I Made Me a Mix Tape!

I have been on this kick lately where I've been wanting to compile a cd with all the older cheesey love songs I remember from my early childhood driving around in the stationwagon and then minivan with mom. Back then men really knew how to woo the ladies. Here's my first pass. What do you think?

1. Lady, by Little River Band. With a kind of stalkerish video montage of Sharon Tate.
2. Meet Me Halfway, Kenny Loggins. The best part of this particular video is that it is a tribute to the love of Lucas and Sammi on Days of Our Lives.
3. We're All Alone, by Rita Coolidge. There was one of this by the guy that wrote it, but it was a little scary.
4. Fly Away, by Olivia Newton-John, and John Denver. I don't actually remember this song. But what a special moment for Olivia and John, there in the woods, in what appears to be their very own biodome, or something.
5. Annie's Song, by John Denver. As an added bonus, the video is an hommage to the friendship of Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews, the stars of one of my favorite musicals, Sound of Music.
6. The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers. Because what says love more than, "every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser, and the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep."
7. We've Got Tonight, by Bob Seger. You'll see that this song uses the classic act-like-you're-done-then-come-back-for-a-big-finish method. That's the technical term.
8. I Want to Know What Love Is, by Foreigner. This song naturally draws one's mind to that episode of Quantum Leap where our hero falls in love with a woman, reveals his True Self, and they have One Stolen Night of Bliss.
9. You've Got a Friend, by James Taylor. When I was little I think we had a tape with church music on one side, and James Taylor on the other side, and I thought that James Taylor sang church music, too. But what is more romantic than this song? What girl doesn't want to hear "you just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running to see you again." (I don't think boys actually say that in real life). Also there is a very nice, friendly looking yeti sitting next to James in the video.
10. Tiny Dancer, by Elton John. Obviously written about Elton's little lady. Or is it about Tony Danza? Phoebe would say the latter, as I learned the other day while watching my brand new cable with three interesting channels.

Also as hidden tracks there is this one. And this one.

Ahem.

I would like to announce that:

1. I filed my taxes last night. I think that might possibly have been the earliest I had ever filed taxes.

2. I have a cold and it might possibly make my nose fall off.

Hunks of Junk Sunk My Spunk

I have found a new hobby. Stopping junk mail. I have always had a deep and abiding hatred for junk mail. Or at least junk mail that does not come in the form of catalogs selling cute clothes or other fun things I can buy. Especially junk mail with forms asking for you to apply for things. Because everyone knows you are supposed to shred that kind of junk mail. Going to the lengths of shredding my junk mail takes way too much effort. It's exasperating. My momma taught me to shred anything that could get pulled out of my recycling and used to create a fraudulent account in my name. I am very diligent about not disposing of things with my personal information on them. And by dispose I mean pile up in my room until I have a ridiculous amount of paper piling up. Apparently I should have asked for a shredder for my birthday.

The parts that don't have your personal info on them could come in very handy, though. This idea would have come in handy a few months ago when K and I purchased our new salt and pepper shakers, and realized they had very small openings through which to deposit the salt and pepper. Even with this newfound knowledge, I have determined that I must renew my efforts to rid myself of junk mail. Why?

1. It creates clutter, in the form of large piles of things that I should shred, but can't because I don't own a shredder, so I have to take it to work or my parents in order to shred it real good.
2. It wastes my time. I don't want to open it, I don't want to shuffle through it to decide what to recycle and what to shred, and I don't want to reshuffle through it when I realize that I'm not sure if the pile I set aside is a shred pile or a recycle pile, or if I at some point mistakenly put shred stuff in with the recycle stuff.
3. All the trees are dying. I love me a good tree. They make things all naturey.

It's a Sickness.

And no, I don't mean my penchant for youtube, although K considers that a sickness. I mean my sudden LOVE of this song.

You can watch it here. I would embed it, but the stupid heads disabled embedding on this video.


I thought I had weened myself off country and sufficiently nurtured my disdain for it, but I am strangely captivated by this song. Possibly partially because my introduction to it involved the video, which has pretty dresses and castles and stuff. What more could a girl want?

Look How Far We've Come

While watching A Very Educational Oprah today, I am a more than a little appalled to be reminded that in 1965, it was necessary to introduce an Act (the National Voting Rights Act of 1965) to enforce the right of African Americans to vote. That was just a little over 40 years ago. That was over a hundred years after the 15th amendment, which was intended to give all men the right to vote. It's mind boggling to me to think that it took that long to truly secure them that right. In view of that injustice it's amazing that this week we inaugurated our first African American president.

Professor Oprah also taught me more about Martin Luther King. He really did have a beautiful way of speaking and inspiring and uplifting.


"I've been to the mountaintop." Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Speech




His last sermon played at his funeral.

Did you know that there were states that were resistant to instating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? It's true. The last holdout, according to Wikipedia, was New Hampshire in 2000. There have been states that have called it simply Civil Rights Day or Human Rights Day. And there are states that call the day Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day. Try putting that on a calendar. And according to my google search, it looks like some people over yonder still call it Civil Rights day. I found a current district calendar that has it marked as Civil Rights Day on their calendar.

I kind of get why certain states chose to focus on civil rights and human rights-- they were trying to focus on a larger issue, instead of one point in history (at least I assume their actions were well intended, instead of being slimy and despicable). Don't you think, though, that seeing the terrible cruelties at that time against African Americans (the footage of the mistreatment of the peaceful protesters Oprah showed us was disturbing), and hearing the inspiring words of that great American leader is inspiration to care more about the broader issues? I personally think that Americans are smart enough to figure out how his message translates to issues today.

If you haven't heard the full speech or haven't seen it in a while, it's worth the ten minutes.

"And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

I Am Not a Poll-aholic

But I did post another poll. I've noticed that the mood in my area is very upbeat and hopeful in the wake of the inauguration. Not only do most people I encounter seem to have renewed hope that everything will be okay with Iraq, with the economy, and with a myriad of other issues, but most people on the news and calling into the radio locally seem to be jubilant and overflowing with hope and good will. It almost feels like Christmas. So I just had to do a poll, because I'm curious what the feeling is in other places? I know I have at LEAST two readers, and they are both in other states. So what do you think? You can vote and also comment.

I personally am enjoying the feeling of optimism. I hope that this change in the mood of the general public extends beyond today or this week, and impacts the state of our country positively.

Is it just me...

... or is it possible that maybe these people should not be allowed on the stage together? Not naming any names or anything. Just saying.

They should have stopped with Stevie. Where's he been, anyways?

About the Mormons

If you haven't already caught the segment on Mormons on Nightline, here it is:

FYI: "Mormon" is a nickname, taken from the name of some of our scritpures, The Book of Mormon. The real name of the church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Make It Stop

I'm really looking forward to Inauguration Day. Actually, let me rephrase that. I'm really looking forward to the day after Inauguration Day. I can't take it anymore. Being that I just finally got cable back after MONTHS of deprivation, I thought I would at least be able to find SOME TV goodness. Turns out they cancelled goodness this week to make room for repetitive crap. I get that people are excited for the inauguration. I get that it's historic, and that for much of the country, it symbolizes a huge step toward being a Culturally Competent (nonprofit lingo) country. But seriously, do we need to analyze how grandma moving into the white house will impact the country, and which dog the Obamas should get (which, why should they get a token dog. That's stupid), and what food goes well with inauguration day, and what Kathy Griffin thinks about inauguration day, and how some woman's stupid dog chewed up her ticket because she was dumb enough to leave it where the yippee dog could reach it? Seriously? Is this where our country is headed? I am trying to watch some mindless TV, people. How can I do that when you talk about it ALL WEEKEND? Also, apparently a certain network plans to have the "most coverage of the inauguration," and they are so proud of this they are bragging about it. Um, unnamed network, I will not watch you tomorrow. Because I just can't take it anymore.

Helpful Technology Tip #1

When the cable installation guy asks you to see the modem so he can record the number, in no way does he mean "bring me the router." Surprising, I know.

My only defense is that K bought it and she forgot that she did NOT buy the one that came with a modem. So the fact that it clearly says "ROUTER" on the box- totally not a clue I should be expected to follow. Hey, I'm no Nancy Drew. At least not when I first wake up. Give me a few hours and a blueberry breakfast bar, and I do turn into Nancy Drew, complete with best friend Bess and boyfriend Ned.

Needless to say, the cable guy had to pull on all his professionalism not to openly point and laugh. He did give me one "you are a crazy fool" look, but he was trying not to. Fortunately he wasn't very cute OR charming, so I wasn't too terribly embarrassed. I guess there's the one benefit to not being sent the Hot Cable Guy.

Back in the World!

I am happy to report that K and I are now officially on the internet FOR REALS now. And by for reals, I mean that we are no longer borrowing internet, and are now the proud owners of a pretty blue router that sends shiney new signals of our very own straight to our purring, content computers. Also, there is a very limited amount of cable being transmitted to our tv's, which is perhaps not quite as exciting for K as it is for me, but she can't say she didn't enjoy an hour or two of mindless television today.

So this sparkly signal full of rainbows and delight means that the gaps where I was not posting because the darn borrowed signal was not working are hopefully all behind us. Mind you, this also means I can't blame the internet, and my lack of posts will possibly point towards the fact that I am, in fact, a big slacker. But I'm sure I will find a plethera of new excuses to fill the void.

P.S. You only have a day left to vote on my poll and I'm fairly certain I have at least THREE friends who read my blog. Come on, people.

Inauguration

So the "big boss" at my work has given us all permission on the 20th to take time out of our work day if we choose to watch the Inauguration, since it is an historic event. It is pretty exciting to see that we will have our first African American president sworn in. That says something good about where our country is going. Are you going to watch?

Snow Is Great. In Other Words: Stop Your Whining!

I've noticed that lately on MyFace, the little status bar should really just say "What weather would you like to whine about right now?" Before it was snowing in Seattle, and we apparently needed to complain about that. Even those who were excited the first few days were whining after not very long. Except me and K, that is. We wouldn't object to even more of it. Now we've moved on to complaining about the rain. Little hint: if the rain has come as a surprise to you, you probably shouldn't live here. It won't stop. And it smells great and makes things green. So stop whining. (And no, the people whining are not effected by the flooding).

While we were having the Big Snow of '08, I had the opportunity to sit in my comfy beanbag while I was snowed in and ponder the greatness of the Big Snow. There are many benefits to having lots and lots of snow, especially in the area I live.

1. They cancel school, and sometimes work, when it snows. Those of you in places that regularly receive real snow may laugh and mock, but we since we rarely get much snow, we don't have the kind of equipment to keep all the streets plowed and de-iced, and we have lots of hills. We get lots of black ice, and then there is much sliding. I will admit we have our share of stupid people that don't get how to drive on ice and snow. But it is very easy to get stuck on hills, and slide back down them, and so we close our schools. And I have many fond memories of snow days. So you can laugh and mock, because I know you are just jealous you didn't get as many snow days as I did as a kid.

2. Things slow down. During the days where it snowed heavily, there really wasn't a point trying to go anywhere. The roads were covered in snow, the hills were too slidey, and there were stupid people on them. Not worth the stress. So we stayed home. Instead of worrying about my huge to-do list, and going to work, and Christmas shopping, I suddenly had all of this time to fill. It made me ponder what the olden days must have felt like. I felt like I was this close to being able to go hang out with Fonz and the gang. They never had cell phones or jobs, and they were fine (Ok, some of them had jobs, but I think that was just for fun, since they didn't have them consistently).

3. "Town" gets quiet. When we did manage to get out of our apartment complex, the streets and parking lots were all packed with snow and ice, and so many people were staying home. As a result, we enjoyed some very peaceful shopping mere days before Christmas. There was, for instance, no one to witness my "I'm bored" dance while I waited in Lowes for like an hour on the shelving hour while K picked out some shelves for our apartment and calculated things and rang the little bell and got the boys to cut them. Not that I'm complaining. Our house has all kinds of pretty shelves now and I didn't have to think constructiony thoughts. (Shh... don't tell Dad).

4. Little kids bond with their parents. I saw so any whole families out playing together in the snow. I don't usually see so many parents out with their kids, especially on a week day.

5. Snow is pretty, especially from inside the window, near the fire, with my hot cocoa. The snow is clear permission to drink hot cocoa every day. And to wear sweats and comfy socks. And to watch K craft while I am lazy.

I'm No Snow Hater

Jumping Bean sitting on top of at least 19 inches of snow in the back yard.

When we had the Big Snow of '08 (which, by the way, actually ended up being a foot or two, which takes the fun out of calling it the Big Snow), there were a lot of people who started out excited, and then after a day or two, they were whiney. They wanted it to go away. To which I say, you big wusses!

Here in S******, where I am visiting Alice and the Mad Hatter (previously known as the W's) and family, they have received over two feet of snow in the last month. Alice measured today, and she informed me to today that they only have about 19 inches. This is low compared to what it has been. Rough life for them.

Tricycles make good snow measurement tools.

In celebration of the deep, deep snow Jumping Bean and I decided to have a snow war.

Jumping Bean winds up with a snowball.

Jumping Bean lies defeated in the snow, due to my amazing snow fighting

skills (or because I told him to so I could take a picture. I'm not saying which one.