July 03, 2008

Hapyy Birthday GAYLE!

To the woman who could tell Maxine a thing or two about being a feisty lady!

Many happy returns...you make the Internet a more exciting place!

May 27, 2008

Happy Birthday AARON!

October 21, 2007

My Morning at a Cheerleading Competition

So the hubby and I spent the entire morning at the local cheerleading competition, watching our youngest compete with her team. This is her fourth year with the program. As a result, I've seen my fair share of competitions, including on the regional level, and so I jotted down a few notes to share with you all in case you don't have the opportunity to attend this kind of event:

*The team that practices year round with paid professional coaches usually wins. There's one town that really does this, and almost every competition they snag all the first place trophies. This year, however, only one of their teams placed in the morning session, and the team competing in my daughter's age group didn't even place. I was surprised but pleased...I consider them to be our arch rivals.

*If your kid's team experiences a major flub during the routine, you'd better hope your kid wasn't responsible...some teammates AND some parents can be very unforgiving.

*If it weren't for the wrinkles, baggy eyes and leathery skin, you couldn't tell some mothers from their teenage daughters. Ladies, PLEASE: dress according to your age. This doesn't mean you have to be a frump, but looking like you raid your kid's closet isn't exactly flattering either.

*Whoever creates music mixes for cheer routines should be shot. They're jarring, loud, and just obnoxious sounding.

*No matter how old people are, there are always a handful that can't follow directions. No clapping until the routine is done means just that! Sit on your hands if you can't control the urge to applaud in the middle.

*People are slobs. First of all, there wasn't supposed to be any food in the gymnasium. Second of all, if you can't follow that rule, at least pick up your coffee cups and potato chip bags. Sheesh!

*Sitting on hard, plastic bleachers with no back support for two and a half hours sucks! I should have a chiropracter on speed dial.

*The 50/50 raffle is a great way to pick up some cash. Today's winner walked away with well over $700!

*Finally, the team that comes back at the end of the competition to finish the routine that was interrupted by one of their teammates getting injured always gets the biggest round of applause. Kudos! (The announcer also told us that she will be okay; she is just being kept under observation at the hospital as a precaution.)

August 09, 2007

I'm Off...

on vacation as Friday the 10th, and Wyatt Earp from Support Your Local Gunfighter has graciously agreed to lend his wit and charm to my humble blog while I'm visiting family further down the Eastern seaboard.

I'll be back at the end of next week. Thanks again, Wyatt...and ya'll be sure to stop by his blog too!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

June 15, 2007

My Day at the Museum

The fact that I managed to sleep for most of the ride home on a bus filled with hyper 11-year-olds shows how tiring it can be to make sure your group of kiddies doesn't get lost in a very large museum.

The entire fifth grade of my younger daughter's school went to the Museum of Natural History in New York today. It had been close to twenty years since I've been there, and I'll have to go again, because the kids just whizzed by everything. Since I was a kid, I have been the kind of person who actually likes to read the small signs next to every exhibit, but that certainly didn't happen today.

It was amusing, however, to see the reactions to the lifelike wax figures of American Indians, etc., in the buff as they lived all those years ago.

The best part was the planetarium show, about how collisions in space likely formed the Earth, moon, and so on. Planetarium shows have certainly changed since I was a kid, where the host would sit in the middle of the room with the big projector and point to the large pictures of the constellations and planets. Today's shows are amazing! Too bad they also have to be narrated by big stars like commie Robert Redford. It annoys me that big movie stars have mooched in on doing narrations and other voice work, something that actors specializing in voice work used to do.

Anyway, something else that has changed is the fact that you no longer have to go on bumpy old school buses, but comfy coach buses with bathrooms and a DVD player with screens throughout. Unfortunately, the movie we watched on the way to the museum was Happy Feet, which was supposedly about a penguin who danced instead of singing, but was ultimately about the evils of humans who overfished and were starving the penguins.

Of course, we had to make a stop at the gift shop, and I saw a wonderful item called a "Global Warming" mug. " I found one online here. The box screams, "See our coastlines disappear!" All for $14.95 plus tax.

What a great day...

I'm Goin' On a Field Trip!

Yes, I am a masochist...I signed up to chaperone my fifth grader's field trip to the Museum of Natural History today...so I'll be spending my day trying to keep hyped-up kids from wreaking havoc wherever they go. (I dread the bus ride.)

While I'm away, may I suggest the following?

The Strong Conservative
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Moonbattery
Lifelike Pundits
Geosciblog

See you on the flip side!

April 20, 2007

Fox News Appearance

I'll be on Fox News this afternoon on Neil Cavuto's show, 4PM Eastern, participating in a round table discussion about school security and how it should be funded. I'm pretty excited, and hope you can tune in!

UPDATE: Well, if you tuned in and didn't see me, don't call me a liar...my co-guest and I got bumped because of the Johnson Space Center hostage situation. I did get to sit in the studio and watch, though, and it was really interesting to see how news shows are produced. Well, so much for my national television debut...maybe next time! (I did get a knockout makeup job, though...)

March 20, 2007

One Small Complaint About Georgia

As you know, I'm currently in the Atlanta area, taking a software training course for work. While I'm enjoying the temperatures in the 70s (I heard it snowed back in Connecticut last night...hah!) and loved going to Waffle House for breakfast this morning, I have one complaint: hardly anyone I've spoken to here has a Southern accent.

From my course instructor (I think he has an Italian accent) to people at the store to the people in the hotel, only a few I've spoken to have that lovely Southern drawl. Listening to the radio and watching local TV is even more annoying, as everyone on air has the same type of "radio" voice. WTF?

I realize that our mobile society means that people don't necessarily stay in the same town or area all their lives. I also realize that our entertainment is becoming less localized and more nationalized. Still, I'm disappointed. We expect Bostonians to sound like Ted Kennedy (without the slurring), and we expect Mainers to sound like the guy in the old Pepperidge Farm commercials (ay-yep, Pepperidge Fahm remembahs!)...is it too much to expect Southerners to sound Southern?

/gripe

*One person did not disappoint...I spoke to Joe from Geosciblog on the phone. He lives in the area, and we're planning a quick get-together tomorrow evening before I go home on Thursday. He sounds like a good ol' Southern boy. Phew!

March 16, 2007

In Maryland...

I was MIA today due to my traveling to Maryland, where I am Aaron's guest. I was very lucky to get out of Connecticut, as the snow was falling thick and furious. I think my flight may have been one of the last to get out this afternoon.

We went to see 300 tonight (highly recommended), and one of our fellow audience members was none other than Michael Steele! Aaron saw him as we were walking into the theater, introduced himself and me, and Steele shook our hands and thanked us for our support. He was very kind and gracious. I was disappointed that he didn't win his bid for Maryland senator, but I hope the future holds better things for him.

Tomorrow, Aaron and I are off to the Vietnam Memorial, where we will stand against the leftwing hordes who have descended upon Washington DC once again. I'll have a full report with photos, so stay tuned.

November 24, 2006

Meeting Up With Aaron and Other Doings

So I'm in Virginia, near Washington D.C., visiting my father. While we were in the city today, I had the chance to meet up with Aaron, who lets me blog on his site Lifelike Pundits. We spent an hour in a Starbucks in Chinatown, and then he walked me down to the mall, where the rest of my family was milling around in the Museum of Natural History.

It was so great to meet him face to face...we spent our time talking about politics and our pets. And, as any good mom will do, I made him look at photos of my kids.

Aaron paid me the great compliment of saying I'm gorgeous, but I think he's just trying to make me feel good. He's got a great voice, and it was nice knowing that someone under 30 has more on his mind than sports or what's on TV. I hope we can see each other again some time!

So let's see...while here, we went to the recently opened National Museum of the Marine Corps, which I highly recommend! Not only do you learn more about the Corps' history, but what recruits go through to become a Marine. There's a special exhibit on 9/11 and our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. One thing irritated me: there's a Children's Corner, where kids are invited to draw a picture about their visit to the museum. Tacked up among the various flag and soldier drawings was a paper that said "Fight AIDS, Not Iraq." The writing looked more like an adult's...give me a break. I bought a baseball cap that has the Marine Corps symbol and says USMC on it...I'll be sure to wear it in front of my pacifist friends!

We also went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and made the obligatory trip to Ford's Theater and the boarding house across the street where Lincoln was brought to die. I hadn't been there since I was very young, so I really enjoyed seeing it again. There's so much to see and do in Washington D.C.; you really need to be able to spend at least a week here.

Tomorrow we're going to Mt. Vernon, which I'm really looking forward to!

Hope you're all having a great holiday weekend!

September 28, 2006

What I Will and Won't Miss About NYC

Regular readers of this blog know that for the past two years, I have been commuting 5+ hours daily (both ways) to New York.

That is about to change.

I recently accepted a position with a company that is located only 8 miles from my home in Connecticut, and my last day with my current company in New York is October 11th.

There are a lot of mixed feelings that come with leaving any job, and it's no exception here...especially since New York is hands down the most vibrant city in the nation. So, I've come up with a list of the things that I will and will not miss about working in New York. Enjoy!

May 30, 2006

It's My Birthday Today...

Guess how old I am?

Show Comments »

March 23, 2006

Family Emergency

I won't be posting for a day or two. Please keep checking back...

February 25, 2006

Woo Hoo, I'm Going Airborne!

Not in the literal sense, however. Tonight I'll be on the radio with a few of my friends. Back in college I was a member of the college radio station, and today they're having an alumni day. Folks who are still local can go on the air for an hour or two and do whatever they'd like (within FCC regulations, of course!). We'll be playing all of the alternative stuff from the 1980s that was on the playlist when we were in school. It's going to be a blast! As a "life member" of the station, I could have a regular air slot if I wanted to. I did, too, for a while. In 1998, I started an '80s show, but had to give it up four years later when I started working again and going back to school to become certified as a teacher. Now, with my commute into the city, I still don't have time. Therefore, I plan to really enjoy myself tonight!!!

My big thing was going to be to have a radio career and eventually get into doing voiceovers for commercials, documentaries and the like. However, what really held me back was the fact that I married young (right out of college). Those who want to really make it in radio have to be able to move around a lot (at least in the early days), and I obviously tied myself down early. Regrets? A few, but nothing I lose sleep over. I've thought about trying to break into voiceovers but the competition is horrendous, and I don't have the time or energy to truly pursue it.

Don't you just love these walks down memory lane?

UPDATE: Click below to see me in the studio. Don't I look professional? (heh)

February 19, 2006

About Me

I'm a native of Reno, Nevada, but have been living in Connecticut for well over 20 years. (I also spent a few years in Wisconsin. Cheese ahoy!) After all these years, I have finally accepted my fate as a Yankee. Speaking of acceptance, my acceptance of the fact that I'd been a conservative all along (and just playing at being a liberal) came at the same time it did for many, on 9/11. Since then, I've been tireless in my efforts to not only educate myself, but as many as will take the time to read what I've written here and elsewhere, about the path to insanity that is labeled "progressive," "liberal," "leftwing," and so on. Star Trek liberal no more!

"Professional" journalists would say that I have no qualifications whatsoever to write anything other than a grocery list. While I would agree that I have no accepted professional qualifications other than a B.A. in Communications (big waste of time, that!) and a minor in English, I would say that my status as a concerned, informed American citizen makes me more than qualified to give my opinion on the news of the day. And while the fact that I must work at a job quite unrelated to my interests in order to help support my family keeps me from original reporting 99.9% of the time, I have been able to attend several newsmaking rallies and report on them. I hope to do more of the same in the near future.

I love getting e-mail from readers...as long as it's not rude. I do my best to answer everyone who writes (my apologies if I do not get back to you). My address is blogmeisterusa@gmail.com. If you have any feedback on a particular post or any suggestions about things you'd like me to write about, I am all ears!

Finally, in case you are interested, I also contribute elsewhere: a weekly column for Family Security Matters, occasional pieces for American Thinker, and I am also a blogger for Newsbusters. Links to my archived works at these sites can be found in my upper left sidebar.

November 29, 2005

That Was Disgusting...And Pointless!

Ugh! I just spent the last half hour digging through three bags of trash in the garage (when I could have been sleeping) looking for the December train pass I thought I had inadvertently thrown out...only to discover it a few minutes ago in a stack of bills on my desk.

Now I know what a private detective feels like, and I didn't even get paid for my labors! I'm going to bed now.

November 26, 2005

Lack of Blogging AGAIN...

Sorry for the lack of blogging...my father has been in town, and now I'm getting ready to head up to Providence, RI. My youngest is in the AYFC Regional Cheer Championships tomorrow. I should get back to regular blogging on Monday.

I hope none of you ate too much on Thursday...enjoy the leftovers! (No leftovers at my house; we had our feast at my sister's place.)

I'll let you know how my daughter's team does!

UPDATE: It's 7pm on Sunday, and we got back from Providence about an hour ago. My daughter's team placed second in their cheer division! This qualifies them to attend the national competition in Tucson next week, although the parents voted ahead of time not to go if the girls qualified due to the expense involved. The girls had a great time, and we are all really proud of them!

November 23, 2005

Reasons to be Thankful

As we approach the annual Thanksgiving holiday here in America, here are a few reasons I personally am thankful this year:

-My family and I are healthy
-I am gainfully employed at a reputable company and am beginning to crawl out of debt (I may gripe about work, but I am thankful for it nonetheless!).
-My car still runs.
-My cat has managed not to get run over by a car.
-My children are doing well in school.
-I have many wonderful friends.
-I live in the greatest country in the world.
-Our men and women in uniform are putting their lives on the line overseas to keep us here at home safe.
-We have a president and administration that worries more about what's right for America than being popular (kind of like responsible parents).

There's a lot more, but it would take me longer than I have to list it. What are you thankful for this year?

November 19, 2005

I'm Off...

to an all-day Girl Scout event with my oldest. Enjoy the day!

November 13, 2005

Republicans Need Not Apply?

I've been looking for a new job. Why? After all, my current job isn't terrible, and there's plenty of room for growth within the company. However, the commute is killing me (2.5 hours each way). Plus, my husband has a new job that takes him 50 miles in the other direction, and I would like to be closer in case there's a problem with the kids during the day.

I've been sending out resumes left and right, and have had a couple of those initial screening phone calls, but that's it. I am looking both in my current field and in the field I hope to be in--education. I received my teaching certification in the spring of 2004. So what is it? Is it the economy? My skill set? Or something else?

My mother and one of my sisters are absolutely convinced that my blogging activities are holding me back. They think that prospective employers receive my resume, punch my name into a search engine, and come across all of my blog writings. (I'm not using my entire name now, but I was in the past--and once on the Web, always on the Web.) I never blog about my company (why bite the hand that feeds you?), so why would prospective employers care?

As you may or may not know, I live in the Northeast--Connecticut, to be exact. And this area of the country is not exactly known for its conservative politics. There are conservatives scattered around but overall, it's a haven for liberals.

Unless I'm applying to work for a Senator or Congressman, my politics shouldn't matter. An interview should be based upon my experience and qualifications for the job. But if my mother and sister are correct, then those who are looking me up and deciding not to have me in for an interview because I hold conservative views are a bunch of hypocrites. Under the EOE law, no one may be discriminated against because of color, religion, etc. Why wouldn't the same be true for political persuasion?

I'm not entirely convinced of their theory, but what do some of my readers think? Could this be true, or are my mom and sister (my sister hasn't had to look for a job in almost 15 years) simply making me paranoid???

October 31, 2005

Sorry I was AWOL This Weekend...

My oldest had her 13th birthday party sleepover on Saturday and we had cheerleading for one and soccer for the other on Sunday. Needless to say, we were pretty busy.

I'll be posting more shortly!

October 28, 2005

Halloween is a' Comin'

Here's the jack-o-lantern I carved with my kids tonight!

October 24, 2005

Deleted Entry

Some of you may notice I've deleted an entry I posted yesterday regarding a family matter. Upon reflection, I've decided it's not worth the risk of a family brouhaha if the wrong person finds out about it.

Sigh...sometimes a conscience can be an annoying thing.