I woke up this morning because IT IS TOO HOT! If it weren’t for the bugs already squatting in the downstairs living room I’d be sleeping on the futon where the thermostat lives. If you don’t remember science, kids, heat rises. That means the cool air from the wonderful central air likes being downstairs. The upstairs stays warmer. There is no thermostat upstairs to say, “hey! AC! yeah, could you just keep it going up here… please? pretty please?” This situation is made worse with the heat wave sticking around worse than lint on sweat.

My brain decided that it was too warm to keep sleeping. Even with the fan now on and cooling things off, it’s like “oooo that feels good! But, since you’re up, here is everything you should think about to stress you out!”

Damnit brain.

So, a full blog post will be done later, but here is a teaser from the day…

Guess who sleeps in there until tomorrow...?

So… reminder. the launch is tomorrow scheduled for 10:02AM. You can watch it online here http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av028/status.html

HOLY FREAKING EXCITED, BATMAN!!

expect more posts on this… Gotta go jump around and be all giddy now. Heheheheheheheheh

Then the impending doom of hurricane Irene threatened the East Coast.

Did I leave? HELL NO!

I never experienced a hurricane. I was just a mere fetus for Hurricane Gloria. So I was curious as to how this would turn out. Besides, earlier that week, I had experienced my first “earthquake” so.. why the hell not. I was gonna have Irene Rock me like a Hurricane!

I listened to the hype .. err.. Reports on the storm. I took them seriously. I couldn’t take Bloomberg or Cuomo or Christi seriously because they just seemed scared. It was supposed to be a good storm, but Irene’s PR definitely oversold her talents. Or maybe she just worked too hard on the southern states… Didn’t have to blow EVERY guy you met, Irene.

I was at my sister’s house on the South shore of Long Island. Only 13ft above sea level. South of Merrick rd had a mandatory evacuation (that we didn’t listen to. whoops) Slept through most of it. There was flooding near my other sister’s house. but because she didn’t have basement, she’s good.

But once it settled, I took a walk to survey the damage. Then ran home to get the camera. thought I’d share what Irene’s fury hath done.

Just debris

My sister’s house. Like most people, her lawn is littered with debris (leaves, twigs, etc.).

Survivor

This guy. He flew down next to me during my second walk. No idea where he hid, but he did alright. There are another little guy, a mouse, that wasn’t as lucky. No picture of him, though.

Leaning poles of Oceanside

There are two poles.. seem very attracted to something down the street…

Tree fell flat

… And that would be it…

Totally Treed

That side walk and truck were TREED!!! If you look carefully, you’d notice that the tree is still being supported by the wires. The sidewalk adding a nice counter-balance. But those wires are pretty much stressed…

Pretty sure that's on fire...

That’s a telephone pole that’s taking the strain from the last tree… Yes. It’s on fire. Something also seems to be missing though…

What's that doing there...?

… That would be it.

that's what the top of those poles look like

What I ASSUME happened. The tree (the one that is currently devouring the truck), fell over from the wind, and was being held up by the wires. However, it tugged one of them just a bit too much, causing sparks, a small fire. Singed the top right off.

I didn’t explore too far. Some flooding south of us. Nothing catastrophic. Now it’s just there is some leftover rain and wind.

Thoughts to those who were deeply affected by this storm. She was a nasty bitch. We can only come together and help one an other clean up and move on.

It’s a bit worse for Joe since she must have figureed out he’s the “male” of our species. She is now lifting her ass to him, looking over her shoulder and mrooooowing!

She used to be a cute, quiet “mew” cat… now it’s MROOOOFFFFFFFFFEQUE!

Actually… This might help! It should start at 1:17… Watch to about 1:52….

Save us all…

Who am I kidding? I’m still complaining but on a more humourous key for your amusement.

Fisrt off- DIETING!

Holy frakking kill-me- now-DIETING!

After about a year and a half I finally made it to a doctor’s office for a check up. (Lies. The new patient check up isn’t until September. I went during open clinic hours for an ear flushing. Don’t judge me and my “baby ear canals”) But, like they do, the first thing behind that large door separating the country kitchen waiting room (I kid you not) from the patient rooms was THE SCALE!

I’ve always hated scales.

Thunk! slide slide slide, thunk slide slide slide, thunk OH GOD MAKE IT STOP!!

*ahem* Yeah, So I started a diet or according to Arthur Agatston, MD – A better way of life. The South Beach diet (which my doctor recommend I try) I picked up The Boy Wonderful from work, went to the bookstore to find a book (yes people. books. I’ll rant on this later.) went to the AMAZING STORE OF AWESOME known as Wegmans and sat down with my Wonderful and planned our next week of meals.. the start of Phase 1.

We’re now starting week one of phase 2. I have another blog where I’m more detailed on the subject of self betterment so I shan’t bore you with my cries for bread, pasta, potatoes, corn… Oh! Sorry. I can get past most of that, but what I’m really missing is my daily coffee and/or tea. I drink my french-pressed coffee light and sweet with raw sugar. My tea? loose-leafed and sweetened with honey. (not all tea, but this amazing Mango Ceylon…) For the past two weeks, if I wanted my black gold, I needed to use SUGAR SUBSTITUTE! Yes, I looked forward to that like I look forward to licking a public toilet.

Now, this isn’t new. Sugar substitute has been around for awhile. I can remember the small pink packages of Sweet n Low that used to say in bold red letters on the back,  ”this product has been known to cause cancer in laboratory animals.”  Not very appealing! I love coffee, but I don’t love it enough to drink poison. I guess I can also blame the cook inside of me. I can taste everything. I can taste from memory, I can taste from smell, I can almost accurately taste combinations when cooking on the fly … and I can taste all your chemically treated “sugar” you lying corporate asshats. “Tastes like sugar” my ass, more like “tastes like sugar and ammonia.”

Xylitol. Xylitol is the answer to my suffering.

You can easily wiki information about xylitol and its benefits, but I’ll give you a quick and dirty rundown. It’s sugar alcohol from sugar, no chemicals, registers a 7 of the GI scale (sugar is 100… and this is a game of golf, people. Low is better.) AND it promotes healthy dental hygiene! WHAT! — no, it’s just that fucking amazing! But I’m lazy and Splenda is a perfect one to one ratio for cooking, baking.. Xylitol is too!!! (I should get paid for this *wink*wink*.) I am now a happy camper.

Ah, SECOND on the list. Cats. More specifically my roommate’s cat who is in heat. I love cats. I do. It’s not just in the name, but this poor freaking creature. Holy damn. I never watched Jersey Shore and I’m sure I’m  one of the few who hasn’t heard a word/sound/mating call come out of Snookie’s mouth. But the noises this cat makes is what I imagine Snookie sounds like. The roommate claimed she was going to get her fixed before moving in. Yeah… about that…

So I deal with the cat now at three in the morning with her untrimmed claws and moaning sounds that sound like she’s whining “I wannna get laaaaaaaaaid!!” (seriously. This is some exorcist-type crazy shit… ) I’ll say I do not appreciate getting cheesed on! It was NOT the titty-filled fantasy trip I was promised. (That previous metaphor was inspired by South Park episode “Major Boobage“. NSFW and mature audiences only blah blah blah… )

There you have it. Complaints that hopefully entertained and informed. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have a cup of coffee waiting and a few episodes of Top Gear to watch!

This is an over-all view. I could get into detail (A LOT more detail) but I’ll spare you guys, too.

- – - – -

First Timer.
I grew up Atheist.. actually, that implies that I was “taught” atheism. Scratch that. I grew up without influences other than television, movies, and what friends would say when they would mention something from Religion class (“what’s religion?” I’d ask, and they would all shrug.) I guess hearing it from the outside, it was more like God and Jesus weren’t so much “people” as they were “Ideas”. I was taught the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, like I was taught that fire is hot, do not stare and smoking can cause cancer – A mix of values and morals instilled by my parents, teachers, friends, experience and media.

I think of myself more of a scholarly-type person. I love to learn. School was the best place to be. I willingly gave up my recess back in elementary school so I can help out in the library… payment came in the form of taking out more books than was otherwise allowed. History, science, art and fiction. This was the start of my love of archaeology, story-telling and where religion became more frequently discussed.

I started to dislike religion over the years, only hearing the bad things about it. Wars, death, the destruction of cultures because religion wanted to “share” their views for a better world. A “there can be only one!”- type of mentality. I was saddened by all this and short of meeting the Doctor or creating my own time machine, I had to accept that I will never know the true religious practices of the Ancient Egyptians or the first stories told of the first village in Africa. I only had books of “what ifs” and “maybes”. In my haste of quickly judging religion as the bad-guy, I set a very close friendship on a rocky path. I had no idea she was religious! Sigh… Another check on the list of why religion was on my bad side.

I’ve since met a guy (in University) who was raised Catholic and never missed a Sunday, sang in the choir and almost joined seminary (he liked math and engineering more). He got me to go to church. For four years I left crying almost every week. It was rare where I actually left thinking “okay, that makes sense.” There was too much that I disagreed with and too much disapproval and judgment. (the priest at University wasn’t too bad. He actually had a side workshop where he would talk about his time meditating with Buddhists and other religious -type philosophies. The priests from my boyfriend’s hometown, however, they manage to throw me into fits of rage every single time.) Talking to my boyfriend about issues over the years had led him to question why he followed. He is now in this “in between” but has a fear of “my family will hate me if I denounce my faith”.

So in my opinion I say religion is best as a system of ideas- Morals and Values- that should be followed. Think about it. Most have the similarities of “respect” and “love” and “faith” in their core! But the differences are what most focus on (unfortunately, those that focus on it also have “power” and this insistent need to share…)

I do understand and accept that we, as humans, are still young and some individuals still need a [current system of faith] in their lives. That’s fine… just don’t go start a war. Me personally? I don’t need a “father” or a book to remind me to go and decrease world suck. I was taught once to go help someone who dropped their bag of groceries and haven’t needed to think twice if I see someone else in the same need. People need to take care of one another in order for us to grow as individuals and as a society – so whatever tool or system helps you realize that you are as equally as important as the next person, follow it. (just be mindful of cults.. those usually don’t end well..)

In conclusion- do what should be done – “Love one another” and “don’t be a d-bag”.

- – - – -

Sorry, that was a small distraction. In contrast to the past few years where there was nothing but distraction in the news. You know, big issues like the recession or Health Reform being pushed aside for stupid little “Are you sure you’re an American, Mr. President?” It’s weird. Since Sunday night no one has focused on anything else besides Osama bin Laden, his death, the compound he lived in, it’s location, his body’s disposal (he’s sleeping with the fishes now). Political Pundints have been taking their Ritalin! Finally, they’ve only had the subscription for years…!

I’m not saying that it isn’t big news. It is! The face of evil of our generation has fallen.  If you’re fortunate enough to know someone who was alive during Hitler’s reign and remembered the day he finally fell, you’d probably hear similarities between how people reacted then to how they are reacting now.

“But where are the photos?” I don’t think we need the photos. It’s a shame that we’ve become so cynical of a society where there is no more faith in words or trust. Even if the President did release the photos, there will be the conspirators that shout, “shenanigans!” (Edit: Actually heard a good argument for showing the photos from Jon Stewart on the Daily show. It is important that we be exposed to the gruesome aspects of war. We haven’t been. All we have are video games where the bodies fade away “and a gold coin appears”. Hah, Agreed Jon.)

Though, as an American and a Human Being, I’m quiet pissed at how some people have been acting and what others are saying. I love social media, but the gossip and misinformation that spreads is a poison that must be dealt with. Not censored. I’m not one for censoring, I mean just plan untrue facts and one-sided truths that friends and family mindlessly copy/paste from each other. It spreads faster than wildfire and my twitter and facebook feeds are filled with this sludge. Though, If I didn’t want to get angry, I’d stay off the internet. But it’s unfortunately the only way to access the truth and whole story behind the misleading dribble. Fox news is the worst. CNN hasn’t been much better lately. Everyone has their own agenda.

If we wash our hands to help stop the spread of disease, why not do the same with misinformation?

But the comment that have inspired this post has been this joke that has lately invaded my feeds-

So, Osama bin Laden is standing before God waiting to hear his punishment, when God gets a tap on the shoulder.
Behind him stands 343 firefighters, 72 police officers, one K9 officer, 3,000 American citizens & over 5,000 soldiers. “Don’t worry, God, we got this!”

Why does this bother me? Besides the obvious disregard for religious belief,  it’s another hint at how self-centered American are. Al-Qaeda has been around since 1988. Since then it has inspired many other terrorist groups such as the Taliban. bin Laden was the founder of Al-Qaeda and thus inspired the radical ideals that caused the death of THOUSANDS more than the sum given in that statement. Does anyone else care?

Do you?

Because I haven’t seen or heard anyone point out the total death toll of this man.

And finally, here is my cynicism – No one has mentioned the hate he has inspired in all of us. The almost unnoticeable quick glance you gave someone at the airport? Suspect. Paranoia. The racism and the names. Osama did more than just plant hijackers on planes and smash them into buildings, or send suicide bombers into markets. He has done more damage to us mentally and emotionally than any body count. And that has not died. No. It still lives and continues to grow and spread. His Death toll is high, but those he infected is higher.