Monthly Archives: February 2012

Not to mention attracting wildlife.

Red Headed Menace: It was a really interesting exhibit on water usage. Did you know some large percentage of water in this county goes for landscaping? When people could set up systems using captured rains…Me: Wait, what??!?!?!RHM: What’s wrong?Me: Oh, … Continue reading

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What is so very very wrong with this picture?

Chris Brown performed at the Grammys tonight.  The local newscast reported that it was the first time he had been at the Grammys since he dropped out of the 2009 show. Funny.  They did not mention why he had dropped … Continue reading

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Pretty and beautiful.

Taylor Swift is pretty.  Very pretty.  Very pretty in a traditional Hollywood way.  And she sings very well.  She is fresh, and pretty, and her music — the admittedly small amount I’ve heard of it — is full of energy. … Continue reading

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Hey, want to impress your loved ones — or your loved one’s coworkers — this Valentine’s Day? Don’t buy chocolate truffles, make them.  This Martha Stewart recipe is a good starting point.*  (There are more difficult recipes out there — … Continue reading

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At some point, did they stop teaching civics in schools?

So, Rick Santorum wants to overturn any decision the Supreme Court makes declaring bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Mr. Santorum, you can’t do that.  The Supreme Court gets to decide what’s constitutional, you do not.  Now, you can drag your … Continue reading

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What’s next? Chutes and Ladders? Twister?

During the Superbowl, NBC showed an ad for the upcoming Battleship movie.  This led to a discussion in my Facebook* about what board game might next be adapted for the screen.  I was proud of my suggestion of “Candyland,” deeming … Continue reading

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Knock-Knock. Who’s there? Go away.

Yesterday, I spent the day running around looking for items for a party we were throwing at the house for the Resident Shrink’s birthday, and driving to Casa da Fruta to get the specific type of glazed apricots covered in … Continue reading

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Mother God

In her blog, Rachel Held Evans reports on a call by John Piper, evangelical pastor, to preserve “masculine Christianity.” …God has given Christianity a masculine feel. And being God, a God of love, He has done that for our maximum … Continue reading

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Visioning music.

There is no day so bad that Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring” will not make it better. I close my eyes, and I am back east, in the Smokies.  I can see the light leaves on the maples and birches budding … Continue reading

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Did you know that "earworm" is the literal translation of the German "ohrwurm"? Now you do!

At any given time, I don’t really get an earworm.  I get earworms, plural.  All too often, one tune will chase another around my head like squirrels around a tree. Sometimes, it starts with something I hear, which for melodic, … Continue reading

Posted in Culture (popular and otherwise), Music | 3 Comments

Note to self.

Two mugs of coffee plus a Venti Salted Carmel Mocha would be enough to give anyone the shakes, let alone someone who has some tremors to begin with.  What you gain in pure speed in typing (and clarity of thought) … Continue reading

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That’s my boy.

At school, The Red-Headed Menace was asked to describe his personality. He termed himself as being, among other things, “quixotic.” Just like his mom.**On the whole, he did a good job of describing himself, which if nothing else shows self-awareness.

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Closets — and attics — can be lonely places.

In his talk at Stanford, Judge Alex Kozinski decried the extent to which so many of us live our lives in public these days.  We have lost a sense of what it means to be private, he mourned. As examples, … Continue reading

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Covering myself.

I am sitting in my favorite Starbucks, with Joni Mitchell playing in the background, trying to say good things about myself.  It’s very hard.  I have finally gotten the hang of tweaking my resume for individual openings.  It’s this cover … Continue reading

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New word to hate.

At the privacy symposium I went to, I heard a word I had never heard before.  It goes on my list of words I absolutely detest for aesthetic reasons, along with polyamory and gifted (as a verb).  That word is … Continue reading

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