09/09/09

While having my teeth cleaned this morning, my Hygienist and I had a conversation about the meaning of the abundance of nines in the date today. She had the advantage of course since I was on my lying on my back with one of those water-sucker-outers in my mouth, so I couldn't contribute much to the conversation.

Though technically there's nothing special about the symmetrical date, some concerned with the history and meaning of numbers ascribe powerful significance to 09/09/09. Still, many believe that this is the last day in the history of the human race. But at 9am this morning nothing happened, although there is still the possibility that the world could end at precisely 9pm of course, right after President Obama's health care speech. That would be one less thing to worry about.

Today does see the release of a Beatles computer game, as well as the release of their digitally remastered back catalogue (YES!) and the announcement of the new Apple iPod. The new animated feature film, "9," set in a post-apocalyptic world, will open in movie theatres today and American county clerks offer special $99 "09/09/09" wedding prices (wonder how much a divorce costs?) And isn't the number 999 just 666 turned upside down?

In the end, it's probably all a bunch a HOOEY. Some people are very good at looking for meaning and patterns in randomness – it's one of the reasons, some say, humans are such a successful species. But the price is that we see significance in things that aren't there at all.

See ya'll tomorrow. Maybe.

Furlough Friday

I am spending my unpaid day off (the first of 2 this month) making brownies for my nephew's Fire Fighting Academy potluck on Saturday. Adam (my youngest brother's son) is attending a six month program in Monterey to become a Fire Fighter and will graduate on December 15th. Since June he's been spending weekends with us as it's a much shorter distance to Monterey from our house than his in Milpitas. We have enjoyed having (and spoiling) him. Mr. itsme & I take turns making his favorites for dinner each weekend. One weekend Mr. itsme BBQ'd and one time he made fajitas. Last, I made Beef Stroganoff. Tonight I'm making a chicken, artichoke, mushroom bake, served over quinoa.

I whipped up a big ol batch of brownies, loosely adapted from a recipe Ina Garten does, and they are now cooling. I also made a lemon bundt cake filled with fresh strawberries since that is one of the things Watsonville is known for, plus it will be good practice for next weekend when I turn in all my baking entries for the Santa Cruz County Fair (I expect lots of blue ribbons again this year).

Its a beautiful day on the coast of the Monterey Bay. The unusual heat we've been having has thankfully let up. I actually slept last night. I'll probably run some errands and do a little dead-heading in the front yard. Can't wait for Fall and apple & pumpkin season as well as the chillier weather!

Other Interesting Bogs

In my "Other Interesting Blogs" section, please note I've added Saguaro Wanderings. This place is the creation of my new friend James. He is an excellent photographer and wise Sage. Go and read and comment...he needs the traffic!

Another Family Wedding

Saturday one of my nephews got married. It was an outdoor California-style wedding. You all know the kind. My own handsome Mr. itsme officiated (in a black tuxedo no less) and it was a toasty 104 degrees in the shade. In fact, it was so hot, the moisturizer melted off my forehead and ran down into my eyes. Let me tell you, you have not experienced misery until 'Clinque Dramatically Different Moisturizer' seeps into your eyes setting them on fire!

But I digress.

The Bride and Groom have known each other since childhood so this was a highly anticipated wedding in my family. The Bride's, not so much. (I'll save that story for another post). My middle brother and sister-in-law, having reached the ripe old age of 53 and 51 respectively, are anxious to become Grandparents so my brother texted the Newlyweds while they were setting sail for their Honeymoon cruise to Mexico. Tacky. But I was just watching the path of hurricane Jimena that's happening down Mexico way and realized my brother just may get his wish. Their cruise's itinerary has changed and they'll be spending a little more time on board...hmmmmmmm....at least until Wednesday.

Now that it's all over and everyone can breathe again, my sister-in-law emailed me this morning to thank us for all our help and support. She ended with "We have a wonderful family." Yup. I have to agree. God bless us every one...as well as those newest members yet to come.

I'm a New Member of the "10 Year Club"

I had my very first colonoscopy this morning - 4 years later than I should. Everything they say is true: the prep days are the worst, anticipating the day of is worse than the actual procedure, and lots of good drugs, etc. Pam sent me Dave Berry's essay about his and it was funnier than anything (thanks Pam) and mostly true.

While I was pretty much awake and aware -but in absolutely NO PAIN or discomfort at all- I did not opt to view what was going on on-screen. I did get some lovely COLOR pictures afterwards and will send them out with my Christmas cards this year, send me your address if you want one.

The best part? Juice and muffins waiting for me afterwards, my first solid food in 2 days. I ate lots of green jello, lemon-lime gator aide, chicken broth and butterscotch hard candies. Drinking that MoviPrep liquid was horrid but I chased it with gator aide and ice water so as not to gag. Vodka would have been better though.

The BEST BEST PART was knowing I'm OK and polyp and cancer-free. If any of you have been putting off having this procedure, don't delay any longer, if I can do it, anyone can.

Funny People

Mr. Itsme and I went to see 'Funny People' yesterday afternoon. IMHO, the film spends far too many of its 2 hours and 26 minutes joking and obsessing about a very specific part of the male anatomy - kinda like when Eddie Murphy did stand-up and used the word Mother*ucker every 3 seconds - I just stopped listening. The clincher was when I had to look at my watch only an hour in, that’s when I knew it wasn’t working for me. And just when the film started to move toward some kind of meaning, you got nothing but a cheap laugh and the moment was ‘poof’ gone.

The other thing that bothered me was that Adam Sandler’s character wasn’t even likeable; I didn’t feel sorry for him for one single moment, even when we got his terminal diagnosis from the Doctor. He was a jerk before he was ill, and remained a jerk while ill. You’d think someone with so little time left would change his ways a tad. This was one person who could leave this planet forever and would not be missed by anyone.

Despite the movie’s title, ‘Funny People’ is neither funny nor sad. It’s really more like a tragedy when so many (supposedly) funny people can’t make a funny movie. There were lots of cameos by many well-know comedians like Ray Romano, Paul Reiser, & Sarah Silverman to name a few.

I take that back, the movie is sad after all, just not for the right reasons.

The Beer Summit

Finally, we have a President the rest of us would like to have a beer with, that all-American (male) bonding gesture. But 'Bud Lite?' I thought they were going to drink beer? (make mine a microbrew please).

I can hear the Press tomorrow "Did he have a head on his beer? Who took the first sip? Did anyone burp? And what did they drink out of? Did they clink their mugs?"

Jeez Louise!

LIGHT BULB just came on: maybe a beer pong tournament with Congress would help round up those Blue Dogs and get the whole healthcare mess resolved?

It could happen!

Sign Seen This Morning

"Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns. I'm thankful that thorns have roses."

Nice.

"King of Pop" or "Wacko Jacko?"

Definitely the “King of Online Traffic” according to GigaOM that reported the second-largest day in terms of total traffic on its network. Akamai delivered more than 2,185,000 live and on-demand streams in both the Flash and Windows Media formats. While dreadful news for all Michael Jackson fans and music lovers around the world, his death is good for business, apparently.

I'll wager that more people have heard a Michael Jackson record or felt outraged about his private life than know what's going on in Iran. Needing a ticket for the memorial (many who won tickets never planned on attending, just wanted to sell the tickets), the merchandising, the constant media attention. Coming out of the woodwork are people that didn't really care that much, suddenly claiming to be 'big fans.' (Did Michael Jackson REALLY make Magic Johnson a better point guard???)

I never understood Michael Jackson. He spent his entire adult life trying to recapture a childhood (he claimed) he had never known. Why else would he have created “Neverland” and told an interviewer “I am Peter Pan?” I didn’t hate him; nor did I especially admire him. There were too many unanswered questions regarding child molestation. What else is there to think of a grown man sleeping in the same bed with little children? That bizarre picture of him dangling his baby from a hotel balcony still creeps me out. And the plastic surgery that ultimately deformed his face? I actually heard someone say yesterday on one of the news channels that his face was a work of art...yeah, if the artist was Hieronymus Bosch!

I do appreciate the contributions he’s made to the music and dance world. I remember dancing to Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad, and seeing him “moonwalk” for the first time on TV. He was the consummate entertainer and I have no doubt his legacy will be felt in the world forever.

Unfortunately, the media circus is far from over and we will be hearing more of the ugly, sordid details when the toxicology report is made public and the Jackson family begins fighting publicly over custody of his children and his money - I can't wait to hear more of what his doting Father has to say! Death does bring out the best in families doesn't it?

R.I.P. Michael, wherever you are.

Charles Krauthammer

My cousin's husband is a rabid, foaming at the mouth neo-con and yesterday, he sent me this Charles Krauthammer piece he thinks is "interesting" (it's really just itsmecissy bait). Here's my response (sorry for the length):

Dear Cuz,
I, like Charles Krauthammer, am a psychic, who truly understands the depths and motivations of strangers. Thus, I am able to translate this into what it ‘actually means’ – let’s call it polemical hermeneutics: (he won't understand that part)

You wrote:
"A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. You would do well to read and pass this along to EVERYBODY that loves his country. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children."

MADAME itsmecissy TRANSLATES:

A friend went to hear a lunatic conspiracy theorist. He listened with 25 other easily frightened rubes in a closed room so the public couldn't point out the insanity of the speaker's ramblings. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st and still meaningless polemic conjecture. You would do well to read and force it upon EVERYBODY who you know to be a crazy right wing conspiracy nut, or who you'd like to no longer take you seriously. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country because it shows that an increasing number of Americans are divorced from any political reality. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children.

You wrote:
"Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant, intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger, nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid’, feel free."

MADAME itsmecissy's INTERPRETATION:

1.) These two statements contradict each other:
"He is brilliant, intellectual, seasoned & articulate."
"He is a frequent contributor to Fox News..."

2.) "Has a Pulitzer Prize for writing:"
Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. His words are drivel. He hides a lot of facts, or just lies.

3.) Regarding being forthright, careful in his analysis, not extremist or a fear monger: Two people viewing the same event will come away with different interpretations of that event. There is no such thing as completely unbiased reporting, as the initial gathering of facts, followed by decisions regarding which of these facts are worthy of covering in your allotted time, measured against other considerations (such as ratings, for instance) are all influenced by personal interpretation.

4.) And apparently you have to be rich to have not ‘drunk the Kool-Aid:’


A summary of Mr. Krauthammer’s comments:

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a ‘cool customer’ who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's ‘behind the mask’. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

itsmecissy: If Obama were white and had an Anglo sounding name this would not even be an issue. Unfortunately, Pulitzer Prize-winning writers who do not engage in juvenile name-calling can still be very much into simplistic analysis.


2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

itsmecissy: Careful Charles, your bias is showing. But that’s OK, bias is good. I have no problem with opinions expressed in newspapers as some others do. I prefer to know exactly where columnists are coming from.

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to ‘level the playing field’ with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.


itsmecisssy: Why not just come out & say what you really think? Obama is black and that scares you. Obama (according to many of your cronies) is a socialist and that scares you. Obama will tax you more because you're in the top 5% of earners who should pay more and that makes you angry (hey, you shilled for the Iraq war, you pay for it.) Instead of "dismantling capitalism," read "restoring capitalism to its proper place as an economic concept as opposed to the national religion." And when was capitalism dismantled in Great Britain or Canada?

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada. God forbid.

itsmecissy: What ENERGY? America is dependent on foreign oil for all its energy and that foreign oil is dwindling as we speak; the energy crisis has happened already and it’s getting worse! As for FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION and NATIONAL HEATHCARE – Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, OH MY!!! Heaven forbid we should educate and take care of our own Citizenry. Note: please refer to Madame itsmecissy's Interpretation #2 above: Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. Oh, and he lies.

5. He’s surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they’re going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama’s not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

itsmecissy: I wonder how many people around Charles Krauthammer have ever run a candy store. And what do candy stores have to do with the presidency? Heck, I could run a candy store, but I couldn’t be president! And BTW, aren’t there some Republicans in the Obama Cabinet?

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

itsmecissy: How can a President want be a "ruler over the world" but is against Imperialism? Face it Charles, the thought of a popular, smart, articulate, and uniting President (who happens to be a Democrat) scares the shit out of Republicans. After the last 8 years of a polar opposite, George W. Bush, who supposedly represented the best of the right wing ideology and, while ‘on his watch,’ this "great noble nation" made GRAVE ERRORS (that he’d never admit to). Yes, I can see why you’re afraid.

7. He’s now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not ‘come due’ until after he’s reelected in 2012. He’d like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

itsmecissy: Tsk, tsk, tsk, FOX continues the unethical practice of cutting and pasting video clips and images to fit the stories they create. They are literally MAKING the news and people actually assume it as truth. How scary is that?

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We’re ‘pining’ for another Reagan, but there’ll never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states’ rights.

MADAME itsmecissy COMMENTS:

1.) "Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party."

itsmecissy: GOD, I HOPE SO!!!

2.) "Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage."

And I quote: "If combat means living in a ditch, females have problems living in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don’t have the upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they’re relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically piglets, you drop ‘em in a ditch, they roll around in it, it doesn’t matter, y’know? These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means being on an Aegis cruiser monitoring the movement of twelve ships and their rockets, a female may be again drastically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically programmed to go out and hunt for giraffes."

itsmecissy: Yeah, Newt Gingrich is brilliant.

3.) "Sarah Palin is sincere & intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future."

itsmecissy: Intelligent? Intelligent? Some people – like George W. Bush – don’t need to be satirized: you just quote them.

4.) "We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states' rights."

itsmecissy: You need to be the party of angry white guys who think they’re about to get rich. Last I checked, Charles, you were already there.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We’re spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyper inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

Note: please refer to Madame itsmecissy's Interpretation #2 above: Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. And he lies.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed. fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of ‘change’ caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

itsmecissy: For too long Charles, you've been able to cloak your extreme views in the guise of thoughtful commentary - no longer is that possible. You and a large number of right-wing water-carriers had your unprincipled butts handed to you on a plate by a disciplined, principled candidate with a positive message of hope for this country. No longer will vile, hateful culture warriors like you have any say in the direction of this country. And that scares you most of all -- the prospect of your utter irrelevance.

Racism is based on ignorance - as has been most of the Republican Party's politics for the past eight years. But the party has also become ignorant of the principles upon which it was founded, and is only now belatedly waking up to the reality, that "you can't fool all the people, all the time." Indeed when your party is run by ignorance-adoring and chronically inept fools, it is difficult to even fool some of the people part of the time.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it’ll be a dogfight. It’ll all be about the economy.

itsmecissy: BRING IT ON!!!

I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There’s a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.

itsmecissy TRANSLATION:
I hope this gets you froth mouthed and paranoid about what I'm pretending is happening in Washington and Congress. There's a moderate Democratic government, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith, spread delusional propaganda, and form a crazed reactionary resistance. The work will be hard, but we're irrationally Far Right Maniacs on most issues and can trick our country into a reactionary response and further social, economic, and military collapse, before it's far too late.
XXOO

Weekend Musings

Saturday, we went to the 50th birthday party of an ex-neighbor. The party was held in the banquet room of a local Chinese restaurant. We dined on the usual Anglo favorites: egg flower soup, egg foo young, sweet & sour pork, broccoli beef, fried rice, cashew chicken, and beef chow mein (none of which I EVER order and none of which can be found anywhere in China) and were serenaded by The Great Morgani, "Accordionist Extraordinnaire" (he plays everything but 'The Lady of Spain' and 'Metallica.' Don't believe me? Go here http://www.thegreatmorgani.com/)


Anyway, I mention this because while watching our friend open her presents, it struck me that I was at a Portuguese birthday party, in a Chinese restaurant, listening to Italian polka-style songs (yes, those kind) and thinking this scene would be complete if only I were wearing plaid madras shorts and a pink polo shirt with black flip-flops.

Christian Fundamentalist Terrorists

Operation Rescue is not Christian organization, it's the new American Taliban. The man who murdered Dr. Tiller was not a Christian following Jesus Christ and Randall Terry is not walking the walk of Christ.

Isn't it strange that these so-called "pro-life" advocates are more concerned with the lives of fetuses than they are of their mothers? Otherwise, why murder a physician who was dedicated to protecting the health and lives of women? And how about his children and wife who are now deprived of a father and a husband?

Yet, these people have the audacity to call themselves "pro-life."

It seems to me everyone has their own ideas when it comes to ending life, whether they are "pro life" or "pro-choice." Everyone has their exceptions to the rule, be it Capital Punishment or War. Believe what you want, don't do what you don't believe in and leave your nose out of others' beliefs. They will be judged and you will be judged by whomever and whatever they believe in, before we die or after. I think we've got enough work to do improving ourselves while living our own lives, than by trying to improve others by interfering in theirs.

I cannot rejoice in Dr. Tiller’s death. He did not die for a cause, he lived for one.

BTW, Joe Biden was right. He said Barack Obama would be tested by terrorists in his first 6 months.

WolframAlpha

The latest new Web toy I'm playing around with. You really should check it out. Here's the home page http://www92.wolframalpha.com/

and a 13 minute screencast introduction

Screencast: A Quick Introduction to WolframAlpha by Stephen Wolfram:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

REALLY, REALLY COOL!!!

Simpler Times

I was listening to a satellite radio talk show this morning on the drive into work. People were calling in about what they (baby boomers) remembered most growing up. I had tears in my eyes from some of the things people were calling in with. It's amazing the similarities no matter what part of the country they grew up in. Here's a few of mine:

Being home by the time the streetlights came on
Playing in the apricot orchards
Picking bouquets of mustard flowers for Mom

Riding bikes with playing cards rubbing the spokes, attached with a clothespin

Fizzies
Kool aide popsicles

Sitting in from of the TV with a mixing bowl of cereal watching cartoons on Saturday

Captain Kangaroo
The Mickey Mouse Club
“Combat” (with Vic Morrow)
Leave it to Beaver
Sunday drives
Family dinners at Nanny & Pop-Pop’s
Penny candy
Double features at the movies
Drive-ins
Red light, Green light, Hide n Seek, Simon Says
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Swanson’s chicken pot pies
Hillbilly bread
TV dinners
Summer road trips
The County Fair
Lemon aide stands
Slurpees
Pet turtles
The Kid’s Table
Root beer floats
Playing Army men
Cowboys & Indians
Home movies
Going to bed when it was still light outside
The Ice Cream man
Doughboy swimming pools
Spaghetti night!
The Woolworth’s lunch counter
Gordo, Able, Miss Baker, Sam, Miss Sam, Goliath & Scatback
New shoes for the first day of school

I'm a Proud Californian Today

Yesterday voters gave Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California "Do Nothing" Legislature a swift thwack upside their collective heads by soundly defeating Props 1A-1E. Finally, fed up and no longer willing to “just open your wallet and shut your mouth," 19% of California voters did the right thing and just said NO MORE. Not one more dime, fix it with what you have. We've had to make do with less, now it's YOUR turn.

True, this defeat will now push the California State budget to a $21.3 billion deficit and tens of thousands of teachers, police & firefighters, state employees (including myself) will/may be furloughed or laid off, and money taken (back) from local governments. Public education is going to suffer. Mental health services is going to suffer. All public safety services are going to suffer.

It's gonna hurt BIG TIME folks, and we ain't seen NOTHING yet.

"Tonight we have heard from the voters and I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system," the governor said in a statement. "Now we must move forward from this point to begin to address our fiscal crisis with constructive solutions."

Guess you're going to have to start doing the job we're paying you for BIG GUY... and just put a steak over that black eye while you're at it.

What I'm Doing This Weekend

Here's where I'm off to http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/vi/vi_events/cooking/default.asp

Lots of good food, wine, the ocean breezes . . . life doesn't get any better than this!

OK, OK, my goal is to get my picture taken with Alton Brown (we're staying in the same hotel) so I'M SURE we'll meet in an elevator - or the bar - at some point.

See ya'll on Monday!!!

Falcon Cam

View the next generation of Falcons. This is right across the street, SJ City Hall, from my library. What a joy to watch!!! The pidgeon population declines a little bit each day though . . .

5/1/5/09 UPDATE: the babies were all banded this morning. Mom was flying overhead screeching at the top of her lungs (I went outside to hear it). All is well now.

NOTE: All the babies have fledged so this webcam is gone until April 2010 when we welcome Clara back again.

Earth Day 2009

I remember my first Earth Day celebration in high school in April 1970. The entire student body was assembled in our football stadium and told it was a day to reflect on our planet, our environment and what we could do to keep them healthy. At that time many of us were also involved in the Vietnam War protests (called "teach-ins") and saw Earth Day as the same type of protest except on behalf of the environment. At least I did. I was always looking for a good protest back then.

At the grassroots level, Earth Day organizers were able to tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into their environmental cause, thereby forcing the issue onto the political agenda and finally into the national spotlight. Smart cookies, they were.

In the comics section of a local newspaper, “Baby Blues” showed the lighter side of Earth Day:

“It’s weird … Green is good when you’re talking about energy, but not bananas.
A green lifestyle is good, but green water is bad.
Green corporations are good, but green meatloaf will make you sick.
The world is a very complicated place.”

So what did I do for Earth Day today, I went home and watered my roses. I know, pathetic.

Why I Don't Twitter

Since I deal with a lot of students and faculty, I try and keep up with the latest crazes but I definitely don’t have time to add another life-sucking activity like Twitter to my life.

I like what Brian Williams said on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, that he will not use Twitter until he has something “interesting enough” to say in 140 characters or less. Even Beyonce admits that when it comes to Twittering, she just “doesn’t get it” and she’s not on Facebook either. That makes two of us.

I love technology, but I have to draw the line at Twitter.

The official Twitter website says: “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” Sounds more like a cross between blogging and instant messaging and enabling today’s attention-deficit disorder sufferers doesn't seem a like a particularly good idea to me. What am I doing? It’s 1:30pm on Wednesday, what do you think I’m doing? Does anyone care that I’m sitting at my desk flossing the chicken salad out from between my teeth? Or that I’m on my way to the bathroom for my second bowel movement of the day? (Shall I take a picture as well?)

We are losing the art of conversation by reducing it to abbreviations and emoticons for anyone to read. What about crafting a thank you note or the impact of a well-written sympathy card after a loved one dies. Remember letters? When was the last time you sent one? And I don’t mean a Hallmark card.

Twitter devotees claim that the value of Twitter is in the quality of those you follow. To make it interesting you need to have interesting people to follow. If you don't follow interesting people, it’s just a big pointless waste of time. But do we all really want to be connected to each other in this kind of giant kumbaya?

I guess what I really want to know is: Who in the hell has time for this stuff???

I’ve come to the conclusion that Twitter, or micro-blogging, is for people who want a blog but don't want to blog. Maybe Twitter is the latest manifestation of an undesirable trend. Remember when it was people checking their e-mail 50 times an hour, and phoning you to say, "Did you not get my e-mail? I sent it almost an hour ago." Then it was instant messaging, cell phones, and text messaging, all offering improved opportunities to "be in touch all the time," a fate I'd do almost anything to avoid.

Now it’s "social networks," like Facebook, My Space and Twitter. I suppose there’s value to each of these -although I suspect that the value drops over time- but it seems to me that each “new tool” seems to be taken to sillier (or stupider) extremes than the last one.

I also recognize that it isn’t going away anytime soon. Tell you what, why don’t we all just meet at the Pub and raise a pint or two?

The Susan Boyle Phenomena

I refuse to watch reality shows of any type because of the bad taste they leave in my mouth. Let's not forget that this is television where the letters NBC stand for 'No Butt-ugly Characters' and Cinderella stories don't just happen randomly. Producers seek out the unusual because that's what sells, but a friend sent me a link to the YouTube video of her performance on “Britain’s got Talent.”

I’ll admit, when she first walked onto the stage, I felt sorry for her, not because of the way she looked, but rather that the audience was already snickering and jeering at her before she even opened her mouth. Apparently, they expected her not to be able to sing simply based on her appearance. I was especially upset when I saw one specific woman in the audience rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and laughing -this is the same mentality of people who are now judging overweight people in the airline industry with financial penalties, but that’s ANOTHER blog rant- but it was when I saw that slow, well-known smirk come across Simon Cowell’s face, I knew poor Susan was going to become the butt of some sort of cruel and terrible joke. I didn’t want to watch.

Susan Boyle appears to be a regular person, maybe a neighbor or a co-worker, not a movie star with all the makeup and fancy clothes. She has heart, and it shows. She has kindness, and it shines through her. Her beauty inside and out is what makes her shine with talent. She's got great stage presence. Her face is strong and dramatic, which is an advantageous quality to have, especially in the theater. Susan’s performance was stunning, amazing, breath taking; I even got tears in my eyes (how could you not?) The fact that everyone keeps referring to her as a dumpy, middle-aged woman is bizarre to me. She’s a hero to all of us who aren't a size 0, with perfectly done make up and hair.

I say Congratulations Susan, you GO GIRL!!!

New Uses For Old Business Cards

In the spirit of Going Green (it's a slow day), here are a few suggestions:

Cleaning the spaces between your computer keyboard (use the sticky side of a used Post-it to get any crumbs)

Cutting the ends off to make labels for your hanging file folders

Attaching to CD cases to identify them as yours

Luggage tags

Making short grocery lists on the back

Entering "free meal” drawings at your favorite eateries

Makeshift bookmarks (instead of folding the corner of the page down – I HATE THAT!)

Getting that last little bit of chicken salad out of your teeth

Putting personal notes in the lunch bag of someone you love

Fingernail cleaner

Use as a wedge to balance a wobbly table in a restaurant

Noisemakers for your bike (remember clothespining playing cards to the fenders of your bike so they would struck by the spokes on the wheel creating a motorized sound?)

Wallpaper

Build a card castle

Shred them to make confetti

Tape them together to make drawer liners


And my personal favorite:

Use as a Tool Of Deception For People You Don't Like. Carry a few old business cards belonging to someone else in your wallet. When you encounter someone you wish you hadn't, hand them one of them as you leave

We're Heading North, to Oregon

Leaving early to visit a dear Niece and her husband in Beaverton. Have dinner reservations in Portland Saturday night on the waterfront (celebrating the 30th birthday of Niece's husband). Sunday we'll all spend the day in Seattle, one of my most favorite places on this planet. Monday, while the kids are working, the husband and I will scout out coastal property; serious negotiations are currently going on between us to retire there - he DEFINITELY wants to, I'm not so sure.

Problem is, I'm very close to my family, he's not (close to his). I don't want to end up living so far from everyone (except the aforementioned Niece) if ever I am alone again (i.e. husband dies before me). I think it's a reasonable consideration. The deal buster: if I can't live near the ocean (like I do now), I won't move. End of discussion.

I've checked the long-range weather forecast for the area and it'll be raining much of the time we're there, with temps mostly in the mid-40s - ahhhhh, my kind of weather. I think I was a duck in a past life.

See you all Wednesday, take care of each other.

Taking the Long Way Home

I don't remember who it was that said that the journey is more important than the destination but stopping to smell the roses was just what the Dr. ordered today.

I had a dental appt this morning - a little minor oral surgery and crown replacement - and had planned to go into work afterwards. No big deal. But as often happens, things didn't quite turn out that way and I ended up not making it to work . . . which didn't disappoint me in the least.

Anyway, when all was said and done, I decided to take the long way home. It's about a 20 minute drive from Capitola/Santa Cruz (the dentist) to my house via (the Pacific Coast) Highway One, or 45 minutes to an hour via the back roads. Since it was such a beautiful day (about 70 degs) I got me an iced latte at Starbucks (for when the novocaine wore off), opened the sun roof, put on the "Classic Vinyl" station on my XM radio and took a favorite route through apple orchards, commercial rose growing fields, and rows and rows of strawberries. I take this route when I have a lot on my mind or just need to think (this was also a favored drive of my Mom's and I always feel her near when I go this way). There's a llama ranch along this stretch of road too and a dozen or more were sunning themselves near the fence as I passed. How can people make rugs out of these beautiful animals?????

The sunshine, the music, the smell of the acacia trees in bloom was just what I needed. I even stopped at a flower stand and bought a bouquet of wildflowers to bring home. Violet "the Destroyer" will be pleased.

This was my unplanned day off and taking the long way home.

Odds & Ends, This & That

So, today I've made coconut macaroons (husband's fave), fruitcake bars for work (not yo Grannie's fruitcake) and now I'm making corned beef and cabbage. I know, I know, St. Paddy's Day is Tuesday but next Sunday the aforementioned husband is leaving (on business) to Long Beach (Los Angeles) for 4 days so we're having our Tuesday night dinner tonight (will make some Irish soda bread to go with it too - YUM!) We usually make a lamb stew using a few pints of Guinness and have some friends over, but it didn't work out that way this year. Also, the County Fair is coming up and I'm testing new goodies to enter . . .

Hope you are all well, having a wonderful Sunday and are spending it with people you love.

Madoff "deeply sorry and ashamed"

Back in the cowboy days he'd already be hanging from a rope - BASTARD!

My question is: where's the money?
Where did all that money go?
How come no one (in the media, judges, attornies, etc.) is asking THAT question?

Nadya Suleman Giving Birth

Too funny not to share

"Lane Cake, Scuppernongs and Pickled Pig’s Knuckles"

Since I’ve decided to pretty much boycott watching television in the evenings, except for Leave it To Beaver and M*A*S*H reruns - BUT not before I thank President Obama for finally ending The Chimp’s War on Science by undoing a 2001 Bush directive that banned federal funding for stem cell research - I’ve been spending that time baking and reading more.

Also due to my previously mentioned “foodie tendencies” and my current search for the perfect Lane cake recipe, I stumbled upon a Lesson Plan for teachers recently created by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in, where else, New Orleans, Louisiana http://thebigreadnola.com/lesson-plan.pdf.

In the Lesson Plan's Foreword, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is mentioned as “a classic example of a great Southern novel filled with culinary information.” It was then that I remembered Harper Lee’s character Maudie Atkinson and her Lane cake, the one with the alcohol kick so powerful that another character, Scout, remarks "Miss Maudie baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight" (Shinny being a slang term for liquor).

I dug out my copy at home and sure enough, Harper Lee breathed life into her characters with food, in fact 52 foods - all Southern favorites - are mentioned in the book like ambrosia, fried chicken, collards, peach pickles, turnip greens, crackling bread, etc. No wonder I loved this book so much, I was a foodie before I even knew what a foodie was!!!

Basically, a Lane cake is a type of white sponge cake made with egg whites that consists of four layers filled with a mixture of egg yolks, butter, sugar, raisins (sometimes coconut and chopped nuts), and whiskey. The cake is frosted with a boiled, fluffy white frosting made of water, sugar, and whipped egg whites and typically served (in the South) at birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and other special occasions. The recipe was first printed in Emma Rylander Lane's cookbook "Some Good Things to Eat," which she self-published in 1898.

So ya’ll should thank Rush Limpbrain for my foray into the Southern culinary world, if it weren’t for him becoming the Leader of the GOP (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!) I wouldn’t have turned off the tube and took up reading the book again.

Two guesses what I'm making for dessert at Easter?

Fat Tuesday (Praise the Lord & Pass the King Cake)

OK, so tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. I'm home tonight making a King cake . . . kinda . . . it's actually a lemon bundt cake without the baby inside. It is a lemon cake (with Meyer lemons from my own tree) with a lemony glaze. I'm going to sprinkle it with gold, purple and green sanding sugar and take it to work tomorrow for all to admire, Domestic Goddess that I am.

Don't hate me because I can bake!

Michael Steele: "Work" vs "Job"

STEELE: Well, the difference, the distinction is this. If you got a government contract that’s a fixed period of time it goes away. The work may go away. There’s no guarantee that there’s going to be more work when you’re done with that job.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But we’ve seen millions and millions of jobs going away in the private sector just in the last year.

STEELE: Yes, but they come back though, George. That’s the point. They’ve gone away before and they come back…

HUH?

By Steele’s definition, a contractor, who bids contract to contract in the private sector, is "making work," it’s not a job because there is an endpoint to the contract, after all, there is no guarantee that there will be another one (is there a guarantee that there will always be a demand for a product in the private sector?)

So, if you have a job building schools, bridges, roads, levees, or anything with money that comes from the Federal Government, you don't have a 'real' job. Isn’t making work *scratching my head* the exact purpose of the stimulus?

Good thing this doesn’t mean that a paycheck isn’t really money.

And I thought Sarah Palin was the worst the Republican Party could come up with.

I'm a Library Trustee

Last night at the monthly City Council meeting, I was nominated and appointed by my City Council Representative to serve on the city's Library Commission from my District.

Last October I attended a Candidate's Forum (many City Council members were up for re-election) and I was so impressed by the new faces I saw vying for the job - and Lord knows we needed some changes - I was inspired to get more involved in the community where I lived. And since I've worked (most) all my life in libraries I thought it a good fit. So I applied.

My first meeting is February 19th and with the state of financial affairs in this State, keeping libraries a float is going to be a real challenge. I'm up for it.

CHANGE HAS COME!!!

God bless us, everyone.

I'm Embarrassed to Admit This

I've lately become OBSESSED with taking online store surveys. You know, the kind that when you eat at a place like Applebee's (it's OK for an after-the-movies-supper) and your waiter comes back with your check and says "Congratulations, you have been spontaneously and randomly chosen to take our online survey and you could win a gift certificate for . . . "

blah, blah, blah. I usually just say thanks, pay my bill and shred the receipt when I get home. Never was a "coupon clipper" either. Too much to keep organized.

But with the price of everything going up so much, I've started paying attention to the fine print at the bottom of my grocery receipt for example. It says, and I quote:

"Win $500 gift card! Take survey monthly at ....... to enter. Thank you for shopping at ......."

OK, so I was thinking: how many people REALLY take these surveys and figured the odds of winning were pretty good. Well, I was wrong about that cuz apparently MILLIONS of peeps have been doing this for years before I caught on to it.

BUT

The amazing thing is that now I'm getting emails from the grocery store (yeah, it's a pain sometimes but I just hit the delete key) and this past Wednesday they emailed me a $20 off coupon on a purchase of $100 -which is about what a weekly trip costs me- so I went today and used it. I bought all my usual stuff and some fresh wheat grass for the cats (spoiled rotten animals!) and got the promised $20 off. I'd call this a Good Thing.

BTW, never got anything spontaneous or random from Applebee's yet . . .

WTF?

My youngest brother just declined my Inauguration Party Evite. Claims he voted for Obama but is "Republican by nature, and attending would be akin to drinking the kool aid..."

My response back: "Couldn't you just not swallow?"

Ahhh, family. Gotta love um.

A Game For My Inauguration Party on the 24th

The President Barack Obama Quiz (I got 6 out of 10)

1. Where was Barack Obama born?
A. Honolulu, HI
B. Chicago, IL
C. Jakarta, Indonesia
D. Wichita, Kansas2.

2. From what university did Obama earn his law degree in 1991?
A. Yale University
B. Harvard University
C. Columbia University
D. University of Chicago

3. Obama was a lecturer of constitutional law at what law school from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004?
A. Yale University
B. Harvard University
C. Columbia University
D. University of Chicago

4. In what year was Obama first elected to the Illinois State Senate?
A. 1994
B. 1996
C. 1998
D. 2000

5. What republican candidate did Obama defeat in the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois?
A. Blair Hull
B. Peter Fitzgerald
C. Jack Ryan
D. Alan Keyes

6. In 1992, Obama married whom?
A. Martha Robinson
B. Maria Robinson
C. Michelle Robinson
D. Mary Robinson

7. In 2005, Obama co-sponsored the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" along with what Republican Senator?
A. Sen. John Warner (R-VA)
B. Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY)
C. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
D. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

8. What was the first electoral contest that Obama won in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary run?
A. Iowa
B. New Hampshire
C. South Carolina
D. Michigan

9. How many states did Barack Obama win on Super Tuesday in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary run?
A. 11
B. 12
C. 13
D. 14

10. Obama says that his alternate career choice would have been:
A. Architect
B. Pastor
C. Doctor
D. Psychologist

Yes, there will be a fabulous prize for the Winner. How'd you do?



ANSWERS:

A – Honolulu, Hawaii
B – Harvard University
D – University of Chicago
B – 1996
D – Alan Keyes
C – Michelle Robinson
D – Sen John McCain (R-AZ)
A – Iowa
C – 13
A – Architect

10 Best Movies of All Time

A lively lunchtime discussion sparked this post, here are my picks:

1. Gone with the Wind
2. Casablanca
3. Wizard of Oz
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. The Godfather
7. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
8. Fiddler on the Roof
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
10. Sound of Music

I know, I Know, I’ve left off Citizen Kane, It’s a Wonderful Life, Rocky, Annie Hall, Midnight Cowboy, Raging Bull, Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Mary Poppins, Ben Hur, Patton, The Graduate, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Shane, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn . . . and 3 million others!

Of course, lists like this tend to reveal more about the compiler than the merits of the movies, especially when you label them the Best of. What would your list of ten include?

P.S. Lemming, please upgrade to DSL so you can respond (LOL).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I think.

No resolutions here (can't keep them anyway).

More later.

Soup Days

When the weather turns cold, I get out my biggest soup pot and have a marathon soup making day. I got to take home the leftover smoked ham from Christmas dinner last night so I am making my famous split pea soup. Think I'll make some nice homemade bread to go with it.

I love slow soup days like this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's raining and storming here in sunny California. The air is crisp and cold, well, cold by California standards - it's about 52 but got down to 43 last night. Family scattered around the country - Oregon & Nevada - have been calling this morning to say Merry Christmas. I'll miss not seeing everyone this year . . .

My niece and her husband in Oregon are having their first "white" Christmas as snow is still falling in Portland and Seattle. My sister in Las Vegas is also having snow, although it's just raining this morning. Heard from husband's family in Sacramento, rain and fog in our State Capitol and Santa was good to everyone too.

My pumpkin pies are ready to transport to my youngest brother's for dessert tonight. We'll spend the night there also.

Merry Christmas to all of my blogger friends and hoping you're enjoying time with family and friends too.

Teeth Whitening Strips

So, I tried those teeth whitening strips this morning. The last time I bought my gallon size bottle of Listerine, there were free samples attached, and I'm a sucker for anything that has free samples attached.

I read the instructions carefully 3 times as these are my only teeth I'm talking about here.
It starts off telling you to ask your Dentist before using if you have dental work as it will not whiten dental work. Well, my Dentist goes to Hawaii every year at this time to surf so that was out. I was on my own and I felt brave. And I have a mouthful of dental work.

I carefully opened the first little foil packet and immediately dropped it in the bathroom sink. It melted clean away in less than 3 seconds right before my eyes!

Swell. So I open packet number two (not over the sink this time) and successfully apply the clear strip to my lower teeth - it says to start with the lower teeth because of the saliva factor, I know, TMI.

Good so far. Next I apply a strip to my upper teeth, getting a bit on my gums. THEN I read "don't allow strip to adhere to gums," but I decide to live dangerously and chance it. No harm done, it's only hydrogen peroxide for crying out loud!

I stand there grinning at myself in the bathroom mirror as these strips start turning into gel. "Does Paris Hilton do this," I'm wondering? The instructions say the strips should melt away in about 10 minutes for most people. 30 minutes later I'm thinking, I'm not "most people."

I can't stand it anymore and decide to brush the gunky gel off my teeth, floss too. I don't see much of anything different but it does "take twice a day for two weeks" the instructions say and I don't need another gallon of Listerine at the moment.

I think I'll wait until my surfing Dentist comes back from Hawaii and ask how much a professional whitening job costs. Free whitening strips are not for me.

Have Rolling Pin, Will Travel

How I am spending my Christmas vacation: I am having a blast!

Sleeping til 7:30 (three hours more sleep than usual), making my own coffee and drinking it by the light of my two Christmas trees. Having whatever I want for breakfast, sometimes going to my fave cafe for lunch and eating at a table all by myself.

Monday I took my rolling pin to bake with family in Santa Clara as we have been doing for the past two years - I guess this qualifies as a tradition. Yesterday, I baked 78 gingerbread boys and decorated them with my niece, ex-sil, and nephew's girlfriend - a five year tradition. This Sunday, I'm taking my rolling pin to Milpitas to make gingerbread boys with another branch of the family.

I could get used to this.

What's better than spending time, quality time, with family, especially the younger generation and building a legacy? My legacy is baking memories with the ones I love the most. It just doesn't get any better than that. It just doesn't.

P.S. I said Merry Christmas to the Salvation Army bell ringer and they said Merry Christmas back, not that crappy Happy Holidays . . . there's hope afterall.

Doctors as Friends

I have the best Doctor on the planet! Had my check-up this morning:

Heart = still beating
Lungs = still breathing
Blood Pressure = been worse (140/90 when the nurse took it, 128/92 when Dr took it) will stay on current medication
Blood Oxygen = normal (whatever that is)
Temperature = 99.8
Pulse = still have one
Weight = up a little (but I have lost 67 pounds in the past year)
Cholesterol = 160
All the Other Stuff = fine and dandy except I am overdue for a colonoscopy (she told me about hers and it still doesn't convince me) so I told her I'd make it a goal for 2009 - NOT!

The reason I bring this up is because at all my appts we have the most amazing conversations and I leave feeling really good about myself and that everything is as it should be. I always get a big hug too. This morning she remembered this was the first Christmas without my Mom and the second without my brother (sure, it's written in my chart) but it's nice she even mentions it.

I also always leave feeling a little sad because she is someone I could really have as a personal friend. She's about two years younger than me and has been through many of the same things I have. I left wanting to invite her and her husband over for dinner or something. But I don't know "the rules" about befriending or getting too chummy with your Doctor. I'll have to ponder this in my Happiness Project.

Speaking of, I told her about it and she thinks it's great and admires that I enjoy writing. She says she doesn't write because she's "too lazy." OK, so this woman went how many years to medical school, sees how many patients a year, has her own family to tend, and she thinks she's lazy???

Now I'm blathering . . . hope you're having a nice day (I'm on vacation until January 5th).

Do You "Wordle" Yet?

Go here to make some "word clouds" (I'm beginnning work on My Happiness Project).

Tag, You're It!

I've never been tagged but I liked this from lemming's progress:

Where is your cell phone? Charging on my desk
Where is your significant other? At work
Your hair color? Blonde (natural too)
Your Mother? Did the best she could
Your Father? Did the best he could
Your favorite thing? The ocean
Your dream last night? Can't remember any
Your goal? To start my own Happiness Project (more later)
The room you're in? My office
Your hobby? Baking
Your fear? Too many to list here
Where do you to be in 6 years? Retired and travelling
Where were you last night? On the couch watching MSNBC
What you're not? An extrovert
One of your wish-list items? A closet organizer
Where you grew up? San Jose, CA (aka Silicon Valley)
The last thing you did? Checked my email
What are you wearing? My new Santa scarf (knitted by my SIL)
Your TV? Old
Your pet(s)? 3 cats: Phoebe G, Samantha, & Violet and 14 fish in a 100 gallon tank
Your computer? Dell
Your mood? Tomorrow is my first day of vacation until Jan 5th, so you tell me
Missing someone? Mom, Dad and Ed
Your car's name? Olive
Something you're not wearing? Earrings
Favorite store? Sur La Table
Your summer? I hate summer!
Love someone? I love lots of someones
Your favorite color? Green
When is the last time you laughed? On the drive into work this morning
Last time you cried? Last Sunday
Tagging? anyone

The Christmas Decorations are up . . .

OMG, I am exhausted!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It's a beautiful day here on the central coast of California, about 62 degrees, partly-cloudy - all the rain yesterday washed the sky blue again. GORGEOUS!

I've just pulled my homemade yeast rolls from the oven (my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner) and have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the TV; I only watch because of the giant balloons and Santa's arrival. We're going to my Mother-in-Law's today and to my family's on Saturday, sorta Thanksgiving and my Brother's birthday celebrated together. I can't wait!

Thinking about my Mom a lot today. She passed away in January and this time of the year was her favorite, probably why it's my favorite time of the year too. I'm going to say Mom's prayer at dinner this afternoon: "Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Thanks for the Grub, Yay, God!"

Anyway, I wish you all a very happy day and hope it's spent with people you love . . . or at least who you really like. Take care.

My Baby Brother Turns 50

We are all going to his house for a big party on Saturday the 29th. And since he doesn't read my blog (even tho I gave him the address), I will post the poem I wrote for the occasion:


On My Baby Brother Turning 50

Distinguished friends and family gathered here today,
please listen to me briefly as I have some words to say.

On this notable occasion we are here to celebrate
the birthday of my brother, who is fifty on this date.

We know him as a man of honor, honest and foursquare.
He is well-traveled, well liked, even somewhat debonair.

He’s now a half century old but still he looks fine,
more wrinkles will come, it will just take some time.

Yes, my brother is turning 50 and his hair is turning grey
but some of us remember him before he got this way.

Always a handsome lad who had been known to flirt,
but once he was a little boy known to me as Johnny Burt.

He’s laughed a lot and cried a little too, and of the hard times,
I'm sure there were a few!

He’s fallen and stood right back up on his feet,
and many good people he’s had the pleasure to meet.

He’s worked very hard and played a lot too, but John,
there's not too many who can do what you do.

There are so many people around him here that care,
and hope at his one hundredth, they will be there.

Turning Fifty's not such a terrible thing,
but I can't wait to see what the next fifty brings!!!!

All my love, Cissy

Worth repeating (from last year)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Did I mention that I love Fall?

Actually, I am addicted to Fall: crisp air, that “autumn blue” sky, raking leaves, freshly picked apples, dried corn stalks, and pumpkin patches. (Note: I could be genetically predisposed as my birthday falls on the first day of Autumn most years.) My house begins to fill with the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice. Around the end of July, I begin scouring my old magazines for Fall arts & crafts and decorating projects, comfort food ideas, and new baking recipes. I am a woman obsessed! I go down to the basement to begin sorting through my Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations, all carefully packed in plastic storage boxes (I’ll spare you my obsession with Christmas and how I put up 3 Christmas trees each year).

This past Sunday, in honor of my birthday, my husband took me out to breakfast, my favorite meal to have out and also to cook. As we drove south on Hwy 1, along the coast to Moss Landing, overlooking Monterey Bay, I spied my first pumpkin patch of the season. My husband of 30 years knows well my reaction to seeing the pumpkins for the first time and pulled over just in time (he’s really as bad as me) to take in the gorgeous sea of orange and white. Pumpkins of every size imaginable, as far as the eye can see, rolling down to the water’s edge.

Did I mention that I love Fall?

Obama Cabinet Picks (just thinking ahead)

I won't try and guess the biggies like Chief of Staff (I have read Rahm Emanuel has the job if he wants it), Attorney General (a woman would be nice) or Secretary of State (?)
BUT
how about these names:

Treasury Secretary: Michael Bloomberg (he's a party swinger, kinda like Lieberman)

Secretary of Energy: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Repub who's actually done well here in CA)

Secretary of Education: Caroline Kennedy (a Kennedy in the White House again - Camelot!)

Secretary of Defense: Colin Powell (I know but he was a soldier and knows his stuff)

Press Secretary: Jon Stewart or Keith Olberman (Stephen Colbert is Canadian)

OK, I'll keep thinking . . .

Oh yeah, and I dreamed Michelle Obama asked me to come decorate the White House for Christmas - ME, not Martha Stewart - lol - it could happen!

Open Letter to Obama from Alice Walker

Nov. 5, 2008

Dear Brother Obama,
You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear.

And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done.

We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance.

A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on.

One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate.

One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise.

It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.

A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies.

And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.We are the ones we have been waiting for.

In Peace and Joy,
Alice Walker

AWESOME DAY FOR AMERICA!!!

Proud. Proud. Proud.
I am especially proud to be an American today.

The dark clouds over this nation are moving away;
Good bye to the old, make way for the new.

It's not going to be easy, let's roll up our sleeves
and get to work!

The page has been turned.

We've looked in the mirror and have finally become
the country we always knew we were.

(Party at my house January 24th, you're ALL invited!)

Dr. King had it Right

"I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions.

This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream-- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed;
a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few;
a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yet ANOTHER reason to vote tomorrow

Free coffee at Starbucks

I voted Saturday, wonder if that counts?

Happy Halloween (from last year)

1) Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.
2) Do not search the basement or attic when the power is out.
3) As a general rule, do not solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.
4) When it appears you have killed the monster, never check to see if it's really dead. It isn't.
5) Do not take anything from the dead. No matter how much you like it, it's bound to disagree with you sooner or later.
6) If you find a town that looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop to look around.
7) Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you know exactly what you're doing.
8) Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This rule also applies to any other house of the dead.
9) If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice--more if you're female.
10) Beware of strangers bearing strange tools like chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawn mowers, butane torches, soldering irons, and ice picks.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Candies - Top 10 Worst

According to "Serious Eats.com," the little beggars who come calling every October 31st have a preferred and despised list of Halloween candy. Just in case some of you'd like to avoid the "tricks" associated with the holiday, here's the despised list (and why):

1) Toothbrushes - apparently Dentists & Orthodontists should NOT bring their work home with them on this night.

2) Raisins - the little goblins want treats that will actually rot their teeth, not "wrinkled grapes."

3) Candy Corn - now this is just unAmerican. What is Halloween without candy corn? It's the "fruitcake" of Halloween.

4) Smarties & Necco wafers - I agree, who wants to eat chalk!

5) Dum-Dum lollipops - oh come on, who can resist a 3,000 count package of suckers for $1.99?

6) Apples - remember when bad peeps would hide razor blades in these . . . makes me shudder just remembering the days of ex-raying all candy at the local ER.

7) Tootsie Rolls - yeah, no chocolate in them at all anymore and a destroyer of dental work.

8) Miscellaneous, Hard wrapped candy - reserved for Senior Citizens? What about the bagged stuff they put in Pinatas?

9) Laffy Taffy - hey, it's their dental work NOT MINE!

10) Anything "Fun-Sized- " apparently anything "portion controlled" shouldn't apply to Halloween.

OK, so, that means the 3 Costco bags of 250 count tootsie rolls, tootsie pops, sweet tarts, and miscellaneous hard-wrapped candy I just bought have to be returned? Phhhhhhhhhhtttttttttttttt, beggars can't be choosers!!!!!!

“Donde esta la Cerveza?”

From drunken college frat boy to when he finally admitted there were no WMDs in Iraq, Oliver Stone’s “W” tries really hard to make us believe that all poor George W. Bush ever wanted to do was watch baseball and drink beer all day. Sounds like a reasonable request to me. Then again, this was the starting point to understanding how Bush got into office, why he got into office, and why he never should have gotten into office.

If you are a fan of George W. Bush, you're going to be more fond of him than ever. If you are not a fan of George W. Bush, you're going to be surprised at how sympathetic his character appears. Whatever your political beliefs, you won't find anything unexpected in "W."

I do wish the film would have explored the connection between Bush's alcoholism and his born-again Christianity with some depth or curiosity - what addicts and born-agains share is a terror of ambiguity, an absolute need for a belief system that removes all doubt- but at least the film lets us know the American people made a HUGE mistake.

It’s worth the price of admission just to see Richard Dreyfuss play Dick Cheney. One of the most chilling movie scenes ever is when Cheney is asked about his exit strategy from Iraq - “There is no exit. We stay.” I swear to god, it gave me goose bumps!

Josh Brolin's performance as “W” is really amazing; in fact, Brolin's so good, he almost makes you feel sorry for Bush. Almost. An equally stellar performance by James Cromwell as “Poppy,” George H.W. Bush, Sr., makes me understand why Daddy Bush would rather hang with Bill Clinton these days.

Still, leaving the theater, I had the sense that, really, it is too early for this movie to have been made.

Sarah Palin Explains It All

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C.

We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers --

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit,

and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America,

being here with all of you hard working very patriotic,

um, very, um, pro-America

areas of this great nation.

This is where we find the kindness

and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans.

Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids

and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us.

Those who are protecting us in uniform.

Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

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yeah....she loves those small pockets of "pro-americans" a.k.a. small pockets of uneducated white republicans who actually like her. Or is that pro-America like Todd Palin is pro-America?

The Final Debate

They say a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

New Candidate Alert!!!

OMG, I've never been so excited about a potential Presidential candidate in my life . . . view here:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=JutNf&altl=Djttz

Greed Is Good?

Little Boots’ New American Way: social welfare for the rich by giving $700 billion to Wall Street so that they can turn around and lend it back to us.

I had to giggle when I heard Republicans blaming Nancy Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which attacked Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the vote's failure.

Thank you, Nancy Pelosi, for calling things as you see them. You (the Democrats & a few brave Republicans) made me proud today when you stood and refused to be bullied into signing on to this joke of a plan and insisting on more detail and oversight.

Socialism is not Patriotic: Don’t bail them out, Jail Them!

Dow Jones Industrial Average - Then & Now

January 20th, 2001 = 10,588
September 17th, 2008 = 10,605

Bush says: "We must act now to protect our nation's economic health."

This is the same loser who's been telling us over and over for years that the economy is "strong."

Three months left in his miserable presidency and all of a sudden we need to "act now to protect our economic health."

Way to go Little Boots!

Happy Birthday To My Best Friend Karen!

We met in the middle of 6th grade. I was blonde and Anglo, she was olive and Mexican-American. What she saw in me that first day I’ll never know but she held out her hand in friendship to a very shy 11 year old that had been to three different schools that year.

I always thought Karen was lucky. She had a nice house full of older sisters who could do the most AMAZING things with their hair. And they had BOYFRIENDS! Her parents, especially her Dad, loved her to pieces (I can close my eyes right now and feel the love in that house).

Karen taught me to toast corn tortillas over an open flame on the gas stove in the kitchen. I’d sometimes sleep over and we’d sleep in middle of the same double bed, giggling, about boys, until we both fell asleep.

On weekends, we’d ride the city bus “K & C’s Excellent Adventures” to downtown San Jose to window shop at Woolworth’s, Macy’s, Hale’s & Hart’s, completely fearless about being MILES from home (no cell phones then). We’d go to movies in old theaters that had velvet curtains and ushers with flashlights. We’d play with Barbie’s at my house, devour my Mom’s homemade bread the second a loaf came out of the oven, and went (indoor) roller skating every Friday & Saturday night. We’d drink “suicides” almost until we were sick. Anyone else know what a “suicide” is?

And Karen had DOGS, a big white poodle named Cognac who had a litter of puppies with their black poodle Fluffy. It was one of the best days of my life when I was given first pick from the litter who I named “Mademoiselle Michelle Cognac La Fluff Reyes Parsons” (Mimi for short).

In High School we were on the Yearbook Staff together, in charge of Clubs. Karen was a beauty (looked EXACTLY like Marlow Thomas aka “That Girl!”) and became a song girl; I joined the Spirit Club and painted the banners the football team ran through at the beginning of every game. She was “front of the house,” I was “behind the scenes.”

Karen married right out of High School and after the birth of her first child, we lost touch. Last October, her husband found me on the Classmates.com website and we have been trying to catch up on the last 30-something years ever since.

I hope you have a very Happy Birthday Karen and I am so glad we found each other again.

The Bush Doctrine ("Caribou Barbie" Edition)

The Bush Doctrine is based on delusions of grandeur about America's ability to dominate the world and endorses the use of unilateral preemptive force & persuasion rather than honest multi-lateral cooperation.

Just remember these four words: “Preemption, rather than reaction.”

In order to justify the invasion of Afghanistan, Bush came up with the policy that the United States has the right to treat countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups as terrorists themselves. Later, in order to justify the invasion of Iraq, he added that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a supposed threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate.
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Obama was right about one thing, even if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.

7 Years Later: Rememberng 9/11

Life-altering changes. I guess if you live long enough, it probably happens more than once. For me it was the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, Jr., and the Challenger explosion. I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard about or witnessed these events.

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were different.

While I didn’t have any family or friends die that day, I did have a friend, a Nurse, working in Manhattan who lived through the whole nightmare. At the University, we were deeply saddened when we learned that Alumni Jason Dahl, a 1980 Graduate in Aeronautical Engineering, was the Pilot and Captain of the crew of Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a field just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The overwhelming majority of casualties were ordinary people like you and me, including nationals from over 90 different countries. Let’s never forget that excluding the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died in the attacks. Another 24 are missing and presumed dead.

Now, seven years have come and gone. In those years we moved on, we put 9/11 aside with all our other memories. Very briefly, we came together as a nation to help and comfort each other when we were all just human beings on common ground.

I hope on this tragic 7th Anniversary, we remember what is still good about our country and the innocent men, women and children who lost their lives. Let’s also remember the Heroes who responded to the emergency and the people who continue to sacrifice every day to help stop conflict around the world.

McCain's Speech

Yes, I watched the speech, I watched the whole stinking RNC this week as a matter of fact. With a barf bag at the ready of course. Only used it once when the "Cindy Show" was aired. Even 3 glasses of wine did not help to dim the pain of watching THAT. Does the woman get it that spending over 300K on an outfit for that night alone is...is...that vein in my neck is proturding so I better stop.

Unemployment is at a all time high in 5 years at 6.1. Did McShame say how he going to move this Country foward? Did he talk about: creating new jobs, improving economic fundamentals, shifting the tax burden from the lower pay classes back to the upper pay classes?

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What the critics said:

Former Bush Speechwriter: "Pretty Disappointing"

National Review: "Flat, Forced"

David Gergen: "Mostly A Rerun Of A Lot Of Old Republican Ideas"

New Republic: "No Overarching Themes"

CNN'S Jeffrey Toobin: "Worst Speech By Nominee Since Jimmy Carter In 1980"

NY Times Blog: "Some Delegates Fell Asleep" (I think I heard the snoring...)

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TOM BROKAW: But the fact is, governor, that you have had eight years of a bush administration and a lot of Republicans in Congress for the last eight years, so why wouldn't the american people say, look they had their shot we're going to change?

TOM RIDGE: Because John Bush - because John McCain is very much his own man...

No Tom, you were right the first time.

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Oh, and I know this is trivial, except when it applies to Obama, but where was McCain's flag pin?

Sarah Palin?

O-M-G!

This is like GHWB picking Clarence Thomas and saying with a straight face: "He's the most qualified candidate in America for the Supreme Court."

Biden vs Palin will be like King Kong vs Bambi, I can't wait for the debates! She is wrong for all the right reasons!!!


Typical Republican Tokenism.

Steve Jobs' Obituary, Retracted

Apparently the Bloomberg financial newswire decided to update its Steve Jobs obituary - and accidently published it instead. Now I know it's fairly standard procedure for news organizations to prepare obituaries in advance - Mr. Jobs is fighting pancreatic cancer - but imagine waking up and reading about your own passing in The Wall Street Journal?

I guess the best part is getting to read your own obit . . . or is it? If it wasn't so creepy, it would be funny.

Heads are gonna roll over this one that's for sure.

Why I'm Not Watching the Olympics

When people ask me if I’m watching the 2008 Summer Olympic Games I always answer with a question: “Would you have watched the 1936 Berlin Games?”

They always respond back “it’s not the same.”

They’re right, it’s not the same.

The Nazi's only killed about 6 million people.

Since 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has only killed about 60 million people.
(Wasn’t it Stalin who said “the death of one man is a tragedy, but the death of one million is merely a statistic?”)

Yes, the Olympics should be all about the athletes and not about politics -but always is- and since China is requiring gag orders of the athletes and most of the world press, restricting Internet access, lying about the ages of it’s gymnasts, displacing and making homeless thousands of people to build the Olympic venue (I could go on and on), it is China that is politicizing the games - all in the name of “putting on a good face to the world.”

Many of us are not fooled.

Growing up, I embraced the view that the Olympics promoted world peace and celebrated human accomplishment and dignity, but would it not be better to show our support of a country whose government actually shares the beliefs of the Olympic Charter?

I went to the same High School as Mark Spitz (graduated with one of his sisters - pardon my name-dropping) and cheering him on during the 1972 games were the most exciting ever. And yes, Michael Phelps is amazing and deserves his moment of glory, but even he should have thought of the sacrifices we sometimes have to make when we choose to do the right thing.

I am also convinced that the human rights abuses in Beijing, the atrocities in Darfur, Burma, and Tibet, as well as the myriad of horrific and sometimes macabre incidents that occur in China reach FAR beyond the restraints of politics. But surely the difference between war and peace, comfort and torture - even life and death - are enough to call a halt to any international celebratory event, no matter how good its intentions?

08/08/08

I asked a Chinese-born colleague yesterday why the big deal? She said that numerology is a BIG BUSINESS in China and that in Cantonese [the language of Southern China and Hong Kong], the word 'fah' means 'eight,' but it also sounds like the word for 'make a lot of fortune.' (Nevermind that China's official language is Mandarin, not Cantonese). But the tradition apparently gained national traction in the '80s "when the Cantonese speaking parts of China excelled economically.

She went on to tell me about other "lucky" numbers based on Chinese words that sound similar to other Chinese words:

One = good- means unity
Two= good- good things come in pairs; it also sounds like their word for 'easy'
Three= good- sounds like their word meaning 'life'
Four= good & not good, depends on the dialect- sounds like their word for 'business' or 'job'
Five= good- associated with the "Five Elements" (metal, wood, water, fire, earth). For example, the Tiananmen gate, being the main thoroughfare to the Forbidden City, has five arches.
Six= good- means "everything goes smoothly"
Seven= good & not good (unlucky in Northern China)- mostly symbolizes "togetherness"
Eight= good- the word for 'eight' in Mandarin sounds similar to the word that means "prosper"
Nine= very good-historically- associated with the Emperor; sounds like the word for "longlasting"

So now you've had your numerology lessson for the day and I really need to get some coffee!

What I'm Reading Right Now

Everyone who knows me knows that I like to talk about and think about food (I also like to cook but baking is my REAL passion and I consider cookbooks “recreational” reading) but a lot of the foods we think of as Chinese are actually more American and virtually unknown in China: General Tso’s chicken, chop suey, egg rolls, broccoli beef (broccoli is originally an Italian vegetable) and the origins of the ubiquitous fortune cookie (I won’t ruin the surprise) that is now exported to China as American fortune cookies. If you’re going to the Olympics this year, note “Made in the U.S.A.” on the label and tell me I'm wrong.

What I like about the book "Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food" by Jennifer 8. Lee (the 8 symbolizes prosperity to the Chinese) is that it is an entertaining and well written narrative of a world most of us are familiar with but none of us really know. One chapter is devoted to everything you need to know about the distinctive shape of Chinese take-out containers in the U.S. ; another one on the soy sauce trade war of 2005 (bet you never heard of that one); and my favorite chapter covers who it is who writes the fortunes found inside each cookie. You'll be surprised!

The book delves into the dark side as well, highlighting statistics on how many Chinese deliverymen, many of whom barely speak English, are murdered in New York City simply for the cash and takeout meal they carry. The racism and discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants in America is also noted, where many Asians are invisible, including the Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, etc., and treated as if they are all the same.

In the first chapter, the author challenges the perception of apple pie as the ultimate in “Americanness." If that is your benchmark, ask yourself, how often do you eat apple pie? Now how often do you eat Chinese food? Great food for thought.

See, I told you I like to think about food.

So go support your local public library and check this book out.

My Single Entry for July (I've been busy)

Three contractors are bidding to fix the White House fence, one from New York, another from Tennessee, and the third from Florida. They go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring,then works some figures with a pencil. Well, he says 'I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me.

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,'I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me.

The New York contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers: '$2,700.

The official, incredulous, says, 'You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?

$1,000 for me, $1,000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee.