Heat Wave

It's going to be in the middle 70's this week - LOL!  From freezing to baking in just a few days.  But I'll take it.  The daffodils and tulips and crocus are finally showing and it's really looking beautiful out there.

The Yankees are not off to a great start this year.  At least they beat Detroit yesterday, but watching the Yankees is a little painful right now.  The Nationals (the team I cheated on the Yankees with last year) are tied with the Mets (!) for second in the National league.  It is early in the season, but the games I've managed to catch haven't been exactly inspiring.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the year.

RIP Margaret Thatcher.

Opening Day

Take me out to the ball game...

Ah, if only I were going to a game today!  Opening day means spring has finally, officially arrived.

Though I see it's snowing in Pittsburgh...

Crochet month is officially over.  I started six projects, finished one.  I will eventually take pictures and upload them.  Eventually.



Good Friday

The roads were deserted, the office is deserted... why am I here?  I really should have taken today off.  At least the sun is out and it's kinda warm.

Holidays have gotten wonky since Dad died.  The first Thanksgiving found me driving Mom to Maine.  I hate travelling on holidays but her youngest son wanted her (not me, just her) in Maine for Thanksgiving.  So, I drove. Not a good time and I refused to do it again last year.  Christmas, birthdays, Easter... all have drifted from family gathering at our parents to everyone doing their own thing.  It's funny, Dad turned out to be the glue that kept eveyrone together. 

This Easter Mom's youngest son will be in Manhattan for the weekend and she's planning on taking the train into the City and having dinner out with he and his wife and Gretchen is going with her.  I won't be going.  I think it will be a nice, quiet crochet/knitting marathon in front of the television.  Gretchen is planning on doing Palm Sunday festivities with the kids the last weekend in April.  I'm all... WTF?  It's just weird.  I could have done it with the kids last weekend but no one else was available (except the kids), so I let it go.

Yet more snow is coming

I am so done with winter.  From the sounds of it, it will be eastern CT and LI that will get nearly 3 inches of snow and here in the west, not so much.  But still, I'm sick of it.  I want to see crocus and daffodils and tulips.

I spent the weekend expanding my already wide butt by sitting in the chair and crocheting my way through several projects.  I took a break on Saturday evening and went out to dinner with Mom and Gretchen at Sakura's in Westport.  The only exercise I got all weekend.  The restaurant was wall-to-wall kids.  For the most part the kids were quiet and well behaved but I can't help but wonder at parents who take a half-dozen or more (one table had 10 boys) to a place where the meals start at $25 - the tab for the table of 12 had to be $400 before tip.

As I said to Mom and Gretchen, watching several dozen pre-teen and teen kids... I'm very grateful I never had children.  I love my brothers' kids and they have brought me nothing but joy for over 20 years... but they go home and that's the way I like it.

Isn't this the first day of spring?

March 21.  Spring, right?  Then why is it snowing?

Seems it's gotten lost, right along with the assault weapons ban. 

Is Congress supposed to vote spring in each year?  Hm.  If that's the case it's going to be a very long, dark winter.

In other news... today is the 99th anniversary of Grandma Ellen's birth.  She passed away in 2005.  It's from her I got the stitchery genes.

Tuesday's child is full of grace

Tomorrow I will be 48 years old.

I cannot believe that, but it's true.

48

President Johnson's Great Society started the year which also witnessed the death of Winston Churchill; civil rights marches in Alabama; the first Marines sent into Vietnam; the Astrodome opened; NASA had Gemini and Mariner, as well as other projects running full blast; Maldives independence; Social Security Act of 1965; Watts; Jefferson Airplane; India and Pakistan go to war; Billion Dollar Betsy; Tom & Jerry; Thunderbirds; Gateway Arch; Norman Morrison; Rhodesia; Pillsbury Doughboy; Blackout; UNDP; Asterix-1; Race Relations Act; A Charlie Brown Christmas.

There were 3,334,874,000 people in the world in 1965 and now the population is estimated to be 7.072 billion - more than doubled in the last 48 years.  It is thought that the world population hit one billion in 1804 and two billion 123 years later, in 1927, and three billion 33 years later in 1960.  Current projections are that we will reach eight billion by 2030 and 10 billion by 2050.  That should make life interesting.  I'd be 85 if I lived that long.

It was a fascinating year of births and deaths - but I guess that's true each year.  I share my birth day with James Madison, John Butler Yeats, Henny Youngman, Patricia Nixon, Jerry Lewis, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Scott Simon.

Saturday will be the first day of Bacchanalia.  It's not how I'll be celebrating.  It will be a quiet day - the only thing planned right now is dinner with my sister.

March 12, 1939

Today Dad would have been 74.  I looked up the events of the day in the newspaper of record, the Syracuse Herald, as he was born in Syracuse, New York.  Fascinating reading.  Some things never change, just the names.  Notice the sub-head to the article "U.S. Marines in clash with Nippon [Japanese] police" is Hunting Terrorists.  A pope is crowned; the House republicans were a problem :); blizzards and dust storms and war and medical relief flights were all going on.

I find I am actually missing Dad more this year than last, which seems a bit strange, but that's the way it is.  With the help of Wiki, I've been looking at what happened each year he was alive.

On his first birthday, Finland signed the Moscow Peace Tready, ending the Winter War.

On his eighth birthday, President Harry Truman announced the Truman Doctrine.

On his 29th birthday, Mauritius gained its independence; on his 53rd birthday it became a republic within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

On his 54th birthday, the Storm of the Century began.  Janet Reno was also sworn in as the first female Attorney General of the United States.

On his 70th birthday, Bernard Madoff pled guilty to scamming 18 million dollars.  That made his whole day.

On his last birthday, the Fukushima disaster took place.

He shared his birth day with Julia Lennon, the mother of John; Jack Kerouac; Wally Schirra; Edward Albee; Liza Minnelli; Mitt Romney; James Taylor; Darryl Strawberry; and the Girl Scouts.

There is this odd glow in the sky

people are telling me it's this thing call son... sun...

whatever, it's creeping me out!

I'm used to grey skies and cold, white things assaulting me.  I'm not sorry that nasty white seems to be gone but this glow... it's just really weird.

Yet more crappy weather on tap

I heard on the radio DC has shut down due to the snow.  What is their excuse when there is no snow?

Hugo Chavez has died: NYT Op-Ed In the end, an awful manager. 

His death has a profound iimpact on Cuba as well, which is interesting.

Chavez' VEEP announced yesterday the CIA gave Chavez cancer.  I guess the US doesn't hold the corner on crazy politians after all.

Somehow I don't find that re-assuring.

The DOW went over it's all time high yesterday and I'm not sure that is a good thing - irrational exuberance to quote Greenspan. As the sequester cuts start to kick in and effect not only state governments but also individuals, I think we might see the DOW crater over the summer.

Not much crocheting got done last night as I was watching NCIS.  I don't multitask well.

More than two years

and so many changes in my life.

At the end of January 2011 I was fired - due to the "economic downturn".

March of 2011 the last of my three grandmothers died, at the age of almost 99.

May 2011 I started a new job with a long commute and far less money.

May 2011 old car literally flamed out - bought new car.

August 2011 Dad died at the age of 72.

November 2011 the job moved and now I have a 75 mile daily commute.

2012 was chaotic, frantic, hectic... but death free. And, I kept my job, so that's a plus.

2013 has brought two suicides... and it's only the 5th of March. (Happy Saint Piran's Day!)

I feel like the hamster on the wheel and no one will let me off. I keep telling myself this is going to get better, but I think I might be a congenital liar.

This is going to get better.

Really.

Anyway... for sanity's sake the needles, hooks, yarn, thread, canvas, etc., came out of storage late last year and I'm knitting, crocheting, stitching up a storm.

So I don't crazy and start beating random people on the street.

Yarn therapy.

Because I can't afford meds.

If I can get the camera to work, I'll upload some pictures of what I'm working on.

Blizzard makes me post

Yup, new blizzard. Second in three weeks.

Gotta love New England.

The car is surrounded by snow. Up to the trunk. The car itself is completely uncovered due to the howling winds blowing the snow off the car. Weird. If I could work the camera properly I'd take a picture.

According to ye olde yard stick, I have 29 inches on the ground.

It's also freakin' freezing.

Upside: I'm making soup.

CT Politics

If anyone is interested... good article in NYT magazine on CT politics, focusing on the Senate race.

I just don't get it

Cupcake Madness!

He's there, presumably, to manage the lines that snake through the streets of Georgetown, not to guard the baking secrects of the sisters who own it. There's almost always a line outside (rain or shine), not to mention the crowds that form inside, as people cram to decide whether it's a red velvet, salted caramel, coconut kind of day -- or a vanilla birthday, chocolate ganache, key lime kind of day. Decisions. Delicious, delicious decisions.

Maybe if I watch the show I might understand.

I'm kinda hoping not.

I don't get the whole cupcake thing

I never saw an episode of Sex and The City, which is probably why I don't get the cupcake thing.

My sister was hosting an abbreviated family dinner at her house last night ~ our parents, an aunt and uncle, myself and my sister. Six people. This, of course, meant that my sister made enough food to feed a battalion of Marines. Cheese ravioli (three pounds), sausage and peppers, chicken in tomato sauce, corn on the cob. Force of upbringing/habit I asked what I should bring and she asked for salad and bread. Now, when I cook, I cook for the number of people being served... not the 5th Army. I put together a spinach salad and baked a loaf herb bread. This was a bit of a disappointment to my sister. She was seriously worried there wouldn't be enough. I just laughed. There's no point in trying to make her understand she doesn't need to provide enough food to feed Mongolia... all you can do is laugh and shake your head at her insanity. I'm convinced she starved to death in a previous life. And, there was leftover salad and bread.

While baking the bread yesterday morning I did give a thought to dessert. My sister usually provides at least three choices (no, I'm not making this up), so, I figured that since she didn't ask me to bring something, she had the dessert issue covered.

Alas, no.

After I arrived and we started plating the hors d'oeurves (three different cheeses, two kinds of olives, six different varieties of crakers, pepperoni and bruschetta) she suddenly screamed OH SHIT.

No dessert.

Panic attack ensued. I am not exaggerating - complete meltdown. I kept telling her the last thing we needed was more food but she was freaking out because she had forgotten about dessert. I said I'd run to the store and get some ice cream. That wasn't enough. I won't bore you with the slightly demented conversation that took place, but what she wanted me to get was enough dessert for an Italian wedding... on a Sunday afternoon (profiteroles, gelato, cannoli... etc). She then decides she'll go to the bakery and pick up "something". I fully expected her to come back with their delivery truck fully loaded but all she came back with was her own SUV with... cupcakes. At $5 EACH! $60 of cupcakes, all different flavors and colors (and a dozen cannoli and a pound of cookies... only the Italian gods knows why). She then went on, and on, and on, waxing poetic about the wonders and joys of cupcakes. Me, I just heard waa waa wahh waaaa. Tuned her out completely. I cannot believe she spend $60 on cupcakes.

Our parents arrived and, as always, were stunned by the sheer tonnage of food cooking - our aunt and uncle were equally shocked when they arrived. I don't get why though. Gretchen has actually toned down the amount of food she sets out. This wasn't as bad it used to be. We all received leftovers for the week. No, I'm not exaggerating. I have seven containers of ravioli, sausage (with pepppers excluded), and chicken. I refused the insanely overpriced cupcakes took some cookies instead.

My sister needs to work for a food kitchen or feeding the military. As with everything else in her life she goes competely over the top with generosity when feeding people and it makes her happy.

Eff'ing brilliant

Salad Spinner Centrifuge

I spotted the above article this morning and said "Eff'ing Brilliant!" and decided to post the link.

In rural, under-served and impoverished parts of the world, a positive diagnosis for anemia is a critically important clue when looking for other health problems such as malnutrition, or serious chronic infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. Until now, blood samples taken in the field would have to be sent to a distant location complete with expensive laboratory centrifuges and electricity, while patients would be left waiting for the results — a lapse in time that can be deadly. Being able to diagnose the condition in real time with "Sally Centrifuge" would allow appropriate treatment to begin before before an illness progresses and a patient's condition deteriorates too drastically.

Congratulations to Lila Kerr and Lauren Theis, inventors of what they call "Sally Centrifuge". Well done!

~ ~ ~

Editing because I totally forgot:

Moon Landing

Is something Top Secret

if 854,000 people are in the know? Bizarre.

I am not surprised by the article.

Your Government At Work

The result, he added, is that it's impossible to tell whether the country is safer because of all this spending and all these activities. "Because it lacks a synchronizing process, it inevitably results in message dissonance, reduced effectiveness and waste," Vines said. "We consequently can't effectively assess whether it is making us more safe."

Feel safe now?

The following paragraphs are enligtening:

SCIF size has become a measure of status in Top Secret America, or at least in the Washington region of it. "In D.C., everyone talks SCIF, SCIF, SCIF," said Bruce Paquin, who moved to Florida from the Washington region several years ago to start a SCIF construction business. "They've got the penis envy thing going. You can't be a big boy unless you're a three-letter agency and you have a big SCIF."

SCIFs are not the only must-have items people pay attention to. Command centers, internal television networks, video walls, armored SUVs and personal security guards have also become the bling of national security.

"You can't find a four-star general without a security detail," said one three-star general now posted in Washington after years abroad. "Fear has caused everyone to have stuff. Then comes, 'If he has one, then I have to have one.' It's become a status symbol."

(ps: if memory serves top secret is the lowest classification... but still!)

See Top Secret America

You learn something new everyday

With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi

The NYT article, by Carol Kino, is about the United Stated Marine Corp Combat Art Program. It's really amazing - I had no clue there were artists covering wars in the 20th/21st centuries (not including photographers).

“We’re not here to do poster art or recruiting posters,” Sergeant Battles, 42, said. “What we are sent to do is to go to the experience, see what is really there and document it — as artists.”

The program is not the only one of its kind in the United States military, but many regard it as the one most deeply committed to its artistic mission. Like those in the other services, it began after the attack on Pearl Harbor and scaled back after Vietnam. Somewhat unusually, however, it has kept at least one artist in the reserves ready to deploy. And while most of the services have reactivated their art programs since the start of the Bush administration’s “global war on terror,” the Marine Corps’s has been the only one to cover most of the major conflicts.

and

One thing that sets the Marine Corps program apart from those of other services is its focus on human subjects and experiences. That’s what has always appealed to Anita Blair, chief strategist at the National Security Professional Development Integration Office, who got to know the program when she was acting assistant secretary of the Navy for a year (2008-09). “When you go over to the Air Force,” she said, “the art is all airplanes. In the Navy it’s all ships. Army art tends to be more about the battle, and the Army loves trucks. They’re fixated on vehicles. But the Marine Corps is fixated on Marines.”

Unites States Marine Corp Museum

I'm just a cranky old lady

living on a farm. I tend towards being cynical even on Happy!Happy!Joy!Joy! dancing in mud puddle days... but this story about Bristol and Levi getting married strikes me as more about stickin' it to Mom than lovin' Levi. I hope I'm wrong and they stay happily married for 100 years.

I'm betting it lasts less than two.

When Nina Garcia twittered (yes, I'm on twitter) she was expecting baby number two my womb contracted. YIKES! We're the same age and I wouldn't want to be having a baby in my advanced years. But, I'm happy for her. I hope all goes well and both baby and Mama are safe, healthy and happy. Better her than me!

Editing to Add

Wanna bet it's true?

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Rest in peace

George Steinbrenner has died at the age of 80.

... who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4.

Steinbrenner had a heart attack, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and died at about 6:30 a.m, a person close to the owner told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not disclosed those details.

How sad. First Bob Sheppard and now Steinbrenner.

IPO & What dreams may come

Amazingly, even in this current economic climate, there are IPOs being launched. I guess I'm a pessimist; to me that's akin to shoving a help message into a cracked bottle and tossing it into a sea and hoping someone finds it.

Vera Bradley has launched just such a bottle. Their revenues last year were US$289 million and the IPO is hoped to garner US$175 million and I just don't think this luxury product does well enough outside it's niche to warrant an IPO. There aren't enough people who will be willing to buy US$68 tote bags when you can get something very similar at Walmart or Target for US$19. Of course I have no clue what the business model at VB is - they could well be launching a low-cost line which would be very profitable. Some of the IPOs, like this one, just don't make much sense to me under the current economic conditions.

But it was in tough economic times like these that Microsoft and other companies were founded and funded.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.