Home truths

If there’s one belief that drives social conservatism with regard to female sexuality, it’s that women can’t make good choices, and so their choices have to be made for them. That’s the argument underlying the panic over the hook-up culture (read: girls are too dumb to say no when they want to, so we have to say it for them), the hostility toward comprehensive sex education (if girls know their options, they may make choices we disapprove of), the move toward restricting abortion and contraception, the hostility toward single mothers, and all the knee-jerk anger—like Bill O’Reilly’s—over any hint that women might have choices.

Courtesy of STFUConservatives.

Definitely food for thought!

Sam & Andy's is not worth it

Ok, so I had a lousy meal there recently.

I was surprised. I don't eat there a lot, but have enjoyed meals there in the past. This meal just...sucked. Sucked so hard, it tasted like I was eating nothing (but lots of calories, of course).

I had a Chillotta, and it was the most miserable, flavourless piece of shit I have ever eaten. It was a steak and veggie wrap in a tortilla with jalapeno cheese. Honestly, I asked the waitress about it, because it was supposed to be Jalapeno-flavoured and everything, and even the cheese tasted like styrofoam.

???

She was surprised, and mentioned it was normally a popular menu item. I don't doubt it, really... But it was horrible. Flavourless, all it had going for it was some sort of texture with zero spice and zero anything. I was very disappointed. I will not be going back. I had to drown that awful meal in Tabasco to choke it down. Ugh.

Sorry Sam & Andy's, you had your chance. You can now join the Copper Ridge Pub, Tokyo Sushi, the lousy Indian place, and the Edgewater in 'places I will never pay to eat at again'.

Hope you're happy! * man that list is starting to grow... to be fair, I'm not a picky eater. I just have issues with cost, terrible service, terrible food, hair in my food. (all of which have happened at least once with the places above)

What happened to August?

Interesting, what did happen to August?

So far this past few months;

• Bought a horse
• Working on research proposal for Masters (argh)
• Work (argh)
• Parents visited
• Husband visited
• Took time off work
• Writing a ton (like it, but man...lots of work!)
• Ate out a lot (more on that later. Have one restaurant rant)
• School trip to India in October
• Trip to Ottawa this month

Yep things have been busy! I am going to try to hop back on the bandwagon.

Wow, it has been awhile

Let's see, what's been going on recently...

My computer died, in the middle of writing an essay. I had to buy a new computer, which sucked ass (note to everyone: do not buy HP computers), the speakers didn't work, so my Skype group meetings for school didn't happen, I kept going back to Staples (note to everyone: do not buy computers from Staples) and they kept saying there was something wrong with Skype, rather than my computer...

WRONG!

Man, they were wrong. So wrong.

So I marched that computer back to their store and returned it on their asses. Yeah, take that!

Also this update is turning into a 'lousy Whitehorse businesses rant' which is ok...

I marched right over to The Source by Circuit City (Radioshack) and asked about a few computers, yep no problem I have them right here...and the dude comes back with no computer. ''Oh sorry we don't have any in stock." Okkkayyy...What about these computers? "Yep definitely one minute." Comes back, "oh, we don't have any of those either..." WTF?

So I end up with a floor model (yeah I know) and ask what kind of deal I could get on it. "We don't do that." >!!!

Ok, well I'm walking. Sorry, you could have made at least $500 on this sale, but now your sale is walking out the door and to Wal-Mart (yeah I was that desperate) and buying a computer from them. Suck it, Radioshack!

And I did just that. Walked right over to Wal-Mart and couldn't find their laptops. Turns out some wit had covered them up completely (display and all) with copies of shitty Microsoft 2010. The fabulously-mulleted store clerk was having a total meltdown when he saw it, cue "frigging..grumble...assholes..one day I'm going to...grrrrr...arghhhh..."

He pulled a Toshiba out of the boxes and voila! My new computer! Also it was $100 cheaper than freaking Staples, and I even saw the same shit-HP computer that I had previously bought that was also $100 cheaper than Staples. Man....

(Not that I remotely condone buying anything at Wal-Mart, but desperate times call for desperate measures...)

And it works perfectly, Skype and all!

Taking the plunge

So, earlier this spring I mentioned that I was dithering back and forth about this horse I was going to buy. Well, after backing out at the last second I pretty much consigned myself to remaining horse-less in the Yukon.

Let's face it: the horse situation up here just isn't what I want. People like it and they love saddling up and trail riding to their heart's content, but that just isn't me. I enjoy a good trail ride once a week or so, but when your horse is going lame becuase she needs shoes to deal with the rock-hard ground, sour as fuck about cantering because of the endless kiddie rides, and you never have anyone to ride with (adult) in a slippery, rock hard outdoor ring? Yeah, I am taking a sabbatical from *that* situation.

It's just no fun. I am too competitive to endlessly wander down life-threating trails, to be frightened by the crazy crap that pops up here. I want to jump, lesson with a GOOD trainer, have a decent ring to jump in, ride with adults who are nice, ride my own horse and go to horse shows in the summer. Apparently here that is just too much to ask.

So, I backed out of my previous potential horse. And promptly found a new one.

He's not perfect. He's actually a total jerk, can be difficult to handle and likes to try a few tricks to get you off when you're riding and scared.

He has a big buck/crow hop thing that he pulled with me, while I was riding without stirrups! I stayed on. He is also a pony...Not that scary, haha.

His owner says he needs someone to 'kick his butt in gear' and you know? I'm that someone.

I can handle attitude on a pony. I can't handle nasty on a bigger horse. He doesn't bite, but does pitch hissy fits--hence the handling with a chain. He's also very talented, and an incredible jumper. I did a cross rail and he popped me out of the saddle, a remarkable bascule. He also has a slow and easy to sit canter, it is just gorgeous. His trot is lousy, but ahh you can't win 'em all.

He's cute, a bit evil but I think we will make a good partnership. I am signing papers this week--a pony for my birthday! Who would have thought of it!!

(I also wish I had photos, but for some reason, my darling husband took closeups of my butt and thighs instead of the horse. GRrrrrr)

Birthdays!!

Yup it's that time of year...my birthday!

I helped celebrate a friend's birthday this past weekend (July is a gooood month!) and I baked and iced a cake. With my mom's extra-special marshmallow icing. Yum.

Turns out cake mixes from a box aren't as easy as they make out to be... The vanilla layer behaved fine but was so flat. Crepes or pancake flat. Ugh.

The chocolate layer was as flat, but that's where the similarities ended. I had to scrape it out of the freaking pan, and then flop the mostly crumb-cake onto a cooling rack. I then came home a few hours later and prepared to ice them with the fabulous icing. The chocolate cake was stuck to the cooling rack! It dissolved into a pile of crumbs, so the cake ended up being vanilla-icing-chocolate-crumb-icing cake. Ugh

It looked pretty sad and silly, but oh well. I got my tube of purple icing for the '28' as he was turning 28, and guess what? The icicng splatted all over the cake, so it was more like *2*8 and everyone thought there was just an '8' on it's side, like a mobius or something. ARGH

I thought, well this is great. The only best thing that could happen is my hand going through the cake, or me dropping it on the gravel outside.

The sadly misshapen cake made it to the party unscathed, where it was enjoyed by everyone.

Phew.

Gosh, it's been awhile

I found this quote I thought was awesome: "Yet more proof that octopi will soon rule the world. Do not fight it, my friends. Embrace your cephalopod overlords warmly."

Also, on the 'railroad' talkers vein of conversation:

"If you are talking to people, and they know you have a kid, and they ask (out of politeness) "how is johnny doing?" and you say "oh good. he's in 3rd grade and enjoying playing chess now.. How was you trip to panama?" it's cool.

If your response is "oh he's great. He is playing chess now. I think he's got the talent to go professional. But he's also so athletic, he'll have his choice of being in the NFL, MBA or NBA in a few years. And he's so smart. I know he'll be doogie howser and have Harvard, yale and duke courting him for college before he's done with 5th grade. He'll probably get a dual degree.. I'm thinking Lawyer and doctor.. he's just so smart. And kind. Just last week he raised .33 for the oil spill. Such a kind heart. Yup Yup. he's going to be the president someday, I just know it. And so artistic. I mean, Picasso couldn't paint like he does. Just yesterday, he took his crayons, and made a masterpiece on the walls. When we sell the house, that is going to raise our resale value so much. And he'll have his black belt in Karate soon. He's got his white belt now, but i know he has so much natural talent.. it's just incredible"... yeah, by then people are bored, eyes glazed over, and you're pretty much a raving lunatic."

Yeah. I only WISH I never met these people.

Although, I would like to meet Paul the Octopus. Yummm