Not (so much) About Me

New Sitcom? - by guest Blogger Linda

2005-01-20T13:37:00.000-05:00

The following post is from my good friend Linda.

The name of the program will be 2403. Its about a 'normal' family with abnormal events and situations. I think it will be a big hit!

Today's episode starts out with the female lead, let's call her Linda, rising to start her day. It's 4:00 am, its cold, should she hit the snooze?? Nah, she has to pee, might as well get up.

Feed the cats, take a shower...dry hair. Re-enter bedroom. Linda bitches a moment at her dog, Mack. He has been farting all night and the bedroom stinks. Linda pauses to spray some linen spray in the direction of the dog.

She gets dressed, turns off the tv and begins her exit. She pauses at the door, makes a comment to the dog and proceeds. No, wait...Mack is unusually unresponsive. She goes back to the bed, calls his name. (He's kind of old and his hearing isn't the best). He doesn't wake up. She pokes his hind leg...no twitch...she takes his lips in her hand (yes he has lips, they are on the side..its commonly called a soft mouth for retrieving)and gives his head a shake. Nothing. Hmmmm? He doesn't look like he's breathing.

Female lead, Linda, starts getting a bit creeped out. She takes hold of the comforter and gives a tug. Mack does not move. Now she heads to the door, across the hall.

Linda stops outside her son's door and the scene continues as follows:

Linda: Doug!?
Doug: What?
Linda: I think the dog is dead in my bed.
Doug; What?
Linda: I think the damn dog is dead in my fucking bed!!!
Doug: Why are you telling me this? What do you want me to do about it?
Linda: I don't know, I don't know what to do about it.
Doug: (Opening his bedroom door) This isn't very funny, if you are kidding.
Linda - waving her arm back towards her bedroom: I'm not kidding..go look. I think he is dead.
Doug: I.am.NOT.looking. I am not looking at a dead dog, or any dead animal. I.AM.NOT.LOOKING.
Linda is now back in her room, looking for further signs of life and/or death. Enter from the living room, LaVarr, who was sleeping on the couch..
LaVarr: The dogs dead?
Linda: I think so, I don't know.
LaVarr enters the room, looking closely for signs of breathing...puts his ear to Mack's chest...feeling him with his palm.
LaVarr: Oh yes, he is dead, he is cold already.
Linda: (verge of hysteria) What in the world am I supposed to do with him?
Doug: How can he be dead? What happened?
Linda: I don't know. He was fine, he ate, he hasn't gotten sick. He was awake at 2:30 when I got up. What in the world am I going to do now?
LaVarr: You can call the Humane Society, they should pick him up. I can call them.

Liz comes downstairs bitching about all the loud voices: What the hell?
LaVarr: The dog is dead...on Binda's bed (Binda, a nickname)
Liz: Shocked laughter, you're kidding me.

Commercial break while Linda paces and rants a while.

All gather in the living room, where Linda gets the reality tv show idea. Lavarr tries to reach the Humane Society. No answer at 5 am of course. Doug asks a couple of times: Mom, aren't you upset, you don't seem upset? Linda replies: No, not upset right now...troubled, troubled that I have a dead animal on my bed and don't know what to do with it.

It's decided that Barr (nickname) and Doug will take Mack outside by the garage, for the time being. Linda wraps the comforter around Mack so that Doug (you may now refer to him as Pussboy) doesn't have to "see" the dead animal. She and LaVarr lift the dog off of the bed. Doug takes Linda's end and out they go..

Commercial break now.

We return from the commercial break:

Realizing that nothing can be done until at least 8, life goes on. Linda goes to work. At 8 am, she starts making phone calls, beginning with the Humane Society.
Linda: hello, I'd like some information please. My dog died this morning and I am not sure what to do with him.
Nice HS girl: Oh, I'm sorry. You can bring him here, we do a group cremation for 30.00. Or we offer an outside service that will do a lone cremation and will give you the ashes in a small urn.
Linda: Uh no thanks, no ashes. You mean I just throw him into my trunk and bring him over today? Thats a bit creepy.
HS: Well you could lay him in the back seat, or if he has a bed or carrier or something you could place him in that and we would return it to you.
Linda: He's not a small dog, I can't lift him. He's already rather stiff so I can't move him around to fit in anything like that...and no offense, I loved the guy but I don't really want to touch him much.
HS: Well then the trunk is fine and you don't need an appointment, you can just bring him over. We are open until 5:30.

Linda continues working, stopping to accept the condolences of her co-workers who are having an incredible hard time keeping a straight face...It IS rather humorous, in a sick sort of way. She decides to call Alec...the love of her life. He's the reason that she has the damn dog anyway, its all his fault. (If its an hour show we will do flashbacks)
Linda: Hey, its me.
Alex: What's up?
Linda; Mack died in my bed sometime this morning.
Alex: No way, Rinda (another nickname) I'm sorry. What happened.
Linda: I don't know. But since its your fault to begin with I thought I should call you.
ALex: I never knew the guy was going to do that...I told you.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
The conversation ends with him offering to pick the dog up, take him to the convalescent hospital that he heads maintenance for and bury him on their grounds. He also promised to not look at him, like Linda requests..

Thus ends the first episode.

Do we have a hit in the making or not?

Happy Birthday Audrey

2004-12-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

Audrey is 4 years old today! I can't believe it's been four years since she was born! Happy Birthday darlin'!

Friday after Thanksgiving

2004-11-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

I've always liked the Friday after Thanksgiving. Well, maybe not ALWAYS, but at the very least lately. Today happens to be one of those day-after-Thanksgiving when I have to go to the office, but I'm one of about 10 people that are here today - we normally have about 60 folks in the office on a given day.

Here are some things that are good about this day:

Going Shopping - You, along with half the country, can head out before daybreak in search of 50% off sales on Christmas presents. I did this 3 years ago, and got A LOT of toys for Audrey for very little $$. It's surreal to walk into a Sears at 6:00am. It's more surreal to do it with 2347978 other people. This year I'm very happy to NOT be out there in the rush. The sales are exactly the same ones that we will see all weekend long, and next weekend, and the weekend after that, and for Christmas Eve...

Going to the office - Nobody's there - if you are, not only are you a hero, but you get to choose from actually getting something done because no one is there to interrupt you, or doing not a whole lot of anything...because no one else is there.
Anybody want to venture a guess as to which route I am choosing? Betcha you're wrong!

Joey and Jo

2004-11-17T10:32:00.000-05:00

Today is the second day in a row that I am stuck in bed with what I think is probably the flu. I'm miserable, mostly because I'm having a tough time breathing. The best I've been able to manage is a sort of panting/gasping every so often.

I've grown tired of seeing the same four preview spots on HGTV every 12 minutes, so I switched a little while ago over to VH1 Classic. I started to feel a little bit better.

From 9-10 it was "We are the 80's", followed now by and hour of "All Star Jams". These are the videos that I remember. Videos from back when MTV played videos. Videos from when I was in high school. So far, I've seen a couple of great ones, and some not so great ones too:

Scorpions - Winds of Change. I saw something about the Scorpions being on tour right now. I think we might have to find a way to pencil that one in.

Bob Seger - Night Moves. This song wasn't really a favorite of mine, but I never realized just how many actors got their start in music videos. Matt LeBlanc (Joey from Friends) and Daphne Zuniga (Jo, from Melrose Place) play a couple of teenagers at a drive-in in this one. I found an unofficial Bob Seger site that says that the video also included Natasha Gregson Wagner and some guy from Roseanne whose name rang no bells at all with me.

TLC - Aint too Proud to Beg. Huh? Three little kids doing some weird rap-type pop song while wearing day-glo colors. That's an All Star Jam?? Okay, after looking them up on Rolling Stone, apparenlty this was the genesis of the group that later gave us "No Scrubs". That song I remember. Oh, and the L in TCL is for Lisa Left-Eye Lopes who was killed in a car accident in Honduras in 2002.

Johnny Hates Jazz - Shattered Dreams. THIS is back to the 80's! The video is done in black and white, and weirdly, the outfits all look in style with today's fashion. Weird. I've got to check and see who directed this one. I have a feeling he or she is still in business today. Whoops - I retract that fashion comment - Johnny is now wearing a short-waisted, shoulder-padded sort of captain's jacket? In black and white it's not too bad.

INXS - Need You Tonight. LOVED this song. LOVED this band. Drove back 20 hours straight from Florida to see them in concert. It was the first and only rock concert that I have ever gone to all by myself. My friend Andy was part of the group in college that brought bands in to do concerts. I think it was called Startracks or something like that? Well, he got me a cheap single ticket and I watched the show with a bunch of strangers. It was a great show. The lead singer, Michael Hutchence of INXS later ended up killing himself. He was only 37 at the time he died. It's kind of creepy listening to him singing "I'm Lonely" over and over. Apparently he was.

'Til Tuesday - Voices Carry - Cool song. Isn't this the band that also did Take my Breath Away? You know, the song from the sex scene in Top Gun? Not long before we moved from California I was listening to the radio one morning and the lead singer from this group had become a DJ on one of the local stations. People were calling in telling her how much they loved her songs. Whoops, no, that was Berlin, with Terri Nunn now doing the radio gig. Sorry, wrong band. The lead singer from 'Til Tuesday was Aimee Mann. Duh. Hey, they shot this at Carnegie Hall? Cool. I lived across from there for a few months ya know! Now thy are showing the scene where were she stands up in the audience and starts singing "Oh God Can't You Keep it Down? Voices Carry!" Huh. They went literal on this video.

Madonna - Burning Up - What the hell? I do not remember this song at all. She's still wearing the leather wrist wraps and has the weird lace hair tie and all that. Oh, and great big black hoop earrings. I'm not surprised I don't remember this one. Hey, she's lying in the middle of the road, doing her Like-A-Virgin moves. This must be from about the same time as that one.

The Smiths - Stop Me if You've Heard This One - Why didn't I get into The Smiths back then?? I think the British factor scared me or something. If I had taken the time to listen I probably would have ended up all British-Punk or something. Think it's too late for me to go that route now? I am thinking about getting my belly button re-pierced. Does that count?

Kate Bush - Suspended in Gaffa. She's whacked. She's ethereal. She's manic. She's depressing. She's spooky. She's a little nuts? I loved her songs then and still do. Kind of summed up exactly how I felt most of my late teen years. You must check out her stuff if you get a chance. Oh, and in case you are wondering, gaffa is duct tape.

Depeche Mode - People are People. Love them. Love their songs. Loved using them in college as a soundtrack while we...nevermind. It's got a great bass beat.

Hi Ladies from Babies and Beyond!

2004-10-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

Thanks for stopping by! Please sign my guestmap. There is a link at the top of the the right hand column on this page. Place a pin, and sign your name! I like to see who has come to visit. ...and yes, it can accomodate both Japan and Germany.;-)

Halloween Bowling

2004-10-22T14:22:00.000-04:00

Enjoy!

Click Here for Halloween Bowling

The 300 Mile Haircut

2004-10-11T09:28:00.000-04:00

I went and got a haircut on Saturday. It is a good cut. Ken and the girls came with me. We left the house at eleven in the moring and returned a little after nine at night.

You see, I have a lot of hair on my head. A LOT. Sometimes I do very silly things, like letting the teenagers at Supercuts cut my hair. On rare occasions, this works out okay, and I get lulled into a false sense of security. Then I run into girls like the last one who cut my hair. One side was about an inch and a half longer than the other, and I had the kind of layers that one usually has to travel to, well, a beauty school dropout to find.

So on Saturday morning I got online, found the number and called Vidal Sassoon in NYC. I've had cuts at VS in Chicago, Miami, New York, Atlanta, and Beverly Hills. I've never had a bad cut. Yes, it costs about ten times what a Supercuts cut costs, but it's worth it. REALLY.

We live about 125 miles from Manhattan. We took 84 across, and found our way across the Triboro bridge. Even though people who know better than we do recommended that we take the train after driving to New Haven, instead we forked over thirty bucks to park on 58th street.

Vidal Sassoon has two locations in Manhattan, very close to each other. I had an appointment at the Crown Building location. Audrey came up with me while Lauren and Ken spent a couple of hours by themselves.

Ken and Lauren went to Central Park (right around the corner), saw some of the animals at the zoo, and watched some street dancers. Then Lauren begged Dad to go see Trump Tower (across the street) and he finally gave in and took her over. They sat in the lobby for a little while. Ken says that there were lots of production-type people roaming around.

Audrey had a fabulous time at Vidal Sassoon. They told us that they don't usually get kids up there, and I believe them. What kid can be expected to wait patiently for 2 hours while mom or dad gets a haircut?? MINE. That's who. She danced with the shampoo girls. She got told how beautiful she is by everyone. She looked through the magazines. She ordered juice and biscotti!
I turned the camera over to Audrey, who took a picture out the window......and one of me getting my hair cut by Lai. Don't you love his leather scissors holster?

Two hours and a chunk of change later I was cut, dried, flat-ironed, and ready to go. It's a great cut.

We went and had dinner at Topaz on 56th. Topaz is my favorite Thai restaurant. I used to live across the street from there several years ago. The girls got the royal treatment from the waiters, and we all ate lots and lots of noodles.

We picked up our car at about 6 p.m., and finally made it home about two and a half hours later. It was a really fun day. We plan to go back soon, but next time we will drive to New Haven and take the train. The traffic wasn't bad, but it's a pain in the neck to be on the road that long when you are tired.

California Girls

2004-10-06T15:05:00.000-04:00

Even though we've been here a year now, some of us are still having a little trouble adapting to the change from California weather to New England WEATHER.

When we first arrived, Lauren was about 15 months old. We had to go out to target the first weekend here and buy her some shoes because, well, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WEAR SHOES in Southern California when you are just a little baby. She had only been walking for about 4 months, and she had stubby little feet, so she pretty much just padded around in socks. Lauren has since come to accept shoes, but it was a battle in the beginning.

Audrey, as usual, took it mostly in stride. She loves shoes of any kind, and LOVED her new boots that she got that same first weekend here. She particularly thought that jackets were cool, although you can see a whole lot of pictures of both girls that first winter with their jackets unzipped.
We all weathered the first winter just fine. The girls hated footed pajamas, so instead we all still sleep in boxers and t-shirts and just turn on the heat a little higher - like 78 at night for a good night's sleep. This spring and summer they were back in form with shorts and t-shirts during the day and lots of time in the kiddie pool in the backyard.

Well, it's fall now, and this morning we had frost on the car windows. The girls each got a new pair of shoes this weekend to replace the sandals they have lived in all summer.

Today was the second time in a week that we have arrived at our destination only to find Audrey barefoot in her car seat. It seems that socks make her feet too hot. So, as we are driving along, off come the shoes, off come the socks. Lauren gets in on the act too with a chorus of 'my feet tooooo HOT' right along with Audrey. You'd think we were putting them in wool socks with snow boots to listen to them. It's a toddler-sized tragedy for my California Girls.

Why we decided to move here

2004-10-02T13:57:00.000-04:00

Today marks just about one year that we have been in Connecticut. I can't remember if it was the last weekend in September, or the first in October, but one of those two was the weekend last year that I flew in with the girls and Ken drove from California to Harford for me to start a three month contract with the state. And we are still here.

Fall is my favorite season, no matter where we are. However, New England does fall to the extreme. It's idyllic. There is an abundance of plant and vegetable stands in every town from spring through early winter, and right now there are more mums and pumpkins than I have ever seen anywhere else in the country.

Apparently Connecticut is known for its fairs at this time of year, and last weekend we hit the Durham Fair. We walked around for a few hours looking at animals, taking a ride on the ferris wheel with the girls, and eating a lot of things like fried dough with cinnamon sugar.
Tomorrow we are going to a canoe/kayak race and waterfront festival (and pancake breakfast), and then next weekend is the Harvest Festival at Buell's Apple Orchard. The next weekend by the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival. Like I said, Connecticut is know for its fairs this time of year.

This morning we got up early and headed out to the Old Cider Mill in Glastonbury. An ad in the newspaper said that there would be fresh hot apple fritters, and off we went.

They had again the pumpkins and mums, and also a display of tractors for the kids to play on.

Because the cider mill is also a working farm, we spent some time looking at the pigs, cows, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, and (another CT thing?) a llama.

One of the goats really likes the apple fritters too.

Sneak Peek

2004-09-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

My husband sent a link to this to me a few minutes ago. A nice sneak peek into what London is all about before we go. This is a webcam showing a sidestreet in London - if you don't see much, keep in mind that London is 5 hours ahead of East Coast time and it could be dark outside.

Well THAT explains it.

2004-09-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

Pretty much anyone who has spent any amount of time on the internet has heard of IMDb. In case you haven't, it's the Internet Movie Database - a site where you can search for pretty much any person, place or thing that has anything at all to do with the entertainment industry. It's great for those times like when you are racking your brain trying to remember the name of an actor - simply search on the name of the show or film you saw him in, and search the cast list. Can't quite remember where else you have seen a hot new actor before? Look him up and see his past credits, including Burger King commercials. For those of you with ties to LA or NYC, you can even look up your husband and check out his story about being in the bid-nez.

Today IMDb came through for me again.

Last night we watched the much-hyped premiere of J.J. Abrams' Lost.
Overall, I'm willing to give the show a chance, but if we go a whole season without ever seeing what big bad nasty is chasing those pretty survivors around it's going to be really lame. Leaving something to the imagination is the forte of Alfred Hitchcock. J.J. Abrams has some nifty shows that I have liked in the past and present. He is not, however, Hitchock.

About three quarters of the way through the show, we saw something that prompted me to blurt out a few choice words questioning the uh, relationship between the show's creator and a certain actor. The band of weary (but very pretty) survivors had traipsed through the jungle and found a big hunk of their downed airplane. Up in the cockpit, while they are searching for the transceiver, suddenly the really bloated, bruised and bleeding pilot lets out a gasp, to show us all that he is, in fact, still alive. BUT all I can think, is OH MY GOSH IT'S GREG GRUNBERG.

Greg Grunberg is the actor who played the lovable guy-with-a-plan, Sean Blumberg, in Felicity. Felicity just happens to have been created by J. J. Abrams. I suspect, that the character of Sean Blumberg is based none-too-loosely on Greg Grunberg, because in this role, the guy was a natural. Sean always had a get-rich-quick scheme in the works, and was the ulitimate idea guy. He had a series of friends and relatives to pull from to give him a foot in the door here there and everywhere. I don't remember what ended up happening to him by the series end, but I suspect it was something successful that had something to do with who he knew, and being in the right place at the right time.

Greg Grunberg was most recently 'till last night seen playing CIA Agent Eric Weiss on Alias. You guessed it - another (and uber-successful) J. J. Abrams creation. The show is great. Greg Grunberg on it is not. It's painful to watch. The rest of the characters I'm willing to suspend disbelief for, and accept as kick-ass killer CIA agents. One notable other exception to this is the big-headed techno-geek Marshall Flinkman, played by some actor whose name I don't even care to bother searching for, but I do digress. This guy is just.not.action.hero.material. It's like watching a bad fraternity party game of drunk charades. His lines come off like even HE doesn't believe he's doing a passable job of acting. He tends to ruin my viewing pleasure every Sunday night. I think he showed up during the second season of Alias, and at that time I figured that he must have been there as a result of the Felicity tie-in with both J. J. Abrams, and the star of the show, Jennifer Garner, who had done a little arc on Felicity and ended up marrying in real-life Scott Foley , who was the male lead Noel, on that show. For those of you still following along, Jennifer is now divorced, and according to Us Weekly magazine and other reliable sources, now spends time a deux with Ben Affleck, with whom she co-starred in Daredevil.

So...last night, when once again Greg Grunberg shows up in another J.J. Abrams production, especially in the first episode of a Grrrrreat Biiiiig Event, I had to wonder: What's up with these two?? Huh? Huh? Are they spending a little time a deux themselves? Hmm? Hmm?

IMDb cleared everything up for me today. Both guys are married, one with the requisite 2 kids. Okay, but what does that really prove these days anyways? They were born a few months apart, but an entire country away from each other, one in LA, the other NYC. In.ter.esting...

The triva section for Greg Grunberg eventually sheds some light in the end. The very last sentence:
"Has known J.J. Abrams, who cast him in "Felicity" and "Alias", since kindergarten."

Well THAT explains it!

The Power of the Human Mind

2004-09-23T09:22:00.000-04:00

Borrowed liberally from spam email, a friend who pointed it out to me, and elsewhere I am sure...

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdgnieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh?

Now that's a snack!

2004-09-22T19:11:00.000-04:00

Is there anything more tasty than these out there right now??
Rumor has it that they have been around in Canada for ages, but are only recently available in the good old USA. YOU MUST TRY THEM.

God Save the Queen

2004-09-20T13:01:00.000-04:00

Or something like that. We are going to be in London this fall afterall. Lauren and Audrey are dusting off their passports as we speak.

I forgot to add a title to this one

2004-09-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

So, I'm moving on from the debacle that required the aforementioned firing last week. That means I have spent a couple of days covering my ass and writing policy and procedure and 2347897 other documents that oh-so-very-clearly explain (in general terms) exactly (kinda) what consultants who work for me need to do (or not do).

Phew.

I took a few minutes and looked at my newphew's site today. You really should go check out the image gallery on Kiddo's site. Go ahead. There's a link on the right side of the page here too. He went to something called Dragon Con. But he does a much better job of explaining exactly what that is than I could possibly do, so go read all about it there. Really, go check it out. Now or later. Either way. Okay. Goood.

We're keeping busy at home planning another trip. As in trip across the pond. Or possibly as in trip across the Pacific pond. London or Tokyo. With two toddlers. Sometime this fall? I'll drive myself batty planning this one for about another 2 days, and then we will be all set. I've been warned that even in London we should expect a language barrier. I'm hoping I'm not being too optimistic when I think that American English is closer to uh, English English? The QUEEN'S English? than Japanese. Either way, we do have the toddler factor that tends to make the locals a wee bit more forgiving of our crazy-ass American ways.

I hate this

2004-09-10T13:51:00.000-04:00

...or "Why I get paid the big bucks." I had to fire someone today. It's not the first time I have had to do this, but it never gets any easier. Someone who reports to me inadvertently did something that he really ought not have done. Unfortunately, in the world of information technology, there can be very serious ramifications for doing something that you ought not do - especially when you work in the public sector. I don't think there was any malicious intent behind his actions, merely a failure to double check what he was doing. It's a black and white issue, with little room for justification. His fate was sealed from the moment he hit "SAVE".

I'm sure that another company will pick him up in quick fashion, but I still feel for the guy. He's going to be getting a phone call sometime today telling him not to return to work on Monday. We all have bills to pay, and its probably going to come as a shock to him at the very least. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

3 more hours

2004-09-10T13:00:00.000-04:00

Ken and the girls are on the first leg of their trip back home to Connecticut. I'll be picking them up in a few hours. It's been 4 days since I have seen them, and that's been 3.5 days too long.

Saturday - Off to South Carolina

2004-09-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

Part one of a zillion-part series on our trip to South Carolina over the Labor Day weekend 2004.

6:40am - I get up and take a shower, thinking that an early start is in order. Because you know....you never have enough time when you have to take twho kids on a morning flight out on a busy weekend. Heh.

7:30am - The whole family is up, showered, dressed, and ready to...wait. Until 8:30, the agreed-upon time we need to leave the house by, in order to have plenty of time at the airport.

8:30am - We pile into the van and head for the airport. We are flying into Greenville-Spartanburg, via Washington-Dulles.

8:40am - Holly suddenly realizes that we forgot to pack geegee. Geegee is Lauren's blanket. The blanket she sleeps with almost every night. The blanket she naps with every day. We decide that instead of going back, we will just buy a new geegee in South Carolina. We check with Lauren to see if she thinks this will suffice, and our brave little two-year old assures us that a new geegee will be just fine with her.

9:00 - We pull into the airport parking garage and are faced with the proverbial fork in the road. One route into the garage: $22/day (short-term parking). Go the other route into the exact same garage? That's $15/day and now it's called long-term parking. Being basically bright people, we backed up, and took the $15 lane. We still can't figure out what the story is with this, because once we got into the garage, we were able to park in the exact same spots that you get to by the other lane. No barriers, no signs saying 'short-term only', nada. So...in case you are going to be parking out at Hartford Bradley International Airport...go for long-term and save yourself seven bucks per day.

9:15 - We are all checked in at the airport, and thanks to the one-way tickets we had for this leg, we of course got the SUPER SECRET SECURITY SYMBOLS printed on our tickets.

Have you been through this? I'm an old pro at it - easy to remove shoes, no metal belt, no jacket, etc. Ken is good too, and the girls have both even been through it. We flew into New York about 3 weeks after September 11th and my then ten-month-old Audrey was searched. Lauren has had to stand on the little footprint marks with her arms out and be wanded. One more than one occasion the girls have been bothered by watching us go through the security check procedure. Today was the first time that they were 'exempt' and got to sit on chairs and wait while mom and dad were frisked, wanded, and we had our bags unpacked completely and repacked. Today they got stickers. They liked those a lot. I like how they decided to both sit in one chair together.

Once we made our way out of the security area, we went off to wait for boarding at the gate. I suddenly realized that even though the girls have the own frequent flyer memberships on other airlines, they didn't have them for United Airlines. I filled out the forms in a few minutes and now they have cards for next time we fly United.

Audrey filled out an application too. Never to young to follow in Mom's footsteps when it comes to travel ya know!

With our mileage properly recorded, we all got on board. It was a tiny little commuter jet for 22 passengers. The girls looked pretty confused when they got to the end of the jetway and saw that we had to go down a run of stairs, across the tarmac and up one of those wheeled stair contraptions onto a miniature jet. This picture doesn't really show much, but isn't she just so darn cute??? Keep in mind that this was EARLY in the flight.

Both girls are old hats at this flying thing. Audrey has flown at least 100 times. Lauren is probably hovering at around 25 flights? Not bad for a couple of toddlers. Audrey is definitely more cut out for travel, and sits there entertaining herself most trips. Lauren is more of a crap shoot, and is as likely to be screaming her head off as she is to be sitting there quietly or napping. Our first flight of the day was one of those screaming-her-head-off days. She has no desire to stay put anywhere ask her to stay lately. It's a real pleasure.

We connected through Washington Dulles. Our connection was delayed by about 2 additional hours, so we had to find lunch at the terminal. Suffice to say that if I never have to eat fast food again, it will be too soon.

Our second flight was again on a small jet, and this one had no on-ground air conditioning. It must have been at least 90 degrees on that plane, and we sat on the ground for almost 20 minutes after everyone had boarded. Audrey lost it. My little travel wonder pitched a fit that likely voiced the same thing every other passenger was feeling. She screamed. She hollered. She started gagging. Then spitting. And still screaming. She shouted for Mommy. She shouted for Daddy. Then she screamed/gagged/spitted a little bit more. FINALLY, we took off and the temperature went down a few degrees. Poor Audrey fell to sleep moments after that, and stayed asleep for the rest of the flight. Apparently Lauren thought that Audrey's antics were sufficient to express her thoughts on the matter and thankfully she kept quiet throughout this flight.

When we got to the airport, Audrey and Lauren spotted Grandma and Grandpa and all was well with the world again.

Greenville-Spartanburg airport has a new feature for people waiting for arriving flights. They have recently installed monitors showing inbound/outbound flights in real-time superimposed on a radar map of the United States. It's the same type of monitor available online at several sites, but really helpful when you are standing around waiting to pick someone up. Oh, and its NEAT too. Can you see the little planes? They each have the departure airport listed so you can see where they are coming from as the approach for landing.

2004-08-29T10:10:00.000-04:00

From Kelley
Get yours here. Pick your birth month and cross (strike) out what doesn't apply to you.

JANUARY:
Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very Stubborn and money cautious.

Huh. I didn't have anything to strike out!

I know you won't believe me

2004-08-28T20:34:00.000-04:00

But I really did type out and attempt to publish a new post. Darn thing went into cyberspace and I really don't feel like typing it out again. More tomorrow.

Two Days

2004-08-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

...without power at home. Details to follow.

Help Wanted - Engrish Editor

2004-08-12T18:07:00.000-04:00

In my next life, I am going to open a Chinese Restaurant Menu-Editing business. My own spelling has its non-traditional moments now and then, but I bet that I could find a ready supply of restaurants needing my services. While picking up some beef with broccoli the other night we perused the menu and found the usual assortment of typos and misspellings. Here are some others that could use some editorial services:

From Washington D.C.: Suateed on the left, Sauteed on the right?

From way back in 1955: See the Sea Food? Shrimp or Shrimps? Emeril says SHRIMPS. ;)

"Special" sause? Is it that second S that makes it special?

None of these, of course, measure up to the specimens found at Engrish.com. If you haven't been there yet or recently, take a look for a chuckle or two.

School Stuff

2004-08-01T14:01:00.000-04:00

I finally had some time this morning to go see what folks have been posting about on my blog lists. Sometimes I can do this every day, and sometimes it goes a few days. Today I found something on Geoff Fox's site that prompted a long response from me to him. Click here to see Geoff's post.

We are having parallel educational experiences and ponderings. I recently re-started my MBA program and just yesterday morning took my 35-question-60-minute midterm. The course is Managerial Science and has mostly to do with linear programming concepts. IT'S HARD. Or at least that is the reputation the course has among its past students. In reality, I think the hard factor comes into play because the minor amount of basic algebra required is something most of us have not seen since high school and that was a LONG time ago.
Back to my point though...When I first started out on the MBA course I fretted over anything shy of a perfect score. A 95 nearly put me over the edge in one course. Why? I don't really know. I'm paying (dearly) for the classes this time, so mom and dad won't be there to disapprove if I should get a B or a C. I only need to maintain a C average to receive the degree, and I don't have my employer even paying attention to my school activities, so why does my grade matter? Someone once noted that adults who return to college are in some ways attempting to re-do their past college experiences. True, I didn't exactly shine in academics in the past. I don't even know what my BA grade point average was; all that mattered was graduating, which I did. So maybe I'm expunging some self-imposed guilt by doing it right this time? Or filling in some ego-gaps by trying to really learn something this time?

Either way, I spent a good portion of the morning yesterday analyzing the class analysis section of my class. You can see where your scores rank in relation to the others enrolled, and even look at a question by question analysis of your answers and what everyone else chose. Made me feel better to know that the 3/35 questions I missed were only answered correctly by 34% of the class. ;) Oh, and that my current 91.4 percentage is withing the 90th percentile of the class.

Onward to the final in 4 weeks.

Harvest

2004-08-01T13:26:00.000-04:00

Audrey helped me hunt for green beans beneath the spaghetti squash leaves this morning. Quite a harvest, but a lot of them are a bit too grown to taste really sweet. Next year the squash gets its own planting bed.

Feast

2004-08-01T13:16:00.000-04:00

Last night we cooked outdoors using the turkey fryer. Yes, we have a turkey fryer. Yes, we have cooked our turkeys that way for several years. No, we didn't deep fry a turkey, but yes, we did almost burn the house down last night. We have two full setups for deep frying, and apparently the connector hose between the propane tank and the burner doesn't age as well as one would hope. Ten minutes after Ken set some water to boil, I went to the back door and saw flames burning up the rubber hose. Scared the crap out of me. Ken went and turned off the gas. Frankly I was sure the whole thing was going to blow up. It was not good.

Not to be deterred for long, Ken went back to the garage and brought out the backup aparatus. Soon we had an entire 12 pack of beer nearly boiling in the pot. A few shakes of seafood seasoning went in, followed by two pounds of shrimp. Five minutes after that, we had this!

Before and Now

2004-07-28T20:09:00.000-04:00

The climate in New England sure does seem to grow things well. This spring I planted 19 tomato plants, 3 spaghetti squash plants, a mess of green beans, and a section of lettuce. Even back then I had a few people telling me that I had probably overplanted. Heh.

Here is the garden in mid-spring:

Isn't it nice? The little slate steps through the center are a remnant of the sidewalk that the last owners had in front of our new home.

THIS is a picture of the garden taken this evening:

No, we didn't take the slate out - it's just completely overgrown. I gave up on the lettuce after one night when I just couldn't bring myself to eat it. I'm sure it was great, but something about eating something that grew that close to the dirt, just really didn't work for me. So, I ripped it out and the green beans had more room to grow.

UNTIL, the spaghetti squash started to take off.

I have about 20 spaghetti squash growing like crazy. So crazy, that I had to put on gloves and rip out almost half of it, as it was taking over even the tomatoes. Don't I look thrilled?

The tomatoes don't seem to have been too bothered by the squash overall though. How many tomatoes can YOU count?

Thanks for stopping by

2004-07-23T20:26:00.000-04:00

While browsing the Sitemeter stats, I happened across an intriguing entry. Today, at 6:48pm Eastern Time, someone working beyond the usual 9-5 at the United States Department of Justice stopped by. For about a half a second I wondered if I had inadvertently posted something that made me look like a terrorist/criminal, and then noticed exactly where my visitor had dropped in. It seems there is a Van Halen fan among the ranks at the DOJ.

Now, before anyone gets weirded out, no, I really don't look at this very often and only on rare occasion do I even bother to see which post was looked at. I don't get full details anyways - just the entry and exit page and 99.9 % of people come in to the main page and never go any further to individual post links. In case you are wondering, I also don't know who it is at a given ISP viewing my page either. Do you have any idea how many people have Cox, Comcast, etc. out there? So, I just don't have that clear of a crystal ball. I am just so darn happy to see that anybody has come by at all that if you feel compelled to stop in and play with the 4th of July fireworks link 47879 times per day, well heck I'm just tickled pink by that too.

So thank you, for stopping by. Sincerely.

Rails to Trails

2004-07-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we took ourselves and the girls for a ride on the Airline Trail. This was our first trip out with our new bikes - heck, it was our first trip out on bikes - period, and we had a little shopping to do before we could hit the trail.

First stop - Target. Ken and I and both girls picked out helmets. We learned that as a group, well, we have BIG HEADS.   After helmets, we noticed that Target had a bike trailer on sale, so we bought one of those as well. More about that later.

After an early lunch, and unfortunately before naptime, we drove in two cars out to the commuter lot in Hebron where we had been told that we can pick up the trail. We had to bring both cars, because with the bikes and the borrowed bike trailer for the girls, there was no room for the girls' carseats in the minivan. I think we are looking at needing a real bike rack for the van at some point.

Once we unpacked the bikes and got the trailer attached to Ken's bike, we discovered that Audrey had fallen asleep in the car. Just like her mom, Audrey does NOT wake up well unless she has had her full 2-hour nap. She wanted no part of sitting in the trailer, putting on her helmet, or cooperating in any way. It took a bottle of water, a bag of Spiderman fruit snacks and a whole lot of convincing to even get her into the trailer. Then we had to get the helmets on both of them....

Final score: Parents 2 - Toddlers 0

Here's the whole setup, with the Dad accessory attached:

We liked the trails a lot. It was a warm day, and muggy, but most of the trail area is heavily shaded, and kept us reasonably cool.    It's hard to imagine how a train used to make its way through certain areas that have been carved out of the rock. It must have been a tight fit at best. Audrey was busy looking for Shrek for most of the ride. Lauren fell asleep at one point.   About 45 minutes in, Ken and I were starting to feel a little worn out. The girls were tired and we had a heck of a time getting them to keep their helmets on. Next time we do this, we are going to go either early in the morning or after naptime.

Altogether we rode for about an hour and a half.  The Airline Trail North is billed as a flat trail, but my legs can attest that it is in fact a long, low grade. We are both kind of stiff and sore today. Still, we had a nice time, and are planning to ride there again next weekend.

Tonight Ken put together the bike trailer that we bought at Target. This is the one we bought:

It was on sale for only $79, so we were a little bit leery of the quality etc., and used the neighbors much more expensive (and assembled) one to make sure that any trailer at all was going to work for the girls in the first place. Well, the quality on ours seems just fine. The construction is sturdy and the reviews on this one are actually quite good. No, it doesn't have some of the features of a $500 model, but for our needs, this one seems perfect. Also, it was a breeze to assemble. Ken's one complaint is that this one requires that you put a little connection piece onto the bike itself and that means removing the rear bike wheel to do so. So yes, you can use this trailer with almost any bike, but it would be a pain to switch between bikes with any regularity, say his and mine. I wonder if you can buy a second connector piece?

Rolling

2004-07-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

This morning we went to the local bike shop where Steve, who owns Bicycles East with his wife Deb, spent a couple of hours (really) showing us the different bikes that are available these days for the family that wants to ride together. Ken used to have a mountain bike but we sold it to a friend of ours when we moved here from California. I sold my last bike about 12 years ago when I got into sailing - sold a TREK to be able to afford decent foul-weather gear.

Steve asked what we were looking for in a bike, and I had no trouble answering: SOMETHING COMFORTABLE. I have no desire to go off-road. I have no desire to ride through mud. I don't even really like riding downhill very fast - okay? Get the picture? Oh, and my ample butt gets darn sore just thinking about sitting on a typical bike seat, let alone riding for a couple of hours, so I'm looking for something COMFORTABLE. I think he got the idea.

Ken was interested in something a little less pansy-ass. Something that doesn't really take his butt into consideration at all in fact. Something that can be taken down rocky hills, paths, off-road - whatever.

And we didn't want to spend a small fortune.

We appreciated the way we were able to take the different bikes for test rides around the large parking area. When I have bought bikes in the past, usually the closest I've gotten to a test ride is the obligatory straddling of the bike to adjust the seat and guestimate the right frame size. That technique yielded me a Trek racing bike about 3 frame sizes too small many years ago. This time I learned through trial and error and trial and trial and trial that I need an 18.5 frame. Ken needs a 19.5.

So what did we end up buying? I got a Trek Navigator 100. Trek markets this bike as part of their Comfort Recreational line. And it is comfortable. To cut to the chase, my butt felt a whole lot more comfortable sitting on this than on the other bikes that I tried. I also felt like I was sitting more upright than with other models, and I hope that that overall translates into being less stiff and sore after a long ride.

Ken got a Trek 4900. He likes the off-road features of the bike and the look and feel of it overall. It should also serve him well for the bike path rides that we are hoping to start taking with the kids.

We are really glad that we stopped by Bicycles East today. We really appreciated the personalized attention that Steve gave to us, and we are looking forward to participating in some of the Shop Rides that the store organizes during the spring, summer and fall. We got personal service, fair pricing and 15 months of free service/adjustments.

Tomorrow we are going to head out to a rails-to-trails bike path not far from home. Our neighbors are going to let us borrow their bike trailer so that we can try one out before having to buy one of our own. Until the girls are a little older, it's really the only option for us, as Audrey is getting too close to the weight cutoff for a regular child bike seat, and most trailers carry two kids anyway.

Busy Busy Busy

2004-07-16T09:10:00.000-04:00

I know, blog entries that bemoan how busy the blogger has been are somewhat akin to the other space fillers like 20 question or 100-things-about-me lists, but heck - I've really been busy! The Managerial Science class is taking up a little time, the kids and husband get their share, I begrudingly go off to work most days...

As if that weren't enough, I now have an annoying problem that is giving me an Error on page message and keeping me from seeing half the web graphics out there.

New posts coming later this evening. I promise.

GOLD STAR

2004-07-13T09:35:00.000-04:00

Ahem...I believe I got the grad school equivalent of a gold star:

Subject: Re: Homework Week 1

Author: Mike Moorman
Date: Monday, July 12, 2004 7:11pm

Ms. XXXXXX:
Your grade for this assignment is 100. Outstanding!

Dr. Moorman

8 Runners Are Gored by Bulls at Pamplona

2004-07-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

Imagine that. Okay, so I understand that this was popularized by that sober and clear-thinking guy Ernest Hemmingway in The Sun Also Rises all the way back in 1926, but come on. Notice how people who get gored (and survive) also tend to 'decline to be identified'? Wouldn't you?

Back at it

2004-07-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

This morning I turned in my first assignment for my first class at Saint Leo University. One week down, seven more to go in MBA 550 - Managerial Science. It was uh...HARD. Here's one of the problems from Chapter 2 - If y'all know anything about linear programming, maybe you can tell me if I did it right or not. I'm pretty much clueless otherwise until I get my assignment back sometime this week.

The Elixer Drug Company produces a drug from two ingredients. Each ingredient contains the same three antibiotics in different proportions. One gram from of ingredient 1 contributes 3 units, and ingredient 2 contributes 1 unit of antibiotic; the drug requires 6 units. At least 4 units of antibiotic 2 are required, and the ingredients each contribute 1 unit per gram. At least 12 units of antibiotic 3 are required;a gram of ingredient 1 contributes 2 units, and a gram of ingredient 2 contributes 6 units. The cost for a gram of ingredient 1 is $80, and the cost for a gram of ingredient 2 is $50. The company wants to formulate a linear programming model to determine the number of grams of each ingredient that must go into the drug in order to meet the antibiotic requirements at the minimum cost.

Formulate a linear programming model for this problem.

Okay, here's my answer:

Minimize Z = $80(x1) +$50(x2)
subject to
3(x1) + 1(x2) >= 6 units of antibiotic 1
1(x1) + 1(x2) >= 4 units of antibiotic 2
2(x1) +6(x2) >=12 units of antibiotic 3
(x1),(x2) >=0

where (x1) = ingredient 1 and
where (x2)= ingredient 2

So, Is that CORRECT? I don't have a clue. I'll let you know what the professor has to say about it.

Thus far, this class has been leaps and bounds ahead of the University of Phoenix experience. No kids fresh out of school, no people who have yet to have a real job of any sort - let alone a management position. Oh, and this is about half the price of UOP. I could have signed up for two classes this term, but I don't want to run across two classes that take up too much time at once. I'm hoping to transfer my Business Law and my Organizational Behavior classes from U of P so I NEVER HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THOSE AGAIN and it looks like I will only be stuck re-taking a Marketing course. With the tuition differential, I'll still be about $10K less overall at St. Leo and I should be done next summer.

We have arrived

2004-07-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, we came just a little bit closer to fitting in as Glastonbury residents. We bought the annual Transfer Station pass for our minivan. I tried and tried to find a website for this place, to no avail. The closest I came was the elect-me site for Karen Emerick, who apparently is running for a seat on a council. One of her listed accomplishments is that she "restored" the put-and-take area at the Transfer Station. More about that follows below...

Back where I grew up, we referred to places like this as, well, a...dump. No, you can't bring your kitchen trash here, but you can bring your old dishwasher, your corrugated cardboard, your recyclables, your grass clippings, and a long list of other stuff. But it's not a dump, of course, this is the transfer station. It's neat, it's relatively clean, and the place is crawling with people in nice cars on weekend mornings. One of the more popular areas within the dump er - transfer station is the put-and-take area. This is the section where you bring anything that you don't want any longer around your house, but that you think somebody else just might want around their house. I've seen lamps, furniture, toys, books, plants, you-name-it sitting there. Few things stay there very long, because as soon as someone puts something down, its likely to get taken up into someone else's car within a few minutes. I wonder how much stuff gets recycled back to the put-and-take the next day/week/month when the new owner decides that they don't want it either?

We head down there regularly to drop off the grass clippings and to get rid of the rest of our things that we can't fit into our regular garbage pickup cans like cardboard boxes, rolls of carpet and such. Up until July 1, we had to stop at the gate and sweet-talk the guard into letting us drop off our things without a pass. The annual pass goes from July 1 - June 30, and what was the point of paying for a full year when all we wanted to do was drop off a couple of bags worth of grass?

But now, WE ARE OFFICIAL. We can drive right in like lifelong Glastonbury residents. Like people who have stories of the treasures they have picked up gratis at the put-and-take over the years - and yes, we do stop at the put-and-take. This past weekend we picked up a craft easel for the girls. You know, one of those with a chalkboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other? It had a cracked chalk shelf, but was otherwise just fine. A little once-over with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it was good as new. Someday they will outgrow it, and it will probably once again be put back into the put and take cycle of life. Until then, it serves as our first "treasure" gleaned from the put-and-take.

You learn something new every day

2004-07-08T12:50:00.000-04:00

Today I learned: "A male kangaroo is called a Boomer." Betcha didn't know that either, did you? This tidbit of knowledge came to me thanks to Snapple's "Real Fact" caps. For those who care, that happens to be Real Fact #185. I've got a whole drawer full of these little gems. Fun fun fun.

TWO

2004-07-06T11:49:00.000-04:00

My youngest daughter turned two years old yesterday. I'd have her birthday picture posted here, but I don't have one ready just yet. I'll take care of that soon.

Edited to say: Ta-Da! Here is a picture of Lauren on her second birthday, and big sister Audrey.

Happy 4th of July

2004-07-02T12:33:00.000-04:00

I know, this link is already out there in everyone's email inbox several times. But it's fun.

Happy 4th of July!

Oh? You ate one too?

2004-07-01T15:36:00.002-04:00

OU812 - by Van Halen. That was my first-ever CD. Back when we called them Compact Disks. I think it was 1989? It had a special track (A Apolitical Blues) that was only available on the CD version BECAUSE EVERYBODY WAS STILL BUYING AND LISTENING TO CASSETTES. I took my CD with me from place to place to listen to with my friends. No, we didn't have the internet, MP3's and file sharing back then.

On Monday night, (06.28.04 for posterity's sake) we left the kids with a sitter and went to see Van Halen at the Hartford Civic Center. VAN HALEN RULES. It was loud. It was very very loud. As a testament to our age and maturity (huh?) we brought and actually used ear plugs. It was that loud. But it was so cooool! Loud is exactly how Van Halen songs should be played and heard.

We had seats pretty high up. I actually worried about having one too many and falling down those and breaking something important. I actually held the handrail it was so high up. And steep? Yeesh. But I digress. From our seats we had a decent (if high up) view of Sammy, Eddie, and the rest of the band. We also had a fine (up close) view of the guy and the girl two rows in front of us lighting up a fatty every few minutes. (uh, Mom - that's a term for POT.) They switched to bottled water during the last 20 minutes of the show. Is that some sort of antidote??

A few more rows down there were four guys who totally enjoyed every minute of the show. I wish I had brought a camera so you could see them. Here's a pretty good representation. They weren't actually playing with their light sabers during the concert, but you just know they owned them. Also, they didn't bring their flying v's with them either but there was some crazy air-guitar going on the ENTIRE time. When Eddie V. had his 11 minute solo session I thought these guys were going to wet their pants they were so excited.

Wolfie Van Halen, Eddie's SON, came out at one point during the show. He has a little bit of a Jack Osbourne je ne sais quoi about him, but maybe all kids of rock star dads get some of that? Here's a pic I snagged off the Van Halen Reunion website. It's taken during a rehearsal, but you get the picture.

Sammy Hagar is back as the front man for Van Halen. If I followed the band closely enough I could tell you how many times he has joined and left them, but I'm just a regular fan, not that much of a fan. He spent the show looking like a beach bum, and appeared to have a heck of a good time throughout. How can you not like a guy who is having that much fun?

We took our ear plugs out for When It's Love and Dreams. We thought Right Now was cool as usual, with a video playing on the jumbo-trons showing stuff about the war and other things going on RIGHT NOW.

It was a great show. We returned home with our hearing mostly intact. It's three days later, and I'm still humming "...how do I know, WHEN IT'S LOVE? It's just something you feel togeeeethhhherrr..."

Buy the Book

2004-06-29T10:24:00.000-04:00

Today's review of last night's Van Halen concert is postponed for something more important.

A little boy died a week ago today. His name was Mattie Stepanek. He was 13 years old. If you don't know his name, you might know his face, or his words. He died after a long struggle with dysautonomic mitochondria myopathy, a rare form of muscular dystrophy. During his short life he gained recognition for his ability to celebrate life and inspire others to do the same.

Lots of people were inspired by Mattie. His family, his friends, regular people, and famous people. People like Oprah Winfrey. Really important people knew him too, and they took time to attend his memorial service. People like Jimmy Carter. President Carter, who gave the eulogy, said, "I have known kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers. But the most extraordinary person I have ever known in my life was Mattie Stepanek." That's really something don't you think?

Mattie was a poet, an author, a public speaker. He was a little boy on a quest for peace and tolerance for the world and for everyone in it. At age 11 he became a New York Times bestselling author with his poetry book Heartsongs and followed up with four more books in the series over the next two years.

Heads of state corresponded regularly with this kid. NYC Firefighters transported his casket in a service reserved for one of their own.

Find the time to take a look at Mattie's website. Better yet, buy one of his books and read it. Lots of important people have, and they think it's important that you read it too.

Well, so much for that idea.

2004-06-28T13:42:00.000-04:00

Hee heee. I'm sure that JournalCon will be loads of fun and all that. I, however, will likely NOT be attending this year. I think Ken summed it up nicely via our email exchange regarding the matter today:

-----Original Message-----
From: "Holly"
To: "Ken"
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:28:30 -0400
Subject: Can we go?
Hey - can we think about going to this??

http://www.journalcon.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: "Ken"
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 1:00 PM
To: "Holly"
Subject: RE: Can we go?

Sure - If I can wear my Captain Kirk outfit....

Summer Music Fest Part I

2004-06-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure the first music concert that I ever went to see was Huey Lewis & The News in 1986 or 1987. I was a freshman in college, and I thought it was so. totally. cool. I had no idea that even back then, Huey Lewis was considered pretty tame and altogether lame. Apparently I bought into the whole "Hip to be Square" thing.

Ken's first concert was Ozzy Osbourne at Pine Knob in Michigan in 1984 or so. Metallica opened up for them. He was 16 years old. Geeze - check out those links folks. Ozzy and Metallica are scary....But we love you Ozzy!

Well, the younger generation has us beat by a long stretch. At three and a half, and just a few days shy of two years old, Audrey and Lauren went to see their first show last night. Sure, it wasn't exactly Van Halen or anything, but Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire. These bands have been around long enough that they retain their 'cool' status in perpetuity.

The concert overall was a great time. We got to experience the Meadow's Music Theatre (or is it the CTNow.com Music Theatre?) on a night where the weather was just perfect. This proclaimation comes from Ken, who knows about these things, but I couldn't have agreed more. Not too warm, not too cool, no rain, no bugs. Perfect. We sat on the lawn along with a whole lot of other people. We had some fantastic french fries and ketchup for dinner.
Audrey and Lauren entertained the entire lawn crowd with their dance moves.
Earth, Wind & Fire started things by suggesting that before the song we turn to someone we had never met before and introduce ourselves and say hello. For a moment it was a whole lot like being at Catholic mass getting ready to go line up for Communion. We wished a Peace Be With You to Michael and his wife, the couple on our right. Audrey was found by Alexandra, a 5 year-old who was there with her dad. She and Audrey spent the rest of the night playing together.
Earth, Wind & Fire rock. They sounded great, and put on a heck of a show. They got the crowd going with every song. Chicago, who I have seen live in concert three times before this and personally LOVE, was, well, just okay. There were two separate times when they featured flute solos that just went on and on and on and on. Yes, you read that right. FLUTE solos. Did you know Chicago featured the flute? Michael, the guy on our right tried to keep from falling asleep by doing a mean air-flute during both the segments. Honestly, he was a heck of lot more entertaining than what was going on onstage at the time. Phil Bailey, from EW&F filled in as lead vocals on a song for Chicago. He was fantastic. I don't know if Chicago has someone out with a bad throat or what, but anytime anyone in the band sang, it was pretty awful. Not at all what I was used to from Chicago.

So we had a great time overall. Tomorrow night, the girls are staying home with Amy, our new babysitter. WE LOVE YOU AMY! Ken and I are going to see Van Halen at the Hartford Civic Center! Yes, this is probably a little bit more rockin' of a show. And no, according to Amy, who is 15 years old and probably knows these things, it's not too weird that somebody's parents are going to go see them. Van Halen is still COOOOOOOOL.

How's the Weather?

2004-06-25T13:03:00.000-04:00

My husband can tell you. He's - let just say - a fan, of the weather.

When we moved to Connecticut from California, there were a lot of things that he found he missed. One of the things that he discovered here that he loves, is that there IS weather here. Comedian Steve Martin wrote/directed/produced a pretty accurate portrayal of what Southern California weather is all about in LA Story - 72 and sunny at all times. Here in CT, we have rain, sun, snow, sleet, hail, thunderstorms, you-name-it. I must say, I kind of like having significant weather changes too. There is nothing better than a good old-fashioned thunderstorm to put me in a fine state of mind.

At Christmas, this was one of Ken's favorite new toys.

Heck, its still one of his favorites. It is a Davis Vantage Pro weather station monitor. It shows the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and even offers a prediction of weather to come. I'm told it does all of this and a whole lot of other really cool things too; you see I am not the keeper of the weather station in our house. I'm the one who asks what the weather is going to be like as I am trying to pick out clothes for the day, and Ken is the one who either already knows the answer or who goes off and finds out right away and then lets me know. Like I said, he is a fan of all things weather.

You know those carpet-covered cat condominium things that you can buy and put in your living room for your cat to climb and perch on? Well, we have something similar for the squirrels and chipmunks in the backyard.

This is the nerve center of the weather station. I'm told that it monitors the wind, the rain, the pressure, the temperature, and everything else that one needs to be able to know what the weather is, was or will be. It's also a new favorite climbing toy for the critters in the neighborhood. The whole apparatus is going to be mounted on our roof at some point. Ken assures me that doing this will not turn our home into some sort of huge lightning rod, but I'm still skeptical about that. I'm also not really clear on how exactly one screws something like this onto our roof, but I'll leave that up to him too.

Smile!

2004-06-25T12:45:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a nice little link that I snagged off of this site who had swiped it off of here, I now know that I can pretty much spot a fake smile a mile away. Click here to Spot the Fake Smile. How did you do?

I'll give a shout out to anyone who can figure out what caught my attention enough to browse the first link listed in this post...

Education

2004-06-23T15:24:00.000-04:00

Geoff Fox, the Weatherman and Blogger, posted today about his educational goings-on. Geoff's a neat guy. Weatherman by day and night, blogger before, after, and in-between, I think. His site is the somewhat usual compilation of thoughts on life, cool stuff he has run across, and general commentary. He strikes me as the kind of guy you'd like to have at your dinner party, or better yet drink a beer with across the fence after you mow the lawn. The fact that he comes into your living room via the newscast every evening makes him seem all the more neat.

I have thoughts similar to Geoff's about my own educational path and past. My college years are something of a blur. A blur interspersed with moments that make me cringe in retrospect and other memories that I really don't even care to admit. All in all, I did graduate, and God willing, I will completely forget about the rest of it at some point in my life.

I've put behind me several courses in the University of Phoenix's online MBA program and after coming to my financial and educational senses, moved on to what I hope will be more intellectually stimulating and much less of a money drain at St. Leo University's online MBA program. My first classes start in early July.

But I want to learn. I love to learn. I love to read, and study, and explore. I've had fantasies of going back to college to get a second bachelor's degree and somehow do it 'right' this time. I've thought about one day getting my PhD in sociology or religion or history or physics or ?

Now that I live on the East coast, its tempting to dream about the possibilities of Harvard and Yale. Maybe one day I'll look harder at becoming a "special" student myself.

Girls, Shoes and Cocktails

2004-06-23T09:40:00.000-04:00

Somebody please tell me when the current fascination with girls, shoes and cocktails will stop! I suppose it all came about with Sex and The City and the sudden popularity of women thinking of themselves as girls, men as boy-toys, and cosmopolitans as the new iced tea. Maybe I can blame Darren Star?? I wouldn't mind blaming Candace Bushnell, because according to my realtor, she grew up in my new hometown and later dissed it publicly by calling it Glaston-boring. The nerve!

I do admit that a cosmopolitan tastes mighty fine. There's nothing wrong with a healthy liberated sex life or even with spending an ungodly amount of money on tiny shoes. But I'm sick of seeing this trend EVERYWHERE. I don't think I have ever in my life seen a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes in a store that I shop in. Heck, I had to look up just exactly how to spell Manolo's last name. Sex, well, that's between my loving husband and me. A few cosmopolitans just might come in handy, but people please! I have to go to work 5 days out of the week!

Last night, while walking through Barnes & Noble, I noticed a table full of girl/cocktail/shoe books. Helen Breitwiess calls these "sexy single and shopping" books or "Id on fire". Heh. I like that last one. I've read some of these and while they are entertaining if fluffy, they also do a mighty fine job of convincing the reader that "Gee, I could write like that!" Perhaps this is why there are so many examples of the genre out there fighting for shelf space?

I looked on the Barnes & Noble website a few minutes ago and searched for "Women's Fiction". Here are a few covers of the Bestsellers that illustrate my point:

Bestseller Number 4: Bergdorf Blondes

Bestseller Number 6: Olivia Jones and the Overactive Imagination

Bestseller Number 12: To Have and To Hold

Bestseller Number 13: In Her Shoes - by the Author of Good in Bed

See what I mean? What is a no-longer-single wife and mom supposed to do to get her kicks? Oprah is going through a painfully dull period with exciting reads like Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Ho hum. As of this moment, Amazon.com's #1 Bestseller is Bill Clinton's My Life. That just might be a nice compliment to the girls/shoes/vodka tomes above. Barnes & Noble also lists Mr. Clinton's book at number 1, along with number 2, 8, and 9 as well for the CD, Cassette, and large print versions respectively - can you imagine how huge the large print version of this book must be? Apparently even people who don't like to read are all over this one.

Attention Small People Living in My House

2004-06-21T14:59:00.000-04:00

Tonight, and every night subsequent to tonight, you will be sleeping in your own bed. Yes, you heard me. Your own bed. Those wonderful big-girl beds that you thought were so cool when Daddy put them together. The ones that have the comforters with the ballerinas and pink and purple gingham printed all over them. The ones that you happily bound into (sometimes with your baba and gee-gee in tow) to let us snap totally unrealistic photos of you laying there pretending that you love, love, LOVE your new bed.

Daddy and I are going to start early, when you might not be quite so sleepy, but more importantly when we are still not so sleepy that we fall prey to your really remarkably successful bouts of hysteria that heretofore have earned you a night in our bed, or worse, a night of mom or dad sleeping on your floor just to appease you.

I'm willing to pony up any nightlights, teddy bears, blankies, cups of water, or anything else you guys require. Please let me know. Thanks.

Take pity on us, girls, and for the love of all this is Holy, learn to sleep in your own beds!

The Day After

2004-06-21T13:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I survived Father's Day. Dad, of course, didn't have to as he up and died on St. Patrick's Day this year. I miss him so very much. I spent Saturday dreading the arrival of Father's Day. On Sunday I tried to quickly get past the requisite Happy Father's Day wishing for my husband and my other dad. That left the rest of the day to keep myself busy thinking and doing other things.

I spent the day reading Pledged by Alexandra Robbins. That's a whole other post in itself. My kids did their best to whine and cry and generally have meltdowns througout the day to keep my mind off of Father's Day. It was toddler hell.

Despite all efforts, I ended up spending the day thinking about my dad. The whole day. I suppose that's not really bad, as I don't have any bad memories or anything like that. I didn't dwell on the fact that he was gone, just thoughts about little things from our past. All. Day. Long.

Tell Me

2004-06-18T11:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, I took this from Kelliloo who took it from Bond Girl's blog.

Answer these questions in the comments section, pretty please.

1. Who are you?
2. Have we ever met?
3. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
4. Describe me in one word.
5. What reminds you of me?
6. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
7. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
8. Are you going to put this on your weblog and see what I say about you?
9. What do you love like a fat kid loves cake?
10. What makes you come back here

Mmmmm Ahhhhh Oooooh

2004-06-15T12:39:00.000-04:00

Somebody is hugging me! That feels goooood....

Greetings from Stepford

2004-06-15T09:58:00.000-04:00

So, we went to see The Stepford Wives remake this past weekend. Funny movie. Better than I thought it would be. This time around it's a comedy, notsomuch a creepy social commentary. Something about Bette Middler dressed up like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer pretty much rules out creepy. Stepford is still the same concept though - the perfect suburban town with perfectly manicured lawns and wives. People move there when life in the real world gets to be too much for them. Hmmm. Something about that sounds vaguely familiar....

We moved to Connecticut because it sounded like a fine place to raise our kids. Within the first month here we had attended an Apple Harvest Festival, shopped for pumpkins (albeit from a gas station on October 31st), and rolled around as a family, on the grass, on top of yellow and orange leaves. These are not the type of thing you can easily find in The O.C.

Shortly after buying our home, we met the neighbors on both sides of our house, had exchanged baked goods and foliage with them, and had learned the fastest route to the closest Home Depot. Okay, The O.C. has Home Depot too, but I had never ever received a miniature rose bush from a single Californian.

There are other differences too. You can't buy alcohol other than beer or wine in a grocery store, and you can't even buy those after 9pm Mon-Sat, or at any time on Sunday. Walgreen's doesn't sell alcohol of any kind. Liquor stores are only open until 8pm, Mon-Sat, although they stay open until 9pm around the holidays. However, there is a rebel liquor store in town that has its own frequent-buyer card, and they give you great coupons when you start getting really liquored up! I have to wonder if people look at you funny when they see the M&R Booze Club tag on your keychain...

People go to church here. Now, plenty of people go to church in California too, but being a Catholic or an Episcopalian or even a Methodist is just fine here. Denominations are fine. Kind of a contrast to the great big Hollywood-produced Born Again Christian churches of Orange County that spend a lot of time telling you that the Catholic church is the whore of Babylon and that you should never ever take the Pope's word for anything. Catholicism and any other organized religion is the religion of man, not God. The born-again's there tell you to read the Bible, and do whatever their Pastor says.

So, am I becoming a Stepford wife? No, but I hope to become one one day. Sometimes I think it might be neat to wear chiffon and have not a single worry in my little head. I can't really see that happening short of a few chip implants, and I'm not signing up for that anytime soon. In the meantime, I am looking forward to buying a family pool pass for the summer, attending the 4th of July fireworks and parade, and harvesting more tomatoes from my garden than I can possibly eat, can, or give away to the neighbors.

Back at Work

2004-06-14T10:15:00.000-04:00

Time away may not really make my heart grow fonder for this place, but it did make it a tiny bit easier to take it with the grain of salt that it really deserves. I've now come back and edited this post, to take out the perhaps too descriptive accounts of the cast of characters around here. You never know when someone just might stumble across a blog...

My week of training was good. Really good. Maybe I have just grown up a little since I started taking classes like this about 10 years ago, or maybe the training has evolved (or not), but I actually learned a thing or two. Two points!

Be careful what you wish for

2004-06-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

I miss my family! I'm three nights into my four nights away. I've read magazines, painted my nails, watched chick flicks on pay-per-view, eaten room service for way too many meals, had a massage at the spa. I miss my kids. And my husband.

I think its a good idea to get away and spend time by yourself every so often, or at least whenever it seems like you need to. It definitely was time for me, and I'm glad I still have another day and a half. It gives you time to think. There has to be a way to do this on a mini-scale with the rest of the family in the house...

Where oh where can that boy be??

2004-06-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I suppose at the fine old age of 24, he's not really a boy anymore. Are you out there nephew Gene? Make me feel a little better and say hello here okay? Pretty please? I'm having a rough day. Toss your old Auntie a bone?

It had better be postponed!

2004-06-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

My fabulous fantasy vacation is looking to go the way of most of the stuff of fantasy...to be postponed and then (gasp) cancelled? Due to a crisis-du-week reorganization at work, I now have seemingly more important tasks to perform during my scheduled week of training. The worst part about all of this? I'm such a darn grownup that nobody in a position to tell me not to go has to bother to do that. I'm so high-fallutin' important that this is a self-imposed, do-the-right-thing sort of yanking blended with a self-centered, never-ending desire to somehow weasel my way into going anyways.

Yeah, there are NINE hyphens in there. Count 'em. My hyphens, dashes, ALLCAPS, ...and exclamation points go waaaaay up at times like this.

What I did with my week's vacation - All about me.

2004-06-01T10:02:00.000-04:00

Well, the title is a little premature, as I haven't had my "week vacation" just yet.

I am going to training next week in Teaneck, NJ. What makes this a vacation? Four nights and five days of living and working on my own. Of course I am going to be somewhat whiny and missing my husband and kids after I have been there for 10 minutes, but right now, in theory, it's a vacation. Sorry honey, you know I love you and will miss you all. Be happy for me.

I'm going to be staying at a nice hotel, with a health club, decent restaurants, and a free 10-minute shuttle to Manhattan. From 9-5, Tuesday - Friday, I have training. Beyond those hours, my time is my own. So I have some options.

Option A

1. Get in Monday evening and spend the entire day's per diem on an overpriced dinner and cocktails. Spend the evening drinking wine and watching whatever I want on TV or (gasp) Pay-Per-View.
2. Wake up the next morning with a hang over and just enough time to take a shower and throw on a t-shirt and jeans and rush to class without even bothering to put on makeup.

3. Take a nap at lunch to try to sleep off the headache and miss half the afternoon session when I wake up three hours after my nap began. Decide to skip the rest of the day entirely and start my evening early.

4. Eat dinner from room service and order a fancy cocktail to wash it all down. Hop on the shuttle and make my way to Le Bar Bat for a night of dancing. Get home around 2am. Call and wake up the family a good 3-4 times througout the night.

Repeat Steps 2-3 for remaining days. Having learned my lesson regarding step 4, change that out with staying in the room and watching mindless TV while I drink my wine. Squeeze in a massage from the health club somewhere in there.

Option B

1. Arrive Monday evening and head out for a decent meal. Come home and play on the internet for a little while. Lights out at 10:30.

2. Get up Tuesday morning at 7 and have some breakfast. Read the free paper sitting outside my door. Drink some coffee.

3. Take a shower and head down to class.

4. At lunch, eat a decent meal and schedule a massage for sometime that week. Go back to class for the rest of the day.

5. Hit the health club to sit in the sauna or maybe even walk on a treadmill for a little bit before heading out for a decent meal.

6. Come back to the room and do some reading. Go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Repeat steps 2-6.

If you knew me well enough, you would know that I am going with Plan B and couldn't be happier about it.

It's not the up-most-of-the-night party days from my past that I long for. Sure, that might be fun once in a while, but what I really miss are the opportunities to be truly selfish and take care of only myself. It's easy to eat right when someone else is doing the cooking and you are getting a stipend to pay for it. Its easy to take care of yourself when nobody is going to interrupt your sleep or need your attention when you just need some honest to goodness down time. It's better hedonism than a week at an all-inclusive beachside resort.

Heaven

2004-05-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. The story begins on the day the main character, Eddie, dies. The rest of the book consists of snapshots in time from Eddie's life, from childhood all the way up to his death at age 83. Interspersed with Eddie's history are accounts of his heavenly meetings with five people whose lives he directly impacted, or who impacted his life in some way. Some of the people he recalls easily, and others are strangers to him who illuminate some aspect of Eddie's earthly life. We learn that Eddie, along with everyone else, defines his own eventual heavenly home. I found it a comforting experience to read this book, and I think you might too, especially if you have experienced the loss of a loved one.

So, I sit her contemplating what my heaven might one day look like. It's not something that I have really ever given much thought to that I recall. My brother, on the other hand, has pronounced from as far back as I remember, that his heaven will consist of eternal fresh powder skiing. I've never been a skier, and I'm not a sailor any longer. Ditto with just about any sport, so that vein isn't sounding like a likely venue.

What do I enjoy? That's tough. I enjoy riddles, but I think that when I move on to the great hereafter, I want some clarity and knowledge, not a slew of unknowns and another quest for answers. I love my children with all my heart, but somehow I think that when all is said and done, I will have watched my children grow and raise their own families and their own lives, and be fulfilled with those memories. That's a little bit of heaven right here on earth each day.

If I sit in silence and try to recall my most content moments, they come back to me in fragments. Small, seemingly insignificant clips of time that held peace and contentment - these, perhaps, will be the stuff my heaven is made of.

- One day when I was probably 9 years old - laying back for about 10 minutes on the seat of a snowmobile in the middle of a forest trail in Northern Wisconsin. The air was completely silent, and I was warm and snug in my snowsuit. My mother and father and I had been out snowmobiling for the day after one of those picture-perfect snows where the pine trees hold mounds of wet snow and everything is white and pristine. After spending hours riding, cutting the engines on the snowmobiles had made the silence seem more pronounced and I now recall being aware even at the time, what a 'perfect' moment it was.

- The day my first child was born, my husband and I spent the evening looking at every detail about her. As we looked at her eyes, eyelashes, lips, cheeks, those three funny little bumps under her lower lip, I realized that she was perfect. One hundred percent pure and innocent. I developed a new definition of beauty that day and that memory is as clear as can be to this very moment.

- Swimming. As a child I grew up swimming in a freshwater lake. I spent countless days with a mask on my face, holding my breath as I looked at the sand or the bluegills or clams with thick green algae hanging from them. I can recall exactly the way my steps felt if I would stray from the sand middle section of the beach into the weeds, clay and muck to the left or right. Nowadays swimming means a chlorinated pool, or the occasional trip to ocean waves. Somehow chiggers weren't such a big deal back then, and nobody worried about what other nastiness might be lurking in the water. In my childhood the promise of a day at the lake was all it took to make me happy. With my hair tied in long braids, I tanned Indian princess-brown playing in that lake each summer. Maybe my heaven will feature a sandy beach in Grayslake, Illinois.

Those are just a few of my guesses on what might serve as the backdrop for heaven for me. I think that taking the time to recognize where your happiness lies is something that can serve a greater purpose long before we pass away though. What treasured moments am I missing out on right now as I worry, hurry, or stress my days away? In my search for contentment in the here and now, should I be slowing down and taking more time to notice the wonder that exists in front of me? I think so.

I have other blogs

2004-05-28T15:52:00.000-04:00

This time, I'm going to compartmentalize just enough to post some essays that I have been wanting to write, without getting into the minutiae of my woes. Life does go on, and maybe writing about things not directly related to my issues will be a refreshing change for me...and for you.