SoapBoxBlog

Earaches

A co-worker of mine was telling me this morning about his daughter's experience last night with an earache. I felt badly for him, as I could tell it was frustrating for him to see her in such pain and not be able to do anything for her [that he knew of] other than give her antibiotics.

I remembered how when I was young, I suffered regularly from earaches and almost had to have tubes put in my ear canals [as if that in itself wouldn't hurt]. But due to that experience, I imparted to him in an email a wee bit of wisdom and trivia all rolled into one nice package that could just possibly help with easing his daughter's pain.

When I was little and had an earache, my mom used to put her hot water bottle thing on my ear, filled with HOT water [actually, I laid on it]. It felt so much better and I’d sleep to the sounds of sloshing water. Of course, once I was older, I realized that’s the thing she used when douching.

Apparently, some of my most comforting memories of childhood are thanks to a douche bag.

[updated to include a link to a Wikipedia article for those too young to know what I'm talking about -- it's the second picture. Sheesh.]

Copyright © 2002 - 2008 SoapBoxBlog. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.

The Math

Quick and dirty:

First, let's remember that winning a state's primary or even a bunch of states' primaries doesn't mean a given candidate can win that particular state in the general election [which is the one that really counts].

If we take away the states that both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have won that have not gone Blue in over 30 years, we'll remove Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma from Clinton. From Obama, we'll remove Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina [haven't gone Blue since 1976] and Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia, Wyoming [haven't gone Blue since 1964] and Utah and Maine.

That leaves us only with states that have gone either way or True Blue for the past 30 years in the general election.

With the perennial Red states removed, Senator Obama is left with 137 possible electoral votes. Senator Clinton however, is left with 243 possible electoral votes. [This does not include either Florida or Michigan.]

Additional trivia: No candidate has become President without winning Missouri and no Republican has become President without winning Ohio.

This isn't fairy dust or wishful thinking; this is just the facts and simple math. I offer it simply as is, with no further commentary.

UPDATE: Here's another look at the numbers by Anglachel. Even the comments on that post offer up interesting tid-bits.

When is a Lesbian Not a Lesbian?

At first, I thought this was an April Fools' joke... but it's about a month too late.

Islanders File Suit Over Term 'Lesbian'

Damn... an entire island with residents who have been lesbians for thousands of years. And not a damn one of them who would give a shit about The L Word.

Trivia: Lesbos Island

FL Legislature: Women May Actually Think After All

This story shows that apparently the Florida legislature still isn't completely convinced women can make informed medical decisions on their own without the assistance of stick figures or drawings. Maybe a flow chart would help?

Even though the bill failed to pass, the only reason it did fail was because a tie [20-20] does not constitute a majority. That means that fully half of the voting legislators here don't believe that women have the mental capacity to make an informed medical decision on their own behalf and therefore need to be shown photos of their insides so they can then mull it over just a little bit more.

You know because we women, when making the decision to have an abortion, don't actually think about it at all. We just show up, not really knowing what it is we're there to do. We being just such silly, emotional creatures and all.

The vote followed a tense and emotional debate over whether the idea simply gave women more information to better enable them to make an informed decision or was just an impediment to abortions.

This in no way was meant to better equip women for anything. It was a flat out attempt to once again throw a monkey wrench into the idea that women have any bodily autonomy.

All your uterus are belong to us.

New Sunglasses

I bought some new sunglasses from Zenni Optical. They advertise complete prescription glasses from $8. I was highly skeptical, due to my own experience of having worn glasses since the age of 7.

Last April, I bought a pair of regular prescription glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses to the tune of over $400. I usually keep wearing the same glasses for years, as long as the lenses/frames last and as long as my prescription doesn't change. I get my eyes checked every two years, so obviously, my prescription had changed last year. But hell, with the cost, it's ridiculous to get new glasses any more.

So, I went to Zenni's site, looked through all their frames and chose a pair I thought would make a nice pair of sunglasses. They ended up costing me all of $27, including shipping. They arrived last week [took about 1.5 weeks] and they're fantastic. They even polished the lens edges! With LensCrafters, I paid more than the cost of my new sunglasses just to get the lens edges polished.

They fit perfectly. The Zenni folks give great instructions for ensuring you can see out of your new glasses correctly. I put the new ones on and could see out of them with no problems and no "getting used to" changes. I can switch between my original glasses and my new sunglasses without any noticeable change in the prescription, other than color.

Anyway, a photo of the new shades is in the extended entry.

Don't hate me because I'm stylin'. Kind of retro, no?

Second Verse, Same As The First

I received my replacement plants from Burpee on Monday. They arrived packaged and in the same condition as the first set of plants. Now, I understand that neither Burpee nor I have any control over how the shipping company handles the plants. That said, even though I very explicitly explained to the Burpee folks the condition of the first set of plants on arrival, they still chose to send the second set packed the same way.

There is nothing to hold the dirt or the plant in place other than a piece of cardboard. I don't know about dirt up there, but down here, dirt doesn't stay in place without a sealed cover when the container it's in is turned upside down. I've decided to do my best to salvage what I can from the second shipment; one or two of the tomatoes may make a comeback. But once again, all three of the boxwood basil are severely damaged and will most likely kick the bucket.

Although I can request a refund [minus shipping], I've decided to just take this as a lesson learned and will not order from Burpee again.

The tomatoes from Lowe's are not the ones I'd wanted; I was wanting some unique-looking ones with differing colors, shapes and sizes. But, these will do and they're already three-times the size they were when I first planted them last week. These will be monsters!

Intrusion

Fuck Seal Press.

Read the comments.

Truly, amazingly stupid idea, Seal Press, to barge right on in and make assumptions. Entitled, privileged, dumbass assumptions.

UPDATE: This is another great explanation by profbwoman. Why Seal Press is OFF the Syllabus.

Yenta 1993 - 2008

Yenta, originally uploaded by CLD_SoapBoxBlog.

His little body finally gave out to the renal disease he's been living with successfully for the past two years. We miss him terribly.

Burpee Seeds

Back in January, I ordered some live tomato plants from W. Atlee Burpee & Co. They charged my card right away. I checked their site and it indicated I should receive them by April 8th.

They arrived this Monday, April 7th. I was so excited! Along with the six tomato plants, I had also ordered three Boxwood Basil plants. When they arrived, I heard the UPS truck and opened the door as he set the box [right side up] on my front porch. I quickly brought it inside and opened one of the smaller boxes up that were inside. It contained three tomato plants. All of them and all the dirt were completely dumped out and were strewn all over the inside. The other two boxes were in the same condition.

This ain't my first rodeo; I order live plants all the time. This is the first time I've ordered from Burpee, and this is the first time any plants I've ordered have arrived in this condition. Other vendors I've ordered from have had a thin piece of plastic held on with a rubber band that covered the dirt part while the plant part poked out. This kept the dirt moist and also kept the dirt in place. There was nothing like this with the way the Burpee plants were packaged.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I did my best over the next day or so to revive them. They were too damaged. This morning, I emailed Burpee and let them know the situation. I asked for replacement plants and asked that they be shipped immediately, as it heats up quickly here in Orlando [zone 9B] and if I don't get them in soon, I'll have a very limited time for fruiting and a dismal harvest.

This afternoon, a Burpee customer service rep emailed back. She apologized for the condition of the plants and said that a replacement order would be sent. She then said, "but replacement orders take approximately three weeks to be processed."

WTF? I paid for these damn things back in January. I didn't package them incorrectly. I waited patiently for them to arrive, even though I could have safely planted them last month. Now she thinks I'm going to wait another three weeks?! That puts me into May.

Yes, I'm pissed. No, I will not order from them again -- unless they make this right; and quick.

Now I'm off to Lowe's to pick up some tomato plants of lesser appeal, but that are at least viable and that I can get a decent harvest from.

Thanks for listening to my bitching. Anyone else ever have problems with live plants from Burpee's?

Dear Crocs,

I regularly check the Crocs website for new types of shoes, accessories and mostly just deals. I love my Crocs, and own at least seven pairs. I also own stock in the company. So, when I saw their line of apparel, I was kind of confused. They carry no clothing for adult women. None.

They have clothing for men, boys and girls; that's it. Sorry, but all us women will have to wait. Maybe -- that is -- if they decide to even want to consider carrying clothing for us.

Here. I wrote them an email almost ONE MONTH AGO, that they finally decided to answer today:

From: CLD
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 9:51 AM
To: Internet Services
Subject: General Product Question

General Product Question

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking this, but why don't you have any apparel for women? It's kind of silly to put your clothing line out there when it's not complete. Thanks!

Here is the response from a customer service rep:

CLD,

Thank you for your inquiry. There are many product opportunities that Crocs may consider now and in the future and women’s apparel may be one of them. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.

- Name Removed - [yes, I'm nice that way]

Customer Service Representative

6328 Monarch Park Place
Niwot, Colorado 80503
T 303.848.7135
1-866-306-3179
www.crocs.com

[emphasis and italics mine]
To which I responded:

Wow. Thanks for *maybe* considering product opportunities for half the population of adults. Geez. Do the customer service managers read the stuff you guys send out?

I'll let you know next month, when they respond, what the answer is to my question.

Who knows? Maybe by then, the Crocs folks will have considered women as actual people, with money to spend, who wear clothing and stuff and will carry a line of apparel for us.

Favor

If you have the time, please do me and BlogHer a favor and take the survey linked to the graphic below.

Thanks -- you know you love me. ;)

Club To Head

Ever have one of those days where no matter what you did, someone's thick-ass fog of privilege just wouldn't let them see the forest for the trees?

Melissa over at Shakesville pointed out a sexist dog whistle used by Senator Obama while making a statement during a press conference.

I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.

[emphasis mine]

I got the hint right away. It's one of those, "she's an emotional girl on her period" type of innuendos. I asked other women in the office what they thought about it, without any coaching on what I was looking for. Every single one of them saw what he was doing. I asked The Princess when I got home last night what she thought of the statement. Her immediate response was he was referring to her having PMS and being an emotional female.

Funny thing, in the comments on Melissa's post, there were a few folks [predominantly male] who just didn't get it. They kept arguing over side issues such as whether Obama did it intentionally or not, or over what good would it do him to invoke sexist dog whistles.

The point of the post was that we picked up on it. It's something we see/hear/feel every damn day. Some commentators took it upon themselves to declare it over-reacting or an "imagined insult". Nice.

Since when do men, who have no experience being women, come up with the idea they have any right to tell women what women do or don't see/hear/feel? Since never. Just as I, as a white woman, have absolutely no right to try tell an African American whether or not something they feel is racist is or isn't so.

These guys just wouldn't get it. It was like this:

Woman: Help! That guy just hit me in the head with a club. It hurt me.
Man: I didn't see it. He's a Good Guy, I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Did he know he did it?

Woman: That doesn't matter! It did happen and I'M HURT. Whether or not it was intentional, or whether he knew he did it, he should be told that it hurt me so he doesn't do it again.

Man: Why are you attacking me? I didn't see it and he didn't hurt me. If he did do it, it probably wasn't intentional and I'm sure he didn't know he did it. I don't agree with your version of the so-called event, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. Stop over-reacting. Oh -- and stop being so rude to me, I'm a Nice Guy and your ally.

That whole scenario above kept playing out over and over in the comments. ::head desk::

Best comment [by Ms. Shakes herself]:

Suffice it to say I do not believe we need to wait for intellectually indolent, complacent, and ignorant sexists to develop as sophisticated a capacity for identifying subtle dude cues before we consider that people who have spent their lives being the target of sexism, no less those among us who have studied how privilege is conveyed via language, might have a better capacity for identifying and communicating what is going on here than the slack-jawed morons who respond to this shit with their puny lizard brains.

Heh. She said "dude cues".

Look, we women know when something sexist is being sent afloat. Just as I wouldn't try to argue with a surgeon as to how surgery should be done [I'm not a surgeon and have no experience being one], so should men not try to tell women something isn't sexist. Just acknowledge the fact the we know see/hear/feel it and admit that you don't. Then file it away so next time you will catch it. That's how to be an ally. The patronizing, condescending bullshit excuses being made for bad behavior and language don't cut it.

And don't forget when foraging into feminist discussions: It's Not About You.

Part two of "Periodically Speaking..."

[via BJ]

We Already Voted

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is wagging his finger at the DNC, saying they should seat our Dem delegates and accept our primary votes. This, from the guy who along with his Republican buddies in the Florida legislature made sure that our primary would be moved up, in violation of DNC rules. You seriously think they didn't know what they were doing?

And Gov. Dean, who for some strange reason has not caught on to this fact, is urging Florida to try and prepare and fund a do-over primary. Do you honestly think we're going to pay for this?! We voted already. Record numbers of us. WE ALREADY FUCKING VOTED. Was that clear enough, Gov. Dean?

"The rules were set a year and a half ago," Dean said. "Florida and Michigan voted for them, then decided that they didn't need to abide by the rules. Well, when you are in a contest you do need to abide by the rules. Everybody has to play by the rules out of respect for both campaigns and the other 48 states."

Hey DNC, Dean and you other 48 states: Florida voters -- specifically Florida Democrats -- did not authorize, approve of, agree with, nor ask for our primary to be moved up. We just wanted; actually expected that according to our Constitutional Rights, OUR VOTES WOULD COUNT. We have an entire state with Democrats who are now being disenfranchised by their own party. And it's because their own party refuses to lay the blame where it rightfully belongs: on the shoulders of the Florida Republican legislators in Tallahassee.

Our legislature is dominated by Republicans. They overwhelming voted to move our primary date up. Is there anyone out there who doesn't understand this? IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE VOTERS, and yet they're punishing the voters for this. WTF?

And the candidates? Screw you dumbasses for going along with this. If you weren't on a ballot, it's because you removed your name. No one else did that to you. You did it to yourself. The "rules" or the "pledge" didn't say a thing about removing your name from any ballot, bonehead.

As I've said before, I voted and I meant it. I'm done. Either count my vote or kiss my ass. I'm not supporting that we here in Florida pay for another primary to go and do what we've already done.

Dean urges do-over voting in Fla., Mich.

Do-Over in Michigan and Florida?

Comeback Kid

There is still plenty of time and plenty of delegates to go.

Senator Clinton has shown she can take a beating and get right the hell back up. Many Dems had counted her out and asked her to drop out of the race. She stayed and fought, and proved she was right to do so.

Senator Obama can keep counting his small lead in delegates to feel better about his losses yesterday, but that's not going to help. Hillary is favored in Pennsylvania and of course, there are still the Super Delegates of which 256 are still undecided.

Big Wins for Clinton in Texas and Ohio; McCain Is In as G.O.P. Choice - New York Times

Go Hillary!

Doing The Job

Joe Wilson:

What should we make of Obama's other judgments in foreign affairs? Take Afghanistan, for example. It has been evident for some time that our efforts there are going badly and that cooperation and support from our NATO allies would be helpful. As chairman of the subcommittee on Senate Foreign Relations responsible for NATO and Europe, Obama could have used his lofty position actually to engage the issue and pressure the administration to take some action to improve our chance of success in that conflict against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Of course, that would have involved holding hearings, questioning administration witnesses, and taking a position and offering alternatives. That is what we expect that from senators in a democracy. It is called oversight.
But, instead, Obama, by his own admission, offers the excuse that he has been too busy running for president to do anything substantive, such as direct his staff to organize a single hearing. "Well, first of all," Obama was forced to confess in the Democratic debate in Ohio on February 26, "I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007. So it is true that we haven't had oversight hearings on Afghanistan." To date, his subcommittee has held no policy hearings at all -- none. At the same time that Obama claimed he was too busy campaigning to do anything substantive, racking up one of the worst attendance records in the Senate, Senator Clinton chaired extensive hearings of the Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health and attended many others as a member of the Armed Service Committee.

As a consequence of Obama's dereliction of duty on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a feckless administration has had absolutely no oversight as it careens from disaster to disaster in Afghanistan, including the central governments loss of control over 70 percent of the country and yet another bumper crop of opium to fuel the efforts of the Taliban and their terrorist allies. Of course, if you don't hold hearings, conduct oversight, make recommendations or sponsor legislation, then you have no record to explain or defend and you are free to take whatever position is convenient when attacking those who actually did address issues. Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Obama holds forth on Afghanistan, chiding the administration and our allies as though he's a profile in courage and not someone who has abandoned his post in establishing accountability.

Joseph C. Wilson: Obama's Hollow "Judgment" and Empty Record - Politics on The Huffington Post

[via Pulp Friction]