Remember those octuplets
You know, the woman who delivered 8 babies in 5?!?!?! minutes recently?
Turns out she already has six kids between the ages of 2 and 7. And she was undergoing fertility treatments and when she found out that she had multiple embryos that were viable, she refused to have the number reduced.
And her husband is a contractor heading back to Iraq soon.
Um…I’m going to go out on a limb and say that she has poor decision making abilities.(Unless she’s aiming for a reality show, which for some reason, I feel is inevitable.)
She hasn’t been interviewed yet, but anyone want to bet that she WON’T utter the phrase “God will provide”?
What do you think this shoe is celebrating?
If you guessed that it’s commemorating the guy who threw his shoes at GWB, you’d be correct. According to the NY Daily News (a fine tabloid), this statue was unveiled in Tikrit (oh, that’s Saddam Hussein’s hometown. Sigh.) last Thursday. There’s even a poem honoring the journalist who threw his shoes at the Pres.
Notice the laughing lady with the thumbs up? Apparently that’s an international symbol, along with the “I’m choking” & “check please” symbols.
Banned!
You know, I’d think that the guys who watch the Super Bowl will be all over semi-clad women fondling pretty much anything. But apparently veggies are over the line. (Really? I remember some GoDaddy ads on the Super Bowl a few years ago and I don’t think this is any more explicit.)
Anyhoo, here’s Peta’s ad that NBC refuses to air:
'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad
(I’m going to get me a pumpkin now. Or even better, try to turn into one.)
Naughty secret girlfriend
Dear Bethany,
I think you’re right. Your son has a secret girlfriend. Who has a penis.
She’s back
Well..this could be good for humor’s sake.
Yes, that’s right kids – SarahP has launched her own PAC (political action committee). Just like the Hills did!
First off, let’s start off with the picture of the US with Alaska superimposed over it. What’s the image we’re trying to project here? That Alaska has a lot of land mass (check)? That Alaska is centrist (um, no)? That Alaska really is part of the lower 48 (not)? That Alaska is coming to eat us all (hmmm)?
Let’s dig in a little and see what SarahPAC is all about, shall we?
First of all, kudos for no typos on the home page. Well done. From the FAQ page:
How will contributions be spent?
Your support of SarahPac will make it possible for Gov. Palin to continue to be a strong voice for energy independence and reform. By supporting SarahPac, you will allow Gov. Palin to help find and create solutions for America's most pressing problems; priority number one is building a strong and prosperous economy that recognizes hard work, innovation and integrity by rewarding small businesses and hard working American families. SarahPac will support local and national candidates who share Gov. Palin's ideas and goals for our country.
Oh, lookie there – it’s Joe Plumber raising his tax evading head as a member of “hard working American families”. Hmmm…In order for SarahP to “find & create solutions”, she needs dough. I must say when people throw money at me, I’m a way better problem solver too, so I’m with you SarahP!
Why now?
As a new president takes office and begins to lead our country, Gov. Palin believes that every one of us has a duty and responsibility in this time of economic crisis and international challenge. Each one of us must step up to the plate, get involved in the spirit of renaissance and renewal that is critical to America's success. Make your voice heard by joining SarahPac today!
Aw, how adorable? We did not have a duty and responsibility (to…?) until a new president took office. I guess Bush and Cheney were covering the whole duty & responsibility process for us. I had no idea.
And it hardly bothers me that the kerning (space between the lines) is not consistent on the home page and that they alternate between SarahPAC and Sarahpac. Cause it’s still professional and they are on top of things in Alaska.
Nice article in NY Magazine about this. They don’t mention kerning though.
This is pretty much how I felt
when I got to my dad’s house and found out he didn’t have any antivirus.
DC & the inauguration
I flew out to DC the Saturday before the inauguration and stayed with some step-cousins I don’t know very well for the first night. I got to their house around midnight (always a fine time to show up for folks you don’t know well) and my cousin Patty was awake (turns out she’s a bit of a night owl). We stayed up until about 2:30am talking and getting to know each other, which turned out to be really nice. She’s an artist and her work focuses around Day of the Dead iconography. While we were talking, she was customizing/decorating a jean jacket. It was very cool.
Hooked up with Shoshanna the next day and moved to her cousin’s house, which was only a few blocks from the subway. We decided to go to the Inauguration concert and took the train to the Smithsonian station and pretty much as soon as we got out, it was Obamamania. Basically, it looked like if you didn’t have at least one Obama button, you weren’t allowed into the city (many people had lots of them. I was wearing my Obama Pride button to represent). We walked to the Lincoln Memorial (those monuments really do something to me – even on the cab ride into town the first night, seeing the monuments & the capitol really tear me up a little). It was somewhat crowded there and got very crowded the closer we got to the concert. Keep in mind that we were pretty mushed together and we were a mile away from the concert! There were people in all the trees and lots of large video screens, so we could see & hear what was going on. Garth Brooks was performing when we arrived and was followed by Stevie Wonder (doing music from the 70s when he was a great artist as opposed to what he did in the 80s) and U2. It was pretty incredible – the energy was intense. Everyone was super happy and friendly and dancing.
And of course, there were tons of Obama items for sale. Everything from shirts (duh) to bandanas, head wraps, buttons, hot sauce, car air fresheners, and so on.
We wandered by the media area and MSNBC had a really nice setup, but what mostly amused me by them was that they had two life size cardboard Baracks & they were taking people’s pictures with them. At first I thought it was someone’s smart way to make a few bucks, but for some reason, MSNBC was doing this (for free) and there was a huge line of folks waiting to get their picture taken with Barry.
The next day we wandered around, picked up some souvenirs (the air fresheners were the only souvenir I got), took pictures at the sculpture garden at the Hirschhorn Museum (which we got lost trying to find because I listened to some dopey software that got Seventh St SW mixed up with Seventh St NW – which is very very different), wandered around the mall where there were thousands of people just milling around, stalked Anderson Cooper, took pix at the Capitol and just generally soaked up the atmosphere.
Tuesday was the inauguration itself. We had 2 of the 5,000 tickets that had been made available for bleachers for the parade but we had been told that the secure area where the bleachers were would be closed off once 350,000 people were admitted and that having tickets would not get you in after that point.
So, we were out of the house by 6:45am, picked up both breakfast & lunch and on the subway where we were packed in with lots of friendly strangers. Everyone was in a good mood but it was super crowded.
We made it to the security area by 7:15am or so, figured out how to cut to the front part of the line and eventually made our way through security, where we were patted down by army men. The crowd was singing “nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good bye!” which was seriously entertaining.
We got seats on the top row of our assigned bleachers and basically hung out there for 10 hours. It was around 27 degrees and with wind chill, it felt like 12. We had a lot of clothing on and had hot packet thingys for our hands and feet but it was the coldest I have ever been. We had plenty of room and were able to sit and stand and stretch, which most people couldn’t do as they were packed in by the crowd and had to just stand there. Buying those tix on Craigslist was incredibly worth it.
We had brought a blanket for our legs (it was a crappy one, but it was something), inflatable neck rests to sit on (which worked out so well), water, sandwiches, etc. We were pretty prepared but it was oh so cold. They started playing tunes over the loudspeaker and everyone got up and started dancing, which was mightly amusing and also a good way to warm up. What was funny is that they kept playing the same 8 or 9 songs the entire 9 hours we were waiting for the parade. I can’t figure out why they went through the hassle to get songs to play but only 9 of them. But we danced along with the crowd for about 6 hours – mostly just to keep moving.
Somehow I doubt that they played either Chaka Khan or James Brown at either of GWB’s inaugurations.
During the swearing in ceremony, they piped in NPR so that we could hear what was happening. Everyone was incredibly quiet and attentive and when they asked the crowd at the Mall to stand, everyone in the bleachers stood up and participated in that way, which was really sweet since we were a few miles away from the ceremony. I was the only one in my area who booed when they announced Rick Warren, which was probably in poor taste, but I had to express my displeasure. I behaved during his talk (which irritated me not because of anything gay, but because it was so focused on religion. I feel that this type of ceremony calls for a non-denominational type talk, but clearly he disagrees.)
The parade didn’t start until almost 5pm, so basically we were there for the entire day – sunup, sunshine, sunset. Barack was in a limo (see my pix) but luckily he was on the same side as me so I got a few pix of him and Malia. Basically, once he went by, thousands of people just bailed out from the parade. I felt bad for the kids who had come to march in the parade, but I was so friggin’ cold and miserable at that point (felt like if someone stepped on my foot, my toes would break off), that we hid out in a CVS for about an hour, then tried to watch some more of the parade and finally, just headed home.
Suffice it to say that after being home for an hour, I touched the back of my legs and they were still super cold.
Missed my return flight home the next day because DCA is not the abbreviation for Dulles airport – it’s the abbreviation for Reagan/National Airport. Spent that night with the step-cousins, which was lovely and headed home on Thursday instead (thank you American Airlines).
So, it wasn’t an exciting, adventure kind of trip – it was an incredible, I can’t believe I was there, what a great energy kind of trip. Totally glad I went though.
Killing Time
I know I still haven’t written about my trip to DC last week, but in the meantime, here’s a short video showing how we killed time waiting for the parade.
DC/Inauguration
Finally made it back this afternoon. I’m pretty wiped out, so I’ll writer more tomorrow or over the weekend, but suffice it to say, it was incredible. Here’s some pix and the rest are posted over at http://amygeek.smugmug.com:
That’s right – that’s the President & Malia…
Shoshanna
the smartest man at the inauguration
the capital today
Bank of America is evil
They just got $20,000,000,000 (yes, that’s 20 billion) from the US government yesterday as well as a guarantee of $118,000,000,000 from further losses.
This is a bank that told me that cash that I deposited would be available in 24 hours. That’s right – they put a hold on cash being deposited. And their explanation for why cash isn’t available immediately? It takes 24 hours for their computers to all get that information…
(um they’re talking to the wrong person about computers populating information globally. Cause I spent a lot of time designing infrastructures to do that. Just saying.)
So this is a bank that regularly holds their customer’s money hostage. As far as I’m concerned, they stole my money for 24 hours.
If the government is going to be bankrolling thieves, I think that there are more palatable thieves out there than BofA. When is this going to end?
Inauguration Preparation
I leave for DC tomorrow, so I’ve been organizing – the usual stuff (loading podcasts onto my iPod, converting DVDs to watch on my phone on the plane – in this case, episodes of the Simpsons), pulling out & organizing clothing, etc.
And I generally travel with a bunch of electronics – after all – I’m not AmyGeek for nothing. I’m not bringing a laptop this trip – I’m just going to use my phone which of course has internet access so that I can tweet, post brief blog posts, email, etc.
Here’s my non-clothing accessories that are coming to DC:
At the very top is the silly looking hat I’ll be wearing while waiting for and attending the parade. We’ve got 2 of the 5,000 seats that were made available to sit on bleachers (rather than stand) for the parade, but we need to get there early to get through security & claim our seats. Look for me in the crowd wearing that kooky thing – but it will cover my ears and keep them warm! There’s all kinds of rules about what will be allowed through security – no backpacks or camera bags, but you can bring bags that are 6”x8”x4”. I’m going with an 8”x8”x2” bag and hoping it works out ok cause the math works out the same. I need to be able to carry an extra camera lens + some nuts ‘n stuff cause there’s no food vendors by the bleachers & once you’re in there, you can’t leave and come back! They’re so strict.
Below that is a charger for my camera, a mini-USB adapter for my BlueTooth headset, a charger for my phone (can be used on the plane while watching videos…), a mini-surge protector/power strip/USB power device (super handy – you can charge USB items without a computer – they plug right into it!), hand & foot warmers (Shoshanna doesn’t know I’m bringing them – they’re my big surprise for the parade day), iPod, iPod cable, headphones, regular USB cable for phone charging, phone (my rocking HTC Touch HD – 5MP camera, bigger, better screen than the iPhone, fast, lots of memory…), Canon 40D with 20-70mm lens and the 70-200mm lens.
And then of course, there’s the jeans, long underwear, gloves, glove liners, scarf, sweaters…
And I’ll be there for three days. Oy. Welcome to the 21st century. And winter.
I’ll definitely be tweeting and will try to post to the blog while I’m traveling and while I’m there. I’m super-excited. I know it’s going to be freezing & crowded, but it’s the end of a long national nightmare and a brand new beginning.
If you’re a drunk
you should go get a job in Peru. Peru’s highest court ruled recently that you can’t be fired just because you’re drunk at work. That’s disproportionate and unreasonable. As long as you are doing your job, being drunk is not a reason to be fired.
Interesting…I kinda agree.
From the beeb.
It’s time for a change
During his hearing with the Judiciary Committee, the nominee for Attorney General Eric Holder made several statements that are totally contrary to what we have heard from recent federal officials.
He stated that waterboarding is torture rather than tip toeing around the issue and refusing to take a stand. Holder also refuted the current White House’s claim that nothing is illegal when the President does it by stating “No one is above the law.”
Ah…the Constitution lives. It feels refreshing.
I love Kate Winslets breasts just like Oprah
I am a fan of the natural…and Kate Winslet. And to quote Oprah “God Bless your breasts.”
I’m assuming they’re talking about “The Reader”. I haven’t seen it yet, but the book was really really good. And now I know the movie features Kate’s breasts, so yet another incentive, I suppose…
Struggling
So, I told ATG I couldn’t see her any more. It’s been about three weeks now. She was very sweet about it – she understands where I’m coming from and we both know she just isn’t capable of being there for me in the way that I’d like. Maybe some day but for many reasons, not now.
I’ve been on and off with wanting to call her – she texted me a few days ago & said she missed me. I sent back a picture of Gus the dog. (heh). (She said she missed him too.) Then the next day I texted back that I missed her too. See how I get sucked back in?
I’ve been really struggling not to call her tonight. I know that’s just picking the scab and I need to give myself a chance to heal. But I don’t want to (imagine me stomping my feet when you read that sentence cause that’s how I feel).
But I’m doing the right thing for the long term, rather than giving in to what’s going to make me feel better right now. That’s what I’m focusing on this month, right? (see this about deferring gratification).
But I’m sad.
Top 10 Cringe Inducing GWB Moments
I’m not generally a big fan of Letterman’s top 10 lists, but this one has some great bits in it.
Real Winter Weather
Okay, this if for anyone who’s frustrated about their weather this time of year (unless you live in Antarctica). This is remarkable.
Puppy Bowl V
Talk about counter-programming! Animal Planet will once again counter program against the Super Bowl with their annual Puppy Bowl (this is number 5). The puppy lineup is recruited from local shelters and Pepper the Parrot will sing the National Anthem.
Naturally, the half time show features kitties for the cat lovers out there. It seems that there was some excitement last year when one of the puppies knocked down a dalmatian who was carrying the ball and was penalized as a result and taken out of the game.
Very tempting. I know what Gus the dog would prefer to watch that day. How about you?
GraphJam Knocks it Out Again
See, without the internet, I would not have taken the time today to ponder this important item. Poodle.
Dangerous Uterus
Thanks to Alexa, I’ve recently become aware of a uterus recall and can pass this vital information on to my readers.
As posted on the iheartguts blog:
In an effort to make sure our toys are safe for all ages, the uterus plush failed a child toy safety standards test — basically, if you pull too hard on the fallopian tubes, the ovary pops off, creating a potential choking hazard for small children.
The uterus will be made available on our website for adults only — it is a sex organ after all — who consent to keep it away from kids. A new kid-safe uterus will be available in 2009 for those of you with kids who must have a plushie uterus. In the meantime, please refrain from swallowing any ovaries.
Noted.
I still love the Kool Aid
but this totally cracks me up…
Hurry so that you can be one of the 2.5 million people who can install the Win7 beta tomorrow (Fri)…seriously, it sounds like a lot, but we’re talking Windows here…there will be plenty of folks who miss the boat. Win7 blows Vista away. Faster, slicker, just all around better. I know you people think I’m biased, but I use and promote products (and competing products) from plenty ‘o different manufacturers. This is a winner. And lots of other folks agree with me. So there.
Or just be a wise person (unlike your favorite AmyGeek) and wait for it to ship. But where’s the excitement in that?
I’m going to start trolling campus for Win7 swag…you’ll be hitting me up for it…
And We’ve Got a Winner
Hmmm…this page is called ‘The 15 Most Unfortunate Haircuts for a Mugshot’. I think it’s genius. They even let you know why the haircut (I mean felon. I mean person.) was arrested.
Here’s a few of my favorites:
Warren Hock, fugitive of justice
(Come on, this is HYSTERICAL!!!!!!!)
Terrance Gaultney, theft
(He looks oddly familiar. And not at bummed out by the whole being arrested thing. At least Warren Hock looks properly pissed off about it. Or about having to take off his wig/hat/cat.)
For some reason, it doesn’t say who this guy is or why he was arrested. But he looks sweet. Except for the cold sore.
so, whatcha think?
of the new blog design?
Anyone getting Twitter errors when they open this site? Twitter API is causing people problems, but I’m not seeing it when I check out the site.
What can I/should I do to make the site more interesting for you?
You know who you are*
*Actually, I don’t have anyone particular in mind, but I know a couple of my friends who just got paranoid that they can’t ask me computer questions any more… teehee.
Senator
Which of these two people would you prefer to be a Senator? Interesting difference in judgment illustrated in this short clip. (which sorta implies that Anne Coulter has “judgment”, which is a bit of a stretch). My theory on her is that she just (totally and ridiculously) exaggerates her opinion and it gets her a lot of attention and makes a lot of money. I don’t think she actually believes what she says – at least not to the obnoxious extremes she spouts in public.
But maybe I’m giving her too much credit.
Thanks Robert for the link!
First they bailed out the banks, then the car people and now…porn?
Seems reasonable – I mean, why draw a line on who we’re going to hand out taxpayer’s dough to? I guess the real question is “Larry Flynt too big to fail?” Btw, I saw him once when I was brunching at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills – he was in his gold wheelchair and accompanied by several bodyguards. (In Beverly Hills? In the Four Seasons? Is that where they’re going to take him out? But I digress. I just was name dropping, you see…)
Here’s the story from the Huffington Post and here’s an excerpt:
"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."
While I’m all about enhancing folks sexual appetites, I’m thinking that he’s going to be laughed off the congressional floor. If they let him in at all. (It’s not possible that this is all just a play for media attention, right?)
Grapes & Raisins can kill your dog
I just got one of those emails where I roll my eyes and immediately went to snopes to get the correct info and send it back to my annoying friend. It turns out this one is real and my friend isn’t annoying at all. This time. (heh).
The whole article is here and here’s the ASPCA’s info. It turns out (they’re not sure why) that raisins and grapes (even in small amounts) can cause renal (kidney) failure in dogs. It doesn’t matter if they’re organic or where you get them, or their brand or origin.
If your dog does eat raisins or grapes, you need to get them to the vet right away and they need to induce vomiting & introduce charcoal to prevent absorption of potential toxins. The dog should be on intravenous fluids for at least 48 hours. If their blood work is okay after three days, then it’s unlikely that the dog will have renal failure.
Not so easy
I mentioned here that I have an impulse problem – it manifests itself in many areas of my life – and definitely in purchasing decisions. So I decided to take the month of January off from buying non-essential items. I made this decision on Friday (Jan. 2), which means it’s been (only) three days since I made this commitment. In those three days, I have actually been on-line and added the following to a shopping cart before I remembered that these items are not essential and had to cancel the order:
1) Trip to LA. Instead, I suggested that an LA friend come visit me instead since she isn’t on a no-purchase kick.
2) Free (after rebate) 8GB fast SD card for my camera – if it’s free, does that count as purchasing? I decided for the purpose of this exercise, unfortunately, it is considered a purchase, so I didn’t get one. I did suggest that one of my friends get it for me since it wouldn’t cost them anything.
3) A bunch of tea and tea accessories. I’m just going to have to make my existing tea and (many) tea accessories work for the rest of January. (I highly recommend Adagio Teas. Their site is excellent and the teas I’ve gotten from them have been great.)
And to boot, one of my (two) wireless routers just died. I suppose I can get by with only one in my house, but I’m spoiled. (Although, I did contact my brother cause I sent him two and I think he’s only using one, so maybe he’ll send one back to me.) (And the whole spoiled thing is part of the problem. I recognize and acknowledge it. I spoil myself. Perhaps I’m overcompensating for a lack in some other area…sigh.)
For quite a while now, I’ve been in a mindset that (for the most part), if I want something, I get it. And I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t suffered any financial difficulties as a result (I have no debt other than my mortgage), but I am not a great saver (for anything other than retirement. And I refuse to look at my retirement account lately. There’s nothing good going on there. But I digress.) and that concerns me.
My goals from this exercise are to experience the benefit of not reacting to every impulse and to become a better saver. Basically, I want to find a good balance where I’m not feeling like I’m deprived and I do purchase items when appropriate (and occasionally spoil myself), but I’m regularly socking money away and building myself a better financial cushion.
Beyond the financial aspect, I need to focus on delaying gratification in general. It turns out I don’t always get what I want. And I want to make sure I have practice with that and learn to be okay with that scenario. I also want to be able to experience choosing to forgo what I want because of the long term result rather than the short term pleasure that’s derived from giving in to the impulse. And sometimes when I act impulsively, I make choices (and ignore longer term consequences) that are not healthy physically and/or emotionally, which I really want to stop doing. Again, I think it’s about finding the balance (but isn’t everything?).
NOTE: This is not any sort of New Years resolution. I don’t believe in them. It’s (seriously) a coincidence that I decided to do this at the beginning of the year. A friend of mine is a month or two into a six month no-essential items no purchase deal and I thought it sounded interesting and decided it would be useful and an interesting exercise for me. I know – I protest too much…
One last note: if you look back at the scenarios I listed above, you’ll see I also will try to work angles to get around the rules and still get what I want. Generally, I’ve always been pretty successful at getting what I want because of this “creativity”. It’s probably one of those things I need to add to the list of using my power for good and not evil, eh?
500 worst passwords of all time
Do you use any of these passwords? They’re all way too common…might be time for a change.
Password is number 2. Can you guess what number 1 is? Some of them are a bit dirty…
“…Approximately one out of every nine people uses at least one password on the list shown in Table 9.1! And one out of every 50 people uses one of the top 20 worst passwords..”
Cats don’t sleep at night
Apparently, this guy set up a camera and videotaped himself & his cat overnight. Don’t worry – it’s sped up.
Are you a photographer?
Great deal (free! After rebate.) on an 8GB SD card from Adorama. Not sure how long this is good, so if you’re interested, you should act quickly.
Oh…I just realized I can’t get it cause of my “buy no stuff” rule for January. Does it still count if it’s free? I had added it to the cart online, but I’m not going to get it. Sigh…this is going to be an interesting experiment.
Green paper shredder
Need to shred stuff, but want to be environmentally friendly? There’s a solution just for you – a paper shredder that’s powered by hamster power.
From Newslite:
Tom says the beauty of the shredder is that is solves the problem of destroys confidential documents and providing bedding for the pets all as the hamster goes about its normal life.
kitty on the town
Stuff
A friend of mine is in the middle of a six month hiatus from buying “stuff”. That’s right – she’s not buying anything for six months. Of course, she’ll buy gas and food and other essentials, but she’s not buying any new things for a full six months.
I was driving today (from the library, which helps me not buy stuff – although I got home to two new books that I had ordered from Amazon earlier in the week…sigh), and thinking about doing this.
So, first I thought I should “try” to do this for a week. But that seemed kinda weak (heh. week=weak). So I was thinking about doing it for a month. And I immediately started wandering through my mind to see if there was anything I had been planning on buying that I wouldn’t be able to get in that time. And then I started thinking about going to the inauguration in a few weeks and what if there’s a souvenir I want from there? And so on…
Which sorta goes to show that I really need to take a break from being a consumer of non-essential goods. Basically, if I want something I (generally) just get it. It’s been like that for a while now. I tend to have a little problem with impulse control – you may have noticed this if you’ve ever spent any time with me…
So, let’s commit to this in public. I am not going to buy any stuff for the month of January. Should be interesting…I’ll let you know how it goes!
Amended Sunday, Jan. 3:
Within two hours of posting this, I was online looking to buy plane tickets to go to LA for a weekend. Although technically, a flight isn’t “stuff”, I think it’s not in the spirit of what I’m trying to do here. So, I suggested that one of my LA friends who hasn’t committed not to buy stuff in January come visit me. Seemed like a reasonable solution…
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