Moderation Is a Good Thing

There is a family down in Arkansas that is famous for one thing and one thing only. Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar—and, yes, his name really is Jim Bob—are famous for having children, lots of them. At ages 42 and 44, Michelle and Jim Bob already have a total of 18 children. As I was getting ready for work on Tuesday, I was watching the Today Show and Meredith Viera dropped a teaser before the commercial break that the Duggar family had a "big" announcement. Well, when the Duggar family has any kind of announcement, it can be only one thing, that another baby is on the way. And, as expected, the Michelle Duggar announced that she is pregnant once again and their 19th child is on the way. This pregnancy comes only 8 months after she gave birth to her last child.

The general population greeted this news with shock and awe. Most people in the world think that this family is insane and crazy. People wonder how any family can afford to raise so many kids. I question how it's possible for any of these children to get any kind of individual attention and love. You wonder what kind of life the older children have, because they are probably responsible for taking care of their younger siblings. And we could also mention that this family is probably single-handedly depleting half of the world's resources. Or maybe I should say multi-handedly.

Anyway, this is a huge family, and most people, quite rightfully, think that they are crazy. However, the news of the big announcement was greeted with great excitement and many bright smiles from the media. Everyone is absolutely giddy about a new baby being added to the brood. One question, however, keeps popping into my mind whenever this family has another baby. Would they be treated the same way, would they have the same "celebrity" status, if they were anything but white and Christian? Somehow I doubt it. I have a hard time believing that the media and good Christians around the world would be as welcoming and excited if this family were African American or Latino. If they were African American they would probably be called ghetto trash or there would be hour-long documentaries about the irresponsibility of black men. If they were Latino they would probably be criticized for overpopulating the good old USA with illegal minorities. Yet, because they are Christian and white, this is a beautiful, wonderful thing meant to be celebrated. Yes, double standards do still exist.

Sensitivity

I was born in Colorado, but I have lived in several states. A few years after I was born my family moved to Michigan, then Texas, and then California. Even though I had wonderful years in Michigan and Texas, California and Colorado have always had the greatest pulls on me. I spent my teenage and (many) college years in California, but something was always pulling me back to Colorado, so I came here for graduate school. I consider both home. Lately Colorado has become a refuge or a mecca for Californians. A lot of Californians have been moving here, and there is often a resentment from the Coloradoans toward the Californians. Quite frankly, a lot of people in Colorado hate Californians for the simple reason that they are from California.

Right now fires are raging in California and at the time of this posting about 127,000 acres have burned. The fires are so bad that the smoke has actually made it's way to Colorado, and our skies are so hazy and polluted that you can barely see the mountains. The land in California has burned, homes have been destroyed, and wildlife and people have been killed. What is happening is horrible, and you would think that people would feel sympathetic, but unfortunately that is not always the case. When reading the newspaper or watching TV, it's sad to see some reader or viewer comments saying things like "good, let it burn," or "we'd all be better off if California just fell into the ocean," or "they deserve it for building homes in the hills," or my personal favorite, "God is punishing California for their tolerance of gays." Well, if God punishes people for their tolerance of gays, then why does God always drop tornadoes on mobile home parks, because, let me tell you, gays don't live in mobile home parks! But I digress.

The point is, why do people feel the need to make these ludicrous comments when something this terrible is happening? Why bring your personal resentment or hatred or politics into the issue? This is an issue about humanity.

The ones making these types of comments are obviously worthless, pathetic trolls who have nothing better to do with their lives and who have absolutely nothing to offer the world. These are the people who are spineless and heartless and worth less that the foulest smelling thing in the sewers.

Fortunately I know that Colorado is a great state with a lot of great people, and the ones making these comments are just an isolated group and don't represent the state as a whole. This is a state that loves nature and the environment and we've had our own share of fire disasters. We're a lot more sensitive and sympathetic than the fools who spend their entire day posting comments to newsboards.

Online News

I mentioned in a post a few months ago that these days I tend to read a lot of news online. But one of the things that I don't like about online news is that most sites give the readers a chance to comment on the stories. Every now and then, you get some thoughtful and intelligent comments, and these comments can sometimes generate some intelligent discussions about the article. But most of the time the comments aren't so thoughtful or intelligent. Reading ignorant and uninformed comments is bad enough, but one of the things that really annoy me is when people comment with the simple phrase "who cares?". I never understood the point of this and it seems to point more to the stupidity of the commentator than to the possible stupidity or irrelevance of the article. After all, this person took the time to click on the link to go to the article, the person took the time to read the article, and then the person took the time to log on to the site to comment on the article only to say "who cares." So obviously this person cares if he or she took all that time to make the comment. Needless to say, why do people waste their time (and ours) by doing this?

Current mood: resting and relaxing
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Snow Patrol "Run"
Current drink: coffee

Near Death Experiences (not my own) and Strange Sights

Near Death Experiences: This was a fairly quiet weekend where all I did was run some errands, do some shopping, and try to clean my apartment. I was out Sunday driving down 30th Street with nothing but green lights ahead of me. Even though my lights were green, some woman was crossing the street at an intersection up ahead. In Boulder it's not unusual for people to jaywalk or to cross the street against the light if no traffic is coming. Most people, however, follow their mothers' rule that you should look both ways before crossing the street. This particular woman, however, was crossing the street while looking down at her phone. As I got closer to her, it looked like she was text messaging someone. She was fixated on her phone, didn't look up, and didn't notice anything that was going on around her. Naturally, realizing that I potentially had an idiot on my hands, I didn't slow down too much. Hey, someone needs to scare her so that she learns a lesson and doesn't end up being someone else's roadkill! And I'm perfectly content letting that person be me! I didn't really slow down until I got near the intersection, and she finally looked up and saw my little silver car coming toward her like a bullet. She had a "surprised" look on her face when she saw me, then she looked up and realized that she was walking against a red light. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, then scurried across the remaining lanes of the street. I like to assume that she shook her head because she realized how stupid she was. I can only hope. And, don't worry, even though I was coming toward her like a speeding bullet, I definitely would have been able to stop in time. And even if I did run her over (oops), then that would simply have proven Darwin's theory.

Strange Sights: What are you supposed to think when you go to Target and the person in line in front of you is buying nothing but a 24-pack of toilet paper and two cans of air freshener? I don't know, but it certainly makes you think, doesn't it?

I Can't Think of a Clever Title...

At the moment, I can't think of an appropriate title other than "This and That," but I've used that twice in a row. But this post will, in fact, be a random this and that-type of entry.

Work: By the end of last week, I still had a ton of work that I needed to do. I brought some work home with me, and I was planning on going into the office over the weekend. I did neither. I didn't look at the work I brought home, and I didn't go into the office. How sad is it when you feel guilty about not working on the weekend? I was just exhausted and needed a break. Unfortunately I'll probably be paying the price all week as I scramble to keep up with everything. Things are more stressful this week, because a lot of people I will be depending on are going away on vacation. Must be nice. But now I have to do about a week's worth of work in two or three days. Can't wait until I can take a day off...

Tangent: If my neighbors slam their doors one more time, I might get angry. One neighbor on one side of me keeps slamming his front door. The neighbor on the other side of me keeps slamming her cupboard doors. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have a lot of pet peeves and there are a lot of things that annoy me--mostly because I'm often a grumpy bitch--but I really can't stand it when people slam doors.

Work parties: Today at work a bunch of people brought in food to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The food had either an Irish theme or it was just green. There was even Irish beer. Had I known that alcohol was allowed, I would have brought some Irish Whiskey.

Life in general: not much going on, really...

I'll try to write an intelligent, thoughtful post sometime soon. Right now I just don't have it in me...

Current mood: tired
Current music: shuffle - Dixie Chicks "Easy Silence"
Current drink: Jack Daniels

Why I Often Hate the Human Race

I went to Super Target to pick up a few things, and I walked into a check-out lane behind a family. The all-American family with a father, blond mother, and two blond kids. They took their goods out of the shopping cart and put them on the little conveyor belt. Their goods moved forward and their cart was empty. Now, normally at a time like this a normal person would grab the cart and push it toward the end of the line so that the next person (that would be me) could move forward and put their things on the conveyor belt. Obviously these people weren't normal...or considerate...or intelligent. Instead they just left the cart at the beginning of the lane and in my way. I put my little shopping basket on the conveyor belt, hoping that would get their attention and they would do something like say, "oh, I'm sorry," and move their cart out of the way. No such thing happened. And as my little shopping basket moved forward without me, I inched their shopping cart forward hoping that would get their attention. Nope. They paid and sort of walked away, but I guess you can say that they just clustered and gathered at the end of the lane. I pushed their cart forward right behind them. That still didn't get their attention in spite of the fact that they were still standing right there. I paid and grabbed my two bags and put them in the shopping cart because it was still in my way. The evil side of me wanted to grab the shopping cart and, with all my strength, ram it into the parents and hopefully knock them to the ground where I could run them over completely and then step on their heads with my big black boots. But then I thought it would probably be best to not traumatize the kids. Besides the kids probably have enough trauma in their lives, because their parents are IDIOTS!

Current mood: annoyed
Current music: shuffle - Maroon 5 "Harder to Breathe"
Current drink: Barq's Root Beer

Winter Driving Tips

We've had a lot of snow over these past few days. On Sunday there was a break in the snow, so I thought that things would be fine for the Monday morning commute. It turned out that it snowed all night and kept snowing all morning. So, naturally, the roads were pretty bad. The roads in Boulder were "plowed" to Boulder standards, so it was still pretty messy in some spots. And, naturally, it was messy in all the places I needed to be. But as the weather turns, now is a perfect opportunity to list some of my winter driving tips/pet peeves.

1. When leaving your home, apartment, or place of work, at least make an attempt to clean the snow off your windows. And it is preferable to clean the snow off all your windows. Cleaning the snow off the windshield on only the driver's side while leaving the rest of your windows covered in snow probably isn't the wisest or safest thing to do. When you change lanes, it is generally a good idea to be able to see what is behind you or next to you. Perhaps you are able to drive from Point A to Point B by using the force or the grace of God, but it would give me greater comfort to know that you can see out of your windows.

2. Turn signals are your friend. If we didn't need them and if they weren't useful, car manufacturers wouldn't waste the time and money to install them. If you use a turn signal it lets me know where you are going. That is important to me because it lets me know if I need to slow down a little more or if I need to hit my breaks. And turning on the turn signal after you start to make the turn doesn't help. Try turning it on before you make your turn.

3. Don't make a U-Turn in a slushy intersection when there is oncoming traffic. That's just stupid.

4. Just because you drive a big car, that doesn't mean that you can drive as fast as you want. You can still spin out of control and slide into a ditch. I won't stop to help you if you were being stupid.

5. If you think I'm driving too slowly, pass me, don't ride my bumper. If you hit me, I'll take you for all your insurance and fake a neck injury to punish you for your stupidity.

6. If you're a pedestrian, don't jaywalk in front of oncoming traffic. If I can't stop my car in time and hit you, well, I'm sorry...

Current mood: annoyed
Current music: random songs. Currently Tori Amos "Taxi Ride"
Current drink: hot chocolate

Mufflers and Car Alarms

There's an annoying little situation in my little neighborhood. Picture a little guy who owns a little car with two very large and loud mufflers. Picture a second little guy who also owns a little car with a very loud car alarm. Every time Little Guy Number One drives past Little Guy Number Two's car, Number One's loud muffler sets off Number Two's car alarm. It happens every single time. I kind of wonder if LG Number One does it on purpose. Really, it's a short street, you don't really need to gun the gas for twenty yards it takes you to get to the stop sign. I've never understood the purpose of loud mufflers in the first place, but whatever. The muffler is annoying, the overly sensitive car alarm is annoying, and I just thought I'd share.

Current mood: good
Current music: Maroon 5. It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Current drink: coffee

Using the Law for Purposes of Scams

I never answer my phone, my home line or my cell phone, when I don't recognize the number on the caller ID. This evening my home phone rang and I let the call go to my voicemail. There was a message from a woman saying that I've been named as a respondent in a civil complaint. She gave an affidavit number and used words like pursuant. She made threats that if I didn't call back or respond "further legal action or litigation would be filed against me." The woman said her name was Marie Knight (possibly a fake name) and that she was from Worldwide Investigation. I thought it was odd, so I did a little investigating of my own and searched on the phone number on the caller ID and the number she gave me to call back. It turns out that a lot of people receive phone calls like this, and basically this company tries to get the person to turn over information like bank account numbers and social security numbers. I guess the threat of legal action scares enough people into doing things like this.

I kind of hope that she calls back. I'd be tempted to challenge her and ask her if all of the proper legal documents, like the complaint, have been filed and why haven't I received them; what state and county would hold jurisdiction; what are the causes of action; what is the theory of relief, etc. You know, basic stuff like that.

Current mood: relaxed
Current music: Loreena McKennitt. Nights from the Alhambra
Current drink: Fat Tire

Soccer Anyone?

I love soccer. Soccer is fun to watch. My big brother coaches soccer and when I was little (younger) I used to run around on the field chasing the ball while he was holding practice. I was probably getting in the way, but he let me and I had fun. So I have no problem with soccer...unless someone is playing it outside my bedroom window at 4:00 in the morning.

I haven't been sleeping well over the past few days, what, with strange dreams about getting attacked by bears and running extreme obstacle courses through the mountains with my co-workers who were running across rocks and rivers in high heels. So, I really need all the sleep I can get these days. This morning, I was stirred out of sleep by the sound of repeated thumps and loud voices. The thump was actually the sound of two people kicking a soccer ball to each other. Occasionally it would hit the trees outside my window, it would bounce off of walls, then one of them would dribble it (basketball style, not soccer style) on the sidewalk. All this at 4:00 in the morning. I can see how someone can not realize how loud they are being if they are having a party in their own house. Maybe they don't always realize that they are disturbing the people around them. But, seriously, how can you not know that you could potentially annoy people when you're playing soccer in a courtyard that is surrounded by other apartment units? ... at 4:00 in the morning!

Eventually, one of my neighbors yelled at them and told them to knock it off because it was 4:00 in the morning. The loud, obnoxious guy asked her what time it was and when she repeated it he just said "oh my God." And this wasn't an "oh my God, I can't believe how late/early it is and I'm sorry." It was more of an "oh my God, I really don't care." Then he made some annoying comment that she shouldn't worry about the time because tomorrow/today is Sunday and she shouldn't worry because she shouldn't have to get up to go to work. Obviously he was slightly drunk or stoned, or he is just an idiot. Either way, this guy and the girl he was with went back into their apartment, so it was good that the lady yelled at them. She is a new neighbor and replaced my previously annoying neighbor who used to talk on the phone really loud while smoking outside my apartment. But this new neighbor sounds like the type of woman who will call the police if things in the building get too loud and out of control. Probably more sensible than me running outside and swinging a frying pan at various heads.

Annoying Neighbor, Part III

Well, I had a few days of peace and quiet around my apartment. I suppose my annoying neighbor was away on vacation. No loud talking. No cigarette smell. It is the day after a holiday, so what do you think is happening right now? Cigarettes and loud talking. I walked by her apartment this weekend when I was taking my clothes to the laundry room. I glanced at a coffee can full of cigarette butts and an empty cigarette box. It was one of those new Camel cigarette boxes. It is a "cute," shiny black box with a "pretty" hot pink camel on it. They say they market it toward young, impressionable women. My neighbor seems like the perfect candidate. I guess these cigarettes are called Camel No. 9, as if it is some kind of fancy perfume. I personally don't know why a woman would want to smell like a camel or a pack of cigarettes, but whatever. Oh well, it's her lungs. But even more annoying than the cigarette smell (if you can believe that) is her squeaky voice... Oh my god, he is, like, you know, like the biggest jerk I ever met, who would, like, ever do anything like that, you know, can you, like, believe that.... I really want to buy a dictionary and thesaurus and leave them on her welcome mat. Maybe she can find an alternative to the word "like."

Annoying Neighbor, Part II

My annoying neighbor is at it again. She is on the phone and she is outside. She is loud. She says "like" every other word--oh my god, she's like, you know, like a teenager, oh my god... But it does get worse. Now she is smoking. It's been a beautiful day. We had a nice thunderstorm this afternoon, and the rain made everything smell beautiful. All that is gone now, because she has to be smoking the worst smelling cigarettes on the market. Sigh.

I wish I could write about something better and more beautiful right now, but I have nothing. It's sad because it was a beautiful evening until now. Even after a glass of wine, I'm too annoyed to think of something beautiful. Well, I'm thinking about something Beautiful right now, but maybe I'll write about that later when I'm in a better mood.

Can't a Girl Have a Quiet Evening?

I've been productive today. I did my shopping, a few loads of laundry, some cleaning, and made myself a nice dinner. Since the evening is so beautiful tonight, I just wanted to settle in and have some peace and quiet. I haven't been that lucky so far. For the past few weeks a neighbor has been having what can only be described as a rough time. She has been having several angry and upset phone calls, but for some odd reason she chooses to have these phone calls outside on her cell phone. It might be scientifically proven yet, but obviously there is some gene programmed in human beings that forces us to have cell phone conversations about a hundred decibels louder than what is probably necessary. So, needless to say, these angry and upset cell phone conversations are also quite loud. To make matters worse, these loud, angry, and upset phone calls are also accompanied by loud crying, sobbing, and weeping. I don't know, maybe I'm different from most people, but if I'm ever having "issues" in my life, I'd rather not share it with the entire city of Boulder, but I digress. Tonight, instead of the usual sobbing conversation, my not-so-quiet neighbor was having an angry conversation of a different sort which ran something like this "that girl is such a bitch, if I didn't know that she was a bitch before, I know that she is a bitch now, because she is, like, really a bitch..." I've edited this conversation significantly, because she also threw in some other choice adjectives that I can't repeat, because, well, my Ma might read this. And to make matters worse, and, yes, it does get worse, this gal tends to wander around when she has these conversations and she'll just sit down wherever she pleases. Tonight she happened to chose a spot outside of my apartment right below one of my windows. My first temptation was to walk outside and hit her over the head with a frying pan, but I just did the dishes and didn't want to dirty another pan. So instead I emphatically and angrily slammed my windows closed, which is a shame because it's a beautiful night outside.

I think I'm going to need a glass of Cognac...