Moving Day (Picture Heavy)

I mentioned once that sensei was talking about moving the dojo into a larger building. He had decided that we just couldn't do it at this time. He had been scheduled to do a women's self defense seminar up in Memphis, and he was going to use the proceeds from that seminar to pay the lease and stuff to get the new building. Unfortunately, the seminar was postponed, so he was unable to get the building at that time.

Enter the State Department of Health. Some of the local day care centers had turned sensei in, trying to say that he was running a day care, instead of a karate dojo with after school classes. The DOH said that he would have to install an additional restroom, plus an additional exit, and have covers on the lights or they would shut his dojo down. Sensei only leases the building, and he was sure the landlady wouldn't want to do all that, so he had to move fast. He borrowed money from his parents and leased the new building. He has spent most of this week moving stuff in.

The building used to be a church, and there is a lot of work that will need to be done to it to make it what he envisions, but that will have to be done later on down the road. I went out there last night to see the place, and this is what I found.


This is the main room. This room by itself is much larger than our old dojo. Notice the ceiling fans. Sensei will really have to work us hard to break a sweat in here.


This is the same room, but the other end. Sensei is going to take the top two steps of that stage out and put a boxing ring up there. The rest of the space will be for workouts. Sensei thinks we can get 30 students in here easily. The acoustics in this room are fantastic. I told sensei that if 30 adults kiaied in here, we might break out the windows. No, Cody is not abusing that child. They were playing tag.

This is the other big room. It is pretty well unfinished.

Here it is from the other end. There are several rooms in this part of the building. We will have our very own weight room:


One of sensei's private students is a doctor from Memphis. He is donating a Bowflex machine to the dojo. That will be in there as well. We can go early and get a workout before class.

This will be sensei's office:

And this is the kitchen:

It doesn't have a stove or refrigerator in it. I don't know if sensei will add one later, or not.

Judging by the looks of things, I think this big room was the nursery, when the building was a church. I don't know what sensei has planned for this, but I thought it would be a good waiting area for the parents. He could (at a later date) cut holes in the walls and add one way mirrors, so the parents could see the class, but the kids wouldn't be distracted by the parents watching them.

This is the same room from the other end:

I have my own bathroom. The door says LADIES, and since I'm the only one, sensei said this one is all mine. I said, "Good! No more pee on the seat!"

Here is the men's bathroom.
Sensei wants to eventually add a shower area, also. I'm thinking he was wanting to do that in one of the upstairs rooms, right above the two bathrooms.

Upstairs? Yes, there is an upstairs:

Ok, if it were me, I'd replace this carpet, too. There are 5 additional rooms upstairs, which were most likely Sunday School rooms. Sensei is going to make one of them his own room, and one will be designated for private lessons. Most of the rooms are unfinished, and even the ones that are, aren't done very well. Finishing them will come later on down the road. Right now the important thing was to get into the building.

Sensei has a lot of plans for the new building. In addition to karate, he wants to have a boxing club. Another lady will be teaching cheerleading and gymnastics, plus, people have asked about tai chi, pilates, and tae bo classes. And he is taking seriously my suggestion to have a women/girls class.

Sensei said we almost didn't make it. He told me that no sooner had he signed the lease and gotten the keys, the building's owner had just driven off and someone else showed up wanting to lease the building. He asked sensei if he would be willing to rent it, but he said no.

Sensei is in the red shirt, and the other two guys are Brian (in the tank top) and Tim, two new white belts. They had brought their trucks to help sensei get some of the bigger stuff moved.

I was upstairs when I took this picture. There was a storm just beginning to move into the area. When my camera flash went off, Tim ducked and Brian hollered. They thought it was lightning. Tim laughed, and Brian said, "We'd thought the lightning done got us!"

Before we left for the night, I went back into the main room, slipped my shoes off and did sunsu kata--the only real Isshinryu kata.

It was appropriate.

Weird Al Yankovic -Yoda

Weird Al- Saga Begins

Huh?

Sometimes I am amazed at what pops unbidden out of my own mouth. I guess that's why I express myself better in writing. Writing things down, or in this case typing them out, forces you to think about what it is you are saying. When talking, sometimes I say things, and then wonder what it was I just said.

I was walking down the aisle at work singing The Saga Begins by Weird Al. I like to sing at work because 1) it passes the time, and 2) everyone has earplugs in, which is a good thing for them. So I'm walking down the aisle singing and a co-worker, trying to be a smart-aleck says, "Talking to yourself?"

"No, I'm singing," I reply.

"I do that, too, sometimes," my co-worker replies.

"It helps to pass the time," I say.

"Just so long as you're not talking to yourself." Then he says, "Actually it's ok to talk to yourself. It's when you start answering yourself that you have a problem."

"I've heard that," I say, "but you can sing to anybody, unless they shoot you. I wouldn't sing to them then."

Don't ask. Even I don't know.

*

SHHHHH!

Some people can be so rude, as blog buddy Black Belt Mama found out today.

Some years ago, I was Cody's cub scout den leader. We were having our monthly pack meeting, which despite intentions to the contrary, were usually very unorganized and boring as [insert descriptor of your choice here]. During a lull in the activity (probably while the cubmaster was trying to decide what she wanted to do next), I was sitting beside the dad of one of the boys in my den, and we were talking quietly about plans and ideas for activities. Another mom, not a den leader or anything, just another mom, turned around and looked straight at us and went SHHHHH! The dad and I both stared at her and he said in a rather loud voice, "I know she didn't just shush us!"

This wasn't the last time that woman and I butted heads. We were on a camp out not too long after that. The pack was camping at the archery range out at the lake, and there was an elevated platform there. It was for archers to practice shooting from tree stands. It wasn't but about 10' high and all the boys wanted to play on it. I told Cody he could, as soon as he finished helping me set up the tent and stuff. About 30 minutes later, several boys were happily playing on and around the platform when this woman arrives, gets out of her car and literally screams all the way across the campsite, "All you boys get down from there NOW!!!"

"Who does she think she is trying to boss other people's kids around?" we all asked ourselves, and each other. I told Cody not to worry about what she said. "Your mother told you could play over there, just be careful of the little kids." Apparently the other kids cleared it with their own parents as well, because soon they were all happily playing on the platform again. The same woman actually had the nerve to scream at them again.

It was her own little boy I felt so sorry for. He was 8, and went by the nick name of J.W., and the poor kid wasn't allowed to do anything. On another camping trip, Spring Camporee out at the Camp McCain army post, the army guys always had lots of big equipment--tanks, helicopters, earth movers, other various and sundry things boys find fascinating--there on the campgrounds. Now, the spring camporee was a big thing, with Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops from all over our council attending. Naturally the campground was rather large. The tanks and such were all at one end of it. It was quite a ways from our campsite.

Some of the boys from our pack were going to go look at the equipment, so J.W. asked if he could go, too. His mother, surprisingly, said yes he could. But about 2 minutes later, she decided she was ready to go home. Poor JW probably hadn't even had time to get over there to the stuff yet, when she stands in the middle of our campsite and starts screaming his name. Now, that stuff was a long ways away, and there was no way the kid could have heard her, but she stands there for about 5 minutes screaming and screaming at him, getting madder and madder, with her face turning redder and her head looking like it was about to explode.

She finally stops a total stranger and asks him to go find JW. The man didn't even know who the kid was, and wouldn't have recognized him if he saw him--not to mention how potentially risky sending a total stranger to pick up your kid is--but he went off with a vague description to try to find a red headed boy. He eventually finds the boy and sends him back to our campsite. As he is walking through, another dad asks him if he saw his son over there. JW slowed down just a bit, he didn't stop walking, but he slowed enough to turn to the man and answer his question. Upon seeing his hesitation, JW's mother screams at him, "J--- W----- (using his full name) I SAID COME HERE, NOW!!!!" Right there in front of everybody.

I don't see them any more since Cody got too old for Cub Scouts, and decided not to do Boy Scouts. I often wonder how that poor kid is.

This mom did provide at least one comic moment for us though. There was a near total lunar eclipse during the first campout, with coverage reaching its peak at 7:00 PM. The eclipse really started around 4:30 or 5:00. This was in November, so it was dark by then. We were all watching it. As we gathered for our campfire activities, this woman announced that there would be an eclipse at 7. Several people spoke up and informed her that it had already started.

"Well, it's supposed to get worse at seven!" she answered.
*

We Called Him Peanut

He was a good guy.

His oldest son is Cody's age, so I've known him for a long time. The boys are in band together. They played ball together, and they were in Cub Scouts together. Peanut's wife was the den leader, and later cubmaster. I've been to their house many times.

It seemed so odd to me that someone as laid back and mellow as Peanut would marry a hyperactive, type AAA woman like he did. They seemed to have a good relationship, though. He pretty much let her spaz, while he quietly did what needed to be done. He was very much involved in his two sons' lives.

On Cub Scout camp outs, Peanut and I were usually the first ones awake in the morning. He would make the coffee while I stirred up the campfire. And let me tell you, he could fry some fish! I don't know what his secret was, but it was some good fish. Peanut was real good with the kids--very patient and easygoing. He was a very likable guy, every body's buddy.

That's why I was stunned, stunned, to find out Peanut wasn't such a good guy after all:

Internet sting nabs Grenada suspect

By KARIS POPE, Staff Writer

A Grenada man was arrested last week in Oxford, where he had travelled to meet what he thought would be a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.

Investigators with the Oxford Police Department arrested a man they identified as [Name with held to protect his children] , 45, of Grenada after he allegedly drove to Oxford to meet the underage girl.

Investigator Paul Garner said, officers chatted with ****online before asking him to come of Oxford.

Upon arrival at the planned meeting place, **** was arrested at 12:45 p.m. Thursday.

****is the ninth in a line of suspected child predators caught through an ongoing investigation by the department since June of last year.

****is being held on a $50,000 bond for the charges that carry a minimum of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison.

The stings are necessary to keep children from meeting online with real and very dangerous predators, according to Garner.

"If it is not me that they're meeting online, it would be an actual child," said Garner. "We are trying to prevent that."

Playing It By Ear

which actually--at least in this case--has nothing to do with making music. This time, it is about black belt class. Sensei was going to cancel the class because it would be just him and me there. But I talked to Barrett Friday, and he said they weren't leaving to go on vacation until Wednesday, so he would be there. I told him to call sensei and let him know--I was thinking so that he could plan something for the class. I don't think Barrett did, because in class sensei apologized for not being more organized. "I wasn't expecting to have this class today," he said. So we played it by ear.

Frankly, those are my favorite kinds of classes. I know you can't do them all the time, because you have to have some structure in your lessons, but every so often they can be great. We started off going through all our kata--just on our own. We, well I did, all 8 empty hand kata and the three weapons kata that I know. I noticed Barrett skipped sanchin kata. I've noticed that has become a bad habit in our dojo--to skip sanchin kata. Every time I lead the class, we do it, but sensei tends to skip it.

We went over sunsu bunkai. For those of you who don't know, a kata (or form) is an imaginary fight. When you have an imaginary fight, you have imaginary opponents. The bunkai is what your imaginary opponents are doing during this imaginary fight. In other words, it is the application of the techniques you are performing in the kata. There are many, many possible bunkai for each kata, ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Sensei is a KISS man. Keep It Simple, Stupid. He believes in teaching simple, yet effective techniques.

I was watching a documentary on martial arts in America a few weeks ago. It got to a section on women's self defense. The demonstration was a woman defending herself against a male attacker. It took her about 15 moves to subdue her attacker. And of course, the man was not even attempting to fight back. He was not using his size or strength to gain control of the conflict. He was just relaxing and going with her moves. About the time she hit the 10th or so technique, I thought, "My goodness, if that were a real life situation, she'd be dead before she could do all that!"

My sensei teaches that the purpose of self defense is to create an opportunity to escape. Up until recently, he was teaching street fight/bar fight techniques. I said something to him about how a man will attack a man differently than how he would attack a woman. We got into a little discussion about the differences in ways men attack women, and how a woman cannot rely on strength to defend herself against a man. That led into a digression of how a lot of the women's self defense seminars and videos that sensei has seen teaches stuff that is basically useless in a real life confrontation. He didn't give any examples of what that stuff was. I wish he had because I'd be interested in knowing. We did talk about how in every women's self defense seminar that has ever been held, we are taught to attack the groin. Sensei says this is basically useless because 1) men are going to reflexively protect the groin and to get a good groin shot in, you will have to take him by surprise. That means, you'll have to know some basic, effective techniques to distract him while you attack the groin. 2) If you do get a good lick in to the groin, he may be so pumped with adrenaline that he won't feel it for--well, for long enough to kill you. I have seen this happen. The guy didn't kill the woman, just knocked her down, but he could have. 3) Men know we are taught to attack the groin, so they expect it. This brings us back to knowing other effective techniques.

I got off on a tangent there, but the point I was trying to make was that ever since that conversation, sensei has been showing me how to adapt the techniques he teaches to what a man may realistically do to me.

Back to tonight's class--We went over kusanku sai kata a few times. That one and sunsu are the two I will need to know for my nidan rank. Frankly, kusanku sai is kicking my butt. It's not the moves. I know them. It's just that the sai are so clumsy in my hands. I think they may be too big. I have cheap, generic sais from Century. I'd love to have some of Mr Worbington's custom built sais, but I can't afford them right now. One day, though...

We finished the class by going over bo vs. bo kumite. I had learned this previously, but hadn't done it in a long time. There were also minor changes made since sensei learned, so I had to relearn it they way they do it now. No biggie, just minor stuff. And we stood around talking about lineages, associations, tournaments, respect, stalkers (I seem to have a couple, and the one I used to have must have given up on me. Took him 11 years to do it, but he finally quit asking me to marry him)--that kind of stuff.

Those are the best kind of classes.
*
*

I Didn't Know

Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois, June 1990

The problem was that there just wasn't enough room in the barracks. It was so crowded, in fact, that when I arrived, there wasn't a room available for me. I had to live in a temporary room for two weeks, until someone graduated and moved out.

At that time, Naval Electronic Technician school was divided into four phases. The first phase was Basic Electronics and Electricity (which we called "B double E") and was located in Orlando, Florida. The second phase was Advanced Electronics, followed by Communications Equipment, and finally Radar Equipment. These last three phases were located in Great Lakes, Illinois.

The overcrowding problem was eventually solved by allowing females who had reached Radar Phase to move into the petty officer barracks, even though we weren't petty officers yet. The petty officer barracks were rather nicer than the ones we had moved out of. The outside door opened into a central lounge area. Opening off of this lounge were four 3-man rooms.

When school broke for lunch, we would usually sit around in the lounge together. One of the women in my quad, as we called them, had a small TV that she would bring out into the lounge while we ate. I don't remember which soap it was that we watched, but it was one of them...

One of my room mates was a girl I'll call--oh, let's call her Jana. Now, Jana and I had had a bit of a history. She claimed I stole her boyfriend. According to--uh, let's call him Randy--it was over between them long before I met him. It was one of those situations in which he'd had a bit too much to drink, and had said some things he didn't really mean, and they'd had a one night stand. According to Randy, that's all it was, and all it had ever been. According to Jana, they were practically engaged. To this day, I don't know what really happened.

Truth be told, my relationship with Randy didn't last much longer than Jana's had. He'd already had strike one, because of what he'd done to Jana. Strike two came when he said he was going to get me "knocked up" and I was going to give him a son. He would teach that son to smoke and drink, and cuss, and do drugs, and fight, and he would be the baddest little m---f--- in the school.

"And just who are you going to get to be the mother of this child?" I asked. "Why you, of course," he said. I don't think so. Strike two.

Just a couple of weeks after that, he finished B double E and went home on leave before going on up to Great Lakes. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him on a certain day at a certain time. It would be easier that way, he explained, than for him to try to catch me at the barracks. I called his house at the appointed time, and his brother answered. "Hold on, I'll get him," the brother said. I waited and waited a long time, and the brother finally came back.

"He's coming," he said. "He's out riding 4-wheelers, but he's on his way" And I waited and waited and waited. "I'm trying to get him in off these 4-wheelers to talk to you," said the brother. And I waited and waited some more. Finally the brother came back and said, "Maybe you should try to call back later."

"No," I said. "He told me to call him this day and this time. If I'm not important enough to him to get off the 4-wheeler and come talk to me, then he can call me." And I hung up. He never called back.

Strike three. Our relationship had lasted a month. I don't know why Jana would want someone like that. But want him she did.

Our first physical fitness test came just a couple of weeks after I'd gotten out of basic training. This was right at the beginning of my relationship with Randy. Jana had found out about us, and I had discovered who she was. When we got to the run part of our PRT, we all took off, and I noticed just off to my right, there was Jana. She got just a little ahead of me, threw out her chest, put her nose in the air, and gave me a smirk which plainly said, "I'm going to outrun you in this PRT, proving to Randy that I'm a better woman than you are and he will leave you and come back to me." Jana was a bit on the naive side.

Her smirk didn't last long, though. I was fresh out of boot camp, and was in good shape back in those days. I could run. Jana quickly fell behind, and as I lapped her on the last leg of the run, I just smiled at her. She was furious, but there was nothing she could do. Truth be told, she looked like she was going to collapse and die on the spot. She didn't win Randy back that day, and I didn't keep him long after that. He eventually got kicked out of the Navy for drug use. Once he was out of our lives, we moved on. While we were never really friends, we did develop an amicable relationship. Enough so that we were able to room together without incident.

Which brings us back to lunchtime in the lounge of our quad. Several of us were sitting around, eating and watching TV, including Jana. A commercial came on, and that's when, completely out of the blue, she said it--something that made us all stop and stare open mouthed in disbelief. I think I even heard a fork clatter to the floor.

"I didn't know guys don't use toilet paper when they go to the bathroom."

*

Socks and Skies and Shrooms

But first, the July dishcloth KAL, which I finally completed--just a couple of days late. Yes, there is a design element in there, but I didn't catch it until I had already bound off, so it will stay.

Now on to the weekly summary of socks:

I finished the bubble wrap socks. The yarn is Steinbach Wolle color #05. This is the first time I'd ever used that yarn, and I both loved and hated it. I loved the softness of it, and the colorway. At the same time, I hated it because it was so extremely splitty. I think I had to knit every stitch in these socks twice--once, then once again when I had to redo the stitch to correct where I'd split the yarn. I do declare that I've never in my life seen such a splitty yarn. But it was very soft, and got even softer when I washed it. Now that they're done, I do really like these socks.

My Big Black Sock is past the heel turn and gusset decreases! Yippee! Now I just have to knit a big foot and the first one will be done. Man, that leg seemed to take forever. I hope the foot goes faster.

I started this simple garter rib sock with the watermelon yarn I won. This was to be a leisure sock for a man, but looking at it, I wonder how many men are going to want to wear hot pink and green socks? I could make lady socks out of it, but the need for men's socks is so much greater. I'd really wanted to do those. I don't know, though. More and more men are wearing pink these days, so maybe they will go for them. I'm using Comfort Zone needles to knit these, and so far I don't like them. They are wayyy bendy. That is supposed to be their selling point, but I'm finding it difficult to pull my yarn through because the tips bend so much. I'm told that one has to get used to these, so I'll keep plugging away at them and hope they get better.

Finally, the Jaywalkers. I got a little bit done on them this week, but the soldier socks have been taking priority here lately.

This is the sky I woke up to this morning. It was raining so hard that I didn't even try to walk the puppy until it quit. The yard was all soggy and the ditches were full. Katie of course, bailed off into them as soon as she got outside, but Rylea was a bit more hesitant. She eventually did get out into the water just a bit. It wasn't even deep enough that she had to swim, but she got out pretty quickly.
Later on, the clouds moved off and the sky looked like this. Much better. The cloudiness kept the temps down, and it almost felt like fall outside.


Today's Pic: mushrooms--or toadstools, I'm not quite sure which they are. July 7, 2007

Fed Up

Sensei is fed up with Blake.

It all started when we were talking about cancelling Monday's black belt class. It would just be sensei and me there, because Joshua and Barrett are both going to be on vacation.

We've talked about this before, sensei and I. About how it would be the better part of prudence if we weren't alone in the dojo together. Not that I don't trust him, or that he doesn't trust me, but why give the wagging tongues fodder for their gossip?

During the course of the conversation, sensei mused, "I wonder what happened to those two black belts from Michigan who were supposed to move down here?" A couple of months ago, Blake had supposedly run across a couple from Michigan who were moving to our town. They were black belts in Isshinryu and were looking for a dojo to train in. They'd somehow gotten in touch with Blake and were asking about our dojo. Now, maybe it's just me, but too many things aren't adding up. Two people (husband and wife) moving to this town, who just happen to be black belts in the only style of karate in our town? Ok, it's possible, but if it were true, why would they contact Blake and not sensei? If it were me looking to join a dojo, I'd be talking to the sensei, not a purple belt who isn't even the high ranking kyu.

By the way, Blake seems to have quit class again. He hasn't come in at least a month--seems like longer. This is his typical pattern. He'll come to class long enough to learn a kata or get a rank promotion, then when things start getting tough, read sparring and self defense, he'll quit. Slowly. He'll come for the kid's classes, then he'll make an excuse:

"I have to take [my fiancee] to work."

"I'm tired."

"I don't feel good."

and will leave before the adult class starts. He'll start doing this every once in a while. Then once a week. Eventually, he'll quit coming all together. It's been this way ever since I've known him.

But I digress...

Where were we? Ahhh, yes...Sensei wondered what happened to the Michigan black belts. Of course, he hadn't talked to them. He was only going by what Blake had told him. I said something to the effect that maybe they never even existed. "Blake gave me a name, though," sensei said.

"I wouldn't exactly bet my life on anything Blake says," said I. "He likes to act like he knows more than he really does."

That's when sensei said it. "I'm about fed up with Blake."

Sensei had forgotten his key to the dojo and his wife wasn't going to come in that day. Sensei called Blake and asked him if he was coming into town that evening and if he could borrow his key, and Blake said,

"Yes, I have wrestling practice at 6:00."

"Now, why the %#!! can he go to wrestling practice, but he can't come here," sensei says to me. "And as much as I've done to help him out, too."

And it's true. Sensei has done a lot for Blake. He's made arrangements for Blake to work in exchange for his dues when he couldn't pay. He's given Blake one on one time at no extra charge. He even gave Blake a paying job in the after school program. (I finally asked sensei why he didn't go ahead and give that job to me, and he said it was because he needed someone who could be there at 2, and I don't get off my real job until 3. I can live with that.) He really has done a lot to keep Blake involved in karate. And this is the way Blake shows his appreciation?

I think this time he's pushed sensei too far. And that is hard to do.

To add insult to injury, all Blake could talk about was how much harder wrestling practice was than karate. Yeah, and I'll bet he goes to wrestling practice and all he talks about is how much harder karate is. Personally, I can't imagine a wuss like Blake wrestling. I wonder if he starts whining every time someone pins him. It's what he does in the dojo.

Now some of you out there may think I shouldn't be posting such things about him, but I've seen Blake be so extremely disrespectful toward sensei, and me, and Barrett, and Josh. Not too long ago, sensei was getting ready to order some patches for our gis, and I asked him if the patches were going to be like the one he had on his gi. There are three different styles of Isshinryu patches--all basically alike, but with some differences. Blake butted in and practically yelled, "Yes, that's the only kind he'll allow us to have." In addition to that simply not being true, sensei is perfectly capable of answering my question himself--not to mention that I did ask the question of sensei, not Blake.

It was almost funny when we were watching the video of Joshua and Barrett's rank testing. Blake was sitting there telling us what this guy was doing, or watch that guy. Yeah, I know Blake, I was there. You weren't.

Well, I've rambled on longer than I intended to about this. I apologize for that, but sometimes one needs to blow off a little steam. I think I'll go knit now. It'll calm me down.

Weirdness

Ya wanna hear something really weird? Thanks to Sus, I was perusing some Weird Al Yankovic sites just before popping over to Bellsouth's home page to do my daily crossword puzzle. As I was waiting for the puzzle to load, I was humming/singing (because I don't know all the words) I Think I'm a Clone Now. As I was working the puzzle, I was switching back and forth from I Think I'm a Clone Now and I Think We're Alone Now (which I don't know all the words to either). Yet, I began to get this weird feeling...

As I progressed further and further on the puzzle, the weirdness kept increasing. It reached its zenith when I completed today's puzzle and saw what it was:


I'm not joking. This really happened.
*

Why

is it that days off seem to fly by so much faster than work days?

Being that this is the Forth of July, I've racked my brain all day to come up with something meaningful, yet witty, to post about but I've come up empty. So you'll have to settle for a picture of the completed bubble wrap socks, and hope for a better post tomorrow.

You're Kidding!

"Hey Becky! Are you going to cook out tomorrow?"

"You mean out in the heat?"

"Yeah."

"No."

Cody bought us some t-bone steaks and french fries, but I'm not standing out in the heat over a hot grill to cook them. I'll do them on my George Foreman knockoff grill. We'll watch some movies--I'm thinking National Treasure and The Patriot--and knit. Well, I doubt Cody will knit, but I intend to.

To all my friends, have a very happy Fourth of July.

Don't Make Me

Sharp eyed readers may have noticed the new paragraph right under my blog title. Someone anonymously posted some very--uhhh--unhelpful comments on an old post. Don't go looking for them. They've already been deleted.

This may seem odd to some of you in the wake of my recent post about freedom of speech and all. However, this is not the same situation. I will allow pretty much any comments to be made on my blog--no matter how much I disagree with the opinions being expressed. You have the right to your opinion, and the right to express it. I do draw the line at obscenities and personal attacks, but other than that, comment away.

If you are going to comment, though, I expect you to own up to your words. Too many people use the relative anonymity of the internet to post things they would never dream of saying if they had to sign their names to their words. They hide behind the wall of secrecy and throw barbs at people who can't see them. This is cowardice, pure and simple.

You may try to justify it by saying you are afraid of identity theft, but let's be realistic here. Someone is very, and I mean verrrry unlikely to gain enough information about you to steal your identity from a screen name or blogger ID. Let me use my friend frotoe for example. I pick her because I've known her for a long time, but I still don't know her real name. That's the only reason I'm using her as an example--not because of anything she's done. Now, how in the world is someone going to steal her identity from her blogging ID of "frotoe"? If you are that afraid of identity theft, you shouldn't be on the internet at all. If you have the know how, you can trace someone's IP and ISP pretty easily.

Truth is, there are no valid reasons for posting anonymously--other than that you don't want anyone to know you are the one saying those things. If that's the case, then those are things you shouldn't be saying anyway.

I don't want to have to turn the comment moderation back on, but if I have to, I will.

Don't make me have to.
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Cute Puppy Picture

Because it's one of those days when I can't think of a thing to say.