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Thinking about films…
While I was driving home from my Great Uncle’s funeral yesterday, I was listening to “Fresh Air” on NPR. Terry Gross was interviewing Steven Soderbergh, who I really like ever since he directed ‘Sex, Lies, and Videotape’, which is one of those films I can watch over and over again. I haven’t liked EVERYTHING he puts out, but I do have a lot of respect for him. So he has a new movie coming out that is very interesting for two reasons. The film is called ‘Bubble’, and it’s about a strange love triangle “born in a doll factory” in a small midwestern town. The first interesting thing about this…
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A Day in the City
Saturday, after a lovely breakfast at Lafayette Circle Cafe, we drove into the city, with the intention of going to Morrison Planetarium. We knew that it was being redone, but weren’t completely clear on the details…Ted knew there was a new museum in where the old City Library was, but he had forgotten that we had actually gone there a year or so ago, and that it is the new Asian Art Museum. I remembered reading that the aquarium was near the Moscone Center, downtown, but wasn’t sure where. So we parked near Moscone, and went into the Metreon to use the bathroom and find out more. Of course, I…
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Blog For Choice Day
I found out about Blog for Choice at Angry Black Bitch. And there’s more here. I’ve been thinking about what to write about this….it’s an important issue for so many reasons…so here’s what I came up with. First of all, abortion is a terrible thing. I don’t care what you believe about when life starts, whether it’s with conception or with the birth of a live baby, or somewhere in between. The cold hard fact of the matter is that, if the pregnancy were allowed to continue, the most likely result would be a living, breathing baby. Stopping that in its tracks is tragic. That having been said, however, when…
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Pasta Primavera Cafe
Every once in awhile, I find myself dining at Pasta Primavera Cafe. If you haven’t tried PPC, it’s a small chain with 5 locations: San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Concord, San Mateo, and Dublin. There are two locations within a block of one another in Walnut Creek, on North Main near Treat Boulvard. One is Pasta Primaver Cafe, and the other is Pasta Primavera Too. Not long ago, they took the original Cafe and converted the second dining room into a sports bar type atmosphere. There is a big, flat screen TV, and a large full bar. I don’t like the change…it seems to go against open, semi casual atmosphere, and…
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Rockin’ Good News!
Some of you know that my mom has had some bad luck this past year…poor health, which led to a pretty invasive surgery, and the loss of her job, all in a few months time. Well, she called me tonight, and she has a new job! YAY YAY YAY! She starts Monday. She works/lives in Juneau, Alaska, and she’ll be working somewhere where they work with teenagers to create anti-alcohol media, at least that’s how I understand the job. YAY! Tomorrow was her last day of Unemployment Eligibility, so things were about to get a lot more stressful in her neck of the woods. Now, this past 6 1/2 months…
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Ashamed…
Tuesday night, Maya brought home a bunch of math homework. She hates math homework. I hate the barrier she puts up around her math homework, where she makes things so much more difficult than they need to be. She’s pretty good with the rest of her homework, but math, she simply does not want to do. She’s actually good at math, too, which makes it even more confusing for me that she dislikes doing the work so much. I was always good at it, and I liked it because I liked being good at it. So she was adding fractions, looking for the lowest common denomonator, and she decided she…
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Dining near Shadelands? Here’s how….
My last 3 jobs have all been in the Shadelands office park, in Walnut Creek. I’ve eaten a lot of lunches around here, so I thought I would write a guide to help you out, if you’re in the neighborhood looking for lunch (or dinner). Pizza Places: Mary’s Pizza Shack – Mary’s is a chain, but a small one. There are 15 locations, all in Northern California, most in Sonoma County. The service is usually pretty good, the bread they bring out is warm and crusty, and they serve a pretty good salad (good dressings, too). My choices for best lunches: Soup and Salad lunch special – Especially if the…
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Not sure why this bugs me, but it does….
OK, I am sure. Jane Austin was NOT a romantic (though you wouldn’t know it to watch the film adaptations of her books, especially the most recent adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”). Yes, her stories are love stories, but she was writing against the romantic books of the time. She is famous for her treatment of the “human condition”, and her heroines were often put in the position of balancing practical matters like financial necessity (marrying well) and other, more internal concerns, like morality, friendship, and dare I say it, love. Sounds like a romance, I know, but really, it’s different. I know, most people don’t care about this…about whether…
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Waxing Philisophical….
So I’m reading this book, “The Mermaid Chair”, and the protaginist has fallen in love at first sight…with a monk. And she’s already married…been married for 20 years or so, I’m guessing, and never thought about ‘cheating’ before. So while this certainly isn’t the first book I’ve ever read about, or partially about, infidelity, it has me thinking…about art. About how good art can take a person down the road not taken. Good books, good paintings, or sculpture, or music…good poetry, or films, or even TV…(tangent…sometimes I think novels and TV can be the best at showing you other lives…because they have time that poems, films, and paintings don’t have.…
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Happy MLK Day
So today is the day we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr….an amazing man in so many ways. Of course, some companies don’t give MLK day as a paid holiday…companies which shall remain nameless. My interesting MLK factoid is that my father was in DC visiting some friends when King gave his famous, “I have a dream” speech, and my dad was so moved that he went and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. I believe he was down south registering voters, mostly. Also found out recently that he was convicted of a felony once, for draft evasion in Viet Nam. I knew he had resisted the…
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No Pressure…
But if you’re interested, a certain Girl Scout is taking cookie orders. They used the money they raised last year to go to the Antioch Water Park, which was a lot of fun. But it’s not like it’s going for a ‘good cause’, a charity, or anything like that…so don’t feel pressured. But if you think you might buy them anyway, let me know what you want, and I’ll take your order for you. They are $3.50 a box. Available varieties are: All Abouts Cafe Cookie (new) Trefoils Do-Si-Dos (Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies) Samoas Thin Mints Tagalongs (Chocolate Covered with Peanut Butter) Lemon Coolers (low fat).
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Teaching Intelligent Design
Hot off the presses, the L.A. Times is reporting that a small school in Lebec, CA has begun teaching Intelligent Design in the guise of a Philosophy class. They’re getting sued by a small group of parents, represented by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. This is kind of a murky issue…my first reaction is that Intelligent Design belongs in Church, not in school. Then I read that it’s not a Biology class, or any kind of Science class…it’s a Philosophy class. That makes it murky. If you can’t talk about this kind of thing in PHILOSOPHY CLASS, where CAN you discuss it? But wait, there’s more.…
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Milano’s Pizza in Livermore
If you’re like us, you don’t really go for Dominos, Straw Hat, that kind of pizza. If you’re like us, you would prefer to find a locally owned and operated kind of place, with really yummy crust, great toppings, and a family friendly (but not insane) atmosphere. If you’re in Pleasant Hill, that place is Melo’s. If you’re near Shadelands in Walnut Creek, that place is Rocco’s. But, if you happen to find yourself in Livermore, that place is Milano’s (No website, but here’s a map). Did this place used to be called Stromboli’s? The address and phone number are the same… Anywho, it’s a neighborhood joint in a strip…
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100 Things About Me
Have you seen these on other websites? I’ve been enjoying reading other people’s “100 Things About Me”, so I thought I would join in the fun. 1. My favorite flowers are white tulips. 2. I recently turned 40. It’s ok, really. 3. My eyes are brown, except when they’re green. 4. I could eat pasta every day. Or at least, almost every day. 5. I love wine. And cheese nips. Together, as a snack. 6. Chocolate is fine, but I can live without it. 7. I don’t like being hot, so don’t ask me to go hiking in summer. 8. I like to swim. 9. I’ve known my husband for…
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Thinking about reading…
As you know, I turned 40 a week or so ago, and I received quite a few gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. Yay! Books! So now, I’m thinking about what books I might like to buy with said gift certificates. Any suggestions? I do prefer paperbacks, because hardbacks take too much space on the bookshelf. One place I like to look for ideas is the employee suggestion page for Powell’s Books. They have some good ones. Some of these are still hardbacks, unfortunately. Here are a few I’m thinking about getting: Love Walked In Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos’s first novel is the story of a 31-year-old café…