Friday, May 02, 2008

Video confirmation.

Disclaimer - the video is ultimately an ad for a book that I know nothing about. But the clip of Oprah is still enlightening.

[via coffee swirls]

I haven’t said much about Barack Obama since I tend to blog from work and I have to be careful not to “campaign” on government property. But I am at home on my own personal computer and I am ready to weigh in on the Obamas. Yes, both of them.

First, I link to Ith’s excellent rebuttal to Michelle Obama‘s lack of pride in her status as American. A snippet:

I’ve been thinking about Michelle Obama lately. I admit, I don’t get her. She’s my age, but that’s about all we have in common. She has a loving husband, healthy children, an Ivy League education, and makes more money than me and my entire family combined. And yet, she seems so angry, and dare I say it, bitter. In Michelle Obama’s world, living in America sucks. And yet, she is blessed with a life few of us will ever have. She doesn’t have to worry about her next paycheck, or paying a credit card bill, or paying her rent when it goes up. I doubt she ever lived out of the family car when she was a teenager. But instead of feeling blessed at what being an American woman brings her, she’s angry; all the time, it would seem.

Go read the rest - I agree 110%.

Second, it’s really hard for me to believe Senator Obama when he says he never heard the inflammatory things his pastor preached in the 15-20 years he attended that church or that he doesn’t subscribe to Black Liberation Theology. I’ve been a member of many churches and I knew exactly where my pastors were coming from and what was their theology. I guarantee that I would not have stayed in a single church if my pastor said things or whose theology was anything with which I completely disagreed. (I flunked a Religion 101 class my first semester in college because I completely disagreed with the theology that was being put forth in that class and I wasn’t prepared to feed back the expected answers. Instead I took the F with pride and gave back the correct answers.) That it took the recent posturing from the Reverend Wright at the NCAAP and National Press Club for Obama to finally denounce his former pastor tell me that it is merely his political ambition that made him do it. Because if you ask me, I think that Obama believes 100% in that theology - you cannot sit in a church Sunday after Sunday and hear that stuff without believing in it.

Related, I have an Insider subscription to the Glenn Beck radio show and today he ran almost the entire infamous sermon (where he said, “God damn America,” among other things) in response to Rev. Wright’s accusation that he has been taken out of context. I just listened to that sermon and I am telling you this much - he was not taken out of context and he is a racist. What’s sad is that this was his Palm Sunday sermon and instead of preaching of the upcoming passion of Christ, he preached hatred for non-black America and heaped anti-American political statements on his congregation. Of course, from the cheering heard they were in agreement. And he slandered his fellow Christians (Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, to name just a couple of people), which is not what a pastor is to be about either, especially from the pulpit.

An Aside: The pulpit is not to be used for politics. Ever. I believe that the pulpit is for the sharing of the Gospel only. I don’t care what kind of church you are - if you set aside the Gospel to bring forth a political agenda (whether or not I agree with the viewpoints), you are wrong. My 2 cents.

Now, I was never going to vote for Obama. But I sincerely hope that the people who glommed onto his messiah complex campaign will pay closer attention and rethink their blind worship for a man who is not fit to our President. I’d rather see Hillary in the White House and that’s really saying something.

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[via sleepy beth]

[UPDATE]: Well, I just noticed that the graphic isn’t working. Weird. Working on it.

Question - anyone looking at that code able to figure out why it isn’t working? I copied it exactly from the site. The only thing I changed is removing the ”< p >“ tags because both were at the end of the code.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

You Are 52% Massachusetts

You’re likely a Massachusetts transplant. Big rotaries still scare you, and you probably live outside of 495.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to make this recipe in the Crock Pot. Beau’s making a grocery run in with other errands, so I asked him to buy the Garam Masala spices and yogurt.

“Who’s yogurt?” he asked.

Oh, yeah. He can’t eat that. Dairy allergies/intolerance are a pain when trying to cook, people! And I’m not using a soy equivalent - I loathe all things soy. Gack.

“Um, I’ll leave that out of your portion,” I told him. So now I have to figure out how to keep his portion warm separately from my portion.

I’ll serve it with basmati rice and some other veg. Peas, maybe.

Got home last night to a fussy Jesse who was running a slight fever, cranky, and drooling like crazy. He was not interested in dinner, although he ate a little bit. I couldn’t take the whining anymore, so I plucked him out of the high chair. He was hot. So we dosed him with Tylenol and I took him upstairs to put him to bed early. I bought some instant read thermometers that you stick under the armpit and can leave attached for up to 48 hours. His temp was normal, but he definitely felt warmer than he normally does.

Merry arrived and we went to small group - he slept soundly that whole time, but started to wimper when we got home. So before I drove Merry home, I went to check on him - found him a little warm and fussy and drooling. Gave him another dose of Tylenol, rubbed his gums with Orajel (I could feel the teeth - they’re ready to break through, poor little guy), snuggled him for a minute, then put him back to bed. I drove Merry home.

Got back and was in bed by 10:45pm. Woke up at about 1:20am to Jesse crying. He was warm, but I couldn’t read the thermometer in the dark and I didn’t want to turn on lights. I gave him Tylenol anyway for the pain and snuggled him for about 15-20 minutes. I would have rocked him longer, but our glider isn’t the most comfortable and it’s also on the small side - I have to keep my toes/legs flexed to keep Jesse from sliding off of my lap. So I thought I’d try taking him to bed with me, but he didn’t like that one bit.

Aside: It’s funny because we didn’t want to have a kid who depended on our bed for comfort, but he now derives no comfort from our bed at all. It kind of makes me sad a little bit, but I also know that can change as he gets older. But for now, he will only sleep in his own bed.

So I took him back to snuggle in the glider for a little longer to quiet him back down. And then I put him back in the crib where he promptly curled up and went back to sleep.

He woke up chipper and cool this morning right as I was leaving for work. He didn’t want to give up the pacifier, so I didn’t get a chance to feel his gums for new teeth. But I’m hoping to arrive home to find that he’s got little white bumps in his gums because that means the worst is over (until the next tooth decides to come out).

I woke up at 5am, amazed that Annie hadn’t barked yet. And then she barked and my new day was started. I think I got maybe 4.5-5 hours of sleep. My eyes are burning and I’m super tired. Coffee hasn’t helped. I may leave early today, although maybe not because I have a lot to do to prepare for my normal two days of working at home.

*yawn and sigh*

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

After much thought and a short discussion with Beau, I broke down to buy one of these for the Disney trip.

I’m a completely paranoid mother, so I’m taking no chances. My peace of mind is more important than our image or his psychological issues later in life.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less what other people will think when they see my kid on a harness. He’ll be 16 months old and he moves quickly. I’m keeping tabs on him. And I think he may like the security of it and the freedom of it.

Last night’s American Idol was bizarre.

First, I had hopes that Neil Diamond week would be pretty good. That turned out not to be the case - he seemed awkward and not too helpful and the songs chosen weren’t that great.

Second, Paula. Enough said, right?

Third, the format didn’t work. I liked the two songs idea, but the judging thing just didn’t work. See point #2.

Who’s going home? It should be Jason. It probably will be Brooke.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

My boss came into my office a little while ago to ask, “Have you heard about the Australian father?”

“What about him?” I asked.

And then he told me about this.

AMSTETTEN, Austria — Police on Tuesday inspected properties owned by a man who confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children but said the man did not build any other secret hiding places.

Austrian authorities, meanwhile, said DNA tests confirm Josef Fritzl is the biological father of six of the surviving children.

It is inconceivable and proves the cliche about truth being stranger than fiction. The horror of the whole story is beyond comprehension. My heart breaks for his wife of 50+ years and for all of the children. So much damage to them all.

The details of the story are behind the link for those who are interested.

For some unknown reason the building management folks decided to turn on the heat this afternoon.

The heat.

It’s 60 degrees outside.

Seriously, they turned on the heat. I begged my boss to call them to inquire why about 90 minutes ago.

Wait, I think the air just blew a little cooler.

*pause for a moment*

Yes, we have cooler air now. Thank the Lord.

Monday, April 28, 2008

I mentioned that I went to high school with Chris McCandless of Into the Wild fame (or infamy). My sister saw the movie and shares her thought on it here as well as some memories of McCandless and a picture of him from school, too.

A new doctor’s report is up at WC.

This is from years ago, but it’s still a good quote.

Tell the world why you’re proud of America. Tell them when “The Star-Spangled Banner” starts, Americans get to their feet—Hispanics, Irish, Italians, Central Europeans, East Europeans, Jews, Muslims, white, Asian, black, those who go back to the early settlers, and those whose English is the same as some New York cab drivers I’ve dealt with—(laughter)—but whose sons and daughters could run for this Congress. Tell them why Americans, one and all, stand upright and respectful. Not because some state official told them to, but because whatever race, color, class or creed they are, being American means being free. That’s why they’re proud.—Tony Blair, to Joint Session of Congress, July 17, 2003

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Three things to marvel over on a lovely Sunday morning.

Homemade rolls for our lunch at Beau’s Sis’s later today.

Rain kissed azaleas.

One cute boy.