Monthly Archives: September 2008

The Big Easy

September 29, 2008traveltravelgetcluedin

We went on a recent family trip to the Big Easy – N’awlins – my home town. When we planned the trip it was primarily for my law school 10-year reunion. As Murphy’s Law would have it, my law school reunion was rescheduled due to Hurricane Gustav. Of course, I already had invested over $450 in tickets and rental car so we decided to make the trek to New Orleans. We stayed local because we were on limited time. The city is not the same – you definitely got that feeling as you drove through the neighborhoods, saw the rebuilding, and the boarded up stores, restaurants, and malls. It was strange to say the least to return but also very nostalgic for me. After all, I grew up for 17 years in the city before I moved up the road to Baton Rouge to attend law school for 3. My husband had been there before but my daughter had not so it was neat to take her and get some pics in the city but I am not sure she will remember her trip. But she seemed to be enjoying the food – both home cooked and eatin’ out. My husband had a place on his list – he saw it on the Travel Channel called Willie Mae’s. I think my daughter enjoyed the food. I was just hoping to get out of the neighborhood alive. This trip was more of reconnecting with friends and eating out – eating a lot 🙂

Copeland’s was as usual, PERFECT food and the beignets and coffee are always good. It was an exhausting trip and our daughter missed her naptimes which made for crankier times later but all in all, she did good and it was a fun time. I wish we had more time especially to eat at Piccadilly’s – my favorite cafeteria eats in the world, and, perhaps take in more of the uptown area including Tulane University. Ah well… we will save up some things for next time whenever that happens.

The Show must go on!

September 25, 2008politicalpoliticalgetcluedin

Up until now I thought McCain was a waffler and a guy who truly could not make up his mind on the issues. When it comes to substance – things like stem cell research and abortion, he goes back and forth. He says one thing and votes another way. He said he was all for supporting for the war, and voted for the Iraq War but then was mad at the President. He has opposed things but then spoke out that he supports them. For example, he said he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned but then now says he is okay with abortion in the cases of rape or incest as long as the woman can prove it. Oh, so now the victims of rape and incest have to prove they were raped. That is just dandy! Let’s re-victimize the victims and just become Taliban-run Afghanistan when a woman was stoned to death because she was raped. After all, she was no good to her husband any longer.

I know, I know – a bit extreme but if you look at his record, it does not lie – he may lie, but his record does not. Just look at his voting record in Congress – he has been there long enough, and then compare it to what he says to try to win this election.

Now, there is a new ploy afoot by the McCain camp. It’s not bad enough they go and select a woman who can barely address any issue – she needs constant protection and man-cover because heaven forbid she speak freely to the press. It’s bad enough that they select her as a ploy to get “stupid” women voters to vote for the party, but now they are pissing Ole Miss, the nation, and all the voters off by trying to delay the debates. It is one thing to postpone their convention so that Gustav could hit Baton Rouge and the coast of Texas, but now they want an entirely new debate schedule because they are not (excuse me) “man enough” to face the facts! Come on! Either you know it or you don’t, another 2 weeks is not gonna make you great orator, Senator. But I tell you what, you are pissing off people who were even thinking about voting for you by pulling tactics like this. Ask a REAL Hockey Mom as she juggles her 2-3 kids, her work, and her family life — ask her if she can postpone changing her 15-month old infant or breastfeeding her 3-month old because well…. Frankly her husband wants dinner on the table. COME ON man, get a grip, get a blackberry and learn how to video conference. You can focus on more than one thing and if you can’t, you should not be President and certainly not running for the office. There are schedules and appointments to keep – LIFE GOES ON …. Get a grip man and go to Mississippi, get mud on your face like we all expect, and then return back to D.C. for the Monday budget stuff. Stop being so whiny and annoying and learn how to use some technology while you are at it.

The Debates MUST and SHOULD go on!
http://www.olemiss.edu/debate/

OUCH! That’s an open canal, man!

September 23, 2008medicalgetcluedin

This morning, I had another experience with my singing dentist. As he sang, “raise your hands to heaven and pray…” I also raised my hands to heaven to pray this man would stop singing as he plowed through open canals in my mouth – exposed for the finishing touches of a root canal. I thought this morning as I made my wayt to the dental office again that I would be done with it … that this was the day! Alas, it is not to be. I have to make yet another trip. Apparently, my canals are very complicated – curvy and hard to reach. Great! I am a borderline candidate to be referred outside to an endodontist. I wish they had in honesty because I want this done with. 5-months pregnant and recovering from illness this past weekend, the last thing I want is three appointments, 6 shots to numb the area, and drill drill drill! Needless to say, the experience left me very much in pain and unable to take anything good like 800 mg of Ibuprofen. Woooes me

In the future, when a dentist suspects I need a root canal, I have decided it is better to pay more and make a trip to the endodontist – they are quicker, seem to have all the cooler toys, and perhaps can cause less complications because they have seen the worst case and the easiest case and everything in between. But for now, I press on hoping this mind numbing pain will soon subside.

Mommy & Me

September 23, 2008culturegetcluedin

I should state from the start of this blog that this is a generalization and of course, not one formula fits all but I have gotten the impression recently from watching world-famous male athletes that moms have a lot to do with the success of their sons in sports – from Lance Armstrong to Michael Phelps and some in-between. It got me to thinking how their moms must affect their personal lives. Michael Phelps is not married yet so in truth, this is not a fair experiment but I wait with baited breath to see how his married life does.

Needless to say, I watched the interview with Oprah when Lance Armstrong’s mom was there, cheering him on, defending his honor, and addressing the cancer and divorce that Lance faced. I could not help but wonder if she played a role in that break-up. Moms who are too close to their sons, while instrumental to their success, can also be a detriment in their personal lives. It just got me to thinking and I am just more aware now…. and as I watched Michael Phelps take his 8th gold and his mom appear in several interviews with him as well, I could not help but wonder if his personal life was heading for the same fate. Like I said, it is a bit generalized but I think a mother-son relationship, like all relationships needs its boundaries and has to have its own rules. Otherwise, it is hard for the son to maintain a healthy marriage with the new woman in his life. If the son is comparing the new woman to his mama, that can be a problem too especially one who has played such a big role in the son’s life. In the case of sons who are successful because of their moms, the absence of a father-figure intensifies this bond…. so, it is something to be aware of when getting involved with someone who is close to his momma.

Reality v. Fiction

September 17, 2008entertainment, moviegetcluedin

We watched a movie last night called “untraceable” which highlighted a problem I think is very prevalent in our world today – people who are very curious about everything and anything except for their own lives. It was a disturbing movie (maybe that is what kept my daughter up at night) about how people log into a website because people are being killed on it – tortured and killed, live on the internet streaming into your home, your ipod, your blackberry, and so on. It was disturbing because so many people seemed curious about watching someone else suffer a horrible painful death and then, die. It made me start to realize that this fictional movie is not far from reality at all.

As a kid growing up, we had a few channels of TV but hardly ever heard of or even knew what reality TV was – it was just not done. Sure, there were cute game shows like the NEWLYWED GAME, FAMILY FUED, or the GONG SHOW, but there was nothing like what you see today – people living in a house trying to hurt one another emotionally or cut each other down, or worse, WIFE SWAP where wives are swapped from household to household to give people a taste of something worse or better. WHAT!?? Really?! Are you kidding me? The sad truth is that people tune in by the millions to watch this spectacle take place. People tune in and sit on the edge of their seats as the next heart throb picks his leading lady on the BACHELOR. It makes people feel good to watch these shows which is frightening really. The scary thing is that my daughter is growing up in this screwed up world.

Needless to say, beyond truth and fiction, and beyond the boob tube, people in real-life are curious too. I witnessed another guy almost swerve off of I-70 this morning because he was too busy looking to see what was happening on the shoulder: a cop was helping in the final stages of what appeared to be an accident. However, there was nothing to see- quite literally – NOTHING but this man was so enthralled with the flashing lights and the fact that people were walking, he could not help himself. I thought to myself, how is that his or anyone else’s business. Maybe if the people who got in the wreck had paid attention to what they were doing instead of worrying about something else, maybe that accident never would have happened. Maybe if people worried about their own lives, tried to spend more time with their kids, with their spouses, instead of watching useless reality shows and trying to get involved in their neighbors’ or co-workers’ lives, we would not have the problems we have in society – high divorce rate, high rate of unemployment, high rate of unhappy miserable people, and a high rate of abuse of drugs and alcohol by children. Obviously, we cannot solve all our problems in a day or a week or even a decade but here’s to hoping that we become a society of people who can focus on what matters instead of things that really do not.