Poor Kitties

This article makes me so sad but I remember the same ritual when I got Horace back in the day. I adopted her in the springtime I think. But they told me to keep a tight eye on her around Halloween as black cats tend to "disappear." I'm amazed that old superstition still has any momentum. I think black cats are beautiful!

A drawer full of memories

An old dresser in a new closet, a time capsule of more memories.. Shared memories, actually. They don't all belong to me and I'm going to take a moment to scrapbook some of those memories.

For example, I found a 4x6 photo of Joe Girardi and I have written on the back,

Rainman
G.I. Joe
The Godfather
I Love A Rainy Night
"Why DIDN'T YOU BRING AN UMBRELLA?!!!!"
"Dear Kayla, Every ball I catch today will be for you. I'd really like to talk to you - meet me across the street - you'll know where I mean. Love, Joe"
Hatred of the Rain
Has a brother named Frank
Autograph: D d=Vi D t + ½a D t2 = ha2 Love Joe

But what does it all mean?! Well, as I recall, now, there was some incident in the players parking lot where we were all soaking wet in the rain and Joe had to run inside because it was raining. He had a buzz cut and is place of employment is outdoors, so you can naturally understand why he was so concerned about running inside quickly.

I also found a bunch of baseball cards and old pictures - both have equal significance in my mind. I made a couple collages that sort of speak to the experience.

For example, these are the guys that I found deeply attractive for the majority of my teen youth.





I had elaborate fantasies about being married to two of them and having sordid (hot & stinky?) affairs with the other two. Mike "The Male" Bielecki was of course a favorite of mine and I felt he might have had a slight issue with beer since his most memorable TV moment was covered in mashed potatoes chugging Old Style after Old Style. He and I were to have several children. Though he was not to be my first husband. Ricky should have been - and we were to have four boys (Rocko, Bronco, Bucko and Bruno - names that sounded good with "Wrona"). Then The Male was to arrive and live a life of beer and have 36 children. I do not remember all their names, unfortunately. I only remember three names - Barney Fred (after Barney's steak house and Fred after the Tarantula), Judd Raxie Hooter (Couldn't remember if he was to be conceived at Rax or Hooters), and Jimmie Joe Dan (named after Jim McMahon, Joe Montana and Dan Marino). The whole married to a drunk thing seems to have perpetuated itself well into my choices for potential mates over the course of my life. Who says there are no self-fulfilling prophecies?

Conversely, these are the blokes that my friend Shan found to be deeply attractive though I clearly never fully understood why. But she always thought my guys were pretty gross so all's fair in love and war.





But then, as friends do, we always found at least one traffic-stopping guy to let our heart melt for..



Ironically, this turned out to be our reality:



Hee - where do I find the time? I have no idea.

And finally - this little gem:

The Rhetoric of Gen X

Last night I was teasing Ouiser to get up and dance to "At the Car Wash" joking, "It's your generation! You should get up and dance!" Then "Hey Micky" came on and I said to A, "When were you born?" she said, "1982" and I said, "Oh, at least you were born when this came out!" And I realized the relativity of my age to Ouisers and A's to mine.

Now I'm finally watching the Zoo TV dvd I've had but not watched yet and I was mesmerized by the words flashed on screen to "The Fly." It was quite interesting in that it was cutting edge 10-13 (?) years ago. As I folded my Gap "Inspi(RED)" t-shirt, the relative time between the message flashing with an arrogant lack of subliminalism and the simple message of the shirt that cost more than the DVD but made in South Africa had a surreal impact.

Are these words the voice(s) of my generation? Did it turn out to be as profound and irrelevent as it all seemed at the time?

THE FUTURE IS FANTASY
SUPERFICIALITY IS GOD
AVOID CONFLICT
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
IT'S THE REAL THING
CONSUME LATER
DO NOT ACCEPT WHAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE
CHANGE WHAT YOU CANNOT ACCEPT
BELIEVE EVERYTHING
DO YOU BELIEVE ME?
YOU ARE A VICTIM OF YOUR TV/HATRED/APATHY/SELF
IS THIS ALL WE GET?
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
WHAT DID THE FIRST PUNK ROCK GIRL WEAR TO YOUR SCHOOL?
WORK IS THE BLACKMAIL OF SURVIVAL
I WANT IT NOW
BE GENTLE WITH ME
THIS IS NOT A REHEARSAL
ENJOY THE SURFACE
FREE MANDELA
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
AMBITION BITES THE NAILS OF SUCCESS
IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE
TASTE IS THE ENEMY OF ART
BELIEVE
MANIPULATION IS ART
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE
EVERY ARTIST IS A CANNIBAL
CELEBRITY IS A JOB
DEATH IS A CAREER MOVE
MOCK THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM THEE
REBELLION IS PACKAGED *
RELIGION IS A CLUB
CONTRADICTION IS BALANCE
I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING
GUILT IS NOT OF GOD
TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME
EVOLUTION IS OVER
SILENCE = DEATH
DEATH IS INEVITABLE **
EVERYONE IS A RACIST EXCEPT YOU
ROCK AND ROLL IS ENTERTAINMENT
WEAR A CONDOM

*I particularly like this one now. 15 or so years later, you come to realize how packaged it was then

**If silence equals death and death is inevitable, does that mean silence is inevitable?

Vampiress Sparrow

As I semi-promised, here are pictures of me in my Halloween costume. Not quite as sensational as the model but that should explain why I'm in accounting and not, say, modeling. I wish I could have gotten the goth eyes but I lucky I get make up on in the first place never mind being artistic about it.

OK - here they is.

Smiling Vampiress




Less friendly Vampiress

Johnny Depp & The Pirate Kingdom

OK, I've seen some reasonable facsimiles of Captain Jack Sparrow. But in yesterday's parade, this one was stunning. My jaw was on the floor and frankly, if it turned out in today's news it really was Johnny Depp up there, I'd believe it, savvy?

Here's the video, see for yeselves again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ2sro4XmdI

Old French Whores

Last night we did our Halloween party and we noted that a small subset of us looked like old French whores rather than a Pirate Princess, A Witch & Vampiress.

Decide for yeselves!

Dating Advice for your 30's

This is applicable to men and women!

Never date anyone who sheds a lot of hair. Whether you miss them when they aren't there or can't stand them, their genetics are literally everywhere for months.

I'm now a Re-Peat O-ffender

Woe is me.


Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Original of the Species

My birthday is coming up (thanks to a scot for reminding me no less) and I'm going to be getting older. My friends and I were talking about how a parent feels differently or the same about their child once they are adults. C asked La if she could imagine her son as an adult and becoming estranged from him the way so many adult children do from their parents. She couldn't, yet it happens every day.

You know, I've loved U2's music a great deal because of the shared birthmark I have with Bono and Larry - the loss of a mother at adolesence. And for me, this is that time of year. It was around now 22 years ago that we had a lot of hope that things were looking better and had no idea the rug was about to be pulled out.

While I always loved the expression of a child's grief, there's a beauty and comfort to the music that Bono writes as a parent.. I value and to some extent live vicariously through those lyrics to what it will be like to be a parentless child raising childen of your own. I guess in some ways, the lyrics are feelings for your own child but perhaps, a verbalization of what you hear in your heart from your own absent parents who have moved on and what their hopes and dreams would be for you.

"Original Of The Species"
Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Some things you shouldn’t get too good at
Like smiling, crying and celebrity
Some people got way too much confidence baby

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no

And you’ll never be alone
Come on now, show your soul
You’ve been keeping your love under control

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no
Everywhere you go you shout it
Oh my my

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want you some more
I want you some more

Euro Playlist

I downloaded one of my favorite songs on iTunes today - a new version of Fields of Gold. It's inspired me to do a Euro Playlist - and I'm pretty chuffed with it. Here's the tracks and a few streams of thought on each..

England
Fields of Gold ("New Version"), Sting - A train ride through Avon and Wiltshire, through pastoral rolling hills. A bus ride with Canadians and Aussies to Stonehenge - I had read Sting's estate touched the grounds of Stonehenge. Driving through the fields I saw the fields of yellow flowers peeking up from the greenest blades of grass. I saw the Fields of Gold. This version feels more true to the Wiltshire countryside

London
Missing, Everything But The Girl - London has a pulse, beat yet a contemporary coolness that runs through it and its people. Images and sounds...my shoes clicking on the pavement, scarf wrapped around my neck, broad coat flapping in the damp wind, in and out of Tube stations, unwrapping in the office and grabbing a cuppa Earl Grey and a curry for lunch.

UK/EIRE
Book of Days, Enya - Images of Southampton, port towns, the wide ocean, even Titanic. To me it's evocative of the whole connection between Ireland, the UK and the United States. I suppose I can say I see a bit of NYC somewhere on the horizon

Eire (Ireland, Oirish!)
In The Name of The Father, Bono & Gavin Friday - Tribal celtic beats, traditional uilleann pipes, and the distinct post modern guttural intonations of Gavin Friday and modern rock all combined into the paradox of cultures and passing of time that is Ireland

Eire
Running To Stand Still, U2 - What is Ireland without U2? Bono always refers to the Seven Towers in Dublin. Imagery of the scores of unemployed youth that are screaming without raising their voice is the side of Ireland that looks less glamourous than the blarney dancing leprechauns and far more enchanting in its reality

Espana (Spain)
Viva Forever, Spice Girls - Our little green "Jamon" car, meandering through dusty Autopista's between Toledo and Carmona. It was in the middle of the night and I had my cheek pressed against the glass watching the constellations stand still as we drove quickly by. This song was playing and Regina, Lynn, Tamara and I sang softly along and it was one of those moments that you know will Viva Forever.

Espana/Morocco/Andalucia
Desert Rose (Club Mix), Sting - My first glimpse of Africa from Tarifa, we found ourselves on a Spanish hydrofoil speeding for Tangier. I snuck out onto the forbidden deck and though the steward tried to get me to go below deck, I could only plead with gestures and my eyes that I couldn't go under. I had to watch my dream approaching. I set foot from the modernity of a hydrofoil and into the chaos that was Tangiers It was like watching time run through your hand, and I see the narrow souks of the Medina and my life forever changed.

Espana
Crickets Sing For Anamaria, Emma Bunton - This song is SO Madrid. /nuff said!

Scandanavia
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere), The Beautiful South - First heard this song on a BA flight and of all the songs on this playlist, I don't know that there's another one that's got more of the European vibe than this one.

France
69 Police, Oceans 11 - Memories of Orly airport, wandering back and forth in the dank and unmodern terminal, watching flights going to Porto, Malaga, Avignon, Tel Aviv.. all the small ordinary little cities that you don't often think about. I felt I saw more of Europe at Orly airport than anywhere else I have ever been. And more dogs, too.

France
Sympathique, Pink Martini - Je veux seulement oublier, et puis je fume. How french is that?

France
Parlez Moi D'Amour, Lucienne Boyer - One of the most romantic if not sensually erotic songs ever recorded. Images from a novel I've never read or movie I've never seen of lovemaking in a small pension's rickety rail bed, the morning sun streaking in and cascading back over the azure sea. I think I read too much Anais Nin.

Deutschland
Extreme Ways, Moby - I just think nothing but Autobahn when I hear this. I try to not play it when I'm driving because I'll invariably get a ticket. Though I believe it was actually filmed in Prague, there was something so sexy and so..German about the way Matt Damon drove that old Mini Cooper in the "Bourne Identity." And I wouldn't complain if he wanted to wash my hair either ;-)

Italia - Roma
Via Con Me, Paolo Conte - This is just so Roma! I always see Raj in Rome talking about crocodile hunting (still have no idea what he was on about), mopeds, swarming around the city, up and down Piazza Espana, Fontana Trevi and just the ride that is Rome

Italia - Venezia
Time To Say Goodbye, Andrea Bocelli/Sarah Brightman - Venezia...enchanting, romantic and sweeping. I admit I was drawn in at Piazza San Marco with a glass of Bellini watching the Orchestras light up from one corner to the next. The beauty, sense of occasion and formality of a casual evening..

Italia - Toscana
O Mio Babbino, Kiri Te Kawana - NO complaints that I didn't put in Hotel California for Tuscany! Maybe it's my love for Merchant-Ivory or simply "A Room With A View" but this gives me the same peace of the heart that I experienced sitting in the window of Podere Ripucce, or having my morning cuppa out on the pergola. The way the house would rise in the morning and fall in the evening, the characters the sixteen of us were from watching porn in the dining room to lighting candles in wine bottles by the pool. It was a magical place and I feel the romanza and timelessness of Tuscany in this song - as evocative as a bottle of Chianti.

Schweiz
Sex Bomb, Tom Jones - OK, you KNOW there had to be at least ONE Tom Jones song in a euromix! This song is revolting but if you can imagine three giggling girls zooming through the alps in a VW Passat, staring at a Blaupunkt stereo asking "Is he saying Sex POT or Sex BOMB?" It was fucking awesome.

Eastern Europe
Miss Sarajevo (Live), U2 - This version was recorded live in Milano but the slight change of lyrics brings the song even closer to Eastern Europe, the dim lighting, the odd fashions (white coats with feathers?), soviet bloc architecture and the emergence of possibility

Eastern Europe
Szerelem, Szerelem, Marta Sebestyen - Beautiful, haunting, romantic and tragic. I picked this one to complete the playlist because it gives you pause to meditate on the memories, pains and pleasures of travel.


"The tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another." - Paul Bowles

Photoblog Update

I've been better about taking daily photos. I've gotten 7 days straight now.

I've changed the URL though - it's here now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lis365/sets/72157594330769373/

A Reason To Believe

Wow - I never realized I could become so backed up in life and work that I would lose track of so much time. Part of it is I've been working long days and weekends (another lost day today) but I am in hyper-social mode again as well.

Next weekend we're going to a Halloween party and I was going to be Jasmine. But my friend Katie is actually Moroccan, almost 6 feet tall and model-thin. So we decided SHE should be Jasmine (my 35 lbs do not bring me Amazon status frankly). She - as many of my "friends" do - started in on me about being Mulan. I think not. I've been the butt of hundreds of chinese joke lately. It's my own fault, I fail to be upfront that I'm part chinese racially. Culturally it's Thai/German but if one went with the genetics there's a bit of the chink in me. Of course J had to give me crap at dinner last night to everyone's amusement, "I bet your idea of a good time is a roll of quarters and an empty laundromat." We were talking around him about India (he was there for a week) and I asked him a question and he said, "I didn't ask that because I wasn't a racist." to which I responded, "That must have been a nice break for you then." Of course, I should not have been so rude, his trip rendered me a lovely string of pearls. When his daughter gave them to me, I sat there aghast. I tried to not accept them but I obviously took them in the end. I also got a gorgeous set of silk table linens. He goes back in January and I'm sending him with money to buy bedding because the stuff he got was amazing. Prolly going to get some sandalwood elephants too. I'm redoing my bedroom Indian exotic so I really need to firm up my design ideas.

ANYWAY, the point in the end is I am forgoing the Disney costumes altogether and going Vamp..
Here's the costume I got:




If I get guts, I'll post a picture of me in it. I got all the make-up and a different choker than the one here. I was going to get a black wig but this is Florida and this costume is hot enough. K got a great pirate wench costume. Her husband came downstairs and at first gave us crap about it but then said, "there ain't a lot of men in the world who will complain about coming downstairs and finding two women dressed as ho's in his living room." It was kind of funny/kind of you had to be there. Underneath we were in wet bathing suits. I love Halloween.

I also went Yellow Dog Cafe this weekend (photos from there might make it into my 365 photoblog which has changed addies again - more later on that). I went with a friend of mine and I was telling her about the Telling Off that I blogged about previously. And then the radio spoke to me again. God transmits in FM radio waves, apparently. We're sitting there talking about this person and how sad their life is currently and that my telling-off was justified.

Then we both hear it - a song on the radio - at the same time and just started giggling like school girls (she's aware of all the weird radio related coinkydinks I've had). The weird part of it wasn't so much that the song had an inital meaning. It was that we apparently heard the lyrics at the same time and had the same thought..

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live without
somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
never think about myself

If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way just to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live without
somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
never think about myself

Well it's time for me to move onto my other projects. This week beholds more levels of hell and I must prepare myself.

How Not To Be Seen

You know... I gave up telling people off for lent. Or New Years or summat. But, today I just had to do it. I've been carrying around a bit of anger and I'm not being sarky when I say that, it truly has been "a bit" of anger. And I never really addressed it full on because I thought that I usually regret it afterwards. But when it's a case of standing up for yourself and taking your power back or your self-respect back - it is TOTALLY worth it. I don't think it'll be one of those situations where I will say, "you know, they didn't deserve that really" because sometimes, they do deserve it.

In some respects it seems as daft as being in the Revenge Business (a la Princess Bride) but I think if you can actually substaniate your feelings into some actual facts of the matter, you can become empowered and entitled to tell a person off. I was able to quantify actual damages resultant from another person's lack of emotional intelligence and lack of respect for other people. And as a good samaratin (I love how I'm justifying this for the greater good), I believe this person needs a good telling off so that if any part of it sticks, society will be a better place.

But, the reality is, it probably won't stick at all. Given all the wake up calls this person has had in their life, it's not likely mine will even ring faintly in the background. But it did me a world of good. To quote my own self in one of my infamous Streets of NYC moments, I ain't stupid!

Why I think Bono is kewl

Oprah today got me verklempt. Not only was it all filmed in and around Chicago, it was filmed in and around my exact precise neighborhood - within my square mile. Then again, that square mile also belongs to O anyway.. But Bono's got another big idea and I frankly like it. I want a pair of the Armani sunglasses personally.

Yea, so Bono is an (old) arse. But I got to give him credit, he somehow makes things happen.

Take a minute. Look at a picture. Read a website. Go shopping. Take the time to read some beautiful lyrics. It doesn't take a lot of effort. At least check out what you might be missing.



The Gap t-shirts are cool, affordable and hey, why not?

Heaven on Earth
We need it now
I'm sick of all of this
Hanging around
Sick of sorrow
I'm sick of the pain
I'm sick of hearing again and again
That there's gonna be
Peace on Earth

Where I grew up
There weren't many trees
Where there was we'd tear them down
And use them on our enemies
They say that what you mock
Will surely overtake you
And you become a monster
So the monster will not break you

And it's already gone too far
Who said that if you go in hard
You won't get hurt

Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
Tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on Earth
No who's or why's
No one cries like a mother cries
For peace on Earth
She never got to say goodbye
To see the color in his eyes
Now he's in the dirt
Peace on Earth

They're reading names out over the radio
All the folks the rest of us won't get to know
Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann, and Breda
Their lives are bigger, than any big idea

Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on Earth

Jesus in the song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So what's it worth
This peace on Earth

Peace on Earth
Peace on Earth
Peace on Earth

More Stories from I-4

And I thought the La-Z-Boy recliner was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen on I-4....

Opening a Time Capsule

A package was sitting on my front porch when I got home tonight. It was from a friend of mine in Chicago who I used to work with. She still works for the same small company and they are moving offices. She apparently had cleaned out the file room and found a parcel of what were my belongings.

I left that company in October of 1999 so this stuff is almost exactly 7 years missing. It was like walking through time. I found brochures of an apartment I had rented with my ex-roommie Meg back in 93. There were photographs from trips to Montreal, a ticket stub from Miss Saigon, a British Airways timetable (in the days before Travelocity and the internet) and to my shock...the missing NASA patch I had blogged previously about and even more forgotten, a photo Hubble. I had written in black marker on the back of the patch, "STS-61, December 1993." This little patch is 13 years old and it's finally found it's way back to me after all these years.

I know I've often said I've been on a journey. This year has been so utterly special and I'm not sure what it all means and adds up to. How many things in my life has been lost (including my own sense of self?) and brought back to me in the most unusual fashion. It's so strange because no matter how you look at it, I have not thought about that crazy mission in nearly 13 years. All in the same year, I find the documentation I contributed on the NASA site, I locate a pin to replace the patch and then lo and behold, I have now sitting right in front of me the lost patch and Hubble photo.

Though the packet has been out of my posession for the past 7 years, it's actually been lost for possibly exactly 13. 1993 was the year I accepted a position with the "spin off" company. I moved from the 36th floor to the 35th and clearly this packet was from that move
and I never had opened it up in the six remaining years I worked there. Everything in this packet is from 1993 so it truly is a time capsule.

1993 was a big year. I had a gorgeous new apartment, my first management job, I had gone overseas and to Montreal (wooo!), I was in college still and I had just gotten my first computer - a Packard Bell and the internet to me meant anything that was content on Prodigy or Compuserve. In fact, I kept my computer in the closet because I rarely used it for anything except making phoney brochures, writing stories and using EasySabre on Prodigy and Cserve. The only person I had every chatted online with was a guy from Germany named Rik and I felt that I was committing some irresponsible act in doing that.

Times have changed so dramatically. Today I have a nice house/yard/car, I'm in my fourth or fifth management position, I've been all over the world and worked in all the major business cities in the US and key ones in Europe, I'm on my fourth desktop and I have four laptops of varying conditions, my whole job is on a PC and I implement systems. I used Travelocity and Expedia. I have chatted with many many people online, met several and not one has ever turned out to be a psychopathic killer. In fact, dating online is the obvious and safer thing to do than the freaks you meet in a bar.

What a journey it's been. Today was another day working with C-level executives and VP's, and learning how perform at a whole new level. Yesterday, the Hubble project was the coolest thing in my life. It's great to know that 13 years later, it mattered. I wonder what I'm doing today that will matter to me tomorrow?

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Quoth the Hannibal..

I just got done working :'-(

I took pretty pictures yesterday - none of "Daniel" (because I'm just that stupid) but managed to snap these two:






I've gone off the 365 project because the camera I have is too bulky to carry around with any practicality. I am selling mine and am buying a used camera and it's on its way in. It's got 8mp (!) and an anti-shake function but the best part is it's the size of a cell phone. It's dirt cheap so I'll end up making a profit off of it. It should arrive here on Wednesday. I can't wait. Brad has one just like it and that's why I want it.

I also am very happy - I finally got a new jacket for the winter/fall. I can no longer fit into my other windbreaker (as in, it's gotten so big I look ridiculous not to mention it's bright yellow) so I got this awesome Helly Hansen one for 60% off. I am now suitable for Norway.


And in even better news, I cleaned the carpets and they look almot new.

I need to go to bed. Am exhausted!

Confuse me?

I saw this tremendously ugly chap today at a wine tasting:




It's Eric Mabius from Ugly Betty - one of my new favorite TV shows. Aside from the tremendous heart the show has and it's just so different from anything else, Eric (aka "Daniel") is quite hot, frankly.

The confusing bit is, we were at the same table for wine tasting and we thought he was gay. His friends were gay, he seemed to be gay just based on the way he was conducting himself. But, according to the tiny bit of research I've read he's engaged to a female.

This was far more interesting than running into Dick Gere..err. Richard.

OK, tomorrow it's back to insanity aka work.

Golden Girl

It's a gorgeous, cool sunny morning here in Florida. It's been a hot week on many levels though.

This week - and I don't really want to talk about it - it's come to pass that our go live date is in jeopardy again. In fact, I think it's no longer viable myself. Not my or my team's fault at all (yet again) but it is what it is. We worked 12-16 hour days all week - I couldn't even go to the gym but at least made it to dance class. In the middle of class, I had a huge catharisis and almost fell asleep in the middle of a vibrational shimmy ;-) I'm actually serious when I say that.

Yesterday morning I accomplished something quite good and positive - I did the 5K Race for the Cure (since it's breast cancer month). It was a great experience and felt wonderful to be a part of something that is so good for you as an individual and as a citizen of the world. I really loved it though I managed to feel my age. I should have ran more of it than I did because for some reason, running is easier on my particular injury than walking is. So I overcompensated when walking (power walking, incidentally, not strolling about) and now I am whinging that I'll need a hip replacement. It's actually my back I think and not my hip, which is just lovely. I think it's a good time to go to a massage therapist. Or maybe I'll just get a pedi :-) I'm surprised how much I liked running. I used to hate it - and technically it's not the most comfortable given my erm..assets but I definitely felt better physically running than walking.

Then last night we had our big dinner at California Grill. It was awesome, we saw the sun set and then the fireworks and the night was just perfect for weather. Cali Grill is allegedly one of the best restaurants in Florida and it's very good but I think it's overrated. You can't beat the view though, that's for sure.

OK, it really is Clean The House You Lazy Arse Procrastinator day. At least until I need a nap ;-)

Next week looks to be nearly as mental so I don't expect to be updating too much.

The quiet days

We're within 30 days of go live so I might not (probably not) have the ability to do too much in the way of blogging, emailing etc. We're back to long hours with stressful days as we get ready for The Big Day and I can't wait to get it over with. Unfortunately for me, a lot of those days includes a lot of work social events which I loathe but must be done. As if the day isn't long enough.

This weekend I'm doing a 5K at Disney with some friends and then we have a work thing. This is going to be a very busy two months. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I think I'm havin anodder heart attack

So I turn on da TV and da Bears game is playin on da NBC natchional station, my friends. It cain't be on fer more dan two or tree seconds and den Jahn Madden is siddin dere talkin about da 1985 Chicago Bears. He did not bodder mentionin da Coach* but he was dere in spirit I am sure.

How can it be 21 years after the fact, John Madden is still carrying on about the defense the Bears had in 85? Because it RAWKED!

You know what's sad? Is that right now, based on that comment from John Madden, there are thirtysomething fathers all over Chicagoland telling their sons (and praps their daughters) about the fabled 1985 Chicago Bears. I can hear it now - the way Richard Dent would not just sack a QB but shake his game right out of him. They'll mimic Mike Singletary Otis Wilson and Wilber Marshall "woofing" (it didn't start with Arsenio!) on the line, or Leslie Frazier's interceptions. They may remember that idiot Todd Bell was a free agent hold out and missed being a part of history. Then the stories about The Fridge scoring touchdowns, Jim McMahon' mohawk, his sore ass and of course the infamous Roselle headband. Maybe some father's will laugh thinking about Steve Fuller - and all they can recall is he had no rhythm. Or perhaps if they think a bit harder, they might remember the way Kevin Butler blew his cheeks out before every kick. And, as I do myself, you'll take a minute to remember Walter Payton and all the love the city had and has for him. Still is hard to believe he's gone.

Gary Fencik does speaking engagements now. I can't imagine going to some seminar or conference and then finding out he's the key note speaker and having to endure that.

I didn't get the house cleaned.

*Translation: Mike Ditka

All too true

Saturday Night Live was suspiciously Daily Show-ish this weekend by poking fun at the new TSA regulations - permitting 3 oz or less liquid in carry-on luggage.

The jokes/satirical reality is as follows (I tried to find this on You Tube but I guess all the geeks who would upload it are still sleeping/gaming):

Deeply Paraphrased:

TSA Trainee: Why only 3 oz of liquid?
TSA Trainer: Because the FBI did an investigation and found that 3 ounces of liquid is not enough to below up a plane.
Trainee: So....3 ounces is not enough to blow up a plane..but 4 ounces is?
2nd Trainee: What if two people each bring on 3 ounces of liquid...and meet each other on board the plane?

All fair points! I wonder if the FBI calculation was that three ounces combined over 100-460 passengers would not be enough to blow up a plane? Or is there some expected number of terrorists that would have to get together?

Then I wonder, is it three ounces TOTAL or three ounces per liquid? Could I not take 16 ounces of water and distribute it through five-six bottles labeled "shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, toner, cough medication" etc? As long as I put it into a clear plastic bag it's OK?

It makes no sense and it's causing a huge amount of confusion. Huge amount of confusion is to terrorism what oxygen is to a fire.

Today is CLEAN THE DAMN HOUSE UP ALREADY Day and I've gotten to a good start by cleaning out the freezer. It's snowing in there. So much I fear I will need to call Mr. Plow to sort it out. But, I think the removal of a lot of stuff and into my chest freezer outside will help the situation out substantially. Then I hope to make it out to the Food & Wine festival out at Epcot for a couple hours for sun, wine and food. But mainly wine. I will need to up my membership (seriously) at the gym to seven days a week through January to combat the start of Holidaze (Halloween, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years - three months including the Food & Wine festival where I eat embarassing amounts of Chilquiles).

Last night's dance class was awesome - we learned a lot of figure 8 moves but not the vertical ones which I REALLY want to learn. When our teacher showed us the four main figure 8 moves, J whisper whined, "Nooo!" when she saw the vertical ones and our teacher turned around and said, "Oh yes, you WILL learn it!" It was quite funny, I think J often forgets everything is seen in the mirror! We're getting so much better. I didn't get corrected at all this class which is amazing considering my hamstring is in such bad shape that anything on my left side essentially is limited.

And I'm SO happy with my hair, it's very dark with a hint of cabernet. It's better for dance, that's for sure than the streaky highlights I had before. I wanted to go swimming today but I won't because I want nothing to disturb the tresses until this colour digs in.

I got new curtains for my office. I am de-Disneyfying it and trying to make it more like a living space than a junk room. I am even considering getting rid of the cheap Ikea furniture (which I always intended to do) but have decided to wait to replace it with even more Ikea furniture. I'm only semi-kidding. There's an Ikea going in at Sunrise sometime in Spring (I think). I either need to stick with the birch stuff and get the correct cabinets to go with the set I've got or I can replace it all out. But I don't need to put expensive furniture up here because a) can't afford it and b) don't want to get stuck with a bunch of furniture I can't part with. That Hemingway desk is already the bane of my existence should I consider moving.

OK, I've procrastinated enough this morning. Time to finish cleaning the house.