Thanksgiving - the Aftermath

Bugg and I had a great (though quick) trip to OHIO over the holiday. We got to visit all too briefly with Mom/Dad/Jared/Aunt Barb/Uncle Don/Grandma, we stocked up on Steve's favorite German spicy mustard courtesy of the German Village that comes to Akron every Thanksgiving/Christmas season http://www.lock3live.com/winterMarket.aspx

We had wonderful food - too much of it naturally and a warm cozy holiday - wishing everyone was closer so we could see each other more often. Jacob and Megan were cute and cuddly as always.

We got home yesterday afternoon and picked up the pooch, I put the Thanksgiving decorations away and pulled out the Christmas magic! We are going to look for trees today.

How was your holiday?

Happy by the Fire

I love his little feet and toes

Mutha

I need an attitude adjustment. I'm annoyed - all the time in a state of mild annoyance...it's been going on for the past several days...weeks.

Even bagel day didn't take the edge off for long.

Perhaps the new GnR CD turned up to 20 will help me work out some of my frustrations.

Perhaps the trip to OHIO and being around family and the Germans will mellow me out.

Perhaps a big hateful heffer choking on a ham samich will help?

Say what?

http://tv.yahoo.com/slideshow/382/photos/1

Please check out the first slide of the America's Next Top Model slide show in the link above.

Back? Pretty girl - very striking but...

It says "thanks to her athletic figure..." Really? She doesn't really strike me as an athletic build - more tall and thin. Pretty much like every other model. Oh but wait - maybe it's b/c she doesn't have boobs - but again pretty much like every other model. And if they do have boobs then they are 'full figured' or 'curvy'.

If you go through the rest of the slide show - and why not - it's a bit like a train wreck - you might have noticed the word "Fierce" several times. I'm going to go on record and say I am tired of the word fierce and unless you are a gay man who is a bit on the queeny side, stop using it b/c you sound stupid.

I know ANTM has lots of fans - I have friends that never miss an episode - but I just never understood how modeling/models could be taken so seriously. Look at some of those pictures/poses: Posing as a heat wave, Voting is Sexy...they are trying hard to make it relevant but it just comes across so cheesy to me. And Tyra Banks drives me nuts.

I'm not hatin' on models - and it's not the short fat girl playing bitter - it's just seriously annoying.

Fierce annoying even.

Quote

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

MLK

Tis the season to be broke

There's a song - from the early 70's (1972 to be exact) by Gilbert O' Sullivan called Alone Again...Naturally and I've been singing it this morning with my own twist. Broke Again...Naturally.




It seems everyone is broke - not just me. I don't know if they have a bit of a shopping habit like I do but despite the shopping habit it seems times are especially tight (tighter than in the past) for me and people in 'my circle'. Or maybe it's just that more and more people are talking about it...Talking about living paycheck to paycheck, using the evil credit cards, juggling payments, trying to figure out how the hell to pay for Xmas...(B has gotten that figured out thanks to his diligent contributions to his Xmas club).



It's flippin' frustrating - I want a bail out!



I'm not the best person when it comes to managing my money - as I usually manage it by buying or charging whatever I want without much thought about the consequences but I have been getting better - at least I like to think so. I try and buy my groceries at Wal-Mart even though I think they have crappy produce that I refuse to buy and I feel like it's sucking my soul out every time I enter, I try and use coupons (thanks mom), we don't eat out much at all - we've stopped ordering pizza twice a week and I have really really tried to stop charging things. Oh and I also cut out buying lunch from the cafe downstairs - saves at least 20 bucks a week right there. Now I stock up on a big tub of oats and have oatmeal for lunch - I can eat lunch for a month for like 10 bucks when you factor in the fruit and honey I add to make it extra yum.




Even with these money saving tactics it feels like we are always penny pinching and having to be careful. I want to be frivolous and carefree and spend what I want without having buyer's remorse or worrying about spending the grocery money on new lip gloss.



There are times when I get very indignant about the whole broke thing and think 'Screw it, I don't care if I don't have the money, I'm buying what I want'. Then I go and do something foolish like charge my instant gratification fix. It's a very mature and responsible way to deal I think. And yes I'm sure my actions represent something negative about my generation and contribute to the state of the U.S economy but on the flip side I have some fabulous new lip gloss!

Riddle

Q. If you toot in your sleep will the dog sleeping in bed with you hear it?

A. Yes. The dog will hear it, perk up her ears, look around quizzically in the direction of your butt, and sniff the air.

Quote of the weekend

"It's not like monkeys shat humans out of their ass"


Yes Virginia there is such thing as evolution... maybe God had a hand in that too...

Nash Trash

http://www.nashtrash.com/

Went on the Nash Trash tour this afternoon with my cousin Debbie and her friends. It was a great time and I'd do it again. Check it out if you're in Nashville and looking for something fun to do - you can bring you own 'adult' beverages if you'd like and take an hour n half tour of downtown Nashville. I had some time to walk around Bicentennial Mall and saw some new and interesting things and got some fabulous apples at the Farmer's Market.

Purely for my enjoyment - a walk back in time with Axl

Watching Vh1's top songs of the 80's and when you take out some of the overplayed Wang Chung I gotta say I love the 80's. Especially when they played "Don't Stop Believin", "Shook me all Night Long", "Walk this Way" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" in a row.

And watching the SCOM video again brings back all those teenage memories and feelings and how awesome that song still is and how I have to admit I'm an obsessed GnR fan to my core. I almost feel like pulling out my GnR DVD and watching all their videos....

I remember laying in the back seat of Greg Nokes' friends old Camero - windows open, flying down the highway - listening to "It's so Easy" with the radio so loud you could sing at the top of your lungs and no one else in the car could hear you.

Then there was the midnight road trip to TX with Snooky in her Mustang - complete with ripped convertible top - blaring Appetite for Destruction - particularly Welcome to the Jungle - again singing as loud as possible - not caring what you sounded like.

I remember the first time I saw the video for Patience - at the Mascoutah Bowling Alley - Sharon Ferrante was standing by me and I was entranced by the images and the music. (sounds dorky I know but too bad).

Jenn O and me driving through Murray in her green Eclipse scatting (b/c we thought it was funny) to the acoustic version of You're Crazy.

Buying the Illusion tapes in London and listening to them over and over on my walk man.

Watching them in concert in St. Louis with Tiffany, Barry, Eddie - and the stunned amazement when the riot broke out - right in the middle of Rocket Queen.

Being 33 and running up to be front and center stage at the Green Dragon in Boston when the cover band broke out in various Gunner songs.

Waiting forever and hoping not to be disappointed a few years ago in Worcester for Axl to come on stage - remembering back to my first concert when GnR opened for Aerosmith at the Checkerdome in STL - me and Eric Dobrick - screaming our heads off when Axl comes out and howled "Do you know where the **** you are?!?!??!"

And bringing it full circle almost - Calling Snooky tonight in a near panic state after hearing that GnR might be at the Savvis Center in Nov and not being close to a computer to check immediately...sadly no concert - at least not yet.

I can't wait for Nov 23rd to see if the new album will really really really be released.

Great Day

It's been a great day for politics here at work and as one non-US citizen said "Today is the first I've actually wanted to be a US citizen".

This was said in a very respectful way and I understood what they meant. There were many examples today that made me proud.

1. Hugging a friend/co-worker over the results and getting goose bumps when she relayed how important this election was to her and her young son. She said it was worth more than anything that she could teach him - she was brought up to believe she could do anything and be anything and she's passed that on to her son - but this election SHOWS him that.
2. Talking with McCain supporters about our differences and similarities and the reasons behind the way we voted. The best part of that was being able to do it in a respectful and open minded manner.
3. I was also impressed with one friend/co-worker who voted McCain but said as soon as it was announced that Obama won she made up her mind to respect and support him as the leader of our country. If only we could all be as gracious and an such a positive example of how democracy works. I have to be honest - if it had gone the other way I don't know if I could make the switch so quickly.
4. I've learned I have a lot to learn and it's hard to sift through all the political propaganda and sort out what's true and relevant and it's refreshing to listen to people who know more than I do or know different things than I do and if not agree at least respect their opinions b/c their informed and knowledgeable.

Looking Down

A co-worker's father wrote this:

LOOKING DOWN

To borrow from two historical giants—FDR and MLK—Yesterday, November 4, 2008—a day that will live in HISTORY (ne: infamy), was the day that content of character triumphed over color of skin.

Barack Hussein Obama will be the next President of the United States—nit because all the black folks voted for him, but because (as the Rock would say), millions… and MILLIONS of white, Hispanic, Asian, gay and straight folks voted for him as well.
He won—not because he was Black, but because he was Best.

Somewhere in the place where all souls go, there are folks looking down with joy in their hearts and pride for the human race. Some of them you know, but many you either don’t know or have forgotten.

First, the obvious:

• Martin Luther King
• Malcolm X
• Robert Kennedy
• Jackie Roosevelt Robinson
• Lyndon B Johnson
  

And there are others—people most white folks have never learned about, because traditional history has been nothing more than the white folks’ fairy tale—people like:

Frederick Douglass (Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey)—arguably the most powerful civil rights leader of all history. An escaped slave who taught himself to read and became the first African-American leader of the civil rights movement in the mid-19th Century. He ran for Vice-President in 1872 on the Equal Rights Party ticket (Victoria Woodhull was the presidential candidate), and in 1888 he became the first African American to receive a roll call vote for the Presidency at the Republican National Convention (yes, they used to be the good guys).

Crispus Attucks—the First Martyr of the American Revolution. Attucks was one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois—the first African-American to obtain a PhD from Harvard and one of the founders of the NAACP. As an intellectual, Du Bois’ adversary was the much better-accepted Booker T Washington. Du Bois thought Black Folk should be able to succeed at the highest level, not just get a job. He wrote the seminal book on race in the 20th Century—The Souls of Black Folk. On the issue of race, he wrote: “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line”….

Emmett Till - Till was a 14-year old from Chicago who made two mistakes in the summer of 1955. He visited his relatives in Sumner, Mississippi, and he smiled a white woman. For the second offense he was dragged off and brutally murdered—his head literally caved in. His murderers not only got off, but sold their story to Look magazine. Till’s mother was so outraged that she made them leave the casket open at his funeral so the world could see what had been done.

Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney—the civil rights workers who were abducted and killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi on August 4, 1964

Sojourner Truth - possibly the most remarkable woman (aside from Helen Keller) to have ever lived in these United States. Illiterate and raised speaking Dutch, Ms. Truth fought to free herself from slavery, fought to get her son out of slavery in the South, fought to own land and fought for women’s rights. Once, when confronting both racial and gender issues (many thought because she stood nearly six feet tall and could work like a man, she must BE a man), she stood up, ripped open her dress, baring her breasts and asked, “Ain’t I a woman?”

Harriet Tubman—the tireless conductor of the Underground Railroad who risked her life time after time to help usher slaves to Canada.

The list goes on and on—simply too many to mention—The Brownsville Boys, the millions of people held in slavery and only counted as 3/5 of a human being by the U.S. Constitution, the people who were lynched and who were memorialized in Billie Holliday’s song, “Strange Fruit”, and so many nameless, faceless souls who endured suffering most of us cannot even imagine.

They must be smiling.

But last night was not about simply surmounting four hundred years of shame. If that were the case it would be a token decision.

Last night was about people who confronted their personal beliefs and their personal desires and goals for their friends, their families and their country. Last night the ideals triumphed over the business as usual politics of the gutter.

Last night people chose hope over hate and heart over hurt. Last night White Americans, African-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Christian-Americans, Muslim-Americans and Whatever-else-Americans realized that they all share one thing: Americans.

Last night could prove to be a moment of true transition—a moment where people decided that there is only one race—the Human Race, that love triumphs over hate, and that no matter how good it feels today, the real work has just begun.

As for myself, I am in a state of euphoria the likes of which I have never experienced in my life. I am thinking about all the people I have met and known well in my life for whom this moment would have tremendous meaning—people like Miriam Wilkes, my third and fourth grade teacher, who taught me about equality and whose house had been a stop on the Underground Railroad.

People like my friend, teacher and mentor, Whittingtom B Johnson from the University of Miami, who opened my eyes to a world I had never imagined.

And finally to people like Corrine Thompkins, Marie Sallins, Maria Cueto, Robert Collier, Sarah Rodriguez, Alice Jones, Dorothy Grant, Lena, Johnny Williams, Larcie Hall, Vernelle Davis, Mrs. Kyle, Ben Johnson, Manny and so many other hard-working, honest, salt of the earth folks who went to work day after day to provide hope and opportunity for their children and grandchildren.

Today their souls must be joyous. Today they know that the door will open for their descendants as long as they have the qualifications to do the job and the desire to try.

Today is a great day to be a human being alive in God’s world—and the best day of my life to be an American.

F.C.

Election Day - After

Talking to several people this morning sparked a few thoughts...

Democracy in action is awe inspiring really...the peaceful transfer of power, the possibility of change and the hope it can inspire whatever your political beliefs may be.

One of the news stations interviewed the crowd in NY and a girl (18) said it was her first time voting and it was cool and she was happy her candidate won - her friend (also 18 and a first time voter) said that even though her candidate didn't win she was still happy to be part of the democratic process - and they celebrated together. They also celebrated right along side a black woman who was so overcome with emotion she couldn't put into words what this meant to her/us/U.S.

V.D said "I am a bit excited that our country actually elected a black man with a funny name" Indeed - me too! And both of us can say that b/c we both have funny names ;)

H.S. (paraphrasing) "It says a lot when during McCain's concession speech the crowd started to 'boo' when he mentioned Obama's name (McCain did hush them) and during Obama's speech when McCain's name was mentioned the crowd cheered".

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who are disappointed that McCain lost and possibly even afraid of what may happen but as my 98 year old grandma said to me last night when I told her I had my fingers crossed; "No reason for that, we just take what we're given and make the best of it and trust it will all work out".

I told her yes I agreed but I would still be keeping my fingers crossed. I kept my fingers crossed until I heard that Obama won I said a tiny prayer out into the universe to help him lead and to help us follow/support him by putting away the hate, fear and move forward.

Who you callin' Ma'am?

Nothing like a 20 something (if even 20) college student calling you ma'am to make you feel like a damn ma'am.

I'm not a ma'am damn it! Not now not ever! Look at these pictures - do ma'am's have this much fun....while looking this cute? I think not! Do ma'am's have a hottie hubby and a cool mo fo BFF?

Nooooo ma'am they don't.

First time up on a bar - ma'am my ass.

Evidently I'm enjoying myself - but I don't know what that face is all about...don't worry mom - I'm totally sober.

Cheers to a great weekend in Lexi with Snooky!

Halloween in Lexington

Crystal Carrington & Alexis Colby Carrington

Snooky's Lab friends

Madonna - aka Michelle