Who cares?

It has of course dawned on me that nobody will ever really dig in and read my blogs unless I finally succumb to the voices in my head and take my Glock to the nearest local clocktower or high school to do some damage.

As if.

I'm just ridiculously mild-mannered, ala Clark Kent. I have never had to fight physically, even if swordplay is my deep-seated dream desire. I wish I was a master with a blade, but I'm not, and have never even handled one. Maybe "someday" I'll take a fencing class -- but it will mean that I have figured out how to just swallow my pride and look like a total asshole novice, someting I've never been really comfortable with. But swords! That's cool enough to maybe figure out how to do it.

My Christmas present from Marty was a Glock 26 9 mm. It's springtime, and I have yet to load it, let alone fire it. I keep it hidden in my grandma's sewing bench. Is that girly or what? But I love the sheer idea of becoming a competent and comfortable marksman.

When I was a kid, I used to LOVE archery at CYO summer camp in Sonoma. I was actually pretty good at hitting those bulls-eyes. The closest I've come to that in my adult life has been archery when half-bagged at the American Legion, playing darts. I hate darts, I think they're utterly boring (hence the half-baggery). And I haven't even done that in years.

When I opened my brand-new, shiny black pistol case, I read through every scrap of paper that came with the heavy metal. Right then on Xmas morning, I started dreaming of becoming a crack pistol sharpshooter, winning competitions and just getting all-rouind GOOD with the thing.

Rifles have never interested me. Hunting -- eeeeeewwww! Looking Bambi right in the eye through a scope, and killing an innocent creature? SO not for me.

Killing a Bad Guy who's hellbent on Doing Evil? SIGN ME UP!!!!!!

I need to take a firearms class or three. I will apply for a CCW, which I understand in Colorado is pretty much a birthright. And I will find a gun range where I can get good at shooting.

And then I want a Concealed Carry Purse -- that's a dream gift. A sneaky and heavy purse, that can cripple my spine with the combined weight of my wallet, makeup, Blackberry, Flip video camera, library book, notebook, and pistol. Woo hoo! That's for me.

Bang! Bang! (Just not from a clocktower, or at a high school. So, nobody will ever read my blog. Who cares?)

Mixing food metaphors can work

I have not yet taken the plunge and subscribed to Real Simple magazine, but I really need to . I find that whenever I see it near the checkout, I nearly always tend to buy it. In October, there was a recipie for "Bacon and Eggs Spaghetti" that just sounded weird. Until I tried it.

A few days ago, Marty had cooked spaghetti, and we didn't use all of it. So it got stored, cold but cooked, in the fridge. I had bought what I now consider to be a Cooking Magic Bullet -- a big bag of Kirkland Cooked Bacon Morsels from Costco. And we had eggs, and we had frozen chopped shallots.

I didn't have the Real Simple recipie at hand, but I had a vague recollection of how weird I thought it was.

So, I heated up a skillet with a little olive oil, dropped in a scant handful of the cooked bacon (just to warm it up) and dumped in a portion of cooked spaghetti and some frozen shallots, shaken from a "juice box" type container.

Sizzle, sizzle. Whoa. Smelled good!

Got everything pretty hot, cracked in two eggs and let them cook, flipping slightly. Topped wiht a bit of grated cheddar.

OMG.

I would never have thought to mix "breakfast ingredients" with spaghetti, but it turned out to be one of the absolute best pasta dishes I had ever had.

Weird, to think that what can really hit you is just the simple combination of mundane ingredients that you'd never think of putting together.

But man, it worked! It was awesome.

Next time I' stuck for what to fix in a pinch, I've got a new go-to recipie.

Music to My Ears -- Pandora

OK, This has turned into a favorite Web site -- www.pandora.com. Build your own virtual radio station. I have no idea why anyone would want to actually turn on the radio again, other than to check news, weather and traffic.

Right now I'm listening to Phillip Glass, but I'm finding my tasts keep getting more and more out there, especially because of my daughters.

Thankful, so thankful for work

I'm not ready to blog about the "why" yet -- but I just need to say that I am SO amazingly THANKFUL for the people that I work with. My boss, and the people who work for me have shown themselves to be just flat-out Good People in recent weeks.

We all tend to take "our job" for granted -- I have a feeling that in 2009, that's going to become more and more unusual, because it seems that layoffs are looming for a lot of people. I've been there, and it sucks! But right now, I'm wrangling with unexpected family stuff, and I have been blown away by how wonderful, thoughtful, and just great my work-folks have been for me.

Sometimes, you just need that kind of support. I am thankful.

Target Groceries

The box said, "Apricot Currant Chicken Cous-Cous" -- and I bought it on a whim. Damn, that was one FINE dinner! Just under five bucks, and YUMMMY. And EASY to fix.

Archer Farms. Target. Go figure. But it's good -- dinner in a kit.

I'm saving this for those times that we're basically "out" of food -- when the fam says, "there is NOTHING to eat here"-- I can whip out this green box and amaze them. (And fill them up with heathy, yummy stuff.)

Green Bags, Oh Wow!

As a total gag, I got Marty a stocking stuffer that was a pure whim item from the Impulse Aisle at Wal-Mart (where they have "impulse buys" down to a fine science.)

Debbie Meyer Green Bags -- www.greenbags.com -- are just flippin amazing. Little did I know! When Marty went back in the hospital again right after Christmas, we had a bunch of fresh produce in the fridge, and given how much time we were spending at the hospital, we sure as hell didn't do much cooking or eating at home.

So I pulled out his box of Green Bags, and stuffed all the veggies and such into them. Would you believe, those damn bags kept everything crispy-fresh for, like, an unbelievable, surreal amount of time! I mean alien-intervention amount of time. I had romaine lettuce in a salad that was close to three weeks old, and it was fine!

"As Seen on TV" has usually translated in my head as "total fucking scam" -- but these bags actually work wonders. I love them.

Who'd a thought?

If you're happy and you know it -- pass it on

nation and world
Emotion contagion: If you're happy and you know it, you can pass it on
By Maria Cheng
The Associated Press
Updated: 12/05/2008 12:53:02 AM MST


LONDON — When you're smiling, the whole world really does smile with you.

A paper being published today in a British medical journal concludes that happiness is contagious — and that people pass on their good cheer even to total strangers.

American researchers who tracked more than 4,700 people in Framingham, Mass., as part of a 20-year heart study also found the transferred happiness is good for up to a year.

"Happiness is like a stampede," said Nicholas Christakis, a professor in Harvard University's sociology department and co-author of the study. "Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviors and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know."

While the study is another sign of the power of social networks, it ran through 2003, just before the rise of social networking websites such as Friendster, My Space and Facebook. Christakis couldn't say for sure whether the effect works online.

"This type of technology enhances your contact with friends, so it should support the kind of emotional contagion we observed," he said.

Christakis and co-author James Fowler, of the University of California at San Diego, are old hands at studying social networks. They previously found that obesity and smoking habits spread socially as well.

For this study, published in the British journal BMJ, they examined questionnaires that asked people to measure their happiness. They found distinct happy and unhappy clusters significantly bigger than would be expected by chance.

Happy people tended to be at the center of social networks and had many friends who also were happy. Having friends or siblings nearby increased people's chances of being upbeat. Happiness spread outward by three degrees — to the friends of friends of friends.

Happy spouses helped too, but not as much as happy friends of the same gender. Experts think people, particularly women, take emotional cues from people who look like them.

Christakis and Fowler estimate that each happy friend boosts your own chances of being happy by 9 percent. Having grumpy friends decreases it by about 7 percent.

But it also turns out misery doesn't love company: Happiness seemed to spread more consistently than unhappiness. But that doesn't mean you should drop your gloomy friends.

"Every friend increases the probability that you're at the center of a network, which means you are more eligible to get a wave of happiness," Fowler said.

Being happy also brings other benefits, including a protective effect on your immune system so you produce fewer stress hormones, said Andrew Steptoe, a psychology professor at University College London who was not involved with the study.

But you shouldn't assume you can make yourself happy just by making the right friends.

"To say you can manipulate who your friends are to make yourself happier would be going too far," said Stanley Wasserman, an Indiana University statistician who studies social networks.

The study was conducted only in a single community, so it would take more research to confirm its findings. But in a time of economic gloom, it also suggested some heartening news about money and happiness.

According to the research, an extra chunk of money increases your odds of being happy only marginally — notably less than the odds of being happier if you have a happy friend.

"You can save your money," Christakis said. "Being around happy people is better."

Oh, so cool! Not one, but TWO Sherlock Holmes films coming out in the next few years...

from http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/sherlock-holmes-downey-jr-vs-cohen.php

Robert Downey Jr as Holmes! Perfect! Downey had this to say about the project:
"… you go back to the real truth of Sherlock Holmes, [which] is that he’s a lot more broad and less stoic than I remember seeing the detective - he’s a bare knuckle boxer and he’s a martial artist and he’s a big weirdo, which is why I said “I’d love to do this!”




Fans of literature will also remember that, in addition to tales of his boxing and martial artistry, Holmes was not opposed to striking criminals with his cane, discharging firearms, breaking the law in search of justice, and dabbling in tobacco, morphine, and cocaine. Holmes has been watered down over the years, but the sleuth from the books was a bit of a bastard and it is this version of Sherlock Downey and Ritchie aim to bring to the screen.

And then, a comedy with Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes, and Will Ferrell as Watson. I bet it will be hilarious, but I KNOW I'll like the Downey version better -- especially if they're true to The Canon.

Books, glorious books

I've been reading some good books lately.

The Anglo files : a field guide to the British -- hilarious dead-on skewering of the Brits

John Adams by David McCullough

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads

Snowy and serene saturday = perfection

I'm curled up on the bed, looking out at the darkening sky with the newest cat, Perry, curled up beside me. He's such a sweetie, and I am SO relaxed. This was one of those Saturdays that are just plain cool -- a little light cleaning around the house, an hour browsing at the book store, some instant redecorating for the season (a change of curtains, move some art around, more candles, shuffle the houseplants...) and it's just a great, lazy afternoon. I needed one of these! Been working like a mule the past few months, just hammering it to get to the end of the year.

Tomorrow, I'm goig to hit the second-hand stores again -- I'm jonesing for some "new" furniture. I want a sofa for the family room, and I definitely need some new Xmas lights.

And I need to plan a party! That's GOT to happen.