Friday, January 19, 2007

Just Gristle and Fat.

There are several things that I think would make the world a better place. Primary among them would be if Queen Rania of Jordan ran the show. Who could tell her no? Her prime time addresses would own the males 18 - 49 demographic, and I tend to appreciate her progressive social policies. Progressive is relative term, though.

I had to go to the eye doctor Monday for my annual exam. My eyesight is terrible, but it wasn’t always that way. My first pair of glasses - that I didn’t need until I was 20 - held lenses with not so powerful -.50 and -.75 strengths. Sitting in the waiting room I was wearing –4.75 strength contacts. Anyway, while I was waiting I flipped through a brochure for InfantSEE. The brochure recommended an eye exam for infants some time before their 1st birthday. Since Jack missed that deadline, I asked the eye doctor when we should bring Jack in to see him. He said that, since there wasn’t anything overly problematic in our family vision history, we should bring Jack in some time between his 2nd and 3rd birthdays. I half-jokingly said, “nothing problematic except that his parents can’t see.” He didn’t really laugh, then he handed me a sample pair of contacts with a new prescription. –5.25 in each eye. Do I win?

OHHHH, Karly will like this the mostest. My boss lady and I are co-authoring and submitting a column for publication! It’s not going to be in any publication that any of you would read; it’ll be in the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA) Journal, but still. The topic is “Managing Broker Relations”, although, by asking me to help, she knows that I’ll take the angle less traveled. I’ve already decided to divert the focal point to “We’re ALL in Sales” and highlight the fact that Risk Managers know their organizations better than any one and should – instead of passing the chore off to the broker - take the lead in ‘selling’ the organization to insurance underwriters in order to achieve the best pricing and policy conditions. The problem with taking the angle less traveled is that there isn’t much previous research to steal or anyone else’s work to plagiarize.

Still awake?

I know that it’s boring to most everyone, but it’ll be fun and, if published, I’ll get 300 bucks!

Did anyone else see the Sneak Peak of "The Hills Season II"? I laughed out loud when Lisa was talking to Whitney about the summer in Paris and then she turned to Lauren and said, “And Lauren didn’t go to Paris, opting instead to rent a beach house for the summer with her boyfriend. How’d that work out for ya?” What a beeyotch…that was classic. I got a little defensive, however, because I’m on Team Lauren, I think…at least, the good boy inside of me would like to be Team Lauren. I might be on Team Kristin, though, because Kristin rocks a two-piece and she just used Stephen (although, I don’t know why when she could have used anyone), while Lauren was really in to him…and that’s a bunch of strikes again’ ya, LC.

I’m REALLY on Team Taylor.

What am I talking about? I’m 36 years old and have a one year-old. I’m on Team Wags and Team Pizza Guy.

Let’s see…what else…oh, between More or Less and The Conch Shack, I’ve been blogging for at least 2 years now. In that time I’ve started and finished one book, The Innocent Man, by John Grisham. Good book, but it will really make you wonder how many innocent people were found guilty, sentenced to death row and executed in the US in the 70’s and 80’s. In present day, I think that it would be harder to execute an innocent person because of DNA and other advances in crime scene forensics. Thirty years ago, that wasn’t the case and without a doubt quite a few innocent people were executed. By "quite a few", I mean more than one, and the part of me that sits left of center finds that to be deplorable.

Of course, 30 years ago a lot of guilty people probably ran free because the police didn’t have the tools or technology to evaluate evidence, either. So it’s really ying and yang…but life pretty much sucked for the guy in The Innocent Man. And Barry Scheck helped him…the same Barry Scheck that helped OJ go free…so there’s some real dichotomy going on.

Did I ever tell y'all that my great-grandmother shot and killed a man? She sure did.

The man, who was in a wheelchair, was somehow threatening my great-grandfather. The story goes that my granny had heard enough and when the man rolled on to Granny's front yard, she shot him with a 12 gauge shotgun. The underground rumor was that my great-grandfather actually shot the man and that Granny took the blame because, back then, they didn't have prisons for women, so women generally got off with a warning. Granny spent one night in jail and was released.

We've got copies of old news paper clippings. It's a true story.

I remember Granny, as do most people who remember their great-grandparents, as one of the sweetest persons I ever knew. She also didn't mind passing gas in public, which was very funny to my cousin Tony and I when we were 7 and 8, respectively. I'm giggling now just thinking about us in TG&Y and Granny letting one go. "Who opened the stink bait" was Papaw's standard. Still golden.

Back to reading, I've now started The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. I like Meltzer’s work. While he’s not the writer that Grisham is, his chapters tend to be shorter. I love me a 3-page chapter. It makes me feel like I’ve done something and it encourages me to read a little more every night. If I see that the next chapter is only 4 pages, I'll probably keep reading. If the chapter is a long one, say 8 pages or more, I'll have to save it for the next night.

I’m now going to Google all of the sayings that I can remember my grandmother (Nana, not Grandmother) saying, like “what in tarnation?”, “Jim Sullivan fit” and “$hit fire” to see their origins. That should be fun.

Have a good weekend!

2 comments:

KBF said...

LUV the title. Yea! You're writing - that has to be fulfilling -although it sounds like something I'd have to search deep in the stacks at Gorgas to find and read.

If you like short chapters you should read James Patterson. I have tons if you want to borrow them in a couple of years. AND if you want a REAL true crime novel you should read Capote's In Cold Blood ( I think you and Leah still have my copy.) Gotta go Drew wants the computer

Barbara's Journey Toward Justice said...

If you enjoyed The Innocent Man. may I suggest, what they call the companion book to it. Here is something I read about it.Who And Where Is Dennis Fritz, You say after reading John Grisham's Wonderful Book "The Innocent man", Grisham's First non-fiction book. The Other Innocent Man hardly mentioned in "The Innocent Man" has his own compelling and fascinating story to tell in "Journey Toward Justice". John Grisham endorsed Dennis Fritz's Book on the Front Cover. Dennis Fritz wrote his Book Published by Seven Locks Press, to bring awareness about False Convictions, and The Death Penalty. "Journey Toward Justice" is a testimony to the Triumph of the Human Spirit and is a Stunning and Shocking Memoir. Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of murder after a swift trail. The only thing that saved him from the Death Penalty was a lone vote from a juror. "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham is all about Ronnie Williamson, Dennis Fritz's was his co-defendant. Ronnie Williamson was sentenced to the Death Penalty. Both were exonerated after spending 12 years in prison. Both Freed by a simple DNA test, The real killer was one of the Prosecution's Key Witness. John Grisham's "The Innocent Man" tells half the story. Dennis Fritz's Story needs to be heard. Read about how he wrote hundreds of letters and appellate briefs in his own defense and immersed himself in an intense study of law. He was a school teacher and a ordinary man from Ada Oklahoma, whose wife was brutally murdered in 1975. On May 8, 1987 while raising his young daughter alone, he was put under arrest and on his way to jail on charges of rape and murder. Since then, it has been a long hard road filled with twist and turns. Dennis Fritz is now on his "Journey Toward Justice". He never blamed the Lord and soley relied on his faith in God to make it through. He waited for God's time and never gave up.