Clue number 5,629,345,928 that our president is an idiot

Which of these is demeaning to me as a woman?

A.) Contraceptives
B.) A man - an OB/GYN, no less - who thinks that contraceptives are demeaning to women and who has been appointed as the deputy assistant secretary of population affairs and who will have the responsiblity of reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on things like reproductive health.
C.) A president that would appoint That Man

This appointment does not have to go through any kind of confirmation, so Mr. Keroack's job is a done deal. And you know what part of that job will be? "He will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons."

But the funny thing is, that HHS also gives tons of grants out every year on abstinence education. Pamphlets, programs for young adults, commercials are all funded by the Dept of HHS to tell people that sex is bad if you haven't had the right person pray over you and tell you that you are man and wife. And you know what? There was a story on NPR yesterday morning (Can't find the link right now) about those pamphlets and things that are written with the money from those HHS grants. A lot of them had data that has been proven wrong more than once, but is still included to back the government's "Absitince is the only state-sanctioned form of birth control" campaign. They don't have to go through any kind of review to make sure that their "scientific" data is actually scientific. So instead of teens learning about condoms and the fact that they could literally save their lives, they're told that they shouldn't have sex at all and if they do, then they're on their own.  And with this new guy in HHS, I bet they put a spin on that so that we all understand that he's actually supporting women by coming out against birth control. Because, you know, choosing and planning to have a child when you can financially and emotionally support one is just a bad idea. And...

Ok, I've got to stop. I could rant about this for hours, but you would stop reading by then. And none of this counts towards my word count for NaNoWriMo, so I really need to go pour another cup of coffee. I think I'll go write a sex scene between two unmarried people. And it'll be the woman who supplies the condom.

NaNoWriMo Progress.

Well, I'm not sure it's a whole lot of progress. As of this moment, I've got about 17,366 words done, which is a little more than 8,000 words behind where I'd like to be. Well, to be honest, I'd like to be done. The "fun" of starting something new has kinda worn thin once all ready - which means I had three days of no clue what to put in, so I "brainstormed" (read: typed not one damn word).
But I really like what I've done. I want this to be longer than 50,000 words, though. Which means that even if I've won NaNo, I (hopefully) won't have finished the story.

So the Divas are having a High Noon Challenge this weekend: write as much as possible between 6 PM tonight and noon on Sundaya. And in order to get back on track, I would need to write a little over 14,000 words by Sunday night. Which would almost double what I have.
Do I think that's possible? Um. Yes? Maybe? If I have enough caffeine?
Am I going to try? Absolutely.

So anyone who wants to is more than welcome to send me text messages tomorrow with little reminders like: "Put the book down! You're supposed to be writing, not reading!" and "Star Trek is NOT more important than writing this weekend!" Or "You can kiss your husband as much as you want on Sunday night! Go back to your laptop!"
Or you can be creative all on your own.

Nerd? Geek? or Dork?

Pure Nerd 69 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 30% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on nerdiness You scored higher than 99% on geekosity You scored higher than 99% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

It's a Rather Blustery Day Today

Oh the wind is lashing lusterly And the trees are thrashing thrusterly And the leaves are rustling gusterly So it's rather safe to say That it seems that it may turn out to be It feels that it will undoubtedly Looks like a rather blustery day today It seems that it may turn out to be Feels that it will undoubtedly Looks like a rather blustery day today --Winnie the Pooh

Off to see the Wizard

Maybe.

There’s some severe weather heading my way. I don’t want to have to pull out all the meteoro-techno-babble terms, but I will: This is a big ole storm. With lightening. And Hail. And Stuff.

Of course, the “stuff” could be a tornado. Or it could be nothing but a few leaves that get blown around in the wind. Or it could be anything in between.

This is why I love weather. Ya never know what’s gonna happen. I’m not any kind of trained weather watcher (but that’s only because I’m not home enough), which is the main reason that my meteoro-techno-babble terms include “stuff” and “big ole”. But I do love a good storm. With lots of wind and lightening and thunder. I could take or leave the rain. On it’s own, rain is fine as long as I’m home in bed or on my couch. But with the wind howling and the thunder crashing, I want to be outside in the middle of it.

And now we come to the reason that I’m not a big fan of tornados: It’s not really advisable to stand around and watch lightening and “big ole stuff” when there’s a tornado in the area. In fact, I’m religious about getting the cats and high-tailing it with them into the laundry room. And then I inevitably sit on top of the washer, trying to avoid the hissing and scratching of The Cat Who Does Not Like To Be Shut Up In Small Spaces, and cursing because the tornado never comes, so I’ve just missed a good storm. I know, I know - better safe than sorry. Which is why I still go to the laundry room – after I go outside and check things out visually. Because in all honesty, if a tornado came and landed on my house, I’d have to learn that funky dance step that everyone in the movie does on the Yellow Brick Road, cause I'd be blown to Oz even if I were in the laundry room with the cats. Although it might be worth it if I could talk to a lion.

Anyway, there’s some stuff heading my way. I’m at work – which is actually a much safer building than my house. But I have a pretty good feeling my boss won’t let me stand outside for a few minutes after the sirens go off to watch the clouds swirl and the lightening flash or to feel the high winds and hear the thunder. Sometimes, bosses can be real party-poopers.

Update #1: 10:10 AMThe sirens went off. We moved the students and stood in the hall for 10 minutes. Now we're free and waiting for the next round. Update #2 10:35 AM And they went off again. This time, one of the librarians was smart enough to bring a newspaper so a few of us had something to read. I don't think I'll be driving to out to the lakes on base for lunch today.

Driving along, singing a song

My commute to work is about an hour, give or take ten minutes or so for the complete lunacy of Alabama drivers and the utter madness that takes ahold of people driving semi's somewhere around the Chilton County border. 60 minutes to work, and 60 minutes home. I am NOT complaining. I have NPR to keep me company, and if they get a little overzealous on, say, an upcoming election that they feel like beating into the ground...well, then, I always have my 60 +/- CDs to keep me company. And my cell phone, which - Thank you Jesus! - now gets coverage the entire way home because I switched away from the the evil that is Verizon and went back to playing on the Tmobile network. Sometimes, I actually wish the drive were longer. This is mostly in the mornings. See, because I have an hour drive, sometimes I don't really feel like I need to be completely awake when I get in the car. So I wait until the last possible second to get out of bed, because the only thing more precious than chocolate in this sweet world is sleep. If I plan things out correctly - which I rarely do - I can slide behind the steering wheel 7 minutes after I roll out of bed. Because I have at least 60 minutes to wake up - and sometimes, I actually need more than 60 minutes to wake up. The coffee rarely lasts the whole drive, and I will NOT stop for a refill when I know I can get as much as I want when I get to work. That smacks of addiction.
The ride home always seems longer, but that's when I either call every phone number in my cell phone (raise your hand if I've called you between 4:30 and 5:30 Central time). Or I put in the soundtrack from The Sound of Music and yodel along with The Lonely Goatherd at the top of my lungs, because neither my husband nor my stepson appreciate it when I do that when they're in the car with me. Or when I'm in the house. Especially when stepson has friends over. But that's another story.
And then, every once in a while, I read something that makes me think maybe this hour drive twice a day thing isn't so smart. Say, for example, something about the weather, like this:

"I still think the sweet spot (best combination of dynamics and instability) will be in the general area between Birmingham and Montgomery, and the best chance of severe storms seems to be in the 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. time frame."

A Brief Glimpse of Purgatory

Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to perpetually roll a rock up a hill only to see it roll back down again. Tantalus was forced to stand - forever - in a pool of water that disappeared every time he leaned down to take a drink while a bunch of grapes hung over his head and pulled the same trick when he reached up to grab them. Prometheus was chained to a rock and every day an eagle came to eat his liver; he could do it every day because his liver grew back every night. I have a house full of food and a growling stomach. I also have a tongue and lip that I can barely feel (Thank you Dr. Dentist!), tempting me to try to eat something. Surely if I'm careful, I won't bite myself. And if I do, I won't feel it - right? I was eating leftover macaroni, but the second bite had me wondering if it had magically turned into a medium-rare steak - because only one of those choices has blood in it, and that was definitely what I was tasting. I think I'll just stick to coffee with a medicinal drop or two of Bailey's in it for a few hours.

Another Play

Last school year, StepSon helped out with his high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors. Somehow, I had missed seeing the film or theater version of that, but I went to his. And I was miserable through the whole thing. The end didn't even seem real - it just seemed like the playwrite(s?) got tired of the whole thing and slapped something crazy on it. I don't blame them. I was tired of the whole thing and just glad that it ended before I heard "Feee-eeed ME Seymour" one more time. Because I was afraid I was going to go up on stage and feed Seymour to the stupid plant. The kids were great, I just didn't like the play itself. StepSon, by the way, was on the lighting crew. So of course, I believe that he had the most important job in the entire production, and that his was the only job done perfectly. Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a rant on that play. It was supposed to be an introduction to the new production he is involved in. If only I could introduce it. So far, StepSon cannot tell me anything about the play. He has been to four practices. Today, he painted for three hours. He's not even sure of the name. He thinks it's Patchwork. Maybe. Opening night is November 13th. Yes, that's only a week and a half away. He's not even sure what role he'll play during the actual production. So in two weeks, Hubby and I are going to go to the play. Who knows? Maybe knowing nothing about the play in advance will make it more of an adventure. Will my StepSon step out onto stage at any moment? Will he be running the lights behind my back? Or, will he have painted the requisite number of sets and not even be be in the building? Ahhh...life is a constant adventure in this family.

Thursday Afternoon Fun: Rummaging through the bucket of Halloween Candy on the Reference Desk and finding the last piece of Strawberry Laffy Taffy.

Thursday Afternoon Not-Fun: Crunching down on something hard in your Strawberry Lafffy Taffy and realizing it's a piece of one of your fillings.

Do me a favor. Click on this link. http://world4.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=47114271 I promise, it's not some kind of nefarious way for me to sneak into your computer and hack into your account at extremesex.com or whatever it is you're doing on your computer when no one is around. I'm not going to steal your identity so you can get in one of those crazy commercials where a 13 year old pre-pubescent girl's voice is coming out of the body of a 40 year old weight-lifting black guy. I'm just going to take a little of your blood....