Take me Away

I'm ready for a little vacation.  And is it mean to think I'd like to go alone?
Nothing against my friends or family, but I'd just like to unplug a little.  I'd probably end up napping the entire time.  And of course being ME I have requirements. 

Access to hiking trails or a long stretch of beach for walking
A large TV and a pile of movies and documentaries
A big pile of books
The perfect overstuffed reading chair with a bright lamp
A great coffee shop across the street and a $50 gift card, and another perfect reading chair
A wonderful sandwich shop next door and another gift card
A giant comfy bed - preferably with a canopy
A giant bathtub with unlimited hot water - with direct views of the TV and fireplace FROM the tub.
A massage wouldn't hurt either.

Songs to REALLY Hate Me By #3

I can do this entire song from memory. As well as all the other pieces from "Music Man". So can my siblings. You should get us tipsy sometime and ask us to do it for you. You'll either laugh till you pee or you'll clock us in the snoot. This particular version is missing a huge section. Trust me. I KNOW!

Songs to Hate Me By #2

I visited a Doctor yesterday.  He said I've got the Tom Jones Fever

I asked if its common.  He answered "Its not Unusual"

Actually DID visit the doctor yesterday.  I've got a sinus infection and my asthma is all stirred up.  I'm home with steriods, 2 inhalers, and antibiotics.  So this is the best post you'll get out of me right now.  

Isn't Tom cute?   In those lovely days before the afro and chest chair and jewelry took him down a dark road.  Before his publicity shots looks like someone had smeared him in taco meat grease. And is it me, or is he rockin a mullet here?

Songs to Hate Me By #1

Here's my newest series! Songs to Hate me By!
I'm a music lover, and performer. And yes I usually have exquisite and eclectic taste. But sometimes something really cheeseball squeezes past and lightens my mood. Here's my first installment;

Yearly Post about Freezing My Giblets

I'm sure you saw this post coming down I-35.  Every year I have to complain, at least once, about this crazy-ass Minnesota winter weather.  Booger-freezing weather.  Make you swear like a sailor weather.  Tears squeezing out of your frozen eyeballs weather.

My Lord why do humans live here?  This morning it was -26 degrees.  That's 26 DEGREES BELOW ZERO.  The real live temp, without windchill factored in.  The local news channel was hammering nails with frozen bananas on their morning show.

But strangely I can still take this better than 95 degrees and 100% humidity, so maybe I'm in the right place.  And Minnesotans certainly have a sense of humor and acceptance of the frigid landscape.  The U.S. Pond Hockey tournaments are tomorrow in Minneapolis, where over 1,600 players will play outside, and like it!  Later will come the St. Paul Winter Carnival complete with ice castle, ice sculpture, and a great custom wine from a winery just 20 miles from me.  I sampled some last week and was immediately in love, but at $45 a tall beautiful slim cobalt blue bottle, I'll have to love it from afar.

Tomorrow, locals in my town will gather to sing away winter.  From northfield.org: members of the Northfield Historical Society will be serving ice cream and hot beverages at the first Winter Scream.  The NHS Exec. Dir has declared "enough is enough - we're going to throw off the tyranny of winter and celebrate with an ice cream social".  A communal sing designed to force the weather gods to release Northfield from winter's grip will be held at noon.

Minnesotans - you gotta love 'em.  You betcha!

Guvmint

I'm home with a miserable head cold, so of course my thoughts turn to politics and government.  Both give me equal pressure in my head.  I started to muse on what "government" should be, so here are my thoughts;

Government should be a force for good in every citizen's life.

Government's main focus should be making sure everyone gets a fair shot, meaning all citizens get at the very least adequate food, shelter, basic education, and healthcare.

Government should be a protecting force; it should have a powerful say over use of natural resources, pollutants, exploitation of the poor etc.

Government should never be in the business of propping up private corporations.

Government should always break up monopolies.

Government and it's use of our tax money should be transparent as hell.

Government should be a fairly constant rollover of citizens serving in leadership rolls.

Government at the state level should have a much great influence over our daily lives.  What works in Minnesota isn't going to work for Arizona.


What would you add?

No Shame

Six innocent bystanders are dead in Arizona.  An elected official, a wife, a mother, lies in a hospital bed with a bullet wound through her brain.  A couple in Tucson will bury their 9-year-old daughter.

Yet Sarah Palin wants us to watch her video and reflect on how hurt SHE is by the nation scrutinizing her words, actions, and political images.

Can she truly not understand this moment?  Must she really interject HER hurt feelings right now?

I have pledged in my own heart to end vitriolic rhetoric when I hear it, and to not write it myself anymore.  Therefore I will refrain from name-calling or hyperbolic metaphor both in my speech and my written words.  But I will not refrain from calling out bad behavior.  And her behavior right now is crass at best.  Has she no shame in the end?