Another wonderful BBC program is called "Heart and Soul" - where it explores different religions and spiritual traditions across the world. They originally aired this program a while back, but aired it again tonight so I decided to share. I am not Jewish, but the lore behind the Kaddish prayer is very interesting, and not only that, it also appears to be a wonderful tool for people to cope with grief. Anyway - the program is worth listening to if you are into spiritual things, to better understand other faiths and practices. It's about 25 minutes, and you can listen online. Anyway - enjoy!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
My Ode to Coffee
To say that I am addicted to Coffee would be an understatement. In my house, I always have at least 4 different types of coffees, along with an espresso machine, a french press and of course a Senseo. Even with all of that, I still manage to spend over $200 a month at Starbucks on lattes. Yes I know - many people say that Starbucks coffee is not real gourmet coffee, but to be perfectly honest, gourmet or not, it tastes a lot better than most other coffees.
I have tried Seattle's best coffee, and it was too acidic. How do I know this? Because after I drank it, I was almost ill and had heartburn (which I rarely ever have). Caribou coffee is ok, but their decaf is terrible - it tastes like Seattle's Best. Locally here we have Dilworth Coffee, and while their local house blend and decaf is delicious, their espresso leaves MUCH to be desired - too acidic and not strong enough. I have also tried Gevalia, which is decent but not very flavorful and let's be frank, if I wanted to drink coffee flavored water, I would use a coffee maker (yuk).
So - with all of that, Starbucks remains number one for me - be it a sin or not, I love their stuff. Although with all of the love I feel for Starbucks (and believe me when I tell you that it is a lot of love), I can safely say that I was very disappointed on their new "Via" product. It was launched a few months back, and they had all this hype online and at the store. Every time I went in, they offered it to me, with a smile and the endorsement of "it's the best thing ever". So - since I love Starbucks so much, I decided to try it. I can safely say that It is not the best thing ever - perhaps it is slightly better than a shot to the forehead or an eye-punch but definitely nowhere near the vicinity of best thing. It tastes like instant coffee, because - wait for it - it actually is instant coffee! DUH!
So with all the love I have for Starbucks, I have to say that I would much rather them just play down the hype and continue to serve good Fair Trade Coffee. I also wanted to share a hilarious video my friend Jo Anne posted on Facebook about Starbucks sizes - if you want a good laugh, its worth watching. Although I have to say my problem is generally opposite of this chick - I walk into non-Starbucks stores trying to order Starbucks sizes only to be greeted by unhappy people who tell me, "this is not Starbucks."
I have tried Seattle's best coffee, and it was too acidic. How do I know this? Because after I drank it, I was almost ill and had heartburn (which I rarely ever have). Caribou coffee is ok, but their decaf is terrible - it tastes like Seattle's Best. Locally here we have Dilworth Coffee, and while their local house blend and decaf is delicious, their espresso leaves MUCH to be desired - too acidic and not strong enough. I have also tried Gevalia, which is decent but not very flavorful and let's be frank, if I wanted to drink coffee flavored water, I would use a coffee maker (yuk).
So - with all of that, Starbucks remains number one for me - be it a sin or not, I love their stuff. Although with all of the love I feel for Starbucks (and believe me when I tell you that it is a lot of love), I can safely say that I was very disappointed on their new "Via" product. It was launched a few months back, and they had all this hype online and at the store. Every time I went in, they offered it to me, with a smile and the endorsement of "it's the best thing ever". So - since I love Starbucks so much, I decided to try it. I can safely say that It is not the best thing ever - perhaps it is slightly better than a shot to the forehead or an eye-punch but definitely nowhere near the vicinity of best thing. It tastes like instant coffee, because - wait for it - it actually is instant coffee! DUH!
So with all the love I have for Starbucks, I have to say that I would much rather them just play down the hype and continue to serve good Fair Trade Coffee. I also wanted to share a hilarious video my friend Jo Anne posted on Facebook about Starbucks sizes - if you want a good laugh, its worth watching. Although I have to say my problem is generally opposite of this chick - I walk into non-Starbucks stores trying to order Starbucks sizes only to be greeted by unhappy people who tell me, "this is not Starbucks."
Friday, November 5, 2010
I love NPR
There are too many reasons to list here why it is that I love NPR. Not just the newsy part of it, but also all of the programs as well as the BBC. One of my favorite programs is StoryCorps - I cannot count the number of times it has either had me laughing my butt off on something really quirky, crying at something sad or even just glowing at hearing uplifting stories from others. Well this morning, the story was about a daughter remembering growing up with a mother with schizophrenia - it was wonderful and made me smile. I wanted to pass it along, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did:
Growing Up With A Schizophrenic Mom
Growing Up With A Schizophrenic Mom
Onwards
As promised I will shush about politics - although it does annoy me that you can't turn on the radio for 2 seconds without hearing election crap. I am already disgusted - why can't I sit alone in the dark with my disgust without being poked every 2 minutes with a dissection of what happened? All I can say is thank the gods for the BBC!!
Anyway - I will now talk about TV. Mainly I will post on the latest show I caught up with - The Vampire Diaries. I bought the DVD set mainly for 3 reasons - one it's about vampires and I love the topic, two it has Ian Somerhalder in it and you just can't go wrong with eye candy, and three several friends really like the show. I will say that until Episode 8 in Season 1 this show blows. I know that they are trying to establish a baseline for a "timeless love" that Stefan and Elena will share, but the narration from the diaries just come of whinny (with lots of "oh I am so sad and I want him" and "Oh I am so broody and I want her" back and forth - it seemed to go on forever at times).
However, I do have to say that once you get past that, around episode 9 (162 Candles), the show starts to get good. The storyline stars to unravel and the relationship between Damon and Stefan gets really interesting. It amazes me that a guy like Ian who is basically eye candy, can actually still act fairly well. Stefan's character is basically "Angel 2" and he is all broody and depressed all the time, but the Damon character is well written and well acted. So all in all - I finished season 1 and found myself going to the CW website to catch up on some Season 2 Episodes. So, if you can sit through the first 8 episodes, I think the rest of the show is worth watching - that is my vote =)
I do have to say that the fans are a bit annoying - I went to check out some fan sites last night. Every time I turn around I see "Oh but its nothing like the book - or - Oh it doesn't match this from the book", which is essentially more whining. For people who love to read - that is awesome. Read the books and enjoy them - however, understand that a film/tv medium is not the same thing as the book. To keep comparing it to the books is just stupid and makes you sound like an elitist prick. No, you don't sound smart and well read which I believe is the reason for the soap box whine-a-thon - you sound like someone who is incapable of understanding and appreciating anything other than books. If you love your books so much, well then - read and stop watching movies and TV. And this goes not just for this show - but for everything else. If you can't enjoy it because its not as close to the books as you would like, then go read more books and stop ruining it for the rest of us with a shallow brain who can appreciate pretty pictures!
Wow - I didn't mean to rant - but considering how close we still are to the election I am going to blame my bad mood on that. Yeah - that's it - its the Tea Party's fault! Yeah that's it...
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Stupid Politics
I have often stayed away from politics - for the simple reason that I believe that every person's beliefs are their own. Politics and religion are dangerous topics, because arguments can ensue, feelings can be hurt and there are generally no winners. As I said before many times, you cannot win an argument of opinion - this is a fact. Why is this? For the simple reason that everyone has an opinion, and no matter how much each of us think our opinions are based on facts, they remain still an opinion. Opinions can never be wrong - therefore arguments over opinions and beliefs are pointless.
With that said, I would like to dive into my own opinion of politics. I warn all of you - that I am 100% right. And why is that? Because it is my opinion - and its based on facts as I interpret them - so I cannot be wrong. If you disagree with me - then goody for you - look at that you have an opinion too! So if you don't care about politics or if you think your opinion is totally right and everyone who disagrees with you should die a horrible fiery death, then stop reading right now. This is probably my first and last political post - so feel free to skip it.
I registered to vote in my early 20's. Politics then was so unimportant to me, that I basically selected a party by closing my eyes and seeing where in the paper my pen landed. There we go - republican. Like many young people, I felt that voting was "stupid" and "uncool". Mainly in all honesty, I lacked the motivation to do any research in politics. All politicians are corrupt and so it does not matter who we elect to office. This was a comforting belief.
In my early 30's, with the age of responsibility setting in, I felt a twinge or a need to maybe make sure that I wasn't siding with a party that was voting in Hitler or something. Mind you - I was a REGISTERED Republican, but I had never actually voted - well because I was holding on to the belief of stupid it all was. When guilt hit, I did a little bit of research - and by that, I read a 4 line article. What I got from that, is that Republicans were for governments not interfering with people's lives and Democrats were somehow donkeys. Yes - I had definitely made the right choice - I didn't want to be a donkey.
So when the whole Clinton fiasco happened, I was first of all proud myself for never having voted, being totally reaffirmed in my belief that politics was stupid (that followed by "why the hell would that chick have sex with that man - ewww!"). After Clinton's 8 years, I paid little attention to the Presidential election - whoever got in there had to be better than Clinton, right? Right.
So then, somewhere along the line, George W. Bush got elected. My first thought was "I thought a president needed to be capable of at least uttering complete sentences," followed by "he is so ugly I doubt an intern will sleep with him". All was well in my world. Then 9/11 happened, and along with the rest of the country, I was saddened, shocked and horrified at the same time. Like the rest of the country, I looked to the President for comfort, protection or what have you. Not that he would personally come to my house and chase terrorists away, but that he would be capable of doing something to prevent this stuff from happening again. I am not sure when I lost faith in GW - but somewhere along the line, I came to the realization that not only would this guy not be able to protect me, but due to his huge arrogance and stupidity (a deadly combo), he would probably lead the terrorists to my door mistaking it for the bathroom or something. And then people I knew got shipped overseas for war, and then we found no WMD's and he refused to even acknowledge his mistakes, and then and then and then and then and then and then. No more and then.
So then all the crap started, the war was a big issue, the economy tanking another big issue - so he here we go - presidential elections again and GW is up against John Kerry. Some twinge of guilt hit me, and I felt that I couldn't bitch about GW if I had not cast my vote or even done research on candidates. So I did a tiny little bit of research - and in my view, if John Kerry had just a tiny bit more brains than GW, he would be worthy of my vote. And try as I might - and trust me, I did try - I could not tolerate the man even enough to vote for him. I really hated GW, but I didn't feel that Kerry was any kind of an alternative. So GW won, and although I felt a "great 4 more years of pure crap" feeling, I couldn't completely say that I would have felt any better if Kerry had won. So I quit watching politics - I decided my initial evaluation was correct, it was stupid and not worth my time.
Still being nagged by guilt I decide to at least make sure the party I was registered with was in line with my beliefs - some would argue I should have done this first. Well, hush - this is my story, dammit! So I read up on the Republican view of things and was startled. Yes they believe that government should not mettle in people's lives unless its to tell them who can serve in the military, who can marry who and that you can't have an abortion. I found an overwhelming number of them believed in some stupidity called "intelligent design" which basically means "I choose to ignore science so I can shove my bible down you kid's throat". The more I read, the more disgusted I was. This was the party I was registered to all these years? This is the party that believes in "small government"? Where the hell did these people get their definition of small government - I think to them it must mean don't help people in your country - just sit back and pass judgement on them.
So in about 2007 or early 2008, I can't remember - I went in and changed my party affiliation from Republican to Independent. I made the mistake one time of sitting on the corner of a political party I knew nothing about - I wasn't about to make that mistake again. So the election race in 2008 takes off and its Obama and McCain. Considering the total crap the country was in - I decided to vote- and to vote, I would have to at the very least read a little bit about the candidates. At first I really disliked Obama - the whole rock star approach for politics was a huge turn off. I looked at McCain and I didn't see anything completely wrong with him either - so I think you could say I was on the fence.
Then, the VP runners get announced. I knew nothing about either of them - but the republicans picked a woman and my original thought was "hell yeah!". Then I started to look at Sarah Palin. Honestly, I really had nothing against her until she opened her mouth to speak and I thought, "dear lord, we get a chance to put a woman in office maybe and THIS is who we pick?". Needless to say, this just served to cement my idea that the republicans have no clue what they were doing. The more she spoke, the worse it got, I mean honestly, I have nothing against cheerleaders and soccer moms, but I really don't think I want one in office. I looked closer at Obama, and although I wasn't all that sold on him, when election day came, I gave him my vote. Yes I voted, for the first time EVER - for Obama - and I have no regrets there (insert mandatory eye-rolling of republican party).
So within the first year in office, the whole health care issue comes out. This is a HUGE issue for me - mainly because I am what the insurance companies call "Uninsurable" and I am a small business owner who is not large enough to qualify for a group plan that can override these things - therefore, I was officially "screwed". Then the whole republican thing starts bitching about the health care reform about how its going to make us socialists because its going to force us to have health insurance. I mean its not like we are currently forced to pay for things we don't like, like home owner's insurance, car insurance, property taxes, mortgage insurance... wait..
So yes - the fact that we pay for all kinds of crap that the government forces us to pay for already doesn't make us a socialist country - but all of a sudden the health care reform is magical that by itself, it will make us a bunch of socialists. To quote Inigo Montoya, "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." And to make things worse, now we have some new thing called the "Tea Party". I honestly think that they had a census within the Republican party and they picked the most ignorant people at the bottom of their barrel and said "here you go - you're bringing us down - we're gonna give you your own party".
So now one year into Obama's stint in the white house, and he is getting blamed for all kinds of crap. Basically we gave GW about 8 years to run the country into the ground and we expect that Obama will wave his magic wand and fix the problem within months of taking office. So when that doesn't happen, we blame him for everything - the bail outs - although that was mainly done during the GW time, we will pin it on Obama. We blame him for jobs going overseas even though its been happening for the better part of a decade (and yes we have had enough time for Hollywood to put out a good number of movies on the topic as well). I even heard blame being thrown his way on the oil spill and global warming. Let me tell you this - if he invented Global Warming, he is much more than just a mere president - if he did that - then I will convert to his religion and sign up for his newsletter.
So yeah - the economy sucks right now. Is that Obama's fault? No - its a combination of world events and in my humble opinion, the GW years. So the Tea Party (which is endorsed by Sarah Palin - THAT should tell you something right there) has taken a page from Obama's book and decided that they can be rock stars too. After all they don't need all that education crap - all they need are bright lights, Sarah Palin and words like "socialist", "american" and "patriot". They are holding rallies and "grass roots" efforts mainly scaring the crap out of people with their ignorance trying to get them to vote democrats out. I am not a huge fan of either party at this point, but I DO have a brain and I CAN do math and I do know that you CANNOT CUT TAXES AND REDUCE THE NATIONAL DEFICIT AT THE SAME TIME!! Why do these people believe they can do this? Once again - bottom of the barrel republicans - led by Sarah Palin (who is going to apparently stand on her porch and just look at the deficit with "pit bull" eyes to make it go away).
So now - out of fear and panic, people vote into office people that shouldn't even be allowed in public without a bib or a security escort. They vote in self-righteous, ignorant people, who want to kill homosexuals, teach kids that Adam and Eve were real and science is wrong, give everyone lots of guns, take women's rights away, and give money to rich people. All of you unemployed people collecting benefits who voted for "tea party" - what do you think "less government" means? It means no unemployment benefits for you - DUH!! They are apparently going magically give you a job by --- wait for it --- giving huge tax breaks to rich people thinking that these people will then turn around and feel sorry for the US and create jobs here. Yes, rich companies will say "wow, I can make this product in China for $0.25 but since the US gave me such a huge tax break, I will start making it in the US where it costs me $20 so I can have less money overall". Yeah if you believe that, I got a bridge in Alaska to sell you - oh wait - Sarah Palin already bought it!
The future of America is not big business - the future of it is in our creativity and ability to stay ahead of the game - back in the 40's and 50's maybe the "game" was manufacturing - but unless you just woke up from a Coma, you are painfully aware that this is no longer our path. Those jobs that went to India, China, Mexico and wherever else - are GONE. They are not coming back and I don't care what people promise you - they cannot make them come back. Companies and rich people are not going to cut their profits in half just to help out our economy. How the hell do you think those people got rich to begin with? The future of this country is in our smarts. Guess what - you can't have smarts without EDUCATION - which is part of what people call "big government". You can't open up new avenues and businesses without sparking that entrepreneurial spirit. We can't compete in the new intellectual race when we are closing schools and teaching them to read the bible. We can't do it when we judge people by who they love instead of what they know, when we teach people to listen to sound-bytes instead of learning to read - when we teach our kids that its ok to hate anyone that is not like us or believes like us (btw - that is Bin Laden's idea - so STOP STEALING FROM HIM!). In this day and age, new markets are created not discovered and that won't happen under the watch of this so called "Tea Party".
So all I can say is that this past election has made me sick to my stomach. Some of the promises of these new people elected made are simply NOT POSSIBLE TO DELIVER! They are playing on people's fears and guess what - it worked. We are trading our fears for our future - its like we are all sitting under the table in an air-raid drill with our hands over our ears and eyes hoping that if we say "there's no place like home" three times it will all go away. I am not ready to move my registration from the independent column to the democrat column, but I do know that the republicans are big part of why we are in this mess - and now we are voting in their half-retarded second cousins to finish the job. Good job America - who needs terrorists when we have the Tea Party?
So with all of that said - I will leave you with my favorite quote of the Presidential Debate in the TV Show the West Wing in Season 7 (which was amazingly written by the way and I highly recommend everyone to watch it). I think it pretty much sums up how I feel right now about republicans and the new "moral majority":
With that said, I would like to dive into my own opinion of politics. I warn all of you - that I am 100% right. And why is that? Because it is my opinion - and its based on facts as I interpret them - so I cannot be wrong. If you disagree with me - then goody for you - look at that you have an opinion too! So if you don't care about politics or if you think your opinion is totally right and everyone who disagrees with you should die a horrible fiery death, then stop reading right now. This is probably my first and last political post - so feel free to skip it.
I registered to vote in my early 20's. Politics then was so unimportant to me, that I basically selected a party by closing my eyes and seeing where in the paper my pen landed. There we go - republican. Like many young people, I felt that voting was "stupid" and "uncool". Mainly in all honesty, I lacked the motivation to do any research in politics. All politicians are corrupt and so it does not matter who we elect to office. This was a comforting belief.
In my early 30's, with the age of responsibility setting in, I felt a twinge or a need to maybe make sure that I wasn't siding with a party that was voting in Hitler or something. Mind you - I was a REGISTERED Republican, but I had never actually voted - well because I was holding on to the belief of stupid it all was. When guilt hit, I did a little bit of research - and by that, I read a 4 line article. What I got from that, is that Republicans were for governments not interfering with people's lives and Democrats were somehow donkeys. Yes - I had definitely made the right choice - I didn't want to be a donkey.
So when the whole Clinton fiasco happened, I was first of all proud myself for never having voted, being totally reaffirmed in my belief that politics was stupid (that followed by "why the hell would that chick have sex with that man - ewww!"). After Clinton's 8 years, I paid little attention to the Presidential election - whoever got in there had to be better than Clinton, right? Right.
So then, somewhere along the line, George W. Bush got elected. My first thought was "I thought a president needed to be capable of at least uttering complete sentences," followed by "he is so ugly I doubt an intern will sleep with him". All was well in my world. Then 9/11 happened, and along with the rest of the country, I was saddened, shocked and horrified at the same time. Like the rest of the country, I looked to the President for comfort, protection or what have you. Not that he would personally come to my house and chase terrorists away, but that he would be capable of doing something to prevent this stuff from happening again. I am not sure when I lost faith in GW - but somewhere along the line, I came to the realization that not only would this guy not be able to protect me, but due to his huge arrogance and stupidity (a deadly combo), he would probably lead the terrorists to my door mistaking it for the bathroom or something. And then people I knew got shipped overseas for war, and then we found no WMD's and he refused to even acknowledge his mistakes, and then and then and then and then and then and then. No more and then.
So then all the crap started, the war was a big issue, the economy tanking another big issue - so he here we go - presidential elections again and GW is up against John Kerry. Some twinge of guilt hit me, and I felt that I couldn't bitch about GW if I had not cast my vote or even done research on candidates. So I did a tiny little bit of research - and in my view, if John Kerry had just a tiny bit more brains than GW, he would be worthy of my vote. And try as I might - and trust me, I did try - I could not tolerate the man even enough to vote for him. I really hated GW, but I didn't feel that Kerry was any kind of an alternative. So GW won, and although I felt a "great 4 more years of pure crap" feeling, I couldn't completely say that I would have felt any better if Kerry had won. So I quit watching politics - I decided my initial evaluation was correct, it was stupid and not worth my time.
Still being nagged by guilt I decide to at least make sure the party I was registered with was in line with my beliefs - some would argue I should have done this first. Well, hush - this is my story, dammit! So I read up on the Republican view of things and was startled. Yes they believe that government should not mettle in people's lives unless its to tell them who can serve in the military, who can marry who and that you can't have an abortion. I found an overwhelming number of them believed in some stupidity called "intelligent design" which basically means "I choose to ignore science so I can shove my bible down you kid's throat". The more I read, the more disgusted I was. This was the party I was registered to all these years? This is the party that believes in "small government"? Where the hell did these people get their definition of small government - I think to them it must mean don't help people in your country - just sit back and pass judgement on them.
So in about 2007 or early 2008, I can't remember - I went in and changed my party affiliation from Republican to Independent. I made the mistake one time of sitting on the corner of a political party I knew nothing about - I wasn't about to make that mistake again. So the election race in 2008 takes off and its Obama and McCain. Considering the total crap the country was in - I decided to vote- and to vote, I would have to at the very least read a little bit about the candidates. At first I really disliked Obama - the whole rock star approach for politics was a huge turn off. I looked at McCain and I didn't see anything completely wrong with him either - so I think you could say I was on the fence.
Then, the VP runners get announced. I knew nothing about either of them - but the republicans picked a woman and my original thought was "hell yeah!". Then I started to look at Sarah Palin. Honestly, I really had nothing against her until she opened her mouth to speak and I thought, "dear lord, we get a chance to put a woman in office maybe and THIS is who we pick?". Needless to say, this just served to cement my idea that the republicans have no clue what they were doing. The more she spoke, the worse it got, I mean honestly, I have nothing against cheerleaders and soccer moms, but I really don't think I want one in office. I looked closer at Obama, and although I wasn't all that sold on him, when election day came, I gave him my vote. Yes I voted, for the first time EVER - for Obama - and I have no regrets there (insert mandatory eye-rolling of republican party).
So within the first year in office, the whole health care issue comes out. This is a HUGE issue for me - mainly because I am what the insurance companies call "Uninsurable" and I am a small business owner who is not large enough to qualify for a group plan that can override these things - therefore, I was officially "screwed". Then the whole republican thing starts bitching about the health care reform about how its going to make us socialists because its going to force us to have health insurance. I mean its not like we are currently forced to pay for things we don't like, like home owner's insurance, car insurance, property taxes, mortgage insurance... wait..
So yes - the fact that we pay for all kinds of crap that the government forces us to pay for already doesn't make us a socialist country - but all of a sudden the health care reform is magical that by itself, it will make us a bunch of socialists. To quote Inigo Montoya, "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." And to make things worse, now we have some new thing called the "Tea Party". I honestly think that they had a census within the Republican party and they picked the most ignorant people at the bottom of their barrel and said "here you go - you're bringing us down - we're gonna give you your own party".
So now one year into Obama's stint in the white house, and he is getting blamed for all kinds of crap. Basically we gave GW about 8 years to run the country into the ground and we expect that Obama will wave his magic wand and fix the problem within months of taking office. So when that doesn't happen, we blame him for everything - the bail outs - although that was mainly done during the GW time, we will pin it on Obama. We blame him for jobs going overseas even though its been happening for the better part of a decade (and yes we have had enough time for Hollywood to put out a good number of movies on the topic as well). I even heard blame being thrown his way on the oil spill and global warming. Let me tell you this - if he invented Global Warming, he is much more than just a mere president - if he did that - then I will convert to his religion and sign up for his newsletter.
So yeah - the economy sucks right now. Is that Obama's fault? No - its a combination of world events and in my humble opinion, the GW years. So the Tea Party (which is endorsed by Sarah Palin - THAT should tell you something right there) has taken a page from Obama's book and decided that they can be rock stars too. After all they don't need all that education crap - all they need are bright lights, Sarah Palin and words like "socialist", "american" and "patriot". They are holding rallies and "grass roots" efforts mainly scaring the crap out of people with their ignorance trying to get them to vote democrats out. I am not a huge fan of either party at this point, but I DO have a brain and I CAN do math and I do know that you CANNOT CUT TAXES AND REDUCE THE NATIONAL DEFICIT AT THE SAME TIME!! Why do these people believe they can do this? Once again - bottom of the barrel republicans - led by Sarah Palin (who is going to apparently stand on her porch and just look at the deficit with "pit bull" eyes to make it go away).
So now - out of fear and panic, people vote into office people that shouldn't even be allowed in public without a bib or a security escort. They vote in self-righteous, ignorant people, who want to kill homosexuals, teach kids that Adam and Eve were real and science is wrong, give everyone lots of guns, take women's rights away, and give money to rich people. All of you unemployed people collecting benefits who voted for "tea party" - what do you think "less government" means? It means no unemployment benefits for you - DUH!! They are apparently going magically give you a job by --- wait for it --- giving huge tax breaks to rich people thinking that these people will then turn around and feel sorry for the US and create jobs here. Yes, rich companies will say "wow, I can make this product in China for $0.25 but since the US gave me such a huge tax break, I will start making it in the US where it costs me $20 so I can have less money overall". Yeah if you believe that, I got a bridge in Alaska to sell you - oh wait - Sarah Palin already bought it!
The future of America is not big business - the future of it is in our creativity and ability to stay ahead of the game - back in the 40's and 50's maybe the "game" was manufacturing - but unless you just woke up from a Coma, you are painfully aware that this is no longer our path. Those jobs that went to India, China, Mexico and wherever else - are GONE. They are not coming back and I don't care what people promise you - they cannot make them come back. Companies and rich people are not going to cut their profits in half just to help out our economy. How the hell do you think those people got rich to begin with? The future of this country is in our smarts. Guess what - you can't have smarts without EDUCATION - which is part of what people call "big government". You can't open up new avenues and businesses without sparking that entrepreneurial spirit. We can't compete in the new intellectual race when we are closing schools and teaching them to read the bible. We can't do it when we judge people by who they love instead of what they know, when we teach people to listen to sound-bytes instead of learning to read - when we teach our kids that its ok to hate anyone that is not like us or believes like us (btw - that is Bin Laden's idea - so STOP STEALING FROM HIM!). In this day and age, new markets are created not discovered and that won't happen under the watch of this so called "Tea Party".
So all I can say is that this past election has made me sick to my stomach. Some of the promises of these new people elected made are simply NOT POSSIBLE TO DELIVER! They are playing on people's fears and guess what - it worked. We are trading our fears for our future - its like we are all sitting under the table in an air-raid drill with our hands over our ears and eyes hoping that if we say "there's no place like home" three times it will all go away. I am not ready to move my registration from the independent column to the democrat column, but I do know that the republicans are big part of why we are in this mess - and now we are voting in their half-retarded second cousins to finish the job. Good job America - who needs terrorists when we have the Tea Party?
So with all of that said - I will leave you with my favorite quote of the Presidential Debate in the TV Show the West Wing in Season 7 (which was amazingly written by the way and I highly recommend everyone to watch it). I think it pretty much sums up how I feel right now about republicans and the new "moral majority":
Santos: It's true, Republicans have tried to turn 'liberal' into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
Vinick: A Republican president ended slavery.
Santos: Yes, a liberal Republican. What happened to them? They got run out of your party. What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican party, Senator? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created social security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed every one of those programs. Every one. So when you try to hurl the word 'liberal' at my feet, as if it were dirty, something to run away from, something that I should be ashamed of, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and wear it as a badge of honor.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Foamy Goodness!
Crappy day all around. Unfortunately for the people around me, when I have a crappy day, they have a crappy day, so I guess in advance I am both sorry and thankful to all of you around me who absorbed my anger this week. Your efforts are appreciated!
Finished WK1 homework and went through my degree plan - one good thing is that I am lucky and do my work, I will graduate in Summer of 2013 with both my BS and MS degrees completed =)
The battle with my Fish tank continues. Unfortunately the Ammonia is STILL completely out of control and the PH keeps dropping - which I guess is better than the PH raising... Anyway, I had the bright idea of buying a Proper PH 7.0 to at least try to control the PH problem. I am not sure exactly how this product is supposed to work but I know what it actually did. I changed the water on Friday and added this product in. When I woke up Saturday, the tank was white - it looks like a white cloud washed over it and it was so thick you could barely see through it. The product said that this may happen and this was still ok and safe for the fish, so did a PH test- 6.2. It had dropped 0.4 since the water change. I continued to monitor.
Well last night, the water was still totally white with zero visibility plus I had a nice foam effect going on. Foam was forming at the top of the tank and it got so bad that it was toppling down the sides making a huge mess in the living room. I tested the PH to see if the product had at least fixed that problem - 6.0 - so a big fat NO!! I had to do an emergency water change and try to get as much of the foam out as I could. After 2 hours of cleaning and a 50% water change, I can see more the tank now, the water visibility is about 30% improved and PH went up to 6.5.
As much as I love the API line of Aquarium products, I have to say that the Proper PH 7.0 is big fat looser and needs to die in a fire. So whatever you do - don't buy it =)
Finished WK1 homework and went through my degree plan - one good thing is that I am lucky and do my work, I will graduate in Summer of 2013 with both my BS and MS degrees completed =)
The battle with my Fish tank continues. Unfortunately the Ammonia is STILL completely out of control and the PH keeps dropping - which I guess is better than the PH raising... Anyway, I had the bright idea of buying a Proper PH 7.0 to at least try to control the PH problem. I am not sure exactly how this product is supposed to work but I know what it actually did. I changed the water on Friday and added this product in. When I woke up Saturday, the tank was white - it looks like a white cloud washed over it and it was so thick you could barely see through it. The product said that this may happen and this was still ok and safe for the fish, so did a PH test- 6.2. It had dropped 0.4 since the water change. I continued to monitor.
Well last night, the water was still totally white with zero visibility plus I had a nice foam effect going on. Foam was forming at the top of the tank and it got so bad that it was toppling down the sides making a huge mess in the living room. I tested the PH to see if the product had at least fixed that problem - 6.0 - so a big fat NO!! I had to do an emergency water change and try to get as much of the foam out as I could. After 2 hours of cleaning and a 50% water change, I can see more the tank now, the water visibility is about 30% improved and PH went up to 6.5.
As much as I love the API line of Aquarium products, I have to say that the Proper PH 7.0 is big fat looser and needs to die in a fire. So whatever you do - don't buy it =)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Taking the house back - the war is not over ...
So last night, I had a revelation. For the last 5+ years or so, my dogs and my PC have shared the same room. This has led to all kinds of PC issues ranging from chewed cords, to pee'd on cases to getting splashed with "oh god I really don't want to know what that is". So after due consideration last night and Martha's advice from a 2006 summer or fall issue, I decided to finally raise the white flag and move my PC out of the dog room. One poor PC against 28 paws simply does not stand a chance. Sooo... the next question is where to put it? My house (for those of you that have not been here) is literally packed, floor to ceiling with store stuff. People have actually told me that at times it looks like a warehouse exploded and my house is ground zero.
So roll the cameras back to a flashback moment, this past April, I decided that it was time to stop living out of one room of my 4-bedroom house. I decided that maybe it would be nice if I could fit one person through the front door without having to give them a good push and hope they landed on something soft on the other side. Yes, this past April, I declared WAR on my inventory, and decided to take my house back.
The firs task tackled was the foyer - since opening the door was a plus, I thought it prudent to start there. After 3 weeks of working on it, the foyer was reclaimed as living space and it is no longer covered floor to ceiling in boxes. As a bonus, I have re-discovered the coat closet - a small set back was to also discover all the crap in it, but I tackled it with enthusiasm and Voila - the foyer is mine again.
Score: Me-3 (3 rooms in the house as mine - Master Bedroom and bath, altar room Foyer - and yes, the Foyer is a room for this count), Dogs 1 (I call it my PC room but who am I kidding?) and Inventory 6 (living room, dining room, kitchen, bonus room, upstairs bath, hallway/downstairs bath).
The hallway and downstairs bath went next - they were easy - barely a challenge. Once I was done, like a 5-year-old child, I kept opening the front door and running giggling through the hall until I was assaulted by the kitchen, turning around and doing it all again - but hey, at least I was able to walk or even run into the house. This was progress!
Score: Me-4, Dogs 1, Inventory 5
Although I had always hated taking pictures of my house (since it was in such a mess) I do wish I had taken a before picture of my living room. Ignoring the fact that there was only one path through the living room, that I had a 100 gallon fish tank which was half filled with moldy green water (I kind of got depressed when my fish died and just turned it off and left it...) and the walls had many many scuffs that you would expect to find in a warehouse wall, the fact is you could not really see any furniture in the living room. It took me over 2 months to find a new place for every box and product that was in the living room. This was by far one of the worst battles fought in my house to date. But - the task was complete finally, and thank to 2 very good friends, I was also able to clean and reclaim my fish tank (which actually has fish in it now - which is a whole another blog entry for later on in the week), find my lost furniture and re-paint the walls.
Score: Me-5, Dogs-1, Inventory-4 - The tide has turned! I am winning the war now!
At this point, I had come to the sad realization that although I was victorious in the living room, the dining room was not going to be able to be reclaimed. With four shelf units packed from floor to ceiling with product, I just gave up, and moved into the kitchen - I had accepted that the dining room would be a casualty of this war.
The kitchen, which once housed large cases of oils and containers on one side, bottles, beeswax, labels, wooden stirrers and more, was much easier to claim than originally though possible. All it took really was to move the Island back to where it should me, and move the larger boxes out to the apothecary and carve out a corner for the oils. I was even able to bring my kitchen gadgets out of hiding so that I could start cooking again. However, this led to a new problem - the problem that the kitchen has a pass through to the dining room, and now, with the kitchen looking so open and nice, and the dining room looking like the back of a bookstore, something had to be done.
Score - Me-6 (MUAHAHA!), Dogs-1, Inventory-3
So now - out of flashback mode and back to why I originally started this post, last night basking in glow of my accomplishment, sitting on the living room couch, feeling the fire of my reclaimed fireplace, I decided that the dining room will also have to be reclaimed. The problem becomes, where to put all of the product - and let me tell you - there is A LOT of product there. This is when Martha spoke to me - she whispered to me in her evil ways... "reclaim the dining room, move the PC down here and section off a part of it for an office, let the dogs have their room!"
Now considering that my poor Apothecary has basically been assaulted with a lot of product from downstairs, I think I can safely say that it is slowly becoming the new disaster area. However, for one shining moment, Martha gave me a glimpse of all that can be achieved if the entire Apothecary is taken apart, re-organized and many of the boxes removed or consolidated. And I thought the living room was hard - the Apothecary (aka my bonus room) is HUGE - easily twice the size of the living room. As I turned away from it, having definitively decided that it is too big of a task to tackle, I saw 5 pairs of sad eyes looking back at me from the dog/PC room. Those eyes said "mommy please, we really want to have this room for us to play in, for us to stretch out without having to worry about hurting that box we pee on that makes you so mad..."
And as guilt washed over me, I made a list of the initial battle plan for taking back the dining room, re-organizing the Apothecary and moving my office downstairs to a sectioned off part of the dining room. As I looked up from the huge, time consuming and very complex plan of attack, I saw Martha once again - cackling this time - her beady little eyes glinting in delight at the pages and pages of to-dos and tasks to needed to finish this... and people say I'm the witch!?
Score - Me-6, Dogs-1, Inventory-4 (yes, the Apothecary is now considered 2 rooms due to its sheer size and mass - take that Martha!)
So roll the cameras back to a flashback moment, this past April, I decided that it was time to stop living out of one room of my 4-bedroom house. I decided that maybe it would be nice if I could fit one person through the front door without having to give them a good push and hope they landed on something soft on the other side. Yes, this past April, I declared WAR on my inventory, and decided to take my house back.
The firs task tackled was the foyer - since opening the door was a plus, I thought it prudent to start there. After 3 weeks of working on it, the foyer was reclaimed as living space and it is no longer covered floor to ceiling in boxes. As a bonus, I have re-discovered the coat closet - a small set back was to also discover all the crap in it, but I tackled it with enthusiasm and Voila - the foyer is mine again.
Score: Me-3 (3 rooms in the house as mine - Master Bedroom and bath, altar room Foyer - and yes, the Foyer is a room for this count), Dogs 1 (I call it my PC room but who am I kidding?) and Inventory 6 (living room, dining room, kitchen, bonus room, upstairs bath, hallway/downstairs bath).
The hallway and downstairs bath went next - they were easy - barely a challenge. Once I was done, like a 5-year-old child, I kept opening the front door and running giggling through the hall until I was assaulted by the kitchen, turning around and doing it all again - but hey, at least I was able to walk or even run into the house. This was progress!
Score: Me-4, Dogs 1, Inventory 5
Although I had always hated taking pictures of my house (since it was in such a mess) I do wish I had taken a before picture of my living room. Ignoring the fact that there was only one path through the living room, that I had a 100 gallon fish tank which was half filled with moldy green water (I kind of got depressed when my fish died and just turned it off and left it...) and the walls had many many scuffs that you would expect to find in a warehouse wall, the fact is you could not really see any furniture in the living room. It took me over 2 months to find a new place for every box and product that was in the living room. This was by far one of the worst battles fought in my house to date. But - the task was complete finally, and thank to 2 very good friends, I was also able to clean and reclaim my fish tank (which actually has fish in it now - which is a whole another blog entry for later on in the week), find my lost furniture and re-paint the walls.
Score: Me-5, Dogs-1, Inventory-4 - The tide has turned! I am winning the war now!
At this point, I had come to the sad realization that although I was victorious in the living room, the dining room was not going to be able to be reclaimed. With four shelf units packed from floor to ceiling with product, I just gave up, and moved into the kitchen - I had accepted that the dining room would be a casualty of this war.
The kitchen, which once housed large cases of oils and containers on one side, bottles, beeswax, labels, wooden stirrers and more, was much easier to claim than originally though possible. All it took really was to move the Island back to where it should me, and move the larger boxes out to the apothecary and carve out a corner for the oils. I was even able to bring my kitchen gadgets out of hiding so that I could start cooking again. However, this led to a new problem - the problem that the kitchen has a pass through to the dining room, and now, with the kitchen looking so open and nice, and the dining room looking like the back of a bookstore, something had to be done.
Score - Me-6 (MUAHAHA!), Dogs-1, Inventory-3
So now - out of flashback mode and back to why I originally started this post, last night basking in glow of my accomplishment, sitting on the living room couch, feeling the fire of my reclaimed fireplace, I decided that the dining room will also have to be reclaimed. The problem becomes, where to put all of the product - and let me tell you - there is A LOT of product there. This is when Martha spoke to me - she whispered to me in her evil ways... "reclaim the dining room, move the PC down here and section off a part of it for an office, let the dogs have their room!"
Now considering that my poor Apothecary has basically been assaulted with a lot of product from downstairs, I think I can safely say that it is slowly becoming the new disaster area. However, for one shining moment, Martha gave me a glimpse of all that can be achieved if the entire Apothecary is taken apart, re-organized and many of the boxes removed or consolidated. And I thought the living room was hard - the Apothecary (aka my bonus room) is HUGE - easily twice the size of the living room. As I turned away from it, having definitively decided that it is too big of a task to tackle, I saw 5 pairs of sad eyes looking back at me from the dog/PC room. Those eyes said "mommy please, we really want to have this room for us to play in, for us to stretch out without having to worry about hurting that box we pee on that makes you so mad..."
And as guilt washed over me, I made a list of the initial battle plan for taking back the dining room, re-organizing the Apothecary and moving my office downstairs to a sectioned off part of the dining room. As I looked up from the huge, time consuming and very complex plan of attack, I saw Martha once again - cackling this time - her beady little eyes glinting in delight at the pages and pages of to-dos and tasks to needed to finish this... and people say I'm the witch!?
Score - Me-6, Dogs-1, Inventory-4 (yes, the Apothecary is now considered 2 rooms due to its sheer size and mass - take that Martha!)
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