Random Thursday night thoughts...

On Thursday nights I get a night off of bedtime duty. It's just an extra 30 minutes in my day but I'll take every extra second I can get these days.

So, on Thursday night, I have thoughts.

Random, adult thoughts. (Gasp.)

And so, for your pleasure, and in no particular order, here they are:

1. There are not enough teenage vampire TV shows in the world. I am SOOOOO excited for the season premiere of The Vampire Diaries, it's embarrassing. All hail September and new shows!
2. Two year olds are a force of nature. At what point in our lives do we lose that kind of power? Yeah, yeah, I know, if we all behaved like toddlers all the time, the world would come to a very ugly and untimely end. But what I'm thinking about is the energy, the power, the sense that you can bend the world around you to your will. I hope there is some way to bring Daisy up as a productive citizen without having her lose this spirit because, correctly channeled, it is powerful and empowering. She sure is a daily inspiration (and challenge) to me!
3. I am having SO. MUCH. FUN. with Memories by Michelle, it should be illegal. Working on the website, the branding, the new materials... it's just hitting all my creative and strategic hot-buttons. Unveiling the new website (www.mbymphotos.com) was like giving birth to a second child. I also have a Google ad campaign working out there, am looking into other online advertising opportunities, and am working on promotional materials for grass-roots promotions. I am LOVING all of this. Yes, I love the photography most of all but the fact that I get to make my own decisions on marketing, design, copywriting after 15 years in the corporate world... LIBERATING and EXHILERATING. Yep. 
4. I AM REALLY TIRED OF MY BROKEN BODY. My knee pain is know knees pain and getting worse. WTF!?  Bad knees mean I can't do my other P.T. exercises for my back which equals... bad back Gimmeabreak!
5. I NEED A VACATION. 
6. I am ridonkulously excited about having joined a new gym. Yup, I took the plunge. I joined Rollingwood Raquet Club, just a quick 15 minute walk or 5 minute bike-ride from my house. It's so close, trying to form an excuse as to why I can't make it would be pathetic. Plus, my mum joined with me and we're going to go together 2 days a week. After trying the at-home workout-video path and being stuck with #4 and a general sense of lethargy and boredom, I signed-up for a 7-day pass, fully expecting to "fail" at this routine also. But something funny happened. I got into that gym and I felt myself be "myself" for the first time in a long time. I grabbed some dumbells, stood in front of a mirror, and felt just a little bit giddy. I remembered my former self, when I was strong, fit, and powerful and I saw remnants of that "me" in the mirror; I wanted more. I'm excited to start a new routine beginning tomorrow!
7. I am seriously depressed that I have not even been able to find the time to see the final Harry Potter movie. I've been DYING to get to the theater since it came out. FAIL.

Alrighty then. Ending on an odd number and heading to bed to torture myself with a travel essay or two.

TTFN.

10 random stream-of-consciousness wants and wishes

1. I STILL want to de-clutter my house. I just don't have the time. But I notice that the busier I am, the more untidy and more cluttered my environment is but the more frustrated I become because I don't have time to waste looking for things.
2. I wish I knew where my brain cells went. I feel like my cerebrum has been lobotomized. I have almost no short term memory to speak of. I am always losing, misplacing, or forgetting things. (See #3)
3. I want to find my house/car keys. It's really bothering me. I have two sets and one of them I used on Monday during our driveway fireworks session to open my car and get my tripod out. Haven't seen them since. I'm kinda worried I left them on the grass or the driveway somewhere and some random person picked them up and plans to either steal my car or cart-off all the stuff in my house (if they can find any of it under the clutter.)
4. I wish I knew what died in my fridge. We've cleaned it out from top to bottom but still, every time we open that door, it smells like 4 month old chicken breasts. GAG.
5. I wish I could stop thinking about planning a vacation. Every inch of me is itching, except for the part of me that says: you can't afford it. (Note: this is usually the part of my brain that is wildly out-voted - possibly why I never actually "have" the money to go on vacation. Hey, maybe American Express lobotomized me for this exact reason!?)
6. I want to have time to take my 52-week pictures BEFORE they're due. I so want to be creative but the time just eludes me. This week's topic is "windows". Betcha there's some cool shots to be had Downtown. Not going to make it there, though, so maybe I have to clean the windows of my house grab my #1 prop - my daughter - as second-best idea.
7. I wish I could take away the troubles of a few of my friends right now.  Some people who I am very close to are going through a tough time - the kind of tough time where you're sort of at a loss to do anything to help them. If you're reading this and can think of anything, friends, just email or call, k?
8. I want a pool in my back yard. OK, I said it. It's too expensive, financially it doesn't fit in with my life plans, and realistically it's not going to happen for those reasons and more but I want it. I want it like a kid wants candy before bedtime. 
9. I want an assistant. A free one, of course. I could be so much more productive with someone to do all the little things, ya know? Anyone at a loose end and independently wealthy may apply by posting in comments with their email address. Thanks!
10. I want book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. I've just finished #10 and my friend has #11. I am so tempted to run over there and get it from her but I'm delaying the pleasure because it's the last one right now. Plus, in the meantime, I can actually FINALLY finish reading my e-book on setting up Memories by Michelle as a profitable business and brand for 2012, or watch one of my many photo tutorial DVDs at night instead. Oh, but what I really want is hot, vampire sex.

Random in the Hood

It rained again today. As I said yesterday, it's going to be raining for a while. So when, by a stroke of luck, the clouds parted right at mid day, I seized the opportunity to head out for a walk with my camera.

We live in your typical suburban track, circa 1980. You know, 4-5 home plans, now slightly disguised by years of home improvement (or neglect) and grown-in vegetation. It's a relatively nice neighborhood that backs onto a large greenbelt and sees it's fair share of wildlife but it also has it's share of funkiness.

So, here it is... my Hood.

One of the nicer pathways leading up to my favorite home on our street


A little patriotism.


I call this "Shabby Chic" outside


We have a thing with rocks around here. (Don't even get me started on the volume of river rock that has been carted out of our own back yard!)






There are fun little inlets to wild little areas you dare not go


We love our bike lanes that lead right down to the American River bike trail. Can't wait to get out there this summer!


Large palms mingle with cypress trees and pines


The changeable weather has brought an early spring to front yards




Then there is our equivalent of the Christmas fairy lights that never come off the front porch - the Holiday mail box wrap. There's another one several blocks away of a snowman


And finally, the funky-colored homes that really "elevate" the hood

The "Whoah-Nelly!" blues




The baby-poop monotones


And finally the Easter Egg House (not just themed for the season, sadly.)


Oh, but who could forget the "cute" planters. (As if we need FAKE dogs in this neighborhood of 2 canines per house.)


Two for the road - some fun details from my own front yard




And there you have it.

What did I realize on my walk? My neighborhood is not very inspirational to me. I was pretty bored taking these shots. I was pretty bored looking at them. Thank goodness for the digital editing process that made them look a lot more vibrant than they actually were.

Random Monday - dreams and parties

A dream remembered

Last night I had a very vivid dream. Back when I was pregnant I had all sorts of crazy dreams that I would wake up and retell but I so very rarely remember them these days that I just had to post this one.

So, I was a rookie lawyer, in Manhattan. I assume it was Manhattan of the somewhat-future because my office was on the {gulp} 680th floor. (Clearly 9/11 was far back in the rear view mirror.) I had replaced another female lawyer at this hip law firm, who had been found to be sleeping with the boss. (Tsk, tsk!) 


Immediately upon my arrival, I began being hit on by co-workers and - get this - good looking judges, the latter of which I made a date with - something that got me a pat on the back from my firm's owner. 

In the middle of one of my key meetings and presentations, I felt something stinging my left elbow. When I looked down I had some hideous ladybug/leech thing stuck to me and I had to pry it off. I asked everyone in the room if this was some kind of initiation or hazing and they just laughed. Later, when I went to my car, parked in the garage for my seedy apartment building, I found the ladybug-leeches crawling all over my seats. Ewww!

Fortunately, I remembered, I didn't need a car to get to a date with my hot judge. {score!} This was NYC after all... I could hail a taxi or even walk. All of which pleased me because this meant I could drink without having to worry about driving. To top it all off, I bumped into the law firm owner on my way out and he gave me five black, carbon crayons. Apparently, in the NYC of the future, these were the exclusive currency of the rich - worth more than money itself - and this meant I could buy my hot judge lots of cocktails. Woot!

And then my alarm woke me up. Dammit!

A party!


Yesterday, Mum, Daisy, and I went to a good friend's son's birthday party. Hudson West Prior (great name, right?) turned four and it just so happens that his mother is an amazing cook and her boyfriend is a professional DJ. Which meant it was a not-to-be-missed opportunity to dress Daisy in a party dress and paty shoes.. Plus, of course, I just love that kid and his cheeky face.

The birthday boy on his bounce house




Brian, DJ extraordinaire - complete with flashing lights and atmospheric smoke!


Ms. Daisy, out on the floor all on her own, getting down to Black Eyed Peas - boom boom pow!


The birthday boy and his mama blowing out candles.


For more photos, click here.

Daisy had a fab time, despite the party being smack-dab in the middle of her nap time. (Nap schmap!) She danced almost the whole time, in the middle of the floor, on her own, with an audience (I LOVE HER!) Then she made a real fuss when we left and then proceeded to beg for cake the whole way home (which she promptly received upon arrival - toddler heaven!)

Sacraghetto

It's no secret that, while I love my life here in Northern California, I am not especially in love with Sacramento specifically.

The issue of whether the local basketball team, the Kings, will stay or go has sort of underscored my frustrations with the region lately and this morning I heard this commentary on NPR that said it well.

You can listen to the podcast here

The Kings Question
(Sacramento, CA)
Monday, March 14, 2011

By Bruce Maiman

Why do I get the feeling that all this Rock the Casbah consternation over the Kings is really more about Sacramento than the Kings?  Does anyone in Sacramento really know what Sacramento wants to be? It's a cow town, a government town, a town full of people who move here from somewhere and who don't even live in town but in some kind of randomly planned suburb built in the middle of nowhere --maybe in a flood plain-- where, when people talk about going to the city, they mean San Francisco, not Sacramento.

Sorry, but Sacramento is not a World Class City, nor is it likely to become one. We're just a place on the way to or back from Lake Tahoe. For that matter, so is Vacaville, but at least they have the outlets. We're a capital building surrounded by people raising families. We're a shopping plaza at every major intersection, a nail salon in every shopping plaza, and a chain restaurant on every corner, and sometimes on all four corners. Do people actually eat out that much?

Today, Sacramento is less about a city and more about a vast suburban empire, a sometimes happy, humming confusion of freeways, malls and cul-de-sacs with pretentious street names and overachieving school districts and oversized, overpriced houses constructed to one of four designs.  By all the standards of contemporary American developer-driven sprawl, it is a great success story. It's just not a place people think to visit when they think of California, unless they're a lobbyist looking for favors.

That's not to say we don't have nice restaurants, a quirk or two, a museum or three and a few hidden gems, but those things aren't changing whether the Kings stay or go. But if a city with an identity crisis thinks the therapeutic answer to their woes is to latch on to some sports franchise whose mercurial owners have to be bribed with your firstborn to stay here, I've got some waterfront property in Elko, NV, the mayor might be interested in. 

Maybe the cowbells will just have to go back to the cows.

Bruce Maiman is a former radio host who lives in Rocklin.

Random me - with camera phone

Without a tripod, it's next-to impossible to take a photo of yourself with your DSLR. With my 50mm onboard, it's impossible (my arm doesn't stretch far enough out). With my 24-70mm, there aint no way I'm holding that puppy with one hand and not getting tendonitis. Then there is the focusing... well, you get it.

So, when I decided, on a whim, to continue my "random" image posts with some cheesy self-portraits, it had to be with the crappy camera phone.


Me, out of the shower.




Me, on my way to a tax appointment. (Oh, you can SO SEE the gray hairs in these ones. Wow!)




Me, tired and hanging with the girl before bed.



Glam, aint I?

Random crap

Literally.

After seeing so many beautiful photos of the every day (like this), I have decided I need to get better at taking photos of things that are not people's faces. I love people and, honestly, I really have little desire to shoot anything else. I just can't summon the enthusiasm and don't "see" the shot in my head, the way I do when I look at a person.

BUT, I don't just shoot for me any more and I am beginning to notice a samey-ness about my people photos. So, I'm hoping that by finding creative ways to find beauty in inanimate objects around me, I can somehow enrich my people photos too. Faces are great but people with context tell stories.

Hopefully that makes sense.

So, today my mission was to take pictures of "stuff" around me. Anything. To let go of waiting for the shot to appear interesting (because I've already admitted that is not gonna happen naturally) and to snap away.

I put my camera next to me on my desk and, as work allowed, I grabbed these images of random crap, mostly in my office.



























Ok, so my mother and my daughter are not "random crap" and I sorta threw my daughter in there because she's cute, even though this picture is of her face. But, the point is, I tried, ya know?

Hopefully I'll get better at this as time goes on.

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In the spirit of random, I'm adding a random aside into this post.

Today I started the "New/Old Me" campaign. Whipping myself back into shape is the goal. (Yeah, another goal, as if I needed more things to work on.)

Ok, positive thoughts.

I'm taking it little by little. Today I decided: no more sugar in coffee, more water and herbal tea, and no wine until Friday. And I got up and worked out to an old exercise video. No excusing my lethargy by the rain.

I almost faltered on the wine. Daisy was in a hellish mood, recovering from a cold/flu and having not napped. As you can see, she fell asleep in the car on the way to Trader Joe's so I had to turn around and come home. Even if I'd stayed in the parking lot until she woke, I knew she would be in no mood to shop - she generally wakes up cranky and tearful these days, regardless of being sick or not. Of course, we got home, pulled into the driveway and the crying/whining started and pretty much didn't stop until 7:45pm when she conked out in bed.

Yeah, it took real will power not to pull that bottle out of the refrigerator.

Baby steps.

I usually like Thursdays... and other random thoughts

• I usually like Thursdays, except today is a no Vampire Diaries day and so I'm sulking. The whole on/off thing with American tv shows and new episodes is just maddening. Every week, when you finish watching your favorite show, you sit, holding your breath, to hear if next week will bring a re-run. In the UK, a series runs non-stop for as many episodes as there are. There are no summer hiatuses, only new shows. (Although, granted, Fox started the whole summer series season a few years ago and some of the shows haven't been bad.) I miss the BBC.

• I have really been struggling for things to write about lately on here. Maybe it's because I have 4 blogs and so my thoughts are generally spread across the blogosphere: Daisy stuff - Lazy Crazy Daisy; Photography Stuff - Memories by Michelle or MbyM365. And then there's Facebook. Sharings that may once have developed into a rambling, ranty post, are usually now reduced to a quick status update or shared link. I feel like my thoughts have been MTV'd.

• Oh, incidentally, I gave Memories by Michelle blog a little revamp. Simpler, cleaner, showcasing photos. You likely? I'm still struggling with an "About Me" page. I think it needs it but I seem thoroughly incapable of penning anything compelling about yours truly that might actually matter to someone interested in hiring me. I mean, I have a lot to say but the reality is that is has to be worth saying. No ranting or rambling. If YOU had to describe me in one sentence, what would you write? Send me a comment - maybe I'll use it. (Oh, and BE NICE!)

• I have re-started my weight-loss and exercise program for like the 100th time this year. (Given we're not yet 100 days into the year, I think that says something.) I made grandiose plans on Jan 1 but have not followed through. But I don't feel good in my own skin right now and that needs to change. And then there is the whole SI Joint issue which just flares up when I slack off. It's like a literal prod in the ass, to urge me to get back at it. Eat better. Exercise more. That's my objective. I don't have specific weight loss plans, or fat percentage goals, or even workout times because that's just too much with everything else going on in my life, but if I can just incrementally improve on both fronts, I think I'll feel much better both mentally and physically.

• One of my best friends just moved not a half a mile away from me. I'm super excited. Envisioning back-yard family BBQs, our kids (who are just 7 months apart) growing up as good friends, and impromptu glasses of wine while bitching about parenting. Of course, in reality, the same obstacles that existed to prevent us getting together more often before, still exist. We tried to go out on a stroller-walk this afternoon after work but I have 2 places to be. I offered to do it at lunch, she has places to be. So, it will be interesting to see if we really do see each other much more. I guess, as time rolls on, it will be easier to identify those unexpected windows of time where we don't have anything going on, and synch up.

Alrighty, that's it for now.

Random Friday

Today, as I was in front of my house doing my warm-ups before my new morning exercise routine, a kitty dashed out from a yard, almost into my path. It stopped in it's tracks upon seeing me, looked warily at me for a second and then? Sat down to observe. For about a minute, said kitty was my audience for calf stretches, quad stretches, and hamstring stretches. Then, kitty "mewed", turned his/her head and trotted off dismissively as if to say "Silly human!"

Cats!

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Speaking of cats and those walks in the wee hours... Apparently, according to the Neighborhood Watch, there is a pack of coyotes prowling our neighborhood, chomping on neighborhood pets and wild turkeys. Ack!

We have a greenbelt behind our back yard that extends out to the main thoroughfare in our subdivision and then in the other direction into a larger, natural area. Since we are close to a state recreation area and the American River Parkway, things can get pretty wild around here.  Like I said: turkeys, tons of squirrels, raccoons, skunks, and even a Mountain Lion that is said to live under a large tree not too far from our back yard. The odd coyote is not unusual either, of course, and, aside from keeping my dogs out of the back yard late at night, I don't really consider them too much of a danger. But a whole pack of 'em? Now, that sounds a little more sinister, no?

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Many of you have been kind enough to ask how you can pay your respects to my mother-in-law, who passed on Monday. Thank you. There will be a memorial service next Wednesday afternoon at the Monte Verde Inn on the Foresthill Road. We are requesting no flowers, please (Rosie wasn't a big fan of lavish bouquets). Instead if you would like to commemorate her in another way, a donation can be made in her name to the local Hospice charity, who were so instrumental in supporting her and our family in the final weeks. Please let me know if you would like more details on how to contribute.

Where is Ms. Ranty Pants?

Oyyy....I can't believe that I have not posted here since Thanksgiving. I was doing so well for a while, keeping this blog updated regularly but then, lately, notsomuch.

In my defense, there have been the three Ss:

1. Sickness. On-and-off now for the last few weeks I seem to have been fighting one virus or another. Just when I think I've come out the other side of one, another one knocks me right back down on my chubby arse. They've been energy-sapping little suckers too. On Saturday night I went to bed at 8:00pm and slept 11 hours straight. Generally, I've been finding myself devoid of all energy and creativity after Daisy goes down at night. 
2. Shoots. On Sunday morning I just finished-up the last of my free family photo shoots for 2010, bringing my total since October to 9. The shoots themselves only take up about two hours but the editing is a few nights a week for each one. Plus there's the blog sneak peeks. It takes time. I love it, I'm having fun, but it doesn't leave much creative energy (or hours on the clock) for personal blogging.
3. Season. Blimey - it's just a couple of weeks away from Christmas! How did this happen? I have no idea. This year has flown by faster than any other in memory. Either way, I am hopelessly behind at card-writing, house decorating, present buying, present wrapping, Santa visiting, general planning, and the like. I am co-hosting a holiday party this Saturday and admit that I haven't even thought about my part in it yet. (Don't worry girls, I'll get it together.)

On top of all of this, work (the one that actually pays) has been busy, and I'm working on some cool business-development projects for Memories by Michelle, for instance, a new more professional-looking website, now that I actually have a portfolio of work to display.

Then there's the small matter of a little 20 month old that demands just a bit of my time here and there...

Put it all together and what do you get? NO BLOG POSTS.

I'm going to try and add little snippets here and there but, just in case I don't live up to my promise, I'm inviting you to visit the blogs of some of my friends (and yes, these are true, off-line friends who blog.) Hopefully they can keep you entertained while I am on a bit of a holiday hiatus. Please give them some blog love.

• The Gurly Life
• Yep, they are all mine
• The McNulty Quads
• Meghalicious
• Mala's Masala (head on over and remind her she needs to post more too!)

Otherwise, keep watching Memories by Michelle for more of my photography exploits.

Thanks ya'll!

Stuff

In no particular order.

1. The new camera.


Weellll, if something looks too good to be true, it usually is... and was. My dreams of a $500 Canon 50D were dashed this past week after Thunder Cameras tried to swindle my mother (who is buying me the camera as a Christmas gift) for extra money for an "upgrade" that was actually a downgrade. So, back to the drawing board on that one.

2. A hole for my pigeon.


I have found my religion. Ok, maybe not my religion, more like my un-religion. Well, that's not so accurate either. More like my philosophical pigeon hole.

Thanks to The Urban Koda, who has been undergoing somewhat of a philosophical/spiritual/political evolution of late (yay for him, btw!) I have discovered "Humanism". It's everything I wanted to say about how I feel my personal beliefs, such that they are, fit into this whole realm. Not that I reject the term Atheist any more than I reject the label Liberal - I embrace both, despite the inaccurate stereotypes that have been created in American culture about both (contrary to popular belief I don't have horns or sleep with the devil at night) - it's just that Humanism seems to be a nuanced version. To quote the American Humanist Association :

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

Which is basically what I have been saying all along. In my words: I aspire to the ethics and morals of some religions or parts thereof, but without the belief in a supernatural power. 

3. Preschools

This week we began the search for a preschool for Miss. Daisy. We've no plans to send her anywhere until she's two but that big day is only months away now and we want time to find the right spot, sit on it, apply, and make sure a spot is available. Fortunately the economy is helping us in the last regard - enrollments are down at private schools. 

I've visited a few now and have only really found one that impresses me: Creative Frontiers. Most places, IMHO, are pretty soul-less, gray, square boxes with just-above-minimum-wage workers who go through the motions of singing the songs and teaching the cookie-cutter curriculum, at least at this early age. 

Not CF, however. It's a village-like 7 acres with horses, chickens, goats, a swimming pool, and an on-site cook.The teachers are warm, engaged, and involved. I loved it. I have several others to visit but this one will be hard to beat. 

Another plus is that it has classes right up to 6th grade and, given the way school funding has been heading in recent years, I reserve the right to outright reject the chronically underfunded public education system in 2014. 

This really pains me, by the way, but I (our family) refuse to have my daughter miss the mark on her full potential because people won't pay their fare share of taxes. Sorry folks, I'm unbudgeable on this and health care. Basic rights. Teachers are underpaid. Supplies and facilities are underfunded. Class sizes are too large. This is the future of America -  pay up!

4. The elections

California Republicans need to stop whining and flipping out. Really guys, you're taking this whole "fear" thing too far. As we tell Daisy in the middle of one of her toddler tantrums: "DON'T PANIC!" 

I've seen all sorts of doomsday predictions on Facebook about the future of our state because it failed to follow the whiplash trend of voting Republican in this week's elections. I have some things to say about this:

1. Move. Yeah, so most California Democrats live in LA and San Francisco but, the last time I checked, politicians represented people, not land, and that's where the most people are so suck it up or move to Texas. 
2. You can't complain that Democrats are ineffectual in one breath and threaten the very survival of our state the next. Either they do nothing and are therefore no harm or they're busy doing something to piss you off. Pick one.
3. Everyone should be excited that Meg Whitman did not win the CA Governorship, regardless of party. Do we really want to be the state whose votes were bought? I firmly believe my vote is worth more than the $50 she paid but would rather have seen her donate that money to a worthy cause. Plus, honestly, I saw more than enough of that woman's face in the last year to serve me a lifetime. I'm pretty confident I'm not alone in that.
4. If you actually look at Jerry Brown's proposals, you'll see that he has actually taken some Republican ideas and incorporated them into his approach. For instance, the idea of starting at a zero budget every year and forcing state departments to justify every penny they need in the coming year. That was something Republicans put on the table originally. I think it's a pretty good idea too. Yes, that's right, I thought a Republican idea was a good one. Quiz me beyond the hyperbole and ridiculousness that permeates public political discourse these days and you'll find a number of instances where I think right wing ideas make sense. I'm no patsy thankyouverymuch.
5. THANK GOD (whomever/whatever he/she/it is.) It's possible I might be begging my husband to move me back to England right now if I didn't see SOME bright spots of blue across this country. Maybe you think losing me back to the Brits would be a win for the U.S.? Pretty sure my husband is grateful though. (He doesn't want to live in England. I know, free healthcare AND pubs... WHY NOT!?)

5. My husband's annoying habits

Yes, he has a few. A couple that drive me INSANE. I just threatened him that I would publish at least one of them on here if he didn't QUIT IT. Stay tuned to learn TMI about Mr. Ranty Pants if he doesn't comply. 

Ok, maybe I do sleep with the devil. Hehe.

2 Random Rants

The end of the 140 character tweet?

If you're a tweeter or a twitterer, as I like to call us, you've probably seen a growing trend lately for people's 140-character tweets to trail-off mid-thought with a  "(cont)" and then a link.

This is due to a new twitter plug-in called "TwitLonger". Basically it enables you to extend the length of your tweets. You type your tweet into TwitLonger and it sends most of it to your twitter news feed, truncating and providing a link to the full tweet.

I'm a bit disappointed by this, truth be told. I'm kind of enjoying the daily practice to condense my thoughts into the short space twitter provides. I tend to be wordy by nature (I'm sure you've noticed) and so it's good to force myself to be more to-the-point while, at the same time, sending the same message and (sometimes, even, if I can) be amusing or provocative at the same time.

Plus, it opens up twitter to a sort of Facebook-like essay-writing, that cannibalizes the very point of twitter - to provide short, frequent, bite-sized, thoughts or status updates, that can be read quickly. Now, to read the rest of some people's thoughts, I have to click on a link. Meh. I just don't want to. Plus, people were forced to be creative with 140 characters. Notsomuch when you have all the space in the world to ramble on. I mean, HELLO, look at this blog!


A glimpse into the future

Yesterday evening, Daisy played on her own in the living room for a whole hour while I cleaned the kitchen, drank a glass of wine, and even (simultaneously) talked on the phone with a girlfriend. It was a marvelous and epiphanic moment; a glimpse into a future when I may again be able to get something significant done around the house without having to stop to pick a whining Missy up, kiss an owie, fix something she broke, help her with something she can't do, or ward-off a tantrum.

Given that Daisy only naps perhaps one hour a day now when I'm with her, long gone are the hours I used to have to quietly putter around the house and get the odd thing done. So, it would be nice to have at least one hour a day where I can tackle a floor cleaning, a toilet cleaning, a drawer reorganizing... just anything that makes me feel a little bit more in control of my environment and, therefore, life.

Random Rants

I've been too busy having a life (I know, get out of here!) this weekend to blog. Saturday was a whirlwind of activity and Sunday was pretty choppy - plans got made, plans got changed and canceled, stupid traffic snarl-ups sucked-up time, that kind of thing.

Here are some random ranties. Just stuff that is on my mind right now...

1. CHOICES

OR

Do I buy a new DSLR or a new laptop?

My personal laptop is about to hit its 6th birthday and, since every human year is like 10 for a computer (my own, personal formula), that makes it just about ready to retire. At the very least, it's slowing down and no longer equipped to run the forty-thousand windows that I have open at one time, without grinding to a Ctrl-Alt-Del halt.

The laptop I really want is a fancy MacBook which would be perfect for my picture editing. I love Macs and had one all the way through college but have been using PCs for several years now mostly because of work and price. Now I'm thinking about taking photography more seriously, I think it's time to return. But the price! Oh the price! Maybe I should get a PC instead, until I actually start generating some income from the photo thing? Or is that a waste and I should go the whole enchilada now? I don't know. Having trouble deciding.

And then there's my camera - the old Canon Digital Rebel XTi. It's been serving me pretty well these past few years but I'm beginning to feel it's limitations. Canon just released the new 60D, which is very swank but, honestly, I'm not sure I need a rotating screen - just one more thing for Daisy to twist and break off when I'm in the bathroom peeing. However, the 60D release has meant that the 50D (the camera I was originally thinking of upgrading to) has taken a nose-dive in price - from $1,099 to $675 in some places online. That's quite a discount and hard to resist.

Except, of course, I need a $1,500 laptop.

Decisions, decisions...

2. PhotoVision 2010

I recently subscribed to a DVD education series for photographers. 6 DVDs a year, with 8 hours of content, mailed to your home every two months, for just $39. Even better, Beth Jansen, the photographer I was raving about in my previous post, has a spot in one of them. I watched it on Friday night (woot, crazy fun in the Ranty Pants household!) and got more than my 39 bucks worth in the first 20 minutes.

Don't you just love it when you get something for a great price and then it exceeds your expectations?

3. BIZZY

My next couple of months are shaping up to be CRAZY busy and I'm having a hard time even scheduling things like lunch, dinner, or cocktails with friends - all things I HAVE TO fit into my schedule in order to maintain my sanity as a work-from-home mummy.

• This weekend is our big neighborhood garage sale. It's been going on for 25 years or so, I think, and 30+ homes in the subdivision usually participate. This year we have A TON of crap to get rid of - mostly Daisy's old toys and clothes but also some bachelorette furniture that I've finally recycled out. At the end of it we may be missing a dining table and sideboard (until I can afford to buy new ones that I like). However, I am looking forward to having some empty space in my living room. I'd like to paint but who has time?
• My Dad is currently in England for a trip to see his keyboard cronies and he'll be bringing back his sister and brother, my uncle and aunt, next week, for a two week trip. We'll be doing the whole tourist thing of course, after work for me, and on the weekends. I'll be in San Francisco in a couple of weeks, to play tour-guide because, you know, one can't rely on "the parents". LOL.
• At the end of those shenanigans, I'm off to Chicago for 4 days, for a work conference. Groan. Although - happy - one of my good friends who also works in the same industry, will be going. This means cocktails and late nights and LOTS of talking. I will be exhausted at the end of it.
• Once back from Chicago, our next weekend is blocked-out with back-to-back birthday parties for my niece and a friend's little girl.
• The following weekend we're in the bay area for a photo shoot with my favorite local photographer, Penny Silvia. We'll be getting our Christmas Card shots on the beach this year.
• Weekend after that, my cousin's daughter, Billi, who I was the first to hold after she was born but is now a smoking-hot teenager, is descending upon us, with her Grandmother (my mother's sister-in-law.) She'll be with us for 8 days and I anticipate a lot of shopping - HELLO! Teenager + girl + in my family!!! It's also my Mum's birthday that weekend. Thinking we'll do the annual Apple Hill trip that weekend because, well, when else WILL WE?
• Last weekend in October now and it's Halloween. Daisy will be a ladybug (bought her costume this weekend) and I'm confident that the weekend will be chock-a-block with seasonal activities.
• Blissfully, we then have one weekend off (yep, book me now!) before it's Hubby and my 4th anniversary. So we head to Cache Creek Casino for an En Vogue concert and an adult night away.
• One more weekend off (mark your calendars, folks) and then it's Thanksgiving, which also coincides with my husband's birthday as well as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's birthdays.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I'm doing some freebie photo-sessions for friends and family, to help me practice and build my portfolio.

YIKES! I'm exhausted just reading the list.

If I'm going to commit a crime, I'm going to Norway

Maybe we've been thinking about this whole crime prevention thing wrong.

At first I guffawed at the idea of inmates being treated like hotel guests but then I read on and thought about it some more. How would it be if we spent our time trying build our offenders into more well-balanced, valued members of society, rather than locking them up and, more likely than not, ensuring that neither their attitudes or actions change for the future?

It's the whole carrot or stick debate, I guess. I can't see this sort of thing going down well with the heavy-handed right (oh my gosh, can you just imagine the chorus of "bleeding heart liberal" comments that would ensue!?) but I wish Americans would be a little more open-minded about things like this, especially when it seems as though it might just work.


Norway Builds the World's Most Humane Prison

TIME: Monday, May. 10, 2010
By William Lee Adams

By the time the trumpets sound, the candles have been lit and the salmon platters garnished. Harald V, King of Norway, enters the room, and 200 guests stand to greet him. Then a chorus of 30 men and women, each wearing a blue police uniform, launches into a spirited rendition of "We Are the World." This isn't cabaret night at Oslo's Royal Palace. It's a gala to inaugurate Halden Fengsel, Norway's newest prison.

Ten years and 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($252 million) in the making, Halden is spread over 75 acres (30 hectares) of gently sloping forest in southeastern Norway. The facility boasts amenities like a sound studio, jogging trails and a freestanding two-bedroom house where inmates can host their families during overnight visits. Unlike many American prisons, the air isn't tinged with the smell of sweat and urine. Instead, the scent of orange sorbet emanates from the "kitchen laboratory" where inmates take cooking courses. "In the Norwegian prison system, there's a focus on human rights and respect," says Are Hoidal, the prison's governor. "We don't see any of this as unusual."

Halden, Norway's second largest prison, with a capacity of 252 inmates, opened on April 8. It embodies the guiding principles of the country's penal system: that repressive prisons do not work and that treating prisoners humanely boosts their chances of reintegrating into society. "When they arrive, many of them are in bad shape," Hoidal says, noting that Halden houses drug dealers, murderers and rapists, among others. "We want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people." Countries track recidivism rates differently, but even an imperfect comparison suggests the Norwegian model works. Within two years of their release, 20% of Norway's prisoners end up back in jail. In the U.K. and the U.S., the figure hovers between 50% and 60%. Of course, a low level of criminality gives Norway a massive advantage. Its prison roll lists a mere 3,300, or 69 per 100,000 people, compared with 2.3 million in the U.S., or 753 per 100,000 — the highest rate in the world.

Design plays a key role in Halden's rehabilitation efforts. "The most important thing is that the prison looks as much like the outside world as possible," says Hans Henrik Hoilund, one of the prison's architects. To avoid an institutional feel, exteriors are not concrete but made of bricks, galvanized steel and larch; the buildings seem to have grown organically from the woodlands. And while there is one obvious symbol of incarceration — a 20-ft. (6 m) concrete security wall along the prison's perimeter — trees obscure it, and its top has been rounded off, Hoilund says, "so it isn't too hostile."

The cells rival well-appointed college dorm rooms, with their flat-screen TVs and minifridges. Designers chose long vertical windows for the rooms because they let in more sunlight. There are no bars. Every 10 to 12 cells share a living room and kitchen. With their stainless-steel countertops, wraparound sofas and birch-colored coffee tables, they resemble Ikea showrooms.
Halden's greatest asset, though, may be the strong relationship between staff and inmates. Prison guards don't carry guns — that creates unnecessary intimidation and social distance — and they routinely eat meals and play sports with the inmates. "Many of the prisoners come from bad homes, so we wanted to create a sense of family," says architect Per Hojgaard Nielsen. Half the guards are women — Hoidal believes this decreases aggression — and prisoners receive questionnaires asking how their experience in prison can be improved.

There's plenty of enthusiasm for transforming lives. "None of us were forced to work here. We chose to," says Charlott-Renee Sandvik Clasen, a music teacher in the prison and a member of Halden's security-guard chorus. "Our goal is to give all the prisoners — we call them our pupils — a meaningful life inside these walls." It's warmth like that, not the expensive television sets, that will likely have the most lasting impact.

I DON'T GET IT!!!!

I have to confess that the new fad show, Glee, does nothing for me. It does not make me gleeful. It makes me confused and irritated. Confused because I don't understand what it's about or what the fuss is all about and irritated because everyone else can't stop FAWNING all over it on Facebook and making me feel as though I am sooooo uncool for not getting it. Ok, they're not making me feel that way - that's not their intention - but by default, I feel uncool because all my cool friends seem to like it. Is this some unique piece of Americana that this Brit cannot connect with? What's the deal, folks?

On a similar note, I'm usually somewhat in alignment with the judge's evaluations of contestants on American Idol but, again, I'm completely at a loss as to their adoration of Siobhan. I find her pretentious and, most importantly, lacking in talent. Her only claim to real fame is her mind-bending screeching - her poor attempt to somehow out-pizazz last year's runner-up, and my gay husband, Adam Lambert. As for the rest of her performance, she always sounds like she has to sing at half-power in order to stay in tune; if she really punched it, it seems, she would lose all control.

So, I'm officially forming the "Uncool people against Glee and Siobhan" club. Hubby is my first member. Any other takers?

Sometimes I feel like I'm from another planet. Oh, wait, I'm from England. Maybe that qualifies?

The dew did it

This morning, as I was working out on the eliptical machine, a local morning news program was covering the early morning set-up of a charity race. (I'm not sure exactly where it was or what the race was in aid of because I was, after all, working out.) Watching the set-up folks stride purposefully around in the dusk with a cell phone parked on one hip and a two-way radio parked on the other, really took me back to the days when I used to work in special events. And then there was the dew - the morning dew on the grass, that hinted at a chilly morning before a warm, sunny day. For some reason the dew just transported me back ten, twelve years.

I remember so many early Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings in a Southern California summer, bleary-eyed and chilly, working off of barely any sleep (because I'd been partying the night before), coming off the back of a month of 7-day weeks and 16-hour days, adrenaline pumping through my veins and a constant feeling of being behind, late, in a rush. People pulling at me from different directions, event staff who needed guidance, vendors who showed up nonchalantly late, and a sense of camaraderie with fellow event organizers who were equally as tired and yet amped-up at the same time.

Driving hours in the dark to parks and shopping centers and arenas without the aid of Google Maps and getting lost, walking miles back and forth from parking lots to booths, jumping in and out of 26 foot refrigerated trucks, loading and unloading with the guys, gossiping with the girls, drinking too much coffee and eating way too many donuts. Those were the days when duct tape and zip ties were my friends, when I attempted to dodge calls from my boss at all hours of the day or night - weekdays and weekends - and when I managed things (and people) I really had no idea about and yet jumped in the deep end and did it without a second thought anyway. Those were the mornings where I'd already done a full day by 10am and would find myself sitting in the cab of a truck with yet another cup of that coffee, desperately trying to muster the energy to make it through to the end of the day when we would repeat the whole shebang in reverse.

I miss it. In case you can't tell.

I miss the people I met (one of which was/is my husband), I miss the sense of accomplishment when it all came together, I miss the camaraderie of a team pulling together and working really hard under your leadership, and I miss the events themselves. True, they all started to look the same after a while, but it was cool to be "behind the scenes" and to see an event site come together bit-by-bit before a single attendee was even awake.



It feels like such another time, another place, and another me at this point.

A sad story about Richard Gereis

There are moments in life that crystalize for you that you are no longer as young as you used to be; that you're no longer the hip, young generation. In fact, you're one of those respectable folks that teenagers would think are grown-up or even, God forbid, old.

Usually these moments are brought on by things like an aching back after a night dancing like a fool at a club too young for you, listening to the DJ and not knowing who the hell recorded half of the song sor why on earth they became so popular, and then the hangover that never now seems to last for the entire week afterwards.

Today, however, Hubby and I had one of those moments in the most bizzaro way. We were at a Starbucks and it involved Richard Gere.

Well, let me explain. Richard Gere wasn't actually there. (Shame, I know.)

We were at a Starbucks in a Target to be exact. We were there doing very adult things like purchasing formula and yet another Congratulations card for a friend who just had a baby. Truth be told we go out after work with Daisy just to get out of the house. We both have about a ninety minute time-limit on how much time we can spend watching her walk in circles around the living room, picking up and walking with the same toys. We're impatient and we hate to do housework on work nights, so we go out somewhere, anywhere, just to avoid all those mundane, responsibility-type things. (Yes, this is why my house does not look like a model home. I'm over it.)

But I digress...

So, we're ordering our mochas and lattes, when the pimply-faced boy at the cash register stopped and asks us if we know who "Richard Gereis" is. He said it exactly like that: Gere-is.

"Do you know who Richard Gereis is?"

It stopped Hubby and I in our tracks, not sure how to respond. Was this some kind of competition, I wondered, where, if we could get the right answer, we got a free latte? You know, sometimes they have those "Question of the Day" chalk boards with a different piece of a trivia for customers to guess? I actually looked for the chalk board but couldn't find one.

"Gereis?" Hubby repeated, being sure to get this "is" part in, for clarification. Of course, we had immediately jumped to he of Pretty Woman fame but, at the same time, were both wondering together, yet without collaboration, if there was some new alternative rock-band or extreme snowboarder who had come onto the scene under our radar and didn't want to appear "out of touch" by admitting our ignorance. So, we hedged our bets. Well, Hubby did, I stayed silent for the same reasons he sought clarification: I didn't want to look stupid.

"Yeah, you know, he's an actor. What movies has he been in?" the Pimplehead asked us. Again, we both looked at one another a bit puzzled.

"Do you mean Richard Gere?" Hubby said now, more confident in putting himself on that limb because the guy had at least verified that the mysterious Mr. Gereis was a movie actor.

"Um, yeah, I guess. Do you know of any movies he's been in?"

I still thought that this was some kind of quiz for a free latte, so I dove in with gusto. "An Officer and a Gentleman!" I almost yelled, determined to save my $3.50. Pimplehead looked at us with a blank expression. I realized with growing horror that he had no idea what I was talking about. "Pretty Woman??" we both offered-up, less enthusiastically.

It took him a moment but he finally seemed to have a flash of recognition. "Oh yeah, I think I remember the guy in that," he said.

You think you remember "the guy"??? Seriously? I was so stunned that it took a while for my old, slow brain to realize that, not only did this kid not know who Richard Gere/Gereis is but that iconic movies that were indelibly inked into my teenage psyche, didn't even exist for him. It was almost as though he was inquiring about some long-gone movie star from the silent era and, worse still, he thought that Hubby and I looked suitably old enough to know who the ancient Mr. Gereis is (or, presumably from pimplehead's perspective, potentially even "was!")

So, there it was. No free latte prize. In fact, the reward for our knowledge was somewhat unwelcome: a sinking feeling that we were old, unhip, and outdated; the realization that someone we considered to be "contemporary" is actually now so virtually irrelevant in popular culture that the "younger generation" (gulp) have no idea who he is.

If you're wondering why he was asking, by the way, it was because a customer before us (presumably someone of a similar age) told the female barista that she had eyes like Richard Gere (which she didn't.)

And why "Gereis"? The only conclusion I can reach is that the customer in question asked the girl if she knew who "Richard Gere is" and she, in all her youthful ignorance, had heard "Richard Gereis".

Sigh... Wasn't Pretty Woman like, just a couple of years ago or something?

Turns out, not so much. Pretty Woman was released a wopping 20 years ago, which explains why pimplehead missed it - he was probably just getting out of diapers. In fact, if I am off on his age by a few years, it's possible that he hadn't even yet been conceived. Worse still, An Officer and a Gentleman, is now celebrating the (gulp) 28th year of it's release.

Hubby and I are somewhat shell-shocked, although we did joke on the way home that it was probably just as well we didn't ask the kid if he'd ever heard the story about the gerbil...
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2/3/10 - edited to add

Hubby bought a burger at Carl’s Jr today and the chick working the register commented that his picture on his debit card didn’t look like him. He said “I know, I’m getting old”, and she laughed. Then he said “a young kid asked me who Richard Gere was yesterday”, and she said “who’s Richard Gere?”.

Friday Motivation - Phase II, Week 3

I'm going to keep this one brief because I think that, ultimately, these posts are becoming a bit self-indulgent. However, it's helping me stay motivated to know that I have to check-in on this blog with my progress each week, so here goes...

(And yes, I did miss last week. Oops!)

Current Weight: 148.6lbs
Body Fat: 36%
Weight Lost this week: 1.2lbs
Total weight lost to date: 12.4lbs
Lbs to Goal: 3.6lbs
Fat % to Goal: 6%

Yay for me. Just under 4lbs to go to my pre-baby weight!

I had so much more to blog about this week - the election results in MA and the impact on the President's agenda (specifically healthcare), the kid who brought a gun to school being defended by the NRA, and the crazy weather to name a few. But, ultimately, I don't have time to sit and write about it these days. I thought about just throwing some rushed and random thoughts on this blog but some of the discussions require thoughtful posts.

I have found that, now I'm a mother, it's not that I care less about political or social issues but more that I don't have the brain or emotional space to let myself get embroiled in them.

So, this is all ya get for now...

Random Friday Sharings

From NPR this morning: One of the most touching stories I have ever heard. The part about the child's premonitions definitely pulls at your heart-strings but it was the father's acceptance, in reflection, that made tears prick my eyes.



Santa no longer returning mail in the U.S.

Yes, it's true. If you're a kid in any other country in the world, you can send a letter to good ole Saint Nick but here in the U.S., we've perfected the art of the knee-jerk reaction to such an extent that one issue last year has led to the canceling of the Letters to Santa program.

(See more from CBS news here)

I don't care what cock-and-bull excuse the USPS come up with for this, as usual with everything in this country, people over-react because of the fear of litigation. All it takes is one whiff of a situation that may result in a law-suit and organizations (over) react faster than Billy the Kid at the OK Corale.

I used to groan at one of my friends for claiming that the world will have gone to hell in a handbasket by the time her kid is old enough to enjoy it but now I see what she means.

So, it looks like Daisy will have to write to Father Christmas (the English version of Santa) via the Royal Mail. If you have a kid that would like to get a nice, personalized reply from Father Christmas on a nice Christmas card (just like I got when I was a kid) here is the UK address:

Father Christmas
Santa's Grotto
Reindeerland
SAN TA1

You might also want to include an international stamp to encourage the cross-Atlantic response. Deadline for replies is December 13th.

3rd Anniversary Celebration

Although our actual anniversary isn't until Wednesday (the 11th), Hubby and I decided to do something this past weekend to celebrate.

Those of you who were around on December 2nd, 2005, know that we got engaged on the roof of the exclusive Sutter Club in Downtown Sacramento, at a Lyon Real Estate Christmas Party (during the days when the housing market was good and they had swank things like that.) That night we walked gleefully back to our hotel room at the Hyatt hotel, just opposite the Capitol building. (For those of you who don't know Sacramento well, the Hyatt is where Schwarzenegger stays when he's in town. ) It follows that the Hyatt has a pretty special place in our hearts. (Not because of Schwarzenegger but... ok, you probably got it.)

So, when we were thinking about what to do with ourselves this anniversary, we turned to a friend with "connections" at the hotel and landed ourselves a super-swank suite with a killer view of the Capitol from the 8th floor of the Hyatt for one night and at an unbelievable price.

We checked-in late on Saturday afternoon, had drinks and licked the plate of a bad-for-us appetizer (chips with stinky, melted Roquefort cheese) in the hotel bar and then head-out at the crazily late hour of 5:30 to meander around downtown and old town Sacramento. We browsed some shops, stopped for a drink in an Irish Pub and then walked back to an Asian restaurant we've been dying to try for a while called Ma Jong's, just up the street from our hotel. (I highly recommend it, by the way. Well-priced, seat-yourself restaurant with the feel and food of a high-end establishment. Yumm!) Then it was back to the hotel bar for a night-cap...and in our room by 8:30pm, where we languished on the couch watching the big-screen TV until we fell asleep.

And now for the really cool part that every parent out there will totally appreciate: we didn't get up until 9am. That's right. NINE. IN. THE. MORNING. Wow! Yes, that felt AWESOME!

Our final hoorah was a walk back up L street to my favorite breakfast spot, Crepeville where we got to sit outside in the cool, sunny weather, and have a side of people-watching with our scrambled eggs.

Random sightings of the weekend:

1. Two Jerry Garcia look-alikes on a deserted downtown street corner on Sunday morning, blasting reggae music and holding signs that said "One Love" and "Bring them Home" plus something about health care that was either for the public option or against it, not sure. Talk about mixed messages!
2. 100 cyclists dressed in period costume (circa 1930s/40s) and pedaling silently down L street. Later research revealed it to be Sacramento's first annual "Tweed Ride". Who knew it, but there is actually a club for people who shun the modern bicycle uniform of tight-fitting Lycra! http://www.tweed.cc/

Overhead at breakfast:

"Sacramento is such a fascinating city!" Uttered, one can only assume, by someone who doesn't get around much.