Art by Elliot Sather
I realized something last night. I think I am really afraid of war.

I was talking to a friend halfway across the world who asked me if I had watched the State of the Union address the night before. I told him that I had it on, but I hadn't really listened to it. Suddenly I felt socially irresponsible, but I think he understood.

I don't watch the news anymore. (This coming from someone who used to want to be [CNN Newsanchor] Lynne Russell.) It is far too depressing.

The concept of war has really changed. Hundreds of years ago, it was a spectator sport. Socialites sat on hillsides having picnics while watching the blue and grey battle it out. These days it is not just solider against solider. One person could decide to obliterate thousands of miles of countryside (be that in Baghdad or Nashville) and everything in it on a whim... at the push of a button.

I am not afraid of dying. I just don't particularly want to.

I will pull my head out of the sand eventually, but for now please allow me be blissfully ignorant for a little while.

I think the crap is about to hit the proverbial fan. I would just like to state for the record that I am quite certain this is not my fault.

*bangs head on desk*

Oh, to be able to go back in time and record phone conversations to have for evidence...

Theme Thursday : Mirrors

Me in my favourite clock.
I also have a matching picture frame.
I keep a picture of my parents in that one...
I guess I am a reflection of them as well.

Song of the Day:
All the Things She Said - Tatu
The song has been haunting me for two days. It keeps... running through my head. grr.

This week the world was exposed to Zwan, a.k.a. Billy Corgan in a new band. Recently we found Dave Grohl banging around with Queens of the Stone Age. And then there's the whole Audioslave thing with Chris Cornell. I bet if Layne Staley were still alive, he would be recruiting a new band right about now.

It's 2:30 am. Went to Michael's to watch Radiohead's Meeting People Is Easy rockumentary. (I just wanted to be able to use "rockumentary" in a post. Very "spinal tap".) I thought it was pretty incredible. I loved the concept. I learned that big band or small band, the same personalities seem to exist in every band. Brilliant though he may be, I do not think I would have the energy to put up with Thom Yorke. As Michael said, "I would hate to be the guy whose job it is to make one of the most famous people convinced that he is not famous... just perfectly normal."

Okay, one little slap on the wrist for my messageboard kids, and I'm off to bed.

WARNING: I Tried It So You Don't Have To -- Uncle Ben's Natural Select Rice
The concept is great. The seasoning is "infused" into the rice eliminating the need for a separate, wasteful seasoning packet. Heck, I'd just be happy if they threw the powder in the same package with the rice... I never understood why they don't. But yeah, I've tried this new variety twice now... and it just does not taste good. The rice has a weird consistancy and a disturbing aftertaste. I love Uncle Ben... he's been feeding me for years. But Ben baby, you need to work on the formula for this one a little more.

In honor of the upcoming holiday:
What's Your Romantic Personality?
The Thoughtful Romantic
The brand of romance that you subscribe to is considerate and intimate. You possess a great deal of emotional intelligence. The times at which you feel most romantic include deep personal discussions with your partner. Intellectual intimacy is what it's all about for you. You're very aware of and in touch with your partner's thoughts and feelings, and you're touched when they respond to you in the same way.

Inspired by Newt.'s Recently Read List and by the discovery of other book lovers, I present my very own Recently [Within the Last Six Months or So] Read List. (To the best of my feeble memory anyway.)

▪ Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson : currently reading. I'm sad that it is not my favourite, because of my history as being an anglophile. I think I may just be too distracted to read these days.
▪ The Queens by Normand Chaurette : This is actually a script of a show that I did back in '94. I was reminded of it on New Year's Eve, because someone mentioned that the director still talks about it. "Believe me, Anne Dexter..."
▪ Desecration by Timothy Lahaye & Jerry Jenkins : I admit it. I'm caught up in the series.
▪ My Friend is Struggling with... Past Sexual Abuse by Josh McDowell : I hate that every fourth person I come across these days has had some sort of trauma in their childhood. It is just a little tiny paperback with some good suggestions.
▪ Last Breath by Peter Stark : Loved it. A tad bit on the morbid side, but good nonetheless.
▪ The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town American by Bill Bryson : Clever and fun reading... especially if you happen to be from Small-town America.
▪ A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson : Contains the funniest passage (about what he would do if he encountered a bear) that I have ever read causing much laughter and near-snorting.
▪ Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven : Did anybody not read this one?
▪ In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson : I think this remains my Bryson Fav. I have purchased three copies now, because I kept giving them away to Aussie friends.
▪ Shine: Make Them Wonder What You've Got by Newsboys : Okay, haven't read it from cover to cover. I read chapters randomly as my roommate would take them home after they were written.
▪ Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller : Beautiful memoir of a girl growing up in Southern Africa.
▪ The Neverending Story by Michael Ende : Oh come on... you know you love the story.

Song of the Day:
Notorious - Duran Duran
~You pay the profits to justify the reasons
I heard your promise
But I don't believe it
That's why I'll do it again~

Happy Birthdays to Michael, Chris, & my bro-in-law Joe! Their birthdays are today, yesterday, and Sunday, respectively.

(Hi Trevor! Very weird/cool that you found this place. Long time no see.)

Cat New Year's Resolutions (from Ern)
▪ I will not eat large numbers of assorted bugs, then come home and puke them up so the humans can see that I'm getting plenty of roughage.
▪ We will not play Herd of Thundering Wildebeests Stampeding Across the Plains of the Serengeti over any human's bed while they're trying to sleep.
▪ Birds do not come from the bird feeder. I will not knock it down and try to open it up to get the birds out.
▪ If I MUST claw my human, I will not do it in such a fashion that the scars resemble a botched suicide attempt.

In a perfect world.... there would be no women driving around in pink pick-up trucks.

ben·e·dic·tion n.
1. A blessing.
2. An invocation of divine blessing, usually at the end of a church service.
3. An expression of good wishes.

I decided that today I am going to close every email with a benediction. (I found a whole list of Chrisitan benedictions.)

Strange Benedictions: not blessings nor good wishes... this site has some really interesting images. A must for anyone who loves the drawings in really old books. (I wish I had that sea unicorn thing when I was making my Risk map!)

Song for the Day:
Come Sail Away - Styx
During a moment of temporary insanity last night, I gave up working on "the song" and started tinkling around on the keyboard. All of a sudden, I thought, "Hey, that sounds like the intro to 'Come Sail Away'." So that got this song stuck in my head.
~We lived happily forever so the story goes
But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold
But we'll try, best that we can to carry on~

Items I Meant to Write Earlier:
Predators Game? So we missed the first half of the first period due to a long wait for dinner... but hello... they came back from a two point deficit to win 3-2. Good times.

Medea... I heard a wonderful story on the Broadway show starring Fiona Shaw. I would absolutely love to see it. To hear her tell about her method and to hear the passion in her voice as she recited the speech before Medea goes to kill her children... it was just incredible.

I'm preparing for Public Service Day: Part 2. But first I need to finish transcribing a song that one out of ever 5 visitors is looking for at my site.

I dislike Shania's whining so much that I would have skipped watching Sting just because she was a part of the halftime show... but I know the guy running lights for the show, so I wanted to check it out for that reason. DAT comes through for her once again.

No Doubt and Sting made it worth my while. Hello -- "Message in a Bottle"? And does that guy ever age? He's looking great, per usual.

I think as a Tennessean I am supposed to be boycotting the Superbowl. I'm not sure.

I have paid attention to a couple commercials though.



I'm not so sure about The Hulk. I guess I'm not into the super-cgi'd superheros of today. He kind of looks like a buff and angry Shrek. Lou, you can be my Hulkster any day.

Now The Matrix: Reloaded & Revolution, on the other hand... oh yeah, sign me up, baby! I am so looking forward to that!

Yeah. I'm a catapult.
Your Archetype is: The Catapult
Handy in the real world manipulation of objects and events, this personality type is easily enthused by practical projects. Once gaining the interest of the Catapult, a project will be quickly and sometimes manically dealt with. That energy however will be invisible to those not witnessed to it. Abrupt is a watchword of this personality.

And the shapes tell me...
Shape Analysis Test
1. Whirlwind: You greatly admire people that are flexible and easily handle change. This is a quality you would like to have more of in your life. You may be looking for new angles to tackle problems with or new ways of moving forward.
2. Triangles: Your greatest strength is in your people skills. You have many friends and meet new ones easily. Finding balance in your life is easy for you. You are likely to have great intimate relationships as well.
3. Circle: This indicates that the process of seeking oneness is fundamental to your very being. The struggle for independence and completeness is absorbing the whole of your being. Your natural drive and creativity will arise out of finding yourself.
4. Square: Through lessons learned in the past you have managed to bring your words and actions into alignment. This hard work has given you the necessary motivation to tackle your main issue, which is indicated by the shape chosen in position three.
5. Triangle: You may be ignoring your dreams or putting them on hold for the time being. Setting and pursuing goals may be outweighed by other concerns.

Purpose Schmurpose: Are you sure this thing is right?
What is your life's purpose?
You've wanted to be a mom since you changed your first doll's diapers.
In fact, you likely have been a mom for quite some time now, even without your own babes-taking care of your siblings, and even treating friends with those same maternal tendencies.

Ode to Dave

There is a white house across the street from my office.
That is where Dave lives.

Dave has long, salt-and-pepper colored hair and a thick gotee.
He is probably old enough to be my dad.

He works construction and gets a ride to work from one of the other guys.
I suppose carrying a tool belt and a lunchbox while riding a Harley might not be all that easy.

On rainy days, he comes home early.
On sunny days, he comes home later,
But there is always time to sit on the porch and have a beer.

Dave has an amazingly extensive classic rock collection --
Much of which is on vinyl.

Sometimes he leaves his curtains open after dark,
And one can see the shelves and shelves of records in the living room.

And he plays them loud.
So loud I can hear the bass in my office
And the treble as soon as I walk out the door.

It makes me smile as I walk to my car at 6:45
Knowing I should have left an hour earlier.

Song for the Rest of the Day:
It's in Our Hands - Bjork
~Well, now aren't we scaring ourselves
Unnecessarily
Aren't we trying too hard~

I guess I made Michael feel sufficiently guilty yesterday for bailing on me to go to a hockey game. (Predators v. Rangers... hello, the Rangers are my team! I have a jersey and everything.) So he showed up here today with tickets for the game tomorrow night. (Preds v. Lightning... better than nothing.) I can officially move now... since that was the one thing I wanted to do before I left Nashville.

I was flipping through an ASCAP magazine that came here today, and I found an article about Rasputina. They are a chick cello-rock band with a unique look, a beautiful website, and an interesting sound. Extra credit: The girl who started it used to play cello for Nirvana.

The mag also gave nods to Venus Hum (love these folk; do they still live in Nashville?) and Fischerspooner (who also has an aesthetically pleasing website).

Blog with potential: The Rub. I haven't had adequate time to peruse this one yet, but I think it could be a good one, kids.

Thanks, Martin! He suggested this anti-spam measure that I have been using for a little while now. It's called SneakEmail. You register at the site with a real email address. Then whenever you have to register for something online and are afraid of getting spammed as a result, just hit your SneakEmail bookmark (which helpfully opens in a little popup window) and have it create a new address under your account. You then use this address to register. When that party sends you email, it will go through the sneakemail server to get to you, and when you respond it will look as though it is coming from that address. Then later if you see you are getting too much email from this person -- or worse yet, if you see that other companies are sending you emails through this address -- then you just go back to SneakEmail and delete the address to stop it from reaching you. It's great.

Mouthshut.com -- P2P Information Exchange. Here's your chance to feel like your opinion matters. Go ahead. Review something.

Special Delivery: Yay for international music festivals! Phil & Fi spent the day with some of their American musician friends from Nashville who are down there for festivals in AU & NZ this weekend. He said "hopefully Robert is bringing back a little package for you which you should get in the next few weeks (from us)!" I'm pretty sure I have no idea who "Robert" is though, but if it's who I think it might possibly be, his label is a new client of ours. Yay -- pressies! (Hope you had a super fun time, T! I know it's not the same without Hutch and the sheep and Michael playing cricket, but I'm sure it was incredible based on the pictures I've seen. By the way, Mo is looking for footage from last year... did you have that or was that Dave's?)

Friday Five
1. What is one thing you don't like about your body?
Not particularly fond of the freckles.

2. What are two things you love about your body?
Little feet. Nice nails.

3. What are three things you want to change about your home?
Move roommate out. Move into other bedroom. Set up perfectly perfect office space / reading area that I've been plotting since before Christmas.

4. What are four books you want to read this year?
Four I will read... Simple Social Graces by Linda Lichter (that I bought in Omaha over Christmas), Grendel by John Gardner (that came from Stephen's collection), The King of Torts by John Grisham (that is being sent to me), and I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson (that I bought a couple months ago).

5. What are five promises you have kept to yourself?
(1) I moved. (2) I followed a dream or two. (3) I didn't listen. (4) I stayed in touch. (5) I didn't get back together with "the ex". :)

Song for the Day:
Misunderstanding - Genesis
~There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I was waiting in the rain for hours
You were late~

This is the best thing anyone has sent me in a long time. (from Mark... my pal from the midwest who appreciates how lucky we are to be in the snowy south... when our families woke up to temperatures of -20 this morning... not including windchill!) You can personalize it by putting your firstname.lastname.youaremyfriend.com. Send it to friends. Send it to family. Send it to anyone, because it is a real pick-me-up. *warm fuzzies* hehe. I think the music is what really does it... haha.

Blast from the past... does anybody else remember New York Seltzer? I'm talking about back when it came in the little 10 oz. glass bottles instead of the run-of-the-mill plastic bottles. I used to collect those little glass bottles. I think I still have them above the doorway in my bedroom at my parents' house.

And on that line, hello! They still make Shasta?? (I love that their site is shastapop.com, since I come from the land of "pop" and not "soda".)

I ran across this fun little place again -- fwfr.com: Four Word Film Review. Some of them are really funny.

Song for the Day:
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Michael Jackson
~You love to pretend that you're good
When you're always up to no good
You really can't make him hate her
So your tongue became a razor~

"Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly."
    -- G.K. Chesterton

"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
    -- Jules Renard

I am so devastated. I just read a letter from a friend I used to work with in Michigan. He and his wife were so good to me, and I loved them like my own family. His wife has apparently had a personality transplant, and she just left him after like twelve years of marriage. She is apparently dating this other man she says she loves, and she says that she wishes they never had their son. It is so heartbreaking.

Ugh... whatever happened to love that lasts a lifetime?

I'm not sure if I've mentioned AARF before. That's Artists Against R-Factor. What's R-Factor, you ask?

"R Factor is a vocal trend that found its way into the rockworld during the 1990's. Many of us hoped that it would fade away with the turn of the new century, but to the contrary, it has gained much in the way of momentum, and its influence on modern rock threatens to strip away every last bit of dignity that rock and roll has been hanging onto for here in the dark ages of music. The end result is inevitable unless honest-to-goodness everyday people such as you and I take a stand and thwart its efforts."

Creed suffers from R-Factor. That should tell you everything.

Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard -- where retired ice cream flavors go to die.

And on the note of discontinued flavors... this site has pictures of all flavors of Kool-aid... including the beloved Purplesaurus Rex.

The Kool-Aid FAQ has lots of information, including some great alternative uses.

Earthwalker: another website of something I wish I had had the courage to do first. This guy walked around the world. It started out with him and one brother, who was shot and killed while they were in Afghanistan. Another brother came out with him to finish it up. It is a pretty amazing tale of human conquest, if you ask me.


Surprise, surprise.
What's your Inner European?

Paul Made a Funny:
I wrote an email to a guy I deal with at work that explained why we were having issues with the forum on his website. He and I have a weird relationship, and I have a hard time communicating with him. I think it is because he is a true artist and exists on a completely separate mental plane, and I don't think he always gets when I'm joking. But this was his classic response:

"I think it's great that the majority of what you told me was over my head; it's good to know I'm working with people smarter than me, but here's my suggestion - I think we should check the manifolds as soon as the berrings yield to the square root of the O2 sensors."

And on that line... this is for anybody who knows who I'm talking about when I say "Roy". I was listening to an inverview with Kevin Spacey on public radio the other night. If you hear his voice without thinking "oh that's Kevin Spacey", I think that it sounds exactly like Roy.

It is not in my nature to be stern or forceful, but my roommate who is supposedly moving out is drifting into the realm of complete irresponsibility here. Nine days left in the month, and only a handful of her clothes have been picked up and only one phonecall to discuss the situation since before Christmas. I would love for her to stay. But if she's moving out... well, move out already so that we can move someone in who is actually going to pay rent next month. s t r e s s

Judge rules X-Men are not human.
(Have a listen.)

Mego.com -- Doesn't appear to have been updated all that recently, but the archives are worth a gander. Lots of info about the toys of yesteryear that are being re-released today. I mean, did you know that they are selling a voice-activated R2-D2?

AnythingBut.com -- Entertainment, Pop Culture and Shiney Baubles, the world according to Dan. This guy posts ridiculous amounts of information each day on all things entertainment. This is definitely going to become one of my regular time-wasters.

Reasons to love wireless networking... #262. When the boss is out for meetings all day, you can camp out on the couch in the conference room. Aww yeah. (Only as good as your battery life, unfortunately.)

Song of the Day:
Oh Father - My Vitriol

Spring! Today was beautiful.

Project:Denny's - one man's attempt to visit every Denny's restaurant. Mmm... I could really go for some Denny's grease right about now.

My girlio Lisa called me tonight. I have officially heard from all of my Aussies this past week. Except maybe Drew, but Stephen's good enough. (US Survival Tips for Aussies)

I made some darn good chili yesterday. You can make it too.

Dani's Darn Good Chili
1 lb. Ground Beef, browned
1 can Diced Tomatoes
1 can Tomato Sauce
1 small can Tomato Paste
1 can Light Red Kidney Beans
1 Tbsp. Sugar
3 Tbsps. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
Salt, to taste

Mix together. Simmer for a couple hours. Serve with cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

This morning Karl asked if I was doing anything for "the game". Okay, I knew that the Superbowl isn't this weekend... but I was not aware that I was supposed to have plans for some other game. Sorry.. you can put a girl in Tennessee, but you can't put the Titans into the girl.

I just finished composing a beautiful review for Band of the Hand at The '80's Movie Gateway. The still have to approve it... but that site rocks anyway!

Song for the Day:
Stop the World - Extreme
~All the world's a masquerade
made up of fools and philosophers
Were it to rain on our charade,
all washes away, except for our true colors~

I just finished watching A Beautiful Mind for the first time. I do think that it was deserving of the awards that it won. I was quite touched by it... again suggesting that I should one day work with mentally handicapped people. Plus I think Paul Bettany is quite a looker, so it was nice to see him in there as well. :)

I thought the score was beautiful... which led me to the conclusion that I think I want to collect James Horner's work. I'm already started, as I own the soundtracks to Glory, Apollo 13, Titanic, and Braveheart.

Listen to public radio this weekend for a debate on fair trade coffee on The Splendid Table.

Go vote for your choices to be the New Seven Wonders of the World. Candidates include Sydney Opera House, Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, The Kremlin... even Timbuktu. Don't say they didn't ask you.

And speaking of... check out the Eiffel Tower Webcam. Webcams: Making the World a Smaller Place.

Just found a Great webstore! Daddy-O's... for all your swing and retro clothing needs. Now if I could just find me a guy who would wear a shirt like this.

Friday Five
1. Where do you currently work?
I work for an entertainment attorney who also does management and business management for artists, producers, and labels. Me? I just do whatever. My biggest project at the moment is developing some pretty major additions to one of our clients' website. And no... I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no. The only country singer I know is my awesome Starbucks guy... and I forgive him for that, because he gives me free coffee sometimes.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?
Going backwards.... Teligent, Indianapolis; the band, Indianapolis; the ministry, Michigan; CFL Box Office, the caf, the theatre shop, Luther College; Subway, Iowa; my dad's office, Iowa. 8

3. What do you like best about your job?
The days I work from home... the people I get to work with... the basically-anything-goes dress code... the free stuff. :)

4. What do you like least about your job?
Waking up to go to it.

5. What is your dream job?
Probably right now it is just artist management or something like that.

Not wanting to spark any sort of political/moral debate, I still think this (from my friend Chris) is funny:
Execution (Alive & Well) by AmeriCo

That sparked a lively conversation about the death penalty which ended up getting a little silly....
D: I think they should consider giving the death penalty for smaller crimes
D: drug dealer?
D: death
D: drunk driver?
c: hahaha
D: death
D: idiot?
D: death
c: yes!
D: genocide of the menaces to society
c: i like that
D: I should run for office or something
c: on the platform of killing everyone who is dumb?
c: i'd vote for that... lovely
D: hahaha... well, when you put it that way... it just doesn't sound quite right
c: hey, i gotta split for a while... have a nice afternoon, my sweet little genocidal dictator

Theme Thursday : Green

The only "green" I haven't killed.
My little bambooze are one year old and still thriving!

What's the dealio? It is snowing like crazy here. We didn't even get this much snow in Iowa over Christmas. At least it's that perfectly-falling-nice-packing snow... as opposed to the madly-blowing-ice-darts type. Will we really get four inches though? Check out the sky-cam.

Song for the Day:
Say You Love Me - Fleetwood Mac
~'cause when the loving starts and the lights go down
and there's not another living soul around
you can rule me until the sun comes up
and you say that you love me~

One of our clients had a showcase last night. I love their stuff. Go listen to the music, and be sure to follow the link to their website which rocks as much as they do. I was so proud of them. They sounded good, and they looked great. (Major pet peeve: people who don't know how to get down to their own music... but these guys have it figured out!)

So I didn't get home until late, because we went to get a bite to eat afterwards. I shut the light off at 1:45. At 2:23, just as I was drifting into that pleasant realm of sleep that I haven't been to since I got this cold last week, the smoke detector in my room lets out a shrill beeeeeeeep for a second... causing minor trauma to my cardiac system. Being the fireman's daughter that I am, I peeled myself out of bed to find out if anything was amiss. Nothing. So just as I'm about to go back to bed, it happens again. I determined then that it was low-battery time, and the only way to make it stop was to pull the battery out. Go downstairs. Get chair. Unwire the alarm. As I'm doing that, the one in the hallway goes off as well. Ugh.

Tonight I buy lots of batteries. I guess I should have done this at daylight savings... change your clock; change your battery.

Here you go. It Hurts. Don't hurt yourself. The world's most painful backgrounds.

Don't think. Just Laugh.

Happy Birthday, Mark! (You'll always be our "Lil' Timmy".)

I just found this one on the "recently updated" list, because the name made me curious. The P Word. Then, as I usually do, I looked for an "about" page to see who was behind the thoughtful words. Turns out this chick is an actress who appeared on 24 last season. She has some good thoughts. Interesting indeed.

Animal Cracker Identifier... for when you aren't sure if it is a lion or a tiger. I think the elephant is a little stretch. It's more like a moose with a long snout. Or a three-legged bear or something.

Flash Flash Revolution -- I'm no better at this than I was before... but I thought Mr. T would appreciate the link.

Michael J. Fox Database -- pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about the guy.

The Omni Project -- Four young men. One car of the verge of death. And the experiments they conducted. It is actually inspiring me to conduct some of these on Amana. If only that car moved.

Did I mention that our computer networking guy made me sick? He was at our office at the end of last week and sounded absolutely dreadful. I should have known that my office would be infested. And yes indeed, by mid-week I was hating life. Let's just hope today is the worst of it... fever and all. And the only reason I'm awake is that I'm waiting on a promoter who was supposed to call but has yet to do so. I think I'm going to watch some Invader Zim.

Song of the Day:
The Doom Song - Gir

Sermon over Coffee by Karl:
"You know, so many times we get discouraged by people, and we let the deceiver convince us that we are no good. But when you think about what we really accomplish around here, we kick ass!"

Art Loss Recovery -- lists reported stolen and recovered artwork. Interesting.

BreakTheChain.org -- when you get those crappy forwarded messages from people who weren't thoughtful enough to bcc you on the message they sent out to everyone in their address book in hopes of receiving a gift certificate from Applebees... just send them to this site -- before blocking their email address forever! Muahahaha. (I hate spam, can you tell?)



Friday Five
1. Where are you right now?
At my desk in my office within the larger office.

2. What time is it?
2:36 Central Daylight Time

3. What are you wearing?
My long-sleeve ARC t-shirt, my dodgey Beanbag sweatshirt, my baggy blue jeans, socks with angels on them, and my brown clogs.

4. Any people or animals around you? Describe them.
Hmm... none, at the moment. Ahh, peace. Although I'm waiting on someone to get here, and I'm about to give up.

5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Recouperate from cold of death and destruction. Finish mailing my New Year's cards. Finish boxing up my prezzies for my international pals. Shh, don't tell Tash.

Song of the Day:
Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
~The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back~
(super cheesey midi accompaniment track)

Fan Etiquette 101:
If you are going to go to the effort of tracking down a musician in order to get them to sign a cd for you, have the courtesy to not pass them a cdr of music that you downloaded off the internet.
(True story... from one of our "big" Grammy-nominated-type clients.)

Theme Thursday: Free


I took this photo last fall during
the Hot Air Affair weekend.

I just found a really crafty thing I might have to do. Here there are instructions on how to convert an old vintage suitcase (of which I have 6) into a writing desk. I think it is adorable... especially with the travel stickers and all.

I haven't been this excited about an album release probably since the latest Michael album. And for those who say that downloading music discourages purchasing music... well, you're probably right, but I am still buying this one the day it comes out even though I just managed to download it. What is all this fuss about, you may ask yourself.

Four and a half years have passed. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves. On the Eleventh of February in the year of our Lord Two Thousand Two, Massive Attack will release its latest album, 100th Window.

I am loving it.

(For the curious, the easiest place to point you would be fDrive. Login: minting - Password: lingen)

Because I know you are looking for time-wasters just as much as I was, allow me to point you towards a site dedicated to the longest burning lightbulb. They even have a bulb cam.

And then this is just dangerous. Zinos... a directory of eZines that is sure to waste a good couple of hours.

Song for the Day:
Antistar - Massive Attack

A Conversation (regarding some demos we were listening to in the office today):

Me: This one. I definitely like this one. (referring to the slowest song)
Boss: Really? That surprises me. I thought you'd like the fast one since you are a redhead.
Me: What's that supposed to mean?
Boss: Redheads are supposed to be agressive, so I thought that might translate in your musical tastes. But that's right, you like all that trance-y ambient stuff.
Me: Yeah, I don't fit the whole redhead thing. I'm the most passive person I know.
Boss: I think you're right.

Sev Wars - Featuring Anarchy Flyswatter.
Star Wars ASCIIMATION - spare time anyone?

I'm making my Amish Cinnamon Bread tonight. Mmm... yum!

Top Three Reasons to Watch Television This Week
1. Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within -- a "reality show" with integrity... showing the preparations for the latest production. Starts tonight.
2. Joe Millionaire -- okay, so this is much trashier and airs at the same time... but I am so curious.
3. Inside the Actors Studio: Edward Norton -- Love him. Sunday night.

Don't you think Andrew (above right) looks a bit like Adrian from No Doubt (below)?



Okay, I'm going to sleep now.

Happy New Year! I don't do resolutions as a general rule... but I think that over the course of the last year my outlook has changed, and I am working towards being a better person anyway. But good luck to all of you who are quitting smoking, losing weight, eating healthier, and reading more.

I love my new Inspiron. My only complaint (besides the "End" and "Home" keys being in the wrong place) was that it came with this handy-dandy USB Flash Memory Key. I'm not complaining about that; it is handy-dandy, after all. But if you want to use it in a machine using Windows 98 or something other than one of the latest snappy versions (like my old computer, for instance) then it needs a driver... and no where did they say how to get that driver. After much searching and installing three other drivers... I would like to provide the link to the correct driver for the Dell memory key in hopes that I can help another poor soul out there.

Today I was told the new John Grisham book is being sent to me in the next couple weeks. I am eagerly anticipating that. I can't wait to put my new reading chair to use.

Three cheers for the return of the Friday Five!
1. Do you wear any jewelry? What kind? Yes. Right now I wear a shell and hemp necklace I got in Florida a few weeks ago. I also wear a single ring. I have a silver band that I usually wear, but my sister gave me a gold ring with my birthstone in it for my birthday... so I will try to wear that one more now. One earring at present.
2. How often do you wear it? I don't take the earring out or the necklace off... and I feel weird when there isn't a ring on my right hand. (I never wear more than one ring anymore though... less is more.)
3. Do you have any piercings? If so, where? Five holes in my ears. Two at the bottom of each, and then the one in the cartiledge of my left ear... which is the one that only comes out when my sister cuts my hair and hooks it with the comb.
4. Do you have any tattoos? If so, where? Often contemplated. Never executed.
5. What are your plans for the weekend? Sleep recovery. Unload my car. Laundry. Finish moving files from computer to computer.