Another example of hypocrisy

Courtesy of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R).

Everyone knows the story by now… year-long affair with a woman in Argentina, Sanford’s wife found out five months ago, Sanford acknowledges that he let a lot of people down, etc.

This is the problem- Sanford, and his GOP Christian Coalition buddies have always preached about being the touchstone for all that is moral and right in America.  They anointed themselves the judge and jury in cases of moral decrepitude, and back in the 90’s went after Bill Clinton for his straying under that self-appointed mantle of morality.

In recent years, there have been countless examples of GOPers who have turned down the road of “the fallen”, as they put it.  Witness Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Newt Gingrich, David Vitter and now most recently John Ensign.  Yet, the GOP continues to claim they are more moral, more worthy, and a better judge of all of us.  And every time another one of them falls, their hypocrisy is evident in bold relief.

How about if we recognize that people fail?  People simply screw up, make bad choices, and that affairs of the heart alone should not be the sole reason for career failure.  For anyone- regardless of party.  Learn forgiveness, accept that these are private issues, and allow people to deal with them privately.

Now, this is a lot to say coming from a democrat like myself.  Infidelity happens everywhere, in all social strata, all parties, all religions.   I’m tired of seeing these morality plays carried out everywhere, with the universe commenting on them and making mincemeat out of the families.  Case in point, John and Elizabeth Edwards.

The problem is that respect of people’s private lives will never be restored in today’s day and age.  This kind of obsession is part of the 24/7 news culture, and part of the political no-holds-barred system that governs Washington.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, is fair game.  It doesn’t seem like there is a way to turn back now.

These politicians get into these catch-22 situations by pontificating on morality, the strong family values they allegedly hold, and how they should have the right to say what is moral and just and what isn’t.  Sanford voted for DOMA, and has been a long-term opponent of any type of civil rights advances or equality for gay Americans.  He sits in judgement on all of us with his anti-abortion, anti-female rhetoric, his union-busting and his constant criticism of anything Democratic.  That’s why it is next to impossible for those of us on the other side of the aisle to let an affair of this magnitude just go by the wayside.  Just like the GOP wouldn’t let us off the hook for one of our own either- witness Eliot Spitzer.  I still wish he didn’t  have to step down as NY Governor.   They have been worse off without him.

Now the search is on to determine if anything Sanford did was illegal.  Did he use state money for any of these trips to Argentina? Did he use state time and equipment in carrying out his affair?  What about the fact that adultery is actually illegal and punishable by both a fine and jail time in South Carolina?  What about the fact that Sanford lied to his staff about his whereabouts?  What about putting the United States in a potentially dangerous situation by traveling to a foreign country with a history of high profile abductions, and failing to have security with him, or at the very least contact the US Embassy when he arrived?

All of these are valid questions, and should be answered publicly.  We’re never going to be able to return to the days when the private lives of public people were respected and there was a certain distance.  There are good reasons for that, and bad reasons too.

Let’s just keep the kids out of it, please.

Perez Hilton v. Will.i.am

I know… of all things to be posting about, this is ridiculous.  But I think there is something important here.

Perez Hilton posted a video today about the alleged beating he took by the BlackEyed Peas manager, Polo, last night in Toronto after a verbal confrontation with Will.i.am.  Will.i.am has also posted a video at Dipdive to explain his side of the story.

First, everyone in the universe knows that Perez Hilton is a dramatic person.  He makes his living off other people’s drama, and his site is really harsh on a lot of people.  The times that something positive is said about someone versus the times something negative is said is about a 1:10 ratio, if not worse.  So there may be a bit of karma involved here.  But that’s not what’s bothering me.

What’s bothering me is that Perez has been a proponent of gay rights in California, and has written extensively about the “No on 8” campaign and the struggle for the LGBT community to gain equality in the eyes of the law.  Yet, in his own video about the confrontation, he relates that he was so upset with Will.i.am’s  agressive stance and attitude towards him that he wanted to say “the worst possible thing” to Will.i.am that he could.  The thing that would anger Will.i.am the most.  I was expecting a racial slur, which would have been terrible.  But what he said was just as bad.

Perez said he called Will.i.am a “faggot” and “why are you being so gay”.

This is so disappointing, that a gay man who is allegedly in favor of gay rights and less discrimination and violence toward gays uses the words “faggot” and “gay” towards someone because it was the worst thing he could think of to say.

Perez, I think your self-loathing is showing here.  When will you learn that just because you’re a gay man, you don’t have the right to slam out hate speech any more than anyone else does?  Using the words “faggot” and “gay” in the context you did DOES make it hate speech.  You were hating in that moment, just as you were hating in your video response about the incident.  You wanted to hurt Will.i.am, and you chose to hurt an entire community with your slurs against them by making being called “faggot” or “gay” the most unforgivable insult you could think of.

Words mean something, Perez.  You may justify what you do for a living as “silly” or just one person’s opinion, but you truly do foster a culture of nastiness and cruelty on your site.

Violence is never the answer, that is correct.  Will.i.am did not personally hit you, and there is no indication that he directed someone on his staff to hit you.  Whoever hit you is who you should be upset with, and only about the fact you were hit.

Otherwise, the fact that someone finally called you out about the things you say on your website every single day, 24/7/365, is simply karma at work.  You cannot continue pumping out as much negativity and misery into the universe and not expect it to come back at you.  You just can’t.

Seven stages of grief

7.  Shock.

I get up the next morning, and several mornings after that having slept fitfully.  I’m dreaming about odd things at night, and I’m not getting to bed at a decent hour either.  I don’t even try to research much, which is really unusual for me.  Typically, I want to find out all I can when something new or different comes along, but this time is different.

6. Guilt.

Oh boy, this one comes at me hard.  My husband had to deal with his diabetic mother for years.  She never took proper care of herself until it was really too late and things were pretty far gone.  I hate that he’s going to have to deal with this all over again.  He doesn’t deserve that.  Not to mention, now my kids have a likely chance of getting diabetes themselves.  If only I’d taken better care of myself, I wouldn’t be in this position now.  If only, if only.  I crawled into my cave and wanted to stay there for days, I was so unhappy with what I’d done to myself and my family.

5.  Fear.

The research bug finally kicks in.  I start finding out about how I could go blind, how I could lose my feet or legs, how I could need a transplant of some kind some day.  I learn about insulin, and the daily testing I’ll need to do- couple that with my fear of needles and shots in general, and you’ve got fear big time.  One of my favorite movies is “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep.  It’s about how after we die, we have to defend our life and prove that we have faced our fears during our time on earth.  If we win the trial, we are moved forward in the universe.  If we lose the trial, we are sent back to Earth to try again.  I sure hope diabetes isn’t the universe’s way of making me face my fears.

Of course, what I’m really afraid of is that I won’t be able to get this under control, and that I’ll have all these complications or worse.  I worry that I’ll die young.   My dad died unexpectedly when he was only 46.  He never got to know my kids, or really know me as an adult.  My grandmother always used to go around talking about how we had to be good to her now, because she wasn’t going to live very long.  That line of guilt was used on me for 30 years, and she’s still going strong.  I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty because I’m worried about dying before I get to know my grandchildren, but sometimes the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.  Just tonight, I said that I wouldn’t live to see 80, that if I got to 60 I’d be lucky.  No one wants to hear that.  I know they hate it when I say that.

4. Depression.

This stage isn’t really its own stage for me in this case.  It’s been part of all the other stages.  At one point last week, I realized how badly I’d been treating a couple of people in my life and I did my best to make amends.  I did recognize that I’d been in a depressive state for about 10 days, and things finally started to lift a bit after that. The fear and guilt really feed the depression, so I’m trying to find better ways of coping with those to keep the depression monster away.

3. Denial.

This stage does not last long for me.  One night, I eat dinner and then at about midnight, I eat dinner again.  Big mistake.  I wind up with the shakes, and getting sick and getting a terrible charley horse in my stomach muscles.  If you’ve never had one before, believe me, it’s way worse than the ones in your calf muscles.   I’m also oddly concerned about telling people about this.  My husband and my kids know, as does my business partner.  I haven’t told anyone else, except people online who only know me under a screenname.  I’m already sensing a certain amount of judgment from people about what I’m eating, or what I should be eating.  I really don’t want to deal with that.  I don’t want someone feeling compelled to be the food police over me.  It’s annoying, and it won’t make me compliant.  So I guess that means I’m keeping this to myself for now, to the extent that I can.   Except for you all here.

2. Anger.

I start acting out- almost picking fights, being paranoid that things are going badly at work, looking for things to be offended about.  I’m feeling miserable about it.  I’m not my normal self.  I’m not engaging with others like I should be.  Why is this happening to me!  This is toning down now, and I’m not doing this fly-off-the-handle thing now.

1. Acceptance.

I don’t know if I’m here yet.  It’s only been about 2 weeks since I got the diagnosis.  I have a lot of learning yet to do, and I am doing a bit of research each day.  I did make the appointment with the diabetes educator/dietician person, and I ordered a couple of BG meters to try out.  The companies were offering them for free online, so I figured that would be less expensive than having to buy one.  I hear it’s the test strips that are really expensive.

Maybe I’ll to through these stages more than once.  I see items about “diabetes burnout” on a number of sites, but I haven’t read any of that yet.  I imagine that will someday be an issue I’ll have to deal with too.  Right now I’m still trying to wrap my head around what’s happening.  In the back of my mind, I think to myself how great it would be if I could reach 50 in ten years and be able to look back and say that getting diagnosed with diabetes was the best thing that could have happened to me because it forced me to change.  That it saved my life.  Today, that seems like a total fantasy.  Like I could lose weight, get all these issues fixed and feel healthy and active.  I just don’t know how I’m ever going to do this.

The Diagnosis

Yes, it’s been a while.  I’ve been busy with stuff I never wanted to be busy with.  You all recall my expereinces with my (now) prior doctor- how she refused to treat anything I showed up with, and how she never showed me any respect.  It had been nearly 18 months since I had been in to see her, since the last interaction went so badly.  I finally decided to get copies of my medical records so I could find a new doctor.

Imagine my surprise in reading my chart that I have been pre-to-full-on diabetic for the better part of three years, and that my iron levels were dangerously low.  She never related anything about my blood sugar, and only talked about the anemia in passing, as if it wasn’t such a big deal.  Of course according to her, everything would magically resolve itself if only I would magically lose about 150 pounds.  We all know how well that went.

So I manage to find a doctor in town who is supposed to be a good person.  My first visit, she listens, asks a few questions, does some tests and says that we’re going to get to the bottom of this anemia thing because she’s like a dog with a bone.  I leave feeling like I finally have a real partner in fixing my health for a change.  She says they’ll call me next week with my test results.

Only they call me two days later saying I need to make an appointment to come in NOW to see her to discuss the results.  And I need to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist she’s referring me to right away also.  Warning bells are going off in my head- this does not sound good at all.  I ask the nurse to fax me the lab results, and they actually do it.

Now, I’m no doctor, and I don’t know the first thing about these lab numbers or what the acronyms mean.  So, Wikipedia here I come!  My iron is so low, at only 17, that it’s a wonder I’m functional at all.  No wonder I’ve been so exhausted and cloudy-minded lately!  My blood glucose is 128, fasting.  That could be high or high-normal depending on which scale you’re using.  I’m really more worried about the anemia problem at this point, having read about all sorts of disorders like bone marrow defects that can cause this level of anemia.  The rest of the causes point to a gastro-related issue, which I’m sure I don’t have, because everything seems pretty normal to me.

So I spend the weekend scaring myself to death with the lab results and Googling different diseases, waiting for Monday to arrive and my gastro and new doc appointments.

The gastro tells me they want to schedule both a colonoscopy and an upper endoscopy for the same day.   I try everything I can to get out of this, because the last thing I want to do is have scopes in both ends.  Even in one end.  Any end.  It’s all bad, bad, bad.  Yuck.  And the preparation you have to go through is no fun either.   The PA at the gastro clinic just shakes his head at me and acts like he’s seen all this before.  I’m only 39, I think to myself.  I shouldn’t have to do this for another 10 years.

So off to my new doc I go.  I tell her I’ve already seen the test results and that I’m concerned about the anemia.  She says I also have high cholesterol, which we’re going to treat with medication right away.  This was also another issue that the former doctor knew about but never bothered to treat.  Then the new doc says the anemia is treatable, she’s starting me on Slow Fe to get my iron levels up, but the gastro stuff must be checked out to find the root cause of the problem.  And then the bombshell.

I have diabetes, she says.  I’ve been fine up until now, not emotional, pretty clinical, listing other symptoms I’d forgotten to tell her about last week.  Now I start to tear up, and she hands me a tissue.  She says we caught it early.  With my BG over 126, that qualifies as diabetes, and I’ll likely have to deal with it for the rest of my life.  She says no medication for now, but she’s scheduling me with a dietician and they’ll get me started with a blood glucose meter.

Then I’m off to a City Council meeting in a daze.  My life has just changed, and I’m feeling a little numb.

Next time, the seven stages of grief…

A New Day in America

Wow, what a week it’s been!  So many winners and losers, but let’s get right to the point.  BARACK OBAMA is our President!  After so much work, phonebanking, cavassing, talking to friends and family about the vote, registering new voters, America finally did the right thing and turned the page on the status quo.

I watched the returns at home with my family, in front of the TV with my laptop plugged in next to me to get more information as needed.  Flipping between CNN and MSNBC, we saw the “hologram” and the “virutal room” toys deployed by those networks.  It was very exciting to watch, especially as the scenes from Grant Park in Chicago started coming in.  Hundreds of thousands of people, all dancing, laughing and then crying for joy when the announcement came: Barack Obama will be our nation’s 44th President.

It was like a miracle.

Then the world reaction came in, and there was so much to celebrate!  After all we have been through in the last 8 years, American has finally started back on the road to redepmtion in the eyes of the world.  I’m so glad to see it happen.

Victories for Democrats in places like Virginia and North Carolina.  Increases in our Senate and House majorities.  Jeff Merkley won his US Senate race in Oregon, after a long wait for the final counts.  He’s going to do a great job for Oregonians.  We have new Democrats in office for Secretary of State- Kate Brown and Treasurer- Ben Westlund, not to mention Labor Comissioner Brad Avakian.  Our local races were mostly successful, with a few disappointments in Tualatin and Wilsonville house races.  The best part was that every single one of Bill Sizemore’s measures failed at the ballot box yet again.  This man and his backers have got to learn that Oregonians are on to their scam, and they’re wasting their money up here.

Once again, Oregon’s Vote-By-Mail system was hailed as state of the art.  After seeing people having to stand in line for 8-10 hours to cast their vote, how can we not see this as a poll tax?  The system needs to be fixed, and it’s not the only one. I was sad to see Heather Ryan lose her bid for US House seat KY-01.  She was a great candidate, and I hope she stays in KY politics.  They need more rabblerousers down there!

I’m hoping healthcare will stay at the top of Obama’s to-do list once he’s in office.  There are people out there dying and in pain for want of healthcare right now.  Children going without necessary medicines and treatment.  Families bankrupted by the greedy insurance lobby who just want more, more, more.  It has to stop now.

So much to do for the new President and his staff.  I’m watching the news for all the transition info and cabinet appointments, just as eagerly as I watched for election news last month.  Obama’s staff is already planning a big overhaul of the White House web site, which will hopefully provide more opportunities for Americans to interact effectively with their government.

Today, the Obamas went to the White House to meet with the Bushes for a tour and private meetings.  Everyone I talk to is so glad to see a young family in the White House again.  There will be kids everywhere, especially when Joe Biden brings his family over for a visit!  I know some of you might find this shallow, but I love following Michelle Obama’s fashions, and what the girls are wearing too.  I’m looking forward to every bit of detail we can get about Michelle’s plans for decorating the Residence in the White House, and the fashions for January’s inaugural parties.  I want to see Malia and Sasha settle in comfortably in their new home, and start school in DC with the same high standards they’ve been put to all their lives in Chicago.

There’s going to be so much on their plates in crafting a whole new kind of government.  I think we’ll be seeing things from an Obama Administration in ways we never thought possible before.

It is a new day in America, and I’m so happy to see it!

Standing at the edge of history

I cannot sleep.  Today is election day, Nov. 4, 2008.  The first polls in NH have already run their course- overwhelmingly for Obama.  I have been phonebanking for the last couple of days to CO and VA, urging voters to get out to the polls.  I spoke with so many who were excited about the chance to vote for change with Obama.  Only a couple were voting for McCain, and they didn’t sound too happy about it.  One man said he felt sorry for me for supporting Obama, right before he hung up on me.

There is the feeling that we are all standing at the edge of a great cliff, holding hands with millions of others, just waiting for our cue to jump.  Upon making that great leap of faith, we will discover we have all sprouted wings.  Our wings will allow us to carry others with us to reach new heights for America.

We are taking our country back, after such a long road of deceit, lies and obsfucation for so many years.  Our opportunity to make changes that will forever alter the path of America is before us.  Millions of people all over the world are counting on us to make the right choice on this fateful day, for their fate is entwined with our own.  We are voting not only for ourselves, but for our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, our families.  We are voting for our allies and our enemies- that we will treat both with the respect they deserve.  We are voting for those who can’t vote, and for those who can but can’t get to the polls or stand in line for 10+ hours to cast their vote.

The fact that voting in many states involves such a commitment of time and physical stamina is in itself a poll tax.  How do people who cannot take time off work cast their vote?  How do people who cannot afford the additional childcare, the transportation, the time away from their job, or risking loss of their job altogether manage to vote?  How do the elderly and disabled who cannot stand in line for 10+ hours be able to vote?  Simply stating that the absentee vote is their substitute is not enough.   Those absentee votes are not reliably counted or included in final vote totals, as we saw in 2000 and 2004.

A better system is needed- I support Vote-By-Mail.  This system has been in use in Oregon for 10 years now, with nary a problem.  Voter turnout is outstanding.  The system is simple and effective, and open to everyone.  Now, if only we could couple that with instant voter registration, we’d be home free!

As I said before, we are on the edge of history.  I will be home with my family tonight, watching the returns come in.  We were invited to attend the Big Democratic Party event downtown, but the crowds are just too much for us.  We’ll celebrate at home, with cake and champagne, and a big box of Kleenex when we listen to Obama’s acceptance speech.

It will be history right before our eyes, and I can’t wait!

Foodstuff: A or B?

I saw this at Accidental Hedonist today, and it reminded me of the polls my kids do on their myspace all the time.  Except this one is all about food!  Yay!

Coke or Pepsi? Coke, but only if it’s the Mexican variety made from cane sugar and comes in a bottle.  Otherwise, I’ll take an RC Cola, also made from cane sugar.

Thick crust or thin for your Pizza? Thin, thin, thin.  Yum, yum, yum,

Rare or Well Done for your steak? Medium Rare please.  Beef should never be well done, ever, in any form.

Hot Dogs or Hamburgers? Hamburgers! I have to be in the mood for hot dogs, and they have to be the good kosher variety.  None of this Ball Park/Oscar Meyer pretend baloney dogs nonsense.

Ketchup or Mustard on your hot dog? Ketchup never belongs on a hot dog.  Any mustard should be of a spicy variety- I highly recommend Stadium Mustard, from Cleveland, OH. If you can’t get that, then a spicy, smooth deli style mustard will go nicely with the kraut and onions you should be using.

Cake or Pie? Cake.  With a great, homemade, real butter frosting.  None of this canned frosting crap.

Brownies with a fine, glossy crust, or soft cake brownies? Soft cake brownies are not brownies, they are, in fact, a soft cake.  Brownies should be dense, moist and not crumbly.

Nuts in the brownies? No.  Do not adulterate my brownies with nuts of any ilk.  I prefer my chocolate pure, thank you!

Vanilla or Chocolate ice cream? Vanilla, as it can be used as a base for so many different flavors and toppings.  If available, coffee is my second fave.  For a fun topping no one ever thinks about, try mixing chunky peanut butter with some Hershey’s syrup.  You can even heat it up a bit if you like- it’s great over a good vanilla ice cream- kicks the pants off of most chocolate & peanut butter ice creams.

Blue cheese or ranch dressing with your Buffalo wings? Please don’t make me cry.  Ranch dressing is evil.

Soup or Salad? I love soup.  Love it, love it, love it.  I wish I loved salad- it would be much better for me.

Butter on your Popcorn? Only if it’s real butter.

Pork or Beef barbecue? This is a tough one.  BBQ done right in either meat is great, but it’s harder to get beef right.  Pork is more forgiving, and more flexible with the sauce options.  I guess I’ll have to pick beef, since I love a good BBQ beef rib.  Yum.  And we’re supposed to be getting a new BBQ place here in town soon!  I hope it’s going to be good.

Coffee or tea? Tea, every morning.  Coffee is too hard on my system in the morning.  I’ll drink a cup of coffee once in a while at night with dessert, particularly if we’re enjoying baked goods.

Beer from a can or a bottle? Bottle, if draft isn’t available.  Then again, I’m not a huge beer drinker.

Oreos or Hydrox? Oreo, since I don’t think you can get Hydrox anymore.

Little Debbie or Hostess? Little Debbie- love those Swiss Cake Rolls!

Bacon or Sausage? Bacon, preferably thick cut and fully cooked- no wobbly bits.

Eggs Scrambled or Fried? Depends on what I’m having with it.  If there’s toast, fried over easy is great.  If not, scrambled is good, especially with cheese and hot sauce.

That was fun!  Do you have any to add?

Palin as VP? Is McCain trying to lose the election?

Since yesterday’s announcement, I’ve experienced a range of emotions about McCain’s decision to choose AK Governor Sarah Palin as his VP running mate.  Mostly, those emotions have settled on disbelief, disappointment and disturbed.  Let’s explore our feelings, shall we?

Disbelief- The fact that McCain made this choice after having spoken to Palin once on the phone, and meeting once in person is shocking.  Was there no vetting process in place for the VP pick?  Did the campaign just allow McCain to do whatever he wanted, or did he insist that he would be the only “decider”?  A mayor of a town of less than 9,000 people, who took an opportunity to use her local “support” from oil, gas, and mining compaines for a parlay into the Governor’s office for just 18 months, does not provide one with the experience to serve as the possible next President.

Disappointment- This one surprised me.  I was really geared up for a big fight for the next 60 days, until November.  I know that there will still be one, but I can’t shake the feeling that McCain made this choice partly to innoculate his campaign from more critisism, as he’ll now use the POW defense in addition to co-opting the sexist defense on behalf of Palin.  If McCain wanted to choose a woman, there were so many other choices that would have served the nation far better than Palin- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Christine Todd Whitman, even Elizabeth Dole.   At least we would have seen the attempt to have a semi-competent woman with one of these choices, but alas, that is not the case.

Does McCain really expect the PUMA’s to come running in a rallying cry around this choice?  Does he not see how Palin’s views, policies and actions totally fly in the face of everything Hillary stands for?  Does McCain actually think the PUMAs will simply vote for a vagina?

Disturbed- Palin is no wallflower, and as a result there’s plenty to be said of her conduct both personally and professionally.  Today, we see nearly all of the major papers in Alaska writing about their collective shock and dismay at this pick, soon to be followed by other national papers tomorrow.  Why all the fuss?  Let’s see what pies Palin has her fingers in:

• Palin is currently under investigation for attempting to have her brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska State Trooper as revenge for her sister’s nasty divorce proceedings. When she could not get him fired, she fired his boss instead for his refusal to cooperate.
• Palin’s first veto was to deny benefits to same-sex couples in Alaska
• Palin’s husband works for BP, and has been shown to have a great deal of influence in AK government.
• She has fought the listing of polar bears as an endangered species by suing the EPA, stating such a designation would get in the way of drilling for oil, and she has put a bounty of $150 per wolf killed in order to increase moose and caribou herds for hunters.
• Palin is agressively pro-life, even in cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the life of the mother.
• Palin is a Creationist who supports removing science-based teaching of evolution from schools
• Palin does not believe human have any impact at all on climate change.
• She has no foreign policy experience, she has no idea what the VP is supposed to do.  She has not traveled much within the US, and not at all outside of the US.
• Palin is likely the least experienced VP candidate in US History.

People are calling this pick “window dressing” for the McCain campaign.  Everyone can see that Palin would have no impact or influence in a McCain administration, and the fact that Palin would allow herself to be used in this way makes me respect her even less.

There are many questions left to be answered about Palin, and I’m betting this is going to get worse before it gets better.  How will the Obama camp respond to further implosion of the GOP?  It’s like watching a train wreck- you don’t want to see the physical damage, especially to the people involved, but you can’t take your eyes off of it.

The Omnivore’s One Hundred

This is an idea from a British food blog, the concept being:

“Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food – but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.”

I like this kind of thing, so here’s my response to the list- I’ve bolded the items I’ve eaten, and crossed out things I’ll never try.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (mostly because of the cigar)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (for obvious reasons)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

So I’ve had 47 items off this list, and I won’t eat 11 items.  How about you?

Defensive Shopping

Mr. BigDog and I have been married for quite some time now, and our girls are now 14 and 16 years old.  That makes Mr. BD the only man in the house, unless you count our dog, who was fixed when we got him.   In the past, this hasn’t really been a big problem, but now that the girls are older, nature is really working against him.

Not having grown up with sisters, Mr. BD is pretty clueless when it comes to the idiosyncrasies of teenage girls.  I feel bad for him, like when he can’t understand their unexpected moodiness that sometimes takes him by surprise.  On other occaisons, he’s ready for it.  He’s a great observer, and he’s finally figured out a strategy for himself: Defensive Shopping.

In case you haven’t lived in a houseful of women, something you may not know is that the longer women are around each other on a regular basis, such as sharing a house, the more likely they are to have their menstrual cycles start to match up.  Periods are scary enough for most men, but you get three women going at or around the same time in the same house, and all hell’s gonna break loose.

Our 16 year old displayed a particularly unusually tart tounge the other night in a fit of fight-picking, so I figured she was starting up soon.  I didn’t mention this to Mr. BD, since I didn’t think it was relevant at the time.  Today, my cramps started up, and I was also not in the best mood.  This evening, our youngest mentioned she needed products, since she was expecting to start in the next day or so.  It’s like watching the perfect storm form before your eyes.

Mr. BD, apparently observing all this from his perch of testosterone, sensed danger in the pack.  He took action.  Mr. BD went to the store and wisely stocked up on ice cream (3 flavors), hot fudge, whipped cream, sundae nuts, caffinated coffee, Midol, and the required products we’d all need over the next week.  All of this without a word from me.  And then, tonight he said he was planning to get the house clean and the laundry done tomorrow.  It’s like the Perfect Husband Fairy has visited my house.

I wonder if he resembles the Snack Fairy from those TV commercials.

Anyway, with disaster diverted for one month, we’re all happily self-medicating and hopefully look forward to a quiet week.