Hallelujah ** Praise be to Prudential. Today is my Friday. Goodbye work week, hello 4-day weekend!!! As it should be, I'll probably not be around and blogging much this weekend. My plans involve swimming, playing with friends, going to Mexico for a day trip, shopping, getting my Mazda back, fireworks, and general merriment. So if I don't talk to you again before Monday, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I hope your bosses were nice enough to give you Friday off, too! :-) Happy Fourth!
Posted 3:59 PM by Kerry O.

Miracle of Miracles! ** Lookie! Rain! Oh, by the way. I cleaned up my left bar a little, including a new issues link. In case you're ever interested in my increasing activism, you can peek in there. And I cleaned up my friends' links since they all had their babies now and stopped blogging about pregnancy. Linky linky all you want on this beautiful, sprinkly Phoenix morning.
Posted 11:20 AM by Kerry O.

Missing the boat ** Okay, I'm tired of hearing this. It's as though our media is trying to start a race war of some sort. Ever since the man who started our state's worst-ever fire was arrested, the media has been reporting "tensions" between "white Arizonans" and White Mountain Apaches. That is, frankly, bullshit. This particular individual had some problems, and quite clearly had some issues establishing right from wrong. He did happen to be Apache. Anybody with half a brain knows that is separate from his actions. There is a white woman from Phoenix who started the second half of the blaze, and many are afraid she'll never be brought to justice because she is just that - a white woman from Phoenix.

Um, yeah. This woman started the fire to alert a helicopter that she was lost. A news helicopter, covering the main fire. They caught her waving them down next to the fire on videotape and broadcast it throughout the state. I think we can all bet our little bippies that she'll find herself in front of a scowling man in a robe, and soon.

"A lot of people are afraid to go up there because they're mad at us just because of this one idiot," said Travis Duryea, a neighbor of Gregg. "We're not all bad."

No, you're not, and they're not. And as we enter this July 4th weekend and you think people are afraid to go "up there" because they're mad at you...? Let me clarify some things for you. First, this fire is not completely contained, though it's getting closer. Maybe, just maybe, people's ideas of fabulous Fourths don't involve still-smoldering pine tree ashes. Just a hypothetical. Then, let's remember that we can't go "up there" if we want to. Most of the state is in lock-down. People aren't allowed to even enter a forest in the whole state for fear someone might look at it wrong and it'll burn down. And they aren't legally allowed to pitch a tent on Indian land, so where precisely are they going to pitch one? Kinda limits one's options, "white Arizonan" or not.

And finally, I'd like to see the news media find one, just one person saying something along the lines of: "Those damn Apaches. They just want to burn the forests down." And until they do, I want this us vs. them media crap to stop. First it was those evil left-wing environmentalist hippie freaks who burned down our state. Now it's the Apaches. And the regular Joe never believed either story.
Posted 9:13 AM by Kerry O.

Been caught stealin' ** I generally don't try to use others' ideas in my blog, preferring my own (oftentimes admittedly dull) chattering. But Sara borrowed the idea herself of doing a google name search, and when I did it I thought the results were interesting. The search info for "Kerry is" -

Kerry is... renowned the world over for its beautiful scenery.
Kerry is... an all-round working and utility terrier.
Kerry is... Ireland's most popular tourist destination.
Kerry is... also the home to Fungi the Dolphin. [ed:Why would you name a dolphin Fungi?!?!]
Kerry is... a USDF "L" judge in dressage and has also competed through FEI levels in dressage.
Kerry is... also often spelled Quierry, Keri, Cary, Carriere, Thierry, or Quierri and MANY other ways.
Kerry is... the Rigmaster.
Kerry is... aggressively preparing for a possible run for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
Kerry is... tough on anti-Semitism.
Kerry is... passionate about workers’ rights because she is a direct beneficiary of the decent wages, security and upward mobility provided by a good job.
Kerry is... a young environmental and social justice activist.
Posted 8:37 AM by Kerry O.

Oh, by the way ** That picture above is just a negative of fireworks over Phoenix. I thought it looked spiffy. You probably don't, but it'll be gone in a week anyway. Thanks for tuning in. ;-)
Posted 8:44 AM by Kerry O.

Searchin' ** Search referrers over the weekend:

pictures of cooking disaster... Well, I never took pictures of Joe's blueberry torte (actually made with bananas and red wine), but they would have been highly amusing.
paradise valley photo radar ticket... Yes, I did get one, and I had to go to traffic school. Bastards! By the way, where'd you get yours? I haven't seen the photo radar van in months and I wondered where he was hiding.
gay pictures not sensored... If only I knew how I came up on that. Of course, my idiotic misspelling probably helped. Now if another horny gay man who doesn't know how to spell types that in a search engine, I should keep my reign at the top of the list. What a goal... gay pictures not sensored, gay pictures not sensored! Heh heh.
special effects hair dye ingredients... Um, okay.
tobey mcguire gay... I still don't know, but this is up there with michelin man for one of my top all-time search entries. Odd.
Posted 8:43 AM by Kerry O.