Last night it was kind of chilly here in west central Alabama. The dog went out about 11:30 and I woke up at 2:30 (or 3:30?) with her asking to come in. So, being a nice doggy mommy, I went down and let her in. She bolts (as usual) up the stairs and hops up in MY warm spot. Obviously thinking to herself "Oooo, warm spot!" She politely hopped over to the middle of the bed when I got there. (This is not what she does at bed time when she takes her half out of the middle, or even on my side of the middle, of the bed and will not move. Under her own power anyway.) I get back in bed and discover that her feet weren't clean. Yay. (This isn't as bad a a week or so ago when her paws were wet when she hopped up into my warm spot.) Then she snuggles up against me and buries her nose in the pillows. It was cute, if I ignore the grit under my shoulders. She moved a little bit this morning - when I got out of the shower she was curled up facing the other direction. She'd apparently decided that it was too cold to go out for a morning pee.
Lesson learned: don't leave the covers thrown back when letting the dog in.
13 January 2009
09 January 2009
Where I've been
These are all the states I've visited.
visited 27 states (54%)
These are all the states I've been in (as best I can tell):
visited 33 states (66%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project
Apparently I've been avoiding Kentuck. I may get to add Oregon this year, if I can come up with a paper/poster. I'm not going to do a countries I've visited map because it would be embarrassing (US, Canada, England (ok, Heathrow Airport), and Scotland).
visited 27 states (54%)
These are all the states I've been in (as best I can tell):
visited 33 states (66%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project
Apparently I've been avoiding Kentuck. I may get to add Oregon this year, if I can come up with a paper/poster. I'm not going to do a countries I've visited map because it would be embarrassing (US, Canada, England (ok, Heathrow Airport), and Scotland).
08 January 2009
Hmmm...
Random religious/theological rambling brought on by a documentary I watched (most of) last week and Travel with Rick Steves, a flash on a scene from Godspell (specifically my high school's production) and talking to myself while driving to work:
How do evangelical Christians* reconcile their often very public professions of faith with Jesus' preaching against this(Luke 18:9-14)? I suppose Jesus wasn't preaching against honest public faith/religiousness only false shows and following the letter of the law, not the spirit of it. It still seems, to me, that randomly (to everyone else) walking up to someone and handing them a tract isn't what He calls us to do.
*Not all, everyone is different, YMMV, exceptions to prove the rule, simplification/generalization...
How do evangelical Christians* reconcile their often very public professions of faith with Jesus' preaching against this(Luke 18:9-14)? I suppose Jesus wasn't preaching against honest public faith/religiousness only false shows and following the letter of the law, not the spirit of it. It still seems, to me, that randomly (to everyone else) walking up to someone and handing them a tract isn't what He calls us to do.
*Not all, everyone is different, YMMV, exceptions to prove the rule, simplification/generalization...
07 January 2009
Buffyverse - friend or foe?
A month or two ago Honu-Girl suggested I try watching/listening to Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu, as it was fluffy enough to make it a good distraction while doing boring work. (I was more productive while watching than not, until the IT guy caught me chewing up huge amounts of bandwidth.) I'd watched the first two seasons at work and then Honu-Girl got me the 3rd season for Christmas (delivered in a very pretty box she got from Sarah, so it was like a present from Sarah, too!), so I'm up to episode 8 or 9 now ("Helpless"). I have a question for Buffy fans: What's up with Synder?
He shows up as a principal with a grudge against Buffy. At first he just seems to be a hard ass. Then we learn that he knows about the vampires, etc. in Sunnydale* and I started to wonder which side he's on - does he think Buffy's on the vamp side or does he suspect she's the Slayer (or at least on the human's side) and why doesn't he like her/what does his dislike potentially say about where he stands. He clearly has connections in local politics and the police chief and the mayor are in on the Home of the Hellmouth bit. The mayor clearly has no particular problem with the local demon population (as long as he keeps his job - "Band Candy") but we don't know about the police chief (very minor character, "School Hard" I think). Now, after "Band Candy"**, he knows for sure she's the Slayer but I hadn't seen him since.
So, is he pro- or anti- demon? Is he pro- or anti-Slayer?
(I'm ok with minor spoilers)
* Was the name a ploy by the founders to hide the demonic presence?
**Seeing your Mom and Watcher make out - ewww, as bad as realizing your parents have sex.
He shows up as a principal with a grudge against Buffy. At first he just seems to be a hard ass. Then we learn that he knows about the vampires, etc. in Sunnydale* and I started to wonder which side he's on - does he think Buffy's on the vamp side or does he suspect she's the Slayer (or at least on the human's side) and why doesn't he like her/what does his dislike potentially say about where he stands. He clearly has connections in local politics and the police chief and the mayor are in on the Home of the Hellmouth bit. The mayor clearly has no particular problem with the local demon population (as long as he keeps his job - "Band Candy") but we don't know about the police chief (very minor character, "School Hard" I think). Now, after "Band Candy"**, he knows for sure she's the Slayer but I hadn't seen him since.
So, is he pro- or anti- demon? Is he pro- or anti-Slayer?
(I'm ok with minor spoilers)
* Was the name a ploy by the founders to hide the demonic presence?
**Seeing your Mom and Watcher make out - ewww, as bad as realizing your parents have sex.
Woot?
I did a whole 25 minutes of light to moderate stretching last night! (i.e. yoga, not nearly as intense as the classes I've taken) Maybe next week I'll add in light weight training. (I only have 8lb weights and my own body weight.)
But, hey, it's more than I've been doing.
But, hey, it's more than I've been doing.
02 January 2009
Curse the Darkness
Some thing I saw of TV the other night got me thinking about “curse” words. I understand the religious prohibition on blasphemy. Not necessarily the specifics – was stoning really necessary for speaking the secret name of God? – but the general rule I can deal with and vaguely understand. I can understand not using ‘damn’ as a general swear word unless you really mean you think that thing/person/rule/whatever should be sent to hell. I have even, unsuccessfully, toyed with not damning things lightly. What I don’t get is why other ‘four-letter words’ that have no religious connotations are also usually considered wrong to use by the religious and culturally are less polite than the religious ones (in the US at least). Now ‘fuck’, ‘shit’, and ‘ass’ are generally considered impolite ways to refer to sexual intercourse, feces, and one’s backside* and their derivatives, which may or may not have anything to do with the original meaning, are equally vulgar. One should certainly be mindful of one’s company when using these words. But, why do the religious care about them? They aren’t blasphemy – no taking of God’s name in vain, no casual damning of innocent inanimate objects.
The seven words you can’t say on TV are becoming more and more socially acceptable. One day you may even be able to say them on mainstream TV, at least in fleeting usages or, of course, in culturally appropriate situations^.As the “younger” generations work their way up into positions of power in the FCC things will change, slowly, if we can ever get the religious fanatics to shut up long enough to understand the difference between blasphemy and vulgarity.
This leads me to a tangent**: You may recall the wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl half-time a few years ago. Shortly after this, and the resulting kerfuffle, I heard a father commenting (a letter to Morning Edition perhaps?) that the SB is family entertainment and he didn’t appreciate his young sons being exposed to a nipple. I’d been watching that half-time show. Personally, if I were going to be offended by a brief flash of female bits I would have been doubly offended by the half-time show. Based on the comment of that father, dry-humping one another while wearing little more than a bikini is OK but the human body is bad. (I may be mixing my half-times up. The scantily clad, practically stripping dancers may have been another year.) Consistency anyone?
*Ass is perfectly acceptable if referring to a donkey, even in church.
^ This is why it’s OK that ‘fuck’ appears in every other sentence in Saving Private Ryan but it has to be beeped out of an Emmy acceptance speech.
**This is not particularly timely, I know.But we will be subjected to dubious singing and dancing during the Super Bowl half-time again soon.
The seven words you can’t say on TV are becoming more and more socially acceptable. One day you may even be able to say them on mainstream TV, at least in fleeting usages or, of course, in culturally appropriate situations^.As the “younger” generations work their way up into positions of power in the FCC things will change, slowly, if we can ever get the religious fanatics to shut up long enough to understand the difference between blasphemy and vulgarity.
This leads me to a tangent**: You may recall the wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl half-time a few years ago. Shortly after this, and the resulting kerfuffle, I heard a father commenting (a letter to Morning Edition perhaps?) that the SB is family entertainment and he didn’t appreciate his young sons being exposed to a nipple. I’d been watching that half-time show. Personally, if I were going to be offended by a brief flash of female bits I would have been doubly offended by the half-time show. Based on the comment of that father, dry-humping one another while wearing little more than a bikini is OK but the human body is bad. (I may be mixing my half-times up. The scantily clad, practically stripping dancers may have been another year.) Consistency anyone?
*Ass is perfectly acceptable if referring to a donkey, even in church.
^ This is why it’s OK that ‘fuck’ appears in every other sentence in Saving Private Ryan but it has to be beeped out of an Emmy acceptance speech.
**This is not particularly timely, I know.But we will be subjected to dubious singing and dancing during the Super Bowl half-time again soon.
30 December 2008
PSA for sales clerks
Acknowledging a costumer's existence can increase your sales.
Will you forgive me a mini-rant? I hope so, because I'm going to do it anyway. Customer service SUCKS in this town (maybe everywhere). Latest example:
Last night I went to Belks to look at shoes. Now, I'm not even sure they carry much in my size but I thought I'd try, since they are now the biggest bestest department store in town (Sears' shoe dept is very small; Penny's hardly carries anything in my size and was a sucky dept with rude service last time I looked, about 8 years ago.) So I look around a few minutes and start picking up shoes. One associate passes as he's putting shoes back in the displays, I think he said "hi". I end up with 4 shoes in my hand that I want to try on and want to ask if s/he can bring out anything similar in my size. (I know it's asking a lot of a clerk to have some idea of their stock but hey, why not try?) I stood about 4 feet back and to the side of the register counter and a couple of feet from a row of chairs, facing the register, attempting to make eye contact with a sales clerk. One is ringing up a sale, one put up a couple of shoes on the other half of the dept but mostly stood at the contour, the other two are putting shoes up, straightening up, etc. One of them looks at me, no eye contact, walks on, offers to help another customer, puts the shoe(s) where they belong, and returns to the counter. I stood there for several minutes in total. I put the shoes in a chair and said, mostly to myself, 'if they don't want to sell me shoes, fine I don't need buy shoes,' and leave the store. BTW, this was at approximately 5:15 (no where near closing time) and there were six-eight people in the non-"selfserve" part of the dept, only one of whom was actually trying on shoes while I was there. (Clearance shoes are stacked on tables.)
Maybe I've missed a change in how one suppose to get a shoe department associate's attention? Am I now suppose to walk into the stock room myself? Hit a clerk over the head with a shoe to get his attention? The stand near counter and/or chairs with shoes in hand has always worked before. Needless to say it will be awhile before I hit up thier shoe department again.
Will you forgive me a mini-rant? I hope so, because I'm going to do it anyway. Customer service SUCKS in this town (maybe everywhere). Latest example:
Last night I went to Belks to look at shoes. Now, I'm not even sure they carry much in my size but I thought I'd try, since they are now the biggest bestest department store in town (Sears' shoe dept is very small; Penny's hardly carries anything in my size and was a sucky dept with rude service last time I looked, about 8 years ago.) So I look around a few minutes and start picking up shoes. One associate passes as he's putting shoes back in the displays, I think he said "hi". I end up with 4 shoes in my hand that I want to try on and want to ask if s/he can bring out anything similar in my size. (I know it's asking a lot of a clerk to have some idea of their stock but hey, why not try?) I stood about 4 feet back and to the side of the register counter and a couple of feet from a row of chairs, facing the register, attempting to make eye contact with a sales clerk. One is ringing up a sale, one put up a couple of shoes on the other half of the dept but mostly stood at the contour, the other two are putting shoes up, straightening up, etc. One of them looks at me, no eye contact, walks on, offers to help another customer, puts the shoe(s) where they belong, and returns to the counter. I stood there for several minutes in total. I put the shoes in a chair and said, mostly to myself, 'if they don't want to sell me shoes, fine I don't need buy shoes,' and leave the store. BTW, this was at approximately 5:15 (no where near closing time) and there were six-eight people in the non-"selfserve" part of the dept, only one of whom was actually trying on shoes while I was there. (Clearance shoes are stacked on tables.)
Maybe I've missed a change in how one suppose to get a shoe department associate's attention? Am I now suppose to walk into the stock room myself? Hit a clerk over the head with a shoe to get his attention? The stand near counter and/or chairs with shoes in hand has always worked before. Needless to say it will be awhile before I hit up thier shoe department again.
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