A life in progress

Every year, October really irritates me... for a number of reasons.  Partially because of all of the pumpkin spice nonsense... Seriously.  I think they are terrible.  So terrible.  They taste like sugar and regret.  A little bit like coffee. Anyway, that's not what this is about.  There's another reason that I don't like October. (Sexy Twizzlers, in case you didn't catch it) <sigh>  Make that a two reasons...  Yup -- the pink ribbon.  I HATE the pink ribbon.  And I hear you all screaming right now.  "What?!  Breast Cancer is BAD.  How can you be against breast cancer awareness?!  Are you FOR breast cancer?  Are you a MONSTER??" Short answer - no.  Not a monster, not pro-cancer.  Cancer = bad.  That's a pretty easy side of the fence to be on. As a matter of fact, I have a personal history of breast cancer.  One day about 10 years ago I was attempting ...

Dear America, I am writing to you today with a heavy heart and a conflicted mind.  As you know, last weekend, we were rocked by an unimaginable tragedy that has affected all of our two million citizens.  Most people don't realize there are two million of us. Here's a map for context: (Source: NASA image, circa 2010) To orient you, the red areas are parks and golf courses; the grey areas are buildings; the brown is undeveloped desert.  In total, the metro area covers about 600 square miles.  It is massive.  However, most people don't think of much beyond the casinos and the Las Vegas Strip - which, for reference is that darker grey swath that cuts kind of diagonally through the lower center, with the airport slightly to its east.  For the past week, all of us have been trying to grapple with the idea of someone - for whatever reason - opening fire on a crowd of innocent people, as if it was the opening scene of the latest Hollywood action fi...