Many moons ago on the radio during my drive to work I heard the rumor that the SciFi channel was changing its name to Syfy. I shuddered and cringed because it made no sense, especially since they wanted to dumb down the name to appeal to more of the mainstream audience.

Color me confused but since when does mainstream call Science Fiction syfy? How would that become appealing? Did they never see a genre categorization? “Sy”?!?!?!??!?!?!?!? “Fy”?!?!?!?!? WHY?

Do they really think that people will surf through the channels, see ‘syfy’ and watch some scifi program and not realize it’s science fiction because of the name ‘syfy’? Or perhaps they’ll find it cool because the name is… stupid.

I’m mentioning this because I was channel surfing and I saw the channel ‘Syfy’. I felt puzzled because I had completely forgotten about the pending change and wondered what the channel was about. When I saw the show that was on, “Scariest Places on Earth” it hit me; “They really went through with it.”

I imagine a panel of plastic surgery poster children in some L.A. office who inherited something having to do with the SciFi network (or perhaps just ONE person who inherited it and had heavy influence when the rest of the crew thinks the name is a bad bad bad thing) and some how they’re doing a brainstorm and the person was having a conversation with him/herself.

“Sciiiiiiiiii… Fiiiiiiiii…. nyeh… it sounds so…. ‘brainy’. You know like science stuff. I mean don’t you think that’s kind of nerdy?”

“Science… fiction. It makes no sense. We don’t show Bill Nye the Science guy stuff. Maybe that’s why our ratings are so low- they think we’re like a classroom.”

“How about we spell it the way it sounds? But instead of Sifi because that looks dumb, we do syfy? All in favor?”

I must research this!

Okay, as I’m researching this I laughed as I saw “Imagine Greater” WTF?!?

Upon reading the explanation it backs up my theory… you see… they feel that by changing the name it can now include fantasy stuff, supernatural and paranormal. I kind of lumped all those into the SciFi genre any way.

Was the audience really that confused? Should I categorize this under Idiocracy Manifestations?

I believe all people are entitled to their belief systems (how nice of me eh?). When I was getting my daily dose of Reuters, I came across an article in which I found out that the controversy between evolution vs. creationism is still up for discussion as part of the curriculum in public schools. Seriously? Really?

 I try to wrap my mind around how an actual adult in the modern world can believe in creationism so much that they wish for it to be taught in a science class.

Why is this even up for discussion? IS creationism being taught in public schools? It irks me beyond belief that it’s taught in private schools and that it’s being taught period. Math is a universal language and you must comprehend, understand, and apply that language in order to move on to obtain a higher education. Why isn’t the same for science?

My comments are bolded

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Academy of Sciences on Thursday issued a spirited defense of evolution as the bedrock principle of modern biology, arguing that it, not creationism, must be taught in public school science classes.

The academy, which operates under a mandate from Congress to advise the government on science and technology matters, issued the report at a time when the theory of evolution, first offered in the 19th century, faces renewed attack by some religious conservatives.

Creationism, based on the explanation offered in the Bible, and the related idea of “intelligent design” are not science and, as such, should not be taught in public school science classrooms, according to the report. I thought this was a “duh” factor. Seriously, it’s not?

“We seem to have continuing challenges to the teaching of evolution in schools. That’s something that doesn’t seem to go away,” Barbara Schaal, an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and vice president of National Academy of Sciences, said in a telephone interview.

“We need a citizenry that’s trained in real science.” Can I hear an “Amen”?

Evolution is a theory explaining change in living organisms over the eons due to genetic mutations. For example, it holds that humans evolved from earlier forms of apes.

The report stated that the idea of evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. “Science and religion are different ways of understanding the world. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of each to contribute to a better future,” said the report.

But teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not, according to the report’s authors.

The report was released by the academy and the Institute of Medicine, which advises policymakers on medical issues. It updates academy publications issued in 1984 and 1999. It was written by a committee headed by University of California-Irvine biology professor Francisco Ayala.

“Biological evolution is one of the most important ideas of modern science. Evolution is supported by abundant evidence from many different fields of scientific investigation. It underlies the modern biological sciences, including the biomedical sciences, and has applications in many other scientific and engineering disciplines,” the report stated.

The authors highlighted developments in evolutionary biology, citing its importance in understanding emerging infectious diseases. They noted the discovery, published in 2006, of the remains of a Tiktaalik, a creature described as an evolutionary link between fish and the first vertebrate animals that walked out of water onto land 375 million years ago.

President George W. Bush said in 2005 American students should be instructed about “intelligent design” alongside evolution as competing theories. “Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. Okay Mr. Bush, would you be willing to teach Wicca, Buddhism, Muslim, Judaism, Mormonism and other belief systems into the curriculum? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Basically ignorant people take up the majority of the US- so let’s all throw out logic and go with the Idiot’s Guide to the Universe.

Advocates of “intelligent design” contend that some biological structures are so complex they could not have appeared merely through natural processes. So gee golly let’s go back to the time in which God bowling explained thunder until science was able to convince otherwise. Or the world was flat until they were able to prove otherwise. And we’re the center of the Universe all alone out here for all of eternity, aren’t we?

A Typical Discussion:

Moron: “Well I guess if you want to believe you came from apes (laughing) that’s your choice.”
Me: “I believe we perhaps belong to the same order, yes, but the not the same class or genus. Perhaps a common ancestor, although the more I speak with you, the more it does seem plausible that yes, perhaps we did come from apes as you share a similar intellect.”

A judge in Dover, Pennsylvania ruled in 2005 that the teaching of intelligent design violated the U.S. Constitution, which requires a separation of church and state, because it is based on religious conviction, not science. Exactly.

A 2006 Gallup poll showed that almost half of Americans believe that humans did not evolve but were created by God in their present form within the last 10,000 years.

(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen)

On to the lighter side-> I’ve seen my friend Ben torment his cats for the camera for over half a year, and I was always jealous that I didn’t get that same luxury. I now get to torment for picture opportunities!

Pictured is Stan Lee as a little Russian girl, him getting annoyed with the scarf, and then attacking and winning the fight against the head scarf. Also pictured in this blog is Jonathon’s famous Blue Bunny. I bought it for him around Easter in 2003. Although of course we do not celebrate that religious holiday, some pretty cute stuffed animals are sold on shelves during that time. This animal has lost an ear (I went to pick him up by the ears once and there was a separation causing the boy to scream a blood curdling scream, thankfully as I stood there with bunny ears in hand- my mother, who we were visiting, quickly grabbed her sewing kit and saved the day). I had also performed an operation not too long ago in order to reattach the bunny’s arm as this blue creature has slept with him every single night for the past four years and was in the operating room with him twice. He is Blue Bunny and he ROCKS.

I may sound a little like Scrooge, but part of surviving the holidays is to be in denial of them. My holiday decorations were lent out a couple of years ago, never to be seen again… unless you stop by a restaurant somewhere in Salem. The Dept of Education really doesn’t care about holidays or birthdays, so my paychecks are still finding themselves to be less and less padded. I keep mentioning the Dept. of Ed as I’m still bent. The sting would not be so bad if I could raise 500 asap to pay off my bank loan in order to get that renewal out of the way before it ceases the allowance to renew… which should be any time now. PLEASE BUY MERCHANDISE! Or my entire Buffy Collection- make an offer. With that being out of the way… I can live with the 15% garnishment until I can convince them to work with me on it, but that loan I had to take out when my timing belt went is scaring me a little as the renewal period is almost up.

Jonathon has never really been into Christmas as it rivals his birthday, and being as it’s just him and I here, there’s not a whole lot of guilt for not celebrating a holiday that really isn’t our religion. I just miss the family get together that doesn’t seem to take place without the tradition of gift giving. And I fear the whole being a bag lady before we make it to NYC.

I did wind up going to my work holiday party though! I was a little proud of myself as I had opted to go solo as opposed to going with someone who wound up making me feel as if they’d be doing me an obligated favor.

In all honesty I was scared at first. It is quite an adjustment jumping into a social environment after being out of the loop for so long. I think it’s been about two years since I was in that kind of situation… and  I haven’t updated my wardrobe in ages, I felt really and truly awkward as I put something on that was purchased over two years ago… and snug.

After I dropped Jonathon off at Ash’s for the night, I went home and tried on everything. Realizing I need to start exercising as nothing fit properly, I took a deep breath and made it out the door to the facility where the party was being held.

Parking was a complete nightmare because you have to understand that the people who designed downtown Salem were undoubtably the inspiration for Idiocracy. Twenty minutes of driving in circles, trying not to hit pedestrians… and trying refrain from wanting to hit the pedestrians, I found a safe spot to park and brave heading in.

There was a very unpleasant stench of hairspray and department store perfume that hit my senses as soon as I opened the door. Once I saw the groups that looked like Southern beauty pagent contestants, I realized that it was real estate agent holiday party and mine was located upstairs. Thank God.

The initial half hour was a little painful as couples were mingling and I stood around awkwardly trying to balance my glass of wine and plate of food without looking completely out of place. Standing, smiling, balancing, sipping, eating, smiling and hoping they opened the door into the dining area soon.

Fortunately a few of my co-workers came solo also and soon it was like old times. The dinner was fantastic, the entertainment was horrid, the conversations were a little odd, and then afterwards it was off to the Pink where we all drank way too much and I had to call a cab to nab my car in the morning.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching film and rearranging my place so that I can set out my exercise machine again- and working out… a lot.

I know that this time of year I tend to be a little less vocal, a little less inspired and a lot less creative. It’s embarrassing to shy away from the holiday- I don’t know WHY it is, but I feel like I’m making excuse after excuse for my lack of seasonal spirit. I also know that my mind has been elsewhere for a bit and I’m transitioning back to normal… mentally and physically.

NOW I’m off to play DOA and then I’ll find something on Youtube to force everyone to view.

This holiday vent has been brought to you by Ghic Chic.

Current Mood: blah

For a couple of weeks it has been on life support. The little off/on button required special toggle attention that it really put forth the energy and effort to brew me a little pot o’coffee. That time has now passed… (sniff) as it has passed on.

Today I went to toggle the button and it tried and it tried and finally I had a nice little pot o’coffee waiting for me. I was excited, I had hope… and then it went kaput. I took it apart to figure out how to save my little buddy. The little buddy I have had since I moved into this apartment. The little coffee pot and little carafe that has made me tolerable during the weekend mornings and snow days.

I’m verklempt. I hurt. I hurt so much inside that you’ve no idea! Little Mr. Coffee went to the bright light. I went to brew another mini pot of liquid gold and nothing. I tried to press the on button down to help it along, and nothing. NOTHING! No warm java that soothed my throat as it tamed this wild beast. It was my yin to my yang! It was my magic happy maker! I MISS YOU!!! (my coffee cup misses you too- see, it’s so empty inside )

So now I’ve let it go. I’ve returned to the days of yore, the days of our ancestors where I have to boil water on the stove and brew coffee as I stand there and slowly poured the water over a coffee filter when I could be curling my hair or eyelashes. My poor deprived hair and eye lashes. My apologies to those who have to view me uncurled hence forth.

WHY? Why did it have to go away???? Why couldn’t it hold on just another five years?????

I love you Mr. Coffee… I wish I could have saved you, but obviously my flirting with the nerds in my electronics class and having them do my assignments/projects and home work just by batting my curled eye lashes has finally caught up with me. Kids- Cheating is BAD!! REALLY BAD! May you learn this lesson through me- instead of finding yourself on a Saturday without freshly brewed coffee. OMG I can’t take this.

In other “me” news- Jonathon has been giving me the stink eye all day (I’m not quite sure why) so I tried to take a snap shot of it and he FINALLY turned his head. I’ve been now clutching my camera as if it were garlic or a crucifix as it seem to ward off the stink eye. Please camera, don’t go the way of Mr. Coffee.

I’ve also fed Aloon daily now after seeing his excitement on Thursday when I had approached his aquarium and I swear he was wagging his tail- I was delighted that my little fish looked thrilled to see me… until it hit me that I hadn’t fed him in over a day.

My now non-starving Betta. He’s not as excited to see me any more.

My mind has completely been elsewhere lately and slowly it’s returning back home. I’d rather not whine, but all I can say is that I appreciate a few of my friends now more than previously… and previously I had appreciated them quite a bit.

  Okay- What’s up for me and Arsgeek? I have one more October game sitting near my console ready for review and two books (three if you count leisure)- AND a cool little pc game that shocked me and I wanted to shed light on it. Those wacky Brits and their phallic kids stuff…

For Ghic Chic- Adventures of Lara in the work, my take on the fall schedule of shows I’ve seen so far- and my experiment with nail polish colors.

That is all for now. You may now resume with your activities and check back often.

Today at work we had a Wellness Fair. At this wellness fair there was a booth. The booth was for sleep disorders. Remember that: Sleep. Insomnia, restless legs, etc. SLEEP.In this booth were pamphlets. These pamphlets told of symptoms, treatments and suggestions. (bare with me, I am going some place with this.)

In one of the pamphlets they wrote of things you could do in order to avoid sleep issues. Quite a few were helpful albeit they had the “duh” factor associated with them like most things do. “Seriously… drinking a vat of coffee prior to attempting to fall asleep is bad? Wow. I had no clue.”

The highlighted area was something that caused me to wonder if they merely copy/pasted something from a non-related article and glossed over it.

 Apparently I am alone in my thinking as the people I ran this by saw the logic. I saw no logic. I see no logic. The logic is not there.

The issue is sleep. When I am trying to sleep I am at a place where there is an area to lay down, close my eyes and get unconscious. During this sleep cycle I am not planning to converse, leave the parameters, get in a car, and I hope I won’t have to get up for any reason whatsoever. Obviously I’ve had the entire idea of sleep incorrect for all these years?

As a part of planning for my sleep I intend on getting sleepy. I used to think the two go hand in hand. The brochure advises “Don’t drink alcohol when sleepy. When you are sleepy even a small dose of alcohol can affect activities like driving.”

Can some one please explain how that is relavent? I don’t plan on driving. I would hope the alcohol would make me more sleepy and IMPAIR my ability to drive. Granted consumption of alcohol may cause interrupted sleep, the REM can be disrupted and you won’t get a decent slumber. To begin that paragraph with “Don’t drink alcohol because it’ll make you too sleepy to drive”? Seriously, what am I missing here in which that looks to others normally placed?

If you typically go on road trips during the time of the night you’re wanting to fall asleep and you’re out driving around, well no wonder you have insomnia! My suggestion to those who claim to have insomnia and yet they are avoiding things that impair their ability to drive- please TRY to impair your ability to drive so that can you stay home and fall asleep.

This is my blog and I can complain if I want to- so I’m gonna. Despite venting this to a good friend, I’m still in a scowling grrr mode.

For those who have kids, live by a school, know kids, heard of kids, can recognize a kid in a line-up amongst adults; you may have noticed school starting this week. It did. Yay school.

Our holiday weekend was very low key as Jonathon had difficulties with his epillepsy and his primary care physician said to contact them if he had more frequent seizures. I asked her to define “more”… “I don’t know, just more frequently.” Nice. So his anti-seizure medication failed multiple times in a month and apparently that’s normal? I think not. His on call doctor when he had episodes a month ago was extremely worried and said to note ANY abnormal behaviors, break through seizures etc. adjusted his meds and ordered lab work until he felt he was safe. All I can say about his primary doctor is, “You uneducated bitch.” The same doctor who has NEVER seen him since he started to have seizures less than a year ago. She flakes on appt’s and is rarely in the office. Everything has been done via alternating on calls.

 The SAME doctor I TRIED to get rid of post surgery and I asked the receptionist, “Is there another doctor who specializes in Jonathon’s condition” as his current one seems constantly clueless. She told me in a very defensive tone, “I assure you that ALL our doctors are good!” I said, “I’m sure they are… I would just like to know if any specialize in kids with CP or other severe special needs.” she said, “Oh…” changed the subject and I had to go as I was at work.

It feels scary as I’m in a town where I know few people. I’m raising my special needs child alone in a clueless and incompetent medical community and he’s developing new symptoms. It feels SO helpless!

I want to storm into the office, grab their referal sheets and refer us to various neurologists and specialists up at PDX, have a free standing blood draw for measuring his med levels and write a prescription for new medication and a new seating system. Then I want to KICK THEM IN THE SHINS!

 That was Monday.

Tuesday was supposed to be his first day of school, however his bus driver never got a hold of me for pickup time and location- so I went to work, had someone watch him and I called transportation. Apparently the bus driver kept calling the wrong number… and it didn’t matter as the doctor’s office kept forgetting to fax to the school Jonathon’s feeding orders. I’m trying to balance work as we’ve been on a skeleton crew all week so it’s been pretty hectic and overwhelming, dealing with his school and trying to find a decent liquid foundation for my complexion.

Wednesday he sails off to school just fine but still the hectic work day remains and I’m dealing with the school nurse and getting his med card faxed over. The first time of course I forgot to sign it, so she sent me a new one as she felt uncomfortable giving him his meds twice during the school day- so I had to figure out a safe way to split his 4 doses a day so that the timing will not harm him. We leave to wait for the bus at 6:30am, he comes home at 3pm… if I give his last dose too early in the evening, then that’s too long of time between his last dose of the night and first one of the morning.  Anyway- we got it figure out… I fax it and receive a confirmation e-mail.

When it was about time to leave, I receive another e-mail, “Make sure you fax his med sheet.” I told her… I did and you said, “Thanks”. She doesn’t think that happened but will check in the morning… and does a back and forth of the freaking fax. I straight out tell her, “You know what- I faxed it, you said thank you but there’s a very simple solution- I’ll just take the original and place it in his backpack so you don’t have to say fax again.” I HATE run arounds.

Come Wednesday night I’m dead to the world.

Thursday hits me in the face bright and early. Another hectic work day, but not as bad. After work I’m at heavy traffic intersection and this guy just opens his door and places a huge bag of garbage right on the street. I look at him and the woman the driver and shout, “HEY!!!” Of course there’s cars behind me witnessing and no one cares. Grrrr SCOWL! I mean who does that?!?! So for some reason they opt to try and scare me by following me. Of course I take the freeway home like usual and I’m thinking, “I could be going to Canada for all the know…” They’re being obnoxious and merely smile and wave and pretend I’m calling someone on the phone while looking at their license plate (I don’t have a phone, but the things are so tiny, no one knows I’m faking it). Well the chase is off- so I reverse it. Oddly they get off on my exit and now THEY’RE scared and thinking they’re trying to shake me off when I’m merely going my normal route. I turn onto my my main road and that’s the end of that.

I get home and prep to take Jonathon off the bus and a group of 13 year olds start to approach- making asshole comments about the “short bus”. I look at them like I can’t believe how rude and idiotic I think they are. They at first say sorry… and then I hear them talking to each other with mentally challenged accents making more fun of my son and the kids on the bus. I swear if it wouldn’t send a negative message across- I would have loved to punch them all in the face… but no… I have to be tolerant of the assholes out there of all ages… on a daily basis.

I take him inside and promptly give him his meds before we have to return to my work really fast, we get to the store. Smiling and ignoring all the people who gawk… we get to the check out counter and his chair gets wedged in there requiring someone to help get us unstuck. Smiling, thanking… smiling… ignoring… just wanting to go home and hide.

Jonathon seems to have an attitude though and I’m just wanting the day to be over. He’s being rude and I let him know that his behaviour his hurtful. I cease talking to him as I finish feeding him, give him his last medications of the night, prep him for bed, turn on his television and of course my silence has him wounded. Finally he softens up, is on the verge of tears, he says he’s sorry- hugs me and all is good. He fell asleep before our show came on “Who Wants to be a Superhero”. So I plop down on the sofa, record the show and veg out.

The end of the first hour had me in tears as Stan decided to keep all three for the final hour instead of eliminating one- Awwww. Some how that just grabbed my heart. I must be PMSing.

Then of course I sat on the edge of my seat during the final hour and felt a tad disappointed with who won. I was kind of hoping he’d make them a team. I was also hoping if he didn’t make them a team that another person won.

I’d mention the winner, but should anyone else view the show and they didn’t see the finale yet… I don’t want to spoil it.

Well that’s it. Friday is here and as soon as I went to get coffee, my purse strap broke. A friend on the other side of the states is seeing the doctor for something that might be scary and I’m trying to remain positive that they’re okay… and I’m just hoping this evening is relaxing, nice and the weekend is as well.

Current Mood: blah