A widget for The Police Tour

I just thought I would put this on my blog because I liked it and wanted to be able to find it again. :-)

Putin and his Segway

Well it looks like Bush and Putin may have come up with an agreement, but I am a little concerned about it. Having a missile defense station within Russia for us to use seems like not necessarily the best thing. There is talk about how this have fixed the relationship between the US and Russia. Maybe it is me but I wouldn't want to have to trust a country for missile defense when our relations with that country became so cool that people were worried about a New Cold War. With both Bush and Putin being lame ducks (Well officially Putin's term ends next year, but only time can tell if he will really step down, I am doubtful because of his KGB background.) they are both looking out for their reputations as they leave office. So we will see what will come of this all.. I need to read more in the Russian papers and see what they are saying.

At least Putin got a Segway as a parting gift. ;-) And maybe he got a missile defence station for his country.

t minus 3 days and counting

Well Bush has already shown up in Maine for the Bush-Putin Summit....Putin will be showing up on Sunday. They have already announced where the secure zones are in Kennebunkport and the Coast Guard is already to enforce Walker's Points waterfront. Everyone is talking about how this is history being made. They might be right. I am still concerned about what will happen during those all important 24 hours that Putin will be here. I guess I have to just wait and watch like everyone else, but it has been making me a bit anxious. I don't trust either of these guys as far as far as I can throw them...yes I used to throw the shot put, but I can't throw them far. Well I guess I will be reading both the US and Russian papers closely the next few days to see what happens.

My little Red Sox fan

When Horse Girl went to bed tonight I read 86 Years: The Legend of the Boston Red Sox by Melinda Boroson to her. When we were done she started to talk to me about Curt Schilling and how he played with a bloody and hurt ankle. She said to me "He is a great man. He is a brave man." Yes sweetie he will always be a guy I admire....he put everything on the line in that game...he might never have played again, but he push himself farther then anyone else would push him....and that is something I admire in a person.

Currently Schilling is on the disabled list....with an injured shoulder who knows how long he will be on the disabled list and I don't care he will always be the Red Sox designated hero. I also know if the team really needed him again like they did in 2004 he would push himself again. It is nice to know he is able to take a break and let himself heal.

I am pleased to know that Horse Girl seems to understand hard work and dedication are qualities that I value because she so clearly understood what Schilling has done for the Red Sox.

I need to get this bumper sticker

I just saw this on a car when I was coming back from swimming this morning. I need to get it. :-)

A couple odds and ends

I just had a couple little odds and ends that I thought I should post.

First thing when I was away a guy at the hotel didn't believe I was old enough to be Horse Girl's mother. He was all upset about Horse Girl getting breakfast all by herself, even though I was right next to her. When I told him I was her mother he didn't believe me. Then I told him my age. He did a double take and said "Good work." So I guess being sixteen at heart sometimes shows through to the people looking at me. ;-)

The one of the other things is that a few posts ago I said the only thing I could think of that I have been doing longer then Studying Russian History was swimming. I came up with something else. I have been listening to the band The Police for longer time then I have been studying Russian History. I have always been a big fan member of their Fan Club and all that jazz and I will finally be seeing them in concert on July 29th. I had long given up hope when it came to seeing them in concert, but luck prevailed. :-)

The last thing is that Fly Guy got me this book, Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy, by Anna Politkovskaya and the forward by Anne Applebaum. Anne Applebaum wrote this great book on the Gulags that I have read. It is well written and researched. Anna Politkovskaya also wrote a great book about Chechnya which I have read and really helps a person understand what is going on there. Anna Politkovskaya isn't a historian she was a journalist for Novaya Gazeta....a very good one at that. She was murdered in October 2006. Since 2000, when Putin came to power, there have been 12 Russian journalist murdered while working stories Russian politicians, mafia and oligarchs didn't want worked on, that is including Anna Poltikovskaya.

Any how I really look forward to reading this book on Putin. It is a few years old published in 2004, but Putin hasn't gotten any better, he just has gotten worse so it will be interesting to find out what she wrote.

Music Camp and my alma mater

History Girl went to Band Camp today....it takes place at the university I got my BA at. It was weird to pick her up because memories came back. I have a strange relationship with my alma mater . When I first was applying to schools when I was in high school I never even thought twice about USM, because it was local and because it was where all the losers went. Even though one of my closest friends went there but she went because of money issues. She was ahead of me in school so when I was a Senior in high school I would spend the night with her at her dorm...we would hang out and she was the first person to show me what was to become the Internet....the university was on Bitnet and I used Bitnet relay which fostered my love of communication over computers. My friend was a music major so the place I had to pick up History Girl from was the building I hung out with my friend. So I have many fond memories of the University.

When it was time for me to go to college I ended up going away to New York to go to school. I ended up in an abusive relationship while I was there which really negatively effected my performance in school...not surprising at all. I have dealt with the issues with the abuse, but I still can "see" the carpet that I woke up seeing when I came to after a beating. It was a short pile tan carpet and it smelled like a new carpet, there were dark spots that it took me a bit to realize was my blood. I was able to the hospital with some help from some friends. Turned out when my boyfriend found out that I had left he went on a rampage...I have heard different stories about how he had a knife with him or how he had a gun with him and he asked friends where I was, but nobody would tell him where I was.

dropped the ball about getting me a computer for the test that day. This After a few years I hadn't gotten my feet back under me, I felt like I was stupid and a failure and stuff like that. I had met Fly Guy and he knew I was smart and he encouraged me to do whatever seemed right for me. I decided I had to get out of New York. I wanted to get back to school. The only school that would take me with the grades I had was USM and I was excepted on probation...I can't remember if I had to get Cs or better or Bs or better or they would let me go. Well I made dean's list ....I made dean's list nearly every semester I went to USM....I seem to remember not making it when I took Asian History because I didn't like that course. I had amazing professors.....I had this one who was very excepting of my learning differences she even let me use her laptop for a test once because the Office for Students with Disabilities professor was the hardest History professor in the department. People told me I was insane to have her advice me for my Senior Theses...I was told she never gives anything higher then a B- when she was grading Senior Theses....I did mine on the Shoah (another term for the Holocaust which I rather to use...why is another blog posting) and homosexual men. I ended up getting an A on it.

During my time at USM I worked hard because I need to prove to myself I could do it and there was a major cloud over me because of what I had dealt with a few years before. So when I go to the campus I have all these feelings. Remembering the fun I had with my friend when I was in high school. I remember my time in New York. Remembering the gratitude that I felt for being given a second chance. The feeling of sadness because I don't feel like I lived up to my expectations.

So all these feelings swirled together when I drove on to the campus to pick up History Girl. Because of that I didn't handle her saying she didn't like band camp. I think she is just tired and once she settles in she in she will like it. At least I didn't yell at her....I just told her that I didn't want to talk about it now and we could talk about it later. Well she is yelling at Horse Girl....time to break it up. :-)