Connect the dots

How does one connect these dots? That people are dying in Iraq because Amercia is too tolerant of queers? And that GOD is happy about it, that it is GOD's will? Now, I may be just like an awful lot of people out there that are not sure of what they believe, but I do know that whatever I believe in would not be happy about this. Where in the world do people like Fred Phelps and his flying monkeys come from? How do you convince people of crap like this? Do you just keep saying things over and over and over again until finally you believe that it is real? I say bring the flying monkeys to our parades, bring them to the Castro and spew your hate thru your megaphones, pick on people that can and will fight back. But leave the dead alone.

Small world?

We grew up on a small island in the middle of Narragansett Bay. Our island was a mile wide by nine miles long. My mother grew up there, her father before her and back and back to the settling of the island. We moved back after a stint in the Navy moved us around for a few years. I was not yet five and the Colonel was just a tot. There were maybe 2000 full time residents, a ferry boat to get off the island on one side and a bridge on the other. I got an e-mail from the Colonel the other day and he had run into a distant cousin of ours in Baghdad - crazy! Reminds me of when I moved to California and went to my very first day at my very first job. Big high rise downtown, I press the elevator button, the elevator comes down and the doors open and I come face to face with a girl I grew up with.

Sometimes that damn Disney song just bounces around in my head - It's a small world after all.... Maybe we all need to remember that more often.

This weeks 5 things

This weeks 5 things - this gets harder every week.

1. Bruce Springsteen is STILL a god.


2. Some people just suck


3. Some people do not


4. Shopping on the internet is far to easy


5. Pumpkins rot when you leave them on the grass in your front yard. But they are still cute.

Born to Run

Ha, thought I had taken up running? Nope! Went to see the Boss last night. For those of you that do not know who the Boss is, go away! Bruce Springsteen - poet, singer, voice. He just seems to get better with age. The guitars screamed and the crowd was on their feet. Me? I was on my feet, because as ususal the tallest person on the face of the planet was in front of me? How does that happen all the time? Why does this person follow me around and sit in front of me? Anyway, it is always a pleasure to watch Bruce and the E. Street band rock they are "Magic".

My first Bruce experience started on a bitter cold day in the mid 80's I heard on the radio that tickets were on sale at the Providence Civic Center, so I told my boss I was leaving, I put on my long down coat, gloves, scarf, hat and stood in line for four hours to get tickets. This time it was so much easier. On a Wednesday in 2007 I heard on the radio that there were tickets available for Thursday's concert. So I got on line and in about three minutes I had two tickets printed and in my pocket. And so continues my love/hate relationship with technology!

Tramps like us, baby we are born to run.......

Where do I find this stuff?

After my post about teacup pigs Spy Sister asked where do I find this stuff? And then she had to ask "what's next - Tennesee fainting goats?" What???? Fainting goats??? Now the game is on - out to the internet to search out new life and new civilizations - ok so I stole that line - get over it. So my search, you ask. It started out with fainting goats because I just had to find out about them. If you are interested in fainting goats, which were raised more or less to be bait, check out this link. Now, while I will be the first to admit that a fainting goat could be very funny, they do suffer from a herediatary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita it would be just mean to make fun of them, the thought did cross my mind about what it would have been like to have a brother or sister with this, now that would have been fun and funny. Anyway, it did start me thinking about other animals, specifically small animals.

Who knew there are minature donkeys and they are a commitment since they live 25 to 30 years.

There are also miniature cows, goats, horses, jack russell terriers, manx cats - like it is not bad enough that they have no tails - sheep and llamas/alpacas, horses too. I think most of these would be very cute in the miniature versions. My research - yes, Spy Sister, that is what I call it, brought me to a site where they breed miniature dwarf goats. Oxymoronish? Reading further I see that to be miniature the goat needs to be under 23 inches tall. These animal husbandry Dr. Mengeles aim for 17" to 20" goats. My question is what happens to the ones that don't cut the mustard? Spy Sister these are the things that keep me up late at night and when questioned about where I find "these things" it just drives me to find more.

My Mother Myself

Last week I was going to rant about how I am becoming my mother and got side-tracked by my commute. Well, I have a few minutes so I think I will complete my rant. Perhaps rant is too harsh, but here goes. The other day my beloved said something to me and I did something that my mother does, that drives me insane. I sighed! She said, don't do that. I said do what. She said that sighing thing. I thought did I really just do that? Then I realized I did just do that! I am reminded of a book I read a long time ago, called "My Mother My Self", in fact I am not even sure I read the whole thing, but I do remember something it said. That no matter how hard we try, we (women) all become our mothers. We look down at our hands on the steering wheel and see her hands. We speak and hear her words. We sigh and it bugs the crap out of our loved ones.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mother and I have come to realize her life has not always been easy and she has shown strength in situations I cannot imagine myself in. And while I used to be afraid to become my mother, I realize there is nothing I can do to stop it, so I might as well enjoy the ride. So now, when I see her hands on the steering wheel while I am driving or when I sigh for no reason, I can only hope that when I do turn into her I will have captured some of her strength.

Thanks Mommy Dearest and don't forget I am your favorite.

Fire Storm

Fire is eating Southern California. The flames fanned by 100 mile an hour winds, chasing people from their homes and forcing over 250,000 people to run. One of those is our friend, Chip. She left her home in Escondido last evening. Calling us from the road with progress reports, she set off for her parents home in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Normally a four hour drive for Chip, yesterday four hours got her to Palm Springs, where she spent the night.

Now most of you know that I make my living in IT and sometimes I really hate technology, but last night I was really happy to have it. Chip called us from the road (cell phone technology), we were able to use Google Earth (many technologies) to find a hotel close by. We were able to call them and get her a room for the night.

Say a prayer for everyone down there and if you know anybody down that way, find them, make sure they are alright.

M.

Guess who?

Sing this to yourself:

"the San Francisco treat" - go on you know it. The creator has died.

5 Things

This weeks list:

1. mobile.southwest.com makes checking in for a flight really easy.
2. A good chiropractor is worth every penny you pay.
3. Rain is good - your car gets washed.
4. Historical movies do not neccessarily reflect history.
5. Teacup pigs are cute ugly.

Anniversary!

Where were you 18 years ago today at about 5:00 PM? Today is the 18th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Wow, how time flies. My story is:

I was just leaving work, I worked at Arthur Anderson on the 35th floor at One Market Plaza. I had just stepped off the elevators into the lobby. The lobby was an atrium with a glass ceiling that connected three buildings. There was a bar in the lobby and it had wine glasses that hung from a rack overhead. I heard a "thunder" coming from underneath me, I heard the rattle of those wine glasses and then I felt the floor move under my feet. I must have had this look of absolute terror on my face, because a stranger wrapped her arms around me and pulled me back near the elevators (no glass above our heads) and just kept saying "it will be alright honey". After what seemed like forever, it stopped, she let me go and I never saw her again.

I walked home past the rubble that fell from the buildings, the electric buses that could not go anywhere, the woman leaning out her window screaming "they bay bridge has fallen down". In the end I was lucky, everyone I knew and loved was safe. As I sat in my front room and watched the bright light from the fires in the Marina I thanked my lucky stars.

Of course, the worst was still to come. I did not realize that the world series was on tv and my entire family was watching and as they saw the picture go dark and news stories start to come in about how we had fallen off the the face of the planet and/or we were burning down that they would try to call. I was waiting to call until things calmed down, as we were being asked the leave lines open for emergencies. Let me just say, I would rather face another Loma Prieta than my worried mother anyday.

Where's the beef?

Yes, technology is everywhere. But not everyone has technology. It seems that the news industry does not know this. On the news this morning was a story about the recall of beef. The entire story was maybe 15 seconds. They told you the company name, the two name brands affected and the lot numbers of the beef. The only other information they gave was "you can find more information and a number to call on our website". Now, this is a good thing - more info on the website - I looked and it took me a little bit to find this information, but it was there.

The latest info I could find about internet access was from 2003 and that paper states that 24% of Americans do not have access to the internet, the reason for most of them is the cost of having an internet connection. It just made me think, that the person that can't afford internet access might just be the same person that has a lot of frozen ground beef that they bought on sale at Sams Club (one of the brands recalled) at home.

On the bright side, I do know from the same news broadcast that George Lucas is planning a TV show based on the Star Wars movies. The show won't have Luke Skywalker or Darth Varder, just minor characters.

Seemed crazy to me that both these stories got about the same coverage, that's all.

Just Mean

That about says it all. Just Mean.

Grrr...

Today I was going to rant about how I have become my mother, but then I drove to work. So the mother rant will have to wait. My usual drive to work was compounded by a really bad situation on 880 and no matter how bad my commute was, somebodies was a lot worse. Anyway, while driving I was thinking about how awful we have become as drivers. We cut no one a break, we drive like we are the only one in the universe and manners no longer exist. When I learned to drive (yes, they did have cars back then) I was taught that someone backing out of parking space had the right of way. Makes sense, chances are they can't see you around that big old SUV and you should stop and let them back out. But in any parking lot I am in today, people do not even slow down when you are backing out. Then I came to an intersection where the traffic light was flashing red. To me this means a nice 4 way stop. Then everybody takes their turn. To the people at this light it was I am going, I do not care what anyone else does. Once I got thru that light I continued on my merry way. Then I became the victim of what I think is the worst traffic law ever invented. The Right Turn on Red. Now I like how this is supposed to work. At a red light, nobody coming, take a right. This works for me. However, I want to ram my car up the back of those that forget the most important part of this traffice rule, the yielding to the right of way part. After going different routes the same car did this to me twice this morning. I have the green light and they pull out right in front of me. How do I know it was the same exact car? Because how many Hummers does the American Red Cross have travelling the streets of Alameda on a Thursday morning?

Princess Di.

I am watching the news about the English inquest about the death of Princess Diana. They were just showing The Ritz at the Place Vendome. Brought back a memory of my trip to The Ritz, yes the same Ritz. I was visiting Travel Chick and we were exploring the Place Vendome and I pointed out The Ritz. The entrance is really quite understated, if you did not know it was there, you might just miss it. We decided to go in and take a look around and I guess it was apparent right off the bat that we did not really belong there. The head bell man approached us right away to ask us to leave - we were not guests of the hotel -well he was polite about it - but that was his request. Then Travel Chick did something that I had only read about - an urban myth I thought - until then. She turned to him and in French asked him if he would "make an exception" for us. We just wanted to look at the lobby, would that be alright? He smiled (who does not smile at Travel Chick) and said "Oui Madame" and a bunch of other stuff in French that I could not catch. So Travel Chick said merci, smiled back and we walked on. I looked at her with pride, she had just done something so totally French, something even Parisian's can't pull off all the time and I asked what he said. She told me we had 10 minutes to look around and not to sit on anything! We giggled and explored and when we left 10 minutes later the head guy smiled at us wished us a good day and thanked us for coming.

New car

I need to get a new car in February. I want something economical and cute. I was thinking about a smart car, even if Chief Matron Mare-son thinks all I need is a clown suit to complete the picture. My beloved just thinks it is a bad choice totally.

But me, I was in love with them until I saw the new Nisson Pivo 2 - there is no reverse in this car. The tires move 90 degrees, you just pull up to a space and turn your wheels and in you go. How cool is that - Mona - your dreams come true. And the body turns 180 degrees so you just get in and point the car in the direction you want to go. Hmm... I don't know. They both make a Saturn seem so bland? A Prius so boring. A Ford Escape so big.

Could you?

Could you be a vampire?

http://www.blogthings.com/couldyoubeavampirequiz/

Find out if you need to invest better since you might live forever.

Somedays....

Yesterday was October 5th. To some just another day. To my family we wish it could be just another day. I got a note from Spy Sister last night, reminding me that it had been 20 years since our brother Michael died. I did not need reminding, I had been trying all day not to remember, but you just can't not remember some things. It was a beautiful fall day and I was visiting my friend Jolie, who was so radiant, her daughter Kelly would be born a few weeks later. The phone call late that night that I almost did not answer. The sound of Bobby's voice. The pain in my mother's eyes. A meeting at a funeral home. The burial chapel where I stared out the windows at the changing foliage wishing this was all a dream. The party afterwards where we all drank toasts to my alcoholic brother who had finally taken his own life because it had just gotten to be too much for him. Now, if that last part is not something you want to forget, nothing is.

5 Things

This week's 5 things:

1. The Blue Angels ROCK!!!! But I did not learn that this week, I have known that for a long time.
2. Monks do get mad.
3. Life passes far to quickly.
4. I swear far too much.
5. Bruce Springsteen is a god!

Grrr....

I like to think that no one I know, or love or that reads this blog is stupid, but just in case I happen to be wrong about something, go to this web site. Just keep this in mind, if someone sends you a check in the mail and requests that you send some of back to them - don't.