NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

I don’t care that Steve Jobs got a new liver possibly because he’s rich. I really don’t.

I know that I should. I know that I should be yelling and screaming about how unfair it is that money can buy things.

But I’m not. I’m also not writing a blog post on how wet water is, how sweet sugar is or how hot the afternoons are in June in Tennessee.

I love reading Coble. That last line is blogging/writing gold.

Jackson Baker of the Memphis Flyer writes about blogging and how he thought he got it, but that he initially didn’t.

I admit, I didn’t get it at first either. And blogtopia keeps changing but his article talks a lot about the value of blogging and how journalism and blogging can walk hand-in-hand.

As both the print and broadcast versions of conventional journalism increasingly find themselves stranded somewhere between hospice and Death Valley, the blog as a genre has become something infinitely more substantial. And not just because staff-written blogs of one kind or another are by now staples of all journalistic enterprises (including the Flyer). The best action is still outside the house.

Outrageous opinion remains a staple of the independent blog. But more and more it is bloggers of that sort who are breaking news — looking into corners or under rocks while big-city dailies are cutting staff, contriving circulation-builders that don’t work, and trying to cover politics and government by passing along press releases.

When I started blogging in 2005, I had no idea about the world of blogging and what it entailed. It’s given me great joy, and a small, very tiny dose I might add, of heartache. Blogging is rather cool when you get right down to it as long as your having fun with it.

And it does open the door into a whole new world.

I’ve watched the events unfold over the past couple of days regarding Sen. Diane Black’s legislative staffer Sherri Goforth. I’m not going to expound on this any further as people all across the country are steadily talking about it now. The image hit a nerve nationally and is yet another example that every time we think we’ve taken five steps forward, in actuality, we’ve taken six steps back.

I am hoping there is a lesson here about how words and actions do matter. Ms. Goforth obviously didn’t feel there would be a chain of events from sending the e-mail in question. It was racist, there is no doubt, and I’ve said that. Both democrats and republicans have let her know they did not find this acceptable. Despite our political allegiances, we are still human beings at the end of the day.

I guess she knows now. This e-mail is just a symptom of the problems regarding all kinds of discrimination.

Have you ever read The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss? It’s sad how close that children’s book is to our day-to-day lives.

Can we change this?

Hopefully some good can come out of this incident. May lessons be learned so our state won’t be lambasted again nationally. One can only hope. One can only think we might learn from this.

Let’s also take a moment to see what’s beneath the waves of our state’s political ocean. Overlooked in this whirlwind is a budget that needs passing and a legislative session that has been mind-boggling. Our elected officials of both parties, in my opinion, need to show they are leaders on and off the floor of the house and senate. It isn’t a game and they need to stop acting like it is.

People across this state are left to deal with the real results of the actions of those sitting in the legislature, those who were elected and those who assist them. It’s not a frivolous party for folks just trying to get from one day to the next.

It’s not a game.

There is much to do on a variety of levels.

It’s not often that I get to show off Hoots to bloggers from across the state. On Thursday night, there was a small gathering at the local watering hole for yours truly and Vibinc decided to bring his bad self to Hoots to attend.

The party was a success and Vibinc decided to stay the night at Casa Coma where he experienced the everyday issues that go with two tween girls (boyfriend stuff), our version of the Bumpus’ dogs which are at best overwhelming, one damn good jukebox (actually two over the course of the day) and one unfortunate toupee as he described it.

The Bumpus’ Dogs have nothing on ‘Coma Dogs

As we decided to enact our plan for world domination yesterday morning, a variety of events swirled around into the decision that one of the two Memphis Steves stay an additional night. World domination cannot be done in a matter of hours so more planning was needed. Of course if we told you what our plans were, we’d have to kill you so I will keep you all safe and say nothing on our role in the upcoming apocalypse.

For about an hour last night, Steve decided that his only option was to move to Hoots as he had a momentary moment of smittenness with this silly place and the people that he encountered throughout the time he spent here. Squirrelly, Badger and I looked at each other knowingly that his infatuation would be gone by morning but we fed the flames of him having a “summer” home here in Hootstropolis. He met friendly republicans (I feel this is crucial in every setting because it’s difficult at times to realize that not everyone as extreme in real life as they are online and that folks sometimes CAN have a conversation despite political differences), I showed him some of the cool architecture in the area, there was a pool room burger devoured at Caddies and political talk with one of my former bosses who works in development.

Heck, he even met my dad.

He also got to watch Beer Wars between two local companies which I think would make a fine series on the Discovery Channel. Of course, I’m amused easily. I think Vibinc was tickled by this moment of Hopps and Barley drama between competing distributors. Ahh, Friday afternoon shenanigans are always funny, my friends.

Of course, the Hoots blogger brigade was spot on about his moment of wanderlust and admiration of our little plot of land last night in this western division of the great state of Tennessee, but I always think it’s cool when I get to show off aspects that remain under the radar here. Why folks don’t hire me for economic development, I have no idea. I’m a natural. Heh.

As he was headed out the door this morning, the Bumpus’ dogs howled and barked their disapproval at his entering their world and leaving so abruptly without their permission.  Vibinc headed back to Shelby County to check on his friends and his house after last night’s storm and I think he got to see inside the world of Newscoma and her alter ego, Trace.

I hope he’s not emotionally scarred.

Squirrel Queen pontificates on when Facebook can get you in trouble.

Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman Quinn Ojinnaka may want to think about backing down on the amount of time and personal stuff he puts on Facebook. The NFL player was arrested and charged with simple battery after he and his wife got into a brawl when she discovered he was talking with another woman on Facebook.

He claims she stabbed him with a pen.

Pen stabbing is never a good idea. Always use a pencil.

Most everyone I know is in transition. It might be the economy, life changing the rules or maybe it’s just that we are heading into a summer. Homer says “I’m a Growed Up” to me sometimes which always makes me chuckle. Of course, the adult thing, when the hell did that happen?

Transitioning. It’s what we do. It’s who we are.

And these words, these posts, give me hope and I feel with them.

From Malia:

School is ending and summer is beginning. As usual, the summer looms in front of me, vast and unfilled and hot. I wonder how we’ll get through it. A couple of months from now, I’ll wonder where it went. Endings and beginnings.

Beginnings and endings.

From Vibinc:

My “last hope” options are even worse. Now that you can’t say “hobo” anymore, and being a “hobo” isn’t nearly as appealing as it was made out to be in old school country music, one of my childhood fantasies is probably a no go. I’m no longer athletic unless there is a 12oz curl contest somewhere, and even then, I’ve lost my edge. I’m an all right cook, but cooking is one of those things I like to do when I want to do it. Cooking all the time would be dangerous to other people, knives and all.

But I have this blog and I have 20 years of paying A LOT of attention to politics, process and policy. I don’t know how much this means because there are a million other people who have more hands on experience than I do that are in a similar position.

I love the word Hobo.

From Lindsey:

It’s sort of sinking in that the status quo is unsustainable and things are changing so I best change with them or get left running behind the bus, choking on gravel and grit. It amazes me that I can write a sentence like that and mean it in fifteen different ways. But, well, there you go. Choppy waters ahead, I’m afeared.

From Amber:

I had a date on Friday night. I haven’t been on a date in quite awhile and it’s still pretty awkward for me. I met a guy at one of the gigs – Nice fella but I didn’t feel that “thing” that I really want, no, need to feel.

I read these things and I realize that I’ve been feeling raw lately. And, it appears I’m not the only one, which makes me feel better.

As Homer would say, being a Growed Up sucks, but it is Growed Ups we are.

(Sing title to Cowboy by Kid Rock. It rather works.)

Have you ever had a day where it went so slow that it felt like I was riding the back of a turtle that was leaving Hoots and had to be in Vegas by the end of the work day?

I did see one of my coworkers pull her cell phone out of her bra when it rang and talk to her husband about she wanted Loretta Lynn’s Greatest Hits CD while “I’m the Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” serves as her ringtone. This rather endears her to me.

As I think the most viable line of employment for me these days is being a bona fide hobo, it was not a day of fun and revelry. I had to go try to figure things out last night and I realize I’ve got some pretty big decisions to make in the coming weeks. As I am really not in the mood to be an adult right now, I’m not looking forward to things I must do, I thought I would just share my random dark thoughts.

I realized that I most likely need a new hobby. While we wait for me to determine what I actually need to do, let’s do a link dump.

• Guns, Guns, Guns are the Tennessee Legislature’s favorite topic. I still maintain that the locals have not heard from their elected officials. Bluto has a good write-up about this.
• See Rock City!
• We’ve done puppies at Chez Coma. Le Blanc has kittens.
• I concur. Jack Lail has a petition worth signing. Read The Bill to be sent to our representatives. If this wahoos are going to vote on this stuff that we have to live with, then they at least need to know what the bill says. (Filed under This-Should-Be-Obvious.)
• Get that pitchfork back out of the shed. AIG is at it again with the bonuses.

Now on to various annoying autobiographical stuff. You know that I’m bored and tired. I think I’ve been a harpy about that one little fact this week. So, in a dream quest that was much more exciting than my real life, I hung out with a blogger during my nocturnal wanderings.

Last night I dreamed about Nashville’s very own Aunt B. We were in Memphis eating crepes and a very young Keith Olbermann was showing us around Beale Street. Then we went to Graceland w/Olbermann because we were both convinced he had psychic powers and we wanted to channel the ghost of Elvis’s mother Gladys. Olbermann grew very tiresome to us, so we just left him and drank tea in some spinning restaurant that oddly looked like the one at the Doubletree in Nashville.

Dreams don’t have to make sense.

Finally, this has been around the tubes the last couple of days and we just got our Internet back at the house yesterday. Your moment of Tennessee government zen with a tip of the hat to Christian Grantham:

Grossing out over eating raccoon at Jimmy Naifeh’s Coon Supper.

Well, I just do these things so you don’t have too.

Yep, Vibinc and I are in the Memphis Flyer

And coon is nasty.

Jeffraham Prestonian is asking us to help him win a video contest. The prize is a scooter and if he wins, he is promising it to our friend, Chez Bez. It’s win-win. If you like the video, vote for it.

Here are the details:

How?

Easy.

Just click here, and vote my video up, and the other losers’ videos down.

I’ve been thinking of the next best thing. You know what I mean, that thing that is just as groovy as the moment that cavemen discovered that that white stuff that comes out of cows could indeed make cheese, which was a very good day if you ask me.

That isn’t really going anywhere but it was on my mind.

I’ve talked about politics a lot this week and I’m sort of tired of it, but I do want to implore you guys who are so inclined to take five seconds and follow the directions of whom I call the Two Steves and join the TNDP.

I also want to say one thing to Frank Strovel, who fought a battle he didn’t want to this week for all of us with the Associated Press. I adore Frank and I have just two words for him.

Thank you.

He didn’t ask for what he got served earlier this week, and he fought the battle admirably with class and style. Go Frank because you proved that one voice DOES make a difference.

On to other things, and that is I’m quite smitten with Hoots this morning. I guess I don’t say that enough but today I’m feeling quite good about my little place in the world other than we need a sushi bar AND a sports bar that shows more than just Nascar. Those are petty issues really but I realized last night as I saw friends and acquaintances and there was an easy comfortable feel to my random meetings last night (not meetings, more like ships passing in the sea) but it made me feel very warm and fuzzy. From the retired fireman who wants me to help an abandoned dog left at his home find her family to talking to Squirrel Queen’s mom who told me last night while she was out of town I could bring bloggers to her house (which is a huge difference from a couple of years ago when she thought the tubes were filled with evil people who wanted to, I guess, get naked with us, take pictures and put them on YouTube.)

I feel warm and fuzzy because I like my friends and I love my family. Sometimes, as I referred to in the opening graph, I keep looking for the next best thing when it was right in front of me the entire time.

So I bid you a lovely Friday, and one of significance, and I leave you with this song posted by GingerSnaps of Dolly Parton getting her religion on (and if you look very closely, you will see Ms. Snaps singing in the choir.)

Image via Monkeys For Helping

Jane Q. Public’s dog Sully is a winner.

Sully is the Predators Pedigree Pet of the Month for March!!!

Yay!!

Congratulations Sully!!!

I’ve seen some fabulous stuff on the ‘tubes today and I want to just hug each post. Instead, as that would be a weird practice to do, I will just do the oft-forgotten and always enjoyable link dump.

• John at Lake Neuron is in a play and gives us a look at what happens when things that aren’t supposed to happen do.
• GingerSnaps gives words of advice on how to communicate with a friend or loved on who is unemployed.
• I’ve seen this and it never ceases to make me just look at it. Usually, I get so caught up in it looking at it, that I start that mindless drooling at the Mindfield.
• Kat Coble has been blogging like a maniac and it makes me happier than a pile of crawfish and a very cold brewski.
• Hey, I blog at other places too about news.
• Lovely tribute to a mother.
• Go see why I like Spots.
• The Daily David.
• You know you are a mommy warrior when you eat snot and live to tell the tale.
• A very good day.
• Go to Grey Street Girl and just love on her blog because I do.
• The kitten formerly known as Jack Bauer (and may still be known as Jack Bauer) has been adopted. Detail here.

And, our photo of the day gives me joy and nightmares at the same time. A.) I love rural community festivals and B.) Catfish frighten me because they get as big as trucks.

I HAVE PROOF: