Quote for today

Courage is not having the strength to go on, it is going on when you no longer have the strength.

ah... powerpoint

How did microsoft do it? They took over the world of computing with their programs and now I have been relegated to making documents in powerpoint of all things. Make a graphical background, add some text and convert to pdf. At least Adobe still owns something. I wonder, however, when powerpoint became so powerful...

I seem to post in spurts

5 here... 10 there... forgotten for months in between. This is how many things in life go. What can happen if we commit to one thing, full committment, for an extended period of time?

Rain rain go away

Not enough rain out west, too much rain here. Grey skies. blah days. Really don't lend themselves to motivation. I wonder if it comes from somewhere in my childhood, but I'm torn between curling up under a blanket and watching a movie and putting on clothing I don't care about and splashing in puddles. But being an adult makes me worry about dripping through the house when I come in. I guess we hosed off outside and wrapped in towels on the porch as kids. Would the neighbors wonder....

Burn baby burn

"The smoke-filled orange skies above Pine Stump Junction Tuesday afternoon seemed to be threatening something big was about to peek up over the treetops." The Mining Journal reports regular updates on the Sleeper Lake fire in Luce County Michigan. Over 18,000 acres of land have been destroyed by the fire and they now say it is 25% contained. However the link is not to a story about the fire, but a story about a motel owner in the back woods of the upper peninsula of Michigan who would not leave. As the police evacuated Pine Stump Junction, two gentlemen stood their ground against mother nature and made the choice to wait and see.

It's the makings of a good novel to me... "A small town and townsfolk with deep roots. Roots as deep as the trees that were burning, threatening their very existance. If Mother nature was not kind, there might be no recognition that anyone had even lived there. As the wildfire grew over 15,000 acres two men stood together in a battle of wills. Theirs versus the forest fire that had started over 5 days ago by an innocent lightning strike in the middle of a swamp. Who knew that the lives of dozens would never be the same... "

You can picture the two old men soaking bandannas and tieing them around their necks, covering their mouths while out the window black smoke billowed and you imagine the flames in the distance underneath all that smoke.

In all seriousness, however, thoughts and prayers go out to those effected and thanks and praise to all the firefighters and other personel helping contain this fire.

Ponderings on Potter

We finished the book in about one week. It was enjoyable. I liked the ending (which I am choosing not to discuss although I believe most fans of the series have already read the book). I thought, however, that I would have a feeling on the ending of the series when I finished the book, but nothing. Happily ever after, and ? I wasn't particularly happy or sad. I wasn't even opinionated about the way it ended. I did ponder some of the parallels that the series brought and I wondered if they were intentional by Rowling or if I was inferring too much. I thought about all the information that was smooshed into the last 4 or 5 chapters. I pondered the what happens next, but not for long.

Without any fanfare or any sorrow life went on. I have been continuing life with no glitches for the last 4 days and that's it. I held one conversation at work about the book, we discussed Voldemort's soul tied under the chair. We discussed the children's names. And then I went back to work.

This has made me ponder today (after I read about Universal Studios building a Harry Potter Theme Park/ attraction in Florida) what ripples in lives has this series made. Many expound upon the children who have formed habits of reading, parents who have spent more time with children talking about the series, reading the books or seeing the movies. What continues now? Will a new series arise that will fill the gap?

So cold in here

Today it is cold. Yes, I know, July 18th and I am writing that it is cold? No, not outside, it's over 90 F with a lot of humidity out there. No, I'm not talking about the warm sunny summer. I speak of my desk. Where I spend at least 8 hours of my day. And it is cold. Seriously cold.

I continue to harbor confusion regarding air conditioning. Humans lived for thousands of years without it, until Willis Haviland Carrier came along. So now how is it that we cannot live without? Or how is it that when it gets hotter outside, we make it even colder inside so that going in or out it is a slight shock to your system?

Milk Scared?

This morning I check out one of the websites that I view on a semi-daily basis (hoping that means almost every day rather than more than once per day... I'm never sure with the semi annual versus bi annual versus whatever). The website is kept up by an unemployed guy in New York. This morning, he blogged about leaving the milk on the counter between cups of coffee and I got stressed. I actually was grossed out by the idea. I think the milk will go bad if it is out of the fridge for more time than it takes to pour what you need. Seriously. My husband finds it amusing that I freak when he leaves the milk on the counter for a minute or two. But me, back in the fridge right away. I like my milk to be cold cold cold. If I pour a glass, I drink it all up. No leaving it in the glass while I dawdley eat and sipping on it while it gets warm. No! It must be icy cold or it'll spoil.

They say we pick up irrational fears from our parents... mom? dad? either of you want to claim this one?

Not here to judge

One week ago, I sat in a line. For 5 hours. To get an iPhone. And not for me. I'm not here to judge, but who does this?

I got to the line by 1 p.m. and the phones went on sale at 6 p.m. The gentlman in the front of the line had been there since 9 a.m. 9 hours for a phone? That's a long time. The gentleman second in line (kind enough to give me his chair as he felt bad for me sitting on the concrete) didn't quite know how he was going to pay $600 for his phone, but figured it would be worth it. The third person in line was a college girl studying pre-med. She and two of her closest girlfriends flitted in and out of line giggling and drinking starbucks. Two more people back was the 13 year old deaf girl who was holding a spot in line for her mother's boss. He showed up 15 minutes before the phone went on sale. And if I understood correctly, the little deaf girl got paid $50 for more than 5 hours of her day. And then there was me in line behind them all. #6 in line for a phone.

Again I stress that I have never sat in line for anything. No game systems, no toys, nothing. And so I chatted with the two apple poster children in the front of the line. I'd stereotype them as computer geeks. They both sat there using the panara wireless network and their iBooks to download the software needed to set up their iPhones that night. They both knew every detail about the phone and how long it had been coming and how it works and what features it could have and on and on and on. Every time someone asked what the line was for one of them had a sarcastic comment, such as "Jesus has come back as a phone."

Mental health day

Today I woke up and wanted to call in sick. Not because I don't like my job, not because I don't want to work, not because I am sick, and not because I'm lazy. Really because I want a mental health day. I think these need to be instituted. I did not coin the term, but heard it from a friend in high school who took them hereself from time to time. I believe that the american worker would be more productive if once per quarter they were allowed a "Mental Health Day." Similar to a sick day or a personal day, but without the guilt of taking it. (Maybe everyone doesn't feel that guilt, but I know my sister is with me on this one... if I'm able to get out of bed, I'm able to go to work and am not sick enough to take a sick day) I'm not sure how to petition for this type of thing, but maybe a letter to my congressman is the answer... I'm sure he's not too busy right now, most likely he's planning for his next recess starting this weekend.

While I work on that, here is my plea, petition yourself for the Menatal Health day as a benefit for workers. I'll suggest you would be allowed to take one every 3 months and if you don't use it you loose it. There need not be a reason to take it, just call in to your boss for a mental health day and that's it. No questions. However the next day, it is your responsibility to come in on time and be productive. Nothing like the day after vacation where you are trying to catch up on work and gossip at the same time. Full productivity. I think that's fair for a no questions asked day. You may say this is the same as a personal day/ vacation day. I say no.

From blogs to books

So I want to start this one by saying what a cool time we live in. I just finished reading a book which the name escapes me about a girl who decided to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year. Daunting task it was, she started a blog about it. The blog got popular, got publicity, and she ended up writing an entire book about the project. Her name was Julie something so she called it the Julie/ Julia Project. Maybe that's the name of the book.

What an amazing time that from doing whatever job and writing a simple blog on some specific topic, many people have become psudo authors and written book(s) about some specific topic near and dear to their heart. Whether it be french cooking or some girl's love life, or anonomous secrets that started as an art project... the internet and blogging has not only given us a bigger bathroom wall to scrawl our ramblings on, but has opened a new genre of literature and art.

Dungeons and

Movies? I know I am late if you have already seen this blog, but I was recently introduced to The Lord of the Rings as a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Now if you have never played D & D and think that it is a nerd only game where they all sit around with their pocket protectors and bags of dice... you may be right. But we used to play as a family and it was fun. (I may have just caused one or more people to judge me and or my family) So I sti and read 100 pages of this story. He follows closely to the plot allowing for the various misfortunes of allowing players to make decisions on their own.

This caused me to marvel at the wonders of the internet and what it has done for society. We can now share our funny doodles with the world, we can now share our views and opinions with the world, we can now share our deepest thoughts and secrets with the world and we can all share our random mumblings with the world. All thanks to the blogs and personal webpages.

And there I go back to the bathroom wall of society. 867-5309

It's a bug's life

Today I spent many minutes "google-ing" the insect known as a praying mantis. My husband has a kindergarten class that needed a science project. After the tadpoles were knocked off the table by a child, a new something was needed. A trip to the discovery store found a praying mantis habitat, including a mail in form to get your ootheca (that's the egg sack). Once you get the ootheca, put it in the habitat and wait 1 to 3 weeks for it to hatch.

Today was that right amount of 1-3 weeks for the manti to hatch in my husband's classroom. about 50 of them came out of the little sack. And now according to the internet and the book that came with the habitat, these little guys (about the size of an ant) need to eat or they will eat eachother.

Here comes the fun part... the book suggested trapping fruit flies by putting a half banana in a mason jar outside and when there are a good number of fruit flies on it, shut the jar. Seems simple, so we did this last week. Yesterday afternoon still no fruit flies. Seriously? If I leave a brown banana in my kitchen for a day there are fruit flies galore... but in my back yard nothing? Maybe it's the time of year... so we tried the other trick from the book to catch bugs. We dug a hole in the back yard garden, put a jar in the hole, filled in with dirt around the jar. walking bug falls in and can't get back out. Pull jar out of the hole, put lid on and mantis food. Last night we did this, this morning no bugs.

So in between working and being at work, I searched and searched on line to find fruit flies and how you catch them, breed them, whatever. Also what do you do to feed a mantis. The best site I found was http://mantiskingdom.com/. DeShawn raises manti and has for the majority of his life. I figure he knows stuff. So I read. Turns out, these things will eat eachother and need to eat constantly, but will overeat and explode their tummies if you aren't careful. Then they can molt and mate and make new egg sack- ootheca and you start the process over again.

Just so you don't picture these little ant like guys eating eachother, we got them small crickets on the assurance of the petstore guy that they can eat these. My husband is excited. I never realized what a girly girl I am, I feel something crawling on me whenever I think of the mantis babies.

Season of Graduation

Graduations are always exciting. You move on from one step in your life to another. It's a foray into the unknown. Up until that point your life is structured for you in one way or another. You have a set schedule. You have set parameters you have to lie within. You have set locations you need to be and set times that you need to be there. Namely classes to sign up for, attend, and pass. No matter the graduation, be it Kindergarten, Middle School, High School, College, or Grad School. You can step across that stage and step into your future. As unsure as you may be regarding it, it is waiting for you there at the bottom of those steps along with your mother's outstreched arms.

When it was your kindergarten graduation your future included full days of school maybe a bus ride and cafeteria lunches.

The steps off the stage at your middle school graduation symbolized a step into adulthood, or at least seemed to at the time. They were steps into your last phase of youth, steps into your indepenence. It would be four short years before you realize how small these steps really were toward your future.

High school graduation was the biggest step for me, it symbolized moving on to adulthood. Being in charge of your own life. True independance. Real choices. A big world in front of you and sometimes it looked so large it was scary. Although you spend your last year of high school making the looming choices of what comes after graduation, you take those steps off the stage into an unknown where you will be the only one to make the choices that define your future. As you step down each step, the weight of your future rests on your shoulders and as you reach the bottom, so does the weight of your mother's arms.

For some that is the end of their formal graduations. From here on out, you graduate in different steps and all your friends and classmates scatter to the winds and you each make your future. You could move on to your college graduation, some to graduate school, others to marriage and children, others to career paths unknown.

Whatever your graduation this spring, congratulations!

Welcome to the internet... where Google is the Gospel?

It boasts: "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."

Every time you submit a google search, you will find a Wikipedia article on the subject. I'm sure students everywhere are using this online wealth of information to do their research projects, I'm just not convinced of it's truths. Let's start with defining encyclopedia. Growing up, I remember an encyclopedia being the 20-some books containing articles on everything. From lists of past presidents and historical events to explaining how volcanos work and how potatos are harvested. Every research paper started at the encyclopedia. The American Heritage Dictionary next to me defines an encyclopedia a a reference work containing articles on a wide range of subjects or on numerious aspects of a field, usually arranged alphabetically. I guess Wikipedia passes that test... it is a range of articles on various subjects. I just don't know how factual it is.

On their information page, they advise that "You do not need to fear accidentally damaging Wikipedia when you add or improve information, as other editors are always around to advise or correct obvious errors." They also state that "In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism." So they put the caveat right there. Don't always trust it. Then why do we?

We are a microwave society that is looking for the quick fix, the easy answer, and the google search to find facts. As many wonderful things as the internet has done for information flow around the world (or at least the developed countries... and those with the income to utilize it and the know how to find what they are looking for, but that's another post in and of itself), it has done the same for mis-information flow.

Shades of Green

As spring turns to summer I like to notice the trees and grass. They change from the limey lemony green of spring to the richer tones of summer. This year, however, I am busy thinking about spring versus summer versus fall tones as I consider colors for our new house. Would you rather live in one specific season of color tones? I usually equate pastel colors to the spring, however there are richer colors of spring as well. The bright green of the new leaves on the trees, the yellow of daffodils and the rich reds that the tulips bring. The only tree I can see from my office window that refuses to bend its colors with the seasons is the white pine. He stubbornly stays a bluish green from spring through winter and back again. He refuses to give up his needles and stands firm in his color as the rest of the trees go from white and pink flowers in the spring to the yellow green buds and leaves that promise the deep green of summer. From summer's green they give way to yellows and browns of fall and the barren branches of winter.

Also, when I searched shades of green I found this site that has nothing to do with trees!

Moving

It's a topic for me this week. I think about it and realize that we do it all the time. In my understanding, we as Americans move frequently within the span of our life. Some moves are across the country and some are "just down the street." Since I first moved out of my parents house 7 years ago, I have moved three times. From a house to an apartment to a house. My parents on the other hand have stayed in the same house for about 23 years. I guess you could defend the longevity of the stay in one home by age claiming that you are are more likely to move when you are first married and without children. The other side of this would be that once you have your children, you will stay in the same location for their sake. Your younger years (20's and 30's?) is the time in your life when you are moving up in your career, increasing your salary, and increasing your lifestyle with few ties to one location (geographically or just an apartment builiding).

I know it's a little off subject, but from time to time I wonder what it was like when the settlers first settled. A family would get some land, build a house, bring in the neighbors to raise a barn roof. Then, when their children grow up the wives of the sons move into the family house and the daughters marry and move in with their husbands family. If they don't move into the same house with their parents, they build another house on the same family farm inviting the neighbors over again for another roof raising. Nothing much changed outside of aging. Same people you live with. Same neighbors nextdoor. Same farm land to plow, seed, and harvest. Same one room schoolhouse for your children as was there for you. The same old "schoolmarm" teaching multiple generations. A large supper every day with your family rather than our standard now of one per year on either christmas or thanksgiving. It seems that only 200+ years later a family of four can easily pin down the United States or even the world by living in the furthest corners from eachother. They head out "looking for a bright new world," I wonder if they ever find it.

Moving

So I'm planning a move of our house. About 20 - 40 miles. That's it. It still requires packing. It still requires movers. It still requires figuring out how to do all this in the next 2 weeks. No, I would not say I am stressed about it. I would say I am intriuged by why people do this. Nest in one place to pick up and make a new nest in another place. I will give credit to the birds, they just leave it all and start new. The female robin does not hold tight to a piece of string that she found and have to take it with her. The male robin does not reminisce about a couple sticks and how he wrestled a bluejay for the rights to them and demand they figure out a way to bring all 3 sticks with them. No. They just leave it all behind. Done and done. Off to the new. Although when birds do that they pick up more sticks, string and leaves from the ground for free. If we left our couch, I am not sure if we would be able to get another without spending a dime. Unless we find one on the side of the road. As Jeff Foxworthy says, "If that's there after dark, it be in my living room."

Daily Comics

I enjoy a few comics on a daily basis. As I do not get the newspaper daily, I check out the websites to see these few comics. There was a time when I would read all the comics, just to pass the time, and decided there are only a few that I enjoy for the humor or for the storyline or both. I wonder if people can be divided into those two categories... read the few they like or read them all. I would think so, but I've been wrong before.

I would like to meet the guy (or girl to be pc) who reads comics they do not like, seeks out one or two each day, to see if they have gotten better or to see if they are suddenly funny. For instance, do I suddenly find a fat cat funny or a group of guys on an army base? Maybe the sandwich guy did something I'll laugh at today.... nope, he's taking a nap and I don't find naps laughable. I wonder if this person exists, the always optimistic in regards to the comics guy who hopes each day that the next one he reads about the heavy girl shopping will make him laugh.

Is it spring when the squirrels start romping?

Yesterday afternoon, I watched as two squirrles played chase outside my office window. They hopped from tree to tree and then back to the ground only to run in a circle and do it all over again. They paused once or twice to eat flowers off the tree that is blooming.

Everything is that bright shade of green that only comes with new blooming in the spring. The flowers are peaking up out of the ground. And this morning I have the space heater under my desk on as it is only 40 degrees outside and in my office building. But my toes are toasty warm.

Click-Click Type-Type Say No More

Let's start off by admitting I am an internet shopper. Done and out there. I am an internet banker, bill payer, take out orderer, reservation maker... if I can do it online, I wonder why I would consider doing it any other way.

Now that we have the context out of the way, my sister has introduced me to audiobooks online from the library. Now this combines two of my favorite things: accomplishing daily tasks online and free stuff. (yes, I consider the library free stuff... I have to give it back so it's free borrowed stuff, but still I didn't pay for it). This works by signing into the library website, downloading the mp3 file(s) that comprise the book and playing it on your computer in the next 20 days before the file is "due back" so it dissappears. The marvel that is modern technology. If we tried just a little, we wouldn't ever have to leave our houses. We click-click type-type and bing bam boom (UPS truck that is, what can brown do for you?) there is every daily errand we used to leave the house to accomplish.

Seriously, what (other than associating with the three-dimensional people) can you not do from the comfort of your house in your pj's if you desired?

Morning coffee

cof·fee (kôf, kf) n.
1. a. Any of various tropical African shrubs or trees of the genus Coffea, especially C. arabica, widely cultivated in the tropics for their seeds that are dried, roasted, and ground to prepare a stimulating aromatic drink.
b. The beanlike seeds of this plant, enclosed within a pulpy fruit.
c. The beverage prepared from the seeds of this plant.
2. A moderate brown to dark brown or dark grayish brown.
3. An informal social gathering at which coffee and other refreshments are served.

So tons of people wake up in the morning to the beverage prepared from the seeds of any of various tropical African shrubs or trees of the genus Coffea. We buy the seeds that have been roasted, grind them up, run boiling water through them and drink it with sugar and cream. We say we are grouchy without our morning coffee. Some people go so far as to say they are not morning people. Some people will pay four bucks for someone else to prepare their morning coffee. All because of the beanlike seeds of a pulpy fruit from a tropical African shrub?

Crazy lights

Ry and I were driving home through the country roads of Southern Virginia last night (it might be central Virginia, but it feels like the deep south down there). As we are driving on a dark road surrounded by farms, a light shines directly at us from ahead. It's in our lane. It circles about. We gasp and swerve into the other lane - luck would have it that at 11:00 p.m. the farm roads are sparse of traffic. As we pass the light, we realize that it is a man, walking down the middle of our lane, flailing his arm about with his flashlight in it. There was another man walking with him who had chosen to walk on the shoulder of the road.

This post may not do it justice, but it was weird. white lights darting about in front of you late at night on a lonely road. If we had been drinking beer it might have been a UFO story.

MySpace to determine the future of the USA?

So today's story is one of technology and I guess how far we've come. Quoted from the linked story, "...there's a new marker of the elusive "it" factor: The number of people who have added you as a MySpace friend." I'm not sure I want to publically admit it (wait, it's online, isn't that already public admittance?) but I have a MySpace page. I have reconnected with some high school and college friends through MySpace. It's been a good place to share comments, stories, and photos as well as catch up on everyone's life. My sister, on the other hand, believes anyone with a college degree and a MySpace page needs some help. Now don't get all mad at her yet, she's not saying that cruely, but just stating her opinion that MySpace is a playground for teenyboppers to share their latest crushes and dating stories ("OMG, my BFN and I totally HH for 10 min!")

But back to the link at hand... So if the primaries are a popularity contest and your friends on MySpace are the voters, then yes the democratic candidates are ahead. But if the primaries are still when you go into a booth with a little curtain and push a button on a touch screen that says in big green letters "VOTE" then maybe we don't have anything here. I guess I'll say you decide.

Eggs, it's whats for breakfast

So saturday morning our alarm clock sounds the "News, Traffic and Weather" of the local radio station. The traffic report includes a story about a tractor trailer that has spilled its contents on the capital beltway causing a back up and delays. Not uncommon for the DC Metro area, what was uncommon was the contents being eggs.

This morning, MSNBC lists the story on their website. Just one more joy of living in this city.

Singing in the car

So I read Scott Adams' Blog almost daily. Today's entry now has me concerned.

Here is my confession... I am a car singer. I am also a shower singer, hallway singer, sing at my desk and along with any song that is playing at any time anywhere if I want to. I never considered everyone around me not liking it. Maybe that's selfish. But suddenly, I read his blog entry and got scared. Maybe I sing outloud in public so frequently that it bothers other people.

Here is an example. My husband and I were at dinner with some friends the other night. Chatting away, eating away, when one of the friends asked if I like karaoke. I realized I had been singing along to the music in the restaurant. His question brought up an entire conversation related to karaoke so I didn't think about it. Now I am. Was his comment a statement about my singing ability and that maybe I shouldn't be signing at a dinner table in a crowded restaurant?