Word Box Dec. 28- Jan. 2 *New*

It's back and better than ever! The word box has been extended to stay open until about 10 a.m. Monday morning.
Happy Wording!

This blog post is brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

Tadpole Visits Santa

Some of you may remember my friend Frog and her 2 1/2 year old daughter, Tadpole from this post.

Tadpole loves to dance, and usually when I visit we dance for hours at a time. She can dance to anything, although she prefers hip hop and oldies and is not a big fan of the slower music. She is very aware of the beat and often can start humming or even singing (as much as a 2 1/2 year old can) along to the music. She is quite musical. Tadpole comes up with dance moves, and her favorite is to shake her bottom while demanding that others join in and "shake it" too.

The other day, Frog took Tadpole to see Santa at their community center. Just when Tadpole sat on Santa's lap, someone started playing Christmas music. Upon hearing the music, Tadpole jumped off Santa's lap and started dancing - then she said to Santa "Shake it, Clausy - Shake it!" Frog was mortified, but I guess Santa thought he'd found a pretty good dance partner because he stood up and danced with her.

Kids are so cute.

10 More Things I Love

Mail/Packages from friends
Ellen
They Might Be Giants' song "C is for Conifers"
Cinneman - to smell and to taste
Cooper, my IPOD
A sky that is cloudy, but clear enough so you can see the moon through the clouds
Lounging pants
Winter hats
TV on DVD
Clean sheets

Today is a Wonderful Day!

Why is it so wonderful, you ask? Because I got to watch 7 episodes of Freaks and Geeks. God, I love that show. That is all.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all having a pleasent day whether it's spent around the tree or at the movies. We are sitting around waiting for my brother and SiL to arrive so we can open presents and get in a round of 500. It's shaping up to be a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas, Earth!

The senate again blocked the drilling in the Artic National Wildlife reserve! Once drilling provision tacked on to the proposed defense bill was dropped, the defense bill passed unanimously. You can go here to read more about it, and you can go here to read how your senators voted.

This blog post brought to you by "Earth friendly Fridays"

In case you like polar bears

mama and cubs

cute cub

Freaks and Geeks

Finals are over and still the Freaks & Geeks DVD set sits untouched. How can this be? Panda is full of excuses and our DVD player is full of discs of another television show. How long does she expect me to wait? This cannot go on much longer - I can't live like this!

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Thankyou, FishFrog and Nell

It is because of you that I can make this! No more chunky square-shaped snowflakes for me!

My trip to the eye doctor

Let's start with the good news. I went to my eye doctor today, and apparently my eyes have gotten a little better!! Who-hoo! This happend to my dad recently, and he no longer has to wear contacts at all (he also does not have to wear reading glasses as so many older people do). So, this news was good, and I can only hope that my eyes continue on their self-correcting course until I no longer have to wear glasses.

Now for the not so good news.... "does your family have a history of glaucoma?" my doctor asked. Well, my dad was just told to get tested for it. "Ahh, yes, your dad is a patient of mine..." So, he wants me to come back in to get my eyes dialted and run some "tests" so we can keep an eye on things (no pun intended). Apparently, my "pressure" is in the high range of normal, still normal, but something of which to keep track. He says I should not worry becuase I do not have glaucoma and hopefully will not get glaucoma. Still, I can't help but worry a little bit - it's moments like these I'm glad Panda inhearted most of the crazed worry-wart genes while I got the laid back devil-may-care set of genes.

So, my eyes are both getting better and getting worse at the same time. Fantastic!

Brrr!

My office is once again freezing! I am bundeled up, this time in my coat and cute green hat with matching scarf. I can only imagine how cold it is in here because the thermostate only goes down to 60 degrees, but my guess is that it's about 50-55 degrees in here. It's no wonder I've been sick for three weeks! This is total crap. Total crap!

Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Tip # 2

Use lemons as a bleach alternative - Put away that soft-scrub, and bring on the lemons!

Do your countertops or cutting boards ever get stained? To get rid of the stain, all you need to do is let lemon juice set on the stain for a few minutes, then add your trusty baking soda to the mess and scrub the area clean. It smells better than that nasty stuff under your sink, and you don’t have to Mr. Yuck sticker any of the ingredients!

The same can be done on white clothes – just put the lemon juice on the stains and let the sun dry the clothes. Viola -stains are bleached away!

Happy cleaning!

This blog post brought to you by "Earth Friendly Firdays"

It just irks me, plain and simple

Normally I used Wordy Wednesdays to highlight words I think are cool or idioms that I enjoy using. Today, I want to bring your attention to a word I hate.

Matriculate – to enroll as a member of a body and especially of a college or university

This word is over used and I don’t think half the people who used it even know what it means. Last night, I was at a school board meeting and the superintendent used this word 5 times in a 2 minute span of time. Ugh. It is like nails on a chalkboard. Stop using this word! You do not sound cool!

I dare you to use this word in a sentence and not sound like an idiot trying to sound like someone intelligent; it cannot be done. This word is a blight on the English Language.

This blog post brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

TV Time

As I'm always on the look out for more TV to watch, I want to know your favorite shows. These can be past shows, current shows, quality shows, guilty pleasure shows, or anything that is awesome.

What is your favorite TV show and why should I watch it?

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Six Degrees of Separation

You all know the drill, and if you don't just go to this post for a review of the rules. Rule clarification: please only use actors (not producing, writing, or directing credits)

The one to connect in the fewest turns the fastest will win a small box of crayons. The game ends on Thursday, December 15, 2005.

NO CHEATING!!!!

Connect these actors: Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

My Excite Fortune

My fortune today says:

Someone thinks you are very special and lets you know it.
This is a good fortune. Better still if it comes true!

Cool Website

One of my favorite websites is Found Magazine. I head about it on NPR a couple of years ago. People send in notes, postcard, letters, or anything that they find on the ground that seems interesting. The website is for the magazine that you can purchase, but they also have many found things on the website for you to view.

Some of the finds are funny, others are more thought provoking, and some are just sad. On the main page, they have their most recent finds, but you can also view more by typing something in the "search for finds" box.

They revamped the website & I don't find it as user friendly as it used to be. Still, it's updated regularly, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Indian Boarding Schools - Canada

While Indian Boarding Schools in the the US closed in the 1920s, the schools in Canada remained open much later. Although most closed by the 1970s, the last Indian Boarding (or Residental) School did not close until 1996! Much like in the US, students attended these schools not of their own free will, but were instead legally kidnapped from their families. Similarly, most students had no contact with their families and communities for up to 10 months at a time, due in large part to the fact the schools were deliberately located far away from native communities. These children, too, were prohibited from speaking their language and suffered corporal punishment if caught speaking it.

Surprise of surprises, evidence of wide-spread abuse – sexual, physical, and emotional- was brought to light in the late 1990s. Now, the Canadian government is giving survivors compensation in the form of $10,000 for their first year at the school, and $3,000 for each year spent after that. Some recipiants think it's too little, too late; others realize it won't erase the horrors of the past, but accept that it is compensation of some sort.

For my Canadian readership: Has this been in the news? Did you know about this issue prior to the decision to pay out this money? What are your thoughts?

For everyone: what are your thoughts on compensation? Do you think there should be a statue of limitations? Does it do any good, is it not enough, too much? All points of view are welcome.

If anyone would like more info on Indian Boarding Schools, I'd be happy to give it to you. If you are really interested, I reccommend reading Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience by D. Adams. It is extremely detailed and outlines the phenomenom really well.

Philosophy of Special Agent Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just… let it happen."

This blog post brought to by "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Word of the Week Dec 2 - 7

The entries:
Amortization – the act or process of mortizing
Amortize – to provide for the gradual extinguishment of, usually by contribution to a sinking fund at the time of each periodic interest payment.
Acerbic – sour or bitter tasting; sharp or biting as in character or tone
Apropos – Being opportune and to the point; relevant; also as in by the way, or incidentally
Exiguous – Extremely scanty; meager

This week's word of week is:

Acerbic

Recommendation

I highly recommend you go to Matt's Blog and check out his Ice Fishing post and video link. Go now!

Clatch the door!

While at our maternal grandparents house for the summer in 1985 or 86, my sister, brother, and I coined a new word – clatch.

Clatch - to close the door, but not latch it.

One might say, "Could you clatch the door when you leave?" or "The door is clatched"

To give picture, a clatched door would like this: the latch bolt of the door would not go into the latch hole, but would rest on the door plate. Note: this is different from leaving the door cracked because while there may be a sliver of light that comes in, the door is all but shut.

This word comes in handy more than you might expect, and I hope you will all start using it.

This blog post brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

Okay, Fortune, I will do as you ask

My fortune today said “Take a moment to remember 4th grade” so I am going to do just that.

My fourth grade homeroom and language arts teacher was Mrs. Allen. It was her first year as a teacher, and it showed. She wore tri-colored eye shadow that went up to her eyebrows – the three colors were way too dark and she looked like one of those jars made out of multiple colors of sand. In other words – she looked stupid. As you might have surmised, I did not like Mrs. Allen much. She never called on me to read aloud and I attribute my paralyzing fear of speaking up in class to be a direct result of this.

The thing I did like about Mrs. Allen was that she had a “writing workshop,” and we got write stories and books. She would bring in wallpaper samples of all different designs (that were slightly larger than a piece of paper) that we could pick from to make covers for our books. She would then bind them together. It was actually totally awesome. I still have two of my books, one of which was about Rugby, the collie that lived in my old neighborhood who I missed terribly at the time.

I also remember, my social studies teacher. We called him Mr. Z because his last name was really long and began with a Z. On the first day of school, this kid raised his hand and asked, “Can I go to the bathroom.” “Yes,” Mr. Z replied. When the kid got up to go, Mr. Z said, “Sit down.” This went on for a while until the kid finally asked “May I go to the bathroom.” Now, while I’m sure Mr. Z was trying to be funny while teaching proper word usage, all he succeeded in doing was making the whole class think he was an ass and probably prompted that kid to put Mr. Z on the top of a hit list of some sort.

My science teacher was Mrs. Bogosian and she was pretty awesome. I remember we all go certified in First Aid that year and that was exciting! I also went into my second year of violin where we progressed from playing Happy Hoedown to reading notes and playing Ode to Joy. We would continue to play Ode to Joy for many, many years.

My best friends were Jeannie and Mary Beth. Jeannie still lived across the street, and her parents were not yet divorced. We watched Days of our Lives, and her favorite movie was North and South. Our favorite thing to do at recess was sit in the “tunnels” because they were cool, while we waited for an opening on the swing-set. I had a birthday party and we served tacos for dinner.

All in all, I liked 4th grade.

This is a Story of Two Sisters

No, not Panda and Fuzzy - Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell!

I just finished watching season 2 of one of my all time favorite shows - Soap. Man, oh man, how I love this show. I loved it when I was 7 and I love it still when I'm 27. One of the funniest shows ever - man, I love it.

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

This morning I was having a ho-hum day. I was running late (as usual), but then I looked out the window and saw that wonderful white flaky goodness - Snow! If it’s going to be cold, then the least it can do is snow, and last night it did! Right now it is barely a dusting and most of has melted off the grass, but I hear we are in for more on Thursday. Yay!! I hope this means we’ll have a white Christmas.

According to the Farmer’s Almanac, this year St. Louis will see more snowfall than average. We’ll see snowstorms in late December, mid-January, and early March and can expect the heaviest snowfall to be in January.

Maybe it's Just Me

Does it bother anyone else that when you have 1 comment, it says “1 comments” at the bottom of your post?

A Life Less Ordinary

Today I recommend one of my favorite movies to you – A Life Less Ordinary. This movie stars Ewan McGregor (who I love), Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter(who is totally awesome) and Delroy Lindo (who is also totally aweosme). This off-beat romantic comedy gets better ever time I watch it. For those of you who liked Transpotting – it was written by John Hodge and directed by Danny Boyle. For those of you who didn’t – don’t worry, there is no drug usage in this movie.

Ewan McGregor plays a good guy whose life is not going well; he ends up kidnapping his boss’s daughter (Diaz). It is soon clear that he has no idea what he’s doing, but Diaz (who has been kidnapped many times before) takes initiative and demands ransom from her father. Her father, unwilling to part himself with his money, hires two bounty hunters – Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo. These bounty hunters are actually two angels sent from heaven who have been given the assignment to get these two birds to fall in love – although they are a far cry from “Touched by an Angel”-style angels.

It’s hard for me to give a synopsis of a movie because I think its best if you don’t know much about a movie before seeing it, so you can just enjoy the ride. I fear I’ve told too much, but if I’d said any less, I can’t imagine why you’d be compelled to see the movie. Anyway – just go watch it! I have it if anyone wants to borrow it.

This blog post is brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Word Box Dec 2 - 7

This word box will close around 10 a.m. on

Wednesday, December 7th.

I highly recommend you use your word in a sentance, but you don't have to.

Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Tip # 1

Use baking soda and vinegar to clean drains – not harsh chemicals like Drano.

Remember when you made a volcano for science class? You would put baking soda in a cone and pour vinegar to watch the "lava" explosion. Well, this works in drains as well. Pour about 1 cup of baking soda in your drain. Wait a few minutes, then pour cup of (for best results – warm) vinegar down after it. Wait awhile before flushing with (preferably boiling) water.

This will work for most, if not all, of your drain de-clogging needs and a plunger will probably take care of the rest. Most plumbers recommend flushing your drains weekly (even if only with boiling water) to keep clogs from happening in the first place. If the problem persists, go ahead and get the harsh chemical stuff, but try this first!

This blog post brought to you by "Earth Friendly Fridays"

Who ARE you??!

Anonymous, this is directed at you!

It is a day worthy of hats!

Today in History:

**Napoleon crowned emperor (1804)
**Monroe Doctrine declared (1823)
**James K. Polk (our 11th President) affirms the Monroe Doctrine (1845)
**McCarthy Condemned by Senate (1954)
**John Gotti now head of Gambino family (1985)

But most noteworthy….

Nell was Born!!

Happy Birthday, Nell. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Arapaho Language Revalization

It is my opinion that Culture is expressed through language. That is why I am such a huge proponent of American Sign Language and giving it the respect it has not had since the mid 1800s. Around the same time that the push for Oralism (no signing, only lip-reading and speech) came along, the United States also began to implement its greatest attack on American Indian Languages and Culture - The Off Reservation Boarding Schools (eluded to in a previous post).

Children at these schools were, among other things, secluded from other children who spoke the same language (so English would be their common language) and endured corporal punishment if caught speaking their native languages. In part, these actions lead to a new generation of speakers that would not speak their language or pass it on to their children. Now, most fluent speakers of native languages are aged 50 or older. Language cannot survive if it is locked away only to be brought out at ceremonies and other events and a culture cannot truly survive with out its language. Language is how we describe the world around us and make it our own.

In this article, my favorite professor, Dr. Stephen Greymorning says (and I agree), "Language shapes how people give meaning to the world, and often the only way to get an idea of cultural differences is through the language," he says. "A language does some very interesting things that can give people an idea of the logic and values that distinguish one culture from another."

For the past several years, Dr. Greymorning has been working on a project to revitalize the Arapaho language by creating immersion language classes for Arapaho children, and most recently by creating another program that fosters more parental involvement. He also had a big role in teaming up with Disney to make an Arapaho dubbed version of Bambi. You can read about his efforts here, here, and here.

Yay to Dr. Greymorning!

This post brought to you by "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Movie Quote Winner Nov. 28

Congratulations FishFrog! Way to go!

The movie - French Kiss

French Kiss is one of my favorite movies of all time and I often walk around quoting it.

Part 2: Word of the Week Nov 29- Dec 1

Part 2: The Word of the Week

As usual, we had some spectacular words this week. Some of them appeal to my love of lauguage or culture, while others to my love of doughnuts. The decision was made much more difficult by the fact that so many of you submitted your words as "anonymous" and I therefore could not just pick fishfrog's word. I don't even know if fishfrog submitted a word! What is this world coming to? But, I digress....
The word I picked this week is supercool and one that we should all incorporate into our daily vocabularies.

This week's Word of the Week is:

Inculcate

*To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill

*To teach others by frequent instruction or repetition; indoctrinate

Between the 1880s and 1920s, American Indian children were ripped from their homes and taken to Off Reservation Boarding Schools. The goal of these schools was to systematically inculcate feelings of shame in the children regarding their own cultures, families, and language in the hope to assimulate these children into the American mainstream. It was thought that adults were beyond hope - too set in their ways, but with children we could - in the words of Richard Pratt, founder of the first school of this kind - "Kill the Indian, Save the man." These schools have far reaching affects on Indian cultures even today and account for much of why so many native langugages are exctinct or facing extinction.

Part 1: The Words

Because this post is crazy long, I am going to break it up into two parts.

Part 1: The Words

This week’s entries:

Concomitant
adj - accompanying especially in a subordinate or incidental way
noun - something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; existing or occuring at the same time

Disingenuousness
noun - the quality of being disingenuous and lacking candor
Disingenuous
adj.-not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating
adj - pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf.

Inculcate
*To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill
*To teach others by frequent instruction or repetition; indoctrinate

Meme
noun - an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
tidbit- Comes from the Greek word “mimema” for something imitated
tidbit - Dawkins introduced this term in is 1976 publication The Selfish Gene. You can read about more here and here.
**Memes can be considered the unit of cultural evolution. Ideas can evolve similar to biological evolution. Some ideas survive better than others; ideas can mutate through, and two ideas can recombine toproduce a new idea involving elements of each parent idea.
**The term is often used in the phrase "meme complex" to mean a group of mutually supporting memes that form an organized belief system (religion). However, "meme"is often misused to mean "meme complex".

Meta
noun - something with refers to itself, esp. in self-parodying manner
adj - self-referential; referring to itself or its characteristics, esp. as a parody; about
prefix - one level of description higher w/ many applications, such as: later in time, at a later stage of development, change, alternation, more comprehensive, at a higher state of development, and/or derivative related to chemical substance.
noun - A river in northeast Colombia flowing partially along the boarder with Venezuela.
noun - A city in Missouri

Morpheme
noun - A meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word, such as man, or a word element, such as -ed in walked , that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts

Timbit
noun - Candadian bit-sized doughnut balls (or doughnut holes as they are called in the midwest or munchkins at Dunkin’ Donuts).
tidbit - They are sold at the Tim Hortons restaurant chain, and "Timbits" has become the generic name for doughnut balls sold all over Canda (like Kleenex for tissue).
tidbit -A Timbit is supposedly made from the part of a full doughnut that is cut out to make the doughnut's hole, but in fact they are made from separate balls of dough.
tidbit-introduced in 1976.

I totally got to beat up my brother today

I'm taking Karate and my little brother is my instructor. Today, he instructed me to punch and kick him as hard as I could. Last time he did this, I was a bit timid (I have no desire to harm my brother) but he assured me that as a professional, he could take it. So, this time when he told me I would be doing some techniques on him, I gleefully clapped my hands and promptly let him have it – full force. I got to punch him, kick him, knee him, and flip him over. He said he'd be "feeling it" in reference to one of my punches and that he'd never been flipped so well. So.Much.Fun! Man, oh man. How did I resist this for so long? Karate rocks.

A message to nell

Nell,

Your candybar prize has been given to Panda to give to FishFrog to ultimately give to you. Enjoy!

Word Box Nov 29-Dec 1

The word box will be open until sometime around 10 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1st.

Movie Quote Game Nov. 28

It's once again time for...

The Movie Quote Game!

In what movie would you hear this quote:

"beautiful! gorgeous! wish you were here!"

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

The Mushroom Epiphany

Recently, Panda and I made roasted vegetables to go with dinner, and as always this recipe called for mushrooms. In a Freaky Friday moment, Panda suggested we stray from the recipe and skip the mushrooms while I insisted we stick to the rules. Frankly, her devil may care attitude shocked me! In another unprecedented move, I overpowered Panda and the mushrooms went in the pan. Then the most interesting thing happened – I ate a mushroom and liked it. I even went back to the pan to get more mushrooms. This can only mean one thing - I like mushrooms!

I realize this may not sound that exciting, but I have always hated mushrooms that were not fried and dunked in marinara sauce. This realization opens up a whole new world to me - mushroom burgers! roasted mushrooms! mushroom stirfry! There are two instances that mushrooms are still unacceptable: on pizza and in salad. On this I cannot be swayed.

Winner of 6 Degrees of Seperation

Scarlet Panda connected these two fine actors in four steps and she did it with out cheating!! Way to go, Scarlet Panda. The Chex Mix is now yours.

Panda's answer:
Jennifer Connelly was in Career Opportunities with Frank Whaley.
Frank Whaley was in Swimming With Sharks with Kevin Spacey.
Kevin Spacey was in The Usual Suspects with Kevin Pollak.
Kevin Pollak was in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson.

Serious props also go out to Nell because while she is nothing but a no good cheater, she did go through David Lynch to get the answer, and I think we all know that that is worth something. So, Nell, you have a dark chocolate candy bar waiting for you when you get back to town!

Here is my answer:
Jack Nicholson was in About Schmidt with Dermott Mulroney.
Dermott was in Career Opportunities with Jennifer Connelly.

Career Opportunities is indeed an awesome movie.

Thanks for playing!

I need to get some smaller shoes

I went to http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp# to take their quiz and found out that my ecolgical footprint is disturbingly large.

My total footprint is 15 acres, meanning if everyone lived like me we’d need 3.3 planets.
More disturbing still is that the average footprint in the US is 24 acres.

How big is your ecological footprint?

This blog post brought to you by "Earth Friendly Fridays"

Reminder!

Don't forget, you have until 5p.m. today to enter a solution to the 6 degrees of sepeartion post. So far, only cheaters have entered, so if you can come up a with a solution w/o cheating you are pretty much guaranteed to win. Among the cheaters, I believe Squishy is in the lead with 3 steps.

It can be done in two steps!

Pass to the Right

On this Thanksgiving Day, remember to always pass to the right at the dinner table. While you could make an argument that some etiquette is just arbitrary and a matter of taste, this rule come from a place of practicality. When you pass to the right, the next person to have the plate will naturally take it with their left hand as this is the hand closest to the plate being passed. This leaves their right hand (the favored hand for most people) free to dole out the desired portion. Sorry lefties....looks like you are overlooked again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Message to my traveling Friends:

Happy Thanksgiving and Safe Travel!!

In Like Flynn

Our family plays the totally awesome card game, 500. Those playing this game are always sure to exclaim, I’ve got a barn burner!, I’m in like Flynn!, or the cheerless cry, I’ve got the proverbial Queen.

As I’m sure we will play a hand or two of 500 this Thanksgiving Day, I thought I’d find the answer to the age old question, “What does I’m in like Flynn mean.” Oh, of course we know what it means when we use it – it means “I’m totally going to make my bid!” or “There’s no stopping me!” But, from where does the phrase come? I’ve done a little research, which is to say I “Googled” the phrase, and below are my findings.

Most people seem to think that the phrase comes from the 1940s Australian actor Errol Flynn. Errol was a drinker and a womanizer. In 1943 Errol Flynn was acquitted for statutory rape of a teen age girl and the phrase gained momentum. Although the phrase can be applied to most situations, it was then often used to describe sexual conquests. There is some debate about whether the phrase’s provenance is owed to Errol Flynn or if his situation just assured its continued usage.

Prior to and during the same time that Errol was on the scene; Edward J Flynn (“Boss Flynn”) was campaign manager for the Democratic Party. In 1940 he succeeded James A. Farly as the Democratic Party’s national chairman. Everyone Boss Flynn touched turned to gold; he was so successful at winning elections in the South Bronx that his candidates seemed to get into office automatically. The phrase, In Like Flynn, has been spotted in 1940 and 1942, and is thought to refer the ease in which Boss Flynn used to get his candidates elected.

So, it looks to me as though Boss Flynn inspired the phrase's first usage, and Errol Flynn guaranteed its popularity. In any event, I hope to be In Like Flynn at the card table this Thanksgiving.

This Blog Post brought t o you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

La telenovela

Have you been thinking about watching a soap, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry – it’s easy! Just turn on the TV and go for it!

If you are just starting out watching Soaps, the trick is to find one couple or story line that strikes your fancy and just let it suck you in. I watch all my soaps on TiVo so I can FF through the people I find boring, but many soap fans watch them straight through. For novices, I suggest watching the whole thing. At first, it might be best to have the soaps on in the background while you’re cooking or cleaning. Just keep you ears to the ground and before long a story line will have gotten to you. To me, this seems the most natural approach; as with most fans, I began watching soaps because they were always on in the background (for me because my G-mom watched them). Do not worry if you don’t understand what is going on. Most of what you need to know gets explained, or you can get the gist of it.

While each soap is different, people often seem to follow network allegiances.

The current NBC soaps are: Day of Our Lives and Passions. Days was my first soap, and I have recently found myself pulled back into it. In my opinion, it used to be a much better show. The stories are extremely slow moving and the writers seem to have a "tell don’t show" philosophy. The families of Salem have long been plagued by the DiMera’s, so if you like big arch villain type stories, this is for you. Days has its charm and it can be funny in its ridiculousness and the clothes are always worth a laugh or a dropped jaw. The same seems to be true for Passions. This is the one soap I have never seen even one episode, but apparently it has some serious supernatural aspects to it, and that might interest some. Nothing about this soap is realistic, however, so if you want realistic escapism, try CBS or ABC.

CBS is home to several soaps. Young and the Restless, the Bold and the Beautiful, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. These soaps all take place in Middle America, except for Bold and the Beautiful which is a ½ hour long spin off to Young and Restless and takes place in California. Guiding Light and As the World Turns are my favorites. While the stories are not "realistic per sea," they do seem real and most of the actors are quite good. Many of the stories revolve around romance and family. Both often have mysteries to solve and can make fun of themselves and the soap genre. GL is particularly humorous at times. Because so much of the drama revolves around solving mysteries or crimes, court scenes are abundant. For those of you in law school, these scenes might be unpleasant because they are so far from reality it’s not even funny. Overall, however, these are great soaps.

ABC has three soaps: All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. I used to watch all these soaps. If you like Mob-type stories then General Hospital is for you. Rick Hearst, who played Alan Michael on Guiding Light is now on this soap and he is one my all time favorite soap actors. The ABC soaps are all really good at dealing with social issues, and all three also have intentionally funny moments that create genuine chuckles.

For those of you who always wished you watched soaps, I hope this helps. Soaps are really fun, especially if you watch them with a friend. Enjoy making fun of them when they deserve it, but don’t be surprised when you reach for that Kleenex during your favorite character's death scene (unless you are watching Days because no one really dies on that show).

This Blog Post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

6 Degrees of Seperation Game - Nov. 21-25

Welcome to the 6 Degrees of Separation Game - Actor Style. You all know the gist – theoretically any two people can be connected in 6 degrees or less. For this version, I will pick any two actors any you have to connect them through movie/tv shows.

The rules:

1. Six degrees or less (a movie or a t.v. show = 1 degree)
2. The actors linking must be either in a movie together, or a TV show together, however, guest appearances on TV shows don't count (they have to be recurring characters)
3. You may ONLY use the internet if you know two actors are in a movie but you cannot for the life of you remember the name or if you are unsure of who one of the starting actors are. Limit: one "look-up" per entry. Since there is no way for me to know if you do this or not, we will use the honor system. For those of you becoming lawyers, remember that if you do anything deemed unethical, you could be disbarred. It’d be a shame for it to be over a blog-game.

Example:
Benicio Del Toro and Tobey McGuire.
1.Benicio was in Swimming with Sharks with Kevin Spacy
2.Kevin was in American Beauty with Annette Benning
3.Annette was in The Great Outdoors with Dan Akroid
4.Dan was in Ghostbusters with Segourni Weaver
5.Segourni was in The Ice Storm with Tobey McGuire

A better entry would be:
1. Benicio was in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with Tobey McGuire.

Questions? Comments? There may be more than one solution, so the person who connects the actors in the least amount of steps will be the winner. Unlike most of my contests – this one has a prize! I am holding in my hand a bag of Chex Mix. The stakes are high! The contest ends Friday Nov. 25 @ 5:00 p.m. Go to it!

The actors are:

Jack Nicholson and Jennifer Connely

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Word of the Week Nov 16-21

This week's entries:


Malapropism – The usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in context.
Proroguing – To discontinue a session (of parliament, for example). To postpone; defer.
Provenance – Place of origin, derivation. Proof of authenticity or of past ownership. Used of art works and antiques.
Ululate – to howl, wail, or lament loudly
Vamp - A woman who uses her sex appeal to entrap and exploit men;Also, verb – To practice seductive wiles on…;The upper part of a boot or shoe covering the instep and sometimes extending over the toe ; Something patched up or refurbished; A short introductory musical passage often repeated several times before a solo or between verses. Often an improvised accompaniment; To invent, fabricate, improvise

Great Words! I had a particularly difficult time selecting this week’s Word of the Week; they were all great finds! Also, props to Greg for using his word in a sentence! As it had to be, this difficult decision has been made, and the outcome is immutable.

This week’s Word of the Week is:

Malapropism

• This word is derived from the French "mal a propose" meaning "ill to purpose," and further from the English word, "malapropos," meaning "inappropriately"
• The term itself comes from the character, Mrs. Malaprop who was noted for her misuse of words, in R.B. Sheridan's 1775 comedy The Rivals. An example of Mrs. Malaprop’s malapropisms: "He is the very pineapple of politeness" (she meant "pinnacle").
• The professor’s constant malapropisms caused snickering among the students who placed word usage in high regard.

This word is illustrative of the neurotic thoughts and fears that plague me each and every time I open my mouth. Am I using the right word? Does this word mean what I think it means? Like just now, before I used the word "neurotic" I fretted over it. And that is precisely why the Word Box is so great! We are working to eliminate the Mrs. Malaprop in all of us! Well done, fishfrog. Well done.

Riddle me this

What occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August?

This blog brought to you by "Thougthful Thursdays"

I Got Nothin'

I need a topic idea for a paper I'm writing. To be more accurate, I need topic ideas for a paper I should have started a week ago. One of my classes this semester is "contemporary educational issues," and we need to write a position paper on a topic facing education today. Most of my class is either doing No Child Left Behind/Standerdized Testing or inclusion. I want to do neither of those things. Unfortunately, I do not have anything that I want to do. This is suprising since I normally have a position on everything wheter I'm well schooled in the topic or not. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

Some ideas:
-Free speech in schools (see, all that law school talk comes in handy!).
-School suspenstion - does it work, is it overused?
-Bilingual Education - tres good

blah! all of these topics sound so boring! ugh. lame.

How the Elephant Lost its Tusks

Last night as Scarlet Panda, Anti-blog, Leo, and I headed to the Brovis’ house the conversation naturally turned to elephants. I mentioned that I’d seen a discovery show about these massive creatures and the phenomenon sweeping the African Savannah. "Elephants are now being born w/o tusks", I said, "as an evolutionary survival tool against poaching." Anti-blog had seen this too, but neither of us could remember the specifics, and all our interests were peaked.

There are currently three recognized species of elephants, the Asian, Savannah and Forest Elephants (these latter two are collectively known as African Elephants and will be referred to as such in this blog). All types of elephants have tusks, but the Asian Elephant has smaller tusks and the ladies often don’t have tusks at all. There is, however, an absent-tusk gene. Once a rare abnormality, this gene is becoming more prevalent.

As most of you know, African Elephants have long been poached/hunted for their tusks. Because the poachers only killed Elephants with tusks, a natural selection began to occur and we’ve seen a sharp rise in elephants being born with out tusks. Less tusked elephants with which to mate, meant one had to mate with elephants w/ no tusks, thus creating more availability for the tuskless gene to flourish. Today, more and more elephants are born with this tusk-less gene (30% in some elephant populations). This has been an evolutionary process that would normally take thousands of years, but for some reason it is happening rapidly in these elephant populations.

When I first heard about his on the discovery program, I thought it was pretty cool- quick thinking evolution at it’s best, but that is mainly because I saw no point to the tusks anyway. Upon further reading, however, it appears that tusks do serve a purpose – who knew?! Apparently, elephants use their tusks to dig for water (pretty important in the dessert!) and minerals, remove rind from trees, and move large trees and branches.

Hopefully Mother Nature knows what she is doing, and the elephants will get along swimmingly without their tusks. I’m sure I’ll get some comments saying "let the elephants die- what do they do besides remember stuff anyway," so I thought I’d head that off from the start by telling how they are a benefit to the environment around them.

• Elephants pull down trees, break branches and pull out roots (to eat) and in doing so, they create clearings for new trees and vegetation to grow, thus providing future nutrition for elephants and other organisms.
• Elephants tromp through their environment creating natural roads for other animals to use, allowing them access places they might not be able to get otherwise.
• Elephants dig for water in the dry seasons, this createds access to the underground water source for many animals.
  

Thank you wikipedia for so much useful information!

Word Box Nov 16- Nov. 21

Back by popular demand! You all know the drill, and if you don't then you need to read my blog more often. The word Box will be open until Monday morning, November 21st. Hopefully this will not cause too much marital disharmony or too many conspiricy theories. Happy Wording!

This blog post brought to you by "wordy wednesdays"

My Ellen Haiku

Everyday I watch
Delight and gleeful laughter
Ellen brings me joy

This blog haiku brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

This Day in History

This day in history....

• Articles of Confederation Adopted
• The March to the Sea Begins
• Elvis' first film debuts
• A Tale of Two Cities (final installment) is published
• And finally, the most noteworthy "this day in history,"...MATT WAS BORN!!!

Happy Birthday Matt!

this blog brought to you, in large part, by the " history channel"

Movie Quote Winner! Nov. 14

Anonymous Greg is indeed the lucky winner! Clue is correct!

Clue is one of the best movies ever! If you haven't seen it, I suggest waiting for a dark and stormy night as that is the best time to watch it.

I am freezing!!

I'm currently at work shivering in my office, typing with near frost-bitten fingers, and wearing a hat knitted by some old ladies who donate hats for our organization to auction. There is a strong possiblity that, not only is the heat not on, but that cold air is being pumped through the building. This - this is not acceptable and I am feeling neither warm nor fuzzy.

Rain Rain Go Away!

it's raining it's pouring
the old man is snoring
he went to bed
and bumped his head
and couldn't get up in the morning


This was a rain jingle from my childhood. What on earth does it mean? Who is this old man, anyway?

Movie Quote Game Nov. 14

It is time once again for....


The Movie Quote Game!!!


Don't contain you excitement - let it all out!
In what movie would you find this quote?:

Person(s) 1: Let us in! Let us in!
Person(s) 2: Let us out! Let us out!

This blog brought to you by "Monday Movies"

Quiz- What Book Are You?

Find out what book you are here.

I am:

Watership Down!by Richard AdamsThough many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

I Love the Arch

View of Arch

The Monkey Reference

The appearance of FishFrog's monkey postings (here and here) have given me the opportunity to share with you the phenomenom of the Monkey Reference. Although not scientficially proven (yet), I find that this theory holds up in my life, and I think you will too.

Each day you will have a monkey reference. You will either see a monkey (or picture of), read a monkey word, or hear a monkey refernce. "Monkey" applies to any type monkey whether it be a gorrilla, a chimp, Curious George, a monkey wrench or the monkey pox. If you see/hear/read it - it's a reference. Sure, laugh-- I can hear you now, but trust me when I say, "It will come to pass." Just wait for it.

For those of you saying you haven't had a monkey reference for days, I ask you: do you read Fish Frog Monkey Man? His blog name alone is a reference! It's not that the references aren't there; it's that you are not paying attention!

I get a lot of critisim for this claim, but I don't mind because if I change the life of just one person then I've done my duty. You'll see -- monkey's are everywhere!

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Last week, the Senate passed a budget bill with a provision to drill in the Artic Wildlife Refuge. The vote was 52-47. This past week, the bill went to the House were moderate Republicans took a stand and refused to pass the bill with the provision tacked on! They also removed plans in the budget to allow states to authorize a lift on a drilling moratorium and allow oil and gas drilling in the Altantic and Pacific coasts. Go moderate GOPs!

So, what happens now? Well, the bill will have to be revamped, and hopefully the final bill will not include allowences to drill. This is not set in stone, however, becuase several conservative Repulicans say they will not pass the bill unless drilling is allowed. I think it is also important to note that the majority of the public is opposed to drilling in the artic refuge, according to a results released last Feburary from a poll on the matter: 53% said no to drilling, 38% said yes. Read about it here. If keeping the the Artic National Wildlife Refuge free from drilling is important to you, here is something you can do to help.

What (some) proponants to drilling say:

• solve the energy crisis/not dependent on foreign oil
• save money at the pump
• won't really hurt the environment
• won't effect any people

What (some) opponants say:

• Once drilling starts, it will be 10-15 years before we see oil and we'll have only 6month supply
• "It is expected that the price of ANWR coastal plain production might reduce world oil prices by as much as 30 to 50 cents per barrel... Assuming that world oil markets continue to work as they do today, the OPEC could countermand any potential price impact of ANWR coastal plain production by reducing its exports by an equal amount." -Energy Information Agency
• Go here to see how animals could be impacted. Go here to see what happend to Prudhoe Bay, a once pristine wilderness area that became a drill spot.
• Won't effect any people? Tell that to the Gwich'in People who depend on the at risk caribou for survival.

To learn more about this issue, go to:

• Artic National Wildlife Refuge. If you click here, you will see several great links.
• Save Artic Refuge - these pages are extremely informative from Defenders of Wildlife, a great organization.
• Alaska Wildlife League
• ANWR.org - find out what porponants say

This Blog has been brought to you by "Earth Friendly Fridays"

Word of the Week Nov. 7-10

Cineaste - a movie enthusiast or a person involved in filmmaking
Illustrative - acting or serving as an illistration
Ensorcellment - (noun) enchanter, bewhitcher
Luddite - one who opposes technical or technological change. Most specifically, any of group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery in a belief that such amchinery would dimish employment.


Wow - Great words this week! I don't hardly know how to pick because I love them all! But pick I will.

The word of the week is:

luddite

• Luddite can be used as a noun or an adjective.
• The word's orgins might be from Ned Ludd who was an 18th century Leicestershire workman who destroyed machinary.
• When Henry walked into the office, he saw that a luddite had been there. All the computers had been smashed and put in trashcans; only pen and paper sat in their place.

Colorado Teacher Saleries

Most states currently use an experience and education "step" system to determine teacher salery. So, if you are a new teacher you might make $25, 000 in year one; in year two you might go up to $26,000. Additionally, different levels of education have different staircases. Basically, you are paid based on experience and education level. Unless someone really messes up, most teachers are garuanteed to move up the steps of their staircase w/o obstical. Colorado, however, just passed an annual tax increase that changes the way teacher's are paid. Now in Colorado, teacher's saleries are based on student preformance. Teachers are also given salery incentives to teach in poorer areas, are evaluated by their principals, and education and experience still come into the mix -with more emphasis on education level than experience. read here.

So, which is better? Well, at first glance the Colorado system seems pretty cool. Other job saleries are preformance based, so why not teaching? The answer is - it should be, but.... It should be based on the teacher's preformance: Is she engaging her students? Is she furthering her knowlege through practical education? And, yes, are her students learning? ...but I disagree that how good a teacher is can be measured by a standerdized test scores.

This system will put too much emphasis on the bottom line, and that doesn't work with education. Measurement is done using standradized test scores. In my opinion, too much emphasis is already being put on standradized tests. I do not think they accurately measure learning, but only measure test taking ability. When used correctly, as one of many measurement tools to get a larger picture, they are fine. It is when they become the classrom (thank you NCLB) that they become an impedement to learning. With learning, how you get to the answer is as important, if not more, than the answer you get -this is something that the standardized test proponants don't seem to understand.

Additionally, even if taught by the same teacher, not all children will preform the same. Not all test takers are at the same starting point and so cannot and should not be at the same ending point by the end of the year. Examples: students with disabilities, low economic students, at risk students. Note: The incentive for teaching in a poorer area is $1000 annually. For the sake of arugument, let's say saleries have the can go up $1000/year if achievement is met. Basically, teachers in the at risk areas are given one freebie year to catch their kids up, but after that there is no real incentive. If their classrooms continue not to "acheive," the teacher saleries will lag behind those in non-at-risk areas. That being the case, who will want to teach those kids? Even fewer than those who do now.

No doubt the current system has pitfalls. For instance, you may have a teacher who has been around for ever, but is doing a medocre job or "phoning it in," but is collecting big bucks. Meanwhile, you might have a fresh young teacher who is full of energy and ideas that she can implement in the classroom. Even with these pitfalls, however, I still think this system is better than Colorado's new system.

What do you think?

This blog brought to you by "Thougtful Thursdays"

Do Your Prepositions Dangle?

We all know that prepositions shouldn't dangle, but it's a difficult rule to follow through with. First of all, not every knows their prepositions without looking them up. And I, for one, do not carry around a grammar rule book to look in. I often say something and realize my preposition is dangling after. What I need is an easy cheat sheet to look at.

Hopefully you realized something was very wrong with the above paragraph, but if you didn't, you may not be alone. This is becuase just about everyone ends their sentances with prepesitions, thus leaving the prepostions dangling helplessly. In fact, when people make sure thier prepositions are set firmly within the sentance, they may be called out as being pretenious or having odd speech. TV, Movies, Classrooms, and offices are riddled with people speaking and writing with dangling prepositions. Not ending your sentances with a prepostion is a grammar rule that seems to be falling by the waste side, and I'm not going to stand for it any more! I challenge each of you, along with myself, to be mindful of your preposition placement as you speak and write.

Below is a rewording of the paragraph above to make it correct and list of prepositions. Keeping your prepositions from dangling is as easy as rearanging a sentance and/or adding the word "which" after the preposition so it makes sense. Other times you'll find that the preposition was entirely unecessary or that your sentance is was pretty poor to begin with and you are better off to reword it entirely.

We all know that prepositions shouldn't dangle, but it is a difficult rule to follow. First of all, not every one knows their prepositions without looking them up in a book. And I, for one, do not carry around a grammar rule book in which to look. I often say something and realize afterwards that the preoposition is dangling. What I need is an easy cheat sheet at which I can look.

Prepositions:
about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at
before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but (when it means except), by
concerning
down, during
except
for, from
in, into
like
of, off, on, over
past
since
through, throughout, to, toward(s)
under, underneath, unto, up, upon
with, within, without

This blog post brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

TV...the stuff of dreams....

TV brings me much delight, and sometimes it brings me something to dream about. When I was a child, if I could not get to sleep I would draw an imaginary TV (complete with dials) in the air, and I would "flip" stations until I found a show I wanted to watch. I would then watch the imaginary TV until I fell asleep. It was way cooler than counting stupid sheep.

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

New Look!

Hello friends and lurkers! You may notice a new look to my blog. This is becuase I've been growing increasingly frustrated with my last template. The fonts were either too big or too small and there was not enough clear division between each post for my liking. So, here we are!

Another change you will notice is that each day will have a different theme for at least one post (if I post at all that day). I will also continue to post random stuff as I see fit.
Lineup:
Movie Mondays - here we will have the interactive movie quote game, blogs about movies, actors, etc.
TV Tuesdays - this will be where I talk about the wonderful world of television.
Wordy Wednesdays - here we will have the word box and other fun word stuff or book talk.
Thoughtful Thursdays - things to ponder, quotes to remember, etc.
Earth Friendly Fridays - each Friday we'll either learn about something we can do to help the earth or discuss an enviornmental hot topic.

This week we will phase in this new schedule, but as you know, the word box is already open and will stay open until Thursday this week.

Happy blogging!

They Might Be Giants ask a Tough Question

The song, Snail Shell, brings up a important question we must all ask are selves - would you put a snail where he has to be?

As I read Matt's story about the cat on the side of the road I became at once depressed & angry (that Matt could not help the animal) and hopeful (that the ladies could and did). If put in a similar situation how would you have reacted?

Do you feel it is one's duty to act to help those who cannot help themselves, and if so, what lengths should one go to before giving up? Do you have different standards for different classes of those that need help (such as wealth v. poor; animal v. human; child v. adult; etc...)

Word Box Nov 7-Nov 10

I'm sure you have all been putting cool words in your pocket for the time when there would be another word box to put them in. Well-- the time is now! The word box will close sometime on Thursday, Nov 10th. Happy Wording!

Movie Quote Winner!

This answer was guessed by Matt . Congratulations! Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead was a classic among my friends. Apparently, it only tugged on the heartstrings of people in 8th grade when the movie came out.

(the two stars from Sports Night were Josh Charles and Jayne Brook

Tune in soon for another quote!

Class instead of going to the Box Factory today we'll be going to the.... Box Factory!

Very often I pass by the Box Factory on my way home from work, and I am always reminded of the Simpson's episode where they go on a field trip to the box factory. Ahh...boxes.

Children and Nature

When I was a sophomore in college, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Martin Luther King School in Berkely, CA in their Edible School Yard. If you clicked on the link, you read how cool it is and what a great way it is to teach kids about nutrition, the land, and the importance of the environment  It also fosters their creativity, lets them get their hands dirty, and gives them ownership of the project. While I was there, the kids made artichoke hearts in a bed shaped as a heart, created a pathway out of bricks, composted their own soil, and built a shaded outdoor seating area so they could have lessons with the gardener  Not only did they learn how to grow food, but they also were taken into the kitchen and taught how to prepare nutrition meals. I was so impressed by this program, so I thought I would share it. I started looking for something like that here in St. Louis. Because the midwest is a bit colder during the traditional school year than California, we do not have as much opportunity for programs such as this to be integrated into curricula, but there is some. The Green Center, for instance, has a vegetable garden project with six the U. City Schools. Between work and school I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, although I have volunteered with the Green Center for some of their other projects and they do a lot of cool stuff.

I also just recently started this extremely interesting book called, Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. The book discusses the devastating trend of children being inside and being cut off from nature. He discusses some of the many advantages to being outside and experiencing green space -- In one chapter, he focuses on the making of tree houses and how much a child learns about physics, mechanics, and general common sense from the experience - things that shouldn't necessarily be, or possibly cannot be, learned in a classroom. Anyway, I'm not finished with the book, and I'm sure I will have more to say on the subject once I'm done. In the meantime, I encourage any one who has kids, or is planning to have kids, to check out this book. It would also be nice to discuss the book and see what you all think.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he
finds it attached to the rest of the world." --John Muir

Word of the Week

Thanks to everyone who contributed a word to the word box. This is what we have:

cummerbund
flabergasted
immutable
substantive
sloganeering
fecund

also, a great list from Karli - check out her word list here.

I like the last four words the best, so let's take a look, shall we?

• The Washrambler took an immutable position that when left on the vine to ripen, green peppers will become red peppers and it paid off.
• The Scarlet Panda has yet to provide substantive proof that she is in fact not a red panda in disguise.
• Nell would be a great sloganeer and should run Scarlet Panda's Campaign. The Campaign is in need of something to divert attention from the FishFrog Scandel.
• Matt appreicates David Lynch's fecund imagination as it is displayed through films and other creative works.

And the WINNER is:

immutable -unchanging, unchangable

Movie Quote Winner!

Today's quote was guessed by our own Scarlet Panda. Congratulations! Better Off Dead is indeed one of the best movies ever.

Feeling blue that you didn't guess the quote first? Never fear, I watch a lot of movies and have plenty of quotes floating around in my head at any given moment. Today you get a second bunus quote!

Today's 2nd Movie Quote:
I'm on top of it, Rose.

Welcome to the Movie Quote Game!!!

As frequently as is fun for me, I will post a movie quote and you can guess the movie. Your reward is knowing that you were the first to correctly guess the movie. Lord it over your friends as you see fit. If no one seems to know the answer, I'll post a hint. Bonus points if you can tell me who said it or the context of the quote.

The only rules are: 1.you may not look up the quote-- you have to guess! and 2. I will only quote movies I've seen. (for some that could help, for others it will be of no help).

Today's Movie Quote:
Go that way, really fast; if something gets in your way . . . turn.

David Lynch

In a coment on an earlier post, FishFrog said "David Lynch doesn't strike me as the friendly type." This is my response.

I was introduced to the world of David Lynch through the wonderful show Twin Peaks. This was a David Lynch and Mark Frost creation, and it took viewers to a small sleepy town that was filled with secrets. The characters were kooky and the melodrama was purposeful. It is a great show and each year in the Snoqualmie Valley a Twin Peaks Festival is held. I've gotten to go the last two years in a row and it is awesome. Former stars from the show come out, and both years I've attended, David Lynch's daughter, Jennifer Lynch, has come. Everyone there speaks with such fondness for Mr. Lynch and all the stories I have heard have left me with an impression that he is brilliant and almost childlike in his delight.

My favorite Lynch creations include aforementioned Twin Peaks (TV), Elephant Man, Straight Story, and Erasurehead.

Many people find Lynch's work to be too dark or too confusing to be enjoyable. I myself must admit that am less fond what could be considered his darker work, but his use of imagery and atomoshphere provides viewers with an experience, not just a story. To enjoy it, you have let go the idea that you can find every last hidden meaning or catch every bit of symbolism. David Lynch tells a different kind of story, one that can not be summed up in 50 words or less, and I think that is pretty cool.

I leave you with a David Lynch Quote I got from The City Of Abusurdity:

"You may say that people look for meaning in everything, but they don't. They've got life going on around them, but they don't look for meaning there. They look for meaning when they go to a movie. I don't know why people expect art to make sense when they accept the fact that life doesn't make sense." David Lynch

Ten things that bring me Joy

seeing friend after a long while and feeling like it was just yesterday

noticing how awesome the moon looks

singing in the car

missoula

my pets

mountains

playing 500

the constellation orion

the jolt of "yay!" I get when someone unexpected, but hoped for, calls

The Perfect S'more

I learned the following "recipe" from my good friend Brandoliya back in college. It opened a whole new world of S'mores to me, so I thought I would share in case anyone was headed out to that last camping trip before the weather turns too cold.

To make the Perfect S'mores you need:
Marshmallows (large)
Chocolate
Graham Crackers
A roasting stick (plus some kind of knife to widdle your stick the way you like)
A rock, or other hard surface to set next to the campfire
A Campfire

Now, the key to the Perfect S'more is patience - It's all about slow cooking.

Lay the rock next to the fire and place your bottom graham cracker on it with a small piece of chocolate, thus allowing the chocolate to melt a little. It may be necessary to rotate occasionally your chocolate & cracker so the heat is evenly distributed. As you are doing this, pierce your marshmallow with your stick and slowly roast it on the coals of your fire. It is very important that you do not try to roast over the flames-- you need the low heat of the coals. Once your marshmallow is completely browned, your chocolate should be nice and soft. Simply place the marshmallow on the graham and chocolate bottom and top it off with another graham cracker. Give the marshmallow and chocolate a moment to mingle, then enjoy. YUM!

Believe me, it is worth the wait and you will never again say, "I don't really like S'mores that much."

Word Box

When I observed a 7th grade class this past month, I was introduced to a pretty cool way to learn vocabulary. Each day during "free read," if a kid comes across a word that she doesn't know, she can come up to the board and write it in the "word box." Then, after free read, the class examines the word, reading it in context, and working together to figure out the meaning, sometimes with the help of a dictionary. It's pretty cool. Anyway, it got me thinking - we should all try to expand our vocabulary daily. Sure, I have the "word of the day" on my e-mail, but I don't pay any real attention to them because unlike this, it's just not fun.

I invite you all to add to our word box (comment section) if you come across an intersting word. Maybe you like how it sounds, or it keeps popping up in your law readings, or you heard it on NPR or SpongeBobSquarePants. If you know the meaning of a word in the box, feel free to tell us. On Friday we will pick, or more accuratly - I will pick, the best word and that will be our word of the week.

I leave you with my favorite word of all time: "sprawling." Why do I love it so? Because it sounds exactly as it means. It's just cool like that. In case you were wondering, my second favorite word is "cumbersome."

The Great Pepper Debate

The other night, I was at our friendly neighborhood Blackthorn eating pizza with my buds. We ordered a delicious green pepper, tomato, and garlic pizza thus spawning a discussion about bell peppers. We all agreed that red peppers pretty much rule over green peppers in the taste department. What we couldn't agree on was where green peppers end up when they mature. He who prefers to remain nameless (we'll call him Y.) said that green peppers were merely immature red peppers and if given the opportunity, would become the tastey red peppers that we all know and love. Scarlet Panda, Superelectirc, and I thought this was ridiculous because while both are bell peppers, they are completely different. So convinced that he was right, Y. bet me $5.oo and said I could blog about it.

Since that fatefull night, I've done some research. Preliminary findings indicate that Y is correct: Green bell peppers are simply immature red peppers. On the vine, they can ripen to yellow, orange, purple, and ultimately will ripen to red peppers. Red peppers have higher levels of nutrients such as vitiman A, C, and Calcium than their non-red counterparts.

Unless someone can provide evidence to the contrary, it looks as though I am out 5 bucks and my dignity. Faced with little alternative, I am willing to admit I'm wrong, but I would like to bring Scarlet Panda and Superelectric down with me.

Happy Birthday to the Arch!

Our beautiful Gateway Arch turns 40 today. The arch is the tallest monument in the US at an impressive height of 630 feet. If you haven't had the chance to go to the top, I highly suggest your getting off your duff and doing so. If you are feeling too clausterphobic to ride the small elevator, you might go outside on the grass and lay underneath the swaying Arch - it's a pretty cool sight to behold.

You should also take a peek at the museum inside the bottom of the arch-- it is jam packed of historical insight to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Ghost or Creepy Imaginary Friend- you make the call

Halloween for me is more than just one day a year. I love the turning leaves, the pumpkins, and cute black cats and witches. My celebrations started last Saturday when I hung out with my friend Frog and her daughter Tadpole. We went to a Halloween celebration on her mainstreet and Tadpole got to go trick-or-treating in her cute litte princess outfit. The night was suppossed to end with Tadpole going to bed and Frog and I carving pumpkins while watching scary movies. Well, Tadpole had other ideas, and ended up freaking me out more than any stupid movie could hope to do.

I was sitting on one end of the couch, and Tadpole was standing facing the other end when she got this weird look on her face and started to wave. She waved at what? Nothing that I could see. Then she mentioned a "man" (she is 2 1/2 and sometimes hard to understand). I mentioned this to Frog and she told me that Tadpole has been talking about this "man" more and more. Frog will find Tadpole talking to her baby doll saying "it's okay, it's okay." When asked what's wrong with baby doll Tadpole replies, "The man scared her." Frog says conversations like this have been becoming more regular. Frog informed me that usually the "man" is in Tadpole's room, so when she asked me if I wanted to go in her room, I said, "No, Tadpole, I do not want to go in your room." Child freaked me out!

Now, I realize in and of itself this is not much to blog about, or to be freaked out about, but there is more. Oh yes, there is more. First, some backround. Even when Tadpole was very young, she would wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares about a scarey man. Another night, Frog was sitting in her living room and saw the shadow of a man, she thought someone was on her porch, so she entered her bedroom to tell Mr. Frog and the shadow followed her into her room and then vanished! No, it was not Frog's own shadow - I asked. Something seems to be going on.

Let's get back to this past weekend. The next day, Tadpole was eating her lunch and she got this "weird" look on her face. This is what transpired:

Frog: Tadpole- what are you looking at?
Tadpole: The Man
Frog: No, Manda when home yesterday (Tadpole calls me "mana")
Tadpole: Not Mana, The MAN (getting a little upset)
Frog: T-man? (their cat). He's in the other room.
Tadpole: NO! THE MAN (really upset now).
Now, Frog did not want to encourage this or put ideas in Tadpole's head, but she was curious to figure out what Tadpole was talking about.

Frog: Does the man talk to you?
Tadpole: No
Frog: Is he nice?
Tadpole: YeahFrog: Does he talk to you?
Tadpole: NoFrog: Where is he now?
Tadpole: Behind you.

Creepy! So, Frog told Tadpole to tell the Man it's okay and he should go to heaven. That is exactly what she did. I have not heard if the Man has made anymore appearences, but I will keep you posted.
Happy Halloween!