OurGirl: Rockin New Year's Eve

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year, everyone! kick 2007 out on its ear. forget it! its time for fresh mistakes, fresh insights and fresh fruit. fresh fruit? oh yeh. i know your mad diet and exercise plan. i've been expecting you. i will see you wednesday, in the gym. you'll huff and puff next to me and the girl and we won't mind. you'll make us shiver in waiting for our turn at the shower stall and then we'll pester you for an electric plug. we'll keep this up until oh, about february. then me and my girl will have the gym to ourselves for the rest of the year.

'cause WE are serious. and this time, i actually am going to lose that weight. how am i so sure? oh please, A in Fiscal Management—need i remind you? because i totally can, you know. so sure am i that this doesn't even make my new year's resolution list, so here it is:

1. CONTENT OVERLOAD! oh, ive got the whole world in my hand with MY NEW IPOD CLASSiQUE! so completely sophisticated, this size of a cigarette case window to the universe can hold 80GB of content totally centered around BYRNE'S SENSE OF WONDER! i vow this year to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly download where many have downloaded before. itunesU? oh yeh! download the content, Scotty!
   
   
   
2. WRITE A WHITE PAPER. why not? See A in Fiscal Management
   
   
3. LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. probably spanish. i'm addicted to Coffee Break Spanish.com. i've already got the first ten lessons downloaded. i'm looking forward to practicing w/morgie, whose spanish is heavily accented with a heavy southern twang.
   
   
4. BLOG THE HARVEST, CRUSH AND FERMENTING MORE THOROUGHLY THIS YEAR. this is the second year in a row i didnt blog continuously throughout the year. ugh. that hurts. but i have developed a kick butt soundtrack for it through project playlist.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. FINISH MY VINEYARD BOOK IN TIME FOR MY HUSBAND'S BIRTHDAY. Shhhhh. he has no idea i've even started the book. i found a great online resource: blurb.com. this book is going to be awesome!
   
   
6. FINISH MY FIRST SAILOR VALENTINE. yeh. finally. three-four years ago, i was honing my skill and getting better and better. to the left is a little ditty i created a long time ago... then i stopped, cause the new job got in the way. no more! i'm gonna finish at least ONE this year. for the girl's high school graduation. sailor valentines info here.
   
   
7. SEE MY PARENTS MORE.
8. COMPLETE ONE WEE HOME IMPROVEMENT THING A MONTH.
   
9. BE A BETTER MOM.
   
10. BE A BETTER WIFE.
    

Adios Amigos and Amigas! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo a nuestros lectores fieles!*
*courtesy of babel fish translation

Morgan: Merry Christmas Blog!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Before the day was gone. And give Byrne the chance to craft a really fancy New Years Blog. I spent the holiday at home with the family. My Daughter came home from Rochester Institute of Technology and we caught up with her life. She's studying criminal justice up there and we are real proud of her.

The Boy on the other hand is another story...just kidding. The Boy received Rock Band for his Xbox 360 and we have been rocking out. Boy on guitar the Girl on Drums and me (Dear old Dad) on the microphone. Very addictive game, we had a lot of fun. I scored a 100% on Nirvana's In Bloom. Really difficult to describe how much fun this game is. Here is a video of the boy playing Foo Fighters, Learning to Fly on drums.

Developed by Harmonix, Rock Band is an all-new platform for gamers to experience music, giving players the chance to rock in the shoes of the biggest guitarists, bassists, drummers and singers of all time – as a solo superstar or as part of a hard rocking band.

Rock Band delivers four music games in one – challenging rockers to master lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals or play collectively as a whole band. Built on unprecedented deals with top record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band spans all genres of rock and includes many master recordings from legendary artists.

Rock Band songs :

1970s

• The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again" (master)
• Mountain "Mississippi Queen" (cover)
• David Bowie "Suffragette City" (master)
• Black Sabbath "Paranoid" (cover)
• Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper" (master)
• The Ramones "Rockaway Beach” (master)

1980s

• Rush "Tom Sawyer" (cover)
• Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive" (master)

1990s

• Nirvana "In Bloom" (master)
• Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline" (master)
• Weezer "Say It Ain't So" (master)
• Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly” (master)
• Metallica “Enter Sandman” (master)

2000s

• The Hives "Main Offender" (master)
• The Strokes "Reptilia" (master)
• Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow" (master)

The only bad thing is there is no Bryan Adams or Summer of 69. And there is NO Stairway to heaven...So lets not forget to say Feliz Complianos to Jesus Christo!

Speaking of JC, I ran across an interesting artist Mark Lawrence who paints contemporary art...with Bible Verse...don't ask. I thought you might appreciate the art if not the entreprenurial spirit. Amen.

Versevisions

OurGirl: WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

A
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A

AAAAh. At last. oh, that squeal of astonished excitement you heard at 10:30am, thursday?

ME.

i saw the email. i leapt out of my chair and bounded out of the cubbie—WWWEEEEEEEE!! an A, i got an A! A! A! A! —AAAAYYEEE! — with such enthusiasm that i slammed into walshie as he rushed back into the cubbie, alarmed something was wrong. i grabbed his shoulders—an A, WALSH! an A in FISCAL MANAGEMENT! "OH MY GOTTS" walshie yelled. my brother poked his head out of the cubbie and we exchanged the pat morita/ralph macchio acknowledgement:

i did it mr. miayagi! i did it! and my brother looked at me with pride in his eyes and nodded.

i think somewhere birds may have wept.

i dunno. something over the top.

its the cinderella story, the small town girl living in a lonely world taking the midnight train going anywhere, the never-been-kissed drew barrymore waiting on the pitcher's mound and then it happen! i wished and worked really hard for the a, but told myself the b would be fine. i know now what my husband felt when he went back to school. i appreciate anyone pursuing a higher degree. it ain't for babies or the fainthearted.

the relief is great. supposedly, this was the more challenging of the courses. i can attest that i thought it was a tooth-puller for a girl with a BFA. yeh, quit laughing. i admit, the last paper i wrote was in 1818 english, high school, circa 1982. HEY. really. that laughter is starting to hurt my feelings...

i am now 1/10 of the way there in the pursuit of my ultimate goal. we will see if i will be able to continue—i'm as cautious about the ability to finish as i was about this class. but i do know i am able to get in there, work hard and see it pay off. 5-7 page cost-benefit analysis paper? i'm your girl! what's next? bring it on!

HEY WALSH—MORGIE—check it out.
POST #69!
SENDING THIS ONE OUT TO YOU TWO.

Morgan: The Great Procrastinator

While Byrne draws inspiration from Gettysburg, I reflect on the great HBO mini-series Band of Brothers and think of how hard the Soldiers of the 101st Airborne fought against all odds. I recall one inspiring scene where Lt. Winters is leading his men across an open field in a bayonet fixed charge. He runs so fast he quickly out distances his men, climbing a steep dike he surprises a rather large contingent of German soldiers camped on the other side. He immediately opens fire and the sleepy Germans panic and try to flee, not realizing they have superior numbers. What results is described as a turkey shoot.

Another scene that is moving is during the Battle of the Bulge. Surrounded by a large counterattacking German Force, the 101st is tasked with holding the line. They dig into the frozen ground and with not enough ammunition or proper winter gear they do what they have to. Oh sure I'm sure there was a certain amount of bitching and griping, but that is every soldiers right. Facing bitter cold, fierce Germans, and a dismal Christmas, I can see them now hunkering down in their frozen foxholes peering through the dark trees...waiting. Persevering

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Shakespeare - King Henry V

Byrne was right when she described us as having our backs to the wall. Pressure mounting, we were faced with insurmountable odds...well at least I doubted my abilities to finish strong. Byrne is finishing up her masters degree and I was completing my last two classes. You see I have been pursuing my college degree for two-score years. While holding a full time job, working night shift at the Pentagon, fighting some of the worst traffic in America, and raising a young family may not be the same obstacles, they seemed daunting at times. I remember sitting in class pinching my hand, straining to stay awake when fatigue and sleep deprivation was sitting on my shoulders.

Entering this last class, Senior Seminar, I knew it would be my final challenge...it would take everything I had learned and the discipline of a Shaolin monk. It was to be an Online class. I prefer a normal face to face class, but this last class was to be fought in the virtual ethereal realm of the Internet. Upon reading the requirements I was stunned at the magnitude of what faced me. I felt like I was about ready to tackle Mt Everest with no equipment or Sherpas to help me. Damn! No wonder some people drop out of school with one class left...it was this class. For the first few weeks I treaded water, doing what was needed. I must have lost my focus or drive because by week four I felt myself drowning, and It paralyzed me with fear. I was going to fail. The paralysis only increased as the weeks went by. Why couldn't I just do what was needed. The time for withdrawing from the class was long gone and the Professor threw out another option of withdrawing with an incomplete. Was this how I wanted to go out? Finally in the last week something inside of me Clicked! I knew I had to complete this project for better or worse. It was OK to finish without complete mastery of the subject. I physically felt the need to finish what I had started 20 years ago. I sequestered myself in the basement surrounded by textbooks and shadows, and began the final push. Time was my enemy. The deadline loomed ahead of me getting closer and closer. I typed feverishly into the night, researching, rearranging, editing. I took off two days from work, unpaid. I could see the finish line right there on the horizon. I did finish. Printed my work and had it professionally bound, created a presentation and recorded audio defending my project and burned everything to a CD. Gathering up all the requirements I stuffed them into an envelope. I sat there stunned, my mind reeling thinking of what more I could have done. I hand delivered the package to the Professor that night. For a week I was petrified to look online for my grade. I felt my project was weak, could I expect a passing grade? What if I failed? Would I ever try again?

Tonight I logged on and went to the online grades...and there it was. A beautiful A.

I'm not sure whether to be ashamed it took so long or proud that I persevered and like a drop of water that never stops whittled away a mountain of courses to achieve my goal. I look back and with the gift of hindsight and think of everything I could have done differently, take more classes, study harder, try harder...and know that I did it my way.

OurGirl: I'll Fly Away

for some reason, as i read morgan's blog, this song was playing in my head. i've been singing it this week because, old glory, when your back is to the wall, simple sweet songs about rising above your tribulations is powerfully comforting. morgie and i both have the wild eye wary stare-ies about us, but its only for two more weeks. after that, to quote the movie "gettsyburg"

its in gawd's hands naw.

the good professors shall see we receive our just rewards, gentlemen. quick step, my morgan. lets give them the cold steel of our determination!

which, have you seen that movie? gettsyburg is a favorite of my husband and mine. we howl at martin sheen's hammy southern accent as he plays general lee:

General Robert E. Lee: [Lee holds up his hand to silence Stuart] Perhaps you misunderstood my orders? Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Well, sir... this must be made *very* clear. You, sir, with your cavalry, are the eyes of this army. Without your cavalry, we are made blind. That has already happened once. It must never, *never* happen again.

you have blinded, me, suh! blinded me! poor jeb stuart in that scene! even though its shot really dark, jeb's beard looks awfully pasted on. we giggle that there were so many faux beards in that film the prop department had run out of the good beards when they got to jeb and just threw something together to shoot the scene. we also cheer chamberlain on during pickett's charge:

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: [Chamberlain is addressing his junior officers before the Confederate assault on Little Round Top] Gentlemen... the 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York, and 16th Michigan will be moving in to our right. But if you look to our left, you will see that there is no one there. It's because we're the end of the line. The Union army stops here. We are the flank. Do you understand, gentlemen? We cannot retreat. We cannot withdraw. We are going to have to be stubborn today. So, you put the boys in position, you tell them to stay down. Pile the rocks up high; get the best protection you can. I want the reserve pulled up about 20 yards. This is sloping ground, it's good ground. If you have any breakthroughs, if you have men wounded, if you have a hole in the line, you plug it with the reserve. How are we fixed for ammunition?
Capt. Ellis Spear: Sir, I think about 60 rounds per man.
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: That's good. 60 rounds. I think - I... yes, that's adequate. Any questions?
Young 20th Maine Officer: Colonel... seems to me the fighting's on that side of the hill.
Older 20th Maine Officer: Yep. Seems to me that we're the back door. Everything's goin' on at the front door.
[all but Chamberlain laugh]
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: Well, gentlemen, that hill is steep. It's rocky. It's bare. To come straight up it is impossible. No. The Reb army is going to swing around. It's gonna come up through that notch right over there. It'll move under the cover of trees, try to get 'round the flank. And gentlemen... *we* are the flank. Gentlemen.
[he salutes, and all the others return it]
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: God go with you.

god go with us, morgie. we are the flank. we cannot retreat. we cannot withdraw. we are going to have to be stubborn today. arm your keyboards and write like the wind!

enCOURAGEment can be effective, but at times, nothing suffices like comfort. i think that's why i'm drawn to stripped down, hooky music like "i'll fly away." another song i sing sometimes is "how can i keep from singing?" sometimes i listen to bluegrass/gospel music. check out "geographical oddity" located in the right hand column.

but when i really need comfort i pull out frank sinatra & antonio jobim's gem from 1967. this isn't brash full of himself frank. this is the only frank i've heard that i like—a quiet, sincerely intimate, pared-down frank—and, the only frank i'm interested in. blame it all on jobim. frank does, complaining in the liner notes how jobim kept making him sing slower and slower. i'm glad frank caved and let it happen. there is only ten songs on this cd, but each fits into the other, hand in soft glove. in many songs, i feel like i can take on that persona and sing those songs like my own. in this recording, though, i always feel like this man is singing to me. like irving berlin's "change partners":

Must you dance
every dance
with the same fortunate man?
You have danced with him since the music began.
Won't you change partners and dance with me?

Must you dance
quite so close
with your lips touching his face?
Can't you see
I'm longing to be in his place?
Won't you change partners and dance with me?

Ask him to sit this one out.
While you're alone,
I'll tell the waiter to tell
him he's wanted on the telephone.

You've been locked
in his arms
ever since heaven-knows-when.
Won't you change partners and then,
you may never want to change partners again.

i hear it and i'm holly golightly—fabulously, desireably intoxicating and sophisticated!—and there are warm lips brushing my ear as the equally fabulously, desireably intoxicating and sophisticated! unknown man murmurs the song in my ear as we dance, of course!

darling, can you smell the estrogen? its perfectly palpable!

"You know what's wrong with you, Miss whoever-you-are? You're chicken. You've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, 'Okay. Life's a fact. People do fall in love. People do belong to each other.' Because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit, a wild thing, and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well Baby, you're already in that cage -- you built it yourself. And it's not bounded on the west by Tulip, Texas or on the east by Somaliland. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself."

Morgan: Tribute to Alexander Supertramp

Hang in there Byrne...I feel your pain. Life is hectic enough...all we got to do is hang on.

This weekend I went to see a movie by myself. "Into the Wild" Sean Penn's film adaptation of John Krakauer's book, the film is about a young eccentric man who disappeared, gave all his money to charity, had many adventures and eventually made his way to Alaska. I thought I was just going to see a backpacker movie, instead I got Christopher McCandless searching for truth and happiness. The movie was very well done changing time lines throughout and spectacular cinematography combined with an intriguing story had me hooked.
I was almost envious of Chris McCandless epic journey to Alaska. After graduating from Emory University in 1990 McCandless simply dropped out of society, hitchhiking across America, he became Alexander Supertramp. One part of me, would just love to throw the towel in and take off and follow in his footsteps...but thats not really realistic for me. I have obligations and family and I can't leave like that.

When I got home I started researching McCandless's life and was struck by many similarities between his life and mine. Chris would have been the same age as me, born a few months before me in 1968. He grew up in Annandale, VA where I lived for a few years. He graduated in 1986 (the same year for me) from WT Woodson HS were my son Chris now attends. He was on the cross-country team like me and was known for his endurance running. I don't know if he loved hiking or if it was a necessity for him, but he definitely appreciated nature and all its beauty. I have always dreamed of hiking Denali National Park and thats was Chris's ultimate destination also. I think Chris would have been the penultimate blogger...interweaving his philosophies and travels for the masses.

In 1992 he did just that, with little equipment he hike into the wild and for nearly four months lived in a remote part of the Denali National Park. He discovered an abandoned bus which he turned into his home. He was elated to be there. Inside the bus, on a sheet of weathered plywood spanning a broken window, McCandless scrawled an exultant declaration of independence:

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.
Alexander Supertramp
May 1992

But the elation was overwhelmed by the reality that he was starving despite meager success at hunting rabbits, squirrels, wild birds. He made one attempt to return to civilization but was thwarted by swollen rivers. During this whole time he recorded every thought and hardship in a terse journal. Sick from eating poisonous berries and weak from starvation he wrote his last words.

I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!

Then he crawled into the sleeping bag his mother had made for him and slipped into unconsciousness. He probably died on August 18,1992 ...113 days after he'd walked into the wild, 19 days before six hunters and hikers would happen across the bus and discover his body inside.

The following is an excerpt from Jon Krakauer's celebrated book Into the Wild, which originally appeared in Outside Magazine, January 1993

I don't have a deathwish and I don't think Chris did either...maybe its the Call of the Wild, or an insatiable wanderlust. Maybe its the yearning for true freedom and the release of all fetters of obligation. To give up everything and just go...

OurGirl: Once in a Lifetime

The Sphinx: He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions.
[the sphinx was played by edward james olmos in mystery men]

momentum of an object is defined as the the product of its mass and velocity.

an average working mother with two kids, one husband, a diminishing freelance business, a budding vineyard and a townie has decent momentum. she moves in sort of a straight-line and at a steady, constant pace.

for you physics fans, thats: P=mv

the average working mother had been operating under the fundamental law of nature, the law of conservation of momentum. the momentum of her closed system was constant and manageable.

One of the consequences of this is that the centre of mass of any system of objects will always continue with the same velocity unless acted on by a force outside the system. —wikipedia

when the average working mother with two kids, one husband, a diminishing freelance business, a budding vineyard and a townie then decides to take on a grad level course and then decides to write a white paper for an incredibly cool idea—well, bye-bye velocity.


this snail was the old me. my first question is: why is a snail trying to climb up a stick? then i thought of how hard i complicate my life, for no apparent reason, other than the sheer joy of exhaustion. fight the good fight! suck it up and go, snail, go!

lately, the inner snail in me has been feeling like this:


i got this image from
The little snail that could - Snails are faster than ADSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. —wiki

brings a whole new insight into snail mail. but it does make me think, "to what i am yoking myself?" right now, i'm thinking all that new knowledge i'm learning is sort of sitting on me as i'm struggling mightily towards the yummy green—here, lettuce. [for me, the metaphor would work just as well if the snail was struggling for cookies.] i want to check the box, MASTERS! but man, its weighing heavy on my velocity.

velocity is defined as the rate of change of position. It is a vector physical quantity, both speed and direction are required to define it. —wiki

in other words,


the density of my life is really getting to be a drag. heh. luckily, the class ends early december, at which point, the effects of the added displacement and approaching deadlines of time will diminish [am i getting this right? what am i thinking—i'm a graphic designer!] and my velocity will pick up.

until then, go snail, go!

Morgan: Mos Eisley Poker

"You ready to call it quits?", Byrne asked me today. Oh crap, I thought she's breaking up the blog. She wasn't mad, or upset with me for not blog responding to the last post...She just wanted to know what the hell I was waiting for, probably because she has so much to say. I'm back. I really don't have any response to the last post. Wierd. Must be that new stream of consciousness blogging. Vanilla Sky? ughhh. I do like Philip K. Dick - Genius. I had to read it six times to understand what you were saying, but I got it eventually. Doh! I'm a simple man.
So I'm going to write about my latest obsession...No not Second Life.

If, after the first twenty minutes, you don't know who the sucker at the table is, it's you. ~Author Unknown

Last night I went to the local Carlos O'Kelly's in Fairfax, VA for my weekly poker tournament with the Stars-n-Bars Poker League I really get excited for this weekly game. As you may know poker has been pretty big part of my life the last couple of years. I don't play for big money. I play for love of the game. It hearkens back to my caveman DNA and this incessant need to hunt. When I step into that smoky bar something primeval triggers inside of me. Not only am I hunting, but I am being hunted by my prey. I have to be very careful...and bold.

I sat down at my table and looked around at my opponents. After a few weeks of assessing my victims I feel as if I am beginning to see some patterns which I might be able to exploit. We were crammed 10 people deep around a little rickety fold up table of green felt. The odd assortment of people are something you might see at the Mos Eisely cantina on Tatooine (Star Wars Reference) There was the big friendly Joker to my left who plays really well...I need to be careful of him. Next to him was a little old lady with grey hair reading a library book...She's dangerous, need to be careful of her. The man beast sitting next to her was as big and smelly as Jabba the Hutt, his chair strained to hold him up as he greedily shoveled tortillas and salsa into his maw...he likes to raise big and bluff. On his left is a young hispanic boy with a shirt and tie on...looked like a a young fish to me. Next to him is a grizzled old man with no teeth anxiously shuffling his chips, and chain smoking Marlboros...Looks experienced, better be careful. A middle age woman in a Virginia Tech sweatshirt talks to another woman sipping a margarita. Better not underestimate those two. At the end of the table was a stranger in dark sunglasses and black clothes with long silver hair, he looked exactly like the intense actor Edward James Olmos with his pockmarked skin. Although I usually play tight in the beginning, I got involved in our first hand with this intimidating man as he tried to raise me off the hand with a thousand dollar bet...As I had top pair, I cautiously called. He frowned at me, I couldn't see eyes, but I could see his brow furrow in frustration. He threw half of his chips into the pot trying to scare me off...my heart beating, the adrenaline rush was overwhelming as I showed him my winning cards. I scooped up the huge pot...thinking, I may look like a scared chubby white guy, but you guys better watch out, because I...am...SPARTACUS!


BLOG-OID Alert!

Gallup suggests that blogs are catching on with web users and their online activities.

Their latest poll, who surveyed 1,013 adults nationally, found that:

• 73% of Americans who use the Web
• 87% use email
• 72% check news and weather
• 52% shop
• 52% plan travel
• 28% use instant messaging
• 23% participate in online auctions
• 22% view videocasts
• 22% download music
• 20% consult blogs at least "occassionally" and "frequently"

OurGirl: Anatomy of a Post

Note: scene contains obscenities



This was supposed to be a post where i talk about band aid approaches to life. the movie snippet is from vanilla sky. the character tom cruise plays has a group of experts working to restore the damages to his face. these damages done are largely due to tom cruise's character never fully participating in his own life—but instead, preferring to just sort of float on the surface of life and mutter sardonically about the obstacles and people in his life. here he totally flips out and is probably one of my favorite movie scenes. i think everyone has experienced that sense of helpless rage, the contempt for corporate/technical euphemisms, and the dawning sense of horror that maybe, had they just been a bit quicker, smarter, more empathic, or just more aware, this all could have been avoided.

as i write this, boy2 shoves two starbursts from halloween into his mouth. with a dreamy look on his face he softly, almost reverently whispers as he chews: "taste the rainbow. taste the rainbow."

i remember vanilla sky is based upon alejandro amenabar's abre los ojos and i do a search on wiki for the movie. my intent is to make an obscure reference so that my brother will grouse, "i dont know what to do with THAT." plus, remember my fondness for latin magical realism? oh, and by the way, they've made a movie about gabriel garcia marquez's love in the time of cholera. i will see that one.

boy2 now has my camera and he is spinning himself in a circle, randomly taking pictures as he spins. that's pretty cool. why didn't i ever do highly imaginative things like that when i was a kid?

on the wiki page, i see the spanish film's plot and themes are similiar to philip k. dick's Ubik. morgie loves philip k. dick. tom cruise starred in the minority report, another dick movie.

heh.

boy2 has now pestered me to take him to the farm at the same point his father has called me on the cell, asking me to come to the vineyard to help with post hole digging. evidently there has been enough blog post digging for content. it is time to take responsibility and act in my life instead of just floating and responding to my life in an online dream. and yes, before i realized that blogging was imitating cinema imitating books imitating life, i threw a little temper tantrum of my own and snapped would you give me five minutes of a free moment to just think and finish this task? which is a task about recording the events leading up to the temper tantrum.

open your eyes and taste the rainbow.

Morgan: Real Fear Relived

Princess Bride was such a great movie, with excellent writing. How can we ever forget the Cliffs of Insanity or Rodents of Unusual Size. I really loved the "bad guys" Fezzik, Vizzini and the sword fighting Inigo Montoya. Its hard to believe that movie is 20 years old and still delivers every time I watch it.

This weekend I took my wife and son to the movies for her birthday...we decided to see a horror flick based off of a graphic novel, 30 Days of Night I'm not a big fan of scary movies, well because I get scared. This movie was based in Pt Barrow, Alaska and the town was preparing for their annual 30 days of night. Unaware that a whole posse full of zombie like vampires was about dine on them. Without spoiling the movie lets just say cut off from civilization the town gets devoured except for a handful of survivors. I was nervous and tense through out the movie and my wife was clutching my arm and hand the whole time, she claimed she was cold.
At the conclusion we drove home and critiqued the movie on the way home as we usually do. It was then that my wife revealed how scared she really was. She had even contemplated walking out of the theater. She said she was clutching my hand out of fear and wanted to know what was wrong with her. Normally she has enjoyed horror movies, yet this movie scared her so much, and she was wondering why? Was it because she was getting older? Was the Movie really that scary?
I told her I thought it was the hopelessness of the (movie) situation and how it may have been difficult for her because she's always trying to protect her family, and the characters could not.
Not to mention Pt Barrow has got to be the most depressing place in the world to live.

She started remembering her harrowing experiences in 1980 trying to escape Vietnam aboard a coal freighter. She described how they were put into a 12 foot cargo hold with 300 others. There was a total of 5,000 people on the the ship and as soon as they got off the coast, the UN informed them to return to Vietnam, they would not be accepting refugees from Vietnam anymore. They were stuck, no one wanted them. They had nowhere to go. Living conditions worsened daily, she described how she had to climb out of the hold to get 4 ounces of dirty water every three days. While she would be climbing up the ladder people would be climbing down. Chaos reigned. People started dying from dehydration and starvation. Every time someone would die they would ring the ships bell and dump the body overseas. She still considers herself lucky.

Sorry I know I have talked about this before. I guess we wont be going to any more horror movies for a while...

OurGirl: EHPAAAAHHH!

Iñigo Montoya: You are using Bonetti’s Defense against me, ah?
Man in Black: I thought it fitting considering the rocky terrain.
Iñigo Montoya: Naturally, you must suspect me to attack with Capa Ferro?
Man in Black: Naturally… but I find that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro. Don’t you?
Iñigo Montoya: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa… which I have.

another life ago i fenced in college. at this point, usually someone asks, oh—what did you fence? did you ever get caught?

rim shot.

i fenced foil. it was one of those snap decisions i've made that ended up being the start of something really great. i think that whenever you have a immediate visceral reaction to something, you should not ignore that reaction, but act upon it immediately. i loved everything about fencing. i loved the drilling and the awesome legs that came from lunging up and down the gym. i loved the parry-riposte practice—the back and forth, quick-quick until someone's timing slipped and a hit to the chest would stop the drill. oh, and those hits. i loved, loved, loved holding a foil (italian grip), hearing salute, en-garde, fence and then starting that rhythm—that testing of each other with advancing/retreating, a feint or a quick beat attack. it was all about working the time and then striking with an off-tempo move—a disengage attack, a swift attack out of time or even a quick lunge, straight forward attack. and then, landing that sweet hit—sinking the pointy-end extension of your arm into someone's chest. satisfying? completely. utterly. satisfying.

the closest i get to that feeling now days is when my marine friend puts the arm guards on, holds his arms up either side of his head and allows my girl and me to wail away for a 60 seconds. that's our rest period and then we peel off the gloves and collapse into pushups or sprinting with kettle bells. hitting him as hard and rapidly as possible is very satisfying

but i digress from fencing.

often, when an experienced fencer lands a satisfying hit she/he exclaims, EHHPAHH! sort of a "it is there" expression. my second fencing coach, hassan, would shout: allah akbar! whenever he scored a satisfying touch. both of my fencing coaches were patient in their instructions, but during the drilling they would get bored at a certain point.They both would try this very tricky move where they would parry 7 my blade out and whip their blade back and out and over to touch a hit on my back. ugh. embarrassing. i learned to watch for the tell tale signs. it was hard to figure out a response to the parry. finally, one day, i figured out how to defend and then counter attack. Parry 7s are hard to carry off, so when i would see the blade start its vertical and across descent, the effective solution was to rip my blade up, pushing my coach's blade up and then quickly thrusting in to their belly. the defense worked a few times.

you should try it next time, to see for yourself.

Morgan: Civilian Life Observations

Riposte? What is that French? Am I supposed to speak french now? ahhhhh! Non. I refuse. I don't remember that rule. Now we got rules...great. Seems like we weren't supposed to blog about work either...but Byrne seems to bend that rule.

Lets talk about work. The hardest thing is dressing myself in the morning. After 21 years of military life and the utilitarian uniform which I was proud to wear, now I find myself staring at closet and scratching my head each morning. What should I wear? Khaki's or dockers. Should I tuck my shirt in or wear it out? Why are these pants so tight!
After much criticism from my wife for being a casual Jeans and T-shirt guy for so many years, I find myself trying to dress better, but its very difficult to cleanup this farm boy. I find myself wishing for a fashion makeover. Then there is my local dry cleaners who seem very adept at shrinking all my shirts so small I can barely squeeze into them.

My Commute is a blessing...decreased by third of what I was driving this last year. I thank God every day my commute is so short! about thirty minutes both ways. Sometimes I even have time to stop for coffee.

Ah, sweet Coffee! the elixir of life, nectar of the gods...I'm definitely not a gourmet when it comes to coffee. I will drink anything 7-11, MacDonalds, Starbucks or Bobs Swill....Just give me caffeine.

Returning to work has been surreal. Like the prodigal son returning. Everyone has been very nice and welcomed me back into the family. I really enjoy Illustrating and doing graphics, I try to do a good job...I find the work very satisfying at the end of the day I can look back and say...I did that. Me.

PS unable to load pictures...will fix tommorow

OurGirl: Purposefully Loving Writers Blog

mind you, walsh never reads this blog. he's too busy. really. however, somehow he divined enough information about my recent posting to point out i haven't been riposte blogging.

riposte blogging was a convention we set up at the beginning of morgan and byrne in order to weave some kind of threaded context between our posting. we could post about anything as long as it related somewhat to what the other had posted (i'd like to point out puns are accepted). that, and we would open with a quote and a pic and then end with a pic and quote.

note as time wears on we are wearing down and forgetting our basic rules. soon we will resort to ASCII art.


on second thought, that looks way too hard.
: P

my college course is fiscal administration. yeh. i want to talk about it as much as morgan wants to talk about senior seminar. i find the following blogs a source of comfort during long stints of searching OMB's A-11 circular (don't lobby congress for more money than the president want you to have. big no-no.) or the OMB site itself to determine the budget classification of the Fish and Wildlife Federation (Natural Resources and Environment [301]).

enjoy!

the benefit of work is the pleasure of knowing people like stew. the only thing better than reading stew is talking to stew. i'm glad he's on the mend.

love, love, love corporate self help books. its a sickness. but when you are immersed in grad studies, you don't have the time for the full read. penelope gives it to you in under a page. sweet.

seriously, clark aldrich. makes me want an instructional design degree and help bridge that gap between boomers and gen x&y, man!

as walsh says: giddyup.

Random thoughts...fighting Writers Block

So I was surfing when I should have been doing schoolwork and came across this sweet deal. A deactivated missile base for sale. Only 1.5 million dollars! It has numerous buildings underground and thousands of feet of interconnecting tunnels. Think of all the things you could do with a missile base...and its infrastructure...OK never mind. Bad Idea, probably in South Dakota anyway.
http://www.themissilebase.com/home

Christopher (my Son) made a CD of music for me to play in the Grey Ghost...Plenty of ACDC, Metallica, and Ozzy. Every song was perfect...It was the nicest present I had received...today. Man I love that kid.

I'm taking my last class for my BS in Computer Networking. Senior Seminar is all about writing a fictional Proposal to design a computer network...gay, right? My proposal is to design a network for the Dunder-Mifflin Police and Fire department. Do you really want to hear more?
Its boring me as we speak. Honestly though I am glad its almost over...the one thing I have learned from all these classes, is...I am no tech person. Shame it took me so long to figure out.




My addiction with Second Life is officially over...something about Linden dollars...left me feeling empty. The constant crashes and slow rendering graphic became to tedious. I knew it was time to move on...Maybe I'll go back and visit my avatar occasionally. He did have some pretty cool dance moves. My latest vice is Stolichnaya Vodka. Not much, don't get alarmed, just a glass or two before bed...it really helps me fall asleep...go figure.




My other guilty pleasure is a online cartoon called Penny Arcade. Its the success story of two buddies drawing and blogging about the gaming industry and making money at it. Most of the content is beyond my comprehension, but I do admire their clean and fun style.

OurGirl: Walsh's Despair

i know there are those of you out there that refuse to believe there is a Walsh. that's just a name we tack up on our masthead to pathetically make believe we are more than who we are. blogger morons! others of you check in periodically—hope and heart in hand—looking for a post, a comment, some sort of sign of the longed-for Walsh.

Walsh does exist, but he can't come to the phone right now. he's my BFF (knock fists together). we share common blood type (just found out today! wee!), love of howard stern, quote shrek, and have the same religious background. he, along with my brother, is a trusted partner in crime and the best audience for which anyone could hope. oh, i mean it. i've watched Walsh. he's truly fascinated with the stories all of us bring in. he never feigns interest and when he laughs (and he often does) you really feel you scored something. he really cares about people and works hard to coach them along. it works—we all try ridiculously hard to impress him. he's has that got it together/life according to plan/genuinely great guy air about him.

he also has a wickedly twisted sense of humor that i dig.

www.despair.com

he sings its praises. he revels in it. he truly gets the message and best of all wants to share it with others. however, walsh's life gets in the way. so i thought i'd help him out and post for him. check out the golf shirt copy:

		Executive Despair Logo Shirt From the celebrated Cubavera� family of executive leisure shirts comes this polynosic masterpiece- a silky soft microfibre sport shirt with birdseye knit collar. Luxurious almost to the point of eroticism, this shirt adorns the wearer in an invisible cloak of certain potency. TS-217 $59.95October Sales Special! Size: SMLXLXXL(+5.00) Quantity:
		Hipster Despair Logo Shirt What do you get when you combine the nation's premiere purveyor of fantastically comfortable hipster threads with the world's foremost commoditizer of cynicism? What are you, stupid? LOOK AT THE PICTURE ABOVE. That's what you get. What a beets. TS-216 $29.95October Sales Special! Size: XSSMLXL Color: AsphaltPlum Quantity:

heh. invisible cloak of certain potency. thanks, walsh!

Bob Slydell: I'd like to move us right along to a Peter Gibbons. Now we had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.