light gets in

test

2006-02-08T09:49:00.000-06:00

test

uh oh

2006-01-13T10:39:00.000-06:00

Maybe I should post more than once a year if people are going to be linking here. A funny thing about the John Prine and Iris DeMent song. I hadn't heard it since that previous Christmas fire day a year ago. And then I wanted to play it for Alan the other day as we were driving back from Florida, so I called Bob to try to remember the name of it, and got the song and played it, and now it's stuck in both of our heads and we can't stop singing it as we lay our floors. And Alan got hold of several other Iris DeMent songs including "Sweet is the Melody," which he says is about the most perfect song ever.

I never meant for this to be a lyrics blog so I won't post them but you can find them here: Sweet is the Melody, and can listen to a sample on Amazon. Beware, if you haven't heard her before, her voice is sort of jarring.

to say something different this time

2005-01-18T11:47:00.000-06:00

Listened to Everything But the Girl music on the way to work today. Sappy because it always makes me cry. Especially the song "25th of December." It makes me want to live closer to my family. There's something satisfying about listening to a song that makes you cry, that makes you feel nostalgic and wistful, because you know you still have feelings.

And I see forests and it's the 25th of December
and my old man plays the piano for Christmas.
He plays the piano for Christmas.

And we're all there, all the aunties and uncles,
and the angel's on the top of the tree.
Up there on the top of the tree.

And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.

Have I enough time, have I just some time,
to revisit, to go back, to return, to open my mouth again
and say something different this time.

And I see bags of newspaper and a car in the carport,
and you're a grown up and still unsure,
and I'm thirty and I don't know nothing no more.

And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.

And I'm sitting, sitting on the top of the stairs,
and you're crying out on the towpath by the river
with all the swans and all the people walking by.

And all of a sudden I'm stuck with an urge to unlock a door
with a key that's too big for my hands
and I drop it, and it falls at your feet.

Come on, come on, it's there at your feet.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.

Also if anyone wants to get a free 80G mini mac please click here. It's just like the free ipods (which by the way, I received), you just complete one offer and get some friends to do it. If you do the "Complete Home" free trial they send you a $20 gift certificate to Lowe's and it's all free so...what have you got to lose? Please use my link so I can get credit for you. Thanks!!

olestra, really?

2004-12-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

I have to say I am really fascinated by Victor Yushchenko's transformation from dioxin. It's horrible for him, but at the same time scientists are considering interesting ways to get it out of his body, since it's stored in the fat he could have liposuction or maybe even eat a lot of olestra. There's not much opportunity for a study like this on a person. Toxicologists must be so excited. I'm looking forward to talking to my professors about it next week.
But the fact that it's so visible on his face and happened in such a short time is just also socially fascinating - it's like a beauty and the beast story, a good looking prince banished in the body of an ogre - I wonder if plastic surgery could help him. Or Belle.

soundtrack to a Christmas house fire

2004-12-25T22:28:00.000-06:00

She don’t like her eggs all runny
She thinks crossin’ her legs is funny
She looks down her nose at money
She gets it on like the easter bunny
She’s my baby I’m her honey
I’m never gonna let her go

He ain’t got laid in a month of sundays
I caught him once and he was sniffin’ my undies
He ain’t too sharp but he gets things done
Drinks his beer like it’s oxygen
He’s my baby
And I’m his honey
Never gonna let him go

In spite of ourselves
We’ll end up a’sittin’ on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we’re the big door prize
We’re gonna spite our noses
Right off of our faces
There won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes.

She thinks all my jokes are corny
Convict movies make her horny
She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs
Swears like a sailor when shaves her legs
She takes a lickin’
And keeps on tickin’
I’m never gonna let her go.

He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey
He’s a wacked out werido and a lovebug junkie
Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon
Payday comes and he’s howlin’ at the moon
He’s my baby I don’t mean maybe
Never gonna let him go

In spite of ourselves
We’ll end up a’sittin’ on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we’re the big door prize
We’re gonna spite our noses
Right off of our faces
There won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes.
There won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes.

(spoken) in spite of ourselves

--In Spite of Ourselves, John Prine and Iris DeMent

free stuff

2004-11-08T19:50:00.000-06:00

Well, I have learned from freeipods.com that my free ipod has been shipped and will be arriving at my house tomorrow. TOMORROW. :) Some of you may be wondering, "Am I too late to get free stuff?" No, you are not. You too, can be getting electronics for free with only an ounce of effort. In fact there is a new web site that is out there that I found where you can sign up for a "conga line" and be one of the first in line. As you may know, the first ones in line have the best chances of getting people to sign up under them.

So, the way these things work is you sign up for one "offer" and then get some friends to do the same thing, and they send you free stuff. The offers I have signed up for have all been free or nearly so. If you sign up for something that costs money, just cancel it and you still get credit.

So the site with the conga lines is: www.gratislair.com (go to the forums).

Or if you want to do it the old fashioned way and also help me out, get your:

Free Desktop PC

Free flatscreen TV or monitor

Free digital camera (these are really nice, $400 ones!!)

Free TiVo

Free 40G PhotoIpod

2004-10-29T19:32:00.000-05:00

test

you again

2004-10-29T18:25:00.000-05:00

So, I decided I have been silent long enough. Thanks, Kim, for the kick in the butt. We had a health fair at work these last few days. I won an umbrella, procured a rhinocerous police officer with a butterfly on his head, and learned some disappointing news about my health and lifestyle. All of this to keep us from noticing they are tripling our insurance co-pays.

Best Osama bin Laden line of the day: "If I hated freedom so much, why wouldn't I have bombed Sweden?"

I in no way am endorsing Osama, by the way. Even if I agreed with him I would not say. I know the CIA is watching.

By the way, it is both hypocritical and annoying to support both Bush and the Red Sox. Choose one.

close encounters of the odd kind

2004-07-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

As I walked up to the paper this evening after my dinner break, a middle aged balding blond man with glasses jogged up in running shorts and a T-shirt. He asked me how he could talk to the security officer because he had something to give to a reporter. We're taught to be wary about random people coming in the paper. I said, "Well, I can just take it upstairs for you."
"Thanks," he said, extending his hand. "I'm Don Siegelman."
"Oh," I said, shaking his hand with new understanding. "Are you sure you don't want to come upstairs?" He said no thanks, and smiled.
Then, the former governor of Alabama jogged away.

Alabama Potpourri

2004-06-28T20:06:00.000-05:00

So, I enjoy listening to this supreme right wing talk station run out of Birmingham (and by supreme, I mean I give this station credit for defeating the governor's tax plan last fall, just by repeating over and over, taxes are unpatriotic). Well if there is one thing supreme right wing Alabamans love it is NASCAR. And if there is one thing they hate it is, naturally, anyone questioning the supreme authority of President Bush.

Loved this on the Matt Murphy show today.

Matt Murphy took a break from bashing John Kerry to discuss the unthinkable. Dale Earnhardt Jr., wearer of the 3 and the 8, was seen this weekend, going into the movie theater to watch... Fahrenheit 9/11. And he'd dragged his whole crew, too. Could it be that Earnhardt was secretly a "commie pinko liberal tree-hugger"??

Benevolently, Murphy was ready to give Earnhardt the benefit of the doubt. "Perhaps he was just going to get ammunition to attack the enemy," he said.

But then the triumphant, "Personally," Murphy said, "I have always been a supporter of Jeff Gordon."

politics

2004-06-02T12:53:00.000-05:00

The Alabama primary was yesterday. Big News: George Bush and John Kerry win primaries! What, like you're surprised Alabama is a little behind the rest of the country?

Also up for election were state supreme court slots, state representatives, school board members, treasurers and...! constables. Don't ask me what constables do or why they are elected. I hope for their sakes they get to wear tall black hats.

I changed my mind a few times about whether I was going to vote (and which party's primary to vote in to do the most good). Some reporters do not vote. According to J.A., investigative reporter at the newspaper, voting would spoil his objectivity. I don't know whether he means his personal objectivity or his perceived objectivity by the readers, or both. He tried to talk me out of voting but could not. This is the way I feel about it: reporters are people and have opinions. Often, reporters have more informed opinions about public policy and politics than the general public simply because they are forced to do more research and are constantly in an environment that examines our institutions and leaders. Cutting off those votes is cutting off educated votes. Not saying that I was particularly well informed more than anyone else - I don't even know what a constable does after all - but as a general rule.

Whether or not I vote, I am still going to have those opinions. So does J.A., though he may try to suppress them.

Are newspapers/news outlets biased just because reporters have opinions? Maybe. But that is going to happen whether reporters vote or not. I do not believe that there is such a thing as objectivity if your definition of objectivity is "treats every political party the same" or "10 pro-war pictures and 10 anti-war pictures." I do believe there is such a thing as fair subjectivity. And that is a subjectivity that tries to represent the truth. Truth, of course, is the monster of subjectivity, so it's not easy.

I do think it would not be in a reporter's best interest to broadcast their votes.

For all of you (three) readers, how do you feel? Should a reporter vote in an election? yes or no. Post your response.

some questions to ponder:

-What if you're covering the candidates you are voting for? (for example, you are the city reporter and it is a mayoral election).

-What if one of the candidates is against a free press or other civil liberties?

-Should a reporter be a reporter first, or a citizen first?

Early Edition

2004-05-29T00:13:00.000-05:00

Every night if you stay at the newspaper long enough, proof copies of the next day's paper are handed out. The employees can, after reading them for mistakes, take these copies home or distribute them if they feel generous. Some like to take the papers to friendly (or unfriendly) bartenders. Thursday night, upon arriving to the bar my friends and I found traces of our recently departed colleagues - a copy of Friday's paper sitting abandoned on a table. I handed it to a table full of young adults excited at the prospect of learning Tomorrow's News Today. Sometimes I imagine that it really is just like the old tv show "Early Edition" - that if you catch some news before it's released there's still a chance to change something, prevent a shooting. Usually this is when I am very tired.

yard-flowers

2004-05-27T22:02:00.000-05:00

There is nothing nicer than arriving at work, walking to your desk and finding that your most admired coworker has given you an award of blue hydrangeas in a glass jar.