I've Got A Golden Ticket

I figured this blog needed a little cheering up after the previous post, so here goes.

I’ve got a golden ticket.

I’ve got a golden twinkle in my eye.

So why am I quoting Willy Wonka? Simple. It’s because I got a golden ticket.  Look at the picture below and I shall paused a few seconds.

 

And while this one (unfortunately) doesn’t come with a lifetime supply of chocolate should I survive the strange and silly factory tour led by Willy Wonka himself, it does protect my phone very well.  However, since I don't really care for a lot of chocolate, I wonder if I could just get a lifetime of NERDS.  I love NERDS.  I don't even need to take over the chocolate factory.  I could just let Abby have it.

 

So how did this come to be?  How did I manage to find the golden ticket?  Well, I didn't find money in the street and go get a chocolate bar if that's what you're thinking.  Remember what I just wrote about not really liking chocolate?

 

Actually, since I purchased the iPhone 4 a few months ago, I have been wanting to find a very cool case.  I've looked at hundreds of cases and I would send Joanna sevreral links to ones that I liked but one never popped out.  That is, until I literally found the golden ticket.

 

I was sitting at home one morning and was looking through a website called Red Bubble.  It's a website dedicated to helping artists sell their merchandise.  Basically artists will create something and Red Bubble will make posters, postcards, mouse pads, iPhone cases, etc.  Well, I just happened to see this one and showed Joanna.  We were both immediately taken with the case and I purchased it.  The picture above does not do it justice and it will just have to be seen to be believed.  As I said, it protects the phone very well, though I do not wish to fully test it's drop capabilities.  For now, I'll wander through the factory looking for the Fizzy Lifting Drink and avoiding being chopped to bits by the fan on the ceiling.

 

 

Until next time.

Will This Never End?

I didn't expect to have to address something like this again.  In fact, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to address it.  I've sat in front of my computer for several days now and finally think that I'm ready to say something.

When my daughter got home Friday night I quickly got her out of her car seat and started to hug her.  I didn't really want to let go.  On a day like that one, I don't think a lot of parents wanted to let go of their children.

In the span of three days there had been two mass shootings with victims both alive and dead.  Friday's terrible massacre of children is unexplainable and hard for any parent - any person - to fathom.

On Wednesday, last week, in Portland, someone walked into a mall and started shooting.  Friday, a man walked into a school and started shooting.  In both cases, both men chose to take their own lives after a considerable amount of chaos.  As a Catholic, I was raised to preserve the sanctity of life and that suicide was a sin. However, it is my opinion that if these people wanted to kill themselves, why did they need to take others with them?  One less terrible person in the world would be just fine with me, so why did they have to go and wreak tragedy in two separate communities, if not the whole United States?

Reading both stories with journalists attempting to find answers for the tragedies, all I could do was cry.  The two people that died in Portland had San Diego connections, with one of them being an alumni of my alma mater, University of San Diego.  The other had gone to UCSD.  The lives that those people touched are forever changed by their passing.  In Connecticut, the lives of those twenty children will never get to have those special moments that the president spoke about in his speech to America.  They'll never get to even open the gifts that were probably being wrapped to be placed under the Christmas tree.  The six teachers that were killed will no longer be able to encourage future students to live their dreams and hope for the future.

All of these people were living their lives normally never once thinking that Wednesday or Friday would be their last.  Innocent children who dreamt of becoming firefighters or astronauts or doctors no longer getting that option.  A coach of children no longer being able to teach his players the best part of the game - sportsmanship.  A hospice nurse who will never be able to care for others as they reach the end of their own days.  And teachers who will no longer help their students with creative projects for the holidays or supervise recess.

I understand that people die every day - sometimes important people or famous people.  But in the wake of these shootings and the victims that were taken in such a random act of violence, I have to write what I feel. 

When I wrote about the tragedy in Colorado (see the link at the beginning of this post), I wrote about not wanting to give up on my life.  I still believe that.  And while I know that it will be hard for the people in the Portland suburb and those that work at the Clackamas Mall and those in the small town of Newtown (as well as the rest of the country), over time we will all move on. 

As if these stories are not bad enough, over the weekend, in Newport Beach (where we happened to be enjoying a boat tour), at the Fashion Island Mall, a man opened fire in the parking lot.  He didn't shoot anyone and didn't even kill himself, but there he was, in the parking lot with a gun.  And in Colorado yesterday, yet another murder-suicide was discovered after a man killed his ex-wife and her sister, her sister's husband and then himself.

I just finished listening to a novel called, When Will There Be Good News?  Apropos, isn't it?  The book had a happy ending but as I listened it seemed as if there were a lot of bad things happening.  Sadly, there will be no happy endings for the time being and we will have to live our lives with this madness in our world.

As you read this message today, or whenever, think of your families and your friends and remind them just how much you care about them.



Until next time.

Why Am I Such a Misfit?

The other night, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on television and we decided to let Abby watch it.  Now, if you happen to see my Twitter feed from that night (or you can glance to your left), you would have seen that I had some interesting commentary about the show. 

It’s not like it’s been forever since I watched it.  In fact, I watched it last year, probably with Abby asleep on my lap or something.  However, for some reason, now that Abby is older and actually pays more attention to television (she can recognize so much more now), maybe I look at the show differently.

For instance, poor Rudolph.  From the moment he is born, he is shunned by his father and then by Santa Claus.  Santa’s a real jerk and Donner (Rudolph’s dad) does Rudolph a disservice by simply ignoring the problem and suggesting it will go away over time.  Donner also figures out a way to keep Rudolph’s nose a secret for an entire year by making him wear a prosthetic nose in order to keep the “glowing nose” hidden away – just like the mean father he is.

That’s just the beginning.  When Rudolph is “playing the reindeer games” (something tells me those could be worse than The Hunger Games), his nose falls off, exposing his fluorescent note to his friends.  Not only are his so-called friends mortified by the revelation, but Santa becomes an even bigger jerk by putting Donner down for hiding Rudolph’s nose (as if Donner had a way to fix it).  Here’s where we get the lyric “they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games”.

Because of this symbolic bullying that Rudolph endures, he chooses to run away, figuring that his life will be better off if he doesn’t have to live up to other people’s standards.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Anything like the countless preteens and teenagers that have been taking their own lives because they have been bullied recently?  I’m getting off-topic, though.  This is about Rudolph.

Along his journey, Rudolph makes new friends, Hermey and Yukon Corelius.  Together they have an adventure and escape the Abominable Snowman and make their way to the Island of Misfit Toys.  As I sat watching the show the other night, I wondered why the doll had been left on the Island, so I looked it up on IMDB.  It turns out that the doll is depressed that no one loves her and therefore is considered a misfit.  What?  A doll with serious depression?  I know, based on the Toy Story movies, that toys have feelings, but wow.  Severe depression.  Wonder if she should see a doctor about that?

Back to the show.

Rudolph and his friends aren’t allowed to stay on the island but are given shelter for the night.  Rudolph wants to run away so the Abominable Snowman doesn’t find them.  He runs away again (I’m seeing some sort of pattern) and heads off into the wild.  Now there is no sense of time here, but we know that it’s at least several months because Rudolph grows up.  He also realizes that it’s time for him to go home and face his problems, like any normal reindeer.

Here’s something else that was a little strange with this show.  When Rudolph comes home, he finds out from Jerk Santa (who doesn’t seem to be a jerk anymore – maybe he grew up a little, too?), that his father and mother and the doe that he liked, were all gone, apparently out looking for him.  Hasn’t Rudolph been gone several months?  Wouldn’t they have stopped trying and headed home after a couple of days?  So what does Rudolph do?  He simply figures out that they must be at the Abominable Snowman’s cave.  How does he know that?  They could be dead for all he knew.  He shouldn’t just assume they are alive.

And that’s the best part.  When he arrives at the Snowman’s cave, it’s as if the Snowman has moments before captured his parents and girlfriend.  What?  How did that happen?  They were gone for several months and the second that Rudolph is in the general vicinity, not only do Rudolph’s mom and girlfriend find Donner, but all three of them mange to get found by the Snowman.  Uh huh.  Rudolph tries to defend his family and his girlfriend and gets bonked on the head with a rock (something that would have killed an ordinary reindeer, but perhaps his magic nose gave him super strength).

Just when all hope seems lost, Yukon Cornelius and Hermey save the day (and everyone else).  Hermey removes the Snowman's teeth and Yukon falls over the cliff with him.  Hooray (read: sarcastically).  Everyone comes home safe and then all of a sudden there's a storm that knocks over everything.  Santa is prepared to cancel Christmas (how would he do that, by the way?  Call a press conference?  Send an email?  Tweet?  Santagram?), but suddenly realizes that the poor sap of a child of Donner's and his freak nose might actually be useful for something.  Who knew?

So there's a happy ending after all (no massage necessary) and even the toys on the Island of Misfit Toys manage to find a place to live thanks to Santa.  So why am I so cynical about this show?  I'm definitely willing to suspend reality for the sixty minutes.  I think it's just that I look at it from a parent's point of view and wonder exactly how long Abby will believe the magic that is Christmas.  

"I believe, Spirit!"  -  wait, wrong movie.

To all of you who have already watched Rudolph and will now be wondering about everything, sorry.  For those who haven't, sorry for exposing the real world to you.

Until next time.

PS......you all know this is just in fun, right?