"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals...
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. "

Friday, November 6, 2009

I loove Google Doodles!



This week marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and Google is honoring the occasion with a series of Google Doodles featuring some of our favorite characters.



I was always a huge Sesame Street fan- Snuffy was my favorite character (back when he was imaginary). I still love the Muppets and so I confess that I've been searching Google several times a day just for the smile it the doodles create.



Folks have also been posting this fabulous video from 27 years ago- it is Cookie Monster's tribute to the word Google (long before Google was Google). I dare you not to smile when you watch this one...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

reflections on the season...

Tis the season for reflection (at least for me). I'm reflecting on the fact that I'll be overseas again in less than a year. I'm reflecting on the fact that my husband retires from the USMC in less than 1 month. I'm reflecting on the fact that my house is a disaster area. I'm reflecting on the fact that my current job is a torment. I'm reflecting on the fact that I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up.

Yeah, I'm doing a lot of reflecting but not a lot of constructive acting which is defintiely a problem. The only thing I did this weekend that relates to my house was to buy 30 books at the used book sale, and that was hardly designed to help with my decluttering.

maybe this week will be better...

Friday, October 2, 2009

Really Whoopi? Exactly what would make it "rape-rape"?

I mean, if a middle-aged man giving a 13yr old girl alcohol and drugs, and then having non-consensual sex with her isn't rape, exactly what the fuck would qualify? I wonder if all those Hollywood folks calling for CA to drop the case against Polanski would feel the same way if the janitor in their daughters' schools were using these same techniques, or it they would be calling for blood? I want someone to publish the full list of actors and directors who signed this petition so that I can make sure to never again throw a plugged-nickel their way.

And Whoopi? She was 13 years old. He gave her alcohol and drugs. Despite that, she still said no. It was "rape-rape". And for you to go on national television and state anything else is both personally offensive and morally reprehensible. You were nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe, for playing a victim of physical and sexual abuse. You should be deeply ashamed.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Long-awaited justice may be coming...

Despite my scattered thoughts about many things, I had to post about how satisfied I am that Roman Polanski has been arrested, and how angry I am at all the people calling for CA to drop the case or for Switzerland to let him go before he can be extradited. I'm attaching a link to an excellent article on this case, one that firmly makes the essential point that Roman Polanski raped a child. He gave alcohol and drugs to a 13-year old girl, and forced her to have sex with him even though she repeatedly said no. No matter how great his talent, how tragic his life, and how powerful his supporters, he cannot be allowed to walk away from these charges. He pled guilty. He fled the country because he feared the judge would impose a harsher sentence than agreed upon in the plea bargain. His ongoing freedom makes a mockery of the judicial system, and the cries of supporters to let the case drop after so many year makes a mockery of the pain and suffering of rape victims around the world.

Good for California for not letting this die despite the pressure. Good for Switzerland for arresting him. Shame on France for trying to somehow make this an issue of his talent and our scary justice system. All the money, power, talent and influence in the world shouldn't make it possible for anyone to change the central core fact that a 43-year old man having sex with a 13-year girl is an abomination- and thankfully, in CA, a crime.

Read more at Salon:
Roman Polanski Raped a Child

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

too focused on the future to focus on the now...

I'm in the middle of bidding season so I'm completely focused on trying to figure out where I'll be living for the next two to three years. I'm also focused on the fact that Brad is retiring from the USMC in November. I'm all over the place mentally thinking about what life will be like in the coming months and year; I just don't have the energy to also focus on what my life is actually like right now.

I dunno- I feel like I need a week long nap, but that is unlikely. Bear with me- I will be back when I have news to share...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

"The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action."

Excerpt from President's Address to Congress on Health Care Reform:

"Our collective failure to meet this challenge - year after year, decade after decade - has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can't get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can't afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

We are the only advanced democracy on Earth - the only wealthy nation - that allows such hardships for millions of its people. There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone.

But the problem that plagues the health care system is not just a problem of the uninsured. Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today. More and more Americans worry that if you move, lose your job, or change your job, you'll lose your health insurance too. More and more Americans pay their premiums, only to discover that their insurance company has dropped their coverage when they get sick, or won't pay the full cost of care. It happens every day."


Thursday, August 27, 2009

Why are these people on TV?!?!?!

OK, given that I love HGTV and I love reality shows, Design Star should be making me happy happy happy. Instead I'm left wondering why the hell I'm not on TV redoing the houses of other people- despite my lack of professional design experience, I sure have better ideas than these yahoos. This week's kid's room challenge was a complete and utter disaster. I was going to write about it, but I can't improve upon this rant so I'm just linking to it instead...

My Favorite and My Best

Monday, August 24, 2009

Shifting focus a bit it seems...

So I've been surprised recently to see that my blogging has drifted by the wayside. Now, I was covering extra posts on AT for the last two weeks so that was definitely part of it. I'm also behind on my book reviews (I've got 18 piled up that I've read but not reviewed) and on my reading itself (I've got a pile of 10 or 15 to be read as well). I've got a new job that is more difficult than it needs to be because of the my new (and weirdly hybrid) office's lack of understanding of the corporate culture of our agency.

In other words, I'm not writing much because I don't have much to write about in this forum. The jobs stuff is hard to explain without actually explaining which I can't do. The book reviews get posted on my other site. With a completely unexciting life otherwise, I just haven't that much to write about.

I know myself- my book blogging with get back under control and my job will level out and then I'll have something to write about. In the meantime, I'm still around, hanging out, just not sure when the spirit will move me to write.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

does reading Julie & Julia count?

So though I'm sad to be missing out on my friends' latest therapy adaptation, the reality is I really never cook in my current apartment. I cook at my mom's a couple of times a week, but that is about it. The timing of this break works out for me though as I'm currently covering some additional post on Apartment Therapy while simultaneously trying to get into the swing of a new job in an office of people who don't understand anything about the process at the Dept. sigh...

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

damn has it really been that long?

Sorry folks- new job + weekend away with Mom + upcoming visit from husband = blog abandonment it seems!

I'm still reading (other people's blogs and books books books) but haven't felt the burning desire to write. So I'm out here, just taking a little break it seems until the spirit moves me...

Monday, July 20, 2009

Working 9 to 5 what a way to make a living...

I've been AWOL because I've been working like crazy at home and at work. This weekend I painted my mom's living room and hallway, and tomorrow I start a new job so the last couple of weeks at my old job have been crazy. Now I'm suffering from insomnia which is not good the day before I start a new job. sigh...wish me luck!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Don't need nothing but a good time...

Sunday night I joined friends at a real flashback of a concert: Cheap Trick, Poison & Def Leppard. It was magnificent- the music, the people watching, the memories...

Here's a visual from back in the day when Bret Michaels actually looked decent:

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Gaping Maw of Sinful Doom...

Absolutely wonderful story from the San Francisco Gate:

"I am sitting here right now smiling just a little, fondly recalling that famously controversial children's book, the one about the gay penguins.

Remember? That positively adorable pair of them, at the Central Park Zoo, who had adopted an abandoned egg and then hatched it themselves and were raising the chick together as a couple, even though the chick was clearly not theirs -- though of course how penguins can actually tell whose kid is whose is still a question. Never mind that now.

The best part: the story was absolutely true. The book, "And Tango Makes Three," was beautiful and sweet and touching in all the right ways -- except, of course, for the fact that it was also totally evil.

For indeed, the penguins in question, named Roy and Silo, were both males. This meant they were clearly in some sort of ungodly, aberrant homosexual relationship, mocking natural laws and defying God's will that all creatures only cohabitate with the opposite sex and buy microfiber sofas from Pottery Barn and eat their meals in silent resentment and never have sex.

Worst of all, the book depicted this relationship, this "family," as perfectly OK, as no big deal, as even (shudder) normal. After all, Roy and Silo didn't seem to give much of a damn. Tango sure seemed happy, what with not being left for dead and all. As of this writing, the Central Park Zoo has yet to be swallowed into a gaping maw of sinful doom. Any minute now, I suppose."

Full Story here

"Gaping maw of sinful doom" is my new favorite phrase- I'm thinking of getting a t-shirt made...one with cute little penguins of course!

Friday, June 26, 2009

"It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you"

Five years ago, Brad did me the honor of becoming my lawfully wedded, with the whole old-fashioned "til death do us part" line (even the priest who married us said he hadn't used the old wording for years!)

Among family and friends, and with me dead on time for perhaps the only time in my life, we exchanged rings and vows and made a lifetime commitment. Then we had a kickass party!

Our lives have been far from normal since then, and we still don't get to live together or see each other that often, but despite it all, I know we made the right choice, that we are better toegther (even when we're not together)- our whole is more than the sum of our parts.

I'm sharing some pictures below because I remain enamored of my wedding photos even five years later (thanks Greg!) and in case anyone else wants to check them out. Brad and I are together for the next few days, so my already sketchy posting might get even worse, but I'll be back eventually...

Happy 5th Anniversary Bradley!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

new levels of tinkering dorkiness



OK, so I did indeed manage to (1) fix an vintage 8-track player we inherited from my aunt, and (2) jerry-rig it to play my iPod. It is a nerdy insane thing, but it made me so very very happy. I've blogged about it over here:
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/how-to/how-to-give-new-life-to-vintage-tech-087722

Check it out for more details and some pictures.