Survival of the Fittest

I know this isn't funny, but I'm sorry; I'm grinning like a opossum.

Put down the gadgets before you're hit by a truck. Jesus. H. Christ.

A Staten Island teen trying to text while walking fell into an open manhole - and city officials have launched an investigation.

Alexa Longueira, 15, was walking with a friend along Victory Blvd. on Wednesday when she suddenly dropped underground.

"She's all scraped up on her back, under her arms and her shoulders," her mother, Kim Longueira, said

Apparently it tweaked Pam’s sense of humor with her post title which also cracked me up.

Maybe a lot of people are more coordinated than I am. I don't even like to walk while talking on a cell phone, must less texting. I don't text actually. I find typing on a full-sized keyboard tedious enough. And all this time I've assumed it's just me and my old age less than youthful vitality. Thankfully, I've been proven wrong by a 15-year-old.

The Bright Side to Economic Calamity

I'm glad to see prison reform and tough sentencing guidelines for low-level offenders being tossed away in favor of more sensible -- and less costly -- solutions. I'm just not sure why it takes a devastated economy to put that into place. I suspect this is indeed a reflection of the economic realities rather than a concrete change in philosophy.

Once the economy turns around it will be interesting to see if we return from whence we came -- back to ridiculously long prison sentences for mere possession.

Cash-strapped states are increasingly turning to alternative sentencing methods and to streamlined probation and parole as a way to keep low-level offenders out of prison and in their communities.

[...]

The measures include drug courts, which allow low-level drug offenders to avoid prison time through treatment and intense, personal, weekly intervention by a judge, and at least 500 courts for people arrested for driving while intoxicated. Drivers avoid jail by attending regular alcohol-treatment classes and by submitting to random tests.

States have also begun to shorten probation and to reduce the number of people sent to prison for technical violations, such as missing appointments.

[...]

These trends are showing up almost everywhere as a direct response to governors and state legislatures looking with alarm at prison costs eating up increasing shares of their budgets. According to Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project for the Pew Center on the States, more than half the states and the District are trying to reduce the growth in their prison populations through alternative sentencing and through new probation and parole procedures.

Surprisingly, this is happening even in Texas, although our current track record hardly qualified as progressive.

But what is striking, experts say, is how some states with reputations for being tough on crime are most rapidly embracing these policies, which might have once been dismissed as the product of liberal think tanks and soft-on-crime leniency.

Texas is a case in point. From 1978 to 2004, the inmate population rose 573 percent and the state's population increased 67 percent. With hard sentencing laws and some conservative judges, Texas built a "lock 'em up" reputation. The state has more than 155,00 inmates and leads the nation in putting prisoners to death.

But two years ago, Texas officials were faced with an alarming projection: By 2012, the state would need 17,000 more beds, which would mean building eight prisons at a cost of nearly $1 billion.

State Rep. Jerry Madden, a self-described conservative Republican, had just taken over as chairman of the Texas House committee on corrections. "I started asking questions," he said in a phone interview. To avoid building more beds for more prisoners, Madden said, "You either got to slow 'em going in, or speed 'em going out. And Texas is not a state that says, 'Speed 'em up going out.' "

[...]

The changes, implemented in the 2007 legislative session, included more funding for drug and DWI courts. New rules shortened the average probation time from 10 years to five. With about 445,000 people on probation, the system had become "the Number One feeder to the prison system," said Ana Yáñez-Correa, executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, a progressive group.

The state also ordered the parole board to raise its parole rate to an earlier number of 31 percent; the proportion of eligible inmates granted parole had slipped to 26 percent.

With those changes in place, prison population growth slowed to a trickle. From January 2007 until December 2008, Texas added 529 inmates to its total, a tenth of what was projected.

It's enough to make me hope the economy doesn't improve. Because tough times seem to be the only time we come to our senses. And that's rather pathetic.

My Perfect World

is where:

Everyone pays a bit of attention. Explore. Don't be spoon-fed.

People slow the fuck down. Don't be in such a rush. Don't tailgate. It will only cause you pain and discomfort in the end.

Everyone eats healthy. Three meals a day. Fresh fruits and veggies in season.

Politicians don't feel the need to lie or cover up their sexual indiscretions.

The homeless don't need to feel ostracized because, even though the homeless shelter is in an abandoned hotel, and the federal government is offering it for free, the locals fear their property values will suffer. Even if said locals live near a freeway where their property values are already up for debate.

We don't need to prove our power to the planet through wars, but rather we prove ourselves to the planet in what we say and do to promote equality, fairness, and justice.

Stopping cellphone use on the streets and highways. Unless it is a dire emergency rather than an attempt to squeeze a little more efficiency out of a busy day. Ever seen an 18-car pileup? Not pleasant.

We don't need freeways because people aren't in a hurry and we don't need to divide neighborhoods.

People stop having babies without understanding the full 18-year commitment, responsibility, and cost -- despite their desire to procreate. Or because the Pope tells them contraception is evil.

Just stop. Examine all that is around you. Contemplate it. And then continue. Slowly. At a pace you can swallow.

Read labels.

READ LABELS.

The Sexual Orientation Spectrum

Everyone likes to talk -- or brag -- about how they are x% German and x% Swedish or x% Irish and x% English, or x% Nigerian and x% Native American (OK, you don't hear that one very often but..), but the simple fact is, nobody wants to bring this to the male/female sexual orientation level.

In the Sexual Orientation Spectrum, please name me two people who anchor either side of it. The 100% male heterosexual and the 100% female heterosexual. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh do NOT count. Unless you have inside information.

We are all born of males & females conjoining. Things are bound to get mixed up in the fluids. Those DNA strands are not unlike the vacuum cleaner power cord which can manage to tie itself into knots overnight.

Shit happens.

I'm waiting.

Friday Pussy Blog: Cats & (Catnip) Mice Edition

Sissy looking rather large and loafish on the sofa... waiting to be fed. The empty cat food bowls are directly behind the sofa.

The Tot assumes a more high-profile position on the kitchen table. I have to walk past him to get the cat food so, again, he won't be unaware when I'm scooping.

Witchay Woman brought him two mice stuffed with catnip (well, maybe one of them was for Sissy, but the Tot has claimed them both) and he tends to leave them in highly visible areas with plenty of foot traffic. I cringe each time I step on one because I think I've stepped in a pile of cat vomit.

Speaking of which, I did step in some at the beginning of the week, and not only was it on the bottom of my sandal, it was inside it as well. Not sure how that happened. It resulted in a haiku.

Happy Friday!

Losing My Hope

I've been in the doldrums all week and can't seem to snap out of it. The heat might be getting to me. We've already had 15 days of temperatures at 100° or over, and 8 of those days were 105° or more. Today is likely to be the 9th day of such extreme heat. Incidentally, that is my threshold for meeting the definition "hot as fuck." Between 99.5° and 104.4° is just "damned hot." Unless there is an afternoon cloud providing some shade, I am now limiting my walking regimen to mornings until this heat subsides. But I digress.

I am also being weighed down by some very unpleasant political realities which, unlike the heat, will not fade away by mid-September. It's giving me a restless anxiety.

The fact that I built up a set of completely unrealistic expectations for change in the Obama administration is chewing the hell out of my raw nerves. And now that Barack Obama's approval rating is dropping, speculation is being fueled as to whether he will be a one-term president, and whether the Democrats will start losing seats in the 2010 mid-terms if the economy hasn't improved substantially by this time next year. In the meantime, everyone is scrambling to figure out what to do.

The looming political battle is about how to respond, and three camps are forming. The first includes the White House and most Democratic leaders in Congress, who champion a wait-and-see approach until more of the stimulus money hits the streets.

White House officials estimate that the government has committed $158 billion for spending around the country, but only about one-third of that has been spent. Temporary tax cuts have totaled about $43 billion thus far, according to White House estimates.

A second camp, consisting of nervous Democrats and some economists, argues that the government must spur the economy with another round of spending, tax cuts or a mixture of both.

The third camp is led by Republicans, many of whom argue that the spending program was wrong from the start and that the government should focus on tax cuts.

Ahh, yes, the same old tired song and dance routine. Maybe we need a fourth camp.

I keep asking myself, "why are our choices limited to center-right Democrats or far-right Republicans?" The progressive left really isn't getting much of a shot at fixing the problems if we keep becoming disillusioned with a lack of progress among the current crop and then swing wildly back to the right in 2010 and/or 2012.

Then I realize that is the only scenario because this country will probably require another century or two for us to get our shit together. Because the substantive change I am seeking is not going to be brought about by Congressional coddling, reaching across the aisle, and compromising on critically important matters.

To use a beer analogy, when I voted for change, it was not to replace Bud Light with Miller Lite, or even Heineken. I want to be knocked off my feet by a rich, dark, smoky unpasteurized brew on tap, with a thick frothy head, served in a pint glass instead of an aluminum can.

Unfortunately, that's not the American way. And this reluctance to not only embrace change, but failing to aggressively pursue it, could well be our downfall.

The level of corruption in politics is astounding, and our political system itself seems to be choking our hope, or mine at least. Here is one example which brilliantly illustrates the gross inefficiency of our federal and state governments.

According to an analysis by The New York Times of 5,274 transportation projects approved so far — the most complete look yet at how states plan to spend their stimulus money — the 100 largest metropolitan areas are getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money. In many cases, they have lost a tug of war with state lawmakers that urban advocates say could hurt the nation’s economic engines.

The stimulus law provided $26.6 billion for highways, bridges and other transportation projects, but left the decision on how to spend most of it to the states, which have a long history of giving short shrift to major metropolitan areas when it comes to dividing federal transportation money. Now that all 50 states have beat a June 30 deadline by winning approval for projects that will use more than half of that transportation money, worth $16.4 billion, it is clear that the stimulus program will continue that pattern of spending disproportionately on rural areas.

“If we’re trying to recover the nation’s economy, we should be focusing where the economy is, which is in these large areas,” said Robert Puentes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, which advocates more targeted spending. “But states take this peanut-butter approach, taking the dollars and spreading them around very thinly, rather than taking the dollars and concentrating them where the most complex transportation problems are.”

[...]

Seattle found itself shut out when lawmakers in the State of Washington divided the first pot of stimulus money. Missouri has directed nearly half its money to 89 small counties which, together, make up only a quarter of the state’s population. The United States Conference of Mayors, which did its own analysis of different data last month, concluded that the nation’s metropolitan areas were being “shortchanged.”

Basically, the stimulus money, or the transportation segment of it at least, is simply being squandered with no rhyme, reason or logic.

Oh, there's a reason all right (emphasis mine):

“We have a long history of shortchanging cities and metropolitan areas and allocating transportation money to places where few people live,” said Owen D. Gutfreund, an assistant professor of urban planning at the City University of New York who wrote “20th Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape” (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Professor Gutfreund said that in some states the distribution was driven by statehouse politics, with money spread to the districts of as many lawmakers as possible, or given out as political favors. In others, he said, the money is distributed by formulas that favor rural areas or that give priority to state-owned roads, often found far outside of urban areas.

Here we are facing the most dire economic situation since the Great Depression and it's still all about selfish personal greed in political circles. Have no fear, this is all part of the Obama administration's master plan:

Obama administration officials, who have called for ending sprawl and making sure that federal transportation spending is cost-effective, say they are looking at how states are spending the money from the stimulus law, officially called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the current system.

“The transparency that comes with Recovery Act funds is letting us see what’s happening in real time, and that’s a good thing,” said Roy Kienitz, an under secretary of transportation for policy. “Understanding where recovery dollars go and why will help us determine how to shape long-term transportation policies with the goal of getting the most benefit for every dollar.”

Bull-fucking-shit! Come on! This behavior is nothing new; this has been going on in some form or another through the centuries.

It is clear that states and politicians cannot be trusted to spend the stimulus money wisely, and as it was intended. Hooray for transparency so we can all be annoyed. Well, except for the millions of Americans who aren't paying attention. I know, I know, I'm being too harsh. Let them get through their Michael Jackson grief and then I'm sure they'll come around.

Aside from the economy and the recovery efforts, there's tremendous pressure to overhaul health care which, if the transportation stimulus spending provides any clues, we are likely to get screwed in the ass on that front as well. There isn't a perfect health care scenario, but you can bet we could do a whole lot better than what we'll end up with once Obama and Congress are done compromising and kissing ass with Big Pharma.

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.

[...]

The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records. And even in a city where lobbying is a part of life, the scale of the effort has drawn attention. For example, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter of 2009, followed by Pfizer, with more than $6 million.

The push has reunited many who worked together in government on health-care reform, but are now employed as advocates for pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

It is ironic that the entire health care reform movement is one giant spreading cancer. But that's politics and the American way again. Expect real substantive change and progress and ye shall be disappointed.

Outside the unpleasant realm of health care and the economy, things aren't any better on the civil rights front. We continue having to fight like hell over no-brainer issues like DADT (although hope is brewing), which makes a repeal of DOMA and full nationwide marriage equality seem hopelessly distant. At least one state has the cajones to go to battle for justice.

Even this initial breath of fresh air is already stagnated a few miles up the coast.
Barely two months after Maine became the fifth state to allow gay marriage, 55,087 assholes have now signed a petition to put that up for a public vote. Thank the Catholic Diocese of Portland and others for that effort. And people wonder why I have such issues with organized religion.

We'll now have that homophobic gem in our faces, along with a big infusion of cash from out-of-state interests to push infuriatingly obnoxious bullshit advertising for weeks leading up to the election day showdown.

Whoever first uttered the words "life is just not fair" deserves a gold brick award for overachieving in understatements.

For the record, in a battle between red and blue, this is not how a progressive country should look.

But once the summer heat subsides, I'm sure I'll calm down and realize just how irrational I'm feeling at the moment.

I Would Gladly Give You an I.O.U. on Tuesday for a Hamburger Today

Those "registered warrants" being issued in California, aka I.O.U's, have been slow in coming for many... or yet to arrive.

“We are out of cash now,” said Carlos Flores, the executive director of the San Diego Regional Center, which provides services to Californians with developmental disabilities. The center is awaiting a $12 million warrant. “I can pay my staff next paycheck, and that’s it,” Mr. Flores said.

Other state contractors who provide services to the disabled had similar stories. Mark Berger, the chief executive of Partnerships With Industry, which offers job placement and training for the same type of clients, said he, too, had yet to get a warrant. “I haven’t heard of anybody who has received one,” Mr. Berger said.

There is also the possibility that if and when the warrants do arrive, the recipients might have to jump through hoops to turn them into cash.

The majority of banks have been clear that they will not take the warrants after July 10. Banks “do not wish to facilitate the lack of resolution of the budget deficit by basically providing this accommodation for an extended period of time,” said Rod Brown, chief executive of the California Bankers Association. “California must become more fiscally responsible.”

[...]

People expecting money from the state who do not get a warrant by Friday have three choices. They can try to find an alternative bank or credit union willing to deal with someone who is not a customer, they can hold the warrant until it matures and collect the interest, or they can try their luck in secondary markets, where some people are already seeking to buy i.o.u.’s at a discount.

What's interesting is that there are plenty of Californians who would gladly pay more taxes to help solve the deficit, under the right circumstances.

In Memoriam

Yesterday was the worst day for American troops in Afghanistan in nearly a year as seven died in fighting.

Of seven United States soldiers killed Monday, said Capt. Jon Stock, an American military spokesman, four died along with two Afghan bystanders in a roadside bomb explosion in the northern Kunduz Province, and two American soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan.

One new president, two old wars, and no end in sight. Change we can believe in.

But in an uplifting sign of concern, tens of thousands turned out in Los Angeles today to pay their respects.

How sweet and fitting.

Truth

I drink way too much.
My stomach isn't sexy.
But I won't die young.

Yeah, 20 years too late for that.

Your Daily Fetish

And I thought I had a cat problem:

I do hope this 90 day "sentence" is for mental help and not taking up space in a jail. That would be even more ridiculous than her crime.

Related story.

Yellow Substance

cat vomit galore
something yellow in my shoe
vomit or corn casserole?

It could be either, actually.

LGBTQI

Can someone please tell this poor old ignorant queer what the I stands for in LGBTQI?

And pardon me for being so old school, I still haven't gotten with every new program yet. Some things just baffle me.

And that does not make me evil. It makes me ignorant.

I don't mind being referred to as cis-anything, by the way.

In the meantime, I'll keep using GLBT to include all of us queers.

The First Dinner Party Frenzy

Question of the Day:

How did you celebrate the 4th?

txrad and I hosted a dinner party for four friends, Witchay Woman and her husband came down from Dallas, and our two neighbors from next door walked over in the brutal afternoon heat around 6:15.

I've been saying this is my first party since the mid-1980s which is kinda sorta true, but the one I threw back then was more of a drug and alcohol party with a few dips and chips as opposed to a real sit-down-at-a-table dinner party like my mama used to throw.

I had promised to do this back in early May but I didn't set a firm date until about 2 weeks ago when we all agreed on July 4th as the best date. And it's rather funny that most of my anxiety melted away as soon as I had a concrete date set for this party.

If I was going to host a dinner party, I knew this would not be a large affair with paper plates and paper napkins and just a lot of things to munch on. I immediately set about trying to get things coordinated for a nice presentation. I had selected six bright yellow place mats, some striped muted earth tone cloth napkins, black slate coasters for our drinks, and a simple floral display or two. I didn't want a formal foo-foo affair, just a warm and inviting French rustic country feeling.

All of this was procured at Crate & Barrel for a reasonable price at no cost to me on a gift card. I also was able to pick up a set of glassware, four tall glasses and four short glasses, plus two heavy short glasses intended for savoring my scotch whisky.

It occurred to me later that I was now faced with having to mix & match glasses as well as eating utensils since I only had those in sets of four, not six. But I found an easy work-around for that: serve the four guests with the matching glasses and forks, and txrad and I would take the mis-matched pieces. Voila, problem solved.

The most time-consuming aspect of this party was simply getting the house in order. Rooms needed to be vacuumed, bathrooms needed to be cleaned, everything needed dusting, and the kitchen counters needed to be thoroughly cleaned which necessitated moving everything off them, and then moving everything back.

Food preparation was never much of a concern of mine since we cook every night of the week. I just needed to triple the effort, or so I thought.

txrad started soaking pinto beans on Friday night. Saturday morning he made the lime bars with a pecan crust (pictured left) for the dessert, then in the early afternoon he made the pico the gallo and got the beans cooking. I was cleaning up after him each step of the way to avoid having the kitchen be a disaster by the end of the night which unfortunately proved to be inevitable! But I think my efforts prevented it from being much worse than it was (and still is at the time I'm writing this).



Once his dishes were done, I needed to start prepping for the green corn tamale casserole and guacamole. This had to be carefully planned -- particularly with the guacamole.

At 4:00 I started shucking ten ears of corn. I was a bit surprised how time consuming that can be, even though I've made this dish before. It had been three years at least. Then the corn needed to be cut off the cob. I premixed the dry ingredients and set those aside, put aside the loose corn, and then proceeded to roast the four Anaheim chilies.

It was almost 5:30 and I was feeling a little tinge of stress since the guests were invited to come around 6:00-ish. I had really wanted to have everything prepped by the time guests arrived so that I could I started chopping the cilantro for the guacamole. As soon as I was done I remembered that I needed to saute some garlic and onion. I got that going around 5:45 and the pressure was building. As far as the guacamole was concerned, I needed to get that ready... now. txrad suggested we do a tequila shot to calm our nerves, and we did.

It was 6:00 when I started slicing three large avocados which was, shall we say, a messy endeavor. I was praying that no one was going to show up on time! I managed to get the lemon juiced and added to the mixture along with the lightly sauteed onions and garlic, and was dicing the tomato when the neighbors walked up.

"The door is open," I yelled. My hands were covered in tomato juice. This is the point where the train began to derail.

We had barely had time to hug when Witchay Woman and her husband (Alton II, as in the "other" Alton Brown) walked in bearing hummus dip, and bags of additional prep materials complete with serving dishes. So while five minutes earlier I felt I had a grip -- if a bit rushed -- on my activities, suddenly I had a kitchen full of people, and Alton II preparing two separate hummus presentations.

My mind started going a bit haywire. I needed to offer them drinks, I needed to pay attention to the conversation which was already loud and spirited, I needed to keep my wits about me so I would not leave out a key ingredient in my own prep work.

Alton II was happy with a Shiner beer, so that was easy. Witchay Woman wanted a glass of white wine, and the neighbors were content with ice water while waiting on the margaritas. That was another project on my to-do list. I decided to open myself a beer.

When it's just txrad and me in the kitchen, I can be somewhat intoxicated and still have my wits about me to get my portion of the meal prep together. Something about a party environment throws everything askew and I was already feeling buzzed and disoriented! In terms of my progress in getting the meal together I was not in a bad place; the guacamole was done -- although it was not up to my usual standard -- and was completely upstaged by Alton II and his hummus dip art. But it was done.

I stood there munching on carrots dipped in hummus, pita bread, and chips with guacamole, in a slight daze for what might have been 20 minutes. Then I realized 7:00 was fast approaching. My goal had been to have the meal ready by 7:30 at the latest. Reality kicked in and I needed to slice the Anaheim chilies, and line the casserole dish with those and the cheese. I had to puree the corn in two separate batches, dump that in a bowl, and stir in the dry ingredients, plus add sour cream and 4 ounces of soft butter.

At this point I was feeling completely frazzled. I quickly "softened" the butter in the microwave (translation: I put it in there just long enough for it to soften on the outside, not so much on the inside of the stick) and dumped that into the corn mixture and began to stir vigorously until I thought everything was well-mixed.

As I poured the corn mixture on top the cheese and Anaheim chilies and began to spread it out, I saw a big glob of unmelted butter. Shit! I thought to myself, "man, you have got to get it together, you are out of control."

I spooned a lot of the corn mixture back out of the casserole dish and into the mixing bowl to get the butter mixed a bit more thoroughly. I was hoping when this was baked that somebody wasn't going to bite into a big spoon of butter.

Knowing that this would need to bake for probably 30-35 minutes, I was able to breathe a sigh of slight relief once I had that in the oven. I could move to to making the margaritas which were now overdue, and txrad could handle making the rice which would complete the meal.

I quickly emptied the frozen sweet Lime juice concentrate into the blender, added lots of ice, a very generous amount of tequila, and a shot or two of Bauchant orange liqueur. Within seconds I had a thick frozen blender of margaritas which I served up to the guests. After one sip I knew these were incredibly strong, and almost icky-sweet. I pondered that for a few minutes and realized I forgot to add fresh lime juice which cuts the sweetness and provides more balance to the drink.

I jumped up and sliced a couple of limes and explained my error. Some seemed to enjoy the margaritas as they were, and others were eager for the fresh lime juice. I promised to remember to add more fresh lime juice to the next batch.

Meanwhile, txrad was on his own in the kitchen and he motioned for me to come over. It seems he had accidentally turned off the rice prematurely at some point and he showed me the pan of rice sitting in tomato water as it was waiting to come to a simmer again. Ugh! More dinner party drama!

My plans for a 7:30 at the latest dinner serving was now on the verge of running an hour late. The casserole was out of the oven, the beans were ready, everything was ready except the rice. After 15 minutes or so, an inspection of the rice gave the appearance that it might have worked out after all.

I whipped up another batch of margaritas -- including fresh-squeezed lime juice -- and dinner was served.... probably around 8:30.

While this was not the best meal we've ever made, nor was it the best green corn tamale batch I've ever made, it was decent, and appeared to be well-received and enjoyed. Afterward, the lime bars with the pecan crust capped everything off nicely, even if there was a bit of lime overkill between those and the margaritas.

Mission accomplished. Dinner served to four guests without any major mishaps. But there were some lessons learned from this experience. Prepping as much as possible before the guests arrive is a key factor, especially if you are not accustomed to food preparation in the midst of distractions. I am definitely making a note to self on that point.

I walked away from this with an enhanced appreciation for people who are able to do this type of thing fairly often, as my mother used to do. She would have dinner parties for 8, 10, even 12 people sometimes, with down-home southern meals involving a meat dish, several different vegetables, salads, and dessert, and then coffee. I also am amazed that there are people who can simultaneously get a meal together while remaining involved in conversation with their guests.

Honestly, I am awe of that talent. I suppose it gets easier with practice, but still.

It was a long day and a lot of work. And there was nothing I wanted more than a good long night of sleep after the guests had departed around 11:00. Unfortunately, there was yet another unexpected party surprise awaiting me. txrad and I are not big consumers of sugar. We rarely have any kind of dessert in the evening, nor do we drink sweet cocktails at night.

Aside from a small sweet lime bar for dessert (not to mention the corn casserole which was sweet), there was the issue of the Lime-Ade concentrate which was packed with high-fructose corn syrup. Two batches of that and 2-3 margaritas later, I was both exhausted and wired. As I commented earlier this morning on my Facebook status, "high-fructose corn syrup in the margarita lime-aid is like LSD... like the "brown acid" at Woodstock."

I may have logged about 3 total hours of sleep last night, and even that wasn't quality. Another note to self: no sweet margaritas unless it's a lunch party! Or better yet, make my own margarita mix and control the sugar.

All in all, it was a fun gathering though. And I now know through experience what I can do to make the next one go just a little bit smoother. I'll plan that for sometime in 2012.

Time for me to get in the kitchen and finish cleaning up this carnage. I threw my first dinner party ever, and was so befuddled I didn't manage to get a single picture while the guests were here. Just a before shot, and an after shot. It didn't even cross my mind while they were here!

Tired of Shootin' Moose: The Virtual Outhouse Is Open!

The Good News: Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor of Alaska at the end of this month, and even before completing her first term in office.

The Bad News: We may be seeing a lot more of her down here in the lower 48 where life is apparently more to her liking. For one thing, they don't have a Neiman-Marcus, a Bloomingdales, or a Saks Fifth Avenue in Alaska.

By leaving office early, Ms. Palin, a 45-year-old mother of five, will be able to travel around the country more freely and not be constrained by the duties and responsibilities of being a governor.

And I guess she's just tired of sittin' around with nothin' much to do except look at Russia.

So as a tribute to Palin and her decision, I'm resurrecting a Virtual Outhouse from last year for an encore.

Friday Pussy Blog: Laid to Rest Edition

Tater Tot is reclining across the filing cabinets in the office this morning, enjoying his holiday off from work.

The ashes of First Cat Socks are now back at the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock, a fitting resting place, after a bout with cancer.

The one-time stray that adopted the Clintons while they were living at the mansion in 1991 and later moved with them to the White House when Bill Clinton was elected president, was euthanized Feb. 20 after suffering from cancer.

At the time, Socks was living in Maryland with Bettie Currie, Clinton’s former White House secretary.

In March, at Currie’s request, a portion of the cat’s ashes were returned to Arkansas and sprinkled in the flower garden on the west side of the Governor’s Mansion.

“When (the Clintons) lived at the mansion that’s where Socks hung out, on the back porch there,” Ron Maxwell, administrator of the mansion, said Thursday.

Maxwell said the ashes were scattered after a small ceremony attended by a few people, including Linda Dixon of the Clinton Presidential Library and first lady Ginger Beebe, who read a poem she wrote in honor the cat.

The small urn in which the ashes were contained was later taken to the Clinton Presidential Library.

Sweet!

Have a safe & happy holiday everyone!

28,742 California I.O.U.'s

That's over $53 million on the road to potentially $4.8 billion if a budget agreement isn't reached soon.

photo: Max Whittaker/Reuters

It was only the second time the state had adopted the emergency payment method since the Great Depression. The National Conference of State Legislatures had no record of any other state’s ever using them.

It was unclear whether the i.o.u.’s, known as warrants, would be accepted by all of the banks in California, which were caught off guard by the move and seemed hesitant to entrust the state to repay the them — at an interest rate of 3.75 percent — in October, as promised.

Aside from being the most populous state in the US by far, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world as a stand-alone nation. Get ready for some ripple-effects.

In June, half a million more jobs were lost in the US.

In all, the economy is now coming up short by some 8.8 million jobs: since the recession began at the end of 2007, 6.5 million jobs have been lost and 2.3 million new jobs that were needed to keep up with population growth never materialized.

This joyride isn't over yet.

photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Kalifornia

She maybe can act
I think Juliette Lewis
Can stir my stomach

You look good with a guy, Brian! Um, I think that should be "You look good with a gun, Brian!"

Manifestations of the Digitalis

Digital TV
just as Catholicism
bullshit tastes so sweet

Question everything.

Trust nothing.

When in doubt, question. When questioning, doubt.

A Vertigo Moment

The view looking down from the soon-to-be 56-story Austonian condo tower.

Photo credit: Alberto Martinez AMERICAN-STATESMAN

I don't know about you, but this makes me really appreciate a single-story residence where I can walk out my back door and be firmly on the ground.

Slideshow at statesman.com.

It gets worse. The Sears Tower in Chicago has a glass balcony on the 103rd floor which opens to the public today. I'll pass on it, thanks.

(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Slideshow here.

Court Decriminalizes Homosexuality in New Delhi

Equality is on the march in India now that the highest court in New Delhi has decriminalized homosexuality by overturning the British colonial-era ban.

Homosexuality has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.”

[...]

The ruling applies only to India’s capital city but it will force the national government to either appeal the decision to the Supreme Court or repeal the law nationwide, lawyers said.

Photo credit: Harish Tyagi/European Pressphoto Agency