Ugh... ** This morning I ate an egg-cheese-green-chile-casserole thing, canteloupe, grapes and about 57 glasses of orange juice. For a mid-morning snack, I ate 3 Tootsie Rolls. For lunch I ate a regular-sized french vanilla ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery mixed with Butterfinger and chocolate sprinkles. Now, for a snack (!) I'm eating tortilla chips with the spiciest salsa Melissa has ever made. I'm literally sweating, and I still can't eat it fast enough. If this combination doesn't make me hurl, nothing can.
Posted 2:16 PM by Kerry O.

Alive and kicking ** Glad to know I'm not dying. I had a weird lump under my arm, but the Dr. visit yesterday assured me that everything's fine. Thankfully. Of course, my weight is down another pound, which is annoying me. So, I stuffed myself (way too much) at our team breakfast this morning. Fortunately, my friend Melissa stuffed herself too, so we've decided to have a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream lunch instead of real food. Hee hee. Nobody can say I haven't been trying to gain weight. I just am not hungry in the evenings, and I think that's doing me in. I had a grilled cheese sandwich (on Rice Almond bread - not bad) and tomato soup last night, though. That was so good, I might make it a habit.
Posted 11:11 AM by Kerry O.

Wow, talk about high-strung ** I just re-read that. Boy, don't get on the wrong side of a hormonal pregnant lady. She'll talk your ear off and then beat you with it. Maybe they should send pregnant women to Iraq. I think we could bitch our way into solving all the world's problems... or at least frightening all the world's men. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Wish I had MT sometimes so I could make those psycho posts abbreviated.
Posted 3:05 PM by Kerry O.

Conscientious Objection, or at least Questioning ** So, I have to tell you something about myself. You see, I'm a cultural and economic conservative. I believe that Ayn Rand is right about some things, and the individual should not have to carry other individuals based solely on the extent of their ability or merit. I believe that a person should have the right to seek opportunities for personal and professional advancement - or not, if they so choose.

However, I am in many ways not a political conservative, in the ways our modern tongue likes to define. Technically, a political conservative is for laissez faire policies, letting people and countries control their own destinies. In modern America, a "Conservative" is usually thought of in connection to the Republican Party and its traditional ideals. One of those traditional ideals is war, or at the very least policing other countries. Sure, this is done in the same breath as arguing for those traditional conservative ideals freedom and justice. But it is also done for political gain more often than not.

I was in high school from 1989-1993. Right smack in the middle of those times was the "Gulf War." Two weeks ago, I was going through some bags of clothes I haven't touched in years. Early nesting, I guess. One of the bags was full of t-shirts, and one of the t-shirts in there used to be one of my favorites. I also enjoyed a brief stint as both a Transylvanian and Columbia from The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Mill Avenue in Tempe during those high school days. I'd found the t-shirt in one of the many alternative clothing shops I frequented back then, and had to have it. I wore it all the time. The back had "STOP" in big red letters, a black-and-white image of a graveyard in the middle, and "The Iraqi Horror Picture Show" in black, drippy RHPS letters at the bottom. I thought how ironic it was that I should find that t-shirt now. And when I put 90% of the shirts in that bag aside in the Goodwill pile, I kept that one aside. It's in my drawer now and I'm wondering if I'll get to wear it again. That worries me.

I seized the opportunity in high school to be politically active about a "war" I opposed. Some of it was simply youthful zeal finding its outlet, but most of it was political opposition to something I just couldn't find a good argument to support. I tried too, believe me. But defending our rights to cheap oil just wasn't good enough for me. In one of my classes, we had an assignment to write to a soldier stationed in the Gulf and tell them how proud we were of their work. I ended up in the Principal's office for disobeying. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Because, truth be told, the letter I wrote them wouldn't make them feel better. I wasn't upset with them, but my letter would have been apologizing for the fact that I'm not important enough to stop this stupid war before it started and let them be home with their families for Christmas instead of defending our oil. Yes, I know there are people out there who have found their own justifications for why we were there, but none of them have ever convinced me to agree. It's not the fault of the people who went, it's the fault of the people who sent them.

So here we are again, and Dubbya wants his daddy's fame. I think secretly he resents that his daddy will never go down with the same kind of reputation as Reagan. And he thinks maybe, just maybe, if he adds his own exclamation point (read:war) then they can share in some sort of lasting fame. I read an editorial piece on azcentral.com today. O. Ricardo Pimentel asks some very pointed questions about the methods and motivation behind the current Iraq-war bandwagon. I'd like answers to some of those questions. I totally agree with Colin Powell and others on one thing: We had every right to go to the U.N. and suggest that they grow some cahones to follow up on promises Iraq has broken. Of course, any other member of the U.N. has the right to demand they do the same to us, but that's another story (as Chris pointed out the other day, below). But to say we're going to do it ourselves? Tell me why, and maybe - just maybe - I'll put that shirt back in its hiding place. Until next time.
Posted 11:10 AM by Kerry O.

Wow! ** I just got back from lunch, and another girl on my team (there are 18 of us), about my same age and in my same job position, with my name (just spelled differently - Carrie) - just told me she's pregnant too! She thinks she's about a month behind me. She had some spotting, so she's not positive, but they've been sort of trying since spring. Last Friday she graduated with her Master's Degree, which was about the last thing she wanted to finish first. I'm so happy for her! If she's right on her due date, it makes her due exactly one month after me, on April 13th! My poor team has to deal with the Kerry/Carrie pregnancy hormones for the next 6-7 months. Not to mention the maternity leave overlap! How funny! I'm very excited for her!
Posted 1:26 PM by Kerry O.

What the hell? ** I didn't know that drinking too much water could kill you, but then again, I didn't know that it was recommended as a bonding therapy for parents and troubled children. How exactly that promotes bonding and teaches children to "go to their parents for relief and comfort" (beyond asking directions to the nearest toilet) is beyond me.
Posted 2:03 PM by Kerry O.

Yeah, what he said ** My brother Has an interesting perspective on the whole UN/US/Iraq thing. So eloquent, that sharer-of-gene-pool of mine. I was just frustrated by our country's insistence in solving the world's (UN's) problems, and I had ignored our own hypocrisy. Americans are good at that.
Posted 12:14 PM by Kerry O.

Babies! ** Must post gigantron (yes, that's my own made up word; deal with it) congratulations to Sarah and Dermot on the birth of their positively gorgeous baby boy. He came early, but is so beautiful, and such a healthy weight and everything. You must go see him! Boy, I have baby fever now. It's a good thing I'm pregnant, or I'd definitely be trying. Ha!
Posted 8:30 AM by Kerry O.

Making love on a changing table ** I don't know why, but "doing the deed" on a table where mothers place their babies' poopy diapers just isn't romantic to me.
Posted 3:31 PM by Kerry O.

Coke Soda Pop, Part Two ** Curious to see if the stats had changed, I revisited the testing site. No major changes, but I found this hysterical page. It's the list of answers for "Other" when people fill out the survey. The first part has some amusing ones (i.e. why would you choose "Other" and then fill in "pop?"), but the last part, the ones with one choice each, are classic. My favorite Other answer is "i like to hump alot." Well, good to know. Excuse me, waiter? Could you please bring me a refill of this empty "i like to hump alot" here? Thanks.
Posted 12:25 PM by Kerry O.

Great typos and google searches ** You know, I'm not sure what a picture of ice cream desert would look like, but it's something I'd like to see. Better yet, it's someplace I'd like to visit. Imagine... a whole desert of ice cream (preferably mint chocolate chip). Maybe there would be rainbow sprinkle cacti, and graham cracker coyotes. Mmmmm.
Posted 8:50 AM by Kerry O.