To Sum it Up

Having dessert - tempura banana - at the Harbourside Restaurant,


after a day of kayaking


Waiheke Island New Zealand...


The radio plays "Wish You Were Here," Pink Floyd.

Indeed.

Language and Dialect

Fun stuff from here. And not surprising one bit.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

35% Dixie

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

In case you're wondering

this is the sticker I've decided to get.

A favorite columnist and a favorite blogger

The Agitator comments on a Thomas Sowell column.

As usual, they both say it so well that there's little more I can add.

Gratuitous post for Stacy

Trying to wrap things up at work, and we just had a wine tasting. As Stacy knows, I work much better after a drink, or two. Do you think that's a problem?

Anyway, must get back to tying up loose ends before the awesome trip for which we must be at the airport at 6:30am tomorrow morning, and I haven't packed a thing.

Listening to Duran Duran right now. Yay! (See, Stay, I told you it was for you)

Also, had a great time at a screening for Motor Home Massacre last night. So campy, and fun. If you get the chance to see it with a group of people, then it's totally worth it. If you're by yourself, or with someone with no sense of humor, you'll be miserable. Luckily, we were in a group, and with fun people last night.

Not the best idea

to watch a scary movie countdown alone.

A Band Question

Does the band Coheed and Cambria kind of freak anyone else out? I mean, they are nothing too unusual to look at,



at least in terms of rock music. I mean they don't make themselves up like Marilyn Manson - just some funky hair, really. But then the guy sings. With a voice somewhat similar to Geddy Lee. Get the videos here, for a sample.

I think it's the combination of the hair, the music, the smirk on the singer's face when he sings in the Suffering video, then that voice. Is it just me?

I LOVE

I LOVE I Love the 80s. As Dave likes to say, Madison Ave. has my number for sure.

What I learned tonight that I, sadly, didn't know:
Rosanna by Toto was written for Rosanna Arquette, who was dating the lead singer of Toto at the time.
How did I miss that?

Meant to post on this a couple weeks ago

Dave, my mom, three of my coworkers, and I all got certified in CPR on October 8. It was a good class, and I truly think I could help in a bad situation. Honestly, it's a really cool feeling.

It's Halloween; who are you?

Hat tip, Stacy


vampire-- reserved and you love your privacy and
space. you enjoy spending time with only a few
close friends and are a bit of a loner


What halloween icon are you???
brought to you by Quizilla

Big Trip Coming Up

So, I said I wouldn't believe it until I was on the ground in Sydney, but I'm comfortable enough to say that Dave and I are headed to Australia and New Zealand next week. I think that apprehensive is the word I will use to describe my state of mind regarding this trip. I'm excited, but nervous about how my body will react to four cities in seven days, keeping in mind that Australia is roughly the size of the US. Our itinerary:

Saturday 8:30am leave Atlanta for LA
1pm leave LA for Sydney, arrive 9:35pm Sunday - local time
Monday and Tuesday in Sydney
Tuesday 5:30pm leave Sydney for Melbourne, arrive 7pm
Wednesday in Melbourne
Wednesday 6:05pm leave Melbourne for Brisbane, arrive 7:10pm
Thursday in Brisbane
Thursday 3:10pm leave Brisbane for Auckland, New Zealand, arrive 11:45pm
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Auckland
Sunday 7:40pm leave Auckland for LA, arrive 10:30 am (the same day!)
1:50pm leave LA for Atlanta, arrive 9pm Sunday (still the same day)

So, maybe you see the apprehension. (Adding to this Dave's business trip this Wednesday and Thursday). I've never traveled so far, but I've also never traveled so much in such a short time-period. And I'll be working most of the time. But I still think it will be lots of fun, and I'm so excited that Dave gets to go along, too. Here's to kayaking the New Zealand coast on Saturday, November 5.

Increasingly Libertarian

Despicable

And if you're interested in libertarian bumper stickers, check these out. There are also stickers for the other political options.

Fun with IMDB

Did you know that Jason Bateman is married to Paul Anka's daughter?

Nothing much

Work has been strange lately, and it's got me feeling a little odd - and down. So, conveniently enough, the second disc of the first season of Arrested Development came in the mail today.

Yay! I felt better after just one episode. And there are eight on the disc.

Apple

Coming from a photo-journalism background, I once fawned all over Macs, too. Until I got one of my own that froze and crashed, just like PCs. It's just a damn computer. Anyway, interesting article for those obsessed with Mac, or those who find the obsession curious. It's really all about marketing and PR, after all.

Hat tip, the agitator, as usual.

Stereotypes

They do come from somewhere, don't they?

Dad = Jim Bob
Mom = mullet
Location = Arkansas

More Pictures

From last week and weekend.

Newport has to be the most overtly wealthy place I've ever been. Mansion (castle) after mansion. And yacht after yacht. The biggest sailboats I've ever seen.






See that white speck on the far boat. That's a man.




Supposedly Steve Wynn's "boat."


From the wedding (none from the Oct. 2 wedding, because those are film. Will post later.)




Old friends.

ArrDev

Just catching up on last week's episode. Best line ...

Lindsay, "How do you think I feel? Bob Loblaw's a handsome, professional man, and I'm only use to, well, none of those things."

Tobias, "OK, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over? An analyst and a therapist. The world's first analrapist."

Lindsay, "Yes, and you were almost arrested for those business cards."

Tobias, "I know, it didn't look good on paper, but I didn't quit because of the police inquiries. I quit to raise our little daughter."

It's been a while

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I was here for this wedding last Saturday and Sunday ...

in Medford, MA Monday and Tuesday ...

in Newport, RI Wednesday through Friday

and then here for another wedding Saturday

I'm recovering.

More on Ivy-League Educated Moms

A Yalie chimes in.

Conversation of the episode

from Arrested Development...

(probably not EXACTLY, but well, you'll get the idea).

Talking about GOB's recently discovered son...

Michael, "Could it be, GOB, that this feeling that you’re feeling is ... a feeling?"
GOB, "I don’t know what this is. It’s not pain, or even hunger."
Michael, "Could it be that it is love?"
GOB, "No, Michael, I know what an erection feels like! This is like the opposite, like my heart is getting hard."

There were also hilarious references to Andy Grifith (Ron Howard narrating), and to "meaty leading-man parts."

Thank you Dean Kamen

Is that how you spell your name? If not, I'm sorry. But thank you. I'm sure you didn't intend your really complicated, technically spectacular invention to be a tourist's mode of transportation in random cities. I'm sure you had loftier goals for this invention. And they are probably being realized elsewhere. But on Tybee Island, we had a great time on the off-road XT version. So, thank you.

Ivy-Leaguers Staying Home

Here's an interesting critique of the article I posted earlier this week.

Yay

Off to here for a couple days. It may not be the nicest hotel in the world, but it only needs to have one thing to make me happy ... a beach out front. It does. I'm set.

Thank you, Erica

I have to give a big thank you to Erica for letting me buy her Keane tickets, so she could go see the Doves tonight. What a show! There are few bands or singers who put on live shows that illustrate how woefully inadequite recorded music can be (is). Well, CDs, actually. My dad has a reel-to-reel of Madame Butterfly that is the best recording I've ever heard of anything. I digress.

Turns out, Keane is one of those bands whose CDs do them no justice whatsoever. And I like their recorded music. But live. Damn. Just damn. The lead singer's stage presence is incredible. The band's presence as a whole isn't choreographed or contrived. Even the lighting is well-done. Their stage show is on par with some of the best, but they do it in places like the Tabernacle instead of Philips Arena (for now).

"Successful" Women

It seems that many women are deciding they want to stay at home with their children, even - gasp - women graduating from Ivy League universities.

First of all, I must put aside my initial reaction about best laid plans, especially those we make in college. After that, it's very interesting to see what's happening, at least anecdotally.

Thankfully, this is a balanced article. There are a couple of folks on one side who seem to believe that the definition of success for a woman can mean many things. The president of Princeton, for instance:

For example, earlier this month, Shirley M. Tilghman, the president of Princeton University, welcomed new freshmen, saying: "The goal of a Princeton education is to prepare young men and women to take up positions of leadership in the 21st century. Of course, the word 'leadership' conjures up images of presidents and C.E.O.'s, but I want to stress that my idea of a leader is much broader than that."

She listed education, medicine and engineering as other areas where students could become leaders.

In an e-mail response to a question, Dr. Tilghman added: "There is nothing inconsistent with being a leader and a stay-at-home parent. Some women (and a handful of men) whom I have known who have done this have had a powerful impact on their communities."

But this one in particular is my favorite:

"They are still thinking of this as a private issue; they're accepting it," said Laura Wexler, a professor of American studies and women's and gender studies at Yale. "Women have been given full-time working career opportunities and encouragement with no social changes to support it.

"I really believed 25 years ago," Dr. Wexler added, "that this would be solved by now."

Permit me to build a straw(wo)man...
This quote says so many things about the way people with this view see the world. To them, how a woman chooses to raise her own children is not a private choice for her to make. Let's not even talk about this being a choice she would most likely make with her husband. How dare a modern woman view this as her own choice. Anyone notice something interesting here? I'm guessing that Dr. Wexler screams from the rooftops her support for a woman's right to choose many other things in her life. Once she becomes a mother, though, she no longer has a right to her own private decisions?

Or is she saying that these women are brainwashed by our patriarchal society and, therefore, incapable of making their own decisions? If so, who should overrule a woman's decision to stay at home with her children?

She also says there are "no social changes to support [working mothers]." I wonder when was the last time she worked in corporate America. Any guesses? I know of many organizations that strive to keep women onboard once they've had children. In order to do this, they build lactation rooms, and they implement teleworking and flexible scheduling policies. They offer more maternity leave than legally required. They understand that these women are contributors they don't want to lose. So companies do what they can to keep these women. I work for one of these companies. Many of the mothers that have come back to work after maternity leave haven't done so because of financial need. They love their jobs and our company, and our company makes it possible for them to be both successful mothers and salespeople, programmers, and customer support reps - to name a few.

And finally, Wexler hopes this "would have been solved by now." First, she assumes that women choosing to stay at home with their children is a) a problem and b) something that women are forced to do. I'd also be interested to know what exactly Wexler has done to create a solution for this problem that so disturbs her. Maybe she's not a very good women's studies professor if she hasn't been able to teach even the smartest women (students at Yale, for instance) that being a stay-at-home mother is clearly the wrong decision.

link via Wall Street Journal Best of the Web Today.

You got people coming at you from the front, from the back, from the side, at the condiment exchange; kids on bikes

Reality Bites is the 90s' Breakfast Club, no? It probably lines up more appropriately with St. Elmo's Fire, the whole post-college adjustment thing, but I was more into Breakfast Club than St. Elmo's Fire. So I'm feeling the Breakfast Club vibe. Can't really explain it, I guess.

Is it wrong that I want to not go back to work from lunch because it's on AMC right now. Damn, college was fun.

Feeling posty tonight

Stretchy Kitty

The Other Show

My other show started tonight. Great, bizarre humor, as usual.
George Sr. is a Blue-Man
GOB has a son
Kitty is off her post-pardum meds after 32 years

Favorite line so far...

When asked why she has stopped taking drugs for post-pardum depression 32 years after her youngest son was born, Lucille answers,
"Mood altering drugs lead to street drugs, according to a handsome doctor on the Today Show."
Michael, "Mom, that was Tom Cruise."
Lucille, "Oh, they said he was some kind of scientist."

I'm Oscar is the website Oscar started in prison to convince people that he's not his twin brother George. Anyone recongnize that inmate number?

What did I learn this weekend?

That frat boys at Clemson, Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn can buy seersucker shorts in orange (pardon me, that's melon).

Politicians Suck

Many despicable things happened before, during, and after Katrina. This is one of them.

From The Agitator, as usual.

Ahhh

He's back.

As Usual

Radley Balko says it best.

Everyone is screaming about what the government didn't do for the victims of Katrina. But the real tragedy is what the government - local, state, and federal - did do. And that is stand in the way of those willing and able to help.

In his column, he also points to a fantastic visual presentation of why exactly the government cannot possibly respond quickly or appropriately to, well, anything, actually.

Working late

To say the least, I'm working late tonight. This is not usual for me, but this is a funny situation. I have been slammed at work lately. Spinning the wheels, ggetting lots done, but not getting anywhere. Well, I'm taking tomorrow (today in three minutes) off, but there is one item I wan't able to do today before I left for a dinner engagement with family. So, here I am - typing up meeting notes. I just absolutely don't want to do any work on my day off. Well, not after I wake up in the morning, anyway. There's plenty to be done around the house, and errands to be run.

Anyway, just felt like posting.

Reading that is more than worth the time

Whether you read business books typically, or not. Whether you read philosophy books typically, or not. Whether you read ANYTHING typically, or not. It doesn't matter. Get this book.

Leadership and Self-Deception is a book I'm reading for management training at work. The last book we read was ok. So I wasn't especially geared up for this one. But last night, I was flying back from Minneapolis with a couple hours on my hands, and nothing else to read. Before we landed, I had finished the book.

I would try to explain it, but it's too easy to butcher. Basically, though, there is a philosophical theory of self-deception, which says that we often deceive ourselves into a way of thinking about and treating other people because of refusing to do what we know we should. This creates a cycle in which people push back, and we cannot resolve the relationships. It's a cycle that prevents us from focusing on results - professional and personal - because we are focusing on ourselves and how others treat us.

From an editorial review on Amazon.com:

The authors use examples from the characters' private as well as professional lives to show how self-deception skews our view of ourselves and the world and ruins our interactions with people, despite what we sincerely believe are our best intentions.

The theory (?) is told as a story, and is very easy to read. Sometimes it's pretty clear that they're simplifying the content to get across to a mass audience, but still good. It's not so easy to get the whole thing right up front though, so I'll probably read it again to get clarity on a couple of questions I still have. I'm excited for the discussion to begin at work. (what a geek)

I haven't done this book justice, though. Go out and get it. Read it. It will make a huge difference in how you think about and react to everyone around you.

Lazy today

Posting lyrics.

Artist: Barenaked Ladies
Album: Born On A Pirate Ship
Title: When I Fall


Words by Steven Page & Ed Robertson
Music by Ed Robertson

I look straight in the window, try not to look below
Pretend I'm not up here, try counting sheep
But the sheep seem to shower off this office tower
Nine-point-eight straight down I can't stop my knees.

Chorus:
I wish I could fly
From this building, from this wall
And if I should try,
would you catch me if I fall?

My hands clench the squeegee, my secular rosary
Hang on to your wallet, hang on to your rings
Can't look below me, or something might throw me
Curse at the windstorms that October brings.


I look in the boardroom; a modern pharaoh's tomb
I'd gladly swap places, if they care to dive
They're lined up at the window, peer down into limbo
They're frightened of jumping, in case they survive.

I wish I could step from this scaffold
onto soft green pastures, shopping malls, or bed
With my family and my pastor and my grandfather who's Dead

Look straight in the mirror, watch it come clearer
I look like a painter, behind all the grease
But paintings creating, and I'm just erasing
A crystal-clear canvas is my masterpiece

Chorus

Want to have kids?

My stepfather often says that there is no way he would bring children into today's world. While I don't feel as strongly, and understand that it has always been said that yesterday's world was better than today's, stories like this one do sometimes send me in that direction.

Short story ... cops launch a full-scale assault on a party, tear-gas and all. Their reasoning? The promoter didn't have the necessary permits. Some party-goers video-taped the raid. Cops then violently make efforts to confiscate the video. Some got out.

As always, thanks to The Agitator.

Wow, Mortality

So, our class (Dunwoody High School 1993) has experienced its first loss. Kelly died in a car accident in Denver and had been married less than a year.

All around, our class had been blessed. We never lost anyone while we were in school to the standard (sad as it is) suicide or car accident. And it's been 12 years now before we've lost anyone. The classes all around us have lost many people. I don't know why we'd been spared this long, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear about someone you've known since you were nine years old dying so suddenly.

I'm hit with this for selfish reasons, mainly - realizing that it can happen to anyone at any time, which means my loved ones, too. I'm so sad, though, for her family and friends. It's hard enough to think about someone you knew when, but I can't imagine if I were still close with Kelly like they all are. These things bring us all down to earth a bit, but the real tears are for her friends and family, left to be here without her, imagining everything she could have been and done had she only had more time.

One of many reasons

that my husband is wonderful ... he cooks me healthy dinners.

You see, when I get home and he's taking a nap, I have an entire can of Cheetos for dinner.

Yes, indeedy

I'm 30 today. Honestly, as a young adult, I never thought I'd make it this far. Since I couldn't picture my life at 30, I assumed that meant I wouldn't make it. I have. And it's a wonderful life. So today is a day for celebration. I think that tonight I will watch Elvis movies, after BBQ with Dave, since most of the celebrating happened this weekend.

Thank you, Funkle Ester, for the recognition at Wild Wing. I got to play tamborine on stage, in front of family, friends, and strangers!

Now, it's off to meetings until 2:30. Yippee.

Lyrics

The new Nickel Creek CD came out recently, and it's got a killer breakup song on it. Love the end of that third verse...

I hope you finally find someone
Someone that you trust
And give him everything
I hope you meet someone your height
So you can see eye-to-eye
With someone as small as you


Jealous of the Moon
Starin' down the stars
Jealous of the moon
You wish you could fly
But you're stayin' where you are
There's nothin' you can do
If you're too scared to try

And finally, Doubting Thomas:
What will be left when I've drawn my last breath
Besides the folks I've met and the folks who've known me
Will I discover a soul-saving love
Or just the dirt above and below me...

Can I be used to help others find truth
When I'm scared I'll find proof that it's a lie
Can I be led down a trail dropping bread crumbs
That prove I'm not ready to die

Please give me time to decipher the signs
Please forgive me for time that I've wasted

I'm a doubting Thomas
I'll take your promise
You've always kept me safe
Oh me of little faith

Oh my!

I'm sure you all do this, too, but sometimes I see myself from the outside and it scares me a little. Ok, a lot. Case in point...

Today, I'm working on the reconciliation report for our Australian distributor, and it's always unbelievably complicated (even though it shouldn't be), and it never matches up the first time around. In June we had a pretty complicated order go through, so just to get it out of the way, I started with that one. It matched up the first time. So, being very excited about this, a)I did a little dance in my chair. Then b), I found myself singing Get Down Tonight, and dancing even more.

Yes, so there it is. I think I'm ready for the Funkle Ester show tomorrow night.

So bad

I've been so terrible about posting. I even had a great idea the other day that must not have been so great, because now I can't remember it. Oh well.

Anyway, thought I'd cheat and put some fun lyrics or something in here. Honestly, though, I just want to get home and relax (or move furniture, hang pictures on our newly painted den wall, and clean for Dave's friend's arrival into Atlanta this weekend).

So sorry to be a tease, but I'm headed home now.

Will try to post more later, but I will leave you with a well-reasoned post from The Agitator. Once they've nailed cigarettes, you know they're going after alcohol, right? It doesn't matter that it didn't work before. Just like communism, I guess prohibition just wasn't done right the first time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I know it's been a while. I guess there's been a lot going on, but not much to really write about. We've successfully painted our living room and dining room now. The den is next, then the hallway, entryway, spare bedroom/current office, downstairs bath, and finally the kitchen. Then installing a new sliding glass door, banister, and fixing the shower downstairs. Oh, and new hardwoods where to old furnace killed our existing ones. Exciting, huh?

Let's see, last weekend, we stayed at the Ritz Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation. Wow. Fantastic place. If you ever have the occasion to stay there on someone else's tab, by all means, do NOT pass it up. If you ever have the occasion and pocket money to stay there on your own tab, I recommend it.

We shot our last wedding. Woohooooo! It went very well, and the pictures are lovely.

And the company I work for successfully began the merger process with another company. This is very exciting news, and I think the combined company will be one to be reckoned with in our industry. However, during a conference call with my new boss, he let slip something that my old boss hadn't yet let me in on. I was very much aware that my role will be changing, as they have someone at that company that does something similar to me. He's actually at a director level, though. Yikes. But what I didn't know was how significantly. Turns out, they are taking away my most lucrative business to let me focus on that in which I am not strong. My heart almost came out of my mouth. Let me say, though, that this company has always treated me extremely well, and given me nothing but opportunities to prove myself, contribute, and earn more money. As a matter of fact, I have the opportunity this year to earn a decent chunk of change in bonuses. That's what scares me to death. It's the partners I'm giving up that earn me those bonuses, not to mention trips to Australia and England. I'm terrified. This week should be interesting. I get to learn more about "the plan." I sure as hell hope the plan includes things staying the same through the end of the year and a nice little salary increase to make up for lost bonus pay next year. Somehow I doubt it. I imagine they are going to give me some new goals and new bonus opportunities. I just know that I don't like the idea of losing those that I've become adept at dealing with, and that have proven successful pieces of our business strategy worldwide.

Anyway, it's way past time for bed.

More libertarian every day

Thanks to The Agitator for directing readers here.

"Free Market Environmentalism" as some are calling it, is getting some traction out west. It seems that heavily subsidized ranchers have figured out that selling their land to environmentalists - of their own free will - is more profitable than ranching. The sad thing is that the government is standing in the way, and it's not the government folks you would think. No, it's the Republicans who claim to believe in the free market over government intervention, who are upset about a fading way of life - ranching. Nevermind that in this particular area, supporting this "way of life" costs the government millions of dollars. Why not let these landowners decide for themselves what they want to do with their own land. How pathetic. Oh well, I guess it's just in line with the recent Supreme Court rulings on private property.

The political parties are about nothing more than power - regardless of their stated interests. If the Republicans gave a damn about private property rights and the free market, as they so claim, then they would stay out of these private transactions. Of course, what do you expect when the administration considered filing a brief in support of New London (not the property owners) in the now infamous Kelo decision?

Saved by the second opinion

Turns out, our AC compressor is just fine, and actually only a few years old. The condenser coil is clogged, though. But instead of just replacing the coil, we will replace that and our 20 year-old furnace (since it's likely to go soon, and they have to be in that general vicinity to get to the coil). The entire job will run us $2300.

Yippeee! Normally, I wouldn't be thrilled with spending that kind of money unplanned, but, well, it's a hell of a lot better than $6400.

And they're coming in Wednesday to do it. We'll be staying at my mom's the next couple of nights.

Movie and housework

I'm not sure that I mentioned that on top of having no AC, we are also in the middle of painting our living room, so all our furniture is shoved to the middle of the room. As if it wasn't already enough of a mess. So, we tried to work through the pain yesterday, and get something accomplished by getting some more painting done. You see, I'm one of those folks who when she feels like there's something she can't control (spending thousands of dollars that she doesn't have on a new AC unit, for instance), must find something that she can control. The good thing about this is that I get things done, when I'm in this kind of mood. The bad news is, is that while I'm getting these things done, I'm in a pretty pissy mood. At least until the shock has worn off. FYI, the shock has worn off, and I'm in a pretty good moood today. This is great news for me, but especially for Dave - poor guy.

Anyway, back to the point. We'll at about 6 last night Dave was de-stressing by playing X-Box in our newly centralized living room. He had mentioned painting some more. At first I was having none of it. Then, with manic fervor, I began. We got a little done, but I was so frustrated in general, that really not much got accomplished.

So here we are to the point of this post, really. We needed to get out, and I needed a laugh. So we went to see Wedding Crashers. All I can say, is please please please go see this movie as soon as you can. It's pretty obvious what kind of humor it is, so if you are the kind that likes that kind of movie (American Pie, Animal House, Old School (even though, sacrilidge, I didn't really like this one)) then go see it. Though I do have to warn a couple of you who don't like the song "Shout," (I still don't get that), that this is a movie about weddings, and, therefore, the song abounds. There's even a special tribute, if you will, to the song. At least they didn't pick YMCA, the Electric Slide, or the Macarena.

Vince Vaughn is better than ever here - even over Old School, of which he was the only redeeming factor. So is Owen Wilson. Christopher Walken is his usual weirdly cadenced self. Jane Seymour has a funny part, but that story line disappears about halfway through, never to return. I think there was some editing, and her character got left behind.

Generally my favorite way to see a movie is with a full, but respectful, audience. Luckily, this was the case last night, with the entire audience busting out into laughter, applause, and even a huge cheer during one scene in particular.

It was stupid and silly and crass and funny as hell. This movie did its job well - it took my mind off my problems and to another world (ok, yeah, yeah, another soap opera reference - they're all over the place today). For that alone, it was well worth the price of admission for two, a small popcorn, a medium diet coke, and a small coke.

And when we got home, we finished painting the living room. Now it's onto the dining room, when we have AC again. We found out last night (1am this morning) that when your house is 92 degrees, paint dries really really fast and makes it virtually impossible to get an even coat.

To catch you up...

Because the "fix" is estimated at more than we spent on one of our cars, we are going to get a second opinion. Because it's the weekend and we're in the hottest days of our year, that second opinion cannot come out to look at the system until at least tomorrow, which pushes any repairs out probably a week. So yep, that's right, in the hottest days of our year (cue cheesy long-standing soap opera music), Dave and I will be without AC for a week or so

Four bright sides:
1 - We'd both rather be hot than cold any day
2 - At least our July power bill won't be $211, like June's was. (Or maybe it will be, since all last week, the AC had to stay on 24/7 to keep the house at 84 degrees.)
3 - We're not in the midwest right now, or Arizona
4 - In order to escape from this heat mid-day, we're going to take a trip to Ikea.

New System

Yippee. It is an entirely new HVAC system. To the tune of $6400. That's our first estimate. We're going to get another. Can't wait. And here I was all excited that we're getting our debt paid down. So much for that.

Ah, the joys of home ownership

So, our ac hasn't been up to snuff the last couple of weeks, so we've called the service folk to come look at it tomorrow. Wednesday, I changed the filter, just for good measure, and I noticed a small leak in the furnace where the filter goes. A couple drips here and there. Thought nothing of it, just that I would mention it when the nice repairman comes to fix the ac. Until tonight, when I noticed our 7 month-old hardwood floors just outside the laundry room (where the furnace is) are now nicely bowed, and black around the seams. Well, sn't that just lovely? I guess the leak is worse than I thought. It's not like there is a pool of water anywhere, either. It's simply made its way via the path of least resistance underneath our new floors.

A few things to be thankful for here:
We have a slab foundation.
This is a small area (maybe 10-12 ft square), so the replacement floors shouldn't be too expensive.
We just paid off a decent amount of credit card debt, which leaves us room for some more if we have to replace the furnace and floors.

Ouch.

Still can't seem to get myself to bed.

Then I start finding things like this, from my favorite poet. Does that make me pretentious, that I have a favorite poet? Oh well. I'll just be pretentious then. Because having a favorite poet is worth it. Because when you can't sleep, and you can go online, and find something like this, without fail, in spite of the fact that you haven't read any of his work in years - there is no better thing. Even when what you find is crushing. Especially when what you find is crushing.

The Vanishings
Stephen Dunn

One day it will vanish,
how you felt when you were overwhelmed
by her, soaping each other in the shower,
or when you heard the news
of his death, there in the T-Bone diner
on Queens Boulevard amid the shouts
of short-order cooks, Armenian, oblivious.
One day one thing and then a dear other
will blur and though they won't be lost
they won't mean as much,
that motorcycle ride on the dirt road
to the deserted beach near Cadiz,
the Guardia mistaking you for a drug-runner,
his machine gun in your belly—
already history now, merely your history,
which means everything to you.
You strain to bring back
your mother's face and full body
before her illness, the arc and tenor
of family dinners, the mysteries
of radio, and Charlie Collins,
eight years old, inviting you
to his house to see the largest turd
that had ever come from him, unflushed.
One day there'll be almost nothing
except what you've written down,
then only what you've written down well,
then little of that.
The march on Washington in '68
where you hoped to change the world
and meet beautiful, sensitive women
is choreography now, cops on horses,
everyone backing off, stepping forward.
The exam you stole and put back unseen
has become one of your stories,
overtold, tainted with charm.
All of it, anyway, will go the way of icebergs
come summer, the small chunks floating
in the Adriatic until they're only water,
pure, and someone taking sad pride
that he can swim in it, numbly.
For you, though, loss, almost painless,
that Senior Prom at the Latin Quarter—
Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan, and you
just interested in your date's cleavage
and staying out all night at Jones Beach,
the small dune fires fueled by driftwood.
You can't remember a riff or a song,
and your date's a woman now, married,
has had sex as you have
some few thousand times, good sex
and forgettable sex, even boring sex,
oh you never could have imagined
back then with the waves crashing
what the body could erase.
It's vanishing as you speak, the soul-grit,
the story-fodder,
everything you retrieve is your past,
everything you let go
goes to memory's out-box, open on all sides,
in cahoots with thin air.
The jobs you didn't get vanish like scabs.
Her good-bye, causing the phone to slip
from your hand, doesn't hurt anymore,
too much doesn't hurt anymore,
not even that hint of your father, ghost-thumping
on your roof in Spain, hurts anymore.
You understand and therefore hate
because you hate the passivity of understanding
that your worst rage and finest
private gesture will flatten and collapse
into history, become invisible
like defeats inside houses. Then something happens
(it is happening) which won't vanish fast enough,
your voice fails, chokes to silence;
hurt (how could you have forgotten?) hurts.
Every other truth in the world, out of respect,
slides over, makes room for its superior.

What's next, then?

I guess I need to figure that out.

And get some sleep.

Goodnight. Here's to meaningful days ahead.

Time to let go...

I guess sometimes it just makes sense to let go of things ...

I think that's what I've been trying to do for a while now. There are a couple more bits and pieces, but I'm getting there.

Midnight Radio

Driving far from home.
On a midnight radio.
Reckless and alone. On a long black road.
The city is burning like a dream. Like a lady smoking in the night.
And she lets out a silent scream. So far from the morning light.

And I don't know where to go.
And I don't know where I've been.
And I don't know If I'll still be here. When the sun rises again.
But somewhere in the distance. There's a tower and a light.
Broadcasting a resistance. Through the rain and through the night.
Hold me in the darkness.
Love is playing in the darkness.
On a midnight radio.

So grab your little sister.
Wake up your children and your wife.
Cause a new train's coming mister.
Around the boarders of the night.
Wavelengths of love are playing on a midnight radio.
Through the static and the rain.
On a midnight radio ...

-- Big Head Todd & the Monsters

Ben Stein

Y'all know Ben Stein. That odd fellow we all first got to know when he repeated the name "Beuller" several times to his high school class in that classic deadpan.

Then he was a gameshow host and a pitchman. And we found out he was also an economist.

Well, he's also a great columnist. I'm sad that I didn't know this column existing until its end. But Ben Stein's last column for E!Online is wonderful.

Check it out here.

They aren't kidding.

Ugliest dog contest in Santa Barbara, CA. Seriously. You can't even imagine. Consider yourself warned.

First go here for the story.

Then go here for the proof.

More Mina

Can't help it. I just have nothing of substance to blog about right now.

Work is slammed. Can't even catch my breath.

Working on several projects at home. Painting and moving rooms around. Office and den both moving downstairs to a currently un-used room. Office becoming third bedroom. All these rooms must be painted, as should the living room, dining room, hallway, spare bedroom, and downstairs landing area. FUN! Wouldn't be so bad if we were going to be home any amount of time over the next four weeks. So, yes, we get to work all day, come home, cook, eat dinner, clean dishes, then start moving stuff and painting. What a blast. But it will be fabulous when it's done.

Anyway, back to Mina.

The New Baby

Mina, short for Pashmina.

This one's for you, Stacy

I can hear you falling in love. Enjoy.

So, what do I do?

This weekend, someone paid me a very nice compliment. The bar we were in was extremely loud, and I don't think I was able to thank him properly. So thank you. You are very kind.

I was also unable the answer his original question, "So, what do you do?"

Well, for eight or so hours every day, I assist my company's resellers, both domestic and international, in helping their clients hire the best employees by using our products. Strategic Accounts Manager is my official title. Oddly enough, I really enjoy my job. Well, the job is a job, but I really enjoy the people I work with, and I truly believe that my company provides a great service. Good stuff all around. I'm one of the lucky ones.

So, the other 16 hours of the day, what do I do? Well, I play and coach soccer. Dave and I are also photographers, though we're going back to more of the amateur route. I'm also a wife, and parent (dog, two cats, and a fish), a daughter, granddaughter, a daughter-in-law, a sister-in-law, an aunt, a cousin, and a friend. I'm a homeowner, which also translates into an amateur repairwoman, painter, and maid. Luckily, I'm rarely a cook. Oh yeah, and I'm a groupie.

What I am, but I don't do, is a degreed writer - UGA, Grady College of Journalism, Class of 1997, in Magazines. I'm also an English minor.

What do I want to be that I'm not, yet? Well, I'd very much like to be debt-free. And a kayaker. And I'd like to be a mother in the more small-human-being sense. And, well, for a little fantasy, I'd like to be an absolute badass with a rockin' body, like Jessica Biel in Blade Trinity.

So what about you? What do you do? What are you? What did you study to be? And what would you like to be? Beuller, Beuller. Anyone?

Pet Peeves II

Biggest blogging pet peeve?

Comments trolls who make random (an usually anonymous) comments unrelated to the original post. Especially when they are negative and completely against the tone of the blog on which they are posting.

For example, the first comment on the "Big Oops" post at Jen's blog. Grr.

RIP US Constitution

On its deathbed with the Ashcroft v. Raich decision, the Constitution has now passed on.

The latest Supreme Court decisions have been utterly devastating to liberty. These are not obscure decisions, and both will affect millions of people. The government can now stand in your way at nearly every turn.

I'm sad.

Pensive Whitney

I think I may be coming out of this finally. A few days is all I usually need during these little episodes. This one seemed particularly tough a week ago. But maybe it wasn’t.

How do I know I’m coming out of it? Well, I’m starting to tire of the Pensive playlist on my mp3 player. On the Pensive playlist are songs that in my life for years, and recently, I have been able to listen to over and over and over again during these times. I lose myself in these songs. Artists include those already mentioned – Guy Clark, Radney Foster, and Lyle Lovett – and others: Jimmy Buffett, Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Nickel Creek, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, Angie Aparo, Otis Redding, and Everthing But the Girl. There more, but those are the ones this time around.

So this is a good sign.

I think I’ve figured out the source of the Pensive-ness (ivity?), though. And that’s the second step on the path. While Dave D. was brought to his own reflection during an event that pulled so much to the fore, my own epiphanies are the opposite. I need to be away from everything in order to sort it all out … stand back, and look again.

I think it’s that I don’t feel like I’m doing anything lately. Well, I’m doing plenty, as evidenced by my calendar. I guess a better word would be accomplishing. I’m not accomplishing anything.

This is something that is distinctly different about childhood vs. adulthood. From day one through college, there was always an accomplishment on the horizon – the end of the school year, the beginning of the school year, graduation, some sort of goal for whatever activities we were involved in. Constant end-points in front of us. As an adult, it’s not so much like that anymore. Yes, there are promotions and raises, marriage and children, but these are not as defined as goals before. And what do you do in between these defining moments in your life? How do you figure out who you are and what you’ve accomplished without these rites of passage?

I catch myself spinning my wheels, doing lots, but getting nothing done. So I have to remember to set some goals for myself. Maybe this is why people make New Year’s resolutions. I never really have. And I probably won’t. But what I will do is keep an active list of things I want to get done, and really focus on those. (I hear Dave groaning now, “Not ANOTHER list!”). Also, all of these have to require little cash, since something we have managed to accomplish is an uncomfortable amount of debt.

Finish painting the kitchen cabinets
Paint the living room
Paint the dining room
Pay off Dave’s car

I’m not saying that painting and paying off bills will define who I am. That’s what my relationships and daily life and the rites of passage are for – the way we treat other people and the larger accomplishments. I think I have a handle on these for now. What’s got me weird is whatever happens in between. Apparently, I need something to fill the in-between.

These can all be done relatively quickly – before the end of the summer, if I put my mind to it. So then what? Well, I’ll deal with that then. I’ve considered martial arts, but that means I’ll have to give up at least one soccer team and something financially. We’ll just have to see. But I will find something. I can’t go through this again in a matter of months.

Slightly better shot, but not by much. The story of the tag on the end of the guitar is kind of fun. The guitar was stolen at a music festival in Houston back in the 80's. Eventually, he got a call from the police. They had the guitar. The tag is the evidence tag from the police department. It hasn't come off since. 

Pictures from the show. Moved around a little to get better shots, but it was still pretty dark. And red lights stink, especially with a red curtain. Anywho... 

Chin deep in it

Going to see one of my favorite singer-songwriters tonight at Eddie's Attic couldn't have come at a better time. I'm chin deep in music right now. I sit at my desk at work with my headphones on listening to the three big guys in my book: Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, and Radney Foster.

Tonight at Eddie's Attic was Radney Foster. The crowd was no more than 150. Radney and a couple guitars. I can't say much more than that.

There was a song that I'd not heard before. I can't explain what it's like to go to a show like this by yourself and hear a song like this one. I just hope you can understand. If you can't, well, I'm sad for you, because it truly is one of the greatest experiences in life - in its pain and its glory.

"Half Of My Mistakes"
(Radney Foster/Bobby Houck)

Half of my mistakes I made stone cold sober
Half of my mistakes I made at closing time
Half the time I never saw it coming 'til it was over
Half of my mistakes I made with love on the line

Half of my mistakes I swear I should have known better
Half of my mistakes were just amongst friends
You get a little distance on it the truth is clearer
Half of my mistakes, I'd probably make 'em again.

(Chorus)
So if I had it all to do over I'm sure I'¹d win and lose just as much
Spend less time on right and wrong
And a lot more time on love.

Half of my mistakes I made 'cause I was moving too quickly
Half of 'em were made 'cause my heart was moving too slow
Nobody can tell you a damn thing if you ain't listening
Half of my mistakes I made 'cause I couldn't let go

(Repeat chorus)

Half of my mistakes I'd give anything to change how it ended
Half of my mistakes, God, I wouldn't change a thing
You can lean too hard on regrets, but I don't recommend it
Because half the good things in life came from half of my mistakes

Yeah, a lot of good things in my life come from half my mistakes.

Poof!

May not hear from me for a while. By that I mean a few days or maybe a couple weeks. There's just too much going on, and I have to focus and re-evaluate some things. One of those times.

Will leave you with a song:

Boats to Build
Guy Clark

It's time for a change
I'm tired of that same ol' same
The same ol' words the same ol' lines
The same ol' tricks and the same ol' rhymes

Days precious days
Roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend
I got planks to nail
I got charts to make
I got seas to sail

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Sails are just like wings
The wind can make 'em sing
Songs of life songs of hope
Songs to keep your dreams afloat

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Shores distant shores
There's where I'm headed for
Got the stars to guide my way
Sail into the light of day

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Weekend Movies

Saw a couple of movies this weekend. Wanted to see one more, but oh well. And since Batman Begins starts this coming weekend, I don't know that we'll get aroung to seeing Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Went last night to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but the showing we were there for was sold out, and the next one wasn't for another hour. So we saw Cinderella Man. Wow, absolutely loved it. Don't know that I'll be buying that one, but I'm really glad that I saw it. Dave asked if I needed to be rehydrated afterwards. I cried a lot. But, well honestly, I cry a lot anyway. I'm sensitive, sentimental, empatheitic, sympathetic - whatever all of the words are that means someone who cries easily. The scene when Russel Crowe's character goes to ask for money just about tore me up. I now have an understanding as never before about what people went through during the depression.

But, while that one is rough, the movie I saw this evening takes the cake for weekend sadness. It's a movie called Sometimes in April, done by HBO about the Rwandan genocide in 1994. I'm ashamed to say that I had no idea this was going on at the time. But I do remember Kurt Cobain's death, which happened at the same time. I haven't seen Hotel Rwanda yet, but had planned to before seeing this one, and certainly will now. I would like to see another story of this horrible tragedy. September 11 galvanized our nation (briefly) when 3,000 people died. A much smaller nation - tiny by comparison - was torn about when its own people began targeting each other and 1 million people were killed - 800,000 of them Tutsi's who were killed solely for being another Tutsi's and not Hutu's. I thank God that I cannot comprehend hunting down the people in my neighborhood simply because they, their parents, or their spouses were originally from Sandy Springs, while I'm from Alpharetta. That's the only way I can think of the tribal differences. Or maybe because their great grandparents came over from Ireland and mine from Scotland? 800,000. Women, children, people in churches, homes, in the street, in schools.

Unfortunately, it seems the Rwandan situation followed a little too closely to Mogadishu, Somalia, for the US government's comfort, and we did nothing. Watching the clip of some silly bureaucrat dance around even naming it genocide is infuriating and heartbreaking.

The UN, that bastion of rescuing the world, only sent 400 troops. France had some there because the Belgians had originally wrestled Rwanda from them years earlier, and given favor to the minority Tutsi's. And so the Hutu resentment existed, even though they had ruled the country since 1959. That's the short story.

A great movie - sad, infuriating, and touching. The rebel army was able to gain control of the country after 100 days and 1 million deaths. And the man who took over as president is still president today. I do not know more than that.

Please, don't think that this movie is all about bashing America for not doing more. It's not. It's about two brothers and the world trying to deal with was happening. One Hutu Army member married to a Tutsi and his brother a Hutu political radio host fanning the flames of the hatred and bigotry. It leaves no one unaccounted for, but isn't about blame. It tells the story. Even after seeing this, you don't necessarily know what America should have or could have done. At least, I don't. There was really no leader to displace. It was anarchy. How do you deal with that? We learned in Somalia that it's no easy task. And we were gun-shy for having that experience.

Someone in the movie asked if it was because they were African, but we sat by and did the same thing with Yugoslavia.

I certainly have no answers. Does anyone? Maybe we'll be willing and able to help next time.

It's a movie worth watching.

More thoughts on the Rat Pack

Really translates to celebrity, but follow along with me...

If people are ok with the fact that they weren't necessarily great people to those who lived outside of the Rat Pack stage life, that's fine. I'm ok with that in listening to their music, but it's hard to convince me that they are worth all the obsessing outside of the music.

It's like the way I can rationalize hollywood liberals and my enjoyment of their movies, in spite of my disagreement with their politics. 1 - I enjoy their movies or whatever art they practice (movies, music, etc). 2 - I can enjoy that and not like them as people. 3 - I can't convince other people who can't enjoy their movies or music that they should. I do enjoy the art only if I can separate that from the person. If I can't separate the art from the person, then I can't enjoy it. I don't enjoy mafia stories generally, because I can't separate the intriguing story from the horrible characters in it. I can enjoy Sinatra's, Martin's, Springsteen's, and Mellencamp's music because I can separate who they are, their politics, and anything else from their music.

Look at the worldwide love for Michael Jackson. Most people can still separate who he has become from who he was during Thriller and earlier albums. Less so with Bad. And then it all went downhill when people could no longer separate his psychological problems from his musical persona. The people who are still his most loyal fans seem to only remain that way by continuing to separate their love of the music from the love of the man. The worse his problems show through, the more this ability to love him moves from separation to outright denial. In order to still love his music, many people have to deny that he is a creepy person at best and a pedophile at worst. The more the art and the artist become one, the more difficult it is.

I think that's why love of the Rat Pack's music and lifestyle so often translate into a love of the Rat Pack - by the end, they seemed to be one and the same. The Rack Pack worked very hard either become their stage personas or to convince people that they were their stage personas. People feel they were who they presented on stage, and therefore, indiscretions outside of that image are either not really who they were anyway or are ok, because the rest was great. Was Sinatra a great guy with a great voice who did stupid things or was he only a thug with a great voice?

We all make mistakes or do things that aren't great, and our friends love us anyway. We all believe that those bad things are not who we are; we are the good things we do. How you feel about the Rat Pack itself (and possibly, but not necessarily the music) seems to fall along the lines of whether you think they were truly more of the good parts of themselves or more of the bad parts of themselves.

Rat Pack Love

I know people on both sides of the Rat Pack spectrum, especially regarding Sinatra. Lileks has a great Bleat today after reading a book about Skinny D'Amato - his influence on Atlantic City's heyday, and his influence on 50's culture because of his friendships with members of the Rat Pack.

Lileks looks none too kindly on the Rat Pack, and nicely ties it to Mob Chic. Those two always seem to go hand-in-hand, which I guess is appropriate.

Sinatra plays a large role in the book, and reminds me again how much I
don’t like the man. And how that extends to his music. There’s something false
and seductive about being a modern-day Sinatra fan, and by “fan” I mean someone
who thinks they can get a few photons of reflected coolness by conspicuously
immersing himself in the Capitol oeuvre, with all its world-wearing romantic rue
and barroom charm.

The Rat Pack Myth works best from a distance, preferably 1500 miles and 30
years; you don’t see them feel up the hat check girl, kick the waiter (or have
him kicked), or stare with vacant eyes from the bottom of whatever well of
drunkenness they toppled into that night. We cut them slack because they wore
cool suits and had short hair and smoked a lot and one of the spoke
ever-so-cultured, and because they either slept with a Kennedy or pimped for
one. Mafia Chic requires the same removal from the scene.

I'm somewhere in the middle on this one, and seemingly opposite of Lileks. Lileks admits to being a Sopranos fan, but no fan of Sinatra.

I do like a lot of Sinatra's songs, and I adore Dean Martin. But I do not like the people they were. I'm rather ambivilant about the rest of the Rat Pack scene, as I'm typically not a fan of "scenes."

And I certainly have no love for Mafia movies - have seen most and don't need to see any of them again. I'll never understand what's so romantic about people who can compartmentalize their lives so much that they can "love" their wives while cheating regularly or can espouse honor while having people murdered and beaten.

Katie and Tom

Sittin' in a hollywood press agent's office, coming up with ideas to get people to go see their new movies .... k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

Anyway, one of my favorite sites has finally commented on the whole Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes promotional tour - in their own classic way.

I have to write about what?

I wonder if the 22 year-old recent journalism school graduate making minimum wage snickered even the slightest bit while interviewing for and writing this story.

Let's break it down, shall we?
Pregnant woman
Can't swim
Gets on jet ski
In a bay near Boston (Have you ever been in the water up there? Even in June?)
Falls off jet ski and can't get back on
Must be rescued
IN 3 FEET OF WATER

I will admit that it was a sandbar, so she couldn't get back to shore. But really? You're pregnant and can't swim, so you go get on a jet ski and hop into 55 degree water? At least they were wearing life jackets.

Scary ... and it will be here soon enough.

Within two years, all cars in the UK will be tracked via satellite and taxed according to mileage travelled. Don't really know what else to say. It absolutely terrifies me that so many people are OK with this.


Link via The Agitator.

George Will's Word of the Day

From his June 2 column...

Prorogue, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition:
vt. - to terminate a session of (e.g. a parlaiment); to postpone.

Used in context of Will's column:
"So the Labour Party can sooner rather than later say to Blair what Cromwell said when proroguing the Rump Parliament: 'It is not fit that you should sit here any longer!'"

Pet Peeve

Huge pet peeve of mine. Actually, really just a summary of people who piss me off.
1) People who want something for nothing, and feel they deserve everything.
2) People who care only about what they can get, regardless of how many people they hurt in the process – both directly and indirectly.
3) Conniving women who give the rest of us a bad name.
4) The people who play right into the trap.

George Will

George Will is one of my favorite columnists, but it never fails that at least one word enters his column each Sunday and Thursday that I have no idea as to its meaning. Thursday's column (requires registration) includes: obstreperousness.

Obstreperous, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition:
adj. - to roar at; to make a loud noise; noisy, boisterous, or unruly, esp. in resisting or opposing.

So from now on, when I read Will's columns, I will include in my blog the word that I needed to look up - along with its definition.

SNL was ahead of its time...

Regarding the absurd tendency for newscasters to pronounce non-American word and names in their native pronunciation.

SNL had a fantastic skit about this with Jimmy Smits and Jan Hooks in the 80's.

Neal Pattman - 1926-2005

It is a sad day. Neal Pattman died May 5.

With the closing of Macadoos (ages ago) where we watched and listened to Mr. Pattman, and danced; Uptown; Peppino's; and now this -- our Athens has passed.

RIP.

Lyrics

Really listened to this song last night, for the first time, even though I’ve had the album for a few years. Maybe it caught my ear because Dave and I had been talking about kids earlier in the day. I really don’t know why. But it caught me nonetheless.

This is the first song I’ve heard that shows the love parents feel for their children, but isn’t sappy (Butterfly Kisses, for instance). I can’t even imagine, really, but this helps.

Angie Aparo
“Wonderland”
She's a child young and willing
In a world that's unforgiving
That in time takes all the living
From your soul

I stand in the night with a silver sword
Killing her demons beating em off her door
Sleep baby don't you cry
Daddy's got a worn-out lullaby

And i live forever dark and damned
To see you spend one minute
In wonderland


And then there’s "Gravity". The realization that this life is what you’ve got, so you better stop wasting time thinking something better is going to come along some day. It’s not, especially if you just sit and wait for it. Forget your pride.

“Gravity”
I saw a wreck at a light
Two cars that gave up the fight
Nobody left to be saved
No steam left under the gauge

And in that carnival light
The show began to unwind
And i saw just how it goes
Out on that old two-lane road

I been saving time for another life
Maybe happiness is coming but you don't know when
When...

The gravity
Of whether you were meant for me
Came crashing down with sovereignty
In someone else's tragedy

I saw the old man again
He only talks about when
There was so much to believe
Before the cancer to be
He can't remember the song
The words they all come out wrong
And all his records are cracked
He knows you can't get it back
It's only faded time

Maybe happiness is coming but you don't know when
When...
The gravity
Of whether you were meant for me
Came crashing like a symphony
In someone else's used to be

And we carried our cross like a clover
And we smoked cigarettes and we lied
About the things we would feel when we're older
Oh god what a fine waste of time
And i miss you are you coming over

Two little other things about Angie Aparo, too. When Dave and I saw him at the Roxy in Atlanta, we sat next to his family. So I've seen the girl "Wonderland" was written for. Kinda cool.

He played Tasty World last night. Sorry I missed that, but he always plays there on Thursdays. Someday I'll suck it up and go to work sleep deprived on a Friday. It's worth it.

As I had hoped

Television without Pity has also reviewed the Brtney and Cletus McK-fed "show."

It's just the recaplet for now. A full line by line overview will be online soon, I'm sure.

Chaotic aka Can You Handle My Truth

For the best in catty, please see Go Fug Yourself. For Stacy's and my attempt at it, please read on.

So it begins...

Brtney, "My love doesn't scare me; other people's love scares me."

Brtney in close association with Kvin, present Our Story

It's Raw

Look at me; look at us; look at me; look at me; look at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clips from The Onyx Hotel tour skip to night-cam images of horrific Brtney face. Is she high?!

Stacy, "This whole show is toxic."
W, "No, they don't look like boobs; they look like knees, idiot."
S, "You could call it 'They look like boobs, but they're NOT. They're my KNEES.'"
W, "It's a piano that you will NEVER play."

commitment and relationships:
Brtney asks her hairstylist and those around her about commitment. "Free Healthcare."
B, "I don't believe in marriage. I've been there, but that was a different story."
W, "But I'll be married in less than five months from now."
S, "She's red."

Flicia - Brtney's assistant
W, "Poor woman."
S, "Wow, Brtney likes her close-ups."

Brtney's ideal guy should not be "shit-face ugly." She's seen a lot, and hopes her man hasn't because she wants to see everything through him. Her hairstylist wants a rich man.

Going to TRL - in London.
She gets antsy in cars. She gets real antsy out of cars, too. She also sings along with Eminem using guttural noises, not words.

And sometimes Stacy and I don't know what to say, so we just look at each other, and laugh.

W, "What the F is that black leather Michael Jackson thing she's wearing?"

It's essential that TRL inspire her with lots of cute guys because she hasn't been on a date in a while. She's tapdancing on the side stage.

W, "Are those strings or highlights in her hair?"
S, "Look at me. If you didn't notice me, I'll do another close-up. Touch my leg, Stephen Dorf." Otherwise known as that song with Stephen Dorf in the video, with the mock suicide at the end.

Brtney now asks her dancers about commitment.
So far, no one believes in marriage on this show. And they are all Bitter Betties.

W, "Nooooooo! Brtney Spears just used my phrase! Damnit. Is Bitter Betty a southern thing? F---! How dare she!"
S, "Maybe you have more in common with Brtney than you think.... She just said it again."
W, "She takes every single cliche she's ever heard and drops at least one into every sentence."
S, "Her parents know she's trampy. Don't they? They have to, after all this?"
W, "Oooh, look, another shot up Brtney's nose!"
S, "Look at me, look at me, look at me."

Brtney, "I'm not all about sex, y'all"
B, "There's a time in every woman's life when ... you should be your hot mama self."
S, "Wouldn't she just drive you up the wall?"

Brtney tells her friend that she needs to get laid because her friend needs to get laid and/or take a valium.

Pre-show prep at Wembly Arena. She sings more.
W, "The girl has a decent voice if she'd cut out all that computer crap. She can't be singing for real on stage. There's just no way. If she is, there's got to be a backing track."

Slave for You live.

W, "She just can't be really singing that. She's not singing that."
W, "Oh look, her nose and eyes, AGAIN."
S, "Figure out the camera!"
W, "Ok, I do like the star-light ceiling."
S, "Oh my God, she needs to calm herself down!"

Brtney, "People can take away everything from you, but they can't take away your truth. But the question is, 'Can you handle it? Can you handle my truth? Can you? I don't know. Hahahahaha.'"

S, "This is where she wants to be like Madonna in Truth or Dare."

"What is your favorite sex position," is the question of the day during this part of the show.

W, "Wow, so I'm glad that thousands of little girls probably asked their parents for permission to stay up and watch this. Fantastic."
JC from NSync will not answer. He's shy.
W, "Oh, wait, he has class! Strange!"
S, "She was wanting someone to ask."
W, "But now she won't answer. F---ing tease."
W, "Brtney's teeth! Pig snout!"
S, "Have you noticed how everyone in the room laughs. They like crack up."

More live clips, this one with a cross-dressing fat man.

W, "I don't think she could try much harder to be Madonna."
S, "The boxy outfit."
W, "What is that? It's not at all flattering. It's like a frilly girdle."

She realized on tour that there was this huge void. Why not bring this guy she met in LA a few weeks ago to London?

W, "Oh, I don't know, cause you've only met him once - a few weeks ago."
W, "Brtney was obviously pregnant when filming the interview portions of the show. Show them boobs, baby!"

He was living with his friend from back home.

S, "Not with my baby's momma."

Insert global cringe during close-up of Cletus McK-Fed.
Kvin, "I don't know, something just happened."
S, "Money happened."
S, "She was really thinking, 'I am not going on tour until you shower.'"

Brtney and Kvin debate who told whom to leave, and it's like the insecurity Olympics. Then he says he felt "wanted."

Kvin, "I feel that love is love. Love is a commitment. I don't believe in marriage. I believe you can get married. Heheheheh."

S, "Look at his bottle of gin!"
W, "But I'll be married in five months. I've got one baby with another woman whose pregnant right now."

Kvin doesn't need a certificate or ring to make him feel closer to someone.

W, "Apparently only a velour jumpsuit that says 'Pimp.'"
Brtney asks Kvin what makes sex different from girl to girl. Kvin gives the standard, I want to f--- this girl, "It's different when you have feelings for a girl."

Her bodyguard saw it from the beginning. Didn't like the guy.

Night vision cam - S, "Look at him in the green. He looks like the devil."

S, "They're not tipsy drunk."
W, "No, they're high."
W, "Take a drag on that sexy sexy cigarette, honey. You're so hot in green cam, with a cigarette, talking about Brad Pitt."
S, "look at him! Did you see him?"
S, "Is that all this show is about? I mean, is it?
W, "Uh-huh."

Still in London.

W, "So, what's it been, a couple days, weeks?"
S, "She brought that guy out there to sleep with him."
Brtney, "Everyone has their own interpretation of what things mean to them."
W, "Look, here's Kvin out of the shower, naked."

Brtney, "Let's don't go. Let's just F--- all day."
S, "Her laugh is irking my nerves."
W, "Is that a Rosemary Clooney CD that Brtney just put in the CD player?"

Brtney back on stage, burping into the mike in Wembly Arena for sound check.

W, "Flicia, turn the camera upright! Damnit woman."
S, "I don't know, she held up several fingers." (Regarding the number of times Brtney had sex that day. )

Now we get to see Kvin the shower.
W, "At least we now know that he does shower."

Brtney thinks Pink is very cool. The singer. And her sex with Kevin is very cool. Ecstasy. Three times today. He's sweet, and she likes him.

W, "That's it. It's over?"
S, "That's their chaotic life? She brought him to London to have sex."

Scenes from next week...

W, "Oh, I didn't get it."
S, "We'll have to watch it next week."

Regarding Star Trek - really

Lileks has a way of even making me weepy using something I couldn’t care less about – Star Trek and the finale of “Enterprise”. It’s not the reference that makes me weepy, it’s what he does with the context and the theme and the grandieur of his theory.

Spoilers follow.

And so we saw the entirety of the Enterprise story as something that had
become Distant History, a story you read in second grade. The ship was Old
Ironsides – interesting, inert, historical, a relic. That was a fun tour, let’s
have lunch. It was a contrast between the tone of a standard episode (what
happens now is incredibly important and the Federation hangs in the balance and
any one of our heroes may be killed, despite the fact that they have signed a
contract for the next season) and the cool regard of history, for whom these
events are simply a matter of record. What Riker was worried about would be
history in the same way, eventually. That’s the point. We think that Today is
incredibly vital and pertinent; surely history will see it as we do, feel it as
we do. Well, no. Not unless it’s a very bad day, and certainly not if it’s a
nice one. Battles turn into paragraphs. Sunk ships are footnotes, if they’re
lucky.

Redheads, unite and breed!

Russ, you are an endangered "species" that may be extinct by 2100.

Dear colleagues, just don’t

Seriously, people, do not ask me to be on conference calls that require anything resembling coherent thoughts on a Friday. And certainly, under no circumstances back to back on a Friday at 11:30am, then 12:30pm. And most definitely, not on Friday the 13th. Is it really too much to ask?

If you want me to help you, it's best to pick times when I'm at my most productive. The above situations are NEVER those times.

Thank you,
Whitney Bryant
Strategic Accounts Manager

Geeks Unite - Saturday, May 7, 2005

OK, I think this is so clever. But only if they’re being clever. It’s absolutely scary if they’re serious.

Mushy mushy mushy

Turns out that even after three years of marriage, Dave and I are still doing those disgustingly cute things like sending each other emails wondering why one hasn’t heard from the other in a few hours, at exactly the same time. Or is it just disgusting that we (ok, I) think that it’s cute?

'Bout sums it up.

If you're like most of us, and can't stand the extremes on either side of the political spectrum, check this out. I don't really think anything else makes the point as well.

Laziness

Alright alright, I know quotations are the tool of lazy writers. Well, I'm lazy. I'm actually so lazy that I haven't read my daily quotations emails in 44 days. I did today. Here are the hightlights.

Hell is full of musical amateurs.
-- George Bernard Shaw
(see this band, and this one with this song, and this person)

"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."
--Bertrand de Jouvenel

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.
-- Bill Vaughan

Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others.
-- Jules Renard
(see the total readership number of this blog, for instance vs. readership of other blogs that actually use original content)

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some.
-- Herbert Rappaport

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.
-- Thomas Sowell, Is Reality Optional?, 1993
(see public education)

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
(see social security reform, medicare, presidential elections, etc.)

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.
-- Sidney J. Harris

If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody.
-- Agatha Christie

I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.
-- Wernher von Braun
(see US Space Missions)

Saying what we think gives us a wider conversational range than saying what we know.
-- Cullen Hightower
(see the blogdom, gossip columns and magazines, political pundits, etc.)

I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me.
-- Dave Barry

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.
-- Doug Larson

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
-- Sir Richard Francis Burton

Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.
-- Frank Lloyd Wright

Craving

OK, so very strangely, I got a craving for Krystal today. So, to Krystal I went. Just a funny little side note...

Did you know that some Krystal locations are wireless hotspots. That strikes me as funny.

Finally!

This is something I’ve been wondering about for years. I have a very difficult time finding sunglasses that fit, so I’ve always wondered, "When are they going to make contacts that are sunglasses?"

Well, “they” (Bausch & Lomb and Nike) have done it, and gone about 10 steps further!

Known as performance-enhancing contact lenses, they were designed to help
hitters pick up the seams on the ball better and to protect the eyes from the
sun.

"They're almost like wearing sunglasses without wearing sunglasses,"
Roberts says. "I could tell such a huge difference right away that I was willing
to give them a shot." Seven years in the making by Nike and Bausch & Lomb,
the lenses — which will be known in the retail world as MaxSight — are so new
they have made their way only into a few major league clubhouses so far.

The lenses also come in gray-green for golfers, and a set for night use
is in the final stages of development.

I’m totally going to see if I can get a pair of these on my next check-up.

Fascinating, and pathetic

This article is so silly. I mean, I know Tom Delay is under major fire right now, so anything he does even slightly hypocritical is going to be magnified, but please. This is ridiculous.

However, interesting tidbits in the article that I did not know...

Last September, the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control
tightened its prohibitions against U.S. citizens importing or consuming Cuban
cigars. Even Americans licensed to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban goods
are no longer allowed to include tobacco products in what they carry. The
regulation also noted that Americans are barred not only from purchasing Cuban
goods in foreign countries, but also from consuming them in those countries.

The unmitigated stupidity of our government just blows me away. Let's see...
1 - How in the world are they going to enforce this?
2 - Exactly how do they think this will affect Castro in any way, shape, or form. I mean, the embargo hasn't worked for the last 50 years, so what makes them think it will start working now if they only change the rules for a teeny tiny minute percentage of the American population that smokes Cuban cigars and chooses to smoke them overseas when they have the opportunity?

Insanity - Doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results.

MIA

So, it’s the end of April. Seriously, the end. The first quarter is long past, and we’re headlong into the second. Damn. Just damn. What happens?

Sorry that I’ve been missing for a while. This has just been a couple of those weeks. I thought I’d be able to use this week to catch up from the trip, but I was so so wrong. Wednesday and Thursday were training days here. I wasn’t only on the trainee side, but also the trainer side. I had the joy of three presentations. Two, really, just one of them presented twice.

Got to present the state of my territory (the WORLD – bwahahaha), which was nice, since I finished out January through April at 104% of my quota. And I fully intend to finish the year over quota, as well. It feels good to be able to say that. Finishing that way also feels good because Dave and I got to attend a company-paid evening out with 18 other company folks at Killer Creek. Yum.

On the other hand, being both trainee and trainer this week entailed a lot of long days. Tuesday was 12+ hours, capped off with Dave calling me and telling me that I really must come home - 8pm is no time to be at work. (I don't know how the other Dave does it) I’ve been good in the past at being efficient enough to complete my job without working extra. The last couple weeks have been exceptions. So, you see why no posts lately.

The other problem with that is I haven’t had time to even look up and see what’s going on around us, and bring up any interesting conversation for the blog. I apologize.

This weekend should be fantastic, though. Twilight Criterium in Athens. Funkle Ester Friday, Modern Skirts Saturday. Lots of merriment during and in between. Awesome. I haven’t seen a full Skirts show in ages. This will be a great time.