For years I remember my mom always donating to public radio. She always made a pledge and would get some little gift in the mail. She'd have us listen to all kinds of interesting programs while driving around in the car, even if we did not quite understand the content.

As I got older, I really grew to love it and still look forward to many programs. And just like my mom, I have my kids listen to some of it and use the stories as teaching opportunities. I love it when I can tell that they are actually interested. Many stories you hear are not covered by mainstream media, which is one of the reasons I love NPR and one of the reasons everyone should be listening. Unlike the major networks, National Public Radio is not owned by large companies. There are about 6 major corporations that control 90% of what we read and hear. I think that makes it really difficult to do a completely honest piece about one of their subsidiaries. That's why we need a neutral place to listen to the news.

But it's not just all news and politics! They have great programs like The Best of Car Talk (reruns) which is hilarious! And I love Wait Wait Don't tell me! I have to go to one of their live shows someday. The Diane Rehm show always has great guests. All things Considered is wonderfully informative and Radiolab has great podcasts. World Cafe explores music of all kinds...I mean who else is going to bring you Elvis' epic concert, Blue Hawaii??  (Well, besides someone on YouTube.)
Anyway, I could go on and on.

So instead, if you haven't already heard this story, let me introduce you to
The Man In The Attic. I was driving home from work when I heard this and stayed in my car in the driveway so I could finish listening. It had me on the edge of my seat! Only 16 minutes, enjoy!

Love,
L

Please don't take my Kodachrome away

Sadly, sometimes with progress and invention, a few of the good old things fall by the wayside.

Such is the case with Eastman Kodak. Founded in 1881, Kodak was synonomous with photos and was well-known for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and famous film boxes. But they couldn't keep up with the competition in the 1980's and the rapid pace of digital technology, which ironically, they invented.

Back in 1975, using an electronic sensor invented six years before, an engineer named Steven Sasson who was one of the company's engineers, created the first digital camera. It was the size of a toaster and was 1 megapixel.

Although Kodak spent billions developing the photo technology inside most of the cellphones we use today, they were reluctant to give up their own reliance on film. I think they had invested so much money into it, that it was hard to risk it all. Their rivals like Canon took the opportunity to get a hold on the digital era.

I tried as long as I could, Kodak. I held on to my two film cameras for a long time even though I had a Canon DSLR. I edited our high school yearbook with some of those images I captured on film. I still have the proof sheets of those days. I even have two Kodak digital cameras and a digital frame as well. I keep the little pocket camera in my purse for its ease of use when I don't want to miss something in my daily travels. But little ol' me had to change with the times too. I wish you could have also. All the best ~a long time fan.

Mash-up of topics

Has it really been over a week?

It has all just escaped me. It's been so busy. I didn't even get to sit here once and write about all the things that were on my mind. A lot of things have taken a back seat to the job lately. That's why I am taking most of the day off to catch up on all my domestic duties (translation: the house is a wreck) so I'll just highlight a few topics from last week and mash 'em all up.

Family: We were able to see Belén play basketball at a home game which was great. She scored 3 points. Jon forewent his bowling night with the guys from church to see it. I didn't ask him to.

Blair and I mother/daughter double dated with friends to see Beauty and the Beast 3D. Blair declared it was the best date ever. Pretty much was.

Charley went to an 8 year-old's birthday party. The girl's birthday request was to go to McDonald's and have Charley over. She's a hit.

Reese is back in school. He was out a whole week with a high fever. The neighbor girls are happy. They've been knocking on the door ever since.

Trae-man is still the same. So much fun.

I am editing my brother's book. I think he has a best-seller there.

Personal: I squeezed in time for a facial. It was the first time ever that I've had one and I am SOLD! Have you had one? I know I'm late to the party but it was fabulous. That must be how the other half lives.

My hubby bought me this book. It's totally design inspiring. I take it all over the house with me so when I have a minute to sit and look through it, it's right at my fingertips. It gave me the boost I needed to get working.

I made a quick stop at the Thrift shop. It's been ages (for me anyway) but I scored a really cool side table. All the way home it smelled like fresh paint and gave me a headache (translation: it made me high.)

NFL Football playoffs: The games were really good this year but I was hoping for the Ravens and the 49ers in the Superbowl. Actually I was hoping for the Seahawks and anybody...at least there will be some good commercials.

Local/National Headlines: Joe Paterno, the long-time head football coach for Penn State that was relieved of his duties a few months back - If you don't know about it, you can read the interview that he gave just before he died. I think the bottom line is that although he probably truly regretted not doing more, he washed his hands of it once he told his superiors, plain and simple. If you knew of an incident so vicious, involving someone that worked for you, and then saw him still on the job and working with a charity that helps underprivileged youth, some of the most vulnerable of all, wouldn't you go to your superiors and say, "Hey, what's up with that? Why is he still around? What's happening with the investigation? What did you do with the information?" The program, not the victim(s), was protected.

The latest debate: I hear a lot of sound bites but no explanation on how they are going to implement changes. Just HOW are we going to pay for all these things they are promising? Does anyone else wonder that? Everybody keeps leaving that part out. Speaking of pay, we filed our taxes and the exemption for a dependent child is huge this year. This could be the last year for the current tax rate structure which has been in place since 2003. It might not be worth it to work as much as I do and just go back to one income. We'll see what happens in November.

Pets: I took our sick dog to the Dr. and now she's back to her crazy self. I should have become a Veterinarian; they charge a small fortune. It's worth not having her gnaw her paws off anymore, though.

Professional: I have been helping to put together this Ladies Night. It's proven to be a lot of work but should be fun. Come, won't you?

Behind the lens: I'm still working on the latest photo session from the Train station. I've lined up a real live bunny and some chicks for Children's Easter portraits. That should be interesting. I made it clear that I don't want to keep them, just borrow them for a day. I want to explore doing pet photos this year. First up, Alpacas! Again, that should be interesting. Do they spit? Or is that a Llama?? I forget.

Have a great day!

Do you hear it too?

Winter has arrived on our deck.

Forgive me while I interrupt the normal content of this blog to chat about recent U.S. events...It's ok if you don't want to read this right now. It's just what's on my mind today but come back tomorrow when I'll be back to my regular postings of home and family.

At a young age I had an interest in politics. At 10, I could name the U.S. Secretary of State and many cabinet members as easily as I could the cast of any popular TV show. When I was in high school I was selected for youth in government day and was able to shadow a DA and see the inter workings of our community courthouse. I thought I would eventually study political science and I did for a couple of years.

While I loved learning about government and citizenship, I disliked the way people didn't listen to the "other side" as if their side was the only one that mattered. After some years, my interest waned. I still keep up with what's going on as I think everyone should. But the source from where information is gathered, should not be just one, but many.

Being able to see how others' experiences have shaped them and how important their views are to them, can help our view. Or I should say, my view.

So when I heard about the weekend shooting of a Congresswoman and the little 9 year-old girl that was interested in politics, who was among those who had been shot or killed, I was deeply saddened. My thoughts were with her family.
I also thought about my friend whose father is a member of Congress and how they must be feeling.
Who knows the whys of this tragedy?
But all I heard and saw were people heading to their political corners and hoping the shooter wasn't one of them, if this was indeed politically motivated. I read ugly comments on news articles where people were already arguing on the political motives of this young man.

Does it surprise anyone that our nation is so quick to argue?

I know there is opposition and it's OK to have views and convictions but without solutions, arguing is just noise. Do you hear it too?

There is a lot of noise out there. I mean you only have to look to your TV at any given day and see the programming full of reality shows with a bunch of people arguing and fighting.
About what, I am not sure but I am sure it's nothing that important.

The only thing I know about the tragedy is that the shooter has problems. And our citizens who wanted to be a part of helping their community, including a federal judge, an engaged man who was to be married next year, a favorite elderly church member, two retired homemakers, and the little girl, are gone. Some of the others are fighting for their lives.

And I hope there is no arguing about how important all of their lives are.

Just wondering about...

"Eco-friendly" pillows made in Chinese sweatshops.

How much revenue is made by companies from consumers that have a small balance left on their store gift cards? I think there should be a law where stores have to cash out gift cards if the balance is $3.00 or less. 3 bucks is 3 bucks - an extra gallon of gas or a loaf of bread and a candy bar at least! Speaking of which, I'd like a candy bar right now...

How come the moms on "Toddlers and Tiara's" look like they just rolled out of bed, grabbed the first set of clothes they found and forgot to brush their hair?
The other day I watched a little bit of that t.v. show and the 11 year old winner's boyfriend was in the audience. I thought it was her kid brother. The mom was so excited to tell him she was grand supreme or something. Doesn't that title sound a little Klan-ish to you? Scary. Anyway, the girl gave him her sash and he wasn't too excited about it. Then they walked away hand-in-hand together, like they were adults.
I really hope I don't see them on one of those teen parent shows someday.

I'm also wondering why the women's group that is trying to have the Pro-Life Superbowl commercial featuring Tim Tebow removed, feel the need to speak for all women everywhere?
Why don't they focus on the sexually charged commercials showing men and women drinking into oblivion? I'm sure alcohol has something to do with many date rapes. They are saying that political statements should not be made at sporting events. Who knows? But in 1936, Hitler was using the Olympics to show the resurgence of a Nazi regime and hoping the German athletes would sweep the medals. It was one determined African-American man, Jesse Owens, who took home four Gold medals that year.
Now that was one great political statement even if it was never meant to be so and it is awesome to watch the old footage. This women's group wouldn't have a problem with that, would they?

These are just a few things that came up today and got me wondering. I know, don't hurt myself!
What makes you go hmmm?

What I learned from LA Ink

(photo taken from Wikipedia)

I hadn't watched this show before but the remote control was out of batteries and I was too lazy tired to get up and change the channel.

10 things I learned:

- Kat Von D is beautiful, a classically trained pianist and is a good business woman.

- They really are artists. Anyone who can take a vague request or an idea from a picture, draw out a sketch and capture what the customer wants, is pretty good.

- I like vintage cars.

- When the girl with the tattoo on her rib cage of a 1940's glam girl-in-her-bikini-looking-over-her-shoulder-while-steering-a-ship, has a baby, that tattoo will expand to look like someone standing in front of a circus mirror, while steering a ship of course.

- This business and its clientele is very different than it was 20 years ago.

- Tattoos are not for everybody.

- There is a difference between a tattoo parlor and a tattoo shop.

- Ink is not cheap.

- Don't judge based on looks or the number of tattoos one has ( I already knew that but it's a good reminder.)

- I'm glad I don't want a tattoo because it looks painful and if I'm going to voluntarily have needles buzz around me, they better be making me look 10 years younger.

Don't forget the lyrics

Have you ever sang along to a song on the radio and misheard the lyrics?

It's always funny when someone does this. Jon and I still have jokes about some lyrics we've gotten wrong. Of course we never let each other forget.

Like when I realized that Coldplay's Viva La Vida song is saying "Roman Cavalry choirs are singing" not "Roman Catholic choirs are singing." Or when Jon sang "In the dunes of the cave" instead of "In the dunes of the cape" to the Rupert Holmes' song Escape aka "The Pina Colada song."
"Duh, caves don't have dunes" is what I think I said to him.

I got to thinking about other songs easily misunderstood.

One time I was walking passed a tent of girls at camp and they were rocking out to Van Halen's "Panama" and I heard them say instead, "cannon ball, cannon ba-hall, cannon ball, cannon ba ha ha ha ha ha, cannon ball." Of course I was thinking they were dorks for messing that up...

I laughed so hard when my friend sang Bon Jovi's, Livin on a Prayer- one line says "Gina dreams of runnin away, when she cries in the night Tommy whispers, Baby it's okay, someday." She sang it as "Tommy whispers, baby it's Christmas, someday." I told her that wasn't going to make Gina feel any better with their money problems and all. We laughed for a long time over that. She got me back though, several times over.

Some others -
The Beatles/I saw her standing there, where it says "I'll never dance with another" could be "I'll never dance with your mother."

U2/Pride, "Shot rings out in the Memphis Sky" I once thought was "Shudderings of a Memphis Sky" - doesn't even make sense I know.

How about Jimi Hendrix's famous, Purple Haze? "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" misunderstood as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy."

Of course the song Blinded by the Light sung by Manfred Mann which says "Revved up like a deuce another runner in the night," always misquoted as "Wrapped up like a douche." I knew it couldn't possibly be that and luckily, I listened closely.

Or the Rolling Stones' "I'll never be your beast of burden" as "I'll never leave a pizza burnin." Another song often misquoted in the food theme, Billy Joel's You may be right- "But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for" as "But it just may be a tuna fish you're looking for."

And Gwen Stefani's (No Doubt) line from I'm Just a Girl - "I'm just a girl all pretty and petite" I took as, "I'm just a girl all ready to eat."

Apparently there was a scientific study done on why we do this and misheard lyrics are even referred to as Mondegreens. I guess if we aren't seeing the singers lips, the brain is only processing one piece of information and making it's best guess.
Whatever the reason, I just think it's funny and I'm sure I'm not the only one whose brain is guessing wrong...right??