Archive

A Wry Meme

Published on July 7, 2008 in Miscellany. 8 Comments

Simple meme of 50 questions and answers. Here we go.
1. What do you add to your coffee? On the rare occasions when I drink coffee, it’s usually frozen with all kinds of stuff in it - soft serve ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, chocolate.
2. What are you reading now? Dance of the Dissident Daughter; Wicked; Stumbling on Happiness
3. Do you own a gun? No
4. Are you registered to vote? Yes
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Kind of gross in concept, but quick and cheap and they taste OK, so I’ll cook and eat them.
7. Favorite Christmas Song? I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Diet Mountain Dew
9. Can you do push ups? No
10. What was the name of your first boyfriend/girlfriend? Michael
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelery? I don’t have much jewelry; my wedding ring.
12. Favorite hobby? reading the internet
13. Do you work with people who idolize you? No.
14. Do you have ADD? No.
15. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself? I don’t do hard things.
16. What’s your Middle name? Marie
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I want to go back to bed. I hate Mondays. Please stop talking.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. Shrimp, cream cheese, blueberries.
19. Name 3 beverages you regularly drink. Diet Mountain Dew, water, Diet Coke.
20. Current worry right now? Money.
21. What side do you dress to? I don’t understand this question.
22. Favorite place to be? in bed
23. How did you bring in the New Year? I slept.
24. Where would you like to go? Australia
25. Name three people who will complete this. Not a clue.
26. Whose answers do you want to read the most? VegasJoe
27. What color shirt are you wearing? I’m still in my pajamas; they are green and blue print.
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No.
29. Can you whistle? Some.
30. Favorite colors(s)? Green, purple, blue.
31. Could you be a pirate? No.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever is stuck in my head.
33. Favorite girls name? Lillian
34. Favorite boy’s name? Peter
35. What’s in your pocket right now? Empty (see #27)
36. Last thing that made you laugh? I don’t remember.
37. Best bed sheets as a child? Yes.
38. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Car accident, scar above right eye.
39. Do you love where you live? No.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? Two.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Me.
42. How many dogs do you have? None.
43. Does anyone have a crush on you? Um, no.
44. What are the most fun things you ever did? Sex and Bruce Springsteen concerts.
45. What are your favorite books? To Kill a Mockingbird.
46. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate!
47. Favorite Team? Meh.
48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Funeral for a Friend intro.
49. What were you doing at 12 AM? Talking with my husband in bed before going to sleep.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Ugh. Also, why do I keep dreaming about Jack McCoy from Law & Order? In this particular dream, he was about to be eaten by a bear.

My Feed, #3

Published on July 6, 2008 in My Peeps and MetaBlogging. 0 Comments

I’ve met a lot of people online through ex-Mormon and New Order Mormon discussion boards. One of these, “The Folk of the Fringe,” is where people whose level of belief ranges from “recently released devout Stake President” to “hasn’t darkened a chapel door except for funerals in almost twenty years” have vibrant and respectful conversations. From the Lily Pad is Froggie’s blog. I first ran into Froggie over on The Fringe, and we still keep in touch very rarely by e-mail and over on another ex-Mormon board, The Foyer.

(Full disclosure: I am not an ex-Mormon.)

When I read blogs about people I know primarily from a fairly one-dimensional space (i.e., ex-Mormons), I learn a lot about them as whole people. We are all multi-dimensional; nobody is only “ex-Mormon” or “straight.” Froggie’s blog does a great job of showing all her dimensions. For example, she loves the outdoors, takes wonderful photos, and is a killer cook. If you visit the link, check out “Froggie’s Recipe Box.” Yum!

My Feed, #2

Published on July 5, 2008 in My Peeps and MetaBlogging. 1 Comment

This is number two in a series of posts about the blogs that are in my feed, and why I read them. I will write about the blogs in the order they show up on Google Reader and no preference or ranking should be inferred from the order they show up here in posts.

MikeandJohn.com is the blog of my friends Mike Karpowicz and John Hamer. John is a cultural Mormon; a writer, editor, historian and mapmaker. Mike is his partner, a software developer and business owner. Mike has never been a Mormon, but John’s interest has rubbed off on him. They are co-Executive Director’s of the John Whitmer Historical Association.

They are both great guys, smart and fun. And handsome! They are both just delightful to look at, albeit a little young (maybe that’s why they’re so beautiful). They both have great hair and neither exhibits any signs of encroaching male pattern baldness. I’ve met Hamer (why do I call him Hamer? He’s never John; always Hamer) twice; at the annual Sunstone Symposium last August in Salt Lake City, and for dinner in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on one of my occasional midwestern Mormon meetups. I met Mike for the first time at the Ft. Wayne dinner and I had a lot of fun talking with him about computer stuff.

John and Mike write separate and very different posts. John’s most recent post was a video that VegasJoe would get a kick out of - A YouTube video that’s an image montage of the “Nixon Now” reelection song. Mike’s is a photograph of SBBRPC 85 Pork Coating. John writes a lot about politics, while Mike writes about adventures - scroll down from the Pork Coating post to get a taste.

I read their blog to keep up with their interesting lives; which are very different from mine. They travel, they write, they have adventures. I, on the other hand, rarely leave my house. They don’t update their blog as often as I would like, but that’s not surprising, considering how much time they spend actually living their lives (vs. living vicariously through others).

My Feed, #1

Published on July 3, 2008 in MetaBlogging. 3 Comments

I’m going to do some quick posts about my RSS Feed and the blogs that are in it. But first, a little about The Feed itself.

What I like about the feed:

  • All new posts in one place
  • efficient!
  • never miss anything

What I don’t like about the feed:

  • lack of continuity
  • comments disconnected from the post
  • Have to make a trip to the blog to make a comment, so I don’t comment as much

The plusses outweigh the minusses, so I use the feed for most of my reading.

I use Google Reader. I’m going to make a project of finding a second reader for a second feed for Mormon blogs. I don’t want to mix my Mormon blogs in with my regular stuff, and I think it would make my MoBlogging more efficient (i.e., give me my life back).

So any of my three readers use an RSS feed? What do you use? How do you have it set up?

Morons Among Us

Published on June 28, 2008 in Life in Louisiana. 3 Comments

The state legislature passed and Governor Jindal signed the Louisiana Science Education Act. According to the Times-Picayune article I linked,

the law…will allow local school boards to approve supplemental materials for public school science classes as they discuss evolution, cloning and global warming.

.

Didn’t these people learn ANYTHING from the Dover case? In a state as poor as ours, with an education as weak as our kids get, what makes the legislature and our “smart guy! Ethical!” governor think this is a good thing?

Hat tip: The sidebar at the Mormon blog By Common Consent. I’d bet my buddy Mark linked this.

Springsteen…parody?

Published on June 19, 2008 in Miscellany. 2 Comments

Matt at Addicted to Vinyl (a fun music-interest blog that I’ve added to my RSS feed) linked to a funny Bruce Springsteen parody video today. It’s called “Do Your Job.” I laughed really hard when I was watching it this morning…when I should have been working. Bad Ann. In shallow imitation of VegasJoe’s Video Monday, it’s at the end of this post.

During the first verse:

“They don’t want to do their jobs
They just want their check.
They wanna show up, stand around, and then collect.”

I thought about how much standing around chatting there is when I go work in the office.

Matt was impressed with the lead in to the chorus:

“From the hot dog man to the grocery clerk
I’m the boss…get back to work.”


#3 on the Way

Published on June 17, 2008 in The Fam. 7 Comments

My daughter is going to have another baby. This will be my third grandchild.

I’m happy and excited for them.

Thinking about Peggy

Published on June 9, 2008 in Miscellany. 5 Comments

A little over six months ago, my friend Peggy died. I don’t often cry when I think of it any more, but occasionally I will come across something that so reminds me of Peggy that I yearn for her.

Today I read a poem by Mary Oliver. Peggy loved poetry, and Mary Oliver was one of her favorites. I still have two Oliver poems Peggy thought might bring me comfort and insight in my important papers file. This poem reminded me so much of her, I want to put it here so I don’t lose it.

At Blackwater Pond

Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal,
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it,
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

Ten Things

Published on June 8, 2008 in Miscellany. 4 Comments
  1. I haven’t written a blog post in a week.
  2. When Hope hadn’t written a blog post in five days, I was so worried I called her.
  3. My husband and The Kid got back from taking MIL home to Florida.
  4. They brought back my FIL’s old computer
  5. Work is going well, considering that it’s work and not play.
  6. We had a friend over for dinner Friday night.
  7. We got our house nicely cleaned up in anticipation of his visit
  8. It was really great to wake up Saturday a.m. to a mostly clean house
  9. My vacuum cleaner does a good job on floors, too.
  10. College Graduate is home for the weekend.

Amaryllis

Published on June 1, 2008 in Miscellany. 3 Comments

My mother-in-law gave me an amaryllis kit for Christmas two years ago. I never planted it (I’m such a procrastinator). My husband pulled it out and planted the bulbs about three or four weeks ago. They really didn’t do much for a while, and then suddenly, poof! Leaves! Giant leaves, three inches wide and eighteen inches long!

However, some research indicates that they should have flowered first, if they were going to flower. Since they didn’t, we can only assume that they are developing leaves prior to flowering NEXT year. We are also off of their normal cycle, so that may be part of the problem.

We are going to let them continue to grow, bring them indoors in October, and let the leaves yellow, wither and die. Then, about six to eight weeks later, we’ll pull the bulbs out of their dark, cool storage place (anybody know such a place in Louisiana? Maybe we should just leave them outdoors…) and try again.

Blooming amaryllis are beautiful, so I think it’ll be worth the wait.