Just Because He Has That Problem....

On a message board I frequent, one of the members was telling us about his recent serving with divorce papers from his wife. Unfortunately, a common enough occurrence, but this one struck a chord with me.

Apparently, he's recently started a new job as a teacher and is therefore quite busy putting together PowerPoint presentations, tests, worksheets, etc. and is therefore on the computer a lot. His wife is VERY upset at this as she thinks he's up to no good on the computer, instead of doing work. He goes on to say that a friend of his wife's recently told her about her husband's addiction to internet porn, and so the wife has transferred that fear to the husband.

This reminds me of a situation I was in with a relationship I was in long before I met Jennifer. Her sister divorced her husband because he was an alcoholic and wouldn't admit it or seek help. Fair enough - can't say I blame her at all.

However, any time I drank a beer or whatever, that fear was applied to me. It got very annoying - I do enjoy a good beer now and again, to the point that I belong to a Beer of the Month Club. But I'm not an alcoholic. I go for days or weeks at a time without a drink and don't think about it at all. Sometimes I just want a beer. No big deal.

So despite my exhortations that I was not an alcoholic, she simply couldn't get it out of her weak mind that I was headed down the same path. Now, that's not necessarily the reason that we finally broke it off, it was just one of many (should have done it much sooner, in retrospect).

I'm writing this here because I get a bit irrational about people who project their fears like this and that's not going to help out my message board friend at all.

Anyway, this makes me even more thankful that I met Jennifer - who doesn't project her friends' fears onto my habits/activities. She's a confident woman who knows who I am, knows that I love her, and would never do anything that would piss her off (well, maybe in fun...). Thanks, honey! I love you!

Growing Up: Duncan And Me

Duncan has been sick the past couple days - some sort of virus that is "going around." There's always something "going around," it seems. I often think that the only reason we take Duncan to the doctor is to verify that, yes, indeed, something IS "going around."

He's got the parainfluenza virus, we're told. The fact that they know what it is is comforting. At least that means that they know how to treat it, for the most part.

But Duncan is handling it like the little trooper he is. He's still not crying, just being a little more fussy and tired than usual. He's been running a fever, but the Children's Tylenol seems to be keeping that down. And he even got down and played with me a bit yesterday before turning back to the bottle and passing out for a while longer. Today (Jenn's home with him today, I had him yesterday) he's pretty much the same but a little stronger. Gotta love the little guy. Oh, he's also still weakly applauding his own recovery. :)

We've pretty much made the decision, though, that due to his being sick that we're not going to travel up to Michigan to let him stay with my folks while we go to the Notre Dame/BYU game in South Bend. They'd offered us their tickets and we'd accepted, but now that seems like less a good idea.

And here's where the growing up part comes into play: I really don't care. Having a little boy that I'm responsible for has grown me up to the point where I understand what's really important. Don't get me wrong - if the chance to go see ND play comes up again, I'm going to jump on it. But if something's wrong with Jenn or Duncan, that all goes out the window while I stay home with them. It happened for the Dublin Irish Festival this year and now it's happening with our wee bairn.

And I'm really fine with that! Guess I'm growing up...

Oh, the horror... the horror...

This Pretty Much Sums It up

Possibly the greatest ever demonstration of how religious nutcases think:

We've Created A Monster

So to speak, anyway. We taught Duncan how to applaud, and now he applauds himself all the time. :)

Other new developments include sitting up pretty much at will, pulling himself to his feet (which he did Sunday night at our Uncle Jim's apartment), and frequent use of the word "Uh-oh." Which he also does all the time. :)

The boy is talented - must take after his mother.

All About General Tso

For some reason, this was really bugging me today after the comments left by Dale in the joke posting below. So I looked it up.

Um... General Tso sounds like something of a nasty guy. Good thing his chicken is so spicy-good.

Joke of the Day

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

A Blog That's Better Than Mine

Only one of the many, I'm sure, but this one is by New York photographer Clayton James Cubitt, who is a native of New Orleans, and is a record of his experiences in trying to help his mother get back on her feet after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the disaster of the post-Hurricane Bush administration quagmire that is supposed to be helping these folks.

If you want to see what it's like to be on the ground and through the eyes of a victim of this tragedy. Cubitt's commentary is searing and raw, his photographs are vivid and real, and the overall tone of the site reflects the anguish and helplessness he feels as he tries to do what he can for the people and the city he loves.

OSU Band Takes Abuse For Home Fans' Behavior

The Ohio State University Marching Band was apparently the target of abuse by Penn State fans at their recent loss in Happy Valley. The members of the band were showered with verbal abuse, hitting, thrown objects (including urine-filled bottles, apparently), and other such stuff.

Two points to make here:

1. Attacking the opposing team's band is a cowardly act, and no amount of drinking, etc. should excuse hooligans in the stadium from any wrongdoing. These Penn State fans need to be rounded up and expelled from Beaver Stadium, PERMANENTLY.




2. What the hell do OSU fans expect? After the fiasco that was the treatment of Texas fans before, during, and after the game here in Columbus, it's no wonder that OSU fans and their band are treated poorly. These are fans who burn blue furniture when they lose to Michigan. They riot after wins AND losses. They're a bunch of unruly drunks who claim to be football fans. In reality, they're no better than European soccer hooligans, who use any excuse to act the way they do.

In my opinion, the NCAA needs to do what the British government does: create a list of fans who are not allowed to attend games (the Brits actually don't even let these guys out of the country but obviously we can't go that far). If that means checking IDs at the stadium gates, well, the technology certainly does exist for that.

Start with the Buckeye fans, though. They've shown themselves to be the most unruly fans in the country and need to be controlled, now.

And the fans who mistreated the Texas fans and any other visiting fans? They should be ashamed of themselves for the BAND taking the abuse that they deserve.

Bush's Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds

A quote from Bush's speech today:

"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."

Sounds like a rally cry for the Democratic Party for the next election to me.

Miers Nomination Is Suspect - As Usual

Read this article about Harriet Miers and her nomination to the Supreme Court. Anyone who is THAT much on the side of our evil President needs to be watched very carefully and grilled like a hamburger at a tailgate party during the approval process.

Worse Than Muzak?

At lunch today, I was eating my General Tso's chicken and reading a magazine. And suddenly, my ears perked up as I heard a piano version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." And then I remembered that the particular eating establishment I was in only had a player piano for music.

That's right, someone wrote the song "Stairway to Heaven" for a player piano. Now I'm just waiting to hear the Mannheim Steamroller cover of Ronnie James Dio's "Holy Diver."

What Does This Mean?

I was just on the elevator with a couple of people who were talking about selling a car. One of them said that the car had "enough mileage on it to kill the Pope."

WHAT?

Bush Doesn't Get It

Usually when I cite a link to an article on the web, I have something to say about it. For this one... there's nothing to say other than... "You got it right." Read and mourn for our country, and our world.