fire on the service road

I was going to load a lot more pictures but I'm giving up now. I've been fighting with the computer and the server for way too long now. I'm lucky to have one up and I'm calling it good. 

I couldn't sleep this morning, after playing GH with Michele last night, and more after she signed off. By nine am this morning I decided to go to Mickey D's and get some breakfast, so Ozzy and I popped in the car and drove through the neighborhood and snuck up on MacDonald's. Imagine our surprise on our drive home to find that the service road, the area between the freeway and the road, was on fire in two places. I slowed down and grabbed my camera. There wasn't too much traffic and the guy who was behind me pulled into Best Buy anyway.

As I finally pulled through the dense smoke lingering over the street, I noticed there was a police car was parked in the opposite lane with his lights flashing, keeping his eye on the fire. There also seemed to be one out on the freeway, parked and doing the same thing. I pulled away from the smoke, noticing that Ozzy was shaking again, as he does around smoke. We came back home and had our breakfast, smelling of grass fire, which lingered quite a while.

I played again today on GHWT, then Michele came online and we played together for a bit. Last night was a bit longer for me. I stayed up until after midnight, after Michele signed off, until my fingers were having problems bending normally and my mind wasn't actually telling my fingers what to do anymore. I was in a zooooooone.

 Tonight I was doing okay, but my mind isn't at that zen place again. I get distracted to easily. I would begin a song and notice the strut my guy was doing on the stage as he was waiting and realize I missed the beginning of the song. Restart. Or one time I was playing and they did a close up of the drummer and she was wearing a leather bra. Huh? Aww, I lost my place. They do the details so well but it gets distracting. The best part of playing for me has been the learning to ... well, kinda zen out and pay attention to the music. I got over it last night and did a couple of perfect songs. You get gold stars for that. Yay.

Ugh. Must put something in my stomach. G'night.

uh oh, politics

I always have the TV set to news, its just what I do. I like to have the noise in the background. When I started this blog it was because of the Dubai ports thing. Now I must comment again because of the plethora of political fodder.

First of all, the governor of Illinois was impeached today for allegedly putting President elect Obama's Senatorial seat up for sale. He's allowed to appoint the successor. Since he was indicted by way of wire-tapping for the offense, he decided to appoint someone anyway because he could. He's not going down easy. He appointed a man who at one time ran against him. More about that man later. The governor, who ran on a platform of reform against corruption in government (gotta love Chicago politics), has never actually said anything directly toward the indictment saying that the House is picking on him for trying to "help the people." Political theater.

The senatorial successor, Roland Burris, tried to show up for his first day of work at the Capital in Washington only to be turned away at the door. The Secretary of the Senate refused his credentials because they weren't signed by the Secretary of State of Illinois, who refused to sign them because of the scandal of the indictment. Mind you, there was no impeachment at that time, there was no conviction, there was only the indictment. He is still the legal governor of Illinois. Was he the legal Junior Senator of Illinois or not? The top Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid, said before he showed up that they wouldn't let him in, and they didn't, but Burris still showed up and made them keep him out. 

Okay, before this all started I didn't know and didn't care. I thought when Gov. Blago (his name is really long and I don't want to type it) gave his press conference and announced that Burris was his choice for Senator - poor guy. He's so happy and he was chosen by a loser. He can't possibly really be a Senator, yet he's taken that stance and stood by it ever since. He showed up for work, had the door shut in his face and then come back the next day. Good for him. He's making them work at proving he's not the Junior Senator from Illinois. He's stating his case and making them prove every word and not playing their politics as usual.

The other stories being thrown around are the new documentary about Sarah Palin where she complains that she would have been treated differently if she had been the Democratic choice. I think I agree. The Republicans are kinda snooty. She wonders how the media is going to treat Caroline Kennedy compared to her as a candidate. Hmm, it's not fair, but it's not going to be the same. Whether it's spoken or not spoken she is the daughter of John Kennedy and there is an unspoken deference for her. Still, when Kennedy first announced her interest in the Senate seat, there was an undo amount of air time on that huge amount of chicken that she put in her mouth in the Harlem kitchen. Really, was that necessary? She might not have been the executive of a town or state budget but Kennedy has not been idle her entire life. She has been kinda busy with her own public service agenda.

The other thing Palin was moaning about was the unfair shots the media took at her family. She said that Obama at one time said that family was off limits and she naively thought that hers were off limits, too. Actually, he said that in reaction to the shots being taken at her family. I wish she had remembered that. And, when you drag your family up with you on the podium at every stop around the country, you can't call it "off limits" when someone mentions them in the press. She needs to get a thicker skin. She clearly intends to be around for a while so some lessons on dealing with the media are sorely needed. Really, Sarah, get a consultant. A high priced one would be good. Cause people still find you interesting, but it can go bad fast.

I imagine that I'll still be watching the same things tomorrow. It's kinda like watching a soap opera that way. Oh, yes, there is one more thing. The BCS Championship. It's kind of unreal, actually. I watched the last half of the game. OU lost. Very sad for our team. I woke up and turned the TV on and went in to take my morning pills and heard the President elect in his press conference talking about - the BCS bowl? the commentators talking about the Oklahoma connection of one of the nominees? is this the press conference? Headline News was asking for comments all day on if people like the way the BCS Championship is decided. The President elect is commenting on it during his press conference. Really?

On a different note, I played my new Star Wars Lego game yesterday, when I opened up my new/ different XBox. Yes, the note that came along with the XBox they sent back said that they didn't fix my XBox they sent a different one. It didn't say a new one, it said a different one. It froze twice while I was online, but I'm afraid that might be because my internet speed is too slow. Until it does that to a game when I'm offline I think I'm good. At least the game started, although that did me no good when I was playing. I suck. Josh and Alex got me this game cause it got good ratings "for people like me" (who SUCK at games like this!). It is fun though. I got my Jedi lego man to jump and use his light saber to cut everything around him into little lego pieces, and lift things with his Jedi mind powers. It really is cute.

I also got to play GHWT with Michele online using my new wireless headset. Thankfully it turns out Michele's headset is fine and when I finally synced mine with the box we were all good to go. We played a lot of sets and when we went head to head Michele kicked my butt. 

Whew. That's it. That's all I have. No, you can't have any more. I'm done in.

blogs n XBox

I just checked out my niece's (Heather) new photo blog site and once again she has a really good photo up. Here's the url to check it out:  http://heathersdailyphotos.blogspot.com 

I recommend checking it out. She was keeping track of my cousin's site, and of mine, and liked the idea of the daily photo; but unlike ours, hers isn't confined to a city. She's done some extensive traveling and has taken a lot of photos wherever she's been. I'm looking forward to what she's going to post in the future. 

I finally got the email I've been waiting for today. My XBox has been shipped. At last. The only thing better will be when the UPS man knocks on the door. I'm going to be so out of practice when I get it. Michele has finished the game on Medium now (GHWT), so we'll have plenty of songs to choose from. I also have the new Star Wars game that Josh and Alex gave me that I have yet to try. Oh, and my new wireless headset. We'll finally get to find out if it was my old headset or Michele's.

It was still 30 degrees outside today, so I didn't really do a lot. If I had a lot to do I might have ventured out, but I didn't. No money to spend or need to spend it, so therefore no need to use the gas. I switched out pictures in the big frames in my office (that's been waiting for quite a while), and cleaning/ shredding is the next thing to come. Whee.

working my brain

I just posted my photo to OKC Metro Daily, and today's is particularly good, if I do say so myself. I lucked into it because I went out with Ozzy so he wouldn't eat grass. (Today the pest guy was here and sprayed the yard so I wanted to make sure Oz didn't spend too much time on it.) I, unfortunately, also found a hole that some sort of critter seemed to have made by digging down under the foundation of my house. When I called the pest control people the woman wasn't the least bit surprised and had the name of a man quite handy - Critter B Gone. Great name. Well, it's not the man's name, but you know what I mean. I called Josh to ask him what he had done about the critters in his back yard and he basically told me that I hadn't seen the hole and there wasn't anything in the hole even if I had seen it. Sigh. Would he talk like this to anyone else in the world? Do I even have to ask?

Ozzy and I went to the doggy store and bought some new food for him. Michele said that Ginger's breath smelled tons better since she had been eating Beneful, so Ozzy is now trying Beneful, too. There were several different types available, and since he doesn't have a weight or age problem, I had to figure out which to get, since it costs $12 per bag. A big decision. It's not like he's going to eat the bag quickly. The bag weighs as much as he does! They didn't have a smaller bag. So, I held up the different bags to him and the one he spent the most time sniffing - twice - I bought. Made sense to me.

I'm still trying to figure out the software situation so I can work on the genealogy project with Uncle Tom. Heather and Bill gave me some really good advice tonight on the phone. I'm going to work on what they told me and see what happens from there. I would like to talk to Josh about it, but after this afternoon it doesn't really feel like it would be worth it.

So that's about it. A good picture opportunity, a chance to get out of the house and some brain time with Heather and Bill. My day in a nutshell.

City Daily Photo

I just spent a couple of hours, again, perusing all the photos on the City Daily Photo site. By the time I finished all 17 pages there were new ones on the first page. Since they're just thumbnails, and I don't go to all the pages, it isn't as daunting as it sounds. There are some beautiful pictures being posted there and I recommend the site whole heartedly. It changes daily, obviously, but more than that - it uploads hourly from the participants' sites. Browsing the site was what made me want to participate. I really enjoy it, but it's a real challenge to keep up with the level of photography they have there.

On a different note, I had the World Series of Poker on in the background, for noise you know. Unfortunately, they declared a winner and it went off the air. So, I had to switch channels lest some sporting event come on I would have to watch. I naturally turned it to the Sci Fi channel (like I do) and now I am watching a western vampire movie. Why do I do this to myself? It is so bad. Just for the record, for those of you who know, it's Bloodrayne 2 (I hear a chorus of "ahhhh's" in the background. My people - they know.)

I haven't done much of anything else today. I had lunch (I hear clapping in my head) and have done my photo blog, but that's about it. It's in the 30's today but according to the Weather Channel, it feels like 23 degrees. Then again, can we really go by that? That was two whole minutes ago. It could be 20 or 30 degrees different degrees different by now.

Did you know that Billy the Kid was a vampire? Hmm, who knew?

movies, the good and the... ?

Since I didn't get to see the movie with Kathy and Michele yesterday, I went to see it today, while Kathy was still in Phoenix visiting Michele. We all went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It was very good and I really enjoyed it. I went at the last minute, parked a long way away, went in while the previews were playing and sat in the next to the last row. Hmm, you would think that would add up to stress, but it didn't. It worked out perfectly. I didn't have to wait for anything, got in, sat down, watched the movie and got out. It was great. I called and talked to K&M when I got home and we all talked about our favorite parts (no spoilers here), which is the best part of going to the movies together.

Well, then tonight I watched another movie, and I feel I must share with you about this movie. Why, you say, why must I? I feel I must divest myself of the burden of the whys and wherefores of this movie. Let me give you a rundown. First of all, the title is Doomsday. Sounds like a good sci fi movie, a genre I particularly enjoy. Ah, sucked in already. What, you say, no names sound familiar? The first warning sign. Wait, there's a familiar name - Malcolm McDowell. Oops, another warning sign. Back to the rundown - here's the plot and a quickie overview of the movie and the last two hours of my life (do you note a trace of bitterness?....)

The setting is the near future and a plague has erupted in Scotland (why must they pick on Scotland?) When it is found to be incurable a huge wall is built in place of Hadrian's wall (the historical wall that Rome built to keep out the pagan barbarians) to keep Scotland isolated, along with a no fly zone and total sea isolation. Scotland is left to curl up and die with no supplies or power, etc. Before being cut off, a brave mother manages to convince a soldier to give up his place on a helicopter for her little girl, who has been shot in the eye (yes, her eye). Tearful shot of the mother being left behind.

Now we are in the year 2035 and the little girl is a hard assed soldier who uses her false eye, which detaches, as a tool for advance detection. I kid you not. Pluck it out, roll it out it the hallway, it sends back images to her watch. ???!!??  She's hard as nails and is the logical one to be called when the virus resurfaces in overcrowded London. They must send in a team when it is discovered that **gasp** survivors are seen in flyby photos of Scotland. They must send in a team to find the doctor who was working on a cure in Glasgow and see if he's still alive or if he found a cure. 

They get into Scotland and find post-apocalyptic youth who are tattooed, punk, and eat humans. Our hero is tougher than them, fights her way out while saving a sweet innocent girl who turns out to be the daughter of the doctor. Score! They make their getaway to the train station just in the nick of time and make their way out of the city on a steam train along with a fresh faced (and therefore obviously normal) boy with a bow and arrow (?). They abandon the train in the middle of nowhere and climb a mountain and end up in a nuclear bomb shelter. (Are you still with me?). It's their way of getting through the mountain. The boy and girl have no idea what it really is.

As they emerge on the other side of the mountain into a smokey glen, they hear a low rumble. The boy and girl shout to run. The brave hero stands firm even tho it turns out that its the doctor's executioner (it turns out that the doctor is a bad guy, and father of sicko city goth/punk kid and brother to innocent girl. Oy). The rumbling is a black knight on a huge horse (I kid you not - a knight). Our brave she warrior, now without all her technology, but her eye still in her head, stands toe to toe to the knight and they are taken to the evil doctor.

Yadda yadda. Doctor is crazy, they must live off the grid because the world is evil and they are survivors, the world created the virus, yadda, yadda. Doctor punishes his daughter with hot branding iron (this movie spares no gore or sickening sound effect) and throws brave hero into unarmed combat with huge knight, whom she beats up and ultimately kills as they all break out and escape. 

They get back to fallout shelter and open some boxes and find Bentley, yes, a Bentley as in a car, sports car to be exact. And a box of cell phones. How conveeeeenient. So they gas up the car (while a slew of horsemen are chasing them) and make their getaway out of the mountain.... onto the roads of Scotland..... and here comes a cop car, driven by insane city punks. Just like a Scottish Mad Max.

Really?? Mad Max now? Okay. Lots of road carnage. Much stunt driving. Much gore and bone breakage. Hero calls her boss, the police chief, who has to tell his boss, big bad guy, who sends in a helicopter. Our hero delivers the vaccine, doctor's daughter and her only remaining team member, a doctor, to the helicopter and confronts the bad guy and he tells her his evil plan (stupid, stupid man). She chooses not to go on the helicopter, and it takes off and leaves her. 

We find her now in her house in Glasgow where she has found a picture of herself with her mother, sitting on the floor crying a little. Her boss comes in, as they now know the area must be safe. He tells her that the bad guy has gotten away with it and she pulls out a disc from her watch/recording device which works with her fake eye and gives it to her boss. He takes it and tells her to be safe and takes off in his helicopter, leaving her to the city. Bad guy foiled. She gets in the car and drives to where the goth/punk kids live, now without their leader whom she killed on the battle on the road, and she becomes their leader (it is implied).

Ah - I am purged. Really, if I hadn't have written it down, would you have believed it if I had just written it as a sci fi/ post apocalyptic/ Arthurian/ cannibalistic/ doomsday story? Who in their right mind would put all those together? I've watched a lot of bad sci fi movies and, sad to say, this wasn't the worst of them. That has to go to some of the movies made by the Sci Fi Channel. Who pays for this stuff? Who writes this stuff? I have dreams that are waaaay better than these movies. I need to write them down more often. Benjamin Button - now that was good writing. I recommend that movie - go see it.

finally, a new year!!

I had a great day today. I didn't go exactly as I had planned, but great days seldom do. My original plan was to go to a movie with Kathy and Michele as Kathy is currently in Phoenix with Michele on the last leg of her Christmas trip to Cape Cod. When she left Portland it was mere hours before they had to close the airport there, but she got out okay and on to Phoenix and then to the Cape. Now, coming home, she made it to Providence to their airport in a blizzard that had the airport canceling flights right and left. Amazingly, hers didn't get canceled, only delayed and she made it into Phoenix the same night, only a bit late. She actually came in on New Year's Eve, before the fireworks.

However, last evening my Uncle Tom called, who lives in Houston, and was currently in Edmond with his wife, Anna Fay, visiting some of her relatives. Since they were so close they were wondering if they could come over and take me to lunch. I thought it was a wonderful idea, with the thought I could catch a later movie with Kathy and Michele. (I've explained the movie thing, right - I pick a movie here, they pick a movie there, all about the same time and then we go see them at our respective theaters and we call each other and talk about them as soon as we have seen our movies. Going to see a movie together... cross country style). 

Anyway, for some reason, probably several reasons, I was incredibly awake and perky last night. I have been listening to some of "The Secret" and using positive reinforcement and power phrases, like "I have energy" when I go out and do things, to focus on the positive. So, last night, knowing that Uncle Tom and Anna Fay were coming to see me by lunch time and there was a movie to see after that, I was more than wide awake. There wasn't an ounce of tired in me. I was energy. I chuckled to myself. I thought to myself that perhaps I needed to be more careful when I pulled that gun and where I aimed it.  I ended up getting a little sleep in the morning but mostly in the evening I had been working on the kitchen which did get cleaned, but alas, not fixed. Thank goodness for duct tape.

Uncle Tom didn't have too much trouble finding the house, so when I thought they were getting close I let Ozzy out so they could see me and know where the house was. When Ozzy saw the car pull into our driveway he was very excited! Uncle Tom got a visit as soon as he put a foot out of the car. They came in the house and Ozzy promptly adopted Anna Fay's lap, which she very kindly accommodated for him. He was watching me as we adults were talking and when I wasn't watching him he would do his best circus sit up to get my attention back. Anna Fay thought he deserved at least a cookie, but no, he got a quickie rub and back to the conversation. 

We went to lunch at Ricky's and Uncle Tom showed me the geneology  program he has been working on. He's involved in writing a book now and it's very time consuming and would like someone to be interested in it on the Carroll side. He thought with my computer skills that I would be a natural. There's just that one glitch - I'm a Mac, he's a PC. But I'm going to do some tracking down on his program and see what I find. He's done so much work on the Williams side, but the Carroll side hasn't been done very well. The information that's out there isn't all correct, so it needs to be corrected and done thoroughly. Well, that'll be a good project. I've already talked to mom about it tonight. I think it's going to be fun. My kind of project to go OCD over.

So Ozzy is still using his new trick to tell me it's time for him to go out, the sitting in the bathroom in the dark in front of the toilet. It definitely wasn't a fluke. The odd one was when he was sitting in the bathroom staring at the shower. I draw the line at my dog telling me that I need to take a shower. I guess I'll have to stop talking about how stinky he is and he'll stop nagging me to take a shower. I think maybe we're getting a little too close. The last time I got sick with a migraine I waited until the last minute then got up off the bed and went into the bathroom to throw up (pardon the graphics, it's necessary for the story). As I was kneeling in the bathroom, I heard Ozzy jump off the bed and come in and check on me, then trot out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and start throwing up, heaving at least three or four times. I almost started laughing, if I could have. Now THAT'S a bond.

So, back to normal now, I hope, with regular posts and photos to the OKC blog. I can't guarantee that Ozzy will be blogging on a regular basis. I'm kinda hoping we might be adding a walk to our day at some point, but I haven't told him that yet.