No, really
How long before we start re-thinking the joy of China as our source of all commercial goods? It's gotten to the point where it's hard to buy anything not made in China. And they are proving to be downright scary in what they think is acceptable to add to consumables. Ick.
Things that don't match.
So I was reading the
CNN Article on "Senate immigration bill suffers crushing defeat", and about 1/2 way through, it had this sentence:
"On Wednesday, supporters beat back a number of potentially fatal amendments."
Wait...what? How do they know those amendments would have been worse for the bill than shooting down the amendments and pissing off the amendment sponsors? Or maybe by their very existence, ALL of the amendments were fatal.
The next paragraph says:
"Proponents won a major victory with defeat of an amendment removing the bill's most controversial feature -- a path to legalization and eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, which critics charge amounts to amnesty."
What if removing that amendment would have allowed the rest of the bill to go through. Was that trade off worth it? Or are we saying that the only portion of the bill worth keeping was the path to citizenship?
It was really interesting, at our dinner party the other night, hearing the South Africans talk about how difficult it was for them to take the steps to staying in the country legally. I tend to stick to the "no politics or religion in polite company" rule (blog readers are not polite company!), but I'd love to know their thoughts on having gone through the onerous process of staying legal if this bill had passed and allowed 12 million people to skip around a lot of what they've had to go through.
New vistas
As I looked over the balcony at the little party we were joining, I could feel my inner 6-year-old curl into the fetal position and whimper. An acquaintance of Chris’s had invited us to a dinner party last night, and when we walked through the house and out into the back yard, I realized we didn’t know a soul there. Give me a group of people I know, or even one person I know, and I can be a ham. Give me a group of people I don’t know , and you can usually find me in the corner with my Linus blanket, sucking my thumb. And I was in sales for 10 years; you’d think I would have outgrown that.
But down we went to the party, and to meet a whole lot of new people. And it turned out to be a ball. It was a super interesting group, with the host family coming from South Africa along with two of their friends, one man is from the Ukraine with his interpreter, and there was a man from Canada. Our friends Belle and Frank arrived 15 minutes after us, hot off of their Ecuadoran vacation. In other words, they were all very interesting, well-traveled people. And a few of them were quite the raconteurs. After all was said and done, it turned out to be a lot of fun to just hang with people who traveled in social spheres so very different than our own.
AND not one of them pointed at me and laughed. So my inner 6-year-old slept easy last night.
Why do I like my Cervelo?
Ok, our buddy Peter put together his awesome 15 second video that will bring him fame, fortune, etc. Go out and vote for the man so he can win swell prizes!
http://cervelo.tv/player.aspx?m=12&id=-1(Click on Peter-N-THIRTEEN.FIVE. )
For those of you in the mid-Atlantic cyclocross scene, you may remember his amazing "
Cross Talk" Videos. Yeah, it's that Peter. Go vote for him.
Labels: cycling
FINALLY!
The official pictures are available from the Frs of Mercy ordination.
My brother is the handsome guy who looks just like me. Except a guy. And not pregnant. Anyway, it was good to see the whole community together, to see their two ordinands, and to know that my brother has finally achieved his goal. There's a 7 year preparation cycle to become a member of the order, including 6 years of schooling. It's a LOT of work. I'm so glad for his success!
Last year when he was here for a visit, it was like hanging with a rock star. Everywhere he went, people wanted to talk to him - and that was BEFORE his ordination. Anyway, an older gentleman asked if it was hard to put up with his getting all of that attention. I had no idea how to answer that (other than "no"). It never even occurred to me to be jealous, and heaven knows he's had his trials to get to that point. And more trials to come. Interesting what people focus on.
A weekend of firsts
For Chris:
First Mountain bike win
First Mountain bike relay race
First Single Speed Mountain bike race (for those who don't bike, look at your kid's tricycle. That's a single speed. Take turns riding that with your friend for 12 hours. Sounds like fun, no?)
For Me:
First time to buy bras in this size. Yikes!
First time to shop in Babies-r-us, for us.
First time to shop at an Estate Sale. This one wasn't exciting, we'll see if anything better comes up in the future.
Ok, ok, hubby definitely had the more exciting weekend. Actually I've been fighting nasty migraines all weekend, so the dogs and I have spent a lot of time sacked out. I did get a little cleaning done in the back bedroom (aka the nursery, aka the pit), and dropped stuff off at the Salvation Army this AM. And a batch of books are going to the library tonight. So I'll take my incremental successes where I can.
The weekend didn't start out so well for Chris and the DCCoD Frank Kappa Zappa chapter. One of the three guys on his relay team crashed at the start of a practice lap on Saturday and was out of the race with a concussion. So Chris and his teammate Etown ended switching from 3 man open to 2 man single speed team, and the race was on. They did well - 2nd overall of the 2 man teams, and first in their division. Actually the whole DCCoD did really, really well. Congrats to all of you, and thanks for making Chris's first 12 hours race so much fun! (although I know he was hurting something fierce at the end).
Some great stories:
- Wes busting out a 42 minute lap at the end of the day (Which was the same time as the lap he did at the beginning of the race) to make his partner go out at 6:59:30. The latest they were able to leave for the last lap was 7PM. Further proving my personal theory that Wes and any other mountain biker make the best duo on the east coast.
- Fatmarc humbling my husband by blowing past on him on a hill somewhere around Chris's 5th lap. At which point he thought about quitting, but couldn't bring himself to do that to Etown.
- The Quantico version of "Pit Boy". Apparently a father-son team had an issue with something and at the awards ceremony they took it out on the promoter at the top of their lungs. Despite some tense moments, they eventually left to the catcalls of the other racers.
Labels: cycling
Transubstantiation
Ok, these stories are for you Catholic types...
My brother, Fr Bill, was in town Wed & Thurs night, so we had Mass at our place the last two days. (For those who are non-Catholics, now that he is ordained a priest, he is required to say Mass every day.) Yesterday Chris had the dogs with him, but this morning we got back from our walk, and the dogs were with me. Ginger was all the heck over the place. I told Bill that no matter how poorly received a sermon of his is in the future, he will never have to worry about a member of the congregation actually licking their bums during the sermon the way Ginger did this AM. Sigh. My problem child. Fred was being a good boy, and just lay next to me for the whole Mass until.... When we got to the transubstantiation, Bill held up the chalice, and Fred got up, walked up to Bill and stared up at him. Apparently he knew someone else was in the room as well. Even after Bill set the chalice down, Fred sat down and stared at Bill for the rest of Mass cocking his head this way and that.
Bill was telling me the story that when the Pope went to St Louis a while back, they had brought in the dogs to sweep the new cathedral. The dog that was trained to find people kept stopping at the tabernacle. Maybe they know something we don't.
Labels: Dogs
Depressing
So I'm on this yahoo list (ok, I'm on a lot of yahoo lists, but) that's for a doggie rescue railroad. The basic idea is to get dogs transported from high kill shelters to rescues or no-kill shelters elsewhere in the country. But because it's mostly a list of rescues, there are also a lot of postings when shelters are overcrowded and begin euthanizing. And THAT'S depressing. DE.PRESS.ING. Especially this time of year. Apparently everyone drops their dogs off on their way out of town for vacation because it seems the number of shelters putting down dogs is way up. And alas, other than driving the occasional leg of doggie rescue, there's not much we can do. We're all full up.
If anyone needs me, I'll be sniffling over dying puppies in some weird self-flagellating burst of energy.
Labels: Dogs
Random Monday Thoughts
- Argh! Migraines! I had the worst one I've had in years this past Friday. Thank heavens my co-worker drove, I was so sick that I couldn't put a sentence together. From 4PM Friday to 4PM Saturday I slept for 15 hours to recover
- Ginger LOVES to play in her water bowl. We have a big one with the intent of filling it once for the day for the two dogs. Unfortunately she likes to take it for a run through the house while there's water in it. I think we'll move the bowl out to the front porch and throw ice in it. Throwing the ice out and then running is really the coolest thing in the world to her.
- Man, I found a new addition to our farmer's market on Saturday. Artisanal Cheese. We got the Herbe de Provence Fromage Blanc, and it was wicked good. I was laughing to myself because everyone pronounced it Herb DAY Provence, sort of like Bob Roll says Tour DAY France. But he's making fun of the French, I don't get the impression that's what everyone else is doing.
- The air show was pretty cool this weekend, albeit a bit smaller than it was last year. But we did get to meet a pilot whose call sign was "Beaver". I showed the tact and discipline appropriate to my age and pregnancy and didn't ask him if "Pussy" was already taken. Or just as good, an innocent look and a "Why do they call you that?" head tilt.
- Just finished Season 2 of "Grey's Anatomy". Even Chris who has no interest in getting into a tv series, said that the show was really addicting. He'd come in, sit down and get drawn in. Then he'd find himself going "Wait, why am I watching this". I can tell him why I'm watching it....Patrick Dempsey.
I'm leaving it all up to yoooouuuuuuu
The other day my carpool buddy and I were talking about a co-worker who had just purchased a hybrid. The co-worker and my carpool buddy were complaining that the cost of the hybrid was $5000 more than the equivalent non-hybrid model, but the government tax reimbursement was only $2200.
Wait…what….?!
My theory is that even though it appears that the government is giving our co-worker money, the reality is, thanks to the laws of supply & demand, our free market economy etc, they’re probably really putting money in the car manufacturer’s pocket. So let’s say that the tax reimbursement goes up to $3000, what’s to keep the manufacturer from increasing the price of the car another $800? My understanding is that hybrids aren’t particularly profitable anyway, so capping how much a manufacturer can charge may lead to some getting out of the market. But let’s call this what it really is – corporate welfare masquerading as an individual tax incentive. Would the market otherwise bear the $5000 difference between the two cars?
And…the government is paying to try to force my choice in automobile? That’s a little creepy. Would you want the government influencing you or worse yet, telling you, which cars to buy? If you answered yes, what if they were encouraging US manufactured SUVs instead, would you then?
Anyway, as I’ve sort of discussed in previous posts, I’m a believer in our taking responsibility for our own actions. Not buying an H2 when a Civic will do is and should be a personal decision. So I’ll use this to segue into part 2 of this, which is environmental people I truly respect. I LIKE people who put their money where their mouths are, especially because I’m flailing a bit in my own efforts to both cut spending in prep for the new little mouth to feed, and being more environmentally friendly. I really can’t stand being lectured by the likes of Al “Fly all over the world, hang out in my zillion square foot mansion” Gore, or Sheryl “My concert tour used the energy of a 3rd world country” Crow. But when some of the following guys talk, even if I think they’re over-the-top bat-shit insane, I can at least respect the effort they’re putting into their cause.
Riot for Austerity: They are trying to reduce their carbon footprint by 90%. Egads, 90%? Flip over to the “Rules” tab and you’ll see things like using no more than 50 gallons of gasoline per person per year. Er. Or in our household, that’s more like per week. This will be a slow progression for those interested, and a blog about it is
here with weekly tips.
Colin Beavan,
No Impact Man: Ok, ok, this guy is much heckled, but…. If you read his blog, he’s not high on his horse, and not completely unrealistic. Which are both virtues in my world. He ponders esoteric things that are not and will never be on my radar – how best to wash clothes in the bathtub, for example. But regardless, he can supply a lot of food for thought.
The Authors of “
Plenty”, Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon: They took a year and ate only food that came from within a 100-mile radius of their home in Vancouver. And after finishing the book, it’s quite obvious that there were times when that HURT. Months of eating “Winter food” like potatoes ad infinitum, not having any local wheat…. It was hard on them and hard on their relationship. But it was an interesting experiment. I think in one way, while it’s great for people who have a lot of time on their hands (aka free-lance writers as both of these folks are), it’s not super practical if you have other things like a job and a family to take care of. They talk about driving 40 miles to stock up on tomatoes and honey on the weekend. And let’s talk about canning/freezing for days. Er. Really, thanks but no thanks.
So across the board, I’m not sure that I would precisely say that these folks have a strong impact on my day-to-day life. The experiments in all three cases are SO extreme, that I can’t even begin to imagine doing that in my own world. But on the flip side, there’s pointers here and there that I can pick up. And by their actions, there’s a certain amount of guilt I have to feel for not trying just that little bit harder. So to them I say, hats off! I don't have that kind of lifestyle dedication, nor urge for my husband to divorce me. But I appreciate what they're doing and it makes me look for ways in which I can cut back as well.
Awwwww
Labels: Love of My Life
Welcome to Pittsburgh, Jagoff
We were cracking up over the
Wings over Pittsburgh FAQ. This is the air show that will be happening this weekend. The FAQ is so abrupt that if I tilt my head a little bit, and drop my "w"s, I can hear the guys from
DVE morning show talking about it followed by a commercial for Pants n'at, and maybe some mullet talk.
See yinz don at the show.
The end of romance
E-freakin-gadsOk, look, after 2 years of marriage and 40 years of living, I understand that life is not going to be fairy tales and princes. I'm ok with that. I'm not precisely Scarlett Johansen, so I'm sure there are a few fantasies of Chris's that aren't being fulfilled either.
But...
Corinne Colbert boils that down too far. Yes there are days where you'll want to kill your spouse, but shouldn't there be days where you take joy in who he/she is? And using the term "settling" despite her Websters description of it, still carries the implication that you WANTED more, but just couldn't get there, so you just took what you could get.
She seems to be part of a movement that's a backlash against the over-romantacizing of marriage. There may not be rainbows every day, but on the flip side, it's hardly drudgery every day either. That's certainly not what I've seen in my parents marriage, or my aunts and uncles, and it's really not what I've experienced thus far in ours. Things get tough at times, but there's also a lot to be said for knowing that someone you love has your back. So somewhere in the middle, is the truth. Somedays are diamonds, somedays are rock.
Ahhhhhhh....
It was a really nice weekend, I'm finally starting to feel a bit caught up on my lounging. I'm feeling a bit like the basset hound that was seen rushing down the hall because he was late for his nap. But Chris was off for the
Stoopid 50, and the dogs seemed to agree with me that some active ball playing in the morning meant that we could lounge for the rest of the day on Saturday and Sunday. So I polished of the Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 (with the wrong Starbuck, sorry Ambrose!), and got through not quite 2 disks of Grey's Anatomy. While my husband mountain biked. Yup, his tuckus is getting smaller, while I could feel my rear end growing even as we spoke. Whatever. For now I'm content with the concept of paying severely after the baby is born. As long as Chris is ok with that, short term.
Overall the race report from Chris was that he had a lot of fun hanging with Flyin' Ryan (who, unfortunately, was grounded due to back troubles), and the DCCoD Saturday night. Then Sunday the weather was awesome, and he seemed to enjoy the trails. Muchas Gracias to Ryan's family and Monkey for feeding (woohoo!) Chris, especially at the top of the run up. Other than a pretty spectacular sounding endo early on which gave him a bit of road rash and cracked his bottle, it sound like things went really well.
Oh and to the guy who told Chris that he was on the wrong bike...Rule number 1 of competitive sports is don't give your competition a reason to keep living. Just a thought you may have had while you watched him ride away. Of course, that's nothing compared to the kid who walked up to a friend who's coming back after years off the bike due to a dump truck accident (as in the dump truck ran over him. With tire tracks on his hands. And a bazillion hip replacements that followed). He didn't know our friend from Adam, and at the end of the race was grousing because he chased when our friend took a flyer in one of his first races back. "I thought you were one of the fast guys, but it turns out that you're not. At all." Ouch. Watch it kid, this guy will be schooling you by the end of the season.
I HATE loud percussive noises
We had some storms Friday night, which normally don't bother Fredly Medley. But when the storm involves a lightning strike close to the house with accompanying loud bang, this is the look we get. For 2 hours. Poor guy. I can't even pull out the "Angels Bowling" explanation to soothe him.
Labels: Dogs
Just for Ambrose
Here's looking at you, kid.Update: Doh! Stop when you get to the Steeler's fan's funeral! I just read past that point it nosedives from there.....
So 25 years ago
Apparently
Babies-r-us has not gotten the word - Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica is now a woman.
in Just-spring
Ah, it's spring time, and the farmers markets are in bloom. The temp here was 45 when I headed to work, and looks like it peaked out at 68 today. So it's hard to think of this as "summer". But I'm now anxiously awaiting Chris's return home, because I hit the farmer's market on the way home from work. I have salad fixins, locally grown pork, fresh broccoli, and the best smoked salmon I've ever had. No, really. It's actually a good thing that there's a limit on how long these last, or I would go broke. But for now all of you can eat your heart out.
Updated June 7 (aka the next day): 90 for the high today. 32 degrees difference. Go figure.
Labels: Seasons
All Catholic, all the time
We had an awesome weekend, but as my husband said at one point "This is what it's like for outsiders to hang with bike racers." Poor guy, he's not Catholic, but this weekend? Very, very, very Catholic. We headed out for the Fathers of Mercy to see my brother get ordained. But wait! There's more! We attended a confirmation on Friday, and one of the homeschoolers to whom we send books graduated and had her graduation Mass on Sunday. If we could have gotten the baby pre-natally baptized, that was the only thing missing to make this the most Catholic 3 days I've ever spent.
To back up slightly...
We got to Chris's mom's house Thursday night, and at that point I realized that my comfortable travel zone has shrunk from 8 hours in the car to 6. By the time we got out of the car at his mom's house, I was really, really out of it. His mom, was super excited to see us. I'm afraid our energy levels did not match. But a good night's sleep, and I was ready to go. Well more correctly, at 7AM, the dogs were ready to go. They were, after all, at Camp Grandma. Chris's mom has a backyard (!), and a dog with the same energy level as Ginger (!), and treats(!), and another dog's food to eat (!), and why are we wasting time sleeping (!). Anyway, off we went to confirmation, and the first of many receptions. Then back home for a few hours, out to dinner, and a good night's sleep.
Er...until 6AM - Camp Grandma! Must lie under the trees and wait for the squirrellys!
Then it was my brother's ordination. The Fathers of Mercy are in a rural part of Kentucky, so their ordinations aren't combined with those of the general diocese, and are held at a parish that the Fathers of Mercy run. So instead of being the big cathedral ordination, it was a lot more intimate setting. Ah, it was so good to see my brother who has been through an awful lot of stress to get to this point, finally there. It was great to see all of the fathers, and to see the priest who will be pastor at his parish in St Louis, and a friend of my brother's whom Chris and I also consider a friend (Fr Michael) up on the altar. I loved the ceremony. Except for the part where I hit my Mom's purse while sitting down and accidentally set off the recorder. I swear that thing echoed through the church, although in talking to people later, apparently not. And to add to the fun, she didn't know how to turn it off, and it went on for roughly 47 hours. (or a couple of minutes, one of those). We ended up burying it in the bottom of her purse with a Missal over the top in hopes that no one would be able to hear it. And then we giggled periodically for the rest of the Mass. Two take aways from that:
1. Never take a noise making device with you to Mass if you can't turn it off
2. If you do set it off, be cool. Don't cover your face, just act like nothing's going on and hope that no one notices.
Anyway, aside from that, I did pretty well in not crying, and thought that I'd pull this one out. Then they addressed the two ordinands as "Father" at the end of Mass. And I welled up. Curse me, why do I never remember kleenex?
The reception after Mass was cool for a couple of reasons. First of all, I got to see a lot of relatives whom I would not otherwise be able to see while I'm pregnant. And secondly I got to talk to a lot of the people I know from our trips down south. I answered a lot of questions ("When's your due date", and "boy or girl" being the two primaries). It's funny, I was sort of a secondary celebrity at the reception as a result of being pregnant. People were so sweet!
The other cool thing about Saturday was that I had a chance to catch up with my friends Tammie & Sean from Texas. People I most definitely do NOT get to see enough of! Ok, of late, I don't get to see much of anyone, but I really do miss my friends. So I had a chance to hang with them for a while, we went to see the Fathers of Mercy, and the new chapel that they're constructing (very cool!). We sort of just ran errands, and hung out before heading back to the church hall for pizza and KFC and more time with the relatives. Until I just ran out of energy, far, far too early. So we went home, for another good night's sleep.
Until the dogs had to get up. But even they were a little less enthusiastic by this point. Camp Grandma had been starting early and going full tilt, and even though they managed to get up at 6AM, they were beat. Ginger essentially firmed up her new home under the porch, and Fred hung out under the tree and hoped the squirrels would just drop into his mouth.
Sunday AM was hang out time. Chris took off for the Bataan bike ride around 11, and his mom and I went to the graduation Mass around 2PM. Then it was home, snoozes, up and on the road.
And now...My head is still spinning, I'm still tired and obviously rambling 2 days after we got in. A great weekend, but I intend to spend the rest of the summer incubating and perfecting my Jabba the Hutt imitation.
Hohohohohooooooo....
Labels: Dogs, pregnancy, Travel
Oh c'mon, who can resist this cutie pie?
Hi gang,
The postings from the weekend will go up later, but first... a more important message.
Coach John has a full house of dogs and cats, but there's another guy that needs a home too. If you're either in NM or someone on the route from NM to Pittsburgh, (or relatively close to Pittsburgh, I'm sure we can work something out) read on:
Shay is a sweet, loving, friendly puppy who is looking for his forever home. This beautiful 24 pound Corgi-Welsh Cardigan mix (our vet's best guess) has had a rough start, however, he still loves to meet new people. Shay was rescued up in Dulce, NM after being hit by cars three times. He did not receive any vet care for his injuries, and so he now runs and plays on three legs. Shay has seen the vet in Santa Fe for all his shots and a check up. He loves people and dogs, is very respectful of cats, and would be happy in a home with other dog companions. See attachment for pictures.Please call Karen and John if you or someone you know can be Shay's family, and feel free to circulate this e-mail. (Phone number can be accessed on the JBV Coaching link above or to the right)
Labels: Dogs
