Familiarity Breeds Contempt

...Especially with regards to after hours medical facilities.

Today it's the Peace Health (go figure that's what Eugene's biggest medical provider is called) Pediatrics Evening Clinic. The Lad has been fussy, colicky, and runny all day, and so instead of quaffing a Guinness for St. Pat's, I'll be sitting in a sterile room.

God, I love this kid. Need further proof?

Slainte!

To all my fellow Bloggers and readers of Irish extraction, a Happy Saint Patrick's Day, and one of my favorite Irish blessings:

May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead!

LadBlogging

So neither I nor The Feared Redhead slept well last night, thanks to a series of alarms from The Lad's apnea monitor. in all cases, he was breathing the whole time. On the one hand, I'm ready to chuck the thing out the window, on the other, I'm afraid that the day after the monitor is DC'ed, he'll stop breathing for real and we'll wake up to find him dead.

I knew I was giving up sleep, spontaneity, and disposable income when I signed up for parenthood, but must they take my sanity too? Those Fates are bitches!

In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion????

As you may well know, my beloved home state is famous, among other things, for rain (Astoria Oregon gets twice the annual average rainfall of Seattle). Well, this winter's been a bit different. All during late February and early March, the weather has been unseasonably pleasant -- I'm talking sunny days in the 60's and 70's. And while a bit of that is nice, it was starting to concern me, and still does -- we're probably facing a drought this summer. Furthermore, I actually enjoy rainy weather in winter -- it's bracing, refreshing, cleansing, and lends perspective to summer's sun.

But today, when I left the house, it was chilly enough to warrant a jacket. At work, as the day wore on it was even chilly inside -- a fact I attributed to the A/C being abused. But no.... a while ago, I turned from my desk to the window to see that the sky was dark, and the glass streaked with water. It's raining.

Now THAT'S the Oregon I know and love. Welcome back, you beautiful, stormy wench!

All Pretense "Stripped" Away

Thanks for the Memory to Ace via the Llama Butchers.

There was a day and age where I found Doonesbury amusing, if slanted. That was so very long ago. For years, Doonesbury has been the Keith Richards of comic strips, dead but unready to actually stop breathing.

Finally, someone has written an obituary.

HungerBlogging

Today is the day of the Hunger Strike for Darfur. Since I chose to participate, I decided I'd blog on the experience.

Sunday Morning I was given the opportunity by my pastor to present the hunger strike to all of the members of my church. Many in our congregation fast on Wednesdays anyway, so it seemed a perfect match. While I'm politically active, as a Christian I believe in God's ability to move hearts and change minds, so I decided to couple the political act of a hunger strike with a fast. Today I will be praying for Darfur.

This morning I forgot what day it was and accidentally broke the fast before it began. I don't feel so bad since it was a very small amount of food (a bag of fruit chews and a mug of hot chocolate), and immediately resolved to resume the fast for the rest of the day. I was tempted by free muffins at work, but abstained.

Also remembered to go over to the Darfur website and register as one of the hunger strikers, and left a message that I was doing this to show solidarity with htose suffering in Darfur.

How noble that sounds, eh? Rot. I'm fat, I'm well-fed, I'm rich by world standards, and one measly day without food will in no way help me experience for myself the plight of those being starved. But that was the best I could come up with on the spur of the moment.

No, this isn't about me "identifying" with those in Darfur, this is about me using every proper political and spiritual means available to me to try to help. This is like writing my congressman (note to self....) or writing a letter to the editor. It's not heroic, but it helps. I feel like I just tossed another starfish back in the ocean.

UPDATE:

I received the following email back after signing up to fast for Darfur (I added the emphasis in bold):

Dear Darfur Hunger Striker,

Thank you for making a small sacrifice today to spark the world’s conscience. Whether you are fasting alone, at work or at home, with friends or family, know that there are over 2,000 people across the United States acting in solidarity with you and millions of people in Darfur counting on actions like yours to bring them justice. You should feel proud.

Going without food for a day is not easy - our stomachs are already rumbling! But we can only imagine the deprivations and dangers faced daily by the victims of the genocide in Sudan. Everytime you feel hungry or refuse an invitation to eat something today, why not use the opportunity to tell someone why you are fasting and about what is happening in Darfur?

Response to the fast has been overwhelming and we've decided to open it up so people can fast any day from today through Sunday. If you know people who are not fasting today but you think may want to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur, please forward them the link below so they can join in this action:

http://www.darfurgenocide.org/MarchStrike.html

Don't forget that you can help spread news of the fast by contacting your local media or passing out flyers. You can download everything you need, including advice about dealing with the media, from our website at:

http://www.darfurgenocide.org/media.html

Good luck, and best wishes

Tuesday Morning Coming Down

For the last week and a half, my mother has been here visiting, getting to know her new grandson. She flew out of Eugene Mahlon-Sweet Field this morning at 6:35 AM. I already miss her.

Since my father died and I moved back to Oregon, I've seen my mother three times including this visit -- once in the fall of 2003 when we buried my father's ashes. that Christmas, and this visit. We won't see her again until Christmas.

I grew up living, except for one short period, thousands of miles from my grandparents. And though I've always adored them, I was never a s close to them as my cousins. I don't want that for my son.

A Thousand Words Redux

Thanks for the Memory to DFO at Huckleberies

Another Little Piece of My Blog

Apparently my old post explaining the title of this blog has been getting more attention lately than when I posted it. Thanks to one of the more recent comments, I feel compelled to respond here instead of there.

First of all, David, thank you for the words of encouragement, and thank you for the update to your Blog title. As per your request, a little about me. For my regular readers, you may learn somehting here:

My name really is Brian, my last initial really is B. I'm 36, a native of Oregon (born in Roseburg), living in Springfield Oregon. My father was a pastor, so I moved all over the western US as a kid, living ins Southern and Northern California, Southern Idaho, and Southern Oregon. I graduated from High School in a small town near Roseburg back in 1987. After a short and ill-fated stint in college, I ended up living in San Diego, CA for 12 years. It was while there that I was introduced over the phone to my future bride (Known around these parts as The Feared Redhead), who was living in the Minneapolis area at the time. We were married in July of 1999. In July of 2001, my father died of either a stroke or heart attack (no autopsy to be sure), and TFR and I moved back to Oregon. Life was hard as we made the move with no jobs waiting, but we hung on and eventually found work. We are now the parents of a 6-week-old baby boy (The Lad) and a 3-year-old Lhasa Apso (Little Big Dog). I work as a tech support agent for a software company, TFR is on maternity leave.

We're active in our church, and I have several hobbies, including cooking, wine tasting, Role Playing Games, and BLogging. I'm politically conservative, and was an active volunteer for President Bush' reelection campaign. We also believe in personal charity, and give as often as we can to organizations like Samaritan's Purse.

I did return to college later in life, and did much better (even making Dean's List), but time and financial restraints have prevented me from completing a degree.

So for all of you who have read me but never knew some of these things about me, welcome to me.

Quote of the Week

Some people just love to use their right to speak freely to fret about the horrible effects that freedom might have on people who live in places where you can get your fucking tongue cut out for criticizing the government?

John from Wuzzadem, in a comment over at Ace's.

Come Together Right Now

Some of you who follow my comments sections may have encountered some comments by Library Mary. If you read her comments, you'll soon reach the conclusion that she is politically to the left of me, yet is civil in her dissent.

That's partly because she's just a damned decent person, and partly because she's one of my oldest and dearest friends.

Well, today she forwared an email to me. I have decided to post it here because it provides an opportunity to get involved in an issue I believe in:

Dear Friends,

Recently, you were moved enough by the tragedy in Sudan to visit DarfurGenocide.org and take action. Thank you so much for this, we're writing now to tell you about a new opportunity to make a difference.

The situation in Darfur is one of continued horror. The massacres continue, and
a "final solution" of man-made famine is looming over the 2 million refugees crammed into towns and camps.

We can stop this crime, but it will take effort. A first step is to join together to stage the largest one-day hunger strike in US history on Wednesday, March 16th. Please demonstrate your solidarity with Darfur and sorrow over enforced starvation in Sudan. Click below to sign up for the fast and put your dot and testimonial on an online map of America:

www.darfurgenocide.org/MarchStrike.html

Political pressure is needed now and together we can make a difference. Next week is a big week for Darfur: new legislation (the Darfur Accountability Act) is being introduced in Congress with new measures to pressure the Sudanese government, the UN will be voting on whether to impose additional sanctions on Sudan, and Congress is also voting on how much money to budget for food aid and peacekeepers in Darfur. The moment is crucial, and yet recently our government has been easing up on pressure on Sudan. A nationwide fast sends a strong message to our leaders that we want real results for the suffering people of Darfur. Click below to participate:

www.darfurgenocide.org/MarchStrike.html

Once you sign up, you can also help spread the word by forwarding this email to 5 friends, writing letters to your Congressperson, distributing a flyer (available on our website) in your community, or telling your local press about your decision to participate in the fast. Thank you so much for doing something about this horrendous tragedy. We CAN stop it.

Sincerely,
The Res Publica Team
www.darfurgenocide.org
www.therespublica.org

I have been convinced for some time that Darfur was one issue on which the Left and Right could and should agree. What's going on is genocide and must be stopped.

Sweating Bullets is Bad for Your Complexion

Since The Lad was born, TFR has been on unpaid leave. She planned on taking 3 months off. Given our income, this has been a bit of a challenge, but between depleting savings, racking up some temporary debt, other creative budgeting techniques and tightening our belts, I figured we could do it.

Until today.

Today, TFR called and gave me an update on a meeting that occurred between a coworker and her boss. Based on the outcome of that meeting, TFR will probably not be going back to the same job on May 2 as planned. Here's why:

TFR is an esthetitican. For those of you unfamiliar (namely my fellow straight males), she is trained and licensed to perform skin care services at a spa -- facials, blemish extractions, and waxing services. For you ladies, gays, and metrosexuals out there who know just how obscenely expensive yet essential these services can be, you might be interested to learn that the average commission earned by estheticians for these services is 40%-50% of the cost of the service. Based on those costs, and the amount of time it takes to provide the service, that averages out to omewhere in the neighborhood of $18 per hour here in the Eugene area.

TFR makes nowhere near that. This despite the fact that she has a phenomenal reputation -- she has clients who are not only return clients, but who refuse to see any other esthetician. Clients who have moved out of the Eugene area yet still drive down from Portland and Salem on a monthly basis to see her. She suspects, but has no way of confirming, that she's probably one of the 100 best estheticians in the state.

So it was decided by her and her coworker, who also has an excellent rep and loyal clientelle, to ask for $20 per hour, settle for $18, and quit for anything less.

The Spa owner has not given an answer yet, but the odds are it will not be satisfactory.

Which means that I may be the sole breadwinner for longer than expected. And I'm unsure that my income will be able to support us for long.

Please pray, loyal readers.

A Thousand Words

Thanks for the Memory to Chris Muir at Day by Day.

Attention Bloggers!

Just When I Thought That I Was Out

They Pull Me Back In.



Thanks for the Memory to Drudge. Costarring Little Green Footballs.

*Sigh*
So much for the hiatus. It happened in the Northwest, and it involved TuhRAYzuh Heinz-Kerry: how was I to not blog on it? Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (one wonders which definition of the second word applies) writes on Her Craziness' recent visit to Seattle. Below are a few quotes from the column, with my impressions in italics:

What made Teresa Heinz Kerry so refreshing to some voters, and threatening to others on the 2004 campaign trail, is summed up when THK talks about her speech to last year's Democratic convention:

Personally, I never felt threatened by her. If I was a Democrat, on the other hand...

"Nobody told me what to do," she told a Saturday fund-raiser here.

You don't think it might have been that much of what you did/said was "I-Am-Napoleon" crazy?

Heinz Kerry flew into town on her own Gulfstream jet (the Flying Squirrel, named for a Sun Valley ski run) direct from a conference on global philanthropy at Stanford.

A more appropriately named aircraft never flew.

She talked energy-efficient building design with Seattle Art Museum boss (and old friend) Mimi Gates. She dined at Wild Ginger and flew back east with takeout food from the Third Avenue restaurant.

As LGF's readers observed, the irony drips from those two paragraphs like crude oil. Energy efficiency? Private jet? Did the subject of John...er... the family's SUV come up?

At a lunch for Rep. Adam Smith, guests were treated to more spicy observations than will likely be heard at all fund-raisers under the Westin's roof from now to the 2008 presidential race. A sampling:

Oh, please, Dahling, keep talking!

"You cannot have bishops in the pulpit -- long before or the Sunday before the election -- as they did in Catholic churches, saying it was a mortal sin to vote for John Kerry," she said.

....

"The church has a right and obligation to teach values," Heinz Kerry declared. "They don't have a right to restrict freedom of expression, which they did.

But you think their freedom of expression should be restricted when it comes to criticism of your hubby? Moral and logical consistency aren't your strengths, are they, T?

Heinz Kerry is openly skeptical about results from November's election,

Somehow I doubt her concerns extend to the results of Washington's gubernatorial election...

"Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Heinz Kerry said. She identified both as "hard-right" Republicans. She argued that it is "very easy to hack into the mother machines."

Before marrying into the Heinz fortune, Heinz Kerry went by the moniker Acid Burn.

Heinz Kerry is still steamed at what the Republican attack machine did to her husband.

"Think about last year," she said. "Once John had his nomination, the Republicans spent $90 million to destroy his reputation."

Ummm.... Rayzuh Dear... If, as a Dem, you're going to throw those stones, I'd avoid spending time at the homes of Dan Rather or George Soros... they're still sweeping up broken glass.

"We have to develop a discipline for this party, so the people of this country know more clearly what it is to be a Democrat," she said.

Maybe the problem is it's already all too clear, ya think?

Classic Heinz Kerry -- spouting off baseless, self-contradictory, often vitriolic babble, reacting with shock and contempt when people reject it for what it is, then somehow viewing their reactions as justification for continuing on the same path. Personally, I am delighted that TuhRAYzuh continues to speak her mind. If we can just keep her in the public eye, between her and Howard Dean, the Democratic party will be wearing a kimono in a quiet room, writing a final haiku as their wakizashi waits by 2006.

Cross-Posted at Head West, Turn Right.

One final note: Even as I was preparing to break my self-imposed silence with this post, my good friend Cameron at Way Off Bass was already blogging on it, and suggesting that my quote is perfectly applicable to The Contessa. I couldn't agree more, though flattery will still get you nowhere, Cam.

Makes Brian Something Something II

Folks, I'm feeling a bit burned out, so I'll be taking a blogging hiatus. Sorry, but I just don't have the energy, I can't think of anything to say, and nothing has me excited (positively or negatively) enough to Blog. I will try to keep it short, just a few days, Please be understanding.

On His Watch

Thanks for the Memory to GOP Bloggers via the Jawa Report:

"It happened on George W. Bush's watch"

It was a popular line of the Left for the last couple of years. So let's just see what else has happened on Bush's watch:

1. Afghanistan held its first-ever modern democratic election.

2. Iraq held a true democratic election for the first time in 30 years.

3. The Palestinians freely elected a leader.

4. Saudi Arabia will hold its first ever national election in November.

5. Lebanon's pro-Syrian government resigned, paving the way for free elections.

6. Libya scrapped its WMD programs.

7. Egypt is now allowing challengers on the ballot, paving the way for the first-ever multiparty presidential elections.

Whither Blogger?

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Blog King of Fools?

A Question Regarding the Stupidity That is McCain-Feingold

So if by blogging for/linking to a candidate's site, I'm making a campaign contribution, do I get to write it off on my taxes?

Verbal Tea

Thanks for the Memory to the Llama Butchers.

I did fairly well on The Commonly Confused Words Test:

English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 86% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 77% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For answers to the Beginner section only (the first ten questions), visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/. I will post the answers to the other questions as soon as possible.

Head... Swelling... Must... Resist... Gloating....