Saturday, May 24

Our City to the North


Is so much cooler than our town, even their signs are funnier.

My holiday weekend is shaping up to be much less spectacular than I had planned. sigh.
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Wednesday, May 21

addendum

Okay, I need to say for the record that I believe John McCain may be completely batshit crazy.
 
In light of some of the things he's said in the past, I cannot imagine how he'll deal with any of the Asian superpowers. 
 
His wife scares me.
 
I hate many of his more traditional conservative stances.
 
But I think he has more integrity than our current president and I think he believes most of what he says.  I also think that while he's enthusiastic about finishing the war we started, he understands the costs better than the other candidates.  I was against us going into Iraq, but now that we are there, we need to get out honorably and not leave them prey to the forces we should have been fighting in the first place.
 
I've not been convinced by either Hillary or Obama that they aren't just saying what they think we want to hear.
 
 
 
 

Weds. Heroes

Sgt. John F. ThomasSgt. Ronnie L. Shelley
Sgt. John F. Thomas(Right) & Sgt. Ronnie L. Shelley, Sr.(Left)
33 & 34 years old from Valdosta, Georgia
2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade, Georgia Army National Guard
July 24, 2005 & July 30, 2005
Army National Guard

Sgt. Ronnie "Rod" Shelley and Sgt. John F. Thomas became best friends in the Georgia Army National Guard.

They both were ex-Marines, both about the same age, and both enjoyed searching for arrowheads and fishing together. As their friendship grew, Thomas often came over to Shelley’s house for steaks and ribs barbecued by his friend. And when their infantry unit was sent to Iraq in May of 2005, they went to war together.

When their unit was mobilized for combat duty in Iraq, Shelley promised to watch out for Thomas. "Ronnie said, 'Don't you worry, I'll bring him back safely,"' said Thomas' grandfather. But neither Sgt. Thomas or Sgt. Shelley made it back safely. Sgt. Thomas was killed July 24, 2005 by a roadside bomb near Baghdad. And Sgt. Shelley was killed six days later on July 30 by another roadside bomb, also near Baghdad.

Shelley was a family man, married with three children, who was obsessed with having a neat yard, his wife said. "The grass had to be two inches," she said. "If the neighbor mowed the grass, Rod had to mow. He also wanted the biggest, baddest lawn mower."

She said she fell in love with his "gorgeous blue ... eyes," and "he had a laid back attitude. I could not make him mad."

Thomas was married but had no children. His grandparents said he dreamed of becoming a forest ranger. "John wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. Now the only trail he can walk is the trail in heaven," the grandfather said.

Mrs. Thomas, wiping back tears, said the soldier felt responsible for the others in his unit. "He cared for people," she said. "That's why he had so many friends. People cared for him."

Killed alongside Sgt. Shelley were Staff Sgt. David R. Jones Sr., Sgt. 1st Class Victor A. Anderson and Sgt. Jonathon C. Haggin and killed alongside Sgt. Thomas were Army Spc. Jacques E. Brunson, Army Staff Sgt. Carl R. Fuller and Army Sgt. James O. Kinlow.



These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

I am behind on heroes, but not as far behind as our politicians seem to be. It's not just about the men and women whose lives are lost, it's about the people whose lives are irrevocably CHANGED by this monster we've created. Eight lives lost. How many more sent home to an antiquated benefits system that was faulty FORTY YEARS AGO when men came home from Vietnam? Why is there STILL no streamlining for soldiers returning home and being forced to deal with the triplicate wonder that is our governmental bureaucracy?
When the Honey's issues came up, the Lab made us walk to the other side of an auditorium sized room and get in line all over again because Radiology did not write the name of his primary physician on one of his forms. Was it there on the computer? Yes, but it had to be written out by Radiology. I'm a pretty laid back, roll with the punches girl, and I felt my brain fizzing like pop rocks. I can only imagine what the paperwork has got to be like when you are PTSD and asked to PROVE that your missing limb is Uncle Sam's responsibility. What if your injuries are not so obvious? Agent Orange ringing any bells?

The best shot John McCain has to clinch this thing (Good Hell, did I really just type that thought?) is to step up and make the after care of our soldiers a major campaign issue. I would toss aside my liberal leftist politics in a heartbeat if he would just step up for our men and women in uniform.

Jeez, am I just being melodramatic? No, I don't think that I am. I would vote based on one issue. This issue.

Friday, May 16

Has it REALLY been 20 years?

So my 20 year high school reunion is coming up.
 
Honestly?  No desire to go.
 
I was just a social recluse in high school.  I had two or three core friends, and a lot of people I went to high school with. 
 
Some of them I adored, some of them I loathed, but they weren't the people I hung out with-- they were the people I went to school with.  Because I was so cool? um, no.  Because I didn't hang out with anyone but my three friends.
 
My Best Jen just conned me into Facebook.  Which is funny because again, no real crowds in high school, and sadly, no real edjumacation afterwards except for several years meandering through the JC systems of CA.  (Okay, you wanna know?  I wanted to play Scrabulous.  I've played online, but I wanted to play someone I know.)  So imagine my surprise when one of those people I adored showed up on Facebook as someone I might know.
 
I did know him and had wondered about his fate over the years.  What fun to re-connect!
 
 

Wednesday, May 14

It's a party! It's an all you can eat buffet!

Parties are a minefield when you marry into a Mexican family.
 
Okay, Throwing parties is a minefield.
 
We walked into the middle of a discussion about a graduation party for Smart Assed Favorite Niece.   (I love this girl.  She is SHARP.  Laid back.  Into Music.  It's like God threw her into this family just for me.  Don't get me wrong, there are other people that I really enjoy, but she is someone I would have known in high school.)
 
Favorite SIL is stressing over how to throw a graduation party in the middle of her divorce, AND give her older son his proper Birthday affair.     Okay, we'll ignore the fact that the son is twenty and maybe a check would suffice. 
 
The Weddo (the white boy), married to youngest SIL, was urging Favorite SIL to throw down for SAFN because she'll only get this opportunity once to get free money.  He and I agreed that a cake and coffee/punch reception type party could be pulled off relatively cheap.
 
The Honey's family thinks that is the tackiest thing they have ever heard.  If you invite people, you FEED them.  The biggest scandal is running out of food.  There must be an ABUNDANCE of food. 
 
Now this explains why at Big O's Fear Factor party five (gasp! can it really have been that long ago?) years ago, the Honey's sister brought pizzas.  I thought that was pretty ballsy to bring food to someone else's party--now I get it.  The Honey called and asked them to because I had invited his family. 
 
It should be interesting for the Honey's super secret Birthday extravaganza...
 
I am shelling out for admission, and after that they are on their own.  I am leery of blogging about it because I don't THINK he reads the blog, but he certainly knows the address and COULD, and I've worked so hard to keep it a secret.  I am really miserable keeping things from the Honey, because he IS my best friend, and if I can't bitch to HIM about how flaky his friends and family are, and make my usual jokes, I'm stopping short on sentences and choking on things I want to say.  I hate keeping secrets.
 
So what about YOU?  Is this just a Mexican thing that cake and punch is unacceptable?    We're not talking inviting people you see once every three years for a wedding, we're talking a friendly high school graduation get together. 

Friday, May 9

All is Well....

We are re-edjumacating ourselves on eating and drinking.

My research, however, is hampered byt the fact that my DSL is out. My sweet sweet DSL is just gone, and now I have NO DAMNED INTERNET. And no time to call them.

No blogs-- no ability to look into the whole diabetes thing from the comfort of my own home, no ability to look up diabetes friendly recipes on the fly.

So thank you for your kind words, my friends, I am not ignoring you. I just can't see you.

Friday, May 2

Crazy eye

So we've had us a little scare at casa de Honey-Factor.
 
The Honey's eyelid started drooping Monday night, and things didn't look quite right.  He was actually going to go to the doctor on Tuesday, but someone else called in sick, and once he was off work, he was NOT going to sit at Kaiser for hours.  I was not happy, but told him he was going Wednesday or I was ratting him out to his mother and each of his four sisters. 
 
He admitted once he got to Kaiser on Wednesday that he was seeing double.  Turns out he'd had a teeny stroke in his third optic nerve. 
 
 
This man is SOOOO resistant to health care (Mainly because he has so very much going on).  So while I am horrified that this has happened to him, and we spent a hell of a lot of time at kaiser the last two days, I am kinda relieved that it happened on such a manageable scale.  Because now we've confirmed that yep, he's a diabetic, too.  He has never gone to the doctor in the last seven years I've known him.  So he's never had his heart meds adjusted or re-evaluated.  He's a fan of the suds.  He's got the round beer belly to prove it.  This visit to the doctor was soooo overdue. 
 
It's a good news/bad news thing.  But I'm looking at it as an opportunity to keep him around to walk his daughter down the aisle. 
 
He says I am meaner to him that Gabrielle is to Carlos on Desperate Housewives--and Carlos is completely blind! 
I tell him I'm going to walk on his left side now so he won't see the blows coming.  ;)