Adopt-a-Post (ha!)

Not much going on so I thought I'd post something someone else posted.

I was informed recently by my friend, Katie, that November is Adoption Awareness Month, and thought I would do my part. From as far back as I can remember, I've had an interest in, and a soft-spot for, the whole concept of adoption. To the point that any story related to orphans, adoption, etc. usually involves tears from me.

However, not having been adopted nor having ever adopted any children, I'm also not too well-informed on the subject (unless countless childhood listenings / reenactment's of the Annie Broadway Soundtrack count) so I thought her post would be much more useful and appropriate than anything I could write:

http://katiedustin.blogspot.com/2007/11/adoption-awareness-month.html

Katie's retelling of her story is a good one. I was laughing and crying (typical) throughout and I know the story. And, well, have been known to cry when telling it to other people. I can't help it. It's totally involuntary.

On a side note: the link above tells you how Eli, John and Finley came to be, but the link below tells you about our trip to the zoo. (Aunt Gert's been playing with her new Flickr account during these quiet days at work before Thanksgiving - can you tell?).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33887677@N00/sets/72157602495417124/show/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rant-a-Palooza

I’ve been up since 4:30am and have gotten all riled up listening to the news for three hours. Turns out there's some really irritating crap going on out there. Who knew? Let’s see…

Locally
Robert Pratt (Franklin, TN), a subcontractor for Fischer Homes, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for hiring undocumented workers. Wow, sprawl-mongers AND the racist and hypocritical movement disguised as patriotism /national security that is “border security” all rolled into one story. Santa visited Gerty early this year.

Don't get me wrong. I'm fully aware that illegal is illegal. I just think that issues like this can't be simplified so easily and that life doesn't exist in a vacuum (but if it did, I would like to be in a Dyson DC 15 Animal, please). My problem with all of this anger toward “illegals” is that it's only directed toward dark-skinned individuals. The same dark-skinned people that are building our houses and picking our vegetables so that we can buy 3,000 more square feet than we really need, or tomatoes in January for next-to-nothing, and live our cushy and relatively inexpensive lifestyles. Do we not think there are white people here illegally? Try to get a drink in Boston from a legal Irish bartender. I dare ya. So where are the "minutemen" with their jeeps and their rifles driving around Harvard Square?

As for mister sub-contractor - who happens to live in the wealthiest part of the wealthiest county in our state and one of the top 50 wealthiest counties in the country, by the way (guess we know how he affords it) - I think maybe he could stand to spend his 18 months wandering about the US/Mexico border. Plus, I'd be interested in knowing who he's partial to politically. Just curious. 'Cause if he was hiring them furiners, I'm sure he's a liberal. Plus he lives in Williamson County and I know that the last time I met a lefty-bleeding-heart-let's-let-everyone-in-the-country-and-give-them-a-job-and-buy-them-a-Coke-liberal from Williamson County was... um.... oh wait, that's right - NEVER.

Regionally
Sonny Perdue, governor of Georgia, held a prayer service for rain earlier this week. Yesterday it finally rained in the Atlanta area. Bravo, Sonny. Did Jesus also tell you to check weather.com first? Perhaps instead of praying for rain you should have been praying that the city of Atlanta will stop paving over every goddamn thing they can get their hands on, destroying the water table and increasing the air temperature and therefore helping to cause this drought you’re asking God to end? Or, I don’t know, you could try being a PUBLIC SERVANT AND ACTUALLY WORKING INSTEAD SPENDING TAX-PAYER DOLLARS TO ASK GOD TO DO STUFF FOR YOU. Fiscally-conservative-strict-constitutionalist my ass.

Nationally
I don’t think I can handle 12 more months of presidential election hoo-ha. Especially if all we’re going to hear about the debates are the Sports Center highlights. It’s fine if you share with me a witty comment Hillary made about her pantsuit, but I have a hard time believing that there wasn’t at least one pithy comment Joe Biden made that couldn't have been played instead of the Clinton/OBama/Edwards cross-talking silliness about universal health care. I mean it’s Joe Biden. He had to have said SOMETHING worth hearing. The man never shuts up.

I’m still holding out for a viable third-party candidate or independent. I want ground-shaking, paradigm-shifting change in this country, not just variations of the same thing but with a different animal mascot. I thought I had a Democratic candidate that was truly different and could get me close, but now I’m not sure.

As for the Republicans, I couldn't be happier. The top candidates are two skirt-chasers and a flip-flopper from Massachusetts. Thanks again Santa! (I've been VERY good this year) But seriously, how are those glass houses / black pots workin' out for you fellas? Comfortable?

Internationally
I know that I should be more knowledgeable about international affairs AND I should be more concerned about what’s going on in Pakistan. However... from what I can tell, this all just goes to my theory that a country’s nuclear armament should be allocated – or revoked – based on the basic abilities and choices of its current leader. Much like the Soup Nazi. Then, if your nuclear weapons get taken away, just elect someone with common sense - or overthrow the current guy and replace him with someone less ridiculous – and then you can have them back. For example, the guy in charge of your country has a dead badger of a toupee on his head and still wants us to take him seriously? NO NUKES FOR YOU! Your leader says that the holocaust never happened and/or that there are no homosexuals in his country? NO NUKES FOR YOU! Your leader says “nucular” instead of “nuclear” and he gets elected twice!?! NO NUKES FOR YOU!

OK. I think I’m ready to go to work now.

I Think I Need My Head Examined

I just entered a contest to win an iPhone through Real Simple magazine.

Thing is, I don't enter random raffles or drawings or anything hosted by Ed McMahon. I voted against the lottery and get angry when I have to stand in line behind someone buying a lottery ticket. I don't want to be the 5th caller to the radio station. If Bob Barker had ever called my name, I probably would have "Come On Down" to the floor, that is, and then crawled under my seat. I don't want the door prize at whatever meeting/workshop/conference they feel they need to trick me into attending by giving crap away. I am the Official Wet Blanket of All Contest & Give-Away-Related Activities.

Add to that, I am not really a gadget person. Electronic gadgets, that is. (Ask me about my new lazy-susan/plastic storage container contraption from the Container Store and I'll go on for days...) It was only in the last two years or so that I upgraded to a TV that didn't have dials on it. I barely own a cell phone. I don't have an iPod. I wouldn't turn down a free one, but the effort I have to go through to access and listen to my music in its current capacity doesn't outweigh the price of getting an iPod at the moment. Same with a Blackberry. I can see the point if you travel a lot or are away from the office during the day for large amounts of time. But I'm not. And when I am - again - the hassle doesn't outweigh the cost. So why? WHY do I now want a completely indulgent, borderline pretentious, VERY expensive technological thingy.

Maybe it's the commercials for them. They're genius. But most all Mac-related commercials are genius (not to say I that couldn't have lived without ever seeing that annoying Feist iPod commercial that they've finally stopped playing but is still somehow stuck in my head) and that certainly hasn't made me want to buy any of their products. I was perfectly happy lusting after the iPhone from afar and then MAYBE if we find out a year or so from now that they aren't more trouble than they're worth or don't randomly catch fire and melt to the side of your head or something else strange and tragic, I might consider adding it to my technology wish-list. Considering I still don't have my own laptop, surround-sound, or TiVo though, it shouldn't hold its breath.

Maybe it was when I noticed that the really cool pictures posted on one of my favorite blogs (I heart the Daily Chuck!) were taken with an iPhone. When I read that, my little ears perked up and I cocked my head to the side like my dog, Oliver, when he's trying to figure out where the squirrel on the TV set just ran off to. "Take pretty decent pictures on any whim without having to lug a camera about? Hmmm...."

Or maybe it was just that my current crush on the iPhone was combined with my slightly dysfunctional love of Real Simple magazine. Had they suggested I join the Britanny Spears Fan Club or donate to the Mit Romney campaign I might have been tempted to do so. And that kinda scares me.

But more importantly though... if I win, I actually get TWO iPhones so maybe I'll share. Interested???

Thursday Recap / Weekend Preview

"The Office": This week it was the perfect example of what I love about "The Office" and what I don't like so much. The whole Michael in the wilderness concept overall was kind of stupid - and a lame way to be part of NBC's "Green Week" (30 Rock did it perfectly and hilariously, however. Yea Al!). His antics while out in the forest were funny, but not what I love. The genius part was the whole Jim-in-charge / birthday scenario. Because who hasn't experienced this level of nonsense at work? Jim is both right and wrong; silly and making sense. Everyone else is also all of these things as well. I loved it! The best though - Jim's impression of Toby; Jim and Pam's quick exchange about meeting in the conference room; and then of course Michael somehow becoming the hero and cool boss at the end. And I loved all of the snippets of Michael scaring people for their birthday. So great.

Everything else on TV last night: Also great. "Grey's Anatomy" finally seems to be back to the original show that I love. I was a complete mess with the whole injured mother / adopted child story-line. But, I'm a mess when it comes to anything about orphaned/adopted children so that was kind of a given (I'm trying to decide if I can handle seeing Martian Child in the theater or not). Then, of course, it had to be followed up by one of my favorite Sex-in-the-City reruns of Miranda's wedding / Samatha's breast cancer / Carrie's pink Oscar de la Renta dress from The Russian.

The rest of life: I'm trying to get ready to be in a multi-person yard sale on Saturday with my friend, Claudia, and several of her girl friends that I've been getting to know. It's been great cleaning closets and looking for stuff to get rid of, but my house is so small that there's not an extra/empty corner - let alone room - to stack it all in. So, of course, it's in the living room, breakfast area and mud room / dogs' room. And believe you me, they are NOT happy to be sharing their den with crap I've dragged out of the garage. Apparently dirt and dust from foreign objects = bad; Own dirt and dust they've dragged in from the yard = good.

I love having yard sales. It's one of those quaint neighborhoody things that I always picture being very Martha Stewartish with mugs of cocoa, vintage kitchen items arranged on metal patio tables, old worn out chairs, etc. It never quite ends up that way, but it's still fun nonetheless.

All proceeds will be going to fund Sunday's Christmas Village outing with Katie and to a desperately-needed bike tune-up so that I can hopefully get my fat ass riding again.

Saturday is also the UT / Arkansas game. Don't really know what to think of this one. I figure it will either be a blow-out defeat a la the Alabama game or a down-to-the-wire-make-me-want-to-puke-last-minute victory like the South Carolina game. Not exactly looking forward to either. Not that it's going to keep me from watching either... GO VOLS!!!

Geek Break

How adorable is this?

It's a picture, courtesy of National Geographic, of Husky pups in Greenland. Technically some little island off the coast of Greenland where they are supposed to grow up to be sled dogs for ice hunters. Only their island is shrinking because of climate change. So really, a little less adorable and a lot more sad. The picture though came to me on my iGoogle home page. If you don't have an iGoogle home page, I highly recommend it. There are all sorts o' gadgets and fun little doo-dads you can add to it. It's a HUGE time-waster so if you're easily sucked into little projects like this, be prepared. Here's what is on mine:

• Quote of the Day
• Literary Quote of the Day (have to put that English degree to work whenever possible)
• Font of the Day (I have a font obsession and am in need of a 12-step program if you know of any)
• Color Scheme of the Day (yeah I know, weird, but actually helps me with my job)
• Art of the Day (not as exciting as anticipated. I'm thinking of dumping it)
• Weather (very handy)
• NYTimes Top Stories
• Mah Jongg (what am I, 80?)
• Chinese Proverb of the Day (it seemed like a good idea at the time)
• A little game where you click little blobs of color to make them disappear, then all the other little blobs shift around when that happens and you click more, trying to end up with no little blobs of color. It's maddening.
• Dictionary.com's Word of the Day (see bullet #2)
• Synonym match-up Game (wow, I'm just fully realizing what a dork I am)
• National Geographic Photo of the Day
• And finally, my favorite, as it combines two of my most favorite things in the world - Muppets and Mocking the Bush Administration: the Sesame Street Terror Alert System

Today's Terror Alert Level is Ernie/Bert...
and brought to you by the letter Q....

But anyway... back to National Geographic. The photos are always good, but when they're really good/intriguing, I click on them, go to the National Geographic home page, and then get sucked into a whole other geeky world of fascinating science news and information.

For instance. Did you know that they saw a rare monkey in Kenya they thought was virtually extinct? Pretty cool considering we've killed off almost all of our primates.

AND did you also know that it looks like dinosaurs were likely done in by volcanoes and NOT an asteroid? See, had we known this earlier, the world probably could have been saved from that horrible Bruce Willis Armageddon movie.

By the way, one of my aliases is "The Queen of Useless Information," so my sharing of these little factoids is not going to end any time in the near future. If you know me, you know that I often start sentences with "Did you know..." I'm the person at the cocktail party they call over to solve age-old questions like "Who's the third Jackson?" (True story. And it's Marlin, in case you were wondering.) I know things like, crows never die alone, but ask me most any relative's birthday and I'm at a loss. And don't go thinking that I'm a good partner for Trivial Pursuit. That involves actual knowledge. Can I tell you the 36th President? The chemical symbol for magnezium? The dates of the Civil War? Hell no. The names of all the children in "Eight is Enough"? Now, we're talkin'.

So yeah, me and the little kid from Jerry Maguire, somewhere there's a nice institution home for us... Until then if you're at a loss for amusement over gin and tonics or in a heated game of Cranium (Best. Game. Ever.) give me a call.

Questioning

I've been in a funk lately, mostly questioning my career/work situation. I think I'm in need of a change. But, I took my current job because I needed a change from the last one, so part of me has been wondering if its just me and not the jobs. Then yesterday I was at home sick, with what was probably a work-related stress-induced ailment, and I watched When Harry Met Sally. Why? Because it's the cinematic version of chicken soup, that's why. And, because while I'll admit to watching "The View," I draw the line at "Judge Judy" or "Morrie Povich" which are the only options in the mid-day for the cable-less. And yes, I could have turned off the TV, but then what? Just lay there with my own thoughts? Not a good plan. That's probably what got me the sick day to begin with. But... digressing...

It turns out that WHMS was just what I needed. Boys who tell you that "The Godfather is the answer to all of life's questions" are so wrong. The Corleones don't know crap. Ask Sally Albright. So I did. And sure enough, there it was. Exactly what I needed to hear. This current job is my transitional job. I'm not supposed to marry my transitional job. There you go. Problem solved. Let's move on. To what? To that I have no answer. But I feel better about it for now. And tomorrow is another day.

OK, starting to quote a different movie, so let's definitely move on.

So in honor of my sick day / day of vegetation, I thought I'd try to find the answers to my top five list of questions that have come up since the last post. And in fitting with the vegetation part, 90% of them are TV/movie/sports/other couch-potato-related questions.

1. Could Steve Carrell be anymore adorable? And I'm not just asking that because he's a fellow Big Red Buzzard. My favorite quote from this week's "The Office"was from him. Michael to Pam (dictating the want ad to replace Stanley):

"Wanted. Large black man with sass. Big butt. Bigger heart."

It's so sweet when you think about it. Because after all, don't we all want to be known for having a heart that's bigger than our butt?

I also saw him in Dan in Real Life on Sunday with Katie. The movie was good. Terribly predictable in places; not enough development of secondary characters; tied things up too quickly so as not to go over 100 minutes - you know, the typical mainstream movie problems - but overall it was quite endearing and very funny. The whole cast was funny, but the endearing part was all Steve Carrell. And well, the setting. You see, one of the things Katie and I have in common is that we're suckers for any movie with a big family in woolly sweaters and a big ole, rambling house. Preferably with cedar shingles. And on the water. And a nice lawn for touch football is a bonus. As are canoes and Adirondack chairs. And a run-down vintage-y kitchen. And plaid. Sorry... I drifted off there for a sec... Anyway, this movie had all of the these things in spades



Needless to say we were goners from almost the very first frame.


2. Couldn't they have given the guy on "Grey's Anatomy," who had the open heart surgery while he was awake, something to do besides just lay there and go nuts? I know they needed to heighten the drama, but if I had to lay on a table with a room full of people looking at me for six hours - not even factoring in that they would all be staring at the inside of my chest - I would go stark raving mad. Couldn't they have rolled in a TV set for him or something? I mean, really, if way back in the 80's my orthodontist let me watch Top Gun while I got my braces on, surely they could have figured out something for this guy.

3. Is it just me, or does the new Krystal's Caribbean Chik sandwich look like vomit? Seriously. Not that ALL Krystal sandwiches aren't just shy of vomit to begin with, but this one looks truly awful. Maybe its a new era of truth-in-advertising for them. Either way it's GRO-OSS.

4. How do you have an All Saints service without singing Hymn 293? Maybe it's just me, but I think it would make Jesus happy if we could sing a hymn once a year that I know all the words to. A few others sitting near me contemplated just starting to sing it ourselves and seeing who would join in. But we didn't. We're Episcopalians after all. You can't get too crazy... Or else they give you the bad wine at communion.

5. Why does Peyton Manning have to over-think things so much? And. Why is Bill Belichick such a bastard? I'm certainly in no place to criticize over-thinking, but P, when a 300-pound guy grabs your arm, don't keep thinking about how to salvage the play, just take the damn sack. And Bill, dude, what is your deal!? It's one thing to be a sore loser, but it takes a whole other skill set to be a sore winner. And rude to Tony Dungy? Really? Do you kick puppies too? And was it just a coincidence that every time I looked up at the game from what I was reading, I just happened to see one of your players also behaving like an ass? Granted, I haven't liked you guys since I was a young girl with a crush on Dan Marino and you had to use a groundskeeper to beat the Dolphins in a snow storm. But now. Now you're nothing more than the pro version of Florida. And no one needs that.


And no, no recap of the Tennessee game. It was a blow-out - in our favor this time, thankfully - and only on the radio so there's not much to mention.... except, GO VOLS, of course.

Happy All Saints Day

"Look, don't you think we're saintly?
No? Really?
Surely you must be mistaken."

Last night was a typical Halloween. A few trick-or-treaters, lots of dog barking and too much left-over Halloween candy. My jack-o-lanterns ended up being fairly cute. (A happy-faced round orange pumpkin stacked on top of a sad-faced white pumpkin). If I had a functioning camera at the moment, I would have taken a picture of them. Early on in the evening I had to put the dogs outside so that they could join the chorus of other barking dogs on my block / annoy my neighbors instead of just me.

When I finally let them in they were all riled up, what with having to run laps around the back yard to protect our land from various very scary elementary school students. So riled up in fact that they managed to wage a fairly impressive campaign of shock and awe in only about 15 minutes before they collapsed in exhaustion on the floor. It included, but was not limited to,

• knocking over my Diet Coke


• stealing and shredding the wet paper towels I used to clean up the Diet Coke


• leaping onto the ottoman in the getaway process of stealing the wet paper towels


• knocking a stack of magazines off the ottoman


• stealing and shredding a couple of the subscription reply cards that fell out of the stack of magazines


• growling and snapping at each other over who got the better subscription reply card / larger portion of wet paper towels


• jumping onto the couch with Diet Coke Paws


• yanking the laptop power cord out of the wall


• pulling the compost pail off the counter


• digging out a chunk of pumpkin from the compost pail


• racing out the dog door with treasured chunk of pumpkin so that I wouldn't take it away from them


• eating part of the chunk of pumpkin


• dropping the pumpkin left-overs in the hole in the yard for safe keeping


• coming back inside only to yak chewed-up pumpkin on the kitchen floor (and perhaps rethink the logic of the last four activities).
  

Two seconds later they were asleep in the living room and every time I got up to do something or laugh aloud at something on the TV, they'd open an eye or stick up an ear like "Hey, pipe down! We're sleepin' here!"

Today though is All Saints Day which makes Sunday, well, All Saints Sunday. It’s one of my very favorite days of the year. Why? Well, I just happened to have a list:

1. I dig Holy Days with such blatant Pagan origins/aspects.


2. I really like the concept of saints and celebrating people who have died.


3. It has the pomp and circumstance of a Christmas or Easter service without having to fight anyone for a parking space at the mall or cooking any large animals.
   
4. I get to sing one of my favorite hymns (you have to love a hymn that talks about having tea). And, in looking for the “correct” version of the lyrics online (surprisingly challenging) I came across an Episcopal blog with the lyrics and other cool posts that I’m going to have to revisit.


5. Numbers 1 & 2 really make the fundamentalists twitch so really, it’s a win-win-win situation.

So next my plan was to go on and on about something terribly profound, I'm sure, but there's a basket of leftover Halloween candy calling my name...