Change is afoot

I wonder if there's a way to change the default so that I always type in Arial?

Change is afoot. It looks like Trey will get an apartment in Colorado Springs once he finishes work in Pueblo, and there should be enough work there so that if we move there we will be a family together most of the time. Which means we'll probably move there sometime down the road, and in the meantime Zoey and I will be splitting time between Houston and Co. Springs. Unfortunately, that'll mean a lot of air travel, which I hate.

It's weird, when I was younger, I loved airplanes and airports. They symbolized adventure. I used to travel a lot before I "settled down." But ever since I had that panic attack on the flight home from France in '94, planes have made me nervous. It was just too real in my head, the feeling of sudden death and helplessness (all imagined, of course). I must have spent a good five hours with my heart jumping into my throat, staring blankly out the window at the clouds, a white knuckle grip on my book. Now, the thought of flying scares me.

But I will deal. The last thing I want is for my irrational fear to infect my daughter. It'll be nerve-wracking enough to get on a plane with an 18-month-old without adding extra anxiety into the mix.

In the meantime, I have a baby shower to host. The party goes down September 4, so I have a little over a month to get my house in presentable shape. Fortunately, as a "stay-at-home" mom, I'll at least have a little time to do some work (as long as my dad takes the baby). I wonder if I can get the dishwasher installed before then? That would make things much better. Besides, it'll add to the appeal of the kitchen, when we get around to selling the house. The question then becomes, are we willing to spend about $600-700 to do it?

I still wish there was a spell check...oh, wait! There is one!

Mari

conventions are tiresome

I have such mixed feelings about these political conventions. They are like theatre of the absurd in their pomp and circumstance, abstract art for the television cameras as they say over and over "John Kerry" "bravery" "purple heart" "wisdom," amid the blah blah blahs of the transitive texts. Who can honestly sit and listen to speech after repetitive speech? No wonder the networks refused to cover them; they're just not good television.

The worst part about these conventions are the millions of mindless, soundbite-seeking pundits clamoring for some screen time to give their opinion of the previous speech, and how America should react. I think pundits should have a special level of hell reserved for them and their blowhard pomposity. They're usually paid quite handsomely to give their opinion, which then somehow becomes everyman's opinion (depending on whether the pundit and everyman in question is "Liberal" or "Conservative."

I'm not just talking about the ones on PBS right after the speeches either. The opinions spring forth from ugly corners desperate for a moment in the spotlight, hoping that theirs will stick to the collective wall of TV-induced ADD like a pink post-it note.

Ewww, that sentence was a bit too florid. Let's edit "pink."

I just don't think it's healthy for people to watch TV news. The facts are just overwhelmed by all the opinion spouting from the personalities. I understand that this is TV, and TV needs celebrities. The cult of personality reigns, rather than actual news. People watch Bill O'Reilly or Dan Rather or Katie Couric because they "like" them for various reasons, and when you like someone, you are more inclined to accept what comes out of their mouths. People get attracted to people for whatever reason, and they get comfortable watching them on TV. Hell, they even feel like the people on TV are their friends, and you have to keep up with friends, right?

Me, I like Jon Stewart. I think he's cute, funny and smart. But don't tell him I said that.

blogs are for people who think important things happen to them...

Whereas, with me, nothing ever happens. I wake up, spend a few moment online checking the news until Zoey wakes up, then hang out with her for the morning. It's not so bad, though, because toddlers are very engrossing little beings.
 
Now, if I didn't have the baby, I would be busy. Or at least, working. But that doesn't necessarily mean that suddenly I would have so much to write about. A lot of people do stuff, and then write about it, but it only means something to them (those that done it). The airing of events to the public is just narcisism. (Is there spell check on this program???)
 
But hell, there's nothing wrong with a little narcisism.

Testing the new blog thing

This is why we test.



I wrote a few short little paragraphs, and then lost them while perusing the other tabs on this software. Frustrating, no?



But this time, this time, I'll save the damn words first.