Only 3 Days Left!

It's my last day of work before Xmas break and my family comes and all the fun festivities! I can't wait to get out of here! But I'm trying my best to A.) not get too excited, B.) focus on my work, and most importantly C.) NOT think about how awesome my reindeer slippers look with my Crocks! (Oh yeah, I wore 'em to work!)

One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days where your sitting at work and get a text from your BF asking if you've seen the remote control for the TV, and you roll your eyes and text back "I'm sure it's there somewhere", and then an hour later when you are looking for your chapstick you realize you lied because there it is sitting in the bottom of your purse next to your day planner?
No?
Oh....neither have I.

Santa's Old Sidekick

 

Santa and Krampus off on Christmas Eve

I was reading one of my new Christmas books the other day called Winter Solstice, and I came upon an interesting and slightly disturbing "fact". I put fact in parentheses because I will be discussing Santa, and while it will be mythological truth, it's not actually true. You know what I mean?

Krampus 

So this interesting fact is that Santa hasn't always been the one to deal with the whole naughty or nice issue. You see back in the day, he only concerned himself with the good kids. It was his job to go around being jolly and rewarding all the good little boys and girls. But what about all the bad kids you might ask? Well, don't worry about them. They got what was coming to them. You see, a log time ago, Santa was one half of a dynamic duo. So who was Santa's partner? Why Krampus! And what does Krampus look like? A monster that looks very much like the devil himself, so frightening that he (literally) scared the hell out of kids. And what was his job? To scare the hell out of kids. Supposedly he would haunt the dreams of bad kids, scare them, possibly kill them (with sickness) and drag them into the pits of Hell. Then (thankfully) someone decided that was a little rough for merely bending the truth, or getting in a tussle with a sibling. So more recently Krampus became the one to put the coal in your stocking instead of treats if you were bad, which I think is quite a substantial improvement over earlier forms of punishment. Besides it made for a smoother transition to Santa punishing naughty children, and Krampus disappearing totally. Can you imagine how confusing Santa Claus would be to little kids if they were unsure whether to expect a Barbie or eternal damnation from him? He would be like an abusive parent. Definitely no good for Christmas.
Isn't that something though? The history of our traditions is so often so different from the way we imagine them! The good versus evil thing is interesting to me too, especially because they weren't enemies, they were partners. And actually it makes more sense than the idea that the modern Santa being mean and not giving a little kid a toy. I mean, hasn't Santa always seemed like a bit of a push over? Well, I guess it's because he's new at the whole judging job.
It's also interesting that the tradition of Krampus is no longer...celebrated (if that's the word for it) except in isolated places in eastern Europe, where a towns person is designated each year to wear a scary costume, and roam the streets rattling chains and scaring little children into being good...for the holidays at least.

Krampus comes for naughty girl.

Maybe the reason he has gone the way of the Dodo, as the saying goes, is because a long time ago kids didn't really get presents, so the threat of bodily harm and eternal fire was the only way to get them to listen. Where nowadays just telling them that Santa wont get them a Wii if they are bad puts the fear of god in them. Not that I'm complaining about him being gone. Krampus is very un-Christmassy, and way to Grinchy for me. So I for one am glad that he has faded from the tradition. But history is history, and the "fact" is that Santa had a partner.

Really Tebow?

This is the first of probably many rants I will have concerning Tim Tebow. And surprisingly  it has nothing to do with the fact that he is a less than mediocre quarterback.
So what has my panties in a ruffle? It's his repeated, obnoxious, and overly religious comments and displays, that in my opinion, have no place in football.
I know what you're thinking. It's his right to "thank his lord and savior Jesus Christ" for the overtime win against the San Diego Chargers. But I have rights too. And it's my right to roll my eyes every time I see his face, call him a tool, and question his religious convictions.
I get that lots of NFL players believe in God. Even our beloved Packers QB Aaron Rodgers gives a little point to God after particularly good plays (which annoys me to no end... I much prefer the "championship belt"). But to thank God for a touchdown is utterly ridiculous. Just assuming for a second that God is real, you are still left with having to decide whether God tunes in to Football Sunday (ironically double booking church), or not. Either way someone looks like an idiot. If God doesn't interfere with pass protection, and play calling, then the devotee is dumb for assuming that God doesn't have better things to do with his omnipotence. If  God does interfere,....well... then I ask you what kind of God uses His powers for influencing the outcome of sporting events? Sounds shady doesn't it?  Like some scheme Zeus would use to trick some pretty cheerleader into sleeping with him.
This week in his interview after the Broncos Chargers game Tebow thanked Jesus repeatedly for the win. And I guess that's OK, if that's what he really believes. But with that comes a few disturbing implications that I think need explanations.
Number one: If God helped Tebow win, then He also let the Chargers loose. Presumably there are many God fearing Christians that play for San Diego. So what does God have against Norv Turner and the Chargers? Does Jesus not like Philip Rivers? Does God not care that Norv Turner will probably get fired after this season because He keeps helping the other teams win?
Second: God also must have had a hand in firing Kyle Orton (who was the starting quarterback this year for Denver)? Why did God fire Orton? What did Orton do to deserve loosing his job to someone less skilled? Did he say he didn't want Jesus as his co-pilot? I thought Jesus was BFF's with everybody?
Third:  Why is God helping Tebow win football games, but allowing innocent children in Somalia slowly starve to death? (And while I'm joking around about the above, I do not consider this to at all be a humorous or laughing matter.) Are God and Jesus just bad at prioritizing, or do they really think Tebow's T-bow is so much more special than hungry, dying babies that they use their unlimited time contriving ways to help him win football games. Is Tebow really so arrogant as to believe that? Is anyone so arrogant as to believe that? If the poor kids and families suffering in sickness and misery had Proverbs 22:9 on their forehead would Jesus help them then? Or better yet, would Tebow?

I'm tired of people being able to spout stupid things without consequence because they say it in the name of religion. So please, Tim, unless you have reasonable answers to any of these questions, spare me the "I thank Jesus" stuff and just play football.

Peppermint Bark

It's that time of year again! I have been waiting all year for Christmas time to arrive, and now its only 25 days away! I already got my tree, and put up my decorations (with the help of my brothers of course). All 10 stockings are crammed on my 2.5' wide fireplace. I just started wrapping presents the day before yesterday, and I already watched the Polar Express for the first time this year!

In addition to my normal decorating, I was inspired by The Ice Age Christmas Special (which was awesome and aired last Thursday night) to add "peppermint bark" trees to my otherwise adequately festive decor. Mom helped me paint them on my sliding glass door on Saturday, and they turned out great. So my place is more Christmassy than ever!
The next couple weeks should be busy, but I'll try to keep you all posted on the festivities!

DogSkiSoccer Boarding

Geez, it's been a while I know. But I've just been so busy! Things should be settling down a bit, and I should be able to get back to writing. Anyway, I had a dream two nights ago that I thought was worth describing. I'm not the kind of person who reads much into dreams and I'm glad, because this one would have me very confused as to a meaning.
In my sleep, I invented a game (well, in my dream I didn't invent it, I just knew how to play it) that is a combination of snowboarding, water skiing, soccer and dog sledding! And let me tell you, it was so FUN! I know because I played it!
In the dream we weren't playing on snow, but wet grass and the field was circular with one opening.
There were 4 or 5 of us, and we each had a snowboard-like thing where one foot was sort of hooked in, and the other was free. Then we each had a water ski rope attached to one dog.
The dogs pulled us around (and we trailed behind like a person water skis behind a boat) and we competed to kick the soccer ball through the opening with our free foot, while not getting tangled in anyone elses rope, or letting anyone else kick it through.
Isn't that....well, just about the silliest thing you ever heard of a person dreaming? I thought it was pretty funny that I invented a game in my sleep! It's even funnier to think that if I tried right now, I could never think of as cool a game as that in a million years. So...anybody want to play?

Lions and Bears OH MY!

I am going to (gasp!) talk about a team other than the Packers. And that team is the Detroit Lions. Calm down, I'm not converting, but I will admit I have a soft spot for the Lions. In previous years this was not an issue, I could say my two favorite teams were the Packers and the Lions and even though they are in the same division no one would have batted an eye because the Lions have sucked....really bad. But now that they are winning, things get a little more hairy for me. Even so, (and I'll give you my reasoning in a moment) my tender feelings for Detroit remain. I am actually happy that Green Bay and Detroit were the only two undefeated teams in week 5. So when the Lions played the Bears last week, I was rooting for Detroit. My BF on the other hand was cheering  for Chicago (which was a very weird experience by the way). When I heard the words "Come on Urlacher! Get him" escape his lips, I turned to him and thought who are you?!? According to him (my BF) if I was a TRUE Packers fan I'd want Detroit to loose so we would lead the division. But my perspective was that we could both remain unbeaten and that the score would settle itself when we play each other in November. I think the Packers have a a better chance to win (although Ford Field is quickly becoming a tough place to play with all the fan noise), and so I was not worried by the Lions having a great season. And even if all that wasn't true, I am not the kind of Packers fan than cheers for the Bears. I don't hate the Bears, or their players, and actually I love Chicago, but to the extent that rivalry is healthy and fun, I do NOT cheer for them. Booooo....lol:)

So anyway, I cheered for the Lions, and they won, and I was happy.

Week 5: Packers vs Falcons

I was a little worried at how this game would go because of how badly we beat them last year. Not that I doubted how the Pack would play, but I was more concerned with how vengeful the Falcons would be. Luckily the players aren't as easy to rile up as the fans are, and so despite Atlanta's "12th man" (i.e. the crowd) we did great. Like I said before (I think) I LOVE the no huddle that our offense is using to get things going. There were times last year when the offense was able to get the tempo up, and Rodgers was able to knock out some great passes, and I think that was when they played best. It might be too early to speculate, but I definitely see Rodgers heading the route of Peyton Manning in terms of presiding over no huddle offensive play calling. I think he'll be good at it, and I think McCarthy needs to give up the control let him have it. I just hope Rodgers doesn't get to cocky. Not that he hasn't earned the right, and not that it necessarily ruins his ability (look at "Primetime" Dion Sanders) but just because I would imagine that if I knew him I would like him less. He said in an interview that Clay Matthews is from SoCal and acts like it and he (Rodgers) is from NorCal and acts like it. I like the NorCal Rodgers and hopes he stays that way.
The first quarter was fantastic. The offense was off the hook! Clifton going out with a hamstring injury made my heart skip a little, especially with Bulaga (whom I can't help but pronounce Beluga every time I say it...grrrr...so annoying!) out as well, but the swicharoo of the front line was...well, pretty amazing. Not only did they play well, but they played better than half the starting offensive lines of other teams (Just ask Jay Cutler and Michael Vick)  The rookie Sherrod and Newhouse played great. They might have even earned starting status. Round of applause for them! Over the course of the game Rodgers hit....I can't remember now, but a bunch of receivers. Jennings had that outstanding TD, and for once his "Be great." motto that he is always talking about and putting on t-shirts didn't annoy me. I also think James Jones is playing much better than he did last year, and that makes me happy. I think my previous posts about him are still true, but I am willing to change my mind if he turns a corner and stops dropping important passes.
The defense did well, especially considering the changes. I still miss Cullen Jenkens (I'll probably be saying that for the rest of the season) and Nick Collins, but the other guys have stepped in and done a fine job. I feel like it the defense played a little different, and maybe Tramon Williams wasn't as dynamic as usual, but he was coming off an injury and the rest of the D was adjusting. OK.....going to sigh off on this one again, because I have one more before I catch up!

Weeks 3 and 4: Packers vs Bears and Cowboys

At the airport on Game Day

 I haven't been writing any posts about the Packers lately and the reason is that for games 3 and 4 I was on vacation, and this past week has been so hectic that I haven't had a chance. So I'm going to back up for a quick recap of the past three weeks. The farther back I go the less detail there will be since the details become hazy after several weeks...
Week 3 against the Bears:
We missed the first half of the game on account of the fact that we were 30,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. We landed in Honolulu, but instead of heading to the beach, we found the nearest pub in the airport and spent the next two hours there. The bar we found had the game playing but unfortunately they didn't have sound, so we had to try to watch the game and read subtitles simultaneously. I'm glad we won, both because it was against the Bears our greatest rivals, and because it was our first division win. But it was a little tough to really get into the game when we couldn't hear anything. And never mind that the TV was almost straight above out heads, and the beers were $8 each! Whatever.

Manny & Eddie Jr Game Ready

Over all I thought we played well. The defense gave up way too many yards though, and Woodson had a couple of penalties but made up for them with some nice plays. I thought Matthews would have much better stats, and at least a couple sacks on Cutler, and so I was disappointed in his play, but after some contemplation I realized that he's not playing worse, it's just that opponents are double and triple teaming him. What can he do? And the fact that so many guys are trying to stop him means there are less guys to cover other players. The three D-line guys, Raji, Wynn and Picket are doing great against the run. But I feel like our pass rush needs some help.
There hasn't been a bit of news about Nick Collins who suffered a neck injury in the game against Carolina, and while Morgan Burnett is doing a great job of filling in, I think Collins being out had affected the secondary. (I did some searching and learned that Nick Collins had to have neck surgery, and while he is fine and has full mobility for off the field activities, it is unknown whether he will be able to play football anymore. Apparently the surgery takes six months to heal, and depending on how the healing goes it will be determined whether or not he is eligible for a second surgery which would then allow him to come back to football.)
Week 4 against the Bronco's
This game is a little hazy for me on account of the $3 Mai Tai's that were being served at the poolside cabana where we watched the game. We were still in Hawaii, Waikiki Beach to be exact. We met a couple other Packer Fans at the cabana, a guy named Stephan who grew up in Green Bay and is an Oneida Native American. His girlfriend Abby was there too. And there was another guy named Jim who was from Madison, and who (strangely enough) we actually ran into again on the streets of Waikiki while looking for somewhere to have breakfast and he recommended a great place!

New Packers Friends in Waikiki

Anyway the Mai Tai's...I mean Packers had a great game. The defense still gave up too many yards I thought, But the offense was off the hook! Rodgers was outstanding. Four TD's and two rushing himself! Super awesome. For the first time in a really long time I started to feel like the offense was carrying the defense for a change. I don't mean that the offense played terrible last year, or at the beginning of this year. What I mean is that the defense was consistently good while the offense was on and off. But this year, and this game in particular, the offense has been more reliable. I think a lot of it has to do with the recovery of a run game, and the fact that both Grant and Starks are taking turns at RB.
Well, unfortunately that's all I can recall at this point, and I still have a lot of catching up to do, so I'm going to end here.

Aloha Count Dracula!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I brought The Sea Wolf to read on my vacation, but finished it on the first day. The second book I brought was a 1909 edition of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. The problem was I didn't want to ruin in by taking it to the beach, and besides, I just wasn't in the mood for it. I rooted around iBooks on my phone for something good, and downloaded Robinson Crusoe. Much to my consternation however, what I actually ended up acquiring and reading from start to finish was Bram Stoker's Dracula! Go figure right? It makes no sense to me either. Especially after feeling like A Connecticut Yankee wasn't didn't provide the right "mood" during my Hawaiian vacation. Like Dracula was better suited?
Anyway, it was a pretty good book. I must confess, having never celebrated Halloween as a kid, and not paying much attention to stories like Frankenstein or the like, that I had no idea what Dracula was about except that he was a vampire.
As it turns out it was actually pretty good I thought. The writing style is typical of the era in which it was written (and that I am so enthralled with at present), and the imagery in the text was really contrasting. Good versus evil, light versus darkness, fear versus bravery were all well illustrated and repeated over and over again. Somehow the book projected onto reality a feeling of falling into shadows and then emerging from them as I was reading. But it wasn't the sun and clouds that were alternating the light as I read it was the words and mood of the story itself. It was weird, but cool. I am still trying to figure out if it was done on purpose or if it's just my imagination.
A lot of the text is heavily laden with Victorian England's version of romance and duty, which I find nauseating, but again, it worked well in contrast to the based nature of Dracula. The women in the story Lucy, and Mina, were likened to angels, kind and sympathetic. (Well, until Lucy turned into a vampire and they chopped her head off.) The men, were brave heroes and chivalrous. While the Count (Dracula) was a demon, sly and cunning, without morals, dark, dangerous, unfair and cruel. Classic good vs. evil stuff.
And just in general it was a pretty good story. Not overtly ridiculous, or dramatic. In fact it was written from the perspective of a skeptic which I found brilliant! It was ominous and creepy and the few startling descriptions of violence were very successful in sounding horrible and gruesome. In a word it's believable. In my opinion so few modern books (especially sci-fi) can claim to be even remotely believable these days. But this is a solidly written book. I really enjoyed it.
I know when most people think of vampires they think of Halloween or dark windy nights, but every time I think of Dracula from now on it is going to remind me of palm trees and Hawaii!

My Shells

I've probably mentioned this before but I have always been searcher. I like looking for things. From words in crossword puzzles to fossils on an outcrop of rock, there is something about finding things that fascinates me. (I used to go night diving a lot when I lived in Florida. And I loved it. Searching around in the dark was fun and it was such a great feeling to find a beautiful shell. It's one of the things I miss most about living there.) But finding stuff is like treasure hunting, except instead of gold and gems I find bits of sea glass or pretty flowers. I do it all the time. I can hardly walk past the tree in front of my apartment without searching the ground for a pretty leaf to pick up and take inside.
Anyway to my dismay, the beach in front of our condo on our recent trip to Hawaii was completely devoid of shells! I was bummed out, but what could I do? Then on the second to last day we were there I was snorkeling in the shallow sandy water just behind where the waves break, and I found my treasure trove! There weren't tons of shells, but every time the surge moved in and out a shell or two was uncovered, and I swooped down as quickly as I could to retrieve it. It was a little frustrating at times because while the waves uncovered shells, they also buried ones I was trying to reach, and so I lost a great number of beautiful specimens, but I wasn't deterred.
I spent several hours swimming back and forth in that little zone, scanning the bottom for a brightly colored piece of sea glass, or a shiny shell. And the only reason I stopped is because my back side was getting burnt to a crisp, and I 'd inadvertently swallowed about a half a gallon of sea water. After all my troubles I had acquired a nice assortment of shells that filled up half a sandwich sized ziplock bag. I washed and rinsed my treasures carefully, and packed them away to take home as pleased as if they'd been a bag of gold coins!
I could have bought much prettier shells at any of the gift shops I was at, but the shells I collected are way better because I found them, I picked them up myself off the bottom of the ocean, and probably the last living thing to touch them besides myself was the animal who's home they'd once been.

Lilu the Zebra Dove

My friend Lilu

On my trip to Hawaii we did lots of sight seeing. But we also spent several days doing nothing but sitting on the beach. On one such day I met a new friend named Lilu. Lilu is a Zebra Dove who lives near the condo we rented. He came over to say hi, and being a gracious host I shared my sandwich crumbs with him. He spent the whole rest of the day walking circles around our beach chairs. He'd stop and tilt his head and nod, then off he would go again. He'd wander through our stuff exploring, and take a rest in the shade of our umbrella. He was a cute little guy, and what's more, he came back and found us on the beach when we'd head out the next time! You may wonder how I know it was him, since most Zebra Doves look alike, but I am sure it was. He had a certain personality that the other doves didn't have, and he had a ruffled wing feather that never layed quite right that made him recognizable.

On our last beach day he came to visit again. I gave him a little crust of bread while I ate my sandwich, and he spent the afternoon patrolling our little area while I snorkeled, nibbling his snack, preening in the shade of our umbrella while we napped under it, and hanging out. He disappeared for a while, and I thought he'd gone without saying goodbye, but he appeared moments later with a "lady friend".
So me and my BF, and Lilu and his girlfriend spent the afternoon enjoying each others company and the beautiful beach. I was sad when it was time to say goodbye to my new friends, but who knows, maybe we will meet again someday?

Makaha Nighttime Orchestra

Palms tree and Jupiter

One of the reasons I chose our condo in Makaha (besides the sea turtles) was because it is ocean front, and close to the water with a nice sandy beach in between. I wanted to be able to hear the waves at night and have them lull me to sleep after a log day of swimming and sunbathing. But things didn't turn out quite as I'd imagined.
I don't know if it's because our condo was so close to the water, or if the waves were especially big, or that the hole wall facing the ocean was one giant sliding door, but it was so almost unbearable!
The first night I tried to convince myself that I just needed to get used to it. The second night I tried to convince myself that I wasn't tired enough and wouldn't have fallen asleep anyway, the third night I lay awake trying to convince my ears that the waves didn't sound buildings collapsing on a 10 second interval all night long.
The fourth night I used ear plugs and covered my head with a pillow which worked great until one fell out at about 3:30 am abruptly changing the sound level, and then I sat up wide awake in a panic thinking the mountain behind our place had come down when an especially huge wave crashed on shore.
The fifth night I tried no ear plugs, and closing the door half way, but it made almost no difference at all in terms of the waves. It did however somehow enhance sounds coming from the other windows on the mountain side of the condo. Thus it was easier for me to hear the sound of a woman's blood curdling scream coming from that direction. In terror I jumped out of bed and went to listen, and discovered that it wasn't a woman but a confused rooster. It was 3:15 am. So in between crashing waves I was "serenaded" by a strangled sounding cock-a-doodle-dooo of a rooster who apparently couldn't tell time.
On the 6th night I gave up on the waves and closed the door almost completely. To make up for the lack of air circulation  we opened up all the windows on the island/ mountain facing and went to bed. Initially it was quite peaceful, but then around 2:00 am my loco rooster friend started in again. He sang his hoarse solo on and off until about four thirty or five, when all the other roosters in town decided to join him. I was surprised I hadn't heard them at all before, but then, it's hard to hear anything above the train crash that was occurring on the shore. I opened the sliding door to drown the roosters out a little. At that point my weird serenade was complete.Waves crashing, roosters calling, it was a cacophony of noise! All the while I was laying in bed staring at the ceiling trying to either a.) fall back asleep or b.) "appreciate" the situation.
On the very last night I cracked the door the same as the night before, opened the windows, but not all of them, covered my head with a pillow, and finally slept soundly....the waves seemed far off, and the roosters stayed quiet till it was time to get up and make the coffee...it was just how I'd imagined!

Ode to My Crown of Plumeria

My  original crown and I at the Polynesian Cultural Center

While vacationing in Hawaii me and my BF went to The Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a fun, but hot, day and we had a good time learning about the different island cultures.

Crown with new flowers from parking lot.

One of the gift stands, in the Tahiti village, I think it was, was selling hats and crowns made out of palm tree leaves and flowers. They were really beautiful. I believe they were primarily made for kids since they also had toys and other children's items near by, and many of the hats and things were small. But I didn't care. I really wanted a crown of pink and white plumeria. One of my worst criticisms of being a grown up is that we stop playing dress up. It's ridiculous. Dressing up is so fun, so why on earth would I stop doing it? So anyway, I got my crown, and I wore it all the rest of the day...and pretty much every day after. I got up in the morning and put it on before I made coffee. I wore it to the grocery store, I wore it to watch football. The original flowers died of course, but the beautiful thing about being in Hawaii is that there are tons more of them all over the place! I picked up some off the ground, I used ones that fell on my rental car overnight. If one flower went limp and turned brown I just found another and replaced it.

When we had reached the final day of our vacation I was saddened by the fact that I knew I couldn't bring my crown home with me. There are rules about bringing fruit and plants to/from Hawaii, and unless those items come with special papers, they won't let them on the plane with you. I couldn't bear the thought of my beautiful crown being confiscated and dumped in the trash at the airport, but I was equally dissatisfied with the idea that it should end up in the garbage at the hotel I was staying at. But what to do?
On our last walk along Waikiki beach, on our last morning on Oahu, I finally found my answer. Near the sidewalk, there was a huge statue of a surfer named Duke, and on his arms and at his feet people had left lei's and flowers. It was the perfect place to leave my pretty crown that had served me so well, and I hardly felt sad at all to leave it there among all the other flowers, in a beautiful spot where it would be admired and appreciated. I like to think that it is still there now, resting at Duke's feet.

See Turtles? Sea Turtles!

Sea Turtle!!!

One of the reasons I chose our condo in Hawaii was because the reviews indicated that there were sea turtles in the ocean right out our door.

On our first morning there, while I was sitting on the balcony sipping my coffee, my eyes spotted an unusual white "thing" in the water. It would appear every now an then (always in a different place) and then disappear again under the water. I hurried and got dressed and ran down to the beach to investigate. Along the way I met a pretty female rock crab (not sure what kind specifically, maybe Metopograpsus messor) who was as interested in me as I was in her.
As I scanned the horizon I looked for the little white "thing" and eventually it surfaced again. I was still a little ways away, but the water was pretty clear, and I was at once able to make out a large dark disk, and flippers. Our eyes met and it looked right at me. It was so awesome! I don't mean awesome like "totally rad" I mean really awesome, as in it's dictionary definition: inspiring awe.

Rock Crab

It was just a moment, five seconds tops, but I have thought about it a lot since. I think about that turtle and wonder where it might be at this very moment. And I wonder where it was born, and when. (It could be a hundred years old!) And then I think about myself and my life and where I am at this very moment typing,  and it's almost mind boggling how unlikely it is that the two of us, different species, different genus even, should ever cross paths and occupy the same moment at the same time. (I love that about life, and how it's so predictably unpredictable. Almost everything that happens in life is so unlikely to have ever occurred when you look at it from hindsight. And so in a way our lives are one  long string of events that most likely should never have happened at all. And that's pretty cool. But I digress...)
We saw several other turtles along the rocky coast, presumably foraging along the bottom, and even once in a while they popped up to the surface to take a breath.
A couple hours later we were snorkeling, and an older man and his wife pointed us in the direction of a sea turtle they had seen earlier. We found it no problem since there was nothing else in the vicinity that was as big or as darky colored (thank goodness!). It didn't seem to mind  at all our distorted snorkel faces hovering overhead watching and pointing. It sort of swayed with the current and perused the rocky bottom for seaweed or algae or whatever it was eating. The swaying effect of the water on the turtle and myself, and the fact that my head was under water so it was quiet made the whole experience very serene. It kind of felt like it wasn't real. I remember at one point really focusing my eyes on his/her face and thinking to myself "Wow, that's so life-like!" But then I remembered that it was real,  if I really wanted to I could swim down and touch it! We didn't do that of course, nor did we harass Crush  in any way at all (I named him/her Crush after the sea turtle in Finding Nemo;). For one, they are an endangered species, for another it just wouldn't have felt right. He was so peaceful, and going about his business, and kind enough (anthropomorphizing here) to not swim away while we gawked, that it would have been rude to pro

BF and a sea turtle (dark shadow)

d him even though for some reason I did want to touch him.
Eventually he grew tired of us, (or he had to catch his breath, and didn't want to surface next to us weird and goggle adorned creatures) and so he swam away, and we didn't follow. And the truth is we couldn't have even if we wanted to. We were no match for what a lifetime in the water had prepared him for, and he disappeared into the shadows in a matter of seconds.
Later on still we saw a turtle swimming back and forth along the shore, and we were able to see it cruising by while we waded in the water. I really had the sense that they were everywhere! With the beach and the palm trees and sea turtles everywhere it was so...tropical!
As it turned out that was the only day we saw any turtles. Everyday for the rest of the trip I looked out, but didn't see one. I was a little bummed not to see any more, but at the same time so content and grateful for the experience I did have, that I didn't feel to badly about it. My experience is seared into my memory, and I was able to focus on the details of it and enjoy the experience fully while it was happening, so I can recall it and enjoy it again whenever I want. What a great experience!
It was #1 in my list of things I wanted to do in Hawaii, and a great first day to my vacation!

The Sea Wolf

I started reading Jack London's The Sea Wolf  before my trip to Hawaii. It wasn't in anticipation or anything, it was just one of the free downloads I had on my iBooks app on my phone. (And I have discovered that having something on hand  to read greatly reduces my stress when I find myself in situations that require patience.)
Anyway, so I was reading the book on my phone. As my departure date grew near, and as I read on, I decided that I really would prefer a hard copy (I know I am so old-school!), and so hit up the local used book store the day before we left. To my surprise they had both books I was looking for. The afore mentioned and another by Mark Twain.
It was a an excellent book. Not at all what I was expecting, but a good read none-the-less. To be honest I am still not sure I have grasped its full meaning. To be even more honest I am not sure if there even was one. Like Call of the Wild, it was sort of violent and commonly depicted the unfairness of life, and it's fragility, but then it was philospohical to a certain extent too. But it was the words themselves made it worth while.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think that the world was a better place when people actually took the time to think about and describe their thoughts in detail. Now days everything is all about how fast you can get something done, or how much information you can cram into the smallest space. And in modern terms what I find so wonderful about old books is what people call "long winded". And while I agree that sometimes people can take too long to say something, I really do think that we have gone too far the other way in not saying enough, and that the descriptiveness of the old writers awakens something within me that drives me to savor moments and thoughts in a way that is becoming exceedingly rare. I'm afraid there is an awareness and a sense of living that is becoming extinct in out modern hurried world because we are loosing the ability to describe our lives even to ourselves.
What do I mean? Here is an example.

EXAMPLE 1
Quote from Sea Wolf: "...the poor wretch was weeping again over his misfortunes. Less difficult was it to guess whom he hated than whom he did not hate. For I had come to see a malignant devil in him which impelled him to hater all the world. I sometimes thought that he hated even himself so grotesquely had life dealt with him, and so monstrously. At such moments a great sympathy welled up within my, and I felt shame that I had ever enjoyed his discomfiture or pain. Life had been unfair to him. It had played him a scurvy trick when it fashioned him into the thing he was, and had played him scurvy tricks ever since. What chance had he for being anything else than he was?"


Modern interpretation: "OMG, he's such a douche bag. But I kinda feel sorry for him. He's still
a bastard tho.

EXAMPLE 2
Quote from Sea Wolf:  "As for myself, I was oppressed with nightmare. The day had been like

some horrible dream.  Brutality had followed brutality, and flaming
passions and cold-blooded cruelty had driven men to seek one another's
lives, and to strive to hurt, and maim, and destroy.  My nerves were
shocked.  My mind itself was shocked.  All my days had been passed in
comparative ignorance of the animality of man.  In fact, I had known life
only in its intellectual phases.  Brutality I had experienced, but it was
the brutality of the intellect--the cutting sarcasm of Charley Furuseth,
the cruel epigrams and occasional harsh witticisms of the fellows at the
Bibelot, and the nasty remarks of some of the professors during my
undergraduate days.

That was all.  But that men should wreak their anger on others by the
bruising of the flesh and the letting of blood was something strangely
and fearfully new to me.  Not for nothing had I been called "Sissy" Van
Weyden, I thought, as I tossed restlessly on my bunk between one
nightmare and another.  And it seemed to me that my innocence of the
realities of life had been complete indeed.  I laughed bitterly to
myself, and seemed to find in Wolf Larsen's forbidding philosophy a more
adequate explanation of life than I found in my own.

Modern interpretation: "The most f-d up day of MY LIFE! What is the world coming 2?!? Am totally freaked out.

Do you see what I mean? Sure there are a million faster ways of getting the point across, but you loose so much of the nuance, and the moment when you strip it down to the bare bones. Things, thoughts and people loose their uniqueness when they are condensed. We take complex situations butcher them into brief phrases, incomplete sentences, sometimes down to singular letters even! and then try to pass them off as descriptions of reality. And I don't like it.

I guess it is just a matter of preference, but I for one would rather think and feel in many words, in specific ones that might be long or not as long as they are accurate. Words that bear proof of the many and lengthy thoughts that proceed them and bore them onto the page to become a physical reality of what once was only energy.

Modern interpretation: Twitter sucks.

"Cause I'm in Hawaii...

So I haven't posted in over a week. Most of you know it's because I've been in Hawaii on vacation. And it was awesome! I'd have written a few blogs except that I was taking a break from "regular life". And as much as I love to post my thoughts on the Internet, I thought maybe it would do me good to take a break from writing as well.
I was surprised at how hard it was not to write. Over the past week I have come to realize that I actually think in writing. What I mean is that when I process thoughts in my head now they sound like...well, like what you are reading right now. I fall asleep recounting my day as though it's a newspaper article. I don't think I've gone a week without writing something since I was 12 years old, so I never noticed it before.
But I did make a list of things/thoughts I wanted to write about once I got home (ha ha...). But instead of bombarding you in one fell swoop with a weeks worth of my brain working, I've decide to post at my leisure all the things I wanted to tell you all about, and I might even post them in the present tense, seeing as how that's the context in which I composed them in my head. So my "Hawaii" posts may well extend through the end of the month, and be intermixed with whatever else I find to write about. Anyway, I just thought I'd warn you. ALOHA!

Trouble in Taco Town

So over the past week I have read three separate articles concerning strange crimes committed at three different Taco Bells nationwide. It's quite the coincidence, and also made me think twice before rushing out to satisfy my mystery meat craving.
The first story is about a man who handcuffs himself to coworker in a last ditch attempt to get her to date him. When she (obviously) started freaking out and screaming for help he uncuffed her and drove home, only to be arrested there an hour or so later
The second story is about a drive thru person who forgot to put hot sauce in with one mans order. So what did the customer do? He went back, with a shotgun, and demanded that the employee correct the mistake. He also was arrested.
And the last story is about a guy who called 911 while at Taco Bell. When asked what the emergency was the man explained that the employees wouldn't serve him at the drive thru because he wasn't in a car. When asked why he wasn't in a car the man replied that he was too drunk to drive. He was also arrested and charged with misusing the 911 emergency system.
And there you have it. I tell you, strange things are afoot at Taco Bell...strange things indeed.

Birthday Quilt

Quilt made out of my favorite old T-shirts

So one of my projects a few weeks back was to attempt to make a quilt out of t-shirts for my little brother. I'd been thinking about it since before last Christmas, and had been saving all my favorite t-shirts for the past ten years, and finally I decided I just needed to get it done. It was an experiment, since neither of us has any quilting experience, and a bit of a challenge as well because no two shirts seemed to stretch or sew the same. I wisely enlisted the help of my mom (who has way more patience than I am and doesn't start swearing when we have to undo something sewn backward or upside down.) And we were able to get the whole thing done in one (long) day!

Manny and Eddie Jr. modeling quilt:)

Quilt in it's new home in Coldfoot AK (Photo by Jason Smith)

Not only that, but it survived the long journey north to Coldfoot Alaska, and arrived in time for my little bro's birthday last week!

Week 2: Packers vs. Panthers

I found out yesterday afternoon that the BF would have to work today. So while I was excited for Game Day I was pretty bummed by the idea of having to head out to the bar this morning solo (because they weren't playing the game on network TV here, and we don't have the Sunday Ticket). It's one thing for the two of us to go, but being one half of the Los Gatos Packer Nation, and having to face three hours of drinking alone in a bar, I was less than excited. Then around bedtime last night I had an epiphany. My gym gets Direct TV (and since the Ticket is now free...grrrrrr) I decided to head over there and watch the game. There are 5 flat screen TVs, and when I got there one was available. The kicker is, that there is no sound except for the headphone jacks in the various cardio machines. And the bigger kicker is that the sound doesn't turn on unless you are moving on the machine!

So I traded my awesome Woodson jersey and a few brewskis for my sweats, a bottle of water and THREE HOURS on the eliptical machine....I am exhausted! And I think I scared my fellow gym members at least a couple times when a big play happened, and I forgot that I was in a gym and not in my living room. Surprisingly I only almost fell off the machine twice. And that was because I was trying to watch the game...elipt or whatever it's called so I could hear it, AND text game highlights to my BF as they happened. I dare anyone else to attempt such a feat and stay upright.

Anyway, getting to the game.

Carolina's opening drive was long, and more importantly they scored. I felt like I was moving faster than the Packers secondary was, and the lack of a pass rush was ridiculous, especially since the Panthers have no running game. The D line did well, I thought (which is why there was no run game) but the secondary was slow, and (in my opinion) played too far back, and gave up on hitting Newton too quickly when they blitzed, giving him way too much time to find an open receiver.

That being said, when they came out after halftime, I don't know who said what in the locker room, but the defense finally began acting like the Super Bowl champs they are. Woodson got two interceptions and a fumble recovery, suddenly the secondary was batting down passes, and getting all up in Carolina's face. And when you are dealing with an offense that has no running game, it's a very successful strategy. The injury to Nick Collins was the only bad thing that happened on the Packers defense the whole second half. I sure hope he's OK. It didn't look good, but he waved as they carted him off. 

The offense was pretty good I think. Again I like the no huddle. I wish they would have run it more in the second half, but I realize it becomes a clock issue at some point, and I am not football savvy enough to know when and why you'd opt not to use it (unless you are behind). And I have to say that while it wasn't a huge passing game, I thought that had more to do with the Carolina defense playing well, rather than the Packers offense playing poorly...although Rodgers did have a really bad drive in the third quarter, where his passes were a little off. Anyway, Starks had a good game, one 40+ yard rush, and Grant did OK too. Kuhn dropped a pass in the end zone, but took one in for the TD on the next play. Jennings didn't catch a lot of passes (or Rodgers fault than his) but scored. Donald Driver broke James Lofton's record for franchise passing yards, and Finley had some nice consecutive catches. Over all, a solid performance. The one (?) sack on Rodgers was a missed block by tight end Tom Crabtree, and so while that's not great, it wasn't a O line problem.

And finally, I don't know if special teams improved or if the Panthers special teams really suck but I thought they did way better this week (except for the Cobb fumble). 

The first quarter really threw me for a loop. But other than that the team over all played well I thought. Some might argue that three quarters out of four isn't bad. But in the NFL, I don't think that's the case. I'm not sure why the D had such a slow start, but I think they will have plenty of material to look at before we take on the Bears next week. As for the offense, I think their big task will be to find a way to keep Julius Peppers away from Rodgers.

Scariest Dudes in Football

Here are my top six scariest guys in the NFL.

CLAY MATTHEWS

Talk about a beast! I don't think I could pick up one of his humongous arms with both of mine. And his warrior stance/ battle cry after a sack is so thoroughly terrifying that I have to fight the urge to shout uncle and surrender my troops even though I don't have any. He's like the Barbie version of the Incredible Hulk. Scary, but strangely beautiful too. If there was even the possibility of there being a sequel to the movie 300, he would totally be in it, and unlike Gerard Butler I don't think he'd need the other 299 guys or have to do much acting.

JAMES HARRISON

It's his eyes. He's like Medusa and car headlights all rolled into one. Just a glance and you are too terrified to move. Your blood turns to ice and the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up and your brain starts screaming "Hide!Hide!" but you can't because your feet have turned to stone and you are rooted to the spot. And that's just how he makes me feel when he's on TV.


NDAMUKONG SUH

Here.

Not here.

This guy is tough, possibly the toughest in the NFL, and boy oh boy can he be scary! When hes lined up on the line of scrimmage just the slightest furrow of his brow is threatening enough to make me want to roll over, fall off the couch in my living room, and play possum. I've seen him throw a couple punches too, and I'd rather hit my head against a brick wall than be on the receiving end of his wrath. But then when he smiles it's like looking at a different person, and you have to fight the urge to give him a big ol smacker right on the cheek (as the seal above has demonstrated). He's like Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde, and you never know what you will get. One minute he's a prize fighter, the next a giant cuddle bug (don't tell him I said that or he might punch me).


TAKEO SPIKES

Even when he smiles, he scares me. Some guys just ooze toughness, and he is one of them. I bet he's looked mean since the day he was born. He was probably the only baby in history who could make a little blue cap and diaper look badass. And he is such a beast on the field! I wince when I see him line up for a play.


TAKEO SPIKES NECK
Normally I would include a person's neck along with the rest of their body, but in this case I feel compelled to make an exception for several reasons. 1.) It's size. I think it's actually bigger than his head. It probably weighs in somewhere between a decent sized sixth grader and a petite woman, and therefore I believe it should be treated as a separate person.
2.) His neck doesn't need the rest of his body to strike fear into your heart. Just one look at it sitting there doing nothing, and I am terrified into awe.
3.) His neck makes him the singular player that is almost more terrifying from the back. You see him  on the field with a helmet on and you think "Hey why is that guy wearing an inner tuber around his...wait...OH MY GOD THAT'S HIS NECK!!"


BRETT KEISEL

To be honest it's not so much him that I find scary, as it is his last years Super Bowl beard. I could barely tell there was a face under there. He had to bobby pin his mustache to his sideburns just to take a sip of Gatoraide.  For all I know he's a robot covered in hair. It's that hard to tell. The Secret Garden, or Jimmy Hoffa could be lurking in there somewhere, and we'll never know. And when he stuffs his beard into his chin guard that looks like a pair of tighty whities, and the hair sticks out everywhere well....let's just say the mental image is enough to make me turn tail and run. I would rather be humiliated on television in front of the world than be within tickling distance of that beard.

Glowing Kittens

Glowing Kittens! (image from discovermagazine.com)

        Well, it was only a matter of time before scientists "made" kittens that glow as well as puppies. These adorable little guys are being used to study feline HIV (which apparently can also infect monkeys). The virus was inserted into the eggs of the mother to see whether the kittens would be immune to feline HIV afterward. In order to tell if the virus actually made the transfer it was tagged (i.e. inserted into the virus) with a bioluminescent gene from jellyfish that would glow under a black light. The 'glow' was used to confirm that the virus indeed made it into the kittens, which is obviously a necessary control on the experiment. Isn't that ingenious? Oh science, you've done it again!

The Croswell Stockyards

Some of my best memories of living in the Cros-Lex area of Michigan was going to the stockyards on Monday mornings. On any given day you could find anything from live goats for $25 (Which, you becha, I tried to buy.  But my parents shot me down even after I talked the sellers down from $30! Their reason was something about not being allowed to have hoofed animals in the suburbs of Detroit, or some such nonsense.) to mint condition original Star Wars action figures still in the box (these we were allowed to take home.) This past visit back to Mi, we stopped in to check it out. It looked exactly the same, with many of the vendors in the same spots they were when I was fifteen. And so my first time to the stockyards, in probably 5 or six years, did not disappoint. Here are just a few treasures that would have been mine, had I not to fit them in a suitcase and haul them back to Cali:

ALF!!!!

Giant box of saws.

Oakland Raiders fan gear.

Piggies! ($50 each)

Local tomatoes...yummm!

Very worried cow.

Dog sled.

Gifts for my enemies...

Vegan for Dinner

My first vegan dinner!

On my trip back to Michigan I was treated to my first vegan meal ever by my brother. And I learned three very important things:
1.) Being vegan is not contageous.
2.) Contrary to popular thought eating a dinner without meat won't kill you.
3.) Vegan meals can actually taste good!

Mixing the dough

He made something called saitan, which is pronounced "Satan" (and was pretty much who I thought would be the mastermind behind a meal that contained no meat or dairy products of any kind). Saitan is a flour and water mixture which becomes spongy  in consistency that is then boiled and takes on the flavor of whatever is used to season the water. Then you fry it in a pan in bacon grease and...just kidding:) You fry it using some olive oil and soy sauce.We used it to make a stir fry and it took the place of chicken or steak.
It was a simple recipe, and although it didn't taste like meat per se, it had a fried noodle taste to it that I found to be really quite good. And it filled me up. I don't know any vegans beside my brother, but if I did I would totally make this dish again!

Frying it up

While I'm not sure that I'd ever have it in me to give up meat entirely, I have definitely had an epiphany in terms of the possibilities of vegan cuisine, and would be very interested to try it again. It seems to be pretty tough to eat vegan, especially out in restaurants, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to have a good meal, especially at home. And it really makes you think about how much we use other animals, their unfertilized offspring and their milk in our everyday cooking. Considering the sheer number of animals necessary to support such a diet as ours there is definitely a point to be made about the process by which these animals and the products made by them end up on our dinner table. I think that is why most vegans are vegan, because of ethical concerns related to the exploitation and quality of life of the creatures that eventually become our dinner. If anyone has anything they'd like to share concerning this topic, I'd be very happy to post it in the main body of this blog for others to read!

Tornado? Or Not?

Fallen Tree 

While at home in Michigan for the Labor Day weekend, there were three things I wanted to accomplish (besides visit with family) The first was go out on the boat, the second to enjoy a good old fashioned thunder storm, and the third was to visit the biggest Christmas store in the world.
Well, the thunderstorm did happen, although it got a little rougher than I was hoping. We'd been on the boat all afternoon, but decided to call it a day when some dark ominous clouds presented themselves on the horizon to the west. We'd been home for about an hour, and I'd just made a cup of coffee, when the thunder began. My dad and I opened some windows that faced north so we could look out and really take in the storm.

Top of tree on cottage

It happened so quickly it's a little hard to remember exactly what happened. It started pouring rain. Not gently but buckets. Then it the wind picked up and it was raining horizontally, from north to south right through the windows. And then it began to hail. It was then that Dad gathered us all together and we rushed downstairs. As we looked out the windows, the siding on the side of the building began flapping, and all sorts of things were being banged around outside. The boat that we'd just been on, was pushed by the wind on it's trailer about 8 to 10 feet away from the truck where it had been disconnected. The storm was really something to behold. The whole thing was over in about five minutes. It continued to rain and thunder, but not like before. We went outside to take a look around and noticed that some of the shingles on the roof were lifted a little, and that the fence on the side of the dumpster had blown down. Several fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles zoomed by, most of them going down the streets just behind us.

Tree on camper

Afterward we went to check on my grandmother and uncle, and saw the downed trees, including one that fell on a cottage, that littered the neighborhood. Thankfully no one was hurt. The storm and the damage was limited to about a quarter mile around where we were. I don't know for sure if it was a tornado, but it was definitely the closest thing to one I have ever experienced.