Life with Monkeys

from the fabulous Debbie Schlussel

MUST SEE – Fed Air Marshals, TSA Movie: “Far Less Safe Since 9/11″; Tampa Air Marshals: “System a Complete Failure”; TSA Worker Tries to Make 12-Yr-Old Sex Slave

By Debbie Schlussel

What we’ve got now is nothing but security theater. . . .  All of these bells and whistles that you see is only meant to make you feel safe . . . but you’re not.

I’ve been saying it since 9/11:  we’re far less safe.  And inconveniences like the three ounce, one quart liquid restrictions and taking off our shoes are strictly that:  inconveniences.  They don’t make us safe.  They’re exercises in futility, so we can feel like something is being done, while our authorities refuse to profile Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.

Now a group of courageous, recently-retired Federal Air Marshals and other federal agents from the TSA and FAA (some of whom are friends of mine) are releasing a movie, which says the same and gives the frightening details to which you and I don’t have access.  I can’t wait to see and review, “Please Remove Your Shoes.” 

Please Remove Your Shoes

For slow connections, see the trailer on the Home page. 

Or view a high-resolution version on the Trailer page.

The movie was mostly filmed, last year, so everything in it is very recent. But this stuff shouldn’t be news to regular readers of this site.  But to the rest of America, it will be, and that’s why all freedom-loving Americans need to see this movie when it comes out later this year.

To quote one agent heavily involved in making the movie, “We’re about to kick the TSA’s ass real good.”

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Montecito Inn

I was away for the weekend and I thought I'd post a shot or two that sums up my stay at the lovely, Montecito Inn. This is a shot of the common area of the hotel. So so so pretty.  The place has a gym, where I did NOT work out and I think the hotel even has a pool.
I highly recommend staying there.



The next shot is one that my mister took. I like it. If you look carefully, you can see the all-important anti-bacterial wipes I use, immediately after entering ANY hotel room.  Remote control, doorknobs. But I'm not neurotic, really!

Somos Vaqueros (We Are Cowboys)

Some weeks ago, we took a little trip to a beautiful spot in San Ramon.  It is a lovely, peaceful area in the cloud forest.  In the blink of an eye, a perfectly sunny day can suddenly cloud over, or cloud in?  It's a magical thing to be IN the clouds while standing on the hill.  We stayed at the luxurious and delicious Villa Blanca.  One morning, we decided to see the area on horseback.  It was one of the most amusing and memorable mornings of my entire life.  We signed up for a tour and since we were the only ones there, we had a private one-hour tour of the mountain guided by a charming Tico.  He was a wealth of information about the wildlife and plants and the cloud forest.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay focused on his tour.  I ended up having the giggles nearly the entire time owing to the fact that Adrian, the tallest one in our group, had been given the smallest horse (really, it was even smaller that Ivan's!) and the helmets we were asked to wear made us all look like the biggest dorks ever.
Ivan had gotten his horse to wait until the rest of us were nearly out of sight and then it would run to catch up with the rest of us.  So Ivan would disappear and then we would hear his horse galloping and Ivan's laugh. Ivan repeated that over and over the entire hour.  At that point, I was grateful for the helmets!  So, while Brian and the tour guide were at the lead, Adrian and I were in the middle and bringing up the rear, was Ivan.  I kept telling Adrian that he looked like a mental patient wearing that helmet and with his long legs folded up so he could put his feet in the stirrups.  As I took photos, I teased him that I would take the worst one of him and post it on my blog.  He just looked at me and said, "Mom, how could you think I would even care?"  Good point.

Planes, Train, and Automobile

I finished packing and got myself and my stuff ready to go.  I was in pretty good shape until we were in the car, driving to the small airport in Quepos and I saw the cows.  It was quite a sight; the cattle parade making its way past the cemetery and our car.  I took it personally, as if they'd come out to say goodbye to us.  I do love those cows!  

We arrived at the airport in anticipation of our flight about one hour early.  We avoided talking about the giant elephant in the room and instead indulged our sweet tooths by buying and devouring some German Chocolate cake.  It was really, really good.  This is a shot of the 12-seater we took to San Jose.  The flight only takes about 25 minutes which is very lucky as I can manage my anxiety for a good 20 minutes before I get nervous!  I usually spend the last five minutes of the flight praying, no joke.    
When we arrived in San Jose, we walked over to the Taca Airlines counter.  I had half expected that on Christmas Day, people would already be where they needed to be.  I was wrong; the terminal was crowded, as was the flight.  Once we cleared security, we ate a late lunch of greasy food for the boys, chocolate croissant for me.  That has to be one of the most perfect foods, ever.  Crispy, flaky pastry on the outside, chocolaty goodness on the inside.  What, I ask you, could possibly be better? 
As we were about three hours early for our flight, the area was pretty deserted and the boys set up Adrian's laptop to watch a DVD they had brought with them.  I wandered around the area, looked in the shops, got the boys some gum and had a cup of coffee.  Not very exciting, huh?  I was frankly grateful for the bit of time to regroup before facing the six hour flight.

We were finally boarding at aproximadamente(!) 6:00 p.m. and we were certainly ready.  The monkeys and I hoping that the flight would not be full and we could scatter to fill in some empty rows of seats.  No such luck.  The flight was full and our flight attendants, all male, were not in the best moods.  Understandable as it was Christmas Day and they probably would have rather been anywhere else, doing anything else rather than serving us dinner at 35,000 feet. About that, when they came around and asked if we would like chicken or beef, I asked if they had anything vegetarian.  I am not a veg but mass produced, reheated animal parts give me the willies!  The flight attendant said "No, just the salad." and handed me the same tray he was giving to everyone, only without putting the container of meat or chicken on it.  Imagine my surprise when I took a bite of the salad to find it was crisp and lovely and the cake with Frosty the Snowman on it, delicious!  It certainly kept my mind from going to my sad place.  Let's review shall we; German Chocolate cake at the Quepos airport, chocolate croissant at the San Jose airport and Frosty the Snowman chocolate pastry on the flight.  Looking back on it that way I'd have to say, that was a very, very good day!  Once we landed and made our way through customs and baggage claim, we went out to find our shuttle van to take us home.  It was about midnight and it was so very cold.  I had not felt cold for three months!  And this is California!  So, there are the planes and automobile.  Where is the train?  I hope I was able to satisfy that by presenting my train of thought.  That qualifies, right?           

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

I guess it's beginning to happen.  The grand exodus to Costa Rica.  Tonight, Brian flies out at 2:20 am.  His luggage may not be huge but it is HEAVY!  He is transporting  books, games, candles, puzzles, Hannukah candles, dreidles,  and other things we simply cannot live without in the jungle.  So, I have a little over a week to get the boys and I ready to leave, as well.

Here is a shot of Adrian's surf bag.  It weighs a ton and carries surfboards, kiteboards, kites, leashes, harnesses and other things I would have no idea what to do with.  The men are determined to find kiteboarding beaches in Costa Rica.  !Buena suerte!

In spite of the fact that we have been planning this for more than one year, I am surprisingly unprepared!