HELPFUL NOTES FOR MY BIOGRAPHER

Hello distingusihed biographer from the future.
(At least I hope you're distinguished. I'd much rather have a respected scholarly-type biographer than a rich and famous one that is all fluffy nothing-ness).

I am honored that you have decided to write about me and are reading through my blog to get more information on my pre-famous years. (Primary research is so much fun! )

As you start organizing material, and working on the outline for this best selling book you're about to write (about me me me!) I thought you might like to know that I'm starting a new era of my life right about now.


I know this because my favorite candy bar has changed.
Stop laughing - this is the kind of deep historical insight that is going to really boost your career, I'm helping you out here!

You see, in college I was very a 3 Muskateers kind of candy bar person. When I was teaching, Snickers was the chocolate of choice. Twix was my grad school candy bar, and right now I'm entering the Milky Way phase.

Fell free to expound upon this in the book. Maybe you could title each chapter after a candy bar and get some sort of product endorement money from the candy industry !


Milky Way is so good - - chocolate and carmey that instantly mushes together into a lovely goopy glop inside your mouth. Yummy! I don't yet know what the rest of this ear is going to bring (because it's just started). But I sense good things ahead in the Milky Way years. (Maybe this is the phase when I get famous??!!!)

Twix was a medium-difficult era. I think that lots of my growing-up-ness happened in the Twix years. I also learned a lot about true collaboration (which, in a symbolic way, matches up with Twix philosophy of having 2 candy bars in a package - it makes it much easier to share with your partner. And we all know that sharing chocolate is they way to really build a team!)

Snickers was the official candy bar of the West Des Moines Community School Orchestra program. (And not the little "fun sized" Snickers bars - we only had the normal, regular sized bars!) A certain Mr. B tried once to make mini M&M's the official candy - but everyone knows if you give mini m&m's to 5th and 6th graders, you're going to have lots of stepped on mini m&m's to clean up when they leave. (What a mess!)

3 Muskateers is probably an immoral part of my life. You see, the vender machine in the basement of my dorm was a little bit broken; If one pushed the 3 Muskateers button twice, you got two Muskateers bars for the prince of one (I learned this quite by accident, but used it to my advantage everytime I needed a chocolate fix!)

YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE A GOOD DAY WHEN . . .

. . . It's just barely cool enough out to wear a favorite wool sweater. (It'll be to warm to wear it this afternoon, but this morning is a little bit chilly!)

. . . There are no meetings and I can wear jeans with the favorite wool sweater!

. . . Tan Dun and Yo-yo Ma are the featured geatrues on The Composers Datebook. (Tan Dun wrote Symphony 1997 which is the most awesome syphomy in the whole wide world!)

. . . The office smells absolutely wonderful because an officemate makes apple cinnamon tea (must get me some of that stuff!)

. . . I actually make myself a lunch AND remember to bring it with me to work (as opposed to leaving it on the kitchen counter and starving all afternoon, and then wondering why I'm cranky!)

. . . There enough stuff to do at work to keep me pleasantly occupied without getting bored (I don't want to work on spreadsheets, so I call artists. I don't want to call artists, so I read curriculum. I'm tired of curriculum so I review evaluation results. Evaluation results are done, so I work on spreadsheets)

. . . The office manager decides to order a new nameplate for my cube! (My name has never ever been spelled right on a work nameplate. Never. Not once. I don't worry too much about it because people always spell my name wrong, and it makes it easier to hide from government spies. BUT the VE office manager decided I needed my name spelled correctly and ordered a new one!) I feel so loved!


Yes, it's the little things.
It's going to be a great day!

LOST AND FOUND



Lost is good. If you’re lost, you should just give over to it. You can’t be found if you’re never lost. Lose big. The biggest losses find the most. And as good as it is to be lost, being found is the best.

I deliberately lost a minor conflict with someone and found that losing gracefully beats winning needlessly. I lost sleep last night to a restless munchkin and my own insomnia, but found new levels patience today. I’m still lost in Bach where I find new treasures in every measure. Read the Full Post over at Divertimenti

WHAT ABOUT ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL?
MATH CLUB?
PLAY PRACTICE?

The Govenor of Georgia used executive power to cancel school yesterday and today
The thought process = gas is expenseive and by taking two days off school, we can save money on transportation when the prices peak.

Lovely.
Classes are canceled. Football practice however, will go on as scheduled

(Because football practice is obviously more important than literature, band, calculus, history, or the arts).

INSPIRE ME
- for the kindred spirit!
by Libby Roderick from if you See A Dream

Everybody needs someone to show them what is possible
Everybody needs someone to go as far as she can see
I need to stand up on the shoulders of giants
I need a woman who’s as big as me.

When I was a little bitty baby sitting on momma‘s knee
Looked around to see just what the future had in store for me
Needed to see women who were living without limits
I needed to see women making history

Chorus
So I say
Give me a woman who can climb the tallest mountain
Give me a woman who can swim across the widest sea
Women need women who lead lives of boldest daring
Tell me the story they inspire me.

Give me Amelia who went soaring across the ocean
Winnie Mandela who is going to set her people free
Judy Chicago who breaks all artistic silences
These women leave a precious legacy

When I was a young teenager reading my Seventeen
Looked around to see just what the future had in store for me
Women in the fashion mags were too small for my dream
I needed a woman just as big as me

Chorus

I know of women
All across the nation
Leading lives of courage in the face of fear and poverty
One lives in a decent home, one raises her five children
Women need a new mythology

Now that I’m a grown up woman living in society
I still look around to see just what the future holds for me
I still need woman who are shooting like comets
So I can be my own starlight in this galaxy.

Chorus


No chords yet -- but I'll work on it. If anyone wants to race me, here's the original (for a very limited time!)

CLASSICALLY LAME
classical training doesn't necessarily make nonclassical music better. It merely means that a pop musician has better technical control of his instrument than most of his peers, though not as much as a true classical musician.

Furthermore, technique and pedagogical accomplishment don't necessarily make good music. It's Alicia Keys' overall creativity and musicality—more than her classical-piano chops—that sell her records. Bill Melin, a professor of music at Lafayette College, claims that some of the worst students in his electronic music class had "years of classical training" but were very limited in their ability to stretch beyond their experience. This was especially true of the pianists, who had very rigid ideas about what "music" is.

Full Article

AGH!

Yeah . . . so last night's Girl Scout meeting did not go well.
My co-leader is threatening to quit
And if she leaves, I'm all alone with two troops

GSUSA Rule # 748 - There must be two registered adults for every troop

We've been double dipping on the two adults rule. Jennifer takes the older girls and has a meeting on the south side of the room, while I simotaneously run a brownie meeting on the north side of the room - Viola! Two adults and two troops!

But one adult = no troops.

Jennifer is not the first - - this troop has gone through something like 13 volunteers in the last 15 months. (Jennifer lasted 5 months - so she done did better than most!)

I can so deal with the lack of money (it lends itself to creativity) and will happily work with "underserved" girls. I love having an excuse to be a little bit weird and break out of the GS stereotype. This is a great group of kids who just crave positive adult attention. But the grown-ups of the world are failing them!

Anger . . . no this is way beyond anger
I need a stronger nastier word - something that includes sadness and disappointment.
I need a word that would make a difference and fix the problems.

Anger won't do it.

LITTLE MISS MATCHED

Are your socks disappearing in the wash? Tired of the same boring pairs of matching socks? Help is on the way at littlemismatched.com! LittleMissMatched only sells mismatched socks, and only in odd numbered pairs!
This is exactly what I need!!

Via MonkeyOfSock.com

WOUDDA, COUDDA, SHOUDDA

Yesterday, I was going to write a post titled "Shameless Name Dropping"
I would have written about the famous person I got to met/work with
But I decided that it wasn't important
And I hate name droppers

Today, I was going to go to the Rennisance Festival
But the friend that scored the free ticekts lives in northern suburbia
And her house/neighborhood got hit hard durring Wednesday's storm
No electricity/water for at least 48 hours, and she's not much feeling like being Ressisance-y

And so . . . instead of exciting stories about hanging out with famous composers, or thrilling adventures at the Rennisance festival - - you get this.

Bummer

21st Century Learning Skills

Can someone please tell me how these 21st century "skills" differ from 20th century learning skills? Or 17th century skills? Or even 1st century skills?

1. Information & Media Literacy
2. Communication Skills
3. Problem-Solving Skills
4. Critical Thinking
5. Creative Thinking
6. Self Direction
7. Accountability and Adaptability
8. Social Responsibility


Haven't we always needed communication skills?
Haven't we always needed self direction?
When has humankind EVER not needed to be adaptable??

I think the Partnership 21st Century Learning Skills need to use a little more critical thinking (#4) in their identification of 21st century skills!

RANDOM TIRADES
I read somewhere (Maybe it was The Founding Brothers?) that Thomas Jefferson thought each generation should erase all the laws and start over again.

Not a bad idea

It would get rid of some of those silly laws that are always featured on silly radio shows.

But more than that - I'm thinking it'd just be good to start over. My governments (city, state, federal) are failing me. (and it's probably our own fault!)

*** The school board of my little town has decided to sue the city council because of disagreements over the location of the new high school building. The school board will spend at least $10,000 tax payer dollars to file/process the suit (and the city council will spend tax dollars to defend themselves against the suit).
Yeah. The folks that represent me are sueing the folks that represent me.
It's like arguing with myself! Only more expensive!
Messed up.
Local Governments - You Have Failed Me

As for the State of Minnesota - July's government shut down says it all
(And don't get me started on snow plows!) AAAAGGGGHHHHH

Nationally . . . the federal government is actually doing pretty good -comparatively! I know there has been a lot of complaints about Katrina - it's not a popular opinion, but I think the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisana dropped the ball (and continue to do so) and need to shoulder more of the responsibility (rather than blaming FEMA).

I'm feeling very disgruntled at the moment.
Why aren't the Texas evacuations working? (Why haven't they opened up both sides of the highway? Why aren't they using more mass transportation? Why can't the people in charge get it together and make things happen? Does no one have authority to change things? When will someone realize that there is a problem and TAKE the authority to change things?

From my comfortable home -- miles away from everything. It seems like people are scared to take charge and be leaders. Yes people want to win elections. People want the "boss" title but there is a huge difrerence betweem boss and leader.


***
And s long as I'm ranting and raving . . .
There use to be a time when standing up for your convictions involved standing up for something. Think Christians being fed to the lions. Think civil rights leaders being beaten to death. Think prision, or constant harassment and ridicule.
This whole Pharmacist/Birth Control Thing makes me very angry.

Instead of standing up for beliefs - whatever the consequences - they're standing up for their beliefs and demanding legal protection from the result. IT MAKES ME ANGRY!!!

Look - if you think something about your job is wrong - Fine
Quit.
Get fired
Go on a hunger strike
Get arrested
Make a bumper sticker

But all of this whimpering about "following my conscience without consequences" talk is insance!

Following your conscience always has consequences.
Grow a spine. Get a new job.


geez people . . .


OK I'm done - - except that will take great joy in voiting a lot of politicians out of office next election. And if there's a referendum to erase all the laws and start over again - I'm voting for that too!

BLOG CURSE
aka, why my blogroll is so out of date

My blogroll is cursed.
Or at the very least - it is a curser.

When I link to someone, they stop blogging, or suddenly disappear.

Don’t believe me? Just click through the blogroll – you’ll notice that more than half these folks have not updated in a million skillion years. (Most of them stopped within a few months of my linking to them - probably a conincidence, but it’s much more fun to think that I am an uncontrolled blogroll superpower!)

WHAT A GOOD LOOKING BUNCH!


Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!


Do not be deceived by this shiny happy family photo. The smiles are too sincere, and the VW children are sitting unnaturally close together.

There is too much FUN happening in this picture for it to be real!

The truth??

We are all sitting on a small rock at Minnehaha Falls - and this is the photograph that the amazing W.G. snapped a nano-second before we started pushing each other off the rock.

This is not a "happy smiley family" picture - it's five VW kids about to get violent! (And yet, it still looks "happy smiley family" enough to be a suitable anniversary present!)

BIO

I have reached the point in my career where I need a bio. This is kinda exciting (My picture and life story will be on the back of the VE education material - how cool is that?!)

Writing a 100 word blurb that is professional and flattering (without sounding inflated) is really really hard. Writing about my self in the third person - really really stange.

SAFETY FIRST OR NOT AT ALL

I have not been wearing a bicycle helmet when I ride.
First of all, they are expensive
Secondly, HELMET = DORK (unless you're wearing really tight bicycyle pants and a funky green shirt and sunglasses, and really cool cycyling gloves - THEN Bicycle helmet = part of the expensive supercool outifit!)




I'm not a bicycle racer, and thus have no bicycle racing clothes, but I knew, deep down in the back of my mind, that I needed to get a helmet - it's just the resposible, grown up thing to do. And everyone has a "they'd be dead if they weren't wearing a helmet story." And I've been a dork for most of my life; I might as well have the helmet!

Oh yeah - Helmets are on sale now (because it's the end of the season) so if I'm going to be Dorky Helmet Girl, I might as well do it for a 20% discount!

So, I went to the bicycle store and picked up a grey one just like Jon's (becuase Jon is cool - and maybe copying him will make me less of a dork - expcet copycats are always dorks . . . so never mind that part).

This morning I took the new helmet out for a spin.
All summer I've ridden (and I've ridden LOTS) without falling
But today, I have that stupid, expensive, dorky helmet on . . . and it's not quite fitting right (because your head position when standing is different from your head position when you're learning over a bicycle)

So I take off my sun glasses, and the helmet, and try to adjust the straps while I'm riding (because, why should I stop? I'm multi-tasking!)

* * * *
One of my least favorite classes in grad school was Project Management
I really hated project management
It was the biggest waste of time, money, and energy.
And then, quite to my surprise, I went and dated a project manager

When I presented my thesis, the introduction was all about how "I'm seeing this guy, who is smart, and makes good mac-and-cheese, and is not a musician, but that's ok because he went to the symphony with me didn't clap between movements. The really shocking part about this match, esp. for those of you who were forced to sit next to me in a certain two-credit general management class, is that this fella is a PROJECT MNAGER!"

(It was a very engaging intorduction - which is good because I presented just before lunch and everyone was a little tired, hungry, and bored. But they all paid attenetion through my presentation - and they laughed, which made me laugh, which made me a little less nervous because I knew that however much the facutly might beat me up - that my classmates would support me (Behold the power of Project Management Hatred and boy-talk!)

* * * *
There were quite a few good stories to come out of project management. The Project-Manager-Boyfriend (who, as you know, dumped me a few weeks after the thesis presentation) particulaily liked the story about dead bodies. But there was also the Hot Tamales Story, the Hangman story, and the big 'ole Cheating story. Project Management was a miserable class - but we certainly made the best out of it!

But those stories are stories for another day.
Today, the only thing I want to say about project managment is that Professor Project Management did not like multi-tasking. (He was also a horrible awful rotten teacher who didn't beleive in teaching us too much because one of his students might be a corporate spy trying to steal his secrets -sheesh!) Professor Project Management did not nelieve in multi-tasking. He said multi-tasking was impossible. (Of course all the multi-tasking Arts Admin. students begged to differ - but after the whole dead body thing we all laid low and didn't argue (much).

* * * *
Anyway, I was bicycling and fiddling with my helmet in a multi-tasking kind of way (because I saw no need to stop the bicycle, get off and mess with the helmet while standing.The helmet fit fine when I wasn't biking - it was learning forward over a bicycle that changed the position of my head and made it fit funny).

So Julie is fiddilng with the helmet with one hand, and steering (plus holding sunglasses, and the helmet, so I can see the straps I'm fiddling with) with the other hand. And lost my balance, tried to swerve to recover, and ended up under a very twisted bicyle in the first fall of the season.


The Ghost of Professor Project Management laughed at me - In fact i think he was in the car that drove by and honked!

I completely blame the helmet
(And I wasn't even wearing the darn thing!)

It was a spectacular fall, complete with a long skid
I have one skinned knee, and another very bloody kneee that would make any 4th grade tomboy proud
And I banged up my arm a bit (I don't knwo where, no bruises yet, but it hurts to straighten my elbow - - yowie!)

The headlight took the worst of it (which I suppose is OK because I don't like riding at night and never used the headlight)
And the shifters are a little dented
And in case you didn't catch it the first time, I completely blame the helmet

Safety first or not at all.

HOW MANY DUTCH CALVINISTS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHTBULB?

They say that if you have one Dutchman, you have a theologian;
if have two, you have a church;
and if you have three, you have a division

Market research says that my primary blog readers are angry former catholics, bitter lapsed mormons, devout lutherans, or practicing catholics - which means most of you don't get the joke. But that's ok -

Kristie will giggle
And Jon would giggle (but he never reads this site - his loss!)

The rest of you will have to pretend giggle, or buy the new CD, Hymn to Potatoes and Other Choral Masterworks. (/Shamless plug).

For Dear 'Ole Dad (who can't wait to play this for the folks at his Dutch Calvinist Church tomorrow) and anyone else that is intensely curious, here is track #4 - - up for a limited time (because you really outta go buy the CD!)

EXTENDED QUOTE

After The Souls had won the Middle School [quiz bowl] championship, Dr. Roy Clayton Rohmer [the superintendent] paid a visit to Mrs. Olinski and asked why she had chosen this team. She still did not know, but by that time the success of The Souls had made Mrs. Olinki less timid.

Dr. Rhomer had announced that he had just completed a three-day workshop on multiculturalism for ed-you-kay-toars. Mrs. Olinski had always been amused by educators who called themselves ed-you-kay-toars. So when he asked her how she had chosen the four members of her academic bowl team, Mrs. Olinski knitted her brow and answered with hushed seriousness. “In the interest of diversity,” she said, “I chose a brunette, a redhead, a blonde, and a kid with hair as black as print on paper.”

Dr. Rhomer was not amused. He gave Mrs. Olinski a capsule lecture on what multiculturalism really means.

“Oh,” she sad, “then we’re still safe, Dr. Rohmer. You can tell the taxpayers that the Epiphany Middle School team has one Jew, one Half-Jew, a WASP, and an Indian.”

“Jew, half-Jews, and WASPs have nothing to do with diversity Mrs. Olinski. The Indian does. But we don’t call them Indians anymore. We call them Native Americans.”

“Not this one,” she replied.

“Mrs. Olinski,” Dr. Rhomer asked, “Would you like it if people called you a cripple?”

Mrs. Olinski gave up. Everyone believed that she could be wounded by the world cripple. She could never explain to Dr. Rohmer, nor would she try to, that the word itself does not hurt, but the manner of its delivery can. For all of his training, Dr. Rhomer would never believe that cripples themselves are a diverse group, and some make jokes.


From A View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg p.22.
This book is brilliant, You should read it! Right now.

I live about an hour our from the cities - which in some ways in kinda nice (like having trees around!) but in other ways in not.

The other day, I had an hour and a half between downtown obligations (which is not enough time to go home - and too long to spend just driving around). SO I went for a lovely walk in a quaint little St. Paul neighborhood, and wandered into a book store

While wandering the bookstore I came across a book about backyard animals - which was rather fun to flip through and read up on. My not-so-secret-imaginary-dream is to live on a little little farm with a few other folks. (I've written a little about it here).

So, as I was leafing through this Backyward Barnyard book, and enjoying my 90 minutes of obligation-less-ness, I started thinking more about this farm.

I like to have a goat (for milk)
And a few chickens (for eggs, and chicken)
An outdoor cat (to keep the mice in check)
An indoor cat (to cuddle)
A dog (to be a dog)

I'd like the farm to have a pretty big garden with beans, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins. (Which means I need to learn how to can beans, carrots, tomatoes,pickles,and pumpkin)

Also, there will be a small orchard with apple trees, pear trees, and cranberry trees.
(Cranberries grown on trees, right???) I've never had a fresh cranberry - where do they grow cranberries???)

And then, I'd like to have a wild berry patch somewhere on the property (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) - which could be dried (for oatmeal!) preserved, canned, or frozen. Plus a herb garden - and a cinnamon tree! (I would really like to have a cinnamon tree!)

I'm thinking the place would have a solar pannels and a few windmills - which probably won't get us off the grid, but it would reduce our dependency on the energy companies, and I want to be within bicycling distance (15-20 miles) of a city (with cultural activities and things).

At least that's the plan so far.
Now, back to reality

REBLOGGER IS BACK ONLINE!

I'm sure some of you are way too dignified to do a happy dance with me - but you can point and laugh while I make a dancing fool out of myself!

Alas, the comments left in the last week are now gone - so everyone that commented on the temporary system will get a special mention from this happy dancing fool!

Kim - thanks for the comment on this post. It is truly wonderful to love a job (and to be excited about going to work in the morning!) I hope you are able to find that place sometime soon!

Lara - thanks for suggesting Typepad when I was lamenting the loss of reblogger. I looked at it briefly, but don't think I'm ready for the big scarey world of actually paying to have a blog - but you are not the first person to suggest typepad - - so maybe someday I'll graduate to a "grown-up" site!

Paul - Yes, I did know a Paul Alkema Jr. - He was my grandfather! I've written about him several times on this site -- 5/31/04; 12/9/03; 1/29/05; 7/9/05.
Are you also a Paul Alkema Jr.?

FRIENDLY ADVICE

If you are a father of an adorable, yet slightly perfectionist daughter,
And if that daughter mows the lawn,
And does a gosh darn nice job,
Even removing the bottom pieces of the gutters to mow under them,
Be thankful and tell her she is wonderful!

And if that perfectionist daughter forgets to put the gutters back together
And if it happens to rain that night
(Allowing water fall right along the foundation of the house)
(And causing the sum pump to run for most of the night).
Do not yell at her

Do not exagerate and tell her that it is going to create a path for all future water to drain into the basement creating an underground river that will cause the sum pump to run constantly until it breaks causin the basement to flood and mold to grown which will lead to the eventual seizure of the house by the EPA who will deam it inhabitable and force your poor-old parents to live their retirement on the streets.

It might be an effective short term strategy to make sure that the gutters are always put bck together.
Your perfectinoist daughter will never ever again leave the lower part of the gutter detached from the other part after mowing the lawn.
She will do her absolute best to make it perfect - because she loves you.

Yes, in the short term, your little speech is very effective!
But, 10-15 years later, when your feeling old, tired, cranky, and forgetful,
You will mow the lawn, and forget to put the gutters back together
And if your adorable perfectionist daughter happens to be spending the night, and it happens to rain, and the sum pump starts runing (and struggles to keep up) and the daughter happens to be sleepingin the basement, and hears the sum pump, and has to get out of her nice warm bed at 1:00 in the morning to go out in the rain and put the gutter back togther - - you will live to regret it.

Because, you see, your perfectionist daughter has a good memory.
And when you yell at her oh so long ago about the importance of having gutters, she will remember -- years later she will remember.

And the following morning will be quite enjoyable for her
But not for you!

Love 'ya Dad!
)

PET PEEVE OF THE MOMENT

Children's songs and folk songs are intended to be simple.
Simple is good
Simple is elegant
Simple is beautful
And simple is the reason the song has survived for hundreds of millions of years

But some people think that they need to jaz up the songs to appeal today's kids
WRONG
Wrong wrong wrong wrong.
(And even more wrong when they do a crappy job with the techno-effects).

So . . . I picked up a CD for my girls.
Don't ever buy it.
What a waste of CD space.

Torture yourself here

I don't like her voice - but I could get over that -
It's the synthesized background music that makes me crazy.
And her rockstar singing style
Because the kids are going to try to sing like her
And kids singing rockstar style never works
The world needs more kid music that is kid friendly (duh!)

(And it's painful to listen to this junk - A lovely song turned into garbage!
No one would sing this version of it while driving to work.
Yuck yuck yuck.

SUNDAY NIGHT HAPPINESS

It's been a long long time since I've really enjoyed a Sunday night.
Today has been a good day - bicycle time, cottage cheese, grandma time, poppy seed cake, time to read, pizza, time with the dog, sunshine.

It's really nice not having to spend Sunday feeling guilty about last minute homework or lesson plans. I miss teaching, I miss my students, and I miss going to class. . . . But I could really get used to lovely lazy Sundays!

CONVERSTION WITH GOD (over IM)

God: What would you like to talk about now?

Me: Church and stuff

God: Did you know that you can download your own chat robot and create your own robot personality?

Me: No. I didn't

God: Are you serious? I thought you did.

Me: You thought wrong - I expected more from you

God: Why would I think wrong? You expect more from me?

Me: See, I didn't know about the robot thing, but you thought I knew - but you're supposed to be all knowing - or at least that's what I expceted from you

God: I see. Not that I know of.

Me: No? That's what they say in church

God: Are you serious?

Me: Yes!

God:I can't believe it.

Me: Me either


You too can chat with i-God right here.

HORRAY!
(not for the wishing on toliet bowl water part)
(and not the seduction part either)

But for everything else - YIPPE!!
I am so proud of you!!

QUOTE

We have a real problem in the world, and that problem is religion
-John Danforth


This week's Speaking of Faith (featuring John Danforth) is excellent!
(Not as good as the episode with Joe Carter, but I'm biased!)


I have political positions (after all, I voted seven thouseand times on the floor of the senate) but there's a difference between having positions on one hand, and saying "my position is god's position."


Listen Here

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COMMENTS

Reblogger was the best comment system in the whole wide world.
It did everything (customized template, email notification, blocked robot spam)
I love you reblogger.

Alas, reblogger seems to have died.
My comments disappeared, their site is down, email bounces back
[sigh] I've been commentless for a few weeks, and am ready to give up.

For the time being, I'll be using blogger comments (until reblogger comes back up, or until I find something else). If you know of a comment system as good as reblogger - please let me know.

Until then -

ONE YEAR
Today is the one year anniversay of my first day at VocalEssence

I made cinnamon swirl bread to celebrate (it's in the copyroom - but since none you dear readers work at VE - you'll just have to celebrate with a virtual piece of cinnamon swirl bread, or come visit me after work and we'll eat the leftovers!!)

Long time readers know that I was only supposed to stay at VE long enough to do a 240 hour internship. (But circumstances changed, and 365 days later I'm still here!) I love this place. I love the work we do, the people I work with, and the other folks involved with the organization. It has been a privilage to work at VE (even on a part time paycheck!)

I love my job!

GOOD LUCK RYAN

I'll be thinking of you all day.
Please lemme know how it goes!


Ryan is a former student.
I taught her how to play violin when she was a teeny tiny 9 year old
Today, she is autidionting for the Youth Symphony!
Yes, I'm glowing (but just a little bit!)

YES . . .

I have heard and read so many lame, stupid and disgusting things in the past few days. It makes me want to shout, "What the hell is the matter with you people?" The racism, the finger pointing, the absolutely unconscionable blaming of people who have lost everything - I want to give these people a piece of my mind; I want to rip them a new bodily orifice; but all I can manage is, "What the hell is the matter with you people?!"

Regarding the slow response, I think the best comment I've heard is one that I didn't actually hear myself. My husband was up before I was this morning, watching the news. He told me about a brief interview they did with a general. The general compared the situation to a football game. It's half-time and we're down 50 to nothing. Later, after the game is over, we need to review it and figure out what we did wrong in the first half, but right now we need to put forth our very best effort in the second half. I like that - no denial, no excuses, but right now let's get to work and do our best.

I like it too.
Here's the full post from Reflections in d minor

CHEESE
I had roast beef and swiss cheese sandwhich for lunch
Which got me to wondering (again) why Swiss cheese has holes.
I've looked it up before, but forgot the answer - so I looked it up again.

Just in case you're curious - this is why Swiss Cheese has holes!

COMMENTS

It appears that reblogger, my comment system, has disappeared.
)-:

QUOTE

"So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring;
because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again."

From a lesser known Sojourner Truth speech