not for the faint of heart

CNN, the venerable leader of all news media outlets, has posted a story about (shock!) animals being mistreated at a slaughterhouse. As if slaughter weren't mistreatment enough, right?

Anyway, fair warning. Here's what the tape (whih I am too faint-of-heart to watch) shows:

The video shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter.

Can you imagine? Stand up, lazy sick cow, so we can eviscerate you! Not to mention (as the article does) the implications for the quality and heathfulness of the meat. Reason number ten million why I am not eating meat--I can't guarantee the sanitation, contamination risk, etc. And lord knows we can't trust the government to keep an effective watch, either. Scary!

This isn't intended as a vegetarian polemic, either. I hate those people. But I think we should all really investigate where our food comes from, and how it is prepared, etc. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the modern-day ills this country is afflicted with start with our food sources (ancient Rome, anyone?) and if we all pay a little more attention, we can root some of them out.

thinking of marquez instead of finishing the book

i have almost finished reading "love in the time of cholera". i tore through "100 years of solitude" this summer, and upon finishing it, told jeremy, "that's the best book i am ever going to read. i should just stop now." i mention all this for a few reasons: i have been 30 pages from the end of "cholera" for a nearly a week, and yet i can't bring myself to finish it. there sort of spell marquez's work exists in--well, it is difficult to leave it! and also, the prevailing opinion (even among people i respect and adore) is that "cholera" is essentially worthless in comparison to "solitude".

i'll grant the books are substantially different--"cholera" is all about love, the thousands of types of love, the past, time, how we change and who we become (as though we are all always living with the ghosts of who we were or who someone else was...you have to read this book!). and "solitude" is more perfectly executed as a masterful plot. but i suspect that as people with two children say you don't love one more, you love them both differently, that should be the feeling with these two novels.

it's just that "solitude" is like the peyton manning, and "cholera" is the eli manning.

but guess what? peyton won his superbowl, and now eli is going too!

anxious for baseball much, angela?

this is always how it starts--evie napping, jeremy passed out on the couch...an innocent afternoon of youtube-ing leads, inevitably, to watching far too many fan-made tigers tributes set to, you guessed it, "the eye of the tiger".

my love for joel zumaya (in a "hey, let me buy you a beer and talk about your pitch selection" kind of way, not a "hey, i'm going to throw you my bra" kind of way) is well documented. who wouldn't love a man whose every pitch seems to require that, as soon as the ball is firmly in ivan rodriguez's mitt, one add "bitches"? as in, "strike, bitches", or "88-mile-an-hour change-up, bitches". (i love using the phrase"bitches and hos" or just plain "bitches" in reference to sports. which is funny, as i am a feminist, and have an above-average vocabulary. incidentally, this is also why i won't ever be a professional color commentator or play-by-play caller...my mouth is too filthy. hah! who wants to podcast tiger's games with me this year? like "mystery science 3000" for baseball?)

anyway. here's a full, hilarious and fantastic breakdown of the greatness that is joel zumaya. send him healing thoughts. think spring...training!

Voodoo Sabermetrics - Joel Zumaya « The Extrapolater

His left arm has a large flame and cross tattoo on it, which acts as foreshadowing of what’s to come for the batter: fire from God. On its own, this isn’t a lot, but when Zumaya’s allergies are acting up his left eye shifts Terminator red. With one ocular ablaze, for you, Joel Zumaya, a Victory V-12 with 12% alcohol.

Powered by ScribeFire.

it's evie's birthday!

as of 6:06 p.m., our little bear will be three.

i plan to celebrate by NOT having a major surgery, making a few cupcakes, and lighting some candles!

goodness, this makes me feel old.

in honor of the NH primary...

...you should read this!

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/526482501.html

stubborn much?

so evie has been having a difficult time staying in bed. she normally comes into the bedroom a few nights a week and makes a little bed next to ours, but over the last few weeks it has been constant. she's also been fighting staying in bed the minute we put her in for the night, and when she wakes up in the wee night hours she is unreasonable/mean/screaming, etc. i know--parenthood.

those are all the crappy things that happen when yr child is trying very hard to outlast your will and get you to let her sleep in bed with you/take her to bed again/tuck her in/scare the monsters away (by the way, she thinks rudy guiliani is a monster, and calls her monsters guiliani monsters!). those, and my being freakishly tired lately, but unable to sleep.

anyhow, last night was another such night. after the attempts to get daddy to take her back to bed (before the middle of the night scream fest) seemingly failed (he said no) we heard our little bear go at least part of the way to her room and cry. the crying stopped after a few minutes, and we thought she must have climbed into bed and admitted defeat.

defeat? how wrong--not this child! her stubbornness makes jeremy and i look like absolute pushovers.

new year’s wrap-up

standout moments of the year: watching the sunrise over Lake Superior with Evie and Jeremy; having the entire family together on Christmas Eve; learning a new fantastic board game (settlers of catan); the look on Evie’s face when we brought Beans home; the warm reviews and good “sales” numbers for my book.

new additions: dog (Beans!), niece Autumn, nephew Luke

preggo pals: at least 5!

people getting new last names: three (Maggie, Amanda and Courtney) wonderful ladies with three equally wonderful partners!

lesson learned: relationships are hard. but not nearly as hard as we make them.

happiness meter: through the roof!

books of the year: “On Beauty” (Zadie Smith), “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

random surprises: deciding 4 months ago to vote for Ron Paul; finding out I was written into a will; being a house-wife

not-so-surprises: I hate doing laundry;

sporting disappointments: Tigers not making the playoffs (but I’m still proud of my boys!); I’d say something about the Lions, but I’m just grateful for the 7 wins.

things that will just never change: my hate-hate relationship with Tom Brady/U-M football; Lions (see above)

friends and family thank yous: to everyone. I am difficult, I know. but thanks for listening, and letting me lean on you.

resurgent favorites: family guy reruns (thanks, tbs!); making lists/group blogging with the girls; coloring with crayons (after Evie is in bed!)

resolutions: be less uptight (i.e. bitchy) and judgmental; write more; stop smoking/get into marathon shape; write actual letters; play more softball this summer; read over 70 books; give yoga a fourth chance; be more patient.