Frigging Time

Don't know where the time goes. But got through Thanksgiving okay. It was harder this year than last. Looking back, it seems the first Thanksgiving without Kevin was an aberration, a one shot deal somehow. But the second Thanksgiving without Kevin is proof that I will never spend another one with him. Not looking forward to Christmas. And to anyone who thinks that it gets easier with time, please note: it at first gets harder with time.

And it doesn't help that I'm confronted constantly with health news about heart attack risks and even worse, prevention. My favorite so far is the hostile heart theory - now Kevin was my best friend so I say this with love and affection - but he basically didn't really like people - individuals, yes; people? Not so much. Anyone who had ever been on the receiving end of a Kevin zinger should agree with me. (He'd be really pissed if he was made out to be something he wasn't -- and while he was a saint when it came to dealing with me, he had an Irish mean streak a mile long and 10 feet high, as I used to tell him.)

Following a close second are the new guidelines for performing CPR. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't ask myself at some point: what if I had known CPR, could I have helped him? The attempt I made with instructions from the 911 operator were feeble at best. Good days are when I don't dwell on that too long. Bad days are when I can't let go of it.

Do As We Say, Not As We Do

So the military is paying Iraqi newspapers to run biased stories, according to the LA Times. Good thing we're bringing democracy to Iraq 'cause a free press is...er was a cornerstone of democracy, right?

Senate Resolution Honoring The Boss Gets the Boot

Do Senate Republicans have anyone that's monitoring public perception. Springsteen's milestone deserves to be recognized - and the GOPs defeat of a unanimous consent resolution is one of the most mean-spirited, infantile things I've seen out of Washington -- and that's saying something. And in the interest of full disclosure, I've seen Springsteen in concert at least six times in the last three years so I am biased. But pulleeze gentlemen - how petty can you be?

(Thanks Clink for sending the link.)

Food for Thought

Hmmm...another to add to the classic headlines pile: Giant Wiener Looks for New Home (and an earlier version of the story ran under a close second: Giant Hot Dog Has to Move Its Buns). Any takers?

Creative Thinkers Do Serve on the Bench

Now this is a guy who thinks outside the box -- literally.
But I think he went easy on the kitten-abandoning "rescuer." Never ceases to amaze me how people can treat dogs and cats like garbage.

Hope Springs Eternal

Okay - maybe there's some good news about cats to be had. But I take exception with the use of the adjective "besotted" to describe cat owners. Definitely a bias word.

Good Thing They Have Nine Lives

Maybe it's me - and the fact that my job requires the perusal of hundreds of news web sites a day. But has someone declared war on cats and not told me about it? Freaky friggin headlines over the last few days include:

Can Your Cat Make You Crazy? One Researcher is Looking for a Connection Between Cats and Schizophrenia (ABC)

Hero dog memorialized as 'Cat of the Year' (MSNBC)

Judge Rejects Plea Bargain In Cat Poisoning Trial (KOMO-TV)

Mom Accused Of Asking Teens To Drown Cats (ABC 10-Miami)

Asthmatic Cats May Be Allergic To Humans, Say Vets (Science Daily)


Police: Urine From 35 Cats, Not Meth Lab, Caused Odor (NBC 4-NY)

Jim, do you have anything to do with this? Tilly says stop it or she'll slap you next time.

Working It Out

Who am I too say but good gawd, it's amazing to me what people are willing to reveal about themselves in their blogs. Maybe I'm a prude but I think I'll stick to being outraged. Probably requires the same number of calories to be expended.

Alert the Media

Too much sex on TV? Sure - and that's just the commercials.

I'm tellin' ya - I want to take Ellis Henican out to dinner. He seems to regularly hit on subjects near and dear to my heart - and conservative television fascists are always on the outrage hit parade. And anyone that uses the phrase "yelps of outrage" has to be a kindred spirit. Has to be.

My question? When will the TV nazis realize that all they are doing when they come out with something like this is to ensure greater success for the very shows they rail against? I remember when Terry whatshername came out against Married With Children - it boosted the ratings and helped that show become one of the longest running sitcoms of all time. I'm sure the fact that Al Bundy was Kevin's hero had nothing to do with it. At least, I'm pretty sure.

That's One Crazy Cat

Now THIS is the kind of cat story I like to see.

Tilly is Outraged

New Kensington, PA - I've never been there but it doesn't sound like a thriving drug haven. So why would a meth lab be the first suspicion on residents' minds? Turns out it's all about cat pee.

And it's just this sort of story that gives cats -- and cat owners -- a bad name. For gawd's sake, if you're going to keep that many animals, clean up after them. If you can't clean up after them, DON'T keep that many animals. That seems simple enough to me - it's outrageous how many people fail to grasp it.

No Such Thing As An Accident

Kevin always said I was an accident waiting to happen - or did he call me a bull in a china shop? It was both actually. But it was my dad who always said there's no such thing as an accident. His point (at least I hope this was it) was that with being careful and thoughtful, what everyone calls an accident is completely avoidable. True accidents are rare things. I didn't appreciate it as a kid but I eventually figured it out.

Still, I considered myself the most accident prone kid you'd ever want to meet - my litany of trips to the Alexandria City Hospital emergency room were the result many things such as getting hit in the eye with a baseball bat, splitting my bottom lip open with a softball, spraining my knee and ankle sliding (badly obviously) into second base (needless to say I don't play any sport with bats or small, round or hard to see balls), a concussion from a pogo stick, ripped toenails in a bicycle accident (needless to say I never rode my bike barefoot again), a fractured elbow running from my older sister, a dart in the head - and it didn't stop when I got older with two automobile accidents (from falling asleep while driving) in my 20s and a rather embarassing trip to the emergency room that only Kevin and my younger sister were around for.

I haven't hurt myself lately beyond the occassional head banging, stair tripping, sidewalk slipping events -- must be a sign I'm getting older -- or is it more careful?

How Can I Resist a Headline Like This

It seems I'm down to weekly posts, up from my daily posts last year. I'm trying to find the honest balance between what I want to say and what I should say, given my new job. Above all, this has been a place where I can be honest and say what I'm thinking or feeling -- and no one's asked me to do anything else. I just know as a journalist that what I think and feel is secondary to being balanced. So bear with me. Those of you who know me, know there's very little that doesn't have a pound of outrage -- or outrageousness -- to take on.

How about this for headline of the year?