Living Reflections from a Dream

There I was at the gym this morning watching the news on one of the many, many tv's. The weatherman on MSNBC begins discussing the potential track of Wilma. Apparently, once going over Florida, it has potential to come up the east coast, right up to New England. Is that how he describes it? No. He says: it will come up the east coast and hit New England on Monday as probably a category 1 or 2 hurricane AND since we're not used to hurricanes there could be a lot of deaths**.

AHHHHH!!! I'd better curl up into the fetal position and watch MSNBC for the next 96 hours and spend money on all the things their advertisers sell!! Right? BAD, BAD weatherman on MSNBC sometime between 6 - 6:15am EST!!! Instead I switch over to the local weatherman who calmly explains that there are 2 paths it can take.. it could go out to sea, or it could come all the way up here and it could just be alot of rain. No one knows yet. I switch over to the other local weatherperson, who says basically the same thing.

Then as I'm emerging from the train station I see today's edition of the Boston Phoenix:

Excellent! Outstanding! If I make it through the hurricane that may or may not come, I may or may not die of avian flu. I'm sick of this shit. Just tell us when it's really time to be scared, ok?

** AND as a native New Englander, I find this offensive. We may not have hurricanes all the time, but I think we know how to deal with friggin' bad weather. Sheesh!-----
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You, too, can be obsessively checking him out on Panda Cam!-----
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The latest exciting PSA's from the government involve saving energy (and you KNOW it's killing Bush to do this). You might think we'd start working on an appropriate energy policy including upping mileage requirements or banning Hummers, but those things will take too long because energy costs are going to sky rocket THIS winter, just a few months before the mid-term elections. The government must do something, right? Well, they are! They are bringing us: Energy Hog!

A hideous creature with the apparent self loathing tag line: Don't be a Hog.

ok, it appears that Energy Hog has, in fact, been around for over a year as a way to teach children to spot energy waste in their homes and point it out to their parents (and what kid wouldn't want to do that??), but he is going to be featured in a whole new line of PSA's, not to mention the fun and games at www.energyhog.org (a site that is trying to be uber cool, as energy conservation is known to be, but succeeds only in being highly confusing).

Some brain trust we have in the government today.-----
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Boston.com can be snarky sometimes.. and I love it! But seriously, is this kind of statement by Chertoff suppossed to make us feel better? If you read the article, it only gets worse because he says he relied on the expertise of FEMA and Brownie. Terrifying! I know he's in charge of a massive beaurocracy, but you should at least be aware of how qualified or not qualified your major players are. And if a major event happens in an area where you know you have a weak player: back them up. Get in there and take it over yourself if you have to.-----
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I put this exact same post up on 10/08 last year. Here's hoping it works again!-----
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  &snbsp;

The agony of defeat

Victory is better.

waaaaaaaa!

Now they're going to bust up my boys and I will be very sad. It's been a fun the last 3 years... but there's hope for the future with Papelbon and Hanson and another Ramirez and another Manny, but I'll miss my idiots.

Thank You Red Sox!-----
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til the first claim by Republicans that the charges against Libby are a technicality or minor as they couldn't get him for the espionage act? If they do so, as Kay Bailey Hutchison did on Meet the Press last Sunday, they define a whole new level of hypocricy.. considering they impeached a president for the same charges and the perjury in that case had nothing to do with national security. But their shamelessness seems to know no bounds, so I'll be waiting.

Bring on the talk shows! David Brooks won't disappoint me, I'm sure.-----
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ok, in reality I don't know anything about Bernake (Bush's nominee to replace Greenspan at the Fed), except for this that I just read:

Bernanke is former Fed board member; student of Great Depression

Bernanke continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his doctorate four years later. His focus during his years in Boston were the underpinnings of the Great Depression and the losing ways of the city's beloved baseball team, the Red Sox.

The former was his field of study; the latter an obsession he eventually shed. A Washingtonian of late, Bernanke recently switched his allegiance to the capital's baseball team, the Nationals.

Oh no, no, no, no, no... there is something deeply, deeply flawed in the soul of someone who was once a Red Sox fan and can switch alliances like this. Next thing you'll see him routing for the Yankees because that is where Wall St. is.-----
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Everyone wishes they could speak with a wickid pissa accent after all!

ripped off from Scotty-----
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• Bush's imploding presidency - The Boston Globe
  (tags: bush)
• What's a Modern Girl to Do? - New York Times

• The End of Pensions - New York Times

Get Remy!! Pretty please?? Because I can't take this...

Last night McCarver said something like this on 2-2 count, in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs in a one run game:

the next pitch is important because if he misses, it will be a full count and the runner will be goiing

Ya think? Is this baseball for boneheads? Even Scooter would say: duh.

Although, nothing tops last years: a walk in the 9th inning is as good as a homerun. ba ha ha ha-----
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• Reconnect with your inner Goddess- Goddesses, Mantras, Affirmations, chakra-balancing essential oils, inspirational articles © Anita Ryan 2000.
  (tags: productivity)

• World Usability Day | Making it Easy!
  (tags: usability)
• RIM ruling risks US Blackberry shutdown - Boston.com
  (tags: tech)

• SU Athletics - Syracuse Basketball Officially Underway
  yippee!
  (tags: SU hoops)

• When Health Insurance Is Not a Safeguard - New York Times
  (tags: healthcare)
• ESPN.com - Dick Vitale - 051024-Classy Jim SLOTTED1
  (tags: SU hoops)

• CNN.com - White House to Onion: Stop using seal - Oct 26, 2005
  (tags: lack of humor)
• Educators say budget cuts affect aid - Boston.com
  After getting left behind in K - 12, they get left behind again in college aid.
  (tags: education)

• T-rage!
  (tags: MBTA)
• US Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel
  (tags: indictment-o-rama)
• QDN: The laziness of Bank of America
  Ban of Am STILL sucks dead donkey balls
  (tags: BanofAm)

• Image Phenomena Due to CCD Malfunction
  I KNEW there was a reason my pictures had been coming out wacky for awhile. I couldn't possibly be ME, right? ;)
  (tags: photography)
• Students Show Few Gains Since 'No Child'
  (tags: education)

• washingtonpost.com: Class Struggle
  (tags: education)
• Faithful Progressive: After Katrina, Cutting Programs For The Needy Is An Outrage!
  (tags: katrina)
• Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Katrina uncovers the forgotten queues at America's soup kitchens
  (tags: katrina)

• Grand Central Provides Ample Opportunity for Shamelessness - Gawker
  Bank of America's Stupidity Knows No Bounds
  (tags: moron)
• Felcon requests sentence to match Bird's number - Boston.com
  You CAN love sports too much.
  (tags: huh?)

• FEMA Official Says Boss Ignored Warnings - Yahoo! News
  disgraceful (again)
  (tags: katrina)
• Yanksfan vs Soxfan: Cartography 101
  Red Sox Nation represents!
  (tags: baseball)

• Animal Planet :: Meet the Pandas
  The baby panda's name will be announced Monday here!
  (tags: panda)
• WSJ.com - 'The Soxaholix': It's Not Ovah, Though It's Ovah
  Soxaholix gets well deserved props
  (tags: RedSox)
• A Flu Hope, Or Horror?
  (tags: AvianFlu)
• The Nexus of politics and terror - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com
  Things that make you go hmmm.....
  (tags: bush)
• ESPN.com - College Basketball - I can't wait for 12 o'clock
  College Hoops Starts at Midnight, Baby!
  (tags: hoops)
• What Should I Read Next?
  (tags: books)
• Guardian Unlimited Film | News | Wolfe novel to be filmed
  This SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. This was an aweful, aweful, aweful book.. no girl as intelligent as Charlotte would behave in such a baffoon like manner, even if she is a hick from a red state. That said: Tara Reid would be perfect to play the roommate, yes
  (tags: movies)

(and I don't just mean the current position of the Bush Administration)

It's dark at 5 pm!

Waaaaaaaaa...........

Now the clock in my car will be off again, because I won't change it as I've discussed before. The clock is already 18 min. slow, so now it will be 18 min. slow AND an hour fast. And I will do this mental calculation in my head every time I drive rather than figure out how to change the clock. And I'm not the only one..-----
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We HATE ads. We ignore ads! Making ads more invasive just pisses us off! And Times Select depriving me of free Maureen Dowd columns is just mean!

Yesterday I sent this email to Boston.com after spending 20 min. trying to get rid of the spyware I was convinced was causing my problem:

I find the new popups that open whenever I come to boston.com, which must be cleverly coded to get around popup blockers extremely annoying.

PLEASE MAKE IT STOP.

This was their response:

Amy:

Thank you for writing with your concern about the advertising that you
have seen on Boston.com. We greatly appreciate your patience as we
figure out the best way to meet both the needs of you, our users, and our
advertisers.

Offering effective advertising opportunities allows us to provide
today's news at no charge to our visitors. Our intent is to utilize an array
of advertising executions in a way that complements our editorial
content,enhances the visitor's experience, and is most effective for our
advertisers.

Your feedback is helpful to both us and our advertisers. Please
continue to provide it. Feel free to write back to feedback@boston.com at any
time.

We hope that you continue to rely on Boston.com as your source for
breaking news and information in New England.

~Your Friends At Boston.com

In other words: screw you, we need to make money. Fine, but I'll be reading you exclusively via RSS from now on and going to the site as little as possible.-----
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When faced with the intolerable, she said no and set off a movement that changed a country. The country needs more changing, but every journey begins with one step.

Thank you, Rosa...-----
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Apparently there is a Guiness Book record for everything as the festival is an attempt to break the record of 28,952 lit pumpkins. They were well on their way yesterday afternoon...

I don't know why, but I liked this guy the best. Maybe because he just seems so optimistic despite only having 1 tooth.

There's more photos over at my Flickr site.. (Get up off the floor.. it's true,I updated it).-----
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A few weeks ago, I became aware of the ABC News report on Avian Flu. Read it and then say, as I did: Holy Fucking Shit! I started re-reading The Plague (it's not as scary post 9/11, post Katrina as it was when I was a kid).

Then I saw Bush's press conference yesterday where he was asked about such a flu.
A. He'd heard of it (it's penetrated his protective bubble that keeps things he doesn't want to know about out)
B. He knew the phrase "HN51"
C. He didn't play it down. This from a guy who plays everything bad down.
D. He said he would bring in the military to quarantine people if necessary.
E. He recomended reading a book about the 1918 Influeza pandemic (which killed something like 20 million people).

He's scaring me! Well, I always find him frightening. When does the war on avian flu begin??

* coincidence that Chicken Little says this?? hmmmm.....

** Update **
Someone sent me this article from Foreign Affairs on avian flu. It doesn't make me feel any better, nor does the photo on boston.com right now of quarantied people from the 1918 epidemic. What is going on?-----
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I didn't see the Red Sox game today, but I knew it was a disaster...

There I was, walking down the street at a time when there was no way the game could possibly be over. Over to my right I saw a man and his little boy come out of there house and start playing catch. I was completely deflated. See there is no way, NO WAY that any little boy growing up in New England with even the slightest interest in baseball would be outside playing catch while the Red Sox were on during the playoffs. No way. This meant that the game must be so far gone that the man had made his son look away and decided they might as well play catch in the last of the indian summer twilight.

When I get home it's 12 - 2 in the 7th.-----
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• AIGA Design Conference 2005 - Resources
  Podcasts of AIGA Conference. cool.
  (tags: design)
• 'boards - Screening Room
  Let's see if they try to ban Guiness in the red states for this one..
  (tags: beer)
• yoco :: College Basketball || Preseason Top 25 Rankings
  SU at #19 even without Hakim.. 27 days til the Orangemen's first exhibition game!
  (tags: SU)
• Life is good Pumpkin Festival 2005
  (tags: Boston)

• Good Energy - New York Times

• CNN.com - Rove to give additional testimony in leak inquiry - Oct 6, 2005
  (tags: rove)
• TPMCafe || Gore on the Threat to American Democracy
  Rock On, Al Gore.
  (tags: politics)

• Call of the Green Monster: Groundbreaking Study Reveals Many Yankees Fans Share Some Similarities with Human Beings
  (tags: RedSox)
• Pentagon still not reimbursing troops who buy own body armor
• Why Bush is Wrong on Poverty
  (tags: bush is a moron)
• My Year of Hurricanes - An ongoing series from a writer who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. By Blake Bailey
  (tags: katrina)

• Scott's Shots: FOX Fiasco Examined
  Fox Sports Sucks... why would we expect them to be better than Fox News?
• BostonHerald.com - Business News: Seriously, Ted Nation bids farewell to WEEI
  Ted Sarandis (Syracuse alumni!), kicked off 'EEI for being the only sane host (meaning he doesn't make a mountain out of a molehill about every little thing that could possibly be sensationalized to boost ratings). Wallach should stick to the Flash!
  (tags: RedSox)

• National Novel Writing Month - National Novel Writing Month
  Oh No! It's back. I've crashed and burned 2 years in a row on NaNoWriMo.. don't know if I even want to attempt it this year.
  (tags: writing)

• WE05 PodCasts
  (tags: web)
• BostonHerald.com - More Inside Track: Ex-hometown hero Nomar makes new splash in Hub
  Nomah!
  (tags: RedSox)
• The Harriet And George Letters - October 12, 2005
  gag
  (tags: bush)

write something you think is really funny, so funny that you giggle to yourself all day thinking about it, congratulating yourself on your intelligence and wit? But no one else seems to think it's funny?

This happens to me all the time. Emails, blog entries, comments.. Barely a response. But I'm not detered. I am having too much fun.-----
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The Yankees and the Red Sox finish 1 - 2 and the Red Sox are the wild card team. The Red Sox are going to the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row.

Can you feel your toes start tapping? da-da-daaa.. da-da-daa-da da...

Where it began, I can't begin to know when

Ohhh, sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good
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• to Tivo a show on time management, never get around to watching it only to discover Tivo deleted it to make more room for the baseball games, when it's watching all the baseball that is causing you to have poor time management in the first place?
• to never get around to setting up your wireless router because when you crank up the laptop at home, 2 suckas have left their unsecured wireless networks available?
• to want to watch the ALCS this year just to hear Lou Pinella?
• to wonder if Harriet Myers has the worst hair, makeup and fashion sense on earth (the woman is 60 years old, she looks like she is still in her junior high school black eyeliner phase. She had 80's hair as late as 1996!), when she has been nominated for the most important posts in the US?
• secretly route for the backstabbing, traitor, Roger Clemens?

Not that way, you freaks. The AL East. Weeee... I do love games where a run gets walked in. Perhaps Wang was blinded by Wade Boggs' sweater. And how else could it be when The Natural was in the house.

Being the typical ultra supersticious Red Sox fan, after the the Red Sox won Game 4 of the ALCS last year, I decided to do everything the same on all the other days they played. I wore the same outfit during the games, I ate the same dinner, I drank exactly the same beer. There was a pumpkin candle I had in my house that I had bought the day of Game 4. On Oct. 27, that candle was put away because wishing on it's magical powers was complete, it had done it's duty.

Last night, that candle came back out. I got out my old playoff outfit. I made the same dinner. I lit the candle and 2 seconds later Varitek hit his home run. Swear to God.

I'm not saying the Red Sox win because of me. But they most certainly would lose if I don't hold to my rituals.

Go Sox! (Red and White!)-----
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Awhile ago, Tivo kindly recorded True Romance. How excited I was because I adore this movie. The Christopher Walken/Denis Hopper scene is worth the price of admission alone. When I finally get around to watching it, I see that it was on the Lifetime Movie Network. Lifetime Movie Network? Did they screen this film? Did they only go off the title? This is, without a doubt, the least appropriate film for people expecting Valerie Bertenelli or Meredith Baxter Birney sapfests. The little: this film has been edited for tv notice appears. HA! What can they leave IN this film? It's going to be 15 min. long. You know what it was edited for: language. So, you're going to put True Romance on the Lifetime Movie Network and edit it only for language? I laughed for 2 hours straight because half the film was dubbed.. Even the mob guys speaking in Italian were dubbed. What is the point? Just put it on a real station and let us enjoy it.-----
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Who to route for? What to do?

On the one hand you have a team that hasn't won a World Series since 1917, which I certainly can have simpathy for a drought that long. But they don't have the Curly Haired Boyfriend creating a curse for them, they don't have arch rivals like the Yankees or guys named Mookie breaking their hearts year in and year out. When Aaron Boone is mentioned to them, they probably say: you mean Bret's brother?

The other team has never even been to the World Series, but has... sigh...

(and yes, this is how I chose to remember him)

I'm torn. However if I chose to be consistent by applying similar routing rules as those I have for the NCAA tournament:

1. for Syracuse
2. For the Big East
3. Against the ACC
4. For a cinderella team
5. Who deserves it more

I get:

1. For the Red Sox
2. Against the Yankees
3. For the American League..

uh oh, J-mo, got to go with the American League. Plus if they win, the Red Sox can be slightly redeemed.

Go Sox!-----
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I am trying to decipher a document which was

edited by hand in cryptic handwriting
then faxed
to someone else who made a pdf of it
in the process of pdf creation the text was shrunk to 25% of original size
the pdf was printed on a bubble jet
the printout was faxed to me

Yes, I'm serious. Anyone have a magnifying glass?-----
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to stop by the local library on a Sat. morning to return a book, see that they are having the annual book sale (usually of books that no one takes out anymore) and have your heart leap even though you own at least 50 books that you haven't read, you have no more room for books in your house and in fact, you've been working on a book clearing out project. Then to go into the book sale room, where the population seems to be every elderly person or person with inch thick glasses in a 20 mile radius, all with big bags so they can take home piles of books, and sigh.. look at all these books! Then you try to beat out an elderly couple to get the Pentagon Papers. Seriously, where else are you going to get the Pentagon Papers for 50 cents or an entire set of World Book Encyclopedia from 1983 for $20. After buying only 4 books and leaving, seeing a sign saying the library is now has wireless access and you're right in the hot spot, deciding that you had to check that out immediately (because it would be SO different than anywhere else).

Then actually writing an entire blog entry about how dorky you are for loving the book sale and wireless hotspots while your using that wireless hot spot..

How dorky is all this??-----
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LAST YEAR:

Walk off home runs, extra inning games, grand slams in the ALCS then on to the World Series sweep:

The Great Pumpkin appears after 86 years.

THIS YEAR:

Walk off home runs, extra inning games, grand slams in the World Series, and maybe:

And the Great Pumpkin returns again, this time to end an 88 year drought.

Do I need to remind anyone that only one team in the history of Major League Baseball has come back from 3-0 down in a series to win (and that would be the 2004 Boston Red Sox, ahem). If Chicago loses tonight and wins tomorrow night, it will be a year to the day since the Red Sox won the World Series.

This seems to be setting the stage for the Cubs to win next year, then what? The apocolypse.-----
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Pass the dutchie..

Tenent to Cheney to Libby (oh my!)

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show-----
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This morning on This Week with George Stephanopolis David Brooks said that leak case isn't a big deal to the American people, most of them haven't heard of Karl Rove, never mind Scooter Libby. Donna Brazille's facial expression was priceless as he said this. Is Brooks smoking something? You'd have to be living in under a rock in a state of complete obvliousness to never have heard of Karl Rove at this point. You'd would have to have not seen a news broadcast or read a paper in months. Unless you live in the Gulf Coast region, how is that possible?

EJ Dionne had a good comeback: well if he's indicted, their first impression of him .-----
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