WHAT!?!?

Hurricane Gustav is barreling towards the Gulf Coast and is expected to make landfall Monday afternoon. Three years after the Katrina made landfall we should still have those images in our minds and we should be concerned that history doesn't repeat itself. We should be concerned about our neighbors on the Gulf Coast who are still rebuilding their lives and we should be hoping that they will be spared or if not that the damages are nowhere near as devastating as it was three years ago and that there is no loss of life.

But not everyone feels this way. The sound on this clip is pretty bad but listen closely:



And of course you know Michael Moore is going to open his big mouth and say something stupid as always:



What is wrong with people?

Wow!

I spent all morning checking the news to see if McCain's VP pick had been leaked and finally there it was. Talk about surprise! WOW! That is just awesome. And I must say that my friend Sarah called it way back in June because she's just too good. And how exciting is she? I really had no clue he would go with someone like her over one of the shoe ins. I personally thought it would be the very predictable Mitt Romney. But wow. I think it's great. My mom called to ask me about her, then she said never mind my step dad had already looked her up and read all about her. My husband, who is not the political type, called me when he got home from work and told me he had read a lot about her since he found out and that he thought she was great. He also said that a bunch of his hunting and fishing buddies were saying that they also looked her up and thought she was great. At PW's soccer game the other parents and I were all talking about her, those that aren't familiar with her asking about her wanting to find out. I think it's just great that this one announcement this morning has caused such a huge buzz around a campaign I was sure was withering up and turning to dust.

Compare that to the fact that there was so much buzz surrounding Obama sending out those text messages announcing his VP (yeah so much for that) and how it was talked about for a while that day on the news but it took my mom like 2 days to call and ask who Biden was, as opposed to waiting 5 hours till I got off work to call about Palin. The day Biden was announced was the day of PW's first soccer game and no one said a word about it, as opposed to all the parents and the coach talking about Palin. Point McCain.

I don't know what other's like about Palin and what they see in her that makes her so appealing (apart from those that think cold state hot governor lol)but I know what I think. Reading about her past and who she is I see someone who is just like me. She grew up in a middle class family, she didn't go to an Ivy League school, she grew up in a really small town in Alaska (ok so I grew up in a big town in Florida so that's nothing like me lol) and she's a mother, and she was a mother before she was a politician. Seeing her give her speech today really inspired me for the first time this election season. Even though I have been told my whole life that I could do anything I set my mind to do I felt today like that really is true. It's not about being born to the right family, going to the right school, being friends with the right people. She got where she was because of her hard work and on her own merits. I think she would bring fresh ideas and a fresh point of view to Washington. She will do a great job. There is just so much that I want to say about her but it's 3:00 in the morning and I am so tired I can't keep my eyes open so I'm going to have to save that for tomorrow if I can get a chance between homework and cleaning.

Certified Non-Moron

So I'm officially a non-moron (as one of Shep's guests said Monday). He finally read one of my emails. LOL I'm so lame but it was cool. At first I thought "did he just say my name?" LOL
He was on his game last night. He was so funny. He's funny tonight too I've been laughing all evening.

If it wasn't for Shep's live streams this week I would have been bored with the DNC already. He's great.

And in honor of Bill Clinton speaking tonight, here is a video of Bill Clinton. Is he slamming Obama again (without saying his name? ;o) You be the judge:

Clinton Fragrance

In honor of Hillary speaking at the DNC tonight I have to post one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time.
This one never gets old:

Cindy McCain

Here are some of my thoughts about Cindy McCain. I've heard so much negative about her and her husband.
First of all what's wrong with being rich? What's so bad about her father amassing a fortune and her being able to have 8 houses? Since when is it bad to live the American dream?
Cindy McCain, as an heiress to such a large fortune she, and her children, could have gone the way of celebutants ala Paris Hilton and such but that's not what they like. She does humanitarian work not only here in the States but abroad. She works with so many different charities helping children, she went to school to be a special education teacher, they adopted an orphan from Mother Theresa. And it's not even publicized, maybe a blurb here or there in the last few weeks, which I think it's great. She doesn't do it for the publicity she just does it because that's what she wants to do. That's the type of person she is, she doesn't need the cameras on her to be kind and give back. The McCain children, Megan graduated from Columbia, the boys are both in the military, one has already served a tour in Iraq.
So back to the 8 houses: How exactly does the amount of houses Cindy McCain owns determine the kind of president McCain would make? And how exactly does it affect our country if he can remember how many houses she owns or not? I just don't get it what their personal property has to do with the state of our country.

I was watching Shepard Smith's Live Stream last night and after Michelle Obama's speech one of his guests said that Cindy McCain wouldn't be able to come close to giving a speech that good. I beg to differ. I think Cindy McCain is much more interesting and classy than Michelle Obama so bring her on. I would love to see her give a prime time speech next week, I would love for America to get to know her better.

What would the odds be?

You know what I think would be the absolute best thing ever? Something that would make the DNC the best TV watching of the year. What if by some miracle the Hildabeast were to get more delegates during the roll call vote? WOW! Can I just say that I would laugh my butt off if that happens, I think I may even have to vote for her if she did. Oh well it would be funny anyway.

Here's a clip of Joe Biden showing his support for John McCain on The Daily Show:



Maybe McCain should have asked him first. lol

By the way, yesterday I was out to lunch with little man and this guy seated at the booth next to us notices the news on one of the TVs where they were talking about obama picking Biden. So he turns to his wife and says, oh look he picked Bid-on (as opposed to saying it byden lol). He then proceeds to look at the TV and the speeches from IL like he is so into politics and all I could think was hey, you don't know what you are even looking at, you don't know anything about this, not even how to pronounce the guys name. Which of course wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't been a candidate earlier this year and if they haven't been talking about him all the time for the last few weeks. It was kinda funny, guess you had to be there.

Anticlimactic

It was so late last night when the news broke, and I was so tired, that I didn't think about it at the time. This morning though I woke up and my first thought was: Obama's campaign made such a big deal about sending out these text messages announcing his VP pick and they were supposed to send them out Friday but decided to keep the suspense up and send them Saturday. Well so much for that, it was all over the place hours before.

Today was little man's first soccer game and they won. YAY! 4-2 it was a great game.

Character

There's been a lot of talk in the news lately about character, specifically the character of the candidates. And there's been a lot going on in my life this week to make me think about it.
It's funny how people show their true character during difficult times (in this case it's divorce) and then when that's not flattering they try to hide behind and blame said difficulties. Sorry not buying it anymore, that's when you show your true colors. It makes me realize that there are people that I have held on a pedestal all my life that do not deserve to be there.

It has truly been a weird week around here. All kinds of revelations, the lack of character of certain family members just the major one. At first I was so disappointed and disturbed about the way adults act when they loose the control that they have held with a vice grip for years. But the more I thought about it the more absurd it became. Now it just seems childish and stupid and whatever little bit of pity I may have felt at the outset, it all went down the drain right along with any respect I had for these people. All I can say is you reap what you sow.

While on the subject, yesterday was my mom's birthday, I love my mom. I do not know anyone who has more character than her. She is the complete opposite of my other side of the family. She has held her head high as she got through anything that life has thrown at her without ever resorting to the nasty, mean spirited trash talking that others do. They can all take a few lesson on class from her. She thinks she made a lot of mistakes raising me and sure she wasn't the perfect mother but I think she did a pretty damn good job if I do say so myself. At least she can say that her children are normal (relatively) well adjusted adults that are independent, steady, dependable, and HONEST.

That was really cryptic, sorry. I just don't know what's TMI and I don't want to turn this into an epic post as some people know I can very easily turn this subject into.

It's 1:00 on the east coast and Shepard Smith is on live reporting that Joe Biden is Obama's VP pick. He looks and sounds really tired: red, glassy eyes, you can hear the tiredness in his voice, like someone that has been up all night or woken up after only a couple of hours of sleep. Kind of like I look and sound now also. I'm actually finding it kind of amusing, you look like I feel guy. Nice suit though, tired and all he still looks good. Some one needs to hand him a bottle of clear eyes next time they cut to file footage though LOL.
Biden, that wasn't exactly shocking.

Change

I got an email from my brother's dad last week that a Cuban man had sent in to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I thought it was really good and I wondered if it was real or if it was a fake viral email. So I went looking for it and sure enough here it is:

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'
Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr. Sandy Hook.

Being that my parents are both Cuban and that I grew up listening to stories about Cuba and what it was like when Fidel came to power and what life there is like now compared to before this really caught my attention.

It's that time of year again

Yes, Halloween. I know most people probably think that it is too early to think of Halloween but this is my thing. I do Halloween like most people do Christmas. I have more boxes of Halloween decorations than Christmas decorations. I think it is so much fun to decorate and dress up and all. Christmas is just too stressful for me to really enjoy. It must be the splitting of the holiday between my mom and dad and feeling the need to please both sides that stressed me out from the time I was four that set me up with this feeling.

In any case, I was thinking the other night that it was time to start coming up with a theme, or inspiration if you will because I really just use it to think of decorating ideasw, for my yearly Halloween party. You can roll your eyes now, my husband did lol. As I thought, and surfed the net, it hit me, Interview with a Vampire/Haunted New Orleans. I'm so excited!! I have images of moss and spider webs hanging from all the iron work in my living room and all the light fixtures and candles. It's going to be great. I have some things in mind already and I might even have a band lined up, I should find out in the next week or so. And this weekend, after my hair cut, I'm going to walk down to that awesome little costume store to see what she has that will go along with the theme. YAY! I love this time of year!

And now I must get back to homework. I have a massive headache and it's the last thing I want to do tonight so I guess it's time I start.

Sore Losers

As I've said before I don't follow the Olympics. I lost interest in the Olympics about the same time that I lost interest in Barbies, a long time ago. I have been reading articles about it though and one thing that has stuck out at me is that there seems to be a whole lot of sore losers competing. It seems like people are quick to blame someone else because they didn't win. How about blaming them for just being better? The US female gymnastics, she fell off the beam because she had to wait too long? Really? I loved the one where the US baseball team said the Cuban pitcher intentionally hit one of our players in the face. Mind you it hit his bat first and then bounced up and hit his face so I say the Cuban pitcher is really talented to be able to throw the ball, have it ricochet off the bat and hit the guy in the face. Bravo to him! LOL The US team lost that game in the 11th inning by the way. And the American boxer who thought he was winning so he quit throwing punches and turns out his opponent was ahead. How exactly is that anyone else's fault?? Why blame someone else? Why not just admit you had a bad day or, dare I say it, the winner had a great day (gasp!).

Today we finally got around to start working on the flower beds in our front yard, for the first time this year. I've decided to go super low maintenance and plant ornamental grass, so I don't have to worry about it dying on me and it cost like $30 for all of it, 1/10 of what I paid for two palm trees last year that died. So we get back from the store and we start raking back the river rocks I paid someone $100 to put in there last year and about 10 minutes in we hired the kids next door to finish LOL. I am not the outdoor type of person and I'd be just as happy to not have a front yard at all. In fact, to make the weeding easier on us instead of the crap landscaping fabric we had put out last year under the 3 tons of river rocks, we are putting down painters tarp this time LOL. Note for the future: Landscaping fabric is no good. We had better grass in the flower beds than we did in the rest of the yard.

Took the puppy to the vet yesterday and he's now 24 lbs and has red mange. Poor baby. I have medicine he's got to take for the next 6 weeks or so. And today he got a battle scar from Sarge, that's what happens when you don't leave the old dog alone. He got him just above his nose, right where Sarge got his scar when he was a puppy. But now they are sleeping side by side.

And tomorrow is the start of a new week.

Invasion of GA

Yesterday my husband was in the waiting room at the doctor's. The news was on TV as usual and there were a couple of privates waiting as well. They started talking about the conflict between Russia and Georgia on the news when one of the privates says, OH MY GOD THEY INVADED US???? LOL hahahahaha I about fell out of my seat when he told me that. He said it was too dumb to say anything but I would have made fun of them. Yeah they've already taken Atlanta and as soon as you are done with your appointment your shipping out lol.
When I was in 6th grade we had to know where all the countries in every continent were located. And even though the USSR was still in existence then, I know Georgia is not just a state lol. But even if you don't know that wouldn't you think they would make a much bigger deal about the situation if another country was invading one of our states? lol Especially on a military base in that state?

Ego

I think it's pretty funny, and sad, when people get all worked up about who they are. I came across this article on Yahoo about Mark Spitz who is upset that no one bothered to pay for him to go to China to watch Phelps beat his record for Olympic gold. He's also upset that when someone did pay for him to go to the last Olympics they didn't put his mug on TV when he was watching the swimming competitions. My first thought was who is he anyway. So then I read that he held the record with 7 gold medals back in the 70's. OK so maybe it's ignorance when it comes to things related to swimming or the Olympics in general or because it was before my time but I've never heard of the man before and I wonder how many people really know who he is and what he did. I'm thinking you have to be really full of yourself to actually come out and say these things. It's actually kind of funny. One thing I do have to say about him, he's got a set for doing it.

Last Day of Vacation

It is officially the last day of summer vacation here. Tomorrow little man starts at the "Big School" and I start another term at school. Let me just say that I'm not as excited to start again as my son is. It should be interesting anyway.

So yesterday the last few people on earth who had not seen The Dark Knight finally saw it LOL. I have wanted to watch that movie since it came out and I was not dissappointed. It was by far the best Batman movie ever. And Ledger was the best Joker. Where Jack Nicholson's Joker was cartoonish, Ledgers was just crazy. It was awesome.

So now I must get up and actually get moving, I still have some last minute school shopping to do and I feel an Arby's craving coming on.

Total Drama Island

So is it wierd that I'm hooked on this kids cartoon? It's this reality show cartoon ala Survivor. Little man and I watch every week so I guess you can say it's good family fun. And Heather totally should have gone home yesterday LOL.

There has been so much going on in the last week. First one of my best friends moved away. This is the part military life that sucks. You make fabulous friends and then they leave. I was so sad to see them go but it really didn't hit me until a couple of days later. We were coming home from the beach and Ice Ice Baby came on 90's on 9 and all I could think of was the night my friend's husband and I sang it at the American Legion lol. I teared up. The little things that make me think of something we did make me miss them. So of course everytime I play with our new puppy I think of them since they are the ones that found him. I really really hope that our orders get changed and that we can move somewhere within like an hour drive of them.

Then there was our little vacation. We didn't go anywhere, just around the area. We went to the beach on Friday, the lake Saturday, and to the water park Sunday. It was a lot of fun, the rest of the time we just hung out around here.

Next week school starts again for both little man and myself. He had his open house last night and well he's in love with his teacher. He told me that he wishes he could see her every day even days that he doesn't have school. Yeah she is really pretty. I don't think she'll have a problem keeping his attention all year LOL. I'm not as excited to start school again. I still feel brain dead from last term. But it was worth it. I got straight A's! YAY!