"Have A Nice Day" Review, by the Very Un-Biased True Jersey Girl

**** (4 stars out of 5)

First of all, love the cover. While I would love to see Jon's nekkid bod on there, the smirk is perfect for both the Jersey attitude and the title song's feeling. I also love the fact that the lyrics are included in the liner notes - a rarity these days. In 2 months when I am at the concert, I will need to be singing along to every single word of every single song, so its great to have lyrics included. And the pics they included inside are pretty great (drool).

So onto the music. I miss the days when I would get a Bon Jovi CD and worship it right away. These days I find I have to let them grow on me a bit. (Although I did love their last CD of original material - Bounce - at first listen, probably because there were more rockin' songs on it). But I think I need to stop comparing to Slippery When Wet and New Jersey, because I doubt anything will ever compare to them. Anyway, here's a quickie song-by-song review:

Have a Nice Day - I even have Princess singing it. I liked it from the first time I heard it and haven't tired of it yet. It's the most rockin' song on the cd, and I would have liked to have more like it.

I Want to Be Loved - Great song. I dig it. Although one part of it does remind me of Austin Powers and his "Daddy Didn't Care" song. And Jon, your wish is my command - you want to be loved? You got it.

Welcome To Wherever You Are - I am not a big fan of the slower, soft-rock sound that they have gravitated towards lately, preferring the harder stuff. This is a good one though, and I find myself humming this one. I like it.

Who Says You Can't Go Home - Of course I love this one, because it was written about New Jersey and I totally relate. Love the melody. Great song, very catchy. I keep catching myself singing this one in the shower.

Last Man Standing - I am not sure about this one yet. I like the message behind it about real musicians vs. lipsynchers and phonies. At first listen, I didn't like this song much, but it is growing on me. Its almost like they are trying to do a grand, theatrical song - and that's not what they do best. Keep it simple, boys.

Bells of Freedom - Good song, if not a little corny.

Wildflower - I have always liked songs about odd, complicated girls because, well, I am one of them. This one is sweet.

Last Cigarette - The symbolism is a little much in the lyrics of this one, but I like the music and especially the chorus. Gets me tapping my feet while sitting at my desk.

I Am - A nice ballad without it being too ballad-y. Sweet without being corny. I like it.

Complicated - I would have liked this song to rock a little more. It seems like it could have gotten a little rougher, especially during the chorus. To me, the chorus is too sing-songy when it should have rocked out.

Novocaine - A little bland. Nothing stands out about this song.

Story of My Life - Another song I can't find anything special about. Its ok, harmless, doesn't suck, but just isn't that interesting.

Who Says You Can't Go Home (with Sugarland) - The addition of the female voice does a lot for this song. Her voice is really nice and while it does turn this into a somewhat twangy country-ish song, I still like it.

Overall, I like it and have been listening to it non-stop at work. If you have not bought it yet - first of all, why haven't you? But second of all, I do recommend it. For those of you who own it already - what do you think?

A Music Meme that I Kinda Dig

This is a pretty cool meme for music lovers like myself. Go here (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page) and click on the year of your high school graduation. Bold the ones you dug, italisize the ones you hated, "red" the ones you don't remember, and leave alone the rest. Easy enough?

1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heaven, Warrant
16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna
26. I'll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block
27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe
28. Baby Don't Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli
29. Toy Solider, Martika
30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
31. The Living Years, Mike and the Mechanics
32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles
33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc
34. When I See You Smile, Bad English
35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher
36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry
37. When I'm With You, Sheriff
38. Don't Rush Me, Taylor Dayne
39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi
40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals
41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton
42. Bust A Move, Young M.C.
43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White
44. Batdance, Prince
45. Rock On, Michael Damian
46. Real Love, Jody Watley
47. Love Shack, B-52's
48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
49. Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block
50. My Heart Can't Tell You No, Rod Stewart
51. So Alive, Love and Rockets
52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block
53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard
54. Satisfied, Richard Marx
55. Express Yourself, Madonna
56. I Like It, Dino
57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond
58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears
59. Cherish, Madonna
60. When The Children Cry, White Lion
61. 18 And Life, Skid Row
62. I Don't Want Your Love, Duran Duran
63. Second Chances, .38 Special
64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White
65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc
66. In Your Room, Bangles
67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole
68. Love Song, Cure
69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White
70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band
71. Patience, Guns N' Roses
72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money
73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block
74. Welcom To The Jungle, Guns N' Roses
75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface
76. Stand, R.E.M.
77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford
78. All This Time, Tiffany
79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera
80. Roni, Bobby Brown
81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith
82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi
83. This Promise, When In Rome
84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians
85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club
86. Paradise City, Guns N' Roses
87. Iwanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox
88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley
89. Dreamin', Vanessa Williams
90. It's No Crime, Babyface
91. Poison, Alice Cooper
92. This Time I Know It's For Real, Donna Summer
93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson
94. Heavan Help Me, Deon Estus
95. Rock Wit'cha, Bobby Brown
96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire
97. What You Don't Know, Expose
98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander
99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley
100. Keep On Movin', Soul II Soul

I can't believe there are so many I don't remember. I think I would probably know them if I heard them, but chances are they sucked anyway. Not tagging anyone for this, but it was kinda fun to do so let me know if you do it.

An Update On My Life

I am in week 2 of my new job and I am still loving it. And, the best part - I got my first paycheck today! Woo hoo! Go me! So now I just have to convince Hub that it makes much more sense to buy an iPod than to pay those pesky credit card bills. I know you are all with me on that one.

Believe it or not, the second week of leaving Princess in daycare has been rougher than the first. She caught a pretty nasty cold and only wants to be with me (not Hub, not Grammy, not anyone but me) so the LAST place she wants to be is with a lady who she isn't quite sure about yet and some kids who probably smell funny. So that has been hard. But we are getting through.
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We had an incredibly busy weekend. I had a shower for my cousin's fiancee at my house (I think she was surprised), which was exhausting. Then we all went out for dinner and to a club. The bride-to-be was exhausted though, so we only stayed out for about 1/2 an hour. That sucked, because although I do get to go out alot more than a lot of moms (thanks to my folks), I still don't often get to just go out and listen to live bands at some little club and dance a little and drink a lot and yell over the music and all that stuff. I would have liked to stay out longer. But oh well. Me and Patsy and her man Diddy came back and hung out in my basement and drank and talked about New Orleans and politics and had fun. Then, I had family in from Scotland who we went to visit on Sunday. That was an hour trip each way. Then we had to go to my niece's birthday party. So it was a tiring weekend. Then, of course, back to work on Monday!
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Oh, but I forgot to tell you the best part. You can probably tell about me that I can be a bit ornery and I will argue about anything. Well. After the shower when we went out to dinner, the husband of one of the other bridesmaids came with us. He decided it was a good idea to tell me that women should not be allowed to hyphenate their names when they get married. Oh, the holy hell I unleashed on that poor, ignorant boy. He had no idea what hit him. It got ugly and I wanted to stab him in the eye with my fork. But I didn't. I bet he wishes I did just stab him and get it over with rather than the long, drawn out arguments I can carry on. If you want to argue with me, especially about "women's issues", you better have your argument well thought out and be prepared for the long haul. He was neither. His wife just sat there with her head down, and every once in a while she would say to me "oh no, he didn't really mean that, he's not like that." So, she deserves a neanderthal if she is going to disagree with him but still defend him. Bah, I couldn't wait for those two to get back on a bus and go back to their caves.
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Bon Jovi review is coming, I promise. I have not had time to listen to it more than a few times yet, so I am bringing it with me to listen to in my office tomorrow.

So Didja Miss Me?

Well. I forgot how time consuming this whole 9-to-5 thing can be. Even worse when its 8:30 to 5. But, I have to tell you. I LOVE my job. I know, its only the first week and things will most likely go downhill. But I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

My boss is completely amazing. She is so empowering. When I ask her things - like, I noticed you have done this in this way in the past and I was thinking it would be better to do it this way - she tells me not to ask her things like that. That its MY job and I can do it however I want; I don't need approval from her. I can just run with it however I want. You have to understand that at my last company, you had to check with 50 people before you were allowed to use the ladies room. I am not used to this. It rocks.

And everyone there is SO nice, and not in an annoying way (maybe you have to be from Jersey to understand what I mean by that, I don't know). Its a young company and everyone is amazingly cool. I haven't met one single person that I didn't like. On my first day, I met with the CEO for over an hour and he was so cool. He's like, in this company what we value is excitement and change and new ideas and committment to making your area as awesome as it can be.

Not to mention, its only 10 minutes from home and 11 minutes from daycare, so I am home with Princess before 5:30. And, not only that, but I can leave my office and be in Target within a 5 minute period. Yeah!

And Princess, how is our dear Princess doing in daycare? Well, she is doing GREAT. She is still going through the adjustment period, definitely, but overall she is a real trooper. She cries when Hub drops her off, but then he stands in the hallway where she can't see him, and she stops crying within 30 seconds and then doesn't cry all day. She comes home and says "play with the kids" and we ask her, "do you want to go play with the kids?" and she says "yeah!" What a kickass little chick I am raising. She rules.

So I am very confident that I have made all the right choices here. I picked the right job. I picked the right daycare place. I picked the right time to go back to work, and I picked the right guy to marry who will take her in the mornings so I am not a disaster when I go to work.
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I will get my review of the new Bon Jovi CD up in the next few days. Needless to say, you need to go buy it. Its great. And I taped Oprah on Wednesday and have only had time to watch the very beginning of it. All I know is this: A. The man has still got it and B. I do not need to see his skank wife. At all. Evah.
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I am hoping not to neglect this blog (or all of your blogs) but I have to get myself on a good schedule so I have time for everything. I hope you will all be patient and keep coming back.
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And a final shout out to the amazing Nat, who kindly sent me her Mixamania cd along with another mix as well. You rock, girl!!! Thanks!!!

I Will Survive, Hey Hey

I just did a whole post about my first day of work and Princess's first day of daycare, and friggin Blogger ate it. I am not retyping it all now. So I will just say this, with more details to follow: We all survived.
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Go here to find out how you can help people affected by Katrina - all led by the awesome Grace Davis, my blogging hero and who I want to be when I grow up. And, for something less serious (much less serious) after you donate money and whatever help you can, go visit my other blog. It has been long-neglected but we are trying to get it up and running. We being me and Patsy Darling.
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And tomorrow, go buy this. Do not delay.

Getting Back to Normal (or what passes as normal around here)

But first:
Q: What is Bush's position on Roe vs. Wade?

A: He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.
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I am the last person you will find watching the Country Music channel. In fact, it only existed in my peripheral vision, like I knew it was there but didn't ever care enough to hear about it. In fact, I thought it was called the Alabama network or something. I am clueless about country music, completely.

Ah, so what would get me searching madly through those upper channels looking for this channel that no self-respecting Jerseyan would watch? But of course: Bon Jovi.



Apparently they do some kind of concert-thing where they put a rock band with a country band and they sing each other's music together. I guess sorta like the Linkin Park/Jay-Z mash-up. So Bon Jovi was on last night with some band with Sugar in their name (sorry, once I see Jon, everything else is a blur). It was AWESOME. The other band had a female singer with an amazing voice, but I still wanted to kick her ass because she was so close to Jon and you could tell she was totally in love with him. One of the other female band members was like, I have to make a cheat sheet for the songs because how can I concentrate on stage when Jon is in front of me? I hear ya, girl.

They sounded great and Jon looked AMAZING (Jonny, the hair is just a little too blond for me though). I felt like this was a nice little preview to the Bon Jovi mania I will be experiencing shortly. Tuesday is the release of their new CD, and they will be promoting it on all the morning shows and nighttime shows, and then they'll be touring. They are in Jersey on 12/19 and 12/21 - so I will be going to both shows, of course. And I am sure they will tour again in the summer and play Giants Stadium, which always rules.

I am like a 16 year old when Bon Jovi comes out with new music, I just can't help it!

Wow.

I wrote my last post in a true fit of anger at not being able to personally have it out with the idiot who felt the need to criticize my family's decisions to do what is best for us. I truly felt like it was not worth it for me to put myself out there anymore when people are so hateful and judgemental - whether they claim to be having a "bad day" or not. And not being able to have it out with the bitch - that for me was the hardest part. Because, as in your comments when you told me to "be Jersey" - well, that is what I wanted. I wanted to personally tell off the ignoramus who left the comment and make her sorry she f'ed with me. But I couldn't do that, and that made me even angrier.

Trust me, people, I am a very tough broad. Not alot truly gets to me. Almost nothing hurts me to my core because I know who I am and what I stand for. But this comment wasn't just a troll. Its like this - imagine making the toughest decision you have ever had to make, questioning yourself about it a million times, deciding what is right and necessary even though your doubts are still rolling through your head - and then having someone come in and tell you that all of your doubts are right and that you are a selfish person for making that decision. All while the feelings are so raw and close to the surface. It was just too much for me to handle yesterday. It wasn't about letting the troll win - trust me, kids, no one beats me - it was about perhaps sharing too much with people I don't know and letting them in on parts of my life that maybe I should have kept to myself. I couldn't really see a good reason to continue to blog anymore.

But then. Wow.

I wasn't really thinking of *your* responses when I wrote yesterday's post about quitting. I was just really mad and had no one to punch. I couldn't have ever predicted that so many of you would express such wonderful sentiments to me.

Wow.

All I can say is thank you. Thank you for reminding me why I do this. Thank you for taking the time to ask me to stay. Thank you for making me smile and laugh at a time when that is the last thing I felt like doing. Thank you to my true blogging friends for coming out en masse to support me, and thank you to the lurkers and newcomers for de-lurking and telling me you like my blog.

I am going to stay around, and I thank you for convincing me that I should. I appreciate your comments and the many, many emails I received more than you will know. So again, thank you.

Thank you.

I decided to quit this blog for good last night.

I am so sick of judgemental assholes coming here and putting their two cents where it doesn't belong. When it was about politics, I was annoyed but I expect it. But last night, the commenter went too far. She basically said said that I am selfish for going back to work and that I am sacrificing my daughter's well being by doing so. And she had lots more to say. I deleted the comment, as I had said I would do to hateful comments.

And I started thinking that this is just no longer worth it. I love so many of you whom I have met here through blogging. But to have someone who knows nothing about me or my family question my loyalty to the most important thing in my life was just too much. Because how do I even respond to it? Do I defend myself to this self-righteous bitch who thinks she knows what is best for every person on earth? Do I tell her that if I don't go back to work we will have to sell our home because we have gone through all of our savings and cannot afford the mortgage and taxes (and we don't live an extravagant life)? Do I tell her that my goals for my daughter include college and if we can't afford a place to live, we certainly won't be able to afford college?

Or do I tell her to mind her own fucking business and keep her self-righteous judgements to herself? To think before she spews hateful comments onto something she knows zero about? To keep her mouth like she keeps her mind - closed???

Going back to work was not something that was decided lightly. It was not decided so that we could have the "extras" or go on vacations or any of that. It was decided so that we could continue to have a place to live. Does that sound "selfish" to you?

So, in any case, I decided not to do this blog anymore because I am so incredibly sick of getting hateful, ignorant, moronic comments that hurt me. That is not why I am here. I am here to have some fun and to learn from my fellow bloggers, not to deal with this crap.

Then, I thought, I won't let a few fuckos (thanks for that word, C-Mac) ruin my overwhelmingly positive experience here. And that maybe I need to stop telling little pieces of my life and just talk about music or tv or whatever. But then, that isn't me.

As of now, I am not sure what I am going to do. I am turning off anonymous comments, for one. And I need to figure out if this is worth it to me.

Vacationing and Then Back To Work

The shore was great; the weather was perfect and Princess loved the ocean and the sand and the rides on the boardwalk. It was a wonderful little escape. Then yesterday, Hub took off from work and we took Princess to the zoo. She enjoyed herself, but I think Hub enjoyed it even more. Now today I am off to the mall to try to find navy shoes and grey shoes for work, to the dry cleaners to get all my old work clothes cleaned, and to Princess' doctor to get her paperwork filled out for daycare.

I start my new job on Monday. I got an HR Generalist position, which basically means I will do a little of everything. I used to be primarily focused on recruitment and dabbled in the other areas of HR (such as employee relations and benefits and stuff like that). So this job will give me a more general background and more experience. The company is only 10 minutes from my house and 11 minutes from Princess' daycare, so that is a good thing.

I am nervous about putting Princess in daycare, since she has been home with me since day one. She is such a smart kid, and I am afraid that she may just get lost in the shuffle with other kids and not get the one-on-one time she has with me. But I also think she is at a great age and stage to start daycare. She loves being with other kids and I think she needs to be socialized more than she is now. And I am very comfortable with the daycare place we picked. They use a combination of play and learning for kids Princess' age and have a great curriculum. It came highly recommended from several friends on our block. But its still a nervewracking thing to give your kid up to someone you don't know for 9 hours a day.

Anyone got any advice on that?

Down the Shore!
Be back Wednesday!

See yesterday's post for my 9/11 commentary. Don't worry, its not a rant or even sad. I chose to remember something nice.

Nine-Eleven Remembered

Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of 9/11. I wrote a post to commemorate this day awhile ago as a draft, but I have decided not to publish it. I will just say this: 9/11 hit me quite hard. I watched the smoke pouring from the Towers from my office across the river in NJ. I knew people in the city, and I knew people in DC. (Thankfully, no one I knew was killed). Maybe next year I will tell my whole story. But for now, I have decided to tell the story of the first time I laughed after 9/11.
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It was the following Friday night, sometime after midnight. I had been glued to the tv, and since I worked at a newspaper, I couldn't even get away from the coverage while I was at work. It was constant inundation. I don't think I had stopped crying yet. I was losing my mind just a little bit.

Hub and I were lying in bed watching tv, because even though a few days had passed, we still couldn't sleep. All of a sudden, I heard what I thought were bombs dropping. I asked Hub if he heard anything, and he said no. He muted the tv, and all we heard was silence. A few minutes later I heard it again. This time Hub heard it too. He muted the tv again, and we lay there, listening to what sounded like massive fireworks happening maybe a few towns away. But it was after midnight, it couldn't be fireworks. I was sure they were bombing Manhattan, which is only about 10 miles from me.

Hub and I just lay there, listening and wondering what we should do. Should we evacuate? Should we just get in the car and drive west? Should we go into the basement and tape up the windows to "protect" us from a nuclear attack?

Then, suddenly, Hub leans over the side of the bed. The noise stops. The dog gets up, walks to the end of the bed, and shakes the sleep off himself. That's right, you guessed it. Gypsy was snoring; that was the noise we were so sure was the end of NYC as we knew it. His rumbling combined with the sound of the ceiling fan sounded to us like a reason to flee New Jersey in our pj's.

And we both laughed. It was this release, as if to say, we are going to be ok. We are going insane, but we are going to be ok.
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I am off to shore for a few days. But before I go - good news! I got a job! A job I really wanted! Now I get to buy myself some new clothes! And maybe an ipod! Woo hoo! I will tell more about the job when I get back from the shore.

Have a great weekend, all!

Here I Am, Not Ranting! Go Me!

So let's see...what can I post about if I am not ranting? I forget how to post something civil...(but thank you all for your support of my insanity at anonymous idiots. I see that you all get them as well. I hope I spoke for you, too).
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There is a tray of uneaten jello shots in my fridge. At my bbq on Sunday, I got a bad headache at about midnight and that was it for me. I just couldn't party any more; my head was throbbing. Bah. I am hoping it was just a regular run-of-the-mill headache and not old age setting in. Nope, it can't be that.

Now don't get me wrong. We did eat one tray of them, the purple ones which were in honor of our fallen N'Awlins. And they were yummy. But I didn't think one tray was enough, so I made two. Then, I got a headache. Hence, the tray in the fridge.

So in any case, every time I open my fridge I get a big whiff of strawberry, kiwi, sugar and vodka. It is a lovely smell. But trust me, I make some strong jello shots, so these are not to be eaten on just some random Wednesday evening or something. It needs to be a party situation. Now, I will not be around this weekend, so do you think if I put them in a Tupperware or something that they will last till next weekend? I mean, does jello go bad? Someone please enlighten me. I have never had jello shots left over before so I have no idea what to do.
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This weekend, I am going down the shore for one last summer hurrah before Autumn hits like a ton of bricks. My mom is taking me and Princess down for a few days for a "girls weekend." Princess loves the beach and has actually been asking to go in the ocean, so she will be excited.
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Oh, and I have FINALLY been inducted into the Shitty Blogs Club. You do not know how hard I had to work to be shitty enough to get into that little party. But I did it. Thanks, Jeckles.
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Ok, well, that's it for now. I am off to watch Jon Stewart and donate to "Hillary in 2008" and listen to NPR and buy Al Franken's book. Smell ya later ;P

For The Last Time...and Rockstar INXS

Look, I welcome everyone's opinions here. Right, left, or somewhere in the middle. In fact, some of my favorite blog friends are right wing freaks. And I love them, even though I generally disagree with them. They stick to the topic I am discussing, they keep it brief, and they don't hijack my space to make their own points. And I have the same courtesy for them and their space.

So on that note.

To all of you Anonymouses out there: STOP USING UP ALL OF MY COMMENT SPACE TO MAKE YOUR FEEBLE LITTLE POINT. IF YOU HAVE THAT MUCH TO SAY, GET YOUR OWN DAMN BLOG. And don't say that you "have better things to do, like work" which is the excuse I always get when I ask why you anonymouses don't get your own blogs so you can spout your moronic bs whenever you want. For the time it took you to write 10 paragraphs in my comments, you could have taken the 2 minutes it takes to set up a blogger account.

I was not at all partisan in my questioning of why nothing was done to prevent this disaster and why the response was so slow. I blame everyone in the federal and Lousiana state government along with the New Orleans local government. Regardless of their political party. I am generally pretty anti-Bush around here, but I have not said anything on here about Bush and his handling of this crisis (except to joke that he should have let them use his plane to save people instead of taking time out of his busy riding-bikes-with-Lance schedule to tour the disaster. And that was funny.).

So why exactly do you freaks come to my blog and, I guess because you see that I link to moveon.org, make comments about Hillary and Bill Clinton's handling of some other disaster or about the NY Times and what they said about the levees years ago? You are totally off topic.

Here is my deal: I am a fan of New Orleans. It is my favorite place on this planet. I have been there countless times for Mardi Gras, for St. Patrick's Days, and other times just for the fun of it. I want it to be there, and its not. Its not there because SOME PEOPLE didn't use the funds they were supposed to use to fix the levees, or because SOME PEOPLE voted against using funds for that, or because SOME PEOPLE think poor people aren't important enough to protect, or some other reason. I don't really know what the reason is, and I don't know who those SOME PEOPLE are. I don't know if they are on "my side" or "your side" and I don't care whose side they are on. I want them punished for not doing their job of protecting Americans. And I am also ranting about the fact that it took so long to get help to people while they were starving and dehydrating and dying. Especially since SOME PEOPLE, whoever they may be, knew it was coming and didn't prepare, and after it happened they didn't act.

This is a NON-PARTISAN topic for me. I want the heads of whoever is to blame, Republican or Democrat. Yep, you guessed it, I think Republicans are more to blame because since 9/11, which happened right in my backyard, we were supposed to be upgrading our responses to emergencies. And our response to this emergency SUCKED. And guess what, when you are the President...the buck should stop there. I know, I know, its a real bummer to have to cut your vacation short. But as the President, its the least you could have done. Oh no, wait, *what you actually did* was the least you could have done. I stand corrected.

Ok, I am getting mad and ranting again, and I am getting off topic. My point is this, and I don't think I can make it more clear: This is my blog. Yes, it is public and I am sharing my opinions online and blah blah blah. But guess what. I don't care. You can disagree with me and I have no problem with that. You can ask my many satisfied right-wing customers. But don't hijack my space for your own ends. If you have that much to say and feel so strongly about it, GET YOUR OWN BLOG. From now on, I will be deleting long and blathering comments for the sole reason that I am sick of scrolling past them trying to get to the comments I really want to read. And I am not defending myself on it anymore. Here is my defense - my blog, my decision.
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I knew Jordis was going home tonight. She had just lost it over the last few weeks. You could see her confidence shrinking week after week. I have no doubt that she will be a big star, and I know that losing this competition was the best thing for her because she is too good for INXS. Her voice is absolutely amazing and I can't wait till her solo CD comes out some day soon. Please, dear God, let JD be next. I am so sick of him. I am digging Marty more and more, and Mig is looking more and more odd to me. Suzie has improved like mad over the past few weeks, and I think she has a shot. So, sayonara, Jordis, we will definitely be seeing you around soon.
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Tomorrow - a return of the happier, more uplifting True! (Wait, have I ever been happy and uplifting? Ah, well, I will be back tomorrow anyway, happy or not.)

Some Boring Information About the Netherlands To Prove I Am Right

For my Anonymous "friend" who posted that the hurricane in New Orleans was not related at all to what they have developed in the Netherlands and that I needed to get away from CNN, perhaps you need to read a tad bit more and stop talking out of your ass. My point was that they are on similar types of land (below sea level) and were prone to flooding, not that they both are threatened with hurricanes (duh).

And, because its my blog and I hate anonymous commenters who "snark and run", I have decided to dedicate today's post to the Netherlands and how I was right in my post from Saturday. You can blame my anonymous "friend" for the long and boring-ness of this post.
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This is what happened in the Netherlands back in 1953 and how the US responded to their disaster. Completely opposite of how we responded to our own disaster.
From The Star-Ledger of Monday, 9/5/2005 by Mark Mueller:
Similar disaster, but a different ending: When flood ravaged Netherlands, response was unified and swift
From his home in the southern reaches of the Netherlands, Toon Franken has watched the televised images of New Orleans with growing astonishment. The scenes make him "shiver," he said. But it is not the scale of devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina that so troubles the 50-year-old Dutchman. It is that for nearly a week after the storm surge swallowed much of the city, so many people remained trapped there, desperate for water, food and escape.

"How is it possible in a civilized country that help is coming so late?" Franken asked in a telephone interview this weekend. "It's incredible."

While criticism of the U.S. government's response to Katrina has grown by the day, Franken brings a rare perspective to the debate. He is curator of the Zeeland Archives, the historical record of the Dutch province devastated in 1953 by the North Sea Flood, known in Holland simply as "the disaster."

More than 1,800 people died in the flood, a gale-driven wall of water that struck without warning in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 1953, overwhelming centuries-old levees and inundating 625 square miles of land. Not since the Middle Ages -- more than 500 years earlier -- had the low-lying Netherlands been so ravaged by the sea.

Franken has studied every facet of the flood, including the Herculean effort to rescue and evacuate tens of thousands of people. The contrast with the response in New Orleans, he said, is jolting.

"It was a national disaster, and therefore there was a national movement to help," Franken said. "Everybody stood as one."

Historical accounts and extensive coverage of the disaster in the archives of the New York Times confirm Franken's view. Hours after the raging North Sea caused dozens of levees to give way in the southern provinces, primarily Zeeland, the Dutch government dispatched troops, vehicles and boats to the region. From low-flying planes, air crews searched for signs of life, dropping inflatable rubber dinghies wherever they spotted movement.

Queen Juliana, accompanied by her 15-year-old daughter, Princess Beatrix, donned hip waders and toured parts of the region before night fell. The government implored anyone with a truck or a bus to head south, toward the flood zone, to aid in the evacuation. By Feb. 2, hundreds of boats, from the queen's yacht to small fishing vessels, were rescuing people from southern islands and the flooded mainland. Helicopters sent from England, which also suffered heavy damage, plucked survivors from trees, rooftops and lampposts.

The commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Lt. Gen. Manton S. Eddy, surveyed the damage by air and promised a swift American response. By nightfall on Feb. 2, some 36 hours after the levees broke, U.S. amphibious vehicles were on the ground, shipped in from neighboring West Germany. A detachment of American medical personnel soon followed. The number of boats involved in the rescue climbed to 2,000 the following day. From the air, dozens of helicopters, now mostly American, rescued hundreds more people, ferrying them to staging areas from which they were taken by bus or boat to the north.

There they took shelter in sports arenas and exhibition halls. As in New Orleans, the refugees were forced to deal with crowded conditions. But unlike the fetid Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, the shelters in Holland were well away from the flood zone, with working electricity and ample supplies of food and water.

Battling snow, sleet and cold, the multinational rescue force evacuated or rescued more than 50,000 people within five days, a figure that would grow to 70,000 by week's end. Damage to the area was enormous. In addition to the 1,836 men, women and children killed, the waters claimed 10,000 animals and destroyed some 4,500 buildings. The flooded region was not fully reinhabited for more than a year.

Certainly New Orleans has presented unique problems. Lawlessness and gunfire have slowed evacuation efforts, and the city's bowl-shaped topography has prevented floodwaters from receding. But Franken, echoing bitter criticism voiced across the political spectrum in the United States, remains baffled by the delay in dispatching troops and by the lack of available food and water.

National Guardsmen arrived in force only on Friday. The first amphibious vehicles arrived the same day.

"The Americans helped Holland so very soon in 1953, and in their own country the help has come so late," Franken said. "We here cannot understand that. It's strange that the United States was not prepared for such a disaster."
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And, perhaps more importantly, after they went through that disaster, they actually did something about it to prevent a similar situation from happening again. They built an intricate dike system where if there is a breach in one of the dikes, it will not flood into the city but into another chamber of the system. Sounds like something we should have done since we went through something similar in 1969 with Hurricane Camille in New Orleans and we knew it would happen again:

The government upgraded its ancient system of dikes and dunes after a powerful storm breached sea dikes in the south of the Netherlands in 1953, killing more than 1,800 people. Today the Netherlands has some of the world's best defenses against flooding, including a chain of 40-foot-tall steel walls suspended by piers in the open sea.

Anti-flood measures will be reviewed in all Dutch regions below sea level in light of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath to ensure they would be adequate in an emergency, the government said Sunday.

All possible weak spots in the dikes -- the tall, uniform embankments that protect the Dutch countryside -- also will be examined, said Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the junior transport and waterworks minister.

She said emphasis will be placed on the populous Amsterdam and Rotterdam regions, which both lie below sea level, De Telegraaf newspaper reported Sunday.

Flood protection in The Netherlands -- a country about twice the size of New Jersey that is mostly below sea level -- is considered among the best in the world.

The government is planning to spend $3.7 billion over the next ten years on new projects against the threat from river floods, in addition to the $620 million spent annually on maintaining the current system in the country.
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I added those italics to show how much money they spent on protecting themselves. I wonder how much we have put into our levee system?

A Semi-Non-Rant and Some Other Crap

I know it was requested that I rant yet again today. But ya know what? This has been a crappy week. Now its finally over; its the weekend and I want to start fresh and new. Don't you worry, though, I will be back soon enough with complaints about how poorly the whole situation in New Orleans is being handled vs. how the tsunami was handled, and how it would be more helpful to keep Dubbya at his ranch biking in the daisies with Lance Armstrong and let the relief efforts use his helicopters and planes to transport the ill and the elderly and the pregnant women and the children, and how the Netherlands is on similar-type ground as New Orleans and they are so much more prepared than we are for this type of inevitable disaster, and about how race and social status couldn't possibly be playing a part in how much aid and how quickly its getting there. And let me say, speaking of rants, that the Mayor of New Orleans is my newest idol for speaking his mind about what is needed in the city and putting it out there in plain language that even our politicians should be able to understand, or so we would think. Right, but I am not ranting about that today. Really, I am not. Let's move on, shall we?
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Ah, I love Labor Day weekend! I am not a huge fan of the summer, because I don't really enjoy sweating or mosquitos. So fall is my season. And although September is really pretty summery around these parts, the godawful humidity starts to drop and the bugs start to die and we can enjoy the outdoors.

This weekend we have two bbq's, one of which we are hosting at our house. We are going to break out the blender and make the famous Jean Lafitte's Frozen Voodoo Daquiris (from the French Quarter) and I am making purple jello shots in honor of our beloved, fallen New Orleans. While we are too far away to actually go in and help, we will be keeping everyone in our thoughts and in our toasts.
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Is it odd to get teary when you hear "When The Saints Go Marching In"?

Didn't You Hear? Gays Caused the Hurricane. Yup.

But first: I told Bridezilla to do her own dirty work if she felt it was necessary to get on her soon-to-be- MIL's "good side" by telling her that she needed to return the dress she loves because it was the wrong color. And I am saying screw the surprise for the shower, and my selfish cousin is going to have to be the one to tell Bridezilla about that. I have done more than my share of work for this wedding, and this chick is DONE. See yesterday's post if you have no idea what I am talking about.
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And this: Please, if you can give, give. Go to Redcross.org and be as generous as you can be. We are the country that gives the most to other countries in need...and now WE are the ones in need. Do your part.
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I found out about this over at Patsy's, who got it from Anti-Everything. You can read the whole "article" (I use that term very lightly) at this horrible and hateful website.

Can you believe that in the middle of all the devastation that is going on in the south right now, there is a group that has the time to sit down and figure out how to make it a religious and political issue?

Right, because didn't you hear? It is the fault of GAYS that Hurricane Katrina destroyed everything. That's right. You see, there is a gay festival down there that would have started yesterday, so God destroyed New Orleans because He did not approve. Ah, I understand. God is all-powerful, right? So instead of taking care of things by say, not allowing gays to exist, or singling out gays and killing each one of them individually, God decided that it would be best to destroy the entire Gulf Coast. Millions of innocent people's homes have been destroyed, who knows how many people have died, and the survivors' lives will never, ever be the same again. And God did all of that to punish the city for hosting a gay event. What a wonderful and merciful God these people pray to!

It is APPALLING to me that these so-called Christians are so full of hate that they would blame something like this on gays and make it into a "talking point" when what they should be doing is gathering food and water and money and medicine and necessary supplies for those in need. Isn't that what God would want? Aren't they the ones always asking "What Would Jesus Do?" This is a perfect example of why these right-wing religious nuts are scary and dangerous.

I emailed these morons, and here is what I had to say:
"Blaming gays for the devastation of the Gulf Coast is ignorant and self-serving. Why, then, did God destroy a good, Southern, God-fearing place like Mississippi and yet He spared most of the French Quarter the same absolute devastation? You are a bunch of hateful, horrible people who look to other peoples' misery to promote your own cause. This is something God would not approve of. Shouldn't you be spending your time and energy helping those in need, as God would want us to do, rather than disseminating this kind of ridiculous banter? You need to start looking at yourselves before you judge others."

This is two rants in two days. Watch out, people, I am on a roll.