Happy Anniversary - TWENTY years!!

Wake UP!

Do the Right Thing - twenty years ago. I'd just graduated high school and moved back to NY trying to get as far from AZ as possible. We drove to Rockaway, NJ to see the film. Powerful, emotional, and controversial to say the least.

Spike was ridiculed at the time for not providing the solution at the end, to our society's racial conflicts.

In a recent interview regarding the film's anniversary he was asked about the solution once again,

"That's not my job, I don't have the answer for that. The film was to show what I felt at the time were issues that needed to be dealt with."

I remember the buzz of contempt surrounding the Academy Awards the following spring for lack of representation for such an amazing film. Kim Basinger, while announcing nominees, made an impromptu comment about Do the Right Thing being overlooked intentionally and how the Academy disrespected the work.

Looks like Spike won anyway -

Do the Right Thing is in the top 100 greatest American Movies in Film History according to American Film Institute! That beats an Oscar nod any day, I'd say.

Who's afraid of the colour PINK?

Well ... little man has Conjunctivitis ... aka Pink EYE!

Poor guy - he's a trooper. The hits just keep on comin' with him and he stands tall with that half smile of his. He had Hon and I up all night last night and we go to the doc's this afternoon to verify what KIND of P.E. it is...viral, allergen, etc.

I have a feeling it's viral since he did just have that cold about a month ago. It's only a matter of time before Chloe gets it. Although, she never did get the cold he and I had a few weeks ago so...she is a rock, that one!!!
Anyhow, a friend of ours popped by last week and Grayson insisted on checking out his ride. He liked the vehicle but was more a fan of the vintage years, I think.

In no particular order...

...Top 30 DIDs (Desert Island Discs)

Cure Disintegration
Anita Baker Body and Soul
Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
Chris Botti A Thousand Kisses Deep
Seal Seal(Self Titled)
Natalie Merchant Tigerlily
Tori Amos Venus and Back(Dbl CD)
Tori Amos Scarlet's Walk
Darius Rucker Back to Then
Melissa Etheridge Breakdown
Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A.
Tracy Chapman New Beginning
Stevie Nicks Bella Donna
Indigo Girls 1200 Curfews
Diana Krall When I Look in Your Eyes
Simply Red A New Flame
October Project October Project(Self Titled)
City of Angels Soundtrack
Patty Griffin Children Running Through
Bounce Soundtrack
Sade Lovers Live
Paul Hardcastle The Collection
Paul Hardcastle Jazzmasters: Grtst Hits
Maxi Priest Best of Me
Journey Escape
REO Speedwagon Hi Fidelity
Fleetwood Mac Tusk
Marvin Gaye The Very Best of Marvin Gaye
Tony Bennett The Ultimate Tony Bennett
Dean Martin Dino: The Essential Dean Martin
Dinah Washington Definitive Dinah Washington

Breakroom Etiquette

I work in a three-story building amongst a "compound" of four buildings. Each building has their own break rooms and some offer a cafeteria as well. In my particular building of three stories, each floor has its own breakroom. There is a reocurring issue in these break rooms that my immediate co-workers and I cannot understand.

The breakroom on each floor is approximately 400 to 600 sf in size. One wall contains 4-5 vending machines and the connecting wall hosts several microwaves, a double sink, coffee machine, tea and coffee fixins counter space, an ice and water machine and then the trash and recycling receptacles. The remainder of the room is filled with tables and chairs and a tv in the far corner suspended from the ceiling.

Any time of day, any day of the week, the place is a buzz and on occasion you may see someone utilize the tables and chairs previously mentioned. However, most times, people congrugate DIRECTLY IN FRONT of the vending machines and coffee / microwave counters, holding lengthy conversations, creating an issue and a dodge affect everytime someone comes in to use them.

Why do they do this? Why do they continue to shuffle an inch or two (if they even notice) in every possible direction as necessary instead of USING THE TABLES AND CHAIRS to have their discussion - or hell, even moving to the other side of the room? If you are just running your mouths you obviously you don't need coffee, ice, or a snickers so move your ASSES!

On a lighter note, why, when no one is in the restroom but you, the next person walks in and sits in the stall right next to yours??? I leave you to talk amongst yourselves.

Home Improvement Never Ends

We were at our local hardware store...again...and after the Bogos had their baths and were ready to relax we trekked off and did some shopping. Since Chloe has been theiving the Firetruck at home from Grayson (and he drove the cart last time) we figured we'd give her a shot at the wheel. He wasn't thrilled at first but once Momma started picking up the pace they got into race car mode and were both tickled!

Why is this man still talking???

Rush Limbaugh's latest and greatest contribution to society..."I think I’m going to send Sotomayor, and her club, a bunch of vacuum cleaners to help them clean up after their meetings.”

Isn't he the class act? Now, anyone NOT racist listening to this man, is thinking what exactly? When he makes statements such as this do they find it funny, offensive, stupid, irrelevant, or do they even pay attention?

His crass and negative input should not be tolerated by any side of the aisle. Why does the Republican party think they are looked down upon...because they flock to Rush like he's the second coming.

There's the saying that you are who you hang out with - guilty by association - etc. Well, if Rush is on your side then that speaks VOLUMES!! The republicans could have their little government/big corporation beliefs but there's no need to be degrading, childish, and crude. That's just a DUMB and bullying mentality that needs to really go away already.

Then again, I guess he got what he wanted...he's on the mouths of the public again...like nasty funky breath.

What money can buy...

In the news today...Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth gets 30 days in jail for a DUI manslaughter. Seems he killed a pedstrian while driving his Bently. After his release, Stallworth will face two years of house arrest but wouldn't you know, he can still play professional football.

Stallworth, at the scene, told the arriving officer that he was the driver of the car. He said, "I hit the man lying in the road." His guilt was never in question so why the plea agreement? This wasn't a difficult case to prove and he killed someone while intoxicated; this is not just some regular old accident. If we took a look at Miami's records, I wonder how many others indicted on DUI manslaughter saw a mere 1 month in jail.

On the up-side, his license to drive was revoked for life. Good thing he's still able to play his game to afford a driver. Stallworth agreed to a financial settlement with the Reyes family (the victim's family). Evidently the Reyes family was satisfied with the plea agreement considering a confidential settlement was made resolving the civil suit against Stallworth.

Did the family sell justice or did they make the best of a tragic situation? All the time in jail doesn't give them their love one back but money can apparently buy forgiveness and freedom. I can't truly fault them but where was the state's position in all this? They thought the sentence just?!

Even Martha saw more time than this....c'mon!

Little Pills

So the babes are walking about and getting into whatever they can. We established "the pit" (which is essentially the sunk-in living room and dining area) as a safety zone. No shoes/socks, chemicals, etc., or mouth-sized items are allowed in this area. Well, our old entertainment setup, now that they are standing on two legs, wasn't adequate.

See, Chloe likes to touch everything especially if you tell her no. She would mess with the stereo knobs, move the channel changer guides around so the TIVO couldn't change the cable box, and forget about the hand prints all along the bottom of the plasma. So, we went to our trusty Craigslist friends and scoured for a TV armoire.

We needed something at least 44" wide and preferably 72" or more tall that would enclose all the elements. Killing two birds, it would streamline the room from clutter, protect the equipment from troubled hands, and provide storage for the Rock Band gear - also protecting them from little hands.

After weeks of searching, I landed a goldmine. Two hundred buck, some hardware, and a few coats of poly stain and we had ourselves one heavy armoire. They stared in awe at the new furniture in their space. We set it up, put all the gear in, turned it on. They were in complete and total amazement.

Then Chloe, the pill that she can be, found the doors. Seeing his sister playing with them Grayson found the door on the other side and played along.

They are JUST in reach of those same little hands and all last night they played with them; of course, despite the "NO" cries from the couch.

Pic is awful but the cell cam doesn't have flash - you get the idea...she (on the left) is a pistol!

We should all PASS on DePass!

Just another ignorant example from a GOP member:

...former chairman of South Carolina's Election Commission apologized after posting on Facebook suggesting a gorilla that escaped from a Columbia zoo was an ancestor of first lady Michelle Obama.

After the gorilla’s escape, Rusty DePass posted: "I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors — probably harmless."

THIS is a racist statement - no question. He lamely apologized stating he was only commenting on something she herself had referenced regarding evolution. However no findings on such statement has been made by myself or the news media. Nice try.

White, republican, man speaking his truth ... continues to remind us why they are SO out of it. DePass, you can never apologize enough - this was not a mistake, a blunder, a misspeak. You're an ass, plain and simple.

1st B-day BOGOs

So last week we had the babes 1st year party along with the eldest H.S. Grad party. The kids spent a week on creating a new and improved mud pit. We used the bobcat to excavate a space, dropped near 2 tons of screened/filtered quality dirt upon a Queen egg crate mattress pad all on top of a $25.00 tarp to create the essence of comfort while gettin down n dirty. It paid off. Kids had a blast.

We also rented a blow up dual water slide. Can't wait for the water bill?!?! Got more trees in and set a up a stage for the Kareoke which made our neighbors ears bleed well into the night. We finally closed it down around 11pm and the kids all crashed in the living room.

I was grill master throughout the day and night. The babies napped and were opposite (of all days) so we had two separate singing/cake moments - which I think may have actually worked better. We had one cake after lunch and the other after dinner.






We did manage one photo of all of us and several during the events. Grandpa worked for the previous week on restoring some old wood rocking horses he happened upon. He was very proud and everyone ranted and raved about them.




Anyway, everyone had a really great time - we partied from 1pm til midnight and thankfully I had the forsight to take the next day off from work. We RESTED the entire next day!