As the saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child". If Clinton and the African proverb are correct, then we need to find our village, because we find ourselves raising our child in increasing isolation. You'd think we had some kind of contagious disease (stay away, they have baby!!!) considering how hard it is to just get people to commit to a short social visit or dinner.
Leslie is especially starved of adult interaction. Two of her best friends have been either traveling or too preoccupied with their own families lately to devote any time to her. Neither of us has any relatives close by. Leslie's family all live out of state, and my nearest relative is my 20-something cousin who is always busy with the things 20-somethings do. So we don’t really have anyone we can call on to baby-sit when we want to go to a movie or just get a break for the two of us.
Leslie had hoped that people in her Buddhist community would be more supportive as well. But it seems that most of them are too busy to even pick up a phone. There are even a few that she thought she was close to who have yet to even see our baby. If Leslie calls them, they're always too busy, or have plans already or say they'll call back and never do. It's very disappointing.
I find it hard to accept some the concepts of Buddhism when I see that the people in her "community" don't really go out of their way to support one another. Most will bend over backwards to assist a Lama and his or her family members, but everyone else it seems is on their own.
Instead of a community, I see a bunch of cliques. There's the Tibetan/Nepalese/Bhutanese immigrant clique. Then there's the lesbian clique, the gay clique, the hippie clique and the punk clique. There's even a groupie clique, or folks who hang on every word of the lama and fall over themselves trying to make sure that the lama's every need is met. Another group is not really a clique since they don't really hang out together. They're people who are so absorbed in their practice, that they eschew any social interactivity lest is impede their progress toward enlightenment. Unfortunately for Leslie, there doesn’t seem to be a new mother clique.
So that leaves us with trying to connect with other new parents without much success. It seems that many new parents are too busy as well. So we're still short of a village. Anyone have any ideas where we can find one?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Stupor Bowl II
I do like being right. On the other hand I didn't really make a pick, but I was happy to see the Colts top the Bears. Grossman had the worst day with the fumble and interceptions, while Manning did pretty good once he got over the interception.
Despite the sloppiness, the game was OK. It stayed close until the fourth quarter. And the weather induced turnovers certainly made each possession interesting, but it won't rank among the best. One redeeming quality this Super Bowl did have was that the game was more entertaining than the commercials.
During many of the blowouts in the past, the ads tended to be the most entertaining aspect of the broadcast. Not so this year. None of the ads struck me as particularly clever, funny or entertaining. Some were just plain stupid and a waste of money.
The biggest loser had to be Coca Cola. Not one of their ads had any spark. Budweiser usually has pretty good ads as well, but only one got a good laugh, the others were just eh. The salesgenie.com ad was the worst. If you own stock in that company, sell now before you take a bath. They just spent $2.6 million to air a late-night TV ad during the Super Bowl. Do you really think they have a chance with that kind of marketing behind them?
Despite the sloppiness, the game was OK. It stayed close until the fourth quarter. And the weather induced turnovers certainly made each possession interesting, but it won't rank among the best. One redeeming quality this Super Bowl did have was that the game was more entertaining than the commercials.
During many of the blowouts in the past, the ads tended to be the most entertaining aspect of the broadcast. Not so this year. None of the ads struck me as particularly clever, funny or entertaining. Some were just plain stupid and a waste of money.
The biggest loser had to be Coca Cola. Not one of their ads had any spark. Budweiser usually has pretty good ads as well, but only one got a good laugh, the others were just eh. The salesgenie.com ad was the worst. If you own stock in that company, sell now before you take a bath. They just spent $2.6 million to air a late-night TV ad during the Super Bowl. Do you really think they have a chance with that kind of marketing behind them?
Friday, February 02, 2007
Vista vs. OS X
Billy boy would have you believe that OS X is a piece of shit full of security holes that can make OS X computers useless. I think Bill has Mac OS X confused with Windows XP. After all, how many patches does it take to secure XP? Dozens. At least it seemed that way when we recently reinstalled XP on a machine that then needed to download and install Service Pack 2.
After SP2 installed, it took another TWO hours (on a high-speed connection) to download and install the various patches that have been released since SP2 came out. When I installed OS X on my Mac, it took 20 minutes to install and update. That's it.
My Mac has NEVER been infected by spyware, adware, malware, etc. that hi-jacked my computer and lauched a thousand pop-ups as happened with my Dell laptop despite virus protection and spyware protection. I had to rebuild the laptop in order to restore order.
Gates brags about Vista's security and even infers that Apple stole UI ideas from MS. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black! Bill, there a reason Apple sued you guys for infringement when Window 95 launched. Just because you won the suit doesn't mean your product was original.
Finally, Apple ships a complete OS to all customers. They don't gouge users who want to do more by making them pay for a more capable OS. If you want to do everything Vista is capable of, you have to pony up an additional $200.00 from the base package price.
So shut your mouth Billy boy. You're going to make a fortune off the suckers, I mean the customers who by into your deceptive hype. And then you'll take them for another bundle when they discover they need to do more but can't unless the pay for it. Great customer relations dick head.
After SP2 installed, it took another TWO hours (on a high-speed connection) to download and install the various patches that have been released since SP2 came out. When I installed OS X on my Mac, it took 20 minutes to install and update. That's it.
My Mac has NEVER been infected by spyware, adware, malware, etc. that hi-jacked my computer and lauched a thousand pop-ups as happened with my Dell laptop despite virus protection and spyware protection. I had to rebuild the laptop in order to restore order.
Gates brags about Vista's security and even infers that Apple stole UI ideas from MS. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black! Bill, there a reason Apple sued you guys for infringement when Window 95 launched. Just because you won the suit doesn't mean your product was original.
Finally, Apple ships a complete OS to all customers. They don't gouge users who want to do more by making them pay for a more capable OS. If you want to do everything Vista is capable of, you have to pony up an additional $200.00 from the base package price.
So shut your mouth Billy boy. You're going to make a fortune off the suckers, I mean the customers who by into your deceptive hype. And then you'll take them for another bundle when they discover they need to do more but can't unless the pay for it. Great customer relations dick head.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
The Stupor Bowl
Without the 49ers, this Super Bowl is not so super to me. I'm less interested in the big contest because neither team really appeals to me. I've never cared for the Bears. Their one championship has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Their gimmick defense and poorly executed offense vs. the drug addicted Patriots didn't seem like a fair match and it wasn't. That combined with the fact that Ditka was a pompous ass and Ryan an overrated ass, and you can see my problems with that team. This team doesn't really have anyone you can hate, but it doesn't really have anyone you could like either.
As for the Colts, there's not a lot to like there either. They're a team that left their original home for greener (as in greenbacks) pastures and never really amounted to anything since. I suppose their quarterback's story is appealing to some degree. But really. Who cares about a multi-millionaire's struggles on the field?
Most likely this game will come down to which QB has the worst day. Manning has a reputation of choking in big games. Grossman has be off and on all season. I don't think either of them will have a great day. So the last one to make a mistake will lose.
As for the Colts, there's not a lot to like there either. They're a team that left their original home for greener (as in greenbacks) pastures and never really amounted to anything since. I suppose their quarterback's story is appealing to some degree. But really. Who cares about a multi-millionaire's struggles on the field?
Most likely this game will come down to which QB has the worst day. Manning has a reputation of choking in big games. Grossman has be off and on all season. I don't think either of them will have a great day. So the last one to make a mistake will lose.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)