Mitt Romney

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid51324.asp

I should probably just quit reading the news :) I'm not sure which is worse, Mitt Romney's back-and-forth stances on just about everything in order to try to please everyone and get votes, or the fact that Peter LaBarbera, a so-called Christian leader and spokesman for "family values" sees the passage of laws like the hate crimes law and ENDA as bad things. Never mind gay marriage - opinions on that are all over the board. But every bible I've ever read would seem to lead me to believe that we shouldn't be committing crimes of hate against each other (as human beings!) and it seems not discriminating against each other in simple things like jobs would follow along those same lines.

Movies

Two posts in one day! But I was thinking of this one this morning when I woke up...tonight I am going to go see "Alien vs. Predator 2" which came out on Tuesday. This kind of movie brings up a lot of discussion, because you know it probably won't have much plot, as the first one demonstrated. However, my theory on movies has always been that, at least for the first time you watch a movie, your enjoyment is mostly based on your expectations - if your expectation level is in line with or lower than how the movie actually is, you will enjoy it (this is only for first-time viewings, re-watchability is much more based on other things like how good the movie actually is, and your feelings or memories about the first time you watched it). So, in this example, when I went to the first Alien vs. Predator, I expected lots of action, special effects, shooting, killing, etc. and that's exactly what I got - any plot or story was bonus. So that is what I'm expecting of this one, and I'll probably enjoy it too (and never watch it again).

SO...my challenge to you is to post your worst movie disappointment, best movie surprise, or both. For me, my worst disappointment was "Legally Blonde 2" - the first one is one of the funniest movies ever made IMHO, and I was expecting that and more with the next one, and it was total crap. "Star Wars Episode I" is a close second. My best surprise...probably "Terminator 2", that movie completely blew me away, even to this day I remember how amazing it was the first time I saw it. "Ghost" is probably second in that category.

Reading/Watching/Listening

I've had a little more free time over the last week to relax and read, watch TV, and listen to music. For reading, I'm finishing up a funny book called "Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees, and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic" by Robert Lanham - a humourous take on the different kinds of people you find in offices and companies. I also re-read parts of Kevin Trudeau's "More Natural Cures Revealed" - I don't take everything in his books seriously but he does make some good points about the health care system and food industry. I probably watch way too much TV, but this week I've been re-watching season 6 of "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" (the best season IMHO) and continue to wonder how Terry Farrel could leave the awesomeness that is Star Trek for "Becker". Also, watched the last episode of the Dallas "Dream Season" where Pam wakes up and finds Bobby, killed a year before, in the shower. Finally, I've stopped listening to Christmas music 24/7 and am back to salsa and podcasts - if any of you are podcasters, Dan Savage's "Savage Lovecast" is a fun one to listen to.

Christmas week!

I may be a little behind on my postings, but today have some time to catch up. So sorry if this is a little long....

Christmas....to me, one of the greatest times of the year. No other time during the year do we get 2 holidays back to back within one week, and for those of us not in the retail/services industry, a time to back off on work :) The festivities this year started early for me, going back to last Friday night when I was fortunate to get to have dinner and drinks with my friend Don visiting from Boston, and some other great friends. We all miss Don & Rob a lot, and it was fun to catch up (and have 4 or 7 Captain & Cokes at Newt's!)

Saturday I got up to go to 9AM handbell rehearsal (more on that later) and then coffee with my friend Shelley, where once again we solved all the worlds problems sitting at Starbucks. Saturday night was a lot of fun - my jazz band played at the Blue Moon Ballroom, one of the most fun places to play because everyone is dancing and having a good time - and with the Christmas atmosphere, it was even more fun. The impending snow didn't keep people away and there was a great turnout - and the age range was probably 14 to 74, great to see so many generations of people enjoying dancing and music.

Sunday at church we did the "Lessons & Carols" service, an abbreviated version of the one we did at St. Mary's the week before. A little more fun for me because the high school group that I direct got to play for this one. I love services that are mostly music (I'm probably a little biased) and I got the chance to visit with a lot of friends between services. After a relaxing afternoon, my salsa band "Fuego" had a practice, taking advantage of the time our piano player is home from college. (as a side note, "Fuego" will be playing at the Blue Moon on Friday, January 25th, we have new songs and it will be a great show). We're trying to get in a few more practices before January 3rd when our piano player leaves and people go back to school and work.


Monday I was fortunate to have the day off of work - it is doubtful there was much going on at IBM that day anyway - and so I had the morning to get ready to head up to my sister and her husband's house in North Branch for Christmas. As soon as Erin got done with work, we headed up, stopping on the way at my cousins in Roseville to say hi and have some apple cider. Friday night we had a nice dinner and stayed over at mom's. My niece Keagann was VERY excited to see more presents, even after 3 days of opening presents at other family gatherings. We came back over Tuesday morning, after a nice breakfast at mom's, and opened up presents (Keagann opened all hers quickly and then decided to "help" everyone else :) We had to get back to Rochester for the evening and for Erin to work the next morning, so at 2:30 as the snow was falling we headed out. It was a bit snowy all the way to Cannon Falls - the roads weren't great - but we made it ok. Erin and I did our own gifts later on (almost all mine were coffee-related - 1lb of Caribou Obsidian blend, 2 nice spill-proof mugs, and a big Caribou coffee card - I think Erin has me figured out!)






I decided I could work at home the rest of the week, mornings only. Wednesday night was another salsa band rehearsal, which went really well and was fun. Thursday, Erin and I went out to dinner with a bunch of his friends who are at home this week. Besides all that, we managed to go to get to the RAC most days of the past week, a habit I am glad to be getting back to.

This brings us to today, the eve of the eve of the eve of New Year's Eve :) OK that's kind of overkill but I am looking forward to a weekend of anticipation - and again getting to see friends and relax and celebrate.

For those of us out there political, it's also only a week to the Iowa caucus...and 11 months of political ads :) I hope everyone is enjoying this time with friends, family, refreshment, and rejuvination.

Not exactly high society, but...

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid51235.asp

Youtube really does change what all we see now - most of these we probably wouldn't have heard about if we still only had traditional TV and newspaper media.

a capella!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

This is one of the best/funniest musical performances I've ever seen (about 3 1/2 minutes)

Coffee, cookies, and beer

Sometimes in life you have one of those unexpected great days where everything just seems to fall into place even though you didn't plan any of it...I have to say that yesterday was one of those days. For starters, it was a sunny winter Minnesota day :) Being Saturday, I didn't have any pressure to get up quickly to do anything, so I decided to watch a documentary the DVR had recorded for me on Logo, called "The Celluloid Closet" - a very interesting take on Hollywood and cinema, and something I was waiting to watch for awhile.

At 11, I met up with Erin and one of his study partners at Caribou for some coffee, and reading (I was reading while they studied). The festive atmosphere at Caribou during the holidays is always fun to be around. After a nice large dose of caffeine, Erin and I went to Target and HyVee to pick up some food/ingredients for cookie dough (more on that later) and the 4 cheesecakes Erin was making for his work holiday party (and if you haven't had one of his cheesecakes, they are wonderful!)


The cookie dough was for an annual event that I love going to - my good friends Kris & Roger Harms host a cookie baking party around this time of year where everyone brings their own cookie dough, and we have a pipeline of baking going on all afternoon. Kris has 2 large 3-rack ovens, and even then it takes 3-4 hours to get through everything (we're talking 30-40 people at this party). We then have a large meal topped off with any cookie you can imagine (as well as some wine or beer :) While I always enjoy going and just hanging out with all the people there, this was the first year I brought cookie dough, and a boyfriend :) I think Erin liked it, being surrounded by all that baking. And then at the end you get to take an assortment home with you!


BUT...the day wasn't over! Just as soon as we got home, our friends Paul & Anne called and said that Paul's brother Andy was in town, and that they had a babysitter for LP (their son, "Lukas Paul") and that we needed to go drink and play pool somewhere. So after a dinner at Applebees, we headed down to Paul & Anne's favorite hangout, Shar's Country Palace, where you can relax, listen to mediocre DJs play 80s music, play pool, and drink (and now it's smoke-free so it's much more enjoyable). Erin and I beat Paul and Andy in pool 5 games out of 7 (I think) and we all had a fun time.


Nothing particularly spectacular or out of the ordinary, but just one of those great, unexpected days that come along every so often that make life fun. (I like to call these "Red Letter Days")

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, and that you have some time to relax, reflect, and be with family and friends. Peace

Annual Lessons & Carols music service

http://www.zumbrolutheran.org/lessons_carols.html

Just an announcement to everyone that my church's annual music service of Nine Lessons and Carols is going on this sunday at St. Mary's chapel. The music starts at 6:30pm, lasting until about 8:30. This is always a highlight of the year for me, I am very involved in Zumbo's music program, and this is a chance to listen and see all of the music groups without the rest of the "service :) The groups that are participating are listed on the web page - for me, I am involved in both handbell groups, as well as other small things. Zumbro has been doing this for 26 years as a gift to the hospital and the community - it is shown on closed-circuit TV to every room in St. Mary's hospital for patients that can't attend in person.

If you like listening to great live Christmas music of all kinds (vocal, bells, horns, woodwinds, harp), I encourage you to come - it is free and open to the public (free-will donations go to St. Mary's hospital and other charities).

Another problem in our country

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071206/ap_on_bi_ge/mortgage_crisis

Certainly not in the same category as the Omaha shootings, but wow I can't believe this is going on. Our economy is in more serious trouble than I think most people realize. People were encouraged over the last several years to buy houses as part of Bush's "ownership society", by offering them things like low-rate ARMs and mortgage "deals" - basically deferring the problems of not actually being able to afford these houses until later. And now the government has to fix the problem. I'm all for markets being free and open and letting supply and demand determine the market, but there's so much government "interference" now to keep trying to stimulate the economy, it just gets out of control.

OK I'll step down from the soapbox now :)

Omaha shootings

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/us/05cnd-omaha.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087&em&en=02267c5f0648fa2b&ex=1197003600

I don't even know how to process this one in my head - I grew up about 10 miles south of Omaha, and can't count the number of times I went to that mall. The problems of our world really are everywhere, being in the midwest certainly doesn't shield us from them.

It's hard to even imagine how hurt, angry, depressed, confused, etc. someone would have to be to start shooting random innocent people and then commit suicide. I feel great sympathy for the families of the people killed - and have to wonder if it was someone I knew. But it also hurts inside knowing that there are people out there like this gunman, that see no other option than to shoot innocent people and kill themself.

Bo is back!!!!!

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=1&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1331515

Most of you probably aren't as attached to Nebraska or the Huskers as I am, but I'm pretty excited that they hired Bo Pelini - next season is going to be fun to watch :)