For Alissa

It's funny that I'm writing this post for my sister Alissa. Not surprising since it is her birthday today but surprising because she doesn't read my blog. Then again, my parents don't read my blog either. I'm not sure what that says about me. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to explore that line of thought. Of my immediate brothers and sisters, only my little sister Em reads this. (Thanks Em)

So this is for my older sis, who'll probably never read these words. I always wanted to be like you. When I was younger my sister was my idol. I wanted to be her. I wanted her devil-may-care attitude and her ability to get along with almost anyone. I wanted her innate sense of style and her outgoing nature. She's always seemed to be surrounded by friends and been well-liked by pretty much everyone who knows her. She's been courageous, living on her own terms, making her own mistakes. And I wanted all that. I myself was shy (painfully so), gawky, and kind of a dork. I've worked through some of the shy but I'm still a dork. I'm lucky I can dress myself in the morning some days. (my sense of style lacks something...oh yeah, style) But I learned a couple tricks from my sister. I've learned to love strong black coffee and black as a clothing choice. I've learned that style may be innate but it can also be borrowed (I've stolen so many clothing and decorating ideas from her). I've learned that family is stronger than friends. And I've learned that we all need to grow up to be who we are. We are born and raised in a family. And we grow up to be completely different people.

My sister's going through kind of a rough time right now and I've been trying to be there for her although I'm not always great about keeping in touch. It's been hard to watch her lose some of the confidence that she's always seemed to possess. I'll see her tonight for dinner. It's a family tradition. We'll spend some time together with my parents and hopefully my sister. And hopefully, at least for tonight, we can remind her of who she is. Who she's been. The three of us sisters may look alike, but we are different as night and day. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never be as popular as my older sister, or as independent as my younger sister. But when you put us together, particularly in the kitchen for some reason, we can laugh until we cry. We compliment each other, me playing the straight man to their comedian. I'm the more serious of the three (and sometimes the oldest). So for my big sis, I love you. May you always be that strong, confident person that I know you are inside.

Foggy Morning

I walked out the door this morning to go to work and found this.
I just had to run back in for the camera. I didn't even know we had a spider living in those bushes and hadn't seen this rather elaborate web. But the fog made it look like a big cotton ball and I had to take a picture.

I'm one of those odd people who actually kind of likes spiders. Well, as long as they don't dangle from a web and surprise me. They have free reign to live on my ceilings or outside in the bushes or siding. The ones in the siding grow huge with amazing webs. I'll try to post some pictures later in the summer when they are well established.

And the fog makes me happy. It feels very springy here with the fog and the rain. Most of the blossoms are out and everything is green. It puts me in a great mood.

Distance

Sometimes distance sucks.

It's really hard to be far away and be helpless. Last night Jeff got a call that his dad had collapsed and had been taken to the hospital. They think it was just his blood pressure but he was kept overnight for observation. I'm optimistic but still worried for him. And mostly I feel helpless. I so want to help, want to do at least something. But with six hours distance there was little we could do last night. And I think that really bothered Jeff.

When Jeff came up here to go to college, he left all his family down in St. Louis. After graduation he stayed up here and met me. As much as he hates to admit it, he's been an Iowan now almost longer than he was a Missorian. We get down to see family about two or three times a year but it never really feels like enough. Most of the times it is only for the weekend and those two or three days are often a whirlwind.

So today I'm worried. Jeff has said he'll call me when he finds something out and I know he's anxious to hear. But waiting by the phone is not quite as comforting as waiting by a loved ones side. We had discussed going down in two weeks but now we might push that up. Sometimes the only way to make a true connection is face to face. Until then our thoughts and prayers have to make the six hour journey down south. Get well soon, Dad.

Panicking

Part of my job is to read the news. Daily. I have a couple different news sources that I use every morning to try to keep up with the economic situation around the country. It's one of my favorite and least favorite parts of my job. Favorite because I get to learn a ton of new things each morning, least favorite because I don't really find business all that exciting.

But the big news today, as it has been for the last week, is swine flu. Everyone is talking about swine flu and I am starting to see the beginning of a panic. I read at least 20 headlines, from three different news agencies about the disease. Pictures of people all over the world in masks. And I just laugh. We work ourselves up over everything don't we? Does anyone remember Avian Bird Flu? The one that was supposed to wipe huge chunks of the population. Yeah, what happened to that one? Or the threat of biological warfare that never really materialized? People were stocking up on duct tape and bottled water preparing for the ultimate catastrophe.

So let's breakdown this illness. There are 20 confirmed cases in Mexico, with 80 more possibly linked to the disease. There have been 20 cases in the US, 6 in Canada, and 1 in Spain. Out of 6.5 billion people! Suddenly less than 50 cases and it's a global pandemic. For most of the people outside of Mexico, they have had flu-like symptoms for a couple days and recovered without issue. Hmmmm yeah this one sounds terrible. Why are we so afraid of the flu? Every year people rush to get their flu shots with the worry that the flu is coming. I've had the flu. It sucks, but it's not deadly. (Please note that the Influenza of 1918 is exempt from this. That actually was a pandemic) Has anyone thought to question that rural Mexico has less advanced medical treatments? No wonder the people are dying. Anywhere else, and we have a couple days in bed, maybe at worst some hacking coughs and dehydration and then back to work as usual.

I know I'm ranting and I'm sorry for that. It just floors me that we work ourselves up into a tizzy over these diseases. So in honor of Swine Flu, I think we should start the Panic of the Month club. Each month we'll find which issue has everyone panicking. Last month it was Salmonella in the peanut butter. This month Swine Flu. I can't wait to see what next month brings.

Epic Fail

For a while I've been reading Icanhascheezburger.com. Although I cringe at the language (English majors everywhere are whimpering), these are just too funny. For those who haven't been, readers submit pictures of their cats and other animals along with funny captions. They make my day a little brighter. And I've even got Jeff reading them. 

So today we spent a little time with the website and noticed that they had other tabs at the top. One tabs had nostalgic items, toys and shows from my childhood. Another had funny images of dogs with captions. And our favorite was Fail Blog. This has reader submissions of pictures and videos that are just wrong. A sign that may not say what they thought it said. Spelling errors on tattoos. And just general human stupidity. I laughed until I cried. My stomach hurt. I'm still working through the archives but this is just hilarious stuff. 

One of my favorite pictures.

And here is my favorite video so far. 

Love Songs and Poems

I developed my love of picture books from my mother, who would sit for hours with all five of us curled around her. I still remember snuggling up to her on the living room couch while she would read the stories until she fell asleep. And we always woke her, prodded her on with the next sentence. Exhausted and sleep-deprived as she was, she always continued reading. I love her for that.

So I loved picture books because of my mother but I loved poetry because of my father. Dad was always reading bits of poetry out to us. As I've mentioned before The Raven was a favorite. The Jabberwacky for humor or the wonderful Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service (which most of us kids can quote, at least the start). He read us The Twins although the author always escapes me about a case of mistaken identity. And one of the other ones he would throw out often was this line. "Let us go then, you and I. When evening is spread out against the sky, like a patient etherized upon a table." With him as a doctor it made sense to us but it would take me years before I was brave enough to tackle T.S. Eliot's greatest poem. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".

I knew the first lines by heart and by the age of 12 I could recite the entire first stanza. This was still before reading the poem in full. Nowdays I can't think the words "let's go" without that poem popping to mind. Jeff has even started quoting the first couple lines even though he's never read the full poem. So for this Poetry Friday and for my father, I present a part of the poem in all its middle-aged, indecisive, awkwardness. It's a poem that I learned to recite before I learned to love it. It's long, I'll warn you, so I won't post the whole thing here. You can read it in full here. And I recommend, if you haven't read it, to try it. You be surprised by how many references from this you have heard before. (measured out my life in coffee spoons, Do I dare to eat a peach)

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
(They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!")
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

Warriors

It's been a long time since I hid a book in my top desk drawer so that I could steal a couple minutes to read. But this morning I'm doing some work, and then opening the drawer to get my reading fix. I was late this morning because I was reading. I didn't even touch the computer last night so I could have some extra time with the book. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've had a book I couldn't stop reading.

I'm reading the first book in the Warrior series by Erin Hunter, called Into The Wild. Hunter is actually a pseudonym for three English women who write the books. The series follows several colonies of feral cats who have carefully divided hunting grounds. The book follows Rusty, a domestic cat, (or kittypet as the clans call him) who joins the group and learns the ways of the clan. This is complicated because the different clans are warring against each other for hunting territory. Somehow Rusty and an ostracized medicine cat will save the day and I'm dying to know how. I'm only halfway through the book but hope to be done with it tonight.

I picked up the book grudgingly because my nephew told me that I had to read it. I don't read series and thought it sounded kind of silly. I owe him an apology. Although I wouldn't put the book quite on par with Watership Down, it has that kind of feel to it. Each followed animal communities in their quest to survive. Each created elaborate customs and cultural orders in those communities. And each had just enough action to keep the reader turning pages fast to get to the resolution. I claim Watership Down as one of my favorite books. And the book had a number of strange influences on me. I still occasionally think silflay when I see a particularly nice dusk. I almost named a bunny sculpture Fiver. I'm not sure whether Warriors will have as much of an impact on me or even how many of the books (if any) that I read beyond this. But I'm definitely enjoying the ride.

Earth Day

I originally had a bit of a rant that I was planning to write for today. I get frustrated with the idea that we only celebrate the Earth one day. And normally we do it in ways that are not particularly environmentally friendly. But the office is letting me where jeans (not sure how that impacts the Earth) so I'm in a great mood. And just can't work up any rightous anger to do my rant. Lucky you!

Instead I want to share some of my favorite Earth pictures. I love photography and some of the ones I have received recently are incredible.

A friend of mine sent me this image of snow rollers this morning. What's a snow roller you ask. When the snow is right and the wind is right, it rolls itself into a ball. Now if nature could only learn to stack them and add coal for eyes.

Taken by Tim Tevebaugh in Idaho last month. See the rest of the pictures here.

While I'm on the subject of ice and snow, isn't this dock just amazing? I love the feet look that it has.

One of the guys at work sent me this stunning image of Mt. Fuji in Japan. I love that people think to send me interesting or beautiful photos they find.


And it wouldn't be complete without some animal/wildlife images. I love this little otter stopping by to say hello.

And last but not least, this mantis that reminds me that this is a celebration. And that I should be thankful that at least one day out of the year people stop and think about what we're doing to the planet. Happy Earth Day all!

Harvest for Hope

Amazingly enough I've become something of a slow reader since I started playing WoW. What used to take me three days to read now takes a couple weeks. I used to read a book a week at my slowest. Now it takes me a couple weeks to finish some of the fastest books. It's something that I'm going to look to correct, but for right now I plod through books when I used to glide. 

So when I say that it has taken me weeks to read Jane Goodall's Harvest for Hope, it is not because of any flaw with the book. In fact this book is wonderful. It will gladly go onto my shelf for future perusal. Harvest For Hope is a book about the food industry and all the issues and challenges that face it. Food production has changed completely in the last 50 or so years and not for the better. Corporations control too much of our food supply now, monocrops dominate farms, and animals are kept as commodities not living things. So many of us have no concept of where our food comes from or the huge lengths it goes to, getting to our plates. 

Goodall presents all this information in her standard direct way but she is quick to point out ways in which we can improve the system. The tone of several sections are bleak but there is always hope at the end of each chapter. Her section on local eating is fascinating. There are a ton of slow food, local food movements out there that I was not aware of. The sections of factory farms for animal products made me physically ill and continues to cement my decision to be vegetarian, no matter how often Jeff offers me bacon. :-) 

Goodall touches on the natural order of eating, animal rights, genetically modified foods, obesity rates, water issues, and corporate control. None of this information was new but the solutions Goodall offers are not normally given in these types of books. I came away feeling more hopeful then I did after reading Fast Food Nation. Like reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school, these books make a huge impact in the way I view my world. Goodall's section of fish farming was new and very eye-opening. I was not aware of how often these farms contaminate the wild fish that live nearby. The sections on local foods made me want to start growing my own vegetables. I'll have to start a small garden this summer. 

Again not a lot of new information (after having read multiple books on food production) but told in a wonderful way. I felt dispair and I felt hope within a couple pages of each other. A call to arms if I ever read one. For anyone interested in all sections of food production, it is a must read. 

It's Official!

Jeff finally got his acceptance for school today. He'll be starting in June. He had been worried since it took them so long to accept him. I couldn't be happier for him or prouder of him. Life for us will change pretty drastically from this moment on. The next two years will be scrimp and save and lost time. And then after that we should be doing well. Yay Jeff!!!

I Love Lane

I'm on a Lane Smith kick right now. Okay so perhaps it's gone a little beyond a kick since I've been scouring libraries all over the city for his books. For those of you with children, or like me a child at heart, you simply can't beat his books. Lane represents everything I would ever want to be as a children's writer and illustrator. He's inventive, funny, and often downright silly. His books make me laugh out loud and his illustration work is always unbelievably good.

Just One More Book has been doing the Rock Stars of Reading tour, a video documentary of their East Coast tour of authors. They visit some of the biggest names in children's books and post the interviews and visits on their website. Jane Yolen, Jarrett Krosoczka, Lane Smith, Jon Scieszka, Diane de Groat.... The second, third, and fourth were all about Lane. Now I've always been a huge fan of his books but getting to see those interviews and rough sketches just made him all the more interesting.

So for those of you who've never read a Lane Smith or have children who love books, here are a couple that you really should look into.

John, Paul, George, and Ben is the hilarious story of the founding fathers in childhood. Lane takes some liberties with the stories but goes on to separate the fact from fiction at the end of the book. The little stories about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington makes me laugh out loud every time I read them. I simply can't get tired of that book. From Paul Revere's midnight ride to George Washington's chopping down the cherry tree, Lane mixes just the right amount of folktale with just the right amount of funny. The illustrations are fun and he includes some American History facts at the end to make it educational.


The Happy Hocky Family is a selection of little stories which are simply wonderful. Each member of the family gets a chance to speak and tell a simple, often one page, story. The stories are often funny with just a touch of satire mixed in. The illustrations are very old school and in that very inventive. The book, from the outside, looks like it was created in the 50s rather than 1996. Visually interesting with fun little stories.

But Lane is best known for his collaborations with Jon Scieszka. I vividly remember the first time I picked up The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I had never read anything quite like it. It was satirical and dark and allegory. The illustrations were wild, collage and paint, and literally all over the place. There was a tough of chaos to the book that startled me. And it was the first time that I started to think about children's books as art. And I was instantly in love with it. This was new and inventive. It was, at least for me, revolutionary.


I would think the same thing when I read The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. These books, particularly at the time, were unlike anything else that was out there. The illustrations were darker than most picture books I had read. There is a touch of the sinister in those two. The text is literally all over the page. The stories are not linear, jumping from character to character. Most of the time we read fairytales because they are the same. There is a comfort in hearing the same story over and over. These books turned all of that on its head. Suddenly what was once sameness and conformity and comfort, was chaos and difference and uniqueness. And also wonder.

Lane was also conceptual designer for James and the Giant Peach, the film. He had done the illustrations for one the prints and had been asked to work on the movie. One of my favorite films mostly for the visual look of it. He was also involved in How the Grinch Stole Christmas film but I won't fault him too much for that. I love Lane's work because he seems to enjoy pushing boundaries and reinventing his style. Each of his titles looks totally different. I love that willingness to experiment and try. I'm very excited to hear that he has two new books coming out this year, one that he's written and one that he's illustrator on. I guarentee I'll be lined up at the bookstore to pick them up. So far I haven't been disappointed.

Quotability

Quoting movies is practically an Olympic event in my house. My brothers and sisters and I are constantly throwing out a movie quote, following up on someone else's quote, or challenging each other to name the movie. When you get all five of us together (a rare but wonderful occurrence) you can bet that every third sentence will be some sort of quote. We can happily recite entire movies building one on the other. We joke that it's our only way to communicate with each other but it's not far off base. We tend to talk in quotes.

I mention this because in Naxx on Monday, the guild was quoting Ghostbusters (that was your whole plan Ray, Get Her?). At knitting last night someone threw out a Godfather quote. And later on last night, one of my guildies and I went through a good chunk of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Go away or I shall taunt you a second time). I am surrounded by movie quotes.

And this got me thinking. I would say that Holy Grail is one of the most quotable movies of all time. I would rank Ghostbusters right up there. For my family Tommy Boy and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes in as close finishers. And Anchorman (which I haven't seen) is quickly becoming a favorite. And we are constantly finding new movies to quote and new ways to incorporate them into a conversation. The same way a friend of mine uses puns, we use movie quotes. But I'm curious. What does everyone out there think of as some of the most quotable movies?

Naxx update

Two weeks ago we decided to try Naxxramas again. The plan was to start the first quarter on April 2 and see how far we could go. We cleared the first (arachnid quarter) that night. Four trips in the last two weeks and we have only three boss fights left. For a "casual" guild, this is incredible! I had mentioned how we had plowed through arachnid, then plague, then half of construct. Last night we headed back in before the reset today.

We managed to bring down Thaddius (last boss of construct) in one shot. This is by far my favorite fight. So much fun. You start up high on these platforms killing two mini-bosses. Like Romeo and Juliet, these also need to be brought down within seconds of each other. They gave us no real difficulty. Then you need to make this huge jump to get to the boss platform. From there it is all quick dps and movement. Thaddius hits all the participants with a polarity (either positive or negative). All the people of the same polarity need to be on the same side of the platform. If you stand together the buff you get is amazing (huge dps). If you stand on the wrong side, the debuff will wipe the raid. We moved when we needed to and with only five members still living we managed to bring him down. Huge!!!

Then we moved on to military. We had tried the Razuvious fight on Thursday with very limited success (read: four very frustrating wipes). This time everything clicked. The two who were mind controlling the understudies talked, switched, and managed to control him the entire fight. We one-shotted him without even a single death. Go guild. Then we moved on quickly to Gothik. I had watched the video of this beforehand and the fight seemed frantic. The group is split up. Half stands on the living side and half on the dead side. I was on the living side so have no idea how the dead side goes. Adds are spawned on the living side, in increasing numbers. Once we killed the adds they went to the dead side. Finally, after a period of time, Gothik himself comes down to fight. He switches sides (living and dead) until the last 10% where the gate opens and everyone comes in to burn him down. This has to be the easiest fight we've seen in Naxx so far. I thought Noth was quick but this was just not a challenge for us.

And finally around midnight server time (11pm for me) we moved on to The Four Horsemen. I'd been excited about and dreading this fight at the same time. The Horsemen are fought in four corners. The front two is handled by the tanks, healers, and dps. The back two are handled by one person each. Most of them recommend having a warlock do it. Luckily we had two warlocks (me and an affliction warlock). Or perhaps I should say unluckily. I was given my charge and sent to the back corner. My only job was to stay alive. Sadly I failed. Twice. Causing the entire raid to wipe. I think I was putting too much pressure on myself and simply wasn't thinking. I would try to do damage (I am destro to the core now) or try to drain life exclusively or forget to sacrifice my minion fast enough. After two attempts we called it a night and I went to bed pretty dejected. But this morning things look different. I talked with Jeff last night on strategy and think I have a good one. All I need to do is continue to raise and sacrifice my minion over and over. The moment my protective sacrifice bubble bursts I need to sacrifice again. I'll go through a ton of soul shards but those aren't a problem. I can stay alive for quite possibly hours that way. Of course we'll have to try it. But at least this way I can buy some time for the guild.

Other than that I have to say how impressed I am with the guild. In two weeks we have downed over 70% of Naxx. We've learned to use Vent to our advantage and we've learned some really tough fights. It's been a ton of fun and other than the occasional warlock slip :-(, we've all settled happily into our roles. Great tanking, great healing, and great dps. But more than anything, great fun!

Blessed Blocks

I've always thought that religious art was solemn and somber. At least it was in the Catholic church I grew up in. Marble statutes that stood on pillars, never touching the floor. It was very dignified and somewhat intimidating. So I'm not sure what to make of the Lego Jesus that was unveiled in Sweden yesterday. This life-size, 30,000 white block Lego statute will live in the Oenstra Gryta Church in Sweden. I'm not sure who all will be offended but I think it's great. I wonder if they blessed each individual block or the sculpture as a whole. Inventive sculpture. Who would have known that I'd actually like some religious art?

Photo by American Free Press

I Should Have Been a Pirate

When I was very young I wanted to be a pirate. I was, and still am, drawn to the sea and sailing. I loved the idea of living it up on some far away island. I was a bit too young to understand the risks of death that went along with being a pirate. Or the miserable living conditions. Or even the concept that it may not have been the fun romanticized version I read in books or saw in movies. It didn't matter that I didn't want to kill people or steal things. I wanted to be a pirate.

And I did have something that seemed perfect for the job. I had an eyepatch. Not the standard costume eyepatch with a skull and crossbones on the front (although now I would proudly wear that). No, I actually had an eyepatch for medical reasons. The same reason I've worn glasses since I was six month old. (yes they make them that small). I had the eyepatch and the glasses because I only have one good eye.

After I was born my mother noticed that one of my eyes would be looking at her, and the other would be looking off towards something else. She immediately made an appointment with an eye doctor and we ended up getting sent to Iowa City to an eye specialist. He found the problem quickly. I have a huge hole in the back of my eye. Kind of makes it hard to see with that big hole blocking things up. And the reason my bad eye drifts is because I don't actually look out of it much. They immediately bought me protective glasses which I took great pains to destroy. I was such a grateful child. (when I'm really tired or not paying attention, my eye still drifts quite a bit)

Now I can see somewhat out of that eye. I have peripheral vision but no central vision. If I lose my good eye I have to learn braille. I wouldn't be able to drive. I'd be legally blind. I was protected constantly through my childhood. I was told not to do things that my other brothers and sisters got to do for fear that I'd "put out an eye". I was fourteen before I climbed my first tree. Yeah I know, sad. But then again, without good depth perception, I might have had problems with the tree anyway.

The doctor wanted to make sure that I still used my bad eye though. So I was prescribed an eyepatch. I was to wear the patch around at home over my good eye to strengthen the bad one. I wore it for a while until I learned to read. Then all bets were off. I couldn't read with the thing on so I immediately stopped it. But even at that age I'd proudly say that I had one...and that I was a pirate.

I mention all this because I was reading BBC news on Friday and found an article about retinal detachments (which is what I have) particularly those affecting central vision. There is a new type of therapy called eccentric viewing which can allow some people with no central vision to learn to read. And I think I'm going to try it. I read a little on the program over the weekend and was really excited about it. The therapy teaches you to read using your peripheral vision. It also teaches you to look through the vision field that offers you the best image. This therapy could be huge for me. This could offer me the chance to feel a little more normal when it comes to sight. It may even tighten up that eye so it drifts a little less. I might become a little less protective of my good eye. Or at least not have to worry about learning braille. But more than anything it offers me a chance to dust off that old eyepatch. Arggh. I'm a pirate. :-)

Poetry Friday

I'm a little late for Friday but here's a bit of poetry. 

Litany of Aging

It only gets easier from here.

Somehow the worries of youth,

popularity, clothes, boys,

slipped out the back of my head,

Like my algebra instruction. 

Leaving space for the new worries.

Bills unpaid, job stress,

and unanswered questions. 

And even these, 

Which seem so catastrophic

now,

will one day escape, 

flee my mind.

Like your name. 

6 Parts Gin to 1 Part Vermouth

Okay, soapbox time. It's time to trot out a little pet peeve of mine. I went out for drinks with friends on Tuesday. We went to one of those kind of places with pages upon pages of drink menu. For the record I had New Belgium's 1554, an amazingly hoppy beer that makes me incredibly happy. Seriously I should buy stock in the company. Or at least a lovely gift for my little sister for introducing me to it.

So one whole page of the menu was dedicated to martinis. Except that there was only one actual martini on the menu. And here is where my rant starts. A martini, for those who don't know, is made up of gin and vermouth. I will even allow for a vodka martini but that's really stretching it. Now I drink my martinis dirty, with a little olive juice and an extra olive or two. But the basic elements of the drink are still there, gin and vermouth. Here was one of the martinis listed on the menu: Stoli Vanilla, Starbuck's coffee liqueur, a splash of coffee, with a lemon twist and a sugared rim. Okay so we have the vodka. Beyond that no gin or vermouth. Soooo.....NOT a martini.

Seriously people, just because you create this concoction and put it in a martini glass does not mean you should call it a martini. And yes I understand that you can charge more for a drink by calling it a better name and putting it in a pretty glass, but really.... From now on I'm going to start creating my own wine drink. Mix up a bit of bourbon, flavored vodka, and some seven-up, put it in a wine glass and call it good. I could even sugar the rim for the fruitier concoctions. By the restaurants standards as long as I serve it in a wine glass, I can call it wine right?

I have no idea why this bothers me. I go out to restaurants and bars and flip through the menu and always cringe when I hit the martini menu. Jeff gets that scared look in his eye because he knows the rant that is coming. He's heard it a hundred times if not more. Other who haven't been with me for one of these rants listen politely and roll their eyes. But grrr. Call them specialty drinks, call them libations, call them "this will f*%$ you up" drinks, but please please don't call them martinis. Unless they have gin and vermouth. And maybe a blue cheese stuffed olive. Mmmmm

Idiot Box Art

For the last year or so (ever since reading The True Meaning of Smekday) I've been following Adam Rex's blog. He's great about putting up sketches and some of his conceptual art. He even puts up characters he's drawn that are waiting to be placed in a story. I love his art style and I love his sense of humor. 

The last couple weeks he has been showing his blog readers the stages of a painting he's working on. He started with conceptual drawings and we have gotten to follow it all the way up to finished piece. The painting is part of a show going on at Gallery 1988 and is an homage to 1980s television shows. The show is called Idiot Box. Rex's contribution is an image from the terrible TV show Small Wonders. So when he linked to the show this past week I had to check it out. And there were some great contributions. 

They had everything from The Snorks, Gumby, The "A" Team, Sesame Street, Alf, Saved By the Bell, Ren & Stimpy, and dozens more. I was in heaven. These are all shows I know and sadly all shows I watched. The art includes oils, watercolors, diorama, sculpture, screenprints, woodcuts, and collage. There is just a ton of artwork there, all for sale. I even thought about picking up one of the Fraggle Rock pieces. I'm sure I probably can't afford it though. (when I went back it had already sold for $2,500, well above my price range!) For anyone who's a child of the Eighties (like I am) you need to check it out. Here are a couple of my favorite pieces. 

McGyver by Wade Schin (and yes I had to check out his website after seeing this.) This piece has already sold.

The Fraggle Rock piece I wanted by Ewelina Ferruso. I love the texture on the trash. Already sold.

And the awesome Schoolhouse Rock collage by Patrick Gannon. Again already sold. 

Check out all the other pieces. A very cool gallery exhibit. 

Fun Photos that I Find

Hopefully this will be a regular thing. I love photos and particularly fun photos. And since I've been reading about farm animals I found these great pig pictures.

This is Pinto from Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago. I've been to the zoo many times but never been to the Children's Zoo section. Well this pig has taken to painting. He does it independently, never with prodding. Pigs are very intelligent so the keepers try to find ways to keep them entertained. This one uses his hooves and his snout and other found objects to create his art.

Here is one of his paintings. I guess they are often sold on ebay. I might have to look into those. It's quite a bit better than some of the finger painting I can do. :-)

Both photos from the Associated Press.

Food Is the New Sex

Since the 1950s the number of books that have come out about sex have been staggering. Masters and Johnson produced their well known book, Human Sexual Response. The Joy of Sex has been printed in version after version. Kinney came forward with his ground breaking research. And through the sixties, seventies, eighties, and even some of the nineties it is what we talked about. Sometimes in hushed tones but it was on the tip of a lot of people's tongues.

The 2000s seem to have brought a new focus: food. And suddenly it seems like the market has been glutted with books about food. We discuss trans fats in hushed tones and talk about antioxidants the way we use to talk about the g-spot. I of course only mention all this because I've been hit with this craze as well. "Fast Food Nation" was the first book I remember reading on food and I was shocked by what I found. I eat fast food (Subway excepted) far less then before because of it. I finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about a year ago. Barbara Kingsolver's beautiful book on eating local made a huge impact on me. I started to think about where my food really came from and what distance it had traveled to make it to my table. I began to think about the seasons food has. I'm currently reading "Harvest for Hope", Jane Goodall's book on eating in a sustainable manner, both for the planet and the animals and humans who live here. And I'm on hold at the library to read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan's revolutionary book on food production. After that will be another Pollan, "In Defense of Food" about the debate between food and nutrients. In short, I'm suddenly paying a lot of attention to what I'm putting in my body.

The idea for this post came from my dad who just finished "The Omnivore's Dilemma". My dad has never been a man who has been bitten by the environmental bug. He used to get my sister's ire up by denying that climate change was happening. He would drive me crazy with his defense on CAFOs. Suddenly he's talking about sustainable, organic farming. He's mentioning the hormones in his meat. We're talking crop rotations at dinner. He has become interested in food. And one night he mentioned that food was the new sex. And we started debating why we, as a society, were suddenly interested in something we've taken for granted for years.

Perhaps this focus on food is coming at a good time. The obesity rate in this country is skyrocketing. We eat processed foods with ingredients we can't even pronounce much less know what they do. We add artificial flavors and (as I found out from Fast Food Nation) scents to our foods. Corporations control a good portion of what we eat. Within my parent's lifetime we have seen a shift from natural foods to grocery bought packaged foods pumped with preservatives. And suddenly people are starting to notice that the food they eat doesn't really feed them. At least not provide them with the nutrition they need. It is amazing that something created in a lab can be so tasty but there is very little to match a free off the tree pear or a bit of honey drizzled over a biscuit. Nature at its finest.

This wasn't meant as a lecture. I've been interested in food for a while. I'm trying to strip more and more of the artificial out of my diet. My family is now pretty comfortable with my vegetarian diet although my mother (bless her heart) keeps inviting me over for beef stew. I've often said that I don't cook, which has been mostly true. But I'm ready for a bit of a change. I want to start making more food from scratch. I love the idea of knowing everything that went into the dinner I eat. I'm excited about the idea of eating less preservatives. And I'm excited about trying out some new meals. Plus I just like food.

And just a little something to sweeten you up, since this post seems a bit like a lecture and that wasn't my intent. Food is not just the new sex but sometimes the new art.

Raiding and Pillaging

{Warning: this is an incredibly long post that may not make sense if you don't know at least something about WoW}

My guild for WoW is a mostly casual guild. There are those who go out and pug every instance and every raid. There are others who will never instance at all. I fall somewhere in the middle. I have done the occasional pug (Pick Up Group, for my non-playing friends) but they are not my favorite. Group dynamics tend to be a bit off when it comes to pugs. So I instance regularly with the guild and occasionally pug something.

But the last two days have been all about raiding. On Wednesday the plan was to hit Vault of Archavon (VoA) or Obsidium Sanctum. It just depended on whether Alliance or Horde controlled Wintergrasp. Well, when raid time came Wintergrasp was Horde controlled so we headed over to OS. Now this is a 10 man raid (which I have pugged before) but we as a guild were well overpowered. It took us 35 minutes to get through with only an occasional death and no wipes. Sartharian (the last dragon) is an interesting fight but once you know to look for the flaming wall of death you pretty much avoid it. So there was 10 man OS done. In a shorter time than it takes to do a Violet Hold 5 man instance. So we all headed back to Dalaran. I was about to set out to do my dailies when Alliance took Wintergrasp. We jumped at the chance to do VoA. Now I've never done this raid. But considering it took us 15 minutes I can safely say that we were not in any real trouble. Four trash pulls and then the boss. We should start farming that one. And we had a good time. I enjoy instancing but I really love 10 man raids. It's just so much fun to work together and hang out.

But all of this was just whetting my appetite for last nights event. The guild was going back to Naxxramas! I mentioned in January that we had made an attempt on Naxx but had been stopped by low DPS. At that time we only were able to get through the first two bosses in the arachnid quarter before Maexxnia put an end to our fun. This time was a little different. We were all geared in blues and purples. We were all doing over 1500 dps. And for the first time we were trying Ventrilo. (more on that later) Anub'Rekhan, who had killed us a couple of times previously, went down without too much of a fight. Clearly our new strategy worked. The Grand Widow was just as simple since we managed to wait for the enrage to bring down her minions. I had won my sword from her in January. Maexxnia brought us down once because we forgot about her enrage but the very next time we brought our revenge. She finally went down. And that cleared the Arachnid Quarter. Yay!

On to the Plague Quarter. We had tried in January but the trash mobs killed us. You know it's bad when you die repeatedly on trash mobs. Last night that was not the issue. We rolled through the trash mobs without problem. I got to spend most of my time AOEing. And after only a couple of pulls we were face to face with Noth the Plaguebringer. Now I was originally going to say that the Grand Widow is the easiest fight we've seen in Naxx but Noth comes close. He is pretty much a tank and spank except that he summons skeletons. Then mid-fight he disappears and we have to fight a larger number of skeletons. Then he returns. He went down without any deaths. Easy fight. Heigen the Unclean was not the same way.

I don't think I have ever seen a fight with so much need for movement. Our Main Tank, my friend Lon, described it as two dances. First there is the slow dance, where the ranged stands on the stage while the melee and tanks hurt Heigen on the floor. Every couple of seconds the floor erupts with acid. You need to make sure you're not standing on that section when it does. You move left to right across the floor avoiding the acid areas. And then back. When Heigen returns to his original spot the ranged must come off the stage and the fast dance begins. You just have to move. No casting, no healing, nothing. Just move. Then when you are again in the middle, the slow dance portion starts again. Until you bring him down. The first attempt was a wipe. We just couldn't stay ahead of the acid. Our long suffering rogue started the deaths but I quickly followed. The second attempt worked but only after we had lost all of our main dps. In the end, two healers, two tanks, and a dps/tank brought him down. It was the longest fight I've ever seen. 12 full minutes of fighting. Of course it was particularly long since I spent most of it "decorating the floor" as our hunter said.

The last boss in the Plague Quarter is Loetheb. Loetheb is a strategic fight but not an impossible one. He casts debuffs on you. The first one drains your health, the second one reduces healing by 100%. So basically you are watching your health drop rapidly and can't do anything about it. You have a three second window to heal. The healers did an amazing job keeping the tanks up even with such a short window. I concentrated on healing myself when those three seconds were available. I didn't want the healers to have to worry about me. I ran through my healthstone, two potions (with the cooldown I could only use two), and more bandages than I care to count. I died but the rest of the guild brought him down. Plague Quarter cleared. Yay! We cleared two quarters in a little more than 3 and a half hours. It was amazing. We go back on Sunday and I'm incredibly excited.

As I mentioned earlier we were also using Ventrilo. Vent is a voice over internet program that allowed us to talk to each other in game. I have to say that having played with my guildmates for over a year now, it was really cool to get a chance to hear their voices. My guildmates have definately become friends but friends that I only could type to. Last night I got to talk with them. I hadn't originally planned to hop online until right before the run but when I heard one of our guildies talking through Vent I had to jump on early. I skipped dinner (a huge thing for me) to be able to hang out and talk. Although raiding and instancing with the guild is always fun, being able to talk just made it that much better. I never really thought I would enjoy raiding. I worried that there would be too much pressure. But I'm having nothing but fun. I'm so excited for Sunday. Yay!!

New Webcomics

To say that I have an addiction to webcomics might be a bit of an understatement. I haven't actually counted to see how many of them I follow a day but it is enough to keep me busy in the mornings. The problem is that I keep finding them (not really a bad problem to have). But the real issue is that once I find a webcomic I am compeled to read through all the archives. This can get a bit time-consuming. Sheldon's archives had to be the longest one but I read through the entire thing. Years and years of dailies. When I added Sandusky it was a little easier since he's gone to a three times a week. And I wouldn't be following the amazing Dreamland Chronicles unless I had gone back and read from the beginning. It's a wonderful story but you need the background for the current stuff to make sense.

So it's not really good that I added two new ones this week. That's a lot of archive to go through. The first one was Misery Loves Sherman by Chris Eliopoulos which I was introduced to by Unshelved. This offbeat and entertaining webcomic follows Sherman as he is badgered by his family, his teachers, and his schoolmates. Sherman's very likable but he's surrounded by the sometimes cruel. His parents want him to get a job and make something of himself, even though he's in elementary. His sister beats up on him and never gets in trouble. And his teachers seem to have it out for him. But in Sherman's room things are different. Sherman lives with two aliens and one miniturized death. And it's always some sort of fun chaos in his room. One of the aliens is trying to take over the world. The other will eat pretty much anything not nailed down. And death, well death just wants to kill people, is that so wrong? This strip manages to be funny and heartwarming at the same time. The drawing style is fun and very cartoony. The whole strip is just adorable. I've worked my way through the entire archives and just loved every moment of it.

On the other end of the spectrum is Evil Inc by Brad Guigar. I've seen this webcomic mentioned by most of the strips I read. It is part of the Half Pixel cartoon group which includes three other strips that I read. So why it took me so long to try it, I'll never know. Evil Inc is hilarous. Nothing adorable here. The strip is set in the company Evil Inc, which is a company for super-villians, run by super-villians. The head of marketing is half-man, half-fly. Henchmen never survive to retirement. The receptionist can blast you with lightning bolts if you get too fresh. Evil Inc sells evil products and services to keep the villians fighting against the superheroes. I'm still working my way through the archives. Considering the strip started in 2005, I'm doing pretty well getting to 2007.

The characters are fun and the dynamic between heroes and villians is great. (you need to sign up for a nemisis) One of the main characters (a villian) is married to one of the big super-heroes. They are constantly foiling each other and then going home together to take care of their son. The product ideas are hilarous. I just wish I had started reading the strip earlier. I have so much more to go through.