One mom's look at life in the slow lane. By day, corporate drone in a cubicle world, by night (and early morning), human clown, race car driver, pony and milk source.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Yo, Ho, Ho Ye Scurvy Dawg!

It's 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'. Pretty inane, but fun day - definately better than some holidays out there. I always have so love the nomiker 'Scurvy Dawg' - Scurvy as a disease has always fascinated me as well. I don't eat much citrus myself, but have yet to contract scurvy, no matter how hard I try.

Scurvy (N.Lat. scorbutus) is a disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C, which is required for correct collagen synthesis in humans. The scientific name of vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from almost all mucous membranes. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and is partially immobilized.

Thank goodness for modern medicine- just give that wench some orange juice!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Fact Stranger Than Fiction

I was just listening to the Ann Richards speech for the National Public Radio conference in 2004 and she was speaking of the fear that was a result of 9/11 which is causing us to allow our liberties to be taken away piece meal without any fuss or questioning or outrage.

Recently, I re-read Margaret Atwood's the The Handmaid's Tale and it was eerily reminiscent of our current political state. I didn't really remember the beginning of the book. But it was interesting in that it was small civil liberties taken away one at a time that led to the state that the Handmaid ended up in. It was such a subtle take over, that by the time people realized what was happening, it was too late - The noose was already around the neck of their freedom. It scares me how closely this seems to parallel our current situation.

I have to say - I'm scared! We are way too willing or apathetic to care that our government is hacking away at our freedom in the name of fear. No amount of fear should make us give up our freedom - it's simply inane to think they go hand in hand. I for one am willing to give up some of the government's so called security to retain the freedom that up until recently we all had. We've already given up so much - and with little or no outcry from the masses. I just had a baby and I'm very afraid of what he will experience as he grows up. I just do not understand how all this can be happening around me and I feel so helpless. There are days that I feel that I am at war with my own government, and I'm flabbergasted that somehow more than 50% of the voting public disagrees with me.

http://kut.org/items/show/5727

Thursday, September 14, 2006

What a Beautiful Lady!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

A Very Sad Day

Ann Richards was one helluva woman! She will be sorely missed. Alas, the one great Texan political leader gone. She definately would've made the better president. I remember one time I was at the movies and had gone to the bathroom and Ann Richards came in behind me. I was completely and utterly start struck and she was shorter than me (which is short!). It's nice when someone in politics gets one so enamored -- it is such a rarity.

Ann, I will miss you!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Hooters: Still boils down to food


Okay, I'm from Texas and I was reading a local Mommy magazine - there was an article about a woman who took her children to a public pool and when her baby got hungry she decided to nurse. Common practice, as babies get hungry and mom's have the built in equipment to take care of this need. Well....this set the pool employees in a tizzy. GASP - A bare breast (covered of course by a very big baby head which is larger than most swimsuit tops) in a swimming pool atmosphere!? Apparently, this act could cause a lifeguard to take not just a double take, but a triple take, thereby potentially allowing enough time for someone to drown. This is a middle aged mom with three kids providing nourishment to her youngest child, showing a glimpse of a bare breast -- somehow I think a lifeguard could curtail their triple take. The solution to her refusal to stop nursing was to cover her and the baby up with a towel. Did I mention I'm from Texas where it's 100 degrees in the summer....so not much of a solution. Boils down to the crappy Texas law which allows for a woman to breast feed in any public establishment - although does not seem to stop management of said public institutions from trying to strong arm women into ceasing and desisting irregardless of the law. And apparently law does not cover private institutions, so a restaurant can ask you to leave (maybe pissed cuz baby not buying a plate?!)

This whole debacle begs the question, when did breast feeding become such a spectacle. Every woman who has a child has the ability to feed it from her own body - It's like a built in margarita machine, but with milk instead. Whether she does or not is completely up to her, but we're talking about a lot of people and a lot of breasts. They are just boobs! But then we live in a society with a restaurant called Hooters, really my expectations should not be so high. Some days, we seem to have taken quite a few steps backwards...

Not sure if I'm a blogger

Yikes, getting the hang of this. Not sure if my wit of yesteryear is up to this. It will have to go through a pretty heavy makeover and basically let itself be found again. *sigh* to begin again? As a mom and a corporate drone, I will do my best to make light of the world of cubicles and not neglect my duty to raise my child to the best of my ability.