Sarahs Blog

I love Mommy and I love Daddy. I love sister. I love Susie and I love Papa. I love mommy because she holds me. I love daddy because he picks me up and flys me around. I love my sister because we play together. I love Susie because I really love her a lot. I love Papa because he kisses me.

My best friend is Caitie. She is my best friend because she loves me.

When I am at school I work on the computer, I jump around at the play ground, and I play with Caitie. I also take a nap.

I loved Fanney when I was a little baby. Im going to miss Skippy because he's gone and he's very died. I love my whole family and I wish I had a dog.

That is my blog. Thankyou Mommy for typing.

Love, Sarah

Larry Craig is a Self Hater !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for fun, let us quickly review Idaho’s Larry Craig's voting record on the issues:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006).

* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)

* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

But, I would like to thank this lying "I'm not gay, and never have been gay" hypocritical pig for one thing ............... today's Blog reviews have been much move fun then usual. Thanks Larry

Miss South Carolina answers a question ....................

Oh my.

John Stewart

I really don't like to simply re-post videos from Youtube or links on this blog. As stated in previous posts, Susie doesn't like it when I do. She says in lacks creativity. However, this little ditty from John Stewart the other night needs to be seen again.

A Womans Face ................

I have no idea what I would do without YouTube!

4 weeks till training camp ...................

Just for the record .............. the new jerseys are UGLY. I WILL not be purchasing one. I do not associate the old jerseys with JAGR. I associate them with Oates, Dahlen, Kono, Johannson, Witt, original Zednick and the rest of the fine men that played for Caps when they were a TEAM.

However, Mike should purchase the new one IMMEDIATELY. The blue version of the old Jersey is nerdy in and of itself, but adding the word "CAREY" on the back ................. priceless.

The Secretary of Defense - 1994

In case you missed it on CSPAN, here is our vice Commander and Chief telling us why we shouldn't invade Baghdad.

Depressed

- The stock market is tanking
- The housing market is tanking
- The kids daycare is horrible
- There are no better day cares to put them into
- I'm fat
- America contiunes to kill innocent people in Iraq
- We have no pets
- Childrens toys are not safe
- The girls like Tom better

Anyone want to meet me for drinks?

Happy Lefhanders Day!

Today is 13 August which means that it is International Lefthanders Day.

Here are a few fun left handed facts that you probably didn't know (as reported by http://www.lefthandersday.com/) :

- Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.
- There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed
- Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).
- Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
- Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
- Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
- 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
- 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level

Just over ten percent of people are left-handed, meaning this day is not celebrated extremely enthusiastically by about ninety percent of people! However, it is enthusiastically celebrated by this list of famous lefties, and, by me!

R.I.P

Today we said goodbye to a very loved, very special member of our family. Skippy will be missed and remembered always. D

Vote Amber out NOW!

2 entries in one evening? Ordinarily no. But, I just ran across this video of Amber, the self confessed "speed freak" of Big Brother splurging ridiculous anti-semitic trash. Enjoy.

Baby Einstein is Hazardous to your Development

Well, well, well, finally I did something right!

Sure, I bought the full Baby Einstein Collection. I even unwrapped some and put one on .................. once. And, I found them so incredibly boring and so annoying on so many levels, that we NEVER WATCHED ONE AGAIN. Ms. Bean is 4 and most are still in the original packaging.

For 4 years I have felt a little badly about this. While all of the other kids were watching those idiot puppets spin to synthesised, almost classical music, Ms. Bean was watching John Stewart and American Idol (Bucky was her favorite BTW). Worse yet, Baby Bee NEVER saw ONE SECOND of a Baby Einstein video. Clearly, many would say that my kids were going to be developmentally behind due to me selfishness.

Imagine my relief when all of my favorite blogs starting discussing a Washington University study which found that babies who watch the videos are less verbally proficient then those who don't. Specifically, with every hour per day spent watching these DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new words than babies who never watched them.

Looking back, this should come as no surprise to anyone. The videos contain minimal dialog, jump from scene to scene, and focus on mesmerizing objects like lava lamps and those weird toy water-wheels. While this type of entertainment would be a great hit with pot smokers on college campuses, it is probably not a great learning aide for infants. So, rather then dump my DVD's in the trash, which I have been meaning to do for months, I am going to find an incoming college freshman to bestow them on. Who says I don't think about today's youth?

I have some clarity ..................

If you follow my blog, you might remember my last entry in which I was drowning in the stack of books living on my nightstand, and needed some assistance.

Well, my friend Don brought some sunshine into my life, and sent me the following e-mail with some recommendations for moving forward. I am posting his e-mail unedited, in case any of my readers (if I actually HAVE readers, hard to tell, since I get NO comments) want to start a little "cyber-book club" with Don and myself. I am sure that Don would welcome this opportunity, as he is freshly retired and probably CAN'T WAIT to have a little structure/pressure back in his life. I will have a LOT of time to read and share over the next couple of weeks, as I have decided to temporarily give up working while in the office.

OK, as the person who turned your mom on to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I feel like I have some credibility. And I won't blow it by recommending several other books to add to your burden....... Problem is, I'm not that familiar with most of the co-pilots. But for those I know, here goes:

The Lovely Bones- I'd recommend you pass. The first three quarters of the book are significantly better than the ending, which was a major disappointment (like movies that crap out and lose steam because it seems like the writer/director doesn't know what to do with what's been set up). I recall Donna feeling the same way about it. And since you're struggling w/ the first part, why bother?? Maybe sometime you''ll feel differently, by why make 'work' out of it now?? It's not medicine..........

To Kill A Mockingbird- Actually, I just read it for the first time within the past year. It is a classic for a reason, and I'm guessing you'll really relate well to it, as it's so deep in the kids/parent vein. A very good alternative (if you're amenable to them) is that there is a wonderful recent recording of Sissy Spacek reading this. I actually listened all the way through after reading it. I usually have major problem (philosophically) w/ books on disc/tape, but read somewhere about this and ended up loving it.

Midnight in the Garden- one of those great non-fictions that reads like fiction. This is better than Berendt's more recent book about Venice, which is also interesting, but almost too similar.
But if you've already read it once..........

The Corrections- one of my 'next five', but has been for about two years now, for whatever that says about me and/or the book. All the short pieces I've read by Frazen, I've responded to very well.

Otherwise, Sue Miller is usually good (don't know this one). I'm wanting to read her book about her father's Alzheimers, since my mother is in a similar situation. Also, a friend who's taste mostly parallels mine was not impressed with the Kite Runner.

Generically, what I do, with reasonable success when I'm wondering about a book, is go into Amazon for the title, and scroll down and read the readers' comments. Usually something in one or two tip it one way or the other for me.

So, my advice; turn off the freakin' TV, let the royals muck about in each others' lives unobserved, and READ!

And so, Dear readers, I have decided to limit my television viewing to 10 hours per week (maybe less since the butt heads on Big Brother have decided to systemically eliminate all of the interesting characters in the current season, leaving only Army Wives and Big Love active on my Tivo), and plow into To Kill a Mockingbird. I will then head strait into Lost in the Forrest and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Anyone want to join me?

Stop the insanity --- serious help needed ..........

I am overwhelmed and need the assistance of my readers! Please help!

I am not sure that I would call myself "a reader", but I do read. I always have a book in progress and read anywhere between 2-3 books a month, depending on what is on television and how much is going on at the office.

Last Spring, I decided to finally bite the bullet and read Margaret Georges VERY LONG Autobiography of Henry the VIII. The book was wonderful and should be ready by everyone, but is a huge commitment and took me about 2.5 months to complete.

I then quickly got through Jonathan Sanfran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which was wonderful (thanks for the tip, Mom) and Jodi Picoults mindless but easy Perfect Match.

And, this evening I sat down to start a new book. HERE IS WHERE I DISCOVERED THE PROBLEM!


Books find there way into my house a number of ways (generally they are passed down or purchased at COSTCO) and they go to one of 3 places, the trash (because I decide that I will never read them), the book shelf (for future reading, that is where The Autobiography of Henry the VIII was for over 2 years) or, my nightstand. Books on my nightstand are "co-pilots" and can be called up at anytime! They are the next to read. right now, there are 19 books cluttering my nightstand. SEE THE PROBLEM ?!!?????!!!!!!!


I do not know when this got so out of hand, but I suspect that it happened during the last 4 wives of Henry the VIII. And now, I have to plow through this enormous stack! Where do I start? Should I send some directly to "trash"? Should I send some to "book shelf"? Should I take off three weeks from work, send the girls to my mom's and cram?

Here is what is there, you tell me .............................................

The Letter of the Law - Tim Green (don't know where I got it. Susie maybe?)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (this might explain that one)
Velocity - Dean Koontz
Dead Sleep - Greg Iles
The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank (dangerously close to "Trash")
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See (my friend Patty recommended this one, and I trust her judgement, so it is pretty high up on the list)
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (Came highly recommended. I have started this but it grosses me out and I can get past pg. 75. Will give it one more shot, but have put it down 3 times already).
Lost on the Forest - Sue Miller
The Myth of You and Me - Leah Stewart
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Girls Gone Bad - Jillian Medoff
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt (read this one years ago ........ why is it on my nightstand?)
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
Death by Hollywood - Steven Bochco (as in LA Law? He wrote a book?)
Patricia Cornwell - Blowfly (very close to "trash". I have not enjoyed her books for years)
Here by Dragons and The Sunne in Splendour - both by Sharon Kay Penman (I think that these were recommended by my Uncle David and came fro my mom. They might go to "bookshelf" because they look a little heavy for summer).

Suggestions? Help! I feel like I am facing down a "hell semester". Need clarity. What should I read? What should I trash? What's on television?

Animator vs. Animation

Remember my friend Tim Smalley from Minnesota who did this fun and intelligent peeps piece at Easter? Well, Tim is one of those interesting, artsy people with interesting and artistic connections (as opposed to the dry, boring bureaucrats that I generally come into contact with). Tim is always sending me things that make me smile. This was no exception. Enjoy!

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf