This is a hilarious post for anyone who belongs to online photo sharing sites -- it is a satire of some famous photos and comments they "would have gotten" if posted on the internet. Funny, funny because there are so many people who think that just because they have a large piece of glass and plastic they are art experts. *sigh* But it is funny.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
teeth!
All six are showcased in this photo (thanks to my rockin' new camera...) and isn't she just adorable?
Monday, June 19, 2006
Cool...but how random is the lack of south carolina and the virginias?
create your own visited states map
OH.MY.WORD.
Look at Ben's!!! Not only was he an Air Force Brat, he had evil Wisconsin traveling job. Wow. He so wins.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Will's art
I love what Will did with this picture. I adore my son, of course, but wow, I think he is talented and amazing! He took this picture of Adelaide and turned it into this. Pretty cool, huh?
Wow...how wrong can you be? Cable de-monopolization is the future.
So some of you have read that I loathe cable companies and the current "franchising" system (which I prefer to label "government approved monopoly"). So I was understandably excited about the bill moving through the government to dismantle this system and free the lines for open competition in markets.
So here comes this dude, who simply gets it all wrong. He laments that instead of complaints about the cable company being handled by "city hall," everyone will have to go through the FCC. HELLO? Apparently he is so entrenched in the thinking of "red tape" that he has forgotten that money speaks louder than words, tape, or city hall.
He writes: "The major telecommunications bill careening through Congress right now would shift almost all the responsibility for cable complaints from local governments to the Federal Communications Commission. With some 30,000 local governments currently taking and acting on cable complaints, it's not clear how the FCC would suddenly gear up to all of handle them. But I’ll let you guess."
Okay, okay, I know this one! (hand shoots up in the air) If cable companies had to face competition and had some kind of financial incentive to treat customers with respect and to deliver good service, there wouldn't be so many complaints. People would just switch companies! And while I feel certain that if this in enacted, cable companies will suddenly come up with all sorts of schemes to get subscribers to sign contracts (a la cell phone companies -- don't do it!!!) it would nonetheless give people options they don't currently have. So what do you think matters more? The people angry with their local cable company switch to a competitor, or the people angry with the local cable company go to their local government, whose palms are greased with the tax revenues and money of the provider filling their coffers, who then say, "hey, stop that. really. stop. okay, stop when it's convenient for you." Or better yet, they say, "quit complaining."
I, along with many others I know, have converted to satellite service for television. But I still have to go with the worthless, do-nothing, money grubbing, service-impaired local cable company for my high-speed internet service. I would like to point out, however, that when I call my satellite provider with a problem that I talk to a human (who is usually generally pleasant and helpful and whose only advice isn't "unplug the box for thirty seconds...")
So file this under "think for yourself." It is a pretty sad state I suppose when we need government regulation to fix government regulation (see: Louisiana ethanol mandate), but I have a dream. I dream of a world in which I can tell Cox Cable to stick it somewhere very impolite because I'm moving to _______ (fill in the blank...satellite, Time Warner, Comcast, local provider, etc.)
These companies fear the day they will have to compete for dollars. Improving service and options...it frightens them! Entrenchment...it is soooo comfortable...Responding to consumer sentiment and demand...nooooooooooooooooo!!!
Please, "Red Tape Chronicles," get a clue. The market is the best consumer complaint system of all. Just ask aol.
Just when I thought I was having a bad day...
Wow. Just when I think I'm having a bad day, I read this. And I realize that, yeah, sometimes things happen that stink or upset me, but in the scheme of things, at least I didn't ask someone to marry me who said they didn't think they were ready, which then precipitated jumping out of a window naked, running down the street, and being shot at. Really, everyone. It could be worse!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Reason #3271 I don't miss Wisconsin
There are so many reasons I am glad we don't live in Wisconsin anymore. In fact, the population of Wisconsin in the 2000 census was 5,363,675. But let's be fair...not everyone in Wisconsin is bad. So there are probably only, like, 5,363,242 reasons I'm glad we don't live there anymore. I'm calling this guy #3271. I really need a "Wisconsin" tag like Fark.com has a "florida" tag. I like to refer back to them when, say, a hurricane is coming or when I think about Governor Blanco (which is as little as possible) so that I realize that at least the people here in Louisiana are 97% awesome. Considering that the people in Wausau were about 97% awful, rude, and uncaring...I think I can live with a stupid governor until the next election.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Introducing (drumroll....) WILL'S BLOG!!!
Wow, Will is just so fun.
Let me introduce everyone to his really great blog "Terrific Kid." He came up with the title all by himself. So clearly he has no problems with self-esteem...but he is a terrific kid, so that's fine.
Will has been asking me for a blog for a looooong time, ever since he realized I was posting on mine. I should have done it sooner, but better now than never! Will likes to get on Adobe Photoshop and create really cool pictures with neat effects. I certainly don't think it looks like the work of someone who just turned five!
He says he also wants to start posting pictures of his lego creations and scanning in his art that he does here at home. Really he just wants to have a website. For a tech-savvy little guy, I guess that's sort of an awesome thing!
So visit his site and leave a comment. He LOVES reading his comments, and check back because he's one of those bloggers who likes to respond to all of them! He's really proud of his site, and I'm really proud of him. He is, after all, a really Terrific Kid.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Mischief Maker
This is Will's room.
He HATES it when she stands at it and bangs on the door. He says she eats the stickers off the door.
He's right.
He HATES it when she stands at it and bangs on the door. He says she eats the stickers off the door.
He's right.
Gotta keep those baby nails trimmed...
...because she really likes to grab at faces. She also loves playing with daddy. Look closely and you'll see a BIG smile on her face, and if this had audio, you'd hear that English baby belly laugh that Will made so famous in his infancy. I just love her babyness, her chubby little hands and arms, and her fat little legs, her laughter and her serious faces that look like she's thinking soooooooooo hard about something...
Friday, June 09, 2006
every girl's gotta have a hobby...
well, I have always wanted to be able to sew. I started by altering some baby burp cloths, moved on to pillowcases and small blankets, and recently decided it was time to do something with all the gorgeous fabric I had been accumulating in the hopes that I would do...something...with it. So here is a recent attempt-in-progrss. The roses are going to be a little top, and then the black and pink polka dots are going to (hopefully) be a diaper cover...
Monday, June 05, 2006
Moved by the Spirit?
Ahhh, Will. How I delight in my very...special...child.
Will's newest antecdote began at church on Sunday morning. Will would normally go to kids' praise during the sermon, but we had decided that we wanted him to stay with us and sit through the sermon for a while and see how he did. So we packed a bag with legos, colors, and other quietly amusing items in the hopes that he would learn to sit through a sermon.
It turned out the sermon was about Jesus' parable of the seeds. This, we though, was great because Will is really intrigued by natural science and has recently taken a great interest particularly in seeds and plants. As soon as he heard Eddie, our preacher, begin to talk about seeds and what kind of soil they would flourish in, I saw his ears perk up, and my five-year-old was more intensely focused on the sermon that even most adults might have been. He listened attentively as Eddie talked about where seeds fall, rocky soil, and weeds, and what that all meant. He then began to read from the bible to the congregation. He read from Mark 4, and when he got to verse 9, he placed special emphasis on Jesus' words.
"He who has ears," he began, then paused, smiling at the congregation. "He who has ears? Who has ears?" He paused and then continued. "He who has ears let him hear!"
At that moment, my son, who had become so wrapped up in the sermon that he apparently felt that Eddie was speaking only to him, excitedly informed the entire congregation:
"We ALL have ears!"
Oh, my.
Yes, it was very funny. And I would be lying if I said I was upset with him, because I wasn't. After all, Jesus said that we must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, and Will showed us all that day what the enthusiasm of a child can feel like when listening to stories about Jesus. I know that Jesus would have been pleased to hear my son answer Eddie's question so loudly and firmly, so how could I be upset at him? No one else was. It was cute, but it was also really special. And even though afterwards we explained to him that sometimes when a preacher asks a question, he doesn't necessarily want an answer outloud, sometimes he wants us to answer it in our heads, we also told him that he wasn't in trouble and that we were proud he was so interested in what Eddie was saying.
I was worried that he wouldn't learn anything in the auditorium with us, but I think he did. And more importantly, he taught me something: that becoming like a child in Christ is real, and Jesus knew that when he set the example, bidding the children to come unto him. He wanted us all to know and to remember each time we saw a child delight in the wonders of Him that full-hearted faith and undeniable excitement are attainable for us all.
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