Thanks a lot Erin

Thanks to Erin, I have new links! I had to go on her blog and look at all her links. They were like precious jewels. My precious. Mmmm. Yes I am crazy, but that's okay because so are you.
BTW Erin if you read this, I want to know more about your zine. It sounds interesting!

The new mayor of Rochester? NOT

My husband has a bulletin board, and someone posted a link to this guy who wants to be our next mayor of Rochester. I was personally flabbergasted. I mean, GAWD! Who does this guy think he is? I grew up in the city, and I think that if he were to try and enforce some of these ideas of his... well lets say its just stupifying.
I shall give you some examples:

Education:

The “separate but equal” attitude needs to be put to death. City schools must be fully integrated with their suburban counterparts.

Umm. No. This was attempted in the 1970's, and it failed miserably. You are sending a message to students that the city isn't good enough. That in order to succeed, you need to go to school in the suburbs. Kids want to go to school with their friends that they live with in the same neighborhood, not people that live on the other side of Monroe County. The line between the haves and have nots will become even greater.

Crime:

Declare an end to the War on Drugs in Rochester. It's a failure. Here's how to start reducing the harms caused by drugs and help make our streets safe again:

1. Create a 25% tax on all marijuana transactions within the city. Increase the tax to 50% on all transactions with non-city residents. Require $500 annual licenses for all marijuana producers. Only arrest those who fail to pay the fees.

2. Instruct city police officers to actively oppose federal or state interference. If necessary, organize militias of city residents for protection from federal or state interference.

3. Use the re-allocated police resources to tackle violent crime.

Let's see, you're letting kids know that, Hey! It's okay to smoke pot as long as you pay your pot tax, and if you live in the suburbs, you deserve to pay even more taxes! Oh yeah, and lets start a militia, so that we use our guns to keep out all those evil federal and state personnel by shooting them. They they're just interferring in our pot smoking.

Fiscal:

Rochester must recognize that victimless crimes are less harmful when taxed and regulated.

• Require all sex workers to register with the city and submit a $500 annual license fee. This fee will be applied towards health care for the local sex industry as well as general revenue.

• Say no to taxation without representation and terminate all collection of county, state and federal taxes not approved by the city. This explicitly precludes collection of taxes destined for New York City.

Oh good. Prostitution is legal now, as long as they pay their fee. So all those kids going downtown to catch the bus to school can see prostitutes in action. Why can't you send these women to a trade school so that they can learn something useful and give them a sense of pride and accomplishment?

Last time I checked, county, state and federal officials were elected representitives of the people. Those people that we elect to run our government have been chosen to represent our ideals. We have given them the right to make use of our taxes in the best way they see fit to operate the city, state etc.

Technology:

Rochester needs to push forward further its position as leader in the still evolving digital information technology revolution.

1. Create a secure citywide hi-speed wireless network for use free of charge by all city residents.

2. Replace all city computer systems running Microsoft Windows and other proprietary operating systems with free and open source alternatives like the GNU/Linux operating system. Draft students from area universities to first assist city government officials in the process, and then keep them in the loop as the changes are rolled out to city schools. Provide them with housing incentives to stay and work in the city upon graduation.

I don't even want to think how expensive and immensly impossible it would be to get high-speed internet to all city residents. Would you also be providing computers, since a vast majority of them can't afford to buy computers. (I would know this because they all come into the public libraries to use the internet).

I don't want to imagine moving from Microsoft Windows to another operating system. All the training involved and trying to find compatible programs that can replace currently used ones. Plus some of the city, town and county systems are interconnected (at least from my experience working at the library). The cost in manhours would be staggering.

This guy mentions somewhere in his platform that we should offer abandoned houses to people under 21 and college students under 30. I'm thinking that many of the abandoned houses in the city are not in any shape to be lived in, let alone by young people that can't afford the costs for improvements.

He also wants to charge suburban residents 10% more to use the ferry, and he wants to toll suburban residents to use the highways.

I'm thinking that this guy really hates people who live in the suburbs. I really don't know what his beef is, but I wish he'd stop acting like us non-city dwellers are spawns of satan or something.

Anyway, I highly recommend reading his site. I found it insiteful and frightening.

If you really loved me...

I was just wandering through the internet and found the site for the magazine Bust. I like that it looks like they discuss all the normal woman stuff like crafts, food and style (and it sounds like its not that creapy Vogue kind of unfed waif style). I also love that they sell sex toys and tampon cases on their site. Its so cute! So if you love me and want to give me nice stuff, I think I'd like this.
I also noticed that they sell the book Stitch n' Bitch, which I received for my last birthday and love. Granted I can't knit worth a damn, but I still like trying to and I love looking at patterns that I could make if I tried hard enough.

Oh, and I keep trying to remember to write about the gay penguins in Central Park and, as I found out, around the world! I shall soon tell you more, but so that you know how much I care, I will tell you that everything started when I saw this book in Publisher's Weekly.
...
Yes, I did buy it for the library. It was too damn cute not to.

Like having sex with a relative...

Okay, so I didn't find this site myself (thanks Adrienne), but I found myself so utterly repulsed, that I needed to share it with those unfortunate enough to fall upon my blog. I apologize now. These are truly repulsive. So repulsive that I need to say repulsive a few more times.
I am so scared by these recipes that I really can't think of anything else to say, so I won't. Well I take that back. I will say that food has taken on a whole new meaning for me, and its not pretty.

I thought that I was alone

For years I have had an irrational fear of escalators, and I thought that I was all alone in this. I have no idea how it started, but for years, even looking at an escalator I would get sweaty and my hands would get clammy, my heart starts racing and I start freaking out. It really drives my husband crazy, because sometimes we have to go out of our way so I don't have to go on the escalator.
I read an article in the New York City News and found out that my fears aren't unwarranted. At a movie theater, one kid's pants caught in the escalator and the escalator was stopped. The kids behind fell "like dominoes" and they toppled down on one another. Some of the kids had to go to the hospital.
Okay okay, I know its still crazy, but I really don't know what to do! Just because I know its crazy doesn't mean that I know how to stop from being afraid of using the escalator.
Travelling is interesting. In California, the Universal Studios has a multi-story escalator that horrified me and there wasn't an elevator alternative. There was a handicap van that took you down to the lower lot. It was completely embarrassing, but because I have this completely irrational fear, I had to use the handicap access. It completely embarrasses me even to talk about it, but I guess this is just a part of life, so I might as well share.
BTW I just found out that the world's longest escalator is in Hong Kong. It's called the Central-Mid-levels escalator.

People do the weirdest things!

I was reading Publisher's Weekly from May 16... yes I know this is like two months old, but anyway. They had a review of the book Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth, this book is exactly what it sounds like. The guy photographed everything he ate and made it into a book! This must be like ultimate reality tv, but in book form. I cannot even imagine doing this and expecting that other people would care what I ate, although its usually not that interesting.

Breakfast: egg and cheese in a bagel with orange juice
Snack: craisins, chocolate and nut trail mix
Lunch: Frappucchino and tossed salad
snack: piece of cheese and chocolate soy milk
snack: yogurt
snack: granola bar

Anyway, it seems pretty boring, but all the dairy will be interesting later on!
Needless to say, I checked the catalog and no one owns the book. Big suprise. However not to my suprise, I found a web site where someone did the same thing!

Gross gross gross

I'm not yet done with this, but I wish I was. This piece of gross contemporary american literature is Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. What's worse is that I'm listening to it on cd. Somehow it seems worse when you are listening to people talk about cutting off toes, fingers, hands and penises (well only one so far). I think I'm pretty good about handling my gore, but this is pretty nasty and unnecessary. Some of the stories (the book is a collection of short stories told during a "writer's workshop". I only have about 1/2 a cd left, and I'm still pretty amazed that I managed to get through it without crashing my car into a tree. Its neat that there are quite a few different speakers throughout the book to tell the characters' stories, but that doesn't make it any better when you listen to the description of the character pulling off fingernails. I almost decided that enough was enough when I found out that one of the women, who was pregnant, has her baby at this "retreat" and she is later fed special soup. Soup that I will never ever eat, and let me tell you, as a mother of a three month old, I almost threw the cds out the car window (not caring that it belonged to the library). I would tell you about each of the individual characters' stories, but as they finished their tale, I tried to block it out of my mind.
I haven't read Guts which is supposed to be by far more disturbing; making people vomit and pass out, but I'm not sure that I can handle it. I'm sure curiosity will get the better of me, and I'll listen to it, but probably not for a while.

Less than an hour...

In less than an hour the new Harry Potter book will be "legally" available, except for all of you sneaky people who have already gotten your hands on it. I've only read the first three Harry Potter books, so I'm not in any rush to read it yet. As I've said in a previous message I don't really care for the series that much, but I'm really glad that it gets kids to read, and they keep talking about the books. In the news right now I'm watching the line at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble as people wait for the newest book. Sheesh.

Oh well, I guess it's good to see people go crazy about a book instead of a movie or a video game.

Weeding Hell!

I spent most of the day weeding the childrens non-fiction. MY GAWD! It was horrendous. I found books from the 1930s and 1940s. The books felt icky to the touch, they had terrible pictures and covers, and some were just falling apart. I decided that I would run through the collection quickly and go by condition and looks alone, but this is turning into a bigger pain than I thought it would be. I have a whole cart of books to delete, and I've only been through a tiny section. I kept thinking these poor kids. I wouldn't want to check one of these books out if I was a kid. As a parent, I'd be afraid of diseases or other terrible things.
By the time I left work, my eyes felt dry, my teeth were gritty and my hands had a gray film on them. YUCK! These poor kids. They deserve better. My opinion is smaller collection of nice stuff rather than a library full of junk. We do have some really great books, but you can't really see them for all the terrible ones surrounding them.
Maybe tomorrow I'll find lost texts from the bible! Wish me luck!

I have a problem...

I think that I need to go to purses anonymous. I already have about 20 purses, but I'm not happy. I need more purses. I tell myself (and others) that I won't ever buy another purse, but then I see another cute purse or bag and I get hooked. Right now, its a little bookbag at Target and a tote (that looks like it has purple olives on it) at Old Navy... but neither are online, so I can't show you :*( Argh!
I wish that there were others that could feel my plight! On Sunday, I went to Target with my husband because I wanted a pair of flip flops, and as we walked passed the purses, I saw the cute little bookbag, and I knew it had to be mine. Of course I only just glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye. If my husband saw me looking at the purse, his head might start spinning around like the demon child from the Exorcist. Why does Target do this to me? The purses are right there just as I walk in. I have to look. I can't help it. The purses call to me, like some sort of call of the wild, except
its purses, so I must be crazy.
I think I should write a screen play about purse addiction. There must be others out there, otherwise purses would be put in the back some place and I would have to hunt for them. Maybe then I would see them all the time and I wouldn' t have to imagine how much purses delight me.
I wonder sometimes, what the hell is the reason for the purse addiction? Is it because I want to be more organized? Is it due to not being spoiled as a child? Maybe its to make up for the fact that I can't fit into small stylish clothes, so I compensate for finding cute purses... except now that I think about it, I buy tom-boyish bags, that aren't small and danty at all.
I thought that motherhood would cure me of this crazy addiction, but it hasn't slowed down at all. I thought, hey! Now that I need to take care of this small little guy, I won't want anything for myself anymore. Hah! That's a bunch of rubbish.
Maybe I should have a photo gallery of all my purses and I can focus on a different one each week... that would be interesting.
Hey, I need help! Email me if you share my delusions or want to make fun of me.