Why be Normal?

As one of the many, many bloggers out there, I too have an opinion about the death of Michael Jackson that has been clogging up the media for the past two months.

After careful investigation, his death is now being ruled a homicide.  It is ruled a homicide because it is clear that someone else was a factor in Michael Jackson’s death.  Of course Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who gave Michael Jackson propofol 10 minutes before he stopped breathing is the likely (and only) suspect, but what about Michael Jackson himself who demanded the drug be administered?

The timeline of medications administered is reportedly this:

1:30 am  10 milligrams of valium

2 am  2 milligrams of ativan

3 am 2 milligrams of versed

5 am 2 milligrams of ativan

7:30 am 2 milligrams of versed

10:40 am 25 milligrams of propofol.

Reportedly Michael Jackson demanded that Dr. Conrad Murray administer the propofol and after 10 minutes of watching Michael Jackson, Dr. Murray reports going to the restroom and returning to a non-breathing Jackson.

Dr. Murray did not call 911 for one hour and twenty minutes after finding Michael Jackson not breathing but managed to call three different people on his cell phone.  It reeks of fear for what he had done, for the meds he administered and the knowledge that he should have been the doctor and not listened to a patient willing to pay him outrageously for his ability to prescribe legal drugs.

What I think we have is a legal drug prescriber purchased by Michael Jackson who knew that no doctor would prescribe such ridiculous amounts of sedatives and anti-anxiety medications without the lure of huge financial gain.

He’s dead, so Michael Jackson has paid the ultimate price for his drug addiction and Dr. Conrad Murray is going to have to try and justify his actions for months to come. 

It is my opinion that some of the responsibility for the death of Michael Jackson lies with Michael Jackson himself.  That his increasing need for sedatives was a cumulative effect from overuse and that luring a doctor in with money (and let’s not forget how famous he was) was Michael Jackson’s doing.

Should Conrad Murray have prescribed and administered such powerful medications?  Only professionals and the courts will be able to determine if his actions were out of line, but what we should remember is that Dr. Conrad Murray did not sneak his way into Michael Jackson’s room in the middle of the night and begin administering drugs.  He was hired and Michael Jackson knew what he was doing.

First Lady Michelle Obama is wearing *gasp* shorts, and on vacation with her family no less!  How do we live with such a scandal?

Here’s a picture of Michelle Obama right here, walking on the White House lawn with the family dog Bo.  Again, she is wearing a pair of shorts.

What are we, the public, to think of such an escapade?

That she was HOT and wanted to enjoy the nice weather. 

Are we really so focused on what people wear instead of who they are that when the First Lady wears shorts it becomes headline news?

This picture was taken earlier in the summer and now scandal is hitting again because Michelle Obama wore shorts while vacationing with her family.  Some argue she is a role model and shouldn’t be seen in shorts. 

They aren’t exactly hot pants and she isn’t holding onto a stripper pole as she walks off of Air Force One.

Maybe we need to focus on what matters, like the reasons why we care if Michelle Obama wears shorts and why we think this is so destructive to society.  Does any mother out there (or father) really think that their daughter is going to be negatively influenced by Michelle Obama because she has on a pair of madras shorts?

Michelle Obama wearing shorts tells me that she is one of us, that she gets hot and she wants to be comfortable.  She is telling me with her actions that expensive suits are hot and she isn’t going to succumb to the “pain for beauty” mantra that many women foolishly subscribe to.

I’m all for shorts, whether on Michelle Obama, the Pope or anyone else that wants to stay cool on a hot day.  Stay cool Ms. Obama, you have more important things to do than care if you are wearing shorts are not.

It’s summer in Northampton, Massachusetts and although it has been a rainy summer, the gardens at the Northampton Community Gardens couldn’t be more beautiful this year.

The community gardens in Northampton are a series of plots that locals rent from the Northampton Recreation Department for a nominal fee and tend throughout the summer.  You never know what you are going to find planted here in these gardens, but most take a huge amount of pride in their plot, planting harvestable vegetables and beautiful flowers.

I took this picture on a walk a few days ago,  when the weather was one of the top five days of the year with 75 degrees and a light breeze.  The sunflowers and black eyed susans are in full bloom and can be seen in almost every plot at the Northampton Community Gardens.

I visit often the gardens often and I love to see how they change throughout the growing season.

I followed this monarch butterfly as it flitted around the gardens looking for the right place to find some nectar.  Finally the monarch butterfly settled on this flower and I was able to catch a picture of it.  Summer in Northampton, I love it here.

 On July 31, 2009, I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland.  Most of the day was sunny and warm, a perfect beach day.  Although there were weather warnings that an isolated thunderstorm might appear during the day, the sun shone and the beach was full of people.

I was sitting on our cottage deck when lifeguard whistles started blaring and people began scrambling off the beach.  I grabbed my camera and went out onto the boardwalk a few feet from our cottage.

I took about ten pictures of the ocean storm in less than two minutes and the progression of the storm was intense.  One woman described these clouds as “clouds banking over the ocean”. 

I didn’t know at the time, but there was also a tornado warning that lasted about 30 minutes.  No tornados struck down, but the thunder and lightening for the next few hours after this storm hit were incredible.  One minute it was sunny on the beach and less than ten minutes later these clouds had formed over the ocean.  Nature can be amazing and this storm proves just how powerful nature can be.

People still scrambling to get off the beach.