but then, didn't you all know that already?
I was reading The Cat in the Hat Comes Back the other day, and it struck me... how big were those cats by the time you got to the end of the alphabet?
So I'm sitting here with a calculator and a notepad figuring it out.
I've also noticed that I've started typing things in scrambled and dyslexically. I'm wondering what brain changes that heralds.
Had my first mammogram today. As I told J - not nearly as bad as I've heard. But then, maybe when your breasts are as floppy as mine, it's not an issue. (He groaned at that.)
EDIT
Okay, so I finished my calculations. I used algebra again! Which I didn't have to, actually, after really getting my brain engaged, I realized it was just multiplication of fractions. Yay for spreadsheets.
If you've read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, you know that at some point he needs help, and lifts the hat off his head, and VOILA, there is little cat A there to help him. Each cat successively lifts off its hat and there is another cat all the way to Z (who has VOOM under his hat, don't ask me.) I judged that the Cat in the Hat is about 6ft tall, and his hat 2ft tall (look at the drawings, don't you think so?) so of the sum total of cat + hat, the cat is 3/4 of the total and the hat 1/4. With a handy dandy spreadsheet (not a notebook, no) I come up with this:
Cat in the Hat: 96 inches (both cat and hat)
Cat A: 24 inches
Cat B: 6 inches
Cat C:1.5 inches
Cat D:0.375 inches
Cat E:0.09375 inches
Cat F:0.0234375 inches
Cat G:0.005859375 inches
Cat H:0.001464844 inches
Cat I:0.000366211 inches
Cat J:9.15527E-05 inches
Cat K:2.28882E-05 inches
Cat L:5.72205E-06 inches
Cat M:1.43051E-06 inches
Cat N:3.57628E-07 inches
Cat O:8.9407E-08 inches
Cat P:2.23517E-08 inches
Cat Q:5.58794E-09 inches
Cat R:1.39698E-09 inches
Cat S:3.49246E-10 inches
Cat T:8.73115E-11 inches
Cat U:2.18279E-11 inches
Cat V:5.45697E-12 inches
Cat W:1.36424E-12 inches
Cat X:3.41061E-13 inches
Cat Y:8.52651E-14 inches
Cat Z:2.13163E-14 inches
Okay, so the cats would be fricking invisible to the human eye LONG before Cat Z ("Z is too small to see")... J decided to fuck with my mind by suggesting the cats were crouching in the hats, rather than standing. *sigh* okay, I'll let my obsessive compulsive nature take over here...
If you're crouching, I'd say
oh, fuck it. It's midnight, and I'm going to bed. Carry on where I left off, readers.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Since the post is no longer available for interaction
but I just found it now, and had written down a few quick ideas:
You know, this is a great conversation and I'm being exposed to things outside my general bubble (which is wonderful - being a stay-at-home-mome I don't have many conversations like this at the moment) but I have to take issue with your answer to #4, Michael. My mother is a teacher in a private religious school, so the pay scale isn't the same as public schools in our area. (She has been teaching 20 years there, and I think she makes about as much as a starting teacher in the county, I'm not sure.) But the pay isn't what I'm arguing about - although I have to say, I DO think teachers are underpaid; to have the money for school systems coming from property taxes insures an unequal system that is dysfunctional in many ways)
Wait, I'm getting off what I wanted to say. You said "relatively low hours" - in my experience, good teachers work significantly more than 40 hours a week, and spend their summers taking continuing education classes, going to conferences to learn better ways to get the kids engaged, and tutoring kids to pay the bills in the summer.
For what it's worth, I've long been curious about the voucher system - I don't believe the public school system has any monopoly on an ability to educate; having been to both a parochial school and a public one I have a little experience in both areas.
I have to agree with Shimpei - parents are morons. (not that it was said quite THAT bluntly) Look around at the parents we have today. I'm not sure if they are unaware of the "incentives" you mention for them to care about their children's education, or just don't care, but the end result is the same. Perhaps it is a self-feeding cycle - the public school system sucks, so education end results decrease, so the parents of the next generation and the next generation and the next generation are unable to see a way to make a difference (or indeed unable to even see that a difference is needed)...
You have parents that don't know what grade their children are in. They don't know the teacher's name, they are happy if their kid doesn't end up in jail; doing homework is waaaay down the totem pole of worries. And not to throw the absolute lowest in there as a red herring, perfectly normal lower middle class people seem to have gotten the idea that education is the school's job, and they don't have to worry about it. They don't remember much from their middle & high school years, and they turned out just fine - that attitude is not lost on the kids, trust me. And even upper class, educated people can be stupid - take this example from my mother's school. This parent is an upper class, college grad (at least Masters level, possibly higher), running for the school board mother. One of the exercises my mother did with her students was to send home something that the student had to 'teach' to the parents, have a family discussion over dinner (you understand it better when you have to try to explain it to somebody else, right?), have the parent sign & bring back. After the first one, this student said her mother said she didn't have time. My mom thought there might have been a wire crossed in communication, after all, this parent was on the school board, obviously she had time for her child's education, right? Nope, when she asked the woman, she was told "yeah, the first couple were okay, but I just don't have time for that."
Don't even get me started on parents who believe that the bible is absolute literal truth; they're the reason we have a book at the Grand Canyon claiming it was made by Noah's flood; why we have a president in the White House who said that God told him to invade Iraq and believes he was called to lead the nation at this time...
You know, this is a great conversation and I'm being exposed to things outside my general bubble (which is wonderful - being a stay-at-home-mome I don't have many conversations like this at the moment) but I have to take issue with your answer to #4, Michael. My mother is a teacher in a private religious school, so the pay scale isn't the same as public schools in our area. (She has been teaching 20 years there, and I think she makes about as much as a starting teacher in the county, I'm not sure.) But the pay isn't what I'm arguing about - although I have to say, I DO think teachers are underpaid; to have the money for school systems coming from property taxes insures an unequal system that is dysfunctional in many ways)
Wait, I'm getting off what I wanted to say. You said "relatively low hours" - in my experience, good teachers work significantly more than 40 hours a week, and spend their summers taking continuing education classes, going to conferences to learn better ways to get the kids engaged, and tutoring kids to pay the bills in the summer.
For what it's worth, I've long been curious about the voucher system - I don't believe the public school system has any monopoly on an ability to educate; having been to both a parochial school and a public one I have a little experience in both areas.
I have to agree with Shimpei - parents are morons. (not that it was said quite THAT bluntly) Look around at the parents we have today. I'm not sure if they are unaware of the "incentives" you mention for them to care about their children's education, or just don't care, but the end result is the same. Perhaps it is a self-feeding cycle - the public school system sucks, so education end results decrease, so the parents of the next generation and the next generation and the next generation are unable to see a way to make a difference (or indeed unable to even see that a difference is needed)...
You have parents that don't know what grade their children are in. They don't know the teacher's name, they are happy if their kid doesn't end up in jail; doing homework is waaaay down the totem pole of worries. And not to throw the absolute lowest in there as a red herring, perfectly normal lower middle class people seem to have gotten the idea that education is the school's job, and they don't have to worry about it. They don't remember much from their middle & high school years, and they turned out just fine - that attitude is not lost on the kids, trust me. And even upper class, educated people can be stupid - take this example from my mother's school. This parent is an upper class, college grad (at least Masters level, possibly higher), running for the school board mother. One of the exercises my mother did with her students was to send home something that the student had to 'teach' to the parents, have a family discussion over dinner (you understand it better when you have to try to explain it to somebody else, right?), have the parent sign & bring back. After the first one, this student said her mother said she didn't have time. My mom thought there might have been a wire crossed in communication, after all, this parent was on the school board, obviously she had time for her child's education, right? Nope, when she asked the woman, she was told "yeah, the first couple were okay, but I just don't have time for that."
Don't even get me started on parents who believe that the bible is absolute literal truth; they're the reason we have a book at the Grand Canyon claiming it was made by Noah's flood; why we have a president in the White House who said that God told him to invade Iraq and believes he was called to lead the nation at this time...
Okay, this made me laugh
This chick has an intriguing idea: http://porphyre.livejournal.com/515857.html
Here's what she said:
Focus on the Family, the horrid anti-gay evangelical church based in Colorado Springs that wields too much power for anyone's good, has a store on their website that will give you books, CDs, and DVDs absolutely free of charge. Usually people pay for their items by donation, raising millions of dollars to help Focus on the Family produce more hate-propaganda featuring "experts" on homosexuality who claim it's a curable "sickness". (They're practically defined by their book A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Course, there's no mention of having less kids, which is the only proven method. No, no, you shouldn't use birth control, that would be wrong. They need more worshippers, how dare you prevent god's will.)
It's a little bit time-consuming, but not enough to deter me. (Nor should it you). The chance to take money out of their pockets is too useful, not to mention satisfying.
1. Go to www.family.org and look for the "Resources" link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the "Search" box, and click it.
2. Under the "Resource Category" menu on the left-hand side, you'll notice categories such as "Homosexuality" under "Resource Category." Me, I went straight to the CD's and DVD's under "Resource Format."
3. Go through, find something you like, such as the recently released movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Chronicles of Narnia Radio Theatre Complete Set, suggested donation US $79.00, or the three disc Les Misérables soundtrack. It's not a very wide range of products, but there's bound to be something either you like or you could use as a sweet gift for someone else. Click the "Add to Cart" button.
They won't send more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to go through a few times, until you're sure you've dinged them.
4. Select "Add New Shipping Address," decide to send it yourself or someone else, and once you're done picking up to $100, click "Proceed to Checkout." Some people have been sending items to themselves to sell later on eBay, some have been ordering the more controversial items as conversation pieces or educational props, (as anti-anti-propaganda), but I plan on using mine as gifts, mostly. I've found no reports on receiving Focus on the Family junk mail after inputting an address, so I figure it's fairly safe.
5. The next screen asks you to sign-up for an account and give your information. Fill it out with fictitious information, enter whatever name and address you like. You might want to make up a phone number too and an e-mail account too. After filling out all the required fields, click "Proceed to Checkout" one more time.
6. This will take you to the "Here is Your Cart" page. You may have to re-enter your data again after this part to actually confirm your account. Eventually, you'll get to the "How Much Would You Like to Donate?" page.
7. Select "Enter other total amount" and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don't put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information.) Don't be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts, simply Proceed to Checkout.
8. The next screen is a guilt screen, to make you feel bad about how little you donated. ignore it. Ignore it utterly. Think of how many people they're persecuted and had in their "gay kids can be cured" camps. Just proceed to checkout again.
9. Click "Checkout Now."
So, I'm curious - what do you think? I'm going to head over to the website to see if they've changed things yet...
Here's what she said:
Focus on the Family, the horrid anti-gay evangelical church based in Colorado Springs that wields too much power for anyone's good, has a store on their website that will give you books, CDs, and DVDs absolutely free of charge. Usually people pay for their items by donation, raising millions of dollars to help Focus on the Family produce more hate-propaganda featuring "experts" on homosexuality who claim it's a curable "sickness". (They're practically defined by their book A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Course, there's no mention of having less kids, which is the only proven method. No, no, you shouldn't use birth control, that would be wrong. They need more worshippers, how dare you prevent god's will.)
It's a little bit time-consuming, but not enough to deter me. (Nor should it you). The chance to take money out of their pockets is too useful, not to mention satisfying.
1. Go to www.family.org and look for the "Resources" link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the "Search" box, and click it.
2. Under the "Resource Category" menu on the left-hand side, you'll notice categories such as "Homosexuality" under "Resource Category." Me, I went straight to the CD's and DVD's under "Resource Format."
3. Go through, find something you like, such as the recently released movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Chronicles of Narnia Radio Theatre Complete Set, suggested donation US $79.00, or the three disc Les Misérables soundtrack. It's not a very wide range of products, but there's bound to be something either you like or you could use as a sweet gift for someone else. Click the "Add to Cart" button.
They won't send more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to go through a few times, until you're sure you've dinged them.
4. Select "Add New Shipping Address," decide to send it yourself or someone else, and once you're done picking up to $100, click "Proceed to Checkout." Some people have been sending items to themselves to sell later on eBay, some have been ordering the more controversial items as conversation pieces or educational props, (as anti-anti-propaganda), but I plan on using mine as gifts, mostly. I've found no reports on receiving Focus on the Family junk mail after inputting an address, so I figure it's fairly safe.
5. The next screen asks you to sign-up for an account and give your information. Fill it out with fictitious information, enter whatever name and address you like. You might want to make up a phone number too and an e-mail account too. After filling out all the required fields, click "Proceed to Checkout" one more time.
6. This will take you to the "Here is Your Cart" page. You may have to re-enter your data again after this part to actually confirm your account. Eventually, you'll get to the "How Much Would You Like to Donate?" page.
7. Select "Enter other total amount" and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don't put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information.) Don't be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts, simply Proceed to Checkout.
8. The next screen is a guilt screen, to make you feel bad about how little you donated. ignore it. Ignore it utterly. Think of how many people they're persecuted and had in their "gay kids can be cured" camps. Just proceed to checkout again.
9. Click "Checkout Now."
So, I'm curious - what do you think? I'm going to head over to the website to see if they've changed things yet...
Friday, August 25, 2006
I learned something new yesterday
The kids and I went to the Junior Museum. (Or the Florida Museum of Science & Natural History, or whatever the hell they changed the name to that I can never remember.) It was the best time to go - drizzly, so it was cooler - no people, and almost all the animals were out.
We were coming down the walkway to the Florida Panther enclosure and I heard the most god-awful howling and hissing and growling, I thought "holy shit, are they fighting?" Came around the corner and - um, oops. Those two panthers are a male and a female, yup. From those noises it was hard to tell if she was enjoying it or suffering it. I asked one of the workers later if their panthers were able to have babies - she said no, he'd been vasectomized. (It didn't occur to me until later when mom asked - why on earth would you want an endangered species animal vasectomized? Wouldn't you want them to have as many babies as possible? Maybe they're siblings.)
We were coming down the walkway to the Florida Panther enclosure and I heard the most god-awful howling and hissing and growling, I thought "holy shit, are they fighting?" Came around the corner and - um, oops. Those two panthers are a male and a female, yup. From those noises it was hard to tell if she was enjoying it or suffering it. I asked one of the workers later if their panthers were able to have babies - she said no, he'd been vasectomized. (It didn't occur to me until later when mom asked - why on earth would you want an endangered species animal vasectomized? Wouldn't you want them to have as many babies as possible? Maybe they're siblings.)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Well, I got to ask the question...
but I never get to ask the followups I want to, dammit.
Amazingly enough, Diane asked some decent followup questions during the entire conversation; I was impressed.
So, according to the experts (whatever their qualifications; I should look that up) of course the US couldn't manage a ground force invasion of Iran, we're too busy in Iraq. Air strikes, sure. Supporting internal dissent, yes. (We're probably already doing this.) They would HOPE that Bush would ask the Congress for some sort of resolution. There is no military answer for Iran. We'd have to have 100% perfect intelligence because if we missed some, like the insurgents in Iraq, they'd just recreate elsewhere.
Well no shit, sherlock - there was no military answer for Iraq, either. That's why Bush's dad didn't follow Hussein in after freeing Kuwait - it's not that Saddam Hussein was that hard to take down; it's because of the ball of crap that Iraq becomes afterwards that Bush Sr. didn't want to step in.
Okay, and now on a totally shallow topic, I heard yesterday that Tom Cruise got fired. J & I talked about it, and agreed that he wasn't being fired because of his religion, but because his recent statements and behaviour have made it difficult for the studio to sell tickets. (Which is all Paramount cares about anyway; if you can't make them money, you're out.) Wonder if there will be a lawsuit anyway.
After his oh-so-educated comments about post-partum depression, I personally think he should be committed. I think the reason scientology says psychiatrists and psychologists are so bad and to stay away is because then some of the nutjobs that join the religion would get treatment and realize how fricking insane the whole set-up is.
Then again, (and I've said this before) when you compare the semi-socialist son of a Jewish carpenter being raised from the dead with thetans infesting your body to a god who talks out of a pillar of fire and likes you to cut up and burn choice parts of animals - who's craziest?
Amazingly enough, Diane asked some decent followup questions during the entire conversation; I was impressed.
So, according to the experts (whatever their qualifications; I should look that up) of course the US couldn't manage a ground force invasion of Iran, we're too busy in Iraq. Air strikes, sure. Supporting internal dissent, yes. (We're probably already doing this.) They would HOPE that Bush would ask the Congress for some sort of resolution. There is no military answer for Iran. We'd have to have 100% perfect intelligence because if we missed some, like the insurgents in Iraq, they'd just recreate elsewhere.
Well no shit, sherlock - there was no military answer for Iraq, either. That's why Bush's dad didn't follow Hussein in after freeing Kuwait - it's not that Saddam Hussein was that hard to take down; it's because of the ball of crap that Iraq becomes afterwards that Bush Sr. didn't want to step in.
Okay, and now on a totally shallow topic, I heard yesterday that Tom Cruise got fired. J & I talked about it, and agreed that he wasn't being fired because of his religion, but because his recent statements and behaviour have made it difficult for the studio to sell tickets. (Which is all Paramount cares about anyway; if you can't make them money, you're out.) Wonder if there will be a lawsuit anyway.
After his oh-so-educated comments about post-partum depression, I personally think he should be committed. I think the reason scientology says psychiatrists and psychologists are so bad and to stay away is because then some of the nutjobs that join the religion would get treatment and realize how fricking insane the whole set-up is.
Then again, (and I've said this before) when you compare the semi-socialist son of a Jewish carpenter being raised from the dead with thetans infesting your body to a god who talks out of a pillar of fire and likes you to cut up and burn choice parts of animals - who's craziest?
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
How to give a realtor proper motivation to sell your house
Tell him you've just received a letter from the mortgage company informing you that if the account is not brought current in 30 days that foreclosure proceedings will be started.
I shudder to think of what language he used when he got off the phone (in his position, I certainly would have cussed up a storm) but he's now in as much of a hurry as I am. Which makes me feel better. Kind of.
So, if anybody's in town and feels like coming and sitting and keeping me company, some adult conversation would be welcome. If Logan didn't have a newborn I'd ask her, but I know how much of a pain it is to function at somebody else's house, and if I went to her house, then I wouldn't be getting any work done HERE.
Garage sale went well; sold some stuff (which is more stuff I don't have to move) and I'll be calling the lighthouse children's home to come get the rest.
Appointment tomorrow to pick up and be instructed on how to use the pulse oximetry machine (or whatever you call it) to find out if I really do have sleep apnea. Whee!
Little girl requested pancakes this morning; she wanted ketchup and mustard to dip them in. I made the pancakes, but I must admit by the time I was done I'd forgotten the mustard. She ate them anyway, amazingly. I'm beginning to develop a complex about the kids not eating what I make them.
I shudder to think of what language he used when he got off the phone (in his position, I certainly would have cussed up a storm) but he's now in as much of a hurry as I am. Which makes me feel better. Kind of.
So, if anybody's in town and feels like coming and sitting and keeping me company, some adult conversation would be welcome. If Logan didn't have a newborn I'd ask her, but I know how much of a pain it is to function at somebody else's house, and if I went to her house, then I wouldn't be getting any work done HERE.
Garage sale went well; sold some stuff (which is more stuff I don't have to move) and I'll be calling the lighthouse children's home to come get the rest.
Appointment tomorrow to pick up and be instructed on how to use the pulse oximetry machine (or whatever you call it) to find out if I really do have sleep apnea. Whee!
Little girl requested pancakes this morning; she wanted ketchup and mustard to dip them in. I made the pancakes, but I must admit by the time I was done I'd forgotten the mustard. She ate them anyway, amazingly. I'm beginning to develop a complex about the kids not eating what I make them.
Friday, August 18, 2006
I am a soldier!
A Soldier in the War Against Stupidity!
I probably have sleep apnea. Expect to see a whole heck of a lot more energy in these pages if the diagnosis is correct and I get a c-pap machine.
I'm recruiting for my Army of the Savvy & Judicious. (I really wanted to use Bluestockings, but as that implied female only, it was sadly too limiting.)
Off to prepare for garage sale. One man's trash is another man's treasure - hope some people see it this way, so I can get rid of some of this stuff.
I probably have sleep apnea. Expect to see a whole heck of a lot more energy in these pages if the diagnosis is correct and I get a c-pap machine.
I'm recruiting for my Army of the Savvy & Judicious. (I really wanted to use Bluestockings, but as that implied female only, it was sadly too limiting.)
Off to prepare for garage sale. One man's trash is another man's treasure - hope some people see it this way, so I can get rid of some of this stuff.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Have I created a list of "things I never want to see again" yet?
If I haven't, this is the start of it, and number one on the list of things I never want to see again is this: my husband being taken out of the house on a gurney to a waiting ambulance.
I'm not sure if anything will beat that to make number 1. Hopefully neither of my children, you know?
It's ten PM, and he's evidently fine, I'm waiting to hear more details. I know they're planning on doing a CT scan, that his EKG was okay, that his blood pressure and pulse rate is okay, and that he was cracking jokes in typical Justin fashion. His brother is up there with him, for which I am eternally grateful. They've not admitted him, and it doesn't look like they're going to.
So any well wishes wafted his way would be appreciated.
And I'm going to try not to stress about (and not to let him stress about) the hospital bills. Heh.
I'm not sure if anything will beat that to make number 1. Hopefully neither of my children, you know?
It's ten PM, and he's evidently fine, I'm waiting to hear more details. I know they're planning on doing a CT scan, that his EKG was okay, that his blood pressure and pulse rate is okay, and that he was cracking jokes in typical Justin fashion. His brother is up there with him, for which I am eternally grateful. They've not admitted him, and it doesn't look like they're going to.
So any well wishes wafted his way would be appreciated.
And I'm going to try not to stress about (and not to let him stress about) the hospital bills. Heh.
Monday, July 31, 2006
I'm sure this is normal
I mean, I know everybody has this kind of stuff happen to them. I mean, heck, poor Dan is running from the cops. But to have Justin have heatstroke from mowing the lawn at the old house; for us to slide into a ditch on Lipona that required a tow truck and some ingenuity (I was sure the side panels would be all dented, but no, it didn't actually come up that high) - the only reason we didn't flip over into the ditch was because Justin knew at the point of no return to actually steer INTO the ditch rather than fight it (which is what I would have done); and to have a phone call from Sharif (who evidently does like it) offering us cash for our old house. (!!) It's either a) a scam b) one of those "buy houses cheap foreclosure guys or c) some rich guy named Sharif d) who may want to not go through a bank and therefore avoid that level of scrutiny. (In that order of likelihood, too.)
This is on top of a normal weekend with two kids under four - tantrums, playing, not enough sleep, going down the escalator, potty training...
Sleeping for a week. I very rarely have had a time in my life when I've not been willing to take that offer.
Off to research...
This is on top of a normal weekend with two kids under four - tantrums, playing, not enough sleep, going down the escalator, potty training...
Sleeping for a week. I very rarely have had a time in my life when I've not been willing to take that offer.
Off to research...
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
One of the milestones of parenthood
Taking the doorknob off our bedroom door to let the cat out, as we didn't notice the kids had been playing with the lock, and when we shut the door, it was locked. Oops.
Dangit, am talking with mom and missed the Daily Show. Crap.
Bless my husband, who is putting the children to bed. I really appreciate getting that break; by the end of the day I've lost whatever patience I had with the kids during the day, as a general rule.
Dangit, am talking with mom and missed the Daily Show. Crap.
Bless my husband, who is putting the children to bed. I really appreciate getting that break; by the end of the day I've lost whatever patience I had with the kids during the day, as a general rule.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
and, like a bolt from the blue...
am catching up on over 500 newsfire rss feeds, and saw an item - rumour from the UK is that war with Iran is guaranteed, already planned, and we'll be in it within the year. (This from the same people who were saying that the war with Iraq was planned when the Bush administration was still saying "no, no, it's a last resort.")
Talking with J - and it hits me (yeah, I'm slow)
We went to war in Iraq so we'd have a place to attack Iran from.
I'm sure most of you are going DUH!
We've got flyover rights from Turkey, Azerbaijan, & Turkmenistan; we now have bases & troops in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and some "staging" in Turkmenistan; Pakistan is our "ally" (altho I'm not sure how stable) - but we needed something close by on their west flank that wasn't just friendly, but was ours. With Iraq, that's it. Iran is surrounded.
Shall we start a betting pool? I'll guess we'll be at war with Iran by early 2007. Place your bet!
Talking with J - and it hits me (yeah, I'm slow)
We went to war in Iraq so we'd have a place to attack Iran from.
I'm sure most of you are going DUH!
We've got flyover rights from Turkey, Azerbaijan, & Turkmenistan; we now have bases & troops in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and some "staging" in Turkmenistan; Pakistan is our "ally" (altho I'm not sure how stable) - but we needed something close by on their west flank that wasn't just friendly, but was ours. With Iraq, that's it. Iran is surrounded.
Shall we start a betting pool? I'll guess we'll be at war with Iran by early 2007. Place your bet!
I am stunned
The patheticness is unimaginable.
I'm surfing the television. I come across "Cheaters" - a television show made up entirely of video shot of actual people committing infidelities. The intro stated - and I quote - "This program is both dedicated to the faithful and presented to the false-hearted to encourage their renewal of temperance and virtue. " God help me, they have a website.
Later I come across "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and the question is "who was president of the United States during World War I?" AND THE DUMB BITCH HAD TO CALL HER FRIEND.
Fuck Jefferson weeping. I'M weeping.
I'm surfing the television. I come across "Cheaters" - a television show made up entirely of video shot of actual people committing infidelities. The intro stated - and I quote - "This program is both dedicated to the faithful and presented to the false-hearted to encourage their renewal of temperance and virtue. " God help me, they have a website.
Later I come across "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and the question is "who was president of the United States during World War I?" AND THE DUMB BITCH HAD TO CALL HER FRIEND.
Fuck Jefferson weeping. I'M weeping.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
How I'm keeping myself busy these days, besides the usual housework (mended J's pocket this morning, I feel so domestic), birthday plans for C, unpacking...
heeheeheeheehee okay, this will probably make mostly democrats laugh.
but the good ideas aren't sexy, so it'll never happen, like so many other things that will never happen...
This makes the point that I've been making since day one: this war cannot be won by the military, because they're fighting an IDEA, and people living by an idea... I mean, think of it this way: what if you were trying to get rid of the christians in the US. Imagine a large number of them were fundamentalists that believed enough to bomb abortion clinics, believed enough to strap bombs to themselves and walk into gay bars, or the like. Now imagine trying to kill them all. Doesn't that sound stupid? For every one christian extremist you'd kill, you'd create an untold number more - that person's children, or observers that hadn't quite decided to be THAT much of an extremist, but now had a reason... *sigh*
heeheeheeheehee okay, this will probably make mostly democrats laugh.
but the good ideas aren't sexy, so it'll never happen, like so many other things that will never happen...
This makes the point that I've been making since day one: this war cannot be won by the military, because they're fighting an IDEA, and people living by an idea... I mean, think of it this way: what if you were trying to get rid of the christians in the US. Imagine a large number of them were fundamentalists that believed enough to bomb abortion clinics, believed enough to strap bombs to themselves and walk into gay bars, or the like. Now imagine trying to kill them all. Doesn't that sound stupid? For every one christian extremist you'd kill, you'd create an untold number more - that person's children, or observers that hadn't quite decided to be THAT much of an extremist, but now had a reason... *sigh*
Sunday, July 16, 2006
So let this be a lesson to you...
I've told myself for years not to care what other people think. I've done a really shitty job of it. Most recent example:
My mom (who has said in the past that when I say things like "Argh, the kids are driving me CRAZY today, they make me want to shut them in closets!" she worries that I would actually do it) sees me spank my daughter once (she was doing the flagrantly disobedient, laugh while she's doing it in my face stuff) and now cannot sleep from concern and wants to talk to me about it.
My mother-in-law says I'm doing an awesome job as a mother, and tells my sister-in-law that my son is brilliant, but other than seeing her at school when we were dropping off & picking up M, she's not spent any time with us, so how would she know?
I remembered that my counselor said I should spend less time with my mother. Since he's said that, I've spent more time with her, sadly. J & I never thought my parents would be the ones to spend this much time with our kids. Between that, the money we owe her, and the health problems I help her with (currently it's post-operative wound care kinda stuff) I spend more time with her now than I have in years. And while generally I get along with her better, she also has the ability to press my buttons better than anybody in existence. (Probably because she created most of them, come to think of it.)
I realized just the other day that part of what drives me crazy about my mom is that she thinks I'm brilliant, gifted, awesome, a person she'd be glad to be friends with even if I weren't related - all that gushy stuff. And yet she cannot seem to not treat me like an incompetent moron. I'm guessing it's the result of her fucked up home life, which is why I keep wishing SHE'D go to therapy - but that'll happen when pigs fly. (And don't tell me they're working on that in the labs.)
Add to that, day after tomorrow is my son's birthday. I've sort of put off planning anything - one because I procrastinate almost everything; two because we were still moving up until a few days ago; three because my sister-in-law is going to pop any day now... that reminds me, I've not heard from her in a couple of days, wonder if she's in labour yet?
I'm going to go peruse consumer reports type things about vacuum cleaners, because we're going to need one at this house. The old red one that we inherited from a roommate sometime in the last 4 years is, well, old. I've replaced the belt on it several times. (It doesn't do so well with long hair. Oops. Between living with me & our exroommates, long hair was sort of a staple floor covering...)
Ah, PMS. How I love your mental instability inducing hormones. I've not noticed that the new mood-stabilizing drugs do much, but it's only been a little over a week - I know antidepressants rarely show an effect before two or three weeks; this is probably no different.
OOO! Possible trip coming up... going to do research now.
My mom (who has said in the past that when I say things like "Argh, the kids are driving me CRAZY today, they make me want to shut them in closets!" she worries that I would actually do it) sees me spank my daughter once (she was doing the flagrantly disobedient, laugh while she's doing it in my face stuff) and now cannot sleep from concern and wants to talk to me about it.
My mother-in-law says I'm doing an awesome job as a mother, and tells my sister-in-law that my son is brilliant, but other than seeing her at school when we were dropping off & picking up M, she's not spent any time with us, so how would she know?
I remembered that my counselor said I should spend less time with my mother. Since he's said that, I've spent more time with her, sadly. J & I never thought my parents would be the ones to spend this much time with our kids. Between that, the money we owe her, and the health problems I help her with (currently it's post-operative wound care kinda stuff) I spend more time with her now than I have in years. And while generally I get along with her better, she also has the ability to press my buttons better than anybody in existence. (Probably because she created most of them, come to think of it.)
I realized just the other day that part of what drives me crazy about my mom is that she thinks I'm brilliant, gifted, awesome, a person she'd be glad to be friends with even if I weren't related - all that gushy stuff. And yet she cannot seem to not treat me like an incompetent moron. I'm guessing it's the result of her fucked up home life, which is why I keep wishing SHE'D go to therapy - but that'll happen when pigs fly. (And don't tell me they're working on that in the labs.)
Add to that, day after tomorrow is my son's birthday. I've sort of put off planning anything - one because I procrastinate almost everything; two because we were still moving up until a few days ago; three because my sister-in-law is going to pop any day now... that reminds me, I've not heard from her in a couple of days, wonder if she's in labour yet?
I'm going to go peruse consumer reports type things about vacuum cleaners, because we're going to need one at this house. The old red one that we inherited from a roommate sometime in the last 4 years is, well, old. I've replaced the belt on it several times. (It doesn't do so well with long hair. Oops. Between living with me & our exroommates, long hair was sort of a staple floor covering...)
Ah, PMS. How I love your mental instability inducing hormones. I've not noticed that the new mood-stabilizing drugs do much, but it's only been a little over a week - I know antidepressants rarely show an effect before two or three weeks; this is probably no different.
OOO! Possible trip coming up... going to do research now.
Notes from the front
I've been avoiding the news for the last week or so in an effort to maintain my mental health. J did, however, read to me the Honourable Gentleman from Alaska Ted Stevens's reason for voting against the net neutrality. If you've not read it, check it out.
Anyway, J was reading it to me because he thought it was funny - I said "don't read that kind of stuff to me! It's not funny, it just makes me want to kill people!"
What do you guys think about sponsoring a mailing to the people of Alaska that include some choice quotes of Mr. Stevens and asking them in large print IS THIS REALLY WHO YOU WANT REPRESENTING YOU IN WASHINGTON?
Lord, if Jefferson could see this, he'd weep.
Anyway, J was reading it to me because he thought it was funny - I said "don't read that kind of stuff to me! It's not funny, it just makes me want to kill people!"
What do you guys think about sponsoring a mailing to the people of Alaska that include some choice quotes of Mr. Stevens and asking them in large print IS THIS REALLY WHO YOU WANT REPRESENTING YOU IN WASHINGTON?
Lord, if Jefferson could see this, he'd weep.
Monday, July 10, 2006
WHAT THE F&$# IS IT EVER GOING TO BE EASIER?
Okay, so mom's in the hospital. She originally went in to have a seroma removed, as it was grapefruit or more sized and was making it difficult for her to bend over. Not a big deal; not expected to go beyond the fat layer.
Turns out it had grown into the mesh that had been placed over the weak spot of a previous hernia surgery; between that and another hernia that seemed to be developing to the left, the surgery was more complicated than expected. She's in the hospital on a morphine drip. She is, and I say this with much love (and she'd agree with me) a CRAPPY patient.
Okay, so I'm in the hospital with a 3 1/2 yr old and a 2 yr old. That was a blast. Realized that they both desperately needed naps, and mom told me to go ahead and go home (I was originally going to make a pallet for them on the floor with blankets) - so now I'm at the old house; C is asleep and M, of course, never went down after I took her (asleep!) out of the car. Did I mention we're potty training M? She did very well today - she waited until we were in the hospital dining room, far away from my bag of clean clothes etc., to have an accident. Oy.
The power is getting cut off at this house day after tomorrow. We can't get the pressure washer we borrowed from my dad to start. (I fricking HATE small engine things. Lawnmowers, you name it.) I have to be at the hospital at 7am tomorrow so I can talk to the doctor. Our friend Sue (bless her soul) is going to come to our house at 8:30 to watch the kids, because J can't get off work until about noon.
I started mood stabilizer medication last wednesday or so - hard to tell if there's been any difference; I sure noticed the difference when I remembered to start taking my flax seed oil capsules. Regardless, the stress is beginning to get to me. Between my mother, the house, our finances, and my (#*&@(#$*@# feet (heel spurs, and I think I've pulled both calf muscles) and the fact that I have a two year old who's enjoying being 2, and a 3 1/2 yr old who is going through potty training - I'm about to cry for no discernible reason. Oh, and my laptop isn't working as well with Ubuntu as we hoped, so I'm going back to Mac OsX, assuming we can find a #(*#@$@#&( copy, as I've managed to find Justin's original laptop cds, but not mine)
Disobedient children. I'm right on the edge of losing it. Would anybody like to take my kids for a few days? They're stressed out because they've spent so much time at my parents' house and have had no schedule and haven't seen a whole lot of J and I...
Okay, fuck it, am taking the kids and picking up J. Never got M to sleep and she's getting into stuff. Hope all is well with all of you. I'll concentrate on remembering the half-full part of the glass. (Mom came out of surgery fine, the kids are healthy, J's got a steady well paying job, we're living in a nice house, we have a nice car...)
Turns out it had grown into the mesh that had been placed over the weak spot of a previous hernia surgery; between that and another hernia that seemed to be developing to the left, the surgery was more complicated than expected. She's in the hospital on a morphine drip. She is, and I say this with much love (and she'd agree with me) a CRAPPY patient.
Okay, so I'm in the hospital with a 3 1/2 yr old and a 2 yr old. That was a blast. Realized that they both desperately needed naps, and mom told me to go ahead and go home (I was originally going to make a pallet for them on the floor with blankets) - so now I'm at the old house; C is asleep and M, of course, never went down after I took her (asleep!) out of the car. Did I mention we're potty training M? She did very well today - she waited until we were in the hospital dining room, far away from my bag of clean clothes etc., to have an accident. Oy.
The power is getting cut off at this house day after tomorrow. We can't get the pressure washer we borrowed from my dad to start. (I fricking HATE small engine things. Lawnmowers, you name it.) I have to be at the hospital at 7am tomorrow so I can talk to the doctor. Our friend Sue (bless her soul) is going to come to our house at 8:30 to watch the kids, because J can't get off work until about noon.
I started mood stabilizer medication last wednesday or so - hard to tell if there's been any difference; I sure noticed the difference when I remembered to start taking my flax seed oil capsules. Regardless, the stress is beginning to get to me. Between my mother, the house, our finances, and my (#*&@(#$*@# feet (heel spurs, and I think I've pulled both calf muscles) and the fact that I have a two year old who's enjoying being 2, and a 3 1/2 yr old who is going through potty training - I'm about to cry for no discernible reason. Oh, and my laptop isn't working as well with Ubuntu as we hoped, so I'm going back to Mac OsX, assuming we can find a #(*#@$@#&( copy, as I've managed to find Justin's original laptop cds, but not mine)
Disobedient children. I'm right on the edge of losing it. Would anybody like to take my kids for a few days? They're stressed out because they've spent so much time at my parents' house and have had no schedule and haven't seen a whole lot of J and I...
Okay, fuck it, am taking the kids and picking up J. Never got M to sleep and she's getting into stuff. Hope all is well with all of you. I'll concentrate on remembering the half-full part of the glass. (Mom came out of surgery fine, the kids are healthy, J's got a steady well paying job, we're living in a nice house, we have a nice car...)
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
I made the jump!
Okay, it's almost 1:30 am - so much for getting to bed early.
Blew away Mac OSX and installed Ubuntu on my iBook today. Have been putting all my files back on, installing packages, tweaking kernel... so far the only letdown has been Flash problems. (Macromedia doesn't support me, wah!)
Exhausted. Have been for days. So much to do. I hate moving. Lots of news. J not celiac disease, yay! Heard Brandie was pregnant, congrats to her, I know she was trying. I wonder if she still finds being compared to Coulter amusing.
Hope all is well with y'all.
Blew away Mac OSX and installed Ubuntu on my iBook today. Have been putting all my files back on, installing packages, tweaking kernel... so far the only letdown has been Flash problems. (Macromedia doesn't support me, wah!)
Exhausted. Have been for days. So much to do. I hate moving. Lots of news. J not celiac disease, yay! Heard Brandie was pregnant, congrats to her, I know she was trying. I wonder if she still finds being compared to Coulter amusing.
Hope all is well with y'all.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
A dinner I was proud of
Yesterday was John's birthday (hope he got my voicemail; I still have to take his present to him... hope he doesn't already have it!) and today is Erin's birthday... and last night I made a wonderful dinner and neither one of them got any; that doesn't seem right, somehow.
J had the idea to make stuffed bell peppers and as a treat for M, chocolate fondue for dessert. I made ground pork, rice made with ham stock, onions, fresh garlic, chopped up bell pepper bits (the tops of the red, yellow, & orange peppers we stuffed), pecorino romano cheese, and seasoned nicely.... mmmmmm.
And the fondue was a big hit. I should have gotten a picture of C; he wore quite a bit. He liked the strawberries, M liked the cheesecake (yes, she's my daughter) and J introduced me to Lorna Doone cookies. (bad bad bad bad bad - how have I not eaten these before?) I think J liked the bananas best.
Earlier in the day, I did some voice recording for P's office IVR system. I've discovered a new talent, and it pays... maybe if I get enough of these side hobbies I can actually make some money! Decorative cakes, face painting, voice recordings (I've always wanted to read books on tape...) Afterwards, giddy at having no children, P let me drive his car. WHEEEEEEEEEE! Man, I miss having a sports car. And I've NEVER had a sports car with that much power. *drool* And no, I didn't get pulled over, I didn't wreck his car, I DID momentarily give both him & J a heart attack, but that's just 'cause they're wusses and didn't realize that yes, I had plenty of room going around that car, thank you.
Ran into my old friend/ex-lover/whatever Jake at the comic book store. He looked great; this town is too small not to run into your past everywhere. (That's why I think longingly of moving elsewhere sometimes.) He's one of those people that I have equal numbers of fond memories and awful memories. *sigh*
I'm sitting here at the dining room table stressing out and trying not to. It's making me nauseated. I have to come up with $1235 by 6:30 tonight. It's probably going to mean me borrowing money from my mother again. God, I hate that. I can't wait until the house is sold and we can pay her back for good.
J had the idea to make stuffed bell peppers and as a treat for M, chocolate fondue for dessert. I made ground pork, rice made with ham stock, onions, fresh garlic, chopped up bell pepper bits (the tops of the red, yellow, & orange peppers we stuffed), pecorino romano cheese, and seasoned nicely.... mmmmmm.
And the fondue was a big hit. I should have gotten a picture of C; he wore quite a bit. He liked the strawberries, M liked the cheesecake (yes, she's my daughter) and J introduced me to Lorna Doone cookies. (bad bad bad bad bad - how have I not eaten these before?) I think J liked the bananas best.
Earlier in the day, I did some voice recording for P's office IVR system. I've discovered a new talent, and it pays... maybe if I get enough of these side hobbies I can actually make some money! Decorative cakes, face painting, voice recordings (I've always wanted to read books on tape...) Afterwards, giddy at having no children, P let me drive his car. WHEEEEEEEEEE! Man, I miss having a sports car. And I've NEVER had a sports car with that much power. *drool* And no, I didn't get pulled over, I didn't wreck his car, I DID momentarily give both him & J a heart attack, but that's just 'cause they're wusses and didn't realize that yes, I had plenty of room going around that car, thank you.
Ran into my old friend/ex-lover/whatever Jake at the comic book store. He looked great; this town is too small not to run into your past everywhere. (That's why I think longingly of moving elsewhere sometimes.) He's one of those people that I have equal numbers of fond memories and awful memories. *sigh*
I'm sitting here at the dining room table stressing out and trying not to. It's making me nauseated. I have to come up with $1235 by 6:30 tonight. It's probably going to mean me borrowing money from my mother again. God, I hate that. I can't wait until the house is sold and we can pay her back for good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)