The other night we were watching an episode and found ourselves wondering if some of the crimes depicted actually happen. Then we thought, “Oh hell, even if they don’t actually happen, who the hell in their right minds thinks this crap up??” We sit for the hour yelling at the characters to not go in that room because the bad guy is in there or don’t turn around because the bad guy is right behind you. I should find a tape recorder for when we watch tv. We’re even worse when watching The Vampire Diaries.

One of the reasons that I like Criminal Minds is because it’s not a normal whodunnit where a crime is committed, witnesses are questioned and then the field of suspects is narrowed down until, finally, an arrest is made. Most of the Criminal Minds crimes are serial cases, meaning a person or persons commits the same type of crime over and over using a particular pattern. Like the Son of Sam and BTK. Also, the investigators are not local police: they are from a division of the FBI called the Behavior Analysis Unit. They study the crime scenes and then draw together the data of the previous crimes to put together a profile of the criminal they are after.

Aaron Hotchner is the leader of the team and he oversees the other investigators and helps them to piece the puzzle together. David Rossi was a retired profiler, but returned because of a 20-year-old case that he promised the victims he would find who did it. Dr. Spencer Reid is the youngest of the group and assists with analyzing the logistical and psychological aspects of the case. Derrick Morgan is total eye candy, but serves as a big-brother-type to Spencer Reid and handles some of the heavy-handed work during investigations. Jennifer Jareau (JJ) handles the media including press releases and putting together profile packages for the local law enforcement. Penelope Garcia is the tech chick who specializes in cross-checking databases for information the team needs or that can help fill in missing pieces. Garcia and Reid are the godparents for JJ’s son, and Garcia and Morgan have absolutely adorable phone conversations that just make me wonder if one day they won’t actually hook up.

I could care less about the validity of their methods and whether or not the techniques used actually work. My concern is always being entertained. Up until a few months ago, quite honestly, I hadn’t given Criminal Minds much thought because it was just another crime show. But now that I have been watching it (new episodes are set to record on the DVR), I’ve grown accustomed to the characters and my roommate and I agree that all we want for Christmas is a Garcia.

Because my work is done in front of a computer all day, and I’m in my own home, I go through just about a pack of cigarettes a day. Maybe about 5 of them actually get smoked. It’s a physical and psychological habit that I don’t know if I can break. I have no trouble going to a movie and sitting for a few hours without a smoke. I can sit in an office and survive without a smoke until a break or lunch. But at home, at my computer, I have no control over myself.

With that said: I was in my bedroom this afternoon, a room in which I don’t smoke, and turned on the tv. There was a commercial for Chantix on and they were singing their own praises that 44% of their users quit smoking within 9 to 12 weeks. Sounds pretty good. Makes it sound like it’s not all cold-turkey and total dt’s, right? So the commercial then goes into the risks and side effects of using Chantix. Um, I think I’d rather keep smoking…    

I think I would expect that one of the side effects might be nausea, and maybe even difficulty with sleeping. Nausea being attributed to the chemical withdrawal of the nicotine and such, and difficulty with sleeping being attributed to the physical withdrawals and psychological withdrawals from the activity of smoking. And let’s not forget irritability. Ok, I think I could live with that.

There were many other side effects they listed in the commercial that totally disturbed me. These are highlighted below from the Chantix website:

Important Safety Information

Some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions while using CHANTIX to help them quit smoking. Some people had these symptoms when they began taking CHANTIX, and others developed them after several weeks of treatment or after stopping CHANTIX. If you, your family, or caregiver notice agitation, hostility, depression, or changes in behavior, thinking, or mood that are not typical for you, or you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, anxiety, panic, aggression, anger, mania, abnormal sensations, hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, stop taking CHANTIX and call your doctor right away. Also tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems before taking CHANTIX, as these symptoms may worsen while taking CHANTIX.

Some people can have serious skin reactions while taking CHANTIX, some of which can become life-threatening. These can include rash, swelling, redness, and peeling of the skin. Some people can have allergic reactions to CHANTIX, some of which can be life-threatening and include: swelling of the face, mouth, and throat that can cause trouble breathing. If you have these symptoms or have a rash with peeling skin or blisters in your mouth, stop taking CHANTIX and get medical attention right away.

The most common side effects include nausea (30%), sleep problems, constipation, gas, and/or vomiting. If you have side effects that bother you or don’t go away, tell your doctor.

You may have trouble sleeping, vivid, unusual, or strange dreams while taking CHANTIX. Use caution driving or operating machinery until you know how CHANTIX may affect you.

CHANTIX should not be taken with other quit-smoking products. You may need a lower dose of CHANTIX if you have kidney problems or get dialysis.

Before starting CHANTIX, tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or if you take insulin, asthma medicines, or blood thinners. Medicines like these may work differently when you quit smoking.

CHANTIX is a prescription medicine to help adults 18 and over stop smoking. You may benefit from quit-smoking support programs and/or counseling during your quit attempt. It’s possible that you might slip-up and smoke while taking CHANTIX. If you do, you can stay on CHANTIX and keep trying to quit.

I would never try to generalize that all quit-smoking programs and drugs would cause these types of side effects. I’ve never even researched quit-smoking drugs. However, I would suggest that no matter how it is that you want to try to quit, please talk to your doctor. Even quitting cold-turkey has side effects that you might need help coping with, like irritability. Your doctor may still prescribe some sort of medicinal aid to help you to either quit cold-turkey or step down, like some of the patch products.

If it sounds like I’m bashing this product, please don’t take it that way. It just never dawned on me just how dangerous some of these products can be if they are not administered and monitored properly. Of course the same can be said about any type of drug that a person takes.

To those who are ready to quit, I applaud you. If you’re considering using Chantix or Nicoderm or Nicorette Gum or any other cessation product, please seek out professional advice from a doctor or a quit-smoking specialist. Seek out and understand all risks involved with any product you want to try. Visit sites like TobaccoFreeFlorida.org and learn about free counseling that may be available. You’ve already decided to quit. Get all the help and support you need to follow through without putting your health at any further risk.

There are many things about this story that I don’t like. There are two issues here. Whether or not an accident could have been prevented and whether or not it was appropriate that a mother should choose to share her tragedy on Twitter. That she left the checking on a two-year-old to an 11-year-old instead of checking herself, not ensuring that a pool enclosure wasn’t secured herself…but when it comes to pools I’ve found that no matter what a parent does, accidents will happen. I cannot judge the pool incident because I wasn’t there, and accidents will happen no matter how much care and security and intuitiveness a parent has.

I can however offer an opinion on the mother tweeting about her son falling in the pool and, sadly, passing away.    

In June, I had a cat become ill and within an hour of bringing her to the vet, she was put to sleep. While one cannot compare losing a child with losing a cat, both are still (to those involved) tragedies. As I was leaving for the vet, I facebooked that I was running Frick to the vet and let’s hope it’s nothing serious. While I was at the vet and waiting for the vet to let me know what was wrong, I facebooked from my Blackberry that I was really super worried about my Pretty Girl. When the vet came in and said that Frick was very ill and would likely die within the next few days, I jumped back on my Blackberry and called a friend to let her talk to the vet because I was absolutely stunned. After it was all over, I got in my car and facebooked again that Frick was now with the kitty angels. As soon as I got home, I looked  for a couple of pictures of Frick to post on my Facebook so that my friends could see who my Pretty Girl was.

Yeah, I know. It’s just a cat. But for me, my cats are everything. As much as I love my cats and as much as I loved Frick, does that make me a bad person for having kept friends up-to-date on what was happening with her? I wouldn’t think so. Should this woman be considered less of a mother because she chose to let her friends and family know what had happened to her son using Twitter? I definitely don’t think so.

We now live in an age when people don’t have to sit making 27 phone calls to report the same news over and over again. Reliving the tragedy in detail over and over again. We can make a single post about an event, request privacy during the difficult period, and then set about making those 27 phone calls when we’ve had a moment to compose ourselves and are better able to carry on a conversation.

Many comments on this article and some comments within the article make it sound as though the mother had been tweeting non-stop about what had happened to her son that day. Think about any time you’ve ever had to sit in a waiting room. You sit and sit and sit and wait and wait and wait. My thought is this: for this woman (if she had been tweeting the whole time), Twitter became  a therapeutic outlet for sharing with friends and family what had happened. A coping mechanism. Kinda like no different than if she’d been on the phone calling friends and family to let them know what’d happened.

So I’ll be curious to see what you do the next time something tragic happens and you want to let as many people at once know about it. Will you be phoning? Will you be tweeting? New age, new technology. Deal with it.

Carmen Huertas got smashed at a birthday party, filled the car up with kids, and had a deadly accident on NY’s Henry Hudson Parkway. And now the city is worried that she might commit suicide. Really?

In October, Carmen Huertas attended a birthday party with her family, including an 18-month old. After the party, Huertas was going to bring a group of girls, including her own daughter, back to her home for a slumber party. Interestingly enough, when it was time to leave, Huertas collected the children, including the toddler, but her “worried” husband decided to keep the baby with him.  Eight children piled into a station wagon with a woman whose blood alcohol content was off the charts. And the other party-goers knew it! The biggest reason I was so disgusted when I came across this follow-up article is because some of the girls that were involved in the accident were at this woman’s court appearance, with their parents, to offer support. They are actually holding bake sales and are donating their allowances to help raise funds for bail for this woman!

I don’t doubt that Carmen Huertas has been living in hell from the moment she had the accident, but there’s no way does she deserve sympathy or support! She knowingly got behind the wheel of a car when she was drunk. A little girl DIED at the scene of the accident! Her own daughter was injured!

In a previous article, Huertas’s lawyer tried to pass the blame off on the others that were attending the birthday party. That they never should have let her drive. The article says that the husband was worried about letting the baby get in the car with its mother. And if we’re going to talk about the other party-goers: why the hell didn’t they stop her? And why did the husband feel it wasn’t important enough to prevent their daughter from getting in the car?

Of course I think suicide would be too easy for this chick. Not only should she stay alive, but there should also be more people on the other side of the aisle in the courtroom than just Melody Sanchez and Lenny Rosado, the father of 11 year old Leandra Rosado, who died in the crash. And what’s wrong with the parents that are allowing their children, who were in the accident, to hold bake sales to try to raise bail money?

I understand the pain of the family that has to live without Carmen Huertas and understand that they are going to stand by her. I actually respect that.

But they should have been there for her before she grabbed up the keys to the car. Should have called the police if they couldn’t have stopped her. That was the support she needed.

In an age when children aren’t safe walking to their school bus stops or even playing on their own front lawns, who in their right mind would leave their child in the backseat of a car while they went shopping??? Well, apparently, this chick thought it was just fine and dandy. Say what you will about New Yorkers, but thank goodness someone saw this child in the car and called police.    

A few years ago, a very good friend of mine had errands to run and of course she brought her small children with her. They were all strapped in in their car seats and they pulled into the neighborhood strip mall to return a movie. My friend stopped the car in front of the video store in the fire lane, left it running and ran the 10 feet to drop the movie in the outside movie drop-off. Still not the greatest move, but we’re talking 45 seconds and the car was within her sight the whole time. Talk about the guilt she felt after doing that. To this day she doesn’t know what possessed her to do that. Ok, so we can all agree that things like this do happen to even the most caring and protective of parents. Did she ever do it again? Not just no, but HELL no. Her children are grown now and I think she STILL wouldn’t leave them in the car.

But this chick on Long Island thought it was perfectly fine to park her car in a Walmart parking lot – not a fire lane in front of the store – and proceeded to spend at least an hour shopping. Not just run 10 feet with the car still within her sight.

If the Daily News had reported on something more like what my friend had done, I would have shaken my head and just chalked it up to a bad judgment call and went on about my business. But, the Daily News article made it quite clear that not only is this woman pregnant, but she’s also a lawyer! We all know that you can have all the book smarts in the world and it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t have an ounce of common sense.

Parents find themselves in difficult situations regarding what to do with their children everyday. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. I can say that and I’ve never had children. But deliberately endangering your child’s safety to grab a couple of Black Friday deals is reprehensible. There’s just no excuse.

Thankfully, a passerby saw the child and called 911. Burdened with her new purchases, Ms. Sulman was greeted by police officers and placed under arrest. Ultimately the child was released to the father’s custody.

Let’s hope this chick knows something about criminal and divorce law. She’s been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and faces up to a year in jail.