Thursday, January 31, 2008

Tiny Bubbles

It's one of those days where I have got nothing.

Traveling and work sometimes just leave me tapped out. I wish I could put myself out there like other guys (yeah RJ, I'm talkin' to you).

If you read with any regularity, you know that at one point the sub-title of this blog was and is 'stuff and nonsense' (taken from the old Split Enz song - yes that is how old I am!), so this entry should really come as no shock to anyone.

However, I do need to point out that I'm just co-opting it. I am lifting it from an email that was forwarded to me from Morty who looks like he got it from his running peeps (not the marshmallow kind).



Sophomoric, yes. But I'm sorry - have you guys even been paying attention to me?



Song by: Don Ho

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Blowin' in the Wind

Last night, I didn't get to sleep at all. No. Noooooo.

I got back into Cleveburgh just in time though. The approach of the jet was kind of rough, but the landing was ok. ...but a storm was a-movin' in.

We ended up with 'high wind warnings', but I didn't really know that until the middle of the night. Or the beginning of the night, I guess.

Howling would be more appropriate. If we didn't have a ceeee-ment house (or whatever it's made out of), I would assume shingles and aluminum siding would be strewn across our yard at this very moment.

I was more surprised that we had power this morning. But I knew we did, as I continually looked over at the clock to see what time it was and how much time elapsed since I had looked at it before - calculating how long I had not been asleep.

We did not have cable this morning. Or internet. Nor were half the traffic signals in service as I drove to work. It's hard to navigate the four-way stop thingy when the roads at the intersections are 2-3 lanes wide. It was anarchy I tellz ya!

So my days in the DC area (again. or is it still?) with temps of 45-50 degrees are back in the low teens here and in sub-zero digits when it comes to windchill.

Yes. These times they are a-changin'.


Song by: Bob Dylan

Monday, January 28, 2008

Site of the Month

Now that it looks like Ohio's late primary might not only actually matter in the selection process for the Democratic nominee, but determine it (yay! Just like we got to determine the 2004 presidential winner?), I thought my SotM should be a semi-political one.

In various posts over the last few months, I have mentioned being stumped on who to even consider. Maybe I'm not stumped, but no one is stumping for me. There is just not one candidate that has drawn me in. Clinton and Obama's playground smackdown the other night did less and less to reassure me that either were ready for the job. But I don't think it's Edwards either - and apparently, neither do most of the other voters.

Glassbooth has a little tool (hehehe, I said 'little tool') that tries to align my issues (and I have soooo many - most not covered by the electoral process, but I digress) with where a candidate stands. You weight your issues with the ones listed and then answer a series of questions (not a lot of them, for you ADHDers) and poof - you get a candidate rating (you can click image to make larger)


Apparently Oprah Obama is my choice. Glassbooth tells me so.

Barak and Clinton both support the extension of the Patriot Act, which I strongly oppose. Yeah, I'm a bleeding heart liberal on some things - and this would be one of them.

Like Barak, Hilary lands an 81% on where I stand on the issues, but a thing like health care and gay rights are swapped out in different positions.

So it seems like I could flip a coin with either of these two and not go wrong. So I why don't I feel better about either one of them - or myself?

.....and is Mike Gravel even still in the race?

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A Wonderful Guy

I thought this sculpture had been down near Columbus for as long as I can remember - but it turns out it has just been there a little before we moved out of town - but I've never ever bothered to take a picture of it until a week or so ago.




Granted, I have not lived in Columbus for well over a decade, but I happened to be near the site on business and purposefully went, armed with my camera and planned the 10 minute out of the way side trip.

It was never that impressive, but it seemed less so this time around. Maybe because before, over a decade ago, the Dublin area wasn't so built up. The cement corn could have resided where a normal corn field might. And it might have. Now it sits on a busy street and a busy intersection, adjacent to some corporate office building.

But it evokes the image that Columbus was and probably always will be a Cowtown.....even though there are no cow sculptures. Yet.


Song by: Rodgers & Hammerstein

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Girls with Guitars







Thursday evening we went to go see basically what is known as a guitar pull - or where a few artists sit around with their guitars and alternate turns singing their songs, or other people's songs.

But these weren't just any artists I guess. No, here we had Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin. They were joined by Buddy Miller.

This isn't the first time we'd seen something like this. Three years ago we saw a similar set, but replace Harris for Mary Chapin Carpenter and Miller for Dar Williams.

The other night wasn't too much different than a few years back. Four chairs, eight guitars, four mics and that's about it. No screens and no lighting scheme. Basics with only the talent to make or break the show. Needless to say they made it - but not without some

It's not shock that I knew all the women's songs and only some of Buddy's. I had never seen Emmylou live before and she was the reason I wanted to go so badly. She did not disappoint. The woman is a legend and a voice like none other. The voice and woman were absolutely stunning. And she's funny. She lamented about the sad state of movies - and how she could not stand No Man for Country and There Will Be Blood. She demands a movie with a happy ending - she thinks she's earned it.

Harris performed songs from all over her career - "Poncho & Lefty" all the way up to "Michelangelo" from Red Dirt Girl.

Colvin, in my mind, was the strongest - but she usually is. Her song choices, her guitar skills and extremely strong and clear voice. She mixed the older ("Tennessee") with the new in songs (the excellent "Cinnamon Road") - and even throwing in a cover of "Rugged Road", which she claims to have never played live - telling the other women 'don't fuck up', which went over well with the group and audience. Colvin's banter in most concerts is as good as the music. I could hang out with her easily, I think.

Griffin was the only iffy one - and I know I'm being hypercritical. No offense to her - she was in great voice, but performed almost exactly the same songs she did three years back. What gives? I've heard "Flaming Red", "Mary", "Long Ride Home" and "Tomorrow Night" before. Gimme something different! She's got enough to choose from - and I thought a logical one would have been "Beyond the Blue", which she wrote but was recorded by Emmylou. That being said, she did do a newer song, which is about teen gay suicide that uses the word 'fag' a few too many times for my liking.

We had ok seats. Nothing outstanding. I sat behind a guy with the head the size of huge melon and Denton was behind a guy 8" taller than he. Better doors than windows. But there was a good crowd, which always bodes well for a return of something like this.


Song by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Thursday, January 24, 2008

RECORD OF THE MONTH

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!

These may or may not be newly released disks. They might not even be a good disk - just what is been in heavy rotation in my car (as usually the iPod is playing anywhere else).


I don't have anything 'new' this month. So, I've pulled one back from the vaults. Or a song or two will pull up from my iTunes which reminds me how much I like this disk.

That I like Jackson Browne's Running on Empty might kind of surprise you. Perhaps not. The disk is 30 years old. And it's a semi-brilliant concept - one I don't know I have seen before or since: a semi/pseudo live album of new or unreleased material.

And by 'live' I mean, concerts, hotel rooms, tour buses and the likes. Even "The Road" was done fairly seamlessly, as the first half was done in a hotel room and the second part in front of a live audience.

But most, if not all of the songs, have to do with 'the road', which were recorded on his tour to support The Pretender (his best disk?). The vices of the touring, I guess, are on there: the need for adoration ("Stay"), drugs ("Cocaine"), boredom ("Nothing But Time") and acts of self-love ("Rosie") are all here. I'm fondest of "The Road" and "You Love the Thunder" though.

Except for The Pretender and Late for the Sky, Browne has never had this consistent of a disk. He's shown some glimpses of grandness ("Lives in the Balance", "Call it a Loan") and whimsy ("Disco Apocalypse") - but then a lot of schlock ("Lawyers in Love" or "Somebody's Baby".....anyone......anyone???).

If all you know of from Running on Empty is the title track or "Stay" - I say check it out - you might be surprised. Or perhaps not.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Full Moon

It's been one of those days. Or two.

And damn if I didn't know it was a full moon - without ever having to look in the sky or at a calendar. I acquired that skill by working for years in a hospital. I was told when I started in that line of work that this would happen - and I poo-poo'd it. But it's true. You always just know.

I'm not sure things have gone any more sucky at work the last two days. Clients who have laid off 4000 folks. Staff who are testing my patience at every level - to the point if half of them just walked out, I wouldn't even shrug, let alone care.

I'd like to say I'll be happy when the week is over, but I'm thinking it's more like a month.

Then I really think I'll need to take vacation.


Song by: the Kinks

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Midnight Wind

With all the news of Heath Ledger, the Democratic debates and the complete decimation of my 401k (thanks Nikkei index!) it was probably easy to overlook another death: John Stewart.

Yes, you might know him as the guy who had a 1978 hit with Stevie Nicks singing harmony on "Gold", but he was a lot more than that.

A former member of the folk group, the Kingston Trio, he found other success as the songwriter of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer". But yes, in 1978, some of the Fleetwood Mac members rekindled Stewart's career by producing a minor hit disk Bombs Away Dream Babies.

Actually, it's a pretty decent disk at that. Though "Gold" was most likely a radio hit due only to Nicks' popularity at the time, there were far better songs. The title of this post is one, but actually all of side one (for you CD-only set, vinyl used to have two sides) - but I am a huge fan of "Runaway Fool of Love".

I'm also a huge fan of his song, "Runaway Train", which was a #1 hit for Rosanne Cash back in 1987. It is one of Cash's best recorded songs, if I say so myself (though she hilariously screwed it up when I saw her in concert a few years back).

Anyway. He's dead. Of an aneurysm. It's tougher to check out his work, as it is not as readily available - but if you can, I would suggest you at least try.


Song by: John Stewart

Monday, January 21, 2008

A Thousand Beautiful Things

Get this: THIS is my 1000th post!!!

Who'd a thunk?

I had a rough start with this thing - and really put a lower level on it, as I just go on and on and on about 'stuff & nonsense'. Hopefully the quality is a smidge higher than updating you on Morty's mile markers at the Boston Marathon (though I am still proud of those - and him.....wellllll....at least him).

I'm more consistent, though I doubt any more relevant. I do not have the bestest writing style. There are others out there I admire in that field. But at least I'm honest about what and how I blog. I don't think everyone out there is.

Have you ever noticed the everyday joes who say they just blog or fun but have a half a dozen posts per day? Granted, they are well crafted and somewhat researched and have good followings, but 'everyday joes'? Je don't think so. They are professional bloggers masquerading as just one of the masses.

I'm coming up on starting my fifth year of blogging - well, in mid-March. Geeze o'man. I started this on the eve of the Iraq War. Yes folks, we are coming up on the fifth year of THAT!

Anyway, to celebrate (?) the event, I thought it might be time for a new pitcher (yes! I know it is misspelled) up in my profile. Should it be:

Blobby, the Were-Rabbit?
Ok.....seriously, it was like 8 degrees this morning. And it is a very warm hat. Denton is embarrassed to be seen with me in it, but T.S..

.....or Blobby who desperately needs an eye lift?

Trust me - these are the lesser of all the evils. You don't even want to see the other ones I took. Actually, you people probably do, but that ain't never gonna happen. Ever.

So now you have 998 beautiful things to worry about look forward to.



Song by: Annie Lennox

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Amadeus

Last night we attended a performance at the Cleveland Orchestra. For those who do not know, they are indeed world renowned and arguably the best of the best. .......if you're into that kind of thing.

I'm on the fence myself. Severance Hall is beautiful - there is no doubt. The acoustics are incredible. But why must it always be classical music ?????

I kid. Kind of.

There are some pieces I like, but could never recall by name or composer. The program said, Stravinsky and Mozart, but honestly, it could have been anyone and I wouldn't have known the difference.

There was also a more contemporary piece. How contemporary you ask? Very, I say. The composer was born in 1971 ! It sounded like a psychotic Broadway overture to me. ...and I said so. Apparently, I wasn't too far off. According to my significant other and the two gents we went with, the program said as much. I guess they knew, as they seemingly read for content. Me? I look to see who has given what donations and how much to the Orchestra.

Something about sitting in a place like that, for an event like that, triggers the exact opposite response of 'don't cough'. The tickle starts and I begin to to suppress, which only makes things worse. I guess it didn't help that I was still hanging onto this cold.

I had to exit our box seats (oh yes - we had box seat.....very rah sha sha) to go out to the upper lobby to hack away. The nice lady/usher provided me with a handful of cough drops (I noted they were wrapped in paper - not foil or cellophane) and I was able to reenter. But while I was away, I missed the guy in the next box who had his cell phone go off.....and off......and off.

Apparently, I also missed Denton's frantic search for his phone, as he thought it might be the one going off.


Song by: Falco

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sick of Myself

Almost a year to the day, I got my annual cold. Can you believe it?

I don't think it's as bad as last year, but at that time I didn't have a job and just moped (not mo-ped) around the house.

But I'm a few days into this - six to be exact - so the end is near. (Three days coming, Three days with you, Three days going.)

It's gone from scratchy throat to congestion and now headed back to the chest. I can actually deal with all of that - save the coughing. I hate hate hate the coughing. I don't think my co-workers are exactly pleased with me either. ....and it is so annoying when I lie down to try to sleep.

I'm hoping not to hack my way through a presentation I have to give on Friday. A potentially huge client - and ironically the same one that brought us to Cleveland over 12 years ago.

Tonite, maybe it'll be a benadryl night. Or a vicodin and a beer one.



Song by: Matthew Sweet

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

SHOPPING w/BLOBBY

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!



Some posts just write themselves - don't they?

Monday, January 14, 2008

Hail to the Chief

I love the Onion. I do not nearly visit their site as much as I should. But in DC, they just distribute hardcopies at the Metro, so it's easy to pick one up and read while you ride.

This last visit found me laughing out loud as I read an article from "Jimmy Carter":

I Got What America Needs Right Here

Sometimes I'm a little stupid, maybe, a little slow in the head, so I'm wondering if you can help me get something straight. Maybe you can help me understand one fucking thing right now, America, and explain to me what in the Christ is going on here. 'Cause, unless I'm missing something, this country is in the middle of a motherfucking shitstorm, and I have no fucking idea what you're gonna do to get out of it. I mean, are you seriously considering voting for one of these shitbags you got here in '08? Fat fucking chance! Read the rest of the article here


It might be something to make you smile on a Monday.



Song by: the United States Air Force Concert Band

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Mission of Mercy

I stumbled across this little ditty the other day: Pseudo nekkid Mormons!

Sorry - pseudo nekkid Mormon's with six packs. ....and not the beer. Because they don't drink, ya know.

Apparently, just like Falcon movies, it is against the law to have any kind of body hair in Utah.



I don't know much about Mormonism - only what comes from the Osmonds, the Romneys, Big Love and Angels in America. But this I know - why aren't they posing in their 'sacred undergarments'? Let's see what protects them physically and spiritually. C'mon!!!! Throw something to the fans!

I am doubtful that these are actual Mormons. No, I'm guessing just some waxed Ken doll-like men who needed the money to pay off their student loan, or to get enough cash to get to the Big Apple so they can make it as a STAR!


....and when that fails, well, then eventually porn, g0-go dancing and a series of out-calls.



Song by: the Motels

Friday, January 11, 2008

Vacation


Seriously. Who are these 11% ???

Oh wait - the disclaimer says this isn't a scientific poll. Well then forget it.

Oh that crazy CNN!!!


Song by: the Go-Gos

Thursday, January 10, 2008

We Both Go Down Together

I missed a day of posting......that's odd.

I guess I do every once in awhile. Sometimes due to lack of anything to say. Sometimes due to work and travel. This time I think it is a combination of both.

But I am in DC and have been all week. GREAT weather. Yeah - I saw an Inconvenient Truth, but it's hard to get mad about all that shit when it is January and in the 70s. They say it is our children who will have to pay for global warming - but hell, I don't have any kids.

Last night I was looking for a place to have dinner and stumbled upon this place on 14th NW, just a few blocks from my hotel.


How could I not eat here?

The service was faster than fast and the food was great. It's in a borderline gay 'hood so the TV was playing Madonna's Confessions Tour concert footage. It doesn't get more gay than that - except for the gay and his hag sitting next to me. Jon would have loved to been with me where we would not say a word and just eavesdrop on their conversation.


song by: the Decemberists

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Carmen Ohio

So two nights ago I had a dream. Yes, a weird dream. Do I have any other kind?

In the dream, I was about to have sex with this guy I know.....or should say have 'known'. Biblically. But this was a long long long long time ago. Where and how I pulled him back in my sleep-state is beyond me.

Anyhoo...we were about to do 'it' in my parent's bedroom. ICK. ....on so many levels. (seriously - if nothing else, the decor is beyond dated!)

Just as we were about to do 'it', somewhere in the background Carmen Ohio came on....and I had to stop what I/we were doing and sing it.

I woke up with a boner. I'm not sure if it was from the almost simulated sex or the song. Or both.

What? TMI?

Anyway, OSU had nothing to sing about. Not last night. I'm disappointed, but not surprised.

How firm thy friendship, indeed!


Song by: any chorale group or drunk football crowd @ Ohio State

Monday, January 07, 2008

Hunger Strike

One of my sisters sent me this a while back and I have done nothing with it. But since today is a travel day for me and I didn't really put in too much thought for a post, I figured it was better than nothing - and definitely better than say, my insights to Britney Spears (which are probably more on the mark that asshole Dr. Phil).

Anyway - I don't really know how Free Rice works. It is just like I don't know how a soda can tab will buy someone a minute of dialysis or how a yogurt lid will help breast cancer patients.

I suppose I could read the 'about' tab - but I'm a guy, and we just do not do these sorts of things. That would be like reading a map, a car manual or instructions to electronic anything. It is just not done! I am not about to break ranks now!

But if obtaining grains of rice for U.N. to end world hunger is tied to word game - and I'm all about that.

I could lie and say it was about my underlying goal to help others. You could say it was a way to educate myself on my vocabulary skills. More than likely it is really a competition on how well I can do. But to be fair - it is a competition with myself....as unhealthy as that probably is and sounds.


Song by: Pearl Jam

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Free Your Mind

Last Saturday night we went out to a party thrown by our newish gay friends down the street. ...and yes, it's taken me this long to write about it. It was nice: new friends, great good, and wine. You know the drill. It was also great that we could just walk to their house.

...and what a house. It makes our house look like a rundown cottage the Unibomber might pass up living in. Tin Roof.......Rusted!

But we are clearly new to this group of party-goers. Obviously, the 'newest'. Judging by most of the overheard conversation, almost everyone else had been at "Dave's party" the night before....including the hired help. I don't know who Dave is.

And while I think we were approachable, clearly we weren't. Nor were some people very welcoming. I hate when people do that - especially gay men. For a minority group who wants overall acceptance, we don't exercise this in practice. Exclusion and snobbery can be everyday standards. Throughout the night, I would over hear things like ".....I don't know....I think they're neighbors....". Honestly, I wanted to turn and say, "I can HEAR you!"

But I made efforts too - not so you think I assumed people should be the ones to approach us. More often than not, I was rebuffed with a monosyllabic answer. Was it my breath? Did I not floss? Were they afraid of being immortalized in a blog they didn't even know existed?

That being said - there were a number of very friendly folks there too. Mostly straight - including one couple that were just hilarious of different reasons. The husband was just downright funny and we got along great. His wife - the best way to put it was 'spacey'. And I think I'm being nice. Drunk. High. Head trauma. Mentally unbalanced. All would be four other possible explanations.

She has known one of the hosts for over 20 years and claims she 'turned him', to which I replied, 'oh....you were his prom date!'. Everyone around me laughed. I thought I was funny.

The other couple was gay and I thought we were having a bonding experience. We ended up hanging out with most of the evening. hey were nice and had been together for awhile and seemingly normal. Key word is 'seemingly'. Michael was a very very quiet kind of guy. His partner, Chuck, was much more outgoing and friendly. They were easy to talk to.

I figured we might have found a new couple to befriend. But as the evening and conversation wore on, I found myself more and more uncomfortable at how comfortable Chuck was with us. No...no.....nothing sexual.....just how freely he thought he could speak.

It soon became clear he tended to be racist. And you can take 'tended to be' right out of that last statement.

It really threw me. Yes, I know racism still exists, I'd be a fool not to. I haven't seen it in such a blatant form of it for such a long time. Ironically, they lived in a section of town where they are the minority - the white minority....not the gay one. I'm sure where they are and who they are, they are in sub-specialty minority.

Their 'hood is, and has been, traditionally been 98% african-american. They chose to live there. So I first sat there thinking 'where the fuck do you get off......', then I was thinking, how do I get out of this little grouping.

Part of me thought about saying something, but we were already on thin ice with the entire party-going group, and I know me - it wouldn't have come out nice at all or subtle. And we were guests of our neighbors.

I'm not sure I did the right thing by not doing/saying anything. But at least I know enough not to associate with them in the future.



Song by: En Vogue

Saturday, January 05, 2008


The Rain


Maybe it is early on-set of Alzheimers, but yesterday I lost an orange.

Yes, you heard me right.

Navel oranges are my fruit of choice. Unfortunately, they are only really good for about six to eight weeks of the year. So during this period I always have them and take at least one with me to work as my mid-morning nourishment.

So I know I had two left yesterday morning and picked one to go with me. Around 11 a.m. I realized I had not eaten said orange. It was nowhere to be found. Naturally, I assumed I left it in my car. Upon the end of the workday and back in the car, I looked, but it wasn't there.

After getting home, sure enough, there was only one orange left in the fruit bowl.

Where the hell did it go??



Song by: Orange "Juice" Jones

Friday, January 04, 2008

If I Were a Rich Man

On my drive from central Ohio last evening I tuned into NPR. I made it just in time for Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

I usually love the show because of Terry's interview style and her guests, but I do get frustrated at the topics. The things that are talked about from time to time get my panties all in a wad - and it doesn't help that I'm driving.

You should really listen to yesterday's show. I don't know it's podcast-able, but you can listen to it right from the NPR site. The guest is/was David Cay Johnston - columnist for the New York Times. He was there promoting his new book.

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill). Not the longest title in book history, but certainly not the shortest.

Though clearly they talk about what the title implies, it goes much deeper into a number of case studies that include big box stores, alarm system companies, Shrub-Texas Rangers-fraudulent tax returns (yes, all-in-one) and some of their tie-ins to your taxes not at work and to the rise in certain crime rates.

Horribly interesting. ...and just downright horrible.

It is probably no surprise that he ties much this back to the Reagan era - and right up to W. Though I'd like to exonerate Clinton, it's doubtful there was a lull in some of this activity during his eight years in office.


Song by: Tevye (as performed by Zero Mostel)

Thursday, January 03, 2008

A Change Would Do You Good

Today officially kicks off the 2008 voting season. Yeeehaw??

Way too much importance is placed on a state that for the rest of the campaign season will be nothing more than a fly-over state. Pundits will say Iowa is important because the place is small enough that candidates have to be out there, visible and available and not just a well-crafted 30-60 second television ad.

Perhaps.

There are actually qualified candidates (I think) that will be shut-out because a much less qualified fuck with a higher Q rating will win. The media will then focus most of their attention on two or three people. Bill Clinton was clearly an exception. He placed 3rd in Iowa back in 1992.

Do I want change in this country - or think we desperately need it? Yup. Do I want to forfeit experience for the sake of someone claiming change? Probably not.

Obama and Edwards can tout 'change' all they want. They still have to work with a Congress who collectively has been around for the last 200-300 years (when you add up all the years they've held office). None of them have addressed that aspect of it as far as I can see. And lord knows a Democrat ruled Congress has been able to 'change' squat. Let's not forget that Barak is part of that Congress. How effective is he really going to be?

Edwards has one-term of experience and Obama doesn't even have that. At least when it comes to federal government level. I don't know a novice is going to get us out of this mess that Shrub and Dick has gotten us into.

Not much I can do about Iowa or New Hampshire. I have to wait until March for our primary - and by then, well, we'll be down to a very select few. I guess we will see how far it pares down starting tonite.

On a lighter note, I do love the graphic images below. I've seen similar on newcasts and I had to go searching for still images. Click on them to make them bigger if you must (ga'head, ga'head!!!).



The small blue sign is Barak's campaign slogan. But do you notice anything else in the images?

Anyone? Anyone????


Song by: Sheryl Crow

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Words

The Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use came out yesterday...or probably the day before. But they were printed in the papers yesterday.

They are really not just words, many are phrases (which are of course, words that are strung together) and they are as follows:

• perfect storm • Webinar • waterboarding • organic • wordsmith/wordsmithing
• author/authored • post 9/11 • surge • give back • 'blank' is the new 'blank' • Black Friday • back in the day • sweet • decimate • emotional • pop • It is what it is • under the bus

I am happy to say I have never (ok ok...rarely) used these in my regular conversations. I mean, who uses 'sweet', when not meaning 'too much sugar' - unless you're a 16-22 year old boy?

I absolutely loathe people who use the phrase 'it is what it is'. A former peer of mine would say it dozens of times per day. Literally. It drove me up the frickin' wall. Another co-worker never noticed it until I pointed it out. She still curses me as now that is all she ever hears.

As Jon pointed out earlier this year, 'webinar' is a newer word and would probably be his top pick to be banished.

The others I don't care that much about nor do I find so annoying. There are others I can think of:

• synergy • ramp up • reach out• kudos

Yes - those are so much more worse than nails on a chalkboard to me and worse than the ones that are on this year's list.

What words/phrases would you choose?


Song by: the Bee Gees

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's Day

Another year is upon us. 2008. Yikes.

The passage of time goes no faster or slower than any other year. Sure, we long for the days when our lives were not so complicated and filled with ever-waking issues and constant trouble-shooting.

People will say that time flies, but honestly aren't there just days where it d-r-a-g-s? I guess it all equals out in the end. And in reality, when the hourglass has its last grain of sand, that's it.

Well....except for leap years.

The other day, I was caught on a 25 floor elevator ride with some guy who decided to tell me about his perception of time. When he was king (yes, he said that), he would eliminate February, because nobody liked it - and just add two to three more days per month. Ummm........okay. I knew if I said something snide that I would just run into him again and again, so I kept my lip buttoned and nodded a lot.

But last year at this time, I swore that 2007 would be better than 2006. And it was. But honestly, it had nowhere to go but up. 2006 was just butt-up.....and we bent over and took it. ....and not in the good way.

Now we both have new jobs. Hell, we both have jobs! That was a huge start. We have our health. We have really really good friends who we adore and are making new ones (which was said cannot happen after you turn 30 - which was a long long time ago).

But 2008 holds its challenges, of course. Yes there are personal things to accomplish (bathroom renovation!) which just might kill one of us.

What we really have to survive is the election!! Not that it hasn't already been going on for 12 months as it is. I cannot wait until the Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary are over. It will probably the last we'll have to see of Fred Thompson, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd and a half dozen no names who have been littering the news with blurbs they do not deserve. But it will also intensify the remaining few. Oy. ....and I've said it before, I just cannot bare for Ohio to be the deciding anything again. I want to be a fly-over state.

I cannot think of anything else 2008 has to hold as of yet. Except vacation. I don't know when. I don't know where. But as g-d is my witness we will take time off and go somewhere.

As for our NYE plans? Well, we don't go out . I made a very nice salad, potatoes and NY strip steaks last night. I have no desire to be out with the masses. What is the appeal to that?

G-d, what will those folks at Times Square do when we hit 2010 and they cannot use those ridiculous glasses?


Song by: U2