This Just Doesn't Seem to be My Day

Image via WikipediaThere are some days when you just think you would be better off just staying in bed.  Yesterday happened to be one of those days.  I am going to show my age a little bit, but yesterday reminded me of the old Monkees song, "This Just Doesn't Seem to be My Day."  The song starts off "Well I guess I should have stayed in bed.  My pillow wrapped around my head."  The song is embedded below.

The day started fairly innocuously.  Traffic was a little heavier than usual due to the end of the three day weekend and all school systems in the area back in action.  Still, I was making pretty good pace to the office.  I got to my exit about 8:30 only to discover that the police had blocked off all the exits.  Fortunately, I had my Garmin in the car.  Unfortunately, the alternate route got me to the office 40 minutes later.

Turns out, some asshole decided that if he couldn't have the girl, nobody could.  After his girlfriend broke up with him last week, and got a protection order against him, Joshua Prince allegedly took a shot at her with a high powered rifle.  Fortunately he missed her, and she was unharmed.  Unfortunately his selfish act created a major hassle for commuters in the areas.  He later surrendered to police in Pennsylvania.  Why is it that dumb fucks like this guy, or people who threaten to jump off bridges always do it during rush hour so as to inconvenience the greater number of people?

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.  Traffic was pretty light for the evening rush hour, and I got home fairly quickly.  I decided to unwind with a couple glasses of wine.  I took a swig of wine, and felt something in my mouth.  I was snacking, so I didn't think too much of it.  However, I decided to spit out what was in my mouth and discovered a fly.  It apparently had landed in my glass of wine.  It either drowned, or was too drunk to fly away.  Either way, I didn't bother to finish that particular glass of wine.  Instead, I went upstairs to find a bottle of Listerine to rinse my mouth out.  Truly not the best of days.

Autistic Boy's Father Talks About Olive Garden Attack

I saw this posted on iowntheworld.com and had to comment about it here.

As I have mentioned numerous times, I am the father of an autistic 16 year old boy.  Most people have no clue as to what parents of an autistic child goes through.  It is not that our kids misbehave, it is that they often do not have the filter that a lot of "normal" kids have.

Earlier this week, my wife had an extremely difficult occurrence with our son.  She needed to go to the local Target store for some reason.  While there, my son had one of his meltdowns.  For him, his meltdowns often include dropping to the floor and refusing to move.  Often, these occurrences are accompanied by hitting or kicking anybody that comes near him.  Such was the case with our son on this day.

In no way do we condone these sorts of actions on the part of our son.  On most trips out and about he is able to go to stores like Target without an incident.  We have no way of knowing when these outbursts will occur or what can set him off.  Sadly, most folks do not have the understanding or patience in helping a parent through these occasions.    

On this particular occasion, the police were called.  Fortunately, after some time, my wife was able to get our son up and out of the store without police intervention.  As well, it is fortunate that we did not have to deal with a physical attack upon my wife or son like the asshole that these folks had to deal with at Olive Garden.  Parents of autistic children need support of the community, not calls to the police or physical attacks.

If you are unable to view the video below on this website, I believe you can click on a link in the video to watch it on YouTube.

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Mother Murders Her Two Children

I was driving into work this morning when I heard about the following story.  A 30 year old Texas woman, Saiqa Akhter called 911 to tell the dispatcher that she killed her two kids.  After telling the operator that she killed the children, she proceeds to inform her how she did the act.  First, she tried to poison them by getting them to drink bathroom cleaner.  When that didn't work, she used a wire to strangle the kids.

The next part of the story is the reason this particular murder of a child by a parent caught my attention.  When the 911 operator asked her why she killed her kids, I was floored.  Among her reason  for killing her kids were that her kids were both autistic, and she did not want her kids to be that way.  She wanted her kids to be "normal."

As the father of a 16 year old autistic boy, I know all too well the difficulty and disappointment in having a child with autism.  It is a lot of work.  For most of my son's life, I have worked two jobs so that my wife is able to stay home with him.  When I am not working, I am usually engaged with him in some way, shape or form.  There is very little me time or couple time for me and my wife.  I can't begin to tell you how tired I am.

I don't say these things because I want anybody to feel sorry for me, or pat me on the back and call me a great dad.  I only say it because I know how hard it is and how easy it is to get frustrated.  Trust me, I am no saint, and on more than one occasion I have lost my patience, but never to the point where I would harm my child.

Aside from the obvious of no longer having her kids around, Akhter is really going to miss out.  In the 16 years of having my son around, quite often the things that make dealing with him difficult are the things that make him an absolute joy.  How many fathers of a 16 year old boy can say their son will sit on the couch with him and lay his head on daddy's chest when he is tired?  The laughter that comes from my son when he plays a video game the "wrong way" is just priceless and reminds me that games are supposed to be fun.

There are very few things in this life that I have a zero tolerance for.  Crimes against children and the defenseless are one of those.  In cases like this, I believe in the full force of any punishment the government can mete out.  In fact, in cases like this, I do not believe there is anything such thing as "cruel and unusual punishment."  Authorities are preparing capital murder charges against her, as well they should.  The punishment should fit the crime.

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Kitty Porn?

Image by turtlemom4bacon via Flickr

What is that old saying? If you have an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, then eventually they could recreate the complete works of William Shakespeare. Something to that effect.

Well, if you believe that is a possibility, then I guess it is conceivable that the story of Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach, Florida could be believed. Griffin recently was arrested and charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after police found over 1000 images on his home computer.

Griffin claims that he was downloading music on his computer. He left the room and his cat jumped on the keyboard. When he returned, he found "strange things" on his computer. Apparently, Griffin is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I mean really, the cat jumped on the keyboard while you were downloading music? I know in America people are innocent until proven guilty, but he ought to do jail time for coming up with such a lame excuse.

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