Loss Of A Good Companion...

Well, the day I thought was going to happen several times over the past 12 months finally happened. Our 13 year old dog Sandi passed away Tuesday morning. She had Cushings Disease, which is basically from an excessive amount of cortisol being produced. There are treatments, but when you weigh treatment success and cost vs. age of the dog, we made the decision to just make sure she was comfortable and not in any pain. She never was in pain (which anyone who has seen Sandi since her diagnosis could attest to).

I knew something wasn't right Monday when she didn't touch her food. She wouldn't even take the snausage treat that I gave her with her medicine- and that really told me something was different. She was like that most of the day, then Monday evening her hind legs began giving out on her, and she started to have a glassy, lost look in her eyes. She was drinking a whole lot more, and then rather than going through the dog door, we'd have to let her out ourselves because she couldn't make the little hop. I stayed downstairs that night, since she was lying on the tile and I didn't want her to hurt herself if she tried to get up that way and slide on the tile.

Tuesday morning she didn't look any better, and finally she went outside to the oleander she always liked to dig under and laid down there. When I couldn't get her to come out, and she became totally unresponsive to anything, I called my neighbor next door and we got her into the van so I could get her to the vet. Unfortunately at this point I knew this wasn't a trip to save her. She passed on the way.

She was such a happy dog, always wanting to play and bruise you with her long wagging tail. That was the reason we got her. I'll never forget looking at the Shar Pei that just peed on the floor when I pet it. Then we saw Sandi, the cute little beagle/doberman puppy with the biggest ears you'd ever seen. After romping around on the floor of Petsmart for a few minutes (much to Bret's embarrassment I think), I knew she was ours. She was always gentle too, both girls as babies would be all over her, and she never growled or snapped.

We were very lucky we got a little more time with her when we returned home from vacation. Sandi will definitely be missed, we all ready notice how quiet it is when we walk in the door. I'm really going to notice Monday when the girls go back to school.

Thanks everyone who has called with their condolences, even though I haven't returned phone calls yet, they are all very appreciated.

Thoughts on London

As I look back over the 9 days we spent in London, I find myself thinking about the things I would do the next time we travel there.

This must be a positive, meaning I had an enjoyable enough experience that I'd like to go back someday.

It's definitely must be a different experience with kids, since we were limited by how much they could do in one day. When they needed to stop, we stopped. Most of the planning was around them. There were many walks in my "24 Walks In London" book that there was just no way I could do with them. If we ever were to go back, I would certainly want to either 1) go with just Bret or 2) hire Grandma! Of course, it will be many years before we would even begin planning something of this magnitude again in terms of a vacation, so the kids will be much older at that point as well.

Now that isn't saying I didn't have a good time, like I said I'm just thinking of some of the things I would have liked to do vs. what we did. The touristy things were fine. The Harry Potter film locales became old quicker for me than for Bret, but he's the Potter fan along with Allison so I was just along for the ride. I did get to see some beautiful English countryside, villages, and cathedrals however.

Didn't get my burger, chips, and beer in a pub for 5 pounds though. That's a definite must-do next time around!

When not trying to maneuver in the Underground, I enjoyed the people. They were always very nice when we asked for directions, or where we were at. In the hustle and bustle of the Underground though, it was typical city-rudeness.

It's also a much more environmentally-conscious environment too. You do not really grasp how UN-environmentally conscious the US is, until you've experienced how they run things in Europe. Rather sad when you think about it. The US should be much further in this than we are (I know in many instances I'm preaching to the choir in this statement).

The food is probably what I liked least about England. We found a hit in Nando's, and the first time I had fish and chips it was good. The second time after a couple of bites I was pretty greased out. Most of the other food I tried was quite bland, and you needed to add salt and pepper to everything just to make it semi-edible. The kids did ok, as they are not fans of really flavorful food anyway. They enjoyed chips with vinegar.

Coming home, we found security is much more normal at their airport than in the US. First off, you didn't have to remove your shoes. Secondly, their xray machines can see THROUGH laptop bags, so they didn't have to be taken out. Just an all-around better experience to not be hounded by the TSA and pseudo-security.

Yes, I would most definitely like to do more traveling abroad. If my experience was this good overall WITH my young girls, it can only get better as they get older!

I am hoping Bret will write his thoughts soon, as I'm sure he has his own perspectives from the week he would want to share- including driving in London!

Back In The US!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are safe and sound back in the US. Flight was 6 and a half hours, and pretty uneventful. A little too bumpy for my taste (sorry about your arm dear!). Still totally spoiled by the free hot dinner and treatment on British Air. Today we are just recovering and doing laundry, but I'll probably write some post-thoughts soon as I take some time to process the past 9 days mentally.

We're here in the Boston area until Tuesday, then we start our trek home with our flight back to Kansas. I assume by no phone call from Bret's mum that our van hasn't been whisked away by a tornado! ;-)

The Journey West-ward begins

We finished off our London trip with first visiting Buckingham Palace (just the outside). The Queen happened to be in according to the flag flying, but we weren't able to arrange a tea with her. ;-) After that we headed over to the Tower of London to gawk at all the royal jewels. It was another very touristy feeling place. Actually, the feeling I got was how I feel at a Ren Fair. It's hard to distinguish between all the years of history and a Ren Fair when you've got actors all over the place in Medieval garb. I wish I could *feel* more impressed with it all, but maybe I'm just tired and finished with playing American tourist in London. I'm not overly impressed with displays of grandeur either I think. "Look at our huge things! Look at our expensive jewels!" Bleh, yeah, I must be on overkill, LOL, I don't know. Bret will have to blog and give his thoughts on all of it. I've become such a cynic in my old age! ;-)

Today begins the trek homeward. We fly back to Boston tonight, getting in quite late. I have a feeling we all might sleep a lot of the day tomorrow. I will be writing my post-thoughts on being a visitor in another country eventually, but for now I must go help the husband finish packing- IF this silly Viddler video* ever finishes uploading! At least we are in no rush to get to the airport, flight doesn't leave until 7:30 this evening! (London time, that is!)

*(Video is a bit of the walk we took to the train station for our trips into London. Just a 5 or 6 minute walk, and then the train took us right to Victoria Station where we could catch the Tube anywhere we wanted to go. If the video isn't up yet, it's still encoding- check back later!)

A DayAt Oxford

What a great day. I think it was a fairly easy drive up to Oxford (you’d have to ask Bret to be sure about that one), then to get around the city itself you need to park and ride, so that made it world’s easier. The whole city is beautiful, and the University is sort of embedded throughout. You could definitely tell you were near and on a University campus, that seems to have the same feel no matter where you are, but the buildings and the churches- well by now we know everywhere you go in England you are going to be immersed in history. Even the McDonald’s was a quaint house converted- LOL! The cutest McD’s I’ve ever seen!

The main reason for driving up to Oxford was to get a couple more Harry Potter film locations in. Stop number one was New College, where there were more cloisters to see, but we weren’t able to get in until Thursday (can you believe we’ll be back in the states by then?), but they have beautiful gardens to walk through. The girls were in a much better mood today, and were holding hands and walking ahead of us on the path, trying to stay far ahead. We ended up letting them go around one more time by themselves while Bret and I waited. So many beautiful flowers and colors all around. After that we wandered to the Bodleian Library, where the entry room was used as the infirmary in HP #1, and it was also used in HP #4 in the scene where they are being taught to dance before the ball.

From there we found a great indoor market to grab some lunch, although we had a hard time finding something Samantha would eat. It’s hard enough at home finding food for a picky eater- in England you can double it! Eventually we found a place that would make a simple grilled cheese sandwich (though we did have to explain), and I finally got to try a potato jacket. Which was really not all that great (sorry Katie!). I keep forgetting that if you order “chicken salad”, you’re going to get simply chicken, lettuce, tomato, and no dressing at all. It was very bland, and I was very disappointed! It’s a neat idea for a food, but I know I could make them MUCH better. ;-)

After lunch we headed over the Christ Church, another stunning site. This has the staircase in HP#1 where the student’s are met by Mrs. McGonagall, and also the great hall where they ate. On another historical note, walking through the church also had many Alice In Wonderland references and points of interest. Which I thought were much more interesting, as there are references in the stained glass, and many ideas for the story came from little things on the grounds.

At this point our tour leaders were becoming grumpy, so it was time to head back to the bus and drive back to London. We had fish and chips again for dinner. It was good the first time, but didn’t have the same impact this time. I think tomorrow I’m going to try and lay off the grease. Bleh. Chips doused in vinegar however, are becoming my new favorite food!

Tomorrow is our last day to go into London and we’re going to try and get an earlier start than we’ve been getting. We’re going to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and Leadenhall Market (yet another site used in HP). Then Wednesday morning will be packing it all up, getting the car back, and then tomorrow evening we fly back to Boston! The days really flew by, but I’m finding that we could have been finished at 5 days and been equally as happy. I’m starting to get that itch to begin our journey home, and back to normalcy.

(PS- I hope you will all excuse the typos throughout these posts- remember I'm writing them very late at night and I'm tired! Then rushing to post in the morning before we head out- no time for spell check!!)

Getting In The London Groove...

All right, so I realize it’s been three days (at the time of writing this it’s about 8:45pm on Sunday), but it’s been so very busy here! I think the flight home will be the first time in a LONG time that I actually sleep on a plane! We’ve been running all over southern England since last I wrote. Allow me to recap:

Day 3 (Thurs.): We traveled more into the center of London this day, starting off in Trafalgar Square and just taking it all in. We had tickets for the Millennium Wheel that afternoon, so while waiting we let the kids play in the playground at the base of it. The wheel is quite a huge structure when you’re standing at the base! The girls and Bret loved the ride, which is about 30 minutes, but I was more ambivalent about it. It was nice to see the entire city from that high, for sure, but I honestly was done after about 10 minutes. So we got our many photo ops, and paid way more than the ride was worth.

After that we took advantage of one of our many walks in the London book Katie bought us, and went over the Westminster Bridge towards Big Ben and the Parliament building. It’s absolutely magnificent- and the detail around the clock is just amazing. From there we went up Whitehall Street (gee, where did NY get their street names from?), which is one of the most populated streets in London, since it’s smack dab in the middle of the financial district. It also is where the Ministry of Defense and Downing Street are (Downing Street naturally is gated off). It’s a nice walk filled with history and beautiful buildings and it took us right back up to Trafalgar Square. We weren’t quite ready for dinner yet at this point, so we then decided to take the Tube up to King’s Cross Station, so Allison (and Bret) could get one of her many Harry Potter fixes. A very kind patrolman helped us find the tourist spot for a photo (which I all ready put on the flickr site). For me, seeing Alli’s face beaming was more than worth it all. From there we went back to St. Martin’s in the Field’s to have dinner in the Crypt, and then we headed back to the B&B. A long and very packed day.

Day 4 (Friday): This was one of our two out-of-London travel days. It started out by heading down to Stonehenge. Not too bad of a drive, ONCE we got out of London and on the highway. This driving around in a rental car was probably not completely necessary, but it did give us the freedom to travel as far as we did. I have to commend my husband on braving the traffic, driving on the left, and learning the art of the roundabout. He is now the roundabout KING. Again, without the GPS (which we have since named Cleo), none of this would even be possible.

Stonehenge was really quite neat, but WAY touristy. I didn’t like that part of it, it was difficult to get a decent shot of the formations because of all the people standing around trying to take the exact same photos. There was a group of protestors there, and their beef was the exact same thing. They do their best to keep it roped off, but still close enough to get good views.

After that, we headed up towards the Village of Lacock, which was quite an interesting drive. First, we drove right into rain. Next, English roads are narrow. Very, very narrow. At one point a two-way unpaved road was not able to have two cars side by side, and a couple of times at an intersection Bret had to back up to let cars by. It was so neat though as we went through the villages and towns along the way. It’s like going back in time, only there are cars along the street. I was snapping pictures all along the way so Bret could actually see what we drove through, as he was watching the road the whole time.

Lacock Village is the home of Lacock Abbey, which was founded in 1232 as a nunnery. In 1539 it was transformed into a family home, but the medieval cloisters were preserved. The cloisters are what we were looking for, as they are used as the hallways of good ol’ Hogwarts. The courtyard around the cloisters was also used in the movie. When we went back that night and looked at the DVD’s to compare, it was so very obvious (much to Alli’s delight). I would have loved to see the whole village, but we needed to leave to get to our final destination of the day, Gloucaster Cathedral, which was another hour and a half drive away.

The Cathedral was stunning, there are no words to describe it properly, or photos that can truly capture the magnificence. The building began in 1039 as an Abbey, but it was a place of worship since about 700 AD. King Edward II is buried there. We arrived about 15 minutes before they closed, and they had JUST shut down the cloisters as we arrived. So we tried to track down someone who would take pity on us and perhaps let us have a peek. We did, and we had about 10 minutes all by ourselves, wandering more of the Hogwarts halls. There was also a door used as an entryway to Griffyndor Tower, and one used as the entrance to the bathroom where Moaning Myrtle roams. Again, priceless happy looks on my daughter’s face. Never mind thousands of years of history, Harry Potter scenes were filmed here!

If you're curious, here's a Google Map of our drive around Southern England.

Day 5 (Saturday): Breakfast was served a little later today, so Bret slept in and the girls and I went and ate. The longer we stay at Melrose House, the more I like it. They are taking very good care of us here. I saw another family with children, which made me feel a little more comfortable. Around noon we left for the city, but for some reason the kids were all ready a bit grumbly.

We started out at the London Field’s Inn area, searching out Cyrius Black’s home (yet again, the Harry Potter tour). After that it was off to the British Museum, and an attempt to do another of the book tours I had. I say attempt because we had a bit of a downturn with the kids, and eventually we just gave up. We saw a little of Egypt (and the Rosetta Stone), but we barely made it out of pre-civilization before we just had to give up. Though we managed to see the chess set that was used in the first Harry Potter movie. Not the giant version at the end, but the smaller version you see them playing. It perked up Allison a bit, but we were pretty done for the most part. They really aren’t used to all this walking, and being stuffed into a train like a sardine, etc. etc.

Day 6 (Sunday): I’ve made it to today? Wow, that’s a lot of stuff we’ve crammed into this trip so far! I wish I could have blogged each day, but I’ve been so tired at the end of the day, and no time to do it in the morning. So I’m really sorry that this is such a huge chunk of reading for you all.

Today we had another late breaky, and finally got to interact with the other guests a bit! We met a really nice couple from Hong Kong, and had an interesting conversation about cities growing upward vs. outward. I also met another woman who is another Seeker like myself, complete with 9/11 conspiracy theories, world domination through pharmaceutical companies, and UFO’s (although I’m not big on the UFO thing myself). There wasn’t any good time to record with her, but I do have the info for her cause, so I can set something up in the future (yay skype!).

Today was my day sightseeing first- and we went to the most popular Beatles spot in London- Abbey Road. I was just like Allison with her Potter locations! And oh yes, me and the kids (then Bret and the kids) walked it while the other took pictures. After that it was off to 221 Baker Street, and the Sherlock Holmes shop. 221 doesn’t actually exist, but it’s close enough. A really neat little shop, and there is a museum as well though we didn’t do the tour. I’m a recent Holmes convert after playing a role in the Dream Realm audio drama series, which on the DRE website gives great information on the Holmes stories with each episode. Next door to the Holmes shop is a Beatles’ memorabilia shop. (Are you jealous, Dad and Alan? I hope so! ;-) )

From there we spent the rest of the afternoon at the London Zoo, after walking through Regent’s Park to get there. Central Park would be the comparison, I think. HUGE park in the middle of a major city. Though I think Regent’s is larger, I’d have to check that. We (of course) made our stop in the reptile exhibit for the Potter fans. Samantha LOVED the giraffes, because you could get right up and close to them. We’ve never been that close to a giraffe before.

After a small souvenir rift, we started the trek home, and had Nando’s chicken for dinner. A recommendation from Allison’s teacher, and it was a good one! GREAT chicken! Finally things are winding down today, as we prepare for our second out-of-London trip tomorrow. To Oxford. Why? Two words.

Harry.
Potter.

London Day 2

I will miss this weather when we leave. In AZ we don’t see the steady rain. You know, the stuff that just hangs there and there is at least some sort of drizzle coming down ALL day long. I love that.

That’s what today was, so we ventured out (armed with our day passes rather than Oyster cards) and began our first day closer to center city at the Museum of Natural History. Seems everyone had the same idea on this rainy day, it was quite packed. I think the schools must still be in session as well, because there were a bazillion field trips happening. Honestly? I enjoyed the architecture of the building itself more than the museum. For the most part it mirrored New York’s. A few differences, but really, if you’ve seen one T-Rex, you’ve seen them all…although the space and astronomy portion was pretty neat. We also got a little time with Mr. Darwin as well. ;-)

The girls are having fun spending their souvenir money, a Bday gift from Grandma Tari, and they are making the conversions to dollars in their heads (So is Bret, but for different reasons, hehe). After almost two hours at the museum however, signs of not being quite with it were showing in the girls. Allison’s fun meter dropped considerably. Sam accidentally dropped her tray of lunch on the floor as we were sitting at the table in the food court of the museum, and a meltdown ensued. They felt a little better after getting some food in them, so we made an attempt to head to the science museum.

I say attempt because as soon as we got there, Allison realized she left her souvenir on the floor at the entrance of the Natural History museum as we were putting our jackets back on. So she and Bret walked back to see if it was still there (it wasn’t) while Sam and I waited. By this time even I was ready to go back to the hotel, which we did. Bret was a little frustrated, but really what could we do? Force them to keep moving and walking when they were clearly still out of whack? That wouldn’t make it an enjoyable experience at all, for anyone.

We rested for a lot of the afternoon, then headed out for dinner. So far we’ve not been overly impressed by the food, and rather than trying to find something “ethnic” (if you will), we kissed the floor of the TGIFriday’s and had dinner there. Then when we returned it was showers and bed for the girls. Allison has been so tired she crashed before any of us. Sam I think is so tired she just can’t stop moving or she’ll go into a coma. Luckily now she has settled down (it’s about 12:30am here as I’m writing this, to post in the morning).

The B&B we’re staying at is rather weird too. I think, at least. See, this morning we had breakfast at our own table in the sunroom, while everyone else was inside at the table. The owner said it was to make sure we could all sit together and the kids wouldn’t be separated from us. And that was fine, it was nice out there, even though I was hoping to talk with the other guests. When we returned to our room, there was a note saying we were set up through the weekend to eat at the kitchen right outside our room, which is completely detached from the main house on the other side of the garden. The owner said it was going to be very busy this weekend, and again wanted to make sure we all had places together to eat. Then Monday we could come to the main house to eat.

Ok, so my mind starts spinning. Is she worried about us and the kids, or is she worried about the other guests? I don’t think my kids were obnoxious at breakfast this morning, actually they were pretty quiet, so I doubt there were any complaints. Anyway, I’m probably thinking too much into it, but I found it odd. Sort of like “keep the Americans separate!” Most of the guests were at least from England, based on their accents when we all said good morning, and I would LOVE to talk with them.

I think tomorrow everyone will feel better and more normal, so we might get more in. We bought our tickets on the Eye in advance, and that is at 2. The rain is passing, and I’m told it will be around 70 and sunny at times, so a great day to do that. Finally we’ll see some of the landmarks we’ve only seen on TV! We’re also going to find a Nando’s chicken (Allison’s teacher recommended it so she’s dying to try it), and St. Martin’s in the Crypt for dinner.

And I’m sure many, many rest points throughout the day. :-D

Anarchy In The UK!

My goodness, I don’t even know what day it is. I can’t even post this until the morning because there is no internet access in our room, only in the main house. It’s been the longest two days! Monday around 5 we left to take the rental car back, and then check in for the International portion of our adventure. Since we needed the car back before 7, we ended up being checked in for the flight with nearly two hours of waiting in the terminal. The flight left a little late, but we actually ended up arriving on time, so no worries there. The girls were taken back by how big the airplane was- it had a middle section of seats! They also enjoyed their own video monitor, the kids pack British Airlines gives out (which includes an electronic game!), and being served dinner and breakfast. All for no extra charges (take that American Airlines!).

I ended up not taking advantage of the drugs supplied to me for sleeping, and was up the entire flight. Not that Bret and the girls slept any better. At least the flight wasn’t full so everyone could move and stretch out a bit more. All in all it was an uneventful flight.

THEN. We ended up spending an hour longer in the airport than we thought we would simply because we were at the wrong terminal to pick up Allison’s Oyster Card (the transportation card). She and Bret took a bus to another terminal to do that while Sam and I stuck around the one we came into with the luggage. I resisted the urge for a Starbucks, knowing we were going to take a nap when we got to the B&B, and we just sat there and people-watched. Even in the airport the atmosphere seemed different.

So once we got the Oyster card mishap taken care of, it was off to the rental car place. Bret was paying close attention to how the shuttle driver was moving through traffic, since we would soon be driving in it himself. And I must say, he handled London traffic amazingly. Once we got a little more in the city it was more stressful (as with any city really), and without the GPS we would have been roaming around in circles forever. Only a few missed turns and we made it to the B&B, after witch all four of us crashed for a few hours.

We all felt a little better after that, and then we ventured out to see what this bus system is all about. Lesson number 1- the Oyster card isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. What took us two hours by bus (granted we did make a few mistakes and needed to backtrack a couple of times), we could have done in one trip by rail, which isn’t covered on the Oyster card. We could get a day pass for that instead. The plus side is the girls rode in a double-decker bus for the first time, and we saw a whole lot of the southern suburbs of London. Everyone was very helpful when we asked questions about where we were going (and Bret asked quite a lot- the man is fearless!), but we decided that unless we absolutely had to, the bus system isn’t the way to get to the Underground.

Allison is especially excited to be here, I think it’s because of Harry Potter. She is just taking it all in like a sponge, and it’s really fun to watch. I’m so happy we have the opportunity to expose the girls to other cultures and countries. They area couple of very well- traveled ladies!

So now it’s time to try and sleep. Tomorrow was supposed to be Stonehenge, but weather said it will be raining pretty much all over England tomorrow, so we are going to hit some of the museums instead and make it an indoor day. I didn’t take very many pictures today either, so perhaps I will get some uploaded here in the next day or two.

Cheers!

You know you're from the desert when...

You pack for a trip to London and you have more shorts than long pants with you! Two trips to the store to buy a few more pairs of long pants for the children!

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

It's going to be so wonderful weather-wise! Jumping ahead another 5 hours should be quite an interesting experience though. We plan on relaxing at the B&B tomorrow morning (we land in London around 8:45am- that's London time!), so I will jump online to make a quick post and assure our family that we have arrived!

Fabulous East-Coast 4th

Well hello there peoples! Bret was giving me a guilt-trip about not doing a post for a few days, so I figured before I dove into sorting MORE photos, I'd write.

Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend! We ended up having a really great time. Katie and her Brett had a bbq on the 4th, and we ate much, met some of their friends, AND my friend Scott came over as well! Scott (for those of you who do not know yet) and I met about a year ago through another friend of mine, CJ. He calls himself "the Podcast Guest", and is always appearing on shows throughout the podosphere, including my own! He's on the left in the photo.

Unfortunately, that evening both myself and my nephew Elliot were not feeling so great, so we didn't go out to see any fireworks. We did however get a private show from neighbors a few houses down! Apparently you can buy fireworks in New Hampshire, but they are illegal in MA. You know, sort of like buying them in Mexico and smuggling to AZ. Doesn't seem to stop some. ;-)

The podcaster meetings didn't end there. Last night we had dinner with Scott again, along with other podcast friends Steve, Maureen, and their sweet baby Rebecca. Steve and Maureen do a show called the Wicked Good Podcast, and Steve also does a fantasy football podcast called Extra Points. It was great to see them again and actually have a conversation! When I first met them it was the Podcast Expo last fall, and with all the noise and things happening you're lucky if you have more than a 2 minute conversation with ANYONE. So this was good. I'm also very happy that Bret came along to meet my podcaster friends!! He's not into all this social media stuff, so it's always great when I can share a little part of my interests with him and the people I meet along the way. :-)

Today is getting things together as we head into our next chapter of the Cutler Summer Adventure- London! We leave tomorrow night, so today is laundry and packing. Not that we have to pack much, that's one thing that has been nice with all the moving around- the packing is done! I've been thinking a lot about simplifying lately as we have been living with one week's worth of clothes and with pretty much nothing else. It's rather freeing, and well, simple! It's giving me the urge to look around the house when we get back and re-assess what's really necessary...

I'm not sure if there will be another blog post before we head out of the country, but keep checking the flickr site for photos! I'm also not sure what the wifi sitch will be in the B&B we're staying in in London is either, so online communications might be sparse for the next week or so. I'm finding however that the longer I'm away, the less I mind...

Easy-living on the East Coast...

Bret here again. On Monday we took the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan then took the subway to the see the progress on the World Trade Center. Several buildings going up around the main site. They’ve even built up to the ground floor where towers one and two were located. I’m sure Danielle would like to share her thoughts on this particular visit, so I won’t go into more details at this time.

Following seeing the WTC, we journeyed into Greenwich Village to visit Anita, John-dad’s Aunt. She’s 90 years old and has lived in the same apartment for the past 50 years. We walked (albeit very slowly) the two long blocks to one of her favorite local restaurants, Café Loup. A great little French place where everybody knew her and she got the chance to introduce the last of her family to them. Apparently this is the place she always takes family when they come to town. It was quite obvious our host, Jim, is deeply taken with her. He seemed like a fantastic guy, and I’m glad she has so many people looking after her in this city.

We had a terrific visit, but all things must end. We returned to her apartment for a short visit before taking the subway, ferry and bus back to Greg-dad’s place to pick up the car. Nearly two hours later, we were on the road back to Massachusetts --- it’s now near the end of people’s work day and we got stuck in the crowds. Hard to believe people actually do this on a daily basis! It’s nice though, because we got a chance to see dad and Melodee once more on the way out of town. Amazingly, we made the drive through Brooklyn, Queens and the rest of the city with little to no traffic, so we made great time. Until… Who would have thought the last mile between Connecticut and Mass would be what takes the longest?

Returned to Mass late and tired so we decided going to Maine for L.L. Bean and lobster would not be the best thing on Tues. Pushed that to Wed and spent Tues putzing around the house. No major events there, so I’ll skip to Wed.

One of Brett’s favorite things to do is take visitors to get fresh lobster from a lobster shack in Freeport, ME. Danielle is a lobster fiend, so was completely on board. I had not yet experienced it, so admit I wanted to go as well. Maine is a 2-3 hour drive from their place, so we had to get up early in order to make a full day of things. I felt like I must be part of a Twilight Zone episode or something, as I of all people was the first one up and moving at ~6:20am. We got our clan ready for the planned 7:30 departure, but didn’t leave until 8:15 while waiting on Katie’s boys. Have D or I ever mentioned how glad we are that we’re past the toddler/young child stages of this parenting thing? I forgot how much packing/chasing/corralling is involved with any outing. Anyways… we had a pretty nice drive up to Freeport with no major issues. For those who’ve never been, Freeport is a nice little town that L.L. Bean appears to have thrown up all over. As you enter town one sign points left for the town entrance with another pointing you towards the L.L. Bean Employment office and distribution center. Downtown is filled with Bean store after Bean store interspersed with other outlet stores, restaurants and a few one-of-a-kind stores. Our group of nine would head off to our own points of interest, meet back to enjoy a packed lunch then disperse once again to get their shopping needs completed. I’m not what one would call a big shopper, so the ice cream booth and British Shop were what interested me the most.

The weather was nice, so we took a trip to the beach. The girls knew this was not a swimming beach, but they were excited to collect shells and rocks. The tide was on it’s way out, so we had fun tromping through the muck that is loosely referred to as the beach.

A little fun, but now it was time for Lobster!!

Alli really wanted one of her own and liked the taste but wouldn’t touch the thing to get any of the meat. “It’s staring at me,” she said.

D on the other hand…

That woman is sure in her element so far this trip. I’ve got to go help Tari-mom as she prepares to move into her newly renovated condo, so will end this here. Hope all is going well with everyone!

-Bret

Dziadzi: A Head Away

This week-end we spent in New York. We spent most of the time with our Dziadzi and Babci. Today we went to a BBQ at there house. Like 5 minutes after we started it started to rain. It was pouring from the start. So the BBQ was held inside. It was really nice seeing every-one again. Tomorrow we go back to Boston. But first we are going to NYC. We are going to see Anita for lunch. Then to Boston.

TTYL Love Ya!!!!!!!!!!

-- Allison <3>

Backtracking...

So, it seems Samantha missed a few things in her post yesterday, although she did remember some very important things! Let's briefly go back a couple of days.

Wednesday was travel day. Two hour drive to the Kansas City airport, then three hour flight to Boston. We used an airline we've never flown before, Midwest, and I totally recommend it. Yes, this is nervous-flier Danielle recommending an airline! It was smooth, there was more room, and they served warm cookies! And you weren't charged for them! That made up for the $3.50 we had to pay just to LEAVE the airport in the car we rented.

I don't have a welcome to Boston pic (yet) since we flew in, so in lieu of one, this is my sister and BIL's cat Arthur. Doing what I wish I were doing more of, sleeping. It just never feels late when it hits midnight or 1am, and I usually toss and turn until 2:30 or 3am. London should be a zombie-blur at this point, if I don't get some decent sleep soon.

We spent a day in Boston and Tari-Mom came over, then we all went to her condo to check out the renovating she has been doing and help her unload some things. It's quite a nice place- it fits her very nicely I think. There are some photos on the flickr site, as well as others from the strawberry picking the girls did in Katie's backyard garden. I wish I had the motivation to garden. I don't even want to mow the lawn- how I am going to keep up a garden!?!

Friday we drove down to NY and Staten Island, where Greg-Dad and his wife live (SI is where I was born). As Samantha said last post, we are staying at a Hilton, and all I can do is compare it to the other hotels we've stayed at so far this trip. The Days Inn doesn't even begin to compare, but I became more and more disappointed in the Hotel Albuquerque after being here. VERY nice. Microwave and mini fridge in room. An actual fitness CENTER vs. a fitness box like in NM, and they also had cookies! I'm starting to think the places that serve cookies are the ones that are worth sticking with...

We met up with Dad and Mel for dinner, and I ended up not feeling too well afterwards. Though I was feeling a little off the whole drive to NY, so I don't think it was the food. It did keep me from trying out the fitness center this morning, but I hope to use it tomorrow. I've been trying to make sure I do some sort of exercise every other day or so. So far it's been working pretty well. If I can maintain rather than gain, I'll be one happy camper!

Today Dad drove us into Manhattan to visit my Aunt Debbie in the hospital, who's recovering from a triple bypass. It went surprisingly well- she was out of ICU in about 24 hours, and should be going home Tuesday. She looked great to me, and it seemed she was back to her feisty self. Regina-Mom (has anyone figured out my family tree yet?) is flying in tonight to stay with her for a few weeks while she recovers. Greg-Dad and Bret are picking her up and getting her to my Aunt's.

So right now we're chilling at the hotel, going to pop in a movie, and hopefully all of us will get a little more sleep tonight, because I think we all were a little grumpy. Tomorrow the morning is pretty free, then we're heading to a BBQ at Dad's, where I will see more family that I haven't seen in ages! Will there be photos? Well, I'm sure you all know the answer to that one by now...

we're in New York!!!!!!!!!!

Today we went on a long drive to Staten Island.And we are staying at Hilton Garden Inn. we went swimming at a indoor pool in the hotel. And tomorrow we are going swimming again. And my dad is the Daddy Express in the pool. we had lot's of fun.





SAMANTHA

No Toto, we *are* still in Kansas

...at least for one more day! Sorry there haven't been any updates since we got here. If you've been checking the twitter feed you get a little bit of the happenings here and there, and there are also more photos on the flickr page. But every time I thought about doing a blog post, I was either booted off by others wanting to check their email, or I just plain didn't feel like it! Which I guess is a good thing, I'm enjoying not being AS connected as I usually am.

It's been a very good visit with Nanas, and Bret's sis Valina. Even though it's a very small town (I mean like, VERY), we still managed to keep pretty busy. Unfortunately a lot of this was due to some hours of clean up around their property from the tornado that hit a couple of weeks ago. Each day there were volunteers from K-State or Salvation Army cleaning up brush and cutting down broken trees (the photos above is from their back porch looking at the sunrise over some of their broken trees), and the city had the street closed off in order to help further up the hill where unfortunately the homes are in much worse shape. Worse shape meaning roofless in several instances. Nanas were pretty tired, but I think having some family around through it really helped their spirits. It was very sad to see all the damage and the toll it has, yet inspiring at the same time to see the good in people as they came to help. I must say I'm just a teeny bit worried about the van, as it will be sitting outside here for the next month. A tree in the middle of it would make for great photos I suppose, but I'd rather avoid that happening, heh.

We managed to spend a couple hours at the Sunset Zoo during the week, and trust me, you only need a couple of hours because it's a very tiny place. The neat thing about it was how close you could actually get to the animals, and since the weather is more agreeable, they are actually visible (unlike the Phoenix Zoo in summer!).

We also celebrated Nana's 25th wedding anniversary on Sunday. They had a small re-affirmation of their vows, and though it was unfortunate that many canceled due to the tornado, it was perfect all the same. They had their children and their grandchildren with them. It was intimate and beautiful. I asked them if they would perhaps head to Cali or New York and make it legal, but it doesn't really matter if it's not acknowledged in the state they are living in. For now, it's acknowledged by those who do matter, and I can't help but smile at the irony of their "unofficial" marriage lasting 25 years. Take that, haters!

Have I talked about the food yet? I feel like all we've done when we weren't actually moving is eat. I'm trying SO hard to be good, but I'm in the midwest! It's a meat-and-potatoes kind of town. I think I've had my body weight in beef over this past week. We did get treated to a couple of local favorites though. A great breakfast cafe in a converted office space, and some Jamaican food out by the reservoir. They were the sort of places that you wouldn't know about unless you know someone who lives here, and the food was pretty darn good at both of them. Bret and I also got a treat of dinner and a movie, to which we went sprinting out the door to escape the kiddies for a few hours. I know, how original. Dinner and a movie. There's one theater in this town friends- you tell me what else we were gonna do?!

There are also a couple of birthdays! Samantha's was yesterday, and tomorrow is Allison's. (For those who might be a little confused, we celebrated them last month so they could have parties with their friends). Now they are officially 8 and 11, respectively. We had a party for them on Saturday night. They really did enjoy spending their birthdays with their Nanas.

So now our time on this portion of our trek is coming to an end. Tomorrow everyone is heading out horseback riding. I'm staying behind and will start getting things together for our flight to Boston Wednesday. We will be there for one day, then we head down to NYC/Staten Island for the weekend to see more family, then one more week in the Boston area before we leave for London! We will be meeting up with some podcast friends while in MA- the Wicked Good family and ScottyJ! (Or, "crazy Scott" as my children call him.) Hmmm... this might be a good opportunity to pull out the H2 and get some audio. Politics, anyone? ;-)

~Dani

Hello... We're in Kansas

Danielle let me guest-blog today, as I wanted to share my thoughts on the adventure so far. Albuquerque is pretty well captured by D below, so I won’t bore you with those details again; however, I will rehash a little wrt the Royal Gorge Bridge. I wasn’t too sure about going, but know D was excited to see some things along our route to Kansas so I obliged. It is an impressive structure and had enough activities to keep both the kids (ok, all three of us) entertained for most of the day. We started out with a ride on the carousel then walked the great span across. Both the girls were a bit disappointed as they were too tall to ride the burros --- it looks like they might get a chance to go horseback riding next week, so that should more than make up for things. We took the tram back across then the railroad cars to the bottom. I would highly recommend everyone visit once if you get a chance. D mentioned one could spend more than a day here, but once and for only a day was enough for me. I wouldn’t mind trying the sky-coaster or rafting down the river some day, but one day at the park itself is plenty for me. Our mascot seemed to have a good time too:

We watched a short movie on the making of the park (about 15 mins of advertisement and 4 mins of useful facts, in my opinion), and I found it amusing they stated the Royal Gorge was cut through sheer granite --- unlike Arizona’s Grand Canyon which was carved through layers of dirt! A little, “My state is better than your state…. Nyaaah!” going on, I think.

Another long drive to Kansas (~8.5 hrs), but all seem to be holding up well. D was very impressed with the cleanliness and high quality of the Kansas rest-stops (we only stopped at one, but it sure made an impression).

Mom’s place is still standing. Not a tree top over 20 feet high and they had to have about 8-10 trees cut down and removed, but the house is intact. Both her and Sue are a little distraught at the mess the storm left, but I keep telling them how lucky they are --- the house made it through without much damage and more importantly, they made it through without any harm or injury!!! For all my views (prejudices?) on Kansas, I must say how thoroughly impressed I am with the kindness of people here. Not 5 mins after we arrived, the Dean of Mom’s college and his wife pulled up and quietly started hauling brush and debris off the property. Two other professors from her college have been working feverishly for the past two days cutting down trees and hauling limbs to the curb. When I went out to introduce myself and thank them for their generosity, there response was simply, “it felt like the right thing to do. We’re just sorry we couldn’t be here earlier.” I have hopes for the future of humanity knowing people are still kind-hearted no matter how Bush and the rest of his cronies act in the face of tragedy. [Had to throw a small political rant in here to make you feel at home reading a post on her blog ;-)]

Mom just left to drive the 2.5 hrs to the Kansas City Airport to get Valina and it started pouring not 2 mins after she left. Guess we’re done moving brush for the day. Thanks for letting me get my thoughts out, and I hope you found it almost as interesting as when D posts.

-Bret

A Day At The Bridge

Unfortunately the WiFi here at the Days Inn is not the greatest, and after several attempts to upload some photos to flickr, then a smaller photo here with no luck, I'm not going to try any more. Which really bums me out- I'm sure it's more fun to see the photos than just read my ramblings!

We made it to Colorado Springs last night, and then today headed out to see the Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City. Bret didn't quite understand why I thought we would need a good three or four hours at a bridge, until he saw it. It's an entire park set up around, over, and under the bridge to amuse you for days if you wanted. The bridge itself is the highest suspension bridge ever built, with the Arkansas River rushing through at the bottom of the gorge. You can walk or drive across the bridge to the other side. We walked, though Sam became a little wary as we hit the halfway mark and you could really feel the bridge sway.

In the main entrance there are a few different activities you can do. They've got a carousel set up across from the gift shop. Then as you head towards the bridge, you can take the tram across instead, or the incline train down to the river. They've also got a regular train ride that goes through the gorge, offering either a short trip, or if you plan ahead you can take a dinner ride.

On the other side of the bridge they have burro rides, a small wildlife trail with elk and bison, petting zoo, and also their main attraction, the Sky Coaster. You lie flat on your stomach, they take a crane and pull you back, you release the cord, and you fly out over the ledge and get a view down into the gorge. Looks like quite a rush- I took video of some poor souls screaming their heads off. This was not part of the main admission, go figure.

Finding this place was my idea, and I think the rest of the family enjoyed themselves. You could easily spend a few days doing different activities. They also offer white water rafting, and there are campgrounds close by as well. A very beautiful area, and I think we visited just before they started getting the bulk of their summer visitors, because it was not extremely busy either. It was a really enjoyable day, and I can't wait to show you all a few photos!

Though that might have to be even more delayed as we head to Kansas tomorrow morning. It's another 7 or 8 hour drive for one thing. Also, Manhattan, Kansas was hit with a tornado a week or so ago, and though their house is fine, they are still waiting for their cable to return. This means unless I sneak away to the Panera's down the street, I will be out of internet commission until Boston on the 25th. Which honestly is not that bad of a thing. Other than keeping me company during times like now when I'm not able to sleep, I've only been using the computer to dump our photos and see if anyone replied to the twitters I have been posting throughout the days. I've still got plenty of podcasts to catch up on, and I even have those paper things with the words inside too if I get REALLY desperate!

We are all holding out pretty well so far, now 5 days into our travels. We're all very tired, I think. It's been a very busy beginning to our trip, and a whole lot of driving. We look forward to seeing Lorri and Sue in Kansas, and being able to spend more than just a few days in one place and relax. The girls actual birthdays are next week, and they are both very excited not only to see their Nanas, but spend their birthdays with them. Bret's sister Valina is coming out too, so that's just an added bonus!

Oh, and laundry. Definitely need to do some laundry.

As soon as I'm able to, I will update again, and get some more photos up!

Mazel Tov from Albuquerque!

I'm so very exhausted but wanted to get a blog post done before I crashed. Amazing how I'm up earlier than I normally am at home- and it's only an hour time difference! Aren't you supposed to sleep in on vacation?? However, it's my own doing. I met my sister both Saturday morn and today down at the fitness center and got a workout in. I think I'll skip it tomorrow though.

This morning began (after the workout) with a small happy Father's Day for Bret in our room. The girls made him a shirt, and we thought it would be nice to keep the moment between the 4 of us. After that we met the rest of the clan downstairs in the restaurant for breakfast, and also gave some Happy Birthday wishes to Tari-Mom. Then we all trekked it into Old Town Albuquerque to wander and try and find a gem/rock/shiny things store for the kids.

We didn't. Unfortunately the kaleidoscope store was closed too. But it was nice to wander around, and we found a great chili store with just about every sort of chili sauce your intestines can (and can't) handle. The names were great too- so great I really hoped my kids didn't notice any of them (yes I took photos). We also found a rattlesnake museum as well, but we ended up skipping it because the kids found their rocks in the gift shop and that was good enough for them.

Bret is slowly getting over his virus, which is good, because he's tired of not being able to eat what he wants and feeling so warn out so fast. Who wants that on vacation? He managed to go down and swim with us after we returned from Old Town for a bit. The girls and I stayed longer enjoying the slightly cooler weather, then it was time to get ready for the reason we came to Albuquerque in the first place. My Aunt Peggy's wedding.

It was a new experience for me. I've been to many a Catholic wedding, I've been to a Mormon wedding. This wedding was a Jewish ceremony. It was held at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, in their back gardens. Although it was a little warm, it was still a beautiful ceremony. Allison said she really liked hearing the parts in Hebrew. Samantha said she liked seeing the glass smashed. Not a dry eye from any of the Radin side when a short remembrance of John-Dad was read. I really wish he could have been there, yet it seemed like he was...

The kids unfortunately didn't fare too well with the vegan dinner that was served. Allison did ok and at least tried it, but Samantha and my nephew Jonah got a surprise visit from the McDonald's fairy. The cake was great too. One tier white, one tier chocolate, and one tier vegan coconut. Quite yummy!

My brother, Andy, photographed the wedding as an official gig to get his new photography business going. He's amazing, if any of you on twitter clicked any of the links to his blog during his Asia travels, you know what I mean. It was a lot of fun watching him work, although it did stink he couldn't really be a *part* of the festivities because he was working. He won't be in any of the wedding photos!

Another very special part of the evening for me, was meeting one of the Radin cousins, Janet. She is a violist who is a career movie-soundtrack-orchestra-music person (is there an official name for that?). She's worked on a gazillion movies, like The Simpsons Movie, Home Alone, ALL of the Indiana Jones movies (not including the latest) and a slew of others over the years! Ever since I moved in with my foster family, John-Dad was always trying to arrange a meeting between us (since I played viola), which just never seemed to work out. Tonight I finally met her, after about 17 years. It was wonderful, and I know Dad would be so pleased that we finally met. Just wish he could have been there for it. What's weird? I kept finding myself thinking, "I have to tell Dad I finally met Janet!" I don't think I'll ever be used to him being gone. I'm sure I'm not the only one who missed him a little more tonight.

Now, here it is well after 1am, and I'm trying to get this finished and upload a few photos. Tomorrow we are heading up to Colorado after spending the morning with the fam, so the first stop on our Summer of Fun is nearly over. I will see many of these family members again in a week or so when we get to Boston, so it won't be TOO sad of a goodbye.

Onward we go! PS- you can click the photo above to get to the flickr site and a few more photos. I will automatically do this from now on!

The Cutler's Summer Of Fun Begins!

This was one long day. After goodbyes to the dog and stopping to top off the gas tank, we were on our way!

Unfortunately, a meanie stomach virus that Allison was being bothered with made it's way over to Bret, so our trip took just a bit longer. However, I now know all the rest stops from Phoenix to Albuquerque. This also meant I drove the entire way, which makes me rather drained right now. Bret offered several times, but I didn't want to stress him with that on top of not feeling well.

We did manage to have a good drive up though. We stopped at the Petrified Forest for lunch, then took a route through a bit of the Painted Desert before reconnecting with I-40. Absolutely stunning. I will probably upload a few photos to Flickr tonight. I will do that periodically throughout the trip, then when we get home I will upload everything else. If today was any indication, we should have thousands of photos to sort through once we're home! Yikes!

Anyway, we got into town around 8:30, then met up with the family. SO good to see them! Tomorrow Katie and I are going to check out the fitness center here at the hotel. Oh heck, we might even exercise too! I certainly know there is a beautiful pool out there that will require my attention tomorrow as well... but for now, I rest.

Clearing the dust... preparing for adventure!

Updated some links, deleted some things. Summer is here, and I'm about to head out for a 6-week adventure with my family. Where better to put the adventures in a place that has been very VERY neglected since September?

June 13th is when the fun begins, and we drive out to Albuquerque for my (foster) Aunt's wedding. I absolutely love that we are leaving on Friday the 13th! (13 is my favorite/lucky number) From there it's to Colorado on the 16th, then Kansas. We fly to Boston after that, on the 25th or 26th , then from there a few days in NYC. BACK to Boston, and over the Atlantic for 8 days in London! Then the trip in reverse, minus a couple of stops. We should be back home sometime at the end of July.

Then I sleep, and count the days until school begins. ;-)

You can grab this feed in the sidebar to follow with ease, or you will definitely see updates via Twitter, as well as photos being uploaded periodically on Flickr. I won't have regular podcasts, but I am bringing the mobile podcast gear along, so you might have a surprise update here and there in the podcast feed. :-)

So... away we go!

Some days I miss you more than others, Dad

You all know what I want you to do. Swab in the mouth and you're done. (Click on letter for larger graphic)

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/index.html?src=join

Attention Arizona New-Media types!

Won't you join me? I'm so very excited for the first annual Podcamp AZ- it's sure to be a blast! Click on the invite for more info, or head HERE.

A "Considerate Dreamer"

You are a Dreamer

Your combination of abstract thinking, appreciation of beauty, and cautiousness makes you a DREAMER.

You often imagine how things could be better, and you have very specific visions of this different future.

Beauty and style are important to you, and you have a discerning eye when it comes to how things look.

Although you often think more broadly, you prefer comfort to adventure, choosing to stay within the boundaries of your current situation.

Your preferences for artistic works are very refined, although you vastly prefer some types and styles to others.

Though your dreams are quite vivid, you are cautious in following up on them.

You are aware of both your positive and negative qualities, so that your ego doesn't get in your way.

A sense of vulnerability sometimes holds you back, stifling your creative tendencies.

You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.

You do your own thing when it comes to clothing, guided more by practical concerns than by other people's notions of style.

If you want to be different:

Your imagination is a wonderful asset, but don't just dream—be bold enough to take action and explore new things.

Consider a wider range of details and possibilities when thinking about the present and the future—don't be too set in your ways.

You are Considerate

You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.

You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.

You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.

Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you're somewhat shy and reserved at times.

Your belief that people are generally well-intentioned contributes to your sympathy regarding their problems.

Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people's behavior.

You like to look at all sides of a situation before making a judgment, particularly when that situation involves important things in other people's lives.

Your close friends know you as a good listener.

If you want to be different:

Because other people would benefit immensely from your understanding and insight, you should try to be more outgoing in social situations, even when they make you uncomfortable. Others will want to hear what you have to say!


(scroll over colors to see assessment)

Well, those who know me? On target or full of crap? Link me to yours!

Widen Your Circle Of Compassion

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."

Albert Einstein - (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921

Is Sedona Calling?

Yes.. it's astrology. What of it? ;-)

Free Will Astrology
Week of August 15

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "I am in continuous pursuit of the color red," says artist Andy Goldsworthy, whose specialty is creating large outdoor sculptures made of natural objects. "As I approach the source of the color red, the more I understand it." That's why he's so fond of red rocks, whose hue comes from iron, the same element that makes our blood red.

Your next assignment, Taurus, is to develop a more intimate and expansive relationship with red. Color therapists say that it inspires vigor, zeal, determination, and primordial longing. But don't just let the experts define your connection with red. Find your own meanings, too.

A good day of nothing

Just a quick YAY post.

Well, it started out with me getting rather freaked with my stupid "stalker". No, I realize he's not really a stalker. However, he did decide to start harassing me personally on his little show, then followed me over to my message board to further cause me grief. Which really, I never should have even let him in, in the first place. But as my dear friend Dave will tell you- that is what I do. Give people chances. I'm just an optimist at heart, I suppose. It all ready bit me in the ass too- as I've all ready had to delete his sexist ways from a thread.

So I noticed that he wrote a review of my podcast on the Podcast Pickle website, and (duh) it wasn't a good one. I would never expect it to be a good one- but I got a giggle that he took the time, and made a comment about it on another place I network socially. About 10 minutes later I get a message from him on the pickle saying he was told by someone I referred to him as "stalker", and what that meant. So, I promptly blocked him from contacting me there.

Then I spent the next two hours changing my preferences to friends only and weeding through requests for people to follow my messages. In that, I think I found the culprit. But I was SO annoyed that I actually had to cut myself off from the public somewhere on the internet- I've NEVER felt the need to do that before.

Anyway, so as I was doing that, two neat-o things happened. The first was from a fellow podcaster inviting me to be part of a panel about women in podcasting at this year's Podcast and New Media Expo. I didn't even know there was going to be a panel! (which will be Friday at noon, over at the LA Podcaster's booth on the expo floor.) So there are two panels I'm going to be a part of now that weekend, this one along with the Political Roundtable I'm hosting. Then my dear BTF Tabz asked me to put together an audio about listening to a podcast (the basic how and where). Which is pretty much done since I've done one in the past, so YAY!

It definitely cheered me today-a small boost of validation. Not to mention my kiddos going back to school! We ALL needed them to go back, kids included! So what could have turned bad, ended up being a pretty good day.

Tomorrow, I actually DO something though... hehe I got my day of serenity.

Words are the same, we just change who says them!

I take you now, to 1994...

I don't blame her for being angry

This seemed like a good post to end Blogging Against Racism Week on. As much as I enjoy the education I receive about race from wonderful, insightful, honest bloggers such as Field Negro and Free Slave, I feel I can connect more with Angry Black Woman's blog and view. Maybe it's the fact we're both women? I have no clue.

Regardless, she is very good at making me see things I totally never would have seen because I'm a white gal. Things I completely take for granted because of my skin color. For instance, click the title of this entry and get an example. The Television Universe is white, apparently:

"I love writing SF, reading SF, and watching SF television. I used to love watching SF television a lot more. now I’m just left wondering why the universe is so fucking full of white people.~Major case in point: Battlestar Galactica. I’m speaking of the new show here, not the old one. If you look at that show for about 10 minutes (any 10 minutes will do) you might notice that there is a major lack of people of color. It’s not a trick, that’s just how the whole show is. I don’t watch this show. I have watched some episodes and I have heard a lot about it, but I missed the mini-series and thus couldn’t get into it at first.

"12 colonies or planets filled with humans. So far I have seen exactly 2 black people (one was killed 42 minutes after he showed up on the screen), one Asian person (who isn’t even human, she’s a Cylon in disguise), one Latino person (whose son, for some crazy reason, is played by a white dude), and that’s it. The rest of the people are all white. White people everywhere. This is stupid. If you have billions of humans on 12 planets I refuse to believe that only the white people would survive. Statistics say so. Unless there weren’t many black people on the colonies to begin with.

I think the backstory is that Earth was the home colony that people flew away from millennia ago. Apparently only white people were smart enough to build spaceships to fly away from earth and took along a few darkies so that they could create some ‘exotic’ babies every now and then. Or maybe SciFi channel just sucks ass. I think that might be the case.

"What else can you say about a network that allowed the guy who made the Earthsea movie turn all of the people white except for that one guy? On Stargate the black people are all slaves, but the white people might be slaves or they might be rulers or they might be accountants. On Atlantis they gathered together scientists and military folks from countries all over the world, and yet the only person of color from Earth is the one military guy. All of the other black folks come from another galaxy. From backwards, tribal planets no less. Oh, except for that one Asian chick in that one episode.

Don’t get me started on Andromeda."

Really- I never would have given it a second thought- and never did. That is exactly my privilege- to not see color right away. When I put myself in a person of color's position (and I am in no way implying that I ever really can- just trying to see from their perspective), it's very obvious. Such an imbalance, in a world that is supposed to be working towards equality. I say "working towards", because this is just another example of how we have in no way achieved it.

Now, if you look through the comments on this blog entry, some ignorance shines through:

"By the way, if it sucks so bad that Sci-FI has too many white people, why don’t you lobby BET for some F&SF productions? Tired of Euro fantasy worlds filled with caucasians? Write your own and get them published. The ancient histories and pantheons of the aboriginal people of Australia or the inhabitants of Africa seem to be rich fodder for this kind of development.

Personally I think it’s sad that anyone who enjoys F&SF can be so totally stuck on race, that they feel they need to boycott or pitch a fit until “more people like them” start showing up. As I have already stated, half the time in F&SF the heroes and main characters aren’t even human, so why the huge hangup on skin color?

Let’s shave Chewbacca and find out what color he is! He’s probably white too! AIIGHEEEEEEEE!

Silly."

Always the automatic comeback- the "if you don't like it, then YOU do something about it". Always pushing the responsibility off on someone else. And this was a laugh- just go write your own stuff! Now, ABW may be a writer, but I'm sure there are plenty of Sci-Fi Fantasy lovers who are people of color who are not writers. No, the responsibility falls on those who choose to portray people of color the way they do. Then to suggest they ask a "black network" to air more of the these type of shows, just reveals how deep in privilege this person is.

Lobby BET for the diversity in programming? Wow, is he serious? Which analogy would be better for that comment- sit at the back of the bus, or drink from your own fountain?

There should be more diversity on the networks most of the white people watch- period. I had thoughts about this a couple of months ago when I watched Roots. It's the 30th year anniversary of the film, and where could you see it? TVOne. Now, how many people have TVOne? And really, how are you going to get through to those who REALLY need to see it? (meaning: white people).

Point being, that movie should be on a major network every year (I'll let you figure out the month). Major TV channels should have their writers write more diversely. There needs to be a higher awareness. You certainly can't get the people more aware, if you can't have the programming they watch be more aware and sensitive to race.

And no, aliens on sci-fi shows do not count.

Scheduled To Die For Not Killing Anyone

From Democracy Now last Thursday:

Three weeks from today, a 30-year-old African American man on death row in Texas is scheduled to be executed. Kenneth Foster was sentenced to death ten years ago for the murder of Michael LaHood, a white man. The trial judge, the prosecutor, and the jury that sentenced him to die admit he never killed anyone. Foster is scheduled to be executed under a controversial Texan law known as the law of parties. The law imposes the death penalty on anybody involved in a crime where a murder occurred. In Foster's case he was driving a car with three passengers, one of whom left the car, got into an altercation and shot LaHood dead. We broadcast a rare interview of Kenneth Foster from death row and speak to his family in Texas as well a journalist who has closely followed his case.

On Tuesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied death row prisoner Kenneth Foster's final appeal. In a six-to-three decision the appeals court denied Foster's final writ of habeas corpus. Foster's last recourse is the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Texas Governor Rick Perry. According to Foster's criminal attorney, Keith Hampton, five of the seven board members must recommend clemency in order for Governor Perry to consider granting it. Kenneth Foster's scheduled execution date is August 30th.

http://savekenneth.blogspot.com/
http://www.freekenneth.com/

Definitely a good episode of this show to listen to. I can't think of a single reason this man should be put to death. All because of a stupid ass-backward law.