The last gasp of February 2011

Tonight is the final Saturday night of February. My psychological yardstick for survivng winter is that once we get into March, and specifically once we get past Saint Patrick's day, I know we're in the home stretch and spring is finally coming. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind winter and this winter, for me, has been bearable because at least it has snowed instead of that awful winter rain we have gotten in the past. I'll take snow anyday. Although I have to admit that, unlike Philadelphia and some of the other East Coast cities, we really haven't been hit hard by tons of snow. At least not yet because you never know what March will bring.  According to the weather, Monday is supposed to be close to 60 degrees and the weather is supposed to be a doozy with a lot of rain and severe weather. We'll see what happens. Being a weather forecaster is one of the few jobs you can have where you can get paid well for being wrong a large part of the time. That we all should be so lucky.

This week has brought some interesting news with the true nature of the Tea Party/Republican right wing coming into focus. According to a transcript of a conversation that a liberal blog -- masquerading as a Koch brother, a secretive extreme right-wing corporate head -- had with the Republican governor of Wisconsin the true motive is to break the unions because, well, for extremely rich, corporate people, unions are a thorn in their side because they demand that their employees be treated fairly. It seems that the Koch brothers and their ilk want to take us back to the good old days of the 1800's when the rich could do whatever they damn well pleased and the workers had to take the bread crumbs given to them. You only need to look at former Massey coal head Don Blankenship to see the example of what this might look like for America. The individuals behind the Tea Party are not lowly working men and women. They are rich, white fucks like Dick Armey and Karl Rove. They created this so called "populist" movement to do their bidding which is to stomp on the unions, in particular the teacher's unions, call their employees "greedy," God I love the hypocrisy in that charge, and make it so that their corporate brethen can do whatever they damn well choose in the name of profits. You see this in the desire to roll back all the environmental and food safety laws and their condescending pats on the head to us with the admonition that the corporations don't need regulations and that they will do what's best for us. What's fascinating for me is how willingly "regular" Americans are to go along with this charade and cut their own throats. What's also interesting is that many of the so-called anti-government tea baggers don't hesitate to take federal beneifts. I just read an article tonight on CNN about the god-mother of the Tea Party movement who, surprise, surpirse, decries big government but is on Medicare for her hips. For more examples of this look no further than a great article that Matt Taibbi wrote for that liberal, pinko rag Rolling Stone on the Tea Party movement. And, in Pittsburgh, the woman who runs the tea party here is a rich, white woman who lives in one of the rich suburbs of Pittsburgh. Yes, Virginia, these people are working for your rights (not).

It's scary. The rich folks exported all of our good paying jobs overseas and left us with an economy based on jobs at Walmart. And none of the so-called service jobs pay enough for their workers to buy a house, a car, or any of the other trappings of the elusive middle class life. Meanwhile executives at the large corporations are being paid millions of dollars A YEAR to run their corporations. Who is worth 5 million dollars? That's just obscene. And the tea partiers are complaining about teachers and public sector workers being greedy?? I work as a public employee for the City and I can guarantee you that I am not getting wealthy. And I have a law degree. Yes, it was my choice to work for the City instead of chasing people for money all the time and worrying if I would make enough each month to pay the bills. But don't demonize me because I'm a public sector employee. I heard that the FOP joined in on the protests in the Capital in Wisconsin. Wonder what political motive they had for doing this? The FOP here in Pittsburgh goes on about other unions being bad, liberals being evil, etc. etc. but they have one of the strongest unions in the country along with the firefighters and they are usually backing Republicans. So wonder what's going on with them in Wisconsin.

The fight to crush the unions is coming here to Pennsylvania. Corbett is already for "school choice" which is the right-wing code word for breaking the teacher's union. Of course this is all done in the name of protecting poor black students. Meanwhile guess which social service programs that benefit these same students are being cut??

In today's issue of the Post-Gazette a straight, presumably white woman wrote an article about who is advocating for people like her who are normal and not freaks (her words). She then spends a great portion of her article talking about how all the gay/lesbian individuals have people like Lady Gaga speaking out for them when her kind of people don't. Well, I agree to a point. Women in general in this society don't have people standing up for them -- witness the recent wars on abortion -- but the freaks and not normal individuals have been demonized, denied the right to marry, until recently the right to serve in the military, denied employment and other various types of civil rights while she at least can enjoy some of these rights. Just stay away from Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Sheen.

Oh, and by the way, I listened to the new Radiohead "album" tonight that is streaming on Rollingstone.com. Several commentators have said it's their most divisive album. Well, I did listen to it only once and on my computer, but, it sounded like just another Radiohead album to me. Which by that I mean I didn't notice a big difference between this album and their last few albums.

Last dregs of February

It;s a Saturday night and I am sitting at Cafe Mocha in Squirrel Hill watching people stream up the street carrying pizza from Mineos at 9 o'clock at night. Ah, back in the day when I could eat pizza late.

I forgot to mention in my last post regarding things changing that Hoi Polloi one of our favorite coffee houses/restaurants closed. The food was the best and they made the best smoothies in Pittsburgh. I really miss being able to go there.

My mood is a little better this week. I'm settling into my new office and beginning to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Had a great night last night out with some friends, a nice dinner tonight with friends and am looking forward to watching the Oscars tomorrow night with our friend Kerry. All in all it's been a good  weekend.

Things that are gone

For some reason lately I have been very melancholy -- you know, the fancified word for sad. I feel like a lot of things in my life have been turned upside down. I am settled into a new office at work but at the expense of my former colleague who sued the city and finally got her settlement this week. She is now off to greener pastures for awhile until she can figure out what's next. Another co-worker of mine left this past fall to work at an insurance company. Both of my former colleagues have moved on, but I wonder if I'm stuck. This time last year I was working with a job coach who I thought would help me decide whether I should stay or go, but that didn't work out quite the way I thought it would/hoped it would. I was full of hope and optimism this time last year but I'm not now. I know that's the way life goes, but it can be sad sometimes.

This summer they started tearing down the old Animal Friends building where I first adopted my beloved cats Boris and Natasha. The building is now totally down and the lot full of rubble.

I've mentioned the loss of my Friday night routine with the cancellation of two of my favorite TV shows.

My "family" has also gone through some changes. My partner's life has taken an unexpected new direction. My mother is getting ready to tear down my maternal grandparent's house. I have an emotional attachment to this house. It has sat empty since my grandmother died in 2008. My mom essentially stripped the house of all of the fixtures, doors, windows, etc. I haven't been in it for quite awhile. I just can't bear to go in since I have such fond memories of that house. It was a safe refuge for me as a kid who grew up in a pretty bad family. My grandparents had an above the ground swimming pool that we use to swim in pratically day and night. I remember coming in for a break and my grandmother would serve me the ham or roast beef leftovers as sandwiches slathered in mayonaise on white bread. She would sit and talk with me about all kinds of things. She would take a break from watching her "stories." I really miss her and my grandpa. They both lived very long, full lives and I was lucky to have them both living well into my forties although the light went out of my grandmother's eyes when she got into her mid eighties and all of her friends started to die. When the house gets torn down it will be so weird to see the gaping space where it used to be.

I got a new sponsor in Alanon after my former sponsor had a health issue.

And I am lonely at work and in my personal life -- I have lost some friends over the past few years and I need to start making new friends which is daunting for me because I assume people won't like me. But, with the help of Alanon I am slowly overcoming some of this fear. And I do have some good friends, my friend James in West Virgina has been such a wonderful, great friend, Lisel and Joe, the Sarahs. So I have to be thankful for these people in my life.

The one constant in my life that always brings me joy is music. Sue and I went to Cleveland several summers ago to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A fantastic place for music lovers! During the trip Sue indulged my wish to visit a local Indie music store. We went to a small store called Music Saves. And that about sums it up for me, all through my life, I have always loved and had music. From records, to cassettes to CDs to mp3s I have always surrounded myself with music. It's a great passion for me. Too bad I can't figure out how to make a career out of it. When I was a kid I wanted to be a rock star. And I would have been a great rock star except for the small problem that I can neither sing nor play an instrument. Minor detail in the punk community but I was more of a classic girl.

Speaking of music, there is a new Bright Eyes CD out which I want to get. The critics haven't liked it, but they didn't like the last CD called Cassadaga and I really liked it so this time I won't pay attention to the critics.  And if there are still tickets left to see the Decemberists next week, when I get paid, I just might buy a ticket and go. And I may go this weekend to my favorite religious place, Paul's CDs in Bloomfield. I have a recurring nightmare that Paul's closes and I surely don't want that to happen and be another change in my life!

Winter Blues.

Sue and I are here at Crazy Mocha on a cold winter's Friday night. She treated me to a hot chai latte which I really like. Back when it was in the beautiful 90's this summer I used to get it iced. But spring is around the corner, the groundhog said so.

Because of fiscal austerity measures I didn't get tickets to the Decemberists concert. I did see them on their last tour so I can't complain too much. And we are going to see U2 this summer.

Today I moved into my new office at work. I now have an entire office to myself complete with a big picture window. I have spent the entire time at work since we moved to a building in the strip district 7 years ago in a cubicle in a large room that was too cold in winter and too hot in summer with four other people. And no privacy. So now I have privacy and a door I can shut and everything. It is somewhat bittersweet though as I am taking over the office from a former co-worker who was a friend and who I miss.  I am the lone "man" out AKA odd duck at work. And I'm not sure why. When I first came to OMI I had a bunch of friends and we all had lunch together and ran around. When they left I didn't seem to click with the other people who replaced them -- or they didn't click with me. Nonetheless is it rather lonely at work especially in the winter when I can't get out and walk as much. But, I am employed so I can't say too much. And I got the office because of my senority.

I miss the routine we had on Friday nights last year. We watched Ghost Whisperer, Medium and Numbers and I looked forward to coming home and hanging out with Sue upstairs while we watched TV in bed. Now all three shows are gone and have not been replaced with anything interesting. It seems as though Friday night has become a wasteland for TV. And we don't have cable so we are stuck with network tv and we only get channels 2 and 11 and 53 LOL so we're really stuck. Anyway, maybe something good will come on mid season.

I read recently that Snooki and crew are going to Italy. It amazes me how mediocrity can be rewarded. See Tony Norman's column today in the Post-Gazette. And Lindsay Lohan just stole a $2000 something necklace. Just goes to show fame and money can't make you happy or well adjusted.

Well, I've emptied my brain.  

February is here

Today everyone had the blues about the Steelers loss except, well, me. I'm sorry that they lost but I do wonder if their success on the field is proportionately tied to all the hype done by the local news. I'm sure Green Bay had their over the top excesses too, but the local news became a little much.I'm glad the whole damn thing is over! Now we can get onto the important things like the shootings and mayhem.

The right wing launched an Acorn like video sneak attack on Planned Parenthood. From what I'm guessing the video was of course heavily edited to make Planned Parenthood look in the least favorable light as possible. And now some gay activists are worried we will be targeted too. So a note of common sense advice. If a woman or man comes into your office(s) and says they are a pimp looking for any kind of services for their underage prostitutes, be very, very careful.