Nope

     Chick-fil-A.  Who would have ever thought that a fast food chicken restaurant would cause such a rift in the fabric of this nation.  Until recently the only people that Chick-fil-A pissed off were mall employees on a Sunday.  Now everyone has opinions and ultimately it's not going to matter what we say on Facebook because in a week or so social media will have moved on to another hot button issue.
     I live in Alabama, but I am pretty liberal.  I don't have a problem with what Dan Cathy said because he does have the freedom to express his viewpoints.  On the other hand, the rest of the population has the right to make a big stink about it.  It's not great for business what Cathy said.  Pissing off any portion of the population that is in your target audience isn't business savvy.  That's Public Relations 101.
     I have made the decision to not eat at Chick-fil-A for the foreseeable future.  Not because the CEO in his ivory tower said something I disagree with but my "beef" with the company stems from money.
     I don't want to give my money to a company that in turn gives a portion of it to PACs, Super PACs, and lobbyists that campaign for discrimination.  I have problems with businesses giving money secretly to organizations that I, the consumer, disagree with. 
     And yes it's discrimination that is going on.  When a certain portion of the population is not allowed to do something that another portion of the population is allowed to do based solely on their sexual preference, that's discrimination.  There is no other way around it.  All citizens should be treated equally under the laws, and that is not happening right now.
     Growing up in Alabama has exposed me to lots of uber-conservative people.  People here are never going to accept homosexuals let alone allowing them to get married.  There are people who are still raised to hate black people.  I know them.  I went to school with them.  So to expect the majority of people in the South to open their minds to something different is almost asking the impossible. 
     So do what you want with your chicken.  Eat it or not.  Life will go on as it always does.  One thing that this controversy has done is allow you to see which of your friends don't want gay people to be treated fairly and equally, because really who am I to tell anyone they cannot get married to the person they love.
    

Tears of Joy

     Last night was the first time that I can remember crying tears of joy.  I had surgery on my lower back yesterday to relieve some pressure on the nerve that was causing pain and numbness in my left leg.  I woke up about 3:30 am last night because my pain medication had worn off.
     I lied in bed for a little while before I got up to re-up my medicine.  I was drinking some OJ in the kitchen noticing that there wasn't much pain in my hip and leg where there had been just 24 hours earlier.  I picked my left knee up and there was no pain.  No pain.  NO PAIN!!!
     There was a rush of emotions, and then the tears came.  All of the pain I was silently enduring for over six months was gone.  I felt normal again.  I know it is only one day, but I have hope that someday I will be able to feel normal again.

Writing: Day Four

     Today is the fourth day of writing.  I didn't much actual writing done, but I did get some sort of outline completed (and a set up up for a sequel).  I printed out what I had so far and let Paige start to read it.  She read a little and then asked me what the hell was going on.  I summarized what I had so far, and we came up with a rough outline.  It seems like a decent story line, but we will have to see how much effort we can both put into the work.  I really want Paige to help with this because I want her to get back to being creative again. 
     The next thing we have to decide is what pen name we want to use.  I want something really cool but not too cheesy.  We are currently taking suggestions and will make a decision later.

      Lastly we added a new family member yesterday.  She is black and white and a kitten.  Her name is Molly.  We figured we would just name everything in our life after Beatles' songs. Here's a picture of her.

Writing: Day Three

     Today is my third day of writing.  I am not sure what I really did to the storyline as a whole, so I am going to have to go back and read it.  I never really liked reading anything I had written once I had penned it.  It was tough to not have to read growing up because my writing wasn't that great.  Now I find myself not editing my writing especially for class.  Often Paige will edit my grammar, but nothing major.  I think I have finally become a good writer.  My sister would be proud.
     On a completely different note, I got to thinking today and it occurred to me that there were things that I had done that I would probably never tell Lucy.  There's nothing too bad like killing a hooker, but there are things that I have done that I'm not proud of, and I don't want my daughter to think it is okay.  That also got me thinking about what my parents have done and not told me.
     My conclusion was that there are things that our children will never know about us.  That's okay I guess. 

Firsts in Life

     One of the perks to being a first time parent is experiencing first times with you child.  Often times I find myself remarking to Paige every time Lucy does something for the first time.  I find that we are having firsts more and more each day.  The old adage is true - they do grow up fast. 
     Memorial day weekend saw another first as Lucy took her first boat ride.  She loves when wind blows in her hair so we figured she would have a good time.  Well here are some pics, and you can see for yourself.

Writing: Day Two

     Today was the second day of my writing adventure.  I have added 700 words since the last post.  So far it has been loosely based on some parts of my life.  There are, however, some things that are very different from my life. 
     I have yet to show it to Paige yet.  I am not sure how she is going to take it or if she will even like it.  We work very well together in creative ways.  We act as an editor for one another often times, and it is helpful to have the ability to bounce ideas off of an equally talented person (hopefully that will score some brownie points).
     Recently Paige has been doing some PR work for a new restaurant, Skys, that has just opened up in downtown Gadsden.  By the way we had lunch there today and it was pretty damn good.  You could taste the quality in the ingredients that the chef used.  Paige told me that people come eat at the restaurant just because he is the chef there.
     Any who, she was rewriting the mission statement, and I was giving her suggestions of what to change each sentence to when I realized that I could totally do public relations.  I am a good writer, and I know what people want to be told.  I understand advertising language and tactics used to entice people. 
     So all of that means someone needs to give me a job in public relations.  I am pretty good...and cheap.

Writing

     Today I started some free writing.  When I get bored I like to play around on StumbleUpon.  One of my likes is writing, and often I stumble onto pages where people are talking about writing.
     I have had the desire to write some type of story for some time.  I have been so busy with school the last couple of months that I have not had any time to do anything intellectually that wasn't school work.
     My May class ended a couple of days ago, and know I have a month free from school to have some fun with my mind.  I have been thinking about ideas to write about, and I got my first inspiration from NPR.  There was an interview with a movie director, and his movie gave me an idea of something I could write down on paper with relative ease.
     To this point I have written about 1,300 words in my story.  I am not really sure where I want to end it at because I keep finding ways to continue the story along. 
     I forgot to mention that I am having surgery on my back next week.  Next Thursday I will go under the knife and have a bulging disc in my back repaired.  I figured my recovery time could be utilized writing some type of story.  Hopefully by the end of June I can have something to publish on the Kindle library, because in July I start another summer class. 
     I hope that I enjoy writing as much as I think I will.  I feel like I am a creative and talented sort, and I have been putting off showing my talents off with the rest of the world.  It has come to a point where I need to put up or shut up.