Rosie-bashing unnecessary

I haven't commented publicly (as in this blog) on Rosie's departure from "The View". If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you probably know that I am a pretty strong critic of hers. I dislike her personality and her methods of interacting with others. I began to especially despise her character during her stint on "The View" as I have remarked on quite frequently here.

Although I am quite pleased that Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought an end to Rosie's daily public forum for bullying tactics, I am quite displeased at the way people are taking completely unnecessary personal jabs at Rosie. The jokes about her weight have nothing to do with who she is as a person. She obviously has a lot of issues, and the people who are using her latest tirade and departure from "The View" as an excuse for making fun of her appearance are incredibly more ridiculous than Rosie could have ever hoped to be.

I will comment a little later on some very interesting observations that I have made over the past year that many people don't often talk about.

"Stuff we did was pretty ignorant"

I'm not sure when truer words have been spoken recently.

By now, most people have heard the story of the two young women who have received national attention for robbing a bank in metro-Atlanta.What was once a local story is now making national headlines. One of the "bank robbers" (I qualify why I put this in quotes later in the post) was interviewed on Good Morning America this past Friday. Bank robberies are beginning to become commonplace in metropolitan areas of the US. Why so much attention for this one in particular? Well, several factors make this story uncommon, not to mention sadly comical in some ways.

First off, the fact that the bank robbers have been entitled "Barbie Bandits" tells you all that you need to know. You can probably count on one hand the number of people you have heard of who have robbed a bank that fit the description of giggly, blonde girls. I would venture to guess that one of the reasons we haven't seen very many blonde bank robbers is because bank robbers usually keep their physical appearance as non-descript as possible by disguising themselves. Duh.

Also, this doesn't qualify as a real bank robbery since the bank teller who was "held up" was actually in on the scheme. Webster defines a robbery as the felonious taking of the property of another from his or her person or in his or her immediate presence, against his or her will, by violence or intimidation. Since the teller was a part of the whole plan, I can't imagine that any of these individuals involved can actually be charged with felony robbery.

Another interesting tidbit was the special attention that has been paid to the expensive-looking sunglasses that these women wore during the "robbery". The woman told Good Morning America that she and her cohort referred to them as their "stunner shades". Wow.

Finally, all of the information that has come about from the Good Morning America interview makes it clear that these young women were basically a couple of idiots, for lack of a more sensitive word. They originally went to the wrong bank; they misunderstood the directions given to them by their friend, the teller. They were supposed to get wigs to use during the robbery, but that plan fell through somehow so apparently they figured their "stunner shades" would serve as an appropriate replacement disguise. After getting the money, they went directly to an upscale hair salon at Phipps Plaza to get highlights in their hair. Jeff Dauhler of Q-100 joked this morning that the stylists at Phipps Plaza were actually interviewed as well, and pointed out that the way the girls' hair looks on all the photos is NOT indicative of their work. The girls simply did not do a good job with the upkeep of their hair. HA! I love that the stylist wanted to be sure to get that message out there. :-)

I know that somewhere all across America there are young, blonde women shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, thinking themselves, "Great. Just friggin' great."

Focusing Outward

A little over an hour ago, my hubby and I were sitting in the living room enjoying some old episodes of The Office that we have on DVR. Soon after, we turned off the DVR and Fox News was on broadcasting a replay of the Hannity and Colmes episode featuring the "debate" between Reverend Al Sharpton and Bernard McGuirk. I had intended to record it during the week but forgot, so I considering watching it right then. My hubby looked completely disinterested and got up and walked out of the living room. That surprised me because he's more into these kind of topics than I am.

I watched about 10 minutes or so of the debate, and found myself beginning to slip into that very critical mode that I mentioned a few posts ago. I have very negative feelings about certain things as we all do, and the format that some topics are presented in can really cause me to leap on top of my high-horse and get my blood-boiling. I realized that the particular issue being televised at that moment should not be one of them. It's just not that serious.

My friend Joel is a Jr High Pastor for Mount Paran Church of God. He has a very thought-provoking blog that always awakens my spirit and puts me back on track when I need it. One particular post is entitled "Nights Like Tonight", and after reading it, I felt really convicted about the things that I have been allowing to occupy a huge part of my heart and mind.

I'd like to spend a little time (at least a couple of days) stepping outside of back and forth rhetoric concerning "who thinks who should be President in '08" or "how much I'm offended by certain people" and so on. I could definitely use a little time away from such things. Lately, I'm finding myself in an increased amount of discussions with others concerning politics. Some of it is due to readers of this blog becoming more aware of my viewpoints, while most of it has to do with my place of employment and the fact that our entire existence as a company is based on the publishing of current events.

If I'm going to spend this much time analyzing politics, current events, etc...,not to mention having to constantly defend my position to co-workers, faithful blog readers, etc..., I better be getting paid for it. And I doubt that my opinion is worth enough money for me and my family to live on. :-)

Enjoy Joel's blog post.

Critical Thinking

By nature, I tend to be very critical of others. Well, I decided a few months ago that I no longer want to find myself getting all worked up over someone else's issues or values. I even asked my husband to hold me accountable, and to call me out if he notices me beginning to go down this path. Everyone has a right to live their own life the way that they want, and to think the way that they want. As long as their choices aren't intruding on my livelihood, I don't have a problem with them.

I think the fact that we all see things differently is part of what makes the world so beautiful. It's tough sometimes for me to accept the fact that we live in a world where everyone who looks a certain way is automatically expected to think a certain way or behave a certain way. But such is life I guess. It's so unfortunate that in many cases, the same group of people that gets offended when a sweeping generalization is made about them is the same group that resorts to name-calling or casting someone off as irrelevant, naive or uninformed if their way of thinking differs from the majority of said group. Quite a conundrum.

Sharing dissenting opinions in the form of friendly banter can be fun most of the time. I just want to ensure that I don't go down the path that leads to self-righteousness, and a feeling that my opinions are far-superior to others that disagree with me. Different does not always mean better.

A few words about IRONY

Thanks to Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, the word ironic has been misused more than any other that I know of. This has been a running joke among me and my friends for the longest time! Apparently VH1 even got in on the fun during one of their I Love The 90's episodes. The word 'ironic' is commonly used mistakenly in place of words such as 'coincidence' or phrases such as 'unfortunate event'.

Here are a couple moments of situational irony (of the Alanis Morissette kind) that I observed over the past week:

Ridiculous
Contestants competing for winner of American Idol contest are actually incredibly more talented than the major American singing artists performing during the American Idol show. (I'm looking at you, Adam Levine)

Sad
Yolanda King speaks at an event for the American Heart Association then passes away hours later from an apparent heart condition.

Poetic
A boss tells an employee that his work on a particular task is not up to par. A few weeks later, the manager directly above said boss removes boss from said task because boss's managing of said task is not up to par.

I also have to mention something else that has been pointed out about Alanis's Ironic. Another long-standing joke about the song is that maybe the real irony lives in the fact that there is no actual irony to speak of in the particular events that she describes.

RIP Rev. Jerry Falwell (1933 - 2007)

Story on CNN.com

We're okay...we're okay

Two professional storm chasers, or what I like to call "crazy people", caught some pretty amazing video footage (see below) of the devastating storms that wrecked the entire town of Greensburg, Kansas this weekend. In fact, Reed Timmer and Joel Taylor almost bit the dust themselves while filming!

Anyone who is pretty handy with a video camera can tell from the video that these guys were within mere feet of this EF5* rated tornado. There is a little more coverage and detailed explanation from Timmer available on CNN's Pipeline video coverage.

*Note: Here's some quick tornado trivia. EF stands for Enhanced Fujita scale which is how the strength and potential devastation of storm systems are rated. The levels range from 0 - 5 with 0 being the lowest...need I say more? Let's please continue to pray for the people who live in this town or have loved ones there. Here's the unbelievable video footage:

Another radio talk show host goes to far

Have you heard about Michael McGee Sr., the host of a radio show on WNOV in Milwaukee? Probably not due to the MSM coverage being so selective. Well, McGee's #1 rival is Charlie Sykes, another radio talk show host in the Milwaukee area. Here is a quote from his morning program after the tragic passing of Sykes mother, Katherine last week.

..."Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it's the vengeance of God. I ain't got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot," McGee said on his radio show. "My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money."

Michelle Malkin has more, including the actual audio and an Update which states that McGee Sr has been suspended indefinitely. His replacement? Michael McGee Jr, who is a nutcase in his own right. Great.

It doesn't get anymore heinous than insulting someone's mom, let alone one who died tragically from smoke inhalation during a house fire within hours of the insults. I won't hold my breath waiting anyone to be outraged about this. Katherine Sykes deserves no less respect than, say, the Rutgers women's basketball team. But the people who enjoy "playing the victim" for a living won't be personally offended by this one, so it's unlikely that we'll hear anything else about it.

Family Tragedy

Most of us have at least one first cousin. My grandmother has a first cousin named Vivian. Vivian and her late sister Julia both have grandkids, Chris and Del, that are very close to one another. Chris and Del, 13 and 15 years old respectively, are about the cutest kids you'll ever see.



Around the middle of April, two sick, disgusting animals known as Jeff Moody and Chris Penn decided to take the lives of these precious children. The kids were on Spring Break at the time, and were walking to a Kroger near their home for snacks one afternoon. They took a well-known shortcut through some woods. This is where they met their untimely and gruesome fate. I wanted to blog about this some time ago, but the details of their deaths are so horrific that I haven't been able to write about it, let alone even speak of it to anyone.

Another thing that makes this so tragic to me is that I never even had the opportunity to meet either Chris or Del. If you take a picture of my family tree, you may as well cut it into fourths beginning with my great-grandmother and her siblings. This is why my grandmother and her first cousins aren't very close, and on down the line. People, if you have issues with a sibling or a first cousin, and decide to cease speaking to them because of some argument, misunderstanding, or a simple failure to see eye-to-eye, bear in mind that you are also affecting generations to come. I did not even know that Chris or Del existed until this horrific occurrence.

So please understand that no condolences are necessary for me. They should be reserved for the parents and grandparents who will be personally suffering and grieving this loss for many years to come. Please go to the Lord on their behalf. May these angels be at peace in the kingdom of heaven for eternity.


Chrisondra Sierra Kimble

More:
[Article from close friend]
[Family describes cousins]

Manic May 1st

I spent the better part of the night and early morning (2am - 4am) coughing until my stomach muscles began to ache. I awoke again at 8:30am and got ready so fast that I think I passed myself as I entered the shower! I got the kids ready very quickly, and Chris (thankfully) volunteered to take them to school today.

We all leave the house together and I jump in my car and head to QT to spend sixty dollars filling up my tank. I guess we won't be able to eat this week. Ridiculous. In the QT, after fending off several pursuers of the male persuasion (being gorgeous is really tough; kidding, of course...it's not that tough) I grab my coffee, and head back out to sit in the truck and apply my makeup while the $2.90 per gallon unleaded gasoline is being expressed. I sit the coffee on the console, because my cup-holders contained a water bottle (that I haven't even used in about a week) and my cellphone. I know, I could have just moved the cellphone to make room for the coffee, but I was too busy focusing on my eyeliner.

Gas is pumped, makeup is applied, truck is thrown into reverse, SPLASH. Coffee ALL over the console, the seats, and myself. Searing hot coffee, mind you. I scream loudly. I take about 10 seconds to calm down, and continue on to I-20.

I got to work much later than normal, so I already feel behind. I have a coffee stained shirt and blue jeans to boot. Oh and did I mention that I have gained 10 lbs over the past two months? I wasn't able to fit into two different pair of jeans this morning. But my makeup is fierce. :-)

Back to work.
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Update: 7:00pm
I worked out today for the first time in a LONG time. I have actually gained 20 lbs since our family trip around the beginning of March. 20 lbs in two months?!?! How is that even possible? I'm going to weigh myself again on Friday after a few more days of exercise and drinking lots of water. I think that about 6 or 7 lbs of that may be water-retention (and time-of-month)...too much information?