Fackin Truth Blog

I'm too deep into nuggets y'all - NOT

I once thought about approaching the FBI with a little puzzle that I thought I solved. The unmarked and well-guarded salt shaker at the McDonald's Fry Station contains a top secret mixture of salt, a touch of sugar, and FRIGGIN CRACK COCAINE. Those delectable strings of golden goodness are addictive, and worth the risk of heart disease that comes with every beautiful perfectly-fried stick.

Does that sound over the top? Okay. Well how about this woman who is so into her nuggets that she summoned  9-1-1 when McDonald's ran out?

Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency."

Now I'm not hating on anybody's food fetish. I remember the time I almost cried when I forgot the sun-dried tomatoes on my delivery order. Or the time my fiance wanted to run the mini-van through a local diner after watching a man at another table eat the last serving of grits with breakfast.

But I ain't into nuggets, y'all. (Although KFC is a whole other story, but I digress.) And I just can't relate to the fire behind this fast food fiasco.

Some mothers truly excel at multi-tasking

I recently boasted about my multi-tasking prowess as a natural outcome from years of training in single-motherhood. Imagine how quickly my puffed-chest deflated when I discovered this pro who clearly graduated at the top of her class:

An Ohio mother faces charges for breastfeeding her daughter while driving her other children to school.

"I'm following behind a lady in a van who is driving while breastfeeding her newborn baby and talking on the cell phone," said a 911 caller.

Officers then pulled over the mother and issued her a ticket for not having her child in a car seat.

Well, we can't all be Valedictorian.

When English is your first language and you can't even speak it...

Last week I walked into a restaurant for pizza. A wall dedicated to fishing featured an uber cute fly-fishing sign that read:

"Reel men play with they're flies"

The cute play on words was totally lost to the grammatical error. Did you catch it? If not, that knocking you hear should be the English Police. And don't get it twisted. They use tasers.


Worse - Somebody tried to fix the offending word  on the wooden sign and almost ruined the paint in that spot.

(For those who ran like maniacs  to find the answer in a kid's textbook, the offending word is "they're.")

Even Worse - After more examination, I believe the culprit did incorrectly "fix" the word from "their" to "they're."


Folks, please remember something before this daughter-of-an English-major-and-lifelong-teacher has an ips-fit:


They're = "They Are"
Their - (something belongs to/pertains to them)

You're = "You Are"
Your = (something belongs to/pertains to you)


You get the pattern?


A comedian on the radio recently attributed the following bit to an actual conversation. My teacher-momma thankfully remains in the land-of-the-living, so she won't be "rolling over in any grave." But sloppy English is the equivalent of a dog whistle to teachers. Mommy probably snapped her neck miles away when this one aired:

Sk-youze me. Sk-youze me. Cann-eye talks-you a quesh-shun?

Huh ?? !!

Cann.....eye.... TALKS-you a QUESH-shun ????

[pause] D*mn! Who learnt you how to spoke ??

People, I went blind for about 2 seconds and almost crashed my car when this mess played on the radio.


Note to self: Get an iPod for driving.

I've seen big brother... and he's Comcastic

I don't have a SpeedPass to pay my tolls. I smelled a rat at the first announcement surrounding this "convenience technology."


Imagine the hefty pat I gave myself on the back after friends and family reported massive overcharges on their credit and debit cards for the service.


And who can forget the SpeedPass speeding tickets? For a short stint, SpeedPass tracked driver time and distance between toll booths and those on the losing side of the calculation received speeding tickets. In other words, "you must have been speeding to get from Point A to Point B in X-amount of time."


Dang. Who knew Big Brother carried a radar gun??


Even with those little "bugs" worked out... Okay... more like Mexican cockroaches... I prefer to play the quarter-toss at my friendly neighborhood toll baskets.


Fast forward to 2008.  Comcast wants to install cameras in cable boxes that will scan your room, get a quick read on who's in the room, and provide programming based on the crowd. Seriously. According to Chris Albrecht, Comcast presented this idea at a Digital Living Room conference:

If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room.

The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes.

If you're looking for a Scout's promise to help get over that squeamish, itchy feeling of glaring eyes, let's see how this fits:

Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms.

If you're a clean-minded nun, you probably imagine getting caught scratching your knees. If you're the average American, you probably imagine thousands of unsuspecting couples getting caught doing The Funky Pretzel on the couch.


Either way, I can't see anybody jumping at the chance to welcome voyeuristic snooping in the form of a TV that watches back to find out what "human forms" are in the room.


SpeedPass ended that love affair for drivers after snooping on folks' driving habits.


And Bush ended the snooping love affair for all Americans with his closet fetish for eavesdropping on private citizen phone calls without cause. But that's for another blog post...

Anybody else want me to post about a good price on a set of old-fashioned rabbit ear antenna? We may only get three channels, but we'll be watching them in private.

Did you know about the limits on First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech?

Free speech in a public forum.

What do you think of when you hear those words?

If you joined Club Naive when I did, you probably imagine the ability to speak freely - even when voicing an unpopular opinion sprinkled with a dash of colorful language.

Not necessarily so...

Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton of Kirkwood, Missouri shot-up a city council meeting amid frustrations that his First Amendment rights were unjustly trampled.

(And just so you know, the shooting ended in a worst-case scenario. Thornton killed five before an officer fatally wounded him.)

Thornton was well-known for his regular attendance at council meetings and for his colorful opinions of the Mayor. Looking at some of the transcripts, Thornton may have honestly thought that the Mayor's name was "Jackass." For instance, in May 2006:

Thornton has for years been a regular at council meetings (except for about six months when he was out of town.) During citizen comments, Thornton has taken his allotted three minutes as an opportunity to ridicule city staff and council members, especially Mayor Mike Swoboda and Public Works Director Ken Yost...

Thornton informed Rush that the city has a history of issuing tickets for asphalt equipment used in putting in asphalt driveways.

"Once again, (these are) acts from a jackass from a corrupt city council," Thornton said. [emphasis mine]

The mayor interrupted thanking Thornton for his comments and  telling Thornton he was finished.

Thornton eventually filed a lawsuit for protection of his First Amendment rights since he was regularly silenced during his allotted 3-minutes at council meetings. Thornton lost that case, highlighting allowable limitations on freedom of speech:

But a judge in St. Louis tossed out the suit Jan. 28, writing that "any restrictions on Thornton's speech were reasonable, viewpoint neutral, and served important governmental interests."

Hmmm. Reasonable. Viewpoint neutral. Serving government interests. Okaaaaaaaay.

FirstAmendmentCenter.org identifies categories of "freedom" of speech in public forums including: (1) traditional public forum (2) limited public forum and (3) designated public forum. Apparently, Thornton attempted to speak freely in a subclass called "limited designated public forum."

Sound confusing? It is. In Jan. 2008, U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry said this after throwing-out Thornton's case for protection of his First Amendment rights [source]:

“As the meeting was a limited designated public forum, Kirkwood had the right to restrict the topic of discussion to the expansion of two businesses,” Perry wrote. Rather than addressing germane subject matter, “Thornton engaged in personal attacks against the mayor, Kirkwood, and the city council. 

“Any restrictions on Thornton’s speech were reasonable, viewpoint neutral, and served important governmental interests,” Perry wrote. “Because Thornton does not have a First Amendment right to engage in irrelevant debate and to voice repetitive, personal, virulent attacks against Kirkwood and its city officials during the comment portion of a city council public hearing, his claim fails as a matter of law.”

I never support murder as a remedy for injustice. Although Thornton and members of his family are recognized as community activists who helped many, he scores no points with me for going Rambo at a city council meeting.

But I also have mixed feelings about what I learned from Thornton's case. His last (wrong) demonstration of activist brought national attention to the language used to limit free speech.

Words like "reasonable" and "serving government interests" open the door for woefully subjective application. Who determines "reasonable?" More frightening, what actually "serves government interests?" These subjective determinations essentially give room to snuff the life of most dissenting opinions.

Question for the Comments:
Do these clarifications of "Freedom of Speech" disturb you?

Xtras on a Slow Day, For Those Who Love Bacon as Much as I Do

I'm guilty of bacon obsession. I often refer to bacon as a perfect food deserving of its own food group.

Once as a child, I positioned myself close to a platter of bacon and grubbed at least 6 strips before mom caught me. This Bippity Boppity Bacon video proves I'm not alone. Enjoy this YouTube funny.

Thanks to dooce.com for my morning bacon delight.

2007 Year-End Meme

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Bought a grill. Bowled in an adult/child no-tap league. We took second place trophies!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? No. I didn't lose the weight I wanted to lose or cleanse as much as I should have. My cleanse blog went into almost total disrepair. I may make new ones, although field already gave me an excuse not to. :-)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes. Deacon and Charmaine Akins finally had a baby boy!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not close to me (e.g. family)... but close to home. An old co-worker died. My sweetie's uncle died. An old-coworker's teenage daughter died. I took that one the worst.

5. What places did you visit? None really. Mom gave me and my sweetheart (aka "V") a week in her timeshare right here at home.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A new home.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Mother's Day. My mom walked out on dinner (in public) because she doesn't like V. My father and my two young sons were there. We continued the meal and enjoyed each other... but nobody will ever forget that day.

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year? Can't think of any.

9. What was your biggest failure? Wasn't able to save any money.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Trevor, our new puppy.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My 8-year old son.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My mom. But don't get it twisted. I love her.

14. Where did most of your money go? School tuition and house payments.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? blah

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? In My Songs by Gerald Levert, It's Me Snitches by Swizz Beatz, I Get Money by 50-Cent (Don't ask me why, the beat is VIRAL).

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Same
c) richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Finding other ways to make additional money. Planning. Closing loose financial ends still dangling from the effects of a divorce in 2004.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Sitting around doing nothing. I went through a period of literally not making a move in any direction - paralyzed by the unknown. On the outside, it looked a lot like a simple case of "lazy." On the inside, I was racing with options, not happy with any potential outcomes. Frustrated, I did nothing.

20. How did you spend Christmas last year? 2006 - With mom, dad, and the kids. 2007 - With my sweetie and the kids, with a pleasant cameo appearance by my dad. Mom refused Christmas with us since V was there.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Yeah, as a carryover from a relationship that started in November 2006. Shot out to V. :-)

22. How many one-night stands? None. Never will be. That's just icky.

23. What was your favorite TV program? Wow. A few come to mind. Grey's Anatomy. Damages. The JourneyMan.

24. What did you do for your birthday in 2007? Nothing. Took a day off from work and enjoyed a day of TV - camping on the floor with V. It was actually a blast.

25. What was the best book you read? Radical Honesty by Brad Blanton, PhD. I blogged about the book here.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Didn't have one.

27. What did you want and get? A puppy.

28. What did you want and not get? A new house. To win the lottery. hehe

29. What was your favorite film of this year? 300 is the only standout that comes to mind.

30. Did you make some new friends this year? No. Just got to know the old ones better.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More money. A better sense of my purpose.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Make the old stuff work. Really rock it since you can't afford a new wardrobe. And oh yeah. It was the "year of the hat." I wore one 90% of the time.

33. What kept you sane? My children. My father. V.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Barak Obama. It's fascinating to watch a man attempt something that has never been done before. And it's a biggun he's trying to achieve.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? War in Iraq.

36. Who did you miss? I miss my girlfriend Jenn working in the same building. Ordering Chinese food alone just isn't the same.

37. Who was the best new person you met? V's father. He reminds me of my dad.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Giving a true account of factual events doesn't cover the depth and breadth of "Truth." Giving your best answers with the right motives doesn't scratch the surface of "Honesty." There are so many ways to lie to others, and worse, to yourself.

Tag. You're It. Dare to post your 2007 Year-End Meme.

Happy New Year!

Stealing a Blog Post Idea from BluJewel

After reading through the 100 or so blogs that I read everyday, I'm fresh outta... well... fresh ideas. So I'm stealing an idea to reveal something about myself from BluJewel. 

13 Three's of Mine

3 things that scare me...

• Donald Trump's comb-over
• Snow and black ice
• Thick women, like myself, in spandex

3 people who make me laugh...

• My sweetheart, V
• My sons (age 8 and 15) - the youngest with very "Will Smith" type humor
• My wallet (yes, the money is funny, y'all)

3 things I love...

• Pasta (the reason I can't wear spandex)
• My family (an endless source of joy)
• A white Christmas

3 things I hate...

• Bad drivers
• Greed (the kind that thrives on ensuring a poverty-class always exists)
• Monday mornings

3 things I don't understand...

• Rampant black-on-black crime (e.g. murder rate in Kiladelhpia)
• Hate -isms (e.g. racism)
• How to solve a Rubik's Cube

3 things on my desk...

• Phone book
• Blue, purple, and red pens (I hate black pens - too drab)
• Emergency rip cord (you never know when you'll need one)

3 things I'm doing right now...

• Sipping a Rum and Coke
• Thinking about the upcoming Christmas Holiday
• Watching V cook dinner (yes, he's a cook)

3 things I want to do before I die...

• Attend a major Tennis championship (e.g. Wimbledon)
• Start a successful business
• Watch my two sons grow into productive Black men

3 things I can do well...

• Computer tasks (from spreadsheets to graphic design) I'm the "go to" girl
• Save struggling projects - I LOVE project management
• Smell a rat from a mile away

3 things I can't do...

• Sell-out anybody
• Forget the God who created me
• Eat pigs-feet (although chitlins are a personal favorite)
  

3 things I should listen to...

• My heart
• The Holy Spirit
• Whoever and whatever told me not to marry my first husband

3 things I shouldn't listen to...

• Main Stream Media
• A hungry stomach
• Whatever told me to marry my first husband anyway (hehe)

3 things I watched as a kid...

• Tom and Jerry
• Bugs Bunny
• Our crazy neighbor stumble his drunk ba-hind to and from his apartment

Care to share your 13-three's? Leave a link in the comments.

Merry Christmas, Blog Family!

Quit Your Whinin'

I am in a terrible mood today. Not the garden-variety boredom blues, but full-blown gonna--crack--at--the--seams--if--something--doesn't--give.

I'm exhausted. I'm coming up short for Christmas... I mean miss the net, the rim, and the backboard-short. I've never faced a Christmas where things are this tight. And all the ramblings about "the true meaning of Christmas" still don't soothe a mother who wants (needs?) to make Christmas for her two boys, sweetheart, and parents.

My tenant doesn't pay rent. At this point, ANY rent AT ALL. He must go. The mortgage company is breathing down my neck like a stalker who got too close.

I miss more work because I'm either chasing somebody else's emergency (e.g. kids sick from school), fixing a problem, or home nursing my own wounds. With no banked leave, this time is coming out of my check.

And today my body is ready to quit. Joints ache. Head hurts. I'm starting to wonder if I'll make it to the weekend before I need a sick day.

Probably the worst - I'm not getting much sleep. Instead of getting a refreshing rest for each day, I toss around and wake feeling like yesterday's bags are piled squarely on my shoulders along with any burden I must inherit for today.

I took some time to pray, because worry is sin. And worry clogs the brain with too many "what if's" for any true creative juice to flow.

I'm at a stand still. A frustrated stand still. This one isn't like a wall in my path. It's more like a punch in the chest. I'm winded. I need that wind to keep afloat.

But then again, people around the world have worse problems than I could ever imagine. That makes my bucket of complaints sound like a steamy hot pile of bullsh*t.

I'm thankful for friends, family, and even co-worker associates who make me smile - a natural reaction to the warmth from their hearts. Mom and dad still love me like I'm their baby. (Dangit, I am.) And Blu has no idea how seeing her two days in a row (and laughing about her recent happenings) made my day a better place to be.

So I'm done whinin'. I needed it tho. Keep it moving. Nothing to see here...

Leaving Home

I had a completely different topic planned for today. My "L" topic was set to examine Cornell West's assertion that Love and Service are the superior credentials for curing corrupt and ineffective leadership.

But alas, I read the following comment at another blog about the influx of Section 8 housing into [formerly] good black neighborhoods. I flooded with emotion over my current living situation. The excerpt:

Whites uniformly resisted the influx of these persons into their areas (the “not in my backyard” syndrome). Most Black politicians (at least in my area) supported these programs out of solidarity with our less-fortunate brethren. Unfortunately, the Black politicians failed to consider what the unlimited influx of this population would do to previously stable and decent Black communities. Decent Blacks also failed to think this through in terms of demographics and quality of life. Most of us were naive and wanted to help our brothers and sisters. The few Blacks that were wise enough to predict what would happen were loudly denounced as Black bourgeousie snobs.

It turned out that the so-called snobs were right: The Section 8 people brought their crime and chaos with them, and destroyed the quality of life in previously thriving communities.

The Section 8 fiasco (or conspiracy depending upon your point of view) is only part one of this situation. Part two is gentrification. Here’s how this has played out:

After the Section 8 recipients overrun and destroy viable Black neighborhoods, the property values go way down. By that point, most Black middle-class residents have been driven out by the crime.

Entire comment can be read here: [Source]

The author of the comment was responding to an issue of race relations in the U.S. But on this day, in this moment, I can only digest this in terms of my family.

So here I am. Living in a neighborhood for 8 years and watching it decline for at least the past 6. I've observed how the Section 8 element has taken over the quality of life - everywhere from destroying the physical beauty of the townhouse fronts (think ghetto), to selling drugs, to jump-starting a gang lifestyle.

One of the local thugs recently took aim at my son. Both boys are the same age, but Baby Huey outweighs my son by about 6 inches and 100 pounds. And of course, Huey the Hell Hound perpetrated the near-assault while surrounded by a group of children.

I promptly called the police to handle the situation and followed with a visit to the local high school. I found myself crying that I haven't been able to provide a better environment for my sons to grow in.

For the past few years, I battled myself over a decision to join the community Board to help affect change. But at what cost would I work to change the minds of the hopelessly lost who are taking over my neighborhood?

My neighbors don't care enough about themselves to stop throwing dirty diapers on the ground. Garbage often surrounds the dumpsters as people don't dare reach the additional inch to keep the ground clean. Imagine the bugs and odor during the summer months. The garbage was so thick on one occasion that I took pictures.

The Board removed the swimming pool and tennis court around the time I moved in. Lack of respect by the residents ruined these luxuries for all of us.

My spark to join the Board for change was renewed after hearing about how a nearby townhouse community almost completely eradicated numerous problems after banning Section 8. And at this point, spearheading an effort to banish Section 8 remains the only good reason to participate on my neighborhood Board.

I find myself doing things that I don't ordinarily do. Emotionally exhausted, I go to sleep earlier, like I'm hiding my head under the blankets. I watch ungodly amounts of television, disappearing into the fictional lives of my favorite characters. And the biggest change yet, I find myself playing the lottery with hopes of skipping the 3-year savings plan in favor of quick money for a quicker move.

None of this is productive. And I'm disappointed in myself.

Frustrated with my inability to afford a move and sad that my credit hinders freedom of movement, I return to my townhouse daily with one hope - that soon I'll be Leaving Home.