Well, Guys and Dolls opened last night and the opening was great! We had over 100 people there and the mistakes were minimal, forgivable, and well covered. The North County Times did a bit on us in their Preview section and the Union Tribune listed us as a Best Bet. Recognize the guy in the NC Times photo? We also had a few reviewers there last night. It will be interesting to see what they say. Of course, I'll link to all reviews as soon as they come out. Stay tuned! And if you are in the area, stop by Kit Carson park and check us out!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Opening night!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Perhaps There IS Hope for Democracy
A new poll came out recently on the heels of the assorted "voting irregularities" in places like Ohio and California
Asked whether Americans have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes, 92% of respondents concurred.
In the poll, they asked a number of questions about voting transparency. People overwhelmingly support checks and balances on our elections process. So, how do we turn this sentiment into action? November is nearly upon us and e-voting machines are becoming more and more prevalent. Here in San Diego, you enter and electronic vote and it gets stored in the machine at the precinct. Then the precinct votes are aggregated and sent to the central tabulator. It spits out the results. No ballots. No paper trail. No verification.
The Open Voting Consortium has what I would consider a decent solution. Any thoughts as to how we make it happen?
Read More......
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Level 1 reached!
Thanks to all your donations, I have achieved level 1 of my Breast Cancer Walk fundraising goals. I've actually made it to level 2 and am frighteningly close to level 3, but level 1 is the only one I have had time to complete. I assure you that the picture you see *is* of the back of my head and I have been parading around with it uncovered. In fact, this has resulted in four more individuals donating.
Special thanks to the folks in the finance department for helping paint my skull. Rebecca, Tara, Tanisha, Wayne, and Heather all helped, though Rebecca did the actual painting. We opted for the back of the skull as it seemed more visible.
Shortly after the painting was done, my donations jumped up a bit to $666! I was concerned that perhaps my work was the work of the devil, but then someone threw in another $5 to make it $671 and I was saved!
Monday, August 14, 2006
It's the Law
So, Josh was recently climbing on the climbing wall in the back yard and he was trying to explain how to do it to a friend of his. "You have to hang on or you'll fall. That's cuz of grabbity."
Read More......Thursday, August 10, 2006
Think Pink!
Time for some good old-fashioned self-abuse. But not just any old self-abuse. It's self-abuse for a cause. How many times do you think I need to type self-abuse to be tops on Google for the term? Of course, that may direct the wrong kind of traffic here. Ah, who am I kidding. I'm a traffic whore.
So, what is this self-abuse, you ask? I have joined my company's team in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. So, I am working on raising funds. If our team raises $15k, Cymer will match it! However, I've never been good at telling those sappy, syrupy tales to get people to give money. I'm opting instead for giving some entertainment for people's donations. This is where I need your help.
I'm creating donation levels. Every time my funds raised pass a certain level, I will do something silly or embarrassing and post pictures and or video. For example, when my total has passed $300, I am going to complete shave my head and paint a large, pink ribbon on it. I need ideas for other levels. How can I debase myself for people's amusement in order to raise money? You can check my progress here. Ready? Go!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Is This Thing On?
Ok. So, I've been gone a while. I don't think I've transitioned from "while" to "eternity" just yet, but I'm on the cusp. Life has been a bit on the hectic side. There's too much to go into right now, and I don't want to scare myself off. I gotta ease back into it. So, I'm probably going to throw a few quick hitting updates in over the next few days and get back into a rhythm. After all, it's been weeks since I've read or wrote anything. And I'd like to re-establish myself in my net communities before I throw too much of my own stuff out there. I feel like I need to reconnect with you all first. Find out what is going on in your corners of the world. But, rest assured, I am back.
I do want to thank everyone for their condolences about Nala. That was a pretty hard thing to go through. And I still see her death replay in my mind's eye a little more often than I'd like. But we are doing much better with it. The only lingering affects are Maya thinking her room is haunted by Nala's ghost and Josh developing an obsession with exactly when everyone and everything will die.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The Christmas Trees are Safe
I know I haven't kept up on the blogging of late. Life has been a bit on the hectic side. I mean, none of you ever really come here for timely news or commentary. I've always moved at my own pace. And you've always stuck around. I appreciate that. Occasionally, a story comes along that moves me to write it as soon as I can. To make time when I really have none. This is one of those occasions...
Today, at just a little before noon, Nala left us. I wish I could say that she went peacefully in her sleep, but neither she, nor we, were that lucky. The trouble started a couple of days ago. She was having a weird drool problem. She would chew as though there were something tough in her mouth and her mouth would twitch and there would be saliva everywhere. I thought it was just an oral irritation and tried to be more careful of what I gave her to eat. But it increased in frequency, and yesterday, during a particularly bad bout, I tried to get her to go out to the backyard as we had just cleaned the floors.
She looked at me with little awareness or acknowledgement, and when she finally did get up to go outside, she couldn't remember how to walk. She walked in a circle three times and then lost the ability to walk altogether. That's when it got scary. She starting having a seizure. She stumbled to the ground and began spasming uncontrollably. We all stood helpless watching her. As the seizure passed, I scooped her up in a blanket and whisked her off to the vet. During the drive, her breathing was labored, but she was calm. We had prepared the kids when I left that I might come back alone.
While at the vet, she slowly started to revive. When the vet saw her, she looked almost normal. She did have one of her drooling episodes while the tech was taking the case history. Based on history and examination, the vet recommended bloodwork first. By the time that was done and the results were back, Nala was walking around like herself again. Apparently, apart from the twitching and drooling, Nala was a perfectly healthy dog. The best they could come up with on the seizure was one of two things. The more easily treatable was the bacterial infection in her mouth. The vet surmised that the pain from the infection could cause her to spasm. Possibility two was a brain tumor or other neurological problem. That would be harder to diagnose. So, the plan was to put her on the antibiotics for a week to ten days and if she wasn't better, we'd go back and decide our next move. We never got the chance.
This morning, while I was out getting last minute things for our trip to Puerto Vallarta, She Who Must Be Given Sympathy called me on the cell phone. Nala was having another seizure. What was she supposed to do? I told her to administer the valium and then call the vet. I grabbed the last few items, waited in the checkout line, and rushed home. The seizure lasted twenty minutes. We couldn't get the valium in her. I just stood there and watched her slowly die. I rubbed her fur and tried to ease her passing, but I'm not sure she was there. When it was over, I covered her with a blanket and we saw to the kids.
They took it pretty hard. It's tough to say who had it worse. Nala was originally bought for She Who Must Be Given Sympathy to help her through two consecutive miscarriages. Maya pointed out that she had known Nala her whole life. They had grown up together. Just was just appalled that dogs could die. And me, well, I'm a pretty emotional sort and a dog person. We all made little tributes and put them in her box before I took her off for her final arrangements. Maya wrote her a letter and made her an origami purse full of dog food. Josh drew a picture of her. She Who Must Be Given Sympathy and I wrote her little notes on old dirty socks. It was kind of reminiscent of the send-off a Pharaoh got. And that was it.
All that is left is the grieving. And the memories. Josh wants to know if I'll miss him when he dies. Maya just wants to know why. She Who Must Be Given Sympathy blames herself for not taking care of Nala's teeth sooner. And me. I just want to get that image of her out of my head. The one where she is lying on the ground shaking herself to death.
I'd rather remember her as she is here. As the silly dog who barked when Christmas trees rode past. Or motorcycles. Or bicyclists. Or pedestrians. She felt like she was watching the flock. We'll miss you Nala. Thanks for keeping us safe these last ten years.
In eight hours I get on a plane to PV. I'll try to check in while I'm there. If not, see you on the flip side. Sorry to bring you down. If you made it this far, thanks.
Categories: Personal, Family
Friday, June 23, 2006
Nicely Nicely, Thank You
As some of you may have picked up from that reference, this is a post about the classic musical "Guys and Dolls". That just happens to be the show the theater is doing for Plays in the Park this year. Auditions have come and gone and I am happy to say that my amateur theater career is proceeding apace. Check out the cast list and you'll see what I mean. It's the Stubby Kaye role from movie version. I get to sing some of the best sons of the show. I'm part of the trio for "Fugue for Tinhorns", part of the duet for the titular "Guys and Dolls" and get "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" all to myself. I also sing backup on a few other numbers. I'm feeling pretty good about myself on this one because this was the best turnout audition-wise I've ever seen at patio and there were some really talented people that landed in ensemble roles.
Categories: SanDiego, Entertainment, Personal
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
She Who Must...
For those of you who haven't followed the comment thread, my wife, the artist formerly know as L shall henceforth be know as "She who must..." and I'll finish it with whatever seems appropriate at the moment. In general, I'll fall back on "She Who Must Be Obeyed" and "She Who Must Not Be Named", but I'm sure other situations will arrive which will afford me an opportunity for cleverness. And we all know how I enjoy opportunities for cleverness. Thanks to barbie2be and B.O.B. for the winning suggestions. Anyone have any thoughts as to a suitable prize? I could make a certificate suitable for framing, but who really wants that? I mean, seriously. I must have a whole box of those somewhere. They may be suitable for framing. But just because something can be done doesn't mean you have to do it. I mean, just cuz these boots were made for walkin'...Ok, that's a bad example. But you see my point. Or you don't. Either way.
Categories: Personal, Family
Friday, June 16, 2006
The Karma Goodbye Song
Well, the lunch has come and gone and I sang her song. She requested "Like a Virgin" with dance moves. I think she was hoping to embarrass me into not doing it. Sorry, but THAT is not the kind of thing that embarrasses me. My only regret is that I was unable to acquire those paper snowcone cups to fashion a makeshift pointy bra. Herewith are the lyrics. There are some better verses, but they crossed too far over the line and had to be left off...
She made it to the luncheon
The least that she could do
She's here under duress
We forced her to
Likes to eat stuff that's sweet
But won't touch, bagels much, it's true
Cuz she says that they're
Yeah she says that they're
Fattening for you
Her aversions! (Hey!)
Keepin her awake at night
Her aversions.
And she knows that
She is right
Gonna eat some watermelon
My victory's no fluke
Think I ate a bit too fast
There's a bush, I'll puke
Got some base on my face
Lashes long, like all women should
That's the only way
Yeah the only way
I feel I look good
Her aversions! (Hey!)
Keepin her awake at night
Her aversions.
And she knows that
She is right
Oooh, oooh, oooh
The fast food here's not good
It's so lame, yeah it's quite a shame
Just chicken and rice
Yeah chicken and rice
They all are the same
Her aversions! (Hey!)
Keepin her awake at night
Her aversions.
And she knows that
She is right
Her aversions, ooh ooh,
Her aversions
Now we'll say goodbye
So you're leavin', no more teasin', please don't be mad
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Ooh, baby
So I had to tease you
For the very last time
Categories: Karma, Humor, Enertainment
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Name My Wife
Odd title for a post, no? After all, she already has a name. But she doesn't want it to appear here on the blog. She was a victim of identity theft at one point and is now a trifle cautious about what information she lets out. So, I've been referring to her as "L" or "my wife". I grow tired of this labeling scheme. So, we need to decide what to call her in this space. Some of you know her. Others do not. So, here are some tidbits about her that she probably wouldn't be upset to find on the internet. She works in education. She greatly values reading. She's an outdoors activity sort of person. She hates being told she can't do something. So, is that enough info to come up with an approrpiate fictional name? I hope so. I'll choose my favorite from amongst the comments. Ready? Go!
Categories: Personal, Poll
Monday, June 12, 2006
The Resemblance is Uncanny
We interrupt the utter lack of news reporting to bring you this quiz. I know, there's lots of stuff going on out here and I'm not telling you any of it. I'm just trying to work my way back into blogging. So, you're stuck with this stupid quiz that I stole from someone. Sadly, I can't remember who. So, hat tip to whoever.
Categories: Poll Read More......
Friday, June 09, 2006
A Moment of Silence
First. Yes, I'm back. Lots to tell you about, including all that transpired to keep me away. But, it took a pretty momentous event to jolt me back into the game, and I need to get to that first. No, I'm not talking about al-Zarqawi. That's big news, but it's pretty widely reported. I have stuff to add to that, but it can wait. This has a more direct impact on you, the reader. No, not L's broken leg. That's is 'impactful', but more of a cause of absense than an opportunity to write. We shall recover from the leg. Especially me. This is about Karma. She's leaving...
Allow me to paraphrase a quote from..er...well, I can't remember who. If you know who it was, do a mental attribution. If not, just know that I'm borrowing it. "I have mixed feelings about this? I'm torn between joy and elation." It's going to make my life tougher in the short term, but in the long term, it's a truly wonderful thing. The one downside is, what will I do for material?!? I mean, she was a font of inappropriateness. She was a source of nigh-perpetual outrage. She may have been, to this blog, what Dubya is to the Daily Show. Fortunately, I have not written all the Karma stories there are to write yet, so you will still get to experience her in all her intolerant glory. But it's not the same as having it happen virtually real time, is it? I mean, the sign wars were a chance for you, the reader, to help me mess with her.
She doesn't want a going away party or presents or anything like that, but my friend Robin and I brainstormed a little gift basket for her. What do you think?
Ivory soap
White chocolate
A Ream of white paper
A couple t-shirts (white)
A personal white board
A couple bottles of white-out
White Knights on DVD
What else should we add?
Categories: Karma
Friday, May 12, 2006
Computer Troubles and Mother's Day
My computer at home is freezing up, so I need to get it looked at. The likey culprits are the power supply or the fans. So, I haven't been able to do much blogging from home of late. I'm just firing off a quick missive during lunch here to let you lot know that I havn't abandoned you. The computer won't get fixed before the weekend is out as we are taking L away for Mother's Day weekend. We are doing our YMCA campout this weekend instead of Thanksgiving this year. I'll try to catch you all up on the flipside. Be good to your Moms!
Read More......Monday, May 08, 2006
Liveability Index
It's always interesting to me how there is this urge to rank and order things in our world. There are a number of surveys on which are the best places to live. Forbes Magazine has a list of the top 'smart places to live'. Number 1 is Nashville. According to a new book reported in USA today, the best is Louisville, Colorado. MSNBC reported on a book called "Cities Ranked and Rated" where they swear number one is Charlottesville, VA. Then there are the custom polls. They take existing data and try to organize it based on your personal preferences such that you get your own, individual best places list. Progressive Farmer will help you pick the best rural spot. And Find Your Spot will look anywhere in the country for you with an extensive questionairre.
Why the sudden interest? No, we aren't moving again. I'm just wondering where that mythical place is where the quality of life is high and the cost of living is low. Gas, home, and grocery prices out here have me wondering. I mean the Boston and San Diego areas both have high qualities of life, but are amongst the highest in cost of living. I'm sure there are some spots in Alabama and Mississippi that have rock bottom costs of living, but infrastructure and services aren't so good. So, where do you go to raise a family while still saving for retirement and college?
Literary Phenomenon
Here's something I've pondered recently. I was reading the book "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini a few weeks back. I was about halfway through the book and was enjoying it immensely. However, up until that point, I was under the misconception that the book was nonfiction. I believed the characters were real people and felt for them as the conflicts of the story arose. At some point, I noticed that the main character's name was different from the author's and felt the need to do some research. That's when I found out it was fiction. The rest of the book was less satisfying to me and in certain places predictable. In others the author asked me to suspend too much of my disbelief. Yet, a few days before, he wasn't asking and I was believing. The only thing keeping me from blaming my perceptions entirely is that the part of the book where I felt compelled to check constituted a major change in the flow of the story. So, I don't know if the writing led me to question or my question led me to doubt the writing. I think it was still a good book and I would be interested in the thoughts of others reading it knowing it was fiction the whole time. Anyone else ever have an experience like this?
Read More......Thursday, May 04, 2006
How Could We Ever Replace Duke?
I have the great fortune to live in the California 50th Congressional district. That's the former home of Congressman for hire Randy "Duke" Cunningham. You remember him. He recently went to jail for taking millions of dollars and a hooker or three in bribes while steering contracts to those who paid. He ran for reelection and won easily in spite of the fact that he was under investigation for political corruption. In fact, the race was SO not close that he didn't even show up for the candidates debate. We loved us some Duke. And when I say "we", I mean the North County population at large...
I have to admit, I was surprised to discover how conservative the area of California I moved to is. I mean, Duke wasn't just a Republican Representative, he was a lockstep Bush Republican. He parroted talking points and sold whatever the President wanted. And people loved him. And this fall we will replace him. But who with?
Well, we had a special election a few weeks ago to see who would replace Duke. The way it works out here is that if nobody gets 50%, the top two have a run-off. And this run-off is just to finish Duke's term, which ends in December. They'd have to basically start running again before doing anything so as to be ready for the November election. Thanks, Duke. Well, nobody got 50%. Francine Busby, the Democrat, got 44%. The next closest competitors were Republicans Brian Bilbray (15.4%) and Eric Roach (14.6 %). This decisive victory makes her only a slight underdog in the general election.
What? You heard right. Registration out here is 50% Republican, 32% Democrat, and 18% everything else. So, Busby is running a close second to Bilbray. This is especially infuriating because Bilbray is a former Congressman turned lobbyist. He has ties to Abramoff and Delay. When in Congress he voted against regulating ephedra based supplements such as Metabolife in spite of the evidence directly linking Metabolife to deaths. Oh, did I mention that he received tens of thousands of dollars from Metabolife? So, we are replacing Duke with a younger version of himself. Way to clean house North County.
The RNC is getting involved as well. I get a mailing a week from the RNC telling me about Francine's vices. Allegedly, she laid off teachers while giving bureaucrats pay raises and praised a teacher fired for possessing child pornography. She's a member of the school board and they are Swift Boating her. The ads come across as though she is anti-education and supports pedophiles. Meanwhile, a lobbyist is seen as a good choice for cleaning house. Great.
I will be campaigning for Francine and hoping she can pull it out. I will put a Democrat sign on my lawn in Republican central and debunk all the nonsense they throw my way. Wish me luck.
Categories: Politics, Rant
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Holy Crap The Man is Scum!
Sorry. I realize I may have lost my cool there, but the Criminal-in-Chief has managed to shock me. I found this tidbit on a site praising Steven Colbert for his roast of all things establishment at the press corps dinner. It seems that Dubya doesn't feel that following the law has anything to do with enforcing it. That's why I say he is a criminal. Apparently, the reason he has not vetoed anything in his tenure is he doesn't want Congress to have the ability to weigh in on the issues. So, instead, he appends "signing statements" to the newly signed laws after everyone has left. These statements tell the rest of the government how to follow the law. The provisions for how usually entail which parts can be ignored because the President feels they are Unconstitutional or because he feels they infringe on his rights as Commander-in-Chief. Funny. I thought it was the Court's job to decide questions of Constitutionality and Congress' jobs to write and re-write the laws. Here's an example. Congress has twice declared it illegal for the government to divert money from approved projects to secret torture camps. Bush has signed it twice. Both times he added that he was not bound by the law as C-i-C. Anyway still think we aren't slipping toward a fascist state?
Categories: Politics, Rant
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Karma on the Protests
I don't know if it affected where you live or not, but here in Southern California, yesterday was a huge Hispanic protest day. The Hispanic community across the country was staging a work and consumerism boycott to show how big an impact they have on the economy. I think it's a very positive and effective way to influence the debate in Washington. So, I went in to work yesterday not knowing what to expect. I suppose I should have known. It was 9:50 and our boss had not yet arrived for a scheduled 10 am meeting. Karma was concerned...
I suggested she call him. "He never answers when I call." Maybe he waits for the message when he is in his car and calls the important ones back right away? "He never calls me back." Oooops. Well, he's probably just stuck in traffic. He lives pretty far south. "There shouldn't BE any traffic. THEY all stayed home today." And there it is. I shouldn't have been surprised given her history, but this one still caught me off guard. She followed it up, in front of the department manager no less, with this gem. "Today is the perfect day to go to Wal-Mart." Why? "Well, THEY aren't working or shopping so the place will be empty." How she did not get sent to HR on the spot is beyond me. But she wasn't done. As we walked to her cube so she could give me the phone number so I could call, a member of the janitorial staff walked by. She happened to be Hispanic. A member of the cleaning staff passed in the opposite direction. Same ethnicity. As we walked on she said "What are they doing here?"
Clearly, she has a bug up her butt about the current immigration debate. A few weeks back, she cornered a janitor and demanded to know if he had his green card. Because, you know, his life is all sunshine and roses. I mean, he gets to work from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. emptying her trash and cleaning our messes for slightly better than minimum wage. I'm glad she straightened him out.
She also recently vented to a coworker of Mexican descent that these protests were on her nerves and she was tired of seeing the Mexican flag being waved everywhere. He offered her a deal. Because, you know, one Hispanic has the power to speak for them all. "We'll agree to stop with the Mexican flag as soon as the people down South get rid of the Confederate Flag."
Categories: Karma, Politics, SocialCommentary
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The Wisdom of Youth
I cut my finger this evening while doing some handyman stuff in the kitchen. Josh was assisting me a little too closely, so I delegated the task of getting a band-aid to him. He agreed only if he could take my flashlight with him as the bathroom was dark. That seemed fair. I handed him the flashlight and off he went. A few seconds later there was a thump and a crash. "Oh, shoot!" This was not followed by any screaming or crying, so I decide to wait and see what happened next. Nothing. Odd. "You all right, Josh?" I called. "I'm a little wet," he answered in a pitiful whine. "How did you get wet?" "Well, I standed on the stool to get a band-aid..." "Um, Josh? There is no stool in the bathroom." "I know. Sadly, I standed on the potty and I fell in."
Categories: Kids, Humor
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