At the young age of 25, Selena Gomez had a kidney transplant due to lupus. Long time readers know MomGeeding suffered from lupus and it destroyed her kidneys. I had to take her to dialysis twice a week and the doctors even used chemotherapy to fight it. It weakened her body severely, but never her sense of determination, especially when it came to doing things without any help or assistance. Sadly, and I should use a better word, but that determination led to her downfall. She tried to make it down the stairs by herself and died from head trauma. All that to say, Selena Gomez made me think of my mom today.
I think some of you didn’t understand my Lesley Stahl comment from yesterday’s post. I’m not saying she’s the most attractive older woman, she’s the most attractive 75-year-old woman. I did a quick search for other 75-year-old women and here’s a sampling: Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Anne Rice, Carole King
The local news had a story on how new schools are built with certain safety standards not thought of before, like an active shooter. I guess this is the new normal, here are some highlights:
The touch of a button can seal off all exterior doors
The front doors of the school open into an enclosed glass room, where visitors confront a second set of locked doors. The only way to proceed is through a side door that leads directly into the main office.
“We like to provide clear sight lines – straight halls, long halls – not a lot of twisting and turning, where you can’t see. People can’t hide,” explained Todd Spore, PBK’s safety and security expert.
Surveillance cameras are also strategically placed. You’ll find more cameras overall and better quality ones, too, capable of capturing a clear picture of everyone entering and exiting. The Wylie ISD also collaborates with local first responders, who can access images from the camera right from patrol vehicles.
Speaking of the local news, CBS11 annoyed me with their live coverage of the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue. For some reason, they spent at least 20 minutes covering it live as if it was some sort of car chase. Other news stations streamed it live on their website. Personally, I felt they were enticing violence by trying to stir things up with all the live coverage and encourage people to show up. There simply wasn’t any need for it and could have done a three-minute live spot and moved on.
I’ve held my thoughts regarding the removal of statues of Confederate leaders, but now I’m going to slightly dip my toe into it and try not to stir the bee hive too much. I view Robert E. Lee as a traitor, but I give him a bit of a pass because of how instrumental he was when it came to Reconstruction. With that in mind, I can see why a statue of him can be justified. However, all the statues of him I’ve seen have him represented as a Confederate soldier, not in civilian clothes as a peacemaker or unifier. If a statue of him represents his time as a traitor and not a healer, there’s an underlying negative message someone is trying to send.
One more gripe about CBS11. When they reported the launch of a North Korean missile over Japan they used a graphic. It was a simple map of the region with a red arrow showing the path of the missile from Pyongyang going over Tokyo. But here’s the thing, the missile was nowhere near Tokyo, which is located in the middle region of Japan. The missile traveled over the far north of Japan. Sure, flying a missile over Japan is a big deal, but it’s a much bigger deal of the missile flew over of the largest populated cities in the world.
Not that I want him to do anything drastic, but Trump is being softer on North Korea than I expected, especially when he said that they were “starting to respect us” and then go off firing all these missiles over a foreign ally and threatening Guam.
Every former president is invited to the White House by the former president when his official portrait is dedicated. A lot of times these things appear to be awkward but end up being just fine, but I expect weirdness when Obama’s portrait is dedicated and Trump welcomes him.
This is how I want the series to end no matter the outcome. The camera is focused on an old man’s hand writing in a book. The camera pans away and we discover it’s an old Grand Maester Samwell Tarley who’s been writing the story we’ve been watching, but the person playing the aged Samwell would be creator and author George R.R. Martin.
I stubbed my big toe badly yesterday and it’s the most I’ve bled in a very long time. Because I could see blood or a dark spot under the toe nail and it started to swell, I was reminded of when I was a kid and how many of my friends’ fathers treated it. They would take a metal coat hanger and bend the hook to make it straight, use their cigarette lighter to heat the point until it was piping hot, and then burn a hole through the black spot of the nail. It was explained to me it was done to relieve pressure and save the nail.
Stephen Colbert was on Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night. Their shows compete in the same time slot. It felt weird watching the interview. I did get a kick when Kimmel introduced him and stated Colbert’s show airs only at noon on Wednesdays. In case you are wondering, Colbert was there to promote the Emmys which he’ll be hosting. He also made a surprise appearance on James Corden’s show.
"Even though the University of Texas fired Charlie Strong, he’ll still do the hook ’em sign with Mack Brown."
Geeding, you big dope….He coaches the USF Bulls. Want to guess what the hand signal is at USF? Yeah, might want to fix that before Barry buries you on his blog.
I totally forgot about that. I'll just keep my post as is and will humble accept the big dope of the week award. I think it's similar to The TICKET's e-brake of the week.
I had no clue another school used the exact same hand sign. I remember UT going after Gene Simmons when he tried to copyright it, so I figured they were the only ones using it. Seems cheap to copy another, much more famous, team's sign, even if your mascot is a similar animal.
To heck with saving your toe nail. I wouldn't want to pierce my nail with that procedure at all! My husband recently wore shoes that were too tight and by the end of the day, both his big toes hurt severely. The nails have started to turn black, but new pink ones are growing in. So despite it looking funny, it's not a problem for him now.
It's not so bad. Although usually we heated up a large sewing needle to do the work vs. a clothes hanger. We would ice the nail, then heat the needle up real hot. And saving the nail was a side benefit usually; the pain from the pressure underneath the nail was so bad that relieving the pressure gave instant relief.
"Even though the University of Texas fired Charlie Strong, he’ll still do the hook ’em sign with Mack Brown."
Geeding, you big dope….He coaches the USF Bulls. Want to guess what the hand signal is at USF? Yeah, might want to fix that before Barry buries you on his blog.
I totally forgot about that. I'll just keep my post as is and will humble accept the big dope of the week award. I think it's similar to The TICKET's e-brake of the week.
I had no clue another school used the exact same hand sign. I remember UT going after Gene Simmons when he tried to copyright it, so I figured they were the only ones using it. Seems cheap to copy another, much more famous, team's sign, even if your mascot is a similar animal.
To heck with saving your toe nail. I wouldn't want to pierce my nail with that procedure at all! My husband recently wore shoes that were too tight and by the end of the day, both his big toes hurt severely. The nails have started to turn black, but new pink ones are growing in. So despite it looking funny, it's not a problem for him now.
It's not so bad. Although usually we heated up a large sewing needle to do the work vs. a clothes hanger. We would ice the nail, then heat the needle up real hot. And saving the nail was a side benefit usually; the pain from the pressure underneath the nail was so bad that relieving the pressure gave instant relief.