One of Us

Another metaverse...

2007-02-07T13:03:00.000-06:00

If you have been reading here for a while, you know that I have an obsessive personality. I get completely into different things and throw my whole being, heart, soul, back, everything into it. The latest is Second Life.

I am WAY into it. From a developer’s standpoint, it is a phenomenal concept. This world was created and then the users of the world expanded it. Unlike other online “games” where the creators need to do development to expand it, these guys created the platform to allow anyone – of almost any level of tech ability (or inability) – to create new land, new buildings, new objects, new actions. This is mindblowing.

From a user’s perspective – it’s damn good fun. Now…if I can just keep a grip on my First Life.

To color or not to color...

2007-01-26T06:30:00.000-06:00

I have decided to embrace my natural color and quit coloring my hair. I've grown tired of the ritual. In addition, my natural color now is quite streaked with gray. It's a pretty bright silver gray, but gray nonetheless.

I have seen people as they let go of the color and let themselves go gray, but too often they stop too late. They are like athletes who continue with their sport two seasons too long. The once great athletes are noticeably slower, older, and less talented. Hair that goes too long has an obvious "growing out" period. The real hair color slowly descends down the head like a spreading ooze, obvious to all around.

I hope I have made the decision at the right time. My gray is starting to ooze, but it's not really a full-on assault. It's a trickling. If people say, "Wow she's going gray," I can deal with it. What I don't want to people to say, "Wow, she's looks like a mutant with that two-toned hair!"

Bingo...

2007-01-21T19:13:00.000-06:00

The bingo gods hate me. We got dumped on with another winter storm. I braved the snowy roads and slush flinging semis to get to Tama. They had $5000 bingo today. For those of you who think bingo is just that thing that the little old ladies at church do, let me enlighten you.

They have serious bingo at Tama. Serious! Sixteen games paying out $5000 each. That's worth the snow and slush. It kept away some buses (yes, they bus in people from the far reaches). It wasn't too busy. I had my troll. I had a new dauber. I had a aisle seat reservation. I ordered my chicken strips. I had my beverage. I was raring to go.

I got a big nothing. I was down to one number twice and was down to two numbers for the jackpot blackout that would have paid $13,000. I had SEVEN chances at getting the two numbers for the jackpot. Nothing.

I packed up my dauber and my troll and headed home. The roads were perfect coming home. Irony sucks.

Winter is here!

2007-01-15T10:14:00.000-06:00

Winter finally arrived in Iowa. I am actually not a snow hater. Ice - we have a different relationship. Snow is pretty, fluffy, and for short visits, very welcome.

I am lucky because I can work from home with all the access of my desktop (and the added benefits of working in my jammies and enjoying a fire in the fireplace). I decided to exercise this option since my luck is not great right now. No sense in tempting fate!

School started two hours late. We only live a block from school, so no weather truly impedes my kids, but they never turn down a snow day! Right up until the last minute, they eagerly watched the news ticker waiting for a complete close rather than a late start. The winds are supposed to kick in and if we have white out, they might end up home shortly anyway.

Time to warm up my coffee and get back to work. Stay warm, everyone!

Bad luck...

2007-01-11T06:23:00.000-06:00

So far 2007 has proven to be the Year of Horseshit.

My clothes dryer bit the dust. It was replaced the other day.

My oven hood/microwave combo started acting up with the digital readout not working. You always had to trust that what you thought you put in for cooking time was accurate. Now the push-in handle that pops the door open quit working. I have to open my microwave with a pencil.

The clutch went out on my husband's truck. It will be replaced on Monday - and we'll get a really pretty bill for our efforts.

That was three - you would think it was over. Oh no. 2007 is going to be very lucky, apparently.

I had to work late Tuesday. I also had a meeting scheduled nearby at 4:30. I took an hour and went to the meeting. On the way back to work, I'm at a stop sign and got rear-ended.

I guess a complete optimist would say that there was no damage to my car (other than some paint ruboff from the other car) and that we weren't hurt. At this point, I'm thinking that this was number 4 in the hit parade.

Am I on a new set of three disasters? Not cool.

Back to the grind...

2007-01-05T06:24:00.000-06:00

Vacation ended for me this week. As usual, it felt too short. I love my job, but I could SO love being a lottery winner. I could actually embrace my own sleep cycle instead of forcing myself to adhere to this one.

I have a confession to make. I'm a pack rat. I will be moving to a new office in a week or so and it is ridiculous the stuff that I have in my drawers in my current office. I do mean ridiculous. The sad part is that when it comes time to actually ditch the stuff, I will likely choose to move it instead. Is there a group? Steps? A pill? Something?

I'm not just like that at work. It invades my personal life too. I'm especially pack rattish about any arts and crafts supplies. Left over snippets of paper from scrapbooking get saved (hey-they make good photo corners). Little scraps of fabric get saved (you never know when I'll get a wild hair to make a quilt).

Clean Sweep on TLC is my motivator. If I can watch two or three of those shows, I'm more inclined to throw away things and organize. My house looks nothing like those on the show. They are just unbelievably gross. My stuff is all put away - crammed in closets, drawers, and under bed storage. I protect my dirty little secret well. You could stop by for dinner and never know - just don't hang your coat in the closet.

Eragon

2006-12-18T06:23:00.000-06:00

What a huge disappointment. The twins and I all read the book, discussed at great length the parallels to Star Wars and LOTR (along with some Dragonriders of Pern, which the boys haven't read yet), and eagerly awaited what we thought would be a great movie. The pre-release reviews were promising - great effects, yada, yada. The effects were good - especially the flying sequences, but nothing we haven't seen before. The rest - pure crap.

The twins devoured the book and absolutely loved it. I was okay with the book, admiring the fact that it had been written by a teen and appreciating the concept while recognizing too easily the characters and some of the scenes. Using universal literary themes and formulas is one thing - blatantly "borrowing" the details is another. Still, I thought it held promise for a decent fantasy movie.

Where the book succeeded with creating characters that were full and detailed (albiet, familiar), the movie completely failed. Several of the characters that appeared in the book were either flat and undeveloped (Murtagh) in the movie, or not even there (dwarf king). Having read the book, I recognized some characters like Orik, who didn't even get called by name in the movie. I'm not one of the freaks that thinks that every detail from a book should be in the movie. I do think that this movie (clocking in at 1:40), cut itself short by having flat characters with no back story.

Covering all the bases...

2006-12-10T10:49:00.000-06:00

Got this in an email:

For My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'm back...

2006-12-07T22:29:00.000-06:00

November is over. NaNoWriMo is over. 50,799 words later. It was the craziest 30 days in recent memory and I am glad it's over, but at the same time kind of miss it.

I used to write all the time (unlike the postings on this blog) and at one time it was a true passion. I have gotten away from it and forgotten how fun and rewarding it can be. Thank you to the person who convinced me to give NaNo a try. I am in your debt.

Now the focus is on the holidays. My trees are up. The lights are lit. Some of the shopping is done. I have put in for my vacation (Dec 22 - Jan 2) and I have a lot of plans - as usual. I would like to paint my bedroom, build some shelves, catch up on my scrapbooking (which I am woefully behind on), do some sewing...the list goes on. As usual, however, I will likely be a complete vegetable. I guess that is what vacations are truly for anyway - deep relaxation.

For a while, my son and I thought about a road trip to the Alamo Bowl. While it would be fun on one level, being gone for hubby's birthday, New Year's, and possibly our anniversary, traveling 15 hours to see the Hawks get kicked by Texas just didn't seem worth it.

Hope everyone had a great November!

NaNoWriMo progress...

2006-11-04T17:11:00.000-06:00

NaNo started on Nov 1 at midnight and I have been obsessed about it ever since. Progress is good so far. I'm putting a progress meter on the sidebar to let everyone know how I'm doing (if you are interested).

It's strange because the story I'm writing is done as a blog so it feels as though I have been cheating on One of Us and writing in a different blog.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween. It was the norm here. Lots of kids. Mine dressed up to hand out candy and scared a good many kids and not a few adults. My 18 year old looked seriously freaky. He even freaked me out a little just standing in my kitchen and I knew it was him and that it was a mask. He was even scarier in the dark of the yard.

It was super windy here on trick or treat night. A front was coming through and it meant business. I think it kept the number of kids down just a bit so we had more left over candy than usual. I always have to plan for TONS of kids though because we live on the popular trick or treat street in town. All the farm kids along with some kids from neighboring towns come here to trick or treat and our street is sure stop.

Dark mornings...

2006-10-24T06:29:00.000-05:00

Seriously...getting up when it is so dark is kicking my butt. I cannot WAIT until the time changes next weekend.
I completely hate coming home from work in the dark too, don't get me wrong, but at least at that time of the day I'm awake. Right now I feel like I am getting up in the middle of the night and no amount of coffee is perking me up.

Ouch!

2006-10-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

I know I'm not a guy, so can't FULLY appreciate this, but DAMN!

On a side note - wedding tackle? Never heard that one, but I kind of like it!

NaNoWriMo

2006-10-17T06:20:00.000-05:00

I had good intentions for the last couple of years when it came to NaNoWriMo, but was a slacker. This year I have been invited to a kickoff party by a friend who is a serious writer.

These are my best intentions yet. I have committed to the kickoff. I have a book idea. I intend to start. It's the finishing that I'm waffling on. It's a huge time committment and I know that if I get behind I'll just blow it off. Rather than telling myself that I will definitely finish, it is easier to be very vague. There's no sense of failure that way.

I'm pathetic.

Great Saturday, Crappy Sunday

2006-10-08T22:11:00.000-05:00

Saturday was great! I went to the Iowa/Purdue game and charted for my son. As he does the video, I write down the highlights and times on the tape so it is easier to piece together the highlight piece for the news. Yes, Hawkeye fans, I was on the sidelines. It was a glorious day! The weather was perfect, the game was fabulous, it was homecoming. The only bad thing was that as a die-hard Hawk and a die-hard football freak, I had to NOT yell at the refs, NOT cheer with the school song, NOT yell I-O-W-A, and NOT cheer when we scored. I was part of the news media and as such was expected to be (or pretend to be) objective, impartial, and completely oblivious to the fact that my team was kicking some Boilermaker ass. It was a major exercise in self-control. Being on the field in Kinnick was worth it.

Then came today. It wasn't a great day. I was moving an overstuffed chair. It caught slightly on the area rug. I pulled harder. The rug released its hold and the chair pulled back quickly catching my big toenail in the process. It ripped the thing completely from the nailbed. My nail was at a 90 degree angle to my toe.

Yes it hurt like hell, but in addition to that I was grossed out. I have to turn the channel when that stupid nail fungus commercial comes on. You know the one - the cartoon fungus guy lifts the nail and climbs underneath. It gives me the willies and here is my toe - in living color - nail lifted completely up. It took me a few minutes to get my brain around the pain. I can tolerate a lot, but the quick intense pain takes me a bit to get used to. After than, I trimmed the pieces that pulled out of the cuticle and pushed it back into the nailbed until it dies and the last little piece that is still attached lets go.

Gauze, tape, good to go...right up until I'm working on supper. I pull the frozen green beans out of the freezer and pull a frozen 4 lb. roast out - yep, you guessed it - right on my injured toe.

Parents and such...

2006-10-05T06:26:00.000-05:00

My parents were here for a few days. This visit was actually very pleasant. Dad is well...Dad. He's always been terrific. My mother is challenging. I can't recall the last time she wasn't "sick". The martyrdom is unequaled. All in all though, it was a good visit. If you steer the conversation away from any opportunity for her to start spouting about other races, politics, and Texas, there's actually a good chance you'll have a decent conversation.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about having an opinion. I got my confidence and stubbornness from the woman. As she has gotten older, her filter has faded away. You know the one - the filter that sometimes stops you from blurting out the first thing that pops into your head, appropriate or not, insulting or not, racist or not.
She's the only one I've got or will ever have and I do love my mother. It's taken me four decades to be able to say that.

I'm number 1!

2006-09-14T21:31:00.000-05:00

It appears that I am #1 in the search list on Google for "english stereotype". Who knew when I posted this that I would end up with a #1 hit!
What's crazy is the number of people interested in this topic enough to Google it! I get more referrers from it than anything else. Nice to be popular - I guess.

PDA woe and laptop woes...

2006-09-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I have had hardware successes and failures this week. My laptop keyboard has started acting up. Two of the keys have started sticking. The "s" is one of them.
I have taken apart the keys and cleaned thoroughly and they began to work again. TERRIFIC! Or not. They quit again. I took off the caps again and tried to make them work with the little nipple underneath. Nothing. They come and go. It's very annoying.
Right now to type an "s", I actually have it on my clipboard. I typed a word in Word and looked up synonyms in the thesaurus, erased all but the s, and use Ctrl + V every time I want to type an s. What a pain.
On the other hand, my pda quit syncing to anything a while back. It recognized the device, but wouldn't sync. I had to do a hard reset, wiping out everything. Thank God for sprite backup (sorry - only have a lowercase s on the clipboard and well...it's just not worth capitalizing right now). sprite rocks hard. I'm completely back to normal (or will be once I sync to my calendar at work).
I love/hate technology.

Renaissance Faire

2006-09-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

On Labor Day, I took the twins to the Des Moines Renaissance Faire. For this year's faire, they built a permanent Renaissance village and I was very anxious to see how it turned out. It was pirates' weekend and there were pirates' galore walking the grounds. They were painfully polite, however. Not at all how I would expect a pirate to act!

I was surprised at how much they had been able to get done. Following the construction on their website, it looked good, but couldn't capture how much they were actually undertaking. Built on the southern part of Sleepy Hollow, it's a great location. The trees along the creek make a great Sherwood Forest. There was a variety of food to choose from including turkey legs (very fitting), buffalo burgers, lots of pastries, kettle corn, real root beer and creme soda from the barrels, and "adult" beverages. The root beer and creme soda was fun because you bought it in old looking glass bottles that they filled and corked on the spot. Then you could bring your bottle back for a refill for only a dollar.

The participants at the faire were great and a lot of visitors got into the spirit by dressing up as well. The queen and her court made their way through the village and presided over the events.

The boys were excited about the jousting and all of the "fights" that broke out throughout the village with regularity. Although the majority of them were staged, there was one presentation of authentic sword fighting that was unscripted. It was presented as an educational program about the armor, the weapons, and the culture of the knights and squires.

The comedy shows were a lot of fun too. The Muddy Misfits were hilarious and managed to get me with sloppy mud on top of the head (they did warn us).

The twins favorite part was the fencing. They were able to get all suited up and actually fence each other. As you can tell from the picture, the object was to pop your opponent's balloon. They had a blast fighting each other (go figure) and actually asked me to check out the fencing club in Des Moines. Unfortunately, they meet on Monday nights and the boys are in football - and then basketball - and then track - and then baseball. Too many sports, not enough time.

Chick Trip 2006

2006-09-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

I realized that because of my absence there is no post regarding this year's Chick Trip! Can't have that!
We went to southeastern Minnesota this year. We stayed in a tiny town called Whalen, just outside the small town of Lanesboro in the bluff country. It is quite spectacular. The river was positively phenomenal! No one got wet, yet we had enough canoe challenges to keep us from falling asleep.

There was a couple with matching little canoeing outfits and expensive canoe with customized seating waiting to put in at the start of the trip and watching our canoes take off. At this particular point we had to immediately get into the middle of the river to go around a bridge support. One of our canoes got a bit close and had to shove off of the concrete with their paddles. The woman of the couple snickered and made a comment about how that was amateurish. I told her that we had a couple of newbies with us, but that I was sure they would do just fine. She grinned sarcastically and stuck her nose in the air.

Throughout the trip we hopscotched each other. They stopped for a picnic and we passed them - we stopped for a quick whiz and a beer and they passed us - they pulled up to explore an inlet - we stopped...well...for a quick whiz and a beer. You get the idea. Every time we saw them we'd waved like we were seeing old friends and this woman was snootier and snootier.

At a particularly challenging portion of the river we were basically neck and neck. There was a small island in the lake with narrow passages to either side. Both required a quick turn in the rapids (I use that term lightly) to avoid smashing into the bank. We pulled up to confer and our party decided to use the left channel. The designer couple took the right. One after the other, our boats made it through. Hooting and hollering ensued with each success. We're paddling around the last of the island and who do we see but the couple - WET! She is standing with her arms crossed and he is bailing out the boat. I waved and yelled that our newbies were doing GREAT!

I took the GPS this year and persuaded a couple of the chicks to go geocaching with me. It was a lot of fun and we got to see some really cool spots. This one was like something out of Indiana Jones and was worth the trip.

On the way home we stopped at the Spam museum. Yes, there is a Spam museum.
Been there - have the t-shirt.

Great fun was had by all and the countdown to 2007 has begun.

I'm still here...

2006-08-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

It’s time to start blogging again. I have missed it, but the break did me good at the same time. I had a lot of things that distracted me from blogging. This has all settled down so it feels right to start up with the blog again.

Beginning in April, I started having a problem with my left eye. I lost most of my field of vision. It is like looking through a dense fog with lightning flashes inside of it. It was very abrupt and very disconcerting. I went to the ophthalmologist who immediately wanted an MRI of my brain and blood work done.

They were checking for a brain tumor and because of some past medical history, he wanted to rule out multiple sclerosis. There was no sign anything going on there. I was referred to Iowa City to a neuro-ophthalmologist. After many, many tests, I was told that I have AIBSES – acute idiopathic blindspot enlargement syndrome. At the last appointment, I was told that they don’t know what causes it, there is nothing that can be done, and it’s not going to get any better. Joy, joy.

It was a very scary time with a lot of extremely serious possibilities for diagnosis. I’m just glad that there is no evidence of tumor or MS at this point. While all of this was happening, I was just not in the mood to blog.

My brother has been going through an extremely messy separation/divorce and the family has been very distracted by all of the drama. It wouldn’t even fly as a soap opera plot because it is so over the top that no one would believe it. Everything is final now and he has the kids and the house. Justice prevails – although she still breathes, so she still has more than she deserves. Unfortunately, there are three really terrific kids that will have wicked scars for life because of her.

More catching up later…

Summer vacation...

2006-06-10T16:40:00.000-05:00

Life is a bit crazy right now. It's doubtful that I'm going to be posting much for a bit. When things calm down a bit, I'll be back. Until then, I'll drop by your blogs every once in a while.

Baseball season...

2006-06-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

It’s again time to haul the lawn chairs, the sunscreen, and the bug spray all over the state to cheer on the boys of summer. My twins are in junior high ball and I love to watch them play. It’s very good that TV in the summer is less than stellar (as a rule) because three nights a week, I’m at the ballfield.

It’s funny to watch the kids fresh out of Little League. They are still in the “throw it back to pitcher after fielding it”. They can’t get the hang of leading off. They haven’t a clue about base running because up until now the only definition was running on an overthrow. Parents are funny to listen to because they cheer when someone throws it back to the pitcher after fielding it. They scream at Johnny to get back on base when he’s leading off. They think that you should only bat through the order once per inning – because that’s more fair. They worry about who brought “treats”. They hang around the dugout offering up advice to the kids until the coaches run them off. They complain if little Dickie doesn’t get to bat.

This is real baseball with real coaches. It isn’t Little League where it’s important that everyone gets in for two innings and Daddy is the coach, so of COURSE you’re going to be on the All-Star team. This is more like real life – if you suck, you sit. Now the score does really matter (just like life).

Baseball season is the only time that nachos are a food group unto themselves.

Baseball season is the time when mothers who throw like girls and don’t know the rules yell advice to their kids in the field. (Not me – I’m a tomboy who knows the rules).

Baseball season is the time for fathers to relive their glory days that get shinier every year.

Pass the bug spray.

Arts and Crafts...

2006-05-31T07:39:00.000-05:00

There has been a "craft" that I have long wanted to try - making paper. Jayme and I had our first attempt on Sunday. She wants to make a guest book for a friend who is getting married and into artsy things and wanted to make it from homemade paper. We decided we needed some practice.

It's not nearly as messy as I thought and actually a lot of fun. We used my paper shredder remains and water to make the pulp. Unfortunately it resembled vomit. This look was not enhanced by the fact that we added it to a tub with more water in it.

Twin #1 strolls through and takes a look in the tub announcing that if that is dinner, he's not hungry. I told him that we were making paper and showed him the process. Always practical, he stated, "It was already paper before you murdered it."

Catch all...

2006-05-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

I have been very negligent of my blog and I apologize to anyone who has stopped by only to see that NOTHING has been posted. Now to catch up...

Idol - It pretty much went the way I thought it would go seeing as Simon predicted Taylor's win, Paula predicted Taylor's win, Vegas predicted Taylor's win, and Taylor had never been in the bottom three or the bottom two. All in all, I thought the final Tuesday show was only so-so. The highlight was really Kat singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" again. Loved it. The other songs were "eh". The two original songs sucked butt. Taylor's was a bit more listenable that Kat's, but I still hope they do something to the arrangement to make it less boring before he releases it as a single. The finale night was fun. The look on the geek's face when Clay walked out was beyond priceless. Clay - man - what the hell is up with the hair?? My God, just stop it! I felt sorry for Elliot. Mary J. Blige completely hogged the song that they were supposed to sing together.

Lost - taped the huge finale night (competing with Idol) and watched it all yesterday. That completely rocked. It reminded me of the finale for the first season in that I was left wondering what they can do in next year since they revealed so much.

24 - Jack is on his way to China. "Bad Day" should be the theme for this show instead of the kick off show of Idol. It was written for this poor guy. I SO wanted him to shoot the asshole though. I was weeping at the sight of David Palmer's casket. I'm such an idiot.

Have another opening on my team at work. We just keep growing. Unfortunately, it's not at the same rate as our work so we perpetually feel like we are buried. Someday...

I left early on Thursday and took Friday off (the work will still be there Tuesday) to make a mini-vacation. It has been stellar so far. Lots of relaxation and a couple of small projects completed that I just haven't had the ambition to do after work. The one I'm most happy about is cleaning out my bathroom cupboards so I could put baskets underneath. With extra people in the house and no extra storage, everyone now has their own basket and my counter is CLEAN. I just stand in the door and admire the cleanliness.

I bought some jeans yesterday. Paula told me that my old ones were hanging off my ass. I tried on a smaller size and did a happy dance in the dressing room when they were a perfect fit. Woo Hoo. Got two new pairs of capris too. That will have to do until I can go down another size.

Summer is officially upon us. I turned on the air conditioning this morning. At least the evenings are still nice enough to sit on the deck and enjoy the breeze. Glad we are no longer in Texas where it is ridiculously hot already and has been for a while.

Vision care week...

2006-05-22T06:57:00.000-05:00

I got my new glasses on Friday and spent the entire weekend headache free. It was glorious. I'm very happy with them - titanium frames, framesless look, polymer lenses. They literally weigh about 2 oz. and have the memory flex in them.

On Saturday, twin #2 went to the optometrist. He has been complaining that he can't see the baseball come off of the bat. He got contacts so it will be easier to play ball and we spent the weekend in "training" to put them in and take them out.

Even though he claims to see fine, I'll likely take in twin #1 soon also.

See ya later (pun intended).

Idol voting...

2006-05-19T07:08:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk this week about how close the American Idol vote was on Tuesday. First off, let me say that I was happy to hear them lay claim to 50 million "votes". Last week they said they had 45 million "people" vote. Uh...no. They have like 4 million voting a dozen times each (or some other plausible equation).

The vote they posted for the final three basically split 33/33/33 with the remaining one percent deciding it. This is a bit misleading. In reading some different forums, it appears that the phone lines were clogged for the entire two hours with a lot of people unable to get in to vote at all. That would account for the votes being almost a dead heat. It's impossible to say what the vote would have been had everyone who wanted to vote had gotten to cast one. The difference between them was apparently the text votes that came in. (Unless you're one of the American Idol conspiracy theorists who say it's all rigged...sometimes I wonder).

There were a lot of posts about how people were surprised that Elliott went home considering he had such a huge "home town" reception compared to Kat. Kat is from Hollywood. They are in celebrity overdrive there and an Idol wannabe isn't going to impress them much.

Lots of stuff...

2006-05-18T07:02:00.000-05:00

Survivor - okay...Terry didn't win. He lost the last immunity challenge and was not chosen to go to the final two. It didn't really matter who Danielle took. They polled the jury as to who would have won if it had been a Dani/Terry final and Terry would have beat her. Everyone said nice things about Terry and respected the way he played and dominated in the challenges. I am at peace.

Amazing Race - I was excited that the hippies won. They were so infectious I couldn't help but like them and have been pulling for them since the early weeks. No matter how the frat boys tried to make it look like the hippies were playing dirty, it just didn't quite work - especially when the fratties were canceling peoples' taxis. I think they should have received a time penalty for that just like they do if you speed, don't follow the directions, etc.

American Idol - Buh bye Elliot. It was so time. He should have gone before Chris. The band drowned him out this week because he is such weak sauce. Seems like a nice guy, but it was time to go. Katharine was amazing on Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Taylor was good, but I'm not sure I agree with the whole "that was your best performance ever" comment about his second song. It was good, but I think he's done better on other songs this year. Should be an interesting finale.

Kid brag - Josh is kicking ass at his internship. Due to an MIA cameraman for the news, two hours after he started his job, he became the studio cameraman for the 5, 6, and 10 o'clock news. They were trying to find someone to pull in and he said, "I can do it..." They gave him a shot at 5 and liked what they saw. The regular guy got fired and Josh is it. He is also already doing remote footage shooting on his own (after only one day) which usually takes a week or two before they feel comfortable enough to let the interns be independent.

A Whole New Dog...

2006-05-13T08:27:00.001-05:00

Chloe did NOT like going to the groomer. I'm sure she thought it was the vet because they have a similar office setup, there were barking dogs from the back room, and she has office cats.

She got the whole treatment - haircut, bath, blowdry, toenails. She looks so different it's like having a different dog altogether. Her hair is about an inch long all over that form baby soft ringlets. It's the the same length on top and with her cocker spaniel ears she looks a bit like a conehead right now. The part I can't get over is her feet. She had long thick hair over her feet so she looked like a Clydesdale. With all of that trimmed off, she has tiny, dainty feet.

It's good to see her eyes. They are big, expressive, brown eyes that completely disappeared before.

I think she has forgiven me...

Expanding household...

2006-05-12T08:54:00.000-05:00

Josh, Jayme, and Zoe are moving in! They are leaving Minnesota and moving back here for internships and to finish school. Jayme's internship has a house that goes with it, but it won't be available for them until July 1. In the meantime, they are moving in with us.

I'm excited to have them coming back. School breaks aren't long enough and I always hate to see them go. I know I'm his mom, so naturally biased, but they are both such cool, fun people. I love spending time with them. It will be great to have them with us and then in the area when they get the house. I took the day off to rearrange some closet space and get things ready for them.

Chloe also has her beauty appointment for today. Should be interesting to see how that turns out. She's such a freak about even getting combed, I can't imagine how she'll hold still for a trim. They also put her in a cage and gently blow warm air on her after her bath. She HATES to be blown on. She'll goes nuts. I'll post a picture after her beautification.

Chris goes home...

2006-05-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

I think Katharine and Chris were the most shocked of all. Chris just looked pissed, which made me a little less sad that he was leaving. He seemed to think he had it all wrapped up. I'm sure Katharine expected it to be her since she had a rougher night than the rest.

Chris will probably have a career anyway. He'll be on the radio and you'll have to wait to hear the DJ at the end of the song because he'll sound so much like the last song.

At this point, I don't think there is much doubt that Taylor will take it all. He's the only one to never be in danger.

Speaking of....Terry is looking good for Survivor. If there was anyone who had ever earned a victory on that show, it's him. He has dominated. I told Paula tonight that if he makes it to the final two and doesn't win because they would rather give it to someone who skated, I will quit watching.

It wouldn't even matter if Terry were someone I hated personality-wise. I would admit that he deserves to win. I have watched every single episode of Survivor since the very beginning and love it - with one single exception. There have been people who win a million dollars who didn't outlast, outwit, and outplay. They skated. They flew so far under the radar that they weren't noticed. That is a chickenshit way to survive anything - a game, a job, life in general. I have no respect for that. If they vote for another one of those over someone who clearly was a Survivor (and thriver), then I'm done.

Tough call tonight...

2006-05-09T22:40:00.000-05:00

My Idol/idle thoughts:
Taylor - I thought he had a really good night. "In the Ghetto" was fantastic.
Chris - He did okay. I didn't appreciate his screech at the end of one of his songs.
Elliot - He's not my favorite, but I have to admit that he did well tonight. The second song that everyone raved about ended well, but I thought it started out a bit off. It was too low and he wasn't on pitch.
Katharine - Not her best night.

If people vote strictly on the performances tonight rather than the whole season - Chris and Katharine in the bottom two, Katharine goes home.

If they vote for the whole season - Elliot and Katharine in the bottom two, Elliot goes home.

Although Katharine is the most marketable, at this point in the season I'm thinking a Taylor/Chris finale. Not what I expected at all - not entirely happy about the situation. Chris is not my fav (sorry, Chas). He sounds exactly like a ton of others already in the market and I don't appreciate the whole pop trying to be rock (ala Creed) genre. Occasionally he screams, trying to prove he's a badass. Don't like it. When he does any style that doesn't involve yelling he sounds a lot better, but he looks bored and I know he wouldn't release music like that. Taylor is unique and intriguing. I appreciate his style and would listen to his CD.

Wow - thinking back to the auditions and early shows, I never dreamed that Taylor would grow on me. Kinda scary. Like fungus.

Dolphins...

2006-05-09T06:58:00.000-05:00

I'm listening to the radio on the way home last night and they are talking about dolphins. Apparently researchers have proven that they have personal identities and call each other by name.

First of all - how in the hell have they proven that? Have we cracked the dolphin language? Have we deciphered the clicks to that extent? If so, how cool is THAT? How far could we be from actually carrying on a conversation with them? Which school will be the first to offer a degree in Interspecies Communication (I'm majoring in dolphin and minoring in ape).

The reporter on the radio continued to say that not only do dolphins call each other by name when two dolphins are talking, they can also refer to a third, non-present dolphin. This changes a lot of things. It means they are even more highly advanced that we thought. It means they can gossip. It means that those cute little Flipper clicks with the head toss that we humans thought sounded like giggling - it really is. They are laughing at us.

Big Love...

2006-05-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's one of my guilty pleasures. Love it. The season's winding down and I'm already mourning the loss of this Sunday night ritual.

Now Warren Jeffs - real life Roman Grant - is now on the FBI's most wanted list. Very strange timing. Polygamy comes to HBO and the world's most fanatical polygamist becomes enemy #1.

Top 5 and other stuff...

2006-05-03T07:16:00.000-05:00

Well, for once I haven't a comment on Idol. I was at a company golf outing last night and completely missed it.
On the way home I called Paula for a recap. In her opinion I didn't miss much of a show. She was disappointed with the group as a whole. Let me see if I can remember...
Chris was good on both songs.
Taylor was a caricature this week.
Kat was good on her second song but singing it from the floor was weird and distracting.
Paris and Elliot were "okay".
What did everyone out there think?

Golf was fun. It was my first round of the season. We played at Jester Park north of Des Moines. The course was actually in great shape for so early in the season and the weather cooperated nicely. I really only had one bad hole - all of my bad shots of the night consolidated into that ten minute period - and took a double on that one. Everything else was feeling pretty good.
Had a new employee start on Monday. He's going to fit in well and God knows we can use another programmer. The work just keeps coming in. (That was not a whine. I love new work. Really...)
Got my hair cut yesterday and she really whacked me. I was a bit concerned at first, but am loving it now. Much lighter. It was great not having it fly in my face while I golfed yesterday.
I'm off to work! Have a good one!

Order is restored...

2006-04-27T07:04:00.000-05:00

Kellie has left the building. Thank you....thank you very much.

The judges actually all offered up an apology to Kat too. My night was complete.

Hairy Chloe...

2006-04-26T06:56:00.000-05:00

Wonder what kind of Google searches I'll get with that title??

Chloe is in dire need of a haircut. She has an appointment at the "beauty parlor" on May 12, so I'll post some "after" shots then. She really does have eyes in there - big beautiful brown eyes. Maybe you'll be able to see them soon!

I am a bit concerned about her cut. Cockapoos (or spoodles - whichever you prefer) are not supposed to be cut like cocker spaniels or poodles. They have a cut all their own and I hope the person we take her to for her first haircut doesn't make her look like this freak. Best in Show, my ass. What show? La Cage aux Folle?

Okay, enough is enough...

2006-04-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

Kellie has to go.

Paris was horrible. She actually thought that "The Way We Were" was good for a 17 year old. It's about long lost love. She's an idiot and she slaughtered the song. Taylor was not his usual self and - I hate to say it - rounds out my bottom three this week.

Does anyone else think the judges were unfair to Katharine? I thought her song was great. For them to say that Paris was the best female vocalist tonight was absurd. It was almost like they wanted to criticize her because Andrea Bocelli and David Foster were so complimentary of her.

I repeat...Kellie has to go. Please make it stop.

Prom...

2006-04-24T06:33:00.002-05:00

The high school prom was this weekend and I realized that this is all a big dress rehearsal for a wedding. Don't get me wrong - Jake and his date went as friends. That's not really what I was getting at.
There's the dress. It must be the perfect dress. Much angst is thrown about over the thing. There is the tux rental. It must be the perfect tux. There is concern over whether the tie will match the flowers and the perfect dress. There are the flowers. They must match the perfect dress and the perfect tux. There is the limo (or the Hummer, or the BMW, or whatever). The "carriage" must make the perfect statement and be waxed to a high sheen. There are the pictures - hundreds of pictures. There must be pictures of the perfect dress, the perfect tux, the perfect carriage, and of course the couple with all of their friends. There is the prom walk-in. The couples arrive in their perfect attire in their perfect carriage, have a "footman" announce their arrival and stroll through a gauntlet of photo snapping parents and other interested parties. There is the itinerary. Social hour (shower/bachelor(ette) party), dinner (rehearsal dinner), arrival (wedding procession), dance (wedding ceremony), after-party (reception).
Yes, Saturday was a huge success. Fun was had by all. Jake looked fabulous in his tux. His date had an exquisite dress. No one spilled any dinner on their perfect ensemble. It's all over...until next year.

Now I'm really confused....

2006-04-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

Okay...Ace went home. Not a truly bad pick - although I think he has more talent than either Elliot or Kellie. The part that is really confusing me is the bottom three. Elliot and Kellie were not in it!
I truly hope that this isn't the work of votefortheworst.com. They claim to have enough support to sway the vote and it's beginning to appear that maybe they do. Kellie started her song out beautifully and I thought, "Wow. She is going to be really good." Then the middle hit and she got off the music...and she couldn't get back on...and she ended up with a mousey little finish because she knew she was not on the music. At this stage of the game, that shit sends you packing. Not only didn't she get voted off - she was in the top FOUR. WTF?
If the people at votefortheworst don't like Idol - I have a suggestion for them. Quit watching. If you want it to go away, quit making it the most popular show on TV.
If they are just blowing smoke and don't have enough support to sway things, then America needs to step away from the crack pipe and put down the phone.

Idol musings...

2006-04-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

Wow - competition is really getting tough! It's getting tougher every week to try to pick out the bottom three.
My predictions for this week: Kellie (she screwed up the second half of the song) and Elliot. The third is a real toss-up for me. Chris doesn't do well when he's not yelling a rock song. He had some iffy notes in there and the song was just boring. He could lose his voting group. Paris doesn't have the fan base that she thought she did. People were getting sick of her and she toned it down some. She sang pretty well but had a weird tone to her voice on the low notes. The song choice sucked. She may not pull in the votes. Ace did a good job, but he hasn't had the fan base that I expected he would at the beginning of the season. The only ones I think are completely safe are Katharine and Taylor. I think Katharine won the week.
Overall, this was the strongest week for the group as a whole. My prediction for who's going home...Kellie should go - she messed up, but I think it will be Elliot.

Glorious Saturday...

2006-04-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

The first half of today is absolutely fabulous!!!! It's a bit breezy, but temps are in the mid 70's and the wind is warm. We are cleaning out our building (garage sized, but no overhead door - shop and storage) and that means the deck furniture, lawn mower, and garden tools are all seeing the light of day after a long winter.
I've cleaned out my only "official" flowerbed. It's the only one left that has a real plan to it (lights, an accent rock, mulch). The silver mound is trimmed back, the leaves are raked out of the lavender, and the few early weedies are pulled. We got some dark brown bark mulch last weekend and it's all primed to apply that.
I have plans for another planting bed by the stairs going up to the deck. Last year's window of opportunity for purple cone flowers came and went and I want those at the back of the bed against the decking - so it had to wait until this year. It's a great corner for some color. It gets fantastic light, but is protected from any bad winds.
My hostas also really need dividing this year. They are in the front beds along the house and I would love to add another bed of hostas along the yard side of the sidewalk.
It's supposed to storm later, so I might head to the garden center for some container plants if the weather doesn't get severe.
The bad weather and tornados that hit Iowa a couple of days ago really left a lot of damage. The University of Iowa got hit really hard. They were showing video from Iowa City on the news this morning. It's really a miracle that they didn't lose any lives. Some of the student houses were in really bad shape. One shot showed a sorority house that had lost it's entire side. Bunk beds were balancing on the edge with the sheets blowing in the wind. Incredible what Mother Nature can do in just a few seconds.

Hillary's at it again...

2006-04-11T07:08:00.000-05:00

Mrs. "I've never met a hot topic that I wouldn't take advantage of" Clinton is at it again.

In a November 2004 interview Hillary said:
"I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants...People have to stop employing illegal immigrants. I mean, come up to Westchester, go to Suffolk and Nassau counties, stand on the street corners in Brooklyn or the Bronx. You're going to see loads of people waiting to get picked up to go do yard work and construction work and domestic work."

This was written about her position at that time on NewsMax.com:
"More than any other leader of either political party, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton has been focusing on immigration reform and border security — taking hard-line positions that appeal to frustrated Republicans in a move that could guarantee her enough support in red states to win the White House in 2008."

Fast forward to April 2006...
Hillary speaks at the immigration rally in New York. She embraces illegals as fellow Americans. She spouts about how we can't live without them. She panders to the crowd. Any surprise that she won a HUGE Hispanic vote in New York? She is completely talking out of the liberal side of her mouth again after taking a conservative (some would even say ULTRA right wing) stand on immigration over the last couple of years and complaining about how the administration wasn't doing enough to stop the flow of illegals into the country. There were accusations of Bush being soft on illegals from Mexico because of the Hispanics in his family.

Hold it...political winds shifting...immigrants (read brand new voters in 2008) an oppressed minority???

Hope the axle on the bandwagon holds up. Lots of folks jumping on.

Travels through the countryside...

2006-04-09T12:10:00.000-05:00

There are days when my hubby and I like to travel around looking at houses, acreages, and checking out the For Sale signs. It's not that we are looking to move. It's like window shopping. We often get ideas for our own house (landscaping, paint schemes, etc) as well as a few "don'ts" by cruising the countryside.
Yesterday was a beautiful day so we cruised around west of Des Moines.
I saw what is a new trailer-trash low. Someone had an old rusty gas barbeque grill that they were using as a planter. Of course, it is a bit chilly for any new plants yet, so last year's brown sticks were populating the pots that had been placed in the belly of the grill and along the rack at the bottom. Yeah...a definite "don't".

What a quack...

2006-04-07T18:21:00.000-05:00

Yikes! What a quack we have here! He claims to be able to perform chiropractic adjustments for people through email or over the phone. I know there are other services available over the phone (at 3.99/minute), but this is a new one.
His website is a testament to this steaming pile of crap and even includes a testimonial from a DOG!
He says on the site that if it doesn't work it is either because you don't really want to get better or because the pain was sent to you as a lesson. How about because it doesn't freaking WORK?? What a couple of options for excuses - it's all the patient's fault or it's all God's fault (or karma, or whatever this quack believes in). Convenient! Maybe the weather man should use that as an excuse. "It's raining because you don't really want the sun to shine. The thunder and lightning have been sent as a lesson to you for your evil ways!"
Claiming that he isn't crazy, he is fighting to keep his license to practice. How about his license to live on this planet? I think he should phone home.

Idol Shocker....

2006-04-06T06:59:00.001-05:00

Wow, I really didn't think it would happen. As I commented on Chuck's blog I really thought that Taylor, Mandisa, and Bucky deserved to be in the bottom three. Taylor and Mandisa had rough nights. On the other hand, they seem to have such a following that I really didn't think they would end up there after the vote.
Ryan pulled them out in three groups and each of the three was in a different group. Just like the NCAA - my bracket was blown.
Of course, they left us guessing as to which of the groups was truly the bottom three. I completely figured it was the group with Bucky, Katharine, and Ace and that the Taylor and Mandisa fangroups had kept them in the running. I thought it was a done deal that it would be Bucky saying goodbye.
I could hardly believe it when it was the Mandisa, Elliot, and Paris group. It did my heart good to see Paris there. She didn't deserve to be there for this week's performance, by any means, but she is just so damned annoying. It was good to see her get a little scare because she always seems to act as though she thinks she has won (at least from my perspective it seems like that).
America sent Mandisa packing. Her song choice was not stellar this week and even though she can really sing, she pretty much butchered the Shania Twain song. She would have been much better off with a Faith Hill or Trisha Yearwood or Martina McBride power ballad. I was really surprised by her choice and she just didn't pull it off.
With the exception of Bucky, those that are left can sing. Kellie and Chris are challenged because they are one dimensional singers and don't do well outside of their genre. It's going to be interesting right up until the end.

Australian spiders - fighting back!

2006-04-04T07:13:00.000-05:00

Holy cow! This is scary on many levels.
First off - keep the gasoline away from the naked people.
Damn!
Apparently spiders are offended by nudists. They are fighting back.
In a related story...Uganda and Rwanda are in a tiff over a naked guy.
People! People! Keep your damned clothes on!

Spring has sprung...

2006-04-03T09:57:00.000-05:00

I felt the need to change up the look of my blog again - must be a change in the seasons.
We got a deluge of rain over the weekend and now my yard is a brilliant green. It always amazes me how retina piercing that first spring green is. I'm not sure if it is because we are so accustomed to drabness or if the new tender grass is really a different shade of green this year.
The grass turning and the trees starting to bud really have me itching to garden. I used to be an avid gardener and just haven't had the time to devote to it. I plan to change that this year and put in some great flower beds. We added a big deck to the back of our house that spans across a large hillside. We dug out part of the hill underneath, added a retaining wall and made a parking spot. The area along the side of the deck going down the hill really needs some landscaping help and I have some cool ideas. Now to get rid of the mud and warm up the nights just a bit...

AP IPSOS Study...

2006-03-30T22:32:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press decided to conduct a swearing study to see how often people swear or hear swearing in public. Now THERE's a brilliant way to spend some money.
People swear. News flash from the AP.
Whatthefuckever.

Britney? I don't think so....

2006-03-29T06:52:00.000-06:00

Even if this isn't supposed to be a sculpture of Britney Spears giving birth on a bear skin rug, the thing is downright disturbing. The artist, however, claims that it is the Pop Tart.
I says it is an "idolized" version (in other words, it looks nothing like her). If you read the whole article you see that he has done other works of shock art. What a tool. He did this horrendous thing and by putting her name to it has gotten attention for it.
It's clear he has never witnessed an actual birth (note the expression on her face). This looks more like a scene from a pregnant porno that it does someone giving birth.

Great Cop One-Liners...

2006-03-23T08:16:00.000-06:00

Got these in an email today and absolutely love them...

The following 15 Police Comments were taken off of actual police car videos around the country.

#15 "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile."

#14 "Take your hands off the car, and I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

#13 "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

#12 "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? In case you didn't know, that is the average speed of a 9mm bullet fired from my gun."

#11 "So you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?"

#10 "Yes, Sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh. Did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?"

# 9 "Warning! You want a warning? OK, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."

# 8 "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"

# 7 "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy, and step in monkey DOO."

# 6 "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

# 5 "In God we trust, all others we run through NCIC."

# 4 "Just how big were those two beers?"

# 3 "No, sir, we don't have quotas any more. We used to have quotas, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want."

# 2 "I'm glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours. At least you know someone who can post your bail."

And.... THE BEST ONE!!!

# 1 "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets?... You're right, we don't. ... Sign here.

Kevin goes home...

2006-03-22T22:16:00.000-06:00

Finally a vote that makes sense. The bottom three really were the bottom three and lisping Kevin is going home. I like the kid - he has a great sense of humor. Poor thing can't carry a tune in a bucket.
Kevin was this year's choice at votefortheworst.com. This site apparently picks who they think is the worst and attempts to keep them in the competition for as long as possible. They backed John Stevens. It was working - right up until tonight.
I was fully prepared to hate Chris' reworking of I Walk the Line, but ended up really liking it. The one thing I didn't like was Simon's comment on how he likes it that Chris refuses to compromise on this style. In other words, he again "rocked" a song when he was supposed to sing in the genre of the week. The whole purpose of the genre weeks is to show versatility and let us hear the complete package. The judges are always asking for more variety, wanting the singers to go outside their comfort zone. It just irritated me that Simon is actually praising Chris when he criticizes others for playing it safe. All that said - I really did like this new version of the song.
Katharine is still shining and she looked gorgeous this week. What a hair day! Mandisa really nailed it too. Great week overall. A huge improvement over Stevie Wonder week.

Coffee...

2006-03-20T07:02:00.000-06:00

McDonald's is entering the designer coffee business in an attempt to steal away customers from Starbucks and the like.
One of my son's works at a local McD's on weekends. At his location, the new "premium" coffee consists of a new Starbuck-esque cup and a slick advertising campaign. The contents of the cup is the same ole shite.
Ah...how about a refreshing cup of marketing?

My dog is home...

2006-03-17T06:52:00.000-06:00

Chloe spent the night at the vet recuperating from her spay. She got her big girl shots and became a woman all in one visit and she was decidedly unhappy about it.

Even at the time I knew it was stupid, but I felt so guilty that she was spending the night there. She loves to be around people and the thought of her lying in a kennel, surrounded by strange dogs and cats, with no people there just broke my heart. Yes...I even wept a bit.

But now she's home, no worse for wear. The vet said to try to keep her calm and sedate. Yeah - whatever. She's tearing around here wrestling with the other dogs and jumping from couch to couch. I guess she's as glad to be home as I am glad to have her back.

What is America thinking??

2006-03-16T08:39:00.000-06:00

Right off the bat I knew something was very very wrong. Ace in the bottom three and Kevin is safe. What the hell?? Then it further went astray when Kellie is safe and Lisa is pegged as the bottom three. At least the one voted off was deserving.

I just don't get the Kevin thing. He's a sweet kid. He has a great sense of humor and isn't afraid to use it. That said - the boy can't sing. He's this year's John Stevens. So many decent talents got voted off before John Stevens on Idol 3 that even he felt bad. You could see it in his face when they announced each week that he was staying. This year, Kevin is shaping up to be in the same boat.

Kellie is sweet and innocent and all that, but pulease. She wasn't good this week. She clearly deserved to be in the bottom three.

America's love affair with mediocrity has got to stop.

Big 10 championship...

2006-03-13T07:06:00.000-06:00

HAWKEYES WIN! Iowa beat Ohio State yesterday to capture the Big 10 tournament championship and gain momentum going into the NCAA.
They always bring their defense, but their offense is either really on or really really off (Michigan State game on Saturday). Hopefully they will figure out a way to turn it on and leave it on.

Curiouser and curiouser...

2006-03-09T07:17:00.000-06:00

The Dubai port deal is back in the news. The House panel, which is dominated by Republicans voted to block the deal. I'm not sure about the verbiage they choose to use here. Our Congress does not have the authority to block the sale of a British company to a Middle Eastern company, which seems to be implied a bit. They are voting whether to transfer our contract from P&O to Dubai.

Based on their quotes, I can't help but wonder if the Congressmen debating this really understand it or if they are playing up a falsehood for political gain. Quoted from MSNBC: "This is a national security issue." said Rep. Jerry Lewis, the chairman of the House panel, adding that the legislation would "keep America's ports in American hands." and "One of the most vulnerable situations facing America is our ports of entry," said Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. "Whoever's responsible for those ports of entry should be American." Hello...the ports are being controlled by the Brits now, not us. True, they are our buds right now. I understand the distinction between a perceived friend and a perceived enemy, but still - get it right.

Oh, and have you heard about this? Bill Clinton's ties to Dubai and the fact that he has been counseling them in this port deal issue is being reported all over the Internet. Honestly I haven't seen the national news on TV in so long that I don't know if they have picked it up yet.

Although I don't agree with Bush on this one, he claims that Dubai is our friend and ally and that we should treat them as such. He is sticking by his conviction. Hillary, on the other hand, reported Bill's earnings from Dubai yet "claims" that she had no idea that he was currently counseling them on the best way to achieve this deal. She had no problem spending the 450K that they pocketed, yet because it's a chance to lead the charge and gain a few political points, she sells them out.

Bush and Clinton both are on Dubai's side here. Are we being reactionary? I don't know. I'm sure we aren't hearing everything so my opinion is as naive as everyone else's. I feel uncomfortable with the concept and right now I don't think there is anything wrong with erring on the side of national safety. I do have a problem with politicos that change their skins depending on the political storm that's brewing. I don't always agree with Bush, but I admire him as a leader because he doesn't waver on issues. Having the courage and conviction to take an unpopular stand is the mark of a true leader. Leading my popular opinion and being willing to sell out is the mark of a wannabe.

Random stuff...

2006-03-07T22:02:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted lately. Nothing really seemed worth posting about. Things have been really busy at work. I'm shorthanded on my team so once again, I'm programming more than ever rather than just managing the projects. It's stressful doing two jobs. Hopefully I'll get to hire someone soon.

It's really starting to feel like spring around here. It's warmer and rainy. They are even talking about possible severe weather. Nothing like a good thunderstorm or tornado to make you feel right at home in springtime Iowa. I'm getting in the mood to do some gardening. I used to be really passionate about it and had a huge perennial bed in the hillside by our house. Now that hill is gone, carved out for the carport and deck and I've been too busy to garden. I want to get back into this year. Can you tell I've been watching "Curb Appeal" again?

The girls sang on Idol tonight. Mandisa kicked butt again tonight as did Katharine. Ayla wasn't great. Kinnik sucked, followed by Paris and Melissa. It was not a good week overall for the women in the competition. Kellie was cute and sold the song, but she isn't a really strong singer.

Loving Amazing Race again this year. I wasn't prepared for this at all, but I really like the hippies. They are hysterical, but it doesn't come across as though they are acting outrageous for the cameras. That's just them. Not a fan of the Dani and Danielle or whatever they are, nor of the two jockstraps. So far, I've been good with everyone who's finished last and left the show.

I'm reading Cell. In a world long ago when I read like a fiend, I would have finished it in an afternoon. These days I catch a few pages, maybe a chapter, here and there. It's a great read - much more like the old Stephen King. I have three books backed up that friends have loaned me, so I need to kick it into gear.

There hasn't been a Chloe update for a while. She's VERY much in need of a haircut right now. She's comical looking with all the hair in her face. She's still fearless and thinks she's part mountain goat. She'll be headed to the vet (hopefully this week or next) for her spaying and when she's healed I'll get her trimmed. Hate to do it now, because it is March in Iowa and anyone who lives here knows that Mother Nature loves to dump cold and snow on us after teasing us with spring. I'll be sure to take before and after pictures of her. I'm actually very proud of her today. She got left out of her cage the entire day. Normally she is in there for a while when the boys first go to school. Hubby is home during the middle of the day and lets her out and then she goes back in until the boys get home from school. Not today. She was out with the big dogs. The bathroom door was open and the toilet paper remained on the roll and everything. It's a proud moment.

Long post to say absolutely nothing, eh?

Early favorites...

2006-03-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

American Idol is in full swing with America now doing the kicking off.
For me the front runners are Katharine and Ace. Katharine didn't get praised highly by the judges last night, but then nobody did. I still think she has the best voice overall but Mandisa took the night as far as I was concerned. Lisa is pretty amazing too. Paris and Brenna are annoying. I liked the comments they gave Ayla. I like her a lot, but she won't make it all the way. Kellie is cute and likeable and has a decent voice but she is too close to Carrie. She won't make it through. That raspy voice on Melissa could only work with certain songs and when they start having their genre picked for them, she won't be long for the competition. Her "smoky" voice sounds like early emphysema to me. The rest are just forgettable.
For the guys, Ace has it. In fact, I'm predicting Ace will take the whole thing. There are two others with amazing voices - Chris and Elliot, but Ace has the whole package. He's gorgeous, he can sing, and he seems like a truly nice guy. Votes for him will pour in.

That was harsh...

2006-02-24T06:39:00.000-06:00

Do you ever listen to a song thinking you know what the lyrics are only to find out later that you were WAY off?

The Rob Thomas song "Lonely No More" is about how he wants a solid relationship and wants to find his soulmate. There's a line in it, "Open up to me, like you do your girlfriends".

For months, I thought Rob was very harsh and demanding. I thought the line was "Open up to me, or I can do your girlfriends".

Dubai Ports...

2006-02-22T06:55:00.000-06:00

This one really has me scratching my head. Why would Bush come out so strongly on the side of Dubai Ports World? This Middle Eastern company is purchasing P&O, out of London. This would give them control of our some of this country's most critical ports. Bush is threatening to veto any vote that would prevent this.

He claims that this company and the tiny country they hail from have always been friendly to the US. That very well may be so, but in this day and age when Grandma Jones can be searched at the airport because you "never can be too careful", something smells with this scenario. We've been warned repeatedly that those wishing to do us harm are not part of organized politics (for the most part), that they are religious offshoots. Moles can and are living amongst us, working amongst us. We are supposed to be ever vigilant.

Do I doubt that this company is supportive? Do I doubt that their country is supportive? No. That doesn't mean that individuals within that organization may not be against us. This is inviting trouble. Do we not have any companies in the business of port management?

There has to be much more than we, as the public, and possibly the Congress is being allowed to know. There has to be something we are gaining, besides good will, to have this make sense.

Bumble...I mean Gumbel

2006-02-21T06:49:00.000-06:00

Bryant Gumbel is shooting his annoying mouth off again. This time it is to insult the winter Olympics. Asswipe says, "So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention." He says he has concluded that they are not real sports.

So because blacks don't choose to participate then obviously those are not sports. Makes sense to me. It doesn't matter that the athletes are world class WINTER sports athletes. They aren't black, therefore cannot be counted among the world's greatest athletes.

He implies that there is some big conspiracy to keep blacks out. What is it the lottery says? "You can't win if you don't play."

It's too bad that this pseudo journalist shot his mouth off the same year that Shani Davis won the gold in speed skating. Shhh - he's black. He's not a real athlete though. Don't tell him.

Curious that Gumbel managed to say something so divisive wrapped in the claim that the Winter Olympics are nothing more than a marketing ploy. Hmmm...who's raking in the publicity?

Ready for spring...

2006-02-20T07:01:00.000-06:00

I'm not complaining. This has been one of the mildest winters ever. There hasn't been a lot of snow. The really cold days have been few. I'm just ready for spring.

I was out on geocaching.com checking out some more caches in the area. Between looking forward to caching and golf and gardening, I'm getting revved up for warm weather!

Have a good Monday!

Snow day...

2006-02-16T09:02:00.000-06:00

I'm working from home today due to snow and ice. For me, it's the ice. Snow doesn't bother me - even deep snow. Ice, however, is a different animal.

When I first woke up we were getting thundersleet (at least that is what the weatherman called it). It was like a very heavy thunderstorm except it was sleet instead of rain. It was crazy.

It's nice that I can VPN into the company network and in fact, the systems guys are setting me up with a new connection right now. We have had the Cisco VPN in place for a couple of years, but we are now migrating to Firepass. People that have tested it really like it, so I'm anxious to see what it is like.

No more Ram Jam...

2006-02-14T06:38:00.000-06:00

The University of New Hampshire has banned the Ram Jam cover of Black Betty from their hockey games. It has been a tradition to play the song during

The school said the ban was due to complaints about the song that were received by the NAACP claiming the song is "theoretically racist". They apparently protested back in 1977 as well. Meet the original Black Betty artist, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter.

The NAACP is now calling one of their own theoretically racist. Hmmm. Here are the lyrics:

Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Black betty had a child (Ram Jam)
The damn thing gone wild (bam-ba-lam)
She said, "i'm worryin' outta mind" (bam-ba-lam)
The damn thing gone blind (bam-ba-lam)
I said oh, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)

Oh, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She really gets me high bam-ba-lam
You know that's no lie bam-ba-lam
She's so rock steady bam-ba-lam
And she's always ready bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam

Get It!

Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She's from birmingham bam-ba-lam
Way down in alabam' bam-ba-lam
Well, she's shakin' that thing bam-ba-lam
Boy, she makes me sing bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam

Excuse my insensitivity, but I'm just not feeling the racist vibe here. How is this insulting to black women? It was written by a black man, recorded by a black man, decades ago. It should be heralded as music history. So is it racist because a white group recorded it in the 70's? It was protested once and people ignored it because there was no merit. Now, almost thirty years later, it is being protested again. Again, with no merit.

Theoretically racist - what the hell? Shame on UNH for caving to this pressure.

TV Update...

2006-02-10T06:57:00.000-06:00

Another season of Survivor has begun. All is right with the world.

My early favorite this year is Terry. He's a commercial pilot who used to be a fighter pilot. He's strong, physically and mentally, and is very likeable. So far, he has not fallen into the trap that other slightly older but super strong players have fallen into - he hasn't been too take charge and been perceived as controlling. Hopefully he can stick to that. He'll go far if he does.

Biggest waste of groceries so far? By far, that would be Shane. What a bipolar, ADD, jumping on my last nerve piece of crap he is. Everyone will get tired of that, but I would imagine that Survivor will figure out a way to keep him around. We've got to have someone to hate and no one else seems to be stepping up to the plate.

I saw a new reality show advertised. In the vein of American Idol, American Inventor will be hitting the airwaves. I honestly wondered if the commercial was some twisted early April Fools joke. There was no punchline.

Olympics start tonight! I'm so excited. I'm a complete Olympics freak, I admit it. I absolutely love the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Happy Friday all!

Hmmm...

2006-02-09T06:19:00.000-06:00

Remember when, during the election the Democrats got all in an uproar about certain ads that Bush was running? Here is a quote from the Washington Post:

The ads strike a positive tone and don't mention Kerry. But the use of Sept. 11 imagery may cause some controversy and provide ammunition for Democrats who have long accused the president of exploiting the tragedy for political purposes.

Three years after the event, the Dems were outraged that he talk about 9/11 during the election, even though his handling of the immediate aftermath was the defining period of his first term. So imagine my shock when I watch a news story about Coretta Scott King's funeral service. The President spoke at the service - kindly, complimentary, and dignified. Then Rev. Lowery took the podium. What should have been a somber, respectful, and reflective funeral service honoring a great woman turned into a Bush bash. With the dead body of this woman only feet away, the political mudslinging began with whoops and cheers from the "mourners".
Congratulations - you have now fallen to a new low.

Another "hmmm" moment - during the Iowa/Northwestern basketball game last night, there were several female Muslim college students who appeared to be Middle Eastern sitting directly behind one of the baskets. They had their Northwestern garb like the rest of the student section but had their heads covered like good Muslim women do. The dichotomy of this alone was intriguing. They were all VERY into the game - seeming to be HUGE fans of the Wildcats. Kudos. The strangeness of the whole image really exploded when the crowd, in dispute of a call, began to chant "Bullshit". Yep, these good Muslim women with their head wraps neatly in place began to chant it enthusiastically. It was weird for me - like hearing a minister swear like a trucker.

Weekend...

2006-02-06T06:50:00.000-06:00

The weekend was good. It was very relaxing in fact and didn't feel cut short. We have been heading to the casino most weekends and when we do that it just feels too short. Time flies when you're in there, plus I don't get a damned thing done because we generally stay most of the night so I'm napping most of the day on Sunday.

This weekend was different. I got Linux installed on an old PC that a co-worker gave to me because it wouldn't boot into Windows anymore. This was my first Linux install and it was much easier than I anticipated.

I wrote a paper for class and got a bit of studying done.

Purchased and downloaded the e-book version of the new Stephen King novel, Cell onto my iPaq and started it. So far it's very good.

The house is completely clean and all laundry got done. It helped that the kids were out of my way on Saturday. They stayed at a lake cabin with a family from the neighborhood. It was nice to be able to breeze through the house and not have a mess following behind you.

I had intended to go to the blogger get together, but it felt nice to just hole up in the house for the weekend. We had a fire in the fireplace all weekend and lounging in front of that Saturday night with my e-book was all the ambition I had.

We made a bunch of non-diet friendly food for the game yesterday. Hubby has been a Steelers fan forever. He wasn't a fair weather fan and supported them through the really bad years too. I didn't really care which team won. I was glad to see that Seneca Wallace didn't get a Super Bowl ring, but I don't have anything else against the Seahawks. It was an entertaining game.

As usual, my favorite commercial was the horses playing football. LOVE THEM.

Well, it's back to the grind today. Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

$1.00 gallon and the State of the Union...

2006-02-02T06:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I got gas for $1.00/gallon. That's right folks. Filled up my tank for the gloriously low price of 10 bucks. Lakeside Casino was offering gas for a buck to their Players Club members yesterday. See...gambling can be profitable! Of course, they more than made up the difference once I went inside!

The State of the Union address was okay. I say okay because it always reminds me a bit too much of the campaigns - pretty words, rallying around your party, etc. What happens afterwards is always the ugly part. The lobbying, political backbiting, and partisan politics just for the sheer sake of partisan politics that ruin the process.

Every President since I've been alive, regardless of party, has asked for the line item veto. Why? It fucking makes sense, that's why. So why is it that the opposite party ALWAYS jeers and boos? Partisan politics. Doesn't matter that it makes sense. Just gotta fight it. Alway have. Always. Will.

Whoever wrote the Bush's speech did a marvelous job. For the most part it was worded in ways that made it very difficult for the Democrats to rebut. When you come out in support of Mom and apple pie, a rebuttal looks idiotic.

Speaking of Democrats looking idiotic, they erupted in a loud obnoxious cheer when Bush said, "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security". Nothing got done. Nothing is fixed. Yeah - cheer it up, fucktards. We need to take away their cushy pension and health care coverage and make them take Social Security and Medicare. These asswipes wouldn't be cheering for failing to pass reform then. I know, I know...they were cheering defeating BUSH's proposal. Once again partisan politics screw things up. They didn't have to approve of his plan across the board. They could have had serious discussions with Bush and the Republicans and made compromises. Oh no. Not this group. This became a political hot button. Bush thought of it. Must. Be. Bad. Because of this sheer hatred, nothing got done. Social Security is still in need of saving. They failed pure and simple - the entire Congress failed. Now when called on it, the Dems cheer like school yard bullies and high five each other. Yeah, you really showed George. Whoopie. The American public is paying for your victory.

Don't shake hands with a Bulldog...

2006-01-30T06:55:00.000-06:00

Ivy League has always been considered "upper crust". It's been an academic haven for the the smartish rich and famous. Who would have suspected a cleanliness problem?

Finally after much student lobbying and much resistance, Yale is providing soap - but only on a limited trial basis. Yale has apparently always taken the stand that providing soap was "against tradition" and "too expensive". I guess it would be tough coming up with Softsoap seeing as students pay a paltry $31,450 a year for tuition.

The argument that it is "tradition"..."we've always done it this way"..."it was good enough before": How very Who Moved My Cheese of them. They have a freaking medical school. Maybe they should check with that department on their position of handwashing following using the bathroom. I'm betting if they did a study on the number of sick students in their Student Health Services before and after providing soap in the bathrooms, they would find their costs were more than balanced out.

They not only took a stand against soap, they argued against it in the news media with two of the lamest arguments I have ever heard. It just shows you can't be too careful about who you shake hands with...

What's your extraordinary ability?

2006-01-26T18:07:00.000-06:00

Former 'Playboy' playmate deported - The Situation with Tucker Carlson - MSNBC.com If you haven't read this transcript, you must. Tucker Carlson is interviewing the lawyer representing Argentinean model, Dorismar.

I'm sure this man studied hard at law school. They don't just hand those degrees out, ya know. Then there's the whole "passing the bar" business. I wonder while he was slaving away at the law library he ever imagined using a cute butt (as a legal defense - get your mind out of the gutter).

My favorite is the discussion of the porn shortage crisis. That is just precious.

What is your extraoridinary ability that would keep you from getting deported? Me? Well, I'm having a fabulous hair day - does that count?

The dredges...

2006-01-25T06:31:00.000-06:00

TV has hit rock bottom. There can be no lower low (well, maybe a Lorena and John Bobbit reunion). I do love my reality TV, but this is way off the charts.

That's right, folks. You've been waiting 15 years and the day is finally here. It's the Amy Fisher/Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco reunion.

One can only hope that no network will pick it up. Doubtful though since it's getting press already. Can't buy that kind of publicity. Some network will toss taste aside (once again) and start pimping this damned thing.

Why would the three of them sign on for this? Are they THAT desperate for another 15 minutes of fame? Crawl back in your holes.

What's the limit?

2006-01-23T06:22:00.000-06:00

A group called Improv Everywhere held its annual No Pants Subway Ride yesterday. Or, at least they attempted to hold it. It was semi-thwarted by police who arrested some of the participants for dropping to their underwear once on the subway and charged them with disorderly conduct.

My question is what is the limit? How much of the underwear must be showing for it to be disorderly? Do the pants have to be completely removed or just lowered? At first blush it appears that it must be complete removal otherwise they would be busy arresting every gang bang wannabe who wears his/her jeans around his/her knees exposing his/her boxers. If that is the case, is the limit complete removal or could the GBW be charged if the pants fall below the knees?

Have you noticed the way these GBWs hitch up their grossly oversized jeans every few seconds because they are in danger of dropping around the ankles? I can only think this is will become an automatic reflex. Often times when I am wearing my contacts, I catch myself trying to push my phantom spectacles up. Of course, I blithely try to cover it as an itch on the bridge of my nose. What is going to happen to these poor GBWs who grow up and realize they look completely ridiculous? They will go back to properly fitting clothes yet have the overwhelming urge to hitch them up every few seconds. Should be amusing.

I would be tempted to fight the disorderly conduct charge if I were one of the arrestees with just such observations. I would question the law as it applies to boxers showing. What is the legal limit on Fruit of the Loom exposure?

Whew!

2006-01-20T06:31:00.000-06:00

Received my test grade back. I'm a great guesser. It wasn't great, but it was workable. At least now I know what kind of thing to expect on the final.

Well, between Hillary and Nagen I'm not sure who is the bigger idiot this week. Comparing the Democratic representatives to slaves and the Republicans to plantation owners. Wow. That's a low even for a Clinton. Now get right back in your limo and out into the cotton fields! She claims that Bush's administration will go down as one of the worst in history. I would imagine he would be competing with Bill since he is only the second president ever to be impeached. They all said the same thing about Reagan. Talk to me in twenty years Hillary.

Nagen - yikes. Did you hear this moron? At one point I felt sorry for him. He was clearly in over his head trying to organize the evacuation and the clean up. He had 500 buses at his disposal for evacuation and didn't use them. He tried to repopulate the city with displaced citizens while toxic water stood all around. He was clearly over matched. Then his comments this week. First off, the whole tone of his speech was hilarious. He sounded like a holy roller preacher. He was trying to sound like Martin Luther King, I get it. He just ended up sounding like a cartoon. Then the comments he made really put it over the top. Vowing to make sure that New Orleans remains a "chocolate" city, claiming that it was imperative to maintain the black majority. I'm so tired of the double standard. No white mayor of a white majority city could get away with such racist statements. OMG! Can you even imagine the uproar that would cause. What if the mayor of Biloxi referred to rebuilding a "vanilla" city and how it has always been a "vanilla" city and that he was going to work to maintain that. I find both equally as offensive and racist.

It was a banner week for race baiting and the perpetuation of racism. Way to go, you two.

Okay, I admit it. I'm old.

2006-01-14T16:41:00.000-06:00

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a new pair of fabric shears. My old ones were SO bad. It was more effective to tear the cloth with my teeth.

This pair is a beautiful thing. They have padding inside the handles and are ergonically designed to prevent your hand and wrist from getting sore.

Christmas came and I hadn't even had a chance to use them yet. Imagine how I freaked when I saw one of my twins using them to cut open one of those clear hard plastic, impossible to get into, designed by some sadist bastard, box things that his mp3 player was packaged in. My virgin shears!

I snatched them away and took them back to my craft room where I promptly hid them from rummaging children.

Now if I could only find them again...

Letting go...

2006-01-12T22:45:00.000-06:00

I'm the first to admit it. I'm a recovering perfectionist. Those of you who know me in real life who didn't know me when I was younger will laugh. "Recovering?" you'll ask. Yes. Compared to what I once was, I am recovering.

I have learned to live with the phrase 'good enough for who it's for'. Occasionally I find myself falling back into the old trap. I don't want to go there. I had ulcers as a teen. I dropped an advanced math class because it screwed up my GPA in high school. There are times I still regret taking the damned class because without that A- I would have been valedictorian. Does it matter? Not really...well, only to me.

I left college about half way through. I was tired. Mostly I had worn myself out with perfectionism in high school. My college grades were appalling because I just couldn't care anymore. I left partially because I was so disgusted with myself.

Now years later (okay, okay - decades later) I went back. I'm enrolled at Iowa (go Hawks) and am working on finishing my bachelor's. I don't need this for my career. I'm established now and most people don't know that I don't have a degree. This is something I want to do just because my true self - the perfectionist - can't stand not having it completed.

My grades since resuming have been back to an acceptable level. I have one A- and hate that. It ruined a 4.0. Of course, when combined with the grades from my previous life, the GPA isn't a 4.0, but still... Tonight I took an exam that I blew. It was not at all what I expected and I had not studied what I should have. Part of me wants to throw up.

Breathe, breathe...D's get degrees...D's get degrees...

Insanity...

2006-01-09T13:41:00.000-06:00

Did you realize that you are now protected under the law from nasty blog comments? That's right! According to the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act you can receive 2 years in jail for being annoying by crank blogging.
What about me being annoyed by reading some stupidity on someone else's blog? What about those bloggers who are intentionally controversial (you know who you are)? Does it only address people who flame a post or does it include the posting owner? Who defines annoying?
For any of you that feel you need legal protection from a simple-minded twit that might crank comment your blog, get off my Internet.
For those who feel like flaming - I'm feeling easily annoyed today.

Back to normal (or what most closely resembles it)...

2006-01-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

Josh & Jayme got back to Minnesota (in one piece) and driving a new used car. They found a 2002 Impala for a great price and headed back for classes and work. I'm sure they are relieved to be home after what turned out to be a trip from hell.

My vacation is officially over. I go back to work tomorrow (can you feel the pout?) I SO need to win the lottery. I am WAY too good at loafing and they always say you should do what you're good at.

The Christmas decorations are down. Late to go up - late to come down.

Jake and I went geocaching yesterday. I am willing to admit how much I hurt last night and today. My surgical hip (the one I like to think of as bionic) is doing great. The other one - yeah, that's another story. The surgeon warned me that I would need that one done eventually, but I had been pain free for quite a while, so thought maybe he was mistaken. I guess this is just my little reminder that I have another worthless joint that will need repairing sometime in the hopefully distant future.

Thank God...

2006-01-04T07:17:00.000-06:00

My oldest and my daughter-in-law headed back to Minnesota yesterday. They were planning to stop to say good-bye to her mom and stepfather and then continue on to her dad's for the night before starting the trek north this morning.

Shortly after they left here I got a frantic call from my son. They had been stopped on the highway, turn signal on, waiting to turn onto the road that her mom lives on when they got rear-ended by a high school kid. The nose of his car went under their back bumper, lifted up the back end and spun them around and into the other lane. The car is totaled (as is everything that was in their trunk), but they are fine, Zoe my grandpuppy is fine. The stupid kid is fine.

He admitted that he was going to fast and couldn't stop. There were other drivers who stopped and reported to the police on the scene that the turn signal was on. All that aside, it doesn't take away from the hassle.

They will be here in Iowa for a few more days making car arrangements, insurance arrangements, etc. Hopefully there won't be any whiplash or the like to deal with.

Narnia...

2006-01-03T16:02:00.000-06:00

I really needed to get out and take my mind off the Outback Bowl yesterday, so took my twins to see The Chronicles of Narnia.

We all thought the movie was very good even though some of the special effects were very lame. The shot where the kids are on the rock bridge thing...come on. Movies have been putting in fake backgrounds for years. I could have done better in Photoshop, for crying out loud. All in all, those type of moments were minor annoyances and the story still stands up as one of the great ones.

They got the entire series of books for Christmas and can't wait to delve into them.

Highway robbery in Florida!

2006-01-02T14:03:00.000-06:00

OMG! The Iowa Hawkeyes were just MUGGED by seven men in stiped shirts. According to eyewitnesses all wore hats (one white), most wore whistles around their necks and carried yellow flags protruding from their pockets (likely a gang symbol of some type).

Although the entire ordeal was caught on tape, it is unlikely the perpetrators will be punished in any way.

Geocaching...

2006-01-01T18:50:00.000-06:00

Jake and I went geocaching for the first time on Dec 31. What a blast!! We are totally hooked.

I set up a new blog devoted to our new hobby. I took some pictures from our first day and have some of them posted on Flickr. There is a link to them on the new blog.

Check it out!

GPS...

2005-12-31T06:54:00.000-06:00

We got my 17 year old a GPS for Christmas. It's something that is right up his alley and was a big hit. Then a co-worker asked me if he was going to go geocaching. I had no idea what he was talking about.

Now we have researched this little known sport and I'm jealous. I want a GPS too. I want to sneak around the woods and plunder treasure.
He and I are going to do a few local caches together. There are actually quite a few around us, which was a bit surprising to me. After that we are going to plan our own cache.

I'm actually excited about this on a couple of levels. It just plain sounds fun to me. But I also think it will be a great experience for the two of us. It gets harder to stay connected through shared activities as kids get older. He can go hunting and such with his dad. They can continue to bond. It's harder for a teenaged son and his mom to find those opportunities.

A very MP3 Christmas...

2005-12-28T06:14:00.000-06:00

It was a very MP3 Christmas around here. One of my twins wanted a player and he got one with 512MB and expansion slot, FM radio, and voice recorder. We got my daughter-in-law a 5GB Olympus m:robe. I got an 4GB RCA Lyra. Everyone screamed at each other all day because we all had earphones in.

Electronics were abound. Other gifts throughout the house included software, a portable DVD player, a home theater speaker/DVD set. All in all a very geeky Christmas, just like I wished for!

I hope everyone who wanders here had a beautiful Christmas with family and friends.

TV commentary...

2005-12-20T06:42:00.000-06:00

Watching the RME awards last night that featured the reality show winners (and some losers) reminded me that I haven't put my two cents worth in on the TV season. So here goes...

Survivor - a perennial favorite. I was not a fan of Danni. She skated through and I think that is a cheap way to play that game. She didn't outwit anyone. She sure didn't outplay anyone. She merely outlasted and that is only one piece of the Survivor mantra. I was rooting for Gary and when he got voted out, I was pulling for Stephanie. The people who were pissed at her were so ridiculous. The alliance of five couldn't all be sitting there at the end. If any one of them were to switch places with her, they would have had to do the same thing to the same people. She just beat them to the punch. Hello - it's the outwit part.

Biggest Loser - I was SO glad Matt won. He wrestled for my hometown. He looks great and so deserved to win. He had the most heart and the most desire and it paid off. Who knew that the show would turn into the Dating Game and that Matt and Suzy would end up together??

Amazing Race - I was disappointed a bit with this year's teams. My favorite team, the Gaghan family, finished sixth. Overall, there weren't as many teams to pull for or to hate, for that matter. There was the dysfunctional Paolo family who started out in the lead as the ones to hate. Then they pulled together and I kind of could tolerate them (although the oldest son was still VERY hatable). It ended up that the Weaver family was the most annoying. I started out feeling sorry for them. They had recently lost their husband/father in a racing accident and seemed lost in the world. Then the very un-Christianlike comments they hurled around one second followed by deep praying for help and guidance in the next exposed them as petty, nasty, pretenders. Little clue here - don't think God cares if you find the road on the map. He's busy. Spewing rude comments from your SUV to bypassers not involved in the race is not going to win you any heavenly rewards. By the end, I was happy with whoever won as long as it wasn't the Weavers.

Apprentice - (Donald's version. Can't stand Martha.) Very happy with Randal winning. He was clearly the leader throughout. I got really tired of Rebecca talking about her damned ankle. It wasn't a hurdle in the competition. In Survivor - yeah, then we'd have something to talk about. In The Apprentice the challenges are mental, not physical. Randal was dealing with the death of his grandmother. That is something that could affect your mental performance. He didn't whine about it. He didn't point it out at every turn. Hell, by the end, Trump seemed to forget about it. During the finale he talked about how brave Rebecca was not to turn tail and run home to mommy. I was surprised, but pleased with Randal's decision to only have one Apprentice. Rebecca was sweet. She's also only 23 and very weak sauce. The best candidate got the job.

Deal or No Deal - I can see where this might get old after a while, but I was drawn into the premiere last night. I'll be watching all week.

Vacation...

2005-12-19T06:27:00.000-06:00

I can't remember a year that I looked forward to time off so much. I'm not going anywhere or doing anything - I just need the break.
For the last eight years, I have taken off the week between Christmas and New Year's. This is the first year that the week is in serious jeopardy. There are several end-of-year deadlines that need to be met. I'm not sure they will be done by Friday, which means I'll be back at the office for the last week of the year.
I'm going to really lay into things this week and pray that I can get them done because I can't remember the last time I truly hated to get up and go to work as much I have lately. This short break is needed beyond measure.

Twelve days of Christmas...

2005-12-16T23:43:00.000-06:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas my shopping cart was full.

Twelve lousy fruitcakes

Eleven pairs of slippers

Ten o'clock store closings

Nine miles from my car

Eight hour sales

Seven elbows flying

Six packs of egg nog

Five credit cards maxed!

Four shopping malls

Three drunken Santas

Only two checkouts open

And a rebate that won't come 'til next year!

Geek Christmas...

2005-12-09T09:33:00.000-06:00

Found this on bbspot.

Top 11 ways Geeks celebrate Christmas

11. Mountain Dew-nog
10. Printing out "One Year of Free Computer Service" certificates to give to the family.
9. Designing elf-killing levels for your favorite FPS.
8. Explaining to children how it would be physically impossible for Santa to deliver all the presents.
7. Wear mistletoe hat and keep fingers crossed.
6. Devise a computer-controlled system to detect and prevent household members from trying to peek into their presents before Christmas.
5. Put a santa hat on your avatar.
4. Change the blue neon lights in the case to flashing red and green.
3. Decorating the tree with SDRAM and CPUs burned out from your last overclocking experiment.
2. Rewriting Christmas carols in Tolkien's Elvish.
1. Programming the christmas lights to flash out "I hate this holiday of unbridled consumerism" in binary.

Yes, I have done some of these. I'm not ashamed.

Management...

2005-12-06T06:44:00.000-06:00

Often people I work with forget that I am in management. I think it is because I have a small team and not only manage, but still program. As much as I have tried to get away from it, the work seems to increase to match however many people I hire and I still end up with a portion of the programming - just to get it done. For the people from the other teams, this blurs the line and I am considered "one of them".

This is a good and a bad thing. I regularly get an earful of how management is the bane of the world and if they would just all die and go away, life would be good. Hello???? Another idiot thought it was smart to confide in me that he was using corporate resources to work on this side-line business and was mischarging time while working on his own stuff. (Um...he doesn't work there anymore.) I hear the gossip that other managers don't hear. I'm considered a "cool" manager - kind of like being the "cool" mom.

Then a day like yesterday happens. There was a corporate decision to kill a project. It's not my project directly. My team is a support team for the project. I was part of the management team that went in to tell everyone that they need to look for new jobs. I felt like there was a knife in my gut. There is never a good time for something like this to happen, but the holidays make is that much worse. Hiring falls off this time of year while bills increase.

As we left, a team member came up to me and asked why I had been included in the meeting. When I replied that I was part of the management team she said, "Oh...yeah." Maybe my cover hasn't been blown after all.

Decorating...

2005-12-02T06:23:00.000-06:00

I love Christmas decorations. I'm not that keen on the actual decorating, but I love them when they are up. Normally I get our trees (yes, we put up 2) up Thanksgiving weekend, but this year I got a nasty flu-like bug that zapped the life out of me on Friday. Frankly, I just couldn't get my ass off the couch to do it. I'm just to the point that I can start thinking about it again.

I didn't get a flu shot yet this year. They gave them at work, but I missed them. With channels of communication available like email, the intranet, hell - even the phone, the company decided it was the BEST idea to just run off little flyers and place them in the stairwells and on the main building doors on the morning of the shots.

Of all the days for a gentleman to step up and hold open the door for me, that was not a good day. We chatted as he pushed open the door, his hand conveniently covering up the flyer. I went to my first floor office and promptly began my morning, not venturing forth until nearly noon, when I discovered the flyers. They organized the shot giving alphabetically by last name and I should have gone between 8:00 and 8:30.

Here I was - unprotected and vulnerable in a sea of immunized co-workers. I felt naked and alone.

And now? My Christmas decorations are late. The injustices of the world never end.

Post Thanksgiving...

2005-11-29T06:35:00.000-06:00

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. Josh and Jayme were home from Minnesota and it was great to have them and their pup Zoe. I did the whole cooking thing on Thursday and we gorged (as everyone did). J & J had to do the eating thing FOUR times over. blech! How special can it be by the fourth time in a row?

Zoe and Chloe had a six day rompfest. There was a puppy tumbleweed rolling through my house almost continuously. When they did sleep, it was generally in a fur heap. I have some pictures of them cuddling, post-romp, that I will post soon.

Friday found me in my pjs, on the couch, watching the throngs kill each other over bargains. I learned my lesson LONG ago. Internet shopping is the way to go. Most retailers have web specials that rival the brick and mortar stores...and there's always Cyber-Monday. That's not to say that I won't venture into a store or two this year. It happens - just not on Freaky Friday. I know some women who go in packs, stuffed with turkey from the day before and laced with mimosas from a sunrise breakfast, to shop til they drop. Just shoot me.

For anyone who has not heard...you can send a great care package overseas through the USO. Go to the website to find out how. The mailing date for personally mailing packages has come and gone, but it's not too late. The USO will be taking packages to our lonely troops and you can send one for only $25.

A forgotten memory...

2005-11-23T06:39:00.000-06:00

I was on my way home from work last night and an oldie popped onto the radio. I drove along singing to the Air Supply song pouring out of my speakers. The song is one I hadn't heard in years and it brought back a memory that I had completely forgotten.

When I was in high school and college, I worked at the local pool during the summer. There was one cute, innocent, little boy - probably 4th grade who hung around me most of the summer when I was 18. He was pesky. He was full of questions. He trailed me like a puppy. Quite frankly, he drove me a little nuts. There were days that I was short with him and days when I literally hid from the poor kid.

The summer was winding down and he came up to me one day with a package in hand. It was the latest Air Supply album (yeah - I'm older than dirt). I got choked up and told him that I couldn't take such a nice gift. He told me that he had saved all summer to buy it for me - that I had to take it. He told me that he knew I was too old for him, but that he wanted to find a girlfriend just like me someday.

I was eighteen. The moment touched me, but was buried quickly amidst the self-centered whirlwind that that age is. The song on the radio brought it all back.

When I got home, I scrapped through my old stack of albums that I can't part with, even though I haven't had a turntable in years. There is was - a bit dusty - a bit forgotten - the album my young admirer had saved so long for.

I know the odds that he might read this are slim. I tried very hard and can't even remember the boy's name. If, by some strange coincidence, he ever reads this I just wanted to say thank you and I'm sorry. Thank you for your round cheeks and squirmy self who would look up at me with such pure admiration in your eyes. I'm sorry because I had no idea how blessed I was at the time. I hope you remember me fondly.

CONGRATULATIONS!

2005-11-22T14:11:00.000-06:00

Special congrats to my baby sister on her engagement!

Which file extension are you?

2005-11-21T13:16:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm a geek. What of it?

Which File Extension are You?

Everybody needs a hero...

2005-11-21T06:26:00.000-06:00

Whether it is a parent, a teacher, a servant to society, or the dubious choice of professional athlete, everyone needs a hero. We need to hold someone up as our ideal. We strive to act as they do and dream of living as they do.

We, as human beings, seem to crave the real-life hero to idolize. We know right from wrong. We understand what it is to do a good deed. Yet, we seem to need a personification of what it is we would like to become in our lives.
The people of Aioi have such a hero. Get well, Gutsy.

Who is your hero? Have you hugged your hero today?

Ewww...

2005-11-16T19:53:00.000-06:00

Is it me or is it impossible not to rub your eyes after reading this?

Partying at the home...

2005-11-15T06:59:00.000-06:00

This is my idea of nursing home.
I worked in a nursing home in a past life and there was a resident there who would have loved this. He was always hanging out at the nurses station thinking it was a bar. He would sidle up and give a big toothless grin as he ordered a beer.
A pub...sure beats the hell out of craft night.

Split personality...

2005-11-10T05:38:00.000-06:00

Good Chloe	Evil Chloe

A shift in the universe...

2005-11-10T05:20:00.000-06:00

Has there been a shift in the universe? Two weeks ago, I would have said everything was calm and steady in my life and now...everyone I know is in turmoil of some kind.

Work (the most stable thing in my life) is all of a sudden morphing into quicksand. A new leader at the helm has transformed a rock solid, fabulous place to work into a quagmire of doubt and destruction. Basically - he's naughty and he wrecks stuff.
Oh sure...on the surface it still looks as though we are growing and doing well.

Inside those walls, everyone I know is looking for other jobs. People who have been with the company more than a handful of years (a rarity in IT) want to abandon ship.

Very unsettling...

Hello from Denver...

2005-10-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

Traveled to Denver this week for business. The business has been good, but this trip has been more fun than those in the past because I actually had time to go to the mountains this time.

Denver itself isn't that exciting. It's a nice city, don't get me wrong...it's just flat and frankly a bit boring scenery-wise. This trip the weather has been fantastic with beautifully clear skies so you could actually SEE the mountains from the city.

Yesterday we took a trip to Georgetown and Idaho Springs and enjoyed the scenery and the brilliantly yellow aspens.

I have never had Denver high on my list of destinations, but now? I can't wait to come back. It will be good to go home today though.

Puppies for everyone!

2005-10-06T22:45:00.001-05:00

There are two new puppies in our family. My son and daughter-in-law recently added Zoe (a llasapoo) to their lives.

A few days later, we added Chloe (a cockapoo) to our menagerie.