Saturday, October 05, 2013

3772 Dieting Disappointment

Saturday, October 5, 2013

"A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her." 
--Oscar Wilde--

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I haven't had Bisquick Impossible Cheeseburger Pie, one of my favorite things, in ages, and suddenly had a hunger for it.  So a few days ago I made it.

I was SO disappointed.  It didn't have the right texture or taste.  Not at all what my mouth remembered and expected.

I used 90% fat free hamburger, Lite Bisquick, 1% milk, and 75% fat free Cabot Cheddar.

No wonder it was blah.  The only things that were "real" were the onions, eggs, and tomato.  They tasted fine.  It was everything wrapped around them that was yuck.

Sigh.  It's sad when you get old and fat and have to make choices like that.
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Friday, October 04, 2013

3771 Freakin' out here. Part Three.

Friday, October 4, 2013

All mushrooms are edible.  Some only once per person.

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I followed the online news stories coming out of Washington yesterday.  I tore out more of my hair.

The first reports quoted police saying that the woman attempted to "break through a gate" at the White House, and then rammed a barricade.  I guess there were too many witnesses, and people who pointed out that there was no damage to the front of her car, because that changed to "attempted to go through" a gate (which was open).  "Ramming a barricade" became "tried to go around" one of those fence section dohickies like are used for crowd control that a secret service agent was pulling in front of her car in an attempt to divert her.  She did hit the agent (who ran in front of her car), who was injured when he slid to the ground.

She then took off at high speed, acquiring a screaming police tail.

They managed to stop her (or she just stopped, not sure) and blocked her in with a police cruiser behind her.  Now, initial reports said she shot at the police at that point.  However, I guess there were too many witnesses who pointed out that her windows were closed and unbroken, so much later that version changed.  She looked out her window and saw a cop in that classic firing range position, with a gun 18 inches from her and pointed at her head.  (Having read my immediately previous blog post, and being herself of the "wrong" race, she knew what was coming, so...) She backed into the blocking police car, wiggled out, and took off again.

Reporters were careful to point out that she then headed to the capitol building and senate offices.  (The video actually shows her literally going around in circles.)  If you look at any map of DC, the capitol building is straight up the widest road from the White House, so it doesn't take any planning to get there.

The police fired on the car, and then stopped her again.  Interestingly, there  is no video of that stop.  Initial reports said she got out of the car and opened fire on the officers, so they shot her dead.  Barrump-bump.

Later reports noted that she was unarmed.

This morning's reports say she never even got out of the car.  They shot her while she was sitting in the car.  Judge, jury, executioner?

Police claim they didn't know there was an infant in the car during all that shooting.  I call B.S.  On that first stop, you KNOW someone checked the back seat to make sure there weren't three more people hiding back there.  That's SOP.  Modern infant car seats are huge and stand out from the back seat.  Plus, "news" reports noted a baby in the back even before that final stop.

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Now, all that speculation reported as fact was disturbing enough.  Everybody was so anxious to get the info out first that they didn't care if it was accurate or not.

What REALLY got to me was the comments on the articles from (here we go again, can you tell I'm furious?) assholes. 

Almost all of the commenters, better than 98%, made it into a political act, blaming anger at the government shutdown.  Half blamed Congress (about evenly divided between blaming Republicans for their assholery, and Democrats for their refusal to compromise capitulate).  The other half pointed out that she headed for the White House first, so obviously Obama was to blame.

What got me was that EVERYONE was absolutely sure that THEY KNEW what her motive and intent was.  With NO facts, NO knowlege of her, they were SURE they knew exactly what was going on in her head.

You have no idea how much that infuriates me!

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So, early evening, Daughter and Nugget visited, and I told Daughter what was going on, and how angry all this speculation knowing and laying blame made me.

She thinks like me.  She and I immediately came up with a story (one of a hundred possibilities) that could explain what was really going on with the woman.  It is every bit as valid as all those other theories, so why did no one consider something like this? 

By the way, this morning's reports, after interviews with family and friends, reveal that she's apolitical, and after her daughter's birth in August of 2012, she suffered such severe postpartum depression that she had been hospitalized.  "She's still not right."  It may be that the baby fell asleep in the car, and she just kept driving, to get a few hours of that blessed peace.

Our possible story:


She was driving from Connecticut to Virginia for whatever reason.  She got off the beltway at the wrong exit, and instead of going into Virginia, she found herself at the Mall.   Traffic is the usual mess, and she's not a confident city driver, and to make matters worse, she needs a restroom so bad her eyeballs literally hurt (no restrooms on the beltway).  Oh, well, the monuments all have restrooms in their basements, so maybe that's ok.

But none of the monuments are open.  The parking lots are blocked.  This isn't a civilized European country with public, self-cleaning bathrooms on the sidewalks.  To make matters worse, the baby woke up and is screaming bloody murder.  It all gets to her and she goes slightly nuts. If you are a mother, you know that craziness.

Then she spots the White House, and an open gate.  Maybe they're open.  Maybe they have tourist restrooms.

She turns in, and is thwarted by some guy who wants to close the gate.  NO WAY!  No way you are closing NOW, when I need it so desperately!  Wait until I'm done!  She tries to go around the barricade and bumps the guy pushing it, knocking him to the ground.  Oh, f**k.  I don't need this.  Besides, I just pissed all over the car seat, so f**k you all, it's all your fault, I'm outta here.

She notices she now has a screaming police escort. Is that for me?!  All she wants to do is get away.  Out of here.  Out of the nightmare.  Make it all go away.  Angry and slightly crazed by her ruined upholstery, wet crotch, and screaming baby, down to both physical and mental tunnel vision, she hits the gas.

The police manage to pull her over.  She looks to the driver side window, expecting to find an angry cop that she has grovel to, explain things to, maybe she'll get a ticket, oh crap, I really don't need this.

Instead, she's staring straight into the barrel of a gun.  She's heard the stories.  Scared witless, she takes off.  Get away from here!  Find someplace safe!  Now they're shooting at me!  Oh my god, I knew that would happen!  Get away, away, away!

Finally she stops.  Maybe I can explain this.  Maybe they'll give me some dry underpants.  Maybe the baby will stop that infernal screaming.  I can't think when she's screaming...

Bang.  Dead. 
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3770 Freakin' out here. Part Two.

Friday, October 4, 2013

"Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering."
--R. Buckminster Fuller--

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There was the very old, bedridden guy, maybe a year ago, whose daughter thought he was dying and wanted him to go to the hospital, so she called an ambulance.  But the old guy didn't want to go, and got angry at the EMTs.  EMTs are not allowed to get physical, so they called the police for assistance.  The police arrived.  The old guy still refused to be taken from his bed, and swore at the police and waved his feeble arms around, so they shot him dead.

There was the man who answered pounding at his door to find the police demanding to be let in.  They were looking for some guy, who actually lived two houses up or something.  Wrong address.  The police demanded to come in to search anyway.  The man exercised his right to refuse them entry.  He stood in the doorway with one hand on the door frame, the other on the door, his foot braced against the door preventing it from opening, so they shot him dead.

There was the guy a few weeks ago who was staggering around in the middle of the street, obviously deranged, obstructing traffic, and ignoring police who told him to get out of the street, so they shot him dead.

There was a guy last week who had gone off the road and wrecked his car, and was running down the road looking for help when he saw a police car, so he ran up to the car shouting and waving his arms, so they shot him dead.

And in between all those are countless examples of absolutely innocent and unarmed people reaching into pockets for cell phones or id, or holding wallets or phones in their hands, getting shot dead by police who, well, not so much "jumped the gun" as jumped for the gun.

What the Hell is going on?  I used to have enormous respect for the police.  When my daughter was small I told her many times that if she ever was in trouble, or lost, or needed help, to find a police officer, and he or she would help her and keep her safe.

I'm not so sure of that any more.

Maybe Daughter does have some measure of protection from the police.  Unlike in every one of the incidents  above, Daughter is white.
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Thursday, October 03, 2013

3769 Freakin' out, man! Part one.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Forget all the reasons it won’t work and focus on the one reason that it will.

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I am freaking out here.  Three days ago I was playing with my hair, pleased that even at my advanced age my hair is still pretty thick (well, thick as it ever was given that it's always been super fine).  Yesterday and today I've been pulling it out in frustration and anger.

SWARM - the first aggravator.

You've probably seen the YouTube video of the motorcycle thing this past Sunday?  If not, it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13DzHnlaiNs.  Watch at the beginning.  The biker runs in the SUV's lane, right next to him, and is turned toward the driver's window.  Then he pulls in front of the SUV and hits the brakes, looking back the whole time, to make sure he gets hit.  Yep, as planned, the SUV bumps the bike, and stops.  The SUV is then swarmed by bikers.  If you listen carefully, you can hear helmets hitting the SUV.  (It was later reported that the SUV's tires were slashed at that time.)

The SUV driver tries to get away.  You can see him swerving to get around bikers. That big bump was when he drove over a motorbike - and the rider.  That rider has two broken legs and a broken back, is now in the hospital in an induced coma, may never walk again.

Note where the SUV gets stopped in traffic further on, and a biker tries to open the door, but the car gets away.  Later the SUV gets stopped again.  A biker starts hitting the window with a helmet - note it's the same sound we heard back in the beginning.  The video ends before the mob breaks the window, opens the door, pulls the (Asian) driver out, and kicks the shit out of him.

The driver's wife and 2-year-old son were in the car with him.

There were more than 200 911 calls reporting these guys, including one from the panicked SUV driver himself, and from other drivers and people along the route.

These assholes had no concern for anyone else on the road.  Most of those bikes did not have plates, were not street-legal, and of those riders who were detained or arrested, most of them were not licensed.  They paid no attention to niceties like lanes or speed limits or safe distances.  Some other assholes expect us to have sympathy for the guy who got run over, and want the SUV driver charged with hit and run.  Well, the injured guy's driver's license was taken away from him in the late '90s, he's not allowed to get it back for several more years (gotta wonder about how bad that is) and (I believe) he's never had a motorcycle license, but STILL he's had something like 15-17 traffic citations since losing his license.  (How is that guy not in jail?!)   So he wasn't even allowed to be there.

So, no, no sympathy.  You got exactly what you were asking for, fella.  Maybe now you'll stay off the streets.

If you haven't already seen it, please DO watch the video.  Imagine what that SUV driver was feeling.  Would you have done anything different?  Tell me in the comments.

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A guy called into the local radio station today, and he was saying that he knows what was going on.  He said the mob was taking over the highway for tricks - that's why there was a camera.  He said to notice that as they passed on-ramps, there were more bikers sitting on the ramps, who then joined the ride.  What they were doing sitting on the ramps was preventing vehicular traffic from entering the road.  They very much resent vehicles who don't exit or at least pull over and let them have the road.  The SUV driver had the audacity to not get off their road.

And riders wonder why drivers hate them.

And you have to wonder about the arrogance and intelligence of people who would post that video on YouTube, like they're proud of it or something.  Complete assholes.  Any of you who know me have never heard me say that word, ever.  But sometimes, it just fits.

[I am aware that at least three readers of this blog ride.  I do hope none of this applies to you.]
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