Wedding in 1 WEEK!

Yes, Brandon and I are getting married in one week!!! Family starts coming in on Sunday. I'm excited and a little buterfly-ee in my tummy. I've also reverted to talking like a moron. :D

I have yet another job at yet another limo company, Fox Limousine / Executive Star / Executive Coach. Yes, all one company sort of but not really. They're going to be going their seperate ways in August, kind of like me. ;)

HOLY SHIT I ALMOST FORGOT!!! I MET LENNY KRAVITZ ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to his concert and we were right in front and some of his VIP's were placed right in the front with us and they gave us their VIP passes so Shahnon and this girl we met from Canada got to go hang by the tourbusses at the back of the Hard Rock Hotel. He came out and we stole a minute of his time. It was cool. I wish I had the picture here at work so I could post it. Best. Concert. Ever.

At the Official Las Vegas Star Trek Convention being held at the Hilton this year we're going to meet Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton and Avery Brooks! Those are the people that I never thought that I would get on my SevTrek poster! I think they're the only ones I need besides Jimmy Doohan and DeForest Kelly. (And I won't ever have those, poor guys.)

So, more about the wedding already? You'd think that's all I'd be writing about, but to tell you the truth I'm so overwhelmed by the whole situation that I don't even know where to start. I pick up the altered dress, the rings (engraved and cleaned) and am having dinner on Wednesday with Brandon's Grandfather, his step-grandmother his dad, his dad's girlfriend, my auntie and my mom. That should be interesting. YIKES. It's the first time they've ever met. 3 days before the wedding. Oy vey.

Ok, I'm actually at work so I can't really write anymore. I can't promise that I'll be able to write before the wedding again, so don't get angry!

I suck

I know. I've been really busy. School, work, wedding planning, all that stuff. It's fun, but I sure don't have all that much time for fun or sleep. (Except on Sunday mornings.)

PVM

HEY! I need your address to send out a wedding invitation! I think I just send an email to your brother, but I'm not sure if that was him or not. I guess we'll see. The one that I have for you is not working!

Other stuff

My roomates' dog bit me, just a small bite on the hand. It got infected, I needed to get a shot, and antibiotics, but It's better now.

I'm still finding new and more interesting things to hate about the Bush administration. :D

I've spent the last 3 weekends working on invitations, and it's been fun, but you'd think after spending 3 weekends on invitations that they would be more elaborate. For those of you that are getting one, you will see what I mean. ;)

My friend Lainey moved to Kansas. :(

My friend Christa won't answer my emails. :(

Grand Slam is in 3 weeks! Christine and Jim are coming down for it! It'll be great!

I think that's it for now.

Oh! My Uncle Steve is coming out two weeks before the wedding! My cousin Lee is also coming out the Tuesday before the wedding, I'm so excited! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Follow up

So, the last post stated that I was having a Christmas party. Well, it didn't have the turnout that I expected (hopefully caused by the fact that it was on a Friday night, either that or I really am a total loser) but we all still had fun.

Christmas was great. I was spoiled, I got an ipod, and a new digital camera with a new photo printer. I also got to talk to my cousin Lee for a while on the phone. He didn't get to spend Christmas at home, he works as a pilot and you can probably guess why it's really hard to get time off around the holidays. He's trying to get a job where he'll be based in Las Vegas. That would really rock. I miss him.
Heather also got me a Christmas/birthday/shower gift. It's a saphire/diamond pendant. She thought it would be perfect seeing as the wedding is going to be in blue and silver.

Speaking of weddings, hmmm. It just occured to me that mine is only 5 months away. I had my first anxiety ridden dream last night about the occasion. In my dream, we were having the ceremony this Saturday, but still having the reception in June. We hadn't sent out invitations, we were trying to call everyone, and my dress was wrinkled. Of course, that wasn't the only shitty dream I had last night. My night was filled with them. It sucked. Oh well, really crazy dreams that make me feel awful don't happen very often, so I hope that my brain purged enough last night to maybe spare me from another purge tonight.

New Years was fun. We went over to Rick and Shahnon's and Brandon brought his karoke machine (that my parents got him for Christmas.) Everything went downhill pretty quickly in terms of minds in the gutter and swearing in the microphone, but It was so damn funny. Even Brandon's brother was participating in the mayhem into the micorphone.

This Saturday, Heather, Shahnon and I are going to go to lunch, then we're going looking for dresses. Shahnon expressed that she has dress anxiety (which I totally understand, which is why I got my dress 3 weeks after I was engaged.) Hopefully, we'll be able to find something.

School

I got an A in my History class, and next semester I'm taking English 102 (my nemesis) and History of Rock Music (which covers my arts section in my degree.) The english class is online and the rock class is live. I hope the teachers don't suck.

I was supposed to be getting my NASA spacegrant scholarship back in October and I still haven't recieved a check. I'll have to call that lady soon. Show me the money, please. :D And thanks.

I can't wait until I can quit working and go to school full-time. In late August I'm going to quit my job and my husband is going to fully support me until I finish my degree. It was the compromise that I made with him. He didn't want me to go away to school (NAU) and I didn't want to get into debt while finishing my degree. It works out for everyone.

New Job

It's ok. I didn't realize that I would be coming in in the middle of a shake up. I'm doing Accounts Recievable. I've never done that before, well, to the extent that I'm doing it now. At Star Trek, I was doing A/R (taking in payments for service rendered) but I never had to invoice anyone, or track aging accounts, or deal with credit limits or clients. My former boss told my new boss that I was well versed in A/R. LIAR. So now, I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants. The girl that works there now doens't have ANY accounting backgroud at all, so at least there's that. I'm being primed to replace her, I think. Shit. It's such a small office, drama is so easy there. Oh well we'll see.

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. ;)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.