Vacation Reflections and We Do Death Wrong

SOME REFLECTIONS FROM VACATION And most of these are random thoughts of things I noted.  I'm simply telling you because I found them interesting.  

Disneyland is NOT equal to DisneyWorld.  This may seem obvious to any of you who have been to both resorts, but I'm not just talking about size.  Everyone who works in Disneyland is from Southern California.  Everyone who works at DisneyWorld is from Somewhere Other Than Orlando.  And the employees at DL do not share the same Disney "magic" as the employees of DW.  My brother pointed out that people who come to work at DW have wanted to work at Disney THEIR ENTIRE LIVES and those in Anaheim just wanted the best $16 an hour job they could find.  The difference shows.  

As I get older, more rides make me feel like puking.  And not just the teacups.  I almost hurled on Mickey's Ferris Wheel at California Adventure.  This was not the case when I was younger and I know it's because the liquid in my ear is thickening as I get older but this is yet another drawback to being the 48 year old mom of a fearless 8 year old.

Brush fires are pretty terrifying.  A brush fire broke out in Anaheim Hills on Monday morning, and we watched it swallow up homes on tv and it moved REALLY, REALLY fast.  I could only imagine what it was like to leave for work Monday morning only to watch your home burn on tv and then have nothing to come home to.  The fire is still only 60% contained but firefighters are winning.  It did make me realize I need to do a video of my entire home and then store it off site.  If something like this hit we would have no time to get anything and I want to make a proper insurance claim.  You should do the same. 

Northern California is seriously on fire.  And more people have died and more damage has been done than Hurricane Harvey and Irma and yet the national news isn't covering it nearly as much.  Why is this?  

Restaurants that service tourist corridors suck.  I experienced this in Orlando until the restaurants realized they would make more money by not sucking.  Anaheim is a sea of chains that seem to be poorly run (the Outback we ate at was dirty, but the food was good) and no one seems to care.  Plan to eat elsewhere if you go.  

In N Out Burger is indeed a very good fast food burger chain.  But I'm not sure it's worth the fawning admiration so many people give it.  I think this is similar to Coors in the 1970's, which was prized simply because you couldn't get it.  That being said, I'd eat there on occasion if it were closer.  

If you are active duty or a veteran, Disney has a deal for you!  We got three day park hopper tickets for $150 a piece with our military ID.  It's going on until December 16th, so get to a park near you! 

Too many people spent the day at the parks staring at their phones.  That is all. 


WE DO DEATH WRONG IN AMERICA And I did not know how wrong until I read Caitlyn Dougty's book From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death. Caitlyn is a mortician by trade and an avid seeker of the best death rituals from around the world.  Some of these are downright macabre, but some of them will make you think about the sanitized way we say goodbye in a whole new light.  Caitlyn joins me at 1:35.  Buy the book here it's really, really good!  


PRAGER U FIGHTS BACK AGAINST THE BOGUS SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER And you should watch it. 

THE HARVEY WEINSTEIN STORY IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN HARVEY And that's saying something.  Now women are accusing Left Wing Darling Ben Affleck (whose brother has faced sexual harassment charges as well) of groping them in multiple ways at multiple parties.  Plus the fallout has been extreme as some women come forward to defend Harvey even though more women have come forward to say he's a scumbag.  Harvey is now in a rehab facility in Arizona and I'm guessing he is going to come out swinging at everyone, like Affleck, who issued the standard moral posturing statement of shock and disdain at Harvey.  This should be fun.  


ALTHOUGH THE WEINSTEIN STORY EXPLAINS A LOT ABOUT HOW HOLLYWOOD REACTED TO THE TRUMP TAPE Because if any of the stuff about Ben Affleck is true it seems that Hollywood men have believed for a long time that they could do EXACTLY what Trump told Billy Bush he could do to women.  Trump just outed the game.  No wonder they were mad.  


BUT HOLLYWOOD CAN'T RESIST MAKING THE WEINSTEIN CASE ABOUT TRUMP As they did when many stars responded to the news that actress Rose McGowan, who has sort of emerged as the face of sexual harassment in Hollywood because she got harassed by Weinstein, had her Twitter account suspended for lashing out about sexual harassment in Hollywood.  Rather than simply asking why her account was suspended, they have to drag Trump's Twitter account into the fray.  Sad, sad Hollywood stars, they don't realize how far their slice of Heaven has fallen.  Yet.  


WHY ARE THERE NO REPERCUSSIONS FOR FALSE CHARGES OF RACISM? And I'm specifically asking about Denver Public Schools and the principal of Manual High School who alleged that fans and students from Weld Central High School waved a Confederate flag and hurled racist slurs during a football game.  Except the accusations have completely fallen apart and now DPS has completely dropped the whole thing like it's no big deal that a principal called an entire fan base racist.  This is NOT okay.  I have to give it to 9News and Next for digging into the story long after everyone else dropped it.  They have found that EVEN BEFORE the principal wrote his missive alleging racist behavior there were some questions about the alleged incident.  But he leveled them anyway.  How many people heard the initial story and then won't hear this story?  Why hasn't the principal had to issue a public apology to Weld Central High School?  Why is it okay to level very serious and charged charges when the evidence doesn't support them?  Because Manual is traditionally black and Weld county is dumb hicks I'm guessing.  


WANT TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE?  TRY THESE HACKS How many of us have said something to the effect of "I just need three more hours in the day" without recognizing the time sucking ways we waste the time we have now?  This article has some really killer ideas on how to make yourself use your time more wisely.  I'm going to schedule my day out tonight before I go to bed and see how that works for me.  


DEAR BOY SCOUTS, WE'RE FINE WITH SELLING COOKIES, THANK YOU I heard the news that the Boy Scouts will be welcoming girls to the pack now.  My overarching feeling is that over at Girl Scout headquarters there is a fit of righteous indignation going on.  This column perfectly shares my initial reaction, which is that it is downright insulting to think that Girls needs Boy Scouts to teach them leadership or all the other skills they have been learning in Girl Scouts for years.  But at least NOW is happy for one second.  Isn't that what it's all about? 


I'M NOT SURE THIS IS GOING TO DO WHAT THEY THINK IT'S GOING TO DO Before Obamacare created federal mandates for what MUST be covered by health insurance, buying insurance across state lines was a GREAT idea.  But now I'm not so sure that President Trump's Executive Order allowing the purchase of insurance over state lines makes much difference.  Why?  Because Obamacare has set up "community rating" pools with narrow networks and every company must cover an ridiculous number of things even if you don't need them.  But hey, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye so I'm willing to wait it out and see what happens.  


SMARTPHONES ARE WHY WE ARE WASTING OUR LIVES I just spent three days at theme parks.  I simply could not believe how many entire families were standing in line staring at their phones while waiting for a ride.  I made a conscious decision that I simply wasn't going to check my phone unless I needed it to find out ride wait times or to find another member of our party.  This column addresses our collective issue with smart phones and being hyperconnected.  It will make you think, especially if you are reading it on your smartphone.  


THIS PROVES COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE BOTH SOFT AND STUPID And it's also depressing.  A new survey shows that college students overwhelmingly believe that speech itself can be a form of violence.  Which is insanity and demonstrates how little ACTUAL violence these students have encountered in their lives.  And they also agree that "hate speech" should be banned, even as they agree that there is no clear definition of what that means.  We have raised the squad who will welcome 1984 style oppression happily.  


THE TEACHER'S UNION IS LYING ABOUT THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE DOUGCO SCHOOL BOARD RACES, JUST LIKE THEY LIED IN JEFFCO And I TRIED to tell people that the supposed "grass roots movement" was nothing of the sort and the teacher's union kept lying about it and then after the election tax returns showed the union LIED again and again.  THEY ARE LIARS WHO LIE because their brand is that toxic.  Read the whole nasty lying thing here


DEMS ARE MAD THEIR TOKEN HIRES CAN'T GET THINGS DONE And I'm talking about DNC Chair Tom Perez and his co chair Rep. Keith Ellison.  What would be better than an Hispanic man and Muslim at the helm, they asked themselves?  Someone qualified to lead the party seems to be the answer.  





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