odds and ends

#*&^%% phones

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:35:29 GMT

So cupcake dropped my phone's stylus in Rackham auditorium last week at a chamber music concert, and we couldn't find it. And then the crabby usher told us we shouldn't have been using the phone anyway. I was sure I had purchased extras from Sprint when I bought my car adapter, so no worries.

Turns out I hadn't purchased extras--I had purchased screen cover filmy things, the adapter, and a case. But then, wasn't there an extra one in the box? Checked the box, and no. Guess it's time for a trip to the Sprint store.

So I finally get to the Sprint store, and the woman tells me they don't have them. "We don't sell any accessories," she says. "Nonsense," say I, "you sold me screen covers, an adapter, and a case. Those are clearly accessories and they came from that stand over there marked accessories." Well, nevertheless, she tells me, they do not have styluses. Try asking HTC.

So the HTC webpage was garbeldygook as far as this is concerned, so that was unhelpful. I find their number, call it, and it basically tells me to check the webpage. So I fill out the form on the web page, and it sends me an e-mail telling me to call the phone number.

But, meanwhile, I checked the box again and there was an extra stylus. So I've got a while to figure this out until Cupcake loses this one, too.

BTW, if anyone can explain to me why they like Schoeberg's "Pierrot Lumiere," let me know. We were in fits of giggles. Cupcake said, "It was too loud." She vastly preferred the Mendelsohn that followed.

Praise Song for the Tedium

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:35:00 GMT

Praise song for the tedium.

Before we were cheering, standing in crowds, waving our flags, talking to the media or not, about to smile or smiling. All about us was jubilation. All about us was happiness and celebration, triumph and glory, each one of our children rapt with attention. Someone was waving a flag, someone was saluting, clapping, listening quietly at words that were meaningful.

But now someone is trying to speak with stilted words and blatant metaphors, with monotone, with robotic voice.

A woman and her son start walking for the bus.

An office worker turns off the TV.

Robert Frost rolls over in his grave.

A hired security guard starts checking his watch. A teacher mutters, “Pull out your pencil. Rewrite.”

We start talking in loud words, words ignoring the speaker, words harsh and justified, about words that will not be remembered.

We cross the mall and pass monuments that mark real achievements, and hear remembered, eloquent words, “I have a dream.”

We need to find a place that is warm. We need to hear Volgon poetry to cleanse our minds.

Say it plain, that Justice Roberts could have read this poem better. Sing the praises of poets before, Angelou, Frost, Miller, who have inspired our thoughts, lifted our dreams, written words that are lasting.

Praise song for monotone? Praise song for robotic voice? Praise song for this ending, the dissecting it in English classes.

Some say, “It was passable.”

Some say, “I missed it.”

Others say, “Give it a chance.”

What if the final word is tedium, tedium beyond the metaphor, robotic voice, the nervousness. Tedium that comes from the text itself. Tedium without malice.

In today’s sharp analysis and youtube replays, any poet would have been better, any drivel, any high-flown rhetoric.

On the edge? On my nerves, on the road -- Praise song for it being over.

Prop 8: The Musical

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:03:20 GMT

If you haven't seen this, you need to.

Warning: some suggestive language/motions.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Wish List

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:21:23 GMT

It's the holiday season and my sister wants to know what books I want, so I'm posting my shelfari wish list here, since she can't see it without being a shelfari member, and on Amazon I only have a professional wish list. Since she's not on lj, I have to do a public post. So this is for her, and other family. The rest of y'all can ignore it.

A Fight Breaks Out at the Used Book Sale

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:59:40 GMT

So our church used book sale, which I'm largely coordinating, started today. I've had complaints from members about 1) the fact that I chose to do the sale in the social hall rather than the religious education (RE) building because it interferes with coffee hour (my reasons: it's larger, it interferes less with RE, and members can shop while they drink their coffee) and 2) the prices I set (0.50 paberback, 1.00 trade paperback, 1.50 hardcover). But the sale started off well with about ten people arriving as soon as the doors were opened. They all seemed pleased with our organization and with the quality and quantity. And the people shopping all said our prices seemed reasonable (maybe TOO reasonable, I think).

The first woman in the doors actually arrived at ten before the hour that the sale was scheduled to start, but I said, sure, go ahead and look. She promptly started throwing all the general fiction trade paperbacks into boxes, and took nearly all of them. She then went to get her shopping cart and came back in with it. Meanwhile, other shoppers were arriving and starting to shop as well.

Then one shopper says to me, "You should have a policy against scanners."

I said, "huh?"

She said, "She [the first woman in] is scanning all the books to see what she'll buy. You should have a policy against that." (A very boring video is now included in the comments to explain this process.)

I said, "I'm okay with anyone buying the books, whatever."

A little while later, I ask Scanner Woman, "Do you own a store, or do you sell books on E-Bay?" She tells me she's a retired librarian, and now this is what she does. Hmm, I think, that doesn't really answer the question, but whatever.

So Irate Woman starts grumbling that Scanner Woman has taken all the good books and is scanning all the books and taking them all. Scanner Woman retaliates by saying that she has only scanned two tables, and there are lots of books. (She didn't scan all those trade paperbacks, she tells me later, she just knew they were good and she wanted them, and took them.) So there are still three tables she hasn't even been to yet. Irate Woman counters with the fact that she has swept through four or five tables already.

So Irate Woman comes up and buys her $20 or so worth of books, and tells me she's never coming back because this isn't fair to those who are trying to "do things honestly."

I said, "Well, this is the first time we've done this book sale. We didn't have a policy, and I couldn't just make one up on the spot. We'll certainly consider it for next time, but for right now she's not breaking any rules."

Irate Woman leaves with reiterating her grievance and refusal to return.

Scanner Woman checks out shortly after, apologoizing for the fact that the other woman made a scene and that I had to deal with it. I told her that she wasn't violating any policy, and that we might consider one in the future, but right now I didn't see any problem with it. Scanner Woman points out that she bought $147 worth of books, and the other woman less than $20, and the other woman isn't coming back, but she will, because we had good quality books at good prices. She said she would've still bought a lot of books without the scanner, but not nearly as many.

And, she said, if we do it at this time again next year, it's a good time of year to do a book sale. I said it was our first one, so we'll see what the congregation thinks about repeating it.

And then she left. Whew. The first hour was over, and we made $200. Over the rest of the day we didn't double that.

P.S. I was trying to put a lj cut in here and trying to put a poll in here, and it keeps messing up. So if they're showing or not showing and it's irritating either way, I apologize. Meanwhile, I was trying to ask what you all think about whether or not scanning books should be allowed at used book sales.

Yes, but I prefer the Library of Congress system

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:50:26 GMT

Couldn't resist this when I saw it on cjmr 's lj.

cynodd's Dewey Decimal Section:

898 South American native literatures

cynodd = 354544 = 354+544 = 898

Class:
800 Literature

Contains:
Literature, criticism, analysis of classic writing and mythology.

What it says about you:
You're a global, worldly person who wants to make a big impact with your actions. You have a lot to tell people and you're good at making unique observations about everyday experiences. You can notice and remember details that other people think aren't important.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:40:03 GMT

According to the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator, if I was born to Sarah Palin, my name would've been:

Rake Trinket Palin

If this were my name, I'd have to go by my middle name because "Rake" definitely sounds like a male name, with the multiple connotations of the word.

This is kind of funny to me as in a high school theater class I was a clown named Trinket in a play we did, and I retained the name Trinket for a couple of weeks my few fellow co-players.

Just putting in my nickname, I get Froth Moonshine Palin. I think that's better.

If you're not sick of Sarah Palin yet

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:20:51 GMT

Or if you are, but, like me, just can't stop yourself from reading more...

Here are three good articles.

1. This Is Your Nation on White Privilege by Tim Wise

2. Can You Say "Sexist"? by Anna Quindlen

3. Sarah Palin's Myth of America by Joe Klein

I'm putting these here because I keep wanting to refer back to these three in particular, and I keep losing track of where I saw them and what they are.

**Newly Added**

Here's another article I was trying to remember yesterday.

4. Obama and the Palin Effect by Deepak Chopra

And another one I came across:

5. Yes, I Can: Refusing to hesitate isn't a primordial truth of wise governance (When Atheists Attack) by Sam Harris

Top Design

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:34:42 GMT

I'm glad that "Shear Genius" is off now and "Top Design" is back on before/after "Project Runway." I always seem to miss the first viewing of project runway, go to my TV expecting to see the rerun, and arrive just in time for the secondary show, whatever it is. "Shear Genius" is the suckiest of all of them, hands down. "Top Design" is much better, although I dislike the hosts and judges, as a whole.

This season on "Top Design," one of the contestants is Andrea. Andrea wants to develop a separate identity from well-known hubby Rick(y) Schroder. Apparently her secret plan for becoming known as a designer in her own right and not just the wife of an actor is to tell the entire viewing audience that he's her husband, but (and this must be the key) withhold the information from her fellow contestants. Good plan, Andrea! One of the others actually looked at a picture of her with Ricky wherein you saw only a small bit of profile and mostly back of head and said that it looked like Rick Schroder, to which she replied with a sort of non-committal answer.

Andrea also proved to be the first one to go after, semi-viciously, her teammates when her team was on the chopping block for elimination. She was right, that she was the strongest one of the team, but I always respect people more who stand up as a team even when they're down.

So, just for fun:

Ups and Downs

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:15:00 GMT

Had a really wonderful time watching the DNC tonight at our beautiful old downtown theater. I won 5 tickets to go see Barack Obama later this weekend.

Came home and found my beloved cat dead, suddenly. We had no prior warning that he wasn't doing well. Came in to find cat poop near the front door, which Cupcake discovered. She was talking about the "bad kitty" when I stepped over to the sofas and saw Beo on the floor belly up looking dead. He must've died very recently, as his body was still very warm, warm enough that I wondered whether he was still alive.

Crabbydragon and I got Beo for our wedding gift to each other. He was always more my kitty than my husband's, though. He would come in every single night into our bedroom and come sit on my lap, waiting patiently at the foot of the bed until I would arrange the covers on my lap in the way he liked. After Cupcake was born, many nights I was too tired to pet him, but he would always come. Some nights he'd stay the whole night on the bed with me. When we moved here, his water and food and litter box was downstairs and we had a gate, so he usually wouldn't stay the whole night, but he'd leave after I made it clear I was going to sleep and Crabbydragon would let him out through the gate, then first thing in the morning, a lot of mornings he'd jump back into the bed and be there when I woke up.

RIP, Beocat
1998-2008

Project Runway or the Democratic Convention

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:40:48 GMT

Faced with the decision of whether to watch Project Runway or the Democratic Convention, clair_de_lalune and I opted for neither and watched videos of Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead. We've been introducing her to Buffy, and we're nearing the end of season 2. We had left off last time just when Angel is losing his soul, and now we have a soul-less Angel and a kindly werewolf Oz on our hands.

So, of course, that meant I had to watch Project Runway after Clair left. And then I had to watch pieces of the convention, as well, namely most of Bill Clinton's speech and most of Joe Biden's. Actually, I think I got all of Clinton's, but Joe's was so boring I just quit after a while. And then I got what sleep I could after all of that.

Too bad they couldn't combine Project Runway and the DMC by having Bill and Joe model the outfits...

	Democratic Convention (Thus Far)	Project Runway
Best	Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, BIll Clinton - all fabulous!	Leanne definitely deserved the win. Her use of seatbelts was the best. Too many seatbelt outfits, folks!
Worst	Joe Biden was so boring I quit watching. It's pretty much how I feel about him as a VP pick. Ho-hum. Too bad for him they put him after Bill Clinton, who I thought was very strong and interesting. He's not the worst, but he's the worst of the headliners.	Actually, I disliked Kenley's - I thought it was unflattering. And I'm sick of Terri's pants. And doesn't Korto often do bulky coats? Seems like it. I guess the worst thing was that in this assignment nobody really surprised us. (Except, perhaps, Leanne, who surprised us by moving into the top.)
Who was Robbed	The littler speech-givers (and Obama was one not too long ago) that were completely talked over by CNN commentators because they were deemed not news-worthy.	Joe, our man from the Motor City! When Tim came in, we didn't see what he said to Joe. Heck, I even missed Joe's outfit coming down the runway because I coughed or something. More air time for Joe!
Who Should've Been Auf'd	Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia. The Daily Show blasted him pretty hard last night:	Stella, the one-note wonder, actually tried to do something different this week when confronted with piles of leather. Huh? The result was disjoined and, well, ugly.

Michelle Obama & Patriotism

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:40:28 GMT

I thought Michelle Obama gave a very nice, stirring speech at the convention last night. I found it quite moving at times. I thought the beginning was a bit too much about her brother (who cares?) but she wove it all in by the end. It was a little awkward at the beginning, too, before she warmed up. I also think it was a little silly with the girls talking to Daddy on the monitor at the end as he said goodnight from some other city. (Why are they doing that? It's unnecessary and silly. Get him to Denver already, and he can say goodnight to his girls in person and some other person can tell the "everyday stories" if that's what he's doing from wherever that was.) And it was a little too much "God bless America" for my tastes, because I don't think God-if-there-is-a-God does the blessing individual nations thing. But I understand she had to sound both patriotic and religious because of the charges that have been leveled against her and Barack. And perhaps she is both that patriotic and that religious. It wasn't at a very offensive level for me, because, after all, you'd hear the same thing from just about any politician.

About patriotism, as she was talking, it was connecting me back to this Time article on "The War Over Patriotism" I read about patriotism recently. I haven't called myself patriotic in at least eight years, maybe longer, maybe never. This article helped me reconnect to the idea of patriotism. I think the Obama campaign, too, has given me more hope for the future, and as my patriotism is the dream of who we can be as a nation, the more that dream is awakened and kept alive, the more patriotic I feel. So I would say that this campaign has made me feel patriotic again, or perhaps patriotic for the first time.

Here's Michelle's speech, if you missed it, part one. You'll need to link to part 2.

Which Pooh Character

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:39:24 GMT

A comment I made on my blog that "I am an Eeyore" raised the question from my sister about how do I know what Pooh character I'm most like? Hmm, I thought, I can see Eeyore, Pooh, Owl, Kanga, and Rabbit traits in myself. (Not, however, Tigger.) So I checked various quizzes.

According to this quiz - http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/679673/which-pooh-character-are-you - I am Owl. Not surprising.

I rejected this quiz - http://www.brainfall.com/quizzes/which-winnie-the-pooh-character-are-you/ - because it was obviously written for teenagers at first. The questions are really dumb, and I couldn't relate to them. It says, "You are Rabbit. You are clever, intelligent, and level-headed. You have close, loyal friendships, but you have a bit of a short temper when the people around you act foolishly." Whatever. My theory is that's really clair_de_lalune . But we are good friends for decades for a reason. :)

This one - http://www.half-asleep.com/pooh/interact/quiz/quiz.php - gives me the picture to show you:
Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!
Why does this make me feel like I'm the worst part of each character? But I guess 3 is enough of a sample size, and apparently I'm more Owlish than anything else. Not surprising.

I "recommend" this site.

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:53:03 GMT

Oh friends, you must check out The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. My fair city posts a sign that says we're the winners of a "girls" sports team competition. I must take a picture and submit it!

And She Wonders Why

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:38:28 GMT

I'm very happy today that Mark Shauer beat out Sharon Renier in the primary and will be facing off against our republican incumbant for U.S. representative to congress in the fall. Here's what Sharon Renier had to say in today's paper:

"'It would have been nice if more people would have turned out other than Calhoun County,'' said Renier, a Munith organic farmer, referring to her opponent's home county. 'I believe people are sheeples and they will go wherever they think the feed is the sweetest. They will stand out in the rain, but they don't realize that the big bad wolf is coming and that's too bad for them.''"

Hmm.... wonder why more people didn't vote for a woman who clearly respects her would-be constituents and makes such clear metaphors.

Remember to Vote

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:21:23 GMT

Today's a primary election, with ballot issues, too, for us. So this is to tell you all to remember to vote!

Michelle Obama and Feminism

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:52:12 GMT

Mary C. Curtis writes in the Washington post, in an article titled, "The Loud Silence of Feminists," "Michelle Obama has become an issue in the presidential campaign even though she isn't running for anything. An educated, successful lawyer, devoted wife and caring mother has been labeled "angry" and unpatriotic and snidely referred to as Barack Obama's "baby mama.... And this black woman is wondering: Where are Obama's feminist defenders? "

I've been calling myself a feminist for twenty years or more, so this made me think. I was apalled at the sexism Hillary Clinton faced, such as the Hillary Nutcracker, and yet I've been pretty silent, and even conflicted over Michelle Obama. Why?

One of the biggest heartbreaks of my ideological life was learning that feminism was considered racist by many in the black community. Being raised in a feminist, anti-racist way, I had no concept that there was the history of struggle between these two movements that I was to learn about, from the days of abolition and suffrage through to the current day. And, of course, I also learned about sexism in the civil rights movements, as well. Learning that these isms carried over into communities seeking justice was not just disheartening, it was the shattering

This past year I went to a conference where the presenter was Mellissa Harris-Lacewell. She is a strong Obama supporter (and made no pretense otherwise). She also talked about a study she had done surveying black women's opinions of black women, white women, black men, and white men. I'm sorry I can't find a link to this study, but the jist of it that they were asked to give a few words that described these groups of people. The words that made the top of the list for white women, more than any other category, were very negative. This may have made me believe that Michelle Obama could share these opinions negative towards white women. Combine this with her lack of support for Hillary Clinton, such as this statement:

and I felt a lack of enthusiasm for Michelle Obama. She'd have to think about it? Well, I'd have to think about her, too.

While Harris-Lacewell was talking much more about race than about gender in the course of her presentation, I also began to see that it felt like as a country we were much more focused on race than gender. This seems, to me, to have a few pieces to it: first, people think that racism is more prevalent than sexism, and therefore it is a bigger achievement towards equality to have a black president than a woman one. Second, the sexism I heard that was directed towards Hillary Clinton seemed strong and obvious, whereas I, personally, had not heard any racism directed towards Obama. This included comments from my liberal Obama-supporting friends, whose critiques of Clinton were more like character attacks than substantive arguments. And, lastly, I was looking at what Harris-Lacewell was saying about both Obama and Clinton, that they'd have to overcome people's framing stereotypes about what makes someone appear presidential. When we think of a president, we quickly picture a white man. It seemed to me that Clinton was having the harder trouble being seen as "presidential," largely because of being a woman.

At this point, I wasn't supporting Obama or Clinton, particularly, but I was very angry about the way Clinton was being treated. And it made me frustrated with Obama for both not pointing it out and not, it seemed, even recognizing that this existed. And Michelle Obama's "I'll think about it" was salt in the wounds.

BUT...

Now that all that's settled, I am beginning to get my feminist anger up around Michelle Obama's treatment, as well. I think she, too, has been attacked unfairly, her words twisted around, caricatures created, and sexism applied against.

And it's wrong.

Every woman (and every man) is imperfect. Michelle Obama has made mistakes. She seems to have approached the politcal arena a bit naively, unaware that she was going to be scrutinized as closely as she has been. She's said some stupid things like the whole never having been proud of her country before thing. And I did defend her for that. I think it's a reasonable comment to make that was then blown way out of proportion.

The whole "baby mama" comment was both sexist and racist. And here's where what I've learned is that feminism is racist. We [where we=white females who call themselves feminists] don't see the whole "baby mama" comment as eggregious, because it's racialized as well as sexist. It's not the sort of comment white women are labeled with, not the stereotype we have to confront. And so we must work to recognize the particular sexism leveled against black women, and decry it as strongly, if not more strongly, than the type of comments leveled against us.

Something to raise my spirits, and hopefully yours, too

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:49:02 GMT

No Surprise Here....

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:39:40 GMT

As a 1930s wife, I am
Poor

Take the test!

Scary, isn't it, what I excel at?

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:56:13 GMT

Medieval Torture Device or Bed Bath & Beyond Gadget?

Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

From cjmr and also

You are the typical teenager

You can hear the frequency of the mosquito teen repellent - but probably not for much longer!

The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 17.7kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

Apparently I have pretty good hearing. My guess is crabbydragon's test will be much worse, since he can never hear me calling when he's a room away!

Mind melting

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:07:51 GMT

For the last twenty-four hours, my brain has been singing, off and on:

I'm as corny as Kansas in August
High as a flag on the fourth of July
la la la la la la la la la la
la la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
I'm in love with a wonderful guy!

It's getting downright annoying. For the first 12 hours, my brain couldn't fill in the word "corny" and was searching for a different word each time it cycled through -- first hi-igh, then horny, until it finally found corny. I finally tried googling to get the rest of the words, and was having trouble, because my brain was saying "high as a kite" and apparently a few other people have made that same mistake, but when they've quoted the song they've quoted only the two lines. But now I know, it is indeed from South Pacific as I guessed, and it's "If you'll excuse the expression I use, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a wonderful guy!"

Hopefully now I can stop singing it and move on to something else annoying.

I should say, my brain was alternating a little between this and "You have to be taught, before it's to late, before you are six, or seven, or eight, to hate all the people your relatives hate. You have to be carefully taught. You have to be carefully taught."

That's it. No more watching South Pacific for me. I'm lucky I wasn't singing "Bali H'ai" in the mix, as well, and "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair."

Obama the Builder - Can We Fix It? Yes, We Can!

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:30:17 GMT

Now don't get me wrong, I find Obama very inspiring, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this blatant plagarism of Bob the Builder:

(found at http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/01/27/bob-the-builder-for-vp/)

and

(found in a MoveOn.org e-mail)

And see http://political-fallout.blogspot.com/2008/01/obama-plagiarizes-bob-builder-in-nh.html for Bob's response to this situation.

Haiku

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:26:14 GMT

jaderabbit had a haiku generated from somewhere, which gave me the idea to get one generated for my blog. This one came from http://memes.angrygoats.net/. I generated a few that I didn't like, but I liked this one so much, I wanted to put it here.

try to get up there
but it ain't god things i
bought and where i went

Kinda says it all.

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:34:51 GMT

Total comments: 312

1	cynodd	137
2	clair_de_lalune	100
3	cjmr	51
4	mizzuga	8
5	jaderabbit	6
6	d_84	3
7	Anonymous	3
8	facetiae	2
9	uurev	1
10	crabbydragon	1

Generated by LJ Comment Stats.

My daemon is...

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 06:09:51 GMT