Wednesday, September 21, 2011

It's just "Don't Ask" now...

Yesterday (9/20) morning at 12:01am, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy that formalized the ban on gay and lesbian persons in the military officially ended.  The policy was created in 1993 by then President Clinton as a compromise between the change he wanted to make (to fully allow gays and lesbians to serve openly) and the policy that congress would actually pass and that the miliary at the time would actually accept.  Most people forget that, despite DADT not being what anyone wanted at the time, it WAS better than what the military's policy was before (before that, they could ask, pursue, dig into your personal life, etc. - after DADT, they couldn't).  Still, 13,000+ qualified men and women have been discharged from the military in 18 years under DADT, simply for being themselves.

Of course it's only been a day, but the general feeling is that this really isn't going to change very much.  Sure, there will be a spike of gays and lesbians currently serving to come out over the next few days (this article was a good example, and another talked about two soldiers just got married since they live in a state that allows it) but, just as in most workplaces, people go to work and do their job, and, for the most part, leave their personal life at home.

I had a long chat with a friend of mine who has served in the military about this a few years ago.  He thought it would be very disruptive and he would have been uncomfortable serving with a gay soldier.  I asked him if he was uncomfortable serving with female members of the military and he said no.  I then asked if the military has a code of conduct that everyone is required to follow.  He said yes (I already knew that, but I was pointing it out).  I said that if ALL soldiers, gay, straight, or otherwise, are required to follow this code of conduct or lose their job, then what difference does it make if they're gay?  I think he thought about that one for awhile.  We never had another chat about it, so I don't know.

I don't think this is some huge step forward in rights like many people are making it out to be.  The vast majority of the military are in their teens and 20s, and that generation of people is already past this issue and doesn't care anyway.  Most people growing up now know and have gay and lesbian friends in high school and college.  It's still good to know that these qualified men and women will no longer be losing their jobs for no good reason.

Unrelated, I also have to throw in this article I read this morning:  http://news.yahoo.com/alexander-gop-leaders-thanks-no-thanks-223425967.html. 

It talks about a Tennessee republican senator who has decided he doesn't want to be forced to vote party lines on everything anymore, but rather actually make a conscious decision about each piece of legislation he is voting on.  This article shouldn't even be news, EVERY one of our elected leaders should base their decisions on their constituents, the available facts, and their conscience, but in our current system that is NOT the case.  So kudos to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, I hope you get re-elected next fall.



Thursday, September 15, 2011

The ABCs of me

My good friend Shelley in her baking blog did a re-post of this "ABCs of me" which is getting passed along from blog to blog.  I generally don't "forward" stuff, but this isn't quite the same as forwarding email, and there's no penalty of death or years of bad luck if you don't continue it on.  But if you do have a blog, it's kind of a fun thing to post.

A – Age.  I’m 37

B – Bed Size.  King

C – Chore I dislike.  Cleaning the bathroom.  I can never seem to get the nooks and crannies, and I've never been good with cleaning chemicals.  Vaccum, dust, sweep, fold clothes, love it!  (maybe I don't like the "wet" cleaning chores?)

D – Dogs.  I love animals and someday we'll have a dog.  But I'd have to say I'm really a cat person at heart when it comes down to it.

E – Essential start to my day.  A good breakfast, coffee, and I do a lot better when I get that half hour of "quiet time" in the morning - I relish it.

F – Favorite Colors.  Earth tones.

G – Gold or silver?  Gold (do I really have a strong preference?  no)

H – Height.  I’m 5’10.5"

I – Instruments I play(ed).  I took piano lessons for a number of years when I was younger.  I have played saxophone since the 6th grade (26 years now!).  Same with handbells.  I attempted trumpet lessons two years ago and failed miserably, but it was fun.  I

J – Job title.  Advisory Software Engineer

K – Kids.  Three wonderful little kittehs.

L – Live.  Rochester MN, for 14 years.

M - Money tip I like best.  I like the one Shelley posted (spend less than you make) but I might take that a step further and say "be happy with what you have".  Sometimes we forget to do that.

N – Never plan to…  Control everything :)

O – Overnight hospital stays.  Tonsils out when I was 7.  The sinus surgery I had at age 15 was almost going to turn into an overnight but made it out before the day was over :)

P - Pet Peeves.  People who think they need to fill up all quiet spaces with talking, or feel the need to chime in on absolutely every topic being discussed.  Intolerance of other people's beliefs and cultures, period.  People who claim to be Christians but demonstrate hatred and fear by their actions.

Q - Quote from a movie.  The entire end speech that Michael Douglas makes in "The American President".  My friend Tony and I had that all memorized at one point.  "My Name is Andrew Sheppard and I AM the president."

R – Righty or lefty?  Righty, but I still suspect I might bat left handed - or maybe I just suck at softball :)

S - Siblings.  I have a younger sister 3 years younger, and a younger half-brother who is 25 years younger.

T - Time I wake up.  I only wish I could sleep past 7...usually it's 6 or sometimes even earlier.

U – Underwear.  Boxer briefs.

V - Vegetables I don’t like.  Cauliflower.  Plain celery.  There are probably others.

W – What makes me run late.  Usually just stupidity - I don't tend to be late much though.

X – X-rays I’ve had.  Besides the regular dental checkups, broken arm in 3rd grade, broken finger in college, and broken wrist last year.

Y – Yummy food I make.  The family recipe, handed down from my grandma, for chocolate chip cookies.  Everyone loves these.  I don't say that lightly - really, everyone does.

Z – Zoo animals I like.  Elephants.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Kitteh

Today marks 3 years with Madame Sparkles and Mr. Fluffy Face.  I'm including the most recent picture of each - Madame in her very common stately pose, and Fluffy Face in one of his new favorite hiding spots, the top shelf of our bedroom closet.









Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Better Choices

I just entered week 27 of my food "lifestyle change" (I have been reminded that "diet" is just "die" with a "t" and what I'm doing isn't hard and is a permanent commitment).  I'm down 33 lbs and have 10 to go for my initial goal.

I didn't lose any weight over the past two weeks.  And I didn't gain any either.  And this is a good thing.  Here's why - both last weekend and the weekend before I was out of town, somewhat on vacation, and away from my "safety" zone of good eating.  Now I've explained that part of making a permanent change like this is realizing that in times like vacations, you do need to enjoy yourself and not miss out on certain things just to stay on some strict eating schedule.  However, part of that is also learning how to make "better" choices even when you're out of your regular schedule, and realize that you may even put on a pound or two during those times, but then get back to normal, and that's ok.  That is a situation I need to be able to handle and repeat for the rest of my life.

Did I do ok over those weekends?  Yeah.  Most of the meals had fruit and vegetables and proteins, and I was able to choose those over carbs.  I "pre-approved" the night I knew we were going out to the pizza restaurant, as that is what we were doing, it was a new and unique place, and I knew I would enjoy it.  And I did.  And the past weekend, when we were at the sports bar watching the Nebraska game, most of the food was bar food and the choices were somewhat limited (I still did as good as I could, broccoli-cheese soup and chicken fingers vs. french fries and nachos).

Could I have done better?  Yeah.  At the lake, we had two big boxes of homemade chocolate chip cookies, one box that they made and one that I made.  When we got to the lake after the 6 hour drive, I wanted a cookie.  Fine, one cookie after a long drive on a vacation is fine.  Within 2 hours I'd had 10.  Not fine.  And over the weekend, I probably had 10 more.  Not fine.  I can do better than that.  20 cookies in a weekend is like my old days.  And, to quote a famous Jedi Master, "that leads to the dark side".

So...the process continues.  But I feel pretty good about 2 weekends in a row where I was able to maintain my current weight, and then jump right back into the "normalcy" of my good eating decisions.