One Less Hassle by TSA?

Will you be rushing right out to get a new laptop bag so you have one less 'chore' to do in the security line at the airport? I don't know, maybe TSA--oh even better, they have a BLOG!--could concentrate on something that benefits everyone, including the little old ladies in pumps who--like the rest of us--have to take their freakin' shoes off to walk on the filthy, germ-coated, bacteria-laden airport floor?!

Isn't this 'design contest' with select businesses kind of spoiling our established anti-trust laws? Or somewhat taste of government collusion with only major manufacturers??

Oh sure, the others will catch up, including my fav MP, but this screams of 'having money to make money' when the big guys get first shot and leave the rest to catch up to the market.

Oregon, I love it!

I will put some of my photos on flickr when I get a chance. In the meantime, I had to share these with you for obvious reasons. One of them was taken at the Portland Farmers Market, which pretty much puts every farmers market I've ever been to to absolute shame.

Blasphemy: I Love the UAE (Oman was even better)

People reacted unusually to my vacation destination: Where? What’s that? Aren’t you afraid? Isn’t that near Iraq?

No, fear never struck me until I was there. The scariest thing about being in the Middle East was poetically my own fellow Americans. Knowing that a lot of them would just as soon bomb the shit out of any country not deemed 'worthy' made me feel vulnerable and angry at a goodly percentage of our country.

My experience in UAE and Oman were compounded by spam forwarded by one of my aunts in good ol' Madison County, Indiana. It read "Boycott this 'Christmas' Stamp" and went something along the lines of how dare our government print a Christmas (this was the first clue of ignorance; I believe Eid is the season between the end of Ramadan through Mohammed's death) stamp (in print since 2001) for people who don't even believe in Jesus Christ (false--next clue) and how if everyone just banded together and refused to buy the stamp (so impactful--yet another clue)--all 41 cents worth--it would be a noble cause. Having just purchased a sheet of Eid stamps myself, and being in a Muslim country, I couldn't help firing off a reply to all. And so now a large portion of my ear-infected waking time is absorbed with how I should reply to the reply to my reply. I deleted some responses without looking at them, but I did read my aunt's which seems to be blaming hateful people who want to poison our children with paint, those who have recently become citizens who seem to have less rights than other citizens, all non-Christians, international aid, and greedy foreign companies for job loss. Shew!

I guess she didn't take me up on my suggestion to voice her concerns to her legislator, because her intended path of action is still to boycott the stamp.

So, really the ONLY scary part of being in the Muslim world was knowing that I am stymied as to how to address a major portion of my own country who has forgotten how to love thy neighbor.

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up my analysis of my trip. More later on how Mohammed is not too down with women and the schools of the UAE.

No RC Thanksgiving is complete without a disaster

Luckily, DHP's was relatively uneventful in the family department. Although there was one averted car accident in the rented chevy malibu (and humiliation involved with driving such a vehicle in Los Angeles), there were NOT any fights, racist rants, or parental put-downs to report. Somebody please tell me a turkey got buried while I was gone.

What to report? Well, it turns out that the town in which DHP went to high school (Calabasas, CA) is the setting for Weeds. Yep. Agrestic = Calabasas. I can't believe I didn't pick up on that. My brother had to point it out. DHP was also relatively close to the Malibu fires, which were other people's Thankgiving disaster. These shots were taken of said fire from DHP's dad's house at the crack of dawn this morning. Also, there will be more photos of the fire and DHP's brand new neice (the reason we were up at the crack of dawn) on flickr once my brother uploads them.

West Virginia, mountain mama . . .

Look out blog, I'm back. West Virginia was beautiful! Photos are here. The trip was very cool, even though when I landed in DC it was 85 degrees/85% humidity. Turned out to be cool in the "mountains" of West VA. HP01's cabin was amazing and the changing colors were spectacular! Puts our sad Aspens to shame.

Denver Elections: I spoke to my friends at SEIU today and they recommend a "Yes" on A-I. I'm probably going to vote against 1G because I believe that the cultural facilities can be taken care of through other means like federal and state grants, and if they don't meet that criteria they are not worthy. My biggest concern was actually with 1A because of the huge debt accumulated on the backs of the taxpayers, but I'm going to trust SEIU on that one. Personally, I'm also voting against Initiated Question 100 mainly because it makes "the private use and possession of marijuana ... the City's lowest law-enforcement priority". Here is my reasoning. There are offenses on our books that I personally feel should have a lower priority than a marijuana offense. Sodomy, loitering, more than 3 non-relatives living on the premises, more than 3 dogs on the premises, not wearing a seat belt, smoking within 15 ft. of the door of a public place. These are just a few of our justified, yet relatively arbitrary laws (except for the sodomy thing, totally unjustified). I'm still checking on the School Board issue. I have many differing opinions on that one. I'll get back to you on my decision.

Favorite Quote of the Week: I paraphrase HPO1 . . . I believe in gun rights. I'll be damned if anyone will tell me to leave my property without my dogs in an evacuation (ala New Orleans).

New Favorite Song: Hold On by KT Tunstall, which I obtained thanks to DC 4-bucks. Not to be confused with the epic soft rock ballad Hold On by Jamie Walters (which stuck in my head thanks to HP01's love of 90's music on her ipod). Truth be told I downloaded both. Damn that 4-bucks and 90210.

How I spent my summer vacation...

How I spent my summer vacation