So, my 26th birthday came and went without much fuss. I od‘d on lobster and jumbo shrimp for free at Todai, and DiDi slept pretty well most of the night. Thanks to all who wished me a Happy Birthday!
Oh, and I got this:
Jabra BT800!
Bluetooth headset that’s gotten rave reviews. Thanks Anny and David!!! I LOVE IT!!!
Since Tony and I got out of work early today because we worked extra earlier this week, we thought it was about time to bring DiDi to see Tony’s parents. The last time we went was just over a week ago, before we left for Vegas, and that was while Amiee, Tony’s sister was in town. After them not having seen the baby for 9 months, I didn’t want to lose communication with them again. (That story’s a whole ‘nother blog in itself.)
I was tired because the baby woke up crying many many times last night, and each time he did I had to actually at least sit up in bed and held him before he would calm down. Not sure what’s wrong. Anywho, when 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 rolled around and my mom still wasn’t home yet, I was debating whether or not we should go. I was thinking to myself, “… we get there at 6:00, then we have to leave by 8ish before the baby starts to get too tired… that’s only about 2 hours… and what if [tony’s mom] insists on feeding him stuff again… i’m tired and therefore have little patience and won’t want to be polite when telling her NO…” yeah, the stream of thought didn’t last much longer because 1) I was tired and didn’t want to waste what little mental energy I still had, and 2) my mom came home soon afterwards. So we packed up and took off. (Since essentially all outings with the baby - even to the grocery store - involves “packing up”.)
By the way, it may not seem like it, but I do have a point I’m getting to. What was it again? Oh yeah. The trip went GREAT. 
When we got there, they came out to greet us. Both grandparents! I can’t remember the last time that happened. And the whole rest of the evening was smooth sailing from that point on. Didi was wonderful, as usual when we’re out with other people. Everything he did delighted Tony’s parents. It was so heartwarming to see. The only thing that started to get on my nerves was when Tony’s mom kept offering to watch him while we “go to a movie” or “go out to eat”. She mentioned leaving the baby with her again when we discussed our daycare/nanny situation and again even when we mentioned possibly visiting Bill in Japan! I love the offers and I’m 99.99% sure I’ll take them up on it someday, but right now, I’m just not quite ready to leave him alone with other people. But other than that, the evening went great. We even made tentative plans to do other stuff this weekend - either visiting or going shopping or something… all with the baby, of course. But it’s a start! We all talked about their trip to Taiwan and I found out they went to DC last Christmas to be with Amiee so I was just glad they were willing to chat about other things besides the baby. We’re definitely nowhere near being able to discuss the underlying problem - the reason they haven’t seen the baby up til now - but as long as things are good now, I could care less. I know I have a personal mantra of “never go to bed angry” and I’ve always felt that open and honest communication is the most important thing in a relationship, but I’m willing to forego that in this relationship between us and Tony’s parents, if it means having peace in the family.
As much as I love technology, there are times when I want to speak to a Real Person when calling a company. That seems to be the case most often when I’m calling to complain about something. However, now that more and more companies are online, it’s getting harder and harder to actually reach a live person! (If you can even find a number to call… but we’ll save that for another post.) Anyway, apparently at least one other person feels the same way I do… and this site was the result. Actually, now that I look at it again, it’s by Intuit’s QuickBase. Not sure how it’s related. Anywho, it’s definitely worth bookmarking!
[Link via lifehack.org]
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It’s Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren’t there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn’t want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don’t like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don’t let people criticize you for this — after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don’t listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn’t cut the money to fix those levees, there weren’t going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them — BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn’t stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It’s not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C’mon, they’re black! I mean, it’s not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don’t make me laugh! Race has nothing — NOTHING — to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
Get (usually) hardcover books for $9.95 each, free shipping! How Zooba works is that you browse their inventory and create a list of books you want (ala Netflix) and each month they’ll send you the next book on your list. They have some good ones too, such as Freakonomics and You: The Owner’s Manual. Only catch is that you’re limited to one book a month… and they don’t have the newest books, so if you’re patient, this could work for you. I think this would be perfect for Tony’s mom.
Sources from three retailers have reported to IGN that the Xbox 360 will be released on Friday, November 25… yes, the day after Thanksgiving, and yes, the day that is also known as Black Friday. Will they have midnight release parties for people who aren’t sleeping off the food they’ve just ingested? Somehow, I don’t think so…
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Note to self: as soon as I get home, microwave all my sponges for 1 minute. Wooden cutting boards, too. Oh, and throw plastic cutting boards away.
