I'm with Michelle

I just wanted to applaud our First Lady for picking a wonderful platform in attacking childhood obesity. It is a real problem, and I'm glad she's using her unique situation to encourage health.

As I write this, though, it occurred to me that Michelle Obama is also considered a fashion icon - so I would love it if her next agenda was to combat vanity sizing. Please?

Facebook gone

Hooray!

My New Year's Resolution to reduce my internet footprint by deleting all extraneous accounts is complete.

Happy tax day, everyone.

A return to nice

When did people decide that it was okay to be jerks to each other?

I remember when, as a teenager, I brilliantly deduced that I could and should act however I felt inclined because it would be "dishonest" not to. Meaning that, if I woke up and felt like a grump, I was perfectly justified in behaving like a grump, because to try to disguise it would be a lie. If someone asked me a question and I didn't feel like answering, I would just ignore them. If I didn't feel like smiling (and most of the time, I didn't), I wouldn't. Logically, it worked out. Kind of.

The problem is that, when you get down to it, logic and rightness - and even honesty - aren't what life's about at all. They're things to think about and occupy yourself with, but they don't make up the meat of what living actually is. I was very grateful to grow up and rediscover that all the importance in life comes from our relationships and happiness, in feeling happy and making others feel happy too. It seems ridiculous that I could have lost sight of this, since I've always liked feeling happy and appreciated others who treated me with kindness. I guess I'm using a lot of words to try to describe a simple concept: Me like happy. You too?

So, it really bothers me when I hear or read things that are meant to make someone else feel bad. Political mudslinging or slams; digs on online forums; nasty comments made under the cloak of online anonymity; hateful, self-serving protests - there's a whole accepted culture of meanness. It makes me assume that these individuals haven't grown out of the same kind of adolescent funk I was in, and feel impatient for them to do so. Why can't we all be honestly, intentionally nice to each other?

Cause graph

This morning when I woke up for good at 4:00 am - for the third time this week - and started thinking about life's injustices and potential blog posts - also a repeat experience for that hour - I came up with this (based on Indexed):

Goods and Bads

Whenever I get screwed as a consumer, I always want to get back at the company by spreading the word about what scumbags they are. When I first published this, I put a list of some of those companies here - but, I didn't like the tone that gave this post or the way it made me feel.

Anyway, though, on the plus side, it's good to recognize companies that really do things right. That's why today I'd like to honor Wells Fargo as a good company.

WELLS FARGO = GREAT!

You see, last month someone somehow ripped off my credit card number and was able to make a couple of fraudulent purchases with it before they were detected by Wells Fargo's fraud department. Even before I noticed the charges on my account, good ol' WF had put a hold on it. They were really great about helping me sort it all out, and I received notice today that all fraudulent charges and associated fees had been cleared. Aaaah. Nice to have a company relieve headaches instead of causing them.

Oddly enough, this all took place shortly after Toby's experience. I guess it's just a case of life immitating art. And what higher art could there be than Mary Worth!

Warrior for Civil Rights

So, yesterday I was looking at my box of nursing pads, and I noticed that they were endorsed by several breastfeeding organizations. One of them stuck out to me: the African-American Breastfeeding Alliance (AABA).

I immediately thought, “What is this? A bunch of African-American women got together and decided that La Leche League wasn’t good enough for them, and they needed their own little exclusive club?” I resolved to make my own exclusive breastfeeding organization to mock the ridiculous premise that anyone of a differing racial background could not possibly understand or meet my breastfeeding needs. After much thought, I decided to call it the European-American Lactation Society, or EALS. Our cause would be to empower breastfeeding women of our particular “race”—since all Europeans, like all Africans, are of the same race. I hoped to inspire all other people who did not qualify for either AABA or EALS to start their own organizations: BAAL (the Breastfeeding Asian-American League), NAGGS (Native-American Glandular Giving Society), PIBS (Pacific Islander Breastfeeding Society), etc. The vast differences in our breastmilk and breastfeeding methods would make such organizations essential!

Then, of course, I looked online to see what AABA actually does. Turns out, they are actually geared at increasing breastfeeding among African-American women, as there is apparently a decided percentage gap between them and other races. I’m confused as to why that is, but the cause is one I support, so I might even join AABA, if they would let me in.

So, it looks like someone else will have to pick up the cause for EALS. Although if you need someone to come up with a logo, I have a couple of ideas.