Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I wasn’t going to post anything about the Focus on the Family article, but then I read Internet Monk’s response to it and I had to chime in.

My 2 cents were said so nicely by IMonk - go read, please.

Comments are welcome, but I don’t have the time or inclination for a debate on the larger topic so I may not engage. ‘Kay?

It’s the annual “you know you’re old when...” list from Beloit College. My favorites:

Every year, Beloit College releases its Mindset List to give a snapshot of the world view of the incoming freshmen class. Below is the list for the Class of 2009…

16. Voice mail has always been available.

20. They may have fallen asleep playing with their Gameboys in the crib.

29. The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated. [ed. - Um, I was a baby when that show was on network TV and a small child when it went into syndication and the Starship Enterprise looked dated then too.]

30. Pixar has always existed.

54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.

71. Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt in Disneyland.

Via Craig

Beau’s sister mentioned this in a comment to one of last week’s posts, but I thought I’d flesh it out a bit more after a conversation I had with a guy in the lunch room yesterday. We had the news on the TV (of course) and the topic was the slight stall in the progress of the Iraqi Consitution. So the guy said something to the effect of “I can’t believe it’s taking so long for them to resolve the consitution over there.” My jaw dropped in disbelief and then I realized that a lot of people might think the same way.

“You do realize that they held their very first democratic elections in January, right? That they’re this close to having a completed Consitutional document is actually amazing. It’s only 8 months. How long do you think it took for our own Constitution to be completed and ratified?” I asked.

He stammered, “I don’t know [ed. - thank you American public school system]. A couple of years, maybe?”

ME: So you’re willing to give us a couple of years, but not them?

And then I shared a little of the following (note that some of the statements are my own, some are from Wikipedia):

1. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

2. A year before [the signing of the Declaration], war had broken out between the colonies and Britain, a war for independence that lasted for six bitter years.

3. While still at war, the colonies now calling themselves the United States of America drafted a compact that bound them together as a nation. The compact, designated the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union,” was adopted by a congress of the states in 1777 and formally signed in July 1778. The Articles became binding when they were ratified by the thirteenth state, Maryland, in March 1781.

4. On February 21, 1787, Congress resolved: “It is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”

5. The period between the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 was one of weakness, dissension, and turmoil. [ed. - sound familiar?] Under the Articles of Confederation, no provisions were made for an executive branch to enforce the laws or for a national court system to interpret them.

6. Read this information about the Ratification process. It’s too lengthy for me to quote. The gist? It wasn’t completely ratified until 1788 with the requisite 9 of 13 states. Massachusetts required some changes and the first 10 Amendments were added in 1791 by James Madison - they are known as the Bill of Rights. The final 4 states bickered and the last one (Rhode Island) on board with the amended Constitution voted their approval in 1790.

7. The American Federal Government was not established until 1789 with the election of George Washington as the first American President.

Just a few snippets of our beginning history and a little perspective for those who naysay the minor delays in the work of creating the Iraqi consitution. If it takes them a year it’s fantastic - it took us at least 13 years.

Which state college is the oldest in the US? (Hint: it was established in 1693)

Do not cheat and go a-googling. You have to know it.

Make your guess in the comments.

Ivette,

Your constant harping about how witchy Rachel is is wearing thin. You complain about her being a back-stabbing, gossipy, sarcastic wench and yet you just described yourself to perfection. I’ve read enough of the live feed updates to know that Rachel is actually rather restrained in her ad hominem comments about her fellow houseguests. You, however, are the biggest gossip in the house and you’re mean with it. Your comments about all of the other houseguests are beyond rude.

I am the pot calling your kettle black, dear. You may want to shut yer trap or I predict that you will be the next to go should James, Janie, or Howie/Rachel get the next HOH.

A reluctant yet compelled BB6 watcher,

Jen

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

I had this epiphany the other day at the Cooties‘ house, but didn’t say anything at the time. Then I casually mentioned it to my parents at dinner tonight and they thought it was a great idea. So here it is...and it’s for the Cooties, so the rest of you can talk amongst yourselves.

1. I think you should make the blue guest room with bath into your master bedroom. Yes, I know you have a king size bed. It will work with some creative furniture placement. Work with me. Jaynee already uses that bathroom and closet. Huck out some of the extra stuff you’re storing in the closet that you don’t really need and there will be room for Denis’ clothes in there too.

2. Move the kids into what is now the master bedroom. It’s a huge room - you guys don’t need that much room, but the kids will. You can separate the room into two distinct spaces for each kid and you’d have room to add the third you’re talking about. CootieGirl will be ready for a regular bed soon, then CootieBoy will be in her toddler bed and you’d have room for the crib in there too. Each kid would have a closet. And there would be plenty of play room for when they get older.

3. The peach room becomes your guest room. You’d be able to repaint (Mom said you’ve been wanting to do that). And your guests would use the burgundy bathroom.

Just a thought that flashed in my head Sunday morning when I first woke up. Take it or leave it.

My boss tells me that my pending marriage is all the talk in one of the other offices. Why is a mystery since I have only met a couple of the deputies down there and rarely talk them and even more rarely talk to the admins down there. He thinks it’s because both admins are “hunting for a man,” to quote him, and that they are intrigued that I found a good one. Apparently, they were quizzing him about the wedding planning and Beau.

It’s kind of funny, because my boss hasn’t met Beau and I rarely talk wedding planning with him.

1. Beads and wire are ordered. I ordered 8mm clear and light blue beads and 6mm clear and light blue beads for the three bouquets - my bouquet will be 8mm clear with 6mm blue; the bridesmaids will be 8mm blue with 6mm clear. Unfortunately, the 8mm clear beads are back-ordered so I’ll have to work on the blue stems for my bouquet first but that’s OK. I opted for the 24 and 26 gauge wire since the smaller beads have smaller holes. The total cost for the beads and wire was actually pretty reasonable for three bridal bouquets. Flowers would have cost about the same or more.

I need to get some rubber tipped pliers to use rather than the normal ones we have. We don’t want to ding up the beads.

2. Mom and I will be meeting with the caterer again on Labor Day. This is to finalize the menu and discuss the rentals. She will be renting some of the stuff as part of the contract, so we need to hash out what we’ll need to supplement what the church already has. Then Mom and I can reserve the rentals we need to get.

3. Beau and I are planning to finalize the tuxes on Labor Day weekend when I’m down in H’burg. He’s picked one out, but we want to see it and have him try it on before make that final decision.

4. I talked with the photographer last night briefly. She asked some good questions about what I’m wanting in the photos. I talked to ECD this morning to remind her to show the photog the picture samples I had emailed a while ago - they will give her a good feel for what I want. Also, she’ll be pulling double duty as the hair dresser since that’s her other job. She was asking about doing anyone else’s hair and I said I’d check with the other ladies on that.

That’s about it at this point.

LATER: I have added the links and general info about where I got the beads and wire below. Click the link ======>

Monday, August 22, 2005

Get your position here

Via Robbo, #3196

I’ve taken a few pictures of Mr. Kitty over the past week. I thought I’d share them.

Mr. Kitty sleeping
Mr. Kitty playing
Mr. Kitty lounging on the computer table
Mr. Kitty lounging on my hand on the computer mouse

Isn’t he adorable?

Sunday, August 21, 2005

As usual, another busy weekend has passed. This one covers:

1. Wedding Mania
2. My Freakin’ Family
3. Let’s Talk Sports
4. TV - It’s a Good Thing

And I’ll throw in:

5. Gourmandery

I’ll go in that order with quick hi-lites.

1. Wedding Mania: We stopped at the wire manufacturer on Friday afternoon. Actually, I should say that we drove around the building that houses the wire manufacturer and opted not to go in for a couple of reasons: 1) no obvious door and 2) skeevey part of town. We decided to just order the amount of wire we will need and go with it.

2. My Freakin’ Family: I have such a fun family. Beau blended well with Jaynee and Denis and he managed to avoid a serious inquisition.

*pause to clean up the cat yak - Beau and I were sitting here, heard a weird noise, looked to where the cat was wondering off and noticed the pile. I shall resume this post in a moment.*

And...we’re back. So. I have a fun family. My niece and nephew get cuter everytime I see them. CootieBoy’s first birthday was great - he seems not to like chocolate, so he got a banana cake with blue frosting instead. He enjoyed smearing it all over. CootieGirl was very sweet to give him some of her cake, too.

It was a good weekend with the Cooties. I wish we lived closer so that we could see them more often.

3. Let’s Talk Sports: We went to the Mets-Nats game last night at Shea Stadium. It was a special evening as we celebrated Hispanic Heritage night with Bring Your Dog night. The Mets were killing the Nats (8-0) until the 7th inning when the Nats scored 6 runs. Another 2 runs in the 8th inning brought the game to a 10th inning, when the Mets managed to score the winning run. It was fun to be at a game.

The journey to and from the game was typical New York - part bus, part subway. We rode the 7 train, of course, which was fine except for after the game when we were packed in there with a bunch of sweaty, stinky guys. There was one guy who absolutely reeked. Double deoderant in the summer, fellas! I was worried about any who might have imbibed a few too many that might have resulted in a puking event on the train. I would have had some troubles then, but were saved. We got home at about 12:45am and crashed hard.

4. TV - It’s a Good Thing: We watched last night’s BB6 this morning when we woke up. Dang that Friendship. I can’t wait to go read the updates to see what’s been going on since the show aired.

In children’s TV I have to say that I still prefer The Wiggles over a lot of the stuff. One I loathe and yet find mesmerizing is Doodlebops.

5. Gourmandery: Now, my brother-in-law is a fantastic cook and he excelled Friday night. We got to the house to discover the most delectible smells coming from the kitchen. Braising in the crock pot were short ribs that were cooked to the most tender perfection. When he pulled them out, the meat fell off the bones. As a matter of fact, he left most of the bones in the crock. Fab-u-lous meal.

Beau and I enjoyed the drive up and back with my parents. There was some good conversation, good laughs, good food, and just generally good times.

Friday, August 19, 2005

The sample beads I ordered arrived yesterday. We looked at them and calculated the cost and ultimately decided to go with the higher end beads. They really do sparkle so much more than the less expensive beads and they’re amazing. And we calculated the cost based on the rate for one packet, but I was looking at the catalog and there is a lower bulk rate, so it won’t be as much as we planned for last night. Bonus! So I’ll place that order on Monday (I think).

And I’m hoping we can at least place the order for the wire with the company in NJ this afternoon, although it would be cool if we could walk out with it.

Things are coming together...yay!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

***SORT OF SPOILERS***

Well, that was fascinating - to watch what I had read and yet it was so incomplete.

I would have preferred that the other get evicted. However, the winner of the HOH will balance things out with the new nominations. And then it will get really interesting with the next HOH and noms.

Friday, 6:45am: OK, the HOH thing with Janelle having 300 and then showing 275 to win. I rewatched it this morning and here’s what happened:

Janelle wrote 300 on one side of the board and then just as Julie said she need their answers, she was flipping it over to write the 275 and that’s when we saw the 300 upside down. April was still writing her number as was Janelle when Julie said she still needed April’s answer. At that point, both Janelle and April showed their cards and Julie revealed the correct number as 286.

The Friendsheep are complaining that Janelle cheated - she didn’t. She won it fair and square.

Mom met with the Facilities Manager of the church yesterday. Nice guy and very accommodating for what we want to do. Cool.

1. Turns out we may only need to rent tables for the food and maybe 5-6 cocktail height tables to supplement what we have. We probably don’t have rent any chairs. Since it’s not a sit down dinner, we don’t necessarily need chairs for every butt since people will be mingling and milling about.

2. Clean up will be no problem - the crew is ready to go.

3. We can decorate pretty much as we desire as long as we are careful not to damage the woodwork. That’s not a problem.

4. Access to the church early on that Saturday is not a problem for the church. They’ll make sure the doors are open for us.

I’m sure there’s more that I’m missing, but it’s sufficient to know that we are good with the facilities guy.

On the flowers front - no word from the florists until after Labor Day since they are out of the country at the moment, but Mom and I have brainstormed a few additional ideas that we’ll present to them later. I will say that I was reluctant to introduce a lot of greenery initially, but I’m warming up to the idea. Also, Mom is thinking that the church Christmas decorating will be minimalist this year since it’s the first one in the new building. So we may not have to dismantle clashing decorations.

On the crystal beads front - I have ordered samples of several kinds/colors of beads. We wanted to see them in person and in the church lighting before we ordered in bulk. I’m still working on the wire - it’s hard to find wire manufacturers who will sell a sample, although I found a place that’s not far from Jaynee’s home in NJ. I am going to call them to see if we can drive by tomorrow to take a look at their silver .24 gauge wire. If they do, they might get a sale.

5 SECONDS LATER: Just talked to Frank and he said it’s not a problem for us to stop by to check out their wire. He was kind of chuckling at my request, but he didn’t hesitate and even gave helpful directions on where they are located.

Today is the First Anniversary of the birth of my beloved nephew, CootieBoy Cole.

Wow that year passed quickly.

We make the trek north to celebrate with he and his parents tomorrow morning. My parents and Beau and I in my mother’s Highlander for 5+ hours of Quality Family/Driving Time™. Oh, with a little zig of the beaten path to deliver Annie-the-Dog to the kennel in the boonies, which was the only place I could find to take her at the last minute.

On the agenda:

1. Good eats!

2. Birthday cake!

3. Nats vs Mets at Shea!

4. Lots of car time with the ‘rents and fiance.

5. Chuckles with sis and bil as they get to know Beau.

I can’t wait!