Bored? Make a Flowchart!

These are fun. They're flowcharts on flowcharts. The first is on whether you should make a flowchart, and the second is how to read flowcharts. Don't know how well you can see them here, so if you need to, click on the image and it'll come up (bigger) in a new window:





Fun, huh? Makes me want to work in an office again. Not. (hee hee hee)

We Love LibriVox!

When was the last time you listened to a good audio book? And when, I ask you in all seriousness, was the last time your kids did? I bring this up 'cause about a couple of years ago I found a great resource for FREE audiobooks on the web (of course it's free, that's what I live for)(hee hee hee). I'm referring to LibriVox. Their site is filled with free classic audiobooks, all for the downloading. The site has a catalog and you can search by genre, which I do, for "children." They have hundreds of entries there, some of which are short stories and the rest of which are full books. One of my children has gotten a bunch of Sherlock Holmes stories, and the other is currently into both the L. Frank Baum Oz books and the Tom Swift adventure books (by various authors). They both listen to their stories as they go to sleep or do things quietly in their rooms (which in our house happens very rarely). It's a great way to keep your kids interested in reading, especially if you want them to learn a bit about some classic books. I say "classic" 'cause LibriVox, like Project Gutenberg, only deals with out-of-copyright books (ie, pre-1923). That's not so bad, though, because there are a ton of really, REALLY good books on there free for the taking.

If you're interested in getting one of these books and are hesitant 'cause you've not done this before, it's easy: go to LibriVox.org, click on "Librivox catalog" on the box on the left, and run from there, filling in either an author or a title, or look below that and you can click on "browse entire catalog." Assuming you found the book you want, you then get to that page, and scroll down to where each file (or chapter) is named. After the file name, there are several several file types listed. Right click on the type you want (I usually choose the mp3@128kps) and tell them the location to which you'd like to save the file (I put them in my "downloads" folder). You have to do that with each file. Relatively speaking, an easy process, and fast, depending on the speed of your connection. After you get all the files you need (or want), you just need to play them, either on your computer or your mp3 player or (my choice for my kids) on a cd. I'll leave those directions to you. But if you need any directions on MS Media Player, I've got it in XP and Vista, so send me a note and I'll send directions.

I've gotten probably 25 books from LibriVox so far, and am currently work on another. I hope you all check it out and give it a try. It's a great idea well executed!

Couldn't Resist...

Nothing Fun, Just Interesting...

My son has played "follow the links" from the lolcats site to the (lol)dogs site to a rather cynical but often quite silly site called "FailBlog." It's filled with mostly pictures but occasionally video of stuff that, well, just didn't work as their owners had planned. He pulled up something today that looks so benign when you first glance at it, but, well, you watch and see:



Did you not gasp at the end? And did you not worry that the cop was gonna blow up at any minute (at the end there)? Whew!

What's Pandora? Free Radio on Your Computer !!

Hey, have any of you checked out Pandora yet? It'a a great site that plays music based on your musical choices. Once you have an account, you create "stations" based on either a group or song or type of music. And they have TONS of tracks, so almost anything you enter gets matched to other similar songs. And did I mention it's FREE? I think they operate on the presumption that they'll introduce you to music in the genre you like but that you haven't heard before (and then order the tracks/albums through them). Which is cool with me.

My musical tastes run to the relatively obscure, so I have a station that's geared around The Pogues (Irish rock and folk), XTC (80's alternative rock), and Sara Bareilles (00's mellow pop). And I could have set up any number of other "stations" as well.

I keep this music on when I'm working on the computer or in the house in general. It's even on my internet-radio receiver in my room, so once I set it up once, I can access it from any computer or receiver.

So if you've become bored with regular broadcast radio, why not check out www.pandora.com and see what you can find there?

Gotta Post It, Just Once...

You did it, America! Woo Hoo!!!



I do not have what might be defined as "unbridled optimism." I just have more than I would have had the other side been elected. Done.

I Knew Welsh Was Tough, But This is Just Ridiculous...

With a friend, I visited Wales back in the '80s. I have two great memories of that trip. The first is of the beach at Tenby, which was at the base of an incredibly high, rocky hill, and at which the water was unbelieveably cold. The second memory was of the family we stayed with. They were my friend's boyfriend's grandparents, and they were natives of Wales, and hence English was not their first language. With the great prevalence of English (even in Wales), we didn't think this would be a problem. Hee hee hee on us. We were fine with the grandmother, and her sister and the sister's husband. But the grandfather was tough; not only was his first language Welsh, but he also whispered and was going senile. Which means that not only could we not understand what he was saying, we couldn't HEAR what he was saying. Oh boy. I guess 50 years in the mines will do that to ya...

I loved this story and thought I'd share. In Wales, as in Ireland, all road signs are printed in Welsh as well as English. So recently a sign showe up that looked like this:



Looks like a regular road sign, right? Hee hee hee... wrong. The top (the English) is correct. I guess having designed that part, the highways office then sent that text to their translation service. The translator was not available, as their email response read (in Welsh) "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated." Hee hee again: the roads department assumed that that was the translation they asked for, and put it on the sign. Hence, the sign now read the English text on the tope and the "out of office" response on the bottom. Hee hee hee once again!

Hee Hee Hee... "Animal" Strikes in Germany!!

Sorry, kids, I know it's been a while, but with the start of school for my offspring, I've been a bit overwhelmed.

I'm a bit down right now, so I've decided to show you something that I got a real kick out of. I hope you like it:

It seems that the German police are a bit bothered by a driver who's been getting around their speed cameras. Apparently the cameras in Germany are only set to capture the identity of the driver, and for them (as for US cars), that's the left-side seat. Well apparently a hoaxster driving an Audi with British registration has been speeding in Bayreuth and avoiding apprehension by riding with a member of the Muppets in his passenger seat. The pic looks something like this:



The author of the blog I saw this on says: "The No.1 suspect is Animal – the manic drummer from The Muppet Show’s house band The Electric Mayhem. But several residents of Sesame Street are also in the frame, including the lovable monster Grover and Bert’s rubber-ducky-loving sidekick Ernie."

But this has to be my favorite. He doesn't credit it, but I guess it's from the police in Bayreuth: “This may be an example of the famous British sense of humour but it is still dangerous driving. The driver has been caught on camera on several occasions and the puppet is on the passenger seat every time. We suspect he positions the toy deliberately before accelerating past the camera.” Ya think?

: )

Just Have to Post This...

see more crazy cat pics

Keep everyone down on the Gulf Coast in your prayers...

Time for Lolcatz!

Need to put a smile on your face? Here you go:

I'm having trouble re-sizing the top one. The caption says "you gonna just stand there? for the lubba jeebus, help me!" I'm sure you get the idea.


see more crazy cat pics

and


see more crazy cat pics

HAPPY MONDAY!

WOO HOO!! XO Computers Available from Amazon in November!

Woo Hoo again! The XO, a computer developed out of the MIT Media Lab )and intended for distribution to children in developing areas of the world), will be sold to the public by Amazon as part of an upcoming fundraising initiative. They were sold last year, but then the program was run by the developers themselves, and it didn't go well (it went ok, but not great I guess). I can't complain, though; ours was delivered, sans instructions or almost any documentation, on December 19 or 20. It's the coolest thing on the planet! It has a reader application so you can read e-books, it as a few (children's) games, with more available - free - on their site, it has several usb ports for use with other hardware, like iPods and a mouse, it has a video cam and speakers, and yes: WI-FI!!!! I've taken it on vacation several times and used it to access my email; what a great toy! Oh yeah, and the kids like it too.

Anyway, this was announced only today and for further information, you can look here:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9114103&intsrc=hm_list

or here:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/150642/amazon_to_sell_olpc_xo_laptops_from_november.html

The way it worked last year was that you paid $400 and received one XO computer. Since the XO only costs $200, the other half of your payment is tax-deductible as it goes to send another computer to a child in a developing country. The one I gave last year is somewhere in Mongolia now. Cool, huh? And we got a tax deduction too! Rock on, gadget junkies!

Opera Rules!!

Today at 1PM Google released their first browser, "Chrome."  Let's see how it goes.  Me, I'm hesitant since I'm a diehard fan of the "Opera" browser; it's lightning-fast, sleek-looking, takes up little precious hard-drive space, and lets me save my bookmarks as icons (yeah!!!).  And it doesn't crash as often as ANYTHING ever put out by Microsoft (take that, Internet Explorer!!!!!).  Did I mention it's FREE? Yeah, I use IE if I have to (occasionally, some low-rent websites can't be viewed by Opera), but ONLY if I have to.  Opera is great and I just wish more people knew about/used it.  Here's the link if you wanna check out this fast, EASY browser, and if you need help downloading it or using it, write me (or make a comment to this post): http://www.opera.com/.

On the off chance you want to try the Google browser, here's the link: http://www.google.com/chrome. Good luck with that!

Seeing Ghosts

With the recent spate of suicide-by-train deaths in this area, I’m noticing something I’d not really heard in the several years I’ve been here: long, insistent train horns being blown between the two nearby stations. As the engineers leave one, they begin a series of long horn blasts that really get your attention, the kind that make you wonder if everything is ok, or if they see something on the tracks and they’re trying to warn it to move. I can understand why they do it. Because of the suicide deaths of the three boys in the past three months (they were 17, 18, and 20, I think), I’m sure this line has become somewhat of a last-choice assignment for the staff of these trains (ie, when given their schedules, they heave a heavy sigh when they see they’re coming down here).  

Also, do you think they pass on information from engineer to engineer? Do you think they – the engineers - try to prevent it in any way other than blowing their horns more? Do they slow the trains when they approach certain crossings (like the one near me)? And do they support each other when it happens? Does it happen enough that there are that many other engineers who’ve hit people?  

This whole thing is so sad, and not only for the families of the boys, but also for the train staff. It’ll never be enough to hear “it wasn’t your fault” or “you know he wasn’t in his right mind” or “he shouldn’t’ve been playing on the tracks.” All the engineer remembers is that there was someone on the tracks and he hit him. And killed him. I’m sure that’s not an easy thing to deal with, or drive away from. And even when in their conscious mind they know that the boys were drunk, or off their medication, or lovesick, their unconsciouses must play vicious games with them, replaying the event over and over, during daylight and night.

I wonder if they get psychological help when this happens [there goes another series of horn blasts]. I mean, how can an engineer go back to work when he’s constantly hallucinating about young men playing on the tracks directly in front of his several-thousand-ton train? That can’t be good, for him or the train he’s driving. I wonder if they have on-site psychologists or if the engineers get time off to see someone on their own. Do they get automatically transferred to another train line? Do they retire early? What exactly do they do for the train staff when this happens? Has this even been an issue before? And, has this ever happened so many times in one short period on one line?  

We’re seeing a bunch of suicide prevention talks and articles geared toward the kids. I really wonder what’s being done for the staff of those trains… [another bunch of horn blasts].

Which Came First? "Buffalo Soldier" or "The Tra-La-La Song"?

 I realize I'm old enough to be contemplating things things of a much more serious nature, but this was brought up recently and I felt I needed to find out the answer: which came first, Bob Marley's song "Buffalo Soldiers":

(check out what he sings at 1:33 in the song)

or the theme song from The Banana Splits, also known as "The Tra-la-la Song"?

I had to dig a little, but I've indeed found that the tv theme debuted with The Banana Splits in 1968, and the pop song was recorded in 1980 and released in 1983 (posthumously).  Makes you wonder what Bob Marley was watching when he composed the song.  But wait, he was a rasta, which makes me wonder even more...

What Exactly IS a "Lolcat"?

A "Lolcat" is a picture of a cat - or kitten - that has a cute caption appended to it. The "lol" part of the name refers to the im shortcut which means "laugh out loud," which I do A LOT when I see these.  There's a certain new "lolcat" language that's developed too; it takes a bit to get used to it, but once you do it's great (and cute).  There are some wonderful ones out there: cute ones, funny ones, scary ones. Some of my favorites can be found on http://icanhascheezburger.com. This is a great site with thousands of funny pics, mostly of cats. Go there, have some fun, enjoy!

Big Black Dogs = Marshmallows (at least ours is!)

As you can see from the pic to the right, we have a big beautiful black doggy.  When our last (big black) dog died, and I became lonesome, I specifically looked for a large dark dog for our family.  I learned during that search that black dogs - specifically big black dogs - take the longest to get adopted out.  (Note: we're an "adopt" family; we didn't consider buying, as we think there are so many unwanted animals out there)  I was really amazed that so many people have a "thing" about black dogs, especially large ones, as I've found they've the best personalities and are great with children.   That's been my experience anyway.  And to point out how great they can be, I've tried to show people the big baby that is our dog.  He's sweet, energetic when he wants to be, swims better than most humans, and is not aggressive to other animals (he doesn't care about squirrels and is often scared by small dogs (really!!) ).  Relative to other dogs I know, he's the epitome of the well-trained family dog.

This article was in an area paper recently and it discusses the "black dog situation".  I hope you read it and consider a black dog the next time you go animal-shopping.  They're wonderful!

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/LIFE05/80811005/1006/LIFE

PS  Don't forget to look on Petfinder to see what animals are available to be adopted in your area:

http://www.petfinder.com/

Cheer Up Kids!

For whatever reasons, it's seemed to be a bit stressy around here lately.  So I've taken it upon myself to cheer you all up.

First off, a video from a classic movie, featuring two actors the likes of whom we won't see again:



And I thought of this last night, as the rain cleared and we chased a beautiful rainbow that seemed to end over the ocean:



Hope your day gets good!

The Name Game in Court

I don't think I could EVER do this to my child. I've just always liked fun but "normal" (read: boring) names for kids. I realize there are some that like to be more creative, but I wasn't one of them when it came to naming my three children. The first is named after his dad and grandfather, the second has his first name chosen by my husband and the second is my father's name, and the the third is my choice of first name and the second and third are after her grandmothers. Dull, boring, but for us, nice and thoughtful.

Here's why I bring this up. There was an item in the news today about a case out of New Zealand about a judge who placed a girl "under custodianship of the court" while a new name was chosen for her. Her legal ("given") name is, now sit down, and don't choke all of you "she must be named for a saint/family member" people, "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii."  Yeah, that's it.  That's her legal name. Hee hee hee. Can you imagine going around with a moniker like that? And she's 9. Can you imagine how the other girls would slay her if they knew? (They don't, though, 'cause she was so embarrassed that she told them to call her "K.").   And can you imagine what she thinks of her parents as a result of this?  She had to SUE to get a "normal" name.  That's bad.  Her therapy bills are gonna be B I G .

Although on the one hand I hope this is a hoax, on the other hand, it's been featured on the CBC (Canada), Reuters Africa, USA Today, the AP, and the BBC. If they've been taken in, then someone did a great job! Here's some story links:

http://africa.reuters.com/odd/news/usnSP5901.html
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/07/parents-lose-cu.html
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/24/talula-nz-name.html

and the best article on the whole thing:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523288

So the next time you think oddly of someone because of what they chose to name their child, just think of poor 9-year-old Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii and the other children mentioned in the articles (one named "Violence" and another named "Number 16 Bus Shelter") and you'll realize that the people you know are nowhere NEAR so bad.

And don't think this hasn't happened here. Just think of Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa, and Apple Martin (daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow). Ugh.

I wish I worked in a place like this...

http://view.break.com/521743 - Watch more free videos

'Nuff said...

(hee hee hee)

And I Thought Summer HERE Was Boring...

I think the Swedes need something new to occupy their time. Read on:

There's a discrimination issue that's raging in Sweden right now. It involves - sit down - birthday invitations. Yup. You read right. Birthday invitations (or their improper distribution) can cause discrimination. Did you know that? I didn't. I guess the rules in Sweden are different.

The details: in a school south of Stockholm recently, an 8-year-old boy who had given out invitations to his birthday party had the invitations confiscated by his teacher. The reason: he hadn't given them to everyone in his class. Two boys were not invited. Why? His father says one of the boys bullied his son, and the second hadn't invited him to his party. But as a result of not receiving the invitations, those two boys were discriminated against. Or so the school says.

Now, I've heard - and abided by - those rules at private pre-schools, and I thought they were pretty justified for a group of really little kids (and this was a PRIVATE school). But do we really need to have PARLIAMENT decide whether this is discrimination? And why is it discrimination? Because some children will have their feelings hurt 'cause they weren't invited to a private party? Well maybe there was some justification there. And how did the other boy get away with not inviting everyone? How come he wasn't bagged for discrimination?

I don't believe in a "big government" that has to make rules for everything. In fact I personally believe some things just shouldn't be legislated. And this is one of them. Social mores are based on current social custom, which, I think, should not be legislated. Prohibition, anyone?

And hey, don't people in Sweden have anything else to worry about? This is soooo silly, and for it to have reached the Parliamentary Ombudsman is ridiculous. I've always wanted to visit Sweden, and Norway, and Denmark, and Finland, but I gotta start wondering about a place that has to establish rules on who must be invited to a birthday party. Good Grief!!!

More Info:  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkBG46h2R7GP4O08d5vSYk416N0gD91JTSFG0

Devo Sues McDonald's Over Toy's Look - Duh!

Hey, kids!  Long time no read!  Sorry, but the end the kids' school year was a bit harried, and it took me a while to catch up with everything.

Did you see that the late 70's / early 80's band Devo is suing McDonald's?  Yup.  Apparently the fast-food monster aligned with American Idol and passed out toys representational of different musical eras, and the "New Wave Nigel" doll, which looks like this,


is apparently (obviously??) too close to Devo's standard stage costume as seen here:



Me, I think it's kinda obvious (ok, REALLY OBVIOUS) that McD's took the image from Devo. No question at all.  Four-tiered red hat on toy, four-tiered red hat on band members.  Clinches it for me...

The real issue, I think, is that not many people, myself included, knew that the Devo hat (dubbed "energy domes" by the band) is actually trademarked and copyrighted. Cool! I didn't know you could DO that! And they were pretty prescient on that too. Who knew 25 years ago that one of the biggest corporations in the world would step on that same trademark? Or that a hat would become so emblematic of a time and its music.  Woah.

Hey, trivia for you: did you know that Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead singer (I think) of Devo, wrote the music for the children's tv show "Rug Rats"? Yup. I guess we all grow up eventually.

And on that note, here for your viewing pleasure is a taste of what Devo became known for:



I can't find a nice clip of the opening Rugrats music, but I"m sure you can easily call it to mind. Bah bah bah baaaah bah bah baah bah bah bah bah bah bah...  :)

Harvey Korman Has Left The Building...

The world has lost another great comedian: Harvey Korman died yesterday.  Most of us remember him from his days on The Carol Burnett Show, and he was also a mainstay for a while in Mel Brooks' movies (High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, and Blazing Saddles).  

While on The Carol Burnett Show, he was in many skits, and must have had mixed feelings every time he was paired with Tim Conway, who seemed to place high value on how fast he could get Harvey to crack up.  For exampe, watch this skit and keep your eye on Harvey, who in theory has no lines but becomes the centerpoint of the skit nonetheless:



Harvey Korman was the guy to watch on this show, usually regardless of whether he was the protagonist or not.  I'll miss seeing his reactions, and the lengths to which he went to try to keep his composure.  Rest in peace, Mr. Korman, we'll miss you but your legacy will live on...

It's The Most Wonderful Time... Of The Year!

Hey, kids! Sorry I've not posted lately, but I've been really busy, what with baseball, softball, lacrosse and Boy Scouts. It seems that every day someone needs a ride to somewhere, and none of the locations are near each other. I'm sure you've all had some of those days. Here's a run-down of last Wednesday (hope you're sitting down):

12:30 Pick up kids from school (early dismissal day)
1:00 Drop off #1 son at pizzeria for lunch w/friends
1:15 Arrive home and have lunch with #2 son and #1 daughter
2:30 Pick up #1 from pizzeria
3:00 Leave house with #1, #2, #3 to pick up friend
3:15 Arrive at school; drop off #1 and friend for chess; pick up friend #2
3:30 Drop off #2 son at friend's house
3:35 Drive to Girl Scout camp for hike
4:40 Friend picks up #1 son, (who's changed clothes after chess) and takes him to lacrosse practice
5:00 Try to leave Girl Scouts hike, to protestations of crying #1 daughter
5:05 Really leave Girl Scouts hike, crying daughter in tow
5:25 Pick up #2 son from friend's house
5:30 Stop at our house for pit stop
5:45 Leave for softball game in nearby town, with #1 daughter and #2 son
6:00 Arrive at softball game, which has already started
6:27 While pitching, receive a call from DH that he'll be late to pick up #1 son from lax
6:27:30 Leave mound to arrange for someone (anyone) to tell #1 to wait for ride
6:55 Finish quickest softball game of season; hitting fantastic, fielding excellent; Proud Coach!! I should be late more often! : )
7:10 Arrive home to empty house. Call DH to be sure he picked up #1 son. He soon arrives, only to say they've done fast food.
7:15 Leave to get fast food for us
7:25 Arrive home once again, this time with food
7:30 Eat
7:45 Collapse

I guess this is why I haven't returned to work. On days like this, when everyone has something, and it requires a spreadsheet to organize it all, I realize that after all the effort, it's worth it. When I see #1 daughter cry 'cause she has to leave a hike, then threaten to not play softball 'cause she's sad, then have her pop up at bat with a big smile on her face... that's what I live for!

Hope your seasons are all going well!

Days Spent Out in the Field...

My softball team (the Mariners) had a game last night, and at a slow point, I looked at some of our outfielders. One of them was fixing her ponytail, two of them were chatting, another was throwing rocks at the ground (or at me, her mom) and another was playing tic tac toe with her foot. Softball gets boring at times, I guess.

That reminded me of when I was on the Wrens back at St. Anselm's when I was a kid, standing out under the hot sun on one of the dusty fields behind Fort Hamilton High School, wearing my oversized polyester uniform shirt and my heavy (what-felt-like-wool) baseball hat (no visors for us in the 70's!!), being bored to tears waiting for something, anything to happen.

Which reminded me (again, I know) of a song I heard a while back, that I thought would remind you too of your days standing out in the field waiting... and waiting... and waiting...



Let me know if it brought a smile to your face too!

Woah! Mazda to Destroy 4,703 Cars. Woah!

Until the many mishaps with my Mazda van, I was a die-hard Mazda fan (I'm a die-hard fan of most things that can be called "obscure," I guess). I think my faith in them has been renewed. Apparently a shipment of new Mazda cars were being sent on a ship that developed a really (really) bad list, and was like that for several weeks before being "righted." Mazda then had to consider the integrity of the cars, which had been strapped down safely but were at that odd angle for so long. Do they sell the cars and risk the lives of the drivers? Do they let them get into anyone's hands and risk the reputation of the entire company? After some consideration, the company decided... no. They won't give 'em (or sell 'em) to anyone, they'd just methodically destroy them. Three cheers for Mazda!

Check this out:



For once common sense wins, huh?

TV Online? Yeah! Free and Easy Too!

I missed an episode of my favorite show, House, which is on Fox. Since the writers' strike they've played repeats, but not the one I wanted to see. When I checked out the Fox site, they offered a "video on demand" feature, but only the most recent new episode, and my ep wasn't the most recent. So now what? House is not always self-contained, in that some of the stories run in the background and advance from episode to episode, so if I miss one, I miss part of a storyline. What to do, what to do...

SO... I found a new site I wanna tell you about. It's called hulu, and it allows you to watch stuff from (mostly) NBC and Fox shows. And guess what? They're all free. And legal. Woo hoo!!!!!! How great is that? No more downloading "illegal" copies and fearing you'll "get caught." No more missing out on stuff everyone else remembered to see. No more feeling lost when you watch the next episode and not knowing what's going on.

I can't even remember how I first heard of hulu, but last night, when I was just finishing up some household jobs, it was nice to sit down and finally see the House ep I missed. I just called up hulu, searched on "House," chose which episode I wanted, and sat back and watched it. I was viewing it on my laptop and even made it full-screen, so it was like watching it on a regular tv, but up close and on MY schedule.

There is one proviso, though (although I found it only a minor annoyance): there are ads "supporting" your viewing of the show/movie you're seeing. On the show I watched last night the sponsor was Tylenol, and the ads were actually pretty cool: they seemed to have been developed for hulu, meaning they were subtle and they were short. There were probably about 6 all tolled, but each one couldn't have been more that 10 or 15 seconds. So they didn't really interrupt the story that much.

Wikipedia says hulu features shows that play on USA Network, Bravo, Fuel TV, FX, Sci Fi, Style, Sundance, G4, and Oxygen as well as the aforementioned NBC and Fox (and the CBS show I found). They supposedly have over 400 different tv shows and also a bunch of movies (I have yet to check those out).

So the next time you've missed "your show," or just want to catch something fun (and FREE), check out hulu.com and see what you can find. I LOVE stuff like this!

My Memories Interrupted

When I was in college, and for a bit after, I was really into music, mostly British stuff and less commercial American stuff. I liked people like Depeche Mode (first two albums only, thank you), Clash, Squeeze, Strawberry Switchblade (!), and Heaven 17. After a while I also learned to appreciate bands like Ramones, PIL (and their precursor), and a few other more seminal groups like The New York Dolls.

I bring this up 'cause I saw a video today that really cracked me up. I sometimes find it hard to believe that every member of the "Ramones," save for one, are gone (they all died within 8 years of their official breakup). Some of their music is not for me, but I love a few of the classics, like "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach." Speaking of which, the latter is currently the ringtone on my cell phone.

Back to the video: it's of two guys doing their own version of a Ramones song, and it's scary and funny all at once. In my book, you can't possibly keep a straight face when presented with a punk song (or almost any song) played on a ukelele (or two):



Of course, for those of you purists, or those who can't remember the original, here's a video of the Ramones doing the same song ("Blitzkrieg Bop"):



Some of that good stuff never goes out, does it?

Woo Hoo! It's Shirley Temple's 80th Birthday!!

I'm the youngest of 7 children (5 girls, 2 boys). Growing up with a lot of older siblings gave me exposure to a bunch of things I wouldn't normally have seen with my peers, and for me, I most remember the pleasure of watching Shirley Temple movies on tv. I remember watching The Little Princess and Heidi a bunch of times and being amazed at all this little girl could do (yeah, even now, in this jaded cynical time, I still look at her in awe).

In celebration of Shirley Temple's 80th birthday, I couldn't decide which of my two favorite songs to post, so I'm putting them both up. The first is "Animal Crackers in My Soup" from Curly Top:



The second is "At the Codfish Ball" from Captain January. This is especially fun 'cause you get to see her dancing with - get ready - Buddy Ebsen, who at this point in his career was only known as a dancer (and singer too, maybe). Oh, and for those of you who only know him from "The Beverly Hillbillies," get ready to see him with black hair! Check it out:



So when you're looking at your children today, and you're thinking about them and their futures, remember when the beautiful woman above was once the beautiful singing and dancing girl seen here. Wow, Shirley!! You go girl!!

It's Earth Day!

In celebration of today, which is a bit of a throw-back to the hippie movement of the 60's and the environmental movement of the 70's, I present the video of the day:



It's kind of sad, but it's still a classic.

Happy Earth Day, kids! Go out and hug a tree and think of me...

Introducing Freecycle!

Hey, I haven't mentioned freecycle before, but I should introduce you to it. It's that great organization (rather loosely-knit) that aims to keep things out of landfills by encouraging people to give them away. OK, to be more concise: if I have something I no longer need, but is still in good shape, I list it on the local freecycle site, which then sends an email around to all members telling them my item is available. If anyone wants it, they send me a message expressing interest. I then write to one of the respondents and arrange pickup. The recipient then picks up the item and it's then theirs. No money changes hands, and everyone benefits (me, because I got the thing out of my house, and them, because they got something they needed/wanted for free!). It's a win-win propostion. Of course you need to be careful, and I am. I don't use my name, only an "alias," and although I do usually have pickup at my house, I always mention my very large dog and that although he's barking inside the window, as long as the front door is shut they should be fine. (Did I mention that my dog is a 100-lb Newf mix, who (although loveable to the core), has a VERY intimidating bark?).

Anyway, I love freecycle 'cause you can rid yourself of sooo much stuff, like clothes, toys, furniture, household stuff, and even food (!). Some folks have recently posted things like unused baby formula mix (the dry stuff) and diet food from those companies that help you lose weight (that one made me wonder why the person didn't want/need it anymore? did they fail to reach their goal and gave up? did they meet their goal and now eat other stuff? did they buy it and decide they couldn't eat it for some reason? oh the possibilities make my mind spin...).

When you post an "offer," the responses you receive are often interesting. Most people tell you why they want the thing you're offering, and that's what intrigues me. Why exactly do you want my bucket of old baseballs? Or my custom-made curtains that may not fit anything other than my window? Why do you want my son's old school shoes? Do you really give my kids' old books to your pre-school class in an Abbott District? Will your kids really fix our dead basketballs and use them in your yard? And what about those slate tiles from my yard? Will you really use them to finish your backyard project? I do wonder sometimes...

And often people post "wanted" messages, and those can be fun too. The usual requests are things like "kids clothes size xxx," and "computer, any operating system as long as it works," but sometimes you see really odd ones, like "cell phone charger for Nokia phone model xxx," or "car or truck, recent," (!) or "flat screen tv (recent)." That one shocked me. The whole idea you'd ask for something as specific - and as recent and as expensive - as a flat-screen tv just floors me. That is NOT what freecycle is about, in my book. It's one thing to give that away, but it seems rather... I don't know... selfish? to ask for one for free. Maybe I'm wrong there...

Anyway, if you're interested in clearing out some stuff and want to get it to people who'll use and appreciate it, try our local freecycle chapter at yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeholdNJFreecycle/ You have to become a yahoo member and then "request" membership, but that's all easy.

One proviso about freecycle: you can NOT sell the stuff you get. The purpose of the organization is to keep useable stuff from ending up in landfills, and part of the rules is your acknowledgement that you won't sell the stuff you receive. I understand it's happened before, and it was not taken well by the members of the group. Everyone is very nice and civil, but they are that way because there's a certain level of trust among the members, and as such they expect everyone to obey the rules. Don't, and everyone will know really fast...

Give it a shot! You'll be surprised at what you can get rid of (and what you can get!!!).

PS Most fun thing I've gotten from freecycle: a couple of Commodore 64 computers with all the peripherals (power cords, printers, etc). Who would have thought that anyone would have kept them this long? What are they, maybe 25 years old? 30? That's why I loooooooove freecycle!

Beautiful Dog Video

I love black dogs. Big black dogs. Big beautiful black dogs with mellow personalities. And If I had my way and was more organized (and less inclined to sit at this computer), I'd have two big beautiful Newfoundlands. All black, not Landseers (which are also brown and white). A couple of big beautiful furry black teddy bears. Just like the dude in this video I just watched. It's just a beautiful video, and it made me smile sooo many times. It starts slow, but keep with it and it picks up.. It's just this guy's two Newfs, playing, pulling, and doing Newf stuff. They're the most calm, mellow dogs on the planet, and I'm proud to say that our dog, pictured to the upper right, is 1/2 Newf (the best half, of course!). Check this out:

Cheap GPS

This is from one of the online comics I check out now and then. It's a bit geeky, and usually pretty fun. The strip is called xkcd, and this is from Monday. It's titled "Cheap GPS." Get it?

http://xkcd.com/407/

Tombstones, Fun and Not

OK, now that I've gotten over my bento phase - somewhat - I'm moving headlong into my kawaii phase. That's what I see going on in Japan lately. Kawaii = cute. Cute here, cute there, cute cute everywhere. And the epitome of that is our old almost-35-year-old friend, Hello Kitty. And to prove my point, I present to you, get ready, a Hello Kitty tombstone (real as far as I can tell).

That's from http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/hello-kitty-tombstones-in-japan/ and the page there also features video of a tombstone shop with another Hello Kitty with a soccer ball. Oh my. Can you imagine being remembered by future generations as the family member who chose to be buried under Hello Kitty? Yikes. I can see HK on clothes, and toys, and bento boxes. Tombstones? I don't know. I'd have to get used to that for a while...

PS To give you a bit of background on my feeling on tombstones, we found out a few years ago that the first member of my family (on my father's side) settled in Tennent, NJ, just outside Freehold. He and several members of his family died and are buried there, and you can see their family plot at the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church. He was buried before the Revolutionary War and had part of his tombstone shot off by a British cannonball (!!!). I'm therefore partial to standard, boring stones. Long-lasting ones. Ones that will hopefully be here, as those ones have, for 250 years. Wow.

YAY!!! Gap has brought back Classic Jeans!!!

OK, everyone has one or two features about themselves they like.  In my case, it's my legs.  They're chicken legs, granted, long and skinny, but I like 'em.  And I've come to realize that most pants, especially boot cuts and flares, make me look downright silly.  They end up looking like those wide, old-lady palazzo pants that belong with a big old flowered polyester blouse.  So I try to stick with straight-leg pants, preferably with a regular- or medium-rise waist.   

A few years ago, when searching for new jeans, I settled on Gap Classics, 'cause they were stick-straight, and with just enough lycra to stay stick-straight.  I bought them on and off for a few  years, only for them to mysteriously disappear one day.  Poof!  Gone!  No more fun jeans for me!

I then found and settled on Levi's 512's, which were essentially the same style, but the denim was heavier and sturdier (yay!).  I ran through them in a couple of years, though, and couldn't find replacements 'cause, yeah, they also went poof.  Levi's no longer seemed to put them into stores.  Any stores.  Even online.  I did mange to find a few pairs in an outlet late last year and snarfed the only ones I could find in my size, but as a result I'm now always "on the hunt" for similar styles.

Well today after a "coffee date," which I'm starting to love, I took a hike to the nearby Gap and GUESS WHAT?  They've brought back my beloved Classic Jeans!  Mid-rise, very straight, and with a slight flair (hmm?).  The price is up there ($50), but I'm so excited at the mere prospect of them being back that I might pick up a few just in case they go away again.  Beautiful dark blue and a medium-rinse lighter blue.  Just my style, just for me.  Yayayay!!!

Ya know, you can never underestimate the value of a good pair of jeans.  Especially fun ones!!!

Hee Hee - New Venture from Google (posted 4/1)

Did you all see this yesterday?  It's one of the great online enterprises posted yesterday.  If you don't get it, let me know.  Check out this site about a joint venture between Virgin and Google:

http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

Speaking of yesterday, there were a bunch of similar posts that I looooove: Virgin Blue airlines out of Australia offered discounts for those who would stand for a flight.  Google Australia announced a new feature that allows you to search for content before it's created.  And the best to me, 'cause I find this man intriguing, Britain's Independent newspaper announced that foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay was banning swearing in his restaurants 'cause Sydney refused to allow him to set up a restaurant on the grounds of "decency."  I love that!  That man has to have the foulest mouth on this planet.  He uses it to great effect, but still...

Security at Disney Freaks Me Out...

I'll babble on more about our trip to Disney World, but I saw an article today that reminded me of something that really bugged me about Disney: they now require you (in most parks) to give them a fingerprint in addition to your ticket when you enter the parks. They say it's because they want to make sure that only one person is using each ticket, but it worries me still. What do they do with those fingerprints once the ticket expires? Does the print ever get destroyed, or held somewhere for future use? And if it IS stored, can someone hack in, steal them, and find some way to use them?  If governments lose stuff (NYC lost my mother's info last year), and corporations lose stuff and also have them hacked into, why should I trust The Mouse and The Duck?

(Quick one that I know someone will mention: yes, some of the parks will accept photo id instead of the fingerprint, but not all of the gate people know this. I was given grief at one gate (by more than one person) when I complained about the fingerprint and the gentleman said to me "it only captures biometrics." I had this urge to ask him what that meant, as he appeared to have no idea, but I decided not to cause further upsetment. You'd think that with all the training Disney supposedly provides, they'd explain to the operators exactly what the system does and what it's capturing.)

This whole thing freaks me out 'cause I'm starting to worry about all the places that have my personal info. Think about it: I used to live in New York, where your Social Security number was your driver's license number (and I think they had mine for oh, maybe 11 years!). And I attended Brooklyn College for some post-bacc courses, and they somehow used my SS number as an id as well. And how many times have you given your SS number or some other identifying info over the phone or at a store? Doesn't that worry you that someone is gonna steal it and use it?

The prevalence of this information-gathering is making me very worried about what can happen in the future. I'm not saying I'm totally paranoid, but the possibilities are endless...

And remember kids, "short of amputation, a biometric identifier [ie, a fingerprint] can't be revoked or changed." (from Boingboing 4/1/08: Hackers publish thousands of copies of fingerprint of German Minister who promotes fingerprint biometrics)

Here's the article I saw today:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/hackers-publish.html

And here's the original one I saw a bit ago:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/15/fingertip-biometrics.html

Make your own decisions, but that's why neither my blog nor my email addresses contain my name. I don't have a "shady past," but I don't want anyone to steal what I do have.

Next blog: room keys at our hotel

St. Patrick's Day

I'm NOT a fan of this fake-Irish stuff, nonetheless I do find some of this stuff interesting. And in my search for something fun for today, I've found possibly the silliest version of Danny Boy that's ever been done (not that it's a fun song, being about death and all). Can't beat the Muppets. Ever.
Let me know what you think:

Elliot Spitzer's "Girlfriend" is from Wall Township. Eeek!

Hey, did you notice that the woman implicated in the Elliot Spitzer prostitution scandal is from Wall, down here on the Jersey Shore?  And she attended - but did not graduate from - Wall High School?  She's only 21, so it wasn't that long ago...

For more info, google "For And Aspiring Singer" and click on the New York Times link.  And I thought it was interesting being raised in NYC!

Glasses Received! Pretty Cool, Too!

I received the glasses from Zenni yesterday, two full weeks from the day I ordered them. Here’s the package they came in (a bubble envelope) as well as the entire contents:

It looks fairly minimal (the entire thing wasn’t much bigger than a standard postcard), but let me tell you, the packing did the job. When I opened the case, the glasses were wrapped in the lens-cleaning cloth as an extra piece of protection for the lenses and the frames, and I pulled the glasses out and they were just great. Not hard to open, not cheap in appearance, not light in weight. In general, they seemed similar to my usual, every-few-years $300 pair of specs. A bit flashier, though. More flashy than I would normally get, but for $34 and in addition to my regular pair, they’re fun, cool, and just right.

You’re probably wondering two things: A) are the frames as described, and B) are the prescription lenses correct. In short, yes. The frames are exactly as pictured on the site, and the lenses appear to be correct. I’ve been wearing them for a day now and they seem fine. Given my long history with glasses and adjustments, I was also worried that these frames wouldn’t fit well without major adjustments, but they’re actually pretty good. I usually have to bring my glasses in for some sort of small adjustment when I first get them, but after a minor twist, turn or nudge here and there, these seem just great. And this model doesn’t have separate nose pads, so there’s one more thing I don’t have to worry about adjusting (and possibly breaking off).

So now I’m considering this experience. Was it worth it to order prescription eyeglasses over the web, especially when I have 20-400 vision? Especially when I’m generally so particular about this stuff? Yes. I spent $34 for a bit of fun that I can wear in emergencies, or just when I feel like doing something a bit funky. They arrived within a reasonable amount of time, in great shape, and they fit. What more can one ask?

If you’re thinking about doing this, first check out http://www.glassyeyes.blogspot.com/ for some good reading on the subject, then check out the sites mentioned (the biggest are listed on the left of the current post). Me, I opted for Zenni only because they have a large and fun selection, but the other sites are probably great too. The author of that blog recently had a good experience with 39dollarglasses.com.

Hey, for $300 I want a good proper pair of glasses I expect to last two years at a minimum. And I expect to be able to walk into a shop and get them fixed when necessary. But for $34, I only asked for fun glasses with the correct prescription. And I got it. Successful experiment, no?

Buying Glasses Online? Give It a Shot!

I've begun a grand experiment: I've ordered prescription eyeglasses online. Yup, I've broken through that transparent wall of hesitation that usually settles in when I see something new but scary. "Scary" in the sense that I've never done this before, but new things can - and usually are - exciting.

I’ve always thought that there's a certain satisfaction in putting on a pair of glasses and sticking your face two inches from a mirror to see what you look like. It brings on all sorts of thoughts, not least of which is "do these frames accurately reflect who I am, or who I want people to think I am?" And then of course I have to decide rather quickly WHO I think I am. Fun, but too much introspection needed…

So although it seems a contradiction because I can’t try them on, I looked at glassyeyes.blogspot.com, checked out the recommended sites, and chose Zenni.com (only ‘cause I like their selection better than those of the others). I read in several places that their customer service is so-so, but I’m hoping that I won’t have to find out.

The glasses I ordered are plastic frames and have single-vision prescription lenses (ok, we’re now at $19). I then added a bit of tint ($4.95) and non-glare coating (another $4.95). Those, combined with shipping, added up a grand total of $33.85 (!!!). I’m still waiting for them, having placed my order on Feb. 25, but for that price, I can wait a bit. I can’t remember the last time I left an eyeglass place having spent less than $300, so for 1/10th of that price, I can wait. But not too long....

I’ll update when they arrive. Wish me luck!