Monday, August 31, 2009
Andy Murray via John, the Eagle Eye
Dinner and a Jacuz at Aldona & Joe's
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Like old times.
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Then we got to see a major sunset down over New Jersey... being reflected in the Towers of New York (their deck IS nice - I'll give them that!).
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Lush Zombies
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Saw Hair Last Night...
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It was 100% different from the movie, which is a good thing. I didn't really like the movie and I thought the plot didn't make a lot of sense. Turns out it isn't the plot of the play at all.
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The two guys below are Claude and Berger, the titular "stars" of the show. And they were very very good (particularly Berger). But the black girl above (Sasha Allan who played Dionne) was the star for me. She kicked butt on the opening Age of Aquarius, White Boys and the key singer in much of the tribe (chorus) numbers.
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It was a very fun night out. Ed and I both had a great time.
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Friday, August 28, 2009
An Amazing Book: An Odd Timing...
Historically the story of how Mormons got to Utah was news to me (although probably not to Mormons) and brought to life admirably.
But the book was so much more. There are a million points the book makes subtly, including the conclusion that Ann Eliza Young, but publicly railing against polygamy, ultimately saved the Mormon church. The path they were on would have lead to the marginalization that has occurred to the current outlaw faiths.
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What does Buying a Car and Going to the Vet have in Common? Pee'ing
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And I return to what I learned once when buying a car (stay with me). Professionals always say to pee before you go to the dealer. Because when you are negotiating and are stressed (most people get stressed negotiating - not Ed, but most of us) their bodies tighten up. When they agree to the terms - even if they don't say so, their bodies relax. And your brain assumes you have to pee (due to the stress / relax thing you body is doing). So, once you pee, the negotiators know that you have agreed to the price. Even if you haven't told them, your body has.
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(I use this to my advantage by pee'ing, then when they think they made the sale, I say I am leaving. I decided not to buy because, thought I am sure they tried, but the price is just too high. I figure there are two ways to end negotiations, either agree or mentally make the leap that the offer isn't good enough - so I let them think they just pushed me too far. I have gotten a much better deal that way. But I digress.)
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What does this have to do with Trevor, you ask? Well, during the check up, the shots, the nose spray and the wait for the ear wax test, he was as tight as a fish on a 10lb line. But the minute we left the Vet's office together, he hit the fire hydrant outside like a man holding it in for a week!
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Then walking home in the rain, tired from yesterday at Pets-At-Play and drained of adrenaline from the Vet visit, he crashed. I had to carry him most of the way home.
And this is where the great and good liberal parts with orthodoxy
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You see, I don't believe in hell, per say. So I don't think there is a special place in hell for people that torture children. I don't think we need to make that place on earth for them, but I do think they have forfeited their right to live in society.
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I see no valid reason for keeping them in jail. You kidnap a 11 year old girl, have 2 children with her. Keep her, and now these children in the back yard for 18 years. I think there is no appropriate time, after which, I think you should be allowed back into the community.
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I think you have forfeited your rights to be treated like a human being.
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The most humane thing we could do is to put you to sleep. Like a rabid dog. To you - it makes no difference, you clearly have no feelings nor sense of perspective. But, like a rabid dog, you are a threat to everyone and yourself.
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I know, that kind of voids my bleeding heart liberal card, but there you go.
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Salon Question: Should Dems ask the GOP to censure Obama haters?
I hate it when I wonder if I'm part of the problem and not the solution. But the fact is, given the nation's many pressing issues, I'm ambivalent about whether Democrats should waste their time trying to get Republicans to censure gun-toting, racist, lying extremists in their own party. And yet I kind of wish they'd ignore my doubts and do so anyway.
I'm confused because I truly believe there are bigger and more important political challenges for the country and the Democratic Party. But I also remember the horrified, finger-wagging MSM coverage of MoveOn that followed GOP agitation over the group's ad labeling Gen. David Petraeus "Betray-us," and the enthusiastic reaction (including, unbelievably, 22 Senate Democrats) that met Rep. John Boehner and Sen. John Cornyn's sponsorship of House and Senate resolutions condemning it.
I wish the media would do its job consistently calling out these hate-spewing liars on the right, and the Republicans -- hello, Wally Herger! Lynn Jenkins! Chuck Grassley! -- who support them, given that so many mainstream pundits went into fainting spells over MoveOn's regrettable (and I regretted it at the time) attack on Gen. Petraeus. I really wish there was a way to catalyze that reaction without any congressional Democrats stooping to the GOP's level.
But I'm just not sure there is.
What do you think: Should some of our liberal Congressfolk ask the GOP to go on record opposing gun-toting at town halls? Death threats against Obama? Lies about "death panels?"
Am I expressing my inner wimp by cringing at such a fight? Or am I being a pragmatist, wanting Dems to spend political capital on what matters?
And am I being Pollyanna either way, believing pundits might step up and definitively debunk and repudiate GOP lies and threats because of a congressional resolution? I'm pretty sure on that last question, the answer is yes.
Tell me what you think.
-- Joan Walsh
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Actually, this is the way we went....
Your body is a (scarred) wonderland
Lying Liars and We Elected Them....
Tom Ridge's new book is out. And, knock me over with a feather!!!, Tom lied and issued statements for political cover. And issued new threats when there were none.
Big Apple Badgers Big Apple Miscue
I may not know my Badger from my angry Possum/Skunk, but I do know a little about the fair state of Wisconsin. And below are the "specials" from tonight's Big Apple Badger Kickoff.
Regular gameday specials will be offered
25 cent wings
$8 brats
$6 cheese curds
$15 buckets of bud light (5 btls)
$10 pitchers of bud light
$8 spotted cow
$27 buckets of spotted cow (4 btls)
We look forward to a good season.
LETS GO RED!
Big Apple Badgers
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
An Image of Home
Ahhhh... The 110 and 105 Interchange. Also know as the Harbor Freeway and Century Freeway interchange (note to New York - it is possible to both number and name a freeway - Hutchinson River Parkway my ass). This is looking from North to South (obviously from high above) the 110.
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The very topmost roadways connect the Southbound 110 Car Pool (High Occupancy, etc) lanes to the East and West 105 and from the 105 E and W to Northbound 110 Car Pool Lanes. Those of you we drove from our Hollywood house to the airport will have used those lanes.
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The lower exchange lanes are for regular traffic.
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The criss cross in the very bottom center is the Bus Lanes and their stops (crossed so you exit safely). It stops in the middle of the intersection to connect to the Green Line light rail - that tan looking cover just right of center.
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Hard to believe now, but the 105 (the freeway that crosses horizontally) was reduced in size from the desired 6 lanes each way to 3 lanes each way plus a Car Pool lane. It was a grand compromise.
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The 105 was used for filming the movie Speed, right before it was open to the public - although the big bus jump scene was on the 105 x 405 interchange, not this one.
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The 110 Harbor Freeway used to be The 11. Sometime in the 80's Federal funds were used to widen it and make it The 110 instead of The 11. However, north of the "Four Level" (where the 110, 101 and 11 meet in downtown :also Mile Maker zero for LA) The 110 turns back into The 11, but called the Pasadena Freeway. It was not possible to bring it up to Interstate standards.
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The 11, Pasadena Freeway, is normally considered the oldest freeway in the world. And, within months of opening, had the first freeway traffic jam right before the Rose Bowl game.
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Homesick a little today.
On other thing, the road to the right of the freeway is Figaroa Blvd. It leads from downtown to the port of Los Angeles (hence the "Harbor" Freeway). Los Angeles many many moons ago incorporated the San Pedro Harbor into the city, which is about 15 miles south of the city. They also incorporated a strip of land to get to the harbor. That strip is Figaroa Blvd. In many places Figaroa is part of the city of Los Angeles, but the surrounding areas are not.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Perhaps overestimating their worth a bit
"There will be people who won't publish things that maybe they should publish or that would be good for society," Thompson said.
Perez Hilton Ruined Miss Universe for us all...
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Not that he politicized it with a stupid question. But that the question, through his actions and the actions of crazy ass supporters on both sides, drained what little spontaneity there was out of the show.
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If you saw it (and you can be forgiven if you didn't - dull as dirt), at the end there is the "Big Question".
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Now sometimes they put the final 5 in a "Sound Controlled Space Pod" and ask them all the same questions. But lately all the judges put their questions in a hat and the 5 finalist pick one. By luck of the draw you could get a really good one or a really lame one.
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Well, because of the stupid gay marriage question, this time they were vetted! Instead of 10 questions from the judges there were exactly 5 from 4judges and one former Miss Universe (via your official Internet Fuzzy PicturePhone Skype!). Wait, just 5 questions from 11 questioners? That means - prescreened! No dumb ass questions (well Dean Cain's was pretty inane, but just imagine how awful the rejects were!
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So Miss Venezuela won (Miss Dominican Republic was robbed). But I LOVED the 2nd runner up below.
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This is Miss Kosovo in their country's first attempt. In the early rounds and swimsuit she looked like the other long tousle haired, pre the-copier-is-breaking-down actresses in the start of any bad porn movie; just like the other Miss Razzum-Frazzums.
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But then...! In the evening gown she went anti-pagent. No deep cut, boobs hanging out slit-up-to-here gown. She went freakin' Audry Hepburn and looked amazing. Amazing!
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She lost because a) She was 18 and didn't know the right "Miss Pageant" answer to Dean's question and b) the Albanian translator they picked up at the local tractor pull wasn't really up to snuff.
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But she was great.
Stupid Perez Hilton.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Pictures from the Week-end
Saw it and Loved it!!!
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We also saw Inglorious Basterds. Okay, I hate gore - but I loved this movie. And, honestly, it was a beautifully directed (or edited or both) movie. The pace was great and very tense, there were breaks for fun and ramped right up again. It was really well done. And, all this, with not nearly as much Brad Pitt as you would expect. But it was fine. Except for the villain, who shared multiple plots, it featured different plots and pacing all coming to conclusion at once. Very cool!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
What is a boy from southern California to do?
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In New York everyone roots for the Jets OR the Giants (it's like the Yankees vs. the Mets or the Rangers vs. the Islanders..., but not really we all hate the Islanders).
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Emotionally, part of me always goes for the underdog in football (a lingering issue with UCLA), so I would normally favor the Jets. ALSO the Jets just have a new Quarterback from southern California, Mark Sanchez. So I should be all behind them, right?
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Conundrum! Sanchez is not just from southern California, but from the University of Southern California - the dreaded USC Trojans.
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Let me say, most all of the pictures of him are in SC garb, and that cannot be put on the web site. GQ and the Jet's have tried to Hunkify him up a little, so that is where the pic below is from.
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So do I continue to blindly ignore ProFootball, even though the Jets have taken a good So Cal boy? I would normally root for the Bruin QB in the Pro's, but when Tommy Maddox retired he was the last of our great UCLA QBs playing pro ball.
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A list that included Troy Aikeman, Jay Schroder and 18 others (here).
To not root for a southern Cal boy would seem to cut my nose to spite my face - and so yes, I will root for the Jets and Sanchez. (Don't judge me Amiot / Neppls - you guys root for Tom Brady!)
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Of course, the ugly green isn't the reason I root for them. And, truth be told, Mark Sanchez isn't the only reason I root for them.
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No I love the nickname of their followers. Gang green, or as I like to spell it, Gangrene.
Gang Green: Followers of the Jets.
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Gangrene: A complication of necrosis or cell death characterized by the decay of body tissues, which become black (and/or green) and malodorous.
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Go Malodorous Collection of Necrosis! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Anyone Remember the "OFFENSIVE" MoveOn.Org Campaign
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Oh the hue and cry that anyone would DARE compare Bush to the Nazi's. Even if it wasn't condoned by anyone. Even if MoveOn pulled it off the web site as soon as they learned. "Oh no," cried the Media Wing of the Republicans, "We would never compare a sitting President to the Nazi's! Where is your respect for the Office of the President? Have you no shame?"
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Apparently the Nut Job Wing of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has no problem with a little Nazi smearing of their own.
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Take a look at Glenn Beck's new book (he of the "Obama is racist against white people" fame.)
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When Smart Girls Make Odd Choices
Did you know Maine has Puffins!!
I am going up to Maine for a week at the end of September (in an RV - hey I am off work for a while and I thought it would be fun!).
Canadian Zombie Study (really!)
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I love this. The BBC just covered a story that a Canadian scientific research group have done a serious study into what would happen if zombies attacked. (The serious side to this is the spread of zombies can stand in for any fast-spreading diseases, apparently.).
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You must read this article: I'm not sure if the funniest bit is the conclusion (the only way to defeat zombies is to 'hit them hard and hit them often' apparently), the fact that commentators have said 'some of the assumptions made in the paper might be unduly alarmist' (Um the fact that actual zombies might exist? Alarmist, really?)
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Or that the report was headed by Professor Robert Smith? - yes, that's not a typo, he has a question mark as part of his name because 'the mathematics professor at Ottawa University says the question mark distinguishes him from Robert Smith, lead singer of rock band The Cure'. Sure it does, sure it does. Check it out here.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
See... Better Before the Internet
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Scalia: No Mercy for ‘Actually’ Innocent
No empathy on the Supreme Court from Justice Antonin Scalia: “This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent,” Justice Scalia wrote in a dissent from a Supreme Court decision ordering a Georgia court to review evidence in the case of death-row defendant Troy Davis. Seven of the witnesses from Davis’s 1989 trial have recanted and several others have fingered the prosecution’s main witness as the actual killer of the off-duty police officer whose death Davis was charged with. “The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.
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Perhaps Mr. Scalia is correct in his assertions...
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But my memory of the Constitution includes Amendment 8: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Execution of an innocent man would seem to fall into both cruel AND unusual.
Well We Finally Hit Summer... and I am glad it waited...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Liar or Idiot... oh wait... Republican (and so both)
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And NOTE. He is CHAIRMAN of the House Republican Health Care Solutions Group...
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As chairman of the House Republican Health Care Solutions Group, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield, knows a thing or two about health care. But some of what he knows just isn’t true.
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“I’m 59,” Mr. Blunt said last week during a meeting with Post-Dispatch reporters and editors. “In either Canada or Great Britain, if I broke my hip, I couldn’t get it replaced.”
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We fact-checked that. At least 63 percent of hip replacements performed in Canada last year and two-thirds of those done in England were on patients age 65 or older. More than 1,200 in Canada were done on people older than 85.
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“I didn’t just pull that number out of thin air,” Mr. Blunt said in a subsequent interview. It came, he said, from testimony before the House Subcommittee on Health by “some people who are supposed to be experts on Canadian health care.”
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These assholes really should visit Canada or England.
A Second Opinion on Time Traveler's Wife..
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Some Pictures From Ian's Birthday Party
It was his 49th Birthday and his sister and her family flew in. The woman on Ed's right is Jill, his sister. Gay, the woman on his left, works for American Airlines in Dallas (Flight Attendant and Union Rep.)
This is Ian and his new Patio / Gazebo thing. He lives in a Top Floor Condo in SoHo (a rehabbed Button Factory) and the party was on his roof deck.
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We had a great time.
Uses for New Math
Friday, August 14, 2009
Apparently it just comes off as creepy..
A Day without the Internet.
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Not on purpose. This wasn't some luddite fantasy for the day. No, it was Verizon's fault.
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And, I think, CSI Special Victim's Unit.
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I blame CSI-SVU because there were filming in our building yesterday and the internet was out from when they started until they completed... Coincidence, I doubt it.
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For Eddie, who has a Blackberry, no big deal. I, however, work remotely and cannot take my personal computer to work -so I was SOL - as it were.
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Not really a problem though as my last day is August 31, and I have very little real work left to do.
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And so, Eddie stayed home and we both had a big cleaning day. You know, change the sheets, dust, vacuum, clean the floors, scrub the bathroom. Things the maid would do, but I let her go. No no, let me re-phrase, things the maid SHOULD do, but didn't. Which, by the by, is why I let her go. Plus, my last day is August 31 and I can take 4 hours a week to do what she did and save myself $100 a week. Yes that is what they get here in New York for 4 hours and not really doing the work.
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After the clean, we went and saw Julie and Julia. I loved the Julia part, was not so i-i-eye about the Julie part. But I suppose I never would have went to see a movie about Julia Child, so it makes sense that they shoved them together.
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The two never meet by the way. The didn't meet in real life either, but this is Nora Ephron who wrote and directed it. A small dose of reality never held her back in the past - I don't know why it should this time! I mean does anyone really believe ANY of Sleepless in Seattle!!! No, but we all get teary anyway (back when Tom Hanks wasn't annoying and Meg Ryan still had human lips).
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FYI - If you have never seen Sleepless in Seattle, go out and rent it right now. RIGHT NOW. I'll wait.
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See, wasn't that amazing!
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Anyway, back to Meryl Streep - who I hate to say it - I am beginning to be annoyed with again. Meryl was funny and fantastic as Julia Child. She carried the movie. (But now that everyone loves her again, she begins to work my nerves - fame is a fickle mistress Meryl!).
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So we are back online. Ta da!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
We saw Joan Rivers Tonight, it was GREAT!!!
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She was freaking hilarious.
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She was dirty, made fun of Ann Frank, Julie Andrews, her daughter, Chasity Bono, Cher, Kathy Griffin, all the Housewives, children, fat people, old people, osteoporosis fund raisers, blind people... well just about everyone.
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Including (in New York!) 9/11 victims.
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She was great. Eddie and I had an amazing time and laughed out asses off.
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Plus, Ed got to say hello (and give a little squeeze) to Lance Bass!!
Miss Abby is Miss Happy!
OMFG: FESTIVAL EVITA
still an ENTJ
So I was looking at that Myers Briggs chart and took the test again. Once again, I was an ENTJ. Which is odd as I have been and ENTJ since I first took the test in High School. I was assured I would grow out of it....
"I don't care to sit by the window on an airplane. If I can't control it, why look?"
ENTJs have a natural tendency to marshall and direct. This may be expressed with the charm and finesse of a world leader or with the insensitivity of a cult leader. The ENTJ requires little encouragement to make a plan. One ENTJ put it this way... "I make these little plans that really don't have any importance to anyone else, and then feel compelled to carry them out." While "compelled" may not describe ENTJs as a group, nevertheless the bent to plan creatively and to make those plans reality is a common theme for NJ types.
ENTJs are often "larger than life" in describing their projects or proposals. This ability may be expressed as salesmanship, story-telling facility or stand-up comedy. In combination with the natural propensity for filibuster, our hero can make it very difficult for the customer to decline.
TRADEMARK: -- "I'm really sorry you have to die." (I realize this is an overstatement. However, most Fs and other gentle souls usually chuckle knowingly at this description.)
ENTJs are decisive. They see what needs to be done, and frequently assign roles to their fellows. Few other types can equal their ability to remain resolute in conflict, sending the valiant (and often leading the charge) into the mouth of hell. When challenged, the ENTJ may by reflex become argumentative. Alternatively (s)he may unleash an icy gaze that serves notice: the ENTJ is not one to be trifled with.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Idiots on Parade
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
The British are praised for spending half as much per capita on medical care. How they do it is another matter. The NICE people say that Britain cannot afford to spend $20,000 to extend a life by six months. So if care will cost $1 more, you get to curl up in a corner and die.