Win $250 for the cutest First Communion Photo

Win $250 for the cutest First Communion Photo

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The latest insanity

I just ran across this article about women with long nails complaining that the iPhone is some misogynistic plan to exclude women from the technology.

Why? Because women (and men for that matter) with long nails have difficulty using the phone.

Um. Cut your nails, stupid.

I admit that several hundred years ago when I was young, getting a weekly manicure was on my list of "things to do. " A manicure. That means having nicely shaped, perhaps painted, definitely neat nails.

It does not mean looking like a circus freak. And yet, circus freak status seems to be the way to go with some folks. I can't count the number of times I've been distracted watching clerks with 2 inch nails try to maneuver a cash register.

Besides slowing the line, it's not even attractive. At. All.

Boris and Natasha Rock!

This weekend was the Eucharistic Congrss in Atlanta, and while it'll probably take me a couple of days to regroup and post about so many of the cool experiences, I absolutely have to give a shout out to my new friends Boris and Natasha. They rock!

Look Wency!

I updated here, and here.

By the way, props to Vic, who turned me on to Pandora.com, the music genome project.

That is all. I just realized a failed opportunity to Rickroll y'all.

open response to "desdecuba" blog

Today's political rant is courtesy of a blog post at desdecuba.com, which spit out my response, no doubt because I got longwinded and psycho:

Leí con mucho interés el análisis de las consecuencias a Cuba de una administración norteamericana dirigida por un presidente Obama.

El primer punto, el de las caricaturas de un presidente negro, esta muy interesante. Les doy toda la razón en temer las consecuencias de caricaturas que caigan mal, pero les pregunto esto: ¿los periodistas deben de tratar a Obama igual que a otros candidatos o políticos? Si no, ¿por que? Si están aplicando otro criterio, entonces no están cumpliendo con sus deberes de periodistas. El que se postula para una posición política también se postula para las consecuencias de estar en la vida publica. Yo propongo que usar otro criterio porque Obama es negro es racismo.

Cuando Martin Luther King. Jr. declaró en su muy famoso discurso que soñaba con un futuro donde la medida del hombre se basaba en su carácter y no su color, muchos pensaron que el cambio vendría rápido.

No ha sido así. Hoy en día experimentamos un problema racial doloroso por varias razones.

Entre los negros hay muchos que han echado p’alante—que se han dedicado a un cambio personal, dedicados a la educación, a la independencia económica, en fin, dedicados al alcance de un sueño protegido por nuestra constitución y establecido en nuestra declaración de independencia en 1776 que declara, entre muchos derechos indispensables a la existencia humana, el derecho humano de vivir en libertad, y tener la oportunidad de llevar al fin la felicidad.Entre los negros también se encuentran aquellos que sufren una herida tan profunda, tan llena de dolor, de complejo, de abuso, que no saben como o no tienen interés en dejar el pasado y proceder con los cambios que si han ocurrido, a pesar de un grupo pequeño pero poderoso que beneficia de esta parálisis social.

También existe entre los blancos un grupo que no tiene interés en ver este cambio. El racismo en este país si existe. Es una triste realidad. Sin embargo, estamos llegando a un punto donde los extremos del racismo (y tenemos que reconocer que existe por ambos lados) no nos gobierna.

El hecho que Barack Obama ha llegado a esta posición en la política norteamericana es una indicación que si han ocurrido cambios en este país.Desafortunadamente, hay personas que votaran por el, no porque entienden sus pólizas o están de acuerdo con su visión para el país, pero por el color de su rostro. Esto es racismo también.

Votar por cambio por el hecho de cambio no es responsable, ni practico.Yo no voy a votar por Obama porque no estoy de acuerdo con su plataforma. La diferencia fundamental entre los demócratas y los republicanos esta en el control y el poder del gobierno. Yo quiero un gobierno con interés en la protección del país, y en la protección de mis derechos. Yo no quiero un gobierno que gobierne mi vida personal. Yo no quiero un gobierno que me quite mi dinero a las malas a través de los impuestos, para desarrollar programas los cuales no estoy de acuerdo.

Es muy bonito ver un candidato joven, representante de un grupo que tradicionalmente no ha tenido una voz en la política de este país. Es peligroso basar una elección en solo este punto.Los viejos fueron engañados por otro joven lleno de idealismo… y mentiras. Que Dios no quiera que una nueva generación caiga víctima a las mismas mentiras, disimuladas como cambio.

Fly on the wall? Not any more!

After missing weeks of my favorite podcasts because of an internet block at work, I have recently discovered that I can view and listen to the Daily Breakfast via ustream in my office. I've been pretty put out by the block because of mp3 downloads by students, so I understand the policy, but I'm still put out by it.

Anyway, part of this ustream thing is that Father Roderick, host of the Daily Breakfast and podcasting priest supreme, is running an experiment by broadcasting live all day. Weird? I dunno. We are definitely in a voyeuristic society. I can't decide if I tune in to this 21st Century version of the Romans watching the gladiators for entertainment, or if it is really a social experiment with merit.

Who cares, it's entertaining, and has led to some interesting discussions. It is, oddly, a very fascinating way to be available to people who have deep and profound questions of faith. Perhaps, his improvised "Truman Show" or rather, "Roderick Show" can impact someone (many ones).

It's also pretty funny. Today, he was annoyed by a fly, and got the greatest looking fly swatter (it looked like a mini tennis racket) and wandered about his living room in pursuit of the offending fly. I wanted the fly to escape. Really! But we heard the demise of the fly: first the splat, and then his satisfaction in squashing the fly.

What Would St. Francis Say?

Note: It does not escape me that I need a hobby if I am entertained by a priest chasing a fly on the other side of the world. In my defense, I just finished grading research papers and final exams, and needed some mindless entertainment. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

For maximum humiliation

Jim McKay dead!

In the wake of the recent dead celebrities and my lack of interest in posting about them, I have decided to put out this brief post.

Why?

Because as a former jock(ette), memories of my childhood and the 70's include an awful lot of time spent in front of the TV on Saturday afternoons watching ABC's Wide World of Sports. I am often consoled in my defeats, and humbled in my victories by the tagline, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." Watching the guy tumble through the air was enough perspective on the whole competition thing.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

I haven't spewed about Cuba lately

But this article from Vic has had me laughing for a number of reasons. It appears that the Cuban government will now allow free sex change operations for anyone that qualifies.

This from a government whose human rights violations included the systematic hunting down and execution of homosexuals, and most recently, the imprisonment of HIV positive persons in death colonies where they were removed from society. Hmm. I see. All this blustering about a healthcare sytem that rocks. Ask those poor folks.

Anyway, back to the sex-change news. Further proof that Fidel is not only dead, but has been dead for some time.

In other news...before buying a cell phone or getting a sex change, I think I'd opt for food. And free elections. And a free market.

Just sayin.

what number was I on?

The great gratitude experiment of '08 seems to be a bust, but I suppose it's never too late for gratitude.

This morning I am grateful for oscillating fans. The AC broke. At a state of the art technical college that specializes in HVAC certification. Ironic much? We're waiting on the outside vendors to come and repair it.

They will be my heroes.

Meanwhile, I lost the pantyhose. C'mon, it's hot as blazes in here. And it's not like my personal thermostat is in any shape to deal with external hot flashes on top of my own very special reserve.

That is all.

Huh? [updated]

Posted on the fly yesterday and called to task by Vicky for the right attribution. Here's the gist of the text messages:

Vicky: Did you take those pics?

Me: Nope. Stole them off a priest's facebook page.

Vicky: You stole it from a priest?!

Me: Yep.

Does this count as a confession? Just askin...

I just paid $80 to fill my tank.

The truth is, I stopped pumping when it hit $80. I was nowhere near a full tank, let alone topping it off. Psychologically, I just couldn't add the last gallon or so.

Gratitude post #4: I am grateful for being in a financial situation where this bill annoys me and makes me indignant instead of crippling me. Of course, that includes the gratitude to my parents for teaching me about delayed gratification, the long line of teachers and mentors that helped make me marketable, myself for not giving into temptation and the spendthrift opportunities, my husband for being an excellent money-manager and also coming from a background of delayed gratification, and Aesop for his story "The Ant and the Grasshopper."

I'd also like to thank the Academy....Oh, um, that's something else....

Hot Flashes: Don't Mess with Me

lunch buffets and bathrooms

So I'm really concentrating on the things in my life for which I am grateful. I guess I could say an education--I mean, I was gonna write "grateful for" but I didn't because I would have ended my sentence with a preposition, and thankfully (and perhaps gratefully) I have an education.

Wow. That was really random and rambling. It's also not what I am noting in my grateful post today. Nope.

I am grateful for living in a country where I can have goofy posts like the above, and ranting angry posts about things that annoy me, and everything in between. I am grateful that while many view this as a culture of excess, that I was able to not only work hard, but get rewarded for that hard work with a decent job that has adequate wages that enable me to indulge in some excesses sometimes.

Today, I am really really really grateful for indoor plumbing. It's a rather long route to get to that, but thanks to my awesome job (today, it's awesome, check tomorrow for a possible change) a textbook company lauded the staff with a delicious lunch/book fair. Ha! Nobody really looked at the books, but we ate like beasts! Somehow, I drank a whole lot of sweet tea. I don't even like sweet tea, so there's probably a post in that about group behavior.

Anyway, I drank an awful lot of sweet tea.

Post #3 I am grateful for indoor plumbing.

The Gratitude Experiment

I posted at Rosary Army's Monday Musings my intention to follow through with a project for the next 30 days, to make a daily post about something for which I am grateful. You can read my original post on the topic here.

I got the idea from Bonnie Gillespie's blog, but it seems to be a meme that is making its way around in different forms. For example, Franciscat is twittering a variation on Thursdays, so there you go. What are you grateful for?

---

Post #2: I am grateful for my family, near and far, and the pains we all take to stay close. I love you all!

Dearest Laura

Are you baiting me?

I admit to laughing out loud, literally, not in acronyms. You are right, I would definitely have a stroke. My brother, who travels quite a bit, sent me a picture of a similar bar in Singapore. Singapore!

I guess all it takes to get a murderous psycopath on the road to international iconic hero is have a picture taken and published in Life magazine. Woe is me.

Digging Che is kind of like saying Hitler's gas chambers were a humane solution to a "social problem." Ignorance is a dangerous condition.

Let me just say, Al Gore hasn't cornered the market on the phrase "inconvenient truth."

Let's stick with normal folks---haven't forgotten I owe you a coffee at the best coffee house ever.

Baccalaureate

oh so clever

First saw it on Father Roderick's blog, and tickled me enough to pass it on.

paper towels and electrical tape

That's what Jonathan used to close his finger when he fileted it while working in the garage. He didn't want to be bothered with the wound while he was finishing his task. Naturally, his father looked over at it and declared it was just a flesh wound, and they continued with their mission.

Men. I don't get them.

I like them; I just don't get them.

Before you call Family Services, or my mother calls incredulous and worried, all is well. I made him remove the makeshift foolishness, and he cleaned it up and used a more conventional bandage. Three hours later, the wound looks like it is already fusing. Amazing.

Pop comes through again

Having taken to heart the limitation on the number of emails that I will accept from him before unceremoniously creating a new Pop Spam folder where his stuff automatically dumps, he has recently sent a number (always fewer than three) of most excellent comic commentaries, cartoons, and otherwise entertaining and engaging forwards.

Today he turned me on to a blog from Cuba. In Cuba! And the posts are...well, I'm amazed by their boldness. There's even a poll on what Raul's next move might be...allowing travel outside of Cuba or free internet access (not as in cost-free, as in ALLOWED open internet use). What a country.

If only the world really knew the depths of the oppression and violation of human rights going on a mere 90 miles off the coast of the United States. I tell you, my on-going mission is to rip apart the stupid people I see wearing those damn Che t-shirts glorifying a racist assassin. Dummies.