understand if you can't make it." The message, distributed by a fellow Green Beret after Toczylowski's family had been notified of his death, added this: "There will also be a party in Vegas with a 100k to help pay for travel, room and a party."

Read the rest...it's worth your time.

Update: This is the email he prepared in the case of his death.

Dear friends and family,

If you are getting this email, it means that I have passed away. No, it's not a sick Toz joke, but a letter I wanted to write in case this happened. Please don't be sad for me. It was an honor to serve my country, and I wouldn't change a thing. It was just my time.

Don't ever think that you are defending me by slamming the Global War on Terrorism or the US goals in that war. As far as I am concerned, we can send guys like me to go after them or we can wait for them to come back to us again. I died doing something I believed in and have no regrets except that I couldn't do more.

This will probably be the longest email most of you have ever received from me. More that one of you complained on multiple occasions about my brief emails.

I have requested to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery and would like you to attend, but I understand if you can't make it.

There will also be a party in Vegas with a 100k to help pay for travel, room, and a party. I want you to be happy for the time we had, not the future we won't.

Never regret not calling, writing enough, keeping in touch, or visiting. I was always away and thought of you all as much, if not more, than you thought of me. Time keeps rolling and so should my family and friends. The only thing I ask is that you toast me every so often, because you know I'll be watching and wanting to be with you. Don't spend any time crying for me, because I'll bet you I am having a ball right now wherever I am.

I will look in on all of you and help whenever I can. I love you all!

'Tis the Season...Already?

2006-11-17T21:48:00.000+01:00

I popped in OSH this morning to get some screws, and was kind of shocked when I saw Xmas trees up, and the cash registers decorated with garlands.

Then, driving in the car I listened to Feliz Navidad, All I Want for Xmas is You, and Jingle Bell Rock.

Can this be happening? Don't they usually wait until after Thanksgiving?

What do you think about taxes?

2006-11-17T02:47:00.000+01:00

KC has posed the above question her readers. So instead of responding in the comments section, I have decided to post about it.

To me taxes are like going out to dinner with a group of people and deciding at the end of the meal to split the bill equally. Unless everyone has ordered exactly the same thing, some will be consuming more than they paid for, and some will be consuming less than they paid for. The person who decided to only have some soup and salad to save some money, might be a little ticked off with the person ordering the steak and lobster.

When this happens with me with my friends, I don’t mind that much, because firstly, I am also paying for the experience of going out to dinner with my friends (if I was only interested in the food, I would stay home and cook for myself), and secondly, sometimes I am the one who is consuming more.

But it doesn’t happen consistently. It is a give and take. I do have friends who are less fortunate than me, but they give to me in return in other ways.

Plus, I wouldn’t go out to dinner with someone anymore, if they consistently ordered more than they have contributed.

But with taxes, you don’t have that choice. You can’t change tables. And that frustrates me.

Another analogy: taxes is kind of like belonging to a homeowner’s association in a condo building. Everyone has decided to get together and make decisions about what needs to be done, and then everyone will pitch in. Projects are suggested, and the homeowners decide whether or not they would be willing to pay for that. For example, it has been decided that the building needs a new roof or the parking lot needs to be repaved. There probably won’t be any resistance to that, since this is obviously of communal use and everyone will pony up their share.

However, things start getting a little less communal, when a younger couple in the association suggests building a playground and sandbox for their kids. A swimming pool, an elevator, new landscaping for outdoors are all examples of quality of life improvements that could be made, but don’t necessarily benefit everyone.

The homeowners association works through these choices with their system of decision making. And the people have to live with each other, so there is some community involvement. The owners won’t approve beautification projects until the basics are covered. And they will only consent to something over and above what is necessary, if they know that they will get something in reciprocation. So perhaps older couples decide that they will agree to the extra expense of building a playground, if in return their suggestion for improved landscaping is also accepted. If not, they can always decide to see and move to Florida. But once again, we don’t have the choice. Unless we all went Atlas Shrugged on the rest.

But with the federal government, there isn’t a sense of community. And because of this, there doesn’t seem to be much accountability either. And without accountability, there will be no results.

Does this make up a big part of why I am conservative? I would have to say that it probably is the main reason I am conservative.

I think that conservatives identify more with the government as a housekeeper, someone they pay to keep things organized according to their guidelines; while liberals see the government as a caretaker, someone they look to take care of things. And so when I hear someone saying that “the government should pay for that,” I actually hear “please open your wallet wider.”

To sum this up: I think taxes are necessary, but only for basic “housekeeping”: roads, school etc. But I think that once tax spending goes above and beyond mere housekeeping, conflicts of interest appear, unless of course everyone agrees on these extras. But they rarely do. And therein lies the problem.

Why am I not surprised?

2006-11-15T03:04:00.000+01:00

I love this:

Poll: Most doubt Dems have plan for Iraq

More Americans rank Iraq as the top priority of the new Democratic-controlled Congress, but nearly three out of five say the party does not have a plan to deal with the war.

This is from the immediate gratification generation thinking along the lines of: "well, they couldn't possibly do any worse." Well, watch and wait.

Oh, and Murtha might be Pelosi's right-hand man? This gets better everyday.

The only thing I can hope for is that they mess things up so badly that it gives the Reps a better chance at the presidency in 2008.

Back to what's important

2006-11-07T17:25:00.000+01:00

Great letter to the editor in this morning's Los Angeles Times:

Goodbye annoying, nasty ads, so long dirt-flinging rhetoric and farewell to the constant assault of pounding negative nonsense into our heads minute by minute, hour after hour and month after month.

Now we can go back to the really important ads: being brainwashed about being sick and needing every single pill that has been manufactured in the universe for illnesses we never even knew we had. Can't wait.

Borat

2006-11-06T01:42:00.000+01:00

I saw “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” on Friday.

I was surprised at how few people even knew who Borat was…but actually then again, not. Because if so many people knew Borat, the movie just wouldn’t have been possible. For those of you who don’t know, Borat is another one Sacha Baron Cohen’s alter-egos, you might be more familiar with Ali G.

The premise of this mokumentary is that Borat is TV journalist from Kazakhstan and he is traveling in the United States, meets and mocks Americans and reports back to his home country. I say mokumentary, but it is actually pretty close to a documentary, as the only two actors in the whole movie are Baron Cohen and the guy who plays his producer. The people he meets along the way think they are just part of some Kazakhstani TV show.

And the results are, well…painful. Most of the time painfully funny, and some times just plain old painful. I was actually exhausted when I came home from the theater, from cringing so much, and sliding down and up in my seat.

It is irreverent, politically incorrect and just downright offensive. But the movie is pure genius. It puts prejudice and ignorance up front (in the form of Borat) and it’s amazing to see how different people deal with it.

And there has to be one of the longest, funniest, craziest, not to mention hairiest, naked scenes in movie history.

Update: I definitely recommend this movie, but it is not for the weak at heart. I loved it, but I love The Daily Show, South Park, Ali G and all forms of political/religious/racial irreverence.

"Conservatives have to be culturally bilingual...

2006-11-02T23:32:00.000+01:00

...Most live conservative values, but do not hide from a culturally liberal world, where most networks, movies, and publishing enterprises operate from the left-of-center premises. Liberals don't have the same experience. When they turn on the news or open a bestseller, they see their own beliefs displayed."

Brilliant...that is pretty much what I was trying to hit upon in my Alabama post.

I read this little gem in a magazine I had previously never heard about before returning home: World. Good articles, and what I consider to be pretty balanced journalism. I read the above quote in a review for the book: A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle. I will type up the rest of the review for those interested:

Evangelical Nancy French humorously mines this red/state blue state divide. She grew up in Paris, Tenn. a small town best known for its catfish festival. When marriage took her away from Tennessee and plopped her in the middle of Manhattan, she began to learn that her Southern drawl signaled bigotry and backwardness to her new neighbors. The book is peppered with funny stories from Ithaca (where she was almost arrested for throwing away recyclable items) and Philidelphia, where she lived during the 2000 elections. Red-staters will enjoy this book, and blue-staters willing to endure a few barbs will find a window into the red-state mind.

German Quiz

2006-10-27T18:56:00.000+02:00

Does anyone want to do a short quiz/survey on their knowledge of certain German words? A friend of mine in Germany is doing her master's on the usage of German vocabulary in America and forwarded me a survey to fill out.

It only took about 5 minutes. It's actually kind of fun too...like those online quizzes we all love to do. And it would be a great help to her in gathering data.

If you are interested, leave a comment, or send me an email:calivalleygirl2005-at-yahoo.com

Alabama vs. the Urban Fishbowls

2006-10-23T21:32:00.000+02:00

When I was living in Europe, and for that matter, traveled around the world, I often heard the complaint or criticism, that while the rest of the world knew a lot about the US, the US seemed to be sorely ignorant about the rest of the world.

I often defended the American public, and would counter that it was easy to know something about America, since America had a lot of exposure on television, in movies, etc. It is relatively easy for someone to passively acquire knowledge about how America’s government works, school systems, how cities look, etc, just by watching episodes of the West Wing, CSI, and even Beverly Hills 90210. These shows are of course not perfect reflections of reality in the US, but they give people a ballpark idea.

And because we in the US are not exposed to television shows etc. from Sweden, it is hard for us to acquire passive knowledge about that culture. A Dane might complain that we know nothing of their government, while they understand how Congress works, etc. And a Nigerian might have the same complaint to America: that we can’t offer them reciprocal knowledge of their cultures, while they have a relatively good understanding of ours. But you can easily turn the tables on them by asking the Dane if he has a good understanding of Nigerian culture, and vice-versa.

We are living in a fishbowl, and the rest of the world looks in.

Last week I visited my boyfriend at his new station. He is living in Alabama. I was very excited to visit the South, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I was literally squealing with delight at what I perceived as its quaintness.

Alabama seemed like the anti-Los Angeles. People were more relaxed, friendlier, and seemed more sincere. I started teasing my boyfriend that he lived on a movie set, as I rarely saw anyone drive up and down his street. However in the afternoons, families were on the lawns of their houses, playing with the children. Kids were riding bikes, parents pulling younger children in Radio Flyer red wagons. I thought I was in a Norman Rockwell painting.

The radio commercials for political candidates made me laugh at how conservative they were. Here in Los Angeles most candidates are chided for their conservative values, for example, a huge minus point here would be someone who was pro-life. This stance would be often repeated at how a candidate was against women’s right to choose. But in Alabama it seemed like “liberal” was a dirty word. In one advertisement in support of a conservative candidate, they mentioned how “liberal” his opponent was, and *gasp*shock* how he supported an openly gay candidate.

There were many roadside stands selling among other produce “boiled peanuts”. And along the highway there were signs indicating that people had cakes for sale from their house. It was really like some parallel universe. Almost like traveling back in time to how I imagine the 1950s, but at the same time with most of life’s modern conveniences.

And then it struck me: most of metropolitan America doesn’t really even know about this part of America because they are rarely exposed to it. But this part of America is pretty informed about the rest of America.

I can remember the shock that many urbanites had after the 2004 elections, and the discovery of Red America. They had assumed that the rest of America was like them, since media outlets are based in the cities, and mostly ignored non-urban areas. They were being ethnocentric, and thinking that their way of thinking was shared by most Americans.

And when I was in Alabama and surprised at all I was seeing and hearing, I realized that once again, those in the fishbowl have difficulty seeing out.

Stoned* in Afghanistan

2006-10-13T04:02:00.000+02:00

(*meaning high not pelted with stones)

Favorite quote from the article:
"Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

Medal of Honor Candidate

2006-10-03T21:16:00.000+02:00

The Los Angeles Times (*gasp*shock*) has a Column One article about Chris Adlesperger, a Marine who has been recommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions one day in November 2004 in Fallujah. He died a month later in combat.

It's hard to read the article and not get a lump in your throat...I actually had to wipe away a tear. It's a great piece, and I commend the Los Angeles Times for making it their spotlight front page story.