The Numbers Say It All

**I would like to start this post by saying that this is not a "gay bashing" post. I don't consider myself homophobic or anything. I've had friends who are gay and have had the nicest neighbors that are trans-gendered, but that doesn't mean that I think what they are doing is right. BUT, I do believe that they deserve all the same rights that other Americans have. I strongly believe that we need to add "sexual orientation" to that long list of people and things that we can not discriminate against.**

So I saw this article today on Google news and I found it very interesting. It's basically citing this study that says that only 3.5% of the American population identifies themselves as being homosexual. The reason this is a big deal is because that the homosexual community has been saying that 10% of the population was homosexual, when it's actually been only 3.5%. That's a pretty big difference. I find this to be very interesting for a couple reasons.

I, like many others, have seen the show Glee on Fox. I have a love/hate relationship with this show. I like the music and the dancing, but I've found the story and the characters to be a little much. I know TV

exaggerates real life, but they seemed to be stretching it too far. And the one thing I thought was odd was the "token" gay character. And if you know the show it feels like all the students in the show are "token" characters in some way. They have the "token" black girl, the "token" disabled kid and so on.

And to be fair, you have to have African-American and Disabled-Americans in these shows. I found this article that says, "In 2009, 19.5 million people, or 9.9 percent of the civilian non-institutionalized population age 16 to 64, had a disability." And this Wikipedia article about the 2010 census states that 12.6% of the US population is black.

But, the big but, only 3.5% of the US population is homosexual. So why do we feel that we have to have them in every show? Why do we have to make it seem that every other person you meet on the street is gay, lesbian, etc.?

And really, I find it interesting that the homosexual community is always trying to pump their numbers and make it look like they're a stronger force to be reckoned with than they really are.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours? What do you think of the sudden surge in homosexual characters in TV and movies? And what do statistics like this make you think?

The Bird Incident

So some of you might know some of this story already since I posted this video on Facebook on Saturday, but I thought I should give a fuller written account as well.

So Saturday morning, at about 10am, Daniel comes into our bedroom and wakes me from sleeping in to say that he thinks there is a mouse in the dryer vent hose. So of course I get up and come with him into the kitchen. Daniel pulls the dryer away from the wall and I hear and see the creature moving inside.

"That's too big to be a mouse. It has to be a rat," I say.

Daniel agrees with me and then we begin to discuss what to do. We have seen rats around the dumpster that sits in the parking lot and those suckers are a foot long, at least, not counting the tail. We didn't have any rat poison or traps or anything. So in the end we got a deep box and our fire bat. We figured that if we opened up the hose on the end that was connected to the dryer, we could coax the rat into the box and then take it out side or something. And we had the bat just in case it got out and we needed to beat it.

Neither one of us wanted to beat a rat, that would just be too gross. But we couldn't have a rat loose in our apartment. At the time we had Will in his crib, and he was not happy about it. But we knew that we had to get the creature out of the apartment.

So, as Daniel is unhooking the hose, I grab my camera and start recording. As you see in the video we put the loose end of the hose in the box and soon enough the creature began to come down. I was hovering right over the box so that I could get a good shot of it. And the first thing we see is this very pointy head and my first thought is, "That's an awfully pointy head for a rat."

And then a bird came flying up into my face! I scream and run into the living and end up curled up in a ball on the couch. I had totally forgotten about the camera at this point.

Daniel screams, "It's a bird!"

And my intelligent response is, "It's a F*ing bird!"

So the bird is flying around in a panic and all I can think is, "Oh no, it's going to land on me. Or worse, it's going to poop on everything."

So then I scream to Daniel, "Open the door! Open the door!" Of course forgetting that I'm closer to the door than he is. So he comes dashing through the living room, knocking over the baby gate that's in the kitchen doorway in the process and opens the door. The bird shot out the door and Daniel and I fell into a laughing fit.

And all the while, poor little Will is screaming and crying in his crib.

After we had calmed down and gotten Will is settle down as well, I jumped on my computer and posted the video. I just thought the whole thing was too funny not to share. I just wish I had actually gotten a shot of the bird flying around in a panic, but I was freaking out too much. Either way, it was a very exciting morning here in the Siemens's household.

As an ending note, I have created a You Tube Channel where you can view the bird video as well as the last couple videos I've posted on my blog. You should totally subscribe! :) And don't forget to check out my writing blog and read my latest post about my current Work in Progress (WIP).

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment, especially if you have any funny Wild Animal in the House stories.

Video Blog: Bullying

Please visit StopBullying for more information about what you can do in your communities and schools or with your kids to stop bullying. Thanks to my sister Carrie for directing me to this link.

This one is a bit longer than the last one and I'm still working on my editing skills, so I apologize for any jumpiness. But please tell me what you think about the subject, the video, whatever. I love comments!

Interesting Blog About Boring People

Today’s post is brought to you by Daniel. I’m allowing him to do this because his view on the world is often times way more interesting than mine. Enjoy!

So I decided to write a blog. And since my wife already has one, I figured I’d occasionally post on hers. I got this idea from a coworker of mine a while back. You see, I am an accountant. I work with numbers, financials, tax returns, and Medicare cost reports. My wife, who recently became a stay at home mom, worked at a credit union as a teller, receptionist and then a loan interviewer, the usual credit union stuff. So my coworker comes to me one day and says, “So you’re an accountant and your wife works at a credit union….You guys must have very boring dinner conversations. “ I thought about it. At first I thought yea I guess it could be boring to some people, and then I thought naaahh! So I decided to write a blog.

This is the interesting blog about boring people. At least I hope it’s interesting. If not well sorry I can’t please you all. The truth of the matter is there are people like me in the world that for some reason or another love to put numbers in the right places, total them up and call it accounting. Most people think we accountants are nuts. I hear it all the time, “How can you look at numbers all day?” I just smile and say, “Well as soon as you’re done with your sudoku puzzle I’ll tell you.”

The real secret is…and I really shouldn’t be telling you this. It’s kind of the big kept secret of accounting. *shifty eyes to make sure no ones watching* *whispers*The big secret of accounting is that it’s EASY!!! Oop’s did I say that too loud? Really though, accounting is so incredibly simple and pays so incredibly well it’s a wonder more people don’t do it.

I can still remember my first accounting class. I was scared to death because the greatest irony of my accounting career is that I hate, with a passion, hate math. Crazy right? An accounting guy who hates math. So I show up to class and my teacher looks over the class and asks, “So who can tell me what is a debit and what is a credit?” I’m looking at the class thinking I’ll just let you hash it out and wait for him to give me the right answer.

The class on the other hand was hilarious. They went on about banking and some complex theory about how credits were some illustrious thing in a bank account that never happened except when the stars aligned in a perfect pathagramatic formation on the weekends during the full and new moons and only if the job gods were smiling down upon you. Debit’s were like weeds forever growing and sprouting up everywhere swallowing what precious credits you happened to acquire on rare occasions.

My teacher in his ingenious way, said, “Ok I want you to forget all that. The only thing you need to remember is. A debit is a place on the left side and a credit is a place on the right side.” I was boggled. That’s it!!??!?! That’s all I need to know. Really!!! That was the beginning of my love for accounting.

So now I’m blogging about what I find interesting in the boring life of an accountant, a stay at home mom and the craziness we call life. I hope I made you smile.

That is all I will turn this over to my lovely editor and chief who will edit it, hack it all to pieces and put it back together as a lovely piece of art.

Video Blog Project

So I'm trying to do a video blog. I've always thought it would be fun to try. So this is my first attempt. The audio is a little low, just so you know. The mic on my laptop isn't the best. Please comment!

The Binky

I'm Home Now!

I am now an official Stay-At-Home-Mom! I quit my job a little over a week ago and I am now home full time. I am so excited about this! Work had gotten pretty miserable the last few months, for a lot of different reasons, and Daniel and I had been looking for a way to get me out of it. I'm not one of those women who has to have a career; I only worked because we needed me too. I was the source of health insurance. But, Daniel was able to get insurance through his work and thus I was able to leave. :D

Honestly, I've only been home a week, and I've done next to nothing the whole time. I watched a lot of movies and shows via Netflix (best thing ever made). And it's been very relaxing. Of course, now that I've gotten most of the laziness out of my system, it's time to get to work. It's kind of odd, trying to figure out how Daniel and I are going to arrange our lives now.

For the past year or more we've been living on survival mode. Our apartment was constantly a mess and we got fast food for dinner most nights. Now I'll be the one responsible for keeping the home clean and making real dinners. This is both good and bad. It's good because this is what I've always wanted. And now I'll have a lot more time to write. But, it's also bad because I've never had to self manage. I've gotten used to just doing what I'm told to do. So you see, it's good but it's very different than what I' used to.

Anyway, I'm really excited about this opportunity that I have now. I'll have more time to keep up with my blogs and get back on to the writing forums that I've missed. And overall, this is the making of a much happier Kristen.

Jennifer

On November 19, 2010 an old, dear friend friend of mine passed away. It's been hard to swallow. And it's taken me time to talk about it without breaking down with the overwhelming sadness. I was unable to go to the funeral because it was in Georgia and I just wasn't able to get the time off and what not.

Anyway, I wrote a poem for her on the day that I found out and I thought I should share it.

We Are Changed

(For Jennifer)

There is a quite place

In a forgotten patch of woods

Where an abandoned deer stand

Remembers two young girls.

One is light haired,

The other dark,

One is tall,

The other short.

They used to come nearly everyday,

The magic drew them

Down leaf strewn paths

And over tiny brooks

To this place

Where they could share their secrets.

Nearby there is a tiny island

Nestled between two streams.

Here they spoke of God,

Of Nature, and those things most sacred to them.

They imagined other worlds

Full of magic and happiness

Where they could escape to.

They spoke of their dreams.

As they grew older,

The two became young women

And they came less

To their Holy Ground.

They became consumed by the Present

And began to forget.

Little things tore at them

And time went swiftly by.

They drifted apart

The bond growing thin

Until it broke.

But always

There is something there,

An invisible, silken thread

Anchored deep within the heart.

For they were changed

For having known each other.

A piece of each resides in

The other's soul.

No matter where we go,

No matter the distance or the time

That separates us,

We are bound

Because we have known each other

And we are forever changed.

And one day

We will meet again

In that quite place

In the forgotten patch of woods

Where the abandoned deer stand

Remembers us

And all our secrets.

This poem can not even begin to encompass all that is and was Jennifer. She was quite but passionate. She loved deeply and was loved in return, whether she knew it or not. She inspired me and helped me to realize my dreams. I wish I had been able to tell her that.