Presidential Material

So now that it looks like we have our presidential nominees I’ve decided to start paying more attention. I think it is absurd how early we start thinking about these things now, and I believe the media simply hypes the foreplay because it’s an easy story to report. Seriously, wouldn’t you rather sit on a tour bus across America with a hot latte while the story falls right in your lap every day, or would you rather hunt it down through interpreters and under fire in Afghanistan? HA! Anyway, now I think is a good time to start studying, as we’re about 6 months from the big day. I’ve been reading up on McCain and Obama and I just bought their biographies.

One thing that has struck me already is that, unlike the last election, I like both of these men. Of course I have issues with both of them politically, but personally I find them both pretty amazing people and would be proud to have either of them as my president. This is a complete change from the last election where I despised both of the candidates, and came damn close to not voting at all.

In this election so far, I’ve seen so many of my super-partisan friends immediately trying to discredit the other candidate personally, but I just can’t go there. The political policies of these candidates, their decisions about the way this country should be run are what I’m focusing on, and that is how I will finally judge them. Their personal stories are far too true and good to be dishonored by cheap attempts at journalism (or blogging).

I saw a comedian on TV the other day saying that “swing voters are fools”. I disagree. Most indie voters really believe in the democratic system, the power of the individual, and don't surrender so easily to partisan rhetoric, party politics or the political machine. Perhaps this is naïve or too idealistic, but in an era where the elections are being decided by razor thin margins, we’re the ones calling the shots. So who’s the fool?

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Racist France Looks to America For Progress

I'm always amused when people speak as though France is made up entirely of enlightened intellectuals, far superior to us American rednecks. I'm a big ole Francophile, but lemme tell ya, I can't convey enough how absurd that sentiment is. France is full of rednecks. Just ask Le Pen. Anyway... This article I stumbled upon recently is a good example of the reality there...

Moussa Deme laughs out loud at the idea that the French would elect someone like Barack Obama to political office. "In France? Never," says the 22-year-old Senegalese-born student on the way home from his job at a restaurant in Paris. "In France, it is impossible for a black man even to be mayor. They think it is enough that we are on their football team."
****
"The fact that he (Obama) is of mixed blood brings out the idea of reconciliation", she says. "For all sorts of reasons, the U.S. is more advanced than France in terms of race relations. Remember, until eight or nine months ago, we had an all-white government. France is in no way an example."
****
"If a black man in America can push open the door, then it opens it for others. Generally, what happens in America happens 10 years later in France."
****
"If he (Obama) is elected, he will represent our whole community."

The national perspectives on the presidential race started to bore me after five minutes, but the international perspectives are fascinating to me. I simply cannot believe that people (foreign or domestic) are putting so much hope into Barack Obama. I mean, he seems like an okay guy, and I'm impressed enough with him, but I think people are expecting far too much and are only setting the guy up for failure. This whole "Obama's gonna save the world" sentiment reeks of "the savior has risen" to me. Dude, he's HUMAN. Anyway, I flip through Google Actualites every morning and one of the things that stands out the most to me is how huge of a deal our presidential race is abroad. If anyone doubts the influence of America on the world, that explains it all.

A couple more, in English...
World Captivated by US Presidential Race
World watching to see which candidate will face foreign hurdles

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How Biased Are You?

In a recent issue of Scientific American they discuss Buried Prejudice: The Bigot in Your Brain and assert that "Deep within our subconscious, all of us harbor biases that we consciously abhor. And the worst part is: we act on them." I agree with this assertion, and I'm always shocked at how many people think they are above bigotry. As the article explains, it's not that you mean to be biased, you can't help it. No matter how hard you try you are still human, and your brain will always try to separate 'different' from 'same'. And while striving to be better is always admirable, it's best if you accept that it's a constant battle and you'll never truly be "cured". I think this is an important thing to consider in New Orleans, an environment where race is still a very volatile issue, and often hinders progress on all levels. I'm often surprised by how many people here think they are not racist at all. Yes, there is such a thing as a black racist, and no, just because you're a liberal thinker and 'on their side' doesn't mean you're not a condescending white racist. Which brings me to...

One of the most interesting parts of this article is the Bias Test. I took the 'weight' and 'race' tests. Before you test they ask you to guess what you think your bias is. I assumed I'd have a slight bias towards thin people and white people because I am thin and white - it's only fair ;-) Anyway, my results were better than I'd expected. Give it a try, and see what you think. Having worked on social studies before myself, I question some of the methods the tests use, but overall I think it's pretty good.

Anyway, the entire issue has really interesting articles on how the mind works. My favorite finding was that Asian women do worse on math tests when they think of themselves as female, but better when they think of themselves as Asian. Not surprising to me, but amazing that they could actually test and prove it.

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Moving Ahead

Yesterday I quit my job with the international arms dealers.

Basically, once the company moved from New Orleans to Slidell and gas prices went up (70 mile daily commute for me), plus the cost of child care, food and other work-related expenses, I calculated that I could easily make that much money freelancing from home. Not to mention my time is far more valuable to me than money, and I worked minimum 11 hour days at that company with the mega commute. I would actually like to see my family, hang out with my friends, and just read a book from time to time :-P The boss understood and offered me some contract work, so it was nice to pick up my first client the day I quit my job. I figure if I don't like working from home, or get cabin fever, I can always get another PR job downtown or another location closer to home.

Yesterday my baby slept 8 hours straight for the first time!

YAY! I'm so proud - she's only 2 months old! I know it's too early but I moved her to her own room at 6 weeks old because I was sick of not getting any sleep. If she even sneezed I'd wake up because I'm such a light sleeper. The first day I tried it she slept longer. Apparently she wasn't getting any sleep with us around either ;-P I also weaned her off me, and started giving her formula. Yeah yeah, I know, eeeevil mommy, whatever. She got 2 months of nature's way, and that's about as selfless as I get. Suck it up kiddo, mommy expects a lot of self sufficiency! ;-) Anyway... I'm off to get stamps now. When I teach Eva how to drive next week she can do these errands for me :-P

PS: Yesterday some suit on Poydras St slid up behind me and said "hey baby, want a black boyfriend?" to which I replied "no thanks, I already have two". Wtf?! This is how lawyers pick up chicks nowadays? Eeew.

PPS: I will not rest until I have Gwen Stefani's post-preggo abs.

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City of New Orleans Website Upgrade

Maybe I should bitch more often ;-) Apparently sometime during my maternity haze the city fixed its horribly outdated and poorly updated website, and made it into a fabulous website! It looks good and the links actually go somewhere! As for business licenses, the main thing I was addressing in the last blog post, it appears to be fixed. You can now download a business license online.

There is an article about what happened with the city's IT department here, but I don't think it explains how we wound up with a crappy website for 2 1/2 years. Anyone with a laptop and some spunk could have gotten these documents online and alphabetized in an hour. The lesson is? Bureaucracy blows, kids.

Anyway, I hope this is the start of a good thing. Just because they redesigned it doesn't mean they'll keep it updated. I guess we'll see, but in the meantime it's nice to see some lights on in the building.

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Mac'd

I just bought a MacBook... and I'm about to buy an iPhone.

It's been almost 3 years since I bought any new electronics. I don't like inefficient excess or overlapping capabilities so I was going to hold out until ONE gadget did everything (computer, mp3, cell phone, camera, datebook, gps, etc...) but I cracked early. I was hoping for an implant of some sort actually :-P

So the kicker here is that until this month I had never touched a Mac in my life. I'm finding the adjustment something like driving in Britain - on the other side of the fucking street. My "I'm in a foreign country" brain is kicking in! I'm driving all over and running into things backwards, and laughing my ass off at my spazfabooness. Of course the other thing I found is that I'm making setup and customization much harder than it needs to be. The path of least resistance is usually the right one. These things should come with a big fucking "obvious" tag on them. That said I could really benefit from a PC to Mac helpline or translation site or some shit. Dude, where's my fucking apps? Don't bounce at me when I'm talking to you!

Anyway, I'm really loving the thing and I'm thrilled I took the plunge. And retarded driving aside, the only thing I don't like so far is that I can't get the wee little bookmark icons (favicons?) to show up on my Firefox browser toolbar (I'm really anal about erasing all the text and just leaving the icons up there). Punks!

PS: Anyone else got an iPhone yet? You like, or no?

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Zombie Flags

I don't know how many times this fun park has to die before people quit trying to revive it: Proposal to revive Six Flag site unfurled. I guess you have to give them points for optimism.

At least if they make it a water park this time, after the flood they'll just have to hose it off.

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oh my goff

had to.

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Nine Muses of New Orleans

I was reading a book recently that discussed the nine muses of Greek mythology and when they named the muses I was like... Muses? Those are streets. Oh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

So yeah, I'd seen the muses referenced to before but I didn't know their names. I grew up in New Orleans and Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania have always been streets to me, not Greek chicks. Anyway, I did some searching regarding the nine muses and Nola (and local blogger Charlotte was one of the first returns in my search - apparently covering this topic before!), but what I'm curious about is a bit different. Pronunciation. Does anyone know how to pronounce the names the classical way, as opposed to the New Orleans way? I'd like to do a comparison if possible. We tend to make up our own pronunciations here ;-)

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Uh, Honey, Can You Go Pick Up My Trick?

Ok, normally a story like this would not even grab my attention, but the headline simply doesn't do the first few paragraphs justice...

Prostitutes migrate to Web, but so do police

When local vice squads want to bust a hooker these days, they simply search the Web and pick one out from thousands now placing suggestive ads online, e-mail a request for a date -- then show up and make the easy arrest.

In one recent case, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office officials arranged a date with a woman they found on Craigslist.org -- and bummed a ride from her husband to the hotel. When they arrested him as complicit in the crime, he seemed baffled.

"She's just selling cosmetics," Capt. Tom Angelica recalled the man saying.

"The guy broke down and cried when we told him what his wife was there for," he said.

I laughed out loud and then felt SO BAD for this guy! Sometimes I do think one can be tooooo trusting of one's spouse... or just completely dense :-(

And of course I think this whole thing is silly - being that I think prostitution should be legal. If two (or more) consenting adults want to have sex where money exchanges hands, more power to 'em.

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My Baby's Opium Den Gets Noticed

Heheh. Some baby interior decor blog called astropunks.com did a writeup about my baby room called "Modern Nursery Ideas Not Afraid of the Dark". Sweet :-)

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Brake Tags

The cops are really cracking down on brake tags lately. My husband and I both got hit with tickets for expired ones this month. Hubby actually got pulled over twice in one day - once by JP and once by NOPD for his tag. I was issued my ticket by JP today, but what really pisses me off is that I went to get a new brake tag on Tuesday (at the Shell station on Magazine St) and they RAN OUT. So I figured I'd just go back today and do it after lunch. I was on my freakin' way to get a brake tag when I got a ticket for not having one. Sickening. What's worse is the cop actually bought my story, but he said they were forcing them to work in groups so they wouldn't let anyone off the hook (I actually got pulled over by two cop cars together). Then, what really annoyed me was while cop #1 was writing me a ticket, cop #2 asks my husband (who's sitting in the passenger side) for his license, and starts writing down his info. Ummm, WTF did HE do? Isn't this like harassment or something? Don't you have to do something suspicious before a cop can start bugging you? This doesn't make me feel safer, it just makes me want to avoid Jefferson Parish... even more.

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Another Piece of My Past... Gone

Hell, I'm not even Catholic anymore. Still, it's part of the history of the area, part of the history of ME. And now the Catholic school and church I attended as a child is no more. Smashed by Katrina, and finished off by bureaucracy. Yet another place, a part of my life that I will not be able to show my child...

"The Archdiocese of New Orleans on Wednesday announced a sweeping post-Hurricane Katrina reorganization of parish life that essentially accepted the storm's permanent destruction of 17 church communities in New Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes.

Beyond that, however, Archbishop Alfred Hughes announced a wide-ranging package of mergers, closures, downsizings and shared-pastor arrangements that reached far beyond the flood zone to touch parishes in relatively undamaged communities such as Algiers and West Jefferson, Metairie, Kenner and Luling." -Archdiocese orders sweeping changes

Perhaps I seem overly sentimental to some, but we're all different, and history has always been very important to me. Sure, they were just buildings, but so was my house, and now the only thing left of it is a slab dotted with a few bathroom tiles that wouldn't let go...

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Planting Season & Nola Plant Nurseries

I did gardening the last two weekends. Finally! I loooovvve to play in the dirt :-) It’s a bit later than I normally plant, but with the new baby I had to push things back a bit. This year I am trying more urban container gardening due to the limited space I have in my yard. I’m attempting vegetables this time and I planted them in huge wooden crates, hanging baskets, or terra cotta pots. I’ve only done a few so far since this is an experiment. I’m not sure I can grow veggies in my yard due to the hostile environment (pool chlorine, aggressive bugs and caterpillars, huge city rats lurking around…). The roster so far includes tomatoes, bell peppers, raspberries (heat tolerant variety), jalapenos, cayenne peppers, and numerous herbs such as sage, dill, parsley, basil, bay leaf, chives, oregano, thyme, mexican tarragon, and peppermint (it’s mojito and mint julep season!), and more…

This year I also managed to do almost all my plant shopping at small local places. And what I couldn’t get there I got from a larger local, but inexpensive, nursery nestled on the river in Bridge City (westbank). If you know of any other good places to get plants (preferably in Orleans Parish) please let me know so I can add them to the list.

Green Parrot Nursery - Uptown
201 Nashville Ave. New Orleans, LA
(504) 894-1100
http://www.greenparrotnursery.com/

Harold’s Nursery – Bywater
1135 Press St, New Orleans, LA
(504) 947-7554
http://bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-12-14/shoptalk.html

American Aquatic Gardens – Marigny
621 Elysian Fields Ave, New Orleans, LA
(504) 944-0410
http://www.americanaquaticgardens.com/

And for a larger selection...

Banting Nursery – Westbank
3425 River Rd
Bridge City, LA
(504) 436-4343
http://www.bantingnursery.com/

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RIP Ashley

I woke up this morning to find my feed reader full of obituaries - for one person. A fellow nolablogger, Ashley Morris died yesterday. I am so genuinely shocked and upset to hear this. Ashley talked about New Orleans issues with such energy, honesty, and wonderfully profane humor. I only met him once, but he certainly left an impression, and I'm so deeply sad for his wife and three young children.

Ashley, you will be missed.

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Garbage Trucks

GRAR! WHY are the new semi-automated garbage trucks SO LOUUUUUUUUUUUD! It parks in from of my house at 5am and all I can hear are the screeching mechanisms on the damn thing. When it crunches my wee little garbage bags you'd swear it was compacting a Chevy Suburban. Also, the attendants drop stuff endlessly, and the sounds of bottles crashing and cans clattering follows the truck the whole way. And I can hear all this clearly from my bedroom with the windows closed and air conditioner running.

This rant is really about TIME. If they did it at 1pm I would not even notice. But sleep dep me is mighty rattled by it. I think I will just hire some raccoons to dispose of the garbage. At least they're quieter.

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Oh My Goth!: Family Edition

I love to see weirdo families walking around together. I have to keep myself from staring at them out of admiration. It makes me go all - I'm not the only one! when I see them. So this inspires me to do a new kind of post called "freaky families". I'll do them on occasion, but if you have any you know of e-mail them to over to me!

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Baby Steps

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -Tolstoy

I don’t suppose I have to tell you where I’ve been. Last week my new baby turned one month old. And like I said in a previous post, I’m gradually going to try and return to the land of the living this month. Life with a newborn has been really hard, but also a life-changing adventure that’s even been fun in some ways. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and I’m convinced that ‘Mother Nature’ deliberately makes it this hard in order to crash your life and force you to reset your priorities so you’ll properly accept the child into your life. In my case, the first week I actually thought I was going to put in an 8 hour work day while juggling the baby and recovering from major surgery. In my mind, the baby was just another datebook item – albeit one I was very attached to. After some rough nights trying to force baby on my schedule, I learned that it was ME that needed to change. She actually taught me to toss the datebook and just work whenever, or, shockingly, not work at all and just enjoy each other. I’ll admit, I still get pissed that I’m not getting enough done, but I think it’s a huge step for me that I actually can toss my laptop off the bed and just snuggle with the baby in the middle of the day.

Now that I’m approaching the 6 week mark, I’m starting to look for a part time nanny/babysitter to care for her at home 2 days a week so I can catch up on work, and also to take some “date night” shifts. I love being around her but I need a few uninterrupted hours to work, and some time to righteously pounce the husband ;-) Someone should reeeaaallly put up a forum for parents and sitters in Nola to meet up.

Now is the part when I could go off on a rant about how much I hate the maternity/paternity leave situation in this country (hubby had to take of week of his vacation after the baby was born and then had to go right back to work), or I could bitch about the inadequate and outrageously expensive child care options in New Orleans (and America for that matter)… but it’s nothing you haven’t heard before – and I’m still too tired. Don’t have the fight back in me yet. Still sore, still sleep deprived, still adjusting. But my mind is racing with positive thoughts, and I’m sure the moment I see an opening I’ll jump through, flexing muscles, guns blazing ;-P

So I guess it goes without saying that I haven’t been keeping up with the outside world too much in the last month. I’ve been scrolling through news and blogs, but not engaging too much (commenting/typing with one hand is hard!). So bear with me if I repeat something old – it’s news to me!

Last weekend we took Éva to Franky & Johnnie’s for the first time. She liked Tabasco with her Gumbo...

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Spring Fests and More

I really wanted to hit the St. Paddy's parade today in the Garden District, alas I think baby Évariste is too young (only 2 1/2 weeks) and will probably freak out from the over-stimulation. I think when her schedule is a bit more normal we'll take her to some of the spring festivals. Yesterday, the Lagniappe section of the paper listed all of the fairs and festivals in the metro area this spring and I could barely get through it there were so many! I looooove living in such a cool city. Never a dull moment.

In the meantime, Éva seems to love going for walks up and down Magazine St. in her stroller (as bumpy as it may be), and so far she LOVES the car. At least we know she won't mind mommy and daddy's road trip obsession :-)

Lastly, don't think I've forgotten there's a world out there. I'm still healing from the surgery and adjusting to lifewithnewbaby. Regular posts will resume in about a month, but in the meantime you'll be subjected to cutsie baby pics. It's not like I haven't racked up credits what with all of the fluffy kittie/puppy pics I regularly scroll through on my friends' blogs ;-)

Baby's first stroll last weekend...

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the colic monster

"Colic" from Wikipedia:

"Infant colic (also known as baby colic, three month colic, and Infantile colic) is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or screams frequently and for extended periods, without any discernible reason.

The condition typically appears within the first two weeks of life and almost invariably disappears, often very suddenly, before the baby is three to four months old [1]. It is more common in bottle-fed babies, but also occurs in breast-fed infants. The crying frequently occurs during a specific period of the day, often in the early evening."

So my little bundle of joy has the colic. This makes her go from Smeagol to Gollum faster than I can get this sentence out. She screams bloody murder, for hours, and is completely inconsolable. I've been breastfeeding her from the start, but it doesn't seem to be helping her. I walk with her, swaddle her, rub her tummy, tried mylicon, tried feeding her more/less, tried singing, rocking her in a swing, pacifiers (half the time she spits them out), tried changing my diet (cause i pass on stuff to her in breast milk) - nothing seems to help. She wails, even though she is normal and healthy. I'm told this peaks at 6 weeks and can last up to 12 weeks - she is only 2 weeks. Dear gods. If only I could get more than 3 hours sleep, maybe I could think more clearly about how to proceed, alas, I think there is nothing more to this than enduring it. And I have about 10 weeks to go.

They tell me if you can survive the first 3 months, the rest is easy. Here's hopin' that ain't bullshit :-) *thinks zen thoughts*

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First Week

So I have the first week of newborn baby care behind me. I won't lie, it's hard, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Recovering from major surgery, combined with sleep deprivation, and the care of a colicky newborn would break anyone shackled at Guantanamo, I guarantee it. Screw waterboarding. Pansies.

I'm just a sucker for a challenge, and a pretty face...

View all of Éva's first week on her flickr slideshow.

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