Monthly Archives: May 2009

Catch the beaver fever

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Lately, I have had the oddest thing happen; I’ve seen three beavers – real, actual, live beavers – hanging out by the side of three different roads around town in recent weeks. Bizarre. I don’t think I’d ever seen a real beaver before, outside of the zoo.

beaver1

Everyone keeps asking me if maybe they were actually groundhogs, but no, I saw their tails. And one of them was about the size of a Springer Spaniel. That thing was HUGE.

I wonder if the exceptionally rainy spring we have had has them wandering about more freely?

(And as for the “Catch the Beaver Fever” headline on this post, it refers to an actual campaign slogan for a Knoxville Zoo beaver exhibit a few years ago. You would be driving around town, and look up and see a giant billboard reading, “CATCH THE BEAVER FEVER,” at which point you would nearly drive off the road laughing. That was a gem of an advertising campaign, for sure.)

You know you lead a wildly exciting life when…

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…you are spending your Friday night sitting at home, finishing up a powerpoint presentation on Web 2.0 political campaign fundamentals. The saddest part is that I am loving it. Yes, I am a political junkie, as well as a big geek. And I am speaking at this neat-o event at UT’s Baker Center in the morning. After that, I plan to do nothing remotely productive for the rest of the weekend. (However, I will have a fun story to tell at the end of the weekend. That’s all I can say for now. But stay tuned.)

My demi-toddler

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I blogged over at Babble last night about my reticence to let go of the idea of C as a “baby,” and accept that she’s really sort of a toddler now.

And here is some bonus cuteness for your viewing enjoyment. These were all taken within the last 12 weeks. Look how her curls have grown!

The photo of C and NC playing piano together is my favorite. They are so unbelievably funny and adorable together – like little monkey twins. They absolutely worship each other, and get so excited when they see one another, even if it’s after an absence of only a few hours.

I also get a kick out of the fact that in every photo of her sleeping, she’s dribbling milk out the corner of her mouth ;-)

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Mel Gibson sets the standard for a certain kind of hypocrite

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I’ve heard the saying that everyone is against abortion or trial lawyers…until someone they love really needs one.

And that’s been my experience; lots of people are “against” gay folks…until someone in their family turns out to be gay, at which point a certain, very specific tolerance blossoms. Or they are opposed to single motherhood…until their own 18 year old daughter turns up pregnant, at which point that daughter is described as “a wonderful mother” (singularly different, I guess, from all the other single mothers in America, who have long been the subject of this grandparent’s scorn and derision).

And now we have Mel Gibson, poster child for this selective intolerance. Gibson famously adheres to the “traditional Catholic” movement, which preaches abstinence outside of marriage, the sin of divorce, etc, etc, etc. Gibson has donated tens of millions of dollars to ultra-conservative Catholic causes and activities, yet he now announces that he’s divorcing his wife of 28 years, even as his girlfriend is already in the second trimester with what will be his 8th child.

As a commenter on my Facebook page noted, at least he didn’t use that evil, evil birth control!