December 13, 2005

  • This past August I finally broke down and bought a bottle of wine that I had my eye on for quite some time.  It was way out of my price range, but it totally spoke to me, a blending of Syrah and Voignier, and the story of the vineyard was very intriguing.  I bought it right before Katrina, and it got lost in the madness of preparing the house for the storm, sheltering evacuees, storing shit from damaged houses, and all the other chaos that results from Katy's life. 


    I found the bottle this past weekend.  Mario's big leather couch had eaten it.  I put it in the wine rack, informing everyone that it was a special bottle NOT to be consumed without my permission.  My sober permission, mind you.  See, one night we ran out of beer and drunken Katy decided to let people drink her reserve of Saranac Black & Tan rather than going out for more beer.  Big mistake.  Huge.  I miss my Black & Tan.  I'll be stocking up when I'm in NY this January.  But, I digress.  This wine was for a special occasion only.


    Last night was THE occasion.  It only took a few days to find the right thing to celebrate, but I aced a majorly important test that I had been freaking out about all day!  And let me tell you, this was quite the test to ace, and quite the thing to celebrate.  So, Mario and I busted out the wine and watched CSI:Miami.  What can I say?   


    the good times are killing me...........

December 7, 2005

  • See what $15 and some spare time can get ya?



    Built that fireplace all by myself, thankyouverymuch.  And look at all those stockings, all hung with care.  See that extra space to the left?  Send $20 for a chance at getting your stocking in that prime location.  After that, they start to wrap around the side, and let's face it: Santa doesn't load up the stockings on the side.  $20.  Paypal's cool.

December 5, 2005

  • Is George W. Bush the worst President of the United States?  JFK used to maintain a ranking of the presidents until he himself was elected president.  Buchanan was often considered the worst due to his efforts to placate the south, which eventually enabled the civil war.  However, here are what some historians - including some self identified conservatives - have had to say about our current prez:


  • He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;



  • He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;



  • He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;



  • He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;



  • He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign(Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);



  • He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;



  • He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;



  • He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.

    Now I know that we cannot really judge a president or his presidency until years, if not decades after the term. 


    However, I say to those of you who voted for him again "What the fuck were you thinking?" and "Please, please, please don't let one or two abstract, intangible issues govern your voting decisions when there are so many real issues that are decided every day (levee funding; research for Parkinson's; Pell grants; preservation of our coasts, marshes, swamps and bayous) by the officials YOU chose. 


    No, Bush did not cause the levees to fail.  But he could, right now, promise to give us the money we need to build them up to category 5 status.  Instead he has sent a banker from Texas, Donald Powell, to take a helicopter tour and decide what is needed.  Ummm....I think any of the 400,000 people still displaced can tell what we need.


    No, Bush does not hold in his pocket the cure to Parkinson's disease.  But he could open up many channels leading to a potential cure by cutting through all the bullshit red tape concerning the funding/procedures of stem cell research that doesn't involved destroyed embryos.  However, narrow-minded activists have managed to convince most of the nation that you have to "kill a baby" in order to get stem cells.  This is just not true, and it is costing us too many lives.


    Our students are embarrassingly undereducated when compared to their international peers.  Parents are fine with their kids "just getting by" in school.  No one cares about the humanities any more.  Programs in the Arts are being slashed in our schools every year, while football and other sports programs are lauded and their helmets are bronzed.  Our underpriviledged and middle class students can't afford to go college out-of-state without getting into debt or working through their classes.  A classic rule of investing is to put your money into an undervalued asset, wait until it matures, and then reap the benefits.  Well, right now, there are few undervalued assets.  Stocks?  No.  Real estate?  No.  How about our students?  Invest in our students and your investment could return many times over in the form of a stronger workforce, read economy.


    • Enough.  I have some stuff to do before I go visit Lauren, who almost died after having her tonsils removed Thursday.  Only Lauren. :)  But seriously, keep her in your thoughts.

November 30, 2005

  • Scenes from Lakeside Shopping Center's Christmas Village:





    This is why I love this place!  It could be something super cheesy.  But we're like, "Nah, we got busted UP, cher!  Let's put us some FEMA tarps and rescue 'copters and shit in our Christmas Village."  The sad thing is that it really looks like that......blue roof-town.  Anyway, I just thought I'd show those of you who aren't from here know how we're handling all of this during Christmas.  That is to say, we're handling it the way we handle everything: with Southern grace and lots of bourbon.  Ho Ho Ho!

November 28, 2005

  • Found a little time to take some pictures of some WIPs that aren't intended for people who come by here often.  The first project is a bag for my friend Brooke.  I'm using Lopi 100% Icelandic wool.  I'm not so sure if Icelandic wool is super awesome, but the yarn is really nice and the colors are gorgeous.  The main color is a deep cranberry, and the secondary color is mustard-curry color.  I'm using the secondary color to knit the Ohm into the bag.  Here's what I have so far:


     


    It is 50 stitches, the center 30 are the pattern and are stocknet stitch.  The outer ten on each side are seed stitch. 


     


    There's a better shot of the colors.  And the picture on the left is a partial of the pattern.


    I also finally started knitting with some crazy yarn I'd oogled forever and finally snagged on a big sale.  I'm not sure how I feel about the results:


     


    It kind of has that threadbare look to it.  It is SOOOOO soft and cozy, and I really like the colors.  The bottom is a bell....I love ruffle-y bottoms!  I'm doing 10 rows orange, 6 rows pink because I have 2 skeins orange but only 1 pink :(   I can't imagine a garment made out of this, and it is too fragile for anything utilitarian.  So, what do you think?  At first I didn't like it, but it is starting to grow on me.

November 22, 2005

  • Do I make you horny, Baby?



    Meg made this apple pie at my house this weekend for her dorm's Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm sure she told everyone that she made it from scratch, but that crust came from a box.  Sorry Meggers.  Your lies cannot hide forever.  Let the truth set you free!

November 16, 2005

  • And the award for Cutest Nephew in the World goes to........


    HENRY!!!



    My sister's dog came and spent the weekend with Mario and me this past weekend.  He only tried to kill Mario a few times, which is a HUGE improvement over past behavior.  See, Henry is a special dog.  Not special like Bonnie, who steals shiny things and runs away from you when you call her name.  Henry is special in that he doesn't like white people, white men especially.  Anyway, we made major progress in Henry's relationship with Mario:


     

November 14, 2005

  • I was talking with my neighbor this weekend, and she tells me there is a new Christmas Tree this year.  I'm thinking a new breed, one with softer needles, one that won't shed all over the carpet or that will magically hold on to the tinsel...something useful like that.  But no!  The new tree, she tells me, is an upside-down tree.  An upside-down tree?  Yes.  And why, you ask, would anyone want an upside down tree?  Well, besides the obvious reason of having something different than everyone else in order to make the statement that in fact, you are different than everyone else, the reasoning behind the upside-down Christmas Tree is that you can fit more presents under it.  Seriously.  That's it. 


    I have to tell you that I had a reverse-Grinch reaction when she told me that, and my heart shrank two sizes.  Are we really getting to that?  Do we really need to keep giving our kids more and more and more?  Just stop it already.  Stop buying the $200 school bags with the cell phone holders.  And while you're at it, stop buying your 8 year-old a cell phone that takes better pictures than National Geographic.  Stop getting your 15 year-old $150 highlights and taking her to Paris to buy her prom dress.  Stop buying your 16 year-old a brand new fully loaded Mustang for his 16th birthday.  Stop letting your 5 year-old's soccer practice/ballet recital/tae kwon do meets/whatever/whatever/whatever determine your life. 


    What are we so obsessed with more more more?  It's getting worse with every generation, and as a bridging generation, one that is currently breeding and starting a new generation, I'm so scared of what we are going to teach our young.  I was so lucky to get two of the best parent's ever.  They are incredibly hard workers, and therefor my sister and I never had to want for much growing up.  I am at a bit of a disadvantage in the "real world" now because I guess I did have it easy growing up.  I'm having to learn how to budget, and savings...what's that? 


    But these kids that are just slathered in Abercrombie and American Eagle....am I jealous?  Sure, I would love to have a shiny new car and shmancy clothes.  But I do feel bad for these kids.  If they are just being handed everything they have, and their parents do not talk to them at all about money, where will they learn how to live like an adult? 


    We have the potential for an entire generation of adolescents to enter adulthood without any preperation for what is ahead.  I've been observing this in the college towns of Natchitoches and Hammond.  I know that I can only fairly judge my peers, but every class seems a bit less mature than the one before it.  By mature I mean independent....self-able.  I've been reading some psychological studies on the lengthening of adolescence in the United States, so this is not just me being a paranoid android. 


    Students are staying at University for graduate degrees now, because an undergraduate degree won't get you too far in today's job market.  (unless you want to haul hurricane debris)  Parents have more money, so they are letting kids stay at home and continuing to support them.  (Mom and Dad, don't stop giving me money)  Kids are receiving so much education and training that they are faced with too many opportunities and have trouble heading off in one career direction (does this sound familiar to anyone?)


    Basically, I'm just tired of everyone wanting so much.  I'm tired of everyone feeling like they're entitled to so much.  But most of all I'm fucking sick of seeing all these kids screaming into their phones, hanging outside of the book store (not buying or reading books), dressing like clones, listening to shitty music, and their parents are just giving giving giving them more more more and it's just going to get worse.

November 7, 2005

Leokandres

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