2 vs 13

No, sports fans, this won't be a bit about NCAA brackets and Louisville or some other #2 seed choking against West Idaho Tech A& M who got on a run at the end of the season, rolled through the conference tourney and somehow managed to earn #13 seed over a 18-12 Illinois.

We're talking kids here. Specifically, raising two girls...a 2 year-old and a 13 year-old.

Their needs are so different, yet so similar. The need for attention, the need for entertainment, the need to be heard.

That last one is NOT a problem for either.

Everything is loud or whiny or sarcastic or loud or whiny or sarcastic or loud or whiny or sarcastic or...

I remember my mother always saying how she was always tired after a particularly trying moment with us kids -- physically, mentally, emotionally tired.

Now I know why.

The only thing my wife and I want to do now is sleep. Pure, unadulterated, uninterrupted sleep. If you gave us money to spend on ourselves, we'd get a hotel room and sleep.



We'd like to think it'll end, and sure, once our 2 year-old gets older and more self-dependent, the fog of exhaustion may lift a bit. But it's not over.

It's never over. The worry and concern never ends.

I think that's the one thing they forget to tell you in parenting school. The worry never ends and it can sit on you like a 400-pound gorilla.

As parents, you long for those moments when you have time to yourself. The kids are at the grandparents and you can stretch your arms and not touch a child. It's a good feeling. But it never lasts.

The worry, however, is natural. I think, once you understand that, the worry becomes a little more bearable.

Laughter helps as well.

When you can nudge a laugh out of a 13 year-old girl (provided she takes off her iPod to hear you and looks away from the Instant Messenger screen to see you), it makes you less tired, less worried, if only briefly.

When my 2 year-old daughter runs down the hallway with a smile on her face, calling out, "Daddy, Daddy!" the fog is gone and there is no greater joy.

As a parent, you hold on to these things. You hold on to them because they don't last forever. Kids grow up, they leave home and you're left with memories and phone calls. And somewhere deep inside of you, you long for the days when your young kids were at home, wearing you out.

But we've got a ways to go, and it's time for bed...

Time to make the Jihad Donuts

I'm not ashamed to admit that I vote Democrat and that I generally follow liberal theory lines. I can also admit that there are a few conservative ideals that make sense to me (though I cannot think of any at the moment).

Both liberals and conservatives supply plenty of WTF moments -- but you have to admit that the scale is tipped heavily toward the Right. Pre-Subway Jared Fogle heavily .

This story isn't helping to ease that weight.

Dunkin Donuts, the greatest donut place on Earth, has removed a TV ad featuring cooking maven Rachael Ray at the implied behest of conservative viewers, led by Ann Coulter-wannabe and O'Reilly Factor guest host, Michelle Malkin.

What could anyone possibly find wrong in a Dunkin Donuts ad?

A scarf.

Yes. A scarf.

There was no jelly on the scarf, no boston creme or custard, not even some powerded sugar. Apparently, what Ms. Malkin saw sprinkled on the scarf was a few dashes of Al-Qaeda with a hint of explosives.

Really. Read this:

Dunkin Donuts has pulled a commercial featuring pitchwoman Rachael Ray wearing a scarf because Michelle Malkin and other conservative observers thought the scarf looked too much like a keffiyeh, what Malkin describes as "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."

I can't make this stuff up, folks. Here's the visual evidence:



Ms. Malkin applauded Dunkin Donuts decision to pull the ad thusly:

It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists. Too many of them bend over backward in the direction of anti-American political correctness....

Was there nothing else going on in the world that was more important than a clearly unintentional wardrobe choice?

Well, actually there was...but why would anyone care about a former White House press secretary who states what many people knew all along -- that George W. Bush is a stubborn blowhard who basically lied to the American public and the rest of the world in his justification for invading Iraq.

But I digress.

So Dunkin Donuts pulled the ad for fear of being betrayed as promoting terrorist-sponsored donuts.

I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.

Somewhere, the owners of Krispy Kreme are looking at their bank accounts and laughing their pastry-filled faces off.

That voodoo that you do so well...

Just what the world needs...another blog.

But here it is and I hope you read it and enjoy it. Onward we go...

...to sad news.

Harvey Korman, the brilliant comedic actor from the Carol Burnett Show and Blazing Saddles, has left us at age 81. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Korman's work, I give you this...



RIP, Harvey Korman. You will be missed.