I delivered this morning in Conklin, NY, which is just south of Binghamton, with one of those dreaded early morning appointments. This next load has me picking up in Allentown, PA and delivering in Robert, LA for Sunday. After the wonderful weekend that Tikvah and I had in Eureka Springs, AR, we are currently looking at homes in that area. We were completely taken by the culture of that area. Ironically enough, the owner/manager of Lookout Lodge (where we stayed for the weekend) just happens to be a licensed realtor. I am also seriously looking at a career change. After much consideration, I may get back to being a DJ. Though I'm in the planning stage, part of which also includes seeking out some financial backers (the equipment will be a bit pricey). It, more than likely, will start off as a side project, but I'm hoping it will take off as a full time job. Should that come to fruition, I'll be able to leave truck driving altogether.
Well, these are my dreams, my musings. Now it's time for a Starbucks run, to get my "designer coffee" - a grande triple Marble Mocha Machiatto.
18 October 2012
Year 2, Day 279 (Looking Forward To Moving)
15 October 2012
Year 2, Day 276 (The Anniversary Weekend Getaway, Part 1)
The weekend that Tikvah and I spent in Eureka Springs, AR was absolutely fabulous! We arrived at our motel Friday night, staying at Lookout Lodge. The lodging was quaint and the hospitality we received from the owners was superb. In fact, this is what our room looked like:
and of course we had an excellent view the next morning, right outside our door:
Of course, that Friday evening, we celebrated 20 years in style, with a bottle of Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon that Tikvah had picked up just for the occasion.
What was fantastic about Lookout Lodge was that any issues or problems that may have arose were quickly addressed and rectified. As part of the Always And Forever package I had gotten with the room, we had a voucher for one of the local restaurants, and the best word I can use for our dinner at Ermilio's (we had opted for Italian) was orgasmic. They are only open from 1700-2100 - and there will, more than likely, be a wait - but it is so worth it! The next pictures are of what Tikvah and I ordered, Fettuccini Alfredo and Fettuccini with Garlic & Olive Oil Sauce, respectively.
The thing I had noticed about Eureka Springs is that it maintains a small-town appeal, while still having enough commerce to attract the tourists, with a little San Francisco feel to it. A very artsy atmosphere is also added to the mix. It was like no other place in Arkansas we had ever been to. It had such an allure to it that Tikvah and I are seriously considering moving there instead of California.
There was also a vast array of different food without getting too outrageous. The local restaurant where we ate breakfast Sunday morning, aptly named Local Flavor Café. I had ordered an Eggs Benedict, was is an english muffin with Canadian bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. The difference with the Local Flavor is they offer different options. Instead of Canadian bacon (or ham), you can choose sausage, bacon, filet migńon, or smoked salmon (I chose the salmon). Tikvah is not a big fan of fish, be she took a bite of it and liked it... really liked it; Tikvah had chosen the Quiche for her selection. So, needless to say, we were very pleased with our trip. We plan on spending a week there next year to get a feel for it off season. This was a fantastic weekend. Tomorrow's post will be about the Crescent Hotel (which is haunted) in Eureka Springs.
13 October 2012
Year 2, Day 274 (Off The Grid, Part 1)
Last year at this time I started a tradition. One that has made a HUGE difference in my life. It wasn’t easy, but it was very necessary. That tradition was spring cleaning my life.
We throw open the windows of our home, brush away the cobwebs and pack up the winter clothes. It’s our symbolic gesture of greeting the new season. The season of growth and change. Warmer weather, flowers, sunshine. We restart the diets that we started on New Years and failed already. All that good stuff.
But, what about the rest of our life? Cleaning our house, though most of us secretly hate it, is a rather easy thing to do. Going through clothes, revamping diets- those are mere habits at this point in our lives. Last year I decided to go just a bit further with cleaning. It wasn’t so much as a conscious decision really, life just pointed out my need to take a look at the people in my life. Who I was surrounding myself with, how they made me feel. Who they really were. Who I really was. What impact they had on my life.
Most of my life I have fought for the underdog and put everyone else’s needs before mine. It’s how I almost completely lost myself in an abusive marriage. It’s how I’ve run myself down repeatedly year after year. I always rationalized it as something I was SUPPOSED to do. That putting myself first was selfish and horrible.
And then I got cancer. It started out precancerous. It seemed like just a scare. A little blip that sucked but I would move past it quickly and be just fine. When it came back cancerous and things got dark, I retreated inside. Talking about it made it far too real. And, above all, I didn’t want my girls to know. They had enough on their plate at the time. Their dad had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. A baby half-sister was NOT sitting well with them. It may seem like nothing, but to a 5 and 6 year old that were never a priority to him, having to fight with another for the bare minimal attention they already received was a rough concept. The last thing they needed was to fear losing me.
So, this inner retreat meant I somewhat disappeared from various social media outlets as well. It just kind of happened. It was all just a blur. I was trying to keep up with everything going on in my life and then balancing dr. appointments and lab work and treatments. I was a mess, but didn’t really realize it. Then I had a couple of friends get upset at my disappearance. I took a deep breath and explained the situation. One of their responses “Well, if you don’t tell anyone, we don’t have any way of knowing. So, you can’t expect me to be sympathetic to you not being around when I needed you.” Yet, I had no idea they needed me because their way of showing they were having a rough time was to disappear off of social media. The same social media that I had backed away from. See the lovely double standard there?
Other things happened as well and I just had to sit down and take a really painful look at things. I suck at cutting friends loose. I give people chance after chance after chance. I try to cling to all their good qualities, sometimes to the point of completely blinding myself to the faults. But, there comes a time where you have to step back and look at that friendship. Is it strictly one-sided? Does it balance out? Is that person a stream of constant negativity? How does their role in your life make you feel?
After answering all of that comes the even harder part- what do you do about it? Do you emotionally put up a wall and hold them at a distance? Do you break it off completely? Do you sit down and explain the situation and work on the friendship together?
That part fucking sucks. There’s no sugar-coating that.
You know what though? When you are done, I promise you that you will feel so much better.
This year, still fighting recurring cancer, but this last round finally came back only precancerous. So YAAAY for that! My immune system is completely shot though and my doctors SCREAMED at me about my stress level. To have a doctor tell you “Fuck the cancer, it’s the stress that’s going to kill you” is a pretty big wake up call. And, it is just in time for spring cleaning time this year.
Time for decisions to be made and people removed from my life. It’s never a happy thing, but it is so freeing. A really wise person reminded me recently that when you clean out the negative, you leave so much room for more positive. And I need all the positive I can get right now. We all do. Getting rid of my first weed has already made a huge difference. People that dwell in and thrive off of constant negativity will suck you dry. Their need to be one up in the misery department all of the damn time will leave them alone and bitter one day and it’s not a place you want to be dragged to. If nothing is ever good enough for them- that is their fault, not yours. Get off the train now.
Another really wise person I turn to when deep cleaning? Bob Marley.
"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley
There are people in my life that I love to death. That I know would be there for me if I picked up the phone and uttered one word- help. And they know I would do the same. Shit, a couple would hear it in my voice and I wouldn’t even need to say it. And guess what? We don’t talk every day, every week, maybe even every month. Life gets busy for all of us. It’s understood and that love and support is still there. We fit each other in when we can.
Then there are the ones that I talk to every day, every week, every month that I’ve said help to and they’ve not bothered to be there. And anyone in my life knows me saying “help” is one of the hardest things for me to do. I took wanting to grow up and be Wonder Woman VERY seriously. I can do it all myself, you know. Yeah, not really but that’s another post. :)
In the mean time it is time for me to listen to my man Marley, throw on some Three Little Birds, and clean up the rest of my lawn again.
How does your lawn look?
Graphic & Web Design/Developer by day, Ninja mom to 2 geekling girls obsessed with Star Wars by night.
Baker of full-size Yoda cakes, teacher of adult Apple BASIC class in the 5th grade, better with any controller than 90% of her guy friends, front line of defense when the Zombie Apocalypse breaks out, wanted to be Wonder Woman and marry Spider-Man when she grew up and daughters are convinced I’m secretly Velma.
Founder of UberDorkCafe. Read: Geek girl on a mission.
I speak quite a few languages, enjoy coed naked underwater basket weaving, have an addiction to Sushi and humor is my defense mechanism.
Stupid people make my right eye twitch.
I'm ambidextrously brained, I will knit for tattoos, I am the friend that everyone comes to for advice and bail money. I pride myself on keeping my eyes, ears, heart and mind open. Making me laugh goes a long way with me, I think the brain is the sexiest organ and I'm the kinda gal you can take anywhere and I'll have a good time.
I'm known for huggles and junkpunches.
Other than that, I'm just me.
The business that she started is the UberDork Cafe, a co-host on The Power Geeks internet show, creator of her own blog, and she can also be found on Twitter.
... oh, and two of her favorite quotes:
“You’re not the kind of mom to be all (in whiny voice) ‘please, please, please give me my children back. You would be all ‘You have exactly 5 minutes to return my children unharmed or I swear on all that is holy and sacred that I will hunt you down and fucking kill you.' And yeah…they’d believe you.” “Hmm…that’s not entirely true because I’d torture them before I killed them- you know, pop out an eyeball, take out a knee cap, make them eat a testicle, that sort of thing.”
"...knock on the door and when he opens it wham! They'll junk-punch him all up in his man business and he'll fall to the floor wailing and crying "why?" and then we'll say "YOU KNOW WHY!"
16 September 2012
Year 2, Day 247 (Look Beyond The Smokescreen)
Some interesting developments have occurred over the past few days. It's no secret that rioting and attacks upon our embassies and missions have been taking place in the Middle East. Somehow, this furor has been in "protest" over an anti-Islam movie on the internet. A few interesting facts:
1) this "movie" - which is actually very low-budget - was uploaded onto YouTube back in July, by its director, who goes by the pseudonym of Sam Bacile;
2) The present home of this director is in California;
3) Those who are "protesting" have, in the past, shown to be, not only well organized, but also computer savvy... so why such a delay in the "uproar"... such as to "coincide" with 9/11?
Another point to consider is that, in the aftermath of the attacks (and subsequent murders of diplomats and embassy staff), President Obama was quoted as saying,
"As we mourn their loss, we must also send a clear and resolute message to the world: those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit. And we will never allow anyone to shake the resolve of the United States of America,"
Yet, last night (as reported by The Guardian) a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who is thought to be the director (or as the article says, the writer & producer) behind the aforementioned "movie" (a.k.a. Sam Bacile), was brought in for questioning by police in California. Not arrested, just brought in for questioning.
Voluntarily.
At around midnight.
Going back to the President's comment:
"Those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit."
Last I checked, Nakoula did NOT "attack our people". The only crime that he can be charged with at this point is violating parole, for using an alias (he had been on parole stemming from previous charges of bank fraud). The article from The Guardian was also reference in a shortly followed blog post by Glenn Reynolds on the InstaPundit website. What I find very eerie - and some of you may call me paranoid - is that the photograph (shown in both of the above links) is of Nakoula being escorted by the police, whom, ironically enough, were wearing brown shirts (reminiscent of the Nazi regime). That may be a coincidence, but there have been too many coincidences with this administration, linked to Nazi-era Germany. If this develops into the direction I suspect, Nakoula could face more serious charges, or be extradited to the Middle East... which gives rise to the thought that Sharia Law may be one step closer to being embedded here in America. Again, so much for "separation of Church and State". Granted, the talk is that Nakoula filmed the "movie" in a way that its cast "didn't know what the film was about" and there were times of obvious overdubbing of some lines, but if what I mentioned earlier, that would set a new precedent... one we DON'T want... punishment for what can be perceived as blasphemy, especially if those offended are of ONLY one religion: Islam. We've seen the deteriorating of all other religions/faiths, while, at the same time, the building up of laws protecting Islam and Muslims.
Another blog of note on this subject is the recent posting by Mark Steyn of The National Review, which is quite scathing, but very much on target (both blogs were brought to my attention by the Facebook postings of Kevin Jackson of The Black Sphere website).
In closing, my wife - and a mutual friend of ours - posted something on Facebook that is right on the money:
"They will burn our flag, but they won't burn our currency."
13 September 2012
Year 2, Day 244 (Have We Really Become So Jaded?)
The other day there were multiple protests/attacks on our embassies in the Middle East, more specifically, Egypt and Libya. Ironically this occurred on 9/11, yet our inept media outlets, such as CNN, even have the audacity to ask if the attacks were related?! Not only were they coordinated with one another, but with the date thay were to take place. In Egypt, it's reported that Ambassador Anne Patterson did not permit the Marine guards to have live ammunition. In Libya, Ambassador Christopher Stevens and several others were killed in the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. What infuriates me is that our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, actually made the statement that Libyan citizens were "carrying the Ambassador to the hospital." Just because she is clueless about Middle Eastern culture doesn't mean the rest of us are. I have not gone to school and studied their culture, but I do have a better understanding then the majority of people I know.
I'll let you in on how I've come to this basic level of understanding: the Bible. For Christians, and their pastors, in America - which has their origins from a European mindset, but deeply rooted from a Greek/Roman cultural mindset - and study from the Bible - which was written in a Middle Eastern mindset - yet expect it to make sense, is not only absurd, but also futile. For example (and this will shed some light on current events), for the Libyans to drag the body of Ambassador Stevens through the street is not only an insult, but the severest form of disrespect and desecration. It's in the Old Testament.
Muslims demanded that we honor their religious practices when Osama bin Laden was killed. The Muslims are not stupid. They are not even brilliant. But they use against us what we ourselves fail to use: common sense. They know we have a predominately "politically correct" society; they know we want to "honor" other religions and not offend them; they know that we have judges, lawyers, and lawmakers that are sympathetic to the Muslim religion, and want to be sure they are afforded certain leniencies in a court of law, that the rest of us would be fully prosecuted for. The Muslims know all of these things... and exploit them! Think of the states whose courts allow for Sharia Law exemptions. So much for separation of Church and State.
There is a reference I have made in the past when talking about the U.N. making resolutions against Iraq (and Saddam Hussein) in the years following Desert Storm, and I think it still holds true today for us. Many of you remember the Looney Toons cartoons. There is one where Bugs Bunny is confronted by Yosemite Sam. Bugs draws the line in the sand and tells Sam, "I dare you to cross this line!" When Sam does, Bugs draws another line and repeats the same words, the process is repeated several times.
We are Bugs, the Muslims are Sam.
Only this time, Bugs Bunny is the one that will fall off the cliff.