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Friday, August 30, 2002 Like a Bat Out of Hell At first it sounds like a bad dream: Bat-Man: The Musical! But don't change that bat-channel yet, friends! The music and lyrics are penned by Jim Steinam, he of Meatloaf fame, and of such songs as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Making Love Outta Nothing at All". And the Broadway show will be directed by Tim Burton!. 'Nuff said, true believers! Excelsior! ------------------------------------------------
I'm Melting! I'm Melting! In microwaving my lunch I have apparently turned the plastic containers that hold the barbecue sauce and their lid into a solid mass of plastic filled with barbeque sauce - kind of like culinary bubble wrap. Now I need to discover how to breech these with plastic silverware...and keep my clothes relatively clean. ------------------------------------------------
Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me? I was an idiot when it came to picking a retirement plan when I started to work for the University. Granted, it was three hours into the orientation and I had begun to lose interest, and I was started to drown everything out in favoring of doodling. Especially when I heard that I would need to work six years before I was vested in the system. And so I missed the adviser telling me and the other new employees of the other options. and when I got the brochure detailing changes to the retirement System, I ignored it and threw it away. Thankfully, an email I got today clued me in that today was the last day to make changes. And I discovered that the retirement plan is not based on employee contributions - the University makes the contributions seperate from my paycheck. And, apparently, it appears I have been signed up for retirement all along (as I never made a different choice, I was defaulted into the generic system). So today I've decided to place all my retirement savings into stocks and funds. Bwahahaha. Hey, it offers the most potential return, it can be rolled over, and funds and stocks are cheaper right now, so I figured, why not. Clark Howard would be proud. ------------------------------------------------
Get Rich on the Internet I was looking at possibly getting a degree in graphic arts by taking classes online. I found that the Art Instutute Online does provide such a degree, but the cost is a whopping $1150 per class? I know the online classes are supposed to be on par with a real life class, but this is akkin to out-of-state tuition costs at UF! Egads! ------------------------------------------------
The Cat's Meow Also, check out Cat Scan.com This is modern art that I can support! ------------------------------------------------
Where are the Standards? Michael Bolton got a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! As Charlton Heston would say "Damn you all to Hell! You blew it up, didn't you? Didn't You?!" At least this will be balanced by Kermit the Frog getting a star as well. Go Kermit! Wait a second, Suzanne Somers is getting a Star too? Oh, the humanity! ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, August 29, 2002 He Ain't No Quaker! You don't know true fury until you have witnessed the unbridled force of Amish Rage III: The Shunning! ------------------------------------------------
Is Nikki McKibbin really Rocky Balboa?  There are many similarities... Rocky I: Rocky overcomes obstacles to fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Although he doesn't win, he proves himself a winner. Nikki I: Nikki overcome obstacles to sing for the American Idol. Although she isn't stellar this night and is in the bottom three, she proves herself a winner. Rocky II: Rocky once again vies for the title and this time beats Apollo Creed. Nikki II: Nikki Rocky once again vies for the title and this time beats Christina Christian. Nikki III: Rocky fights showy Mr. RJ and once again emerges victorious with the help of his gruff but lovable Burt Bacarach. Rocky III: Rocky fights showy Mr. T and once again emerges victorious with the help of his gruff but lovable Burgess Meredith. Rocky IV: Rocky is in the fight of his life with the ultimate killing machine - Drago, a Soviet superfighter with enormous strength. The underdog triumphs through sheer personal will as he gives the fight of his lifetime. Nikki IV: Nikki is in the fight of his life with the ultimate singing machine - Tamyra Gray, a Georgian superstar with enormous pipes. The underdog triumphs through sheer personal will as she gives the performances of her lifetime. Rocky V: Rocky loses everything - his cars, his mansion, and his Heavyweight Title. He returns to his old neighborhood, but gains the love and respect of his son. Nicky V: Nikki loses everything - her Ford Focus, her mansion, and her shot at AI. She returns to her old neighborhood, but gains the love and respect of her son. Not to fret! America loves the underdog and those who triumph when the odds are stacked against them. Just as Sly is currently shopping around for a studio to produce a Rocky VI, Nikki will be back. This time, perhaps in front of a band that will compliment and strengthen her vocal abilities. That's Brisk, baby. ------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 Sometimes People make me sick!
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Monday, August 26, 2002 Dancing Spock Parker nearly scared me to death last night - he was taking a bath and I was sitting next to the tub. I sat my back against the tub and was looking over my shoulder at him, then turned to ask Kristin a question. Parker stood up at the edge of the tub and proceeded to flip over the edge of the tub - I caught the slippery little guy upside down about an inch from the cheap vinyl floor. And he giggled - I think he got the impression it was a game! He found a lot of this weekend funny. Especially the plastic container top turned into a frisby. He thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Speaking of funny...  And I thought the audio alone was silly...watch Spock Sing AND dance! (click photo) ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, August 22, 2002 Hey Kids! Baked Chicken! Micheal just showed me a heat transfer photo of Aaron Carter given away as a prize - in a box of Shake & Bake?!? I guess you can market ANYTHING towards kids. ------------------------------------------------
Idol Controversy The viewing public threw the biggest curve ball last night by allowing Tamyra Gray to leave American Idol over Nikki McKibbin. Now, twelve hours later, the controversy hasn't died down. The reasons for the elimination are varied and all disturbing. Tamyra was voted off because she is black. The gay-bashers who hate Justin voted for Nikki to get him voted off. The show is rigged - by Fox, the sponsors, by show executives. Nikki supporters cheat by using high-speed modems to vote thousands of times. Overall it makes me sad. This show was supposed to be a pleasant summer diversion to watch 10,000 hopefuls sing their hearts out to garner a recording contract and a chance at a music career. It's been a afascinating ride, but the fans have taken it to a new level, one that in my opinion is not healthy. Rather than voting solely on talent, people are more wont to make personal attacks. Kelly haters call her fat (?!), rascists denounce Tamyra, gay-bashers pile on Justin (even though no one has ever stated his sexual orientation) and anti-Nikki groups call her 'gold-digging gutter trash'. Is this was the spirit of competition has become in America? It's pretty disgusting. I for one don't really care anymore who wins the competition. Each of the final three has a unique look, style, and vocal style. Some have more in one of these areas than the others. All of them have the potential to be big stars, depending on the material they are given, the coaching and studio support they receive. With the exception of Nikki, who needs a little more work than the others, they are all guaranteed to get some sort of reording contract. And even if they only get the chance to record one cd, they will get the chance to prove themselves then to be 'American Idols'. Heck, even those already voted off have the chance to do that in the wave of AI products coming soon! ------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 19, 2002 Coke Fiend Now they did it. They raised coke prices on campus from .85 to $1.00. It's bad enough Coke has a monopoly of the University, now they have to bleed us dry because of our caffeine addictions? Piracy, I tell you. ------------------------------------------------
Reparations I have heard a councilman from New York, Charles Barons, on talk radio and television twice in the last month, arguing for the case of reparations to African-Americans for slavery. Although the idea of reparations paid around the end of the Civil War seems, in hindsight, a logical response to slavery, I think it is impractical to ask the population of today to pay for these reparations. Many immigrants came to the United States after the Civil War, and had nothing to do with slavery. Barons argues that by immigrating to the U.S. they take on the responsibilities of that country and should therefore have to pay. Hw uses Reagan's payments to the families of Japanese interred during WWII as justification. One can argue that these reparations made more sense as both parties still had living participants in the situation. Barons argues that white people simply don't understand and are incapable of understanding...we can't even understand the humor or hyperbole in the statement "slap you into next Tuesday". I can understand your argument, Mr. Baron, I just don't accept it. ------------------------------------------------
They Break in Threes What a weekend! I finally got the lawnmower back. As it turns out, it had a clogged air filter. Who knew that mowers had air filters? Anyway, I mowed the yard for about thirty minutes when the engine suddenly died. When I tried to restart it, a jet of flame erupted from the engine! Undaunted by the prospect that the mower does indeed have a gas tank and potentially could be as lethal as a Ford Pinto, I attempted to start it again. Subsequent attempts led to a massive oil leak, which, the lawn mower repair man said later, "is not good". So the mower ended up back in the shop, and the lawn got another 10-15% done. The slowest mow in history. This morning, luckily, we were awoken by a lawn service cutting out neighbors lawn, with a riding mower capable of decimating a forest of pine trees. It made short work of the jungle that is our back yard. Of course, things always break in threes. We got the new memory for the computer, but apparently our OS cannot handle so much memory, so we will need to load Windows 2000 to use the memory. The home ethernet i still not working, apparently the long cable I ran from the living room to the office under the carpet is faulty. In addition, the Ethernet card in the old computer is dead. Finally, the keyboard plug for that computer broke, finalizing my desire to buy a new computer as soon as possible. Speaking of buying, we got out of the house early on Saturday to hit the garage sales. As luck would have it, we found an entire neighborhood of yard sales, approximately 40. We found a lot of toys for Parker, a few yards of fabric, a few cds (Paula Abdul for 25 cents), had some Samosas and cokes from a family of enterprising Pakistani and two Children (respectively), and saw a girl who was a dead ringer for Jennifer Keaton (Tina Yothers) from Family Ties. Curly blonde hair, studded belt three times two big, sequined shirt, everything! ------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, August 07, 2002 Swing, Baby, Swing And for all those Idol watchers who asked what does "Big Band music have to do with American Idol?" David Lee Roth's solo hit "I'm Just a Gigolo" is based on the 1920's hit "I Ain't Got Nobody". lt'n'Pepa covered "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" on one of their albums. Bette Midler has often covered 1940's songs throughout her career. Stray Cats "Rock this Town" and "Stray Cat Strut" reintroduced swing in the 80s and were big hits. Ditto for "Zoot Suit Riot" and "Jive and Wail" in the 90's. And Ricky Martin's "Vida Loca" is definitely influenced by the Big Band sound of Ricky Ricardo. And have any of you ever listened to the soundtrack for the "Mask"? Most of its music is based on big band music of the 40's, and it is AMAZING. If an artist does not have appreciation of musical heritage, their music will become real old, real fast. ------------------------------------------------
American Idolatry I can no longer suffer reading the opinion of those in the message boards of American Idol. It's getting down to diehard fans, who refuse to wee that RJ's voice is weak, Nikki is pretty average but not AWFUL as her detractors say, Christina's vibrato is an asset, not a detriment, and that Kelly has an amazing voice. Okay, so I have an opinion and can't stand to listen to theirs, especially since it never seems to be thought out farther than "He/She sucks!" Also, Big Band was an awesome theme for last night - just because you don't listen to it, don't make it crap. ------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, August 06, 2002 Hobbled Guess what? Newberry Brake and Tire doesn't have tires! False advertising or what? :) A replacement tire will arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I throw myself on the mercy of the car gods to fix all our vehicles. ------------------------------------------------
Crash While driving home last night, I was passed by two teens in a black truck - they accelerated so fast while passing they were peeling rubber. After getting in front of me, they proceeded to tail gate the minivan directly in front of me. Until an ambulance came from the other direction, prompting the minivan to brake and get rear-ended by the truck. I didn't stay to see what the aftermath was - after all, I was in the Honda (no a/c, August in Florida, must get home). However, while pulling back onto the road, I ran over the crash debris and punctured a rear tire. Figures. ------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 05, 2002 Making My Morning, Part 2 When ------------------------------------------------
Avoided the Booby-Trap When I got up this morning, Parker sat up, closed his eyes, and fell forward, fast asleep again. That made my morning. ------------------------------------------------
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Thursday, August 29, 2002 Today marked a milestone. I got Parker to sleep on his own today for a nap. No nursing, no rocking, no screaming. I knew he was tired but he was fighting it valiantly, so I put him in his crib, and pulled the crib over to the bed. I lay down next to him and try coaxing him to sleep using the Peaceful Planet Aquarium and tons of patience. Lots of touching and cooing and binky rescuing, but no picking up, nursing, real talking. Sure, it took a long, long time. Almost an hour. But .... he went to sleep ON HIS OWN!!!! NO CRYING!!! NO NURSING!!! NO DADDY!!!! Oh, there is finally justice!! ------------------------------------------------
I don't know what it is, but just when I start to get into some kind of routine around the house, Jeff decides to "help". I know he means well, but geeez!! Couldn't you at least ask before you mess up my system? I still love you, though ;). ------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 18, 2002 So, last Wednesday (August 14th) was my 29th birthday. I'm on the eve of 30 completed years. I am working towards that as we speak. I find it amazing how my life is pretty different than I thought it would be. I guess I never really considered it when I was younger. I mean, I wanted to be a wife and a mother, but I just don't think I really gave it any thought. I didn't realize that as a wife I wouldn't be able to just do whatever I wanted without considering someone else. I also didn't think I'd have a house, a lawn in desperate need of help, to have to think about cooking and grocery shopping, to worry about money on a daily basis. A lot of that comes from my upbringing. Although my parents may have a different take, I never really worried about us having enough money for things. The rigors of buying, owning, and maintaining a house didn't seem consuming. There were always meals on the table, and I don't recall my mom racking her brain at the grocery store to decide if we needed this or that, how much things cost compared to one another, and how exactly to cook things. It hasn't even been until recently that those thoughts have gone through my own mind. As a mother, I didn't realize the sleepless nights, the helplessness, the feelings of suffocation, and the amazing ability to handle practically any bodily function. I know many moms have this feeling of awe and joy with their child seemingly all the time. I hate to say it, but that is lacking several times here ... especially when he is screaming, crying, fighting sleep, or throwing food. All fully valid things for a baby to do. But not things I fully grasped. I know you can never be fully prepared for parenthood, and I remember why, when I was a teenager, I said I never wanted children. They are a ton of work. This is the most mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted job I've ever had. And it doesn't end. Oh, but to hear him laugh and to see him smile .... Money I think is the biggest concern of adulthood, and the one I feel the least adequate about. I don't consider myself to be materialistic, though I definitely was when I was younger. I do think about how I'd spend my lottery winnings often, and I am still known to look through a catalog and make a mental note of all that I would buy if money weren't an object. But it is, and it is a frightening one. The truth is, money is evil, and it can ruin people's lives. We are as dependant on it as we are on water. I worry that I won't be able to continue to stay home with Parker, but at the same time, I know we cannot possibly afford daycare either. I also worry about keeping the lifestyle we're in. Both Jeff and I were raised middle to upper-middle class, and I don't think we know really how to live less than that. We're working on it, because we have to. But we both keep thinking we'll find enough freelance work for him to do, or his job will get some amazing raise. And that's why I think reality is the cruelest part of adulthood. It is what makes you look at the price of gas and realize that your gas budget is about the same as your groceries and that there isn't a thing you can do about either. Makes me glad that I'm a wife, because I have someone else to share the responsibility and frustrations of adulthood and share the joys and trials of parenthood. And I'm glad I'm a mother, because I can look at Parker's innocence and know that he doesn't worry about the things I do .... yet. ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, August 15, 2002 Ack!! I'm so thrilled!! I finally caught up with Parker's online photo diary, and it is online now!! You can access it from this page if you are interested. I'm so excited! Twenty weeks of pictures and weekly summaries are now up. Please take a gander and leave comments below to let me know if you like what you see, especially the format. ------------------------------------------------
Friday, August 09, 2002 Cabinet Minister Parker is now fascinated with our kitchen cabinets. Jeff installed cabinet locks for the ones under the sink last night. I was hoping we could avoid installing them everywhere and reason with Parker to stay out of the cabinets ... I'm not so sure that will work now.  ------------------------------------------------
I'm Walking, Yes Indeeed The newest and most exciting new thing Parker has learned to do is .... WALK!! Well, he took his first steps last week, and is now up to 4 completely unassisted steps. It is so neat to see him toddle for that little bit, but also bittersweet because this is moving him from baby status to toddler. How did he grow so fast? ------------------------------------------------
Hey There I know I haven't written in a while, and there is a ton of stuff I need to catch up on ... I'll try to keep these missives as brief as possible, since a single day shouldn't have a ga-jillion entries IMO. My biggest problem is that with this layout is that when I do have to catch up, it often fills up a lot more space than it would (obviously) if each of us had our own page. Don't get me wrong, I like this layout, but I do see its flaws as well. ------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 04, 2002 Breastmilk Fights Cancer Prolonged Breastfeeding May Protect Against Childhood Leukemia ------------------------------------------------
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