Thinking about Drinking

Today I'm thinking about coffee. Not surprising, of course, since most days I think about coffee. I have a serious coffee addiction. But the issue for today is less on the actual drink and more on the atmosphere that it is imbibed in. I am a coffeehouse person. I love the feeling and setting of a good coffeehouse. I feel at home there. I can trace each stage of my life to the different coffeehouses I have been in. I fell in love with a city ones based entirely on its coffeehouses. My older sister is a bar person. And this distinction interests me.

A couple years ago I read Tom Standage's excellent book "The History of the World in Six Glasses". This fascinating book told the entire history of the world through beverages. It includes most of history of the human race starting with the brewing of beer by the Mesopotamians, wine in Greek and Roman time, spirits that brought about a new world, the proliferation of coffeehouses, the tea trade, all the way down to the creation of soda. But it was the section on coffee that fascinated me the most. Standage says that the history of coffee can be linked to some of the greatest innovations and scientific advances of our lives. The rise of the coffeehouse was linked with the exchange of ideas, philosophies, and advances.

One of the things that Standage says is that the coffeehouses were so popular because of their differentiation from the bars. And I have to say that bar people and coffeehouse people are very different types of people. I can see that in my own life. It's New Years Eve and there is no way you'll catch me out at the bars. It is just not my place. I go to bars occasionally but I am never at home there. I just never really feel comfortable. The bars are too social, too loud, and too unpredictable for me. They are places for extroverts and pleasure seekers. They are retreats of night owls where no work will ever get done. Coffeehouses on the other hand are all about industry. Alcohol is a depressant. Coffee is a stimulant. Coffeehouses are all about work and ideas and caffeine-induced writing. :-) They are about productivity and introversion.

I am a morning person, an introvert, and in some instances, a workaholic. People will tell you that I am boring, and it is probably true in their eyes. I am happier reading a book or writing a story, then drinking and playing pool. My older sister had a big influence on me when I was growing up. For a long time I wanted to be her. She was all about going out to the bars and meeting tons of people. She always seems to have way more friends than I do and have more fun than I do. I always thought that was what I wanted. That I was supposed to be like that. It is only in the last couple years that I have realized that I don't want to be her. Not that she doesn't have a great life...but that I'm not like her. She is a bar person...I am a coffeehouse person.

So tonight I am going out to dinner with my husband and a friend. Then we will go back to my house to open a bottle of wine and knit. I'll make some coffee and we'll sit and chat. And that sounds like a great New Years Eve for me. I won't be out at the bars. Call it boring but for the first time in my life, I know where I want to be.

New Books!

So one of the gifts I was given for Christmas were some gift cards to Barnes and Noble. What a perfect gift! I can always buy more books. So last night, my sister-in-law, my brother, my dad, and Jeff and I went out to Barnes and Noble to knit. I'm working on an ear warmer for a friend of mine and almost finished it last night. My sister-in-law is working on an awesome felted bag. It looks fantastic. The boys (all of them) were working on scarves. We had a really good time and Jeff learned some new knitting stitches from my sister-in-law. But before we left I went upstairs to pick out some books. I've been focusing for a while on children's books so that is what I picked up. All three are books that I've wanted to pick up for along time. They are all favorites, all Caldecott winners, and all very different.

The first and perhaps the newest is Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems. This sweet story of a stuffed animal and a laundromat was an instant classic. Perhaps it is because the story is timeless. All kids can identify with the emotions in this story. But what drew me to the book were the illustrations. Willems uses sepiaed photographs as his background and successfully weaves his cartoon like characters into those settings. The images, rather than jarring, are simply enchanting. But this a sweet warm story that anyone will love.

The next book was The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. If Knuffle Bunny was sweet, this is the exact opposite. The book is inventive and hilarious but with a touch of maniacal. The stories are fairy tales turned on their heads. The little red hen just complains all the way through the book, even extending to the front pages and back of the book. Jack, who is our narrator, continues to elude the giant throughout the book. And of course there is the Stinky Cheese Man, (a takeoff on the gingerbread man) who no one wants to chase. Scieszka's writing is inspired and downright hilarious. Lane Smith's illustrations are silly and fun and a little mischievous. This may be one of my favorite books of all.

The last book I picked up was Tuesday by David Wiesner. Wiesner has made a name for himself with wordless picture books and this is definitely my favorite. Tuesday is about the strange going-ons of a mid-summer tuesday night. A night just like any other, except for the frogs. In this delightful story, frogs rise up on their lily pads and fly around the city at night, causing havoc wherever they go. The illustration are beautiful with more than a little touch of silly. The premise is odd but seems more magical than anything. Cute story.

So three new books for me to add to my ever expanding children's book collections. One of these days I will need to add another bookcase up there to contain my growing collection. Until then I'm not about to stop buying them. Or reading them.

Overwhelmed

So I'm back at work after the holiday weekend. My brother and his family are still in town so I have had no time for blogging or even WoW playing. (not completely true...I snuck in two hours yesterday...but not much) But now I'm back at work and things are starting to return to normal. For those of you keeping score at home, I will be turning 80 either later this week or early next. Yay!!

But my real reason for the title is my new cubicle neighbor. For those of you who have never had the honor...nay the priviledge (please note the intense sarcasm) of sitting in a cubicle you will not understand how little space you call your own. I'm lucky in that I only share a wall with one and half people. One wall backs to the new girl who just started 3 weeks ago and then my corner is shared with another old timer (10 years at the job).

So I'm getting used to this new neighbor and she has recently started a new (and terrible) trend. She has started (or perhaps restarted) wearing perfume. And it is a might overwhelming. Now I'm not incredibly sensitive to smells. Most people say I have a smoker's nose (even though I don't smoke). I can hardly smell things at all. So if I can smell this woman's perfume, others have to be drowning in it. It surrounds her and walks with her like a little cartoon raincloud. I'm actually lightheaded while typing this. And I'm wondering what to do about it. As I've mentioned before I'm terrible at confrontation. But this might have to be discussed. At least for the sake of my nose.

Specimens

My mother collects insects. I'm not sure where she picked up the hobby, but we have always had some sort of specimen lying around the house. We kids have started bringing home interesting ones that we find, like a beautiful intact praying mantis. She had bought a number of different ones including some incredibly creepy ones. The first time you see a hairy Goliath Bird-Eating Spider, you realize why so many people are afraid of arachnids.
But she doesn't just collect the creepy ones. She has some beautiful butterflies that she has collected throughout the years. Moths and butterflies of every shape and color imaginable. They always remind me of the sheer beauty of nature. Many of them are framed and hung on the walls. Nature as art. So when I found this artist on Roadside Scholar, I thought of my mother.

I'll have to check prices and see about purchasing one of these incredible and incredibly large butterflies for her. The artist is Michelle Stitzlein and she creates her beautiful bugs using objects that she finds. Those wings are mostly made with piano keys. (that should give you some idea of the scale of these pieces)

I love found art (art made from found materials) and these just speak to me. I'll have to look into them for my mother. Just gorgeous. Michelle has a number of other found art sculptures on her website. The teapot is a little more up my alley.

My Christmas Present

When I was 20 I fell in love with this photograph. The subject is poet Charles Baudelaire and the photographer is Felix Nadar. The original photograph is owned by the musee d'Orsey in Paris. It was copied here without permission, for which I will probably get in trouble. But when I have the money, I'm going to the musee d'Orsey just to see this photo. I want to see it in the flesh. When I first saw it I realized that it represented so perfectly my idea of passion and madness and poetry and writing. Nadar captures it beautifully.

I mention this photograph because it is a perfect lead into what has to be the most exciting library news I've had in a long time. (yes there is exciting library news). A virtual European online library has been created. And it is currently beta testing. I read the BBC each morning and they mentioned that the site was having problems keeping up with users. So of course I had to add to the strain. http://www.europeana.eu/ for anyone interested.

This is currently a 2 million plus volume virtual library that contains some of the greatest treasures of Europe, including the photo displayed above. There are history museum that have contributed. Art museums that have digitalized photos and paintings. Libraries that have digitalized hundreds of thousands of books. Archives that have opened their doors virtually. For a librarian, this is as close to heaven as it gets. The National Libraries of almost all European nations have opened their doors to this project. The goal is to digitize 10 million items for the public to access from anywhere in the world.

The site has been up and running since November 20th. The project is run out of the National Library of the Netherlands. Virtual libraries are an increasing phenomenon and with good reason. So many people are turning to the internet to get information. They might as well make it good information. For an archivist this is a chance to get delicate works out there for use, while still maintaining the integrity of the original. Speaking for librarians, the goal of a book or artwork is to be used. This allows use from anywhere across the world. Geography is no longer a constraint to access to information. We have gone from closed privileged libraries, where books were literally chained to the shelves, to this virtual library where anyone, anywhere can access any information they need. Let's hope it gets used and gets increased funding. As for me, I'm in heaven.

(Sorry about the frequent postings but the office is slow today and this was just too good to pass up.)

Merry Christmas and Sensational Saturnalia

Any of my friends will tell you, because I've said it often myself, that I'm a recovering Catholic. I was raised Catholic, attending Catholic schools, and went to mass every week. (during school twice a week) At 16 I decided I wasn't going to church anymore. I just no longer believed. My mother persuaded me to continue until I was 18 and then she would never mention it again. I went until 18 and she has never said a word about it again. I love her for that.

So Christmas is an odd time for me. I love the festivities and the cheer of Christmas. I'm not huge on the commercial side of it but I do love wrapped gifts. I'm not a shopper but I actually like buying gifts for people. But the religous part of the whole holiday kind of escapes me. Over the years I've paid it less and less attention. I just love getting together with family and spending time.

So this year I'm focusing on what I do love about the season. Strangely it's the same thing that the pagans used to love about this time of year, the lengthening of days. Jeff and I joke that we are phototropic. We love the sun. And particularly love the warmth (Yes I still have no idea why I'm in the midwest in winter. Makes no sense to me). So the sun's return is a reason to celebrate. The ancient pagan religions of Rome celebrated Saturnalia to honor Saturn, the god of sowing. The holiday was to bring about the return of the sun and the return of agriculture. A statue of Saturn, which was bound throughout the year was untied. It was a seven day festival (Dec 17-23) that included visiting family, gift-giving (particularly gifts of candles), and decorating. In Rome it was a week of sheer debauchery: feasting, drinking, dancing, gifts, and merry-making.

Over the decades the worship of Saturnalia changed to Sol Invictus (meaning Unconquered Sun) which was celebrated on December 25th, which is the first day the lengthening of days can be noticed. Many of the traditions of Saturnalia moved to this new holiday including gift giving, decorating the greenery, and candles. When Christians began to rise in power they wanted to find a day to celebrate Jesus's birth. Since no one knew exactly when that was, the early Christian leaders set it for December 25th. They figured that since people were already celebrating, then it would be simpler to add new (more Christian) traditions in. This worked, slowing ending Saturnalia and Sol Invictus, and bringing about the modern ideas of Christmas.

So this Christmas, as I celebrate with family and friends, it will be the return of the sun (son, hmmm) that I am thinking of. My idea is that we are either moving away from summer or towards it. Tomorrow I celebrate that we are visibly moving towards it. Merry Christmas all. And Happy Saturnalia.

Christmas excitement

I should be wrapping gifts right now. They are sitting unwrapped right next to the scissors, rolls of tape, and brightly colored paper. At least I've bought most of the gifts. This year has been odd. I'm really excited about Christmas but I haven't been incredibly excited about the consumer side of Christmas. I'm not a huge shopper but normally I love present buying. This year I just can't get into it. But I'm still excited about getting together. 

My family is huge. I'm one of five kids and when we, along with spouses and children, get together it is dangerous levels of family. And a little chaos is good for me occasionally. I'm incredibly excited to see everyone. Susan Sarandon did a movie many years ago called "Safe Passage". The movie is a pretty good drama but what I love about it is it shows the chaos of a big family well. We are normally all talking at the same time, and a couple of us will be quoting movies (not often the same movie). It's madness but in a good way. :-) 

We only buy for one family member now so shopping is much easier. I have one member of the family who was drawn for me. I'm to fill a stocking for that person. They will then open my gifts and try to guess who gave them the stocking. It's a fun game and buying gifts for everyone would make me go broke. Us kids all said that stockings were our favorite part of Christmas. We would all wait in the living room, normally from 4:30 or 5 in the morning until our parents woke up at 7. Then we could rip into our stockings. And then after that we hit the presents under the tree. But the anticipation of opening those stockings is one of my favorite Christmas memories. We would all be camped out on the couches, with the younger two relegated to the floor. And we would talk in whispers and peek at the stockings. I was magical. 

So I really should be wrapping those gifts. But instead I'm doing what I do every night lately. Playing WoW. Tonight we took on Halls of Lightning. I'm only 78 so this was a tougher instance than I've done before. Luckily I'm running with four very experienced level 80 guild members. We cleared every boss up until the last one. I died quickly on Loken and the others went down slower. But it was a wipe. As we reentered the instance we hit a lag spike. No one could move. I was kicked off the game and when I reentered the instance it had now reset. Grrr. Too late to continue tonight. 

Holiday Parties Done Right

I've had a couple holiday parties this year. I had a work party which my boss provides for us. It was a lot of fun but my work group is not very close knit so I need a few drinks to get me through. I had a potluck party that I was hosting so that was a lot more stress and work than normal. We've had other parties that were mostly just sitting around talking. And those were fun. But my favorite party so far was the one last night. The one that took place entirely at my computer.

My guild for World of Warcraft has monthly meetings and they are always a lot of fun. But the holiday party was great. We got dressed up in our winter gear (for me just a hat so far) and played Hide and Seek. Jeff has always said that it is more fun to play games while talking. And this was definately the case. We started out in Shattrath gathered in a group. The officers of the guild were not there though. They were already hiding in each of the main cities. We had nine people stashed away in Ironforge, Stormwind, Darnassus, The Exodar, Dalaran, and Shattrath. They were all hidden by trees and they were all dancing. (that didn't always make them easier to find) The rule was we had to find all nine and open trade with them. Then they gave us a present. (and some nice gifts too. I got enough gems to socket my gear) The first three to complete the entire race got prizes. (Really nice prizes). Now I have to say that there are a lot of hiding places in those cities. I should know I scoured each of them last night. I even got to go to a city I'd never been to before (The Exodar).

I'll tell you that I didn't win. I didn't even come close but I had a ball. Guildies were running everywhere, chatting, and posting about our presents. The officers, if we ran past, would tease us until we found them. It was great. And easily the best holiday party I have had this year. I'm sure my sister who reads this will tease me (goodhumoredly) about how much of a geek I am but in a family that's motto is "embrace your nerdiness" it won't be too taken too seriously. And I still had a blast.

Biophilia

I'm reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. In the book Weiner, an NPR journalist, travels around the world looking for the happiest places. One of the places he starts his journey at is in Switzerland. He is trying to figure out why the Swiss are so happy when he stumbles upon a word that sums up beautifully one of the things that makes me the happiest: biophilia. 

Have you ever gone walking in the woods? It doesn't matter what mood you have when you enter the woods. If you allow yourself to just be part of the woods you will walk out happier. There is a strange sense of peace we get when you are surrounded by nature. I never realized that there was a word for this feeling. The official definition is "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life". Biophilia was coined by Edward O. Wilson in 1984. Perhaps this could explain why deeply urban dwellers seem to be less happy. There is simply less contact with the natural world. 

This is something I had noticed on my own many times. We took a cruise in October which was wonderful. But I noticed that I was starting to get irritable by the third day. We had been off the boat but Key West was mostly city, and Cozumel was mostly rushed. By Belize, Jeff and I were both frustrated and snapping. Then this little fellow came into my life. 

We were up walking on the deck when we found him. He appeared young and injured and I watched him for over three hours unsure of what to do to help. Mostly I wanted to protect him from people coming over and disturbing him. My hope is that with rest he would be strong again. I sketched him from afar and watched him. And my soul was soothed. The crew captured him (at the request of some other cruisers) and hopefully helped him off the boat to a rehabilitation clinic. That is my only hope. I cried as he was taken away assuming they would kill him. Now I don't know. I have no idea what species he is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment with it. All I know is that spending some time watching and protecting him, made me feel like myself again. I had missed that contact with nature. 

Just One More Book

I'm passionate about children's books. When I was young I was in love with picture books. As I grew older I moved to chapter books. And now that I'm an adult I love them both. I still pick up the occasional chapter book but it is really picture books that bring me back to the children's section. The blending of words and illustration is just magical to me. So many of my favorite books were picture books. Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendak, Dr. Seuss, Robert McClusky, P.D. Eastman...etc were the guides of my childhood and the passion of my adult life. And I'm constantly on the lookout for more stories. 

So when one of my favorite blogs (Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast), pointed out a children's book podcast, I had to check it out. And I'm so glad I did. Andrea Ross and Mark Blevis have created the podcast "Just One More Book". The two, who are married, sit down before work at their favorite coffee house and review the books they and their children love. They interview authors, illustrators, and agents. And they are one of the strongest voices in the kid's lit world. The podcast comes out regularly and is available free through iTunes or through their website, among other spots. They give a summary of the story, discuss their reactions to the book, and talk about why it works. They do not review books they don't like. 

The passion these two have for children's books is contagious. I have been listening to the backlog of podcasts from the website at work. And I've been really excited about checking out the stories they have mentioned plus many others. I find that there are a ton of books out there that I simply don't know about. Sites like Just One More Book or Seven Impossible Things... remind me of all the new and unique books and artists that are out there. Then I hit the library and gather as many as I can. The ones I love I'll eventually purchase. I like having my own little library to lend from. 

So I have two requests for you my dear readers. First, if you enjoy children's books listen to an episode or two of Just One More Book and see what you think. It's free and lots of fun. My second request is because of an old curiosity I have. Whenever I am trying to get to know someone I always ask two questions. The first is name two places you have always wanted to travel to. And  the second is name your favorite children's book. So I extend that invitation, the same way Mark Blevis does at the end of every podcast. Tell me what your favorite kids books is. And in a post next week, I'll list mine. 

Beyond the Gift of the Magi

When I was in middle school we read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. I'm sure it was right around Christmas. This was a charming short story so different from the Shakespeare and Poe that we had been working on. First and foremost it was funny, and secondly it was written for people like me. This was simple story, told well. it told about real people, struggling to make a living, and about love in a way that wasn't preachy. A couple years later I picked up my parent's illustrated copy of The Ransom of Red Chief and laughed along at the two bumbling kidnappers and their "boisterous" charge. (at the time Red Chief seemed cute. Now he seems more demon spawn) But these two short stories were refreshingly fun and wonderful stories.

But I never pushed on with O. Henry (actually named William Sydney Porter). I stopped with those up until now. Lately I've been bad about bringing a book to work. I just don't think about it in the mornings. So when I'm in the office for lunch I have nothing to read. And lately I haven't been writing. So I have been going to one of my favorite websites, Literature Network, for some light reading. This great site includes short stories and novels done by any author whose work is now public domain. And that I was happy to see included O. Henry.

I thought I had read the best of his stuff but I was very wrong. All of his short stories are wonderful. They all have the same charm and humor that his most famous two have. I have been treated to Cupid Ala Carte, The Third Ingredient, To Him Who Waits, The Princess and the Puma, among others. Most of his stories have a fun twist at the end that the reader can't see coming. And all of them are so well written. Now O. Henry was a southerner, writing right after the Civil War, so some of his ideas are dated. But the themes of his stories are all about regular people, living regular lives. They are rich with love stories and bank robberies and cowhands and city life. These, along with PG Wodehouse, are some of my favorite stories recently. For a quick read, there is simply nothing better.

Curses

My older sister has this amazing belief in serendipity that I happen to envy. She seems to believe that things happen for a reason and that they happen at just the right time for her. For example, when she is looking for a job, suddenly that is the time that she strikes up just the right conversation with someone and they mention that they are looking for someone. And of course it is exactly what she's always wanted to try. I am a little envious of that belief but perhaps a little more envious of the fact that it normally seems to work for her.

In the last year or so I've come to the belief that Murphy's Law seems to be the law of the land. I'm not saying that I'm cursed but I notice certain negative patterns. It is normally the moment when I think that the neighbors will be quiet and I can sleep, that one of them comes how loud with a stereo blaring. Or the instant that I think to myself that my job is pretty good, then the world's most frustrating projects get dropped on my desk. It seems to always be when I'm optimistic that the world brings me back down to earth.

What got me thinking about this was a post that I did before about driving in snow. I had said that I was feeling very confident about this winter. That I knew I could handle the snow. That was apparently the moment that Mother Nature laughed and decided to see what she could throw at us. For the record I have been driving every day. I have not hidden away but this year has really been a doozy for me so far. The awful trek home from Iowa City was followed by snow every other day it seems like. Yesterday we had 4 inches. On Sunday we had well below freezing temps and a dusting of snow. Tomorrow is the kicker. We'll see how I do. They are predicting freezing rain. (my nemisis)

I'm sure I can handle it but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I wonder if part of this is not a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since I'm worried about the weather I just happen to notice it. Since I'm thinking about how frustrating my job has been, it becomes that way again. The lack of positive thinking colors anything that happens. Perhaps that is my sister's secret. She simply doesn't worry about what's coming and so is pleasantly suprised when it turns out well.

I'm actually surprised by this post. I have normally been a rather optimistic person. I'm not sure where this feeling of being cursed comes from. That's something for me to work on while I drive home on ice tomorrow.

Book Review: Lolita

When Vladimir Nabokov published his controversial novel in 1955 it was in Paris, not in the U.S. where he had been living for some time. The novelist had published nine novels in Russia before moving to the US. No American publisher would touch the novel calling it salacious and filthy. Today it is a regularly banned book and still incites controversy whenever it is read.

I'm not sure where I picked up a copy of the novel. It has been listed as one of the greatest books ever written and among the most disgusting. As a big believer that books, of all natures, should be read I decided that I had to choose for myself which category it best fit into. I had originally planned to read the book for Banned Book Week in September but was busy and didn't pick it up until early November. Even with that it took me almost a month to pull through.

The story of course, for those who don't know, follows Humbert Humbert as he lusts after his 12 year old step-daughter. Humbert has a particular fancy for young girls (10-14) which in now days society would have him listed on the sex offender registry in every state. He meets Lolita with her mother at their home, manages to marry said mother, and then when the mother is killed picks up his "daughter" and abducts her on a cross country trek.

While Nabokov's prose style is tough the book is very well written. But that, for me, didn't make up from the fact that it is not an easy subject matter to read. This story is basically the repeated rape of a young girl told through the eyes of her rapist. While I am not shocked by the contents nor would I discourage anyone from reading the book, it will not go on my best books of all time list.

Nabokov's true strength in this novel is the use of narrator. By having Humbert narrate his own story we get a chance to see more clearly the mind of a pedophile and rapist. Even Humberts attempts to justify his behavior make him more hated to the reader. Nabokov has created an anti-hero to rival Alex from A Clockwork Orange. This is the most powerful part of the novel. While Nabokov said that he never wrote moralistic fiction, there is a distinct moral to the novel as Humbert goes to meet the man that pulled his Lolita from him. Humbert, when confronting him, calls the man a rapist and defiler and I defy any reader to not see the exquisite irony in those words.

Voltaire is attributed as saying "I disapprove of what you say but I defend to the death your right to say it." (the quote was actually made up by a later author but attributed to Voltaire's attitude) But this quote works perfectly for my opinion on this piece. I disliked the subject matter of the book, enjoyed the writing, and was mildy ill while reading but I will never say that people can't or shouldn't read this book. It is powerful in many ways and well worth reading. Just be warned that this will create some pretty strong emotions, in yourself and others.

Endangered Species

Warning: I'm up on my soapbox again. 

Okay here's where I get political. I really should have reversed these last two posts. Because by the time you finish reading this you'll be mad enough that you'll need the previous post just for cleansing. At least I hope you'll be angry. I certainly am. 

The Bush Administration, which has been a joke so far, has decided to leave us with one final parting shot. As if this administration couldn't get any worse, they drop this on us. The Endangered Species Act has been changed. The current ruling requires that government scientists do an independent review of all building, mining, or logging projects to see how much they will affect the wildlife species in the area. The current administration has changed that so that these independent reviews are no longer required. Instead the builder and the company building can do a review. 

Really, the company that wants to build a business will do their own review of the environmental impact? Now I work close enough to those type of businesses to know that this is a joke. These companies won't do any review or if they do they'll just say that everything is okay. The bottom line is the only thing that matters for these companies. In Iowa we have over 400 streams and rivers that are on the state's impaired waters list. And those are the ones that the government reviews. Can you imagine how many there would be if no one was watching? 

If you haven't figured it out I'm a huge supporter of animal rights. I choose not to eat meat for a number of reasons (mostly taste) but also because of the way animals are treated before being turned into food. I am appalled at the constant sprawl of our cities as they push animals out further and further. And the ones that end up in the city, are considered pests. Now many of these species have lost one of the few protections they had. 

Ask a coal power plant whether they pollute. I've seen the ads for clean coal. There is simply no such thing. But they will say they don't. Ask the factory hog farm if they are good for the environment. They'll say yes. Then look around at the lists of acceptable contaminants that we list for our water, air, land.... And be afraid. 

Obama has already said that he will overturn this ruling. And I hope that this happens. If not it will be a poor future for the next generation. Diversity is the life force of this planet. Unless we start protecting it, there will be nothing left. 

A Bear in His Natural Habitat....a Studebaker

Again big bonus points for recognizing that quote. 

I had to post this. With all the holiday stress I needed to post something fun. Jeff will kill me for it but it really does fit him. That is where I see him 90% of the time he is home.

And Knowing is Half the Battle

Okay, I'm going to sound old and crotchety for a moment but....leave my childhood alone!!!! I grumbled a little when Care Bears returned to the stores. I outright laughed when I saw Strawberry Shortcake toys. I even cast aspersions on the Transformer movie with its new merchandise (Hello Bumblebee is a Beetle). But this has now gone too far. They are making a live action film of G.I. Joe. Why can't you leave my childhood in peace????

I've always been a big believer in new stories and new ideas so this premise is pretty repulsive to me on that level. Why can't movie makers come up with their own ideas rather then raid old 80s cartoons? But beyond that, why must every cartoon or toy I ever loved be recycled into some variation of itself and sold to today's kids. I know what will happen. This movie will come out amid a flurry of merchandising. All the kids toys will be huge, hulking, muscle bound figures, completely unlike the more lifelike and honestly more fun figures that I collected as a child. Oh fear not, my parent's basement still holds Snakeyes and Duke figures. With their little attachable guns and backpacks. (Strange that I loved this show, even as a pacifist all the way back then).

To add insult to injury I have found that Brendan Fraser will be in the film. Now I love Brendan. I think he can have amazing depth as an actor (See School Ties or Gods and Monsters) But everything he does lately becomes something of a joke. He is brilliant at campy material. And it looks like G.I. Joe will be a cross between the Mummy and X-Men (both fun movies in their own right). I'm just not sure I'm going to be willing to sit through it with another of my favorite childhood memories.

I'm dreading the fact that eventually I will find out that they are making some odd Smurfs movie or be walking through the toy store to find Thundercats figures (of course this time the Twins will look like they've been doing steroids for years). And again I know I sound old and a little cranky but why can't they leave my favorite shows alone. Transformers was great fun as a cartoon. We had all the original METAL characters. I grew up with those characters. And now a new generation has claimed them as their own. Perhaps the one good thing out of this new movie is that they will release all the old cartoons on DVD. Then I can relive bits of my childhood.

Source:Life

Google has been doing some amazing things in the last couple of years. And I'm not just talking about the new data center they are building here in Iowa. (my office helped bring the company in). Des Moines was recently added to the street view images which is pretty incredible. I can literally walk down any of the streets in Des Moines all from the comfort of my desk. Here for example is my favorite lunch place. When I talk about Lucca for lunch, this is where I mean.

Google has also been great about putting book content online. Bookstores and publishers are grumbling, but I still say that the more information that is out there, the better. Education and knowledge are simply the most important resources we have. Without education, society simply isn't possible. So all of these books are now becoming increasingly available online, thanks to Google and it's gigantic servers. (the environmental aspect of servers and data centers I won't get into)

But my favorite new thing that Google has done recently is Life. The company has posted thousands of old Life Magazine photos on their image search. These are original pictures pulled straight from the magazine and searchable by all. To find old Life images, go to Google, click on image search, type in your subject words, and then type source:life. This will search only the Life Magazine pictures. You can also access the entire archive from the image search page. This is a rather impressive archive and a wonderful treasure trove for a history fan.

As I'm a huge Walt Disney fan I searched for him in the Life photos. And luckily, no single person, spent more time getting photographed for Life than Disney did. All interesting shots. Here is perhaps the most famous one going around. This is mostly because it shows Disney smoking. Since the man was a pack a day or two pack a day smoker, I'm only surprised that more photos don't show him that way.

Here are some great photos of early Disneyland and the building of Disneyland. I was in history heaven.

And here is perhaps my favorite picture I've ever seen of Disney. This reminds me of why he was a creative genius. Even if he didn't draw Mickey Mouse (Ubb Iwerks did most of those drawings) he still had a hand in everything. He was naturally curious and just loved what he did.

Is it cold in here or is it just me?

Winter is fully upon us. With snow and wind and cold. Saturday was one of those days that was pretty chilly and I decided to spend bundled up in the house. Jeff and I woke up late (stupid Ny-Quil) and went out for lunch. I was still feeling bad so we just ran out to our neighborhood bar and grill. Then to the store.

And then we headed home with the idea that we would do some light cleaning and waste the rest of the cold day playing WoW. I started with some laundry and when I came downstairs I was freezing. I thought it was because I had taken my sweatshirt off but even putting that on didn't help. I glanced at the thermostat. 67 degrees. Now we keep the house at 73. I know most people would be roasting but we love it. In fact ours read that it was set for 73 but the temp was actually 67. Something was clearly not right.

Yep, the furnace had conked out. Well not conked out completely. It was trying to turn on, just no fire. Needless to say we were not happy. Now I sit at home in slippers and sweatshirts even when it is 73. We called the repair place and they told us that they would contact one of their repair people. That was at 2:30. I bundled up a little better and went back to cleaning. Finally around four I started playing. Still no word from the repair guy. At six were were starting to get worried. The temp was at 65 and the furnace was still trying to kick on. We turned it off completely.

At 6:30 Jeff called again. Neither one of us could believe that they would get a repair person out to us that night. Not at 6:30 on a Saturday. But at 7:30 he finally arrived. This poor man had been running since 8 that morning. He had two more stops that night. The problem was our control box. I guess the kind we have normally die after five years. Ours had lasted us 13. We gave him some extra money for coming that day and reveled in the warmth of the house. Somehow when you're warm, a $500 repair bill doesn't seem that bad. But all night I thought about that guy, out still running service calls. And I'd like to think I was a little less whiny after that.

Give it to us raw and wriggling

Okay well maybe not wriggling. But definitely raw. (By the way, big points if you can identify the title quote). Over the last five years I have become a sushi fan. I realized when I started to become a vegetarian that eating out would be nearly impossible for me if I didn't eat at least fish. Most of the issue I have with meat is a taste and texture issue but fish doesn't pose that problem. So when people ask I say I'm not a vegetarian, I'm a pescatarian. 

Now texture is a big thing for me when eating. I have problems with some forms of eggs just because of the texture. My first attempt at an anchovy was comical and disgusting because of texture. So everyone assumed I'd have an issue with sushi. Then I tried it. No problem. In fact it's something I've started craving. Something about a thin slice of raw fish draped over rice simply makes my mouth water. Tonight I went to Taki, one of the local sushi places, for salmon nigiri, eel nigiri, and a spicy tuna roll. Mmmmm. 

This of course compares with Friday night's dinner. Jeff and I went out to celebrate Independence Day at BoneFish Grill. This place just opened near us and I've been meaning to try it. Everyone says it is good. I had the ahi tuna. The meal had a nice piece of fish, but it was the thickest cut I have ever seen on a tuna. It was more like chunks of tuna. The interior was pink and the outside was seared but the restaurant committed an unforgivable sin. I had to bring out my knife to cut my fish. That, for me, is simply not acceptable. The meal was still good. We drank wine and enjoyed the food, but I probably won't be back. If I want good fish, I'll make sure it isn't cooked. 

Independence Day!!!

This post is really for Jeff because today is a special day for us. An anniversary of sorts. Nope not the day we were married, or engaged, or met. Many people would be offended that we celebrate this anniversary. But it means a lot to us. Today is Independence Day. Five years ago, on a Friday just like today, Jeff got himself fixed.

Most people would be shocked that I would A. talk about his vasectomy and B. celebrate it. But it took me a long to time to get to the decision to let him have it and we still claim that it was the best $80 we ever spent. (And I love that insurance covered it). Today is special for me because it provided us with independence. I no longer have to worry about what would happen if I got pregnant. I have time now to dedicate to the things that I want to do. I can relax on the couch and read a book all afternoon without having to worry about what the kids need. I can play WoW until 2 in the morning without having to deal with small children the next day. I know that for a lot of people that sounds selfish, and maybe it is, but this is the only life I get. I want the time to use for the things I enjoy.

One of the King Arthur stories that really left an impression on me was the story of Gawain and Dame Ragnall. I won't tell the whole story here but in order to save Arthur, Gawain agrees to marry a hideous witch. The witch had challenged to two men to find out what women want and when they failed to do so, he is forced to marry. On their wedding day, the witch offers Gawain a choice. She can be beautiful during the day, when they are with people, but hideous at night when she is with him. Or she can be hideous during the day, but beautiful at night for him. Gawain asked her to make the choice, saying she had to live with the results. And that she revealed is what women want, Choice. I have to agree. I love being able to choose what to do with my hours.

So tonight Jeff and I will go out to some beautiful restaurant, where the linens are starched and the food looks like it was prepared by artists. We will probably buy a bottle of white and toast to our freedom. We'll talk about movies and politics and WoW. And I won't have to cut up anyone's food. I love my life. Viva la independence!

Toesicles

Warning: This may very well be too much information. But it's what I'm thinking about today so...

I hate winter! I hate the snow and the cold and more than anything I hate that my toes go numb. Even with wool socks my toes go numb. And then they go white. And then they hurt. Which makes me anxious, and that makes them go even whiter. Not a fun situation. I have what doctors call Raynaud's syndrome. It's a fancy way of saying that when I get cold my fingers and toes stop circulating blood. I was thinking about this last night as I was sitting on the couch watching Dead Like Me (fantastic show, by the way). I had on my wool socks, with my feet under Jeff, while we sat under a blanket. And they were radiating cold.

The first time I had an attack I thought my little toe had fallen off. It actually feels like my frozen toes have fallen off and are rolling around in my socks. A little disconcerting to say the least. I took off my socks to find my toes ghost white. My feet were fine but the toes were radiating cold. No blood. That first time I sat with them over the radiators trying to rub feeling back into them. Now I just walk upstairs and run increasingly warmer water over them until I can feel the floor again.

The way the syndrome works is that when a normally body gets very cold it starts to limit the blood flow to the extremities (hands and feet). In normal people it takes extreme cold for this. It also takes prolonged exposure. For me, it takes a five minute drive to the grocery store on a 25 degree day. Plus most bodies just limit blood flow, mine shuts it off completely. One evening after coming back from a hockey game, I found that my toes and toenails were blue. So now I take foot warmers whenever I'm out in the cold for a long time.

All of this makes me wonder why I'm in the midwest. I know that some of this is anxiety driven but a majority of it is cold weather induced. About this time of year I start looking at houses down in Florida and dreaming of 50 degree winters. I gaze longingly at job applications in the sun belt and wonder about housing prices in Vegas. All winter long I'm like this. And then the spring comes, and the world blooms, and it is just too beautiful to leave. One of these years I'll head south, but for right now Jeff and I will have to deal with my toesicles.

Adult Fables

It all started out with a fish in the middle of the street. I had been looking for images by Adam Rex and stumbled upon a picture of a fish swimming down the street over the head of a little girl. This picture:
The image caught me. I loved the darkness of it, the absurdity of it, and the sheer beauty of it. When I first saw it I thought that it was not really Adam Rex's style. And with good reason. This was a website dedicated to illustrators. And the artist was Shaun Tan. This particular image is from the book The Red Tree and is the story of depression. I checked it out from the library the very next day. The story is simple, one line per page and often with a dark depressed theme. It is the images that make this book. Each image has a bit of oddity, a bit of darkness, and a little ray of hope. The end is simply glorious. It is simply one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen illustrated. And I couldn't believe they had listed it as a children's book. This was far too deep for children to get.

Tan is an Australian author and illustrator who is quite simply one of the best artists out there. After The Red Tree I had to go find The Arrival. This amazing wordless graphic novel tells the story of a new immigrant to a strange land. It describes his journey over, the family he left behind, and the struggles of learning a new language and system. Without any words this book tells more deeply the immigrant experience than any other I have seen. Again this book was listed as a children's book. And again I wondered.

I was surprised to find that one of the Shaun's stories The Lost Thing is being made into a movie. Irene Gallo, who writes a blog for Tor, mentioned it in one of her posts. The video is a very good overview of Tan's work and a wonderful interview with an interesting artist. In it Shaun talks about how he doesn't really see himself as a children's author. And things finally made sense for me. Most of his books are simply far too deep for children. Like adults reading The Lorax, things in his books seem that much better when you are reading them with a little more insight. His pictures may be fantasy images but they are not really geared towards children. Shaun describes them as adult fables and I think that sums it up well.

I'm also rather impatient to get my hands on Shaun's newest book, Tales from Outer Suburbia. The book, which is already out in Canada and Australia (lucky!), is a series of small stories that show the absurdity and strangeness of city living. This image which is taken from the book is one of my favorites. I'll be first in line when it's released here in the states. As for any of his other work I would definately see about getting your hands on a copy. The artwork alone makes it worth it.

Plantings and Peanuts

While I was down in St. Louis this past weekend, my father-in-law and I headed out to the History Museum while Jeff was sleeping. This is a beautiful museum in the middle of Forest Park and I'd been there a couple times before. The main exhibit this trip was on George Washington Carver and I have to say I learned more in the couple hours we were at the museum than I have in a long time. Carver was a fascinating man.

Now I know what you're thinking. Peanuts. I must have learned all about the peanut. That is of course what Carver is known for. And it is true that before Carver, peanuts had primarily been used as hog feed. No one was growing them to eat. He really introduced how valuable a crop peanuts can be. But he also did the same thing with the sweet potato and the soybean.

I was fascinated by this exhibit because most of the issues that Carver talked about are issues that are affecting Iowa right now. When Carver, who was an Iowa State graduate, went down to Alabama he noticed that the only thing people were planting was cotton. And the soil was dying. Cotton, like corn, leeches the nitrogen from the soil. Carver realized that in order to survive, the soil needed crop rotation. If you live in the upper midwest this discussion should sound familiar. If it doesn't...well it should. We have been focusing on King Corn for a while, the same way Alabama focused on King Cotton. And the soil is dying.

Carver learned that crop rotation was the key but no one wanted to plant other crops. They didn't know what to do with them. So he taught them. He found 300 uses for the peanut, including oils, plastics, and of course food. He didn't invent peanut butter but he did make it better. He found hundreds of uses for the soybean. He taught out of the Tuskegee Institute which had no money for lab equipment. Carver worked with his students and took his ideas around the countryside, teaching the farmers. And farms prospered.

Carver started his life in Missouri but his time in Iowa is what interested me the most. At a tough time for African-Americans he found a college (Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa) who accepted him. He graduated with a fine arts degree. He painted and played multiple instruments. Then he went on to Iowa State where he became an on campus sensation for his fantastic ideas not for the color of his skin. He could have easily stayed to teach at ISU but Tuskegee offered him the job and he had to go help. The man only took one raise in his life. He loved sharing his ideas and never once patented his inventions. Truly a modern day Renaissance Man. And a man who's ideas are still pertinent today.

Home again

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was wonderful although it was strange to be away from the computer for so long. I did a lot of knitting, a lot of visiting, and yesterday a lot of swearing. It is six hours between Des Moines and St. Louis. For four of those hours there were not a lot of problems. We drove the Avenue of the Saints up through Hannibal and Mount Pleasant until Iowa City. It normally takes a little less than two hours to go from Iowa City to Des Moines. Yesterday it took us three and a half.

The weather on Sunday decided not to cooperate for travel. It snowed all day but it only started freezing once we hit Iowa City. Cars were sliding off the road in every direction. The road was pure ice. In our little Corolla, we were being blown all over the place with the wind. Most of the rest of the trip we ranged from 10 mph to 30. Jeff was amazing, using the rumble strips on the shoulder for traction. My anxiety kicked in and I was very shaky. It was a scary drive home.

The weekend was wonderful but I was very happy to be home.

Happy Thanksgiving all

It's Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. No commercialism, no high pressure shopping, just eating. One of my favorite things to do. I'll be away from my computer for the next four days visiting my in-laws in St. Louis. So no new posts for a bit. Everyone enjoy the time with your families. Relax, eat a lot, and we'll see you after the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving all. 

Getting Animated About It

I'm a huge fan of animated films. If given a choice, I'll almost always pick an animated movie over any other. Stop-motion, digital, hand-drawn, it doesn't matter. I am in awe of the movie making process for animation. There are some many different styles of animation and each is interesting and artistic. When each movie is over, then I have to watch the special features. All of them. I spent two and a half hours watching the making of Chicken Run after I bought that film. That's longer than the movie. 

This past year we signed up for Blockbuster delivery and since then I have been steadily requesting any animated film I can get my hands on. Lately I've been focusing on the more modern movies that have come out. And the results have been interesting. Tonight I watched the last of them for a while and figured I would do some quick reviews of the ones I have seen. I'll stay away from talking about the Pixar films which are consistently wonderful or the straight to video Disney ones that I can't bring myself to watch.  

Tonight we watched Hoodwinked. I had seen the previews when the movie first came out and thought it looked funny. First it had Patrick Warburton. The man is a comedy genius. I will gladly watch every animated film he does voice work for. And I was right. This fairy tale gone wrong had all the makings of a Jon Scieszka children's book. I won't tell you too much about the plot because that is one of the best things about this story. The movie follows Little Red Riding Hood's visit to grandma's house but the characters are not the ones you have met before. Each character, Red, wolf, grandma, and woodsman, tell their own story of the events of the night. And hilarity ensues. This was one of the most inventive and well written of the animated movies we have seen recently. 

The previous one we had rented was The Wild. This movie came out about the same time as Madagascar and seemed to tell the exact same story. I have to wonder if the stories had originally been sent around the studios and everyone sampled from the same thing. Both stories tell of zoo animals that have to make it out there in the wilds of Africa. Both of them have main lion characters and giraffes. We watched both of these. And while each movie was similar in plot there was a very different tone. And because of that, I loved one and hated the other. The Wild was quirky, lead by Eddie Izzard as the koala. There was a zaniness to the movie but it was not a grating zaniness. There seemed to be a heart behind the madness. Madagascar on the other hand focused mostly on the arguments between the characters. After thirty minutes I debated turning the movie off. It was a little like going to dinner with a couple filing for divorce. The sniping at each other was grating. The penguins were the saving grace of the film, perhaps the reason that the new film promised 30% more penguins. 

Open Season was one of those films that I enjoyed and forgot the moment it ended. I had to ask Jeff what the title was in order to write this and couldn't even remember any of the voice talents. Not a good sign. Normally I can tell you who did the principal voices, what the title was, and who directed it. I can tell you who directed the Pixar animated shorts. The story was cute, the characters were silly and slightly over the top, and the jokes were good. I just didn't find it incredibly memorable. Perhaps I should go back to the classic "Wabbit Season, Duck Season" Warner Brothers cartoon as a substitute. At least that one I can quote. 

But the jewel of the ones we have seen recently was Over the Hedge. If I had to pick an animated film that surprised me with its heart and warmth it would be this film. Now I have not yet seen Wall-E but I hear that one will possibly replace it. (I don't see things in the theater so that one has had to wait) First, the movie has a message. It is not a subtle message but one that is not dripping from every word. And it is a message I can wholeheartedly get behind. The sprawling of the suburbs has driven animals into smaller and smaller areas. (but this is not the post for that discussion). What I loved about this movie was the voices. Gary Shandling, Bruce Willis, and Steve Carell were hilarious. How can you not love a film that gives William Shatner a possum role? The movie is funny and touching and silly. Everything a good animated film should be. The scene at the end with Steve Carell was so hilarious my husband had to stop the movie to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes. Too wonderful. 

I have to love that there are so many animated films for me to enjoy. And so many different forms. I'm eager to see Coraline when it comes out. Stop motion has a special place in my heart. But until then I have many more in my queue. 

People in Glass Houses....

I have a confession to make. I bought my townhouse for the windows. Yeah the place is nice and the location is mostly quiet but it was the windows that made me fall in love with it. There are only three but they are wide and expansive and look out over a forested area. I remember touring the place, thinking I could possibly live here, until I saw the master bedroom window. And I was in love. We bought in August so it was lush and green outside and the nearby creek was just too pretty. When I open the windows at night I can hear the sound of the brook. 

What got me thinking about all this was a recent article in Dwell magazine. I occasionally pick up home magazines because I love residential architecture. And I particularly love two different (and I mean very different) styles. The first is the cottage. Small, cheerful, warm, and bright. The second is modern. Sparse, cool, simple, and... well bright. I've realized that what I love abut both of these styles is the windows. In fact, in 95% of the pictures I pull out of these magazines, the windows are what captured my eye. The other 5% are outdoor living spaces. I am clearly infatuated with mixing the indoors and the outdoors. 

The article in Dwell was covering Mies van der Rohe's Lafayette Park in Detroit. This was a planned community in Detroit filled with modern apartments, townhomes, and condos. And they're almost all glass. Here is a picture of the townhouses. 

My first introduction to Mies was in college. I went to Drake and started my career in the school of journalism. That was before I realized that intense daily deadlines and I do not get along. But the school of journalism was held in an interesting glass building. Every outer classroom was floor to ceiling windows. I was in heaven. The building, interestingly enough was designed by Mies van der Rohe. It was a source of pride for the school. And a source of happiness for me. 

Meredith Hall-Drake University

So I think I could possibly live in a glass house. I love the remoteness of the houses and the idea of constantly being surrounded by views of trees, animals, and nature. Mies created some of the greatest glass and steel skyscrapers around. But it is his glass house, the Farnsworth House, that I love the most. If price wasn't an issue, I'd live there.  

The same with this goethermal house in North Carolina. 

I'm not sure I could live in the Philip Johnson glass house but that's mostly because it is just for tours. 

But I'd love to live with those windows. I just have to remember not to throw stones. 

Snow!!!

As always the first snowfall of the year makes me happy. There is just something magical about the first one which seems to bring people outside to play in the beautiful white flakes. Yesterday was our first snow and I watched a young girl riding her scooter through the flakes, mouth open to catch them on her tongue. Then I took the camera out to try to record some of this magic. Of course there is no way to pin down magic but it's fun to try. 

Now don't get me wrong, by the seventh snow I'll be complaining and by the 30th I'll be done with winter. But for this moment I was happy. For this moment I was more than ready for winter. Here are a couple of the shots I took. I've noticed that falling snow doesn't photograph well but it does video well. I love the mixing of snow with leaves. I'm particularly proud of the red one. And the pumpkin reminds me that autumn moves into winter. My neighbor still had hers out and it was collecting snow fast. 

Knitting Night

My little sister taught me to knit about two years ago. She patiently explained the stitches to me and then helped me along as I screwed up. She and I have been knitting together weekly since that time. I've only done a couple of projects. I tend to knit very slow and don't do a lot of knitting at home. Over the last couple months we've added a number of new people to the group. We meet at a different coffee house either Monday or Tuesday and talk and knit. I am always amazed at the number of people who stop by to say how they used to knit, or how they've always wanted to learn. We believe in the "more the merrier" so everyone is pretty much invited. 

Of the nine people that are currently on my list, only four or five can make it each week. It's always a different mix of people. The one constant for most of the group has been my project. I have been working on a rather long scarf for the last 8 months. (did I mention I'm a slow knitter?). Tonight I finally finished the project. I just have to brag. I started on a hat this evening and have a great start on it. I even remembered how to join. But for my little sister, who I know reads this, my scarf is above. I'm sorry you won't see it. I'm giving it to my friend tomorrow morning. And I'm so excited. 

Book Review: Nature Girl

I love Carl Hiaasen. Okay well I've never met the man but I love his writing. There is something about the ability to take a dozen or so oddball characters and weave them together into a hilarious story. When I first read John Irving I thought that he was the best at combining characters but Hiaasen takes it to a higher place. This book is filled with no less than a dozen characters who are all fascinating in their own right. And he manages to bring them all together on one small island to see what will happen.

Nature Girl follows Honey Santana, a single mom in the Everglades who is off her meds. She hears mismatched songs in her head constantly and reacts often violently when things displease. Well she is displeased when a telemarketer calls one evening and then calls her a name. So she sets about to track him down. Now the telemarketer is having an interesting week as it is. His mistress is about to dump him for being too boring, his rich wife is planning to divorce him, and a private investigater is tailing him. So when he gets a fake call from Honey offering him an ecotour in Florida he jumps at the chance. So the telemarketer, his mistress, and the private investigator all head down to Florida.

There they meet a Seminole Indian who is haunted by a tourist he didn't kill, a college girl who is bored with life and is just looking for something fun, a fish vendor who is stalking Honey, and Honey's ex-husband and son. And that's just the beginning. Imagine all of these on a small island to get an idea of the almost slapstick quality of this novel. He sets things up beautifully. There are so many kidnappings in this book it is hard to keep track of whose prisoner is whose. Each character is played up to the max. Boyd, the telemarketer, is just scum in the worst sense of the word. Honey is crazy but still very likable. Sammy, the Seminole Indian, just wants to be alone and can't seem to catch a break. Even Boyd's soon to be ex-wife is just a little crazy.

Hiaasen writes all of his books about Florida and particularly about wild Florida. When I was on vacation a couple weeks ago I read his The Downhill Lie, about golf. I'm always impressed with the subtle environmental message that he hides in his books. The bad guys hate the outdoors, the good guys revel in it. The swamp always wins. And these are hidden in the book. Anyone who reads his work will come away thinking about how hilarious a writer he is. They may not even notice any sort of message. The plot on this books is wild but somehow the reader is willing to follow. The characters are just too interesting to turn away. In the tradition of the best train wreck, we just have to keep looking.

This book was a perfect antidote for me. It has been weeks since I've done any real reading so this was a quick read filled with enjoyable characters. I devoured it in little over 24 hours. The perfect beach book, I could also see spending a cold snowy day curled up on the couch with this book. Just be careful who's in the room. I guarantee you will laugh, probably out loud, possibly shooting food out your nose. Yeah he's that funny.

Bishop Allen!!!!....or not

One of my big excitements for my birthday this past weekend was going with my sister to Ames for the Bishop Allen concert. I had bought the tickets months before when I first found out they were coming. Since she introduced me to their music it is all I've been singing. I'm driving Jeff nuts walking around singing "News From Your Bed" and "Choose Again". So when she mentioned seeing David Sedaris, I mentioned seeing Bishop Allen. Of course we both jumped at the idea.

So Sunday I wasted most of the day until Em showed up at my door at 5:30. She was supposed to pick me up at 6 but was too excited. We jumped into the car and headed north. Ames is about 35 minutes north of Des Moines. We stopped in Ames to grab dinner at this wonderful little Thai place. The decor of Thai Palace wasn't anything special but the food was very tasty and very filling. Mmmm massaman curry. Then we stopped into a little bar for a beer before the show.

When we got to the venue at show time there was no one there. They were just starting to set up the stage. We picked up our tickets and then wandered into the student union to kill some time. The show was supposed to start at 8 with two opening bands. We wandered back at about 9 to see a printed sign on the door. "Show will be starting at 11ish". We were told that the band was having car troubles and had broken down. They were just barely in Omaha. After reading their blog I found out that they had broken down in Colorado but one of their opening bands had picked most of the band up and drove in.

My sister and I debated options. If we stayed, the opening bands would take the stage at sometime after 11. Bishop Allen would probably take the stage around midnight. And then we would be driving back home at 1 or 2 in the morning. Of course if we left, we'd miss the show we'd been waiting for for months. Plus we would have to kill the two hours in between which I knew probably meant a bar at that time of night.

After a bit of debating we made up our minds. Perhaps I'm getting old. We went out with some of Em's friends who had come up for the concert, drank a beer, and then eventually drove home. No concert. Bleh! I checked Bishop Allen's website (www.myspace.com/bishopallen) to find out that they went on shortly after 11. By that time, Em and I were hanging out at my house playing video games and laughing our heads off. We did Mario Racing and had a ball. I missed the concert but still had a great time. Thanks little sis!

What's Opera Doc

There a huge number of cartoons that I can remember word for word but very few of them quite like the Warner Brother's What's Opera Doc? I can sing along with that little gem and pretend for a moment that I actually know what Wagner's Ring Cycle would sound like. Of course I'm missing a couple hours of it. But that Bugs Bunny cartoon was one of my first introductions to opera although not my first introduction to classical music. 

So I was thrilled on Saturday when I got to go see Bugs Bunny on Broadway with my parents and sister. You honestly can't even begin to describe how much fun it is to watch a 100 piece orchestra play the opening introduction to a Bugs Bunny cartoon. From the initial slide sound to the clopping blocks it brings a huge smile to your face. I was laughing before they even began to show the cartoons. 

The show is a brain child of George Daugherty and has been running in symphony halls for almost 19 years. The idea is that Warner Brothers sampled a lot of classical music when making their cartoons. Of course the most famous being What's Opera Doc which uses Wagner's Ring Cycle and the Rabbit of Seville which uses Rossini. But there are numerous Road Runner cartoons that also uses bits of classical pieces cut in such a way to make them recognizable but abbreviated. Remember a cartoon is only seven minutes long and classical pieces tend to be a bit longer than that. So on Saturday I was treated to a full orchestra playing Rossini, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, and Smetana while watching some of the funniest cartoons ever made. What could be better?

I was really surprised by how well they pulled this off. The musicians timed their starts and halts perfectly. The conductor used a click track, an invention of Carl Stalling's own (Warner Brother's composer and conductor) to keep track of every little stop and start. And they had to time it beautifully. The orchestra, which gets about a week to rehearse with the new music, did amazingly. Almost every seat in the Civic Center was filled. There were tons of kids there who seemed to love the show. I'm sure for many of them this is their first trip to the symphony. 

My sister and I, along with Jeff and my sister's fiance, laughed harder than most. We've all grown up with these cartoons. They make up our childhood. And as Daugherty said in his opening introduction, it is difficult for many of us to hear the Ride of the Valkyries without thinking "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit". This music was introduced to us by cartoons. The cartoons when created were done with a full orchestra behind them. And this show brings all that together for one incredible evening. So much fun. 

Sleeping In

For the last two months or so I've been dealing with a frustrating case of insomnia. I have no problem staying asleep. It's the falling asleep that's the problem. I go to bed at 11 or so on work nights and then lie awake until 1 or 2 in the morning. When the alarm goes off at 6 I tend to be dead tired. It's frustrating and stressful and hopefully curable. 

Yesterday was my birthday and my family kept asking what they could get me as a gift. You can tell how old you are by how practical the gifts you ask for are. One year I asked for a file cabinet. Another year I asked for a vacuum. This year I asked for a white noise generator. Yeah I've become seriously old. 

Here's the odd part, I love my gift. I slept with it last night and I slept like a baby. I turned the thing on to night noises, crickets and wind, and dropped off within minutes. I was woken at four by my noisy neighbors coming home and leaving the engine running. While that would normally keep me awake with anxiety for hours, I fell back to sleep in minutes. I woke up to realize that I'd slept over 8 hours. It felt fantastic. I think that may be the best gift ever.