This is what runs through my mind when I’m starving and looking for something to eat:
Entertainment
30
Jan 09
I just read Anathem
My review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
Well, I finally finished reading this book. Meh. I think Neal Stephenson should stick to Earth. The book just read as a contract filler. We’ve read other books, better written with the hapless main character caught up in events. Not his best.
7
Jan 09
Why I’ve been silent
I’ve been getting emails the past few months asking me why I rarely blog any more. Some of it was that I got so burnt out on politics that I just shut down. Some of it, is that I won’t want to put just anything on my blog. You can follow me on Friendfeed and see some of the content there. Logic would dictate that I figure out this MediaRSS plugin so that I can import my FF content to here. But the main reason I no longer blog is financial.
Meaning: I have no money.
The stress of constantly being behind in bills, of trying to keep on top of billing has turned me away from writing. Anything I write will be shot through with how broke I am and I do not want to have that be the focus of my blog. But the truth is that due to a dominio effect that started in Spring of 2007, there’s a very good chance of my family being homeless in the coming months.
We spend most of our money on paying late bills and their fees, but we’re also behind on our mortgage now. Having that over our heads has made the effort to get out and enjoy life a little hard. Add in the IRS funds we owe for the past 2 years, it becomes a little suffocating to try to be fun.
We don’t have credit card debt, a car payment or anything like that. We just owe on our house, the IRS taxes and property taxes. When we purchased our home, we got a decent rate, put down 20% on a home that was underpriced for the market. Even now that our home’s value has dropped a bit, we’re still not upside-down on our mortgage. What hurts a bit more, is that even if we were renting, we’d still be in the same boat, but propbably would have been evicted by now. We have no place to go if we lose our house. Nowhere. Many people are lucky enough to have friends and/or family willing or able to help them in dire times. Neither of us can claim that. Nevertheless, the domino that fell in Spring 2007 has created a cacophony of sound we can no longer ignore.
As you know, I work for my husband–our small company of two. While there’s been some industry upheaval, there hasn’t been enough to explain why we went from working 20 – 30 sites a month down to about 10. Even at 10 sites a month, assuming they’re new sites, that’s still barely scraping by. Even if I were lucky enough to find a job outside the home, we’d need childcare for the kids and another car, so my husband can continue his company he started in 1995.
We’re trying. We’re trying so hard to give our kids a good life. We don’t spoil them, but I enjoy taking them to the zoo, botanical gardens and museums. I’ve given up my memberships to the Arboretum and Natural History museum. Instead opting for the museums free days and saving for Arboretum or Descanso Garden trips. Our zoo membership ends soon, so that twice monthly visit will end too as it’s either than or end the hosting on our business website. They’re growing so big, so fast that I can’t afford to get them clothes that fit properly. That makes me so sad.
It’s so frustrating to see all the work you’ve done so much to create topple. I’ve been here before and weathered it, but then I was single and childless. I didn’t have any responsibilities except to myself. I do not find solace in knowing that I’m not alone in this experience, that other families in this country are feeling the same effects. We can all hope for the best and hope that it comes sooner rather than later. That some solution presents itself as soon as possible. Otherwise, this could be the end of my blog as it stands.
Thank you.
16
Nov 08
Bitches Gone Wild: The Motrin Drama
Image via CrunchBase
Can you say stupid with a slice of WTF?
Last night, my Twitter started going off with angry tweets regarding an ad on the Motrin website. I can’t show you the ad because it’s been pulled. Let me describe it:
It was a way too long video with a voiceover of some whiny mom complaining about something. The words she was saying were being tossed acrossed the screen in what was probably some misdirected attempt at hipness. After I woke from a nap, the woman was still droning on and she started talking about how she uses a carrier (which somehow is painful) to make her look like an “official mommy”.
Let the shitstorm begin.
All day long, as I checked into various social media sites, women with too much time on their hands were writing overwrought posts talking about the ad was ‘insulting’. To whom, was unclear. Some moms were offended by it because they were adoptive parents. Some because their kids were older. Some because they never use(d) a carrier with their babies. Others because they know that if worn right a carrier isn’t painful at all. But they were insulted and seeking vengeance.
Insulted.
Mommy bloggers you won the internets today. Your prize?
Later this afternoon, childless people, men and those who have lives walked into this dust up trying to figure out the problem with the ad. Most of them realized quickly that the ad wasn’t anything to get upset about and moved on with their lives. Sadly, the mommy bloggers didn’t. They were making videos y’all. Videos.
THUD.
A few hours ago, the Motrin website went down. Crazed mommy bloggers cyber-high-fived one another. That’ll show Motrin. Mess with us and our faux outrage.
Well, Motrin finally responded and was a lot nicer than I would have been if I were doing the PR for the company:
We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.
-Kathy
Kathy Widmer
VP of Marketing – Pain, Pediatrics, GI, Specialty
McNeil Consumer Healthcare
So now there’s even more vindication, but even worse, the masturbatory “See what Social Media can do?” posts are going up. It’s like a Daisy chain gone bad. And this is why I don’t call myself a mommy blogger. This is why I try to stay away from mom blogs. This is why some people shouldn’t be allowed to use a fucking computer.
I will say that I am extremely jealous at the swift and angry reaction of these women. Just think of what they could do if they organized to help the poverty-stricken or cure real injustices in the world. I wish everything in my life was so perfect that I would have the luxury to get all agitated over a damn ad.
7
Nov 08
Hope for my children
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Last year, about a month before my daughter turned for she asked who the “pretty man” on TV was. “Obama” I replied. When I went to YearlyKos in Chicago, I told her about how the Democratic presidential candidates would be there and she’s asked if “President Obama” would attend. I explained to her that he wasn’t president and I doubted he would be.
She bugged me all summer and fall of 2007 to vote for Obama, but he wasn’t my choice. I wasn’t interested. She told me on my birthday last year, “If you don’t vote for Obama, maybe a bad guy will win and you’ll be sad.” Manipulative little…
Super Tuesday
When we voted in the primaries, I was definitely going to vote for Obama. She was at my side, as usual, making sure I voted the right way. “Is he president now?”, she’d asked. Not yet, but at that point, I was sure he would be.
Throughout the primaries, her face would light up with she saw Obama on TV. She’d asked if he was president yet and I’d tell her not yet. She loved Obama. When she finally figured out he had two daughters, she asked me to call him to see if they could have a playdate. On Super Bowl Sunday, I had taken her to see Michelle Obama speak (the day, I firmly became an Obama fan, incidentally). My daughter recognized that she was seeing a woman who looked like her mom, though admittedly more beautiful. She thought Michelle Obama was a queen.
Once the general election kicked in, she was very much against McCain. “Why is that man so mean?”, “Why does he tell lies? Lying’s bad.”, “I think his mom should give him a timeout.” were questions she asked over and over again. By mid-September, she was done with politics and thought the mean guy should just let Obama be president already. I agreed, but gave her an age-appropriate lesson in democracy. Continue reading →
5
Nov 08
Musings on last night’s election
Image by jmtimages via Flickr
am not going to try to write a long intellectual entry on what happened last night. I can only post snapshots on we witnessed. My feelings are still too raw. I woke up this morning, like in 2000 and 2004, with a knot in my stomach; expecting a different outcome. I rushed to grab my morning paper to make sure it was all real. That today wasn’t Election Day and I just dreamt that Sen. Obama had won over 330 Electoral Votes.
It was real.
It did happen.
Senator Barack Obama is our President-Elect.
My 5 year old, who has been an Obama fan since last Spring, kept asking me this morning, “Did Obama really win?” Through tears, I said “Yes. Yes he did.”
******
I spoke to some of my older family members last night. The constant refrain was, “That young man did it. He ran a great campaign and didn’t let anyone tear him down. I never thought I’d live to see this day.” They reminisced on growing up in segregated towns in the South and Midwest. One 92 year old cousin, in Arkansas wept as he talked about he had to keep his head down, just so he would stay out of trouble, “Today, I hold my head high, like Obama did throughout his campaign.” I cried.
******
Sen. McCain’s concession speech, was the most classy concession speech I think I’ve ever witnessed. Even though from July on he ran the exact same campaign Sen. Clinton did, his concession speech was exactly the one she should have given in June.
******
The first black President won this election without the Self-Appointed Godfathers of Blackness. We didn’t have to see Rev. Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton pontificating on our TVs last night for the first time in my lifetime. Rev. Jackson was shown, tears streaming down his face, as he stood with thousands in Grant Park.
******
Scholars will study the Obama campaign forever. Not just political scholars, but in business classes, PR majors, technological studies. Every tool out there was used, even abused if my text messages and emails are any indication. The branding was simple and consistent, from slogan to font, to color. The business acumen of where and how to raise and spend money, would make many major corporations jealous.
******
Social media came into its own this election cycle. Twitter broke most stories before even blogs had a chance to write up something. This election cycle belonged to black bloggers. It seemed that they alone were taking advantage of social media tools, not just to announce new posts, but to organize GOTV and appearnces. It was a simple way for them to stay in contact with their readers outside the blog and get more on-the-ground reporting from around the country.
******
I still haven’t received my shirts from the Obama-Biden campaign. I’m sad.
******
The ground campaign of Obama’s was probably the best of any campaign ever. Speaking to friends who worked for the campaign and speaking to people who volunteered from the campaign, they all said the same thing, “This is the first election where people from DC who had never stepped foot in my town, didn’t come in to tell us how it is. They gave us ownership and listened.”
******
A few weeks ago, Republicans started whining about how Democrats shouldn’t have a majority because that would be dangerous for the country. All of a sudden they despise the idea of one party controll the Administrative and Legislative branches of government. I’m still trying to find where they were so distraught about this in 2000 and 2004. It’s a disengenious arguement and insulting to my intelligence. Republicans need not fear. Democrats do not govern to abuse power. A Democratic majority will have it’s hands full rolling back and repairing the damage of the last 8 years.
******
Best quote of the night, after the election was called for Sen. Obama: “Meanwhile, in D.C., two guys named George and Dick have placed the single largest order for industrial strength paper shredders that Office Depot has ever had to fulfill.”
******
When I had heard that Fox News (!) had called Ohio for Sen. Obama, I thought I was going to faint. When I saw that he had also won Florida, I had to sit down. Thank you to both states.
*****
I can only hope that we never have to hear or see the hatefulness that is Gov. Sarah Palin.
******
And finally, we’ll never learn what Republican voters liked about Sen. McCain. It’s a testament to spin, that when asked the most intelligent offering was the tired, “Obama’s a socialist/radical/communist/Muslim”. That never explained McCain’s appeal.
15
Oct 08
Halloween
When we moved to California, I attended school in the Rowland Heights School District. This was back in the 80s, so things were a little more lax back then. On Halloween, the students would dress up and in elementary school, there’d be a parade. The kindergarteners would start it walking through and picking up the first graders, then on to second grade, etc. I didn’t think much about it until I moved to Hollywood. I noticed that the kids at Fairfax High didn’t dress up for Halloween. It was strange to me, but became normal in my 8 years living of Melrose Ave. When we moved to El Sereno, I expected to see the students celebrate Halloween, but noted that last year, they did not.
At this point, I had just assumed that the LAUSD does not encourage dressing up. I can’t say I blame them. With all the ridiculously inappropriate and racially offensive costumes out there, it would probably be best for the kids to focus on their education. So it was with great interest I read the paper that came home with my kindergartener the other day.
In lieu of a Halloween parade, her school is having a Literacy Parade. The students are encourage to dress as a character from a book. Horror characters are not allowed. To make this all homework-y, the students also have to create a poster or bookcover of the book to carry with them during the parade. Somehow, we parents of kindergarteners are off the hook for finding a character, they’re doing 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The kids will all wear little monkey ears and tails. My daughter tells me they’re going to recite the story in English and Spanish.
I can’t wait to take pictures.
3
Sep 08
Sarah Palin’s national debut
Considering that all the speeches we saw tonight were disjointed messes, it was only natural that Palin’s speech would follow the trend.
Considering that all the speeches we saw tonight were chock full of blatant lies the records of the candidates, it was only natural that Palin’s speech would follow the trend.
Considering that Palin was a virtual unknown 5 days ago, the speech she needed to give to win over America, was not given tonight. Instead, we got a red meat speech geared toward corporate and the fringe “religious” right. In other words, tonight was another wasted night at the Republican National Convention. Palin needed to introduce herself to America and assauge our fears that she was a credible pick for the VP slot. Unfortunately, she turned herself into that friend you bring to a party who proceeds to insult everyone else at the party and their mamas.
While this made for great political theater in the Xcel Center and on TV, the reality is that instead of looking tough, she came off catty and shallow. That’s very unfortunate and as a female, it was offensive and embarrassing. Palin’s speech tonight put a very public and demeaning face on female executives across the country.
For someone with no national experience she touted what little experience she does have as more than Obama or Biden. The only problem is that McCain’s experience is similar to Biden’s only less. How do you walk that back? How does the GOP, logically, say “Well, she has more experience than the Democrats, but not enough experience to be President.”? How do you convince me that a person who left a town of 6000 with a $22M deficit is responsible? How do you convince America that she’s a “reformer” when she not only asked for, but kept the earmarks McCain deplores and she lied about denying?
I wish I could be happy that the RNC finally broke it’s own cathedral high glass ceiling by nominating a female for Vice President. But like with Hillary Clinton, it’s the wrong woman for the job. There are many female Republicans who are not only part of the mainstream, but are smart, efficient capable females who would appeal not just to the fringe “religious” base of the GOP, but to a wider swath of the electorate; moderate Democrats and Republicans and many independents.
As I looked in on blogs, twitter and friendfeed during her speech, I heard the same refrain from most of the Republicans, “This woman is scary.” They felt insulted that her speech mocking Obama also mocked them for their actions. They felt insulted that instead of telling us what they would do without lies and fear, they just repeated the GOP actions of lies and fear. They felt insulted that because they live in big cities, they seem no longer welcome in their own party.
I want to thank Gov. Palin. Tonight’s speech could have been very good and impressive. Clearly, that’s not what the GOP was going for and the speeches leading up to hers proved that. But what her speech did do was not only convince a lot of Republicans and Independents that the GOP is no longer for them, but she also energized the Democratic base.
14
Aug 08
Las Vegas 2008
I’m in Las Vegas. Just like the last time I was in Vegas, I’m staying at the Riviera and attending a conference with internet people. Unlike the last time, the chances of me having fun are really, realy high and Mark Warner’s not throwing a party in the Stratosphere’s tower.
But this isn’t about that stuff, this is about Vegas. It’s been 2 years, 2 months and 2 days since I’ve been here and the city has shifted again like sand dunes in the desert. Old buildings gone, with new ones being built or already built. The Stardust was demolished soon after my last visit and across the street, Steve Wynn built another edifice to his ego, aptly named ‘Encore’. The Aladdin has been revamped and is now Planet Hollywood, the Hooters Hotel & Casino isn’t brand new and the Trump tower is complete.
For the Strip, keeping fresh is paramount. Some places do it, some even do it well…others struggle. But it’s not just the Strip that’s getting revamped. The suburbs, exubs and outrings are also being revamped. The people of Vegas like the new. So, as new housing developments go up, they move further and further away from the city center so they can have a 5000sf cookie-cutter house, leaving their 2 year old house behind. Drive around the city in concentric rings and you can actually see the decay. Places that 10 years ago were the hot neighborhoods to live in are now rundown and neglected. I’m sure you see something similar where you live. It definitely has happened in Los Angeles, but in Vegas it happens so much faster.
Flying in, I almost broke down in tears. One of the best things about flying from Los Angeles to Vegas, was looking out the starboard window and seeing the desert, with mountains and then the glorious Lake Mead. Well, the desert and some of the mountians have given over to grids of tightly packed cul-de-sacs, with houses stamped onto the tiny lots. The lake…my goodness, the lake…looks like it has lost a good 30 – 40 feet of depth. There was this little cove we used to go. It was sheltered by a lot of trees and even the water was right at our feet. About 60 feet away was a tiny island that almost rose up out of the water. The first time I went there in ‘93, it was completely underwater. It was protected so the boats and jet skis wouldn’t hit it. By ‘95 it was a 10′ x 6′ island. Now in 2008, our cove looks to be about 200 feet away from the water, the island is a large hill barely covered by water. On the other side of the lake, the shelf where we’d anchor down the houseboat is very visible.
As much as I adore Las Vegas (to visit), I’ve always been turned off by the water wasting. I always thought it was a big loss that a city that rose up outof the desert, never embraced it’s sandy roots, instead choosing to mimic landscapes found in less arid regions. Las Vegas wasted prime opportunity to show the rest of the world that you can build, build large and do it with less impact and environmentally sound.
It seems Reality has hit the city and hit it hard.
In the ridiculously long shuttle ride to my hotel, I found I was smiling a lot more and it wasn’t just from being childishly dazzled by the lights. The water-wasting, high-maintenance grass is being ripped out. In its place is beautiful xeriscaping, with drought-tolerant and native plants. River rock swales have been installed to reduce flooding when it rains. The architectural beauty of the palms, cycads, cactus and succulents actually help make the Strip look a lot more natural.
Another thing I noticed is that the City is finally using its best resource: the sun. Solar panels abound and it was nice to see that not only were they on new construction, but also going up on some of the older buildings. From what I understand, the City gets a lot of it’s energy from Hoover Dam. I never thought it was wise to rely on a crumbling and outdated structure like that, so the use of solar panels on businesses, hotel and homes is a welcome sight.
Viva Las Vegas…if you keep on this track, you can become an environmentally sound City of the World.
10
Aug 08
NBC still sucks
Image via WikipediaI wrote an entry about the suckitude of NBC covering the Olympics back in 2006. NBCs coverage certainly fell off 10 years previous, but since Sydney, it’s increasingly painful to watch. It’s not the just the fluff pieces on the athletes where a knee scrape at the age of 6 is told with overwrought music and fraught with drama. It’s not just the insufferable focus on American athletes, many of whom don’t stand a chance to win a medal, let along a gold one. It’s not even the fact that if you do not have cable, you’ll miss 95% of the coverage. The worst part of NBCs coverage, at least for me here on the west coast is the utter lie that is that taunting “LIVE” icon in the top right corner of my screen.
Opening Ceremonies carried that “LIVE” tag, even though earlier in the day I heard about all the technological feats from European friends a good 9 hours before I even had a chance to watch it. Yesterday, people were talking about swimmer Michael Phelps wondering if he’d win his gold medal. 3 hours before it was shown here on the west coast, I already knew that he did.
I had this rant ready to go, but I just reread what I wrote in ‘06 and it still stands today. The 2 points I made then, I wanted to make today:
Not to knock on my fellow countrymen, but the best part about the Olympics is the internationality of it all. I love seeing people excel in sports that they shouldn’t have or surpass all kinds of odds just to get to the Olympics, but I have a feeling that Americans don’t have a corner on hardship*
AND…
Now let’s get to programming. Remember the days when the Olympics were carried live? Remember when you had to set your VCR to tape figure skating at 2:45pm? Well now, we’re subjected to 3.5 hours of highlights. By the time the Olympics air here on the West Coast, I already know who won. Hell, Comcast On-Demand has the winners up before NBC plays their stinkin’ highlight reel. And that’s exactly what it is: a flippin’ highlight reel. I have no idea what’s edited out until I see who’s competed. On the computer. Where it’s already tomorrows in Torino. You’d think that there are really only 6 people competing in any given sport. Those other names? They’re just ghosts of Olympics past.
I think that if I want to watch soccer and avoid gymnastics, I shouldn’t have to use a chart to determine when it will actually run and on what channel. I should be able to watch an entire competition all the way through. Instead, last night we got a chunk of gymnastics (US, China and Japan only, even though 5 other countries also competed), some swim races, a volleyball game, interviews with the US Women’s fencing team and highlights of other sports that weren’t televised at all.
How do they think that is watchable? That was just on the Universal HD (where it is so not HD) channel. I popped over to USA Spain vs. Greece basketball and the commentators were calling color from a studio in New York! I haven’t caught anything on MSNBC, Oxygen, Telemundo or CNBC mostly because I find it ridiculous I have to flip that much to watch old news. But I wish I knew the reason why content couldn’t be aired live across all timezones at the same time. NBA finals, Super Bowl, World Series, Wimbledon, US Open, etc. are all aired at the same time in the US. Why not the Olympics?
I really, really, really detest NBCs coverage and you can let them know at [email protected]
