October 03, 2007
I hope I'm not stealing the proud parents' thunder as they both have a lot on their minds, but they didn't say I couldn't post it. I received an email this afternoon informing me that the Lemonheads are now offcially Nick and Nora, having been born today, 10/3/07 at 4:00pm local time. Mom, Dad, and babies are all well.
Congratulations, Helen and Angus. I am so happy for you both, and so glad your long journey has reached its happy ending. You'll never know how much it has meant to the rest of us that you allowed us to join you every step of the way. Big tears of joy and relief are running down my face, knowing that your dreams have come true and there's new and bigger dreams in store for all of you.
And, little baby Nick and Nora, I wish you love beyond measure, a life full of beautiful moments, and above all, peace. You are loved more than you will ever know, by your Mum and Dad who wanted you so much, and your family: your brother and sister, your grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins; your amazing silly dog and grande dame kitty; and by hundreds of people you'll probably never meet. People who waited with your mum and dad, who prayed and watched and laughed and cryed and hugged and high-fived across the internets everyday, as if willing you to be perfect and healthy and sweet, just as I'm certain you are.
Congratulations, sweetie! I knew you could do it.
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Of these new shows two were IMMEDIATE hits in our house: K-Ville and Chuck. Each is already queued for a season pass on the TiVo. Finally there's something good to watch on Monday other than Football and DWS. Although I admit this week we watched ALL of the Padres/ Rockies play-in game, instead. Good thing we have a dual tuner Tivo and 2 tv's..... Hubby has also recently gotten into Shark, and has a season pass for that as well.
Cavemen was better than expected. It plays more as a buddy comedy with gimmicky jokes than a gimmick comedy with buddy jokes. We'll see how quickly the jokes get tired....
We're still on the fence about Cane. The first episode was good, but the previews make it look like every episode will be: Alex loves his family, but they don't all love him; Alex faces a challenge; Alex bulldozes his way through; Alex must face repercussions of previous bulldozer incidents. In which case, YAWN!
Tonight we get the new season of South Park, and the first episode of Pushing Daisies. I'm interested to see what the show will really look like. Visually, the previews are like a mixture of Pleasantville and Big Fish, so I am interested to see how much of that carries through the whole episode. If the show is good, so much the better.
Strangely enough, I'm very sad the summer TV season is over. As much as I love House and Betty and DWS, the summer shows were so much more interesting and so much more watchable than regular October to May network TV. Psych, Dresden, The Closer, Burn Notice, and Painkiller Jane were weekly appointments for us, and some of the best TV I've seen in years, even if the folks at SciFi got cancel happy on us (see note above re: Sci Fi). Oh well, if nothing else it's good they're all on in the summer: the TiVo would be SWAMPED otherwise, and it would take me MONTHS to catch up!
Survivor got its season pass yanked: predictable, stupid, filthy. When TAR comes back, then I'll watch reality TV on CBS. There's a REASON that TAR has won every "best reality show" Emmy since its inception.
Not surprisingly we've watched very few of the "returning" shows on the TiVo so far. I am, of course, keeping up with DWS, usually on the same evening it airs. And CSI we watched almost live. I was terribly disappointed that they seem to have gone back to the "less-plot-more-artistic-long-camera-shots" method and are now adding indie rock for crap ass montages. Look, we wanted to see them get Sara out from under the car. We wanted some kind of master plan from the arch criminal. We got neither, just a drunk pirate wandering in the desert with NO COMMON SENSE about how to be found. And she was carrying a mirror! Does she not know to flash with it? I mean, she COULD NOT have walked so far from the crash that she didn't hear that helicopter Greg was flying around in. You get up on high ground, and flash with the mirror, dumbass. You don't collapse 3 feet from the roadside because you wandered instead of conserving your energy and trying to stay cool during the day! Wander at night. Moron. CSI Vegas is getting to be as dumb as CSI Horatio.
Yes you read that right.
Ok, well, the cold medicine and returned-camera high are wearing off, so it's nappy nap time for me. See you later.
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Sadly enough, with all the business of moving, etc, the camera got laid away for quite a while. Earlier this summer I unpacked it, with the notion of capturing some "before" and "after" shots of various projects in the house. Sadly, this is what I saw:
That's Darlin' Hubby hiding behind the black box.
You can see my dilemma. Luckily, friend Google had an answer for me: The CCD chip was dying, and Sony would replace it for free! Assuming I could get off my butt and send it in on time (yesterday, 10/2/07 sadly, was the deadline for you googlers out there)...
So I finally sent it off two weeks ago. They sent me a free UPS shipping label, so I put it in a box full of packing paper with a memory stick loaded with the picture above and the previous picture (taken before the chip failed) and a nice note explaining what I was seeing.
Today, my camera is back, apparently fully functional, and this is what the pictures look like now:
YAY! Thanks, Sony, for a free repair and a quick turnaround. Let's hope it stays this way! Especially as we are going to be at this this weekend.
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October 02, 2007
Helen has been admitted to the hospital, do not pass go, do not collect $200, with a C-section scheduled for Monday. Assuming there's no reason to yank the bebes before then.
Think happy thoughts in her direction, and pray to the benevolent deity of your choice for a safe delivery and a happy, healthy new family.
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She's in good hands. The Benevolent Diety, A, the hospital staff, and the HUGE prayer circle - she's got half the globe praying for her!
Heh.
October 01, 2007
Our Sadie-girl celebrated her 3rd birthday.
Contagion had a birthday, too
Helen awaits the arrival of the Lemonheads with humor. Or should that be humour?
Mrs. Who and BR found out that there's about to be another birthday in the HoZ
Denny's back safely from Bonaire. Oh to be an SRF, too!
SWWBO learned to drive the tractor
Oddy's Dad is doing well after a serious motorcycle crash
Cox and Forkum are quitting
Richmond and family lost one of the dynamic duo.
And me, well, I am just trying to keep my head down and get on with things!
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September 28, 2007
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Lifehacker: How to snazz up your presentations
Ricki: Work Ethic and college students (more on this from me later). See also: here and here
It Comes in Pints?: Val is burning down the house with sponsored FFO's.
more later......
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Where there is no justice there can be no secure peace.
...That just laws which uphold human rights are the necessary foundations of peace and security would be denied only by closed minds which interpret peace as the silence of all opposition and security as the assurance of their own power. The Burmese associate peace and security with coolness and shade:
The shade of a tree is cool indeed
The shade of parents is cooler
The shade of teachers is cooler still
The shade of the ruler is yet more cool
But coolest of all is the shade of the Buddha's teachings.
Thus to provide the people with the protective coolness of peace and security, rulers must observe the teachings of the Buddha. Central to these teachings are the concepts of truth, righteousness and loving kindness. It is government based on these very qualities that the people of Burma are seeking in their struggle for democracy.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi
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Federal agents said Thursday that they shut down a factory that made marijuana-laced barbecue sauce, chocolate-covered pretzels and other "enhanced" snacks intended for medical users of the drug.What a great way to get people to keep buying your products!The Drug Enforcement Agency said it arrested three people Wednesday and is looking for a fourth who operated Oakland-based Tainted Inc.
Agents also seized 460 marijuana plants and other laced products including candy bars, cookies, marshmallow pies, ice cream, peanut butter, jelly, energy drinks and "Rice Krispy treats."
Tainted Inc. was launched by Michael Martin, 33, of El Sobrante as a small operation that made laced chocolate truffles. When it was raided Wednesday, the company was shipping products to medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California and in Seattle; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Amsterdam. [--emphasis mine, Ed.]
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September 27, 2007
It has got to stop. It winds me up and I don't have any me time. The TiVo is proof enough. In the last 6 months it's just loaded up over and over again. Hell, I never watched the last 8 episodes of House last season! Yeah, you read that right. House. I want to catch up before we get going again. And I have almost a whole season of Painkiller Jane and The Riches to finish. I've seen maybe two episodes of each.
I haven't crocheted in months. It took me weeks to get the camera sent off to Sony for the recall repair work. I barely keep up with my calendar. If I don't get something scheduled right away, I miss it. My brain feels 10 steps behind.
I have a story I'd like to write, but I can't get up the motivation to put it down and it keeps rattling around, waiting for me to get to it. I hope it doesn't get stale.
So I've decided that work is going to stop following me home. Grading I'll do, but I am not going to check email or worry about assholes or agree to do anything outside of business hours anymore. It fucks me up too much.
Maybe I'll even be able to blog again on a regular basis.
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Anyone who has heard me speak knows my firm commitment to what I call "First Principles." These grow out of the documents of our Nation's founding and the wisdom of the ages. They are core beliefs that guide my approach to the issues that are crucial to our Nation's future. I believe in--Individual Liberty . As Jefferson spelled out in the Declaration of Independence, our basic rights come from God, not from government, and that among these inalienable rights is the right to liberty. We must allow individuals to lead their lives with minimal government interference.
Personal Responsibility . The corollary to liberty is responsibility. No society can succeed and thrive for any duration unless free people act in a responsible way. All of us must take responsibility for our actions and strive to improve our own lives and to contribute to building a better society.
Free Markets . Free people are best equipped to order their own affairs, and the common interest benefits from and is improved by the aggregate success of all. We must reform our tax system, encourage investment, support entrepreneurial spirit, open markets abroad to American goods, and minimize burdensome government regulations to continue to expand the economy and bring increased wealth to all Americans give.
Limited Government . Government must be strong enough to protect us, competent enough to provide basic government services, but limited by the delineated powers in the Constitution.
Federalism . Our Constitution innovatively guarantees our liberties by spreading power among the three branches of the federal government, and between the federal government and the states. In considering any action by the government, we must always ask two questions: is the government better equipped than the private sector to perform the task and, if so, what level of government (federal or state) ought to do it. Washington is not the seat of all wisdom.
Protecting our Country . The first responsibility of the federal government is to protect the nation and the American people. There is no more important task. We must have a strong and effective military, capable intelligence services, and a vigorous law enforcement and homeland security capacity.
Traditional American Values . A healthy society is predicated on belief in God; respect for all life; strong families centered on the institution of marriage: the union of a man and a woman; and self-respect and tolerance of others. While we are all free to live our lives in the pursuit of our own happiness, the government has a responsibility to respect the right of parents to raise their children and to promote the values that produce the strongest society.
The Rule of Law . We protect our liberty, secure our rights, and promote a just and stable society through the rule of law. We owe to ourselves and our fellow citizens our own adherence to the rules, but tough law enforcement and punishment for those who do not. A free and independent judiciary that interprets the law by adhering strictly to legal text and respects its limited role in our system of government is essential to our security and freedom, and we need judges who understand that role if we are to preserve our republic and freedom.
Conserving Our Nation's Resources . Each of us is put on Earth for a limited period of time. We must always strive to ensure that the resources we use to lead our lives are here for future generations to enjoy and use as well.
We live in the greatest country on earth. We have been truly blessed. This blessing carries with it an obligation: to keep it that way and to leave this country at least as strong, prosperous, and united as when we entered it.
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September 25, 2007
And by now, busy is an understatement. Both of us are teaching full time, GMT back at his High School, me with a 5 unit biology class (double lab periods!) which adds up to about 9 hours a week in class. I am also the chair of a couple of active committees, and I serve on several others. As it's the beginning of school, everyone is trying to get all their meeting ducks in a row and it's taking a lot of time.
I'm supposed to attend a seminar Thursday- Saturday, and all I want to do is go out with my friends on Friday night, as we're all supposed to have dinner at one of our friend's places.
Oh, and I got asked to work on a paper with one of my colleagues. It's actually very interesting, and as it's Public Health research, not too time consuming. Also a field I'm keen to get some insight into. So I'm working on research again, too.
And then there's homework to grade, papers to read, and my own field of research to deal with.
And I'm supposed to clean house, do laundry, be a pleasant hostess, and occasionally go out for a fun time???? Fuck that. Something has to go. Lately it's been the cleaning. Not that the house is a pigsty, mind you, just messy. And there are a million unfinished projects we need to work on.
I do love most of my job. I love my students, and I love working with them. I'm just maxxed out. The motivation is toast at the moment. I notice I haven't been doing a hell of a lot of blog reading, and those of you who see me in their email often probably have noticed a drop off in the volume.
No, I'm not going anywhere, just ratcheting back a bit for the forseeable future. Real Life Intervenes.
I didn't intend to write that last paragraph, it just kind of came out of my fingers Ouija-style, so I guess I'm going to go with it. New content probably every couple of days, some funnies, Mutterings, Fred, that kind of thing, but if you want the serious analytical stuff, then Sorry, but we're fresh out.
Until then, I'll be lurking in your comments.
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September 23, 2007
Well, Saturday afternoon, we made a quick trip to the local Tar-zhay, and on our way over to the Halloween section, we decided to duck into the Wii aisle on a whim. There were 7 white boxes on the bottom shelf of the case. Yep, they were in stock. Just in, too, according to the guy working there. Long story short, when we left the store, there were only 6 white boxes in the case. And the price was $50 less than what we were seeing them for previously. Woot!
So we spent basically the rest of the weekend proving that 30 year olds don't have teenage bodies anymore. Did I mention my right arm feels like I spent too much time on weights at the gym? But it was hella fun and I totally see how Wii could be a part of anyone's exercise regimen. Especially the boxing game in Wii Sports. That's quite a cardio workout, holding up your arms and punching...
Honestly, though, my favorite part is that I'm actually pretty good at some of this. Unlike games with the traditional controllers.
So I probably won't be around much this week....
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Marcel Marceau, the world's best-known mime artist who for decades moved audiences across the globe without uttering a single word, has died aged 84.But Marceau was much more than a mime, he was a member of the French Resistance in WWII and later served in the French Army with the German Occupying Force after the war. The cause of his death is unknown at this time. Rest in Peace.The Frenchman's extensive tours and appearances on camera brought his silent art to people around the world. His comic and tragic sketches appealed on a universal level, with each audience interpreting his performance in its own way.
"Mime, like music, knows neither borders nor nationalities," he once said. "If laughter and tears are the characteristics of humanity, all cultures are steeped in our discipline."
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September 22, 2007
And I love Fred. So YAY! If you want to get your own Meez go here, and say I referred you (caltechgirl), and we both get "coins" for special outfits and backdrops. They have some great Halloween costumes, too!
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September 21, 2007
The Los Angeles Police Department said Friday morning that officers had arrested a man who allegedly impersonated a police officer and robbed an elderly couple at knifepoint in their Reseda townhouse.What the article doesn't say, but which was reported live on KNBC's Today in LA program this morning, is that the thief didn't just identify himself as a cop. He was wearing a dark blue uniform similar to LAPD, and came to the door posing as a traffic officer. When the husband got nervous and asked for ID, he reached into his pocket and pulled a knife instead of credentials.[...]
When the robber knocked on the couple's door, he identified himself as an officer and asked about an auto accident that they had been involved in earlier in the day. The robber pulled out a knife when he was asked to show identification.
At first LAPD were afraid that the couple might have been targeted by information leaked from their office, however (and of course they didn't just come out and say this) it seems that the thief is linked to the accident. What the police ARE saying is that the arrest is a DIRECT result of follow up on the accident investigation by Traffic Division.
Clearly this was a well-planned criminal endeavor. The purchase of the uniform indicates that much. So watch out. There are assholes out there who will hit your car, get your information and come to your house late at night to rob you, posing as the police.
Some tips:
1. If the police knock on your door, ALWAYS ask for Badge and ID. A real policeman will generally offer it before you ask, or will hand it over without question.
2. If you are still unsure, ask the policeman for a moment to verify the credentials. It's ok to call 911 (or your local PD number if you have it handy) and verify the name and badge number as an on-duty officer assigned to come to your home.
3. If you are unsure that the car attempting to pull you over is a real policeman (unfortunately there were a number of sexual assaults in LA in the past with guys posing as cops...), put on your flashers, and get to a secure, well-lighted place with people around, such as a gas station, etc. A real cop won't be put off when you explain your concern for your safety, and you just might deter a bad guy.
4. If you are in an accident, insist the police come to the scene. In many jurisdictions, including City of Los Angeles, the police have a system for collecting information from ALL parties, and keeping that confidential. All the parties get is a five-digit case number, which, along with the officer's name and the date/time of the accident can be used by the INSURANCE company to get the accident report and the parties' personal information. Actually, anyone with that information can get a copy of the report, but it costs around $20, a bad investment for a crook, generally. Furthermore, if something like what happened to the couple in the story happens to you, if the police come to the accident scene, they already know where to find the bad guys.
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September 20, 2007
Thanks, Pix, for keeping the MuNu ship afloat. You're the bestest!
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September 19, 2007
and just one more reason why I'll be voting for him.
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