Who's Your Daddy?

How hard can it be to get a blood test?

In the continuing saga of Dannielynn Smith (the 5 month old daughter of Anna Nichole Smith for those of you who have been living under a rock), the various "interested" parties are flying from one port of call to another without anyone going to a medical clinic except for Anna Nichole who is, from my accounts laying in a Morgue in Florida 18 days after her death.

This child was born September 7 and almost immediately one of the people claiming to be the child's father requested paternity testing; but Anna Nichole and her Attorney/Companion/Common-Law Husband (?) skirted the issue, by placing his name on the birth certificate and started the P/R ball rolling to make this child's paternity a nasty public issue when it is, in fact a medical certainty.

The sad thing is that this woman chose to air a private conflict in a public forum.
Was she unaware that she had been used by others for their own personal gain for many years? Her self-image was so damaged that she escaped facing reality by sleeping around (e.g., being a "free spirit"), having multiple plastic surgeries and the consumption of untold amounts prescription medications. The woman was on a downward spiral that, through neglect and lack of self-awareness (IMHO) resulted in both her and her son's death. A sad state of affairs indeed.

Now the "Adults" left behind are continuing the public battle of a matter that should have been quickly and simply resolved shortly after Dannielynn's birth.

This child deserves a better life and I hope that the Judge and Guardian Ad-litum in the custody case have the courage to ensure that custody and visitation are arranged in HER best interests and she is able to grow up out of the spotlight and finds a way to cope with the spite and whirlwind that surrounded her Mother's short sad life.

Somebody order the DamB blood test and let this child get to the business of growing up.

The Astronaut Farmer

"If we don't have our dreams, we have nothing."

It appears that Desdemona isn't the only one building Rocketships.... *big grin*
While Charles Farmer's desire to reach the stars has a different genesis, the goal is the same.

It's what's in the heart that other's often cannot comprehend. Desdemona found that Joe Merchant was the missing link she needed to connect her with the stars.
What/Who is yours?

I think I'll go put on the blue jumpsuit that the Boomtown Boys gave me, and get back to work.

Go "Build Rocketships Now" *wink*

Film Review - The Dream is Alive: 'The Astronaut Farmer'
at Space.com

Said Mark Polish in Warner Brothers’ production notes, “The story was sparked by our interest in space exploration, but beyond that, it’s about a need to dream of adventures, whether it’s Neil Armstrong or Lewis and Clark. I think that, as a society, we’ve stopped dreaming about exploration.”

Farmer’s family, who dreams with and for him, is not unlike NASA’s workforce and its supporters. They understand the dream, even if those around them -- Farmer’s neighbors and the media who flock to his ranch -- do not.

"Somewhere along the line, we stopped believing that we can do anything," says Farmer. So, could be argued, has the nation, if not the world. We went to the Moon in 1969 because we didn’t know we couldn’t do so. Today, politicians and the public are too quick to assume that if a dream seems impossible, then it likely is.

"That kid can fly."

Surfer Girl and her husband have agreed on a name for their daughter. She picked the middle name and he the first.

After explaining the meaning of the name to our son, he commented that:
"The Prophecy is proceeding as I had forseen."

If you know ANYTHING about Star Wars, then you know that it is a story about family.
The interesting thing is that none of this was planned, sometimes the fates align and everything just falls into place.

The naming of this child appears to be one of those times...

And the name of Luke's Niece is Jaina Rose.

The name "Jaina" could originate from the Hindi word jaina.
This itself comes from the Sanskrit jina, which means "saint", and more literally, "overcomer" (triumph).
The root words for this are ji ("to conquer") and jayati ("he conquers").

Additionally, Jaina could also be derived from "Joan," which is Hebrew for "God's gracious gift."



"I name you the Sword of the Jedi. […] you shall be blessed for the peace you bring to others."
―Luke Skywalker

Little Miss Magic

Surfer Girl had a sonogram today and the Grandkeet is a healthy Girl!

So in less than three months this precious gift will come into the world and turn Surfer Girl and her husband’s lives upside down in the most wonderful way.

I told Junior Mint the news and could tell immediately that he was disappointed that the baby wasn’t a boy, but he took a breath and said…”Well, ok.”

How exciting to be an Uncle at eight!
I don’t mind being a crazy Grandma, as long as Kokomo is my AWEsome Grandpa.

Now, Little Miss Magic what are you gonna be?

The Super Bowl

The New Year has officially begun.

The Daytona 500 is Sunday and this is Mardi Gras week.

You just thought that the game that was played on February 4 was the "Super Bowl".
The first Daytona 500 was in 1959 and the first "Super Bowl" was in 1967. Hmmmm...
43 drivers in stock cars racing at near 200 mph around a 2.5 mile super speedway is serious thrill seeking...and dangerous.

Now I know there have been accusations of "cheating" by several teams this week, but hey, I figure for the most part they are just testing the boundaries of the rulebook.
NASCAR is notorious for writing rules that are not specific, so the Crew Chiefs simply wiggle through the loopholes. It's a cat and mouse game to see who can squeeze extra aerodynamics out of their hot rod that might give them an edge on the track.
If it hasn't been specifically defined, then it isn't against the rules; even if it violates the "spirit" of the rules ~ that's the way most of the Crew Chief's look at it.

Now, there are those that say this gives a "black eye" to racing, but I'm not so sure.
These guys are being creative. Isn't that what Stock Car Racing is all about? The experiments learned from these cars, the aerodynamics, the accidents, etc...are taken back to the auto makers and adapted to vehicles that you and I purchase.


So, as far as I'm concerned, while NASCAR wants the teams to compete "equally", I encourage creativity.

Roll on, brother, in the wheel inside the wheel.

I'm hopping on board with the Krewe of the Crossbones.
Cheers.

Jimmy Buffett - Here We Are

Since the Jimmy Buffett BAMA BREEZE Summer Tour has just been announced and some dates are starting to leak out, I thought I'd post this Video that was a "hidden video" on Jimmy's latest CD, Take The Weather With You.

Besides it's freezing outside and watching makes me laugh and think of all the fun we have at JB shows when it's WARMER!

Don't Chu-Know you wanna be there.

WWJBD or What is a Parrothead?

Inspired by CruiserMel’s comments on my Barometer Scoop post.



According to Jimmy Buffett: "Timothy B. Schmidt (Eagles bass player) was in the band, and we were playing the Timberwolf Ampitheatre outside of Cincinnati. People had already started wearing Hawaiian shirts to our shows, but we looked out at this Cincinnati crowd, and they were glaringly brilliant to the point where it got our attention immediately. I said "Look at that!" Then Schmidt says to me, "They look like Deadheads in tropical suits. They're like Parrot Heads!" He yelled to me in the middle of a song. So I immediately took the term and threw it over the microphone - the people identified themselves with the term from the get-go."

In that moment (6/22/1984), a cultural phenomenon was born.

The Head Parrot/Pirate, celebrated his 60th birthday on Christmas Day, 2006, and as of this writing finished the Party at the End of the World Summer tour in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday. Rumors are that he will re-visit the South Pacific this year (where he wrote One Particular Harbor). We are looking forward to a Texas date to reunite with phriends, but we're thinking of going to see him in Raleigh, too. There’s nothing like a phlocking before a JB show if you’ve never seen it (come early, but pace yourself *wink*)



A Parrothead, IMHO, is anyone who enjoys Jimmy Buffett music.
No Passport required, no concert experience necessary. If you enjoy life in the laid back lane, had the urge to run off to St. Somewhere, maybe had too much tequila (or not quite enough) or had your exploits told on the Coconut Internet (not that I’m one to deal in gossip) then you might be a Parrothead. I could go on and on, but I’m overdrawn at the Bank of Bad Habits

Winners!

Master Junior Mint in partnership with his buddy won the 2nd Grade Science Fair at their school for a project on Static Electricity!

How awesome is that!


The guys rubbed a balloon on a wool blanket then tested to see whether the balloon would stick to various objects. Sometime it did, and sometimes it didn’t. They had fun with the testing, but typing the results got a little tedious (but hey, they learned something about typing on the computer, too! *grin*).
I think that they both learned that with hard work can come a great sense of pride.

Maybe JM will be able to make the grades I wish I could have made in school....ok, now I wasn't that bad, I think I graduated High School with a "B" average, but this kid is looking like school might be easy for him....except writing, his writing looks like hyroglyphics.
Hmmmm....might that bode for a career in Medicine?
(I doubt it...he's too involved in video games *rolls eyes* LOL)

Oh well, I'm getting ahead of myself, for today I am one proud Mommy!

Barometer Scoop

Here we are, back from our week in the Caribbean sunshine. We started the week by saying “Hello” to the water and finding loads of Sand Dollars and even a large Conch Shell. There’s nothing like looking into the turquoise blue of the Caribbean while your son is racing up and down the beach thrilled with every shell he finds…we even noticed tiny shells that had extraordinary colors. The Frigates (or Pirate birds) and the Pelicans were flying overhead, and all seemed right with the world.

Sigh…then it was off to the Welcome Party, excessive drinking, loud music, dancing, meeting up with relatives and friends and all out revelry – yee ha! JM blew soap bubbles to keep things interesting. Later we took a drive down the Mayan Rivera and saw some very nice Hacienda’s and scenery. We took a day trip to Isla Mujeres where JM & I went snorkeling & saw some awesome coral, colorful fish, and sea turtles. JM also swam with a (Nurse) Shark, because Sharks are cooler than Dolphins!
We rented a golf cart and cruised around the island to the lighthouse, which sits on the Eastern most tip of the Island (which is also the Eastern most point of Mexico) where there is also a small Mayan ruin. JM and I climbed around the cliff for a while and watched the waves crash into and up on the huge rocks. It was an impressive site. Then we cruised down to the other end of the Island were we ran into some large fishing boats from Texas and North Carolina (the Migration and the 5 o’clock Somewhere were there) that were searching for Sailfish and Marlin. JM hung out on the beach for a while while Kokomo and I had a few drinks and checked out another lighthouse.

JM attended a Piñata Party so now we have a boatload of Mexican Piñata candy to go with our Halloween and Christmas candy. We went to Margaritaville a couple of times, watched ParrotVision, had Cheeseburgers in Parrotise, and various frozen concoctions. They even hosted a kids party that kept JM entertained while Kokomo & I had Margaritas & shopped.


The rest of the week was spent hanging out at the pool or the beach where we were swept away in a mini tsunami on our last day (really)…. the surf was high anyway, then a wave about 4-5 feet high came up and swept me out of my chair and JM all the way up into the Cabana Boy Cart at the Sea Wall (he was wearing his life jacket, and thought it was pretty cool). The kid enjoys the thrill of the Sea…and after being “swept away”; he stood up a raised his arms over his head in triumph!

The only downside of the week was that the Air-traffic controllers in Cancún decided to take a morning siesta putting all flights out of Cancún 2 hours behind schedule. Which means that after arriving at the Aeropuerto two hours early, we were treated to the hospitality of gate switching and long lines during our extended visit at Mexico’s busiest Aeropuerto. Of course, they provide for our convenience, a variety of Mercado’s and Duty Free shops to separate us from any renegade Peso’s that might be lingering in our pockets, which; in my case they were successful at.

Ahh well, JM had his portable video game handy so he was entertained. We all tried to keep a positive attitude and we arrived home safely and that’s all that really matters.

Now, it’s time to start planning the next phlocking.