Rate Your State

The next time you talk about being on the road with stupid
drivers, there's a good chance you're not just blowing smoke.

An insurance company commissioned a study that found one in
10 drivers on the road today would FAIL a written test
similar to those given to beginning drivers trying to get
their license. That number goes up to 20% in the East
(although that's likely because of the number of cars on the
roads on the East Coast)

Here's the story:

Rhode Island was the most clueless state with drivers scoring
a 77, The national average was an 82 - just barely a B.
Oregon is the most clueful at 89.4. Notice, even the best
state didn't get an A!

So, where does your state rate?

A Site that Gets it Right

Finally - a personality test that gets me right ;)

Your vibe is Burgundy Chic

You're one class act — the perfect balance of a cool, casual attitude and an elegant, polished style. There's a certain grace in almost everything you do. It's true, you make things look easy — even when they're not.

And while there's nothing flashy about how you present yourself, you never fail to dazzle most people you meet. You tend to take life as it comes — and it's not easy to throw you off course. A strong sense of self and a hearty dose of confidence help you handle whatever comes your way. And usually, look good doing it.

I've been a bit slammed lately, but more blogging is coming, I promise.

Reason #3,743 Life is Easier as a Man

Haircuts.

Yep - haircuts.

Three men I know decided in the last 24 hours it was time to get their hair cut. And within a day, each is sporting a freshly snipped coif that both looks good and didn't take much time out of their busy day.

Not so if you're a woman. Women spend forever looking for a stylist they trust with their tresses, then once they find that person, you make your next appointment as you're leaving that day, so to ensure you can get back in to see this person. Decide in between you want to change something about your appearance, and you're at the mercy of someone else's cancellation, or you wait a good two weeks to get squeezed in, and by that point, you're likely coming up on the date you chose anyway.

Damn, it's hard being us.

That said, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Separation of Church and State

Whatever happened to it?

East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville, NC, is making national headlines because to the pastor there, the two are inextricably intertwined. He informed church members who voted for John Kerry they were no longer welcome, and proceeded to have them thrown out of the membership.

Now, in today's sermon he says it was all a misunderstanding. Too late. The members he threw out have lawyered up, another 30-40 members (depending on your news source of choice) did not attend out of protest, and the congregation only has a couple hundred members anyway. Add in the fact that Franklin Graham, not exactly knows for being one of the more tolerant evangelists in the world despite his well-respected father's mellowed outlook of recent decades, has come forth and said, "God is not political - He loves Democrats and Republicans alike."

Luckily, with a little digging, it's easy to see not everyone from the area is so narrow minded. Check out Ashvegas for starters....

What language are you speaking?

Next time someone asks me that, I have the answer:

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

30% Dixie

15% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

It's split about the same way as my heritage. Go figure.

I'm crying "fowl" on this one

Words can not even begin to describe how WRONG this is. Or how GLAD I am I don't live in South Carolina right now.

Right now, cockfighting and domestic violence are both misdemeanors in that state, punishable by 30 days in jail. A legislative committee passed a bill that would make cockfighting a felony, but tables a bil lthat would protect victims of domestic violence. So let me get this straight...5 years for letting two chickens attack each other, but 30 days for attacking your spouse?

Then, as you read the whole story, your jaw will drop even more to see this lawmaker's take on the issue. Here's just a snippet:

Rep. Altman responds to the comparison, "People who compare the two are not very smart and if you don't understand the difference, Ms. Gormley, between trying to ban the savage practice of watching chickens trying to kill each other and protecting people rights in CDV statutes, I'll never be able to explain it to you in a 100 years ma'am."

News 10 reporter Kara Gormley asked Altman, "That's fine if you feel you will never be able to explain it to me, but my question to you is: does that show that we are valuing a gamecock's life over a woman's life?"

Altman again, "You're really not very bright and I realize you are not accustomed to this, but I'm accustomed to reporters having a better sense of depth of things and you're asking this question to me would indicate you can't understand the answer. To ask the question is to demonstrate an enormous amount of ignorance. I'm not trying to be rude or hostile, I'm telling you."

Gormley, "It's rude when you tell someone they are not very bright."

Altman, "You're not very bright and you'll just have to live with that."

The Flip Side of Friendship

I am in a very unenviable position right now. I have to give someone my honest opinion, and I have to pick my words carefully, because it's something he won't want to hear.

He came to me yesterday and said he thinks he's going to propose to his girlfriend. But he didn't say it with joy in his voice, or the excitement-tinged trepidation of "will she say yes" or any of the combinations of joy and fear and love that usually accompany that statement. He said it with resignation and a matter-of-factness.

"Really?" I asked, "Wow! I'm..." and before I could finish the statement, he started justifying his decision. He says they're good for each other, that she wants kids, that he might as well do it.

Problem - they're NOT good for each other. They tolerate each other. They don't see eye to eye on so many things it's not even funny. They are oil and vinegar - very good together when shaken up and forced to be, but otherwise very separate even when in the same cruet. I know this because HE has told me.

This leads me to wonder, though, who am I for him to ask my opinion in the first place? I'm honored he trusts my judgment, but really, how much is enough? My "enough" is obviously different from his. I want love, I want passion, I want compassion, I want to "know." He still doubts. But if we're looking for different things, then why should he measure his relationship by my standards, or ask me to?

In true friendship fashion, I will tell him my honest opinion and that in the end, the final decision is his. That I'll support whatever choice he makes and trust that he knows what he's doing. It's not like one drink too many and taking away the keys, where the opinions and actions are cut and dried. These are issues of the human heart, where emotions resonate more strongly than logic at times.

Carb Cravings

I'd be a failure at the Atkins Diet.

I say that as I sit here, munching on Wheat Thins and cheese and thinking about what I ate today. Breakfast was bread and olive oil. Lunch, a tomato sandwich. With mayo. MAYO! I haven't had mayo in at least a year...and honestly, when I had it today, it wasn't that good. Dinner was risotto and a granola bar, now Wheat Thins....At least I went for a run.

If the Europeans manage to eat like this and stay thin, I know it can be done...just gotta figure it out for myself.

Backstage Burritos

A co-worker and I decided we needed some coffee this weekend, so we walked to a coffeeshop we both love. To get there, we had to pass a Mexican restaurant that had a band playing out front, and no one listening to them.

The band was decent, even good when the singer reigned in her attempts to embellish, so we couldn't figure out why no one was listening to a decent band for free on a beautiful spring afternoon. Then we noticed the barricades up all the way around the musicians.

Events like this happen a few times a year in this shopping center, and usually there's some crime scene tape or something equally as flimsy strung up just to keep drunk folks away from the equipment. These were actual barricades - bike fences and plastic walls. But there was a gap in it all to let you get into the Mexican restaurant.

My co-worker, who will only talk about music or work, decided that your burrito was your backstage pass. I almost dropped my latte to hear him make that joke....and the rest of the night I had images of roadies running around with massive burritos hanging on lanyards around their necks. That and ducks slappin' their feathers, but that's another story for another time.

The moral of the story, boys and girls? I have weird friends, and an even weirder imagination.