Forever A Fangirl

Show us what the weekend had in store for you.

Brian's band

I'm going to assume that what was "in store" was the fun stuff as opposed to the mundane cleaning house, doing laundry, etc. which is a part of every weekend.

My brother-in-law was recently hospitalized with pneumonia. He recovered quickly and we thought it'd be good to visit him and his wife, spouse's younger sister. Brian made his fortune in his 30's and now can play in a band for fun--not worrying about making money. Anyway, he and his friends are pretty good at what they do-- a few original songs and then lots of cover stuff of AC/DC, Black Sabbath and so on. This is them on Saturday night in a little sports bar a couple of towns away.

Sunday was our usual mini golf outing.                         

                                                                                                                             

                                                   

The weather was fantastic and my younger son won. He was just two over par. :)

                                        

Spouse, me (No one ever takes my picture except me. Boo.)                                          

After mini-golf we got milkshakes to go at Steak and Shake and rode top-down in the GT home.                              

                                                                                                 

In the evening we watched the season premiere of Dexter. Sometime during Dexter's hiatus my son started watching the first season--which given the content is iffy but I'd rather watch it with him than him watch it alone (he is 15)...and it's a great show. Can you tell that I'm conflicted? My spouse says he likes Dexter because the Dexter character reminds him of himself. Should I be worried?

                                                                                                                      

What experience or moment in your life have you learned the most from?

Two experiences that are ongoing. The first started when I was 23- years-old and had my first child. As all mothers can attest to, becoming one changes you unalterably. It can't ever again be only about you. I was pretty selfless before I had my son but being a single mom--there's almost nothing left for you after you are done taking care of of your child--especially when you have no family around to lend a hand. And whether it sounds logical or not you are a better person for it.

Second experience I wrote about here three years ago. My second son figures into that one but it is not about him per se. August 19, 1998, the day before my youngest son's sixth birthday, I was dying of heart failure. It was brought on by a previously undiagnosed condition of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy which chose me for some unfathomable reason (bad luck? bad Karma? bad-thing-happening-to-a-good-person? It's truly a waste of time to ponder why. I did for about oh, five minutes maximum) as a good candidate to go to work on, and "it" almost got me.

My ejection fraction was down to 10%--kind of the cut-off point for sustainable life. A doctor to whom I will always owe my life, listened to my heart and though he was one of many who had done so over the preceding months as my condition worsened, he was the only one good enough to diagnose me properly. Within seconds, he looked me straight in the eye, and muttered a few words of reassurance as his expression told me that it wasn't good news. I needed to go to the hospital next door--now--he'd call ahead for me. I knew I was dying--I could not breathe without extreme effort, I hadn't slept in weeks and it was getting much worse by the day.

Even so, my son was starting school the following week and if I was going to be sick or worse, I needed to finish his back-to-school shopping. So before going home to grab an overnight bag and a toothbrush, I stopped at Kohl's department store and bought him two pairs of trousers. Unbeknownst to me, my doctor was telephoning the hospital, quite frantically checking to see if I'd been admitted yet. Well, I had to get my kid pants, especially since it may have been the last time I could. After I shopped for about 90 minutes, I went home, threw a few things in my bag, and headed to the hospital and into the frenzy of being a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit patient. What a long road lay ahead of me, but I couldn't have imagined. All I could think of was, If I die now, who will raise my boy?

Our Moral Footprint

It's been a long time since I've heard anything from former president of the Czech Republic,Vaclav Havel. A passionate supporter of non-violent resistance, he has been compared to both Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. One of his many accomplishments includes being a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia. As always, he infuses passion into his persuasion. If only the powers that rule the world would really listen.

September 27, 2007 Op-Ed Contributor NYTimes Online

By VACLAV HAVEL

OVER the past few years the questions have been asked ever more forcefully whether global climate changes occur in natural cycles or not, to what degree we humans contribute to them, what threats stem from them and what can be done to prevent them. Scientific studies demonstrate that any changes in temperature and energy cycles on a planetary scale could mean danger for all people on all continents.

It is also obvious from published research that human activity is a cause of change; we just don’t know how big its contribution is. Is it necessary to know that to the last percentage point, though? By waiting for incontrovertible precision, aren’t we simply wasting time when we could be taking measures that are relatively painless compared to those we would have to adopt after further delays?

Maybe we should start considering our sojourn on earth as a loan. There can be no doubt that for the past hundred years at least, Europe and the United States have been running up a debt, and now other parts of the world are following their example. Nature is issuing warnings that we must not only stop the debt from growing but start to pay it back. There is little point in asking whether we have borrowed too much or what would happen if we postponed the repayments. Anyone with a mortgage or a bank loan can easily imagine the answer.

The effects of possible climate changes are hard to estimate. Our planet has never been in a state of balance from which it could deviate through human or other influence and then, in time, return to its original state. The climate is not like a pendulum that will return to its original position after a certain period. It has evolved turbulently over billions of years into a gigantic complex of networks, and of networks within networks, where everything is interlinked in diverse ways.

Its structures will never return to precisely the same state they were in 50 or 5,000 years ago. They will only change into a new state, which, so long as the change is slight, need not mean any threat to life.

Larger changes, however, could have unforeseeable effects within the global ecosystem. In that case, we would have to ask ourselves whether human life would be possible. Because so much uncertainty still reigns, a great deal of humility and circumspection is called for.

We can’t endlessly fool ourselves that nothing is wrong and that we can go on cheerfully pursuing our wasteful lifestyles, ignoring the climate threats and postponing a solution. Maybe there will be no major catastrophe in the coming years or decades. Who knows? But that doesn’t relieve us of responsibility toward future generations.

I don’t agree with those whose reaction is to warn against restricting civil freedoms. Were the forecasts of certain climatologists to come true, our freedoms would be tantamount to those of someone hanging from a 20th-story parapet.

Whenever I reflect on the problems of today’s world, whether they concern the economy, society, culture, security, ecology or civilization in general, I always end up confronting the moral question: what action is responsible or acceptable? The moral order, our conscience and human rights — these are the most important issues at the beginning of the third millennium.

We must return again and again to the roots of human existence and consider our prospects in centuries to come. We must analyze everything open-mindedly, soberly, unideologically and unobsessively, and project our knowledge into practical policies. Maybe it is no longer a matter of simply promoting energy-saving technologies, but chiefly of introducing ecologically clean technologies, of diversifying resources and of not relying on just one invention as a panacea.

I’m skeptical that a problem as complex as climate change can be solved by any single branch of science. Technological measures and regulations are important, but equally important is support for education, ecological training and ethics — a consciousness of the commonality of all living beings and an emphasis on shared responsibility.

Either we will achieve an awareness of our place in the living and life-giving organism of our planet, or we will face the threat that our evolutionary journey may be set back thousands or even millions of years. That is why we must see this issue as a challenge to behave responsibly and not as a harbinger of the end of the world.

The end of the world has been anticipated many times and has never come, of course. And it won’t come this time either. We need not fear for our planet. It was here before us and most likely will be here after us. But that doesn’t mean that the human race is not at serious risk. As a result of our endeavors and our irresponsibility our climate might leave no place for us. If we drag our feet, the scope for decision-making — and hence for our individual freedom — could be considerably reduced.

Vaclav Havel is the former president of the Czech Republic. This article was translated by Gerald Turner from the Czech.

Go Cubs Go!!!

Quick! Name the American cities that have two baseball teams within their city limits. No fair Googling!

Okay. We have NY, LA, (sort of SF) and CHICAGO.  And we all know that the city that lives and dies by how well it's sports teams fare is CHICAGO. At least those of us who live in the Chicago area know this. Even if sports and baseball more specifically, isn't really your thing you cannot ignore it due to the sheer volume of people that are utterly invested in their team's current status.

I've never hung out with any White Sox fans but I've raised a true-blue Cubs fan (as well as living with a fair-weather fan who did not spring from my womb). So as a nod to Chicago--my favourite American City--and as a Go-Cubs!!! gesture and as a thank you to Steve Goodman, a Chicago local music legend who died of leukemia at age 36, I present a small Cubs-flavoured (modern) music lesson.

Dying Cub Fan- Steve Goodman

 

Excerpts from column By Eric Zorn (chicagotribune.com)

Twenty-three years ago, a dying Cub fan wrote and recorded an anthem to North Side optimism called "Go Cubs Go." (song follows article)

The song became a local sports standard, but it's enjoying a big revival this season as part of a new tradition after home victories. As the team exchanges high-fives on the field, the song plays through the public address system and fans at Wrigley Field stand and sing with the chorus:

Go, Cubs, Go

Go, Cubs, Go.

Hey Chicago, whaddaya say?

The Cubs are gonna win today

"There are tears in my eyes when they sing," manager Lou Piniella told reporters Tuesday, though he had the title as "Go Cubs Win."

Fans at home are now able to join in. At the All-Star break, the WGN-TV production team that oversees the majority of Cubs telecasts decided they'd patch into the PA system during postgame celebrations and simply let the images and music speak for themselves.

"It has a really good vibe," said TV play-by-play announcer Len Kasper, who, along with partner Bob Brenly, have agreed not to talk over the festivities. "We've gotten a ton of e-mail about it."

Bob Vorwald, executive producer of WGN-TV sports, said the "Go Cubs Go" moment, which has now spread to telecasts produced by Comcast SportsNet, "has taken on a life of its own. It's like a second 7th-inning stretch. People always want to know where they can get the song, who sings it and so on."

The singer is the forever boyish folk artist Steve Goodman. Goodman, a Northwest Side native who began regularly attending Cub games when he was 8, recorded "Go Cubs Go" in advance of the 1984 season, just months before he died of leukemia at 36.

Among the backup vocalists on the refrain are former players Gary Matthews, Thad Bosley, Jay Johnstone, Jody Davis and Keith Moreland -- dubbed "The Chicago Cubs Chorus" on the label.

Moreland, at it happens, shows up in the lyrics of Goodman's other notable baseball song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," dropping a "routine fly" at the "ivy-covered burial ground."

Goodman knew he was ill in 1981 when he wrote "Dying Cub Fan," a wry, bluesy salute to perpetual failure at Clark and Addison, though he always insisted it wasn't autobiographical. And it put him on bad paper with the Cubs' front office, which then (as now, as ever) was trying to shed the team's image as lovable losers...

Former head of promotions at WGN radio, Dan Fabian, says he realized that... Goodman had the musical bona fides. He'd been recording, writing and touring on the folk circuit for more than a dozen years, and was best known to casual music fans as the composer of "The City of New Orleans" ("Good mornin', America, how are ya?"), a Top 20 hit for Arlo Guthrie in 1972.

Fabian didn't have to ask twice. A week later, Goodman, for whom experimental leukemia treatments had failed, was back at the station, guitar in hand. The sunny, bouncy, infectious "Go Cubs Go" "flat out blew us away," Fabian said.

"For all its exuberance, the song was merely the alter ego of `Dying Cub Fan,'" wrote Clay Eals in "Facing the Music" ($29.95, ECW Press), a Goodman biography published earlier this year. "In its fatalism (`Dying Cub Fan') was as devoted and affectionate as `Go Cubs Go' was in its blind faith."

Team and station executives loved it and so did the fans, particularly when the 1984 team began more often than not making good on the song's promise that "the Cubs are gonna win today."

WGN released a charity single that sold 74,000 copies, more than any other album or song Goodman ever recorded, Eals said in an interview this week. "But as the team and his song were going uphill, Steve was going downhill. It became a race to the end of the season."

Goodman lost that race. He died on Sept. 20, 1984, four days before the Cubs clinched the National League East Division title with a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The only consolation was that death spared him the agony of watching the Cubs blow a two-game lead in the league championship series...

Meanwhile, one Cub fan who is particularly savoring the "Go Cubs Go" renaissance is Minette Goodman, the singer's mother.

At her home in the city she watches on TV at the end of games as the players dance joyously on the field where her son's ashes were scattered many years ago.

"It blows my mind," she said. "The Cubs win a game, and I get to hear my kid sing again. It's rewarding and comforting at the same time."

Go Cubs Go! (Written and performed by Steve Goodman)

Ponder, if you will...

The Plight Of The Loggerhead Turtle

As always, in matters of species preservation, our efforts look as though they’re directed at nature, when in fact they’re really directed at ourselves.

photo source

For a while during latter part of the last century, it looked as though the loggerhead sea turtle might really be making a comeback. But a new federal report — a 5-year review that was mandated by the Endangered Species Act — suggests that loggerheads, which are listed as threatened, have begun to decline again.

Their life-pattern makes them doubly vulnerable to humans. They lay their eggs on beaches, habitat vulnerable to development and disturbance, in places like South Florida and Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, and they spend their long lives at sea, where they are often fouled in fishing nets.

It is partly the longevity of these creatures that makes their death as bystanders among the global fishing fleets feel so tragic, a truly colossal waste of life. A loggerhead reaches sexual maturity at around 35. Some kinds of fishing, like shrimp trawl fishing, lend themselves to the use of turtle excluder devices, which help sea turtles escape from nets. But it takes regular enforcement to ensure that those devices are used, and enforcement is always in short supply when it comes to the environment. Much of the global fleet, which grows larger and larger, is beyond such enforcement in any case. For an oceanic species such as the loggerhead, these are incredibly dangerous times.

Like almost any threatened or endangered species, the loggerhead sea turtle raises a fundamental question about human will. The loggerhead has benefited from recovery plans, special legal status, the dedication of scientists and environmentalists and the general good will of the public. And yet all of this concerted human effort is required simply to restrain human economic activity — fishing especially — enough to allow this extraordinary species to share the planet with us. As always, in matters of species preservation, our efforts look as though they’re directed at nature, when in fact they’re really directed at ourselves.

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Mini Golf Redux

We three have played mini-golf every Sunday  for the past 5 Sundays. It's proof that the weather here in September is indeed, lovely (August was awful the two weeks we were here, and I've heard horror stories of floods, etc. for the two weeks we were not). I suggested we go because a. Each of us enjoys it which segues into b. it's a family activity which does not involves staring at a screen and, c. Due to my now more or less permanent position in the computer chair writing adverts and the posts between them, I could be sure of some outside time at least once a week.

I won for the first time last week (one week we had a three-way tie) so things are going well. :) I spoke with the proprietor of the mini golf place and he stated that he would be open through October--which dovetails nicely with my plan. He after all, has to make up for being closed for much of August.

Just for the record, I realize mini golf is not "golf." It's mini-golf. If you think it takes no skill or effort than to you I say, Ha! I don't care.

It is what it is. Fun.

Pick Five (Vox) Neighbours

I--very lucky person that I am--got a gorgeous new neighbour  today and the first thing I'm going to do now that I've visited her blog is to steal an idea for a post--which she "stole" as well so I suppose all is fair. :)

In her words:

"The idea is to pick 5 neighbors to refer to, to your other neighbors"

This is really hard as I just went through my neighbourhood as I'm trying to keep it manageable in that I want to be able to do justice to my being someone's neighbour, meaning I want to have time to properly visit. So I'm trying to keep the list small-ish--which since Vox has grown by leaps and bounds is really hard to do! So this is pick of only five of my neighbours but guys, my love and/or admiration extends to my entire neighbourhood!

Maya: passionate, heart of gold, INTELLIGENT but not in an intimidating way, loves and cares for/about the Earth's creatures, an outstanding individual.

Chaz: you always remember your first, right? Chaz was my very first neighbour (shame one you, get your heads out of the gutter) lol. I'm still reluctant to add neighbours as my fear of rejection gets in the way (but I am getting better). Chaz however saved me from taking that leap and added me. Thank you, Chaz. This guy is very smart and very much his own person. This at first kept me pondering, mostly thoughts like huh? and wha? but after about 2 months I finally "got" Chaz. Pretty much. He still keeps me guessing but the difference now is that sometimes I get it! I do and I feel so smart! A neighbour who can make me, even if it's just in my own mind feel like I "get it"--well he's pretty frakkin' cool.

Gunderson Bee:  She is so obviously attractive in so many ways. Brains, beauty, fierce devotion to her son, fearlessness in saying what needs to be said, a work ethic that puts me to shame, wit--the whole package. She's one of a handful of people that I feel the need to check in with when I first log on. She inspires me.

Jessica: Just barely met her. Doesn't matter. She'd got a good and kind heart. A generous spirit. And despite the fact that she just very recently suffered a tragedy that is the stuff of our nightmares--her sense of humour is very much evident. I look forward to reading more from her.

LE Sweetz: the "broke ass happy rockstar." Smart, witty, a foodie without the attitude and yes, she goes to more live shows each week than there are days in a week and then writes very entertainingly about it. She must not sleep. I live vicariously through her. You should, too.

The beep-beep-beep of Sputnik heard round the world

Fifty Years Since Sputnik

Fifty years ago, before most people living today were born, the beep-beep-beep of Sputnik was heard round the world. It was the sound of wonder and foreboding. Nothing would ever be quite the same again — in geopolitics, in science and technology, in everyday life and the capacity of the human species.

It was an unprepossessing agent of alarm. A simple sphere weighing just 184 pounds and not quite two feet wide, it had a highly polished surface of aluminum, the better to reflect sunlight and be visible from Earth. Two radio transmitters with whiskery antennas issued steady signals on frequencies that scientists and ham operators could pick up, and so confirm the achievement.

The Soviet Union had launched the first artificial satellite, a new moon, on Oct. 4, 1957. Climbing out of the terrestrial gravity well, rising above the atmosphere and into orbit, Sputnik crossed the threshold into a new dimension of human experience. People could now see their kind as spacefarers. Their enhanced mobility might someday prove as liberating as the first upright steps of hominid ancestors long ago. ect.

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This article and the diagrams as well put the tiny spacecraft Sputnik into true historical perspective--especially for those of us too young to be able to remember it as more than a history fact. Reading this you get a feel for what the "Red Scare" was really like to live though. We are paranoid today in many ways but during the space race era we never wavered in the hyper-intensity of our rivalry with Russians.

The USA finally won the space race  only to lose enthusiasm and let many grand plans for space development die on the vine.--Cyn

Which Super Hero Are You?

Your results:
You are Supergirl

Supergirl 80% Spider-Man 75% Hulk 75% Green Lantern 75% Superman 65% Wonder Woman 55% Robin 50% Catwoman 50% Batman 40% Iron Man 40% The Flash 35% Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.

LOL! Was there ever any doubt?!

"Borrowed" from Yayagirl.

Extra Extra!

Show us where you go to read the latest headlines.

Googleipage1

These would have to be what I'd call "the latest" headlines. I also get summaries of the NY Times in email form as well as Reuters in the am and pm. In reality however, I often delete Reuters emails before reading them because the news stories get picked up on the iGoogle page and by the time I get around to reading my email the emailed news is old. I tend to read the NY Times email more often than Reuters because I like some of it's columnists and many of it's feature stories, especially those on the arts.

Nothing beats iGoogle in terms of ease of use and customization--for my PC needs at least.

Googlei2

Hugh On Success (9/24/07)




It's always all. about. us.

Neither madness nor suicide should be romanticized

On September 11 of this month a blog acquaintance of mine and former friend to a number of my blogger friends and others, went with her husband to a Kawasaki dealer and purchased a pair of brand new motorcycles. In her blog on that day she indicated that  she would be later tonight "'flying' down to the beach."Woo! Hoo!"

At around 6 p.m. that night on a highway with her husband on his bike ahead of her, she attempted to manoeuvre a cloverleaf 33ft above the ground and instead crashed into a concrete wall and hurtled to her death.

At some point her spouse realized that she was no longer following him and returned to find her--dead.

This woman was age 40, had three children under the age of 13, and her last bout of mental illness was her worst ever she stated, with stroke-like reactions to the medications and "full-blown psychosis." At the time of her death she wrote that she still had lingering physical/mental/emotional effects  and her blog post was extremely hard for her to complete given that her mind would "drift."

Even so, somehow she managed to purchase and get on the back of a "donor-cycle," proceed to the nearest highway, and get herself killed.

In the wake of her death she's left behind her three kids, now alone with her spouse with whom she had an extremely rocky relationship that according to her, included "abuse." She also left a bunch of bloggers, some who considered her a friend, many more who were former friends to hash out responses to her demise.

Reacting in the extreme to a sudden, violent death is expected. Reaching out to her family, even the husband that we read of being so awful but who now has to take care of the kids on his own, and to her sibling who has created a memorial blog for her--all appropriate.

But after reading expression after expression of grief and sympathy and wishes that she's in peace and relief that she finallyis in peace,  today I read the worst--the very worst comment--ever.

And maybe, in the end, as she left the motorcycle and hurtled through the air all time and space did stand still, and she found in that brief moment the calm she so desperately craved. (my bold)

Whattttt??????!!!!!

Are you for real?

She has perhaps a second to think before she hit the ground and die and the very last thing she's going to think of is how calm she feels?

Oh, for gawd's sake.

And true to form, all the bloggers in mourning are praising the choice of phrasing--how lovely--how comforting-- for them.

That's what it's all about right? Making ourselves feel better.

It's always all. about. us.

Sometimes, with every fibre of my being I hate humans.

Your grief is nothing, okay? Nothing. You will get over this.

Her children, one of whom is just hitting adolescence--their lives are changed forever.

Please, for one moment take your collective heads out of your behinds and get a clue.

A seagull in Scotland walks in to a store and...

A seagull in Scotland has developed the habit of stealing crisps from a neighborhood shop.

The seagull waits until the shopkeeper isn't looking, and then walks into the store and grabs a snack-size bag of cheese Doritos.

Once outside, the bag gets ripped open and shared by other birds.

The seagull's shoplifting started early this month when he first swooped into the store in Aberdeen, Scotland, and helped himself to a bag of crisps. Since then, he's become a regular. He always takes the same type of crisps.

Customers have begun paying for the seagull's stolen bags of chips because they think it's so funny.

  Little bugger!

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LINK to Questions

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. Based on a tool developed by Minnesota Public Radio.

Joe Biden? I dislike the man intensely. Even if I could vote I wouldn't for a guy who lied in such a bald-face face way about his hair plugs. I hate being taken for an idiot. Plus he had other issues ( bigger, much more important in terms of truth-telling to his constituency) but I'll never forget the hair plugs that he "didn't get."

Select a Candidate

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. Based on a tool developed by Minnesota Public Radio.

	Joe Biden Score: 63	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security
	Barack Obama Score: 56	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security Line-Item Veto
	Hillary Clinton Score: 56	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security Line-Item Veto
	John Edwards Score: 49	Agree Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Social Security Line-Item Veto
	Bill Richardson Score: 49	Agree Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Social Security Energy
	Chris Dodd Score: 49	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage

Disagree
Iraq
Social Security
Line-Item Veto

Show us the best creative artist know personally (*vs. "know of" I would guess is the unspoken question).

The only creative arts-type person that I know in real life is in my real life--me.

This is my favourite Chicago public art piece~

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor

My favourite online art and sometime crafty person at Vox is Bad Mojo as she is awesomely talented.

6a00c22526068c549d00d09e76fa4abe2b

My favourite furniture maker in my neighborhood is Miss Scotch as she too is awesomely talented.

Lovechild2

http://missscotch.vox.com/library/pho...

My favourite person in the "other but still awesome" category is jayd as he as well is awesomely talented.

Still in Saigon

http://jayde.vox.com/library/photo/6a...

A really old colored pencil drawing. One of my favorite pieces that I have done.

I haven't sold anything on eBay in ages nor do I intend to but I was pretty thrilled to put up for auction a true First Edition hardcover book, (No D/J, unfortunately) East Of Eden by John Steinbeck
when I needed 100 bucks. I sold it in about 10 minutes. Everyone was happy.

Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hard Cover
Publisher: The Viking Press, New York
Date Published: 1952
Description: No Jacket. Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall 602 pages. "Bite" appears instead of "Bight" on page 281. Interior is clean, near flawless. Green boards have light rubbing and bumping to corners. Moderate chipping to top of spine.

East Of Eden by John Steinbeck.

It didn't look this like this. It had olive green boards instead.         

I've also read that East Of Eden was not popular when first release and that film gave it a second life.                                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                          

I didn't know this woman well enough to call her a blogging friend and that was completely intentional.

Initially, I added her to my Vox neighbourhood because she was blogging friends with many if not most, of my new Vox neighbours.

Within a week or so of me reading her blog I realized that she was extremely troubled--beyond her admitted long-term bipolar disorder. I realize bi-polar disorder is serious enough and with it comes many extremes but her extremes were extreme.

She angrily dropped out of Vox then dropped back in then did so again (deleting her blog each time). She came back again fairly recently though, it seemed rather tentatively. (Her blog here at TypePad remained though I'm guessing due to it being a paid blog that it won't much longer.)

Even her most ardent supporters now characterize her as someone who led a troubled life, wrestling with demons of her own making.

Still it was a "holy crap" moment for me when I read last night that on the very day that she blogged about feeling better, getting some work freelance writing and being so excited that she was getting a brand new motorcycle--on that very day she bought her new bike, she took it out on the highway, crashed into a concrete wall on the on-ramp to another highway and plunged 33 feet to her death between the two highways, down to the ground below.

Now the Vox community, which still feels small to me, is reacting and me being the student of human behaviour that I think I was born as am finding myself drawn to read the reactions of her blogging friends both current and past.

In a case or two her friendships went beyond blogging or IMing online but in the one case that I know of well enough--that friendship ended on a very unpleasant note. The person with whom she was an off-line friend has become over the past year, a cherished online friend to me. This lady knew her quite well and is having a really hard time with her emotions. One can't just ignore that  the woman who died on Sept 11 of this year has three grade school-age children, yet the woman herself hurt so many, probably herself more than anyone, it's quite sticky as to how one expresses condolences.

I'm still thinking on this one. Having long ago removed myself from her "neighbourhood," as it is called at Vox, makes it easier for me--nothing is expected--but there are outpourings of grief some members of my Vox neighbourhood and it's really hard to know what is the right thing--the most considerate and/or comforting thing to say. Saying nothing feels wrong and "I hope she rests in peace doesn't really seem to say it well, either."

The vagaries of online friendships continue to vex me.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

I'm looking forward to this film for a couple of reasons.

Karen Allen is returning as Marion Ravenwood.

I'm not sure what part movie demographics played but Ms. Allen like me, is a woman of a certain age and I have to cheer when an underused talent--she was phenomenal as Jeff Bridge's co-star in one of my fave films, "Starman"--gets a featured role in a blockbuster movie made by the Spielberg-Lucas team.

Two. Shia LaBeouf. First noticed him in "Holes" where he was great. Years went by and apparently I missed him in a Disney Channel series then he popped up in Transformers the movie recently and stole my heart. LaBeouf is an unconventionally cute, really good actor who oozes charisma.

Finally, I really like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland and I'm wondering if they'll update the ride as they did when they added Johnny Depp (three times!) to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme ride.

Oh, and there's Harrison Ford. The only movies I've enjoyed him in have been Indiana Jones. I hated him in Star Wars and I haven't liked any of the CIA-type heroes that he's played over the years. As an actor, Ford is as stiff as the wood he use to pound nails into as a carpenter during his "lean years." Wait, was he in The Fugitive? If he was, I liked him in that. But he was born to play Indy so for that and the reasons above I'm looking forward to Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (coming out May 22, 2008).

Cool. The New York Times online has gone back to free content.

I can read Maureen Dowd again.

When they went  to paid for their premium content a year or two ago, I said bad idea and not only because I could no longer read Maureen. I knew then that the trend was not towards  more paid content it was towards less. ABC news, CNN and others (AOL, anyone?) figured that out before the Times did but  why couldn't they have paid better attention and realized it was a poor choice in the first place? Don't they read the news?

I hated the Times Online when they'd tease you with a line or two of  a good story or opinion piece then say *buzzer sound* gotta pay to read more. And of course, I didn't pay. I'm going to pay my Internet fee, my blog fee, and then paid news content? Uh, no thanks. You guys do the work and go get yourselves some advertisers--for me to click past.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Teddy Mustang

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Muskoka Mocha Kolaczki

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

C McC

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Midnight Blue Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Leigh Toronto

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
McCCy

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Black Sombrero

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
James James

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Happy To Be Snickers

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Victoria Dalton

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Ouelette Oslo

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Civic Impatien

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + "ie" or "y")
Raspberry Tank Toppy

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Blueberry Pecan Cluster White Birch

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

The Photography Blue Skies Tour

It would appear as in many circumstances in life, that there are two signs to the "coin" which is the news that the Canadian and American dollars are now equal in value.

Over the years, our many trips north have been great bargains--though in the past 5 or so the disparity between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian loonie grew smaller.

The only area that we've consistently gotten hit in the pocketbook was at the gas pump. If I were paying those kind of prices given that Canadians possess some good-size petrol reserves (enough that they can sell to other countries) I'd be plenty miffed about that (it's said that it's due to taxes but still, c'mon).

--Cyn

September 21, 2007

Source

(excerpt)

The Canadian dollar has reached virtual parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years, a point of pride with Canadians who may still remember when their currency was nicknamed the "northern peso."

The loonie, so called because of the bird engraved on the one-dollar coin, was worth 99.9 U.S. cents in official bank trading Thursday, up from 98.6 cents on Wednesday.

To put it another way, one U.S. dollar bought $1.001 Canadian -- down from nearly $1.17 Canadian at the end of last year and $1.60 in March 2002.

The last time the two currencies were at par was in November 1976, the year Montreal held the Summer Olympics.

The American currency's supremacy had long made Canada a relative bargain for U.S. tourists and for Hollywood film and TV producers. Those days may be gone. Now, Canadians may be finding the U.S. to be a bargain.

The U.S. dollar's slide against its northern rival is part of a broad decline in the greenback's value worldwide this year. It accelerated this week after the Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates, making some dollar-denominated debt less attractive to foreign investors.

By contrast, Canada's dollar is gaining more appeal, thanks in part to the country's booming exports of commodities including oil, natural gas and gold.

In general, a currency's value reflects the health of the economy that backs it...

...But the loonie's strength also means pain for Canadian manufacturers by making their goods more expensive in the U.S., unless they accept lower profit margins.

The Canadian dollar's rise will make it tougher for the auto parts, fabricating, forestry and furniture sectors, among others, analysts say.

Reduced cash flow for those industries will lead to cost-cutting, which could mean more lost jobs and plant closings and less investment in research, said Jayson Myers, president of industry group Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

Especially when you are copying and pasting text from other sources, if you happen to have the "&"  (and) symbol as part of your text make sure you  write out "&amp" not just "&".

If you only write out "&" you may well throw off  the display of your page and your blog will look quite funky.

I only realized this today though I think various support people have tried to tell me so over the years. It just did not sink in like it should have.

I can now say with an air of semi-assurance that now I "get it."

In other news, my 15 y.o. son  (the gifted one) :) just today realized that "P.O." means post office, as in post office box.

Though it may be a cliche, one can indeed learn something new every day-- 'ya  just need to be listening for it.

Which Silver Screen Siren are you?

Katharine Hepburn
Take this quiz!

Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Ha! Last time I was Jean Harlow.

brought to you by Quizilla

Ha! Last time I was Jean Harlow!                                                                                                                                     Something's changed!

 

It's about time. :)

Love you guys!

I was just pondering  for a few moments the other day, wondering if I'd ever make it to being a Featured Blog at TypePad.

Honestly, given the vast quantity of TypePad powered blogs, including a number of well-known, heavily read ones, I thought chances were pretty slim but maybe one day...

So wow! I'm in some great company. :)

I love seeing the TypePad lily pad logo pictured in the url when I pop over to the saucy but not mean Go Fug Yourself (the Fug Girls got it going on!).

It's my desire to continue trying to amp up the quality on my Cyn City blog (as I have tried to whilst "monetizing" my blog in the past couple of months) (excluding the weeks in the wilds of Ontario w/ no Internet. Oi.).

Wow, and as I read further down in the email I see that I'm a getting some swag, too!

OMGosh. I feel like I won...something really good. :)

P.S. the kind folks at Six Apart have given me 6 weeks head's up on the feature. They are too cool for school as I've got some housekeeping to do around here before I start showing off!

:) I'm so jazzed:)

Tonight is Parent Orientation Night at the high school.

I hate to be a complainer but it's one of the silliest endeavors. And (woe is me) I have to give up lap swimming to attend.

I think the real point of Parent Orientation is to get parents to fork over bucks for the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and sports and such.

We always do--otherwise no student directory for us.

Anyway, the silly part IMO, is that we walk my son's schedule but only have 10 minutes to sit in each class whilst the teacher breathlessly does a summary of what the class is about.

Problem is is that some parents are stragglers. Unlike their kids, most of whom know to be seated for the bell, handfuls of parents always pop in a few minutes late, cutting into the 10 minutes allotment and --just as late kids to class would do--disrupting things, if even just a bit.

The one amusing thing about parent night is that my son felt compelled to phonetically pronounce each of his teacher's names today--twice--without any prompting from me.

For one, I'm probably not going to remember but secondly, the teacher's do introduce themselves and I'm pretty sure most of them will pronounce their own names right. lol.

I think I'm skipping first period to go check out the book fair. It's Gym and I always hated that class  ('cept for swimming) and my son doesn't even know the gym teacher's name.

Spouse can go to that one and we'll pair up for the rest.

C-ya!

Kudos to the guy with the gorgeous green eyes and the best acting chops of the original group of Losties actors that remain. They managed to give the boot to other fine actors including Harold Perrineau and Dominic Monaghan but at least we still have John Locke. Now if they would stop with the character assassination on the show. You are a good guy and you are not crazy.

Terry O'Quinn is in many ways the the heart of the ABC teevee show LOST. The first season of LOST was outstanding but it's been uneven since then.

Certainly his mad skills as an actor warrant his winning this year's "Best Supporting Actor in a Drama" Emmy.

He's looking pretty sharp here, too.

He was quoted in response to a query about how he felt about this  win as saying (paraphrase) "I'm happy because it makes my family and friends happy."

Cheers, Mr. O' Quinn. You are  one of the biggest reasons I've hung in with LOST even when I wanted to run away and soak my head.

Okay, yet another QotD attributed to...no one.

I've not ever blogged about regular season sports so I may as well do it once.

The best football highlight of the past week was undoubtedly Devon Hester's 73-yard punt return for a touchdown in the the defending NFC champions Chicago Bear's win over the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-10,

And just for the helluva it:

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Download bears.rm

*  This should play in your Windows player.
 

I'm getting obsessed with blog hits again.

My Technorati rank dropped and I actually cared before asking myself why.

Not why it dropped. Why I care.

I'm fairly certain that it's dropped and may well continue to do so because of all the adverts I'm writing.

My Google rank if I'm to believe other obsessed-with-their-ranking types may drop as well and really, that's the number that matters. Google rank is much like social status. It grants access to a number of things that are all based on making money.

So in an effort to curb my unhealthy behaviours somewhat, I'm heading over to Technorati and pulling my blogs down asking them to remove me from their directory.

I've learned a lot in the past couple of months about blog rankings though I'm far from being an expert. Keeping with the social status comparison, the more people that know you --the more your blog is worth. Mutual linking is a good thing if you are both high-ranked. If you are lower-ranked being linked to a higher-ranked blog will pull you up. Lower- ranking blogs can have a negative ranking effect on the high-ranking blogs. And there are a lot of folks out there that are rabid about linking.

The blogosphere seems to morph in a much more accelerated fashion here in the throes of Web 2.0. Perhaps that is due to all the  scoring-keeping that's being done.

I dunno. I'm just going to keep plugging away.

Recently, I've come across a small handful of bloggers cataloging their scars, both within and without, in extraordinary detail.
It has reminded me of a simple exercise that I was asked to engage in as a post-graduate student of clinical counseling.

One way to ascertain a client's world view (or the colour of the lenses through which she sees the world), is to ask her to recall some events that stand out clearly in her mind, that had happened to her before the age of six, as well as the emotions attached to them. It is most helpful if the client can recall at least five or six separate events.

The first event that I can recall took place during the summer I was four years old, as my mother and I were traveling in our red Austin Mini from our home in a Toronto suburb, to the family cottage in the Haliburton Highlands -- a trek of about 140 miles. At some point in our journey, my mother became so annoyed with my incessant chattering that she stopped the car and put me out at the side of the road-- a remote two-lane highway edged with thick, forested hills with huge walls of granite in the places where the highway had been carved out of the countryside.

I remember being very cross with her, and I also quite clearly recall hoping for a policeman to come along, as I would flag him down and boy, would she be in big trouble.

In fact, I don't recall any cars driving by in the 20 minute period that I first stood then sat alone on a boulder, about 20 feet back from the side of the highway. When my mother returned she got the quiet she wished for, as I seethed silently for the remainder of our journey on the hilly, twisting highway leading to the cottage.

An interesting point where her and my recollections diverge, is that I recall the period that she was "missing" as being about 2 hours. She says it was twenty minutes. I guess we'll never know, but I do think it's plausible that upon backtracking, she drove by me by a number of times not seeing me because I was mostly hidden by the ground cover. I may have wanted it that way to spite her.

Though the time frame may be in dispute, I recall the rest of this incident with crystal clarity from the time she put me out of the car, until we reached the cottage ("safety," in my mind). My most potent emotions were feeling rejected and feeling angry. My mother literally tossed me away and as the minutes went by, I felt quite sure she would never return.
So what piece of my world view did I begin to acquire all those years ago?

Fear of rejection and fear of anger and avoidance of both, whenever possible.

This is just one incident, hardly enough to explain who I am or how I arrived at this point, but in continuing the exercise, other facets of one's personality can become quite clear. This little exercise is not meant to sum up one's life story. It is simply one of many useful tools to better understand yourself.

When the minor symptoms first appear she denies them, downplays them, brushing them aside

She refuses to believe that Sickness shall soon be her closest companion

When she can so longer deny that Sickness has a stronger will than she does anger and frustration settle in and become her companions as well

But they are a burden too heavy to carry; after a short time Sickness overwhelms them, too

After several days of being confined to her bed she realizes this and begins to bargain

If I can only be well be by tomorrow I will...

But Sickness has taken what it wants--her health

It wants nothing else

The understanding of this sinks in; there is simply no bargaining to be done

A sense of defeat overcomes her, self-pity and short temperedness  set in enveloping not only her but her loved ones, too

Soon it's apparent that those she loves are sick of her being sick; the concerned inquiries offering assistance are now tired, thinly-veiled exercises in basic care

Anything special about this situation has passed

Finally, as Sickness continues to colour every waking moment she accepts the reality that she has no control

None

When Sickness is done with her, it will move on

And she will gingerly pick up the pieces and return to her life

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Like virtually everyone following the search for Steve Fossett, survival expert Kurt Kuznicki hopes the missing aviator will be found alive. But like other experts, Kuznicki doubts that will be the case.

  Aviator Steve Fossett, seen in a 2005 photo, has been missing since September 3.

"As kind of an adventure guy myself, I hope the other way. But I would say it would be really, really tough," said survival expert Kurt  Kuznicki, a member of the conservation group Friends of Nevada Wilderness.

Fossett, 63, a former commodities trader who was the first to circle the globe solo in a balloon, was last heard from September 3 after taking off from a private airstrip about 80 miles southeast of Reno. Authorities believe he was carrying only one bottle of water.

Fossett's plane was equipped with an emergency beacon, and he was wearing a high-tech watch capable of generating a similar alarm. Searchers have received no signal from either device, and haven't spotted a lower-tech distress signal such as a fire or massive X made of rocks or sticks.

"There's no news of him signaling for help and that's a problem," said David McMullen of Berkeley, Calif., a leader of the hiking group Desert Survivors, whose members frequently venture into some of the country's harshest terrain. "He's either so injured he can't signal or he's perished."/endEDIT

This just makes me sad. I can't help but wonder if Steve Fossett, or at least his disappearance, is going to be remembered like Amelia Earhart's--forever a mystery with not a single physical clue.

It seems that since this was  not a planned adventure with outside knowledge of his exact flight plan and because he had no emergency supplies in his experimental aircraft that even if he lived through the crash he'd have had a limited window of  survivability.

And lets face it, it's been weeks. If  he'd survived one would think that he'd have constructed some type of marker so that in the hundreds of man hours spent seraching some clue to his whereabouts would have turned up.

It seems the Fossett family has unlimited financial resources both personal and through wealthy friends but how much longer is long enough?

If he's not soon found it's going to be a very tough call.

Source

By Steve Friess 09.13.07 | 2:00 PM

LAS VEGAS -- Hopes may be fading for finding adventurer Steve Fossett alive, but the search for the missing adventurer has been intensified, with a high of 36 planes in the skies looking for him Wednesday and Thursday morning.

The three dozen planes are staffed by personnel from five wings of the Civil Air Patrol and National Guard officers from Nevada and California. On the ground are sheriff's deputies from six counties in both states.

...the mammoth search is easily the largest most have ever seen in this region.

Fossett's wife, Peggy, and the couple's wealthy friends have donated planes and personnel. Mr. Fossett disappeared during a weekend visit to a posh ranch about 90 miles southeast of Reno owned by their friend William Barron Hilton, the hotel magnate...

The resources available may be exceptional, but the length of the search and the involvement of so many agencies are not, said Civil Air Patrol Acting National Commander Brig. Gen. Amy Courter.

Thus far, the search has failed to turn up the 63-year-old record-setting aviator, but it has located seven previously undiscovered plane wrecks in the rugged mountains. Searchers... did not investigate them immediately except to determine they weren't Fossett's blue-and-white single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon...

...as many as 50,000 volunteers are scouring satellite images of the region...

...the Fossett search also could go on longer than others because the pilot is known to have excellent aviation and survival skills. Fossett is a lifelong Boy Scout who is president of the National Eagle Scouts Association.

"When you have someone at Steve Fossett's level with such incredible training and talent, we know he has a longer chance of survival," said Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan.

 

I had a great day! It was beautiful again outside--sunny and crisp. In the morning I had my coffee on my little deck in back and did an mini pedicure just so I could stay outside longer. Then I went top-down to the dentist and I left with flying colours! On the way home I ditched the rush-hour traffic and ducked into an acquaintance's little consignment shop and shopped for the first time since May (not including stops on vacation and online). I found a roomy ridiculously huge leather handbag--black with brown trim and a small silver heart embellishment.I found a wallet that's a near match, too. I love to buy throw pillows at this shop 'cos I can buy them for a song and after I've tossed them in the wash--volia! I've sorta redocorated. Plus I love to have a ton of pillows on my bed and for getting comfy with when I settle in for a movie or (much more rarely) a teevee show. I found some other things too but they are more practical. And I had a nice convo with the co-owner who I've not seen in way too long. Then I came home and took care of some gardening. (Okay, I watered the Impatiens--they were wilting in the sun.) And when I came inside and opened the mail I got a nice surprise and props from the company I do paid posts for. Neat-o!

And now it's 3 a.m. and I'm going to keep reading Harry Potter V. I'm enjoying this one the best so far  (of 5, 6 & 7).

Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.

What's the current hottest restaurant in your city?  Have you tried it out yet?

Wildfire

I live outside Chicago. There are countless fabulous restaurants there as most people know.

However, my "village," Schaumburg wishes to appease the multitude of suburbanites who do not want to brave the ever-worsening traffic to drive into the city and therefore has quite successfully lured at least a dozen uber top-notch restaurants out here.

Schaumburg came into it's own because in the 1970's it's then-mayor decided to put his village on the map by allowing construction of the country's biggest mall. It was and continues to be an enormous success with folks coming in buses form other states to shop here. Further, the tax revenue generated by Woodfield Mall allowed the village to cut property taxes to the lowest in the area (though sales tax is a whopping 8.25%).

Schaumburg's latest desire is to become "Chicago Northwest" and to that end they have built a large convention center/hotel and as a result many new (to us) restaurants have popped up.

I chose Wildfire even though I do not know if it is the "current hottest" restaurant--I've just wanted to go to the Chicago one for some time and now like a good little suburban lemming I'll probably go to the local one rather than the city--hey, you don't have to pay for parking here--that will at least buy me dessert!

From reading the reviews, Wildfire is still pretty hot (pardon the pun) and the wait times are pretty bad. It's also very pricey so it's likely when I go it'll be for lunch on a Sunday in an effort to avoid sticker shock and the crowds.

I must be honest. I had to look up a couple of the words on this inventory which rather indicates that it and me are not well-suited. There was a good reason I failed Philosophy class in college at age 17 when I first dipped my toes into it.

I like to ponder but I'm just as apt to drop an idea if it holds no appeal to me or I see no intrinsic value in further exploration. Obviously, I'm lacking in my knowledge of religions, philosophy, and many events in the history of civilization. When questions in these areas came up on the inventory, if I could not fully understand the question, I answered with a neutral.

I've never considered myself any kind of authority on religion v. science. I tend to have opinions on an issue-by-issue basis and I hate all or nothing questions--which made up a large piece of this inventory.

What is Your World View?

You scored as a Cultural Creative

Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative 75% Postmodernist 56% Existentialist 44% Idealist 31% Modernist 25% Fundamentalist 13% Romanticist 6% Materialist 0%

1. Where were you at 3:02 AM this morning?
In my bed reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'm reading the series backwards from HP VII.

2. How did you get the idea for your user name? (Caprica)
It's the name of Canadian actress Tricia Helfer's character on my favourite teevee show, Battlestar Galactica.

3. What song are you listening to right now?
Not. I need to get some new tunes.

4. What color is your cell phone?
Powder Pink. It was that or black. My old one was black. That's what you get for free. :)

5. Do you click on the pop ups?
Nev-ah!

6. Do you own an iPod?
Yes'm

7. What was the first thing you thought this morning?
Geez, I'd better get some sleep.

8. Hallelujah?

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hal-lay-loo- yah!

9. What did you do last night?
Read news, blogs, and gossip online, wrote a paid advert, read Harry Potter.

10. What do you hope to do this weekend?
I am going mini-golfing at Jungle Safari (woo). Until the weather gets too cold, I've made it our weekend family thing. When it gets too cold/mini golf closes it'll be IKEA and or hitting second hand stores.

11. What are the last two digits of your cell phone number?
63

12. What was the last thing that you had to eat?
A creamsicle.

13. Who is the last person of the opposite sex that you hugged?
My younger son.

14. What was the last movie you watched?
Blade Runner: Director's Cut

15. What do you dislike at the moment?
I went lap swimming and got chlorinated H2O in my sinuses. It's kind of burning.

16. What food are you craving?
Nothing, now I've had the creamsicle.

17. What did you dream last night?
I almost never recall my dreams. I'm sad about that because I use to.

18. What's the last TV show you watched?
Weeds

19. What is your favourite piece of jewelry?
A pair of pseudo Celtic earrings that my spouse bought me at Scottish Fest this summer.

20. Name 1 person who is most like you?
Probably my mother.

21. Do you always lock your door?
Yes.

23. Are you on any medication?
Oh, yes. Nothing fun, tho'.

24. Do you like someone?
I like more than one person.

26. What is your favourite frozen treat?
Muskoka Mocha Ice Cream from Karwartha Dairy in Minden, Ontario, Canada.

27. How many piercings/tattoos do you have?
Standard pierced ears.

28. Where's your favourite place?
In the water.

30. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss?
The Whiz Clan.

32. Do you care what people think about you?

Only people who matter to me.

33. Have you ever done something to make trouble?
My middle name is trouble.

34. Where do you wish you were right now?
Somewhere warm and beachy.

35. What is your font colour on AIM/MSN?
I don't chat.

36. Where do you live?
Scumburg.

37. Have you ever moshed?
Nope.

39. Do you like the person who posted this last?
Yes I do. She's a rockstar, baby!

40. What are you going to be when you grow up?
I refuse to grow up.

41. What is the thing that you would most like to change about you?
I'd like to be less anxious and high strung.

42: What is your favourite symbol?
Yin-yang or a non-anatomically correct rendering of a heart.

43. What do you smell like right now?
A neutral clean--I just showered.

44. What is your favourite colour?
midnight blue

45. Do you like mustard?
Dijon on some things-yellow, never.

46. What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
Get off the computer, get out of the house, try to go top-down motoring.

47. Would you ever sky dive?
No. Never. It takes more money than brains to do that.

48. What colour is your pillow case?
It varies. Right now a muted lavender.

50. Who was the last persons stomach you saw?
My own. Ack!

51. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Depends on the person. Yes, if I love them.

52. Have you ever been to California?
Lived there. Visit every other year.

53. Did you ever think to yourself and wonder if you're really real?
Do you mean have I ever taken magic mushrooms? I don't remember.

54. What celebrities do people say you look like?
Some chick from Grey's Anatomy.

55. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but don't?
No one says they'll call.

56. Are you a jealous person?
I grew out of it romantically. Sometimes though in other situations.

58. What was the last thing you typed?
Sigh. An advert.

59. Do you ever feel guilty about eating meat?
Not that fond of it. Not guilty.

60. What are you going to do after this survey?
Take the dog for a walk.

Who would you trust with your life?

I think that this question boils down to who do you really and truly trust?

I interpret "trust with your life" as meaning they'd be willing to sacrifice their own for mine. And that's asking a lot.

I'm going to take my parents out of the equation because I think they should put one another before me.

Same for my brother--his spouse should be put ahead of me (meaning I can't justify him sacrificing himself for me and leaving her behind). I say this even though as an elder sibling I would've jumped in front of a truck for him. I think that would be a fairly normal thing to do under the worst of circumstances.

So as relationships have shifted with the addition of family members I'd say: my youngest son, my spouse, and my eldest son.

...was a beautiful day.

Had some errands and went top-down, enjoying every wind-blown minute.

Came home and really didn't want to stay inside with such bright and inviting weather so I went out back and re-potted a house plant--actually the snake plant cutting that I'd taken from my folk's house last April. It wasn't getting enough drainage so spouse bought it a new pot and hopefully it will thrive. I'm a bit nervous as my father has proclaimed that he wishes to kill the very large "mother" plant which was bought by my high school sweetheart for me when it was only about 6" tall. The old fella has never been too keen on caring for plant life or vegetation of any kind for that matter.

While I was outside I had a  look at the state of our gardens. The annuals--the begonias in particular are faring very well.

The Impatiens are also looking pretty good.

Sadly, the Brown-eyed Susans are quite dead, awaiting removal by spouse though he says the birds like to eat the seeds so he's leaving the "corpses" out for a bit.

What shows are you looking forward to in the new fall TV season?

Um, one clue would be in my one of my screen names: Caprica.>>>

The Shows:
Razor, is the name of the first two episodes of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica. The rest of Season 4 of BSG doesn't begin again until next year. :sob:

 

Scary/sexy Admiral Cain of Battlestar Galactica: Razor



Dexter (on Showtime)
I'm already watching Weeds and Dr. Who.
Oh, oh! EDIT/ Heroes, how could I forget Heroes?

Dirty Sexy Money starring Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) looks like it has potential though I would follow Peter Krause just about anywhere even in this case, to network television.

...Okay, I just perused the fall line-up and Reaper seems to have potential, though it looks like an outright rip-off of Brimstone (1998) the hastily cancelled series starring Peter Horton as a guy who has to chase down and send back escapees from Hell.

Okay, let's see what else...

That's about it. Let me know if something good comes along, k?

When the iPhone first became available a bit over 2 months ago and even before in the run-up to it's launch, there were grumbles that owners of the brand-new phone model would  have no choice but to use the AT&T  telephone service due to an agreement the companies had.

Even so, these folks with an extra $500 in their pockets dropped it on the first release of the iPhone  only apparently, not to read about how one uses the iPhone  especially when one must resort to using "roaming" like say when one goes to Italy, Croatia, Malta, Ireland, England, Dubai and Bangkok. *eyeroll*

A case of too much money/too few brains? You decide.

Below are several sad tales of humble iPhone owners and  the  most horrid of experiences they've endured due to their iPhone.

Roaming Charges!

Source

Because he didn’t deactivate the feature that automatically checks for new e-mail messages, during Mr. Dingman’s trip through Italy, Croatia and Malta, the phone went to retrieve e-mail more than 500 times.

...Other iPhone users have felt the sting of high roaming charges with their iPhone, too....Many of them are complaining to the company or on blogs.

...Dave Stolte did that before taking his iPhone with him on a two-week trip to Ireland and England in July. He signed up for a roaming plan, but he said the customer service representative’s explanation of the charges was unclear. His bill was $3,000.

When he was offered a $100 credit, Mr. Stolte said he felt insulted, and he sent letters to the chief executives of AT&T and Apple. The story of his bill quickly spread around the Internet. Before long, he was given a full credit.

...Aaron Oxley took his iPhone with him to London, Dubai and Bangkok...he always made sure he was in an area with free Wi-Fi when he used his iPhone to access the Internet...when Mr. Oxley’s AT&T bill arrived, the data charges totaled $300.

...Mr. Dingman said it didn’t occur to him to disable the e-mail feature. AT&T eventually reversed the charges.

How much you want to bet that the "early adopters" of the iPhone are terribly upset that Apple has dropped the price of their expensive toy by $200?

How dare they!

Really beautiful weekend weather. September and October are my favourite months here.

Right off the bat--wants a mulligan.                                                                                                                                                                  

                     

 

So spouse and son tied at 45 (going for 41 or under). I was not in the running today but we had a three-way tie last time (47).

I want to keep going unti lthey closed for the season and I'm hoping because they were largely rained out in August that we might have a bit of decent weather and we'll keep at it for a bit. Otherwise it's back to the Harper College pool. We're doing that anyway tomorrow night. I really dislike going from swimming outside to in but such is life in this wonderful state. ;)

I just recently got turned on to   started enjoying "Hugh's" widget in this blogs's right sidebar only to find  after clicking the widget to enlarge it that there is much more to "Hugh" than business-card-size hand-drawn cartoons. :D

If you enlarge the "safe-for -family" widget-cartoon you can see some of Hugh's "other stuff."

Like:

GOOD IDEAS ALTER THE POWER BALANCE IN RELATIONSHIPS, THAT IS WHY GOOD IDEAS ARE ALWAYS INITIALLY RESISTED.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.

The two are not the same thing.

We all spend a lot of time being impressed by folk we've never met. Somebody featured in the media who's got a big company, a big product, a big movie, a big bestseller. Whatever.

And we spend even more time trying unsuccessfully to keep up with them. Trying to start up our own companies, our own products, our own film projects, books and whatnot.

I'm as guilty as anyone. I tried lots of different things over the years, trying desperately to pry my career out of the jaws of mediocrity. Some to do with business, some to do with art etc.

One evening, after one false start too many, I just gave up. Sitting at a bar, feeling a bit burned out by work and life in general, I just started drawing on the back of business cards for no reason. I didn't really need a reason. I just did it because it was there, because it amused me in a kind of random, arbitrary way.

This article  can be seen in whole  here.      

What one year of your life would you like to re-live, if you were given the chance? 
 

Odd question. I don't ponder going back in time. Sometimes I get stuck in neutral but generally my focus is ahead of me--not too far--just enough so I know where/what to shoot for.

If I must answer, "What year of my life to re-live...? "

The last one immediately prior to my death.

Ya' know. Just in case I have some unfinished business. *wink*

Explanation of post. :)

I finally got the "calm" part of this video clip turned on it's side so it viewable without getting a crick in your neck! The simple answer was:

On Windows, follow the instructions at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0075.mspx#EPD. Then save the file to your computer, using any of the high quality movie presets, and upload this rotated file.

Thank goodness this worked as I usually shy away from seeking help from the Microsoft website...but all the alternatives to getting a video shot in portrait displayed horizontally had me changing the file type first after downloading software I've never heard of (not that I should have) and only then being able to flip it to  a non neck-impairing angle.

I can't imagine that I'm one of few people, given the proliferation of point and shoot cameras with a video feature, that has gotten bold enough to film 30 seconds in the non-standard (though very commonly used) photographic format.
The thing I keep reminding myself is that this is videography, however primitive my equipment, not photography which is where I plan to stay in the future, in deference to my own sanity. :)

Permalink

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
  - Stephen King

I'll go a step further: I think much of his writing reflects this even though I do think he's conceived some great stories.

He's just not a great writer.  And that's okay.

King books or stories/films I like:

I'm not sure if the book "Carrie" was any good and the same goes for "The Shining." They've both had such exposure that I may be getting my film "wires crossed" on them. Still, both stories were good.

But then there's the bad, the unreadible even. I'll put up a few of my not- favourite King books when I come back and edit this. At some point. la. la la.

These photos were taken at Maple Lake over Labour Day Weekend (Sept, 2007). My younger son tells me that Canadians initiated Labour Day before the United States. I do so admire Canada's ability to just say "no" to work by having "civic holidays." We took advantage of one in August. :)   

   

       

               

                        

                   

            

               

Misty Morning

            

            

   

   

       

               

                        

Went down to say hello to the Lake at about 4 a.m. It's a ritual/I couldn't sleep and whilst walking the shoreline, startled this little guy out of the water and onto the beach. He's about the size of a big bug.                  

                           

Leopard Frog

            

   

       

               

                        

                     

            

               

Sunset Fishing

This little row boat is weighted down by many kids!

            

            

   

 

       

               

                        

                 Sunset Fishing                     

        Same as above photo with histogram adjusted to better see cabin/woods detail   

 

            

   

What decision changed the course of your life?

I can answer this one of two ways. First, recount the impact someone else's decision made on my life so much that it changed the course of it or I could talk about my own decision that changed everything.

I'd say overall it was my father's decision that drastically altered my life when he accepted a job here in the the U.S. and we moved here from Toronto when I was aged 6.

The entire extended family remained behind and living here was...very different.

Each time I return to Ontario I'm reminded of how different my American upbringing was in comparison to the one I imagine I would've had if I'd remained near Toronto like everyone else.

I really don't dwell on my citizenship status. I was brought up to be loyal in spirit to Canada yet at the same time I needed to make my way as a resident here in the U.S.

Even so it positively freaks me out at times to realize how I seem to have almost nothing in common with most _not all_ of the people that share similar bloodlines with me.*

*I realize that some of my extended family read or monitor this blog--at least on occasion.

I regret that there have been misunderstandings to one degree or another, both having to do with the content of this blog and those that occurred before the blog existed and that did not involve me personally.

If I had my druthers my extended family would at least be on simple speaking terms. Sadly, we are not. However we, due to the choices of our now-deceased kin, share a breathlessly beautiful piece of land on Maple Lake. As such we are "forced" to be in one another's company by sheer proximity.

I'm doing my best to respect your privacy. In years past I let my excitement and enthusiasm get the better of me by responding to enquiries on this blog about Maple Lake only to find that you felt your privacy had been breached. I apologized at that time and learned from the experience--including the painful process of removing my photographs.

This year I took no photographs of any extended family member. I do however intend to continue to photograph the natural beauty that surrounds me when I'm at Maple Lake and to speak of my experiences there--both past and present.

This is truly a shame.

By STEVE FRIESS

 

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 5 — As the search for the wealthy adventurer Steve Fossett entered its third day, rescue crews and aviation experts expressed bafflement Wednesday at his disappearance and the inability to find him.

They pointed out that Mr. Fossett was a highly skilled pilot who was flying on a clear day over familiar terrain when his single-engine aircraft vanished Monday morning in rural western Nevada on what was to have been a brief flight...

...Mr. Fossett, 63, is a veteran aviator known for his quests to set world records. In 2002, on his sixth attempt, he became the first person to complete a solo, uninterrupted flight around the world in a hot-air balloon. Last year he made the longest nonstop flight in aviation history: 26,389 miles in 76 hours, in a lightweight experimental plane.

He also has an application pending with the Bureau of Land Management to try to break the land-speed record, currently more than 766 miles an hour, in a jet-powered car in the Nevada desert sometime next year. Mr. Hasley and others have speculated that on his flight Monday, Mr. Fossett was scouting dry lake beds where he could challenge that record.

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from
              a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.~ Eckhart Tolle
            
It's been about 36 hours since we got home and I'm just opening my Gmail email and that's only on the urging of my eldest son who transferred money to me from an eBay sale in order to pay part of his "rent."
Yay.

I like the quote above as the idea of a "a place of no-mind" is really appealing to me, atm.
I dunno--could be the state of the house, the pile of laundry, or the dog vomit on the duvet but I wouldn't mind being in that place right now...

Okay enough about me, how 'bout some pretty scenery?

September 1, 2007, 7:30 a.m. Apologies for the initial stomach churning qualities of this.

I know this is going to sound shocking but I have never made a video with my camera and in fact have not shot video of any kind in about twelve years. Not shocking? Huh. ;)

I've purposely stayed with still pictures because I wanted to 'get good' at taking them and the format appeals to me more--usually. But to get a little slice of the Lake for my parents, who were not able to go this year, I broke down and took a couple of short videos. "Not that bad," you say? ('Cept the audio--holy mackerel what's with that?) You should see the outtakes. lol.

The best video that I shot is of course messed up because in order to "crop" some extraneous um, stuff, I flipped the camera so it shot in "portrait" rather than "horizon."

Quelle horror!

Hey, why not just flip it like a picture...?

I'm jaded enough that once I saw that there was not quick and dirty explanation for doing this...I knew that I'd be in for hours of trying to figure it out. So I spent hours yesterday (in truth, after pulling an all-nighter coming home, I wasn't up for much else) searching for the answer. And in the end...I found that there exists no easy answer. Right now I have stashed away a rather mealy-mouthed suggestion of tip-toeing over to the dreaded Windows "help" area on their official site and following a long-winded step-by-step. OK. Maybe tomorrow. It is a very nice video though so I will get it "straightened out." Har.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

Huh?

LINK to Questions

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. Based on a tool developed by Minnesota Public Radio.

Joe Biden? I dislike the man intensely. Even if I could vote I wouldn't for a guy who lied in such a bald-face face way about his hair plugs. I hate being taken for an idiot. Plus he had other issues ( bigger, much more important in terms of truth-telling to his constituency) but I'll never forget the hair plugs that he "didn't get."

Select a Candidate

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. Based on a tool developed by Minnesota Public Radio.

	Joe Biden Score: 63	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security
	Barack Obama Score: 56	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security Line-Item Veto
	Hillary Clinton Score: 56	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security Line-Item Veto
	John Edwards Score: 49	Agree Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Social Security Line-Item Veto
	Bill Richardson Score: 49	Agree Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Social Security Energy
	Chris Dodd Score: 49	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage

Disagree
Iraq
Social Security
Line-Item Veto

Vox Hunt: Arts & Crafts - I'm A Fan Of...

Show us the best creative artist know personally (*vs. "know of" I would guess is the unspoken question).

The only creative arts-type person that I know in real life is in my real life--me.

This is my favourite Chicago public art piece~

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor

My favourite online art and sometime crafty person at Vox is Bad Mojo as she is awesomely talented.

6a00c22526068c549d00d09e76fa4abe2b

My favourite furniture maker in my neighborhood is Miss Scotch as she too is awesomely talented.

Lovechild2

http://missscotch.vox.com/library/pho...

My favourite person in the "other but still awesome" category is jayd as he as well is awesomely talented.

Still in Saigon

http://jayde.vox.com/library/photo/6a...

A really old colored pencil drawing. One of my favorite pieces that I have done.

What's the best thing you've ever sold on eBay?

I haven't sold anything on eBay in ages nor do I intend to but I was pretty thrilled to put up for auction a true First Edition hardcover book, (No D/J, unfortunately) East Of Eden by John Steinbeck
when I needed 100 bucks. I sold it in about 10 minutes. Everyone was happy.

Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hard Cover
Publisher: The Viking Press, New York
Date Published: 1952
Description: No Jacket. Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall 602 pages. "Bite" appears instead of "Bight" on page 281. Interior is clean, near flawless. Green boards have light rubbing and bumping to corners. Moderate chipping to top of spine.

East Of Eden by John Steinbeck.

It didn't look this like this. It had olive green boards instead.         

I've also read that East Of Eden was not popular when first release and that film gave it a second life.                                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                          

The Vagaries Of Online Friendships

I didn't know this woman well enough to call her a blogging friend and that was completely intentional.

Initially, I added her to my Vox neighbourhood because she was blogging friends with many if not most, of my new Vox neighbours.

Within a week or so of me reading her blog I realized that she was extremely troubled--beyond her admitted long-term bipolar disorder. I realize bi-polar disorder is serious enough and with it comes many extremes but her extremes were extreme.

She angrily dropped out of Vox then dropped back in then did so again (deleting her blog each time). She came back again fairly recently though, it seemed rather tentatively. (Her blog here at TypePad remained though I'm guessing due to it being a paid blog that it won't much longer.)

Even her most ardent supporters now characterize her as someone who led a troubled life, wrestling with demons of her own making.

Still it was a "holy crap" moment for me when I read last night that on the very day that she blogged about feeling better, getting some work freelance writing and being so excited that she was getting a brand new motorcycle--on that very day she bought her new bike, she took it out on the highway, crashed into a concrete wall on the on-ramp to another highway and plunged 33 feet to her death between the two highways, down to the ground below.

Now the Vox community, which still feels small to me, is reacting and me being the student of human behaviour that I think I was born as am finding myself drawn to read the reactions of her blogging friends both current and past.

In a case or two her friendships went beyond blogging or IMing online but in the one case that I know of well enough--that friendship ended on a very unpleasant note. The person with whom she was an off-line friend has become over the past year, a cherished online friend to me. This lady knew her quite well and is having a really hard time with her emotions. One can't just ignore that  the woman who died on Sept 11 of this year has three grade school-age children, yet the woman herself hurt so many, probably herself more than anyone, it's quite sticky as to how one expresses condolences.

I'm still thinking on this one. Having long ago removed myself from her "neighbourhood," as it is called at Vox, makes it easier for me--nothing is expected--but there are outpourings of grief some members of my Vox neighbourhood and it's really hard to know what is the right thing--the most considerate and/or comforting thing to say. Saying nothing feels wrong and "I hope she rests in peace doesn't really seem to say it well, either."

The vagaries of online friendships continue to vex me.

Which new movie are you looking forward to seeing next spring?

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

I'm looking forward to this film for a couple of reasons.

Karen Allen is returning as Marion Ravenwood.

I'm not sure what part movie demographics played but Ms. Allen like me, is a woman of a certain age and I have to cheer when an underused talent--she was phenomenal as Jeff Bridge's co-star in one of my fave films, "Starman"--gets a featured role in a blockbuster movie made by the Spielberg-Lucas team.

Two. Shia LaBeouf. First noticed him in "Holes" where he was great. Years went by and apparently I missed him in a Disney Channel series then he popped up in Transformers the movie recently and stole my heart. LaBeouf is an unconventionally cute, really good actor who oozes charisma.

Finally, I really like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland and I'm wondering if they'll update the ride as they did when they added Johnny Depp (three times!) to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme ride.

Oh, and there's Harrison Ford. The only movies I've enjoyed him in have been Indiana Jones. I hated him in Star Wars and I haven't liked any of the CIA-type heroes that he's played over the years. As an actor, Ford is as stiff as the wood he use to pound nails into as a carpenter during his "lean years." Wait, was he in The Fugitive? If he was, I liked him in that. But he was born to play Indy so for that and the reasons above I'm looking forward to Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (coming out May 22, 2008).

Maureen Dowd is free!

Cool. The New York Times online has gone back to free content.

I can read Maureen Dowd again.

When they went  to paid for their premium content a year or two ago, I said bad idea and not only because I could no longer read Maureen. I knew then that the trend was not towards  more paid content it was towards less. ABC news, CNN and others (AOL, anyone?) figured that out before the Times did but  why couldn't they have paid better attention and realized it was a poor choice in the first place? Don't they read the news?

I hated the Times Online when they'd tease you with a line or two of  a good story or opinion piece then say *buzzer sound* gotta pay to read more. And of course, I didn't pay. I'm going to pay my Internet fee, my blog fee, and then paid news content? Uh, no thanks. You guys do the work and go get yourselves some advertisers--for me to click past.

What's in a Name?

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Teddy Mustang

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Muskoka Mocha Kolaczki

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

C McC

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Midnight Blue Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Leigh Toronto

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
McCCy

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Black Sombrero

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
James James

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Happy To Be Snickers

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Victoria Dalton

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Ouelette Oslo

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Civic Impatien

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + "ie" or "y")
Raspberry Tank Toppy

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Blueberry Pecan Cluster White Birch

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

The Photography Blue Skies Tour

Ninety-nine Point Nine

It would appear as in many circumstances in life, that there are two signs to the "coin" which is the news that the Canadian and American dollars are now equal in value.

Over the years, our many trips north have been great bargains--though in the past 5 or so the disparity between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian loonie grew smaller.

The only area that we've consistently gotten hit in the pocketbook was at the gas pump. If I were paying those kind of prices given that Canadians possess some good-size petrol reserves (enough that they can sell to other countries) I'd be plenty miffed about that (it's said that it's due to taxes but still, c'mon).

--Cyn

September 21, 2007

Source

(excerpt)

The Canadian dollar has reached virtual parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years, a point of pride with Canadians who may still remember when their currency was nicknamed the "northern peso."

The loonie, so called because of the bird engraved on the one-dollar coin, was worth 99.9 U.S. cents in official bank trading Thursday, up from 98.6 cents on Wednesday.

To put it another way, one U.S. dollar bought $1.001 Canadian -- down from nearly $1.17 Canadian at the end of last year and $1.60 in March 2002.

The last time the two currencies were at par was in November 1976, the year Montreal held the Summer Olympics.

The American currency's supremacy had long made Canada a relative bargain for U.S. tourists and for Hollywood film and TV producers. Those days may be gone. Now, Canadians may be finding the U.S. to be a bargain.

The U.S. dollar's slide against its northern rival is part of a broad decline in the greenback's value worldwide this year. It accelerated this week after the Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates, making some dollar-denominated debt less attractive to foreign investors.

By contrast, Canada's dollar is gaining more appeal, thanks in part to the country's booming exports of commodities including oil, natural gas and gold.

In general, a currency's value reflects the health of the economy that backs it...

...But the loonie's strength also means pain for Canadian manufacturers by making their goods more expensive in the U.S., unless they accept lower profit margins.

The Canadian dollar's rise will make it tougher for the auto parts, fabricating, forestry and furniture sectors, among others, analysts say.

Reduced cash flow for those industries will lead to cost-cutting, which could mean more lost jobs and plant closings and less investment in research, said Jayson Myers, president of industry group Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

Tip of the day

Especially when you are copying and pasting text from other sources, if you happen to have the "&"  (and) symbol as part of your text make sure you  write out "&amp" not just "&".

If you only write out "&" you may well throw off  the display of your page and your blog will look quite funky.

I only realized this today though I think various support people have tried to tell me so over the years. It just did not sink in like it should have.

I can now say with an air of semi-assurance that now I "get it."

In other news, my 15 y.o. son  (the gifted one) :) just today realized that "P.O." means post office, as in post office box.

Though it may be a cliche, one can indeed learn something new every day-- 'ya  just need to be listening for it.

Which Silver Screen Siren Are You?

Which Silver Screen Siren are you?

Katharine Hepburn
Take this quiz!

Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Ha! Last time I was Jean Harlow.

brought to you by Quizilla

Ha! Last time I was Jean Harlow!                                                                                                                                     Something's changed!

Holy Smoke! Me?! A Featured TypePad Blog?

 

It's about time. :)

Love you guys!

I was just pondering  for a few moments the other day, wondering if I'd ever make it to being a Featured Blog at TypePad.

Honestly, given the vast quantity of TypePad powered blogs, including a number of well-known, heavily read ones, I thought chances were pretty slim but maybe one day...

So wow! I'm in some great company. :)

I love seeing the TypePad lily pad logo pictured in the url when I pop over to the saucy but not mean Go Fug Yourself (the Fug Girls got it going on!).

It's my desire to continue trying to amp up the quality on my Cyn City blog (as I have tried to whilst "monetizing" my blog in the past couple of months) (excluding the weeks in the wilds of Ontario w/ no Internet. Oi.).

Wow, and as I read further down in the email I see that I'm a getting some swag, too!

OMGosh. I feel like I won...something really good. :)

P.S. the kind folks at Six Apart have given me 6 weeks head's up on the feature. They are too cool for school as I've got some housekeeping to do around here before I start showing off!

:) I'm so jazzed:)

In re: Parental Commitments

Tonight is Parent Orientation Night at the high school.

I hate to be a complainer but it's one of the silliest endeavors. And (woe is me) I have to give up lap swimming to attend.

I think the real point of Parent Orientation is to get parents to fork over bucks for the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and sports and such.

We always do--otherwise no student directory for us.

Anyway, the silly part IMO, is that we walk my son's schedule but only have 10 minutes to sit in each class whilst the teacher breathlessly does a summary of what the class is about.

Problem is is that some parents are stragglers. Unlike their kids, most of whom know to be seated for the bell, handfuls of parents always pop in a few minutes late, cutting into the 10 minutes allotment and --just as late kids to class would do--disrupting things, if even just a bit.

The one amusing thing about parent night is that my son felt compelled to phonetically pronounce each of his teacher's names today--twice--without any prompting from me.

For one, I'm probably not going to remember but secondly, the teacher's do introduce themselves and I'm pretty sure most of them will pronounce their own names right. lol.

I think I'm skipping first period to go check out the book fair. It's Gym and I always hated that class  ('cept for swimming) and my son doesn't even know the gym teacher's name.

Spouse can go to that one and we'll pair up for the rest.

C-ya!

Happy Emmy, Terry O'Quinn (LOST)

Kudos to the guy with the gorgeous green eyes and the best acting chops of the original group of Losties actors that remain. They managed to give the boot to other fine actors including Harold Perrineau and Dominic Monaghan but at least we still have John Locke. Now if they would stop with the character assassination on the show. You are a good guy and you are not crazy.

Terry O'Quinn is in many ways the the heart of the ABC teevee show LOST. The first season of LOST was outstanding but it's been uneven since then.

Certainly his mad skills as an actor warrant his winning this year's "Best Supporting Actor in a Drama" Emmy.

He's looking pretty sharp here, too.

He was quoted in response to a query about how he felt about this  win as saying (paraphrase) "I'm happy because it makes my family and friends happy."

Cheers, Mr. O' Quinn. You are  one of the biggest reasons I've hung in with LOST even when I wanted to run away and soak my head.

What was the best football highlight of the past week?

Okay, yet another QotD attributed to...no one.

I've not ever blogged about regular season sports so I may as well do it once.

The best football highlight of the past week was undoubtedly Devon Hester's 73-yard punt return for a touchdown in the the defending NFC champions Chicago Bear's win over the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-10,

And just for the helluva it:

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Download bears.rm

*  This should play in your Windows player.
 

Argh

I'm getting obsessed with blog hits again.

My Technorati rank dropped and I actually cared before asking myself why.

Not why it dropped. Why I care.

I'm fairly certain that it's dropped and may well continue to do so because of all the adverts I'm writing.

My Google rank if I'm to believe other obsessed-with-their-ranking types may drop as well and really, that's the number that matters. Google rank is much like social status. It grants access to a number of things that are all based on making money.

So in an effort to curb my unhealthy behaviours somewhat, I'm heading over to Technorati and pulling my blogs down asking them to remove me from their directory.

I've learned a lot in the past couple of months about blog rankings though I'm far from being an expert. Keeping with the social status comparison, the more people that know you --the more your blog is worth. Mutual linking is a good thing if you are both high-ranked. If you are lower-ranked being linked to a higher-ranked blog will pull you up. Lower- ranking blogs can have a negative ranking effect on the high-ranking blogs. And there are a lot of folks out there that are rabid about linking.

The blogosphere seems to morph in a much more accelerated fashion here in the throes of Web 2.0. Perhaps that is due to all the  scoring-keeping that's being done.

I dunno. I'm just going to keep plugging away.

How Does One Learn Fear?

Recently, I've come across a small handful of bloggers cataloging their scars, both within and without, in extraordinary detail.
It has reminded me of a simple exercise that I was asked to engage in as a post-graduate student of clinical counseling.

One way to ascertain a client's world view (or the colour of the lenses through which she sees the world), is to ask her to recall some events that stand out clearly in her mind, that had happened to her before the age of six, as well as the emotions attached to them. It is most helpful if the client can recall at least five or six separate events.

The first event that I can recall took place during the summer I was four years old, as my mother and I were traveling in our red Austin Mini from our home in a Toronto suburb, to the family cottage in the Haliburton Highlands -- a trek of about 140 miles. At some point in our journey, my mother became so annoyed with my incessant chattering that she stopped the car and put me out at the side of the road-- a remote two-lane highway edged with thick, forested hills with huge walls of granite in the places where the highway had been carved out of the countryside.

I remember being very cross with her, and I also quite clearly recall hoping for a policeman to come along, as I would flag him down and boy, would she be in big trouble.

In fact, I don't recall any cars driving by in the 20 minute period that I first stood then sat alone on a boulder, about 20 feet back from the side of the highway. When my mother returned she got the quiet she wished for, as I seethed silently for the remainder of our journey on the hilly, twisting highway leading to the cottage.

An interesting point where her and my recollections diverge, is that I recall the period that she was "missing" as being about 2 hours. She says it was twenty minutes. I guess we'll never know, but I do think it's plausible that upon backtracking, she drove by me by a number of times not seeing me because I was mostly hidden by the ground cover. I may have wanted it that way to spite her.

Though the time frame may be in dispute, I recall the rest of this incident with crystal clarity from the time she put me out of the car, until we reached the cottage ("safety," in my mind). My most potent emotions were feeling rejected and feeling angry. My mother literally tossed me away and as the minutes went by, I felt quite sure she would never return.
So what piece of my world view did I begin to acquire all those years ago?

Fear of rejection and fear of anger and avoidance of both, whenever possible.

This is just one incident, hardly enough to explain who I am or how I arrived at this point, but in continuing the exercise, other facets of one's personality can become quite clear. This little exercise is not meant to sum up one's life story. It is simply one of many useful tools to better understand yourself.

Untitled (Revised)

When the minor symptoms first appear she denies them, downplays them, brushing them aside

She refuses to believe that Sickness shall soon be her closest companion

When she can so longer deny that Sickness has a stronger will than she does anger and frustration settle in and become her companions as well

But they are a burden too heavy to carry; after a short time Sickness overwhelms them, too

After several days of being confined to her bed she realizes this and begins to bargain

If I can only be well be by tomorrow I will...

But Sickness has taken what it wants--her health

It wants nothing else

The understanding of this sinks in; there is simply no bargaining to be done

A sense of defeat overcomes her, self-pity and short temperedness  set in enveloping not only her but her loved ones, too

Soon it's apparent that those she loves are sick of her being sick; the concerned inquiries offering assistance are now tired, thinly-veiled exercises in basic care

Anything special about this situation has passed

Finally, as Sickness continues to colour every waking moment she accepts the reality that she has no control

None

When Sickness is done with her, it will move on

And she will gingerly pick up the pieces and return to her life

The Fossett Search Continues UPDATE 09.18.07

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Like virtually everyone following the search for Steve Fossett, survival expert Kurt Kuznicki hopes the missing aviator will be found alive. But like other experts, Kuznicki doubts that will be the case.

  Aviator Steve Fossett, seen in a 2005 photo, has been missing since September 3.

"As kind of an adventure guy myself, I hope the other way. But I would say it would be really, really tough," said survival expert Kurt  Kuznicki, a member of the conservation group Friends of Nevada Wilderness.

Fossett, 63, a former commodities trader who was the first to circle the globe solo in a balloon, was last heard from September 3 after taking off from a private airstrip about 80 miles southeast of Reno. Authorities believe he was carrying only one bottle of water.

Fossett's plane was equipped with an emergency beacon, and he was wearing a high-tech watch capable of generating a similar alarm. Searchers have received no signal from either device, and haven't spotted a lower-tech distress signal such as a fire or massive X made of rocks or sticks.

"There's no news of him signaling for help and that's a problem," said David McMullen of Berkeley, Calif., a leader of the hiking group Desert Survivors, whose members frequently venture into some of the country's harshest terrain. "He's either so injured he can't signal or he's perished."/endEDIT

This just makes me sad. I can't help but wonder if Steve Fossett, or at least his disappearance, is going to be remembered like Amelia Earhart's--forever a mystery with not a single physical clue.

It seems that since this was  not a planned adventure with outside knowledge of his exact flight plan and because he had no emergency supplies in his experimental aircraft that even if he lived through the crash he'd have had a limited window of  survivability.

And lets face it, it's been weeks. If  he'd survived one would think that he'd have constructed some type of marker so that in the hundreds of man hours spent seraching some clue to his whereabouts would have turned up.

It seems the Fossett family has unlimited financial resources both personal and through wealthy friends but how much longer is long enough?

If he's not soon found it's going to be a very tough call.

Source

By Steve Friess 09.13.07 | 2:00 PM

LAS VEGAS -- Hopes may be fading for finding adventurer Steve Fossett alive, but the search for the missing adventurer has been intensified, with a high of 36 planes in the skies looking for him Wednesday and Thursday morning.

The three dozen planes are staffed by personnel from five wings of the Civil Air Patrol and National Guard officers from Nevada and California. On the ground are sheriff's deputies from six counties in both states.

...the mammoth search is easily the largest most have ever seen in this region.

Fossett's wife, Peggy, and the couple's wealthy friends have donated planes and personnel. Mr. Fossett disappeared during a weekend visit to a posh ranch about 90 miles southeast of Reno owned by their friend William Barron Hilton, the hotel magnate...

The resources available may be exceptional, but the length of the search and the involvement of so many agencies are not, said Civil Air Patrol Acting National Commander Brig. Gen. Amy Courter.

Thus far, the search has failed to turn up the 63-year-old record-setting aviator, but it has located seven previously undiscovered plane wrecks in the rugged mountains. Searchers... did not investigate them immediately except to determine they weren't Fossett's blue-and-white single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon...

...as many as 50,000 volunteers are scouring satellite images of the region...

...the Fossett search also could go on longer than others because the pilot is known to have excellent aviation and survival skills. Fossett is a lifelong Boy Scout who is president of the National Eagle Scouts Association.

"When you have someone at Steve Fossett's level with such incredible training and talent, we know he has a longer chance of survival," said Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan.

 

And now it's 3 a.m.

I had a great day! It was beautiful again outside--sunny and crisp. In the morning I had my coffee on my little deck in back and did an mini pedicure just so I could stay outside longer. Then I went top-down to the dentist and I left with flying colours! On the way home I ditched the rush-hour traffic and ducked into an acquaintance's little consignment shop and shopped for the first time since May (not including stops on vacation and online). I found a roomy ridiculously huge leather handbag--black with brown trim and a small silver heart embellishment.I found a wallet that's a near match, too. I love to buy throw pillows at this shop 'cos I can buy them for a song and after I've tossed them in the wash--volia! I've sorta redocorated. Plus I love to have a ton of pillows on my bed and for getting comfy with when I settle in for a movie or (much more rarely) a teevee show. I found some other things too but they are more practical. And I had a nice convo with the co-owner who I've not seen in way too long. Then I came home and took care of some gardening. (Okay, I watered the Impatiens--they were wilting in the sun.) And when I came inside and opened the mail I got a nice surprise and props from the company I do paid posts for. Neat-o!

And now it's 3 a.m. and I'm going to keep reading Harry Potter V. I'm enjoying this one the best so far  (of 5, 6 & 7).

Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.

QotD: Hottest Local Restaurant

What's the current hottest restaurant in your city?  Have you tried it out yet?

Wildfire

I live outside Chicago. There are countless fabulous restaurants there as most people know.

However, my "village," Schaumburg wishes to appease the multitude of suburbanites who do not want to brave the ever-worsening traffic to drive into the city and therefore has quite successfully lured at least a dozen uber top-notch restaurants out here.

Schaumburg came into it's own because in the 1970's it's then-mayor decided to put his village on the map by allowing construction of the country's biggest mall. It was and continues to be an enormous success with folks coming in buses form other states to shop here. Further, the tax revenue generated by Woodfield Mall allowed the village to cut property taxes to the lowest in the area (though sales tax is a whopping 8.25%).

Schaumburg's latest desire is to become "Chicago Northwest" and to that end they have built a large convention center/hotel and as a result many new (to us) restaurants have popped up.

I chose Wildfire even though I do not know if it is the "current hottest" restaurant--I've just wanted to go to the Chicago one for some time and now like a good little suburban lemming I'll probably go to the local one rather than the city--hey, you don't have to pay for parking here--that will at least buy me dessert!

From reading the reviews, Wildfire is still pretty hot (pardon the pun) and the wait times are pretty bad. It's also very pricey so it's likely when I go it'll be for lunch on a Sunday in an effort to avoid sticker shock and the crowds.

What is your world view?

I must be honest. I had to look up a couple of the words on this inventory which rather indicates that it and me are not well-suited. There was a good reason I failed Philosophy class in college at age 17 when I first dipped my toes into it.

I like to ponder but I'm just as apt to drop an idea if it holds no appeal to me or I see no intrinsic value in further exploration. Obviously, I'm lacking in my knowledge of religions, philosophy, and many events in the history of civilization. When questions in these areas came up on the inventory, if I could not fully understand the question, I answered with a neutral.

I've never considered myself any kind of authority on religion v. science. I tend to have opinions on an issue-by-issue basis and I hate all or nothing questions--which made up a large piece of this inventory.

What is Your World View?

You scored as a Cultural Creative

Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative 75% Postmodernist 56% Existentialist 44% Idealist 31% Modernist 25% Fundamentalist 13% Romanticist 6% Materialist 0%

Me Me MEME II

1. Where were you at 3:02 AM this morning?
In my bed reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'm reading the series backwards from HP VII.

2. How did you get the idea for your user name? (Caprica)
It's the name of Canadian actress Tricia Helfer's character on my favourite teevee show, Battlestar Galactica.

3. What song are you listening to right now?
Not. I need to get some new tunes.

4. What color is your cell phone?
Powder Pink. It was that or black. My old one was black. That's what you get for free. :)

5. Do you click on the pop ups?
Nev-ah!

6. Do you own an iPod?
Yes'm

7. What was the first thing you thought this morning?
Geez, I'd better get some sleep.

8. Hallelujah?

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hal-lay-loo- yah!

9. What did you do last night?
Read news, blogs, and gossip online, wrote a paid advert, read Harry Potter.

10. What do you hope to do this weekend?
I am going mini-golfing at Jungle Safari (woo). Until the weather gets too cold, I've made it our weekend family thing. When it gets too cold/mini golf closes it'll be IKEA and or hitting second hand stores.

11. What are the last two digits of your cell phone number?
63

12. What was the last thing that you had to eat?
A creamsicle.

13. Who is the last person of the opposite sex that you hugged?
My younger son.

14. What was the last movie you watched?
Blade Runner: Director's Cut

15. What do you dislike at the moment?
I went lap swimming and got chlorinated H2O in my sinuses. It's kind of burning.

16. What food are you craving?
Nothing, now I've had the creamsicle.

17. What did you dream last night?
I almost never recall my dreams. I'm sad about that because I use to.

18. What's the last TV show you watched?
Weeds

19. What is your favourite piece of jewelry?
A pair of pseudo Celtic earrings that my spouse bought me at Scottish Fest this summer.

20. Name 1 person who is most like you?
Probably my mother.

21. Do you always lock your door?
Yes.

23. Are you on any medication?
Oh, yes. Nothing fun, tho'.

24. Do you like someone?
I like more than one person.

26. What is your favourite frozen treat?
Muskoka Mocha Ice Cream from Karwartha Dairy in Minden, Ontario, Canada.

27. How many piercings/tattoos do you have?
Standard pierced ears.

28. Where's your favourite place?
In the water.

30. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss?
The Whiz Clan.

32. Do you care what people think about you?

Only people who matter to me.

33. Have you ever done something to make trouble?
My middle name is trouble.

34. Where do you wish you were right now?
Somewhere warm and beachy.

35. What is your font colour on AIM/MSN?
I don't chat.

36. Where do you live?
Scumburg.

37. Have you ever moshed?
Nope.

39. Do you like the person who posted this last?
Yes I do. She's a rockstar, baby!

40. What are you going to be when you grow up?
I refuse to grow up.

41. What is the thing that you would most like to change about you?
I'd like to be less anxious and high strung.

42: What is your favourite symbol?
Yin-yang or a non-anatomically correct rendering of a heart.

43. What do you smell like right now?
A neutral clean--I just showered.

44. What is your favourite colour?
midnight blue

45. Do you like mustard?
Dijon on some things-yellow, never.

46. What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
Get off the computer, get out of the house, try to go top-down motoring.

47. Would you ever sky dive?
No. Never. It takes more money than brains to do that.

48. What colour is your pillow case?
It varies. Right now a muted lavender.

50. Who was the last persons stomach you saw?
My own. Ack!

51. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Depends on the person. Yes, if I love them.

52. Have you ever been to California?
Lived there. Visit every other year.

53. Did you ever think to yourself and wonder if you're really real?
Do you mean have I ever taken magic mushrooms? I don't remember.

54. What celebrities do people say you look like?
Some chick from Grey's Anatomy.

55. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but don't?
No one says they'll call.

56. Are you a jealous person?
I grew out of it romantically. Sometimes though in other situations.

58. What was the last thing you typed?
Sigh. An advert.

59. Do you ever feel guilty about eating meat?
Not that fond of it. Not guilty.

60. What are you going to do after this survey?
Take the dog for a walk.

QotD: Total Trust

Who would you trust with your life?

I think that this question boils down to who do you really and truly trust?

I interpret "trust with your life" as meaning they'd be willing to sacrifice their own for mine. And that's asking a lot.

I'm going to take my parents out of the equation because I think they should put one another before me.

Same for my brother--his spouse should be put ahead of me (meaning I can't justify him sacrificing himself for me and leaving her behind). I say this even though as an elder sibling I would've jumped in front of a truck for him. I think that would be a fairly normal thing to do under the worst of circumstances.

So as relationships have shifted with the addition of family members I'd say: my youngest son, my spouse, and my eldest son.

Today...

...was a beautiful day.

Had some errands and went top-down, enjoying every wind-blown minute.

Came home and really didn't want to stay inside with such bright and inviting weather so I went out back and re-potted a house plant--actually the snake plant cutting that I'd taken from my folk's house last April. It wasn't getting enough drainage so spouse bought it a new pot and hopefully it will thrive. I'm a bit nervous as my father has proclaimed that he wishes to kill the very large "mother" plant which was bought by my high school sweetheart for me when it was only about 6" tall. The old fella has never been too keen on caring for plant life or vegetation of any kind for that matter.

While I was outside I had a  look at the state of our gardens. The annuals--the begonias in particular are faring very well.

The Impatiens are also looking pretty good.

Sadly, the Brown-eyed Susans are quite dead, awaiting removal by spouse though he says the birds like to eat the seeds so he's leaving the "corpses" out for a bit.

QotD: The Fall TV Season

What shows are you looking forward to in the new fall TV season?

Um, one clue would be in my one of my screen names: Caprica.>>>

The Shows:
Razor, is the name of the first two episodes of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica. The rest of Season 4 of BSG doesn't begin again until next year. :sob:

 

Scary/sexy Admiral Cain of Battlestar Galactica: Razor



Dexter (on Showtime)
I'm already watching Weeds and Dr. Who.
Oh, oh! EDIT/ Heroes, how could I forget Heroes?

Dirty Sexy Money starring Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) looks like it has potential though I would follow Peter Krause just about anywhere even in this case, to network television.

...Okay, I just perused the fall line-up and Reaper seems to have potential, though it looks like an outright rip-off of Brimstone (1998) the hastily cancelled series starring Peter Horton as a guy who has to chase down and send back escapees from Hell.

Okay, let's see what else...

That's about it. Let me know if something good comes along, k?

The "Sting" of High iPhone Roaming Charges

When the iPhone first became available a bit over 2 months ago and even before in the run-up to it's launch, there were grumbles that owners of the brand-new phone model would  have no choice but to use the AT&T  telephone service due to an agreement the companies had.

Even so, these folks with an extra $500 in their pockets dropped it on the first release of the iPhone  only apparently, not to read about how one uses the iPhone  especially when one must resort to using "roaming" like say when one goes to Italy, Croatia, Malta, Ireland, England, Dubai and Bangkok. *eyeroll*

A case of too much money/too few brains? You decide.

Below are several sad tales of humble iPhone owners and  the  most horrid of experiences they've endured due to their iPhone.

Roaming Charges!

Source

Because he didn’t deactivate the feature that automatically checks for new e-mail messages, during Mr. Dingman’s trip through Italy, Croatia and Malta, the phone went to retrieve e-mail more than 500 times.

...Other iPhone users have felt the sting of high roaming charges with their iPhone, too....Many of them are complaining to the company or on blogs.

...Dave Stolte did that before taking his iPhone with him on a two-week trip to Ireland and England in July. He signed up for a roaming plan, but he said the customer service representative’s explanation of the charges was unclear. His bill was $3,000.

When he was offered a $100 credit, Mr. Stolte said he felt insulted, and he sent letters to the chief executives of AT&T and Apple. The story of his bill quickly spread around the Internet. Before long, he was given a full credit.

...Aaron Oxley took his iPhone with him to London, Dubai and Bangkok...he always made sure he was in an area with free Wi-Fi when he used his iPhone to access the Internet...when Mr. Oxley’s AT&T bill arrived, the data charges totaled $300.

...Mr. Dingman said it didn’t occur to him to disable the e-mail feature. AT&T eventually reversed the charges.

How much you want to bet that the "early adopters" of the iPhone are terribly upset that Apple has dropped the price of their expensive toy by $200?

How dare they!

Mini Golf Date

Really beautiful weekend weather. September and October are my favourite months here.

Right off the bat--wants a mulligan.                                                                                                                                                                  

                     

 

So spouse and son tied at 45 (going for 41 or under). I was not in the running today but we had a three-way tie last time (47).

I want to keep going unti lthey closed for the season and I'm hoping because they were largely rained out in August that we might have a bit of decent weather and we'll keep at it for a bit. Otherwise it's back to the Harper College pool. We're doing that anyway tomorrow night. I really dislike going from swimming outside to in but such is life in this wonderful state. ;)

"Hugh"

I just recently got turned on to   started enjoying "Hugh's" widget in this blogs's right sidebar only to find  after clicking the widget to enlarge it that there is much more to "Hugh" than business-card-size hand-drawn cartoons. :D

If you enlarge the "safe-for -family" widget-cartoon you can see some of Hugh's "other stuff."

Like:

GOOD IDEAS ALTER THE POWER BALANCE IN RELATIONSHIPS, THAT IS WHY GOOD IDEAS ARE ALWAYS INITIALLY RESISTED.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.

The two are not the same thing.

We all spend a lot of time being impressed by folk we've never met. Somebody featured in the media who's got a big company, a big product, a big movie, a big bestseller. Whatever.

And we spend even more time trying unsuccessfully to keep up with them. Trying to start up our own companies, our own products, our own film projects, books and whatnot.

I'm as guilty as anyone. I tried lots of different things over the years, trying desperately to pry my career out of the jaws of mediocrity. Some to do with business, some to do with art etc.

One evening, after one false start too many, I just gave up. Sitting at a bar, feeling a bit burned out by work and life in general, I just started drawing on the back of business cards for no reason. I didn't really need a reason. I just did it because it was there, because it amused me in a kind of random, arbitrary way.

This article  can be seen in whole  here.      

QotD: Once More, With Feeling

What one year of your life would you like to re-live, if you were given the chance? 
 

Odd question. I don't ponder going back in time. Sometimes I get stuck in neutral but generally my focus is ahead of me--not too far--just enough so I know where/what to shoot for.

If I must answer, "What year of my life to re-live...? "

The last one immediately prior to my death.

Ya' know. Just in case I have some unfinished business. *wink*

I did it! (I flipped my video)

Explanation of post. :)

I finally got the "calm" part of this video clip turned on it's side so it viewable without getting a crick in your neck! The simple answer was:

On Windows, follow the instructions at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0075.mspx#EPD. Then save the file to your computer, using any of the high quality movie presets, and upload this rotated file.

Thank goodness this worked as I usually shy away from seeking help from the Microsoft website...but all the alternatives to getting a video shot in portrait displayed horizontally had me changing the file type first after downloading software I've never heard of (not that I should have) and only then being able to flip it to  a non neck-impairing angle.

I can't imagine that I'm one of few people, given the proliferation of point and shoot cameras with a video feature, that has gotten bold enough to film 30 seconds in the non-standard (though very commonly used) photographic format.
The thing I keep reminding myself is that this is videography, however primitive my equipment, not photography which is where I plan to stay in the future, in deference to my own sanity. :)

Permalink

I completely disagree with this.

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
  - Stephen King

I'll go a step further: I think much of his writing reflects this even though I do think he's conceived some great stories.

He's just not a great writer.  And that's okay.

King books or stories/films I like:

I'm not sure if the book "Carrie" was any good and the same goes for "The Shining." They've both had such exposure that I may be getting my film "wires crossed" on them. Still, both stories were good.

But then there's the bad, the unreadible even. I'll put up a few of my not- favourite King books when I come back and edit this. At some point. la. la la.

Pretty/Cool

These photos were taken at Maple Lake over Labour Day Weekend (Sept, 2007). My younger son tells me that Canadians initiated Labour Day before the United States. I do so admire Canada's ability to just say "no" to work by having "civic holidays." We took advantage of one in August. :)   

   

       

               

                        

                   

            

               

Misty Morning

            

            

   

   

       

               

                        

Went down to say hello to the Lake at about 4 a.m. It's a ritual/I couldn't sleep and whilst walking the shoreline, startled this little guy out of the water and onto the beach. He's about the size of a big bug.                  

                           

Leopard Frog

            

   

       

               

                        

                     

            

               

Sunset Fishing

This little row boat is weighted down by many kids!

            

            

   

 

       

               

                        

                 Sunset Fishing                     

        Same as above photo with histogram adjusted to better see cabin/woods detail   

 

            

   

QotD: Life-Changing Decision

What decision changed the course of your life?

I can answer this one of two ways. First, recount the impact someone else's decision made on my life so much that it changed the course of it or I could talk about my own decision that changed everything.

I'd say overall it was my father's decision that drastically altered my life when he accepted a job here in the the U.S. and we moved here from Toronto when I was aged 6.

The entire extended family remained behind and living here was...very different.

Each time I return to Ontario I'm reminded of how different my American upbringing was in comparison to the one I imagine I would've had if I'd remained near Toronto like everyone else.

I really don't dwell on my citizenship status. I was brought up to be loyal in spirit to Canada yet at the same time I needed to make my way as a resident here in the U.S.

Even so it positively freaks me out at times to realize how I seem to have almost nothing in common with most _not all_ of the people that share similar bloodlines with me.*

*I realize that some of my extended family read or monitor this blog--at least on occasion.

I regret that there have been misunderstandings to one degree or another, both having to do with the content of this blog and those that occurred before the blog existed and that did not involve me personally.

If I had my druthers my extended family would at least be on simple speaking terms. Sadly, we are not. However we, due to the choices of our now-deceased kin, share a breathlessly beautiful piece of land on Maple Lake. As such we are "forced" to be in one another's company by sheer proximity.

I'm doing my best to respect your privacy. In years past I let my excitement and enthusiasm get the better of me by responding to enquiries on this blog about Maple Lake only to find that you felt your privacy had been breached. I apologized at that time and learned from the experience--including the painful process of removing my photographs.

This year I took no photographs of any extended family member. I do however intend to continue to photograph the natural beauty that surrounds me when I'm at Maple Lake and to speak of my experiences there--both past and present.

Steve Fossett: Chicago Adventurer

This is truly a shame.

By STEVE FRIESS

 

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 5 — As the search for the wealthy adventurer Steve Fossett entered its third day, rescue crews and aviation experts expressed bafflement Wednesday at his disappearance and the inability to find him.

They pointed out that Mr. Fossett was a highly skilled pilot who was flying on a clear day over familiar terrain when his single-engine aircraft vanished Monday morning in rural western Nevada on what was to have been a brief flight...

...Mr. Fossett, 63, is a veteran aviator known for his quests to set world records. In 2002, on his sixth attempt, he became the first person to complete a solo, uninterrupted flight around the world in a hot-air balloon. Last year he made the longest nonstop flight in aviation history: 26,389 miles in 76 hours, in a lightweight experimental plane.

He also has an application pending with the Bureau of Land Management to try to break the land-speed record, currently more than 766 miles an hour, in a jet-powered car in the Nevada desert sometime next year. Mr. Hasley and others have speculated that on his flight Monday, Mr. Fossett was scouting dry lake beds where he could challenge that record.

Maple Lake September 1, 2007, 7:30 a.m.

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from
              a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.~ Eckhart Tolle
            
It's been about 36 hours since we got home and I'm just opening my Gmail email and that's only on the urging of my eldest son who transferred money to me from an eBay sale in order to pay part of his "rent."
Yay.

I like the quote above as the idea of a "a place of no-mind" is really appealing to me, atm.
I dunno--could be the state of the house, the pile of laundry, or the dog vomit on the duvet but I wouldn't mind being in that place right now...

Okay enough about me, how 'bout some pretty scenery?

September 1, 2007, 7:30 a.m. Apologies for the initial stomach churning qualities of this.

I know this is going to sound shocking but I have never made a video with my camera and in fact have not shot video of any kind in about twelve years. Not shocking? Huh. ;)

I've purposely stayed with still pictures because I wanted to 'get good' at taking them and the format appeals to me more--usually. But to get a little slice of the Lake for my parents, who were not able to go this year, I broke down and took a couple of short videos. "Not that bad," you say? ('Cept the audio--holy mackerel what's with that?) You should see the outtakes. lol.

The best video that I shot is of course messed up because in order to "crop" some extraneous um, stuff, I flipped the camera so it shot in "portrait" rather than "horizon."

Quelle horror!

Hey, why not just flip it like a picture...?

I'm jaded enough that once I saw that there was not quick and dirty explanation for doing this...I knew that I'd be in for hours of trying to figure it out. So I spent hours yesterday (in truth, after pulling an all-nighter coming home, I wasn't up for much else) searching for the answer. And in the end...I found that there exists no easy answer. Right now I have stashed away a rather mealy-mouthed suggestion of tip-toeing over to the dreaded Windows "help" area on their official site and following a long-winded step-by-step. OK. Maybe tomorrow. It is a very nice video though so I will get it "straightened out." Har.

I did it! I did it! I did it!