It started out not unlike every other morning.  The routine has been the same for years.  Kile gets up with his alarm between 5:30 and 6:00am (sometimes later, but not on this morning).  He would have his bathroom time and then take a long, steamy shower.  Why does he always try to boil his skin off?  Anyhow, it’s beside the point.  He gets dressed and that’s when I get out of bed, throw on my robe and slippers, etc and we go out into the living room to have breakfast, watch the Today Show and have a few minutes together before he has to leave for work.

It was such a nice morning, I remember thinking.  The sun was out, filtering through the windows.  The sky was clear.  It was a perfect day.  Not too warm, not too cool.  Perfect.  Or so I thought.

On this particular morning, Kile exited the master bedroom of our two bedroom apartment ahead of me and turned the television on.  I came out a minute later, a question on my lips (who knows what about?).  The question died as I stopped in front of the television, next to Kile who was also staring at the screen.  What was I looking at?  Was this a movie?  I struggled to orient myself as my eyes took in the scene.  A city… New York?  Buildings on fire.  No, not just any buildings.  The World Trade Center.  Both of them.  Why?  How?

Harry was not quite two years old and still asleep in the crib in his room.  I was free to sit, slack jawed before the television, and try to soak in what exactly was going on.  A plane had crashed into the towers.  Wait, TWO planes.  What the heck?  What did that mean?  Obviously it was on purpose.  But who?

Then a plane crashed into the Pentagon and that’s when things got really serious.  I’m a little muddy on the timeline of events.  It was seven years ago, after all.

Kile hung around as we watched in horror.  As the first tower came crashing down.  He didn’t believe it at first, but I saw the top of the tower fall.  We both had the same thought, “All those people…“  Eventually, Kile did leave for work.  I’m still amazed that he did.  I couldn’t have concentrated if I were him.  But maybe he needed the distraction.  Still, he told me that the whole office listened to the radio and watched TV all day long.  Not a lot of work got done.

That was pretty much the same story at home.  Harry, still so little, got very little attention all day long.  He was fed and cared for but my attention was on the television.  I couldn’t stop watching the screen, listening to the anchors as they gave us more and more information.  I soaked it in, unable to look away.  The horror was so fresh and so foreign.  What did this mean for our future?  Were we at war?  Would we ever be safe again?

I knew something was different from then on, but I didn’t know exactly what.  I couldn’t have predicted the change that happened in our country after that fateful day.  In so many ways, I’m so disappointed.  I thought we were better than this.  Stronger than this.  After the attacks, I was so proud to display a flag and put a “United We Stand” bumper sticker on our new van.  I watched Congress sing “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capital and for that moment, there were no parties.  No Republicans and no Democrats and I felt a stirring of hope.  Maybe if we could come together, then it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

It’s laughable now that I thought that.

Here it is, seven years later.  In so many ways, our great nation is more divided than it was at the beginning of that normal morning that wasn’t.  And sometimes I wonder, will we ever recover?

Each August Reno has this thing called “Hot August Nights“.  Most years we are out of town for the festivities as they tend to coincide with our anniversary and we’re often down in the Bay Area visiting my family.  But this year, we were down there in July for BlogHer and (gas costing what it does) we weren’t going to be going back.  So, we figured if we had to be in Reno during “Hot August Nights”, we may as well join ‘em.

First, we thought we’d go catch a “Show n’ Shine” at the Grand Sierra Resort.  That was an Epic Fail on our part because the place was a ginormous clusterfuck.  No one could get into the parking lots unless they were driving a classic automobile (but people in normal cars were leaving?  I have NO idea.)  There were cops there directing (or trying to direct) traffic and there were no signs telling anyone where to go and the best we could figure out was that people had to find somewhere else to park and then WALK in.  Which, if you’ve ever seen the Grand Sierra Resort (formerly the Reno Hilton), you realize that’s about a JOKE.  So yeah… no.

We headed southwards towards the Atlantis.  As luck would have it, we found an AWESOME spot very close to the casino doors (this was after some assholes seriously stole a spot out from under our noses and then we were able to get one just as good so it ended up being a FACE ON YOU sort of moment).  We were all feeling a little stressed at that moment because OMG, there were so many people and they were all OBNOXIOUS.  But before we knew it, we were over at the other lot ogling at nifty cars so it was all good.  Here are some of my favorite pictures, you can see the rest of the set here.

Truly, “Hot August Nights” is for anyone that can appreciate a shiny car.  Oh, and who doesn’t mind crowds of OBNOXIOUS people.

***

I drank the Kool Aid and bought “Twilight” the other night.  As soon as I finish the book I’m reading (“Born in Death” by JD Robb), I’ll start in on it.  I’m a little worried that I’m going to find it wholly ridiculous.  That or incredibly addictive.  I’m not sure which would be worse.

***

I kinda love Laurie Berkner.  This is what Noggin has done to me.  I’m seriously having to prevent myself from downloading some of her stuff on iTunes in favor of using that $ for “Dr. Horrible” instead (which I haven’t seen yet.  I KNOW.).  What would I do without Jack’s Big Music Show, Blues Clues and The Backyardigans?  I might have to watch Oswald or Yo Gabba Gabba (or horror of all horrors: Nickelodeon).

***

Okay, I just got “Dr. Horrible” off of iTunes.  It’s about time I watched it, don’t you think?  Now here’s the question: can I resist watching it until I get my iPhone or should I just watch it now and be done with it?  Also: why am I wanting to wait until I get my iPhone to watch it anyhow?  Does that make me painfully nerdy?

Wait.  Don’t answer that.

***

I saw a quick blurb on The Today Show this morning about Hillary Clinton’s campaign against Obama and how her advisors wanted to portray him as so foreign because he spent so much of his youth in Indonesia and… ahem… HAWAII.

Now, I’m sorry, I don’t often get political on this here blog and all but… SERIOUSLY???

Yes, Indonesia I get… but Hawaii?  Uhm, last I checked, Hawaii was one of the 50 states in the United States of America so how does having roots there (and taking a vacation there, to boot) make him either elitest (according to McCain’s campaign) or unAmerican?

It’s crap like that that seriously makes my brain want to turn to jelly and dribble out my ear.  I’d like to think that we’re all smart enough not to buy such crap but then considering the 2000 and 2004 elections, I’m having my doubts.

***

Lordy, is it Tuesday already?  What the heck, yo?

There are a bunch of little things to talk about, but as I find is often the case, none of them warrants their own post so they’re getting all lumped into this one, along with some pictures because WE ALL love pictures. Right, guys?

Gah, the “mommy blogging” segment on the “Today Show” was yesterday, if you’ve been living under a rock and didn’t know. And it was… mostly okay. I mean, I thought all the parts where Hoda and Kathie-Lee weren’t on the screen were great, that is. Yes, Hoda DID refer to mommy blogging with air quotes. Which made me want to promptly punch her in the face. And then Kathie-Lee babbled about how she doesn’t know anything about computers. And before you knew it, she was questioning the safety of blogging about your children. Because, you know, we wouldn’t want the INTERNET to know what our kids look like, their names, what they do on a daily basis, etc. Excuse me while I introduce Kathie-Lee (hereafter known as “pot”) to the kettle. Shoot, that women is renowned for babbling about her kids on her old show. And, uhm, HOW is it any different? Oh yeah, one medium is the internet where thousands read and one is television where MILLIONS watch. Ahem. And then poor Heather was cut off before she could even form a decent rebuttal. What a bunch of morons.

We had another “earthquake” last night. It was only a 3.5 or so (last night it was a 3.8… these things are always changing, apparently). Not terribly big, but enough to get my adrenaline pumping. I hadn’t felt a shake in over a week and I think I was starting to get a good false sense of security going. Dang it.

Evie is seven weeks old today. That doesn’t seem possible, does it? SEVEN WEEKS? That’s getting pretty close to two months. And after that it’s all downhill. Where has the time gone? I can’t believe how big she’s getting every day. She’s already getting a good layer of chunk going on. Her thighs are getting downright juicy. She’s getting long too. I’m used to how puny Liam always was, and I can already tell she’s out pacing him as an infant quite easily. Of course, that’s not really hard to do. He really was quite a puny runt.

My days have a pretty good rhythm to them now. Evie is still very resistant to being set down for any length of time, but I do it anyhow. I have to, at least a couple times a day while I’m dealing with Liam. She’s getting more used to her car seat so I’m hoping she’ll get more used to being un-attached to my person as well. After all, my to-do list is getting rather obscene. On the other hand, it’s really cool to be able to watch her become more and more aware as each day passes.