![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Share
Instructions: List 10 musical artists (or bands) you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below). Really, don’t read the questions below until you pick your ten artists!!!
1. Johnny Cash
2. Alison Krauss & Union Station
3. Hank Williams
4. Dwight Yoakam
5. Roger Miller
6. Wayne Hancock
7. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
8. Roy Acuff
9. Willie Nelson
10. Loretta Lynn
( The Questions )
One of our customer service representatives tries very hard to be helpful, but makes some head scratching decisions. In an effort to try to communicate with this family she typed a message into a translation program. The message was to inform the customer that they needed to speak to their doctor before we could distribute a cushion to them. There was only one problem; the translation was in French. Why? Because the girl sort of remembered that in school she learned that "France occupied Laos during World War II." This is the sort of B-minus history lesson that most Americans (myself included) are famous for giving. Actually, I give her some credit for even being in the ballpark. My knowledge of the history of Southeast Asia is pretty dim.
Laos was once a "French Protectorate," but gained full independence from France in the 1950's. But why she thought they would speak French as their primary language (and over 50 years since being associated with France) is beyond me. When I told her that I went there and, as I suspected, they didn't speak French she was flabbergasted. I informed her that, believe it or not, they speak a language known as "Laotian"
It also turned out that one lady there spoke and understood English so we didn't need a translation anyway.
There was a time in my life when I would be inconsolable right now. I'm talking about the kind of emotional distress that would have me locked up in my room most of the weekend, staring at the wall, and trying to find something, anything to take my mind off the fact that a group of 20 or so guys that I've never met had just ruined my life.
Obviously I'm talking about the Red Wings losing the Stanley Cup. I've followed them pretty closely since cable television finally made them accessible in the early 1990's. They've been contenders/champions that whole time. Six Stanley Cup finals and four championships is a pretty impressive record.
*Hockey is the best sport on a purely entertainment level and even more so during the playoffs. It's fast moving, tense, violent, and the score is usually close.. So when you add all that up and then put it in the context of a "do or die" final game it's even more entertaining. It's a shame that it doesn't translate better to television. I've yet to see a game on HDTV, but imagine widescreen HD vastly improves the television hockey experience. And above all other sports it is the best game to see live.
I've had my share of juvenile dejection at the end of "important" sporting events, but It was actually after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997 that I became aware that my relationship to sports was changing. I was watching with five other guys and one of them was so intense and fanatical that when the game ended he jumped up and began high fiving everyone and screaming his head off like a maniac. It was embarrassing to watch and all I could think was, "Wow, is that what it looks like?" Since that time I've never gotten too up or too down about "my teams" and their end of year results.
So it's not the end of the world for me, my friends. I like the Red Wings and it would be nice if they won again, but oh well. It doesn't have a thing to do with my happiness. I'm just glad I have a job.
The garden is coming along nicely. We've added several plants (rhubarb and peppers) given to us by a neighbor, but even the things we planted on our own have taken root.
We had to pull up some lettuce plants because there were so many that they were crowding each other out. One bean plant didn't make it, but I talked nicely with the rest of the plants this morning and hope a little love will bring them along.
Each time we are out working; watering, weeding, etc. the wren who lives on our neighbors fence perches above us and twitters (not *that* type of Twitter) at us. Delightful.
We also added sunflowers, cilantro, and oregano to the mix. Eagerly awaiting the harvest and a chance to make meals from food that we brought along on our own.
And so it begins. The garden box and soil have long since been prepared, but now comes the seed.
We have unadvisedly decided to try to grow directly from seeds instead of placing plants that have already begun growing in a greenhouse. Before placing our first seeds (lettuce, scallions, beans, and broccoli) we said a little prayer for our humble garden. That's what it will probably take for us to be successful in this noble endeavor.
Photo archiving of the task has again taken place. The newest group of photos begins right here. Join us on our journey into the unknown realms of providing food with your own soiled hands.
Oh, yeah. We've also started our own compost pile as well. We're awesome.
I’ve broken down the “final” list into sections.
2) Pinocchio
3) Bambi
4) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
5) Peter Pan
6) Lady and the Tramp
7) Fantasia
8) Dumbo
9) Cinderella
10) The Lion King
12) The Little Mermaid
13) The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
14) The Jungle Book
15) Tarzan
16) Sleeping Beauty
17) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
19) Robin Hood
20) The Emperor’s New Groove
21) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
22) The Great Mouse Detective
23) Meet the Robinsons
24) Bolt
25) Fantasia 2000
26) Hercules
27) The Black Cauldron
28) Brother Bear
29) The Fox and the Hound
31) 101 Dalmatians
32) The Three Caballeros
33) Fun and Fancy Free
34) Melody Time
35) Oliver and Company
37) The Aristocats
38) The Sword in the Stone
39)
40) Make Mine Music
41) Saludos Amigos
42) Atlanis: The Lost Empire
43) Home on the Range
44) Treasure Planet
45) Lilo and Stitch
46) The Rescuers Down Under
47) Chicken Little
BIGGEST SURPRISE: The Emperor's New Groove I was sure I was going to hate this, but I thought it was really, really funny
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Alice In Wonderland Great book, but a nearly unwatchable movie.
Anyway, "my team" is already done for the season. I'm not even going to pretend that I have a chance to win. The pitching staff has been abysmal and I'm already certainly out of the running. I'm now pretty sure my prediction of *not* finishing last is wrong. I saw that one of my "phenoms" Clayton Kershaw got destroyed again today. There's not much I can do to change it since A) I have no control over how well my players do and B) I'll never find five pitchers to replace the five rubber arms that currently make up the pitching roster. I'd be better off not having pitchers at all.
It's actually a relief because now I can go through the summer without being annoyed at myself for worrying about an imaginary baseball team.
*I still struggle with the spelling "TEXIERIA"
I entered the trail from the south yesterday and walked about 100 yards before I came to a bridge over the creek. There was a small gradual waterfall (probably man made by the looks of it.) At the end of the waterfall was a mallard hen bathing. I went and sat on a little grassy incline next to the bridge to watch her. She was a little nervous about me being there so she circled away with the current a few times and then retreated to the bank just down stream to preen her feathers.
About this time an elderly woman and a three year old boy came sauntering along. The boy said hello and sat down next to me to toss stones into the creek. I pointed the duck out to him and he quickly got up and rushed down the trail to get closer to her. The grandma followed him and they both watched for a few minutes until the boy stepped off the trail to get a closer look. Right then the grandma let out a small shriek and yelled, "A snake!"
Since this is Michigan I figured it was most likely a Garter snake or perhaps a Blue Racer, but when I got up to take a look I was surprised to see that it was a Black Rat Snake. He had been sitting next to the trail, but the commotion from the grandma and the boy forced him down to the sticks and logs along the creek bed. He was actually a pretty small one. They can grow to around 8 feet long, but he was two or maybe three feet at the most.
I told the grandma and the boy everything I could remember about rat snakes. "Do they eat rats?" the grandma asked, "Is that why they call them that." Exactly. They are constrictors who prey on small rodents. They are also known for their ability to "climb" trees. Not just trees with low branches, but they can actually slither up the side of large tree trunks.
After a few minutes the boy decided that the best thing to do would be to throw a large stick at the snake. It's a snake after all; snakes are bad. (Just read Genesis if you don't believe me!) I politely told him not to do that because I vaguely remembered reading that rat snakes are protected under state law. (This turns out to be true. The DNR website lists Black Rat Snakes as a "species of special concern" because they are apparently rare and in declining numbers.) He's only three so I give him a pass, but he's going to grow up to be one of those kids who likes to torture animals. I've never been so sure of anything in all my life.
Grandma chimed in; "Yes, honey don't do that. We need the bad animals too."
I'm no Steve Irwin so I don't claim to know that much about snakes, but I wouldn't consider a snake that is really only a danger to small pesty animals like rats and mice a "bad animal." In fact I'm not sure I would consider any animal bad. Except for house cats. In my house anyway.
"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God..." - Thomas Jefferson
Thanks to a break from the rain and cold we were finally able to do part two of our square foot garden project. This is exciting because it isn't just some hobby we're undertaking here; this is an attempt to be more self-reliant.
We mixed our "soil" together (compost, peat moss, peat humus, and perlite) and then deposited it into our garden box. We haven't started our own compost pile yet so we had to purchase some. We also chose not to use vermiculite because of possible links to asbestos and also because they produce it through strip mining. We don't play that around here.
Next up is dividing the box into 16 squares and choosing what to plant. Then we have to figure out how to keep critters away without killing them needlessly.
The most exciting part of this is letting the kids help put this together and teaching them about the importance of good foods and the satisfaction of growing them yourselves.
As always you can visit our Square Foot Garden Flickr Set to follow the progress..
"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor."--Henry David Thoreau
I read Henry David Thoreau's Walden in college. Not much of it stuck with me, but I've always remembered the quote from above. I've always believed that if we really sat and thought about many of the things that we think are necessary that we would actually find ourselves much happier if we tossed them aside.
Over most of my "adulthood" I've spent unending hours struggling internally over what's really important to me. I go to bed sometimes certain that the next day I'll stop wasting so much time. Countless times I've resolved to simplify my life and clear out distractions so that those things that are truly important can have more of my time. I've made changes dozens of times only to end up hating myself weeks later for not following through.
Last week Clay Jenkinson's Thomas Jefferson Hour was all about Walden. He discussed his love for the book and what its message might mean to us here in the 21st Century.
He asked questions about the cost to our mental stability, pace of life, and our soul's health to cling to things like Time Shares and iPod docking stations and other unnecessary financial and mental burdens. At show's end he challenged the listeners to read the book again and ask these questions. It isn't necessary for us to go live in a shack in the forest, but perhaps if we prune our lives down to a lower number of things, then we will, as Jenkinson said, "come alive again and our soul and spirit will begin to thrive again because they will not be smothered by stuff."
I still have my copy from college and I plucked it from the shelf this weekend to begin reading. I'm sure I will never reach the extremes that Thoreau went to. But even he doesn't suggest that. He says on the book's second page, "As for the rest of my readers they will accept such portions as apply to them." I'm interested to see what I feel does apply to me.
( This Is Just To Say )
It's raining today so....
This morning we ate breakfast at a cozy little restaurant in Holland's cozy little Washington Square. The place is called "The Biscuit." It's a little pricey, but the food and atmosphere are much more inviting than IHOP. I ordered the Mediterranean omelet (spinach, kalamata olives, red peppers, onions, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese) which was a reasonably sized compared to your average omelet that tends to take up your entire plate. It was fantastic...I even emailed the owner/chef to tell her I rated it a 10!
Later at home I was going through a box and came across an hold Jigsaw puzzle of C3-PO and R2-D2 that I haven't put together in about 25 years. So I naturally spent about a half an hour sitting quietly and assembling it. It's missing one piece, but it isn't a piece that is crucial so I'm not going to spend much time looking for it.
Right now I'm trying to decide between watching an inning of the Tigers game or two pages of a book, before the girls start asking me if they can get up from rest time yet.
I like days like this.
When you love something as much as this family loves the film Mary Poppins you automatically cringe at the though of anyone trying to do a new version of it. It was perfect before so why bother trying? Oh, yeah, I forgot...$$$
Anyway, I went into it aware that they had made drastic changes to the background story, cut many of the songs, changed the lyrics to others, and added new songs to fit the new storyline. So I originally intended to treat it as a completely different version and judge it on it's own merits. The only problem is that they won't let you forget the source of this version so I ended up comparing it anyway.
I won't say that I loved it and I won't say that it stinks. The second act is much stronger than the first act which is really long, confusing, and disjointed. Most of the new songs aren't memorable at all and many of the changes to the old songs (including the settings) are jarring.
The showstopper is "Step In Time" and is topped off with Bert (played by Gavin Lee) walking up the wall and upside down on the arch at the stage front. I don't think you were supposed to see the ropes, but from the angle we were sitting at they were difficult to hide. Once he started up the wall they disappeared and the illusion worked pretty well.
There is also a subplot that has Mary leaving the Banks home at the end of the first act only to be replaced by a "Villain" nanny named Ms. Andrew who was Mr. Banks nanny when he was a boy. (He calls her "The Holy Terror") Unfortunately she isn't around very long. She was probably the most entertaining character in the whole show.
And of course at the end when Mary Poppins leaves she exits the stage by opening her umbrella and flying out over the audience.
The real star of the show, IMHO, is Gavin Lee...and the sets and special effects. The new story involving the Banks parents isn't interesting in the least. Mrs. Banks instead of being a strong advocate for women's sufferage is now a former actress trying to transition into the life of a dutiful housewife. BORING
So I'd give it an O.K. But the kids loved it so it was worth it.
Other notes***
In "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
"A Spoonful of Sugar" is sung while Mary Poppins helps the children clean up the kitchen they just trashed.
There are several "magic tricks" in the show involving Mary's carpet bag but they aren't staged well and aren't very effective. She pulls the coat rack out of her bag, but you could hear it "telescoping" as she yanked it out.
Should you really be surprised when people who have been greedy and irresponsible act greedily and irresponsibly? What exactly happened between the time the time bankers climbed from the primordial muck and when they started begging for help that led the three ring circus of our government to believe that they had learned their lesson? This is a classic case of enabling. It's like giving a bag full of crack to a crack addict who just entered rehab; they can't help but fall right back into the same pattern of behavior.
Now the government wants to act like they are doing something about it by threatening to tax 100% of the bonuses and announcing stipulations for future "stimulus" money? Where were the stipulations BEFORE you gave them the first 'bail out."
This country is doomed....
