Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A few more days until Christmas.....

I know I'm going straight to hell for this one, but these are FUNNY! (Warning: Blatant political incorrectness and language)

Thanks to copyright purging - these videos are no longer available. You'll just have to take my word that they were funny!



Thursday, December 07, 2006

A Charlie Brown Heavy Metal Christmas

Friday, December 01, 2006

It's December!

To kick off the countdown to Christmas, I present to you the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I saw their show two years ago. They are amazing, and if you ever get an opportunity to see them, DO IT! It is part rock concert, part Broadway show, part symphony. Absolutely amazing! Enjoy this clip.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Faith Noel

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it's the night before Thanksgiving...... and all is quiet. So I thought I'd blog a little video. Kind of mellow. But really good. Jim Boggia is based in my old hometown of Philadelphia. I think ya'll will enjoy this.


Jim Boggia- Handbags and Gladrags


Life is good. I started a new job about a month ago. I LOVE IT! It's about damn time I got off my lazy ass and re-joined the grown-up world. Okay, so it's just part time, but I work with some great people and I'm really enjoying it.


November 22. Happy Birthday, Rich Kobman. Wherever you are.


Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 06, 2006

SRV TV

Texas Flood

 

 


I will admit to not knowing much about Stevie Ray Vaughn before I moved to Austin. His statue stands on Town Lake, and you cannot escape SRfeVer. I wonder how I managed to miss the genius of this blues legend. Perhaps it is because his career was tragically cut short. Maybe it is because I only learned to love the blues in the past ten years. But whatever the reason, I can now say that this man is my favorite blues guitarist. And this is an amazing performance. Enjoy!

Austin is the capital of Texas, but it also considers itself the "Live Music Capital of the World!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

You know what's cool?

It's amazing the way the internet has evolved. I can remember the move from Compuserve to the IRCs and we were so excited to be able to have sound.......... and color!! Of course, at the time, we thought this was cutting edge stuff (even if it did interrupt the chats and annoy us when it got out of hand):

@>----

And now, we have streaming video and the possibilities seem endless! Of course, none of this would have been possible with a 14.4 modem.. And I love YouTube, so if it seems like I'm using this as my personal broadcast network, well... I am. And I will. Because I don't have anything really important to say, and no one is listening anyway. Just click the big arrow in the middle and enjoy five minutes of funny.

Carlos Mencia on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Saturday, October 21, 2006

And now, a word from our sponsor.

Vintage Polaroid Swinger Commercial

Cutting edge photography!

I won't admit that I owned one of these things...... yes. I'm THAT old. You got a problem with that?

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Saturday Morning Rock and Roll

Led Zeppelin& Aerosmith

A little rock and roll for your listening pleasure. Plant, Page, Tyler and Perry at the Rock and Roll induction ceremony. Great stuff.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Summer on the wane...

One week from tomorrow, school starts here. Chris is going to be in 10th grade. Hockey tryouts began today. Summer is almost history.

Last month, Greg and I went to Lubbock for New Student Orientation. It's about 440 miles from here, just under a seven hour drive. The plains of Texas. Home of tumbleweed, sandstorms, and flat prairie land. An occasional mesa. Oh, and massive wind farms on the mesas. Pretty cool.

Texas Tech is a gorgeous campus in the middle of a mediocre town. And so new. I mean, everything seems so new. It's funny how I've lived in Texas for ten years, and I should be used to it, but everything is young here. The northeast is so old.

Greg is ready to go. And he's been to Tech the last two summers for band/orchestra camp. Observing him while we were there, I see that he is very comfortable on the campus. He already knows so many people: other students, staff, office personnel. Am I a terrible mom because I'm not really worried about him? The first night we were there, we went out to dinner. Went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" and driving back to the hotel, listening to the radio, he actually recognized the disc jockey! "Oh, that's so-and-so. He's in the band." Band was his whole life in high school, and I think it will be the same in college. As a matter of fact, I was a little surprised at his schedule. No math? Nope - he scored a 5 on the AP calculus test so that will be his college credit. The only non-music course he will be taking this year is Poli Sci. Everything else is music theory, music this and that..... That's where his heart is. Oh, and he has to take piano. Can someone tell me how they teach a college course on piano? I am picturing a big lecture hall filled with grand pianos. In reality, it's probably a room filled with little casio keyboards or something.

So the second day, I dropped him off at the dorm, and didn't see him for two more days. I had stuff I had to attend, he had stuff he had to attend. But everytime our paths would cross, he was with a couple of friends that he knew from band camp. He introduced me to a couple of people in the music department staff. He showed me some of the on-campus sites. Like I said, it's almost home to him already. And all the kids that were there? I have never seen so many attractive young people in one place in all my life. Boys, girls - many beautiful kids. Texas sure does grow some good-looking youngsters.

He's ready to go. Hell, he's already gone, really. The past two weeks, he's been so busy and hardly home. Get-togethers with all his friends who are going to school all over Texas. I'm gonna miss his big boisterous laugh around here. And the hugs. My son is a hugger for sure.

He's got a few friends from high school who are also going to Tech. One of his best friends is going to be his roommate. I asked him if he was sure about that. Sometimes you're better off NOT living with a good friend. He says "There are some of my friends that I know I couldn't live with. But Matt and I could get along together pretty good." I hope he's right. So in two weeks, we pack him up and make that long drive to Lubbock and drop him off. I'm excited for him. I hope that it is going to be the best time of his life. I'm almost envious. I know he's going to do well. But I will miss him. And his father and grandmother will miss him. And his brother is gonna miss him alot. But he's going to be fine. I hope that his troubles are few, and his successes are many. In the dedication page of his yearbook, amongst all the scripture quotes from other parents, I dedicated this Irish blessing to him (because I don't follow scripture and that would be fake coming from me):


May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.
Laughter to cheer you,
Faithful friends near you,
And whenever you pray, heaven to hear you.


So he will be off in two weeks. I think he's going to be okay. If not, he can always come home. But I don't think he will want that.

As for you guys? Well, this little blog experiment isn't really working. So if you wander in here and wonder where I've gone, I have a solitary blog. It's just a place where I place my random thoughts and boring rhetoric. Stop in and visit me. I won't desert this place completely, but if you're looking for me, odds are good I'll will be writing there more often than here. Just hustle on over to 45Plus and make a sarcastic remark or something! And if any of you all ever come back here (or find your passwords), I'll check in now and then to see what's up.

hugggggggggggggggggggers,
ME

Friday, June 30, 2006

No one talks about this cellphone danger

Everyone has a cellphone, right? Ten years ago, when I got my first cell phone, it was considered a luxury. People would wonder why your purse was ringing. When they would realize it was a cellphone, they would get curious or surprised or impressed. And I very rarely used it. I am not even sure why I had it, except that my kids were little and I was paranoid every time I left them. I wanted to be 'reachable' in case of any emergency. I didn't use it much because it was much more expensive than 'land lines'.

I'm not sure how or when the revolution happened. I just know that everybody has a cellphone today, and some people don't even have land lines in their homes anymore! But there is a hidden danger that no one talks about. I call it "Auto-Dial Brain Atrophy" (ADBA).

We have become so dependent on these little gadgets. We no longer have to memorize phone numbers because this little computer in our pocket does that for us. A phone book and speed dial have rendered us unable to remember seven-digit sequence of numbers. When I was a teenager, I probably had committed 20 or 30 of those numbers to memory. Of course, sometimes I would dial Betty's number when I meant to call Nancy. That would be funny, but then we'd end up laughing and talking for an hour until I realized that I still hadn't called Nancy! Good times. And when you called someone, you had to actually dial seven digits every single time (sometimes nine if they were in a different area code). The constant repetition of dialing that sequence of numbers helped implant it in your memory cells.

Now, we have a choice, we can assign those we call most frequently a 'speed dial' code, which is one or two digits (which have nothing to do with their actual phone number), or we can scroll through our phone book, find their name, and hit "Talk". It could not be easier, right?

Well, that is until you lose your phone, or you find yourself out somewhere with a dead battery and no way to retrieve that phone number when you need it.

This has happened to me. I was out, and I had to call my husband because I was going to be late. The battery on my phone was dead. Of course, one of my friends offered me the use of her phone. Except for one fucking problem - she did not have my husband's office number in her phone book! Okay, I was screwed. (Although in retrospect, it would have been worse if she had his number....)

The other day, my 18-year old son came home and couldn't find his phone. "Don't worry, Mom. It's probably in Brad's truck." "Okay, so call Brad and ask him to verify that he has your phone because if it's not there, you need to go find it."

One big problem - he didn't know Brad's phone number. So I suggested that he call his own phone because Brad would hear it. No, he wouldn't, because when they were at the movies, he had turned his phone to silent.

Ahhh..... no problem. He'll just go online and see if anyone is on AIM that has Brad's phone number. After about 15 minutes, he found someone who looked up the phone number on THEIR cellphone. And, yes, the phone was in Brad's truck.

When I was 18, I had my best friends' phone numbers stored in a hard drive that didn't require a battery - MY BRAIN. And the funny thing is, no matter what the circumstances, those numbers were always retrievable. Strange how that works, isn't it?

And over the years, land lines have contributed to the spread of ADBA because they have evolved into data centers. I replaced my land lines a couple of months ago, and now I have a phone book with an LED screen at home! Yay! I don't even have to remember the auto-dial codes anymore because my land line has a scrollable phone book!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Surfing USA........

The wonderful thing about the internet is that there is always something out there that you didn't see before. How many billions of websites are there now? So let's take a little journey, shall we?

I must warn you about this one. It is definitely not safe for viewing at work. And it's definitely not safe for viewing on a full stomach. WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE 2006 IN SAN FRANCISCO Many of us here in flyover country will definitely be wondering what the hell is in the water in California.

Check out Post Secret. This is a fascinating, and sometimes disturbing, site. This is a project where people mail postcards to the blogger with secrets. He then adds them once a week. Check back often. It's like a trainwreck - you just can't help looking even though it's disturbing at times.

Ellis Island Passenger Search. Looking for an ancestor who came to this country through Ellis Island? This is an excellent resource.

Take a Roadtrip across America without leaving home.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Please HELP!!


Save the Internet: Click here


Do you know what net neutrality is? It means that whether you choose to use google, yahoo, or joe's search engine, each site is treated the same and delivered to you impartially.

Well, not for long. Broadband is owned by the cable companies and the telephone companies. And THEY want to charge site owners for priority handling of their websites. Amazon can afford to pay them big bucks for quick delivery to your browser. Sally's BookStop can't afford it. So they will be installing tollroads on the information superhighway. And they are getting the blessing of the government to do that!

House Ignores Public, Sells Out the Internet through Passage of COPE Act



Net Neutrality Advocates Look to Senate to Save Internet Freedom

WASHINGTON -- June 8, 2005 -- Today the US House passed the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE) without meaningful network neutrality provisions promoted by the diverse, right-left savetheinternet.comsavetheinternet.com coalition of public interest and business groups.

The 152 to 269 vote coincides with a massive lobbying effort by telephone companies to enter the national television market and prevent preservation of network neutrality requirements.

"Special interest advocates from telephone and cable companies have flooded the Congress with misinformation delivered by an army of lobbyists to undermine decades-long federal practice of prohibiting network owners from discriminating against competitors to shut out competition. Unless the Senate steps in, today's vote marks the beginning of the end of the Internet as an engine of new competition, entrepreneurship and innovation," said Consumers Union Senior Policy Analyst Jeannine Kenney.

"The American public favors an open and neutral Internet and does not want gatekeepers taxing innovation and throttling the free market," said Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press. "The House has seriously undermined access to information and democratic communication. Despite the revisionist history propagated by the telcos and their lobbyists, until last year, the Internet had always been a neutral network. It is the central reason for its overwhelming success. This issue is not about whether or not the government will regulate the Internet. It's about whether consumers or cable and phone companies will decide what services and content are available on the Net."

The grass-roots coalition backing network neutrality includes more than 700 groups, 5,000 bloggers and 800,000 individuals who have rallied in support of net neutrality at savetheinternet.com. The coalition is left and right, public and private, commercial and noncommercial. Supporters of net neutrality include the Christian Coalition of America, MoveOn.org, National Religious Broadcasters, the Service Employees International Union, the American Library Association, AARP, ACLU, and every major consumer group in the nation. It includes the founders of the Internet and hundreds of companies that do business online.

"This is not Google vs. AT&T," said Mark Cooper, Director of Research at Consumers Federation of America. "CFA has been battling to keep the phone companies from putting tollbooths on the Internet since the early 1980's, but now every business and every consumer that uses the Internet has a dog in the fight for Internet Freedom. This coalition will continue to grow, millions of Americans will add their voices, and Congress will not escape the roar of public opinion until Congress passes enforceable net neutrality."

The battle for Net Neutrality -- or Internet freedom -- now moves to the Senate, where there is significantly stronger bipartisan support. Senators Snowe (R-Maine) and Dorgan (D-N.D.) have introduced the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2006" that enjoys the strong support from the SaveTheInternet coalition.


What can you do? Go to ACT NOW! and sign the petition, find out how to contact your senators, and other ways. If you have a blog, link to them. Let your readers know they need to act. Time is running out.

Just do it! Thanks - I knew you would. :)

Monday, June 05, 2006

Where is Amnesty International?

Sometimes there are human rights violations that are so vile, so cruel, so incredibly horrifying that it is beyond comprehension. Where is the outrage? The sanctions? The threats of military action?

Horrifying torture in Australia!

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sick and tired of souped-up cars with loud engines and pulsing music? Barry Manilow may be the answer.

Officials in one Sydney district have decided to pipe the American crooner's music over loudspeakers in an attempt to rid streets and car parks of hooligans whose anti-social cars and loud music annoy residents and drive customers from businesses.


Could someone explain to me what an 'anti-social car' is? It doesn't play well with others? Perhaps 'anti-social cars' are responsible for the rise in worldwide incidents of road rage. I wonder if England's Anti-Social Behavior Order law can be applied to a car?

Following a successful experiment where Bing Crosby music was used to drive teenage loiterers out of an Australian shopping center several years ago, Rockdale councilors believe Manilow is so uncool it might just work.


Or maybe they'll just turn up the volume on their own 'loud music' instead? I'm sure that someone has a subwoofer in their trunk capable of drowning out "Copacabana".

Councilor Bill Saravinovski said local authorities plan to install a loudspeaker and pipe in Manilow music, interspersed with classical pieces, over a car park favored by car "hoons," or hooligans.

"There are restaurants nearby and people can't park in the car park because they're intimidated by these hoons," Saravinovski told The Daily Telegraph newspaper Monday.

"Daggy music is one way to make the hoons leave an area because they can't stand the music," he said.


Manilow and Mozart. I believe this is a violation of the UN Human Rights Treaty. I'm sure that the security council will be convening as soon as possible.

The Oxford Concise Australian Dictionary defines "daggy" as unfashionable, or lacking style, even eccentric or stupid.


Poor Barry. Don't they know that he writes the songs the whole world sings?

Sunday, May 28, 2006

It's been busy!


Do you remember when you graduated from high school? I don't. It's all a blur. All the ceremony and the protocol have been erased from my memory (or maybe it's senility setting in?). I wonder how much Greg is going to remember? It was a beautiful ceremony, but probably the same as a million others.

I'm so proud of him. He has turned into a wonderful young man. I hope that he fulfills all of his goals and has a wonderful time at college. I'm going to miss him when he's gone next year. I know that he's not going to miss us nearly as much.

I do remember what it was like to be young, with your future ahead of you..... I have to look at the next phase of my life the same way, I suppose. In three years, Chris will graduate and my job will be obsolete. But what a wonderful job it has been. Not much pay, but you can't beat the benefits!

Friday, May 19, 2006

This one is for Morris

I think we need to enact an Anti-Social Behavior Order law in this country, too. It is much less demeaning than calling it blatant criminal behavior! We wouldn't want lunatics to have self-esteem issues now, would we?

LONDON - A retired businesswoman accused of vandalizing her neighbors' property and blocking local roads with dead animals and dog feces was served with an order Thursday banning her from engaging in anti-social behavior.

Jeanne Wilding, 57, is accused of clashing with at least 15 individuals and organizations in the idyllic rural hamlet of Bottomley in northeast England.

Prosecutors said Wilding repeatedly and loudly played a choral work "about rape, pillage and the trashing of villages," caused extensive damage to neighbors' vehicles, beamed floodlights into a neighbor's home and tipped oil over his driveway at night.

She also deposited dead animals, rubbish, dog feces, glass and nails on the road, obstructing other homes and communal spaces, they said.

In all, there were more than 250 alleged incidents involving Wilding in less than 16 months.


And all these years I have been under the impression that the English were models of understated decorum!

At Halifax Magistrates' Court, Deputy District Judge Sandra Keen granted Calderdale Council's application to give Wilding an anti-social behavior order, or ASBO.

"It's clear she has little or no appreciation of the effect her behavior has on other people," the judge said.


Ya think?

Under the ASBO, Wilding is banned from damaging property, from entering domestic properties without the owners' consent and from spreading trash anywhere outside her property.

She also is banned from playing loud music and from maintaining or installing lighting or closed-circuit TV equipment that covers anywhere outside the boundary of her property.

Wilding also was ordered to pay 75,000 pounds ($135,000) toward the council's costs.


Somehow I thought that all of the above would already be covered under basic laws like, oh I don't know, mayb vandalism, breaking&entering, littering...? But I guess there is a need to lump all of these offenses under one blanket offense and call it "anti-social behavior". Damn, that's just so efficient (not to mention obvious)! But I'm not familiar with English laws, so maybe all of that behavior was once legal there?

Introduced in 1999 to counter "loutish and unruly conduct," anti-social behavior orders have been used to ban thousands of people, some as young as 10, from associating with certain people or engaging in activities as varied as shouting, swearing, spray painting, playing loud music and walking down certain streets.

Breaching an order is a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.


Wow.... that's a pretty broad range of behavior, isn't it? So, Morris, when you head back to England for a visit, don't shout or swear at the ex-wife or your daughters' boyfriends, okay? Or you will be convicted of "anti-social behavior". And we know that would be an injustice because you would never in a million years be thought of as 'anti-social', would you? (It's a good thing he doesn't have my address. LOL)

Ah, where the hell is Morris anyway? And perhaps this explains why Ally has disappeared! He is always so happy when he has to go to England and would never think to engage in anti-social behavior..... just sayin'.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

They're still looking for Jimmy Hoffa?

Why?

He disappeared when I was in high school (fuck, has it really been 30 years?) and it was a running joke for a long time. I remember they thought he was buried under the Meadowlands Stadium. And now they are in Michigan for two weeks, tearing up a horse farm?

I know that 30 years is long time, but the teamsters weren't driving horse-drawn carts back in the 70s....

And there goes the neighborhood....

More than one billion people in the world have access to the Internet, with a quarter of them with broadband, or high-speed connections, according to a survey.


Source: Breitbart.com

Remember when it was our little secret? Those were the days, weren't they?

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Random Things in Texas

The one thing that I miss in Texas is good pizza! There are only two places to get good pizza here, and both are at least 20 minutes away through really bad traffic. But here in our little town of Round Rock, one of these great pizza places finally opened a restaurant! Saccone's Pizza is now a short hop away. They will be delivering as soon as they can hire some drivers, but it's close enough that I don't care. Pizza with a Jersey attitude. Oh yeah, that's me! Jersey-born, Philly-raised. That's attitude that the Sopranos would recognize!

Yeah, how boring can I be? Well, I have nothing else to write about tonight. Busy cleaning this week. Next week is Greg's graduation and we have company coming from Pennsylvania. So the house is getting cleaned. No, I don't wait for company before I clean. It's just that different kind of cleaning that you do when you are going to have houseguests for a whole week! You know, the real heavyduty move the furniture, clean out the refrigerator, shave the dog kind of cleaning.

Good night everyone! I assume someone is still out there.....

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Gonna be stormy again

Spring storms in Texas can be really scary. We're fixin' to have another one tonight. (Am I gettin' good at the Texas lingo or what?)

Thinking I would share some links tonight, because my brain is fried. Graduation is two weeks from Thursday. My baby is going to be off to college in the fall. We went to our last band banquet on Friday night. It was bittersweet. He got all teary-eyed about it. It's starting to sink in. Oh, he did get a $500 scholarship from the band boosters. That will help buy some books. We'll take it!

Okay, you all have to go to Rudy's BBQ and get some sauce. Not the sissy sauce, the real sauce. This is the absolute BEST barbecue sauce you will ever taste. The people at the UPS store know me by name because I'm always sending it back East to my family. It's great in meatloafs, use it on your burgers and hot dogs, in your eggs, on your brisket, or just chug it from the bottle. Seriously, the best barbecue sauce you will ever taste. You will never use ketchup again.

I've been diddling with geneology for a couple of years. Trying to trace my family back to Poland, Czechoslovakia, England, Wales, etc. It's fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Have you ever been to Ellis Island? Great source of information on immigrant arrivals back in the 1800s. Just in case you might be interested.

I put out my hummingbird feeder a couple weeks ago, and they've come right back. The greedy little buggers. I love them - they are so cool. Here is a site that traces the Birth of a Hummingbird. Be sure to click through on each page. Cool stuff.

Good night.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Coal Miner's Granddaughter

Both of my grandfathers were coal miners. I spent many summer vacations in the coal region of Pennsylvania. The mines were all pretty much shut down as far as I could remember. But coal mining never leaves an area. It is prevalent in the very air you breathe, and the dust that lives on.

My grandfathers didn't talk too much about the mines. I know they both lost their fathers to mining accidents. In the past few years, I have been researching my dad's family. When my grandfather was four months old, his father was killed in the mines. I never even knew his name. Until my brother found an old newspaper clipping in my grandmother's house. That made me start to search..... Now that there is more information online, it is much easier than going to the LDS Library and squinting through a microfiche viewer.

I was able to find a site that listed mine fatalities in Northumberland County. 1909 Mine Fatalities has my great-grandfather's death listed.

13-Aug Millard, Lot- English, Miner, 25, M, Locust Gap. Killed by fall of slate at face of breast while trying to bar it down.


Just reading that document and the ways that miners died is very heartbreaking. It was a very hard life.

So you can understand why this story from CNN about the lone survivor of the Sago mine accident in West Virgina makes me so very sad.

McCloy said the air behind the curtain grew worse, and he lay as low as possible and tried to take shallow breaths, but became lightheaded.

"Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing I could do to help him," McCloy wrote. "The last person I remember speaking to was Jackie Weaver, who reassured me that if it was our time to go, then God's will would be fulfilled."


Still a very dangerous way of life for so many.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Out of Practice

I actually 'chatted' for about ten minutes. Well, I might actually have only said three things the whole time. I am soooooo out of practice. And these webchat clients are very slow. Reminds me of having a 14.4 modem on Compusuck! I was hanging out at the AI Conspiracy board after the show, and I was invited to come into chat. Strange... I think I've lost my touch. Plus, my harddrive is too slow. And I'm not talking about my computer! LOL

They're funny people, and I do like to hang on the forum. Just way out of practice chatting.

So what are you all up to? Am I still talking to myself here?

Monday, April 24, 2006

Amazin'

I think it was 1997, and I was learning html to create a webpage. Surprisingly enough, I picked it up really fast. Keep in mind that this is the girl who had to have a cheat sheet in front of her when on the IRCs because I could never remember all the commands!

Well, of course the web has grown. And grown. And my pathetic little html skills are so outdated that it's not even funny. Once again, technology has passed me by. I just find it amazing how the web has exploded in the last ten years. And so many really cool things that we only dreamed of back then! Remember when we thought using .wav files was cutting edge? How quaint.

At any rate, I thought I would share some stuff with you every now and then. Let's talk about youtube. People can make their own short films, or take existing films (as long as they don't get caught infringing on copyright) and upload them to the net. I cannot even imagine the bandwidth this must use.... but it's growing larger and more popular every day.

So here are a few youtube clips that are in my favorites folder. And yes, I am weird, why do you ask? If you are a silent surfer like me, turn your sound on and visit these:

Kicked in the Nuts

Cat vs. Dog

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Aren't ya glad we have a tagboard?


Yes, Morris, I'm talking to you!! Am I the only person who keeps track of passwords and stuff?

Well, it's Sunday night. Last night was prom. Can I brag about how handsome my son looked? He rolled in at 7:30 this morning. I actually did manage to sleep all night without worrying. Does that make me a terrible mother? Okay, so I couldn't sleep until I came out on the couch at around 3 this morning. Then I finally fell asleep until he woke me when he came in. I guess I'm just not the cool mother I pretend to be.

Graduation is only a month away. Where did the last 18 years go? Next August I'm going to be writing a long sad post just like Deblin when he goes off to college.

And Chris has gotten through his freshman year with honors. I'm telling you, the boy is an evil genius. He doesn't seem to break a sweat and still comes home with all A's. It's bizarre. I'm sure that AP Chemistry and Algebra II will kick his ass next year. We'll see.

Jim is back in China. He left on Wednesday and won't be back until the 4th of May. I told him that they better understand that the month of May is completely off limits! We have senior banquets, and graduation... No way is going to be able to leave.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Tax Day!!

Got your taxes done? I always forget about this because ours are usually done in February. Already got the refund. And spent it. Go ahead, throw something at me. I deserve it.

It was a beautiful day today. I installed a fountain and got a flower bed ready. I love working in the dirt. I'd rather be out doing gardening than housework. It's taken a few years to learn what will grow in the hotter-than-hell Texas summers, but I think I've finally got a handle on it. I'll put up a picture of my new zen garden as soon as I can. Love the fountain. It definitely improves the feng shui of the garden. What? So, it's a gimmick. But I like it!

Well, Happy Easter everyone!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Friday, March 17, 2006

Miscellaneous Drivel

It's Friday night. Jim is on a plane right now headed for Beijing. He's going to be there for two weeks! He's never been out of the USA before. This is going to be an experience for him. He has to go straighten out their China division.

Greg got accepted to University of Texas - Austin after all! He got two letters last week. One from the University saying he'd been accepted, and one from the UT College of Fine Arts saying he'd been accepted. That is amazing! But the boy is going to turn them down. He still wants to go to Texas Tech. He really likes the professors in the music department there, he has lots of friends going there (including someone he already plans to room with) and he just doesn't want to go to UT! So instead of being 20 minutes away in Austin (which is a very cool city), he will be 7 hours away in Lubbock, (which is, well, it's Lubbock. A city in the middle of nowhere actually.) He definitely has to make his own choice. And I guess he is going to go to Lubbock. The fact that UT accepted him is really good because it is a difficult school to get into unless you are top 10% of your class. I guess he gets bragging rights now. Got accepted at UT and turned them down. Then again...... he hasn't done it yet. Maybe he'll change his mind before the deadline? Not bloody likely.

So what to write about tonight? I think I'll share some internet stuff with ya'll.





Sidewalk Chalk Guy paints these incredible pictures on sidewalks. I can only imagine walking along and suddenly finding yourself in the middle of one of these masterpieces! The artist is Kurt Wenner and he has even been documented at Snopes. I wondered why someone would create something so beautiful, something that obviously takes up so much time, and yet it's so temporary. So I went to his website and browsed through the Q&A section. Here is what he says:

Q: How long does it take?

A: I paint somewhere between two and six square yards a day. The complexity of the design and the quality of the pavement determine how much I am able to accomplish.

Q: Are you disappointed when it washes away?

A: I am always aware of the impermanence of street painting. Wind, sun, dirt, and rain constantly remind me as I work of the very fleeting nature of this type of painting. All day long, as I'm creating a new part of the picture, I can see the finished parts already fading. It's a challenge to retouch the picture and keep it fresh for spectators. I'm not disappointed when the painting washes away because street painting is performance art, it's very much like attending a symphony. When the music ends everyone leaves with a memory of the music. My work is the same except one is left with a visual impression. And much like musical recording helps preserve a moment, I photograph my paintings when they're finished.





Random Dumb Blog Quiz


What kind of candy are you?



discover what candy you are @ quiz me


Just remember, I already told you it was dumb!





My Guilty Pleasure

Okay, I have a confession to make. I watch American Idol. I like American Idol. It's all my kids' fault! They always watched it, and I kind of half-paid attention to it. But last year, I really enjoyed it. This year, I can't miss it. It's the only thing on TV that: 1) I know when it's on, and 2) If I can't be here to watch it, I'll tape it. I'm pathetic. Especially since my kids don't watch it anymore because Greg is too busy, and Chris is too cool for it. So I don't even have an excuse for watching it anymore!

I don't vote though. I have to draw the line somewhere! But I want Chris, Taylor, and Katherine to make it to the end. Definitely my favorites. Videos of the performances this week available at this site.

Best place to talk about the show (and other stuff) is American Idol Conspiracy.





Well, I guess that's enough for tonight.... see ya later.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Wednesday Night

*crickets*

Yup, it's that quiet in here!

A couple of glasses of wine and some introspection is never a good combination. I will tell you some good news though. Found an email from 2003. Hit "Reply". And guess what? I got a response! Do you all remember Eddie (aka Wildguy)?? Well, he's still out there. Has a gorgeous baby daughter.

Oh yeah, and found Ally's addy (again). Got a quick response from him saying he'll write more later. Yeah right. We'll see about that.

Did I mention that my son was in the school play, Beauty and the Beast last week? He was Gaston. At 6'5" and towering over everyone else, that's appropriate. He did really great. I was amazed (even though I always knew he was a ham) Here he is:



Good night all!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Can I get political for a moment?

Kanye West poses on the cover of Rolling Stone as Jesus Christ. Ohhhhh that's just sooooo controversial.....NOT! Maybe in 1965 it would have been, but now it's just a great big yawn.

If he wanted controversy, he should have posed as Mohammed. But he doesn't have the balls, nor does he want death squads after him. What is everyone so fucking afraid of?

Denmark is under the gun, because of political cartoons portraying Mohammed in a newspaper. Massive middle east boycotts of Danish products. Diplomats being called home. It's all bullshit. We need more freedom of the press, not more censorship. So go out and buy Danish products!




Click picture for more info


And a French newspaper has joined the fight, too! Go figure. The French. Good for them. An excerpt:

“Because no religious dogma can impose its view on a democratic and secular society, France Soir publishes the incriminated cartoons,” the paper said.

Yeah.... what he said. We need to stop being held hostage by these fascist freaks.

Okay.... I'm done. Have a nice day :)

Friday, January 27, 2006

Hey....... it's 2006!! What's up everyone?

Okay, I haven't completely given up on this place..... but to be honest, maybe we should all get myspace accounts or something? At any rate, what's up with me?

Did I tell you that Greg has been accepted to Texas Tech University for next year? GAH!! It's seven hours away! It's in Lubbock! There ain't nothing in Lubbock but dust storms and ..... well, not much else. Oh, Tech is there. Hooooge college. Good college. He loves it. I'm kind of meh about the whole thing.

He hasn't heard from UT-Austin yet. 20 minutes away! In Austin. Great city for an 18 year old. Sixth Street. Live Music Capital of the World. Home of Austin City Limits. And did I mention it's only 20 minutes away from home?

He tells me that he wants to go to Tech even if he gets accepted to UT. One of his best friends is going to Tech and they are already signed up to room together. He's got lots of friends already there. But UT is only 20 minutes from home. I would be happy to do his laundry if he came home on weekends. What more could he want?

And I really love the Roy Rogers look of the Longhorn Band better than the Santa Ana look of the Texas Tech Goin' Band. Plus, the Longhorn Band gets to go to better Bowl games!

Oh well, he's gotta do what's best for him. I'm proud of him and I know that no matter what, he's going to do great.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

HOOK 'EM HORNS!!!

CONGRATULATIONS UT!!!!!!!!!!!





This is a beautiful man!!!!!!!!!! My neighborhood is going nuts tonight - fireworks and people in the streets....... What a fucking sweet game!!


And Congrats to my other home team, Penn State and ol' Joe Pa for winning the Cotton Bowl.


I've fallen hopelessly in love with college football. Who needs the NFL?