Trips, Media and Things

The countdown is on. Soon we will be heading for St. Louis and Shriners Hospital in hopes that David will have new found or at least better mobility. I would do almost anything to ensure that he has the most amazing and independent life possible. I just wish I had known about Shriners sooner.

Life is starting to make sense again....or at least as much sense as life ever makes. Friday will be Z's 16th birthday. I can hardly believe it. It really doesn't seem possible that it has been 16 years. Wow how time does fly. I remember 16 being such a milestone in my life. I was finally able to pierce my ears, drive and date. I felt so grown up but the reality was....I was still just a baby. It is hard to look at Z and see my baby because he is a very grown up young man, but when I look into his beautiful blue eyes.....I still see the little boy he once was. Z has asked for very little for his birthday (other than friends over and karaoke) but I know he wants a tattoo and I am debating it. His wanting a tattoo is the equivalent of me wanting my ears pierced at his age. Different fad....same need to cross lines and be a bit rebellious. Lord help me if the wrong people find out though. So it is a dilemma I will ponder for a few more days.

Yesterday I took my car in to make sure it was road ready for this trip. Since it took a while to do all that was necessary I waited in the lounge where a TV was. My self imposed media black out was circumvented by the fact that I had no control over the channel being watched. For over an hour I watched the same news over and over again and honestly.....none of it was good. I watched the cruise ship sink in Italy all the while hearing the coast guard 911 tape incriminating the cruise ship captain for incompetence and failing to keep his passengers safe. WOW! I currently have no desire to cruise anywhere.

I also watched the highlights from the previous nights GOP debates. Since I didn't watch the actual debate (had no real desire to) I was left at the mercy of the news channel and which ever sound bites from the debate they chose to focus on. I was left with the impression that Ron Paul was a dud and that the race would be between Newt Gingritch and Mitt Romney. The one I am interested in.... Rick Santorum was kind of left in limbo (according to this particular news outlet anyway). I so dread this election year. I know it will be an ugly one and I really have no idea at this point who I would actually vote for....but I am of the mind that just about anyone is better than what we currently have. Don't hate folks...it is just my opinion.

Finally....the last piece of news that kept flashing was the fact that the middle east is building their armed forces along with their arsenal in preparation for a strike against the US. Apparently they are stronger now than ever (or at least will be in the next 6 months) and they definitely have an axe to grind with us. They have not been this much of a threat since the 1970's and now they have more reason to hate us in light of the last decade. Granted...this would not be the first country who had a beef with the US, but are we prepared for such an attack? It appears that some holding current office believe in taking a "golden rule/turn the other cheek" attitude. That is great if the other countries have the same philosophy (and they don't). It is pretty hard to turn the other cheek when it has been blown off by nuclear weapons.

Sigh! I so did not want to get political. This is what watching the news gets you. I think I will go back to my media blackout and focus on the tasks ahead. Oops.....have to give an opinion on one other little tid bit of news. While this is media pushed my info on it came from the internet and sites I use. Apparently legislation is trying to be passed to stop piracy of music, books and movies. Piracy is theft and quite honestly if I created something and my livelihood rested on the ability to be able to sell it to the public, then yes....I too might be quite miffed if others were just taking it illegally. I know that especially music and movies are downloaded illegally by the millions every day. It is in fact stealing and it is in fact wrong. That being said....the government is trying to use this as a way to play Big Brother more than they already do. They are using the piracy issue as a way to infringe on individuals privacy and censor anything they found offensive or possibly infringing. Sadly...the movie industry, music industry and many publishing houses are behind this legislation and are pushing to get it passed quickly. What this would mean for you and I is our privacy is put at risk (anything we do on the internet will be watched, recorded and quite possibly censored) even though only a fraction of the people are involved in the piracy. There has to be a better way...and I truly hope they find it. Government already has their nose so far up peoples business that any more and we might as well just give up and call ourselves China.

Okay...so now I will delve into the business of trip preparing. I am excited, nervous and very anxious but after talking to several who have been to Shriners and have had very positive experiences I have great hope for next week. I am sure the blogs will be flying before, during and after the journey. Please keep us in your good thoughts and prayers that we have a safe and successful trip. And now....I'm off!