Bird Feeders, Fire Doors, & Nemesia

Yesterday morning, something, crows, I think, brought down my bird feeder. I had been watching birds come and go, but got distracted with the computer for about 10 minutes and when I looked back at the picture window, the bird feeder was on the ground in several pieces.

My neighbor’s bird feeder appeared to be MIA as well so I’m betting it was those rather large crows I saw flying about that morning.

I added it to my Lowes shopping list since I was going that afternoon anyway.

That was a dizzyingly frustrating experience in itself. All I really wanted was to buy a plain wooden door to put between my garage and my breeze-way/dining room. Growing up in New Orleans, we had a hollow brown door there that opened into the house. I really just wanted the same thing, but white. Really, I need it to open into the house, because the garage is a few steps down and it would be awkwardly dangerous to have it open into the garage.

However, what I was told at Lowes is that in my town, the building/fire code is that you have to have a steel fire door there. Currently, there’s just a storm door that was put there by the original owner when the breeze-way was added on — several owners ago. But I have to put a steel fire door there.

And it has to open into the garage because if there’s a fire in the garage, that will make it less likely to explode into the house if the door gets opened.

Oh, and though Lowes installs doors, they don’t install fire doors, which have to be specially ordered. You have to hire a contractor to do that.

So, I came home with a new bird feeder and a pot of Nemesia from Lowes and no door and no order for a door.

I like the two tiers on the new bird feeder. Even more birds can come and visit at one time now. Hopefully this one will last longer than six months, which is how long the last one lasted.

The Nemesia are really pretty sitting on my front porch too.

Tags: bird feeder, crows, Nemesia, Lowes, fire door, fire code, photo blogging, flickr

Hello, Goodbye

The Canon PowerShot S3 IS has arrived. The Canon PowerShot SD110 is out. Yay!

I have a lot of buttons to figure out. There’s a lot of features to learn. However, I can already tell just from toying with it even in the dreary, rainy, overcast light we have today that the new camera is 100 times better. It’s going to be so much more fun to use.

Tuesday night my mother pointed out that I was really hard on the SD110. I’m going to have to be much nicer and kinder and carefuller with the S3. I guess that means it might be a few weeks before I start being really daring with it.

Here are a few of the 100 photos I took in the first day. I can already tell an amazing difference in the quality of the photographs the new camera produces. These were all taken from my living room through my picture window. I used to have to stand about a foot away from my bird feeder very still and wait without breathing for a very long time to get a close up of a bird…and still the photo wouldn’t be sharp enough to really identify the bird.

Tags: bird watching, Rusty Blackbird, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Chipping Sparrow, photo blogging, Canon PowerShot S3 IS, camera, Canon PowerShot SD110

Road Hazards

Yesterday, I was driving down Forest in the right lane and right as I came to The Bike Shop there were about 20 or 30 folks on bikes out front on the lawn. They chose to enter traffic right in front of me at that particular moment and they didn’t seem to be paying attention to oncoming traffic. I generally have no problem with bicyclists as long as they seem to be competent and following the law themselves.

I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting those guys you see up ahead (in this picture I took later) making the turn onto the side street from the right lane there. My camera which had been sitting on the seat next to me at the time ended up under the gas pedal. There’s now a dent that affects how fast I can change the zoom, which now requires a lot of fiddling as it seems to get stuck quite often, usually in the setting I don’t want it in.

I was planning on buying a new high end P&S camera in July, but this morning I broke down and ordered a Canon Powershot S3 IS. It’ll be here tomorrow. I’m both excited and annoyed.

Tags: bicyclists, road hazards, driving, reckless, dangerous, camera, Canon Photoshot S3 IS, photo blogging, flickr

Splurging On A Camera

I’ve decided to splurge. Like a really big splurge. Not like “Hmmm, it’s Friday; I think I’ll have some sushi” but like “I really am frustrated with this rinky-dink camera and I want to take better photos” splurge.

At first I thought I was desperate for a DSLR camera. You know, with all of the different, really expensive lenses and equipment? For months, I’ve been drooling over those professional-type cameras and their complexities and the brilliant photography I could do with them.

After the suffering I’ve done with my Canon Powershot SD110 and it’s measly 3MP and 2X optical zoom, just imagine how brilliant I could be!

Now, let’s assume that I have $800 to $1,000 to just through at the initial investment of a Canon Rebel XTi and one lens (probably a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6), the zoom isn’t any better than what I have now, though I’d get 8 or 10MP. I’d still have to acquire another lens for better zoom and extra lenses cost about the same as the camera if not way more.

Talk about an expensive investment!
More

Tags: Canon, Canon Powershot, camera

Maine Red Meat Recall

Some days I’m really glad the doctors told me not to eat red meat.

The Maine Department of Agriculture says a Greene company is voluntarily recalling nearly a ton of beef. Bubier Farms says nearly 2,000 pounds of beef may be contaminated with fecal matter, a common source of E-Coli bacteria.

State officials say 1,936 pounds of beef may be contaminated with fecal material, as well as other contaminants. The problem was discovered by a federal inspector earlier this week. Officials say the inspector found fecal matter and hair on slabs of beef inside a cooler at Bubier Meats.

Bubier meats is a small family run business that only sells product here in Maine. State officials say at this point they do not know if any of the meat in the recall is actually contaminated. But it is being recalled because it was in the cooler on the same day the inspection was done.

“The big concern with fecal contamination would be e-coli. We haven’t confirmed, we haven’t tested any yet, we’re just recalling because with fecal contamination we can’t take any chances whatsoever,” said Hal Prince from the Maine Department of Agriculture.

Most of the meat went to small grocery stores and restaurants around southern Maine. State officials say about 75% of the recalled meat has already been returned.

Here is a list of what has been recalled:

–Two whole sides of beef stamped Est. 4.

–10-lb. bags of beef labeled Bubier Meats Hamburg.

–10-lb. bags of ground beef labeled Caldwell Farms Beef All Natural Beef. The product code on the ground beef is 647.

–Primal cuts of beef also labeled Caldwell Farms Beef All Natural Beef.

Consumers with questions about the recall can call Bubier Farms Manager Tobie Bubier at 207-946-7761. Tobie Bubier says he’s confident that no meat that left his plant was contaminated and says he plans to have an independent laboratory test it to prove his case.

Source: Maine Farm Recalls Beef That May Be Tainted

Keep in mind that a small percentage of red meat is actually inspected. How scary is that? How much scary does that make the fact that they just happened to inspect on the same day this happened?

Tags: beef, red meat, food contamination e. coli, Bubier Farms, Maine Department of Agriculture, Maine

Stress, Procrastination, Paralysis

I’ve been completely stressed out lately.  Stressed to the point of being overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed to the point of near-paralysis.

I spent a rather eye-opening hour with the shrink last night who pointed out how connected my home-related stress is to my work-related stress is and how it all is just merging with my Winter-related depression and weighing me down to the point where I’m allowing myself to live up or down to whatever expectations certain people have of me.

I don’t know if I can explain this.  It all seems so circular.

So, at work, my top thought is always that I’m going to lose my job, though that’s not necessarily the case.  That, of course, is the result of my last job and looking back now, the jobs before that where the threat was always made present by the higher-ups as a form of possible punishment.  So, the more negativity that MJ and FW present toward me, the more MJ hovers and tells me that I’m not doing my job correctly, the more FW unprofessionally berates me in public and tells me that he and MJ are worried they are going to have to finish my work, the more anxious it makes me — especially since I am currently already highly anxious due to a very high-anxiety-producing deadline looming.  I just want some sort of validation that my job is not at risk.

On top of that I just bought a house, right?

A house that appears to have some “issues”.  The beadboard in the kitchen appears to be drying out from what little heat I’m using.  The paint is bubbling and splitting.  It looks horrible.  Cracks are forming between the ceiling and the slanted part of the wall in the rooms upstairs and the hall.  The paint between the wall and the linen closet in the bathroom has split.  The wall where the wood and the drywall meet beneath the stairs has distinctly separated.  I’m starting to see where seams and boards are in the walls and ceiling.  Oh, and there’s two small cracks in the paint in the bathroom over the shower/tub, which I suspect is hiding an army of mold spores beneath it’s plastic sheath.

My father wants me to talk to the people I bought the house from and make them come fix it, though I doubt I they are liable.  And someone told me some houses resettle every Winter.

However, I’m so miserable because I worry that there’s something wrong with the walls that I don’t want to do anything like finish unpacking or hang pictures or window treatments because that would be a waste of time because I’d just have to undo that stuff.  If I hang stuff, it’ll have to be unhung when the walls have to be fixed after all.

But my mother has decided to come for my surgery next month, which means I need to get the house in some sort of order or she’ll be disappointed, but there’s just so much to do and I just don’t know where to start.  I need to hang the shelves I bought for the office to finish unpacking, but the curio cabinet I bought and haven’t put together is in the way.  The curio cabinet is in like 1000 pieces and it just looks too hard.  I don’t want to do it alone but I don’t have anyone to help but I don’t want it still sitting there when my mom comes.

And on and on it goes…

And part of the house comes back to work…why unpack and finish the house if I’m going to lose my job and have to move.  Traditionally I take years to finish unpacking and hang every thing up and then it’s time to move.  Everyone who knows me knows this.  Which is why my mother keeps asking if I’ve hung stuff on the walls, I’m sure.

And some of the stuff I keep putting off saying I’ll do it when it gets warmer.  I have a ton of boxes from the move.  They’re all broken down and against the wall in my garage.  I want to put them in the rafters of my garage, but it’s friggin’ cold outside.  Who wants to spend that long outside?  I’m waiting for a warmer day.

Anyway, my job isn’t at risk.  I still have an immobile deadline.  MJ and FW are just unprofessional, nasty people; I think no matter where you go, there’s always one or two of those.  My boss is entirely understanding, if conflict avoiding.  I hung some curtains up last night and even unpacked a box.  I’ll have to see how I feel about my Susy Homemaker list when I get home tonight, but I’m o.k. with the stress I feel for work.  It’s just regular deadline anxiety and not “I’m going to lose my job if I don’t meet this deadline” anxiety and that’s o.k.

Maybe I’ll be able to crawl out of the overwhelmedness and depression and stressful paralysis and start posting again.

Tags: work, anxiety, job loss, depression, overwhelmed, stress, paralysis

Thursday Thirteen Things You Should Know About Product Labels (#21)

The source of my green educational Thursday Thirteen this week is Crissy Trask’s It’s Easy Being Green.

Thirteen Things about N. Mallory

1. Biodegradable: The Federal Trade Commission defines “biodegradable” as a substance that has been scientifically proven to break down entirely and return to nature within a reasonably short time after disposal. However, because most detergents and soluble chemicals degrade in wastewater systems, they don’t always completely break down into eco-friendly substances. Read the label carefully to make certain the product is made up of nontoxic, renewable ingredients.
2. Cage Free: While this label guarantees that chickens weren’t raised in cages, it doesn’t guarantee they spent any part of their lives outside.
3. Free Farmed: This label is administered by the American Humane Association and testifies that dairy cows, chickens, cattle, and hogs are raised humanely and under healthy living conditions.
4. Free Range Chicken: Legally, this label only requires that poultry producers allow their poultry access to the outdoors for an unspecified amount of time each day — ie. leave the door open. It does not guarantee that the chicken ever made it outside.
5. GMO Free: Genetically Modified Organisms or, rather, genetically modified plants are the product of scientific genetic manipulation involving introducing unnatural but supposedly “desirable” gene characteristics into plants — ie. animal traits into tomatoes. Some scientists are worried such manipulation could ruin the ecosystem and contaminate the food supply.
6. Green: This hasn’t been defined in standard manufacturing terms. Call the manufacturer and ask them what they mean by it.
7. Natural: Except where beef or chicken processing is concerned, this term is meaningless in legal terms. To qualify for beef or poultry processing, the USDA requires that there be no artificial ingredients and no food coloring.
8. Nontoxic: “Toxic” means poisonous. Chemicals that are Persistent, Bioaccumaltive, and Toxic (PBTs) do not readily break down in the environment and accumulate in the tissues of animals and humans.
9. Organic: Food and fiber grown or produced in accordance of the National Organic Standards Act without toxic pesticides and fertilizers, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, sewage sludge, GMOs, or irradiation.
10. Pesticide Free: There’s no standard definition for this. This label could mean the grower didn’t use pesticides in growing the produce or that there was no detectable pesticide residue when tested. You’d have the grower to be sure.
11. Recyclable: A recyclable material or product is one that, after its useful life, can be manufactured into another useful material or product, therby keeping it out of the waste stream.
12. Recycled Paper: If the three chasing arrows on your product are white on a black background, it means the paper is made from 100% recycled content. However,if the arrows are black on a white background, it is made up of recycled and virgin fiber and the manufacturer is required to note what percentage comes from the recycled fiber. But, wait…there’s more…you also have to consider the source of the recycled content. Paper made from wood shavings from a lumber mill, labeled industrial waste, can be labeled recycled, but buying this type does nothing to help support consumer recycling programs. Look for paper marked “PCC” or “PCW”, which stands for post-consumer content or post-consumer waste, respectively.
13. Sustainable Fishery: A sustainable fishery (a species or stock of fish) is one that has not been depleted or harvested in ways that harm the ocean ecosystem.

Tags: green living, recycle, biodegradable, animal rights, organic, humane, waste, Thursday Thirteen, bloghopping, memes

Discombobulated Thoughts — January 16, 2007

• Wow, halfway through January already?
• I’m feeling slightly better, just some residual pain in my back and right side but not feeling like I’m splitting in half anymore.
• Pugly is acting very odd lately. I’ve been having to carry him to the car every morning to go to doggy daycare and sometimes I have to catch him to put the leash on him to go outside. Then there’s the weird matter of him not wanting to jump down from the car when we get home. Very strange little dog.
• I’ve been watching HBO’s Rome and I just love love love it. I love the two guys who always seem to be in the right or wrong place and inadvertently cause history to happen.
• I’m reluctantly switching from bottled water to Brita filtered water to save money at home. As long as it’s not tap water, right?
  

  It’s a jungle out there
  Poison in the very air we breathe
  Do you know what’s in the water that you drink?
  Well I do, and it’s amazing
  – “It’s a Jungle Out There”, Monk Theme Song lyrics

• I bought Seventh Generation dish soap, which I think is supposed to be biodegradable. At the very least it’s better for the environment that Joy, which is what I was using. I also bought an organic green tea hair conditioner. I couldn’t find the reusable grocery bags, but I’m thinking about making my own.
• I’ve been trying to find a sample Square Foot Veggie garden online for one adult that I could modify to my own liking. I just like seeing examples of what other people have done.
• I guess I’m going to have to create a gardening category.
• I knitted all day on Saturday on a dishcloth but I have nothing to show for it because I pulled it all out. No matter how careful I counted or what I did, by the time I got to the 12th row, I had an extra stitch and couldn’t figure out where it happened. So I pulled it all out. It’s one of those complicated patterns that is different on every row — you know, K5 P2 (K6 P2) repeat 4 times K5 P1 K2 and then the next row is something else and then like on row 12 you repeat rows 6 through 10. Oy. The scarf was all knit stitches and it took me how many months to do?
• I’m feeling uninspired to take a photo today.

Tags: discombobulated, Seventh Generation, Joy, project365, knitting, gardening, wellness, the puppy, bottled water, Brita, HBO\\\\\\\'s Rome

Thursday Thirteen Vanity Plates I Took Pictures Of This Week (#20)

Today’s Thursday Thirteen is brought to you by the letters W, I, and G, and the numbers 5 and 23.

I found these all in less than seven days. I swear, New Englanders have the most Vanity Plates per square mile.

Thirteen Things about N. Mallory

1. This guy is just “CREWZN.”
   
2. I can only imagine this person is a self-styled “gangsta”. Though, in a Mazda? Probably not very credible.
   
3. This must be a mother.
   
4. I’ve been debating on if this person meant to spell “no duh” or they have no dad. Either way, it’s very sad.
   
5. Obviously this person is clinging onto Boston’s glory. (You know they say that Maine is like Massachusetts’ retarded step-cousin, right? We have no teams of our own but we always seem to glob onto Mass’ victories.
   
6. Blue Heaven or Haven?
   
7. This was sitting next to the above car.
   
8. Awwwwwww…as if college didn’t cost enough… (By the way, the MSU Mom really drives this SUV.)
   
9. Here’s a two-fer. This car has been sitting in the parking garage for six months. People have written in the dust, as you can see. Obviously someone cared about it at one time…enough to get a vanity plate. I’m even betting the guy is tall, kind of pale, maybe a little bald.
   
   
10. Apparently, the cost of college is worth a “W”.
    
11. I don’t think this person is sticking around.
    
12. And this one ain’t from around here.
    
13. At least this one has the right idea about living life every day.
    

Tags: vanity plates, photo blogging, thursday thirteen, meme, bloghopping, license plates, automobiles, cars, parking lot, parking garage, Maine, New England

Prepare To Drop The Delurking Device — It’s National Delurking Week

Thanks to Buttercup, I discovered it’s National Delurking Week. Who knew? And who comes up with these things and when? Inquiring minds want to know, you know.

Anyway!

So what is it? Apparently, it’s the week when all the lurkers out there are finally supposed to own up to the fact that they visit blogs — you know, come out of the virtual blog closet, so to speak. The idea is that if you read a blog and have never actually commented, you’re supposed to leave a comment and let the blogger know that you are a reader of their thoughts. I don’t know what happens to you if you don’t. Maybe the Internet god frown on you and disrupt your Internet or do naughty things to your computer if you don’t. *shrug*

So if you are a lurker here, I’d love if you’d leave a little comment and let me know you are there! Maybe a first name or a nickname or a porn name from the porn name generator and the city/state/country where you live? How you got here? How long you’ve been coming here?

(graphic found at A Gracious Home)

Tags: National Delurking Week, bloghopping, commenting

Monday’s A Bitch: 01/08/2007

Random Joy

1. After a long day, I like to kick back with…? HGtv, my afghan, and my animals.
2. Do you know anyone “famous”/who is the “most famous” person you’ve ever met? I’ve met lots of famous people at sci-fi conventions — actors, writers, and artists. Most seem to be more down to earth at them. Laurell K. Hamilton, Jewell Staite, Ruth Thompson and Timothy Zahn come to mind. Didn’t care for Anne McCaffrey or Claudia Christian at all.
3. What is your favourite piece of classical music? - Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

More

Tags: Monday\'s a Bitch, meme, bloghopping

comments See also in My Life, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, Monday's A Bitch

Project 365 (Day 3): Good Morning, Starshine

I start my morning with all but two of those bottles on the bottom two rows, thanks to all my medical problems. One of these, two of those.

Don’t think the other two bottles get ignored. Those are the night meds.

The top shelf has the pain meds for those days when the migraines and fibromyalgia is unignorable. Though, technically, I don’t take the aleeve or ibuprophen anymore. They’re just there for company now.

I vaguely remember when I used to just take a vitamin C every morning.

Tags: medications, photo blogging, project365, fibromyalgia, wellness, photoaday

Thursday Thirteen Things I Wonder About (#19)

My mind works in strange and mysterious ways…

Thirteen Things about N. Mallory

1. How often do other people change out the underwear in their underwear drawer? I mean, so they schedule a regular amount of time? Twice a year maybe to go through and throw out all the ratty old underwear they wouldn’t wear on vacation or on a date or in front of their cats and replace them?
2. Speaking of underwear, am I the only one who’s ever bought new underwear just so I didn’t have to wash clothes? Or whole new outfits even? Or a couple of days-worth of clothes?
3. What do other people think about during their commute to work? Do they just space out and not remember how they got to work? Do they think about the AIDs issue in Africa, last night’s Daily Show, what they’re going to make for dinner? Am I the only one who has whole imaginary conversations and arguments with myself that I might have with other people that just piss me off further when I’m already pissed off or help convince me more that I’m right about something?…What?
4. Do other people worry that they might look up and find someone staring in their window at them, especially at night? Every night? Even on the second story? Or driving in their car? Especially when looking in the rear view mirror?
5. Why can’t someone invent a spray that discourages my puppy from poo-pooing on my rug? They make stuff to clean it up. They make stuff to “neutralize” the smell. Can’t they make something that makes him sniff that spot and think “naughty!”?
6. Why can’t all my pets learn to use the toilet like me? Is it really that difficult? I mean, they’re always watching me, studying me when I use it. Surely by now they’ve figured it out.
7. Why do people think South Park is funny? Seriously. I just don’t get it.
8. Why don’t Target or WAL-Mart carry white floating shelves? Do people really only decorate in dark colors anymore? Don’t the people who order stock for them watch HGtv or TLC at all?
9. Was my old apartment building filled with mold like my crazy old neighbor claimed and was it making me sick? I have to say that I’ve had a reduction in headaches since I moved into the house. Though before I moved into the apartment, I suffered from chronic migraines for 20+ years. However, the fibromyalgia did become a problem while I was in the apartment and it’s been better too. Granted, I’ve been eating my strict pseudo-vegetarian diet and doing aquatic physical therapy. It’s hard to tell. But the mildew problem on my furniture and in my kitchen is gone now that I’m in the house. (The allergist said I wasn’t allergic.)
10. If my mom isn’t coming for my gall bladder surgery, who is going to drive me to and from and take care of me and is it wrong to be annoyed at my grandmother for taking up my mother’s time? My grandmother isn’t actually physically ill, but she is bipolar. She has to be watched because she won’t take her meds or eat like she should because she’s decided she doesn’t want to and she didn’t like the nursing home she was in. She demanded that my parents take her with them from Ohio to New Mexico for a visit after Thanksgiving and she shows no signs of wanting to go home. My dad shows no signs of wanting to take care of his own mother so it falls on my mom. So, now that I have surgery scheduled in February, I don’t have my mommy to take care of me and I’m a little disappointed. Does that sound too selfish?
11. Has TNT been showing a 3rd season of The Closer and I’ve missed it? I think I missed this season of Monk too. They don’t seem to be showing them regularly. When will there be a new season of Eureka? There are simply too many shows I like now. It’s too much to keep up with and they’re all on at odd times and their seasons are all weird and even the DVR is getting confused.
12. Has anyone else noticed that Amazon’s Prime shipping is not worth the price anymore? Very few things are covered as “free shipping” and very few things are included in their “expedited” 2-day shipping either. I almost always am paying added shipping costs even on some books and for standard shipping, some things aren’t shipping for weeks, even two of the books I ordered (that I don’t have time to read). Since I usually buy $100-worth of stuff at a time, I don’t understand why I never qualify for free anything. Why am I paying for this extra service?
13. Do people only come here to read the Thursday Thirteen? My uncle told me that one of those news channels said that most blogs have only one reader. Am I posting to myself the rest of the week?

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, blog meme, meme, bloghopping, WAL-Mart, Target, the puppy, South Park, underwear, The Closer, Monk, Eureka, T.V., Amazon.com, mold, mildew, fibromyalgia, migraines

History Repeats Itself — Pope George W. Bush?

See if you recognize recent events in the U.S. in this passage talking about the history of the Catholic Church…

The Church turned to its own canon law to authenticate an agency which could enforce adherence to Church authority. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition as a separate tribunal, independent of bishops and prelates. Its administrators, the inquisitors, were to be answerable only to the Pope. Its inquisitional law replaced the common law tradition of “innocent until proven guilty”with “guilty until proven innocent.” Despite an ostensible trial, inquisitional procedure left no possibility for the suspected to prove his or her innocence; the process resulted in the condemnation of anyone even suspected of heresy. The accused was denied the right of counsel. No particulars were given as to the time or place fo the suspected heresies, or to what kind of heresies were suspected. A suspected friendship with a convicted heretic was also a crime, yet no information was given as to which heretic the accused as to have “adored.” The names of the accusing witnesses were kept secret. One’s only recourse was an appeal to the Pope in Rome which was so futile as to be facical. The friar Bernard Delicieux declared:

…that if St. Peter and St. Paul were accused of ‘adoring’ heretics and were prosecuted after the fashion of the Inquisition, there would be no defense for them.

The inquisitor presided over inquisitional procedure as both prosecutor and judge. While he was technically to arrive at his decision after consulting with an assembly of experts of his choosing, this check to his power was soon abandoned. An inquisitor was selected primarily on the basis of of his zeal to prosecute heretics. He and his assistants, messengers and spies were allowed to carry arms. And in 1245, the Pope granted him the right to absolve these assistants for any acts of violence. This act rendered the Inquisition, which was already free from any secular jurisdiction, unaccountable to even ecclesiastical tribunals. [The Dark Side of Christian History, “Chapter 6: Controlling The Human Spirit”]

Take a moment to let that sink in and think about how many times in history that sort of thing seems to have repeated itself. Witch trials, Nazi Germany, McCarthyism, Kenneth Star ;)… Unchecked power using hate of some group or other to persecute and it’s all unquestioning, all unapologetic, all without regret. It’s all to get more power through fear.

Now think about what has happened in this country in the last five years. People both from this country and not have been taken from their homes, from airports, from their travels and spirited away in secret places, in American prisons, in Gitmo, who knows how many are innocent or how many are guilty. How do you prove you’re innocent when you are presumed guilty from the beginning? How do you prove you’re innocent when your only sin is that you look like you might be dangerous? How do you prove you’re innocent when you’ve been handed over to the Americans by foreign bounty hunters who insist you’re a terrorist? What do you say to prove you aren’t guilty when the American Inquisition doesn’t care really. It’s not about whether you’re innocent; it’s about gaining more power through fear and not even the fear of the arrested. It’s about gaining power through the fear of Americans like you and me, my dear Readers.

Tags: The Dark Side of Christian History, history repeats, George W. Bush, America

Never A Camera When You Really Need One

There was this guy on Route 115 today.  All decked out in snow gear including those snow pole things…on roller blades.

Maine is really suffering for snow this year.

Tags: Maine, snow, roller blades, camera

Looking Backward: The Twelve Firsts Of 2006

I’ve seen this meme here and there this month. I can’t recall where now. The idea is to re-print the first sentence of the first post from each month in 2006. With the New Year approaching, this seems like a good time to do so…and I’m curious.

(If the “first post” fell on a “Quote of the Day” or similar, I skipped it to one of my own posts.)

• January 3, 2006: History Repeating Itself?
  

  So, four years ago, the hospital I was at went through lay-offs and an administration change.

• February 2, 2006: I Am Alive & Going To England
  

  I appologize for seemingly abandoning this blog.

• March 1, 2006: Forgotten New Orleans
  

  Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch has put together a document analyzing how much progress the city of New Orleans with the promised State and Federal help has made since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

• April 1, 2006: Lowest Poll Rating Ever?
  

  Is it me or does it seem like every week or so this year there’s been a headline that announced Bush having his “lowest poll rating ever” and they’ve all been between 34 and 37%?

• May 1, 2006: What I’ve Learned Since My Puppy Came Home
  

  I admit I’ve been too busy with the new puppy to post.

• June 1, 2006: Stomach Acid & Pink Eye
  

  When it rains, it pours.

• July 4, 2006: Why I’m Almost Embarrassed To Be An American…
  

  Here are a few things I’ve overheard while in England:

• August 1, 2006: The Next Step In Man-Made Miracles
  

  When you think about the possibilities…when you consider what lives might be helped…when you consider that in hundreds of labs around the world unused, unwanted embryos are never going to become anything more than lifeless chemical waste…when asked, if you did your part, however little for stem-cell research, what will you say?

• September 1, 2006: Discombobulated Thoughts - 09/01/06
  

  Pugly loves that credit theft commercial where the woman voice-over sings “Unbreak My Heart” really badly.

• October 2, 2006: Monday’s A Bitch: Random Joy
  

  It’s that time of week again…

• November 2, 2006: Thursday Thirteen Discombobulated Worries This Week (#11)
  

  My brain is way too scattered and full of anxiety to focus on one particular nifty topic this week.

• December 1, 2006: My Brain May Explode
  

  I wonder why my brain doesn’t explode from the sheer insanity of contradictory messages I get from my parents sometimes — mainly from my mother.

Hmmmm…

I’m tempted to go through and write the first sentence of the last post.  Or the last sentence of the third post.  Or the twenty third sentence of every month.  The possibilities are endless.

Of course, this is only worth the time if it actually intrigues anyone to go back and read something old.  Seems far too random.  I think my posts from memory lane in the right margin at the top would be better for that, but I don’t think that’s all that successful either. Hmmmm…

If you do find yourself wandering back through my memory, please leave a comment there, or here, to let me know if this sort of this is an effective use of my time.

Tags: memory lane, past, 2006, meme, comments, Blogging & Other Blogs

Quote of the Day: On How To Live Each Day

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tags: Quote of the Day, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday Thirteen Things I’d Like To Do In 2007 (#18)

So this is the time of year when everyone is doing New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer not to do “Resolutions” because they’re generally broken and joked about by the middle of January and forgotten by President’s Day. Then, next January, they’ll be resolved again.

So, instead, I usually try to use the time to reflect and think about the things I’d like to work on in my life, changes, improvements, and so on. I don’t make myself any impossible promises though. I know my limits and I know physics. There’s no way I can lose 60 lbs in 2 months, for example; nor is it likely that I’ll be getting up at 5am any time soon to exercise 3 times a week.

Anyway, here is my list of things I would like to do in 2007, no promises, but I’m working on it. More

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, bloghopping, meme, New Years Resolutions, gardening, knitting, debt, weight, health, writing, Green Living, housekeeping, dysfunctional family

Re-Inventing The Wheel Kinda Creepy

When I was a vegetarian in the early to mid-1990’s, it was never about animal rights or some ideal cause. In fact, I had great fun on mailing lists and newsgroups, stirring up the vegan and vegetarians who were all about “not eating anything with a face” or “animals are our friends, we don’t eat our friends!” Basically, I was a vegetarian because I was just plain tired of eating meat — even the smell of it made me feel a bit ill.

This is not to say that I don’t respect people who do actually become vegetarians because of some ideal, whether it has to do with saving animals from slaughter houses or making themselves a healthier being. I do have problems with vegetarians and vegans who take themselves way too seriously or are hypocrites or are extremists or eco-terrorists. At the very least, the first three of those are bound to get laughed at and joked about by me.

Anyway, I started all of this rambling for an actual reason.

As some of you know, I’ve been eating about 75% vegetarian for years. Before the actual vegetarians jump on me with their definitions and baseball bats, I know that’s not actual vegetarianism. I’m just more aware of my food choices. I tend to choose vegetarian-type healthy eats.

I have, however, partaken in meat, though I have in the last year or so begun to move away from beef, substituting soy products, when I wanted to make a beef-like recipe. It’s been a natural progression, where I was listening to my body, even though I struggled and fought against it. I’ve eaten more seafood, focusing on those omega-3s everyone’s talking about. And tried to stick with non-fried chicken breast.

My faithful readers may also know that recently, my alternative medicine nutritionists have put me on a stricter diet. So, now I’m an involuntarily Pescetarian, which is a psuedo-vegetarian who eats seafood.

But, after seeing last night on the news that the FDA is expected to rule that cloned animals can be served in our restaurants and sold in our grocery stores, I may not have any problems going back to full vegetarianism. Messing with the food chain is never a good thing. It upsets the balance of things. Who know what sort of illnesses this sort of thing will make the way for. An excellent example is Mutant by Peter Clement:

A former emergency room physician, now a private practitioner, Clement (The Procedure) here offers his fourth medical puzzler. This one centers on genetic engineering and its potential for devastation if not properly and morally controlled. ER physician Richard Steele joins geneticist Kathleen Sullivan, prominent among anti-bioengineering forces, in her investigation of the effects of genetically modified foods and genetic vectors that can cause diseases to cross the species barrier. Gradually, they unravel a complex web that spans the globe. After a young boy in Hawaii succumbs to an illness that previously affected only birds, the story line expands to include three corporate entities, which may be in collaboration toward a perilous goal. Richard and Kathleen find their lives in danger, and the threat of genetic weapons becomes increasingly real. [Amazon.com]

The truth is once scientists, government and who knows who starts playing with our food, who know what’ll be in it and what it’ll do to us.

Why can’t we just focus on making sure the food that grows naturally in the world today comes to us without disease or bacteria? Why is it that we have to worry that our cows my be infected with Mad Cow Disease or our grocery store veggies might have e. coli? Why not focus on these thing rather than try to re-invent the wheel all Dr. Frankenstein-like?

Yup, time to start growing my own garden and become a vegetarian.

Tags: vegetarianism, vegetarian, pescetarian, cloned animals, Peter Clement, FDA

Help! Stupid #@%* iPod Mini

I’ve always had a little issue using my iPod mini with my home theater.  Despite the fact that my home theater has a usb slot just for playing MP3 players, when I plugged in my iPod mini, the display on the t.v. would show bizarre file names like “F03N” rather than song names and the directories wouldn’t match the playlists.  I couldn’t control what I was playing from the iPod mini so I would have to basically plan ahead and remove everything from the iPod mini except what I wanted to listen to on my stereo.

Except since the last iTunes upgrade, I can’t even do that.  My home theater can’t read anything on my iPod mini at all now.  This really pisses me off.   What’s the point of having a usb port if I can’t listen to my MP3 music.

I’m told that other people have usb ports in their cars and stereos and have no problems, so what’s the deal?  Heck, isn’t there a commercial where they do this?  Is this a push to force me to buy either a Nano or a bigger iPod?  Or is my year old home theater system now out of date too?

WTF?

Can’t someone tell me how to hook up my iPod Mini to my stereo so I can listen to my music?  Please?

Tags: iPod, electronics, home theater, gadgetry