Happy Halloween

Boo!

I think I'm glad that Halloween is over. We were at the Oklahoma City Zoo for the second night tonight -- we gave candy out. Sunday night we were in the scarecrow booth, which was the first booth. That meant huge crowds. I think about 6,000 kids plus parents went by. Tonight was much slower and more fun. We were in the "Judy the Elephant" booth.

The behavior of parents amazed me. They coached their kids into going through the line more than once. They grabbed handfuls of candy as they went by themselves and then there was the one little girl tonight. Beautiful, sweet looking little princess. The rule is one candy per child because we want to make sure we don't run out. So she walks over to my husband after I put candy in her bag. He says, "Sorry, sweetie, just one per bag." She says, "Well, duh." My husband, I thin was stunned, he said, "What?" She said it again, louder. In the meantime, her dad stood by and heard the whole thing and NEVER said one word to that child. Let me just tell you if that had been my princess...

Then let's talk about the mom's who showed so much cleavage and legs that I can't believe they were with their children. My kids would have died of embarassment. One woman even had fishnet stockings under her very short barely there skirt tonight. And we saw a lot of drunk parents this year. Made me wonder who was driving.

Despite all that, it was still fun. We'll do it again next year. And, I didn't notice all that stuff last year so much, so maybe it was an "off" year. Hope so. Happy Halloween everyone!

So much to say

Whew. I'm tired. Go figure, since I'm up at 6:04 a.m. and already blogging. I hate that I wake up so early. That I'm not one of these people who can sleep until noon. But then again, half the day would be gone, then what?

But I digress...This has been a fun few days. Thursday night we went to a Halloween Party/fundraiser for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Yes, we wore costumes. Hubby was talked into wearing a black suit, tie, hat, glasses -- yes, one of the Blues Brothers. He looked pretty cute, and I was a little miffed at all the attention some of the women gave him. Darn, who would have thought after 22 years I could be jealous? Of course, these women were all dressed in some slinky costume or very short costume with a lot of cleavage. French maid, a naughty nurse etc.

My daughter said Halloween is just an excuse for women to dress like sluts. Really? (For the record, my outfit was very non slut-like) Do the majority of women dress this way at Halloween to fulfill their own fantasies? Men's fantasies? It's always men's fault. Let's blame them.

Friday, my friend K. came in from Seattle where she moved six weeks ago. We've all missed her. She bunked with us, we had friends over for an impromptu pasta dinner, lots of wine. It was a wonderful time that finally broke up about 1 a.m.

Saturday, five of us gals went shopping together. That was fun. I'd never ever done that with a whole bunch of women before. We had a fab lunch, and then hit the stores. None of us really bought a whole lot, well, except for one friend who makes two or three times what the rest of us earn. But it was FUN. Way more fun than shopping with my husband or alone.

So last night, we were too pooped to go to party No. 2. Just couldn't do it. So we stayed home, hubby read, and I sewed (quilt etc. for the new any day now grandchild.)

This evening, we head to the Oklahoma City Zoo (in costume)as volunteers for the annual "Haunt the Zoo" event. It's always fun.

Oh, and the most fun this week? THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!

Gringos and interviews

The job hunt proceeds.

So far, I’ve been ignored by the New York Times and the Seattle Times. Hey, I’m aiming high. I figure if I’m going to get ignored it should be by a paper I respect.

I’ve gotten thanks, you’re really great, but we aren’t interviewing you letters from smaller publications. At least they cared enough to send me a form letter.

The nicest letter I did get was from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I managed to snag a first interview with one West Coast publisher, but haven’t made it past that first interview. The process is a second interview, and THEN if they like you they fly you out for a third interview. We’ll see.

A job in Cabo San Lucas tempted me, but I wisely did some research on the newspaper, the Gringo Gazette (catchy name.) It appears the publisher was deported in 2005, but she manages to get back and forth no matter. Her former biz partner at the other Gringo Gazette in Baja California describes this publisher as a “hideous human being.” However, I should note that said former business partner also is at risk for being deported, or worse sent to jail for something she printed in her paper. ( Mexico ’s idea of free speech.) So despite the lure of warm beaches and blue water, I think I’ll pass.

So, I’ll keep plugging along.

Buy my stuff, or I'll give it to you

Life is still a blur. Slow down. Slow down. I’m certainly trying.

Saturday, we decided – ok, my daughter insisted – we have an impromptu garage sale. I think we broke some laws because we didn’t get a permit. But we pulled stuff out of the garage, set up a table to play board games on for the down time, and waited. People stopped by, bought stuff. At noon, we called it quits. Pulled some stuff to the curb, knowing darn well someone would take it. They did. This was by the way, much of what we did all morning.

“How much is this?”
“It’s free, just take it.”
“Free? How about I give you $5 for it?”
“OK, that works too.”

We did manage to give away a large traffic light that had ended up in our possession I don’t know how, and a lawn mower, a desk etc.

The remaining stuff is going to Goodwill, except for the toys. I’m taking those to a homeless shelter.

And then, we’ll actually have a two-car garage that we can park two cars in.

I need at least five more hours a day, please

Work on all fronts continues to be busy. And socially things are just as busy, which is good, but hard to fit in everything and everyone.

Tomorrow night for example. I have a "mixer" I'm expected to attend, and then I have to go judge a costume contest at another event. Fun, but somewhere in there, I need to get home, go to the gym etc. Aagh.

Don't get me wrong, Friends are great. I love having friends, and a social life. It's just that the holidays are coming too fast. We have two costume parties to attend, volunteering at the Zoo and a "ball -- yes, really, a ball -- to attend next week.

So pardon me if I'm not blogging so much these days.

And, I have so much to say! Baseball, baseball, baseball. Go Cards!

I had so many other things to say, and now I can't remember them. So I'll start writing them during "breaks" and get them in. Promise.

Til tomorrow.

Texas bound

We're heading to Amarillo today. I always love going to Texas. Maybe it's a natural pull that calls us all back to the place of our birth.

But then again, those who have lived in the Lone Star State and have roots elsewhere say they always feel CONNECTED to Texas.

I've been remiss in visitng my dad and mom. I think it was intentional. My dad, now 78, has grown frail. Dementia has become to cloud and distort his personality. That scares me.

I think I want to remember my dad when he was strong, when he spent his days outside working on the farm (in the yard, after he retired) or building the wagons and furniture that he enjoyed creating.

But lately, it's hard to hold a conversation with dad. He doesn't even venture outside that much anymore because he's afraid of the frequent falls that result in trips to the hospital lately.

So it's also with trepidation that I travel to my parents' home. There's a lump in the pit of my stomach. It's fear.

Observations

1. A news report this week warned that Americans were too busy "multi-tasking" to get as much accomplished as well as it should be. Probably so. I'm tired of multi-tasking. But I don't see it ending soon.

2. At a recent conference a few of us noticed someone had stuck their gum on the chair rail in a conference room. Today, walking down the hall of the very tastefully decorated hallway outside the provost offices at the College of Medicine, I saw a wad of chewed gum stuck on the wall. I don't think I know anyone who would do such a thing. Who DOES that? What sort of upbringing, lack of social graces does one have to have to think it's ok to stick gum from your mouth on a wall?

3. Is it just me or is there a rule about the bigger your SUV, the more pro-Bush bumper stickers you have on your car?

4. Does anyone really think that Ney was/is the only one in Washington taking any money?

5. The writing on Grey's Anatomy is as good if not better than last season.I'm impressed, usually there's a downward slide.

6. Missouri Tigers vs. A&M. I'm headed to Texas tomorrow, but unfortunately not to the game. We will be watching on the game on t.v. in a room full of "I'll cheer for anything and anyone out of Texas, and that's by the way, how Dubyah got elected even though most Texans generally think he's a putz," people.

10 Things

1. Mizzou 38 Texas Tech 21: Now I grew up around Lubbock and I do have a soft spot for the Red Raiders, but I've gotta say, I'm absolutely positively thrilled that Missouri Tigers are now 6-0. First time since 1973.

2. Happy 3rd birthday to our sweet little Kayla.

3. Knittin Kitten -- rant again, dang it.

4. Did you ever piss someone off, and you just don't know what it was that you did? I'm at that place with someone I thought was my friend, and it's sort of weird. This is a person I really really like. But apparently, it's not a mutual thing. Weird, since I've known this person for almost four years. It's like the mean girls in school, you know? Who decided NOT to like you for no particular reason. Oh well. I'll live and won't lose too much sleep. But it still sort of bugs me.

5. We're back to the gym full steam this week. Tater motivated me to try again, as did Lipschtick with her Weight Watcher postings. I'm tired of being the fat girl in the picture.

6. Well, I've taken another step in the potential new job (in another state) this week. The proverbial "writing test." Well, heck yeah. I aced it. Next step, if they like what I wrote is the interview.

7. That said, I'm still not sure that I want to move. I really like it here, and I'll miss Rosalind, and Joy and Katherine and Bart and Cynthia and John and Cynthia and Cheryl and Ben and Kim and Bobby and...ok, so you get the drift (I'll still keep up with everyone else via their blogs...)

8. Sorry Twins fans, it just wasn't meant to be this year.

9. I'm worried about hubby. He's been under the weather lately, not too serious, but we think surgery might be in the near future. We'll find out Tuesday.

10. We had planned on a cruise next year, now we're seriously considering Europe. Guess it depends on the job etc.

Wild Bill rides again

Quick kudos to Okie blogger, Wild Bill featured in The Oklahoman today for his work in uncovering the Istook aide who was involved in the Foley scandal. Here's the article for those who don't want to register to read it.
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State blogger IDs figure in scandal

By Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman

William Kerr can’t afford to buy a cafe mocha at Starbucks.
He has to find an electrical outlet for his beat-up laptop because the battery doesn’t work. But Kerr used his laptop this week to write a blog post that started a national media frenzy and led to threats against him and his family.

Kerr, 32, of Moore is the blogger who Wednesday revealed the identity of Jordan Edmund, a 21-year-old working for Rep. Ernest Istook’s gubernatorial campaign who may be involved in the Mark Foley congressional page scandal.

Kerr posted Edmund’s name and age, along with a rundown of how he connected the Californian with sexually explicit instant messages from Foley. By Thursday, the negative comments on his Passionate America blog had gone too far. One threatened to hunt him down. Another posted a picture of Kerr’s 11-year-old son.

The blogger, who goes by the name “Wild Bill,” took down the comments after his son’s picture was posted.

“I’ve been bashed before,” Kerr said. “I knew it was coming. My wife didn’t think it was funny.”

‘The pieces all fit’

It started simply enough. Kerr was reading the news online late Saturday or early Sunday - he’s not sure whether it was midnight or not. He was reading an ABC news transcript of instant messages between Foley and a former House page.

Something about the tone of the messages didn’t seem right to Kerr. Some of the messages seemed edited, and it wasn’t clear whether some of them were sent before or after the page’s 18th birthday.

The page’s replies made Kerr think the attention from Foley wasn’t entirely unsolicited. In some cases, the teen stayed online for more than an hour exchanging explicit messages with the Republican congressman.

“If you are a victim, why don’t you just turn your instant messenger off?” Kerr said. “I pretty much believe the kid was egging him on the whole time. He saved every single one of them to his computer.”

Efforts to reach Edmund on Wednesday and Thursday were not successful. His attorney, Stephen Jones, said his client has left Oklahoma.

By entering a slightly different Web address, Kerr found a different version of the transcript that showed the former page’s America Online screen name.

He enlisted the help of another blogger to look up the AOL profile for the screen name. It had a first name, Jordan, and a home state, California.

After three more days of Internet sleuthing, Kerr and his fellow blogger, who prefers to go by the name “Ms. Underestimated,” had connected the screen name to Edmund.

“The pieces all fit together on the MySpace page,” Kerr said.

In addition to circumstantial evidence linking Edmund to information the page had shared with Foley - both played lacrosse, for example - Kerr also found out Edmund was living only miles down the road in Oklahoma City. Edmund’s MySpace site also said Edmund was working as Istook’s deputy campaign manager.

‘I was reckless’

Kerr began to prepare for the possible ramifications of his discovery even before he posted it.

A Del City native, Kerr attended Douglass High School. He said he spent less than a year in the Navy before being honorably discharged for what he calls, “a personality disorder.”

He doesn’t try to hide his past; he pleaded guilty to burglary in 1994 and once was arrested for possessing marijuana. The burglary charge was dismissed in 1997 after he had no further run-ins with the law, according to court records.

“I was reckless,” Kerr said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.”

Kerr moved to Kansas City for a few years before returning to Oklahoma about a year and a half ago. That’s when he started his blog.

Kerr calls himself a conservative, and the posts on his blog reflect his ideology. He began working for an Internet radio station this summer. It doesn’t pay the bills, though.

Kerr is a stay-at-home dad. He hates the idea of putting his kids in day care. So he and his wife try to make ends meet on less than $20,000 a year.

“We might go broke,” Kerr said as he wiped tears from his eyes. “We’re on food stamps. If we go broke, we go broke. But my kids aren’t going to day care.”

Kerr said he didn’t begin looking into the Foley scandal with the thought of making money. He hopes his work could lead to a better radio job.

“There’s no conspiracy here,” Kerr said. “It was just two idiots on the Internet who started finding stuff and thought it was a cool treasure hunt, and it turned into something.”

TiVo -- television’s evil twin

So, I finally succumbed to the pleadings of hubby, who was extremely worried he was going to miss one single football game, and reinstated our satellite TV -- as I had promised at the start of summer.

It’s back, along with TiVo, and my ass is firmly planted on the couch after dinner and after the gym, because TiVo does give you the impression that you can actually HAVE a life and still watch television. It’s just an impression.

Pretty soon, the lines of my own life will be blurred with the lives of Bree, Susan and the girls (who I’ve decided to give a second chance too) and Meredith, McDreamy and the bunch at Seattle Grace. TiVo is evil.

But in the hopes that people will believe I do have a life, here’s a few more things on my mind:

Twins – Two down, not good. Keep the hope.

MU Tigers – I’m so dang nervous about Saturday’s game, you’d think I was playing in it. Undefeated – 5-0. But I know heartbreak is only a game away. You’ve broken my heart before.

Bedlam – Go Texas !

Pink Zone Sports – really this blog/podcast will be up and running soon. Really, I swear. Sherri, I'll be calling you this weekend so we can "talk" about baseball. I'll post it Monday as the first podcast.

Fish – Our friends when they moved allowed us to adopt their fish -- 14 in all. We accidentally killed three when we “cleaned” the tank a few weeks ago. A floater was found this morning – cause of death, unknown. However, apparently we’re keeping the lights dimmed too often. This fish are breeding like guppies, which they are not. We now have approximately seven babies (fry) of varying sizes.

Nephew – We have a new one. 8 lbs.12 oz. Gorgeous kiddo, lots of hair big eyes (haven't figured out the color yet.) Still - ouch.

Cool Person of the Week

(For those of you who have asked -- yes, I know I posted the Monday post on Tuesday. I was running late.)

Last week I called this “Ode to my friends”. I decided to change that just to highlight cool people I know that others should know ABOUT at the very least. Some are my dear friends, others just cool people whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.

Meet my friend: Lillie Tucker

Ask Lillie Tucker how she feels about being “older than Oklahoma ,” and she laughs.

“I’m still just a kid,” said Mrs. Tucker, who turned 102 years old on Sept. 15.

A resident at Grace Living Center – Del City , Mrs. Tucker likes to laugh, saying it keeps her young.

She celebrated her birthday with cake, music, a clown and some friends.

Born Lillie Hensley on a farm near McCloud on Sept. 15, 1904, she likes to talk fondly of her life, her family and friends.

Growing up on a farm meant hard work, but there was always time for some fun.

“We had a team of mules that would take us places,” Mrs. Tucker said. “I liked those mules and used to challenge anyone that would try to hurt them. I think sometimes I liked them better than some people,” she added, laughing again.

She and her future husband, U.T. “Tuck” Tucker grew up together, playing at school and attending church together.

“I think I always knew him, we kind of grew up together and were friends,” Mrs. Tucker said.

The couple tried farming before they moved to town where she was a homemaker and Tuck was a mechanic.

She and Tuck would spend their summers camping, and after Tuck retired the two traveled all over the country in their van.

“I met them in the late 1950s and I think they were old then,” said Joy Scott, 83, teasing her friend, who is nearly 20 years her senior. Scott and Mary Chesser, both friends from Free Will Methodist Church in Midwest City visit Mrs. Tucker often.

Mrs. Scott said the Tuckers were always one of the nicest couples she had ever met. Mrs. Tucker loved to grow a large garden and stayed busy with church activities.

“It was fun, just kept me out of trouble,” Mrs. Tucker said. Asked what her secret was for living to be 102 years old, she said, “Tend to your own business and leave others alone.”

Then she laughed again.

Monday sports round-up

Be still my beating heart – I’m in the hunt for the “perfect” job, and I’m leaning toward sports. So when an ad for a sports writer for a women’s sport foundation caught my eye, I got very excited. “This is it!” I thought. Then I read the ad. The position – in the not-so-low cost of living New York state – was actually an internship with the top pay of $800 a month. I think a cardboard box might cost more than that per month to rent there, so it’s back to the search.

Baseball(s) – I’m sure Sherrie is quite excited about the Cards this week. This is the month baseball really gets good. Pay attention all.

When we picked up a box of “stuff” that belonged to my husband from his mother’s house when she was moving into the assisted living facility, he wanted to toss most of it. Being the pack rat and sentimental fool that I am, I went through it piece by piece and saved things like his old Boy Scout cap and a baseball. The baseball was dirty and looked like it had been used by some kid with sticky fingers. But it had autographs on it. 1967 – Houston Astros team. I’ve hung on to the ball and it sits on the shelf next to my prized autographed photo of Stan “The Man” Musial. This weekend an old baseball fan was over at our house and identified each player, among them several hall of famers. My husband was glad I didn’t throw the ball out.

NBA – I managed to grab some tickets for the Hornets season opener against the Mavericks. Nosebleed. It will still be fun.

Football – Go Cowboys! It’s good to see them playing a little better. And how about them Missouri Tigers? 5-0 for the first time in 25 years?! Ranked nationally in some polls. Holy cow. We’re zooming up to Faurot Field in late October to cheer the Tigers on to victory against the OKLAHOMA SOONERS. Go Mizzou!

Sports fact of the week:

Who’s Joe Carter? I hear that a lot when we drive along the east side of the Bricktown Ball Park on Joe Carter Drive . To the West is Mickey Mantle Ave. , and no one – ok some folks do -- asks “Who’s Mickey Mantle?” Joe Carter played for first for the Chicago Cubs, did better (one of the top home run hitters of all time) with the Cleveland Indians. He was traded again to the Padres and then the Blue Jays. He led the Blue Jays to World Series victories in 1992 and won the series in the ninth inning against Philly (which was leading 6-5) with a 3-run homer in 1993. He retired in 1998. Now, you know who Joe Carter is, though I probably should check some of my facts etc. Some hip-hop guy even mentions him in a song.