Saturday Sentiment: New Orleans

I've been thinking about what's truly important to me. One of those things is New Orleans.

There are few things that have captured my heart like that city, so for this post, I'm borrowing a post from fellow native Californian and part-time New Orleans resident Harry Shearer. It's called "The New Orleans You Don't Know."

Friday Finale: Transportation Nightmares in DC

The following two images sum up why you can't win with public transportation or parking your car in DC.

This morning there were power outages at several Metro stations and two fires at Metro Center. When I got to Farrugut West station today it looked like this: pitch dark except for the train.

Not to mention that we had a derailment on Monday.

And here's the other curiosity: DC Parking Enforcement. Notice where the car is parked.

No wonder I got so many tickets when I had a car.

Tuesday Timewarp: Sheela na Gig

This week I am sleep deprived and right now I'm experiencing a wine haze. Here's this week's flashback vid.




Yeah, that's kinda what the 90's looked like. See Wikipedia for the fascinating origin's of Sheela na Gig.

Sunday Sentiment: Dog Days of Summer

It's 94 degrees out and HUMID. Heat index is into the 100s. And I made a new friend on my way home to enjoy my newly-installed air conditioner.

This little guy was unfazed by the heat. Just a baby beagle/daschund/basset hound, the world is totally new and exciting to him! I'm sure I'm not his only new girlfriend.

Wildcard Wednesday: Philosophical Thought of the Week

The rain dumped in buckets today. I waited for the bus for almost 25 minutes. Usually my bus (the 42) comes every ten minutes. About 20 minutes into the wait, a woman asked me, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Yes."

This being a bus stop for multiple routes, I then thought to myself, "Well that depends what you're waiting for."

And then I realized I was no longer talking about buses.

**********************************************************************

And today being the "day after," I just wanted to share this heartfelt show of support from someone in the neighborhood. I especially like the "Want change? Vote for a WOMAN." (All caps with the "female" symbol next to it.) When I first saw this sign, I thought it had been made by a kid. Then I realized that even if it weren't, it was still pretty cool.

Read the post from when I officially became a fence sitter.

Tuesday Timewarp: Two Kinds of Oil

On this political evening, I bring you one of the great political bands from the 1980's: Midnight Oil.



MO's lead singer, Peter Garrett, left the band in 2002 to further his political career. In November 2007, Labor Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd named Garrett Minister for Environment, Heritage and Arts.

Ok, shifting gears... the second oil.

My friend Rob sent me the following information on what oil companies to boycott. I thought I'd share this with you. Here's an excerpt from Rob's e-mail.

COMPANIES TO AVOID.
These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell................................. 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco.................. 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon /Mobil....................... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway............ 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco.............................. 62,231,000 barrels

And CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela by Dictator Hugo Chavez who hates America and openly avows our economic destruction! (We pay Chavez's regime nearly $10 Billion per year in oil revenues!)

The U.S. currently imports 5,517,000 barrels of crude oil per day from OPEC. If you do the math at $95 per barrel, that's over $524 million PER DAY ($191 BILLION per year!) handed over to OPEC, many of whose members are our confirmed enemies!!!!!

COMPANIES TO PATRONIZE:
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco...................... 0 barrels
Conoco..................... 0 barrels
Sinclair...................... 0 barrels
BP / Phillips............... 0 barrels
Hess. ........................ 0 barrels
ARC0....................... 0 barrels
Maverick................... 0 barrels
Flying J. .................... 0 barrels
Valero........................ 0 barrels

I AM GOING TO ADD THE FOLLOWING:

Murphy Oil USA sold at Wal-Mart is from South Arkansas and owned USA

Not only that they give scholarships to all children in their town who finish high school and are legal US citizens.

I encourage you to share this information with friends.

Monday Musing: Utah Redux

I returned from West Coast last night. (California pictures and stories forthcoming.) Today I am embracing a Zen attitude and smiling and greeting people more, even if the favor isn't returned. Just because I live in DC, I don't have to become it. I'm always up for a cultural challenge.

Speaking of cultural challenges, my Utah friend Jeremy who is attending med school in Cleveland alerted me to the following article on the curious experience of Blacks in Utah that ran in the Washington Post yesterday. Of course, there being few African-Americans in Utah, I was not surprised that my dear friend Erika was featured it this piece!

And just in case you wanted to get a little taste of Utah, here's a snippet from So You Think You Can Dance?, the Salt Lake City auditions.



(FYI, last season's winner was a black girl from Utah!)