Some poignant thoughts for a troubled time.

The Old Spice Man !!!

My goal is to not know who Snookie is and certainly not to be able to recognize her.

Steven Slater is NOT a hero!

Just where is John Boehner's tanning bed in the nation's capitol?

Why doesn't Debbie Riddle's (member of the Texas State Legislature) upper lip not move when she talks?

I never thought I would be caught dead at...

GRACELAND! But there I was with Pat gawking at the "Jungle Room" and listening to the never ending Elvis recordings. After getting Emily settled we went to Memphis to spend the day before flying back to RDU. Did we really want to wallow in Elvis memories? Oh, why not. Expecting to see really weird people wearing sequined jumpsuits, we were very surprised at the "normal" appearance of the throngs braving the 103 degrees. Never having been a fan of "The King" I was rather complacent about the whole thing, but found myself appreciating the life and accomplishments of Elvis. There is no doubt that his existence is significant, not only musically but socially as well. The historian David Halberstam noted in his work The Fifties, that Elvis appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show and Brown v The Board of Education were the most significant social events of the 20th Century. There you have it....and the Seventies decor is really cool.

If you've never driven a large truck through Washington DC, you should!

The moving is over...and I mean it this time. Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the many moving adventures of the Serkedakis family. However, the perfect storm of moving took place last week with Em and Brink moving AT THE SAME TIME! We had to create a flow chart in order to know where we were supposed to be through the process. Pat flew to the Atl, secured a truck, loaded Brink's stuff, drove back to the Pitt...Another truck was needed for Em..."stuff" was taken off Brink's truck for Em and other "stuff" was put on Brink's truck. Second truck was loaded in Chapel Hill. Millie and I set out for DC driving the big truck after a practice run through "the Pitt" (after all, the traffic in "the Pitt" does resemble DC traffic). Meanwhile Emily, in her car, and Pat driving the other truck head back to Atlanta to spend the night. Millie and I brave I-85 north...I sitting on a large pillow and the Millster on her bed. It was a bit daunting at first, but it was pretty cool being a truck...until I had to turn left off the Key Bridge onto M Street IN THE MIDDLE OF GEORGETOWN....horns blowing and the crunch of a car and the truck. Oh well, no one stopped and the horn blowing subsided. Upon arriving at the new home of the Brink, the movers were informed that I was not backing the truck up under any circumstances...so they backed the beast up and of course wiped out some stupid mirror much to the chagrin of the building manager. Pat and Em? Oh yeah, they left Atlanta and headed for Batesville Mississippi (where the hell is that you are asking...GoogleMaps). Returning the DC truck became a real adventure since we had no idea where the place was. The GPS could not identify the location which was of little concern to Brinkley Richard Petty as she speeds through the streets of Arlington, weaving from lane to lane with me following in her car. I suspected that she was lost when we ended up in the Pentagon parking lot with signs posted everywhere..."NO TRUCKS". I knew it was only a matter of time before we were stopped for being terrorists. We finally stopped at a gas station and asked where Old Jefferson Davis Hwy was, the woman replied, "well that's complicated". Oh really!? But we did find it and you can be assured we won't be back. After "helping" Brinkley getting her place set up, I flew to Memphis, rented a car and drove to that Mississippi mecca, Batesville to assist in the settling of Emily. Pat and I then flew back to RDU to collapse for several days.

Update from Millie

Boy, has today been great! Jane took me for a walk this morning without Katrina. She wouldn't get out of bed. That tells you what a princess she is. We got to the top of the neighborhood hill and I got to be off leash! Can you believe it? I ran around and came right back when Jane called...she was very proud. She even took me up Fire Tower Road, but I got really tired. Natch everyone wanted to know where Katrina was, sigh. I got to meet Jane's friend Archie Cross, he was watering his new trees and let me drink out of his hose. The walks here in the "Pitt" sure are different than in VaHi. We saw rabbits, lizards, a snake skin, a turtle, AND a HORSE! I freaked out and started barking at it. Jane said it was just Surprise and that she was nice.

When we got back I helped Jane with her garden...we watered and weeded and moved some dirt. There sure are a lot of damn things in the yard according to Jane...she constantly mutters damn squirrels, damn weeds, damn bugs. I stuck right by her side the whole time. I'm sure that made her real glad. She didn't call me a damn dog once.

Mom, if you are reading this you will be proud to know that I spotted a deer right by the fence and started barking, of course Katrina acted like she was the one who saw it. We ran out barking like rabid dogs and boy that deer took off. Jane was really excited about this and gave us cookies.

Katrina and I got to stay at home by ourselves for hours this afternoon and there was no damage! Quite a day for a city dog. You better get me soon Mom, I kinda like it here in the country.

As I stood in the shadow of the United States Capitol witnessing the inauguration of Barack Obama I was sure we were entering a new era; an enlightened time. Things were going to change. I was not totally naive, I knew there would be those who would not accept a Black man as President, but I never dreamed that two years later we would be witnessing behavior and rhetoric reminiscent of the 1950's. If you are a White person and think you are being discriminated against or that Blacks are racists, why don't you try to imagine a member of your family being lynched with no judicial recourse. Why don't you try to imagine not being able to use a public restroom, send your children to a "White" school, stay in a hotel, get treatment in a hospital, eat in a restaurant, go to college, sit on a bus, vote, hold public office get a job...do just about anything. Think about the fact that if you actually tried to do any of these things you would be beaten, arrested, maligned, fired, KILLED. Give me a break. Because your lazy son did not get into the "college of his dreams" it is not necessarily because a Black person took HIS PLACE. The right is always pointing out that life is not fair...so, life is not always fair. Racism is a real problem that our society needs to address in a mature manner...Mad Men's new season begins tonight against the backdrop of the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1963. Tune in in case you forgot what REAL racism is.

Stuck Up!!??

I don't think so. I am reserved and well behaved! The nerve she has calling me stuck up. Here's what I have to put up with. Last night Pat and Jane went out to dinner to celebrate Diana's birthday. They left us here thinking that all would be well. Oh no, the minute they got out the door Millie started trying to get me to do bad things. I went back to the closet to escape, but there she was licking me, wanting me to chase her around the house. I knew this was not what we were supposed to be doing so I just stayed there. What does the wild one do? Starts taking Janes' shoes out of the closet and playing with them. I knew then that it was only going to get worse. Millie found her bag with all her stuff in it and proceeded to take everything out...the toys were fine and I thought I could probably play with some of them, but then she got her dog shampoo out, took it into the den and started chewing the top off. Yes, the entire bottle was leaking onto the rug and it was all over Millie. I just got on the couch and pretended I did not see any of it. When I heard the car come into the garage I knew there was going to be trouble. When Jane came in she noticed that All of Millie's toys were strewn everywhere. "How cute, Pat, look Millie got her toys out of the bag". I just shut my eyes. Then they began to notice the torn up paper, the shoes..."what has gone on here?" Jane said, and it wasn't her quiet voice. THEN SHE SAW THE SHAMPOO! It was all over. I fled to the closet with the intent of never coming out.

Millie here...

...I have been left in the "Pitt" again. What can I say? Katrina is so stuck up, she thinks she's better than me. I am going to show her just how good I am you'll see. I like it here but there are sooooo many rules. Jane is a little bit on the fanatic side about the stupid yard. There are areas I am not supposed to go charging through...good grief, it's outside. We went for a walk this morning and I must have been doing something wrong because Jane kept speaking to me rather harshly. I just like to walk pretty fast and I love to shift from side to side, this really makes Jane crazy. I guess she still remembers the time I caused her to trip over me and fall flat in the street. Boy that caused alot of screaming. I have noticed that Jane still has a scar on her knee. I will try to be better tomorrow.

Mom, I hope you find a place for us to live in Washington soon because I miss you.

Way to go Roy!!

Roy Barnes has overwhelmingly won the DemocratiC nomination for Governor of Georgia. The Republicans have a runoff which will pit two conservatives against one another. Each will try to move to the right of the other...maybe they will move each other so far right that they will no longer exist in the world as we know it.

My Brink had something to do with this victory, and her great boss Chris even more. Good work guys.

And, oh by the way, Brinkley is moving again. Later...

Shirley Sherrod shafted

The right wing has once again made fools of themselves...and the lemmings have followed. Ms Sherrod has worked for the Agriculture Department in Georgia for more than 25 years. She made a speech before the NAACP earlier this year where she recounted an episode that took place 24 years ago. She spoke about a white farmer who came into her office seeking help to keep his farm. Shirley told how she felt the man had a rather "superior" attitude and she did not want to give him the maximum help at her disposal. She thought about all the Black farmers who had lost their land and resented it. This is where the right's coverage of this story ends....A Black racist in the Obama Agriculture Department. O'Reilly, Gingrich, Hannity, et al; "She must resign"! "She must be Fired"! Had these lunatics listened to the entire video they would have heard the point of the story she was telling the audience...her attitude had been wrong! She DID end up helping the family and realized that ANY racism was wrong...she had been wrong! This incident happened 24 years ago, not yesterday! The wife of this farmer has come forward today to say that Shirley Sherrod helped her family save their farm. Why are these people so mean? Why do they look only for the worst in people. It's the 21st Century for crying out loud.

Atticus Finch to Uncle Jack (Scout listening in the hallway)

"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand..."