adios and good riddance

I used to live here. I used to hop on these freeways on a regular basis. I used to know my way around southern California like it was the back of my hand. Not any more.

I drove from Seal Beach (where my mom lives) to San Bernardino (where my brother lives) this last weekend. This is how it went...

I took the 405 to the 55 to the 5 to the 57 - made sure I didn't end up on the 60 because I did that already a couple of days ago and was almost late to the graduation - to the 210 on into San Bernardino. All the while, I was driving next to rude, inconsiderate drivers, through the brown haze, watching the amber alerts flash overhead, and listening to K-Earth on the radio with Charlie Tuna, a disk jockey that I listened to back when I lived here. The tunes of the 70's was the only thing that kept me sane during my drive because I just kept singing away as a distraction to everything else.

The southern California freeway system is just one big tangled up maze of concrete, signs, and cars. And there must be over 50 freeways in just this area of California. It's crazy. Last year when we were out here, we complained about how much time we spent in our car because we were always in traffic on a freeway. This year it was just me driving and I found no joy in maneuvering my way through the maze.

I had a wonderful time out here in California and loved visiting my family and places of my youth. But I'm more than ecstatic to be going back home... to my husband, kids, dog, home, my own bed, and only four - count them, 4! - major freeways.

is your dad better than mine?

I don't know if I can blame the writer's strike for such bad TV or if it's just the natural progression of reality shows. Tonight I was watching Deal or No Deal because, well... I like the show. The next show was one that I've heard advertisements for, but hadn't paid much attention to. It was called, My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad.

I could only watch about 10 minutes before I had to turn it off. It was a competition between four teams - consisting of a father and his child (some boys, some girls). The first task had the children standing on the side lines cheering their dads on. But it was obviously more than just cheering. They were screaming and yelling such things as, "you have to do it, dad" and "go faster dad, you're losing." They knew they were on TV and they knew how important it was for their respective dads to beat the other dads. They didn't want to be losers.

It was a competition where the dad who came in last place was eliminated. You can imagine the look on the little girl's face when it was her dad that couldn't manage to beat any of the other dads. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but it broke my heart.

The next competition included the child, so now there's the pressure of winning put upon the child. If these were just fun games that a father and child did together, I would be all for it. But when you put the title of "my dad is better than your dad" on it, of course the kids are going to want to win and have their dad to be given the title of the "best."

But what happens when their dad doesn't get that title? There can only be one winner. As adults, we know that doesn't mean the other dads are losers, but do kids know that? Especially with that as the name of the show. Would they internalize the fact that their dad isn't the best - that he isn't better than so-n-so's father? And how long does that stay with them?

And what about the father that does win? Does his son or daughter then think that their dad is better than all others? Is that healthy thinking for any kid?

I'm all for healthy competition, but I don't see this show as being anything but hurtful for the kids involved. Just my two cents.

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link of the day:
http://www.hassleme.co.uk/

rude!

one thing i left out of my post yesterday, about spending time at the county fair, was that i was originally there because the church i attend had a booth and i helped man it. tonight, don and i were over again to man the booth. we pretty much stayed at the booth, but we were still able to experience the fair in a small way.

i tell you that because as i sat there in our booth, i observed the lady in the booth across from us. she was selling jewelry and was by herself. at one point, i noticed she was on her cell phone. due to a pretty big thunderstorm that swept through, traffic was light. so i didn't think much of it when i saw her talking on her phone. heck, i had even taken my cell phone out and was talking to my son via text messages.

what bothered me was when a group of people stopped and started looking at her jewelry, she remained on the phone. at first she stayed in her seat and talked away, but then she got up and approached the showcases where they were standing - but still talking away on her phone. she talked for another minute before hanging up.

i thought that was incredibly rude. there have been other times where i saw people talking on their cell phones or using them for text messaging at inappropriate times. one that comes immediately to mind was watching a lady chatting away while she was in a check-out line and then while the cashier was ringing up her purchases. she never said anything to the cashier and the cashier was never able to talk to her. again, rude!

it's great having the technology that allows us to talk to anyone at anytime and anywhere. but there should be some etiquette attached to this privilege. and i'm not saying that i've never been in one of these rude situations. even tonight, i shouldn't have had my phone out and using it. if someone had walked by and stopped, i wouldn't have been able to put it away fast enough since i was in the middle of a conversation.

we all have our own cell phones here in my family. sometimes my kids are constantly using them while we're out to dinner, or playing a card game, or whatever. they're either texting someone or playing a game on the phone.

i, too, find this rude. sometimes i say something - sometimes i don't. but i think i'm going to speak up from now on. i need to try to teach them some cell phone etiquette. and i, myself, am going to be more aware of when i'm using my phone. i don't ever want to make my phone more important than the people, or anything, around me.

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link of the day:
http://www.virtualcourtney.com/paperdoll.php

the misguided doctor

i came across this article a week or so ago and i haven't been able to stop thinking about it. it's about a doctor who refused to treat a young girl with an ear infection because her mother had tattoos. it goes on to say that he had office policies in place that don't allow patients to have such things as tattoos, body piercings, etc.

what's disturbing is that this doctor says he is a christian and that his policies stem from his personal beliefs on christianity and wanting to make his patients "comfortable." beyond the fact that these policies probably go against the hippocratic oath he took when he became a doctor, i believe his views on christianity are a little (ok, a lot) screwed up.

God's top two commandments to us is; to love Him (with all your heart, soul, and mind) and then to love our neighbors as ourselves (matthew 22:37-40). it's the type of person with tattoos and body piercings that Jesus personally gravitated towards and ministered to.

i also believe that this doctor's actions do more harm than good. non-christians use these kinds of situations as evidence that christians are hypocritical and, therefore, likely to turn away from christianity.

another way to look at it is; if this doctor's attitude and methods were more like Christ's, he could actually witness to non-believers and bring them to Christ. i wonder if he ever thought of that?

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link of the day:
http://www.drawmesomething.com/draw.php