Bomboniera

So maybe I’m the last person under the sun to do it, but I finally added a profile to MySpace. (I’m heartened by the fact that the MySpace ad sales guy I talk to only joined a few months ago himself.) Now I just a friend or two…

I’ve changed my email address to rachel.perrone at hotmail.com. Never thought I’d do it, but the older I get, the sillier I feel having a fun email address rather than something simple.

Okay, I tried, but Friendster’s blogs are just too, too user unfriendly. Features that are free elsewhere (helloooo, html!) I’d have to pay for here. For what reason? And the notification thing can’t be fixed on my end. So, I packed up all the old posts and moved to Wordpress. From here on out, you can find me here: http://bomboniera.wordpress.com.

     No, no news yet. The candle thing’s getting out of control. Note to self: tomorrow, turn off the ringer on the home phone.

     Jen: How many times have you checked your answering machine today?

     Me: Ummmmm… my neighbors prooooobably think I’m being stalked.

     I’m not feeling so great today - nerves, perhaps? - so forgive me if this is  brief and/or disconnected. My belly’s going 2-4-6, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m having a terrible hair day.

     On Feministing, Jessica posted about Proposition 73 in California, a project I worked on. Much to our delight, it failed. Now a group is bringing forward, basically the same thing, for another bite at the apple. Just so we’re all on the same page, when pro-choice decisions are made the courts, anti-choice organizations howl that it’s inappropriate because it doesn’t represent "the will of the people." But when the people cast their votes in opposition of dangerous anti-choice initiatives, that’s unacceptable because… um…  it didn’t go their way, apparently. "The turnout was very high in the liberal areas of the state and surprisingly low in more conservative areas." That’s called getting out the vote, sugar, and it’s really pretty elemental to elections.

     If there’s one thing that aggrevates me (and I assure you, there are many) it’s when organizations base its slams on arguments that are… so basic. "We have to have another vote because they got more votes then we did!" The other one I like is, "They’re trying to raise money!" Who doesn’t raise money? If you want to make an argument that it’s the only reason and organization supports a particular position/candidate/etc., that’s one thing. But to argue that an organization is evil and must be destroyed solely because it raises money? No, I don’t think so. I’m here to tell you, noooooooobody operates solely on the good faith and moral support of their members. That ain’t paying the electric bills. I’d be hard-pressed to point out a national organization, one that you’ve heard of, that gets things done, that runs on volunteers alone… and even they pay rent.

     Anyway. Back to work. I’m sure I’ve got some high priority filing to take care of…

     UPDATE: Shira wins the big prize for finding the original AP wire story on Tony Morelli! She tells me the story wound up in the Chicago Sun-Times, Toronto Globe & Mail, The Harrisburg Patriot, San Francisco Chronicle and The Times (of London) This is like a second Christmas. Now I just need to get her working on the story of that Mahfood kid…

Driver Causes Damage to Three Rivers Stadium

3 December 1987

The Associated Press

(Copyright 1987. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

    

     PITTSBURGH (AP) _ A man drove a station wagon into Three Rivers Stadium Thursday, nearly hitting four workers as he sped along walkways at up to 50 mph, knocked over gallons of nacho cheese and wrecked the car, authorities said.

     The driver, Tony E. Morelli, 30, of Wintersville, Ohio, was kicking imaginary field goals on the football field when he was arrested by police, authorities said.

    Morelli underwent a psychiatric examination at St. John’s Health and Hospital Center, where doctors released him in police custody, said police spokeswoman Margaret Rizza.

     No one was hurt in the incident, Rizza said. Charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and criminal trespass were pending, she said.

     The car entered the stadium at about 11 a.m. through Gate C, which was open, officials said.

     "He just rode in here in a white station wagon and took half the wall off my office, a concrete brick wall, then he ran into a couple of our four-wheel-drive trucks with 70 to 80 gallons of nacho cheese," said Ted Winters, 62, of Pittsburgh, commissary manager.

     Witnesses said the car was covered with cheese as it left the stadium at Gate B and re-entered, racing along walkways and up ramps at speeds up to 50 mph, according to stadium worker Jim Pearce.

     Pearce was among four workers who said the car narrowly missed them.

     Pearce said he and worker Read Allen closed Gate B so that the car could not leave the stadium again.

     The car, meanwhile, raced up three levels and could have gone as far as the fifth level, the highest in the stadium, but it turned right and hit a wire gate, where it stopped, witnesses said. Morelli then went onto the field below, witnesses said.

     A damage estimate was not immediately available.

     Winters said stadium workers "scooped up" the spilled cheese and threw it in the dumpster then mopped up the floors. "It don’t run like water. It’s pretty thick," he said.

I’m curious. You think most people think that nacho does run like water? Hm.

     Good God, this is insane. It’s a cartoon love song to eggs! Click it! Love it!

     A college friend and I once joked that the best thing about meeting new people was the opportunity to drag out our oldest stories, the "Rachel Classics," the ones my friends can tell for me they’ve heard them so many times. This past weekend was one of those times, as I got to tell the oldest chestnut of them all, about Tony Morelli driving his car into Three Rivers Stadium. Even better is that, at Shira’s insistence, I looked it up on LexisNexis and found this 1997 "On this Date" article and a few interesting tidbits came to light:

Ten years ago (Thursday, Dec. 3, 1987)

     — Tony Morelli, 30, of Wintersville, Ohio, was in the Allegheny County Jail Behavior Clinic after driving his Plymouth Reliant station wagon through chained gates, knocking over several vats of nacho cheese dip, up the interior pedestrian ramps of Three Rivers Stadium to the third level. Arresting officer Frank Vetere said, ”He said he was tired of (Steelers quarterback Mark) Malone’s passing.”

     1. It appears that I did not make up the detail about the nacho cheese all over the car. I am delighted. I will continue to imagine actual nachos, or hot dog buns stuck to the cheese.

     2. I always thought it was Bubby Brister, not Mark Malone, that had so enraged the young Tony Morelli. (Aside: it amuses me to realize that I’m now older than he was at the time.) But eh, this detail is less important, and far less entertaining, than the nacho cheese.

     …I go through my morning ritual of reading through the blogs, wince at whatever mud firedoglake’s got to throw at my employer today, then settle in to learn something at Twisty’s feet.

     The “boys’ achievement gap” in education–you know the one where too many girls are on the honor roll?– is now a bona fide phenomenon, and the cure for it appears to be allowing the young excrescences to swing from the chandeliers at school. At one Boulder elementary school, requiring boys to act “like girls” is a thing of the past; educators now “honor [boys’] neurological strengths.” Which means cultivating their inner Genghis Khans, letting them “write essays” entirely with drawings, and suggesting they do “reports” on such historically significant dudes as Tony Hawk.

     “Girls tend to be more compliant and willing to sit down and do what they’re told. Boys are less tolerant of that,” [the principal] said. “If they don’t have control and they’re not interested, they’re less likely to buy in. So we really need to approach it that way, and not make everyone act and behave like girls.”

     Focus your keen analytic powers on that last sentence. Note the whiff, however faint, of the principal’s disdain for girls, who, even though they are perceived as the superior scholars in this context, are still considered weird variants of normal. “Everyone” should not be made to behave like them.

     If this were really a call to abolish the feminine, I’d be all for it. But “everyone” doesn’t mean everyone, it means “boys.” Apparently girls, those freaks of nature, are still expected to behave “like girls.” Do not expect them to be doing reports on Kathleen Hanna any time soon.

     Now that the national kid debate has shifted to the horrible plight of broken-spirited boys forced to conform to degrading girl standards, the ability to “sit still,” once thought of as a virtue in a child, is now attributed specifically to the female, and, like everything “feminine,” is instantly devalued. All these teachers can talk about, all of a sudden, is the egregious pain inflicted when a boy is made to sit at a faggy feminizing desk. His “15% more spinal fluid” makes this an unthinkable torture.

It’s a fairly long post, but do, do go check it out.

     Whee! Nifa tagged me, and I’m just pleased as punch. It’s such a dreary, rainy day, and I not only have to move, but rally for Jen’s big party tonight. So far I’ve made it as far at the Safeway on the corner for baked Doritos and pop.

     1. Three books I can read over and over.

          Isn’t this a damn shame? Nothing is leaping to mind…

          a. The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy. Silly, I know, but they remind me of when I first read them, and I still have a big mushy soft spot for that sort of humor. Years ago, Andrea asked/said to me, "You like things that are clever, don’t you." And I do.

          b. America’s Women. It’s a fairly straightforward book, recounting tales of women who, for the most part, weren’t famous or renowned. The book is just letters and stories from women who led fairly ordinary lives, and for that reason I found it incredibly interesting.

          c. The Joy of Cooking. Like Gideon’s Bible, they should leave copies of this in every kitchen. I read and refer to this thing constantly.

     2. Three places I’ve lived

          a. Ohio (Steubenville, Oxford, Columbus)

          b. Pittsburgh

          c. Washington, DC

      3. Three TV shows I love (right now)

          a. Good Eats (don’t look so surprised)

          b. Dirty Jobs.

          c. Mythbusters.

     4. Three highly regarded and recommended shows (that I’ve never watched a minute of)

          Three’s not nearly enough.

          a. The Shield

          b. Rescue Me

          c. Lost

     5. Three places I’ve vacationed

          a. Fort Lauderdale

          b. Hilton Head

          c. Marathon Key/Key West (best. vacation. ever.)

     6. Three of my favorite dishes

          a. Nana’s chicken and potatoes

          b. Sushi

          c. My mom’s wedding soup

     7. Three places I’d rather be right now

          a. Steubenville, at Nana’s or my mother’s.

          b. New York City

          c. Pittsburgh

     8. Three places I visit daily

          Omitting the obvious choices, like here, hotmail, work, etc. All three of these help me get through the day when the sexism gets a little thick.

          a. Pandagon

          b. Feministe. Even better because the women at these blogs get into great conversations. Case in point - see "Sick" and "Can Rape Jokes Ever Be Funny."

          c. Angry Black Bitch. Because I’m a sucker for smart and funny.

     I know, I know, I’m still hearing about these notification emails everyone is getting, every time I update. I’ve looked high and low, and I still haven’t found a way to turn them off. So for now it looks like you have two options on your end:

1) Go to My Settings, at the top right-hand corner of the regular Friendster page, and click no to Receive Friend Updates.

2) Take me off your friends list. This doesn’t thrill me, but I understand. It’s annoying.

     Playing around online today, I was so sad to see Best Week Ever link to the Chewbacca blog, because I had it on my list of things to post and it just looks like I’m copying. Tsk.

     Still no phone call, and I’ve checked my home answering machine more often than a single girl who’s expecting him to call. It’s such a quiet, stupid day, and to boot, Jen’s out of  town. I’m a YoYo with no Hoops. (As you can see, she made him a little hat, from her origami book. I don’t think I’m allowed to play with the origami book anymore. We’ve agreed that I suck at it.) The good news is, we’re closing early today. Plenty of time to get some errands done, and hopefully finish my taxes. We owe this year! I don’t know how that happened. I’ve always gotten a refund. But this year I owe over a thousand dollars. It’s breaking my heart.

     You know what would soften the blow a great deal? If the freaking phone would ring, and deliver me some good news. Grrrrrrrrr.