On a Cuteness scale of 10

When it comes to being cute, my son is a 10. It seems that lately I've been posting a lot about my son and what he has been up to. Frankly, a 2 year old can give you hell, but he can also give you a lot of laughter and smiles. With no job, playing with my son every day seems to be the highlight of my life right now.

Yesterday, I went out to run the usual errands... post office, bank, grocery shopping and picked up movies from Redbox. When we came home from all our errands, I brought him upstairs and left him to play inside while I took three trips up and down the stairs to haul all the groceries up. This week, I had bought more than I normally would - I have Thanksgiving to thank for that. The worst thing about living on the 3rd floor is hauling all the heavy groceries up. It's a pain in the butt.

On each of my trip upstairs, my son would greet me at the door, peering in the doorway and waving "Hi!" each time he saw me. On my second trip up, I asked Logan if he wanted to help me. He gave a short, curt nod (like he always does) and said "yeah!" I instructed him to bring food inside. Knowing my son and his strength, I didn't expect much help from him. To start him off, I gave him a bag that had a loaf of bread in there. He could carry that, right?

So I make my way down the stairs to get the last of the groceries. It took me longer than expected because the groceries were heavier than I thought. As I struggled to loop 6 or 7 bags through my arms and carried them up the stairs, I had hoped that Logan would be doing his small job.

On my final trip up, I decided to leave the groceries outside the door with all the rest of the groceries. It looked funny to me. There were the same amount of bags outside but somehow, the bags were smaller - as if they held less food. I went inside to see how my son was doing. Sure enough, he was bringing food in... BUT he was taking them out of the bags and bringing them in one at a time. How cute. What's even cuter is that he sorted through all the bags and only brought in food he liked! Grapes, Strawberries, Bread and Cereal.

He had arranged them up on the counter and had started to make his way back outside to gather more food just as I appeared in the kitchen. He looked at me and held his hands out towards the food as to say "See!? Look what I did!" He trotted away and sat on the couch, assuming that since Mommy's here now, his job was done.

After receiving some crappy news over the weekend, this was the medicine I needed.

The Worst of Yahoo! Answers, Part 2

I had so much fun looking for the most idiotic questions and answers on Yahoo! Answers, so I decided to do it again! Hope you enjoy this one as well...

How can a 15-year old girl lose weight really fast?
Answer 1: Anorexia
Answer 2: Chop off your ugly head

Do girls know they have boobs?
Answer: What!?! I Do??

Is it weird if I enter the pool with my penis point down in speedo and up when I come out of the pool?
Uhh... what?

My girlfriend is pregnant and she isn't having a period anymore. Think the baby is drinking her blood? I'm real worried.
Answer: maybe its a vampire baby... check for fangs at the next ultrasound! You big dork.

Does anyone know a spell (magic) to break up a friendship?
Answer: What you do is get a clove of garlic, wave it around your body in a circle three times. Then crush it up, add lemon juice, and drink it. After you're done vomiting, take some time to reflect that you shouldn't be breaking up other people's friendships.

Why do I feel a heart beat in my penis (while masturbating)?
Answer: It's got a mind of it's own!

If you find yourself in a hole, is the first thing you do is to stop digging or try and continue to dig your way out?
Answer: If I'm in a hole I push in as far as I can then pull out and then push back in again. I continue the process until I am sick. I am called a penis.

I have no idea what to do with my life????
Answer: Me too

Does a fridge have a light bulb in it?
Uhh what?

Why do people consider beastiality to be so wrong?
Seriously!? Ew!

The search this time around was a little bit harder. Unfortunately, I came across some really stupid and gross questions. Others were hilarious. Figured I would put them up on here anyway.

Shadows aren't just shadows

It was a beautiful day today. After a short stint of brisk weather, we were greeted with warm sunny days and cool breezes. I love days like this. My son and I set out today to run some errands. It seems that lately, most days we have to step out of the apartment to run an errand or two. Not that I mind getting out of the apartment on such nice days, I usually prefer to do all my errands at once on the same day.

Today, I had to go out to the post office and stop by my daughter's school to pick up the frozen cookies for a fundraiser the school had just done. I have about 13 items stacked in my fridge waiting to be distributed to its owners. Yummy. I'm tempted to bake some of my own cookies for myself tonight!

As my son and I stepped out of the apartment, I noticed the sun was spilling into the stairway. It was a nice view. Logan had started to creep tentatively and slowly down the stairs. He was also squinting due to the sun shining into our eyes. He stopped mid-way on the top set of stairs (we go up and down 3 flights everyday!) and looked to his left. The sun spilled over his head and caught his shadow on the wall. Logan was amazed. Imagine that there's a dark figure on the wall. And it's moving!

He immediately called out (and signed) "head!" and pointed to the shadow. "Yes, that's a head... YOUR head," I told him. He stood there for a couple of seconds just staring and analyzing his own shadow. Usually, I like to rush and get things done, but today - there was a calming and serene feeling to just stand there in the sun's warmth and watch my son. As we trekked down to the second flight of stairs, he looked up at the wall and noticed the shadow was gone. He was extremely puzzled. He looked at me and gave me a shrug as to say "I don't know."

He continued down the stairs to meet me and finally, saw his shadow again spilling down right beneath him. His eyes light up and a huge smile came on his face. When he moved, the shadow moved. It was very fascinating to him...

We finally made it to the car some few minutes later. He sat in the car happily and kept repeating "go, go!" We made it to the school only to be informed that the cookies wouldn't be ready for pick-up until 4:30pm. Oh well. We made it back to the car, but not before Logan saw his shadow again. This time, he tried stepping on it. He tried to catch it. He tried to escape it. A disappointed 2-year old failed to understand just what a shadow was.

Off we went to the post office. We skipped across the parking lot and was just about to enter the post office when - surprise, surprise - Logan noticed his shadow again. He stood there quietly for a while. It was as if he was trying to come to terms that a shadow is always there, but just out of his reach. Suddenly, I waved to him using my shadow. He turned around quickly and gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen. He turned back around to his shadow and gave me a wave. Finally - he understood.

Shadows aren't just shadows. It's a whole different world - a world full of imagination. Next time you're outside and it's a bright and sunny day, take a while and say hello to your shadow... I dare you.

My stand on immigration

Do you ever get the urge to shout "Oh no! Not another teen movie!" when you see a commercial promoting the latest teen B-movie? Or how about "Oh no! Not another reality show!" Well, you're about to say "Oh no! Not another political post!"

Frankly, I'm the same way. As soon as the election's over, I'm usually just about ready to tune out anything related to politics and let Washington do its job of screwing up America... See no evil, hear no evil. Even though I once contemplated voting for Obama, I couldn't help but feel a strange defeat when he won the election. Instead of being a pessimist, I figured I should look more into the issues and see exactly where Obama stands and maybe try to find some understanding in his positions.

This will probably be the first of several posts in the foreseeable future that will address social issues. It would be far too difficult to tackle different issues and discuss them at length in one blog so I figured I would address them separately. Starting with immigration.

As I write this post, I keep myself in check and remind myself constantly that I have friends out there that may or may not be bothered by about I'm about to write. Last time I checked, this was still America and we still have freedom of speech. Just don't take it personally (unless you're one of them).

I have no qualms about saying that I detest illegal immigrants. Let me explain why. I have serious issues with people that take advantage of the government (whether you're legal or illegal). It's highly likely that illegal people depend more on the government than legal people do. Why? Probably because they can't get a job, a decent one at least. You're required to show proof that you're legal to work. Sadly, there's tons of people out there who will hire illegal people to save money. I have issues with people that smuggle themselves into the country to take advantage of what's not theirs. I have serious issues with people that overstay their welcome and take advantage of what's not theirs. I have serious issues with people that take advantage of what's not theirs and send them home to Mexico and other South America countries to share what's not theirs in the first place. See the pattern?

In the past, illegal immigrants were entitled to rights as protected under immigration laws (my response: #%$!). They were also given equal medical care. They were not turned away at doctor's offices and hospitals just because they weren't a citizen. Citizen or not, they are human beings. Guess that outweighed everything. Who knew? The funny thing is, our Bill of Rights was created to preserve the social balance of America. The rights were reserved for citizens. Somehow along the lines, it got expanded to whoever else just happened to be occupying space in the country. Why? Because they're protected under immigration laws (again: #%$!).

I decided to look into what Obama had to say about immigration.

1. Obama wants to create secure borders. He will add additional personnel, infrastructure and technology at the border and at our ports of entry.
Score one point. I agree with extra security. However, if the money spent on extra security doesn't balance out with the success rate of keeping immigrants out then what's the point of having them? We're better off just handing the money to the immigrants. We should try our best to maintain our borders and do what we can to prevent illegal people from finding a way in. However, one of the major problems we have right now is that the immigrants are claiming to be tourists. They enter the country with a temporary visa and they overstay their welcome. What are you going to do about that? Here's my advice. For those who claim to be tourists and temporary visitors, stick a needle in them and inject a tracking device. When their time's up, authorities will come a-runnin' and boot them back home.

2. Obama wants to fix the "dysfunctional" immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.
Lose one major point. This counts as two points. Increasing legal immigrants to meet job demands? At a time like this? I lost my job! Almost 4,000 people just lost their job at UTMB in Galveston. Thousands others are going to be laid off in the next few months by various companies. AMERICAN people! And Obama wants to let them "help" us with employee shortages? Oh, that's right. Illegal immigrants will do anything to earn cash to send back home so they'll work for far less money than American people deserve to be paid. Pitiful. As for keeping families together - just send them ALL back to Mexico. If they wanna stay together, they've got to go. I don't think the whole family should be allowed to stay in America on the basis that one of theirs is a citizen. No offense to my friends, but in the Mexican culture - they tend to have lots and lots of babies. Babies they can't afford. Babies they put on Medicaid. Babies they feed with our American tax money, not their own money. Just because one child makes it into America doesn't mean that his tons of brothers and sisters should be allowed to as well.

3. Obama wants to remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
Score one point, sort of. More like half a point. While this is a good idea, how does he plan to do that anyway? It isn't 100% foolproof. Employers will still hire undocumented workers and they'll find ways to hide it from the system. Why? Because they're cheap. Paying cash under the table is one way to hide the workers from the system. If he comes up with an airtight plan and implements it well, I'll be impressed.

4. Obama will support a system that will allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.
Score one point. My question is - how big of a fine? If it's a teeny tiny fine, I won't be happy. Put the cash earned from fines back into our economy. Learning English is a must. I'm tired of having to cater to immigrants who don't know English. Employers are seeking employees that are bilingual so they can cater to a wider range of customers. Fine - I understand the business side of it. You'd want to make as much money as possible. But it's not fair to us that aren't bilingual, especially in my field. We can't get a particular job we would otherwise be qualified for because it's bilingual-required... and for what? To cater to illegal immigrants who don't deserve our services in the first place? Especially legal services.

5. Obama believes that America needs to work with Mexico and promote their economic development to reduce immigration.
Score one point. Good idea. But it isn't our problem. OK, technically - it is sort of our problem because their poor economy just encourages their people to come in and take advantage of ours. Which is doing pretty crappy right now anyway. We just need to take extreme measures to keep them out. My fear is this: We'll see a repeat of Iraq. Not the war but the dependency on America. If we had just left things alone in Iraq, we wouldn't be dealing with horrible situations over there right now. If anything, we left Iraq in a bigger mess than it was before. They're dependent on us now to complete what we started and help them get up on their feet. If we help Mexico improve their economy, they may become too dependent on us and try to hang on longer than they should. Instead of being rid of them, we'd still be stuck with them. PLUS, my opinion is: What business do we have to "help"another country with their economic problems? Look at our own!!!!


I want to stress that I have nothing against Mexicans in general. In fact, I have a very close friend who's Mexican. I love her and her family. My beef is with the illegal immigrants (whether you're European, Asian or whatever else - but living in Texas, we're dealing with a huge immigration problem with people from Mexico). I do not think it's fair to all the legal immigrants who entered the country legally, who worked hard to become citizens, have jobs, pay taxes and live their lives as Americans just to have the illegal ones to come along and use their tax money.

So far, it seems that Obama has scored some points with me regarding immigration. But we have all learned that politicians don't always do what they promised. So whether this is a false promise or not, we'll see.

Be on the look out for other posts analyzing social issues and Obama's stand on them. Let's see how many points Obama has with me at the end....

Score so far: 1.5 points out of possible 6

Off to a shaky start - but at least he has some points.

Short n sweet

I've got gloomy-itis. Nothing like a gloomy day to make one lazy. I mean lazy. Bless my son, he slept in until 10 - which means I slept in as well. I woke up with good intentions to organize a few things, work, write a purposeful blog, work on my GED lessons, etc. But, boredom got the best of me today. For the first time in a long time, I was bored. Usually when I am bored, I get irritated and frustrated. Boredom isn't fun. Like really, when is it fun? If it was fun to be bored, it wouldn't be called boredom. It'd be called fundom! Today, I felt an eerie sense of satisfaction to just sit around and do mindless things. I didn't have a fantastically fun day, but it was enjoyable as boredom goes. As the day goes on, I'm getting more and more restless. Staying home has its perks, but I need a job to keep from going insane.

All day, I had a little voice in the back of my head - "you're wasting an entire day - be productive!" But eh, my lazy voice won. I did nothing - well, nothing that was important and life-altering. I chatted with a friend. I watched soap operas. I snacked. I browsed the Internet. Fun, huh? Actually, I did make a short trip to the post office to mail out a netflix movie. Yay me!

What to do next? I guess I'll have to get up off my butt and away from the computer sometime soon to cook dinner. Then I'll waste the night away by watching television and watch lots more Heroes episodes. I'm just totally in love with that show now. It's awesome!

So, just so I feel semi-productive, I wrote this nonsensical blog just to make noise. Maybe - if my brain wakes up - I'll be back to write something that's worth reading.

After the election

The frenzy is finally over. Almost. Maybe not. It's been a week since Obama won the election. The news coverage and media has died down considerably since then - but photos and articles are still popping up all over the Internet. Obama tours the White House. Obama's wife asks Hillary for help. Hotels are filling up in DC for the Inauguration. The Obama family are given secret names by the Secret Service...

OK, first off - Do these people realize that the Secret names aren't so secret anymore? Calling them secret names and posting them on the Internet makes the whole point moot. Guess there really is freedom in the media. Or maybe, just maybe the Secret Service is betting on America being dumb enough to believe that those are the Secret names. Regardless, I guess they're better than "The Eagle has landed."

When word came that Obama won, I felt a tiny - really, a trickle - of shock. But I ask myself, why? In our heart of hearts, I'm sure we all knew that Obama was going to win. How could he not? A young, charming black man who had an amazing way of putting down McCain in debates that you'd think he was actually being friendly and helpful. He was always flashing those pearly whites and chuckling to himself. Guess people like an optimist. Glass is half full, right?

In the past 200+ years of presidential elections, there have been critics. Somehow, I think this time, it's different. Somehow, I believe that if you criticized Obama, you'd be called a hater. A racist.

Presidential jokes have been around for a long time. Black jokes have been around a long time. Blonde jokes - probably even longer. But now, we'll probably see presidential AND black jokes begin to surface. If we chuckled, would we be called a racist?

I was watching TV today - Whoopi Goldberg was a guest on Rachael Ray's cooking show. They discussed the election (what else?). Whoopi made me think. She said that although blacks have been accepted in America and have been given equal opportunities, she had just now realized that she never felt fully accepted until Obama's election. She was carrying around a suitcase that was labeled "Black American." Now, she feels, she can put that suitcase down and carry one around that just says "American." I think that's heartwarming. That brings me back to my point. Blacks have been accepted for years now. But after the election, no doubt they feel even more accepted. So now - if we make a blunder, would we be called a racist? I wonder...

Along with the election, Californians voted on Prop 8. Prop 8 discussed whether gay marriages should be declared invalid. Prop 8 was voted yes. Now - all the gay marriages that have taken place in the State of California in the past 6 months (since the passing of the bill) will no longer be recognized as legal. A huge blow to the homosexuals and a huge celebration for others.

I read a random blog that was written by a lesbian. She was a strong supporter of Obama. She voted for him. She was excited at the prospect of all new things that Obama promised to bring. She happened to overlook that Obama does not support gay marriages (um... HOW!?). She went on to express her sadness and disappointment.

Although Obama does not support gay marriages, he does support civil unions. And doesn't these people understand that Obama had nothing to do with Prop 8? With this election over, I am dreading the day that partial birth abortion becomes legal again. But - being an optimist, I guess I have to say that I'm glad that at least gay marriages have been overruled. For now.

I'm sure many of us are familiar with the term "the day that music died." It has to do with a few musicians that died in a plane crash together. They were icons and in their deaths, they became a permanent fixture in the music industry. I would have to say... the day Obama got elected, it felt like "the day that America died." Not because he's black - but because of the radical changes that he will try to bring.

Defending My Decision

Since it's Election day and everyone's making such a big deal out of it, I figured I'd go with the flow and have a little say in it. I've tried to refrain myself from participating in the madness, but I decided that I wanted to have a voice.... especially since a lot of people I know keep trying to convince me to vote a particular way. Of course, that's to be expected right around Election time. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion and I'm definitely entitled to my own. Yes, I think voting is a big deal, but when the two choices are Dumb and Dumber (who is which is something I'll keep to myself), sometimes it's just best not to vote. I didn't vote. Before you political activists start whining, I'm going to explain exactly just why I didn't vote. Then maybe, if you understand my position, you'll hush and go on about your business.

This isn't meant to convince anyone to vote for a particular party. This isn't meant to convince anyone to NOT to vote. Even though I know I don't have to explain myself to anybody, I have decided that I want to. Chances are, you've already voted or voting is over. Either way, I still want to get my thoughts across.

My reasons for not voting:

#1: Texas has always been a strong Republican state. It wouldn't have mattered which way I voted - McCain/Palin would win regardless.

#2: As I stated above, when the choices are Dumb and Dumber, how can you vote? It's not about who will fix our problems - it's about who's less likely to make a bigger mess.

#3: If I voted for McCain, I would be supporting the war. That's a no-no. We should have NEVER invaded Iraq in the first place. That's old business that Bush #1 started and it should have been left alone. Here's a little history lesson: Iraq has nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden. By all means, if you find Bin Laden, I've LOVE to torture him Saw-style.

#4: If I voted for Obama, I could potentially be helping him overturn the Partial-Birth Abortion ban. A good friend of mine said "How can you in good conscience vote for someone that goes against what you strongly believe in?" Extremely valid point. If I voted for Obama, it would have been because of the promising economic future and universal health care. If, in his four years of presidency, he overturns the Partial-Birth Abortion ban, how could I ever live with myself if I was partly responsible for making it happen?

#5: Republicans tend to focus more on the wealthy. Being a working class citizen that's financially struggling, I kind of have an issue with that. Yes, they are being taxed. They pay a slightly higher tax if they make over $250,000 a year. However, they are entitled to a few extra tax breaks that the lower-income families don't have. Spread the wealth around!

#6: On the other hand, Democrats are known to be sympathetic to the less fortunate and believe in helping them out. While I don't consider myself poor (compared to many others), I also have an issue with this. Although I am financially struggling, I refuse to rely on the government for help. If I can find ways to stay afloat, I'll go down that path. I have an extreme problem with those that sit back and take advantage of everything the government offers them: Food Stamps, WIC, Medicaid/Medicare, SSI, SSDI, and much more. I have a friend who was denied help because she made $1 or so above their limit. She had one child, a college education, actively seeking employment and was in need of temporary help. On the other hand, I know a couple who's expecting their fourth child (on purpose) and they're using EVERY government help available to them. Here's the kicker: they aren't doing much of anything to seek better employment or even education (they're not educated beyond high school).

There's lots of things wrong with this country nowadays. I think we're FUBR'd. We're too much into the deep right now for any immediate relief. It'll take years and several honest/smart people to fix this mess. People who aren't politicians. I don't think either candidate is qualified on the basis of lack of experience (Obama) and poor economic planning (McCain). Regardless of who wins tonight, I just hope they can refrain from screwing up America in the next 4 years.

I just received a text message from a friend and I thought I'd pass it on: "Due to long lines, Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you."

Appreciating the art

Appreciation is "understanding of the nature, meaning, quality or magnitude of something." It is also "an admiration; a favorable judgment." Admiration and appreciation can go a long way when you know how to appreciate things. I've always had an appreciation for art - namely photography and movies. When done tastefully, movies become works of art. When it's done in a horrible fashion, movies just take up space and becomes a black hole - a black hole that sucks up 2 hours of your life at a time. Some of these movies resemble a bad car accident... so horrible and appalling - but you can't look away.

Among these black hole movies, I would have to put horror up on the top of the list. Horror movies aren't worth your time unless it achieves several things. One: It scares you. Bad. Two: Well, there isn't really a 2nd requirement - maybe better acting. But despite my better judgement, I've watched tons of horror movies. Some I liked, and some I hated. There was once a time when I liked Scream. Now - I think it's lame.

After many disappointments, I rented a movie with extremely low expectations. Expectations that proved me wrong. VERY wrong. In my opinion, the Saw franchise has to be one of the best horror movies around nowadays. Creatively written, the whole franchise is based on one single idea: If you value your life enough, you'll come out of it alive. And if you come out of it alive, you'll have a whole different perspective on what it means to live. Good lesson, huh?

Not only the movies are written extremely well, it leaves the viewers with a moral question. Is Jigsaw a murderer? He doesn't actually kill these people himself. And he always, ALWAYS provides them a way out. Of course, it goes without saying that there have been many victims that didn't make it out - however, the option was always there.

My friend and I contemplated whether the whole series was written beforehand - and once it was completed, the filming started. Well, much to my surprise, the movies were written one at a time, by several different men. The first movie was written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Whannell played one of the two main characters that were trapped in the bathroom in the first film. Whannell went on to write the next two movies with the help of Bousman for the 2nd film and Wan, who came back for the 3rd film. The first three was produced by the same man - Gregg Hoffman. He passed away shortly before fourth film. For Saw 4, 5 and 6 (yes, there's a 6th coming!), the films were written by two different men. The different writers proved to me that the movies were written separately, and with extremely cautious and creative writing, anybody can make a successful horror movie.

To truly understand and appreciate the art of keeping viewers interested, Saw should be studied with anticipation. It's unbelievable how each movie is beautifully tied in with one another, prompting new questions and providing answers to questions from previous movies. Just when you think you understand it all, you'll find that the next movie will hold the answers you need.

What I like best about the Saw franchise is it's gore. Someone once asked me in an aghast manner, "How can you watch that!? It's disgusting!" My answer was - it's WHY I watch it! While researching, I found an interesting tidbit. Saw 3 had to be trimmed 7 times before it could qualify for an "R" rating. After seeing it, I absolutely believe it. Although now, I'm curious to see the unrated version.

To top it all off, I'm amazed at how long it took them to film each movie. Saw 1: 18 days. Saw II: 25 days. Saw III: No information. Saw IV: 6 weeks. Saw V: 7 weeks. Saw VI will begin filming in 2009.

Will this be the next classic?