Haunt Houses and Halloween

Here's a few of the Houses available to visit in the Oshkosh area during the Halloween season. I haven't been to any of them, but there are on my list "to-see" before they shut down. I'd like to make it to at least two this year. A Theatre of Lost Souls appeals to me as it is inside the Grand Opera House. The combination makes me very curious. Dominion of Terror by the Sheboygan Jaycees might make the cut if we can make it over there. I've heard good things about them from the locals. Burial Chamber is close by also. And it looks good too.

The Artist

Marla Olmstead makes me wish that I knew anything about art. Take a look at some of her paintings. I know my four year old can't do that, but is it high quality art? via J-Walk

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Excellent book when needing a kick for writing block. The author is open and honest about every aspect of writing. I found myself reading bits and pieces of it aloud to family, friends, anyone nearby when I was reading. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life is a book for everyone, as the subtitle states.

MSNBC and the Misleading Headline

This article shouldn't even be about Martha except this is the prison in which she will serve time. It really is about budget cuts and shortages. Phil Glover, the union's national president, said inmates at the prison are sometimes left unattended and workers sometimes perform duties normally done by guards, such as screening telephone calls. I'd be more worried about this then where or not Martha is getting extra protection.

NaNoWriMo Presents...

I did it. I signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo. I don't know why I did it except that I am insane. Actually I have two reasons for doing it. 1) I need to finish my YA novel so that it has a whole month to stew and bubble. Then it will have ripened and reached maturity so I can attack it with my red pen and trim the parts that are dead or taste bad (Yes, I'm mixing metaphors here. I realized this.) 2) I've always wanted to reek havoc with certain people throughout my life. Here's the place to do it. I'm not taking anything that comes out of this seriously -- other than the word count I come up with. I'll probably end-up abandoning my blog for most of the month of November, but will put links up later that will assist in the tracking of my NaNoWriMo progress.

What Happened

The shower was a sucess. The bride enjoyed her gifts; people had a good time sharing stories; nobody got drunk and embarassed themselves; nobody told storied about getting drunk and embarassing themselves (we've all been there; do we need to recount it too?) The trip wasn't even awful. The drive went fast on the way out and slow on the way back, but traffic was thicker on the way back. And slower. What's up with driving under the speed limit on a clear night with excellent visibility? I don't get it.

Bookworm Report, September 2004

I know you are just dying to know what books I stuck my nose in this month. I'll oblige. For the month of September, I read 4,146 pages or eleven books. In 2001, I read 1,507pages/4 books; 2002, 3,228 pages/8 books; 2003 0 pages/0 books (hey, I just returned to work after 6 weeks of maternity leave. Adjusting was brutal.) Sam's Letter to Jennifer by James Patterson A Certain Smile by Judith Michael 3rd Degree by James Patterson Key of Light by Nora Roberts Tough Cookie by Diane Mott Davidson Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich A Little Night Magic by Nora Roberts Eragon by Christopher Paolini Guilty as Sin by Tami Hoag Half Moon Bay by Meryl Sawyer Nights Landing by Carla Neggers For the year, I’ve read 64 books, or 23,600 pages, which averages to 7 books a month, or 1,967 pages per month, and an average book length of 369 pages. The best book was Eragon. I'm doing some research to post more about this amazing author and his trilogy, so I won't say much now. His story is fascinating and I want to do a good job of it.

Last Night

Last night I had an awesome idea to blog about. I'm thinking, I could link to this. Oh and that's related; I could link to that. (Yes, I think with semicolons. End of discussion.) But damnitall if I can remember what that super fantastic idea was. I was watching television, but it wasn't related to television. I was playing with my kids, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't related to my kids. I can't even remember if it was book related, excel related or another of those really random weird thoughts I have. It might have been about the wedding shower/bachelorette party I'm attending/hosting this weekend. But I don't recall. This is scary. I'm not old enough to suffer from short term memory loss.

J-Walk Blog: Your Claim To Shame

This sounds like an excellent drinking game. I'm sure that it will get played at the bachelorette party I'm attending/hosting this weekend. I posted mine. I'm sure you'll recognize it.

Why are they surprised?

Half of Internet Viagra is fake screams the headline today. As many as half of the Viagra anti-impotence pills sold on the Internet could be counterfeit, British scientists said on Tuesday. They analyzed samples of Viagra sold on the Web and found that some of the little blue pills contained different components or less of the active ingredient than the top-selling drug made by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. And... “If you go to a site that looks a bit wonky, they are selling it cheap and you’ve got no address or idea where they are based, you are chancing it.” ...stated Professor Tony Moffat. A profound statement that applies to, what 95%, of the spam mailed received every day? My advice? It's a prescription drug -- get it from your doctor.

How to be a Girl: 101

While others would contend that I must have been a "perfect" student, I'm the first to admit that I day dreamed frequently in school. During one of these sessions, I must have missed the "How to be a Girl: 101" class. I've been one my entire life and never felt compelled to make others go to the bathroom when I do. I seldom consult two-three other members of my sex when making decisions that will impact the decor of my house. I don't see the need to flirt with every male in the area just to get my way. I don't feel the urge to say, "Oh my god, did you watch (blank) last night? I can't believe that (blank) happened!" I really hate it when people assume that I want to hear about their crappy day/life/job just because they have a need to vent. My solution is find what's wrong and fix it. If you can't do that, then that's the problem that needs to be fixed. Other women seem to be able to do these things without a problem. Either the class was optional or I slept through it.

Average Jane's Advice for Sports Fans

It's like she had a camera and spies on my husband during the Games. Amazing.

Inside the dark art of phone fraud

Gee, I thought telemarketers were annoying.

Help, Please

I recently did somethings to my blog that I like. One adverse side effect, however, was that the text under my blogs and links has shrunk. I don't like it and I don't know how to fix it. It happened after I added the X happy people reading bit. Thanks, for letting me vent. Or helping if you are doing that too.

Good Book Alert -- Ten Big Ones

I just finished reading Janet Evanovich's latest in the Stephanie Plum series -- Ten Big Ones. If you aren't familar with the Plum Series, I'm probably going to spoil something for you. If you are familar and don't care, read-on. Stephanie is an ex-lingerie saleswoman turned bounty-hunter. She is terrible at it, but it pays the rent and she has some help from a couple of seriously sexy men, an ex-ho, and Grandma Mazur. Her mother lives in a constant state of fear. After all, what will the neighbors think when Stephanie blows up yet another car? The phone never stops ringing. Stephanie has gotten in over her head more than ever before. A seriously disturbed gang member is after her. Morelli tries to put her under house arrest (threatens to anyway.) She might have found the Batcave. One of my favorite characters has made a return appearance -- Sally is back! When I first met Sally, I was listening to the audio books, which I'd highly recommend for this series. The reader, who's name escapes me, is fantastic. Sally hasn't given up on his life dreams, but has adapted them. I won't tell you what he is doing, but trust me. You're going to laugh. The best part of the book though was a never before included view of Stephanie. She spends some quality time with Ranger. As a result the readers get some nagging questions answered -- like why does he put up with her. It was great and it made Ranger a little more human. Evanovich is planning an 11th novel. Got a great name for number eleven? Submit it at the website and you could win a signed copy, acknowledgments and the laughter of her fans and readers.

Did ya see this coming?

Thanks to the Can-Spam Act, your email just became more dangerous. The Register reports that spammers are including the "click here to remove" link as required by the Can-Spam act, but doing so lets the sender know your account is active. Thus you are entitled to more having your account added to a listing of active accounts, making their listing more valuable. Gee, why don't we just publish an "email book," send it to everyone electronically and save the spammers some time. I'm grateful that J-Walk picked up this article. His site generates traffic measured in the thousands. I have hope that this will get around.

NaNoWriMo Update

I found out that Oshkosh lacks a coordinator for the National Write a Novel Month. But I did find out the posting spot to find any others who might be in the area and attempting this insanity. Those outside of my writing group, that is. Yesterday I outlined my idea. I decided on the format of a chapter a day, 30 or so chapters. Some of them will fall short of the word count I am imposing on myself. I decided to go with a 2,000 words a day plan as weekends generally suck for me. Then if I manage to find time, well, hip-hip-hooray. But if I don't, then I won't hurt myself. The site recommended making the story somewhat autobiographical in nature, so you don't get hung up in research. I'm going for that approach. I'm even going to steal people from my childhood and use them as characters. Or at least, the extremes of their personalities that I remember. And then I'll exploit them for my own purposes. (My writing group had a discussion on doing this. We came to the consensus that you can't help but taking bits and pieces of what you know, wrap it with another bit and twist the two together.) As I don't plan on ever doing anything real with this, I'm going to be as mean and petty as I can with some people and overly kind and generous with others. It all depends on what I remember of them from my childhood. I have nine chapters outlined so far. That's a decent start, I'd say. Until I did the word count and realized how long it took me to get to 1200 words. This is going to take more time than I thought.

Average Jane Links to Raspberry-Latte

Okay, so maybe it isn't headline news, but I'm humble and grateful none the less. Average Jane's blog is the journal entries of, well, Average Jane. I like her style of writing and admire her willingness to discuss her personal life with the rest of the world. I found out about Bookcrossing through her. For this alone, I'll be forever grateful.

Write a Novel in Just 30 Days!

No, it's not some infomercial that no one wants to hear. Rather, it's National Novel Writing Month -- or NaNoWriMo for short. Starting on November 1st, any participants have until midnight, November 30th to finish a 50,000 word novel. As the site states: Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down. It breaks down into 1666 words a day or 5.83 pages a day, depending on how you look at it. Completely run on the honor system, the only prize is the reward of completing the task. I'm seriously thinking about doing this. No words can be written ahead of time, but plotting and outlining is permitted. I don't think I'll be able to finish, but I have a killer idea that I'd like to run with under these rules and circumstances. If I decide to go with it, even a little activity like this blog will probably fall to the way side or simply revolve around the other project. I'll have to see how it goes. My other work in progress is actually progressing right now. But as a member of my writing group said, "November is over a month away. You might be in a slump by then."

Like samples?

StartSampling.com is a cool site. By signing up, you can get samples of various products for free. Sometimes they are good, other times I have little interest. But it's fun to get some hair care samples or magazine issues. And it's a nice surprise in the mail when they come. Oh, and if you do decide to sign-up, fill in the referrer name as "ophelia_33". Then I get points for it. Much obliged.

Found: Digital Pictures

I Found Some Of Your Life: Introduction Were you in New York? Take a ride in a taxi cab? Lose some pictures? As in a digital card? Someone did and this guy is posting them on the web. Actually, it's a pretty good idea. Makes me wish I had some pictures of people that I could make up stories about.

Truth and Confessions

I recently examined my life and decided that I didn’t like it. I got up, went to work, came home, dealt with the family, and went to bed. While I sometimes enjoy my job and love my family, I just felt like there had to be more. So I looked backwards to see what got me here. I found, to no surprise, that I used to be busy. Very busy. So busy, in fact, that I never stopped running from one thing to the next. Multi-tasking was a highly tuned instrument in my hands and I played it well. I attended college, took between 18-22 credits, worked 30-40 hours a week, graduated with honors. In the summer I took correspondence courses and worked between 70-80 hours a week. After graduation, I found a job in an insane office that worked between 0-110 hours a week, depending upon requirements. I averaged 57 hours a week for 7 months, topping out at 98 hours – not counting meals. To slow down so drastically with my new job, my system went into shock. Especially now that my baby isn’t a baby, but a toddler who loves to play with me, but doesn’t require the same attention that he did a mere six months ago. And the four-year-old goes to preschool and plays well on his own. He likes to have me set the trains up, but wants to race them over the track by themselves. As a result, I was suffering from boredom I decided. Not that I want to be as busy as I was, but not as slow as the current pace. I needed to find some hobbies. One has been this blog. Two is joining the YMCA to get into a good enough shape that when I’m chasing the kids, I can keep up for more than five minutes. Three is to pick up my writing again (I’m composing a YA fantasy novel. I can’t wait to see what happens next.) Four is to enrich my spiritual life by reading my bible, courtesy of bibleinayear.org. (They email the passage to you every day.) Five is to working on my Excel skills to include VBA (courtesy of John Walkenbach’s new book VBA for Dummies.) I’m feeling really good. And I’ve found that life at this pace suits me just fine.

Money Makes the World Go Round

I hate paying bills, writing checks, balancing the check books, waiting until payday to stock up for the week. And I admire the six women who are showing the world their financial situations, goals and tragedies. I kinda fall into the middle of several of these women. After the initial meet and greet, I'm curious as the advice they will get.

MSNBC - U.S. slides among world's top educators

Their conclusion is that wealth kids get better schools and poor kids get poor schools. As there are more poor kids in the US than wealthy, the numbers look bad. Gee, a study was conducted to tell us this? They should have started by talking to the teachers.

Sluggers Welcomes Torrance Marshall

Last night we trekked to Sluggers in Appleton for WPKR's Packer show. The featured play was Torrance Marshall (51). Really a nice guy. Got an autograph on an extra slip of paper I had with me. He lives year round in Wisconsin and spends some of his free time working with high school kids learn how to lift weights and train and so on. I thought that was very admirable. It was a cheap night of entertainment. And we even won some door prizes to offset the money we spent on drinks. Not crowded and a good ventilation system so the smokers didn't aggrevate us. We'll definitely go again. My hubby works Monday nights, when they usually do the show; he'll have to con someone into switching nights with him.

Gmail to Give

Thanks to Fiat Lux of "If you don't have cable...", I'm the proud holder of a GMail account. And since I recorded the password and username this time, I'm able to use it for the off-site storage as I intended in the first place. This morning when I checked to make sure my batch of files arrived, I had a lovely surprise -- Invites! No one in my immediate circle of friends is dying for an invite, so I offer them instead to the readers of my humble site. The twist I offer to my readers is to post a comment reviewing your favorite book. I'll bestow invites upon those that tickle my fancy in some way, shape or form. I don't know what will do it, but I define why the winners win when they are chosen.

Welcome to Sneezing Cow

Over the weekend I went to a writer's conference where Michael Perry was the keynote speaker. Mike was wonderful to listen to. Not just what he said, but how he said it and the tone of his voice. It all worked for me. So much so that I would most likely go to another reading or event at which he was speaking. Mike grew-up in Wisconsin, moved, travelled and experienced bigger things that the small town he grew-up in. And I do mean small -- as in Population: 485 (also the title of his latest book.) I haven't read it yet, but it is in my stack of books to read. I can relate to much of what I heard him say. The town I did most of my growing in was populated by 312 people in South Dakota. My brother still lives there with his wife. I couldn't handle living in a small town, but that's another story. What I'm looking forward to is finding out how Mike fit back in after being away for so many years, experiencing things that none in his hometown would have wanted to. Anyway, take a look at Mike's site. The title alone should be enough to make you laugh.

It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA!

Hubby and I are checking into a membership at the local YMCA. The corportion I work for receives a discount, which is always nice. The two local sites are pretty good. I went to one yesterday, just to work out over lunch, see if it would be do-able. Just to run a bit on an elliptal and walk on a treadmill. Oh my god am I ever sore. My legs ache. I knew I was fat and out of shape, but I only walked/ran for 20 minutes. I'm pathetic. We need to join just so I can stop being a wuss.

Rubbing the Wrong Way

Do you have one of these people in your life? No matter what you say or do, you manage to say and do it wrong. Nothing is ever right. Nothing is said quite the way you meant. And all you've effectively done is piss them off? Just wondering. I have one. And I did it already this morning.

To GPA or Not To GPA, that is the question

This article from Careerbuilders.com offers some helpful advice for the recent grad regarding how, when and why to use your GPA on a resume. While it may have helped a recent grad, this not so recent, but not too far removed grad is wondering, "When do you stop putting a GPA on a resume?" Mine was good in college, so I tend to leave it on. But as I approach 30 (+/- 3 years,) should I remove it?

Newer blogger feature

I'm confident that you've noticed the additional feature at the top of the page that helps you to find blogs to read. I've used it a few times and have one response -- Disappointed. The next blog is usually of poor quality and many postings. If I have found a good one, the postings are infrequent. Often, I'm directed to one that has 2 or 3 entries from months and month ago. Blogs of the second sort should be removed from the "next" feature. Regulations should be in place. Quality may not be able to be monitored, but posting habits could be. For instance, Flagged Backpack has some great things to say, but seldom posts. A shame, as he is a senior in high school with a very fresh look at today's battles -- both on terrorism and the presidential race. When I started, I knew that I was making a commitment of time and ideas. Regular readers learn to expect a certain style (although what, exactly, is still emerging.) All of the abandoned blogs remind me of friends made at summer camp. Eventually, you just stop writing.

The History of Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!!! Just in case you wondered what the fuss was about and why we get a day off (or most of us do,) here's a site for you to check out.

Playing hookie at the Dells

Wisconsin Dells is a great place to go for expensive fun. Closer than Vegas and more "family-friendly," we decided to go there yesterday rather than cleaning for the weekend visitors we expected. The day started with an indoor waterpark. Both kids loved it. The baby took a little warming up to the idea, but once he got it, he was pure torture to keep up with. The four-year-old has been to that sort of thing before and was an old pro. After the water park thoroughly worn them out, we went on a ">duck ride, which is more fun than it sounds. The baby slept through most of the ride. That waterpark trick works every time. The duck tour (spendy) was really cool. The ducks were used in WWII, I believe. They are the ultimate car/boat. The four-year-old thought we should do the same thing with the ranger. After supper, go-carts were in order. A dual set-up kept the four-year-old happy, thinking that he was driving the car. A long trip home with two tired, crabby kids was the end of the day. Both slept well; not a peep out of either of them until morning.

Late Posting

Sorry this posting is so late. My brain is dead. I am having a terrible time of thinking anything that is even remotely witty or funny or a sentence. A noun and a verb are truly all that is needed, but even that seems like a chore. I think it is due to the burnout I am experiencing at work. I have a really dead end job. And a boss who is non-existant. In fact, he took off for two weeks, overseas and didn't mention it to the very people he is to be supervising. I'd like to say that I was surprised, but I can't. Especially as it is not the first time he has done it. Outraged at his rudeness is what I am, but not surprised. And it's not like I'm not looking for something else, something I'd like. I am. I just can't find a job that will let me read books all day long. At least not one around here. And moving to any place that has publishing is out of the question. Kids and families are not condusive to that sort of thing. Thanks for listening -- er, reading -- to me rant.

Census Working Overtime

As if I needed another reason to justify not answering when "Contact America" creeps across the caller ID. Price has a great article about the way figures, polls, and people are distorted to make it fit the reporting parties column space. Long, but worth it.

Bookworm Report, August 2004

As August has come to a close, I thought I’d let y’all in one what I’ve read this month. For August 2004, I read a total of 3,619 pages; 2003-1,257; 2002-3,440; 2001-2,969. This is the highest ranking August thus far. Titles and Authors included the following: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling Dead Women Don't Wear Diamonds by Nancy Martin Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts Finding the Dream (audio) by Nora Roberts Untamed by Nora Roberts Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson An American Summer - Book Crossing by Frank Deford The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans Born O'Hurley by Nora Roberts For the year, I’ve read 54 books and 19,454 pages. Translation: 6 books a month, averaging 360 pages each or 1,621 pages a month. Not only am I a book worm, I’m an excel geek who tracks her reading.

Sweat

I heard once that where the body sweats is where weight is coming off. Whether or not it is true, I don't remember, but I'm going to assume it is. I have a couple of good reasons. 1. Ever see fat armpits? 2. No matter how much weight is put on, nobody has a "roll" over their eyebrows. Everybody's forehead sweats. 3. The hardest place to lose fat is on the belly. When was the last time your belly sweat? I went for a walk this morning. It's dangerous to leave me thinking on my own.

Tonight -- The Adventure Begins

My stepson's mom is traveling to Boston for the holiday weekend, starting tonight. And for those of you who know the saga, yes, she is taking a vacation from her very stressful life. Anyway, the four year old is coming to stay for the week, starting pre-school on Wednesday, visiting with relatives from out of town, going to a babysitter for the first time -- and all within the seven days. I feel bad for the little guy. So much adjusting in a short amount of time. From his point of view though, life is good. His backpack for the school year is Thomas the tank engine. What more could you want or need?

MSNBC - Lonely granddad seeks family to adopt him

How sad. I'd write and offer to move him to the states, but I already have one "elderly" living with me and don't have room for a second. Just think of the stories he could tell, the history he has lived through. I know that he is offering money, but I'd do it for free. Heck, when it is all said and done, I'd probably need to pay him.

Finding Carpet in the Living Room

The weekend was somewhat productive. I found my living room carpet again. It was under the Little Peoples, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, blocks, books, blankets, and crumbs. The crumbs were what started the search. Vacuuming was desparately needed. The kids hate it when I pick up. It usually occurs when they go down for a nap or outside to play. While they are occupied, I capture every last toy and return it to its proper container, shelf or basket. Then the vacuum comes out and picks up the microscopic pieces that were left over. Unless the dog got to the crumbs first, that is. When they get back inside, frantic to play with the various toys that had been out, they inevitably groan and say, "Oh man." (Translation -- now I have to take everything out again and make a bigger mess so she won't clean it next time.) Ah, the joy of kids.

First caught book!

My third release book was caught by someone new to bookcrossing. Joy and Bliss!

Wedding showers

I'm co-hosting a wedding shower the first weekend of next month, which also means I'm the matron of honor. To complicate matters more, I live in good ol' Wisconsin while the Bride is in South Dakota. This is an arrangement I would not recommend. The upside is we talk alot. The downside is, I am working with others to get it all pulled together. I'm a type A control freak personality. I don't do this well. So far is it okay, but so far all we have done is pick a date and divide some of the responsibilities. Nothing major. But I am in need of some shower games. Any ideas or websites? The other thing I have to do is a speech at the reception/dinner. I'm okay speaking in front of a large crowd of people, but have no practice with writing speeches. And I don't think I can just wing it. Help, please!

If you don't have cable...

Fiat Lux, of If you don't have cable and your library card is expired, has posted the referring links for the last 24 hours. People from here have jumped there a grand total of three times. But it got me mentioned at her sight. I love the way she writes. It's self depreciating, proud of her "white trash" background. What makes it great, however, is how smart she is. She sprinkles in $65 words like nothing, properly used, better than I could ever do. I know from one post that she doesn't have a job; I wonder why. It's certainly not a lack of talent.

MSNBC - New jaw bone grown in man's back muscle

Things like this just scare me. At what point does science go too far? Man is supposed to live and die. Will experiments like this lead to man living longer than intended by God?

Work Week Update

The working week is almost over. As it is Thursday, the egocentric obnoxious intern is over at the Training Center. And tomorrow is her last day here. Sliding into the home stretch with good news always makes the day go by. Now her problems, counted and recounted for the world at large will annoy someone else. Anyone else, actually. It is a good day.

Welcome to Gmail - you are a loser

I suck. I got a gmail account, completely by accident through my lame joke. Now I can't remember my login or password. I'm such a moron. At work, I keep a file. I do the same at home. I have too many to be able to remember them all. And I don't like to use the same one for my bills as my emails, well, for obvious reasons. (At least they should be to the security sensitive.) Anyway, now I have an account I can't get to. Thank goodness I hadn't started saving stuff to it like I was going to. I planned to use it for off-site storage for things like my digital pictures and writing so that just in case my computer burned down or something of that nature, I would have back-ups. Now I have nothing...nothing I tell ya. No gmail, no back-ups. Sniff, sniff. It's a great pity party day.

MSNBC - Matt Damon gives upon dating celebrities

There's hope for me yet! The hubby and I have an open understanding about this sort of thing. Dating celebrities is one of them.

MSNBC - Dissecting the Swift Boat accounts

I wish I could say that this article helps, but it didn't. The whole Swift Boat vets is going to end-up distorted beyond belief. But you have to admire the guy for admitting he lied.

The Book Club

I'm thinking about doing away with this site. I don't have a tracker on it, so I don't know if anyone is using it. What I would do instead review the books I've read at raspberry-latte.blogspot.com I'm kinda lazy about reviewing, I found, as it requires a separate site. If you are really a fan of it, though, comment please and I'll keep them separate.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - Service to Country

Did you get a chance to see the ad before it was pulled? If not, this site documents what the ad says. What I know about the Vietnam War is very small and probably very biased. I have no relatives that served. It's too recent to have been in most of my history classes. I read a book called "We were Soldiers," which soldiers of the Vietnam war write about some of their experiences. I don't think anyone really knows what happened over there. Their piece and portion may be known, but as far as the overall truth...was there ever one? Just as many bad things exist about Bush. Just search for "skull and bones," a secret organization that both canidates belonged to while at college. Picking the lesser of the two evils is getting tiresome. And more than a little tricky.

MuggleNet.com - The Ultimate Harry Potter Site

Being that the title for book six was released, I spent some time on this site over the weekend. Fantastic design, layout and, most importantly, information. The team does some pretty thorough research of chats, interviews, books, etc. to confirm or deny rumours. Well worth a visit. Or more.

MSNBC - Scream stolen

If only I had known it was that easy. Walk it and rip it from the wall. The Thomas Crown Affair makes it seems terribly difficult to steal a painting from a museum.

Lines in the Sand

Did you ever find yourself in one of those situations where everything needs to be double and tripled checked, but as you are doing said checks, you become more and more ridiculous with your criteria for acceptance and rejection? I hope that makes sense. I can’t go into further detail, as it is work related, but I feel the need to vent.

Perfect Score

Last night my hubby and I watched "The Perfect Score." It wasn't bad. Parts of it were even really good. But it made me think back to being in high school and how the numbers of the standardized tests ran your life. I was one of those unique individuals who went to a boarding school that prepped its students for a career in teaching or preaching God's word. I didn't need as high of a score as I got to get into the college for this path. As my resulting path as significantly diverged from the intended path, I can appreciate the worry that students have. At 18, how can you possibly know what you want to do for the rest of your life. And if you can possibly decide, so much happens that you are more likely to change your mind than do what was intended. I have two small children. The skills I want to teach them are the "thinking" skills of life. And to learn to take chances. Don't settle for what you are told to do. Take the risks and do what you love, what you are passionate about. To hell with everyone and the consequences. If nothing else, I want to teach them to think. And take the risks like the six high school seniors did in this movie.

I caught a Wild Book

I caught my first ever "wild" book. After reading it, I'm going to return it to its natural habitate. Thanks for the opportunity, badgerjim. And thanks for re-releasing the book in Oshkosh.

Bush Plans Large U.S. Troop Realignment

Who would have thought that the US troops were still in position to protect us from WWII and the Cold war enemies? Reorganization is only part of the solution. Americans need to stop riding the wave of security and trust. Americans need to take an active role in running their country, rather than trusting long-time politicians to do it.

Janet Evans plays Miss Manners

It is a sad state of a union when people honored as the greatest atheletes of all time need to have a "manners" coach. Even worse is the image Evans projects in the interview. I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say it is due to bad editing, rather than the editing is due to a bad interview. I might be giving her too much credit.

A GMail Account!

Who would have thought that my standard joke to anyone who knows needs a joke would have won me a gmail account. I'm so surprised, I didn't prepare a speech. But I am going to put my account to good use. Thanks much for the space and the opportunity, Craig. Check out Craig's blog to see how I won.

Deep Thoughts about Nutrition

After spending an extraordinary amount of time indoors, I've had some time to contemplate a few things. Television is a good promoter of deep thoughts. For instance, the state of Wisconsin is trying to "crack down" on non-seat belt users. A portion of their campaign includes a television ad showing two young guys being pulled over by a female officer. The officer chastises them for not wear their safety belts. They confess that they don't have a good reason to not wear them and promise to do so in the future. Not to mock the usefulness of safety belts (formerly known as seat belts,) but why is the state concerned with our safety? Wisconsin proudly touts the title of "Beer & Brat" capital. Are they safe? Of course, in proper proportion. Couldn't the same be said of safety belts? Safety belts are only necessary in an accident. The catch is that no one knows when they are going to have an accident. But no one knows when they are going to have a heart attack either. A large variety of food offerings could cause one or push the consumer over the edge. As a solution to this situation, I propose that eating patterns be monitored. Every time someone orders a meal that contributes to heart disease, attack, stroke, etc., a card should be swiped. Ideally the card would be an identification card such as a driver's license. But as long as it was universally recognized, any card would do. If this society existed, I'd want to work at McDonald's. Just so I could say, "I'm sorry, Mr. Consumer. You seem to be at your limit of Big Macs for the week. Would you like a fruit and yogurt parfait?" And then I'd duck.

Enjoying Life

Life has been good for the last 24 hours. The baby seems to be over whatever it was that was causing him to scream for no apparent reason. The cute, cuddly, happy baby is back. I'm 7 hours away from the weekend, which is 60 hours of family time. I have money in the bank, or will once we get paid. The cupboards are full, which means I don't have to go to the store to shop for groceries. The puppy is happy and full of spunk. She loves going for rides in the car. Today just seems like a good day. And for all of the little reasons.

Yesterday

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I had a sick child who needed to go to the doctor. Nothing obvious is wrong with him, so we need to keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours and watch behavior. I think he is better this morning. Seemed like it anyway. After his doctor's appointment, we both ate lunch and took a really long nap. Mine was shorter than his four and a half hour one, but only by an hour. Taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon is one of life's greatest pleasures. I cannot imagine anything better. Work should be like all day kindergarten with nap time. How can this be made socially acceptable, I wonder?

Night out on the Town

My hubby and I went out with a couple of his co-workers last night. We went to a bar in Appleton that serves big-ass beers. They really mean big ass. I was a little drunk. It was enough fun though, that all parties agreed that we needed to do it again and soon. We discovered that all of us suck at pool. More beer didn't help. So we tried darts. No good at that either. Then we worked on the drinking aspect. We were all really good at that. Next time, we'll skip the games and focus on what we are good at.

The Scene

Quick explanation for the new link. The Scene is a local monthly that has great writing while swinging widely to the left. Every issue has good points of view, good variety of content and the listing for all of the "cultural" events in the area. The online edition is the same as the paper copy which is available for free around the Valley. I was disappointed that the online edition is still last month's copy. The cover article for August is a great story about Gannett newspapers and the monopoly they've established in NE Wisconsin. It slings as much mud and muck as any political rally, but with facts to back up each and every accusation. And both sides of the story are presented. Cheers to Tony Palmari for the excellent article!

Downed Network

Just received notification that the network was down on Thursday and Friday. As if I hadn't noticed as I was unable to access any of my files. They had a big enough problem that files needed to be restored from a tape back-up. Thank goodness I spent most of my time of Thursday working the phones and most of Friday waiting to see if I could get back on the network. Rather productive couple of days, don't you think? I was lucky compared to some in my department. They now have to recreate whole spreadsheets that were the entire purpose of being here those two days. It reminds me of being in college...and yes, we use the same network that they did.

Crabby Baby and the Boat Ride

The baby is teething again. Which wouldn't be bad, except this is the second battle that has resulted in no teeth. And he is a true man. Whiney, whimpery, clinging, and in general miserable. I'm talking about me. Or how I would be if I was to give up, admit defeat and act the way I feel. The poor kid is miserable, I know. He isn't eating (one of his favorite activities.) Yesterday he had a few goldfish crackers and half of a Yumsters yogurt. This from the child who normally eats a cup and a half of mac and cheese. Obviously, he is ill. My darling husband, seeing my level of frustration escalate through the day, suggested a sunset boat ride. Really he was afraid I'd blow my temper on him. However, I loved the idea and it worked. The baby was sleeping, afterall. My mom was able to finish the book she'd picked up at the Library. And I got to enjoy the wind in my hair, the waves and my dog at my side. And some good conversation with my husband. We're at one of those crossroads where we need to decide what we are going to do regarding several aspects of our lives. The open air is a great place to air the thoughts that had been rattling in both of our heads. Perhaps I'll share some of the not-so-evil ones with you later...

Reason for Linking

The increased number of links may need an explanation. Rather than tying up my "favorites" folder with all sorts of links and try to figure out some filing system that makes sense, I'm using this as a vehicle for storing them. Sorry for the lack of thoughts. I'll try to include more of them in addition to the links. My brain has been rather empty as of late. Ta-ta.

Not working at work

I should be running around like mad, reporting logistic related data as it is the first week of the month. However, due to a network outage, I am instead doing my best to look busy. My main attempts at this are to find websites that I can use to "enhance my professional abilities." Don't be surprised at some of the links I may record for prosperity.

Templates Home Page

A good feature if you need a ready-made calendar or certificate. Microsoft has several templates for most anything you can think of. I use their fax and memo templates for stuff at work. They have even thought of hard-working teachers and have included a section for them as well. Not too shabby.

NASCAR fines Johnson $10,000

As if Nascar wasn't bad enough all ready. Can you imagine what would happen to the NFL if they followed the same rules?

Institute for Naming Children Humanely Homepage

This site should be part of the child birth classes. After a recent wave of "new babies," I have several names that would belong under the listing of "Let me spell that for you." Let the child be different of their own accord, not because of the way his/her name is spelled.

Political Joke -- Don't read if easily offended

Of course, this could be adapted to fit the other party, but I favored this version... There was this new bar in town that everyone was talking about because it had a robot-bartender. A man walks in to see this for himself. He sits at the bar and sure enough, a robot was bartending. The man orders a drink, and the robot asks him what his IQ is. The man replies that his IQ is 150. So the robot begins discussing nuclear physics, hydrogen power cells, and the current state of the global atmosphere. The man is amazed. He has to see how good this robot really is. He leaves the bar and comes right back in and sits at the bar. Again, the robot asks him for his IQ. This time the man replies "100." So the robot discusses football, basketball, and the proper way to grill a steak. The man leaves and comes back in for a third time. This time he tells the robot that his IQ is 50. The robot replies: "So, are you democrats really going to vote for Kerry?" (Thanks, Tensie)

You might be

Joke of the day...week...year. A whole site devoted to the idea of "You might be _____ if..." And yes, cheese heads have their own listing.

People Search

Every so often, I will search for myself in various engines, just to see who else is out there bearing the same nom de plume as me. Addresses.com is fun to use as it also gives the option of using reverse look-ups for phone, email, etc. I try it every so often on wrong number calls too. It keeps life interesting.

J-Walk website

Every time I try to get on the J-Walk website, I'm denied. I wonder if work found out about it and is blocking access. Or maybe he is having hosting problems. Could someone check and let me know? Thanks.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

My husband turns 30 this year. To properly celebrate, we are going to charter a fishing boat for some of his friends. It all started because I was teasing him about having a "pirate-themed" party so they could do "piratey things." It evolved into this. He found Dumper Dan's Sportfishing Charters of Sheboygan, WI, an uninformed participant to our diabolical minds. The piratey things will entail beer drinking, eating, joking, ribbing and perhaps some fishing. By the way, drop him a line and wish him happy birthday. He'll thank me later, I know. rpenney28 at yahoo.com

A few thoughts about Nascar

Nascar is a boring sport. Watching drivers go around the track 500 times, waiting for a crash is not my idea of entertainment. I propose the following to improve its appeal and interest level. 1) Cut the number of laps down. I heard one driver on the local radio station say that it really comes down to the last 30 or so laps. Why bother to have the first 470? Cut the number of laps to 50. Then we'll see who is really skilled. 2) Take all of the ranking numbers. Draw two of them from a bucket. Make them switch places. Let's see how well the third place driver does if he has to start at 47th. 3) Base the starting line-up on the amount of money that sponsers give. After all, more money equals a better car and a better driver, right? 4) Base the starting line-up on a 500 list or one of the other company ranking lists that exists. These are just a few of the changes I would make if I were in charge of Nascar. I'm sure all think of more as I am forced to watch it on Sunday as it dominates all programming on that day.

A.Simple.Blog

A new blog for me to read. I like his turn of phrase. The Brits always have a little different perspective on things.

Book Reviews by Danny Yee

This is man is my new idol. He only works part time and spends the rest of his day reviewing books. I would lean towards fiction, if I could do this. But the variety is amazing. I'm going to have to read some. Maybe I'll even find a few that I would be willing to check out.

Answerbag.com - All the FAQs you can use

Need an answer? Go here. Got an answer? Let the world know it.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language /

This site is fun, fully interactive and informative. Words are ranked according to usage. "The" is the most used word in the world. "Stacie" isn't in the archive - by that spelling anyway. "Penney" is; it comes in 42,964th. One hundred is "got," while "milk" is 2,083rd. I would think that the proliferation of the phrase "got milk" would have affected the placement of "milk." Evidently not.

I'm Old

I don't mind getting older; it's inevitable. I don't mind not being "cool" anymore either -- not that I was to start with. I don't mind the gray hair that I find either. What I do mind that that the three gray hairs have decided to sprout along my part line. No matter how I style my hair, there they are, bright and shiny for the whole world to see. I haven't been pulling them, but I gotta figure out a way to get them to hid under the others. A little bit, at least.

John Titor - Time Traveler

The whole concept of time travel fascinates me. I'm linking to this site so I can look into it further. I don't have time to right now, as I am, in theory, working.

BugMeNot.com

You know how some sights require that you register in order to use them? Check at Bugmenot.com and use a fake registration to avoid all of those nasty junk emails.

Boxcar Eddie's Chicago Style Pizza

The worst thing about living in Oshkosh is the sevre lack of fantastic pizza. On Friday I was determined to fix this and order a pizza from Boxcar Eddie's, as I was going to be in Fond du Lac and would be able to pick it up for supper. Their Chicago style is 6.5 lbs of pizza, measuring 14 inches across. With three toppings it was $18.47. It fed my family for three meals -- now that's saying something! I'm going to have to make this a once a month trip, regardless of whether or not I'm in FdL. It's just too good to miss. And nothing in Oshkosh even comes close.

Bourne Supremacy

My husband and I went to a movie together for the first time in I don't know how long. Considering it generally cost us $17.00 just to walk in the door, we rent instead of visiting the local theater. I had to make an exception for Bourne Supremacy. Matt Damon is a wonderful Jason Bourne. The best part of this movie was that I had not read the book first. Amazing, eh? I started in when I was in high school, after finishing the Bourne Identity, but never completed it. Probably needed to return it to the library. Now that I have seen the movie, most likely I will read it. The first book/movie were different without being annoying. I'll probably find the same of the second set.

Jennings still winning on Jeopardy

All I can say is, "About freakin' time." If you are smart enough to be on the show then you should be able to rack up the money like this guy has.

MSNBC - Bigger breasts offered as perk to U.S. soldiers

Yep -- you read that right, folks. The short and sweet of it is “the surgeons have to have someone to practice on.” And this statement coming from an Army spokesWOMAN. What a crock of bs. I'll need to find and read the New Yorker article this is based on. There simply has to be more to it than this is showing.

I love DSL

I knew there was a difference.  Afterall, I have broadband at work...but the network makes it slow...and as I don't do the same stuff here (aka home) that I do there (aka the hell hole) I'm noticing it more tonight with my new connection.

Phone Service is Back!

Now I just need my modem and life will be faster.  If I don't get it by Friday, I'm going to have to call.  Otherwise I'll need to renew my dial-up ISP for another month.

Direct Marketing Association Scam

J-Walk's blog always has interesting things to look at, especially when I should be doing work-related tasks. What really makes the blog, though, is the comments and discussions through them. If read regularly, individuals become as familar as J-Walk. This discussion is quite similar to one recently had at my own home. I love seeing how the views and opinions of those far from me relate to my own.

No Phone Service

As I am tired of everyone in my house complaining about my ISP being incredibly slow, I weighed the options of fast service vs. the cost of service.  While I'm not upgrading to the 3 gig service provided by the location broadband, I did find a nice DSL package that was reasonable for the amount of time we spend on the Internet.

I made all necessary arrangements and submitted the application.  On Friday the technician tests my line and says its fine; expect the modem in a few days.

My line may be fine for DSL, but it sucks for the telephone. Ever since he was there I have had no phone service. It makes everything a bit tricky as this is the time of the month that all the credit cards are due and I depend upon my internet connection to keep my buddies Discover and Mastercard happy.  So, instead, we used cell phones all weekend and will continue to do so until further notice. If you tried to call over the weekend, sorry, we weren't intentionally ignoring you...maybe (tee-hee).

Turning Tables on Scammers

This article made me laugh so hard. I have got to find a job with this company. They answer the email requests from the scammer -- in this case the Nigerian Prince who just needs to borrow your bank account for a few days to get some money out of his country. But the tables are turned when the responder agrees, only if the Nigerian Prince will join his church. You've got to read it!

I Hate Work

I hate it when I am assigned a task that is menial and pointless. It's even worse when I have another task that is meaningful and interesting but not for my boss. My boss must think I have the brain of a betta fish and enjoy looking up archane information manually for thousands of parts.

Birthday Tomorrow

The baby turns 1 tomorrow. I'm not one of those nostalgic moms who can't believe that a whole year has passed. He came out at 6lbs. 9oz. He now weighs 27 or 28 lbs. He eats everything in sight -- even if it isn't food. He sleeps through the night, even if he is an early riser. He walks with few falls and says two or three words -- depending on how you listen. He has a head full of blond curls and loves to play in water -- any water, even the dog's dish. Every day I can see that he is learning something new. I don't need a calendar to tell me that a year has passed. I just need to look at Jonathon.

A Guide to Alternative Handwriting and Shorthand Systems

Does any school system actually offer courses in shorthand? I wonder, if taught early enough in schools, would it be beneficial in high school or college? I know from experience that note taking during lectures requires an expertise that cannot be perfected until one has almost reached the end of the semster. Each lecturer's style and test formats limit the ability to effectively take notes until then. Maybe I'll experiment on my kids and see if it would make a difference. Of course, my kids are under the age of five. It's going to be a while before I get any results.

Why do people have websites?

The above question was recently posed to me by my mother, upon her discovery that I have a website. "Why?" said she. "What's the purpose?" A just question. A fair question. Perplexing to answer in simple terms. True, it takes up time that probably could be better spent. I always have housework to do afterall (two kids, a dog and husband. Need I say more?) True, I'm probably closer to polluting the electronic void than publishing worthwhile endevours, but I know that my posts are more enlightening that some of the other blogs that are out there. At least I post regularly. A quick search quickly reveals how many are started with fair to middlin' intentions that are never followed up on. True, I have some personal writing goals that are being neglected even as we speak, er, type, er, read. But all forms of writing are good, I argue. And a writer should spend a portion of each day writing. In theory, this is a small portion of my writing day. Praytell, how did I answer said question? With a shrug and a smile. Afterall, what truly is the point of doing anything? Love or money. And I haven't received any checks in the mail lately...

Thick Skin Grapes

As I sit at my desk, popping green grapes in my mouth, I notice that the skins don't seem to go down as smoothly as they should. When I start to pay attention to the food I am consuming, realization awakens in my senses -- the skin is too thick. While I'm not going to pull out my millimeter measuring devices and start a comparison study, I am going to go with my gut and say that this batch of grapes has extraordinarily thick skin.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for leaving comments. Getting in touch with some of my oldest -- meaning longest -- friends has been wonderful. It reminds me of nights in the dorms, or at the apartment. Trips to Mankato so we could get high on caffiene at the Klatch and share all of the weird thoughts, gripes and laughter. I miss the people we were and love the ones we've become.

Birthday Parties

Next month I'm having a birthday party for the Baby, who will be one year old. A monumental moment for a child, especially when you factor what they learn in the first year. The Baby has learned to walk. He runs, really, with his arms straight in the air. He can go from person to person and is starting to walk to inanimate objects as well. And he has been doing this for about a month. The problem is, who do you invite to a party for a one year old? I want to invite people he knows, who make a point of knowing him, regardless of distance. Unfortunately, we have some family members who simply assume that we are going to have something and that they will be invited. Any other day they don't make the 60 minute drive to visit. Really, what makes the birthday so special then? It makes my heart tear just a little to be so calluous. But if it isn't worth the time on an ordinary day, why make an annual visit? They've missed watching him take the first tottering steps and subsequent falls. His first word (depending on who you ask) was "Elle," the dog. It continues to be his favorite as well. He can eat as much ice cream as his four year old brother and devours ravoli at the same speed. If someone is upstairs, he can climb them in the time it takes for me to blow my nose and throw the tissue away. He loves lift the flap books and playing with Thomas the Train. These are the things that are important, not watching him eat cake. One day doesn't make a difference. One day thirty times will.

Expiration Date

Last night, after discovering that we were out of the preferred cereal for this morning's breakfast, we headed to the nearest grocery store to get another box of "Shrek." (Marshmallows, kids, it's all good.) On this particular box, on this particular day, I happened to notice the expiration date -- January 2005. After checking the calendar and confirming, yep, it is in fact the middle of summer, a cold fear settled over me. What kind of perservatives are they putting in my cereal box that it can sit on a shelf for half a year and still be good? Some kind of study should be done on this...by the way, Tiffany, how is the twinkie?