Monthly Archives: May 2011

May 30, 2011 · 11:59 pm

Time To Cry Tuesday – It’s only a car (sort of)

For those who have been following along our road to mechanical breakdowns, I am sorry to report we had a true casualty this week in that department. No, not the ill-fated time capsule, that was replaced and it had no real sentimentality surrounding it. You could say it was strictly utilitarian.

But the Jeep… well she was almost part of the family. Bought used and giving us enough headaches over the years to be deemed a child of sorts, we loved her just the same in spite of her short-comings. She sat in the driveway on Jana’s 17th Birthday with one of those huge red ribbons on the hood like they use in commercials. It was that very day that she pulled out of the driveway with Gary screaming ‘Wait!’ for no apparent reason other than she was 17 and pulling out of the driveway unaccompanied. (certainly valid). She trekked the wilds of the Adirondacks for a couple of summers, filled with Jana’s camp friends who grew to love her as we did. 

Danny sort of half inherited/half shared her with his sister. Truth be told he was never all that thrilled with her although he did refer to her affectionately as ‘the go-cart’. I think he always felt a white Jeep was a test of his masculinity but he comes from the beggars can’t be choosy school of life and knew better than to complain too much about having his own wheels. And after all, he was the last to see her ‘alive’.

I know she was only a car, but like everything over the past few years of kids growing up, this is simply another melancholy moment of letting go of what we have grown accustomed to. The sight of that truck parked next to the house with its University of Wisconsin decal felt so very much like home. It felt like my kids. It gave them wheels, and wings and a sense of responsibility and freedom at the same time. So maybe it is only a car… but only sort of.

We will probably have some sort of ceremony for her when we are all back under one roof at the end of this week. The end of an era of sorts. She surely deserves that much respect.

And now? Well, now we need another car but we surely do not need another car payment. Funny how that happens.

RIP White Jeep Liberty. Thanks for the years of loving service.

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May 29, 2011 · 11:06 pm

Hangover Part 2

There is a good chance that I have the same sense of humor as an adolescent boy. Actually, I take pride in that.

Tonight we saw Hangover 2. If you read any of the reviews you would know that it is pretty much identical to Hangover 1 only this one has a monkey. AND, it doesn’t matter because it is still hysterical. I laughed from beginning to end.

Not one to ruin a good film I will just give you these thoughts:

1. I want a monkey.

2. I will only give away one funny line: Zach Galifianakis’ character refers to himself as ‘a stay at home son’. (he kills me, he delivers every line perfectly)

3. Slapstick, sight gags, and outrageous behavior will always be funny.

4. No matter what role Paul Giamatti plays he still seems like he is playing the same guy.

5. Bradley Cooper will always be hot (except in Wedding Crashers – did he have work done?)

If you liked the first movie, you will still like all the same schtick in a more exotic setting.

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May 26, 2011 · 11:38 pm

We do breakdowns in a big way

Apparently the mechanical things in my life did not get the memo that the world did not end this week. Here is a little overview of what has been going on here since Monday.

1. Fax machine rings but the line defaults to static and will not connect.

2. Line 2 (biz line) becomes pure static when line 1 rings… only at certain times of the day. Apparently the phones were jealous of the fax getting all the attention. (as the child psychologists used to tell us ‘negative attention is still attention’

3. My time capsule decided to stop accepting my back ups on Monday. Brought it to the genius bar… geniuses could not revive it. Had to buy a knew one only to find out I left my wallet home. Back home, got wallet, back home again… time capsule will not connect to the internet. Half hour with internet provider tech help (nice guy), another half hour with apple tech help (another nice guy) and up and running. Time capsule would not accept back-ups – isn’t this where I started off with $300 more in my pocket? Eventually got that going – this was at 3:00 when I began my days work.

Are we having fun yet? Oh, not nearly enough!

4. Enter the picture above and the backstory. Danny went to work today to help Gary out. Such a nice boy – oh, and he was being well paid. Phone rings around 6:30. ” Mom, the car just died in the middle lane of the LIE.” Oooooo, that’s NOT good. After stressing under no circumstances should he get out of the car, I called AAA to find out he is not on the account. Pay $25, set up the highway patrol and a tow and meet him at the gas station.

Could they have found a bigger truck?

5. Oh, how could I forget… as I was leaving I forgot something in the house and stopped the garage door in mid close position… where it decided to remain. That’s right, you can find me at home tomorrow waiting for the call from the mechanic for the car and the repair guy for the garage door opener.

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May 26, 2011 · 12:13 am

What do Jesus and Sushi Have in Common?

Tough question, right? I am sure you are squinting at the details of the back of this car trying to find the answer. Disclaimer, no religious disrespect intended, I am just a lover of parody.

I came across this little gem of a Subaru in the supermarket parking lot. At first glance I thought, wow, this is one religious dude. On second glance I saw that this guy was hysterical. A closer look at the left side and I saw this:

Classic Jesus fish, or Ichthys. Not  so classic Sushi fish.

Panning  to the other side of the car I found these little gems of religious parody:

The ever popular Vegan fish. The FSM fish (I will get back to that one) and the completely irreverent Theory of Evolution Darwin fish. In the center was simply an empty fish. I think that one was trying to stand out. Or perhaps it was the void of religion in contrast to the other parody of religion types. Nonetheless they all clung proudly to the back of the trusty Legacy.

I had to do a little Googling on FSM and here is what I found. This stands for Flying Spaghetti Monster. Here is what Wikipedia served up for me on this.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the parody religion[1][2] the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism.[3] In 2005, Oregon State physics graduate Bobby Henderson wrote an open letter about a “Flying Spaghetti Monster” as a satirical protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public schools.[4] In the letter, Henderson parodied the concept of intelligent design by professing belief in a supernatural creator that closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs. Henderson further called for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism to be allotted equal time in science classrooms alongside intelligent design and evolution. You can read the rest here. (totally worth the click to see the artwork on that page)

In closing, all I can say is this whole thing only cements the idea that I MUST meet the person who drives this car.

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May 25, 2011 · 12:23 am

Dog Casual

It has been a while since you have seen Mel and I know she has a lot of fans out there. To answer some questions that arise when I post a picture like this:

Does she ever jump out? No, would you?

Will I adopt you? Maybe, but I am pretty sure you won’t like the kibble we feed her.

Do I pose her like that? No, she is a natural.

Is she sad in this picture? No, she makes that pathetic face to get attention.

Is she available for photo ops? Sure, I will tell her agent you are interested.

Ahhh, the life of a dog.

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May 24, 2011 · 12:47 am

Time to Cry Tuesday – Elvis Costello

Alison into Red Shoes into Purple Rain into Pump it Up into Peace Love and Understanding.

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry, I will explain. If you get it… well, you just get it.

That first line was the set list from the second encore of Monday night’s Elvis Costello concert at the Beacon Theatre. For those of you who usually leave before the second encore to beat the crowd/traffic/whatever (you know who you are – ahem, Dr. Jimmy), you would have missed, hands down, the best part of the show. For the record I called 3 of the 5 songs before the set. (not Purple Rain… that was a great wild card).

I fell in love with Elvis Costello right around the time I met my husband. Much of his early music is the soundtrack of our first years together (I know… awww). One of our first concerts was Elvis at the Eastman Theatre when he stood under severe lighting in his Buddy Holly glasses and his angry young man stance. He was raw and full of energy and we could not get enough. That began a long standing love affair with his music as we followed his evolving career.

Tonight, he was the master entertainer. A man that loves what he does and makes you love him for it. You can see that he is having a blast up there and he wants to make sure everyone else is too. Half way through the show he had managed to melt away a rainy New York Monday for everyone in the theatre. Again, we could not get enough.

Music has a way of changing your mood, bringing back a moment, making you remember to FEEL (yes caps). It is the single easiest way to get an attitude adjustment and remember just what really makes you happy.

Thank you Elvis, for making this much more than another rainy monday in May.

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May 22, 2011 · 10:20 pm

Elmo and The Rapture 2011

Well folks, May 22, 2011 and we are still all here. Guess that end of the world thing did not work out all that well. Sorry to all of you who spent all your money, told your boss to F off or blew off doing your homework. Looks like you will have some explaining to do.

I don’t know if this was some sort of sign, but today at a local shopping area I came upon this little lost Elmo. All I could think about were the poor parents whose kid dropped this. My son, on the other hand said, “Hey that looks like a Elmo Jesus.” Of course I stopped to take the picture and send it to my daughter who texted back, “I thought it was an Elmo Jesus.”

Seriously, sometimes I think these two kids are the same person!

Could this be some sort of Muppet dogma? Is the world not coming to an end but now we will be forced to worship Snuffleupagus till the end of our days?

Is this post more absurd than my usual ones?

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May 18, 2011 · 10:44 pm

Can Glass Cleaner Bring You Happiness?

I am not sure where to start with this one. First, I am thinking that I should not use this product because it is a ‘Limited Edition’ and it might become a collector’s item and be worth something in the future.

Really? Limited edition glass cleaner?

But what blows me away is that this bottle of windex is making the claim that happiness is just a spray away (exclamation point). What makes me mad is that they left the word ‘is’ out in front of ‘just’ so it reads:

Happiness

just a spray away!

No comma, no ‘is’, just a really poorly written sentence.

So how did this product happen. Product manager walks in the room and says I think I know how to spread happiness to consumers across the land. And since this is such a huge claim, let’s make it a limited edition.

Because, you know, it’s hard to sustain happiness.

Ridiculous! (but not going to lie, I really like the crystal rain smell and I am sort of happy when the glass table is clean)

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May 17, 2011 · 12:42 am

Time to Cry Tuesday – Morgridge Pledge: Graduates and Giving

There is nothing like the thrill of watching your first born cross a stage to receive their diploma at college graduation. You can pretend that it is all part of the parental experience and not such a big deal, until arena fills and the band starts playing and you see all those decorated caps and sea of gowns and realize, wow, that is my kid in that crowd of graduates. She made it. We made it.

And then there is that moment when you think, What has she really learned? What has this place given her that will carry her through life? Not the academics or the GPA, but the real stuff. The things that will help her become the type of person she wants to be.

Enter the charming and playful John and Tashia Morgridge. John Morgridge, chair emeritus of the board of Cisco Systems, and Tashia Morgridge, a special education teacher who in retirement volunteers as a teacher for the learning disabled, have made a major impact on the UW campus through their giving.

We were so very fortunate to not only hear them make the commencement speech (together… how cool is that?), but to find out about a unique challenge that they put out to the graduating class. They have created a matching gift program.

The goal of their new pledge is for 15 percent of the Class of 2011 to make a gift. That would be 975 students from among the 6,500 graduates. Through Dec. 31, the Morgridges will match gifts ranging from $20.11 to  $120.11 to support a graduate’s college, school or department, or the university at large. Pledges can be made online here.

As I heard them encourage this class to give back to their Alma Mater I realized that THIS is that impact I as thinking of. Highly successful Alumni not only giving back, but teaching the next generation how to do so as well. Leading by example and most importantly making the ability to give accessible by keeping the donation amount low, then doubling its impact with the matching pledge.

Brilliant.

Thank you to the Morgridges, for both being such avid supporters of UW and the added bonus of teaching this generation how to follow your example.

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May 15, 2011 · 12:55 am

You know you are in a college town when…

I found this to be a fairly impressive list for an establishment that served blue drinks out of fishbowls. One of the grandma’s (not our family) that joined us with the grads at the bar told us never to drink blue drinks because you will inevitably find yourself face down on the table.

Good rule. Sage wisdom.

I particularly like bullet number 3: No sagged pants or shorts (must cover your underwear/Above your ass)

Classy joint!

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