Explanation

So here's the deal. As Leslie said, I moonlight at the office of a Cuban dentist whose mom, Pilar, works the front desk. So pretty much every Cuban expatriate in town gets their dental work done here--I think mostly because they like to sit and chat with Pilar about Cuba, Fidel, etc. So anyway, I finished an eval on one of Pilar's Cuban friends and was writing up the chart. I had to go up to the front to get something, and Pilar has this huge smile on her face and practically yells--"Fidel se murio! Now I can go back to Havana and urinate on his grave!" Yeah, not a picture I wanted in my head either, but I thought I'd pass it on for effect. Anyway, one of her friends had just heard that the Cuban government was going to make an announcement yesterday afternoon that Castro had died. Bear in mind that most Cubans think he died a while back, but that the government has been hiding it, for obvious reasons. So Pilar called her brother in Miami who maintains close contact with friends and relatives in Cuba and he told her that Miami was in a complete frenzy. By the way, her brother was a political prisoner for something like 7 years before Castro got tired of him and put him on a plane to Miami. So her brother also said that all telephone lines going into Cuba had been blocked and that no one could communicate with anyone inside. Looking back, it was probably because every Cuban in the U.S. was trying to call at the same time. So, to make a long story short, it's back to the status quo with no one really knowing if he's dead or alive. The Cuban government of course is saying the rumors were started by the anti-Castro contingent in Miami and that Fidel is very much alive, but they have offered no proof to back that up. Anyway, check our this blog--it's the most popular Cuban blog around and has some interesting posts. The latest one about Hugo Chavez is interesting and very telling, in my opinion. Or read this, or if you're looking for something a little more light hearted and can stomach a little more questionable content, go here. So I guess, Ginger was right . . .

The King is Dead

Fidel Castro is dead. You heard it here first.

Dean dean bo-bean, banana fana . . .

Check this out:



Makes you wish you lived on the Gulf Coast during this time of the year, huh?

The end of an era

Somebody in my household thinks I've been a little bit harsh and mean with some of my posts, so I'm turning over a new leaf. By the way, that somebody has developed a bad habit of meddling in my blogging affairs and if it continues, I will have no choice but to change my password so said person will be unable continue to fiddle with my blog. Anyway, I just want everyone to know, I'm removing statcounter and I now welcome anonymous comments--especially the mean and inflammatory kind (and especially from you, Mike.) No one will be called out again. And also, feel free to continue to blog stalk to your virtual heart's content, I won't know just how many times you may have looked at my blog. I only ask that you leave an anonymous comment every once in a while. Thanks.

My name is Neal, and I'm an . . .

So I just want to address the topic of anonymous comments. Like I said, I'm in my blogging adolescence so I guess I'm dealing with issues you blogging old timers got over a long time ago. But I just think the whole mindset behind the anonymous comment is interesting. I mean, sometimes it's funny to post something anonymously if it goes along with the spirit of the post. But anyway, my point is that sometimes anonymous comments are appropriate. Like when one of your friends posts something and let's say their virtual zipper is down and you need to tell them something like, "hey, XYZ," or "your barn door is open," or "it doesn't pay to advertise," or something of that nature, but you don't necessarily want to further embarrass them by letting them now it was YOU that noticed--maybe then, an anonymous comment might be acceptable. I can even understand someone posting something anonymously when they want to say something really hateful and nasty, but they don't have the backbone to attach their name to it. I don't think it's appropriate or acceptable, but I can understand why someone would do it, socially unacceptable as it may be. I guess the last situation that it would be appropriate to comment anonymously is when you don't have a blogger account, but then you can still just sign your name at the end of the comment. I can't understand it when someone wants to say something that doesn't fit any of the above situations and still comment anonymously. Like if you wanted to post something like, say "Some of us will miss George W. Bush when he leaves office and is replaced by Bill & Hillary Clinton." Why wouldn't you want to attach your name to such a statement? Most of the people that read this blog would probably agree with you. Or the person that made a kind of underhandedly disparaging comment about our buddy Mitt. It wasn't that inflammatory. And just for the record, I like to make fun of Mitt sometimes, too. I can only conclude that when a person comments anonymously, they obviously don't have the guts to own their opinion and accept whatever might come back at them as a result. That's my take on it. Maybe I'm wrong, and feel free to call me out on it. But kindly sign your name to your comment.

Espique de languich

President Bush was hosting Nicolas Sarkozy this weekend at the family pad in Kennebunkport when the following exchange occurred:

"No I can't," the president said, when asked by a journalist if he could say something in French. "I can barely speak English."

Now that's funny.

*I first heard about this from Amy. She didn't think it was funny, she thought it was sad. Boo hoo.

Moe-gabm

Well, today is Moe-D's birthday. I can't believe he is one year old. In some ways it seems like he has been a part of our family forever, though. I remember how little he was when he was born, but how BIG his mouth seemed as he cried when he first came out. It was also nice that he was the first one of our kids that did not have to be resuscitated and deep suctioned upon arrival. One of the most interesting things about having kids for me has been to watch their little personalities emerge and blossom. Each one brings their own little character traits and qualities into the world with them and it's fun to start to see it show. This little one definitely has his own personality. He always has a smile on his face and rarely is in a bad mood. He loves to do things to make you laugh at him. Maybe that is a result of Audrey and Parker praying every night that "Moe will get funnier and funnier" (we have no idea where they came up with that). He has been a great addition to our family and I'm so blessed to be his dad!

On a side note, I finished Confessions and it did not get any better after those opening pages. Such a waste of a book, I don't know why I read the whole thing. In other blogging news, I'm working on some posts for my very own etsy showcase. The 'chain and I have collected some very choice items that I think you will all enjoy. Stay tuned . . .

I might be a liberal

This morning the patient at one of my moonlighting gigs no-showed (by the way, don't ever do that when you have an appointment) so I ended up in the car at the same time one of my favorite radio shows was playing--Democracy Now!. It airs on the station here that is an affiliate of Pacifica radio which is a network of uber-liberal, listener-supported stations. The Houston affiliate can be highly entertaining and Democracy Now! is the crown jewel. Just to put things in perspective, Cindy Sheehan was one of the most frequent guests on this show before she renounced the peace movement. But then she decided she could defeat Nancy Pelosi in a bid for Congress, so she's back. But I digress. Usually I just listen to Democracy Now! (yes, you have to put an exclamation point behind Now! every time--that's the proper name of the show) to see what kind of ridiculous rhetoric is being broadcast on any given day and for a good laugh during the afternoon commute.
Anyway, this morning, my buddy Amy Goodman was interviewing this guy named John Perkins who claims he was an "economic hit man" for the US government in the seventies. Let me explain in a nutshell what an economic hit man is: these are people who work for "consulting" firms that go to foreign countries and convince their governments to accept huge loans from the World Bank and IMF and then funnel the funds to US companies who are in charge of the projects. Then the US government swoops in and used the debt as leverage to force the government of the country to grant access to its natural resources, military cooperation and political support. Sounds feasible and kind of interesting, right? So, since I had some time to kill before my next patient at school, I stopped by Barnes & Noble (or Barnes & Nobles, as we like to call it at our house, along with Chipoltes, Krogers, Williams & Sonoma, Abercrombie & Finch, OK I need to stop) and bought Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I know, I know, if Amy recommends it it's gotta suck, but I couldn't resist. I love a good government conspiracy theory. A couple of years ago, I discovered Loose Change and I guess I've never been quite the same since. As a side note, the next time you're at cruising altitude in an airplane, turn on your cell phone and see if you get a signal. Sorry, I know, once you do you won't be able to sleep at night. Anyway, back to COAEHM. I started reading it while I was taking the bus from the parking lot to the DB and it is horrible. I mean really bad. The way he describes how he was "recruited" is so cheesy, and so far it's mostly him describing how he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he is such a red-blooded heterosexual man that he was seduced by beautiful women to do our government's dirty work. Then when I got home I found this rebuttal by the State Department, and I'm left wondering why they bothered. Maybe there is something to his story . . . So in case your next read was Confessions, of course, after you read this, don't bother. Thanks for nothing, Amy. Now go watch Loose Change.

I wonder if Mitt's seen it . . .

Let's hear it for statcounter

OK, I realize I'm a latecomer to the blogosphere and this topic has been discussed ad naseum, but just indulge me while I beat the proverbial dead horse. Just think of it as part of my blogging adolescence and just roll your eyes. So my new obsession with statcounter is what precipitated this. Let me break it down: yesterday flowerchain got 374 hits. I think that's an all-time high. Of course I like to think I had a hand in it--I know everyone was furiously emailing their friends saying "you need to check flowerchain because it links to her husband's new blog." Don't lie, you know you did. Anyway, after reading flowerchain's post you probably think I'm going to complain about the lack of comments, but no, that's not the interesting part about the blogging phenomenon. What I find the most interesting is that that the 'chain and I don't know even close to 374 people. Who are all of these people that are interested in looking at pictures of our kids and reading about our lives? I know, I've read blogs of people I don't know, and honestly I don't know why. Usually it's not a totally random person--I almost always know them in some roundabout way. But I don't obsessively check their blogs, or mark them for easy access. But when flowerchain consistently gets over 300 hits a day, that can't be chalked up to people randomly clicking over from another blog. I can only conclude that it's a case of serial checking. Now, if you're one of those who has no connection to us but just thinks we're enthralling, obviously, I can't blame you. I mean, who can help but be obsessed with a gorgeous woman and her devastatingly handsome husband who are raising three child prodigies. Seriously, Becks and Posh have nothing on us. I'm not saying that something's wrong with you, or that you need to engage in some primal therapy to get over your deep seated psychological issues. I'm just saying it's a little weird. But then again, I guess that's why we have blogs--to share our lives with random people. Would we post if we knew no one was reading? So I guess this is why I shouldn't check statcounter anymore.

In the beginning . . .

. . . there was flowerchain. And she begat Rainbow Flying Unicorns. Then she begat I Love Heroes. Then she begat A Room Somewhere. But through it all, she couldn't beget the desire in her husband to start a blog. Until now. But before you get too excited, you're probably not going to find many posts about my childhood, there may be the occassional pictures of the fam, but definitely no memes. I think the 'chain has that pretty much covered. So if you're looking for pictures of beautiful things, you might want to step into a room somewhere else (although I'm pretty sure there will be an etsy week sometime soon--oh don't you worry, it's going to be good). But when you need a break from the virtual world of spotless living rooms, amazing hubbies, endless spirituality and impossibly cute kiddos (yes, I look at your blogs, too), come on over and hang out here. I don't care that your sink is piled high with dirty dishes, your kid won't sleep through the night, you went to the donut store during Sunday School, and that your husband doesn't appreciate you. Just relax--we're all friends here.

I'm not kidding myself, though. I know that most of the traffic to this blog will come from flowerchain. With her average of 200 hits a day, at least a few of you will wander on over. And when you do, feel free to write a comment. As a matter of fact, leave a comment right now. If you do, I'll add you to my sidebar links. It'll be like a free giveaway to commentors. I know, just call me Design Dad.