Cats are So Weird, Part 2

Our cat's other hangout spot. It turned out the sink was merely a temporary place to sit while she was sick. Maybe she liked laying on the cool surface. This spot, however, is a perennial favorite of hers.

You Don't Have to Put on the Red Light (Camera)

We have an off-year election here in Texas next week, in which we have the opportunity to add to the 456 amendments to the Texas Constitution. Ho hum. But things are a little more exciting here. The city government has installed nine red light cameras around town in recent years. One citizen took it upon himself to start a petition drive to ban these cameras. He was successful in getting a measure on the ballot, so now we get to vote on it.

The city is basing their pro-camera campaign on 1) safety, and a distant 2) revenue. Opponents think the real motivation is the other way around, and are skeptical of the safety benefits of the lights. The city states that red light related crashes have gone down since the cameras were installed. This is true compared to 2006, but not compared to 2007. In reality, we're talking about a range of 0 to 13 crashes at all camera intersections combined, so I don't know if the sample size is large enough to provide statistically significant data.

I plan to vote against the cameras. That means I have to vote "yes," though, because voting for the ordinance = voting against the cameras. I'm not sure if the city had much say in crafting a confusing ballot question, but I wouldn't put it past them.

I don't like the idea of law enforcement by camera. The idea of a red light camera isn't too objectionable to me, but this puts us on the road towards speed cameras, which are starting to catch on. I do fear that the adoption of these cameras is based on monetary considerations. In addition, the placement of these cameras might be based on something other than traffic data, like, say, political considerations. For example, students use these street a lot, let's nail them while we leave this intersection in a senior citizen neighborhood alone. While I'm sympathetic to the "if you don't want a ticket, don't break the law" argument, I still think I will vote against the cameras.

P.S. I like this idea as a form of civil disobedience against these cameras.

"I Love Lucy" Clip Followup

Well, hopefully the last post explained my abysmal posting schedule these last few weeks but I have a feeling you guys want to know a bit more :-)

I'm currently in my 11th week which means the due date is late May. It also means I am sooo close to being done with my third month and hopefully all the yuckiness that comes with it.

And there is lots of yuckiness. I was expecting some fatigue, a little nausea, minor aches and pains - ha! I'm so sick. Sick as a dog, if your dog has thrown up ~1/3 of what she has eaten over the last month. You should all be very grateful that we didn't announce the pregnancy earlier because all most posts would have read "Make the vomiting stop! I hate being pregnant! The End." which is really not what I want to say because if I have learned anything this past year, it is that life is special and I am so grateful to be pregnant and if my body can only deal with the hormones it needs now by being so sick, I'll take it. I'd like to say I'll take it without complaining but Craig knows that would be a lie. But I will try to refrain from complaining on the blog as much as possible.

Poor Craig. He's been such a great husband. I could pretty much write nothing but posts about how great he has been and still not say enough. He's taken over all shopping, cooking, laundry, cleaning and cat duties - pretty much everything. At least we are both more fatigued than normal :-)

That's about the extend of the news I have right now but I'm sure more will be coming soon. I don't want to blog to became "all about the baby!" but it is about my life (well my part at least, Craig's part is about inappropriate Halloween costumes and legalizing pot) so it might be slightly baby-centric these next few months years. If it ever gets to be too much for you, feel free to skip those posts. At least I know the grandparents will read them.

But since we will be referring to our little babe so much, we think we need a better way to reference him. So we will be stealing Tina's idea of using a fetus name and have decided to go with Nigel! (For the record, we don't know if it is a boy or a girl and even if it does turn out to be a boy, we won't actual name him Nigel, we just don't want to spend the next 6.5 months talking about/to baby it or he/she).

So look for upcoming news about baby Nigel coming to a blog near you!

I Love Lucy - but you really should read this post even if you don't.

I love the "I Love Lucy" show. I have since I was young. I don't like many modern comedies, they often seem stupid. But "I Love Lucy" was sweet, clever and overall hilarious. No matter how many times I see her stuffing chocolates in her mouth, stomping grapes, or setting her nose on fire, it always makes me laugh.

But this is by far my favorite clip, at least for the time being.


Any guesses as to why?

Out-of-this-World Costume

I'm afraid I fail to see what's offensive here:

The "Illegal Alien Adult Costume," manufactured by Forum novelties, includes an orange jumpsuit, similar to prison garb, with "Illegal Alien" stamped in black across the chest; a space alien mask; and a fake Green Card. The "Illegal Alien Mask with Hat" also includes a space alien mask, this time with a dark handlebar mustache and a baseball cap.