8 things about this week

I was supposed to leave for Bend tomorrow morning, but we decided to take off tonight. So the last thing before I go is this.

1. I won't have an internet connection

2. I will write every day, and when I get back, I will post what I wrote. I am looking forward to pen-to-paper.

3. I will not macrame, I can't get anyone to sell me cord. I brought yarn and crochet hooks and knitting needles, I might try to teach myself to make cables.

4. On the very day we get on the west side of the mountains, Madison and I are going to Girl Scout camp. I am making dinner and spending Sunday night.

5. I am really nervous about leaving the big dogs, even though we have someone coming to feed them. They get so nervous when people shoot off fireworks. I hope they will be okay.

6. Tina gets to join us.

7. I wonder which celebrities are going to die while I am gone. I know that Walter Cronkite and Patrick Swayze are circling the drain.

8.Enjoy your July 4th!

Things I learned this week

Today is Madison's birthday, she is 12. Yesterday, we went to a coffee shop because the tea house we had planned on going to did not open at 10 when they said they would. It all worked out for the best, Madison was delighted with the coffee house and the sofas. Here is what I learned this week:

*I learned that celebrities really DO die in threes. Or fours, or fives. Maybe with Billy Mays' death today we are on the second death of the second three, if David Carradine was the first of the first three- David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett/ Michael Jackson, Billy Mays- Patrick Swayze? Walter Cronkite?

* I learned how to play "Farkle" on facebook. (Thanks, kinda, Megan) And at the toy store, I found six dice in a can called "Farkel" with a "Farkel" score pad. I wonder who is infringing on who's copyright?

* I learned that not everyone appreciates Haiku.

A Hiaku

Mom came to visit
shopping and snacking all day
my feet sure are sore

All better now.

This morning, with fresh gray matter, I synced the mp3 player with no problem. The problem I was having was locating the podcasts on my computer to open them with Windows Media Player. Once I found them (In my Douments/ shared msuic/ iTunes music/podcasts) I had no problem.

We are getting ready for a big day here, Grandma is coming. This means a morning of grocery shopping and last minute tidying-up. She's bringing dinner, Madison wonders why. "What did you cook last time she was here?"

My cry for help

Gah! My daughter asked me to put some podcasts on her mp3 player, not an iPod. I know it is possible, I did it last year. For the life of me, I can't remember how.

Degree of Difficulty:
there are 37 podcasts that I want to get on the mp3 player. They are already downloaded into my iTunes, and I would prefer not to download them all again into Windows Media Player.

I downloaded and installed iTunes Agent, it doesn't seem to help.

I have been at it for 2 hours, I am going to sleep on it.

I'm an outdoorswoman.

Here we are in the tent. Having been on several camping trips with Girl Scouts before, I have learned that sleeping in a tent is much different when you are a grown-up than it was when you were little.
Therefore, I took two benadryl about a half hour before we went outside. Medication makes the ground a little more tolerable. I also laid my sleeping bag out on my Therma Rest sleeping pad,
which, if you are going to be sleeping on the ground, is very nice. I made Spencer and Madison use foam pads, because I am the mom.

It really wasn't that bad. We pitched the tent on the spot where the pool normally goes, so the ground was nice and level. We found 64 square feet of lawn that were miraculously dog poop free. It had been 85 degrees outside before the sun went down, so the tent was nice and warm. We had flashlights. Madison brought a Muse magazine, Spencer brought the New York Times crossword puzzle, and I, just to get in the spirit of things, brought some outdoor guides that I have had for a while, but never really read.

I began reading The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide, and I got myself all excited to take a NOLS course. They offer a 9 day course for leading a backpacking trip, which is something I would like to do with the Girl Scouts in three or four years. So now, that's on the list.

Spencer, who has become soft, lasted about an hour in the tent. By that time, the benadryl had really kicked in, and I was too drowsy to give him too much grief about going inside to a cozy bed. I listened to the sounds around me- traffic one block over, someone's music too loud in the distance, a neighbor laughing. The last thing I heard before I went to sleep was a whisper from beside me: "Thanks for staying."

It was my pleasure.

I only occasionally wish for more children.

This is Madison in the tent her grandpa bought her for her birthday, which is coming up on Sunday. She is going to use it on our family camping trip next week, and then at Girl Scout camp the week after that. Tonight, we are breaking it in in the back yard. If she had brothers or sisters, I could tell the kids to have a good time sleeping in the yard- but since she doesn't, her father and I get the pleasure of accompanying her.

I remember my first tent. I had to have it for some camp. It was a two man pup tent, green. It looked like a rectangle from the side and a triangle from the front. I remember going with my mom to the store to buy it... maybe it was Chubby and Tubby's?... and we had to stop at her friends' house before we went home. I was so excited about the tent, I am sure I pestered her like mad, because she let me put it up in their back yard.

I've always liked sleeping in tents. I like that they are very warm during the day. I like the way our faces look when lit by the sun through the bright fabric. I think we're going to have fun tonight. I hope the tree removers don't come too early, and I hope the dogs don't pee on us. Madison has a nice rain fly on her tent to protect us from crawfish and snakes.

8 things I do not really care for

I try pretty hard not to make my blog a list of my bitches. But, some days, it is easy to think of things that displease me, and difficult to think of other things in batches of eight. Here then, are 8 things that I don't like.

* Radio stations with names instead of call letters- This really bugs me. I have heard Joe Radio, Charlie FM, Jack, and Bob.

* Smooth Jazz- pretentious and made-up.

* House banners- I do not care for those "Welcome Spring" flags that people hang off their porch. Spring is coming whether you like it or not.

* Burger King- When I want a disgusting fast food cheeseburger, I go to McDonald's. I have nothing against BK... I just have no use for them. Sorta like Chysler.

* Extenze and Enzyte commercials- I am sure they sell the shit out of these things, but I don't need them. My 11 year old knows all about Male Enhancement because of their stupid commercials, though. Since Joe Francis went to jail and the Girls Gone Wild commercials are gone, it seems like every commercial on AMC is for some sort of boner juice.

* The Kate Gosselin reverse mullet-


*Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light, tm- Blech. I can't believe people buy this crap. I can't believe he sells franchise galleries. If people like light so much, why don't they buy lamps?
I do like Bev Doolittle and her hidden horses, though.

* "Pee on" window stickers-the opposite of clever and mischievous.

Things I learned this week

That's big, dirty Gus, who is getting ready to shed. I guess this is his "before" picture.

Here is what I learned this week:

* I saw how manufactured homes are made, and it was fascinating.

* I learned that I have a cousin in Australia.

* I learned how to tell the difference between a native fish and a hatchery fish. Actually, I already knew that hatchery fish had a "clipped" adipose fin... but I thought that meant that the fin had a notch taken out of it. When they say "clipped", they mean "amputated."

* I learned that the streets in Nacogdoches, Texas are still paved with the original bricks from long ago. Cool!

* I learned that Crater Lake gets almost 50 feet of snow per year!

* I learned how to make a pretty cool watchband.

huh, I guess that's about all I learned.

Field trip

Yesterday, I accompanied some Girl Scouts on a field trip. I go on trips with Girl Scouts all the time, but this one was different, because there were 16 girls, and Madison was one of the youngest, instead of the oldest, and, we met 14 of the other girls for the very first time.
I was happy that my daughter made friends quickly, and was well behaved. Because she is an only child, I never know if she is weird or not, because I have nothing to compare her to. I was relieved to see that most of the girls on the trip were goofy, too.
We saw manufactured homes being manufactured, and we got to tour finished homes. More than one girl declared the model home to be the nicest house she had ever seen.
We toured a hydroelectric dam. The girls were most impressed with the fish in the holding tank at the top of the fish ladder. They were really big. We drove to another dam and walked on top of it. That's where the above photo was taken. A couple years ago, Madison sat for days while her portrait was painted. The artist explained to her that it's better if a subject of a portrait isn't looking directly at the artist. Ever since then, it's nearly impossible to get her to look at the camera lens. She just gets this faraway look in her eye...
We also visited the recycling center. It's a lot like the dump, only not quite as smelly, and under cover.

A haiku

whirling dad dervish
sure, we can make one more stop
who needs to relax?

the equivalent of 1000 words for today

Not in my backyard.

This is a story of two trees behind my house. The tree on the left is a giant sequoia, which grows in my yard. The tree on the right is a maple that is taller than the sequoia, which grown in my neighbor's yard. I have a love/hate relationship with them both.
I love both trees because they provide privacy and shade, and absorb a lot of noise. I love waking up in the morning to the sound of hundreds of birds chattering in the maple.
I hate the sequoia because it drops barbed sticks which get caught in the dogs' fur. Nothing will grow under it. I hate the maple because it drops millions of helicopters in the spring and millions of leaves in the fall, so there are relatively few days when we can leave the pool uncovered. It blocks all of our afternoon sun.

Albany has an ordinance that prohibits removing tees greater than six inches in diameter, unless they are dead or pose some sort of hazard. I began the process of getting a permit to have the sequoia removed a few years ago, which meant a visit from the city's arborist. He said my tree is healthy and not harmful and I was out of luck.
My neighbor had better luck when she applied to be able to remove hers. Her tree is closer to the house, and has lost some pretty large and destructive limbs in windstorms recently. The city agreed that the tree poses a danger and gave her a permit. The tree removal guy showed up this morning to take it out.

Removing the tree requires use of a large truck with a bucket on it. The truck needed to be driven into the neighbors back yard, so our fences had to be removed. He got that truck back there twice, and he only crashed into our gutter once.

Once they got back there, up went the bucket man, who put on quite a show for us. He started with a small chainsaw on a stick, and sawed off the small branches. Then, his assistant on the ground handed his a small chainsaw, which he used, often one-handed, to cut the smaller limbs into three or four foot sections, which just dropped to the ground.

Finally, he got the big saw, and cut the main limbs, which were 18" to 24" in diameter, into 12" chunks, and directed them to the ground. I think he got two limbs done today. There was a mis-communication with the power company- they need to shut off our power for the next few limbs. Pacific Power is required to give us 48 hours notice before they turn off our lights, so the whole operation has been "paused" until that happens.

I kinda like the tree more now- no leaves, helicopters or limbs poised to fall in my backyard, but still some shade and a feeling of privacy. I am going to really enjoy the next two days.


afterbefore

My fitness orb failure

My back has been hurting a little lately. My posture has always been horrible, and lately my shoulders have been sore, too. I attribute these ailments to the hours I spend slumped in front of a computer.

I've had a big purple ball in the garage for a year or so. Some people call it a stability ball, others prefer exercise ball, or balance ball. Dwight Schrute calls his a Fitness Orb, and he says it changed his life. I decided to get it out, dust it off, inflate it, and give it a good try. What have I got to lose, right?

I have been using it at home in front of the TV for a few days. I like the way it forces you to sit up straight. It feels good to get my ribs out of my pelvis. My husband and daughter enjoy it, too. Trying to kneel on the Orb is a fun game.

Today, I decided to try it at work. After all the patients and the doctor and the nurse were gone, I rolled it under my desk and sat down. Too low...it felt like I was hanging from my elbows, propped on my desk.

I'm not one to give up. I found four phone books, and put them on the floor under my ball, two deep, side-by side, so that I had a 4" platform for my ball. It worked, kinda. I bounced and sat up straight and had good posture for an hour or half or so. Then, the phone rang, and as I shifted my weight to answer it, I rolled backward off the ball. I instinctively tried to catch myself with my hand on my desk, but I was only able to catch my thumbnail on the edge of the desk. The desk won that battle, my nail snapped off just below the quick, right before my ass hit the floor and my feet kicked the phone off the desk.

I don't know if I will try it again. The internet says using the ball as an office chair takes practice. I am not sure I've got what it takes to perfect it. After all, I've only got one thumbnail left.

8 things I learned, am learning, or need to learn from my dad

Father's day is Sunday, and I surely will not have time to write anything about my father next weekend, because he is coming to vist. This means we will do a lot of shopping for things he can buy in Oregon to avoid sales tax. We will go to three or four different grocery stores because Costco has the best deal on fish, Safeway has good tomatoes and bananas, and Fred Meyer has a good bulk section for nuts and seeds.
My parents were divorced when I was about 8, and I lived with my mom after that. I spent a lot of time with my dad for the next 2 years while I still lived in Seattle, and my parents remained friendly, something I am grateful for to this day. After we moved, my dad and I talked on the phone at least weekly, and I spent some time with him in the summers. He would come visit when he could. Here is what I learned from him:

* Be afraid of snakes- Is it nature or nurture? Who knows. I remember being young and spending summertime at my Grandma's cabin at Lake 12, which should have been called the King County Center for Garter Snake Preservation. Those slippery bastards were everywhere. Once, my dad had me on his shoulders and was taking me to the outhouse. He stopped and refused to move... and that's when I figured out that he was afraid of snakes. We had to turn around and go back and get someone else to take me. I also remember another time when he was sitting in a lawn chair on the dock, getting sun. A snake swam under the dock, so dad had to get up and move his chair to land.

*Pay cash- Dad pays with green money. No credit or debit card. There are merits to this method- he doesn't pay interest except on his mortgages, and he doesn't have to write all his debit transactions down. Simple.

*Buy good stuff, maintain it, and it will last a long time- My dad has a Schwinn 10 speed that is almost 30 years old that he still uses. He has no need for the latest technology if the oldest technology is working. And really... how far have bikes come? The basic idea is the same now as it was then.

*Be fit- His father died when he was 28 of a heart attack. After that, dad quit drinking and started running. About 15 years ago, he discovered that the running wasn't doing anything to lower his cholesterol, so he put himself on a diet and lowered his cholesterol by 150 points using diet alone.

*There are different kinds of "smart"- Dad certainly isn't "book-smart." He's not sophisticated. However, he runs his own successful business and makes good deals. He's "people-smart."

*Live where you can see water- Dad has lived in some pretty nice houses over the years, he has a knack for buying low and selling high when it comes to real estate. One of his requirements for a home is that it be waterfront, or have a view of the water. It's a supply/demand thing- there is limited supply of waterfront, and there will always be a demand.

*Brand new cars are for chumps- Pay cash for a reliable used car.

*Everything is negotiable- If a seller won't come down on price, they may be willing to sweeten a deal with extras. Always ask.

Things I learned this week

Here's what I learned this week:





* I learned that Albany is getting a carousel... but not just any carousel. The animals on our carousel will all be hand carved from wood by volunteer carvers. Most carousel animals nowadays are molded fiberglass. Madison and I went to the museum and workshop... the animals are beautiful.

* I learned that, technically, a "carousel" has only horses, and a "merry-go-round" has a menagerie. So I guess technically, Albany is getting a merry-go-round.

* I learned that Michael Moore's next movie is about the bailout. Looking forward to that.

*I learned how to fold a burrito so that the stuff doesn't fall out. I tried it yesterday, and it works! The internet comes through again.

* I learned about the musical road in Lancaster, California. I had heard of the road before, from the Honda commercials. The road is grooved, similarly to the rumble strips on the side of the freeway, so that when you drive over it, it plays the Lone Ranger theme.
The road was once in a neighborhood, and a few vocal opponents convinced the city to smooth it. They complained about the traffic and noise- the music is audible from outside the car, too. It didn't take long for the city to realize that the road was an asset to Lancaster, so with Honda's help, they relocated it a little bit out of town.

I vote for Summer.

I guess it's officially summer. Yesterday was the last day of school, and today was the last day of Girl Scouts. I have so many plans and ideas. Madison is going to volunteer at the library, which will be a perfect way for her to spend some of her time. We are going to the Turner Syndrome conference in July. She's got band camp, and she is going to become a Girl Scout program Aide at summer camp, too. I will be busy carting her around.
This year, for the first time in many years, my husband and I do not have the same days off. The good news is that someone is always home with the daughter and the dogs. The bad news is we can't take off for weekend trips together.
We do have one camping trip planned for the end of June, we are going to central Oregon and Crater Lake. This is where I plan to macrame my chair.
I am hoping to get to Seattle to see a new niece or nephew, as well as a cousin and dad and grandma. I'd like to go to my mom's family reunion.
And when it's all over, I will have a kid in 7th grade.

I've got this nagging pain...

I don't know how in the world it happened, but I am a nag. I nag my kid about homework and practicing her clarinet. I nag her about finishing chores she hasn't even started. I nag at work. I nag the nurse, I nag the doctor, I nag the patients. I nag the girl scouts, and I really nag their mothers. I have to nag them about meetings and supplies and permission slips and field trips. I nag the ESA ladies about meetings, and forms and more meetings and events and carpools and reports and due dates.

I've tried to stop sending out emails about when the next meeting is. If I do not nag, girl scouts will not show up, and ESA ladies will send me an email (so I get 6) asking if we have a meeting this week. People have come to depend on my nagging.


So you would think that I am on top of things, since I have all this time to remind others of what they should be doing, right? Well you would be wrong. I have access to a state of the art tool that no one else seems to be able to find yet, I guess it is still in "beta" or something- a calendar.
Here is how it works: When I am notified of a due date for a project, or an event I would like to attend, or a meeting... I make a notation in the corresponding box on the calendar. Sounds easy, right? I think so, but apparently it's tougher than it seems. I suspect the tricky part for many people is actually looking at the calendar.

I've found a neat solution to that problem. I use (and highly recommend) Google Calendar and Tasks, which I sync with my blackberry. I use my blackberry as an alarm clock. Every morning at 5:30, while I sleep, Google sends my daily agenda to my blackberry, which wakes me up an hour later. I check my agenda before I ever get out of bed, and I know what is happening after work, what bills are due, and where my kid needs to be.

I think that if I can keep track of my schedule, anyone can keep track of theirs. I am not a particularly organized person... I just don't have anyone to nag me.

Macramania

I am planning a camping trip at the end of the month. We are going to Central Oregon, and I will visit Crater Lake for the first time. We will be gone for a week. I typically take a craft project with me when we go camping. In the past, I have knit washcloths and crocheted tote bags and soap savers. This year, I am almost more excited from my craft project than camping. I am going to macrame a chair, maybe two!

It all started when I decided that I need another sturdy chair. Macrame chairs are difficult to locate... none on craigslist, or ebay. I thought about a nylon-webbed aluminum chair in my garage, and wondered how difficult it would be to macrame it. And here is where the internet fell short.

There are precious few instructions on the internet for macrame chairs. In fact, there isn't a lot of macrame instruction in cyberspace, period. I found one set of instructions at kingskountry.com, and I know the chair will turn out right because substituting "k" for "c" is a well-known way that businesses can tell their customers "We know what's up."

My plan is to take pictures of the process and make a tutorial, and start an awesome macrame chair sensation that will sweep the nation. Then, I'll change my blog name to Krazy Blog Lady.

My two cents

suggested by The Occasional Editorialist

"They say that money can't buy happiness. Do you believe this to be true?"

I don't believe money can buy happiness, I think that subject has been covered. I have noticed that a lot of the miserable people I deal with lack jobs and money, so I have come to the conclusion that the lack of money, when material desire is still present, leads to unhappiness. I do not think I am making any groundbreaking assertions here.
There are happy rich people, and happy poor people, and miserable rich bastards and miserable poor bastards. Obviously, then, money can't buy happiness. But it can buy peace of mind, and stability, and little luxuries that can bring joy to an otherwise bad day.

I am reminded of a time a few years back when my stepsister was having marriage troubles. I asked how things were going, and she said, "You know that Ann Murray song... (singing) 'Even though we ain't got money- I'm so in love with you, honey"
"Yeah" I said, thinking to myself that she is such a Good Person who always has a Positive Attitude.
"I am so tired of that f-ing song."

8 fringe remedies I use

I'm a believer in modern medicine, but I will always try a natural or OTC remedy if the condition isn't urgent. Here are 8 that I have found effective.

* Valerian Root- this is possibly the stinkiest substance known to man, but it works wonders to calm my nerves. It's been called herbal Valium. Having never taken Valium, I can't draw a comparison myself...but I can say for certain that on days when I am a little edgy, Valerian helps.

* Chamomile tea- specifically, this chamomile tea by Traditional Medicinals. I knw the box says it is for stress relief, but I haven't been able to stay awake long enough to see if I have less stress. As effective as diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Tylenol PM) for insomnia- it just takes a little longer to work. A cup an hour before bedtime does the trick.

* Cranberry- Here is my UTI protocol: The minute I feel a twinge, I take a Cystex, which is an over-the-counter antiseptic/ anesthetic for the pee hole, immediately followed by three or four cranberry tablets every three to four hours and a short soak in a nearly scalding bath. I have been doing this for years, and it works for me.

* Aspirin in Wintergreen Alcohol- This is a remedy for achy muscles my husband uses. It was introduced to him by a friend, whose elderly mother had been making it for him for years. The recipe calls for 12 crushed aspirin dissolved in a bottle of wintergreen alcohol... but we double the aspirin. My husband uses a cotton ball to apply the preparation to sore shoulders after baseball games, and he swears by it.

* Aloe- straight from the plant, we squoosh out the gel and apply to burns and abrasions.

* Neti pot- Neti is a technically a yoga technique, but I don't understand all the mumbo-jumbo. All I know is that I love my neti pot. It looks like a little teapot with a long spout. The pot gets filled with a saline solution, and the solution goes up the spout, into one nostril, and out the other. Hooray clear sinuses!

* Fish Oil- I take a fish oil capsule daily because it has been linked to a lot of benefits. I have no idea if it works or not. I do get a "Caesar Salad" burp about 5 minutes after I take it. So there's that.

* Peppermint Oil- My aunt Carol introduced me to the wonders of peppermint when I was little and had a stomachache at her house. She gave me a glass of water with a drop or tow of peppermint oil in it, and she told me if I drank it, my stomach would feel better. I guess it worked, because I buy peppermint oil to give to my daughter for stomachaches and hiccups. (Aunt Carol told me it also works for hiccups. It works as well as anything else!)

I am sorta hoping for a sunburn this year, I've heard great things about Witch Hazel for treating it, among other things. If I get a chance to try it, I'll be sure to report back.

Things I learned this week

Live to Ride, Ride to Live. The nice weather at the beginning of the week inspired the Mr. To clean up his motorcycle and get the tabs renewed. Tabs are registration stickers... in Washington, they are called tags. Or maybe the reverse is true.
Here's what I learned this week.

I learned how to get a free yacht and what to do with it. Awesome!

I learned about Lucy Leith, who is an 11 year old duct tape crafter. I think when I was 11, my tape skills consisted of making funny pig faces with scotch tape.

I learned that American health insurance companies have over 5 billion dollars invested in Big Tobacco. Talk about hedging their bets.

I'm with the band.

Today was the Strawberry Festival Parade in Lebanon, Oregon. The above shortcake, covered in white plastic, is paraded through town, followed by the typical Shriners and fair princesses and marching bands. The Memorial Middle School band played Land of 1000 dances for 2 miles, and I helped.
We boarded the bus, and I had a strange mix of emotions. On the one hand, I was nostalgic, because I hadn't been on a yellow bus for more than 20 years. Not much has changed. On the other hand, not much has changed in the school bus department in 20 years, and I found myself wondering about bus safety. No seatbelts! No helmets! Our bus driver was very old. I guess that the loud kids didn't bother him because he is deaf. He left his right turn signal on for 15 minutes on the highway.
I was given drumstick duty. If a percussionist were to drop his or her sticks, I would have to dodge the remaining half of the band, the trumpets and bass instruments, to retrieve the stick and return it to the drummer. Fortunately, it was a cool day and the drummers' hands did not get sweaty. Everyone held onto their sticks and mallets.




I am an accomplished parader. I have appeared in parades in Seattle, Ocean Park, Seaside, and Bend. I organize the Albany Girl Scouts' entry into the Albany Veteran's Day Parade (the largest such parade west of the Mississippi!) every year.
I thought I had seen crowds... but I had never seen a crowd like the one in Lebanon. sidewalks were lined with 5 rows of those stupid chairs I detest. In fact, the parade was so large that there was reverse-pamphleteering going on- as I marched by a spectator, he pressed a pamphlet into my hand advertising a quilt show!

The band did very well, especially at first. At about the 1.25 mile mark, their lips and arms began to get tired, and the brass section was definitely not as strong as it was in the beginning. However, at the 1.75 mile mark, the kids got their second wind and pushed through to the end.

Many parents picked their kids up at the parade, so the bus was less than half full on the ride home. Because there were fewer conversations happening at once, I could hear most of them. Middle schoolers are just goofy. I could detail their conversations, but I won't, as this is a family blog. I did notice that they are EMPHATIC about EVERYTHING.

In the afternoon, we had a MMS band picnic at Bryant Park. Two band dads grilled burgers and dogs, and we all feasted on potluck fare. (I had Kirkland Green Tea with Citrus- zero calories, delish!)
After dinner, a group of us made our way to the softball field, where we sorta played. Mind you, these are Band Kids. I was pretty happy with the way we played... I am sure that a lot of these kids have never felt a bat in their hand make contact with a ball, but everyone got a "hit" today. We didn't keep track of balls and strikes, or outs, or innings... and after a while it was just "Take a Turn at the Plate." My new favorite game.

A real hero

Oh how I love "David after the Dentist", the You Tube sensation that swept the nation a few months ago. The video stars David, who appears to be 5 or 6, in the back seat of his dad's car, after a visit to the dentist. It appears that David was sedated for his procedure, and is still "waking up" in the car. He acts silly, and asks funny questions, and his dad has the presence of mind to videotape it.
Now I can assure you that if my child were as funny as David, I would absolutely tape it. And if the tape turned out as funny as David's, I would probably share it on YouTube... unless I sent it in to America's Funniest Home Videos to try to profit. David's father was criticized for posting the video by people who, I figure: 1. Don't have kids, 2. Have no sense of humor, or 3. Have never had their perceptions chemically altered.

Five months later, Bill O'Reilly jumps on the bandwagon and decides to call out David's father for exploiting his own child. O'Reilly compares him to a mother who videotaped herself exhaling marijuana smoke into her infant's face. (That mother was charged with a criem, and lost custody of her baby.)
O'Reilly thought David's video was in such bad taste that he has shown it twice now, in its entirety, on his show. To shame David's father. For being exploitative.

Today, David's father, who is also named David, was on the show, to defend himself. He was normal, rational, and even-tempered. When O'Reilly warned him to "be careful what you put on on tape" because they could come back to haunt his kid later in life, David took the high road, and did not mention the "falafel" tape that O Reilly made. Or the "We'll do it live" tape that O'Reilly made. This guy is my new hero.

Thumbs up to you, David DeVore.

suggested by Victorian Furnishings

"How have your writing skills changed since you started blogging?"

Well, Victorian Furnishings, it's funny you should ask. I was asking myself the same question in the shower just the other day.
I don't think they have improved much. When I started this project 2 months ago, I guess I figured that by now I would be able to sit down at the computer, think of something important to share with the world, bang on the keyboard for 10 or 20 minutes, publish and go on with my day. How wrong I was.

What I have learned is that blogging is different then writing. A good blog has more quantity than quality. Bloggers don't have time for a bunch of re-writes and edits. They need to move onto the next thing. Finding good content on a blog is like finding the proverbial diamond in the rough.

Writing, on the other hand, I have discovered, is a craft. For instance- a writer would make that sentence: On the other hand, I have discovered that writing is a craft.
I think I would like to take a writing class.

Here comes The Sun

I was recently introduced to The Sun magazine by my friend Kathleen. I don't know why I hadn't heard of it before, Kathleen and I were raised in the same town and had a lot of the same interests- I can only assume that she discovered it as an adult as well, other wise I am sure she would have told me about it when we were younger.

I have been wondering if everyone else already knows about The Sun, and I am one of the last people to find out about it. In case I am not, I am taking Kathleen's introduction and paying it forward.

The Sun is a small magazine, published monthly since 1974. Each issue contains one or two large non-fiction articles, a fictional story or two, and an assortment of essays, memoirs, and poetry, as well as stunning photographs. There is no writing or photgraphy staff, all material is contributed. Sometimes the contributors are professional writers or photographers, but more often, they hold "day jobs."



One of my favorite sections in The Sun is the "Readers Write" section. Just as the title suggests, this is the section wherein readers can send in submissions for publication. The Sun gives readers a general theme which are "intentionally broad to leave room for expression", and readers submit their true stories. These stories are funny, heartbreaking, poignant and fulfilling.

The last page of the magazine is left for quotations relating to the magazine's monthly theme. Remember my post about goals? That post is one that really bothers me, because I don't think I said what I meant to say. I found what I meant to say on the last page of The Sun:

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. - C.P. Snow

Like my other favorite media, NPR, The Sun has no advertisements. It is subscription supported. I can think of worse ways to spend $36.00. Friends of the Sun, or subscribers who give an additional gift, subsidize free subscriptions for prisons, libraries and community colleges.

The Sun says it is "Personal. Political. Provocative. Ad Free." And I say: It's alright.

Apache!

Here I sit with less than five hours left in this day, and I still have not thought of anything funny, important, profound, or pot-related to post.

I did my usual search of CNN, my local paper, listened to the radio, and FARK. Nothing.
I did find a link to this video on FARK, which is hilarious. It's a real music video from the early 70s, and there isn't anything I can say about it that it doesn't say for itself. But it did bring a few things to mind.

I was momentarily surprised that the bikini girls didn't have implants. I've been conditioned to expect ginormous knockers, I guess.

Also, what happened to the jumpsuit? Pants attached to a shirt was a terrific idea! One garment... no worries about matching your top to your bottom. I always wondered why it was called a "jumpsuit"... was it because you could "jump" into it? Or when you wore it, you wanted to jump? I know that in the 70s, I had more than my fair share of jumpsuits. And pinafores.