It was the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House this past Monday.  The above picture is a shot from a CBS.com photo essay about the White House Easter celebration.  Something unique about this year's festivities was the presence of many same-sex couples with their children, all clad in rainbow-colored lei's to identify themselves.  (Not that there was any question.)

Did gay couples use the egg roll as a publicity stunt, or did they just come out to see President Bush standing next to a staff member in an easter bunny suit?  Though I feel that gay couples have every right to be rolling eggs on the White House lawn, I feel like it was a pathetic attempt to make a political statement. 

Keep in mind that we're talking about the guy that in 2004 supported a constiutional ammendment to ban same-sex marriages, and who feels the "ideal" way to raise a child is in a married family with a man and a woman.  I'm not sure the presence of gay couples at the egg roll will have any effect on his opinion  

John and David's son can roll an egg with the best of them, as long as his rainbow lei doesn't get in the way.   

Her replacement, The View's Meredith Vieira seems poised and ready to take over the morning fluff known as The Today Show.  At 52, she will be more than qualified to fill the shoes of the sympathetic mother, the overprotective parent, the trying-to-be-trendy middle ager, or the cancer-screen proponent.

As for Couric, she'll trade in her Ugg boots and inStyle makeovers to join the big boys like Bob Schieffer.  "I love your purple tie Bob!"  Katie exclaims on her first day on the job.  Viewers quickly change the channel to The View to find Meredith has been replaced by Paris Hilton and her dog Tinkerbell! 

Coming this September to a TiVo near you: Mornings with Meredith Vieira, Afternoons with Tinkerbell, and Evenings with Couric.  One hell of a lineup.   

Carnival: "The Fun Ship" I'm envisioning screaming children barreling head-first down a giant waterslide landing way too close to my frozen mararita.

Royal Caribbean: "Get Out There" I'll be pulled on stage with the steel-drum band, tripping over a seventy year-old in the congo line, and probably doing a sprinting tour of 5 islands in 4 days.

 
Celebrity: "A True Departure" With a name like "celebrity" immediately I fear overdressed, over-coiffed, and over-perfumed middle-aged women. Add some abstract sculptures and latte art, and you've got yourself a true departure.

Disney Cruise Line: No motto needed here! Unless I will be pouring beer down the beak of a drunken Donald Duck, you won't find me on this ship.

Norwegian Cruise Line: "Freestyle Cruising" Here you have busloads of old people thrilled that they can still eat their dinner at 2PM if they really want to, and happy that the word "free" is somehow incorporated.

Beverly Sherrer is a realtor with a slideshow on her site with some very beautiful pictures of the Ranch at the Canyons in Central Oregon.  The pictures all look professionally taken.  A nice addition to the website.
Art slideshow.  The art pieces in this slideshow fade out and morph into the next picture.  I like the idea, but the fade is a little distracting and takes away from the actual pieces.  You also can’t stop on any one frame.

Speaking of immigrants, what’s the beef with Haitians anyway? Why do Cuban immigrants have such an easy time entering the country while Haitian immigrants are turned away and sent back? It is an exceptionally awkward time for immigrants as Congress will soon debate on immigration reform. The questions will include whether the 11 million undocumented immigrants will be legalized, or thrown out.

As of now, most Cuban immigrants who arrive on US soil stay, whereas Haitian immigrants are repatriated unless they have a “credible fear” of persecution if sent home. The ones that are able to stay in our country generally apply for naturalization as soon as possible. One place where Haitian immigrants can seek aid is the grass-roots organization in the Little Haiti section of Miami called Haitian Women. The group teaches Haitians about the US government through memorization to prepare them for the citizenship exam.

One person that is actually returning to Haiti after being in the US is election official Jacques Bernard. Bernard fled Haiti after being threatened by opponents after the February election of Rene Preval. Bernard is back in town to help organize a legislative runoff in order to form the new government. The runoff that was scheduled for March 19th has already been postponed due to street protests and riots.

You know that things are not going very well when the best thing that’s happened in Haiti recently was when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie came to visit, and when Wyclef Jean voted!

In an effort to recover from his recent criticism regarding the outages, Saratoga restaurant owner Andrew Brindisi is offering workers a free meal at his upscale eatery “Brindisi’s” in downtown Saratoga. In a mature demonstration of his discontent, Brindisi held up a sign outside City Hall on Sunday that read “National Grid Sucks”. I’m sure the workers are lining up outside the restaurant to dine with the enemy! Brindisi’s public display occurred after he ran into a National Grid worker on Saturday who told him the company was refusing to let him work overtime. Contrary to the restaurant industry, in most other jobs there are federal regulations as to how long people can work.

While some spent their time complaining, I spent the first hour or so figuring out things I could do without power. I turned on the gas fireplace and almost burned a book crouching myself into the 12 inch tile slabs around the opening. I decided playing guitar by candle light would be safer, and may inspire some interesting chord changes and fresh lyrics. After some failed attempts I drank a couple beers that were still cold in the fridge, wrapped myself in a down comforter and went to bed.

I do think that sometimes National Grid sucks, especially after I open our monthly bill. But I am willing to make concessions for mother nature. Because although she sucks sometimes, this recent power outage could have been a whole lot worse. Andrew Brindisi, you should be thankful you still have a restaurant to serve the National Grid workers and everyone else in. The city did a fine job in responding to the crisis even though the damages to local businesses are still being assessed. One thing is for sure, a loss of some business is small change compared to the loss of an entire city like New Orleans.

Another hero in the news is downhill skier and Olympic medal hopeful Julia Mancuso. Mancuso’s upbringing in picturesque Lake Tahoe is more reminiscent of a rap artists childhood than an Olympic hopeful. Dad gets busted and jailed for a $140 million marijuana smuggling operation when Julia is 4, and again when Julia is a teenager, this time he’s locked up for four years. Add a divorce in 1992 and you’ve got yourself one damn good made-for-TV movie.

Finding solace on the slopes, Julia started ski racing at the age of 5 and became a successful junior ski racer during the four-year span of her father’s most recent incarceration. I know what you’re thinking, these trials only made her stronger! If you’re Mr. Mancuso, you probably remind yourself of that everyday. But that’s how the movie ends, right? Everyone is doing so well it makes you either want to puke, or wish your dad was jacked up too. If you’re like me, and love a good comeback story, the Olympics is chock full. So if you’re drunk, suffering insomnia, or sleeping on the couch for forgetting Valentine’s Day, you can catch the Women’s downhill competition this Wednesday at 3AM.

My first glimpse of the investors world happened on accident. I typed the clothing store BEBE into google expecting to be taken to their bright, almost headache inducing website. But instead of hot models in tight t-shirts, I found myself staring at a chart with a line that didn’t always go up, and a bunch of numbers. Upon closer examination of this information, I discovered actual stories and news articles written about BEBE, and they didn’t mention the angora sweater fetish or the lace camisole craze. No, these articles were about quarterly earnings, the CEO, the growth rate and potential, competition, etc. This discovery sparked an interest in me that I was eager to explore.

Enter Investopedia. This website explains the stock market in layman’s terms to broke dummies like myself. After a few clicks of the mouse, you could be talking shop with Warren Buffett. The very best part of this site is found under the tab Simulator. Here, anyone that can spell their name can try their hand at investing with Investopedia’s stock market simulator. After you complete a simple registration, $100,000.00 of virtual money is deposited into your account. You can set up a watch list, join competitions with other traders, and buy and sell stocks like you would if you really had that much money to blow. It’s fun investing the equivalent of your yearly salary into some no-name technology stock, and then selling if five minutes later for 3 shares of Google. If taken seriously, the simulator is a very good learning tool for the amateur and/or broke investor. As for me, I have enough knowledge now to hold my own through any stock market banter, and I’m still doing “market research” at my favorite online retailers.