Olympics day 9

Well.. my conundrum about who to root for in the women's hockey matches has become a little easier with the USA getting bounced out of the gold medal game after giving up a 2 goal lead and a come from behind win by Sweden in a shootout. So now the red white and blue girls will play for the bronze against Finland.. while Canada and Sweden duke it out! Sweden has an amazing goalie in Kim Martin. At the young age of 15 she played for the bronze in Salt Lake city.. for such a young athlete in such a physical game she is amazing.
So, for the first time since the inaugural women's hockey game in the Nagano games.. the gold medal game will not be the US and Canada..
Why did the US lose agains the Swedes? Well.. if you ask me, it the fault of the head coach Ben Smith.
Smith cut Granato from the US olympic team in August.. For those of you who don't follow women's hockey.. Cammi Granato is the FACE of of women's hockey.. much like Mia Hamm is the face of women's soccer.. Granato was cut from the team, for sketchy reason.. she allegedly is.. "too old" Don't get me wrong.. I LOVE to see Cammi as a commentator for NBC.. but her place is on the ice.. she plays with a grace and a finese that is hard to describe in the sport of hockey.. it's not a graceful sport.. but she played it like a ballerina.. it was beautiful to watch.
So Ben smith cuts her and the PR nightmare (which of course none of the mainstream media picked up on cause no one can give a shit about women's sports) begins.. those who cared couldn't believe that at the very least if he wasn't going to allow her to play that she wouldn't have been given at the least a ceremonial position of assistant coach.. but she was cast out of the US hockey family without so much as a thank you. The games in Turin, whatever the outcome, would have been the perfect opportunity for Cammi to retire and go out with her fans being able to see her play one last time.
Ben Smith should be ashamed at the way he treated Cammi Grantato.. the US Hockey Federation should be equally ashamed and show Ben Smith the door. Just as he showed Cammi the door.
As a hockey fan, I really couln't understand why Cammi wasn't on the squad.. I assumed it was her decision.. I was wrong..and I am pissed.
so..
GO CANADA!

The next best thing to team USA

The Wigging .. is the hardest part

I've been meaning to write about this for a while.. for those of you who were around the big rock around halloween will remember that I was part of a trio that dressed up at the office as the peanuts gang.. I was peppermint patty, and there was linus and charlie brown.. you can see the original post here


So I had this bright orange wig ala peppermint patty hanging around the house when my family came to visit at thanksgiving.. It was just kinda off in a corner waiting to be put in the halloween tupperware in the basement that had already been put away.. (procrastination.. I know... I'm really bad about that..)
So I come out of the bathroom to find my mother.. and well.. ya just have to know my mother.. she's a bingo lovin fool! Well she decided to try on the wig

I like to call her "the fashionista"


So after rolling around on the floor for a bit laughing.. I tried to get my brother (Mr. I have no sense of humor.. much ) in on the action..
If you notice though in a couple of the photos there are hats and things that she didn't put on... guess she's waiting for the next visit to try those...

I tried desperately to get him to put in on.. as you can see he just tried to cover his head and hide.. so I finally put it on him and took that photo.. this was the post wigging... he had turned bright red at this point..



we all laughed..funny what some fake hair will do to an evening of playing cards..
and see... you think that would be it.. but mom decided to try on other head accoutrements. like this snappy FDNY hat..

Later apparently having no other hats or headpieces to put on (and keeping in mind that they are from Florida and it was about 30 degrees here) to go outside and have a smoke.. she decided that she would get creative..



That's mom just being silly.. but I hear over Christmas vacation, she found some fun things to wear at my sister's house! I'm thinking next time they visit perhaps a visit to party city to pick up some bizzare things to just sort of put around the room to see if she notices.. and more importantly if she tries them on!

That Darn Cat!

spike and butter share a moment

For those of you who haven’ t had the pleasure of getting to know my cat spike, well. She’s a trip..
I adopted her when one of our TV crews was following the Olympic flag through Georgia back in 1992.. She was a wee little thing.. And she came with a host of medical issues.. The vet said that she had most likely tried to sleep in a car engine to keep warm.. So when someone started the car, she lost an ear and a couple of pads on her paw.. but she was a trooper.. and got the all clear from the vet after they drained a nasty hematoma in her ear.. she was always a little off.. but cute.. She loves asparagus, boiled peanuts and dry spaghetti noodles... she would rather drink water out of anyone’s bowl but her own.. and she had an addiction to anything menthol.. if you put on icy hot or rawleigh ointment.. she gets a wild look in her eye and will try to lick the area that you have treated..
She started doing this weird thing, where she would collect things and nest in them.. at first we thought she was hunting and killing.. but the vet said it was her maternal side collecting “babies” and nesting with them.. so we would pick up trails of beanie babies and socks, that she would bring to us..
Sometimes she would leave them in our bed.. right where I sleep.. Sometimes she would just drag them through the house.. she always did this weird meow when she was doing it.. we always thank her for the presents when she brings them to us.. sometimes there will just be this path of socks and things leading nowhere.. but she was busy while we were gone..
We had a friend that for the longest time apparently just thought we left socks all around the house until she was over one night and spike brought us some socks. Glad that got cleared up!
Spike has gone through several of her 9 lives.. she had an abscess on her tail that had to be surgically fixed.. they didn’t tell me the fur wouldn’t grow back, so she has a ring of no fur just at the base of her tail. On our anniversary a few years ago.. she decided she no longer liked having her collar on her, so she tried to slip out of it.. it got stuck in her mouth and she ripped her tongue in half.. it was gross.. but after she got fixed up it was funny cause she couldn’t meow.. so she purred a lot.. she also had to be near both butter and me, so we had this cat who was putting with a cone on her head.. like a megaphone.. it was quite loud while trying to sleep. Being that she was a feral cat, she was always quite aloof.. after that last incident she has become loving to the point of being codependent.. she is always lovin on us.. she tried to love on us with the cone on.. which became funny cause she would try to rub her head on you and the cone would get stuck..
So our loving cat continues the sock parade.. it doesn’t matter if they are clean or dirty.. she will dig in a laundry basket after butter folds all the laundry to find socks.. which is what happened tonight.. We went to dinner for Valentines Day and when we returned.. this is what we found..

notice the pile of clean socks behind her

We love our cat.. she’s just a little weird. Thought we would share..
This is the basket of clean clothes that the socks were buried in..




big yawn after a long hard day of work


She's a crazy kitty! but we love her.. and so do all of our friends and family.. my mom used to call her cheetah cause she was so sleek and tiny.. but she's developed a pooch.. old age I guess.

thank you Aerosmith

there are several versions around.. this one is mine.. enjoy!


cheney's got a gun
cheney's got a gun
huntin buddies on the run
out for some weekend fun

what did ole cheney do?
hide from the press its true
they ask will cheney get arrested?
for aimin at the old guy's brain
he never saw him comin
till the blood it was a running
the ambulance was standing by..

cheney's got a gun
cheney's got a gun
his whole world's come undone
blinded by the sun

tell me now it's untrue
what did ol cheney do
he quickly pulled the trigger
the pellets flyin everywhere
he ran from the policemen
14 hours later
available for questioning..
the press has come unglued
for the attitude
someone has to stop the train....

tidying up..

ok I admit it.. I was going to blog today..
but Dick Cheney frickin SHOT someone!!!!

I mean.. like buckshot.. some guy is pickin buckshot out of his face because ole dick forgot the cardinal rule of hunting.. ( know what you are shooting at!)

He also didn't have the appropriate license for hunting in texas..

my first response was ooh poor guy (once I knew he wasn't critically injured)
second response was dumb ass..
and lastly..
well dick's such a great shot.. put a big orange vest on him and send him to iraq.. since he has the shooting experience NOW

unbelieveable

there is a great tshirt commemorating the event here

Here's hopin none of you "accidentally" shoot a hunter while not being properly credentialled.. you would have a one way ticket to the pokey.. but not the vice prez.. they live by a different set of rules in that house of white..

we had snow here in the metro yesteray.. just a dusting.. not like that had home in New England.. YIKES! my sister loves snow and she just happens to be there for my godmother's birthday.. so she is getting her fill!

and I almost just caught the house on fire.. I was cooking some noodles and completely forgot about them.. thank gods I finally smelled something and remembered they were on the stove.. good thing it wasn't one of my favorite pans.. cause it's trashed now!

dont' forget to tip your servers!
peace....

Terror Plot my ass

Wow.. how transparent this administration is..
yet again when they are faced with mounting distrust..
questions about illegal wiretaping.. Scooter libby, abramoff, Mike brown on the stand tomorrow.. and basically going down in flames on a daily basis......
Well.. they "declassify" papers stating that they effectively stopped a terror plot against the (liberty tower?) in Los Angeles.. (I've heard it called several different names.. not sure which is correct at the moment)
They were going to use shoe bombs to take over the cockpits and fly the planes into the building..
Does anyone else besides me think this is a load of shit?
Bush has the nerve to get up in front of a crowd of people and lie.. he's done it before.. why would we think he is telling the truth.. AND if they did break up a plot.. why are we only NOW hearing about it? Only now.. when bush is struggling for air.. do we hear about the good thing that has been done..

Stir up the fear.. Stir up the anxiety.. YOUR govt is keeping you safe ... seeeeeeee.. we NEED to wiretap.. to keep you safe..

somebody get some lysol.. it STINKS in here!

Coretta's Homegoing

For those of you not from the south.. a homegoing is the same thing as a funeral..
Coretta Scott King was laid to rest after a 6+ hour homegoing celebration today..
If you haven't had a chance to see or hear any of it.. I urge you to find someplace to watch clips.. like Here
The speakers were incredible.. I went from tears to cheers several times throughout the ceremony. 10,000 people filled the church.. several thousand more a center near by and even more were turned away...
It truly was a service fit for the woman that is Coretta..







What will we do now with her legacy? With His legacy? There is more work to do.. we must all take part..

Thoughts on Coretta and sorry I've been gone

Hello blogland..
things have been incredibly crazy as we prepare for our HDTV rollout tomorrow.. so I haven't been around much..
I'm sure I have lots to say about the "state of the onion"
the arrest of cindy sheehan
alito
altoids
and doctors of eldery parents.. ( don't get me started on this one.. it's a rant for one day)
anyway... fear not.. I will return when things calm down a little bit.. probably on friday..
hope everyone is well..

April 27, 1927 - January 30, 2006

One thing that I will take a moment to write about is the passing of Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King was an incredibly graceful woman.. she carried on in the face of ultimate grief and tragedy.. and has always been a friend to the downtrodden.
She spoke once at the local gay pride festivities.. and she was spellbinding.. It was my favorite of all of the pride events I have attended in my adult life.
Part of me wonders if it's a good thing that she has passed now, before she sees the erosion of the civil rights of americans that she and her family endured so much to fight for.

some of my favorite quotes of hers on the subject

"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people." (Reuters, 3/31/98)

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions." (Chicago Tribune, 4/1/98)

She was a true supporter of inclusion and the rights of all.. and she will be terribly missed. I thank you for the work that you did on behalf of gays and lesbians everywhere..

Rest in Peace Mrs. King, may you have already joined with Martin and joyfully walk hand in hand among the clouds..