Today at 4:00 p.m. Hawaii time, 6:00 p.m. PST, my friend, Jim Turner, Founder of One by One Media, will be hosting the Haitian Assistance Relief Telethon (#HART) for 24-hours courtesy of WSRadio.com. I am asking that each of my 1,553 friends on Facebook and 10,411 followers on Twitter donate whatever amount you can afford, but [...]
Life
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From the Mind of NEENZ
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A Challenge to my Facebook friends and Twitter followers #HART
17 Jan 2010 | 3:16 pm -
Tis the Season of Ohana
23 Dec 2009 | 7:00 pmOver on the Outrigger Hawaii blog, I did a guest post about how Christmas is celebrated in Hawaii. I share about the changes of seasons that occur on the islands, yes we have them you just need to know how to recognize them. Head on over and read the Season of Ohana. -
Ala Moana Beach Park Memories
13 Nov 2009 | 1:45 amWhat are some of your favorite childhood memories that you continue with your own children today? Over on the So Much More Hawaii blog, I shared mine about Ala Moana Beach Park. Take a look at one of the most beautiful views on Oahu. -
Hawaiian Culture: Hula
13 Nov 2009 | 1:40 amIf you know me, you know that I was raised around the art of hula. I am only now, through the interest of my children, returning to the art that I love so dearly. I shared from my heart, over on the So Much More Hawaii blog a brief history of the origins of hula [...] -
GEW Hawaii: Young and Hip Entrepreneurs
13 Nov 2009 | 1:30 amGlobal Entrepeneurship Week: November 16 – 22, 2009 For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Countries across six continents are coming together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people to [...]
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The New Old Age
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Ask an Elder Law Attorney
5 Feb 2010 | 10:34 amCan a parent spend down for Medicaid eligibility and still keep her home? -
In Obama's Budget, Help for Caregivers
3 Feb 2010 | 5:30 amThe president's proposed budget sets aside more than $100 million for services provided to caregivers. -
Underused Therapy for the Heart: The Gym
2 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pmNew research shows that a program of cardiovascular rehabilitation is remarkably effective following heart surgery or a heart attack. -
Help for Hoarding
28 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pmResources, though limited, are available for helping seniors who hoard. -
Schooling the Aging Brain
26 Jan 2010 | 9:37 amA new study adds to evidence that the aging brain needs novelty and stimulation.
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Peterman's Eye
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Courage under Fire
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmHollywood star turns from conscientious objector to hero.Continue reading this post -
Who Dat?
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmWho Dat? The New Orleans Saints, winner of Super Bowl XLIV.Continue reading this post -
Super Bowl parties are second in food consumption to Thanksgiving? Really?
6 Feb 2010 | 9:03 pmA Jambalaya or gumbo could make Super Sunday even more super.Continue reading this post -
Experts Stunned by Swan 'divorce' at Slimbridge wetland
5 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmA rare "divorce" between a pair of swans at a wildfowl sanctuary has gotten experts aghast.Continue reading this post -
Even More Punishment
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." - Fred AllenContinue reading this post
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kirtsy-Popular Stories
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CREPE PAPER? are you kidding me? {hope not. because i think i can do this!}
9 Feb 2010 | 10:07 aminsanely happy-making. cheap but so not cheap-looking. and we can do this ourselves, can't we? say yes, because i'm feeling very diy romantic after seeing this...enjoy! {and be sure to scour her entire sight! she's a talented doll with cool specs32 Vote(s) -
GIVE TILL IT HURTS PEOPLE! Help Haiti!
9 Feb 2010 | 8:41 amThis is so great! Please help out. Please give.16 Vote(s) -
genius hotel peek. {and i usually run from the word no. strange, yes?}
9 Feb 2010 | 7:01 ami met annie at alt design summit. she asked if i was one of the kirtsy girls. i said yes! of course, she meant was i gabrielle, laura or laurie. sadly i am not. i am karey m. and i like every single one of her posts. which brings us to now. enjoy.30 Vote(s) -
her pantry shelves made me whimper...
8 Feb 2010 | 6:28 pmi don't think this kitchen has a bad angle. but don't hate...she's just a sweetheart who gives excellent shelf. enjoy.103 Vote(s) -
Because Drew Brees holding his son was the best moment of the Super Bowl
8 Feb 2010 | 6:10 pmOne-year-old Baylen Brees became a star on Sunday night, not just because he is adorable, but also because of the way his father looked at him.75 Vote(s)
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Nothing But Bonfires
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Ain't No Party Like A Last Minute Party
8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 amWe never actually planned to have a party to celebrate my birthday, but then walking home from work last week, Sean convinced me that we should. "Eh," I said. "Well, maybe just something laid-back." read more -
In Other News, The Pope Is Catholic
4 Feb 2010 | 8:21 amOn Monday, I went to the gym for the first time in.....well, I don't think I'm ready to reveal that yet. It's too embarrassing. But it was in a month beginning with "A." No, not April! I'm not that lazy. Oh alright, it was August. Yes, friends, before Monday, I hadn't been to the gym---which, I should point out, is LOCATED IN THE LOBBY OF MY OFFICE BUILDING, NOT LIKE I NEVER SEE IT OR ANYTHING---since August. Though in my defence, it was the very end of August. Like, maybe a week or so before the wedding. Maybe August 28th. read more -
One Man's Groundhog Is Another Man's Burning Effigy
3 Feb 2010 | 10:14 pmI think I could live in America for the rest of my life and I would still not really understand Groundhog Day. It catches me off guard every year. I'll be making polite small talk about the weather with someone in an elevator or a shop and all of a sudden they'll smile and say jovially "well, they say we've got six more weeks of winter left, of course!" And I'll blink and look confused and think wait, did I miss something on the Weather Channel? read more -
Does This Dress Make Me Look Thirty?
31 Jan 2010 | 10:57 pmI turn thirty a week from today and I am not afraid to tell you that I have been sucker-punched by that old cliche, big time. You know the cliche I'm talking about: the one where you dread turning thirty. Every prime-time sitcom in the history of the world has made rampant use of this cliche at one time or another, and apparently I have watched enough prime-time sitcoms that I've fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. I have been dreading my thirtieth birthday since the day after my twenty-ninth. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do, right? read more -
With Love And Squalor
28 Jan 2010 | 2:36 pmSo there I was, with a blog post all written in my head already about my haaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr---you know, the sort of self-absorbed little nugget that some social media professor at a third-rate university would hold up as Exhibit A in a lecture entitled Why Bloggers Are Navel-Gazing Twerps Who Assume You Give A Crap About Their Bangs---when J.D. Salinger died on Thursday morning. read more
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Schmutzie.com
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2010 Canadian Weblog Awards Exclusive Nominee Interview with Sadie Shih Tzu of Hi, I'm Sadie Shih Tzu
8 Feb 2010 | 8:29 am"2010 Canadian Weblog Awards Exclusive Nominee Interview with Sadie Shih Tzu of Hi, I'm Sadie Shih Tzu": Sadie Shih Tzu was born on the fourth of July 2008. Her person found her on the internet, which is fitting, because Sadie loves to tweet, Facebook, and blog. Sadie lives in Manitoba with her British doggeh mama and particularly likes snow, which is fortunate, because there’s lots of it in... Click on the title to view the full weblog entry. 10% of Schmutzie.com's ad revenue goes to Kiva.org, so a visit to Schmutzie.com is a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you! -
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! (In 16 Pictures)
7 Feb 2010 | 7:05 pmSaturday night was one of those nights where everyone downs 150 jello shooters and wears fake moustaches and loves each other and accidentally gropes people and takes surprisingly decent self-portraits and snuggles friends on their birthdays and reads vulgar Roman poetry and makes messes and plays with scientific apparatus (say Ahhh!) and has moments of calm in the... Click on the title to view the full weblog entry. 10% of Schmutzie.com's ad revenue goes to Kiva.org, so a visit to Schmutzie.com is a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you! -
Grace in Small Things: Sunday Edition #10
7 Feb 2010 | 8:18 am1. My iPhone's Hipstamatic app, which takes pictures like the above 2. Burger King's mozza sticks in the middle of the night 3. That a new site I write for, Life As A Human, has gone live, and I love it 4. An edifying chat with a co-writer about novel-writing that made me feel a sense of possibility 5. Heart Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things. Click on the title to view the full weblog entry. 10% of Schmutzie.com's ad revenue goes to Kiva.org, so a visit to Schmutzie.com is a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you! -
Coming Out: Accepting the Intimacy of Writing
6 Feb 2010 | 8:13 am"Coming Out: Accepting the Intimacy of Writing": I first began to write stories and poetry at the age of seven when, thanks to my grade four teacher Mrs. Martin, I found myself armed with a decent sense of sentence structure and story arch. I wrote my first short story, a fanciful piece about time travel and poisonous fruit, and upon handing it in knew writing was what I had to do for the rest of... Click on the title to view the full weblog entry. 10% of Schmutzie.com's ad revenue goes to Kiva.org, so a visit to Schmutzie.com is a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you! -
Five Star Friday's Edition #90
5 Feb 2010 | 8:05 am"Five Star Friday's Edition #90": This Five Star Friday roundup is brought to you by a Facebook trend, job searching on social media, moving, fences, sex tapes, slanted research, ruptured relationships, life narrative, time, mommybloggers, fear, a father, an anniversary, and a misguided attempt at charity. Click on the title to view the full weblog entry. 10% of Schmutzie.com's ad revenue goes to Kiva.org, so a visit to Schmutzie.com is a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you!
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Twenty Major
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Poor old dreams
9 Feb 2010 | 9:15 am“Twenty”, said Dirty Dave this afternoon in Ron’s, “I’ve got to the age I am, an age I won’t disclose as I know the minute you go home you’ll tell the readers of your blog all about this conversation and I want to retain some air of mystery about me, and I have not realised my life’s main ambition”. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Very few of us get to crossbreed people from Leitrim with gibbons to make a new kind of super-ape that’s rubbish at all Gaelic games”. “No, not that life’s ambition. I meant… -
George Lee
9 Feb 2010 | 1:52 amI find the stick he’s getting over his resignation a bit weird. Sure, he might have given it longer. He probably did expect to be more involved, however naive that was. And he probably has damaged Fine Gael (though not as much as Enda) and let down the people who voted for him. Yet he has walked away from a career in politics. Politicians, for the most part, are a bunch of self-serving, mendacious, power hungry cunts who are in it for what they can get out of it, rather than any great desire for public service. Look at all the quotes about how he never fitted in or how he ‘looked… -
Filthy fuckers
8 Feb 2010 | 4:23 amI had forgotten the animal magnetism of Dame Street on a Saturday night. Those muscular thighs in short dresses, the staggering, stumbling gentlemen and the overall atmosphere of ‘Will I vomit or fight someone’ was not something I’ve missed, I have to admit. Nevertheless, found myself in a bar on Dame Street around midnight. It was quite busy. Some pissed up rugby fans and assorted folk, nothing crazy. Went downstairs for a piss, took my place at the urinal and noticed the one next to me was full. These urinals were quite deep, I’d estimate about 6-8 pints of piss was… -
I’m not paying for this
7 Feb 2010 | 4:39 amVia Election.ie today’s Sunday Tribune is running a story saying the Church wants its legal fees, arising from the Ryan Report, to be covered by the taxpayer: While the orders are close to a final agreement with the government to make additional contributions of €100m plus properties to the redress scheme, the Sunday Tribune has learned that the Department of Finance has been notified that the orders have applied to have their massive legal bills arising from the Ryan inquiry covered by the taxpayer. It sounds ridiculous. Scandalous. Beyond the pale. But would you be in any way… -
Haiti fundraiser
5 Feb 2010 | 2:15 amWe had a fundraiser in Ron’s last night for that old earthquake thing. “Hatin’ for Haiti’ was a resounding success. Each person had to get up and rant about something they disliked intensely. Jimmy’s prolonged tirade about the fat old one from Boyzone and how he could be directly linked to the financial and political crisis in this country was a thing of wonder. Stinking Pete spoke about how much he detests public speaking, Splodge about people from Luxembourg and even old Charlie down the end of the bar had a go, explaining why people who put your change on the…
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Meg Fowler
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songs for gradon.
3 Feb 2010 | 3:47 pmHappy 33rd, my dearest! -
what i’ve learned… from gradon.
3 Feb 2010 | 11:37 amToday is Gradon’s 33rd birthday, and so I’m posting things all day at my blog that celebrate who he is. I started with singing kittens — which is really how ALL THINGS SHOULD BEGIN, QUITE FRANKLY — but now I’m going to offer my take on the Esquire ‘What I’ve Learned’ column. If you’ve never heard of ‘What I’ve Learned’:Esquireapproaches a different person each month — from old men to celebrities to beauty queens to lobster fishermen to heart surgeons — and asks them to share wisdom they’ve picked up over… -
happy birthday, honey!
3 Feb 2010 | 12:51 amToday, my lovely Gradon turns a mighty 33. I’m going to post stuff to him throughout the day, but I HAD to start with this: -
shame… delicious shame.
26 Jan 2010 | 11:25 amAs the daughter of a father who loves jazz, bespoke clothing and the New York Times Sunday Edition, and a mother who has beautiful taste in interior design, possesses a thorough knowledge of art history, and tends to wear black about 70% of the time, I have no idea how I ended up choosing flip flops as a wardrobe staple, loving the trashiest music of the mid-90’s, and knowing the names of every member of Dog the Bounty Hunter’s family. Sigh. Sure, I have many tastes in common with these lovely, cultured people who tried to provide me with classy genes, but I also, well… I… -
monday love list: because i can, and i should.
25 Jan 2010 | 12:47 pmUsually I write my love lists on Fridays, but I think this Monday could use a bit of mental sunshine. Not only is it cloudy (I keep typing “cloudly” when I mean to type “cloudy”, which makes me think of “studly”. Then I try to picture what “studly” weather might be. Any guesses? No? Okay, then) and gloomy outside, but it seems that (in a fit of creativity) I’ve chosen to outfit myself in three shades of gray today (dove, charcoal and… uhhh… cement? Can a copywriter for J. Crew help me out here?) Gray + gray = extra gray.
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wowOwow | The Women on the Web
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Liz Smith: Football's Holy Day – Saints Win Super Bowl
9 Feb 2010 | 2:00 amAlso from Our Gossip Girl, Madonna’s holy day – Still giving it up to Jesus! … ‘Dear John’ weepie ain’t crying; ‘Avatar’ is!The Liz Smith Column | Today 5:00 am"Reporter: ‘Were you apprehensive in the twelfth inning?’ Yogi Berra: ‘No, but I was scared!’" *** I AM not a sports fan but this is pretty much the way lots of people felt during the Super Bowl. (I actually like to watch football being played; it’s something like ballet.) So my impression of the Colts was that they were big, brutal steamrollers with the… -
A Hard Life on the Road – Made Harder, by Jean Chatzky
9 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amShower cap? Bed made? Don’t take these awayJean Chatzky | Today 4:00 amI – like all women who travel for business, I am sure – am sometimes asked if I mind the time on the road. The subtext, of course, being: Don’t you miss your kids? Isn’t it tough being away from your husband? “Sometimes it’s tough being away,” I acknowledge. “But I try to go for just a night or two at a time. And,” I admit, thinking specifically of the heavenly bed at the Westin, of having coffee and buttered toast delivered to the door, “having a night to myself in a nice hotel is pretty… -
When the Other Sibling Cares for an Aging Parent, by Francine Russo
8 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pmAn author faces the decline and death of a parent, from the place of daughter and sister — and shares strategies to avoid misstepsA Friend Stopped By | Today 2:00 am Editor’s Note: Esteemed journalist Francine Russo covered the boomer beat for Time magazine for nearly a decade and has also written for the New York Times, Redbook, and Family Circle. She is the author of They’re Your Parents, Too!: How Siblings Can Survive Their Parents’ Aging Without Driving Each Other Crazy, just published by Random House. Visit her website at www.yourparentstoo.com. As a daughter of… -
Mary Wells on What Ellen Brings to 'Idol'
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmWhat does Mary Wells think of comedienne Ellen DeGeneres on ‘American Idol’? Mary Wells | Today 12:00 amEllen DeGeneres will bring some class to "American Idol." -
Ellen DeGeneres has joined the judges on 'American Idol.' Should she have? What other celebs should make a similar move?
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmJoin Mary Wells and Liz Smith in judging Ellen’s move to reality TV …Question of the Day | Today 12:00 amMary Wells | Today 12:00 amMary Wells on What Ellen Brings to 'Idol'Ellen DeGeneres will bring some class to "American Idol."
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Simply Jews
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Hamas Backtracks on Apology for Israeli Rocket Attacks
8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmGood. I've been already worried about having to kiss with this troika. Brr...Seriosly, though: the best explanation for the retraction of the apology could be found in this quote: Hamas likely came under domestic pressure to retract the apology after it became public, said Gaza analyst Naji Sharrab. "They are addressing two different audiences," Sharrab said of Hamas.Since the days of the late and unlamented here Yasser A., widely known for his forked tongue, used to convey two completely different messages - one for the "home consumption" and one to the useful idiots abroad - Hamas is having… -
BBC on the Gaza blockade: the roles of Israel and Egypt
8 Feb 2010 | 9:50 pmIn a fairly wondrous turn of events, BBC discovers Egypt:Just Journalism has today published a study suggesting a shift in editorial policy at the BBC News website regarding the blockade of Gaza. ‘BBC on the Gaza blockade: the roles of Israel and Egypt’ shows that for most of 2009, the Gaza blockade was associated solely with Israel, rather than with Israel and Egypt. However, more recently, the Corporation’s website has reflected more consistently the role of Egypt in enforcing the blockade at its shared border with Gaza.Read the full report here. -
Ahmadinejad discovers Avatar
7 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pm"Wow, dude!", were the first words issued by Mahmoud the Mad after viewing the movie."It is like... like my dream come true," he told the journalists afterward, "I always knew that the American shaitan imperialists are bad, but that bad? I mean, watch these poor Na'vi - just like we and our oil, they are protecting their Unobtanium from the Big Satan"."Uranium? Enrichment? What are you talking about? I am into movies now. The next movie that infidel Cameron will make is going to be under my personal supervision, and see if two of us can't shear these capitalist sheep for $10B! Who needs… -
Brooke Hundley, Steve Phillips in dockers free pants
7 Feb 2010 | 9:30 pmNone of the above will appear on this here blog, but a nice relaxing picture just might. Here it is:Now breath slowly and shallowly... relax -
Haveil Havalim #255: post - Groundhog Day edition
6 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmThe reason why this edition is called post - Groundhog Day is that there were no meaningful holidays in the vicinity. And the only Jewish/Israeli connection to Groundhog Day (the animal in question not being kosher) is our local variety of that animal:My initial sentiment was to expect him out of his bunker this time. But, upon second thought, why not let him be? He is pretty well used to the underground way of life by now, and besides - what do we all need him for above ground?Anyway, let's go to the reminder - what HH is about:Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish…
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this time ~ this space
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Yogic breathing exercises reduce pain and depression
1 Feb 2010 | 3:15 pmToday I was reading ScienceDaily and noticed a new entry that will be of interest to those who do suffer from chronic pain and depression. I found this report to be very interesting because I have been using Yogic breathing and Buddhist breathing and mindfulness exercises for over 20 years now to control my own pain and to cope with the depression that chronic pain leads to. In fact I have been sharing my practices in this blog. Mindfulness meditation Mindfulness meditation comes out of traditional Buddhist meditation practices. Psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn has been instrumental in bringing… -
Meditation Practice: Candle Meditation for Beginners
30 Jan 2010 | 8:17 pmThe focus of our meditation can be abstract and formless as in blue sky meditation. The focus of our meditation can also be a specific form such as a flower, a crystal, a flickering candle, or any other “virtuous” object. If we discover that by acquainting our mind with a particular object our mind becomes more peaceful, this indicates that for us that object is virtuous. If the opposite happens, for us it is a non-virtuous object. Objects of meditation. Contemplation In this meditation you will be using the flame of a single candle as the “virtuous” object of your… -
Meditation Practice: Mountain Meditation for Beginners
7 Jan 2010 | 8:43 pmThis is another article in a series for those who are beginning to meditate. It’s important to know what meditation is and what it isn’t, so please read the other articles first Buddhist Meditation: Mindful Breathing Practice and Meditation Practice: Preparation for Beginners. Mediation is a relaxed state of heightened awareness. It is not a zoned out state bordering on sleepiness; nor is a state of cogitation. Mediators do experience thoughts passing through the mind like fluffy clouds passing through the sky, but they do not follow, nor attempt to forcefully drive any…
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TIME GOES BY
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There's No Place Like Home
9 Feb 2010 | 2:35 am[EDITORIAL NOTE: Another blogger, Gaea Yudron, has submitted a photo of her photo blog space. You can see it here. Others who would like to post their workspace, instructions are here. I considered yesterday's “announcement” that I've decided to move to Portland, Oregon, to be a personal indulgence, not something that really belongs on this blog about aging. But I'd been busy thinking through some of the details of selling and buying and all, and by Sunday evening I had not written another post for Monday. And look what happened – wow! I had no idea so many of you would have so much to… -
Finding a New Place to Call Home
8 Feb 2010 | 2:35 amEDITORIAL NOTE: Time Goes By reader, Dee Hayes, has posted a photo of her computer space at home. You can see it here. Others who would like to post their workspace, instructions are here. Those of you who have been reading Time Goes By for several years will remember a companion blog I started during the months I was selling my home in New York City's Greenwich Village in 2006, to move to Portland, Maine. That blog was called A Sense of Place and I really liked – still like – the banner I created for it. I won't go so far as to start another blog this time, but I will post updates here… -
ELDER MUSIC: 1950s – Pre-Heartbreak Hotel, Part 2
7 Feb 2010 | 2:30 amYou never know who you're going to meet on the internet and I came to know Peter Tibbles (bio here) via email over the past couple of years. His extensive knowledge of most genres of music and his excellent taste became apparent only gradually (Peter's not one to toot his horn) but once I understood, I knew he needed his own column at Time Goes By - or, better, that TGB needed his column - which appears here each Sunday. You can find previous Elder Music columns here. [Part 1 can be found here] NOTE: Norma’s Choice: These tracks were chosen by the A.M. (The Assistant Musicologist) with… -
GRAY MATTERS: Medicare Home Health Care
6 Feb 2010 | 2:30 amPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Saul Friedman (bio) writes the weekly Gray Matters column which appears here each Saturday. Links to past Gray Matters columns can be found here. Saul's Reflections column, in which he comments on news, politics and social issues from his perspective as one of the younger members of the greatest generation, also appears at Time Goes By twice each month. I learned the hard way: The greatest and the most predictable danger for older people is falling. Too often, a broken hip can lead to a deep and irreversible decline in one’s health or well-being if you… -
If You Thought the Gregg/Conrad Commission was a Bad Idea...
5 Feb 2010 | 2:35 am...wait until you read this. On the day of President Obama's State of the Union address, Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin introduced a budget proposal that would, according to the Congressional Budget Office [pdf], create a budget surplus of about five percent by the year 2080. The three main changes that Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future would make are: • Restructure the federal tax code to eliminate all taxes on interest, dividends, capital gains and estates (which mostly benefits the rich) • Privatize Medicare and Medicaid • Privatize Social Security In…
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Artichoke Dreams
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beginning of the end
8 Feb 2010 | 9:20 pmShe sat at her desk, hands in her hair. Everything changes now. Or does it? Choices, she was reminded. There are choices every day and she made hers. It’s too late now. The old man in the chair next to her this morning made her cry, but when isn’t she crying? “There’s so much to cry about,” she whispered, as she got up and went to the bathroom again. She blamed it on her caffeine habit. That wasn’t really the issue. Not this time at least. In high school, you go to the bathroom to eat lunch, alone. It’s where there’s quiet. It’s where you… -
dislike
9 Dec 2009 | 7:48 pmYou will dislike him, the protagonist of this story. No one likes people like him. He’s a good man at heart, but that doesn’t mean he lets anyone see that. He keeps his true self hidden away underneath his debonair, worldly gaze. He says everything is going to change, but we don’t really know. In the end, you start thinking that maybe you should hate him more. Trouble is, you don’t. You love him for the person you know he is. Or at least the person you thought he was. Were you so wrong? Maybe. They say the intelligentsia can read the world for what it is more, and for… -
terrible poetry
28 Sep 2009 | 8:34 pmeverything is broken and there’s no going back all there is is nothing and we’re all alone There’s nothing we can do here no mistakes we can mend there’s no going back and no going forward They’d call this a fresh start but that implies there isn’t anything behind us so we’ll stand in empty rooms wondering where it all went and what we’re going to do now -
generation gap
15 Jul 2009 | 11:54 amI’ve been reading a lot about Gen Y having issues with work because we were brought up to believe that we can do anything and the world is at our fingertips. These ideals, supposedly, make us far too idealistic about work. I disagree. The world is at our fingertips and we can do anything. It’s our choice to work for it, though. The idea that all of that would be easy was false, yes, but the idea itself is totally true. It is this generation that came up with Facebook and Twitter. We are starting successful businesses while still having personal time. We are learning that life and… -
once, i was a nerd
14 Jul 2009 | 11:52 pmI’ll keep it private for now, but the job search and such has led me to a lot more thinking about who I am and what i want to do. Strangely, since this is the second time around, there are more epiphanies. You’d think I’d had enough of them last year, but I guess not. As I visit different offices across town and meet new people at events, I’m starting to realize where I want to be and what I’ve learned about what makes me happy. (This all sounds very narcissistic, but this is my personal blog and having one of these is pretty self-centered to begin with, no?)…
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GirlsAskGuys.com - Recent Questions
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Will he think it's weird if I talk?
9 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pmThis question is mainly for guys but girls answers are most welcomed to. So there's this foreign guy (American, I obviously don't live in the US) who has recently converted to my religion and I am very interested in getting to know him better. I only saw him once at a gathering but did not get a change to talk to him. I added him on Facebook and he accepted my add and I just knew that he goes to the same university I go to. I do not know how to get to know him better and if I talk to him via Facebook if he will think it is weird that I barely even know him and talking to him? I thought maybe… -
Why can't people of the world just get along?
9 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pmWhy not? The sandbox is big enough for us all. -
Ex looking through my things and more?
9 Feb 2010 | 3:57 pmWe have a son 2gether so he came over to visit him for a while. We needed to wash our hands (diaper) so we did,and I handed him a towel from the cabinet. He went and put the towel always but when I looked in the mirror I could see him looking through the cupboards. He was very nice, and I never mentioned it to him.Then he left but I could see that he was just sitting in his car watching me and our son through our living room window. I tried not to make it look like I noticed. after about 5 min I saw him drive away. So what is going on with him?Its a little weird. -
Is ex really over me?
9 Feb 2010 | 3:53 pmIt was a long distance relationship. 3 yrs. It was SO great many times, because we have this connection that he still can't deny. well. things went badly after not seeing him for many months, and I broke up with him. he found a new girl a week later. got official with her 2 weeks after that. at first he telling me he needs to move on and was sort've nice, but as time progressed, got meaner and insulted me so badly, always telling his friends how great his girlfriend is in bed, and telling me personally how trustworthy she is and better than me. he didn't contact me for a week until he knew… -
Calling for second date too soon?
9 Feb 2010 | 3:50 pmSo I met this girl last Thursday at a uni social. We exchanged numbers, I text her the next day and we arranged to go out on the Monday (yesterday), we had a great night and really got on (stayed all night until we were thrown out and had lots to talk about) . She mentioned that she was heading home this Thursday for a few days and I'm heading back home as well at the weekend for a week. I'm thinking of texting her today and asking her out for coffee 2moro before we both go home for mid-term break (1 week). Does that look too needy though. She text me last night when she got home saying that…
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Citizen of the Month
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Making Fun of Twitter at the Hospital
8 Feb 2010 | 2:34 pmIt was claustrophobic in my FIL’s hospital room, so I took a walk down the corridor. As I walked past ICU, an old man beckoned to me from inside his room. I was reluctant to enter. I was unsure of hospital policy, and frankly, I didn’t want to get involved, but something — a bizarre curiosity, dragged me into the room, like a rope around my waist. “Hello,” I said. “Can I help you? Do you want me to get you a nurse?” “No, Father. I am ready to meet my Maker. To shake the hand of Jesus. To see my wife. I want you to give me my last rites.” I… -
A Little Break
1 Feb 2010 | 10:12 pmI’ll be back soon. Share -
August in New York
1 Feb 2010 | 10:29 amI’m going to attend BlogHer again. It is my only chance to see so many of you, and it is important to me to have some real life contact to make my blogging “real.” Last year was a lot of fun, but I still have this nagging feeling that I don’t really belong — and that it might be time for me to expand my horizons. Maybe next year, I will look into SWSX, or a conference that isn’t so gender-based. But I appreciate that I was accepted so readily by everyone, as if I were one of the girls. (Danny, if you want to argue why I shouldn’t go at all, please do! -
My Neck is Getting Redder
27 Jan 2010 | 11:25 pmA few months ago, I struck a deal with the blogger Schmutzie. If she didn’t smoke for an entire month, I would do at least ten push-ups a month in support of her effort. Today, she is a model of health. This week, I noticed that Tanis of The Redneck Mommy, another fine Canadian blogger, was also trying to stop this awful habit. What is it with Canadians and smoking? Being a good Samaritan, I made the same bargain with her. However, unlike the loving and good-natured Schmutzie, Tanis would only agree to this deal if there was daily verification that I was doing the… -
My Yearly “Fat” Post
25 Jan 2010 | 2:02 pmI’m taking a quick break from my one week journal, after one entry! (hey, it is my blog and I can do what I want) because I’m reading all these posts lately on “fat acceptance – yes or no,” written by some female bloggers, and the tone of some of these posts — and the comments — is unsettling. I find it odd that in the middle of difficult economic times and horrible disasters around the world, so many people are fighting online about weight issues. Why aren’t women more supportive of each other on this topic? I though blogging was supposed…
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Simply Stated
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Seven REALISTIC Tips for Boosting Personal Productivity.
4 Feb 2010 | 2:06 pmThere’s so much productivity advice that I can’t manage. I can’t touch each piece of paper just one time. I can’t return every email within twenty-four hours. I can’t maintain a clear desk at all times. I can’t go paperless. Nevertheless, I have found some realistic strategies that have made my life easier. I’ve noticed that an accumulation of tiny tasks, even if they aren’t particularly irksome in themselves, combine to make me feel overwhelmed. If I can keep little chores from piling up, I feel more capable of tackling bigger, more difficult tasks. For that reason, many of… -
Why We Should Aim At Fulfillment, Not Happiness
30 Jan 2010 | 5:27 pmSeveral years ago I published a book called Money & Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life. It was inspired by a recurring conversation I had with people over the years as a personal finance columnist. They would describe a goal: “I really want to change careers…go back to school…start a business...” And I would reply, “What’s the last thing you did with $500?” Inevitably, the money was spent on something that had no connection to their deepest desires. In my book I show readers how to identify their values, set goals around them and use money as a tool to achieve those… -
Quiz: Are you organized?
21 Jan 2010 | 1:41 pmIt's a real pain to be disorganized. You spend a lot of time hunting for your keys; you have to order a replacement birth certificate; you know you must have ten hammers someplace in your house, because you always end up buying a new one when you need it, because you can’t find the ones you already have. As I was doing my happiness project, I realized that life would be a lot easier if I could easily lay my hands on the little things I need, and I made a big effort to get organized. Would you know where to locate these items in your house? Take this quiz to determine if you’re already… -
Do You Hoard Your New Underwear?
14 Jan 2010 | 1:33 pmIn my happiness project, the most idiosyncratic and cryptic of my Twelve Personal Commandments is “Spend out." What does that mean? I’m a bit of a miser. By spending out, I mean to stop hoarding, to trust in abundance, to stop keeping score. One reason I need to remind myself to spend out is that I often find myself saving things, even when it makes no sense to save them. Right now I’m forcing myself to spend out by wearing my new underwear. A few weeks ago, I bought some new underwear. When I got home, I forced myself to toss out my sorry old pairs, because I could feel myself tempted… -
A Secret to Happiness? Long Underwear.
7 Jan 2010 | 1:21 pmA humbling fact about my happiness project is that many of the ideas that have made the biggest difference in my life are so...simple. For example, consider one of my twelve personal commandments: Identify the problem. There have been so many instances where I’ve been unhappy with a situation, but didn’t take the trouble to analyze what was bothering me—and therefore, couldn’t fix it. Identifying the problem allowed me to spot the solution. Take this example. I’m always cold. I’m often freezing in places other people find perfectly comfortable. My children sometimes ask me not to…
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Are We Still Cool?
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The Story of The Island: The biggest bombshell yet
2 Feb 2010 | 5:48 amphoto: photoeverywhere This is the story of an island. It was almost an accident that they ended up on The Island, but it was no accident. It was the machinations of an intricate plan with ancient roots. Each of them were lacking direction of a sort, tossed about by the waves. Stripped of the comforts of home, wandering the jungle, they were scared, misplaced, doubtful, but alive with hope. This is because The Island is special. It transforms and it hones. It offers mysteries and histories deeper than the waters that surround it. Somehow, on The Island, they found their way. But some of them… -
Conan O’Brien preached a sermonette to me
26 Jan 2010 | 5:21 amAs we all know, Conan O’Brien hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show last Friday. I watched his closing comments online the next morning, and this statement stood out to me as brightly as Conan’s red hair: “All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” On the exterior, I am kind, soft-spoken, and a little… -
Have you ever been on TV?
21 Jan 2010 | 6:28 amDespite all of the neat things that God has let me do over the years, I’ve never made it to the small screen, meaning I’ve never been on TV. Well, there was the one time when the local news posted a 5-second sound bite for an event that I planned while they listed all of the important details wrong. Cool Mum was on that beloved, controversy-free late night program The Tonight Show with Jay Leno a few years back. During a band trip to California, she met up with a good friend and they attended a taping. The two young ladies made it to the platform where Jay did his monologue, so… -
The rest of our NYC story: How we got from there to here, Part 2
18 Jan 2010 | 5:05 amThe last few months have seemed like a long flashback as we’ve tried to keep up with what’s been going on. Now, we finally catch up. We pick up at July ‘09 …(cue big WHOOOSH sound à la Lost). July 2009: We put our house on the market in June 2008 when it was clear that God meant to move us. We first tried to sell it ourselves, but our lack of desire to promote, advertise, or clean the house made it unlikely that we would sell it on our own. So, we got a realtor. We got an offer fairly soon, but it was a little less than we wanted, and we declined. Surely, a better… -
Claiming my high school destiny: I’m writing a book
9 Jan 2010 | 6:08 amI’ve flirted with the idea now and again, but last year it hit me: AWSC?-branded Snuggies. Then I realized that a minimum of 3,000 cool points is required to have your own Snuggie, so I decided to write a book. My high school English teacher, Mrs. Shayman, told me that I should be a writer. Had I pursued this goal, my life might have been starkly different: I wouldn’t have studied engineering (and might have had a girlfriend). I probably would have worked at the student newspaper (and might have dated one of my fellow beat reporters). I woulda developed a more clearer and…
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turnings
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Interesting developments a link dump (some HTML5, some nosql, some Rails, some Agile, some Redis, a touch of Scala, etc., etc.)
9 Feb 2010 | 4:57 amI should try and not let these lists get so long. This is some of the stuff I’ve been looking into at work as we prepare for the next set of projects, and to help clean up some of the current work. Looks like it’ll be a fun year on the web. https://developer.mozilla.org/En/HTTP_Access_Control Safari XHR.html IE8 XDomainRequest Object an-html5-offline-image-editor-and-uploader-application/ Rails 3 initialization rails-3-beta-is-out-a-retrospective rails-3-0-beta-release why i wrote arel (the new querying API from ActiveRecord.) New AR finders for Rails 3 Factories and… -
Frosthaven near Harriman
7 Feb 2010 | 10:19 amIn a book we’re reading to Noah the characters get blown in a balloon to an arctic town called Frosthaven. It’s become a metaphor for my winter riding. The residents of Frosthaven are most proud of their ice sculptures. ‘Round here, where proud to not let the winter prevent us from enjoying the outdoors, though it takes some preparation. Long live the Frosthaven Winter’s Day rides. Above is not a graphic of my speed (sadly), but the wind speed. Ouch. But it was a bright sunny day to be enjoyed as much as possible. We were lucky and the snow storm that covered the mid… -
Notwithstanding…
5 Feb 2010 | 4:54 amA headline from the New York Tribune: Notwithstanding a few drawbacks, there is still much to be thankful for this winter. (Click on the Tribune logo to see the headline in all its glory.) David Bransby, photographer. Brought to you by the Library of Congress and flickr. [And little ol' me, but, well, ya know. atmo, etc. ad infinitum.] -
What the iPad changed
3 Feb 2010 | 5:27 amNot that long a go a “workstation” implied an integrated effort. Hardware and Operating System engineered by the same company which ensured a more seamless experience. There have been many companies that have produced these integrated efforts including Sun and Apple. Certainly the out of box experience of Lisa’s iMac was exceptional The unit was unboxed. The power cord was attached to the back and the wall. The power button was pushed. The computer suggested putting the batteries in to the wireless mouse and keyboard and connected them to the system when that was complete,… -
Deriding Apple
3 Feb 2010 | 5:03 amThe can’t help themselves. Even when they’re bashing Apple they praise Apple. From “Why the iPad will fail and help Windows 7 to succeed.“ Firstly this new type of device, obviously based on something that’s been around since 2002 but we’ll skip lightly over that one, is a very interesting form-factor that, now popularised will enable just about everybody to produce a clone tablet. So now that Apple has shown everyone how it should be done, they’ll be able to clone the device and stick Win 7 on it? That’s exactly what hasn’t been working since…
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37days
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found-art tuesday : Quick! Grab Your Camera! They're everywhere!
9 Feb 2010 | 9:14 amQuick! Grab Your Camera! They're everywhere!I love found art. My camera is always with me, my beloved Canon S90, the one I bought recently to replace my beloved other much written about Canon Powershot. Always in the front pocket of my Scottevest along with an index card and a pen from the Graves 601 Hotel. Unrelated, but constant companions. And so I was delighted to be introduced to the work of Ruth Kaiser who is on a mission to help people find smiles in their days. She's collecting photos from folks all over the world who are finding smiles. These photos are all from her. Go, look at her… -
thinking thursday.
3 Feb 2010 | 9:31 pmmind :: my brain and yoursSelf-imposed constraints foster creativity.What is the optimal size of groups?My Bridging Differences book group has begun for 2010. With a Twitter component starting soon. Read with us.Playing to Learn.I like pictures.body :: my place and yours I want to see this painting in person.Perfect lasagne (vegetarian, not vegan). From one of my favorite food blogs. Perfect. Every. Time. And most importantly: EASY. QUICK. You know what makes it perfect? The nutmeg. And the eating part.I don't get what the big deal is. I put my pants on like this every morning.Technology… -
poetry wednesday : snow slam
2 Feb 2010 | 10:21 pmI don't really do snow. Ask my family. It snows, I stay inside by a DeLonghi portable heater with tiny handwarmers stuck inside the twittens Laurie Foley knitted for me, my neck swathed in the wool/silk blend scarf knitted for me by Aurora Fox. I don't like to be cold. My limbs are cold-prone. I'M A COLD WEATHER WIMP. I am a fan of the apres-ski, not the ski. There. I said it. Given that aversion to cold, and particularly to blizzard-type cold, where cold=wet and cold, it might come as some significant surprise that last Friday night IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD with impassable roads, I made… -
found-art tuesday : snow. light. see.
1 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pmThere is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. -Leonard CohenI love this photo taken by Mr Brilliant after our most recent snowstorm. What does it mean to change our perspective? To see through to something else? To find the opening that allows us to see new things? To see. Not just look, walk past, point a camera at. But see.We lose the ability to see. We see what we expect to see. Not what's really there. Or what could be. We rue the cracks ... when the cracks are the very thing that let the light in.We see snow on the surface of the ground, forgetting to look up.See. What… -
mindful monday : sit in.
1 Feb 2010 | 8:57 amToday is the 50th anniversary of the moment when people just like you and I said "enough." They sat. And because they sat, we live the lives we are living now. "Fifty years ago, on Feb. 1, four black college students sat down at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. The 'Greensboro Four,' along with friends and supporters, returned to the counter every day for six months until the lunch counter was desegregated." -NPRThose students were Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond.Here's to sitting. Here's to…
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Blog Nosh Magazine
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Ala peanut butter and honey sandwiches
25 Jan 2010 | 1:03 am(Originally published on snipHits (or misses) In recent months, my biological father has made a surprise reappearance in my life. Sometimes, when referring to him, I catch myself calling him my ‘real’ father which couldn’t be farther from the truth. One of those life lessons that I’ve learned the long hard way over the years is that helping to conceive a child doesn’t necessarily make a person a parent. If anything, the man that I call dad most of the time, the guy who doesn’t have one single strand of dna in common with me, who has been divorced from my mom for years now, he’s… -
Celebrating the Daughter That May Never Be
25 Jan 2010 | 1:00 am{Originally published on Velveteen Mind} When we finally decided that we were done having babies (you know, before we found out that we were pregnant with our third. ahem.), I spent some time mourning the little baby girl that I would never have. Mourning is the best way I can describe it because it truly did feel like a loss. I am a girl. That’s fairly obvious given the creation of babies in ze belly, but I’m not a girly-girl. Perhaps the girliest thing about me is that I have always wanted to have a girl. I’ve always had those little baby daughter fantasies. Before we find out if this… -
Canoe Day
18 Jan 2010 | 1:04 am{Originally published at Graceful} A few weeks ago I realized that I am getting better at praying. We were canoeing in the Boundary Waters, a remote, uninhabited wilderness in northern Minnesota. I should preface this by admitting that I am not a canoeist. Prior to this outing I had canoed twice in my entire life, both times when Brad and I were first dating (that alone speaks volumes). But Brad wanted to take the kids on a little adventure while we were in Minnesota, and I wasn’t going to be the only stuffed shirt who stayed home. We glided across the glinting lake, our paddles dipping… -
The Feel of Color
18 Jan 2010 | 1:01 am{Originally published on Grown Ups Are Like That} As I reach my hand into the bottom drawer of my desk I pull this out: rice candy sun room honey bear autumn spirit october leaves fall song and this: blue overtones a few brave men movie star stonewashed independence day ozone Paint chips are some of my favorite little objects in the world. I love the matte, powdery feel of the sample. Like just-sanded pine. Soft and smooth, their bookmark shape fits comfortably in the palm. The one (and I have many) labeled with names such as submarine, swamp fog, and fizzle has maroon crayon marks all over… -
The Facts (for Some People)
11 Jan 2010 | 1:03 am{Originally Published on Swistle} Some people find they can “Sleep now, because you won’t after the baby’s here!” Some people find their sleep batteries don’t work that way. Some people have labors that are empowering and make them wonder why other women make such a fuss about it. Some people have labors that bring them to a crisis of faith about human design, because the Eve thing is insufficient explanation for this crap. Some people have labors that give them reason to be grateful for advances in medical science. Some people will fall in love with their…
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Brody Harper
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Official Superbowl Poll
7 Feb 2010 | 11:11 amAlright folks. You have no idea how official this poll is. This could very well determine the outcome of the game later today. This blog is pretty influential you know. I’m just sayin. So here’s the million dollar ring question….. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Is Superbowl one word or two? Official Superbowl Poll is a post from: Brody Harper -
MYNH – Eric Hutchinson
7 Feb 2010 | 7:37 amThis guy might not be new to everyone, but the other day I was browsing through iTunes and stumbled onto Eric Hutchinson’s “Sounds Like This” and he because the subject of this edition of Music You’ve Never Heard. Currently this is what’s on repeat in the office and the car. Love the groove, love the vocals, and love that it’s not depressing. So let’s hear the lists. What’s some music we’ve never heard, but need to? Ready? Go. MYNH – Eric Hutchinson is a post from: Brody Harper -
One Republic – All The Right Moves
5 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pmOne Republic – All The Right Moves is a post from: Brody Harper -
Netflix
4 Feb 2010 | 2:43 pmI’m not sure why it took this long, but Kristin and I have decided to give Netflix a shot. It could have been that we just don’t watch that much stuff, or maybe we didn’t rent that much stuff, but now we’re in. See, we have different movie tastes and sometimes we’re looking for things at the local Blockbuster that they just don’t have. I’d heard friends talking about Netflix and how awesome it was and all that for years, but never really thought about it. In fact, the clincher for me was when we were looking for a movie called Gymkata and we… -
5 Steps To Reading Step-By-Step Blog Posts
2 Feb 2010 | 8:23 amRecently I’ve noticed more and more ‘Step-By-Step’ blog posts popping up and I thought I’d jump in the game. It seems that everyone has five, eight or ten steps to becoming better at something. Little tidbits of advice that help you advance as a person. But what about the steps to reading these blog posts? How can anyone expect to advance as a person if there aren’t clear steps defining how to read these ‘Step-By-Step’ posts. That’s where I come in. 1: Obtain A Computer: Computers are your gateway to the Internet where these…
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i obsess.
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so, uh, fuck you.
6 Feb 2010 | 7:52 amFor the longest time I've been writing like there were people standing immediately behind me. I couldn't shake the "who's reading? Who's reading?" vibe. Which puts an automatic kibosh on producing anything that isn't either kiss-ass or straight piss, given the ensuing attempts to pander and/or simply avoid offense.Then again, I'm not certain that being at least minimally aware of an audience isn't a good thing, either. For all the moments when it drives me to drivel, the knowing, there are an equitable amount of pieces that shake in, in… -
Where I Obsess Over My Body's Inability to Conceive.
4 Feb 2010 | 7:47 pmI want a second baby. No great secret.The part that is a secret? That I'm obsessed. It's been over two years that we've been at this, only for a long time, it wasn't too serious. We weren't TRYING, we were just not NOT trying. Now, we try. And every month I watch my cycle with eyes and thoughts trained, intent. Another period comes and I think maybe, maybe it's not my period. Maybe I'm spotting. Only, that night, I recognize that I've lost too much blood for it to be spotting.This last one was the hardest yet. It's so hard to… -
got to let it show.
29 Jan 2010 | 8:11 pmI've been feeling pretty sorry for myself lately. No second baby has made its way into our lives, and I'm 37 now, which means it's only getting tougher to conceive. After last summer's miscarriage, I'm prepared to, even if we do get pregnant again, lose it. (Lose the pregnancy. Not my mind. I'm tougher than that. SHUT UP. I AM TOO.)(no! seriously!)And besides that? We have financial woes like the rest of the country/world. And my face, to my near-narcissistic chagrin (WHY does that word include "grin?" -- Unless it's a mocking… -
WAHM v. SAHM smack-down: or, further evidence of my schizophrenia.
18 Jan 2010 | 12:03 pmI had enough ideas for blog posts this weekend to keep me knee-deep in 'em for months. (Especially at the rate I've been going, lately - it would have probably taken care of my quota through early fall.) But -- time. Time! Where was that going to come from? From my clear-out-the-dog-hair-sea allotment? From the window of laundry-and-more-laundry? From the oh, cripes, I don't want to list the minutiae, it's bad enough that I have to spend most of my "free" time doing it to begin with.Mostly, I get really angry when I come up with something… -
i love my husband. no. sereusly.
12 Jan 2010 | 10:07 pmMy stupid toe still hurts.Today was kind of particularly awful, because I broke almost everything I looked at, including my workstation pc because I'm an insatiably-curious idiot who insists on spelunking in the some of the creepier corners of the internet without safety goggles and a hazmat suit, and I interacted with some bleeding, oozing thingeroo that gave my pc cooties AND NO, IT WASN'T P0RN, OR EVEN P0RN-ESQUE, I was, actually, believe me or don't, reading up on SEO-creation, as that's something I do for my job, and I linked to something a little weird and then a…
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Apartment Life
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Downtown Apartments: Living in Style
8 Feb 2010 | 1:49 pmDowntown Is A Safe Apartment Bet Though downtown apartments cost more, being just steps away from nightlife, restaurants, museums and work makes that extra cost totally worth it for many renters. Plus, there’s the “cool factor” — a lot of downtown apartment buildings are high rises, which means you may have a bird’s eye view of the city. Still, if you’ve always been a suburban apartment dweller, moving to the heart of the city might be new territory for you. What’s involved? Downtown Means Commuting Relief Usually a downtown apartment brings some rush… -
Replacing Your Apartment’s Air Filter
1 Feb 2010 | 10:47 amDoing the dishes, vacuuming, dusting, laundry — a lot of work goes into keeping your apartment clean. But one simple task that’s easily overlooked is changing your apartment’s air filter, something that needs to be done every 1 to 3 months depending on the type of filter you have. Not only can it improve the air quality inside your home — it catches dirt, dust and pet dander — it can help your air conditioner run more efficiently. Since regularly changing the air filter can help keep an air conditioner running smoothly, some apartment complexes may handle doing this for you. -
6 Ways to Make Your Apartment Feel Like Home
20 Jan 2010 | 1:39 pmHome sweet home in an apartment? Of course! Renters don’t have to feel like just because someone else owns the place, they can’t make it their own. Your apartment is where you sleep, relax, entertain and maybe even work, so it should be cozy. Here are a few simple ways to help make your apartment feel like home. Unpack! It sounds obvious, but make sure you unpack everything when you move into your new apartment. Boxes stacked in each room are a reminder that the apartment is only temporary, and that won’t help you feel at home. Find a place for your belongings so… -
A Flooded Apartment
13 Jan 2010 | 2:53 pmFlooded Apartments and Cold Weather Go Hand in Hand When the mercury bottoms out, a lot of apartment tenants find themselves unexpectedly dealing with flooded apartments because of burst pipes. Sadly, though, flooding can happen anytime from causes as diverse as clumsy plumbers, old pipes, hurricanes, leaky roofs, broken sink disposals, faulty washing machines, horseplay, or the ever-unpleasant blocked toilet. Flooded floors lead to rot, structural damage, insect infestations, safety hazards, damaged carpets, destroyed possessions, and possibly dangerous mold growth. What do you do when your… -
Denver Apartments: Home in the Mile-High City
7 Jan 2010 | 8:26 amWith the Rocky Mountains to the west, Denver, Colorado boasts an idyllic setting — and it’s literally one mile above sea level, which explains where the nickname “The Mile-High City” came from. For those who enjoy outdoor activities, Denver offers a seemingly endless list of things to do, like running, camping, kayaking, skiing and snowboarding in nearby cities, and enjoying over 200 parks. Local breweries, live music, nationally recognized museums and several universities also make Denver an appealing place to live. If you’re moving to Denver, apartments are easy to…
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Dave Writes - Creative Life
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Mass Insanity or the Wisdom of Crowds?
20 Jan 2010 | 7:52 amI'm not reading other people's opinions about yesterday's U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts where Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley. It will just make me angry, I'm sure. I need to focus on things I can change...things I need to do for myself. But I will offer some observations about how understandable this vote was in the context of health care reform... I attended the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce annual meeting this morning where Jim Roosevelt, Tufts Health Plan CEO spoke about the challenges of health care reform. He's also a leader in the Democratic effort to… -
How to Request a Review of a Denial of Unemployment Benefits
11 Jan 2010 | 1:28 pmA number of people who are unemployed in Massachusetts and have lost their benefits due to situations with part-time employment, freelance income, and problems accepting or refusing employment have commented on my blog or sent me emails asking for help. I made some calls today and decided to post some information here in the hope that it can help... Disclaimer: I have not gone through this process myself (and hope I will never have to) and I do not have personal knowledge of the facts involved in any individual case. I am not representing anyone as an attorney; just reporting what I… -
Take Responsibility for Spam Comments on your Blogs
11 Jan 2010 | 8:36 amComment spammers are relentless. I have not posted to DaveWrites recently, but I spend time every day just deleting the comments that make it through Akismet and other spam filters. I believe the spam-filtering service Akismet defeats most automated spam, but I suspect there is a class of low-wage human-powered spamming going on based on some internet marketer's idea of link building. The reason some people post short comments like "Nice job. Keep up good work." or "Good information, thanks for the post!" is because the comment form gives them the opportunity to link to another web site. That… -
1977
29 Dec 2009 | 1:56 pmI realized the other day that my Dad was only 39 years old when he lost his "stable" job as a mechanical piping designer at Newport News Shipbuilding. It was April 1, 1977; we had just purchased our first "brand new" car--a Honda Accord--and then the union decided to strike. It was a long summer...and ultimately, the union was broken and the strike was never settled. It was a difficult time for my parents. I was only 10 years old, but I recall that my Dad was unemployed for what seemed an eternity. He received some money from the union for picketing, and I remember him going out to stand on… -
How to Incorporate a Consulting Practice in Massachusetts
15 Dec 2009 | 12:12 pmAs I have formalized my business organization, I learned a few things I am going to share here--sort of a corollary to my popular post on What I've Learned about Unemployment in Massachusetts. But First Things First Until you are seriously committed to starting a business, you don't need to do anything more than find clients with work to do and make sure you get the work done on time. Thinking about tax issues and forming a corporation or LLC...even doing a business plan, spreadsheet, etc.--these are all distracting time-wasters that get in the way of generating that first bit of revenue. As…
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Reality Me
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So you want to work for youself
4 Feb 2010 | 8:17 amThe grass is always greener on the other side. If you dream of escaping Cubeville to work as a freelancer or consultant taking business calls from the beach, setting your own schedule, working in pajamas or nothing at all, and taking vacations whenever you want, I am here to warn you about the brown spots in that greener grass. The biggest brown spot will be cash flow. That 8 to 5 job which you view as a prison to escape provides something unknown to the self-employed…predictable income. For instance, I expected a full payment from one client last night; instead, I received a half… -
LOST Thought
2 Feb 2010 | 4:57 pmFor the record, I have thought for a long time that Season 1 was the middle of this story and not the first time that the main characters had been to the island. But there’s holes in that theory. -
Of Being Dad – Smack Talk
31 Jan 2010 | 2:59 pmThere’s something wonderfully amusing in listening to the four year old talk smack with the thirteen year old. -
Of Grasshoppers
31 Jan 2010 | 2:42 pmStudent: I am overwhelmed.Master: Perhaps you do too much at once. -
Of Grasshoppers
30 Jan 2010 | 2:30 pmStudent: I was very happy until I was told I wasn’t.Master: With great effort, we climb to heights from which it is so easy to be knocked down.
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This Eclectic Life
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Tough Times in Tioga, Texas
9 Feb 2010 | 4:25 amThe tiny town of Tioga, Texas squats on Highway 377 in Grayson County one town north of Pilot Point, where I showed you the bare nekkid ladies on the mural. Tioga was established back in 1881 and was famed for its mineral water. Today, it seems like it is holding its breath and waiting for better days. Gene Autry The claim to fame for the town is that it is the birthplace of Gene Autry, who was born here on September 29, 1907. Do you remember him? He was touted as “America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy.” According to his official website, “he is the only entertainer to… -
Bare Nekkid Ladies in Pilot Point, Texas
8 Feb 2010 | 5:50 amPilot Point is a tiny town in Grayson County, Texas on Highway 377, which is my neck of the woods. In 2003, a local business commissioned a mural for the side of his business that caused a pretty big stink across the country. Neigh. Not this one. Not that one, of course. Nobody in this town would object to a picture of a horsie. This place is smack dab in the middle of an area dubbed “Horse Country,” and the highways and county roads are lined with miniature ranches. Horses are big business here. A horse is an OK subject for art for the people in this town, but a “bare,… -
Are Encyclopedias Extinct In The Digital Age?
6 Feb 2010 | 5:49 pmWhen I was about eleven or twelve years old, a group of us stopped our heated debate over which Beatle was the most adorable (my favorite was Ringo, of course) and moved on to the more cerebral topic of books. The question arose: “If you were stranded alone on a desert island and could only take one book, which one would you choose?” We looked at each other sheepishly and murmured, “The Bible.” “Yeah, The Bible.” “Oh, yeah. Sure. The Bible.” You see, we all went to same Baptist Sunday school and were convinced we would go straight to the Devil… -
Seek And Ye Shall Find
5 Feb 2010 | 5:39 amSome of you know that on this blog I only post good things on Friday. By that, I mean “not negative.” As I told you in the beginning if we look for the good, we are likely to find it. Some days it is harder to find good than on others, but it is necessary for (at least for me) to try to see it. I figure, “Seek and ye shall find.” These last few weeks have been especially hard for me, because I have battled a lingering cold, exhaustion, and a certain ennui. In the rainy weather, all I have wanted to do is sleep! I’ve wanted to retreat from the world. I have also… -
Postmarks From The Heart
3 Feb 2010 | 6:00 amDo you want to send a Valentine card to your sweetie that has an envelope as exciting as the card? Or, do you have a wedding coming up and want to make the envelopes special? You can get a special “love-themed” postmark from several post offices around the USA. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, but you still have time (just barely) to add some pizzazz to the card for your sweetheart. All it will cost you is postage. For the postmasters in these romantic towns, this is truly a labor of love. The United States Postal Service has a full list of the towns with post…
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sex and the beach
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Love Found Its Way
5 Feb 2010 | 2:19 pmDid you notice the subtle change on the banner?There are things I'm getting used to these days, like when he hurriedly gets out of the driver's side to open the passenger door for me, or the roses he buys from the ambling sellers on Lincoln Road. Sometimes, I need getting used to the fact that he keeps his word or maybe it's something simple, like a text in the middle of the day to tell me he loves me. He looks into my eyes with such sincerity and yearning, I'm getting used to that as well. And the way he takes care of my heart, this is perhaps the newest thing of all, for I have never known… -
iPad For Single Women
29 Jan 2010 | 2:16 pmThey say the iPad is going to revolutionize the world. Well, let's take it one step further! Can someone put me in touch with Steve Jobs and Apple developers?here for a larger view. Please take a look at a slight edit in my blog header. This is a product I no longer need! But single ladies, don't worry -- I'm still going to write for you.You won't see me on the side of the bus! I AM THE BUS! A single woman's guide to chronic living on South Beach. -
Local: Is Burger Beast A Social Media Whore?
19 Jan 2010 | 9:31 amLearn all about the prolific burger eater, with some choice hardcore investigative questions by Carlos Miller. Shot live stream on Qik from my iPhone.Last Sunday, Sef Gonzalez, aka Burger Beast, held an event at Charm City Burger in Deerfield Beach. Burger Beast has been a lot on the radar lately, which is probably why Carlos Miller dubs him "social media whore." If you don't believe me, check out this long thread at Miami Beach 411, started by Soul of Miami, about what it really means to be a social media expert. It's better than a Jerry Springer show!But in truth, I think the friendly feud… -
Support Your Awesome, Talented Babes!
16 Jan 2010 | 11:24 amGratuitous sexy bikini shot. I'm not trying to bait you to vote for me. Not at all!Two honest plugs cancel out the shameless one, right?IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!I'm up for Post of the Year at South Florida Daily Blog. I've got some really good company here, folks, so please vote for the one post you think merits the honor. My posts are:#3 - Touring Little Havana with Dr. Paul George (Miami Beach 411)#4 - Super Sombrero Man Tows Car With Bike (Sex and the Beach)#7 - Miami Graffiti (Sex and the Beach)To vote, click here and scroll down to the pull-down poll menu. Make sure the post you want to vote… -
Sexcrunch: Fat People Booted From Dating Website
5 Jan 2010 | 11:53 amBig Brother is watching your waistline. Or at least the all-seeing community at Beautifulpeople.com, which recently banished 5,000 fatties to ugly land for posting pictures that revealed a bit too much of holiday pudge.Even though it sounds like a publicity stunt from a would-be Eugenics Society, that's exactly what happened, according to various sources.From Mashable:Those holding the reins blame members’ holiday overindulgences for their harsh actions and have been notifying former members via e-mail of their expulsion. Of course, all is not lost; should those same members get fit again,…
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verbatim
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The Food!
8 Feb 2010 | 4:23 pmMany months ago, various people recommended that I contact La Bonne Maison to cater Steph's Bat Mitzvah. I knew nothing about caterers, so I called. I spoke to Linda Marino, who waited patiently as I whined about how I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing for this party. She asked questions and listened carefully to my answers. I fretted that I wasn't the type to throw The Party of the Century, and she said, "Karen, just from talking to you today, I can tell that those who know and love you are not going to expect The Party of the Century. It sounds to me as though… -
The Ceremony*
7 Feb 2010 | 6:48 pm*aka Part 1 of the Bat Mitzvah recapWhen planning for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, there are certain things that are completely out of one's control. You can think through everything to the last detail, but in the end, there will or there won't be a snowstorm, there will or there won't be a stomach bug whipping through the family, and so on. Also on this list is your kid. Your thirteen-year-old, hormone-infused, moody, half-dependent/half-independent, half-baby/half-adult, unpredictable kid. As I described way back at the beginning of this journey, our rabbi assured us that every kid… -
Best. Day. Ever.
6 Feb 2010 | 6:09 pmToday was the best day of my entire life. Really. I promise to give lots of details in the next day or two, but for now I just want to say that I am so very proud of Steph and so very grateful to have spent her Bat Mitzvah day surrounded by family and friends. The above photo is not that great (why is my arm like that?), but the real ones from the photographer will be emailed to me tomorrow! Imagine! Anyhow, those of you who have been wondering about our various outfits, there you go. And here's what we looked like Friday night: I am absolutely exhausted, but so, so happy. The whole… -
Friday iPod Random Ten
5 Feb 2010 | 1:34 pm1. Civil War - Joe Henry2. Dead Egyptian Blues - Michael Smith3. Two Princes - Spin Doctors4. I'm Movin' On - Rosanne Cash5. These Days in an Open Book - Nanci Griffith6. Baseball - Sam Baker7. Sea of Heartbreak - Rosanne Cash & Bruce Springsteen8. California Dreamin' - The Mamas and the Papas 9. Jamaica Say You Will - Jackson Browne10. Memphis in the Meantime - Chris Smither -
36 Hours from Now
4 Feb 2010 | 7:42 pmI'm sorry I skipped blogging yesterday! Just too much going on. Today I took the girls to get their nails done and felt downright nauseous afterward. I was convinced I was coming down with the dreaded stomach bug just in time for our big weekend, but I feel fine now, so I think it was just the toxic fumes in the salon.Later we had our "walk through" with the rabbi, or as he describes it, "a very important meeting about very unimportant stuff." He says that everyone gets very worked up about where they'll stand, and who will say or do what, and they get so…
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"Am I mad, or is the world?"
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Humanitarians?
18 Jan 2010 | 10:44 amThis is a post dealing with a very touchy subject atm, the earthquake in Haiti. It is in such a state, for hundreds of thousands of individuals have lost their lives, and millions have ended up homeless, this is extremely tragic. Though this is not really different from discussing the issues in a war torn nation such as Iraq, where millions have been killed, and how many I don´t know, have had -
War in Peace?
16 Dec 2009 | 3:21 pmPerhaps this is too obvious to state (too late as well perhaps), but another Vietnam War has become very apparent in our current day and age. The 'wars' currently fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are manufactured goods coming from the military industrial complex based in The United States.This is something of great concern, for the world has basically become numb to the concept of war, because of -
This blog has not yet ceased to exist...
18 Jun 2009 | 4:53 amPatience: Muster enough of it and you soon realize that to not rush through life is a real virtue. -
Contramundi - Dazed & Confused
18 May 2009 | 11:23 pm -
New music at my Soundcloud
27 Feb 2009 | 3:20 amIt's been a while since I've updated this blog. So to get things going again check out my music HERE.
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Yes to Me - Lightworkers' Empowerment & Ascension
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Meat Eaters vs Vegetarians / Vegans
5 Feb 2010 | 6:00 amWhat is the best way to eat for the optimal health of yourself and Mother Earth? Can we really live without eating any animal products? Is vegetarian way of living really superior? There are four reasons why people choose to eat vegetarian, including more strict vegan and raw vegan way: Health: Animal products (meat, fish, dairy, eggs) are loaded with saturated fat and very acid-forming, therefore bad for our health. Environment / Sustainability: Cows don’t convert all the energies they get from their feed to their meat. A big portion is used for them to stay warm and to move around. Eating… -
How To Pray
2 Feb 2010 | 2:57 pmPrayer is an effective way to communicate your intention to Divinity. Unfortunately, however, some of us never learned how to pray, and some have been put off by the dogmatic approach of religion and are confused about prayers. So here is the basic of how to pray. (Photo credit) Format of a prayer In The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, and Belief, Gregg Braden analyzes the three-part sandwich format of a prayer: Opening Body Closing He explains how prayer works as the command code in the matrix, just as a piece of computer code works in the computer software. (For more about… -
Online Gratitude Journal January 2010 Edition #37
29 Jan 2010 | 11:06 amAre you having a great start of the year? Keeping up with your new year’s resolution? Time is speeding up and I can hardly believe one twelfth of the year is already gone. (Photo credit) January in review My big goal of this year is to write a book on Akashic Records. This will be published in the old fashioned way in print. The starseed series will be incorporated in the book, with some additions and updates. So I’m putting extra effort in completing this series. My another goal is to eat healthy and well. The Slow Down Diet that I reviewed was very influential to me. I want to pay… -
Starseeds: Arcturians
25 Jan 2010 | 7:00 amI’m putting in extra effort to complete this starseeds series. Sorry if you are not a fan of this New Age niche . . .I will be posting more general spirituality articles, too, so don’t un-subscribe — Yes to Me has something for everyone. (Photo credit) Arcturians, Earth’s guardians Arcturians come from the star system of Arcturus. There is a book called We the Arcturians, which was channeled by the non-incarnated Arcturians, but I have not read it yet. It is said Arcturians are the guardians of planet Earth. Arcturians have been watching us evolve for eons of time and… -
Starseeds: Polarians
17 Jan 2010 | 5:10 pmVery sorry to hear about the earthquake in Haiti. Not just to those people there, but this kind of change in Earth energy affects many of us. Here is my piece about another starseeds who are especially sensitive to such energetic shift. (Photo credit) The Earth’s axis and the North Star Polarians come from the star system of Polaris, the North Star. Our Earth’s axis used to point directly to Polaris. However, when Maldec, the planet that used to be where asteroids are located now, exploded, it affected other planets including the Earth. It is also said one Earth year (the time it takes to…
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Magpie Musing
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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
8 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmI was standing on line, waiting for my lunch, eavesdropping on the people in front of me. At one point, she said to him "oh, yeah, and they want it ay-sap" – which got me thinking. When you say ASAP out loud, do you say "ay-sap" or "ay-ess-ay-pee"? Or do you just say "as soon as possible", which, to me anyway, rolls off the tongue more easily? What about when you see it on paper and read it to yourself? How about WTF? Do you say "double-you–tee–eff" or "what the fuck"? "What the fuck" has 40% fewer syllables than saying each letter individually, and you get to speak that magically… -
Firsts
5 Feb 2010 | 2:31 pmHer first backpack has fallen by the wayside, a year and a half into her elementary school career. It's developed holes, and terminal grunge, and lining flakiness. I assumed it would last longer - somewhere I still have a backpack that I used in high school, and it looks nearly new. I tell you, things just aren't made like they used to. Planned obsolescence? I thought about returning it to Lands' End and invoking their unconditional guarantee, but guilt got the better of me, as it has been exceedingly well used. I did buy a replacement in a more dirt friendly pattern. She sent me her… -
Shiny Pretty Hearts and Things
3 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmPretty things attract the eye of the magpie from time to time. Like valentines, insanely cute, with no branded characters, and free for the printing. Alpha Mom rounded up a whole mess of them last year, and added more this year. I printed out these whimsical vibrant cards for the first grader to hand out; I'll bet you a nickel that no one else in her class will have the same valentines. And Japanese masking tape in a gazillion colors and patterns. I want it all, though I haven't any idea what to do with it. Decorate packages? Make collages? Create handmade greeting cards? I could live in my… -
Do You Wait In Line or On Line?
2 Feb 2010 | 2:20 pmSo, I know it’s partially my own damned fault, for waiting until the first of the month to buy my monthly train ticket. But, honestly, should it have taken waiting on line for thirty-five minutes, while I missed two trains home? Yesterday morning, the lines were so long that I’d have been late to work. In the evening, I arrived 21 minutes before my desired train, thinking – wrongly – that 21 minutes would be enough time. I couldn’t buy the ticket last week, because my office participates in the TransitChek program, and I didn’t have my TransitChek Visa card until the end of last… -
Eleven Into Fifty
29 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pmIn exactly eleven months, I'll be fifty. Yeah, whatever, but damn. Fifty? I'm not much for new year's resolutions - but fifty? It's that kind of round and divisible number that demands something, something big, special, tangible, memorable. The only time I've ever thrown a surprise party was for my mother's fiftieth birthday. Lauren (a/k/a Mental P Mama) is running a marathon for her fiftieth. And so, I've decided to mark my fiftieth year on this planet with a list of eleven things to accomplish. In no particular order, and with nary a nod to work or self-examination, here's my…
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Kam Family Blog - Life in Hawaii as we live and enjoy it!
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VIDEO: On the Sail of the Navy’s USS Santa Fe
31 Jan 2010 | 9:00 amI had the incredible opportunity of embarking on the USS Santa Fe Naval submarine as a distinguished guest this past Friday with social media friends Melissa Chang and Burt Lum. I’ll be posting more about the experience over the next week. However, thought I’d post some video (taken with my Canon Rebel EOS T1i) of us spending some time on the “Sail” as we cruised in waters off Oahu’s south shore. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. After crawling up the hatch, we stood on an area that seemed no bigger than 4′ x 5′…not… -
Dream of opening for Bon Jovi will become reality for two Hawaii bands
18 Jan 2010 | 9:01 pmPhoto courtesy of AEG Live I received a press release from my PR friend Tracy Larrua last week announcing the “Opening Act Contest” for Bon Jovi’s concerts in Honolulu next month and immediately though what a freaking amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this is going to be for two local bands. Then I thought about my intermediate and early high school days and how I would have died for an opportunity like this. Why? Well…the photo below will give you a hint. Yes, it’s true. I was a punk/metal headbanger in my younger years (only my closest friends and family… -
Mele Kalikimaka and Happy Holidays!
24 Dec 2009 | 7:00 pmFrom our family to yours, Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)! May the holiday season be filled with family, friends, fun, and great food (and beer)! Please click this link or the photo above to enjoy our holiday greeting to you! Warmest Aloha, Nathan, Kelly, Ensen, Jabbey, and Tikki Posted in Ensen (aka Little E), Family Fun -
Cool dude or cool chef?
16 Dec 2009 | 12:40 amRandom photos of Little E taken with the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Think he looks better as a cool dude or a cool chef? I might be biased, but I love both! -NGK Posted in Ensen (aka Little E) Tagged: Canon EOS Rebel T1i -
Got holiday sushi/sashimi platters?
14 Dec 2009 | 1:12 pmIf you follow this blog, you know the Kam family is a big fan of Therapy Sportsgrill in Koko Marina. My pal Regan sent me an email the other day alerting me the restaurant is doing sushi/sashimi platters this holiday season. Based on the photo above, anyone sporting this platter at their party would be nothing short of a rock star. Look at the variety! Platters range from $50 (for a small that feeds 10-15) to $100 (for a large that feeds 20-25). You can customize the platter any way you want…more hamachi, less salmon, add oysters…whatever you like! Why stress out in the kitchen…
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37days
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found-art tuesday : Quick! Grab Your Camera! They're everywhere!
9 Feb 2010 | 9:14 amQuick! Grab Your Camera! They're everywhere!I love found art. My camera is always with me, my beloved Canon S90, the one I bought recently to replace my beloved other much written about Canon Powershot. Always in the front pocket of my Scottevest along with an index card and a pen from the Graves 601 Hotel. Unrelated, but constant companions. And so I was delighted to be introduced to the work of Ruth Kaiser who is on a mission to help people find smiles in their days. She's collecting photos from folks all over the world who are finding smiles. These photos are all from her. Go, look at her… -
thinking thursday.
3 Feb 2010 | 9:31 pmmind :: my brain and yoursSelf-imposed constraints foster creativity.What is the optimal size of groups?My Bridging Differences book group has begun for 2010. With a Twitter component starting soon. Read with us.Playing to Learn.I like pictures.body :: my place and yours I want to see this painting in person.Perfect lasagne (vegetarian, not vegan). From one of my favorite food blogs. Perfect. Every. Time. And most importantly: EASY. QUICK. You know what makes it perfect? The nutmeg. And the eating part.I don't get what the big deal is. I put my pants on like this every morning.Technology… -
poetry wednesday : snow slam
2 Feb 2010 | 10:21 pmI don't really do snow. Ask my family. It snows, I stay inside by a DeLonghi portable heater with tiny handwarmers stuck inside the twittens Laurie Foley knitted for me, my neck swathed in the wool/silk blend scarf knitted for me by Aurora Fox. I don't like to be cold. My limbs are cold-prone. I'M A COLD WEATHER WIMP. I am a fan of the apres-ski, not the ski. There. I said it. Given that aversion to cold, and particularly to blizzard-type cold, where cold=wet and cold, it might come as some significant surprise that last Friday night IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD with impassable roads, I made… -
found-art tuesday : snow. light. see.
1 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pmThere is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. -Leonard CohenI love this photo taken by Mr Brilliant after our most recent snowstorm. What does it mean to change our perspective? To see through to something else? To find the opening that allows us to see new things? To see. Not just look, walk past, point a camera at. But see.We lose the ability to see. We see what we expect to see. Not what's really there. Or what could be. We rue the cracks ... when the cracks are the very thing that let the light in.We see snow on the surface of the ground, forgetting to look up.See. What… -
mindful monday : sit in.
1 Feb 2010 | 8:57 amToday is the 50th anniversary of the moment when people just like you and I said "enough." They sat. And because they sat, we live the lives we are living now. "Fifty years ago, on Feb. 1, four black college students sat down at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. The 'Greensboro Four,' along with friends and supporters, returned to the counter every day for six months until the lunch counter was desegregated." -NPRThose students were Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond.Here's to sitting. Here's to…
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It's my life...
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California Snow Day: A rip roaring success
8 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pmI showed up right on time for my snow day yard duties and dashed back out to the car to grab my camera. I had expected something neat, but what greeted me was cooler than I anticipated. An entire play yard covered in snow. The sun shining overhead. And a group of parents, waiting to make the afternoon magical. The kids all traipsed out, a motley crew in an assortment of winter wear - from the fully kitted out in snow gear to the ones, like C, outfitted in whatever their parents could piece together at the last minute. The joy on their faces was the same though. Sheer delight and instant… -
A different kind of snow day
7 Feb 2010 | 9:55 pmI found the gloves in the deep recesses of one of the suitcases we took to Ohio. The hat was shoved under a pile of outgrown clothes in the corner of the kids' room. And I'm hoping that her snow jacket is somewhere in my car.Tomorrow C has a snow day. Oh, not like the snow day that countless kids in the North East are having tomorrow. No, we do snow days differently out here. We don't have to shovel the drive, salt the roads, or plan countless indoor activities for home bound kids. Instead, on snow day we go to school and play in the snow.That's right. Tomorrow C's preschool is bringing in… -
Cirque du Soleil - Ovo - A circus and bugs of a different genre
5 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pmThanks to the wonderful people at the Cirque du Soleil and Silicon Valley Moms blog M and I were given the wonderful treat of attending the opening night of the new show Ovo. Opening night in San Jose that is, not first opening night ever.It was our first "real" Cirque experience. We saw Wintuk, a small family show that they put on a few winters ago in Madison Square Gardens, but this was a whole new experience.Once we got past the whole 'walk 8 blocks in the pouring rain' thing (reminding myself that at least we're not on snowpocalypse watch like our friends in the North East) and got into… -
Finding peace
3 Feb 2010 | 11:21 pmOn Monday I officially handed off one of my many jobs to the person who was taking over. A friend actually, who needed the work and was perfect for the job. So that turned out just perfectly. I called in on to one last editorial meeting and heaved a sigh of relief when I hung up. As much as I loved that job it came with a bucket of stress that I just couldn't handle any more. More stress than I had ever realized. Because let me tell you, after I hung up that phone the stress was gone and I felt light as a feather. I've felt like that ever since.It's been a great week. I haven't gotten any… -
Wordless Wednesday: A first dental visit
2 Feb 2010 | 9:55 pmWhat's that?You're going to do what with it?Oh. That's not so bad I guess.What are you talking about? This place is awesome.Oh yeah! You're right. This is great!Happy Wordless Wednesday!
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Lisa Sabin-Wilson
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Speaking at Think Tank Live! in Milwaukee
27 Jan 2010 | 11:45 amI am happy to announce that I am speaking at the Think Tank Live Search Marketing and Social Media Summit scheduled for February 23, 2010 in Milwaukee, WI. I will be presenting on the topic of building a niche community web site utilizing the free and dynamic software combination of WordPress and BuddyPress and how business, and individuals, can leverage the features and components to build a fully functional social community on your own web site. Exciting stuff! This conference will focus on educating people on how to utilize internet marketing and social media to drive strategic business… -
My name is Lisa and I love Brett Favre. There. I said it.
24 Jan 2010 | 12:46 pmGoing in to this weekend, I found myself planning my schedule of things to do around the game on Sunday afternoon at 5:40pm between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. How did I get to this place where I was scheduling everything around a football game? It’s been a long journey as citizen of the great state of Wisconsin, and with that comes a certain amount of Packer mania. That’s the Green Bay Packers, for those of you not following along with the great game of football. It’s also been a pretty lonely journey for me – as I am the only football fan in our… -
Renewing my Wisconsin Nursing License – 2010
2 Jan 2010 | 7:07 pm2 years ago, I wrote about the decision facing me in February 2008 on renewing my Wisconsin Registered Nurse license. It’s now 2010 and the decision faces me yet again, as it does every two years. Since leaving nursing in 2004, I’ve always made the choice to keep up my licensure – because you just never know what the future holds and after all that schooling, I really don’t feel like giving it up any time soon, even though I have not officially practiced as an RN since 2004. I look back to my post of August 10, 2004, the day I walked away from my 15 year career… -
A Very Bose Christmas
28 Dec 2009 | 9:36 amMy ears lost their innocence in 1990. I used to be a person who was just happy listening to music on whatever medium was available – - the car radio, my home stereo system, the loudspeakers at the mall – it didn’t really matter to me. Although, I am a musician – and a classically trained one at that – my ear was never really very picky when it came to consuming music for my entertainment. My ear only seemed to be MY worst critic, not anyone else’s. That is until 1989, when I married a true audiophile geek. If there is one thing to be said about my… -
Want to go to WordCamp NYC?? It’s on me!
8 Nov 2009 | 8:09 pmWith WordCamp NYC coming up next weekend – I’m catching that whole WordCamp spirit again. I have to say that I truly enjoy attending WordCamp and wish more WP users would attend, if they could. It’s really a great deal of fun just meeting, talking and sharing with other people within the user community – the benefits are undeniable…talk to anyone who has attended any WordCamp, anywhere – they’ll all say the same. It’s an experience not to be missed, if you can. So I’m headed to bed for the night after working on my presentation for…
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Random Musings of The Wild Mind
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No Name-Calling Week
27 Jan 2010 | 9:21 pmAnyone who’s been on a diet knows that you can resist foods of all kinds until the moment you decide to diet. Suddenly the cravings come out of nowhere, the urges arise and if you aren’t very careful and very disciplined, you are soon stuffing your mouth with all sorts of rubbish that never tempted you before. I’ve found this strange phenomenon to be present in another area this week. That is the area of name calling. This week is officially No Name-Calling Week. According to the event’s Facebook page the week is described in the following manner: No Name-Calling Week is an… -
About Those New Year’s Resolutions
23 Jan 2010 | 1:32 pmDid you make any New Year’s Resolutions this year? Did you set any goals that you’d like to work on for yourself? If you did, how are they coming along? Have you kept at it or have you, like so many others, found your enthusiasm waning as the year progresses and the gloomy, dark days of winter (sans the celebrations and plus the bills of the previous celebrations) drag on? If you’ve let up on pursuing your New Year’s Resolutions, it’s not to late to get back on track. Numbers, Measurements & A New Scale The other day a friend of mine… -
Saturday, Good For What Ails Ya
16 Jan 2010 | 5:28 pmI love Saturdays. Saturday is almost always the only day of the week that I can keep completely unscheduled, except for activities of my own choosing, for most of the year. Sandwiched nicely between Friday night, which usually kicks off my weekend with a celebration or retreat of sorts, and Sunday which finds me doing any number of things required to prepare a household for the upcoming week, Saturday is the one day I can almost always call my own. Saturday, is also that time of the week that I make certain I take some me time to check in, think about the week that just passed,… -
Disclaimers and Dementia
12 Jan 2010 | 9:50 pmDisclaimer: (Don’t you love that word…I do..it means “I’m making a big fatty excuse to be lazy and careless and sloppy in my writing…sort of…or it means…I’m going to break some rules…so, here goes!) I really don’t care if this post is SEO (Search Engine Optimized) or not. Well, okay, I care, but I know it probably won’t be because right now, I am writing from my heart and not for an audience. This could bode well for my stream of consciousness and my own well-being. It could suck where my blog stats are concerned. So be it. I think I just… -
Disconnected Musings
11 Jan 2010 | 11:29 pmCopyright 2009, The Wild Mind Four nearly completed (but totally unpolished and incoherent) posts later and it is clear I’m not posting a thing of worth tonight. There’s just too much going on in my mind. Really, really too much. It’s disjointed. It’s random. It’s deep. It’s trivial. It’s about everything and nothing. It’s totally disconnected mostly. It looks like this: Strands of thoughts from a fellow blogger’s blog who confessed she dreams in advance about things that happen to other people, a dream last night that…
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Stuffleufagus
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Competing with a cause
20 Jan 2010 | 8:51 pmGo do a Google search for hostingforhaiti (go ahead – it will open in a new tab/window). There are, as I write this, over 330 results. This morning there were ten – and all related to “did you mean ‘hosting for haiti’?” No, I meant hostingforhaiti, or the twitter hash-tag “#hostingforhaiti” – over 325 results. Ten hours CAN make a difference. In ten hours we got 15 hosting companies (my industry – and full disclosure, I work for Rackspace) together for a great cause. Each company is donating in their own way – and at a… -
Social Media – The Double-Edged Sword
5 Jan 2010 | 10:48 pm“Social Media” is amazing in how it lets you meet your customers – on their terms. It has changed the way business is done. There is no hiding from your flaws. Everything is “open”. Social media is very much the open sourcing of traditional PR and Marketing. And as powerful as it is – you need to realize what it means. If you want to “control your brand” then social media will scare the crap out of you. If you want to understand your brand, it is invaluable. When my employer suffers even a small failure in even a fraction of a… -
Why Twitter needs business accounts – and why I will pay for one.
20 Dec 2009 | 7:28 pmI’ve had great success with Twitter – both with finding new people and places and times to talk to them – customers, potential customers – and more importantly talking to customers when they are feeling pain. I’ve also met great friends – and had great fun along the way. Twitter is a Petri dish – you can feed in an idea and in seconds you can see if it is growing, or ignored. If it is growing, nurture it – otherwise butcher it. That was Twitter just six months ago. Recently Twitter spam-bots are killing the effectiveness of customer… -
Shitheads and Shitstorms – or, “Sometimes people are just no damn good”
17 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmThe “or” title of this post came from my visit to a local grocery chain where one day a fake haired, fake boobs, fake human BITCH pushed a nice little old lady because she was trying to find the olives her husband liked – and she was taking a bit of time to do so. This fake human was in a hurry, on her cell phone, and evidently far too important to be kept waiting – and she SHOVED an elderly woman! When I helped the woman regain her balance (and yelled at the fake human) the nice old lady looked at me and smiled, and said, “That’s ok, son. Sometimes… -
I support Rackspace – if you have an issue call me. Any time.
12 Dec 2009 | 9:03 pmI’ve tried to keep my job off my blog – for the most part. But trying to separate who I am from who I work for is silly. This blog is NOT an official Rackspace property – want to make that clear. Also want to make it clear that I do NOT want this blog to be a support channel for Rackspace. And it doesn’t need to be. For over a year I have shared my cell phone and personal phone numbers on Twitter. If you are a Rackspace customer with issues, or a potential customer with questions – I want to talk to you. You don’t need to be Techcrunch, or Chris…
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The Art of Manliness
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The Perfect Valentine’s Day Menu: The Have Her Over for Dinner Cookbook Giveaway
8 Feb 2010 | 8:28 pmImage from Ellynkocher Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Matt Moore, author of Have Her Over for Dinner. See below for details on how to win a signed copy of Matt’s cookbook. Share Amber Jones, 6th Grade, and Valentine’s Day. I can remember it like it was just yesterday. You see, up to this point in my life, Valentine’s Day was an exciting holiday that meant cards, and most importantly, candy from friends and loved ones. In grade school, our teachers required us to write notes to the entire class, ensuring that everyone was equally appreciated. The stresses of defining… -
The 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America
8 Feb 2010 | 12:28 pmEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Harry R. Burger. Mr. Burger joined the Cubs Scouts at six years old and has now been involved with Scouting for 20 years. He earned his Eagle in 2001. Share Today marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. For the past century, the Boy Scouts of America has been a premier organization for teaching boys to be good men. In addition to camping and outdoors skills, boys are taught leadership, character, citizenship, and service to others. They also have fun while they are doing it – after all, middle and high school… -
The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle
7 Feb 2010 | 9:08 pmWe get a lot of emails from men lamenting the fact that they feel stuck in neutral and asking for advice. Many of these men have great aspirations, but that’s all they have. Aspirations. Many don’t have any results to show for all their ambitious goals in life. Some are on year seven of a four year degree, and others are stuck in a job that’s going nowhere. Maybe you know a man like this. Heck, maybe you feel like this. Unfulfilled goals, of couse, can lead to frustration, depression, and just a general dampening of your man spirit, which only makes it harder to get… -
Manvotional: The Right Kind of People
6 Feb 2010 | 10:53 pmThe Right Kind of People By: Edwin Markham Gone the city, gone the day, Yet still the story and the meaning stay: Once where a prophet in the palm shade based, A traveler chanced at noon to rest his mules. “What sort of people may they be,” he asked, “in this proud city on the plains o’erspread?” “Well, friend, what sort of people whence you came?” “What sort?” the packman scowled; “why, knaves and fools!” “You’ll find the people here the same,” the wise man said. Another stranger in the dusk drew near, And… -
Man Knowledge: The Greek Philosophers
4 Feb 2010 | 8:27 pmEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Ernesto Fernandez. Ernesto is a graduate student in the Philosophy Department of Biscayne College at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, FL. So there you are, deadlocked in the men’s underwear section, torn between the solid and striped cotton boxer-briefs and wondering which one Chuck Norris would buy. And then you remember: Chuck Norris doesn’t wear underwear, just two pairs of pants. Oh, how low we’ve fallen. Once upon a time, men called on their knowledge of the great, introspective minds of history to inform their…
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Going The Wong Way
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The Perfect One
27 Jan 2010 | 12:14 amSearch for anything of substance, and you will find that it is quite easy to start believing that there is only one option that will satisfy. And even though it is near impossible to tell whether you have exhausted all possibilities in the world, you know that you will immediately recognize that Perfect One. The Perfect One is the ideal that you have in your mind of whatever it is that you are looking for. It is going to be recognized and apparent. You are sure of this. Far be it from me to doubt that you could possibly know this for sure. For example when you are dating, you are looking for… -
The Origin Of Things
14 Jan 2010 | 12:14 amGiven enough time, we rather forget about the origin of things. That reminds me of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy where the novels are set thousands of years in the future, and the things that we know about now have by then become so far removed so as to be thought myth. They could not fathom the planet that we live on, and they could barely remember that they had originated from Earth. Even when we are not so far removed from the origin of things we begin to see disagreements about the facts. As time moves on, opinions diverge. Sometimes no opinion even leads to the truth. Sometimes… -
Namesake
30 Dec 2009 | 8:41 amAmelia Earhart’s parents must not have been at all surprised by the career that she chose. Hopefully the outcome is more positive than her namesake’s, though. Oh well, I guess that everyone needs to have a “thing” huh? Late breaking news! There is a huge surge in babies named Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffet. Later breaking news! All of that wealth still makes it quite hard to get through the eye of that needle. -
Just A Word
22 Dec 2009 | 2:20 pmGrowing up, I heard the children’s rhyme: Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me It was assumed that this saying would protect us from other people’s mean words. And when you’re a young child, it is easy to trick yourself into believing it. But then you get older and you realize the truth. Words are, in fact, more powerful than physical pain. Physical pain definitely has its place. Broken bones, strained joints, diseases, and so on are all painful and uncomfortable (to say the least) to go through. But all of that pales in comparison to the… -
The Government Union
12 Dec 2009 | 12:40 amI have frequently heard people advocating government jobs. That is, the people that I know will talk about how good it is to be a government employee. They talk about the pension, benefits, and job security, to name a few. All of these things are true. But just as the unions will get you in the private sector, so also will the unions affect the public sector. Sometimes the unions in the government are organized, but one could make a case for the entire federal government being one gigantic union that stands against their employer (aka the American people). In a USA Today article, we find out…
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Hole In The Donut Travels
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Blogging Boomers Carnival #148 Hosted by Contemporary Retirement
8 Feb 2010 | 6:12 amWondering what’s on the minds of the best bunch of baby boomers to ever hit the Internet? Ann at Contemporary Retirement is the host for our Blogging Boomers Carnival this week, and she’s put together a smokin’ summary of posts for your review. Check it out! -
From Traitor to Nobel Laureate – the Work of Jane Addams is Chronicled at Chicago’s Historic Hull House Museum
7 Feb 2010 | 6:55 amJane Addams, photo courtesy of University of Illinois Jane Addams attracted national attention when, with with her friend Ellen G. Starr, she founded Chicago’s Hull House in 1889. The facility was located on the city’s near west side, in a densely urban neighborhood populated primarily by struggling immigrants. Modeled after the settlement houses in London, the mission of Hull House was to assist immigrants by providing a center for a civic and social life, improve the quality of education, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago. Hull… -
Hope in a Changing Climate – Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in China, Ethiopa, and Rwanda
2 Feb 2010 | 10:30 amEfforts to improve the situation of indigenous peoples through restoration of the environment is one of the most intriguing stories to emerge from travel. One of the organizations doing important work in this field, the Environmental Educational Media Project, produced the documentary Hope In A Changing Climate, which promotes the enormous potential of restoration. Screened at the COP 15 climate change summit in Copenhagen last December and subsequently aired by the BBC, the film follows soil scientist John D. Liu, who for the past 15 years has been documenting changes on China’s remote… -
Blogging Boomers Carnival #147 Hosted by the Baby Boomer Entrepreneur
1 Feb 2010 | 8:22 amIt’s Monday and that means it’s time for another Blogging Boomers Carnival, our weekly collection of posts written by some of the Internet’s most fascinating baby boomers. Check out reviews of this week’s posts at our most excellent host, The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur. -
Why I (Probably) Won’t Buy an Apple iPad
30 Jan 2010 | 6:42 amI’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Apple’s new iPad because I was absolutely convinced it would be a “must have” product for me. As I watched the Keynote event where Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad this past Wednesday, I was initially very impressed. iPad's 9.56 inch high by 7.47 inch wide touch screen can be used in portrait or landscape orientation The sleek design and giant touchpad screen had me salivating. Since I’m an avid reader, I’d intended to buy a Kindle before leaving on my next extended trip, which would eliminate the need to carry…
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FlowerDust.net | Anne Jackson
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A Decade and an Earthquake Later
9 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amWhen I turned twenty, I was your typical former pastor’s kid living in rebellion – alcohol, clubs, bands, and a peer group nobody’s parents would approve of. Two months before my twentieth birthday, I had just ended a long term relationship – a month before we were supposed to get married. It was rough. I remember returning home the night of my twentieth birthday after having friends visiting throughout the week. My apartment door was wide open and nobody was inside. Littered on the floor were liquor bottles and pizza boxes. It took me three trips to the shared… -
The Fear of the Disciples and The Fear of Me
8 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am“Follow me.” As I read through the Scriptures, whenever Jesus said “follow me” there was never any itinerary. He never said, “Follow me, and we’ll be staying at Martha’s house. She’ll make us a killer pot roast.” He never said, “Follow me, and I promise you won’t get sick or be hurt.” He never said, “Follow me, and we’ll be gone for a week, come back for a few days to do laundry and get our feet washed, and then we’ll set out again for another week.” He simply said… “Follow me.”… -
How Can I Pray for You?
5 Feb 2010 | 8:48 amSometimes, when my writer’s brain is empty and there aren’t blog posts streaming from my fingers, I take that as a sign that I need to shut up a little bit and reflect and refill. As I take some time to do that over the next few days, how can I pray for – or celebrate – with you? Feel free to leave your requests in the comments section or pass this along to a friend you know who might need some encouragement and prayer from others. Let’s have this weekend be a little more intentional – a little more focused – on carrying each others’ burdens and… -
When’s the Last Time You…
4 Feb 2010 | 4:54 pmI have been a vocal opponent of the iPhone since it came out. I’ve been a Blackberry girl since before you were born. I swore I’d never get an iPhone. Ever. Then a friend gave me one. Free. So…I tried it for a few months, and we didn’t like each other. And AT&T…well, as they say – there’s a map for that. I broke my contract (rejoicing!) and moved over to Sprint. The iPhone went to South Africa I got a Palm Pre. And, I didn’t like it. The battery lasted 45 seconds. So, taking advantage of the 30-day swap policy, I went back to a Blackberry. -
What’s Your “One Thing?”
4 Feb 2010 | 9:28 amWhat’s the one thing in your life that God’s asking you to get rid of? That one habit? That one character trait? That one dream — that may be yours — but isn’t his? My one thing is getting my way. I like having things go my way. Like my cell phone should work internationally and my mail should be here on time and the person behind the counter should be nice and I should be able to eat cupcakes every day without gaining weight. I think that’s called entitlement. It must break. So… What is your one thing? Related posts:one thing i have learned today:…
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DivineCaroline Home Page
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Seven Things to Remember to Do Before a First Date
9 Feb 2010 | 10:17 amA friend of mine has been dabbling in online dating, or, as he put it,... -
Ten Days Gone
9 Feb 2010 | 10:01 amFrom my office I can watch the leaves fall upon the deck and melt in..... -
Nicole Kidman Speaks Up for the Say No Campaign
9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 amKicking off last November, the Say No-Unite to End Violence Agai... -
An Insurance Policy for Your Gadgets
9 Feb 2010 | 12:30 amThe last thing you want to hear when your cell phone slips out of your... -
When to Quit
9 Feb 2010 | 12:30 amThe year 2009 was so tumultuous for everyone, can we please just sleep...
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MWGblog
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Great iPhone WordPress Theme Plugin With AdSense
1 Feb 2010 | 1:06 pmEver since the advent of the iPhone, I’ve always tried to have an iPhone optimized theme for my sites. For the last 2 plus years I’ve been using the iWPhone plugin for WordPress. It did the job with a simple straight forward approach. However recently, I switched to WPtouch. This plugin is a power house. It also provides a feature I’ve always wanted for my mobile themes – Google AdSense integration. More on that in a minute. (Click on images below to see close-ups.) To start it lets you set up a simple theme and then, when you are ready, you can really dig in an customize all… -
Top Chef Timer
11 Dec 2009 | 11:29 amMy wife wants the timer used on Top Chef for Christmas. I figured, easy enough, I’ll just go to Google and find it. Turns out it really takes some digging to get from “Top Chef Timer” or “Top Chef Red Clock” to the actual unit but if you are looking for one as well, here it is on Amazon. -
EFF Takes on VoloMedia Podcast Patent
19 Nov 2009 | 11:35 amThe Electronic Frontier Foundation has added the VoloMedia podcast patent to it’s “Most Wanted” style list for its Patent-Busting Project. I wrote about this patent back when it was first announced. As expected, there is now some movement in challenging it. Specifically, the EFF is looking for examples of prior art: “evidence that the podcasting methods described in the patent were already in use before November 19, 2003.” You can read the whole story over at the EFF. (I was only half joking when I said I was “adding podcasting/episodic media expert witness… -
New Beta Retweet Feature on Twitter
18 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pmThe new beta retweet feature showed up in my Twitter account today. Here is a quick rundown. Retweets using this function show up with a small square arrow icon and the profile picture from the person who originally posted the tweet. Nice feature, the original tweeter “gets credit.” The retweeter is listed along the bottom. When you want to retweet, the option is provided in the bottom right corner. Twitter asks you to confirm this action. For people who also have the beta retweet function enabled they will see the retweet in their timeline with icon display as shown above. In the… -
New Podcast Academy Content
15 Nov 2009 | 10:54 pmWe’ve started posting more content to the Podcast Academy site. If you’re looking for great presentations about all things podcasting and new media be sure to check it out. Recent episodes include Automating Your Podcast Workflow, Podcasting in Higher Education, Building a Television Studio in your Basement and one from Steve Garfield entitled: Videoblogging in 5 Steps. BTW if you in need of a great podcasting microphone check this out. Auction ends todays.
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My Blog
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Almost There....
6 Feb 2010 | 4:41 pmAh... the end is in sight.I am almost done with the Suzhou travel guide I’ve been working on for the past several months. The text is just about complete now, with only a couple of gaps to fill in here and there, and a little bit of tweaking, poking, and proofreading to do.This week, some of my family members will arrive to spend Chinese New Year with me. I’ve been putting in a lot of effort to have the text of the travel guide done before they get here, and it looks like I’ll finish ahead of the schedule I’d planned. I’m glad for that, as I wasn’t sure I was even going to get it… -
Hit (or Miss) List, January ’10
31 Jan 2010 | 5:12 amJanuary was another good month for catching up on a lot of reading I’ve left dangling for a while. I made a little more progress on my Fill in the Gaps list and on the books I hope to read this year.Here’s what I’ve been reading and watching in January:Hit List • House of Many Ways (Diana Wynne Jones) • 2001 and 2010 (movies) • The Return of the King (movie) • Intrinsic Night (J. E. Stanley and Joshua Gage) • The Book of Salt (Monique Truong) • Dwarf Stars 2009 (Deborah P. Kolodji and Stephen M. Wilson, ed.) • Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster (Mark McLaughlin and… -
Instructional Videos for Poets
23 Jan 2010 | 10:34 pmI was kind of surprised to come across these instructional videos for poets at The News Room. Looks easy enough, doesn’t it?(Visit HubPages for my thoughts on what it takes to write haiku — it’s just a very brief overview) -
In Review
17 Jan 2010 | 4:46 pmI like the way madameblogalot reviewed her blogging year of 2009. I know I’m a little late to the party, but I thought it would be fun to do the same thing.Problem is, this blog got interrupted in the middle of the year, and I lost all of my earlier posts. But, I do have a couple of other blogs that I thought would be fun to review. So, here are the reviews of what’s been going on at Peregrine Online and Tai Shan. I’ll do the review by posting the first sentence of the first post for each month.JanuaryPeregrine Online: This is exciting. Tai Shan: It has been fun looking at the arts… -
With an Agenda
9 Jan 2010 | 4:00 amI don’t usually have a real agenda for my reading, unless there are certain texts assigned for work. For the most part, I just make my way through my books (several at a time) as I feel like it. Last year, I signed up over at the Fill in the Gaps blog to join other bloggers in reading 100 books by the end of 2015 (each reading his or her own list). These books will be for the “gaps” between my regular reading schedule. I like the idea, and so far have enjoyed the experience of sticking with a loose idea of things I’d like to finish reading in the near future, but without having a…
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VirtualWayfarer - A Place For Intellectual Musings
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Sailing the Belize Barrier Reef – Day 2 and 3
4 Feb 2010 | 11:12 amThe following morning we struck camp; laughing at the slow, stiff movements and pained, hungover looks that plagued our group. The tents proved every bit as difficult to break down as they had been to put up leading to small frustrated mutterings and no small shortage of lighthearted teasing. We paused briefly for breakfast, then began transferring bags, sheets, tents and bodies back onto the cramped confines of the Ragga Queen before saying goodbye to the Island and its surprising wealth of local wild life. As the boat gently drifted away from the Island I was once again taken by its small… -
Sailing the Belize Barrier Reef
2 Feb 2010 | 10:38 amThe morning was damp. The occasional sprinkle fell to challenge our merry mood. Despite the weather’s best efforts we could sense that the storm had blown itself out and was able to but threaten more rain, clouds and wind. The cold front had claimed its three windswept days and now the cycle began anew with sun breaking through the clouds on the horizon with rays of golden light. The trip I’d booked was the three-day two night Raggamuffin Sailing trip from Caye Caulker, down through the Cayes and along the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world to the small peninsula town of… -
Arizona Travel Blogger Meet Up!
29 Jan 2010 | 2:04 pmHowdy friends, it has gradually come to my attention that Arizona is an often overlooked powerhouse for independent, travel minded bloggers and travel based social media personalities. Many of us cross paths online via twitter, blogs or social forums on a regular basis – but seldom put 2 and 2 together/meet face to face. For a group that highly values social interact, meeting new friends and stories of adventure, this just doesn’t strike me as acceptable. The solution? An Arizona Travel Blogger meet up. I’m not talking about anything fancy – just coffee or a beer, a… -
Design Updates and Why You Shouldn’t Host With Ipower
28 Jan 2010 | 8:52 pmFirst The Good There have been a number of major, but subtle changes made to the site over the past month. My hope is that while subtle, that these changes will drastically increase your viewing and navigating experience while on the site. The most obvious of these changes is site performance based. I’ve spent the last few weeks transferring all of my hosted websites off of my previous host – Ipowerweb – a company I was with for over 7 years and had, unfortunately recommended for years. This also has to do with the bad – which I’ll get into in greater… -
Caye Caulker – Pictures, Video and Local Cuisine!
25 Jan 2010 | 2:42 pmHaving already mentioned my delightful case of food poisoning in my previous post, I’ll refrain from re-telling the story and instead focus on a few snapshots I took around Caye Caulker during my remaining two days on the island. You’ll note that the photos are often a bit dark and gray. This is due to the large cold front which was rolling through the region. Despite the gray clouds, slightly cooler weather and rain it was still enjoyable – though it was cool enough to merit a light jacket from time to time. With a water bottle in hand and slightly pale tint to my…
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No Pasa Nada
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The Letter B
8 Feb 2010 | 6:34 pm“Friends are relatives you make for yourself.” ~Eustache Deschamps I know you didn’t ask but my weekend was wonderful. Alana turned Amazing Years Old and to celebrate her husband, Matthew, threw her a fete fit for her lovely self. Now I, being the misanthrope that we all know and try like hell to love, had misgivings about attending this party. Though Bill and his wife would be there for me to lean on along with Alana’s sister whose face lit up when she saw me and went in for that full body hug; I was still nervous. I can’t help it and I’ve finally… -
My descent into fogydom
31 Jan 2010 | 5:39 pm“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” ~Mark Twain First of all, quick story: I’m sitting in my office Friday afternoon when Peg pops in to tell me that she’s written something to guest post. Actually let me back up further than that to the morning when I was at the Opthamologist. A coworker texted me to tell me how ‘cute’ my mother looked that day. I was half blind due to dilated pupils so I was like, uh, sure. I got into work later and my mother stops by. There she is with skinny jeans tucked into… -
Hot Mess
19 Jan 2010 | 5:56 pm“My life has a superb cast but I can’t figure out the plot.” ~Ashleigh Brilliant Things have been a little light here lately, no? Perhaps it’s the early darkness that causes me to retreat to my bed with episodes of Arrested Development by my side at 5:30 PM. Also, I have recently discovered some fantastic technology wherein I can order sushi from under the covers. But it begs the question: If I can get lo mein, eel rolls, pizza and a bucket of chicken delivered to my front door at the ready, why cannot I not get a nice bottle of Malbec by my bed in 15 minutes or… -
Oh look at her with one of her ‘problems’ again…
16 Jan 2010 | 5:28 pm“Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions.” ~Brendan Francis Don’t think that I didn’t exaggerate and roll my eyes when putting those air quotes around ‘problem’. Oops, I did it again. Also don’t think that now isn’t really the time for me to be coming to the Internet with a ‘problem’ that isn’t so much a problem as it is a nuisance because there was an earthquake several days ago. And ever since then I’ve been a weepy mess and then my Aunt Flo came to visit and I thought that would make me… -
Let’s call this a comeback
1 Jan 2010 | 8:13 am“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~Bill Vaughan I was in the middle of some long ass piece of wistful deep hearted writing about the last 10 years. About how I used to be 16 and now I’m 26 and holy shit that’s a mighty jump. It was going to be about how much has happened and the sheer balls and heartache and abject fear that went into it all. How everything happens for a reason and it would be tied up in a neat little bow with some lesson at the end. Something about how much…
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Suebob's Red Stapler
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Boom boom out go the lights
8 Feb 2010 | 5:30 pmI'm not a particularly speedy driver. I'd rather have a decent amount of following distance than get somewhere 15 seconds faster.I KNOW. I have been ready for old age since I was 12.When I'm getting on the freeway, though, I feel it is imperative to enter the roadway at freeway speed. I've never been able to figure out people who toodle down the onramp at 30 mph, with that casual "no particular place to go" insouciance.I wonder if they see me back there, screaming "WILL YOU SPEED UP, YOU MORON? DON'T YOU KNOW WE ARE GOING TO BE CRUSHED BY A SEMI?"?So it was with some level of irritation that… -
Kill it yourself
8 Feb 2010 | 1:13 pmI am a vegetarian. A lily-livered, bleeding-heart, do-gooder vegetarian. Everyone expects me to be squeamish, and I will admit that sometimes I get a little woogy while shopping for my parents in the meat section of the supermarket.I also get ooged out by handling meat. I have a hard time thinking of the stuff that runs out as "juices," because when I cut myself, "juice" does not run out. Animal juice is just like people juice to me, and I don't like people juice very much.But you know what I don't have a problem with? Hunting. And raising your own animals and killing them yourself.If you… -
Life in surferland
5 Feb 2010 | 11:29 amI saw this guy's bike surfboard rack and thought it was so cool that I geeked out and asked him if I could take photos of it. He was cooperative and wanted to tell me all about it.He said it's not just eco-friendly and economical - it has another advantage:"If it's cold and you drive down to the beach, you get out and of the car and you're cold," he said. "And then if it's big [the waves] and you have to paddle out, you're all stiff and not warmed up."But if you ride your bike to the beach, even if it's cold, you're warm when you get here and you're ready to go surf!"I don't surf but I love… -
I worry for the future
4 Feb 2010 | 8:54 amI got this spam comment:Good brief and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you on your information. If this person is truly in college, God help us all.And a gratuitous pic of two cute dogs riding in a truck:Why no archives, Suebob? Why just one post on the first page? All will be revealed soon. Sorry for the interruption of your service. -
In which I find my people
2 Feb 2010 | 4:10 pmI covered an awards luncheon today. I introduced myself to the people at the table beforehand so they knew a spy was in their midst.Here's how it went down: first there was a speech.Then there were awards.Then there were thanks. Lots and lots and lots of thanks.Then a representative of a local politician gave the awardees certificates.Then another representative of a local politician gave the awardees certificates.Then another representative of a local politician gave the awardees certificates.The priest at the table with me, with whom I had swapped jokes earlier, turned to the rest of us and…
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To Think Is To Create
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A Star Hung On My Soul Sky
2 Feb 2010 | 10:37 amI’m in the car on the way to the doctor. I feel catatonic…is it possible I’m really on my way to do what I am on my way to do? Husband asks a question, I think I answer, but he asks again. I attempt to answer, again. I can’t speak. Can’t blink. All parts of this reality, this life as a mother with a baby in her womb who was kicking one second and is now passed away, are fake to me. I stare out onto the street because I’m grasping for something tangible. That tree, that car, that building. As it blurs by, I watch it and will it to ground me. To… -
On Dreaming
28 Jan 2010 | 9:30 amI looked at the calendar today, counting the days. Has it only been three weeks? How is that possible? Last night was another one. A dream. One of those. Those really really good dreams, but the kind that you wake up from feeling so sad. The kind you don’t want to wake up from, because they are perfect. The kind that you know were never meant to be. Some nights the dreams are my life as if nothing had happened three weeks ago. I am still pregnant in that world, womb swelling along with my ankles. Kicks getting stronger, life seeming right. I would be almost 22 weeks now,… -
Our Walk
26 Jan 2010 | 10:58 amThe crunch under boots, whining about the sun in their eyes, left over rain water running down the street, it escapes to the drains. We are on a walk. Living out in the sticks means a “walk” is more of a hike through this low country, and an outing that requires water and an extra diaper shoved in the back pocket (just in case). There will likely be injuries, most likely tears, to the knee and to the heart (because mama didn’t pack snacks). There will be weird finds, and most likely mud. We will dredge through all of it, for the journey. Boy learns about gooey slug… -
Links for 2010-01-21 [del.icio.us]
22 Jan 2010 | 12:00 amHaiti - Compassion International You can help... -
A Life Altered
20 Jan 2010 | 7:14 pmI sit on the porch, watching the blue sky — it is much more blue than ever before. I can’t be mistaken, can I? This really is the bluest ever. Those clouds over there, the white puffy way that they appear, grow and mold, and dissipate into the next as they race across the sky. They seem faster than ever before. The way the wind goes through those tall trees. The lower leaves are blowing, the upper leaves are not. Wind is only touching the parts it wants to move. Each of these things cross my mind and marinate. Sit a while. I have time now, because most other things…
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Kevin Charnas
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Happy Birfday, Kevin! You Silly, Stank-Ass Bish!! Dang... No, I din't.
9 Feb 2010 | 9:39 amSo, Saturday was my Birfday. The day of my Birf. The day in which I was birfed. And it was grand. I shall tell you a bit about it in a pending post, but until then, I wanted to share with you two things that two different friends shared with me for that day.First of all, some hipster Disney Carolers singing "Happy Birfday" to me. Indirectly through another "Kevin" from Connecticut - thus the crazy "Connect-ect-ect-ect-ti-cut-cut" at the end of their rendition. But, otherwise, I'm certain that they were just singing this to me. Thanks, LeLannie!And another friend sent this "Promissory" wisdom. -
The Sound of Potential
9 Feb 2010 | 7:50 am"By golly, I'll give it my all as well." ~ Patrick's FatherFather and son - two total badasses...(And speaking of heroes, thank you for this contribution, Mom!)**************************** -
If She Only Had A Brain...
9 Feb 2010 | 7:10 amSo yes, Sarah Palin is greedy. She's a hypocrite. And she's a quitter...She actually reminds me of a big piece of bubble gum that's been chewed too long. She's still pretty to look at, but there's no flavor there. Just something to stick under the desk or throw in a hillbilly's big hair.On her left palm - the following words scrawled in black ink: "Energy, Budget cuts (with "budget" crossed out), Tax, Lift American Spirits." In an ironic twist during the speech, Ms. Palin worked in a jab against President Obama's often-mocked use of TelePrompTers. (source)And she mocks the President for using… -
Super Balls and Balls-On-Balls
8 Feb 2010 | 3:50 pm****************************** -
I Dared To Dream
5 Feb 2010 | 11:12 amOkay, so... the other night, I had a dream about a friend of ours, Eden Marriott Kennedy Onassis over at Fussy. We're friends from when Will and I lived in Santa Barbara.We're not like old time drinking buddies, or been through hell and back together kind of friends, but more friends in the general sense. For instance, Will climbed up a ladder into their home when Eden, Miss Kennedy Onassis if you're nasty (And Janet Jackson means that in a good way, if you're not following me), was accidentally locked out of the place when her husband Jack inadvertently drove off with the keys. And then, I…
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iVillage - This Fish
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mightily
8 Feb 2010 | 9:25 amI was putzing around on Facebook the other day and discovered that my old running buddy, Bob, got engaged last month. And I will not lie, I was totally crestfallen. On my Feelings Meter (where one end is labeled with glittery gold lettering, "Happy for Bob! Yay!" and the other with, "Crazy Jealous Like a Pathetic Stereotypical Chick Lit Cat Lady"), the indicator is decidedly right of center, and fluttering wildly.Engagement is a sensitive topic in our household. See, I don't give a rat's ass about tradition and I don't really care for the whole formal proposal with three months salary riding… -
when all you got going for you is streaming netflix and a snuggie
6 Feb 2010 | 8:53 amSometimes I miss waking up in New York. Especially on the weekends when I want to do something and nothing all at the same time. The City is good for sublime adventures in nothingness. An iced coffee and a meander in Central Park. The man behind the bodega counter always seemed a bit relieved to see me, maybe because my presence meant that the pot of room-temperature joe wouldn't go to waste on winter days when the sky was sulking. A dollar twenty-five beginning to an afternoon of bliss. And when you've got $4.28 in your checking account, even that feels a little like decadence.I miss New… -
talk amongst yourselves
1 Feb 2010 | 11:26 amI had a fitful night's sleep, finally waking five minutes after my alarm should have gone off (helps if you set it, I guess). Deliriously tired, I headed downstairs to let Jillian Michaels give me a good ass-kicking before work and when we got to the punching part I felt this funny little jolt of optimism. Like, "Oh, yeah, this is going to feel good." I'm never just punching air -- it's usually some imaginary offender. Like, that lady who has absolutely no idea what a yield sign means. Or that ex-coworker of mine. The one who could not shut up. Ever. This morning, though, I wasn't in need of… -
not the feelings-suppression age
28 Jan 2010 | 10:07 amYesterday I purchased plane tickets for my sister's wedding. I did not get a sweet deal. And if prices come down before our travel date, I hope to be blissfully unaware of it. Buyer's remorse is the worst. Wait, I take it back. Buyer's remorse runs a tight second to One Night Stand remorse, followed closely by I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing remorse - a trilogy which beautifully sums up a weekend I once spent in Florence, Italy. But you know, that's kind of a long story.The wedding is going to be one of those awesomely warm fuzzy events, not just because it's full of mushy I Do love… -
of saints and vikings
25 Jan 2010 | 9:37 am"You're breaking the house rules!""House rules?" I raised my eyebrows at him and propped myself up on the couch with my sore elbow, adding a wince to the eyebrow raise. "What house rules would those be?""I'm the man of the house and I determine who we root for in the football!""The football?""You know what I mean."What did I care, Saints from Vikings? Absolutely not a bit. But when the latter scored a touchdown to tie up the game yet again, I made the mistake of letting out a, "There ya go!" with just a little too much enthusiasm. Look, I just like a close game. In playoff football - where…
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CrazyAuntPurl
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Bold return of the crazy camera lady eminent, bring two double-A batteries, stat!
9 Feb 2010 | 9:21 amHello! First of all, thank you so much for the comments and emails telling me about your cameras and your reviews. It was a tough decision. I've had my purchase for about a week now and while it was a slow start getting to know each other we have since grown very close and the Dyson is feeling jealous. Ah, the secret life of electronics. That cat lady, she crazy. I went with the Canon PowerShot A1100IS, a very simple point and shoot. This Canon is a little brick of a camera, reminiscent of my first Kodak EasyShare from a decade ago (which I loved to death, literally). I like the size but if… -
Book signing on February 25th at The Grove in Los Angeles
8 Feb 2010 | 10:21 amHello! I am not touring for this book but I will be doing one reading/book signing in Los Angeles: Barnes & Noble at The Grove 189 Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036 Thursday, February 25th, 2010 7:30 p.m. [ Map here ] I am a little nervous. I haven't done any public appearances since 2006? 2007? And I've relapsed into my cozy hermit shell, where it's pleasant and there is TV. But I am excited to see folks I haven't seen in so long and chitchat and see what ya'll are knitting and look at your cute shoes and thank you for buying my book and also for agreeing with me that dating should come… -
Reason #37 I can't vacuum...
4 Feb 2010 | 6:32 amFile under "crazy cat lady" shenanigans: I plugged in the vacuum, walked away for just a half second and when I turned back around the felines had all decided to lounge so peacefully and artfully right in the path of the dreaded scary noise machine that I couldn't bring myself to scare them away. (Also cross-filed under "Things not to tell potential dates.") -
If there's traffic and Dallas Raines, we must be in Los Angeles.
3 Feb 2010 | 10:09 amGood morning, freeway! How YOU doin' today? It's an El Niño year, which means we're going to have more RAIN. I know, I know, you're digging out under a snowbank and saying don't cry for me Argentina with your silly rain ... but that is because you have no idea how hard it is for us Los Angelenos. We're not accustomed to all this moisture falling from the sky. We like our air to be crunchy, our roads to stay dry and our weathermen to be perpetually bronzed: Stern Dallas Raines! Dapper Dallas Raines! This has been a long, hard winter. We haven't seen an 80-degree day in weeks! I even had to go… -
Tuesday Five Things
2 Feb 2010 | 10:18 am1) Funny: Hard to tell from my crappy picture, but that's Vitello's pizza on the left and just beside it on the right is SweetHarts, the candy shop run by the Hart family (of Melissa Joan Hart). Above both is the world's largest gastric band billboard. Funny? 2) Knitting I have been knitting a baby sweater and booties set for my friend Courtney's new baby and by now I fear the child is already walking and will soon be driving while I am over here trying to finish a button band. I think the problem is that the pattern I chose looked better in the pictures than it does knitted up and since…
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The Pioneer Woman
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My Hometown Signing
9 Feb 2010 | 10:01 amFirst, is it my hometown if I live there now but didn’t grow up there? Because I also call the town where I grew up “my hometown.” But this town—this town nearest our ranch—this is my hometown, too. What does it all mean? Who am I, anyway? Where do I belong? Okay, second. During the course of my six-week book tour in November and December, I chronicled road trips and hotel rooms and the people I met and the food I ate like no one’s business. My camera was attached to my hip the entire time, because…uh…why would I blog for 3 1/2 years,… -
Ever See a Deer Jump Over a Fence?
8 Feb 2010 | 10:38 amIf so, these photos will be nothing new. But if not… You might enjoy this glimpse into what it’s like to be truly free. Oh, sure—deer have plenty to worry about. They’re skittish, programmed to live on high alert in anticipation of looming predators. That’s why they took off as soon as they saw me. Either that, or they didn’t like my hair color. It’s been known to happen. By “truly free”, I mean they aren’t shackled by the chains that inevitably wind their way around the human… -
From the Standpoint of a Sausage
6 Feb 2010 | 8:44 amThe Beast. It sees. And plots its wicked course. With one chomp, I’m gone forever. Contrition dies with me. My aunt. Dear Bea. I watch. Watch from the Great Beyond. The Beast, he plots again. Flee, Aunt Bea. Flee! His evil knows no bounds! With no regret, he chomps. And gobbles down my kin. Cousin Jill! Grandpa Hank! Uncle Bill! Brother Frank! The Beast grows ever fatter. No guilt bars… -
The Haircut Chronicles
5 Feb 2010 | 6:34 amAs wonderful as it is living a peaceful, bucolic life surrounded by cloven-hoofed creatures, there are certain harsh realities when it comes to living in the country—especially if you’re female. Aside from the stereotypical chores that historically (and eternally) fall onto a woman’s lap—laundry, gardening, cooking, etc.—there are also the things we women miss out on by virtue of the fact that we live far away from civilization. Starbucks, for one. That’s a given. Lunch dates, for another. Not happening. Shopping for sales—no. When you live in… -
The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Heard
4 Feb 2010 | 5:15 amIf you are surrounded by children and in desperate need of cheap entertainment in your life, you need only take a few moments to sit…and watch…and listen. Because children, for all their needs and wants and demands, are actually quite hilarious. Just gol-darn, dang hilarious. And I’m not talking about the times they make funny faces. That’s funny, too, but more predictably so. And I’m not talking about the moments they dance jigs around the living room with socks on their ears. That can be funny, but in a more overt way. And I’m certainly not talking…
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Jonniker.
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Thriller
3 Feb 2010 | 5:42 pmStill busy out the hoo-ha, and Jillian Michaels has taken my knees hostage, which has resulted in me on a foam roller every night and HOBBLING by 9 p.m. HOBBLING. Thanks, Jillian! You’re a bitch! Thank you, Wii yoga, for at least giving me something to DO. Anyway, to get rid of that trainwreck of a post (MOLESTERS, BLACK PEOPLE AND MICHAEL JACKSON OH MY), allow me a moment of annoying mommyblogginess with my kid and her hummus-smeared table during dinner tonight. Excuse the shaking of the camera, because I’m laughing too hard and also, uh, my poor husband’s hat head. P.S.,… -
Kids
31 Jan 2010 | 7:08 pmWhen it comes to motherhood/kids, I think I’m pretty reasonable. I get why people don’t have them — really, I do — and it’s a choice I almost made and would have been quite happy with. It’s not for everyone, and there are plenty of people who have children who shouldn’t have, and plenty who want to, but can’t, and that’s impossibly hard. And there are plenty more who just don’t want to, because their life is full with something else, or frankly, they just don’t like kids. Which is totally fine! FINE! I mean it. And I KNOW that… -
I’m On A Boat, Take II
29 Jan 2010 | 5:57 pmA brief weekend update to what I alluded to on my last entry, this time with purpose! About a month ago, Jennie mentioned her company was doing an upcoming anthology on True Blood. And people, you KNOW how I feel about True Blood, considering it’s the only show I’ve seen in its entirety more than twice since the Golden Girls. Ergo, and perhaps totally unsurprisingly, she suggested I submit a topic to the editor, and I did, and surprisingly, they accepted it. The first time my words will be in something bound and it’s about … vampires and sex. Fitting! Anyway, I’m… -
20 Years of Snow
28 Jan 2010 | 9:39 pmI went to Costco today with Julie, and frankly, either one of those things on their own (a visit to Costco OR a visit with Julie) is swoon-worthy and enough entertainment for an entire week, but in combination, hoo boy, it was practically the perfect storm of wonder and delight. Witty banter! Towering 80-packs of K-cups! Giant packages of pregnancy tests placed strategically next to the condoms! A remarkably funny woman to give me a tour! A four-pound container of brownies that my husband has been complaining about all night! (“I wanted ONE brownie, Jonna, not NINETY.”) See? -
Money for Nothing
26 Jan 2010 | 7:42 pmSo there was a time, once, when I considered myself to be a smart person. Then, sadly, I took the Jeopardy online test and was rendered a drooling cro magnon, because GEEZUZ, you guys, that shit is HARD. How is it possible that a show — a show I consistently ROCK, I hasten to add — can be so DISCERNING in its search for contestants? The format is this: they just start THROWING questions at you — oh, excuse me, ANSWERS, which is such Jeopardy bullshit — and you have fifteen seconds to answer them, and oh. Oh dear. I couldn’t even figure out that there were…
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Boss Sanders
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Where Are You, God?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:56 amLast night, as Lorelei was finishing up supper, I told her there was a surprise waiting for her outside…. L: Prize outside? For ME? *excitement growing* From mommy?! A: Well, there’s a surprise outside, but it’s not really from me. It’s from God, I just want to show you. L: Prize! Prize! *dancing around the room* A: (as I open the door) Look, Lorelei! L: Where’s God? I don’t see him! A: No, sis…the SNOW!! God sent SNOW! Isn’t that fun? L: Yeh, but where’s God, mama? A: Sweetie…you can’t SEE God. … -
30 Days To A Better Marriage (Day 22)
9 Feb 2010 | 12:24 amGreet your spouse with love. Today, when you see or talk to your spouse, focus on greeting them with love and respect. Pay attention to your body language and your voice. -
30 Days To A Better Marriage (Day 21)
8 Feb 2010 | 12:22 amSay “I’m sorry.” Think back over the past 30-60 days - is there anything you need to apologize for? Were you harsh? Have you been selfish with your time? Thoughtless? Did you do something you shouldn’t have? Regardless of how “little” it may seem to you, apologize. -
Numb
7 Feb 2010 | 8:32 pmIs this numbness or resignation? I can’t tell. For the first time…in a really long time, I find myself sitting in a room full of people I’ve grown to love and respect, unable to say a word. Thoughts firing through my brain, but I’m left with no energy to try to interject into the conversation or to actually “put it out there.” For the first time in a long time, I’m keeping 90% of my thoughts to myself - good and bad. For the first time in a long time, I have such low expectations from certain people that when they start being asshats, it’s… -
30 Days To A Better Marriage (Day 20)
6 Feb 2010 | 11:20 pmMake a list (or notebook) of things you love about your spouse. Start with the goal of 100 things. Don’t try to do it all at once, start with what comes easily to you and then pick the book/note up as things come to you. (This would make a really great Valentine’s gift or … any other gift)
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Menstrual Poetry
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Moregasm: Babeland’s Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex, a Video Review
About a month ago I received a really awesome book from Babeland. I’ve known about Babeland for years now and have also worked with them periodically on another website of mine, so I was pretty psyched to have this book show up. Moregasm: Babeland’s Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex is something that all sexual beings [...] -
International Women’s Health Coalition Kicks Off Young Visionaries Contest and Grant Opportunity
I have had a great deal of ideas to supplement my community’s activism when it comes to resources for women and youth and if my past ideas are any indicator of the future, I’m bound to have a lot more. Have I done much of anything to build upon any of these ideas? Well, not [...] -
Blog for Choice 2010: Trust Women
Happy anniversary, Roe v. Wade! On this day 37 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that it was about time to let women make their own decisions about their health and what does or does not happen with and within their own bodies. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a day to be [...] -
Blog for Choice 2010 Open Thread
Today marks the 37th anniversary for the landmark decision that gave women the right to have access to safe and legal abortion, Roe v. Wade. Today is also the fifth annual Blog for Choice Day from NARAL Pro-Choice America. If you’re not familiar with Blog for Choice Day, it is when each year, NARAL Pro-Choice [...] -
Bloggers Unite for Haiti
I already took to my Twitter to spread the word about Bloggers Unite for Haiti, but wanted to make sure as many people as possible know that this is going on and how they can continue to spread the word about how they and others can help the relief efforts. I found out about this [...]
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the slack daily
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Things I Learned From Superbowl Ads.
7 Feb 2010 | 7:35 pm1. I shouldn't abort my child because one day she may have the chance to become a GoDaddy Girl.2. The Lilly Ledbetter Act now extends to personal hygiene products! Men now get the opportunity to buy smelly products they don't need. FINALLY, equal opportunity! You've come a long way, baby.3. Costumers on commercials have a secret stash of slight-used tidy-whiteys. (I can only hope they receive hazard pay.)4. What was missing was the Robert Blake/OJ Simpson crossover ad where they meet at the Sbarro in the mall food court after being dragged shopping by their overbearing wives. 5. Mrs. Tebow… -
Square Pegs, aka New Media & the WGA.
6 Feb 2010 | 7:04 pm(For first-time readers: I've written for TV, Web, Mobile platforms and been a member of the WGAw since 2000. You can read more about my background and work experience here.)This afternoon I attended the WGAw/MEF panel "Content Creation for Mobile Devices." There were some incredibly informed people on the first panel*, including Ryan Stoner of Omelet LA and Steven Hein of FOX.While it was clear that the panelists all were not only knowledgeable but also successful in their fields, I wondered about the audience. The panel was open only to WGAw and WGA Caucus members; the 75-person venue was… -
Hooray for Hollywood!
1 Feb 2010 | 12:31 pmLast night, Will and I went with a few friends to catch "Better Off Dead" at the Aero in Santa Monica. The extra-awesome catch? There was LIVE COMMENTARY provided by Savage Steve Holland, E.G. Daily, Diane Franklin and Curtis Armstrong. How could we not go?Lizzie McGuire was my first writing job, ever. I had been working around sitcoms with my boss at the time, and had even had the good fortune to hang out in a few Writers' Rooms. I was banging out spec scripts with my writing partner (and older brother) and watching my 30th year looming on the horizon. I wondered if perhaps I should pack up… -
How (Not) to Make It In Hollywood
27 Jan 2010 | 10:47 amI received this email yesterday: I responded: He replied:The point: ------------------> Him: x I realized I had written about this a few years back. With a quick re-read, it all still pretty much rings true. I bring you from the 2005 archives of theslack.com: So You Wanna Be in Showbiz? so you wanna be in showbiz? My friend S. describes working in showbiz as a slippery rock in the midst of the stormy sea. Most people are flailing in the water, she says, but if you can just get one palm on that… -
Et Tu, When in Rome?
26 Jan 2010 | 1:47 pmThere's a little RomCom coming out called "When in Rome." You probably know this from hanging out around the bus stop and wondering why Kristen Bell is chewing on her finger "seductively" (who decided the finger chew was seductive? FREUD HAS GONE TOO FAR, PEOPLE) while Josh Duhamel lurks over her, deciding apparently whether to date her or serve her for dinner.In the grand tradition of Commedia Macchina DelPagliacci, Big People + Little Car = Nonstop Laughs.I imagined that this movie would deliver exactly what they've promised. OR WOULD THEY? Watching the last episode of Late Night with…
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She Just Walks Around With It
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Prom Picture Round-Up: Vote For Your Favoritest!
6 Feb 2010 | 10:02 amProm, prom, prom. Everything about it is uncomfortable and silly and wonderful for so many reasons. The planning, the nine hundred million phone calls, the months of scouring teenage magazines for hair and makeup ideas. It's my personal belief that were it not for proms, curling irons would have gone the way of the crimp.For no reason at all (it's not prom season, I don't know any teenagers, no one is even discussing prom), I asked you to send me your prom pictures. For the sole purpose of posting them here for us to laugh at. Huh? What's that? Laugh with? With. Oh yes, laugh with.Every… -
The Neglect-O-Bounce (Plus A Weight-Loss Update)
4 Feb 2010 | 12:01 amI'm sick.I'm not a lot sick, but I have a cold and so does Eve, and I'm not sure who gave it to whom, and all this is to say OH GOODIE! Because now I can cross "using a bulb syringe to suck snot out of my baby's head" off my list of Awesome Things I Get To Do As A New Mom. (Other highlights of the list include wiping puke out of my cleavage and using a rectal thermometer to stimulate a poo.) I declared on Twitter that I believe this makes me my daughter's official Booger Concierge. In case you're wondering? "Booger Concierge" is not in the index of What to Expect The First Year. This is why… -
Interview With Crazy Aunt Purl!
3 Feb 2010 | 12:01 amReminder: You Can win a copy of Crazy Aunt Purl's book here!Prom contest pictures coming Friday!So as I mentioned earlier, I got to interview Laurie as part of this whole Virtual Book Tour thingy. Which is cool, but hard. Because when you've been reading someone's blog for as long as I've been reading hers, there's all these weird issues that crop up.Like, probably I should ask questions that pertain at least somewhat to the book, right? And also, I should not come across as a scary stalker person and ask intricate details about a random blog post Laurie wrote like, four years ago. Even if I… -
And There It Is. I Am Old And Pa Is Hot.
2 Feb 2010 | 8:45 amReminder: Win a Crazy Aunt Purl book here.My interview with her will be posted tomorrow.Prom contest pictures coming Friday!I know 34 isn't actually old. I just also know it isn't exactly young, either; at least, it certainly isn't young the way this is young:But at some point in my being at home(!) with my baby(!) while watching The Hallmark Channel(!) and not changing the channel from when the Golden Girls* episode ended to when The Little House on the Prairie(!) episode began, and I looked up to see Pa Ingalls digging or hammering or lifting or something involving him being sweaty and… -
Home Is Where The Wine Is: A Review, Actually! And Even A Giveaway!
1 Feb 2010 | 12:01 amLeave a comment to enter to win a copy!I realize that with a title like, "Home Is Where The Wine Is," you would be all, "Yes, Kristy, we know. With the wine." But no! Well, I mean, yes, but no!Crazy Aunt Purl went and wrote another book and that's what it's called and that's why this is a review and giveaway and not me talking about a day of the week that ends in -day. ALSO! Ms. Purl/Laurie/Raurie will be doing a guest-post/interview thingy here on this blog, too, I'm just not 100% sure when because probably it would help if I would send her questions instead of just saying things like, "YOU…
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Sarcomical
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Rain On the Pretty Ones
6 Feb 2010 | 1:07 pmi'm the actor who's scared to perform i'm the sunshine that hides in the clouds i'm the father that couldn't be found i'm the cuckoo that never flew south i'm the christian that cannot forgive i'm the dreamer that jumps off the bridge i'm the sinner who hates how he lives... i'm the liar who gets what he gives. -Ed Harcourt, Rain On the Pretty Ones There are moments, still. Moments when I am hit with a swell of certainty that I have abandoned myself. I pause, overwhelmed by the chasm that separates me from the quiet, patient shadow that I some… -
Fancypants Teatime
2 Feb 2010 | 4:13 pmSis-in-law Polina & I had "high tea" today at local eatery Serendipity. (We were [SO VERY this close] to donning our fake British accents.) They served us three different teas, the hands-down favorite being the dessert tea...a mind-numbing chocolate flavor. The adventure began with a cranberry spritzer "to cleanse your palates", touted our hostess, and included an evil Tower of Treats atop a tray of wee sandwiches. I can now say I have fully lived, having tasted the stacked concoction comprised of blueberry toast and cheese. WHAT? Yes. -
Target
1 Feb 2010 | 5:44 pm -
I. Got. Bangs.
30 Jan 2010 | 5:36 pmoh, dear...As it became clear I needed a trim desperately, I had to take on the task of finding a stylist to start fresh with again (my last cut being during our vacation in New York, and not quite yet jet-setty enough to whisk off whenever I please and all). I got Twitter input, consulted a few of my hair goddess friends (ahem Sarah ahem), decided to be brave, and then two hours before my appointment got a staggering case of The Bok Bok Boks (that's chicken language, my friends). I decided I'd just get my layers shaped up and sidle off quietly hoping everyone I'd bothered and… -
SarcomiDoggeh Translations
19 Jan 2010 | 10:40 pm
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Indexed
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How good is good?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:09 am -
Eww, slimy.
8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am -
Architecture, romance, careers, whatnot.
5 Feb 2010 | 4:36 am -
Just rotten.
4 Feb 2010 | 4:34 am -
They are out to get you. And they’re stealthy, too.
3 Feb 2010 | 4:33 am
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xkcd.com
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Trimester
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm -
You Hang Up First
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm -
Tensile vs. Shear Strength
2 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm -
Strip Games
31 Jan 2010 | 9:00 pm
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Skimbaco Lifestyle
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Sonia Rykiel for H&M
8 Feb 2010 | 6:15 pmSonia Rykiel's Collection for H&M and the prices. -
Days Go By.. and Years Go By
8 Feb 2010 | 7:04 amI rarely look back on time and ask myself “where did the time go”. Because usually my life is full of adventure, new places, new people, new events and it never seems to be still. I like it that way. I like it that I take changes and try new shortcuts (and get lost and [...] -
Secrets to NOT Paying Retail Price on Designer Clothing
1 Feb 2010 | 11:22 amMy actually-not-so-secret shopping sites and why I prefer high quality designer clothing – that I spend less money than if I was shopping at GAP. Click to my favorite invite-only shopping sites – with invitation links just for you below. I rarely pay retail. And I never shop at mall for clothing for [...]
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Miss Britt
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On Honesty. And whole lotta talking about God.
4 Feb 2010 | 8:08 amLet me attempt to set the mood here. Because I am a sucker for futility. What you are about to read is a simple explanation of my beliefs. It’s not a defense against or an attack on any beliefs that may be different from my own. I am neither angry nor hellbent on conversion. This is about me sharing and clarifying my own perspective. /disclaimer that may or may not do any good. I’ve gotten a lot some slack about my belief that my brother’s decision to tell the truth, the whole truth, was a good thing. Some of that disagreement has come from people whose opinions I… -
Twitter Has Been Robbing You People. Seriously.
3 Feb 2010 | 6:26 amBefore Twitter, blogs used to be where the exhibitionists among us shared the daily events of our lives with a world of strangers on the Internet. Sure, we wrote beautiful prose about our startling insights and observations of human behavior. We dove into our own inner psyches and peeled back the layers of common sense and social decency to reveal a “truer” version of ourselves. We crafted hilarious tales of normal life that resembled sitcom pilots and used striking imagery to make our lives seem richer and deeper and more interesting, somehow, than average. But we also… -
And a burden was lifted…
27 Jan 2010 | 7:36 amMy brother Jay never claimed he was innocent. He has, from what I’ve been told, been extremely forthcoming since the night of his arrest about the crimes he committed. He told us, at the time, that it was a relief to finally have everything out in the open. The first time I heard that, I wept at the thought of the guilt he’d been carrying with him, and for the realization that I had no hope of innocence to cling to. When I went to visit him, the first thing I said over the phone on my side of the glass was that I loved him. He lowered his eyes, unable to face me, and… -
An Open Letter* To @Avitable On His Birthday
26 Jan 2010 | 7:07 amThe first appearance of Abrittable Dear Adam, According to Flickr, this picture was taken on April 17, 2007. It’s the very first picture we took of the two of us the weekend I flew down to Florida to see if I really could convince some strange guy from the Internet to give me a job so that I could move out of Parkersburg, Iowa. Not even 3 years ago. Can you believe we’ve actually been friends for less than three years? Looking at that picture, I can’t help but think “Wow, that was a really bad dye job.” And also, “All those people are right –… -
Unforgivable
25 Jan 2010 | 11:21 amI am a person who believes in forgiveness. That belief defines me. It gives me hope and faith and strength. It tells me how to look at the world and what to do with my anger. It brings me peace when nothing else can. I am a person who believes in forgiveness. Last summer, when I man I respected died, I vowed to honor him by extending forgiveness to people who had hurt me in the past. I said… “Today, I forgive the stepfather who abandoned my brothers, abused my mother, and robbed me of pieces of my childhood with his violence and addiction. I don’t have the strength to…
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2Dolphins
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New Year, New Car
6 Feb 2010 | 3:30 amRob predicted last month that 2010 would be a year of transitions. And even before that, he hinted several months ago, that a big car change was afoot.Still, its come as a huge shock to nearly everyone who knows me, that the Caliente era is coming to a close. My beloved Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible was a fantastic, fun car for two, but not at all a good fit for three. So, a couple of weeks ago we said "Hello" to our new, comfy, more family-oriented car (dubbed Rocket by Liam).Its a bit bittersweet, of course, knowing that this means a very sad… -
Gotcha Day - 2 Year Anniversary
31 Jan 2010 | 7:19 pmHappy Gotcha Day, Liam!I can’t believe its been 2 years already! As many developments as the past year has brought, its hard to imagine what’s in store for us in the year to come.Here’s what has become our traditional stairway comparison photos on Gotcha Day: After dinner, the festivities continued with the traditional homemade Gotcha Day cupcakes! -
Thrifty Yet Nifty, Even After Fifty!
1 Jan 2010 | 11:02 pmIn yesterday’s New Year’s post I noted that 2010 is destined to be an eventful year, loaded with all sorts of special occasions. One such milestone is the 50th anniversary of one our favorite books — "Green Eggs and Ham."After writing "The Cat in the Hat" in 1955 using only 223 words, Theodor ("Ted") Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, bet his publisher Bennett Cerf $50 that he could write a book using only 50 words. Seuss collected on the wager in 1960 with the publication of "Green Eggs and Ham" which did indeed… -
A New Decade Begins
1 Jan 2010 | 5:53 amI expect 2010 will be a remarkable time of significant changes and happenings! It’s the beginning of a hopeful new decade and this’ll undoubtedly be a year of many special milestones. Dede & I wish you all a healthy & happy new year! -
Online Optics
30 Dec 2009 | 10:30 amDede & I had both been wanting to get some new eyeglasses for a few months now — we were both overdue for new ’scripts and the rough & tumble nature of being a toddler’s parents had taken its toll on our glasses. (A nasty heel swipe to the nose in October was the last straw, so I bent my mangled glasses back into some facsimile of proper shape and made an appointment with my optometrist.)Anyway, like us, many of you probably have often winced at the sky-high prices at the local EyeMasters, LensCrafters or other such "brick & mortar" eyeglass…
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GenerationXpert
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Tamara Erickson is a Boomer who "gets it"
27 Jan 2010 | 6:15 amI recently had the opportunity to review Tamara Erickson's latest work on generational issues - What's Next, Gen X? As a longtime fan of Erickson's, I was really excited to read this.I know there are not a lot of people who want to read about Gen X anymore - unless it's something really negative like how we will die in squalor waiting for the Boomers to retire. However, Erickson - who is a Boomer - argues just the opposite. She writes that "the way businesses create value is changing, essentially in ways that are more closely aligned with X'er preferences and sensibilities."These ways include… -
The Cobra Kai are just not good enough for the new Millennium
7 Jan 2010 | 5:59 amMy kids and I have a hard time finding movies we all like. So I try to introduce them to films I love that I think they will love too (because if I watch one more episode of Sponge Bob, I'm going to lose it).So here are their ratings:1) Sound of Music - thumbs up2) Splash - thumbs up3) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - thumbs way, way down4) The Karate Kid - huge thumbs up (had to smile in the final fight scene when my older daughter asked me "Do you think Daniel will win?" )However, since the original Karate Kid was just not flashy enough - and the Cobra Kai just not menacing enough - it needs to be… -
Gen Xers - Take my poll!
15 Dec 2009 | 11:46 amMy last blog post was about whether things are really so dire for Gen Xers. We hear a lot in the media about the poor Gen Xers who are stuck and the Millennials are nipping at our tails. I'm just not buying it.This is not a slam on Millennials. It has nothing to do with them, really. But I just don't think they are going to pass us up - and I really don't think they're doing it right now. The reason is - I don't know and haven't met a single Xer who this has happened to. I hear Xers say it's happening - but they have no personal experience of it. It reminds me of the urban myth of the woman… -
Are Xers being sold a bill of goods?
12 Dec 2009 | 12:24 pmThere's a lot of negative stuff about Gen X on the web. It says we're small. It says we're sandwiched between the Boomers and the Millennials. It says we're the Jan Brady of Generations.My question is - is it really true?I've had my share of tough times. However, at 38 (almost 39), I have a great job, a great family, a great house, and I live in a great small town. It got me thinking - is the media out to "get" us?It's true that our generation is smaller. However, although we're only 20% of the population, we're 42% of the workforce (see chart above). That's the largest chunk of any… -
Why does Hollywood skank up the Millennials?
28 Nov 2009 | 7:29 amLike a lot of people, I watched the AMAs recently. And like many, many, many people, I thought Adam Lambert's performance was inappropriate and vulgar. As someone who is quite liberal in her views and someone who went to journalism school, I think Lambert should be allowed to express himself - but he seems like a smart guy and I think he should know better.Lambert says that people are upset about his performance because he's gay. I would say it's because he simulated oral sex on stage. I don't care whose head he put to his crotch - I don't need to see it. Some people argue that kids may be…
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Domestic Psychology
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Not my cup of tea
8 Feb 2010 | 4:40 pmEmbarrassed this happened in TN: “Eavesdropping on the Pajamas Media livestream is interesting stuff. Bridget Geegan Blanton of Smart Girl Media was just asked how she handles those awkward moments when she’s volunteering at a voter registration drive and a Democrat tries to register to vote with her. “The law requires me to give (a voter registration form) to anyone who asks for it,” she said. “But I’m not legally obligated to mail it in.” In any case, she said, Democrats shouldn’t approach her booth in the first place. She signals her intentions by hanging an American… -
Lost & Found
7 Feb 2010 | 7:57 pmAt the end and beginning of every school year, a list of volunteer opportunities comes home with every child. Sometimes, the job duties are obvious and you instantly know if it’s something you feel qualified to do. Treasurer? I think we’ll let a CPA do that job. Parliamentarian? I’m pretty confidant that there are some parents with legal training who would do that much better than I could. Other times, the job isn’t completely clear. Cafeteria? Umm, cut off crusts and open milk cartons? Grounds? Lawn mowing and floor mopping? I have worn many different hats at schools,… -
my third boob
5 Feb 2010 | 8:59 pmRemember when I demonstrated my special sense of coordination at the end of December? I pretty much avoided touching my bruised knees for a week or so and then I completely forgot about them after I burned my face with a flattening iron. A few weeks ago, my left knee felt hot and when I rubbed it, it felt . . . odd. It felt like my knee had a breast implant. Well, I’ve never actually touched an artificial breast, but I’m pretty sure that it would feel something like my knee felt. I did what I usually do when I have a boo-boo. I waited for it to go away on its’ own. -
Dear Harold Ford Jr,
2 Feb 2010 | 4:05 amThis didn’t help. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c -
pink and blue
31 Jan 2010 | 10:32 am
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kerrianne.org
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South Korea At First Glance
4 Feb 2010 | 12:03 amHello! from Yangyang, South Korea. I probably don’t have to tell you how (enter slew of happy adjectives here) it is to be in Yangyang with my sister and Will, and that’s good news for me, as I would probably fail to convey the utter happiness and contentment I’ve been feeling since arriving three days ago. That, or I would bludgeon you with exclamation points. To recap: I’m here visiting Theresa (a.k.a. “babycarrot sister”) and Will until February 13th, after spending 4 days in Beijing, China visiting work offices and coworkers there, and generally just… -
“You can’t create fate because then it’s not fate, it’s Voodoo.”
23 Jan 2010 | 8:37 pmI have so much I’m thinking about, words swirling around in my head that aren’t quite ready to be transported to any sort of page, online or otherwise, and did I mention I’m flying to Asia in t-minus THREE DAYS and counting? If you’re thinking I’m ridiculously excited (you’re right! and), add a dollop of sheer GLEE (I get to see my SISTER, and WILL, and HUG them both), and a dash of apprehension (because hi, I have no idea what to expect, or how I’m going to read anything, and one of my co-workers recently told me to bring anti-poo pills with me, and… -
Because My Brain Is Otherwise Occupied
14 Jan 2010 | 11:01 pmDisclaimer: I fully realize this post is silly/trivial/ridiculous, especially in light of recent world events. It’s supposed to be. If it makes you laugh, even once, then color me content. <–A shade I always imagine to rest somewhere on the color spectrum between green and cerulean. We’ve all heard of The List, right? (Right!) For those new to the game, The List is mostly comprised of celebrities and other famous faces you are allowed to covet outside of your Committed Relationship because (it’s all in good fun, and anyway) these people are the cheese to your… -
A Year Complete
11 Jan 2010 | 12:02 amThis is my take on a more specific version of the ever-popular “bucket/life/to-do” lists, the following items representing what I have on my heart and mind for 2010: places I want to be, people I want to see, challenges I want to hog-tie, ultimately: personal growth I want to foster, momentum I want to keep creating throughout the entire year ahead. (Nerd aside: This post will soon live as its own page, wherein I will edit and post updates, and as such, will also be accessible from the top navigation of my site. ) My mantra this year: Be brave, Kerri. Ready? Me, too. -
“Sixteen thirty-two. What is that? A year?”
3 Jan 2010 | 11:01 pmA few months ago Sizzle and I were g-chatting, when somewhere between quoting The Goonies and swooning over Seth Rogen the idea to spend New Year’s Eve on the Oregon Coast was born. We were both instantly psyched about the idea, as were two other great and hilarious friends, and thus deposits and plans were made. December 31st we checked into the Seasprite (which I definitely recommend) and quickly realized we were staying literally yards away from one of the prettiest stretches of beach on the Oregon Coast. I’ve always been quite smitten with Cannon Beach, babycarrot sister…
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i am bossy
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Ten-Word Tuesday. The Blizzard Edition
9 Feb 2010 | 4:39 amBossy is going to tell you something you never heard, especially those of you who watch the news or the Weather Channel or talk with friends or subscribe to Facebook or Twitter or have internet: Last weekend an East Coast blizzard dumped close to two feet of snow in a blanket that wiped out power from D.C. through Bossy’s neck of the woods, which is neither a neck nor woods. Bossy paid enough attention to the forecast to know a storm was coming, but she tends not to take threatening weather reports too seriously — not since the time a local broadcaster stood outside the television… -
Notes From A Far-Flung Correspondent
9 Feb 2010 | 4:39 amWelcome to Notes from a Far-Flung Correspondent, which features the weekly interests and musings of Bossy’s Son, who is currently enjoying his sophomore year at Columbia University in the City of New York. This week: Seltzer Water So let me explain. I am not one of those people (cough, cough, my friends from LA, cough) who think NYC tap water isn’t great to drink. Nor am I the San Pellegrino socializer, the restaurant patron for whom sparkling water is the way to go. But to members of Bossy’s Esteemed Council, I say that I am one of those people — the unfortunate, battered souls —… -
Bossy’s Favorite Things
9 Feb 2010 | 4:36 amThis photo. Bossy took it the other day while she was trying to walk some of the post-operative symptoms from her leg. It’s cool because this car, in this alley? It spans many decades. Bossy added the effects in Photoshop, but she didn’t even really have to… -
Yet Another Little Known Fact
9 Feb 2010 | 4:35 amOld Bossy has a rather sour attitude toward birthdays in general — beyond the age of 21 — and her own in particular. But alas, they keep coming anyway. If we’re lucky. delicious cake by the multi-talented bossy’s daughter -
Bossy’s Ear Worm
8 Feb 2010 | 9:16 pmWelcome to Bossy’s Ear Worm, which features songs currently in Bossy’s headphones. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Zero 7, Swing. Bossy has always liked Zero 7, which is a UK duo with a successful background in audio engineering, who enlist a variety of singers on their records. This tune, off their latest 2009 release Yeah Ghost, is a simple fun ditty with a carnival undercurrent. And who doesn’t enjoy a little steel drum action in their waltz — even if digitally produced. Bossy isn’t sure where Swing comes from since it never…
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Married And Happy
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When Your Wife Does Not Give You All You Want From Her...
18 Jan 2010 | 3:22 pmConsider this for a moment...what if you stopped fretting about everything you want your wife to be for you...all that you believe she is not...and instead, you started focusing on becoming a man who is inspiring to your woman...how much good could such a shift make in your marriage?How much more would your wife WANT to give you all that you want from her...that she now resists giving you?The answer is, you can never know until you give it a real try.The philosopher Emerson once said, "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."Think about this quote from… -
Why Jack's Wife Doesn't Want To Have Sex With Him...
30 Dec 2009 | 4:04 pmAfter having helped a lot of men from all over the world create a happier, more sexual marriage, I've come to understand an incredible truth: men unknowingly block the very affection, respect, and sex they desire.Interestingly, the more a husband refuses and rejects this truth...the more a man wants to shift the blame to his wife...the less affection, respect, and sex he has in his marriage...and the worse his marriage grows...guaranteed!Permit me to illustrate this point by drawing out a few paraphrased points from a "B-movie" I recently watch titled "Far Cry".In this movie, the leading male… -
How Can I Get My Wife To Be More Loving And Sexual?
8 Dec 2009 | 8:11 amI don't mean to do it...really, I don't...but it seems to happen anyway...usually, right after I name nonsense for what it really is. For instance, a man recently said the following to me:"I adore my wife. She is 100% perfect even if she is not because I LOVE HER! I tell her every day how much she means to me. I let her know exactly how I feel about her. Because I TRULY love her, I don't have any expectation of my wife. When she is acting like a child, I don't see any less of a woman than I did when we first met. It's been several years now and I still feel the exact same way about her. If… -
My Wife Does Not Give Me Love, Respect, Or Sex. Why?
30 Nov 2009 | 1:22 pmRecently, a man said the following to me:"I am so frustrated!!! No matter what I do, my wife does not give me love, respect, or sex.I constantly do nice things for my wife. For example:I let her sleep in everydayI clean house nonstopI take care of the children (the roles between me and my wife are switched)I tend to her hand and foot trying to make her feel like a queenI try not to let her down in anywayI tell her she's beautiful multiple times every dayI'm always complementing her on how intelligent she isI don't get mad and call her names or say hurtful thingsI support her a lot as well as… -
"I Want My Wife To Want Me As Much As I Want Her! I Want That Closeness Back That We Used To Have."
27 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pmRecently, a guy sent me the following:"I have a question about my wife. What if the little things you do -- that are just you -- get on your wife's nerves -- even though you are supportive and caring and everything -- and you still manage to get on her nerves or make her angry --and that causes her to lash out and start calling you names and belittling you -- you know, the hurtful things that make you feel unwanted or not good enough?What should I do then because I really love my wife and I just want her to want me?By that, I mean I feel as If I need her to actually (want want) me and get the…
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A Wayward Journey
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Ready to go (Ambato, Ecuador)
8 Feb 2010 | 11:59 amWe’re ready - ready to hit the road again. Davy’s toe is doing well - still hurts when it isn’t bandaged, but doesn’t bother him at all as long as I keep it wrapped up. So - we’ll head out first thing tomorrow morning. It’ll be a short-lived spurt of activity though. Carnival is on now and will get wild by the weekend. We’ve been warned repeatedly about the drunk drivers that will abound - and we would rather not meet one on the road. So - come Friday or Saturday, we’ll be off the road again. The plan is to get over the pass (the… -
Grabbing life by the horns
6 Feb 2010 | 5:43 pmI was looking for something in my blog today and found this post I wrote shortly before I left on this trip. I can certainly say I’ve done exactly that! Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO! What a ride!” That’s exactly how I want to live my life. Someday I’ll pedal away to that great sunset in the sky with a smile on my face and the knowledge that I’ve… -
Podcasts
6 Feb 2010 | 3:13 pmI just now realized that I never posted the links to a couple of podcasts I’ve done in the past couple of months! What was I thinking?!? I hope you enjoy them! Travelling Two Amateur Traveler -
Davy’s Journal February 5
5 Feb 2010 | 7:03 amI got my toe done again about 3 days ago and we are waiting for it to recover. The docter changed the bandage yesterday and he put it on differently so that it hurts a bit more, but I’m fine. From now on Mom can rebandage my toe. I don’t like the way the doctr does it. He gets a cloth soaked in something to keep it from sticking to my toe but it still sticks a little and it hurts when they took it off. Mom uses a cream and that doesn’t stick. -
Curse of the toe gods (Ambato, Ecuador)
2 Feb 2010 | 7:05 pm“Mom!” Davy called out from behind me as we ground up the hill. “My toe hurts!” My heart took a nosedive and landed somewhere down near my feet going around in endless circles below me. I wanted to scream and shout and stamp my feet and curse the toe gods. But no matter how big a temper tantrum I threw, it wouldn’t change the fact that Davy’s toenail was ingrown. Again. John and I were in complete agreement -we had to get it taken out, and we had to do it now. We’ve been there all too many times - if we wait, it gets infected and then Davy…
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Well Read Hostess
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What I Know For Sure (Feel Free To Commence Cackling and Eye Rolling....NOW!)
9 Feb 2010 | 6:44 amIf you comment to your spouse/partner/friend/neighbor/parent (ESPECIALLY if it's your mother-in-law) that your children are being really good/cooperative/nice to each other/diligent, they will immediately cease such praiseworthy behavior.People who try to legislate morality have something to hide.Martha Stewart recipes are overly complicated and poorly tested.No pair of jeans is worth $280. Seriously. No matter how great they make your ass look. If you put off doing something until the morning that it needs to be done because you are too tired/harassed/lazy to do it the night before, pipes… -
Saturday Snow
7 Feb 2010 | 8:25 amIt's better with the sound off. I'm sure there's actually a way to record it without sound, but I was too busy not figuring out how to record it without sound.http://wellreadhostess.com/2010/02/07/saturday-snow.aspx ... -
Friday Fail
5 Feb 2010 | 8:57 amThings That Are Just Not RightDo you know that Ryan Seacrest makes $45 million dollars to host American Idol? To stand there under the weight of his own hair product, holding a microphone, and asking insipid questions to desperate egomaniacs in sparkly attire? $45 million?John Boehner's tan, to say nothing of the fact that you and I both know that how he says it is NOT the real way to pronounce his name, is just wrong wrong wrong. Dude is from Ohio! Get out of the tanning bed, or worse, stop flying to South Carolina ... -
All the News That's Fit to Line the Litter Box
4 Feb 2010 | 8:10 amI've been really busy these days, and my routine is all off. This off-ness results in a great many consequences such as not showering and trying to convince my children that cereal is too dinner even if they've had it three nights in a row, one of which is that I haven't been reading the news with any kind of regularity. Imagine, then, my dismay upon discovering all of the following from various news outlets yesterday and the day before:Rahm Emanuel, the hottest man to ever grace the office of White House Chief of Staff, called plans by ... -
1) you'd better have done your homework and 2) If I show up at school tomorrow and there are swedish fish on my desk you are all in trouble. Your job is to pretend this doesn't exist. You dig?
2 Feb 2010 | 6:46 pmI've got issues. Bear with me.1) I was outed at the Institution (read: home for the dangerously youthful - yeah, I'm talking about you) where I work. It was an accidental outing, but an outing nonetheless. Students, MY students, have learned about the not-a-blog phenomenon known as Well Read Hostess. Seriously. That's enough. Go to bed. Come back when you are 18. So. Yeah. This is sort of a problem. Or could be. I like my lives like I like my peanut butter and jelly. Separate. ...
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The Imperfect Parent
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Mominatrix
2 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmSex and music are intimately bound so it's no surprise that someone decided to connect them almost literally in what could be deemed "The Music Lover's Sex Toys" or as they're known in the sex business, OhMiBod. These super smart toys allow iPod (and iPhone) users to raise the pleasure ante with toys that vibrate to the pulse of your music. And as a connoisseur of music and sex separately and together, I jumped at the chance to try out the new OhMiBod Freestyle, courtesy of Eden Fantasys. Now if you're thinking that the OhMiBod is just another schticky gag toy, you're wrong. -
2010: A Sexual Resolution - Complete
31 Jan 2010 | 5:00 amCongratulations for completing all 31 challenges, or at least sticking around to watch the madness. It's been an exciting month - not just because we've done a sexually-related activity for every day this month, but even better, we've made some great strides in our own sexuality and in that of our relationships. Plus, it's been fabulous meeting a whole slew of new people that I would never have met before. If you're wondering what's next, stay tuned: A valentine's Day Gift Guide "I'm a Mominatrix" interviews Mominatrix book tour stops Mom 2.0 Speaking engagement BlogHer 2010 Speaking… -
Scott Roeder Guilty In Abortion Provider's Death
30 Jan 2010 | 11:27 amLast May, Dr. George Tiller was gunned down by a pro-life activist in Sunday church. Yesterday the activist, Scott Roeder, was convicted of Dr. Tiller's murder. A Kansas jury deliberated just 37 minutes before convicting an anti-abortion activist of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an abortion provider. Roeder says he has no regrets concerning his actions and justifies them by claiming he killed Dr. Tiller to "save lives". Prosecutors initially fought to keep abortion out of the trial, claiming that Tiller's death was a straightforward case of premeditated murder. Tiller was no… -
I do you, You do me
30 Jan 2010 | 5:00 amWell now, I hope that all parties involved were pleased yesterday, and you're ready to tackle Challenge #30 today. I must say that I am so appreciative of all the emails and the comments about how the 2010: A Sexual Resolution has helped you. We're going to keep it up and running (well, not the daily blogging part - but the 30 challenges) so that if folks missed out for January, they can try it for February (or beyond). If you're looking to find me after this month is over, you can listen to my weekly Mominatrix podcast (or download it via iTunes so you can listen to it later on) and read my… -
Teach your students well
29 Jan 2010 | 5:00 amSo folks - I'm hoping your feed readers and twitter followers are stocked full of sexy bloggers. Who knew you'd be doing that with a Sexual Resolution? Everyone thought we'd be pounding it hard all month long. I suppose Challenge #29 is a bit more expected, but still exciting nonetheless. I wonder - who's the better giver and who's the better receiver in your duo. Now a few of you noticed that I've been tweeting "only one more challenge left." And it's true. I'm only going to do 30 official challenges. It just sounds better for people to do 30 than 31 if they want to try again on another…
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David J. Hinson's Logorrhea
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In Which I Detail The Differences Between the Android and iPhone SDKs…
9 Feb 2010 | 5:44 amI’ve had the pleasure of working on two side-by-side streams of development for the same app on two different platforms since January 1 – the new TweetPhoto applications for the iPhone and for the Android (see screen grabs below). TweetPhoto for the Android TweetPhoto for iPhone First of all, let me say that from a developer perspective, I’m one of the most platform agnostic people you’ll find anywhere. My philosophy is that money is green, spends the same anywhere, and if someone wants to build something on their favorite platforms of choice and needs someone to… -
New TweetPhoto for Android… Coming Soon!
7 Feb 2010 | 7:07 pm -
Very Quiet Start to 2010
25 Jan 2010 | 6:55 amThings have been quiet around here… But only because I have three (3) new mobile projects happening now: a new TweetPhoto.com iPhone app version (close to being code complete)… an Android version of same (starting in earnest today)… and a Blackberry version to follow on after that. Hoping to come up for air sometime around the end of March. -
Cheap Gas! 3.02 Now Available in iTunes
23 Dec 2009 | 3:02 amCheap Gas! 3.02 is now available in iTunes. Cheap Gas! is now owned by GasBuddy.com… watch this space for upcoming changes! New Splash Screen -
Wycliffe iPhone App Now Available in iTunes
20 Dec 2009 | 4:11 amThe Wycliffe Bible Translators Recruitment App is now in iTunes, here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wycliffe/id345655615?mt=8. Today about 200 million people do not have the Bible in their own language. Wycliffe’s vision is to see the Bible accessible to all people in the language they understand best. To make this vision a reality, Wycliffe also focuses on community development, literacy development and church partnerships. I developed this application working with Scott Toncray (@stoncray on Twitter) and the Recruitment area of Wycliffe Bible Translators, headquartered here in Orlando,…
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Simple Marriage
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Love Everyday: Get the Free Ebook
8 Feb 2010 | 10:08 pmPardon while we take a short break from our Valentine’s Week of Giveaways. Although, this break could actually be part of the giveaways, but this time we are giving away a free ebook to any and all who want one! Love Everyday is a collection of ideas, thoughts, tips, and the like complied from over 25 of my fellow love and relationship bloggers. There are essays from Dan Miller, Kathleen Quiring, Alissa Bowman, Mandi Ehman, SM Columnist Dustin Riechmann, Stu Gray, and many others. This Ebook is definitely worth the read. And the best part – it’s free. Download it here. Or… -
Valentine’s Week of Giveaways: Sweeping Her Off Her Feet With Food
7 Feb 2010 | 10:08 pmWelcome to the Valentine’s Week of Giveaways! All week long we’ll be giving away great products to lucky Simple Marriage readers. To get us started, how about some great romantic cooking? Eric Lee is a chef and author of Sweeping Her off Her Feet with Food. Seductive cooking … hot romance! What every marriage can benefit from. Here’s a bit more from Eric: I hope to share my passion for fusing food with romance, and to help you master the art of creating food that is in itself art. Fare that not only nourishes us physically, but makes us appreciate the heart that… -
Simple Marriage Podcast #2: Wanting and Being Wanted
4 Feb 2010 | 3:08 pmWelcome to the second episode of the Simple Marriage Podcast. In this episode we dive further into the idea’s discussed in our first episode about sexual desire differences, but come at it from a different angle. Today we discuss the idea of wanting and being wanted. Yep, there’s still a lot of talk about sex and intimacy. Yep, I try to answer some of the comments left from our first podcast. Yep, I am looking forward to the discussion this may generate. And yep, I am interested in any questions that may arise from this episode. So go grab a good cup of coffee, hop on the… -
“I thought we agreed on this!”
3 Feb 2010 | 4:08 pmYou were so prepared. You talked about how you want to parent your kids before they even showed up on the scene. You agreed on the lessons you want to teach your kids. You have the same vision for the type of people you hope to raise. Then you realize that there were some important conversations you never had: What if my approach is different than yours? What happens when we start to criticize each other’s approaches? A Recurring Story My husband and I agree that our teen-aged sons should both remember and carry out their responsibilities on their own. Gone are the days of, “Did you… -
Make Peace with the Ex
2 Feb 2010 | 4:08 pmThere was a defining moment I realized my relationship with Mr. Right’s ex mattered. I was on the phone with him, complaining about a recent “disaster” with scheduling visitation. With Little Girl in earshot, I loudly proclaimed: “She is such an idiot.” When that corner of the room went silent in attention, I added: “She’s the most irresponsible person I’ve ever met.” Yes, I broke the biggie: speak no evil. In my moment of anger and frustration, I decided not to care about damaging my relationship with Little Girl by badmouthing her birth mom. Not to mention being a bad…
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Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online
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The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: You Can Pull It Off
7 Feb 2010 | 2:07 amMike Michalowicz is the author of the book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, a great book for first-time entrepreneurs. He’s launched three multimillion-dollar companies, including Obsidian Launch, a company that partners with first-time entrepreneurs to grow their concepts into industry leaders. In terms of resources, Mike explains that when you have a company with a staff of five people, you’ll find a way to use them. You might not use them efficiently, but you’ll use them. The same thing goes for money, or for any other resource. However, when you have scarcity you become… -
Toolbox For Would-Be Entrepreneurs: 69 Fantastic Free Resources
1 Feb 2010 | 10:57 pmIt’s truly amazing the quantity, and the quality, of information on entrepreneurship that you can find on the Internet, for free. Here are some great resources I found; I hope that you’ll bookmark this list and think of it as your toolbox for when you’re ready to take the plunge and start your small business. Below you’ll find 69 fantastic free resources for would-be entrepreneurs. Choosing a Business to Start Flip the Switch: Entrepreneur.com published a great article on how to come up with your business idea. In addition, you should subscribe to… -
Three Ways Limits Can Set Your Creativity Free
26 Jan 2010 | 9:08 pmInstead of thinking of limits as constraints or as obstacles that block your progress toward achieving your goals, start thinking of them as valuable allies. Lots of great things have been achieved not in spite of limits, but because of them. Particularly when it comes to creativity, setting limits–or having limits set externally upon you–can set you free. Here are three examples of how limits can expand, instead of constrict, creativity: Write a Novel or Your Memoir in Six Words Ernest Hemingway is said to have written the following to prove to a friend that he could write a… -
The Pomodoro Technique – Transforming Time Into An Ally
24 Jan 2010 | 11:08 pmWhen Francesco Cirillo was a university student in Rome struggling to stay on task, he decided to create a time management technique that would help him boost his concentration and sharpen his focus. These are the tools he had at hand: Paper; Pen; and A kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato (“pomodoro” is tomato in Italian). At a glance, The Pomodoro Technique–which is what Francesco named the system he came up with–looks very much like timeboxing. With timeboxing, you decide on a specific period of time, usually from twenty minutes to an hour, during which you… -
Todoodlist: The To-Do List Made Simple
21 Jan 2010 | 7:20 pmThe purpose of technology is to simplify our lives. The computer/Internet combo allows us to carry out research in any subject we could possibly think of, from the comfort of our homes. In fact, the current fad of being “location independent”–live and work anywhere in the world–is possible because of technology. We can download eBooks instantly. Our meals are cooked in just a few minutes in the microwave. In case of an emergency, we can pick up our cell phone and reach help immediately. Any one of us can easily come up with a long list of ways in which…
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The Barris Beat
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When the earth shook
22 Jan 2010 | 1:23 pmEarlier this week, I happened to be on a massage table. Because my massage therapist also happens to be one of the most plugged-in and erudite people I know, she and I talked about the devastation in Haiti. To my surprise, she informed me that Uxbridge has become involved. She said that among a number of awareness-raising and fund-raising activities, the Rotary Club of Uxbridge has rallied to assist victims of last Tuesday’s earthquake. I wondered how our community – so far away from the disaster – could hope to deliver any tangible help.“Well, there are 17 Rotary Club branches in… -
Custodian of the Maple Leaf
16 Jan 2010 | 8:41 pmIt happened early last spring. With just a few days remaining before I led one of my annual tours to the battlefields of Europe, I paid a visit to the man who regularly supplies me with this country’s greatest calling card. Bryan Petry was ready and waiting for me. At his All Seasons Display office in Markham, Ont., he had three full-sized Canadian flags I planned to use as official gifts. He had bags of Canadian flag pins we would give as souvenirs to French and Belgian acquaintances, and he had bundles of paper Canadian flags we would plant in front of Canadian military headstones at… -
Ending the year with a bang
6 Jan 2010 | 12:44 pmI simply went to exchange a Christmas gift. By 11 a.m. on Dec. 30, I reached the electronics store in south Whitby, Ont. But because of holiday demand, the store didn’t have much selection left. So, they gave me a credit and asked me to come back in the new year. I headed home – northbound on Thickson Road. It was just after noon. On the radio they were about to announce the roster for Team Canada, the men’s Olympic hockey team.“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, “Steve Yzerman.”That’s the last sound that came from my car radio. At that moment, I entered the… -
Gift of a song
26 Dec 2009 | 12:30 pmThe sounds of Christmas are everywhere in song, whether Silent Night or Little Town of Bethlehem or even the Chipmunks' Christmas Song and Deck the Halls with Boston Charlie. But I’ve got a story of a Christmas song you’ve never heard of. In fact, it’s not even about Christmas; it’s about the day before. It began one day back in 2001 when my father – Alex Barris – called me with a problem.“I’ve written a song,” he said. “It’s called ‘It’s Christmas Eve.’”“So what’s the problem?” I asked.Dad said it was a piece he’d composed some years before. Not only had… -
A taste of concern
16 Dec 2009 | 3:08 amMonday night was bittersweet. Through the evening, a lot of friends and neighbours shared food and drink in anticipation of holiday festivities, just days away. But in the middle of a special wine and food tasting at the Tin Mill, a local eatery in Uxbridge, Ont., I listened to a friend of mine grieve. He couldn’t fathom that just eight weeks ago, his son Christopher was as alive as ever.“I wake up each day thinking he’ll be there,” Warren Skinner told me. “It’s absolutely surreal.”Christopher, Warren and Ellen Skinner’s 27-year-old son, died on Adelaide Street in Toronto on…
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Handy Man Fix Home Repair
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Learn How to Build a Wall
9 Feb 2010 | 1:37 pmYou may end up with a remodeling project that involves learning how to build a wall in the interior of your home or another similar building. Building a nonbearing interior wall is actually a relatively easy process. If you have basic carpentry skills and a good set of working tools, then you are already halfway there. Here is how to build a wall in your home: - Plan to peel away surface materials so that you can provide for secure attachment of your wall at the top, the bottom and the ends of the wall. If you cannot butt the wall into studs at the connecting wall, or if the wall does not… -
The Complete Idiots Guide to Simple Home Repair by Judy Ostrow
9 Feb 2010 | 1:36 amSo many home repair books offer project tips and advice, but most fall into the rather dry reading category. There are few that you actually want to take up and read, and for the most part, these books fall into the reference only category. Judy Ostrow’s latest book, The Complete Idiots Guide to Simple Home Repair is definitely an exception to this rule. She manages to provide very sound home repair advice, mixed with humor, and chances are you may find yourself putting this one on your bed table instead of tucking it away in a shelf for future reference. The book contains more than 300… -
How to Choose and Install Automatic Lawn Sprinklers
8 Feb 2010 | 1:33 pmThough it might look like an intimidating project, you can install automatic lawn sprinklers and avoid the pricey professional installation fees. Sprinkler systems come with step by step installation instructions to help you. First, you need to decide what kind of automatic sprinklers will work best for you. If you have a small lawn that really won't require a very large spray pattern, you can save money by choosing stationary sprinkler heads. These don't vary in spray or move, and have a limited reach but are perfect for a small area. Oscillating sprinkler heads oscillate and so can cover a… -
How to Install Recessed Lighting
8 Feb 2010 | 1:20 amRecessed lighting is a great way to add some modern flair to any room in your home. It looks especially snazzy in the living room or kitchen, where you can focus the light in on key features in the room. Recessed lighting is exactly what it sounds like – instead of having a fixture hanging from the ceiling, the light is placed in a small recess in the ceiling. It’s a simple and inexpensive thing to install recessed lighting in a room and though it seems small you’ll be impressed by how much of a difference it can make. All you really need to install recessed lighting is a preexisting… -
Choose the Right Replacement Furnace Filter
7 Feb 2010 | 1:07 pmWhat kind of replacement furnace filter to buy isn't something most of us give much thought to. But you should give it some thought, because a replacement furnace filter does more than just keep your furnace clean and running efficiently. Today's replacement filters are designed with your furnace and your health in mind. Some of the airborne substances in your home include things like dust, smoke, mold spores, pet dander, particles from outside like pollen, and even hair and skin from the people in the home. The dust that you see, for the most part, doesn't make it into your lungs. It's…
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Life on a Southern Farm
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You know you are a Redneck if...
9 Feb 2010 | 12:12 amYou get your picture made in a big ole tree stump holding a rifle.and your husband gets his picture made by a big ole tree stump holding a rifleyour dogs get their picture made by the big ole tree stump tooyour cow gets her picture make by the big ole tree stumpa picture looking in a hole in a tree holding a rifleYou know for sure you are a redneck if you make a Valentine Day's card of you both -
Bantam Chicken Nesting Boxes added to HenPals Nest Boxes
8 Feb 2010 | 4:15 pmWe have 3 new nest boxes added to our HenPals Chicken Nest Boxes site this week.These nest boxes have 8"X8" holes that are just right for the bantam breeds.Also on the new nest boxes the metal is folded down around the nest holes for safety instead of the plastic strips and metal rings we are using on the bigger nest boxes. It gives a little more room on the holes plus the prices kept going up on -
Farm Friday Photo Collage 3
5 Feb 2010 | 12:08 amWhite Ears the dancing goat.Grinding oats with the Hammer Mill. It is a Harvey Hammer Mill probably from the 1940's.My first bottle baby. AnnieOkra. It is good fried and pickled.Lil'Annie and a Silver Polish chicken. Clothes on the line. A terrapin. The water wheel when we were setting it at the creek.Fried green tomatoes.Our farm truck. 1960 Ford F600 dump truck.Family playing on the farm.The
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Lyved
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Miscellaneous ramblings for thought
5 Feb 2010 | 8:14 pmDon’t pursue perfection… pursue betterment Perfection is boring. When we’re perfect what do we have to work for? Instead of trying to be absolutely perfect, each day pursue being a little better than you were the day before. Your biggest obstacle/battle is with yourself The biggest walls that stand in the middle of your roads are created by you. The walls are built from your fears, self-doubt, and other factors. This may seem like a negativity, but this is encouraging because once you realize this, it will help you jump over, go through, or tear down your walls. Who would you be if you… -
How to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake
13 Jan 2010 | 10:46 amHaiti has been devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the largest to hit the country in over 200 years. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the West and has had to face many disasters and trying times before. Haitians are in need of a great deal of help and you may be able to assist them. Here are a few links that list organizations which are helping the victims of this massive earthquake: How to help victims of the Haiti earthquake – USA Today Haiti earthquake: How to help – The Washington Post Haiti earthquake: How to help: A list of charitable organizations active in… -
What’s on your mind?
12 Jan 2010 | 5:53 pmHi Lyved readers! I’d just like to ask you a quick question; are there any topics you would like Lyved to tackle in upcoming articles? I’d love the hear what’s on your mind. Please post a comment below if you’d like to share. Thank you very much! -
Lyved’s 2nd birthday!
1 Jan 2010 | 10:42 amOn January 1, 2008 I launched Lyved to the world. I really had no idea where this site would lead. Now, 2 years later, I’m amazed at what Lyved has accomplished. Besides reaching hundreds of thousands of people and being mentioned by many popular websites, what is unbelievable is what Lyved’s articles have done for readers. Through article comments and by email many readers have expressed what Lyved has helped and motivated them to do. Many have found their purpose in life, one woman said that the tips she read helped her find a job, and others have had more positivity enter their lives. -
Lyved posts that will help your 2010 resolutions
28 Dec 2009 | 7:17 am2010 is almost here. Like a lot of people you’re probably setting resolutions for yourself to achieve during the year. To give you and your goals a great start, here are a few past articles from Lyved. How to just do it You can plan and plan but many times you just got to do it. http://www.lyved.com/body_soul/how-to-just-do-it/ 7 ways to change your life in the next 7 days Life change can be put in motion in not much time at all, maybe even in a week. http://www.lyved.com/body_soul/7-ways-to-change-your-life-in-the-next-7-days/ The Vengeance of Unfulfilled Dreams When you give up on your…
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punintended.com
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Our Environment Is in the Crapper. Will You Help Me?
8 Feb 2010 | 11:52 amPhoto by ~Soan What if I told you that one morning your kids are going to awaken to a world that no longer has any forests left? That’s our near future if we don’t act “Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year,” says National Geographic. [Emphasis mine] The paper towel industry, once a major cause of forest depletion has largely been replaced by electric hand dryers. There’s only one problem: What about toilet paper? Do you have any idea how many trees are killed in the name of… -
How to Live the Life You Want to Live
3 Feb 2010 | 10:11 amIllustration by ~darthaardvark The pitcher’s readying to throw a pitch toward you so ferocious it might as well be shot from a canon. You’re standing there, bat in hand, awaiting his release. Could you imagine, at this critical time, reflecting on your fears and worries? If you were to do so instead of putting all your attention on the ball’s trajectory, the best case scenario, you’d strike out. The worst case scenario, you’d be the recipient of severely bruised ribs because the pitcher’s aim wasn’t quite right. Focus. It’s what you must do to… -
7 Reasons Groundhog Day is the Ultimate Holiday
1 Feb 2010 | 2:47 pmIllustration by ~stitchyEX626 1. Finally, a holiday animal we can relate to. While holidays and magical animals go hand in hand, most holiday creatures are downright demented. Take Rudolph for example. Centuries of drug abuse have left his nose red and mutilated. The poor thing thinks it can fly. While some of us suffer from delusions of grandeur, few of us believe we once saved Christmas. Or how about the Easter Bunny? He breaks into homes and lays candy-filled eggs in random crevices. I’m no shrink, but I’d say the guy has some serious daddy issues. I mean, who does that? -
My Crazy Experience at Open Mic Night
29 Jan 2010 | 12:01 amPhoto by deneyterrio Between July and November we didn’t publish a single post; we opted to wait for relaunch. And, frankly, I was going absolutely bonkers. I need to create and I need to express my creation to other humanoids. It’s what I do, silly! So I about had it and happen to come across an ad in the local paper, advertising a swanky cafe having open mic night. I said to myself: This is brilliant! I’ll simply take a post I’ve already written to be published after relaunch and read it aloud to the audience; they’ll freaking love it! And of course… -
North Dakota Doesn’t Exist
27 Jan 2010 | 12:23 pmHave you ever met anyone from North Dakota? Ever visited the place? If you answered yes to either question, you are either lying or delusional. North Dakota is a lie. For 121 years now, weirdies have been perpetuating the myth that North Dakota exists. While the origins of this urban legend are unknown, it’s fun to speculate on. Perhaps President Benjamin Harrison wanted to see if he could pull a fast one on the American public. Or maybe South Dakotans were ashamed of the fact that they border Canada. No matter how this lie was spread, it’s undeniably one of the greatest hoaxes of all…
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Shelby Shares
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Can I Pray For You?
9 Feb 2010 | 6:15 amCan I pray for you today? I am feeling overwhelmed with my own junk today and I really feel that God is calling me to set it all aside and serve others. So -- I'd like to pray for you today... be as general or as specific as you're comfortable with your request. I will be setting aside a couple of dedicated "quiet times" later today to pray over your requests. Love you all. Thanks for -
From Grrrrrr Arrrrrgh To Nice and Mellow
8 Feb 2010 | 2:55 pmBoy, did I ever wake up in a mood this morning. My mama, if she were still here, would have said that I was "ill as a hornet". I let my family know I was feeling really grrrrrr and that it wasn't anybody's fault and I would try to not take it out on anybody but this was NOT a good day to try my patience. Being three very smart guys, they listened! By 11ish this morning, it was time to hop on -
Fell Off The Wagon, Now Back On The Horse
6 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pmChocolate cake. Hoist by my own petard -- pride. Yesterday, I did so well; had a bit of pizza nad a single normal-sized serving of cake. I guess I got cocky. I was in a mood today and should have stayed away from the cake. I didn't. One piece turned into two -- with extra frosting. Topped off with one of those lunchbox bags of Cheetos. I haven't plugged it into SparkPeople yet. I think -
Friday Weigh-In and Weighing In -- Faith
5 Feb 2010 | 6:41 amFacing Facts All in all, two of the three older kids and I have compared notes and Studly's health is going backwards at a pace we have known to expect at some point but weren't ready for just yet. When he nearly died from the kidney failure 4 years ago, I looked at him and told him (who knows if he registered what I said) that I knew that there was going to come a time when he would be ready to -
Friday Weigh-In and Weighing In -- Studly
5 Feb 2010 | 6:19 amStudly/Family I wrote earlier in the week that we had to have EMS out again on Monday. I haven't written since and the reason is that we nearly had to have them again on Tuesday. Studly got into a bad situation but with a tremendous amount of physical effort in his part and on mine, we were able to rectify the situation and not need outside help. Except I got hurt. And he got hurt. He's
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michael-moniz.com
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Single Again
5 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amJustin and I will be together for 5 years this September. When you have been with someone this long, you are so withdrawn from what it is like to be single. It is easy for me to pretend I remember but in reality, I am not facing it day to day. I think about what it would be like being single again. I remember how much fun I had meeting a new guy. How we would spend hours chatting and texting, all excited about the first date. I LOVE FIRST DATES. You get to meet someone new and you never know what it may lead. If it works out the adventure has just begun but if it is horrible, you have a great… -
30 Things to Stop Saying to Yourself
2 Feb 2010 | 8:27 amStop saying the following things to yourself: I am too tired I am too scared It will never happen It is not perfect What will people think I can do it tomorrow It will be better in…(one week, 2 months, 3 years) It is never enough I weigh too much They do not like me No one cares I do not feel loved I should give up I am getting old No one listens to me I wish I was like… I do not feel well I am bored I regret… I wish I was attractive as… I wish I was younger I will not say anything I am stressed I can’t sleep I am not happy No one wants me I wish my life was like… -
I See You
30 Jan 2010 | 6:21 amYes, I saw Avatar like everyone else did in the US. Justin wanted to see it, and I wasn’t so excited but I can’t say no to a 3D movie. It surprised me to the extent that Justin and I saw it for a second time when we went with my friend Robert during this week. One of my favorite parts of the movie is the phrase, “I see you.” The Na’vi believe, we as humans, do not see the world. We only really see ourselves. Isn’t it true? We are all so much in a hurry and multi-tasking our lives that we neglect ourselves as well as the people in our lives. We do not take… -
Shattered Image
25 Jan 2010 | 10:29 amAs we go through life, I believe there are moments that change us forever. Moments when what we felt was true ends up not being the case. We all have views, perspectives, on life and that is how we shape our worlds. Then one day we learn the real truth about a person, situation, story, etc and our worlds are shattered. Literally, at these moments, our whole world is thrown into a whirlwind because what we always felt was true, isn’t and now we are faced with a whole new truth. We always want to know what will happen next, or what it is life on the other side but once we know there is no… -
Telling My Story
21 Jan 2010 | 9:36 amI have wanted to write a book for quite sometime. I just keep putting it off for many different reasons. I know people expect me to write a self help book (not that I won’t one day) but I really want to write my story. I have told clients for a long time the importance of knowing your story and sharing it with others. That you have the opportunity to create the story you want and this is the time to do it. Of course I find myself facing the same problems as everyone else… Who will care about this? Who wants to read it? What is the use? I do not have the time… Those are all…
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Sparkplugging Blog Network
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Same Items, Different Closing Prices. Why the Price Gap?
9 Feb 2010 | 7:59 amHave you ever asked, ”Why didn’t my auction end with a higher closing price? Someone else listed the exact same item and it sold for 3 times as much!” Welcome to eBay’s Price Gap! You have probably noticed that someone can have the exact same item as another and end up with two totally different ending prices. You think FOR SURE an item will make you all kinds of money, only to lose $5.00, break even or not receive even a single bid. There are many possible reasons for this… Was Your Starting Price Too High? One of the most obvious reasons for a poor… -
Preschool Valentine Crafts
8 Feb 2010 | 3:58 amValentine’s Day is a great holiday for preschool crafts, because it’s very easy to make heart crafts that even little children can make beautiful! Here’s a few of our favorite links for easy Valentine’s Day preschool crafts: Valentine’s Day Suncatchers Handprint Valentine’s Card Make Valentine’s Day Cards More Preschool Crafts Heart attack Valentine’s idea Tissue paper heart sun catchers Super simple Valentine’s crafts Radiating heart Valentine card Hand print valentine card What You’ll Need to Make these Preschool Crafts Pink,… -
How Well Do You Know SEO?
5 Feb 2010 | 2:30 pmThis is a sponsored post. I thought you should know. All opinions are my own. So I understand SEO. I can write mean SEO copy. But beyond that, the technical analysis, jargon, etc., I’m just not into. I hear myself in the back of my head right now: “Do what you do well and hire someone else to do the other things.” Okay, okay, point taken. I was asked by Shimon Sandler, SEO consultant and guru extraordinaire, to share some of the great info he has on his site with you guys. I’ve been approached by so-called SEO experts before, so I was leery. There are some pretty shady… -
Valentine’s Day Treats: Cake Pops and Cookie Pops
4 Feb 2010 | 5:24 amI live in constant envy of Bakerella, who makes the most scrumtilious beautious cake pops on the planet (maybe in the universe?!). So, in honor of of her greatness, I’ve pulled together a collection of cake pops, cookie pops and cupcake pops. These baking godesses elevate Valentine’s Day treats to wedding-cake status. And I’m just happy if I remember to buy the kids Valentine’s Day cards in time to pass out in class! Hello Kitty Hello Kitty Cake Pops Pillsbury Pops Pillsbury Easy Cookie Pops Cupcake Pops Valentine Cupcake Pops Chocolate Cheesecake Pops… -
Olympic Coloring Pages
3 Feb 2010 | 9:36 amWoo-hoo! The winter Olympics are right around the corner! A few pages that are getting really popular lately are my Olympic bingo cards and these Olympic kids crafts. These coloring pages for the winter Olympics match the bingo illustrations, so they would be great together as party activities. Olympic Luge Coloring Page Ski Jump Coloring Page Olympic Hockey Coloring Page Ice Dancing Coloring Page Curling Coloring Page Figure Skating Coloring Page Snowboarding Coloring Page Downhill Skiing Coloring Page Bobsled Coloring Page You might also like these football coloring pages, hockey coloring…
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Divine Purpose Unleashed - New Articles and News!
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How Are Feng Shui, Intuition, and Life Purpose Connected?
8 Feb 2010 | 2:47 pmDo you know your Life Purpose? Your Life Purpose is the most authentic expression of your being evoking in you the yearning to deliver a much bigger contribution to the world. This yearning is the calling of your soul! Do you know your Life Purpose or are you pained by not knowing? Do you feel your Life Purpose is fully integrated into your being or somewhat elusive? Have you had tastes of Life Purpose… perhaps showing up for periods of time and then slipping away with a role that you played when that role was lost? You’re not alone! The discovery of your life purpose is… -
How to Feng Shui Your Life Purpose
1 Feb 2010 | 4:06 pmDo you know your Life Purpose? Your Life Purpose is the most authentic expression of your being evoking in you the yearning to deliver a much bigger contribution to the world. This yearning is the calling of your soul! Do you know your Life Purpose or are you pained by not knowing? Do you feel your Life Purpose is fully integrated into your being or somewhat elusive? Have you had tastes of Life Purpose… perhaps showing up for periods of time and then slipping away with a role that you played when that role was lost? You’re not alone! The discovery of your life purpose is… -
How To Do Great Work…
15 Jan 2010 | 4:46 pmDo you know your Life Purpose? Your Life Purpose is the most authentic expression of your being evoking in you the yearning to deliver a much bigger contribution to the world. This yearning is the calling of your soul! Do you know your Life Purpose or are you pained by not knowing? Do you feel your Life Purpose is fully integrated into your being or somewhat elusive? Have you had tastes of Life Purpose… perhaps showing up for periods of time and then slipping away with a role that you played when that role was lost? You’re not alone! The discovery of your life purpose is… -
Life Purpose In One Sitting?
21 Dec 2009 | 3:11 pmDo you know your Life Purpose? Your Life Purpose is the most authentic expression of your being evoking in you the yearning to deliver a much bigger contribution to the world. This yearning is the calling of your soul! Do you know your Life Purpose or are you pained by not knowing? Do you feel your Life Purpose is fully integrated into your being or somewhat elusive? Have you had tastes of Life Purpose… perhaps showing up for periods of time and then slipping away with a role that you played when that role was lost? You’re not alone! The discovery of your life purpose is… -
Why Create A Life Purpose Mission Statement?
19 Dec 2009 | 12:29 amDo you know your Life Purpose? Your Life Purpose is the most authentic expression of your being evoking in you the yearning to deliver a much bigger contribution to the world. This yearning is the calling of your soul! Do you know your Life Purpose or are you pained by not knowing? Do you feel your Life Purpose is fully integrated into your being or somewhat elusive? Have you had tastes of Life Purpose… perhaps showing up for periods of time and then slipping away with a role that you played when that role was lost? You’re not alone! The discovery of your life purpose is…
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THE MBTI BLOG
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Undercover Boss and Decision Making
7 Feb 2010 | 9:25 pmI'm hoping you were able to fight over your food coma after the Super Bowl long enough to catch CBS's new show- Undercover Boss. If you did, I bet the show gave you goosebumps. It really affected me in a profound way. The premise of the show is a CEO goes undercover and works in the entry level jobs that are too often under appreciated in large companies. Larry O'Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management, was the first to take on the challenge of going undercover in his own organization. He picked up liter (and got fired), cleaned out port-a-potties, and ran a trash route. To say he had… -
Introversion/Extroversion and Puppy Bowl VI
7 Feb 2010 | 8:21 pmSuper Bowl is one of my favorite days of the year. No- that's not because I am a big football fan. No- it's not because of the commercials. It's due to Animal Planet's annual Puppy Bowl and Kitty Half-time Show. I look forward to 2 hours of the most feel-good TV you can see all year long. Two full hours of laughing and saying "awe!" It's pure animal-lover heaven!I had an unexpected observation during this year's game. If you're looking for a fun new way to introduce the behaviors typical of Introversion or Extroversion, you might want to add a few YouTube video clips from the Puppy Bowl.The… -
New Webinar via TypeLabs on MBTI and Leadership with Sharon Richmond
1 Feb 2010 | 8:45 amHeads up- there is a new webinar being hosted by TypeLabs with the author of Introduction to Type and Leadership- Sharon Richmond. I love seeing a webinar at a reasonable price that also includes MBTI Continuing Education credits. Enjoy!__________________________________________________Cultivating Leadership in Your Organization: Leadership Development, Emotional Intelligence and Personality TypePresented by Sharon RichmondFriday, March 5, 20101pm EST to 2:30pm EST MBTI CE Credits: 1.5Secure Your Spot TodayRegular Price: $119Early-bird Price: $79 (Save $40)One of the most pressing concerns in… -
Type and Generations Workshop at OKA and a 20% Discount!
21 Jan 2010 | 5:58 amI'm so excited to tell you about another great workshop being held at OKA (Otto Kroeger Associates) focusing on personality type, MBTI, and Generations. This is such a hot topic and this 2-day workshop looks full of great information! Plus, OKA has been so generous and has offered a 20% discount on this workshop to all MBTI Blog readers! Just enter MBTIBLOG in the coupon line when you checkout! Enjoy and thank you OKA!________________________________________________________OKA’s Generations and Type: 17-18 February 2010 in Fairfax, VAMore and more OKA clients are asking us for help in… -
Job Interview Tips for Introverts and Extroverts
20 Jan 2010 | 1:56 pmInterviewing is no fun! I don't know anyone who enjoys the process of being interviewed for a job. Even when you feel like you're a good match, there is still that feeling that you're standing on the playground waiting to be picked for a game of dodge ball. It also seems that for some people, no matter how much you prepare or how confident you are, you will just feel like you didn't click with that interviewer. Sadly, not all interviewers are good at interviewing. Some will ask oddball questions like "If you were a cereal, what would you be?" Nevertheless, you need to be at your personal best…
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@iKrissi
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Test News Post
30 Jan 2010 | 1:30 pmPlease stand by while I redesign this site... check back soon (and often) for upcoming new content! -
FarmVille = Social Idiocy or the Future of Personal Relationships?
22 Oct 2009 | 6:24 pmHow my FaceBook status message turned into a discussion about the time people spend online, social interaction, and the future of communication. -
Highlights from #WTFAmI II
1 Sep 2009 | 12:59 pm#WTFAmI II: Road-tripping from Florida to Northern Jersey/New York City and back for a second Epic Roadtrip during the summer of 2009. -
Happy 9th Birthday, Kidlet!
30 Jul 2009 | 12:10 amCelebrating The Kidlet's birthday - times NINE. -
What the ‘eff does “#wtfami” mean, anyway?
4 Jul 2009 | 2:11 amAussies might call it a "walkabout," but mine was a "driveabout" - an Epic Roadtrip. WTFAmI was (is?) all about road-tripping to find myself.
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THE SUMMER HOUSE
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Tip #6 Bake Bread
7 Feb 2010 | 6:16 pmEveryone can bake bread ....unless you don't have an oven.You don't have to know how to knead it, you don't have to know how to proof it...none of that.You don't even need to have a lot of time.Here's the recipe for 5 Minutes a day Olive Oil Artisan Bread. Don't believe it? Give it a try...so easy, your 5 year old could probably do it but the dough might stick to his hands and he might want to eat it before it's baked.And please don't tell me you are on a diet....even on a diet, you can eat a little piece.Here's what I do..I will make a big batch of dough, let it rise and then roll 1/2… -
Perricone Face Finishing Moisturizer Giveaway
6 Feb 2010 | 3:47 pmDon't you just love to try new products!Kerrianne over at Perricone has generously offered to send one of my readers.... Perricone Face Finishing Moisturizer."With the brain-beauty connection in mind,perricone dmae is a supplement that improves skin’s appearance and enhances cognitive function."And to read the Perricone MD Blog head over to nv perricone cosmeceuticals.For one entry, post a commentand share why you want or need Perricone Face Finishing Moisturizer. For a second entry subscribe to receive The Summer House email updates.Contest Ends February… -
Tip #5 Sit Down To Eat
28 Jan 2010 | 6:07 amSit down to eat....well that seems easy. Or does it. Try it for just one day. I didn't really think that I ate standing up.I do...or should I say I didSkip the snacks at Costco and skip the making dinner munching. It's really not satisfying eating anyway.I've been reading The Complete Beck Diet for Life. It's not another diet. It helps you see where you are using self-talk to your disadvantage and it helps you turn all that around. It works!Great Book! Go Read It!!Disclaimer-the book link goes to Amazon and if you buy it there-I will get a tiny little amount. It's really not important. -
Tip #4 Budget
21 Jan 2010 | 1:51 pmThe dreaded "b" word.... yes I budget. I love having a budget. It allows me to spend money guilt free. The new year is a great time to try this out.Don't worry about all the pennies. To get started, keep track of all the money you spend in a month and then the next month plan it out. If you want to learn more about budgeting, check out Dave Ramsey's site.Here's a free download and tutorial for making your budget more fun. -
Tip #3 Eat Chocolate
14 Jan 2010 | 5:19 amThere's really no reason to go without chocolate. It's a plant so it must be healthy. Just make sure it's a good qualitychocolate! I discovered Ritter sport while going to school in Germany during college. This is the best!! The yogurt filling is to die for.
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Eternal Ramblings of a Confused Mind
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Photography
28 Jan 2010 | 10:00 pmAnyone who knows me, is aware that I am having a hot and steamy love affair with my camera. So, taking a lead from Ulco's photo of the day idea, (click here and then click on "1per24" in the menu to see them...) I have decided to start a new blog, that just focuses on two of my favorite subjects, photography and me, or more accurately, my photography. Don't worry, I am not posting albums and -
When Things Fell Apart
27 Jan 2010 | 8:36 pmI haven’t been blogging that much lately, and there’s a reason for that. Lots of them, actually. When I started blogging, it was all about being funny, making myself and other people laugh and recording the adventures I shared with my wonderful friends. And then just over a year ago, things started changing. I lost my job, my relationship came to an end, I moved from a big beautiful house to a -
Beautiful People
11 Jan 2010 | 1:07 amI was at the Coffee Bean in Delhi, sitting a couple of tables over from a monk in red and orange robes who was being kept warm by a Burberry scarf and entertained via the iPod earbuds he had in his ears as he nursed what looked like a large white chocolate latte. I looked down at my own imitation blue-themed Burberry polyester that is supposed to feel like cashmere scarf and got back to the busy -
I'm Back
25 Dec 2009 | 10:35 pmI can’t believe it has been six weeks since I have posted anything here. Six whole weeks, with my last post being about toilets. I meant to write more after that, but one morning I woke up and decided I just wanted to live life, not really write about it so much and after about six months of a self-imposed hiatus from all things social, I was suddenly caught up inside the cyclone. It was kicked -
World Toilet Day
18 Nov 2009 | 10:45 pmAnyone who knows me, knows that I am bathroom shy. You might even say I am in potty denial. I just don’t want anyone to know that I actually engage in certain activities, and I think that by denying them, they will ultimately go away. But today is different. I’m coming out of the closet as a person who has and who uses the toilet. Why? Because today is about a good case, it is about awareness. It
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quoteflections
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The Who of the Half Time Superbowl XLIV
9 Feb 2010 | 5:01 amThe special effects may have propped up the aging Who, but it was their classic songs which propelled the memorable 12 minute medley of songs. Peter Townshend, 64, and Roger Daltry, 65, helped form the group in 1964 and catapulted its distinguished legacy with sales of 100 million albums.Jon Pareles of the NYT writes, "They were songs about prowess, determination, desperation and rage at how revolutions fail: an arc of verbal frustration defied, and explosively overcome, by musical assertiveness, with the power chords that the Who made ring worldwide."Here are some of the lyrics from their… -
Bridging Cultural Divides
8 Feb 2010 | 7:01 pmGlobal Voices Online (The world is talking. Are you listening?) is an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists that follow, report, and summarize what is going on in the blogosphere. It is a non-profit, website project started by the Beckman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.Its objectives are to enable and empower a community of bloggers who can make a bridge between two languages and cultures. A team of regional editors aggregate and select interesting conversations ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. There is a focus on non-western, underrepresented… -
Mind Fix Monday
7 Feb 2010 | 7:01 pm- For the motorcycle enthusiast, this is the ultimate trip, a 248 day supported journey spanning 30 countries, 5 continents and costs $101,000 excluding air fare. A journey of extremes, the Discover Our Earth tour will travel through one of the driest deserts in the world (the Atacama in South America), the highest national capital in the world (La Paz, Bolivia) and the southernmost city in the world (Ushuaia in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego). It will also cover some of the planet’s most famous routes, including the Pan-American Highway network and Asia’s ancient Silk Road. It's the… -
New Genre: Imagepoems
6 Feb 2010 | 7:01 pmI have noticed a new genre develop online; let me call them imagepoems. In the old days poets would sit in the privacy of their studies and create poems filled with images created through simile and metaphor...Now these poets have digital cameras at the ready and knowledge of Photoshop etc. to be able to morph images with poetic verse.A parallel interest has been the explosion of sites like Flickr which have empowered thousands of users like Diane Cordell to post their still life photographs online and to join 365 forums.Out of this interest in digital photography people are stepping forward… -
Did You Know?
6 Feb 2010 | 5:43 amHere is an anthology of some interesting links:-Taiwan is home to over 15 million butterflies. It is a rugged island, with dense forest cover over half the territory and a mountainous central spine that reaches almost 4,000 meters high and stretches 400 kilometers from north to south. It's home to 423 species and is known as the Kingdom of the Butterfly. An annual migration occurs because the differences between northern and southern winters is typically stark. One is damp and chilly; the other balmy which is necessary for butterflies to survive. ~ Robert Kelly, Wall Street Journal- Totem…
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Heather Goodman's Blog -
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Something Small
9 Feb 2010 | 9:05 amRecently, I've been reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is about a writer. For part of his life, he worked for artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. In these relationships, Kingsolver explores some questions about art, including its purpose and function. In one section, the protaganist, Harrison Shepherd, considers the difference between the artwork of his two employers. Diego's murals "[command] men to rise from their knees and fight!" Frida's, however, are "smaller . . . Something people would find dear" (p. 161). It's Frida's work, not Diego's that… -
"Careful or I'll put you in my novel."
4 Feb 2010 | 9:44 amImage via Wikipedia I've picked up Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradise) to study for my WIP. (Side note: thank you, Kindle, for making this selection available to me for free. We love you, Kindle, oh yes, we do.) A couple of interesting observations from my study of the poem and the little I've read on it (mostly in order to understand the references): The Roman Catholic concept of purgatory originated with this work, which is allegorical. Most likely, Dante intended Purgatorio to represent the Christian life. Some things never change when we take allegory too literally. -
Popinjay: Guilty
1 Feb 2010 | 7:36 amI have not been able to keep up with Michelle's weekly Popinjay Photo Challenge, but I'm able to pop in every once in a while (knee slap for that pun, please). This week's word: Guilty -
On Installations, Memoirs, and Reality TV
28 Jan 2010 | 9:48 amRecently I finished Unveiling by Suzanne Wolfe (an excellent read I highly recommend due to her poetic prose, complex characters, and willingness to enter into suffering and beauty). In it she comments that museums, with their metered environments, lose the contexts of churches and homes for art. This made me think about museum installations. Are they the artist's desire to create context where none exists? I suppose "no context" is impossible. How about sterile? Removed? Unfamiliar with the breathings of our daily lives? Over the past several years, memoirs have invaded Barnes and… -
"Important Blogger--That's an Oxymoron."
25 Jan 2010 | 7:42 amOne of the threads that weaves through Douglas Coupland's apocalyptic novel concerns blogging. (Yes, Generation A is apocalpytic in that it portrays the end of the world as we know it--and, thanks to a Prozac-like drug, we feel fine.) Each of the main characters in Coupland's story tells his/her own stories. One character tells a story of a young man who has lost the story of his life. The implication is clear: springing from our obsession with fame, we all look for the story of our lives. Unfortunately, with nothing real left in life, we can't find one. We use our extreme sports and…
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Diet Coke-Fueled Life
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Welcome back to me. Watch this.
25 Jan 2010 | 8:51 pmThis is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. -
Grace in Small Things, Part the 58th
30 Dec 2009 | 5:14 pm1. Mini Oreos2. Mini Oreos3. Super great friends who let me vent about the snit I was in.4. Mini Oreos5. Mini Oreos -
When your BFF's book comes out in an audio version, I'll buy that...
29 Dec 2009 | 6:25 pmIn the meantime, you are going to be SO TAKEN by HOW AMAZING this is, you will CRY (in a good way).Three Rivers Rising by Jame RichardsSixteen-year-old Celestia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by a 70-foot earthen dam. Tired of the superficial cheer and sly judgments of the society crowd, Celestia much prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel's hired boy. It's a friendship she must keep secret--her parents would never approve--and when companionship turns to romance, it's a love that could… -
Grace in Small Things, Part the 58th
27 Dec 2009 | 12:14 pm1. A friend who just said, "I needed to call and talk to someone who is happy, so I'm calling you."2. Great hair days. (Honestly, it looks terrific! Luckily I'm going out later, so someone [thing] other than the cat can appreciate it.)3. A guy friend who says, "What do you mean you don't want dessert? You have to have dessert!"4. Finally listening to the CD my brother gave me LAST Christmas: Jason Mraz. Me likey.5. A cat crazed by catnip! -
Andy Rooney: Few people appreciate good writing
27 Dec 2009 | 10:07 am50 Years of The Elements of Style Can you believe it? Gosh, it barely looks older than 35! If you don't own a copy, you should ask for one for a New Year's present. What? What do you mean we don't get presents on New Year's Day? Anyway, here's an article about the Writing Bible from Andy Rooney. Follow these directions, kids, and you'll do well in my class!A newspaper, never mind which newspaper, had a story about the men who wrote one of the most important books in my life, "The Elements of Style." My hero was the writer of that book, E.B. White.In my opinion, White - "Andy" to friends -…
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Let Your Life Bloom
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Self-Love Manifesta
3 Feb 2010 | 2:11 pmWhat better way to let your life bloom than by making a declaration of self-love? I was recently inspired by Madly In Love with Me to put together a Self-Love Manifesta. Here's mine. Do share yours! Self-Love Manifesta I love myself. I eat healthy, nutrient rich foods that nourish my body. I love myself. I rest when I'm tired, breathe deeply when I feel scared, and believe in my own strength. I love myself. I move my body with exercise, dance, flexibility, and power. I love myself. I fill my life with people that love me, creating my own community who are open to… -
The guide for letting your life bloom
21 Oct 2009 | 3:21 pmA quick guide for exploring Let Your Life Bloom while I'm on a blog hiatus is now available below for your viewing pleasure. At the start of the year, I decided to write 5 days a week, each day being a different health oriented theme. More about that here. Each theme, in addition to the general categories that I write about - health, intuition, and coaching - gives you a strong foundation of health and clarity. When you have this, you can truly let your life bloom. Here's the snapshot: Movin' On Mondays - All about movement and the body. Tasty Tuesdays - Food, farms, fantasies,… -
Thinking of you
12 Oct 2009 | 6:37 pmHello blog world and readers of Let Your Life Bloom, I hope you're doing well, enjoying the season change, and up to whatever fulfills you. If you've read any of my posts on intuition, or have attended my Get Clear series, you know that I first and foremost trust my inner guidance. In doing so, it sometimes directs me in different ways than what my ego wants or expects. In learning to go with the flow of my own natural rhythm, it's become clear that for right now, it's time to step back from posting while other seeds are germinating. Last week was the first time I didn't… -
I love Coconut Bliss ice cream
7 Oct 2009 | 11:13 amMany of you may know I feel this way since I tend to pimp out this delicious, healthy, flavorful ice cream to whoever I come across. When I stumbled upon this contest by Luna & Larry of Coconut Bliss, I couldn't resist creating an entry. Here it is: -
Creating health through Nia
5 Oct 2009 | 11:57 pm*Posts will be short & sweet this week with a focus on sharing a resource or two, as I'm up in Oregon for a family reunion and other unexpected adventures...Thanks again for reading!" Have you heard of Nia? It's a combination of martial arts, dance, and the healing arts. The philosophy of it is - "Through movement we find health." At the end of the week I'll be in Portland, Oregon, home to Nia founders and a mecca of fun and healing movement. Attending a class there is an opportunity I can't pass up. To find a Nia class in your area, click here.
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Carrie and Danielle
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Budget Planner, Finding Relaxation on a Tight Budget
1 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pmThe terms budget planner and relaxation don’t really go together and that is true. Although that is a fact there is the time where we all need to take a break way from the work that we do, the family and other type of stress that are in our [...] Related posts:Budget Planner, Finding Relaxation on a Tight BudgetBudget Planner, How To Buy Gifts on A Tight BudgetBudget Planner, Finding a Personal Financial Budget Planner -
Budget Planner, Making Buying Decisions
1 Feb 2010 | 10:45 pmThe budget planner can help you out when you’re trying to make one of those difficult buying decisions. As with most anything the bigger it is the more stressful it is going to be. The last thing you want to do is buy something that is out of your [...] Related posts:Budget Planner, Making a Realistic Budget through Saving ReceiptsBudget Planner, Making Your Budget For FreeBudget Planner, Making a Family Budget Work -
Budget Planner, Making a Simple Monthly Budget
1 Feb 2010 | 10:30 pmWorking with a budget planner is one of the best ways for you to be able to know where your money is going and help you take control of your finances. You can do this through just an easy budget and even though it might seem like it’s a [...] Related posts:Budget Planner, Creating a Simple Monthly BudgetBudget Planner, Making Free Monthly Budget WorksheetsBudget Planner, Making a Monthly Budget You Can Stick With -
Budget Planner, Setting Up a Family Budget
1 Feb 2010 | 10:15 pmThrough a budget planner you’re going to be able to have a budget that’s going to allow control over your families spending and you’ll have enough money leftover so you can pay your bills and still enjoy saving through some money for a vacation or other wants. Following these steps [...] Related posts:Budget Planner, How to Make a Household Budget for Your FamilyFree Budget Planner Review: Family Budget Planner from Vertex42Budget Planner, Making Free Monthly Budget Worksheets -
Budget Planner, Making a Simple Budget Plan
1 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmA budget planner is something that is really needed as these days it’s really hard not to feel the pinch. When you can make a budget plan you’ll be able to get an idea on where your money is going and be able to get your finances on track. The [...] Related posts:Budget Planner, Making Your Budget For FreeBudget Planner, How to Create A Personal Budget PlanBudget Planner, Making a Monthly Budget You Can Stick With
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Dragos Roua - Brilliantly Better
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Brute Force or A Gentle Touch
7 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” Photo Credit Sometimes it seems that the harder you try to chase something, the further it moves away from you. This occurs in all walks of life: with money, relationships or success. Maybe it is because of the fact that you are scared that you will lose something you care about or that you will never get it at all. You start to focus so much on losing it and what life would be like if you lose it that it… -
How To Manage And Upgrade Your Life Device Drivers
6 Feb 2010 | 3:48 amLife device drivers are fundamental for a smooth social interaction. They’re the invisible layer which allows us to have a proper interaction with various social interfaces, like a job or a family. Oh, you don’t know what a life device drivers is? No problem, this is exactly what you’re going to find out in this article. But before we dive in, let me tell you that this is the second follow-up to my first article using a computer metaphor to describe self-improvement. You may want to have a look at it first: Are You The Best Version Of Yourself?. And you could also check out the… -
Why And How I Wrote And Published 4 Books In One Month
3 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmI don’t really believe in advertising as a valid, long-term monetizing strategy for a blog. There are more cons than pros, if you take the time to really look at it. Yet, many bloggers are rushing towards advertising and fill up their blog real estate with tons of banners and then dumbly wait for money to pour in. Advertising has a very low entry point, all you need is some traffic and traffic building is relatively cheap, that’s true. But advertising also have a very, very low output: you need incredibly high amounts of traffic to make a decent amount of money. I won’t talk about the… -
Don’t Hit It Big! Unless You’re Ready For It…
2 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pmSo, you want to hit it big? Go on, do it! Just don’t fantasize too much about how it’s going to be when you’ll do it. And you know why? Because it’s going to be completely different from what you think it would. Let me tell you a story about how success can become your worst nightmare. The Story Everything started a week ago. I published an article about how you can run the best version of yourself, based on a sketchy parallel between human beings and computers. The post was immediately featured on lifehacker.com, to my surprise (and delight, to be honest). The reaction from the… -
Successful Excellence
31 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmThis is a guest post by my friend Zeenat Merchant-Syal, @zeenatsyal. Aren’t we all craving for success? In whatever endeavor we take up success is what we are after. Be it a project or a job. Be it as small a task as completing a good book. We always want to be successful at the task in hand and in the broader perspective in life. Success in life. But, What does Success really mean? Is it the mere completion of a task at hand or the positive completion of the task at hand? Whatever your definition of success is, whether its the smaller successes like learning a new language or quitting…
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Caffeinated Thoughts
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Sticks and Stones and Cyberbullying
9 Feb 2010 | 8:34 amLast week Mary Selby posted a great review of the movie “To Save a Life,” addressing the terrible tragedy of teen suicide. Shortly after reading her article, I learned of a young woman in Massachusetts who had taken her own life. Though we may never know all the reasons for her grievous decision what is undisputed is that Phoebe Prince was suffering torment on a daily basis from relentless bullying. Phoebe Prince was a beautiful, young, fifteen-year-old girl. She was a daughter, a sister, and a friend. Having come from Ireland only last year she was a recent immigrant to the United… -
The Des Moines Register Asks The Wrong Question Again
8 Feb 2010 | 8:18 pmToday’s installment from the latest Iowa Poll that The Des Moines Register commissioned asked Iowans polled what issues should the Iowa Legislature consider this year. For those of you who live outside of Iowa may not be aware, this year’s General Assembly has a shortened session this year in order to cut costs. This week is funnel week to see what bill will end up going to the floor to be debated on, and which ones will get killed in committee. Again they are asking the wrong question. Before they asked whether or not the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision has impacted… -
Sarah Palin’s Response to “Palm-gate”
8 Feb 2010 | 6:51 pmThe mainstream media has gone nuts over notes that Governor Palin had written on her palm. Her response? Look closely at this picture taken at a rally she did yesterday with Texas Governor Rick Perry. Nice. By the way in case you are wondering if it was photoshopped, negative. You have to love the woman’s sense of humor! At least she doesn’t need a teleprompter to speak to 6th graders. -
The Tea Party in Iowa
8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amThe Des Moines Register looked at the Tea Party movement in their latest Iowa Poll should make its critics take note. The first is that a third of Iowans surveyed support the movement. Considering how relatively new the movement is it’s current level of support is impressive. Forty-five percent say they do not support, but again if you look at how mainstream media have portrayed the Tea Party movement (as well as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) that shouldn’t be surprising either. Twenty-two percent of Iowans are not sure. The most surprising feature (for… -
Motorola Super Bowl Ad and Sexting
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmTonight during the Super Bowl, CBS aired a Motorola Commercial with Megan Fox. I’ve embedded the commercial below, while it isn’t graphic it wouldn’t be appropriate to watch with kids in the room. While there were a number of raunchy ads during the Super Bowl this was was incredibly disappointing. Why? Mainly because this paints sexting in a positive light. Sexting is fast becoming a problem among teens. One young man in Perry, IA learned that it can come with criminal consequences as well. Here it’s laughed at. Ironically CBS back in January…
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Yellaphant
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I am the motherflipping Dog Lady
8 Feb 2010 | 11:15 amWhen I was growing up, there was an old woman in the neighborhood all us neighborhood chitlins called "The Dog Lady." There really wasn't any reason for this, except the fact that she was ancient, crooked, and gray and could always be seen walking around the neighborhood with anywhere between one and three little dogs. It's not like she lived shut up in a house with 36 cats who would ultimately eat her face after she died in her Lay-Z-Boy watching "The Price Is Right." Lots of people have more than one dog. And lots of people walk those dogs around their neighborhoods. But for whatever reason… -
Making friends is haaaard toOOoo do
5 Feb 2010 | 5:55 amMoving to a completely new place without any friends is a hard thing to do. And it's been so long since I've made a new friend that I forget how to do it. The act itself of making friends isn't so difficult -- just don't be a dick -- and I'm sure it will be exponentially easier once I actually have a job and interact with people on a daily basis again. But the act of finding a group and establishing myself in said group proves to be more challenging than I quite remember. Right now, I'm just rowing along in my little rowboat with B, sending out meek distress signals and hoping a rescue boat… -
Wednesday's Song of the Week just got hijacked by the Philadelphia Inquirer
3 Feb 2010 | 11:58 amI'M FAMOUS! I'M FAMOUS! HOLY PANTS ON THE GROUND I'M FAMOUS! I knew this day would someday come. It's only inevitable, after all. Today, my wedding story is is in the Inky. I'm in the "LOVE" section because helloooooo, have you met me?First I'd like to thank all the little people who have been there for me from the very beginning. My parents, because where it not for their own wedding 28 years ago and certain subsequent actions, I wouldn't be where I am today. In fact, I wouldn't be at all. My grandparents, for calling me this morning to tell me how proud they were, or else I might have slept… -
I probably shouldn't even be allowed to get out of bed without direct supervision
1 Feb 2010 | 8:54 amYou know what? Looking for a job sucks. Desperation reeks worse than an un-bathed body, and I am two for two today. Putting on pants is pretty much the most work I do all day, and I'm beginning to think I'm even unqualified for that. Because that's the thing about job searching. By the time you get your 8 crabillionth rejection letter, you begin to doubt your own capabilities.I've applied for jobs that I've been well qualified for, and I've gotten rejected. I've applied for jobs below my skill level, and I've gotten rejected. I've even applied for jobs a slightly above-average fourth grader… -
I've also been told my poop smells like roses
29 Jan 2010 | 6:14 amSince I've already taken a giant oh my gah life is awesome poop and rubbed a little bit of it in your face, I thought I'd be a little discreet for once in my life do it again, because my life is so boring I have nothing else to talk about just because.SWEET JEEBUS I AM SO EXCITED TO BOARD THAT CRUISE SHIP.And to really get your faces deep down in there, I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about it, because I don't know about you, but it's really cold here in Massachusetts, and I bet nothing will cheer you up more than hearing about how warm I'm going to be.I'll be departing for FRIENDLY…
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JordonCooper.com
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My favorite designs from the Cooper Cabin blog
8 Feb 2010 | 4:30 pmWhen we bought the cabin, I put up a quick free blog hosted on Blogspot to post photos to so we could show the changes the cabin has gone through. While we have done that, I have posted a lot of design and architecture links to it as well which has generated a growing amount of traffic over the years. Over the last year the site has been linked to by several architectural firms, some classes, and some publications as a niche architectural design resource which has been really cool. I am not an architect or a designer but it’s nice that my curation efforts are recognized. … -
Contextless Links
7 Feb 2010 | 12:04 pmProving that the NBA learned nothing from the NHL lockout, they are planning for a massive labor stoppage in 2011 as NBA owners have grown tired of losing money and plan to crush the NBA union. The owners want to take a far greater percentage of the basketball-related income. They want to pay millions less for maximum deals and shorten contracts. Most of all, they want a hard salary cap and assurances that protect themselves against a diminished economy and, well, themselves. Hey, the 33rd America’s Cup is about to start. It’s weird with no major North American outlet covering… -
Send Money Not Supplies to Haiti
7 Feb 2010 | 11:43 amMany charities are complaining that it’s impossible to sent supplies to Haiti right now. Well that makes sense as that is what every relief organization and government agency has been saying repeatedly. More than three weeks after the earthquake, donated goods are accumulating at small charities, sitting in shipping limbo because of costs and a complex web of transportation logistics. The heaps of donations are evidence that many people ignored the advice to just give cash. Estriplet and other charities opted to collect items because it has a more personal touch. She is… -
What could have happened if Vancouver hadn’t won the 2010 Olympic Games
7 Feb 2010 | 9:45 amMatthew Good talks about the “what ifs” if Vancouver had not won the games. I know whenever I talk about Olympic games some of you are shocked as you can’t figure out someone who loves sports as much as I do, dislikes the Olympic games so much. It isn’t that I dislike the Olympics that much, it is just that I can’t stand the cost of hosting them and the debt that comes with it. No one is heading to Nagano today because of their Olympic games, no one is headed to Salt Lake City any longer because of them hosting the Olympic games. Already China is trying to… -
Contextless Links
6 Feb 2010 | 1:13 pmThe federal Tories take control of Anders’ riding association :: Apparently the federal Tories are trying to support Rob Anders, the MP who once called Nelson Mandela a terrorist. I have never understood the loyalty that Conservatives have towards Anders who doesn’t even have a following on his own riding executive. Calgary Grit has more. Ian MacDonald points out that Stephen Harper is competent but not a visionary :: Harper’s leadership is already historic in the sense that for every Conservative leader with the exception of Sir John A. Macdonald, just winning an…
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Trying to follow
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YouTubesday: Chocolate and Where it Comes From
9 Feb 2010 | 2:57 amI’ve but together a playlist of videos about chocolate. You can go to the list or view all the videos in the player here. -
I Will Pay You To Eat Chocolate
8 Feb 2010 | 3:15 amYes, you heard it right folks, step right up; come one, come all; I’m gonna pay you to eat chocolate. Do I have your attention now? Good. I’d like to embark on a bit of an experiment with five other willing participants. I’d like to encourage others to eat chocolate in the same way I have. A few years ago, I decided to start eating Fair-trade chocolate. To put it bluntly, I was bothered by the idea of purchasing products that were harvest by children in slavery. I’d like to encourage others to make the switch to fair-trade chocolate and today, I’m putting my… -
God Told Me That She Loves Atheists The Best
3 Feb 2010 | 2:59 amOpen Discussion: God Told Me That She Loves Atheists The Best -
YouTubesday: Visitation Monastery
2 Feb 2010 | 3:38 amThese are the awesome Nuns that live a few doors down from us. They’ve been in the neighborhood for 20 years! -
Open Discussion
27 Jan 2010 | 2:50 amFelt like keeping it light hearted today. Q: When’s the last time you had a snowball fight?
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The Coyote Insight Blog
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Seeing Past
5 Feb 2010 | 1:29 pmDusk light filters through windows as tall as the trains arriving and leaving outside downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where I sit, an hour or so before my train heads south.Clicking shoe leather walking by; me in an overstuffed leather chair, eyes closed, "seeing" back to when it all began in 1939.End of deco, near the end of depression, about to go to war.Eyes closed "seeing" travelers, most all in double breasted suits and ties, dresses, men with hats, women in heels, military uniforms, cigarette and fragrant pipe smoke, civility everywhere.Camille Saint Saens Piano Concerto 1,… -
The Perspective of Luck
29 Jan 2010 | 8:45 amLucky?Tsutomu Yamaguchi lived to be 93; a feat in itself dwarfed by the fact that he was only 1 of maybe 100 to have survived both atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Working on short-term assignment as an engineer in Hiroshima, he was two miles from ground zero when the bomb went off August 6, 1945, the very morning he was to return to his home city of Nagasaki. Somehow, he made it back to Nagasaki where, in spite of his obvious wounds (hair and hearing gone, upper body and half his faced severely burned), he reported to his company and a boss who would not believe a single bomb… -
Get Down Baby!
22 Jan 2010 | 9:39 amDoes playing Beethoven while mom sits in a softly lit room with candles burning, the soon to be daddy's head on mommy's tummy reciting the alphabet, really help baby get into graduate school 25 years down the road? I consult and write articles in the technology industry and as a result, regularly have unsolicited information sent to me by companies regarding new products they hope I will promote. The latest example being Nuvo Group USA's Ritmo: Advanced Pregnancy Sound System.From Nuvo's 1.13.10 press release:"The expectant mother wears a lightweight, fashionable belt around her pregnant… -
What They Do, They Smilin' In Your Face
15 Jan 2010 | 1:32 amJust back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas; something like the 35th I've attended counting both summer and winter shows back when there were two a year. So much so different and yet, in at least one respect, so similar to that first show.I was having dinner in an upscale restaurant the first night, sitting next to a table of four who, based on their conversation, were obviously business related. Four guys ranging in age from 30 or so to maybe late 40's, early 50's, and sitting close as I was, it was easy to hear the conversation, identifying the players in the process. Clawing… -
Johnny Hallyday . . .
8 Jan 2010 | 10:48 am. . . know who he is?You probably do if you are French or if you've spent any time in France and/or if you live or have lived in a predominately French speaking area.Or just maybe if you've seen an LA area newspaper in the past month. But if not, probably not, so here's a primer.Born Jean-Phillippe Smet, June 1943, Paris France.Heavily influenced by Elvis, became the self-styled "French Elvis" in 1960, incredibly famous in France for singing rock and roll in French.Recorded in excess of 150 albums, including 18 platinum.Sold over 100 million records including 33 number 1 singles in France…
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It's my life...
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California Snow Day: A rip roaring success
8 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pmI showed up right on time for my snow day yard duties and dashed back out to the car to grab my camera. I had expected something neat, but what greeted me was cooler than I anticipated. An entire play yard covered in snow. The sun shining overhead. And a group of parents, waiting to make the afternoon magical. The kids all traipsed out, a motley crew in an assortment of winter wear - from the fully kitted out in snow gear to the ones, like C, outfitted in whatever their parents could piece together at the last minute. The joy on their faces was the same though. Sheer delight and instant… -
A different kind of snow day
7 Feb 2010 | 9:55 pmI found the gloves in the deep recesses of one of the suitcases we took to Ohio. The hat was shoved under a pile of outgrown clothes in the corner of the kids' room. And I'm hoping that her snow jacket is somewhere in my car.Tomorrow C has a snow day. Oh, not like the snow day that countless kids in the North East are having tomorrow. No, we do snow days differently out here. We don't have to shovel the drive, salt the roads, or plan countless indoor activities for home bound kids. Instead, on snow day we go to school and play in the snow.That's right. Tomorrow C's preschool is bringing in… -
Cirque du Soleil - Ovo - A circus and bugs of a different genre
5 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pmThanks to the wonderful people at the Cirque du Soleil and Silicon Valley Moms blog M and I were given the wonderful treat of attending the opening night of the new show Ovo. Opening night in San Jose that is, not first opening night ever.It was our first "real" Cirque experience. We saw Wintuk, a small family show that they put on a few winters ago in Madison Square Gardens, but this was a whole new experience.Once we got past the whole 'walk 8 blocks in the pouring rain' thing (reminding myself that at least we're not on snowpocalypse watch like our friends in the North East) and got into… -
Finding peace
3 Feb 2010 | 11:21 pmOn Monday I officially handed off one of my many jobs to the person who was taking over. A friend actually, who needed the work and was perfect for the job. So that turned out just perfectly. I called in on to one last editorial meeting and heaved a sigh of relief when I hung up. As much as I loved that job it came with a bucket of stress that I just couldn't handle any more. More stress than I had ever realized. Because let me tell you, after I hung up that phone the stress was gone and I felt light as a feather. I've felt like that ever since.It's been a great week. I haven't gotten any… -
Wordless Wednesday: A first dental visit
2 Feb 2010 | 9:55 pmWhat's that?You're going to do what with it?Oh. That's not so bad I guess.What are you talking about? This place is awesome.Oh yeah! You're right. This is great!Happy Wordless Wednesday!
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Joe Blogs
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Ellie Goulding at Dingwalls
29 Jan 2010 | 2:08 pmImage by joedawson via FlickrDingwalls is a venue adjacent to Camden Lock in London. It houses bars, cafes, clubs and it is one of the city's best known live music venues. As part of MTV’s Brand New 10 For 10, MTV have hand picked the ten most exciting new acts to watch out for in 2010.The 10 For 10 promotion culminates in a series of MTV Presents live shows and we were at Dingwalls to see performances from Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah and We Have Band! Ellie Goulding was the headline act and she follows closely in the footsteps of 2009 successes Little Boots and Florence and the… -
The Device Consumers Deserve, But Not The One They Need
27 Jan 2010 | 2:28 pmImage by Getty Images via DaylifeAfter months of speculation and hype; Apple announced the highly anticipated iPad as the best way to experience the web, email, photos and video. Hands down? Really?! To start the iPad’s browser does not support Adobe Flash, the foundation of rich media on the web today. The transition to HTML5 and CSS 3 for rich web content has started but until it does, it’s ridiculous to call this device the best way to experience the web.The device features built-in apps that were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. This… -
Google Voice Available Through The iPhones Browser
26 Jan 2010 | 3:32 pmImage by marcopako via FlickrGoogle Voice is a service that makes using your current phone much better! Providing one personal phone number that rings all of your existing phones when people call, all of your voicemail in one inbox with unlimited online storage and free voicemail transcripts sent to your phone and email.You may remember the furore that followed the Google Voice application being blocked by Apple but the service is now finally on the iPhone via its browser. Available through Safari as a Web application, and Apple can’t really do anything about this latest development. -
What's To Gain With Being Honest
24 Jan 2010 | 4:54 amImage by fofurasfelinas via FlickrIt was my son's football presentation yesterday and he received a certificate for participation and an award for being in the team that won the tournament! I would like to get him into a team where he participates in a competitive league but will probably wait until next season. The same goes for horse riding but that's expensive and difficult to find the time. They enjoy there hobbies though and that's what's important!In the evening I decided to venture out with friends and my partner. She hadn't experienced what we have become accustomed to on a Saturday… -
There's Always One
22 Jan 2010 | 3:54 pmImage by rpeschetz via FlickrIn an attempt to live life to the full, I have considered eating Go-Cat. They say his name is Bobo: a cat who lives for adventure – the master of the rooftops high above our crowded streets. Sounds like the ingredients for an action fuelled lifestyle.What would Spiderman say? Especially after last weekend, the impromptu live session which received a perplexed reaction from friends and relatives. Primarily, why?! Video status updates are great fun though and provide an easy way to share what we're doing using short clips. I want to contribute so much more,…
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thinkBuddha.org
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Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is...
29 Jan 2010 | 6:14 amOK, so I’ve written about this before, but I’m still not sure that I’ve got to the bottom of it, so at the risk of repeating myself I’m going to have another stab at it. Or, at least, at reframing, once again, the question that has been recently haunting me. As regular visitors will know, I’ve been thinking a bit lately about what some folks call the cognitive unconscious. My cognitive unconscious is not some terrible area of inner darkness where, unbeknownst to me, lurk various childhood repressions and Oedipal shenanigans, but instead the large chunk of my… -
A Viable Way
15 Jan 2010 | 3:12 amThe other day, I was browsing through the town library here in Leicester, and I decided to have a look through the shelves of books in Chinese, to see if I could find anything to give me a bit of reading practice. It was there that I stumbled across, How to Marry a Western Woman, a handy guide for the Chinese male; and although I’ve no plans to marry a Western woman just yet, I though that this would be worth a look given that I had fifteen minutes to spare. Because, after all, you never know… Anyway, as I was making my way through the book, I came across a passage in which… -
Meditating and Knowing
2 Jan 2010 | 1:45 pmFirstly, I should wish all visitors to thinkBuddha.org a happy New Year, if a little belatedly. Since I got back from retreat, I’ve had my head down working on the next philosophy book, and it has been good to have some time away from teaching, and a bit of the clarity that comes from meditation, to really get some thoughts on paper. So for a few days, we were up before five in the morning and on our cushions for the first sit of the day. And when the sky started at last to lighten, the view from the window of the meditation room when I opened my eyes was – pleasingly – that… -
The Storm Before the Calm
23 Dec 2009 | 1:47 amLater today I’m off on the first retreat I’ve been on for some time, at Satipanya in Shropshire, and I’m looking forward to a few days of meditation and reflection. So yesterday I was putting things in order ready for the departure, and this included sorting out the kind of backup solution for my desktop computer that I should have got round to ages ago. The trouble with moving large chunks of data around, however, is that things can go wrong, and when my aging desktop wheezed a little too despairingly and then decided to go into a sulk half way through the most ticklish… -
Zoom!
17 Dec 2009 | 8:58 amWho’d have thought it? A monk on Mount Emei (literally, Mount Lofty Eyebrows) has been photographed zooming around his temple courtyard on a skateboard, and the pictures have been causing a great deal of consternation amongst the faithful – and, no doubt, a measure of glee amongst the unfaithful. There’s a news article over here. On the scale of things, there are many worse ways of spending one’s time; and today’s shocking innovations can quickly become tomorrow’s traditions. All they need to do over there on Mount Emei is to turn up a hitherto unknown…
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Tres Lola
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How to Beat the Work or Study Blues
6 Feb 2010 | 11:13 pmAt some point in the year we will invariably experience a slump in our usual motivation to perform our jobs or study. This is especially so after returning from holidays. With exciting memories of the weeks past filling our mind, it can be difficult to refocus our attention towards our work or study. Every day tasks seem mundane and pale in comparison to the time we spent away. New people, places and experiences, or even just the opportunity to have total control over how we spend our waking hours can fill our mind with grand ideas, exciting plans and a freshly adjusted sunny disposition and… -
How To Celebrate The 80's
3 Feb 2010 | 1:34 pmThe eighties were big. Big hair, big jewelery, big neon colour, big amounts of spandex, big bold makeup, big everything. While most decades tend to be easily defined, the noughties seem to be preoccupied with throwbacks to the all those fabulous decades gone before them. However, the 80's often get overlooked for their gaudiness. They could easily be defined as the era of tacky... but they were a time to be apologetically bold and fabulous too. Madonna was like a virgin, Spandau Ballet were gold, Olivia Newton-John was getting physical and Cyndi Lauper just wanted to have fun.Photo by… -
Weekly Words [oh-two-oh-two-twenty-ten]
1 Feb 2010 | 9:37 pmI'm on my second day of 4:45am wake up calls. This is because I've not yet moved into my new, much closer to college campus, apartment. This means that my daily commute is quite a long journey. I think if this sort of day continues I'm going to have to start taking Nanna naps at about 2pm. The upside to long train journeys is that I have a lot of time to read and write. However, rather than inducing enviable productivity, the morning journey occurs pre-caffeination and thus results in live-tweeting as I read The Australian, rather than clever analysis or comment for my blogs.This week on Tres… -
Are You Pouring On The Pounds?
29 Jan 2010 | 1:15 pmWhen we consider our overhauling our diet ('diet' referring, in this case, to the type of food you regularly consume, not a crash new eating style you're trialling in order lose weight), there is often much greater focus placed on the type of food we consume, rather than the liquid proportion of our dietary intake. Given the amount of sugar and kilojoule level in a can of soft drink or a frappacino, we can not afford to overlook the key role consuming liquids can play in maintaining a healthy body.Another component that we tend to overlook when it comes to our diets, purposely or otherwise,… -
Tips On How To Prevent Jet Lag
27 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pmPhoto by Surat Lozowick.Traveling can bring with it some of the best life experiences a person can have, but with the exciting merriment that is travel comes long haul flights and the consequent jet lag that so often follows. Jet lag is a form of fatigue caused when we cross timezones, our body wants to keep kicking with the old schedule even when we arrive at our new destination. The best advice one can take on board (!) is to be grateful for the experience and privilege of travel. It is incredible that in less than a day we can journey from the Middle East to England or from Canada to…
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Salt and Lemonade
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Super Bowl Live Coverage
7 Feb 2010 | 11:28 amAs most of you know, I'm bedridden with a broken back this Super Bowl...so no parties, chips and salsa or beers for me--however, I don't have to miss the play by play action! My good friend Angie will be live blogging the game for Mahalo. You can read her insights and follow the game here: http://www.mahalo.com/super-bowl-live-coverage Posted via email from susan's posterous -
U.S. Lifts Ban on Haggis in Time for Burns Night
24 Jan 2010 | 11:58 amAfter 24 years, the U.S. lifts the import ban on haggis. If you're planning on enjoying one tomorrow night, you might want to recite Robbie Burns' "Ode Tae a Haggis" before serving it:Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,Great Chieftan o’ the Puddin-race!Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,Painch, tripe, or thairm:Weel are ye wordy of a graceAs lang’s my armThe groaning trencher there ye fill,Your hurdies like a distant hill,You pin wad help to mend a millIn time o’needWhile thro’ your pores the dews distilLike amber beadHis knife see Rustic-labour dight,An’ cut you up wi’ ready… -
Black Pepper Contaminated with Salmonella Causes Recall of 1.2 pounds of Salami
24 Jan 2010 | 8:50 amhttp://bit.ly/5S6HT4 Posted via email from susan's posterous -
Whopper Bar
22 Jan 2010 | 8:49 amDo you want a beer with your Whopper? Burger King to start selling beer in Miami in February. Burger King launched their Whopper bar concept last March, with "Whopper bar Girls", "barristas", and a contemporary stainless steel and black and white interior design. The first Whopper bar, at Universal Studios, only featured soft drinks, but the international locations that followed served brewskis alongside the burgers. The South Beach Whopper Bar opening next month is the first in the U.S> to offer beer.Whopper BarEmbed this widget See full results for Whopper Bar -
Would You Like to Write About Food Holidays?
20 Jan 2010 | 4:59 pmMahalo is looking for writers to cover every Food Holiday in the United States-- the official ones, AND the ones that are "just for fun"! If you're interested in joining us, please email me at susan at mahalo.com for more information.Tomorrow is national New England Clam Chowder Day-- take a look at what one of our writers has to say about it!National New England Clam Chowder DayEmbed this widget See full results for National New England Clam Chowder Day
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Kyle Steed
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Project 365 Week 05
8 Feb 2010 | 7:27 amI’m working my way backwards this morning. Starting at the end and going back to the beginning. Sometimes that’s the way I feel I’m living my life. We’re already in to the middle of February and it feels like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be but something big is about to happen. I’ve seen so many changes, good changes, happening all around me that I can’t help but remain hopeful for something amazing about to unfold. And some things have already begun to unfold themselves. Only time will tell. Weekly Roundup Here are my 3 favorite photos… -
social mysteria
7 Feb 2010 | 12:33 pmI wonder if we really understand the true meaning of social networking or if we are getting lost in the numbers. Inspired by this Friday Vidcast from Aaron Irizarry. Special thanks to Andy Rutledge for his brutally honest opinions. -
Project 365 Week 04
1 Feb 2010 | 9:56 amWow! It’s already been a month. I’m not going to act surprised or anything, this has been on my calendar for a while now. Doing these daily photos has really helped me appreciate each day, and each new challenge I am faced with. Usually the weeks just pass me by without warning, but having something I have to do each day really helps me stay focused. The biggest change this week, which I think we can all agree on, was the loss of my beard. (So long old friend.) But like I said before, a happy wife is a happy life. (Well I didn’t say it, but I heard it somewhere.) Week 04… -
The dribbble jersey collection
27 Jan 2010 | 10:39 amWhat is Dribbble? Dribbble allows you to share your work in 120,000 pixels or less with other creative people. It poses the question, “What Are You Working On?” without sounding like a douche bag. The fine folks over at SimpleBits handcrafted this little beauty. Why a Jersey? Why not a jersey? It seemed appropriate in light of the whole basketball theme. Sure I could’ve made little basketball icons, but where’s the fun in that. I love to compete, and what better to wear when you compete than a team jersey? You may have seen my post on twitter or even on dribbble… -
Project 365 Week 03
25 Jan 2010 | 9:22 amIt’s that time again. Yawn… Stretch… Zzz… Is anyone else feeling the end of January being a bit sluggish? This past week felt more like a walk to school in the snow (uphill, both ways). And with the daunting feeling that what I’m doing doesn’t really matter to anyone else but me, I’ve had a hard time staying focused. That statement is completely self-involved, I know, so I want to give a huge thanks to all of you who’ve been following me and leaving your comments, but I’m just being honest. Flickr’s quite a conundrum to me. I…
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Ibn Ibn Battuta
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Awuramba: An Experiment in Village Life
8 Feb 2010 | 6:38 amOne of the more interesting points of our road trip so far was a trip Jacqueline and I made on a whim to the peculiar little village of Awuramba. Back in Bahir Dar, a friendly Australian lady urged us to make an extra stop on our drive northward, at a small village that produced excellent woven products, but whose name she couldn't recall. We communicatd her directions and description to our driver, Yoseph, who knew the place immediately: "Ahh, you mean Awuramba." We arrived a few hours later, and found much more than a mere weaving village. Yoseph parked our Land Cruiser in the center of the… -
Bahir Dar: the Riviera of Ethiopia
3 Feb 2010 | 7:58 amOur northward drive continued Monday to the city of Bahir Dar, which we reached in time for lunch. Bahir Dar sits on the edge of Lake Tana, and is generously characterized as "Ethiopia's Riviera", though it seemed a bit more rough around the edges than some other rivieras I've seen. We pitched our tent on the grounds of the Ghion Hotel, beside the lakeshore, and spent the afternoon relaxing and watching the birds (an eclectic mix of parakeets, vultures, pelicans, hornbills, seagulls, fish eagles, pigeons, and plume-tailed songbirds) clatter about the treetops. A rumbling four-wheel-drive,… -
The Long Road Northward Begins
3 Feb 2010 | 6:55 amThe Abeba Tours manager and driver picked Jacqueline and I up at our guest house in Addis early Sunday morning for the start of our two-week northern road trip. As the churches emptied out from their all-night services, white-veiled figures filled the otherwise deserted streets. We left the city's northern limits, cruising along a well-paved road that brought us abruptly from the metropolis to rolling farmland. Runners and pods of bikers chugged along the roadside; our driver, Yoseph, told us that Ethiopia's most famous athletes, including the internationally renowned marathoners, train along… -
Page Loading... Page Loading...
2 Feb 2010 | 5:49 amRemember the dial-up noise computers used to make? Here, they still do. "...connections in Ethiopia are among the worst on the continent. It can easily take an hour to download one simple, two line e-mail. And that's in Addis! To avoid frustration it's better to assume that while in Ethiopia you will not be able to get online." -Lonely Planet: Ethiopia, page 250 Truer words were never spoken. Just wish I'd read them before I arrived! -
First Days in Addis: Dealing with Diplomats
30 Jan 2010 | 10:34 amNote to self: next time, don't visit Addis Ababa during an African Union summit. Our first three days in Ethiopia's capital have been dominated by the presence of several hundred dipomats and heads of state from around the continent. Roads are blocked, hotels are full, and ATMs are tapped. The upside is increased security: a policeman or soldier with an AK-47 is stationed every 50 feet along each side of every street in the city, ushering along the motorcades and traffic. Despite the unexpected disruptions posed by the conference (which apparently occurs here three times per year), Jacqueline…
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Yes and Yes
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Style Lessons Learned From Dolly Parton
9 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amGood lord, but I love Dolly Parton. Underneath all that hair/eyeliner/boobage there's a giant heart and heaps of talent. In fact, I would even venture that we could all learn a few style lessons from this little lady. Why not pop over to Agent Lover and read my guest post on that very topic! -
How to Enjoy Your Commute (Or At Least Hate it Less)
8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amWhen I moved back to the Twin Cities, I went from a 15 minute commute (walking along the ocean) to a 30 minute commute (driving my 22-year-old car through heavy traffic).Awesome.So I sulked about it a lot and questioned my decision to work in St. Paul and whined to everyone I knew. Eventually my friends nearly went blind from rolling their eyes so hard and I found a few ways to actually enjoy my commute (or at least hate it less).Bring the car up to par. In my case this meant putting in new brake pads, replacing the broken tape player with a functioning cd player (Hello, 21st century!) and… -
In Which We Remember that Our Struggles are Relative
7 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amIn the event that you were looking for a movie trailer that will tug on your heart strings and possibly reduce you to tears (and really, who doesn't want to spend their Sunday afternoon that way?) may I suggest Moving to Mars?It's a documentary that follows two KaRen families (the ethnic group that I work with) as they relocate to Sheffield, England. It is, of course, funny and moving and completely engaging. And it reminds me of my grandma's sage advice "If everyone in the world put their problems in a pile, you would be so happy to grab yours back." -
Feet + Brain = Success
6 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am -
Happiness Is...
5 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amI have accomplished absolutely nothing this week. Unless you count eating lots of processed carbs, periodically dressing my cat in a vest and editing photos in picnik. I'd like a heaping helping of happy, please! Let's make lists of what happiness means to us!In my world, happiness is...* a cuddly pile of snoring kitteh* yelling the lyrics of questionable 80s songs with your BFF, on the way home from the bar* laying by a pool. anytime, anywhere* when someone that you've known forever does something that surprises you* a bowl of bun chay, eaten in the company of kindred spirits* an empty…
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ColorMePink!
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Madly In Love With Me!
9 Feb 2010 | 6:55 amMadly In Love With Me™ and necklace giveaway! Last week the whole family was going out for my daughter’s birthday. I took a shower, did my hair with no less than four products, a blow dryer and two brushes; then I carefully applied my makeup. I decided on a pair of black pants, a black decorated tank with a pearl neckline and a gauzy white shirt/jacket. I carefully chose a pair of coin, freshwater pearl, dangle earrings that were the exact color of the pearls on the tank. I checked myself in the mirror and as I put on my shoes, my husband said, “You look nice.” … -
iPhone Task Apps Part I
8 Feb 2010 | 6:09 amI can’t seem to find exactly what I’m looking for in an iPhone app. I’d like a list maker that I can use online, on my computer and on my phone, completely syncing them. I’d like to be able to import part of a list into another list. I’d love it if all my lists were able to find coupons that were relevant to my lists at local stores. Not all of my lists are shopping lists, but some of them are and I’d like to have a way to differentiate between the two, maybe by keeping them in different categories. I’d also love some social functions so that… -
Steamed Broccoli with Garlic and Lemon
5 Feb 2010 | 4:16 pmA couple of months ago, we had some friends over. I made a simple meal of grilled chicken with broccoli sauteed in garlic with lemon. Everyone oohed and aahed about the broccoli and even though it’s one of my favorites, I was really surprised that they hadn’t ever had it prepared this way. I started to think about that and thought I’d share it here because when you really don’t know what to make, this is easier than anything in the world and good enough for company. Here’s what I do: 4 heads of broccoli Lots of chopped garlic (6-8 cloves) 1 lemon Olive Oil… -
My Baby Is 12
3 Feb 2010 | 5:15 am12 years ago today my beautiful girl made her way into our world. Isn’t she cute? For the last 12 years she has been delighting us at every turn. Always ready with a hug if you need it (and even if you don’t). A bit of a ham. And a beautiful girl, inside and out. As she grows up, I’m more and more honored that I get to be her mommy. Happy Birthday Haley Kat!Similar Posts: Happy Birthday Baby Nine Years Ago I’m a New Woman Letting Go… A Little at a Time My Baby is 8! Can You Believe It???!!! -
Asian Pasta Salad
2 Feb 2010 | 12:18 amHave I mentioned I like pasta salad? Have I mentioned that I like to make a lot of it, to feed as many people as might be traipsing through my house at any given time? Have I also mentioned that I like to change it up so that it doesn’t get boring? Yeah, that. Yesterday I was at Publix and they had beautiful snow peas, I love snow peas and I decided to try to make an Asian inspired pasta salad. Here’s what I did: For the salad: 2 boxes of farfalle cooked and rinsed to cool 1/2 lb. of snow peas 1 pkg shelled edamame (rinsed) 2 cucumbers, peeled and chunked 2 large tomatoes, chunked…
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Where's My Damn Answer?
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When is young…too young?
9 Feb 2010 | 3:33 amI heard on a local sportscast yesterday during halftime, that there is a young kid of the tender age of 13 that has been/is being recruited for the 2015 Football team as a quarterback. THIRTEEN, folks…. His name is David Sills and he is from Bear, DE. Here is a youtube video of his work…you decide: I’m not a huge college football fan, but I thought this was pretty interesting… -
Andy Rooney’s Ode to Women over 40
3 Feb 2010 | 5:18 amAndy Rooney’s Ode to Women Over 40 I found this one over at merlot mom by info@merlotmom.com (merlotmom) and thought if you missed it on 60 minutes as I did, it was well worth sharing in a blog post: 60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS) As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, ‘What are you thinking?’ She doesn’t care what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about… -
The newest Food Star is not SO new!
1 Feb 2010 | 2:00 amI love Clara!! She rocks. Have you heard about her yet? She’s 94 years young and her grandson decided to start capturing her cooking on film to share with the family. That eventually turned into a regular youtube.com show - Great Depression Cooking with Clara. (Link takes you to one that is more current - a recipe for pizza). She’s now also got a book and dvd out. I love the simplicity of it … and it feels like you could sit in her kitchen forever listening to her stories and soaking up all the smells of the food cooking. Here is one of the very first episodes -… -
Cheesecake or as Dad Calls it Cheese Pie
28 Jan 2010 | 6:45 amThis cheesecake has been a holiday tradition in our family longer than my feeble memory will go! I must say it is good after all there is a reason that it has hung around with my clan for over 40 years!! It is very easy and tastes wonderful. My Dad refers to it as a cheese pie instead of cheese cake and ya know what that works for me! Ingredients: Crust: Graham cracker crust 1.5 cups finely ground. 3/4 Cube of butter (melted) dash of nutmeg A couple spoonfuls of ground almond slices. I toss sliced almonds in a mini chopper for a few pulses to get the right consistency. Mix all…
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Anja Merret
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Owning up to your mistakes
7 Feb 2010 | 3:21 amHere’s the question. If somebody has wronged you and they apologise as soon as they know they have made the mistake what is your reaction? You will probably forgive fairly quickly, especially if it was a minor transgression. If that person, however, takes a long time before they admit to their mistake and apologises you could take a fair while longer before you accept the white flag. You might even terminate the friendship. Now before you roll your eyes and click off this article thinking:- yugh one of those new age articles, let me quickly reassure you otherwise and give you an example… -
Remembering the fall of apartheid twenty years ago
2 Feb 2010 | 12:36 amRemembering the day February 2, 1990 in South Africa! On an epic day the then president de Klerk offered South Africans, of all persuasion, and the world a total dismantling of the apartheid regime. Read an excellent article on this here. It makes one reflect that anything is possible. Not many South Africans considered this option a possibility. And yes there was a fair amount of resistance amongst the ruling white class after its announcement. But by making this step publicly and with conviction there was just no going back. How often do we hesitate before we take a tiny step. We agonise… -
YouTube and TV - the competition hots up
23 Jan 2010 | 11:50 pmIn a surprising turn of events Google’s YouTube has signed up the rights to show all games of the Indian Premier League cricket competition live online. The deal runs over a period of two years. Of course the sports body can still sell the rights to the TV broadcast to any takers. TV has not been excluded. So why should they worry. How many viewers will flock to online rather than watch on TV? After all, TV surely has the upper hand when it comes to showing the games with commentary and other expert opinions making it more than just a TV viewing experience. How would YouTube compete… -
Here’s a fun New Year’s Resolution to get your finances in order - get a coach
2 Jan 2010 | 8:38 amNobody hesitates to see a doctor when they have a broken bone. Toothache? Phone the dentist. Financially ill? Muddle along on your own. Why? Get a coach, employ a ‘financial doctor’. Don’t go it alone. Top athletes depend on their coaches for peak performances. The top teams in basketball, ice hockey, football and more perform in line with the abilities of their coaches. Top politicians employ personal coaches, people serious about diets have nutritionists helping them. Becoming a financial expert will be much easier if a coach is there to help. This may be an intimate one on one… -
Copping out at Copenhagen
18 Dec 2009 | 10:35 pmAnd here we thought The United Nations Climate Change Summit was all about the well being of the living planet! How stupid of us. In an article by well-known journalist Johann Hari on the outcome of the COP15 Summit he makes one damning point after the other to expose the developed world’s quest to worship their almighty God called Profit. Read his excellent article most appropriately called ‘They didn’t seal the deal; they sealed the Coffin’ here. During a few days of supposed reasoned talks by world leaders what seems to have been totally ignored were the pleas by…
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Life on the High Wire
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Quote of the Night: “Passion Is Not Mania” (So We’d Better Go Back on Our Meds)
4 Feb 2010 | 7:58 amI went to the “Art of the Pitch” panel at the Grad Center last night, which featured an agent as well as editors from major mags including The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and The Paris Review. I’d heard much of their advice before, which isn’t a bad thing – it’s always good to hear it again, and it’s comforting that the game hasn’t changed that much.Tips included don’t exaggerate your pitch (“This book/article idea will change the very nature of life itself! And I do mean biochemically!”); make sure you’re familiar with the magazine before you pitch… -
But If Your Goal Is Removing a Brain Tumor, I'd Say Set the Bar a Little Higher
1 Feb 2010 | 11:28 am230 pages, 71,000 words, and 3 million seconds of doubt later, I’m done with the first draft of the memoir. Let’s honor my achievement with a moment of silence. Now. Make me a margarita.Ha ha! I’m afraid the margarita has to wait, because a) I’m writing this at 8 a.m., b) drinking one’s breakfast sets a bad example for the students of my morning Intro to Creative Writing class, and c) I’m not actually the lush I’m made out to be, despite that unfortunate video on YouTube. But hoo boy, am I happy. The draft is far from perfect, and good lord does it need a lot of work, but for… -
Or, I Could Include a Mouse Who’s an Inspector
28 Jan 2010 | 6:52 amSpring semester officially starts today, so as a warm-up for what’s likely to be four months of briefer blog posts, here’s a website recommendation:“Curious Pages: Recommended Inappropriate Books for Kids” (Thanks to Very Short List for the tip.)The commentary is hilarious – the labels are particularly brilliant – and it makes me think I should switch from memoir to children’s books. That would be more fun, don’t you think? Because if the books on this website are any indication, I could still get away with talking about sexuality and bad dads, as long as there were cartoon… -
Also comforting? Flannel Sheets and Arrested Development Reruns, But Those Will Have To Wait
25 Jan 2010 | 10:41 amThis weekend I finished the penultimate chapter of the memoir. (I’m a writer. I’m allowed to use words that don’t sound like what they mean.) It was such a satisfying moment that I immediately ate a bunch of dried mango and danced around my apartment, and after hooting my joy to the walls for probably longer than my neighbors thought appropriate, I poured myself a celebratory glass of Chardonnay.(You can only imagine the celebrating that will happen when I finish the whole book. I’m wearing a helmet from here on out, just in case.)Finishing that chapter was far more satisfying than I… -
In Other Words, The “Shut Up and Shop” Magnet on My Fridge Is Meant to Be Ironic
21 Jan 2010 | 7:58 amRegular readers know I’m a big fan of living below your means. Earn more than you spend, bank some then leave it alone, don’t go crazy with housing, and quit buying stuff you don’t really need. (Yes, fellow Americans, this includes 3G phones, Kindles, and, gasp, even TVs. Want, sure. Need? Come on.)So I was interested in Philip Brewer’s review of Daniel Brook’s The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America on Wisebread.com.Read the whole review, which gets into Brook’s more controversial ideas, but here’s what most interested me:Brook talks a good bit about the…
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Momma Muse
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Rice Pudding with Leftover Rice
3 Feb 2010 | 7:33 pmIt’s been forever and a day that I enjoyed homemade rice pudding. It’s a memory from when I was about 7 years old, my grandmother and I would make both rice pudding and egg custard. This evening, one of my daughters made dinner. It included rice – of which she made a lot. Way more rice than we needed for dinner. Spur of the minute I decided to make rice pudding with some of the leftover rice. I search several different recipes and sort of combined what I thought I wanted. I ate mine while it was still hot, so it was still a bit soupy (like in the photo) but ooh was it… -
Showtimes Weeds and Los Mono
4 Aug 2009 | 9:26 pmWeeds, on Showtime Mondays at 10pm, is about a woman whose husband dies and she still has to pay the bills. Her and her two boys live in cookie cutter suburbia and she’s jobless. She makes ends meet by selling pot. It’s such a good show, the cast is awesome and it’s funny too. But, since I’m a season behind because I never get the tv to myself, I’ve been buying each season on iTunes. So I am just now starting season 4. The first episode “Mother Thinks The Birds Are After Her” (and I suspect they are in some form or another, ha!) the usual theme song… -
The Coveted Amazon Kindle 2
15 Jul 2009 | 6:00 amFor about a year, I coveted Amazon’s reading device called the Kindle. While there are other reading devices available, I liked the Kindle because you can be just about anywhere, browse Amazon’s books and download a new read in less than a minute. For Christmas, my husband said, “Order it”. I did, knowing it had a 13 week back order date. I hoped by February or early March I’d have it in hand. Little did I know at the time, but the Kindle 2 was going to make it debut and I’d be getting one of those. While the Kindle 2 doesn’t have a memory card slot,… -
Preparing for Home Schooling
14 Jul 2009 | 3:07 pmIt’s only the middle of summer, but as a home school family, I’m already looking at the next year. I don’t have to worry so much about buying supplies from the school required list, or making sure we have clothes for the first day of school and I don’t need backpacks or lunch boxes. What I do need is to notify the school district of our intent to home school again this year. This needs to be mailed, certified mail so you have a receipt, to the school district Superintendent before the start of school. They are usually fairly quick at getting an acknowledgment letter… -
They Don’t Care About Us – Lyrics, Michael Jackson
3 Jul 2009 | 10:56 amMichael Jackson “They Don’t Care About Us” Lyrics 4 Single released from the Album HIStory, 1995 Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Situation, aggravation Everybody allegation In the suite, on the news Everybody dog food Bang bang, shot dead Everybody’s gone mad All I wanna say is that They don’t really care about us All I wanna say is that They don’t really care about us Beat me, hate me You can never break me Will me, thrill me You can never kill me Jew me, sue me Everybody do me Kick me, kike me Don’t you black or white me All I wanna say is…
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Quality of Life Project
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Quality of Life Perspectives: Mike Krzyzewski Talks about Associating with Good People
3 Feb 2010 | 11:45 amI had the immense opportunity to interview Mike Krzyzewski at the Milken Conference earlier this year. Coach K is one of the most successful coaches in any sport on any level. However, Mike is probably even more respected today for his role as a leadership expert, a motivational speaker and a philanthropist. You can view the [...] -
Robert Kennedy on Measuring Quality of Life
25 Jan 2010 | 8:16 pm“The gross national product (of a country) does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. [...] -
Top Ten Quality of Life Contributors by Jason Hreha
25 Nov 2009 | 9:04 am1. Variety/Novelty . This last Spring I graduated from college. After that time, I moved back to my home town of Danville, California. Most of my friends from high school are no longer around, and so I have made it a priority to explore the entire bay, get involved with new groups of people, and [...] -
Perspectives on Quality of Life: Conversation with Dennis Ross about Active Listening
20 Nov 2009 | 7:06 amI was recently reading over an interview I did with Dennis Ross, one of the most skilled diplomats in the world. He was the chief Middle East envoy during the H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations and was appointed by Obama this month to serve as the chief envoy for Iran. He is the author of [...] -
Top Ten Quality of Life Contributors by Avil Beckford
12 Nov 2009 | 11:08 amQuality of life for me is doing the things that bring joy. Over the past five years I have learned a lot about what does not work for me and I have turned over a new leaf. 1. Reading I am an avid reader, and reading is one of the simple pleasures in my life. I go [...]
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Healthy Living DIY
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Are You Average?
12 Jan 2010 | 8:30 pmAverage. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. How about you? Where in your life ARE you "set" on average (statistically speaking)? Where are you not? Where in your life would you LIKE to be average (statistically speaking)? Where would you not? It's this last category that fascinates me the most. The parts of my life in which I would most definitely not prefer to be addicted to "average." For instance... * Average number of children per family. In North Dakota, where I live, the year 2000 US Census says that the "average" family has .92 children. Ok, it's interesting to look down the… -
Abundance in the Desert
24 Dec 2009 | 1:00 pmImagine you are lost in the desert. I'm hopeful that you must imagine this, as I do, because I am hopeful that you have never actually been lost in the desert. Yet from time to time in life you may have felt as though you were. I have visited the desert, though. Perhaps you have also. Can you think of a time when you were hot, tired, and thirsty, as a person might be while they wandered the desert? For me, the occasion that stands out is a 2-1/2 hour hike straight up and out of the Grand Canyon one memorable August afternoon. I emerged hot, thirsty, and ravenously hungry. See if you can find… -
Why Am I So Exhausted?
20 Nov 2009 | 7:06 amExhaustion, tiredness, fatigue, lethargy. Whatever name you give it in your own mind, a chronic lack of energy is way too common these days. In fact, as a holistic health practitioner, "Why am I so tired" is one of the most frequent questions people ask! With that in mind, let's explore some surprisingly obvious yet frequently overlooked reasons for that zapped-out feeling. We'll also consider some "natural cures" to get you back to feeling your best! Today, we'll start with awareness. How does a person recognize that their energy is low? No, I'm not kidding. It can be surprisingly easy to… -
Limiting Beliefs of the most Insidious Kind (The ones you don't know about.)
15 Sep 2009 | 1:36 pm"Why even offer Wellness Coaching? After all, isn't it less challenging work to simply treat people's symptoms?" Seriously, this is a question people ask. The answer is "yes." It's actually much less challenging work for me to simply treat a symptom and send the person home. Yet treating and retreating symptoms that have the possibility of being resolved presents its own challenge -- to my value system. That is why, a number of years ago, I shifted gears in my personal study to gain a better understanding of how and why unconscious limiting beliefs affect body structure (and a whole lot of… -
Engage Creativity -- Resolve Stress!
9 Sep 2009 | 3:31 pmCreative problem-solvers are rarely stressed for very long. What is their secret? It's simple. When something puzzling tugs their tail, creative problem-solvers are pretty well sure that they will be able to come up with a satisfactory solution. They don't waste a lot of energy worrying. Instead, they set out on a two-step process that virtually guarantees success and a good night's sleep. Not all "creative personalities" have the process worked out so smoothly, of course. Sometimes a great solution will "pop" into their head, yet on other occasions it eludes them. Like anything else,…
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My Story Related
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The Cab Driver
Here is my story. I am a social worker who was visiting a client when one of their siblings decided to ask me some questions about my personal life. She asked me about my children. I had one son who is 17 that live in New Jersey. Then I started ... -
A Celebration Dance for My Kids
Let me start with the anxiety that I felt when I checked the site for the results at least three times a day a week after I mailed the kit to the DNA lab. When I looked at the login page yesterday and saw the PDF icons, I got so ... -
Thank You
Given up at birth in Austin TX, I was thankful to both the foster family who nurtured me and the permanent family who named and raised me. I went home to Betty Cook Drive where my new father sold life insurance while my new mom answered phones for Walter Carrington ... -
3 Generations of Adoption
Growing up as a young child I had no idea just how much adoption had to do with my life. Born a child to an adoptee, I only knew that ‘Mom was adopted’. Her adoptive parents were my grandparents and I knew nothing else. It wasn’t until I entered the foster ... -
My Story: Mirah Riben
[caption id="attachment_72" align="alignleft" width="263" caption="Mirah Riben"][/caption] My life was irrevocably changed in 1968 when, lacking support, I succumbed to the pressure to surrender of my first-born child, a daughter, to adoption, becoming one of an estimated four million American mothers to surrender a newborn to adoption between 1940 to 1970; two ...
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Thursday Drive
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Snow, man
9 Feb 2010 | 7:56 amThis time last year, when I still lived in Arizona, I went for a drive one morning and took these photos: (all images, click to enlarge) Whenever it would snow in the mountains to the north of Phoenix, I would scout the house for whatever coats and gloves I could find – usually, the gloves were outgrown or even mismatched, because who needs gloves in the desert? – and I’d load the kids in the car. We’d drive up the Beeline Highway toward Payson until we got to the snow, then I’d pull off the road (like so many others were doing) and let the kids play in it. -
The way back
1 Feb 2010 | 10:37 pmI walk a few steps, turn. Walk back across this room. Turn again. I look down as I cross this space with my steps, study it like I’m looking for a lost contact or a straight pin or one of the tiny pieces of my soul that holds the rest of it together. There are pieces like that, you know. (Yes, of course you know.) I search for the words that I’ve lost, without any belief whatsoever that I will find them. My certainty that they’re gone for good is as strong as my wild hope that they aren’t. Off and on for these last (almost) two months, I came back here, thinking I had… -
Clean
11 Dec 2009 | 5:36 amphoto credit: Lilya Wagner One minute it isn’t snowing, and the next it is. Elle, still in her pajamas, throws open the front door and calls to us. Come look, it’s snowing! All week long, she had said it was going to snow on Saturday and was sure of it. A girl in her class had told her so, and I – in my adult certainty that it was too early for snow and not cold enough – had dismissed her prediction with an Oh, really? Wouldn’t that be fun? I didn’t check the forecast, and I sure as hell didn’t buy them any boots. (That’ll show me.) We all stand… -
If it comes to that
16 Nov 2009 | 11:09 pmBefore breakfast on a school day. We stand side by side at the window, looking out, son and mother. A stream runs behind the house, fast and full when it rains or quiet and slow, like now. Beyond the stream, the woods. The forest floor is an endless brown and orange sea, and the bare trees look like the masts of half-sunken ships. Easier to see it that way when you’re standing next to a ten year old. When we moved here, the leaves were just starting to change. In these weeks while we’ve settled in, they blushed to bright colors and let the come-ons of wind and rain and… -
Buttons
10 Nov 2009 | 9:11 amAs you know, these last few weeks have held some big changes, and I’m still trying to get my bearings. I don’t like writing a sorry I haven’t been around much lately post, but these days I feel less like the author of this blog and more like someone who stops by every now and then to water the plants and collect the stray newspapers from the end of the driveway. (Don’t pay any attention at all as I dust things off around here and open some windows.) That will change – soon, I hope – when things in my life settle a bit more. It’s not even just that.
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Simplify Life
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Tips for an Enjoyable Valentine’s Day in Silicon Valley
8 Feb 2010 | 8:29 amDespite the over-commercialism of the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to put aside some time and reconnect with loved ones. With Valley life going a mile a minute, this weekend is a good time to slow down and spend some quality time with those you love most.Here are some fun ideas on what to do on Valentine’s Day for both families and couples:Family Time on Valentine’s DayHow about breakfast in bed? Maybe the kids can help dad treat mom to breakfast in bed this Valentine’s Day – especially since it lands on Sunday this year. There’s something… -
5 Simple Ways to Stay Healthy & Manage Stress
2 Feb 2010 | 12:08 pmFor many women, it can be so stressful to balance work and your activities with caring for your family needs and household chores. Stress can lead to many health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and a suppressed immune system. Women just can’t afford to get sick. We need to do everything we can to protect our health. How can we do this? Schedule exercise. It doesn’t take a big investment in time to gain big results. Its recommended that you shoot for 30 minutes of exercise a day. You can go for a walk or a yoga class during your lunch break,use the… -
How to Easily Answer the Question: “What’s For Dinner?”
25 Jan 2010 | 8:52 amIf you start cooking at age 15 and live to age 75, and you cook dinner 5 days a week (taking every Saturday and Sunday off you will have planned and prepared 15,600 meals just for dinner alone. And who gets to take every weekend off? We still have to eat then. No wonder we get tired. What are some ways we can make this huge job easier and more pleasant? Get the family involved. Children love to help and while it may take extra time right now, if they learn to love to cook, what a great gift you’re giving them—a skill that will help them eat healthfully their whole… -
Things You Need to Know When Hiring a Housekeeper
18 Jan 2010 | 9:31 amNow that you have decided that it’s smart to get help with housekeeping, how do you go about picking the right housekeeper? A lot is involved in the process of hiring a housekeeper. It’s unfortunate but the world we live in demands that we be cautious. The safety of our family and home is too important to trust to chance. Due diligence is required to make the right choice Here are some basic steps for hiring a housekeeper Clearly define what your needs are and how the service provider will fill them. How much experience does the service provider have: Ask detailed questions likeHow will… -
Parents – Do You Have Time to be a Good Role Model?
11 Jan 2010 | 8:28 amTo a large extent, what kind of adults your children will be is determined by what they’ve learned from watching you. So, wouldn’t it be a good idea to truly look at the time and attention you are investing in your children? They grow so quickly and the opportunities of today are gone forever. This may be the hardest thing you’ve ever done but the benefits are long lasting. So how can you take proactive steps to be a good role model for your children? Take time to carefully examine what kind of person you want your child to be. Then examine how you can display those…
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Hitched
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Use Colors to Create a Romantic Bedroom
9 Feb 2010 | 10:27 amCreate the perfect bedroom sanctuary for you and your spouse with a few passionate colors. -
5 Ways to Beat Valentine’s Day Stress
8 Feb 2010 | 9:39 amDon’t let this Hallmark holiday get you down. Use these tips to have a day both you and your spouse will enjoy. -
Valentine’s Day For Men
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmWe know what women want, but what do men want for Valentine's Day? -
A Leap of Faith
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmSara opens up about the different personalities between her and David and how they tackle risk in their lives. -
How to Write a Love Letter
4 Feb 2010 | 9:30 amIt’s never too late to write your spouse the perfect love letter. Follow these steps and show them you’re a regular Shakespeare.
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Jessica Wilson
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sashacoolpiccha
1 Feb 2010 | 7:33 pmLately I've been looking at editorials for inspiration for my photography class at Wesleyan -- this is one picture that I really want to work with as an inspiration for a photoshoot -
alexanderwangcampaign
1 Feb 2010 | 12:38 pm -
meandthecityterryrichardson
1 Feb 2010 | 12:26 pm -
crazyedavecsasha
27 Jan 2010 | 6:03 pmeditorial from two summers ago i liked with sasha -
chanelcouture
27 Jan 2010 | 6:02 pmunbelievable
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WebSnacker
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Does God Exist?
7 Feb 2010 | 12:07 pmKeeping the FaithI happened to be at an interesting debate today organized by a scientific think-tank that dabbles in psychiatry and neurology, mostly new-age research on the power of the human brain. Pretty hi-tech deep science stuff but something that has always interested me. And if you are a fan of Discovery or National Geographic, easy enough to understand.The debate’s topic was what had taken me there. It was about God or rather if God Exists? this was the million dollar question that was being debated. Stretching to more than 3 hours from 90 minutes the invite originally promised, it… -
Conservatives vs Liberals
2 Feb 2010 | 10:54 amWhose Side Are You On?Once upon a time long, long ago some courageous individuals did something shocking. They dared to think. Out of this creative activity, they began to hold personal opinions. This groovy practice caught on and became widespread. After all, this was way before movies, books, television, rock n roll, and drugs, so these early peoples had a lot of time on their hands, and this seemed a good way to spend it.Some enterprising individuals eventually figured out a way of making a profession of this thinking activity. Those who became pure thinkers were called Scholars; those who… -
Incoherent Post-Modern Deconstruction
1 Feb 2010 | 10:14 amI recently came across a very angry piece of writing that was submitted for syndication that described Post-modernism as some kind of scourge of society; that post-modernism in its very ideals propagates social dissolution; that it takes a kind of anti-enlightenment position subverting the ideals of intellectual elitism of the modernist movement. The whole article was pretty livid, especially at the notion that post-modernists do not believe that people are capable of pure objective reasoning.In order to see what post-modernism is, we have to know what modernism is. "Modern" simply means now,… -
A Sex Magazine for India !
26 Jan 2010 | 11:13 amAn interesting facet of my bread and butter vocation is writing Magazine critiques for publishers worldwide. For those not conversant, a magazine critique is a thorough neutral scrutiny of a magazine’s content, design and advertising with suggestions and useful advice for improvements.Unlike the plain vanilla critique services offered by many ex-editors turned critique specialists whose commentary is usually sugar-coated in the hope of repeat business, my company offers a rather harsh and in-depth analysis that goes deep beyond editorial and design requirements to inform the Mag owner if… -
Brand New Year Resolutions for a Brand New You
4 Jan 2010 | 11:16 amSimple New Year Resolutions for 2010 It's a brand new year, and while you might not believe in New Year's resolutions ("You forget them halfway through January anyway," is one friend's excuse), January always brings with it the sense of a fresh start.Here's a list of ways to inspire you to start your year on the right note — and you'll notice that there are no references to quitting smoking and never eating chocolate again! In my view, life is all about moderation, but also being sure to enjoy all the things you love, too, whether it's that glass of wine after work every evening or a frothy…
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The Art of Non-Conformity
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The Small Man Builds Cages for Everyone
8 Feb 2010 | 9:40 amEvery year I choose a personal theme, and in December I decided that 2010 would be the year of SCALE and REACH. Thus far, it’s been an accurate prediction—some days it’s all I can do just to try and keep up. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking more about EMPOWERMENT than anything else. Empowerment, as I think of it, is all about the beautiful principle of transferring knowledge and helping people consider possibilities that previously seemed out of reach. The best lesson to illustrate empowerment is through a selection from Hafiz, a Sufi poet from the 14th century. -
Case Studies Needed for Empire Building Kit
7 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmGreetings, friends and readers. After an extended stay at home in Portland, I’m now preparing to head out again. Over the next two weeks I’ll be simultaneously traveling through Asia and working on my most detailed business project of the year. It’s called Empire Building Kit, and the goal is to help people build a sustainable business in less than one year by doing one thing every day. Working for Yourself, a lower-priced guide, is all about getting started on the road to entrepreneurship. EBK will be about taking these steps further. The goal is to serve people who already… -
Advanced Travel Planning: February – May 2010
4 Feb 2010 | 5:20 amAs I finished up last year’s Annual Review, it became clear that 2010 was going to be even more of a monster year than 2009. I’ve got a ton of things going on, which is great, but I also need to keep working on my quest to visit every country in the world. This is my “travel accountability” post – it’s safe to say that if you don’t care about trip planning, you don’t need to read it. Everyone else, read on… Last year I wrote the original Advanced Travel Planning article, where I outlined the next few trips I planned to take. This time I have two major… -
By Any Means Necessary
1 Feb 2010 | 5:15 amFebruary is Black History Month in the United States, where we recognize the achievements of African Americans and honor our culture of diversity. A lot of attention during this time is focused on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and rightfully so. Above my desk is one of his most famous quotations: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is this: what are you doing for others?” This question troubles me, as it should. As much as I love MLK, though, I’m also a big fan of another martyr of the Civil Rights Movement: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, or Malcolm X, as he is… -
Site Update: February 2010
31 Jan 2010 | 5:03 pmGreetings from home base in the great Portland, Oregon. Yesterday I ran 10 miles, a fact I was happy about until I went to a dinner party and met an ultrarunner who runs 80 miles a week. She also has two young children and a full-time job. I felt suitably shamed. Ultrarunners and any other endurance athletes out there, you have my respect… but not my company for training runs. Each month I look back at what’s happened with AONC in the previous month. If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here. Writing LIFE – I wrote about Clean Water for Ethiopia, What You Don’t…
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Shiny Bits of Life
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Acura vs Mercedes
9 Feb 2010 | 12:59 amObvious competitors. Acura is winning the race, in terms of their literature. Notice the size difference between their brochures. And the Acura brochure’s design is far nicer than that of the Mercedes. It has more pages as well. The cars themselves? I can’t say that I have ever driven an Acura, though I have driven (and owned) several Hondas. I have driven a few Mercedes cars. The feel of quality is in the same ballpark. Mercedes had a very dark time in the 90s. I remember when their ML-Class SUVs were at the very bottom of the JD Powers survey in the UK. But supposedly their… -
Daily extravagance
8 Feb 2010 | 11:47 am$5 for a bar of soap? Well, you see, it started with a free sample. The CEO of Organix-South sent me a sample of their lovely Neem toothpaste for an International Toothpaste Museum review. Besides the toothpaste, she sent me several hotel-bar-sized samples of their soap. I got hooked. When the samples finally got spent, I was desperate for some more. So when a few extra dollars were given to yours truly for Christmas, what did I go out and spend the money on? A bar of soap! How could I justify spending so much for a bar of soap? 1) The smell is amazing. My shower each morning is now something… -
From the sublime to…
5 Feb 2010 | 12:49 amWhen I saw this photo of the Queen of England shaking hands with Lady Gaga, my main thought was – who is the person who plans her schedule? That person needs to be fired. Lady Gaga, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the latest pop sensations. Or better stated, she was the pop sensation on the day the January 21st edition of Rolling Stone magazine was printed. And also for the unaware, she is not much of a lady, from what little I’ve read. Share on Facebook -
About trust
5 Feb 2010 | 12:47 amI’d love for you to visit 300 Words a Day. I wrote today’s post today, thanks to Jon Swanson. Share on Facebook -
What I learned from children
4 Feb 2010 | 1:02 amThe biggest thing I learned from my own children is how selfish I am. This is a lesson I continue to learn in new and different ways with each passing year. Children (particularly the younger variety) don’t ask for their parents’ time – they demand it. Every time their request is made, I have a choice – my fulfillment or theirs? I feel like I have failed this test many many times. (”Dad, your computer is more important than I am!”) But the few times I have passed the test by making the right choice, I never regret it. I’d urge you to do the same. A…
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mental_floss Blog
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Hadacol, the Last of the Medicine Shows
9 Feb 2010 | 8:57 amAdvertiser-supported entertainment is nothing new. Since medieval times, people could see free entertainment right in their hometown as long as they listened to a sales pitch for dubious remedies along with the singing, dancing, and side show acts. Sales of snake oil and other patent medicines paid for the show and then some. Like other forms of traveling entertainment, the medicine show lost its luster when people gained the opportunity to go see movies instead. The medicine show had one last hurrah during the 20th century in the form of Hadacol. The story of Hadacol is the story of Dudley… -
Lunchtime Quiz: Supreme Court Justice or Major League Ump?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:30 amTheir jobs are somewhat similar—and as it happens, so are their names. Can you tell your Supreme Court Justices from your Major League Umpires? Take the Quiz: Supreme Court Justice or Major League Ump? -
When Singing Sinatra Can Get You Killed
9 Feb 2010 | 8:26 amThere was a fascinating article in the New York Times the other day about violence in the Philippines and its thriving karaoke culture — and the deadly problems that can crop up when it comes to Frank Sinatra. In fact, it’s one Sinatra song in particular that seems to be the cause of so much trouble — and which has played a role in dozens of karaoke-related killings over the years — “My Way.” The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. -
14 Quirky College Donations (and the Strings Attached)
9 Feb 2010 | 7:44 amFor most of us, college donations entail little more than occasionally dropping a small check in the mail after receiving repeated pleas for cash from our alma maters. Some people, though, tend to be a bit more individualistic with their generosity. Let’s take a look at some of the quirkier donations schools have received: 1. Bequest Puts Jocks on the Ropes In 1907, fledgling Swarthmore College received a bequest that was estimated to be worth somewhere between $1 and $3 million. If the school wanted the cash, though, it would have to stop participating in intercollegiate sports. Swarthmore… -
Tuesday Turnip
9 Feb 2010 | 6:00 amIn case you’re not familiar with the Turnip, it’s a whimsical Google search, wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting pages “turn-up.” As always with this feature, the _floss is not responsible for accuracy.If you know one of the below statements/links to be untrue, by all means, let the world know in the comments below. Today I typed “more women prefer” into Google, unearthing the following: Turnip #1 More Women Prefer Dogs Over Husbands – An online poll released shows more women would rather have a pet than a husband. Turnip #2 The behavior of…
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MarriageTweets
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Iowa State sociologists find older adults turning to online...
5 Feb 2010 | 3:44 pmIowa State sociologists find older adults turning to online options for love, marriage The research found that spouses who met online are older and have much shorter courtships — averaging 18.5 months of dating before getting married by comparison to 42 months for those who met in more traditional ways offline. (Link) -
The Marriage Ref Jerry Seinfeld is back and in the...
5 Feb 2010 | 10:37 amThe Marriage Ref Jerry Seinfeld is back and in the producer’s chair for a funny and revealing series about the unpredictable and hilarious institution we call marriage. Jerry has been out of the TV scene for 12 years and married for 10 years. I’m looking forward to the show. ;) Link: @themarriageref -
Modern Marriages: The Rise Of The Sugar Mama A study by the Pew...
19 Jan 2010 | 1:35 pmModern Marriages: The Rise Of The Sugar Mama A study by the Pew Research Center finds that there’s been a role reversal when it comes to men, women and the economics of marriage. ”We found that increasingly, women are more likely to marry husbands who have lower education levels than they do, and lower income levels than they do,” says D’Vera Cohn of the Pew Research Center. From 1970 to 2007, husbands whose wives earned more than they did jumped from 4 percent to 22 percent. -
Special Report: The Science of Falling and Staying in Love About...
19 Dec 2009 | 2:47 pmSpecial Report: The Science of Falling and Staying in Love About half of first marriages fail in the U.S., as do two thirds of second marriages and three quarters of third marriages. We fail in large part because we enter into relationships with poor skills for maintaining them and highly unrealistic expectations. In the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Scientific American MIND Dr. Robert Epstein discusses how science can help you fall in love and stay there. Download: full PDF article related: Smart Marriages resources -
Drunk 4-Year-Old Boy Steals Christmas The boy followed his...
18 Dec 2009 | 9:55 amDrunk 4-Year-Old Boy Steals Christmas The boy followed his father’s footsteps and was found wandering the streets at 1:45 am drinking a beer. ”He runs away trying to find his father,” said his mother. “He wants to get in trouble so he can go to jail because that’s where his daddy is.” related: Relationship Skills for Incarcerated Fathers
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Karl Rohde
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$49 promo for White Paper Success Summit…
25 Jan 2010 | 3:53 pmWhite Paper Success Summit 2010 kicks off next week. If you’ve been on the fence about attending this online conference, you’ll want to check out this special $49 offer. Here’s the deal. Try out the first two days of White Paper Success Summit for only $49 (and get access to $989 in free bonuses). This [...] -
The young baby screamed
17 Nov 2009 | 2:16 amThe young baby screamed; his small face screwed up into a crinkled little ball. The high-pitched protest bounced off the walls, echoing. Between screeches, he took labored breaths, his little body shuddering with the effort. Vibrations rattled throughout the room. The house sounded like it was in the middle of a building site; heavy machinery and [...] -
What maketh the man?
1 Nov 2009 | 3:51 amI was a scrawny, nervous young lad when I got to high school. For those from overseas, high school is around your 8th year of school through to when you leave school at around 17/18 in NZ. Anyway, I had a hard time. The nickname for my school was Penrose State Prison. In reality it was called [...] -
Creativity
27 Oct 2009 | 2:21 amI honestly can’t pin point the time when I knew I wanted to be a creative person. Looking back, I see trigger points. A unique solution to a problem, playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid and spending more time working on the story line that playing the game, finding a unique way to layer paint, [...] -
New Zealand – Economic Capital of The World (1/12)
23 Oct 2009 | 6:28 pmNew Zealand’s days as a manufacturer of goods and dairy are well and truly numbered. The high cost and low margins are simply not sustainable. This is a twelve part series exploring what New Zealand might be able to do with strong leadership and vision. How it can truly become the Economic Capital of The World. [...]
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Zoe Rights
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Sometimes
8 Feb 2010 | 6:16 pmIt's all my fault- I admit it. (For a change) I wasn't paying attention. I wanted to get the chore over with and move on to the next thing that needed to be done, plus there was a line, plus I was hungry, and bitchy and moody and just wanted to be done. It was rainy and overcast and dark. So I walked into that store--I stood in that line--I bitched a little- Really only two people working? On a Saturday? But I was nice and polite and more than a little goofy...punchy even by the time it was my turn. Sure I had two problems...or a problem and an opportunity for you to make some money… -
A short message from our sponser
7 Feb 2010 | 4:45 am -
Hey neighbor!
6 Feb 2010 | 8:34 pmSo do you think it would kinda weird if I knocked on their door in the middle of summer... -
Just like fine wine
3 Feb 2010 | 9:53 pmDear people who can't eat when they're "stressed" or "tired" or "upset", FUCK OFF! Sincerely, Bacon is not really your friend -
Barring an Aneurysm-People are Freaks
31 Jan 2010 | 4:52 amWhen I was a child grown-ups would often ask me the question…you know the question grown-ups always ask children… What do you want to be when you grow up? Why do we do that? How the hell should they know what they want to be? They’re children- for crying out loud. Then we have the gall to get upset when they don’t end up working in the industry they proclaimed to be THE ONE when they were nine years old. But I thought Johnny wanted to be a policeman? He’s a tire salesman? How’d that happen? That bitch of a hooker called life happened. One too many shots of schnapps in the back…
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Everyday Goddess
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Adventures in Textured Vegetable Protein
7 Feb 2010 | 1:04 pmWhen I first started getting into vegetarian cooking I noticed that my favorite cookbook, The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook included two recipes that called for textured vegetable protein (aka TVP). Which I had never heard of, but which turns out to be a soy product that resembles bread crumbs and is meant to be a meat substitute.I'm not a fan of the "meat substitute" concept, but I was curious because one of the recipes that called for it was for Portobello Burgers which also included zucchini, onion, and sun-dried tomatoes. Yum! Plus I'm really into the whole veggie patty… -
The Long and the Short of Life.
6 Feb 2010 | 12:41 pmPerspective. Is a fascinating thing.I've been thinking about one particular aspect of perspective ever since I watched (and loved) "Up In The Air." The scene that has my brain gerbils running on overdrive, is the scene where Ryan and Alex sit across from Natalie in the middle of an airport, and Alex and Natalie discuss what they look for in a man. Now, there is something about scenes where people sit and talk that I love nine ways from Sunday, both as a viewer and as a director. Somewhere inside me, I always feel like, OK, Now we can get to the meat of it. And if you can make a sitting down… -
Oh Yes, my friends, it's come to this.
3 Feb 2010 | 10:27 pmI've been joking that I wish someone would wake me up every morning with a slap across the face and say, "He didn't love you! Get over it!"But since I don't have any live-in staff, I suppose a book with Greg Behrendt's name on the cover is the next best thing. -
2010: In Which I Blow My Bottom Line To Hell
1 Feb 2010 | 9:37 pmFirst, I took a temp gig in the Awards Office at Sony. Clearly, getting laid off wasn't anything I controlled, and I'm sure I made the right decision when offered this gig. I've always wanted a job at a studio, I'm learning tons, the job is busy and rewarding - in short, I love it! Not to mention the opportunity to work to support films I really believe in (my favorite 2009 film is District 9), on a lot and at a studio that it turns out I really like. But, I *don't* love paying $300/month for Cobra because the temp agency I actually work for only offered limited benefit health insurance. -
Heading to Wax Poetic in Burbank for their 10 YEAR anniversary tonight!
30 Jan 2010 | 9:05 amYeah, so, I'm totally one of those customers who will tell you how I've been going to Wax Poetic since it was just one space. Pretty impressive when you see that now it's 3 spaces with a wonderful art gallery on one side. But even I can't believe it's TEN YEAR anniversary time! That's so amazing.I've been playing introvert a lot these days, but you know I wouldn't miss this! Here's the 411, if you're an L.A. peep and you want to check it out:WAX POETIC GALLERY PRESENTS BABY TATTOO’S PRIVATE COLLECTION: 7 years of Art Shenanigans. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010. Wax Poetic Gallery is proud…
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Reading, Writing, and Reflecting
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My experience with the US Health Care system this week
5 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pmA week ago, I had to make an emergency room visit late on a Thursday evening followed by an appointment with my primary doctor the following day. Fortunately, my particular issue was not very serious but that Thursday night I certainly was in pain which necessitated the emergency room visit. Now, given my natural inclination towards observation, going to the emergency room turns out to be a great place for people watching and experiencing a system that certainly has its share of commentary, critics, and passionate pleas for change. Here are some of the things I recognized from my… -
My favorite books of the decade
24 Jan 2010 | 7:59 amEarlier, I wrote about the many lists of top moments and events of the decade that just passed (2000-2009) and I joined in on the fun with my list of the top sporting moments of the decade. Now, inspired by the theme of my blog, I’d like to do my last recap- my favorite books of the decade. These are the books I find myself most often bringing up in conversation and referencing to others and overall have had the most impact on my thinking. As a reader of this blog may know, my interests center around these primary categories (in no particular order): Globalization, Sports, Thrillers,… -
My review of 3 Idiots
23 Jan 2010 | 9:38 amRecently, I watched the much talked about Bollywood movie 3 Idiots, starring Aamir Khan. This movie has been getting so much acclaim and buzz, that it was showing in one of the AMC Mercado 20 screens mainstream theater in Santa Clara, right next to the mega hit Avatar. Of course, in the Bay Area, it’s not that difficult to attract a large Indian crowd for an Indian hit movie, but it is still very rare that a main stream theater will show a Bollywood movie and that movie would be generating most of their audience for those particular days. The movie is a fantastic movie and it lives… -
Anatomy of a Championship Fantasy Football season
2 Jan 2010 | 2:44 amEarlier, I wrote about one of my fantasy football teams that was auto-drafted by Yahoo! and my efforts to transform that team into a winning team. Unfortunately, those efforts didn’t work and that team finished 7 out of 12 teams in the league— (update to that original post is here). However, the other of my 2 teams that I didn’t write about actually won the championship! Vandalay Industries took the prize in my 14 team league. Here’s my view of how it happened—the brilliant moves, good fortune, and simple luck that propelled my team to the championship. League Type The… -
How a Conductor leads- aTEDtalk by noted conductor Itay Talgam
31 Dec 2009 | 8:02 amSince my wife joined the Peninsula Symphony in the Bay Area this past year as a violinist, I’ve had the good fortune to attend several of their performances. They really put on some fantastic performances, here’s their schedule for 2010 which includes performances with Taylor Eigsti playing Gershwin, a performance with the legendary Red Violin (yes- that one from the Academy Award winning film) and a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 5th. They are led by conductor and music director Mitchell Sardou Klein, who is renowned for service and excellence in his field in the Bay Area.
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So Not Zen
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It's good to have girlfriends
8 Feb 2010 | 7:33 pmMy friend came over to bring Carlie home after school. Of course, I had to show her my ziplock full of gallstones and my cyborg drain in my gut and my cool bag of bile. Because I am cool like that.When she finished gagging a little bit in her mouth, her comment:"At least it doesn't smell like poo."So you see there? There's always a bright side. Yes, I have two nasty bags of disgust hanging on my right hip. But neither one of them smells like poo.I win! Yay! -
Bye-Bye, Gallbladder
8 Feb 2010 | 10:47 amThis smiley face image? You can thank me later. I was googling a picture of a gallbladder to show you, but it was all so horrible and disgusting that I went with the smiley face instead. You're welcome.Friday night I had a funky belly ache. By 9 pm, it was really bothering me, so I skipped Carlie's dance party and had Tim take her. When they got home at 11 pm, I was contemplating going to the ER, but talked myself out of it, thinking I had gas or had eaten something that wasn’t agreeing with me.By 2 a.m. I was ready to go to the ER, but didn’t want to wake up Carlie and drag her along,… -
The Cape
3 Feb 2010 | 8:34 pmOh, just found a better picture of Disco Girl's cape. Divalicious, who? -
What I've been up to this week
3 Feb 2010 | 8:03 pmDon't you hate it when life gets in the way of the blog? I know I do. This week is Catholic Schools Week, which is kind of like a ghetto version of what would be Spirit Week at your child's school. I say ghetto because it's not as fabulous as one might hope and there are only two of the five days that kids actually get to "dress up" and forego their school uniforms. Monday was "Super Hero" theme day. So Sunday was my sewing day, because Disco Girl needed a cape.You must click to enlarge so you can behold the itchy splendor of the silver polka dotted lame' fabric. And how do you like that "D"… -
The Female Brain Gone Insane - a book review
1 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmI have been slow to get this review written, but not for lack of trying. But you see, the problem is, I suffer from every single *issue* that is discussed in this book. And as you can tell by the title, that's probably not a good thing.I received this book for review by simple "luck of the draw." Lisa at TLC Book Tours had no idea that I have actually been on the insane side of the female brain since 2006. A brief history so you'll know where I'm coming from when I opened this book. I had a hysterectomy in my early thirties. I suffered virtually no symptoms of menopause because I went right…
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Diary of a Technophobe
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RTT - the early edition
8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmI didn’t watch football last weekend. Sounds pretty un-American. I just don’t much like football and I’m finding that the older I get, the less I enjoy watching television in general. So the chances that you’ll catch me watching something on television that I don’t particularly like anyway are pretty darn remote. But still, my hat’s off to all professional football players, I admire their fortitude, athletic skill and sheer strength. And congratulations NO Saints – great game, great season!I went out for dinner with some friends last Saturday night, had two absolutely delicious… -
Walking it out
5 Feb 2010 | 9:44 amGrowing older is serious business, for humans and our beloved canine companions. Dogs have aging symptoms that resemble some of the ailments people suffer: chronic aches and pains, arthritis, vision problems, bladder control issues, joint stiffness, changes in appetite. I have two older dogs, ages 14 years and 9 years (I think). Between the two, they hit every symptom on this list. The older guy really does suffer from painful arthritis and takes prescription meds twice per day to regulate it to a tolerable level. But sometimes it flares up and he is just plain uncomfortable. So much so that… -
Share the love
4 Feb 2010 | 1:22 pmMany years ago I read something in the Ann Landers column about her participation in Valentines for Vets, a program that distributes valentine cards to patients in VA hospitals across the country. Apparently any kind of valentine was appreciated. I thought it sounded like a worthwhile effort and decided to give it a whirl with homemade valentines.Perhaps I was remembering fondly the homemade Valentine’s Day boxes my mom helped me make for school, or some other homemade valentine lovely crafted from red paper, doilies and pink sugar hearts. The project of making the valentine was all about… -
Every silver lining has a grey cloud
4 Feb 2010 | 10:45 amI attended a personal relationship workshop once and one of the topics addressed resolving conflicts productively. It is such a happy set of circumstances that I sometimes recall these bits of minutiae from years ago because it gives me pause to consider how to process circumstances that trouble me now. As I have gotten older, I’m more at peace with taking my time around suboptimal circumstances. There’s always more to the picture than my view permits, but often, even within my view, there are probably things I don’t see because I fail to look closely enough. Taking extra time helps me… -
Integrating the past with the present
3 Feb 2010 | 2:28 pmBefore I moved last year the gigantic task of packing my belongings loomed vaguely in the path ahead. As I started tackling that activity, the task loomed even larger; it seemed to block out the sun. I found things I had forgotten from years before stashed away in little pockets of my tiny universe. I threw things away that should have been thrown away years before. I boxed and bagged and lifted and carried. Several times – it was a multi-stage process.Along the way I decided that the things I took with me to my new residence should have a useful place in my home and in my life. I would…
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thelifething.com
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Success Posts From Around The World
6 Feb 2010 | 2:54 am15 Posts on Success, all in the same week – AWESOME. Some may have noticed a theme running through many posts over the last few days. The theme was success and many, many bloggers that contributed to the Free SUCCESS Ebook has written a post on the subject. Here is the list: Greg | Is This What Success Is All About? Colin | THE SPIKY, GEOGRAPHIC NATURE OF SUCCESS Earl | Your Life Should Be The Greatest Success Story Ever Told Ashley | The Flawed Cycle of Success That Could Be Causing You To Fail Jen | Success Carlos | The Success Thing Matt | SUCCESS: REDEFINED Gordie | The Success… -
6 Life Success Lessons To Live An Awesome Life
3 Feb 2010 | 12:47 amIf you have not downloaded the SUCCESS Ebook by now, you should have (www.downloadsuccess.info) There are awesome bloggers all over the globe writing articles on Success this week . This is my one. Photo courtesy of Kriss Szkurlatowski. Lesson 1: Stop Presuming “To Assume Makes An ASS out of U and ME. An annoyingly smarmy phrase made even more so by its strong underlying truth.” One of the biggest lessons I have learn’t in the last 6-8 months or so of my new business, one that has brought me the most grief and cost me the most money, is when I have presumed too much and assumed that… -
A 5 Minute Read To Make You A Million Billion Times More Successful
30 Jan 2010 | 1:43 amThe SUCCESS Ebook has launched – Download it free, be inspired and become a part in helping get it into the hands of 50,000 people. . Yes, I know you are now as excited as if you have just been given a box full of kittens. Try to control yourself. . After many weeks of hard work, much coffee, a small amount of bribery, even more coffee and then frankly some illegal operations myself and 29 other awesome bloggers have finally compile for you your very own, personal, one stop shop for guaranteed success in life.* . * Though you will not technically be guaranteeing success in life by… -
One Week Till Launch
22 Jan 2010 | 7:09 pmHello all, no post this Saturday as I am finalising the SUCCESS ebook and getting ready to head off to India. The Free SUCCESS ebook will be available for download on the 30th January 2010, just one week from now. I know, I can tell you are as excited as if it were the beginning of the summer holidays…and so you should. Go on put on those silky undergarments you lucky, lucky person. Some Background On The SUCCESS Ebook – For Those Who Have Been Living In A Cave. Since having the eureka moment for this project whilst lying in the bath with sam, my yellow rubber duck, at the… -
The Trick For Success Is To Become An Idea Hitman
19 Jan 2010 | 6:32 pmBecome An Idea Hitman In Order To Give A Few Of Your Concepts A Fighting Chance Of Success One of the hardest things any entrepreneur is going to face – apart from the wall they are currently banging their head against following another failed venture – is actually coping with the astronomical amount of ideas that seem to constantly invade ones thoughts, dreams and unconscious periods (I had a pretty rough football match yesterday, long story). We, as a collective, have a problem. The Problem Of Creative Genius-ness At any one point in time I am sure that there are literally…
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Men's Playbook
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11 Amazingly Cheap and Easy Romantic Ideas
9 Feb 2010 | 12:05 amFollow Torrey on Twitter Newsflash, Newsflash!!! The economy is awful right now. And when times are tough, most folks are looking for ways to cutback on spending and save a little money. But there’s no cutting back on being romantic. The important thing about romance is that thoughtful gestures go much farther than spending tons of money. Why? Because anyone can go to a jewelry or electronics store and slap their credit card down. Sure the gift will be appreciated by the recipient. But what I’m suggesting isn’t rocket science.They aren't even new… -
Valentine’s Day Giveaway: The Body Shop Gift Basket
3 Feb 2010 | 9:41 pmWith huge sports events like the Super Bowl and NBA All Star Weekend upon us, it can be easy to forget Valentine's Day. FYI, it's February 14th. It's always tough trying to brainstorm creative ideas for gifts. How often can you really rely on the same ole red roses and dinner out? We all know how much women look forward to gifts, surprises and catered to. Valentine's Day is a perfect time where you cam earn brownie points. But mess up and you'll be in the doghouse! Because we want to help you put a smile on that special lady's face, we've partnered with… -
Why Losing Your Job Could Be The Best Thing Ever!
3 Feb 2010 | 1:20 pmFollow Torrey on Twitter I can't imagine anything much more shocking to a man's system than losing a job. Losing a job can leave us feeling betrayed and worthless. So many of us identify ourselves with what we do for a living and what we obtain with our earnings. The reality of each of us getting that unpleasant news is more and more practical. Our turbulent economy has contributed to an unemployment rate consistently hovering around 10%. With that many people out of work, we have recently provided simple tips on how to deal with job loss and finding a… -
How to Choose Quality Men’s Shoes
1 Feb 2010 | 11:10 pmEditor's Note: This is a guest post from Grant Harris. Grant is Owner and Chief Style Consultant at Image Granted, LLC; a Washington DC based Image Management company dedicated to solving the complex image, style & fashion issues of individuals, groups & organizations of men. Learn more about Image Granted, LLC at imageconsultant4men.com. Unfortunately, most men think of footwear as a necessary evil instead of a source of expression, style, and confidence. A man’s shoes should be an extension his personal taste, his personality, and his lifestyle. While these are individual… -
Black History Month: We All Have a Part to Play
1 Feb 2010 | 10:02 amFollow Torrey on Twitter Today marks the beginning of Black History Month. Throughout this month, we will be reminded and learn about the many contributions that African-Americans have made throughout history. I think we all have a part in contributing to Black History in our own way. For example, this site was created to be a inspiration, educational and entertaining website for black men that were seeking an alternative to the websites and magazines currently marketed towards us. As stated in our about us page, we were a bit tired of the magazines that were a…
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LifeExcursion
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Motivation vs. Discipline by Sam Spurlin
4 Feb 2010 | 9:03 pmLately, I have been wavering the line of being motivated and disciplined. My goals need both, but at times, I struggle to maintain such. Currently, I am trying to build a personal brand that will help create the lifestyle I want. I am motivated and disciplined at times, at other times one or the other, [...] -
Taking 2 Steps Back For Each Step Forward
3 Feb 2010 | 2:25 pmThis may come as a shock to all of you, but working for yourself is tough to do. There are deadlines that are not enforced, distractions that are endless and lack of motivation to continue progressing towards the life you want. This past month has been a process of seeing big things happen for me [...] -
The Day My Eyes Finally Opened
17 Jan 2010 | 11:21 pmIn July 2005, I traveled to the great land Down Under officially named Australia. As many of you know this changed my life forever. I have not been the same person since and it has all been for the better. Two things happened recently that made me remember the moment that my life changed so much. [...] -
Entering A Complaint Free World
14 Jan 2010 | 8:17 pmIn an ironic sign of perfect timing, I caught an old article by Tim Ferris over at The Four Hour Work Week Blog on January 1, 2010. The article entitled Real Mind Control: The 21 day No Complaint Experiment. Now, I am not one of the types that sets themselves up for failure by signing [...] -
Because I Can…
13 Jan 2010 | 11:17 pm***After article, please see my pity plea…Thanks*** Something that has been very interesting over the last 5 years or so has been the reaction towards my lifestyle by outsiders. These outsiders include family, friends, co-workers, friends of friends, random people I meet at the market, blog comments, and the list is pretty much endless. Many are [...]
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Juan-Carlos Hernandez - Photographer
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Sex And The City
2 Sep 2010 | 8:01 amDiscover the playlist sex with Mines -
No Puede Ser
7 Feb 2010 | 8:37 amDiscover the playlist no puede ser with El Bar De La Esquina -
Which Side Are You On ? (Tribute to my father and blue collars)
4 Feb 2010 | 5:06 am -
Talk To Me
1 Feb 2010 | 4:35 pm -
L'Origine du Monde (dedicated to Facebook)
29 Jan 2010 | 7:25 pmLittle reminder for those who don't know me very well.Facebook, the social network, evicted me some monthes ago because I posted some photographs which were artistic nudes of a woman.You can find here an article in french written by Luca Sabbatini for la Tribune de Genève explaining this "scandalous" affair.So, this post is specially dedicated to Facebook. For sure, I will publish it on Facebook and I hope that this time I will be not evicted.Finally, L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World) is an oil on canvas painted by French artist Gustave Courbet in 1866Discover the playlist…
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Stefan Pinto's PintoFactory
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A Life Creed for Success and Accomplishment
13 Jan 2010 | 2:14 pmA person’s inherent qualities, those pertaining to mind and to character, need not be permanent. Your disposition is your own unique characteristic attribute that will serve to guide you through life; how you interact, not only with others, but in situations. Let’s talk a bit about situations. Situations are circumstances or conditions that are related to a specific event and or — this is important — to an action. They are temporary. How we react to circumstances, or a particular situation, comes from our disposition — a quality that is based on our outlook. Brian Tracy,… -
Do cell phones cause brain tumors?
11 Jan 2010 | 11:19 amThe Tyra Banks Show called the other day to ask me some questions. It was Michelle, one of the producers. Turns out, she liked my story and was considering having me on as a guest to share my feelings on being judged based on how I look, now. Michelle was the type of producer that relished in titillation; her questions were alluring and by the time I hung up, my ear was ringing. The ringing was actually not in my ear, but above; right where the top of my BlackBerry® Curve™ aligned with my skull. I felt a lump there and as I rubbed it, there was a transient feeling of discomfort feuding… -
How to be a butterfly
27 Dec 2009 | 10:58 amMy aunt and uncle had one of those probably perfect marriages; kept together by the seams of an offspring, yet fated to unravel on my cousin’s wedding day. Years later, another aunt, an indomitable mother, was so overcome with grief, that during her son’s abrupt funeral, she crawled into his casket, refusing to let him go, wrestling with his freshly shaven face and the fruitless odds of defeating a moment that will become a mournful memory. Earlier that same year, the cacophonous wails of my estranged aunt, a once stoic spouse, now howling at her dying husband’s bedside, my distant… -
10 flight attendant annoyances from an American Airlines flight attendant
30 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pmSeat 38B was the last seat before the toilet and I hated it. At least it was an aisle seat. I was on a red-eye flight to JFK and as the flight attendants both pushed and pulled the beverage cart down the aisle, I quietly continued reading The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. “What would you like to drink, sir?” Adrienne (not her real name) was the head flight attendant and as I looked up from the book — at her, she blinked twice — quickly. “Just water, please.” I once read that you should never drink water from the plane, and as Adrienne picked up the… -
How to End a Relationship and Move on With Your Life
29 Nov 2009 | 1:49 pmRelationships should be symbiotic. It’s not enough that the person is nice or cute or sweet. Life is about growth and when you allow someone into your life, this person should serve to uplift you, support you and, by all means, challenge you. Two people getting together, should serve to do better together — as a couple — what it is they cannot do on their own. To feel better about yourself is not a solid, fulfilling reason for being with someone. You cannot possibly begin to love someone if you do not love yourself. Of course, it helps if they love you, but sometimes — and…
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LifeExcursion
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Motivation vs. Discipline by Sam Spurlin
4 Feb 2010 | 9:03 pmLately, I have been wavering the line of being motivated and disciplined. My goals need both, but at times, I struggle to maintain such. Currently, I am trying to build a personal brand that will help create the lifestyle I want. I am motivated and disciplined at times, at other times one or the other, [...] -
Taking 2 Steps Back For Each Step Forward
3 Feb 2010 | 2:25 pmThis may come as a shock to all of you, but working for yourself is tough to do. There are deadlines that are not enforced, distractions that are endless and lack of motivation to continue progressing towards the life you want. This past month has been a process of seeing big things happen for me [...] -
The Day My Eyes Finally Opened
17 Jan 2010 | 11:21 pmIn July 2005, I traveled to the great land Down Under officially named Australia. As many of you know this changed my life forever. I have not been the same person since and it has all been for the better. Two things happened recently that made me remember the moment that my life changed so much. [...] -
Entering A Complaint Free World
14 Jan 2010 | 8:17 pmIn an ironic sign of perfect timing, I caught an old article by Tim Ferris over at The Four Hour Work Week Blog on January 1, 2010. The article entitled Real Mind Control: The 21 day No Complaint Experiment. Now, I am not one of the types that sets themselves up for failure by signing [...] -
Because I Can…
13 Jan 2010 | 11:17 pm***After article, please see my pity plea…Thanks*** Something that has been very interesting over the last 5 years or so has been the reaction towards my lifestyle by outsiders. These outsiders include family, friends, co-workers, friends of friends, random people I meet at the market, blog comments, and the list is pretty much endless. Many are [...]
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Razor Branding Blog
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Search On
9 Feb 2010 | 4:42 amThere will be a lot of writing this week about the Super Bowl ads, maybe even a little writing about the game that was played in between the spots. Most of the articles will focus on the high end expensive spots - big budget and big production value. Some of the articles will analyze the spots geared towards men and built a house out of cans. Other articles will analyze the risque spots that use sex to sell. But it will be truly interesting, when the dirt has settled, to see which spots were effective. The spots that are considered successful because they actually made a connection with… -
Brand Buzz: Recruitment and Job Search
8 Feb 2010 | 1:20 pmBrand Buzz with Jaci Russo Tune in every Monday at 5:20pm to KPEL FM 105.1 on your radio or online at www.kpel1051.com for another installment of Brand Buzz. On this week’s episode of Brand Buzz we will be talking about how important branding is in the job market. Whether your company is looking to attract the best and brightest through a recruitment campaign or you personally or on the hunt for a new job, the principles of branding are the best, and only, way of ensuring success. If you would like additional information, please click here to download the free ebook and learn more about… -
We Believe
8 Feb 2010 | 4:29 amBrees and Son The state of Louisiana had a game changing play. The 44 year old Saints franchise won the Super Bowl. There are a lot of analysts on ESPN that will tell you about what this means to football. There will be discussion by the pundits for months to come about whether Brees is the greatest quarterback in the NFL right now. They seem committed to give that crown to Peyton Manning even though Brees has been ranked higher in completions and yards for the entire season. But that’s their conversation. For the Saints to have won their first ever Super Bowl championship is… -
Reputation Management Nightmare
5 Feb 2010 | 7:17 amimage via Flickr by nemesisnom Recently, Google implemented a new feature called “real time search”. With search engine optimization being the big prize that everyone is striving to maintain, this could really put a wrench in the works. Now Facebook and Twitter status updates are a part of that record. Google Real Time Search for Brand Think about what that could mean for your company or product. Now anyone that references you in a Facebook or Twitter post, posts that they think might be only seen by their friends, will now show up to the world. Inc. Magazine reported that 90%… -
Science or Art?
4 Feb 2010 | 6:51 amEasy to Read = Easy to Do A study by Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz, released in the February edition of The Psychologist, analyzes how people react to the same information when it is presented in different fonts. Beyond just the language of the message, the typeface used to deliver the message can have great weight subconsciously for the reader deciding whether or not the task is achievable. As they explain, when people ponder a new exercise routine and whether it is going to be easy or difficult to do, the font used to describe the routine can determine the reader’s perception…
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Journey Mama
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Something beautiful for this morning
6 Feb 2010 | 5:59 pm -
Home, home on the range.
31 Jan 2010 | 9:27 amA lot of opinions on homeschooling! It’s a loaded topic. (By the way, I don’t make a habit of jabbing people with forks.) Indian people here are unused to the idea of homeschooling, but open to it. I am almost never challenged on it by the locals. In many countries in Europe, it is illegal, so unheard of! Their school system tends to be more thorough, and they don’t have the pioneer background of North Americans, which many people in a way feel that they can return to. Teaching our own kids, back to the multi grade school system, stuff like that. The woman I met the… -
Two Secrets
29 Jan 2010 | 6:34 amI’ve been up to my elbows in my book all day, and can’t bring myself to upload photos. So I’ll tell you two secrets: 1. I love the smell of burning cow dung. I really, really do. Every time I whizz by it and smell it, I think aaaaahhhhh (a long sigh, not a scream) and then I think, that’s India. 2. If one more person that I’ve only known for two minutes castigates me for homeschooling my children and harangues me about their socialization (and I mean harangue, not express interest, or gently debate) I’m going to jab them in the chin with a fork and… -
Rae’s Writing Vacation: Wednesday’s Post
28 Jan 2010 | 5:47 amI drove away from Panjim, the capital of Goa, this morning, on my scooter. In Panjim I walked around and took photos of buildings and a few people, I saw a movie in a theater (the last movie I saw in a theater was Mr Bean’s Holiday in B.C. in April of 2008) and I had a massage. It was beautiful. But I was ready to leave. I drove for two and a half hours, and my bottom was numb when I got here. I drove through cashew forests which smelled heavenly because the cashew flowers are in bloom. And I drove through forests of eucalyptus which were stunning and alien. I haven’t seen anything like… -
Rae’s Writing Vacation: Yesterday’s Post
27 Jan 2010 | 6:08 amI am in the backpacker’s India of my late teens and early twenties, in a little guest house with plywood walls that are cracked and sagging. I am showering in cold water, standing over the squatty toilet, toweling off carefully. When I got up this morning I hurried to the shower, hoping to be the first there. I didn’t need to worry. Apparently my fellow backpackers aren’t up at 7:00 for the shower, not having jumped out of bed as soon as they opened their eyes and it was light. I can’t help it! I need to see the world, the sun is up and I am exploring. I love this. I paid 50 rps…
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Chai Life
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Attention All CPR Providers!
4 Feb 2010 | 9:10 amThe universal sign for choking has changed! Old Sign: New Sign: - OR - Ok, so it’s an old joke reworked for the Viqueens, but it’s still funny! Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Digg this! Share this on del.icio.us Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Mixx Email this to a friend? -
Best. Weapon. Ever.
25 Jan 2010 | 9:53 amI don’t know who did this, why they did it, or how you’d even think up such a ridiculously crazy killing tool, but this is the most awesome weapon I have ever seen. If I were in a knife fight and someone came at me with this thing, I’d probably crap myself (Note: I have never been in a knife fight, nor do I ever intend to be). Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Digg this! Share this on del.icio.us Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Mixx Email this to a friend? -
The Evolution of the Cylon
10 Dec 2009 | 8:55 amI saw this elsewhere on the ‘net and absolutely had to share it here. Click to see the full sized picture. Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Digg this! Share this on del.icio.us Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Mixx Email this to a friend? -
Gift Guide for Geeks – Under $100
27 Nov 2009 | 6:58 amThe 2009 holiday season is rapidly approaching! Do you know what you’re going to get your geek this year? Here’s a guide for those of you looking for ideas. Blue Violet Laser Pointer – $72.99 For some reason unbeknownst to me, even though I am a self-described geek, laser pointers are absolutely fascinating to geeks and cats. This thing is a king among laser pointers. The unique blue violet color really makes it stand out among a sea of red and will even impress geeks who have the cherished green laser pointer. RAM Upgrade – $20-$100 Unless your geek has already maxed… -
Fox News Pie Chart Fail
23 Nov 2009 | 6:52 pmThe following graphic, presented on the air by Fox “News” recently shows the split amongst the GOP when it comes to support for three potential 2012 presidential candidate. Keep in mind, that their source is the ever-reliable nationally accredited polling organization known as “Opinion”. Coming in at a mind-numbing 70% support is, of course, Sarah Palin, followed by by Mike Huckabee with 63% of the pie chart and Mitt Romney with a mere 60%. This, of course, perfectly adds up to a complete 193% of the pie. Wait, WHAT? Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Digg this! Share…
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deCOMPOSE
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Stand By Your Man… Or Not
9 Feb 2010 | 5:49 amTwo women, both scorned, are book-ending a public discussion of marital infidelity. Coincidentally, both wives claim to be Christians, as do their offending spouses. Which makes the discussion even more fascinating. But the underlying question in both cases is the same: Should they stay or should they go? Which is why the “Christian” part of this is so interesting. Is it more Christian to remain with an offending spouse, rather than leave them? Jenny Sanford’s book, “Staying True,” recently hit book stands. She filed for divorce in December from South Carolina… -
handmade crucifixes
7 Feb 2010 | 8:04 amSo I have this thing about crucifixes. No, I don’t believe they possess magical powers. Wearing one or hanging one over your doorpost is no guarantee of blessing or protection. However, symbolically, the cross is foundational to everything Christians believe. Anyway, that’s the justification for my fascination. So I’ve been tinkering with this side project (if tinkering is the appropriate word) designing crucifixes. I should say non-traditional crucifixes because, as you can see, I have some different ideas. Sure, they’re pretty basic from a carpentry standpoint. I… -
Sex-Ed Minus the Morals
3 Feb 2010 | 5:28 amAs reported yesterday in the L.A. Times, abstinence-only classes apparently work: A new study shows for the first time that a sex education class emphasizing abstinence only – ignoring moral implications of sexual activity — can reduce sexual activity by nearly a third in 12- and 13-year-olds compared with students who received no sex education. (emphasis mine) Detaching the “moral implications of sexual activity” from sex education has been a big priority for secularists. It’s okay to teach abstinence as ONE OPTION, they say. Just don’t try to frame it as… -
Is Doubt a Virtue? — Pt. 2
31 Jan 2010 | 4:11 pmWhile the emerging church continues morphing, some things appear unchanging. One is the tendency among post-evangelical, postmodern Christians to embrace, if not esteem, doubt. I have to tell you, I am growing extremely suspicious of this movement. Anyway, I follow several emerging / postmodern authors’ blogs — not to cause problems, but to watch the scene evolve. Rarely do I comment at the sites. But this week I couldn’t help myself. The author, in a post about — what else? — the place of doubt in the Christian life, noted the proliferation of books on the… -
Can God Be Found in False Religions?
29 Jan 2010 | 5:34 amAs much as I wish the Bible were cut and dried on this subject, it’s not. Scripture’s full of thorny verses, statements that force us into a corner or invoke paradox. Recently, I’ve been contemplating one such verse: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV). For believers, this is a pretty affirming verse. But there’s lots of wiggle room. For instance, is seeking God with all our heart the only prerequisite for finding Him? What about those who “seek” God in non-traditional, even non-biblical, ways? I mean, if a…
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The Bare Essentials Today
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Texting, dinner and the teeth
1 Feb 2010 | 12:32 pmThe big date was last Thursday and I don’t think there will be a follow up. He was nice enough, but I’m thinking that we are in two different places. And before anyone comments, with some of what I’m about to rehash and seek advice on, I know I’m getting ahead of myself and thinking into the future, but I have to! I did find out that his divorce is not final yet. All the paperwork has been filed, but it’s not finalized yet. Which is sort of a problem for me. First I don’t want to be a rebound. I’m looking for a serious, committed relationship that will hopefully lead to… -
Back in the saddle for 2010 and trying to get rid of a stalker. Some people need to get a life!
25 Jan 2010 | 8:10 amThe whole online dating thing is starting to pick up again. Well, one guy so far. And my subscription ends in February, but hey, who am I to complain? I actually heard from Prince Albert last week, wanting to grab a drink Friday night. I had said yes at first, but then I rethought. I hadn’t really “gone out” with him in about a year. Why should I run and go out with him at his beck and call just because he felt like it. We had been in contact, but nothing insinuated that he wanted to go out with me again. So in the end, I bailed. It was the right thing to do. So on Saturday, I got… -
Nobody likes a quitter
5 Jan 2010 | 7:27 amSo, I have decided to quit smoking. This has nothing to do with any new years resolutions or anything like that. I don’t believe in those. I’ve made a resolution to not make any new years resolutions…at least I know I’ll stick to that one. I’ve been dumb for far too long now. I have watched too many people close to me die from lung cancer. I brushed it off like I am invinceable. I’m not. I know better than that. Trouble is, I enjoy smoking. I mean really enjoy it. I’ve been doing it for so long it gives me panic attacks to think of not doing it. Like… -
I just came up with a brilliant new blog idea. Julie Powell can suck it.
13 Dec 2009 | 5:46 amSo, I rented Julie & Julia the other night. Great flick. Meryl Streep rocks in just about anything that she does and I love cooking so how could it suck? But it got me thinking. Maybe I should start a new blog. I can’t do the whole cooking thing, it’s been done obviously. And on a side note I was really disappointed to find out that the author, the chick who the movie was made about, cheated on her husband! They don’t mention it in the movie, but I read it on wikipedia. And they don’t lie. Ever. Seriously dude, the guy got fed fabulous food, a brand new dish every… -
If you’re single, don’t go snooping around at Christmas gifts. It can only lead to bad, bad things.
24 Nov 2009 | 7:43 amThis is a great little Christmas story from a few years ago. Let me set the scene. Now, I’m a snooper. I always have been and I probably always will be. I remember snooping through my parents closet one year before Christmas and finding a Timex computer (OK, I know I’m dating myself here, but anywhose) and my parents found out that I knew and they didn’t give it to us. They held off until Valentine’s Day! I was living with my boyfriend at the time and my parents had just moved down to Florida. We were planning on going to visit them for the holidays so we decided to exchange our…
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Jer In The UK
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Making The Decision
2 Feb 2010 | 3:54 pmFor some people it's the most difficult thing in life, for others it means nothing and many can be made in a single moment. For me, I tend to fall somewhere in the middle where most people probably are. The fact of the matter is that decisions, the big ones I mean, are what change our lives. We all know this, it's not a cosmic secret, but for some making a decision is one of the hardest things they'll ever have to do. I was working, listening to an audiobook and doing a particularly tedious part of my job when I realised just how big the decision to relocate to the UK really was. I actually… -
Our Irrational Adoration of Books
24 Jan 2010 | 7:28 amI've been hard at work trying to reduce the amount of "things" that I own. It's part of my new-found goal of becoming a minimalist. Also, for the purposes of my relocation my company has offered to pay to ship my belongings over with me. Now at first this seems like an awfully nice thing to do, and it is, but at the same time it flies in the face of my minimal future. My response to this has been to limit the number of boxes that I will have shipped to four. These are medium sized, tough (able to carry books), and small enough to not take up too much space. The problem now is deciding… -
Establishing Credit
21 Jan 2010 | 5:27 amNow that my journey to the UK is inevitable I've begun to research more in-depth things that I will have to figure out once I'm there. Credit, to most of us is a dirty word but a necessity to get anywhere in life. I don't know what my future plans are beyond the next year or two but I'd like the options that a credit history brings. Perhaps I'll want to buy a house? Who knows! The first thing to realise is that your credit history does not follow you across the pond. This is both a blessing and a curse depending on how good your credit score was in your home country. If you had horrible… -
No Thanks, I'll Walk
17 Jan 2010 | 7:44 pmI hate driving. Really. It's one of those things that I'm forced to do because of where I live. In order to get to my job I have to drive there, which was not something I accepted straight away. After I was hired I hit the interwebs hard in search of ways to get there, there being a mere 20 minutes from where I lived at the time. My work is in an industrial area and therefore does not have any buses that service it. A taxi would cost far too much, and no one I knew worked anywhere near it. I had to drive, much to my dismay. So why am I telling you this story? Because I don't plan on driving… -
The Opportunity of a Lifetime
14 Jan 2010 | 9:06 amFor the last year I have been totally committed to my goal of relocating to the UK. It's something that I planned on doing without a job but secretly wished that the company I currently work for would transfer me. I dropped hints, some subtle, some not about my intentions and I worked hard, harder than I ever have in my life. I've always known that I was good at my job but at the risk of sounding arrogant: I kicked ass this past year. I took on new duties, developed ways of doing them better and faster, I covered people when they were on holidays or sick, I problem solved outside of my…
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The Things
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Ethnocentric Proof Fence
30 Jan 2010 | 1:30 amMost movies are a form of escape from the viewer’s ordinary lives, but every once in a while a film does the opposite and drags the viewer into a reality, immersing them into a way of life and a past that still affects people even today. The movie, Rabbit Proof Fence recreates the Australian government’s theft of half aboriginal have European children from aboriginal mothers from 1875 to 1954, showing us how extremely ethnocentric and sexist their actions truly were and how it effected the culture and well-being of aboriginal tribes of today. History: Australia passed the 1905… -
The Black Heart: Homebrew Goes Awesome
23 Jan 2010 | 1:52 pmOne of the limitations of the homebrew gaming scene is its lack of original style. Even commercial games copy gameplay from each other, but you will find that it is the differences in their styles that makes or brakes another clone. The homebrew 2d fighting game, “The Black Heart” certainly has broken down the style barrier with its truly awesome game play and unique art, that puts even the best of 2d fighting games to shame. “The Black Heart” was released on Halloween of 2009 and was created by Andrés Borghi. With the help from users in the M.U.G.E.N… -
My Bones, Stones and Human Evolution Class
18 Jan 2010 | 3:50 pmskull from Crestock Photos When I started my Bones, Stones, and Human Evolution class at Mesa Community College, I thought I had a good understanding of evolution and Natural Selection. I mean, I have read things here and there and watched the Discovery Channel, that made me an expert in my mind. Can’t blame me, because it turns out that our minds were the last thing to evolve, which is something I didn’t know until I took this class. The truth is, I didn’t learn as much about human origins as much as I learned how little I know about our origins. Learning that the time line…
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REVENGE OF THE SONITH
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REVENGE OF THE SONITH: Learning New Languages And Improving [Digg]
15 Jan 2010 | 4:13 amLanguage Acquisition and/or Improvement. -
Learning New Languages And Improving The Skills You Already Have
15 Jan 2010 | 12:04 amEver since human beings have joined in social groups, eventually forming societies and cultures, information exchange has been a key element in every-day life and not only. The archetypal need of communication and the wide variety of languages and dialects may not always go hand in hand peacefully, but, especially in a global world as the one we live in now, the messages emission and decoding has even a greater impact. There are major languages, minor languages, languages close to extinction... Read more... -
REVENGE OF THE SONITH: Romanian History and Culture [Digg]
14 Jan 2010 | 6:23 amMy View on Romanian History and Culture -
REVENGE OF THE SONITH: What's In A Brit? [Digg]
14 Jan 2010 | 6:18 amThe Importance of Being British as Described in Richard Ingram's Compilation of Quotes in England. An Anthology -
My View on Romanian History and Culture
14 Jan 2010 | 5:22 amImage via Wikipedia Ancient Times The space that is now known as Romania (generally marked by the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Black Sea) has been a multicultural melting pot from Antiquity, long before its existence as a national state. The original inhabitants of the land were the Dacians (part of the Thracian cultural family, a very important nation in Ancient times that has influenced Western culture through Greece especially, introducing such names as... Read more...
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Tales of a Literary Nobody
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ENVY....how do we combat it?
5 Feb 2010 | 10:29 amFour little letters that can be harmless or they can be hurtful. According to dictionary.com: Envy denotes a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another: for example to feel envy when a friend inherits a fortune. We all envy someone or something. Whether it be another person, a situation or even a future prospect. While I enjoy my life I personally have a list of things that I -
Human Error...how do we account for it?
2 Feb 2010 | 9:03 amHuman error is blamed on a vast majority of the mistakes that are made. In 1989 when the Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of oil in Alaska the cause: human error. In 1986 the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine that led to many radiation related deaths was said to be caused by human error. In hospitals many people die from receiving the wrong medications or even the wrong -
Knowing exactly who you are is underrated...
25 Jan 2010 | 6:31 amI was doing some blog searching this morning and encountered several blogs in which the author described themselves as still trying to figure out who they are. Many of us can relate to that. In fact, I had this discussion with some friends over dinner recently. Many of us have spent a good majority of our lives trying to figure out who we are. The only thing is in all that time many of us knew -
The trending topic: 기다릴게 박재범 기다릴게 2PM ..here's what it's all about
23 Jan 2010 | 8:40 amToday on Twitter many noticed the trending topic: 기다릴게 박재범 기다릴게 2PM. Now for those of us who don't speak or read Korean we were baffled. But, here is what it is all about. Translated it means, "We'll wait for you Park Jaebeom. We'll wait for 2pm!" Now to some, this may make no sense, but to those who are trending this, it is a very serious subject. Jae-beom Park, or Jay Park, is a 22-year-old -
Great Performances: The lesson we can learn from the life of Ryan Smith (1976 - 2008) Tenor
21 Jan 2010 | 5:30 amI watched a documentary last night that really touched me so I had to share it with you. It was PBS' Great Performances at The Met: The Audition. Singing hopefuls auditioned in 2007 for The Metropolitan Opera’s (Yes, I said opera and I don't mean the web browser so just hang tight there's a great story to this) National Council for an opportunity to win $15,000, perform on The Metropolitan
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My Odd Family
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King Cole’s Tart
6 Feb 2010 | 6:49 amWe have a kitchen because it came with the house. We have a kitchen because I married a man who loved to cook. We have a kitchen because the mother and father of the man I married built the house we live in, and they loved to cook. If it had been left up to me, I might have turned the kitchen into a computer studio, with a small fridge, hot plate, microwave, and a lovely collection of take-out menus. Joe’s siblings love to cook. The spouses of Joe’s siblings love to cook. Joe’s nieces and nephews love to cook. Nephew Titus, has a Chicago Restaurant blog. Joe’s niece Claire, was… -
Over Is Hard!
3 Feb 2010 | 2:20 pm“Dad is over for the rest of my life, mom, and I am only 13.” The feeling that nothing will ever be okay again has begun to wear on us. The world feels tasteless. It’s Over, the tasteless color of grief. As a mother, everything I think of to say has become a thought-terminating cliché. There is nothing left to say. Together, Cole and I face the reality that Joe died and there is nothing that will fill the void of longing for those five more minutes or thirty more years. Being “a family of three,” as Cole called it, is over. Only Joe could talk endlessly with Cole about an… -
Surprise! Its Not What Your Ordered!
1 Feb 2010 | 2:23 pmI love eating at a restaurant and having someone else order for me. Menus are overwhelming and no matter what I order, someone else’s dinner will look better to me. My mother first, and then Joe were champions at ordering for me. I still have the urge to call my mom and ask her what salad dressing I should order. When Joe died, I was left with the question of what to put on my pizza and hotdog. It’s reassuring to live with someone and be able to ask, “Do I like that?” Cole amused me the other day. I ordered something at a restaurant and he interrupted me with, “Mom, I just don’t… -
Draw A Dog–Its FUN!
29 Jan 2010 | 10:14 pmThis Odd Post is dedicated to Adelaide and her Little White Pup Oh! The Stories they have to tell! Naturally, none of us have pups that could possibly inspire a cartoon. I mean, perfectly behaved pets rarely make for interesting cartoons, right? However, in the interest of helping Jim, the artist, earn his fair share of food, and giving Bruce, his do-everything-else partner something to do, maybe we could inspire a cartoon or two with “descriptions of our canine companions and their exploits.” Draw a Dog is fun! Check it out and if you’re so inclined, send them your story. Perhaps, we… -
Has This Ever Happened To You?
29 Jan 2010 | 4:28 amCupcake Culprits! # 6 is missing for a reason There is a cupcake shop at the mall where I went to pick up my Mac from the Apple store. I decided to stop in and pick up two chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles – a nice treat for Cole and me on the way home from school. I entered the store and was greeted by three smiling women at the counter and a vast array of cupcakes. After oohing and aahing, I picked out two chocolate cupcakes. So far so good. As I reached for my wallet, the woman behind the counter smiled at me and said, “We are running a special. If you buy five cupcakes, the…
