It's been a while

I hate cell phones. I really really hate them. I have one for "emergency purposes" but as we found out during 9/11 and the blackout, in a real emergency the damn things don't work.

I have a 200 minutes a month plan and probably use about 25 minutes. I spend more time doing text messages than I do speaking. It's not because I prefer text messages, it's because I do not need to pollute the air with my voice.

How many times have you heard some guy next to you on the train calling to say "Yeah Honey, I'll be home in 5 minutes", or "I'm on the train".

My response to these statements is: "Good for fucking you!".

If you are going to be home in 5 minutes, surely your wife/husband could wait that extra 5 minutes to see you without unduly wondering where the hell you've got to. Just GET THERE for feck's sake and stop wasting time on the phone!

And yes, you are "on the train". So what! Does this validate you screaming that information in my ear? I'm on the train too and since you cannot be heard over the background noise, you have to honk like Pavarotti on helium! It's annoying and no-one gains anything from the precious oxygen you just used up.

I know I am starting to sound like Victor Meldrew here but it really does seem to me that life does not have to be like this. It is becoming impossible to switch off. I can now check my work email from home and at least half of those calls on my cell will be job related - often when I am on my way home or on the weekend.

I look around at the people on the train in the morning and every face I see has an unhealthy grey pallor to it. They just got on the train, cell phones are open, PDA's are being punched, minutes for the meeting at 9am are being read. I feel sad for these people. I feel sad for me that I am sharing a rush hour train with them!

On the home front the Wee Yin has reached 6 months and is babbling, blowing raspberries and sitting up on her own. It's great to watch her develop, she is getting strong and will already grip your fingers and stand up on her own (albeit in a kind of Shakira-like bum shaking style). This weekend she is taking her first swim class.

I just finished watching the documentary "Friend of God" by Alexandra Pelosi, the daughter of the new Democratic speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. It is a film about the lives of the evangelical Americans and the parallel world that they live in.

You'd think that Pelosi's family background would paint her as a female Michael Moore but she has managed to make a remarkably balanced film and how you view it will depend on the belief of the viewer. As I am that viewer in this case, I gotta say these people scare the living shite out of me, they make the Catholic Church look like a bunch of wimps in the nutty-for-Christ category.

The film includes Christian pro-wrestling, a drive-thru Church, Christian rock concerts and Christian stand-up comics. If you get a chance to catch this film try and see it.