The Thomas Family Experience

Why I'm Not Impressed with Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:35:33 -0500

I contacted my representatives and expressed my opposition to SOPA and PIPA, because these pieces of legislation a) contain language that is broad enough to pose a threat to all information shared on the internet, and thus jeopardize my livelihood, and b) place too much power in the hands of our federal government, to an extent that makes me uncomfortable.

Isakson sent the following response, which I found to be dismissive and condescending.

On Jan 18, 2012, at 12:14 PM, “senator@isakson.senate.gov” wrote:

Dear Mrs. Thomas:

Thank you for contacting me regarding intellectual property theft. I appreciate hearing from you and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

S.968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act of 2011, was introduced by Senator Leahy (D-VT) on May 12, 2011, and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On May 26, 2011, it was reported out of Committee and is currently pending in the Senate. The bill targets websites, particularly those registered outside of the United States, which are “dedicated to infringing activities.” These rogue websites typically offer unauthorized downloading or streaming of copyrighted content or the sale of counterfeit goods including music, movies, and pharmaceutical drugs.

Websites targeted by this bill are foreign owned and outside the reach of U.S. laws despite the fact U.S. intellectual property is being infringed upon and U.S. consumers are the targets. Rogue websites cost American workers jobs and cost businesses millions of dollars in lost revenue. As online technology and commerce advances, we must see to it that injured parties have the ability to stop infringers from profiting from counterfeit products. For example, a victim of infringement will have the authority to file a civil action against the owner or registrant of a rogue site. If an order is granted by the court, third parties will be required to stop processing payments from the infringing sites, therefore, preventing infringers from collecting payments. I will work to ensure that our laws our modernized to protect intellectual property, and will keep your thoughts on this bill in mind should it come before the Senate for a vote.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator

********
I would like to point out to Mr. Isakson that I understand the intent of SOPA and PIPA. I respect intellectual property and agree that it should be protected. But these bills are too broad and too flawed to resolve online piracy issues. I’m not at all impressed with his response. I also find it ironic that these morons in D.C. are all partisan all the time until it’s time to deal with this dumb legislation, because the republican Isakson implies that he’s lockstep with Sen. Leahy, the democrat from Vermont who introduced the legislation.

Also, he (or, more realistically, the staffer who copied and pasted this condescension and hit “send”) should have proofread it—I know “our” and “are” happen to be homonyms, but come on, guys. This is basic.

Sigh.

Updated Two Open Letters to Rob Parker

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:27:00 -0500

Our kids are big Falcons fans. They go to every home game, and they spend a lot of time at training camp in the summer. They have been so fortunate to meet some of the players, Mike Smith, and even Arthur Blank.

You may have heard that ESPN’s Rob Parker wrote a scathing article about Atlanta as a sports town. You can read that hot piece of garbage here. A & C read it and found it offensive from beginning to end. You can read A’s response, an open letter to Rob Parker, immediately below, and C’s response at the bottom.

**********

Dear Mr. Parker:

You probably remember a certain article you wrote concerning the horrible fan support of Atlanta, which you called Hotlanta. Sorry to burst your bubble, sir, but no one who lives in Atlanta or the state of Georgia calls Atlanta Hotlanta. Only outsiders call it that.

Firstly, towards the beginning of your lovely article, you mention the fact that your article has nothing to do with football. (Um, sorry, correct me if I’m wrong, but if it’s not about the sports teams, why are you writing it?) Apparently, it goes deeper than that. Oh, right. Our sports fans stink.

You wish! (Also, if you really have to resort to picking on the fans as an excuse for why the Falcons shouldn’t be in the playoffs, I don’t know what to say to you.)

Atlanta Falcons fans are some of the best in the business. My mother, Jeanna Thomas, who may have kind of blown you up on Twitter today, is a die-hard Atlanta fan and she is from OHIO. My dad is from Wisconsin and is a Packers fan, but he even likes the Falcons. We (by we, I mean my mom and dad) spend over 120 dollars per home game on the Falcons, not to mention countless jerseys, hats, and other souvenirs along that line. Heck, our dog has his own jersey and a football toy.

But you know, how can we compete with the Giants, especially with their fresh 2007 Superbowl wins under their belts. People are focused on the Packers with their ACTUAL recent Superbowl win.

While we’re on the topic, let’s throw in a fun fact about football—the sound of the insanely loud Falcons fans doesn’t reach the viewer at home. You have to be there to experience the enormity of noise we make. Did you know that? No? Well, now you do.

Another thing is- a lot of us here in “Hotlanta” don’t actually drink sweet tea- this is Coke country, Mr. Parker. We eat us some Chik-Fil-A, unless of course it’s Sunday. Then we’re usually at the Falcons game anyway, so we eat there. But you know, that may just be my family and the other hundreds of families that are sitting in the Georgia Dome. The rest of ‘em are just sitting on their backsides at home drinkin’ their sweet teas and eatin’ their barbecue, wondering, “Hey! I wonder if the Falcons are playin’ in Hotlanta today?”

To quote you, “pathetic.”

Most of this letter has been about how all of the Falcons fans are not rednecks. We even have toilets in our house! So now I’m going to talk about the Falcons team themselves.

The Falcons record is 10-6. We have beat enough teams to be in the playoffs. Even if you still believe that the fans are stupid, how can you still say that the Falcons don’t deserve to be there? They practice, train, sweat, and prepare for the games. Are you the one out there tackling 300-pound men? No? Then shut your mouth about who does and doesn’t deserve to go to the playoffs, and focus on simply reporting the games.

I would love for you to watch this video- it shows, quite plainly, how basically AWESOME the Falcons (ahem…and their fans) are. Rise Up

You wrote an article talking about the fans of the Atlanta Falcons football team. You were wrong on nearly every aspect. The one thing you got right was the part about the true-blue Falcons fans. Guess what? Yeah, you’re right. There are people who claim to like the Falcons. They probably try to go to Chick-Fil-A on Sunday.

“Hey…” They say suddenly as they reach for another drink of their Coke. “The Falcons play today, right? Or did they play yesterday?”

Those people aren’t fans. Or the people that give up in the second half. They aren’t fans, either. They can claim to be fans all they want, they’re not. I could claim to be the president of the United States. It doesn’t matter what I say—we all know I’m not Barack Obama. Some people are at the game because they won tickets.

That’s about two percent of “fans”. The other ninety-eight percent of real fans live, breathe, sleep, and bleed Falcons. (Sorry, I exaggerated. We don’t bleed Falcons, we bleed their colors.)

I hope I proved to you that we are truly fans. The Falcons deserve to be there. As much as I hate to say it, everyone in the playoffs deserves to be there because they beat enough teams to be there. And Falcons fans love their team. They are loud, excited, passionate, and classy. They—we—love the game and the team. We are in the playoffs. On Sunday, fans everywhere decked out in their jerseys and gear will anxiously turn on the television hours before the game, getting excited and more nervous by the moment. Eventually, we will win or lose, but no matter what the outcome, Falcons fans will be standing by, ready for the next game or the next year, because we never give up on our team. Every fan will be watching and cheering and ready to prove you wrong.

Unless, of course, they’re at Chick-Fil-A.

Ashley Thomas

**********

Dear Mr. Parker,

I am afraid that I must confront you on your despicable article about the fanbase of our Atlanta Falcons. We are very passionate about football in our house so this in my eyes was utterly uncalled for. It would have made more sense to call out the team or the players but to make a dramatic statement you chose to do the unthinkable, call out the fans. But not just football fans, you called out the entire Atlanta sports fanbase. To quote you, Mr. Parker, I believe you called us “pathetic” and unworthy to “lukewarmly enjoy a playoff win.”

Again, I must ask you a question, why did you call out all sports, including hockey? We are a southern state so is it as “pathetic” as you think it is that we lost the Thrashers to Canada? I must ask those question because I am utterly befuddled over the state of mind you were in when you got the idea for this abomination you called an “article.”

Clearly you have not seen the emotions and the headaches that come out the Georgia Dome. You have not felt the pulsing of the crowd on game day. Or the buzzing of your ears when the game is over, or a headache that you are glad you have for the win of the game. You know not one of the things I have just described. Well, maybe you do but you have not shown it this in this manuscript. Better luck on your next article. Until next time, Mr. Parker.

Regards,

Chelsea Thomas

thevoiceofthefan: I’m Just Saying – Episode XXV Welcome to...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:52:11 -0500

thevoiceofthefan:

I’m Just Saying – Episode XXV

Welcome to our landmark Episode XXV. Next week, we will be live on Wednesday January 11, but you will still be able to get the archived show here. This week we are joined in studio by Adonis Jones, fellow Eagles fan, and we simply go off on Andy Reid. We rip Adam Schefter’s comments regarding Andy. We pick the wild card games. We take callers. We make a HUGE announcement. We do top 5 wrestling entrances of all time. And, Alex sings to Holly WHILE SHE IS ON THE PHONE.

Also available on iTunes.

You should listen to this, because a) Geoff and Alex are hilarious and offer astute commentary on all aspects of sports, b) I call in and talk about my Falcons.

I am the least consistent blogger ever.

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:43:19 -0400

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing instead of updating this Tumblr for months on end.

A & C are back in school, and we are juggling soccer, tennis, art lessons, and the general drama associated with middle school girls.

I am training for a half-marathon in November, which is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. The dog’s arthritis has gotten too bad for him to run with me, which is sad for him and for me.

For my day job, I am the production coordinator for a new environmental news series for PBS. It is currently airing on several PBS stations around the country. You can watch a preview here: http://youtu.be/gKWPma6Huxw, and you can view the entire broadcast schedule here: http://thisamericanland.org/FrontLines/airtimes.html. If you get a chance to watch it on your local PBS station, please let me know what you think!

I covered the Atlanta Falcons training camp for my very favorite Falcons blog of all time, The Falcoholic, and am going to be a regular contributor to the site. If you have been desperately seeking a retroactive overview of training camp and the Falcons’ last preseason game against Baltimore, this is your lucky day.

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/2/2339885/atlanta-falcons-training-camp

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/9/2353369/atlanta-falcons-training-camp-position-battles-edition

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/12/2359213/falcons-training-camp-photos

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/16/2366492/atlanta-falcons-training-camp-update

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/22/2377323/the-last-day-of-training-camp

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/9/2/2401509/preseason-is-finally-over

I will try to do a better job of posting updates, but I make no promises, because I am realistic about my inconsistencies.

Suck it up, NFL and NFLPA.

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:28:53 -0400

I am not remotely impressed with the breakdown of labor negotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA.

I was generally in support of the perspective of the players’ union until it became abundantly clear to me that they never had any intention of trying to get a deal done.

I never supported the avarice of the owners and the league, and my worst suspicions about that group has now been confirmed as well.

Who loses in this massive fail of alleged effort toward reconciliation? I do. You do. All of us who love this game, yet are not fortunate enough (emphasis on fortunate) to play it, own a team, or be paid to be involved with it at a high level. At the end of the day, Roger Goodell, DeMaurice Smith, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the jackholes involved with this sham of a process are still millionaires, whether the players are on the field come fall racking up more millions, or sitting at home enjoying the millions they already have. I’ll be the one sitting at home waiting for my season ticket refund check, fuming and furious because there’s no football.

The players are quick to remind us of the low-level players who make the league minimum per year, which was $310,000 per year in 2010. How many typical NFL fans bring home that kind of bank each year? Give me a break. The lowest paid player in the league is paid ridiculous amounts of money from the perspective of an average American. I don’t have a problem with the amount of money the players are paid, and I want to see the players get a fair deal based on overall profit for the league. Realistically, without the players, there is no football. But, now that the legal process has been initiated, and the players union has decertified, I’m pretty much over the arrogance of everybody involved in the process.

I don’t want to hear Roddy White’s sad, sad tale of having to pay $2,600 per month for COBRA insurance. We pay almost $1,000 per month for our health insurance through my husband’s job, and to say we don’t even approach Roddy’s income is a gigantic understatement. I love Roddy, but he’s not winning anyone over by whining about money. I don’t want to hear Drew Brees say much of anything, but to insist that the NFLPA is doing everything they can for former and future players when, in reality, rookie pay scale and benefits for retired players seem to be afterthoughts, obviously second to the major issue of compensation for current players and the possibility of an 18-game season. News flash, NFL players. Your fans aren’t idiots. We understand the process. We love the game, and we support you guys, but we’re normal people with normal incomes, and our patience is waning with all the woe-is-me drama.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, back in the day. I read all of the box scores every day, and watched as many Indians games as I could. On any given day, I could have told you what was happening in each American League division, who was leading each and by how many games, as well as details about the performance of every single Tribe player. Then the players went on strike in 1994, and this lockout is bringing to the surface all of the negative feelings I developed toward the players and the leadership in Major League Baseball that prompted me to give up on the sport altogether.

Anyone who knows me knows that my affection for football borders on the obsessive. I love NFL football. I live, eat, sleep and breathe it during the season, and it occupies a fair amount of my time throughout much of the offseason. I drive my non-football-following friends insane with my constant football talk. I don’t want to turn my back on football, but if they don’t get this thing worked out, I fear that I will not have any patience left for it.

I keep hearing these guys say that they’re working toward the best outcome for the fans, but their actions are inconsistent with their words. Their actions tell me that neither side ever had any intention of coming to a workable agreement, and that a lockout was always in the cards. It should be no surprise that any optimism I had about seeing a new CBA in place in the near future has completely disappeared.

I don’t want to see sad sack Roger Goodell insisting that they’re going to get this done for the fans anymore. I don’t want to see DeMaurice Smith walking around in his jaunty cap with his inexplicable cadre of bodyguards anymore. I don’t want to hear any more whining about Judge Doty and his bias toward the players. I don’t want to hear the NFL blaming the NFLPA anymore, and I don’t want to hear the NFLPA blaming the NFL, either. I am tired of the he said/they said ridiculousness. This is a bunch of grown men, and they need to put on their big boy pants and work this thing out, now.

This is a video A made with two of her friends for Social...

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:56:10 -0500

This is a video A made with two of her friends for Social Studies. She did a great job! Deforestation in Nigeria (My First Upload) (via kpunicorn)

Our weather has been beautiful lately, and H has serious spring...

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:31:52 -0500

Our weather has been beautiful lately, and H has serious spring fever. He’s been running with me a lot, and when he isn’t running, he’s at the windows watching the world come to life on our cul-de-sac. The end result is utter exhaustion, on display in this photo.

Preteen Romance

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:25:42 -0500

A has been getting an alarming volume of emails from a specific boy. She’s pretty and smart and has a good sense of humor, so it was really only a matter of time, but I’m not prepared for this with a 12 year old child.

The great thing about it, though, is that these awkward, and I do mean awkward, missives are forever preserved in digital format. As I read through them (her emails all come into my inbox. She’s fully aware of this. My kids know there’s no such thing as a ‘right to privacy’ for minors living in my house, and they’re better kids because of it) I can’t help but be glad that my similar communications from my pre-teen years haven’t been preserved for posterity. A’s, however, will be. Hopefully there will come a day when she can laugh at them as heartily as I have today.

"May I vacuum my room, Mama?"

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:16:00 -0500

“May I vacuum my room, Mama?”

- The most beautiful words I’ve ever heard, from 11 year old C.

"I think it went really well tonight. When I talked to the teachers, I used a lot of words like..."

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:20:03 -0500

“I think it went really well tonight. When I talked to the teachers, I used a lot of words like “prestigious” because I know that will impress them.”

- C, our 11 year old daughter, on her interview night for the middle school she wishes to attend.

Our dog, H, has this thing about people being in the shower with...

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:50:41 -0500

Our dog, H, has this thing about people being in the shower with the bathroom door closed. He doesn’t like it. He thinks he needs to have full access to all of us at all times to effectively protect us from the myriad, and irrational, threats he perceives, and closed doors to any room are too much of a hindrance. He has learned how to open the door with his nose, and he’ll come in and stare into the shower, which he doesn’t understand, like it’s a gateway to Narnia or something. Once the showering family member exits the shower, he’s done with them and done with being inside the bathroom, and he’ll start panting dramatically and shove his whole body against the inside of the closed door, which, incidentally, he cannot open.

If for some reason he can’t force the door open to get into the closed bathroom in the first place, he puts on this sad face outside of the closed door.

Black Ice

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:29:52 -0500

As per usual, this southern winter weather is inconsistent and features dramatic changes from day to day. In the middle of last week, we had wintry precipitation overnight, resulting in about an inch of snow on the ground by morning, and roads covered with deceptively treacherous black ice.

If you don’t know what black ice is, it’s a thin layer of ice, called “black” because it’s so thin that it blends with the black pavement of the road. You can’t see it, therefore it’s particularly dangerous. You drive along normally, thinking the road is merely wet, not knowing the treachery beneath your tires until you start to slide.

Growing up in Ohio, I learned to drive on black ice. It was a common feature of our Ohio winters, and sometimes our falls and springs. I remember one particularly brutal winter, when I was working as a waitress at a local restaurant. We had this chef—a great guy, this big, gregarious African-American classically trained chef from New Orleans. The guy was absolutely a magician in the kitchen, and he was fun, and had a great sense of humor. I really liked him.

The restaurant was dead—zero customers, due to a combination of snow and ice that had left, what else, a thin layer of black ice on all of the roads. We were at work, though, prepared in case some hungry soul decided to brave the weather because they were so desperate to get out of the house, which, with the recent Atlanta Snowpocalypse so fresh in my mind, was probably not an unrealistic expectation.

The staff was all gathered around a couple of booths, drinking coffee and talking, mainly about the weather. I was talking in a very dramatic fashion (incidentally, this is usually the only way I talk about anything) about my drive to work. I said, “It was crazy! I had to drive so slowly, because black ice was everywhere! It was so dangerous!”

Chef had come out of the kitchen and joined the group shortly before I said this, because he was in the kitchen making gumbo. Yes, we took full advantage of his New Orleans roots. I was facing him, and his face changed when I said that. He was visibly angry, which was confusing. I didn’t know if perhaps he had some inexplicable fondness for black ice, or if he just thought I should be a more confident driver than that and was disappointed, or what was going through his head, until he said, “I can’t believe you would say something like that. I really thought you were better than that.”

Um, what?

I went ahead and apologized, even though I really didn’t understand what was happening, and I had that feeling in my stomach that I get when I know I’ve hurt someone. I followed him out of the room and apologized again, and said I’d like to understand what it was in what I said that offended him.

He exploded with anger. “So, you’re scared of black guys, huh? You can’t drive slowly when there are black guys on the road, because that’s too scary?”

And, I exploded with laughter, because of course, this was not even remotely close to what I had said. I explained, “First, I said “black ice.” Totally, totally different. Second, you were correct, I AM better than that! I would never say something so terribly racist! Third, ‘black guys was everywhere’?! In what context would I ever say something so grammatically horrible?” I take racial equality very seriously, and I take grammar almost as seriously. I then had to explain the concept of “black ice” because this is a term with which they are not familiar in Louisiana, which was probably the root of this misunderstanding, really.

Sadly, Chef passed away a couple of years after the restaurant shut down. He had this congenital heart defect that was always a matter of concern for him, and he succumbed to complications from it. He was only 29 at the time. Every time I hear the term “black ice” I think of him and remember him fondly, and have a good laugh about this ridiculous misunderstanding.

About Us

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:03:00 -0500

We’re the Thomas family. I’m Jeanna; I’m married to Matt. We have two daughters, A, age 12, and C, age 11. Our third child, H, happens to be canine and more spoiled than the other two.

We live in the greater Atlanta metro area, and we love music, film, literature, fine dining and regular dining (especially gluten free, for me), I like running (because of all the dining), we all love sports (particularly NFL football), dogs, and life in general. I feel like I should warn you ahead of time that what you read here will probably be pretty random.

Welcome, and enjoy!