Whereas my front yard is all in yellows, reds, and oranges, my backyard is a profusion of purple. Yes, I had to replant, but it was an unusually HOT summer, so it was not unexpected. However, when I bought the ONE small purple "garlic" plant, I had no idea that it could fill my house with such a pungent odor from the patio!! Of course, at that time the windows were shut most of the time to keep the expensive conditioned air inside, but with the coming of fall, I'm using nature's own fresh air throughout.
Maybe we'll make that "was using" as I'm not so sure I can continue to open the doors and windows and live to enjoy the landscaping.
I'm sniffling, sneezing, blowing, hacking and coughing -- and underneath it all is the distinct odor of garlic. Took me a bit to put one and one together to come up with two as math is really not my strong suit, but I've made the connection and now have to figure out what to do about it. How big is that one itty bitty plant going to grow? How far from the patio do I have to relocate it to diffuse the stench? Are the delicate light lavendar blossoms worth the allergies?
The hummingbirds, the bees, the butterflies, the small little birds, the big, black crows -- nature loves my gardens, but it appears that my body isn't as enamored. I'm going to give it a couple of days to see if it all calms down before taking any definite action, but I'm certainly going to do a sniff test before I bring another plant home!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Write Right
The quickest way to alienate people from one another is to deny their freedom of speech, so it is perplexing that the current administration seems determined to point fingers at Fox News Network in an effort to silence them. Sure, it's uncomfortable when young college kids come to Fox News to expose the organization that underwrote the President's election campaign, but if there are honest answers to the questions all journalists should ask, the administration has nothing to fear from Fox News Network -- or any other news outlet, including talk radio, to which the Fox News Network is being compared, as if that is somehow a put-down. People do talk -- behind your back if you won't let them talk to your face. Somehow, I would think that a president would prefer to know upfront what is being said, instead of being slammed with it in an expose ala Watergate. By trying to shut down the coverage of the ACORN scandal, the administration brought more attention to it and gave a cache to Fox News Network that was not the administration's intent.
People's perception is their reality, and if the public's perception is that the President of the United States speaks with a forked tongue, he'll lose his support faster than he can create his hit list. Therefore, it behooves the administration, including each and every one of the sycophants delivering the message for the President, to stop attacking the press that has been determined less than friendly than other networks. Remember the old saw to keep your allies close -- and your enemies closer.
Yesterday, for the first time, the other networks reminded the administration about the press's right not just to know what the White House tells them, but to analayze, synthesize, and evaluate what's going on in the world by refusing to go along when the administration overtly refused equal access to the Fox News Network during a press briefing. If the administration discriminates against the Fox News Network now, every other network is a potential target in the future -- and don't think that they don't all know that to be the case. Every citizen needs a voice, not just those who favor the current administration and its policies and practices. Trying to shut down the communication highway backlashes in a way that the administration does not seem to anticipate: when the press supports the President, life is good, but when the press turns against the President, life can be hell. Just ask Bush.
Mr. President, if you want Fox Network News off your back, open your front door and invite them in, and, playing off another President's famous admonition, if you can't stand the heat, be prepared to be grilled in the kitchen.
People's perception is their reality, and if the public's perception is that the President of the United States speaks with a forked tongue, he'll lose his support faster than he can create his hit list. Therefore, it behooves the administration, including each and every one of the sycophants delivering the message for the President, to stop attacking the press that has been determined less than friendly than other networks. Remember the old saw to keep your allies close -- and your enemies closer.
Yesterday, for the first time, the other networks reminded the administration about the press's right not just to know what the White House tells them, but to analayze, synthesize, and evaluate what's going on in the world by refusing to go along when the administration overtly refused equal access to the Fox News Network during a press briefing. If the administration discriminates against the Fox News Network now, every other network is a potential target in the future -- and don't think that they don't all know that to be the case. Every citizen needs a voice, not just those who favor the current administration and its policies and practices. Trying to shut down the communication highway backlashes in a way that the administration does not seem to anticipate: when the press supports the President, life is good, but when the press turns against the President, life can be hell. Just ask Bush.
Mr. President, if you want Fox Network News off your back, open your front door and invite them in, and, playing off another President's famous admonition, if you can't stand the heat, be prepared to be grilled in the kitchen.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Do Over
Yesterday, I arrived for my MRI a half-hour early to complete the paperwork and gown up for the process. I sat in the waiting room, reading some great recipe magazines from Family Circle, anxious to complete this appointment and find out what is wrong with my back. However, I suddenly began feeling not well, so I stepped outside to gulp fresh air before going back inside. Within 10 minutes, I was so nauseous that I thought I would vomit and knew that I had to leave.
Just then, I was called for my appointment, so I stood up -- and froze in place, looking for a waste basket. The employee asked me if I was okay, but I had to tell him, "No, I am going to be sick," before I started back to the lobby. I stopped long enough at the desk to apologize and tell them I would call back to reschedule, and I hustled to my car. I did not vomit then, but turned the air conditioning to blast me with frigid air as I drove back home.
Once I was safely home, my body purged itself of what I think may have been tainted chicken I bought last Friday and the remnants of which I made into a chicken quesadilla about 90 minutes before the appointment. I was incredibly hot, but also shaking with the chills, so after cleaning myself and pulling on jammies, I crawled beneath the covers, a waste basket beside the bed.
I woke up at 7 am this morning, feeling so much better. I've still had a bit of chills today, along with the sudden heat flushes, but ate my Coach's Oats for b'fast and actually cooked a healthy late lunch to put back into my system that which it lost yesterday. I rescheduled the MRI, which now won't be until Tuesday morning, so guess I have to handle the back pain for several more days.
Better back pain than more vomiting!!
Just then, I was called for my appointment, so I stood up -- and froze in place, looking for a waste basket. The employee asked me if I was okay, but I had to tell him, "No, I am going to be sick," before I started back to the lobby. I stopped long enough at the desk to apologize and tell them I would call back to reschedule, and I hustled to my car. I did not vomit then, but turned the air conditioning to blast me with frigid air as I drove back home.
Once I was safely home, my body purged itself of what I think may have been tainted chicken I bought last Friday and the remnants of which I made into a chicken quesadilla about 90 minutes before the appointment. I was incredibly hot, but also shaking with the chills, so after cleaning myself and pulling on jammies, I crawled beneath the covers, a waste basket beside the bed.
I woke up at 7 am this morning, feeling so much better. I've still had a bit of chills today, along with the sudden heat flushes, but ate my Coach's Oats for b'fast and actually cooked a healthy late lunch to put back into my system that which it lost yesterday. I rescheduled the MRI, which now won't be until Tuesday morning, so guess I have to handle the back pain for several more days.
Better back pain than more vomiting!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Lightweights
This is the third episode of the forgotten that I’ve dvr’d and watched, each time wondering what it is about the show that leaves me questioning why I spent the time to watch it. One of the new season’s keep it/lose it surveys shows the program earning a grade of D, which is totally plausible after last night’s story.
The characters lack charisma, so they come across as a group of actors hired to play a role for which they will cash a paycheck. The penetrating stare of Christian Slater would be off-putting to most people, so garnering sympathy for his still-missing kidnapped daughter just doesn’t work – either for me as a viewer or for his fellow cast. If the viewer doesn’t engage with Slater, the star of the series, the rest of the lightweight cast isn’t going to overcome that deficit as they are not established, seasoned veterans, but that ubiqutous new face we see far too often ... for one season. Adding a very much younger, very much more attractive former wife to the mix last night came out of nowhere: because Slater is so totally non-sympathetic, it’s hard to believe that he ever got that woman!
Most casts have a sympathetic geek, a buffoon, a fiercely independent woman, and a sympathetic cop, all of whom form a cohesive, interactive let’s get it done team. This cast is just a collection of stereotypes that more often seem at cross-purposes than working together to achieve a common goal. Furthermore, even when they pretend to work together, it’s not there. Each of the characters has a job, but based on the incredible number of hours they spend on each case, as well as the resources it takes to get the job done, they must also be independently wealthy. The classroom teacher conducts business on a cell phone during bus duty, a huge no-no on any job, and the next time you want to know where the telephone installer is during the four-hour window you hope s/he will arrive at your home, look for missing persons who need to be both id’d and located so they can come home to their family because that's his/her service priority.
An amazing aspect of the show is how quickly this team identifies the missing, a job that the police do not seem able to do – even when there is a stack of left-behind mail at the former residence. They can find the victim’s car even when it was abandoned months ago. Canvassing even the seediest of neighborhoods brings instant results for these intrepid volunteers, a feat the police could never accomplish because … well, I guess it’s because they are cops, the central message of the cop drama. The reason WE have to do THEIR job is because THEY are basically incompetent, but the voice-over explains that it's because the police have moved on to more current cases.
What could save the forgotten is integration with one of the established cop shows, such as the CSI and/or Law & Order franchises. Going out on their own in the mid-West probably was meant to open up the range of possibilities, but it puts too much burden on this show’s shoulders, a weight it isn’t carrying.
NCIS-LA is in a similar situation cast-wise, with the current cast simply not cohesing and developing charisma. The two male leads are good, playing off each other in a believable manner, but the computer geek is no Abby, the psychologist is no Ducky, the newest Probie is no Ziva, and “Ned” will never be a Gibbs, nor come close. It’s a great concept, but the core charisma isn’t there; however, whereas I doubt that the forgotten will last past this season, NCIS-LA probably will because the two male leads are so strong and this iteration is well-morphed with the original series.
My *Gosselin moment came as I turned off the TV and realized I'm simply making do until the mid-season replacements and summer season come around again.
_____________
*(epiphany): I wonder who taught Jon the grown-up vocabulary word to use during media interviews to prove his sincerity in wanting his children off the show to improve family values. I bet he had to practice a dozen times saying it over and over until he could use it naturally, as if he had always known/used that word to describe his ah-ha moment.
The characters lack charisma, so they come across as a group of actors hired to play a role for which they will cash a paycheck. The penetrating stare of Christian Slater would be off-putting to most people, so garnering sympathy for his still-missing kidnapped daughter just doesn’t work – either for me as a viewer or for his fellow cast. If the viewer doesn’t engage with Slater, the star of the series, the rest of the lightweight cast isn’t going to overcome that deficit as they are not established, seasoned veterans, but that ubiqutous new face we see far too often ... for one season. Adding a very much younger, very much more attractive former wife to the mix last night came out of nowhere: because Slater is so totally non-sympathetic, it’s hard to believe that he ever got that woman!
Most casts have a sympathetic geek, a buffoon, a fiercely independent woman, and a sympathetic cop, all of whom form a cohesive, interactive let’s get it done team. This cast is just a collection of stereotypes that more often seem at cross-purposes than working together to achieve a common goal. Furthermore, even when they pretend to work together, it’s not there. Each of the characters has a job, but based on the incredible number of hours they spend on each case, as well as the resources it takes to get the job done, they must also be independently wealthy. The classroom teacher conducts business on a cell phone during bus duty, a huge no-no on any job, and the next time you want to know where the telephone installer is during the four-hour window you hope s/he will arrive at your home, look for missing persons who need to be both id’d and located so they can come home to their family because that's his/her service priority.
An amazing aspect of the show is how quickly this team identifies the missing, a job that the police do not seem able to do – even when there is a stack of left-behind mail at the former residence. They can find the victim’s car even when it was abandoned months ago. Canvassing even the seediest of neighborhoods brings instant results for these intrepid volunteers, a feat the police could never accomplish because … well, I guess it’s because they are cops, the central message of the cop drama. The reason WE have to do THEIR job is because THEY are basically incompetent, but the voice-over explains that it's because the police have moved on to more current cases.
What could save the forgotten is integration with one of the established cop shows, such as the CSI and/or Law & Order franchises. Going out on their own in the mid-West probably was meant to open up the range of possibilities, but it puts too much burden on this show’s shoulders, a weight it isn’t carrying.
NCIS-LA is in a similar situation cast-wise, with the current cast simply not cohesing and developing charisma. The two male leads are good, playing off each other in a believable manner, but the computer geek is no Abby, the psychologist is no Ducky, the newest Probie is no Ziva, and “Ned” will never be a Gibbs, nor come close. It’s a great concept, but the core charisma isn’t there; however, whereas I doubt that the forgotten will last past this season, NCIS-LA probably will because the two male leads are so strong and this iteration is well-morphed with the original series.
My *Gosselin moment came as I turned off the TV and realized I'm simply making do until the mid-season replacements and summer season come around again.
_____________
*(epiphany): I wonder who taught Jon the grown-up vocabulary word to use during media interviews to prove his sincerity in wanting his children off the show to improve family values. I bet he had to practice a dozen times saying it over and over until he could use it naturally, as if he had always known/used that word to describe his ah-ha moment.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
In Case You're Ever Tempted ...
If you make instant Jell-O sugar free/fat free pudding mix using soy milk, it won't jell. I made it last night so it would be really cold before I garnished it with whipped cream today for my Sweetest Day dessert. If it were going to set, it would have by now, so I'm going to guess that not this week, nor the next, either.
Wish it said that on the box BEFORE I made two flavors and used a full quart of milk in the process.
Wish it said that on the box BEFORE I made two flavors and used a full quart of milk in the process.
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