I do not follow rules

Today, Feb. 29, is supposed to be the only "day off" from blogging in 2008 according to the rules of Blog 365. All participants are allowed this one freebie to rest our brains and fingers. But, you know me, I'm not a rules kind of girl (which is why I'm such an awful baker - because it is almost impossible for me to be disciplined enough to follow a recipe), so I'm taking this opportunity to blog anyway. Why? Masochism? Self-loathing? Nah. Just got the itch, so I'm going to scratch it. *scratch, scratch*

So, today is Leap Day. The day that only comes every 4 years. Actually, if we're being totally scientifically nerdy about it, Leap Day is a day that doesn't just come every 4 years. It's much more gradual and constant that that. It's not like the universe just decides to add a day every 4th year. It's more accurate to say that in our 365 day calendar we lose .2422 days each year and Leap Day is how we make up for lost time. Why do we need to make up for lost time anyway?

Well, our calendar is based on a tropical year (a.k.a. solar year), which is the time between 2 vernal equinoxes. What the hell is a vernal equinox? The vernal equinox is when the sun is right above the equator, on the way from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The time between vernal equinoxes isn't really a flat 365 day span. It's actually 365.2422 days long. You might think that the extra .2422 day per year isn't a big deal. It's only about 6 hours, after all. But, if you add up those 6 hours over a 100 year period we'd end up losing 24 whole days. That would make our seasons a mess! Here in the US we'd start to have Spring in late February instead of late March. That would mean that June would be really hot and November would be the dead of Winter rather than delightful Fall. Plus, as time passed it would be even more skewed and more skewed until eventually the seasons would get shifted backward and backward until they started all over in the months that we're familiar with today. Of course, we'd all be long dead and would never see it, but it's just not a good idea to let that happen.

There you have it, folks. Your science lesson for today. Courtesy of this big geek. Enjoy. Happy Friday. Happy Leap Day!

Yoi!

The man who came into this world as Myron Sydney Kopelman 79 years ago died Wednesday. We knew him as Myron Cope. His name is synonymous with my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. The Terrible Towel? He came up with the idea. Jerome Bettis being called "The Bus"? He gave him the nickname. He was the Steelers color commentary guy for 35 years.

Whenever I think it's too tough to contemplate a career change I should think about Myron. He started with the Steelers at age 40. He & a young rookie named Terry Bradshaw started on the same day back in 1970. He was a sports writer, but he'd never been on the radio. He had no announcing experience. He didn't even have a good radio voice. He had personality, and that's why people loved him. He got on the air at 40 and went straight seasons until he was 75. Amazing.

He died in a town next to the one where I went to high school. His voice was one I heard all my life. Really - all my life. I listened to this man talk all my life! Can you believe that? How many people are staples in your whole life besides your family? Myron Cope was part of my life and he's gone now. Never met him, I didn't need to meet him to adore him. He'll be missed. He's the only commentator good enough to make me mute the TV just so I could listen to him on the radio instead.

Okel dokel, Myron.

Giggle fits

I've been pointed to a couple sites lately that are worth sharing. If you're easily offended or think that political correctness is a core tenet of humanity then you should not check these out. One deals with racial stereotypes and the other looks at mental illness. Both of which happen to be freaking hilarious in the context of these 2 sites. No, I am not a racist, and no, I do not think depression is funny. But these sites? These sites are downright funny.

Remember Garfield? The big, orange cat with the bad attitude and the hunger for lasagna? Well, his human, Jon Arbuckle, seems a lot more twitchy and creepy when the animals are removed from the comic strip. Refer to garfield minus garfield for further explanation.

The pets are taken out of classic comics and Jon is left alone with his insanity. Awesome.



Then there's the stuff white people like blog.




Please notice that the header of contains images that you've all seen on this blog before. Like this one. And this one. Oh yeah, and this one.

What?

I just found out that a couple people who are completely useless in their jobs got huge promotions today. My company is insane. I don't understand. I know corporate politics drive careers and some people are just better at playing the game than others, but this is ridiculous. One of these people took 60 days to reply to an important email I sent... she's an HR director. It involved an action item that needed to be taken care of by her. 60 days pass before she attends to things like that and she gets a Senior VP position? WTF? The other one stole my plant when we were still in the office. I kid you not, she stole my plant and now she's been promoted. I'm so confused.

No cough medicine is working anymore. I'm hacking up a lung every hour or so. Matthew is working from the couch, I'm at my desk, neither of us feels remotely OK. Yuck. Another night of chicken soup. Woo hoo.

Mmm... nothing warms my heart like a homemade latte. Now I've got to practice making designs on top of the steamed milk.

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Lookout! It's catching!

Matthew's sick. Great. I infected him with the NYC winter sickness of 2008. He says at least we're getting it out of the way before the wedding. He's a trooper.

We managed to go to IKEA today before he really started feeling sick. Got some household stuff.



Most important - a holder for Duke's poop bags to keep by the front door. This is what life is all about, folks. Accessibility to poop bags. Lovely.



Second most important - cappuccino cups so we can have proper coffees made from our new espresso machine. Heaven. Little cups and little saucers. Too cool.


Third most important - cool new wine rack. Will be hung on a wall of our choosing in the kitchen. Trying to figure out how/where we can work out a bar situation. We entertain a lot (every time I say we "entertain" it makes me feel like a home ec textbook from the '50s) and a bar is an essential feature. We set one up on a table in the living room now, but ideally we'd love to have something a little more permanent in the kitchen.

This sucks

*Scribbled in my notebook...

Supposed to be having a dinner party tonight for friends who are moving back to Brasil. I say "supposed to" because now we're cancelling because I feel so sick still. Can't shake this cough. Was up almost all night hacking. Even the Buckley's didn't do its usual trick for me. (Have you guys ever used this stuff? It's like magic, but it tastes like death. Check out their website [well, their MySpace page] - they had a "bad taste face" contest.)

Realyl bummed about cancelling the dinner party, but Matthew is right - there's no way I can cook for 15 people today.

Duke does not like the snow. Getting him outfitted to go for walks is an ordeal.

7 inches and still coming down!

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3 years, people

Happy 3 year blogiversary to me! 3 years ago today I started writing about my life and times as a New Yorker and a 20 something. I'm still a New Yorker, still in Brooklyn, still my kooky self, no longer in my 20s, I have a different job, a different man, same best pal, fresh outlook on life. I'd say it's been a good 3 years, even with the bad bits, other bad bits, other bad bits, and worst bits of all. There have been good times, amazing times, the best times, and downright hilarious incidents. This has been a chronicle of my insights about myself, my relationships, and life in general.

Here's to another year of getting all the junk in my head out there into the ether for all to see. Hope you're up for it.

Blech

Still sick. Sinuses are mounting a campaign of horror and destruction. Lungs are answering the battle call in hacks and fits of despair. It's a war in there. (Dar Williams reference, anyone?)

Random: I took Duke out for a walk this morning and as we walked down our block a low rumbling car engine could be heard coming toward us. It was very loud, it took an entire minute for the car making the sound to be seen after first hearing it. When it finally arrived I saw it was a Ferrari. A Ferrari! I have no idea what it was doing in our neighborhood, but you can bet your sweet fuel injectors that I'd not be driving my street hugging $200k sleek machine on potholed Brooklyn streets no matter how much I wanted to show off.

Time for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwich and creamy tomato soup is the only thing I can stomach right now. Lunch of second graders everywhere... and me.

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I've got a case of the Mondays. And it's Tuesday.

*Scribbled in my notebook from my bed...

Cough, cough, cough, cough, sniff, sniff... cough, cough, sigh. Really bad chest cold. Feel like dog doody. Started Saturday morning. Felt like ass all weekend and now it's worse. Slight fever, sinus pressure, hacking cough. Good times.

At least I have kitchen gadgets to cheer me up.

Blown away

*scribbled in my notebook...

Ever have one of those experiences where you are completely surprised and caught off guard? I just had one. The bridal shower M's family just threw for me was amazing. I'm really shocked that so many people came and brought such lavish gifts. Don't get me wrong, I know getting married is a big deal, but these folks went all out and I'm beyond touched at their generosity.

I have reached official adulthood, people. I now own a KitchenAid stand mixer. I am in awe of it. It sits in my kitchen in all its chrome glory watching over the lowly appliances with regal authority. It is joined on the throne by the Breville espresso machine. Together they will rule this happy kingdom in harmony and good taste.

Hmm.

*scribbled in my notebook...

My mom is in RI with us, it's the coolest thing ever! In a couple of hours I'm having a bridal shower. I'm not sure what to expect. Matthew's female relatives... it's either going to be awesome or awkward. Probably a mix of the two.

Prepare thyself for the relatives

*scribbled in my notebook...

Headed to breakfast at our favorite spot in a minute. Going to scarf down dome chow before we hit the road to Rhode Island. Battling a sore throat. Airborn will be my best friend this weekend. On the positive front - I didn't know until a couple days ago that I'm off on Monday. Bonus!

Mmm... the familiar smell of amonia

*scribbled in my notebook...

Getting the last bits of dinner together. Friends coming over. Will be highlighting hair afterward. Not mine this time, a friend's. She has the most beautiful hair. It's naturally shiny. Who has naturally shiny hair? Certainly not me.

Yes, I am jealous.

Thump, thump

Happy Valentine's Day! My valentine and I are headed to see a friend's band tonight. No heart shaped boxes of candy, no flowers and dinner at a crowded restaurant. Just us hanging out with friends we love, watching our badass friend bang on her drums. A pretty perfect evening if you ask me.

As Sandra reminded me - tommorrow is 1/2 off valentine candy day! Now that's something to really celebrate.

I hope that no matter who you're with, where you are, who you love, who loves you back, ... I hope this Valentine's Day that you love yourself. This is the first year I can confidently say beyond a shadow of a doubt I love me. It's the best V-Day gift I could get. Better than a heart shaped box of anything.

Money talks

If you're a woman and you're committed to getting your financial life in a healthier state you should take advantage of Oprah's offer of Suzie Ormans's new book. You can get it FREE on her website until 5PM PST tomorrow. Yes, totally free. Gratis. No charge. Orman's publisher agreed to allow Oprah viewers to download it for free for a little more than 24 hours. Get it while you can and start planning those money strategies you've been putting off.

Money scares the hell out of me, but taking the step to acknowledge that fear is a good move forward. I'm making a committment to myself and my soon to be husband that I am going to be a more financially savvy woman this year. How am I going to do that? I'm going to read this book and get a firm grasp on where my money goes when it leave my wallet. I want to have more of those dollars sticking around at the end of the month starting NOW.

What to do?

I've been in this situation before, but I never know quite how to handle it. A friend wants to do something that I think is unwise. I think he's making a bad choice. The pickle is that I want this person to come to an understanding within himself about his path so it's not my place to meddle, but I don't see how this decision can be a good one and I want to save him from the heartache in his future. I know we each have to learn our own lessons, and we can't learn many lessons if we never take a wrong step along way. Yet, I can't help feeling like I'm letting him down by watching him take this step instead of stopping him.

I have to let time and faith take their course. It's tough to do. Keeping my nose out of it is the best thing. Isn't it funny how the best thing is often the hard thing?

We finally got some snow!

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Superwhack

Superdelegates are starting to piss me off.

Every time I start to think my vote really matters, that my individual voice is strong enough to bear weight... I learn something else about how the election process is designed to ideally use the votes of the people, but really doesn't hinge much on what we as a public have to say when it comes right down to it. It's the same argument that people have been waging against the electoral college forever, it's just on the party scale rather than the national election at this point.

I've been volunteering and getting the word out about Obama because I believe in his ability to be a good leader (My thinking on this is that we need to decide if we want a good manager or a good leader. I believe Sen. Clinton would be a great manager, but that Sen. Obama would be a real leader.), but all the while I'm feeling a bit silly about it because I'm afraid my vote won't count for much. I fear the delegates at the Convention will take this decision to the smoky backrooms of the old boys' club because neither candidate will gain the number of delegate votes required to secure the party's nomination outright. From wikipedia:

At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the superdelegates will compose approximately one-fifth of the total number of delegates. The closeness of the race between the leading contenders, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, has caused greater attention to be paid to the role of the superdelegates in selecting the Democratic nominee inasmuch as in the aggregate they could come to be king makers to a degree not seen in previous election cycles.

What does that mean? It means that although my individual ballot was counted and processed, my vote doesn't mean much. It means that someone else (the party bigwigs) will be deciding which of the 2 candidates will be allowed to run for president. It means that I'm back to being frustrated as hell with our "democratic" process. Which is a real shame since Obama is the only politican I've been excited about in many years. I'm still excited about him. But this system? This system is a disappointment.

Ears are for hearing... brains are for listening

This is from overheardinnewyork.com. It sums up the way I feel about people sometimes:

Guy selling umbrellas: Get your umbrellas! Two dollars! Get your umbrellas! Two dollars!
Customer: How much are they?

--7th Ave
Overheard by: Maggie

They're a million dollars, lady. One million smackeroos.

Brrrrrr...

I'm biting off Claire Joy's previous post of this video, but you guys have to see this. It's so cool. This is another reason I love NYC. People get together to freeze Grand Central Station. Amazing.

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LBD turned bridesmaid dress = pure genius

Hearing the voices

Ever have one of those days when you can't get a song out of your mind? As much as you try it won't budge. You listen to other music, you turn on the TV, you have a phone call, you go to a meeting, you walk your dog. Still, the song stays with you. It haunts you. It won't leave, it's a stubborn little bugger.

Today my haunting personal soundtrack is Hallelujah. Jeff Buckley's version. All respect to Leonard Cohen, but Buckley's take on the song is so heart breakingly beautiful it blows me away every time I hear it. The video doesn't have any visuals other than pretty colors, SonyBMG doesn't like to have Buckley's video for this song embedded anywhere, so you won't see the magical Jeff himself unless you go directly to YouTube. But the song is amazing and if you've never heard it you would do youself a great service by giving it a listen. Pay close attention to the first seconds - that's his inward breath. Even more meaningful since his death.

These are the bits that kill me:

I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya?

Remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah?

Maybe there's a god above
But all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya.

And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Tuesday was strange

I voted. That felt great. It was the first time I'd ever voted in a booth with levers. It was totally old school and awesome.

I found out that a friend passed away on Monday. That felt devastating. Bobby Oliver was my favorite person in the cast of an off-Broadway show I occasionally did wardrobe for when the wardrobe mistress needed a sub. He was kind and hilarious and sharp as a tack. He had a heart attack and it killed him. I got to see him just before New Year's and I'm very thankful for that. I only knew him for a year and a half, but he was one of those people who made you feel like you'd been friends for ages. He was a hugger. A good hugger, real hugs, not those fake pat on the back kind that don't mean much. He was a joker and a comedian. He loved his family and his friends. He'd share his sandwich with you even when you didn't ask. He listened closely and asked questions. He was a vibrant person. He worked in the theatre his whole life. He was the quintessential example of a working actor in New York City. He made the whole show light up. He was always the first person to talk to the audience after the show. Kids loved him. He scared a little girl in the front row one night because he plays a pirate at one point and it startled her. He made a point to go find her as soon as the show was over to let her see that he was just an actor and there was nothing to fear.

Writing about him in the past tense is very difficult. He was my friend.

That's him on the right. And yes, that's the guy from Americal Idol in the center.

SUPER TUESDAY

As one of my wise blogging friends said recently... Tuesday is CHOOSEDAY.



Here in New York the polls open at 6AM and don't close until 9PM. Get there. It counts this time. This primary is important and your individual vote really matters. Complacency has had its day. This is our day. Time to take back the nation.

The same old question

This is exactly why I didn't go to art school. My mom didn't shove a briefcase in my hand, but after I got old enough to think about art as something other than a hobby my parents started to discourage me from pursuing it further. It's a nice hobby, I was told, but it's no way to make a living. How can anyone make a good living being an artist? Business is the way to go.

Funny thing is, when I was a kid they encouraged me to be as artistic as possible. I won poetry contests, my paintings were entered in competitions, I always took dance classes and played musical instruments. I was allowed to be the creative little kid I was. But as I got older and practicality became a more important virtue those things fell away.

Fast forward 20 years... I'm in the "business world" and I'm miserable about it. Looking back now, I see clearly that I'd trade a comfortable salary for a much lower one if it meant I'd feel a bit fulfilled.

*postcard from postsecret*

Boo, hiss

You'd think I'd be happy about the Giants' superbowl win since I live in New York. Not so! I'm a Pats fan by association. The man half is a huge Patriots fan. It is a sad night in our house. Even so, an undefeated regular season is nothing to sneeze at.

Hoo hoo hoo is a sleepy girl? I am.

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My thermonuclear desk lamp.

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