Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

I'm a Honda S2000!

You live on the edge, and you live for the adrenaline rush. You don't need luxuries, snob appeal, or superfluous gadgets. You put your top down, get your motor revving, and take all the curves that life throws at you at full speed. So what if you spin out occasionally?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

So I got distracted by the line "You live on The Edge". My oh my do I have a lovely imagination *grin* Sure it's a pretty car and all. It's just that I've never heard of it. Plus it pales in comparison to my fantasy.

Several of my ..devoted readers received an email from me asking them to sign the Earth Day Virtual March petition. For those people randomly stopping by, those I didn't email and the virtual stalkers out there. Click the link above and sign the petition. By signing the petition you send the letter shown below to your representative.

Dear Representative,

As we approach the 36th anniversary of Earth Day, I have joined Care2.com and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund in a Virtual March to Leave NO Species Behind. Through my participation in this march, I hope to remind you of your responsibility to protect wildife, its habitat and the environment we share. To that end please fight against legislative efforts by Representatives Tom DeLay, Richard Pombo and others that would: open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to destructive oil drilling; allow Big Oil to drill off our coastlines -- especially those in California and Florida; sell our national parks to greedy developers; gut the Endangered Species Act which acts as the safety net for so many species on the brink of extinction; weaken laws that prevent mercury and pesticide pollution; and efforts to sell other public lands to timber and mining interests.

Thank you,
YOUR NAME
P.S. You can see a link to my personal march sign here: www.earthdayvirtualmarch.org

Total Solar Eclipse today

A coworker leant me his copy of KT Tunstall's album Eye to the Telescope yesterday. It's great! I had my doubts and misgivings - entirely because Ms. Tunstall is hitting big right now. Perhaps it's my squirrelly nature, but I tend to steer clear of the popular music scene. This quirk has served me well in the past.

Ms. Tunstall is a Scottish 'folk pop' singer songwriter. So it's not surprising I like her as I'm really a folk music person at heart. I have two minor issues with her music.

One - She doesn't have a groovy cool Scottish accent when she sings. No idea if she has one when she talks as I haven't listened to any interviews. My other beef is that the latter half of the album her voice sounds similar to the ...vocal stylings of Joss Stone. I can't stand Joss Stone. She oversings and her voice is too raspy. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. Now KT's voice isn't that harsh, but I can see it heading that way, if she's not careful. Steer clear of the dark side KT!!

Rolling Stone Biography of KT Tunstall
Vh1 Biography of KT Tunstall
AOL Music Spotlight - KT Tunstall

Found this website via a thread in Zootopia. It's called One Word. It gives you a word and 60 seconds to write something using that word, about that word, whatever comes to mind. It challenges you to write.

Don't think. Just write.

As some of yall know my family went to Florida last week and didn't ask me to come along. Okay, okay so they probably assumed that I couldn't go which is why they didn't ask. There was a big conference down there for chemists, hence the reason two went. The other three went along for the ride. One of the tag-alongs was my nephew, JT.

I finally managed to get some photos despite it being nearly a week since they've been back. Should've asked my dad straight away as he's super cool. Anyway, instead of ranting and raving about the idiots and clueless twerps I work with (yesterday was craptacular), I'm going to my zen place. JT and the beach.

Here's one of the cutie at the beach. I know you can't see his eyes in the first one, but you can see the sand on his face. Good to know he's okay getting down and dirty. Maybe he'll be an environmentalist yet :) Shoot he learned after the first taste that sand isn't edible. That shows a lot more intelligence than some of the adults I've encountered.




I like to think that this second photo is of his No pictures, please. I'm on vacation look. Those pesky paparazzi! However, he graciously allows a photo or two to be snapped. He's a sweetie like that. And the bright pink hat shows that he's not afraid to embrace color and that he likes to support Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too!) in all their endeavors. Good to see loyalty in one so young.




I know he's not at the beach in this photo but he's having fun. Just look at that big smile on his face! So I had to include this one. Seeing JT laughing and smiling is a great way to start the morning. Plus my dad's chicken legs are visible too. So that's amusing. Not that you should focus on his legs, look at the huge smile from the belly laugh on JT's face. That's the best part of the photo.

Yesterday I did something new. Something that it hadn't ever really occurred to me to do before. I held a coworker's Girl Scout cookies hostage. He had two boxes on his desk. One opened, the other pristine. I snatched the opened box.

It started out as a joke. I was just going to see how long it took him to notice them missing. I let coworker B in on the heist and she thought of making a ransom demand. She wanted donuts, I wanted soda. So I combined them and produced this note.

Bring us donuts & soda or Creep gets the cookies

However, my greed got the better of me. As I was delivering the note to his desk, I decided to swipe the unopened box of cookies. In the process, I heard him returning and I hurriedly hid the box behind me and tried to step innocently back to my desk. But I tripped over some boxes (the size that hold reams of paper) and nosedived into my chair. Coworker said something about grace and shook his head at me. Then he saw the note on his desk and started laughing. I couldn't help myself, I just cracked up with him. He said, "Okay. You win." and laughed some more.

Before he left for the day I gave him his unopened box back. I didn't want him to think that he had to actually get donuts & soda. Then he said, "Wait a minute. Where's the other box?" I told him that he had eaten it but I don't think he believed me.

The opened box is still in my desk drawer. I'm trying to determine which would be the best way to screw with his mind. Put it in his desk drawer, so he thinks he put it there. Put it on his desk. Leave it in my desk. Decisions. Decisions.

For those inquiring minds, cookies were/are All Abouts. They taste like the Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies (the circular ones with the hole in the middle).

Water Conserve
NRDC: Clean Water & Oceans
H2Ouse
Water Treaty
African Well Fund

Wetlands
USGS: Fragile Fringe
Chesapeake Bay Restoration
National Wetlands Inventory
Wetlands of India
America's Wetland

Every year, March 22 is World Water Day, as designated by the United Nations in December 1992 (A/RES/47/193 ). The agenda was passed due to 20% of the Earth's population (1 billion people) not having access to clean, drinkable water.

Walk for Water
UNESCO World Water Day Information
World Water Day 2006
Water.Org

For all those who are calendar challenged tomorrow is World Water Day 2006. If all you can do is think about the people who don't have clean water that's better than you would have done. Maybe next year you'll be able to contribute more.

Don't you get annoyed with expressions like this: Spring has sprung. Sleepy summer days. Lazy hazy days of summer. Winter wonderland. Falling into fall. I could go on but then I'd just annoy myself even more. Perhaps I'm annoyed because my March Madness bracket is a total loss since both Kansas and Ohio State are out of it (yes, I had them playing each other in the final dance. I pick for sentimental reasons, not statistical). Although that's not very likely as I'm not a basketball fan.

I think my annoyance stems from people not appreciating the seasons. Or maybe I'm just annoyed with myself since I always seem to be looking forward to the Next season. It could be from working at Michael's Arts & Crafts. We'd start getting stuff for summer in December and start displaying it in March/April.

Or perhaps I'm annoyed because my family spent last week in in Florida while I was stuck at work, day after day. And have they sent me any pictures of JT frolicking in the sand and surf? Of playing in the parks? Wandering around Disney? Nope. Nary a one.

There's just so many things to be annoyed with these days. Usually I blame it on my coworkers (okay, mainly just two of them) and my job. Today I just felt like giving my cworkers a break and blaming it on somebody else :) Granted the two twerps aren't in yet, which probably got them off the hook. For this blog entry anyway.

OH, right, I nearly forgot to say, Happy Spring! Spring Hath Sprung! Spring Into Your Day! yeah, yeah, yeah. So who I have decided is the lucky winner of today's Annoyance Award? YOU are! So go out and annoy someone today!

As many of you know, today is St. Patrick's Day. It's a religious and national holiday in Ireland but mostly a drinking holiday in the States. How many people actually know the truth behind the holiday?

Oh, Saint Patrick. Sure, sure. He drove the snakes out of Ireland!

Not so much. Snakes haven't been on Ireland for millenia as the ground stays frozen year round. Snakes are cold blooded and cannot survive in such climes. Don't believe me? Read Dr. George Johnson's explanation. It's not as scientific an article as I'd like, as there is much of his opinion and feelings in it, but I figure it would help sway any doubters out there.

So who or what did Saint Patrick drive out of Ireland? Pagans of course. What people he couldn't convert to christianity he drove into hiding, some might have fled the country, others were killed and fewer still remained openly pagan.

Good!! Pagans are bad! Evil! Satan worshippers! Go SP!

Oh get over yourself already! Pagans are just people who find the divinity in nature, the earth, the seasons, the animals, cycles of life, and within themselves. They don't worship satan. Shoot in most pagan belief systems there is NO satan, no hell to worship. The majority of christian holidays are based on pagan ones. Yet another example of religious persecution, taking popular pagan holidays, denouncing them, yet founding a christian holiday within a couple days to help with conversion. But I digress, today's entry is about Saint Patrick, snake shooer awayer.

Why is it said that SP rid Ireland of snakes? Other than the obvious there are no snakes there (except for any kept in homes as pets, that is). The serpent is an oft used symbol in many pagan beliefs. The Basecamp web site hypothisizes that SP put an end to pagans openly displaying serpent symbols, thereby driving the snakes out of Ireland. Snakes have also been compared to the people themselves. The pagans left, were converted, went into hiding. Poof! No more snakes!

Is it any wonder that J.K. Rowling chose serpents to be the symbol of the "bad" house in her best selling series? That the evil characters are from that house? That the constant ..bully (for lack of better word) has the name Snape? It sounds like you're hissing when you say it and it's easily mistook for the word snake.

This just amuses me as so many christians are in an uproar about the books because of the use of magic. Whatever. We can all take any story an interpret it to suit our needs. Our beliefs. Then badger others when they don't see things our way. Claim they don't see the light, aren't divine, are evil, what-have-you. We just all need to stop, listen and think.

As for the shamrock, well that's another thing that was considered sacred to many pagans. Saint Patrick was crafty and preached that the three leaves represented the christian holy trinity, not the pagan holy trinity. In christianity it's the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In pagan beliefs it is the Maiden, Mother and Crone. Interesting, isn't it, that in the christian beliefs it's all about the male and in pagan beliefs it's all about the female?

Anyway, on this not so cheery holiday, I figure I'll do my work, read a little, have some Thai food and drink my diet mountain dew. I don't have any green on, not by design really, I was just in a hurry this morning and just put on the first things I grabbed. Thankfully t-shirt and jeans rarely clash.

There's an article in today's paper about the various online dating services. How there are more and more of them popping up on the net and how they're becoming more ..specialized. The phrase the article used is niche singles sites.

My favorite of the bunch listed is Date My Pet where people's pets are given singles ads as well. Great idea. Not sure I'm up for the whole online dating ..thing.

The 14th Annual Environmental Film Festival is nearly here. It runs March 16-26 in Washington DC. There are over 100 films from 23 countries. Most screenings are free. Follow the link for the deets.

I found out last evening from my grandmother (in Ohio) that over 50% of the buildings (total is now 60% of buildings) on the Kansas University campus sustained damage from storms on March 12. Classes were cancelled on Monday and access to campus restricted so that damage cleanup could begin. Damage estimates exceed $6 million dollars and Danforth Chapel will remain closed for the near future. It is the first time in KU's history that classes were canceled for something other than a snow emergency.

Photos
Press Release
Repairs at KU Could Cost Millions

I went to KU, so hearing this news was heart wrenching. In all the time I was there, through ice storms, blizzards and other violent weather, campus was only closed once. And that wasn't even half a day. I've seen pictures of the damage and it's not as severe as other places, where tornadoes touched down, but it is wide spread.

I actually had the news on for nearly two hours last night, but no mention was made. I thought a public university would at least get a passing mention on the news, but perhaps because nobody was injured or died, it wasn't consider "good news". I even watched through the sports segments on the local news, since there's all kinds of chatter about March Madness and KU has been in the dance for years. Especially since KU won the Big XII Championship this past weekend. But no, still not newsworthy enough.

Areas around Lawrence had golf ball sized hail and larger falling for over 15 minutes straight. Some places had softball sized hail. A friend's family had three cattle die from being pummeled by the hail.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK KU

I have a gas stove. It's my first experience with one (not counting the four or five days I spent at friend's house in Italy some years ago). I think I have a pretty good feel for it. I'm sure there are little tricks and tips that I have yet to learn or be informed of, but I get by. I haven't set the house on fire (technically this is true) or made myself sick by thinking I had the gas off, but really didn't, thereby filling the place with gas.

Yesterday, or maybe Saturday.. Sometime this weekend, I was making popcorn. Not the bag in the microwave variety but the oil in a big pot, cup of kernels over a burner on your stove. I've made it numerous times this way without incident. I'm standing there, gettiing ready to shake the pot (to prevent popped corn from burning) and I think I need to be careful, I could catch the towel on fire. Apparently I wasn't careful enough, because I did catch the towel on fire.

See, when shaking the pot on the burner, sparks form. Spark hit towel. Towel started burning. Kudos to me for not shrieking and for putting the fire out by smacking towel on linoleum. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the best idea as I could've caught the rug on fire. But it worked out well, flames died as did the sparks that leapt from the towel when it made contact with the floor. I turned off the burner and finished making my popcorn. Not a burnt piece in the batch. Also the towel barely looks burned, which is amazing considering the amount of flameage coming from it.

I was going to entitle this entry Cooking: Rachel's Way but figured she'd beat me up. No, I'm not talking about Rachael Ray from the Food Channel. I'm talking about my friend Rachel, from TN. She's a squirrelly kind of lass in cooking and countless other things. I'd tell yall that she has also set a towel on fire whilst cooking (think it was an electric stove, hello talent!) but again, she might beat me up. So I opted for the title likely to give me less bruising.

I realize that I forgot to tell yall about my birthday. Some I have told on the phone, in IM or in emails. Others haven't even asked. Love yall too.

Turning 30 wasn't so bad. Perhaps it's because of the theory my sis-in-law and I developed. Any birthday celebrated without a cake and candles, does not count. Therefore I am 27 as the last three years I have had neither cake, nor candles on my birthday. I've had cake around my birthday but none had candles so they weren't, technically, a birthday cake. This year only my coworker sang to me, so it's more like I'm 26.5.. Although, last year several friends and restaurant people sang to me so I guess that makes up for this year, thusly returning me to age 27.





My best gift, you ask? Well it wasn't something I unwrapped or expected. And it's not something tangible I can hold in my hands but it's definitely something I'll treasure for years to come. Several voluntary hugs from my nephew And he blew me a kiss.

Seriously, what could possibly be better than that?

Just a heads up for yall. When someone asks you to number some pages in the bottom right hand corner as you would read it, that doesn't mean write the page number in the bottom left hand corner, sideways.

Also when told that each packet begins at page one and that each packet will end at page 25, it does not mean you start on page one on the first packet, page 25 on the second packet and page 50 for the third. It's not like the packets were all bound together either. They were all separate.

I never realized writing page numbers was so befuddling.

This past Saturday I went to a concert at a coffee shop/club/venue in Vienna, Virginia. The Nields were performing and I was very excited as they are one of my favorite groups. This show was the second half of my birthday gift to myself. First half was seeing Girlyman, coincidentally at the same venue. Total cost of both shows was $30 - I figured it was meant to be.

I went to the Nields' show with two people, getting there an hour before the show started. We snagged seats at the back as others who got there before us were saving seats closer to the front (irritating but not unexpected). Show was to start at 7, so we had time to kill. The line to get food and/or drink was obscenely long and people were pouring in, so we all opted to remain with our seats - so as not to have someone just take them without asking (it was happening).

It's after 7, no indication that show is going to start... 7:10, nothing. Finally at 7:20 we see signs of activity on the stage and at about 7:25, the show starts. First couple of songs were great except for the feedback that everyone but the sound guy could hear. I think the guy needs to have his hearing checked.

There is a group of people to my right that has been drinking heavily and have continued their ..boisterous conversation despite the concert starting. Much cackling by a loud, drunken female. Several people hushed them and THEY were offended. What the heck?? A guy in the group says "We'll just go back HERE where we can TALK without being interrupted!!" Whatever, you crackhead! Leave now and shut the hell up!

Throughout the show I am shoved and poked from the people standing behind me and from people walking down the aisle on my right. The people are seriously crowding forward, I don't know why. They couldn't possibly get any closer unless they suddenly became me. They should've arrived before 7 if they wanted a seat. Guy standing behind my friend was moaning to his friends, "I can't believe we didn't get a seat! We got here at 7!" What does he expect??? If he had bothered to call and reserve his ticket he'd have known that the Nields draw a large crowd and that he should arrive early. Did he think we got there at 6 because we had nothing better to do?!

Nields leave the stage at 8:30 (yeah, barely an hour long) and we stand and applaud, expecting an encore. They come back out and say "We'd love to do an encore but the fire marshal is here and is kicking us off the stage." Much booing. "We'll go outside and continue out there, just go on out and as soon as we get unhooked, we'll be out there."

I look back and all you see is people. The occupancy of the place is 180 max. There were well over 200 people in there, not counting the four or five police officers and the two guys wearing Fire Marshal vests. My friends and I, vacate our seats and head outside. The fire marshal at the door glares at us as we leave. I wanted to ask him what his problem was. It's not our fault the stupid owners over sold the show and let all the people inside. We reserved our tickets over a week in advance and arrived early enough to get a seat - easily before 3/4 of the people there.

So we wait around outside.. five minutes, then ten. Twenty minutes pass and the Nields haven't made it outside yet. One person in my little group of three was whining and fussing about it being cold. I wanted to tell her to go wait in the car but I had only met her that night. She was a friend of B (coworker and friend of mine). B drove, so I didn't feel I had any say in whether we stayed or left. I wanted to stay but whiney got her way and we left.

What a disappointment. I've emailed the venue and the Nields to let them know my thoughts and feelings of what happened Saturday. I actually received a reply from the Nields' manager (I had emailed their booking agent and apparently she forwarded it on to their manager) in a couple of hours. She agreed with me and said that they plan to talk to the manager before they play their again. So we'll see. Chances are high that I won't go back to that venue.

I've found that threatening other drivers, the TV, radio stations and The Gods in general have less of an impact when you're basically whispering what you'd like to do to them. See I've been without full vocal strength for a week now. It got better last Wednesday - well enough that I could shout my mom's order and mine from the front passenger seat at the drive thru and be heard (my mom could barely be heard when one was sitting next to her, let alone through a drive thru intercom - and then started going back down hill on Saturday.

Sunday and today my voice is basically non-existent. Most of the other symptoms from this heinous cold (thanks JT!) have gone on to pester some other unsuspecting soul. It's amazing what powerful germies toddlers can carry around and still look like little angels. See his halo of golden curls? All but shouting out his innocence.

Yes, yes he Looks sweet and innocent and oh so cute. But really he's a germ encrusted minion of the Lord Germ Commander - Sneecouphlegmghze. I say that with nothing derogatory in mind towards JT. I still think he's the sweetest, cutest adorable little guy on the planet. He can't help being a slave to Sneecouphlegmghze. Shoot, most adults are minions of the Lord Germ Commander. I'm currently and unwilling minion and am doing everything possible to thwart ol' Sneecouphlegmghze's latest attempt at world domination.

And no, your little eyes don't deceive you. JT's halo of golden curls is now gone. Yet more evidence that he's deep in the thrall of Sneecouphlegmghze. Why else would he not scream and cry at having his halo removed with slashing, gnashing blades of scissors and the vile spraying of water from a squirt bottle?

We must act fast to stop the spread of germies! To end the battle once and for all! Death to Sneecouphlegmghze and all his generals! So long to Generals Hack and Wheeze! Good riddance to Lord Aches and Captain Pains! Sayonara to Captains Watery Eye and Runny nose! And most especially to his sons - the heirs to his germie throne - Sneeze, Cough and Phlegm. Sneecouphlegmghze is an arrogant SOB, is he not??

See what I mean? Dire threats just aren't the same when you whisper them, no matter how vicious you try to be.

I get up this morning and the first thing my mom whispers to me (she's been hoarse and not able to talk above a whisper since Wednesday) is, "Did you have chicken noodle soup?"
"What?"
"Did you have chicken noodle soup last night?"
"Noooo we went out to eat at Bob Evans for dinner last night..."
"I know that. I mean after you went to bed. Did you get back up and have chicken noodle soup?"
"Nope," I say as I shake my head and finish coming down the stairs. "Didn't get up and have any soup in the middle of the night."
"There's an empty can in the sink. I wonder if dad (yes, she calls my dad 'dad') had some for breakfast."
"Could be. You sure it's not from lunch yesterday?"
"I already took that can out to recycling."
"Is it from when dad had chicken noodle soup the other day?"
"No," she says testily, "I already took that can out too."
"Ooookay. So what's the big deal? Maybe dad took it for lunch. Are you rationing the chicken noodle soup? Is there a shortage somewhere I don't know about?"
"No. I just want to know where the can came from."
"Okay. Maybe the boys (our two cats) had it."
She heaves a put upon sigh and shakes her head. What does she expect from me? I mean sarcasm is my forte and I hadn't even had coffee yet.

About twenty minutes later I think she asks me, "Do you have a gas in your thermos?"

And yes, I look at her oddly, trying to figure out what the heck she's talking about. Finally I just respond with, "What? A gas thermos??" Give me some credit here folks, it's hard to understand someone when she's across the room and whispering to you.

"No. I said Dad must've had it for breakfast since we don't have a thermos."
"Sure," I say as I nod and smile. "Why don't you ask him when he calls?"

This was all before 10 am. The case is still open. Too bad I didn't get a fingerprint kit for my birthday, I could rule out the cats straight away. As it is, they're shifty enough to have planted the can to throw my mom into a tizzy.

The fact that I've refrained from calling my dad and telling him to deny all knowledge of a suspicious soup can shows world class restraint on my part. If I could've figured out a way to get my brother involved, I would have. :)

The mohawk in my first picture, along with the peace sign should've been a dead give away to my family. A head's up, watch out. You've got a tree hugging, alternative thinking, peace crunchie on your hands.

The fact that I'm grasping my head also indicates my future frustrations with stupid people and the headaches they cause me. It's amazing how insightful baby pictures can be.

Additionally this is probably the only clothing, other than dresses, that I wore that my brother didn't wear first. And my mom wonders why I prefer pants and t-shirts to dresses and skirts. It's her own doing! Not that hand-me-downs are bad, mind you. Tho I bet my brother is thankful he was born first. I, however, would love to see him in a dress.






Here I am at about seven months. Sort of crawling, laying, doing yoga on a crushed velvet couch. Oh yeah. Hello 1970's!

And yes, the blue outfit with the bunny was my brother's first. Perhaps that's what I'm smirking about. Or maybe I was just practicing for the future. The expression most seen on my face these days; a smirk. Get Down with your bad smirking self, baby girl! (just channeling the atmosphere)







This is me in a dress. I'm about a year old. I'm told that I had so many dresses that several looked brand new when they no longer fit me. And that they sold "like hotcakes" at a garage sale. I have no memory of the dresses nor the selling of them.

Sure I look cute but I also look like I'm going to hike my dress up. Maybe I'm getting ready to do the Can-Can. Or, perhaps, I'm checking for a waist band, confused as to why I have one giant pant leg instead of two.

I have no idea what the giant porcelain pig in the background is all about. I don't appear frightened of it. But perhaps it is responsible for my general pork aversion.







Yours truly on my very 1st birthday. Don't take it personal. Chances are I wasn't sticking my chocolate loaded tongue out at you. Well, unless you're my mom, dad or brother reading this and then, chances are, I Was sticking my tongue out at you.

What can I say? MmMmmmmm chocolate cake! Oh, see the plate that my yummny chocolate cake is on? It's Raggedy Anne & Andy. I still have that plate. It's only slightly chipped, the date says 1969. And my folks confirmed that yes, chances are my brother had his first piece of birthday cake on that same plate.

And yes, I can admit it with no heart broken feelings that my nephew is Much cuter than I ever was or hope to be. I'm cool with that. :)