Category Archives: Misc

I’m talking about it


We interrupt the December theme of ornaments and recipes for this dark shot of reality.

It’s political, but it shouldn’t be, so I have to get my thoughts out here.

Friday’s tragedy in Newtown Connecticut was devastating. The nation has reacted in sadness and with empathy for the families who have suffered and unimaginable amount of pain. So it has been on everyone’s mind in some form.

Yesterday while driving past an elementary school on the way to our Sunday morning trail run, just the sight of the school gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. I have no connection to that school, know no one there, but just seeing a place that is supposed to be filled with innocence and learning and knowing how one was shattered just a few days before shook me deeply.

This morning I received a message from the high school principal where 16 attends school. He was re-assuring the parents about all the precautionary steps they take to keep our kids safe.

It was a stark reminder that our children have never known a time when they didn’t have to go through lock down drills to guard against school shootings.

I never endured those. I had fire drills and earthquake drills, but I was blessed to go to school AFTER the nuclear drill scares and BEFORE the school shootings started.

For whatever reason the drills I did go through didn’t particularly frighten me. Mostly because there was a sense that the cause was “natural” (I put that in quotes since obviously fires can be started by humans but I think you get the gist of it, right?). What we were training for were things not under human control. It wasn’t that HUMANS were trying to harm us, it was the weather or nature or basically non-human related events.

In this child’s mind anyway. Those drills didn’t teach me to fear random humans. But those lock down drills sure do.

It’s domestic terrorism. Plain and simple. But there is no cause they are fighting for. No specific group we can target to guard against. Nope, it’s just random acts of terror simply because a violently inclined disturbed mind has easy access to weapons that can kill more and more people more accurately and faster than ever. It can be a mall, a church, a school, a workplace, a community gathering, a movie theater, a beauty salon, etc etc etc. Any place where people gather as they go about their regular day.

It’s infuriating and as the President said last night at the memorial service in Newtown – it has GOT to stop.

So, let’s talk about what everyone says we shouldn’t talk about yet, but that which if we do not talk about NOW, will never get talked about because there will be yet another shooting resetting the “you can’t talk about this yet!” clock.

(did ya get that? yeah, I didn’t either but that’s kind of the point)

Here’s my personal take on guns: They should not be easier to obtain than a driver’s license and a car.

I am not the first one to say this and I know there have already been people writing about how the desire to own a military style weapon is just like the desire to own a Ferrari. It’s just a high end gun/car! Why should that be banned?

Well, because cars are not guns, that’s why (apples..oranges…ya know)

Cars are not built TO KILL. Yes, when not operated properly, they DO kill…but…that is not their primary purpose. The car I drive has been on the road for over 10 years and 140,000 miles and hasn’t harmed a soul. Ok, perhaps a bug or two and that one lizard (ick) but you get the drift. Yes, I know many gun owners will say that the guns in their locked cabinets have not harmed anyone either. I know that. But WHY were they even built? What is their main purpose? To cause harm.

So why is it easier to get a gun than a car?

I have just helped my 16 year old through the process of obtaining his driver’s license. First an online training course that took many hours and a test before he could get behind the wheel. Then 6 hours of professional training and several dozens of hours practicing in between. Then another test. Now he has his license, but he is still not driving. Why? No car yet. He needs insurance which is expensive as any parent knows. And there is the matter of buying a car and having the money to put gas in it, etc etc.

Now, I fully support the right to bear arms. But a RIGHT does not translate to NO REGULATION. There are still some conditions that I believe should be met in order for my neighbors and I to possess weapons designed solely to cause harm. Conditions and training and yes, LIMITS to the types of weapons and ammunition you can own.

After all, there are vehicles that are not street legal. There are vehicles that are only driven by law enforcement or the military.

Look, I know many responsible gun owner’s. They love their guns. One person is a collector. It’s her primary issue that she be able to keep what she owns. But guess what? They don’t have military grade weapons and ammunition clips or enough ammunition to BE their own army. Guns are locked over THERE and bullets over HERE. Responsible. Exercising their right to bear arms as it should be.

I fully support being able to keep things that way.

But I do NOT support keeping things as they are now with little to no consistent regulation on who can purchase a gun, where and what kind. The same applies to ammunition.

We cannot watch yet another senseless tragedy go by without an honest conversation about what we can do to prevent these. And then we must translate the conversations to action.

I think, I HOPE, that the world just sent a message to the President and Congress about what this next term of theirs should be focusing on. And I hope they stay focused, and stop letting lobbyists rule their votes. They represent the people, the children, of this country. And it is time they show it.

Oct 11 – I do believe it is finally Fall!


(Pictures taken on the way into work on Wednesday morning)

I know, according to the calendar it has *been* Fall.

But, if you are a regular reader you know that there has been a lot of whining around here about the long, long, hot, humid summer temps we’ve had from June-now. Very unusual.

However, I went out for a run after work on Tuesday and dare I say it? I was actually a little bit cold at first! Damn that’s refreshing!

Then there’s the colors. No, not the leaves on the trees (though yes, we do have a few that change here)…no…it’s the ocean. When Fall finally arrives, it is a different color. So is the sky. There is just an extra SNAP or SPARKLE or crispness in the air.

And it’s beautiful.

Yes, there are ominous clouds, but those were gone by mid-day and it was rather warm again, but not oppressively hot. The sun was hot, but the air was still crisp.

 

A storm is supposed to arrive on Thursday night. Yes, actual rain! Oh, that will be fantastic!

 

Of course, it will soon be time to Fall Back with our clocks and then I will lose even the little bit of after work daylight I have to run right now. I’m sure I will whine about that.

Of course, it will soon be so cold that I will, by default, whine about THAT too :-)

But for now, I will savor these last few days of waning summer length daylight and pleasantly cool fall temps.

And a commute that makes it REALLY hard to keep on driving UP that hill and into my basement level office.

Catnip party!


It’s been awhile since I did some classic cat blogging, therefore I shall pander to the feline loving masses with photos from last night’s catnip party. After a couple nights in a row of the very loud late night/early morning cat fights and gallops up and down the stairs and hissing and growling at the foot of my bed, I decided it was time to break out catnip and mellow out at least one of them. Amber has always been a ‘nip head and I knew she would roll around on the new scratcher and love it forever if I sprinkled some on there. Chip normally turns his nose up at it, but has recently been more tempted and I *really* need him to love the scratchers so he can keep his deformed claws under control (one became ingrown again last week – ugh!) So, I sprinkled some liberally around on both, grabbed the camera and stood back to watch the show.

PSA – I do not condone this kind of behavior in humans – most of the time anyway :-)

Nose buried in the 'nip.

Staring off into the distance as the high takes over

Such a disgraceful mess!

What? I'm fine. I can get up anytime I want!

Or, maybe not.

oooog...this stuff was stronger than I thought!

I swear...ung...I can get up...grunt

Maybe I just don't care to get up

Side by side 'nip snorting

Wait...is his 'nip better than mine?

Rawr! That's MY 'nip! Go'way!

Did she leave? I can haz 'nip all to myself nao?

snorf snorf snorf

Thank you mommy, this is some very good 'nip!

Didn't I tell you to get your own?

Not that I care right now. I'm pretty wasted.

See? We can be nice and take turns!

And that is pretty much how it went for about 30 minutes. Needless to say, they slept SOUNDLY through the night – and so did I!

Torrey Pines Jan 2012

Reblogged from Torrey Pines Reflections:

The slideshow below is from a rather late afternoon hike at the trails of Torrey Pines with friends of min who were visiting from Wisconsin. I've talked and blogged about this place so much that now out of town visitors request outings here :-) Of course I am happy to share especially since it got me out there for the first time in months AND with my new camera.

Read more… 28 more words

I haven't forgotten my hiking and birding site. I just haven't been in ages! Thankfully some friends came to visit forcing me to get out on the trails with my new camera - enjoy!

Forever and ever. (via Be gay about it.)


Because sometimes when I read a post by Erika, I just want to share it with the world. There have been many – but you’ve got to read this one for sure.

Forever and ever. The lobby lights ablaze behind me turned the night outside to graphite, cold, invisible, even as I pressed my forehead to the glass to see which car Jenn had hurried to in the parking lot. My heart thundered, one thousand butterflies beating wings for that first, ultimate moment of all of this to hurry up and be over. We had waited two hours in that lobby, twelve months through the torrent of paperwork and questions that precede a foster-to-adopt … Read More

via Be gay about it.

Domestic Terrorism


Ooh, there’s a nice light topic eh?

The thing is, I was formulating stuff all week as I watched events of the last couple of weeks unfold. 3 acts of domestic terrorism IMHO. The murder of Dr Tiller, the murder of the soldier at the recruiting office, and now the murder of the guard at the Holocaust Museum. All three murders motivated strictly by politics in one form or another. All 3 perpetrators are extremists withing their movements for sure, just by virtue of the fact that they crossed that line from hateful speech to murderous acts. But why is it that there is this upsurge? And, as I tweeted earlier, wasn’t there a DHS report warning of exactly these types of acts released just a few weeks ago? A report which was panned loudly by some very influential media voices? So loudly in fact, that Secretary Napolitano (who did not even commission the report, the bulk of the work being done under the prior administration), had to apologize for it and tell her staff at DHS to go back to drawing board?I believe it specifically highlighted anti-Semitic and ant-abortion violation potentially surging. Hmmm.

But really, WHY? What is it about right now that has brought us to these back to back to back acts of terrorism? For they ARE terrorism are they not? Specifically the Tiller murder where the intent was to stop people from going about their every day lives doing a job which is, at this point, perfectly legal. A terrorist act which *worked* because it resulted in the closure of the Tiller clinic. No matter how you fall in the abortion debate, I would hope that the idea that these people were forced to close a business and lose jobs and, hello, lose their life, was done through violence and intimidation vs through peace democratic means. This is America, correct?

And then I read this piece in the New York Times. Paul Krugman normally writes about the economy, and yet he seems to have been thinking along the same lines as me this week. Why?

UPDATE: Now I will add a link to Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post this morning writing in a similar vein “Feeding the Lone Wolves” because he says it oh so well too.

Here’s a link to the full piece which I wish I could just re-print here and comment on paragraph by paragraph but that would get me into all sorts of copyrighting trouble so I wont :-)   But I will highlight his basic premise because it is one I agree with and which I’ve written about here and there before :

Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Exactly. We all know who the culprits are. There is one particular cable TV station and a few very influential radio and tv commentators who lead this charge in the media. The scary thing is, that these are not people on the media ‘fringe’. They are main stream. Huge – often #1 in ratings for some shows in some time slots. They have made it OK to call our President anti-American, or a Muslim, or question the authenticity of his birth certificate. They repeat multiple times titles like “Tiller the baby killer”. They use violent rhetoric or incite fear enough that it becomes acceptable. Then elected politicians pick up on it and repeat it. Or applaud it. Krugman cites many such examples and yet I could think of even more he did not mention. Shoot, he completed passed over Congresswoman Michelle Bachman of Minnesota who has dozens of examples of extremist rhetoric to her credit! I swear she’s pushing to be the female Rush when she is done in DC!
Krugman concludes with this:

What will the consequences be? Nobody knows, of course, although the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.”

And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

No, these people are not directly responsible for the actions of the lunatics. Of course not. But as he says, we ignore the connection at our own peril. There is an atmosphere created here which is conducive to those folks who are just a toenail away from crossing that line.

Now, I am not saying that the left is perfect by a LONG SHOT. But, please, find me a main stream, left leaning pundit/media type/politician with equal influence to the folks on the right listed in Krugman’s piece. Notice I am not saying – find me anybody – I am saying find me an equally powerful, influential voice from the left – who speaks in the same way as the Fox folks, Rush, etc. Also take note of just how many examples from the right we can find. It’s not one loud voice folks – it’s many.

Dissent is essential in our democracy. Intelligent discourse is mandatory. A free and independent media would be so damn wonderful to have. But this ugly, violent, hateful rhetoric has got to stop. C’mon conservatives! Be *smarter* than that! Do you really think you are going to move the country back to the right by bullying them? Ok, I know it worked in the 90s, but AGAIN? Really? That’s all you have? No, I know it’s not, but until enough of you (like the couple of Fox news reporters who Krugman pointed out), push back on this methodology, the voices of reason wont be heard.

This is America. We do not support terrorism – ANYWHERE – so please just stop supporting people who feed into this extremism and allow it to become acceptable.

Please empty the contents of your purse….


This totally for fun topic is stolen from Brandy. If you followed my pre-debate twitters (you know, the ones that were not coming in at a 1 per minute clip!) then you saw my announcement that I bought a purse at the drug store. Yep, that’s how I roll folks! Actually, that is so *opposite* of me because the ONE thing that I have splurged on for myself over the years is really nice purses. But I also have not bought one in almost 3 years. I was at Longs at lunch getting some heartburn meds (oh yeah, keeping with the high class topics here!) when I drifted to the front of the store and saw them. The perfect travel purses! Big, single pocket purses but with enough bling and fun color to keep me interested. Oh, plus little pockets for keys, meds and cell phone. Love that. So anyway, here is my new Drug Store Purse:

And now, the fun part, the contents at this very moment:

Starting from the bottom left corner and up that column are the contents of my zipper inside pocket: Lactaid, Claritin D and caffiene tablets (easier on my stomach in a pinch than coffee or soda + no sugar drop), business card holder, security card for work and key to safe deposit box. Top center is my cosmetic mini purse which holds the lipstick and lip balm below it as well as a bottle of pain meds + the gum pack. Hand lotion, two pens and a paper clip (who knows?), massive check book wallet, beloved blackberry and then car/house key combo. Oh, and the bottle of nail polish next to the lip sticks. Left over from getting my nails done yesterday (I always bring in my own).

What’s missing that one would normally see? Sunglasses – I keep those in my car at all times since that is the place I am most likely to need them. Larger bundle of keys which I keep off the car key on the advice of the gal who does my nails – something about being bad for the ignition? I don’t know but I do know that I prefer carrying just these two and I keep the rest in the car since I mostly use it for the PO box key for the baseball club anyway.

That’s actually a pretty clean purse tonight! At the end of a weekend of sports with the boy it could easily have contained a headband and or scrunchy or two, sunscreen, noise maker, napkins, camera and perhaps even a ball cap stuffed in there. Actually, I can promise you all of the above now that I have that larger bag! Perhaps even am Oprah or San Diego magazine just to pass the time at practice or warm ups :-)

Shapes and colors


I recently re-arranged my coffee table so that it is aligned with my over sized leather chair vs the larger sofa. The height ends up being better for the laptop and it opened up floor space for Wii use :-) What it also did was give me a different view of the house. And I started to take note again of really cool angles and wall shapes in the house. It’s an early 80s So Cal tract home with the then-typical use of cathedral ceilings to give the feeling of spaciousness. But there are also some really uniquely shaped walls which were completely hidden when every last corner was stark white. I lived in that vast whiteness for a few months before I started painting. My goal was to use color very boldly (hey, it was 2003 and I was your typical Trading Spaces addict!), and to use that color to bring out those fun shapes. Make this boring tract home look funky and different with nothing more than paint. Five years later, I still love looking at the results. So here is part 1 of a collage of wall angles and colors. Thought I would share since many of the newer readers have not seen the fun I had. I’ll come back later with some more traditional photos of my favorite spaces with furniture etc. I don’t consider myself an artist or a photographer or a creative personality at all, but when it came to creating my personal living space, I did tap into something that had certainly been suppressed after 15 years of renting and living in basic neutral tones!