Bye bye, '09

(I stole this from Sundry.  Did it last year too.)


1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Learned to teach a class, and somehow managed to teach it several times without making a total ass of myself.  Earned a fancy "title" to put on my business cards.  Told off a co-worker when stuff he did made me look like a fool.  Started sewing a real quilt.  Made a bunch of homemade stuff like salsa & pasta sauce & pumpkin puree.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?



Kind of.... I didn't really make any last year though, come to think.  I really don't like making yearly resolutions.  I've found it's easier to set monthly goals - it gives me a better sense of accomplishment which in turn motivates me to keep going.  It worked for me this year with going to the gym, until I caught a cold & couldn't go, then spent a weekend in the hospital and still couldn't go... threw me completely off.  But this year, each month I'll re-set my goals of eating healthier and getting more exercise, creating things and staying motivated at work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?


Friends back home had another little girl, & cousins did too.

4. Did anyone close to you die?


No.  Which is good of course.

5. What countries did you visit?


No foreign travel yet.  I think I visited one new city in the U.S. - the booming metropolis of Yuma, Arizona.  Good times!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
I'm hoping that the company will have more money so that I have more opportunities to DO stuff.  Also a kitten.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
God, I suck at dates.  My trip to Phoenix & Yuma, and when B & I went to Chicago.  Whenever those were.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?


Teaching that class, especially the one time in Phoenix when I totally had to wing it.  That felt pretty good.

9. What was your biggest failure?
My attitude about a lot of stuff.  And dropping out of therapy.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major, but there was this story which was kind of funny.  Also was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which sounds unpleasant but it just leaves me a bit sore.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I would say my Macbook, but I didn't buy it.  Woot!  Hmm, maybe my food processor?  It gave me the means to turn a mountain of tomatoes into a freezer full of pasta sauce and salsa.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I'll have to say B again, who made a difficult decision to ensure his well-being and take some strain off our relationship.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


The aforementioned co-worker that I finally worked up the nerve to tell off.  But then he apologized and was pretty sincere about it, so while he royally pissed me off I've managed to let it go.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, groceries, credit card debt, and the university.  Did you know that when you cook at home, you have to buy a lot of groceries?  It's appalling.

15. What did you get really excited about?
An idea I ran past my bosses that was completely out of left field, and they are so far totally supportive & enthusiastic about it.  Ask me again in May, and we'll see where it goes!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Sara Bareilles' cover of Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, from her live album.  It gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it, and both B and I love it.



Also, Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, it was my go-to driving song all year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Neutral.  Things have changed, but not for the better or the worse, just changed.
– thinner or fatter? Fatter I think.  It's all this cooking.


– richer or poorer? Always poorer!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?


I wish I had gotten off my ass more.  At work, at home, with exercise and creative things... I could have done so much more than just SITTING.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?


Spazzing out about stupid stuff that wasn't worth spazzing out about.

20. How did you spend Christmas?


Just B and I, a lazy day.  We'll celebrate with the family tomorrow.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Erm... well... I developed a couple new crushes.  But they don't really count.

22. What was your favorite TV program?


Leverage and Bones.  Which, if you haven't seen Leverage, you should!  January 13th!  Season two starts up again!



On DVD, I caught the Wire bug (ha!!) and have gotten a little hooked on Angel too.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?


There were some people that I severely disliked during the course of the year, but it's mostly okay now.

24. What was the best book you read?
Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the whole Percy Jackson series, An Echo in the Bone, and World War Z.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

The White Rabbits


and Sara Bareilles.  If you get beyond the annoying song from the radio, the chick has an amazing voice.

26. What did you want and get?
An awesome computer, and Photoshop Elements 8.

27. What did you want and not get?

Something out of therapy.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Avatar and Star Trek.  Done and done.  Those two will always be on my favorites list.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We had a real party this year!  And I have no pictures except this one, which is sadly sober!  Considering I turned 30, I would have thought I'd be drunk off my ass by this point...

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More work opportunities.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Getting away with jeans when I could - or at least until HR sent out a memo.

32. What kept you sane?


The couch.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Christian Kane.  I mean, really.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?


Climategate and the whole climate change/global warming load of crap.  Urgh.

35. Who did you miss?


My friends from home.

36. Who was the best new person you met?


Lisa, one of our reps in Chicago who unfortunately isn't with the company anymore.  But she's still awesome.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.


My inner critic is a raging bitch.  I'm waaaaay too hard on myself and take things waaaaay too personally.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.


I couldn't think of one last year, but this year I'm cheating a bit because I have a particular song lyric typed out and taped to my computer monitor:

"You don't always have to hold your head higher than your heart."
Hope - Jack Johnson

Nap, please. PLEASE.

Is this the face of a terrorist?

The answer is, abso-friggin-lutely.  This psychotic, annoying little beast kept me awake ALL NIGHT.  She has it in for our humidifier, and no matter what I do she insists on trying to tip the damn thing over.  I'm a horribly light sleeper, so every time she gives it a yank it wakes me up.  Add to that her habit of jumping up on the bed right next to my face and demanding attention by standing on my boobs with her 20-pound feet... AND THEN when I booted her out of the bedroom and shut the door, she scratched at the carpet and the door, shaking the whole thing in its frame.  So I booted her down the stairs (I really had to refrain from throwing her at this point but I probably would have thrown my back out too) and shut the door at the top of the stairs and the bedroom door so I couldn't hear her attempts at taking it off the hinges.

Then there's this guy.

He's not a little dog, but he's usually allowed to sleep on the bed because of his wonderful ability to curl up into a ball the size of a pumpkin.  However the past couple of weeks, his skin has been dry and his ears have been bothering him.  He's kind enough to not scratchscratchscratch on the bed, but it means that he's getting up and down, on and off the bed all. night. long.  Last night he got the boot too.  Tonight, he'll be quarantined to his bed on the floor.

Needless to say I'm a bit tired.

Add that to the uncomfortable state of my girly-bits and I really wish I was back in bed!  I started reading up on the side-effects of birth control after reading this article by Amalah, and I thought that I would try going off my pills for a while and see if it improved my state of mind and energy levels.  So far, so good, but of course I totally forgot what it would do to me physically.  Bleah.

***

The bright spot today was the LEED Green Associate test this morning.  I spent most of yesterday evening cramming for it - because with my memory, it was utterly hopeless to try and study in advance.  Some of the stuff I was reading left me thinking, the last time I checked I'm not an architect or a general contractor... WHY do I need to know this stuff??  Apparently, they expect their GA's to double as HVAC experts?  Well, regardless, I passed it.  So yay for that being off my shoulders!

***

Christmas was nice and quiet, just B and I.  (Except when he woke me up at 6:30 in the morning, demanding pancakes.  There was some grumbling then.)  It was a pretty lazy day, and didn't entirely feel like Christmas, but it was good.  I had ordered a package of wild game steaks from Cabela's as part of our gift for ourselves, and I grilled the Nilgai Antelope for Christmas dinner.  (Random factoid: Nilgai is native to India, but is ranched for hunting in Texas... apparently there are now more of them in Texas than in India.)  It's pretty good, tastes a bit like pork.  We're saving the rest of the package (elk, wild boar, venison, & bison) for other special occasions.

I scored big points by surprising B with a circular saw (I know!  I managed to pull off a surprise!  I was so proud of myself.) and he scored big points by visiting the Brighton store for a pair of earrings & bracelet for me (canaries! squee!).  He also used his student discount to get me Photoshop Elements 8, which I've been playing with a bit.  I'll start posting some of my experiments with it soon.

Otherwise... yeah.  I'm pretty fried.

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Personal Soundtrack

Like Avitable, I could have sworn I'd done this before... but I can't find it.  So screw it.

1. Open your music library (iPod, iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every stage of life, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new stage, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…


Waking Up: Rock & Roll - G. Love & the Special Sauce
First Day at School: Rebel Child - Gretchen Wilson
Falling In Love: Island Girl - Elton John
Fight Song: Things Ain't Like They Used to Be - The Black Keys
Breaking Up: Stoned Love - The Supremes (Forrest Gump Soundtrack)
Prom: Where Did I Go Wrong - Martin Sexton
Life: It's Kosher - Dialogue from Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels Soundtrack
Mental Breakdown: Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Driving: Lot of Leavin' Left To Do - Dierks Bentley
Flashback: After Hours at McGann's - Gaelic Storm
Wedding: On the Road Again - Willie Nelson
Birth of Child: Black Magic Woman - Santana
Final Battle: Wrong Way - Sublime
Death Scene: Love Live Rock - The Who
Funeral Song: The Heart of Life - John Mayer
End Credit: O Tannenbaum - Nat King Cole

My Two Cents: Avatar (SPOILERS!)

Saw Avatar last night.

(If you haven't seen it, STOP READING.)

In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves....
WHOA.

Ahem.  Seriously though, the story has been told before.  Dances with Wolves popped into my head of course, but so did Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest (does anybody remember that movie?  Robin Williams as Batty?  No really!).  It's classic: "civilized" people invade the world of supposedly "uncivilized" people because  there's something there that they want, and they'll destroy whatever gets in their way.  Lots of "they're savages" and "so-called deity" and such.

There's a bit of a Wall-e feel too - humans have destroyed the natural resources on Earth, so we head out to destroy other planets too.  The difference here is it's in the name of profit - there doesn't seem to be any sort of "survival" side to the story.

The antagonists are somewhat stereotypical of this kind of story - we have the greedy businessman looking to make a butt-load of money off whatever it is they're stealing - in this case, a mineral called "unobtainium" (which admittedly sounds a bit hokey, but then I guess it's supposed to) - and we also have the military guy, in this case a hard-core Marine, who will do "whatever it takes" to get the mineral, including destroy the indigenous civilization.  Both of these characters are in the movie, which might be a little much.  But Giovanni Ribisi, the business guy, was absolutely brilliant and played the character to just the right extent where I truly felt uncomfortable.  Not just "oh he's the bad guy" but "shit, there are actually people like that in the world."  The Marine however, was played by a type-cast hard-core military-esque guy and yeah, he was kind of over-played.  Granted, there are people like him in the world too, but it's just not quite as believable or scary to think about, in my opinion.

The protagonists balanced it out though.  Jake Sully, the hero, was a great character.  Trying to still be a Marine despite being paralyzed, but then being drawn into the society of the Navi (the indigenous tribe on the planet) and inevitably taking up their cause and abandoning his own people - but it didn't feel forced.  It wasn't overdone.

The chick - there had to be one, right?  Otherwise why would this guy go through all this? - Neytiri, was AWESOME.  The new female hero of our time.  Seriously.  I loved Zoe Saldana as Uhura in Star Trek, but she was amazing as Neytiri.  Okay, so she wasn't physically playing the part - although she kind of was, through motion-capture - but it was still her in the character, and wow.  Harsh, raw emotion... powerful warrior... all in a hot (blue) package.  I'll say it again: AWESOME.

But then there's the film itself.  Holy CRAP.  I can't describe it.  Okay so after seeing Transformers you could say "the CGI was really awesome!" - you can't just say that about this film.  Because really?  It was more like "what CGI?  There was CGI?"  Really.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  When have you ever seen a CGI character smile with their eyes?  And the scenery, and the animals, and the... the whole frakking thing left me exhilarated.

There was only one thing that I was really "meh" about.  One character, actually, and that was Sigourney Weaver's character.  As a human, she was good - typical bad-ass Sigourney Weaver, attitude galore, but then as an Avatar... erm.  Hers was the only one that I thought looked fakey.  Her face was too soft, too girly for Sigourney Weaver.  And the Avatar side of the character was completely different from the human side.  It was a weird dichotomy that just didn't mesh for me.

In the end, I had a hard time getting to sleep last night because I was just so PUMPED about this movie.  It is an EXPERIENCE.  Period.  I'll be seeing it again.

Love/Hate

I have a complicated relationship with winter.

Well, actually most of my relationships are complicated, but let's just focus on this season for now.  No need to psychoanalyze everything.

I love living in an area with four seasons.  I think I would go bonkers in California - not just because of the liberals either.  As nice as the idea of continuous 70-degree days sounds, I think I'd get tired of it pretty fast.

I like the variety of food that comes with a seasonal climate.  I mean, if it were 80 degrees in December, who would want to eat soup?  Or roasted turkey?  Or baked squash?

It's easier to get warm than it is to cool down.  I'm pretty sensitive to hot weather, and get heat exhaustion easily.  So no desert life for me.

I love the sound of snow.  That eerie quiet when you wake up at 4 a.m. and just know that it's snowing.

Christmas lights without snow just aren't the same.  The snow lends a little extra sparkle to holiday decorations.

Also, deciduous trees just look sad and dead without a coating of snow.

I don't particularly like driving in the snow, but now that I have all-wheel-drive it's not so bad.

I also don't like cleaning snow off my car, but that's what a garage is for.  (Or a husband!)

I hate the static and dry skin that comes with cold weather.  We don't have a built-in humidifier, and while we run a small one in the bedroom at night the house is still really dry.  So is my office.  I hate getting zapped by everything I touch, even my cubicle walls!  And I always get the worst dry skin in the places I can't reach very well.  Sometimes I can get a helping hand, sometimes not, and sometimes I make a trip to the bathroom at work with a bottle of lotion.  (Wow, that doesn't sound right.)

What about you?  What's your relationship with Old Man Winter?

SORRY. I had to do it.

Yep, I've switched back to Blogger.

Wordpress seemed great for a while, until it stifled my creative flow & insisted that if I wanted to get all fancy-pants with my blog I'd have to pay.  Ugh.  No.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - I'm not really trying to impress anybody or gain a big following or anything.  I write because it's an outlet, and it's kind of fun.  But I like making it pretty and froofy and being able to do what I want, and Wordpress... well, it's for serious writers.  Which I'm definitely not.

And I like this sassy chick in the corner better than the polar bear.

(If you were subscribed or following or whatever, you might want to double-check your settings.  Sorry.)

Traditions

Swiped from Swistle.  Merry Christmas all!

Eggnog or hot chocolate? I like hot cocoa but my favorite is hot apple cider with a splash of Captain Morgan.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? When I was little, Mom and Dad would sign their gifts as Santa & Mrs Claus.  We don't have kids but usually stocking gifts get signed from Santa.

Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored on the tree.  If we did outside lights they'd be white.

Do you hang mistletoe? We didn't this year, I couldn't find it in the box.

When do you put your decorations up? My rule is usually the weekend after Thanksgiving but this year it was the weekend before.

What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't really have one - we usually do something different for dinner each year.  But Mom's "Pink Stuff" was a favorite when I was a kid.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No.  But growing up we did.  Because we had so many people at our house on Christmas day, it made sense for us to open ours the night before.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have a fake, pre-lit tree (B begrudgingly agrees that it looks nice), with a garland of red, white, & green wood beads and a garland that looks like hard candy.  Lots of glass icicles, and a hodgepodge of fun ornaments.  Nothing fancy, but it's cute.

Snow: love it or hate it? It's pretty to look at, as long as I don't have to go out in it.

Can you ice skate? I could when I was a kid, but I haven't tried in years!

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pumpkin pie!

What is your favorite holiday tradition? B & I haven't really established any yet ourselves, but my best friend and I usually call each other on Christmas day to compare our loot!  And my dad would always put a train around the base of the tree, more for the cats than for us though.

Candy canes: yum or yuck? I don't like peppermint, but other flavors are sometimes okay.

Favorite Christmas show? A new one this year, Prep & Landing!  It's hysterical.  But always, Charlie Brown's Christmas.

I had to add a couple more...

Favorite ornament: We have a lighthouse that B's dad gave us that plugs into the light string & blinks, and I also love our silver pinecone.  It makes me think of home.

Favorite holiday movie: Growing up we started watching The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and B's family watches National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation every year too.

Most memorable gift you received as a child:  I remember the doll that Mom made for me, and the wooden cradle and high chair.  She made me clothes and bedding for it, it was so cute.  I kept all of it, but it's in storage somewhere.  Once I get it all together, it will have a special place on a shelf.

File under: RTT

Ladies, you know you're having a bad hair day when you can't even get it back into a decent looking ponytail.  My biggest problem with my hair is the fact that I have two cowlicks on the back of my head which generally results in a bald spot, unless I back-comb the crap out of it and beat it into submission.  Oddly, I find that my hair cooperates more when I wear it down than when I try to pull it up.  It drives me insane.

***

I had a very vivid dream last night, about an old friend of mine.  "The one that got away" in my book.  He has very bright blue eyes, and while supposedly dreams are never in color, I distinctly remember that blue in my dream.  Weird.  On top of that, it was another zombie dream.  Apparently, they can't surf.  Wha?

***

Speaking of T.O.T.G.A., do you ever look back on your life and think, "God, I was such a naive little idiot"?  I'm hard on myself in that way - I was only 18 for pete's sake - but I really was an idiot.  Not just about this guy, but about school and life in general.  I totally missed out on a lot of stuff, just because I was naive and self-centered, all wrapped up in my own little world and not paying attention to what was passing me by.  And now I look back and really regret a lot.  I just hope I can make up for some of it.

***

I finally broke down and bought a small humidifier for our bedroom, and holy crow has it made a difference.  Even the cats love it - they were both sitting right in front of it the other night, blissed-out looks on their faces, little noses working over-time.  But then Lily's curiosity overcame her and she tried to tip the effing thing over.  I don't know what her deal is with things that hold water - she always has to dump it all over the floor.

***

I also broke down and got on e-bay.  I've never tried buying anything from it before, but I was missing an ornament in my collection of Hallmark carousel animals, and I'd also missed buying the carousel itself when it was available in stores.  So I did some digging and found a couple of auctions with decent starting prices and reasonable shipping, and I won!  I think I paid a decentt price for both the ornament and the carousel, including shipping, so I emailed Mom and Sister to tell them I'd bought my present from them already.  :-)

***

B and I are spending Christmas Day on our own this year.  (We're celebrating with family on the weekend after New Year's, when his brother flies home from Montana.)  And at Christmas, I like to do something different for dinner than turkey or ham (to me, turkey is Thanksgiving and ham is Easter), so I ordered some game steaks from Cabela's.  I've had elk before - one of my absolute favorite things EVER, and if you've never tried it YOU SHOULD - but the package also comes with antelope, wild boar, and venison steaks.  So we're barbecuing for Christmas, with sweet potatoes, sauteed green beans, and pumpkin cupcakes.  Yummm.

***

I spent the better part of the day yesterday fighting with my blog, trying to find a stupid book list that had a widget that was compatible with Wordpress.  NONE.  Stupid WP.com and their restrictions on java and flash.  The only thing I could find was on Goodreads, and it's just a button that links to my list on their site.  All I want is one book list that posts to both Facebook and here, in a pretty little widget.  GAH.

I was still l considering switching back to Blogger, but (a) now that I have the work blog set up on here too it's more convenient to have them both in the same place.  I'm all about convenience.  And (b), frakking WP doesn't import into Blogger.  So I guess that idea is out anyway.  And no, I'm not going to pay to upgrade to WP.org - why would I do that?  I'm not some big writer-type with profound things to say and a massive readership.  I can't justify it, at least not yet.  So I'll just bitch and moan and drive everyone bonkers instead.

Smile... no, SMILE.

This weekend I decided we should take our annual "Christmas picture" to put in our e-cards to friends and family.  First off, yes, I send e-cards instead of paper cards. I hate spending a lot on postage, so this way I can send it to more people, I can attach multiple pictures, and I also don't feel like I'm adding to the after-Christmas-massive-amounts-of-paper-waste-stream as much.  (Read: I'm a cheapskate.)

Anyway, the pictures.  The dog is apparently afraid of the tri-pod, so I couldn't get him in any of the pictures even by sitting on the floor:

(Also, hello chins?  Plural?)

So I cropped Jake's (worriedomgwhatsthatblinkingthingwithlegs) face out and got a halfway decent one.

And yes, B has a beard.  And yes, that's exactly how it grew in.  There is no hair between the 'stache and the goatee.  It's kind of weird, yet I'm glad because can you imagine if it was all filled in?  Yeesh.  As it is, he's a pretty decent looking mountain man.  Also, note the side-swept bangs that happen to perfectly cover a massive volcanic zit on my temple.  Ta-daa!

Then we got the giggles, trying to take a "scenic overlook" type picture (you know, the ones where you hold the camera at arm's length) but the timer was still on so B's holding the camera out there for a full ten seconds...



...which morphed into this:



....and then we have the Gaping Nostrils of Doom:



....yeah.

Speed Reader

I have a little notebook that I carry in my purse, specifically for making a list of the books I want to check out from the library.  We like to hang out at the big bookstores, a cup of a flavored coffee concoction in one hand an a stack of books and magazines on a table to browse through.  I try not to buy a lot of books anymore - for one, they're expensive, and for another we don't have a lot of space left on the bookshelf (and they're also a pain in the ass to move with).  So I've been giving the Lucas County Library system a lot of love this year.   They usually get the new releases within a couple of weeks, although there have been a couple that I just can't find (Boneshaker for one, which I've heard so many good things about I may just buy it anyway).

Yesterday I finished the first book in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, The Lightning Thief.  I remember eyeballing it when I worked in the kid's department at B&N (I know, the kid's department!  I was bribed.) and when I saw the trailer for the movie I decided to give it a try.  There are a lot of great young adult series out there - the obvious being Harry Potter, but I also really like Artemis Fowl and Eragon (don't even bring up Twilight or I'll blow my lid!  Ugh.), and there are classics from when I was young that I still love like The Dark is Rising Sequence, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the Time Quintet.  Like those, this book didn't disappoint.  Yeah, the main character is twelve, but the story is fun and well-written, and made me interested in Greek mythology again.  I can see how it would really pique the interest of a teen and maybe push them to do a little more research into the subject - hell, I had to get on Wikipedia a couple of times myself.  Anyway it was an awesome book, and I have #2 on reserve at the library.

My "to check out" list also includes books that you might say "I can't believe you haven't read that!" about.  For example the Dune Series, Terry Pratchett, and Terry Goodkind - I like good fantasy fiction but I'm not really into sci-fi, so I know I'm probably missing out by not having read any of these.  I've read some Gaiman but not all, so I want to read the rest of his books too.  But when I'm browsing at the bookstore, I write down anything and everything that catches my eye - The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, the In His Majesty's Service series by Naomi Novik, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris... it all goes on the list and gets requested from the library at some point.  Right now the Garth Stein is on reserve along with the second Percy Jackson.

What's on your 'to-read' list?

(And for the sake of transparency, yes, most of the links above are to the B&N website - I like their search function and their synopsis the best, but I'm not saying you have to buy from them!)

A couple more articles

Thanks to @ScottWGraves for posting the links to these articles...

Understanding Climategate's Hidden Decline

Climategate reveals 'the most influential tree in the world'

The science behind the controversy basically shows that the "hockey stick graph" created by Michael Mann was truly created - the data they used to estimate atmospheric temperatures pre-dating modern diagnostic equipment was essentially hand-picked in order to show the image of global warming that they wanted to show.  The tree article above does a good job of explaining it in simple terms; the first article above is a little more scientific in nature.

I don't want to spend too much time on a soapbox, so I'll sum up:  while climate change is a real thing, it's a natural cycle of the planet.  The world is not going to end in a big flaming ball of doom and destruction because of it.  The 'solutions' that everybody and their dog have come up with are good solutions... to other, more pressing problems. The media is good at making a mountain out of a molehill, and ignoring the news that doesn't support their agenda.

All the news that's fit to report... er...

So has anyone else been hearing about Climategate?

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.4101412&w=425&h=350&fv=autoPlay%3Dfalse]

more about "Daily Show: Scientists Hide Global Wa...", posted with vodpod

Basically it boils down to this: Al Gore is a marketing genius, but otherwise a damn fraud.  All the "science" and "data" pointing to anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change has been a bunch of bullshit all along.  Thank god for whistleblowers.

As for media coverage... wait, what media coverage??  Oh yeah, they're all tied up with Tiger Woods.  Comedy Central Scoops Network News on Climate-Gate Scandal

Here's the background:  Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7945623]

Over 31,000 scientists have signed a petition agreeing that "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing, or will in the foreseeable future cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."

And where's Gore?  Climategate goes uber-viral, Gore flees leaving evil henchmen to defend crumbling citadel

RTT: Minimalist

So a while back I entered one of the bazillion blog contests out there - the leave-a-random-comment-and-we'll-draw-your-number kind of thing - through BlogHer.  Mona's post about her fart-iferous household made me bust up, and I didn't even pay attention to what the prize was, I just wanted to share a laugh.

So about a week ago I'm sorting through a boatload of junk email that I hadn't bothered looking at (until I realized that my comment notifications from this blog were being filtered there.  Whoops.).  Lo and behold, I come across an email from someone at BlogHer, saying essentially that, out of the kindness of their hearts, they'd been holding on to the prize I'd won until they heard back from me.  Holy cannoli!  I won something!

How fitting, that a post about farts would win me a box full of Febreeze!  So thanks Kirida & BlogHer, for a very fun and sniffy little prize!

***

Why didn't anybody tell me about Angel sooner?

Hello.

***

We put up our tree the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Earlier than we usually do, but I'm glad we got it done.  Christmas decorations make it feel so cozy.

I'll add better pictures later.  I'm too lazy trying to think of other things to talk about.

***

Thanksgiving dinner was a success, although the raspberry jalapeno chutney was a little too zingy I think.  The Christmas Potluck is coming up at the office, and I signed up to bring a cake.  Not my usual fare at Christmas, so I'll have to find something creative.  Chocolate zucchini maybe?  Or pumpkin?

***

Yeah, my creative juices are sapped today.  Sorry folks.

Anthropomorphism

I really had to think about some of these.

Swiped from Avitable:

If I was a/an _____, I'd be ______

TV show: Monk or The Closer - Anal retentive, controlling, yet a bit ditzy


Song: Fix You, Coldplay


Movie: Wall-e


Book: The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club - Laurie Notaro


Fictional character: Claire, from the Outlander series - smart, caring, yet you never know what's going to come out of her mouth


City: Seattle - busy & creative with a profound ability to chill


Verb: "Flop"


Color: Moss green


Animal: Cat


Emotion: Anxious


Article of clothing: Warm wool socks, preferably stripey


Flavor: salty sweet, like chocolate covered pretzels


Food: see above - bland on the inside with a sugary coating


Vice: nail-biting


Plant: Bougainvillea


Mythological animal: Chimera


Letter: R

Inanimate object: A box of kleenex

School Activity: Marching band


Positive attribute: Organized


Negative attribute: Picky

First ye take de boom-boom...

(I'm hoping there are some Muppet Show fans out there that recognize that line...)

Initially we were going to host Thanksgiving at our house this year.  We held Christmas here last year, which I considered a success despite the potential disaster with the potatoes (don't let them cool before mashing!), and we have a turkey in our freezer that's been there for oh, a while (*coughtwoyearscough*) that we thought would be wise to cook sometime soon.  But MIL is working the day after Thanksgiving at her friend's knitting shop, so we're trekking over to their place instead.  No big deal, I can still cook some things, and the turkey should last until Christmas (right?!).

So for Thanksgiving, here's what I'm taking:

Raspberry-Jalapeno Chutney: Basically a relish, using raspberries from our garden.  It had a little too much heat, so I added some raspberry and orange jell-o to it last night to try to temper it a bit.  B liked it zingy though, so even if it's too much for the fam I know he'll eat it.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce: I didn't make this specifically for the holiday, but to try & use as many of these danged raspberries as possible.  This turned out even better than the chutney, with a smoky-sweet-zingy flavor that's awesome as a marinade or a dressing for sandwiches.

Puffy Potatoes: I made these for B a while back, and they turned out so stinkin' good that I'll never make plain mashed potatoes again.  The basic idea is to whip up some egg whites into a meringue and add it to mashed potatoes, along with the yolks and some cheese, then bake them until they're a little crusty on top.  YUM.  Of course they're potatoes, so me and my Irish blood are biased anyway, but you should seriously try this recipe (organic or no).

Pumpkin Pecan Pie: Unlike many recipes for this pie, this one puts the pumpkin as the top layer.  Which doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me it makes a huge difference, giving precedence to the pumpkin flavors.  Unfortunately now I can't find the website that I got it from.  If I find it, I'll update later.

What about you?

No, I'm not watching the game

I became a sports fan when I was a teen, when my three best friends and I started up the sports medicine program at our high school.  We added the task of stat-keeping to our usual ankle-taping and nose-bleed-plugging duties, so I learned a lot about the in's and out's of most sports.  I'm not coordinated or in shape enough to play anything myself, but I LOVE football and NCAA basketball (not a fan of the NBA), and later added baseball to the list.

My husband, however, doesn't like sports.  Yes, I'm serious.  He's an anomaly.

He'll watch baseball occasionally, and grew up as an Orioles fan.  He played hockey as a kid.  He has a strong interest in martial arts (he studied Jeet Kune Do and Silat for a little while) and loves UFC.  But he can't stand football or basketball.  GAH.

I also have the added problem that my teams are on the west coast, but I live in Ohio.  So it's all Buckeyes, all the time out here, and it's difficult to be a Huskies/Mariners/Seahawks fan (or Trojans/Broncos, but shhh, don't tell) simply due to the fact that their games aren't usually aired.  So I've completely lost track of sports.

Hence my addiction to crime dramas and gardening, I guess.

Eye and ear candy

I've got nothin' for the usual Dear So & So on Friday.  But I've got little bits of random shit that might be enough to justify a post... and since my inspiration and motivation for NaBloPoMo went right out the window after last week's hiatus, this is all I can pull out of my butt.

***

I listen to just about every type of music, except gangsta rap and death metal - I do like old skool hip hop (Hieroglyphics for example, or Jurassic 5) and some metal (Atreyu, Rise Against), but I hate the crap that passes for music on the pop stations and in da clubs, blasted from some kid's ghetto speakers in his '85 Chrysler so loud it makes his license plate vibrate, etc etc.  How the hell can you consider it music when (a) it's all sampled, (b) every other word is "uh" and (c) you have to use auto-tune to make the 'singer' sound halfway bearable?  Ugh.  My other rule is that you should be able to understand what they're saying, so scream-o is out too.

But I'll listen to everything else.  Really, everything.  I'm still a little picky about it though - if I can't distinguish your voice from everyone else's then I'm probably not very interested.  I like music with a distinct sound to it, something that makes it stand apart.  I'm getting braver about finding new music, thanks to iTunes, friends with expansive CD collections, and the local library that surprisingly carries a pretty good variety.

So today I will share two artists that, while you might recognize their names from television, you might not be aware that they're incredibly talented musicians too.  Christian Kane, and Born as Ghosts.  Kane you might know from Angel (Lindsey the lawyer) and currently, Leverage (Elliott Spencer - yummmm) - but he's an AWESOME country musician too.  No full-length CD yet, except for a live album from a concert in London, but you can check out some of his songs on myspace.  He has a sexy, rough voice that I LOVE.

Born as Ghosts is a SoCal band, and the lead singer is Eric Balfour whom you'd recognize as Milo from 24 (before he got shot in the head... boooo).  The band is VERY SoCal, with a sound kind of like a hybrid of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sublime.  Catchy and fun and unique.  They're also working on a full-length CD, and some of their songs are available for download on both myspace and facebook.

And of course, it totally doesn't hurt that both of these guys are SO. HOT. OMG.  See for yourself...

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Hoooooo boy. Um."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Yeah. Er."][/caption]

(Images courtesy of their respective myspace pages.)

So there's my shameless hot-guy/little-known-musician plug for today.  Anybody else have some good, perhaps little-known tunes you're into?  Hot guy or not.  Either way.

 

Cross that off...

NaBloPoMo kind of went by the wayside last week.  What with GreenBuild taking up the days, the lack of wi-fi in my casita, and complete lack of internet access at Mom's, I've been mostly absent from the interwebs the past week.  Google Reader has over 500 posts for me to read (or "Mark All As Read" in the case of silly photo sites), I've got over a dozen emails in my inbox (mostly newsletters & coupons), and I'm just giving up on backtracking through Facebook and Twitter.  But regardless, it was a good trip.

GreenBuild was well worth it again this year - I attended 5 different seminars on subjects ranging from applying LEED to restaurants (Chipotle, Dunkin Donuts & McDonalds were on the panel), to indoor air quality and mold prevention (which relates directly to the class that I teach).  I didn't attend the big opening plenary event at the baseball stadium - Al Gore spoke & there was a concert by Sheryl Crow - kinda would have liked to see the concert but NOT Gore.  (Schmuck.  That's a whole 'nother issue.)  I took Friday off to go to the Desert Botanical Garden, it was AWESOME.



(If you really want to see all my pics, here's a link to my Flickr Photostream.)

Then Saturday I rented a car & drove to Yuma to visit my Mom.  We had a grand ol' time, shopping and eating and eating and shopping.  I left on Monday, giving myself 2 hours to get back to the airport in Phoenix, with 2 hours to spare before my flight left.  YEAH.  I'm an idiot.  The trip from Yuma to Phoenix is more like THREE hours, and that's without construction - which there was PLENTY of.  So I was in a state of stomach-cramping panic trying to turn in the car, catch the right shuttle, check in with my over-weight suitcase, shuffle things from the suitcase to my carry-on so I didn't have to pay $50, get to my gate, board with the last straggling passengers 5 minutes before scheduled departure, shove my now over-filled carry-on into a bin without dropping it on my head, and then find my seat and hope my deodorant is still working because man am I sweaty.  I made it home in one piece, but I'm still exhausted today despite sleeping in a little.

Tonight my ass will be on the couch, starting the process of catching up with my DVR.  But only after I go to Best Buy and get this:

Nerd love.

Out the door...

I'm killing a few minutes before I leave for Phoenix.  I have time to meet B for lunch before I head to Detroit to catch my plane, but he's not out of class for another 45 minutes so I have a bit.

I'm anxious about this trip.  I hate being gone for so long, but I'm sure it will go by fast.  I'm staying at a fun little resort on the north end of the city, attending Greenbuild during the week, and hopefully will have time to visit the botanical garden and do some sightseeing in the evenings.  Saturday I'm renting a car and driving to Yuma to see my mom, which will be an adventure!  But I'm looking forward to just hanging out with her.  I'm taking advantage of it though, and having her teach me how to do applique too.

I made a point of packing my SLR, so I'll take some good pics to share.  Speaking of which, I have a profile on I Heart Faces now, and also on Flickr, in case anyone wants to keep up with my pics there.

Looks like my timing is perfect though - the 70-degree weather we were having has suddenly turned into more typical November weather - 50-something and rainy.  Yuck.  I'm glad I finally relented and packed my bathing suit!

 

I am...

(Many thanks to Mocha Momma for today's blog fodder.)

saying no to: bad food cravings - retail therapy and other unnecessary spending - social events when I'm far from feeling social

saying yes to: social events when I need to be social - offers of help - trying new things

giddy about: 70-degree days in November - Christmas - next spring, and the possibilities it will bring - seeing my Mom again this week

scared of: missing our chance - something bad happening while I'm away from home - taking what I have for granted

deeply inspired by: insanely motivated people who are taking the bull by the horns

obsessed with: Good tasting, real food.

in love with: my Macbook - my red patent leather heels - Indian Summers & fall color

haunted by: the fact that I've changed jobs every 2 years almost on the nose since I graduated from college, and NONE of them have been related to my degree.

saved by: my husband and his steadfast, if sometimes completely goofy, perspective on life.

...and you?

The objective of being happy

”Are you happy?” is the hardest question to answer – it implies that you’re supposed to be happy all the time – an integral state of being.  Or is it just a fleeting emotion?  That’s how it seems to me – and content or comfortable might be the better word for life as a whole.

Our marriage is both content and comfortable, broken-in like an old pair of jeans.  There’s some holes in them, but they’re still perfectly wearable.  I think that's how a marriage should be - something that might be shiny and pretty when it's brand new, but softens and stretches over time so you come to value it even more as life goes on.

My job?  I'll be honest and say that I'm not happy, or comfortable, or content... I was, at first – just like with any job I suppose.  And I know the economy is to blame – we don’t have the money for my programs and for the travel and all the things I was so looking forward to doing.  But that doesn’t make it any easier for me to drag myself out of bed in the morning just to come to the office and struggle through the day.  There’s nothing I can really do about any of it, and it’s frustrating and demoralizing.  So at work, I guess I'm settled, and willing to persevere until it gets back to being comfortable.

Am I happy where we live?  This I can definitively answer with a big, fat, NO.  In a nutshell, it's just depressing.  I really like our house – there’s things I’d change if we bought it, yes, but it's mostly comfortable and pretty and home – and I love my garden when it’s nice enough outside to enjoy it.  But no, there is very little about Toledo itself that I like, let alone makes me happy.

I honestly believe that most people's definition of happiness is royally screwed up - so many hang their happiness on possessions or people or positions - they define themselves and their lives by these things.  It's like there's a stigma on being comfortable or content as opposed to happy.

I guess I'm tired of trying to justify my life through emotions.

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time. ~Edith Wharton

It's one of those days where I can't come up with my own material.

I swiped this from Avitable, who in turn swiped it from someone else.

(Can you tell that NaBloPoMo is already starting to kick my ass?  I'm meme-ing and it's only day 7.)

***

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The subject of happiness is a whole post in and of itself.  But for the purposes of this little questionnaire, my answer is sunshine coming in the window & warming my spot on the couch while I read a good book with a cat on my lap.

What is your greatest fear?
The unpredictable.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My controlling tendencies.  (That's putting it mildly.)

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Rudeness & condescension.

On what occasion do you lie?
I like Adam's answer: I lie when I'm scared not to.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Food.

What is your current state of mind?
Uncomfortable, both physically and mentally.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Creativity

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Intelligent Wit

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"I don't know" and "Seriously?" and insert any expletive here.

When and where were you happiest?
I can't define any one moment as THE happiest, but that first Christmas with B, when he first met my family & got to spend a little time with my dad... that's up there on the list.

Who are your favorite writers?
Diana Gabaldon, JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, CS Lewis, Jennifer Crusie

Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I had stronger artistic talents.  (Yes, Mom, I'm not bad, but I wish I was gifted like you are.)

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
That we all lived closer together.

If you died and came back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
A cat.  Eat sleep sunbeam antagonize the dog sleep cuddle eat...

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My lack of physical fitness.  I'm not overweight but I'm terribly out of shape.

Where would you like to live?
Oregon.

What is your most treasured possession?
Photographs.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Boredom and loneliness - I can handle one without the other, but not both at the same time.

What do you most value in your friends?
Intelligence, whether it be book-smart, people-smart, or street-smart - and compassion.

What are your favorite names?
As in, what would I name my kids?  Cassidy, or Sydney; Colin, or Gabriel.

What is it that you most dislike?
Stupidity borne out of ignorance.  (Agreeing with Adam's answer here.)

What is your greatest regret?
Taking someone I love for granted.

How would you like to die?
Surrounded by friends & family - I want to have the chance to say goodbye to everyone.

What is your motto?
"Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end."  (I'm a Vulcan in disguise.)

To Whom It May Concern:

Dear Body,

Stop with the pain, please.  Right Shoulder, your constant aching and occasional stabbing pains are getting old.  Lower Back, I know you're having some 'internal turmoil' right now but I'd appreciate it if you laid off with the muscle spasms.  And Head, if I could remove you and leave you in a jar on the nightstand, I totally would.  You're all on notice.

Sincerely,

Ibuprofin Ain't Cuttin' It

***

Dear Northwest Airlines/Delta/Whoever You Are,

I hope you appreciate the effort I will be putting into packing this weekend.  I will even be weighing my suitcase.  Seven days, split between work and vacation, into one bag?  This might get ugly.

Cordially,

At Least Phoenix Will be Warm So I Can Pack Clothes That Weigh Less

***

Dear Subconscious Mind,

I'm really not sure what to do with you anymore.  You're kind of freaking me out, with the way you randomly spew things into my consciousness while I'm trying to brush my teeth and get ready for the day.  This morning?  The odd bit of the Jabberwocky poem that I remember from my freshman year of college ("Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay!" He chortled in his joy.), when I had to perform it in my drama class (which is another story altogether).  Seriously, STFU and let me put on my makeup in peace.

Thank you kindly,

Not Awake Enough For That Bizarre Shit

***

Dear Dog,

You seem to be the subject of a few of these notes.  I wonder why.  At any rate, please, please, PLEASE behave yourself next week while I'm gone.  I know B is a bit more lax about the rules than I am, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage of him.  Stay out of the damn kitchen, and keep your bathroom business in the yard, not the basement.  I'm tasking the cats with keeping you in line, and you know you hate it when Gyro gives you the evil eye.

Much Love,

Mama, aka the Keeper of the Yogurt

I don't know what it is! But it's staring me right in the face!

Monday morning I was feeling a bit... snippy.

B: Are you okay?

J: Yeah.  No.  I don't know.

B: What's the matter?  Can I help?

J: I don't know.

B: Sweetie, you can talk to me... maybe talking to me will help you figure it out.  We can work thr...

J: I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S BOTHERING ME BUT RIGHT NOW IT'S YOU (cue spontaneous combustion)

***

Tuesday afternoon I raided the vending machine at work somewhere around 4 times.

***

Yesterday, I read this incredibly insightful and eye-opening post over at All & Sundry.  DUH.

And today, it's all blatantly and painfully obvious.

Of course, I didn't have a CLUE up til now, despite the fact that the pills I'm on (my 'morning cookies' as B calls them) do, in fact, transition from green to yellow when it's about that time.  I've been wrangling with my pharmacy to refill my prescription too, so there's that little indicator as well.  Among other things.

But I don't know what this stick is up my butt!  And why am I so tired?  I slept well last night... God, my head hurts.

*Sigh*  I'm just so on top of things!

Needless to say, when I stopped at the store for milk last night, I picked up a can of frosting and a box of Saltines too.

(Shut up.)

Transpo Woes

I have a big trip coming up next week, and I'm getting kind of anxious.

I head for Phoenix on Tuesday for GreenBuild, which lasts until the 13th.  I'm staying over the weekend though, taking the time to hang out with my mom, and coming home on Monday the 16th.  I'm excited, yes - last year's GreenBuild was really interesting and fun, even.  I'm just glad it's being held in Arizona this year instead of the Northeast.

But I'm nervous, too.  It's a little intimidating being in situations where I don't know a soul, but it's kind of nice at the same time because I can totally ignore everyone if I want to.  The crowd will be ginormous I'm sure, which just adds to the anxiety a bit.  Do I really fit in here?

On top of all that is the transportation.  Normally when I travel for work, I try to stay at a hotel close enough to the event so I can walk.  I love walking - not only for the exercise, but because if I get lost it's easy enough to stop, get my bearings, and get un-lost.  At GreenBuild last year, I wasn't quite close enough to walk (especially in the freezing Boston winter), but there were shuttle buses that went to the major hotels associated with the convention.  This year, I'm definitely not close enough to walk, and it looks like they're relying on public transportation rather than private shuttles.  And the thing that freaks me out about public transportation is not so much the public, as the inability to stop if I get lost, aka get on the wrong train or bus.  Once you're on, you're kind of screwed, and next thing you know you're halfway to Mexico.

So I'm scouring the Phoenix transportation website, hoping there's a straight shot from near my hotel to the convention center, but I can't make heads nor tails of the system.  I'm just hoping that the concierge is clued in and can help me out.

Otherwise I'm renting a damn car.

Attack of the RTT

So yesterday I had INSPIRATION and MOTIVATION, and I WROTE, DAMMIT.

Today, I've got this:

[caption id="attachment_326" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Insert LOL caption here..."][/caption]

I can't even think of a good LOLCat caption for it.  Help me out here people.

For the visitors from Keely's, this is Gyro (as in Gyroscope, not the flatbread sandwich).  He likes "helping" me with my quilting.

***

Temerity Jane is hosting a challenge during NaBloPoMo: Becoming A Person Who Comments.  I think I do a decent job of commenting, but how do I GET people to comment?  Yesterday I had NINE WHOLE HITS on my post and NO ONE commented.  (NINE!  I KNOW.)  Most of them were from my link on Facebook, so they're people I really do know, so why don't they comment?  Was yesterday's post unworthy of comment?  Well.... probably.  But still!  SAY SOMETHING DAMMIT.

***

I'm having fun with my camera lately, can you tell?

[caption id="attachment_327" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="To-May-To"][/caption]

Think I need to start working on photographing people, though.

***

Archer Farms Kona Blend is my new favorite coffee.  At least until we open the Buttered Rum flavor.

***

There are people who are so perpetually pissed off, rude and disrespectful to everyone they encounter, that when they're rude and disrespectful to you, all you can think about is how to piss them off even more.  Let's just say, "It's on like Donkey Kong."

***

Today is Election Day, and I'll be hitting the polling place after work to vote for Ohio's Issue 1, in which veterans of ODS, OEF and OIF get additional compensation from the state in honor of their service.  In other words, B gets a little extra cash, which he totally deserves for all the B.S. he's had to deal with.  Boo.  Yah.  Oh yeah, guess I'll vote for Mayor too.

***

Am I the only person who HATES when people bring candy/cookies/donuts to work & puts them out on the community counter?  I might bring homemade cupcakes but I only share them with people that I know aren't dieting, and only occasionally rub it in the faces of friends who are.  But putting stuff out on the counter is just plain insulting.  Also, irresistible.  *NomnomMilkDudsnom*.

Creatively Speaking

I've got to start keeping a notebook beside my bed.  Last night I basically wrote an entire post in my head, and do you think I wrote it down or made any note of it at all so I could remember it today?  NO.  Because I'm SMART like that.

I know that it was about writing though, so I guess I'm already off on the right foot.

Several people I read are doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) (as opposed to NaBloPoMo which is what I'm doing), and I thought about doing that for, oh, two seconds, before nixing it.  I realized last night that I haven't done any truly creative writing since I'm not sure when.  I do remember writing a poem for an assignment in 6th grade, about my old grey & white cat.  My mother and sister RAVED about it and still bug me to write poetry to this day because of it.  I just remember being mad that my teacher read it out loud in class but didn't get the rhythm of it right - but of course I was too chicken to read it out loud myself so it's my own fault.

I remember writing short stories in grade school (4th grade maybe?) for a collection that our teacher "published" at Kinko's and gave to all of our parents.  I totally don't remember what I wrote but I think it was something about a horse.  Which isn't surprising; I was a bit of a horse nut when I was a kid.  But through high school and college, I remember writing a LOT of reports, and LOT of research papers, and a LOT of articles for journalism classes, but nothing really creative.

Some might argue that my blog could be considered creative, but it's not - it's not a product of my imagination, it's a product of my life and mind - a journal, not a story.  It's not always entertaining, and I don't necessarily mean it to be.  It's simply an outlet, and what goes on in my head isn't always funny or enlightening or meaningful for other people.  But then I also don't reveal everything that's going on in this particular space, since I link to it from Facebook and my mother and other family members read it, so that itself may be limiting it's entertainment value.  But I'm not that brave yet.

But back to my point: ultimately, no.  I'm not a creative writer.  Could I be?  Maybe.  I haven't tried.  Do I want to?  Maybe.  It's not something I've thought about, it's not on my Bucket List or even my weekend To-Do.  Will I give it a shot?

......

Fall at Fort Meigs

We took a walk at Fort Meigs Park today - the sun was out, and it was a bit chilly but we had a grand old time.  Jake bounded through the grass like the boisterous hound dog he is, and even got in the river for the first time.  I got some great photos of seed pods & other fall foliage, and a nice one of the "Regal Beagle" too.  (Okay he's not a Beagle but he sure can pose pretty when his nose isn't going into overdrive!)

I'm also thinking about trying out NaNoBloMo or NaBloPoMo or whatever the hell it's called - basically November is National Blog Posting Month and the idea is to write one post every day.  I'm not sure if I'll really be able to live up to that but I might give it a shot - so here's today's, more pics than words, but still a post.

For all you dog-nerds out there

I admit that I'm more of a cat person than a dog person, but I still love dogs.  I'd love to work with a therapy dog, or maybe even search & rescue, but ultimately my goal is to one day have enough property and a barn to turn into a sanctuary for pets that might not otherwise be adopted - long-time residents at the Humane Society, special needs, or senior pets.  It'd be fun, for one thing, to have a herd of dogs running around like crazies, but it'd feel good too, to know that I was able to provide a happy home for them.

Along these lines, I LOVE watching dog shows on TV.  I would never buy a purebred dog - I just can't justify spending the money when so many adoptable dogs are out there - but I'm not opposed to responsible breeding.  I like watching the shows to familiarize myself with the breeds, to be able to recognize them when I see them in the world.  It's like how some people can recognize what year/make/model a car is, purely trivia, but also fun to be able to ID mutts too.

Anywhoo.  Long rambling intro to this meme I found at save the pitbull, save the world.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE A DOG FROM EACH CKC/AKC “GROUP,” WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
(excluding your own breeds)

Group 1- Sporting:  Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  My nephew has one that, while I haven't met him, has been extolled as the GREATEST dog by my mom.  And that's a big compliment from my mom!  They don't strike me as being as hyper-dumb-overbred as some of the others either, but I'm no expert.
Group 2- Hound: Irish Wolfhound.  They're just so regal.
Group 3- Working:  A Swissie.  Man, I'd put that dog to WORK in the garden, hauling a cart around for me.  That, and they just have beautiful, mushy faces.  MUSH.
Group 4- Terriers:  This is tough - I hate to admit it but I love terriers.  I think I'd have to say the Norfolk Terrier appeals the most.  Any of them would keep mice out of a barn quite nicely though.
Group 5- Toys:  Havanese.  Totally my 'old lady' dog.
Group 6- Non Sporting:  Shiba Inu.  They can be feisty, but make for a good little guard dog.
Group 7- Herding:  This is also a hard one, because I love having a super-smart dog.  I think I'll say the Belgian Tervuren piques my interest the most though.

What about you, fellow dog-nuts?  (Wait, that doesn't sound right...)  Neuter and spay, everyone!  :-)

[caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Jake-ster, our English Foxhound/Lab mix"][/caption]

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Bluesday

I think I'm going to start wearing gloves at work.  There's no happy medium, temperature-wise, in our office.  The main cube-farm area is always freezing (high ceilings = energy inefficiency), the lunchroom is usually too hot, and the rest is either one extreme or the other.  The exception seems to be the accounting department, where I used to sit, where I used to complain about sitting because everyone forgot I was there, and where I now wish I could sit again because it's so nice and quiet and halfway warm.  Ugh.  The grass is always greener...

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I'm on a new music kick lately and have been loading up on CDs from the library to stock my iTunes.  Free is good, even though one in five discs are scratched beyond hope.  Anybody have any good recommendations?  I'm open to anything except gangsta rap and scream-o death metal.  I do like SOME rap - Jurassic 5 or The Roots, and some old-skool like Hieroglyphics - and SOME metal - Atreyu, Coheed & Cambria - but otherwise I'm not very picky.  Anything from bluegrass to classical, new rock to techno.

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I love wearing long-sleeve tees, but why do the sleeves always shrink just an inch, so they don't quite cover my wrists?  I wash everything in cold water and dry on low heat so I know it's not anything I'm doing... I'll be looking for some trim at the fabric store this week to see if I can lengthen them just a little.

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I had a very depressing dream in between snooze alarms this morning.  (Anybody else have the weirdest ones during those 10-minute intervals?)  I dreamt that B & I were fishing on a river, and when he cast he got a Barn Swallow tangled in his line.  The line was wrapped around the poor bird's neck, and I was crying and telling him to cut the line and let the bird go but he wound up killing the bird.  It was strange in and of itself, but even stranger was how upset I was when I woke up.  It totally ruined my day.

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We cleaned out the veggie beds last weekend, which included harvesting the salad greens and brussels sprouts.  I'm still not entirely sure if I'll work up the nerve to cook the sprouts, but the greens... SIX GALLONS.  Iceberg leaf lettuce, arugula, & mesclun.  I brought two gallon bags worth with me for lunch today to share with my dieting friends.  I didn't bring any cheese out of respect for them, but I'm already regretting not smuggling some for myself.  Salad just isn't salad without a little cheese.  At least I remembered the croutons.

Antiques, part 2

I re-shot the beaded jewelry this weekend, among other things.  We think the necklaces and the collar belonged to my Grandma Jones, and the beaded flowers were Grandma Meredith's.

Antiques, in more than one sense of the word...(kidding Mom!)

My mom visited this week, and rather than packing a suitcase across the country and paying $20 in fees, she shipped her things to me.  I unpacked and hung her clothes in the guest room closet, and found a package among her jammies.  I had asked her to look for a patchwork quilt that I'd started in the eighth grade, made from fabric scraps of dresses she'd made for me when I was little.  She'd found it for me, but she'd also found a few other treasures... some beautiful beaded jewelry that both of my grandmothers had made, and some letters from my dad to his parents from when he was young.  Unfortunately the photos I took the other evening turned out crappy due to artificial lighting and my stubbornness about not digging my tri-pod out of the closet.  So I'll add some artsy-fartsy pics soon when I get over myself.

Mom had never been to Chicago, and neither had my mother-in-law, so we took the train on Friday morning and stayed until Saturday evening.  It rained and was windy (duh...) but we still had a good time.  Of course when I go to Chicago on my own I walk everywhere, and had hoped to do the same on this trip... but I failed to take into account the fact that my mom is... er... not as energetic as she used to be.  I had a hard time slowing my pace down so I didn't leave her in the dust, abandoned somewhere on Michigan Ave., and my plans for walking up into River North had to be changed to sticking to the Loop.  But we still had a great time and enjoyed ourselves at the Art Institute, Giordano's, and Millennium Park.

[caption id="attachment_237" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mom & I at "The Bean""][/caption]

These are a few...

The Pioneer Woman does photo assignments on Flickr, and today she referred to I Heart Faces for more weekly assignments.  I'm excited to start doing these (using NEW photos, not just archived ones) to keep the creative juices flowing and get some use out of my fancy SLR!  (Although this first project is using archived photos.)

So this week's assignment on I Heart Faces is "My Favorite Things." It's ironic, every time I think about having my own shop/studio, I think about naming it this even though I've never seen The Sound of Music.  But I remember having a record with that song on it when I was little, which I loved.



My husband - Sappy, I know, but he's one of my favorite people EVER.  It doesn't matter what we're doing (or not doing for that matter), he makes me smile, laugh, roll my eyes, grimace, hide my face... but most of all he makes me feel good.



Gardening - I don't always have the best luck with my plants (poppies that took over the world & drowned coreopsis...) but I like getting out in the warm spring sun, digging in the dirt and making things pretty.







My Pets - I love having fur-babies to cuddle and snuggle and play with, despite how exasperating they can sometimes be.

Well, it's a start... and of course there are more things that I love, I just don't have any good photos of them on-hand.