Tuesday, June 06, 2006

It was time to color my hair again, so I did that last night. I was feeling it was also time to move back towards my natural dark blonde/light brown shade but still staying on the blonde side of things. As such I am now a darker blonde - it’s still a surprise to see the shade in the mirror, but I like it. The only glitch is that the formerly super light blonde strands by my face are now slightly dingy beige where the hair towards the back is a richer color. So I think I’ll stop at Sally’s Beauty Supply tonight to buy some lighter blond to highlight that area a bit to correct it.

The hair color I used was Garnier Nutrisse Cream - Butternut.

Maybe it’s because I’m reading Dick Winters’ memoirs and we’ve been watching the Band of Brothers miniseries lately, but it’s amazing to me that it’s been 62 years since the Normandy Invasion that led to the downfall of the German advance in Europe.

Today is the 62nd anniversary of D-Day.

[ADDED LATER]: President Reagan’s speech at Normandy on the 40th anniversary.

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge—and pray God we have not lost it—that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

Thank you, men.

Monday, June 05, 2006

So from reading the memoirs of this guy, I discovered his official website (see the link) when I was googling for more information. From there I found that there’s a Band of Brothers Tour. Cool! I figured it was very expensive and obviously out of our price range for a vacation. But then I clicked the link to see the dates and prices and I gasped out loud.

Looks like we may never get to take that official tour. Unless we somehow become incredibly wealthy. Yikes.

I would like to at least try to go to Normandy, though.

This is like reading about myself.

Just ask my mother about The Lemon Incident.

I think Beau has probably had similar close calls in the past five months, although he probably didn’t realize it at the time. Or he didn’t let on that he realized it. Or he doesn’t care, in which case I have married a saint.

Speaking of…I got an email from Beau’s Sis with the information that there is a saint day for my Beau (his real name, of course). Hilarious.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

So this morning at church we had a guest musician who led one worship song and sang the special before the message. I was on worship team this weekend, so it was fun to sing background on the worship song with him (a nice update of Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners). Our worship leader asked if I could help him at his CD table in the lobby area after both services, which I did.

Quickly, before the first service started the guy showed me his merchandise and how to run the credit card thingy (one of those old school imprinting things where you slide the doohickey across the credit card and slip to imprint the stuff from the card…you know what I’m talking about, right?) He impressed upon me the importance of getting phone numbers on those slips and somehow I forgot the importance of writing down the merchandise and prices onto the slips.

Fortunately, I had only 4 credit card people and they had written their phone numbers, so I called them and asked them what they bought.

I’m sure he thinks that I’m a complete idiot, which in that moment, I totally was. Whatever - I blame hunger for I hadn’t eaten anything since an early dinner last night.

In Good Company was a mediocre little comedy that wasn’t nearly as funny as the trailers led one to believe. We had a few chuckles, but overall I found it entirely predictable and disappointing. I was annoyed by the Teddy K adoration, although gratified to discover that the Great Teddy K was an empty suit.

2 stars out of 5.

Zathura was a pleasure in the follow up spot. So far everything that I’ve seen that has been directed by Jon Favreau I have liked. The story was written by the same guy who wrote Jumanji, which I loved. This one has a similar feel with lots of action and smart, witty dialogue. If you like Jumanji, you should like Zathura. I enjoyed it a lot.

3.5 stars out of 5.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Here’s a picture of CH’s wedding favors - tea tins with a custom blend from my Mom’s business like we had at our wedding. I did the tag. Beau and I cut the ribbon; Mom tied them all together.

It’s basically a repeat of our favor except that she has her own custom blend of tea and her tag/ribbon coordinate with her color scheme. The whole bunch looks great. We’re planning to use aqua colored beverage buckets from Target (you won’t find them online - I’ve searched endlessly with no success - stores only, please) to hold them. And they got the wedding wands, too, which we’ll use to line the outside of the buckets with the tea tins in the middle.

We all meet tonight for dinner to strategize next weekend - The Big Wedding Weekend. And I’m hoping I’ll get a good report on CH’s fitting this afternoon.

It’s hard to believe we’re already a week away from her wedding. Where has the time gone?

Oh, and Beau and I have passed the one year mark since our engagement (May 28, 2005) and the five month mark since we got married (Dec 31, 2005). Wow. Quite a lot has happened in the last year.

Scott Adams posts on the benefits of reading and then moves into a thought about the vote.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Irony:

i·ro·ny
[definition 2.a.]

Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

Irony:

A 13-year-old New Jersey girl making her fifth straight appearance at the Scripps National Spelling Bee rattled off “ursprache” to claim the title of America’s best speller on prime-time television Thursday night.
Katherine Klose, an eighth-grader at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, N.J., is the first girl since 1999 to win the national spelling title.

They misspelled her name, which is actually Close.

Hilarious.

I just downloaded some photos that were on my camera. They include pictures of the recently purchased buffet in our dining room and the cat being cute.

Cabinet 1 - long view, note the lovely plates of pasta on the table - we were getting ready to eat lunch when I snapped the pictures. I have since removed the runner, which is really an old valance. The boxes in the corner were unpacked last weekend - I was able to put the green and pink Depressionware in the buffet, along with some silver serving pieces that I forgot that I had.

Cabinet 2 - close view, note the tarnished silver tea set, which was my maternal great-grandmother’s. On the tray is my crystal bouquet, temporarily held until the vase it normally resides in no longer holds flowers. The hurricanes were those used as centerpieces at the wedding reception; Mom gave us two of them. I have switched out the tapers with short white chunky candles that look much better.

Mr. Kitty in Repose on Paper - I had dropped a piece of tissue on the floor and he adopted it as a lounging rug.

Beau bought a floor to ceiling perch for the cat that originally sat by the front bay window in the living room. We started to think there wasn’t enough clearance for the cat to get up on the perches, so he moved it to the kitchen window one day. Mr. Kitty loves the bottom perch and will stretch to the middle perch if we put treats up there.

So some folks are in a tizzy because DHS reduced appropriations of counter-terrorism money to NYC and DC. I don’t see the big deal and I’m gratified to know that someone in government is trying to be fiscally wise. Here’s why:

1. This does not mean that DHS thinks that the threat to these cities is reduced. These two cities received the largest chunks money initially and still do. This makes sense since they were the cities attacked on 9/11/01.

2. The government is famous for “spend it or lose it” practices. You either spend all the money that is appropriated or you will lose what is not spent.

3. Almost five years after the attacks on 9/11/01, those two locations have established and well run counter-terrorism procedures. The initial monies given were to cover the start up of those procedures. Once things are established there is no need to continue funding at that level.

4. Those cities must bear some of the brunt for the costs of their own security. The vast majority of the American taxpayers should not be made to fund two cities’ security indefinitely.

5. Other cities are also targets and should be able to access federal funding as well. The reduction of funds to NYC and DC frees up a lot of money for those regions.

6. Being smarter about security will help reduce costs - random searches of children and grandmothers at the subway is a waste of resources.

The whiners need to grow up and figure out other ways to raise the funding by other means.

And please don’t say that I don’t care or that I don’t understand what it was like in NYC or DC on that terrible day - I lived in the DC area then and still do, I work in a place that reminds me daily of the threat, and I do care about our security. I just don’t happen to think that the federal government is to fund 100% of it.

“These go to 11.”

Classic hilarity.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It’d really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment. They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

You Are 48% Cynical

Yes, you are cynical, but more than anything, you’re a realist. You see what’s screwed up in the world, but you also take time to remember what’s right.

[via deb solo]

I’ve had several frustrating conversations with people who have demanded by their repeated questioning that I repeat myself more than my threshold of three times.

First was the lady who called my several times yesterday - she was trying to track down a foreign national that was arrested by ICE at the airport about a week ago. As per my usual, I told her that she needed to talk to that person’s attorney and gave her the number for the clerk’s office where she could get that information. She then called me back three more times and I told her the same thing all three times. By the 4th phone call, I was expasperated and asked more questions because she was told that the clerk didn’t have this guy listed with them at all. Turns out he was in DC. Or maybe not, because I just got a long rambling voice mail from her when I was out running an errand. *sigh*

Second was the deputy who gave me this voucher to be paid last week, but there were some approvals from higher ups missing. I explained what I needed and sent him on his way. He just called to say that the money was being transferred from HQ and that I was approved to cut his check. Not so fast, my friend. I explained that I can’t cut a check just by seeing that money was being transferred from HQ; we get money transferred to us all the time. I need the voucher with all appropriate signatures and then I need to get another signature before I can cut the check.

“But, but, but…” he sputtered, clearly frustrated.

“Look, I hate to be difficult, but I just can’t do it without the signed voucher. I’m sorry,” I said. In my head I was chanting, “I’m not going to prison to make things convenient for you!”

We went ‘round the problem a few more times in the conversation, which was lovely, and then I reiterated, “I will not cut any check without the appropriately signed documentation. Ever. I know it’s a pain and I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.” He hung up in a huff.

What’s most frustrating about this is that he’s assigned to HQ, but HQ doesn’t type checks and so they ask us to do this for them because we’re conveniently close. They are the ones who ding us for not having all signatures in audits and yet they ask us to violate that all the time like this. Drives me insane.