Monthly Archives: November 2010

Almost every day people ask me if I can help them reach “The Moms”.

Well, surely I can, but I can also help you reach “The People”, because even though I’m a Mom Blogger I don’t really think all that many mom bloggers actually read my site. Make no mistake, I have great connections with Moms and bloggers on Twitter, and I can tell from my feedburner subscriptions that a whole lot of Mom Bloggers get this site in their email, but the users who log on and read my site, here on the web aren’t all moms. You’re much more diverse than that.

I show people this interesting metric from Quantcast

And then they ask why men are reading this site? And in my head I’m thinking, “becuase I’m smart and I cook and I’m funny and I say revolutionary things like women should fuck their husbands“. But my mouth says, “I’m not really sure.” And I say this because I worry that I’ll drip with disdain, I mean why does anyone read a blog?

I’m guessing you’re here because you love cars, or technology or your family. Maybe you’re here because I’ve commented on your blog, or maybe you were part of my most incredible community that lifted me up when Steven died.

I don’t know why you’re here. I’m just glad we found each other, and I’m delighted that you’re all so interested in education.

I’m beat. I’m somewhere past exhausted.

Mr. G is still away, and I’m pretty good Mom, but I’m a miserable Father. Alexander is starting to show his need for his Dad.

Also, note to Mr. G, he has a black eye. It is not my fault. It was a school desk injury. Apparently he was looking into a desk when a girl next to him flipped the top up. Again, not my fault. (This time)

I spent the day at the LA Auto show. The folks at Audi treated me to a drive in their A3 TDI, it’s a fast and fun smaller midsize wagon that runs on diesel. It gets up to 40 MPG. It drives nicely, it’s a high torque vehicle, which (for people like you and I) means that if you’re already cruising along at 20mph and you floor it you can accelerate to 60 pretty quickly. It was a quick drive, and it’s a fun little car with some nice details.

Most importantly I got to see the A8L. There are two things you should know about the A8L Google Maps and WIFI. Oh, there’s also a car that comes along with it. Basically the A8L is a big luxury rolling hotspot. I’ve been promised a test drive in it and I cannot wait. I’m going to drive all over town, park the car and whip out my laptop just because I can. I’m going to make Mr G drive me places while I tweet, blog and facebook from the passenger seat with my laptop for one reason: just because I can. I love that they used Google Maps too. My car has Sirius and I can subscribe to traffic, but I’ve never been willing to pay for something that every cell phone has free.

I’m really excited about a few of the cars I saw there, hopefully I’ll have some Acura reviews coming up (I love the look of their crossover), as well as Audi.

A bunch of car pictures

I’ve been excited about Wolfram Alpha since I first laid eyes on it (according to Andy Beal I’m the only one). I love math, and I don’t believe for a moment that it’s something that exists only in school.

I look at the world as a series of numbers. Puzzles are solved with tangents, factors and functions. The games we play use geometry, algebra and calculus, we just don’t have names for them. We live and breathe math, we just call it other things.

Please get cozy, and watch Conrad Wolfram at Ted Global. He talks about math, and how we could be teaching it. It’s exciting, and everyone is an educator even if that’s not what we call you.

When you’re done watching this go ahead and stick your kids in front of Wolfram Alpha and just watch what they do. It’s so exciting.

It’s Wednesday, trash day. This means that there are three empty trash bins on the street in front of my house.

When I finished at the gym this morning I drove right past the bins, parked in the driveway and came into the house to start my day.

Yes, I am aware that I’m a fully functioning adult woman who should be able to take her own trash cans from the street to the side yard. Yes, I recognize that it’s tacky as hell to leave the bins on the street. No, I don’t want to be like my neighbors.

The problem is that trash can hauling is not my job, and I’ve been married too long to start learning his jobs. Mr. G won’t be cooking us dinner any time soon, and I don’t close the gate, shower the kids, bring in the trash, or the “bacon”.

The bigger problem is that Mr. G is out of town until Friday.

I’ve got a choice. I can leave the trash cans out on the street like the white trashiest family in town, or I can suck it up and just be Mr. G until Friday.

I’m embarrassed to tell you which choice I know I’ll make.

I don’t really have and hard and fast rules. I find that this mom blog is ever changing and evolving, and I only like to know the rules so I know when I’m breaking them.

I approve almost every comment that isn’t automated. I approve comments that call me names. I do not approve comments that name call my readers, my skin is thick, I don’t presume to know how anyone else feels.

If you’re my friend and you make a typo I will probably correct it for you. I want you to look smart, we’re friends, right?

If you’re name calling and you make a typo I’ll leave it in. You should proofread when you troll the internet.

I might publish your IP address. I might not. It all depends on my mood. Just ask the guys from Federated Media.

You can be anonymous or you can be cruel. You’ll have to pick one or the other, you don’t get to be both things here.

URL shorteners like tinyurl and bit.ly will trigger the spam bot. Your message will be lost in the spam box forever. That’s just the way that plugin works.

What are your rules?

The big news is that a John Tyner who goes by the blog name of “Johnny Edge” was ejected from a San Diego area airport for refusing a pat down by TSA Agents.

Good.

In the first of three videos (there’s no real image, you just want them for the sound) Johnny goes through the security line and starts asking if he still has to take his shoes off. Uh, yeah Johnny, there are probably signs everywhere saying you have to remove your shoes, there’s probably someone in front of you removing their shoes. Take your shoes off Johnny.

Johnny is then told he is going to have a pat down, and is “obnoxious”. The TSA agent explains the procedure of a pat down, and then John Tyner says, “If you touch my junk I’m going to have you arrested.” On what planet do you threaten to have someone arrested who is being perfectly professional, and then expect them to change all the rules for you? How self centered and delusional can one man be?

The video goes on for 12 long minutes, there’s a second video where John’s father in law steps in and tries to get the TSA to change their procedures as well.

Let me just say one thing, John Tyner is a belligerent asshole. No one cares to “touch your junk” John. It’s clear to me that you were begging for an incident like this by both your manner and the fact that you ran a video camera the entire time.

Someone please explain to me how a public pat down with the back of the hands is a sexual assault (John Tyner’s words not mine). I’m sure real victims of sexual assault would beg to differ.

Of course we all recognize that the TSA has some silly procedures. I’m not saying the the TSA is some sort of folk hero, but try for a moment to imagine a day full of John Tyners. Imagine long lines of entitled conspiracy theorists who threaten legal action if you “touch my junk”.

Who does that?

Imagine John Tyner on your flight with a drink in him plus some altitude. I know, it would be awful.

Here are the videos. The Assholery starts in the first minute on video one.

I really can’t wait to read what Blogger Bob comes up with for this one.