Friday, September 05, 2008

Art is subjective.

Click on the link below to go to this blog. This is a British artist who is setting up these super miniature installations all over London. He posts pictures of his latest installations on his blog and a book of this miniature art is planned. It is cool because he posts photos of the installation up close and then of the street view. It gives you a perspective as to just how small these works are. Totally cool. (Small disclaimer, I have not actually READ any of his blog, just looked at the photos so not sure what he writes about.)

Little People Art

A watched pot never boils, but it does get paranoid...

Driving through LA on my way to San Diego. It's impossible to hold your breath from Getty Center to Newport Beach so I drive with the windows rolled up and the air conditioner running. The haze over the city looks evil and though we know about the detriment to peoples health, I have to wonder about what it does to their mood; maybe that's why all those crazy famous people are so crazy.

Anyway, as I drive in the carpool lane on the 405 I'm struck by the amount and variety of debris that finds its way to the center island. Mind, in places the carpool lane is only a foot or two from the center wall and the debris is actually in the lane. Garbage bags, full and empty, car parts, lots of tire debris, plants, paint buckets, trash, hoses, clothes, furniture, you name it it's there and over all of it a good thick coat of glittering broken glass.

I'm troubled by two things I see washed up against the dividing wall. Well, aside from the full garbage bags that could contain anything from a body to yard waste. I see alot of single shoes among the debris, how does that happen? Someone with their feet sticking out the window loses a shoe in the breeze? Someone unsuccessfully crossing the road? I'm not talking about one single solitary shoe along the whole length of the highway. I'm talking about lots of unpaired shoes all along the road. How do they get there?

The second disturbing thing I see is chunks of concrete. Big chunks, little chunks, some too heavy to pick up I think. Are their chunks of concrete breaking off the roadway? Falling from neighboring buildings? Being thrown by hooligans on the side of the road? Disturbing scenarios all.

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Did I share these photos with you?



Adorable!






Hi Friends!



Wednesday, August 06, 2008

If one synchronized swimmer drowns,
do all the rest have to drown too?


Yeah, OK, so he's a little cute...so what's all the fuss?



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So our time in the Midwest is almost over and our brief period here has been eventful. I mean, the other night we experienced a thrilling thunderstorm complete with tornado warnings. That was totally awesome and fair trade I think for having missed an earthquake back home. I was so looking forward to an earthquake too, it's been years since I've experienced one. Anyway with the storm and all I feel that my time here has not been a complete waste. Well, there's the baby of course, but that's a daily miracle.

To my chagrin, I find that I've fallen back into the habit of driving infuriatingly slow without too much pain. It's bizarre, the other day someone actually honked at me and I found to my embarrassment that I was actually driving 5 miles BELOW the speed limit. It's time to head back to Cali.

I'll tell you what I'll miss though. I'll miss all the glorious green. I'd forgotten how green it always is here. Everything is so lush and people have real gardens...and there's all that real humidity and all those real bugs of every size color, description and varying degrees of pain causing bites...so what was I talking about...oh yeah, how much I'll miss this place, right?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Introducing Cormac Quinn



What the...what's with all the light?





Uncle Aidric not so taken with Cormac as grandma.





Hi mommy! Please don't make me wear the Packers outfit!





Brand spanking new!





Hi daddy! Please don't make me be a Packers fan!



Why is the alphabet in that order?
Is it because of the song?

So select Starbucks are closing all over the country due to lack of public interest in paying 4 bucks for a cup of coffee.

Not me, though, I love coffee and have been known to be sucked into the orbit of many a drive thru Starbucks. Just the drive thrus though, because actually having to get out of the car for a cup of coffee seems too hard.

So here I am at the drive up window of my neighborhood Starbucks waiting for the teen aged barista there-in to give me my coffee and lemon loaf. Standing next to her, and holding what appears to be a working staff meeting, has to be the MOD. She's saying that customer service has to be their first priority, that their business is based not only on great coffee but most importantly on how customers are treated. That customer service is really what keeps people coming back and that coffee can be had anywhere...blah, blah, blah. All this as I sit at the window for so long that I feel like an employee....

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

If English made sense, a catastrophe
would be an apostrophe with fur

We are in the midst of that TV season we call 'Political Ads', all new, all season for the foreseeable future. This is how bad it is, today we were playing with Aidy's trucks and had the TV going for back ground noise. Suddenly Aidric stops, points to the TV and says 'Bama!'. Oh yeah, he recognizes Barak every time. Hillary not so much for some reason, but Obama gets his attention every time.







Saturday, February 23, 2008

A day without sunshine is like, well, night..

'Red meat is not bad for you, now blue-green meat, that's bad for you'

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My sister and I were out for dinner with the boys; yes, there is a wide streak of insanity running right through our family. After 2 minutes of flipping through the menu I'm ready to order. I don't need to read the whole book to know how it ends, I just pretty much point and order. The boys are ready because the kids menu only has 4 choices and 'mac and cheese' is pretty much a childhood staple, so really for them there was no real choice. My sister, however, is only on page 2 of the 8 page tome and needs more time.

The waitress comes along and I order and the boys order and my sister hems and haws and the waitress offers to come back. When the young woman comes back my sister has decided but is then stymied by the sides available. Now, this is an ongoing source of amusement for me and I constantly give my sister grief about this. When it comes to ordering at a restaurant my sister IS Sally Albright. You know Sally from 'When Harry Met Sally'.

As my sister thinks over her sides options and ruminates about how she'd like her steak cooked I make small talk with the young woman taking our order. I say to her, "Sorry, but my sister is who they based the character of Sally Albright on." The child stares at me blankly. "You know Sally from 'When Harry Met Sally'?" Not a glimmer of recognition. "You know the movie 'When Harry Met Sally'?"

A small mental cog clicks into place behind her teenaged eyes and she says, and I quote, "Oh, I don't really watch old movies."

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The mountains to the east of us have been snow capped for weeks now and when the wind switches around and comes from the east there is a definate frostiness to the air. Today we had windchills making our outdoor temps feel like 60...brrrrrr. Love and kisses and more later.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words.



Never mind that his accuracy needs work and that his gardening technique needs honing, I want to know how many child labor laws we're breaking.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

If you shoot a mime do you have to use a silencer?

Aidric turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and the feasting continues. This photo is from the family celebration in San Diego last Saturday. It was a chocolate cake, Aidric's favorite. He's just like his mom, he loves his chocolate cake; unlike his mother the boy also loves broccoli and cauliflower, that oddity we blame on his father. Eeeewwwww!



Aidric would like to thank his big sister and brother for his treasure trove of birthday surprises, only one of them is pictured here. He is such a boy, he loves trucks and tractors and cars, and mud and...well, you get the point.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Every calendar's days are numbered.

I talked to J yesterday, the pregnancy is going well, she and Matt have begun to choose baby names and they've sort of settled on two names, Salamander if it's a boy or Salamandra if it's a girl. I whole heartedly approve their spirit.

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Aidric has officially turned two, though unofficially he's been two for about three months now. I wish I could photograph his little face as he faces me down, saying no and looking at me with that defiant look in his eyes, and then the sheepish look he gets as I stare back at him very sternly until he looks away and comes in for the hug. You know that hug that says, 'thanks mom, I was just checking that you're still in charge.' And so on that note we prepare for potty training. Whos idea was this anyway?

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I've never been more grateful for my DVR. It allows me to watch my shows without having to sit through the ever increasing number of political ads. I am sure that many of you will be wanting to go out and get your own TiVo or something similar as the ads ramp up over the next few months. I have some advice for you though, watch or record some news programs too or you'll miss things. The other day I was watching actual TV and I was shocked to hear that Vampira, Bobby Fischer and Heath Ledger had died....so sad...Vampira....shocked....

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Gotta drive through L.A. tomorrow on my way to San Diego. It's about an hour drive through the L.A. basin, more if there's traffic and I can't drive 85 all the way through. As you crest the hill coming over the Santa Monica mountains and you see the brown air below you, you want to hold your breath until you get to the other side. You can implemant all sorts of industrial air quality standards but the only way to silence the damage of millions of cars on the road everyday is to keep millions of cars OFF the roads every day. On the bright side, global warming caused by all of those cars may one day cause sea levels to rise so high that the L.A. basin will be a nice large lake. On the down side, I'll have to drive AROUND L.A. to get to San Diego and that'll just take longer.

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Barack and Hillary debating in L.A. tonight. That's all there is on the local channels today. I gotta go now and see what's been recorded on my DVR. More later.

Monday, January 14, 2008

The News at 6

So the holidays are over, aren't they? There is a very sad helium balloon drifting about three inches from the floor in the dinning room, tiredly proclaiming 'Happy New Year'. All it's good for now is scaring the holy hell out of me when I wander the house in the middle of the night.

Aidric is still enjoying his Christmas booty and we have his B-day coming up to add to the madness. Thank you to all for the noise and chaos, you'll get yours.

The ultimate sign of a new year begun is the jam packed parking lot at the gym. As I cruise for a spot every morning I curse (to myself, because Aidy repeats things quite clearly now) every darned new years resolver and content myself with the knowledge that in a matter of weeks the parking lot will once again be empty.

On Christmas morning we discovered that Aidric really is my son. He opened his packages meticulously. He removed every scrap of paper and tape from the box he was unwrapping before he even considered opening the box. Unlike me though, he didn't care about the contents of the box, so much as he enjoyed just playing with box. Ah well, can'[t have everything.



This is a nice photo of a pod of Orcas off the coast seen during a whale watching tour.



Sorry that's all I've got for you now. Happy New Year to all.