Cause Celeb

My TV has recently become an annoyance to me.

Okay, I take that back. WHAT I HAVE BEEN SEEING ON MY TV has recently become an annoyance to me.

Let's see: I have seen a bald Britney Spears at least 5 times; I have seen at least 75 images of Anna Nicole Smith in the last few days; I have seen that awful Paris Hilton at least 9 times in the last week and a half; I've fallen witness to a few of Lindsay Lohan's adventures over the last few weeks; I think Tim Hardaway has flashed up on my screen a half dozen times and... let me just stop there for a second.

I am growing ever so tired of people being celebrated for nothing. For NOTHING in the grand scheme of things. Someone can sing a little, someone can act a little, someone can dribble a ball, someone can throw a touchdown... okay, granted not everyone can do these things, but have we grown insane in our adoration of these fellow mortals? Our society has twisted itself around these people and we have placed them on a grand alter. We chase these people through the most mudane of lifes duties - grocery shopping, working out, throwing out their trash. Photographers stalk their every move with hopes of hawking their images to the highest and most perverse bidder. We hold these people under bright lights so we can witness their lowest and most human moments and glipse at their tragedies while we wait in line to buy our milk, eggs and granny-smith apples.

I've had enough.

Britney: A sad sight indeed. Confused and obviously headed towards a tragic end - on camera. Why do I know? Because she can sing okay - so society has shoved her her life all over CNN.

Anna Nicole: Her claim to fame? Uh, Playboy playmate, her big boobs, her countless boyfriends, her bleach blonde do, and her dead billionaire husband. So, why in God's name is she taking up court TV time? Why is MSNBC spending hours and hours of valuable air time detailing her life which actually didn't do a thing to make the world a better [or worse] place.

Paris: Her claim to fame is the fact that she has a great last name and she knows how to create her own hype. Hype which millions of 20 something nobody's live and die for. Honestly, the only thing that makes Paris photoworthy is her uncanny resemblance to a six foot, blonde praying mantis.

Lindsay Lohan: Honestly I don't know if she's a singer or an actress. I think she's an actress, but all I know for sure is that FOX news and CNN tend to show her always entering or leaving REHAB somewhere. I hope she gets herself together - she looks like a kid to me... a tired, burnt-out, hard livin', kid.

Tim Hardaway: He doesn't like gay people. And HE is WHO again? A burnt out ex-baller? Okay, alright, okay... so why do I care WHAT he likes? Beats me - but EPSN and CNN seem to think I should know and care.

So, this is what I have decided to do.

I have decided to create my own list of people that DESERVE some CELEBRITY status in the world! I have found some men and women that WE SHOULD KNOW and care about - here goes:

SGT. KUNIHIKO MIYAMOTO - a 53 year old police officer who was severely injured recently while saving the life of a woman who wanted to commit suicide at the Tokiwadai train station, on the Tobu Tojo line in Tokyo, Japan. SGT. MIYAMOTO recently died of his injuries.

THE THREE BOSTON FIRE FIGHTERS - that recently went into a burning apartment building on Cheney Street and saved three children [all under the age of six] who where home alone when the blaze broke out.

ILHAN KARADENIZ - the owner of a coffee shop in the Istanbul neighborhood of Zeytinburnu who noticed cracks in the walls and a slight rumbling in the five story building where his shop is. Mr. Karadeniz and several others ran through the building banging on doors and waking up people saving an unknown number of lives just before the building collapsed.

RANDY WEATBROOK - who, after having a near fatal heart attack in Mesquite, NV was saved by an Air Force Captain using a defibrilator. Mr. Weatbrook soon thereafter wrote a check for nearly $7000 to pay for a defibrillator in each of the public schools in the town where he had his heart attack.

LEE BRICE - recently donated a kidney to a complete stranger in Kingston, WIsconsin. She gave her kidney for no other reason than to help save the life of a fellow human being.

TATE ELSE - a special ed teacher at Cottonwood Elementary school in Nevada saved the life of a third grader who began choking on a piece of food during breakfast at the school.

NOW THESE PEOPLE need to be uplifted. THESE PEOPLE need to be plastered on CNN, MSNBC, FOX news, ABC, NBC, and CBS! THESE PEOPLE saved lives. THESE PEOPLE have made the world a better place and we should care about THEM and what makes them tick. I think we all can learn from their bravery and their willingness to sacrifice.

THEY ARE THE TRUE CELEBRITIES.

TTBM

Married to THE BOSS...

When I was single. I looked at marriage as something that either WOULD or WOULDN'T happen. That's about it. I didn't expect to die if it did happen and I didn't expect to die if didn't. I just figured that things would happen as they were supposed to.

Okay, so now I'm married. I'm happy. I'm very happy. I love my wife, my kids and my life.

But that's me.

On the other hand, most of my close buddies are married - in fact, most of the guys I associate with are married, but SOME of their circumstances leave me scratching my head.

To me, in my humble little opinion, a man and a woman should get married when they TRULY love and respect each other. They are ready to make an honest commitment of fidelity to each other, they are willing to share their lives with each other and they are generally ready to try and make each other happy for [hopefully] many many years to come. That's it - nothing fancy, nothing earth shattering.

However, some of the marriages I have seen, with emphasis on SOME, leave me scratching my head.

Now, I'm talking mainly about the guys here. I'm not a woman, so I'm not going to pretend to claim that I fully understand a woman's perspective on marriage, but with some of the guys I know, I just don't understand things.

ONE GUY - is scared of his wife. Scared like a little boy is towards his mama. He has to get advanced permission (PERMISSION) from his wife before he does anything short of going to work. He doesn't "check" with her to make sure his plans don't conflict with hers or with the family as a whole. He has to go ask, "Honey, I want to go shoot pool with the guys on Saturday. Can I go?" And his wife - knowing she has the power - she tells him, "Maybe. I'll see how you act during the week." And, I'm NOT JOKING. HE comes back to us with this lil'sad puppy look and basically puts our plans on hold pending approval from MAMA. There is no way a grown man should need to be married to a MAMA. This drives me absolutely insane!

ANOTHER BUDDY - of mine, is so afraid that his wife will ask him for some time to herself if she allows him to go out with us - that he just doesn't even hang out with us anymore. I'm not sure, but I think he's so insecure that he is afraid that if he goes to a game with us and gets four hours of "time with the guys" that his wife will DEMAND four hours "with the girls" and during these four hours - she MAY NOT be with the girls... she could be CHEATING on him! To him, I just want to ask - "If you are so worried about your wife's fidelity, why even be married? And besides - if she's going to cheat on you, she's NOT going to wait until "Girls Night Out" - she's going to do what she wants WHENEVER she wants. Adultery knows no working hours - it's an around-the-clock industry!

THEN - I have the one buddy who just gets scared when he hangs out with us. We're not doing ANYTHING to be worried about or concerned over. We're either at the movies, or playing poker, or shooting pool, or checking out a game or just hanging out shootin' the breeze. We DON'T do it all the time - once or twice a month at the maximum. We make sure we spend ample time with our wives and our kids and we give our wives time to themselves too - very NORMAL stuff I think - but this one guy just gets so scared when we hang out sometimes. It's as if he thinks his wife WANTS him sitting up under her ALL night. We think she enjoys the time to herself more than him, but he feels like he is doing something wrong by leaving home for a few hours. Why bother?

I could really go on and on about some of the uh, interesting [insane] things I have seen my buddies put up with; subject themselves to; punish themselves for; and ask for more of... but it just drives me crazy!

Marriage shouldn't be painful. It shouldn't be a furtherance of childhood control by a parent figure. It shouldn't be a surrendering of your freedom to another. It shouldn't be something that makes you less than you are and it shouldn't be something that takes the joy from your spirit.

TTBM

Alberta Clipper- GOOD, Nor'Easter - BAD

This morning I woke up to a perfect winter day. Everything was coated in two inches of light fluffy snow! Only heaven could have looked better.

An Alberta Clipper blew through Maryland, Virginia and DC last night between 10PM and 5AM. Let me see if I can explain the science behind that: An Alberta Clipper is a fast moving blast of cold Canadian air sweeping north-west to south east from central Canada over the Mid-Atlantic states. Their speed and low temps usually bring several inches of powdery fluffy snow.

The dreaded Nor-Easter comes up from the south, bringing lots of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and blankets the entire eastern seaboard in deep heavy snow and ice.

This morning, I didn't even bother with the shovel. I took a broom and went crazy up and down my street sweeping everyone's sidewalks clear. I figured - a little cardio before work was a good thing! And best of all, the main streets were clear and there was no ice to be found - just white fluffy snow all over the grass and driveways - it was beautiful! That's what I like, snow - without the danger and peril of ice!

Ice, in and of itself isn't really dangerous, but 95% of the drivers in DC simply can't drive when it gets wet or slippery. If there is even a hint of icy conditions you are guaranteed to have cars flipped over on route 66, multi-car pile-ups on I-95, cars spun off the road on the 495 beltway and dozens of street closing fender benders throughout DC proper. So when I found a light dusting of snow this morning, I was happy!

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

(and thaw and melt and dry up...)

TTBM