I've had the hardest time trying to eek out a post. I have scribbled notes everywhere, but most of them are old and now out of date. My G4 PowerBook has had a bad case of the Black Screen of Death. If it's not the Black Screen of Death, it's at least a Black Screen of Death. Whichever it is, my little silver friend needs help. The Oldest, home to have his wisdom teeth extracted (eewww), brought me a Dell laptop he (we) bought last summer, so a substitute has arrived and I can take the Mac to the Genius Desk at the Apple Store. This is not a fancy computer. It's old in computer years and was a small, rather unexciting version even when new. While it looks exactly like the one Middle Son has in New Orleans (absent the exterior scars left from having been to college), looks can be deceiving and the one that's gone off to college has a good deal more zoom under the hood, so to speak. Still, I'd like to get a little more use out of mine, mainly because I can't afford to buy a new computer right now, and ultimately, the new laptop will (with luck) head off to college with The Youngest sooner than I can imagine.
We came in second in baseball, with a nice little run there at the end. We played seven games in eleven days, and I was tired. It's hard for me to imagine how tired my son was. He caught every inning except for the ones he pitched (pictures to come), and threw a couple of basketball practices in there for good measure. It was all very exciting, and we got t-shirts (the equivalent of a trophy in this particular league). I also got flowers from the team after the last game. I can't remember ever getting flowers before. I've had yearbooks dedicated to me and banners thanking me hung on the outfield fence, but this is the first time anybody ever gave me flowers at baseball. It was cool. Now it's onto basketball season, or, as I call it, winter conditioning.
I also no longer love my blog. I have built a blog for my internet marketing client and I used the new and improved Blog-City version 5.0a and it's hard for me to even come here. I look around, and so many of my Blog-City buddies are still in the old version. Is it some trait we have in common, this resistance to change? I think we need to somehow lift each other up to the new and improved because it is really, really, really improved. I know I should trust our fine Mayoress but I am fearful of somehow losing something in the shift. Maybe this weekend, using the new computer, I can play around with an upgrade. Change is hard for us old folks. *sigh*
Down in New Orleans, George (Loki) and Alexis got married last weekend in Audubon Park. Lots of the NOLA bloggers were there. I'm wishing the couple all the prosperity and happiness in the world. It appears that Maitri was pretty much in charge of things and she has a lovely post about the event (as does Adrastos). The fun part for me is that the wedding participants had a private room at Manale's for the rehearsal dinner, and they managed to locate Middle Son (pictured handsomely with the bride and groom), who was not particularly happy about having to work on a Friday night (although you sure can't tell it by the picture). I hope he took good care of my blog buddies.
Election day is finally here and I think most folks I know will be glad for it all to be over. I am tired of the numerous personal attack ads that are running locally. They make no sense to me, and are off the subject. While they're aimed at one candidate or another they manage to also insult me, for thinking I'm stupid enough to vote for any jerk of a candidate who would run a campaign based not on issues but on personal attacks. Piffle. I also watched the whole *John Kerry tries to make a joke* brouhaha apoplectically, and frankly, I'm still blown away by the complete failure of either the dems or the mainstream media to address it properly. As recently as last Sunday morning, Lester Holt on NBC's Today referred to it as "...the John Kerry comments about Iraqi troops..."! Lord, help us all. Kerry was citing Bush's failed policies in Iraq, quite clearly if you watch the whole thing. He was talking about the fellow who's given a "bad name to C students everywhere." [I considered crediting that line, but in trying to do so I realized it's been said so many times, it's hard to credit, so to heck with it.] Anyway, Keith Olbermann* says it way much better than I ever could (hat tip to Adrastos and Ray). It's long but so worth it. Finally, later Sunday morning I heard Donna Brazille on ABC's This Week, refer to Kerry's remark, not as the "botched joke" but rather as Kerry's statement about "how the administration has botched things," in Iraq. Thank you, Donna, but what took so long? The fact is, the Bush administration has botched just about everything they've come anywhere near. American know-how has become American incompetence, which is at least not as dark as Roseanne Barr suggested on last weekend's Real Time with Bill Maher (I gotta start getting out on weekends). Speaking of this administration's fundamentalist born-again Christian affiliation, she said, "...they're doing everything they can do to make sure the whole world goes up in flames because they believe that it should." *gasp*
Still, nobody confesses quite like fundamentalist Christians confess. Last Sunday morning Ted Haggard *confessed* to his congregation in a letter read by the new acting pastor. He was ousted from his various leadership positions after being "outed" by the male prostitute he'd been patronizing for three years. In his confession, former Pastor Haggard admitted to having struggled with his sexuality for his entire life. Now, we've just gotta assume he meant those homosexual impulses that ultimately became the strongest pull. In a recent post, Dangerblond touched on the delicate art of parenting as it relates to sexuality issues, and I think she brings wise pragmatism to the subject. Still, it's clear from watching the Haggard fiasco that the stakes are high and the potential horrors of misparenting our gay offspring are so much greater than any of us could have ever imagined. One wrong step, one ineptly applied shame-based punishment, and a perfectly happy gay child could end up as an evangelist! *shudder*
I hope all my blogging friends are happy and healthy and warm this election day. It's cold and rainy here. I plan to settle in front of the fire to watch the returns and pray for change. I've missed checking in on your blogs as much as is my usual custom and I promise to try to make up for lost time as soon as I get that new laptop online.
Peace, out, ya'll.
*The Olbermann link isn't working properly but the video clip (well worth watching) can be found at the following URL (copy and paste it into the address field): http://movies.crooksandliars.com/CD-SC-KerryJoke.mov.
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