If the Catholic church condemns who you are, then you should have no interest in sending your child to a Catholic school. Or any other school where you are officially condemned to hell.

I don't understand why anyone would want to expose their child to that. If it's the only decent school in the area, which I realize is often the case, well then, we have bigger problems folks (and of course we do). You can't rely on an institution that officially disapproves of you to provide education to your child.

Unfortunately, the Catholic church can condemn and disapprove of anything they want, and if you disagree with them, then you should go right ahead and not be Catholic. For example, I am not Catholic, and not coincidentally, I agree with basically none of the church's policies or positions. See how that works out? I don't have to care what it says because it's not my church. Everybody wins.

Fortunately, this country is one where everyone is allowed religious freedom, including freedom FROM religion. So you don't have to be subjected to religious beliefs you disagree with. Yes, of course, you might have to hear them, because everyone has the right to free speech (even Republicans - ha ha), but fortunately you are not subject to anything you disagree with. You are perfectly free to not be a member of any religion you please.

(By the way, I understand of course that this is traumatic for the children, and that's awful, but I just don't understand why they were exposed to this at all. My children would never have been enrolled in a Catholic school to start, therefore when the church realized or decided I was objectionable somehow, my kids wouldn't have to be tossed out like garbage.)

Tomorrow I took the day off and we are having snow boarding adventure number 2. It is also only the second time Rob has been snow boarding so he doesn't get to be superior to me like he is skiing (although he's a very good teacher and very nice - doesn't pick on me for not being as good as he is).

Here's what happened last year when we went: I mastered the art of grinding all the way down the slope completely on the heel edge. This is very slow going, not at all what you're supposed to do, and KILLS your stomach muscles.

Fact: if you want rock-hard abs, take up snowboarding. Seriously. Mine hurt so bad after just one day of doing this that a couple times I considered that I actually might have done some kind of serious damage like torn something or injured an organ.

Read the rest of this post ]]> Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:23:14 -0400 http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/2010/03/04/17/23/14/index.html#snowboarding_take2 http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/Technology/blackberry_locking_message_alerts#blackberry_locking_message_alerts We just instituted a policy at work of everyone with a mobile device such as an iPhone or Blackberry having it time out and lock with a password.

One of the Blackberry users reported to me that his Blackberry no longer vibrated to alert him to new messages when it was in the locked state.

I did a little testing and found that if you edit the profile you're using (in my case, the "Normal" profile) so that it always vibrates both in and out of the holster to alert you to new desktop messages, it fixes the problem.

Here's exactly what to do:

Read the rest of this post ]]> Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:40:14 -0400 http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/2010/03/03/09/40/14/index.html#blackberry_locking_message_alerts http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/PetPeeves/crazyrant_relatedtotechnology#crazyrant_relatedtotechnology I promised to "post it to my weblog" but have since realized that I was going just a teensy bit overboard, so I can't just post my thoughts at the time without a qualification that I realize that I was seriously over-generalizing and making not all that much sense. People such as my parents should not be insulted by this please. It made sense to me at the time. I thought it had some basis in reality.

In any case, I'm pretty sure most readers would find it entertaining, so here it is, to the best of my recollection:

Me: You know what? It's time for the last generation to retire and let our generation fucking take over. They don't know what the hell they're doing.

Rob: Are you sure you want to make that statement? You think our generation is more qualified?

Me: Yes! Our generation is the only one who knows what the fuck they are doing. We are better than people in the generation ahead and the generation behind us.

Rob: (laughing openly) Really? You're saying that everyone in our generation is better than everyone in the generation before or after?

Me: I'm not saying they're perfect but yes. We are all better than our parents' generation or the douchebag kids graduating from college right now. Our parents' generation doesn't know how the hell to use any technology anything and all have sticks up their asses and can't do shit. The kids behind us are apathetic assholes who would shoot their own mom in the face for five dollars.

Rob: I think you may want to rethink these statements.

Me: I'm posting this on my weblog. You'll see.

Rob: (again, laughing at me) You go ahead. I'm sure you will.

You're welcome, folks. You're welcome.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and Rob took a lot of photos and videos, some of which are hilarious, (though they are not of me falling because he was always skiing with me and is not quite good enough to hold a camera and ski at the same time) which I plan to post soon.

However, suffice it to say that I have been re-reminded of what a good workout skiing is, and if someone would like to sponsor my efforts to get in excellent shape, I will gladly go skiing every day. I promise I will be in great shape very quickly.

Sunday and Monday were a little rough. Today is the first day I can actually cross my legs without using my arms to pick up the leg and put it on top of the other. Ha. Almost every muscle in my body is sore.

But it's so fun!

More to come soon.

Example:

Most Americans think Tibet should be independent

Tip: China doesn't give a fuck what most Americans think, so your thinking has no effect and the reporting of the opinion just annoys the shit out of me.

By the way, I agree that Tibet should be independent, and I might even rant about it on my blog, but I just don't think it's a NEWS STORY. In related non-news news, check this out:

Al Franken sponsors bill condemning Uganda's anti-homosexuality act

Again, listen Al, I agree with you and everything but Uganda does not give a shit if we pass a "bill" officially saying "We think you are jerks". Now if you're going to recommend trade embargoes or something, maybe that makes sense, but seriously, passing a bill in congress to officially disapprove of something? What is the fucking point? Can our government not find something better to do with its time? How about repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell - you know, something that actually affects Americans' lives?

There are lots of other problems in this country we could choose to address instead of spending our time officially disapproving of things. Here are a few:

• Education
• Homelessness
• Poverty
• The fallout from the mortgage crisis
• Unemployment
• The environment
• Healthcare

I'm sure anyone reading this can come up with a few more. I do not give a crap about people's opinions if no one is doing anything about it. That's not news. Please, can our representatives in the government take their jobs seriously and stop wasting time passing useless bills that mean nothing, and writing memoirs and other fucking bullshit?

Get real people.

TSA to swab airline passengers' hands

Fabulous. Here's a problem:

Because some legal substances -- such as fertilizers and heart medicines -- can result in "false positives," Stanley said the ACLU also wants to ensure that people who test positive be treated respectfully.

Thanks, ACLU, for looking out for us while The Man tries to find another way to make us miserable.

Oh, hi, 80 year old grandmother, you have swabbed positive! Break out the handcuffs! What's that? You are taking heart medicine? Suck it Grandma, you're going down.

Welcome to 2010. Enjoy your post body-cavity-search and naked x-ray machine and hand-swabbing flight!

Read the rest of this post ]]> Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:13:19 -0400 http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/2010/02/15/13/13/19/index.html#picasa_embedded_album http://jennmartinelli.net/weblog/Fashion/shoes_2010_0212#shoes_2010_0212 My problem is I love them and if I had lots of spare cash I would spend a lot of it on shoes. I'm sure it is cliche but I can't help it. Shoes = happy.

Hey, cut me a little slack, these are all on sale at least...

Grandeur:

Skylark:

Verner:

Day:

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.