What’s Gotta Go

As a previously avid NBA watcher, I often fell into the category of wondering if there really was a conspiracy to craft the best possible winner in games.  This was especially true in the playoffs.  There is no way you can watch the Jazz vs Bulls playoffs and not see the obvious favorable bias given in officiating to ever popular Michael Jordan.  Framed for all eternity is the push-off Jordan used on Brian Russel to create the space he needed to make the game winning shot.  Of course you can’t deny Jordan’s amazing abilities, but this one event gave many of us avid fans of the underdog additional belief that the league and officiating was also working behind the scenes to insure the preferred storyline was kept.

Living and rooting for a “lesser” market team has always been an exercise in frustration.  The recruiting possibilities are hampered because our team owners are not willing to spend gratuitously above the luxury limits like the big market, and therefore richer teams so easily do.  We attempt to take pride in our “working man’s” team image, but deep down we just resent the ability for big markets to buy their way into franchise dominance.  The money paid to players in general is completely out of control, but that is another rant.

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First we get a movie about a tragic event that a small group did in Utah history tied to Mormon’s on the whole.  I haven’t seen the whole movie, but the trailer shows an obvious slant towards positioning all Mormons, old and new, as fanatics akin to Islamic radicals.  Then we get CNN jumping on board to not only further the cause, but also tie it in to Mitt Romney with further bias.  They go so far as to call back to their internal poll and attempt to convince everyone that Mitt shouldn’t be voted for as a Mormon.

See the “reporting” for yourself:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2007/08/15/anderson.mormon.film.cnn

When will Mormon’s ever catch a break?  They get it equally from the right and left wings who just can’t stand to see a good group of people without beating them down.  We don’t expect to be favored in the news, but we do expect some unbiased treatment.
I’ve read up on this event, and it is a tragedy.  There is a lot of persecution of the Mormons leading up to this that no doubt played into this group’s poor decision making and abominable actions, yet that still doesn’t excuse it.  Do we condemn an entire religion and people based on the actions of a few that took a wrong path?  Are all Catholics child abusers because of the actions of some priests?  No.  Are all Islamics bomb carrying radicals?  No.  Same applies with Mormons, so why can’t the press include some of these concepts in their coverage of such obviously biased, non-documentary creations?  Because they want to believe what they are saying, so they publish it to the world as if it were true.

This kind of thing makes me sick because of the number of people that will watch it and assume it is true.  Is there any doubt that the positioning of this movie and the coverage it has already and will create was timed at this point in the election process of a Mormon presidential candidate?  Just keep watching for what comes next, because there is sure to be more propaganda thrown out there.

Obviously this criminal missed his Boy Scout meetings as a youth.

“He told a teller to ‘hurry up,’ but when she asked him if he had a bag to put the money into, it must have flustered him,” Bisio told The Detroit News for a story Tuesday. “He ran off without any cash.”

Come on guys, if you are going to rob a bank, at least put some thought into it and bring the necessary supplies.  Mask, check.  Weapon, check.  Hooded sweatshirt or hat, check.  Bag for the money, check.

Another in the long line of stupid criminal stories, but then, isn’t that somewhat redundant?  Criminals are by nature typically stupid.  I guess we rarely hear about the smart ones because they figure out ways to perform their dastardly tasks without detection and in much lower profile crimes.

At least this guy had his pants cinched up so he didn’t get caught with them around his ankles while trying to flee.  He’s one up on all those baggy pants hoodlums caught because of their fashion choice.

I have a pinched nerve in my neck right now.  Let me tell you, there are many different ailments that can interfere with your day, but a pinched nerve is just one of those things that causes you pain like your body is getting back at you for some evil you must have done. I have had these plenty of times before, but they usually originate from some vertebra and send their fingers of pain throughout my back, neck and head.  Not fun.

Perhaps one of the worst parts about a pinched nerve is how it can come in two forms, constant pain or only when you move a certain way.

Today I have the periodic version coming from high in my shoulder region that hurts whenever I turn my head more than 5-10 degrees either direction.  I can’t really say which form of nerve pain is worse, because they both just plain suck; today I am siding with the periodic version because it seems to have a sick, taunting personality of its own.  Every time I let myself forget that the pain is there, I turn my head to look at something/someone and BAM! it hits me like a ton of bricks!  I feel like slapping myself every time I do it, but then that would make it even worse.

Nothing like a good reminder ever so often that you are an idiot and cannot remember even something that will hurt every time you do it…even minutes later.

I have done the chiropractor in the past, but honestly I hate going to those guys.  Getting an “adjustment” does work, but I hate the badgering to start up a twice a week visit schedule for as long as your insurance will cover you.  Has there ever been such a blatant attempt to milk your pain for their gain?

Tonight I am trying out a massage therapist to see if they can do the job with less hassle and hopefully a little more enjoyment in the process.  I sure hope they can make it go away.  Pretty please.

I like mushrooms.  I like them on a burger, I like them in a salad.  I even like them on a steak and any number of other ways they can be prepared and consumed.  Where I don’t like them is in my yard!

It’s a tough balance between watering enough to keep my yard from dying and watering too much, which creates a heaven for ‘shrooms.  What’s worse is no matter how hard I work to pluck those little buggers out, if my neighbor isn’t quite as diligent, they are sure to come back again.

Last night we had some (much needed) rain which seemed to be the trigger for some dormant mushrooms to raise their ugly heads.  This morning the backyard was speckled with white domes, which caused me a minor bout of anger leading to quick depression.  I hate pulling the things, but that is really your only option.

‘Shrooms are fiesty, resilient little things for which we have no offense other than to bend over and pull them – hopefully before they have sent out their little spores to create thousands just like them.  If you don’t get them early, all you are doing is pulling out the stump for cosmetic purposes.  There is no nice little poison you can throw down to kill them and no special treatment to prevent them.  Mushrooms rule the yard whenever they darn well feel like it.

I know, I know, mushrooms do not feel and they are not calculating; but it sure feels like it sometimes.  I’ll go weeks without one showing itself, and I feel like I have licked the problem; then, bam, just like that they are back with a vengeance.  It may be due to that lack of diligence from my neighbor I mentioned; but whatever the reason, I feel like I am losing the battle.

All I know is I can’t give up.  If I just let them grow what I see now will only be ten fold in a matter of weeks.  So, I plug ahead each morning yanking out each one in hopes of making headway.  At least my kids are not tossing them back for a mid-morning snack like one did several years ago.  He learned via ipecac that was not something he wanted to repeat.  But that’s a story for another day.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I headed out into the great outdoors of Yellowstone National Park.  I had a great time overall, but I have to admit the first day and night were ones to remember for other reasons.  Being sick in the outdoors is not not what I would call great.

Prior to leaving, I had been battling some sickness, which without any unflattering details, left me visiting the restroom facilities a bit more than normal.  I thought things had passed just before leaving, but by nightfall I found the uncomfortable rumblings returning.

If you have ever stayed overnight at a campground with a pit toilet, they are better than none at all, but not much more.  The smell and thought of what lies below is enough to keep you away unless absolutely necessary.  Now consider that I spent much of my first night frequenting this facility.  Not a pleasant thought.

Fortunately that first night was the last for such uncomfortable and restless evenings, and I spent the rest of the week able to enjoy the trip with much more ease.  That first night was definitely memorable though, I’ll give it that.

I am off for a week of gallivanting around the great outdoors of Yellowstone National Park.  Though I will have some wireless connectivity with me, I am not banking on too much in the way of access out there.  That’s the point now isn’t it?  I will likely be way too busy doing things that do not involve being online to check all that often anyway.

So, you may be without my witty satire for the upcoming week; but I know you will find some way to survive.  Perhaps one of our guest authors will fill in with some diatribes of their own.  Speaking of that, thanks Ali for your fun comments last week.

Now I am (literally in a few minutes) off on the trip.  Cross your fingers that Smokey and I don’t get too up close and personal.

One of the first things I do when visiting a dining establishment (at least one where you choose your own seating) is check to find a clean and stable table. Why stable you ask, because I can’t stand spending my hopefully fully pleasurable lunch or dinner experience dealing with a table that rises and falls at every change in the balance of our food.

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Any husbands/men here you might want to not continue on”¦there will be some ranting, complaining and speaking about the current loathing I have at the moment for men in general”¦my dear sweet husband of 22 years in particular.  Ok”¦any men still reading on you have been warned”¦ladies”¦I know you ALL can relate!

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Well I had a good reason to laugh this morning.  I was going through my mail from the previous day and found a notice that FedEx was having difficulty delivering a package to me.  This was a bit of a surprise considering first that I wasn’t expecting something, and second because they were obviously able to get me a notice, then why not the package.  I turned over the postcard and had my answer…

FedEx had sent the notice via USPS (the post office) rather than their standard door tag.  I have had the tags before when the package must be signed for and no one was available to accept the package.  That is nothing new.  In this case, they needed an address correction and couldn’t figure it out on their own.

What I noticed on the post card address was they had a typo in my address, so the street number was wrong.  So rather than do a little research to find the correct info, they sent a card via USPS to me to with the request to call back and get things fixed.

So after all the knocks we all make on the post office, apparently they are the only ones smart enough to get a letter delivered even when the address is just a bit off.  Next time I have something to gripe about with them, I’ll have to remember this little good thing they did and bite my tongue…just once.