My Facade

So yes, I ended my last post with saying I was putting up a facade, and for the most part I feel it is true. Now I know most of what I'm about to say is unreasonable and untrue, but this is the way I FEEL, not what actually IS. I think my employment is at risk, because I can't do the things I used to do as good as I used to do them. Sure 99% of the time it doesn't matter anyway but if you had a guy who had a stroke and wasn't quite right and a guy who was normal, who would you pick?

Yeah, yeah I know none of that is going to happen, but it might.... maybe. And then there's the whole life at home thing, yes it is even more unlikely than the work thing but still, I have to talk and present myself and what not. Again I ask you, dear reader, would you rather a stroke victim or a normal guy?

That leads me to the whole facade thing. I feel like I put up a front so that everything will pretty much stay the same. I don't think my wife is man shopping or anything, but I do feel less than I was, certainly not what she signed up for. Is it stupid? Yes. Is it retarded? Yes. but still these things are lingering in the back of my bruised brain. Should I just STFU? Probably.

My work has stuck with me, my wife has stood by me, my kids... are still my kids. I really have no reason at all to think anything bad is going to happen... So why am I stressing over this? I don't know.

Brain Function

So I've been quiet about the "stroke" and for the most part life has gotten back to normal. Well that was until last weekend. I don't know what happened, but I simply could not communicate. I mean I could talk, sound would come out of my mouth, it's just that I couldn't think of the right words to use in some cases. It's still like that to a point, not as bad as it was last weekend, but still noticeable.

One thing that seems to help this condition is beer. I don't really understand why, but my guess is it either shuts something down that's causing things to get jammed, or it just loosens me up and I don't care so much. Which of course get me in trouble because I can't really get hammered every night. I probably could but you know what I mean.

About the only lifestyle that's conducive to this type activity is being in the military, stationed overseas. Since I've already did that and I am no longer in the military anyway that's out. Maybe I need to seek some medicine or something. Or just wait and let things go back by themselves. I think that's what I'll do. But I can't help but feel I putting up a facade. . .

Classic Film Friday: The Third Man

The down and out novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is promised a job by coming to post-WWII Vienna. But it all takes a viscous turn when the man who invited him, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) is killed. It takes some twists and turns as Holly talks to all kinds of people trying to find out about Lime's "supposed" death.

Part of what makes writing a review for this movie so hard is the fact that you don't want to give anything away. There's Lime's love interest Anna (Alida Valli) who also finds attention from Holly which is a kind of love triangle and there's that infectious song composed and played by Anton Karas which is played on a zither.

My Politicalness

I've been feeling kind of strange lately, like everybody just go away and leave me alone. But that's not very realistic of me is it? So anyway I find myself becoming violently ill when I think about the whole presidential race. First off, I don't really hold true to the vote down party lines thing. I think I would be a Republican, if they weren't festering with evangelical bullshit, also they haven't exactly been conservative with spending. Which might lead me to the Democrats, except I just think they're full of shit too. Exactly how is one man going to affect so much change? And would it really be any better? It seems like it will certainly cost me more.

Maybe that's the whole problem with politics. It costs somebody. The right puts it on everybody, and the left on the richest amongst us. I'm in that percentage of wealthiest. Though I can't believe it. We, my wife and I, make just over $100,000 annually. I can't even imagine how people making less do it... at least around here.

But I'm trying to stay neutral in this diatribe... seriously. I just don't know how inspiration is going to fix our problems. I can't even bring myself to check any websites, fact checking anybody right now because I believe, as hard as this might be to imagine, that the government only muddies the water. I can't say I was better off when so and so was in office, because there's just too many variables to try to pin down. Your job, your cost of living, your personal choices, and the litany of choices for everyone else. Is one man in charge of all of this?

So we come to this, the democratic convention. I see Ted Kennedy made a speech, they were saying and showing how it was like his speech in 1980. Does anyone else find that amusing? Almost 30 years in-between speeches, and nothing has changed? hmmmmmmm... It sounds and smells like pipe dreams to me.

So again I ask, instead of all this crap, this pomp, you know this one came from a single parent home, or that one was a POW in Vietnam, can we get to the task at hand? Or is there nothing left to talk about? Can we not talk of how things can be or should be, and start talking about real difference that we can make now? And just what has been done in year or so that either candidate can hang his hat on? Nothing.

If that's all we're about, the speeches, then why register to vote? It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

Feline Regret

Our Property Taxes

Not to step on my wife's toes by posting over hers but the story in today's paper just kills me.

We deserve our money. I thought that once everything washes out the school board or police or anything really is supposed to be budgeted. You have X amount of money to get Y amount done. But apparently that's not the way it works. If you have more money, they will spend it... on something else.

I think we need a reality check or maybe this really is Bizarro World.

Grown-up Bully

Mrs. MH here... I just had to write about something that just happened to me at Target. There was this woman....who I already encountered twice in my short 5 minute trip through the store. You know the type, loud enough not to notice. Might I add, with an outfit even louder. So, I immediately recognized her as she cut me off to get in front of me in the Express-10-items or less lane. I'm sure this has happened to you....you both kind of get there at the same time and to be polite you sort of step aside. Not this lady, she stepped right in front of me as if I didn't exist. Mind you, her teenage daughter is 20 feet behind both of us and follows in behind me exhibiting more manners than her mother.

So, in an awkward move, her mom then motions for her to come around me and that's when I notice that she has a cart full of stuff. CLEARLY more than 10. I mean, not even close! So, already irritated from being cut off, I say in a sweet voice, "This is the express lane"---most everyone I know would say they were proud of me since I'm not one to speak up for myself. So she says, "You can go ahead of me." and then pauses long enough for me to say "thank you" and adds in a very snotty voice "If it's that much trouble." I responded "I am in a hurry" and she bites back with "So are we." My heart races and I hold back knowing that this is ridiculous and not worthy of being upset over.

I didn't care about waiting an extra 3 minutes in line....even though my husband had just called and said the baby was crying for me. Three minutes is just three minutes. I just didn't want to be the wimp....run over by this obvious grown-up bully with helmet hair and a shopping list the size of Vegas. As I walked out of the store, I FELT bullied. I couldn't help but think of the kids who endure that kind of treatment from other kids all the time. I hadn't felt that bullied feeling in years....probably 20 or so. The whole experience, although minor, reminded me what adolescents just might be going through. So, thank you evil woman...I hope you enjoyed your shopping experience in the Lowcountry!

Got Media?

I read something the other day about the media, and how we are better off (or not) by having this kind of 24/7 news cycle. I think it's probably closer to not simply because I don't think my life is better with it. Sure I can watch or read whatever I want, and I do but just the other day I was getting a hair cut, and the TV was tuned in to MSNBC and they had some lady spouting off how Barack Obama was good and how John McCain was evil. And this is news? I don't think either candidate is very good, but I wouldn't put somebody who basically is a supporter on TV. Or at least put two opposing views instead of just one. And I'm sure it happened on the right side too.

I know we have a right to know any and everything in our world, but what do you do when you get so many different views you just say "fuck it" and don't listen to any of them? I've taken nightly news out of my programing, really for the most part any and all news. And I'm no worse off for it. The newspapers around here... well I've already taken them to task and really they haven't talked back. Now I understand that this is a small town, but there could be so much better reporting. So what to do?

I think this is wear I get in my sail boat or get away to the mountains and never look back. Of course I still have 20-30 years until retirement so that's how much longer I'm going to be stuck listening to all of that partisan, space-brained, bullshit. I wish somebody would really take a deep breath, try to do what is right and all that jazz. But I can't see it.

Happy Birthday!

So this week sometime is my wife's birthday. I get an easy out because I agreed to go to Disney earlier this year. Still we're having a party for her. This weekend, close friends kind of thing... if I know you in real life, then you're invited. It's not going to be much, some BBQ, some horseshoes, and some beer. That is, if we don't get blown away, or rained out.

Still I had to say it. We're have a "birthday" party, though we're not calling it as such. Just a party, nothing more or less. I'm good with that.

The party went off without a hitch, though I had too much to drink. Thus my wife had to do all kinds of cleanup activities. I'm sorry for that, but somebody had to do it.

Let's Make Grocerys

That's an old New Orleans saying. It means you're going grocery shopping. I'm back from the dead, somewhat. I don't have any sick time, because of the stroke, no vacation either... them's the breaks. I am doing better, but far from 100%. We went to Publix grand opening and I'm really disappointed. I always knew that Publix was more expensive and that part really didn't bother me. It was just too crowded. Let me first say that the whole reason we were going to Publix was for cannoli.

And they did have that, the only store that does. But the store seems to be a throwback in time. I feel like this would have been great 10-20 years ago, but now? It just seems so... 1980's, like I was walking around in the Delchamps, or grocer of choice.



I really feel let down, but maybe by the time they get the Harris Teeter built, they'll see and take advantage of everything Publix missed and thing that Food Lion did right.
Maybe....

Classic Film Friday: 7 Brides for 7 Brothers

I'm sick, like really sick, some form of bird flu or monkey pox I think. So with that I'll turn over the reins to my wife. I told her we could watch whatever so long as she wrote about it. I did watch the movie with her (on the Roku Netflix player) but honestly I was high from the cold medicine I could have been watching just about anything. So here she goes.

Okay, so I wanted to watch this because I recognized it as we were browsing the Netflix instant movies. Funny thing is, I didn't remember watching it with my grandma with whom I watched most classic films. I remembered watching it with my mother. Now, it didn't don on me until this moment that maybe it was the presence of young, handsome, muscular dancing men that attracted her attention. Hmmmm.

The musical starts out with Adam Pontipee in Oregon 1850 coming to town for some supplies and well, a wife. He finds one in about 3 minutes and, or course sings about it. After bringing his new cooking, cleaning wife home to ... surprise... six brothers there is some hell to pay. But they get over that. There are quite a few dance numbers, all well choreographed, throughout the flick. They get progressively spunkier as all six other brothers steal their own wives. All ends well in this film filled with hokey fun! Watch it, while you home sick or anytime really!

Your Boob is Sticking Out

Ok not really.

So why is it that a girl has to take her clothes off to be a beach volleyball player, while men just show up in shorts and a T-shirt? I know there probably isn't a dress code but you have to wonder. And to all the males out there who are questioning my manhood, I have 6 sisters, 2 daughters, a wife and a mother. I'm just in amazement that in this day and age we are reduced to this. Is it the players who brings this on? Is nobody out there that cares?

Is this nothing more than NFL cheerleaders playoffs? I'm not saying that the women should be covered but the micro-bikini is a bit much. All of the women are toned and look good, but that is not the object of the game is it? The first time I see a woman with D size boobs out there bouncing around, well I'll put the sport right there with the soft-porn you see on premium cable late at night.

After some digging around on the internet, I actually found that it is a requirement set by Olympic rules that say a bikini must be only so big. I wonder why? Perhaps we should find the men out there in their skivvies. Just drawers, no shirt and it couldn't be boxers or even briefs, bikini is all that they could wear. What would happen then? I understand that no women that are actually in the beach volleyball realm have said anything, but there should at least be a choice to wear whatever the men wear. I'm just saying....

Did you Pay Retail?

Pizza!

Pizza Pizza everybody loves it. Myself included. I've went of a bit of a run on pizza, over the past few weeks. Two really stand out.

Chuck E. Cheese, because it was my 2-year-old's first time there. The actual pizza is forgotten, it's not bad, not good, it just is. Besides you really don't go to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza for the pizza, you go for the games and the show. I feel like my child is somehow being robbed. Back when I was a kid we had Showbiz Pizza, which later was bought out by Chuckie Cheese. It was more of a theater experience. Lights went low, curtains opened, and there were acts. Now at Chuckie's there is no lowering of lights, no acts, hell they don't open or close curtains... it's all just there. She loved it of course, so whatever.


Monster Pizza, my god I had no idea. This pizza is really big, I'd put it a step or two above Chuck, but still below Vinnie Van Go-Go's. I think the only time I'm ever going to order this stuff is for parties, but still.

One thing that does not do good from this pizza eating festival is my blood sugar. For some reason I just can not take enough insulin, I don't know why. But I take extra, and in 2 hours check and take some more... that usually fixes it.

Tropical Storm

So maybe we're going to get a piece of this tropical storm Fay. Maybe, I don't know, maybe I should refer to the blufftonweartherdude's site. Anyway I'm sure, no matter what we'll have the 24/7 outlook, the crashing music, and of course a run on bread, milk, and gas. Even though it's probably going to be nothing more than a thunder storm by the time it gets here.


I just don't know sometimes. Why, why, why is our immediate reaction to such things to watch them? No doubt some reporter is already where the storm is expected to make landfall... looking to get even more swamped. You know, looking for some place so that the drama is even more spectacular.

Maybe I'll change my mind if it becomes a cat 2 or higher storm. But rest assured no matter what it will be dramatic.

Do You Know How To Read?

If you have kids, then why don’t you read to them, count with them, just interact with them?

It’s in the beginning of the school year that they find out who’s not so good in math or reading and really my wife could fill a blog up with just stories of bad parents. I don’t understand it, especially the coddled kids that have parents who think they are doing well, only to find out that you now have the dumbest kid in class. Or a five-year-old that can only count to six. Or lots of other things (shapes/colors/etc). I can’t get in to it too much because of confidentiality law, and parents getting upset and all that.

All it takes is a little effort, just a little. My 2-year-old can count to almost twenty (she gets a bit messed up with all the teens), knows her ABC’s, and knows there are actual words on the pages that you have to read, knows most colors and has a basic knowledge of shapes. I’m not trying to brag, hell I don’t care how you bring up your kid, but if you care about your kid, you might want to enrich their lives a bit, instead of plunking them down in front of SpongeBob. Or just don’t have kids. Because somebody has to deal with your kid at some point, and yes when they are dealing with a problem kid, they are looking and talking about you. Just something to think about. That is the problem with kids today, and then the teachers are behind the eight-ball.

That's not to take away from kids that have a genuine learning problem. Because those kids are out there, but they are overshadowed by the lazy parents. Too bad I guess.

Speaking of books, my daughter got a copy of Go Away Big Green Monster. This was the same book that The Bluffton Today reported wrongly. Well she loves it. My wife says it is an addition/subtraction kind of book. I read it at least 10 times last night. It really does make kids have more self esteem, even in 2-year-olds.

Traditional

In case you didn't already know... School starts tomorrow for all you traditional folks out there. My daughter (the big one) came home last night. Wow you'd not think that much would change in 6 weeks, but it did. She has an appreciation for what we have, and how much better it is.... or at least she acts like it. She's also gained some weight. I'm not really one to gauge a girl's weight, but I do think she's at that time where how and what you eat has a greater affect on you, i.e. Puberty. Anyway I think it'll be good to have a different viewpoint, though obviously not concurrent with my own. She's home and safe and not pregnant, also she's sleeping so life is pretty quiet right now, but that's not a bad thing, not a bad thing at all.

Fertilizer

$47 to buy one bag of Scott’s fertilizer with summerguard. That’s the price of my wife being happy. I’d pay it if it were double that. She likes the nice green grass. We’ll see. I can’t seem to put it out without some kind of malfunction. Places seem greener than others or the horrors of stripes in our grass. Maybe someone can tell me how come my tree is dying. The landscapers originally had some shrubs there, they died, and so has my tree, I think it has too much water, but I don’t really know, all I do know is my red bud which was growing good for the past 3 or 4 months, has lost all its leaves. Anyone care to take a stab at this? It’s in the sane that separates me from my neighbor, so it would be nice, if I could grow “something” there.

Bette Davis

So I have a bit of Olympic glory of my own, ok not really but it's probably as close as I'll ever get. You see my daughter (the little one) has chosen her pick of what to bring to show and tell this week, and as it was in the two previous weeks, she picked a baby doll we lovingly call Bette Davis. In fact my daughter also calls her Bette Davis. She's got Bette Davis eyes, you know the song? In case you don't I've posted it.




So it's three weeks going, Bette Davis, with no clothes or hair, as she's naked and bald, but those eyes.... They keep you coming back for more. Yeah, I can't be an Olympian, but how many can say they got Bette Davis eyes? Or that those eyes were picked three times and running? I thought so.....

But wait, by some strange chance... Reports have it there was some sort of altercation with Bette Davis and the selection committee. She is not the subject of today's show and tell. How could this be? What will we do? I guess congratulations are in order for Thomas the Tank Engine, for this week anyway.

Classic Film Friday: Dr Strangelove

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

This is a movie that I think half will like and half won't. It's based on the Cold War, and what would happen if a rogue General kicked off the war. Peter Sellers plays 3 different characters in the movie, and if you are a Sellers fan then you'll like this movie. It is of course a parody. None of this stuff would happen but I wonder if today's problems with terrorists will turn into something as unbelievable as nuclear war in 30 or 40 years.

I think this movie is funny, if looked at in the right frame of mind and with the right perspective. That said, my wife said it sucked and was dated. You can't please everyone all the time. It is famous for Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens) riding a bomb all the way to extinction and it has George C. Scott of Patton fame and James Earl Jones plays the bombardier Lt Lothar Zogg.

Sterling Hayden is Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper. And he has a thing for starting WWIII and keeping his body fluids. He locks down the base he's commanding and sets off a series of events that bring about our doom. They hem and haw about it in the pentagon with one side saying they should just go with it and give the commies what they have coming to them, the other saying they will work with Mother Russia to think this thing through. Which is all for naught. Because the Russians have built a Dooms Day Machine. We all will die, the world is over... sorta.

I liked it, my wife hated it. Oh well, you only get one go around in this world. If you've got the time, watch it and keep in mind when this was made we were enemies with Russia. If only we could go back to that cut-n-dry kind of way of life. Of course nothing is really ever that cut-n-dry.

Dog Food

Here's a subject that gets my panties in a wad... Dog Food.

What's wrong you say? Well I have a dog that is sensitive to "something" we still haven't figured out what that something is. I've tried 4 different dog foods this year (giving each time to work and not upset my dog's stomach etc) and all of them so far, have not eliminated the problem. Compound that by shopping around and looking for food and reading the labels ad nauseum, I get tired just thinking about it.

I tried Innova. That I thought was the best, but there is still something in there that is causing an allergic reaction. But first let's back up a bit. Anything at a grocery store is garbage. I go to Petsmart and I've bought just about any and everything.... all of it crap. And it is so frustrating to work with them because you really have to read what's on the label. I would say 90% or more of what they've got is the same garbage you can get at the grocery store.

I could buy something online, but that's expense and trouble I'm not willing to go through, it is after all, just a dog. Get pissed if you want to, but I'm trying to balance everything out. And in order of appearance, dog food is way down there. I just want a store that has a food that won't make my dog chew it's feet, that's all.

I happened to stop buy Pet Co. the other day and hope has fired anew. They have several different choices, holistic choices and maybe, just maybe one choice that won't make my dog break out. There is always something in each food that makes itself no better than feeding my dog Alpo. And with it costing more and more, I wonder if it would even matter.

Progress

There is something going on outside my neighborhood. I don’t know what it is, and honestly I fault myself for not knowing. It really doesn’t affect me too much, so I guess it is progress. Not much I could do about it anyway. I thought it was all protected but obviously not. They’re just taking all the trees for now. Still the weird part is they are taking trees on both sides of the road. It could be that whoever owns the property is clearing it for the money and then putting it up for sale, or maybe not, who knows?

Now before anyone gets misty eyed, I don't own the property, and really the person that does can pretty much put anything there he/she wants. I think it's crazy when people pine for what used to be. It just doesn't happen that way, and besides those were "junk" pine trees anyway. You simply can't move anywhere without thinking about what's around you. In this case... woods and what it could become. I hope it isn't some crappy low-income housing project, but otherwise I don't really have a say.

Are You Missing Your Dog?

I Got a Call...

I got a call last night from my mom. Not a happy call, but they rarely ever are. I mean nobody calls to tell me they won big at Vegas or anything like that. So anyway my mother tells me there's been an accident. My first thoughts are of her, but she says it's not her, but two of my sisters.

I'm only slightly relieved, they are young, and can pretty much overcome whatever. My mother goes on to say that they were all on vacation in Panama City and while she was drinking a bloody mary in the bar, my younger siblings went out to get a parasail ride. Everything is going smoothly up until this point. My mom is at the bar and my sisters are having fun.

Then a storm kicks up. And all bets are off. There was some kind of communication problem or something, my mom says it got windy to the point where staying on the beach results in a stinging/sandy attack, everybody came in... except my sisters. They finally pulled them down, within 10 feet of the boat and then the rope snapped. My two sisters are now attached to a parachute with no guidance.

They said they finally landed about 1/4 of a mile away, but they are in the water, still strapped in and cannot really swim because now they are entangled in the parachute. Oh yeah, when the rope snapped, it hit my sister in the face, so add blood into the confusion. They also were dragged which is never good. Suddenly their vacation isn't looking so good.

So my mom is calling me from the hospital, my one sister is ok, mostly she's got some bumps and bruises, but my other sister, the one who took the rope to the face, is still in the hospital. She might have a broken jaw and/or orbital (eye). They'll have to take more x-rays, CT scans, maybe an MRI.

So I guess what I can take from all this is, never ever think that everything is ok, because in an instant it can be much worse. Or just stay away from parasailing altogether. Luckily we are pretty tough, I'm confidant that everyone will pull through. The stories that they'll have from it will live on. No doubt 20 or 30 years from today they will still be talking about the time a storm came up while parasailing. I think...

Greek Table, Thumbs Up

I took something that someone wrote a long time ago and just from that misjudged a local business. I'm talking about the Greek Table, a Greek restaurant, in fact the only one I know of in the area. Anyway, for that (the misjudging) I'm sorry.

We went to the Greek Table over the weekend, and their AC didn't work, but I'm sure they are getting that looked at. Now I will say that I don't have much experience with Greek food, in fact I only ate it in DC last year for the first time. But it seems the food was the kind of stuff you would have at someone's house. Kind of like whatever you would have at a friends house. Like mom would make.

So if you have a hankering for some Tzatiki sauce, give them a try.

Public Safety Message

Squirrels, I just had to take a chance to write about it. It's been a couple of weeks now, since I saw the first "bomb" but basically, squirrels have been eating pine cones and throwing them when done, down, around me. I don't think they are actually trying to throw them at me, but it does so happen that I'm out when they throw them, and I'm the biggest one there so... throwing them at me.

I really didn't even think pine cones were eatable, but obviously they are and how they like them. If you look at the picture, you can see what I'm talking about.


So look out for any rouge squirrels that may drop pine cones on you.

Uncle Bubba's Oyster House... Thumbs Down

So I have to say, being from New Orleans is a bit of a curse. You see I expect to be wowed or least surprised when I go out to eat. Almost always I'm let down... Unless I'm in New Orleans... which I am not.

Anyhow we thought we'd give Paula Dean's brother, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House a try. Well it was pretty bad. Every oyster I try in Georgia is gritty, and Bubba's was no exception. I thought that since they say they like their oysters from New Orleans, they'd be good, but alas I was wrong again. I had the shrimp and grits, which there really was not much shrimp in, and I thought if anyone can make shrimp and grits, it would be Bubba and Paula.... No, they had a oniony, bacony kind of grits, but not very good grits.

If anybody wants some good shrimp and grits, and happens to be in the Upstate, try Billy D's (Spartanburg). They have it by far better than anybody else I've tried. Cheap too, comparatively ask for David, he'll keep the drinks coming, and you won't have to wait for a thing... (if he's still there). Their beer was ok, and the desert was pretty good, but otherwise, I'd have been better off with a fast food burger.

So as suspected, it is just a place to visit so you can say you visited... not actually go to eat something divine. No amount of butter or bacon, could fix Bubba's. Sorry Paula.

Crackers

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. My body is going through changes again, and my blood sugar is testament of that fact. But anyway, my family decided to head for the pool, and I went along. It was pretty normal, I mean we got wet, swam around for a while, splashed each other and so on.

When we came home, now that is when things got interesting. We made "crackers", basically when I say "we" I mean my wife, I just ate them and by "crackers" I'm talking about Ritz layered with peanut butter, followed by another Ritz, and then marshmallow fluff and at last a third Ritz. It's pretty good, you should try it.

Anyway as if that weren't enough, my daughter was acting a fool the whole time and loving the "crackers" like really, really, loving them. All over her face, hands and anything else. Then the clothes came off, and then she started playing with weebles. Who knew? My child, the exhibitionist.

Classic Film Friday: Bambi

Ok I've been waiting for this for some time, my wife to actually write or blog something. Well I finally got my wish, The following is her review...

By: Mrs. Madhatter

Ok, so believe it or not, I am a 36 year old female who has never seen Bambi. So, what do I do about it? I do what most people do when faced with this sort of issue. I live vicariously through my child.

Bambi starts off as a wonderful flick for my 2 year old daughter. Animals are frolicking in the forest. A new life enters the world and it’s Bambi.

The story continues as Bambi goes through many trials in his young life most of which seemed to be at the hand of MAN. The movie continued to be fairly dark and deep for a toddler. I know it is a classic and a much beloved one, but I think had I already seen it, I would’ve saved it for a much later time in our daughter’s life. There were many undertones about Man the hunter and Man the forest-fire starter. Now, I am usually the one to slam on the brakes for a crossing squirrel with the reasoning that “we put this road in the middle of his home.” But, even for me, the message was a little too strong in Bambi.

There was one funny—or should I say comical--- part of the movie for me. Since I had never seen the flick, I had no idea that the term my husband so very often uses “twidderpated” originated with Bambi. But, come springtime in the movie, all of those cute animals sure were twidderpated right there on the Disney screen.

One other thing disturbed me. There was a trailer for Bambi 2 before the movie began and it doesn’t seem to match up at all with the way the original ended.

Trying to Fit In

I have to take the side of fast food restaurants here. I mean how many of us look at what our kids eat outside of a restaurant? Calculate it up, and come to some kind of number? It's just crazy. The underlying drama is, that if you eat vegetarian diet, then that's about the only way you'll come out ahead. Otherwise, all bets are off. Articles here and here.

I'm not saying we should let the restaurants off the hook, but I can see why some don't even have the nutrition information. Why have it, if groups will only hammer you for it later when you do provide it? But anyway does anybody add up their meals daily? I don't and I'm supposed to, sorta'. Carb count anyway, to know how much insulin I need. I count, but I never add up all day, just individual meals.

Is mom's meat loaf, mashed potatoes, rolls, and peas any better for you than a happy meal? I doubt it, but nobody is checking that. How could we? Instead we get these scare stories about fast food, because they have the information available. But before we harp to much on them, we really need to know what we put in our body at home. If you're just eating lettuce and drinking water that's one thing, but I think as a whole it's a lot different than that, and as always instead of looking in the mirror and taking responsibility, it's easier to just blame some corporate entity. Yeah stick it to the man... whatever

Welcome to the Digital Age

So we've had a taste of the system today. Basically we had to go register our child, the older one, for school. Like drop just about everything, and go in to the school, for what? Was it to sign up for a certain class? No. Was it so the teachers could meet us? Emphatically no, not from my wife's assessment. Was it to open the doors and give everyone a warm (Actually hot, but anyway) welcome. No, no, no.

So why did we have to come in, two weeks before school starts? There was no reason. Everything that was given was stuff that could have come home the first day. I mean Jesus Christ, they didn't even give out books in the first two weeks of school last year... surely they won't be any better this time.

All of these papers could have been made available online. So they paid somebody to stand in the gym to hand them out instead. Then as my wife puts it they wasted money, school money, on envelops and blue paper, for what? For freaking NOTHING!!!

I can see already, I'm off to a bad start.

PS, Apparently they are now giving the teachers SOB a continental breakfast. Enough people must have bitched since the NOB was getting a free lunch. Now everyone will have "full stomachs" when the cheering and ballyhooing begins at the rally.

Is Good Kitty

Catfish

I have a retention pond in my backyard. In it you find the typical things you'd find in this area... fish, turtles, alligators (sometimes), birds, and all manor of frogs. But now I'm wondering. I've seen a fish, like a catfish, but unlike one I've seen before. I've seen one like it last year, when we found one dead/half eaten. This time I seen it live and don't know what to think.

It's dark colored with white spots. Is this a normal/around here fish? Or is it possible it has been brought in by people... i.e. my neighbors? If anybody knows I would sure appreciate knowing too.

The Olympics

The Olympics are coming... are you going to watch? At first I thought no, because China's record of human rights is not exactly clean, and the fact that we get almost everything from there. But my wife and I were talking and we wonder if any of that has anything to do with the sport of the Olympics?

I know, there is plenty of reasons you could "boycott" the Olympics. But would it actually do anything? I think not. You could miss the whole spectacle and nobody would care. You could "boycott" all sponsors of the Olympics but I'm suspect of anything happening there too.

I got out of the Army and moved to Atlanta right during their Olympic heyday. It was crazy. You couldn't find a place to live, in fact I lived in my boss's basement for a month. I didn't go to any events or anything like that, though I probably should have. But one of the happiest days in my life was the day I moved out of Georgia and into South Carolina. Too much traffic, too many people, I'm a smallish town kinda guy. But you never know where I could go next.

Back to the Olympics, I think if something bad happens everybody will say "See, I told you" and if nothing happens, then nothing happens. I'm still at an impasse as to whether or not I'll watch the Olympics.

Sleep

So here I sit along side my wife. It's 5:30am, on Sunday, we'd rather be sleeping, but can't. I've already documented how I get up early on weekends even though I don't need to. We decided that in order to stay "regular" with my employment and so on, I'll just go ahead and get up.

But today has me wondering. Our 2-year-old was in the bed, not wanting to get up at all on Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday comes along and BAM... 5:30 and she's up, and so are we. So what happens in this case? She doesn't have a job to worry about, in fact she went to bed after 9pm the night before (normally bedtime is 7-8pm). She should be sleeping in. WTF?!?

I think it may have something to do with the number of days you wake up for work/school and then you get to the weekend but before you can get that extra sleep in, it's Monday again. It's all I got to work with anyway.

My Mommy

I've been posting a lot on my kids and my interactions with them, I guess it's my release, but I don't know. I don't want to sound like an idiot mouth breather who is so proud of his kids that he just has to talk about them. Really it's just they are the only ones who can stand me, and they're forced to at that, so there you go. Besides I'm not talking about how great they are really, just life with kids in general.

My youngest has this habit, it's cropped up in the last month or so. Basically she says "my mommy" to just about anything and everything that has to do with me and anything that can be perceived as negative. I.E. if I say "let's go to bed" she responds "my mommy". With anything...that's negative. If I were to say, "let's go to the park" or "want to feed the fish?" then a normal response can be expected.

She does it to my wife too, so I don't feel alone, but I can't understand it. My older daughter didn't do it, my younger siblings didn't do it, even my older siblings' kids didn't do it. So I really don't know.

So my daughter has been in a rut lately, and to her credit she is still fighting off the virus. But my wife spends anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour getting her ready for bed. And these days within minutes of my wife putting her down, she's back up, crying and saying over and over again, "my mommy".

That's my cue, to drop whatever and go upstairs and put her back in bed. If my wife does it, she just gets up again. So I must take a screaming, even more so when she realizes the person coming up the stairs is not "my mommy", and put her back in bed. She tries to not let me take her back into her room. But unfortunately I'm a lot bigger than her. So she kicks, and screams, and throws around the "my mommy" until everyone feels sufficiently guilty. And I get her back in her room.

Then when she has worn herself out, I can talk to her. I tell her how if she goes to sleep now she can wake up and have a great day tomorrow. She'll see the dogs ant cat and maybe even feed the fish. I hug her tight and tell her goodnight, and she does the same. All is good with the world once again.

Why do we have to go through this every night? I guess I'll never know.

Classic Film Friday: Adam's Rib

Here we have a Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn classic. The two are married to each other and they're lawyers. Meanwhile a lady finds her husband cheating and she decides to take matters into her own hands and shoots her husband.

Hepburn takes the wife's side while Tracy plays the District Attorney prosecuting the wife. And it goes downhill from there. It funny thing is they can both be right or wrong, depending on who's line of thinking you take. Also, it has Marvin Kaplan, who starred in Alice as Henry, he's the court stenographer. Watch for him. Anyway this movie has many angles and for 1949, it seems far ahead of it's time. So who wears the pants in your family?