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Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty
Has anyone else out there ever found yourself up too late, watching TV, and flipping channels, and you come across the train wreck that is “Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty“? (Let me take a moment to tell you that in searching for photos of Shannen showing her big nasty gap-toothed smile that makes me think, ‘braces’, ‘cosmetic dentistry’, and ‘frenectomy‘, I came across the news that 90210 will finally be released on DVD this fall…oh, I’m almost tempted, but $62 for one season? WTF?)So, here’s the premise of her new show. Girl wants to break up with boy, but she’s such a LOSER FREAK that she thinks it will be…
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Getting Crotchety in My Old Age
I think I’m turning into a curmudgeon. I find that I often don’t trust the service offered by young people anymore. I’m almost ready to call them ‘whippersnappers’. Case in point, there’s a breakfast place we enjoy in San Ramon called Katy’s Korner. A few months ago, I discovered that they make really yummy Huevos Rancheros, which is three eggs, simmered in salsa, and served on a big plate with black beans, tortillas, sour cream, and maybe some avocado. Mmmmm. Yummy. The waitresses at Katy’s Korner all seem like they’ve been there awhile, they know what they’re doing, they know what they’re talking about. They’re not old, by any stretch,…
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Heads Up Again
Have you ever wondered why, if we’re all descended from Africans 2,000 generations ago, we look so different? How people could possibly have arrived in Australia soon after Africa, and much later in Europe, which is connected by land? Sometimes I sort of wonder these things, in the non-scientific way my mind has, like, hmmm…I know that “sun people” are dark, and “ice people” are light”, but how did this happen? Wait, what’s for dinner?” Hmmm. I could have called this post, “We’re all African”, “Walking for Evolution”, or “Science vs. Traditionalists”. Ted and I stumbled upon a great show on PBS tonight, called “Journey of Man“. Has anyone seen…
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Overreacting?
I expected the lead-up to 9/11, the 5th anniversary of September 11th, to be full of fear. I expected BushCo to try to scare me with talk of war and terrorism. Hell, right before the midterms, I wouldn’t be surprised if they found Bin Ladin AND the elusive WMDs in Iraq. What surprised me was watching Nova last night, which was all about the structural strength of the World Trade Center. I watched them talk about how the buildings did what they were supposed to do, to a point, and what went wrong. They talked about ways that the buildings could have been better designed. They said that about 10K…
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DVD Wrap-Up
We watched a few DVDs over Labor Day weekend…OK, just two. We watched disc one, season one, of “Weeds“, and an indie film titled “Duma“. I’m sure some of you fancy-pants folks have cable systems that allow you to have Showtime and HBO for less than $100 a month, or you have a dish, which we can’t get because of our tree situation, so you have been watching Weeds since it came out. I’m also sure that there are those amongst you who didn’t pretty much have it confused in your head with Deadwood, so you were ahead of me there, too. Being not into the whole western genre, I’ve…
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Portland Restaurant Wrap Up
Way back in November, when I started my adventure into this bloggy world, I had thought that I would mostly write about restaurants and maybe recipes, since I really like cooking and eating. 😉 That soon got to be pretty boring, however, so I moved on. Every once in awhile, however, I go to a restaurant, and I think, “I’d like to write a little review about that.” So, while we were in Portland, we ate at several restaurants, and I kind of intended to write about them all. But now I’m thinking I’ll just skip the places in Ashland and Eugene, and talk about the most memorable places we…
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Curse You, Blogger!
For not letting me in this morning, when I wanted to write all about how I had this crazy dream last night, when my (athiest) mother was guiding me all around Sacramento, feeding me pizza and telling me how important it is that Maya and I be baptized. (Ted was already baptized, so she’s not worried about him. And the pizza? The only other option in this dream was Olive Garden. I wonder what that means?) For all of you who, like me, are terribly bored and horrified to read about other peoples’ dreams, I suggest you send a check to Blogger, because the 12 hours since I woke up…
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Who Put the Labor in Labor Day?
We did, that’s who. When I think of labor day, my mind first thinks of the end of summer…the crisp fall weather on the horizon, the cool weather clothes, school starting up again, the return of the good TV shows… Then there are the Labor Day celebrations…one last bbq of summer, maybe a trip to the beach, the lake, or the shore… For some people it is a chance to get caught up with some chores around the house, to enjoy a 3-day weekend by sleeping in one extra day, maybe see some friends. I agree with all of these things. Not a thing wrong with any of them. But…
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I Need a Ticker
Have you seen the blogs, where the blogger has a little ticker at the top, or in the sidebar, wherever, to keep track of how much weight they’ve lost, or counting down to an important event? Well, they have them for health and fitness, too, and for all sorts of interesting and odd things. I signed up for Black Belt Mama’s challenge, but so far I haven’t been doing so great…so here’s what I need. I need a ticker to keep me honest, to remind me to: Floss my teeth at least 6 days a week (because you don’t have to floss all your teeth, just the ones you want…
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Perfect Post Award
I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and award a perfect post. My mom received a perfect post award last month, which was pretty impressive considering how new she is to this whole bloggy world, but not at all surprising when I consider her heart, warmth, and damned-smartness. The other place I’ve seen these awarded is over at Mom101, who is one of my biggest blog crushes. Love her. Her site is where I first heard of the concept, which originates with Mama K, the queen of Petroville. The problem of course is, how to pick one perfect post out of so many wonderful submissions? Every day I go and…
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Historical Fiction
Whilst in Portland, I read a short book titled “When the Emperor Was Divine“, by Julie Otsuka. At only 144 pages, it is difficult to believe that this novel can cover the subject of the Japanese Internment during WWII so well, so evocatively. I’ve never studied this chapter in American history, other than perhaps as a footnote to our study of WWII. Reading this book made me think of how effective a class would be that incorporated the dry facts of history with novels, which really open one’s eyes and imaginations to the experiences of those people who were alive at a particular time and place. What if, for example,…
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Heads Up
I’ve told you once before about my cousin, Tony, who is in prison, convicted of a murder that, tragically, he did commit. Tony has been in prison now for just over 30 years, and is a very different person than he was back then. Tony’s mom, my Aunt Lori, recently began reading my blog, and had emailed me to ask if I might print and mail Tony the 3 part story about when I met my father for the first time. I did so, and wrote him a letter as well. Upon returning from our vacation in Oregon last Monday, I found a letter from Tony, including some lovely pictures…
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Nietzsche
For those of you who read my blog, but maybe not Ted’s or Lura’s, I’m sorry to tell you that I lost my dog-in-law on Tuesday. (that sounds like she was my dog…she was my mother-in-law’s dog, but not her dog-in-law, or Ted’s dog-in-law, so that’s why I phrased it that way.) Nietzsche was a very good girl, the kind of dog who you dog-sit, and then think, “hmmm….maybe we should get a dog,” which is how we ended up with Genevieve. Nietzsche, you will be dearly missed. You’re such a good girl, and I’m so sorry that we didn’t get to say good bye to you. Don’t worry, either…
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Domo Arigato
I’m sleepy today. I’m kinda thinking that I would like to climb back in bed and have a nap. Working from home, with my ‘office’ in my bedroom, doesn’t help matters any. Being stuck on my project and sitting here waiting for a coworker to get back to me with some info doesn’t help so much, either. So, while I wait, I’ll fill my time by telling you about the concert that Ted and I went to last night. You’ll get his side on his blog, which will be full of interesting information about the band and all kinds of cool tidbits, I’m sure, so I’m going to be really…
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Happy Birthday Cherry!
Today is my dear friend Cherry’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Missy! Cherry is a wonderful, giving, (too) hard working, friend. She loves to cook for her friends, go out with her friends, hang out with her friends, whatever…just bless us all with her company. Thanks, Cherry, for being the wonderful person that you are. Now, if you look at Cherry’s post today, you’ll see that we celebrated Cherry’s birthday in style on Sunday at Fenton’s Creamery in Oakland, where the smallest ice cream they serve is still as big as your head. Maya and Jackie shared a 3 lb. banana split…(she has the ‘before’ photo on her post) But they finally…