A Case of the Mondays.

Internet, I have a lot of random thoughts. Let me share some of the recent ones with you.

1. When one is driving on the freeway in the middle of a snowstorm, one should try to change lanes while under bridges. There is less snow barricading you from the next lane, whether you're going 10 or 60 mph. Just sayin'. Why not make it easier on yourself, and give yourself less chance of spinning out? (Also. You will spray less snowy mixture on all the cars immediately behind you, and maybe freak them (read: me) out less when you cut in front of them (me) and start fishtailing because your small automobile can't quite get over the enormous drifts between lanes.)

2. I went to church Saturday night (not my usual time), sat in a different section close to the front of the sanctuary (weird!), wore jeans (don't do that often at church), and listened to a different preacher than normal (while ours is on annual writing leave). It was strange, everything about it. And then I didn't even really sleep in on Sunday (which seems to me to be the whole point of Saturday evening services), so now I'm wondering if it was worth it...

3. I pulled a personal record for a 2k on the erg on Friday night (Yay for Me! Also, Lame for Me! Who is boring enough to work out on a Friday evening? Yeah, that would be yours truly...), only to suffer ginormous blisters at the U of M rowing tanks on Saturday afternoon. I don't think I will be able hold the erg handle for a couple days without some serious cracking and bleeding (even with that delightfully brisk invention known as new-skin).

4. Shopping for clothes only two or three times a year (if that) has disadvantages: if all your clothes are falling apart, then you have to replace everything, and That. Takes. Forever. But the thought of going shopping more often to do it a little at a time (instead of buying 4 suits, a bunch of sweaters, some button-downs, and a variety of other stuff all in one fell swoop) sounds like death by a thousand paper cuts. (And add that to the blisters, suffered on the very same day, was almost more than I could bear.)

5. Session technically started last week, but it feels like we've already been at it for a month already. (Death by a thousand committee meetings. And those bills do leave some nasty paper cuts.)

How to Give Meaningful Purpose to Bad Bills at the MN Legislature

I'm sensing a trend. OK, two trends, really.

I recently picked up a couple of books at the library, and I noticed something: completely by accident, I chose two titles that have spiderwebs on the front covers. Wasn't this whole spider title and/or cover art a trend, oh, 15 or 18 years ago?

Also. What's up with all these mystery writers who've decided they have to add a paranormal element to their latest books?

You can take things too far.

In my orchestra, we're playing a series of children's concerts at the end of this month. You know, showcasing a young artist (a high school student who has won our music association's competition and receives a scholarship from us), introducing kids to music and its different forms and instruments, all that. Well, this year, we're doing a bit to demonstrate what different musicians and eras can do to the same theme. We're playing Beethoven's Fifth:

And then we're playing Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven" (which many people will recognize from Saturday Night Fever):

And then while wandering through YouTube listening to these two pieces, I discovered a remix of a rearrangement, and realized, yes, you can go too far:

This last really annoys me. A Fifth of Beethoven at least keeps some semblance of the piece. The remix is just too disjointed.

And then there's this version, just for kicks (it's actually a really good performance, but I love that they're called the 3 Redneck Tenors, and now I must discover more about them):

So there are my two cents...and four clips.

Hey, even the NYT agrees with me!

Since the President of the United States felt he could ramble on without aim or much purpose last night, I claim the right to do the same in my written opinion today on his State of the Union address. In case you missed it and would like to follow along with me while I stand on my little soapbox, you can read the text here.

So last night I couldn't help but think that President Obama was a little too in-your-face with the Supreme Court Justices all sitting there. And apparently, others agree with me. (These "others" are people who probably are more knowledgeable and definitely have larger reading audiences than I'll ever have. Oh, and they write for the New York Times. Read Linda Greenhouse here. Read Jeff Zeleny here.)



Talk about long. Only two other Presidents were more long-winded: Clinton four times, and Johnson once.

And I agree with one comment from the Heritage Foundation about the messy nature of the speech: "[It] was an incoherent mess of promised tax cuts for small businesses coupled with the threat of tax hikes from his health care and energy proposals; more federal money to encourage banks to lend to businesses, coupled with new taxes on banks and individuals; the continued waste of his $862 billion stimulus plan and $2 trillion in new health care spending, coupled with a delayed and temporary spending freeze." (And that seemed to be a nice way to put it...)

Other than a few specific ideas (for example, require students' higher education loan payments to be only 10% of a person's income, and the debt totally forgiven after 20 years - or ten years, if you go into public service), everything was a generic reiteration of what we've been through and heard the last several months. Mr. President, we didn't like your bills before. One speech isn't going to get us to like your [fill in the blank - jobs, health care reform, cap and trade, whatever] bill any more than we did the last time we heard about it. The rest of what was stated was mindless dreck without much order given to it.

And furthermore. You say you want to stop running Washington like it's still in election mode? ("But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day.") Well, for starters, why don't you STOP ADDRESSING THE MEDIA EVERY SINGLE DAY?! It feels like you're still trying to win an election that you already won over a year ago. Your popularity is surely going down simply because of that (let alone going down because of your unpopular policies and stances on issues). We are tired of hearing you, tired of your daily media availability, tired of your face constantly in our faces. But we know the truth: this country's politicians are ALWAYS in election mode. We are at the point where running for office is a full-time job for sometimes years before any ballots are ever cast.

IF YOU ALL HATED THE BANK BAILOUT, why did you all vote for it? (“We all hated the bank bailout,” Mr. Obama said, equating it to being as popular as a “root canal.”)

If every word Obama said was worth a million bucks, we still probably wouldn't have enough money to pay for all of what he was pushing last night.

Now, for the aesthetics of the speech: Mr. President. I would kindly suggest you put your hands down by your sides the next time you give a speech. Incessantly clasping your hands and banging them together on the podium was extremely annoying and completely distracting. Maybe that was your intent: distract your opposition from noticing the very bad words and worse policies (Saith the Prez: In Your Face, military, SCOTUS, pretty much anyone standing around besides Joe "Bobblehead" Biden and Nancy "Lizard Lips/Seal Clapper" Pelosi).

On to the other speech of the evening: Governor McDonnell, you had me at keeping the speech to ten minutes so your twin boys could go watch SportsCenter. The rest of your speech was just icing on the cake. In particular, I'm glad you were hitting home the theme of equal opportunity (as opposed to the usual Democrat idea of equal outcome). Thank you for that, Governor.

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This is why I should just not watch President Obama's speeches. He drives me crazy, and my blood pressure goes up.

Now, back to our reguarly scheduled, not-too-serious programming...

It's the little things.

Ways to make life enjoyable:

1. Trying a new restaurant. Like this one. They make homemade ginger ale at Sapor, and it's good. Basically no sugar in it (just ginger and bubbles - delish!), so if you're looking for something sweet like Canada Dry or Schweppes or whatever it is that you get in the can, this isn't for you. Anyway, Sapor has a new menu seasonally or monthly or something like that, but if you get the chance to try the pierogies, they're quite tasty with lovely seasoned sour cream. Mmmm.

2. Getting a massage. I used to go to this salon for hair cuts (until my stylist left, and I've since followed her to three salons, including the last one, which is her own, and where I will be later today when I get my hair chopped off again). And then I found out fivetwosix is having a promotion on their massages/facials this month, so I booked one. It was especially nice Tuesday night since I just last week started lifting weights with my legs again since the Unfortunate Incident. (Oh, who am I kidding? I haven't seriously lifted any weights in...EVER.) So Amy Jo worked out some of the sore, tight muscles in my quads and hamstrings.

3. Using a facial brush. Namely, the Clarisonic. It's like having a mini one-minute facial every day of the week. I've been using mine since I received it as a Christmas gift, and I admit to liking it muchly. Also required: a good moisturizer. I mean, we live in the land of 10,000 lakes...that are frozen half the year. And my skin is also frozen and dry that half of the year.

An apple a day...

Internet, I think the new iPad is like an iPod for the visually impaired...kinda like the giant remote control or calculator with huge buttons or the large print Reader's Digest for old people.

Also. Several co-workers and a CNBC commentator pointed out that it sounds like a product being marketed to women, what with the feminine hygiene-ness sound to the name of it.

Politically Incorrect Geography

Hilarious. Go here.

Slightly Obsessed.

Internet, you may have figured out by now that I a) have a slight obsession with bacon, and b) consider the following to the be the real food "pyramid":

So it should not surprise you that upon receiving the following gift, I realized what amazing friends I have to have received something so perfect:

Thanks, J & K!

Have you ever...

...had a headache so awful, it felt like your brain no longer fit in your skull? (All caused, I'm sure, by the imminence of a legislative session.)

...concocted homemade ginger ale by cooking sugar, water and slices of ginger into an awesome simple syrup, and then mixing that with club soda?

p.s. I highly recommend the latter to make up for the former. (Also the candied ginger didn't hurt.) (Candied ginger is always a good idea.) (It's delicious.)

Orange You Sad...

It's a small thing, I know, and utterly unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but have you ever been disappointed when you've peeled a nice, big orange, only to discover that the peel makes up half its mass? I have, and am disappointed when that happens.

Expectations

I love it when I'm expecting something unpleasant and end up pleasantly surprised by the results.

Today I had to make a work related telephone call, and I was dreading it because I'd been told to expect a cantankerous old coot. Instead, I phoned a kind, older gentleman who was polite, articulate and had a well-formed argument. And on top of that, he called me "Kiddo" the entire time. I was pleasantly surprised.

And you know something? That polite attitude makes me want to help him out more. Amazing how that works...
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Last night, I did my weekly 90 minute erg workout. Granted, it was broken up in three pieces instead of one or two really long ones, so I got a few minutes of rest in between the three segments, but I did a PR for meters. If I expect big things from myself, I get bigger results (and possibly also bigger pain).
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I'm finally reading Vince Flynn's latest book, Pursuit of Honor (which is the continuation of Extreme Measures), and I have not been disappointed thus far: it's a great read. Gotta love that Vince. Now if only I could finish the 6 or 7 books on my nightstand that I'm reading all at one time...



Update: The book was awesome. Though I've enjoyed the last couple books of Vince's, this one goes back to what made me like his writing in the first place. Love Mitch Rapp.