Happy Halloween

Jessica Watson

I've been following sixteen year old Jessica Watson's blog. On Oct 19, She started on her "unassisted" journey to become the youngest person to sail around the world. The journey supposedly will take 7-8 months.

Zac Sunderland was another teen that just recently returned from a sail around the world. From what I read, his younger sister, Abby, is also attempting this same feat in November.

I don't think I can sleep easily with Tianna attempting this but then again, I am a worry wart, but I do admire Jessica's spirit and bravery. I hope she comes out of this safe and sound. I can't even recall my last act of bravery. Does not squealing when a needle is injected in my elbow count?

Macho Boy

Saturday morning, we noticed that Macho was having erections. Thinking maybe he was just in heat, we left him to his business. However, Kevin kept insisting that he shouldn't be having erections since he has been neutered. We didn't think anything of it until later that evening when we noticed the erections were still occurring and he was also making several trips to his kitty litter. I decided to jump on google to see if there was anything unusual about a neutered cat having erections. The first site I read stated that it was not normal for neutered cat to have erections and he may have a urethral obstruction. If left untreated, could be fatal. Fortunately, we have a 24 hour Pet Hospital so he is doing fine now. Unfortunately, we had to drop $1600 for the treatment and overnight hospital stay. OUCH!!!

Unsolved Murder

In December of my 9th grade year, bludgeoned bodies of a classmate of mine, Sheila Carter-15 (and her friend, Jodi Ragsdale-12) were found on a rural road in Cressey(Merced County). I knew of Sheila from junior high school. I'm sure we never exchanged any words but I remembered her being your normal average student. Summer going into 9th grade, she changed a lot. Gone was the innocence. In it's place, feathered hair, tight stonewashed jeans, thin black liner, and cigarettes. I had two really good friends in junior high school who, over the course of the summer, transformed into this group of highschool kids, stoners - sub culture of skaters/rockers. But then again, who didn't change going into high school??

But I digress. Anyway, the murder shocked me. They were just kids. Nothing happens in Atwater or Merced** (although later I heard out about the abduction story of Steven Stayner in 1972 and then the conviction of his brother Cary Stayner in the murder of 4 women in Yosemite in 1999).

I don't remember the murders of Carter and Ragsdale being solved. I've googled the story through the years to find out if anything had come up. Tonight I found this article. The primary suspect, a Hell's Angel and sex offender, Robert Bobby Thompson was acquitted of the killings in 2008. Months later, he gets gunned down outside a bar in Humboldt county. He survived.

**Edit: What I mean to say was that Atwater was such a small city, everyone knew of everyone. I couldn't conceive of big crimes happening in Atwater. At 14, I thought crimes like murder happened in biggers cities like LA or SF. Though I didn't know Sheila and Jodi personally, I knew of them. So when something like this happens, it really affects the community. I can still remember their names and what they look like to this day. It is only now that I know what occurred and only wished their murderer was brought to justice.

The Wonderous Life of ......

I was in Clear Lake, Texas this past week attending a Tech Summit.

Here is a snapshot of some of our staff in the Texas office. Though, I had a convivial face, I was homesick for Santa Barbara. It was pretty hot and humid. Ate at a place called Valdo's and enjoyed it immensely.

The flight wasn't too bad and I was able to finish "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao". Once again after reading several pages, I was about to put the book down. I didn't care for the english and spanish profanity/slang and excessive use of run on sentences. How did this win the Pulitzer?? Maybe you don't have to be a good writer - just a good story teller?? I kept reading reviews about how his writing was "current" and refreshing. Yikes, if this is what is current, I don't think I want to ready anymore. Of course, it's just my preference. I don't want to read the "n" word and "f" word in every sentence.

The book details the lugubrious lives of a Dominican Family living in New Jersey. (I wonder if the Pulitzer community love these kinds of tragic and lamentable stories?) My daughter's father lives in the Dominican and she will be visiting him this holiday season, so I thought it would be interesting to read about the country. I was thankful for the historical footnotes about the Dominican Republic. I also liked the references to sci fi and Tony Montana! (favorite movie!!)

Aside from the profanity, I found I enojoyed the book and was even sad at the ending. I would definitely recommend the book but Pulitzer material, I don't know.