Involuntary Lack of Personal Responsibility

So, Josh Hancock's father is suing the restaurant where his son got drunk past the legal limit after drinking alcoholic drinks that he ordered, making the assertion that his son was under "involuntary intoxication". Go look that up. I'll wait.

Back? Yeah. That basically is a defense you can use if you drink punch out of the punchbowl at a party, believing it to be regular punch, but it was secretly spiked with alcohol. Or, say, if someone slips you a downer in a drink, and you don't realize you've ingested anything.

If someone keeps filling your glass in a bar and you drink the shit, it's your fricking fault if you drink it. If you don't want more beer, don't drain the glass. My dad didn't like to drink, but he was frequently at parties where people kept trying to buy him a drink. He'd order a drink when he got there and just carry it around, then set down the full glass on his way out. It kept people from offering to get him something, and he didn't have to drink or explain why he didn't want to.

Is the dad going to sue the cell phone company for not telling him not to talk on his phone when his drunk ass was driving way over the speed limit and he's not belted in or looking where he's going? He's suing everyone else: the manager of the bar, the tow truck driver, and the owner of the car the tow truck driver was there to help. When lots and lots of other cars saw the big flashing lights of the tow truck because they weren't drunk off their asses and weren't speeding out of control while distracted talking on a phone. You better watch where your car breaks down, because if a professional athlete drives his car into it, you're going to go bankrupt trying to defend yourself.

It's everybody's fault but the guy who drank the alcohol and drove his car without any regard for his safety or anyone else's. You asses. I don't feel bad for you at all anymore. You are now the least sympathetic people in this whole debacle.

Mother's Day in Reverse

Thank you, B, for showing up and letting me be your mom. When I remember stuff from five or six years ago, I catch myself wondering things like, "But where was the B?" before I realize you weren't around yet.

I hope, when you're old enough to decide, that you'll be glad I was your mom.

She's Feeling Better

At long last, after more problems and uncomfortable nights than I would care to relate in this space, the B seems to be doing better. She's more herself, she has more energy, she isn't wheezing at all, and she isn't coughing or nearly as much.

In fact, she's even invented a new game. She kept coming into the living room to pick out something, then she'd pad around the corner to the gate that keeps her away from the stairs and stay there for a minute or two, and then come back and repeat the whole thing.

After the third time, I had to go and see what she was up to. I thought she was probably pushing them under the gate (or trying to), because I couldn't hear them dropping to the ground (as they would if she was dumping them over the top).

The game, as you can see from this picture, was actually to very carefully balance each toy on the top edge of the gate. She must have been really careful indeed, because I was listening to what she was doing when she disappeared and I didn't hear anything drop. If you can see it in the picture, the toys are wider than the gate, so she actually had to balance them.

She was pretty happy with this new game. Thank goodness she's doing better.

The Croup...

...can bite my butt.

The B developed a breathing issue last night which spurred an "ER or not ER" debate between myself and the on-call nurse for my pediatrician's office. That'll sure scare you. I think back to all the times I went to the ER as a kid and I wonder how my mom stayed sane through it.

We ended up not going to the ER, but waiting for a 9:30 appointment at the doctor's, mostly because she seemed to be getting air, just not sounding very good doing it.

So, it's the croup, which could be an early indication of asthma. She's the tiniest little trooper in the trooper army, though, trying to be herself, though she is clearly a bit deflated. She reminds me of one of those mylar balloons about three days after you've bought it. It's still shiny and cute, but it's sagging a little.

In all my parenting wisdom, I have been eschewing juice in favor of actual fruit. More nutrition, better eating patterns, etc. This, of course, has bitten me right on the butt. She has no appetite, but she won't touch juice or Pedialyte because they're so unfamiliar to her. Doh.

She's finally settled in to sleep, but I have a feeling I'll be up with her in a few hours. Wish us luck here at B central, huh?

So, Stuff

There is undoubtedly stuff happening. News, memes, effluvia.

None of this makes a spot, even a molecule of difference when your little baby is sick.

I took her, a couple of weeks ago, to a horrible "free intro" mommies and me class that was a complete disaster. Bad course design, completely not age-appropriate (and I was encouraged to bring her after discussing her age and abilities over the phone) and filled with kids twice her age who were not being watched by the reluctant parents who were physically there but mentally checked out.

In addition to all of that, it seemed every other kid in the class was coughing, had a runny nose, or both. There wasn't a lot of contact, but they all held the hands of the instructor (an untrained high school kid) on the trampoline. That's the only time I can think of that she might have gotten exposed to a bunch of nasties that might have led to her ear infection, diagnosed earlier today.

Of course, it might have just been the luck of the draw. I know she has to get sick. Everyone does, and why not build up her immunities now, when she's too young to remember the discomfort? Still, having her cry and sweat her way through the night, her breaths coming in pants in response to her fever is not my idea of a great time.

I'd do anything, anything to have it be me instead.

This is why blogging about anything else seems completely irrelevant, yet you fine people have no reason to be interested in the details of her illness. Therefore, I'll see you guys on the flip side.

It Longs to Burst From My Lips

If only I could tell you who I'm transcribing now. Or rather, what company the transcriptions are coming from. It's a sports fan's dream, especially a sports fan who hasn't had any time to listen to sports commentary or watch sports-related television shows.

17 Monthday

Happy 17 Monthday, B. I wish I was more awake-feeling for it, but one of us had to comfort you when the three (THREE) teeth you have coming in made you sad at 4:15 a.m.

The Code and Digg

I like Digg. It's a trifle less misogynistic than Fark, and it's easy to peek at for a stolen moment or two when the B is playing on her own. (She's taken to pushing my hands off her toys when she wants some alone playing time.)

Yesterday, they received a takedown message from MPAA over several users posting stories including the key that will decrypt HD-DVDs. Digg was faced with a lawsuit that has the power to suck enough money out of their venture that winning or losing any lawsuit against the MPAA has the same potential effect: the financial ruin and the death of the site itself.

The more the Digg admins tried to remove the key from stories and comments, the more the users insisted on posting it. It's now there, pervasive enough that removing it would consist of nuking the site as a whole.

Though anyone with a need to know this key likely has it memorized by now, they're still faced with a likely lawsuit. Is it really worth it to fight for "free speech" on a site you like, just to possibly kill the site due to the huge amount of money a lawsuit will suck away from the site? Why Digg? Because it's a user submission site? I don't get it.

I mean, I think all the copy protection, when it blocks uses that are covered under Fair Use laws, is ridiculous. Is it worth taking someone's very successful venture and possibly throwing it down the toilet just because, one night, that's where the battleground was?

(And in classic I-have-a-baby mode, this all happened last night and I only learned of it this morning.)