Hero Pilot

Is it a coincidence that the pilot of the U.S. Airways jet is nicknamed "Sully"?

I think not.

Winter Blues and Blahs

Alright, I admit, I have not made a good blogging start for 2009, but I'm full of excuses! For starters, it's January. Bleah. January is one of my least favorite months, at the risk of offending all the January-lovers out there. Here are some reasons I'm in a funk:

It's cold.

It's ugly brown, because this year we've had an upsetting lack of snow.

Hubby is recovering from hernia surgery, which only solidly confirms my belief that men cannot handle pain gracefully...and now he's getting a case of the grumps, which in turn causes me to aquire my own case of them. So, we grump together.

I'm still getting gardening catalogs, which makes the wait for spring even worse.

Did I say it was cold? That fact alone makes it hard to get out and do anything, even when I don't feel I can take the sight of the interior of the house anymore. What would I do out there, anyway?

I think at this point I'd even welcome a classroom full of beligerent 6th-graders, but alas, the school hasn't recently had a need for subs. I even called to make sure I was still on the list, and they assured me they'd be calling soon. *sigh* Oh well...I'm in this position every January, and I always survive. I guess I should just keep in mind that the joys of spring, and the long warm days are just around the corner. Before we know it, I'll be griping again that it's so hot.

Inauguration, or Coronation?

Seems to me, from the dab of news I've seen, it's more like the latter. I have to say, as I have in the past, that I'm VERY concerned at the Socialist-like direction our country is going. The Obama-mania that has gripped the country is scary, to say the least. Already, anyone who disagrees with Obama's very liberal policies are at risk of being branded as "racist", and the absolute and unquestioning adoration that has been heaped upon this man is frightening. Will he be as liberal with our Constitution as his previous records have shown? Will our rights be trampled on? Will he be held accountable?

Here's hoping (and praying) my fears are for nothing.

"Sure could use, a little good news...today"

(In the words of Anne Murray)

Well, as you can see, it's taking me a while to get back in the swing of regular blogging. I just haven't had any inspiration hit lately...January is always a pretty mundane month. The excitement of Christmas and New Years is over, and the closest holiday now is Easter - months away. I suppose there is Valentine's Day, but it doesn't exactly reach "Holiday" status. The Superbowl is coming up, but I can't seem to muster up much excitement over that, aside from being glad that the Giants lost a couple weeks ago.

However, this morning I got the blogging urge. Actually, I got downright irritated. As I turned on the TV for a little news, I was assaulted by a constant barrage of footage of the US Airways jet that crashed into the Hudson River. When I first saw the story yesterday (I happened to have the TV on, and they broke in with the story), it was interesting and a bit alarming, but not exactly what I'd call earth-shattering. Yes, it's bad that the jet crashed. But, nobody died, injuries were relatively minor, and the pilot is being hailed a hero for the placement of the plane lightly in the river instead of crashing it in a firey ball of carnage somewhere not quite so soft. A nice story, but does it REALLY warrant CONSTANT coverage from every angle possible? I figured this morning the excitement would be mostly over - good for a single story, then go on to what's happening in the rest of the world. Years of seeing our news degrade should have told me better. What I found instead - on EVERY channel from ABC to CNN to FOXNews to BBCA - was re-hash after re-hash after re-hash of the same dang story. Constant commentary, live footage, computer-generated crash re-creations, experts on airplanes, experts on birds, experts on birds-crashing-airplanes, expamples of plane engines being tested by being slammed with a "chicken cannon" (won't that have PETA up in arms), interviews with crash survivors, debates on "how this accident could have been prevented" and "will anyone sue?" And to top it all off and send the whole thing spinning into complete ridiculousness - ABC had a sad and soul-felt musical montage featuring photos from every angle of the crash site...followed by a story about the latest contestant to do something cute on Dancing with the Stars.

What the CRAP? I hate our news. I'm a very proud American, but we are not the center of the universe, and there are a myriad of issues and events going on not only here but around the world right now that will directly affect us. There are wars our soldiers are currently fighting, social unrest, starvation, dictators, and impending natural disasters (Yellowstone earthquakes, anyone?) - just for starters. We have citizens starting to ACTUALLY think that Socialism is a "not that bad of an idea", mostly because we are so out of touch with what is REALLY going on, no thanks to being spoon fed utter horse pucky by the media.

I ended up turning the channel over to the only decent television I could find - The Waltons.

*sigh*

Call back the search parties, I have returned. I apologize for my long absence, but Hubby and I officially went to Tarnation and back this Holiday season. As much as I LOVE them, this year I'm pretty relieved that the Holidays are now at our backsides.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year's. Ours was awesome, as usual, and full of high adventure in our travels. We both made out like bandits in the gift department, getting much more than we deserved, even with our immaculate behavior over the past year. My sincerest thanks to everyone. I also learned quite a few things over the past few weeks:

First, you can drive a Pruis on a solid sheet of ice, as long as you get enough momentum to make it up hills. If proper momentum isn't reached, car will quickly meet ditch.

Second, no matter how invincible husbands may think they are, they can still give themselves hernias. Surgery is set for next week.

Third, the more times a person travels across Kansas, the wider Kansas becomes.

Fourth, in order to properly reside in Boulder, Colorado, one must drive a Subaru and also appear as though they are ready to embark on a mountain-climbing expedition at a moment's notice (the more Patagonia the better), even while shopping in a fancy downtown boutique. Bonus if you wear dredlocks and a "Barack My World" T-shirt.

Fifth, while many Christmas gifts may be thoughtful and expensive, nothing entertains quite like a book about farts. I believe "Farts, A Spotter's Guide" is destined to become my family's new Bible.

Happy 2009!