Don’t try to read my mind, it’s scary in there.
You may remember that I walked in the Breast Cancer 3-Day a while back. I walked in memory of my cousin Monique who lost her life to breast cancer at age 49. I won’t be walking this year, but my good friend Meredith will be. Please consider donating to her fundraising effort in support of every woman and man who has died, survived, been diagnosed, or affected by breast cancer.
Thank you.
I’m getting cranky in my “old” age. Maybe I’m just noticing inconsistency more these days. I don’t know. I just know I’m annoyed at the stupid political BS that runs rampant in this country.
There was a piece on NPR yesterday, talking about how Bush is sending a bunch of food aid to various developing countries. [I won't get into the fact that it would be better/faster/more efficient to send money rather than ship food.] It’s great that we are trying to be good world citizens (??) and help other countries in their time of need, without starting a war, but I wonder…
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I almost hurled when I read this. I’m not sure which is worse, that the animals were treated so horribly, or that the meat went to school kids. Further proof that the meat industry needs to be cleaned up - literally.
There are some letters that you should not have to receive on Friday. Included in that list is a letter that we received today, from Bank of America:
Hello, we seem to have misplaced a $925 cash deposit that you made. We’ve subtracted it from your account and we’re not going to do anything until Monday, so you’ll have to wait until at least Tuesday to find out anything about where your money went. We appreciate your business.
Okay, so I’m paraphrasing a bit… up until the last sentence. What the hell is that? We appreciate your business, so we’re going to lose your money. Humph.
I’ve already called the 800 number, and I’m going down to the branch for the few Saturday hours that they have. I need to make some noise, because this is unacceptable. $20? I’m not happy, but I’m not going to waste much energy. $925? You can bet that someone is going to get a piece of my mind.
ETA:
10/28/2007 - I figured out yesterday morning, that the mistake was mine. I also figured out that they did not count the deposit when I made it (I knew there was a reason I don’t usually do deposits via the drive-through.). That bugs me. They should have counted it then - SOP when you take it to the teller IN the bank. If they had told me when I made the deposit that I screwed up, I would have accepted it with no problem. Instead, they take the money out of my account and send me a letter. I’m not okay with that.
I think a lot about local food, as you’ve no doubt gathered if you’ve read my blog for any length of time. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more about local everything, considering the news that’s been brewing (boiling over) about toys and other goods made in China. There is a longer post here than I have time for at the moment, but I just wanted to share a thought that keeps popping into my head lately:
Why are we so surprised that we’re finding that there are all of these problems with paint and parts of toys (and I’m sure other goods) that are made in China, for example?
U.S. companies have outsourced production to other countries to save money. The production is outsourced to companies (contractors) in countries where quality standards are different and/or not enforced. These contractors have to bid low to get the contract, so they have to find ways to cut costs to meet the contract price(s)… it goes on and on. So I ask again: why are we so surprised that Mattel keeps having to recall toys because of lead paint? (Not to single out Mattel on purpose, but they are a prime example of late.) What food product are we going to find out has lead/chemicals/inorganic materials in it? What products from which country are going to be next?
Are we going to start to realize that the only way to really control what is being done to produce goods for U.S. consumption, is to produce them here? It’ll cost more, but maybe it’s worth it? But would we do any better by our own workers - providing benefits and such? I don’t have any of the answers, but I sure have lots of questions. And more keep popping into my mind. I think it’s time to go to bed. 
As I got out of my car at the park and ride garage this morning, I saw a woman trying to find a parking place behind me. She pulled into one spot, and decided that she wasn’t going to fit (it looked like the people on either side of the spot had parked over the line), so she backed up again. As she was making her two-point turn to go the other way, she backed into the car just in front of where I was standing. I saw her car recoil, so I knew she must have felt the contact, but she didn’t stop.
I stood there for a minute in disbelief, as I watched the woman park in another spot, get out of the car, look at her own car, and then start walk off. I looked down to see if there was any damage to the car she’d hit, and seeing none, I proceeded to follow the woman down the stairs of the garage. I wasn’t sure what to do, since there wasn’t any damage to the car, but I felt like I should do SOMEthing.
I started to walk faster, and as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned to her and said: “I thought you should know that you hit the car behind you. You didn’t do any damage, but you hit the car.” She looked at me like I was from another planet, so I repeated myself: “You hit the car behind you as you were backing up. You didn’t do any damage, but you hit that car.” She started: “But, I…” I looked at her, and I walked away.
I don’t know if it was right, or if I should have done something else or something different. But I think I lost a little more faith in the human race, today.
I read a blurb today in the Washington Business Journal, that Marriott International Inc. is adding lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender-run businesses to its list of suppliers as part of its commitment to do business with diverse suppliers. I alternate between thinking that it is really cool they are being active about equality, and being disappointed in my fellow human beings that we still have so many “under represented” groups in our country. We’ve come a long way, but we have so far to go.
Sometimes I forget that I live in the South. Today was a strange reminder of where I live, and a happy reminder of when.
I’ve been doing the typical whine and moan about getting my wedding put together. It’s hard to plan a wedding for 100+ people, work full-time, and have personal time. As I was listening to NPR today, I realize that I am SO lucky to be able to get married at all.
Prior to June 12, 1967, it would have been illegal for E and I to get married in the State of Virginia. Anti-miscegenation laws forbade people of different races from getting married. In Virginia, and many other states, interracial couples could be, and had been, thrown in jail (and worse, though not legally) for loving each other and being married. Worse things happened as well, and it’s really just kind of scary to think about.
On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional and overturned existing laws barring interracial marriage. The outcome of Loving v. Virginia meant that not only could people living in the United States marry someone of another race, but they couldn’t be rousted from their bedroom in the middle of the night and thrown into jail for doing so Unfortunately, though the laws were overturned, some states had anti-miscegenation laws “on the books” until as recently as 2000.
For a moment, as I was sitting in the car, listening to the story of the Loving family and their success at making the world an easier place to live in, I had a happy moment. I thought about my parents who got married in 1965, and how trailblazing they were, even in New York City, and I thought about my feisty Norwegian grandmother in North Dakota who told her friends that they were just going to have to get used to the idea of a black man in the family. And I thought about E and I standing at our wedding, being blissfully, happily married in the State of Virginia.
I would like to dedicate this Loving Day to gay people in the United States who are having to struggle with some of the same issues. There is no sensible reason why ANYone should be denied the reason to marry the person they love. None.
Peace.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the FDA’s new food safety plan isn’t going over so well. The Department of Health and Human Services (parent agency of the FDA) rejected the FDA’s proposal for increased regulations on food handling. I’d like to see more about this, because it sounds to me like the FDA is only focused on part of the problem.
Handling food safely is an important part of the production of food, but it is only part of the chain of events. No one seems to be looking at the complete picture of where are food comes from and what the ENTIRE sequence of events is from the sun’s energy to our table. I think if we took a more holistic approach to food safety, we, and the FDA, would have better luck fixing the problems.
