Last time I tried this my blog was worth about $500. Check this out from today

And I owe it all to you, people – oh yes I do.

I have a list of things to write about that includes:
1). The first baby bird flies from the nest
2). I’m a middle of the packer, not a loser at all
3). I’m going to register for a 10K – I have goals
4). Potential – it ain’t just a difference in electrical current

But first I have to finish my taxes so that baby birds 2 and 3 can get some financial aid for next year. Stay tuned.

A while ago I posted a query as to why Tonya Harding kept showing up on TV. So now we know. NBC is doing (or maybe already did) a special on her. They honestly want to try to paint a picture where we enter a state of ambivalence for our feelings about Tonya Harding? Doubtful – very doubtful.

I actually always did feel a little bit bad for her back then, assuming she was a typically abused woman who had a ragaholic boyfriend who controlled her. I assumed she went along with what was his plan and it was all very tragic. However, after seeing one or two (too many) recent clips of her acting all belligerent and trailer trashy I think not. She has had access to tons of support and help and she could have set about making herself a stronger, less victimized person. I don’t get that that’s what happened, at least not from those clips so there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’d watch a show about her.

Of course I don’t watch stuff like that anyhow but still – why do they bother? Why not spend that time profiling people who overcome adversity and do something great like the guy in the clunky hospital wheelchair who made it up a huge hill in his first race even though he was seeing white with pain (where did I read that? – help). Not there’s a story worth watching!

Anyhow – I just wanted to answer my own question but now that I have the answer I wonder why I had to ask. I could have guessed.

Last weekend I went for a 43 miles bike ride. That isn’t all that long but it was very hilly and a bit of work. I knew it was hilly because I rode those hills and I knew I worked hard because I was tired but how could I possibly convey this reality to the rest of the world? Easy – just upload the data from my Garmin 201 and superimpose the image on a satellite map compliments of MotionBased.com. Oh how I love technology! Tell me honestly, does this not impress you?

First of all, we obviously covered a lot of ground. Second of all check out that elevation map! Hooey! I look at that and envision myself as one of those crazy Dr. Seuss characters with long furry limbs climbing straight up a hill with a manical grin on my face (notice I did NOT compare myself to one of those guys riding the Tour de France). We won’t mention that it wasn’t exactly straight uphill although it felt like it (it was a maximum grade of 20% and baby, that is steep!) And the grin? That was really a grimace but hey – I made it! Here – let me just blow that elevation map up so you can really see it.

The other thing you can do with the Garmin data is upload it to Google Earth and then zoom in and tilt and play, play, play. It’s like living the whole ride over again and again. You can set the thing up so it seems like a helicopter ride over the route you took. You can’t exactly see the hill and dale as we rode it but you can see how hilly the terrain is. Too bad playing on the computer doesn’t burn up the same number of calories per unit time. I could really use that function. I’d put it on the ‘tools’ menu and mark it ‘hot fudge sundae eradicator’.

I’m really glad I got out there last weekend because this weekend is shaping up to be ugly on top of cold and I’m not going out in that kind of weather. I have an indoor trainer and I know how to use it. The Garmin won’t do me any good on that thing but I could rename it ‘the hot fudge sundae eradicator’. Unlike my Garmin, the trainer really can fill that function.

Correction: These guys were not convicted of rape – they were convicted of ‘sexual misconduct’. The rape charges were reduced which only makes me more angry:

Dunzweiler was acquitted of charges he coerced Doe into having sex with him. However, he was convicted of five lesser charges, including having sex with another potential recruit, providing alcohol to recruits, lying to Marine investigators and asking others to lie for him. His rank was reduced from staff sergeant to corporal, his pay was docked by $1,300 and he was restricted to base for 30 days.

Sgt. Brian Fukushima was convicted by the military in September of sexual misconduct, adultery and asking a recruit to lie to investigators. He was demoted to corporal, his pay was docked $1,000 and he was restricted to base for 30 days.

A third recruiter, Marine Reserve Cpl. William McFarland admitted guilt and was punished administratively. The terms of his agreement weren’t made public and he isn’t part of Wednesday’s suit.
A third woman who accused one of the recruiters of rape in court-martial proceedings opted not to join the suit, according to lawyer Barry Vogel.

I still say the punishment does not fit the crime and the military is doing itself a disservice when it treats crimes against anyone so lightly.

As for the ‘why would they have to sue if it really happened’ please see this. In short, most rapes to unreported because the defense effort is always to discredit the witness and make her look like she was asking for it or she was consenting. Only very brave women push the envelope on these things and they do it at great pain.

SAN FRANCISCO / 2 teens sue, say Marine recruiters raped them

This is a story about 2 young women who wanted to serve their country so they went to sign up for the Marine Corps. The recruiters raped them. The recruiters were court martialed and found guilty. Their punishment? They got demoted. Then they were ushered out of the Marines.

Jail time? Oh no. No jail time.

THEY TOTALLY VIOLATED THESE WOMEN AND THEY LOST THEIR JOBS!

I don’t believe they even got a dishonerable discharge.

Apparently raping women is just no big deal in the military. Apparently a woman wanting to serve her country best think twice about that. Otherwise she might spend the rest of her life coping with the fallout.

I have a new tenant – it happens once a week like clockwork.

Please go visit Newfie girl who is from Newfoundland. She writes short, bite sized posts about various and sundry things in her life. She also has an adorable little doggie named Dr. Taco. Please go check them out!

1). Jon Stewart I ? you big time. You were funny and fun and I thank you for that

2). Thank you Philip Seymour Hoffman for recognizing your WonderMom. You are correct – it isn’t easy raising a bunch of kids on your own and she really deserved that recognition. Also, you were great in Capote and I’m glad you won.

3). Thump, Thump, Thump – that’s my heart looking at George Clooney. Thump, Thump, Thump that’s my heart after he opens his mouth and shows the world what intelligence, class, civility and charm look like.

4). Charlize – that bow? No. No, no, no….Don’t ever let a designer talk you into something like that again. I was pretty sure that thing would come alive any moment and swallow your head.

5). Lili and Meryl – that rambling, on top of each other dialog – brilliant. I ? both of you, too.

6). Jon Stewart – did I tell you I love you?

7). 360 or whatever you names are – grow up and learn to respect the situation you are in. You looked like rebellious school boys and if you had taken a crap on stage it wouldn’t have been a whole lot more offensive. It isn’t always about ghetto culture. I hope you are ashamed of yourselves.

8). Helena Bonham Carter – you have more money than God. Use some of it for a decent stylist next time.

9). Academy – good job. You did a really nice job considering what a popularity contest the Oscars are. Go Crash!

10). See you all next year.

Bush says seeking line-item veto power – Yahoo! News

When I was a teenager, if I did something egregious that was against the rules (like lying to aid and abet bad behavior) I would do my best to turn it all around and point out some awful, unjust thing my mother did or to point out something good I did above and beyond the call like clean up the kitchen without being asked.

Apparently our president got stuck in his teens (that’s probably when he started drinking – alcoholics tend to have their emotional growth and maturity stunted at that point) because his response to being caught in a lie about Katrina is to ask for line item veto power.

Right – that’s a good idea – NOT!

Note – in addition to being in the RBF I am in a webring called Crazy Hip Blog Mamas. This post is the topic du jour about which we are collectively writing. Stay tuned for news of my big bike ride and a minor snyopsis of the Oscars.
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A couple of years ago I watched the movie ‘The Magdalene Sisters” which is a fictionalized account of a real order of Catholic Nuns who took in “wayward” girls and enslaved them in their laundry business. This movie follows the story of a couple of girls, one of whom was sent there when she got pregnant out of wedlock. When her baby was born they let her have him until they found an adoptive family and then they lied to her and just took him away. They never gave her a chance to try to make a life or be his mother. They just took him away. The filmmaker was able to interview this woman in her 70s and when she talked about how they took her baby away she broke down in tears. More than 50 years later that incident still cut like a knife even though she was ultimately reunited with her son when he was in his 50s. Today I read a story about a woman who lost a child at birth in th 40s. She went on to have a couple more kids and to foster over 100 babies but she still remembers the face of that sweet baby who died like she saw him yesterday.

And that’s how motherhood is for many of us. The strength of the bond we hold with our babies makes carbon fiber look like cheap crepe paper. I have always felt that way about my kids no matter what I have done in my life. I’m an ardent feminist and I have had a pretty robust professional life but I identify myself primarily as a mother and a really successful one at that. I adore my now adult kids and they adore me, too. They also think I’m pretty hip and maybe just a little bit crazy.

I started this blog intending to be the voice of experience and success and to write about what it takes to be a successful parent in the 21st Century. I didn’t get far, though before I realized that the world is changing so fast that you all will have a different and probably worse set of problems to cope with. The sex, drugs and rock n’ roll of my youth morphed into oral sex at an early age, enhanced drugs that are even more addictive and toxic than anything I ever ingested and a horrible set of STDs that are life threatening. And the beat goes on. On top of all of that we are constantly threatened with the loss of personal and civil freedoms and a world that could easily erupt into WW III – it really could. I don’t feel so qualified to help you navigate these waters any more and I also don’t see that you need me. You, the young mothers who are filled with the joy little kids bring into your life have each other and are doing a fine job picking your way through the minefields of modern life. I may pipe up once in a while with a post related to raising kids in this unpredictable and confounding world we live in but it isn’t the reason I keep a blog any more.

I love it that the Internet has provided a global platform for sharing our triumphs and fears, our experience and our need for counsel. I’m probably one of the more senior members of Crazy, Hip, Blog Mamas and I’m as likely to write about running or politics as I am to write about parenting but no matter what I write about I’m really happy to be here.

I know – some of you love it and tend to think IE stinks but the fact of the matter is – most people program for IE and pretty much all of the fun templates I’ve found only work for ie and not for FireFox but I give up. I’m not going to pay someone to make my blog look cool so I’ll just stick with the status quo which are the free blogger templates.

Thank you Firefox for trapping me in a sea of mediocrity. And thank you, anonymous for letting me know that my blog was unreadable in Firefox.

The problem with posting a video file is that it plays every time you open the page and after a while it gets really, really old.

Sorry about that.