When your name is Talula Does The Hula a hell of a lot. A judge in New Zealand ordered that Talula's name be changed. She is nine years old. She has been living with this name for a long time and I see no reason to change it now. Sure it is unusual but so what people are unusual, everyone should not try to be the same as everyone else. What are they going to call her? Jessica or maria maybe, I have nothing against those names but aren't there enough of them in the world already? Her parents wanted her to be different maybe even special, what is the harm in that? Ok so all the experts will same she will be or has been a social outcast. Is that really because of her name maybe is is her personality to be a little shy or maybe it is because her family is going through a divorce and she is stuck in a custody battle, ever think of that?
Maybe if people stop telling her that her name is funny and drawing out this big long court case to change her name legally then she would feel better about herself. Start telling her that her name is unique and beautiful. Tell her that her name is special and maybe she will start thinking so too. She is nine she will still believe most of whatever adults in her life tell her so tell her she is wonderful and beautiful and special just like her name. Tell her that her parents must have known she would be unique and that is why they gave her that name.
P.S. How about letting people call her just Talula which is a wonderful name with a history of fascinating people attached to it, Bankhead for example. There are plenty of people who don't tell anyone but their closest friends and family their middle names.
spawned from this article.
What's in a Name?
And then there's John McCain
Senator John McCain was supposed to visit New Orleans today but instead he has decided to go to Columbus, Ohio. Now I have nothing against the people of Columbus as a matter of fact I have quite a bit of family in Ohio and I like them just fine but if you have the choice to go to New Orleans or Columbus let me tell you which one you should choose...you guessed it, New Orleans. I do not want to go into all the reasons if you do not already know them then you are a boring human being who needs to get out of the house more or you are a child who has not been given the gift of travel by your parents and have not been around long enough to rectify that situation and I am sorry for you.
On top of all the fun things to do here we have the history and as a politician with a shot (albeit a very small one) at the White House never never never cancel a trip to New Orleans. Tell us you are not coming at all, that is fine but telling us you are coming and then deciding Columbus is a better choice is just a slap in the face. We need to be coddled, we need to be babied we need whoever is taking over as president next year to come here and hold us for a minute then look us in the eye and promise it won't happen on their watch. That they understand how important we are to the history and culture (not to mention our Port) of this country and that they will not forget about us. That is what we need from the candidates. Not a canceled trip.
For the record I know he has been here before and I know there is a Hurricane, do I care? No, it's kind of the principle of the thing.
Inspired by this article.
Wednesday's Wonderful Review - Flat Earth Chips
I found these chips by Flat Earth at Target not too long ago and thought I would try them, a chip that is good for you and tastes good? I was skeptical but I thought what the hell so I gave them a chance. Turns out they are good and if the package can be believed they are good for me too. They have six flavors three veggie and three fruit. You get 1/2 a serving in each ounce of chips you eat. These pictures represent my favorite flavors but the baby likes their Apple Cinnamon Grove the best but this isn't his blog so I get to pick the pictures. 
Now that I know these chips are out there I have been looking for them on the shelf when I do my regular grocery shopping. I was a little shocked at first because I thought they would be more of a specialty item but there they were at every major grocery store I have been to do my weekly shopping. Like anything they should be eaten in moderation but I love that I can snack on them without feeling bad for eating some chips and I can pass them along to the little one without feeling like I am starting him on a bad habit of eating greasy fatty potato chips. He can actually get some nutrition form these while having a tasty snack, Yea!
Why do these things Fascinate me?
Maybe I should not say fascinate because I am not into necrophilia or anything, though I have played a dead body before but let's not talk about that now. Estelle Getty died today. She was 84 years old. I thought she was older than that, she looked that old on the Golden Girls. Turns out she was 60 then and they just made her look older plus that show was so good at getting you into those girls' lives that when they told me she was 80 I believed them. In reality she was one year younger than Bea Arthur who played her daughter on the show.
I really liked The Golden Girls, I do not know why since I was between 5 and 12 years old when it was on but I remember watching it quite a lot. Maybe because reruns of the show came on after school and when I was tired of Saved By The Bell or something like that I could flip through the stations and find The Golden Girls. Also, it was funny and a little grown up for me but not way over my head. Another thing I know I liked about the show is the way it made you feel at home. Sure they were a bunch of crazy old ladies doing their crazy old lady thing but when it came down to it they lived together in a warm home and they were always there for each other. They were best friends and that is what I remember most. Thinking how nice it would be to have friends like that when I get older.
This entry inspired by this article.
What's the difference
Ok so we bought these Yam cakes which I find to be not all that tasty myself but they are sweet and sometimes you just need that little pick-me-up. Anyway I always though a yam was a sweet potato but now I learn that is not so at all. According to an 
article on about.com a Yam "is not even distantly related to the sweet potato." I thought the two words sweet potato and yam were interchangeable and much like the sweet cornbread of the North it just depended on how you were brought up as to what you called those long potatoes that were all orange inside.
Yam's can grow up to 7 feet in length! Holy crap that is long you could feed a whole family with one Yam. 
I love purple!! This cake is made from a Ube or purple yam. I do not know how it would taste but the color makes me want to take a pig bite out of it. Maybe I will see if I can find some to try.
Wednesdays Wonderful Review - The Pitbull
They are fun and lovable, high energy and beautiful animals but are they deadly? My sister has two pitbulls and they are nothing but friendly. They play and have fun with themselves and with us. They are no different than any other dog who is your playmate and companion. Dogs are animals and any animal can be provoked or cornered into violence as humans we must never forget that just because we are smarter does not mean we can change the nature of an animal. The question is: is the nature of a Pitbull to be mean and the answer is no. I think for the most part PitBulls are given a bad rap. You hear about them in the news more often than other breads attacking other dogs or people but do they really attack more often? I'm not so sure. Every animal just like every person should be judged on a case by case basis and should not all be lumped together. Pitbulls are at the mercy of the 'one bad apple' rule. Now governments around the country are trying to pass laws that do not allow their citizens to own Pitbulls. Why punish dogs that have done nothing wrong? If a dog attacks a human they should be put down no question but a dog should not be put down because of the type of dog they are it is no different than hanging people due to the color of their skin. It is not right and should not be done.
Besides do you even know what a pitbull is? You can find the test in this blog.
On beer...
"An Australian man convicted of his seventh drink-driving charge was spending about A$1,000 ($972) a week on beer -- enough to buy more than 2,500 small bottles a month, a newspaper said Tuesday." (SYDNEY (Reuters))
First I do not drink beer not because I do not drink alcohol but because I once got very very sick on the stuff and I hate the way it smells and tastes. But I do drink things like Smirnoff Ice (Grape is my favorite) and I can not imagine spending $1000 per week on it. How do you hold down a job that pays you $1000 a week to spend on alcohol if you drink that much? Maybe he was hording it for the Apocalypse. Well, no that theory does not really work since he was caught drinking and driving.
I have another question who did not know this guy had a problem? Every single person he came into contact with must have seen this coming from a mile away. I can not even fathom having so much money that I have $1000 per week EXTRA to blow on beer. And how long can you do that I could do it for one pay check and then on Saturday Scott would be like "what the hell did you do with all the money." I would of course be to drunk to tell him but I think he would figure it out pretty quick.
Oh well, Inspiration for this blog came from this article.
Favorite Chef
I came across this blog, Food Ideas For Today, which posed a question that made me think Who is my favorite chef?
Until recently, well actually the last few years now this question would not have even warranted thought. It would have passed into my mind and then right back out again simply because I did not cook nor did I feel the need to take the time to learn to cook. Then came two things a guy that truly explained his cooking in a way that I both found fun and informational and the invention of the traveling/food show. That led me to two people who I could watch all day: Alton Brown and Anthony Bourdain.
Alton Brown explains the science behind the cooking and the history behind the food. For a non cook like me these are the things I need to know in order to become interested in making a good meal not even to mention the fact that the science behind the meal is nearly as important as the actual food itself. If you do not know why you have to boil it for 5 minutes you are apt to cut corners and only boil for 3 minutes. Alton Brown tells you why you need to follow the recipe to a 'T' and I love him for it.
Anthony Bourdain is wonderful. I working in restaurants for a while, it is really hard work much harder than anyone who has not working in restaurants would guess but it is a family where you are on and off stage just like in a theater people either love you or hate you but you have to go back out there in font of them every night no matter what. Anthony Bourdain gets that and he has never let go of it. Something draws him back to the kitchen. The fact that he has gotten this opportunity to travel around the world makes no difference he is still in the kitchen. Lots of people criticized his visit to New Orleans post Katrina but I loved it also the man gets caught in Lebanon when Israel bombed them in 2006 and to help himself cope he took over the kitchen. I can't explain how happy that made me. He is funny and for all the "fixing" that must go into his show it is still realistic, Hell he is actually living it whether he ran into the guy on the street by accident or by producer.
Check these guys out.
Some blogs I am reading
Blogs I am reading or have discovered lately
1. Mary’s Blog – I found this one on socialspark but it is cool because I think I have some things in common with Mary. she mentions on her blog:
“My goals this year include writing my novel, continuing to write poetry, have a healthy baby, getting another tattoo, and cleaning my house”
I also write poetry and want to write a novel I want to get another tattoo of my and Scott and I am always needing to clean the house, awesome.
2. Dooce – I like this one because this is the blog that inspired me to figure out how to blog for money.
3. New Orelans Metblog - why because I write for them occasionally plus metblogs is a great way to learn about a city you are thinking of moving to or currently live in.
4. Sweet Juniper – This one is a cute little blog I am still in the beginning stages of learning things about the blogosphere and this blog is helping with that.
5. Wyrding Studios Blog – This is the blog of a friend of mine who makes wonderful jewelry
Earliest memory Opp
On Tuesday I posted about my earliest childhood memory I had actually been thinking about that for some reason which is what prompted me to take the opportunity when I saw it on socialspark. The opportunity was posted by Perky and you can see her post here Take the time to check it out.
Favorite Food.
I got this idea from Monika's Corner another blogger on socialspark.
My favorite food for as long as I can remember has been Tacos. I do not have a particular type of taco that is my favorite or even one from a favorite restaurant. Sure tacos are tasty but the reason they are really my favorite is because you get to put whatever you want on them and as much or as little of each item as you want too. Now that I am older and make my own they are also easy to make. Just brown the meat and lay out all the ingredients for everyone to make their own taco.
I love how I can put more cheese on one taco and then on the next I can put more lettuce and tomatoes whatever I want. Also, as a cook it is really hard to mess up the recipe.
Wednesday’s Wonderful Review – Clorox Greenworks
I have been on a quest to get more “green” since the Live Earth concert last July 7-7-07. In keeping with this quest I have begun replacing my conventional household cleaners with “green” cleaners. It does not make sense to clean up a mess by spraying deadly chemicals all over your house. So, I picked up Clorox GreenWorks the other day. It is made with lemon oil, glycerin a coconut based cleaning agent, ethanol, some dye, water and a biodegradable preservative. Now my first issue is that they do not tell you what the biodegradable preservative actually is but above that there is one big problem with this cleaner.
It leaves a sticky residue. At first I thought because it is “green” it just does not have the cleaning power that chemicals do and so it was not getting ride of all of the spill or whatever I was trying to clean up at the moment. After a few times however I realized that spots which were not sticky when I started became sticky when I was done. The mark on the table would be gone but everywhere I had just wiped my cloth was now sticky. To get rid of the stickiness that the GreenWorks left behind I had to then wipe the table down with water.
What’s the point in that? When this bottle is empty I will be trying a different brand of “green” cleaner
Earliest Childhood Memory
I was thinking about the first thing I can remember the other day. For some reason that I have never been able to put my finger on this one memory just pops into my head every once in a while.
I am sitting down in a crowd. I know I am young because I am not at head level with the other people in the crowd I am lower actually sitting in the crowd. Now this would make me uncomfortable but in my memory I am totally fine with it. I feel excited but safe. I am looking out toward water a big tank of water. I am drawn to the people around me in my memory but not really I am actually drawn to them physically, their shirts and the backs of their heads like for some reason I am distracted by them. but I keep getting pulled back to the tank of water. I can not remember what is going on in the tank of water but I remember knowing it is water and a lot of it.
That is pretty much the whole memory nothing big happens just sitting there in that crowd.
After telling this to my mom I learned that we went to Sea World when I was 6 months old. I have never been back to Sea World or any other water park like it so that trip when I was 6 months old is what I think I am remembering.
Spit Anyone?
I have never been a spitter myself but evidently lots of other people in the world are. Just go to google and enter ‘spitting ban’ as the topic you want to search for and watch the articles pop up. You can not spit in public in parts of England, Canada, and China the list goes on. Until this point I have never put that much thought into spitting either in public or in private and definitely not enough thought to warrant passing a law against it. There is one reason and one reason only to spit and that is because there is something disgusting in your mouth. Odds are if there is something disgusting in your mouth you just put it there and I for one do not go around in public putting disgusting things in my mouth repeatedly and repeated spitting them back out onto the sidewalk or other public place. Maybe I am one of the only people who learns from my mistakes.
If people are in fact spitting in public to the point that laws need to be passed should we not then offer free public classes that specifically focus on teaching children not to spit? I would like to know the demographics of a spitter. Are they men, women, young, old, are these people inherently dirty? Do they have high paying executive jobs or do they toil away the hours on a construction site? The study should be titles Who Spits?
Just something for fun.
Enter your date of birth (eg. January 12) into the Wikipedia search field.
1. List five famous people - dead or alive - born on that day.
- 1778 - Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (d. 1851)
- 1915 - Édith Piaf, French singer and actress (d. 1963)
- 1933 - Cicely Tyson, American actress
- 1923 - Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (d. 1990)
- 1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
2. List five historical events on that day.
- 1776 - Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in the Pennsylvania Journal titled The American Crisis.
- 1941 - World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
- 2007 - The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. They then proceed to establish the Republic of Lakotah, with an ongoing process of international recognition as a separate country.
- 1154- Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
- 1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from internal exile in Gorky.
3. List any days of national or religious observance that occur on that day.
- Roman festivals - Opalia
- R.C. Saints – O Radix
- Liberation day - Goa
And now the horses...
Why do we as people even debate topics such as this? Should killing horses ever be an option except for survival? If people are dying then yes by all means kill the horse and eat it, cover yourself with the horses skin and live another day. Why? Because people can and that my friend is Darwinism. Darwinism as I see it does not mean killing horses just because people want to have more land in their name or because people are too selfish to care for the horses or how about this one, if people want to fight a stupid war instead of feed some beautiful wild horses in the Western United States. None of these should ever be reasons to kill horses.
If only 100 years ago there were 2 million wild horses in the US and now there are only 60,000 I do not think we have a population issue. The numbers are dwindling naturally if you consider human encroaching on their land nature. Now “budget cuts” are going to force them to be euthanized? If this happens now in a few years we are going to be having a conversation about how the wild horses are on the brink of extinction and what should we do about it. We should leave the damn wild horse alone let him run and frolic of whatever the hell wild horses do. Do not kill them just let them be. PETA here I come.
This rant inspired by the article found here.
Wednesday's Wonderful Review - Cloverfield
WARNING - THERE ARE DEFINITELY SPOILERS IN HERE
I have heard that this movie is either a love or hate thing.In a room full of people one guy tells me he loves the movie and I should most definitely see it for myself then as soon as I turn around there is another person telling me it is awful and I should not waste my time. The previews always looked intriguing to me so last night we sat down and had a look.
The entire movie is shot off the cuff from the point of view of Hud the poor sap who has been put in charge of documenting his best friend, Rob's going away party with home video camera. Due to this concept it starts off a little slow because they can't introduce you to all the characters like is done in a traditional movie, you kind of get thrown in and have to piece the story together as you go but in the long run the movie is all the better for it.
About half way through the party Manhattan gets attacked by monsters. We never find out where the monsters came from or what they are doing here on Earth but one thing is clear, they do not come in peace. This sends Roy, his brother Jason, Jason's girlfriend Lily, Hud and the target of Hud's pickup lines Marlena on a crazy trek across the island to rescue Rob's would be girlfriend Beth.
The plot itself is not that unique. Along the way the group holds up in a convenience store as dust from falling buildings gusts past the windows and begin walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in scenes that made me think of 911. They hold up in a subway station and quickly learn that the monsters are having babies when the group is attacked by the little guys leaving Marlena bitten. They run into a make-shift Military Post where a flurry of confusion breaks out when someone yells "We've got a Bite" then Marlena is drug off behind a curtain. We see blood splatter but it is still unclear if the military shot her or her head exploded and I am not sure if I missed something or I am supposed to wonder. They do finally make it to Beth but I must tell you if the building I was going to was in the shape this one was in I would have to call the whole thing off. On the way back to safety each member of the group is picked off one by one until all we are left with is the two lovers Rob and Beth. I will not tell you the very end but I will say we still do not know who won the humans or the monsters.
I can see why some might not like this movie, the camera shakes around and it really isn't anything new in the plot department. For others though it is great because the camera shakes around constantly, it never breaks the Point Of View there is never a moment where everything goes completely steady thus making the home video aspect unbelievable and although it isn't anything really amazing as far as the plot is concerned they do what they do well and the monsters are kind of cool. Overall I give the movie a 4 out of 5. I think those people who can stop their brains from saying "why is the camera shaking" every two seconds will really like Cloverfield.
Children make you happy, yeah right!
I did not really know this was up for debate. Of course I should have known better because people have been searching for the holy grail of happiness since the beginning of time. That is what really made Eve taste the forbidden fruit, right? Anyway, I was reading this article which examines the notion that you have to give birth to and raise kids to be happy in life. This is absurd! The article goes on to state that in fact people who have children for the most part state their lives as more unhappy than before they had their little bundles of joy.
Big F-ing surprise. People with children do not sleep right, they do not eat right and they go out of the house with shit on their shirts, literally. It is not their fault it is just that they did not notice the diaper bush against the hem on their shirt before they wrapped it up and tossed it in the garbage. Of course people with children are unhappy, it sucks more than most anything else in your life has ever sucked or will ever suck. Why does it suck so much you ask, well the reason is simple, it is never ending. The pressure is there when you wake in the morning and there during nap time and there when you go to bed it is also there at 3am when you roll over and look at the clock with a sigh.
Parenting is not all bad by any means and as everyone says it is worth it but will it bring you happiness? No, it will not. You make yourself happy with or without children and if you are having them to fill a happiness void in your life then you are going to be sorely disappointed.
Read the article that spawned this rant here.
