Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Anne Rice leaves Christianity

CNN Story
Well Anne, I completely understand, been there, done that, and for the same reasons. Connect to God not the humans who try to warp the message for power, control and money. Good luck to you on your journey.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
It's 10:30 p.m. - Do you know where your dryer is?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Keep Ploughing Through...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Otherwise Occupied


I have not been slacking while avoiding the heat. I spent all my free time for over a week cleaning out B's bedroom. You have not experienced tedious until you have sorted more than 10 years worth of Legos, Bionacles, K-nex building sets, and Yugi-Oh, Magic and other assorted collectible cards. M kept telling me to just throw it all away. I kept thinking how much it all cost and that maybe my eventual grandkids might like to play with them some day, so I continued sorting. Once that was done, it was time to get rid of the day-glow stripes painted around the room. These stripes were on the walls when we moved in, the room previously belonged to a 5 year old boy. B never complained about the paint colors, so I never knew if they bugged him or if he'd gotten attached to them.


Oh, one other thing, you're probably not going to believe this. I've been painting rooms for all of my adult life and even back into my teen years. I've always known about edging paintbrushes, but never really thought they would work. So I've been using painter's tape to tape the edges of molding, windows, etc. whenever I painted. I hated the end results. No matter what, some paint would always bleed under the edges of the tape and I would have fuzzy, messy edges. I decided to be bold and reckless and try an edger brush this time. The results you see above in B's room are the first time I ever painted a room WITHOUT ANY painter's tape on the edges. Other than taping down plastic to protect the rug, I did everything freehand. My edges look better than when I used tape. I will never go back to painter's tape. I will forever invest the few extra bucks into a good edging paintbrush. I also got the room painted faster because I didn't have to take time to wrap everything in tape. Yee-Hah! Now back to work for me!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I love genetic routlette

Sun Video Clip
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Racism
I came across this video today and was reminded of my childhood with a female Archie Bunker for a parent, going from an all-white high school in the North, to a mostly black high school in the South, then on to a mostly Hispanic school in the Southwest. I remembered the distinctive racism of the various regions I lived in. Up North, it was the Puerto Ricans, Sicilians, etc. who were to be feared. In North Carolina, it was the Blacks, in Texas it was the Mexicans. Whoever "the Other" was in any region, that was the group to fear, mistrust, segregate yourself from. I remember thinking even then that it was silly and backward, but yet it persists in our society. I realize we are pack animals, tribal groups and gathering among your own kind was a means of survival for the early part of our human history. After so many centuries though, you'd think we would have evolved a little further than this.
Here's another more obvious video I just saw on another blog about the Tea Party people.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Movie Review - Sorcerer's Apprentice



If you're a child, you'll likely enjoy this movie. It's definitely rated-PG, there's no cussing, no nudity, and no inappropriate adult content. The sorcerers' magic might scare some really young tots, but other than that, it's like a good amusement ride, fun, fast, a little scare here and there but a great ride overall. That said, I really enjoyed the story, the special effects, and I found the character of the apprentice, highly likeable. Good job Jay Baruchel! Oh, and Nick Cage doesn't disappoint either. So be sure to go see this movie with your favorite nerd.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
And now for some good news

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TEDx program and the annual TED Prize.
Here's a CNN Story that tells you more about what they've already accomplished. It's quite interesting.
Morning Headlines
This genius ranks right up there with people who steal candy from babies and kick puppies:
Is there any body of water in Florida that does NOT have gators in it?
A little beer, a small bet, and the next thing you know...
Is there any body of water in Florida that does NOT have gators in it?
A little beer, a small bet, and the next thing you know...
Monday, July 12, 2010
Abuser, Alcoholic or Mentally Ill?
I've been watching Mel Gibson for years. He was always entertaining in the Lethal Weapon movies with the slightly crazy cop persona he portrayed. Later, he didn't age well, alcohol likely played a role in that. He got busted, there were the alleged racist comments. His marriage dissolved. That could make anybody angry, crazy, turn to self-medication,etc. More recently he had a child with a Russian woman and now that relationship has fallen apart and there are tapes allegedly with Gibson's voice spewing more racial slurs. But which came first, the malady or the self-medicating cure?
Has he always been crazy and it's only in his older years that it's harder for him to keep a handle on it?
Has he always been abusive or an alcoholic? Mel and Robyn were married for 28 years and what, 7 kids? You never heard any mention of him abusing her. He's never been caught on tape saying abusive things to her. But now, get a listen on the last tape at the bottom of this post and Mel's rant against his now former Russian girlfriend is so hateful and controlling!
It's evident that he has been a long-time drinker. He's said as much in older interviews. Has that just now, in later years gotten out of control? Is he self-medicating anger, depression, some other mental illness?
I know it would be very easy to hate the man. Say all sorts of awful things about him, but his decline in recent years has been marked. His lack of control of his drinking, and even his words, sober or drunk has been noticeable. Is he at the early stages of some sort of dementia or Alzheimers?
Some of the early signs of dementia are: personality change, poor or decreased judgment, changes in mood or behavior. Early signs of Alzheimer's can also include changes in mood and personality.
Look at the following interviews with Mel over the years. He starts out okay, but usually half-way through, he gets animated or agitated. He says odd things, and some things you suspect he actually believes.
I don't know. I'm not quite ready to believe he's just an abusive alcoholic. I get the impression there's something else going on here. What do you think?
=====
Update: But wait, there's more:
WORLD EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Mel Gibson's Explosive Racist Rant -- Listen To It Here | RadarOnline.com
Has he always been crazy and it's only in his older years that it's harder for him to keep a handle on it?
Has he always been abusive or an alcoholic? Mel and Robyn were married for 28 years and what, 7 kids? You never heard any mention of him abusing her. He's never been caught on tape saying abusive things to her. But now, get a listen on the last tape at the bottom of this post and Mel's rant against his now former Russian girlfriend is so hateful and controlling!
It's evident that he has been a long-time drinker. He's said as much in older interviews. Has that just now, in later years gotten out of control? Is he self-medicating anger, depression, some other mental illness?
I know it would be very easy to hate the man. Say all sorts of awful things about him, but his decline in recent years has been marked. His lack of control of his drinking, and even his words, sober or drunk has been noticeable. Is he at the early stages of some sort of dementia or Alzheimers?
Some of the early signs of dementia are: personality change, poor or decreased judgment, changes in mood or behavior. Early signs of Alzheimer's can also include changes in mood and personality.
Look at the following interviews with Mel over the years. He starts out okay, but usually half-way through, he gets animated or agitated. He says odd things, and some things you suspect he actually believes.
I don't know. I'm not quite ready to believe he's just an abusive alcoholic. I get the impression there's something else going on here. What do you think?
=====
Update: But wait, there's more:
WORLD EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Mel Gibson's Explosive Racist Rant -- Listen To It Here | RadarOnline.com
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Movie Review

Well, as it turned out, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I think the phony accent he used helped hide some of his traditional delivery. The story was fine, if a little predictable. We were in a theatre surrounded by small children and they seemed to love the movie, so apparently, it was a great movies for kids, a good movie for bigger kids at heart, and had a few funny spots in there as well. For me personally, I would have gotten it on DVD rather than pay the theatre prices to see it, but M wanted to go to the movies, and I always have a good time with her, so why not?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
After the kids go . . .


Monday, July 5, 2010
Spring Flowers
Friday, July 2, 2010
It's My Birthday
In honor of my birthday today, I am posting what makes me happy....puppies! German Shepherds in particular. Going home! Going to Vancouver! Doing puzzles! Listening to music! Spending time with loved ones!

M, just because I started the list with puppies doesn't mean I love puppies more than you. I saved the best for last. :-)


Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Our beautiful old home is an architectural style known as American Foursquare. These houses were popular from the 1890s to about...
-
We recently took a trip back to my hometown in New York. This isn't my picture (there was snow on the ground when we went) but it's...