Pawprints From Space

Okay, I'm a little confused and slightly annoyed. All this brouhaha over Mr. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his underwear bomb (there are plenty of jokes in this situation but at least for now I am not going there)... let's step back a bit here and look at some details at least as I understand them: 1. The TSA was created after September 11th - during the Bush Administration; 2. The Terrorist Database, Watch List and No Fly List were all part of the September 11th response - during the Bush Administration; 3. The boy boarded the plane in Amsterdam (NOT at an American airport where we have control over the security process), was screened and went through security in Amsterdam - they didn't use a full body scanner and the normal scans showed nothing; no dogs were used to sniff out anything odd because this was not part of the normal procedure - body scans over there are possible but were on that day voluntary (they are now going to be mandatory it appears at least for flights ...

Funny thing about sinus trouble... there are times when it isn't pain that makes you feel odd it is a pressure that makes you feel a bit drunk, the difficulty breathing that adds a light-headedness. And to think people probably pay great sums of money to achieve this floating strangeness. Add that sensation to the year coming to a close AND toss in the fact that New Year's Eve offers up a blue moon this year and you've got a tendency to ramble, wax philosophical and wonder where the "funny" brownies went. The year in review... it began with excitement, a new president and a sense of hope and change. Eventually the economy did begin to turn somewhat and the stock market seems intent on ending the year on a positive note (of course I have just now jinxed it). Throughout the year there were friends who dealt with awful health problems, the fun of a high school reunion, the joy of taking in a wonderful abandoned kitten, great book club reads, not nearly enough time to...

We are now a mere week away from the new year. Lower case so as not to be confused with the "holiday" of New Year's Day. Strikes me funny at times that we celebrate the end of the year when the calendar itself was created by human beings, revised a number of times over the centuries and different cultures actually follow different calendars... so which is the REAL day the new year begins? Should it matter? I say no it shouldn't because why should we limit ourselves to resolutions, new beginnings, promises and hope for the future to one arbitrary point in time? Couldn't we be hopeful and determined to make our lives (and ourselves) better for more than one day? Or maybe two? Be honest how often do your resolutions last longer than that? How about we attempt to do this, to have an attitude of hope all year long? Yes! Let's endeavor to do that.... let's decide to be positive and hopeful and determined to be better people every single day. Adopt the ancient cu...

For some odd reason I was up at 5:00 a.m. for those who know me even only slightly you know this is beyond rare... we had a guy in college who touched off odd happenings and disasters when he got up too early (e.g. one day when he got up before 8 a.m. the Pope was shot) hopefully nothing like that will happen today. It wasn't kitty craziness that got me out of bed today, just a general sense of "eh" and the need for more cold medicine. Hitting the paper I saw where the State Legislature has decided (at least in the Senate) not to enact the latest round of scheduled income tax cuts for 2010. Meaning that the taxes in 2010 stay the same as 2009. Status quo. No change. The same. But when you listen to the Republicans and our local loony paper they are screaming that this is a tax increase, OMG your taxes are going up! Four words: No. They. Are. Not. Not going down is not the same as going up. And this is not a matter of perspective, this is fact. Q: Are taxes increasing? A: ...

Here were are about a week from Christmas and yours truly - Ms. Ultra-Organized - has not finished shopping, has not put up the tree and has barely decorated. What decorations I did put up were torn up by the high winds of a week ago. Hopefully tomorrow I can repair the damage. Despite the insanity, I have had time to ponder. Thanks to a conversation at book club last night, I have been pondering religion, faith and spirituality. These are not all synonyms you know. Religion is an organized belief system, it has traditions and structure. Faith is highly personal and hard to define - something you have or you don't. Something you can find and lose several times in the course of your life. Spirituality is more of a sense of being, a connection to something greater than the self, those rare moments of awe... this is where the soul lives. A person could be highly spiritual and yet not participate in an organized religion. Could be a profound and "deep" person of great compass...

Okay, I need $200,000. Not to pay medical bills or pay off loans or credit cards... okay I could use it for that too but that's not the urgent need of the moment. I need $200,000 to go into space. Yup... space. Okay near Earth orbit, the edge of space but you get the idea: SPACE!!! ME!!!! The NASA junkie, the kid who loves all things to do with space, astronomy, etc. For a mere $200,000 Virgin Galactic will take you into space. Around 300 people have already plunked down the cost of the ticket to reserve their seats. Now this would make a fabulous birthday present people... that big one is coming up in 2011. HINT HINT HINT But seriously, think about it. For those of us who were wide-eyed kids in the late 1960s when Apollo 11 touched down on the lunar surface, those who believed that by the 1990s there would be a lunar colony, flying cars and other technological wonders thanks to the space program... this space tourism thing is a dream come true. What stinks is that the dream is onl...

So I'm curled up with the ill kitty last night watching TV and this commercial comes on... It is a weight loss ad (surprise!) for a local "medical" practice that claims to be able to design a plan that can help anyone whether they want to lose 20 pounds or 200. The kicker? Both of the practitioners in the ad are quite overweight themselves. In fact, in one vignette you can't tell which is the patient and which the practitioner, both look to need to lose at least 75 pounds (or more) in order to prevent heart attacks, etc. So I'm shaking my head and rolling my eyes and it got me thinking.... Years ago we had a family doctor who kept after my mother to stop smoking. All the while puffing away on cigarette and cigarette in his office. And he was not the thinnest person around either. Go to any hospital, any floor and a good number of the medical professionals are not just overweight, many are actual candidates for that Biggest Loser program. Why is this? Weird shifts,...