I thought John Kerry's "Service for College" program was pretty silly. I thought John Edwards' "Get Ahead Accounts" were stepping over the line. But Hillary Clinton's Throwing Money Around Like We Can Just Print More plan is really infuriating.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 "baby bond" from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

Clinton, her party's front-runner in the 2008 race, made the suggestion during a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.

Obviously it would be irresponsible to suggest this to voters before she's had a chance to sit down and crunch the numbers, right?

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Oh. She's just speaking out of her ass then.

Clinton said such an account program would help people get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.

One way of building a stronger economy, she said, is "more savings, starting with the so-called baby bonds idea where every person born in this country would be given that kind of account because we want to make an investment in America's young people."

The savings you remember as a child? Yeah, your parents did that. Not the government. Your parents made do without new SUVs and plasma TVs until they had a plan for their children's future. My parents put aside a little bit of money for us to have when we grew up -- heck, not nearly as much as Clinton suggests the government should give -- and never touched it, even when they desperately could've used it. They sacrificed so their children could have a good start as adults. All Hillary's crappy plan would do is prevent parents from doing any saving for their kids because the government would just do it for them. Why forego that ATV for the kids when the government's got their future covered?

There's nothin' like a Democrat plan to keep people hooked on government.

But there's really no point in getting worked up over this. Just like all those other stupid plans, this one will disappear. It just really irks me that she brings this up in public to get votes, knowing full well it will never happen.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:34 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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I've been following the Hollywood debate articles between Ehrenstein and Breitbart. Breitbart's last hurrah:

I would argue the entertainment industry does matter — because it is the way we send out the message to the world that we take our freedoms seriously. And with freedom comes deep responsibility and I don't think Hollywood quite gets that.

[Boos]

For one it's our second largest export behind aero-space. Surely if China has a responsibility not to send us toxic toys, we have a responsibility not to send them toxic entertainment.

Heh. Indeed.

When I read Ehrenstein's submission on Day 2, I had to read the beginning twice, and then out loud to my husband, just to make sure I was actually seeing straight.

A fortiori I'm not so sure about the "love my country" bit as I'm markedly disenchanted with the entire concept of all nation-states. Move an inch beyond language and culture and their meaning and purpose almost invariably mirrors that of the Crips and the Bloods.

I don't know how you can debate any details of our national image with someone who doesn't believe there should even be countries. This goes back to the idea of common ground. Lileks, in one of those Bleats I return to often:

My point? Simple: we live in an era of non-contiguous information streams. I believe one thing; someone else believes another – and the bedrock assumptions are utterly contradictory. This is what drives me nuts about discussing current events with some people. It’s like discussing the Apollo program with people who think it was all faked, or discussing archeology with those who believe the world is six thousand years old. I think the Iraq Campaign was part of a broad war against Islamicist fascism and the states that enable it; others think it’s all about oil and Halliburton jerking the strings of a Jeebus puppet. No. Middle. Ground.

We can debate Hollywood's message and we can debate whether she projects a favorable image of the US around the world, but if we can't even agree on the validity of the concept of the nation-state, well, what's the point of debating anything after that?

Posted by: Sarah at 03:44 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So here's something that happened over the weekend.

A man was in custody Sunday after police said he ripped the head off a tame duck that lived in a hotel lobbyÂ’s ornamental pond.

Scott D. Clark, a guest at the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Paul, cornered the duck early Saturday morning, grabbed the bird and ripped its head from its body while a hotel security guard and others watched, police said.

And let's look at the conclusion the article gives us.

If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, said Tim Shields, general counsel with the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies. Shields said the incident was “unconscionable,” and that having live ducks in a hotel lobby puts them at risk of being stepped on or run over by suitcases.

“I think Embassy Suites needs to take another look at this and review how they keep ducks safe, or use fish like most hotels would use,” Shields said.

So it's the hotel's fault for keeping ducks in the first place. They should've protected their ducks from every sort of harm that could possibly befall them, including having their heads ripped off. Oh, I get it, it was a failure of imagination.

What is wrong with our priorities when we feel blame has to be shared between the psycho and the hotel?

Posted by: Sarah at 02:41 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A certain Silver Star recipient former tanker Indian type is in the car headed our direction. It's been two years since we've seen him, so it should be a good day. Too cool.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My husband and I had a roaring good laugh at this article on Drudge: Singles will check out eligible candidates at Obama rally. It's not really that funny -- if I were single, I too would rather meet someone at a political rally than a bar -- but some of the quotes were just hilarious.

Even the invite for the event reads like a singles bash:

"Hope hits the Big Apple! Join us at Jay-Z's 4-0/40 Club on Thursday as we ride the winds of change from the hottest rally in New York. Move to the music, socialize with friends, and let your voice be heard as we celebrate with audacity."

Lindsay Schaeffer, 25, may even skip the rally for the nighttime bash.

That cracks me up. Why would someone waste time on the silly politics when she can just skip ahead for the hook-up scene? I want to date an Obama supporter, without all that pesky Obama stuff killing my buzz.

One ardent Obama supporter (who declined to give his name because he works in politics) says he'll attend both the rally and the after-party, and he doesn't expect to be going home alone.

He's confident for a reason.

"Let's face it: Leftie girls are easy," he says.

Bwahahaha. Nice.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Lorie Byrd invited me and other local bloggers to a gubernatorial campaign event for Fred Smith. We bloggers got free admission to this fundraiser and were treated like bigwigs. In fact, real bigwigs were locked out of Senator Smith's home while he talked to us bloggers. It was a real treat.

By now you know that I usually feel like a kid at the grown-ups' table when it comes to these blog events. I'm just happy to be taken seriously at all, especially since my blog has basically devolved into talking about knitted octopi and...um...other uninteresting crap. I like using my blog to talk about my opinions and values as much as the next person, but I am not so in touch with the actual implementation of policy, especially at the local level. I am rather a dunce at that sort of thing. Plus, with moving around every year or so, I've never really participated in local politics. So Wednesday when I was surrounded by bloggers asking Sen. Smith good questions about his campaign, I sure felt like I didn't belong. But I did what I think one should do in such situations: shut the hell up and let the smart people talk.

After I listened to Sen. Smith talk about his ideas and experience, my mind couldn't help but wander to what a strange thing politics is. I have never met a politician before, so I couldn't help but analyze the situation. Sen. Smith probably can't ever just have a normal conversation with people. He must constantly expect questions about policies and projects. He has to carefully think about every single thing he says. I can look like an inexperienced jackass in his home, but he sure can't. The whole idea seems so weird to me. He's supposed to be prepared and infallible, seven days a week.

And yet, he doesn't have that Bill Clinton vibe. That's what I normally think of when I imagine the archetypical politician, the selling-ice-to-an-Eskimo type of guy. Fred Smith didn't have a toothy grin and a golly-shucks attitude. I personally thought he was intimidating. I didn't feel at ease on that sofa in his living room, and I wondered why I was feeling so stupid sitting there. And then I remembered something: I usually feel stupid in the company of great men.

Likeability is a big factor in politics. As I sat there with Fred Smith, I realized it shouldn't be. Whether or not you like someone has no bearing on how effective he'd be as governor. He doesn't have to be dripping with honey if his ideas are sound. It's better to have a no-nonsense man in charge than a used car salesman type. I'd rather have him have a plan for the state than be able to effectively kiss a baby. And most of his ideas and the vision he lays out on his website seem pretty sound. I like his stuff. I like that he said that the government should be "good stewards of my money." I like that he said he wants to run for office as a businessman, as if he's marketing a product. More things in government should be run like a business, in my opinion, where results count more than intentions do.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about Fred Smith.

Sen. Smith's guest of honor for the evening was Lee Greenwood. I got to meet him and talk to him a little about my husband's service. (More evidence that people still think I'm a teenager: when he heard I was a military family, Lee Greenwood asked me how long my father has been in.) I got to tell him about how we wanted to perform a rendition of his "God Bless the USA" in a talent show when I studied in France but the school wouldn't let us because they said it was jingoistic. Stupid France. Mr. Greenwood was super nice in person and a lot of fun in the concert he gave after the meet and greet. He even made a mention of my husband and me during his concert, which was such a nice thing to do. When he says he supports the troops, he darn sure means it.

It was so nice to be invited to this campaign event. I'm always excited to be surrounded by fellow right-wingers! And I think it's really cool that Sen. Smith reached out to bloggers and gave us the royal treatment. I look forward to following his campaign.

More recaps of the night from the other bloggers:
Inner Banks Eagle covers the Blogger Conference, the reception in Fred Smith's home (complete with photo of me and Mrs. Smith!) and the Lee Greenwood concert
Red Clay Citizen
Spinning the World in the Right Direction
Election Projection

Posted by: Sarah at 04:32 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 What you said here was SO true, Sarah, and something I think we keep forgetting: "I didn't feel at ease on that sofa in his living room, and I wondered why I was feeling so stupid sitting there. And then I remembered something: I usually feel stupid in the company of great men. Likeability is a big factor in politics. As I sat there with Fred Smith, I realized it shouldn't be." This is not a popularity contest - or at least, it shouldn't be. At the same time, though, for myself I would pay attention to feelings of not liking a candidate, if only to figure out why. The answer to THAT question can be painfully enlightening, as well. . . . So cool you got the chance to sit in on something like that - I certainly appreciate the - for me - important insight. I think I'm going to remember that.

Posted by: prophet at September 28, 2007 04:59 AM (Yagmr)

2 It really had nothing to do with Fred Smith why I felt uncomfortable. I was unprepared to really delve into policy questions. And he was in Politician Mode, ready to answer tough questions from bloggers just like he does from other media. Later when he was just mingling and talking to folks, he seemed nice and approachable. But really, so what if he's not. You don't have to be approachable to have the right answers.

Posted by: Sarah at September 28, 2007 07:01 AM (TWet1)

3 "You don't have to be approachable to have the right answers." True. But approachability helps to propagate the right answer. And unfortunately, some people equate what they perceive as "aloofness" with "not having anything worth sharing" (i.e., not having the right answer). (None of this is a comment on Fred Smith, about whom I know nothing.)

Posted by: Amritas at September 28, 2007 09:35 AM (+nV09)

4 I was at the blogger conference both this year and last and Sarah is right about Fred being all business when taking questions from the media and talking about policy. I was a little intimidated myself last year when listening to some of the other bloggers asking questions about local politics, which I did not follow closely then. She is also right about him being friendly and approachable when not in that press conference setting though. I would encourage anyone in NC to go to one of his BBQs when he gets to your county. He does not leave until he has spoken to everyone who wants to talk to him (which is typically everyone in attendance) and signed every book. Both in the book and from county to county in what will amount to over 100 BBQs, he is putting himself out there and inviting people to decide whether or not he is what they want in a governor. Everyone I have talked to has liked what they have seen.

Posted by: Lorie at September 28, 2007 01:38 PM (RkBJk)

5 I guess the part I find interesting is just how important we feel the approachability - 'likeability' - quotient is in our elected officials. It's a delicate balance, isn't it? On the one hand, our elected representative ought to be approachable by us - the electers. But on another level, he ought not to be concerned with popularity polls or with trying to curry public favor, because pubic "opinion" is as changeable as the wind. Abraham Lincoln comes to mind: he was eminently approachable, yet unswerving as straight steel. The fact of the matter is that the President of the United States will likely not be our close personal friend. It's a physical - and real - impossibility to be close friends with every American citizen. Anything that leads us to believe he is - or will be - our "friend" is show-bis. (and if I try to spell that with a zee, it rejects this comment for "questionable content"?) Anyway: Why do we ask that of our prospective President?

Posted by: prophet at September 30, 2007 07:42 AM (Yagmr)

6 prophet, "he ought not to be concerned with popularity polls or with trying to curry public favor" I agree. I would add another reason: Popularity has no inherent value. The majority can be right or wrong. A leader is supposed to do what's right. (Yes, I realize that the definition of 'right' is up for grabs ...) "unswerving as straight steel" I also see this quality as lacking inherent value. Being unswerving is not a virtue if you insist on driving straight off a cliff. I see the ideal leader as adaptable, which isn't the same as wishy-washy. Why do we demand 'likability' from our leaders? Good question. I think it's because we've evolved to deal with people on a personal level. Until very recently in human history (i.e., the last few millennia), there was no concept of VIPs far, far away from you. In caveman times, the chief of your tribe was somebody you saw every day. Until *extremely* recently, distant VIPs were just vague notions in people's heads. The only people anyone ever saw were the people in their immediate village. The king was Some Guy Far, Far Away. People probably never even saw a painting of the guy. There were no newspapers, no photography, no video, no YouTube. But now the mass media allow us to indulge in the illusion of 'knowing' people. Although the celebs have no idea we exist, we not only know that they exist, but can see and hear every detail of their public lives (and receive reports alleging what they do in private). We're wired to react to people we 'know', and we feel we 'know' those strangers. And we want these 'familiar' strangers to be 'likable'.

Posted by: Amritas at September 30, 2007 07:31 PM (02w/M)

7 Granted, Amritas, foolish inflexibility in the name of integrity would not be a virtue to aspire to. And I don't think you implied that I did. . . It's funny though, because I think that we are VERY FAR indeed away from the danger of foolishly sticking to a course of action. If we are in danger of heading off a cliff, it may very well be because we DON'T stick to anything! We don't do anything long enough to see what good it does. We are swayed from one extreme to the other, at the whiff of the slightest change in "public opinion". C.S. Lewis put it well in Screwtape Letters The use of Fashions in thought is to distract the attention of men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is least in danger and fix its approval on the virtue nearest to that vice which we are trying to make endemic. The game is to have them all runing about with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under. Thus we make it fashionable to expose the dangers of enthusiam at the very moment when they are all really becoming worldly and lukewarm [and, I might add: we descry the folly of stubborn persistence on a dangerous path at the very moment when there IS no safe path and the only safety to be had - if any - is by all sticking together, heading in the same direction.] We're like a bunch of foolish chickens, running about aimlessly. Perhaps "unswerving straight steel" may indeed be seen as a virtue if we're talking about tracks to run on. It is not so good an image if we're talking about how we conduct our relationships. I think that what I was trying to convey was a sense of personal integrity - something that holds and does not change at a whim - even as it takes people and circumstances into account. I guess it's the old 'ends' versus 'means' debate, eh?

Posted by: prophet at October 01, 2007 08:56 AM (Yagmr)

8 Sarah, it's very cool that you were invited to this event. Yay for you! Who knows where this will next lead you? You've been in a book, you've attended a getting-to-know-you event, what's next? Lovely picture of you, by the way Kate

Posted by: Kate at October 01, 2007 11:49 AM (tB/4l)

9 prophet, No argument from me at all. It looks like we want the same things from our leaders. I was using the term "wishy-washy" to refer to what you were criticizing in your most recent post: fluctuating by following fashion. Of course, the point at which changing one's mind becomes "adaptable" (what you describe as "people and circumstances into account") as opposed to "wishy-washy" (what you describe as "running about aimlessly") is open to debate. Everyone wants "integrity" but not everyone *perceives* "integrity" in the same person. Suppose I change my mind about issue X: my view is now A instead of B. And it turns out that 51% of the public believe in B instead of A. If you are my ally, you will say that I mean it when I claim I considered the evidence and came to the right conclusion. If you are my foe, you will brand me as an appeaser - a panderer. Without more details, what conclusion can you rightfully draw from the correlation between my new view and the public view? None, I'd say. These beliefs about me say more about others' tribal loyalties than they say about my integrity. But add context. Suppose it turns out I have a long history of jumping on bandwagons. Then a pattern becomes clear: I'm a follower, not a leader. Followers are dangerous, because reality is not a democracy. If the majority believes something that is not true, or that is outright dangerous, and a 'leader' follows this just to get votes, that person not only has no integrity, but is also doing the public a disservice. If everyone in a theater believes the theater isn't on fire, and a 'leader' goes along with this instead of shouting, "Let's get outta here!" he's won the election, but he'll 'lead' his constituents to their deaths.

Posted by: Amritas at October 01, 2007 05:25 PM (02w/M)

10 "reality is not a democracy." By this I meant to say that majority belief does not make something true. A leader should pursue truth and convince others to join him in that pursuit.

Posted by: Amritas at October 01, 2007 05:28 PM (02w/M)

11 Clarification #2 (sorry, Sarah): "If everyone in a theater believes the theater isn't on fire, and a 'leader' goes along with this instead of shouting, 'Let's get outta here!' he's won the election, but he'll 'lead' his constituents to their deaths." This should read, "If everyone in a burning theater believes the theater isn't on fire ..."

Posted by: Amritas at October 01, 2007 05:30 PM (02w/M)

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You have to check out this seagull thief.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:58 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 My cat steals things like that. It is too funny.

Posted by: Amanda at September 28, 2007 08:32 AM (W5vfU)

2 Heh! Must pass this along. Very amusing. )

Posted by: Lemon Stand at September 30, 2007 02:51 AM (+xzkz)

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John Hawkins posts that Katie Couric is still blaming her failure on the fact that the world can't handle her being a woman. Puh-lease.

Look, you can't have it both ways. You can't say that the country is progressive enough to hire you for the biggest news job ever but not progressive enough to watch you do it. CBS is in it to make money, and Hawkins is right: they wouldn't have hired you if they thought you couldn't pull in ratings. They were wrong. But it's not because they're sexist.

God, that's what I hate about women. They want to be thought of as completely equal, able to do any job that men can and bristling when anyone even suggests they can't. And then when they fail, they say it's because they're a woman and it's different. Either it's different or it's not. It can't be that you are just as good as a man when you're successful and then held back by your gender when you fail.

Male anchormen have come and gone, and none of them get to whine that they failed because they were men. Stop blaming your problems on the viewing audience. And stop viewing everything in the entire world through the lens of your gender. No one cares that you have a vagina; they only care that they don't like to watch you reading the news.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:57 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Jay Tea wins quote of the day:

People who rejoice in their tax refunds are fools for thinking that "the government gave me money" instead of "the government borrowed all this money from me, then returned it with no interest."

Read the whole post.

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Why do I hate the beach, you ask. Well, it combines three things I hate independently: water, sand, and sun. I like to look at the beach, and an hour there would be nice, but after several hours I was ready to get the heck out. I'd rather spend time in a salvage yard. And I just really hate the feeling of baking in the sun. You could put a chicken breast in the oven at 100 degrees, and in a couple of hours it'd be cooked. That's what you're doing to your skin, people! The thought of it entirely creeps me out; I feel myself baking like a chicken in the oven. Gives me the willies.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:09 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I got up at 0300 on Wednesday and left the house late. So I sped the hour and a half to the airport, and by "sped" I mean "drove three miles over the speed limit." I was so freaked out that I would miss my plane, but I'm even more scared of getting a ticket.

I made it in time.

On my second flight, some girl in front of me tattled to the stewardess that she didn't like the way I stowed my bag in the overhead compartment. Instead of asking me to shuffle some stuff around, she went and told on me. So they made me check my bag through. So silly.

I crocheted the entire way to Honolulu, much to the hilarity of my rowmates. They looked at me like I was the biggest dork ever, but I got six more squares made for charity. I crocheted for six hours straight.

Honolulu made me laugh. The entire place looks like a joke, like someone set up a movie set for me to walk through. It's so Hawaii that it looks absurd. Also I love that these are the restroom signs:

Both my bag and I made it to Kauai, where CaliValleyGirl picked me up and took me around to meet people until I couldn't keep my eyes open. The next morning, I awoke to what can only be described as screams from zombie victims. I later learned it was roosters. I have never heard such a sound in my life. That island is filled with roosters, gangs of them roaming the streets and howling at 0430 every morning. Unreal. Roosters are to Kauai what squirrels are to normal cities.

Thursday was the rehearsal and dinner. We did the shopping for food and booze in the morning; I had never seen $1200 worth of groceries before! I put together shish kebabs while CaliValleyGirl and company were at the church. We crashed after a fun night and I promised not to keep her awake. Because really, the best part of the trip was that Cali let me share a room with her while I was there. I was the last person to share a bed with single Cali. It was like giving her away! I thought that was a pretty good honor, and I told anyone who would listen. They probably all think I'm a lesbian now.

Friday was wedding day. While the wedding party was getting hair and makeup done, a nice German boy escorted me around the island so I could actually get some photos of Hawaii.

I returned to the house to do one more chore before the wedding: refill the lighter fluid in the tiki torches around the reception tent. Yeah, the problem is that used tiki torches are covered in soot. Thirty minutes before the wedding, I was black up to my elbows. I looked like a car mechanic the whole rest of the day.

I made it to the wedding ceremony only to sit behind the tallest guest in the joint. I barely saw anything of the ceremony, but I was so glad to snap this photo as the happy couple made their way to the limo.

We went back to the reception tent, where Cali's good decorating taste really shined through:

Another huge thrill was that I got to sit at the head table! Imaginary friend, my butt; I rated tip top! Too cool. Dinner was delicious, the entertainment was awesome -- I learned I really, really like traditional Hawaiian music -- and the evening passed into night. Everyone became really surprised that Sarah can actually dance. We lingering few put the happy couple in the limo again and went to crash.

Saturday I spent my last day in Hawaii at the beach. I don't care how beautiful it is, I still hate the beach. I can't stand it. But luckily neither can one of Cali's cousins, so he and I sat and chatted while I knitted. I took a lot of crap for sitting under a tree in Hawaii knitting, but I coined a new saying: "I'd rather go home with a sock than a sunburn." After the beach, I said my goodbyes and made my way to the airport for my 2340 red-eye flight.

The way home was uneventful, save the incident at dinner. I bought a hamburger and fries at some airport fast food place, and a pilot in line behind me bought two burgers and fries. The cooks called his number first, so he took the bag and offered me a fry while I waited. He munched on some fries and then started digging in the bag and realized there was only one burger in there. Um, oops. The dumb cooks had handed him my order. So this pilot, who was super nice and really not to blame, manhandled my burger and fries...and the cooks said, "Oh, sir, we're so sorry for the mix-up." They apologized to him! I couldn't decide if I was really ticked off or just too awestruck by the gall of it to be mad.

My last flight was two hours late in taking off, which is never fun at the end of a 22-hour journey. But I made it home in one piece and slept in late with no roosters to disturb me.

Hawaii was lovely. I didn't think I'd care one way or the other, but I did think it was beautiful. However, now that I'm home, I'm back to thinking that the grass is greener in my own backyard.

And we don't even have grass. Just weeds and dirt.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:58 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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I know some of you are anxiously waiting for a long post on Hawaii, but I just haven't found the time yet. I have had knitting classes and trips to the grocery store and toilets to clean and my little brother passing through town tonight. And tomorrow I will be gone all day too, which will be a future blog post. I just wanted to let you know why you're still waiting.

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More later...

Posted by: Sarah at 06:15 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Beautiful photo! It sums up why I miss Hawaii! (Of course, not all of Hawaii looks like that, but so much does!)

Posted by: Amritas at September 24, 2007 08:22 AM (+nV09)

2 The photo was so impressive that I forgot to welcome you back. So ... welcome back! Sorry! Must remember ... people are more important than scenery.

Posted by: Amritas at September 24, 2007 08:23 AM (+nV09)

3 OOOOO pretty... can't wait to hear (and see) more!

Posted by: green at September 24, 2007 08:50 AM (VqW06)

4 Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip!

Posted by: Lane at September 24, 2007 04:12 PM (qJZP0)

5 Welcome back. We missed you.

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at September 24, 2007 04:49 PM (18CO/)

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I had really forgotten how nervewracking one's own wedding is.

CaliValleyGirl and fiance are hanging in there, both a tad frazzled about the whole event tomorrow. Most of their friends here are single, so I don't quite think anyone understands why they're so stressed. But I remember it well: wanting to puke for two days and feeling like nothing was going to get done on time. But it all magically does.

Hawaii is beautiful. But I sure didn't expect to wake up to a cacophony of roosters this morning. So odd.

More later...

Posted by: Sarah at 04:17 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Give her a hug from me. Tell her it will all be perfect! *grin*

Posted by: Teresa at September 20, 2007 06:02 PM (rVIv9)

2 Oh the wedding stress.....I remember it well...well it was a blur and a really long time ago, but nonetheless it was just as you describe...wish the couple good luck from the East Coast and many years of Happiness!!!! Enjoy your HI time....I'm envious, you live in Germany, which I so so miss....and now you are in my other favorite part of the world..... Sarah, can I be you when I grow up??? Please? ~ASW

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at September 21, 2007 04:32 AM (M7kiy)

3 Sarah, Where did you end up staying? I would rather wake up to the cooing of the doves instead of roosters. Don't forget to squeeze in the Diamondhead hike if you have the time. Also sunrise at Makapuu beach and sunset at Ala Moana beach. I was going to suggest Makaha beach but too many locals there dislike haole's.

Posted by: R1 at September 21, 2007 05:47 AM (b8byF)

4 The stress from my wedding never ended.

Posted by: Green at September 21, 2007 09:29 AM (VqW06)

5 took us awhile after first being stationed in hawaii to get accoustomed to the roosters, but soon they blended. loved our 3 years there and would love to get back! enjoy your time!

Posted by: Mel at September 23, 2007 09:26 PM (ZHI1a)

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My neighbor told me that all she had to do to finally get pregnant was take a nice, relaxing trip to Hawaii.

Plane ticket to awe-inspiring places like this? Check.
Romantic weekend of nuptials? Check.
Husband? Oh wait, crap.

Somehow I don't think this is going to work out for me...

Anyway, I'll be gone for a while, but I'll return with stories and photos and tales of changing planes four times in one day.

And here's a little tidbit for people in the travel-size industry: Will you please consider making products that one can actually take on an airplane? It's been over a year, so you'd think the market would've dictated 1.7 oz bottles. But no. Apparently I don't get to take contact solution or sunscreen to Hawaii. Thanks a ton. Big pointy metal knitting needles are fine, but not my sunscreen.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:26 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Rachel Lucas rips Sally Field a new one.
Breathtaking.
Via Oda Mae, who always finds the good stuff.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:16 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I've been working on some new preemie hats for next month...

Posted by: Sarah at 04:06 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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You know how you're supposed to back up your files in case something ever happens to your computer? I have always been pretty good about this. A few years ago when we had to wipe out the desktop and start over, I burned everything to CDs. We didn't lose anything. But a few weeks ago, my mom asked me about a paper I wrote in college. I went to my back-up CDs to get the paper.

What happens when your back-up CD turns up broken?

I have no idea how this happened. It broke from the center hole outward, three inch-long cracks. And it was in a jewel case too. I just have no idea how it could've broken like that.

Everything's gone. All the papers I wrote in college and grad school. The poem I wrote that won a national contest. The 40,000 word journal I kept from my year in France. And probably many other things that I will gradually come to remember and mourn.

Is there any way to save data from a cracked CD? I doubt it, but some of you are more computer savvy than I.

Sniff.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:13 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I'm really sorry to hear this, Sarah. Most of my diary is still on paper back in Hawaii. If my house there ever burns down ... oh well, at least I'll still have my memories. (And that's *all* I have of the years before 1993, before I started writing a diary.) When I shudder at imagining such a loss, I try to comfort myself by saying, it's the act of creation that's more important than retaining the creation, and I can still create. Losing the ability to write would be a far bigger blow. Since I got a CD burner in 1996 I've always made at least two copies of everything, and for the most critical files (e.g., my diary) I have many copies. When my hard drive died after only one year of use in 1997, my policy paid off - I got a new, bigger hard drive and moved everything onto it. A couple of years ago, I started transferring my CD-ROMs to DVD. So far almost none of my CD-ROMs have gone bad, with the exception of one or two CD-RWs. Fortunately, all key files survived on other disks, and nothing important was lost. I know one guy who has an external drive backing up everything in real time (?). Turned out to be a lifesaver for him after a computer crash. I should do the same thing. Maybe I'll get myself such a drive when I buy a new laptop at the end of this year. Backups are a big issue for me because I'm constantly changing computers. My laptops wear out very quickly. If I'm not asleep, I'm using a computer - both at home and at work. One more thing - be careful when selecting CDs and DVDs for backups. Lots of good advice here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/ I can verify its DVD ratings from experience. It's really hard to find reliable DVDs.

Posted by: Amritas at September 17, 2007 04:28 AM (02w/M)

2 It may have cracked during your last move - changes in temperature that kind of thing. There are many ways it can happen. I don't know what the price might be - but there are data recovery specialists out there. This is one that I've found by searching... http://www.datarecoveryspecialist.com/ you may want to try googling up a few more. I chose this one as they seem to work with personal data as opposed to business data. You could also check your area for computer businesses and call them they may have leads in the area. But for now, until you find you absolutely can not get it back... don't thow out the disk! Also, for really important stuff - it needs double backups - two different sources stored in 2 different places. That's about the best you can do to keep your data from being lost. There are even free online backup places that let you back up your data and they store it (encrypted sites only please) for you. So then you have the CD and the online backup... not to say they can't both fail - but there's less chance of total loss.

Posted by: Teresa at September 17, 2007 06:59 AM (rVIv9)

3 Thanks to Teresa for pointing out data recovery services exist. Many of Sarah's readers could benefit from this information. Here's a tip I recently learned that I left out: don't write on CDs and DVDs: /cs/docs/leaflets/g81/#heading6 (at cam dot ac dot uk; mu.nu won't let me post the URL) "Don't write on CDs or DVDs, even with a soft marker pen as the ink damages the surface. Use a CD label instead and write on it before affixing it to CD." Even labels make me uneasy. Stickers don't necessarily stick forever, and I'd hate to have a peeling sticker impede disc playback. I store my discs in jewel cases with paper labels that I handwrote or printed using my computer.

Posted by: Amritas at September 17, 2007 07:56 AM (+nV09)

4 Sarah, I'm not a computer person, but found this site through a search and thought I'd pass it on for what you might find here to use. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&hs=SDm&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=isobuster&spell=1 Rosie

Posted by: Rosie at September 17, 2007 04:19 PM (6Mz/s)

5 Sarah, I am so sorry to hear this.....ugh...I have lost so much in the past off my computers...I feel for you with the loss of your backup. I have recently backed up my POS laptop, by the way I hate Dell products.....sorry off topic there.... And of course none of this will help you with your current issue....so {{{hugs}}} on that but here is what I do now.... I also recently bought a 250 gig external backup harddrive (no I have not used it yet....I have good ideas, bad implementation) but the last time our desktop had it's major issues, I had a computer guy (friend of my husband's) make two copies of that hard drive on CD's and then a DVD of it as well...they are in cases and are labeled with sharpie permanent markers...and kept in our safe.....as are all of our back ups. Also when I upload new photos to our computer I move the old ones after I back them up to a folder in the computer itself that says they have been backed up so I know what I have to burn....this will all become much easier once I begin to back them up. I also have now begun to upload all my favorite ones to a photobucket account and I use box.net for important documents.....that way if I do not have my computer with me and I need to access any of them I can from where ever I am.....not to mention, if I lose them, much like your paper, I will not really have lost them, they are online.... Of course, I do need to remember the darn passwords.... Okay, now I really need to get busy using that backup hard drive....cause this laptop will be lucky to survive another crash, it may end up in the back yard!!!

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at September 18, 2007 06:57 AM (M7kiy)

6 One of my teachers said she backs everything up on a thumb drive. hat way she has it wih her at all times and can pull up anything she needs right now.

Posted by: Reasa at September 18, 2007 12:02 PM (JfF5d)

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I just really loved this article: Soldier Loses 160 Pounds in Order to Meet Weight Requirement

Especially this part:

Pfc. Trippany's father, an infantryman with 24 years of active-duty service, had a solution. She moved back home, started a special diet and began her body transformation.

"I did Jenny Craig for the diet and then for exercise I would walk four miles per day. My dad wanted me to keep a 3.6 mile-per-hour pace in order to keep my cardio up, so every day, for 17 months, my dad drove behind me in his truck while I walked," said Pfc. Trippany.

"My dad even moved the family refrigerator out to the garage and bought another refrigerator for the food I was allowed to eat and put that one in the kitchen. There was no way for me to sneak food as the family fridge had a key lock on it and I didn't have the code. So, I was really on lockdown."

I think that parents often need to let their adult children face their own challenges and tackle their own demons. The helicopter parent phenomenon is a little creepy. But I love the fact that, once she came to her father for help, he took her seriously and really helped her. He spent money for a new fridge and countless hours trailing her in the car because he loves her and wanted to help her reach her goal. She said she wanted to lose the weight, and dad busted her butt to help her do it.

I just think that's really good teamwork.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:05 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I started thinking about forgiveness the other day when I was in Blockbuster and happened to walk by a movie called Forgiving Dr. Mengele. It's about an Auschwitz survivor who learns to forgive the Nazis for the genetic experiments they did on her. Ouch.

And I come back to forgiveness today with this headline: Amish donate cash to school gunmanÂ’s widow

I'm thinking about the virtue of forgiveness. I would imagine that, in those circumstances, one might feel the need to forgive in order to move on. But as an outsider, I don't really forgive any of those bastards.

But no one's ever accused me of being nice.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:11 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I wonder how many of those who donated now wish they hadn't. Frankly, I'd be pissed.

Posted by: tim at September 14, 2007 04:59 AM (nno0f)

2 Everyday I get at least 3 or 4 hits looking for an update on the Amish School Shooting. This donation does not surprise me one bit. It's who they are. That "man" was a part of their community. An "English", but a part non the less. They will NOT allow his family to suffer for his deeds. It is not their way. No, I'm not surprised to read this at all. But I'll tell you, even having been a part of that "culture" I don't have that kind of forgiveness in me. It's not in my personal make-up.......

Posted by: Tammi at September 14, 2007 05:35 AM (eAXdf)

3 Guess I'm not a nice enough person. Not when it's something like forgiving Mengele. The widow of the school shooter - I don't know what to think of her. She didn't do it, I don't know that she could have stopped it unless he told her what he was going to do. Yet she gets to live with what he did for the rest of her life. If she was as taken by surprise as the rest of the country - I feel very sorry for her. If she knew about it and had a chance to stop it yet didn't do anything - she's worse than he is. It's the not knowing that puts me in a quandary about her.

Posted by: Teresa at September 14, 2007 06:02 AM (rVIv9)

4 I don't mean my post to make it sound like I'm blaming the widow. She wasn't one of the "bastards" I meant I do feel sorry for her, and I don't mind that donated money goes to help her...actually, less than I mind that donated money went to Kathy Trant.

Posted by: Sarah at September 14, 2007 08:55 AM (TWet1)

5 I wish I could say that I could give that kind of forgiveness but I don't think it is in me either.

Posted by: Lemon Stand at September 14, 2007 02:51 PM (JROsA)

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