Party!!!

We're having a Christmas/Holiday party at our house tonight! Details to come!

Silly

I found this on the net:

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The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The re-election of President Bush is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray and agree with Bill O'Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal-rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

''I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,'' said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.

''He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?''

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields.

''Not real effective,'' he said. ''The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk.''

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves. ''A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions,'' an Ontario border patrolman said. ''I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though.''

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the Bush administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR.

In the days since the election, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers.

''If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age,'' an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating and organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies.

''I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them,'' an Ottawa resident said. ''How many art-history majors does one country need?''

In an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Canada, Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Canadian ambassador and pledged that the administration would take steps to reassure liberals, a source close to Cheney said.

''We're going to have some Peter, Paul and Mary concerts. And we might put some endangered species on postage stamps. The president is determined to reach out.'

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Funny

Air America (www.airamericaradio.com) played Al Franken's audio version of his book "Lies and the Lying Liars that tell them" on the holiday, and where he's got clips of Rush or O'Reilly, it's really them talking! He's not impersonating them, he has the actual clips of what they said! I was laughing so hard!

Thanksgiving

Brandon went to see his mother in Rocklin, CA for turkey day this weekend, and James (Heather's husband) had to work all weekend (which sucks) so Heather and I went with my family to my mom's bosses' friend from the dog parks' house. Talk about six degrees of separation. It was great. There was a 6 dogs there and two cats. The house was beautiful, 5 bedrooms, hot tub, pool, HUGE LANDSCAPED BACKYARD, HUGE CUSTOM MASTER BATHROOM, formal dining room that lead into a formal living room, a sitting room, patio I could really go on and on. The food was SO GOOD! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Uncle Danny did most of the cooking and man! It was amazing! That was really the best Turkey I've ever had. Same with the stuffing. He thought that he overcooked his broiled potatoes, but they were totally amazing. This is the first Thanksgiving in two years that I've been able to hang out with my family. Last year I went to Rocklin to meet Brandon's mom, the year before that I caught the flu and was puking.

After the dinner, Heather and I went to Rick and Shahnon's house and we watched "The Italian Job." After that we played UNO for a couple of hours. I came in second.

Christmas Party

I'm too lazy to check if I've mentioned this already, but we're having a Christmas party this year and the only requirement is: to bring a gift (value less than $20) for the gift game, and to wear the most tacky Christmas sweater/t-shirt/vest you can find. The more flair, the better. December 17, 2004 8pm-ish. I'm making cookies!!! I have Christmas cookie cutters, stencils, Christmas-y sprinkles and icing. I'M FREAKING OUT OVER HERE!

Last Day of Work at STTE

I'm writing this from STTE, and it's my last day. :( It's kind of sad, but I'm happy that I'm going to be making more money and possibly have more responsibility. Yolanda made me a cake (which was really great) and I had two people come up to me and shake hands/ hug me and tell me they were going to miss me. I thought that was really sweet. One guy even told me that he'd always thought I was very beautiful. *blush* It was cute. He must be blind. Ok, I came in 45 minutes late, I should probably start working now.

Unexpected Joy

I frequent www.trekbbs.com and there is this poster there, J. Allen and he's a priest. The way he talks about his faith reminds me of my Grandpa. We had a footwashing thread, he wanted to start one, and here's what he said to me:


J. Allen kneels down, and taking a soft sponge from a basin of warm water, gently washes AstroDee's feet, and says a small prayer. "Our hearts become troubled at the sight of evil. When people do wrong, it burns within us to change that wrong and make it right. That good will overcome the fiery darts that are thrown at us. Lord, I pray your protection and defense, when those that fight for good are attacked in return. Amen."AstroDee, you have a strong heart that seeks good. Use it to comfort those who are less fortunate, to give hope to those that seek it. Even in hearts of stone, a cinder smolders, turn that smoldering cinder into a roaring conflagration, making the dark known, and those that are cold, warm again.-J.


I was really moved. Huh, who knew you could be moved by people that you've never met in person?

Change is good

I start my new job on Monday (I hope). :D I have to call them and make sure, but I don't know what the hell I would do if that fell through.

Sunglasses at night

I've been wearing my fucking prescription sunglasses for the last 10 days, with sporadic periods of contact lens wear (but I can't wear them to work because for some reason, they decided they want to stick to my eyeballs if I put them in too early in the morning). I wanted to take advantage of my insurance while I have it, and get some new glasses. See, with the vision care plan that I have there are certain pairs of glasses that you are allowed to get for free and some at a very slight discount. I hated every single pair of free glasses they had there, HATED THEM, and I really liked this $375 pair of Ralph Lauren glasses, which my insurance would pay $50 towards (whopee.) So, I made the excecutive decision to send my current frames to the lab so that they could put the new lenses in (my prescription got worse). I had to wait 10 days, and then they called me this morning. I was so excited, I got out of work for an hour, and went down there to pick them up. I had transitions/scratch/uv on my lenses, and as the guy was fitting them to my face, he noticed that they weren't as dark as they should have been (transitions lenses are the ones that change to sunglasses when you are outside) and so he held them to the light to see if they'd change color and they didn't. I WAS PISSED OFF! It's not like those upgrades were free, I had to pay $95 for those upgrades and they couldn't get it right. Of course, it's the day before Thanksgiving so they don't want to send them back to the lab today because then I'd have to wait until 5-7 days after that in order to get my fucking glasses again. I hate insurance companies. Hate.

On the good side, I can now see the names on the street signs from very far away. :)

Wedding things

So, I went to look at the room that they are going to have our reception in and it was beautiful. Tara, you have to email me. We need to work out the details for your dress, seeing as there is no David's Bridal in Canada. Shop around online and see what you can find. Either dark blue or silver will be fine. I ordered some samples for my favors, which I'm going to be making as well. I'll just be a freakin craft queen this year.

Also, my mother arranged a special room rate for those of you coming from out of town (at The Orleans, of course).


June 1 & 2 $35.00 per night
June 3 & 4 $85.00 per night
June 5 $50.00 per night
If they check in before Jun1 $35.00 rate will apply for extra nights
If they stay after June 5 I think it will be the $50.00 rate


Call 1-800-675-3267 and mention the "Feica/Hardy" wedding block. She has 20 rooms reserved, but more can be added at a later date.

I hope to be getting out "Save the date" cards. I will be making those at the same time as my Christmas cards, and possible sending them out with them. Is that tacky? Oh well, saves postage.

Christmas Party

We're having a Christmas party, only this isn't your ordinary Christmas party, this is the "ugly Christmas shirt/vest" party. Everyone who comes is required to wear some really cheesy christmas item. Then we'll all play twister (or Uno) or not. Who knows. :D This party is on December 17th at around 8pm-ish.

Light-hearted Essay

From www.fuckthesouth.com:

Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.

And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?

Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?

No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off.

Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.

All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it?s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.

The next dickwad who says, "It?s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That?s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It?s too easy, asshole, they?re blue states. It?s not your money, assholes, it?s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.

Let?s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It?s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that?s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that?s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part.

But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes.

Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.

And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.

Something else to lift your spirit (or piss you off)

"Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our Fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts,not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."-- Abraham Lincoln

Letter To The Red States====

Sorry, I try not to deluge people with my ramblings. But I had to write this and, having written it, had to send it. Even though I don't know anyone I can send it to (without alienating my Republican in-laws, who are the only "middle country" people I know.)

I am writing this letter to the people in the red states in the middle of the country -- the people who voted for George W. Bush. I am writing this letter because I don't think we know each other.

So I'll make an introduction. I am a New Yorker who voted for John Kerry. I used to live in California, and if I still lived there, I would vote for Kerry. I used to live in Washington, DC, and if I still lived there, I would vote for Kerry. Kerry won in all three of those regions.

Maybe you want to know more about me. Or maybe not; maybe you think you know me already. You think I am some anti-American anarchist because I dislike George W. Bush. You think that I am immoral and anti-family,because I support women's reproductive freedom and gay rights. You think that I am dangerous, and even evil, because I do not abide by your religious beliefs. Maybe you are content to think that, to write me off as a "liberal"--- the dreaded "L" word -- and rejoice that your candidate has triumphed over evil, immoral, anti-American, anti-family people like me.

But maybe you are still curious. So here goes: this is who I am.

I am a New Yorker. I was here, in my apartment downtown, on September11th. I watched the Towers burn from the roof of my building. I went inside so that I couldn't see them when they fell. I had friends who were inside. I have a friend who still has nightmares about watching people jump and fall from the Towers. He will never be the same. How many people like him do you know? People that can't sit in a restaurant without plotting an escape route, in case it blows up?

I am a worker. I work across the street from the Citigroup Center, which the government told us is a "target" of terrorism. Later,we found out they were relaying very old information, but it was already too late. They had given me bad dreams again. The subway stop near my office was crowded with bomb-sniffing dogs, policemen in heavy protective gear, soldiers. Now, every time I enter or exit my office, all of my possessions are X-rayed to make sure I don't have any weapons. How often are you stopped by a soldier with a bomb-sniffing dog outside your office?

I am a neighbor. I have a neighbor who is a 9/11 widow. She has two children. My husband does odd jobs for her now, like building bookshelves. Things her husband should do. He uses her husband's tools, and the two little girls tell him, "Those are our daddy's tools." How many/11 widows and orphans do you know? How often do you fill in for their dead loved ones?

I am a taxpayer. I worked my butt off to get where I did, and so did my parents. My parents saved and borrowed and sent me to college. I worked my way through graduate school. I won a full tuition scholarship to law school. All for the privilege of working 2,600 hours last year. That works out to a 50 hour week, every week, without any vacation days at all. I get to work by 9 am and rarely leave before 9 pm. I eat dinner at my office much more often than I eat dinner at home. My husband and I paid over$70,000 in federal income tax last year. At some point in the future, we will have to pay much more -- once this country faces its deficit and the impossible burden of Social Security.

In fact, the areas of the country that supported Kerry -- New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts -- they are the financial centers of the nation. They are the tax base of this country. How much did you pay, Kansas? How much did you contribute to this government you support, Alabama? How much of this war in Iraq did you pay for?

I am a liberal. The funny part is, liberals have this reputation for living in Never-Neverland, being idealists, not being sensible. But let me tell you how I see the world: I see America as one nation in a world of nations. Therefore, I think we should try to get along with other nations.

I see that gay people exist. Therefore, I think they should be allowed to exist, and be treated the same as other people. I see ways in which women are not allowed to control their own bodies. Therefore, I think we should give women more control over their bodies. I see that people have awful diseases. Therefore, I think we should enable scientists to try to cure them. I see that we have a Constitution. Therefore, I think it should be upheld. I see that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.Therefore, I think that Iraq was not an imminent danger to me. It seems so pragmatic to me. How do you see the world? Do you really think voting against gay marriage will keep people from being gay? Would you really prefer that people continue to die from Parkinson's disease? Do you really not care about the Constitutional rights of political detainees? Would you really have supported the war if you knew the truth, or would you have wanted to spend more of our money on health care, job training, terrorism preparedness?

I am an American. I have an American flag flying outside my home. I love my home more than anything. I love that I grew up right outside NewYork City. I first went to the Statue of Liberty with my 5th grade class, and my mom and dad took me to the Empire State Building when I was 8. I love taking the subway to Yankee Stadium. I loved living in Washington DC and going on dates to the Lincoln Memorial. It is because I love this country so much that I argue with my political opponents as much I do.

I am not safe. I never feel safe. My in-laws live in a small town in Ohio, and that town has received more federal funding, per capita, for terrorism preparedness than New York City has. I take subways and buses every day. I work in a skyscraper across the street from a "target." I have emergency supplies and a spare pair of sneakers in my desk, in case something happens while I'm at work. Do you? How many times a month do you worry that your subway is going to blow up?

When you hear sirens on the street, do you run to the window to make sure everything is okay? When you hear an airplane, do you flinch? Do you dread beautiful, blue-skied September days? I don't know a single New Yorker who doesn't spend the month of September on tip-toes, superstitiously praying for rain so we don't have to relive that beautiful, blue-skied day.

I am lonely. I feel that we, as a nation, have alienated all our friends and further provoked our enemies. I feel unprotected. Most of all I feel alienated from my fellow citizens, because I don't understand what you are thinking. You voted for a man who started a war in Iraq for no reason, against the wishes of the entire world. You voted for a man whose lack of foresight and inability to plan has led to massive insurgencies in Iraq, where weapons are disappearing into the hands of terrorists. You voted for a man who let Osama Bin Laden escape into the hills of Afghanistan so that he could start that war in Iraq. You voted for a man who doesn't want to let people love who they want to love; doesn't want to let doctors cure their patients; doesn't want to let women rule their destinies. I don't understand why you voted for this man. For me, it is not enough that he is personable; it is not enough that he seems like one of the guys. Why did you vote for him? Why did you elect a man that lied to us in order to convince us to go to war? (Ten years ago you were incensed when our president lied about his sex life; you thought it was an impeachable offense.) Why did you elect a leader who thinks that strength cannot include diplomacy or international cooperation? Why did you elect a man who did nothing except run away and hide on September 11?

Most of all, I am terrified. I mean daily, I am afraid that I will not survive this. I am afraid that I will lose my husband, that I will never have children, that I will never grow old and watch the sunset in a backyard of my own. I am afraid that my career -- which should end with a triumphant and good-natured roast at a retirement party in 2035 -- will be cut short by an attack on me and my colleagues, as we sit sending emails and making phone calls one ordinary afternoon. Is your life at stake? Are you terrified? I don't think you are. I don't think you realize what you have done. And if anything happens to me or the people I love, I blame you. I wanted you to know that.=====

I know that last one is just one of those "internet emailings" that I actually got from a BB that I frequent, but that really sums up how I feel about the whole thing. I don't live in New York, but I sure as hell do live in a city that is more a target than mostly any city in the deep South. And I really don't feel safer. I know I'm on a terrorism list somewhere because of the books/DVDs I buy and the websites I visit. I might be labeled a "traitor" or "enemy combatant" and thrown into jail with no phone call and no rights. I'm not plotting to take down the current administration, I'm just gathering information so that I can have a clear picture as to what is going on.

Freedom of speech and freedom of association are being trampled on by the Patriot Act and when it finally gets so out of had that even Ann Coulter is afraid of losing her right to bitch, moan, and name-call, it will be too late.

Some Real optimism

Enough with the doom and gloom! I have to talk about my wedding! Wheee!

I said May 28th, but I really meant June 4th. See, we thought it would be a really good idea to have the wedding on Memorail Day weekend so that everyone could have an extra day to recover and we could spend some extra time hanging out with family and friends. Well, that sounds good, until you look at the flight prices and the hotel prices for that weekend. YIKES! So, we moved it forward a week. You might have to take an extra day off work, but at least you'll be able to afford to come. :) Plus, if you want to do some sightseeing while you're here, it's best to do it during the week, as the weekends, especially holiday weekends, are crazy busy!

I'm going to be having 3 bridesmaids. Heather will be my maid of honor, and then Tara and Shahnon will back her up. :)

Brandon is having his friends Leif as his best man, and his brother and James (Heather's wife) will back him up. :)

My Uncle Danny and Uncle Steve are going to give me away. :)

I'm not quite sure who's going to be performing the ceremony.

The only two kids allowed at the function are Evan and Aidan. :) Is that wrong to not want to have kids at a function unless you know that they are not out of control?

I haven't registered yet, but I plan to register at Club Wed at Target.com, Pier One, and possibly the option to donate to our honeymoon.

Speaking of honeymoon, we're going on an Alaskan Cruise! I can't wait! I've always wanted to do that. We're not sure which carrier we're going to go with yet, but I'll give more details when they're available.

JOB

I'm quitting at Star Trek. I found another job that pays more and lets me have weekends off and is not a corporate giant. It's a locally owned and operated company called "Lucky Cab and Limo" and I managed to score a few free limos out of the deal! I'm going to have to dress nice for this job (boo) which means going out and buying a few more items of "business/casual" clothing. Maybe I'll need new shoes. Why yes, new shoes are most definitely in the realm of possibility.

REMINDER

For those of you who thought I was just kidding about losing addresses, I'm not! I really need anyone who is reading this to send me their address so that I can send them an invitation for the wedding! NO REALLY, You don't have to write 10 paragraphs just because I haven't talked to you in a long time, just your address. If you want to write me 10 paragraphs, that's fine too. I'm pretty good at keeping in touch with emails. *cough*

Lots

Sorry about the long time between posts, but I've been really busy. Things have just taken on a life of their own.

I know the exact date of my wedding. It's May 28th, 2005 and it's going to be in Vegas so all y'all better be comin'! We're having it at the Orleans Hotel, which some of you know since you've been here before, is a locals' hotel. I have my dress, I have the stuff to make invitations, I just have to get in touch with Tara to let her know what color dress to buy and where. She's going to be my only bridesmaid from Canada and they don't have a David's Bridal in Canada so she's going to have to either get her dress from here when she gets here (not recommended) or try to find something similar in Canada and bring it down (preferred.)

My friend Jeff is in India working on a video game. Lucky bastard. He sent me pictures of this 200 year old observatory that they went to.

For some stupid reason, I'm trying to host the images at Image Shack and put them here, and it's not working. Oh well. They are really amazing pictures, and just to let you know, Jeff, you can send me an ass load more as well. :)

School is going good, I ended up getting some money from that NASA space grant scholarship that I applied for. They turned me down, and then I guess they got more money so they decided to include me. YAY!

I suck as a friend. Andy, I still haven't called you for your birthday. I suck. I will call you soon though. Even though you're probably never really home.

The Election

So, my October surprise was almost there, it did involve Osama, just not in the manner that I anticipated. What surprised me about the October surprise is that people weren't really all that freaked out by Osama coming on the TV and talking to everyone about the election. I thought that would have put Kerry WAY on top, considering he was the number one villain after 9/11. The fact that he's still alive, dragging his dialysis machine from cave to cave makes me wonder just what the hell is going on there. Oh right, we're in Fallujah going after Zarkawi (sp?). Or Mosul, or Baghdad. I know there are troops in Afghanistan. It's just that there are more troops in Iraq.

About the actual election? I was really sad. How bad does this country have to get before the people scream for change? Can't people just be interested in what's going on outside their little world for 5 minutes, put down their cell phone, park their SUV and read something? I know some of my family members voted for Bush, probably because Kerry wasn't the strongest candidate on the Dems side. From the many fights I've had with my mother, I sort of understand it, not changing horses and all that. But I really can't see how anyone can feel safer in this country if they really knew what was going on. I read an article on MSNBC.com a few days ago that talked about the fact that the "terrorist chatter" has increased, as has calls to carry out terrorist attacks against Americans, especially after they elected Bush. Then the dept of Homeland Security lowers the threat level for many previously threatened buildings in New York City, and Ashcroft resigns, feeling that he's left the country safer. It makes me want to puke. Then Bush, Mr. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended" launches a massive attack on Fallujah, causing more outrage from the extremist muslim community. Yeah, I feel safer. There will be another attack, but I won't feel one pang of guilt because I did my best to get that asshole out of the White House. It's too bad the terrorists won't know the difference.

October Surprise!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned what I think the October surprise is going to be (and frankly, I'm too lazy to go back and check every single post ;) ) but I think the October surprise for the election is going to be the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Let's say, 3 days before the election. Politically, I don't want that to happen, but personally, I think he should be caught and would feel happy that that part of our history is taken care of. If he is caught, I would feel that it was a political ploy, and would still vote for Kerry, and hopefully, so would the rest of the people that were planning on voting for Kerry. Did, I, use, enough, commas, in, that, sentence?

I watched the West Wing last night, and I haven't watched it in 2 years. I've been sucked in again.

I'm not as nervous as I was yesterday about getting on the plane to Chicago because I know it's not in my "life plan (if you will)" to go down in a firey plane crash. I still have to VOTE! ;)

I even get extra credit in my history class if I vote!

And if anyone is planning on going to the Community College of Southern Nevada and they want a good history teacher, it's Sondra Cosgrove. In fact, anyone reading this can take her class, no matter where you are, because she teaches online. I have a person in my class from Alaska.

ANDY!!!

Holy crap! Your birthday has passed, and I have forgotten to wish you happy birthday! When I get back from Chicago, I will call you. I hope everything is going well with you and everyone else.

So please feel free to write to me, k?

Things

My Mom had a small stint in the hospital. I don't want to talk about it too much, except to say that she's fine, and I cried myself to sleep for 2 nights.

Michael Moore was funny.

I'm going to fly to Chicago on Friday. 3 hour flight. Just had a rather graphic dream about a bunch of planes crashing into my elementary school. I think that the dream had more to do with my mom being in the hospital than me actaully possibly being involved in an actual plane crash. At least that is what I have to believe in order for me to be able to get on the plane in 2 days.

To back that up, I also had a dream about me and my mother, in Edmonton, going down Victoria Trail early in the morning with the sun still rising, stopping at Rundle Park and meeting up with the cast of "That 70's Show." Then the sun sort of sets, and I'm showing my mom the light that reflects off the grains around the sun (of which, the real name escapes me at the moment) that you can only see during sunrise and sunset. Cassadian Light?

I will start planning the wedding when I get back from Chicago, but we're pretty sure that the date will be Memorial Day Weekend Sunday of next year! Sound good?

Why every women should vote!

... For John Kerry. ;)

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As Oprah Slaps Bush; With 30 states poised to smack down women's rights again, the one true savior emerges


By Mark Morford / SF Gate

So there she was, the nation's most powerful and popular public female, kicking butt on a recent installment of her insanely beloved TV show with the help of celeb guests (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera) and galvanizing stunned women across the nation to participate in this election, or else.

There was Oprah, doing what she does so freakishly well, cheerleading and extolling and impressing upon, getting women up and getting them angry and demanding that they exercise their hard-won right to vote and demanding that they quit dissing their feminist ancestors, the ones who worked so damn hard for suffrage and for freedom of choice and for the right to tell powerful sexist Republican men where they can shove their repressive sexist antichoice bigotry.

This was her fabulous, much-needed message: Take your rights for granted at your peril, ladies. Move, or else. Choose how you want the laws to treat and respect you and your body -- or someone else, someone who hasn't touched a vagina for 30 years and who thinks sex is only tolerable in the dark, fully clothed and with a respectable prostitute, will choose for you.

Sound like a cliché? Same ol' quasi-feminist rally message? Not exactly. Not this time. Just imagine this:

Imagine Bush filches another election in November. Nations mourn, black clouds gather, children cry, colons spasm, the remaining shreds of the American experiment wither and die.

And within a very short time, as many as 30 U.S. states have recriminalized abortion and made repressing women and hating sex fun again, as young American females everywhere who thought their right to choose was pretty much incontrovertible and indisputable and unfailing and who therefore didn't bother to vote in '00 or '04 suddenly go, oh holy freaking hell.

Hello, 1950s. Hello, coat-hanger surgery. Hello, millions of despondent daughters of uptight parents. Hello, dead or mutilated teenage girls who suffer botched procedures. Hello, a fresh national nightmare, revisited, regurgitated, reborn. And hello again to smug right-wing males who've wanted to put women back in their place for the past 50 years. Check that: 200 years. Check that: forever.

Just a silly nightmare? Utterly impossible? A ridiculous liberal daydream? Not even close, sweetheart.

It's all about the Supreme Court, of course. Fact is, our next president will almost surely get to appoint a number of new high-court justices to replace those who will likely retire after enduring Bush's toxic first term. They hung in there, these few -- especially stalwarts Sandra Day O'Connor and moderate, pro-choice John Paul Stevens -- hoping to disallow the nation's highest judiciary from becoming overly stacked with homophobic self-righteous right-wing neocon wingnuts (hi, Justice Scalia!) who would have us revert -- morally, sexually, spiritually, misogynistically -- to 1953. Check that: 1853. Check that: 1353.

With the exception of nearly useless neoconservative sycophant Clarence Thomas, not a single justice now serving on the court is under 65. Many insiders say Stevens, O'Connor and bitter old man William Rehnquist (almost 80) are all likely to retire before 2008. BushCo's chosen replacements could easily tip the scales of the court the other direction, from its very precarious 5-4 progressive tilt to a very sneering 6-3 conservative one, a court that would then very easily overturn parts or even all of Roe v. Wade. Talk about a malicious legacy.

It gets worse. It gets nastier, more widespread. Because should Shrub swipe another term, he will also be on his way to naming more federal trial and appeals judges -- hundreds, by most counts -- than either Clinton or Reagan, the last two-term presidents. Bush could, in short and for all intents and purposes, stack the nation's courts with enough neoconservative, antichoice, antiwomen crusaders to make Strom Thurmond giggle in his grave.

Which brings us straight back to Oprah. Say what you will about the often weirdly effusive and overtly gushy and often slightly smarmy woman who just gave away 276 Pontiacs to her entire studio audience (hard to tell if that was an act of astounding generosity and beneficence, or some sort of weird punishment -- I mean, they were Pontiacs), but the woman can electrify and inspire and educate her millions of devoted viewers like nobody's business.

And if there's one famously disenfranchised and alienated and apathetic voting bloc that needs to get off its collective yoga butt and stand up and make itself known this election lest it lose an even larger chunk of its basic human rights than it even realizes, it's youngish women.

This is, after all, what so many women don't seem to know. That the Bush administration has already, in just a few short years, managed to roll back a truly astounding number of their basic rights, making it more difficult, for example, for doctors to perform abortions, or making it illegal for schools to discuss contraception or for hospitals to discuss pregnancy-termination options.

From demeaning and ineffectual abstinence-only programs to biased counseling to cutting all funding for international women's health organizations that provide care to poor women in third-world nations (hell, Bush hacked that one away in his first month in office), Dubya has done more than any president in the last 100 years to smack women upside their sexually empowered heads.

Oh and by the way, that suggestion currently being floated by some in Congress that the Iraq war has become so nasty and desperate that we might very well need to reinstate the military draft? That draft includes young women. And oh yes, Bush has already upheld the ban on abortions for servicewomen stationed overseas, even if they were raped, even if they pay for it themselves. Feeling patriotic yet?

This has been the GOP's message to women since, well, forever: Be like Laura Bush -- submissive, matronly, heavily shellacked and ever flashing a disquieting mannequin grin, off in the corner reading stories to the kids and cutting lots of pretty ceremonial ribbons and keeping quiet about the Important Stuff and never having sex and always be standing just out of the spotlight, secondary and inferior and in the background. You know, right where you belong.

Truly and sadly, few indeed are the powerful and articulate public female voices in our major media to counter this ideological poison. Who, Barbara Walters? Not exactly hotly connected to youth and issues of the day. Katie Couric? About as female empowering as a terrier. Martha Stewart? Busy designing barbell cozies for the prison gym. The wholly queasy pseudo-feminists on the wholly awful "The View"? Please.

And while plethoric are the powerful women working behind the media scenes, execs and pundits and writers, senators and world leaders and even forthright, independent wives, and while there are plenty of strong-willed, outspoken female celebs making their voices known, in terms of visibility and raw power and sheer reach, nobody can touch Oprah. Which is exactly why her message was so wonderful.

Here's the bottom line: 50 million eligible women didn't vote in 2000, and 22 million of them were single and nearly every one of them probably thought their vote doesn't matter and it isn't really worth it and who cares anyway because no matter who wins, everything's still pretty much run by rich powerful men anyway. Which is, you know, sort of true. But not quite.

Because as Oprah knows, there are powerful men who get it and who love women and who understand their issues and who have cool articulate daughters and opinionated self-defined multilingual firebrand wives (Hi, Teresa), and there are aww-shucks antichoice Texans with lifeless token wives who think your body is government property and you should just pipe down and keep your damn legs closed and go pray to an angry Republican God to forgive your plentiful vagina-induced sins.

Hey, it's your choice. But not for long.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emphasis mine.

You better watch out...

You better not cry,
better not pout I'm tellin' you why.
MICHAEL MOORE is coming to town!
Moore's made a list, Fox checked it twice,
found out that Bush was anything but nice.
Michael Moore is coming to town!
He sees Bush when he's sleeping,
He sees him when he wakes,
He thinks that Bush had been totally bad,
So go out and vote for Kerry's sake!

One more time, Republican style!

You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not sneer, I'm tellin you why.
President Bush is coming to town.
He's making a list
Of terrorists
It's very hard work
Pouding your fist
President Bush is coming to town.
The girls and boys of Vegas
Will have a grand hate-fest
And I will be in their midst
To them, I'm a liberal terrorist.

Ok, so that wasn't so liberal bashing. Let's try that again. Bare with me, folks.

You'd better watch Fox
You'd better not hide
You'd better flop I'm tellin' you why.
President Bush is coming to town.

He's made his list
Checked it with Rice
Found WMD's more than twice
President Bush is coming to town.

He liberated Iraq
They're having a jubilee
Their votes will all be counted
Unlike Florida's Miami-Dade county!

OK, I think I'm done now. Thank god right? I'm really excited. I'm going to see President Bush on Thursday night, and Michael Moore on Friday night. Now that's what I call Fair and Balanced(tm).

President Bush is in town for a rally. Then I'll get to see if the loyalty oath thing is true or not. Don't worry, conservative family members, I will not be dragged out by my hair with the crowd chanting "FOUR MORE YEARS!" at me. :D

Michael Moore is in town as well. It's part of his "Slacker Uprising Tour." Since NV is supposedly a swing state (with a whoping 5 electoral votes) everyone finds the need to come here this time around. Kerry will be in town too, at an AARP convention that you have to pay $300 to get into. Won't be going to that.

I'll try to remember to take some pictures when I go to my political events and post them. Like I usually do, right? ;)

Nevada Space Grant

So, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I applied for a scholarship from the Nevada Space Grand association, and was totally rejected a couple months back. On Monday, they just called me and told me that NASA gave them more money and they wanted to throw it my way! It's going to be $1000! Whee! I'm excited!

Oh golly gee

Brandon's family is coming into town tomorrow night. His mom has never been here since Brandon's lived here.

I will have a date picked for the wedding after I get back from Chicago. It's going to be sometime in June 2005. If anyone has any plans for that time and they want a certain weekend over another weekend, let me know. I know I won't be able to please everyone, but it will be like a democracy. We'll all vote on a weekend, once we find out when other things are happening in June.

Kerry won the first debate! Cheney won the second! Friday is double duty! Enterprise premire and the 2nd prez debate. I will be having dinner with family, so I'll have to tape it. I wish I had TIVO. Maybe I'll put that on my wedding registry ;) My friend has it, and she loves it! She can watch whatever she wants when she wants to watch it. Awesome.

For those of you that are wondering what's going on in my ex's world, he has his own website The Famous Paul. His friend who is the one from Omnibuscortex designed it for him. You can play pac-man on it, YAY!

The winds are a changin' again at STTE. We can all smell it in the air. I'll tell more on Tuesday.

I still hate my programming class. Tried to trade it for an English class, but all the classes were full, so I'm just going to have to muddle through. BOO.

Java

And I'm not talking hot beverage. I'm taking my first class in computer programming. I guess if you're going to be a physicist, you have to know how to program a computer. Java is hard. My teacher tries, but I still don't know the difference between objects and classes. My teacher is really heavy on the theory of it, which I understand to a certain degree, but I wish he would just write a program and let us see how it works, so I can try to figure out what the hell is going on here. I really want to know how to do it. It interests me, but it's very frustrating when you don't understand the theory of it.

I had to stop listening to Air America radio for a few days. I was getting stressed out.

I did watch the O'Reilly and Dr. Phil interviews with George Bush. I saw a preview of the Kerry interview on Dr. Phil, and saw O'Reilly issue a challenge to Kerry to come on his show. If you didn't know already, Fox news is conservative. If Bush rarely talks to the White house press corps, but he'll talk to Bill O'Reilly, you know that is proof positive that Fox News is totally right-wing.

Oh well, I'm sick of politics. It's making my head spin. When you try to talk with people about it, you just go in circles. It's very frustrating, and you're never going to change anyone's mind. Unless they are undecided and have completely missed the last 4 years and have just now decided that they need to pay attention.

I'm going to Chicago on Oct 22. Flying. Yay.

Brandon's mom, uncle and aunt are coming Oct 8. We're going to get together for a "meeting of the two parents" dinner or something probably Friday night.

My star trek fanclub meeting is Saturday, and everyone seems to think it's falling apart. I hope it doesn't, but who knows.

My friend La Shana had her labor induced today, and she called me from the hospital earlier this evening. Her website? Zion Cathedral. She's having a boy whose name is Nicholas. Good luck!

My cousins Michael and Tracy and Michael's wife Melanie came to visit this last weekend. She's very pregnant, and is set to have a baby girl in a couple of weeks time.

I, however, am not planning on having children, much to the dissapointment of my mother. :D

Brandon and I are going to start the wedding plans as soon as we get back from Chicago. I will keep everyone posted.

Links are fun!

• Colin Powell on connections between 9-11 and Iraq
  
• Rolling Stone article on Bill O'Reilly
  
• Freeway Blogger: Free Speech! Use it or lose it!
  

Pentagon

So, after taking a look around, I found this:

CLICK HERE

The only thing is that it doesn't explain about the amazing pentalawn. There were several cameras on the pentagon. It's (supposed) to be the most secured building in the country. Part of having a secure building is having surviellence cameras. You're telling me that there is only one camera trained on the front of the pentagon? We've seen those two other planes striking the WTC 8 billion times. You'd think the media would be all over getting that footage of the plane hitting the pentagon. All that's been released from the Pentagon is 5 frames of footage, crappy footage at that. Maybe the government doesn't want people to know where they have cameras installed around the pentagon. Then why don't they tell people that instead of letting rumors run wild. Honesty and government just don't mix. Never have, never will.

A lighter note...

I've already bought my wedding dress... It was the first one I tried on. It was the only one I tried on. I fell in love with it, and it was on sale, so I couldn't resist. I pick it up tomorrow. Check it out here if you want.

Brandon and I are also having a party, sort of an engagement party on Saturday at my friend Shahnon's house. She and her man renovated their whole kitchen/living room/dining room themselves. They have a dining room table that was ordered directly from Thailand and took like 8 months to get. It is an original, crafted specifically for her. I can't wait to get pictures of this whole thing up here so you can see why I'm so psyched just to spend time there. (Besides the fact that Shahnon and Rick rock.)

My HR director just asked me what the hours are for cash control. On a down note: the local psychic here at STTE has predicted another mass lay-off coming soon. I don't think they can lay me off while Shana is out on leave, but who knows. Also, about the psychic: she is never wrong. I know of 5 personal stories where she was exactly right.

I really don't like SprintPCS.

I do really like shopping for stationary though. :D

What a Dick

You know who I'm talking about! Cheney of course! He really is a Dick, he just proved it. From the NY Times (and I'm sure every single other paper out there)

``It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States,'' Cheney told supporters at a town-hall meeting.


That is what they've been trying to say to the American public for months now. I'm amazed that he was just so, honest. That is really how he feels. Of course, it's not based on anything. Attacking Iraq did not make the world safer. It pissed off a whole bunch of people, and has bred a whole new generation of terrorists. They don't "hate us because of our freedom", they hate us because our stupid leaders march into their country, bomb the hell out of it, then don't cut them in for the reconstruction contracts. They are also pissed off because they all know that we went there because of the oil, and they know that the US is totally dependent on Middle East Oil, and wants to play favorites with certain countries (Saudi Arabia) and wants to steal from other countries (Iraq). The United States has 150,000 troops there. Still. Didn't we transfer power a couple of months ago? The death toll is over 1000.

Considering John Kerry's plan for Iraq and the war on terror is not all that different from Bush's, how can Cheney say that there will be a terrorist attack if "the wrong choice" for president is elected? Is he going to make sure that happens? SCARY. Yes, I'm going there. That Dick has connections.

This whole election is crazy. No one is saying the truth, not the media, not the candidates... NO ONE. How many people are really going to sit there and research every little thing that everyone says just to make sure it's true or half-true? Half the people in this country don't even vote, nevermind actually getting involved. It's overwhelming. I've tried to research, but it gets frustrating. So people rely on the nightly news.

Please, for god's sake, don't watch FOX NEWS. All that channel is is a bunch of republicans sitting around patting each other on the back and drinking their kool-aid. The bad thing is, they say that they're "Fair and balanced." I listen to Air America Radio which is a liberal talk station, but they certainly don't claim to be "Fair and Balanced." They are liberals. They think that they're point of view is right and they are not afraid to stand up for it. FOX NEWS likes to say they are "Fair and Balanced" so that they can try to say that their extremely right-wing views are views that the mainstream of America has and should have, then they try to present it as mainstream.

I've been trying to get the comments function on this damn blog to work, so that if anyone is out there actually reading this, you can tell me I'm a dumb bitch, or totally agree with me outloud.

COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!111

If you want to comment, all you have to do is click on the time at the bottom of the post. The whole post will open in its own window, then scroll to the bottom and comment away! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy 9/11 rant batman!

I ended up watching a 2 hour special on A&E about the amateur filmmakers that had decided to capture different aspects of 9/11.

Creepy:

• Seeing a guy jump to his death.
  
• Watching a girl in Brooklyn take a home video of the WTC burning, and having various pieces of debris fall on her about 20 minutes after the attack. She actually picked up papers and showed them to the camera. There was a financial statement, and some other document.
  
• Watching people throw-up after inhaling all the dust.
  
• Seeing the people walking around like zombies, covered in white dust, completely dazed and confused.
  

Inspiring:

• Watching two people scream at each other. They both were yelling about having to pick body parts out of the WTC the day before, and they concluded that they just needed a way to process the horrors that they witnessed. They then hugged, as did the rest of the crowd that was also arguing. (I think this took place in Union Square.)
  
• Seeing the people of New York stand on the road where all the emergency people and Ground Zero workers were going back and forth, and cheering them on.
  
• A group of about 30 people just joined hands the day after, in downtown New York and started singing 'Amazing Grace'
  
• People were just stopping and talking to each other, and this little sparrow, was just walking right in the middle of their little group. When one of the men squatted down to try to touch it, it barely moved away from his hand. It was just in shock. They came to the conclusion that the bird also needed their little circle in order to absorb what had just happened.
  
• Seeing the candle light vigil in Union Square.
  
• Watching them light the two tower lights on March 11, 2002 as a tribute to the WTC.
  

Comforting:

• Knowing that we all felt the same way that day.
  
• Knowing that we as humans all fell into our roles as concerned citizens and do-gooders without even thinking twice about it. Even McDonalds donated food for the cause.
  

I was wondering why 9/11 was so prominent in my mind. DUH. Next week is the three year aniv. That should really be my last rant about that.

School

School started last week. I'm taking a computer programming class and an American History class. They are both online classes, so no real interaction or anything. Online classes don't feel real. Oh well, 6 more credits this semester, 6 next semester, then its time for NAU!

Magic Bullet

So, now I have to go look at official pictures of the pentagon right after the impact on 9/11, and I have to see if there were any plane parts left anywhere because this video freaked me out. Here, have a look.

Pentagon Happenings

I almost forgot one of the main reasons that I'm not voting for Bush. Despite what the supposedly "neutral" commission said, I think that the government knew about 9/11 before it happened, and let it happen for financial/political reasons. There, call me a nutjob, I don't care. That's what I think. There's too many coincidences like...

The Coincidence Theorist's Guide to 9/11

http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/

Sunday, August 15, 2004

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I posted an earlier version of this last week at Democratic Underground. I've added a number of more entries, and links for all.

Happy coincidenting!

That governments have permitted terrorist acts against their own people, and have even themselves been perpetrators in order to find strategic advantage is quite likely true, but this is the United States we're talking about.

That intelligence agencies, financiers, terrorists and narco-criminals have a long history together is well established, but the Nugan Hand Bank, BCCI, Banco Ambrosiano, the P2 Lodge, the CIA/Mafia anti-Castro/Kennedy alliance, Iran/Contra and the rest were a long time ago, so there’s no need to rehash all that. That was then, this is now!

That Jonathan Bush’s Riggs Bank has been found guilty of laundering terrorist funds and fined a US-record $25 million must embarrass his nephew George, but it's still no justification for leaping to paranoid conclusions.

That George Bush's brother Marvin sat on the board of the Kuwaiti-owned company which provided electronic security to the World Trade Centre, Dulles Airport and United Airlines means nothing more than you must admit those Bush boys have done alright for themselves.

That George Bush found success as a businessman only after the investment of Osama’s brother Salem and reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mahfouz is just one of those things - one of those crazy things.

That Osama bin Laden is known to have been an asset of US foreign policy in no way implies he still is.

That al Qaeda was active in the Balkan conflict, fighting on the same side as the US as recently as 1999, while the US protected its cells, is merely one of history's little aberrations.

The claims of Michael Springman, State Department veteran of the Jeddah visa bureau, that the CIA ran the office and issued visas to al Qaeda members so they could receive training in the United States, sound like the sour grapes of someone who was fired for making such wild accusations.

That one of George Bush's first acts as President, in January 2001, was to end the two-year deployment of attack submarines which were positioned within striking distance of al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps, even as the group's guilt for the Cole bombing was established, proves that a transition from one administration to the next is never an easy task.

That so many influential figures in and close to the Bush White House had expressed, just a year before the attacks, the need for a "new Pearl Harbor" before their militarist ambitions could be fulfilled, demonstrates nothing more than the accidental virtue of being in the right place at the right time.

That the company PTECH, founded by a Saudi financier placed on America’s Terrorist Watch List in October 2001, had access to the FAA’s entire computer system for two years before the 9/11 attack, means he must not have been such a threat after all.

That whistleblower Indira Singh was told to keep her mouth shut and forget what she learned when she took her concerns about PTECH to her employers and federal authorities, suggests she lacked the big picture. And that the Chief Auditor for JP Morgan Chase told Singh repeatedly, as she answered questions about who supplied her with what information, that "that person should be killed," suggests he should take an anger management seminar.

That on May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney took upon himself the job of co-ordinating a response to domestic terror attacks even as he was crafting the administration’s energy policy which bore implications for America's military, circumventing the established infrastructure and ignoring the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, merely shows the VP to be someone who finds it hard to delegate.

That the standing order which covered the shooting down of hijacked aircraft was altered on June 1, 2001, taking discretion away from field commanders and placing it solely in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, is simply poor planning and unfortunate timing. Fortunately the error has been corrected, as the order was rescinded shortly after 9/11.

That in the weeks before 9/11, FBI agent Colleen Rowley found her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui so perversely thwarted that her colleagues joked that bin Laden had a mole at the FBI, proves the stress-relieving virtue of humour in the workplace.

That Dave Frasca of the FBI’s Radical Fundamentalist Unit received a promotion after quashing multiple, urgent requests for investigations into al Qaeda assets training at flight schools in the summer of 2001 does appear on the surface odd, but undoubtedly there's a good reason for it, quite possibly classified.

That FBI informant Randy Glass, working an undercover sting, was told by Pakistani intelligence operatives that the World Trade Center towers were coming down, and that his repeated warnings which continued until weeks before the attacks, including the mention of planes used as weapons, were ignored by federal authorities, is simply one of the many "What Ifs" of that tragic day.

That over the summer of 2001 Washington received many urgent, senior-level warnings from foreign intelligence agencies and governments - including those of Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Afghanistan and others - of impending terror attacks using hijacked aircraft and did nothing, demonstrates the pressing need for a new Intelligence Czar.

That John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft in July 2001 on account of security considerations had nothing to do with warnings regarding September 11, because he said so to the 9/11 Commission.

That former lead counsel for the House David Schippers says he’d taken to John Ashcroft’s office specific warnings he’d learned from FBI agents in New York of an impending attack – even naming the proposed dates, names of the hijackers and the targets – and that the investigations had been stymied and the agents threatened, proves nothing but David Schipper’s pathetic need for attention.

That Garth Nicolson received two warnings from contacts in the intelligence community and one from a North African head of state, which included specific site, date and source of the attacks, and passed the information to the Defense Department and the National Security Council to evidently no effect, clearly amounts to nothing, since virtually nobody has ever heard of him.

That in the months prior to September 11, self-described US intelligence operative Delmart Vreeland sought, from a Toronto jail cell, to get US and Canadian authorities to heed his warning of his accidental discovery of impending catastrophic attacks is worthless, since Vreeland was a dubious character, notwithstanding the fact that many of his claims have since been proven true.

That FBI Special Investigator Robert Wright claims that agents assigned to intelligence operations actually protect terrorists from investigation and prosecution, that the FBI shut down his probe into terrorist training camps, and that he was removed from a money-laundering case that had a direct link to terrorism, sounds like yet more sour grapes from a disgruntled employee.

That George Bush had plans to invade Afghanistan on his desk before 9/11 demonstrates only the value of being prepared.

The suggestion that securing a pipeline across Afghanistan figured into the White House’s calculations is as ludicrous as the assertion that oil played a part in determining war in Iraq.

That Afghanistan is once again the world’s principal heroin producer is an unfortunate reality, but to claim the CIA is still actively involved in the narcotics trade is to presume bad faith on the part of the agency.

Mahmood Ahmed, chief of Pakistan’s ISI, must not have authorized an al Qaeda payment of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta days before the attacks, and was not meeting with senior Washington officials over the week of 9/11, because I didn’t read anything about him in the official report.

That Porter Goss met with Ahmed the morning of September 11 in his capacity as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has no bearing whatsoever upon his recent selection by the White House to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

That Goss's congressional seat encompasses the 9/11 hijackers' Florida base of operation, including their flight schools, is precisely the kind of meaningless factoid a conspiracy theorist would bring up.

It's true that George HW Bush and Dick Cheney spent the evening of September 10 alone in the Oval Office, but what's wrong with old colleagues catching up? And it's true that George HW Bush and Shafig bin Laden, Osama's brother, spent the morning of September 11 together at a board meeting of the Carlyle Group, but the bin Ladens are a big family.

That FEMA arrived in New York on Sept 10 to prepare for a scheduled biowarfare drill, and had a triage centre ready to go that was larger and better equipped than the one that was lost in the collapse of WTC 7, was a lucky twist of fate.

Newsweek’s report that senior Pentagon officials cancelled flights on Sept 10 for the following day on account of security concerns is only newsworthy because of what happened the following morning.

That George Bush's telephone logs for September 11 do not exist should surprise no one, given the confusion of the day.

That Mohamed Atta attended the International Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base, that Abdulaziz Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School, that Saeed Alghamdi attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey merely shows it is a small world, after all.

That Lt Col Steve Butler, Vice Chancellor for student affairs of the Defense Language Institute during Alghamdi's terms, was disciplined, removed from his post and threatened with court martial when he wrote "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain," is the least that should have happened for such disrespect shown his Commander in Chief.

That Mohammed Atta dressed like a Mafioso, had a stripper girlfriend, smuggled drugs, was already a licensed pilot when he entered the US, enjoyed pork chops, drank to excess and did cocaine, was closer to Europeans than Arabs in Florida, and included the names of defence contractors on his email list, proves how dangerous the radical fundamentalist Muslim can be.

That 43 lbs of heroin was found on board the Lear Jet owned by Wally Hilliard, the owner of Atta’s flight school, just three weeks after Atta enrolled – the biggest seizure ever in Central Florida – was just bad luck. That Hilliard was not charged shows how specious the claims for conspiracy truly are.

That Hilliard’s plane had made 30-round trips to Venezuela with the same passengers who always paid cash, that the plane had been supplied by a pair of drug smugglers who had also outfitted CIA drug runner Barry Seal, and that 9/11 commissioner Richard ben-Veniste had been Seal’s attorney before Seal’s murder, shows nothing but the lengths to which conspiracists will go to draw sinister conclusions.

Reports of insider trading on 9/11 are false, because the SEC investigated and found only respectable investors who will remain nameless involved, and no terrorists, so the windfall profit-taking was merely, as ever, coincidental.

That heightened security for the World Trade Centre was lifted immediately prior to the attacks illustrates that it always happens when you least expect it.

That Hani Hanjour, the pilot of Flight 77, was so incompetent he could not fly a Cessna in August, but in September managed to fly a 767 at excessive speed into a spiraling, 270-degree descent and a level impact of the first floor of the Pentagon, on the only side that was virtually empty and had been hardened to withstand a terrorist attack, merely demonstrates that people can do almost anything once they set their minds to it.

That none of the flight data recorders were said to be recoverable even though they were located in the tail sections, and that until 9/11, no solid-state recorder in a catastrophic crash had been unrecoverable, shows how there's a first time for everything.

That Mohammed Atta left a uniform, a will, a Koran, his driver's license and a "how to fly planes" video in his rental car at the airport means he had other things on his mind.

The mention of Israelis with links to military-intelligence having been arrested on Sept 11 videotaping and celebrating the attacks, of an Israeli espionage ring surveiling DEA and defense installations and trailing the hijackers, and of a warning of impending attacks delivered to the Israeli company Odigo two hours before the first plane hit, does not deserve a response. That the stories also appeared in publications such as Ha'aretz and Forward is a sad display of self-hatred among certain elements of the Israeli media.

That multiple military wargames and simulations were underway the morning of 9/11 – one simulating the crash of a plane into a building; another, a live-fly simulation of multiple hijackings – and took many interceptors away from the eastern seaboard and confused field commanders as to which was a real hijacked aircraft and which was a hoax, was a bizarre coincidence, but no less a coincidence.

That the National Military Command Center ops director asked a rookie substitute to stand his watch at 8:30 am on Sept. 11 is nothing more than bad timing.

That a recording made Sept 11 of air traffic controllers’ describing what they had witnessed, was destroyed by an FAA official who crushed it in his hand, cut the tape into little pieces and dropped them in different trash cans around the building, is something no doubt that overzealous official wishes he could undo.

That the FBI knew precisely which Florida flight schools to descend upon hours after the attacks should make every American feel safer knowing their federal agents are on the ball.

That a former flight school executive believes the hijackers were "double agents," and says about Atta and associates, "Early on I gleaned that these guys had government protection. They were let into this country for a specific purpose," and was visited by the FBI just four hours after the attacks to intimidate him into silence, proves he's an unreliable witness, for the simple reason there is no conspiracy.

That Jeb Bush was on board an aircraft that removed flight school records to Washington in the middle of the night on Sept 12th demonstrates how seriously the governor takes the issue of national security.

To insinuate evil motive from the mercy flights of bin Laden family members and Saudi royals after 9/11 shows the sickness of the conspiratorial mindset.

Le Figaro’s report in October 2001, known to have originated with French intelligence, that the CIA met Osama bin Laden in a Dubai hospital in July 2001, proves again the perfidy of the French.

That the tape in which bin Laden claims responsibility for the attacks was released by the State Department after having been found providentially by US forces in Afghanistan, and depicts a fattened Osama with a broader face and a flatter nose, proves Osama, and Osama alone, masterminded 9/11.

That at the battle of Tora Bora, where bin Laden was surrounded on three sides, Special Forces received no order to advance and capture him and were forced to stand and watch as two Russian-made helicopters flew into the area where bin Laden was believed hiding, loaded up passengers and returned to Pakistan, demonstrates how confusing the modern battlefield can be.

That upon returning to Fort Bragg from Tora Bora, the same Special Operations troops who had been stood down from capturing bin Laden, suffered a unusual spree of murder/suicides, is nothing more than a series of senseless tragedies.

Reports that bin Laden is currently receiving periodic dialysis treatment in a Pakistani medical hospital are simply too incredible to be true.

That the White House went on Cipro September 11 shows the foresightedness of America’s emergency response.

That the anthrax was mailed to perceived liberal media and the Democratic leadership demonstrates only the perversity of the terrorist psyche.

That the anthrax attacks appeared to silence opponents of the Patriot Act shows only that appearances can be deceiving.

That the Ames-strain anthrax was found to have originated at Fort Detrick, and was beyond the capability of all but a few labs to refine, underscores the importance of allowing the investigation to continue without the distraction of absurd conspiracy theories.

That Republican guru Grover Norquist has been found to have aided financiers and supporters of Islamic terror to gain access to the Bush White House, and is a founder of the Islamic Institute, which the Treasury Department believes to be a source of funding for al Qaeda, suggests Norquist is at worst, naive, and at best, needs a wider circle of friends.

That the Department of Justice consistently chooses to see accused 9/11 plotters go free rather than permit the courtroom testimony of al Qaeda leaders in American custody looks bad, but only because we don't have all the facts.

That the White House balked at any inquiry into the events of 9/11, then starved it of funds and stonewalled it, was unfortunate, but since the commission didn't find for conspiracy it's all a non issue anyway.

That the 9/11 commission's executive director and "gatekeeper," Philip Zelikow, was so closely involved in the events under investigation that he testified before the the commission as part of the inquiry, shows only an apparent conflict of interest.

That commission chair Thomas Kean is, like George Bush, a Texas oil executive who had business dealings with reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mafouz, suggests Texas is smaller than they say it is.

That co-chair Lee Hamilton has a history as a Bush family "fixer," including clearing Bush Sr of the claims arising from the 1980 "October Surprise", is of no concern, since only conspiracists believe there was such a thing as an October Surprise.

That FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds accuses the agency of intentionally fudging specific pre-9/11 warnings and harboring a foreign espionage ring in its translation department, and claims she witnessed evidence of the semi-official infrastructure of money-laundering and narcotics trade behind the attacks, is of no account, since John Ashcroft has gagged her with the rare invocation of "State Secrets Privilege," and retroactively classified her public testimony. For the sake of national security, let us speak no more of her.

That, when commenting on Edmond's case, Daniel Ellsberg remarked that Ashcroft could go to prison for his part in a cover-up, suggests Ellsberg is giving comfort to the terrorists, and could, if he doesn't wise up, find himself declared an enemy combatant.

I could go on. And on and on. But I trust you get the point. Which is simply this: there are no secrets, an American government would never accept civilian casualties for geostrategic gain, and conspiracies are for the weak-minded and gullible.

- Posted by Jeff at 5:15 PM

Now, If you managed to sit through all that, good for you. I had to read it in two parts because I was just totally blown away.

Calling all FRIENDS AND FAMILY

No really. I need all y'all addresses up in heer. Shizzle my nizzle and all that crap. Don't worry, I won't be sending out invitations for the wedding for another 3 or four months or so, so I thought I'd really start nagging ya'll right now.

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

Calling all Friends!

My stupid handheld ran completly out of power (which had nothing to do with it's stupid owner ;) ) and I need people's addresses and phone numbers. Please send to

deeisanerd@yahoo.com

Especially you, TARA! I tried to send you an email, and your freakin email isn't working. I totally lost your number, and I hate to call your parents to ask for it. CHRISTA, are you out there?! I know that LENAI writes to me sometimes, but I need your physical address.

The thing that sucks is that I didn't have a paper/disk back-up of anyone's address, thinking that my amazing Compaq PC could never fail me (which again, has nothing to do with the owner)

Bush's Speech

So, I watched it from about 7:45pm on (I was at the gym) and I really think that he thinks he's doing the right thing for the country. He really believes that what he is saying is actually happening. If what he was saying was actually happening (IE: Community Colleges/pell-grants/more money/more quality jobs/no lay-offs/easier to handle health care) I would be like everyone of those people in the audience, waving my "W" sign and proudly displaying my "flip-flops." I can't say that it's been easier for me to get money for school (I was not given a pell grant, but recieved a scholarship based on my grades); If I lost my job at Star Trek (which very well might happen, that whole buzz is starting again) I would not be able to get another job for more than 9 or 10 bucks an hour (which most people can't really live on $18,720 a year); My stupid birth control is not covered by my insurance. It's the generic brand of Ortho-tri-cyclen. The only reason I switched to the generic brand was because when I was working at The Aladdin (which is now taken over by Planet Hollywood) they would charge you more for the brand-name than they would for the generic. Now that I've switched plans, my new plan covers the brand-name, but not the generic. IS THAT EASIER!? The doctor said that changing birth control, even going from generic to brand-name, can cause some side-effects. HOW IS THAT MAKING MY LIFE EASIER!!! These drug companies/ insurance companies make so much friggin money, and they can't just get together and put two and two together?!!! Don't they realize in this economy, people are changing jobs all the time, and will end up having different health plans, and for those people that are on maintenence drugs, that it's going to screw up their bodies if they have to keep changing the prescriptions because of some corporate deal between the drug and insurance companies?!!! IS THAT RIGHT?!!! MAN!!! NOW I'M PISSED OFF!!! I was so pissed off a couple of days ago that I actually went to www.senate.gov and looked up the voting records for the senate MYSELF. Yes, I actually went to the source and looked up all the important issues (IMHO) to see how John Kerry ACTUALLY VOTED. I didn't rely on "Swift boat veterans for truth" or "The democratic national committee" I went to the website and FOUND OUT FOR MYSELF! YAY FOR ME! WHEEE!!!

Now, turn off your TV please, and if you want to figure out what's really going on here, go to the internet, find official sources, and read. If you can cast your vote for George Bush and still sleep at night after all that you've read, well, it's your dreams you'll have to deal with. I'm being pretty dramatic hey? Or you could just totally ignore me, and just watch the political ads on TV and FOX NEWS, MSNBC, CNN, and be totally confused like I was. Either that, or be totally polarized one way or the other. John Kerry is not perfect, but it comes down to who can do less damage while they're in office for the next four years.

GWB joke

One day in the future, George Bush has a heart attack and dies. He immediately goes to hell, where the devil's waiting for him. "I don't know what to do here," says the devil. "You are on my list, but I have no room for you. You definitely have to stay here, so I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I've got three people here who weren't quite as bad as you. I'll let one of them go, but you have to take their place. I'll even let YOU decide who leaves." Bush thought that sounded pretty good, so the devil opened the door to the first room. In it was Richard Nixon in a large pool of water. He kept diving in and surfacing empty handed. Over and over and over. Such was his fate in hell. "No," George said. "I don't think so. I'm not a good swimmer and I don't think I could do that all day long." The devil led him to the next room. In it was Newt Gingrich with a sledge hammer and a room full of rocks. All he did was swing that hammer, time after time after time. "No, I've got this problem with my shoulder. I would be in constant agony if all I could do was break rocks all day," commented George. The devil opened a third door. In it, Bush saw Bill Clinton, lying on the floor with his arms tied over his head, with his legs restrained in a spread-eagle pose. Bent over him was Monica Lewinsky, doing what she does best. Bush took this in disbelief and finally said, "Yeah, I can handle this." The devil, pleased that he made his decision, smiled and said, OK, Monica, you're free to go.

--Random forwarded joke.

Jacked up(TM)

A few things...

I'M ENGAGED! Yes, to Brandon! WHEEEEEEE!!!!!

I will have a detailed report of all of the trip soon, hopefully, with a few pictures. We took about 700 pictures and about 6 hours of video, all of which is PG (for me having a potty mouth), so don't cringe. ;)

But today is Jacked Up(TM), hence the title. I was driving to work this morning and I spot a very familiar purple truck on the side of the road, with most of it's front end smashed in. I see my brother's boyfriend standing there, talking to a cop, and I pull over to help. His arm was all bruised from when the air bag went off, but he's ok. It was both of their faults according to the cops (which I agree with) but the other driver tried to argue about it (which is stupid) and the cop just cut him off before he could even start. So I was an hour and fifteen minutes late to work, which was ok, I had called and told my supervisor at around seven thirty in the morning.

The other Jacked Up(TM) happening is that my boss just got fired. RANDOM. Despite leaving me here for 12 hours on certain days, and being slightly absent-minded, I can't imagine why they would have fired him. I think it had something to do with the IRS and tips or some such thing. We all made a pretty good team. He kept out of our hair for the most part, and he and my supervisor had a certain understanding. They told us in a very office space way (taking us into one of our conference rooms, and saying that _____ is not with the company anymore) and not telling us why, but that some guy is taking over on Monday, and that this other guy sitting in front of you will be taking over for the rest of today. It sucks, he was a silly boss, plus he was a total liberal tree-hugger and we could just talk and talk about politics. My supervisor was so pissed off that she went home for the day.

I will see her tomorrow because she is throwing a baby shower for my other co-worker who is going on maternity leave next week. I will be getting weekends off starting in a couple of weeks, but not soon enough for me to be able to go to the Utah Shakespeare festival. BOOOOO. My boyfriend and some friends are going to Utah for that next weekend, and that same weekend, my friends are renting a boat for two days and are going camping in Arizona. I'll just be at home, by myself, curled up in fetal position rocking back and forth sucking my thumb and holding my ear, in the corner. No, not really. I'll probably get all of my school work done early, than clean the entire house. Or I'll do nothing.

School starts on Monday! I got another scholarship for this year. $500 each semester. YAY! Since I'm only taking two classes this semester, the reimbursement check came yesterday for $250! That's EXTRA. Left over from my classes being paid off. I paid $147 dollars for my books, so that leaves me with a positive net $103! I need it. I took those two weeks off for my trip UNPAID.

Thought of the day: You never know when your time is up, so please enjoy. And don't be an asshole.

Sarah McLachlan

WOW. That's all I have to say. The most amazing show I've ever seen. EVER. It deserves a "BEST. SHOW. EVER." I only remember the two songs that she opened with in terms of order of songs, and a few that went together, but man! I was crying, singing, and feeling completely overwhelmed by her breathtaking voice.

 
She opened with Fallen (while I was standing in the drink line) then went into World On Fire (while I was still in the drink line.) Then she sang a verse of You Are My Sunshine that lead into Hold On. Then, not in the right order:

 
• Sweet Surrender
   
• Adia
   
• Witness (which was the best song of the night - IMHO)
   
• Stupid
   
• Drifting
   
• Fear (Which she started in a low octave for the first verse, then jumped to the next octave for the rest of the song - GOOSEBUMPS)
   
• Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
   
• I will Remeber You
   
• Building a Mystery  (when I was in the bathroom - after two drinks that's what happens)
   
• Possession
   
• Wait
   
• Mary
   
• Elsewhere (My favorite SM song)
   
• Ice (also really amazing)
   
• Ice Cream (with audience participation)
   
• Trainwreck
   
• Answer 
   
• Push (which she dedicated to her husband - the drummer Ash Sood) /Angel (Piano Solos)
   
• Time
   
• Perfect Girl
   
• Dirty Little Secret (ended the show with that one, I think)
  

 
I kept waiting for her to sing I Love You, Good Enough, Dear God but alas, t'was not so. :(
 
But still. 26 songs. 2 encores. 2 and a half hours on non-stop Sarah McLachlan. I'm sad that it's over. I hope I won't have to wait another 7 years to see her again.
 

Our Trip to Canada

So Brandon and I are going on our roadtrip in 19 days! The countdown begins! We reserved our room for our 2 year anniversary in Edmonton and we're staying at Hotel MacDonald in their Chateau Suite. It's two stories (built into the turret of the hotel - see the picture from the website to know what I'm talking about) and has a jetted bathtub with seperate shower stall. Full breakfast in their fine dining restaurant comes with the room as does a breathtaking view of the North Saskatchewan River (which is probably brown, but hey, at least it's a river.)  For our first night in Edmonton, My Uncle Pat and Auntie Janet are letting us stay with them, which is totally awesome. Our aniv. night is the next night, and then for the next two nights we're staying at The Met Hotel on Whyte Ave. I can't wait! I'm freaking out over here!
 
I celebrated Auntie Die Die's birthday with her on Friday night. We had chinese food and watched VH1's "I love the 90's." It was fun. Uncle Danny got back after 10pm with a Carvel ice cream cake. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm....
 
I still have to get my car registered (my registration expires while I'm on vacation) get my A/C checked out (to make sure we don't lose it during our trip) and I have to finish Brandon's aniv. present. Damn. So much to do, so little time. Oh well.

Kerry/Edwards 2004?

I just attended my first rally, and it was interesting. I met with some other people through Democracy for America last night, which was kind of disappointing. There was no host, and because it was my first time doing anything political outside of talking about it with my family (which always goes well) or friends so I had no idea what to expect. It was nice to meet with other people who think the way that I do.

Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.


See this site: http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com


That's kind of how I feel.


Wil Wheaton's new book Just a Geek is out. I'm planning on buying it directly from him at the convention.

Viruses (Virusi)!

So, I'm on Ann Coulter's website, and I decide to venture off into republican land for a while and what do you know?!!!! I get a virus on my computer! Now, you might think I'm one of these crazy liberal lefties who likes to blame anyone and everyone, especially the right, for anything bad that might happen ever just because I am an America-hating, communist, fancy pants elitist, even if it such an event would only happen once. But guess what? Ever since I've been trying to see the right POV, my probing the other side has gotten me 4 viruses. (Virusi?) I go to lefty websites all the time! NO VIRUSI! The only reason I know it's from certain websites is because as soon as I visit an infected site, my virus program starts running, and freaks out. So what have I learned from all this? Not a lot from the right, seeing as I can't even access their websites without having to have my network administrator delete trojan virusi. I learned that you have to read print media to learn anything real about the right. OH! That's it! They don't want to give you FREE information, they want you to have to BUY their books! Wow, I see the light. ;)

July 4th weekend

Sunday was great! We rented the boat, cruised around, found a beach/alcove with warm water, drank, ate, swam, floated, listened to music and got in trouble with the boat police for having people hanging out on the front and the back of the boat while it was in motion. All in all, great times. I have pictures in my camera that I will have to display hopefully this weekend.

Today

So, I asked my supervisor if I had to come in early on Monday, seeing as it was a holiday and nobody would be at corporate to recieve our early reports (which is the only reason I come in early on Monday mornings.) She asked our boss and he said that everything is the same for Monday, meaning come in early because(I assumed) the people would be at corporate and we would have to get the reports out as usual in a timely fashion. So after the second night in a row of 5 hours sleep, I come draggin into work this morning. I start doing reports and something is not adding up. Time is ticking away, and I just can't think anymore, so I call my boss (who is in as well - he came in shortly after I did) to ask him if he could please take a look at this report because I can't see straight. He tells me not to worry about it, we're under no time constraints this morning. :0 I was slightly stunned for a minute, and then started to brew. Later, talking to him, I said, "If we're under no time constraints, why did I have to come in so early?" He said that, "He likes to get these things taken care of right away." Then later, as I'm thinking through this situation, I'm realizing that I'm the only one here. My supervisor is not here, and my boss came to work in a tank-top and shorts, so he's probably going home. We close at 6pm, but I usually leave at 4pm on Mondays. So I ask him, "Are you staying?" He laughs and says, "No..." I say, "So, I'm supposed to work for 12 hours today?" He says, "Oh yeah. Nobody told you that hey?" Then I say to him, "Well, if you would have let me come in at the regular time this morning then this wouldn't be an issue." He says, "Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Then he starts joking around, "The shit rolls down the hill, and near the bottom is gets bigger and faster." So later (about an hour later) he can sense that I'm not happy about this situation. He says, "So, you OK with this?" This time I laughed at him and said, "And if I'm not, then what? You're not going to stay, nothings going to change, and I'll still be here till 6pm." He thanked me and then left (around 9am). So here I am, at work, for 12 hours without knowing about it first. Don't you think that they should have at least told me that on Friday when I called instead of letting me just do it without them having to tell me that face to face? Man! I'm pissed. I can't wait for my vacation already! Only 5 more weeks!

Days go by...

Thank you to the Hendrey family for reading and sending me emails and phone calls about that last post. I've never forgotten how much your family meant to me when I was growing up.


Happy Canada Day *cough* 2 days ago *cough*

The last Canada Day that I celebrated we went to the river valley and watched the fire works. I think it was me, Tara, Boutie, Andy, Jeff, Stephanie, Curtis and Troy? That was, I think, in 2001? Somebody help me on this one... Tara? We all got seperated and it ended up being only me, Tara and Boutie, but it was still fun, and fucking crowded. Not to mention all the drunk people. It's hard to have fireworks when the sun goes down in the summer, because it doesn't get dark until 11pm or so. So here in Las Vegas, they're going to be setting off fireworks at 8pm. Oh well. I won't be in the city....

Happy USA Day

I will be on a boat on the Colorado River, sipping umbrella-laden drinks, avoiding all the terrorist plots to plant floating beer cooler bombs on the water. My coworker is working for me on a Sunday and this will be the first Sunday in 4 months, make that the first WHOLE DAY IN FOUR MONTHS that I've been able to see Brandon. I haven't seen him in the daylight for a while, we have totally different days off, and I'm tired on his days off, and he's tired on my days off, not to mention that he works until 9pm sometimes (after starting at 9am). He is such a good man. He really makes me feel needed and wanted and is always there when I need to vent or laugh or tickle. Did you know that we have never had a fight? We've never yelled at each other. There's been dissagreements, but it's never gotten to the "Cops" level or even to the shouting level. He is just so laid back about things and has such a grounded view and perspective. Ooops. I just drifted into a Brandon moment. :D Where was I? Oh yes, the boat. Lisa, Doug and Gerrad are friends of Heather and James from Seattle and they're here for the weekend so they will be on the boat with us. As for tonight, we're having a gathering at my house, sort of a pot-luck type of event, just to chill with the homies in the crib yo. And then we're going to try to get up at like ass-crack in the morning to get out to Willow Beach to pick up our boat by 9am. HA! Heather is making her famous tuna salad sandwiches with gluten-free bread. Lisa and I went shopping yesterday at Pier 1 and bought these cute little toothpick sandwich holder-togetherers with little palm trees and felt monkey's with coconuts on them. Total cheese, but really cute. I will have plenty of pictures from that event. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday!