RedJen's Rearview Mirror

I think I blinked, it can't be July already...

(In completely useless happenings, my superhero reached level 30 in City of Heros.)

I woke up this morning, stretched out as far as I could and them stretched my back before opening my eyes. My first thought wasn’t whether I was safe nor was it to wonder if I’d be able to get a shower and a meal before the day was over.

So today I’m thinking of the people who don’t know what it is to wake in the quiet without fear.

I woke up this morning to news of explosions in London. So far the news has two people listed as dead and more injured. I haven't heard the word terrorist at this point, but I assume it is only a matter of time before that is brought into the picture. Correction: Tony Blair has just stated that it is "reasonable clear" that London is dealing with a series of coordinated terrorist attacks.

I’m not sure who is advising the attackers, but they may be a few grains of sand short of a sandcastle. Even if these are not related to the ones against the US on 9/11, this is a stupid idea. After Afghanistan was bombed following 9/11, considering that the UK is the most vocal supporter of the US, I would think any attack would be made against a group less inclined to get support from the US.

Tonight I plan on going to bed as early as possible and falling into an exhaustion induced coma. I'm still here and I have stuff to say, but there aren't enough hours in a day right now, be prepared for the novel.

The way things are going, pretty soon only the dumbest and weakest will survive to adulthood. Today’s real news included the following important and urgent topics:

Children should not climb furniture!

Dangerous pieces of furniture include wardrobes (with and without mirrors), tall dressers and anything holding a television set where the distance from the television to the floor is greater than the width or depth of the furniture on which the television is located. Children have been known to risk the dangerous trek in order to acquire remote controls, toys, candy and to discover what has been placed out of their reach.

Suggested ways to avoid the dangers inherit in furniture include the following gems of insight:
* Do not allow children to climb bookcases or cupboards.
* Children should not be left alone around any piece of furniture that taller than their own eye level.
* Top heavy furniture should be loaded with the heaviest things close to the floor. (The actual example given for this suggestion is to place the heaviest books on the bottom of the bookshelf.)
* Top heavy furniture should not be used in children’s rooms.
* Children should not be sent to their room unattended.

The taskforce to raise awareness of the dangers of gravity is determined to educate parents on these hidden threats.

The makers of Coke, Pepsi and other carbonated beverages wish to increase the amount of soda purchased by shoppers. Not only have these criminal corporations spent millions of dollars to increase the brand recognition of their products, but they have brazenly included the calorie contents on the labels of these dangerous beverages.

The timely and shocking warning messages would include information on how soda pop can contribute to obesity and tooth decay. The messages would also include helpful suggestions to consider switching to diet soda, water or skim milk.

Man the bubble wrap, hold your breathe and don’t move. Breathing, water and gravity are dangerous to your health!

Dominion posted...

Roar had good news on Monday in the form of a hard won promotion.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrived today. Rugrat has settled in for the duration. I just hope she's done a few days before George R. R. Martin's next book arrives on the 26th.

Bantam Spectra (US) will publish A Feast for Crows on November 8, 2005

HarperCollins Voyager (UK) will pusblish A Feast for Crows on October 17, 2005

Let’s get this out in the open. I am a feminist. I don’t stand on street corners and shout about how my people are oppressed. I don’t hate men. I don’t think that men are out to keep me down. I don’t want to move to a paradise island and live with Wonder Woman’s cousins.

It pisses me off that I feel like I need to qualify what I am not to define what I am.

I believe that that men and women should be equal politically, economically and socially. That’s the basis of feminism. It’s clean and simple. It isn’t anti anyone or anything. It is a positive statement that is very similar to ones made in the Declaration of Independence. I believe that all men and all women are created equal. Equal does not mean identical. I don’t think that women are better than men, but I also don’t think that men are better than women. I believe that the cultures we are brought up in hold a lot of sway over how we view ourselves and each other.

For a long time I bought into the thought that feminism = feminazi and feminists hate men as a whole. I bought into the propaganda that things had pretty much gotten to a point where the feminist movement was outdated. What I didn’t realize was that my definition of feminism was wrong. No one had bothered to correct me, so I went along as a happy little Moderate Feminist for most of my life.

For any of my religion teachers, this should come as no surprise, I was asking them the big “Why” questions from the time I started school. I’ve even argued for the non-aggressive reformation of certain ideas. I’m thinking maybe someone was patting me on the head and nodding so I’d shut up, while hoping I’d grow out of such crazy ideas. Sorry, that didn’t happen, but you did manage to get me to be quiet for quite a while.

If you’re new to the definition of feminism as being “Feminism is theory that men and women should be equal politically, economically and socially.” This definition is also known as Core Feminism. There are a few other things you should know. There are multiple types of feminism, just like there are multiple types of Christian religions. They all have something in common, but it is the details that make the difference. Some of the different varieties are Amazon Feminism, Cultural Feminism, Ecofeminism, Feminazi, Individualist/Libertarian Feminism, Material Feminism, Moderate Feminism, Gender Feminism, Pop-Feminism, Radical Feminism and Separatists. I am definitely a Core Feminist and there are tenets of Amazon, Cultural and Ecofeminism that I also believe.

I’m learning this as I go along and as the devil is in the details, you either have to forgive me for not knowing everything at once or go on. This isn’t a sudden thing, but it isn’t small either.

If you know ShaeSin, then know this: Shae is one of the best people I know and yesterday she made me proud. She told an undeserving company that she didn't want to play their toxic games any longer and quit. Companies like that don't deserve to have amazing people work for them.

I seem to have lost the links on my calendar. I should probably figure out what's going on with that...

Part 2
Or maybe the site was just tring to tell me that it was time to update. I'm not sure which, but they seem to be back now.

Work is cool, got a nice "good job" yesterday from a VP who didn't actually know it was me he was talking about at the time. During April, we had a huge project with an end of the month deadline. It is common knowledge that the details of the project were not finalized early enough to allow for the work to get easily managed. When the details were hammered out, the bulk of the work came down to my team. Since everyone else was swamped and I was working "special projects", I took on the task of getting everything done. According to this VP, the transition is being talked about as a huge success and that someone pulled off a miracle to make it happen. Imagine my surprise and glee at being able to tell him that I appreciated good tidings, as I hadn't gotten that feedback. (Insert huge mental "YES" going off in my head.)

Most call that going out on a high note. Now I'm off to the beach for a mid-week escape.

Getting ready to send Rugrat back to Ohio this morning. She's heading home just in time to miss the 20 degree drop in the heat around here. Dang, when 95 looks better, that's insane.

... at work on Friday afternoon ... err ... evening. How come me taking 2 days off in the middle of the week fills my inbox full of URGENT email. You'd think some of these people couldn't make it to the restroom without directions.

This is me turning off the computer and going home...

What a difference a year makes, he's growing into a lovely cat.

This week


One year ago