No one likes a know-it-alll anyway.....

So I tend to think of myself as well informed. I seem to know a lot more about stuff than most people I talk to. That in itself is quite gratifying but doesn't necessarily prove anything. So I happened to pick up NewsWeek or some other newsy-type magazine yesterday and was flipping through gleaning what knowledge I deemed worthy when I ran across a quick on-the-street-survey.

Now, let me premise what I am about to say with this: former surveys I've encountered of the what-does-the-man-on-the-street-know-about-whatever have all made Americans look pretty dumb. You know, stuff like when was the war of 1812? Uh, I dunno, in the 1700s? That kind of stuff. And we all know that people who watch The Daily Show with John Stewart or the Colbert Report are not well informed, they just think they are. Ditto with Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken and others. They talk about the news, but do not necessarily inform (not true, though, of us who listen to "Fresh Air" with Terry Grosse on NPR at lunchtime - very informative stuff).

Anyway, so we all agree on the stipulated premises. Ok, good. Now, just for your information, I watch John Stewart and Steven Colbert, but I get my news from CNN, NPR, Fox News and others. I try to get a variety of sources and compare in my brain the way the story is told on each channel. In other words, I try to stay informed in the real sense of the word.

So, I'm perusing this survey and I'm already in trouble with question 1:
Who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Like 76% of respondents, I remember Alan Greenspan. But he's not there anymore, folks. It's Ben Bernanke. How could I have forgotten that name?
Question 2: Ok, I honestly don't remember the rest of the survey. But it had hard questions in it and what little I do remember involves my brain going, "huh?" and "What was his name again" and silly ol things like that.

So, I guess I'm not so informed. Not really a know-it-all. But what is sooooooo disturbing about that is I am kind of a news-hound. I actually try to learn stuff by listening to the news (so I can recite it later at the slightest opening and bore someone to tears with it....). I try to stay informed, up-to-date and increase my knowledge banks with all kinds of important information. Unfortunately, it looks like when it comes to a lot of the detail-ey things, I'm just not "tuning in." Or is it that news-spewers are so busy giving their opinion of the story, things like who the dang Federal Reserve Chairman is gets glossed over?

Yeah, I think that might be it.

It's all so interesting....

I've been getting up later and later each morning, but I do take time to listen to the news while I apply the daily face-lift (foundation, eye liner...you get my drift). Anyway, I've been watching this cable news show - channel 59 if you live in GH! - where they mostly talk politics. Well, are we all getting more stupid and petty or is it that there just isn't enough excitement in the political campaigns!?! They just report on the most inane things.

Now, I know you have all heard the flag pin controversy. It is stupid to me that people are saying Barack isn't patriotic because he never wears a flag pin. Well, I'm sorry to say I've never wore a flag pin in my life and I never intend to. How many of those outraged people have worn a flag pin, much less a flag pin every day? Give me a break.

Here's one really good story, though. The Jesse Jackson thing. Oooo, that was naughty! He got caught on mike waiting to get interviewed on some cable news show saying things like "I wanna cut his nuts off" about Barack Obama. Damn! What the hell....Jesse is really getting himself in hot water there. I can just imagine some little intern in the control booth going, 'ooo, I gotta hit the record button and make a name for myself by releasing it to the mainstream media!' Chris says the whole problem with this country is the media and sometimes I agree with him, but when your dream is to be a reporter, you don't really want to agree with that.

Anyway, that Jesse. What a crack ho. But lo and behold, the political pundits on this particular show used it as an opportunity to begin talking about how the emergence of Barack on the national political scene marginalized Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson, too. That, my people, is why Bill acted like such a donkey's butt during his wife's campaign (not because he's uncouth or too cool to care). And Jesse Jackson's comments? Also provoked by being marginalized by Barack Obama. Come on, people! Get real. I admire Bill Clinton for a lot of reasons, but his lack of personal PR savvy is not one of them. And Jesse Jackson has never made my short list of people I'd want talking about me. He's such a tongue-wagging say-anything. Rather reactionary, like myself.

One interesting thing came out of all the pundit-ing going on in regard to the "marginalization" of the former big wigs in the Democratic Party - the realization that while Barack Obama has become the voice of the new generation Democrats, the Republicans have.....McCain. As it was pointed out by some guy they call Biscuit, Jesse Helms - if he were still alive - could be the "youth" voice for McCain. That McCain.....he's pretty dang old. Myself, if I were to run for President, I'd want to run young like Clinton and Kennedy. That way, I can retire and enjoy decades of philandering and globe-trotting on a nice, cushy government pension. Now, that sounds like fun. Except the philandering. Why, I'd never! I'd just take my honey with me and we'd roll like that.

It's like the Sims

It’s no secret I’ve roundly ignored my blog of late. Here’s a quick recap of why:

Wedding preparation – weeks of too many things to do
Wedding – culmination of a lot of hard work pays off BIG!!!!
Trip to the ER – Guess who is too young for diabetes? Apparently not me.
American Idol – Office pool wins me $255 if David Cook wins, making me into first-time-ever Idol watcher. If Syesha wins I get $33.50.
WIN!!!!!! - $255 come to mama
Oh, yeah…..thank you cards.
Britt moves home – It’s been fun, but big adjustments. She’s a great kid. Adult.
Bike rides – part of the new “treatment”
Bedtime is 9 – hey, a girl needs her beauty sleep
Quality time with Chris – it’s a short evening after I get home from work and make dinner. Chris and I usually try to do something together after dinner rather than him watching sports and me putting my nose in a book or typing on my blog.

So, no wedding pictures yet, as you can see. Bad Laura! Even still, I wonder what place in my life this blog has with so much else to occupy my time. I know I need to put energy back into my hobbies now that life has slowed down somewhat, but with all the things out there to do that are fun, is blogging really what I want to do? I can say this….the urge to write still hits, but it is not like it used to be where my mind would fill up with words forcing their way out.

It’s like the Sims game. For any of you out there who have never played the Sims, you won’t get this. But for those of you that have….as your Sim’s life ramps up with work and friends and trying to get promoted at work, they come home more and more tired. A lot of red where green should be. One of the biggest areas to suffer is the “fun” meter. Ok, so what do you do for your Sim? You buy the item that has the highest fun rating. If your Sim is tired and bored, you buy a high-fun rating computer and a high-comfort rating chair to sit in while your Sim plays games on the computer. It’s kinda like that. I need high-fun rated activities that don’t involve the amount of time it takes to write. See? I’m not saying I’m done blogging, I’m just saying….this is the priority right now. High-fun.

Beyond dreams

What amazed me most about my wedding is that even though I wrote the order of service so I knew exactly what was going to happen, nothing could have prepared me for the absolute peace, joy and love I felt from beginning to end. Oh, and what fun we had!!! But I'll talk about that later.

I don't know about you, but I have not lived a fairy tale life. Living the way I have, I never expected life to be blessed, full of good experiences or even happy. That was the stuff of movies and Fannie Flagg books. Yet when I look at my life, the only words that could describe it is blessed, full of people that love me and yes, happy. And I owe every bit of that to my husband, Chris Baldus.

My life has completely changed. The lives of my children have completely changed. And it is all because of this one man. He came home just now and was telling me about what happened when he got called back to work tonight. As I was listening to him talk about it, such a sense of pride and love welled up in my heart and overwhelmed me. Words are so inadequate to explain how incredible it is to be loved by a man like that. He's exactly what a man, a father and a husband should be. With everything I have in me, I love him and am completely devoted to our life together. I will write more about our wedding, but right now I am going to warm up his dinner while he takes a shower. Just a good, normal life. What a gift.

WHY??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?! in potty mouth land

I swear to God, I am losing my effing mind. Ok, I'm a pretty tech-savvy individual. I know my way pretty well around a computer. There isn't a piece of software I can't run from moment 1. It's just intuitive to me. BUT APPARENTLY NOT ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I wanted to save money on the wedding. Why spend hundreds of dollars on invitations, I said to myself. I'll just go down to where-the-hell-ever and get some make-it-at-home on the old computer type invitations. You wanna know why it's worth hundreds of dollars to have them professionally printed? Because if you don't, you'll spend hours trying to fix the glitchy wizards or Word templates that came with your damn invitations. And once you have them all jack-ass printed, then you can spend another couple hours putting them together with miniscule squares of ultra-sticky stuff, tying ribbons and trying to attach stupid monograms with a tub chain. You know, the silver little balls connected with the thin wire that you shove through that oval thing? Think old-style tub stopper that was attached to a little ring...oh, forget it.

So that is not the worst of it. How about this? We buy an external burner for our laptop. We buy 20 effing CDs of the correct type. I buy over 100 songs on i-tunes because supposedly you can burn CDs right from i-tunes that will play in any CD player. WRONG!!!!!! It didn't play even on my computer!!! So, I read the manual that came with the burner and I sift through the shit-for-brains i-tunes knowledge center to no avail. What happened, you dare say? Every BRAND NEW CD I put in the burner popped back out with a message: Insert blank CD. KILL!!!!!!!!!! Not to be discouraged (HA!!~~ I NEARLY LOST MY MIND THEN!!) I get an m4p to mp3 converter to convert all those GD i-tunes songs. Done. It only took an hour and a half for 22 songs. Then, I open Windows Media Player and try to burn the kick-in-the-pants CD. What happens?

THE EFFING THING TOLD ME TO INSERT A BLANK CD. HOW MUCH MORE BLANK CAN YOU GET THAN A BRAND NEW EFFING CD!?!??!!??!!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?

I am never saving money again.

Snarky Idol judges suck ass

I am SO SICK of hearing the bickering and barbed jabs back and forth between Ryan, Paula and Simon. Ok, I can understand that Simon has no respect for people's dignity, and he stomps all over these brave souls who dare to actually sing in front of him. Part of me says he deserves his comeuppance, and part of me agrees with him whole-heartedly. You tell 'em, Simon! Even still, the negativity of their bickering and sniping at each other is really beginning to grate on my nerves and completely distracts me from what I want to be focusing on: the critique. It's bad enough that Ryan needs to completely dis Simon at every turn, but I seriously thought Paula was going to smack him tonight when he told her to shut up. And I could tell by the way he was looking at her that he was ready to explode. You know, that really sucks. This is a family show, and we watch it as a family. We really don't need to hear that and besides, what do you suppose it is teaching my children? Argue with your coworkers? Hate those who disagree with you? Act ugly just because you don't like how someone said something? This show is quickly becoming non-family fare. Me no likey!

Rock My World

I know you've been wondering where I've been lately. Well, I started my new job in Holland ata place called Innovation Technologies something - ITC is what we usually call it. I absolutely love my job, my boss is awesome and everyday I make a contribution that makes me feel good. My title is Project/Data Coordinator and that basically means setting up processes and procedures to track production in China. It's very interesting and I enjoy it.

But that isn't nearly the best of it. I got my wedding dress and I feel absolutely gorgeous in it. I just got my hair done and Chris can't get over how "smoking hot" I look. Funny, I thought I was looking pudgy. But by far the absolute best thing that has happened to me is the Bridal Shower and Bride-n-Groom Party my sister threw for me last weekend. They were two separate events (she's so ambitious!). The theme of the shower was a tea party and the decorations were so beautiful and the cake was not only beautiful but delicious, too! And everyone brought me a favorite recipe plus the stuff to make it. I love the idea of cooking family favorites. You know, people used to pass recipes down through the generations. Well, people don't cook as much as they used to, plus they just don't pass recipes down much anymore. I'm really happy that we are changing that with my shower. I sent everyone my favorite recipe along with their thank-you card.

And oh, the Bride-n-Groom party! It was soooo much fun and it was so cool to see my family having so much fun. It made everyone really excited about the reception. We had so much fun. You should have seen Ray and Cindy. They were dancing really funny and having an absolute blast. It is so cool, too, that Chris is a great dancer. We have a lot of fun on the dance floor. I wish I could share some pics because they would have been totally awesome, but I haven't seen any yet. I know Uncle Yoobee got a lot of great shots. You'd think he'd share, but nooooooooo! (hint hint!!)

Well, I have to run because there is more to be done for the wedding. Off I go!

love-love-love

The abuse!

Picture this: we've all been sick with the flu and germophobe Chris caught the bug last. He stayed home yesterday from work, so I thought, 'Hey, great time to do the wedding invitations!' Chris, being a gentleman to the last, sits quietly on the couch staring at the wall while I fuss and fume at the computer, only barely aware that he is there. His occassional interruptions, "Can I turn on the TV now?" are met with a fierce "NO! You're helping me with the invitations!" Meanwhile, I am furiously balling practice sheets of paper and hurling them all about the living room. Damn printing wizard! And why did we have to get invitations with monogram tags anyway?!?! Finally, four hours later I inform him, "Guess what? We made great progress today! We printed all the invititations and we only have one more address to add to the spreadsheet and then we can run the mail merge and print off all the envelopes!"

"Great," he says, "Can I turn on the TV now?"

He truly is an abused man.

Observation

Ok, now it's not like I don't know when the wedding is happening. I mean, I helped pick the date! And yet, I still have not begun my diet. I know the shame of having to look at pictures of myself where I am so heavy I look like I'm going to fall out the bottom of the picture. My face puffs up like a big Puff Adder snake and expands exponentially with each gap-toothed grin. Jiggly underams? Check! Bookshelf ass? Check! "Third Hand" stomach roll? Mile-high ass and jelly-roll hips? Check! Check! Check!

You know that commercial where the lady bends over at the fireplace with her red robe on and her kid yells, "Santa!" Pretty funny, huh? Yeah, well I bent over in front of the fireplace, and I hear this voice yell, "Hey, look! Ruben Studdard just came down our chimney!"

You'd think that knowing my blood sugar is frequently sailing into the 500s would motivate me to get on the right track. Unfortunately, I've been sucking popsicles like they are going out of style since getting sick. Hey, it's the only thing that helps my sore throat! And I've never, ever had a sore throat as bad as this has been.

So, what is it that I need to get motivated to lose weight? I have now a little over a month to lose weight before the inevitable picture-taking at the wedding. Help!

Total Freak-Out

Why another university shooting? I just do not understand a mentality that walks into a lecture hall and begins unloading bullets on a bunch of innocent, unarmed students. After the Virginia Tech shootings, I saw a guy on TV who invented bullet-proof backpacks. At first I was like, what a wacko. But then he explained. He had kids in school and feared for their life. Feared for their life. His school kids.

I could use five of those bullet proof backpacks.

The thought that my sweet, innocent girls could get shot and killed at school is terrifying. Or anyone's kids. Remember the slaughter at the Amish school? This kind of terrorism has to stop.

What is the sickness that drives people to do something like this? Is it the violent movies like "Saw" or video games like Halo that just insulate people against the suffering deaths of other people? Obviously, the kids in the picture here think it's real damn funny to slaughter people. I can't remember who said this, but I learned it in a college history class: you can gauge the health of a society by their art. Whenever a society has crumbled morally and politically and financially, it was first reflected in their art. Whoever it was cited the Roman Empire as an example. And I do believe that art is a reflection of societies' ills (just as it can be a reflection of societies' achievements), which makes us a pretty depraved society.

Why is no one screaming about these slaughter movies marketed to kids from middle schoolers to young adults? My girls keeps talking about how they want to see the movie where if you miss your cell phone call, you're dead. Hellow, they are only 12 and 10! And yet the marketers have found a way to appeal to these young kids. Yeah, indoctrinate them early, and you'll have a customer for life, said Ray Croc with his soon-to-be McDonalds empire. I don't mind so much with hamburgers (they kill much slower), but now it is MY girls and their peers being targeted by those sickos in Hollywood and you know what? I truly fear for their future safety. I know they would never turn a gun on anyone, but who knows what potential wacko is brewing in their midst?

In the violent, unstable world we live in, the only true thing we have to offer our children is faith. We can't predict what future events may strike us, but faith gives us the strength to continue on in spite of the fear, in spite of the violence around us and, God forbid, in spite of it spilling over into our lives. All we can really do, I guess, is pray.

Still, it makes me really mad.

Hillary, beware the Ides of March!

Shakespeare did a very interesting thing in his play "Julius Caesar." He juxtaposed the conspirators after Caesar's bloody assasination in a scene which teaches a valuable life lesson: when it comes to politics, people may think with their brains, but they'll act in accordance with their emotion.

In this scene, after killing Caesar, Cassius and Brutus stand before the people and deliver well-reasoned speeches condoning the killing and effectively winning over the crowd. People stood around going, "Well, it sounds like they did the right thing." While they are shrugging their shoulders, Marc Anthony leaps upon the stage and begins his famous oratory, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." He rants, he pulls on the consciences of his listeners, he implores them to consider the heinous murder of a good man (arguably so). The listeners become whipped up into a mob that chases Cassius and Brutus out of town and a bloody battle begins.

And with this scene comes the explanation for the force that is Barack Obama. Obama isn't saying anything much different from Hillary, policy-wise, that is. The difference is that while Hillary does a stand-up job of explaining her well-reasoned policies and how she plans to implement them, Barack appeals directly to the places where people are hurting, where they have anxiety, where they fear things may go wrong. He also invokes historical references, inspiring a nostalgic sense of patriotism, whipping people up into a frenzy of emotion. I like what Barack says, but what scares me is that here's a guy with scant political experience on a national stage with a noticable lack of well-reasoned policies and explanations of how he intends to implement these policies.

However, what all of this bodes for Hillary is trouble. Barack is beating her up over her vote for the Iraqi invasion and her "ready to be President on day one" refrain is not hitting home, at least not at the polls. She's a smart woman, but she's facing a growing emotionally-charged movement, and if we learned anything from Shakespeare's infamous scene, it is that emotion wins over a crowd like no other. A review of the 2004 debate between Bush and Kerry is a prime example; Bush was impassioned and appealed to voter's emotions. Kerry was logical and appealed to voter's common sense. The outcome speaks for itself.

So, in politics as in life, emotion is much more motivating than logic, and that is a lesson Hillary needs to learn quickly if she wants to stay in this race.

Forgive!

Yeah, the post below is a little in your face, but I have to tell you that over the last couple days, every time I get on the road, we have some jack ass with a big 4 wheel drive riding right up our tailpipe. The thing is that people tend to drive as fast as they safely can in weather and road conditions like this. If we are not driving over 30 or 35 miles per hour, it's because we know that with our light little car or our light van that we could not maintain proper control of the the vehicle, particularly in stopping or turning. It just makes me so uptight that they try to force us to go faster by pushing us from behind. Hey, this is not Nascar! It's like that Allstate commercial says, the road is not filled with just drivers, it is filled with families and people like you and me who are counting on getting to their destination safely. Obnoxious behavior like I've experienced over the last couple days is just not called for. I wish people were more considerate of the lives they are putting in danger, damn it! And THAT is why I published that grotesque post below. But you gotta admit, that guy is pretty great, n'est ce pas? He really gets the point across even if it isn't pretty! I'll go back to my nice pictures soon, but for now he has to stay!

Salut!

I'd just like to send out a big thank you to all the SUV drivers and big truck drivers who think it is *cool* to tailgate people who don't have 4 wheel drive and just aren't driving fast enough with their regular little old cars on these slippery-ass roads. You're the reason families have funerals and little girls grow up without mothers, so here's to you, asshole!

Speaking of Music

Hey, since we are talking music here, I've got two great finds for you to check out. If you love great music, you will find something to sing about:

Matt Costa: Songs We Sing (no pun intended)

Best songs are "Balad of Miss Kate" (I could listen to that all day), "Sweet Thursday" and "These Arms;" "Behind the Moon" is really cool, too - another all day listener. His sound is really diverse; always melodic, at times folksy or rocksy at others mellow but always, always sounds great. "Cold December" is really good, but don't make it your first listen. Get a feel for him first or you'll think he's a chick-y singer, cuz he's really not.




Jack Johnson: Thicker than water

Bluesy, funky with that spicy island dash that makes Jack Johnson one of my favorite boys, and here he grooves with several talented musicians and balladeers. This is the kind of music that if you hung out with really great musicians (you wish!), this is the kind of stuff they'd jam on improvisationally. It's got that raw sound of pure musicianship. Great tracks to check out are "Rainbow"which is a wicked blues ballad with a Emmalou Harris sound-alike, and "Even After All" has a funky mellow reggae sound. "Honor and Harmony" is a great surprise, so treat yourself and take a listen! There are a few instrumentals on here and normally I don't like instrumentals, but "Hobo Blues" and "Liver Splash" are not to be missed. "The Cove" and "Holes to Heaven" are vintage Jack, so enjoy those, too!

So, take advantage of the streaming audio on-line and take a listen at amazon or itunes. You'll thank me!

Songs for the wedding

Ok, I want my reception to be KICK ASS, so I'm starting to compile a list of must-have songs for it. Alright, I've been compiling a mental list of must-have songs for over a year now, but I'm just now getting down to actually making a real list, so I know I've forgotten a lot of songs I wanted to have! Dang it! So, I'm going to put down some of the ones I can remember, and you guys let me know what I've forgotten - or just what you'd like to hear! ;) Some songs may not work out, so if you see something that pulls a red flag, let me know! I'm trying to keep it mostly songs that people either already know or will (hopefully) love instantly. And dont' forget - A. Val's doing an accoustic "Thank You" by Led Zeppelin with Marty, which to me will be the show stopper. How I will make it through that song without crying, I do not know.

For the slow dancing:
1. Live Like You Were Dyin by Tim McGraw (This song reminds me of Chris)
2. Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison (our song)
3. Everything by Alanis Morrissette
4. Unlonely by John Prine (our wedding song)
5. Ramble On by Led Zeppelin (our fave song by LZ, but it's a toughy - slow or fast song?)
6. Let's Get Together by the Youngbloods
7. For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield
8. Fade Into You by Mazzy Star
9. Everything Is Cool by John Prine
10. One Thing by Finger Eleven
11. Love's Divine by Seal (accoustic version)
12. Better Together by Jack Johnson
13. Change by Sean Kingston
14. You Don't Know How it Feels by Tom Petty
15. Thank You by Led Zeppelin
16. Little Star by Steena Nordenstram or something like that
17. Cruisin by Smokey Robinson (or should we do the song from 'Duets'?)

For the fast dancing:
1. What I Got by Sublime
2. Good Times, Bad Times by Led Zeppelin
3. Sexyback by JT (I LOVE this song!!!!)
4. Ain' No Other Man by Christina Aguilera (my song to Chris!)
5. The View by Modest Mouse
6. I'm Your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad (just cuz it's a cool song)
7. Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
8. Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield
9. Sheep Go Heaven, Goats Go To Hell by Cake
10. Mrs. Robinson by the Lemonheads
11. Casey Jones by Greatful Dead
12. Just Lose It by Eminem
13. Beverly Hills by Weezer
14. Fortunate Son by CCR
15. Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum
17. Land of 1000 Dances by Wilson Pickett
18. Mr. Brightside by the Killers
19. Fergalicious by Fergie
20. Canned Heat by Jamiroquai (think Napolean Dynamite)
21. Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd
22. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? by Jet
23. Goldigger by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx!!!!!
24. Respect by Aretha Franklin
25. Run It! remix by Chris Brown and Bow Wow
26. My Humps by Black Eyed Peas
27. Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne
28. The Joker by Steve Miller Band
29. The Weight by The Band

I think I may have too many songs. But....here are MORE songs I love but are not very well known. What do you think? You can check them out on i-tunes without buying by double clicking the song.
"I'm the Man Who Loves You" by Wilco
"Kundalini Express" by Love and Rockets
"Local God" by Everclear
"Sweet Potato" by Cracker
"Song 2" by Blur
"Been Caught Stealing" by Janes Addiction (or I have a great live version of "Jane Says")

I know there are great songs out there I just can't think of right now, but I know I got a few winners here, as well! But PLEASE, let me know if I missed anything!