What’s New

I don’t want to talk about Obama and Wright anymore.*  I just don’t.  I’m letting it go for now - November is a long way away, it’ll keep.  I refuse to go through all this angst, strain friendships, and give bomb-throwing partisans reasons to fire away,over something that I can’t do anything about right now anyway.  So, I’m done with it, for now.  Y’all do what you’re going to do.

 In other news, my children are turning my world upside down. 

 My son decided to follow in my daughter’s footsteps, and got in trouble at school for bullying ad fighting.  Y’all must think I’m the worst parent ever.  Anyway, after getting his story, his friends’ stories, the stories of two different teachers and one principal, I have come to the conclusion that Zaphod gave into peer pressure.  He is very vulnerable to it - he has always been overly concerned with “what his friends think”.  Doesn’t excuse what he did, but it does explain it somewhat.

He’s also way behind in taking accelerated math quizzes, which comprise most of his grade in math.  The kids are expected to take them on their own, and they are judged on how many skills they master.  Because he hasn’t been taking the tests, the best he can do is a “C”for this six weeks.  Neither of my kids have ever gotten below a “B”.  I can hear you laughing now, but it’s not the grade that upsets us, it’s the lack of effort.

My kids also have begged me NOT to take them to Disney World next year.  This breaks my heart.  They would rather go to California.  They want to pan for gold, then maybe go to Disneyland.  Gold country is in northern California, right?  I keep telling them, California is a huge state - you can’t see the northern part AND the southern part in one trip.  Maybe they have some kind of gold panning in southern California.

One thing I know for sure: we have to do SOMETHING Disney next year.  I have a Disney Visa, and my points I’ve built up over the years expire in 2009.  Maybe I’ll find a way to sneak away with Lintilla to Epcot. 

Trillian wants her own bathroom now.  No big surprise, really.  She’s been trying to steer us to remodel, and we keep telling her we can’t afford it. 

This post from Aunt B really, really brought home to me the awesome responsibility I have.  And I don’t mean to my daughter, I already feel the full weight of that.  At my “other gig”, I do entertainment and celebrity reporting.  I won’t talk about how large my readership is, let’s just say it’s beyond my wildest dreams.  (Amazingly, I’m still the slacker in my channel).  Most of my readers are young women, from about 15-25.  Let’s just say there are a LOT of them.

I can’t sit and complain about how the media portrays beauty, I am the media.  I am required to post red carpet photos and the like.  The photos I choose to display, the comments I make about those photos, and my commentary all have an impact.  The show I write about is probably the only body-positive show on television today, so at least I have a head start.

I can only hope and pray that I have the wisdom to always do the right things for these girls and women.

*Those of you who only read me here might ask, “When did you talk about Barack Obama?”  I haven’t here, but I’ve been all over the comments at other folks’ blogs.

Attention, Grammar Nazis

I need your help.  Now that I’m slowly being taken seriously as a writer by 15 year old girls and representatives of major media outlets alike, I probably need to start writing with better grammar.  Most of the rules I learned 30 years ago I still remember; I’m just lax in my usage.  I use way too many commas and semicolons, and I’m overly-fond of using “Apparently”, “Anyway,” and “So,” to start my sentences, especially at the start of paragraphs.  These are things I can correct by paying attention.

Yet, one thing I cannot remember is the proper usage of “farther” and “further”.  I pretty much use them interchangeably, and I know that isn’t right.

When is each appropriate?  Can you give me an example of each?

Thank you - I do not have a brain that allows me to pay attention to detail.  If I can return the favor (maybe one day writing a flowery love sonnet for you), let me know.

Lots Of Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts for your Thursday.

Things around my house are slowly getting around to normal.  For those of you who know me personally, sorry I went off the deep end lately.  I need to remember the number one rule of swimming: if you are drowning, stop flailing.

In my house, Jesus Christ is savior.  He does however, have a new assistant: Effexor.  Hopefully, my insurance will pay for it (right now, they are balking).

Lintilla is officially back to her job today.  This is her first day doing actual patient care, after 3 months of being away from it.  She promised me she’d take it easy.

Jesus’ other assistant is snow.  My kids were so excited to be out of school yesterday, they got along the entire day.

Lost in my own drama is the incredible story of my friend Mark Mills.  If you haven’t yet, go to Ginger’s site and read it.  When it comes to prayer, God may not be an ATM, maybe we can’t name it and claim it, but sometimes, I think, He uses prayer (and answers them) to remind us of His awesome power, if we will only bend our knees to Him.

You may not like Michael Medved, but this post is very wise.

Note to Tennessee liberals: YOU are supposed to be the “intelligent” ones.  Why do you allow your “lessors” to play you like a cheap violinevery presidential election cycle?  Lots and lots of people who didn’t know Obama’s middle name do now, because of your very vocal outrage.  It doesn’t matter if you are “right”, and that this is a dirty trick.  You guys better get out in front of the “Obama is in league with or will be soft on Islamists” meme, or you will lose.  I don’t care how outraged you are.

Update - Read this article  for context.

My ambition overcame my phobia last week.  I actually picked up the phone, dialed a number, and after a few days of phone tag, talked with a producer at NPR about an Ugly Betty story they are doing.  (No, they aren’t featuring ME, although they should - my task is to find fans in the LA area for them to interview).  It was during this conversation that I realised I have an “NPR” voice.  I don’t use it very often, but it’s funny how I have many different “voices” I can pull out like tools from a toolbox.

Can’t the Preds play defense anymore?

Finally…

I find it weird that our sexual attractions age with us.  Yesterday, while watching some commercial for this or that wonder-drug, one of the smiling faces was a partially white haired, fifty-something woman.  And it shocked me when the thought popped into my head:  “She’s pretty hot!”  Later, the news did a story on the MTSU poll, and it showed the students conducting the poll. 

Now, in my world, “college girls” and “girls who are pleasing to look at” were synonymous.  But yesterday, I looked at the young ladies and saw little girls.  To be attracted to them would make me feel like a dirty old man.  What the heck is happening to my brain?

That’s all I’ve got right now.

2008 Daytona 500 LiveBlog

No liveblog after all - sorry. WordPress.com does NOT allow IFrames. Shame.

BTW, if any of you reading this are non-wordpress.com blogs and want to host my Daytona liveblog, I’ll send you the embed code. Otherwise, I’ll just be watching like everyone else.

UPDATE: I’m hosting it on my old blogger site. If you’d like to be part of the liveblog, go here: Old SHoot The Moose

Bravo, Kevin

He doesn’t have comments enabled so I can’t tell him at his place, but this post by Kevin (the Homeless Guy) is outstanding.  A sample:

People in this part of the country can be deeply biblically religious, and they will either give thanks to God for being spared from the storm’s devastation, believing their faith saved them, or they will call on God for the strength to carry on after suffering greatly, as the storm devastated their lives.  There will be some who will lose their faith in God because He did not protect them, as they felt He should.  And, they may chose to no longer believe in God, and may carry a heart of anger towards God for the rest of their lives. 

But, is any of this really about God?   Is it really about us humans?   Do the natural forces of our planet act against our immoral tendencies?   God is sometimes said to be capricious - that there is no rhyme or reason to His actions.  But perhaps that is because we give God too much credit for what happens in our lives.  Do we succeed because God likes us?  Do we win against others in the competitions of life because God prefers us to others?

This is deep stuff, and many clergy struggle with these questions.  As I read the entire post, I found myself nodding along.  I have some minor quibbles on some of the theological aspects, along with a couple of philosophical questions (I think mankind is at once insignificant and of greatest importance to God -that whole triune things gets people every time).  But that doesn’t take away from how profound and eloquent Kevin’s post is.  Go read it.

On a related note, y’all (and you know who you are), LAY OFF the Union students!!!!  They are mere kids, they just survived a traumatic event most of us will never have to go through, and they are trying to make sense of it all.  Let’s discuss the philosophical ramifications of their saying that God was “with them and protected them” some other time.  I think criticising these kids,at this time, is of the suck.  Like you were some great philosophical and theological mind at 20 years old.  Give them a little leeway.  Later, ‘k?

You Never Forget Your First

This means nothing to you, but it means quite a bit to me.

I discovered blogging, like I’m sure most of you did, quite by accident.  I followed some search results, who the heck knows what the search terms were, and I ended up at a blog called “A Small Victory”.  Its owner was a Long Island native, Michele Catalano, was approximately my age, and quite possibly the most compelling writer I had ever seen. 

She was, personally, a trainwreck; she was filled with angst and bitterness, and her writing literally screamed off the screen.  Yet, you could every now and then catch a glimpse of humanity - a vulnerability that few people are willing to display.  I have modeled my own blogging after what I saw at A Small Victory; if you sometimes want to shout “too much information!” at me, you can blame Michele.

Reading her blog was addictive, and I went there literally every day.

Then one day, she just disappeared.

I found out later that she was going through a MAJOR transformation in her life.  But I missed Michele’s daily writing and photographs.  I just found out that she’s blogging again.  In fact, dammit, she’s been blogging again for a year, and I missed it!

Let me just say that the transformation in the style of her writing is extreme - this is the kind of change you usually don’t see unless a person has had a religious conversion.  She went from being full of rage to a quiet optimism and appreciation for those around her.  She didn’t have a religious conversion, she found love.  Good for her.

And her writing in this style is just as compelling.  She can be incredibly funny:

The bathroom stall is a place of sanctity. It is not a living room parlor. It is not a coffeehouse. It is not a party room. It is a place where I perform the bodily function of elimination. It’s not a chat room. If you want to talk to me while I’m washing my hands, that’s all well and good. I’ll just go ahead and nod and mhhmm you as if this wasn’t the fourteenth time you were telling me the story about how your adorable little snowflake once saved the life of a cat who fell down a sewer. But I swear on my Star Wars figures that if you EVER again try to tell me that story while I am locked in the stall, I will wait until you get to the part where your kid gets a medal of honor from the town councilman and just as you start the phrase “standing ovation” I will let out the loudest fart you’ve ever heard in your life. It will leave you breathless and unable to finish your damn story.

Michele, you probably don’t remember me from Adam.  But, you were the person who introduced me to this whole world.  I’m so glad you’re back.  And like the new you. 

Paranoia

So, has this ever happened to you?  You see a post or a comment on a blog, and you’re pretty sure it’s a passive-agressive criticism of you or something you have said, but the person posted it without reference or linking, so you’re afraid to say anything because as soon as you do, you’re positive the person will say it’s not all about you and you need to get over yourself?

And, did I just do it to you?

Misc Stuff

Lintilla and I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of our heart for your kindness and well wishes.  They lift us more than you’ll ever know.  You are a blessing beyond measure.

Today is the craziest day known to man.  I have to “electronically” fill out an FMLA form, I’ve got to do it today, and the online system we use to do that with is down.  Pah.  We’ll be in Birmingham tonight and Florida tomorrow.  I haven’t packed yet.  I have to drop off the dogs at the sitter’s after I pick up the kids from school. I’ve got insurance companies to call, and who knows what else I’ve forgotten.

(To would-be robbers: go ahead and break into my house while we’re gone if you must.  You think I give a crap?) 

About half of our men’s rooms at work have the automated faucets; the other half are manual.  I wonder if I’m the only one that stands there looking like a fool with his hands under a manual one, waiting for the water to come out.

What the heck is ABC thinking, having a new Ugly Betty on Thanksgiving?  (Before it was ‘work’, I would have been quite pleased with this).

Y’all, mark this date: December 1st.  New Beginnings Church is having another coffeehouse, but this one is different.  It will be Christmas based, for one thing.  There will be no cover charge.  X-Alt will be singing many familiar Christmas songs.  Our friend, the incomparable Jim Weber will be there again.  Channel 4’s Jennifer Herron will be hosting again.  And, we’ll have a a huge treat:

When X-Alt played at Word of Life Christian Center a bit ago, we were blown away by a choir called “Sounds of Life”.  There was also a 3-man group called Men-U (Men United) that had the tightest harmonies I have ever heard.  Well, folks, these two groups are going to be at our coffeehouse!  It’s going to be so great have such a wide cultural and musical diversity on Dec 1.

I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss this.  Many amongst us have had rough times this year; some of us are going through them right now.  What we need right now is overwhelming Joy.  I can tell you right now - I’m a little ticked off.  My family is under attack, in health, spiritually, financially.  Many others are too.  But, whatever our demons…

We can let go and be overcome with Joy.  No preaching, no pressure - just a night of therapeutic music and Joy.  You know you need it - Lord knows, I do.  There are some of you who have never come to an X-Alt event. We don’t care if you are Christian, we just want to play music for our friends.  No charge.  I might even let you crash at my house, if you feel Bellevue is too much of a drive.  I’d just love to have you there. Some of you hard cases, whom I am disappointed to never see at these events,  can expect an email from me soon.

Let’s tell all that negativity in our lives to kiss our collective butts and kick off the Christmas season right!  Mark it down - December 1st.

Finally, I’m going to Costco during my lunch hour.  Anybody need me to pick up anything?

Mea Culpas On The Edge

Random stuff on a Tuesday:

First and foremost, tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day of Lintilla’s sugery.  She is not concerned, and we’ll just have to see what they find when they get in there.  She’d appreciate any prayers and good thoughts sent her way.  We’re getting up quite early, as is usual for outpatient surgeries like this.  Hopefully,they’ll get rid of the bad stuff, and that’ll be the end of it.

 I’ll keep you posted.  I’m taking the day off tomorrow so I can be there for her.

Totally changing gears…

Our experience with Comcast today was the exact opposite of yesterday.  Lintilla called and got a very helpful CS rep, who sent out a technician.  He was prompt and very helpful, and after a little prodding around, fixed the problem.  He said we had some long-overdue maintenance that needed to be done - he changed out each and every one of our leads.  Excellent!  He didn’t even charge us, and I was quite willing to pay.

This is excellent customer service, and I want to shout about it as loudly as I did the horrible customer service.  Viva la Comcast!

I’m seeing a pattern in myself - I have a “trigger”. Remember in the Back To The Future movies, how Marty McFly was all timid - unless … someone called him “chicken”?  Then he got mad and irrational.  I am apparently the same way when I percieve that someone is looking down on me intellectually.  I have no idea where this comes from; I’ve always been looked at as being a nerd, a geek, a mad scientist.  Yet, I have a stong insecuity about it, apparently.  Maybe I subconsciously hate myself for not finishing college, I don’t know.  So, I’ll keep working on it.  Hopefully y’all will be patient with me.

In answer to John’s rhetorical question: in a couple of months, the WGA strike will probably cost me at least 1000 page views a day.  It translates to a pretty good chunk of change. Get to the table!!!

I had an unexpected lunch with an old friend today.  We were debate partners in high school, and like brothers most of the time.  That was quite enjoyable.  I hope we can do it again, soon.

I’m also quite happy that my brother and parents are in town this week.  I had a great time with Zarniwhoop at the game, and visiting with the folks.  Of course, Zarni and I will go to the Jags game,and I’m trying to set up a Brothers’ Night Out for me, Zarni, and Marvin to go to the Preds game Saturday night.  This is how many men bond: parallel play, like toddlers. 

Trillian has invited her BFF for a sleepover this weekend.  This is the same girl who was the recipient of Trillian’s uncharacteristic bullying.  Kids are strange, and forgiving.  There is much we can learn from them.

Such A Tease

I know, I know.  In this thread at MCB, I promised a post about what it’s like being a male DES baby.  And, I swear I will, hopefully today.  But there are two factors that are keeping me from completing that right now:

1) Today culminates the craziest two weeks in my professional history.  We’re finishing up a prototype of an application others said couldn’t be done in the time we were given, and later this morning,  I take the 3rd and final exam in my quest to become a Microsoft Certified Application Developer.  It’s by far the hardest exam of the three, so I have to study with what time I have left.

2) I want to do a little more research.  I can tell you the things about me that are “different”, and I can tell you why I think they were caused by DES injections while my mother was pregnant with me, but for the most part, I’d just be spouting off about stuff I don’t know much about, as usual. :) 

So, I swear it’ll be soon, but you’ll have to wait just a little longer to hear about fused bones, infertility, being touchy-feely and heterosexual at the same time, and other oddities.

And of course, tonight I have my usual busy Thursdays (live blogging Ugly Betty, then putting up a full recap before the episode finishes airing in the West).  It’s kind of crazy, but worth it.

My exam is at 10:30.  After I pass , and my co-worker passes hers at 1:00, we’re going to “have a meeting” in “Building 5″.  For those of you who don’t know me, the corporate campus where I work has 4 buildings.  “Building 5″ is the Outback Steakhouse down the street.  The “conference room” is the bar.