Sarah Way Down South

Allison Krauss & Union Station

2012-01-25T19:54:00.002-05:00

So last night, when the State of the Union address begin to put me to sleep, I started playing around on Twitter, and I saw that Alison Krauss & Union Station would be touring this spring. After hunting down the tour dates, I decided I wanted to go. Here's the thing: my two favorite bands in the world are AK&US and REM, but I've never seen either live. REM, unless there is some great reunion tour in the future, ruined that chance for me by breaking up last year, and I am not about to let that happen again.

The thing is, the tickets go on sale Friday, and if you're keeping track, I don't have a whole lot of work coming my way at the moment, so spending what money I do have on concert tickets is probably not the best idea. My sweet mother learned of my plight and offered to pay for it for my birthday (a few months early), and I haven't yet decided if I'm going to take her up on that or not.

Anyway, they're not coming to Atlanta, but they will be in Savannah, Nashville, Columbia, Birmingham, Jackson and Chattanooga. We're aiming for Savannah or Nashville and making a night out of it, but I really haven't made any definite decisions yet. I just know I'm going to be at one of those concerts if it kills me!

I'll leave you with some of my favorite AKUS performances. I actually prefer listening to these guys live versus listening to the albums, so I know seeing them in person will be a real treat.

Here is "Choctaw Hayride"

Here's Jerry Douglas playing "A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell"

"Let Me Touch You for a While"

"We Hide and Seek"

Following Celebrities (on Twitter)

2012-01-24T18:07:00.006-05:00

This isn't some kind of crazy stalker post. No, it's all about Twitter.

As many of you know, I've been on Twitter for about three years, and while we've had our ups and downs, I love that little social networking site. I mean, I have to force myself to post stuff on Facebook, but I have to stop myself from posting my every waking thought on Twitter. I've gotten jobs through it, I've made friends through it and I've done a lot of political networking through it. The good has definitely outweighed the bad.

One of the perks of Twitter for many people is that they can follow and often interact with some of their heroes in the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics, etc. I can attest to this myself. There was the time Karl Rove and I had a conversation via Direct Message. I've been able to connect with and befriend some of my favorite writers and journalists. I even had one of my childhood crushes follow me earlier this year.

And while many of these interactions have been quite delightful, I've come to the conclusion that for some celebrities, joining Twitter is a recipe for disaster. Here's why:

1. Disappointment. I'm not going to mention any names here, but there is a comedian-turned-actor who I find to be very enjoyable. I've always thought he was amazingly talented, and obviously, he's known for his comedic skills. Unfortunately, following him on Twitter taught me that the funny runs out when there is not a script plastered in front of his pretty little face. When he started using Twitter to post a few not-so-funny one-liners each day, I groaned, but I decided everyone has a bad day. Everyone makes a bad joke. After a few days, I decided this guy must work with some damn good writers. The appeal began to dwindle quickly.

2. Drama. There's an author I've been in love with for the better part of a decade. I picked up her first book when I was in college and have read almost everything she has written since then. With the exception of one, all of her books have been fabulous, and I'm not the only one to think so. She's got quite a reputation in the literary world and even in the world of pop culture to some extent. So, when I saw that she was on Twitter, I squealed with delight and followed her immediately. At that time, she was carrying on quite excessively about something fairly meaningless, but I didn't think much of it. (If you follow me, you know I can do the same thing from time to time.) But the next week she was carrying on about something else. And the week after that, she was still doing it. Finally, it occurred to me that this woman is full-fledged drama queen. I may keep reading her books, but I'm always going to see some of her in her characters, and it's always going to annoy me.

3. Grammar. I don't expect everyone I tweet with to be perfect. Lord knows, I'm not. I understand people get passionate and type there instead of their in the heat of the moment, and I know that auto-correct can be the world's biggest pain in the ass when you're trying to spell certain words. But when someone who I have tremendous respect for is constantly throwing out sentences that look like they were typed by my dog, we're going to have a problem. I'm not expecting my favorite musician to be an English major, but there is a certain standard that adults should hold themselves to. I really don't feel comfortable supporting your career when it's probably best that you stop everything and go back to second grade to learn a thing or two before interacting with the general public again.

4. Politics and Hate. I don't begrudge anyone their political beliefs, and I'm certainly not part of the "shut up and sing" crowd, though I do feel like there is a time and a place sometimes. I'm not shy about my own political beliefs. And I try to make sure that anything I do put out there that is political is A) true or B) my pure opinion or C) not hateful or nasty. As long as others are doing that, I've got no beef with you, even if we disagree on every topic from abortion to whether or not Seal and Heidi Klum should get divorced. But I can't stand people who just randomly throw out "facts" that aren't true because they "heard it somewhere." And what I really can't stand is when someone starts badmouthing their political opponents because of something that has nothing to do with the "R" or "D" beside their name (ie. "har har, Sarah Palin's kid is a retard just like her") (yes, that's a paraphrased quote from an actor whose work I used to enjoy and who I used to follow on Twitter). Many of these celebs will try to cover up their hatefulness with the old "I'm a comedian; it was a joke." My opinion is that if you have to keep using that line, you're probably not that funny. It's hard to take your work seriously when I know you're really a small-minded buffoon who can't handle people who are different from you.

5. Overall stupidity. I think this one speaks for itself. If you have an ounce of intelligence yourself, you can spot the dumb ones from one or two tweets. Kind of sad to realize your favorite 40-year-old leading lady is not so "like totally awesome and stuff" because she tweets like a fourteen year old.

6. Ego. Obviously, egos are huge when it comes to being famous, so this one may not come as much of a surprise. There's a musician who I think is just one of the most talented people on the face of the earth. In most circles, he's really not that famous, and he's especially not as famous as he once was. If I mentioned his name here, most of you would have no idea who he is. He's been on Twitter for a while, and I don't even think he has as many followers as I do. But to read his tweets, you'd think you he was Brad freaking Pitt, though I'm sure Brad Pitt is a bit more practiced at at least pretending to be humble. This guy thinks the sun sets and rises only for him. He thinks everything he says is hilarious. His tweets are pretentious, and he loves him some him. This hasn't prevented me from listening to his music, but I've definitely dialed back my fandom.

7. Oversharing. Finally, there are some "famous" people who treat Twitter as if they are at the world's biggest slumber party. They tweet their other "famous" friends and make cutesy inside jokes. This might fly if you've got, say, Sandra Bullock tweeting George Clooney (note: I'm not even sure if these people are on Twitter, just making a point). People will eat that stuff up. But when your claim to fame is you are one of the supporting actors on that show that comes on ABC on Wednesday nights, you know the one that came on last year on Tuesday nights and will most likely be canceled by next year, and you are tweeting one of the writers for that show on NBC that no one watches and will most likely get canceled by next year, most of us don't care that you two are just too cool for the rest of us. And we all know that within hours the two of you will be sitting in whatever the Los Angeles equivalent of the Waffle House is and you can just as easily say all of that out loud. In person. I mean, most people are only following you because the star of the show that's on after your crap show tweeted you one day. I'd guess this was some kind of PR stunt if these people were actually famous enough to to require that sort of PR. Otherwise, I'm assuming it's just proof that you think you're a lot more adorable than you are.

I guess, in a way, this is all good. It reminds us not to look up to people who we don't actually know, at least not beyond admiring their talents. But I can't lie; there are some days that I wish I'd never witnessed any of this. I was perfectly happy imagining the guy in example six was just as sweet as his voice and his ability to play his instrument and the woman in example two was just a cool chick with the ability to put together an attention-grabbing story.

Soup

2012-01-23T17:41:00.007-05:00

I've been trying and trying and trying to eat healthier lately, but it's just so much easier to hit the drive-thru than it is to cook, so I'm trying to start preparing meals ahead. It's hard to do that with meat and my dislike of cooked food that has been frozen, so I've been looking for things that will keep a little longer in the fridge. I'm not a big soup eater, but my mom and several of my friends who are also on a healthy kick kept suggesting it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I also wanted to keep it low-carb.

As most of you know, I don't cook much anyway (and for good reason), but I thought this Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Broccoli Cheese Soup looked pretty easy and tasty. It's full of healthy foods (broccoli, spinach, onion, garlic, cayenne pepper...), mostly inexpensive ingredients (the most money I spent was $4 on the chicken broth and that was because I had to have organic, low-sodium, free-range...), and well, as I just learned, even I can make it.

You really just throw all the ingredients into a pan and cook them:

And after it's finished cooking, you throw it all in the blender and you get this really pretty green glop:

I added a sprinkling of parmesan cheese to the result. I also added a little extra spinach and cayenne pepper, which made it kind of spicy, but my sinuses loved me.

The end result is quite tasty, especially for something I made. It said to add salt and pepper to taste, but I didn't do that, and it may be good with a tiny bit of extra flavor, but it's fine as is. It almost taste like spinach-artichoke dip. (And I may or may not have dipped a few tortilla chips in it to verify this.)

The thing is, it made two quarts and a serving is half a cup. If you're keeping count, that's... well, a lot of servings. I've got to figure out how long it will keep in the fridge. Anyway, I've been eating it as I write this, and I must say it's really filling too. (That's one reason I don't like most soups.)

Go Giants!

2012-01-22T18:47:00.004-05:00

I'm not a big Giants fan or anything, but as everyone in the free world knows, Peyton Manning is my favorite non-UGA football player to ever grace the field, so naturally, I always pull for little brother when the chance arises. Also, I've got about four Giants on my fantasy team tonight.

Hope you're enjoying what'll be one of the last football Sundays of the year! (She says sadly.)

Lazy Saturday

2012-01-21T19:23:00.004-05:00

Well, I didn't post my baby update yesterday, because there just wasn't much to say. We got up, got ready and got out of the house. I took the little guy to do my grocery shopping, run some errands, to get some lunch and then we stopped by my parents' house to visit. We came home, and he played until he was exhausted. I put him down around 3 p.m, his mom was here by 4 p.m., and by 5 p.m., the Unabomber Cabin was quiet once again.

Not gonna lie; I kind of miss him.

I just knew that by today I'd be thrilled to death to have my freedom back, to be able to sleep as late as I wanted, to go somewhere without having to take a car seat and a diaper bag and to be able to go to the bathroom without having to worry about little fingers in electrical outlets or in the mouths of less-than-happy doggies. And don't get me wrong, all of that is nice, but it doesn't seem to be as big a thrill I thought it'd be. This doesn't mean I'm gong to run out and find me a baby, but it's definitely something that I want to happen in the next half a decade or so.

All of that said, I slept until 2 p.m.! I didn't sleep well last night, though - I kept getting hot and having these awful dreams. Then it started storming early this morning, and Sadie is suddenly scared of thunder, so she'd wake me up every time there was a boom. I got up, ate some leftover tacos from yesterday, and watched boring crap on TV. I also just took a two plus hour bath. And now that I've seen who won the primary, I'm going to go bury my head in the sand.

Newt? Really, South Carolina? Gah.

Anyway, this post is pretty much pointless, but I'm so used to updating every day now that I thought I'd throw something out there. Today truly is lazy Saturday. I think I'm about to park myself on the sofa and watch some movies/DVR'd TV shows. I've kind of been in lazy mode since the holidays anyway, so I've made a pledge to myself that it will end after this weekend.

I've been spending a lot of time cleaning out some of my mom's stuff, and I'm hoping I can finish that project up tomorrow. Monday, I've gotta get back to seeking writing jobs, getting my book edits finished, and figuring out what's next in my life. I'm really leaning towards going back to school, but well, I'm not making any big plans just yet.

One more day...

2012-01-19T22:27:00.007-05:00

I kinda sorta feel like I just sold my soul to the devil, so I felt the need to write another post to make up for that. Truth be told, I had a six hour reprieve from the kid today, so there's not too much to report. He decided it'd be fun to wake up a little before 8 a.m. this morning, which I am not a fan of. Honestly, he didn't even wake me up; it was one of my dogs growling at him as she does every time he wakes up that got my attention.

I changed him as he'd soaked through his diaper, and then I made him a double serving of oatmeal because that boy can eat. One reason I think he was so fussy yesterday is because I didn't feed him enough. After that, he ate about 1,000 crackers while I got him ready for his big day out. His grandmother (my cousin's mother and my uncle's ex-wife) had emailed me to see if she could come get him around 11, and I was more than happy to let her. She came to pick him up, and I apologized to her if I smelled bad because, as we've noted, I haven't showered all week.

Once he was gone, that's the first thing I did: took a long, hot shower. It was oh so sweet. Unfortunately, I noted that I had huge dark circles under my eyes, and I looked like I'd aged ten years in one week. Hopefully, that will go away. I think that is one reason I look so much younger than many people I went to high school/church/college with: no kids. The next thing I did was to just sit here and enjoy not being responsible for another human being. I then got in my car and went places without having to break a nail on an impossible car-seat buckle. I'd just gotten home and was thinking I might watch some Shepard Smith and take a quickie nap on the sofa when the kid's grandmother called and asked if she could bring him back.

The good thing is, he didn't take much of a nap today, so he got pretty tired pretty early. I fed him, changed him, and I let him play for a little while, but he was out like a light by 7:45. I have no idea what time he'll get up in the morning, but since it's Friday, I'm not going to sweat it too much. His mom won't be back until late afternoon, so my plan is to get up, get him and his stuff together, and we're going to spend a day out on the town. It seems to make the time go by faster, and he loves to be out and about. Plus, it's supposed to be fairly warm tomorrow, so I'm thinking maybe a trip to the park is in order.

As my week comes to an end, I've decided that it really wasn't that bad. I even kind of missed the little guy when he was gone today. I was going to say it's become second nature, but the heat made a noise earlier that woke him up, and when I heard him scream, my first thought was what is that? I still don't think it's as hard as some people make it out to be, but I know it's unfair to make that call after four days. I still think some parents are just overly whiny about how rough they have it, especially those who have babysitters and spouses to help them out.

Honestly, I thought it'd deter me from wanting kids, and while it hasn't done that, it has made me rethink the whole adopting as a single parent thing. I mean, eventually, that may be something I have to do if I want to have kids, but I might give it a few more years.

Or at least wait until I'm wealthy enough to afford hired help...

Why I'm Supporting Mitt Romney for President

2012-01-19T20:19:00.007-05:00

Quote of the Day: "It is capitalism and freedom that makes America strong." - Mitt Romney

We interrupt the "Adventures in Babysitting" series, to bring you a little bit of politics. I'm going to dip my toes into the 2012 presidential race. Please hear me out. Or don't. I don't care, but don't come crying to me when we become part of the EU or something.

I haven't formally endorsed any one candidate yet. I guess I was sort of, kind of hoping for ~~Paul Ryan~~ someone else to jump into the race at the last minute. When it became quite clear that no one else was going to do any jumping, I started leaning towards Rick Perry. Ironically, the worse he did in the polls, the more I realized he was the perfect guy for the job.

When Perry dropped out today, I was left with four guys. None of them are guys I want to vote for, for different reasons. Of them, I think three of them would be better than Obama, but I think Mitt Romney would be the best candidate of those four.

Why? It comes down to this: I don't care about social issues. I mean, I do, but this election doesn't need to be about that. This election needs to be about fixing the economy, restoring freedom and capitalism, allowing businesses to succeed or fail, and allowing new and small businesses to start up and flourish. I think Mitt Romney truly understands this. Not only does he understand that, he's lived it.

At some point in 2008, when everyone was talking bailouts, I read an op-ed Romney had written about it, and it occurred to me that this guy knows business. Obviously, he's got a storied background, but he is a walking, talking poster child for the capitalism everyone who is a fiscal conservative claims to be all about. I started seeking out more information about him, and I started to wonder if we'd made a mistake in not making him our candidate. I truly believed at that point in time, we needed a businessman in the White House. We needed a guy who had real-world experience and knew how to fix things as a boss, as a manager, as a proven leader, not some political ideologue or career politician. We need a guy who knows how jobs are crated, not one who has big ideas about what might work.

You can call him a "flip-flopper," a "phoney," a "RINO" or whatever else you want to call him or hear others say. You can say he's out-of-touch or take issue that he's a Mormon. You can point out that he's made some fairly liberal statements in the past. You can say he doesn't stand up enough for what he believes in. But what he has going for him is real-world business experience and success, and that, to me, is what makes him stand above the rest of the other mediocre candidates. And I think that's what we need more than anything right now. I don't love that it's the only reason why I want to vote for him, but it almost scares me not to do so. If we don't get this mess straightened out soon, nothing else matters.

Many people have said to me that they fear what he will do in regard to Obama's health care bill and a few other issues. If I'm being 100% honest, I have that fear as well. But he says he will handle it, and I'm going to have to trust him. In life, you just have to take that chance sometimes. Nothing is ever a sure thing. My suggestion to those who let that prevent them from voting for him is to see to it that we get and/or keep a Republican majority in the House and the Senate that will keep him honest.

I keep hearing all of this "We have to beat Obama" talk. And we do. But I don't think carefully manipulating the race (ie. picking the guy who will win debates, etc.) is the way to do that. I think the way to do that is for this party to come together and strongly support a candidate and let Democrats know that we are not going to let them win in 2012. We need to let them know Mitt Romney is our guy, and we will fight behind him. We need to stop showing weakness and apathy for our candidate, and focus on the real problems in this country. We need to educate people on why they should vote for fiscal conservatives in order to see improvements in their lives. That's how you win elections and make real change.

Many of my friends support Newt because they want to see him debate Obama. (Which, again, a smooth talking politician is how we ended up with Obama in the first place. I'll never understand that. Any of these candidates could debate Obama on his first four years and win a debate anyway.) Newt talks a good game, but what has he done to back that up? Where in life has he proven that he can do this thing? He's been a college professor, an author, a politician and a lobbyist. That pretty much sums up what Barack Obama would be in 20 years if he hadn't become president. I'm not seeing how this guy is suddenly the champion of conservatives?

I hope my friends in the GOP will eventually see through all of this too. I hope they'll get past talking points and catchy catch-phases and fancy speeches. Those things are great for talk shows, but they don't fix a country with big problems. It's too late to wish and hope and search for the perfect candidate; we need to start supporting a candidate who can and will get something accomplished.

I have more to say on the matter, but this foray back into political blogging is giving me a headache. Baby steps, kids, baby steps.

Is it Friday Yet?

2012-01-18T21:23:00.002-05:00

I'm counting down the hours.

Not really, but today was definitely a little more trying. I'll try not to type out the whole play-by-play, as I realize that's boring, but it's all I've got to blog about lately. (Though I'm on the verge of blogging about politics again...soon. Maybe.)

Anyway, the little munchkin woke up a little before 9 a.m., and while I could have slept another hour or two, I decided it was probably cruel to just let him sit in his little cage while I got my sleep on. So, we got up, and I made him some oatmeal. I washed some dishes. I did some laundry. I made myself this healthy smoothy I've been meaning to try for a while. I got him a snack, and he settled in to watch Sesame Street, while I pulled out the laptop and looked for some recipes. I was feeling like the Super Nanny.

And then he started whining.

Whining annoys me. His mom told me he'd been doing this lately, so I followed her instructions for how to deal with it. It didn't quite work out. Everything seemed to upset him; it didn't matter what I did. He would play for a little while and then come whining to me. I got him more food, I changed his diaper, I played with him and I even let him pet Sadie (who growls when he comes too close). I finally decided that I couldn't take anymore of this pretending to be a stay-at-home mom junk. Our cozy day at home was making me stir-crazy anyway.

I didn't care that my clothing was covered in sweet potatoes, and I didn't care that I haven't showered in a few days. I loaded him up and we drove to the grocery store. He drifted off to sleep on the way, which made me think that's probably one reason he was so fussy. I got him out and took him inside and took my sweet time trying to come up with some things to buy. He sat happily in the buggie while I shopped.

On the way home, I swung by Burger King to get my dogs some hamburgers (I know, I know), and I decided to get him one too. OK, I got me one too. Sue me. Anyway, I tore his little burger into a gazillion pieces, we ate lunch, and he was happy until about 2:30, when the whining started again, so I decided he could go down for his nap early.

I watched Shepard Smith in peace, and I actually got some work done. Around 5:30, I started worrying that he was sleeping too long, so I went to check on him, and he seemed to be fine. Obviously, he needed some sleep. I was just about to sit back down when Gabby took it upon herself to bark for no reason, and suddenly, he was wide awake.

I heated his dinner up in the microwave. It was this godawful-looking baby food microwave dinner with chicken chunks, mashed potatoes, and carrots. He enjoyed a few bites of the potatoes, but when I put a piece of chicken in his mouth, he started screaming at the top of his lungs. And I mean screaming! Food and spit were flying everywhere. I finally sent his mom a text, asking her if she had ever fed her one of these things before. She was like, "Oh yeah, but he doesn't really like them."

No kidding!

So, I tossed that right in the garbage and he ended up eating a gazillion other things. After that and a diaper change, I decided maybe he was just hungry, because he seemed a lot more settled. I let him run around naked (in a diaper) for a bit. Tonight was bath night, and I had this terrible fear of him pooping in my tub, so I thought I'd give him a little more time to digest everything (and he did...twice). He had a good time with his toys and then I changed his diaper and he screamed at the top of his lungs again. That's probably when I started counting down until bedtime.

I ended up putting him in his little cage so I could go get the bathtub ready for his bath, and I noticed that the water from my last shower (from a few days ago), was still in the tub. Long story short, I ended up reaching my hand down the drain and pulling out gobs of nasty, slimy hair that I hoped like hell was mine and not the home's previous residents'. After all of this, I ran back into the living room, grabbed a toy that was bath-friendly, a plastic cub, his shampoo/body wash, and him in one big swoop, and we ran back to the bathroom. I put him in the tub and he squealed with delight.

I let him play for a few minutes and then I began washing him. Good Lord, that child started screaming again. And when I went to wash his hair...holy crap. He hated it. I tried so hard not to get it in his face, but he was bucking and jerking and then he'd go limp when I tried to move him. When I was sure I had all of the soap off of him, I gathered him in a towel and he just grinned at me like none of that had even happened. Sigh.

So, I got him dressed, and we were back in the living room by 8 p.m. American Idol was on, and he was very fascinated by this program, even dancing at times when someone was singing. He played and watched, and I breathed a big sigh of relief that bedtime was in sight. Before he goes to bed, he gets a cup of milk, so I got that ready and he could barely stand up to drink it. I cuddled him for a while, and he drank his milk and watched TV, and as soon as the clock hit 9, he went to bed. And I came back to the living room, plopped myself down on my loveseat and only moved to make some hot chocolate about an hour ago.

I had all these great plans for after he went to sleep (shower, anyone?), but I got caught up in some story someone posted on Facebook, and then there was the Daily Show and well, now I'm just sleepy.

While today wasn't the best, I haven't made any doctor's appointments to have my reproductive organs stripped from my body. My lack of accomplishing anything today was mostly my fault, as I just wasn't motivated, baby or not. I'm still enjoying his company, and I would gladly keep him again if the need arises. But I ain't gonna lie: when I found out his grandmother may come get him for a while tomorrow, I got a tiny bit happy.

Day 2: Yawn

2012-01-17T22:05:00.005-05:00

Well, "Day 2" of adventures in babysitting is officially over. I should be writing some things I'll actually get paid to write, but what's the fun in that? Besides, I'm wide awake after my two-hour nap today, so I suspect I'll be up late. Yeah, that's right. I took a two hour nap. And they say parenting is hard...

The day started around 8:30 when Mr. "Oh, he always sleeps until 9, sometimes later" made liars out of his parents, even after I kept him up late last night. Truth be told, I probably could have slept longer. He was just sitting in his little travel crib singing and playing, but I drank way too much tea last night, and my bladder wasn't having it. On a normal day, I would have gone to the bathroom, let the dogs out so they could empty their own bladders, and then I would have gone back to bed, but once this little guy spotted me climbing out of bed, he started clapping his hands and squealing. (I promise, that's the last time I'll talk about me using the bathroom in this post, so you can keep reading.)

Instead of getting him up, I wheeled his little bed into the living room and gave him a few toys. He actually likes spending time in there (even though his mom claimed he's too big for it. psht, what does she know?), and the dogs aren't too crazy about him yet, so I took advantage of it. I had several errands to run today and nothing to wear, so I threw some laundry in and went ahead and made his breakfast. I fed him, changed him, let him play for a little while, and then I put him back in the crib while I got ready (seriously, I love that thing).

Our first stop was my mom's house to get a few things and let her see him for a bit. Next, we went to the gas station.

Mom Lesson #1: Always be able to pay at the pump.

There are two gas stations near my house. The one I always used to go to was sold to someone else. He's a jackass, and he tries to rip you off, so I no longer go there. The other one is always more expensive and it's Citgo, which I don't like, but the guys who own it are really nice. And my gas light had been on for two days, so I didn't want to risk driving further. Well, the other problem with this particular station is that sometimes my debit card works in the pump and sometimes it doesn't. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and of course, today was a big fat no. I was really tempted to just run in and pay and leave the little guy in the car, but I knew that was a big fat no too, so I got him out (in the rain) for all of two minutes so I could go pay for my gas.

My next stop was the bank drive-thru to make a deposit, and then I had to run by the courthouse to drop something off for my mom (drop-box in the parking lot for the win). Next was Publix.

Mom Lesson #2: You can't get injured.

Back when I hurt my back, I also hurt my knee, because I was walking at such a strange angle. I never mentioned this (I don't think), because I figured y'all get enough of my injury reports. It's a lot better than it was, but it's hard to go up stairs sometimes, and it randomly hurts from time-to-time. The problem is, this is not the knee that is already hurt from running over myself. So, now I have two hurt knees. (Hopefully, this new injury isn't quite as permanent.)

Anyway, I got out of the car at Publix, and this sharp, shooting pain ran down the back of my leg. I could hardly move. It was that damn knee. It took me a few minutes just to get around to the other side of the car to get the kid, and then it took me a few more minutes to actually get inside the store while lugging an extra 20 to 30 pounds. I put him in the buggie, got the two or three things I knew I needed and just left. I worried about him in the store. I had these horrible images of him jumping out and hitting the hard floor or someone grabbing him when I turned my head. That said, I watch my purse like a hawk when I'm in the store, so I just put it in his lap so I'd be forced to watch him closely. (I'm kidding!)

We went by the post office next, and a friend of mine who works there oohed and aahed over him, and then I went and picked up a pizza (despite the fact that I am supposed to not be eating carbs and had this great plan of cooking fresh food and chicken all week).

Mom Lesson #3: Low-carb diets require a little more planning ahead when you have kids.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I fed him lunch and had him in bed in time for me to watch some live Shepard Smith. My goal while he was napping was to, like, do things, but I was so sleepy, that at 4:00, I climbed in bed too. I turned my ringer on my phone off (something I rarely do) and the next thing I know, it's dark and the iPhone is vibrating all over the windowsill over my bed. It was 6:30 p.m. and both me and the kid were still asleep. Oops. (He's supposed to sleep from 3 to 4-5 p.m.) I let him play for a few minutes, and then I fed him his dinner while we watched more Shepard Smith. I just knew he'd be up all night, but by about 9 p.m., he was whiny, so I did his bedtime stuff, put him in his little bed and wheeled it back to my room.

Anyway, this is probably a pretty boring post, but really, it was a pretty boring day. He's starting to get comfortable here, so he's acting out a little more, but he's still really well-behaved compared to other kids I've dealt with in the past. It's mostly just inconvenient for my cushy, single lifestyle. I'm still not convinced that half the parents I know have a legitimate excuse for being so whiny and tired all the time, but I still have three more days to go.

Tomorrow, we are not leaving the house, so I'm hoping I can get some things done (and stop eating junk).

Where's that engineering degree when I need it?

2012-01-16T22:45:00.002-05:00

My babysittee arrived around 3pm today. It's 11:00 now, and he just went to sleep about half an hour ago.

I am utterly exhausted.

Actually, I spent the weekend cleaning my house, and I don't just mean doing the dishes. I mopped, swept, dusted the ceilings, moved furniture, etc. I also got very little sleep. By about noon today, I was already ready to pass out, so I don't think today is a fair assessment for my "are people with kids really just whiny and annoying" project.

I did, however, learn already that having my own child would be quite a shock to my system.

After they arrived, it took about half an hour for his mom and I to unload her car. I'm grateful that she practically brought everything he owns, but I can barely fit my stuff in the car when I travel, and I don't require a stroller and a crib!

My cousin told me that he likes to play with phones and remote controls. Seeing as how my only phone is my iPhone and we hadn't gotten any of his toys out yet, I decided he couldn't do much harm to my remote controls. Within minutes, he'd changed the channel on my cable box and my TV and had set up some kind of weather alerts that I didn't even know existed. As we all know, 3 p.m. is my Shepard Smith time. I DVR Stuido B every day, because I'm usually busy or not home, and I watch it at night after the Daily Show. Every time he pressed buttons, I had a silent panic attack, but the thought of voicing my concerns seemed so trivial.

His mom left around 4 p.m., and he and I played for a little while. She said it was technically his nap time, and he actually fell asleep for a little while. I hadn't yet set up his little bed, so I put him in my bed. During this time, my plan was to make this great chicken recipe I'd been planning since last week; I'd already thawed out the chicken and everything. By the time I could pull up the recipe on my iPhone, he was awake.

At this point, I decided it would be best if I get his little portable playpen/crib thing put together before bedtime. Good grief, that thing should have come with instructions. It literally took a leg and two arms to snap it in place, and then I was left with these two metal rods that I had no idea what to do with. Let's just hope it doesn't close up on him tonight!

Then I tried to open up his stroller so I could sit him in it to feed him. She also brought some sort of highchair, but after the crib thing, I refused to try to put that together. Before she left, she showed me how to open the stroller: "you just push this button and pull the seat and voila."

"That's easy enough," I responded, thinking how hard can it be to open a stroller? My dad was here when I was trying to open the stroller (he was dropping my dogs off). He watched as I pushed and pulled and finally asked what I was doing. It took me texting my cousin to realize you are supposed to turn the handle after you push the button and before you pull the seat. I must have missed that part. Oops.

So, after I fed him, I realized I haven't eaten a thing all day, and I wasn't about to wait for that thawed out chicken to cook. Naturally, I decided we'd make a quick Chick fil A run. It was only about 7:30, and I wanted to watch the GOP debate at 9. Had I been by myself, I would have been back by the time Shepard Smith signed off on the Fox Report (yes, I DVR that too), but I wasn't. I was in the dark with a 15-month-old baby and a car-seat that had more straps and buckles on it than one of those scary bondage outfits you see in movies. After about 20 minutes of trying to figure it out, I sent a text to my cousin again and asked her how to put it in the car. I was afraid she was going to get pissed off at this point, but she assured me it wasn't just me.

We finally got home just as the debate started. He's supposed to go to bed at 9 p.m., but he was checking out my waffle fries, and I thought maybe he'd sleep later in the morning if I let him stay up late. I think he finally went down around 10:30 p.m.

Oh, well. Aside from my inability to understand this newfangled baby equipment, I'd say day one went pretty well. He's actually a really good kid, just very busy. Then again, day one was only really half a day, so who knows what tomorrow will bring.

On that note, I've got some chicken to cook and a bed calling my name.

Oh Baby!

2012-01-12T17:06:00.003-05:00

Earlier in the week, my cousin emailed me and asked if I had plans next week. She just started a new job and has to go do some training out of state. Her husband has to work, so her mom was going to keep her baby, and she wanted to know if I'd be around in case she needed help. I told her I would.

At some point yesterday, they decided it would be best if I kept him the entire time.

He'll be here Monday afternoon through Friday evening. I'm fine with that, but it's been so long since I took care of a baby. Well, I actually kept him for a day not long after he was born, but he was tiny and slept most of the time, and now he just started walking. Anyway, I actually have tons of baby experience from back in the day (babysitting/church nursery/daycare), so I'm sure it will come back to me easily.

The thing is, with most of these jobs, I went home at the end of the day. It's just going to be me and him for nearly a week. I think it'll be fun, but don't be surprised if one of my next posts is a rant about how I'm never having kids myself!

Last night, I was looking around my house and realizing how very not baby-proof it is. I actually asked her if she was going to bring him some food, because outside of a bag of Goldfish crackers I found, my cabinets and fridge are a low-carb, non-processed food zone.

This is really going to be a shock to my cushy, single lifestyle. But it can't be that hard, right?

Manhunt Wednesday

2012-01-11T14:24:00.007-05:00

It started around 5:30 a.m. when I awoke to the loudest boom of thunder I've heard in my life. I literally sleep through hurricanes and tornadoes, and this had me hopping straight up out of the bed as soon as I heard it. I got up and unplugged my computer and new TV (not taking any chances with the luck I've had over the last couple of years) and after listening to the storm for a while, I went back to sleep.

And I thought that would be the most excitement I had today.

Around 9 a.m., I woke up again, took the dogs out, threw on some clothes and headed up to my parents' house. Today's plan was to go run a few errands for myself and my mom, and then go back to my parents' to do some work. I've been cleaning out my mom's "craft room" for the last few weeks, and I've been spending a few hours there every day when I have nothing else going on. Today was supposed to be one of those days.

Let me back up and say I live about half a mile from my parents, on a tiny, private road off their road. My parents have lived in that house for as long as I've been alive, and my grandfather is next door. My road only has a few residences on it: mine, my landlord's, my landlord's in-laws, their daughter, and another house they rent out, plus my dad's brother and sister's houses, which are behind my parents' and grandfather's houses. In other words, we all know each other in this little area. Confused?

So, I'm getting ready to leave my mom's house, and we hear a siren on my parents' road. It's rare for a police car or ambulance to go down my parents' road (there are less than 20 houses on it), but with the weather as bad as it's been all morning, my mom said she'd been hearing sirens all day. We thought nothing of it, but I went out to get in the car and the local crime scene van drives by. I thought that was a little odd. It's one thing to see a patrol car, but the crime scene van? Did someone get killed? They were going really slow, so I walked down to the mailbox hoping I could talk to them or figure out what they were doing, but they stopped and talked to my parents' neighbor. I sat in my car for a few minutes and noticed several other law enforcement vehicles coming down the road, as well as several that were already lining the street down towards my road. I went in and told my mom, and she called my landlord (they're good friends) to see if she knew what was going on.

The thing that had me slightly worried, aside from the number of law enforcement vehicles, was the mixture of vehicles. We do not live within the city limits, but there were city police as well as county deputies, detectives in unmarked cars, the crime scene unit, and numerous other types of vehicles. I actually used to work in law enforcement here, so I kind of had an idea of what's what, and that sort of mixture usually meant something pretty bad.

Anyway, after sitting in my car in my parents' driveway, I noticed several of the cars were starting to turn down my road. This had me a little freaked out. I don't call my little house in the woods the "Unabomber Cabin" for nothing. It's somewhat hidden in the trees and maybe even a little deserted looking. I decided it was time to drive down and check it out.

I turned down my road and the first thing I saw was a detective sitting in an unmarked car, so I pulled up beside her and rolled down my window. I asked if it was okay for me to keep going, and she said yes, and I asked her if she could tell me what was going on. She told me a guy had escaped from a deputy and was on the loose in this area. She told me what he was wearing and if I saw him to call 911. I asked if he was armed, and I'm pretty sure she thought I'd been watching too much First 48, but she told me she didn't think so.

I kept going, and I soon realized, there were cops in every little nook and cranny on my little wooded road. They were in my landlord's driveway and all of her family's driveways. There were several of them up in this little field above my house where my landlord's in-laws plant vegetables. There was one sitting just at the edge of my driveway, but I pulled in anyway. I sat in the car for a while, because I wasn't really sure what to do. I just knew if I got out of the car, some maniac was going to come up and put a gun to my head or something.

I finally decided I must look suspicious to all of the cops sitting in my direct line of vision, so I got out of the car, and I started to walk to my door, but my mom called me. I was going to tell her what the detective had told me, but she'd already talked to someone else who told her the same thing.

"Do you know where he's supposed to be?" I asked her.

"Well, they say he was last seen on the blah blah blah," she said.

Let me back up again. Without going into too much detail, because I'm paranoid like that, the "blah blah blah" is something that's in my front yard. Right in my front yard. I was standing just feet from it at that very moment she said that. I nearly passed out right then and there.

I hurriedly made my way to the house, fumbled with my keys and went inside. I am bad about not double checking the locks when I go to my parents' house, and I was hoping and praying I'd locked them all. I also have a window that doesn't lock, and while I keep a piece of wood jammed in it, an extremely thin person could easily slide in if they really wanted to. Granted, they'd tear up half of the electronics I own, but it could happen. Also, I usually keep my TV on when I'm not home, but because of the weather, I'd left it unplugged, AND all of the light-bulbs in my living room are blown (one reason I was running errands).

So, I walk into this dark, quiet, possibly unlocked house, and I ducked into the first room after you walk in this particular door (which just so happens to be the bathroom). I listened to make sure no one was walking around, and I looked around for something to use as a weapon should it come to that. I've been talking about getting a new gun lately, and oh, how I wish I would have had it right then, but I had to settle for a can of hairspray. (Don't judge me.)

I walked down the hall a little ways and glanced in my bedroom. Unless he was hiding in my closet, he was not there. I didn't see anyone in the living room, but without completely turning a corner, I wouldn't be able to see into the kitchen. Also, there was the whole upstairs to contend with, but I decided I'd leave that be. I was just about to check the kitchen when I encountered a really strong whiff of cigarette smoke. I don't smoke, and I don't let anyone smoke in this house. My landlord (who is across the street from me) does smoke, and when it's windy, I sometimes get a little scent of it, but this was really strong. I thought: that fool is hiding in my house, smoking, and I'm going to die.

Instead of going any further inside, I glanced at all the doors to make sure they were locked, and I ran back to the door I came in, hairspray in hand, ready to spray anyone in my path right in the eyes. I locked the door and walked quickly to my car (I though running would look a little suspicious to all of the police officers in the area, especially considering some of them appeared to have their guns drawn).

I got back in the car and debated driving back to my mom's house or just sitting there for a while, when suddenly, I heard some shouting and all the law enforcement vehicles started to drive back up my road. I was surprised to see that there had been way more than I first realized; they seemed to come from all over the woods. After I was sure they were all gone, I gave them a minute and left too. Somewhere along the way, my mom called to tell me they'd caught the guy. I never could figure out where they caught him exactly, but I think he was in the field where my landlords' in-laws' garden is. Just feet from my house...

From what I understand, someone had been trying to serve a warrant on a guy in a house on a nearby road, and the guy took off from another door in the house. Fun stuff.

So, that was my little bit of drama in the woods. I'm exhausted from the little adrenaline surge, but it made for an interesting day. It also kind of made me miss my old job, especially considering that I'm unemployed, but that's a whole other blog post!

Best of 2011: Mary Kay Andrews / JT Ellison

2012-01-04T23:35:00.005-05:00

Mary Kay Andrews

Since I did movies and music, I figured I should choose my favorite books of 2011. As previously stated, I didn't have much time for new music and movies last year, but I did do a good bit of reading. I started the year reading mysteries and crime fiction, and while I love my crime authors (Slaughter, Ellison, Cornwell, Gerritsen, etc.), by summer, I needed something a little lighter. I'm a sucker for Southern fiction, but there is just not as much of the good stuff as I'd like there to be. I can't do straight up romance and sadly, much of it falls into that category. (I do love me some chick lit, though.)

Between trips to South Carolina, I visited the local used book store and found a copy of Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews. I'd actually remembered this book from when I worked at large chain bookstore during college, and it had been a big seller. At the time, it wasn't my thing, but I've grown up a little bit. I bought it, brought it home, and I couldn't put it down. I ended up ordering most of the rest of MKA's books on Amazon and reading those, as well. Savannah Blues is still my favorite, but I poured over those books like nobody's business.

I've always felt like there was a type of Southern fiction out there that didn't get written, which is, in part, why I started trying to write it myself, but Savannah Blues fits into it very well. Right now, I'm reading her latest book, Summer Rental, which is really good, too. Next up, I'm planning to read the mystery series written by the same author under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck.

So, while Savannah Blues wasn't released in 2011, it was my favorite book I've read this year, and as far as MKA's books go, Summer Rental, which was released in 2011, is quickly becoming one of my favorites, too. Frankly, you should just check out all of her books!

JT Ellison

My favorite book actually released in 2011 was Where All the Dead Lie by JT Ellison. As I mentioned, I love mysteries and crime fiction, but I'm really picky about what I read. I don't want to say anything bad about anyone, so I'll just say I don't enjoy the way some people write or an overall lack of character development. Obviously, I'm in the minority, because these authors sell tons of books. Anyway, I discovered Ellison a couple of years ago when I saw a mutual friend conversing with her on Twitter. Her books are set in Nashville and that alone was enough to convince me to check them out. (See above: love for Southern fiction)

I've mentioned her here before, so I'll cut right to the chase: this is one of the few book series I've read that gets better as it matures. If I had to put her books in order according to which ones were my favorites, I'd more or less just line the series up backwards.

When I heard what the book would be about, I was cautiously optimistic. I was really intrigued by the supernatural element and the exploration of Taylor Jackson's (the main character) relationship with a male character who was not her main love interest. However, the book is set in Scotland, and I seem to have a love/hate relationship with books set in the UK. Let me just say, I started reading this book one day and stayed up most of the night finishing it. I loved almost everything about it, but I think my favorite part was the setting. I've never really had a desire to go to Scotland, but now, I'm so there the first chance I get.

If you haven't checked out the Taylor Jackson series, I highly recommend it. And while the last few books were my favorites, I would definitely start at the beginning with All the Pretty Girls, but I have some kind of OCD when it comes to reading a series in the order it was written. (No, really, I accidentally read one of the last Rizzoli and Isles books by Tess Gerritsen, not realizing it was part of a series, and I can't even bring myself to start from the beginning now without hyperventilating at the thought.)

So, those are my favorite books of 2011. Maybe my goofy little bluegrass book will be someone's favorite of 2013? Hey, a girl can dream! Speaking of, I've got some editing to do. This concludes my "Best of 2011" series of posts!

A new look for the blog?

2011-12-30T10:59:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I updated my blog design, but I'm think I'm tired of the red, white and blue thing. (Hey, it was an election year when I did this.) The thing is, I remember how long it took me to do this manually, and I'm not sure if I want to put that much effort into it at this point. I'm also not sure if these many years later it requires that much effort.

I've been trying to update more lately, but it's not the priority it once was (you know, when people read it and commented and stuff and I couldn't just say what I wanted to say on Twitter).

So, if anyone's out there and you notice things starting to change in the near future, don't be scared! To quote the great philosopher Sheryl Crow, "A change will do you good."

Best of 2011: Cedar Rapids & Ed Helms

2011-12-30T00:01:00.005-05:00

"The whole place smells like chlorine; it's like I'm in Barbados or somewhere." - Tim Lippe

After doing my "best of 2011" music post, I decided I might have better luck with movies. I wanted to make a top ten list, but I was drawing a blank. Sadly, the only movie I saw in a theater this year was The Hangover Part II. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, but the the only reason I saw it in a theater is because I was waiting for check-in time at my hotel in Charleston. It's been a busy year. I saw lots of stuff on DVD this fall, but many of the year's movies aren't even out yet, so I don't feel like I could properly make a "best of" list. Instead, I decided to do what I did with music and just pick the film that had the greatest impression on me.

So, I chose Cedar Rapids. Was this the best movie of 2011? Probably not. However, I think it was the most under-appreciated movie of the year. But let's back up.

In January, I was really excited to see that Cedar Rapids would be at the Sundance Film Festival for a few reasons. Yes, as any idiot in the free world knows, I'm a big Ed Helms fan, but I'd read about this movie last summer, and I thought it looked interesting. There are so many movies labeled as comedies these days that just aren't funny - either 30 minutes into them you're so bored you find yourself playing with your iPhone or the jokes are so unoriginal you realize you've already seen this movie 18,000 times before and you find yourself playing with your iPhone.

From what I could gather from articles and early reviews, Cedar Rapids had an original storyline. It had a great cast of actors playing unique characters. It wasn't pretentious or too over-the-top. It didn't recycle the same old jokes. I read/watched several interviews with Helms and the director, Miguel Arteta, and it just sounded like fun. A few things I read said that it poked fun at the Midwest, but I didn't get that vibe at all. I really wanted it to be good and do well.

It was June before I finally got to see Cedar Rapids, and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't completely what I expected, but it did live up to many of my expectations. While the movie is most definitely a comedy, the main character, Tim Lippe, ends up being a guy you want to laugh with, not at. He's very naive, but again, I didn't see this as poking fun at people from small towns. Seriously, if you got that from this movie, you need to step away from the "No Spin Zone" or something.

But I think the best part of it was seeing Helms play a different kind of role. I've had a hard time explaining this to people who have asked me about it, because you can't really say this is a "serious" role and that's how it usually comes across when I describe it, but it's different than anything we've ever see him in him to date. It proved that he's got some major talent as an actor and not just a funny guy. And that's not to say I didn't already think that, but this role took it to a whole new level. (Don't get me wrong, he was funny too; this just went a little deeper, I'd say.)

After watching Cedar Rapids, I'm really excited to see what else Helms does in the future. As I mentioned before, I think he's a rarity in an entertainment industry plagued with cheap laughs these days. (I also think neighborhood kids should stay off my lawn.) And I'd like to see more original comedies like this from the talented folks in the film industry.

I know I suck at movie reviews, but I encourage anyone who's interested to see Cedar Rapids. It's good stuff.

Adventures in Sarahland

2011-12-28T22:12:00.004-05:00

I couldn't let 2011 end without doing something else completely and utterly stupid could I? Here's a quick story to prove that life with me is always, well, it's never dull.

So, my mom goes to this eye doctor that's in another county, about 45 min from our houses without traffic, and traffic between here and there in the morning is usually pretty awful. After having eye surgery in October, she had a follow-up appointment today, and I got up at the crack of dawn to go pick her up and have her there by 8:30.

I don't enjoy going inside this particular office, so unless she's having something major done, I've started sitting in the car and reading or playing with my phone or napping, mostly napping. This also means I don't exactly dress appropriately for going inside, which, as I learned today, is a big mistake. My outfit was actuallly suitable for public (usually, I wear pajamas), but I was wearing flip-flops, and it was about 34 degrees.

So, it's dark when we leave, and of course, I had my lights on. Once we were on our way and the sun started making its way over the horizon, I started to turn the lights off, but for some reason, I didn't.

Here's the thing: I bought my car brand new several years ago, and since about the day after I bought it, the little bell that alerts you that you've left your lights on hasn't worked. I've never gotten it fixed, and it's led to quite a bit of heartache. I've found myself stranded in parking decks in downtown Atlanta at 3 a.m., stranded in parking lots of various places of employment, and unable to leave the driveways of various family members and friends at random times. As a matter of fact, just a few months ago, after a particularly long appointment, my mom and I sat in that very office parking lot for a good two hours waiting on my little cousin to drive up and jump us off.

So, today, we got there early, around 8 a.m., and my mom went in early, hoping she'd get out quickly. I sat in the car and watched some young men cut grass, played with my phone, and tried to take a nap since I'd only managed about three hours of sleep. As the minutes and eventually hours, passed, I began wondering what was taking so long when a little noise interrupted my thoughts. It sounded like something in the car had died. I didn't think much of of it at first, but then I looked down and noticed that the lights were still turned on and had been since we got there. Never mind the fact, that I'd been intermittently listening to the radio and running the heat, as well.

The battery. I wanted to cry.

I tried some little tricks I've read about to give the battery a boost but no such luck. I called my cousins, all of whom were working. I tried to think of who I knew who lived in the area that wouldn't be at work. Just about then, my dad called. I explained to him what happened and practically begged him to come, but he couldn't... something about his boss not being there and filling in and not being able to leave. He told me to call my grandfather, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. He's 86 and while he's in pretty good shape, I just didn't want to have him drive for an hour just to fix my mistake. Plus, I was parked between two cars that obviously weren't going anywhere anytime soon, so jumper cables were probably out of the question.

I believe for the 100th time in the last five or so years, my dad also cursed me for being single, but that's a story for another day...

So, I finally gathered up my little hobo-looking self, flip-flops and all, and walked into the office. I asked the receptionist if she knew of anyone there who could help and she called the office manager over. Another lady mentioned that she had jumper cables and would be glad to help, but the office manager told her no, that she couldn't, and then she made a somewhat snide comment about how I should try AAA or something.

I went back to the car and Googled some roadside service places, but no one answered their phones on this lovely morning. I waited for my mom to call for me to come pick her up at the door. I was bracing myself for her to yell and scream about how irresponsible I am and how she can't believe this is the second time I've done this in the last few months in the same parking lot that's nearly an hour away from our houses.

But before any of that could happen, I looked up and saw an AutoZone up the street. From my work in South Carolina, I knew they offered some battery-related services, not necessarily the one I needed but still... And I mean, sure, I was not at their store, but I was just up the street. Maybe some kind dude could just come drive down out of the goodness of his heart? (I know nothing about cars and car places, so this all seemed logical to me.)

I called and the guy who answered barely spoke English, but I told him what I needed and he said, "Sorry, we don't do that" (or at least I think that's what he said - he could have just as well been screaming "Allahu Akbar") (I kid, I kid, calm down, people). I started to thank him and hang up, but he told me to hold on, and when he came back to the phone, he started giving me a phone number. I wrote it down, but I'm not sure he actually told me what the number was for. I Googled it and no business names came up, but desperate times and all...

So, I called the number and realized it was a towing service, and of course, no one answered. I hung up and decided to wait for my mom. She has better contacts and more common sense than I do when it comes to issues such as this anyway. I was just about to drift off to sleep when towing company guy calls me back. He tells me he'll charge me $45 to come fix my little problem and promised that he was just 15 minutes away. I hesitated to pay but decided it was worth it.

About half an hour later, I was standing by my car, barely able to feel my toes, listening to a lecture on battery life, and cursing myself for not wearing real shoes. Just as soon as I wrote the guy a check, my mom called and said she was at the door, waiting for me to come get her. Perfect timing. If I wanted, she could have stayed in the dark about this little incident. And part of me wanted, believe me, but I've never really been able to lie to her about things. Plus, my dad would have told her anyway.

When she got in the car, she said, "I didn't think the doctor was ever going to show up; I can't believe it took that long!" Then she looked at me and asked, "Did you get to take a nap? I guess you had plenty of time?"

I just sighed and handed her the receipt.

She still yelled at me, but I was pretty proud of myself for handling it on my own, without the help of any family members. Sure, I'm 30, but me and cars don't mix very well (if you've read my blog for any length of time you'll know this). I kind of felt like a grown-up!

Small Bank vs. Big...Phone?

2011-12-27T22:10:00.002-05:00

I've been an AT&T customer for about half a decade now. We've had our highs and lows, but this last week was the lowest of the low.

Now, before I tell this story, let me just say that this is not some kind of loony "Occupy telecommunications company" story or anti-capitalism rant. I love capitalism. And the only things I occupy are my house (where I pay the rent) and my car (that I own because I paid for it...with a little help from my grandfather).

So, first, long story short: I had my monthly phone payment set up to come out of my checking account on a certain day. Not long after I set up this arrangement, I realized I set it up for the wrong date. I'd made the decision without consulting a calendar, so I called and asked if they could switch the days. They said it was fine, even talked me into switching from Comcast to their cable/internet, and I thought everything was great.

Until last weekend.

I got an email confirmation on the date of the original arrangement letting me know that the payment had been successfully taken from my checking account. My checking account that doesn't have a ton of money in it (hey, it was just a few days before Christmas!) and already had a few other pending payments that would be coming out later that week. On Monday morning, I called the bank, and the super nice lady I spoke to told me that she could return the payment, but that they'd probably try it at least twice more, each time costing me $32. Not only that, but because the $32 payments would be taking up what little money I did have in the account to cover other stuff, all of that would bounce and cost me $32 more for each thing. I was looking at paying several hundred dollars for this little error.

So, I called AT&T. They put me through to some lady who had the intelligence of a...I don't know, a goat? Are goats dumb? I tried to explain the situation, but she couldn't seem to understand what happened. She assured me that the payment wouldn't go through again because I had stopped it, but I told her I didn't "stop it;" the bank just returned it. I asked her what the next step would be on their end to handle this error that was their fault. And she said she was sorry, but there was nothing she could do, that it was just too bad.

I was livid at her lackadaisical attitude more than anything. A decent apology would have been nice.

So, I called my bank again. Let me take the time to tell you that the bank I'm with has four branches. My family went to church with the bank's president, and when I drive up, the tellers know my name. They even let me get into my parents' account when they ask me to do do something for them. I've banked with the biggest of the banks, particularly when I used to travel more and lived in a different town, but I switched back to these guys a few years ago, and I've yet to regret it. Everyone there has been unbelievably kind, and they've never resorted to misleading or complicated policies.

The lady at my bank confirmed that the lady at AT&T was wrong, that she hadn't stopped the payment, and that it would go through a few more times, causing my account to overdraft each time. So, I called AT&T back and told the person who answered this time (she seemed somewhat competent) to NOT transfer me to the other department. I explained to her the situation, she looked it over and agreed with me that they had royally messed up, and she vowed to see to it that it was fixed. After nearly an hour on the phone, I was feeling pretty good about this lady. She had it all straightened out. She told me they'd refund the overdraft fees to my checking account (within so many business days and after I faxed proof, but whatevs), and I was just about to hang up the phone when I happily asked, just to be sure, "So, you did manage to stop it from going through my account two more times?"

"Oh, no, no, that I couldn't do. You'll have to stop the payment."

"Seriously? You put me through all that only to tell me you didn't really fix the problem?"

She apologized and told me, essentially, that the company is so big, she has no way of contacting whomever does the payments and stopping it. Once it goes through, it's through. She doesn't even know if this happens in the same building or even the same city as she's in! I told her I'd be stopping the payment as soon as we got off the phone, she noted that, apologized again, I thanked her because for what it's worth, she had been pleasant - even in the end when I turned into bitch Sarah, and that was that.

I called my bank back and asked them what I had to do to stop payment. The lady told me it'd be another $32, and I'd have to come sign something. In case you're counting, this was going to cost me a boatload of $32. I sighed, made a comment like "there goes my Christmas shopping, and told her I'd be up there later in the day to sign the paper. She was very apologetic, but then she asked if she could call me back.

A few minutes later, she did call me back, and she sounded really excited. "I talked to my boss, and she's agreed to waive the overdraft fees."

"Seriously? Thank you so much, so I just need to pay the $32 to stop the payment?"

"No, you don't even have to pay that. Since it's Christmas and this was so not your fault, we're going to let it all go, but you still have to come sign the paperwork."

I didn't know what to say. In this day and age, how many companies, particularly banks, would be so willing to waive several fees out of the goodness of their hearts? I went in to sign the paperwork and the receptionist must have thought I was nuts, because I was singing their whole department's praises and talking about how they saved my Christmas.

So, I assumed this little episode was behind me.

Friday, two days before Christmas, I'm out running around, doing some last minute shopping, and I kept trying to get online to double check the ingredients I needed for a recipe, but my signal wasn't coming through. As an AT&T customer, this is something I'm beyond used to, but after going through two counties without a signal, I tried to make a call. I got a message that my service had been disconnected.

Yeah.

I rushed to my parents house, cursing everyone who has ever worked for that entire company and grabbed my dad's cell phone so I could call. Very calmly, I told the woman that my phone had been disconnected and that I wasn't even supposed to make the payment until two days after Christmas. Very stupidly, she told me that my phone had been disconnected because I stopped the last payment. Again, trying to be friendly, I told her to keep reading the notes on my account, because this was all their mess. Finally, she figured it out and told me and I quote, "Well, you should have told someone you were stopping the payment."

Holy crap. I DID! Not only did I tell someone, but someone else even swore up and down that I did when I hadn't yet. When I told her this, she just said, "oh" in such a way that you could tell she was annoyed, but she finally went on to tell me she'd restore the service and waive the reconnection fee...as if she were doing me some huge favor.

So, finally, today is the day that I was to pay my bill, and I just logged in to make a payment online. I put in all the info, and it says there is a problem with my checking account. I called and tried to pay over the phone, but again, it says there is a problem with my checking account. I assume it has something to do with the stopped payment, and I'll have to deal with that tomorrow as customer service is closed for the day, but...

Look, I have no problem with large companies and corporations. I think they're great for the most part. But they're only as great as they aspire to be. Some are wonderful; some are not. AT&T has a monopoly on phone service, so they don't have to do better. In my opinion, they aren't so much too big to provide decent services, decent customer service, etc., but they don't really have to because there is very little competition. Hell, they tried to buy up most of of that competition just this month.

On the other hand, you've got my bank, a small business, that offers phenomenal personalized customer service. They survived a economy that many small and large banks didn't. As far as I know, they didn't do with the help of the government. Anytime one of the big banks start charging a ridiculous new fee, my bank is quick to prove that they don't and won't do the same. They know how to do business.

Somewhere in here is my argument against bailouts and stimulus packages. Competition drives this country, and sadly, many people are losing sight of that. Little kids aren't even allowed to win ballgames anymore! If a large company can't handle itself despite a few bumps in the road, it should not be rewarded. It should be allowed to fail. Inevitably, smaller businesses will pop up, and they'll compete for each other's customers, and things will be swell again.

Finally, I'm a big buy local type of girl, and I try to do that whenever possible. I try to promote small businesses that have offered me great service or competitive prices. Small business owners know how hard it is to earn a dollar, and most of them will work to make that happen. But that's my choice. I'm glad I live in a country where I do have choices - I can go with the big, national company or the small, local business. I like that they're all allowed to thrive based on their own merits...or they used to be. God help us all if that continues to change.

I know this isn't my best argument, but I'm exhausted.

Update 12/29/11: The other night I took to Twitter to complain about AT&T and one of their social media team members contacted me. She ended up calling me yesterday afternoon, and she couldn't have been nicer. She made a point to figure out everything that went wrong and fix it. She understood (I think) everything I'd gone through, acknowledged that it was their fault, told me I wouldn't be penalized, told me she was in management and assured me that the people who'd "helped" me previously were being dealt with or something along those lines (I know lots of folks throw that line at you, so take it with a grain of salt). She was extremely nice and knowledgeable and knew what she was doing. And if I could remember her name, I'd send her boss a nice letter. But the problem has been resolved and my bill has been paid, and I'm happy to report that AT&T has at least one decent employee.

Though you can bet I'm backing out of that whole cable/internet deal. I can only take so much.

Best of 2011: Oh My Heart

2011-12-22T21:10:00.004-05:00

All of my friends seem to be making "Best of 2011" music posts, and so I was thinking I should do that.

And then I sat out to make my list, and I could only come up with a few songs. Honestly, the stuff on the radio - the Lady Gaga and the Katy Perry - that's just not my cup of tea. At all. And I spent way too much time driving back and forth between South Carolina, writing a book, and interviewing folks this year to get into anything that wasn't on the radio. I spent a lot of time listening to some stuff from 2010 - Mumford and Sons probably being my favorite, and I spent a lot of time listening to bluegrass for research while writing my book.

However, the most memorable musical moment for me this year wasn't an actual song; it was the news that one of my favorite bands, a band that I literally grew up with (their first single came out the year I was born), was breaking up: R.E.M. - Those four fine gentlemen from Athens who have more or less written and performed my life's soundtrack. I remember my dad listening to them when I was a kid, and when I was old enough to start buying my own music, I owned almost all of their albums. I'm proud to say I even went to the college where these guys originated. One of my biggest regrets will always be that I never saw them live, but hopefully, one day there will be a reunion tour or something.

Earlier this year, when they announced that they were splitting, many people said, "Who cares?" Those people are either too into Bruno Mars (can't someone put that out of its misery?) for their own good or they fall into the snobbish "I only like REM's earlier work" category. I'll admit, I prefer their older stuff much of the time, but I always loved to hear new music from those guys, and regardless, they just seemed like a staple in my life that would always be there, good music, bad music, and everything in between.

Anyway, this year, they put out their final album: Collapse Into Now. I'm ashamed to admit, I've only heard a few songs from it, but this fall, I was watching a UGA football game and I saw a commercial for the school that we all know I love so much. And I heard Michael Stipe singing. And my heart just melted. Long story short, that song was "Oh My Heart" from Collapse Into Now. It is amazing! I won't go on and on about it, but without a doubt, it's my favorite song of the year.

Speaking of Michael Stipe... this is cheesy, but it's definitely another one of my favorite music moments of 2011. I'm a big fan of the Colbert Report, and when I saw Michael Stipe on the show last month, I was thrilled. (And besides, there was just something adorable about Stipe sitting on a shelf.) Anyway, Colbert, Stipe, and Brian Eno went on to sing "Lean on Me." I'm not sure why, but I loved it! Here's that as a little bonus:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Dear Tim Tebow Haters (and Fans)

2011-12-12T20:22:00.010-05:00

It pains me to write this. It pains me to give Tim Tebow any attention at all.

But the people who hate him because of his religious beliefs pain me even more, so I must waste what I estimate will be an hour of my Monday night defending this jackass. I hope you're happy, you miserable freaks.

A month or two ago, a friend of mine forwarded me a link about Tim Tebow. I can't remember the exact details, but it got into people hating him because he's a Christian. I skimmed over it and wrote her back and essentially told her it was ridiculous.

Because in my little head, in my little world, it was ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong; I've spent the past...five? six? years hating Tim Tebow. Oh, I've hated him with the passion I usually reserve for Maureen Dowd.

But I hated him because when he played for Florida, he beat my beloved Bulldogs. I hated him because I could be watching a freaking LSU vs. Ole Miss game and Vern Lundquist would find some way to relate every single thing that happened on and off that field to Tim Tebow. I hated him because when Florida won, whomever was calling the game would always say "Tim Tebow wins the game," as if there were never any other guys on that field. I hated him because his rabid fans felt he could do no wrong and would go out of their way to tell you that at any given moment.

For example:

Random Regular Person: "Did you get that job you interviewed for?"

Random Tebow Fan: "OMG, did you know Tim Tebow was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy? He's like the best quarterback ever!"

Random Regular Person: "Um...OK?"

I hated him because he makes out with his teammates and his coach on the field, and because he cried when he lost and haughtily directed the Gator Marching Band after they beat Georgia and because you couldn't get through a football weekend for a few years without hearing and seeing him everywhere like he was the only blasted person who'd ever played football ever in our lifetimes. I mean, the man's got his own freaking verb now. (Google "tebowing" if you don't believe me.)

And that's why almost everyone else I knew hated him. We jokingly called him "Baby Jesus," because of his ability to do no wrong in the eyes of some folks, and yes, we poked fun at his being very open about his religion, but it wasn't because we couldn't stand his faith. It was because his fans and the college sports media had turned him into their own little messiah. Hating Tim Tebow was an entertaining pasttime for many people. Because of football.

Most of my fellow Tebow haters were Georgia fans or fans of other SEC teams. Most of us are Christians ourselves. Most of us think God and football are the two greatest things in the world. So, naturally, when Tebow played our teams, and no matter what, we were forced to hear about how fabulous he was, we hated him. It's part of the sport. You know, those games people play where they get all competitive and work hard and win. Remember when people were allowed to win in this country?

It doesn't mean that we'd pull a gun on the dude if we bumped into him in the produce section at Publix or something like that. It simply meant that on every Saturday in the months of September, October, and November, we were going to make fun of that idiot until we were Florida blue in the face. And maybe on some other days too.

So, after my discussion with the friend who sent me the link (who, by the way, lives in California by way of New York), I decided to do a little research. I assumed she was just unaware of our little SEC culture.

Boy, was I surprised. Ol' Tebow is in the NFL now, and while the hoopla hasn't been quite as bad, at least not in my world (I mean, who cares about the Broncos?), it has really picked up in recent weeks following the man's success on the field.

People are complaining because he prays and is openly religious on the field. They can't stand it. They say there is no place for it in the NFL. They rail against him because he's not ashamed to be who he is. As one who is a big fan of personal freedom, naturally, this annoys me.

1) I often find people who criticize others for their religious beliefs only do so because they have some kind of issue with their own beliefs or lack thereof. I don't care if you're a Christian, a Muslim, or an atheist, just so long as you as you let others be and keep out of the business of trying to tell people how to live their lives. I mean, in what way is it harming you that a man likes to pray on the football field? Is your life so empty that you have to go around being the religion police for other people?

2) The NFL is a private organization that has the right to create its own rules. When I see someone say "how can the NFL let Tebow be so open about his religion" I just have to laugh and say go read the U.S. Constitution. People seem to think they should get everything they want these days, so much that they do not seem to realize that there is a difference between, say, the NFL and a public elementary school. Until Roger Goodell announces a ban of prayer on the field, and let's face it, that most likely won't happen ever if the NFL knows what's good for it, you entitled little jerks can go back to looking for copies of the Ten Commandments in courthouses across the US and decorating your winter solstice trees.

3) Let's take a look at some others in the NFL. You've got countless convicted criminals. You've got guys accused of murder and rape. You've got womanizers and guys with nine plus kids by nine plus women. You've got drug addicts. You've got guys who are unbelievably disrespectful to fans, the people who ultimately pay their salaries. You've guys that can't form complete sentences. You've got Michael freakin' Vick for goodness sake. And the worst thing you've got to complain about is a guy who prays?? This is the guy you don't want your kids to see? I mean, really?

Now if you want to make fun of Tim Tebow, by all means go ahead. I was just reading this article by Todd Starnes, and he gets on to another player for mocking Tebow on the field. I don't have a problem with that. All's fair in love and football. Is it tasteless? Probably, but that's not my call. I've seen worse.

As a matter of fact, the other day, my dad and I were talking about our fantasy football teams, and he mentioned needing a quarterback. I jokingly told him he should trade for Tebow, and he said "Only if we get points for prayers instead of touchdowns."

We laughed. My dad the self-describe agnostic and me the Christian. We laughed and then we moved on and made fun of some other player for his hair or something.

It's fun to make fun of the competition, but it's not right to tell someone they can't believe what they want and pray when they want. That's what they do in countries like Iran and North Korea. If you're into that sort of thing, I'm pretty sure we can make arrangements for you to relocate.

At the end of the day, and while it goes against everything I stand for to say this, Tim Tebow is probably a nice guy. He's good-looking. He's a pretty good football player. But I can't stand him. And I can't respectfully hate him now thanks to a bunch of imbeciles who probably don't even watch football because "it's too violent" or whatever.

But I'm not going to do what many have done and hold him on a pedestal because he's a Christian either. (Isn't there something in the Bible about worshiping false idols and such?) I know many good Christians who aren't football players, and I don't treat them any differently because of their beliefs. I know good people who aren't Christians, and I don't treat them any differently. And I don't know Tebow personally, I don't know what he does in his downtime, so I won't deem him a "hero" like many have. But I will not stand by and watch people attack someone's personal freedom simply because it bothers them.

If that's the biggest bother you have in life, then I think you need to be paying more attention to yourself and less attention to Tim Tebow.

OK, now that I got that out of the way, let me just post this to make up for it:

See, now that's funny. Hearing a bunch of self-entitled crybabies whine about how offended they are that a man believes in God, not so funny. And pretty damn annoying, especially when one is just trying to enjoy a football game.

How Many Days Til Christmas?!?

2011-12-07T19:32:00.005-05:00

Today, I realized that there are only 18 days until Christmas. Oy.

Every year, I get these great ideas. This year's ideas included a trip to Charleston and putting up a real tree (instead of the fake hand-me-down I get from my parents). At this point, putting up a tree at all seems like a waste of time and money. Still not sure if Charleston is going to happen. The whole losing my main source of income thing, along with two weeks of being immobile, has really put a damper on a lot of my plans.

And I know, I know. That's not what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown, but I love the cheesy festiveness of this time of year. I can't help it.

A big part of me is ready to just get through it and look ahead to next year, but then I realized I've had that attitude for the last few years. Earlier today, I was talking to my mom, and I told her Christmas is probably just not going to be fun until I have a family of my own.

But I'm ready to apply to go back to UGA and work on getting my book sold or getting an agent and all that good stuff. I'm ready to take my writing career to the next level, and a little part of me is considering looking into adoption again. I've had so many signs pointing me in that direction lately, even though I decided I wanted to wait and see what happens over the next few years with my life. I'll just have to see. If there's anything I've learned, it's that nothing is set in stone, even if you say it is.

So, as much as I hate it, I don't see myself going all out for Christmas this year. I'm going to help my mom put up her tree this weekend, and I'm still hoping to make that trip to Charleston, but otherwise, I think it's going to be a quiet Christmas at my house, and I think I'm OK with that.

P.S. I was planning to make a post called 10 reasons not to vote for Newt Gingrich, and I had my reasons put together weeks ago, during said stint of immobility. But since then, many great folks have already made that case, so I see no point to add to it. My friend Jeff does a good job talking about some of them here. I can't and won't support him.

No Laptop, No Mobility, No Problem

2011-12-03T21:28:00.006-05:00

If you'll recall, I ran over myself back in 2008. This left me in lots of pain and unable to do much of anything for a while. Not long after that, I was moving furniture, or helping my dad move my furniture, out of a storage building, and I got mad and bent over to pick up this desk by myself. As I wrote in that post, it felt like something snapped in my lower back and every "bend with your knees" poster I'd ever seen in every break room of every job I'd ever had flashed before my eyes. That left me in even more pain and even less able to move than before.

Every once in a while that back pain flares up. It seems to happen when I'm most stressed out. For example, last year it happened when my mom went into the hospital and earlier this year, it happened in the midst of all of the South Carolina work. Well, approximately two weeks ago, I woke up with a slight pain in my back, and I wanted to cry. It starts out with just a little soreness, like I slept funny or something, but if I don't start taking the medication my doctor prescribed, I'm screwed within another day or two. If you've never had a back spasm or had your back seize up, you haven't known pain. If you've never spent six hours on the floor because that happened every time you tried to stand up, you've never experienced despair. Unfortunately, that's the kind of stuff that this always leads to. It's just horrible.

By the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was walking around in a 90 degree angle. I couldn't stand up straight. And I only had 5 pills left of my prescription. I tried to space them out, but that just led to them not working. That night, I was laid out on the sofa with Icy Hot caked all over my back, a heating pad underneath me, and my laptop in my lap. I decided it was time to try to transfer myself to my bedroom, but I didn't see that the laptop cord was caught on the little folding table I usually keep it on in my living room, and when I went to set it on the table, it didn't quite make contact. I went to grab it before it hit the floor, but the whole back thing made it impossible to move that fast, and in the end, the little part of the cord that plugs in to charge the laptop broke. I couldn't believe it.

I hurried before the battery died to do some of the work I needed to do for the week and email some files to myself as I had no idea how long it'd be before I could get a cord. Little did I know, it'd be almost two weeks before I had computer access again. The day after Thanksgiving, my mom drove me out to my ex-aunt's house to try an extra one she had, but it didn't work. I ordered one on Amazon, but it didn't work. Right now, as I type this, I've borrowed an old laptop from my aunt.

Anyway, I spent the days following the incident laying on the sofa, watching TV, and thanking God and Steve Jobs for the iPhone. I was in so much pain that I didn't really mind being computerless at first. However, I also couldn't drive (seriously, can't even turn my neck or the steering wheel), so leaving the house was pretty much out of the question too. As a matter of fact, outside of my grandfather's house for Thanksgiving and that trip to get a cord, I didn't leave the house for nearly 10 days. I bet you can imagine what I smelled like. (For what it's worth, you have to step up to get into my shower, and I tried that once and nearly broke my neck. At least the Icy Hot masked the stench of unwashedness.)

With it being Thanksgiving week, most of the people I knew were spending the week with their families, so there wasn't really anyone to talk to. And since I couldn't drive, I couldn't go anywhere. Basically, I watched more TV than any one person should, watched more movies than I knew existed (dreading my cable bill next month), and I played approximately 739 games of Battleship on my phone.

I have to say, it was almost nice not having contact with the outside world, even though not being able to work was annoying. It was nice not to check Facebook and Twitter and email every five minutes. Don't get me wrong, I still checked it a lot (AT&T even sent me a note about my increased data usage), but I just didn't feel the need to be so tune in with everything going on in the lives of everyone else. I actually got some things I'd been wanting to work on done. And I got pretty stir crazy, but it was nice to relax and not worry about much of anything. If I didn't need the laptop for work purposes, I probably could have been even more relaxed, but that's kind of out of the question with my career at the moment.

Another downside was that I was supposed to have the book finished by that Tuesday and that never happened. I even had people coming over for dinner and a reading, which I had to cancel. One night, I did get kind of lofty and pulled out a notebook and a pen. Within five minutes my hand was cramping up, and I could barely read a thing I wrote.

Oh, well. Enough about me. I am working on a post about Newt Gingrich (gag), but that will have to come next week. Today was all about the Dawgs and finally finishing the book! Tomorrow is all about cleaning and getting the house decorated for Christmas, and Monday is my rescheduled book reading gathering thing.

I'll try to post less rambling things in the future, but I just wanted to say I haven't dropped off the face of the earth; I was just forced to take a step back, and I kind of enjoyed it.

RIP, Larry Munson

2011-11-20T22:38:00.006-05:00

"Larry Munson is to Georgia football what fried chicken is to a tailgate party. You can't enjoy one without the other." - Lewis Grizzard

I haven't had much time to write this month as I have to have my book finished in a few days, but I did want to take a few minutes tonight to remember Larry Munson as I just learned of his death. (Ironically, I named the county where my story takes place "Munson County.")

You don't have to be a Georgia football fan to know who Munson is. He was the dictionary definition of a legend . His voice and his presence meant so much to so many people in Athens, across Georgia, and throughout the nation.

Some of my most vivid childhood memories involve sitting around my grandparents' living room with my family, the Georgia game on TV, the sound turned down, and my grandfather's little radio sitting on the fireplace with Munson's commentary front and center. I didn't understand at first why we had to have TV and radio, but as I grew older and longed to hear that voice every fall Saturday, I understood exactly why we did it, and today, I am so thankful to have that memory.

There are few other things that bring me such comfort and make me feel so at home than the sound of Larry Munson's voice, and I will be forever grateful that I had the opportunity to hear it through 27 football seasons.

The AJC has done a good job with that tonight, as has GeorgiaDogs.com, and I'm sure many others will in the days and weeks to come. It's all so much better than I could do, so I'll leave you with their words.

There are some YouTube tributes to Munson that I find myself listening to every September, especially since he retired a few years ago. They give me chills and/or bring me to tears on a good day, but tonight, they really get to me and many others, I'm sure. Here are a few:

National Novel Writing Month

2011-11-01T23:27:00.004-04:00

Quote of the Day: "There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write." - W. M. Thackeray

Up until about half an hour ago, I had no idea what National Novel Writing Month was (that's NaNoWriMo for short). Thanks to one of my favorite authors, J. T. Ellison, I now know exactly what it is, and I'm pretty excited about it.

Yesterday, I mentioned my personal "November Challenge" that focuses on being healthy. This NaNoWriMo stuff is kind of like a writing challenge of the same ilk. Ellison calls it "a 30-day, 50,000 word sprint that aims to help you develop the habit of sitting down at the computer every day and mindfully writing a novel."

This couldn't come at a better time for me. As many of you know, I began working on a novel last year or. Several things happened that I let stand in the way of working on said novel, even after devouring Stephen King's On Writing and promising myself I would write 1,000 words a day for three months. Lately, I've been doing better with writing, but it's still not an everyday thing. It's more of a once or twice a week I settle into bed at 1 am and write until the sun comes up kind of thing. This usually results in anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 words being added to my little story.

Anyway, I need to get this thing finished before I lose sight of my goal, and truth be told, I'm so very close. As a matter of fact, I don't even have enough left to write to get to 50,000 words this month. Either way, I'm going to take the the opportunity to make myself work on it every day. Once I'm finished with the story, I know there will be lots of editing and revising, so, yeah, that's my plan for NaNoWriMo.

Thanksgiving Challenge

2011-10-31T22:03:00.004-04:00

Up until around the time I started all the South Carolina work, I was doing pretty good in the being healthy department. I was eating decently and exercising fairly regularly, taking my vitamins and drinking lots of water. Then I was living out of hotels for a few months and eating nothing but fast food. Then I hurt my back and was unable to move for a few weeks, and it all went downhill from there.

Today is Halloween, which in some circles means the start of a two-month eating binge, but I'm not about to let that happen. Instead, I'm issuing myself a challenge. So, why am I posting this here? Not to bore you, my dear friends, but to hold myself to it. Making it public makes that 100 times easier.

Starting tomorrow, November 1st, I plan to spend the next 23 days on a very strict plan of eating well, exercising daily and drinking lots of water. I won't post the details here, but let's face it: trying to be healthy for 23 days is a lot easier than trying to be healthy forever. After, I allow myself a day or two for lots of my mom's dressing and my aunt's sweet potato casserole, I'll go back on a similar plan until Christmas.

Who's with me?

Non-Traditional

2011-10-30T16:33:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm obsessed with this idea:

"I sleep on my feet..." - Nontraditional Student Balances Kids, Class (a story from the Red & Black about a 37-year-old mom/UGA undergrad student)

Older Students Attending Georgia's College (AJC story about, well, older students attending Georgia's colleges. A whopping 579 "non-traditional" students attended UGA last year...out of nearly 35,000)

By the way, I hate the term "non-traditional."

Fall

2011-10-29T23:17:00.002-04:00

This is not the most exciting thing I've ever posted, but Friday morning, I went to pick up my mom so we could do a little shopping, and I was amazed at how much things had changed, seemingly overnight. These pictures are of the dogwoods and other trees that line the streets in front of my parents and grandfather's houses. The colors are beautiful; these crappy iPhone pictures do not do them justice. I don't remember them ever being that pretty.

Homeless in Starbucks

2011-10-27T23:30:00.006-04:00

I had a work assignment in another city today, and because I figured I'd be gone for a while, my dogs stayed at my parents' house. I stopped by to get them on the way home, and the 'rents were discussing Occupy Wall Street or Occupy Atlanta as the case may be.

Mom: I just feel bad for the homeless people who were camping out with them. Where will they go?

Me: Wherever the hell they went before this mess started.

Mom: Well, I don't think they should be kicked out of the park for protesting.

Me: They weren't! They were kicked out of the park for breaking the law, harassing people... they even pooped in the streets!

Mom: Well, maybe they have no other place to use the bathroom, especially if they're homeless.

Me: If you can't find a place to use the bathroom in this city, you've got major problems. I was homeless back in the spring when I was working in South Carolina and didn't have a hotel that one day, but I managed to find a place.

Dad: Um, spending most of the day in a Starbucks with your laptop isn't exactly being homeless.

(For what it's worth, it was a Barnes & Noble, and this is probably really one of those "you had to be there" moments, but it cracked me up, because, well, it's true.)

Thank You, Lance Cpl. Harper

2011-10-26T22:08:00.009-04:00

"And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave." - Joseph Drake

Last week, a young Marine named Scott Harper died in Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Harper, 21, was from my tiny hometown.

Last Friday, his body was driven to a local funeral home from the Fulton County airport. I was in Atlanta all day and unable to welcome him home, but I knew many people from our county would be lining the streets, showing their support. That morning, as I drove toward the interstate, I saw more flags than I could count and "thank you" messages on almost every local business sign. My heart sank for this guy and his family, but I also felt a little hopeful.

It was nice to see some solidarity in my community in a way that I haven't seen it since, I guess, September 11. Far too often, we get caught up in political bickering or focus on the negative things that go on here every week. It's sad that it took the death of a brave young man to bring people together, but it gave me hope that we still know what's important in this country, and we still come together to honor those who fight for our freedom. We still appreciate our freedom and hopefully, we aren't quite ready to give it up, to let men and women like Scott Harper die in vain.

This morning, I saw that the local government access channel had put together a video of the procession. I clicked on it, not planning to watch the whole thing. My callous thought was that I'd seen this kind of procession before, and yes, it's incredible to watch, but the video is sixteen minutes long, and I had somewhere to be.

Sixteen minutes later, I was sitting on the edge of my bed with tears streaming down my face. I had to completely redo my makeup, and I was late for my destination, but so be it. When I think about what all Harper gave up for all of us, I dare complain about silly inconveniences.

I'm posting the video here, and I do suggest watching it. People literally lined the streets in my county and two neighboring counties to show their thanks. Children sat outside a local elementary school, waving flags. Utility workers raised flags over the streets in the cherry pickers on their trucks. Employees of local businesses, all dressed in the same shirts, stood alongside the road with their hands on their hearts. Police officers, sheriff's deputies, state patrolmen, paramedics and firefighters flashed the lights on their vehicles. Drivers pulled over on side of the road for the rather lengthy parade of motorcycles, official vehicles, cars, trucks and a single black hearse. I saw old people and young people. I saw people who'd walked up with their dogs and people standing in the back of pick-up trucks. There were so many U.S. flags, U.S.M.C. flags and handmade signs. There were so many people in uniform, people currently serving their country and people who did so in the past. There were people of all races, shapes and sizes and people in jeans and t-shirts and people in business suits.

The video alone is truly a sight to behold and a reminder that most of us have very little to complain about. I do hope you'll watch and say a little prayer for Harper and his family.

LCpl Scott Harper Procession from Channel 23 on Vimeo.

Levitating the Georgia Pacific Building

2011-10-26T00:51:00.006-04:00

Quote of the Day: "The have forced the City of Atlanta to use its police department and other resources as babysitters for 5 weeks. They have caused many inconveniences for residents of downtown Atlanta and other parts of the city. They have broken city laws, held concerts and rallies without proper permits. They also tried to levitate the Georgia Pacific building." - Atlanta radio extraordinaire Rich Sullivan (on Facebook)

No, really:

Protesters with Occupy Atlanta marched to the Georgia-Pacific building downtown late Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to levitate the building.

The full story, including amazingly humorous video of the people who planned to do the levitating, is here.

Twelve by 2012

2011-10-23T21:53:00.005-04:00

I had a completely different plan for tonight's post, but 1) it required me to get stuff out of my car and it's too cold and dark for me to journey outside (in other words, my lazy butt is cuddled up on the sofa, under a blanket, and I ain't moving), and 2) I saw this on Ally's Copacetic in Carolina blog and knew I had to participate. I love making lists, and I desperately need to set some goals for the rest of this year.

Twelve by 2012. It's simple. Create twelve goals to accomplish before January 1, 2012. Some of these might seem silly and some might seem pretty lofty, but they're all things that have been nagging at me lately, and this is a great way for me to hold myself to them. So, without further adieu...

Finish The Book. I've been working on The Book since last September and thought it would be finished by now, but life got in the way and slowed my progress. My goal is to have it completed, edited and ready for greener pastures by December 31 (if not before).
Start exercising daily. Back in May, when I was working in Columbia, I hurt my back, and my medication for said back issue was here in Atlanta. This led to a few weeks of immobility, and it all went downhill from there. Aside from some light swimming a few times a week this summer, I stopped working out all together.
Stop eating out so much. Most of you know that I'm not a great cook, but I have been making an effort not to run to the drive-thru every time I need a meal. So far, so good, but I know I can do better. It's healthier, cheaper and all that good stuff.
Open an Etsy store. I used to sell stuff on eBay all the time, but their new rules and regulations for sellers basically ruined that for me, and I really just haven't had the time over the last year. I miss the fun of turning other people's trash into treasure, so I want to try my hand at Etsy. It seems a lot less restrictive and a lot less hostile. I'll just have to switch my products up a bit.
Clean my house. I'm not talking about doing the dishes and the laundry; I'm talking about a good, thorough cleaning. I've been living here for over two years now and my bedroom still has boxes of stuff in it from where I never unpacked. My laundry room floor is piled with clothing and other items that I know I haven't worn in over a year. I do hope to move next year, but in the meantime, it'd be nice to live in decent quarters.
Return to Ellijay. As I've mentioned, my recent trip to the mountains turned out to be a bit stressful, and I really want to make up for that with a day trip. I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to do any shopping, because I really wanted to get some Christmas ornaments for my rustic Christmas theme stuff that I have started collecting. I could also go for some more Pink Lady apples!
Look for more writing work. This one is pretty much a given, seeing as how I just quit one of my main jobs (more on that in a future post), it will probably happen sooner rather than later. I've had no problem getting jobs in the past and even had to turn some down over the last year, so I'm hoping that will be easier than I think it will be. Fingers crossed!
Make a decision about UGA. As many of you are probably aware, I've spent six years debating a return to UGA, and as soon as I make up my mind to go back, something happens. The older I get, the more wary I am as I'm guessing there aren't a lot of 30 year old undergrads in Athens, but I just feel so incomplete and have since I left. And if this whole writing thing doesn't take off, I'm gonna need a back-up plan, right?
Get a new TV for my bedroom. Up until earlier this year, I'd had the same TV since I was 10? 11? It was nice and big, but my parents got it for me, and it'd been quite the companion through high school, college and years of moving back and forth between places. And then it died. So, I had to take the TV out of my bedroom (which was actually an old TV my grandfather got rid of, like, in the '80s) and bring it into the living room. And then it died in May, so I decided it was time to invest in a new one. Now I'm stuck without one in the bedroom, and I hate it, because I'm one of those fall asleep to music/noise types of people.
Shop for Toys for Tots. Since I just got all "first world problems" with my TV, I figured I put a goal out there that's not all about me. For as long as I can remember, I've tried to give to Toys for Tots. Even when I was so broke I could barely afford to put gas in my car, I'd go buy something inexpensive to donate. I'm also open to participating in other programs that help needy kids if anyone has any suggestions. In years past, I've "adopted" a little local girl whose parents had lost their jobs, adopted children through other programs and shopped for what's on their wish lists, and made shoe boxes for the Samaritan's Purse program.
Walk the dogs more often. This may seem like a silly one, but since I've moved to the Unabomber Cabin, my dogs get free range of the place. Gabby's been really sick over the last few days, and it leads me to believe that she's gotten into something she shouldn't have while enjoying that free range. I also realized last night that she does a lot better when her outside time is somewhat structured. We used to walk to my parents' house and go to the park all the time, and we've really been slacking in that department.
Spend less time online. Another problem with the last few years is that I got way too sucked into Twitter/Facebook. When you have a job that requires you to be online most of the day, that's way too easy a trap. I have cut back over the last few months, and I have definitely learned to turn off the computer and go enjoy the real world, but I'd like to continue to do that.

So, that's it. Honestly, the last two were stretching a little. I would have been okay with "Ten by 2012," but I did it. Now, to see if I can stick to it...

Mountain Weekend

2011-10-18T00:05:00.016-04:00

There's a well beaten path in the old mountainside, where I wandered when I was a lad. And I wandered alone to the place I call home, in those Blue Ridge hills far away - Flatt & Scruggs from "Blue Ridge Cabin Home"

At some point over the summer, my cousin and I decided we wanted to go to the Apple Festival in Ellijay this year. My grandparents had a house there when we were kids, and we used to go all the time. I guess it was an effort to relive our childhood, and I thought it'd be good inspiration for putting the finishing touches on my near-finished book. So, this past weekend, we made it happen.

I left Friday afternoon. We were supposed to leave sooner, but my cousin got a job at the last minute and was going to have to attend an orientation. Due to the fact that the festival was in town, hotel and cabin vacancies were practically non-existent (unless you were willing to shell out big bucks), so we ended up staying in a hotel in nearby Chatsworth, about 20 to 25 miles away. I didn't really like it there, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. When my cousin arrived, we decided to go try to find something to eat. It was about 9 pm. Apparently, Chatsworth shuts down before then (even on Friday night), so we hit the Taco Bell drive-thru and took our food back to the hotel.

This is the view from the hotel parking lot.

Around 1:00 on Saturday, I woke up and realized we had stayed up way too late the night before. We'd agreed to sleep late but not that late. We got ready and headed out to Ellijay. First of all, the road between Chatsworth and Ellijay is 20+ miles of mountainous, curvy terrain with no room for error. The first trip down it was a little scary. It's also very deserted as much of it runs through a large state park. We stopped at one of the overlooks and took a few pictures. It does offer a beautiful view in some spots.

The first thing we did was drive to downtown Ellijay. It's really an adorable little place and the home of some of my fondest childhood memories. Well, I don't know if the Apple Festival has just gotten more popular in recent years or if I don't remember it being that crowded back then, but there was barely room for anyone to walk down the sidewalk, much less a spare parking place. There were lots of tents set up, presumably with people selling their wares. There were dogs available for adoption. I wanted to go into some of the shops, but I didn't get to.

Next we went to the Panorama Apple House, another childhood favorite. Again, we were not prepared for the crowds. We sat in traffic forever and had to stand in line to get inside. Once inside, you could barely move. The place is amazing, though. They sell everything under the sun homemade and of course, tons of apples. My cousin stocked up on old fashioned candy and I bought some sugar-free candy, grape jelly and apple butter for my mom. We also bought tons of apples for my mom, my aunt, and our grandfather, and I bought some for me.

This is a very underwhelming representation of how crowded it was and how the lines backed up:

This is a picture I took back in the candy room during a rare quiet moment:

If you've never had Pink Lady apples, you are missing out, my friends. They're the best! I only bought half a peck, as I knew I wouldn't be able to eat more before they rotted, but I may have to start seeking these out a little more often:

After our trip to the apple house, we drove up the mountain where our grandparents' house used to be. My dad's cousin and his wife and kids actually live there now (it's across the street from my great aunt's house). My grandfather sold the house when my grandmother died, which I've always regretted. We probably should have stopped to say "hello." The house is the second one from the top of the mountain and has the most beautiful view, the most amazing porch, the most awesome yard, and, well, I could go on. I won't post a picture of the house, because that's a little weird, but here is the view from the top of the mountain (and basically from behind the house):

At the top of the mountain is this huge cross. It's one of the first things everyone mentions when you tell them the name of the mountain. I'm not sure why it's there or how it got there, but I know there used to be (still are?) sunrise church services there at Easter and we used it as a landmark to walk to when I was a kid.

After stalking our old house, we decided to drive up to Blue Ridge, Georgia. I've only been a few times, and usually just driving through, so I thought we'd check it out. I wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. I've always heard that it's so cute, and don't get me wrong, it was, but I still like Ellijay better. Maybe I'm biased. We drove around down town, and I wanted to do a little shopping, but my cousin didn't feel like it.

We were getting hungry, so we decided we'd go eat at the Pink Pig, which is a very famous BBQ restaurant in a little town between Ellijay and Blue Ridge, called Cherry Log. Of course, we got there and like everything else, it was so crowded there was nowhere to park and people were flowing out all over the parking lot, waiting I guess. Instead, we opted to drive back to Blue Ridge and eat at this little place we'd seen called Sue's. We got burgers and cheese tots, and it was pretty darn good (and cheap)! It was a cute little place with a friendly staff and inviting atmosphere. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of the outside, but it was kind of getting dark.)

After stopping by Sue's, we took the long drive back to Chatsworth. Driving on the curvy mountain road in the dark was a little scary, but we made it. I'd received some emails that upset me a little while we were out, so I decided to spend the night relaxing and not opening my laptop (the night before, I'd worked on my book). Somehow, this led to us playing 20 questions, watching Saturday Night Live and scaring ourselves silly. I think I ended up falling asleep around 6:30 am.

Sunday morning we woke up at 10 am (had to check out by 11 am) and packed and headed back to Ellijay. I wanted to try downtown again, but it was already crowded, so we headed back to the Apple Festival. After circling it for half an hour, we found what we thought was a good place to park. Turns out it was just the entrance to a family-oriented festival that adjoins the Apple Festival, so I had to shell out $5 for that.

I should have known better when we drove up and just saw bouncy houses and petting zoos:

We ended up walking to the Apple Festival and of course, it was crowded, but it was also hot. Both of us were dressed for what we thought would be a cool, fall day, but it got pretty warm. We didn't let that ruin our time, though. There was lots to do there. There were tons of crafts and art booths set up. I would have bought so much more if I were a wealthier individual, and I also got some ideas for some things I'd like to make. The only crafty thing I bought was this little sign. My Christmas stuff for my current living room has a rustic theme, and I thought this would be a nice addition. It was even 50% off.

I also bought this key lime mix from Sherry's Gourmet Dips. I'd never had it before, but my cousin swears it's the best stuff in the world. She sells all-natural, no salt, no MSG savory dips and sugar-free sweet ones. (They are basically power that you add two ingredients to. She also sells soup.) There are so many flavors and the sweet ones can be used to make dips, spreads, icing and cheesecake. I was planning to get some for my mom, but I tasted the key lime (my favorite) and decided I had to have some for me. I foresee myself ordering more from her website in the future.

There was some live entertainment. While we were there, this cute little girl sang show tunes and a bluegrass band performed. There was also a wildlife group there raising money (they had a bear, kangaroo, huge snakes and other animals to show off) and on the other side of festival, kids could ride camels. Not sure if those two things go hand in hand. I took a picture of the camels, but it didn't turn out very well. (I need a new iPhone.) To round out the animal theme, a local dog/cat rescue group was there selling items. I found out that they were the same group who had the dogs and cats downtown and learned a little about their organization, which seemed really neat. I made a small donation, and from what I understand, they raised over $10,000 and adopted out 16 dogs and cats. Learn more about them here: Homeward Bound Pet Rescue.

We were dying of thirst after we walked the entire fairgrounds, and I kept seeing signs for lemonade everywhere, but all the lines were so long. Then I saw a sign for cherry limeade and all thoughts of lemon anything went out the window. Never mind the fact that said cherry limeades were $5.00 a piece! My cousin wanted a bratwurst, so we walked over and got him one of those, and I got a burger at the booth next to it... an $8 burger. No, really.

We made our way back to the car, and we were planning to go back to the apple house. My cousin wanted some fried apple pies, and I wanted some homemade fudge, but it was so crowded - again - that we decided not to deal with it. We did drive to this other little bakery, but they didn't sell fudge, but he bought some apple bread for his mom. After that, we still had another hour or two before we had planned to leave, but we were hot and tired and I was still stressed out, so we decided to call it a day.

I took my cousin back to his car in Chatsworth, and then I drove home a back way that got me home a lot sooner I thought I would be there. I took my parents their goodies, picked up my dogs, and grabbed a pizza and came home, where I left my stuff in the car, parked myself on the sofa and did nothing but watch TV for the rest of the night. Actually, I was in bed by 11 pm and slept until 11:30 this morning. I think our uneventful weekend wore me out.

All in all, it was an OK good trip. Well, I should have stuck with my promise to myself not to check my email, we didn't expect the crowds or heat, we didn't get to stay as long as I'd wanted or do most of what I wanted to do and well, the leaves hadn't quite changed colors. But it was nice to get out of town for a couple of days, and I definitely got some book inspiration.

Maybe in the near future, I'll take a little day trip up there to get some more of those Pink Lady apples and do a little shopping...

Gabby & Sadie

2011-10-10T01:03:00.007-04:00

Given the last few weeks (months?) of visiting the animal shelter, writing stories about animals for work, taking pictures of homeless animals, answering countless animal emails from people every night, accidentally getting myself involved in local political drama that revolved around animals, and spending the last week cleaning rescue dog puke out of my car, I'll admit, I'm a little animal'd out.

That said, one of my favorite blogs, Kelly's Korner is doing that "Show Us Your Life" thing I try to participate in from time to time, and this week's topic is "Show Us Your Pets." So, I'm gonna take what seems like rare moment lately and spend a few minutes on my own pets, Gabby and Sadie.

I'll start with Gabby. I've written at length about her here before: a girl and her dog, and if you search my blog for her name, you'll see tons of pictures and anecdotes. She's been with me since college (she'll be nine years old in November) and every day, I see her getting a little older. Her eyes are starting to get a little cloudy, and she sleeps more often than not. She can't move as well as she used to and her face is turning gray, but she's still my best friend in the whole world. I can't imagine my life without her.

Gabby hasn't been the easiest dog in the world. She has allergies out the wazoo, and she's been hit by a car. She's more stubborn than I am, and she tends to get herself in many a tricky situation. I've written about the time she disappeared and my entire family spent a night combing the woods, looking for her, only to find her curled up in my bedroom. Then there was the time I locked both her and my keys in my car, and it took a number of police officers to get it open. OK, maybe we've gotten into some tricky situations together.

My parents often joke that they don't know who is more of a pain in the ass, me or her, but I guess what they say about people being like their dogs is true. She's been with me since I moved out of my parents' house, in and out of other places and together, we've watched people come and go from my life and careers start and end. When I went through a spell of having really bad anxiety attacks almost every night, she curled up next to me and let me hold on to her for dear life. I've cried my eyes out into her fur when my life didn't go as planned. I've spent nights sitting at the animal hospital, willing her to live. I give her way too many treats and let her have her way with my house even though she sheds more than anything I've ever seen, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

In January '10, I saw an ad for German Shepherd puppies at a shelter about an hour away and knew I must have one. I'd been thinking about getting another dog, and I'd become pretty fond of the breed. Over the weekend, three of the four puppies in the litter were adopted, but the one I wanted the most was still there. That Monday, I got my mom to drive out there with me and as soon as the shelter employee let her out of her cage, I fell in love.

It wasn't until we got the paperwork filled out that I realized that was not the same dog from the picture. This puppy sitting next to me in my mother's arms was the one I'd wanted the least, but, of course, I wasn't going to take her back. She needed me, and I needed her.

Gabby wasn't too thrilled about her about her at first (she hid in the bedroom for the first day or two), but within a few days, they were snuggled up together on a blanket in the floor, and I knew things would work out.

I waited for Sadie to grow to be this huge German Shepherd, but even though she had looked a lot like a German Shepherd puppy when I got her, she was anything but. She now weighs a whopping 37 pounds and looks more like a little Sheltie or something. I was not amused, but she has grown on me, and even though she'll never admit it, Gabby loves her too. Every night around 10:00, the two of them start playing, and they get so rough that it sounds like I've invited Michael Vick over for supper. I never thought I'd see Gabby love another dog, but these two couldn't get along better.

I'll never forget the time I took them to the park when Sadie was just a few months old. This guy was there biking and he had a Rottweiler that wasn't on a leash. The dog came charging at us (it turned out to be friendly, but I wasn't really sure to begin with), and I freaked out. I picked up Sadie because she was so small and tried to pull Gabby close, but she wasn't having it. Her normally lackadaisical attitude disappeared, and she got in between Sadie and me and the other dog and was ready to rip him to shreds.

I call Sadie "Little Bit" because she has such tiny features and even though she's almost two years old, she acts very much like a baby. She makes this grunting/whiny sound when I enter the room, and she always has a stuffed animal in her mouth. She's scared of practically everything, including my neighbor's tiny cat and being left alone in a room for any amount of time. I never thought I could love another dog as much as I love Gabby, and even though it's horrible to admit, I probably still don't, but I've learned to love Sadie more than I ever thought I would.

So, those are my girls. Do a quick search for either of their names if you want to see more pictures. (Yes, I'm that lazy right now.) Those are just the most recent that I took with my iPhone.

And because I can't totally let it go, I'd like to point out that both of them were shelter dogs - the best kind of dog to have in my opinion. As a matter of fact, the other day I wrote here about some shelter dogs that I worked really hard to get adopted and for my pet column this weekend, I was able to share some follow-ups with their new "moms" and "dads." It's really one of my favorite articles I've ever written, because all of the dogs mentioned were more than likely not going to get adopted otherwise, and it was kind of heartwarming to hear how well they're all doing. You can check that out here: Happy Endings for Homeless Dogs.

5 Dogs, a Girl and a Civic

2011-10-03T22:28:00.008-04:00

Quote of the Day: "Thank God I got the rejects. These animals are very, very affectionate." - Eartha Kitt

Have you heard the one about that starts out, "Two mutts, a puppy, a Pit Bull, a Chihuahua and a girl pile into a car...?" No? Well, up until today, I hadn't either. While it sounds like the start to a joke you might hear from your weird uncle or something, it's actually pretty much how I spent my day.

As I've mentioned, part of my job requires me to go to the local animal shelter once a week. After six months of doing this, you kind of develop a sense of wanting to actually do something to help these animals. Throw in the fact that I've been anxious to get out of town whenever I can since my South Carolina project ended, and I decided to volunteer to become a "transporter." This means taking dogs from kill shelters to homes and rescues that might not be nearby.

I've had two requests, so far, but after accepting them both, both fell through. I was more or less ready to give up on my little journey into doing volunteer work when a local lady emailed today and said they have a rescue group that's willing to take five of the dogs from our local shelter today. A rescue group taking five dogs at once these days is practically unheard of, and when I saw which dogs it would be, I jumped on the chance. A few of them were ones that I was familiar with and feared would never get adopted - that and tomorrow is "kill day" at the shelter, so who knows what would happen if they weren't saved.

I threw on some clothes, headed up there and the guy who runs the place asked if I really thought I was going to fit five dogs in my car. I told him I would try, and he looked at me like I was nuts, but he OK'd it. Two volunteers began bringing the dogs out and we soon realized this may not be a good idea.

First we got this little dog that looked like a Rottweiler-Dachshund mix into the car. She was medium-sized and a little hesitant, but very sweet. Then there was this larger Pit Bull. She was young, also very sweet, but very wild. Dog #1 and Pit Bull sniffed at each other and practically filled up my back seat. Dog #1 was not thrilled with how excited Pit Bull was and got a little scared. I told them to hold off on the Pit Bull. Maybe I could find a way to let her ride alone in the front.

Next, they brought out a little Lab puppy who is about 10 weeks old or so. She could care less about the other dogs and just ran around the car excitedly. No problems there. Next was the tiny chihuahua who was scared to death. She and Dog #1 got into a little rumble because one stepped on the other, but she was so tiny, I figured I could keep them separated for the ride. Finally, they brought out Sophie. I'm not sure what to call her. She's a larger dog who has been at the shelter for a while. The first time I saw her, I pointed out that she looks like an extremely large cat. The second time I saw her, I decided she looks like a cartoon dog. She's very unique, but I feared she wouldn't be adopted, because, and I say this as nicely as possible, she's kind of homely looking. She's also very timid and shy and doesn't really come around to the cage doors when someone visits the dogs in her row, but she is a very good dog, and I'm glad she got a chance to get out of there.

At some point, I made the executive decision that Pit Bull would be riding with someone else, or I'd have to make two trips. (Luckily, another lady volunteered to take her, so she made it out today, too.)

So, off I go with my tiny Civic full of dogs. I've got Dog #1 in my front seat, just riding along, occasionally trying to jump up on the dashboard; the Chihuahua in the front floor board, trying to climb over the gear shift, into my floor board (thank God she was wearing a collar I could easily grab); Sophie the huge dog sitting in the back seat, panting like she's in shock; and the little Lab puppy in the floor of the back seat, standing on her hind legs and barking every so often.

My destination was about 70 minutes away (well, according to Google Maps - the Atlanta traffic was not taken into consideration). I wasn't even out of town before I smelled something gross. I thought it was the puppy. Of course, puppies have accidents. Nope. Sophie, the large dog, had a large accident on my backseat. Ew. She promptly moved herself to the other side of the seat so she wouldn't have to stand in it and smear it all over the rest of the car. Good girl.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Sophie just sat and stared aimlessly at the window. At one point, she decided to snack on her poop. (I know, I know.) The puppy slept in the back seat floor and every once in a while, she'd stand up and bark at me over the arm rest or chew on my sweater. Chihuahua kept trying to climb into my side of the floor until I picked her up and put her in the seat, where Dog #1 felt it was her job to attach her nose to Chihuahua's butt. That was when Chihuahua decided to be held, and I learned that driving with one hand is perfectly acceptable when you have a tiny Chihuahua in your other arm.

They were all going to a foster home where they'd stay until they got into permanent foster homes, and I passed the place two times before realizing I was passing the right place. (It was just a house, I was expecting a farm based on some email exchanges.) Right before I went by the third time, Dog #1 decided to throw up all over my floor. Sigh.

I dropped them off, and their temporary "mom" and her family got them out of my car so fast that I didn't even get to say goodbye. I mean, I'm not a Chihuahua person, but you don't drive halfway around the state and not get attached to the little dog that laid in the crook of your right arm, whimpering.

After that, I made my way back through the Atlanta traffic and headed straight to Publix, where I bought paper towels, Clorox wipes, and Lysol, and something easy to cook for supper, and I drove over to a car wash, where I cleaned scrubbed, shampooed and vacuumed all of the dog remnants out of my car. It's as good as new, but more importantly, five dogs won't be killed tomorrow. That's worth half an hour of scrubbing out my backseat and half a tank of gas if I do say so myself.

I didn't get home until about 9:00 tonight. I came home to two little dogs who had managed to get into something gross outside and the thoughts of bathing them made me want to curl up in bed and cry. Not only did the little rescue mission wear me out, but I still have lots of work to do tonight. But after spending the afternoon with four and a half dogs who were rejected by irresponsible and uncaring people, I bathed them, got out their fleece blankets and even went upstairs to dig out my little space heater so they wouldn't freeze to death (it's currently in the 40's here).

I have a feeling this is the beginning of a life of volunteer work, whether it be with homeless animals or something else. And for once, I'm not doing it to make myself look good on a college or job application. And I think I am OK with that.

Journalism & Junk

2011-09-28T21:00:00.004-04:00

Quote of the Day: "Don't you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don't even have to be true!" - Dave Barry

So, for the last year or so, in addition to my writing, I've been doing some, well, we'll call it "journalism." I wouldn't call myself a journalist, but I do get to interview some folks and write about some things so other folks can read them. It's been kind of fun and definitely a learning experience, but if I had to guess, I'd say I'm not very good at it.

Case in point: last December, a few days before Christmas, I had to find some random people at a park to talk to. For some reason, my dad ended up going along. It took a while for me to convince someone to talk to me, and once I did, it was a nice, elderly couple who talked at great length about things irrelevant to the story (which was nice, because I didn't have a clue what to ask them). By the time I was finished, my father, who had been watching from a distance, started calling me "Borat."

Sure, my journalism skills are probably more suited for The Daily Show than CNN or Fox, but somehow I've managed to build a little bit of a career for myself here, and admittedly, I kind of like it.

I think. (It's hard for me to come to grips with this because I've always been so anti-media.)

A couple of weeks ago, I was out about when I was approached with a problem. A problem that I thought would both make a good story and do some good for the community. I interviewed the right people to get the facts and wrote the story up and the next thing I know, everyone in the world either loves or hates me. There is no gray area. I've got some people griping that I lied. I've got some people coming to me like I am the only person who can save the world. It was pretty daunting. I made some friends (and most likely, some enemies), and in the end, I literally just wanted to bury my head in the sand. No wonder people hate reporters so much; I felt like an asshole for writing what I thought was a nice, yet unbiased story to the best of my ability.

If people flip over what I wrote about, I can only imagine how, say, Jake Tapper or Ed Henry feels. For a (very) brief moment, I felt guilty for all the ill-will I've harbored for reporters over the years.

On the other hand, my dad started calling me "Geraldo." I guess that's an improvement of sorts.

After that, someone sent me a tip about a federal issue that has seeped into my little corner of the world, so I started working on that. No one would talk to me about it. NO ONE. I sent my poor editor about 20 emails explaining that no one would talk to me. After sending the 20th one, I finally got someone to talk to me, only after warning me that it would be very brief because he was very busy. I tried to type what this guy was saying as he talked (we were on the phone) (I still haven't quite mastered getting exact quotes without secretly recording people - I mean, is there some easy way to do this?), but he kept going off on tangents that had nothing to do with what I asked him, and I had no idea what he was talking about anyway. I'd gotten the details that I needed for my story and finally, I cut him off and thanked him for his time.

"Wait, that's all you need to know?" he asked. "Shortest interview I've done all day, thanks!" He hung up the phone.

Now if you know me at all, you know that turned into me questioning myself nonstop for the whole rest of the day. Did I ask him the wrong questions? Does this guy I'll never talk to again and whose name I can't even remember think I'm an idiot? Will the people who read this story ask me why I asked so few dumb questions? Did I get the full story? Am I not understanding this correctly? Maybe I should call him back and ask more... Yeah.

I went over everything he said in my typed up hieroglyphic notes and re-read a press release and managed to put together what I thought was a pretty good article. I have no idea how I got from point A to point B, but I was pretty darn proud of myself.

A few days later, I was asked to cover a city council meeting. I can't tell you how nervous I was about this for multiple reasons, mostly out of fear that I would screw something up. I tried to get the GC to go with me. He owes me some money, so I told him I knock $10 off that grand total. He pretty much refused.

So, I got ready, called my parents to ask if I could stop by and borrow a pen (no, no, I'm serious), and I headed over to the big event. I got there early and since there were a couple of big things happening, there was already a lot of other media there ("other media" LOL) and not a lot of places to sit. After pissing off a large policeman at the metal detector (I didn't know my sunglasses would set the thing off, geez) and getting screamed at by a little kid who was saving a seat for someone and getting stared at like I was some kind of child molester, I found an empty seat in a back corner next to these two older women. "Come over here and sit down, honey," they said. "What are you here to see?"

"Um, the whole thing?" I responded. I half-expected them to offer me a drink and some popcorn.

So, the thing starts and I try to follow along, but wow, was that boring. The big issues that I was aware of were slated for the end of the meeting, so I just kind of listened and doodled on my notebook while they talked about things I can't believe my tax dollars pay for.

Finally, they got to the good stuff. The big issues I was supposed to report on and the citizens open forum thingy. I did that whole awkward note-taking thing where I tried to basically write down everything being said in real time, and then it occurred to me that my iPhone records voice memos. I'd never used this feature before, but I figured it was entirely possible that it would record what was being said. I said a silent prayer that it would record more than my constant shuffling and hit record.

Then I sat out to take pictures. My camera is not in good shape. The zoom feature was either warn out or trampled by a stray dog, I'm not sure, so it's not taking the best pictures right now. I also felt slightly awkward taking random pictures of people when no one else was doing this (aside from the TV crews with their video cameras). I tried a few without the flash, and luckily (and possibly thanks to glare from all the balding guys in the room), the lighting in the room was excellent.

Finally, I got to a point where the citizen who I'd say was the star of the show spoke. She's been a big newsmaker over the last year, and when she left after her speech, I thought it'd be great to talk to her. I'd been instructed to try to talk to the politicians when the meeting was over, but I just kept thinking that if I were the reader, I'd be way more interested in what she had to say than some elected official.

There was one other guy speaking and he had something to do with the second story I was supposed to be following, but I had to take a chance. I grabbed all my stuff and stormed out of the meeting and down the hall. The aforementioned pissed off policeman found yet another reason to yell at me as I tried to leave out of the wrong door, but I was a woman on a mission. I just smiled, apologized and told him to have a good night.

When I got outside, I had no idea what side of the building I was on, but I turned to my left and spotted my target walking near the parking lot. Now was my chance to get, ya know, an exclusive interview or something. I approached her, I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around and looked at me.

I couldn't think of damn thing to ask her.

I used to be pretty good on the spot, I guess it was the acting, but that ability went right out the window that night. I finally came up with the extremely intelligent sounding, "Would you like to say anything more than what you said in there?"

She kind of laughed and thought for a minute and started talking. I couldn't remember if my iPhone was still recording, so I started doing that whole crazy thing where I'm trying to write down every single word she says again (though we were standing in the dark, so it made things that much more difficult), and when she finished talking, I realized she looking at me expectantly. She wanted more questions. I asked her something stupid and fluffy, I can't even remember what, but she answered, and furiously, I took my notes.

And when I looked up again, I realized that I was no longer alone with this woman. The TV crews were surrounding us. Cameras were popping up all around us, lights were shining in our eyes and microphones were shoved in our faces. But the actual reporters weren't there yet, just their crews, and I was the only person asking questions. It suddenly occurred to me that I needed to sound smarter than the girl who really can't figure her way out of a small, square building and doesn't seem to own a pen, despite earning a living as a writer for the past three years. And I needed to do it without sounding like I was about to pass out, because that's pretty much what I felt would happen next.

I remember silently asking myself, "What would Shepard Smith do?" And it's like I transformed right there on the spot. I asked smart questions, not just fluff. For a brief moment, I didn't care that this woman had been through something unbelievably traumatic, I had questions and wanted answers. The new me lasted for all of 60 seconds before some jackass TV guy came with his bad acne and ridiculous haircut and knocked me out of the way, and I gladly stepped back for a few.

When the TV guys turned their attention to some other guy who didn't seem to be 100% in the game if you know what I mean, I approached the woman again. I was calmer now and had a better idea of what I was doing. I asked her lots of questions about things that had nothing to do with that night but that I knew would make a good story for another day. I wasn't a jerk or aggressive like the TV guys. I smiled and listened and asked everything I could think of, questions from both sides of the issue. She talked and talked and when it was all over, I thanked her, asked her if we could possibly do something else in the future and told her I was sorry for what she'd been through.

Looking back, it wasn't that big of a deal. I probably didn't do it the way one is supposed to when one is sent on this type of mission. My interview wasn't exactly exclusive. (I sat up to watch the TV guys do their thing that night.) But I still think I managed to write a good, unbiased article about the situation, and I managed to do it with just the facts (I noticed the TV guys embellished a few things when I watched their reports later that night), and I managed to do it without treating anyone like a vulture preying on roadkill.

Maybe I'm not so bad at this. Sure, I don't do it in the most traditional way and maybe I bumble around a little bit until a good story comes out of it, but that could be my "and that's the way it is."

That night, as my drove myself home, I began mapping out my future career as a journalist. Maybe I could apply to this paper or that one or maybe I could even get into the whole TV thing, myself. My phone rang just as I was declaring myself the new executive producer for The Fox Report. It was my mom. I told her how well it went and how I thought maybe I'd found my calling. "Great," she replied. "So, did such & such pass?"

"Huh?"

"Did it pass? I've been wondering about that, and now, I have an inside source," she said.

"Oh." I glanced over at the notebook full of doodles and notes and the paperwork I'd picked up with the night's agenda that were laying on the passenger seat beside me and sighed. "Well, I'm honestly not sure," I told her. "But you might want to tune in to the 11:00 news."

Ten Years Later

2011-09-11T12:46:00.007-04:00

Earlier I was thinking about the fact that the 10th anniversary of September 11 falls on the first official football Sunday of the NFL. It seems kind of absurd, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how symbolic it is of how amazing this country is.

Most of us will spend the day remembering where we were during that horrific attack, crying for lives lost, and celebrating the men and women who work to make sure we never experience it again.

Most of us will also be tailgating or cooking out, sitting in front of the TV or in a stadium to cheer on our favorite teams, and spending insane amounts of time crafting our fantasy football rosters.

Remembering the past and honoring our fellow citizens, yet moving on with our lives and enjoying our freedom, what better way to spend this Sunday? What better symbol of the United States?

In the recent weeks, I've heard a few people say, "Why do we have to keep remembering September 11 every year? Isn't it time to move on?"

I can't tell you how mad those words make me. It's almost as annoying as the people who try to politicize the day. No matter what you think about today's political atmosphere, who you vote for, or what your beliefs are, I'd like to think today is the one day we can get past that. As a matter of fact, in the days following the attack, that's one thing that really stood out to me: the unity, the patriotism, the way people, at least in my community, seemed to come together and be a little nicer to each other. A few days ago, I saw the people at the NYSE in tears as they sang "God Bless America." I could use a little more of that, myself.

To the people who say "let's just move on and forget it," I want to show them the terrible videos of people jumping from the World Trade Center to their deaths, and ask them again if they think we should forget it. Should we move on and forget the people who got up and went to work on that Tuesday morning, not knowing the last decision they'd ever have to make would be whether to burn or jump? Should we forget that there are people in this world who hate this country and every person in it and will kill us for no good reason? Should we forget that there was a day in time when most of were able to put aside our differences and reach out to our fellow man?

I really have to wonder about anyone who is old enough and who can totally forget that day. Every year with the exception of the first anniversary, I sit down and re-write where I was that day. I do it on this blog or I do it in a Word document or I do it in a notebook. I didn't do it on the first anniversary, because every time I sat down to do it, I felt a sense of panic, but it always amazes me how much I can remember.

My example is always that I can remember what color eye shadow I wore that day, and I can remember what I was wearing. For anyone who has ever seen my make-up collection, this is quite the feat. It was a light silvery-puple, shimmery color. Cheap stuff I'd picked up in a drugstore. Obviously, I don't wear it anymore, but I still have the container in my make-up case. Just like I still have the blue and white "Georgia State" t-shirt I wore that day, even though age, moths and the washing machine have more or less prevented me from ever wearing it again.

Is any of that important? No. But it's my own little representation of how big that day was. I can't tell you what I wore on September 10, 2001 and I can't tell you what I wore on September 12, 2001. Hell, I can't even tell you what I wore two days ago.

I still remember hitting my snooze button so many times that morning that I had very little time to get ready for school. I still remember going to Chick-fil-A for breakfast, what I ordered and which employee was in the drive-thru. I remember driving down I-20, listening to "Barnes, Leslie & Jimmy" on 99x and switching to a CD when I got bored with a guest they were talking to. I still remember switching back after a couple of songs and listening to them talk about a plane accident in New York.

I remember a friend of one of the DJs sharing what she saw from her New York apartment. As I sat in the infamous Atlanta traffic, waiting to get on the 75/85 Connector, I wondered what was happening. I remember looking up in the sky and seeing planes flying around the skyscrapers in my beautiful city and being afraid that I would start seeing the same thing. I was bright-eyed, oblivious and barely 20. Terrorist attacks? Wars? Those only happened in other countries. I wondered if I should go home, but the most important thing on my mind was that on the Thursday before, I'd skipped the sociology class I was on my way to, and skipping twice in a row isn't a great idea.

I parked at the World of Coke and walked to my class. When my professor finally entered, she was frazzled and apologized that class may not go as planned. It took her a few minutes to compose herself, but she told those of us who had not been listening to the radio or watching a TV in a dorm or the student center what was happening. The girl sitting next to me told me her cousin worked in the WTC and ran from the room with her cell phone. A few others left, and my professor told us she'd give us ten minutes to make phone calls if we needed to. Minutes after that, the girl who was sitting next to me re-entered the room. She stood in the back, at the top of the stairs and yelled, "Another plane has hit the Pentagon." With tears in her eyes, my professor told us to leave.

"I can't promise you the school is going to cancel classes, but my class is over. Go home. Be careful," she said.

That was all it took for me. I walked right back to the World of Coke and got into my car. On the way there, the atmosphere had changed. People were on the phone, talking to loved ones, crying and relaying information. Police officers were gathering and a SWAT team was beginning to swarm the parking lot where my car was.

As for the drive home, I remember frantically switching back and forth between radio stations to get more information. I remember sitting in traffic at the intersection of Peachstree Street and International Boulevard, right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, willing the cars to move so I could get back to the safety of my house. I also remember questioning, for the first time in my life, my safety. I always felt safe in this country, but suddenly, I didn't. I always felt safe in my parents' home and that's where I wanted to be.

I sped down I-20 and so did everyone else, but the police officers we passed weren't interested in our driving. I remember following behind a police officer from Jacksonville, Florida and wondering what the patrol car was doing in Atlanta. And I remember getting home and feeling a small sense of relief. My mom made me go fill my car up with gas and told me to come straight home. I called friends who had gone to college in other cities and states and I parked myself in front of Peter Jennings and watched the news for days on end.

I always joke that I have panic attacks if I can't access some form of news, and I suppose that's not entirely a joke. I do freak out if I can't know what's going on in the world and that day is really when it started for me. Shortly after September 11, 2001, I got a job at a bookstore in the local mall. For the longest time, I would leave my purse in the car and only carry my keys and a few dollars for lunch into work with me. I felt the need to be prepared to leave at all times. I dream about airplanes crashing quite often. I used to have a recurring one where my dad, my cousin and I were swimming in my grandfather's pool and a plane starts to fall. It never lands on the pool, but we're always afraid it will. You can imagine my surprise when my dad told me once that he often has the same dream.

My point is this: I was nowhere near the attacks when they happened, but it stills affects me in ways I never imagined it would. I can't imagine how the people who were in New York or Washington that day actually felt. For someone to say we should "get over it," I have to wonder if those people have a soul.

Here are some other good links from friends about that day and a few other things I've written:

My friends, Pat and Steve, have a story you won't want to miss. Steve was an Army reservist at the time and his best friend is a chaplain with the New York Air Guard who saw the aftermath firsthand.
Meteorologist extraordinaire, Janice Dean, shares a beautiful story about how that day changed her life and led to meeting her husband.
My friend, Sarah, shares her story; she was also in school at the time.
My friend, Chris, shares his story.
Two years ago, I was asked to remember Lisa Fenn Gordenstei n as part of Project 2,996.
And this year, I wrote a little story about the search and rescue dogs of 9/11 for a local website.

For some reason, I enjoy reading where others were on that day. No matter where we were or how mundane or exciting our days were, it's the one thing that brings together. Maybe one day, it won't take a national tragedy for that to happen.

"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended." - President George W. Bush

Books, Books, Books & More Books

2011-09-10T13:03:00.007-04:00

Ever since I finished reading Karin Slaughter's Atlanta series last month, I've been in a bit of a reading rut. The characters were so well-developed and likable, throw in a setting I'm pretty familiar with, and I could read those books all day. Sadly, there won't be another one released until next year, so I figured I better start looking into something else. Even Ms. Slaughter, herself, told me to do so. (Highlight of my summer!)

So, I've been on this crime/thriller kick lately. Some of my favorites are Slaughter, JT Ellison and Patricia Cornwell. I also enjoy Laura Lippman, Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen and Phillip Margolin.

I had a hard time getting into anyone new, so I ended up reading an old book by Gerritsen that I forgot I had on my shelves. It was really good, but very bloody and depressing, and while I don't mind bloody at all, I decided maybe it's time to explore some other options. Given all the stress I've dealt with in the last year, maybe it's time for something a little more light-hearted.

I've never been a romance reader, but I did love me some "chick lit" back in the day. Chick Lit is often confused with romance, but it's nothing like it. Sure, there is usually a romance situation in a chick lit book, but it's not always the central theme. The all-knowing Wikipedia characterizes it like this: "genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly."

The first book I read was Mean Season by Heather Cochran. It had mixed reviews on Amazon, but I liked it. It's one of the first books classified as "chick lit" that I've read in a long time.

Then I went to a local used bookstore that I frequent and grabbed a copy of Mary Kay Andrews's Savannah Blues. I was hesitant at first with this one. Back when it came out, I was actually working at Borders, and I remember it being really popular. But at the same time, a whole Southern women fiction boom seemed to be happening, and many of the books I sampled just weren't any good. But I started reading this a couple of weeks ago, and I was hooked. Loved it! The characters were great, the plot was great, the setting was great. It was one of those books you read and get so upset about when it's over because you don't want to let the characters go.

Then I discovered Mary Kay Andrews has two more books about the same characters. This is when I spent a couple of hours in the middle of the night ordering books on Amazon. Thanks to free shipping and a little bit of a gift card I had leftover, I managed to score 11 books for $42. I was thrilled and as of yesterday, they've all arrived in the mail.

I got four more Mary Kay Andrews books that I can't wait to get started with:

So, then I stopped at a few yard sales yesterday and bought eight more books for $2.75. Now I have 19 new books to read. I bought a little bit of everything. Even a few romance novels (I'm broadening my horizons).

For what it's worth, I also bought these adorable tins for $1. I love yard sales (I've practically decorated my entire house with yard sale and secondhand stuff. And to quote my cousin, some of it "looks like a Southern Living magazine." So, kiss it, pretentious people!) Yesterday was the first time I've been in about a year.

Oh, well. This post is super-boring, but I have an obsession with buying books, so I like to share my purchases - this is one reason why I won't get an e-Reader. Hope everyone's enjoying this lovely Saturday!

I'd Hit Vote For That*

2011-09-10T00:29:00.006-04:00

Did I recently say that I'm having a hard time getting into politics?

That may have changed tonight around approximately 9-something or other pm.

First of all, I've been wanting to clean the pool all week, but a car stuck in the mud and a bunch of shelter cats (don't ask) sort of stood in the way of that. I finally got to do it tonight. I knew it was probably too cold to swim, as temperatures have been hovering in the 60s and 70s all week, but I jumped in for a second anyway, and then I dried off and promptly came back to my house.

I'd been watching Shepard Smith when I left (no surprises there), so my TV was still on Fox News. Hannity was on my screen, a show I don't usually watch unless I'm desperately bored, but it's Friday night and there's never anything on TV on Friday night, so I left it on while I went into the kitchen to make a couple of hotdogs. (<-- Not a pun. Really what I had for supper.)

When I came back into the living room, I looked at my TV and thought surely my eyes were deceiving me. I'd just heard Hannity say he was going to talk to two congressmen. I was expecting to see something like this:

But instead, what I saw was this:

What? Sir, did you say congressmen or congresshotties? Is that the Capitol Building or a frat house at UGA? GOP? More like GSP... Grand Sexy Party. I mean, come on!

Forget Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, let's watch these two battle it out at the Reagan Library.

Preferably with a can of whipped cream. Am I right, ladies?

*My apologies to Aaron Schock and Adam Kinzinger. It's been a long week. Seeing two attractive Congressman at one time was literally the highlight. Literally.

Sara, Pete, & Chloe

2011-09-08T00:10:00.006-04:00

OK, technically, I should be putting together a news website, doing laundry and writing something about September 11, but well, who would I be if I weren't wasting time and waiting until the last minute? I need to get this off my mind.

I guess I've mentioned this, but back in March or April, the local news thing I do some freelance work for asked if I could start doing adoptable pets of the week. This involves visiting a local shelter, looking at the most depressing little faces I've ever seen and picking a few dogs and cats to feature. This may be the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life.

Honestly, I'm not a cat person, but the dogs just kill me, and there have been a few that I've ended up becoming very attached to: Sara, Pete, and Chloe. I've mentioned them here before, because I've spent agonizing nights debating adopting each and every one of them, myself, but as of today, all three of them have met their fate...

AND IT'S ALL GOOD!

Sara is the first dog I fell in love with. She is a big Black Lab who spent months at the shelter (most dog are lucky to stay a few weeks before they are euthanized, especially Black Labs). I more or less begged people to adopt her when I featured her as one of the "pets of the week" and low and behold, back in July, someone wrote in and told me they had adopted her. I got to know her new father a little better, and I'm pretty sure she's in a great home now with a new brother and sister.

But that left Pete. Pete and Sara shared a cage and when I saw that she'd left him behind, I made him my new mission. Every week I posted that poor dog's picture on Facebook and Twitter and begged people to take him. Finally, someone I kind of knew from Twitter contacted me about adopting him. The problem was that she lived several states away. I spent days trying to find someone who would take him to her and long story short, she assured me she had it all lined up. Long story short again, that was all a load of crap. I have never been so mad. Disrespect me all you want, but prevent one of these babies from getting a home and you are on my shit list. I actually went to the shelter today, and after looking for him everywhere, I had to ask one of the girls who works there what happened to Pete. I braced myself, but she told me that after being at the shelter for five months, the original family that he had run away from (in a different county) finally (accidentally) found him and re-adopted him. So, not only did he get a home, he got HIS home back. Again, most dogs last a few weeks at the most, and why they kept him for five months, I'll never know, but if there was ever a better "everything happens for a reason" story...

And finally, sweet little Chloe. She was four years old and one of the prettiest dogs I'd ever seen, but her owner turned her in for reasons unknown to me. The first day I saw her, we got her out of her cage, and she was so scared. The next week, it was storming and she was just shaking uncontrollably. She's probably the one I came the closest to adopting, but just a day or two before I planned to go to the shelter to get her, someone else wrote in to tell me they'd adopted her. Hopefully, she's in a good home now.

Last week, I realized a local rescue group posts pictures of the dogs from that shelter who are euthanized every week on Facebook. When I saw lots of familiar faces on there, I nearly lost it. It was a very dark cloud hanging over my holiday weekend. I spent a lot of time debating whether or not I should tell them they can send some other pretend journalist to do the adoptable pets of the week. Then I looked back at Sara, Pete & Chloe. I don't think I had much to do with Pete, but if it weren't for me, Sara and Chloe possibly never would have been adopted. It's the dictionary definition of bittersweet, and I'm not trying to toot my own horn by any means, but I can't let those poor babies down.

I'd love to start my own rescue someday or help a good one become great, and maybe if I can ever get this stupid book finished, it'll lead me to an opportunity to do that. If not, I'll just keep doing what I can. For now I'm moving on to Lucky, Layla and Zeus.

I've just got to figure out how to not let it consume me like I did this weekend. (I started by "unliking" that particular group on Facebook. I know they get put down, but I don't need to know the details.) Today, as I was leaving, this one dog that was new to the shelter kept raising its paw and looking at me with the most hopeful look on its face. I didn't pet it because I didn't know his temperament (he was new), but I can't get that face out of my head. It's like he knew.

Oh, well. If anyone wants a dog, I know a few good ones!

New Music from Stevie Nicks

2011-09-06T20:36:00.002-04:00

I haven't heard the whole album, In Your Dreams, yet, but I'm digging this single.

"For What it's Worth"

Me and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, F$&ked Up Day

2011-09-05T21:23:00.013-04:00

So, there's this festival that takes place a couple of counties south of me, and I used to go all the time with my mom and aunts. We haven't been in years, but for some reason, I decided I'd like to go this year. My mom didn't think she was up for it. My cousin decided he wanted to go, but his mom already planned to go with someone else, so he and I decided we would go together.

The festival lasts three days and takes place every Labor Day weekend. Artists come from all over the country to sell their wares. There's tons of not-so-good for you food that the media would have you believe you can only get at the Iowa State Fair during an election year (fried Oreos, anyone?) and there's live entertainment, ranging from bluegrass bands to a birds of prey show. There are lots of activities for kids, the 4-H club with their livestock and historical stuff. It's really a good time.

Or, at least, it's a really good time when Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Weather Event Lee isn't flying through the state.

But let me back up. My family cooked out to celebrate the holiday weekend yesterday and either my mom and aunt are trying to poison me or I ate way too much crap. I went to bed pretty late last night, but I figured I could swing three hours of sleep before my cousin and I left for the festival. About an hour after I'd gone to sleep, I woke up with the most horrible stomach pain I'd felt in a long time. I just knew I was going to see all of the food from the cookout reemerge from the hole in which it entered my body (sorry), so I ran to the bathroom. I sat on side the tub and played the new Battleship app I downloaded for my iPhone (just call me Rear Admiral Sarah).

I was in there over half an hour, but nothing ever happened, so I returned to my bed and proceeded to lay in bed and moan and groan for another hour. In the end, I think I got about one and a half hours of sleep, and when I woke up this morning, I felt like hell. I should have called the whole thing off right then and there, but I still really wanted to go. If for no other reason, the book I'm working on centers around a similar type of festival, and I thought it would be good motivation for writing.

My cousin came over and I dragged my barely awake self to the car, and we sat out for the festival. According to Google, it's about 55 minutes from my house, but throw in the fact that it's pouring rain, and it took a little bit longer than that. We knew there was a chance of rain today, but I'm not afraid of a little water. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't wear any makeup or the white tanktop I'd originally planned.

We got there and the big field where you park is usually packed. Seriously, most days you may walk half a mile to get to the front gate. What we saw was this:

The good thing is that we were able to park really close to the gate, and due to the rain, they were offering a "Lee" discount on tickets. Once we got inside, we were amazed at how few people were there. I can't tell you how crowded this place usually is. Not only that, but many of the artists and vendors had already packed up for the day, too. There were maybe 20 - 30 left out of like 150 - 200. That sucked, but at least we had what was left of the festival to ourselves.

We walked around and did a little shopping and watched part of a birds of prey show. We were two of the ten or so people in the audience.

I bought the following (and these are all cuter in person, it's dark in my living room where I'm taking these pictures):

This little pottery dish to put on my kitchen sink to keep sponges and stuff in (my old one broke).

Then I went back and bought this little clay doggie Christmas ornament.

I also bought this little ceramic bulldog:

And these awesome smelling candles (sage citrus and plumeria):

None of that is what I intended to buy, but like I said, most vendors had packed up for the weekend due to the rain, and I had to buy something!

One of the last vendors we stopped at sold jellies and jams in all these really unique flavors, and while some of them looked tasty, my stomach issue from the night before was quickly returning. As I listened to the ladies who made them tell my little cousin what all he could eat with them, I thought I was going to die right there. After he sampled and bought a few of them, we decided to head home. He was broke and I could barely stand up straight, so we just decided to leave. So much for fried Oreos.

I should have taken this new found nausea as a sign not to leave the house again today.

We drove back to my house in even more rain, then my mom called shortly after to let us know there was a tornado warning right where we'd been driving home. My dogs were staying with my parents (I didn't know how long I'd be gone), and I decided to head up and go get them. All I wanted to do was get them, get home and go to bed. I watched my cousin back out of my driveway and then I started to back out of my driveway, and before I know it, I'm slipping and sliding all over the place. I freaked out a little bit, threw the car into drive and suddenly, I hear this loud crunching noise.

Again, let me back up. A few weeks ago, one of my water pipes sprung a leak. The pipe was about five feet under my driveway so there's a huge gaping hole in my driveway, but my landlord filled in with dirt and told me it was OK to drive over it. So, that's what I've been doing.

Unfortunately, doing it in the rain was a bad idea. My front tire sank down into the hole, the front bumper caught on the cement, and I was not going anywhere:

Now it's not enough that I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach and my car is stuck in a huge, gaping hole, but I open my car door to inspect the damage and the tornado sirens are going off. I just stood there in the rain for a while. Given the bad luck I've had with things over the last few months, especially my car, I just couldn't seem to grasp the situation. My mom called to see what was taking so long. My phone was so wet, I couldn't even get the touchscreen to slide open so I could answer it.

I went inside, called her back and told her what happened and she told me there was a tornado spotted at the elementary school near my house. That's about the time when I started carrying on about how I would die alone, not even the dogs would be with me. The next half hour or so was filled with nonstop tornado sirens, crazy winds (I felt like Dorothy watching stuff fly by my window) and lots of flooding.

When things started to die down, my dad (who has the flu) came to get me. He inspected my car, and told me I was going to have to call a wrecker. I went to their house, made some calls (seriously, I had to try four places before I found someone who'd come out on Labor Day), and my dad brought the dogs and me back to my house. I waited another hour for the guy to come pull my car out of the hole and charge me $55 for doing so. I was so happy that I tipped him, but if I'd know what was gonna come next, I would have held on to that money.

At this point, I'm freezing cold and soaking wet, so I changed into my warm snuggly robe and went to bed. I slept for a couple of hours and when I woke up, I guess my stomach ailment was gone because I was starving. The rain had died down, so I decided I'd make a quick run to McDonald's. For some reason, when I'm sick, I crave McDonald's. On the way there, my car started acting funny if I'd go over 30 mph. Like the steering wheel would start jerking and I'd nearly run off the road. I can't wait to see how much that's going to cost! I just had $3500 worth of work done on said car after a tree fell on it.

In an effort to wrap this up, I won't complain about how long the extremely immature staff at McD's made me sit and wait for overcooked chicken, cold fries and a watered down Diet Coke, but, well, this is what happened to that meal:

It was the the perfect end to a perfect day. I ended up eating leftover homemade ice cream from the cookout for supper. Great for my stomach issues, but the only thing I had in the house that didn't make me want to gag.

Oh, well. At least the dozens of tornadoes that flew over my town never swept me away. Well, they say it was only three tornadoes, but dozens makes for a better story and that's how many times the sirens went off.

Politics, Sports, Weather & Humor: (Some of) My Favorite Blogs

2011-09-03T01:03:00.009-04:00

As I've posted here before, I enjoy reading a blog called Kelly's Korner, which belongs to a sweet lady in Arkansas, who is inspiring to me in many ways. I can't even remember how I first discovered Kelly's blog, but I've been reading it for several years - long enough to remember her being pregnant with her now two and half year old daughter.

Anyway, every Friday, she does a feature called "Show Us Your Life," where other bloggers can link up posts that center around certain themes. Many of them are family-oriented, and seeing as how I'm single with a couple of dogs, I don't participate in those, but I have participated in a few others. This week's theme is "Favorite Blogs," and I do have a few of those.

1. I'll start with Copacetic In Carolina. Don't let the title fool you, the blog's owner, Ally, is a Georgia girl at heart. We actually met through Twitter, sharing a love of UGA football, but given our ages, it turns out we went to college together. Anyway, if you're into SEC football and tailgating tips or you just want to make your mouth water, head on over there.

2. Tao of JT is a blog maintained by one of my favorite authors, JT Ellison. (If you haven't read her Taylor Jackson series, you must exit out of my blog and head straight for Amazon now!) I've learned so much about writing through Ellison's website, and she's super witty, too! Even if you don't have an interest in writing, you'll get a good laugh over there.

3. If you're an Atlanta sports fan, I suggest you check out Mark Bradley's blog over at the AJC's website. I've been a fan of Bradley's for as long as I can remember, which is, perhaps, something I inherited from my father and grandfather. I've had the opportunity to communicate with him a little bit on Twitter and let me just tell you, I was as giddy as a schoolgirl about it. Every once in a while, I'll admit, I'll get a little huffy when Mr. B says bad things about my Bulldogs, but overall, he's one of the best sports writers in the country.

4. Jennifer Dailing Waite is another Twitter friend, and she is freaking hilarious! Anytime I need a good laugh, I check out her blog or Twitter feed. She's also a true crime freak like myself, so we've bonded over stuff like watching The First 48, as well. You'll get a little bit of everything when you visit Jennifer's blog, but if you laugh so hard that stuff flies out of your nose, don't say I didn't warn you.

5. Janice Dean's Weather Blog is another one of my favorite reads. Most of you know (and if you don't, just scroll down a post or two), my TV pretty much stays on Fox News 24 hours a day, and if someone changes the channel, I have panic attacks. I mean, I literally keep the TV on in both the living room and the bedroom, so I won't miss anything when walking through the house. (I'm kidding! Sort of!) Anyway, over the years, I've grown to love Janice Dean on Fox News and was excited to see she was blogging, too. I do get excited about big weather events, but all that aside, Janice is so real, unlike so many other media personalities and that comes through loud and clear there.

6. I'm adding one more and then I need to get to bed, and that's going to be one that I check almost every day and have for the last three years: And So It Goes in Shreveport. Where to start? Back in the summer of 2008, things were kind of going downhill. I ran over myself, I found out my landlord was a crook and was being forced to move, and I realized my little career in law enforcement was not all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't a great time for me (though looking back, I'd trade all that for the few summers after that), but I do have some fond memories of that year and one of those was "meeting" Pat. Pat left a comment here on my blog - I believe we bonded over the election season and Lindsey Buckingham, and before I know it, we became fast friends. I still haven't met Pat and her husband, Steve, but I hope to someday. They are two of the neatest people I "know." And when I can't sit around and watch/read/listen to news all day, I generally turn to her blog to see what's going on in the world. (Though you'll want to cut her a little slack right now; she's a high school English teacher and the start of a new school year means a little less blogging.)

So, those are six of my favorite blogs. They are in no way the only ones I read and love. There are several other great ones listed to the left of here (that really needs to be updated, though), and several more well-known ones that I don't have listed anywhere but I read them almost every day. I also enjoy reading personal blogs of close family and friends, though I don't ever link them because they are generally pretty private.

There's also the fact that it's 1:30 am, and I need some sleep! I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend or unofficial to end to summer if you will. Given the hell I've gone through over the last few summers, particularly last year with my mom, I was dreading this year, but in the end, it turned out to be OK. It was, after all, the summer I met Charleston, the greatest city in the world! I didn't get to swim as much as I wanted, I had so many things break (TV, water pipes, internet, cable, electricity, AC, laptop, etc.), and I was so busy with my South Carolina work travel that I didn't even notice how fast the summer was slipping by, but I love fall and welcome it with open arms! (I'm also ready for some non 90+ temperatures.)

MTV, Kardashians & 13 Hours of Shepard Smith

2011-08-28T23:41:00.008-04:00

So, yeah, I've more or less spent the weekend in front of the TV. This was not my ideal plan, but I had a ton of work to catch up on after dealing with busted water pipes and my mom's eye surgery last week, and well, there was the promise of a hurricane and 13 hours of Shepard Smith.

I'd like to stop right here and say that if I'm ever in a hurricane situation, I'd rather be in it with Southerners than New Yorkers. Holy crap. Freak out much, Yankee folk? Sure, everyone freaks out to some extent, but some of these media types I've witnessed throughout the weekend were a bit much. Just sayin'...

Anyway, I did enjoy the 13 (that's a rough estimate) hours of Shepard Smith, but when Fox News did away with the promise of a 14th hour, I found myself in quite a stitch. How on earth am I supposed to get anything done when there is nothing on TV?

I checked out Twitter and saw that the VMAs were on MTV. Ahh, the memories. That awards show used to be the end all, be all of award shows for my young teenage and even college-age self. I mean, people would actually gather to watch that stuff. All the talented musicians of the 90's got together and put on fun performances without the stuffiness and formality of the Grammys or, at least, what the Grammys were in those days. You'd talk about it for weeks after and the video tape on which you recorded it would become worn out within a month.

Oh, yeah. Time to change the channel.

First, I should admit that aside from a few episodes of that show where those trashy kids are pregnant and angry (and that was only because I was stuck in a hotel room in Columbia, South Carolina with a TV that got about two channels), I probably haven't even actually watched MTV since I was in college. (Well, there was this one time when my little cousin got me hooked on some show where these kids got on a bus and took turns going on dates or something.) But I was ready to embark on an adventure.

I flipped over and the first thing I saw was a commercial for The Real World 817 or something like that. OK, yeah, sure, the show is probably past its prime, but I remember The Real World. I remember Puck and the AIDS guy and sexy Eric Whatshisface who did those exercise videos.

This is pretty good.

Next, I watched as the Foo Fighters won an award. OK, yeah, I like Dave Grohl. I liked him better in Nirvana, but that's neither here nor there, and they beat out Mumford and Sons in whatever category the award was for. They're newish. I like them. I'm still doing OK with this.

Then I watched as Adele got up and began to sing, and I was good with that, too, because that girl is super-talented. I only know a few of her songs, but her voice is to die for. Yep, not much has changed at the old VMAs is what I decided at that point. Better yet, no one's gonna mistake me for an AARP member.

Then I realized it was 10:00, and I had to switch the channel. I may or may not spend many a Sunday evening watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians. I may or may not have spent the week anxiously waiting to see how the whole Kris/Kim/earring/Bora Bora situation turned out.
Don't judge me.

During a commercial, I flipped back over to MTV, just in time to see ~~Prince~~ Lady Gaga dressed as a man strut out onto the stage. I, for one, am kind of over the whole attempt at shock value from this particular person, but it is what it is. Then I realized she was there to give a tribute to Britney Spears, who was receiving, like, I don't know, some kind of lifetime achievement award. Now, Miss Spears and I are the same ageish, and this did not make me feel old. This made me feel like I just saw a bunch of talented folks like Adele, the Foo Fighters and Mumford and Sons and they're giving some kind of huge award to Britney Spears? What has she done in the last few years, aside from shave her head, become a headcase and spawn a few kids?

For the rest of the time, I switched back and forth between both shows and when the Kardshians were over, I went back to MTV full-time. This is when it really went downhill.

Russell Brand was there, supposedly giving some kind of tribute to the late Amy Winehouse, but because he's Russell Brand, he was mostly just saying stuff I couldn't understand and looking like a homeless person. Then, somehow, Tony Bennett appeared on stage, and I thought he was gonna sing. This is the kind of tribute to a dead person I can get behind. I'm not sure what happened next, but before I knew it, Tony Bennett was ushered from the stage and something worse than Russell Brand was taking over.

Bruno Mars.

Oh, how I loathe this individual and his so-called music. "I would catch a grenade for you??" Seriously, we could have found Bin Laden a LONG, LONG time ago if Bruno Mars were just a little bit older. Just play that crap through the deserts and streets of Pakistan and anyone in hiding would come running out with their hands raised high. I'm embarrassed I even know that much of his lyrics, which are some of the dumbest lyrics I've ever heard. Really, if a guy ever told me he'd catch a grenade for me, I'd call him a dumb fuck and walk away.

Anyway, after Bruno Mars there was Katy Perry (not a fan) and after that was Lil' Wayne, who, at almost 30 years old, should not call himself "Lil" anything. He had some issues keeping his pants on and his song was so full of foul language that I was sure Hurricane Irene was back and heading straight for Atlanta at the rate the sound cut in and out. Now, I realize I sound like somebody's white grandmother with that assessment, but let me just say, I love me some rap and hip-hop. Always have. Just today, I was listening to Outkast and Busta Rhymes between Shepard Smiths. But I actually like the rap and hip-hop artists who don't rely on autotune to get through a song, which means that with the exception of a few, the current crop of so-called rappers are just kind of, well, slightly more talented than Bruno Mars. I mean, hey, some of that music is good to work out to after all.

So, that's how the show ended, and just as I'm sitting there wondering where society went so wrong, some other show came on MTV. I was in the kitchen, so I couldn't change the channel, but I saw/heard about two minutes of it while I was moving about. Holy crap! Within those two minutes, the two lead characters had used about 50 sexual references. I am not at all a prude, but it's like they were having a contest to see who could jam the most sex-related words into one sentence.

Back in the day, when we first got cable, my BFF, Melissa, and I would wait until our parents went to bed, turn our TVs to MTV with the volume down as low as possible and sit right in front of the TV to watch Beavis and Butthead. That was the cutting edge programming of our time. But at least Beavis and Butthead was funny. At least it had a point. At least it wasn't just the product of some really bad writer's attempt to subliminally attract horny teenagers and potheads for the sake of ratings. I forgot what the show was called, but it was something like, Give Me Back My Pants. And I thought that pregnant teenager show was bad.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that maybe I am too old to enjoy MTV anymore. And if that's the case, then so be it. I had a lot more fun rocking out to Star 94's "90's Weekend" on my way to get some lunch today than I did listening to any one song at the VMAs.

Seriously, I saw very little of the show as a whole, and what I did see amounted to the largest group of untalented people gathered in one place that I've seen in a long time.

And I say that just moments after watching an hour-long Kardashian special.

Next time, I think I'll DVR Shepard Smith's 13-hour hurricane commentary and re-watch it or hope like hell it's already football season.

Or maybe I can start surfing for Murder She Wrote episodes. Isn't that what the olds watch these days?

There's a Hurricane a Comin'

2011-08-26T23:13:00.005-04:00

So, unless you live under a rock (or on the West Coast or the Midwest or in a world where you don't watch overblown news coverage 24 hours a day), you know there is, well, to quote the late, great Sophia Petrillo, "a hurricane a comin'." I'm am not in any way wishing any harm on anyone, but I always get a rush of adrenaline when I hear about a hurricane. I can't quite put my finger on why, though. My lifelong desire to be a reporter always revolved around me picturing myself standing outside in 100 plus mile per hour winds and pouring rain, shouting back to the studio about evacuations and long lines at the grocery store. Don't ask; I was an only child.

There's also the fact that when a hurricane's a comin', I usually get extra Shepard Smith on my television. I've quit a job to stay home and watch this sort of thing before. (I'm sort of kidding.) Anyway, the ATL won't even see a drop of rain from Irene, so I'll be watching this sucker from afar.

(Though my landlord, also named Irene, was here all day fixing a water problem in my house. Not quite the same thing but as close as I'm gonna get.)

If you haven't already figured it out, I really don't have much to say. That's beginning to be a theme around here, so maybe I need to start blogging politics again. I'm sure I will as next year's election season gets a little closer. I just can't help myself.

I hope everyone has a good weekend, and if you are in the path of Hurricane Irene, stay safe. I'll be working all weekend. I don't mind, as it will free up some time next week for me to work on my book and some other fun projects. Sadly, I won't be covering evacuations in dangerous winds, but if you want to know about great local Labor Day sales and adoptable pets from the pound, I'm your girl!

Dogs & Soldiers

2011-08-25T23:35:00.004-04:00

I used to joke that dogs and soldiers were the only things that made me cry. After watching Something Borrowed the other night, I'm extremely embarrassed to admit that this is not entirely true. (Hey, I was having a bad day!) Anyway, these have been going around, but if you haven't seen them, grab some tissues.

First, you have the funeral of Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson. Seeing an upset family member sitting near a coffin isn't an unusual occurrence, but here you see Tumilson's adorable, grief-stricken Lab, Hawkeye, watching over his best friend. Just watch the video. and tell me you don't shed a tear:

And for a little bit of a happier situation, check out what happens when a huge Great Dane named Emmitt Thunderpaws sees his military daddy come home from deployment:

Shepard Smith: The Only Man I Trust*

2011-08-24T00:12:00.010-04:00

Back in January, when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot, I was pretty shaken up. I realize many people were pretty shaken up - especially those who lost loved ones on that day - but it really just got to me more than anything had in a while. As I've posted, I liked Giffords because when I saw her interviewed for the first time, I had no idea if she was a Republican or Democrat. She seemed fair and even-tempered and exactly what anyone would want in a politician. She represented, to me, what this country is all about, even if I didn't agree with everything she said. So, when I found out that it was her who was shot while holding some sort of public forum for her constituents on a Saturday afternoon outside of a grocery store - picture perfect Americana - I felt sick, not just for Giffords and the other victims, but for my country. I won't compare it to September 11, but it was sort of the same feeling, the need to rally the troops and send whoever did this to my country straight to hell.

That day, I got home right after it happened. Of course, I kept my TV tuned to the 24-hour news channels and poured over a few favorite news websites to attempt to piece together some truth, but it wasn't until later that afternoon that I felt any sort of peace. Why, you ask?

On his day off, Shepard Smith came in to anchor the Fox News coverage of the shooting aftermath.

Here's where I'm going to sound a little kooky, but his presence was calming, and at that moment, I knew I need not look elsewhere for the truth I'd spent the afternoon searching the headlines for.

Now, I've been watching Smith for many years. Not as religiously as I do now, but I've always found him entertaining. On that day in January, however, I realized from that point on, when something big is going on in this country or anywhere in the world, I'd be turning my TV to Fox News. And if Smith ever moves to another network, I'll turn to him there, as well.

I really haven't felt this way about a news anchor since the days when I was a kid tuning into Peter Jennings and ABC every night. And then there’s Bob Schieffer, though I don't see as much of him as I'd like to anymore.

This may not seem important to many of you; it may even sound a little, well, crazy, but I take my news seriously and always have. It may be more disorder than hobby, but I like to know what's going on in the world.

So, why am I carrying on about this? In both real life and on the Twitter, I get a lot of flak for this opinion. Usually, it's from far-right/far-left political friends and acquaintances. "How do you watch that liberal freak?" or "Anyone who works for Faux News is a tool."

Good grief.

The truth of the matter is this: I don't give a flying f--k what Shepard Smith's political views are. He doesn't force them down my throat, and on the occasion that he does slip some opinion into his afternoon show, I am smart enough and mature enough to recognize that I do not have to agree or disagree with every single thing another smart, mature adult says.

Have I ever gotten annoyed at something he’s said? Sure. But I tune back in the next day because I know he’s the one of the few people on this earth who is going to clue me in on what’s going on in the world without any partisan bias. Have I seen him carry on about something he feels strongly about? Absolutely. But I’ve never seen him present the news in any sort of agenda-driven way.

I think people often mistake having an opinion for having an agenda. Journalists are human. All humans have opinions. It’s how they let those opinions affect their work that matters, and there have been very few times (seriously, I can only think of one or two) that I have seen Smith let his opinion affect his broadcast.

But I like that he’s human, too. Who wants to watch a robot read the news? I like that's he's not perfect, and I like that he makes mistakes. I like that he gets emotional when reporting the death of a child or a happy ending for a soldier, and I like that it appears to be genuine. I like that he makes jokes with guests and calls many stories like he sees them – like we all see them.

I also like that he recognizes the SEC as the greatest thing that has ever happened to football. But I digress…

Anyway, most of what I see online about Smith is some variation of the partisan crap I mentioned above or inane gossip and speculation about his private life, neither of which is relevant to what he does every day. As long as he keeps delivering the news in a way that informs me when no one else is telling the whole truth and comforts and reassures me when I’m uneasy, I’ll be watching.

*With the exception of my dad and grandfather
-----------------------------------------------------
Please note: I've been wanting to write this for a while, but just haven't had time. I wrote it in a hurry tonight (and in the midst of Benadryl bender), so it's probably not as well thought out as I would have liked (and i know it's full of errors), but you all get the point.

Because I have nothing better to post...

2011-08-15T01:51:00.001-04:00

Awwwwwwww

"She's never seen a Republican before..."

2011-08-12T01:42:00.003-04:00

My grandfather sent me this, and it made me laugh.

I'll take more candidates like this, Republican or Democrat.

The August Ed Helms Post

2011-08-10T01:14:00.007-04:00

Don't worry, I'm not starting some sort of monthly post about Mr. Helms. I was just looking over some old posts from this summer and realized I have managed to sneak a Helmsesque one in each month for the last two months, and I couldn't think of a clever title.

Anyway, several months ago, the aforementioned Ed Helms was a guest on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. I bookmarked it with the intention of listening, but the amazing job assignment in South Carolina happened and the rest of my life got put on hold for a few months. Last night I found myself finding every way in the world to procrastinate working on my book, so I decided I might find some inspiration in listening to the podcast.

Wow. I'm so glad I did.

A friend of a friend who works in New York interviewed Helms back when Cedar Rapids hit theaters and the guy just carried on and on about what a nice, humble person he is. In listening to this interview, I walk away with the same opinion. I hate when people pretend to know someone they don't based on a few glimpses into their life, so I hope what I'm saying doesn't come across that way, but he just seems like a really cool dude, famous and ridiculously talented or not.

It's also a good interview because it's not just the typical "Were you surprised at the success of The Hangover" crap. I literally found myself laughing out loud a few times. (That's LOL for all of you youngins out there.) And it was neat to hear a little bit about Helms growing up in Atlanta. There is also a little live banjo music if you are into that sort of thing.

Even my dad listened to parts of it today (when he was not telling me I have the journalistic integrity of Rupert Murdoch, but that's a story for another day), but I think he was mostly just fascinated that Helms's father worked for Andrew Young and is a "pretty progressive democrat." (I'm telling you, it's not your typical "was it sad when Steve Carell left The Office" kind of interview.)

Anyway, give it a listen. It'll be good for you. Then go put Cedar Rapids on your queue or rent it or buy it and enjoy. You won't regret either unless you just hate comedy and hilarious people.

When did people get to be so rude?

2011-08-08T15:46:00.007-04:00

So, remember last week when I decided I was going to cut back on my internet time? It took a little will at first, but I managed to do it. The biggest help was shutting down my laptop when I'm finished working at the end of the day and only using my iPhone to check email or news websites.

And then Saturday, the ATL suffered another set of awful storms, and my wireless internet device thingy got struck by lightning. I'll admit, it made for a boring Saturday. Between not having a car and not having internet, I felt as if I'd been cut off from the outside world.

Sunday, I slept pretty late and then got up and got ready to head to a birthday party, and I stayed there for a few hours before coming home to what I thought would be another boring evening (though I did borrow one of my grandfather's cars again, so at least I had that going for me). Instead, I pulled out my laptop and pulled up the book I'm working on and finished two and half chapters, plus revamped some of the plot. In other words, I got a lot done.

By the time I went to bed, I realized that not having internet had worked to my advantage. I didn't feel compelled to check Twitter/Facebook/email every five seconds. I didn't feel the need to read needless blogs about other people's lives or read nasty comments that people had left on an article or story written by me or a friend. Sure, it would have been helpful for the sake of research for the book, but if I needed to know something badly enough, I just looked it up on my phone or left a blank space with a note about what I needed to look up. In a way, I felt free, and if I didn't need it back today for work purposes, I probably would have just put off my trip to the cable company to get a new modem for a few days.

Anyway, in my continuing effort to rid my life of pointless crap, I've decided I'm taking my "no pointless crap" decision to a new level.

Tell me if this gets on your nerves as much as it does mine: you send someone a text or email about something rather important. Maybe it's to confirm what time you're supposed to meet them somewhere or even a professional question for your boss or a co-worker. They not only don't respond in a timely manner, but much of the time they don't respond at all. Then, two weeks later, after ignoring about three correspondences from you, they send you some sweet little text or email because they want or need something.

I understand, people get busy. People forget things. Hey, I'm not trying be holier than thou; I've got emails that have sat in my inbox since April (though I do try to contact those people and let them know I'm super busy, and I do try to answer important questions if I can't the entire email when I read it). And there are some times when I do want to just shut off all forms of communication with the outside world for a night or a few hours, and unless you're my mother or the President or Ed Helms (and let's face it, only one of those three ever call me), I ain't gonna talk to you anyway. But if I know you have a specific question and aren't just texting to say "hello," I'll get back to you in a timely manner.

Anyway, I hate to seem like some kind of people-hater, but I'm just so sick and tired of this sort of thing lately. It's like all of the technology in our lives has give people an excuse to be lazy about communication. There are a few people who I hesitate before I contact anymore, because I know that nine times out of ten, they won't respond. And you can bet your sweet ass that not a week later, those same people are going to come crying to me because they need advice or a favor or something more. Furthermore, it's made me more impatient with people who do have the respect and courtesy to respond, and I don't like that at all.

I'm sorry that I have higher expectations of my friends and acquaintances, my professional contacts and even some of my family members. I think the next step in simplifying my life is to cut back on being so readily available to these particular people.

Does that make me a bad person?

If a tree falls on your car and you're not there to see it, do you have to pay the insurance premium?

2011-07-31T19:43:00.006-04:00

So, now that I'm not traveling for work anymore, I've manged to get myself on a decent schedule - that means working four days a week and actually taking the weekend off for the first time in who knows how long. Yesterday, I offered to take my mom to Kroger (my dad had to work and she didn't have transportation), then I would come home and RELAX. I had the day so perfectly planned out: I'd take a nap, order some Chinese for dinner and have a movie marathon until I passed out again.

I got to the nap part and at some point while I was asleep I woke up with a start. I heard a loud noise, and I knew I wasn't dreaming because the dogs heard it too, but when I got up and looked out the window, I realized it was raining and really windy, so I just brushed it off as a limb falling... I mean, when you live in a Unabomber Cabin in the woods, a fallen limb is an almost daily occurrence.

A couple of hours later, the storm s had let up a bit, and I decided to go get the aforementioned Chinese food. I made myself presentable and headed the door. The first thing I saw was a rather large limb behind my car. I groaned, thinking it had probably made a dent in my trunk. Honestly, my car has been so dinged up from various incidents over the years (hail, a kid with a baseball, my dog, my neighbor's dog, an idiot employee at the grocery store), that one more little dent wasn't going to hurt anything.

Then I saw a more familiar sight: shattered glass. You see, last January, when it was like two degrees outside, my windshield took it upon itself to shatter for no particular reason. A nice man came out and fixed it for about $200. I groaned at the sight, thinking I was going to have to have the damn thing replaced again.

It wasn't until I got all the way around to the back of the car that I realized the windshield was only one of many worries. The huge limb (I thought it was a tree at first, but it's a limb that's the size of a small tree) had fallen right on top of my car and the back part of the roof is all smashed in among other things. I wanted to sit right down in the middle of the driveway in the rain and cry.

I called my dad and he brought some tarps to cover it with (and for the 1,000th time in the last few years, I think he wished I'd get married). Today, I went out to check out the contents of my backseat (I haven't really cleaned it out since my trips - let's just say everything from my printer to some paperwork is in the back seat) and it smells like someone died in there thanks to being rained on for several hours.

I guess I have a week ahead of the headache that is dealing with an insurance company. Especially if what just happened is any sort of omen.

Just a few minutes ago, I was laying on the sofa, in the dark, trying to watch one of the movies I had planned for yesterday's lazefest. Suddenly, something came flying out of my kitchen and swooped down on my head. I started screaming and batted it away. I looked up just in time to see something large and black flying around the living room. I ran screaming out the sliding glass door, hoped the large frog who has taken up residence on my patio was not in my path, and I watched as the thing flew up and down my hallway and around the living room. Finally, it went flying out the door, and I was able to re-enter my home.

It was a bat. Not the Louisville Slugger kind, but the kind that bites poor people with smashed in cars and gives them rabies.

Sigh. Now Obama is speaking. I guess bad things do come in threes.

Update: Not only do you have to pay the insurance premium, you have to pay $250 for old hail damage on the part that's gonna have to be replaced anyway! Freaking son of a...

Florence King

2011-07-29T00:29:00.003-04:00

Quote of the Day: "To the Southerner, a tree cannot simply be an ordinary tree, it must be a dueling oak." - Florence King

I've been reading Southern Ladies and Gentlemen by Florence King while I await a shipment from Amazon. It's a bit dated and sometimes requires a dictionary, but I like it. King is pretty interesting in her own right. I don't necessarily agree with many of her views, but until 2002, she was a columnist at National Review and she has many other books out.

The Internet. Good Grief.

2011-07-28T22:42:00.005-04:00

I've always been a big proponent of the internet, and if it weren't for the internet, I wouldn't even have a job at the moment, but I'm really going to start avoiding certain parts of it. I'm staying away from places where people gather to share their opinions. People have become so vile and hateful that I swear it sends me into fits to read a message board or comments on a blog or anything where people can spout off. It's like no one can have a thought, opinion or experience these days without someone chiming in with why they're wrong and/or the scum of the earth.

Sadly, I'm not even talking about politics right now! In the last few weeks, I've seen it on parenting websites, personal blogs, celebrity websites, local news websites, restaurant reviews, sports websites, animal websites and more.

I'm sick of name-calling. I'm sick of trying to have an adult debate with people who resort to childish tactics. I'm sick of hearing ignorant people spout off about things which they know nothing about. My life was a lot less complicated before I was aware of any of this stuff, so now I'm going to take steps to reduce how much exposure I have to it.

This is why I'm not signing up for more social media. I've been working on cutting back on Twitter and Facebook, and I'll continue to do that. I've been trying to actively participate in forums associated with my job(s), but that's going to stop too unless absolutely necessary.

Anyway, I'm not saying the internet is bad. Far from it! But I do know that I, personally, need to set some boundaries for myself. And I'm not gonna disappear or anything. If anything, I've been blogging more and would like that to continue. I've also been trying to spend evenings that I'm home or alone doing more than sitting at my laptop. Reading, writing, watching movies and documentaries, playing with the dogs, swimming, walking, cleaning...I just think I need to take that up a notch.

I'd rather enjoy my life than sit around and watch idiots argue over pointless things is all.

And then there was Pete...

2011-07-27T20:41:00.003-04:00

I'm stuck. Last week, I talked about wanting to adopt Pete and/or Chloe. Today, I spent time at the shelter and decided specifically that it would be Pete if I did adopt one or the other. (Pete loves me, what can I say? Ha!)

But I can't decide if I should do it or not.

Before someone says "you can't save them all," a quote I've heard 800 times in the last two weeks, I know. I'm not trying to. But I do want to add another dog to my home. I wanted to get a puppy. I wanted Sadie to have someone to grow up with and play with while she's young (I'm watching her run around the house with a toy right now). I also know my dogs aren't too keen on other adult dogs, but they would get along great with a puppy. But puppies are few and far between at my local shelter and they get adopted so easily.

Today, there was this adorable little brown puppy that was kind of exactly what I wanted. I picked him up and he just climbed all over me and licked my nose, and my heart melted. But in the time I was at the shelter, three other people debated getting him, so I knew he'd have a home by the end of the weekend.

Anyway, back to Pete. Pete's two years old, and if I'm being honest with myself, he's not the dog I want. He's amazingly sweet, but he's just not what I had in mind. If I were going to pick out one of the adult dogs there based on nothing but what I want, there's this big lab...well, you get the point. But that makes me feel like some kind of crazy dog snob.

But my heart keeps wandering back to Pete. I managed to get his little roommate adopted, and I think I just feel bad for him because he's been there longer than almost any other dog (since April). I look at my dogs laying around in the AC, getting treats all the time and sleeping in my bed, and I just keep thinking Pete deserves that. But then again, all of those dogs up there deserve that.

On the other hand, my head says that getting him because I feel bad for him will just lead to nothing but heartache. I've done that before. (Although, that didn't end so badly - that dog went to another home, and I got Gabby.) I talked to a girl who works there today, and she said get him and bring him back if it doesn't work. Seems easy enough, but I can't take a dog back there!

And then I just wonder if my fear of commitment is what's preventing me from bringing him home?

I hate to ramble and "think out loud" so much on this topic but if anyone has any insight (that does not revolve around telling me I can't "save them all"), I'd appreciate it. Or if you're in the market for an amazing Pointer, I know a great guy named Pete!

To make matters worse, on my way home, as I was looking for some kind of sign, my favorite radio station played the latest Mumford and Sons single, "Roll Away Your Stone." Among the lyrics is the line, you told me that I would find a home. Oy.

Wounded Warriors Ride with President Bush

2011-07-26T22:16:00.003-04:00

I guess I'm a little behind with this, but while we were pigging out on burgers and hotdogs, some wounded veterans and President Bush were busting their asses on a three-day bike ride. Not gonna lie, I teared up a little watching these guys. And say what you will about the former President's policies, but he loves this country and loves these guys in a way so many people will never understand.

Thoughts on Google + (or is it Google Plus?)

2011-07-25T23:11:00.005-04:00

The next person who asks me if I'm on Google + (or Google Plus?) will be shot in the foot.

It started out innocently enough - a few tech-savvy friends mentioned it, and I told them I was not and probably wouldn't be anytime soon.

Within a few days, every other person I came in contact with asked me. I had an inbox full of emails, Facebook messages, Twitter @ replies, DMs and even messages from LinkedIn, a website I haven't visited in who knows how long and don't even remember the password for, all asking the same question: "are you on Google + (or Google Plus?)?"

I would reply, "No. Should I be?"

Most of the responses went something like this: "Well, I don't really know. I don't get it."

Some said, "I don't know, I'm trying to figure out if I should be."

A few people claimed it was the best thing that has ever happened to them in their entire lives and that we should all delete our Facebook accounts and run, RUN, to Google + (or Google Plus?).

Last week, I took the plunge. Upon receiving my tenth invite, I signed up. After all, maybe I was missing out on the greatest thing that would ever happen to me in my entire life. I was inundated with the Google + (or Google Plus) equivalent of friend requests. Within three minutes, I grew bored with trying to figure it out and exited the website. I haven't been back since.

I'm still not even completely sure what Google + (or Google Plus?) is for. The only time I've heard anyone mention is to ask other people if they're on Google + (or Google Plus?).

The truth of the matter is this: if you don't know whether or not you should sign up for it, then you probably shouldn't. If you don't know whether or not you'll like it, you probably won't. If you don't know whether or not you have time for it, you probably don't.

And if you think everyone's gonna drop Facebook for it, then you're probably wrong. Here's why: Facebook has become a large time commitment for many people. Hate it or love it, it's addictive for one reason or another. Maybe you play games, maybe you upload every picture you've ever taken of your child, maybe you use it to promote your business or spout off about your political views, or maybe you use it to keep tabs on people you don't care enough about to call or visit or email. Whatever your poison, you've invested a lot of time in it, and I seriously doubt you're gonna take the time to migrate all of the 8,389 pictures of your kid taking his first bath to Google + (or Google Plus?). When Facebook dies, that form of social media will die with it.

Today, a friend of mine pointed out that something like 20 gazillion people have joined Google + (or Google Plus) in just one month, meaning it has taken off much faster than Twitter or Facebook. I'm willing to be those are people who signed up because ten other people they knew kept harassing the hell out of them.

Even if Google + (or Google Plus?) was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life ever, I'm not sure I'd want to use it. If anything, I need less social media in my life. I joined both Twitter and Facebook for career purposes, and can't seem to go a day without checking either at this point. I've slowly weaned myself down over the last year or so, but I don't see myself hopping on any other bandwagons unless it's for professional reasons.

So, you guys can have your Google + (or Google Plus?), but don't come crying to me in a month or two when you're back on Facebook looking at 807 pictures of the girl you sat next to in high school math's newborn daughter's first diaper changing.

Chloe & Pete

2011-07-21T01:00:00.003-04:00

So, I'm still up in the air about the whole dog situation. To recap, one of my pretend journalism duties is to go to the local animal shelter and take pictures of pets to feature. This is both an amazing and heart-wrenching experience, moreso the latter. I've spent countless hours debating adopting another dog, but couldn't decide between a puppy or an adult (and was in the midst of lots of traveling). There was one particular black lab who I really felt strongly about, but THANK GOD, one of my readers adopted her yesterday. He seems like a nice guy and has a few other rescue dogs, so I'm thinking she'll live a nice and happy life, and I was glad that I could help her with that.

On the other hand, I'm left still wanting to add to my brood. There are currently two Pointers at the shelter: Pete and Chloe, both of whom I'd love to adopt. As I've mentioned, ultimately, I'd love to have four dogs, but my landlord and my dog-sitters would probably be against that, so until I move into my own home, that's probably not an option. Here's a run down:

Pete has been at the shelter for several months, but I honestly didn't notice him until a few weeks ago. He stays in his doghouse all of the time. He seemed kind of mean at one point, but I realized he was just sullen. When I got him out last week, he was so sweet and happy. He's two years old and was the aforementioned black lab's cage-mate for all those months, so now he's lonely. I tried to talk to him today, but he was just sulking in his doghouse and wouldn't come out.

Chloe is four years old and has only been there for a week or two. She is scared silly. Chloe was turned in by her owner (who does that? apparently lots of people...). I got her out last week because I was struck with how pretty she is, and she would barely move. She tucked her tail between her legs and kept her head down and just shivered the entire time. Today, I tried to talk to her but she was just trembling and again, wouldn't move (not sure if it was the shelter or the storms that were taking place at that moment).

I'd post pictures, but I'm not sure it's legal for me to use them here. Pete is white with some black on him and Chloe is dark brown and white. I swore I'd never get another white dog, but...

Unless they are adopted or get sick, nothing will happen to them between now and Sunday, so I thought about taking a few days to think about it. Anyway, I have no idea if I'll get one of them, but if anyone's interested in a fantastic dog who deserves a second chance at life, I know two of them and will gladly point you in the right direction!

And I know there will be more dogs I'll get attached to in the future, but the timing seems right.

Ed Helms & Cedar Rapids: A Conclusion

2011-07-18T01:04:00.004-04:00

Back in January, I insisted you all go see the film Cedar Rapids. I hadn’t yet seen it, but I had a feeling it would be good. I waited patiently for it come to Atlanta and by the time it did, I was so engrossed in pretending to be a journalist that I really didn’t have time to spend a couple of hours in the ONE THEATER IN BUCKHEAD where it was showing. Seriously, I was shocked at how much advertising I saw vs. how available the film was here, but I digress…

Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago. I was nearing the end of said project and decided to take an evening off to get my bearings. I went to a local restaurant and grabbed some takeout, and I came home to check out the movie-watching options offered by my cable company. Imagine my surprise when I saw Cedar Rapids on the menu. I pressed “select,” agreed to pay the $4.99, and I was on my way to, uh, well, Cedar Rapids.

Looking back at my 10 Reasons to See Cedar Rapids post, I’d say I was spot on about much of what I said. But enough about me...

Everything else aside – and maybe this doesn’t mean much coming from me – Ed Helms was AMAZING. I honestly feel like this is his best role to date.

Let's see if I can put this into words (says the girl who writes for a living).

OK, Helms is freakishly talented when it comes to comedy and when it comes to acting, period. Most people who are aware of him know this. He brings so much to every role he plays, or at least the ones I’ve seen, but this was different. I’ve always thought it’d be neat to see him play a deeper role. And while Tim Lippy isn't exactly Blanche DuBois, he was a different kind of character than what we've seen from Helms before. You didn’t just want to laugh at Lippy, you wanted to give him a big hug and route for him and see that he had a happy ending.

Am I making sense? Probably not.

Let’s see, I’ve spent the last two weeks reading this series of books by a favorite author of mine. The plots weren’t great every single time, but this woman is a master at character development, and I finished that series for that reason alone. I wanted to know what would happen to the characters. I enjoyed reading about their lives. When I finished the last book yesterday, I felt a little empty, like I'd lost two good friends.

I’m not saying I felt that way at the end of Cedar Rapids (it’s a 1.5-hour movie, people), but Helms managed to do with Tim Lippy what this author does with her characters. Whether you're an actor or an author, it's hard to master that. He did an amazing job. And that’s why I would love to see Helms take on more roles and not just The Hangover 14. I really hope the goons in Hollywood start offering them up.

I’m pretty sure this post reads like I’m high on something, but I was really pleasantly surprised when I saw Cedar Rapids (believe me, I was fully prepared to drop the subject all together if it sucked), so if you didn’t get to see it in the ONE THEATER IN BUCKHEAD (or wherever you live), I encourage you to rent it/order it/put it in your queue and watch.

And if I my nonsensical bloviating about character development doesn’t convince you (trust me, I'm not doing it justice), here are 10 other reasons why you should watch it.

2012 Yawn

2011-07-14T22:41:00.009-04:00

So, I haven't written about politics in a long time. (Granted I haven't blogged much at all in recent months, but that's not the point.) I've started several political posts, and they still sit as drafts, probably never to be published.

Now, with the 2012 election coming up (uh, well, in 16 months), you'd think I'd be all over this stuff. As most of you know, I love me some politics. That hasn't changed. I love heated debates over important issues. I love standing up for what you believe in. I love talking points and fear-mongering and competition and beating the other guy... but what I don't like is hypocrisy. And I see so much of that on both sides these days that it makes me want to ignore them all.

Give or take a few races, I've voted Republican or Libertarian all of my life. Why? I'm a small government kind of girl. I want the government out of my business. I'm fiscally conservative and pro-capitalism. I believe in the Constitution - I believe in gun rights and freedom of speech and states' rights. I believe in the individual and the private sector. The alternatives to these things have never made sense to me.

But I no longer feel like the GOP errs on the side of me. We've got a gazillion candidates for president and they seem more interested in talking about gay marriage and family values than they do the economy or terrorism. Who cares? I'm pretty sure people who are blown up and/or homeless/jobless aren't sitting around, thinking about whether the gay couple up the street can tie the knot. The fact that John Boehner became Speaker of the House in 2010 made me sick. The election made it clear that Americans want real change, not second chances for the same old folks. You've got these Republican talking heads who claim to be anti-nanny laws or pro-Constitution, but they only practice what they preach when it fits their agenda. Too much, "I'm right and you're wrong." I'm not saying anyone should ever concede to something they're against, but don't say you're for, oh, freedom of religion and then pitch a fit about someone building a mosque.

As for the Libertarian Party, well, there's a good reason people don't take them seriously. I've noticed they tend to be very "my way or the highway" about issues. If you agreed with them on nine things but not all ten, they look down their noses at you or so has been my experience. Hell, if you so much as shower regularly they look down their noses at you. (Just kidding, folks...) There's a lot of snobbery in the LP and a lot of unrealistic views of the world.

I'm not writing this to tell you I'm going to vote for Obama in 2012. That's something else I don't understand. As much as the GOP is irritating the hell out of me right now, I'm not gonna run out and support someone who is even further away from what I believe in like so many people did in 2008. *Do not mention Peggy Noonan, do not mention Peggy Noonan*

But I am writing this to say I can't get excited about the 2012 election. The candidates, so far, are a joke. I have friends who say, "don't write them off... someone great will eventually emerge." That's silly. Good candidates don't "eventually emerge." Good candidates come out swinging from day one, and they gain momentum until November '12 or they don't.

First, we have Mitt Romney, or as I like to call him, Massachusetts Mormon Ken. We didn't like him last time; why are we supposed to like him now? What is that? I blame the overzealous media for pushing him down our throats because he was the only person likely to run for a while. Now, I wouldn't mind looking at that gorgeous mug at the occasional press conference or SOTU, and I think he's got some good business chops, but the guy is a politician tried and true. He says what you want to hear. I'm sick of that.

Then there's Tim Pawlenty who a lot of my conservo-friends actually like. If you're not sure who he is, he's the one that makes you hum the theme to Revenge of the Nerds to yourself when he speaks. Or even when he just stands there. If there was even the slightest chance I would have voted for him (and let's face it, there wasn't), I lost all respect when he flat out lied at a recent debate because he was too afraid to stand up to Mitt Romney to his face about the MA health care junk. (Google it.) You just don't forgive things like that. Between that and his thoughts on Cap & Trade, bye-bye, T-Paw. Don't let the door hit you on the way back to whichever one of those non-important middle states you came from. (Jokes, Minnesota. Just jokes...)

Speaking of states I'll probably never visit, Michele Bachmann is doing really well. And as much as I hate to admit it, she's really impressed me a lot more than I thought she would. Unfortunately, the media has deemed her Sarah Palin lite and every little thing she's ever done in her entire life (other than, you know, her career and family accomplishments) will and has been scrutinized to the point of making her look like a joke. Seriously, all I've heard about her this week is that she likes slaves but her husband does not like gay people... or something. I wonder if the media has ever investigated or will investigate her role as a foster mom?

Herman Cain is another one who my GOP-voting friends have tried to shove down my throat. He's developed a cult-like following. He's like the Ron Paul for people who bathe and work for a living. But that's just it. He doesn't stand a chance. He's good at firing people up and saying the right things, and I'll admit, I like that he has no previous political experience. I also like that he owns up to his mistakes and shortcomings and doesn't hold back, but... well, yeah. What more can you say? He's got the fire but there's very little backing that up.

Newt Gingrich is delusional if he thinks we're gonna ignore his John Edwardseque past, ridiculously run campaign and climate change commercials with Ms. Pelosi. Ron Paul is just delusional. Rick Santorum is like Catholic Conservative Gestapo Ken. As for ThaddeusMcGaryJohnHuntsmanRoemer, well, if this primary was a sandwich, those guys would be the condiments and few people buy a sandwich because they really like the condiments.

The bottom line? I'm not pumped up about this election...yet (she says hopefully). My vote shouldn't have to go to the least annoying person. It should go to the best. The best isn't running. At least, not yet. I still hold out hope for a few folks who shall remain nameless. If one of those people jumps in at the last minute, I might start blogging about it. Who knows, I might even get around to finally replacing the McCain bumper sticker on my car. But until then, you'll have to settle on posts about my dogs, whatever book I just read, and Ed Helms.

Only in my world...

2011-07-11T23:14:00.004-04:00

... does my computer die when I'm in the middle of one of the biggest work projects I've ever had in my life.

... do I go through ~~five~~ six laptops in one year.

... do I go through three TVs in one year.

... does my AC die on the hottest day of the year thus far.

Don't get me started on cell phones. You get the point. Me + Technology = Disaster. Blogging resumes when my house temperature is not pushing 85 degrees on a Tuesday night.

The Casey Anthony Trial. Sigh.

2011-07-05T23:27:00.005-04:00

I'm a little Casey Anthony'd out, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on the case like the rest of the free world has. Admittedly, I didn't start paying attention to it until last week. I'd seen bits and pieces on the news, but for the most part, it just seemed kind of... pedestrian. That said, I caught some live bits of it one day while I was sitting here working and after that I was hooked. It's not that I was caught up in the case or anything, I'm just fascinated by the whole trial procedure. I also though that one detective was kind of hot but whatever. I started watching the live feed every day that I was home, leading up to today's verdict. (In my defense, I was locked in the house all week working my butt off to finish my Charleston project too...)

I did and do think anyone with half a brain knows she had something to do with her daughter's death. I think anyone can see she is a spoiled, conniving, selfish brat of human being who cared more about herself than her daughter's well-being. But the jury did what it had to do, I guess. I'm not going to knock our justice system.

The thing that really bugged me was the woman's reaction to the news. Sure, she's more than likely going to be a free woman very soon - that's enough to make anyone who was facing a life in prison happy, but her little girl is still dead. The news doesn't change that. To celebrate the way she did, to see her demeanor completely change from the sad, sullen, pouty girl we saw for two months back into the happy-go-lucky party girl we met three years ago, well, it was disheartening.

Anyway, everyone is comparing this to the OJ trail. I was in 9th grade when that took place, so I didn't get to watch it, but I did get to see the verdict read. I was in a health class and my teacher, who was the caricature of a high school coach, agreed to let us watch it while we sat and copied questions out of a book. I didn't know much about law and trials then; I just remember about half of my class whooping and hollering and shouting something about "justice for the black man" and the coach laughing at them before telling them to sit down and shut up.

Oh, well. Maybe one day, Casey Anthony will stage a "sting operation" and end up back in jail. Then again, she already staged a kidnapping and look where that got her.

My Life in iPhone Pictures

2011-07-03T11:41:00.019-04:00

Around my 30th birthday, I mentioned that I wanted to try to do that "year in pictures" thing, but I had no idea how busy I'd be. From about the end of April until, well, now, I've been back and forth to South Carolina more times than I can count. It had its fun, memorable moments, its miserable moments, and it had some "what the f--k" moments, but overall, it was well worth it. This post will probably be long and boring, but I do want to recap for my own benefit.

As mentioned, in April, someone I'd done some freelance work for last year contacted me and asked if I'd like to do some more in SC. I agreed without hesitation. I knew it'd be a lot of work, but well worth it. Within a week, I had a hotel booked, my bags packed and I was driving down I-20, out of the ATL and into the great city of Columbia.

Now, despite the fact that I live in a neighboring state, I've never spent much time in SC. The summer after I was 18, a friend of mine and I spent a few days in Greenville, watching the Braves AA team play a series. And that's it. I honestly can't remember ever having a reason to go to South Carolina. Upon entering Columbia, I realized why I've never been there outside of that one outing. It's not called "the armpit" for nothing, folks. Now, in SC's defense, I was working in the absolute worst part of their capital city, but still...

After a week of staying in a hellhole of a hotel (I switched rooms 9 times, almost got jumped by a group of undocumented workers one night and rednecks the next, and spent several nights in a room that didn't lock), I came home. I wasn't quite finished with the job, but the threat of tornadoes was on the horizon, and the threat of me killing someone if I had to spend another minute there was also imminent. I didn't take any personal pictures while I was there. Let's face it, there isn't much to take pictures of. I did end up going back for the day to finish up on the following Sunday. And then I came home to make sense of all the info I'd gathered in Columbia, the interviews I did and the (work) pictures I'd taken. That took me a LONG time. I sat at my computer almost non-stop for two weeks. I stopped only for my birthday party.

And to make a Chick Fil A run or 20...

By the time I was finished, my house looked like this:

And this became my dogs' natural state:

But finally I was finished and it was the biggest relief! And then the person I was working for asked if I could go back and work in the neighboring area, which was much nicer, but still overlapped the horrible area. I agreed. The dogs were not amused. (Please excuse the sheet hanging over my sliding glass door - my curtain rod broke and it's a temporary fix.)

I wasn't thrilled about heading back to Columbia but the money would be good and it was something to do. Just two days before I was ready to leave, the GC called and asked if he could come along. He'd just lost his job and offered to be my assistant. What is it they say, misery loves company? Why not let someone else face the hell that is Columbia, SC with me?

And off we went, back down I-20. Here's a picture from the rest stop we always stop at so the GC can smoke. Pretty moss in the trees, a promise that SC will be a beautiful state - we joked that it was the only reason people didn't sit here at the state line and head back.

I'd made the executive decision not to stay in Columbia that week. I chose a cheap hotel that was way out of the way, but hopefully, not in an area where I'd fear for my life on a regular basis. When we drove up and saw this, I just had to shake my head. A sign of times to come?

One night, we stopped by O'Charley's for dinner and were greeted with a double rainbow. This has nothing to do with the story, but it was in my camera roll.

We also saw this at a church we had to visit and thought it was cute. Again, not really part of the story

That week wasn't quite as bad as the previous one I'd endured, but it wasn't exactly fun. Add to it the fact that the non-stop sitting from the last job had killed my back and the fact that I could literally not get out of the car some days AND the fact that I'd left my medication for said problem at home - let's just say I was so glad I had the GC with me.

He and I did the same thing I'd done the week before - went back the next Sunday, just for a day, to finish up - and I settled in once again to work my butt off to get finished. This time, I had an added incentive though; if I got finished in reasonable time, I would be working in Charleston next. I was so excited.

Now, you'd think after last summer's Tale of 5 Laptops, I would have learned my lesson about backing things up. And I did to some extent, but after a little dispute with my mom over a memory card I'd borrowed from her, I deleted all the photos from it (about 1,000) and gave it back to her, thinking it wouldn't matter.

If I could go back to one point in time and do something different, it would probably be that moment.

I woke up the next morning and my computer did this.

And it kept doing that and it kept doing that and it wouldn't do anything else. I did everything I could think of to fix it before heading out into the world, wallet in hand, willing to pay hundreds of dollars to save those pictures. I even forced myself to talk to people I'd gone to high school with. They all had the same answer: your hard drive is fried beyond the point of data recovery. After a few days, it was obvious that the pictures were gone. I bought a new laptop, and the GC reluctantly agreed to accompany me on another trip to Columbia to retake as much of the pictures as we could.

That day, it was 96 degrees. We barely got out of the car all day, got sunburned, I developed a migraine and we both came dangerously close to having heat strokes. But we were getting everything done in a timely manner. That is, until we ran into Officer Barney Fife and his sidekick. Without going into too much detail, the GC got out of the car in a shopping center to take a picture of said shopping center. He got back in and we drove on to the next place. Well, there just happened to be two police officers in said shopping center having lunch and those two police officers decided it'd be fun to pull us over and ask why he'd taken a picture. I explained. He said, and I quote, "Looked like terrorism to me."

Never mind the fact that I didn't even have my seatbelt buckled, two white kids in a Honda in some shitty part of South Carolina have suddenly become terrorists because they took a picture of a freaking Piggly Wiggly.

The nice officer carried on and on about why he stopped us, almost to the point of apologizing once I proved to him we'd done absolutely nothing wrong. We remained stopped for about an hour over this. At one point during this, uh, terrorism check?, the sidekick, who had been silent until this point asked my cousin what "that little brown thing" was on a piece of paper he'd pulled from my glove compartment. When he showed him that it was a small piece of a dead leaf and not some kind of drugs, he went back to their car while Officer Fife continued to explain to me the importance of police officers in BFE being on the watch for the next September 11.

When they finally let us go, we realized how hot and miserable we were (we'd been in the car for 14 hours) and how much time we wasted being suspected terrorists, so we stopped at a gas station and got drinks and let my poor little car have a break. After that, I made the executive decision to go home. We still had 100 - 200 pictures to take, but agreed it'd be worth the time and gas to make another trip in the near future.

After this, I came home and took a cold bath while enjoying some of this:

I also managed to get in my first swim of the year! Woohoo!

And I came home and saw my first on of these of the year:

And at some point right after I came home, my TV died, so I went out and got a nice big new one (not sure if you can tell because it's dark, but I put it on an end table in front of my old TV due to my lack of time).

Anyway, I came home and worked and worked and begged the person whom I'm working for to still let me go to Charleston. I've never been before and at this point, I was going to miss my already planned beach vacation, so I figured it'd be nice to at least get to see the ocean while I was working. She agreed, and I worked my butt off that week.

By Sunday, I was packed and ready to head to back to South Carolina for a week.

I also realized how old I'm getting based on the things I packed:

Long story short, South Carolina quickly redeemed itself. We arrived on Sunday night (the GC came along), grabbed some take-out from the restaurant next to our hotel (and it was a nice hotel - my aunt managed to snag 3 free nights for us) and went to sleep, anxious about our day on the town. We decided to take a day to get to know the area before doing any real work - something that would have served me well in Columbia. We also wanted to do a little site-seeing and hit the beach.

On Monday, we slept late and got up in time to intersect a package from the boss. Then it was on to downtown Charleston. O. M. G. That is the most beautiful place. All the buildings look like this. I was in love. The GC was in love. By that night, he decided he wanted to move there.

After driving around downtown, we decided to visit the beach. We drove through Mount Pleasant to Isle of Palm, which several of my friends had suggested and paid $5 to walk out on the beach. (We made two trips back to the beach and didn't realize until the last one that you could park for free on side of the road... I've never been to the beach without actually staying on the beach, so this whole "paying to park" thing was a concept lost on me anyway.)

Then we drove to the area where we'd be working to check it out and get started.

I won't go into great detail about that week. It was still boring with work, but at least we were bored in Charleston, the greatest city on earth. We met lots of wonderful people, found lots of wonderful local places that we'd continue to shop at if we were go to back, etc. We both just fell in love with that city. It's everything I love about the South mixed with everything I love about the coast. The perfect town. As my cousin said, "Where else will you find magnolia trees next to palm trees?" All of my beach experience has been in Florida or California, and there is nothing like that in either of those places.

There are so many cute little shops owned by nice people. And even the chain stores were nicer. I mean, the Publix was in a beach house:

We did some shopping while we were there. I bought this little tray at a gift shop among other things:

We also discovered these yummy key lime cookies.

Above all, our favorite place was Amelia Claire's, a small bakery that we did have to visit for work purposes. Otherwise, we never would have found it.

Best (OK, the only) key lime cupcakes I've ever had:

We even went back a second time and stocked up on junk. Key lime everything, benewafers, which I didn't get a picture of but they were yummy, and this replica of Prince William's chocolate groom's cake.

I just knew we'd both gain 100 pounds while we were there, but we swam a lot and walked a lot, so I guess that evened things out.

We walked around the battery one night and I took a boatload of pictures. I won't upload them all here, but I have a few.

We saw so many "Don't Tread on Me" flags that we decided the town was full of good, smart people - just one more reason to love it there.

A few more battery pictures:

Overall, it was a good week. We stayed in 3 different hotels - the first was a nicer one near the airport, the second was in Mount Pleasant (I love that area), the third was a last minute decision to spend one extra night there, so we ended up in some awful place in North Charleston. But, we agreed that even the most awful place wasn't as bad as Columbia.

On days we had to switch hotels, we made good use of our time. We saw the Hangover II and we found a Barnes & Noble to hang out in. I got a lot of work done in this Barnes and Noble, and I bought some books.

This picture is from Barnes & Noble, and I post it because it pretty much describes my diet over the last two months. Red Bull and pizza. Not so healthy, but it kept me awake .
e

We left unfinished with the work, but since we were going to go back to Columbia anyway, we decided we'd make a weekend of it. I came home and worked for another week and took care of some housekeeping I'd been neglecting since the travel started. I got new teal sheets:

And I got new living room furniture - dark green leather. It wasn't my first choice, but as everyone in the free world knows, I was in desperate need of a new sofa and my cousin was selling this set for super cheap. I figured it'd work until I decide what my dwelling plans are for the future. Also, please note that at the moment, I've got two sets of furniture in my living room, that's why that is so awkwardly placed with the table in the background and the bicycle in front of it.

As you can tell, Sadie has been enjoying the new stuff more than I have.

I also stopped to get caught up on laundry. As you can see, I was quite behind:

But I still had tons of work to do this last week and the dogs finally gave up on ever getting anymore attention.

After a week of sleepless nights, storms that left me without power on numerous occasions and an evening spent chasing this stupid lizard I have finished my Charleston work... a little later than I should have.

I'm about to start trying to finish up the Columbia work too. I gave up any idea of having a fun 4th of July week, but I suppose it'll be worth it in the end. Last night, I took a break to go out to dinner and finally watched Cedar Rapids, which I'll post about later.

I don't know if I'll be traveling for this job anymore, though I'd like to. I don't know if there is anymore opportunity to do so. I don't even know if the woman in charge is ready to ditch me or not because of how long it took after I failed to back up the pictures. I do know that I enjoyed it - it was a fun experience that was very financially rewarding and couldn't have come at a better time for me for so many reasons. I do know that if I do it again, I've learned so much from these few trips that it shouldn't take me nearly as long.

I also know that if I don't travel anymore, I'll be OK with that too. While I'd love to make some more money and see more places I've never been, I'm ready to figure out what's next for my life. Will I go back to school? Will I get my book finished and sold? Will I just continue into the wild world of freelance writing/journalism? I have no idea, but this has definitely been a turning point.

If I don't travel anymore, my plans for the rest of the summer are this: to swim as much as possible, to read as much as possible and to write as much as possible (for me, not other people). I'm already ready for that. Here are all the books I've put in my "to read" stack so far.

And with that... I better get back to work!

Yep

2011-06-26T22:12:00.001-04:00

Big Dog, Little Dog, I Will Take You Home

2011-06-23T20:32:00.008-04:00

I don't think there's a person I know who doesn't know I'm a dog person. It's been a lifelong thing, but lately, it's been amplified by time spent at my local animal shelter, photographing pets who are awaiting adoption. It kills me to leave knowing half of them won't find homes, and sadly, my county doesn't have a no-kill shelter.

As you may know, I, myself, have two dogs. Gabby has been with me for most of my twenties, and she's been my best friend through the good, bad and ugly. She's almost nine years old now, and most of the time, she's happy just eating, sleeping and occasionally staring at me for no apparent reason. I got Sadie in January, 2010 because I felt like Gabby needed someone to stay with her when she was home alone. Part of me worried that bringing a new puppy into the mix would completely ruin Gabby's life after being an "only dog" for so long, but in the end, Gabby's learned to ignore her 99% of the time and Sadie worships the ground Gabby walks on. Sometimes they even snuggle up together at night and about once a month, when Gabby gets the urge, they'll play for about five minutes.

Well, lately, I've been thinking about adding a third dog to the mix. Ultimately, I'd love to have four, but I don't think my landlord would be cool with that, and I know my parents wouldn't, as they are my dog sitters when I go out of town. So, that's a situation for another time. Three is already pushing it. I do have three good reasons for wanting another dog:

Sadie needs a playmate is at the top of the list. She's a little bundle of energy, and I play with her as much as I can and take her to play with my parents' very energetic dog as much as I can, but there are nights when she's running around the house, throwing toys around and trying to entertain herself...I just feel so bad. I hate that there is such an age difference with Gabby and Sadie.
Again, I leave the shelter every day feeling like a jerk. My conscience is screaming, "put your money where your mouth is" every single day that I urge people to go adopt a pet. Sure, I've adopted two, but I could handle one more and save another life. It's like one of those stupid Sarah McLachlan commericals is playing over and over again in my head.
I more or less live alone in the woods. If I move, I'll be living somewhere else alone (that sounds pathetic, but I'm hoping to move in the next few months). Having those dogs around makes me feel safe. The more eyes there are in my house, the less likely it is that someone could sneak in and murder me. I'm not THAT paranoid but things happen.

So, why am I rattling on about this? Well, I've hit a dilemma: do I adopt a puppy or an older dog? My original thought was a puppy. It'd totally take care of the whole "Sadie needs a playmate" dilemma, and it's easier to get the old dogs acclimated to a baby than it is another adult. But the puppies get adopted so easily most of the time. Plus, there's not a particular puppy I want, so it'd be a waiting game.

On the other hand, there are some big dogs at the shelter that I've definitely bonded with. One of them was recently adopted after four months there, but there's this black lab named Sara (here's a picture). I'm not sure how old she is - I want to say fours years old - and I'm not 100% sure what her story is, but I know she gets a huge smile on her face when I visit her and scratch her back. I know she's very sweet. I also know that a playmate for Sadie she will most likely not make.

Anyway, I know I can't save them all, but for example, last night it was storming so bad and Sara is in an outside cage (with shelter, but still outside), and I just worried myself sick about her. I kept thinking she could be at my house, sitting next to me on my new sofa or laying in the cool tile floor next to Gabby or snuggled up in my bed with Sadie.

Of course, what if I bring her home, and she doesn't get along with my dogs? Or what if I bring her home and then I get attached to another? I've considered volunteering at the shelter, but I'm not sure I could handle spending even more time up there, especially playing with one dog one day and going back the next and knowing it met its fate because no one wanted it. Sigh.

So... big dog or little dog? One of each?