Heads Up Again

Have you ever wondered why, if we're all descended from Africans 2,000 generations ago, we look so different? How people could possibly have arrived in Australia soon after Africa, and much later in Europe, which is connected by land? Sometimes I sort of wonder these things, in the non-scientific way my mind has, like, hmmm...I know that "sun people" are dark, and "ice people" are light", but how did this happen? Wait, what's for dinner?"

Hmmm. I could have called this post, "We're all African", "Walking for Evolution", or "Science vs. Traditionalists". Ted and I stumbled upon a great show on PBS tonight, called "Journey of Man". Has anyone seen this show? It's a two hour documentary that details the journey of man from Africa to Australia, Africa to Europe, Africa to Asia, and Africa to the Americas. We loved it. Poor Ted had to go to bed before it finished, but that's OK, I put it on our Netflix Queue, so we can see the whole thing. Who knows...it was so great, we may want to buy it, so we'll have it around when Maya's a bit older. It's that good. The thing is, the science for this show is truly fleeting. The people who put it together were so very lucky to have the technology to study DNA they way they did, when they did. Because there is just a short window here, with modern technology on the one hand, and globalization on the other. The geneticist who tells this story, Spencer Wells (HEY! That's my dad's last name! Maybe we're more related than we think!) talks to people in the most remote areas of the world, who have specific DNA that links them directly back thousands of generations, and makes connections that could not otherwise be accurately be made. So give this 20 or 30 years, with the current rate of globalization, and the DNA will be much more muddied than it is today. Go back 10 or 15 years, and the technology wasn't there. So really, there was just this tiny window of time for people to do this research, and this group were able to be there and do it. What else are we missing out on, either because it's too soon or too late? Damn.

Anyway, this is an amazing show, and I HIGHLY recommend that you check your local PBS station to see if it's playing anytime soon. We have 4 PBS stations here, so we're pretty darned fortunate that way. If it's not playing, check it out on DVD. Truly wonderful and amazing science, and beyond that, really good stories, really good TV.

Overreacting?

I expected the lead-up to 9/11, the 5th anniversary of September 11th, to be full of fear. I expected BushCo to try to scare me with talk of war and terrorism. Hell, right before the midterms, I wouldn't be surprised if they found Bin Ladin AND the elusive WMDs in Iraq. What surprised me was watching Nova last night, which was all about the structural strength of the World Trade Center. I watched them talk about how the buildings did what they were supposed to do, to a point, and what went wrong. They talked about ways that the buildings could have been better designed. They said that about 10K people die every year in house and office fires, and only maybe 20 people a year die in high rise fires. My head tells me, this was once in a lifetime. Not only will new skyscrapers be safer, but it will be more difficult for terrorists to committ such a heinous crime. And probably, they're over there (or here...remember Oklahoma City?) thinking of new and inventive ways to terrorize us, not the same old tried and true.

My head tells me that there's nothing particularly dangerous about going to work every day in a big tall building. But my heart agrees with one woman who survived the attacks on the World Trade Center, who said, "If it takes me more than 5 minutes to evacuate a building, I don't belong in it." And I thought to myself, if there's a building, a tall hotel like the one I worked in for 7 years in SF, surrounded by other tall buildings, that's one thing. But to go up in the Sears Tower, the Eiffel Tower, or another 'target' building, one that stands as a symbol as much as these buildings do? Every day? I don't know if I could.

DVD Wrap-Up

We watched a few DVDs over Labor Day weekend...OK, just two. We watched disc one, season one, of "Weeds", and an indie film titled "Duma".

I'm sure some of you fancy-pants folks have cable systems that allow you to have Showtime and HBO for less than $100 a month, or you have a dish, which we can't get because of our tree situation, so you have been watching Weeds since it came out. I'm also sure that there are those amongst you who didn't pretty much have it confused in your head with Deadwood, so you were ahead of me there, too. Being not into the whole western genre, I've never really considered renting either Deadwood, or its doppleganger (NOT), Weeds. Then I read about what a great show it is, and decided, Hmmm. That's NOT about cowboys? Not so much shoot-em-up? OK, I'm in. Having just finished the first disc, I have mixed feelings about the show. I love Mary Louise Parker, always have, I would have been her lesbian lover in Fried Green Tomatoes, except, damn it all, I'm not Mary Stuart Masterson. Damn. Anyway, love her. Love the writing. It's well done and interesting. Love the Elizabeth Perkins (one of my lookalikes) character, too, though what I love about her is how well she is written. I cannot claim to actually LIKE her. The abuse she puts her daughter through is painful. (Sidenote: The daughter, thankfully, is pretty damned resiliant. When mom finds daughter's stash of chocolate in her room, mom replaces said stash with chocolate laxitives, the outcome of which is daughter's painful new nickname at school, 'shit girl'. Nice. Well, daughter replaces mom's meds with Immodium, so now mom is blocked up and her gut is distended like a starving child in a Save the Children commercial, with all of the crap she's lugging around in there. Her husband calls it Karma. I call it poetic justice. Same thing.)

My main (and it's kind of the elephant in the room for me) problem with Weeds is that I just can't get past the idea that this woman is selling dope. Her husband died, there's not enough life insurance to keep them in the fancy-pants (what is it with that term? Twice in one post?) manner to which they've become accustomed, and her first solution to this is to sell dope? WTF? How does she expect to raise children with any character whatsoever? I mean, she could maybe, GET A JOB. Or, maybe MOVE to a SMALLER house? One without a housekeeper and a pool? I'm just sayin'. Not that it's nice to have a severe change in lifestyle due to the death of your beloved spouse, but how am I to have a lot of sympathy for this character when her first career move is to start selling dope? It's not working for me. That being said, the writing is good enough that I'm looking foward to disc two coming in a few days.

Monday, we had a pile of ironing to do, so I thought we would put in a nice family film that we could all watch together. I had read about Duma last year, and was looking for it in the local theaters. It either never made it here, or wasn't here long enough, so I put it on my DVD list. Though it was certainly family friendly, Maya has been scarred too deeply by 'family' films such as "March of the Penguins" and especially "Winged Migration", and wanted nothing to do with Duma. She loved "The Story of the Weeping Camel" though, so who knows with her. Anway, Ted and I watched and ironed, while Maya spent time doing homework, reading, drawing, and looking at 'Animal Crossing' websites on the computer.


Duma is the tale of a poor orphaned cheetah, resuced by a 10-year old boy and his father in South Africa. They take him home to their farm, and raise him, with the intention of releasing him to the wild as soon as he gets big enough to hopefully care for himself. As the time of his release approaches, the father becomes very ill, and the boy goes off on a journey with Duma, to release him just as they had planned. Carroll Ballard, who directed The Black Stallion and Fly Away Home, also directed this film. If you loved the cinemetography and the understated flavor of those films, you will also appreciate Duma. If you're a fan of the book, How it Was With Dooms, you may be surprised by the film. I won't ruin the film by going into all of the differences, but let me tell you, there are some KEY things that were changed for the film.

The boy, Alexander Michaletos, does a pretty amazing job, and the adults pretty much keep up. Highly recommended. I'm thinking of buying this one for my collection, though I don't know if Maya will ever watch it with us.

Next up, Super Troopers. We've had this one in our living room for quite awhile now...not sure why we rented it. I think one of Ted's coworkers suggested it. Anyone heard of it? Is it any good? Anyone?

Portland Restaurant Wrap Up

Way back in November, when I started my adventure into this bloggy world, I had thought that I would mostly write about restaurants and maybe recipes, since I really like cooking and eating. ;-) That soon got to be pretty boring, however, so I moved on. Every once in awhile, however, I go to a restaurant, and I think, "I'd like to write a little review about that." So, while we were in Portland, we ate at several restaurants, and I kind of intended to write about them all. But now I'm thinking I'll just skip the places in Ashland and Eugene, and talk about the most memorable places we went.

Our first night in Portland, we went out walking, looking for a restaurant for dinner. The only place we walked by that looked pretty good was Thai food, I think, and seeing as how I had very recently suffered from food poisoning at PF Chang's, my stomach kind of went flippy floppy at the thought of Asian food of any kind. So we ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which was a weird restaurant called Shula's. Don Shula was a big shot in the NFL, but since I know nothing about football, I didn't really care about that. Too bad, because the walls were covered with NFL memorabilia, and the menu was written on a football. They brought a football to your table. Kind of strange. Then, when they take your order, they bring out all of the different cuts of raw meat, so you can decide which one you want to eat. Again, strange. (The steaks were hygenically wrapped in plastic wrap, so the waitress could pick them up and show us.) I am a big lover of the tomato, so for my appetizer, I ordered beefsteak tomato and gorgonzola. It was HUGE. Also not so tasty. Bummer. The tomato was kind of watery and didn't have a lot of flavor. I'm also a fan of the Rib Eye, which at Shula's is called the Cowboy Steak, so I ordered that. It was pretty tasty, though maybe not as good as a few others I've had in my day. Really, I get tired of places where you pay $30 for your entree, and you have to pay extra for a baked potato. Not that I WANTED a baked potato, after working on that almost 2 lb steak and a tomato as big as my head, but I still have issues with the concept. Maybe it's my past at Mr. Steak, where the potato that cost the company a nickel didn't cost the customer any extra. Maya didn't eat much, just a few bites of my steak, mostly because when we arrived at the hotel, our room wasn't ready, so when we were finally able to go up, they sent her a huge bowl of ice cream, in addition to the candy bar they gave her while we waited.


My dad and step mom took us out for Lebanese food one night, at Ya Hala restaurant. We ordered the Mezza Combination, which is supposed to be for 4 people, but was plenty of food for all six of us. It included homous, baba ghanouj, tabouli, falafel, dolmas, makaly, labne, fatayer, shankleesh and vegetarian kibbeh, as well as lamb, chicken and kafta kabobs. I copied that from their online menu, so don't ask me what some of the lesser known dishes were, because I don't remember. ;) Everything was yummy, though, and the service was OK. Not great, not bad. But the food was really nice.



I think our best Portland meal was at a place called Jo Bar, on oh so trendy and cool 23rd St. in the NW part of town. Jo Bar is the sister restaurant to Papa Haydn, which is right next door, and also has another restaurant on the SE side of town. Papa Haydn is known for their fabulous desserts, a fact of which we were unaware at the time of our dinner. We just stopped in because I had eaten on 23rd street several times on past trips, and this place looked good. It was. VERY good. I had wild salmon over corn polenta. I know, corn polenta sounds somewhat redundant, but this was polenta with some corn kernels mixed in. Cherry has been trying to convince me for a few years now that polenta is actually quite tasty, but I have thus far been unimpressed. Even at the yummy Zax Tavern, the polenta is disgusting. Why, then, would I order a meal that clearly states it comes with polenta, right there on the menu? I don't know. I think part of me is hoping to find some polenta that I like. And, really, unless I'm starving, restaurants serve too much food, so if I don't like the polenta, it's no big deal, I just don't eat it. More room for dessert that way. ;) Well, the polenta I was served at Jo Bar was truly delicious. Creamy, smooth, not gloppy. Not fried and bitter tasting. Just yummy creamy goodness, with the sweetness and the texture of the corn kernels thrown in. Mmm. Cherry, I'm sorry. I'll never doubt you again. I'll even try your Brussels sprouts, if you want me to. It's been too long now, though, so I don't remember what Ted and Maya had for dinner, or even if we had any dessert. Maybe some sorbet? I don't THINK so. But the salmon was perfect, and the polenta was a revelation.

If you're ever in Portland, I'm going to suggest you check out Jo Bar (save some room for dessert, though) and also try Ya Hala. Mmmm.

Oh, and honorable mention goes to a very yummy deli in Portland, with two locations. It's called Elephants Delicatessen, and they have some very tasty treats. Their soup is killer, and Ted found that you can blend them together if you want. They made a blend for him that I think was 1/3 tomato-orange soup (too rich by itself) and 2/3 Italian veggie. The guy who rang him up said it was the best soup they have. Which made me wonder why they don't just offer it as one of the options? Anyway, it's a yummy secret, so you may want to check that out as well. :)

Enjoy eating Portland!

Curse You, Blogger!

For not letting me in this morning, when I wanted to write all about how I had this crazy dream last night, when my (athiest) mother was guiding me all around Sacramento, feeding me pizza and telling me how important it is that Maya and I be baptized. (Ted was already baptized, so she's not worried about him. And the pizza? The only other option in this dream was Olive Garden. I wonder what that means?)

For all of you who, like me, are terribly bored and horrified to read about other peoples' dreams, I suggest you send a check to Blogger, because the 12 hours since I woke up this morning have deadened the experience a LOT. If blogger had let me in, let me write all about my dream this morning, it could have gone on for pages and pages. Thanks, Blogger!

Who Put the Labor in Labor Day?

We did, that's who.

When I think of labor day, my mind first thinks of the end of summer...the crisp fall weather on the horizon, the cool weather clothes, school starting up again, the return of the good TV shows...

Then there are the Labor Day celebrations...one last bbq of summer, maybe a trip to the beach, the lake, or the shore...

For some people it is a chance to get caught up with some chores around the house, to enjoy a 3-day weekend by sleeping in one extra day, maybe see some friends.

I agree with all of these things. Not a thing wrong with any of them. But at the same time, it's a good time to remember what the heck Labor Day is...unlike our other holidays, like Veterans Day or Memorial Day, it doesn't commemorate war or those who fought for our freedoms. Unlike Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Easter, it doesn't commemorate any religious significance. Unlike Thanksgiving, it doesn't commemorate a coming together or the fall harvest, or the brief friendship between the pilgrims and the Native Americans.

Instead, Labor Day commemorates us...it commemorates the worker. People who get up every day and go to work, jobs that we love as well as jobs that we hate. Jobs that we do so that we can gain fulfillment, to make the world a better place, to provide a needed service, to simply pay the bills.

Labor day was created by the labor movement, and is dedicated to you and me, American workers. I know that many people have issues with the labor movement, do not like unions and what they represent. They claim that unions are corrupt and do very little to benefit workers, or that they make doing business too expensive for the employer. I would beg you to dig a little deeper, and look at what labor unions have given our country:

Eight-Hour Day

Five-Day Workweek

Health Insurance

Good Pensions

Paid Sick Leave

Fair Treatment for Women, People of Color and Workers with Disabilities

Higher Wages

Overtime Pay

Job Safety

Paid Holidays

Job Security

Severance Pay

Paid Vacations

Family and Medical Leave

So even if you have never belonged to a union in your life (I haven't), let's please stop for a moment this weekend, and thank the unions for what they have given to our country. Also, take a moment to recognize the strength and character of the American worker, upon whose back our economy and democracy rests.

And if, looking at that list, you see some items that don't apply to you, like a 40-hour work week, a pension, or fair treatment, remember that the labor movement is made up of people who have fought for these things, things that don't come easily, things that can easily be taken away from us. Fight for these things. Fight for what you believe in, and to make our country stronger.

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

I Need a Ticker

Have you seen the blogs, where the blogger has a little ticker at the top, or in the sidebar, wherever, to keep track of how much weight they've lost, or counting down to an important event? Well, they have them for health and fitness, too, and for all sorts of interesting and odd things. I signed up for Black Belt Mama's challenge, but so far I haven't been doing so great...so here's what I need. I need a ticker to keep me honest, to remind me to:

1. Floss my teeth at least 6 days a week (because you don't have to floss all your teeth, just the ones you want to keep!)
2. Sit up straight (it's affecting my back, all of this slouching in front of the computer)
3. Do sit-ups (a stronger abdomen will support my back better)
4. Do 10 minutes of yoga a day (at least, to start some upper body strength and bone building)
5. Take my calcium supplements (again with the bones...my grandma broke her hip at 40*)
6. Do exercises to strengthen my quads, which will give better support to my bum knee. (I forget about the knee until we go somewhere with a lot of walking up and down hills..the ups are fine, but the downs are a killer)

*(My grandma also dieted excessively and smoked like a chimney, which surely contributed to the extremely early onset of her osteoporosis...but still)

Why is it so hard to do these things? None of them are difficult, or painful, or bad. They are just habits. And creating good habits, getting rid of bad habits, that, I think, is the key to good health.

Getting a bit more philosophical about this, I would argue that not only physical habits like sitting up straight (the slouching cost me $100 yesterday, for a deep tissue massage to alleviate the pain) and doing sit-ups, but also mental habits like maybe meditation, and at least getting rid of some of the negative thoughts that plague us, can help us to be happier, healthier people. If, when thinking of our body, we gave it credit instead of blame; if, when thinking of our relationships (not just spouse, but also parents, children, coworkers, friends), we give credit rather than blame...if we give ourselves credit, instead of blame, how much healthier we would be.

Is there a ticker for all that? Cause I need one.

Now please excuse me...I've done all on the list above, except the sit-ups. Time to get the 'exercise ball' out of storage, 'cause that ugly thing really helps.

Perfect Post Award

I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and award a perfect post. My mom received a perfect post award last month, which was pretty impressive considering how new she is to this whole bloggy world, but not at all surprising when I consider her heart, warmth, and damned-smartness. The other place I've seen these awarded is over at Mom101, who is one of my biggest blog crushes. Love her. Her site is where I first heard of the concept, which originates with Mama K, the queen of Petroville.

The problem of course is, how to pick one perfect post out of so many wonderful submissions? Every day I go and read stories, poems, anectdotes that just reach right out and speak to me. So it's my first time doing this, and already I'm bending the rules. I'm giving TWO perfect post awards, to two pieces that really resonated, and were so beautifully written that I remembered them and wanted to share them with you.


The first award goes to Word Girl, over at Half of the Sky who tells a very sad tale about the death of her child's French teacher, and the community that came together for her to help her through her cancer treatment, and beyond.

The second award goes to the Kvetch at Kvetch Blog, who described her son's first day of High School in such a poingnant way, it made me feel happy for her, and sad for her, and for all of us whose children are growing up just a little bit faster than we're prepared to admit.

It turns out, however, that someone else also nominated the Kvetch post, and the powers that be only allow you to nominate ONE perfect post, so the site won't have my name by it as the nominator. Someone else will have that. But hey, she got nominated twice, right? That's pretty darned good.

Thanks, ladies, for sharing yourselves, and your talent, in these beautiful posts.

If you would like to read more perfect posts, you can find them at both Petroville and Suburban Turmoil. I've been perusing a few this morning, and some of them are really, really good. Amazing stuff. Go forth. Enjoy.

Historical Fiction

Whilst in Portland, I read a short book titled "When the Emperor Was Divine", by Julie Otsuka. At only 144 pages, it is difficult to believe that this novel can cover the subject of the Japanese Internment during WWII so well, so evocatively.

I've never studied this chapter in American history, other than perhaps as a footnote to our study of WWII. Reading this book made me think of how effective a class would be that incorporated the dry facts of history with novels, which really open one's eyes and imaginations to the experiences of those people who were alive at a particular time and place. What if, for example, while studying the Civil War, we read The Red Badge of Courage as well as our text book? And during the study of the depression and the dust bowl, we read "The Grapes of Wrath"? Reading these books later on, after studying the events in school, really gave me a greater understanding of the time. I think that is one of the true gifts of literature.

Back to the book. It is told in 5 parts, in terse, matter-of-fact language. Each part of the story is told from a different point of view, from the various members of a Japanese-American family who were taken from Berkeley to live in an internment camp in Utah. Except the father, who is suspected of being a traitor and collaborating with the Japanese government...he is taken elsewhere, to Texas. The language is so sparse, so carefully constructed, we never even learn the names of the various family members. Yet, even without their names, we identify closely with them, and we come to a better understanding of this horrible time. (Side note...our dentist was in one of these internment camps as a child, grew up and joined the military...but we haven't talked about it beyond that. It would be an interesting story to hear.)

From the book, on that period of readjustment after returning to their home in Berkeley:

We looked at ourselves in the mirror and did not like what we saw: black hair, yellow skin, slanted eyes. The cruel face of the enemy.
We were guilty.
Just put it behind you.
No good.
Let it go.
A dangerous people.
You're free now.
Who could never be trusted again.
All you have to do is behave.
On the street we tried to avoid our own reflections wherever we could. We turned away from shiny surfaces and storefront windows. We ignored the passing glances of strangers. What kind of "ese" are you, Japanese or Chinese?

I highly recommend this book. It's pretty amazing stuff.

Next in line, after I finish Mrs. Blackwell's memoir, is another book of historical fiction, which I picked up in Portland. It's called The Jump Off Creek, and it's the story of a widow who leaves the Midwest to settle in the mountains of Oregon in the 1890s. That would be an interesting read while studying westward expansion, don't you think?

Heads Up

I've told you once before about my cousin, Tony, who is in prison, convicted of a murder that, tragically, he did commit. Tony has been in prison now for just over 30 years, and is a very different person than he was back then.

Tony's mom, my Aunt Lori, recently began reading my blog, and had emailed me to ask if I might print and mail Tony the 3 part story about when I met my father for the first time. I did so, and wrote him a letter as well. Upon returning from our vacation in Oregon last Monday, I found a letter from Tony, including some lovely pictures of his wife, children, and grandchildren. I was so happy to receive it. In his letter, Tony told me that he also has a blog, that is posted on a website that his wife maintains, www.prisoners.org. Since Tony doesn't have internet access, has never actually been online, I'm guessing that he writes his posts out, and mails them to his wife, and she transcribes them into the computer and online for him. If you have the stomach to learn a bit about what life is like in prison, check out his blog. (It's not a fancy blog, just a button with the year, and you click it and go directly to his posts.) I think it's important that we understand the criminal justice system, and the repercussions of our treatment of prisoners. Whether we agree with the treatment they receive or not, it's not a bad idea to at least pay attention.

In that same vein, I'm going to be checking out the season finale of 30 days tonight. Remember the guy who ate nothing but McDonalds for 30 days, and then made the movie, Supersize Me about his experiences? Well, he has a TV show that is just wrapping its second season, and tonight's episode is about his 30 days in prison. That's one day for every year that Tony has spent behind bars. I hate to think of him there; hate to think of this being the rest of his life; hate to think of the life that he carelessly took from another man, and another man's family, way back when. The waste of it all, it's just too much. I hope I can stand it.

Nietzsche

For those of you who read my blog, but maybe not Ted's or Lura's, I'm sorry to tell you that I lost my dog-in-law on Tuesday. (that sounds like she was my dog...she was my mother-in-law's dog, but not her dog-in-law, or Ted's dog-in-law, so that's why I phrased it that way.) Nietzsche was a very good girl, the kind of dog who you dog-sit, and then think, "hmmm....maybe we should get a dog," which is how we ended up with Genevieve.

Nietzsche, you will be dearly missed. You're such a good girl, and I'm so sorry that we didn't get to say good bye to you. Don't worry, either there are no balloons in doggy heaven, or you aren't afraid of them anymore.

Domo Arigato

I'm sleepy today. I'm kinda thinking that I would like to climb back in bed and have a nap. Working from home, with my 'office' in my bedroom, doesn't help matters any. Being stuck on my project and sitting here waiting for a coworker to get back to me with some info doesn't help so much, either. So, while I wait, I'll fill my time by telling you about the concert that Ted and I went to last night. You'll get his side on his blog, which will be full of interesting information about the band and all kinds of cool tidbits, I'm sure, so I'm going to be really lazy in my write up, OK? That way (hopefully) it won't feel like you're reading the same post twice, if you check out both posts.

Ted and his coworker, C-Lo, got free tickets to go see Styx at Wente Vinyards last night. Not only did they get free tickets, they also got backstage passes. How cool were we, running around with our little back stage passes? Very cool, THAT's how cool.

I've been to Wente once before, for a wine auction, which was very pretentious and boring, and they served us fois gras and veal steaks, which was pretty damned gross. Last night's concert came with dinner, and I was a little bit frightened that there may be some grossness served up. Happily, this was not the case. There was a big, beautiful buffet, with yummies for all, carnivore and herbivore alike. That was good sign number 1. Good sign number 2 was that you could get pretty decent wine (Wente, of course) to go along with your meal. Excellent. And can I say, for the over 35 set, Wente is definitely the place to go see a concert. Everyone is sitting at their tables, full of yummy food and wine, comfy and relaxed in a very pretty setting. Not the place to see U2 or anything, but it really was a very nice venue.

The bad news is that a backstage pass means you get to go back stage...you know, physically behind the stage. It does NOT mean that you get to go hang out with the band. Why anyone would want to go hang out and look at the band's instruments is pretty much beyond me, so I'm not sure what use a backstage pass is supposed to be. We did get to meet one of the members of the band before the concert, and it was pretty cute, because he was telling his dad to enjoy the show. Hey, rock stars have families, too! Who knew? So we thought we would get to meet the rest of the band at a little 'meet and greet' before the show, but apparently, "Styx doesn't DO meet and greets." Whatever. So we went back to our seats and had some more wine.

I have to tell you, though, that contrary to popular belief, I have never been to a concert with a buzz before. This was my first time, and since we had 3 bottles of wine between the four of us, I was a little buzzed. It was great. If you're going to go see a band with a bit of a buzz going, Styx is the perfect choice. They are just so....campy. They had a revolving platform holding the keyboard and the keyboard player, who also did the campiest of the Dennis DeYoung songs. At one point, after C-Lo and her partner-in-crime, J-Lo, had bowed out for the evening, they performed "Come Sail Away" (which is actually a different song than "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, in case you didn't know that...), the campy keyboard player with the pants so tight you could see his butt crack from WAY back jumped up onto the top of the keyboard, then over on top of the drums. Boy, he had a lot of energy. I have to admit, it was great.

Here's what I noticed, besides the fact that C-Lo was TOTALLY in love with that keyboard guy....when I knew a song, I was singing along, happy as could be. C-Lo would play keyboards on my leg to the song-intros, and I belted out "Too much time on my hands" with the best of them. But if it was a song I didn't know, or didn't care about, I was thinking, "Hmmmm...what should I pack in Maya's lunch tomorrow?" Ever have one of those moments?

Anyway, it was a great evening, and I'm totally not doing it justice. I hope Ted is feeling a bit more chipper this morning (I got up at 6 to do the school thing, and he got to be the one to sleep in, for a change, since he usually gets up at 4:00), so his post will have more details, like maybe the actual names of the band members, some of the songs played, that kind of thing. Me? That bed is looking pretty darned good right about now.

Oh, and those passes (plus the fact that Ted & C-Lo had interviewed JY a few months ago) finally paid off, and we got to meet JY after the show and snap a picture with him.

While we were talking to JY (I'm not sure why he goes by that instead of James Young, but I'll play along...) Ted teasingly told him that I was very disappointed that they didn't play "The Best of Times", and JY didn't even seem annoyed. I mean, he could have said, "I got you people tickets AND dinner, and played my heart out for you, and you just complain to me?" He could have, but he didn't. Whew. He just gave a stock answer about how they only have so much time, and they have SO many songs. He even apologized to me. But I'll tell you, it almost ruined my night to not hear them play that song for me. FOR ME. Luckily, Ted is good that way, and he called the radio station and requested that they play the song for me on the way home. So I got to sing along after all...

The best of times are when I'm alone with you
Some rain, some shine, we'll make this a world for two
Our memories of yesterday will last a lifetime
We'll take the best, forget the rest and someday we'll find
These are the best of times
These are the best of times

Don't even TRY to tell me you're not jealous.

Oh...a big shout out to Eric and Cherry, who came and stayed with Maya for the evening, so we could go out and have fun...THANKS! You guys ROCK!

Happy Birthday Cherry!

Today is my dear friend Cherry's birthday! Happy Birthday, Missy!

Cherry is a wonderful, giving, (too) hard working, friend. She loves to cook for her friends, go out with her friends, hang out with her friends, whatever...just bless us all with her company. Thanks, Cherry, for being the wonderful person that you are.

Now, if you look at Cherry's post today, you'll see that we celebrated Cherry's birthday in style on Sunday at Fenton's Creamery in Oakland, where the smallest ice cream they serve is still as big as your head. Maya and Jackie shared a 3 lb. banana split...(she has the 'before' photo on her post)

But they finally had to admit defeat and go watch more ice cream being made in the 'factory' part of the restaurant.



Cherry, you are a wonderful friend, one who gives so much joy and fun to your friends and family. I feel very fortunate to have met you, and am proud to count you as my friend. Happy Birthday!

(Today will be a two post Tuesday...I have to write a few things about the concert I went to last night...but first I have to do some work and get the kid to school, etc. So come back later, OK?)

Our Amazing Dinner

Friday evening, Ted, Maya and I were invited to dinner with our friends, Pat and Beatrice, and their friend, Unita Blackwell. If any of my 5 daily readers are familiar with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, specifically the voters rights movement in the south, you may have heard of Mrs. Blackwell. I am not terribly familiar with that movement, though I admire the hell out of it, and I see a strong correlation between the struggles of the black people in the south, and their success, and the struggles of women and gays, as well as the anti-war movement. So to meet a pioneer in this movement is indeed a special treat.

Mrs. Blackwell has a new book out, detailing her rise from a sharecropper on a plantation in the Mississippi Delta, through the voter rights movement, to being the first female black mayor in the State of Mississippi. She traveled to China over 20 times working to normalize relations, and has received a Macarthur genius grant. In 1979, she participated in President Jimmy Carter's Energy Summit at Camp David. She later received a bachelors degree from Harvard, and her master's degree in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her accomplishments are many and great.

My dad was involved in both the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement of the 1960s. I bought him Mrs. Blackwell's book for his birthday a few weeks ago, and then borrowed it from him while we were in Oregon. I borrowed it so that I could read it, but also so that Ted could read it, because he wanted to interview her for his public relations radio program. I brought the book with us on Friday, so Mrs. Blackwell could sign it for my dad. :)

Overall, we had a lovely evening. Mrs. Blackwell told us stories from the 50s and 60s, and what it meant to be a black person in the South back then. How her grandfather was murdered in the cotton field for merely stating that he was innocent of something which he had been unjustly accused of, but he dared to talk back to a white man. How the white townspeople of her small community banded together to intimidate and harass the black townspeople, and thus keep them from registering to vote. How, with the help of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, she became involved in the movement to register black voters, and thus began her career in politics. Years later, she became the mayor of her small town (as she put it, "We'd be lucky if there are 500 people there"), and worked to incorporate the town and bring basic services like running water to the people there.

The most amazing thing, to me, was how open she is, how un-cynical, not bitter in the least. I don't know if I would have that grace. She appears to look things head on and to see them clearly, to see both the evil and the good in the world, and to retain her ability to keep the two distinctly separate. She is an amazing woman, one who has lived through an amazing period in human history - a time of pain and terror, and a time when Americans were learning the power of non-violent resistance. It was amazing to speak to her, and to hear how down to earth and genuinely friendly she is. We had a wonderful time talking to her.

And, by the way, the other company wasn't shabby either. We always enjoy seeing Pat and Beatrice, and it doesn't hurt that they are both generous and wonderful cooks. The food was delicious (pasta with homemade tomato sauce, wine, sliced tomatoes with basil, wine, bread, more wine, and homemade chocolate mousse.) Thanks Pat and Beatrice, for inviting us to your home, and including us in this wonderful evening. You ROCK!

Sunday Morning Thoughts...

I just got up, looking at a few blogs, and the first two I came to had some interesting coincidences...

1st, my mom's blog talked about the sexualization of children, about how dressing young girls in adult's clothing, and visa versa, is dangerous because it sends very confusing messages to the world. This reminded me of when I was a girl, and I wanted to get my ears pierced...I wasn't allowed, because my mom said that earrings were a symbol of being a certain age and maturity, and so I didn't get them done until I was 16. I've put a lot of thought into when to allow Maya to have her ears pierced. I understand my mom's point when I was young, but I also look at a lot of other cultures besides our admittedly WASPy one, and so many cultures pierce ears at a very young age. Mexico, India, Italy, etc. So, I decided awhile ago that if Maya wanted to have her ears pierced, I would allow it. Thursday, she decided she wanted to have it done. Ted wasn't sure about this, he was thinking maybe she's too young, so he did a poll at work, and pretty much everyone had had their ears pierced when they were very young, and it was no big deal to any of them. So, yesterday, Maya got her ears pierced.

2nd, Black Belt Mama has put up a fitness challenge. It's a reasonable one, and also one with pretty decent timing...I went to my annual physical a few weeks ago, and Maya went to hers last week, and they both talked about getting enough calcium in your diet. In addition to that, when we were on vacation, I was talking to my step mom about weight bearing exercise, and how I would like to do some yoga at home to build my bone density, but I find it hard to make time for a one hour session, esp. since I also walk a couple of miles on most days, and I have a full time job, child, house, blog, etc. She said, don't try to do an hour of yoga a day. Do 10 minutes. Do some stretches, and then some downward facing dog and plank pose, and you'll be doing those bones a big favor. So, in response to BBM's challenge, I am going to start taking calcium supplements again, and do 10 minutes of yoga a day, both with the goal of toning and getting my body ready for menopause. Which isn't tomorrow or anything, but hey, I'm 40, and the sooner I get ready, the better off I'll be when the time comes.

My other thoughts so far are more in the category of, "why is it that I take my contact lenses out at night, and THEN go looking for my glasses?" I'm pretty blind, and um, that's not so smart. And, "Is there grape kool-aid in my new face cream? Kinda smells like it." And, I think I need to start wearing my mouth guard, because the whole left side of my face hurts again, which is what happens when I grind my teeth. And, "hmm...I went to the farmers market yesterday and got some nice tomatoes for bruschetta...wonder if I have time today to go get some more and make a nice pasta sauce?" I have to get school supplies for Maya, take her to the mall (she wants a back to school outfit for tomorrow) go to the grocery store for food, and celebrate a birthday tonight over ice cream (so superior to cake!) So, I think I'll get started, and leave this blogging business behind me for now. Happy Sunday!

Saturday Meme

Leave it to Jay to tag me for a good one. I'm not sure what happened to #9, though. You can listen to the Beatles in your head if you want to. (OK, if that's a confusing reference, think of John Lennon saying, "number 9....number 9.....number 9...." I know...I'm lame.)

1. Things that scare me:
Global Warming
Religious Fanatics
The thought of losing my family

2. People who make me laugh:
Autumn's Mom
Ted
Neva

3. Things I hate the most:
Politics and the way they work
Liver and onions
People who harm children

4. Things I don't understand:
Foreign languages (unfortunately)
The "isms" - Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Fatism (is that a word?), Defeatism
Fear of a great gay conspiracy

5. Things I'm doing right now:
Blogging
Getting ready to take a shower
Thinking about the amazing dinner I had last night

6. Things I want to do before I die:
Learn to ride a horse well
Hold a grandchild of mine (no rush!)
Travel a lot more

7. Things I can do:
Cook yummy food
Choose good friends
Be a good mother

8. Things I can't do:
Play an instrument
Let go of old friendships (in my heart)
Sing well

10. Things I think you should listen to:
Your conscience/heart
Music
Good advice

11.Things you should never listen to:
Drug dealers
Mean gossip
People who say there's something wrong with you because of who you are.

12. Things I'd like to learn:
To ride a horse well
To let go of things I cannot change
To relax more

13. Favorite foods:
Thanh Long crab
Chips/Cheetos
Good wine

14. Beverages I drink regularly:
Diet Coke
Chardonnay
Water

15. Shows I watched as a kid:
Land of the Lost
The Brady Bunch
Monty Python's Flying Circus

16. People I'm tagging (to do this meme):
Gina
Cherry
Maya's Granny

And if you want to play anyway, even if you weren't tagged, please do. It's fresh, it's easy, and it's fun!

Thanks Jay!

It's The End of The World As We Know It....

Oh God, the day has come...We are truly in the final days, the days of apocalypse...and what proof do I have, you may well ask? Well, I'm truly ashamed, but within the span of one week, 1 WEEK I tell you, I have found myself agreeing with both George W. Bush AND She Who Must Not Be Named.

Before you pass out, or rush to have me committed to a mental institution (which, truly, I beg you to do should I ever TRULY agree with these spawn of Satan), allow me to say that I only agreed conditionally...

1st, on Monday, we were having breakfast at our hotel in Ashland, and they had the TV on to Bush's press conference...and he was talking about how we cannot just "cut and run" like the Democrats suggest, in our departure from Iraq. And I agree with that. As always, though, I have issues. 1st issue...WHY ARE WE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??? Because W. lied to us about the weapons of mass destruction. Because he scared the hell out of Americans, to the point where many people thought, I sure as hell don't want to be nuked by that psycho Saddam, and he will clearly do that to his own people (or at least gas people who he is supposed to support, his countrymen, the Kurds), so why wouldn't he do that to us, who bombed the hell out of his country when our current president's daddy was in office? The problem, of course, is that Saddam didn't have that capability, and anyone who spent a bit of time looking into it could see that. At the same time we were considering attacking Iraq, though, we needed to be thinking about what if...what if we DO get into this war, what are the repercussions? What will happen there, and here, because of it? W. and his camp told us that the Iraqis would welcome our soldiers with flowers, democracy would prevail, and all would be well in the world. Has anyone else noticed that happening? Because me? Not so much. Now, I will admit to having a B.A. in International Relations, so maybe I'm savvy or something, but it sure seemed to me that a HELL of a lot of people outside of my IR cohort were saying, "This really ISN'T a good idea", and "This will start a civil war", and "Once we're in there, it's going to be REALLY hard to get out cleanly", and "If you think the radical muslims hate us now, just WAIT and see what kind of crap you're stirring up with this one." I'd like to take credit for being some kind of diplomacy genius here, but really, I'm not, and a LOT of people were saying that this looked a lot like Viet Nam in that is was going to be a quagmire, a situation from which it would be VERY difficult to extricate ourselves. So it' s not just me. BUT, how many DEMOCRATIC congresspeople voted FOR this war, either because they were fooled by the rhetoric, or they were afraid that their constituents were too afraid of the rhetoric, or because they were afraid of being called afraid...afraid of being called traitors...so they didn't stand up and say, "wait....slow down...let's be sure this is right..." No, they voted for it. And now, they want to pull out, go home, and leave the people in Iraq to stew in this mess, to allow the terrorists to take over Iraq and continue to make it a hotbed for Al Qaida. Because Americans are sick of a war that we never should have started. Great. Now who am I supposed to vote for, if the Dems are fucking up this badly, and have been for years? It's not too late. Make a plan, not short range, not based on the November elections, but based on what really needs to happen. Which, unfortunately enough, is that we need to start talking to Iran and Syria about not going in and trying to divide this country up into fun little pieces. About actually negotiating with people that we don't like, in order to avoid a LOT more pain in the long run. Fun? No. But I'm hoping you didn't get into politics for the parties and beer. GROW A SPINE PEOPLE.

Ahem.

2nd, tonight, (last night by the time this is posted, but tonight when I wrote it...I know, I sometimes write the night before, but wait to post in the vein hope of getting just a FEW more comments on a previous post...DAMN you lurkers...you task me so!) I've had a glass or two of wine, and I'm getting ready for bed...I finished watching "Mona Lisa Smile" (pretty good...I'm a closet Julie Roberts fan...I know it's not cool) on FX, and I'm flipping the channels around. Who do I see? She who must not be named. She who injects herself with her own urine to stay painfully thin. She whose spit provides anti-venom for bites from rattlesnakes. And what is she saying? She's talking about the Democrats, and how if history is correct, they will take over the Congress in November...about how they are talking about how they want to shut down Guantonimo, but will not provide a reasonable plan to do so. AMEN. I disagree with her premise, which is that it should stay open, that the patriot act should stay in tact, and that it is a reasonable reaction to the attacks of September 11th. But should we discuss HOW to do these things in a responsible manner? Yes. Are we? Not that I have seen. She also mentioned that the CIA and the FBI were not allowed to have much contact before the Patriot Act, before September 11th, which was part of our problem. I'd sure as hell hate to start quoting HER for my facts, but actually, that sounds kind of familiar and true, and also, really really wrong. Maybe that part of the act can stay.

So you see? Numbers 1 and 2 on my list of people whom I would most LOVE to crap upon, maybe after eating a pint or two of cherries, and here, I find myself agreeing with them, albeit VERY conditionally. I think I need a shower. Anyone see Silkwood? One of those showers.

Oh, and while we're talking about politics, I had a thought the other day that chilled me to the bones and made me want to climb back under the covers. My mom has been saying for quite awhile now that W. and his bunch are all for trouble in the Middle East because it is one of the signs of the 'end of days', and they are working to bring about the Second Coming of Christ so they can be saved. So...what if the ecology is the same thing? What if that's part (not all, because, duh, GREED seems to be a mighty big factor) of the reason that they won't get behind the fight against global warming? What if storms like Katrina and weather like 115 in the Bay Area and all of that are just portents of their salvation? You have all of eternity, people, can't you just wait until you die or something? I think I need another shower. Or a drink. Or a drink in the shower. Want to come with?

Uh Oh...

I just saw this article. If signed, children under 8 need to ride in a booster seat, and children under 12 need to ride in the back seat. What's the big deal? Well, Maya's been riding in the front seat for a little while now...the Volvo doesn't have any airbags (too old), and on the Camry, we have the passenger seat pushed all of the way back. Ted reasoned that many small adults are in the front seat, so she would be OK. I read some reports that said that there is no proof that kids who have been harmed by passenger side airbags in the front seat were 'properly restrained', meaning, they weren't wearing their seat belts. Maya ALWAYS wears her seat belt. To be honest, I've never been completely thrilled about her riding in the front seat. But to legislate it, and give us a ticket if she rides in the front? Ugh. I'm not so sure about this.

Ode to Forest Park

When we go to Portland, Maya's favorite thing to do is to hike in Forest Park. She told me that Forest Park is her favorite place on earth. This most recent trip was no exception, and happily, Ted was able to join us this time, and I think he may be hooked as well. For Maya and I to enjoy hiking is definitely saying something, because we are two girls who do NOT like to get hot and sweaty. Sadly, there is almost no way to hike around here without getting hot and sweaty, because there are simply not enough trees to keep you shaded. So the sun is beating down on you, and instead of marveling at nature and enjoying ourselves, we're cranky and want to go home. Not so much fun to be around. In Forest Park, which is about a block from where we stayed in Portland, you can hike for hours and hours without ever feeling the cruel rays of the sun beating down on your head. The canopy of old growth forest is beautiful and soothing. You cross paths with fellow hikers, runners, and lots of dogs. We love it.

This is the Stone House. Looks kind of like something from Blair Witch (well, not really, but kind of...), but it's just an old bathroom structure that succommed to fire in the 60s.

It used to be that while hiking in Forest Park, Maya and I would play role playing games. On one trip, Maya had recently finished the Catwings books by Ursula K. Le Guin (who lives in that same neighborhood, coincidentally). So we played Catwings. She was Jane, and I was usually a woman who finds her, though sometimes I was one of her brothers or sisters. On another trip, Maya was very into Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not sure where she picked THAT up) (wink wink), so we would play Buffy. That usually involved lots of vampires getting 'dusted', along with cool sound effects. (Thank goodness 90210 was off the air before these roll playing games started...I would hate to have to play Steve to her Kelly or something...since Steve only had two emotions..."I'm rich and I'm about to get some" or, "Oh crap, I think I have anal herpes"... I'm not sure I could have pulled that off well...)On our most recent trip, however, I discovered that Maya seems to have outgrown this kind of roleplaying. Instead, she enjoyed imagining what Forest Park would have looked like millions of years ago, in the time of the dinosaurs. She imagined what trees would have been there back then, which dinosaurs would fit in well with the foliage, that kind of thing. She imagined tiny liptiptidium (that's my pathetic phonetic spelling of what she's saying...I have no idea how to spell it correctly, but it's one of our (very) early ancestors, an early mammal that lived in the time of the birds, I think...I'm not terribly well versed in this stuff...) eeking out a living among the underbrush. She loved it.
There are many, many things to love about Portland. That much of my family lives there is a big one. That it is a big city with diversity and liberal ideas is another. That they have the best bookstore ever, and a lot of truly wonderful restaurants is yet another. They have a thriving music scene, and seem to have a lot of artists and creative people. The housing is (comparatively) affordable. A great city. And still, were we ever to move there, I have to say that I would try very hard to be able to afford a house within walking distance of Forest Park, because it may indeed be the best part of Portland.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Sesame Street

I have a couple of Portland related posts in mind...one is about the yummy and not-so-yummy restaurants we went to, one about books I read or bought there...one about the beautiful world of Forest Park. But I had to stop and do this, because Issa and Mom-101 did it several days ago, and it will soon be too late to jump on the bandwagon. Stupid vacation.

So, this started on Mrs. Davis's blog, where she talked about popular culture influences you had as a child, due to the new season of Sesame Street starting on August 14th. She gave out a bunch of linky love on the 14th, but I was relaxing in Portland that day, and didn't do any REAL blogging, so I'm just behind as all get out. But I don't care. I'll play anyway. ;) I will tell you my favorites in a minute, but first I must take a moment to insert this picture of Maya at her surprise birthday party in Oregon last year, when she was turning 9.

This is Maya and my dad. My sister bought her "Where the Sidewalk Ends", which they have at Maya's school, but she didn't yet have at home. She stopped opening gifts for something close to 20 minutes, reading us poems and cracking up about her favorite ones. I was just amazed. I mean, for a 2 or 3 year old to get distracted by a gift and ignore the pile in front of them is one thing. For a 9 year old, I think it's another. So, if you don't have this book for your kids/nieces/nephews yet, get yourself to a local bookstore, and buy it quickly. :) They'll love you for it.

Another book to show her love of reading, is from when she was 2 years old. Her favorite book was Madeline's Rescue. She had it memorized, and would "read" it to herself, including French Accents for the speaking parts. Very cute. The time this picture was taken, she had fallen asleep reading. I've fallen asleep reading many a time, but I don't think the book has ever ended up on my face. :)

Now, to the meat of the post, Mrs. Davis's question:

What television, music, movie or book from your childhood are you excited about sharing with your own child?

When I was very small, I LOVED the Animal World of Thornton Burgess. I believe it is a collection of Old Mother West Wind stories, and it was given to me by my mom's friend, Kate, who signed it, "Aunt Katie". Growing up, I always thought I had a long lost aunt out there. :) She's not lost anymore, thanks to Classmates.com and a little bit of searching. She's even blogging, hers is "Hugging Aspens" on my blogroll. Anyway, I loved this book, loved the pictures, and I still have it in my collection. Am I excited about sharing this with Maya? When she was a bit younger, yes. At this point, I think she's outgrown a lot of these stories. But my mom bought them all for her, so she can read them anytime she wants to.

Another favorite of mine was Little Toot. I'm not sure what it was about that little tugboat, but I loved it, and if it weren't for the wisdom of my older brother, poor Samantha would have been named "Little Toot".

When I was 9, my mom thought I might like to read Farmer Boy, because of my love for horses. Thus began my love for the "Little House" books, and my interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder (I have several biographies of her...). I still use her books as a kind of barometer for life, which I'm sure is horribly annoying.

Next, my mom suggested I might like The Horse and His Boy, again, because I was one of those girls who LOVED horses. I fell in love with all of the Narnia books, and I still read them periodically. Maya has read most of them at school, and she really liked them a lot. Maybe not as much as I did, but a lot.

Last but not least, A Wrinkle In Time. Maya has already read this, and she really liked it a lot. I loved all of the Madeline L'Engle books...they showed me a world where families ate dinner together, cared for each other, fought for each other and for what was right. They were strong and sometimes conflicted. I loved that. In many ways it mirrored our own family, which a lot of pre-teen books do not. I mean, Beverly Cleary wrote about strong families, somewhat, but they were a different breed. The pre-teen books so often are 'issue' books, where the kids are basically trying to get away from their families. So it was nice to read some books where family was the haven. Then there was the science...which was so clear and poetic in L'Engle's hands. Love it.

TV Shows...well, Maya loved Sesame Street when she was little, especially Elmo. But for shows that I would love to share with her, she's kind of old for any of the shows I watched as a kid, except maybe the Muppet Show, which is ageless, or the Brady Bunch. :)

Music...I loved 2 albums growing up. I loved Free To Be, You And Me, which Maya has on CD, and now listens to sometimes. Not as often as I did, but she also has cable TV, 5 magazine subscriptions, a ton of books, and a Nintendo DS. The other album I loved was a record I would walk over to the library and listen to just about every day. It was people talking about the habits of wolves on one side, and the other side was wolf songs, and wolf pups. I couldn't get enough of that record. I don't know that Maya would be interested, though she is certainly interested in wolves. But she has DVDs and things that we didn't have back in the mid-70s. :)

So that's my list. Not very 'cool' stuff to be into, I suppose, but boy, these were the books and records that I most identify with my childhood. As Maya gets older, I look forward to sharing other books with her...but she's really old enough now for pretty much any 'kids' type book.