"NO SOCIALISM" write it on your car and drive around.

I was typing just now and I somehow hit a key and it erased all of my words. Weird. Anyway, I'll rewrite it. I was driving home the other day and this truck was in front of me and really big vinyl lettering on the back cab window said: "NO SOCIALISM!" Really crazy. I was like what the fuck? Idiot! Ok, we get it, you don't want socialism but do you need to put 1ft letters spelling it out on the back of your truck window? No, I don't think you do.
Socialism is like a bad word... is it the same as communism? I don't friggin' know, I don't know a damn thing about communism, socialism or alcoholism... oh wait, I do know about alcoholism. All I know is that helping people is important. If universal health care is considered socialism then fuck it. Seems like anything this president attempts to do is looked at like he's a communist, Nazi, or just a dumb shit that is screwing everything up. It's astounding to me after having one fucking dumb ass in office for so long that screwed us over so badly these right wing dicks are doing anything they can to call Obama wrong and bad for this country. It just pushes me right back into loving my country and loving being a democrat. I will love it when health care passes and when the economy starts getting back to what it used to be before Bush was in office. This guy has a lot of work to do and we all know it's not going to happen overnight but I'm going to continue to support him and I know, anything he does is better than what Bush did. He's headed in the right direction and hopefully, people will start paying attention. Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity can't stand it. They are going ballistic and really grasping for anything to say that he is taking over our country and stealing our freedom. They are nuts and push idiots to put giant letters on their cars that read "NO SOCIALISM" or "SHOW ME THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE". How stupid.
Speaking of stupid, I'm coaching my son's basketball team and I know not one thing about basketball. That's awesome. I volunteered to be an assistant (thinking I could learn as I go and be really supportive of the coach) well, they sent me a letter saying: "thank you for volunteering to be Head Coach"... huh?... what? Can't get out of it... "there's not enough coaches for your division so can you do it for the kids?" Can we say guilt trip? I'm helping kids... does that make me a "socialist"?

aww...kitties are cute right?

We have gotten my daughter a pair of kittens! What the hell is wrong with me and my wife? Uh... animal lovers gone wild. She wanted a cat so... what my little girl wants, my little girl gets. Oh, alright, I was asked, first said "hell no", then remembered how cute kitties are and said "ok then, we better get two so they have a friend". That's what you do. Two dogs, two kittens, two kids. If you need a few more dogs, so be it. Dogs are awesome and we love them. We will not be getting anymore kittens though so everyone can relax. There's always the "haters", no offense to my friends and family. You wouldn't have 5 dogs, two kittens and a bearded dragon but don't hate because we do. Now, the bad part is that my poochies are not as well behaved as I would like and I do feel bad for that, no one should get jumped on or barked at when they come over and I really need to fix that... but... (there's always a big butt), they are our babies and we love them a lot. This is Marlow and Pixie, the newest edition to our family. My little girl is taking very good care of them and she is showing responsibility and we are happy that we decided to get her these babies. As Drakk has passed on, and she wasn't very cuddly, I am sentimental towards these pair and the male, Marlow, gives a lot of kisses. I never knew of a cat that just licks and licks your face (it's really painful after a minute because of their damn sandpaper tongues), he's really loving. The female, Pixie, is a crazy ass that jumps around and gets rowdy. It's fun and they are happy little babies. The dogs are very curious and stand at the door and whine and cry. It will be a while before we let them out to play with the dogs. For now, they are safe behind the door playing, sleeping, eating and pooping. What a life!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009
scary porch guy (much scarier with no lights)
scary front door
and I'M BILLY MAYS!!

Back in the saddle

Well, well, well. Where have you been? Oh, ok, where have I been? I'm here, just pluggin' away at life. It's been a long time since I've posted anything and that's mostly because I've got a million and one things to do at any given moment. It's not that I didn't have anything to do before but now, the house and the job take precedence over the blog. That's sad... me time involves t.v. and beer... I've even cut my twittering in 1/2 since July. Yeah, I started the Twitter account and fell in love with it for like a month or so. It was fun and very interesting but again... life gets in the way.
A sad thing happened last Sunday morning. My good friend Jr. Garcia passed away. It actually is not so sad because in my opinion, sometimes death is a blessing. He was a really great man and did a lot of wonderful things for people, myself included. He was my friend Heather's dad and I think I actually met him even before I knew her. Everyone who came in contact with that old son of a bitch could not forget him. He was that kind of guy. He helped a lot of homeless people get their life back in order. He was a hero, saving people kind of person. He gave toys and clothes to the orphans in Mexico, he used to get the breakfast left over from McDonald's from me and take it to the shelter or the river bottom. He wasn't afraid to go right down into the places that the guys sleep and live with their shopping carts and crazy old bicycles that were rigged to hold their dogs and all their worldly possessions. He was always on a mission and had to get stuff done. He was sick for a while, overcame cancer and has battled diabetes and heart trouble. He was a friggin' trooper and a tough cookie. Jr., you will be missed and you are dearly loved by a lot of people that you'll never meet. I hope you know how valued you were as a person here on Earth. Heaven has no idea what it's in for...

So, the Health care bill passed the House and now it's up for debate at the Senate. We'll have to see. I'm not holding my breath...(the insurance I currently have does not cover breath holding related illness especially if it's a pre-existing condition). I'll tell you something though, the dumbass republicans really pissed me off this summer with the tea bagging and the town hall meetings. They make themselves look so ignorant and it's really helpful in this fight for common sense. I have done a super good job at not paying attention though. I'm proud of my own ignorance. I choose to focus on the positive. I've stopped watching CNN for the moment. I, so luckily, don't have to listen to the horrible talk radio that I used to have to hear...(since the move, I only drive 12 miles and my awesome NPR stays within range for the whole drive!!), and, I haven't had too much down time...I have lawns to mow, sprinklers to fix and a garage to organize. Whoop-eee! Oh, don't forget the holiday decorations that are mandatory. Halloween, I set up the house and had a scary guy in a rocking chair, creepy music and flashing black lights. It was awesome. Now, I'm working on Christmas stuff. Nothing outrageous, outta cash or I'd go "balls out", but just the lights on the house, and a wreath or whatever. It's fun getting ready for Christmas. My kids are too old for Santa and that is a sad thing to me. Not believing in Santa is like sacrilege for children. I'm disappointed in them and they are in trouble. No presents! Sorry kids, too bad for you. Just kidding. They can't stay babes forever right? Tooth fairy is like totally over, saving me some money is nice. 2 years ago, Lily tells Amy and I, the day before Christmas, that she wants a guitar and when we said we can't get her one because we don't have any money left, she really casually says: "I'll just ask Santa". Oh my God, we had to go out and get her one right then, I mean really! Seriously Lily, you had to say that! That's how it goes though. Gotta do it, gotta stay with the Santa thing. Now, we don't. It hurts.

I cooked the Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was great. Not as good as I had hoped, however, it still was delicious. I wanted to give Suzanne a break this year and although I can't quite pull it off as well as she does, it felt good to take a crack at it. I love cooking but when you cook the dinner, it doesn't taste as good as when someone else does. We'll see about Christmas, maybe just crackers and cheese. Oh no, I make Christmas Bark. That's right, I forgot. I think I'm really good at that. I don't know if anyone else likes it as much as I like to make it but... who cares, it's not about them... it's all about me.
So, that's what's been going on... oh shit, I almost forgot... drama with the neighbor...

So, we have neighbors on either side of our house. The neighbors to our right are super cool and we've known them for years and we love them. The neighbors on our left however are total assholes. The dad is a complete dick. I don't mean kind of a jerk, I mean a total dick. He has already made Amy cry twice. She's not a cry baby but this guy pushed her to the edge. I can't get into all the details but lets just say, he pissed Grandma off. The first week we moved here, after being warned by several other neighbors, not just my mother in law, I tried to introduce myself to him and he just sort of grunted towards me. He was cordial but not friendly. I knew, but didn't really mind, some people aren't friendly. His twin daughters share a birthday with our daughter and were invited to the party, the kids all played together just fine for the 1st month that we lived here. Then suddenly, after an argument outside involving whether or not lizards found outside should be held in captivity, the tempers flared and the war amongst the 10 and 11 year olds began. The twins told Lily she was stupid, her mom was stupid and her Grandma and Grandpa were stupid too. That's a pretty bold statement to make. This comes after an incident where they had told their mean ass dog to attack another little girl in the neighborhood. Amy tried to tell Mr. Dad that his crazy ass kids are threatening this other little kid with a snarling, drooling, angry dog and that fuck told Amy "I don't care". She asked him if he knew that they were fighting with Lukas and Lily and he said "I don't care", she said "your a nice guy then huh?" he nodded and said "yep". She was furious and the girls stood behind him snickering. It went on like that for a bit and we learned that the rumors were true, he's an asshole. The twins continue to torment, they ride their bike by and give dirty looks, they say things and stare at us but they're kids, they do dumb kid things. He's a grown up, he shouldn't be so childish. Now, we have just sort of let things go. Then the lemons...DUN DUN DUN... the lemons showed up in the back yard a few weeks ago. Rotten lemons thrown over the fence into our front and back yard. The twins and the little a-hole that lives 2 doors down. He's been drama since our kids were really little. Just a mean little kid that says mean things to my son. Now, as I've spoke of before, my kid has ADHD and he is a little crazy sometimes. He says things without thinking (like cuss words mostly) and so when we moved in, the little kid 2 doors down was told by his mother, not to play with my son because he is a "bully". Now my kid is a lot of things, but a bully he is not. I went over to her house and said "oh, someone has called Lukas a bully and I would like to let you know that he is a nice kid". She told me he cusses and I politely said "yes he does and we are working on that". I did not say "your kid is an asshole". I wanted to, but I am a grown up. Now, the reason I bring up that kid is because he is in cahoots with these little twins. They have been throwing lemons and the kid around the corner has been throwing grapefruits too. All this because of my kid. It's ridiculous because my kid just wants to be friends with everyone and he really tries to just play with them, even after they've been mean to him... So... Amy tells Mr. Dick Dad that she would like it if they girls stopped throwing lemons in our yard and he proceeds to tell her that Luke has been throwing rocks in his yard and nobody in the neighborhood likes our son. STOP RIGHT THERE!! Nobody in the neighborhood likes our kid? Really? That kid plays with everyone. His grandma lives 2 doors down (on the right), the next door neighbor on our right is his best friend, the kid at the top of the street has him over everyday to play video games, the kid at the end of the street has a dad that takes Luke to the park to play soccer, the people across the street drive him to school every morning, the people 4 houses down across the street call him their other son and the lady that lives 4 houses down on our side loves him like her own. Really you dumb ass hillbilly son of a bitch, nobody likes our kid? Lukas, after being grabbed by this guy and told not to throw rocks in his yard, told him "Fuck You!" when he called him a liar. Luke, stop cussing. In this case though, you just said what us grown up were too mature to say.
Now, all this being said, the guy next door really screwed up when he questioned Luke's grandma, my mother in law, Suzanne. He said "who are you?". When she told him, he said "why don't you go back to your side of the street and mind your own business". Oh hell no! No you did not! He doesn't know what he's just done. Our neighbors to the right also got involved and she told him if he even breathes wrong she'll call her sheriff friends and get his ass in trouble. It's funny to me because all I want to do is be neighborly, I want to bake a batch of Christmas bark and leave it on their doorstep. I don't think I'll put Ex-Lax in it but Lukas and Suzanne might. Would serve that shithead right now wouldn't it?

So, after months of nothing, I just spew out all this ridiculous crap right. Not politics but nothing like a little drama. Welcome to the neighborhood bitches!
See ya next time.

Uncle Art passes away

I just found out that my uncle Art died. That is sad. I didn't really know him though so it's not as sad as one might think. But still, flesh and blood has passed on over to the other side. I feel sad to that. He was my father's only brother and was older than my dad so he must have been at least 75 or so. My dad's sister, my aunt, is still alive and doing well as far as I know. My dad passed away when I was little and I really didn't have much contact with that side of the family. Actually, we moved out of Ohio when I was like 6 so I don't have much contact with any of my family, other than the occasional phone call with my brothers and my sister. It's really a drag, I love my family, I miss them. Whenever we get together (it's rare, due to the distance), I am in awe of them. After living almost my entire life without anyone really like me (I'm a pretty odd duck), other than my crazy ass mother, I get giddy spending time with my siblings. They crack me up. The laugh like me and have the same sense of humor. It's really weird. My brother and I are 7 years apart and we actually grew up in the same house so I know him better than my oldest brother and sister. He was a total asshole to me when I was growing up and I stop resenting him for that recently when he "found Jesus"... that's a total different post (see "conversations with crazy" from 2008 postings). I am glad that he finally sees me as someone with a bit of intelligence and a real idea of how life works. He must have finally accepted the fact that I'm smarter than him... bitter much? I'm working on it. Any way, my oldest brother and sister are the ones that I have spent the least amount of time with and considering they are 14 and 17 years older than I, they are more like parents than siblings. They are really cool people and when the four of us are in a room together, I am happier than I ever thought I could be. I really wish that we lived closer or that I could take a trip to see them every other year or so. I want to have my kids grow up around them and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at their house and them at mine. I have a family where I live now, my wife and her parents, brother and sister in law... even her grandma is like family, but that doesn't stop me missing my own flesh and blood. So, even though Uncle Art wasn't in my address book or even knew where I live or who I am (he did know who I am I think), it's still a relative and a part of my family and he will be missed. I wish his immediate family well and I hope he died peacefully. I think when my dad was around him and their sister, he was really happy too. There truly is nothing like your brothers and sisters keeping you reminded of who you are and where you came from, (especially when you occasionally can't remember where you came from or how in the hell you got to where you are). So long Uncle Art... see ya on the other side... have Thanksgiving dinner ready for me would ya?

Keeping kids dumb and republican... just how we like 'em

Hello all!
Pathetic... that's what I will use to describe the Right at this moment. I use that a lot to characterize the Rights but this one has it pinned for them. Obama's speech tomorrow. It's directed toward school age children and it's intent is to motivate and stimulate children about education. To give children thoughts about how important it is to stay in school and how a good education can help them have a better future. I mean I probably shouldn't assume so much. Maybe he plans on hypnotizing American children and turning them into future socialists. He's probably got some subliminal messages he's planning to throw in there and splash millisecond photos of Sponge Bob Square Pants smoking crack on the street corner and then standing in line to get free health care to get himself off drugs. I mean it's ridiculous to think and hear that some parents are considering to not allow their children to go to school because the schools plan on playing the speech in class. My daughter's middle school called with a message tonight stating if we didn't want our child to listen to the speech, to send a note and she could sit in a room where the speech won't be on. I wonder how many kids will be in that room, more than we think I'm sure. That's really friggin horrible in my opinion. If Bush or Reagan gave a speech about how important school is I wouldn't deny my child the right to hear them out. If Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck gave a speech, I might question the content, but I still would allow them to listen, while I sat beside them and taught them how to heckle appropriately. It's wrong and silly and crazy. He's not a bad guy, he's not any sort of crazy speech giver. He's not a socialist either.
Rushy pants really started a little "war" when he said he wanted Obama to fail. I mean, I really feel like he started the ball rolling and no matter what Obama wants, the right will put every effort into fighting against it. And... ooh this really pisses me off... "we want our America back!"... that is truly pathetic. Obama, as far as I know, hasn't tried to change the constitution, hasn't tried to turn all of America against each other by stating: "your either with us or against us", he hasn't started a stupid war that we can't possibly win, he didn't try to run the country using Jesus as his main adviser and he hasn't taken the country away from Americans. The town hall meetings are more proof of how ignorant people are about this administration. I thought "tea-bagging" was nutty... these town hall meetings are insane. Whose the guy that said he was going to take his gun to Washington. Did anyone else hear about that? Isn't that like a threat and illegal or no? I mean come on! Then a few days ago I hear some clown say a handicapped person should not be allowed to speak before him. Am I just hearing bits and pieces? Am I being told only sound bytes from the media. Is this a "liberal media" doing it's job at only showing the crazy people or is this shit really happening?
Now, shouldn't we be happy about this health care thing? Especially the poor people right? I understand Glenn and Rush not wanting it, they probably have really good insurance for themselves and their family and could care less but some of these toothless people in the town hall meetings that are screaming out about how wrong this health care thing is just baffles me. It's a little confusing. It's not as if no other country has done this. It's not like we haven't seen universal health care actually work. I mean WTF? I guess we will have to see what happens.
I really hate to say this, and maybe I'm way off base but when I see some of these people who are so adamantly against Obama, I have to wonder if it's because he's black. I really hope that's not the case but so many people call him "our Kenyan President" and so many tweets read "show me the birth certificate". I even saw a bumper sticker here in my town asking for a birth certificate. It's sad and scary but I think that might be a lot of it. I mean, obviously I love Obama but I don't agree with everything. I mean I am concerned about some things going on in Washington, I don't think the man is perfect, but really, not letting your children hear his speech, wishing he would fail, questioning his citizenship and comparing him to Hitler. That's hateful. As much as a fuck up as I think George W. Bush was, I never compared him to Hitler (Dick Cheney to Satan but not Hitler), but maybe it's not a racist thing. Some racists think Hitler is a hero so, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, I don't want to go there, too touchy just yet. In any event I am appalled that some parents are so ignorant they actually think that Obama is some crazy communist and plans on brainwashing our children to become black or Kenyan or socialists. If my kid wants to be black, more power to him...

Hello!!!
Where have I been you ask? Maybe you didn't. That's ok, I'm cool with that. I've been working and moving and working and moving and working, working, working. I have been so busy at my gay ass job (no, I don't do male-gay-porn) that I have been too friggin' tired to type or think. I didn't even go on Twitter during that time. I'm making tonight's entry short because it's midnight and I have to work some damn more tomorrow. No sleep for the manager.
Today my soccer team had a scrimmage and I'm proud but embarrassed to say we creemed 'em. I'm proud because my boys played really well and I'm embarrassed because I shouldn't have let the score get to 10 to 2. That's just wrong. It was a damn scrimmage, not a playoff game. I got side tracked and didn't get the key players out of the front soon enough. Then it sorta spiraled out of control and kids who I thought would never score were scoring. It was just crazy. Any way, looking forward to Saturday when we play our first game. I have tasted the blood and I want the kill. Last years win made me an animal and I want to have a championship team every year. That's not asking much right?
So, the new house... it's friggin' awesome. We love it. We have a garage and a nice backyard. My son has a basketball court in the backyard and my daughter has a boy next door that's her age and that she likes... wait, we're moving... bars on the windows. It's really nice here, not super duper hot like our old town. Grandma and Grandpa 2 doors down. I did have to do a little regulating with the neighbors already but that's a different post for a different day.
I have to go to sleep now but I promise, on Sunday, I will take a few minutes to write some more. If anyone actually reads this, thank you. I really appreciate you lonely reader. Leave a comment if you feel brave, if not, that's fine too. Just the fact that I have a reader is very exciting.

Here we go again... Yes on 8 a-holes!!!

I swear to green grass and gravy... those mother lovin' sons a bitches! So today, I'm driving along, on my way to work at about 7:30 this morning, happy and ready for a great day, when I get a total dick trying to ruin my morning. Here's how it went: driving along, feeling groovy, when this car pulls up next to me and he has his passenger side window down. It's early in the morning and still cold so I thought maybe he needed to tell me something. I thought maybe he was being a good citizen and informing me of something I needed to know about my vehicle, flat tire or my dress hanging out of the door, you know, something nice. (Oh, by the way, I'd rather drive naked in a convertible without doors than wear a dress... just recalling a lady with her dress hanging out the door once and decided to use that... I'm not a dress wearing kinda chick...). So, I glance over and see him with his window down and think what the heck is this guy doing. I go back to my driving and he drives a little past me, window still down. I start to slow, as I am about to turn into my work when that mother fucker holds a giant plastic "Yes on 8" sign to me. WTF!! I was shocked! How dare that son of a bitch try to ruin my day by showing me his stupid, God damn sign! He was like "Ha ha, I voted yes on 8 gay person". I mean, so fucking what, ya dumb ass. When would anyone ever go out of their way to slow down, reach in their backseat, roll down their window just to say "I'm an idiot and I want you to know"? The nerve of that a-hole. I was so mad and hurt. I rolled down my window and flipped him off and instead of turning at the first available turn like usual, I continued on with my finger out the window the whole time. He sped off and drove up the street. It was almost as if he followed me off the freeway just to do that. Can you even believe that shit? I was absolutely appalled. The only time I say anything to anyone is when they are standing on the corner in a group, protesting. Even then, I don't scream obscenities, I only say "boo" or "your wrong" or sometimes I say "Jesus is gonna be mad at you" (that really gets their goat I bet...). I have one little bumper sticker on my car that says: "defend marriage, vote no on 8", that's it, nothing extreme or radical. Just very simply put. I'm ready to change it and put one that says: "YOUR A DUMB ASS IF YOU THINK YOU CAN RUIN MY DAY BY DRIVING UP NEXT TO ME AND FLASHING YOUR 9 MONTH OLD SIGN THAT SHOWS WHAT A DICK YOU TRULY ARE!!!!"... too wordy?
The other thing that pisses me off is that the friggin' election was in November for Pete's sake! It's July! I mean hello? Are we really starting this fight right now? I guess so. Bring it bitches! I'm down. I'm not even kidding, I'm gonna fight this thing with my powerful bumper sticker abilities and heads will roll. Gay organizers had better start planning this thing because if this dick is holding that sign in his car to drive around town targeting us, what else is up their sleeves? I got involved a little bit this last election, but I'm getting way more involved this time. The organizers were not ready for the challenge that the Mormons brought to us, but they need to work together and get prepared. I had heard some rumours that they were not using very good teamwork to organize so, I may need to make some phone calls... (my Jesus is gonna be mad at you thing is very persuasive to the gay organizers... you can't use it though, it's already patented to me... sorry).
Anyway, that guy was an asshole and a wimp (I had a different choice of word but he's not worthy) because he had to drive off really fast. If I had thought about it, I would have got a license plate number, not to do anything to his car but just to recognize him if I saw him again so I could tell him how I feel and that it's not to late to be "saved". He's probably a closet homo. Wait, not probably, he is or he wouldn't be so mad about it. All I know is look the frick frack out mother lovin' "Yes on 8" bitches because: "I'm here! I'm queer! Get used to it!"... that should be a bumper sticker or at the very least a slogan that gay people can shout at protesters... oh, wait it already is. "Jesus is gonna be mad at you" then.

RIP: Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and my cat Drakk

It's been a rough week as far as people/animals dying. I can truly appreciate death. I have had more friggin' people die in my life than your average bear. Doesn't mean it's easy... however, it happens. Everyone knows that celebrities die in 3's so let's start with that. Ed McMahon 2 days ago. Then of course, Farrah Fawcett this morning and maybe David Carradine could have been the 1st of 3 but what? What? Michael Jackson! Who'da thunk it? It's bizarre as was he. Whacko-Jacko as he was often called in British tabloids. He may have been a friggin' kook but he was loved and cherished. His ridiculous controversy was a sick and sad thing and I hope that it's not totally true of his alleged pedophilia. I can't comment on that... maybe I choose not to. I would have never allowed my children near him just in case but still, parents did. Not any one's fault but his. The thing is what we want to remember. The time in our lives that he was incredible. I bought Gotta be startin' somethin' and PYT for my record player, I had a poster of him on my wall, I played Thriller out my bedroom window with my little speakers on Halloween, and of course... I learned the moonwalk. To this day, I will request Michael Jackson at weddings so I can show off my moves. I loved him. He's being compared to Elvis and The Beatles. It's a good comparison. No matter what the boomers might say, he was "our" Elvis and "our" Beatles. But, yes, if he was guilty of hurting children, that is bad, really bad. I'm not even going to talk about his nose... I want to though... I'll respect his facial features. Like Pamela Anderson and Ashlee Simpson Wentz, shoulda just kept the snout that God handed out. The world is at a loss without Michael Jackson. It's dramatic but it's true. He was an Icon and a really, really talented entertainer. That is indisputable. He will be missed.
Farrah... she was also iconic. I'm too young, (I love being able to say that), to have had that classic red bathing suit poster on my wall but... if I was a little older, I would have. Well, maybe not, my mother would have shit a brick if I had a pretty chick on my wall... gay looking black dude she could handle, pretty girl... that might have been a bit too much. Anyway, I think my brother had that picture up as did all teen boys in the 70's right? She was really something. I did watch Charlie's Angels, saw The Burning Bed and followed her reality show (the one before the cancer diagnosis), she was a brave woman and thank God that she reconnected with Ryan O'neal. He is a great guy, despite their drugs and weird relationship things... (I'm a big fan of The Main Event and What's up Doc so I love this man), we all have our shit to deal with, but they both came to each other and the love and support cannot be matched in Hollywood from what I have seen. God Bless Farrah and Ryan and hopefully they are not too pissed that Michael Jackson stole their thunder (that sounds mean but celebrities like their attention).
I haven't much to say about Ed McMahon and David Carradine. Sorry, knowledge of their greatness but not too much of an expert. Know Ed from Bloopers and Johnny Carson... Alpo too. And someone will want to slap me but I didn't watch Kung Fu. I did see Kill Bill, love you in that David. Sorry you died getting off... at least you had a smile. Too early for that?
Now, for the hardest of all for me to talk about... Drakk. This is my black cat. Her full name is Drakkar. She was named after the cologne because she is pure black like a bottle of Drakkar. I got her in 1990 and that was the cologne I wore at the time. She was mean, like Dracula, piercing teeth and claws so Drakk fit her perfectly. She didn't start out mean, she was mistreated by the stupid boys that used to come over to my house for random parties that I always had. I got her when I moved into my first apartment. I didn't know of these mean boys until much later. A few of them tried to tell me years later of the fun they had screwing with my cat and I shamed them to hell by explaining how mean she became. I'm not exaggerating when I say she was mean. She hated men and would give out this low guttural growl whenever a man was around. Even homo's, plumber, landlord, mail man, ups guy, whoever. She was mean. Someone would be sitting on the couch and she would leap across the room to attack them. She's left scars, bite marks, scratches and fear in and on all of the guests of my life. She lived with me in the Volkswagen van for 3 months and when we woke up together at 2 in the afternoon I would look at her, she would look at me, we would yawn, say what's up? (she'd meow, I'd actually talk), and go back to sleep. I talked to her in Spanish and she answered (she understood Spanish, didn't speak it real well). She turned 19 years old on June 10th of 2009. She got skinny and mellow and didn't attack like we are used to. She could still jump up on things and ate a lot and drank too. In her later years, she would sit on my chest in the middle of the night and sleep so close to my face that my lungs are probably filled with cat hair (that's a nice image right..), she would meow in my face every morning at 5 am for food. Occasionally she would give out a meow that lasted like 2 minutes and we would stop and look at her. She'd shake it off and walk away from us like we were fools. I love her. I loved that she was mean and I used to laugh uncomfortably whenever she bit or scratched someone for no reason. That's not nice but even now, I laugh. It's the reaction people give, they say "oh she's beautiful, can I pet her?" I say "No, she's mean." They say "Cats love me." I say "Maybe they do, but she's not a normal cat." Then, whammo!! Scratch, hiss, bite... "told ya...". So, she walked away Saturday morning as we left to go to Las Vegas for 4 days and she's never returned. Everyone keeps telling me she went somewhere that was comfortable to die so I shouldn't worry, but it's hard. I didn't get to say goodbye. 19 years is a long time to love something... she wasn't mean to me, she was my baby. She was cute and funny and gave me a lot of joy. I had a beware of cat sign on my van and she left an impression on everyone she met, or a scar, whichever the case may be. All my friends hated her but I didn't hate her. I will miss you Drakk and I hope wherever you are, your scratching and biting the a-holes who say "Cats love me"... see ya in the after life little puss.

American Voices

I’m thinking that the terrorists have won!! They have accomplished one of their big goals. They have Americans so afraid of them that people won’t even listen to reason about having the Guantanamo Bay prisoners brought to this country. And the terrorists just have to sit back and watch while American citizens like Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh and the Fox network do all the work for them. Planting all those seeds of fear. What happened to the American Spirit!?! What happened to our resolve to not to let the terrorists win!?! We already have terrorist prisoners in our jails. And they were tried right here in the United States justice system. So I’m guessing that these fear mongers don’t trust our courts. They must be worried about all those “activist judges”.
But what about our home grown terrorists?? This Von Brunn who killed the guard at the Holocaust Museum yesterday, is a terrorist! This Roeder, who killed Dr. Tiller is also a terrorist. Are we going to ship them out to Guantanamo Bay?? I think not! The process will happen here where the crimes were committed. With judges and jurors elected or appointed by Democrats and Republicans.
There are radical voices out there that just keep ginning up the hatred. They come from both sides, but I think the right has more established, more powerful voices. People who have a vested interest in keeping up the chatter. They stir up the hatred towards “illegal” aliens, aka Latinos, and towards gays, and towards Muslims, and the most insidious of all, our President. There’s radical groups out there that still believe our President is not a citizen! They still believe he is a Muslim! They hate that he’s a black man! They call him a socialist. They compare him to Hitler, Putin, Terrorists. Remember the right accusing the Democrats of being unpatriotic and un-american when they dared to question George W’s policies?? When the left questioned the need for the Patriot Act, you’d have thought the sky was falling. I guess it’s back to “tit for tat”. But I think the divide is getting even wider and even meaner. It’s bringing out the nuts! And the nuts are dangerous. It never ceases to amaze me how two groups of people can see the same event so differently! I guess it’s just human nature. And that’s the scary part. There are humans out there with a natural bent to prove their point at any cost. They actually believe they deserve a pat on the back for their deeds. And there are people out there who will give it to them. They listen to the voices. They need the voices. Let’s hope the voices quiet down. The voices need to quiet down.

They've pissed me off again

Alright it's on! I am innocently on the computer when the news breaks about the crazy mo fo that went to the Holocaust Museum and shot his rifle randomly killing a security guard. It's a very bad thing. Horrible. Another angry person who can't vent his frustration in a safer way than violence and decides to make a bold statement. Dr. Tiller's murder was 11 days ago and that too, another angry, crazy person who probably feels that there is no other choice than killing. These people are dangerous and unrecognizable sometimes. The key word here is sometimes. This guy though, he already had some trouble with the law in regard to racism and extremist behavior. I hate the word extremist, it's overused at times. My point is that this guy has a friggin' book called "Kill the Best Gentiles". Could that have been a red flag? I worry about things too much, I realize that but I have a couple things at stake here. My family, my freedom, my country. I'm sure that this guy (I don't really want to use his name, he doesn't deserve it) feels like I do. He thinks that his country is in danger and that his freedom is being challenged. The difference between my emotions and his are that I'm not wanting to kill Bill O'reilly or Glenn Beck. I just hate their stupid guts. I don't plan out ways to end their rhetoric through violence. They are never going to take any responsibility for these people that do this shit, they are never going to acknowledge that they spread hate when they talk so much bull about Obama or the democratic party. You don't see democrats picking up guns and driving over to white supremacist meetings or picking off abortion protesters that are holding signs that read "baby killer". But, Bill O'reilly can call Dr. Tiller, on national radio and T.V., "baby killer Tiller" and that's not a problem. When the guy is killed by a crazy ass "Factor Premium Member", or an Ann "crazy ass" Coulter book reader, no Fox "news" reporter is going to report that part of it.
This whole post really started with the comments Glenn Beck and his guest said on his show yesterday. They said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that Hitler was a left winger. I'm watching these little clips here and there and then, because sound bytes are sometimes edited and taken out of context, I decide to watch the entire thing and sure enough. Sure enough they, being Glenn Beck and his ignorant guest, spin this thing into being Obama's fault. I mean, come on! Report on it, talk about it, state the obvious, that it was a horrible thing but don't use it as an accelerate for an already raging fire of anger. On the left, it's not a whole lot better at times. But, I will tell you, left wing bloggers have to be searched out. Their blogs are not on a news channel or a radio show. I hear this stuff everywhere. I'm tired of it. Ignorance without accountability. We always say: "it's not true, it's b.s. so don't worry about it, people know better." My response is always the same, I wish that everyone in America could tell the difference between truth and hate speech but truthfully, they can't. It scares me. But I'm not about to go to Fox News and shoot the place up. I'll vent my anger here. I don't blame the right wing talking heads for this guys behavior yesterday, but I do want them to start telling the truth and to really pay attention to what they are saying to the public. Glenn Beck is just as bad as the kid at school that has taught my son all the bad words he uses. My son will learn through my parenting that those words are bad but Glenn Beck's mom is not going to teach him to stop saying them. He needs his mouth washed out with soap.

Obama's Speech

We have the classiest President ever! What a wonderful speech he gave this morning. He hit every mark dead on. He said things that have needed to be said for so long. I’m so proud that he represents our country. He actually looks like a true world leader. Unlike his predecessor, he likes to make friends instead of enemies. I had begun to worry a little about how much he may actually get done. But I think he’s going to do alright. He will have to battle the Republicans about everything he tries to do. They have no clue what they’re up against. Isn’t it great! Prick Cheney thinks he can ruin him. But when you put them side by side in todays world, there’s no comparison. Cheney just looks like the petty fear monger that he is. He needs to go away now. His time is over.
Dare I say this!?! I think “W” has shown some class by keeping his mouth shut. There, it is. Wow, that wasn’t easy. But you gotta give credit where credit is due. Weird!
And how about that Michelle Obama! Is she a great First Lady! So easy going and natural. She’s really out there making her mark. I’ve already forgotten what Laura Bush looked like! She had really high poll ratings, but I guess compared to her husband, anyone looks good. But back to the Prez. I think his speech will be picked apart for days, maybe weeks. But that could be a good thing. It means people will a least be talking about his ideas. Actually probably arguing about his ideas. Politics as usual? Maybe. But I think he already took it to another level. A step up. The balls in their court now. Like I said, he’s a classy guy.

Domestic Partnership?

We decided to do it. I mistakenly stated on twitter (yes, I'm all about it now thank you very much. That's another post later) that we were doing the paper signing and notarizing this weekend, neglecting to tell my "future domestic partner" of my plans. I thought she knew and I thought her parents knew. They all knew but didn't have the same concept of this weekend that I had. So, once again, I'm making plans in my own mind, not sharing with anyone. Dumb ass! Anyway, I got excited when we downloaded the forms and it had a place where you can change your name. What? That's when it's official right? That's when my "fear of commitment" kicks in. Then, everyone knows: a) that your a homo and b) that your a homo with a partner. Hyphenated even. I'm not at all worried about it being known that I'm a homo or that I have a partner. It's just so final. So real. So serious. I haven't been serious ever in my entire life. Even at funerals I crack jokes and make fun of dead people. True sacrilege right? I just feel lucky right now though. Lucky to have such a fantastic person to share my life with, lucky to have two beautiful children that actually like me most of the time, lucky to know my partners family and to feel welcome since the minute they met me (of course why wouldn't they, I'm really fantastic), lucky to even be able to sign forms like these and have our state recognize this partnership and lucky to be free to write and speak about this big gay life I have. It would be great if we could actually get "married" and have the state recognize that but I'm not ready to move to Iowa just yet and my Prop 8 posts are already on here enough. I am excited to sign these papers. We will be able to put Amy on my insurance and both kids. It will make our lives a little easier while acknowledging to both my girlfriend and my kids that we are a true family. We will all have the same last name instead of 3 different names on our wooden sign from Disneyland: Welcome to the Jones, Smith, Gonzales house. Those wood sign making guys are thinking: "friggin multi family tourists'" (do they get paid by the letter?).
So, we are doing it. I will change my name by adding a hyphen and adding her last name to mine and she will put my last name in front of hers with a hyphen. Then, we will pay to change the kids last names too. I never cared about having the same last name because I grew up having a totally different name then my older siblings and my mom so it never really mattered but I think it's important for my children, they have enough to deal with already having homo parents.
We did not go this weekend. Too much going on with Cinderella (I will have an update about that later this week) and all that so, we will do it probably Wednesday, I'll tell the in laws first and depending on my mood, my partner will also be informed.

Prop 8 again, Dick again and the Sea World story

Hello! I have rare moments to blog these days and believe me it's killing me. I have so many things to blog about. So starts the ranting or venting... Prop 8 not being turned over is a great start eh? That is a sad story but only the beginning. The courage campaign is talking about putting it on the ballot again in 2010. I'm sure that we will be able to rally together enough people to match up against the stupid Yes on 8 people that were shipped in from Utah, Colorado and the rest of those states that paid for protesters to come out here and hold signs. That's crazy right? I love love love when people say... "It's ok for you to have civil unions"... really? Thank you so much for allowing me and my life partner to spend a million dollars to have a "civil union". Those cost money that I don't have. Lawyers and such have to be involved, we have to file numerous documents and that's not even including the steps we have to take to insure our children are being covered by the law in the event something were to happen. They are ignorant. They don't care. They are the same people that want everyone to be "saved". Uh... can you say hypocrite? I'm not worried though, I'm not upset about it. I'm just patiently waiting for the people to get off their butts and get to the polls and decide that gay people are entitled to marriage like they are... enough said. Well, couple more things to say... Dick Cheney supports gay marriage! Ok, I said it. He is a supporter and agrees with me on something. Him and I talked this over and I told him that he had to give a little. Then I got a creeped out and thought maybe it was a trick and he was trying some reverse psychology on me... I'm still unsure... it's too weird that he agrees... oh, well, he does have a gay daughter. I guess if he didn't then he would not. How scary for her to tell him... So, we have that much at least. If that means anything.
Then there is the whole Dr. Tiller thing. I have only one thing to say. You can't justify murder with murder. Capitol punishment, same concept. War, a little different due to various reasons that I won't involve myself with at this time. That will be another post at another time. This guy did what he thought was right and his assassin did what he thought was right... they both have some explaining to do at some point but to kill someone because they are "a baby killer" is ignorant. It's like those righties that call liberals and our President "baby killers". Should we be calling them "grown up killers" or "war mongers". I can't really give my full on this one because I have a mid-road feeling about all of this and when I run for office I'll need to fine tune my statements but until then... let's just leave it at murdering that doctor was wrong in every sense of the word.
Now, on some positive things... my son was chosen out of a few thousand people to be the kid that feeds, pets and helps Shamu do his tricks at Sea World San Diego last week. It was phenomenal. He really didn't know what was going on. The lady came up to us before the show started and leaned over and asked him if he would like to be a part of the Shamu show and he looked at her like she was crazy. He didn't get it. Me and Amy both said "YES!, he'll do it!". He was like "am I gonna get wet?" kinda pissed off about the whole thing as if he just didn't want to be bothered. It was really funny. I explained to him that this was a once in a lifetime experience and he would be so bummed if he didn't do this. I told him how lucky he was and it was his good energy that got him picked (I'm like a hippie saying this to the poor kid... karma and all that). He realized what was going on as we walked toward the stage and he told me he had butterflies. As soon as the lady asked him I started crying. I cry a lot and especially when it comes to my kids. I'm like a hormonal mess whenever anyone says anything mean or nice to or about my children. It's nice but gets annoying, especially when your trying to video tape something or talk to a teacher at parent/teacher conferences. So, here I am crying, here he is trying to listen to the lady about what he has to do and when she mentions that, depending on which whale they use, he may need to do a "dance" to get the whale to dance, that was it. All he could think about was that he had to dance. Poor guy. He didn't... thank goodness. He was on the big screen, the trainer talked to him about believing in himself and he could do whatever he wanted... more tears... and gave him a whales tail necklace that said: Anything is possible if you believe... oh God, could this get anymore emotional for me? It was really cool. Then, all day, people kept saying good job and patting him on the back. 15 minutes of fame. He really needed this experience. He has a hard time at school and in life due to his ADHD so this was neat for Amy and I to see him get to do. Now, his sister was not as excited as we were. When I asked her if she saw him on the big screen she said "no, was he on the big screen? I didn't notice". I told her not to worry, she is going to be in the ballet Cinderella this Saturday and Sunday and all of us will be there to watch her dance AND she's going to be in the local paper so that will be her 15 minutes of fame. Actually, I see a lot of fame in her future. She is very talented and can dance beautifully and also sings pretty damn good not to mention she is gorgeous so, I'm not too worried about her getting her time in the spotlight. It's a competition though and I suppose it always will be... sibling rivalry... gotta love it.
I have run out of time but let me say, are the right really that blatantly racist and sexist that they would be this upset about Judge Sotomayor being nominated for the supreme court. It's crazy and weird that they even say so much about it. I can't spend time on this right now because this post has gone on long enough but... come on! Later, later I will get into this. I always have an opinion to give and I will give it. I'll talk to Dick Cheney about it first.

Tit for Tat

Our political discourse has become the childish game “tit for tat”. As I listen to the Republicans going on about Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, they say, “the Democrats gave us a lot of grief over W’s picks, so we’re gonna do the same to them”. Nanner nanner nanner! And I find myself being just as bad. I sit in front of my T.V. and yell at these nut cases like Rush Limbaugh and Prick Cheney as if they can hear me! I need to get over it, but not yet. Here’s what I think. President Obama made the right choice. He knows what he’s doing. He knows the Republicans will only undo themselves with all their criticism of this all to human Latina woman. She’s human!! That’s more than we can say about her critics! Karl Rove says she’s not too smart. Karl Rove!?! A man who’s best friend calls him “turd blossom”!?! And Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh are calling her a racist. They took one of her quotes completely out of context and think they can ruin her with it. But let them talk. The more they talk, the more people they alienate. We have a very smart President. It’s hard to get use to! I want him to fight back, but in his own way, he is. I don’t think he yells at the T.V. or calls people “turd blossom”. He just calmly goes about the work of governing the country. So how come I don’t feel “at peace” yet?? It’s time to fold these old legs into the Lotus position, put three fingers together and let myself float down stream. But first I think I need to punch one of those big blue meanies in the face!

Dick Cheney, Prop 8 and other news

Ok, let's start with the obvious... "Prick"... I quote my blog partner on that... Dick Cheney is really annoying. He is more vocal in the last 3 weeks than he seemed to be the entire time he was trying to run the country. Is he running for office? Is he still in the White House? Is he still the Vice President? Is he listening in on our phone conversations still?... He needs to shut the hell up. He looks like the penguin from Batman any way. Ok, that went a little far... sorry. Anyway, my point is that he still thinks torture is ok, he still wants us to have Guantanamo open and keeping people prisoners that had absolutely nothing to do with 911 (yes, some may have extremist views and need to be investigated but a lot of those people have normal lives and families waiting for them to get out) is completely unacceptable. He is one minute saying what the Bush administration did was not torture and the next minute saying that it was necessary and kept our country safe. Bull shit on all of it. Our country was attacked because the White House didn't pay attention when they needed too. Our country was attacked because some extremists hate us so badly that they don't care what happens and yes, we need to protect America but... correct me if I'm wrong... Al Qaeda is our enemy... not Iraq. Yes? Did Cock Cheney go after Al Qaeda as forcefully as they went after "weapons of mass destruction". Should we even be listening to him? Should the Republican party have even let him out of his crate? I'm kinda sorta thinkin' they don't want him talking so much. He's really not helping them get their voters back. It's great for Democrats. Cheney, Rush, Glenn Beck (oh, he's a piece of work huh?) they make the world go round. But you know, God forbid Obama try to save the country. He's totally crazy for trying to get some health care for our poor and elderly. Oh and don't forget how stupid he must be for trying to go green with our energy and global warming. I mean duh, global warming is a complete lie and just another democrat victim ploy to make the American people feel bad about how they live. Right? Oh and don't forget how this crazy President is raising all our taxes... that's the one that really gets me. Mid westerners who all make less than $50,000 a year and their out on the steps of their city hall with friggin' tea bags hanging off their hats and their kids holding up signs saying "Obama wants to take my piggy bank"... hello people, he's not taking your money away, he's raising the taxes on the owners of the factory you work at. The guys who pay you peanuts and live in mansions and drive Bentleys... you are getting a tax break! After 60 days in office, my paycheck was $50.00 more. Now, I don't know much, but I do know that I looked at my check and thought I got a raise. Hell no I didn't get a raise. The guys that run my business hate Obama, he raised their taxes (they drive company leased BMW's) they wouldn't give me a raise. I haven't got a cost of living raise ever! Not even when minimum wage is increased. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and the guys I work for do own the business and should be able to drive a company leased BMW but for argument sake...I don't make enough money to pay my rent. After rent, I have $400.00 left for: gas, electric, food, fuel for my car, phone, TV, clothing, etc, etc... you get the picture. I do, however, have health insurance but...(there's always a big butt) my deductible is $1,500.oo. That's a lot. Universal health care might be nice. I'm getting off the point... not unusual but this is just my thought process. And to the mid westerners who were not at the tea bag parties, I apologize and I mean no disrespect. But Cheney... that weasel rat needs to go back under the rock he crawled out from.
Now, Prop 8 is back in the news because on Tuesday, May 26 the Supreme Court will rule on whether it is unconstitutional or not to allow same sex marriage. I really hope the right decision is made. The people who are against it are the same people that believe gay people are going to hell. That sentence requires no further explanation. It says it all, right there. They think gay people are going to hell. They don't think George W. Bush or Dick Cheney are wrong for enforcing torture on human beings, they believe in capital punishment, they believe that it's ok to go to war on a country because a dumb shit and a creepy old man claim it's the right thing to do and dare I say it... they think Jesus Christ is coming back to save his followers from the fires of Hell. Ok, I'm being a little sarcastic because I know that some of the people who don't want gays to marry aren't crazy republican Christians. I know that some of them are just mean, hateful or just plain ignorant. And, if you are a heterosexual (or as Miss California calls it..."opposite marriage"...) and you are not familiar with any gay families, you may not really be able to say what is right or wrong because you don't know anyone on a personal level. That makes a difference I believe. It's different when you see the normal interaction of two Moms or two Dads. It's hard to imagine something as normal if you've never seen it. I have some friends who know me and my family and still don't believe that same sex marriage should be legal. Some friends right? I can't even begin to try and justify that one. I just really feel that the children in same sex families are just as loved and cared for as they are in "opposite marriages". Some "opposite marriages" or single parents could stand a same sex marriage to actually help their kids. It's a discussion for another entry. Dick Cheney tea bagging me got me all worked up and now I'm too tired to talk about my homo family. I'll have more to say after Tuesday... I'll be at the Ventura Gov. Center at 5:30 p.m. with my two kids either protesting or celebrating. They will be holding signs that read: "My moms are going to hell and dragging our piggy banks with them". See ya there!

Babbling Brooks

I hope no-one is grading me on how I stay on topic because if you've ever read any of my entries, I never do...

Twitter?

Not really sure exactly why I'm doing twitter but I am. It's very interesting to me to see what people are doing. I follow people that I don't know which is weird. I follow some celebrities and some news things. The White House and Gavin Newsom, NPR and Sandra Bernhardt? I don't really know how long this will hold my interest but as time goes on, I've checked it out a few times. We'll see. It's really more for people who know lots of other people and apparently, I do not know lots of people. I do know a few though and I'll still throw some "tweets" out now and again and if Oprah's doing it, it must be a good thing.
In other news... how 'bout that Obama son of a gun. He's done more in his 1st 100 days than Bushwacker did in 8 years. I'm happy and proud of him. Go to Huffington Post and watch the video of his speech at the Washington Correspondents Dinner. It is hilarious! He totally burns a bunch of people and it's very nice to see him relaxed and telling jokes. And Wanda Sykes... what? She's very funny and a homo so that's nice. Just the stem cell research alone is a beautiful thing but the going green concept and health care. We are going to have a country that is productive and makes a difference. The arrogance of the previous administration was appalling and I'm ready for a big change. Yeah Obama. The haters don't really know why they are hating. They are all bitter about the bail out and I loved the whole "tea bagging" protest. Tea bagging is a sexual term that you can google if you don't know what it means but it's definitely a Republican thing that describes perfectly what G.W. Bush did to the country when he was in office. They used that term all smiling and happy not knowing that they are talking about ball sacs. Raise taxes, pay for education... pay for the stupid war. I mean God forbid you raise taxes and pay for the things that we all get to enjoy practically for free. Who pays for my kid to go to 6th grade? Who pays for the road I drive on everyday to work, or the 911 operator that answers the phone... and the taxes that the rich pay now are like a third of what they paid before. In the 50's the tax rates for the wealthy were in the 90% range. Now they are somewhere in the 30's. The people that are complaining the most aren't paying as much in taxes as they would have been when Ronald Reagan was in office or even Bush Sr. And our taxes are mostly paying for things we need. Health care and education. The die-hard Republicans are just mad and don't really make very good arguments. At least I haven't heard any... oh socialism... that is a bad word and it's right up there with communism. That's a favorite from the folks who say that our country is being stolen and destroyed. Welcome to my feelings over the last 8 years. They just have to be all mad and grouchy. They can't appreciate what is good for us both now and in the long run. Or they can't think for themselves, only hearing what crazy Cheney and Limbaugh are saying. It's pointless to talk to someone who is a die hard though, they are not willing to hear, only blame. By the way, check out http://www.whitehouse.gov/EmailUpdates.com sign up and you'll get emailed any updates about policies and bills approved by congress. I got one today from the Pres telling me that a health care reform bill has been approved and things are moving forward. What? It's a new day when you can actually get an e-mail from the White House and The President to inform you about what our government is doing. They only hide the things like torture memos and WMD suspicions. Maybe we can actually sort of trust this President...? Naw, that would be crazy... oh yeah Obama twitters too.

The Birds and Bees of Murder

There were two cold blooded, premeditated murders at Bismark Ave. on Monday night. We have a nest of carpenter bees in the wooden beam at the corner of our patio room. Now I know what you’re thinking. Who leaves a nest of bees in their back yard!?! Well, I do! I’m a gardener and watching the birds and the bees and flora and fauna of Mother Nature is pure delight to me. Back to the murder. We started out with one beautiful big shiny black carpenter female. She drilled a hole before we were even aware of her presence and started tunneling her nest into the corner of the beam. She seemed harmless enough. Before we knew it she had attracted two males. We had never before seen these type of bees in all our years of gardening. So we’re fascinated! They are a pretty golden brown and a bit fuzzy and are commonly called Teddy Bear bees.They all buzzed around the yard since late winter and by spring we had read on line that they would mate, lay the eggs and be through with the process by the end of the summer. But in the mean time, they invited two more female bees to move in!! Another shiny black one and a black one with a yellow stripe between her wings. We started to worry. How were they all cramming into that little nest. They must be making it bigger! Oh my. This is getting serious. Back to the internet. We discover that it is common for them to invite in roommates. So now we have 3 females laying eggs!! Yikes! Back to the murder. We’ve watched these bees now for about 3 months. The males tend to fight now and again. Try to block each other from getting into the nest. We can hear little rows going on inside the nest, but for the most part it’s peaceful in the back yard. But last Monday night that all came to an end. It was late in the afternoon. Tom went out in the back to have a smoke. He called me out to the back yard to see that one of the Teddy Bear bees was laying on his back just outside of the nest and the second male was buzzing all around and frantically trying to get into the nest. The females were guarding the opening and not allowing him in. We were perplexed!! Did they fight to the death this time!?! Did he eat something poison in my garden? So we watched. The second male took off and flew around the yard in a frenzy. Dive bombed us a couple of times and kept trying to get into the nest.We scooped up the dead bee into a plastic container so we could get a closer look at him. He has very large green eyes that just kept looking at us with a vacant stare. We got creeped out and bored and went back in the house. Couple of hours later, we went out to see if things had calmed down, there was the second male bee dead outside the nest! Conclusion-----the females killed the males. Cold blooded, premeditated murders! They had done the only job they were born to do, mate with the females and that was all she wrote. They were goners! Used up and unceremoniously disposed of!! Mother Nature sure can be a Mother F______. We will watch the females now and wait for the babies. When we are sure they are done, we will plug up the hole and hope that the corner of the patio room does not collapse!! Wish me luck!

Where have I been?

Hello readers... are you there?
Well, I am for a minute or two. I have been working like a little bitch bones the past 2 weeks and I am emotionally and physically drained. I've actually cried a few times at work just due to sheer exhaustion and stress. I was sick (thought I had swine flu because the day before it hit the news, I had a terrible sore throat which turned into a cough and fever... I don't have swine flu) and my boys finished out the soccer season with a loss. It was an awesome game though and they never gave up, not for a minute. We lost 6-2 but they played their hearts out. I'm glad it's over for now. On Saturday, Lukas and I signed up for fall. This should be exciting. And... I have had 3 parents request me as their coach... one lady I've never even met, she saw me coaching and liked how positive I was and asked me for my name so she could request me at sign ups. That is so cool.
My job... my wonderful, exciting, never boring, never ending, always busy job. It has consumed me more than ever before. Here's the deal: McCafe! It's here, it's overwhelming and it's kicking my McAss!! I have put in more freakin' hours preparing for this thing than I wish to acknowledge. They have us setting up, training, selling, testing, sampling, getting certified and running around with our heads cut off and then... then... they do national advertising and coupon drops before anybody knows what the hell they are doing. It's very important that this goes well. Very important. We have supervisors, field consultants (which are corporation people who basically decide your fate), owners, field consultants' bosses, owners' bosses and anybody else scary like that coming into our restaurants and ordering really complicated coffee drinks to make sure we can do them properly and of course, I didn't today. I blew it so bad that the guy asked my boss if we should even be selling these in our restaurant. Nice! That caused a tear or two. It's like: "you know what A-hole, why don't you jump behind this counter and make a dumb ass non-fat iced mocha with light syrup while I sit in your drive-thru and stare at you"... I didn't really say that. It's too much pressure man. Too much! Any way, now he has to come back and do another little visit and of course, we don't know when, so we are always on edge and I'm gonna be having someone else make his stupid coffee while I distract him with my amazing good looks and charm. Actually this guy is as stoned faced as a freakin' statue so even my charm doesn't phase him. It's all about the coffee. It's good though, I mean an iced mocha with an extra shot of espresso is pretty damn good. I enjoy these coffees and I'm proud of them and proud to work for McDonald's but right now, I'm just tired. I told my boss I was going to punch him in the head today. That's probably not good.
In other news, twitter... not really doing it yet. Signed up but haven't attached it to my phone yet (hold on... I'll do it right now). Ok, just put it on my phone so maybe I'll start twittering from my phone. Seems like a lot of work at this point in my life, I've got a couple of kids, a wife, a whole grip of dogs and a job that absolutely consumes my energy... all the same, I'll probably still check it out. Can you say confusing? Well, I'll say it for you... I am confusing. I'm not drunk today just tired. I'll get in the swing of things soon. I'll come back with bigger and better conversation, I promise. Bye for now, my battery is low (my computer and my brain).

Last game this weekend and other nonsense

Well people, we won again. We actually dominated... 5-1. Almost ridiculous how good these kids are and well... I'm an awesome coach. OK, it's the players more than anything else. Lucky for these parents we did win or I might have gone crazy on them. In any case, this win was a little sad, the goalie for the other team was crying. Lukas again was goalie for us and did good. He missed one but there was no way he could have stopped it, it was way over his head. The coach from the other team was sooo nice. It wasn't fair really. Oh well. One more game... we usually have a party but oh no, the team mom says (in a whiny, annoying voice if you add the audio): "We usually don't do parties in the spring so I don't think we need one". Uh hello? It's not about you dumb ass... do your kids want a party?... I think they do. Whatever, that's what I get for asking what they think we should do. I'm over it. Enough about soccer. The fall season will be filled with lots of blogs that only I read or proofread. Actually, not true... Hey Suzanne, what's up Mama?... Love you. (She's my only die hard reader... thanks for the support...).
Speaking of readers, followers and people who know of this blog, sign up, leave comments and let me know if you enjoy my ramblings or if I'm being a lamer. I probably won't change my writing style but at least you will feed my narcissistic needs (Amy just used that word about "twitter" and I realized it is exactly how to describe people who tweet). AND... speaking of "twitter", I have signed up. All the cool kids are doing it and well... if they all jumped off a bridge and lived to tell me how cool it was... I would jump too. So, I only have 2 followers, one of which is Barack Obama so if you all could sign up for "twitter" and follow me that would be great. Thanks a lot. I don't know how it works or if it's really fun or what but I thought I'd get with the program. I don't have a facebook or myspace for undisclosed reasons but I do have a twitter account. My name on it is bkvent but you can look me up as angie brooks too. So, that's your homework. I don't have it connected to my phone because I have the crappy little model phone that T-Mobil offers. I will get a blackberry when my contract allows the upgrade in August. My phone literally holds only 30 text messages and because I am so nostalgic I save a lot of them. My favourite text is when I told Amy about 3 years ago that I bought a Christmas Tree and her response was: "I love you. Get out the decorations." Dumb right... and Felipe, whenever he sends me a text I always save it. He's one of my best friends and I rarely talk to him so when he sends me a text it's usually something nice or funny, Shawn Harris too (I always have to use his last name due to the other Sean's in my life, if I thought anyone actually read this I wouldn't give last names but... I'm a rebel). Then there's the stupid pictures that Amy sends me of the dogs... gotta save those. So, basically, I don't have much room for twitter or whatever. I don't have Internet on my phone nor do I have a music thing. I'm old school but really, really, really want an iPhone. Someday...
I've had almost a whole bottle of Two-buck-Chuck so... sorry that I'm talking a lot. I really need to post something daily but due to work and chores and my children, there is no time. We are starting our McCafe and it's requiring a lot of my time. I have to memorize all this information, my restaurant is under construction, I'm hiring about 10 people that all need to be trained and I have really important McDonald's people coming in to make sure me and my "coffee specialists" know what the frick frack they are doing... we don't. It's a very important thing this coffee launch. It's like the introduction of the mother-loving Big Mac. That's how serious this crap gets. I've been working 10 hour days all week and I'm expecting even longer hours the next 2 weeks, my boss has been in my store all week long and has me doing the stupidest stuff, as if I don't have enough to do. I don't know if anyone who has never run a fast food restaurant can understand... wait, not just any fast food but a restaurant that serves like 1500 people in one day. My sales are ridiculous right now and my little ass is tired as hell. I like to be able to walk around smoking cigarettes and doing a little paperwork here and there, I'm not used to actually working my ass off for the entire 10 hour day. I don't even want to talk about the pay. It's almost a joke how little I get paid. I think I should start my own radio talk show and make 100 thous. a day to talk shit about the president... that sounds like a good living. Rush, look out, here I come.
Well, that's enough chatterbox for now. I'll probably regret this never ending blog. I actually asked you all to follow this blog, nice timing... personal note: never drunk blog.

lost the game...

Today my spring soccer team, the Tacos (? wtf...), lost their 1st game (we've played a total of 5 so far... 2 to go). It sucked. We played against a coach that I really wanted to beat. I can't really explain entirely why I wanted to beat him, I just did. He's kinda cocky and based on how my boys played today and my attitude, I guess I am too. I feel bad for feeling bad. I shouldn't take this spring soccer thing so seriously but it's hard when your used to winning. I got spoiled. I don't care if the kids have fun, I just want to win. That is terrible. We lost 4-1. My own kid kicked a goal in for them so actually, they only scored 3 off of us. Poor Lukas, we forgot his pill today (this makes him a little off and not able to focus as much), his little soccer shorts were too tight and then he kicks the ball into our own goal. I felt sorry for him but that's the kind of game it was. (Last week Lukas played goalie for the first time and he was great). I got mad at the parents too. I said, "whatever other commitments you've made, cancel them and get your kid to practice this week!!"... ooh, mad coach. These parents are a joke. They don't get their kids to practice like ever. I've had 8 practices so far and only once has the entire team shown up. It's usually me, Luke and one other kid. If 4 show, it's an awesome day. What the hell is that? Then, I had to give out little scraps of paper that said "1 free meal" to each kid because the friggen snack parent didn't bring the snack for half time and after the game. Come on people... get it together. I'm supposed to have a parent that can ref... not happening... I needed someone to paint the field (one hour, one time)... I literally had to beg. I had to send 10 e-mails and the final one said... "I am BEGGING...". Finally a parent said they would go. What the hell is wrong with these people? Do they think I am a daycare or a teacher where they just drop em off and that's the end of it? Ridiculous! I said some negative things on the sidelines too. When the other team scored, I yelled out "Dammit!"... (I'm not supposed to say those things on the field). I didn't give the boys the usual individual good job that I do, I still told them they played great but didn't go the extra mile and give each a high five, I didn't tell each parent thanks (for what, I don't know), and I didn't have them all scream "1,2,3...TACOS!!". That's the other thing... the Tacos... the fucking Tacos? What kind of name is that for a bunch of white kids playing soccer? I guess the Chivas is a screwed up name too... the Goats? I did not come up with our team name and I don't really know who did but it sucks and I hate it. I'm really bitter. I need to get over it. These kids are 9 and 10. I'm 38. It's time to move on past the stupid soccer game. I will however come up with a new strategy, starting with not wanting to beat the other stupid coach so bad, giving my kid his pill and then maybe having a few extra bags of goldfish in my soccer bag for the loser parents who forgot the snack. Oh well. No game next week... Easter, I'll have to let this loss fester for 2 weeks... great! I'm going to throw rotten eggs at my team and their moms if we lose again... let's hope we don't lose... maybe eggs will be our next half time snack.

Stem Cell Research... Duh.

Ok, so today my best friend, Barack Obama, approved federal funding for Stem Cell Research!!
Whoo-Hoo!! Finally, someone with half a brain is allowed to make decisions. The Republicans are dicks. I'm so sorry but please. I have sort of a lot to say about them, obviously, but this whole situation with Rush Limbaugh is ridiculous. They are letting this overblown, nonsense spewer run their party. What? He is wrong on so many levels but even entitled to his opinion he is still a jackass. He is so far right it's unbearable and if the Republicans want to have a shot at the next election, they better cut the cord from that fat noisemaker. I understand his rhetoric though, believe it or not, I can see why he's so scared. I would be too if I opposed sensibility. How scary that must be. In any case, stem cell research, exciting. The moral issues that surround this research is understandable but questionable. The folks that are all about God's wishes seem to think that God wishes we'd be stupid and not try to cure the diseases that are killing us. I think when Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's it changed some people's minds. At least I hope that's the case. The limits that the Bush administration put on stem cell research were sad and unfair. They made us look stupid and naive (us being America). Now, science can move forward, science can be productive and help mankind. I do, however, understand the pro-lifers who think that embryonic stem cell research is murder, I don't agree with them, but I understand them. As a person with a 50/50 chance of getting Alzheimer's, I need that research, I want that funding, I am thankful for it.
Other thoughts: Rhianna and Chris Brown: leave that stupid fuck. What man is allowed to hit a woman? Martha Stewart's dog got blown up at the kennel: That is so sad and I feel for her. Octomom: Leave that sad, sad woman alone, she has enough to worry about. Some would say she's crazy... ya think? She needs some damn diapers, not death threats. And finally, Jessica Simpson just had on ugly ass pants and a weird belt, she's not fat. Until I write again... I hope we don't fail... I know we won't.

No time for The View?

I've been really busy with work, soccer and trying to finish Lily's room. I haven't really had any free time because I've worked on a lot of my regular Wednesday's off. I have so much shit to take care of around the house that I haven't even stayed caught up with The View... I have like 8 to watch... for me that's crazy, I watch The View religiously. I love that stupid show. I have a little bit of an obsession with T.V. My poor wife, I have so many shows that I Tivo, I can't keep up. People say T.V. is a waste of time and it rots the brain. That's partly true but I don't care. T.V. has got me through the rough and lonely times and I love it. The shows that are on right now are good and some of them even great. And Tivo! Who invented Tivo? That person deserves an award for best person in the world. I swear, Tivo is the greatest thing since sliced bread or cell phones. I can actually push a button once on a show to record it, twice to record every episode of that show, rewind as long as I keep it on the same channel, pause it while I pee, yell at the kids or answer the phone... fast forward through the commercials after pausing it while I peed, yelled at the kids or answered the phone, and tape one show while I watch something else or tape two shows at the same time while I'm watching something I taped earlier. What! That is amazing. And for the people who don't have Tivo or a DVR and try to say: "I don't need a DVR, I have a VCR"... No, you don't understand... this is like nothing you've ever had before. A VCR has to be set, you have to change the tape and if you have your VCR set up to record the very last episode of Friends because you have to work and Friends is your favorite show and you can't wait to watch it. Then you get home and turn the VCR on, rewind the tape that you bought especially for this episode, push play and sit excitedly in front of the T.V. then see as the tape begins that what's on it is the interview with Conan O'brien and the entire cast of Friends talking about what fun it was working with each other and how sad they are going to be now that it's over etc., etc., etc. Oh, so... there was a time change since the last time you used the VCR. Oh, ok, so you didn't tape the last episode of Friends? You taped the special on afterwards about the last episode of Friends? Oh, ok then. THAT'S WHY VCR'S AREN'T THE SAME AS TIVO!!! Get it? All right, I'll admit it, I'm obsessed.

Spring Soccer

Here we go again. I have a soccer team and our 1st game is March 1st. I have a hard time wrangling up helpers in the spring. Everyone has different priorities in the spring leagues. There's basketball practice, baseball, art class?, track and anything else that results in kids not able to go to practice. Spring break is another awesome thing that usually means I have like 4 kids for that Sunday game. Sweet. I had higher expectations for this season, I'm an optimist and was thinking positive about my spring team. Well, guess what... I scheduled a "meet n' greet" and 1 person showed up... 45 minutes late. ONE PERSON! What is that about? Anyway, Lukas and I wiped our tears and moved on. So practice,... 2 kids showed up for practice... getting closer now. I have a need for a referee, an assistant coach and a team parent. The assistant has stepped forward, the team parent has stepped forward but do I have a ref?... no, so guess who took the ref course yesterday?... that's right, me. Coach and ref. that's friggin' dedication right? The sad part is, I will probably have to ref my own games and have my assistant coach coach the game. That sucks because I like to coach. I'm not a ref, I'm a coach! Well, I have practice on Wednesday and I think most of the kids will show up. Spring is really just for fun and there's no playoffs or recording of scores and I'm just going to make it fun. It just irritates that people sign their kids up and don't commit. That's frustrating for me because I put a lot of effort into giving these kids a chance to learn and grow and play. At least I got some really sexy referee shorts and long black knee socks to wear. Look out!
Hopefully this will be a fun season and win or lose, we will have a good time!

Our canine babies

Well here they are, the dogs. Some may question, some may wonder, some may think we are crazy. Perhaps we are... but we love our dogs. They love us and it's a wonderful world. So, here they are in all their glory: Roxy (back row), Charlie, Isabella, Fritz and in the front, our latest addition... Samantha Jones.
We finally got to introduce her to Grandma (we were scared to tell Grandma... we thought she'd be mad... she wasn't.) I know, dogs are boring unless their your own. I'll limit my dog photos from now on. Just wanted to update the blog and I don't have a lot of energy or opposition to share today. Maybe in a couple days I'll give a little. Until then... meet the dogs.

check it out

Hey guess what is awesome. The white house website. Go look at it and sign yourselves up at www.whitehouse.gov. It's really cool because it has everything that is going on with our laws and policies of the Obama administration. No secrets. It's such a different style. The Bush administration had a friggin "Barney Cam" on the white house website. The friggin dog had a camera on him and walked around and somebody wrote stuff as if the damn dog was talking. What the hell is that? I mean even my kid's damn "Webkinz" website is more informative than the Barney Cam but you know, some things must have held priority for that administration and the reporter biting dog was important. Anyway, if you sign up, there is a place for comments and according to the website they will be viewed for any suggestions and before any legislation is signed it will be displayed for the public to read and comment on. Maybe it's just me, my love for this new president, but that sounds awesome. There's a blog and a whole section on the agenda that he and Biden are scheduling and lots of interesting, easy to comprehend things that please me greatly to see. I know that I'm sort of obsessed lately but that will pass, I'm sure.
Anyhow, check it out, sign up, leave your comments and bookmark it so you can periodically look at what is going on in our country. It's nice to be involved in our democracy. It's nice to know if our president plans on changing the Constitution or not. Now, if it is an emergency type law (wire-tapping might fall into that category) we won't be asked to comment, so let's hope this bastard isn't a crazy one. Just check it out and see if I'm trippin' or if this is a cool thing.

matching pj's christmas morning

I know right, we really are cute.