January 15, 2008

INDEED

You know you're a blogging family when you're faced with an ethical dilemma and your husband's advice is "What would Glenn Reynolds do?"

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DAYAKS

Some of us SpouseBUZZers are reading the book The Airmen and the Headhunters for an upcoming author interview. I am thoroughly enjoying this book, and it's just starting to get really exciting.

I don't want to spoil anything, but there's one event that I can't get out of my head. The Dayak people have finally decided that the only way to protect the American airmen is to start fighting back against the Japanese. But they needed a foolproof trap, so the Dayak leader asks the most beautiful young girls in the village to bathe naked in the river to distract the Japanese soldiers long enough for an attack. Nudity is not acceptable in Dayak society, but the young girls did it anyway to help protect the airmen. They laid the trap for the Japanese.

I have been thinking about how it must've pained the Dayak leader to ask the young women to do this. I have imagined my father asking me to expose myself in the middle of town for the greater good. I can't imagine asking so much from a young girl. And I've also tried to put myself in the girls' shoes, letting go of their shame in order to save lives by facilitating the taking of other lives. But if I could run naked through the streets of Baghdad, and it saved just one soldier's life, it would be worth it.

Maybe we should add Girls Gone Wild to the Surge?

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January 14, 2008

LUCKY

It sounds like Tim and Patti had a good day. I got this email from him tonight:

Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:58:22 -0500
From: tim
To: sarah
Subject: Just to Make You Jealous...

...I shook hands with Fred today.

Tee Hee

Tim

Too cool.

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MERGING BACK ONTO THE EXPRESSWAY

In three weeks, my husband joins the Army. No, really. For the past year and a half (two and a half if you ask him; he doesn't consider his time in Finance to be "the Army") he has been in Army schools. Life has been super easy on us. But all that changes in three weeks: he'll get assigned to a battalion and then find out which continent he's deploying to and when. Life's about to get interesting again.

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DONE

Erin's baby present is now in the mail.

A couple of people have acted a little shocked that I would wrap yarn around needles for 36 hours when there's a chance that the adoption could still fall through. But Erin and I discussed this a long time ago, right when they found out that getting this baby would be a possibility. I told her that I wasn't going to treat her any differently than if the baby were in her tummy, because nobody looks you in the face when you're pregnant and says, "I'm not going to invest my time or money until the baby pops out and is real." I said I'd treat her the same way I would be treated as a pregnant lady, which in hindsight seems ironic, since her baby is more real than mine was. But I never wanted her to feel different about being an adoptive mommy.

And I had a couple of people sock me in the gut with an I-told-you-so attitude, like I was some halfwit who had never considered a miscarriage but somehow they had glorious wisdom all along that it could happen to me. Those people are lucky we weren't in the same room when they mouthed off. If anything bad happens to Erin and something falls through, anyone who says anything even remotely condescending is going to have to answer to me. I will straight up punch them in the larynx.

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January 13, 2008

PERSPECTIVE

Erin called me this morning to talk about me, my feelings, my life, my stuff. And then later in the conversation she reminded me of the date. All of a sudden I burst into tears, realizing once again how small and petty my own stuff is.

Today is not about me.

And so I sit here today with tears on my cheeks, thankful for all I have and thankful for men like Gunnar Becker.

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January 11, 2008

WAITING WIVES

Last night on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio, Andi and AirForceWife interviewed two military wives: Stephanie from She Who Waits and Elaine, a Vietnam-era Army wife. It was so interesting to hear what life was like for the "waiting wives" of Vietnam.

My favorite story was when Elaine said that, because she has epilepsy, the doctor told her that she could inform the Army of her condition and her husband wouldn't have to go overseas. Elaine said she went home from the doctor and never told her husband the info. She knew he was a soldier and she wasn't going to be the one to prevent him from doing his job. What a lady!

If you want to listen to the archive, it will be available here at Blog Talk Radio.

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January 10, 2008

HEY, GREEN, LOOK WHAT I DID!

I took some before and after pictures, but Charlie was definitely not cooperating. And let's face it, I'm just not so good at taking a picture of myself and the dog with the tripod and timer.

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And afterwards, well, I just smelled like eyebrow wax. Which to a dog is quite a curious thing.

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I was able to donate 13 1/2 inches, and since the hair salon I went to was a partnered up with Locks of Love, the haircut was free!

And the husband approves. He says it makes me look 30, which I will take as a compliment.

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AWWWW

Yes, I am so shameless that I am going to link to a post about how awesome I am. But it feels good to be loved. And Erin takes better pics of my handiwork than I do.

Thanks, Erin, I could use the pick-me-up today.

Speaking of which, this morning I was reminded of two of my favorite things: Weezer and baby animals.

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COLORBLIND LYNCHING?

I heard on the news this morning about the golf commentator who made a joke about lynching Tiger Woods. I don't know what to make of it all, but one thing I did notice is that, if you look at the video, she obviously has no idea that she just said something offensive. There was no wincing, no wide eyes, no recognition whatsoever that she realized that she had just said something that could be construed as racist. None.

So what I wonder is this: isn't that progress? Is there something to the fact that a white woman could quip about lynching someone and have no notion of the racial overtones of what she said? I don't know, I'm really asking. It seems to me that it is a type of colorblindness to publicly make a comment like that. If she had any inkling that what she was saying was racist, she would've immediately reacted, I think. It's like she really didn't associate lynchings with black people. Heck, in a weird way, that's a good thing, right?

A colorblind lynching comment. How absurd. Makes me think of the South Park flag:

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I don't know what this means to people. I think the comment was in a different category altogether than Imus, and I genuninely don't think she meant to be racist. And Tiger Woods laughed it off too.

But Al Sharpton licked his chops and got ready for the cameras. Sigh.

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CAN YOU BELIEVE THE GALL?

This is really rich. Mahatma Gandhi's grandson says that Jews just need to get over the Holocaust:

It is a very good example of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger.

You know who else is one individual that the whole world regrets what happened to? And who gets "overplayed"? Gandhi.

What an a-hole.

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January 09, 2008

WELL SAID

Definitely go read this article today, Great (American) Expectations. Excerpt:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is chided for not moving legislation quickly enough through Parliament. But the very essence of a real parliament, as opposed to a rubber stamp, is gridlock. Have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, with nothing worse to overcome than their Republican opposition, done better in their first year in the majority than Mr. Maliki, who must run a government besieged by al Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias?

From The Wall Street Journal's offices in New York City, one can look down at Ground Zero, still mostly a huge pit after more than six years during which its reconstruction, now in its umpteenth design iteration, was supposed to have been the signal proof that Americans would rebuild--better, taller, prouder.

Also across the way is the hulk of the old Deutsche Bank building, critically damaged on 9/11 and slated for destruction. In an attempt to ensure that not even trace levels of asbestos and other unpalatable elements would escape the wreck, a meticulous plan was devised to dismantle the building floor by floor, at a price exceeding that of its construction. In August a fire broke out, and two firefighters died after getting lost in the maze of internal scaffolding erected to keep the asbestos in. Those brave men lost their lives for the sake of an EPA standard, and there's been no work to speak of on the building since. It's a case of the perfect becoming the enemy--the mortal enemy--of the good.

And the rest is just as good.

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January 08, 2008

I'M A FUNNY GIRL

Earlier tonight, I mentioned to my husband how lucky we are that we have nearly the same taste in movies, music, and TV. I asked him, "When's the last time I dragged you to a chick movie?" He couldn't think of anything, until I laughed and said that, ironically, I'm usually the one saying, "Can we please see Die Hard/Terminator/Rambo?" and he's the one who reluctantly agrees. I like westerns, kung fu, and action movies probably a little more than he does.

I got my husband Street Fighter and Return of Street Fighter for Christmas, mostly so I could watch them. I'm a funny girl.

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January 07, 2008

UPDATES

Butterfly Wife updated that she sent out her 696th card to wounded soldiers at Landstuhl. Not too shabby. So I thought I'd give a little update.

To break the monotony of baby knitting, I have thrown in a square or two.

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These 12 will be sent off to Heather for Hand-Crafted Comfort, her organization that assembles afghans for the wounded at Walter Reed. I haven't kept track of how many I've made total, but I am keeping track of certain colors because I am trying to make enough to provide an entire afghan. I've made 35 so far towards my own blanket. And isn't this just the greatest way to make a project: I do the fun stuff and then mail everything to Heather so she can assemble them, sew them together, weave in ends, and cut tails? Awesome. Why can't all my projects be like that?

And someone else mentioned the other day that we haven't had a pupdate in a while.

christmas charlie.jpg

This morning, Charlie had an upset stomach. Apparently he decided the best thing to do was to go all the way downstairs, crawl under the Christmas tree, barf, and then lay down in it. Our dog's a genius.

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January 06, 2008

IT GOES THE OTHER WAY TOO

Kayt sent me a very touching article today: The Blank Space in our Family Album

We just finished watching True Romance, one of my favorite movies of all time. And one of the beginning lines held new meaning for me during this viewing:

I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too."

Here's to hope that it goes the other way too...

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CHANGE

We watched the Democrats debate last night. How tired am I of the phrase "But let me first say..."? They get asked a direct question and given 30 seconds to answer, and they say, "But let me first say..." and go on some tangent and never answer the original question.

There was also a mini-exposé about how Social Security will run out in 2017 and Medicare will run out in 2013, so what do you suggest to do about it as president? All of them answered that the solution to the problem was...change. They are all pro-change. They actively and vociferously support change. Problem is, they never exactly said what it was they planned to change in order to make us stop running out of money. They completely didn't answer the question.

Vodkapundit clowned on 'em in his drunkblogging:

9:00pm Did you know that Hillary has experience? Experience with change? Change that only her experience, her experience with change, can bring about? And that sheÂ’s a woman, a woman bringing change with her experience of womanness? Yeah, me neither.

Roger L. Simon has decided we must ban the word change from English.

The whole exchange was so meaningless that it reminded me of the presidential debate on Futurama:

John Jackson: It's time someone had the courage to stand up and say: I'm against those things that everybody hates.

Jack Johnson: Now, I respect my opponent. I think he's a good man. But quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said.

Are we there yet?

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January 05, 2008

KISS UP

Wyoming held its caucus today. (Did you even know that? I didn't. Iowa stole the show.) Romney got most of the delegates, but this quote from the article rankled me a tad:

"Number one, he campaigned here," delegate Leigh Vosler of Cheyenne said of Romney. "I think that helped while some other candidates ignored us. But also he's the right person for the job."

Am I the only one who thinks that it's sad that people will vote for someone just because he kissed up to them? I have not gotten a single piece of mail, email, or phonecall from any candidate at all, so I based my choice on reading articles and opinion pieces from people I respect and watching the debates. I don't need a candidate to come suck up to me and shake my hand in a diner to make me want to vote for him.

Politics is so fascinating...and so disgusting.

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HOORAY

The SpouseBUZZ knit-along is complete!

danica.jpg

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January 04, 2008

HMMM

Remember when Halle Berry won her Oscar and the media crammed it down our throats that it was a major step for The United Racist States of America? How it was a major milestone for black people? That it somehow proved that we were healing as a nation from Jim Crow?

How come people aren't saying those things about Obama's win last night? Isn't being selected as the top Democrat in a ridiculously white state more groundbreaking than a black actress getting an award from her liberal peers?

I don't get it.

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HOW DELIGHTFULLY ABSURD

A comment my brain goes back to all the time came from Joe Willingham over at Porphyrogenitus:

Somebody needs to do a study of learned (both in the one and two syllable versions of the word) stupidity, as opposed to the natural kind. Liberals today believe things that are remarkably stupid, such as that all people are equally intelligent at birth, or that there is no such thing as intelligence, or it there is then differences in intelligence are socially determined and have nothing to do with heredity. That all differences between the sexes are socially constructed. That social classes are the result of a sort of conspiracy and could be abolished if we voted in the right government. That all "cultures" are equal in value. That the reason the Third World is poor is because of the machinations of the corporations and the US government. That we kinda sorta deserved the attacks on 9-11 because we've hurt the Muslims' feelings with our insensitive attitudes.

Waitresses and truck drivers are smart enough not to believe such patent absurdities. The amazing thing is that the majority of English and social science professors and journalists do believe them.

This quote popped into my head again this morning when I read Amy Alkon's slaughter of a HuffPo post, some piece of crap that says that we are all terrorists deep down.

Only an intellectual could say something so stupid.

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