Hypocrisy masquerading as "responsibility"

I'll move beyond the obvious horror and sadness associated with the Virginia Tech shootings, beyond any comment that I could make on the state of some of America's youth and their yen for gunfire and murder, beyond any thought as to how I may never let my daughter ever leave my house for fear that she might become a victim of an awful crime such as this. Really, there's nothing that I could say that you haven't already heard, or thought to yourself.
I will comment on the "backlash" that NBC is reportedly getting for airing the gunman's videos and pictures on television yesterday and last night. It did not escape my notice that all the nightly newscasts, on channels other than NBC, found so many people to say that the station should not have aired the stuff, and was, in fact, irresponsible for doing so. I'm sure you all saw a number of on-the-street interviews about it. USAToday.com actually has this as its top story this morning. My gripe with their "holier than thou" attitude is that not a one of those stations or web sites would have sat on the video and pictures had it dropped in their laps. They're jealous that, for whatever reason, this kid chose NBC.
You may agree though, that the channel should not have run the information. You've the right to think so, but here, right here, is where news is news and sensitivity doesn't have a place. For better or worse, this kid's manifesto is news. His pictures, his videos, his words are all news. This is the worst school shooting in United States history: news. The kid sent out a package telling everyone why he did it: news. The grieving public's desire to get a little insight into this psycho: news. There's not a place for sensitivity in the news -- I think that the American public has forgotten that, in this sanitized world view that it's given now. So recognize NBC's decision for what it is -- reporting the news when it's given to them.

Fairy-tale wedding dresses

Seriously, where was the Belle-inspired wedding dress when I was planning my wedding? Truth be told, this one doesn't look that different than the dress that I did wear, and I still LOVE my dress with a passion, but I would have at least liked the option of wearing a dress like our favorite Beauty and the Beast heroine.
It's really quite lovely, as I look at it again. I like it a lot.
But kudos to Disney for finding yet another way to market the hell out of the whole Princess phenomenon. The gown was designed by Kirstie Kelly for Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, the company's attempt to grab a bigger piece of the wedding cake, and feed its burgeoning Princess business. The new line of character-inspired bridal gowns is aimed at women who want to look and feel like Cinderella at the ball on their big day.
The 34 gowns (I could only find two online; this one and Ariel's, which looks kinda slutty) debuted on a New York catwalk on April 15, 2007, and range in price from $1,500 to $3,000, below couture prices but above the average wedding dress price of $1,000. The price point is aimed at a generation of couples who are getting married older and paying for their own celebrations, Disney said.
I am loving how much Disney is beginning to market to the older (read: not kids) generation. I mean, we all grew up heavily influenced by the stuff. We should be able to buy a dress just like Belle's, or Cinderella's, or Aurora's. (I'm trying to figure out the 34 different wedding dresses in Disney movies. When I come up with the list, I'll let you know.) Marketing genius, I say.

"Feel it ... hot, hot, hot"

Bidets may catch fire, Japanese toilet maker says
Japan's leading toilet maker Toto is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.
The electric bidet accessory of Toto's Z series caught fire in three incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka. The bidet sent up smoke in 26 other incidents, the company said.
"Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries," Tanaka said. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks."
The company will repair 180,000 toilet units manufactured between May 1996 and December 2001 for free, she said. A manufacturing defect is thought to have led to the faulty wiring. Toto has been a pioneer in high-tech toilets fitted with pressurized water sprayers — a standard fixture in Japanese homes.
The popular Z series features a pulsating massage spray, a power dryer, built-in-the-bowl deodorizing filter, the "Tornado Wash" flush and a lid that opens and closes automatically. Prices range from $1,680 to $2,600. The model is not sold overseas.

Is it wrong that this article made me giggle a bit?
Sure, it's kinda scary. Sitting there on a bidet, hanging out with your pulsating massage spray, and waiting for the pleasant sensation of the power dryer, when ... WOW! That dryer is HOT! Wait a minute! This is like sitting on a CAMPFIRE! (Subtly look between legs at bidet and realize that there's a flame brewing.) YEOW! Leap off bidet and stop, drop and roll on bathroom floor.
The visual of it all just kinda makes for a funny, doesn't it? I think so.

One more than what we figured

Sydney attended her first ASU baseball game today. Actually, she attended four innings. I got to slather her in sunscreen, we put her in her new straw hat with the big brim and pink ribbons (too cute!), and away we went. Happily, when we left at the end of the fourth inning, the Sun Devils were kicking Washington State ass. I did see a girl there wearing the cutest ASU flip flops though. I must find where she got them and purchase my own pair.

Also, because we helped out those ladies with their tampons, Auntie Donna e-mailed me a link to help get food to abused and neglected animals. The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. Go to this site and click on the purple box "Fund food for animals." This doesn't cost a thing. The site's corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Click it, and give some animals food! One more time: www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Does a shrub not bleed?

Who was the first person to decide that, yes, shrubbery must be trimmed into round, identical spheres, or tall, oval phallic symbols? Who was that first gardener who thought, "I must cut back that shrub until I have taken away every indication that it is, indeed, a shrub?" I believe that person to be an idiot. That mindset is a disease, I think, that has spread through gardening circles like an epidemic.
Gardeners in my apartment complex went through the property today, and perpetrated such crimes against shrubbery. The plants that were, just this morning, growing beautifully green, wild and luscious, are now condemned to a life of round sameness, where they aren't allowed a single leaf or twig out of place. Should they commit such an effrontery to the symmetry of their shape, the offending piece is quickly lopped off. This is unnatural for anything, least of all a plant.
Plants are supposed to grow out and about. They're supposed to have leaves and twigs in all places, uncaring of the world around them. They are supposed to be in the uncontrollable shape of a shrub, not made to look like a chlorophyll-frosted cupcake!

I'll just keep calling them until I get it

I'm watching Dancing with the Stars: The Results right now. I did vote on last night's performances, and look forward to seeing Joey, Apolo and Ian move on to next week. Seriously, I think that, even though he seems to be a nice guy, Clyde Drexler needs to get the boot. Granted, his training segment was edited to make him look badly, but I really do think that he's the worst of all the stars. We'll see how it goes as the evening progresses.

My "new" microwave was installed yesterday while Katy, Sydney and I were out at the psychic and lunch. I put quote marks around new, because it isn't. It is, in fact, a microwave that was removed from some other apartment to make room for the new appliances that they are installing into the empty units. Um, not only was it not the new one I was expecting, but it was absolutely filthy. There is still a large, sticky stain on the bottom of it, that after every cleaning potion and 15 minutes of scrubbing, wouldn't budge. This, of course, has me in a snit.
I called the office this morning. I was all, "Hey. I did not get the microwave I was told to expect. In fact, I got a used microwave that was disgustingly dirty and that I had to spend 15 minutes cleaning. My questions for you: Who decided that I'm not good enough to have a new microwave, and when can I expect my new microwave, because this is unacceptable."
The guy in the office took my phone number, and said I should hear from the maintenance supervisor today. I did not. I will call back tomorrow. I will have a new microwave!

There's never a crystal ball

I handled my visit to the psychic poorly today. Instead of getting my palm read or my tarot cards read, I decided to go for a "psychic reading," something that I'd never had done before. Bad idea. For a psychic reading, she basically just kinda sits back, studies my aura or whatever, and tells me what "it" and "they" are telling her. There was little to nothing to it, actually. No big insights, no amazing feats of psychic power, and sadly, no news on becoming a millionaire or anything. she told me to not share anything about the reading, but if not to blog about it, why bother paying for it? I have a positive energy, and any negative energy is behind me; someone will approach me within the next year about a project, and from that, I will start my own business that allows me to work and be with Sydney; Brian and I will be happy for quite some time; and I'll be going on a journey, sometime in the 10s (10 days, 10 weeks or 10 months from now), and during that journey, will bond with someone I know.
Of course, this is all good stuff. She didn't go anywhere bad with me, which is a positive thing. But at the end of it all, I wish that I had something more (pardon the seeming contradiction here) concrete for her to make her predictions on. The tarot cards would have done that, as would have the palm reading. Next time, in a few months, I'll get the tarot card reading, and will take the time to come up with some specific questions for her.

Three eggs: purple, yellow and green

Yesterday, Sydney took part in her first Easter egg hunt! She found three eggs, all by herself (not really, but we tell told her that). She was a good girl at Nicci's parents' party, enjoying watching the other kids run around, digging the balloons blowing in the breeze, and sitting quietly (not screaming) on the lap of the Easter Bunny. It was our first family outing, and we had a great time!
I hope that you all are having a good Easter! I'm watching The Office, my kid is sleeping, Brian is off picking us up some lunch, and the sun is shining. All in all, it's a good holiday.

I love it when Disney makes me happier that I have stock in the company, and that I have such a giddy history with them. Witness this article on today's CNN.com:
Disney lets gays and lesbians have fairy tale wedding
Same-sex couples who want to exchange vows in front of Cinderella's Castle now have the chance. The Walt Disney Co. had limited its Fairy Tale Wedding program to couples with valid marriage licenses, but it is now making ceremonies at its parks available to gay couples as well.
"We believe this change is consistent with Disney's long-standing policy of welcoming every guest in an inclusive environment," Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman Donn Walker said Friday. "We want everyone who comes to celebrate a special occasion at Disney to feel welcome and respected."
The company said it made the change after being contacted by a gay couple who wanted to use the wedding service, which offers ceremonies at Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disney's cruise ships. The service offers flowers, dining, music and many optional Disney touches, from ceremonies in front of the parks' iconic attractions to having Mickey and Minnie Mouse in formal wear as guests. The packages start at $8,000 and can cost more than $45,000.
Groups not affiliated with Disney have held annual "gay days" celebrations at Disney parks for years. Company officials have taken a tolerant attitude to the weekend, allowing party promoters to rent out parks after hours and rebuffing religious groups that condemned Disney. In 2005, Southern Baptists ended an eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for violating "moral righteousness and traditional family values."

Baby's first baseball/Red Sox game

And a productive Friday it was! I got such good happy things done, that it was almost bearable that my kid was a crying nightmare most of the day.
1.) New cell phone! I am the giddy owner of a Sony Ericsson phone, complete with no flipping feature, musical ringtones that can be assigned to different people, a wicked good camera with a flash, speed dial, and a quick responsive address book. On the slightly down, but definitely trendy, side, the phone does not come with a phone earpiece (only a music-listening earpiece), so I had to buy a Bluetooth thing so I could talk to people while I'm driving. ... My husband bought a BlackBerry, if you can believe it. He's fussing over the complexities of it as I type, and may or may not go by the store tomorrow (again) to ask about some other thing. He was whining about having such an old phone, and now he's got one way beyond his technological capabilities. He's so awesome!
2.) Tickets to Red Sox game! I got us some tickets to the Sunday afternoon game when the Red Sox are in town playing the Diamondbacks in June. I only got two -- as I figure a six-month-old baby doesn't need a ticket and can sit on my lap. They aren't the best seats, since I completely spaced on making a note about when they go on sale, and most of them are gone. We're thinking we'll head down to the Field early and see what kind of seats we can scalp before the game.
3.) Rocks for bougainvillea! Did you know that putting larger rocks in a plant's planter and pouring their water on them keeps the soil from caving in and creating holes at the base of the plant? I discovered this with my plumeria plant (which is bursting with new growth, by the way), and have been on the hunt for rocks for my new bougainvillea. I finally bent over and picked up some of those rocks today! Such effort on my part, yes?

Just grrrr

Here's an update on the random annoyances in my life right now:
MICROWAVE -- A new one had to be ordered. They did not believe me when I called and said that it had died. I had to wait two days for the maintenance man to come by and 1.) open and close its door; 2.) press all the buttons and verify that none would beep; 3.) make sure it was plugged in; 4.) check the fuse box; and 5.) finally accede that, yes, the microwave had died. "It will be a few days though, since it's coming from the factory," he said. "Probably Monday."
PICTURE PEOPLE REPRINTS -- I returned the sheets that they sent me. If you can appreciate this, the technician doing the color correcting on the images got way, way, way too carried away with adding pink to them. I had to write extensive notes on the returned pages. "These pictures had a white background, not pink. Her skin coloring is way off, too," I wrote on one. "These are way too pink! She looks like a crazy plastic doll with her skin coloring so off. Please fix and send back to me!" I wrote on the other. Then, I called customer service so as to raise a flag that these images were coming back. Seriously, if the fresh ones look as bad as these did, I may cry.
DRESS FOR TARA'S WEDDING -- It occurred to me today that I don't have a decent dress to wear to Tara's wedding in a couple weeks. Of course, I haven't really gone through my closet yet, but I'm pretty sure that the perfect spring-time dress for a wedding is not in there. This is an annoyance only because it's a bitch to shop with Sydney. She doesn't quite grasp the concept of shopping yet, so is difficult to keep a handle on during these trips.
MY HUSBAND'S ALLERGIES ARE MAKING HIM SNORE LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN -- Really, there's nothing anyone can do about that for a while. Here's hoping that his nose will clear up though, so I can get some sleep.

Un-angelic food cake

This is not a picture of the angel food cake that I made today. Instead of this precise and yummy-looking example, my cake is a sunken, flat, chocolate-covered mess.
I made some tactical errors when creating my cake, I'll admit. I didn't use the bundt pan, simply because I didn't feel like it, and because I had no idea how to frost a cake out of it. Of course, that meant using a regular baking pan (usually reserved for brownies), which, inexplicably, couldn't hold all the angel food cake, and the cake burst a bit over the sides. With the bursting over the sides, once it was out of the oven and cooled, the middle caved in a little. And with my refusal to eat a cake without frosting, I used up a thing of frosting on it.
At the end of the creating though, the whole thing just looks nasty. Brian ate a piece, after scraping all the frosting off. I don't think I'll have any. It looks gross. And it probably is gross, because any cake with a raw batter that tastes that bad just seems evil.

Fishing for king crab in Alaska

* Dancing with the Stars update: I want to thank America for not voting for Shandi. I'm okay with the fact that she's gone from the competition, as she was the "star" that I cared the least about continuing on the show.
* Picture People have finally printed and shipped the order I submitted on Mar. 21 and Mar. 22. To the credit of Lisa, the customer service representative who answered the phone that day (and who upgraded my shipping), the pictures were sent Priority Overnight, so I should get them tomorrow morning before 10:30 a.m. I've already tracked them, and they seem to be on time. I can't wait to get them, and then I can forget all about Picture People. They've broken my heart, so I'm eager to move on and find someone new.
* One of our favorite television shows premiered tonight for a new season: Deadliest Catch on The Discovery Channel. I've set up the DVR to record it for every new episode, so we're sure to not miss any of them. Tonight's show centered on the boats and their crews getting ready to take off, and their first pot drops. (See how quickly I revert back to the lingo?) Towards the end of the show though, cameras followed the Coast Guard on a rescue mission. At the show's end, the rescuers had picked up one of the distressed ship's crew, but three were still unaccounted for. It's scary really, to realize how dangerous these jobs are for the men who do them.

Miss USA must go!

You know how there are some things that, as you do them, you think to yourself, "I can't believe that I'm doing this." Tonight, I voted on Dancing with the Stars. Um, I did it online, if that makes it any better. I wasn't like one of those reality television fanatics who sits on the phone all night calling the same number 50 times to be sure that so-and-so doesn't get kicked off next week. No, I sat at my computer and voted only 10 times (because that's as many as they would allow), to be sure that Laila, Joey, Apolo, Ian, Leeza and John would not get kicked off. And now that I've broken the seal on voting, I'll be doing it every week, and getting annoyed as some of my favorites get invited to leave the dance floor. It's kinda harsh actually, the way they get kicked out. I didn't care too much about Paulina Poriskova, except to say that she was funnier than I thought she would be, but if it's a cool person, like Joey, next week, I'll be pissed, and may just boycott the rest of the show.
People of America! Don't vote for Shandi! Send her packing!

Don't need nothin', but a good time

I haven't told you guys this yet, but Mom bought tickets for Brian and I to see Poison this summer! I wonder how many of you knew that I was a huge big-hair band fan in the 80s, and Poison was one of my favorites? Well, my mommy remembered, and was all, "Hey, I've got Poison as one of my options here. Are you interested?" I was like, "Uh, hell yeah!" Of course, the real roll of the dice was going to be whether Brian would be interested. To my husband's incredible credit, he was quick to agree!
I'm really quite excited. I'm eager to see the band, but I'm also intrigued as to what the people there will be like. Will there be guys with big, huge hair and lots of makeup? Will there be groupie girls that will intimidate me with their boobs and thighs on display? Will everyone be snorting lines of coke and downing huge swallows of Jack Daniels? ... Or, will the entire audience be composed of people like Brian and I: thirty-somethings who still have a Poison CD in the car and know all the words to "Talk Dirty to Me"?
Check it! This summer, I've already got one of the best dates ever planned! Nice night, babysitter that I trust, yummy dinner and a drink or two, and my favorite boyfriend! And Poison!

He was never really a poodle

* I've ordered some taffy on the internet. Yep, two pounds of key lime taffy, and it's all for me. Brian isn't a fan of the key lime, so I ordered him a couple pounds of gummy bears, that way he won't get all pouty about me getting some candy and him not. I also ordered Mom a couple pounds of the peppermint taffy. Since Taffy Town doesn't sell their taffy directly to consumers, I had to find an online store for it. Seriously, it's the best taffy ever, and it should arrive via UPS on Tuesday. I'm so excited!!
* I made a small change to the avatar (I think you'll notice; it's right there by my feet). I've changed the Oliver portion from a "fluffy poodle" to a bulldog. The bulldog look is a bit more comparable to his personality: the short hair, the under bite, the stubbornness, the stocky build.
* I've never been one for April Fool's Day jokes. I'm no good at them, and they've never been a thing in our family. So I don't have one for you.
* My niece, Ashlee, turns 16 today. I remember the day she was born: Connie in labor, everyone filing in and out of the hospital room (This was the top reason why I allowed no one but Brian, Mom and Howie in during my labor. I couldn't imagine everyone cruising through), going to Sizzler for dinner. I was 18 and mere weeks away from graduating high school. What makes me feel older? Ashlee being 16, or it being 16 years since I got out of high school? That's a tough one, really. ... Grr. They both make me feel like the years have been little more than a whisper.