Living in Oz

I guess the "truth came out"

2010-11-08T22:06:00.003-06:00

Bryan pleads guilty. It is rather disappointing that he can plead guilty to TWO misdemeanors involving domestic violence and get, essentially, a slap on the wrist and a "behave yourself for a year". No probation, and we all know he won't listen to a word a therapist tells him.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20439605,00.html

Raising Sextuplets dad Bryan Masche is a free man – if he behaves himself.

The reality star, who got into analtercation with his wife Jenny on Sept. 11, avoided a jail sentence in a plea deal with prosecutors announced in court Thursday.

According to a Camp Verde, Ariz., court official, Masche pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor domestic violence charges: threatening and intimidating, and disorderly conduct.

INSIDE STORY: Why theRaising Sextuplets Couple Split Up

His guilty plea will keep him out of jail and out of court for the next 12 months as long as he remains "a law-abiding citizen and complete domestic violence counseling and parenting classes," the court official tells PEOPLE.

But, says the official, if Masche fails to complete his requirements, he could be sent to jail for his guilty pleas.

Hope you didn't give up on me!!

2010-02-12T00:09:00.002-06:00

I have been debating whether or not to keep this blog. It sort of represents a past life, and my life has changed so much in the last year. But, when I looked it over, I decided to keep it after all.

So here's an update on my journey.

Ben and I moved to Duluth in August, and I FINALLY started my dream job in October. Well, no, I am not an award winning author or a veterinarian, but I AM working down the street at United Health Care. (No, I don't have anything to do with your claims, but I would be happy to transfer you!) I love West Duluth...very "neighborhood"...not a suburb in sight and lots of activity going on.

Ben is going to school at a small charter school for creative arts called Harbor International School. He loves it and most recently won his school's "Battle of the Bands", which could lead to being in the Duluth High School Battle of the Bands in April.

Kaitlin just got her permanant duty station in Ft. Sill, OK. She is less than thrilled, but I figure that Ft. Sill is better than Iraq or Afghanistan. She is a terrible shot, so she needs to stay safe.

So, we have been busy, which is a good thing. Now that I decided to keep the blog, I will *try* to keep it up better. Take care, dear readers, and have a great new year! Love Steph

Zimmy's, St. Louis County Fair.

2009-07-30T19:02:00.017-05:00

Ben and I both had the day off, and he needed a copy of his social security card to start driver's ed next week. When we lived in Kansas City, this meant a short drive to the social security office to take care of business, but this is the range. It means an hour drive to Hibbing to the social security office. So, of course we decided to make a vacation day out of it!

We decided to eat at "Zimmy's", a restaurant in Hibbing that is the closest thing to a Bob Dylan museum that Hibbing has. Since Ben is a huge fan, I thought he would enjoy it. I took lots of pictures in the restaurant, and when we drove by Bob Dylan's house, someone was taking a picture of the garage. Who would do something like that?

Zimmy's Restaurant is on Howard St in Hibbing They also throw a festival, "Bob Dylan Days" in the spring every year. The running joke is that they have a birthday party for him, but he never shows up. He is not fond of Hibbing because he had a bad high school experience. To this I say, "Bob! You are now 68 years old, and your hometown loves you! Please come back!" OK, just had to say that.

If you have old pictures or anything, Zimmy's will pay to put them in their restaurant.
This is a bulletin board of pictures from the last Dylan days. Lots of people showed up for his birthday party...
But not Bob. The only appearance he made was on his cake.

Ben posing by one of the walls in Zimmy's.
Close up.
The cover of the menu. We got hamburgers.

s
'
Little Bobby Zimmerman.

One of the walls at Zimmy's.
Some guitars in the window. One reads, "In the heart of Dylan country"
A purple guitar, but not for Hendrix or Prince.
It's for Zimmy
Another dining room.

Ben posing in front of the painting, after he got over the embarrassment I was causing him by "acting like a tourist." I reminded him that this does indeed count as a vacation this year.

Hey! Little Bobby Zimmerman finally decided to come home to Hibbing! Aw...no, it's just a cardboard cutout.

The bar wasn't very full, which is probably good, since it was 2pm on a Thursday.
Side story: This guy was really trying hard with the girl, but she was not very impressed. She beat him playing pool, as if his ego wasn't already crushed. JUST KIDDING! I have no idea what they are doing, just thought it would be funny.
Some old school stuff.
Just to show the bottom of the receipt. I wanted Mandi to take a picture, but she wouldn't. I guess she is camera shy like me.

Hibbing is also home to the Greyhound Bus Museum. I haven't been there, but I HAVE been to the Greyhound DOG Museum in Abilene, Kansas. But I guess that isn't the same.
More guitars on the walls. Sorry about that bright light. Hope it doesn't hurt your eyes!
The outside of Zimmy's. I forgot to get the sign in front. Maybe next time!

And then, on to the St. Louis County Fair. I have not been to a county fair for many, many years, but remembered they were fun. Well...we got drenched in rain, so it wasn't that much fun. Of course, I loved seeing the animals, though. Ben was the photographer.

Ben took this picture of the goat trying to escape. Obviously, goat didn't know it was miserable outside and he was better off inside the tent!
Finally, a goat cooperated and Ben got the "face in the camera" shot.
I love calves.
Ben tried to do 20 pull-ups so I could get a Marines T shirt to taunt Kaitlin with. He did four.

No one wanted to ride the ponies, but I don't think the ponies minded.
I know I am the king rooster. I will pose for you.
Hey! Not so close to the ladies!
I am trying to sleep, but counting sheep isn't working. Maybe I will count children instead.
Mom pot-belly (or is that pork belly?) pig with her babies.
They are so little their eyes aren't even open yet.

It was pouring rain. Buckets and buckets. Of course, the downpour started AFTER we bought our all day ride bracelets. Ben was joking that he was stuck in the petting zoo tent in the rain because "his mommy had to pet the goats!" Yeah? And what of it?

More calves. Unfortunately, these are male dairy cows. This is why they look so sad...they know their fate. I didn't have the heart to tell them, but obviously someone else did.

We really tried to get pictures of horses, but the rain was really upsetting them. But this horse was the Zen horse, and was calm. So we got a nice picture of him.
Ben wanted a picture of a donkey so he can show people his ass. She also cooperated!
A dog stunt show! They did a demo for the news cameras. This dog loved frisbees!

Typical Border Collie, ready to rock and roll

while the other dog catches frisbees high in the air! (Their website is www.stuntdog.com)

Goodbye, St. Louis County Fair! Maybe we will be back next year if it doesn't rain!

j

Paul Wellstone...was he murdered?

2009-07-11T08:36:00.013-05:00

Ben and I went on a field trip to the Paul Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site yesterday. The site was dedicated in September of 2005, and it is located less than a half-mile from where the plane crashed into trees on a cold, drizzly October 25, 2002. It was completely funded by private donations. Killed that day were Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia Markuson, (a Spanish teacher, wife and mother), Campaign Staffer Mary McEvoy (an early childhood/special education professor) Campaign manager Tom Lapic, and Campaign Aid Will McLaughlin, who was only 23 years old. Also killed were pilots Richard Conroy, 55 and Michael Guess, 30. I took and posted photos in order, so you can come along on through the memorial with me.

Here's the entrance to the memorial:

The first sign, which is right at the entrance of the memorial

A close-up of the sign, which maps out the memorial. There are several different trails...the first one we will walk down is the one that brings us closer to the actual crash site.

This rock and poem are also at the entrance. Eagles were seen flying shortly after the wreckage. Native American tradition tells us that eagles carry the souls of the dead to the next world, so this is why the eagle is significant here.

This is the first trail....it was a gorgeous day and it was easy to lose levity because it is just so beautiful.

The blue sky, fluffy white clouds, and tree tops along the trail.
Then we reached a small bridge that leads to the area where the plane crashed.

Someone put up an eagle feather to symbolize the crash site.

The memorial for Marcia, Tom, Mary and Will.

Another sign explaining where the crash occured.

The crash actually occured about a half mile down that path.

On the way back, we took another picture of the trail.

Another picture along the trail.

There were signs with different things about Wellstone, his career and his politics along the trails. This one was a biography and the quote says, "My parents taught me to stand up for what I believe and do what I think is right." I like the shadows of the trees on it.

A sign with a picture of Wellstone's early organizing days.

As we were walking, this tree was standing tall and proud above the other trees. It reminded me that even though Wellstone was short in stature and his life was shortened, he can stand tall!

Paul Wellstone in his teaching days.

Paul Wellstone in his first campaign for Senate.

A fallen tree, just off of the trail. I like that it was left alone.

Paul Wellstone in his Senate days.

A sign with a biography of Sheila Wellstone.

Information on Camp Wellstone.

Another fallen tree, this one blocking the trail, that was left alone.

A cenotaph for Paul and Sheila Wellstone. The headstone can be seen here.

Someone left a shirt for Wellstone on the bench...

But I just left a rock.

Marcia's cenotaph. Her headstone can be seen here.

Tom's cenotaph

Mary's cenotaph

Will's cenotaph, with a flag that someone strung by it.

So that's the memorial. Now I am getting political/conspiracy theorist, so you are warned!

It seemed fitting that Ben and I went to the memorial this week, with the (finally!) swearing in of Al Franken in Wellstone's Senate seat. I can FINALLY say what I have been thinking for years, since karma seems back in balance. (Al Franken is a Democrat and was a friend of Wellstone's)

I was living in Kansas City when Wellstone's plane crashed. We in KC were still reeling a little from the 2000 plane crash of former Missouri Governor and Senatorial Candidate Mel Carnahan. He won posthumously, beating John Ashcroft and becoming the first dead person to ever win a state election. (I lived in Kansas, but still jumped up and down at THAT) There were rumblings that he had been murdered. He was killed on October 16, 2000, and Missouri election law stated that his name had to remain on the ballot, since the election was less than a month away. This was supposed to be a sure win for Ashcroft, as a Carnahan win would mean that the Democratic Party would decide who would be put in as a temporary appointment for two years. But the people of Missouri loved Carnahan, and they voted him in. (His wife took the appointment, and lost two years later. However, she was running for election at the time of the Wellstone crash) Many people believed Carnahan was murdered, because his plane crash was almost identical to that of Sen. John Heinz (a liberal Republican) AND it was blamed on "pilot error". I think "pilot error" covers a multitude of "sins". So, when Wellstone died, I immediately remembered Carnahan and thought it was...odd, to say the least. Two very close elections, two Senate seats, two dead Democrats.

Of course I don't KNOW whether or not Carnahan or Wellstone (or Heinz) were murdered, but I am hardly a conspiracy theorist, either. I am pretty skeptical. So I am just going to put the facts out there.

Findings of fact:

The Airplane/Weather/Pilots

The plane that Wellstone was flying was a Beechcraft King Air 100. It has an excellent safety record, and prior to this crash, had been in only two fatal crashes, both in December of 1997. Debris recovered from the crash site includes both the plane’s engines, which suffered blade damage, suggesting that the engines were running when the plane crashed.

While weather conditions were less than ideal, with some ice and freezing rain, two smaller Beech Queen Air planes had landed at Eveleth without incident two hours before the crash, when temperatures were colder. Wellstone’s plane was reportedly equipped with two separate de-icing mechanisms.

Visibility was limited but well above the minimum required—between two and two and a half miles. Also, the airport would have been in clear view of the pilot once he descended below the lowest cloud layer at about 700 feet.

The plane’s two pilots were both experienced, with the senior man, Capt. Richard Conry, having airline transport pilot certification, the top industry qualification. Co-pilot Michael Guess was a certified commercial pilot. Wellstone was by all accounts a cautious flier, and there is no suggestion that the decision to fly that day was a reckless or ill-advised one.

No cockpit voice recorder was found, although this was reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "A team of 16 NTSB investigators arrived at about 8:00 PM said the board's acting chairwoman, Carol Carmody. Federal investigators were searching the crash site Friday for the aircraft's cockpit recorder, Carmody said. 'There was one on the aircraft, we understand, and we're looking for that and hope that it can be recovered soon.'"

However, in all fairness, it might not have had a voice recorder, as one was only recommended, not required, for this airplane. But no mention was ever made of the voice recorder again.

So, in summation:

The aircraft is extremely safe.

The weather was not perfect, but it was safe for flying, and smaller planes had landed earlier in the day, when the weather was colder.

Visibility was fine.

Wellstone's plane had two de-icing mechanisms.

Wellstone's plane had two experienced, skilled pilots.

The voice recorder should have been there, but was never mentioned after the first day.

The official cause of the crash was the "flight crew's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which they did not recover."

In other words, pilot error. Sound familiar?

The FBI Rapid Response Team

The FBI does, on occasion, get inovolved with accidents. However, they only get involved if criminal activity is suspected AND if the Attorney General (At that time, John Ashcroft) requests it, based on the tentative findings of the NTSB. Once the FBI is called in and intentional criminal activity is confirmed, the FBI takes over the investigation. The FBI arrived FIRST in the Wellstone crash...they were there BEFORE the NTSB. In fact, according to St. Louis County Sheriff Rick Wahlberg, the FBI was there around noon. How did the FBI get there about an hour after the plane crashed in the woods? Also according to Wahlberg, it was "a tough piece of property" that required all terrain vehicles. The first responders did not make it to the scene until after 11 am, and it took the fire chief until 11:15 to find the best route to the wreck to direct other responders. The first "aircraft in possible distress" alert went out to the Eveleth police scanners at 10:50, and at 12:10 the first formal confirmation of the crash came in from the FAA. But by 12:10, the FBI was already on the scene.

This means the FBI was on the scene about an hour after the scene was discovered and 45 minutes after the Fire Chief found the best route.. That might be normal if the crash had happened in Minneapolis, Chicago or Los Angeles. But this crash happened in the woods, in winter, in a fairly rural area of Northern Minnesota. The Virginia-Eveleth airport is 175 miles from Minneapolis. On a good day, with clear roads, I can get from Minneapolis to Virginia in about two and a half hours, and this doesn't include getting through the forest. Perhaps they flew in? That is most likely, but getting everyone together, meeting, and getting on a plane would take at least an hour (considering each person's commute time to the airport), then disembarking and getting to the scene? The flight alone is 45 minutes. The only confirmation that is available is that the FBI came in from the Minneapolis office. What is unknown is how they knew there was a crash and got there so quickly. I guess congratulations are in order!

Summary:

10:18-Wellstone's plane is cleared for landing at Virginia-Eveleth airport.

10:21-Wellstone's plane is seen flying at about 1800 feet.

10:22-Wellstone's plane crashes in the opposite direction (heading south) and crashes vertically.

10:50-Eveleth First Responders receive information on an "Aircraft in possible distress."

11:00-First responders arrive at the scene

11:15-The Fire Chief makes a path to direct ATV traffic.

12:00-The FBI arrives to the crash scene from Minneapolis.

12:10-The FAA confirms that there was a crash.

Finally,WHY?

Wellstone was a problem to the Bush administration. He questioned everything by nature, and he opposed the War in Iraq, The Patriot Act, the Bush tax cuts, Homeland Security and, well, pretty much everything that Bush said or did. President Bush made a record four visits to Minnesota, a solidly "blue" state, to drum up support for Norm Coleman. Wellstone was the only Senator running for re-election to vote against the Bush "use of force" resolution for unilateral action aganst Iraq. He voted with his conscience, despite Cheney's antagonistic tactics togain support for the war. Two days before his death, Wellstone met with military veterans and said that Cheney told him, "If you vote against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration will do whatever is necessary to get you. There will be severe ramifications to you and the state of Minnesota." Despite the fact that his position on the war could have cost him the election, he continued to oppose the war, speaking out against it on the floor of the Senate on October 11. His speech gave him a leap in popularity and he was leading Norm Coleman at the time of his death.

It was also an important election year, with the Democrats threatening to take a majority in the House and Senate. Yes, Wellstone was only one Senator, but he was a vocal one!

In closing, this is all subjective. I don't have any more information than anyone else can get through some research. And it could well be that a series of very bizarre things happened on October 25, 2002.

"I do not believe the future will belong to those who are content with the present. I do not believe the future will belong to those who are cynics of those who stand on the sidelines. The future will belong to those who have passion and to those who are willing to make a personal commitment to make our country better."--Paul Wellstone

More Fourth of July!

2009-07-06T13:59:00.004-05:00

The Fourth of July in Tower is quite exciting, really. The parade, then games and fun for the kids. I scored some Chinese food (because really, the best part of any festivity is the food!) and there were bands and finally, fireworks. I did not want the day to end. Here are some family pictures!

Seth
Gabriel
Chris, Cheryl, Gabe and Seth
Chris, Cheryl, Gabe and Seth
Gabe and Seth wish you a happy 4th of July!

TOWER FOURTH OF JULY!

2009-07-04T20:23:00.006-05:00

The day started out beautifully, with temps in the mid 70s and a breeze. I was shocked by how many people showed up for a small town parade! Thousands of people lined the streets! My dad got up at 6 AM to stake out our place on the parade route an set up the chairs. It was crazy! Here are some pictures, in no particular order. Some were taken by me and some were taken by Ben. I bet you can guess which are which...

Our Senator, Amy Klobacher, showed up, but our NEWEST Senator, Al Franken, did not. Hmmmm...

Ben's First Paycheck!

2009-06-26T12:10:00.002-05:00

Ben got his first summer paycheck on Thursday! He is working full time and making almost as much as I am! Good job, Ben!

From Suicide Food

2009-06-25T00:26:00.002-05:00

For the Hebrew-challenged, simcha means "happiness," and what could be a more fitting name for this place? This Happy Valley is a piece of paradise on Earth, green with peace. Even the "V" of the logo soars like a dove. Our "holy" cow—see her holy baseball cap?—lounges in her canvas deck chair amid a rolling meadow dotted with wildflowers, fanning herself with a big, um, bloody brisket. (The "happy" metaphor, now flecked with gore and gristle, sags a little here, it's true.)

And what about this simcha, this state of joy? According to Wikipedia (I know...), "When a [cow] is happy [she is] much more capable of serving God and going about [her] daily activities than when depressed or upset." (Bovine references added.) So here, our happy cow is perfectly situated to contemplate and serve God, right up to the Blessed Moment.

Of the 613 mitzvot—the commandments contained in the Torah—a great many deal with the proper disposition of sacrificed animals. Our cow is in the right line of work. After her ritual death, her internal organs will be rigorously inspected for any of 70 irregularities that would render her remains non-kosher. (Glatt is often thought of as "ultra kosher," a designation requiring extra scrutiny.) Is it any wonder she is filled with gladness?

We went on a road trip!

2009-06-09T23:25:00.006-05:00

Well, sort of.
Actually, we had to bring Kaitlin's computer to Aurora to see if the experts can figure out how to get into her forgotten password when we just decided to see the cities we hear about on "da range."

So, because pictures of road trips are generally the only interesting part of road trips to people not on them, here goes:

We FINALLY saw a moose! (Biwabik, MN)

This was also in Biwabik. Sort of a strange combination of "Edelweiss meets Discount Chain Store."

We got detoured through Chisholm. They had a cool "Peace Bridge" with flags from every country. The bridge was supposed to symbolize the US on one side and the UN on the other. (Yes, we took them from inside the car, so ignore the "no smoking" sticker I have on my dashboard...) Beautiful downtown Chisholm, followed by the flags, because I am too tired to change the order.

Hey, there's an Israel flag! Shout out to my Jewish peeps!

This was on the incredibly long voyage from Hibbing, MN to a moving sale that I *had* to go to in Side Lake, MN. I REALLY wanted it to read, "Bimbos Octuplet Mom" instead, but still kind of funny.

This was the road going to the moving sale, after I asked Ben, "Do you think we missed it?" about 10 times. For the curious among you, MapQuest Hibbing and Side Lake. It is, by far, the furthest I have ever gone for a sale. Thank goodness it was worth it! I will remember this story every time I make a waffle in my $1 waffle maker or bake a casserole in my $1.50 casserole pan!
(And sometimes, the adventure is worth more than money can buy...Ben said, "I had a great day!" a few times, which made it all worth it.)

Another picture from "the road less traveled". (We got out of the car this time!)

This was a lake that was just there...in the middle of the forested street. Northern Minnesota is like that...you are tooling along, and all of the sudden, beauty strikes you from all directions.

And finally, FAIL BLOG! I just thought it was funny.

Jihad fail

2009-06-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

see more Fail Blog

Sweet dreams, Jeff Hanson

2009-06-08T00:41:00.003-05:00

He's no relation, unfortunately.

Kill Rock Stars lead vocalist, Jeff Hanson, died from a fall in his apartment yesterday. It is a loss to the singer-songwriter society and he will be missed. (And no, it was not drug related in any way...it is still being investigated, but his apartment had cement floors and he fell.)

Here is my favorite video, for your enjoyment. RIP, Jeff.

Sometimes, I don't miss Kansas

2009-05-31T14:03:00.002-05:00

When I lived in Kansas, we had a great Japanese restaurant down the street, a very mild winter (except for the ice storms) a long growng season for gardens, and a huge diversity of people. However, with diversity comes things like this:

Abortion doc George Tiller gunned down at church

AP –
WICHITA, Kan. – The attorney for George Tiller says the late-term abortion provider was shot and killed at his church in Wichita, Kan.
Attorney Dan Monnat says Tiller was shot as he served as an usher during Sunday morning services at Reformation Lutheran Church. Monnat said Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time of the shooting. (I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying this was to everyone worshipping in the church.)The clinic run by the 67-year-old doctor has repeatedly been the site of protests for about two decades.
A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985.
Capt. Brent Allred said police were looking for a gunman who fled in a 1993 light blue Ford Taurus registered in Merriam. (Merriam is a city that neighbors Shawnee, where we used to live)
No other details about the shooting were immediately released.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, a prominent advocate for abortion rights wounded by a protester more than a decade ago, was shot and killed Sunday at his church in Wichita, a city official said.
A City Hall official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak about the case told The Associated Press that the 67-year-old doctor was killed Sunday morning at Reformation Lutheran Church.
Police spokesman Gordon Bassham would not confirm the victim's identity pending notification of relatives. He said the shooting occurred at 10:03 a.m. and the gunman fled the scene in a 1993 powder blue Ford Taurus registered in another part of the state.
Bassham said no suspects were in custody. He said it is not clear whether one or more suspects were involved.
Capt. Brent Allred said police were looking for a gunman who fled in a 1993 light blue Ford Taurus registered in Merriam.
Anti-abortion group Operation Rescue issued a statement denouncing the shooting. (But they have no problem inciting people to do these things)
Tiller has been among the few U.S. physicians performing late-term abortions. His clinic has repeatedly been the site of protests for about two decades and he was shot and wounded in both arms by a protester in 1993.
He remained prominent in the news in recent years, in part because of an investigation begun by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent. (Gawd, Phill Kline was embarrassing, too. Thanks for reminding me...)
Prosecutors had alleged that Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires, but a jury in March acquitted him of all 19 misdemeanor counts against him.
Abortion opponents also questioned then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' ties to Tiller before the Senate confirmed her this year as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary. Tiller donated thousands of dollars to Sebelius over the years.

Today, I am glad I don't live in Kansas.

Mom tries to hide 555 pound child...

2009-05-22T15:44:00.003-05:00

But, of course, authorities found her. Because let's face it-a 500 + pound kid is pretty hard to hide.

She is charged with child endangerment and neglect because her 14 year old son, Alexander, weighs a quarter of a ton.

Honestly, I feel for both of them...it would be very traumatic to be a teenager and weigh so much, and I am sure the mom doesn't wish this on her child. But there is obviously some sort of dysfunction going on in the household.

I do give the mom kudos for not putting the kid on TLC, though...

Another reason why Kris Allen should win American Idol

2009-05-19T23:48:00.005-05:00

Other than season two, when Clay Aiken was actually NOT the winner of American Idol, who remembers the performer who comes in second? Bo Bice? Blake Lewis? Diana DeGarmo? Justin Guarini? Unless someone is a die hard fan, they would have had to google to get those names, like I just did. So, wouldn't it just be AWESOME if this rather...silly...woman just tattooed the name of the SECOND PLACE winner on her back? In a few years, people will be wondering who he is and why he was important enough to warrant a place on her skin.

And the woman in the video? I hate to break this to you, but as much as you don't want Adam to be gay, he is. So I don't think the tattoo is going to help you much in the "score Adam Lambert" department.

Also...the tattoo was $400? Yes, the parlor looked extremely clean and the artist was very professional (he HAD to be laughing and/or dying a little inside!) but that still seems pretty high for pre-scripted lettering. Of course, I have not priced tattoos lately, so I might be very wrong on that.

Here's another one, pre-tattoo. Her name is Melissa. She plans to vote for Adam several thousand times using a Go phone. She messes with magazines in Borders and Target. She sets up little shrines to Adam. She paints the windows of her car with shoe polish. She orders an "Adam Lambert" in Starbucks and declares him "delicious."
VOTE KRIS!

First beautiful day in the northwoods

2009-05-18T19:08:00.005-05:00

It was the first absolutely gorgeous day in northern Minnesota yesterday. No rain, warm but not hot, and only slight wind. I rode bike and then we went to my aunt's place on Lake Vermilion, because my dad and Ben put the boat in the launch.

This picture is of a giant tree at my aunt's place.

This is a rock at my aunt's house...it is a rock that the birds use to smash their catch of crayfish upon. I found it oddly human-like the table after a Fourth of July feast of lobster and crab legs. Just little shell pieces left...
This is the view from my aunt's dock. If you look closely, there is a man kayaking in between the two inlets.

Buttercups growing up from the marshy winter remnants. Like winter meets spring!

Anothor view from the dock. Walleyes hide in those weeds!
The crayfish murderers, hanging out on a rock, waiting...

The dock at Hoodoo Point in Tower, MN

That is one dirty fridge!

2009-05-16T18:26:00.002-05:00

Rotten office fridge cleanup sends 7 to hospital
AP

Tue May 12, 9:01 pm ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. – An office worker cleaning a fridge full of rotten food created a smell so noxious that it sent seven co-workers to the hospital and made many others ill. Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, after the flagrant fumes prompted someone to call 911. A hazmat team was called in.

What they found was an unplugged refrigerator that had been crammed with moldy food.

Authorities said an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess. The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.

Authorities said the worker who cleaned the fridge didn't need treatment — she can't smell because of allergies.

Something to Think About...

2009-05-16T10:54:00.001-05:00

A Friday Taste of Stupid

2009-05-15T04:05:00.002-05:00

I know this is older, but still...tea bag stupidity last month, with corrections!

With friends like these...

2009-05-15T03:46:00.006-05:00

Hmmmm....I don't think blowfish are kosher-no fins OR scales that I can see. Silly Israelis, pufferfish are for goy!

Couple Lucky to Be Alive After Eating Deadly Fish Given to Them as 'Gift'

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
By Stephanie L. Freid

Days after falling into near-fatal comas, an Israeli couple is lucky to be alive after they ate a deadly strain of fish.

The 47-year-olds, immigrants from Russia and Ukraine, were admitted to a hospital in northern Israel on Saturday in comatose states after preparing and eating fried blowfish. They regained consciousness in the ICU Monday.

“From what they have been able to tell us,” Rambam Hospital spokesman David Ratner said, “a neighbor gave them the fish as a gift. They didn’t know what it was; they fried it up for dinner and ate it. “

Shortly after, both started to feel dizzy. The man collapsed and his female partner crawled feebly to the front door to summon a neighbor for help before passing out. The neighbor phoned an ambulance.

“When the ambulance got there they could barely breathe and needed oxygen. By the time they arrived at the hospital, both were unconscious and had been intubated,” Ratner said.

Blowfish, also referred to as puffers, balloon fish, toadies and bubble fish, are the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world after the golden poison frog. The fish’s skin and certain internal organs are highly toxic to humans; touching or ingesting them leads to muscle paralysis and can result in an excruciatingly slow and painful death.

“Blowfish contain a cocktail of neuro-toxins that are very potent and basically halt neurotransmission. If a person eats the fish, there is paralysis then possibly a heart attack and the heart can stop beating altogether and there’s brain damage and death,” Ben Gurion University marine biologist Dr. Nadav Shashar said.

The fish is considered a delicacy in Japan and Korea. “But they know how to prepare it,” said Shashar.

Hospital staff was unaware of the cause of illness when the two were admitted, as both were unconscious. But symptoms suggested poisoning, and a police visit to the house -- including a peek in the fridge -- confirmed ICU staff suspicions.

“This is the fourth time in three years we’ve had people come in sick or unconscious from eating blowfish,” Ratner shared. Eight months ago one of those patients died. Ratner says this couple is also lucky. “They were saved by timing. If the woman had also passed out, they wouldn’t have made it.”

Both are conscious and recovering, albeit slightly hazy and confused. Physicians expect a full recovery for both.

“The basic rule of thumb is simple: Don’t stick things in your mouth if you don’t know what they are,” Dr. Shashar concluded. “Other predators don’t even go for this fish, so why would a human?”

Happiness for the COWS!

2009-05-09T11:09:00.004-05:00

Usually, cow meets slaughterhouse does not end well for the cow. Unless, of course, the cow is particularly smart...

Cow wins free pass after escaping slaughter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A cow escaped death when it fled a New York City slaughterhouse Wednesday, running through the streets before being corralled by mounted police.

The escape appears to have earned the cow a free pass -- it will be turned over to an animal care agency rather then sent back to the slaughterhouse in the New York City borough of Queens, police said.

If it were my cow, I would name him Porterhouse. Or T Bone. Or Kobi Beef. Well, you get it.

iPod vending machine

2009-05-07T07:22:00.002-05:00

We saw this in Macy's, downtown Minneapolis. Yes, it is an iPod vending machine. No, I don't get it. Maybe I am completely out of touch, but I thought vending machines were for soda, snacks and the occasional Tylenol. You know, cash only purchases. (And when you lose said cash, you are out of luck, but it's only a buck, tops.) Now? This iPod machine takes ONLY credit cards and sells iPods, iPhones and accessories. I think it would be a less than fulfilling experience. It's probably just me, but I like to actually look at something for awhile, play with it, compare colors and sizes, etc before I plunk down $100-$350 for a new toy.

So I started wondering what else could, theoretically, be purchased through a vending machine?

Gift cards would be easy, and there really is no thrill in buying them...glove/mitten machines could be set up at bus stops all over urban cold climates and might actually sell well. Same with suntan lotion/disposable camera/flip-flop machines in warmer vacation spots. Airports could have "Bestseller" vending machines or magazine machines for late-night travelers. Perfume and make up vending machines? (No more testers!) Diapers and wipes? (We all have had THAT happen!) Sewing kits?

Really, I guess once the need for cash in vending machines has been eliminated, virtually anything could be sold through them. I am not sure I want that to happen, though. It sure would take a lot of the fun out of buying things like laptops, Kindles and cell phones.

Minneapolis is cool...and warm!

2009-05-03T22:09:00.006-05:00

Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Yes, it's Mary Tyler Moore in bronze, with a fuzzy scarf courtesy of someone...else. She is outside of the Macy's store, since Dayton's no longer exists.

For the record, Ben asked, "Who is Mary Tyler Moore?" Yes, I am old.

Fashion First! Even a sign for nothing means something!

Ben standing outside the bar/concert hall that has had so much of the Minneapolis talent. He was semi-impressed that I knew where the music scene was in the cities. (Because, you know, I had no life before him...)
If you ain't got Mojo Nixon then this store could use some fixin'

View from the top...or from the window of the hotel, whichever.

Off to Loring Park! It was an absolutely fantastic day! I think many people in Minneapolis had the same idea, as the park and streets were full of shiny happy people.

Inside the greenhouse at the Minneapolis Statue Garden. Yes, we waited a long time for it to be empty.
The most famous sculpture in Minneapolis--"Spoonbridge and Cherry" by Claes Oldenburg. The cherry just got put back on yesterday!

Ben at "X With Columns" by Sol LeWitt, and me at the same spot.

Ben on the bridge--The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, to be exact.

Brower Hatcher's "Prophecy of the Ancients", my personal favorite. If you ever go see it, you have to stand in the center and look up at the metal netting for a glorious artistic feast.

This was called "Nautilus." (Charles Ginnever)

Alexander Calder's "Octopus" No, it's not a mom with Octuplets.
When I took this picture of "Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers", a church bell was ringing. Quite fitting, I thought. (Barry Flanagan made it.)
Alexander Calder's "The Spinner" It is the same age as I am! I think it is holding up better, though...
Just because I like this picture:

Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II

Really? It is? (This was on the bridge)
This is beautiful in itself, even though it wasn't part of the sculpture garden.

And from further away:

Here is a photo, trying to be "artistic" after all of the sculpture inspiration. Not so much? Oh well...

Ben matches the painting on the bridge!

And at the Twins/Royals game:
Coco Crisp, the coolest named guy in baseball! The mean people at the Dome were calling him "Fruity Pebbles." :-( He hit a double! Yeah Coco!

Yep, Twins V Royals! Great game, except the Royals won. But Ben is a Royals fan, so he was happy.

The Biggest Loser Baby

2009-04-22T01:13:00.005-05:00

Wow, I was fooled. I thought Kristin was just a bubbly, gregarious, friendly emotional eater.

The way the show works, in a nutshell, is like this. Everyone weighs in, and the two with the lowest percentage of weight loss are "below the yellow line" and are at risk of elimination. The other contestants vote on which of the two should go home.

Tonight, Helen (who lost one pound) and Kristin (who gained one pound) fell below the yellow line.

Helen seriously needs to buy stock in Kleenex, she cries so much. The argument that they need to stay on the ranch sort of falls flat at this point, since there is only one more week anyway. The reason they want to stay is to win the money. I wish they would be honest about that. If, after 15 weeks on "the ranch" they lack the tools to continue to lose weight at home, then one more week isn't going to help them.

Well, anyway, Helen cried about needing to stay on the ranch. Kristin took a different path. She knew there would be two votes for her to stay and one vote for her to leave. However, Mike's vote was up for grabs. Kristin is a serious threat to Mike winning and they both know it. So, what does the bubbly, cheerful, talkative Kristin say about Mike?
Not to his face, she claims that he "should be a man, for once in his life" and vote to save her. Nice, Kristin.
Then, when he votes to send her home, she calls him a coward. Sore loser much?

They do the little, "Where are they now?" segment and show Kristin two months later and a whopping 16 pounds lighter (she is still about 240 pounds) doing a public speaking engagement. A woman in the audience appears to be sleeping as Kristin drones on about how wonderful and inspirational she is. An audience member in pink (who obviously just wants to be on camera) tells Kristin that she lost 40 pounds because she was so inspirational. Kristin looks like she wants to say, "Sit down, bitch...this is all about ME and MY inspirational weight loss! Literally!"

I think her public speaking career will be short-lived if she never gets to a normal weight. She only lost 16 pounds in two months after losing over 100 in 15 weeks? Not so inspirational...

Well, the audience hasn't seen her hissy fit episode yet, so perhaps she is still awesome to them. Or something.

Next week is the last show before the finale. Go Tara!

2009-04-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, it snowed today.

Yes, this.

2009-04-11T09:35:00.002-05:00

Now that spring is flirting with us, I found the perfect ad to describe these last few months.

Happy Passover!

2009-04-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

Something New In Town

2009-04-08T22:02:00.006-05:00

At the end (or beginning, whichever way you are driving) of town, there is a train depot that doubles as the Tower Historical Museum. It's a nice museum and it's free, so if you ever come by during the summer months, please stop in!

Anyway, there were some new signs there today. One is to advertise Depot Days, coming at the end of July!

The other sign? I am not so sure about that one...So, the question is...who is Richard Hanson? Hmmmm.....I think he is a packsacker from Cook. :-)

Some Hulu finds

2009-03-30T03:03:00.003-05:00

I have gotten kind of spoiled on the TV. The DVR allows me to zip right through commercials, and cable means there is usually something on. But still, I love TV on the Internet. Back in the olden days, like 2004, the only way to get tv on the internet was on YouTube. But now, they have HULU and other sites like it that give me this huge array of television with only 15 to 30 second commercials. It is really awesome.

So, I have plowed through most of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and all of the "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" programs, and am wading in "The Night Gallery" and some of the sit coms and shows that I grew up with. But there are some shows that I just missed altogether, like Fox channel's "Secret Millionaire." I am surprised I got suckered into this show, but I really liked it. The overall concept is that a millionaire lives like a person on welfare (no bling, credit cards, or nice car...and only the same amount of cash that someone on welfare would receive) and, while doing that, meet people worthy of at least $100,000 of their money. It is pretty good, and most of the people ended up donating even more. Todd and Gwen Graves, owners of the "Raising Cain" restaurant franchise, ended up giving $300,000 to three different charities and people. They have continued this by donating regularly as a part of their business plan.

It got me thinking about what I would do if, say, I won the lottery. I saw how these millionaires lived, and I knew I would not be comfortable in that lifestyle. Sure, I would live comfortably, but why does anyone need 9 cars? Why does anyone need "runners" to get groceries, or a nanny when they are a stay at home mom? Or 3 jets? I guess I know I would give away a lot of it, because other people need it more. So although I am glad that these millionaires realized that there are homeless, starving, sick people out there, I also am glad that I already know that. And I hope that I never forget it!

Anyway, to watch the shows, go here. I recommend at least the first, second and fourth ones. I think those people were the most affected by the things that they saw, and the people they helped were very inspiring. Also, the son in the first episode looks like Ben.

Why Minnesota is Better Than Wisconsin and Kansas

2009-03-25T20:25:00.005-05:00

Well, as far as state slogans go.

Here is the Kansas state slogan. Yes, it is really lame. It is SO lame, in fact, that almost immediately after the state produced bumper stickers, people started crossing out "big" and replacing it with "bigoted". Then, after my fine former state made gay marriage illegal by constitutional amendment, a company actually produced stickers that said, "Kansas As Bigoted As You Think." And, sadly, it was.

And now we have Wisconsin. I really don't like this slogan because it is stupid. Why is there a guy upside down? Is he so happy he lives in Wisconsin that he is doing a handstand, or is he diving head-first off of a bridge? Not sure. And the slogan, "Live like you mean it" could apply, unfortunately, to either one. I don't get it. Maybe it's a take on "Live like you are dying" or "Still feel small when you stand beside...Lake Michigan" or some other overplayed country song.

And here is Minnesota's:
Short, simple, and the same for as long as I can remember.

I am glad I am not a narcissist...

2009-03-22T00:19:00.005-05:00

Remember last week's post, when I said the snow was melting? Well, it was. And for a moment, I forgot I was in northern Minnesota and believed I was still in Kansas City. I went out in the front yard to feed the deer and, while coming back into the house, slipped on ice that had accumulated from the water falling off of the roof. Because I am one of the clumsiest people I know (OK, so I am THE clumsiest person I know...) I fell on my face on the front stairs.

The good news is that my nose isn't broken. The bad news is that I looked like this:

I had to go to work a few hours later, and for the next 4 of 5 days, so I had no choice but to face the world. (Pun intended)

I learned a few things during my week with the smashed face.

There is no point in putting on makeup. Clinique is too expensive to be wasted on trying to fix this face, and it is only frustrating and painful.

People will look away, despite my eye contact. I got a very small taste of what it must feel like to have a true facial deformity...one that won't heal up in a few weeks. I am sure none of those people meant to be rude, but they likely just didn't know what to say.

I learned that a great sense of humor is vital. If I made the joke first, I saw the other person relax and joke along. That way, they didn't HAVE to say anything, and could resume eye contact.

The friendliest people I encountered, by far, were the minimum wage workers at Arbys and the gas station. They kept eye contact, a friendly voice, and excellent non-verbal communication skills both times I encountered them. KUDOS!

I am glad I am not a narcissist, since an injury this visible, however temporary, would have been much more devastating for someone who believes the world revolves around her, and that her appearance is the most important thing. It is almost a relief to not care nearly as much about how I look and focus on my job, my family, and the other things that are important to me. And if I were a narcissist, I never would have posted that picture!

(If you don't know what a narcissist is, click HERE for a classic example!)

I should be healing up in a few weeks, and I really love my new job. More later!

It's MELTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-14T23:56:00.005-05:00

Here is, of course, the uncreative, predictable Wizard of Oz reference:

(And did you know I am not even a Wizard of Oz fan? Long story)

When I looked at my weather thing on Yahoo, I thought I accidentally loaded Kansas City again...imagine my squeals of delight when it really WAS going to be 41 degrees in the tundra! Whoo Hoo!

I went for a long walk today, and apparently everyone in town is having cabin fever. I even got whistled at and invited on the porch for a beer. (I politely declined, but it cracked me up to see guys on the porch drinking beer like it is mid-summer instead of a nice day in March.)

I even walked without my tunes, so I could hear the birds, the wind, and other assorted noises of small town Minnesota.

Here are a few pictures that I took today. I know these are nothing much to people who live in small towns, but consider it more like a southern city slicker's new eyes in Northern Minnesota. I do think I love spring!

A quilt on the porch of a store.

OK, so the huge mounds of snow don't disappear overnight. This was just a random shot, trying to show just how high the snow gets. (This wasn't the biggest drift in town, but it was the cleanest!)
This is the front of a building with an announcement board on the side. Obviously, nothing is going on, and no one has removed the Christmas wreath yet, either.
I just noticed this bench downtown today. It was either covered in snow before, or it blended in. However, I couldn't figure out why the bench was placed there, since it is "looking" at some snow covered boat ramps.
Here's downtown Tower, MN. And look! The street is actually black and not white!

HAPPY FRIDAY (the 13th...)

2009-03-13T02:24:00.004-05:00

Only once every six years do we get a year that has THREE Friday the 13ths! We had one in February, now we get one in March and November!

Some fun (or not so fun) facts:

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskevi (meaning Friday), and dekatreis (meaning thirteen), attached to phobia (meaning fear).

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century.The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini. However, some folklore is passed on through oral traditions, which are nearly impossible to document. Therefore, several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition.

One theory states that it is a modern combination of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day. (Obviously, this was before we had weekends!)

For what it's worth, there is no hard evidence that more bad things like accidents, natural disasters or deaths happen on Friday the 13th.

Here are some events that happened on Friday the 13th.

1. Resident Evil 5 will be released in the United States TODAY!

2. The band Black Sabbath released their debut album in the United Kingdom on Friday, February 13th, 1970.

3. The opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games took place on Friday, August 13th, 2004.

4. The 13th book of A Series of Unfortunate Events was released by author Lemony Snicket on Friday, October 13th, 2006.

5. Four of the twelve movies to the Friday the 13th movie series were released on Friday the 13th.

6. The show Dollhouse premiered on Friday, February 13th, 2009.

Yes, we have more snow...

2009-03-12T19:21:00.005-05:00

What was the lie about the cartoon, "Frosty the Snowman?"
That Frosty can move and talk? Well, yes, but no.
That Frosty can think? Ummm....No.
That Frosty melts? YES!! That's it! Because, as I have learned, snow melting is a myth. At least it is in Northern Minnesota...

More pictures of the snow tomorrow. I must hurry, because I am sure it will melt any day now!

Unfriended on Facebook!

2009-03-11T14:45:00.009-05:00

I was recently "unfriended" on Facebook, and what surprised me the most was that I cared. After all, I never made Facebook a huge part of my life. My teenagers were on it, and I joined so I could see what THEY were putting on THEIR Facebook pages. Soon, I discovered people from my past-high school,college and jobs-had taken the plunge. I never rejected anyone because if someone asked to be my friend, what's the harm? No one likes feeling rejected, and it's not like we are going to hang out every Saturday like *real* friends. It's just an internet thing.

Well, then I got "unfriended." I immediately wondered why. What did I do that was deemed so offensive as to remove me from her friend list? Did I smell through the computer screen? Have bad cyber breath? Since I knew this person well in real life, I couldn't figure it out. It's not like I bothered her with silly quizzes or compatibility tests, since I rarely even do the "status update" thing. I didn't say bad things about her on my page, or put up any risque photos of her (I don't have any anyway) or cyber-snubbed her. Then, I was upset that I wasted time thinking about it. But still, it bothered me.

Anyway, I learned a few things. First of all, I will not unfriend anyone. Even with the detachment of the internet, it's rude. Second, it's only Facebook, but rejection still hurts. I suddenly feel like I am 13 again, gawky and bookish and ostracized, unaware of what I did to be left out. Finally, I learned that the internet is sort of this reality tv show...real personalities and lives, yet scripted, superficial and kept at a distance.

I am keeping my Facebook, keeping my "friends" and checking in on occasion to live vicariously though them. (Although, overall, our lives are the same. American Idol, The (desperate) Housewives, sick of the snow) But I will also remember that it IS only the internet. It is easy to "unfriend" someone when it is simply a claws-in mouse click and not a genuine cat fight.

And I will remember, even on the internet, to be polite. After all, it is always the right thing to do.

Some "Welcome to Minnesota" fees...

2009-03-06T20:35:00.005-06:00

I went to pick up a prescription today. It is one of the few hundred that pharmacies now sell for $4.00 a month. I picked up the prescription and noticed that although this was a $4.00 prescription, I paid $4.08. I looked at my other prescription, and it was the same thing!

I am definitely not the type of person to get worked up over eight cents, or even sixteen cents. But I WAS curious about WHY I was paying more than retail for a prescription.

According to the pharmacy assistant at Target, I was paying a "fee" because they ran it through my insurance, and my insurance was out of state. Huh?

So, basically, I am paying a fee to the State of Minnesota for having insurance. (If I didn't have insurance, I would pay the cash price of $4.00.) Or, perhaps, I am paying a fee for having an insurance provider in a different state.

Either way, a few cents on thousands of transactions a day certainly adds up. I really don't think it's fair, either.

Welcome to Minnesota!

Buying jeans

2009-03-04T14:08:00.006-06:00

I have adjusted to the fact that there are no longer jeans that go up to the natural waist...normal jeans now are what used to be called "low ride" jeans. They aren't altogether uncomfortable, and per the previous post, I have no back tattoos that need to be hidden, so it isn't a jean catastrophe. I just have to wear longer shirts.

But...here's what is irritating me. ALL of the jeans are too long now. I am 5'6"--not short by American female standards. ( In fact, 20 years ago I used to have a problem with jeans being too SHORT and I had to buy "tall" jeans.) I don't believe that everyone has become statuesque since then, so others MUST have this same problem.

So, I caved in and bought a pair of "petite" jeans, hoping to avoid having the cuffs of my jeans torn up and dissolved by the salt and snow of winter. Guess what? THEY WERE STILL TOO LONG! I really don't know how to sew (ask anyone from my middle school home economics class) and even my fashion dork self knows that rolling up the cuffs looks freaking bad. Here's some pictures of me in "petite" jeans.

So, I was wondering who in the world fits in these new, too long jeans? And where do the truly petite find jeans now?

I was just starting to worry that I might need Boniva prematurely when I was glancing through the Eddie Bauer catalog, and saw this.

So now I am wondering if I am the last remaining woman on earth who thinks that making jeans intentionally too long is a horrible design decision? And am I running around looking like a Glamour Fashion Don't because I am wearing jeans "too short"?

I am glad I live in Northern Minnesota, where no one cares...but even if I look like a dork, at least I am not tripping over my jeans!

Beware of Bad Tattoos

2009-03-03T01:05:00.004-06:00

I don't have a tattoo, and I don't have any intention of changing that. This doesn't mean, however, that I don't appreciate a good tattoo artist's work. In fact, I rather enjoy looking at other people's tattoos, especially if said tat has a story with it.

I was at Kmart today to pick up a prescription for my uncle. There was a fairly long line, and since Virginia is a fairly small city, there was not a separate line to talk to the pharmacist. I was behind a woman who was maybe five years younger than I, with a large tattoo on her upper arm and a pierced nose. (The tattoo was not a "sleeve", just a tattoo.) It was very strange-a colorful tiger walking out of a flower. The head of the tiger was on the shoulder, and the tail was buried in the flower. This got me thinking...even though the tattoo was strange, it was very well done.

As a voyeur of other people's tattoos, I CAN give one piece of advice. Beware of bad tattoo artists. This is something that, in all likelihood, will last for your entire life, so it is not the time to bargain shop. Here are some examples of bad tattoo art, of course with my snarky comments.

I am not entirely sure what this is supposed to be. Is it a tribal buffalo? An unfinished devil? A ghost of a very angry cow who haunts slaughterhouses? Your guess is as good as mine.

I think this is a cat. Or a lion. Or my mom's cat, Lucky, when she is forced to eat Iams cat food instead of the Fancy Feast she prefers? Or, perhaps, it is an aging Pomeranian who needs a grooming?
Jesus Wept. Honestly, He did.
I hope the owner of this tattoo does not suffer from depression, because looking at this every day would scare me. And make me sad.
I am hoping that this was a jail tattoo, only because I hate to think of anyone paying for it. Anyone care to guess what, exactly, it is? A walking blueberry? An M&M? An alien? I honestly have no clue.
Did this butterfly just hit the windshield?
This butterfly hit the windshield six months ago, but the owner of the car decided to wait for the rain to wash it off. Unfortunately, the owner lives in the desert, so the butterfly has baked onto the windshield. The owner felt kind of badly about it, and decided to immortalize the butterfly with a tattoo. Sorry, that's all I could think of...
In closing, I KNOW I don't have to tell you this, but never get a name on your body, anywhere, unless it is your child. Even then, babies turn into teenagers, and you still may live to regret it.

Tower Goes DOG WILD at the Wolf Track Classic!

2009-02-28T17:06:00.029-06:00

What does the last weekend in February mean? Well, it means that Groundhog Day, Valentines Day, and President's Day have passed until next year. It also signals the end of these:

Black History Month

International Boost Self-Esteem Month
(Sorry dad, but Minnesota & Franken was too
tempting)

Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month

In my new hometown of Tower, MN the last weekend in February also means it is the Wolf Track Classic Sled Dog Race!

There were 35 mushers in the 6 dog race-from Ely to Tower (30 miles), and 20 in the 8 dog race-from Ely to Tower and then back to Ely. The ones who stopped here had their prize ceremony, and the ones that continued had their prize ceremony in Ely.

Of course, I took a lot of pictures of the dogs. I was surprised that the dogs weren't really big, and about a fourth weren't huskies. The owners obviously love their dogs, and the dogs have a passion for running.

Here is a musher with two of her dogs after they finished the 6 dog race.

And another of the same musher. The dogs love her, too!
One of her dogs cools off by rolling around in the snow. And this dog also cares about fashion, as she insisted on her leather boots for the picture. :-)

A few more dogs who have finished the race.

"I love the snow! I bet I can eat it all!"

"Not so fast! I bet I can eat MORE snow!"
"See? My face is all covered with snow because I ate more!"
One of the eight dog teams turning the corner and heading back to Ely.
Another shot of the eight dog team with black boots like Santa.
Another one of the eight dog teams, all in matching florescent red boots for their big day.
One of the mushers on his sled. He had just finished the six dog race.
Another eight dog racer with the musher.
I think the yellow dog here is some sort of lab mix. He didn't want to stop!

These dogs crashed into the snowbank and the musher and others were helping get the dogs untangled. The lead dog obviously thinks his teammates are stupid to run into the snowbank.
"You wish you were as cool as I am."
Here's a picture of the musher and the sled.

Another eight dog team running and concentrating.
"We don't want to stop yet!"
"We love running! Off to Ely we go!"
"See you next year!"

FYI--The 125th anniversary of the first load of Iron Ore being shipped out of Tower will be celebrated July 24, 25 & 26 as the second annual Depot Days Festival. I will post more information as it becomes available.

It was 68 degrees in Kansas City...

2009-02-26T20:28:00.004-06:00

On occasion, I am asked if I miss Kansas City. It's a more complicated answer than a simple "yes" or "no". I guess the answer would be "sometimes." Sometimes, I long for the parts and pieces of my life I left there. I miss my computer guy. I miss the big Barnes & Noble on the Plaza. I miss diversity. I miss people-watching at the mall. I miss Oriental Salad from Wendy's. (The one with mandarin oranges) I miss my friends. I miss my dogs and the dog park. I miss my neighbors. Sometimes I miss the rush of the city, but sometimes I don't.

But today, I REALLY missed the weather. It snowed.ALL.DAY.LONG. I honestly don't mind shoveling, especially when the snow is pretty fluffy, like it was today. I even like how the trees look when the snow falls on them and how clean the earth looks with a fresh blanket of snow. But I am getting sick of it.

My mom and I went out to shovel today and we tried to have some fun with it. Here are some photos of the day.

My mom liked this picture best and the rest were deleted. :-)

I look terrible throwing snow...so I posed. Yes, I am on a hill of snow. My hair is awful because I had a cap on earlier, but took it off for vanity.

Rumor has it that March is the snowiest month. It warms up, which causes more snow. In a few years, I will be able to brag that I moved from "the South" to the Iron Range right as winter was coming, and I stayed!

Living In Oz now on Minnesota.com!

2009-02-24T10:43:00.003-06:00

After the outstanding number of hits for the Bob Dylan house, the blog was invited to join Minnesota.com! So feel free to check out the blogs and information on that website!

This blog will trudge along as always, but I will *try* to keep it updated a little more.

Thanks for reading!

Little Bobby Zimmerman's House

2009-02-21T22:54:00.009-06:00

**THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR VISITING FROM Expecting Rain and Dylan Radio!**

Ben and I went to his guitar lesson today, and decided to drive over to Hibbing afterward to hit the matinee of "Slumdog Millionaire." Great movie-well worth the price to see it. If you can't afford it, cut the popcorn and sneak in drinks. Yes, it's that good!

Anyway, before the movie started, we decided to get some pictures of Bob Dylan's (formerly known as Bobby Zimmerman) childhood home. I read an article about it, and apparently the current owners are not exactly Bob Dylan fans, but since they had so many people driving by, they had the garage door painted. Since we were going anyway, I made Ben go pose by it. I TRIED to get him to pose with his guitar (since it was in the car from the lesson) but he said he wasn't good enough to be posing in front of a Dylan painting with a guitar. I didn't get it, but he said it was a "musician thing". Fair enough.

The inconsiderate owners of the house had the audacity to park their car in their driveway.

Here is Ben posing in front of the garage door. He liked that it read, "Bob Dylan Blood on the Acks" He is wearing a Bob Dylan shirt, but I guess it doesn't show up, and it was too cold to go without a jacket.Here is another shot of Ben with the full door.
The side view of the house. It's on the corner, across from a huge Catholic church and school. Every gray-haired person in town was heading over there, it seemed...this was about 4:00 on a Saturday. I wondered out loud if this was a religious holiday or something, but Ben informed me that it's Hibbing, and people don't have much else to do. (edited to add: I apologize for not knowing that Catholics attend Mass on Saturday afternoons. My bad.) I don't know if the church was there when Dylan was living there (it looked newer than that) but it crossed my mind that it would have been funny for little Jewish Bobby Zimmerman to live across the street from a church.
This shows the "Bob Dylan Drive" sign in front of the house. Of course, the Garmin didn't understand "Bob Dylan Drive" and wouldn't find it. After we found the house (It's actually on 7th Ave) we went to go to the movie. We kept driving around and going back to the house. We decided that all roads in Hibbing lead to Bob Dylan's house.
OK, that was our big adventure this weekend! I have a job interview on Thursday for a social work job...should be interesting. I have been out of the field for years, but any job is a good job in this economy, and if I like it, that's a bonus.

Here is a scan from an exhibit that was held last summer in Chisholm, (just outside of Hibbing) which started my son's adoration of Bob Dylan. Little did we know then that we would be living up here!

6,000 Separate Paintings

2009-02-20T00:27:00.003-06:00

An art student spent two years making this five minute video. It is 6,000 separate paintings that were made into a video. For extra fun, stop the video at any time to see a painting. Really, really cool.

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

Bye George

2009-02-19T23:33:00.004-06:00

How did I miss this gem of a song? Jason Mraz meets MC JHowie and Julie K (who brought you "Her Stupidity Flows" and "Hey Sarah Palin".

ENJOY!

Top Chef and Squab

2009-02-19T01:02:00.006-06:00

I was watching "Top Chef" the other night, and the four remaining chefs were supposed to make a "last meal" for some famous chefs and food critics. One of the chefs was assigned "Squab". I love to eat and have a fairly broad range of food that I enjoy, but admittedly, I had no idea what squab even was. I guessed, correctly, that it was poultry of some type, but that's as much as I could guess. So, here is the definition of squab:

The gross part:
Squab", or young pigeon, has been bred for food for centuries dating back to early Asian and Arabic cultures.

And here's the sad part:
areful breeding, and a specially formulated diet of natural high proteins and whole grains produces meatier birds. Parent birds, or "breeders" mate for life and share the responsibilities of raising their young. True Squabs have never flown. Dressed for market 4 weeks after hatching, the meat of a Squab is distinctly unlike domestic poultry or wild game birds. Dark, moist and flavorful, each bird is prepared for market before it is old enough to fly.

Most of you who know me know that I don't eat veal or lamb. It's just...too sad for me to eat babies of any species. But, I will put my bias aside for a minute while I go back to the first description. Yes, in case you missed it, squab is a baby PIGEON. You know, the birds that are called, "rats with wings". The birds that poo on everything in the park.

And don't forget that gross things are called "Dirty Pigeons" (Look it up, if you must.) I wouldn't eat a grown pigeon, let alone a baby one...
But I DO have to wonder if, after all of that, it tastes like chicken?

Drunk Canadian steals...adult diaper!

2009-02-16T23:51:00.003-06:00

This appeared in the Edmunton, ON Sun. There was not one sentence that I didn't drink up and adore. This is just proof of two things: That there are stupid people in countries other than the United States, and that the Canadians have a wicked sense of humor, too.

BARRINGTON, N.S. -- Graham J. Nickerson is 27 and has worn women's undergarments at least once in his life.

He was really drunk when he did it on Aug. 16, 2008.

Nickerson pleaded guilty Thursday in provincial court to unlawfully entering the home of a senior citizen and stealing a pair of disposable Depend underwear.

It was a Saturday and the Cape Sable Island man was returning from a party somewhere, said defence lawyer Del Wickens.

Wickens told court his client got lost in the woods - and lost his trousers while relieving himself.

Nickerson was just wandering around when he came to a small home along a narrow dirt road in Clyde River.

He didn't know who lived there, said his lawyer.

He walked right in and that's when he spied a pair of women's disposable undergarments.

He put them on over his own underwear and then passed out on the floor.

At about 7 a.m., the 92-year-old woman returned. She had apparently been elsewhere overnight.

Court was told she found an unconscious man on her floor - one who was wearing some disposable women's undergarments.

That sent the woman scurrying down the road to her neighbour, former member of the legislature Cecil O'Donnell.

He said he heard her screams and drove back in his car to investigate, said Crown attorney Jim Fyfe.

Nickerson awoke, staggered outside and climbed into O'Donnell's front seat.

O'Donnell called 911 and the Mounties soon appeared on the scene.

Wickens said his client did not intend to harm anyone. But he said his client did form an intent to steal when he swiped the diaper for grownups. That's theft.

Judge Jim Burrill turned to Nickerson and asked, "How's all this make you feel?"

The reply was inaudible.

"That was the first time I touched alcohol in a long time," Nickerson then said.

Burrill fined the fish plant worker $250 and ordered him to stay away from booze while he's on probation for the next 12 months.

Snow, snow, snow...and a dance.

2009-02-16T12:24:00.003-06:00

Here is the front porch window, because the icicles are gigantic. I sometimes worry that one is going to fall, hit me on the head, and kill me. If no one finds me, the icicle will melt, and maybe the police will think it was a murder.

Hmmm...that gives me a story idea...a murder with no murder weapon!

And this is the birch tree in the front yard, complete with icicles off of the eaves.

Ben went to a dance at school on Friday night. He wore his new suit for the first time since he bought it. He looked so nice I decided to take some pictures.

He went with his friend Jerrill, who looks like he wants to kill him.
I made them smile for this picture. Of course, Ben had to exaggerate. Nice of Jerrill, though.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2009-02-15T00:11:00.007-06:00

I went for a walk the other day. It was snowing, then melting, then freezing, then snowing, so I wasn't sure how the paths would be. Because I broke my leg on ice a few years ago, I am borderline insane about my fear of slipping on the ice and falling again. I know, I have pins and bolts and things that have made the bones even stronger, but then again, I am in Northern Minnesota, and a bone fracture is not exactly outside the realm of possibility.

Fortunately, smart people out there have come up with these traction things that go on the bottom of shoes. This abated my fear enough to venture out into the great white north.

Pretty cool, huh? They stretch and snap onto the bottom, then velcro on the top. I remembered to put on a hat and gloves, put on my iPod and set out.
I snapped a few pictures for your enjoyment.

I love the look of light snow on cedar trees.

And this was the trail, with only one set of footprints on it before me. It felt a little like I was a pioneer...well, except that I am not even out of town, really, and there is a grocery store a block or two away...but it was still beautiful.
I am trying to be artsy here, except for it really WAS cool to look up and see the sky through the trees.

Some birch trees with snow. I just thought it looked cool. There are no birch trees in Kansas.
And some more cedars.
This is a little footbridge, used when there is a small river there in the summer. It is closed for winter.
Thumper was here! I didn't see any Bambi tracks, but I am sure he was around somewhere.
I walked far enough that the other person's footprints were gone, and I was now the first.
This tree is yelling that it is the tallest, but the other trees are saying that they are the taller, so the tallest tree started yelling that it was the oldest. Too bad that trees can't have snowball fights or grab people like in "The Wizard of Oz", because that would be really fun.
Well, I would have stayed out longer, but there was an unfortunate series of events. First, the batteries went out on my camera, then the traction thing came off of my sneaker, and then, my iPod ran out of charge, so I decided to come home.

Guess what was on Dr. Phil?

Oh, come on, you know who!

Yes, THAT crazy woman! Under normal circumstances, I would have said, "A uterus is not a clown car", said I was glad that the babies were all going to make it, and move along. But this is like a car accident on the side of the road, and I just can't.look.away! I have two kids. One is grown. I am sure I could have done a good job parenting a third if one had come along, but there is no way in hell that I could have parented 14 children under the age of 8. So thank goodness I had the sense not to have that damn many. I can't even begin to fathom it.

So, I watched Dr. Phil for the first time in close to a year. He, and the rest of society, said pretty much anything that I had to say about it. I hope that someone intervenes for the sake of the kids, since they had no choice in being born.

Ice Fishing and Snow Sculptures

2009-02-07T17:05:00.006-06:00

This is how I felt when I woke up and saw that there was still snow today.

Here are a few pictures of the snow on the birdhouses:

Today, we ventured to Ely, to look at the professional snow sculptures. There were quite a few, and all of them were very good. They were all different sizes...this is the largest!

(Yes, it is a big, white cat. Under it's paw is a bug of some sort that it caught.) The artists are shown working on it.

And here is the head of the cat, high in the air.

Here is an artist standing by his sculpture of Santa/Jack Frost carrying a child on his back.

This sculpture was named, "They Call the Wind Mariah".
Here are Ben and I in front of a sculpture of a bear playing a guitar, surrounded by wolves. (Yes, I am being a dork and "petting" the wolf. I didn't actually touch it because I didn't want to wreck it.)
A replica of the "Love" statue in Philadelphia:
A 3 foot snow bowling ball:

A big fish:

And, finally, "The Last of the Voyageurs"

After we saw the snow sculptures, we stopped at a cafe for a cup of hot chocolate. On the way, we saw a neat painting on the side of a building.

Ben went ice fishing the other day. It isn't as cold as it sounds, because my dad has an ice house, and they drill a hole into the ice and fish that way. The ice house is warm and cozy!

They fish on Lake Vermilion, and here is Ben with his walleye!

2009-02-04T15:03:00.000-06:00

Demon Self

2009-02-02T18:04:00.001-06:00

OK. I am walking through the cemetery in my old hometown (Bonner Springs, KS) and see this name. I wasn't sure if this was his real name or not, so I did some research. It was his real name, and this is the little bit of information I found on him.

Demon Self lived in Johnson COunty KS. He was killed in an auto accident north of Cincinnati, OH and his body was sent back to KS for burial. He was following an oversized load truck and some sort of accident happened causing Mr. Self's death. I am sorry I never had the opportunity to meet the man behind the name.

These ads were banned in California

2009-01-23T12:52:00.002-06:00

Back to Proposition 8...As most of you know, Prop 8 passed in California, banning gay marriage. Currently, the constitutionality of this is being challenged, but in the meantime, the Prop 8 opposition is trying to get their message across by way of the media. However, no stations would run these ads during the Obama inauguration. I post them here because I am wondering why they are found to be offensive? Here they are:

Boy sticks tongue on light pole

2009-01-17T10:51:00.000-06:00

Boy Licks Metal Pole, Gets Tongue Stuck

Indiana Boy Says He Was Dared By Friend

POSTED: 9:51 am EST January 15, 2009

UPDATED: 12:22 pm EST January 15, 2009

In a scene straight out of the movie "A Christmas Story," a 10-year-old Hammond, Ind., boy got his tongue stuck to a metal light pole.Shortly after 8:30 a.m., police found the boy with his tongue stuck to a streetlight pole, Bedford newspaper The Times reported. Temperatures in Hammond were around 10 degrees at the time.The Field Elementary School fourth-grader managed to mumble to police that a friend had dared him to lick the fixture. By the time an ambulance arrived, the boy was able to yank his tongue off the frozen pole, police said.Medics explained to the boy's mother, whom they described as "pretty upset," how to care for his bleeding tongue."You'd think everybody in the country had seen 'A Christmas Story' by now," a police officer told The Times. "Remember what happened to Flick." The 1983 movie is set in a fictional city based on Hammond, Ind., the hometown of author Gene Shepherd.

This sounds fishy to me...

2009-01-14T19:33:00.002-06:00

Virginia woman dies from head trauma after reportedly jumping from moving car

Published: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:24 PM CST

IRON — An 18-year-old Virginia woman has died from injuries suffered when she reportedly jumped from a moving vehicle driven by an Iron man on Highway 7 Friday evening, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department reported today.

Tina Marie Tracy was flown by Life Flight to St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth Friday night suffering severe head trauma. She never regained consciousness and died on Sunday. The St. Louis County Medical Examiner today ruled the cause of death massive head trauma, consistent with a fall from a moving vehicle, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

Record Cold/American Idol

2009-01-14T19:21:00.002-06:00

We are experiencing some near record cold up here in the Iron Range. It's cold!

We are feeding cracked corn to the deer to help them survive and stay warm. There is a little family-a dad, mom and yearling-who come up to the front yard to eat. Unfortunately, they come at night, and are startled fairly easily, so I couldn't get any pictures.

We are also Tivo-ing American Idol tonight, since the gang is in Kansas City. I remember when they came down there, and everyone was gearing up for it with "American Idol" this and that. Mostly contests. I had no idea then that I would be up here when it aired, but Ben and I are looking forward to seeing it. Ben is hoping he might know someone, and it will be fun to recognize some of the landmarks from my former home.

I want to snow what love is...

2009-01-11T17:30:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures of the snow. Apparently, this is not the most snow that we will get up here, as it snows the entire month of February as well. And, the temperature last night hit close to -50 degrees F. No, I did not venture out today...the folks up here are used to it, but me? Not so much.

2009-01-10T15:46:00.004-06:00

This is a little out of order, but Kaitlin was home from the Army for Christmas, and we got some pictures!

Paxton likes cold, hard cash. :-)

Nephews Gabe and Seth in their matching Batman jams

Ben fixed up his first electric guitar and gave it to the Hannah Montana crazy McKenna for Christmas. To say she was thrilled is an understatement!

Ben posing for his "first album cover" in the front yard in Minnesota.
The two grand-daughters, Kaitlin and McKenna.
Our little family on the front room in Minnesota

George heads to Kennebunkport

2009-01-10T03:15:00.003-06:00

No, not THAT George, THIS George:

NYC eatery grants freedom to lobster centenarian

NEW YORK – A 140-year-old lobster once destined for a dinner plate received the gift of life Friday from a Park Avenue seafood restaurant.

George, the 20-pound supercentenarian crustacean, was freed by City Crab and Seafood in New York City.

"We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace," said Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA spokesman Michael McGraw said the group asked City Crab to return George to the Atlantic Ocean after a diner saw him at the restaurant, where steamed Maine lobster sells for $27 per pound. George had been caught off Newfoundland, Canada and lived in the tank for about 10 days before his release.

Some scientists estimate lobsters can live to be more than 100 years old. PETA and the restaurant guessed George's age at about 140, using a rule of thumb based on the creature's weight.

He was to be released Saturday near Kennebunkport, Maine, in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden.

**THE LETTER FROM PETA, INITIATING THE LOBSTER'S RELEASE, IS HERE

Mule saves a woman's life!

2009-01-07T01:29:00.000-06:00

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. – Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.

Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire. She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.

She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.

Solomon said she has 'lost it all', but credits Lou with saving her life.

Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home. The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.

Mall of America

2009-01-03T13:22:00.006-06:00

Finally, an update.

Kaitlin came to MN for her two week vacation from the Army. She is stationed in San Antonio, TX, so she was very cold for awhile! We went to my brother's house near Joplin, MO after Christmas for a family get-together, then Kaitlin had to return to the Army.

To give her a fun send-off, we went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. It is gigantic. Here are some pictures:

And, Ben found a Fender electric 6 string that he decided he couldn't live without:

2008-12-08T01:41:00.002-06:00

Wow, it really snows here! I figured out that I have only "been through" one other winter like this, and it was in Ishpeming/Marquette, MI in 1990/91. So, yes, it's been awhile.

I am heading to Hibbing to get a print out of my social security number so I can prove I am legal. I will take the camera in case I find anything interesting. Yes, I know that Bob Dylan was raised there (I am not sure if he is currently admitting this or not, but he was little Bobby Zimmerman from Hibbing, dontcha know?) I have never been there before, so it should be a change. I am listening to the new Stephen King short stories book on my iPod to make the drive shorter.

There were deer hoof prints in the backyard this morning. Maybe if I am patient, I can get a picture.

Sarah Palin's prophecy

2008-12-06T03:08:00.002-06:00

OK, bear with me here. Yes, we are all a little sick of Sarah Palin, but I wanted to share an observation. Shortly after she lost the election, she was on Greta Van Sustern's show on Faux news. She described bloggers who criticized her as "in their pajamas, blogging from their parent's basement." Here is the clip:

Granted, when I watched this the first time, I was still blogging from the house I shared with my husband in Kansas City. Now? Well...I am in my pajamas, blogging from my parent's attic. (Because in northern Minnesota, the basements are just too cold.) Now I am not going to openly admit that Sarah Palin can predict my future, but...well...(gulp).

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T17:36:00.002-06:00

This was my first Thanksgiving in MANY years with my extended family. The bonus was the crispness of the fresh snow and the new snow falling down, while we were inside my grandparent's old house. It was this delicious mixture of tradition, memories, nostalgia and passing on something to my son to cherish as well. Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

I have to head back to Kansas City within the next little while to get the things Ben and I left there, talk to Alan, and get a sense of where our lives will be in a year. I have mixed feelings about it. I would like to get some of the things we had to leave behind, but I don't want to deal with the other shoe dropping, and knowing that the marriage is over. Some things can't be fixed.

We aren't in Kansas anymore...

2008-11-27T05:39:00.002-06:00

Well, at least Ben and I aren't. As most of my close friends know, the Wicked Witch came to Kansas, and we hopped on the backs of some flying monkeys and headed to Northern Minnesota, where we have family.

A few things:

Yes, I am originally from Minnesota, but the southern part. (Yes, there is a difference!) My GRANDPARENTS lived here...but I have never lived here. It is a very small town.

Yes, I did go outside in socks, forgetting that this isn't Kansas.

Yes, I did get confused when the Thanksgiving stuffing was referred to as "dressing".

And finally, yes, Toto and Dorothy were indeed left behind in the tornado, so no need to tell the jokes. But if you do, I promise to pretend we have never heard them before...(but I have...)

A few Kansas signs

2008-11-15T04:24:00.004-06:00

This sign always reminds me of my Minnesota roots. But really? Minnesota Avenue is not really somewhere you want to be at night. Unless you are up to no good..

And a funny photoshop. Although our school board is getting better...

Proposition 8 rally/protest

2008-11-15T02:11:00.003-06:00

Ben and I will be there tomorrow. No, I am not forcing Ben to go, he wants to go to give support to some friends at school. It is supposed to be cold and windy, so we will be armed with hot chocolate/Starbucks and Chapstick!

I gained some "totally cool" mom points tonight by taking Ben to a small symphony and he got to "hang out" with some of the members at the 75th Street Brewery afterward. Real musicians! We drank freshly brewed root beer and talked music. As we were driving home, Ben was on fire, continuing to talk about music and some of the things he had learned. He said, "Mom, you have cool friends! Thanks for bringing me."

It's those little moments that make me happy.

Open letter to my congressman, Dennis Moore.

2008-11-13T01:43:00.007-06:00

I emailed this to my Congressman. I will keep y'all updated if I get a response. I know I don't stand a chance, but I had to try.

Dear Mr. Moore,

I am just an ordinary person who lives in your district, except I have magical skills. Every time I voted for you in Wyandotte County, you won the county. When I moved to Johnson County and voted for you, you won Johnson County for the first time! Now, you can pretty much sit back and relax, as your Congressional seat is safe. I will keep voting for you and the magic will continue. You did notice that Nancy Boyda didn't keep her seat. Do you know why? My sister also has magical skills, and she moved out of Lawrence to Wisconsin. She sends her apologies to your colleague.

So, I REALLY want some tickets to the inauguration on January 20. I promise, I have no intent to sell them. I seriously want to go. You see, it has been a very long 8 years, and my brother lacks magical skills. He couldn't deliver Missouri for Obama, despite his hundreds of hours canvassing in Joplin. So he deserves to go with me to the Inauguration of our 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

I am not a major campaign contributor and I have no political "clout." I am, in fact, just an average constituent who works hard. Would it help if I pull the, "My daughter is in the Army" card? Because if I have to use her, I will.

I have no idea how to get anything that the privileged people get, because I have never been one, but I promise to remain in your district and use my magical skills to keep you in office for whatever you want. Want Sen. Brownback's seat? I will use my skills. (Although I can't guarantee my skills work for Senatorial candidates. So far, they haven't...they might only work for you...)

Anyway, I know you are getting lots of requests for tickets, and I guess you owe people favors. I don't have the money to buy favors, but I will gladly accept lawn seats. No one I know has ever been to any sort of inauguration, and I promise to take pictures, blog about it, only say great things about you, and send letters to all of the newspapers about your wonderful act. Think of the human interest story! A complete nobody gets tickets to the most important inauguration of all time!

I have two rescue dogs and a rescue cat. Does that help?

I'm a nice person. How's that?

I don't mind sharing a name with your wife. (How can you resist?)

Well, thanks for your time in reading this, and please think about my magical voting skills when considering how to disperse your tickets. And my brother REALLY deserves to go, since, you know...he lacks the magical voting skills....

Thanks for reading this, Mr. Moore's secretary, and please forward this to him if you feel like average, ordinary people...not wealthy nor privileged...should have an opportunity to watch history happen.

Sincerely,
Your Constituent in Kansas District 3

Sad and scary.

2008-11-12T19:40:00.002-06:00

Police identify body of Paula Abdul's stalker
Posted: November 12, 2008, 4:28 PM by Ben Kaplan
Television, news

Described by her parents as “an extreme fan,” 30-year-old former American Idol contestant Paula Godspeed was found dead yesterday morning in front of the Sherman Oaks, California home of Idol judge Paula Abdul.

“This individual had an infatuation with Ms. Abdul,” Capt. Jim Miller of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department told a Los Angeles-based reporter with Fox News.

Late yesterday afternoon, a reporter with TMZ snapped a photograph of the automobile in which Godspeed was found. The license plate read “ABL LV,” which could be an abbreviation of “Abdul Love.”

“That’s certainly an obsessive behavior,” says Dr. Karen Abrams, an expert in women’s mental health and stalking at Toronto General Hospital. According to Dr. Abrams, an “extreme fan” may attempt something like suicide or murder in order to link themselves with a celebrity.

“It could be precipitated with the realization that they were never going to enter into a relationship,” says Dr. Abrams, who adds that sensational celebrity-related crimes have spiked in proportion to the media’s coverage of entertainer’s private lives. “If you’re lonely and mentally unstable, this kind of coverage creates a false sense of intimacy,” Dr. Abrams said.

A representative for Ms. Abdul said that Ms. Godspeed was known to Abdul and her staff. E! News reported that Godspeed had been stalking Abdul for 17 years. After twice auditioning for the program, she appeared in a 2006 episode in which she talked about being influence by Abdul.

“I make life-sized drawings of Paula,” she said. “I have since I was a little girl.”

“Brace yourself, Paula, for your number one fan,” said host Ryan Seacrest before Godspeed performed a version of Ike and Tina Turner’s Proud Mary, which the judges said left them “speechless.”

“That was terrible, what was that?” judge Randy Jackson said.

When Godspeed was reported missing by her parents on Tuesday night, they gave the authorities Ms. Abdul’s address as a possible lead. Like previous stalking cases involving David Letterman and Madonna, Dr. Abrams believes this may be a case of an unstable person trying to tie themselves to a star.

“Fans become a danger to themselves or others when they feel like they have a special relationship with an entertainer,” Dr. Abrams says. “By killing that person or killing themselves in front of them, that brings them attention and they’ll always be linked with them in some way.”

Authorities found prescription drugs at the apparent suicide scene.

Nationwide Protest of Prop 8

2008-11-11T18:53:00.004-06:00

On November 15. (Saturday) 10:30 am PST/1:30 PM EST. I will *try* to go, if I can get there. Lots of places in Kansas City, MO, but it's a time constraint issue. If I can get there and not miss work, I will. And unlike the Obama rally, I WILL remember my camera!

Click here for more information for your area.

Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Prop 8

2008-11-11T00:49:00.008-06:00

Just a note: This is regarding Prop 8 in California. There have been other "Constitutional Amendments" to ban gay marriage passed in other states (like mine). The reason Prop 8 is causing so much more pain, anger and outrage is because they HAD the RIGHT TO MARRY UNTIL PROPOSITION 8 PASSED. So the people of California took a right AWAY from people. I didn't expect it to pass, and was shocked that it did. Hopefully, it will be overturned.

In Arkansas, they not only passed an amendment to ban gay marriage, but to also ban "unmarried couples" from adopting or fostering children in state care. This is despite the fact that Arkansas has 3 times the number of children in need of care than they do foster homes for them. So where do these children go? Some lucky ones might have a (non gay, of course) family member who has the resources to take them. The rest? Group homes, "emergency foster homes" and other institutions. NOT a home, but a bed. Of course, it also excludes male/female unmarried couples from fostering and adopting as well, BUT they CAN "fix it" by marrying. Because of Arkansas' particularly harsh legislation, gay couples have no recourse. Will their foster children be torn away from them now and sent to an institution? Isn't that taking the rights of the children away? (Not to mention their foster parents!)

On to the video:

I completely and passionately agree with Keith, but I HAVE asked people WHY they care about gay marriage. They say it's because they fear "moral decline". Yes, two people loving each other...is bad. People wanting to become partners for life is wrong. They are as absolute in their beliefs against it as I am for it. As for Keith's comment about "Do unto others as they would do unto you", well, they have an answer for that as well-they feel that, as servants of Jesus, they are to "love" the sinner (ie Homosexual) but not assist him/her IN sinning. Therefore, they feel that they DO have the right to "morally intervene" for the sake of the "sinner" and of society.
What they forget is that neither G-d nor Jesus EVER said to worry about what your neighbor is doing. G-d only commands us to take care of our own "sins" and to reach out and help others. (Told by Jesus..."He who is without sin shall cast the first stone.")
Personally? I would have voted against Prop 8, as I did with similar legislation in Kansas. (For the record, ours passed with over 70%. Sigh) But maybe this is something that needs to move to a Federal level, as a Constitutional question to the Supreme Court. No, churches will not be forced by the government to perform gay wedding ceremonies. The constitution protects churches from the government just as it protects the government from the churches. But churches that CHOOSE to do wedding ceremonies for ALL people making that commitment WOULD be able to, and those people would be allowed the same privileges (and pains!) as I am allowed. And their relationship would be legally recognized, like mine is. I understand that people get scared, and that's okay. But, as Martin Luther King said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." All of us have taken those "leaps of faith" and followed what we know is right, even though we may be afraid.

ETA: Here's a clip from "The Gist" radio call-in show. One of the Mormons who spent a lot of money to get Prop 8 passed called in to defend herself. She doesn't do a very good job. Listen until the end. Seriously scary.

Barack Video

2008-11-10T14:14:00.001-06:00

The OTHER Dexter who works in a lab

2008-11-09T23:13:00.002-06:00

OK,so I have a few television addictions. This is my primary addiction-Dexter on Showtime. Just a humble blood spatter expert...who also is a serial killer who kills serial killers. (Something called, "Harry's Code", after his adoptive cop father who, realizing Dexter was a sociopath, gave him ground rules.)

Anyway, Dexter has been flirting with Harry's Code, and is being outright rogue with it this season. (Killing a convicted child molester who had honed in on his fiance's daughter; killing to cover his tracks...even though, technically, dude fit the code). Anyway, tonight he did a mercy killing that made me cry. Not fair to twist me up like that, Dexter! But I have to say, the writing was incredible and the show just does not get old.

McCain campaign vs High School

2008-11-09T01:54:00.004-06:00

I was shopping for groceries today (Alan said he was going to get groceries, but came home with...nothing. He didn't know what to buy. So that task is back on my list)and my mind was wandering back to that long, long time ago last week. You remember, when we were cautiously optimistic about Obama winning, but terrified by the vile crap coming from the McCain campaign. Some woman with bad hair in Minnesota saying she had "been reading" that Obama was "an Arab", people in the audiences at McCain's rallies yelling, "Kill him" and "Off with his head." Ah, the fifties...I mean, last week.

I remembered high school. Yes, that disease we all must go through before we can enter into adulthood. That...strange odyssey where some adults want to remain forever and others, like me, choose to forget.

But every high school can really be summed up much like the ultimate movie of my generation, "The Breakfast Club" except, well, there was no mean girl in that movie. All separated into out own little cliques, trying desperately to fit in. What we DIDN'T know when we were going through it, though, was that EVERYONE was in the same mode. Everyone was trying to find their own little place in the world, even the mean girls.

John McCain was indeed an American hero. But his high school nickname was "McNasty" and he admits to having a fierce and quick temper. He did indeed suffer in a VietNam prison camp for five years and I will not minimize that nor blame the victim. However, he seemed "stuck" in Viet Nam. It's like a loop of tape...he just can't accept that America made a mistake. And by the way he campaigned, it felt as if he had not grown from his experience nor learned to appreciate the good things that have come his way since he was released. He is still there, trying to get revenge on his oppressors. Or, perhaps, he is still "McNasty."

Sometimes, a person can be fairly benign alone, but when coupled with another person, they can become something completely different. Like Karla Homolka. Most professionals say that, had she never met Paul Bernardo, she never would have been violent or killed anyone. But she did meet him, and she was involved in the murders of several teenagers, including her own sister. I think John McCain is, overall,a decent guy. Yes, he has a temper and probably is not the most polite person, but he is not a racist or bigot.

Enter Sarah Palin. She truly is a mean girl. She threw her own teenage daughter, Bristol, under the bus before the Republican National Convention even started. She gave a speech that was snarling and nasty. She divided America, right then and there, and continued to do so. What she lacked in intelligence and curiosity she made up for in utter nastiness. She could rarely say what John McCain's campaign was all about, but would insist that Barack Obama was "risky", "pallin' around with terrorists" (plural, though only one name ever emerged)and that anyone who was educated, or from a city, or not from a small town was "not a real American." Sarah was definitely stuck in high school. Stuck in "mean girl" mode.

And that's what I concluded in the grocery store. That McCain's campaign was run by two high school bullies who ganged up on the "other people". Except they forgot one thing. The "other people" had already been through high school, and were over it. They were grown ups. And they had had enough of high school leadership and said, resoundingly, "Enough."

Chris and Sonja: I love you, but not this much!

2008-11-08T18:09:00.003-06:00

Police: 90-year-old living with 3 siblings' bodies

5 hours ago

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — A 90-year-old woman well-liked by her neighbors apparently has been living in a house with the bodies of three siblings, one of whom may have been dead since the early 1980s, police say.

Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther says the bodies were found Friday in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, after authorities were called by a senior advocate.

The woman was taken to a hospital for observation. Her identity was not released.

Autopsies were planned but Guenther said police do not suspect foul play. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said it could be some time before causes of death can be determined because the deaths occurred so long ago.

Neighbors described the woman as alert and aware, and said she was well liked on their close-knit block of large, historic homes. She enjoyed gardening and shared her plants with others, they said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the dead as Anita Bernstorff, who was last seen alive in May 2008, Frank Bernstorff, not seen alive since 2003, and Elaine Bernstorff, who was last seen alive in the early 1980s.

Anita Bernstorff was the eldest, born in 1910.

North Carolina goes Obama!

2008-11-06T14:01:00.003-06:00

Former Red-Stater North Carolina has officially turned blue, along with her neighbor to the north, Virginia. Unfortunately, the evil twin to the south, South Carolina, is still redder than radishes.

The last time North Carolina went red was in 1976, for Jimmy Carter.

North Carolina is the ninth Bush 2004 state that Obama turned blue. The others are Virgina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

North Carolina also booted out carpetbagger Elizabeth Dole of her Senate seat. They also elected their first female Governor, Democrat Beverly Purdue.

Why do I care? Because I love North Carolina. It has mountains, seasons, ocean and an affordable standard of living. This brings Obama's total to 364 electoral votes. It's a long shot, but maybe he can grab Missouri for fun.

Just to be an election nerd.

2008-11-06T04:14:00.002-06:00

The totals for the Presidential election are in for every state except Missouri and North Carolina. So far, MO is going McCain and NC is going Obama. The wonderful part is that neither state is a "must have" for Obama, since he pretty much had a landslide. I just wanted MO to go blue because my brother worked so hard volunteering for Obama. On the flip side, they can now stop boasting about predicting all of the elections correctly except one. I am also watching NC as we plan to live there "someday". I would really prefer to move to a blue state by the ocean that we can afford.

Anyway, John McCain did the worst on "lowest percentage." He only got 7% of DC. But that's not really fair, since DC is historically a huge Democratic "state" and I have rarely seen double digits for ANY DC Republican.

So, we move along to the state that likes to claim Obama, Hawaii. McCain got 27% there. (In Obama's current home state, McCain got 37%. He did the same in Delaware, California, New York & California). He did worse only in Massachusetts, with 36%.
None of those are particularly shocking, because those have always been solid blue states.

What surprised me was how Obama did relatively well in the hard core red states. No surprises that he lost any of these states, but his lowest percentage was Wyoming with 33%, followed by Utah and Oklahoma with 34%. Then it was Alabama and Arkansas with 39%. In every other solid red state, Obama took at least 40%. In places like Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Louisiana, I would consider that a win for Obama. In my state, Kansas, he got 41%...sort of a victory, considering most Democratic Presidents don't get out of the 30s.

Highest percentage McCain: 66%--OK
Highest percentage Obama: 93% DC and for a state, Hawaii with 72%.

Kaitlin picks her college...

2008-11-06T03:04:00.004-06:00

Kaitlin's training in the Army makes her eligible for college credits for the classes she takes. I assumed she would pick the University of Kansas, but apparently she REALLY wants to cut her ties to Kansas. Or, she just likes high-priced education when she doesn't have to pay for it!

She picked:
The George Washington University. She will earn 60 credit hours for her coursework and clinicals as a lab tech, which, as of the summer of 2008 was $971/ credit hour. We could never, in a lifetime or even two lifetimes, send our child to a college with that prestige or cost. Just another opportunity for her that makes me so proud!

Even though she will never actually attend the "brick and mortars" campus of GWU, it sure looks like a nice school. :-) And the credits, degree, and license are the same whether she attends the college or does it through the Army and online. So here are some pictures of the college, just for snob appeal and all that. :o)

YES WE DID!

2008-11-05T02:13:00.011-06:00

And we made it loud and clear! I haven't been this hyped or amazed since my daughter was born. I stayed up all night just staring at her, amazed by her beauty and innocence, empowered and emboldened by her birth.

This is, indeed, much like a childbirth. A new life, in the wreckage of eight years of disasters, wars, and famine in the streets of New Orleans. And through all of that, we remained hopeful...and hope, we learned, sometimes can be birthed by a nation.

Our recent visit to the National Civil Rights Museum was not lost on us...we have moved on from a very horrendous history of slavery and racism to electing the first African-American President in the United States AND the western world. In one fell swoop, we changed history and not only cracked the ceiling for our children and grandchildren, but we blew off the roof. Another birth, the birth of a new America, where ALL men are truly...created equal.

Here's a video I made to commemorate this historical event. I wanted it to play Sam Cooke's "Change is gonna come" but iTunes is mean and won't let me share. Actually, I think the music used is better. Look to the future, but never forget the past.

Remembering Lisa Steinberg

2008-11-04T01:36:00.010-06:00

I know that the election is important, but I didn't want the day to go by without remembering a little 6 year old girl who was murdered by the man she knew as her daddy, attorney Joel Steinberg, in 1987. She should be remembered today because this sweet little girl deserved better. And hopefully, she is in a better place than lying naked on the filthy floor of a bathroom, where she lie as the man who never legally adopted her freebased cocaine. Despite numerous calls to Child Protective Services in the last year of her life, no action was ever taken. The call for an ambulance was the call that finally got Lisa out of that home...
unfortunately, she never knew she was safe and died three days later.

Above is the last known picture of Lisa, along with drawings that she made, indicating her abuse. This photo was taken by another parent at a school Halloween party.

Her younger brother,Mitchell, also illegally adopted, was saved and returned to his birth mother. He is grown now, and doing well.
Joel Steinberg, the man who hit her so badly that he put her into an irreversible coma, has been released from prison. He has been disbarred, but still had enough friends that he landed a job in television and an apartment in Greenwich Village. He hopes to someday host his own show. His not legally married partner, Hedda Nausbaum, was so severely abused that she was not prosecuted. She lives in an undisclosed location and refuses to discuss the case. Michelle Launders, her birth mother, successfully sued the City of New York for their negligence in not removing Lisa, as well as Steinberg for her death.

Michelle Launders was able to claim her body and she was given both a Catholic funeral for her mother's faith, and Kiddush was read for her, as Lisa was Jewish. I think that was an amazing act of "reaching across the aisle" for the love of the child she never knew.

I often wonder what she would be like now. For some reason, this case has always haunted me.

We have not forgotten you, little angel. You will never be forgotten.

Elizabeth "Lisa" Steinberg (Launders)
May 14, 1981 to November 4, 1987.

Obama video with Paul Simon

2008-11-03T13:58:00.002-06:00

One last Obama video before the election. Paul Simon sings "An American Tune." It says it all.

McCain supporter takes candy from babies

2008-11-02T13:23:00.006-06:00

And doesn't play well with others, either. This is even worse than the lady who handed out little Bible verse booklets about the evils of Halloween! At least she always put candy in with them and didn't proselytize at the door!
And someone needs to remind the McCain supporting genius that...toddlers and children CAN'T VOTE. And I am sure that denying kids candy (and they are just ONE miniature size peanut M&Ms anyway..big whoop! And what if a McCain supporter's child had a peanut allergy? Have any alternatives?) will convince their Obama supporting parents to vote for McCain. So THESE are the people who support McCain...

Oh, and on the video, a boy named "Langston". I am assuming after Langston Hughes, the poet. Smart parents, smart kid.

I did get a "Hey, we need to stick together!" from a mom at my Obama sign, and those kids got extra candy. But so did the kid dressed as a fireman, the cute little dalmation, the baby in a pumpkin costume, the zombie homecoming queen and her skeleton friend, and anyone who had mom or dad with them had to "get some for mom/dad, too!" We try to give it all away, so we don't get fatter eating it. (We had Butterfingers, Hannah Montana Chocolate Pop Rocks, and Blow-pops for the kids with peanut allergies.)

NRA-Tell me again why we don't need gun control?

2008-11-01T22:41:00.002-05:00

Summary: Three boys are out trick or treating with their daddy when a CONVICTED FELON falsely believes he is being robbed...(because, you know, robbers knock on the door carrying plastic pumpkins before they come in) and OPENS FIRE with an automatic weapon, killing one of the boys and injuring the others. His girlfriend tries to flee with their two year old baby (YES, a BABY was in the house while he was shooting 30 rounds) and is also arrested.

ENOUGH! That's two innocent little boys in one week, not counting the little boy who accidentally shot himself in the head on a gun range because the recoil of the Uzi was too strong for him. While his dad watched. Ready to take pictures.

I love to shoot weapons at the range and have no problem with normal people owning guns. But how can the NRA defend this one?

Police: SC man who shot trick-or-treater to death was convicted felon afraid of being robbed

By MEG KINNARD | Associated Press Writer
5:39 PM CDT, November 1, 2008

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) _ An ex-convict who thought he was being robbed gunned down a 12-year-old trick-or-treater, spraying nearly 30 rounds with an assault rifle from inside his home after hearing a knock on the door, police said Saturday.

*He looks like a sweet little boy.*

Quentin Patrick, 22, is accused of killing 12-year-old T.J. Darrisaw on Friday night. T.J.'s 9-year-old brother, Ahmadre Darrisaw, and their father, Freddie Grinnell, were injured but were released after being treated at a hospital.

The family attended a Halloween celebration in downtown Sumter, 45 miles east of Columbia, then stopped at Patrick's house because the porch light was on, police said. Another sibling was with them, but wasn't hurt.

Police said at least two of the boys were wearing ghoulish masks when they knocked on the door. The boys' mother and a toddler stayed in the car nearby.

Patrick emptied his AK-47, shooting at least 29 times through his front door, walls and windows after hearing the knock, Police Chief Patty Patterson said.

He told police he had been robbed and shot in the past year.

"He wasn't going to be robbed again, and he wasn't going to be shot again," Patterson said Saturday at a news conference.

She said T.J., a bright young man, suffered multiple wounds, including a fatal shot to his head. No one answered the door at the family's home Saturday.

"This is by far one of the worst tragedies that I have had to personally experience," Patterson said. "It happened basically because kids were out doing what they would normally do on Halloween."

Patrick has been charged with murder, three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, and one count of assault with intent to kill.

Police said they also charged a 19-year-old in his home, Ericka Patrice Pee, with obstruction of justice when she was caught trying to run away after the shooting with $7,500 in cash. Patterson did not give an explanation for the money.

Pee's 2-year-old daughter was inside during the shooting and is now being cared for by family members.

Patterson said Patrick had multiple drug convictions but police do not believe he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the shooting. Authorities did not know if Patrick or Pee had attorneys. Both are being held without bond.

A man who identified himself as Patrick's brother but declined to give his name said in a call to The Associated Press that he believed Patrick was suffering from post-traumatic stress after a break-in last December. The man's account matched the information police provided.

"We want to let his family know that this is a total tragic accident," he said. "He was trying to protect his family."

Patrick's home is off a busy, two-lane road in Sumter, a city of about 40,000 people. On Saturday, shattered glass still covered the front stoop and about 20 bullet holes peppered the front door and a front-window casement. A firefighter used a hose to wash bloodstains away.

The shooting shocked residents of a neighborhood where most people know each other well.

"I just hate it that that little kid got killed. It used to be the quietest place. I knew everybody and everybody knew me," said Vivian Johnson, 81, who lives two doors from Patrick and Pee but said she did not know them.

County Councilman Charles Edens said he lives just a few blocks away and passed the crime scene on his way back from trick-or-treating with his 13-year-old daughter, who was upset by the news.

"It's going to put a dampening on Halloween," Eden said. "I would think twice about going to a door that we don't know who lives behind."

Kaitlin kicks it through Basic, with video!

2008-10-31T23:01:00.005-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All of the video has Kaitlin, but I had to film it from the DVD onto my camera, so it isn't the greatest. She is also the one NOT LOOKING while getting an IV.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T18:48:00.005-05:00

First, a trick...
And then a treat!
One trick or treater was dressed as a nice man, but the other was so scary that even the dogs fled from the room! Where DID she hide that rifle?

Dinner tonight, slacker style

2008-10-31T01:03:00.004-05:00

So, we overspent on our vacation by $147.00. For a thousand dollar vacation, I don't think that's too awful, but stuff adds up. The forgotten memory card for the camera when we went to Myrtle Beach, junk like beef jerky and cokes at gas stations, a Rolling Stone magazine when we were lost getting back (Boy, did I score cool points with Ben, though! He didn't think I knew "Rolling Stone". I told him I had a subscription before kids. It's a regular magazine now, and not the "tabloid newspaper"style. He knows I had a life before him...I taught him "Punk Rock Girl" and all of the Springsteen songs...but yet...) and taking Kaitlin out to eat a few times. We really did keep costs down, but anyway...we are eating in for awhile.

So I had no idea what to make for dinner tonight. Alan gets a bunch of Omaha Steaks from his sister every year for his birthday, which I put in the big freezer. I took them all out, precariously balanced them in the freezer on top of the fridge, and opened it to see which box would fall out.

So I took out four steaks to defrost, knew it wouldn't be enough for a teenager and Alan, and grabbed two of my coveted organic, free range chicken breasts for good measure. (And, well, for me...) I was searching through the big freezer for veggies and some elusive third item when I found these:

I remembered buying them. They were outlandishly expensive-I want to say $5.89 retail, but they were on sale AND I had a coupon for $1.oo off, which brought them into "slacker chef" price. Yes, I KNOW my dietician said that potatoes are one of the things I should eat organic, but she isn't paying our food bill. I do what I can to avoid pesticides.

These were very good, but not worth it at full price. AND, it requires three steps, definitely outside the number of steps a slacker chef should have to take for a side item. You steam the potatoes in the microwave for ten minutes. Then, wait two minutes (during that time, you can search frantically through the kitchen for the oven gloves that are advised when you hold the bag to open it.) Then you have to cut the top open, pour them into a bowl, add 2/3 cup of milk, and mash them.

I dug out some Schwans asparagus that was flash frozen and delicious, and we had dinner. They made four one cup servings, as advertised on the back. I don't think potatoes are worth more than $1 a serving, though, so we won't buy them at regular price unless we won the lottery. But, if we won the lottery, I would have a chef AND be able to afford organic potatoes, so there ya go.

The Bible contains more than 300 verses on the poor, social justice, and God's deep concern for both.

2008-10-30T19:52:00.008-05:00

Dear "Anonymous"
The Bible contains more than 300 verses on the poor, social justice, and G-d's deep concern for both. As you read these passages, you will very likely feel a good deal of resistance (possibly at first manifesting itself as indifference). That's okay. Judging, blaming and holding dear to one's beliefs is what makes people feel secure. You may want to rationalize these verses, to say that I am only one person, an open non-Christian, who is interpreting the verses incorrectly. I understand. Rejecting Christianity for Judaism was NOT an easy thing to do. I didn't want my very quietly Christian grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles to feel that I had spit on them or their beliefs. My love for them did not change. My love for my Christian friends did not change. I do not "hate" anyone...the opposite of love is not hate, but rather, it is indifference. Hatred has no place in my life. I just saw the world a little differently, and it pressed me enough to convert. So I know that resistance. You don't WANT to feel it, yet there it is...

But try to get past the initial resistance. Spiritual growth doesn't come from what goes down easily, or what we like to hear and read. It comes from what's different, and even difficult. I know this first hand. I learned that I can have a different view on things than the people I deeply love, and still deeply love them and, more importantly, RESPECT THEIR BELIEFS.

Obviously, I am not going to list a bunch of verses. But I will list some that I find valuable.

G-d loves and has concern for the poor:

Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read... "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Ps. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.

Is 41:17. The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

Luke 6:20-21. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

James 2:5. Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

I think it's fair to say that some Republicans-and Americans- attitudes toward the poor-- are mostly disdain and fear. They're dangerous and different, which is scary. Sometimes it's easy to say it's their own fault, that they're lazy or inferior.And even for the more kind hearted, the poor are not pleasant to be around...it's a bummer.

These attitudes are a world away from G-d's attitudes, as described in these verses. Neediness arouses compassion in G-d-- and action.

We may think: "Of course G-d loves the poor; he loves everybody." But it's not so simple as that; G-d's character is presented as a model for our own. If G-d values the poor, we have to think about what that means for us. We are made in His image.

G-d's commands concerning the poor:

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Deut. 26:12. When you have finished paying the complete tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied.

Prov. 31:8. [Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, "Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."

Mt. 5:42. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

Luke 14:12-14. "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Luke 12:44. "Sell your possessions and give alms; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Mt. 19:20. The young man said to Him, "All these commands I have kept; what am I still lacking?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Americans like money; the American dream is about being rich and successful. It's about working hard. I understand your resistance. Giving up something you have earned by working hard to give it to someone you feel is less deserving is not an easy task. I understand that. But it isn't ME telling you this, it is the G-d of Abraham who is. It is Jesus who is. I am only a blogger who is responding to a comment. I would not dream of speaking for G-d.

Who are the poor, by the way? Among our rationalizations is the feeling that the actual poor aren't people we really have to pay attention to. They may be of different races, or not speak our language, or aren't moral enough for us; they may be illegal immigrants. (Imagine that, a class of human beings that are illegal. Imagine explaining that to God. When we were brought to the Promised Land, were we not illegal immigrants?) They are the people who clean your hotel rooms, pick up your trash, and ring up your groceries. Some of them are military veterans who couldn't quite adapt to civilian life, or the mentally ill, or people who just were born in the hole and couldn't quite work their way out. And yes, some are alcoholics, drug addicts, and "bums".

G-d doesn't want to hear these excuses; he specifically commands us to help the stranger, the alien, the sojourner, the homeless, the visitor, the diseased and blighted. Jesus' command on dinner parties couldn't be clearer: the people you need to help are not the people like you, the people you like, the people who can repay you. As for racial prejudice, note that the first person in the gospel of John to whom Jesus clearly confesses to being the Messiah is a Samaritan; Samaritans were despised by the orthodox Jews of the time. (And for that matter, she was a woman, and an adulterer.)Also, Moses married a black woman, not of his "tribe". Perhaps the first "interracial" marriage. G-d punished Moses' sister for speaking ill of the marriage. So that seems to indicate G-d's stance on racism. (Although G-d may have punished the sister for gossiping about the marriage as well. Either way, G-d was not angered or upset about the interracial marriage)

Bear with me for just a little while longer. G-d has MANY commandments. His commandments (and consequences for disobeying them) about the poor are severe.

Is. 10:1-3. "Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights... Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?"

That one scares me. It sounds so...directly like G-d is speaking to Americans. G-d is mad here, too:

Jer. 5:28. "[The wicked] do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the poor. Shall I not punish these people?" declares the LORD. "On such a nation as this, shall I not avenge myself?"

James 5:1-6. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. ...Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and with you have withheld, cries out against you; and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

I used both old and New Testament verses because I realize that most of the people who are screaming about "socialism" and "communism" and "redistribution of the wealth" mostly profess to be Christian. So I didn't want my OWN bias to show in what I chose to post here. As I said earlier, I have huge respect for Christians. I love many of them with all of my heart. To further show my non-bias, I have one final verse, one from the New Testament that discusses Hades, something that I, as a Jew, do not believe in, but Christians do. I am including it because it is a powerful verse, one that shakes me to the core.

Luke 16:19-25. "Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony...'"

Many Evangelicals/Republicans worry what might happen to our country if sexual immorality flourishes. Now, the sexual morality the Bible tells us to be worried about is our own, but that's another discussion. A more serious worry is what will happen to us and our nation if we don't serve the poor.

Obviously, adding to the misery of the poor is bad-- exploiting workers, oppressing immigrants, robbing the needy. But it doesn't stop there. Merely ignoring the poor is a crime. Sodom wasn't destroyed because of sexual immorality; it was destroyed because it "had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease"-- and isn't that a pretty good description of America?-- and it "did not help the poor and needy". Surprised? Read it in your own bible. It's there, I promise.

There isn't the least suggestion that the rich man being punished in hell was responsible for Lazarus's condition... except in the most general sense: he was responsible as a fellow human being, as a man who was aware of the one suffering at his door and did nothing to help.

And Joe? I blinked, but I think I said what I had to say. :-) And nope, the occupation of "Unitarian Minister" still isn't for me.

Must she diss one of my favorite states?

2008-10-30T13:40:00.004-05:00

How appropriate, that she is wearing a "Volunteers" sweatshirt, but please don't ruin one of my absolute favorite states! Isn't she from Texas? Wear your Texas shirt, and wear it proudly!

For those who don't know, this is Ashley Todd, a McCain volunteer who made up a story about being sexually assaulted and robbed by "A big black man" at an ATM after he saw the McCain sticker on her car. He then scratched a backwards B on her face. She then admitted to making it all up a few days later.

She got a fair deal- her criminal record will be expunged after if she stays out of trouble and gets mental treatment on probation.

Now when are Fox News, Matt Drudge, and the other media who jumped all over this going to get THEIR mental health treatment?

2008-10-30T13:15:00.001-05:00

Another tearjerker from the war

2008-10-30T12:47:00.003-05:00

A large load of mail sent to soldiers killed or wounded in action sits awaiting transport out of the Korengal Outpost October 29, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army Viper Company of the 1-26 Infantry, based in the battle-scarred Korengal Valley, has had 6 soldiers killed since the unit deployed there in mid-July. Because of the delay in transporting letters and packages to such remote outposts, mail for soldiers killed in action often arrives many months after they died. The Korengal Valley is the site of some of the heaviest fighting between American forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. By John Moore/Getty.

I can't imagine the pain of getting a letter returned from your deceased son, daughter or spouse. The very thought just breaks my heart.

Early Voting Redux

2008-10-30T00:03:00.004-05:00

Alan early voted today as well. It only took him about 15 minutes because he trusted the Diebold machine. He said I can't tell how he voted, but he's not on the couch tonight so...plus, we are definitely not in a financial position to pay new taxes on the insurance Alan's employer provides. And his favorite line lately when he sees McCain or Palin is, "They got NOTHING!"

Anyway, I say this because I am a registered Democrat and he is a registered Republican. We got FOUR robocalls today. FOUR! We voted already! SO STOP THE ROBOCALLS! What made me mad was that two of them were for people I voted for in local elections. Grrrr. I have other things to do,like write this blog, keep up on Britney and Lindsay Lohan with TMZ, make fun of baby names, compulsively check polls to make sure I won't be in a fetal position next Wednesday, and figure out what is the slackiest, yet most delicious, dinner to make. So seriously, stop.

Jesus was a COMMUNIST!

2008-10-29T01:18:00.006-05:00

Yes, I am a Jew, but I am familiar with the New Testament. Luke wrote Acts. (Acts of the Apostles)

Go get your Bible. It's OK, the post will wait. Now go to ACTS Acts 2:44-45

"And all that believed were together, and all had things common and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. Neither was there any among them who lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands and houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles feet, and distribution was made onto every man ACCORDING AS HE HAD NEED."

So isn't that "redistribution of the wealth"? Isn't that, according to the right wing politicians who use the bible to condemn abortion and homosexuality, the biblical truth they seek? Or is that one of the pages they tear out because it says they have to share and be kind to others who do not have as much?

Just wondering. You can't take the Bible as the literal word of G-d and then ignore that passage now, can you?

Yes, I am a Jew, but Jesus reiterated and reinforced the teachings of the Torah. Don't charge interest to those who can't afford it. Donate one crop every seven years to those without any food. Treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. But instead, I don't see this. Instead, I see $150,000 worth of clothing and an $800 purse for an 8 year old. I see tax breaks to the wealthiest on the backs of the middle class and poor people who are struggling. I see them making sure the first three trimesters of a baby is sacrament, but forget about her after she is born by denying her health care, food, safe housing, and the education she deserves.
Look down at that Bible you read, or that cross you wear, or that WWJD bracelet you dangle on your wrist and ask yourself:
WHY DO YOU HATE JESUS? He spells out what he wants you to do,yet you don't want to do that, and instead, you blame the poor for their plight, the unwed mothers for their sins, and the working poor for their "bad choices". Read your Bible again. Listen to what it tells you, even the parts you don't want to hear.

I Early Voted Today!

2008-10-28T22:27:00.002-05:00

Yes, I KNOW that Kansas is going to go McCain, but I decided to vote early even though I have no problems with my voter registration. (I have been a registered voter in Kansas since Clinton ran the first time, at least.) However, this is the first Presidential Election that I have been a registered Democrat, so ya never know.

The early voting office was literally right by my house. I stopped on the way to the grocery store. There was a long line, and I signed in. I told the woman I wanted a paper ballot, and she explained that the machines were calibrated and "This is Kansas, not Florida." Well, that doesn't mean anything to me...the machines are still made by Diebold, and I want a paper ballot that will be counted!

The number of people voting early was encouraging, and I got my paper ballot. I was confident until I got to ballot initiative one. I knew what it was about, but the wording made it seem like I should vote yes when I knew I wanted to vote no. (It was about having judges be appointed based on merit, like they are currently, or having judges run for office like politicians.) I voted no, I want judges based on merit, but it still was worded strangely.

The whole process took about 45 minutes, which is good, because there was NOT early voting in 2004, and I was only in line about 20 minutes on election day. Good turnout is usually good for the Democrats, especially when there aren't any pressing propositions on the ballot.

I got one sticker for today and then another for the 4th.

So, my vote for Obama is official, and I really recommend early voting for everyone. I think the lines are going to be ridiculous on election day!

Godspeed, little man

2008-10-27T22:14:00.004-05:00

Well, all hopes of finding Julian King, nephew of Jennifer Hudson, were officially dashed today when his body was found in his uncle's stolen vehicle. I have followed Jennifer's career since she was fresh off of the Disney Cruise to audition for American Idol. Life can turn on a dime...let's all just stop to remember the people we love and who love us.

"Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)"
The Dixie Chicks

Dragon tales and the "water is wide"
Pirate's sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

The rocket racer's all tuckered out
Superman's in pajamas on the couch
Goodnight moon, will find the mouse
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

God bless mommy and match box cars
God bless dad and thanks for the stars
God hears "Amen," wherever we are
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

Talk about a slap in the face!

2008-10-26T09:36:00.004-05:00

The Anchorage Daily News has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yes, Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, and the ADN is the largest newspaper in Alaska. And, lest we forget (despite being told every.single.day) Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, is the current, but not likely future, governor of Alaska.

So, she may be America's "Hottest" Governor according to Alaska magazine, but not even her expensive (but free to her) wardrobe, make up artist and adorable youngest daughter can snag her the endorsement of her own state's highest circulated newspaper.

Time to go home, Sarah. And please, take Todd with you.

Kaitlin is at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX

2008-10-26T07:31:00.003-05:00

We gave Kaitlin a cell phone while we were in SC (We have a family plan) so she can keep in touch. She called to let us know her entry to Sam Houston was rough, but they let her keep the phone. She was picked up from the airport and immediately dropped (push ups). Then she was in in-processing until 11 at night. She was told they had overbooked her college program (George Washington University) and will be weeding them out. She is terrified about getting an article 15. (Disciplinary action that can kick her out of the program or Army) I reminded her that she doesn't drink or smoke-things that will get some people, as smoking is NOT allowed on base and some soldiers will be dumb enough to drink underage. I told her she WILL need to study hard, as this program is one of the toughest ones, but she is smart and can do it. She is more concerned about getting weeded out for her "lack of athletic aptitude", but she passed basic training, so she just needs to keep it up. I think the Army is just trying to make it clear that her coursework is not a cake walk...she knew going in that this was a tough educational choice. I reminded her that when she completes it, she will always have a good job, no matter what.
Her classes don't start until November, so they have a week to scare her and get her mentally ready for the year ahead. I think she will be fine.

The Natonal Civil Rights Museum, Arkansas and HOME!

2008-10-25T21:40:00.009-05:00

We had a very long day, but we are finally home, safe and sound in Kansas City. We began the morning with an audio tour of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. I can highly recommend it. The museum itself is inside the Lorraine Motel, one of the motels that allowed black people to stay there. That alone gave me a little jolt, as I grew up with non-segregation. Sure, I knew there used to be separate restrooms, water fountains and restaurants for black people, but it really hit me then, that they could only stay certain places. The Lorraine Motel was also where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

Here is the original sign from the Lorraine Motel.

And the original lighted sign. The billboard part reads, "Together we can accomplish much. Join us today."

The wreath and marker stand outside of room 306, where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.

And a close up of the marker.

Across the street from the Lorraine Motel, they have a second museum, which includes the window from which King was shot. The sign is from his famous last speech and says, "I may not get there with you but I want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land."

And here is the entrance. No photos were allowed inside. I started crying at a few points during the audio tour, though. So many people were beaten and killed JUST so that black people could exercise their right to vote, sit where they please on a bus, and have the same quality of education as white people. Their sacrifices also led to other people getting rights as well, like Jews and women. We owe them all so much. I can't say that I would have been brave or strong enough to risk my life or health for future generations like so many did. It is only 40 years later and we have a black man running for President of the United States on a major ticket. I have to wonder if MLK Jr even imagined this day? It was overwhelming. And even though there is an end to bigotry against African Americans within our sight, there seems to be a new bigotry brewing against Muslims. We need to remain vigilant...we are ALL part of the human race.

There were three bridges exactly the same in a row. Scary and fun!

Since the Arkansas sign was on a bridge, we had to compromise on Ben's last "Ben in front of a state sign" picture.

Huge cliffs by the road in Arkansas.

And a gorgeous lake in Arkansas. Ben decided Arkansas wasn't as pretty as Tennessee and North Carolina, though. Lots of farmland. We saw a beautiful appaloosa horse and some Amish people, but weren't quick enough on the camera.

Kaitlin's Basic Training Graduation/Lost in Alabama

2008-10-25T01:50:00.008-05:00

Who knew that South Carolina was downright COLD in the morning? Well, tis. Anyway, my daughter looked absolutely awesome in her dress greens, marching proudly onto the field with 1200 other brave, strong young soldiers who have passed basic training. I cried a little as the Lt. General reminded us that these soldiers took up the call to duty to protect and defend our beautiful country during a time of war. I am proud.

The Banner announcing the graduation

Kaitlin's company, in front of the banner. She is in the second row, second person from the left.

The band playing in front of the companies.

Standing proud and polished in her dress greens! (It was pouring rain)

Army proud!

We said she got to go anywhere, and she picked Waffle (aka Affle) House. She is Nana's granddaughter for sure!

The "Ben in front of state signs" continues with Georgia.

And Alabama, where we got lost and ended up loving Birmingham so much we went through it twice. (Well, we went through it twice, anyway)

Ben by a Mississippi rest stop sign because the one below doesn't really show him. By this time, it was very dark.

We were starving and sick of junk food by midnight, and we wanted ANYTHING but gas station or fast food. We stopped in Tupelo, MS (birthplace of Elvis) to get gas and I ran in to ask if there were any decent restaurants in the area. The woman pointed to the back, and there was a great "southern cooking" sit down cafe! Alan had chicken fried steak and Ben and I had burgers. The waitress was absolutely charming and I loved her accent. Her shirt read, "Mississippi makes the best mamas". She really made us feel at home and it was just what we needed to make that last 90 minutes of driving.

We are currently in Olive Branch, MS and will be going to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis tomorrow. We are really hoping to get home tomorrow...will be driving diagonally through Arkansas. It's very late and we need to get to bed! Love to all...more updates tomorrow!